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Day: 21 October 2003

Techy: Standardised WHOIS records

October 20, 2003
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Can somebody please point me in the direction where I can either get a Perl, PHP or C/C++ module/script that will handle at least 90% of all TLD’s (top level domains) and registrars and be able to parse out “discreet” data records (such as the registrant’s address or the expiry date).

I’ve come across Perl’s Net::ParseWhois (no longer being maintained AFAIK) which only supports around 50% of the .com and .net registries and Net::Whois which supports .edu, .net and .com domains and even those not very well. I’ve also tried Geektools WP Whois Proxy scripts: but that doesn’t parse the data (plus it seems extremely slow for what it does do).

I don’t have to write handlers for 134+ registrars do I? Surly someone else has done this before me and somebody reading this blog knows how/where to get access to the script/data… Please….

If only all the registrars had agreeded on a standardised WHOIS record format *sigh*

Snippet: And whilst on the drunkard ramblings front…

October 20, 2003
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Those Natwest adverts on TV are really getting to me now. Why? Well, the way they advertise “You can contact your local branch” and “You can speak to your own business manager” – erm, aren’t all account details stored in a central computer location which can be accessed via all branches: therefore making it a little bit pointless to make you contact your own “individual” branch? Perhaps back in the days of paper records and “passbooks” (I’ve still got my old “Leicester Building Society” book by the way: the Building society is now known as Alliance and Leicester Bank PLC!) where only one branch had records of your details, but nowadays…

And the “own business manager” – at work, I deal with around 40 SEO clients and even then I occasionally forget which ones I deal with. How is any bank manager going to remember “you” as an individual when they deal with several hundred different accounts every couple of weeks? Unless you pop into the branch every week, they are unlikely to know you from Adam (unless your name does happen to be Adam – in which case substitute Adam for Bob Dole as Bob Dole just likes hearing Bob Dole talk about Bob Dole) – and, like any well run business, they will need to keep notes of the last conversation you had with them, your account number, your needs/assessment, your “value” to the bank etc. And where are they likely to keep these nowadays?

Yep – on computer records which will be stored in a central location and can be accessed by any branch of the bank….

Coincidentally, for the last year or so – there have been plans to convert the old very large Natwest branch in Leicester city (near to St.Martins Square) to a trendy wine bar 😉

Personal: Oh crap….

October 20, 2003
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Right, any posts I make within the next couple of hours may not make any sense as I’m currently slightly drunk (say practically a whole bottle of Port without much food). Why have I got drunk on a “school night”? Well, it wasn’t intentional – I just had a bit of “middling news” over the weekend which has only just really hit home.

Basically – and without saying too much – certain medical conditions can be hereditary and others are “not yet known if they could be hereditary or not”. I’ve been aware that I’ve been running a “slightly higher than average” case of suffering from a certain condition due to heritage for a couple of years now, but I was informed on Saturday that something that I thought was “one-sided” of my family tree wasn’t to be. A quick test conducted on Saturday afternoon indicated that, yes, I do appear to be already suffering from that condition – even though I’m only 24. (and, yes, I’m being intentionally vague as it’s slightly private but I just want to get it off my chest: the whole reason for this blog).

And if that isn’t enough to contend with, I stand a “higher than average risk” of suffering from a number of other conditions – and to compound it all, there was quite a bit of news coverage on Sunday evening/night about two other males suffering from the “primary condition”. B-gger.

I hope this is just ramblings of a drunkard (my subconscious does actually control my “ability to get drunk” – if I’m happy and with friends, then I cannot get drunk no matter how hard I try: my body just won’t let me drink any more :- whereas if something is playing on my mind, I just gradually get drunk until the matter arises in my main consciousness) and that I’m just suffering from a bout of acute hypochondria – but… *gulp*.

Blarg! Sometimes I hate being me!