On October 16th I linked to a blog of a friend of Rick Gleason that was posting updates and messages. Rick Gleason was seriously injured in the bombing in Bali and was airlifted to Australia.
Rick Gleason died from his injuries today. Another Canadian from Calgary Mervin Popadynec is missing and presumed dead.
Internet attack
On Monday, the 13 root servers for the internet got hit with a simultaneous DDOS ( distributed denial of service) attack. It lasted about an hour and most internet users wouldn’t have noticed. However, if it had continued, there would have been considerable disruption of service. This was
the largest and most sophisticated attempt to take down the internet to date.

cre8d-design
Yesterday I mentioned that a site stole/ borrowed/ took/used Rachel Cunliffe’s design from her web site without so much as a please. (Follow the links in the post below)
Now. This is plain wrong. No, it should not be done, but he had not yet had a chance to explain or apologize before there was a pile on over at Web Pages That Suck. A lot of comments were generated and a lot of people got a lot of exercise jumping to condemnations.
What his friend did was wrong. He needs to take his friend to task. He promptly apologized to Rachel. He followed through and has taken down the design and posted another apology on his site.

I really wish tech types would cut some of us some slack. They can act so harsh, superior and incredulous. We all can, but I’ve had some sorry experiences being shamed by techies while getting myself out on the web. Being out on the web for many of us is like being thrown in the deep end of the pool without a swimming lesson. I don’t learn when I’m being scorned or
condescended to. I’m still what techs call a ‘newbie.’
Blogging is great, but I am a poster child for the headaches, frustrations, screwups, stupidity and ignorance regarding tech skills. That could have been me who trusted a friend that messed up.
This guy has learned a painful lesson, that could have been learned without all that flaming. Patrick, if I deviated from facts and hurt you, I apologize.
Occasionally I have to correct a ‘tech’ post. I’m not gifted regarding technical skills let alone the nuances, and fortunately I work with techs that cut me some slack. They tease me a lot, but they cut me some slack. They know my knowledge and skills are useful to them and that it will take years for me to learn what they are passionate and knowledgeble about.

I’d like to see everyone who left a derogatory, nasty comments over at Web Pages That Suck show some of the grace and humility that Rachel and Patrick have.