Should I take it as a compliment that somebody took the time to hack my online archive of articles? It’s still pretty irritating. Whatever the twisted motivations of the hacker, my web guardians and I are now figuring out how to repair the mess. My apologies to anyone seeking an article.
About The Loom
Carl Zimmer writes about science regularly for the New York Times and magazines such as Discover, where he is a contributing editor and columnist.
He is the author of seven books, the most recent of which is The Tangled Bank: An Introduction To Evolution. His website is carlzimmer.com and his address is [ blog at carlzimmer dot com ].
Recent PostsScience Tattoo Emporium
I once wondered aloud if scientists had tattoos of their science. The answer was yes, and this ever-growing collection is the evidence. If you want to share your own scientific ink, send it to me with some explanation.
Books by Carl Zimmer
The Tangled Bank is the best written and best illustrated introduction to evolution of the Darwin centennial decade, and also the most conversant with ongoing research.--E. O. Wilson, Harvard University
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"Superb...quietly revolutionary"--Boston Globe
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"Fascinating...thrilling... Zimmer has produced a top-notch work of popular science."--Los Angeles Times
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"As thorough as it is graceful...This is as fine a book as one will find on the subject."--Scientific American
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"A book capable of changing how we see the world."--The Los Angeles Times
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"A fascinating story, which Zimmer unfolds as a tale of high-stakes scientific sleuthing."--Booklist
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- DISCOVERmagazine: Living World
- DISCOVER Blogs: Bad Astronomy
May 13th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Well, let’s see. You write extensively about evolution. You take on George Will and other anti-science folks who don’t do fact checking. You glorify tattoos. And so on. You seem to be a perfect target for right wing hackers. Not that I know of too many such hackers, but there must be a few.
May 13th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I’m so sorry to hear of this. Please tell us you have them backed up somewhere?
May 13th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
It could be a less sinister hack: some bot bit decided the traffic to your site was worth hijacking, and went and did it, indifferent to whatever content may lie within.
May 13th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Any idea who it was? I hope you have backups. Good thing the bookcover poll is elsewhere!
May 13th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Ugh! That has got to be very annoing!
May 13th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Right-wing hack used to refer to people like George Will, Bil l O’Reilly etc. Seems there is a new definition.
May 13th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Looks like the server itself forgot how to present php. May not even be a hack.
Have your provider check out their install.
May 13th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
jb–Unfortunately, it is definitely a hack. We even know the IP address of the hacker, who got into my account at http://cutephp.com/ and even put some files there.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Most service providers keep backups, even if they don’t say they do. Here’s hoping you’re on tape drive somewhere.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
There’s some data from Feb ‘08 here: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://carlzimmer.com/articles/index.php
May 13th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
“Right-Wingers” — the new all-purpose scapegoats. Server crash? Right-wingers did it. Can’t get a table? Right-wingers stole them.
Here’s a hypothesis: maybe you were hacked by mindless, knee-jerk leftists who have to shoehorn every incident into their personal set of political stereotypes.
May 13th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Carl:
Well, that’s a shame. Sorry to be wrong, sir.
May 13th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Just about to log off- but like Michelle asked, does the mag back up data? It’ll right itself…
C.
May 13th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I feel for you, Carl. It’s been going around–they got my author site, another author’s site that I designed, and sites for three writing groups I host on the same server. And guess who had to spend all day cleaning up the mess…
May 14th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Well this is an ugly bummer. As much as I’d like to see my own productivity on a par with Carl’s, I wouldn’t want it made to seem so by decreasing his apparent output. May the files soon return and the perpetrator caught and similarly … .well, DELETED would be a bit strong. But hacked, whacked, smacked, or something.
Best to you, Carl, and keep ‘em coming.
May 14th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Why did I say mag?? I meant to say site (it was late, honest! Lol!) and yes I can’t access this either withouth that command box thing.
Good luck either way Carl!
Claire