f-log

Are you a bash user ? if so you need to know
[ALT+.]
it gets the last command parameter, you can do it multiple times to go back through your command parameter history, great with long path names.
i.e.
file /tmp/some/file/in/some/long/path
rm [ALT+.]

instead of doing all that [tab] auto-completing again.

It would seem it is time to retire my salt shaker script for randomising object locations/rotations in blender
The 2.5 series (and I guess 2.6) only requires this one line to be run in the python console.
bpy.ops.object.randomize_transform( random_seed=0, use_loc=True, loc=(0, 0, 0), use_rot=True, rot=(360.0, 360.0, 360.0), use_scale=True, scale_even=False, scale=(0.0, 0.0, 0.0))
but I will leave it up for prosperity.

Needed to test an uncommon part of a website the other day, problem was I did not have a login. Not wanting to sign up and wait for an email(not sure it would have worked on that system) I had a look at the database.
User table with Password column, but its encrypted :(
Not so quick, maybe it's just a hash ...
http://www.sha1.cz/
tried "password" and searched for passwords the same as the hash, no matches...
Quick dig in the code ... Ah using a salt, salt is ...
password
Password requirement is at least one number, so lets try "password1password1"
2cfec11bc6024a9ac3d39a56323a2161b69c989f
43 matches, copy and paste first username into login box and password as "password1", sorted!

More Orange fails.
[This is just todays fails, I did not record what happend from the previous couple of calls].
Fail 1: Can login to orange account web page but get hidden 500 error, view source and it is about Java unable to access a session java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError.
Fail 2: the page displayed in the browser has no error and no information of any kind showing, so no error handling then.
Fail 3: the error in view source is over 300 lines long and would give any attacker a wealth of information regarding infrastructure and software versions.
Fail 4: The telephone auto prompt system has nothing related the the issue I want to resolve, nothing new there.
Fail 5: Finaly get past the the auto promt to be told that they endevor to pickup within two minutes, over 15 later I get CS rep 1.
Fail 6: CS rep 1 tells me he can not help and transfers me to Billing rep 1.
But does not give BR1 any of my details.
Fail 7: BR1 tries to locate me via post code, the same post code Orange send me stuff, but I do not exist, even though the reason for ringing is related to two items sent to the that address.
Fail 8: Even though I had followed previous CS reps (calls prior to this one) advice, no, BR1 could not help me, please call another number during office hours.
21 minutes to find they could not help me, oh the joy!

Rebuilt the gentoo kernel to include wacom support everything went fine :)
but came back from holiday and the X screen appeared corrupted, black with rectangles of random colors and it was not XScreensaver ;)
Reboot ([Alt]+[SysReq]+ {S/U/B}) and startx, no mouse or keyboard, could not swtich VT.
Now, I knew I had had this issue before AND I know I had reported the fix, but not in flog :(
Eventually found it on gentoo forums.
emerge -av xf86-input-evdev
now recorded here ;)

The power gods finaly won, UPS entries
the battery died a horible death and it is cheaper to buy a new personal UPS than to replace the battery.
Maybe 4-5 years is the expected life expectancy ?
New model is an APC 850VA (3 plug), mainly choosen for its price and noise output, both very low.
Seems to work fine, no serial connection to the PC or ethernet or USB so just basic UPS.
Funny, it has no kettle extension connectors like the old UPS (and any UPS I have ever seen) instead it has standard 3 pin mains sockets, so easy to plugin any old appliance.