I had a few minutes after lunch this afternoon so I decided to put together something I’ve wanted for quite a while: a custom 404 page.

For those not in the know, a 404 page is a special Web page that a Web server displays only when someone requests a page or file that does not exist, or at least does not exist at that location. Usually these are pretty boring, like this:

Naturally, something that humdrum simply won’t do for a high-class operation like this one (*cough* *hack* *wheeze*), so I created a 404 page with a tad more zazz.

Now, when someone requests a page that is not available on Uncle Andrew Dot Net, this is what they will see.

Pity the most common 404’s I get are coming from human offal trying to hack my site using an outdated xmlrpc sploit. Not only would they likely not appreciate it, given the nature of these hacks they probably won’t even see it.

For those of you on T-Mobile cell service, this may be the time to reconsider your carrier. According to this Seattle Times article, T-Mobile is increasing the cost of text messages to ten cents per message, while simultaneously refusing to disable text-messaging on their phones or to credit subscribers for erroneous or spam messages. How’s that for customer service?

If you’re looking for a recommendation, I’m quite happy with our Verizon service. They do allow me to disable text-messaging on our phones. Also, they have flatly refused to join the industry-wide push to release a wireless 411 directory, making your cell phone number available to anyone who wants to try to sell you aluminum siding while you’re trying to have dinner in a nice restaurant.

Whether you choose to change providers or not, you might want to let T-Mobile know how you feel about this.