And whaddya know? It works! Though it didn’t literally *resume* the ssh transfer, it grabbed the two pieces (local and remote) of the file in question, joined them, and put the new file in the right spot. FTW!

I understand the need to remove this attacker from your system; I really do. Unfortunately, this wholesale burning down of any semi-complex web app is unacceptable and has caused downtime for my clients and a significantly increased workload for me. Seriously: You couldn’t even be bothered to tell me what my new password was; I had to figure that out on my own. And now, you’re going to change all my other DB user passwords? I call bullshit. I need to hear from a (mt) account rep re: how you’re planning on making this right with me. Sooner is probably better for you, since between now and then all I have is free time to squawk on Twitter/FB/my blog/etc. about how much this sucks and is hurting my business.

Sincerely pissed off,

-aj
—
A.J. Van Beest
Owner, Beest Built Websites, LLC
soon-to-be-ex-media-temple evangelist

Of course (and also not surprisingly), it took me a while to realize that, and even a little longer to slap myself on the forehead and say, “Duh, I have a blog.” After doing some updating and spam removal, I now even have a functional blog. The real question is, as always, do I have a regularly updated blog? Time will tell.

I said, “Tell me about it; why do you suppose I’m asking to reduce my payments and APR?”

Long story short, because my monthly income is negative, I don’t qualify to have my payments and rates reduced because “I can’t afford it.” Say what?

But what happens if it’s not about making money, but causing damage? What if all you really need to do is retaliate against someone for infringing on your empire? Then by all means, rob ‘em. You’ll almost certainly fail, and your health will go down, but each attempt uses one of their boosts. At $2 million a crack, you can spend a lot of someone else’s hard-earned cash in a hurry. And at some point, they’ll be out of boosts, you’ll be inside their organization, then you can start with the body punches: putting their properties out of business.

I mean, if you wanted to be a jerk.

I’m all for people posting news on FB. I love hearing about triumphs, disasters, and stuff in between. I’m especially a fan if folks use some flavor of an “F” webalism (web-based initialism):STFU, RTFM, LMFAO, and good ol’ WTF are among my favorites. And even in game, I’m all for hearing about how you just used an armored truck full of C4 to bitch-slap that jerk who’s been putting you on the hit list every hour on the hour. What I’m not down with is game comments that overflow into the regular (read: mundane) FB world.

This is where I take a time out to apologize for my contributions to this river of spam. Yeah, so, uh, sorry.

For those of you looking for ways to control what your FB account posts from Mafia Wars and other Zynga games, check out this FB note by John Cole. Onward.

I mean, you must have done something right at some point, what with your Pulitzer and all, but that piece was worthy of the hacks at Fox. Except that they get Twitter.

It’s OK, though. In a couple of years, when the Times goes paperless, you’ll have your chance to be a Twitter ghost writer. Most likely, there’ll be something else new and interesting that you don’t understand and find intimidating, but since you’ll be using the venerable Twitter to broadcast your uninformed opinion, we’ll only have to wade through 140 characters of your “writing.”

Oh, hey Maureen, the phone is for you; it’s 1926 calling – they want their yellow journalism back.

I’ve been tweeting and FBing and checking out FriendFeed and Plurk and MeetUp and last.fm and even trying to build a little somethin’-somethin’. I have become an expert at referring to myself in third person via tiny jargon-filled snippets (and, FWIW, AJ finds this disturbing.). I’ve had conversations with friends I’ve bumped into for the first time in months, and when I try to fill them in on what’s been going on in my world, they invariably reply with, “Oh, I know. I saw it on FaceBook.”

Shit! That’s not how it’s supposed to work, is it? Don’t tell me we’re going to move toward a society of people who don’t have catch-up conversations on the sidewalk or over a beer; where we know all the news in each others’ lives, but haven’t seen anyone else in months. It’s great to be able to ask a question to a big audience, to get some help, or to celebrate a triumph in the moment, but isn’t it even better to do it with actual friends?

Let me know what you think: comment on this post, or hit me via twitter (@theaj42) or give me a shout on FB.

I got bitten by this particular bug after visiting the Smitten Kitchen and Pioneer Woman (don’t ask; it’s a long story) blogs. From there it was a pretty short journey to picking up BigDigi (gotta control the whole shmear for these shots!) and having at it. And now, it’s kind of a tiny obsession.

The only bad part of shooting my meals is when there’s something that looks and smells fabulous and I’m really hungry. Camera or fork, camera or fork? And for what it’s worth, my experience suggests it’s not wise to aim for a “both/and” solution.