Google did a decent job with its new web app, Google Buzz, but it completely failed at privacy. By default, when you start using Google Buzz anyone can see who is “following” you and who you are “following” by going to your Google Profile. Furthermore, the people you follow are automatically those who you contact most often. This means anyone on the Internet can find out who you privately communicate with on your Gmail account, and can see their “buzzes” as well. However, you can opt-out of this by going to the Google Profile page, clicking “View my profile,” then clicking “Edit Profile” on the top-right hand corner. Finally, uncheck, “Display the list of people I’m following and people following me,” scroll down to the bottom, and click “Save changes.” Now only you are able to see who you are following.

However, an even bigger privacy concern exists. By default anything you post is set as public. I’ve noticed already that even my highly privacy-conscious friends have failed realize that anything they post on Google Buzz will be available for anyone to see (despite the words “Public” right next to “Post”). People simply assume whatever they post via Gmail is only going to be visible to their friends, which would make sense. However, unless you click “Private,” anyone will be able to see whatever you post via your Google Profile. Remember that when you set your posts to “Private” that if you check “My Contacts,” anyone you’ve ever added to your contacts will be able to see whatever you post on Google Buzz. You may wish to create a contacts list of “Friends,” and only share your “buzzes” with them.

Google needs to change Buzz’s default settings. People shouldn’t have to opt-out of sharing a bunch of their personal information. That is something that, obviously, should be opted-in to.

I’ve had two problems with my website that have been bugging me for a long time. The first was that when I tried to change to PHP5, I couldn’t use <?php include()?> to include files. That was because PHP5 disables register_globals, and I was using $DOCUMENT_ROOT to ensure that the includes worked regardless of the directory of the document requesting the includes file.

The second issue I was having was that when I created a subdomain, my host asked me to choose a directory I wanted the subdomain to use. For example, alex.asolis.net is located at asolis.net/alex. However, if someone went to the latter site, they would get a bunch of error messages since the $DOCUMENT_ROOT code made the document look for the includes file in the asolis, rather than the alex, directory. While alex.asolis.net still worked, asolis.net/alex had a bunch of error messages because the includes files it was looking for didn’t exist.

After several past failed attempts to find a solution to these issues, I finally figured them both out yesterday.
All I had to do to fix the includes problem was replace $DOCUMENT_ROOT with $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] (and put AddType x-mapp-php5 .php in the .htaccess file, of course).

The subdomain issue was equally simple. All I had to do there was add this to the .htaccess file in the asolis directory:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^alex\.asolis\.net$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^alex(.*)$ http://alex.asolis.net$1 [R=301,L]

That results in a 301 redirect from, for example, asolis.net/alex/file.html to alex.asolis.net/file.html.

It’s that easy!

Who would win in a fight between Cthulhu and God with a machine gun? Scribblenauts knows.
(See 2:20 into the video.)

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During Mussolini’s rule of Italy, the country had a recreational organization called the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (the OND). While the main purpose of the OND under Mussolini was to promote Fascism, it was surprisingly progressive in that it allowed women to participate in “masculine” sports, which were normally limited to males only. However, the Catholic Church was opposed to this and pressured Mussolini’s government into barring female participation in any “masculine” activities. After all, Italian women might have started to think they could do manly sports like rowing *gasp*. That could turn female athletes into devil-worshiping lesbian heathens or something equally horrific! (Like skilled athletes?)

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Although for the most part this rant is filled with generalizations, it does, sadly, have some valid points. Which states were in the Confederacy? Which states advocated for slavery? Which states make up the Bible Belt? Which states opposed interracial marriage and are currently opposing same-sex marriage? Which states have consistently been conservative and thus opposed whatever social progress other states were trying to promote at the time, like integration or abolition? The answer is the Southern states. Here’s a censored (although still somewhat vulgar) version of Annotated Rant’s rant on the South (think of the chil’runs!):

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