404 pages on 1&1 webhosting: complaint and solution
Filed in Technical, 16th February, 2008, 1:03 CETI had an unpleasant surprise today when I was testing a new site I’m setting up using 1&1 web hosting… I mistyped the URL, and lo and behold, instead of showing any kind of useful error page for the 404, the server neatly redirected my browser to a completely different URL, “domparking.php” at the “sedoparking.com” domain. [I'm carefully not linking, and don't visit the page; I'm sure they get advertising revenue from it.]
I’ve seen default 404 pages where the host sneaks in a few of their own ads, and that’s kind of annoying. But there’s still a message in there somewhere that tells the person they hit a bad link.
This, though — it looks like the domain is parked. Like the site doesn’t exist at all. That’s not good.
Continue reading this entry »
Curing hiccups
Filed in General, 10th February, 2008, 0:11 CETI was googling the word “intractable”, just to make sure I wasn’t misusing it too egregiously in the post I just put up… and right there, the fifth result on the very first page, was a hiccup cure.
Doesn’t everyone who’s ever had the hiccups want to know a cure? And this is not just “my grandma always said breathing into a paper bag would do it, and it seemed to work sometimes”, but an abstract of a paper on the NIH.gov website.
The data (u|dys)topia
Filed in General,Technical, 9th February, 2008, 23:54 CETTake one simple conversation with a neighbor, add a few late night walks in the dark, and it develops into a complete utopian/dystopian vision of the not-so-distant future.
First, the conversation: we were talking about everyday marital strife, and she mentioned how her husband wants to redo the roof himself — it’s a relatively straightforward project, he’s retired and has the time, and they’d save a lot of money. Her response is that his life cannot possibly be worth the money saved. Result: intractable argument. How can either side prevail? She spoke about couples taking turns “winning” arguments as a way out.
My thought is that it’s actually a question of data. What’s the actual risk that he’d injure or kill himself? If he takes the proper precautions (like a safety line, ladder spotter, etc.), can he make working on the roof safer than driving the car to the store? If yes, her argument goes away. If not — particularly if amateur roof work is dangerous even if the homeowner believes they’re taking precautions — then she wins.
Database Naming: A response
Filed in Technical, 25th January, 2008, 18:31 CET[Note to non-technical types: skip this one. It contains no entertainment value whatsoever.]
On Anagrams & Presidents
Filed in General,Political, 22nd January, 2008, 3:07 CETI remember finding the Internet Anagram Server, some years ago, and (of course) plugging in my own name to check all the possibilities. It’s a good one for anagrams:
- He no brawl
- Whale-born
- Labor hewn
- Bean whorl
- No herb law!
- Blah owner
- Whole bran
- Blew a horn
- Her own lab
- Ban Howler
- Brawn hole (whoa, there)
- Hare blown
- Nab her owl!
- La Web Horn
- He, lawn orb
- Horn be law
But I was soon to realize that not everyone’s name has so many interesting and (mostly) pleasant possibilities.
Twisting words
Filed in General, 14th January, 2008, 1:12 CETYou might expect a political post here, but I’m staying away from all that for now.
Instead, I’d like to share a sort of torture technique (I know, this sounds like I’m discussing US politics again, but bear with me) that I thought up for the benefit of my little sister, long ago.
Here’s how it works:
- You give the aforementioned little sister a phrase, asking her to repeat it over and over again.
- She considers the phrase; it is innocuous and probably nonsensical.
- She plays along and repeats the phrase, hopefully for the benefit of other siblings or possibly parents.
- Although SHE is primed to hear only the random words you gave her, everyone ELSE hears something entirely different.
This will make more sense with an example.
Jeepers cripes
Filed in General, 11th January, 2008, 17:31 CETOnce, long ago, in a land far, far away from where I live today, I waited with one or more of my siblings in the family sedan while one or more of our parents ran into one or more of the nearby shops to enact one or more unknown transactions.
The memory is a bit fuzzy.
But nearby, there was a GNC store — one of those odd places selling bottle after bottle plastered with statements which have not been evaluated by the FDA, containing vitamin supplements, herbal remedies, essential minerals and other products not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, but nonetheless startlingly expensive.
And for some reason, we started trying to come up with what the letters “G.N.C.” might represent, and somehow one of us dug into our Catholic upbringing and came up with “Jesus, Mary & Joseph”. Doesn’t work, you say? Well, try it “Geezus, Nary & Chofus”. Stir in a thick Irish brogue, rasp the voice up a bit, and belt it out with unflappable authority and a strong note of outrage, and you’ve got a truly magnificent exclamation.
Continue reading this entry »
Entries