TW Blog :: Entries for Peregrinations
The real is the rational, and the rational is the realGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
A Vision Of The Future
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Do you realise that every day something like five hundred hours of radio and TV pour out over the various channels? If you went without sleep and did nothing else, you could follow less than a twentieth of the entertainment that's available at the turn of a switch! No wonder that people are becoming passive sponges - absorbing but never creating. Did you know that the average viewing time per person is now three hours a day? Soon people won't be living their own lives any more. It will be a full-time job keeping up with the various family serials on TV!
Colonist of New Athens, circa 2050.
From Childhoods End, Arthur C. Clarke, 1954
Posted on Jun 20, 2004 at 03:35:21. [Comments for A Vision Of The Future- 0]
Finding The Time
Also relates to Blogging
No I haven't discorporated! Just, in the past few weeks I have seen such a short supply of time, that keeping up with this weblog was futile. The world of the web developer chasing standards is certainly a varied and very busy one! Then there is the added requirement of managing my personal business affairs, a full time occupation in itself before even getting down to coding.
I have also been toying with the idea of replacing my blogging software with the excellent Wordpress, but having come so far with my own code, I have decided instead to improve my own system (integrating features like Trackback and Ping) and this has taken up much of the time I would normally dedicate to blogging. Then there has been the hammer on the head scenario to come up with a entry for the GAWDS Redesign Competition. I had hoped that the pressure of the encroaching deadline would provide that sudden flash of inspiration, but my head is awash with code at the moment. There is still time if you haven't got an entry in yet!
On top of all this, Euro 2004 is underway and, dare I say it, BB5 is providing countless hours of addictive emotional voyeurism!
Actually, brief aside. I have been somewhat disappointed with the cumbersome and inaccessible website supporting BB5. Due to the sluggish load time I decided to take a tour in my Lynx browser, my first stop being the popularity page - a feature I run to before placing any bets with friends. Flash dependant interface, a total non-starter :(.
Anyway, back to the present, or lack of present! For I feel like I am constantly living in the future at the moment, or more accurately a circular dimension of time - one plain, one point, one moment. Enough of the metaphysics, here follows some catch up blogging from recent days…
Posted on Jun 20, 2004 at 03:33:39. [Comments for Finding The Time- 0]
My Own Mini Troy!
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Is it mere coincidence that the day Troy opened nationwide in the UK, I start to receive regular attacks of Sokets de Trois v1. Trojan horse on Port 5000 and 5001? Perhaps some bored youth's prank or subterfuge from Symantec's own ranks - yes my current Achilles (name chosen with intent, though not bitter!?) is Norton IS. Ok the software appears to be doing its job, but how do I stop the constant security alerts from arising every couple of minutes!?
It took me the best part of an hour to track down the answer for my 2002 version, in the process discovering a whole darker realm of security settings hidden away in the Norton control panel. With the security alert for the trojan disabled, I found enabling the View Event Log in the Tray Menu tab of the NIS options beneficial - to keep a less intrusive but watchful eye on the continued attacks from Sokets de Trois.
A week has passed but the attacks still persist, although regularity seems to have diminished. I hope the film lives up to the legend!
Posted on May 21, 2004 at 23:45:18. [Comments for My Own Mini Troy!- 0]
Bristol Street Motors Service
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At 2pm, April Fool's Day, I arrived at Ford Bristol Street Motors for my annual MOT test, only to be told they did not have a booking for me! Two weeks earlier I had visited the same center to book a test, and was told that the test could only be booked through the company call center. So, I went home and arranged my test for 2pm on April 1st. Now, why was I not booked in on arrival? Quite simple - the call center had booked my test at the center in Cheltenham, not Gloucester, by mistake!
So I had to speak to the center, and with out the faintest hint of an apology for their error, the best they could offer was a slot at 3pm in Cheltenham. Or I could wait at least 10 days for the next available space. With the MOT due to expire the next day, and a road trip planned for the weekend, I had no choice but to take the additional 30 mile round trip.
The service at Cheltenham was pretty shocking, with an obvious air of resentment that I had somehow interfered with their schedule. I waited for the best part of three hours, the car conveniently failed on the front suspension right hand lower arm bush - for which I was charged an unfathomable amount for what equated to a piece of rubber - and by 5:30pm I actually had to go looking for the car, having not even been informed that the work was complete. Just to top off a perfect day, by the time I got home, the entire right hand lower arm was basically hanging loose out of its socket. (Although I didn't discover the actual problem till careful scrutiny with some mechanically savvy friends).
Of course when I called Bristol Street Motors the next day, they suggested it was very unlikely the flapping right arm was anything to do with the right arm bush repair they had done, but if I wanted to drop the car by (all the way back to Cheltenham again) they might be able to fit it in and have a look, if they could find time. Well since my beloved Ford was practically undrivable, I called on one of my river surfing friends to take a look. Steve identified the problem, pointed out that to fix it would require refitting the entire arm, including the bush I had forked out on the previous day, so, instead we performed the repair ourselves.
Just to complete the mockery served up by Bristol Street, we discovered the wheel that was removed to replace the bush had not been screwed up tight again! I am not one to moan, but I believe in paying for good service. This was not good service.
Posted on Apr 04, 2004 at 19:38:27. [Comments for Bristol Street Motors Service- 15]
Undergoing Changes
Also relates to Blogging
A Quick notification…. Currently undergoing a number of changes on my web site and the presentation of my blog. During this time, the site, blog or certain pages may be unavailable….
Posted on Jan 20, 2004 at 19:23:19. [Comments for Undergoing Changes- 2]
