Seems that I get about a hundred searches a week for this, so here it is.

If you've tried to register a domain name recently, you've probably been a bit concerned that all the good names are gone - although I've tried to point out on numerous occasions that there are still a lot of good names left if you think outside the box. 

But the big question is, where did all the names go?  Let's just take a random example. Let's have a look at 'hotclub.com'. Go ahead, visit the site if you want - but be warned they'll make it hard to get back here. The domain doesn't belong to a speculator, hoping they can sell the name for more money. It doesn't even really have anything to do with a business related to 'hot' and 'club'. It's just an 'advertising domain'. 

There are hundreds of companies out there, buying up (or just taking) any name that is recognizable. Then they park it with a search bar and make money off of the type-in traffic - selling advertising. If it's a common enough name, they're going to get thousands of random hits over the course of a year, and they'll make money off of anybody who responds to the targetted ads and clicks a link.

A few years ago, this kind of business couldn't survive, because you needed enough paid advertising to offset the $60/year domain name fees that once were charged. But deregulation of the domain name business changed all that. If you become an official registrar, the names are free to you. Not only that, but you have inside advantages to grabbing expiring domain names of interest. That's what these companies are doing. Becoming registrars and then taking every decent name that comes along. They build up portfolios of thousands or millions of websites, all serving up advertising for a few pennies a click. Over time it all adds up, because the cost to them is essentially nothing.

And there's nothing really wrong with this except that it removes millions of domain names from the pool. Any name that is pronounceable or based on simple word combinations. Unless somebody bought it ten years ago and held onto it, it's now parked and serving advertising for an offshore corporation. What did they leave for the rest of us? Mostly just junk. You can still find domains like 40ixqpokliw.com selling on ebay. You can still register new names that are outrageously long and hardtotypewithoutmakingamistaek.com.

Occasionally you might get lucky - but be careful what website you are using to search for your new domain name. You might find the name is available - only to come back moments later and find that it's gone. Coincidence? Hardly... The domain grabbers are looking for domains that people are likely to type. You think you have some fresh new names that people are likely to type. So not only do you have the names they want but you're typing them into their web server. Doesn't this look a bit like a conflict of interest? Duh!

A while back I came up with some possibly interesting names and shared them through one of my websites. Those I mentioned in an earlier article are all still available except one. Those I mentioned in a later article are all gone but one. The big difference is that in the earlier article I looked up the names myself using Linux utilities. In the later article I used a web lookup service provided by a registrar. On yet another occasion I was blocked from registering a really cool name. It was available, but registration was blocked. Five minutes later it was registered by somebody in the Cayman Islands. Coincidence? Hardly. The name had never been registered before and all of a sudden two people try to register it at the same time? Right. Be warned.   

What can be done about this? I don't really know but I'll offer a few thoughts. Domain registrars shouldn't be able to get free or almost free domains unless everybody else can also. They also should not get any advantage on expiring domains. In fact I would go so far as suggest that domain registrars should not be allowed to own any more than one domain name - the one they use for their own registration service. There also should be a radical expansion of the top-level domain (TLD) space since all these millions of good domains are gone forever and the whole deregulated registry system to allow public accessibility to the domain name system has been thwarted. That's the high-level overview - and I realize the devil is in the details. The first step to solving a problem is recognizing that one exists.

After the rant about Daylight Saving recently, I decided it was time to put my money where my mouth is and actually make this software work across multiple timezones. It is a thankless task - unless of course you're in New York and don't appreciate seeing everything in California time.

I've since gotten it more or less working and stabilized. You still may see a couple of funny dates, but now most everything will track your time zone - and it even gets Australia right (at least for 1900-2006, knock on wood). Members of the Navajo nation should use America/Denver.  Other Arizona citizens, America/Phoenix. To set your timezone, go to the My Profile page. This assumes you've got an account. Guests are stuck in Pacific Time. Once you've set the timezone - things will start to be displayed in your own time. This is important for the Events system. 

Along with this, I've now got a World Time page to let you keep track of Tulsa Time. Or Moscow Time. Whatever.  

Oh, and I also grabbed a copy of the latest CIA world factbook and put it online. Now you can get a map of Barbados without looking all over the webiverse for it.

These items were making the 'Tools' menu kinda' big so I split the menus up once again. Now there's a 'Reference' menu as well.

Oh yeah, more fun stuff ... check out a Random word in the dictionary . 

Development will probably start to slow down now. I believe I've found some paid employment to keep me busy. Details to come in due time.  

I wrote some months ago about the mis-guided initiative to change Daylight Saving Time yet again. As it turns out, the law was quietly passed about a month ago. I've been recently looking at the impact and what software I have that will require changing to avoid any troubles next year when it goes into effect.

It doesn't help that the law has built-into it a review by the Energy Commission. The outcome of this review may in fact negate or void the law. You ever tried to code something like that into software? Yarghhh.

Those folks who produce software which uses Daylight Saving calculations are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They must scramble now to ensure their products conform and have time to be deployed before the change occurs. But if the Energy Commission review voids the law, they are left scrambling once again - and little time to deploy.

Your operating system will require upgrading. This isn't much of a problem for Windows XP folks, since live updates are built-in (assuming you have the service turned on). For Linux, it's a bit more problematic. I have no idea if my service providor in Los Angeles plans to upgrade, so my websites may report the wrong time for several weeks. There's nothing I can do to fix it, except to check the time and see if the timezone rules were properly applied or not for those few weeks.

Talk about wasted code...

But were you aware that DST is not practiced in Arizona? (Hawaii as well, but that's far removed from the standard four US time zones and usually has its own field in software forms). Does your timezone setting software ask if you live in Arizona? Ah, but the Navajo Nation observes DST, even in Arizona. Does your timezone setting software ever ask you if you are part of the Navajo Nation? Mine doesn't.

The madness continues...

We've got a fresh group of brand-new spammers sending us stuff. How do I know? Today close to half of my daily spam was source code. Things like

From: {%x} 

Subject: {%rand_string}

Those aren't actual examples from today. I'm using them for illustration. I see about twenty different spam packages at work today and the code changes, but the concept doesn't.

What you see here are what we call 'variables' in the software world. Things like {%rand_string} are supposed to get replaced while the message is further processed. Let me guess - this one would be replaced with a random string of characters.

Spam software is just like any other software - and has by definition grown more complicated over time. There are setup and configuration files which need to be tweaked to make everything work right before Mr. Spammer ever sends out a message. If we, the recipients, are seeing lots of raw unprocessed variables that haven't been replaced, it indicates that this particular software package wasn't installed and configured correctly. If there's a large number of unconfigured or mis-configured spam software packages sending you mail, that indicates we've probably got a lot of newbies at work. Or several of the spam software packages just had a major upgrade. (It isn't just one package, because the variables are written differently in most cases). I don't have the answer. Just the observation.

I think the most interesting and amusing of the subject line generators is the one that goes 'Your {noun}, {adverb} {verb}'. I know you've seen them: Your pudding, easily running. Your future, quickly fishing. That kind of thing...   

I read the news today - oh boy!

Sometimes you have to get past the soundbites and really read some detail of the latest world events. It's my turn to make them into soundbites...

Pakistan makes peace with the Taliban - there go our chances of ever getting Osama

The military decides to abide by the Geneva convention - it's about bloody time

Iran, Iran, Iran - let's not go there. I mean it. Let's not go there.

Iraq - I think we're getting close to the same number of soldiers lost in the war on terror as we lost people on September 11. 

Japan has an heir for the next generation finally - how quaint

Mexico relives our 2000 presidential election - except the loser is sore

Mr. Irwin, the crocodile hunter, was filmed as he was quote "interacting" with the stingray that killed him.  - "Interacting". Hmmm. Interesting word. 

I'll stop there.  

I've been helping out at Norm's Music in the afternoons while the back-to-school rush is on. Norm called this morning and said there was no need to come in today. His store was burgled last night. I dropped by anyway.

The scene was profound in the sense of the robber's (or robbers') knowledge of luthiery. They cleaned out the high-end violins and guitars. The cheap stuff was left behind. Most revealing was that he/she/they had gone through drawers full of violin bows and grabbed three drawers containing all the $1000 and up bows - and left behind the $49 and $150 bows. Your average thief isn't going to know the difference. There are no brand names to look at. Most did not have price tags. You have to be not just a violin enthusiast, but a violin expert to pick these out of a crowd. Similiar story on the violins themselves. Somebody knew exactly what they were after, and which instruments had high-end value. A handful of high end guitars. These were branded and knowledge of what's valuable is pretty widepsread so that wasn't surprising. But the violins were the real target, and the thief or thieves have knowledge approaching the 'expert' category. For instance I know a lot about violins, but not enough to have pulled this off.

Somewhere (probably in this area) is a highly knowledgeable violin scoundrel. On the bright side, it's a small world. There are only a handful of people with this kind of knowledge.