Back in the Good Old Days, Unix was an operating system for men.* If you typed in a command, which might be something arcane like mq or something more prosaic like Θ and it turned out that what that command did was to grind the drive heads into the platters, well, then the machine would take your word for it and grind those drive heads.**

Of course, you really meant to type mw or perhaps Φ which would forward all your email to the office in Bratislava or send a request to the vending-machine people to stop putting that Pepsi Max crap in the machine. But at least now you don't have to be concerned about such minor matters as you will need to focus all your energies on escaping from the burning computer room before the CO₂ dump kicks in and you asphyxiate.

These days the wussification of Unix is almost complete. Say, for example, that you had a transient drive failure on a degraded RAID-5 array. Now, you can rebuild a RAID-5 array by using the mkraid command. In the old days, this would have been something more like ∂ but since people no longer have real keyboards we have to make do with letters and numbers.

Now, if you build a RAID-5 set without zeroing out the disks, the contents will be utter garbage. You could type another command to do the zeroing out, perhaps ς, but no, that's too straightforward. So instead we make our friend mkraid do the zeroing out automatically, and if you don't want that perfectly sane and normal behaviour you have to say so.

With what? A -n option? Not in this century. No, it has to be --dangerous-no-resync. And that only works if you use it alongside --force.

And in fact that doesn't work either. What it does do is tell you this:

WARNING!

NOTE: if you are recovering a double-disk error or some other failure mode that made your array unrunnable but data is still intact then it's strongly recommended to use the lsraid utility and to read the lsraid HOWTO.

If your RAID array holds useful and not yet backed up data then --force and the hot-add/hot-remove functionality should be used with extreme care! If your /etc/raidtab file is not in sync with the real array configuration, then --force might DESTROY ALL YOUR DATA. It's especially dangerous to use -f if the array is in degraded mode.

If your /etc/raidtab file matches the real layout of on-disk data then recreating the array will not hurt your data, but be aware of the risks of doing this anyway: freshly created RAID1 and RAID5 arrays do a full resync of their mirror/parity blocks, which, if the raidtab is incorrect, the resync will wipe out data irrecoverably. Also, if your array is in degraded mode then the raidtab must match the degraded config exactly, otherwise you'll get the same kind of data destruction during resync. (see the failed-disk raidtab option.) You have been warned!

[ If your array holds no data, or you have it all backed up, or if you know precisely what you are doing and you still want to proceed then use the --really-force (or -R) flag. ]

But the interesting thing comes if you follow those instructions: It says

DESTROYING the contents of /dev/md6 in 5 seconds, Ctrl-C if unsure!

Unless, of course, it doesn't work. We shall see...

* And women, too, of course, but they had to be that special breed of woman who can take apart a carburetor, clean it, and put it back together without any parts left over.
** You might ask why a computer would have a command so pointless and destructive. The answer is, of course, that someday someone might want to grind the drive heads into the platters, and when that day comes, we will be ready!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:01 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 But obviously those parts weren't necessary or they wouldn't be left over!

Posted by: Susie at January 22, 2005 02:42 AM (CDC0W)

2 Ha. We just had a contractor go into /etc and type the dreaded "rm *.*". Our UNIX guys had to spend their morning recovering and pronouncing ten thousand curses upon all contractors.
So it's not quite totally idiot-proof yet.

Posted by: TallDave at January 22, 2005 06:58 AM (oDnE7)

3 Nothing can ever be idiot-proof because idiots are so ingenious.
</repeating old jokes>

Posted by: McGehee at January 23, 2005 04:13 AM (S504z)

4 I've dealt with more than one computer where I'd have just loved to send the drive heads crashing into the platters. They need to add that command for Windows boxes.

Posted by: Jim at January 25, 2005 12:07 AM (tyQ8y)

5 Overview of OPENXML:-
XML is one of the easiest ways to exchange data between applications. When XML first became available, many developers attempted to write their own XML parsers in the language of their choice. Indeed, because XML consists of tags, writing such a parser in T-SQL isn't very difficult. However, going though thousands of lines of XML can quickly degrade performance. That's why it is nice to have the OPENXML function, which does the parsing work for you fairly efficiently.

Posted by: J. Arnold at January 25, 2005 03:39 PM (vddKB)

6 Haha, good one McGehee.
I guess I'm too young to know all the old jokes.

Posted by: TallDave at January 26, 2005 04:04 AM (2VQaM)

7 Thanks for useful article. I'm just trying to recover data from failed hw raid array
Finaly I got it (after 12hours or so).
mkraid --dangerous-no-resync -R worked for me.
So again, thanks a lot for this article.

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So, if you have a drive failure in a RAID-5 set, what is the probability that another drive will fail while you are backing the data up?

All those who answered "one" go to the head of the class.

There is, apparently, a way to fix this, since the second failure was a transient glitch and the drive actually works. However, it involves scary things that I haven't done before.

Grumble grumble.

I've posted a cry for help in the appropriate newsfroup, and I'll see what happens.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:21 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 Obviously chocolate is required here.

Posted by: Susie at January 22, 2005 12:11 AM (CDC0W)

2 You're not wrong.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 22, 2005 12:13 AM (+S1Ft)

3 ... ouch, brother... good luck stormin' the castle...

Posted by: Eric at January 22, 2005 11:14 PM (YlwMq)

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No-one has ever offered me any money to say anything.

Damn.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:41 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Timmy's destroyed the Solar System again?

When comets collide with small asteroids or spacecraft, they can breakup into smaller comets and sungrazer comets as shown in the picture of the Comet 57P/du Toit-Neujmin-Delporte. The fragments are spread over millions of kilometers.

On July 4, 2005. NASA plans to collide a 370 kilogram spacecraft into the Comet 9P/Tempel 1. The ensuing 16,000-megaton explosion will shatter the 140 billion antimatter metric ton comet into trillions of pieces. Based upon to my computer model, the antimatter fragments are going to collide with Mars, Earth and Sun in the subsequent years.

In 2110, metric ton antimatter fragments will start colliding with the Earth and producing 10, 000 megaton explosions. As trillions of fragments continue to migrate toward the Sun during the 22nd millennium, thousands of 10 to 10,000 megaton explosions will devastate Earth’s environment. Humanity will be brought to the brink of extinction.

Over the centuries, trillions of fragments will drift toward the Sun. When the antimatter fragments, called sungrazer, collide with the sun, multi-billion megaton explosions produce enormous sunspots and solar flares stretching millions of kilometers into space.

I have written NASA Office of Space Science and had discussions with NASA’s personnel. They have a general understand; but unfortunately, they don’t comprehend a 16,000-megaton explosion with a comet. I have request NASA cancel the Deep Impact launch scheduled for December 30, 2004.

We at NASA appreciate your interest in this matter. Please keep us informed of any further research you may be attempting into this or other related subjects.

Regards,

Dr Hertz Lottly
NASA Office of Staff Morale

(Hat tip: Cecil on Skeptical Community)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:07 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Speaking of shiny things, I just got a Nokia 6670.* Good price, too: My old phone had started playing up, and dropped out a couple of times when my boss was trying to call me.** We can't have that, so he offered to pay for a new phone (as long as it was reasonably priced). Then he got himself a 6670 and decided that I had to have one... So I could teach him how all the features work.

I can deal with that.

It's cheerfully snarfing electrons right now. A bit later on I'll take it for a stroll and see what sort of photos it takes.

* My old phone is a Nokia 7110. When I went to buy a new charger for it a year ago, the woman in the store wondered what it was. She'd never seen one before... Come on, it's not that old!
** We're rolling out our ADSL service next month and he's one of our guinea pigs. I have to be contactable 24/7 in case he loses internet access.***
*** Which doesn't seem to happen now that we have a few modem settings ironed out.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:45 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

So I had to take one of the servers out of the computer room today. It's been running one of our telephony apps ever since the company started up, and now it doesn't want to run any more. I've built a new server, and we have a techie coming in later today to swap the special cards across and configure the application, so I just needed to get the server out of the rack and put it somewhere where he'd be able to open it up.

First problem: Most of our servers are in racks, but most of our servers aren't rack-mounted. They're little Compaq mini-towers; we bought dozens of them cheap when the line was discontinued (we also use them as desktops). They're not particularly fast, but they're quite reliable. So we have shelves in the racks for the servers to sit on.

Now, some bright spark had positioned the shelf immediately above this server so that there was all of, oh, half a millimetre of clearance. Since the server itself was sitting on the floor, and the frame of the rack itself sticks up over an inch at the bottom, I had to first remove two other servers and the shelf before I could move the server I wanted. Fortunately, neither of the two servers on the shelf above were critical (our backup internet server and the remote-access server), so I just yanked them out, undid the screws, twisted the shelf sideways and up to get it around the cables, and it was free.

Second problem: I grabbed the server and tried to hoick it out of the rack. It didn't move. Was it caught on something? No... Can't see anything. Wiggle it a bit... Wiggle... Wiggle. Ah. Now lift. Grrrrgh.

The reason it wasn't moving is that it weighs about seventy pounds. It's the size of a standard mini-tower, though about six inches deeper, but it appears to be constructed entirely of cast iron.

They don't make them like that any more. Thank God.

This little cutie weighs all of 2.9 pounds, and it's faster, has more memory and more disk space than the cast iron cow now sitting on my desk. Admittedly it doesn't have expansion slots or hot-swap drive bays, but ooh, shiny.*

* Is it just me or is the CD in that picture upside down?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:20 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 I don't know about the CD being upside down (maybe it is a double sided DVD) but did you see the notes at the bottome of the iPod shuffle page

Quote:
"2. Do not eat iPod shuffle."

Posted by: Kean at January 12, 2005 01:16 PM (pP+22)

2 Yeah, I saw

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 12, 2005 03:34 PM (dd1tv)

3 I know exactly the Compaq model you're talking about. They're not seventy pounds; they're 42. But still.

Posted by: Victor at January 12, 2005 11:49 PM (L3qPK)

4 I've actually rented and played a two-sided DVD -- no label side. Put the disc in one way, the movie plays. Take it out, flip it over, the movie plays.
It made me scratch my head, but it was a fun movie even upside down. [rimshot]
Seriously, though -- it really could just be a two-sider.

Posted by: McGehee at January 12, 2005 11:50 PM (S504z)

5 McGehee, those 2-sided DVDs usually have the widescreen version on one side and the fullscreen on the other. There is tiny red/white print around the hub of the disk to tell you which side is which.

Posted by: Ian at January 13, 2005 06:39 AM (tEu69)

6 Looks like an upside-down Azo-dye CD-R to me. The diffraction pattern from a DVD is different.
"Keyboard, iPod mini, dock, hands, AirPort, Bluetooth and PC sold separately."

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 13, 2005 10:21 AM (uOsif)

7 "Keyboard, mouse, megaphone and display sold separately."

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 13, 2005 10:24 AM (uOsif)

8 You need to watch more crap movies. A lot of my compilations (example: The Dead Walk - 10 zombie movies) come on 5 2-sided DVD's. One movie per side.

Posted by: Ted at January 13, 2005 09:00 PM (blNMI)

9 You can ID blank CD's by the color diffraction pattern? Pixy, you are a geek to the highest of geekstivity!

Posted by: Victor at January 14, 2005 04:03 AM (L3qPK)

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Oh look, a blog! I used to have one just like it when I was little. Neat. I wonder what this thing does -

BZZZZAP!

_{Oh, yeah.}

Anyway, since I have nothing to write about at the moment, here are some helpful safety tips for all the budding helicopter pilots in the audience, from our friends at NASA:

Thank you for your interest in flying safely.


To most people, the sky is the limit.
To those who love aviation, the sky is home.

Basic Flying Rules:
1. Try to stay in the middle of the air.
2. Do not go near the edges of it.
3. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.

Oh, and I have some Easter eggs here. They were in the stores on the second of January. Possibly even earlier, but I was avoiding that whole shopping thingy the previous couple of weeks.

Mmm, chocolate...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:40 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I know you're supposed to look back at the year gone by and reflect that it hardly seems like any time at all, but hell's bells 2004 took a long time. At least 18 months I say, and probably 20.

We got our money's worth out of that year, you bet.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:20 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

For all my readers who adhere to the Gregorian calendar, happy new year!

And for everyone else, yes, that's what all the noise is about.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 03:30 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Just got back from seeing The Incredibles with my family.

This film is a work of art. In my opinion, the best film from Pixar to date, and that says a lot. There were only a couple of moments when it slowed down - for the rest of it (and at 2 hours, there was quite a bit of rest of it) I was totally involved in the film.

The short that accompanied it, Boundin', was also a delight, and introduced my family to one of my personal favourite quintessentially American critters, the jackalope. None of them had ever heard of a jackalope before, so they were probably wondering why I was laughing so hard at that point.

Unlike Finding Nemo, The Incredibles isn't for really young children. There's actually a fair bit of violence in the film, and unlike, say, Bugs Bunny, the violence clearly has consequences. But for older children, and for us grown ups who haven't forgotten being children, it's an absolute must-see.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:22 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

It's been an amazing year for elections. Australia, America, Indonesia, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine. Okay, so the elections in Spain didn't go the way I'd like, but they were free and basically fair. (And considering that Spain was a military dictatorship as recently as 1975, that's of no small import.)

I'll leave my borders orange for now, in honor of Viktor Yushchenko and the people of Ukraine.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 07:44 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I'm fully occupied right now digesting (burp!) and watching anime, but here's something for you in the meantime:

My Christmas quest was simple enough: buy toy cowboy guns for my boys. Caleb and Eli have boots and hats, bandanas and sheriff's badges. But they don't have holsters and guns. Without those critical components, however, you've really just got yourself a Village People costume. We've made do until now with two wooden pistols that were originally designed to shoot rubber bands. But I wanted to get them shiny cowboy guns, the kind that make a little boy's heart race, that turn a bad guy's legs to jelly, and that give a damsel that funny climbing-the-rope-in-gym-class feeling when she sees them strapped around your waist.

One man's quest for the perfect Christmas present, at Sand in the Gears.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:43 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

To all the Munuvians, to my many friends throughout the blogosphere and the broader internet, to my readers and family and friends, Merry Christmas!

I have a big bag of chocolate-coated macadamias here. Anyone interested?

(These are from the same company that makes abalone-flavoured, and indeed wasabi-flavoured, macadamias. I hope like hell that they clean the machinery between batches...)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 12:02 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I was thinking about James Lileks and Michele Catalano's posts about Christmas lights and the difference between coloured-lighters and white-lighters, and reflecting that around here (Sydney) people don't really go in for Christmas lights very much.

And then I thought to myself: Duh!

Mr Lileks lives in Minneapolis. This time of year, the sun rises at 7:50 am and sets at 4:36 pm (#). That's less than 9 hours of daylight. Plenty of dark time for everyone to see your handiwork.

In Sydney today the sun rose at 5:42 am and set at 8:07 pm (#). Not a reverse of Minneapolis, since we are not as latitudinally blessed* as that city, but nearly 14½ hours of daylight. Unless you were out late or up very early, you'd never see the lights.

* Mineappolis is 45° N; Sydney about 34° S. The southernmost city in Australia, Hobart, is only 43° S. Dunedin in New Zealand, at roughly 46° S, is currently blessed with 15¾ hours of daylight.

For my American readers (hi there!) Sydney is about the same distance from the equator as Long Beach, California. And no, it doesn't snow here. Particularly not at Christmas. Except for one occasion, on which subject Google has let me down utterly...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:54 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

You Are Socks!

Cozy and warm... but easily lost. You make a good puppet.

(Tiffany < LeeAnn < Froggie's Lilypad)

more...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:35 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

And all through the office,
Not a telephony application was stirring,
Because they'd all crashed.

I don't know why - they fell over at different times and for different reasons - but one by one, over they fell. Just to make sure I wasn't bored, I guess.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 06:26 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Pixy: That little boy has a toy puppy stuffed in his shirt pocket! How cute!
"Toy" Puppy: Woof!
Pixy: And so lifelike!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:53 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

You know, if through genetic engineering or some nanotechnological miracle cure all of humanity is gifted with perfect vision, there won't be any more girls with glasses.

This makes me sad.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:16 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 Ditto likewise. Huge tracts of land? Long legs? Nah... gimme glasses and an interesting nose.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 24, 2004 03:47 PM (6iibX)

2 It's the wrong time of year to be thinking such dark thoughts.

Posted by: Ted at December 24, 2004 11:38 PM (ZjSa7)

3 There will always be some running about in shades. We've at least got that going for us.

Posted by: Jim at December 25, 2004 07:08 AM (GCA5m)

4 Don't worry, you'll be genetically modified so that this makes you happy instead of sad.

Posted by: TallDave at December 29, 2004 07:24 AM (M0J/c)

5 Be of good cheer, for with the stigma of physical imperfection removed, glasses will be free to become the pure ornaments to the (female) face that they can be.
Besides, in-glasses HUD will arrive before direct neural links, so perfect eyesight won't eliminate all use for them.

Posted by: HC at January 22, 2005 11:00 AM (7Yj0R)

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What was The Mirthful Ones is now Fistful Of Fortnights. Only they are sad because no-one has pinged them.

...

Okay, it looks like the reason that no-one has pinged them is because no-one can ping them. I'll contact MuNu tech support and - oh, wait.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:47 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Vibrating condoms.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 07:48 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

If you have ever spent any time in the science fiction groups on Usenet, you'd recognise the name of James Nicoll. Witty and erudite, and the unfortunate victim of more bizarre accidents than the collected populations of five of the smaller European states*, he has been a regular contributor to rec.arts.sf.written for as long as I can remember:

Results 1 - 10 of about 57,600 for james nicoll. in rec.arts.sf.written.* (1.01 seconds)

Anyway, he now has a blog. Okay, it's at Livejournal, but we all have to start somewhere.

An Open Letter to my cat Hillary

I appreciate that there can be no pause in the ongoing war between you and your bitterest enemy, you tail. I applaud your diligence and am amazed at the RPMs you reach chasing it. I would offer one lone bit of advice: seek a venue for tail chasing other than the slippery edge of a water-filled bath tub.

James has a number of cats, and many of them seem to have acquired his affinity towards implausible misadventure:

Blotchy has a history of run-in with doors. In fact, I once had to cut up a door to get his paw from under it. In most ways, he is a bright cat but he just seems to have bad luck with doors.

This time, he had somehow managed to pull the bathroom door closed as he walked out, pinning himself between the door and the wall. He could have easily escaped by going backward but he does not understand that. Instead he must have kept trying to push forward, getting increasingly upset and angry that the door was grabbing him. The growls alarmed the other cats, who tried to calm him down by attacking him (I assume this makes sense if your brain is the size of a walnut), thus all the noise.

Apart from his cats, James has one of the best jobs in the world: He is paid (paid!) to read science fiction novels before they come out.

Lois McMaster Bujold's The Hallowed Hunt (non-spoiler)

So I finally read this. It's sitting in the work related TBR pile for ages, because I keep what I think will be the best manuscripts for last, to help me get through the latest "Recent Plot Chunk of On-Going Fantasy Story #62" and "Loud Explosion Clumsy Info Dump Space Adventure #23", which I wouldn't have to read if you people would just stop buying them.

Bias: I am not a fantasy fan. It's not like I hate it but it just doesn't punch the right buttons for me. It's like coffee, which I like, vs tea, which I am indifferent to.

Omission: I have not read the second book in this series.

Good News: It doesn't matter. Each book set in this universe is a complete book and each comes with enough information of the world that you do not need to have read the other books.

Lois McMaster Bujold is one of my favourite authors, and The Curse of Chalion is perhaps her finest work. James is reading the manuscript (MS) for the third book set in that world, something we mortals will not have the opportunity to do for months!

It's not all good, though:

A Short But Unkind Review

So for my sins, I was assigned Mission to Minerva by James P. Hogan. This is the fifth book in the Giants series, of which I have read the first three and this one. Nothing I have heard about Entoverse (the one I missed) makes me want to hunt it down but when I was a teen, I was very fond of _Inherit the Stars_.

Bias calibration: I am on record as thinking Hogan succumbed to the Brain Eater years ago. I base this on the crank theories he promotes on his website (and in his books, but there's really no way to tell just from a book if the author is using the idea because they think it makes for a good story or because they really truly think Jupiter horks out Venus sized loogies from time to time). Recently I discovered Hogan is a defender of David Irving and a promoter of the Institute for Historical Review as a news site, and swore off reading Hogan. A discussion with my boss in which various valid points were made convinced me to read this one for them, although I am sure they would accepted a no from me.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present James Nicoll. Please keep a safe distance, and be sure to extinguish any open flames.

* "What's the difference between a radiant space heater and an oven, when you get right down to it? Aside from the fact that I don't stick my leg in an oven."

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:16 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

For the person who has everything else:

At U.S. Submarines we have developed the world's first personal luxury submarines, capable of taking you and your guests to unseen regions of the deep ocean in perfect comfort and absolute safety. And once there, you are able to view the fascinating denizens of the deep through large, panoramic viewports, while relaxing in an interior replete with luxury and warmth.

A personal luxury submarine? Sounds good, but you're looking for that little bit more?

The Phoenix 1000 is a 65-meter (213') personal luxury submarine. The initial design was originally executed for a client and now awaits a buyer. As proposed, the submarine would constitute the single largest private undersea vehicle ever built, and arguably, one of the most significant personal transportation devices of the century.

The Phoenix is capable of making trans-Atlantic crossings at 16 knots yet can dive along the route and explore the continental margins of some of the most fascinating waters on earth. And unlike surface yachts, when the water gets rough, the submarine can submerge into a perfectly smooth and quiet environment, continuing on toward its destination, providing a ride unsurpassed in quality-unequaled by the finest motor coach or the most luxurious executive aircraft.

Aft of the superstructure, or optionally, above the control cabin on the bow, is an area for a docking minisub. Utilizing a special docking collar, this vehicle is capable of leaving the Phoenix while submerged and making excursions down to 610 meters (2000 feet). With both top and bottom hatches, the minisub could also bring passengers from the surface to the submarine lying at depth. The minisub could be designed to hold between two and eight passengers, depending upon the owner's preferences. Additionally, in the unlikely event of an emergency at depth, the minisub could be used to take passengers and crew to the surface.

Previously only available to James Bond super-villains, the Phoenix 1000 would make a fine gift for that special someone in your life. And at just $78 million, it's so affordable! Contact U.S. Submarines to order your Phoenix 1000 today!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 03:24 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Tim Blair has his quotes of the year for 2004: April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December. January through March to follow, I expect.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:50 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

The City of Sydney has gaily-painted* banners fluttering beside its major thoroughfares this Christmas, bearing messages in many different languages. I could see two different Chinese scripts, one that I thought I recognised as Thai, one in the Cyrillic alphabet, and many others. One I saw was in Spanish**; the first word was Felice; I didn't catch the second since the banner was waving in the wind, but I could see that it wasn't Navidad as one might expect.

Then I found one in English. It reads:

Season's Greetings

Well, quite. And a Pleasant Summer and Cheerful Winter to you as well.

James Lileks has his own observations on the topic.

(It's Felice Fiestas as it turns out. And isn't it Feliz Navidad in Spanish? Are Fiestas of a different gender to Navidads or something? Why are you looking at me like that?)

* Or printed, or however they do it these days.
** I think.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:04 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

# cat .htaccess
Deny from 212.87.234.1 211.24.161.10 202.57.35.130
# tail -f /usr/local/apache/logs/error_log | grep denied
[Wed Dec 22 01:00:50 2004] [error] [client 212.87.234.1] client denied by server configuration: splorp.cgi
[Wed Dec 22 01:00:51 2004] [error] [client 212.87.234.1] client denied by server configuration: mt-comments.cgi
[Wed Dec 22 01:00:54 2004] [error] [client 212.87.234.1] client denied by server configuration: mt-comments.cgi
[Wed Dec 22 01:01:00 2004] [error] [client 212.87.234.1] client denied by server configuration: splorp.cgi
[Wed Dec 22 01:01:10 2004] [error] [client 202.57.35.130] client denied by server configuration: splorp.cgi
[Wed Dec 22 01:01:11 2004] [error] [client 202.57.35.130] client denied by server configuration: mt-comments.cgi
[Wed Dec 22 01:01:16 2004] [error] [client 202.57.35.130] client denied by server configuration: mt-comments.cgi
[Wed Dec 22 01:01:20 2004] [error] [client 202.57.35.130] client denied by server configuration: splorp.cgi
[Wed Dec 22 01:01:21 2004] [error] [client 212.87.234.1] client denied by server configuration: splorp.cgi
[Wed Dec 22 01:01:23 2004] [error] [client 212.87.234.1] client denied by server configuration: splorp.cgi
[Wed Dec 22 01:01:32 2004] [error] [client 212.87.234.1] client denied by server configuration: splorp.cgi
^C
# uptime
01:03:35 up 53 days, 15:21, 4 users, load average: 0.09, 0.30, 1.26

(I should explain that our server was extensively spamflooded and crapflooded today, and the load average exceeded 70 for an extended period. Fixed now.)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:02 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)