Dateline>City of Angels

Starting tonight, this blog may be inactive for a day or two. It’s come under a nasty spybot attack, which may require drastic measures to repel.

Yesterday I decided to make a few minor changes to my WordPress templates, which power this blog. While hacking my way around the code, I discovered someone else has apparently been busy doing the same. The evidence was there for all to see in my footer template… Hundreds of URL referrals to porn and pharmaceutical sites.

Well, actually, it wasn’t there for all to see. The hackers were clever enough to make sure the code included a command to keep their vile handiwork invisible. Visitors to this blog are safe. It’s not a virus that can be passed around. Apparently these parasites are attempting to increase their page ranking in Google by making it appear my site (among others) is linking to them.

So, as I say, for the next day or so I’ll be updating my WordPress infrastructure and beefing up security. There’s a risk involved. From what I understand, other bloggers who have updated or installed the necessary patches have crashed their sites. Hopefully, I won’t suffer the same fate. But in case I do, keep checking back. Even if it means starting from scratch, I’ll be back. Sooner rather than later.

Poking around the web late last night, I stumbled on a brief but fascinating video by Tony Biasotti commemorating the infamous St. Francis Dam Disaster.

For those unfamiliar with the history, back in 1926, William Mulholland completed the dam to help ensure a steady water flow for a fledgling but rapidly growing Los Angeles. Townspeople celebrated it as an engineering triumph. Ranchers downstream in San Francisquito Canyon, however, weren’t so impressed. They nicknamed it the Giant Tombstone.

They didn’t know how prophetic they were… Read more