Pingomatic is a fantastic ping relay site that everyone should know about! Its pretty simple, really… you just add rpc.pingomatic.com/ to your blog software’s ping list, and when you post you don’t have to wait for an exhaustive list of sites to be pinged. Just one ping goes out, and then Pingomatic forwards it on to all the major services!
The site itself is actually loading quite slowly at the moment, which makes one think twice about relying on it for a regular service such as this, that will clearly be dealing with serious request volume (especially as people find out about it, since I don’t know of any other sites that have similar services)… but then, its so much easier this way! Ah well… So whaddya waitin for?
p.s. Also check out the pingomatic blog
[update: yeeeesh…
Safari can’t open the page.
Safari could not open the page “http://pingomatic.com/” because the server stopped responding.
OpinionJournal - John Fund on the Trail:
It’s now almost a given that no matter how large today’s boycott is, it will damage any prospects of a sensible immigration bill this year. Rep. Richard Pombo, a California Republican who represents many Central Valley farmers who are desperate for guest workers, warns that the boycott is threatening to polarize the debate. He told San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra Saunders that the presence of many Mexican and Central American flags at the March rallies by immigrants “really politicized the whole issue. It took away any hope we have of having a workable policy.”
(Via OpinionJournal.)
As always, an interesting perspective on things from The Journal. Particularly relevant given what we’ve been talking about lately in my Geography of the Global Economy class… coooool.
As a friend of my Dad’s said, “I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
(italics are mine)
SANS Top 20 Vulnerabilities - The Experts Consensus:
WASHINGTON, DC. — The SANS Institute today announced updates to the Top 20 Internet Security Vulnerabilities. The 2006 Spring Update enables cyber security professionals to tune their defensive systems to reflect the most important new vulnerabilities that attackers are exploiting to take over computers and steal sensitive or valuable information.
Eight major trends are listed in the update:
- Rapid growth in critical vulnerabilities being discovered in Mac OS/X including a zero-day vulnerability (OS/X still remains safer than Windows, but its reputation for offering a bullet-proof alternative to Windows is in tatters.)
- Substantial decline in the number of critical vulnerabilities in Windows Services, offset by flaws in client-side software, including the WMF vulnerability and Internet Explorer flaws, listed in Trend #3.
- Continuing discovery of multiple zero-day vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer.
- Rapid growth in critical Firefox and Mozilla vulnerabilities.
- Surge in commodity zero-day attacks used to infiltrate systems for profit motives.
- Rapid growth in three types of critical vulnerabilities allowing direct access to databases, data warehouses, and backup data (Oracle, Veritas Back-Up and SQL Injection attacks).
- A continuing surge in file-based attacks, especially using media and image files, Microsoft Excel files, and more.
- A rapidly spreading scourge of successful spear-phishing attacks, especially among defense and nuclear energy sites.
WSJ.com - Free Trade Vision:
As has been the case from the start of the Doha Round four-and-a-half years ago, the U.S. remains committed to an ambitious and comprehensive multilateral agreement to expand trade and promote development. We do not think WTO members should settle for half measures — or “Doha Lite,” as some have called it.
Mr. Portman and Ms. Schwab are, respectively, U.S. trade representative and deputy U.S. trade representative. (Editor’s note: Mr. Portman has just been named to head the Office of Management and Budget. Ms. Schwab has been nominated to succeed him as USTR.)
(Via The Wall Street Journal.)
Another example of how awesome people can be. Really.
Aid Workers Are Said to Abuse Girls - New York Times
LONDON, May 8 — Liberian girls as young as 8 are being sexually exploited by United Nations peacekeepers, aid workers and teachers in return for food, small favors and even rides in trucks, according to a new report from Save the Children U.K.
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