Don't Back Down

I haven't been able to get a ping to go through the Pingomatic RPC interface for a while - perhaps weeks. So in browsing about for explanations, I stumbled across Pingoat. Now I'm not sure if the name is pronounced pin-goat, ping-oat, or even something else, but I figured I'd give it a run to see if it at least works more reliably than P-o-M. Here goes nothing.

Update: Indeed, truer words have not been uttered for a while. Looks like a big load of nothing indeed. Hrm. Does there exist a multiple-ping service with a reliable RPC server, so that I don't have to ping everyone individually?

Update: So I've settled on a mix of Feedster, Moreover (MSN), Technorati and Yahoo. The speed seems good, meaning the page returns quickly, and I think it's a good cross-section to get the word out.

Hot on the heels of the Movable Type announcement, the popular MT-Notifier announced a new release, version 3, compatible with - and taking advantage of - better application integration in the new version of MT. Check it out.

On a related note - anyone out there handy with documentation? Drop me a line if you are, and if you're interested in helping bring these along to the point where they are actually useful.

The long-awaited Movable Type upgrade to version 3.2 is now available. Get to upgrading, already!

Read "Movable Type 3.2" »

So I see Google Talk is official (sorta). Though it wasn't there a few minutes ago, they now have instructions for setting up Google Talk with Gaim. Sadly, they don't seem to work. I've tried with talk.google.com as the server, which gives me a "not allowed" message, and I've tried with the recommended "gmail.com" as the server, which just times out. Perahaps I'll wait.

Read "Adding Google Talk IM" »

My host upgraded PHP recently. They neglected to upgrade, or perhaps upgraded incorrectly, a component of the installation. So my dynamic pages are not rendering correctly. Sorry for the difficulties. They should be online again soon.

Update: As you are no doubt aware, the problems continue, with no apparent resolution in site. I will keep you posted, but at this time, it appears to be an issue with an upgrade to PHP 4.4.0 and the Movable Type dynamic publishing feature. I haven't been able to find anything on this anywhere - does anyone have any experience with this combination (either working or not)?

Update: Because of the issues, you might not be able to leave a comment. You can contact me by emailing "dbd" at the domain of the blog. Sorry. Hopefully something will get it fixed soon.

We ran into an issue where the (PS2) keyboard and mouse stopped working altogether. In the Device Manager, it showed them as having errors, and the message was "A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver may be providing this functionality (Code 32)."

Read "Windows XP Keyboard Errors" »

So I get a phishing email the other day, as is all-too-common, and this one actually looks pretty good - enough so that I had to double-check it, even though I knew it wasn't real.

So as I'm reading through the copy, I see that I can also fill in the verification information at "https://www.paypal-costumer.com/". Huh. I've never heard of PayPal being in the costume business, but who knows?

Those wily Japanese (I think it's the Japanese, because of the domain name) are at it again. They have invented an automatic door that doesn't open all the way, but apparently senses the size of the object passing through and then only opens as much as needed, by way of sliding "slats" to outline the object and let it through with a minimum of fuss. Now you don't have to be a cartoon character to create a body-shaped hole on your way out of the building. Cool.

So it seems that speed cameras in Charlotte have nabbed 30,000 violators. Not a shabby number, but apparently a huge number - 20,000 - extra citations could have been issued. Why were they missed? Because either the speeders were only speeding slightly or the license plates were blurred.

First, this is an estimate, so the actual number may be 200. It could also be 50,000. Second, there is no breakdown - so perhaps 99% of those were one case, and 1% the other. Maybe a 50-50 split. It doesn't really matter all that much.

Read "Are Speed Cameras Worthwhile?" »

So it seems that an unamed shipping giant has a problem with the FedEx Furniture web site (also see the related Furniture Blog). The thing I don't understand is why they have a problem. I guess there could be an issue with everyone wanting to rush out and pick up some free shipping boxes to build furniture for their home or something - but let's be real.

While it's a fun idea, how many people are actually going to build furniture for their home out of shipping boxes? I suspect that the number is remarkably low, and that any loss that can be attributed to runs on packaging material could easily be offset by the amount of advertising gained from being feature so prominently, well, everywhere.

As I'm driving to the doctor this morning, I spy a dump truck with one of those stickers on it that reads "Not Responsible for Broken Windshields". Now I understand the desire of the company to not get a bill from everyone and their brother, claiming that the trucks broke a windshield. But shouldn't the company exercise at least a modicum of good faith? Looking down, the tires on said truck, where you would normally see a low-hanging piece of rubber, perhaps with some silver naked ladies, barely made it to the top of the tires. I think they ought to be responsible for it at that point.

Moreover, I think I'm going to get a tattoo on my forehead that says "Not Responsible for Anything". I wonder if that will work?

Okay, we didn't actually eat Vietnamese people. We wanted to have a Vietnamese dinner. So we checked out Thien Phu, in the "International District" along Central Avenue. The verdict? Good. I'm not much for veggies - but I had a bowl full of 'em. Of course, it also had some meat in there, and a pepper oil sauce that you poured over it. But it was tasty. Denise had a stir fry dish that came on a hot skillet (think fajitas), along with some rice. Also tasty - especially the leftovers after a day in the fridge.