April 2006 Archives

My ISP has (for reasons best known to themselves) moved their web servers to Windows, so this here website now sets a cookie. Feel free to block it. See Linux if ya wanna know more.

Aaaaanyway...
Probably the best eBay feedback page ever compiled: mr_bo**ox.
"This lad quite literally BEAT OFF ANOTHER BIDDER in order to secure item! A++++"

Times, they are a changin' at my ISP: Pipex. And not for the better, I can tell yer. Allow me to elaborate...
There was a time, not so long ago, when Pipex ran Solaris. Simple times. Reliable times. Good times.
Now the Beast of Redmond has reared its ugly head in the data centres at my end of the Intarweb, and all is not well:
1) During the move something broke, leaving images corrupt on ILikeJam. Just images, though, everything else was fine. I could have re-uploaded, except...
2) FTP access changed so that passive FTP is no longer allowed. Not much of a problem, only no-one bothered to notify me, so my upload script broke.
3) FTP access is now available roughly 20% of the time. '421 FTP server busy' errors are the order of the day, even on a Sunday morning.
4) My website now sets a cookie. Why? No idea. I'm not particularly happy about it though.
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Windows, eh?
I do find it slightly ironic that I had to email Pipex for support after they changed to Windows, when I support Solaris for a living. But then again, maybe that makes sense.
It should be noted that the Pipex front page (the highest priority part of their public website, one would imagine) is hosted on Linux/Apache, while the customers languish on Windows/IIS. Now, what does that tell us?

I've put up a new page for some Java stuff I've been working on.
Also, Fedora have re-jigged the dependancies for Evolution, so I am now free of BIND and NetworkManager. Yay!
I forgot to mention it earlier, but I made some udev rules, and put permanent entries on fstab to solve the mount point problem below. It's not as elegant as HAL, but such is life. It works fine for me.

Ha ha ha ha. Tree sweater? Yes. The ever awwwinspiring Cute Overload strikes again.

Went to Basics in Leeds at the weekend (have some of their gallery - their main site doesn't do it justice). None too shabby, I have to say. Riiiiight up there with the Sub (I haven't been on the Sub's new bodysonic dancefloor yet, so I'll reserve judgement). Smaller than I imagined, but on three levels for excellent gouch-couch opportunities. Weird sort of tent bit out the back too - not recommended in cold weather unless you have to, you know, 'calm yourself' for a bit.
Sound system's good as you would expect from a quality House club, and the night myself and my bruv were there it went on 'till 8 (we... sorry, I... only lasted to 5 though). Unfortunately Ralph Lawson wasn't playing, but the music was first rate House anyway. We'll catch him next time no doubt.
If you're going to Basics (or Leeds in general), be sure to get your ass into Doctor Wu's and observe the nonsense on a Saturday night before you go out. I could have sworn I saw Pedro being led out to safety, sweating profusely and looking more than slightly worse for wear.
Good times.

Nice reg plate

I bought a torch. It's pretty good.
Just thought I'd mention it.