Paul's Journal

06/14/2008 11:23 #44646

Dad's Birthday
Category: family

Last thursday my mother and I started the day by trying to clean my grandmother's attic out. There was so much stuff that had to be divided in between piles of keepers, goodwill and garbage. We managed to sift through lots of stuff before it got to 90 degrees and we had to prepare for my Dad and Uncle's birthday party which started at 7PM.

Our floor guy finsihd the floor over there too. It looks a lot better than the crazy 50s rainbow fleck lineoleum that used to be there.

My grandmother had collected 3 boxes of bows. I wonder what kind of special event was just about to happen.

I didn't get any pictures of my Dad and Uncle's birthday accept this one at the new grill. I spent more of my time making sure that everything was working and that food was ready and dishes were clean. I think my mom or brother has more pics.

(e:twisted) - does your friend need this toaster

drew - 06/14/08 16:13
That's a good looking toaster.

twisted - 06/14/08 13:32
I'll ask him. Looks like he could squeeze :::link::: another one in there.

06/14/2008 11:12 #44645

A really good time or a really bad time
Category: clothes

Someone had a really good night or a really bad night on Franklin

lilho - 06/15/08 00:34
that was an out loud laugh response! im gonna go ahead and say, they had a great night!!!!!

06/10/2008 18:10 #44607

FIOS NOW!!! Moving estrip to a new home
Category: estrip

So I get a message from Artvoice today:

Basically, we've just about outgrown these T1s. Our traffic has been gradually increasing, and we're hitting near max bandwidth during peak times. Not only that, but we really want to start pushing on-line video... so 3mbits of bandwidth just isn't going to cut it. To top it off, our contract for the Ts is up anyway.

They are moving on to some crazy high intensity web stuff to revolutionize their site which requires them moving to a colocation facility that supports 100mbps connections with a TB of bandwidth. Wow, whatever that is, is going to be crazy intense.

What it means for me is that I could move to a co-location facility with a virtualized server (pronounced headache and drama) or move my dream baby server that we all purchased somewhere else.

Time warner has nothing to offer me.
Their best small business package is 7mbps down/768K up which is lame. I tested it and we go over that all day long. Not to mention it also costs $149.99. For the server, download speed isn't nearly as critical as upload speed. It didn't help that when I called the business line, they didn't know the phone was off the hook and spent about 10 minutes making fun of other customers in the background. Talk about stupid business model.

Verizon FiOS
Verizon has amazing deals but only with FiOS which is not available at my house yet. It seems like they only have in in the country and in select suburbs. The best they could do without FiOS was 1.5mb down/768k up using DSL. That wasn't going to cut it either.

Luckily, I know someone who live in FiOS land. The prices and speed for the business accounts are insane

$99.00 for 20mbps/5mbps
$139.00 for 20mbps/20mbps
$239.00 for 50mbps/20mbps

Those speeds almost sound like some magic future that I didn't believe could exist - at least not in that price range. I think the first account at $99.00 would be good for me.

The most I paid for estrip in the past was $49.00 per month but it was a lot slower connection and the headache of co-location hosting with support in India. I would rather die than live through that again. Seriously all the time I wasted would cost more money now.

So I talked to Verizon and they promised me if I put the account in my name but at my friend's house, then when it comes to my neighborhood I could just move the server there which is in fact my dream.

How are the other companies going to compete with Verizon now that FIOS is out? Is time warner just going to go out of business? I mean FIOS TV is also on its way or already out in some areas.

fellyconnelly - 06/11/08 06:45
they are setting up fios all over the countryside first, because as i have experienced all over east aurora and springville, people all over there don't have even dsl yet. So they stopped installing dsl alltogether and are just running fios - but they are takin care of the country folk first. blah.

but the pockets of fios all over are damn sexy. i guess the fios tv is nice too. I'm hoping it will start poppin up in more places so i can sell the crap out of it!

tinypliny - 06/10/08 22:55
What do you mean by a security flaw? Do you mean to say that the virtual servers and the physical servers each have their own defense mechanisms? Does the "defense mechanism" of the physical server radically differ from those employed for the virtual servers?

I was asking because it seems like an interesting analogy to approach tumours as well... So target a common weakness in each autonomous cell and then a uniting/but completely different weakness in the tumour as a whole (I guess that might include the microenvironment/stroma of the tumour). But the problem with that theory is the assumption that tumour is actually functioning as a complete physical unit with component parts and division of labour. What if it isn't? Are there any characteristics that define the "physical server" or the "complete tumour"? Or is it just an aggregation of autonomous parasitic out-of-control cells? Does it have a central controlling unit or a brain that we haven't found yet? What defines a tumour, apart from histological similarities of its component cells? Is there communication between these cells? What directs this communication? What directs the adhesion between these cells? Is there a common gene sequence in every little autonomic cell of the tumour that controls the essence of what defines the bigger tumour body? In other words, what are the COMMON genes that control the crosstalk between each cell and its neighbour and each cell and its stromal surroundings?

jim - 06/10/08 22:11
You'd need to find two different security flaws - one to get in the virtual server, then once inside one to get in the physical server. But, if the other virtual servers are all running the same thing, you could use the same trick you did to get into the first server to get into the other virtual servers - so nothing is really safe or sure in this world :)

tinypliny - 06/10/08 22:02
So you have got autonomous smaller units each with its own blood supply coming together as a huge functioning website. That seems so complicated... and fascinating! That's how tumours work...

Just as a point of curiousity, what would a hacker need to do to bring down the whole system - all the servers including the various component virtual server?

jim - 06/10/08 21:49
Tinypliny, I use virtual private servers frequently - imagine a big computer with 8 processors and 8 gigabytes of RAM, and it's divided up into 16 slices. Each slice gets 1/2 gigabyte of RAM and 50% worth of a CPU, however, to each user it appears the are the only ones on a machine and they can't see outside their own boundries.

It's pretty awesome for many sites, you get control and security and guaranteed but not boundless resources. For others it's not quite enough (like estrip).

It's also useful for segregating services even if you're the only one using the server. If you've got email and web and database and blah blah blah on one server computer, you can stick each in a virtual server and if any of them choke they won't take the other services down too.

paul - 06/10/08 21:28
It means I use part of a real server someone else in the country and pretend its my server and no one else is using it even though plenty of people are.

tinypliny - 06/10/08 20:57
What is "co-location facility with a virtualized server"? Does that mean (e:strip) will be on a spaceship hovering around Pluto in a virtual way with Indians yapping on the phone when the space station has a broken solar panel??!! Pray, tell!

mrmike - 06/10/08 19:00
Yeah, I agree. Verizon is blanketing the money suburbs first. West Seneca, Orchard Park, etc.

uncutsaniflush - 06/10/08 18:35
I would love to get FIOS over here. But, alas, it my theory that both the Moon and Antarctica will have FIOS before the unfashionable end of Bird Ave. gets it.

06/09/2008 21:50 #44601

estrip7 is on its way
Category: estrip

Sorry about my lack of blogging. I promise to update more soon. I have slowly been working on estrip7 - yes estirp6 was finished and never released. In the new version your blog page has much more space. ALl your personal info and links to the different views of your blog are on the left. Your blog now around 600 pixels wide is in the middle allowing for larger pics.

At the right is going to be the latest entries list, chat and some new secret stuff not there yet. Not sure about which themes will move over or if I will allow people to mix custom themes for their own blogs. We will see. Anyways, don't give up hope - I have just been so busy with work and backend stuff.

It will also have a more more robust API for hosting your blog content elsewhere.

jim - 06/10/08 21:50
Looks cool :) Can't wait.

jon - 06/10/08 14:44
yay! I'm also excited for the API. Good stuff.

tinypliny - 06/10/08 00:37
That looks like Bhel Puri!!!!
Neat! I can't wait.

drew - 06/10/08 00:23
looks sweet.

james - 06/09/08 22:19
That sounds like wrapping estrip in bacon. Delicious.

carolinian - 06/09/08 22:05
Are the version numbers of (e:strip) tied to the current version number of Internet Explorer? e.g. Internet Explorer 7 -> (e:strip) 7?

-jk

06/08/2008 11:33 #44584

Bacon Wrapped Crab Legs
Category: food

For those of you that missed it, you missed a great time. The best part was the appetizer of bacon wrapped crab claws and robert's mojito mix.

Phillis, if you read this, tell Robert I have his tupperware jug. Seriously, you should start a journal.

Bacon Wrapped Crab Claws
(e:mike) and I decided to just take bacon wrapped shrimp to the next most fancy level. They were so freakin' delicious. The form factor was very similar to bacon wrapped chicken wings

There is only one link I could find for those which makes me think they are way under marketed.

Requires one package of bacon ($5) and one pound of crab claws (~$20) First defrost crab claws, cut yummy bacon in half strip sized, wrap around crab claw and broil on low for 10 minutes ish.

In their stages of cooking

Mikey likes it

I think for the first time, I actually got to spend some quality time talking with each guest. I specifically had a great time talking with (e:vincent) and (e:metalpeter) about "touring" niagara falls shady style.

Also, for once I am also not so mega hung over from the party which should make the parade today a little nice than usual.

And onto some totally unparty related items:

We turned Dave's room into a library.

Why do people add clay to give their hair a washed yesterday look when they could just not wash their hair today?

Seriously, the sign really does make a difference. One person actually bumped it.

At the end of the night (e:tinypliny) drank a some of this pretty tea and then I saw she published something at 5:30am which leads me to believe that it was very caffeinated, lol.

tinypliny - 06/10/08 00:39
THAT TEA ROCKS!! Thanks for letting me try it. I might sneak into your kitchen someday and steal it all. I know the shelf it is on!

cue slow creepy music here*

boxerboi - 06/09/08 22:08
I regret not trying a crab leg. They looked so freakin' good.

james - 06/08/08 18:55
Glad a good time was had despite the fact I was not there. ^_^

metalpeter - 06/08/08 15:13
To know for sure you had to read the chat, they didn't make like a big sign about it or anything just hat little one about keeping the date open.

leetee - 06/08/08 12:42
Oh, so there was a party last night? Last i heard, you were thinking about it, but since you didn't say it was on, i thought it was off. Oh well, always next next time...