March 2007

Video from My Phone (031307_18151.3g2) for March 13, 2007, 05:32 PM

rmiles7721March 13, 2007Site News

Video from My Phone (0313071809.3g2) for March 13, 2007, 05:10 PM

rmiles7721March 13, 2007Site News

Trackbacks

rmiles7721March 13, 2007Blogging, Technology

For some reason several people have had issues when pinging my site. This is an issues particularly since I participate in open trackbacks posts. Looking through a couple of forums I found a couple of settings to tweak that might solve the issue and I mainly wanted someplace to ‘write’ them down in case I need to tweak them later. The error that people have been getting is ‘failed: HTTP error: 403 Throttled’

I found this posting on a forum discussing MT

The configuration settings that control MT’s trackback ping throttling are in your mt-config.cgi / mt.cfg file. There are three settings that affect trackback ping throttling:

OneHourMaxPings – The maximum number of pings that a weblog can receive in one hour. If this setting is not present, MT uses a default of 10 for this setting.

OneDayMaxPings – The maximum number of pings that a weblog can receive in one “day” (with one “day” being determined by the ThrottleSeconds setting below). If this setting is not present, MT uses a default of 50 for this setting.

ThrottleSeconds – This setting is the minimum number of seconds between comments from a single IP address. MT also uses this setting when deciding whether to throttle trackback pings with the OneDayMaxPings setting, with one “day” being (4000 * ThrottleSeconds -1) seconds. If this setting is not present, MT uses a default of 20 for this setting. With the default of 20 seconds, one “day” for the OneDayMaxPings setting is a little over 22 hours (80,000 seconds).

I have added the first two settings into my config file, so hopefully that will take care of the situation.


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Still Using Dialup?

rmiles7721March 13, 2007Technology

When I first moved into my house here in Temple I had no access to any kind of broadband whatsoever. Back in late 2000 or 2001, I was able to get DSL, and shortly thereafter Cable access to the Internet. I was really not aware of this, but apparently about 40% of Internet users are still using dial-up to connect. I honestly though that more people had access to high speed Internet.

Some of those people I am sure have access to it, but just don’t want to pay anywhere from $30-$70 a month for the service. My next door neighbors that moved away a couple of months ago used dial-up, mainly because he wanted to save money. I also used to work with a guy, and he did it for the same reasons. Eventually they both migrated to high speed though.

PCDialup.com is an ISP, currently only serving the state of California, that offers dial-up access for $3.95 a month. That’s a pretty good deal if you are looking to save money. The wave of ‘free’ internet access companies has all but disappeared, and this is most definitely the next best thing. With the fact that so much of the country is using broadband, companies like PCDialup are able to access equipment and phone lines much cheaper than they could ten years ago, and are able to pass that savings on to us.

They also offer accelerated web browsing for only $1 more per month. This is for basic 56k access. As I said before, it is currently only available in California, but they will be expanding their capacity to the rest of the U.S. shortly as the service grows.

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Just a geek

rmiles7721March 12, 20076Blogging, Entertainment

I don’t guess this is really a meme in the sense, but I ran across this list over at Elisson’s who got it from Modulator, who in turn picked it up at Pharyngula. It’s “The Most Significant Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years.”

I don’t know exactly how significant some of them are, but there are some really good reads in the list. Books I’ve read are bold, return favorites are red, and one’s I have never heard of are struck out.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
 2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
 5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
 9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
 10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
 18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
 19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
 20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
 26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone*, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Personally I would have had Alan Dean Foster among the list. Timescape was OK, but certainly shouldn’t be in this list. The Sillmarillion was boring as hell the first time I read it (I was about 13), but I am very interested in history, and it made more sense as an adult. I find it hard to believe that I have never heard of eleven of them. If I saw the covers I would probably recognize them, and probably have at least two or three upstairs with the rest of he books.


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Origins of Daylight Savings Time

rmiles7721March 12, 20079Uncategorized

Here’s the history of DST according to Wiki:

Saving daylight was first mentioned in 1784 by Benjamin Franklin in a humorous letter urging Parisians to save money by getting up earlier to use morning sunlight, thereby burning fewer candles in the evening. Franklin did not mention daylight saving time-he did not propose that clock time be changed. His letter was in the spirit of his earlier proverb “Early to bed and early to rise / Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

In 1905 builder and outdoorsman William Willett invented DST in one of his pre-breakfast horseback rides, where he was dismayed by how many Londoners slept through the best part of a summer day. An avid golfer, Willett also disliked cutting short his round at dusk. Two years later he published a comprehensive proposal for DST, which attracted many eminent supporters, including Balfour, Churchill, Lloyd George, and MacDonald. Edward VII also favored DST and had already been using it at Sandringham. However, Prime Minister Asquith opposed the proposal and after many hearings it was narrowly defeated in a Parliament committee vote in 1909. Willett’s allies introduced new DST bills every year from 1911 through 1914, to no avail.

World War I changed the political equation. DST was first enacted by a national government by Germany starting April 30, 1916. The United Kingdom soon followed suit, first observing it on May 21, 1916. On June 17, 1917, Newfoundland became the first North American jurisdiction to adopt DST with the Daylight Saving Act of 1917. On March 19, 1918, the U.S. Congress established DST from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. The wartime measure, however, proved unpopular among farmers, and Congress repealed it in 1919. Woodrow Wilson, another avid golfer, vetoed the repeal twice but his second veto was overridden. The history of time in the United States since then has seen several enactments or adjustments of DST, and one repeal, with similar politics involved.

Did you get that part about it being unpopular among farmers? That’s because farmers are smart. DST was enacted by POLITICIANS, no matter how many times they tell you it was for farmers. If farmers need more daylight, they get out of bed earlier. Real damn simple, but we have to complicate things the same way they are being complicated now by making Daylight Savings Time actually last LONGER than Standard Time. Which means that it is the NEW standard. Why not just leave it alone at the end of October, then you won’t have to worry about it anymore.

Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa don’t follow DST. They are the smart ones. Hell, in Arizona, you could probably do without the sun for a couple of extra hours anyway.

This is my Open Trackback Post for Monday, March 12th.

Linkfest Haven, the Blogger's Oasis

Things NOT to do on my vacation…

rmiles7721March 11, 20071Technology, Uncategorized

On top of that list is to sit in my car and purposely get struck by lightning. Damn, check this out.

THAT’S what they remind me of…

rmiles7721March 11, 2007Entertainment

Every time that I start talking or thinking about my employees, I instantly become Jerry Springer. It’s funny how life imitates art, although I wouldn’t exactly call what he does art.

This sounds so much like the crap that I deal with on a daily basis. I am just waiting to see one of my employees on the show any day.

Slow Day…at Least at Home

rmiles7721March 11, 2007Blogging

I had a fairly long day at work today. Don’t really have much to post about here. Lots of DRAMA with all capitals. Waitresses boyfriends hitting on other waitresses, people coming in late (one of my pet peeves), general bullshit like that.

Payday is Sunday for my people at work. The ones that work graveyard shift Saturday usually get paid before they leave Sunday morning. I have had a lot of issues with getting hung on Sunday nights, so last week I told them all that if they were off Saturday but working Sunday, they would start getting paid at the end of their Sunday shift, meaning 7 AM Monday morning. Sure enough, both of the people that are working tonight showed up this afternoon looking to get paid and I sent their asses back out the door and told them that I would either be there for shift change tonight or pay them when they got off.

They finally got there tonight, twenty minutes late. One of the waitresses called me a couple of minutes ago wanting to know if I was coming up to pay here. She sounded distraught when I told her that I would be there before she gets off work in the morning. What the fuck is up with that? I have about the crappiest 3rd shift working that I have ever had. I have managed to hire a couple of people to start on Wednesday, one of which used to work for me in another store, and the other one is new, but he is in his fifties, so at least I will have a bit more adult presence in there. That’s been part of the problem the last couple of months, mainly young people with bad attitudes. I still need to hire a couple more people, and I plan to have them hired and trained before I start my vacation on the 25th.

It looks like my boss is going to be staying with the company after all, so that is a good thing. The evil you know is always better than the one you don’t.

Watch deleted YouTube Videos

rmiles7721March 10, 200710Entertainment, Technology

Update – August 9th 2008
I posted this link way back in March of 2007 and since then it’s had over 8,000 hits so I figured it was time to get rid of the crappy ads in the middle of the page and update this place!
The original link I posted to delutube has been removed. So I have done a bit of searching to see if there was something else useful around.
Supposedly FTVTeen works. Let me know how your results are with this one.
Undele Tube was pretty useful at it but when you visit the site it just says “under maintenance right now. Keep checking back.
WikiHow also has some information on how to access recently deleted YouTube videos as well. The Wikihow article is below:

How to Access Recently Deleted YouTube Videos

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

This article’s accuracy is in doubt. See the discussion page. Please fact check, edit, cite references and remove this notice when the article has been improved. You may also comment on the discussion page. Notice added on 2008-02-18.
This article is intended to guide you on how to view videos that are usually deleted on the video sharing website, www.youtube.com.

Steps

  1. Go to the search bar.
  2. Type what you wish to search for.
  3. Where it asks you how you would like to sort the search results, click “Date Added”, this will show the most recent videos added to YouTube that match your search terms. You can now see the videos that will soon be deleted. YouTube will usually delete videos violating its Terms of Use in the first 2-4 hours.

Tips

  • Videos that are deleted will still be displayed in the search results for a few hours, so prepare to be disappointed if the video you wished to watch has been removed.

Related wikiHows

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Access Recently Deleted YouTube Videos. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

If you found any of this helpful or you have other links to programs or sites I don’t have that will allow us to watch deleted YouTube videos please feel free to leave a comment, or if it’s been awhile shoot me an email using the Contact Me link on the sidebar. Thanks!

…

I came across a site here that will let you watch videos that have been removed from Youtube, because apparently they are still there, just not listed. Sneaky but cool. Thanks to Vincent Chow.


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