Would you believe it? I put the comments on the new enetations web server and then the next day it is sooooo slow. Comments now removed!
June 2002 Archives
On getting a reply from Atomz about my search engine not working with my blog (because the archive pages dont have the html,body tags!) I am going to have a clever routine to add the tags in automatically with server side includes. The reason they are not there is that the blog itself is a page that is included into the main website with an SSI.....More work!!
In case anyone else is having something similar, then look at the official online help
Update Code now written and indexing works ok.
More updatesCode removed whilst i check it for bugs as there is one big whopping one!
Final UpdateCode now fixed to only display the archived files ( i hope!)
Kristen was talking to me about the website last night and mentioned that it was hard to distinguish between family information and other bumf...so I am going to slightly redesign the site and family information will be going up on the helsby.org webpage sometime real soon....
There is a new craze of searching for name is on Google.
The results for Andy is are as follows:-
1.Andy is an official endorser of John Pearse Strings
2.ANDY IS RUNNING
3.Andy is coming to play again
4.Andy is Not Zen
5. Andy is the author of four books (including a best-seller)
6. Andy is the driver of this internet heap
7. Andy is Editor of Glaucus the marine wildllife journal
8. Andy is a master musician
9. Andy is sheriff of Mayberry in North Carolina
Thought i'd invent my own and see what I am NOT:-
1.Andy is Not Zen
2.Andy is not web-enabled
3. Andy is not a pimp
4. Andy is not really suffering from amnesia
5. Andy is not exaggerating
6. Andy is not the Egyptian
7. Andy is not a marionette
8. Andy is not as altruistic or naïve as he first seems
9. Andy is not lazy
A couple of cute pictures of Winston and Frankie have been loaded up to the Webshots public gallery for use in the webshot desktop program (a brilliant app!).
To see the gallery of pictures on this website click on the cat3 and cat4 links under albums on the right of this page.
What kind of cat are you? Apparently I am a Snowshoe, which isgregarious and talkative. She is always ready for fun and will regularly try to instigate a game. While her strong intellect leads her to try new things, it also causes her to become easily bored when a task is mastered. Variety is truly the spice of life for this kitty! Affectionate with others, eager to interact, the Snowshoe is always the "belle of the ball". Find out for youself
The google mug that I got from CafeExpress finally arrived - weeks late and with a nasty suprise. The total value of the two mugs was over 18 pounds so customs and excise charged vat on them (the total price was two pounds over!) of three quid. Then cosignia had the cheek to charge me 3.50+ for handling fee! So the whole thing cost me a fortune! Wouldn't have bothered if I knew that was the case and it would have been cheaper to buy them seperately and get them shipped individually instead of in one order.
Hmmmm - looks like atomz is not searching through my archive posts, which are asp pages, as I get the message "Nothing to index in document http://www.helsby.net/absoblogginlutely/2002_03_10_archive.asp" in the log files, even though there is stuff in the webpage. Will have to see why it is doing that.
I've now changed the frequency that the front page is archived. Instead of being monthly, its now weekly. This is mainly due to the fact that I am writing a lot more on the web page. By archiving weekly, this will keep the front page smaller and therefore quicker to download. It will also help when searching this website as the data will be found in individual web pages rather than one long one!
Let me know what you think by filling in the comments!
Created my own template for Enetation
Changed my comments over to Enetation's comment system. unfortunately this means the old comments have gone (for now).
Wanna see what my website looks like in Lynx - the text only browser?
Now this looks cool, and just what i've been wanting - an application that works with Microsofts Messenger. You add a contact and then your webpages (blogs) that you want to monitor and it sends you an instant message when the webpage changes!
Thanks to Life of a one man IT department - and I know how that feels!
Wow - even though the google challenge is over, my site still came in tenth in the list!
Also, for the first time, If you own XP Home or XP Pro, you can legally downgrade and install any Windows desktop OS and be legal. This is on the Microsoft website (note the link is a word document) and went into effect September 1, 2001, but, again, no one said anything.
I received this in an email today, so if you are interested then let me know either by comment or email.
"I should like to ask you if you are a direct descendant of THOMAS THE BARRISTER? I am through one of his daughters, Anne, and through my grandmother have in my possession a prayer book which has written inside it Thos.Helsby of Gateacre 1810, Wm.Helsby, 1829 and Thos: 1855. The latter signature is exactly the same as one on a portrait that Geoffrey de Helsby in America possesses as he is a direct descendant of Thomas. Unfortunately he does not have any male heirs and I am looking for someone who I could give the book to. My own family, I feel, would not be interested in caring for the book. There are others in America who are descended from Thomas but we do not seem able to contact them. I wonder if you could help me? I know on your web site you say that your father copied the original scroll and thought, therefore, you may know who else is a direct descendant."
Information for the previous two links were found at microcontent which has a long article about influencing google through the blog which makes interesting reading, especially after the Google challenge was removed.
For those of you who are concerned over the links below, its part of a Google Bomb campaign (oh oh - now that phrase means the CIA and MI5 will be monitoring my web page!) to ensure that sickos searching for that information get a bit of sense knocked into them. (and yes it is (almost) safe to click on them. - there is just one dodgy word on the web page.)
ooh! You can sign up for eval copies of various ms software .Note they do expire so dont run your business on them!
A useful Browser check page is available that will check to see if your web browser is vulnerable to several dodgy java scripts that can do malicious things on your pc. Note that the clipboard test will probably show you are vulnerable! However if you have kept uptodate with windowsupdate then you should pass the rest of the tests with flying colours.
Yet another change for hotmail - if you dont move items from your sent items folder they will be deleted after 30 days!
"Please note that starting in July, e-mail messages retained in your Sent Messages folder will be deleted after 30 days. If you have e-mails in your Sent Messages folder that you want to keep, you must transfer them to your Inbox or another folder prior to the 30-day expiration. "
Boo - Hiss! The google challenge has been shut down - probably due to the number of people searching for the words Elephants Toes - oh well!
ASDL is no slouch - it even turned up in the house 24 hours early! What can I say but WOW! If you are wondering whether to get ASDL or not then I certainly recommend it.
Interestingly there is a geographical oddity called Elephants toes in Utah. In Dinosaur, Navajo Sandstone is found on the road to Split Mountain and the Elephant Toes on the Cub Creek Road.
mmmmmmm - had a new taste in Chinese cooking last night - decided to have Kung Po chicken - which is a pretty hot spicy flavour but still fairly sweet (which is nice as I have a sweet tooth). I had no idea what it was going to taste like - it was a random choice from the menu. Tasted really good though. Mind you, the water chestnuts looked suspiciously like nail clippings from elephant toes :-) (only joking!)
aha! caught my host in the act or rebooting my webserver :-(
Thought it was happening when i couldn't browse my logfiles, and then checked the entry about the server rebooting and sure enough.....(although I think they actually just stopped and started the webservice.
Another email from Pipex to say that everything is almost there and they sent me a url to a setup guide. Unfortunately to download the setup guide you need system information which they haven't given me :-(
Which to use a cockney rhyming slang - that Elephant toes :-)
Had a bit of a scare on the office computer on Thursday - went to uninstall some programs and noticed something called SaveNow in the list of programs. Checked this out with Google and discovered that it was some spyware and had come with a copy of Global Divx - a pretty good free dvd/cd player. Apparently if you install it there is an option to do a custom install and at that point you can unselect SaveNow.
Its pretty annoying software so uninstall SaveNow if you have it and then also run LavaSofts AdAware
which will go through your computer and show you whats left (as it doesn't uninstall everything!)
Winston like the new office - he's currently rolling on the floor and sniffing everyone he's never seen before! Some pictures are up at the Webcam page
If you are on our wabswos mailing list and didn't get a copy in the past day or so - please let me know as there are several subscribers whos email address's are bouncing.
I hate decorating! Not even started yet as I am in the process of clearing out the office - you really wouldnt notice the difference! Had to run out and get some cartons to put all the junk in temporarily. Do you know how hard it is to find some cardboard boxes? I think it would be easier to find elephant toes (although I do think that Elephant toes are illegal exports so you are unlikely to find them in the uk too!)
Well the google challenge is to come up with the phrase elephants toes. Looking at what is already at google for these two words, then it is going to be pretty difficult - especially as we are not allowed to spam our entries but have to sneak the phrase in so unless I suddenly decide to get a toe fetish or someone gives me a load of money so I can go to Africa on safari and study elephants, especially to prove whether they really do only have 4 toes or not, then it is going to be pretty hard to actually get my entry listed under google.....
Still - we'll see!
England should play Brazil *every* Morning between 7.30 and 9am and also 4.30 and 6pm so that there is no traffic on the roads. Driving to work this morning was a dream - hardly any traffic on the roads and the vehicles that were on the road tended to be lorries which were easy to overtake as there was nothing coming the other way - brilliant!
woohoooooooooooooooo!!!!!!
"At this time, we estimate that your line is likely to be enabled for ADSL service during 286/06/2002."
Update:Actually that stinks as it's 9 days time! I don't want to wait that long :-(
Update They've now changed the date so its on the 26th - 5 days to go!
SAN FRANCISCO -- Cloudmark, the company that empowers consumers to fight spam, today announced the immediate worldwide availability of SpamNet, the first, easy-to-use Microsoft(R) Outlook(R) add-in that stops spam immediately. For the first time, SpamNet enables consumers to fight back against spam with a single click. SpamNet is safe, seamless, and transparent to the consumer. It saves people time by stopping 75 percent of spam automatically, so they only see the mail they care about. SpamNet never deletes an email; it is just moved to the "spam" folder.
Every time a consumer uses the one-click "block" feature to remove spam from their inbox, they also notify the SpamNet community at large. This automatically blocks spam for all other SpamNet consumers. Similarly, if a person thinks a certain message is not spam, they can click an "unblock" button and share that knowledge with the network. SpamNet has a Truth Evaluation System (TES) to guarantee that only valid spam messages are blocked. This solution enables "spamfighters" to work together and as the community grows, SpamNet gets more effective. Now consumers can go to http://www.Cloudmark.com to get a free copy of the SpamNet add-in and benefit from instant spam relief.
Update Not managed to get this to work whilst in the office but this may be due to the firewall although the f/wall does not have any errors in the logs.Installed Webmon at work yesterday which monitors webpages and lets you know when they have changed. Useful facilities allow you to monitor different pages at different intervals. Works a treat! Will be installed on my home pc when asdl arrives :-)
Discovered a new free hotmail alternative called postmaster that gives you 3 months before you have to relogin and they claim they are much better at spam filtering......we shall see
Following on from Catboxing - a humourous look at cats fighting on the web, I found a link to giving your cat a bath
Found a bugfix on Microsoft's technet that fixes a problem I've had on my laptop. When I do a file-open or a file-save, Windows 2000 takes ages - literally minutes - to come up with the file dialog box. Apparently this is a known issue with Windows2000sp2 and there is a bug fix available from them. Alternatively you can wait for service pack3 to come out! You shouldn't have to pay to get this call in as it's a known issue.
Update I've got this file installed on the laptop and it seems to make a little bit of a difference - still takes about 10 seconds for the file open dialog box to appear in notepad though!
Thames Water are doing one of those clicktodonate websites. If they reach 4million clicks by the end of June they'll donate even more money so please click!
BasicTemplates.com have css template files to create your own website. They look pretty neat too. Even if you don't end up buying them, you can use the site to get some ideas about what to put on a website....One day some of them may even appear on this page!
I now have the ability to find out when the server is rebooted or the Application file changed
(which was <%=Application("server_started")%> for the nosy!)
Suprisingly my router turned up today - now all I have to do is hope that the ASDL line goes in quick (or that it goes in at all!). The Pc in the office is now running on DHCP from the router so I know I have LAN connectivity.......
hmmm - Nucleus looks like a good blogging tool - only problem is that it uses PHP and MYSQL which I don't (yet) have access to :-(
Using the Quick Search facility in IE, I've managed to set up the browser so NYT http://newyorktimesurl in the address bar takes me to the correct web page straight away - neat!
Have daft computer stories to share or want to read some? Sharky runs a newsletter with tales of the silly users!
wow - I got a email posted on the BBC's news website!
I've signed up for the google challenge which should be a laugh. Basically you add a phrase that is decided on weekly to the blog and then at the end of the week google is checked to see who appears as number one in the ranking for that page
hoorah - always on internet is on its way! The order for ASDL has been placed and should be live in the next fortnight!!!
Wahey Lee is out of the Big Brother house - just hope his (probably ex) girlfriend smacks him one live on TV :-)
hmmmm - I installed a copy of GhostSurf yesterday which is meant to allow you to surf anonymously by bouncing your web requests off various proxies...
However looking at the log below - it didn't! I'll try once more and then its removed!
217.158.9.240 - - [13/Jun/2002:21:47:49 +0100] /helsby/index-usa.html "GET /helsby/index-usa.html HTTP/1.0" 200 293
"http://home.clara.net/helsby/" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; Q312461)"
For those weird people who watch tv AND sit in front of the computer and surf / play Serious Sam, there was a utility called DigiGuide which would remind you that you were about to miss your favourite episode repeat of the simpsons! You have to pay for it after 30 days but there is a free linux clone called FreeGuide
UpdateLooks like it also runs under windows....I'll let you know how I get on!
ps the information for the previous tip came from Spyware Info mailing list.
Previously in the past i've been annoyed at having to register to read NewYorkTimes articles and then having to re-register again as I can't remember what I last logged in with! Well the folks at Majcher have come up with a solution that solves it - and they encourage copying of the script so I'll probably have a copy on my site soon!
Update!My script is here feel free to use it - a sample url to try is http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/06/technology/circuits/06ADWA.html. Alternatively to go direct to this url then use nyt.asp?url=http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/06/technology/circuits/06ADWA.html&submit
Update If you get asked to register, just press the backspace button and then for some weird reason NYT lets you in
Ever fancied going to the North Pole but didn't fancy the cold? Well fear not as you can see what it is like right now
Changed the sidebar to have the same sort of colours as the rest of the site....one day i'll work out just exactly how colours complement each other :-)
Well the webcam has been updated with the first shots of the glasses - Almost look like that bloke from ER!
now the news that the internet in Europe could be unplugged because one company has gone bust is a bit scary to say the least! Overstating? Perhaps but seeing as though aol and freeserve are major users of this company and the internet it could be interesting! Glad I moved from freeserve - although makes me nervous about buying into asdl at the moment!
Wahey I can post with bloggar again!
There's been a new release of Agnitum's firewall product. Installed it by downloading rather than using their autodownload within the client and seems to be working ok!
well it turns out that I have got Salmonella food poisoning - which explains why I have felt so ill the past week!
Had my photo taken for my passport (and other official documentation ;-)
Blinked on the first shot so had to have it taken again...As usual I look awful - they'd probably not let me abroad in case I really did have some awful disease.
Went to the opticians yesterday to have an eye test - the guy doing it was pretty smarmy and creepy. Still, my eyes are still pretty better with a recommendation that I could get glasses if I want them as they will help reduce the strain on my eyes - however, the testing machines view with and without glasses hardly made any difference, and certainly didn't make a difference to the large letters on the wall. I'll have to see how much use they will be for computer work and how expensive they are!
Still had the awful sensation of feeling faint and sick when they shone the light in my eyes - I hate that!
