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Skip at 1:17 PM
To all Americans:
Now Christmas can begin..................................
Skip at 5:19 AM
Bell Canada just sent me a bill with a $25 charge to a 900 number. According to the time of the call, I performed a miracle, since the call was made from home while I was at work! Now they have stated that they will remove the charge but I should pay a one time fee of $10 to block all 900 calls. I think that this is a real rip off. I will sign up for this since $10 to insure I don't have the hassle again is probably worth it to me, but I really don't see why I should have to pay to insure Bell doesn't put rouge calls on my bill.
Skip at 6:20 AM
A friend passed along to me a great program called Convert. Convert is an easy to use unit conversion program that will convert the most popular units of distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass, power, density, pressure, energy and many others, including the ability to create custom conversions! There are so many variations, it's mind boggling. If you go to the web site, there is a picture of one place the program is being used at. This program has friends in high places.
Skip at 5:31 AM
Another weekend gone. One more closer to Christmas. It amazes me how the US manges to swamp Thanksgiving with Christmas. It seems that all the stores have Christmas decorations up and the Christmas sales have started even though Thanksgiving isn't until Thursday! I know they say that there are six fewer selling days this year between Thanskgiving and Christmas but does that necessitate oblitering US Thanskgiving? I'm glad that in Canada we have our Thanksgiving in October. It makes the blatent commercialism of Christmas a little easier to take.
Skip at 5:05 AM
I have stopped using All the Web for searching since they went to this new XML interface. I don't like the fact that I have to keep playing with the font size to make it useable. I had been using Google but alltheweb was gaining, for a while, as I was impressed with the results of the searches. I was happy with Google but I was starting to switch until this change. I have decided to go back. I also like the Google News. Google wins!
Skip at 5:33 AM
All the snow has melted and the temperature has risen. Seems like a nice day here in Toronto. There is a BIG Chrismas tree in the plaza across from my office. I spent the last three days watching the crew decorate it with lights and red ribbons. That tree and the snow predicted to return this weekend makes no doubt that it will soon be Christmas.
Skip at 5:32 AM
I have been meaning to talk about one of the most valuable programs I use. For a long time I have been using the freeware program ExamDiff to compare versions of text files I have updated. This great program lets you select two files and it will open a window with files side by side and highlight (with colours of your choosing), the differences. Added lines, deleted lines, and changed lines are clearly shown and the visual impact makes it so easy to spot the differences. If you're into heavy-duty work there is a Pro version available for purchase. It adds several features, including directory compares that you might want to use.
Skip at 5:40 AM
There was an interesting article in Slate.com about spam. They say sophisticated Internet users are turning to a new approach to handle spam. Instead of trying to block spam while allowing everything else, these users employ software that blocks everything except messages from already known, accepted senders. These systems, called "whitelists," change e-mail from an open system to a closed one. I can see this spreading as spam grows beyond any filter's control. I already have friends on Hotmail who have turned on the "exclusive" option. Works fine until I change email addresses and can no longer send them mail.
Whitelist applications available today include MailFrontier, ChoiceMail from DigiPortal, Vanquish, and the freeware Tagged Message Delivery Agent.
Skip at 5:52 AM
Here in good old Toronto, we had lots of snow this weekend. Way too early for everone's liking. It did made for a realistic Santa Claus parade. The parade video can be seen on the web now thanks to Canada.com. The snow made it feel like Santa should be coming to town. Should help the Christmas sales! I'm just glad the weatherman is calling for higher temps later this week. The snow can melt away now and, as far as I'm concerned, never come back.
Skip at 5:25 AM
Excitement is growing. Here, in Canada, Thanksgiving is long over and now it's time for Santa Claus. Yes, it's time for Toronto's Santa Claus parade this Sunday. Thousands of people will line the streets to watch the parade and officially start the holiday season. Time to grab the credit card, rack up the debts, giving people gifts they really didn't want. At least Sunday will be one day when the kids should have lots of fun.
Skip at 5:53 AM
I missed another whole day. After all my whining about not being able to post last week. Then, I didn't even bother yesterday. I guess it just goes to show, most of what anyone has to post on a blog is just rage! If we don't have something to complain about, there is nothing to post. I have visited quite a few blogs in the last couple of weeks. I just wanted to see what people were doing. Most of what I read was just like my writing. Nothing of any note and just rambles about this and that. I seem to think that it is very much a girl thing to do. I also see that it seems to attract a lot of gay people. I don't think I could be as open as some of these people are. I like to keep my personal like to myself. My wife would say that I don't even share it with her!!!
Skip at 5:35 AM
I was just browsing through Slashdot.org this morning and saw the note on Classic Atari Magazines. What a rush of memory! I had a great deal of fun with my Atari. It was a very good computer in its day. I had bought a lot of the magazines shown in the archive. I eventually moved on and the machine was stored in a cupboard for a while. When I was doing a clean up I palced an ad on a Atari BBS, that was still around, and immediately sold it to some musicans who had used Atari's great MIDI support to create a lot of music. They were eagar to have backup and I got a good price. I wonder if it is still alive?
Skip at 5:23 AM
All last week, I couldn't get Blogger to post due to FTP being down at my ISP. Finally Friday night I received notice that it was fixed. I wouldn't have been half as upset if they had just told me Monday that it would be fixed on Friday. Instead, Monday they said Tuesday, Tuesday they said Thursday, and Thursday they really didn't say anything. Left hanging like that the blood pressure goes up. When will people learn how to handle customers in problem situations?
At least as a result of moving to the new server I now have the ability to load and use some small CGI scripts. I will enjoy playing with this new (to me) ability. I loaded up a sample guestbook app for testing and eveything looks good so far. I'm not going to put it up on my site for public use, so don't look for it!
Skip at 5:58 AM
Finally. I got notified that everything was back. Good News. Then I read that the sever had to be changed. Bad News. Well, I went and updated the URL to point to the correct server and it works. Good News!!! I really hope this is a permanet fix. Good thing no one bothers to read this blog.
Skip at 7:06 PM
This has been going on for 4 days now. They said Thursday at 5 but it was stiil not up. I don't find messages like this reassuring:
Domain(s) : interlog.com
Region(s) : All
Update, Wednesday November 6 2002 at 19:34. This situation is still on going at this time. Our technicians are working to resolve it. The new estimated time of resolution for this issue is now Thursday November 7 at approximatly 5 pm.
Since 17:00 (eastern time) today, we have noticed that certain clients may experience difficulties browsing or making modifications to their personal Web pages located on our servers. This might lead to the following error message(s): "Cannot find the server www.interlog.com (PC/Mac)." "Connection refused or timed out (PC/Mac)." Our network team is aware of the situation and our technicians are working hard to resolve it. This service will be restored in approximately 2 days.
We apologize for any inconvenience and we thank you for your patience
Skip at 4:43 AM
I'm very disappointed. I can not get Blogger to upload to my ISP yet. The ISP said things would be ok by 17:00 on Tuesday. Now they are promising sometime today. I hope they come through
Skip at 5:04 AM
For some reason the FTP to my ISP has been down. Since last Friday, Blogger has been unable to publish these posts to my site. Until I can make sure that things are back in order I will just make some small posts, like this one.
Skip at 5:06 AM
Election Day in the US. It will be nice to get all those negative ads off the TV. It amazes me that such ads are allowed and people think that they serve a real purpose.
Here in Canada we are debating the Supreme Court's ruling that people in prison should be allowed to vote. They say as a "Charter of Rights" issue they can not be denied the right to vote. Before this, any person in prison for more then 2 years has lost the right to vote. I'm sorry but if you break the moral contract by committing a crime that sends you to prison, you should not only lose your freedom for a time, but also the right to vote.
Skip at 5:56 AM
Now that my wife's birthday is over the next big day will be Christmas. Both of us have enough that if there is anything we want WE BUY IT!!. That makes it impossible to buy gifts for any special occasions and holidays. What is a person to do? I know that neither of us expects the other to get anything special but I still feel guilty for not doing so. We did start going out for special meals as a sort of gift. But now, neither of us really find that much of a treat. My wife dislikes perfume (and so do I). Knickknacks and doodads that just lay about the house (they need dusting!) are not appreciated. Flowers are nice, but cut flowers last such a short time that the money feels wasted. How many potted plants can one house hold? What's the answer?
Skip at 8:02 AM
November already. It seems to me the year has been going by so fast.
Today I just want to wish my wife HAPPY BIRTHDAY
and since I won't be posting on Sunday,
to my sister HAPPY BIRTHDAY too.
Skip at 5:31 AM
Helping to lower the average quality of Web content almost daily.