What happened to Hideki's Random Stuff?

On September 6th, there has been report from Google webmaster's tool that there's something wrong with sitemap.xml -- further inspecting the issue, it was found that there have been some issue in interactive portion of the Drupal website was malfunctioning. As the time goes by, problem started getting worse, once cache expired and contents are dynamically generated, the website eventually starting to melt down, with rather unpleasant error message -- that SQLite database, which was the system was running on was malformed.

Researching further, it seems to be some repairable case of the error, however, digging deeper, this particular seems to be beyond repair.

Here's an issue: I was stupid enough to not have back up on the SQLite database file residing on the site -- so I'm now stuck without all the backlog on the blog disappeared. I may be able to open .ht.sqlite file in text editor to recover contents of the file, but probably without date portion of the posting intact -- as I really doubt they are in human readable format.

Bright side of the story is that I am currently staging a NPO website which actually uses similar setup -- now I think I am migrating it to better setup, perhaps with MySQL server instead of crappy SQLite database.

Two lessons I learned:

1. Back up database file.
2. Drop SQLite.

Summer 2011 Animes I'm Watching

As shown on my watchlist.
I'm continuing to watch:

• My Ordinary Life (Nichijou - 日常)
• Hanasaku Iroha (花咲くいろは)
• STEINS;GATE (シュタインズ・ゲート)

New anime this seasons I'm currently watchings are:

• Usagi Drop (うさぎドロップ)
• The Idol Master (The Idolm@ster)
• YuruYuri (ゆるゆり)
• Moritasan wa Mukuchi (森田さんは無口)
• R-15
• The Mystic Archive of Dantelian (ダンタリアンの書架)

I really didn't have much of high expectation when I started watching Usagi Drop. I do like it so far. It'd be interesting to see how the story progresses. The Idol Master, I haven't played the game, and I don't know much about it -- I am happy to finally get to see characters that I have been hearing about; it's more like, "ohh, that's the girl who's fond of digging a hole to bury herself in." Characters looking good from what I've seen in the past, it looks quite faithful to the original version. YuruYuri is strange. I'm not so much into yuri stuff, but it's funny.Moritasan wa Mukuchi is very short, like 3 minutes, but I guess that what makes it good. It's a bite sized fun. R-15 is relatively mature themed, but not too much. Will they be removing those white censors for DVD release or what? And finally, the Mystic Archive of Dantelian is worth watching just by the fact that Miyuki Sawashiro does Dalian's voice.
From the last season, I finished watching A Bridge to the Starry Skies (星空へ架かる橋). It seems like there have been some critics, mainly from people who have played the game version. Not knowing the game version, it was quite typical story executed fairly decently, though being 13-episodes show, it was bit rushed in my opinion.

Tags: 

anime

How to Use SSH Tunneling on Chrome OS

Google Chrome OS has built-in shell called crosh, and I have discovered stable release of Chrome OS has built-in SSH subsystem.
Connecting to SSH host is easy part, a little different from typical SSH command line.
Here are steps:

1. Launch crosh by pressing Ctrl-Alt-T
2. Type in ssh
3. Depending on SSH server in question, you may have to supply different set of information to this interactive shell:
   • host [hostname]
   • user [username]
   • port [port number] (if the host is using anything other than standard SSH port)
   • dynamic-forward [port number] (with this example, I will use port number of 8800, thus dynamic-forward 8800)
   • key [key file name] (if the host requires private key)
   • nocmd (this prevents shell on the host to launch, because for the port forwarding, you do not need this.)
4. Type in connect
5. Type in password of the server, or passphrase to the secret key

These steps would establish the connection to the SSH server, forwarding port 8800 as SOCKS port.
The problem is ChromeOS currently does not support SOCKS5 configuration from its UI. Therefore, you will have to do little bit of workaround. (It only supports SOCKS4, if you specify SOCKS proxy through UI -- this is bad because this means DNS resolution takes place locally, which could result in potential security risk as whoever on the network you have connected could redirect DNS requests.) Chrome OS supports SOCKS5 internally, but since there is no UI to configure it, it needs to be configured through Proxy Auto Config. This allows SOCKS5 proxy to be supplied to ChromeOS, which makes it resolve to remote host.
Here's a configuration file that will force ChromeOS to use SOCKS5 on port 8800.

function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
return "SOCKS5 localhost:8800;";
}

You can transfer this file to ChromeOS system. (You can also download this from my site -- ssh.pac.) Go into proxy setting in the ChromeOS, specify this script under proxy script. (If you've downloaded to your download directory, you can specify file://home/chronos/user/Downloads/ssh.pac. You may want to specify different file name so it won't be overwritten.) After you've done this, head to chrome://net-internals/#proxy. If Effective Settings calls for your PAC script instead of DIRECT, then it should be configured correctly. (Also try heading tothis link to see if it appears to be coming from the remote host.)
Unless you are connecting through your SSH tunnel all the time, you may want to use direct connection time to time. You could also change proxy setting for direct connection, however doing so will wipe file name for the script, which could be inconvenient, as you will have to remember full path to the PAC script. You can tackle this problem by having another script like the following:

function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
return "DIRECT;";
}

(The file is also available from my site -- direct.pac.)
This way, you can simply replace file name under the script setting when you need to switch between two.

Freenet's Move to Social System

Freenet a "free software which lets you anonymously share files, browse and publish "freesites" (web sites accessible only through Freenet) and chat on forums, without fear of censorship," is now making a move toward censorship resistent social networking system.
Freenet, essentially is a decentralized hard drive, with cryptographically implemented input and output controls -- a person could push contents into Freenet, and other person can retrieve. With clever use of these simple systems, now BBS (Bulletin Board System), social network, and blog sites are emerging.

A BBS on Freenet is nothing new -- external software called Frost is quite functional BBS that utilizes Freenet infrastructure. However, it has its own problem. First, it is external software. User has to go to Frost's site and download the software. While not difficult, it introduced additional burden on users' side that they have to have this software to access to the system. Secondly, Frost is not very resistent to spamming.
Freenet's new Freetalk integrates to Freenet interface, and will be ready to use whenever Freenet is available. (as long as it is enabled.) It works right on a browser.


Combating against spam on Freenet is somewhat contradictory, as whole point of Freenet system is resist censorship. Therefore, Freetalk (and other items I cover in this article) utilizes scheme called Web of Trust. Web of Trust may sound familier with one who has worked with OpenPGP softwares. It is essentially, trust system based on how peers trust others. With this system, while spam would be there, spammers will (inevitably) starting to receive low score, and can be filtered out. One thing to note is that Web of Trust system, unlike with OpenPGP, is pseudonym. A person can have multiple ID under Freenet's Web of Trust, but origination of messages can be verified under this system.

Using this same basic system, there is a system called Sone (Freenet link) which offers Facebook/Twitter like system that allows users to have their own time lines. Visitors will be able to interact with posts by commenting and liking, just like on Facebook. While offered by third-party, it is implemented as Freenet plugin, which can be also used right on Freenet interface through the browser.

Blogging on Freenet, called Flog is not new, but there's now a helper application on Freenet called FlogHelper. This allows you to setup Flog, as well as managing posts within. Visitor can access through Freenet's address. The picture below is a Flog by the developer of Freenet.

With those tools now available, Freenet is becoming true communication site, and will hopefully be providing censorship resistent communication, especially to countries like China where strong censorship is in place.

A Call for Help Resolving Google Chrome Issue

I have been observing the issue with Google Chrome mainly on Mac OS X, that in some instance, the browser would show wrong URL and page title.

For instance, the screenshot on this page shows problem -- the page I've navigated was creativecommons.org, but page title shows "New tab" (my UI is set to Japanese, thus showing it in Japanese) as it also shows chrome://newtab. Reloading this page would cause new tab page to load, and forward and back functionality will function as if it was on the page display on the URL displayed. (If navigated slashdot.org then cnn.com, and then navigated to creativecommons.org -- if the bar says http://www.cnn.com/ then refreshing will refresh to cnn.com, back button will put you back to slashdot.org, and once you are back to slashdot.org pressing forward button will cause cnn.com to load. I observe is this can happen in any pages, and persists until I kill the browser process of the page instance. As annoying this could be, this also carries security implication, as one could be navigating to website for bank, and if they have navigated to possible phishing site, the browser still will show URL and title for the bank. So far I have observed this issue on Mac OS X, but it might be happening on other operating systems, too.

I reported this as issue 82073 (may not be visible as it is security issue) however was told they won't fix unless I have repro step. As I feel it is very critical issue, I would like to see if I can provide them repro step, and the first step is to find out if there are any patterns. However, so far I haven't found the cause yet.
If you happen to see this issue, please let me know of your environment, URL of the site affected, browser version, extensions installed, as well as any operations you have been doing when you observed the issue. As the security bug, if Google is to offer bounty on it, I will see if they'll be able to split it among contributors, and if not, I will refuse such payment and have it donated to charity. Main thing is that I want this to be addressed.
Thank you for your help in advance!

Social Expectations in Japan and Why I Can't Ever Live in Japan

During Sakura-Con, I had chance listening to Roland Kelts talking about foreigner living in Japan. He said that if foreigners visit Japan, they can't be one of them (Japanese) but they will be able to enjoy benefit of being in Japan without being expected to be Japanese. (and any effort of blending into them will be taken favorably by Japanese.)
This was very interesting to hear from "foreigner perspective", as its flip-side is exactly what I had in mind, and what I have been writing in the past. In the US, even though I'm considered to be American, a lot of people still may see me as foreigner, but at same time, that doesn't mean much, as a lot of Americans are originally from foreign country; it's just part of the society. However, this creates very awkward situation for me to be in Japan.
I have been long enough in Japan; first 13 years of my life to be exact, and I understand sociological norm in Japan. However, it is also true that I have been living in the States for 18 years. This makes it very awkward when I visit Japan; while I understand that norm, I do not necessary believe in executing it myself. I speak perfect Japanese, I look like Japanese, and I don't look like a foreigner -- so unless I pretend I don't speak Japanese; which actually I have done casually in the past, Japanese people expect me to behave, and more importantly, think like Japanese.
Because their social expectation for me to act like Japanese, I do not get any credits for efforts of act (and think) like Japanese, because they assume that what I am supposed to be doing, yet any deviance from it would count negative toward me.
I don't have any problem living in the States looking like Japanese, but this is why I sometimes wish I looked like foreigners in Japan.
While I am doubtful I will ever be living in Japan, this will be certainly life-long wonder of how I should mitigate this "identity crisis" every time I visit Japan, or merely dealing with Japanese elsewhere.

Anime I'm Watching

Crunchyroll allows me to watch many titles, in fact I'm watching 10 times more than I used to be.
The one I finished recently, is Squid Girl (Ika-Musume). This show certainly isn't the best one I've ever seen, but I enjoyed it a lot. (In fact, Ika-Musume was one of few reasons I signed up for Crunchyroll premium-geso.
Some highlights from this season:

• Nichijou (My Ordinary Life) - Hilarious (in good way) in many ways. Memorable character. If you only have time to watch one show this season, watch this one. Opening and Ending songs makes this even better.
• Hoshizora e Kakeru Hashi (A Bridge to the Starry Sky) - Anime based on gal-ge from same title. Just as good as you can expect from such conversion.
• STEINS;GATE - Story involving machine that can TXT back to the past. Interesting story.
• Hanasaku Iroha - Honestly, I didn't have high expectation from this show before I watched. I found first few episodes to be bit irritating, as I found most characters to be quite mean. But it gets better as the story progresses.

I've recently watched Clannad the Movie, but this one deserves it own entry, and I will do that once I've written one up.
Also my Watchlist is available in case you are wondering what I'm up to.

Donation for Earthquake, Tsunami in Japan

As you probably know by now, North-Eastern part of Japan has suffered major earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which caused devastating damage to the region. They are dealing with many problems still; aftershocks, additional earthquake (yes you heard it right…Shizuoka region got hit by another — not as strong, but still major one) as well as continuing problem with nuclear power plants.
Last weekend, I responded the call to create the website called SeattleJapanRelief and it was my honor taking part launching this collaborative effort.
So if you or someone you know are considering donation, please do direct them to the website above. You don’t have to be in Seattle area to donate through it!