Friday, August 31, 2001
A slight cheat today - I 'blogged' several posts yesterday at different times but don't like the way lots of small additions look on-screen. So I'm editing them into one piece today and I'll see about adding some extras while I'm here.
- "MS Hailstorm is no threat", so says Linus Torvalds according to The Register.
- A different take on where this is leading can be found here at CNet about MS FUD.
- More MS stuff - Hotmail is insecure - as if you didn't know! - read here about yet another 'hack'.
- But what's this?!! MS release a tool to help tie-down IIS problems - erm, I wonder what problems it will create.
- And another Torvalds story from ZDNEt here, Making Linux usable tops Torvalds' list.
- Some excellent pix at this site, Exhibition of High Speed Photography.
- Another Register story, by Kevin Poulsen, follows up the USAF sergeant busted for hacking.
And great news to end for now - StarOffice v6 is due out soon and the changes look very promising. I must admit that despite its rather clumsy 'integrated' look I do like StarOffice, if only because it isn't MS and it IS free!
Thursday, August 30, 2001
A day at work and all's well with the world - apart from the leaking cistern, the poor exam results and this lump under my arm.
What have I spotted out there - or rather, what have a noticed on the sites I visit that other people have spotted out there?!
Scott Adams (creator of the Dilbert strip) has the 'Ultimate Cubicle' for disgruntled workers here.
The Register have their take on IE6 here.
The same folk also point to a report about how poor the mobile phone shops in the UK are - rather sums up any High Street retailer in this country I think though the electrical and electronic ones are the worst.
Here at ZDNet there is a report of attacks on home computers increasing in the wake of broadband take up. Depends what your IP is I think ... yesterday I had a 62.255.xxx.xxx address but after an NTL glitch in the morning I now have a 213.107.xxx.xxx address, and the garbage has shot up. Not just the obvious Code Red stuff but lots of other probes AND many, many, many from the same 213.107 area too - NTLs backyard.
And here we have yet another government going down the same route of wanting to monitor as much as they can about online activity - the analogy in the story of putting microphones in public bars and recording everything is a good one. Lets hope there's not going to be too much "he who drinks Australian, thinks Australian" around the world!
That's enough for tonight - time for bed said Zebedee.
What have I spotted out there - or rather, what have a noticed on the sites I visit that other people have spotted out there?!
Scott Adams (creator of the Dilbert strip) has the 'Ultimate Cubicle' for disgruntled workers here.
The Register have their take on IE6 here.
The same folk also point to a report about how poor the mobile phone shops in the UK are - rather sums up any High Street retailer in this country I think though the electrical and electronic ones are the worst.
Here at ZDNet there is a report of attacks on home computers increasing in the wake of broadband take up. Depends what your IP is I think ... yesterday I had a 62.255.xxx.xxx address but after an NTL glitch in the morning I now have a 213.107.xxx.xxx address, and the garbage has shot up. Not just the obvious Code Red stuff but lots of other probes AND many, many, many from the same 213.107 area too - NTLs backyard.
And here we have yet another government going down the same route of wanting to monitor as much as they can about online activity - the analogy in the story of putting microphones in public bars and recording everything is a good one. Lets hope there's not going to be too much "he who drinks Australian, thinks Australian" around the world!
That's enough for tonight - time for bed said Zebedee.
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
So - here we go again. Some general thoughts first for a change.
Why the fuss over new car registrations? Okay - so lots (most if the news reporters are right) of people are confused by what the different parts may mean - but .. so what! It isn't life-threatening or even important. You can still go and buy a car whatever the registration may be, you can still note down the number if necessary. Lack of news day I guess - apart from, there WAS plenty of news today! Here's a link to some info from the DVLA about it anyway.
Have copied the next item - links too - direct from SlashDot because it is about Chuck Moore and Forth! I had to include it because of the reference to Forth which I tried out first way back on the old Acorn Atom - what fun that was loading from tape!
Chuck Moore is, among other things, a chip designer. His latest design, the 25x, is based on a 5x5 array of X18 microprocessor cores, and could provide 60,000 MIPS with a production cost of about one dollar. And Moore has the chops to back that up: he's been designing tiny, efficient processors for many years. He's also the inventor of the programming language Forth, which has evolved from a miniscule but radically fast language "difficult for a human to read" (according to The Secret Guide) to the even more radical colorForth. How radical? Try "includes own operating system; has own 27-key Dvorak keyboard layout; meaningful color syntax." How's that for starters?
Here's an item for Tony - software-defined radio systems (SDR).
ZDNet UK have a review of about 11 LCD screens here - still not cheap though.
And to finish - having mentioned the Acorn Atom higher up - why not bring the old BBC Microcomputer in with the 'BBC Lives' website.
G'night all.
Why the fuss over new car registrations? Okay - so lots (most if the news reporters are right) of people are confused by what the different parts may mean - but .. so what! It isn't life-threatening or even important. You can still go and buy a car whatever the registration may be, you can still note down the number if necessary. Lack of news day I guess - apart from, there WAS plenty of news today! Here's a link to some info from the DVLA about it anyway.
Have copied the next item - links too - direct from SlashDot because it is about Chuck Moore and Forth! I had to include it because of the reference to Forth which I tried out first way back on the old Acorn Atom - what fun that was loading from tape!
Chuck Moore is, among other things, a chip designer. His latest design, the 25x, is based on a 5x5 array of X18 microprocessor cores, and could provide 60,000 MIPS with a production cost of about one dollar. And Moore has the chops to back that up: he's been designing tiny, efficient processors for many years. He's also the inventor of the programming language Forth, which has evolved from a miniscule but radically fast language "difficult for a human to read" (according to The Secret Guide) to the even more radical colorForth. How radical? Try "includes own operating system; has own 27-key Dvorak keyboard layout; meaningful color syntax." How's that for starters?
Here's an item for Tony - software-defined radio systems (SDR).
ZDNet UK have a review of about 11 LCD screens here - still not cheap though.
And to finish - having mentioned the Acorn Atom higher up - why not bring the old BBC Microcomputer in with the 'BBC Lives' website.
G'night all.
Tuesday, August 28, 2001
Have just re-arranged the directories on drive K: (the web server volume on the P133) to allow me to easily swap between Sambar and MailTraq while trying things out.
I've also been playing about with archives on here, the templates and other bits don't quite work, they seem to miss the archive directory out so I've changed things so that all files go in the same directory. Will probably aid page layout by avoiding the need to put extra graphics files elsewhere.
So this post is just to check that ftp to the weblog upload directory works and then I can check the results in a browser too.
I've also been playing about with archives on here, the templates and other bits don't quite work, they seem to miss the archive directory out so I've changed things so that all files go in the same directory. Will probably aid page layout by avoiding the need to put extra graphics files elsewhere.
So this post is just to check that ftp to the weblog upload directory works and then I can check the results in a browser too.
I seem to have missed a day! That's what happens when you post early and you are really a night-person.
Never mind. I managed to decide upon a design for the website and put it together earlier today, now I just need to try it 'in situ' to check those links that only work in school.
Checking the news before going to bed and what do I find?
And that will do for tonight/today.
Never mind. I managed to decide upon a design for the website and put it together earlier today, now I just need to try it 'in situ' to check those links that only work in school.
Checking the news before going to bed and what do I find?
- The BBC have a story about the worst teacher shortages since 1965 - denied by our beloved govt. of course.
- What about a geek-type joke concerning the DMCA from the States - don't look unless you know what 'grep' means! (thanks SlashDot)
- Here's a great article about using a couple of Linky WAPs with as wireless bridges - wish I could afford to play about with these things.
- Where would I be without a regular fix of BOFH via The Register - disaster recovery is the theme this time.
- I guess it depends on your point of view but you gotta be a bit sad to want to pay £3.99 per month to watch Middlesboro FC.
And that will do for tonight/today.
Sunday, August 26, 2001
A bit later in the day than previous posts - why?
I have been trying to find a decent design for the internal school web front page. I know roughly what I want to do but getting it together so I'm happy isn't going according to plan! I've been through several (perhaps 20) different designs but none have felt right. Some of it is the need to use red to follow the school colours - I find it too glaring and prefer something more muted. Never mind - I'll have to compromise on something soon I think.
To follow up yesterdays brief story, here's more details about Ken Tyrrell from ITV-F1 here.
Although I'm quite pleased the temperature has dropped today it is a shame for those festival/carnival-goers who are out-and-about today. Too early to know how Notting Hill is going but some crowd problems up in Glasgow at the Gig on the Green.
Here's the BBC London Live link to Notting Hill too.
Fingers-crossed that Reading is not too wet - daughter number one has gone for today only.
I think that will do for now.
The first part was written late afternoon but this has taken ages to post as connection to Blogger has been problematic to say the least - fingers-crossed (again) that I will be able to send this after the extra editing.
Since the earlier part I came across this link to Pirates, a site about a Nokia trial in wireless gaming.
I have been trying to find a decent design for the internal school web front page. I know roughly what I want to do but getting it together so I'm happy isn't going according to plan! I've been through several (perhaps 20) different designs but none have felt right. Some of it is the need to use red to follow the school colours - I find it too glaring and prefer something more muted. Never mind - I'll have to compromise on something soon I think.
To follow up yesterdays brief story, here's more details about Ken Tyrrell from ITV-F1 here.
Although I'm quite pleased the temperature has dropped today it is a shame for those festival/carnival-goers who are out-and-about today. Too early to know how Notting Hill is going but some crowd problems up in Glasgow at the Gig on the Green.
Here's the BBC London Live link to Notting Hill too.
Fingers-crossed that Reading is not too wet - daughter number one has gone for today only.
I think that will do for now.
The first part was written late afternoon but this has taken ages to post as connection to Blogger has been problematic to say the least - fingers-crossed (again) that I will be able to send this after the extra editing.
Since the earlier part I came across this link to Pirates, a site about a Nokia trial in wireless gaming.
Saturday, August 25, 2001
sad news if you follow F1 - Ken Tyrrell dead
So - another day, another dollar. Let's see if I can't make this blog more relevant by using it to record (possibly) useful links and things. No idea what I'll put here so it will likely be a real mish-mash of bits and pieces. Here are a few things that have struck me today:
Perhaps some time down the road I'll get a better sense of what to target, for now though - any link's a good link.
- Robert Cringely has a 'make your own DSL' page here
- the good old Beeb has a story about Linux turning 10 years old
- while The Register has a story about Linux and UK car registrations
- from ZDNet there is a story about an 'Offensive' trojan - more Code Red hype or not?
- and to finish I'll stick in a link to Need To Know - just for good measure!
Perhaps some time down the road I'll get a better sense of what to target, for now though - any link's a good link.
Friday, August 24, 2001
I've been doing some other work since the previous contribution but before taking a break I decided to come back and see about those paragraphs!
Just press [ENTER] didn't work last time so now I'm using the HTML paragraph tag directly in the text.
Does it work? Let's post this and see.
Well - just got up ("I was working late last night missus!") and having read through the various mail and list messages I thought I'd better add something to this.
I need to try things out.
This post will see what the page looks like with all these CRs, I'm hoping it does the standard HTML new paragraph trick.
And what about a web-link? Here's one to a story on The Register about 'Dead People voting for MS'.
That'll do for now.
I need to try things out.
This post will see what the page looks like with all these CRs, I'm hoping it does the standard HTML new paragraph trick.
And what about a web-link? Here's one to a story on The Register about 'Dead People voting for MS'.
That'll do for now.
This is my first posting having only just set this up. It didn't take too long to define the FTP settings on the home site and it was pleasantly refreshing to find the first post from the Blogger editor worked. And that will do for now I think!
Wednesday, August 01, 2001
About This Blog
I use this blog to quickly note stories, postings, sites and anything else I come across using the Blogger button for quick archiving. Sometimes I revisit these postings to add or edit, usually they just get left to accumulate.
Sticking them into one place allows me to use Google and my own search engine to track down items when I need to refer back. Don't expect any more of this site than an archive of things that have caught my interest at various times.
I use several other weblogs to post in more organised ways.
Sticking them into one place allows me to use Google and my own search engine to track down items when I need to refer back. Don't expect any more of this site than an archive of things that have caught my interest at various times.
I use several other weblogs to post in more organised ways.
