Passing clouds of inconsequential observations
Sometimes I remember to put the webcam on first thing and managed to catch the moon fading as the sun rose the other day. With the sun hanging so low at this time of year there are reflections – the sun is reflected in the lens which is reflected in the window – and flares aplenty. Note the wind change at the end of the day.
What is it about these [W:Tilt and shift] images that give them a toy like quality? Fascinating (but expensive) stuff…
The Economist recently had an article exploring some ideas about why we have music in our lives. Most of which can be (and are in the associated comments) dismissed. It would not take too long to see that it is primarily a homosexual thing with men enjoying music created by men and yet those involved in the exchange are predominantly heterosexual.
[W:John Peel] once likened music to a big pie with the gooey, sticky, sweet stuff in the middle and a harder, crisper, slightly burnt crusty outer edge. While the sweet centre can be pleasant it is the crusty outer edge that is the most satisfying. So I have enjoyed nibbling round and round the edge of the pie and finding that John Duncan was inspired when he found a record by Jacques Lasry in a library – does this remind you of anyone? Music by Lasry, along with a Baschet brother or two was used for the children’s TV programme Picture Box…
alternatively…
John Duncan’s The Keening Towers sounds like cheesecake for [W:Steven Pinker]…
A report has found that the Internet is not quite the nightmare like environment some would have us believe. Â In fact it is mostly occupied by relatively normal people. Â Who could have imagined that?
Report Finds Online Threats to Children Overblown – NYTimes.com.
I used to have a broadband connection with Namesco but their amazing (lack of) customer service put an end to that. They managed to break it twice within six months. The nice man on the telephone assured me that they would “As a goodwill gesture…” not charge me for correcting their cock ups. I hung up.
This site is hosted by them. I have just renewed, after seriously contemplating moving it elsewhere, the hosting package. Yesterday things stopped working. There was no warning. There was no notification of what was going on. Having been a customer for some time I have become use to their somewhat cavalier attitude to customer service. So I rummaged around on their website and found this…
14 Jan 09
13:54:22
FTP Password updates
As one of the UK’s leading web services providers, we pride ourselves on offering the highest levels of security and protection.
As you may be aware, the number of attempted security attacks in the UK has recently been on the rise, and yesterday we detected a higher than usual number of attempts to break into websites hosted on our network. Our systems remained unaffected as we invest heavily in the security of our infrastructure.
However, as a precautionary measure we immediately disabled a segment of our customers’ FTP passwords. Furthermore, we have changed one of the rules for password length from being 6 characters to 8 characters. To reactivate your FTP access you will need to login to your Online Control Panel and create a new FTP password.
“Our systems remained unaffected”… but we are going to disable your [W:FTP] service and delete your password but not bother to tell you what we are doing.
Thanks!
Amazingly their billing department can send out reminders that they want you to give them your money months before the actual due date, and they will keep on sending them until you pay up. They even have warnings appear on their Control Panel when you log in…
…but they are unable to find any means to notify you when they disable your account.
Fortunately they do have a Tell The Boss page. Fortunately there are other hosting companies….
