Special Graphic Post:
When a Server Gets Hosed
Recovery of The Dark Wraith Forums and Big Brass Blog is still underway.
The Dark Wraith is less cheerful than usual right now.
Published 9/19/2006 06:18:00 PM
<< 37 Comments Total
Cool graphic, though.
Arr! I be thinkin what Chester N. Scoville be thinkin!
'Chester'?!
Dear God, it never occurred to me, Chet.
The Dark Wraith is having way too many shifts in the paradigm for this early in the century.
The Dark Wraith is less cheerful than usual right now.
I suppose you could be smiling that somebody else is preaching your tune (full disclosure - I haven't finished the entire article, so I could be wrong....), or in this day and age is it toon?
The Greatest Scam of All Time
Thanks for the link Mr. Goat. I sent it along to the "business editor" at the local newspaper, not that it will effect a reply, since it's an AP/Gannett rag.
The Internet can kiss my middle-aged hacker's ass.
:-)
You've got great magical powers, Wraith. I'm happy to see everything's back and working so well.
*Bowing*
Hey Dark Wraith,
I too had issue with Blogger today reloading my template properly after I installed your Blog Scream blog syndicator, which is totally cool, btw.
Anyways, Blogger/Google would either sit at 0%, reloading 0% over and over again, or actually start updating, get as far as the high 70's, and then start over again.
I ended up with about 1/8th of my blog - a header and about 6 links on 1/3 of an existing sidebar.
Nice, huh?
Anyways, I'll be shootin' an emila your way for the Blog syndicator. Nice job on that, btw. I came across it at Declaration Of Pride, formerly American Agenda.
What's up with Uncap journal?
Good morning, good friends.
Right on the heels of that last fiasco, I ended up getting the most severe DNS block I've ever had, and it was blocking me from everything on my own server, including site access, ftp access, and POP3 and SMTP services.
I swear to God, I'm about to go Medieval.
I am sending this from one of the colleges at which I teach, which isn't all that great an idea these days with the vague but rather intimidating "appropriate use" policies that are now in effect.
I'm working on getting around the block. One way or the other, I'll be back up and running today, come Hell or high water. If you've sent me e-mail, tonight I'll be going into an e-mail Web client to retrieve the last two days worth.
As I noted in the graphic,
Grr.
The Dark Wraith is wondering what he did to the gods that pissed them off this seriously.
Good Afternoon Dark Wraith,
Truly cool pic! And it expresses just about what I was feeling the other day when I was trying to post to the Message Board, unsuccessfully. Made me wonder if the feds were finally getting around to shutting the blogosphere down...
Thank goodness it wasn't that.
You're probably almost WISHING it was just that!
The Internet can kiss my middle-aged hacker's ass.
Which internet? Maybe you're just using the wrong one. Heh heh.
Must be one of them there tube blockages...
Good morning, Mr. Wraith. I know you're a very busy man, and I wouldn't bother you if wasn't important, but I'm in a real jam, see, 'cause I've enjoyed your commentary immensely. I realize circumstances beyond your contrl has maked ya too bisy to, hald on a sec...Whew, that's better. I reread a previous post of your's; that should hold for a while. I'm almost too ashamed to admit it but, I'm jonesin' bro for that calming effect your words have on me, just when I think this administration has our country in a death spiral right into the ground.(snark)
All seriousness aside, I sure wish I could bait a neocon troll to post here. The term "feeding frenzy" comes to mind
t rogers, if trolls are what you're hungering for go on over to Pissed Off Patricia's blog, "Morning Martini". She's got a couple of real wingdings just pining away for us to become a full fledged member of the torturing countries of the world...........
- oddjob
My Dear Professor:
Ahh yes... I too can sympathize with your plight. Recently I fell victim to the "errant bit-devil" and found my site hosed - over 150 user accounts mangled within the MySQL database and some "not-so-funny-looking symbols" where my content used to reside.
Ironically, the week before this e-catastrophe happened, I was writing an IT article on 'backups' and used my site as an example -- so i had a fairly recent backup to restore.
In short: it happens to the best of us. Damned entropy!
(BTW, nice graphic)
-Mr. Non-Descript
HAS ANYONE RUN ACROSS ANY INFORMATION REGARDING THIS NYT EDITORIAL????
- oddjob (Hat tip, Proceed At Your Own Risk.)
oddjob,
From my experiance, having been on active duty for over six year, and serving the last two years with the National Guard, doesn't matter what laws are passed. Ya or nay they preach where ever they want. I always get the satisfaction of them noticing me not bowing my head when called to pray, and them not being able to say anything about it because they should have been looking down themselves.
Uh, fascinating link, Mr. Goat. Thank goodness there's someone here to reign in the starry-eyed optimism of our fearless moderator.
:P
(*sigh* How does that poem go again? Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp. etc.)
BTW, Mr. Wraith, I understand you're feeling frustrated at your college's "vague but rather intimidating 'appropriate use' policies." Perhaps you should seek out some Republican neocons for assistance with clarification? I hear they're good at that sort of thing.
Snort.
The Dark Wraith has found his way back.
"(*sigh* How does that poem go again? Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp. etc.)"
"Some say love, it is a river
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
and you its only seed.
"It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking
that never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken,
who cannot seem to give,
and the soul afraid of dyin'
that never learns to live.
"When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been to long,
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong,
just remember in the winter
far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose." -- Amanda McBroom
Razors pain you; Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give;
Gas smells awful; You might as well live.
dorothy parker is a favorite....
Well, at least I came back to poetry.
Shakespeare said something about how poetry "soothes the savage breast."
Or was that music?
Yes, it was music, wasn't it?
The Dark Wraith was wondering why his breast was still feeling entirely too savage for civilized company.
Good evening Dark Wraith:
Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
This one gets attributed (or even blamed) on Shakespeare quite a bit, but it was William Congreve. 1670-1729. The Mourning Bride. Act i. Sc.
Music was integral to much of Shakespeare's work, unfortunately though, very little of the notation survives. In part that's because musicians in his time were not regarded much better than pickpockets and gypsies, also, because their ranks were filled with folks a rung or two below "common" on the ladder socially and therefore, illiterate. I number one of the few surviving melodies of Shakespeare's among my favorites. It's the "Willow Song" sung by Desdemona in Othello. The tune is simply beautiful. The words, of course, exquisite.
here's the tune
these are the lyrics. . .
The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree
Sing all a green willow
Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee
Chorus
Sing willow, willow, willow, willow!
Sing willow, willow, willow, willow!
My garland shall be;
Sing all a green willow, willow, willow, willow
Sing all a green willow
My garland shall be.
The fresh streams ran by her, and murmer'd her moans
Sing willow, willow, willow
Her salt tears fell from her and soft'ned the stones.(chorus)
Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve
Sing willow, willow, willow
He was born to be fair, I to die for his love,(chorus)
I call'd my love false love but what said he then?
Sing willow, willow, willow
If I court more women, you'll couch with more men.(chorus and fade)
Yes, Minstrel Boy, it was Congreve.
Pity about musicians of Renaissance England.
Music in the early Middle Ages was intimately intertwined with poetry. Old English poetry was functionally the way quite a bit of cultural information was conveyed to the common people from outside their own villages.
Old English poetry was alliterative. The rhyming couplets with which later generations would be familiar was introduced to English by the French. The structure of an Old English poem was dominated by half-lines between which the reciter would either hit a small drum or strum a small harp. I used to use a drum when reading poems like Cædmon's Hymn. It gave the poem an eerie, almost other-worldly quality, especially given the sonics of the alliterations and the gutteral, low germanic sound of Old English. More than a few of my students would become quite enamored of the sounds, particularly when the context of the poem was explained.
You see, Cædmon's Hymn was obviously created (although written down much, much later, and in Latin, at that!) by someone for whom Christianity was very new. Even the linguistic equipment to describe Christian rite and ritual was not yet within the vocabulary. The metaphors and similes in the poem had distinctively Norse legend roots. The Anglo-Saxons were, then, constructing a bridge that would define their emerging Christian belief system in terms of their own, prior belief-experience.
As I argue in other venues, it was the distinctively German/Norse substrate that would give life to the fits of rebellion in the English as they fought against absolute authority of both the sovereign of the land in the monarch and the Vicar of Christ in the papacy. That deeply engrained tension would have many and varied consequences on British history, and it carries on to this day in their former colonies.
Short-term despair, Minstrel Boy; yet, in the midst of that pessimism, the certain knowledge that we will not forever stay on our knees to any ruler, be he posing as the savior of our nation or of our souls.
We shall all, in our own voices, speak our own hymn.
And our small drums, sounding together, will finally and again drown out the lord who would stand between us and our destiny.
The Dark Wraith is definitely feeling a little better as the night wears on.
The metaphors and similes in the poem had distinctively Norse legend roots. The Anglo-Saxons were, then, constructing a bridge that would define their emerging Christian belief system in terms of their own, prior belief-experience.
While I've never read it through on my own, and only encountered it once or twice during my schooliing, I was always, always struck by that aspect of Beowulf, which combines clearly pagan ideas with a Christian hero (who behaves as a pagan Germanic hero would have, despite the Christianity).
- oddjob
I was always, always struck by that aspect of Beowulf, which combines clearly pagan ideas with a Christian hero (who behaves as a pagan Germanic hero would have, despite the Christianity).
Struck you literarily or literally?
There is not doubt to me that at the present there are many pagans pretending to be Christian heroes! Makes one wonder which reflects the other... Life or art?
Good evening, OddJob.
Yes, Beowulf is a great example of the fusion of Christian ways overlaying more ancient themes. In fact, even through the High Middle Ages, the British, Scots, and Irish still admitted to much older traditions, each nationality's (if you want to call them such) of its own colorations from earlier migrations, invasions, and general ethnic particulars. Some would argue that Protestantism, itself, is shaded by touches of ancient beliefs that pre-date the time of Christianity. Certainly, the general rejection of centralized religious authority is most decidedly not Roman.
This all gets into fascinating side issues. Around Christmas time, I'll publish a revision of a post I did in the Medieval History forum of About.com. The discussion centered on a particular song and how to interpret it. My analysis, rather complicated and thorough as it is, offers all kinds of references to pagan traditions from the Middle East, Asia Minor, and even the British Isles.
And then there's the completely unrelated matter of a post I never got to publish at About.com: it has to do with the origin of a very obscene word. I was planning to dispel all of the nonsense about the etymology of that verb (and interjection and noun and just about every other part of speech, for that matter), but I never got around to publishing it before I left the forum in disgust at how people were being banned, not for being indecorous, but rather for promoting views (rather offensive as some were) undesirable to the moderator.
Geez. Now I know I'm beginning to lose focus. I have a post here to publish on price elasticity of demand, another on the history of Federal Reserve monetary policy changes during election cycles, one on gains to leverage, still another on a recent spate of troubling incidents in a local school system, and still another on the two different ways that nuclear weapons fuel can be produced.
Lordie.
Oh, yes, and I have a midterm exam to finish preparing for Tuesday.
At least I got a four-inch pile of homework graded this weekend.
I wish students could write. Most cannot. I'd be happy if I could even read their handwriting.
The Dark Wraith might give up on writing essay questions for this up-coming exam.
Hi DW,
(OT) but I thought you might find this interesting...
Commerce Department counts 1,100 missing laptops
Good evening, PoliShifter.
Yes, I saw that a couple days ago: one thousand one hundred thirty-seven of them at last count.
Some had the Windows log-on password enabled, which is to say some had nothing that looked like something, but most had nothing at all. No encrytion, no nothing. Not even a guardian angel or other fail-safe routine.
Gawd almighty.
And people around my neck of the woods still think I'm off my rocker the way I chased those Census Bureau twits away when kept they harrassing me. They ought to be glad I had other reasons to get up that morning.
Ah, but of course: the Census Bureau doesn't share personal information with any other agency.
No, they prefer to share it with pawn shop buyers.
You know, PoliShifter, I'm not sure about this, but do you get the feeling that Bozo the Clown is running the security aspects of this government under the neo-cons? Those fools can't even safeguard data, for God's sake—what makes any sane person with a marginally functioning cortex think they could safeguard the physical reality of a nation?
I swear, it's almost enough to make me go into the business of used laptops resale.
The Dark Wraith knows a growth industry when he sees one.
Good Morning Dark One and friends...
I did attempt the other day to log in and found DWF MIA, and was curious about whether it was an attack or some server problem. I am glad it is solved. I have been absent since the other day when 2 people called in sick to work...I was at the store at 4:30 AM, left at 2:30, stopped back to drop something off at 3 just in time to be there when the second person called in. Since my boss was working already on her vacation, and had dinner plans, I ate and clocked back in at 4 and closed the store. I only worked 18 hours or so. I've been recovering, so haven't had the chance to get back here. I should be sleeping now, as I must take the children in in the AM.
Now, someone please give me logical and true explanation as to why gas is now under $2/gallon? The neo-con response is it is the end of summer driving, and prices always drop this time of year. But this is a 90+cent drop since the Lieberman/Lamont primary! Or since Isreal and Lebanon "quit" the shooting...both events heralded the slide.
Hey, maybe it is a republican tax cut! Dear Leader did say that high gas prices were a tax on working people....
Good morning.
Ah, but of course: the Census Bureau doesn't share personal information with any other agency.
No, they prefer to share it with pawn shop buyers.
Your comment above hit a my funny bone! A boss, one time, bought a computer from the pawn shop. Her family was amazed at the porn video collection residing on the computer. I was kind of shocked that people wouldn't clean off the hard drive, then remembered that they probably didn't realize they wouldn't be able to buy the computer back, when they placed it there.
Looking forwards to your response to Wild Clover's request. I also have noted the depth of the price drop.
Your post on a Christmas hymn/carol looks like great fun to me! My first guess is the obvious, that it will be about "The Holly and The Ivy", which is an absolutely perfect example of the kind of cultural bridge you were talking about, even though most Americans who know the carol have no idea about that. Here you have lyrics simply brimming with openly, brazenly pagan British symbolism having to do with YULE (& other such explicitly NON-Christian religious topics), that always have Jesus or Mary stuck on the end like a pair of hand me down slacks in the wrong color and two sizes off!
Or I could be wrong altogether and learn about some other Christmas hymn I had no clue about!
(Eagerly waits in anticipation...........)
- oddjob
Good morning, OddJob.
No, this is another song/poem. It's quite old: there were certainly versions of it at least in Middle and Old English. It is also quite long. The symbolism has been discussed, debated, and assessed many times over the ages. I should probably do some more editing on my original thread of writings on it just to align the exposition more with the format of an article than a running discussion as it originally was at About.com, but I'm having mixed feelings about that since the narrative flow gave quite a few indications about "standard" interpretations (even though the standard interpretations were many and rather varied).
What was interesting to me was the clean split between those who were intimately familiar with the song (or poem), and those who had never in their lives even so much as heard of it. My impression was that it had something to do with religious up-bringing, but that was only a proxy for what seemed to be much deeper ethnic roots. I'm still not sure about pushing it that far, though.
Anyway, that's one of several Christmas-time treats I have in store.
The Dark Wraith, in his old age, is much more favorable to Christmas merriment than he was in his younger years.
Good morning, Old White Lady.
I recall from living in what might be described as the "bad" side of several large cities that pawn shops were a wonderful place to get good stuff. I was surprised at first to learn that pawn shop owners in a number of places have statutory immunity in the sale of stolen property. The police in one city explained that they relied upon the pawn shop owners for "information" about thieves, fencing rings, and assorted bad guys, so being allowed to keep and sell stolen merchandise was part of the trade-off. In one case, a woman whose house had been burglarized learned from a friend that several pieces of her prized, heirloom jewelry were in a particular pawn shop. She was absolutely infuriated, and made her anger known on television news, when she found out she would have to buy her merchandise back at the pawn shop if she wanted it. If I recall the incident correctly, she nearly got arrested for trying to get her stuff back at the shop.
As I noted, though, the government folks certainly have the resources to be ensuring that, even if their laptops are stolen, no material harm could come from the thefts. If they don't know how to do that kind of fail-safe securitization, they are far too incompetent to be in charge of private information.
The Dark Wraith has little patience for people with power and good salaries who deserve neither but presume the right to both.
Well Dark Wraith,
I am one of those crazy moonbats (fiscally conservative mind you) that thinks our gov in its current form is doing anything and everything to get as much info on every single U.S. Citizen as possible.
The goal is to give all this information (either by sale or oopsies! "lost laptops") to corporations such as Experian, Equifax, and Transunion.
And ofcourse our buddies at ChoicePoint make a living in trading in personal data. And while the government cannot disclose personal data, they can and do sell it to ChoicePoint who then in turn does disclose it legally.
Between ChoicePoint, Diebold, and BushCo, you have yourself a nice right wing juggernaut capable of maintaining power indeffinately.
Mix in a little torture, a little extraordinary rendition, and build some internment camps "just in cas" sprinkle that with a little Macaca anti-semitism and trashing of immigrants and what do you get?
The Rise of the Fifth Reich.
Welcome to it.
Good Morning Dark Wraith:
In my travels as a harper I have often been called upon to accompany a narrator telling a very old story, Old English, Gaelic (both Irish and Scots), and some of the longer poems. It's fun to do. The improvisational aspect, the interplay with storyteller all makes me feel like the piano player in a silent movie house somewhere in the sticks. I discovered that whole thing while I was set up at a Ren Faire to help a couple of friends. The trick was that if I could get them to stop and stand a moment by playing the harp their attention would then be drawn to the jewelry booths of one friend or the fortune telling operation of the other. While doing that I met a member of one of the various clans who had set up. She knew some of the very old and involved Irish verse tales of Finn MacCool. Over the run of the Faire we developed several "themes" for characters and situations. One little riff would signal a fight brewing, another the spark of love and so forth. As we got more practiced the storyteller remarked that the addition of the music helped her remembering the tales. It also supported and in many ways elevated her own performance. We were having a grand time with this until one of the friends that I had initially signed on to help remarked that while people were indeed stopping, they were involved with the harp and story teller and were definately shopping less. Adjustments were made, commerce and art were both served.
The minstrel remembers fondly. The music and the wenches.