Gravity Lamp

Ooooo you know this is near the top of the Xmas list :)
Shame I'll have to redecorate



Found at http://funfurde.blogspot.com/2004/09/gravity.html, via Engadget

False Domain renewal notice

So 10 days after I renewed BIAS.COM for another 8 years I received a simple (plain) invoice similar to this one from;
Domain Registry Services
Office 6, 154 Church End
Cambridge, CB1 3LD
UK.
0870 950 0369

I found it strange that they didn't accept CC's or direct transfer, relying on just cheques as a form of payment.
Then it dawned on me, Yes, I was a target by this lowlife organisation who try to extort money by getting you to pay renewal fees to them rather than your proper ISP

being slightly more clued up, [a] I checked with whois [b] rang the ISP who holds my domain registration and [c] then looked into ways of signing this organisation up for way too much spam and grief by talking about them here. Believe me when I find it, theirs will be the ONLY real email address on this site and it will occur a lot.



here is what some others talked about;
Domain Registration scam
Who lists some neat suggestions to help;
"Here's what you can do to help shut down these and similar rogue traders:

Forward the original letter to:
Alison Adams
Nominet UK
Sandford Gate
Sandy Lane West
Oxford
OX4 5LB

Included a letter-headed statement containing the following:

1. What you thought the document meant and if you thought it was real
2. If you thought the sender was an official body
3. Whether Nominet can confirm your details to the Trading Standards or the Office of Fair Trading
4. A closing statement — I believe the above statement to be true.

Oh ... and it may be an idea to seal and pop the empty supplied addressed (but not stamped) envelope in the post. Guess who pays ..."

The register also caught up with this "artist"
The Register on Domain Registry Services
Nominet:Nominet UK warns of new Internet invoicing scam

Call for help #2

Following on my request for help re; backups. I am curious if anybody knows how to track configuration files used by each and every application. You can guess why I am asking - I am having to go through remembering passwords, usernames to forums that I know I belong to.

Grrr

Backups... who needs 'em?

It never rains when you take an umbrella. While it might feel like it is true we all know that is a crock. So we all back up the important documents & Pictures don't we? Hard Disks don't fail do they?

Well, I have spent the last 5 days recovering a 160GB disk. I hadn't changed anything, no new components or software. just stopped turning round quietly.

On it, were all my photos (from the wedding you can see I just got back from) most of which was unbacked up. In fact my last backup was July AND it worked! JULY! Wow thats ages ago. Well at least I have a backup!
It is normally something I do quarterly. And right about now I am considering that is wrong.

So I have got most of it back, enough that I could bored O&M with photos of their wedding if I tried. But it doesn't answer the question of HOW DO YOU BACK UP LARGE AMOUNTS of data.
What is more annoying is just after the wedding O and I came up with a plan for backing up data across our machines, taking advantage of the unlimited data of the internet connections we have and just doing disk to disk back ups where the disks were separated by a very large distance. Boy I wish their honeymoon was shorter.

So please do tell me. Please email me any suggestions you have for backing up a large amount of data. (For information sakes, 50Gb most of which doesn't change - excluding applications)

In fact as I put on my raincoat and grab my umbrella before heading out in to the sunny afternoon I really do think I should start a backup before I go

Kill Bill

Vol 1 - ASCII version

Where would we be without people spending all their free time doing some really strange things in the name of ... ummm ... entertainment? nature? free will??

Anyhow ... enjoy the abridged ascii version of Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol 1

A good fit

An advert that if it was any other company would bring tears to the eyes... this did eventually, as I laughed so much!  Does make me worry about the mind of the marketing fraternity.

From Boing Boing
"A good fit BB pal Vann Hall points us to this brilliant KY Jelly advertisement that, unfortunately, is not officially sanctioned by Johnson & Johnson. It should be though! Link (via Adrants) "

 

White Wedding
What a fantastic day - brilliant best man's speech (of course) and even the weather didn't stop everybody having fun. Of course that is probably because the Brits and the Washington locals were all used to the rain.

Whale ahoy

Well a wet and winding day around the San Juan Islands near Seattle lead to a rather spectacular time watching a pod of whales.

Week 2

Yes I have now completed my second week as Regional CTO at HP. Wow! This is going to be so much fun.... though at times it feels like I could make a fortune harvesting acronyms! I guess I should consider I made it, when on day 7 I made up my first acronym at HP :)

I now have a car, so a daily fight for the parking bays opposite the house has started
I now have a laptop AND email address AND a new mobile phone number --- all terribly efficient --- what more does a man need :)

The best bit, has got to be the people, and the local office (only a 25 minute walk)
Of course, Oliver did point out that as soon as I joined the share price had a hickup and a half, but, HONEST, it wasn't me!

The daleks are back ;)

The BBC has confirmed that artistic differences have been resolved and the Daleks will be back in the new series... now if only we could get Ace back.

SCO starts getting wise....?

The Register has an interesting article about how the SCO CEO once so full of brovado now seems to be wising up to the fact they may not win ... may not win the court cases, may not win any new customer deals ... oh and may not win any FRIENDS.

I think the line I liked the best was... " SCO, however, became less ambitious after a judge largely tossed out its claim against DaimlerChrysler. SCO can ill afford a series of thrown out suits that make it look like a litigation hungry open source ambulance chaser. Oh wait. "

Read it here.

Need directions??

I couldn't resist this ... Classic lines like "You've been going round in circles for the last half hour" and "Can't you just stop and ask for directions for once"and the one all us blokes have used at some point ... "I know it is around here somewhere"

Enjoy - office safe - Only for over 18s

National Orgasm Week

Penguins of the future

Couldn't resist this one...

http://www.scriobh.com/fark/penguins.gif

OMG How much fun




Found at http://www.b3ta.com/board/3475318

One way ...

To sell underwear :)
Is that Dubya I see before me????

http://www.agentprovocateur.com/lost_control/lost_control_high.php

About time
I am amazed it has taken so long for this to be produced - a docking station for the iPod with speakers - and decent speakers at that.

http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.asp?ProdId=ONSTAGE&SerId=HMM&sCatId=

Hidden dangers of Laptop bags

Having gone through the lining of a number of leather jackets I was rather amused to see this entry at Layer 8.  A rather imaginative way of carrying and protecting you laptop.  I think the line that got me was "Need to go out in the rain? Putting your PowerPizza in a carrier bag will not only increase the level of disguise - it'll keep it dry too"

Here is the entry;

Hidden dangers of laptop bags Those black, nondescript laptop bags are boring - and dangerous. Just think: You could put your black laptop bag down next to you at the airport and an evil mastermind's...

The Bush conspiracy generator

Following on from the October Surprise we now have a conspiracy theory generator for George.

The George W. Bush Conspiracy Generator: "George W. Bush caused the Cubs to lose to the Marlins in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series so that Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, the Christian Coalition, big corporations, and oil companies could invade Iraqis."

If Only....

[via Gizmodo]

The Chewbacca Defense

We all heard the findings of the Sept 11 report last week, where they concluded that there was no significant link between Osama Bin Liner and Iraq. Nor in fact any significant link between al-Qaida and Iraq.
Of course almost at the same time, we also heard many, seeming gifted, members of the various governments contradicting this report's findings.

While I personally have an opinion, that provided we make good the country/world will be better place - I still have my doubts as to the timing and merits of such an all out "correction" of a foreign country/culture.

The following link did make me smile, I prefer to look at this as the Chewbacca Defense rather than the whatever defense --- you get the picture.

9/11 Panel Finds No Link Between Bin Laden And Iraq; White House Uses "Whatever" Defense