Squonk Technical Stuff

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Free SSL Certificate
Free SSL
As the more observant may have noticed, I’ve obtained a free 90 day real security certificate for squonk and switched the blog over to secure access by default. As everything on the blog is public it isn’t really needed other than to protect administrative access but it does protect poster email addresses from plain-text sniffing so I might as well turn it on for all. I can extend the 90 day cert to a full year for only a few dollars through selected Comodo resellers. I had no idea such cheap certs were available now until recently and if every website had one it could only be good for internet security.

The only difference you should see is https in the URL field and a browser padlock symbol indicating you have an encrypted, secure connection to squonk.tk – Let me know if anyone has a problem.

I’ll also be turning on again soon some cache features that had problems with mixing http and https sessions. Shouldn’t be a problem with all connections being https now but again if anyone sees any problems with stale pages let me know.

And thanks all again for being here 🙂

33 thoughts on “Squonk Technical Stuff”

  1. Thanks for having us! 🙂

    To be honest I did not notice the presence of the certificate but read your comment earlier so also thanks for doing that.

  3. I have no idea wtf you are squonking on about, but appreciate whatever it is you are doing… 🙂

  5. Craig’s free-wheeling style almost looks irresponsible. I remember how easy it was for AA to dissuade Habberwocky from his obvious hijinks.

  6. It’s much more than ‘highjinks’ Ben. It is a constructive plan to take Craig’s valuable voice off the internet. Remember all the lies, corruption and crimes that Craig has revealed and commentated on. Make a few guesses on who is employing the trolls.

    Calling the main offender ‘Habberwocky’ makes him sound benign too. Can you sense my anger and annoyance that there is a repeat happening?

  7. Aye Mary….
    Me too…. i think Komodo is Gone for Good this time… Total FUGAZI

    Ben @ 6;54…hahaha

  8. Komodo was actually stirring it up a little Brian. I despair. There is nearly a full house of trolls now. Resident Dissident has now returned and claims that ‘a friend noticed that Craig had lost weight when he saw him at Nottingham’. Not stealing my script from here surely? I cannot find it here now but I reported Craig’s speech at Nottingham Univ and said I thought he had lost weight judging from the fit of his jacket.

    I am leaving Craig’s blog alone for now until something is done about the trolling. Have you noticed that they actually contribute nothing? Just endless copying of extracts from other people’s comments followed by some acidic remark. Is Jon still around?

    Squonk. You have been going for three months now. Well done.

  10. I am tending to agree with Ben about Habbabkuk. That Hab came here says to me that he is no pro troll employed by some offensive agency (no offence Squonk). I think Hab is just an immature contrarian intent on winding people up. God knows about the others. Some may be one person, perhaps not. I am past caring.

    Craig’s silence is neglect. I will continue to read Craig and will comment on the theme but the place is now useless for discussion.

  12. Phill, don’t be too hard on Craig; he takes a lot upon himself.

    You are right that it is in Craig’s absence that the comment section deteriorates. Various contributors on that thread should reflect a bit more. Guano was a fool, but how do you criticise someone calling himself “batshit”? Ho hum… Habbabkuk’s jibe that ‘[Craig’s] IQ, knowledge and experience is of a rather higher order than those of many of his “supporters”’ is entirely true, though I criticise it for being provocative and unkindly delivered. But I visit Craig’s precisely because Craig is superior to me in those ways, I acknowledge my inferiority, and thus I try not to look down too much upon others.

  13. Some have long legs and jump over the fence, others a little shorter find it easier to stoop undernerath or inbetween the planks, but are no slower than those who take the direct jump over.

    I think habby’s jibe was directed to inflame and wind up, as not many took him up on his pathetic IQ babble, he failed. I wonder what he does to himself when he can’t get people to rerspond to his innuendo.

    Craigs intelligence aside, he wasn’t the best in his diplomatic training for nothing, there are a few who are well read and experienced in all sorts on his list, learned academics, ex civil servants and other diplomatically challeneged characters.

    Habby is a wind up, organised, controlled or whatever, couldn’t care less.

  14. I think WordPress may have invalidated some site cookies when I was playing about with some settings. So if your comment form is not filled in it was probably my doing.

    Anyway some “Light Entertainment” under “Recent Posts” in the right-hand column. Enjoy 🙂

  15. Thanks Squonk. Mine were not affected. Thanks also for the earlier link you found. btw I clicked on ‘Asteroids’ but nowt happened.

    Clark That last sentence of yours reminded me of that funny sketch…. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00hhrwl although I know you were not referring to class or status.

    I agree with what you said about Craig. What a loss he was to this country’s diplomatic service but of course they did not want anyone who stepped out of line.

    PS When I said I was leaving his blog alone, that was on the assumption that he would not post again as before, leaving the door wide open for the trolls to add their junk. Then lo and behold he posts again today.

    Brian Spot on. I liked your haiku. I could never in a month of Sundays create one although I love poetry. Also love music but cannot play an instrument or sing in tune!

  16. Mary, I think I’ve undone the cookie problem so hopefully it should be fine now. Good to hear you confirming it is okay. Asteroids was briefly unavailable as I made some more changes. Should be working now. Check towards the top left of the screen but if you never played the old arcade game, it may not be that interesting.

  18. Craig’s blog is receiving unwanted attention. The latest is from Villager who has rejoined ‘ESLO’, Habbabkuk and Resident Dissident after the long absence. I just left this comment.

    Mary
    19 Jan, 2014 – 8:32 am
    Take note that I last posted at 6.07pm yesterday on the NSA fantasies to kill Edward Snowden.

    Exchanges continued between Clark and two of the trolls throughout the evening and then at 11.46pm the third returns out of the blue to leave some nasty slime* about me completely out of any context. It followed no previous exchange. The post did contain a defence of the other trolls.

    *‘Lighten-up, while remaining serious about our Earth and the state of humanity, or be part of the wave of destruction. Which is also why I find Mary’s constant whining so utterly infantile and worthless. Unless she is deluded, she surely recognises her powerlessness deep down and therefore resorts to accusations of trolls. Other psychotics join in while Habbabkuk remains dignified, as do ESLO and RD. I’m sure they want to see change in the World but not by *revolutionaries* like you and Mary. Yes Craig IS as Habby said of a different calibre. As Craig said, there may not be justice in this World, but there is Truth.’

    If that is not trolling, then what is?

    ~~~~

    Whining, infantile, worthless, deluded, psychotics, ‘revolutionaries’. Some of the insulting content in one short paragraph.

    I will not be responding if there is a reply. I am sure that one will definitely follow!

  19. Aye they are all in there at Craig’s now Mary…i see that Craig has had to step in to delete a coment already by Rehmant….
    good to see Craig has posted today again….

    think its a wee trip doon the coast for me….Peace all

  20. As if Cleggover and the LDs could be brought into any greater disrepute following their connivance in enacting the Tory legislation for the last three years.

    Lord Rennard accused of bringing Lib Dems into ‘disrepute’
    Lib Dem peer Lord Rennard, who is due to rejoin the Lords on Monday, is accused of bringing his party into disrepute by refusing to apologise over sexual harassment claims.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25798256

    Strange that Lord Carlisle sees an injustice and is defending the be-ermined one. No defence though for the women offended against – ‘An internal inquiry into the claims last week concluded there was broadly credible evidence dating back several years of “behaviour which violated the personal space and autonomy of the complainants”. But it concluded that allegations of sexual misconduct could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt, as the party’s internal disciplinary procedures required.’

    Clegg’s former aide Bridget Harris is quitting in protest at the inaction.
    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/18/nick-clegg-aide-quits-lib-dems-lord-rennard

    Agent Cameron must be rubbing his hands what with this and the UKIP nutter – the storms are God’s punishment etc. – who has just been sacked by Farage.

    Then we are told that Savile committed crimes against more than 1,000 boys and girls and that BBC executives and staff knew. Today’s Observer.
    http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/72375000/jpg/_72375398_observer.jpg

    What a country.

  21. I won’t be commenting @ CM. It seems no one has learned anything from engaging Hab and Res Des. Isn’t there a cautionary tale about shitting where one eats?

  22. Mary

    Forgive my Manners…i had meant to say thank you, Re the wee Haiku… i love doing them…i have always enjoyed Haiku… but think since i started jui jitsu i began loving so much of Japanese culture… if anyone gets a chance, check out the amazing Kodo taiko drummers… there are others – Yamato…and even a Scottish based group – Mugenkyo Taiko.. all fantastic… Precision Percussion…And the Energy…Wow

    P.S…..If you go…and they are from Japan… BE EARLY Lol…

  23. I can only approve your choice of security*, Squonk. And thanks for taking so much trouble over this.

    Brian is right. I shan’t be back at CM.
    Mary is wrong. I was trying to suggest that some draconian moderation of off-topic posts was not only needed but justifiable. In order to be justifiable, it had to be even- handed. To accommodate Mary’s daily news digest, I suggested she start her own blog. That was a serious suggestion too. Both ideas went down like a cup of cold sick. End of.

    *but not the spelling

  26. FYI

    The video-sharing website YouTube said it has started to “audit” the number of views a video has received.

    The move is aimed at preventing users from artificially inflating view counts which, YouTube said, mislead people about the popularity of a video.

    There are concerns that some viewers are using tools like “redirects” or “buying” views to boost their count.

    YouTube said it will now “periodically” validate the views on videos and remove the fraudulent ones from the total.

    /..
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26043794

  27. Squonk, any chance of having a longer list of ‘recent comments’? It is easy to miss those bumped by the more recent if not visiting very regularly.

  28. Phil, yes I could bump up the recent comment count. I can’t bump it up too far or I run out of space in the right hand column on short pages with no or few comments. I’ll experiment.

  30. Hi, all.

    A few things I plan to do soon

    Update ZPanel hosting control panel to latest version

    Update Amazon Linux to latest version

    Both of these things are normally doable via a couple of simple commands if you haven’t manually fiddled with things – which I have. So I may have to do it the long way round or risk introducing mysterious bugs.

    I also have to either get a new free 90 day security certificate or buy a cheap one for a year.

    But for a bit further ahead – I am now about half way through the free year on Amazon Web Services which squonk runs on so I have to start thinking about what I do at the end of the year. The easiest option would be just to register a free account for another year and move over to it. I have read that Amazon don’t make much effort to prevent this but what worries me is that they don’t kick you off if they do catch you out – they just charge your card (which must be registered with them even for a free account). I have visions of them billing me for 12 months in arrears and that wouldn’t be pleasant!

    Alternatively I can buy a very cheap virtual server for as little as 3 quid a month from various providers. I think I’ll experiment soon with buying a month here and there with various providers just to see if they perform as claim. Amazon has had 100% uptime on my server and the performance has always been good but they are considerably more expensive than the cheapest providers if you actually have to pay for it. I could move squonk over to a totally free web host (not VPS) and that’s the ultimate fall-back but I don’t think I’ll go for that.

    Hopefully users shouldn’t notice anything as most of the work will be done on a different virtual server. However there could possibly be a little downtime as I test things etc. I’ll give warning in advance if I expect any downtime more than a few minutes. Currently though, I don’t expect I’ll move squonk.tk itself to another provider permanently (assuming I do) until after the summer.

    And thanks again for being here to make it worth my while 🙂

  32. Mary,

    Thanks for the thought but at the moment at least it still is totally free. If it were to end up costing me 3 quid a month I think I can survive at that unless things get really bad.

    I’m not ruling out a small donate button if costs end up hitting me harder than I expect or take up substantially more of my time (say I expand the site somehow) but for the moment I’m fine.

    Of course if one of my readers is a closet billionaire and just fancies donating me the odd million or three just because they can then please get in touch with the contact form and I’ll have the donate button up in a flash 🙂

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