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Author: Adam

My Enormous Erection

12/08/2007

Bet that got your attention. The 24m CIX mast was assembled on site last week, and installed in the courtyard inside our services building yesterday.

EDIT: I’ll post a photo of my own tomorrow.

I think I spy our genset up there too, but I could be wrong about that as the infrastructure for it wasn’t in place the last time I visited. (EDIT: That is the genset, and the chillers are on the roof too!)

At this point the major infrastructural action items remaining are:

  • install UPS system
  • install fire suppression bottles
  • install chillers

We still have a lot of smaller jobs to do though, plus the final build out of the network and moving servers from the computer room to the main data floor.

Gimme a bell if you’re interested in the networking stuff, we’re not happy with the offerings we’ve received so far. Talk about overthinking it! (And overpricing it.)

Did you know?

10/08/2007

That the phrase “By Hook or by Crook” originated when William the Conqueror swore that he would take Waterford by Hook Head to the east of the harbour, or Crook head to the west. I didn’t (until a few weeks ago).

HTML updates at last!

09/08/2007

Although I can understand why the W3C went the XHTML route several years ago, I think it was a distraction from the beautiful simplicity of basic HTML, which essentially made the web what it is today. If it wasn’t for <B> and <I> and their ilk – yes, even <BLINK> – people like me wouldn’t have been interested in playing with HTML, creating the silly little websites we did, and in time moving onto to new toys like Javascript and Perl.

It was those toys – I’m sure the likes of Justin would crucify me for calling Perl a toy, but that’s what it was for me at the outset – that led people like Rasmus Lerdorf to create new toys like PHP, and XMLHttpRequest, and Ruby on Rails. And it was those toys that led to the likes of Digg, and Flickr, and YouTube, and thousands of other sites that you use every day. They’re not basic HTML by any stretch of the imagination, but their foundations are.

Now it looks like we’re going back to our roots, with HTML 5. New elements will be added to the spec, simple and easy-to-understand elements like header and footer, aside and figure, audio and video, details and datagrid. Guess their purposes, you’ll probably be right or not far off.

Hopefully the new generation of web addicts will embrace HTML 5 like we embraced it’s forerunners, breaking away from walled gardens like Facebook and MySpace and building their online presences in their own space, linked together with open standards like SIOC and it’s cousins. It’s not hard. If I can do it…

Beer

07/08/2007

Since I had Lipotrim coming out my ears and Volvic coming out of all of my other orifices, I’ve decided to take a break from the old diet for a fortnight, which means that I now have the opportunity to celebrate my thus-uncelebrated 35th birthday, and my impending doom happy engagement to the lovely T. Plus of course there’s the long, complicated process of organising my stag night, with all the associated discussions, fights, interventions, arrests, and ultimately duels at dawn. So set aside Friday week the 17th in your calendar for a few pints please. More details as we have them.

PS. 27.5 pounds so far, and really that extra half pound at the start was cos of a Johnny Fries a couple nights before I started. That’s just short of two stone, or the weight of this amount of water.

Water Water, Everywhere

Yes, I’m using bottles of water to visualise my weight loss. But still, not bad eh? Sorry for the journally-type post, but I’m dead chuffed.

Dual Network Handsets

06/08/2007

Indian handset maker Spice Mobile has introduced two new mobiles, both of which can handle dual connections: GSM + CDMA for the D-88, and GSM + GSM for the D-80. It’s not clear if they take two SIMs or handle the second virtually, or even if it’s just an extension of the clunky dual-SIM addons you’ve been able to get for years, but it’s a major step forward either way simply because it comes as part of the package. It’s just a pity they decided to rip off or licence already dated Moto designs and not come up with a new design to go with it.

Spice Mobiles

Of course Nokia, Motorola or any of the other handset makers could have done this years ago, but they like to pick and choose where they innovate, and where they help the networks retain their cosy little cartels.

Spot the Undercover Reporter

04/08/2007

Wired: DefCon staff lured her to a large hall telling her that the Spot the Fed contest was in session and that she could get a picture of an undercover federal agent at the contest. When she sat down, Jeff Moss, DefCon’s founder, announced that they were changing the game. Instead of Spot the Fed, they were going to play Spot the Undercover Reporter and then announced, “And there’s one in here right now.” Madigan, realizing she’d been had, jumped from her seat and bolted out the door with reporters carrying cameras chasing after her through the parking lot and to her car.

Open Letter to Acer

01/08/2007

Prompted by this idiocy.

From: Adam Beecher
To: euro_mail@acer-euro.com
Subject: “no demand for [linux] in the UK”

Dear Acer,

At some point in the next year I will be buying a laptop, and given’s Ubuntu’s progress on the desktop, it’ll likely be preloaded with Linux.

If you don’t have one, I can’t buy one from you. And with your company’s attitude, I might not buy anything from you.

Do yourself a favour, start talking to your customers instead of reporters, and fire your marketers. They haven’t a clue.

Neither do your HR people. Give them Cluetrain. Give everyone Cluetrain.

http://www.cluetrain.com/

Regards,
Adam Beecher

Biologists Helping Bookstores

30/07/2007

Brilliant. Science fans are going into bookshops and moving creationist garbage – and atheist opinion – from the Science section to Religion and Philosophy. Unfortunately this person doesn’t think Dawkins should be moved too, but I’m sure a few comments will set them right.

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