Earlier in one of my posts (Using PEAR HTTP_Client or HTTP_Request with HTTP proxy) I gave an example of using PEAR HTTP_Client and/or HTTP_Request from behind an http proxy. However, I didn’t tell how to make PEAR itself work properly from behind an HTTP proxy (e.g., for online operations like “pear upgrade-all”).

So here’s that tiny missing bit of information.

Windows:
Launch regedit, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment, and create a string value called PHP_PEAR_HTTP_PROXY. Modify that new value to hold the string like: http://proxy_username:proxy_password@proxy_server_address:proxy_port.

Linux:
In the Terminal/Konsole, execute (for a system-wide pear configuration)

sudo pear config-set http_proxy http://proxy_username:proxy_password@proxy_server_address:proxy_port

If your proxy password has symbols, special for the shell (e.g. question or exclamation mark) – enclose full proxy specifications with single-quotes, e.g.

sudo pear config-set http_proxy ‘http://proxy_username:proxy_password@proxy_server_address:proxy_port’

If your HTTP proxy server does not require authentication, then use http://proxy_server_address:proxy_port instead.

I think the strings are completely self-explanatory; however, here’s an example of proxy (with authentication) specification: http://john.smith:CrAzYP433WoRd@192.168.0.1:3128.

BamBook is a Kyiv-based internet shop.

On the 28th of February, 2007, I ordered a book from them, and paid for it with a credit card at the time of order. Soon I had a confirmation email, which said that the book will be delivered not later than the 16th of March (they promise 10-working-days delivery, so the date looked fine).

At the end of March, after writing several emails to BamBook, they responded with an official-looking “sorry for delay” and “we’ll do our best to deliver soon”.

After calling them on the 3rd of April I came to know that they at the moment actually do not have the book I ordered. They asked if I’m willing to wait for around two weeks, so that they “try” to order that book and then (add 10 working days) deliver it to me. I said NO, I WANT MY MONEY BACK with that kind of service you have! OK, they said.

Nothing changed until April, 23. So I called them again. They promised to return money again.

Another call was on the 3rd of May. They said that “refund is being processed”. I hope you imagine what kind of a company they are, if a simple refund processing requires whole month to be complete… or not complete, as nothing changed as of today, the 5th of May.

Update: as of May, 27, there are no changes, despite some more efforts put into getting anything from this real crappy Bambook internet-shop.

Conclusion: avoid BamBook internet-shop at all costs. Better go give your money to the beggar on the street – faster, with no troubles, and no waiting for anything.

HD-DVD AACS Processing Key number: 09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0.

Personally, I have no idea how to use this number. However, below are some links which will give you more clues…

And, also, it should be easy to follow the events with the collection of links below.
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This is quite a well-known thing among frequent and professional photographers, but still an interesting thing to know.
I was also told that digital photo cameras can “see” in ultraviolet as well, but didn’t check if that’s true.
As for infra-red light, this can be easily checked using any common “direct visibility” remote control. Most if not all use infra-red diodes to transmit signal. So I just pointed a remote at the camera, and made a shot. (Actually, camera real-time display also shows captured infra-red light, as it starts blinking in the remote.) Here is the proof of digital cameras ability to capture infra-red light. The bluish dot in the centre of the red-front-plastic-screen of the remote is infra-red light.

The VentureOne by Venture Vehicles.

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.. and Pentagon has a competition on liquid robots.

Update: WordPress 2.5+ does not require adding rewrite rules to .htaccess, as it now redirects the browser to the correct (configured) URL itself. However, if you would like the redirection to be made by apache’s mod_rewrite rather than by PHP’s header() instruction (which I suspect to be slower than mod_rewrite), then you can still use the instructions below. (Another consideration to stick to mod_rewrite is the presence of other software installed into the root of the same domain as the WP blog; mod_rewrite solution works for all, while WP’s own redirect works only for WP.)

See important update at the end of this post!

In the early days of my acquaintance with internet, I considered it obligatory to add the “www.” part in front of every site (domain) name. As a matter of fact, without those three mysterious letters most of the websites “didn’t work”.

Now, nearly a decade later, it appears clear to me that the www part is redundant. But it was only today, that I finally switched my blog to the use of Class B no-www policy. Earlier it was Class A, the most common.
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