Diana the Valkyrie's Newsletter - October 2003
A hard man is good to beat
September usually brings the first stirrings of Autumn, but this year, it was just an extension of summer. The Summer of '03 will be remembered for many years, alongside the summer of '76 and other legendary summers. The lack of rain has meant that the grass is as much brown as green, but apart from that, it's been glorious.
Galleries added this month.
Stories added this month.
Nothing new
Movies added this month.
We're coming up for server-swap time again. The "current server" will become the latest "older server", and there will be a new "current server. I estimate mid-October for the changeover.
I'm getting 100,000 pics per day quite normally now, and the total daily volume is about 10 gigabytes. So it isn't surprising that my servers fill up in about 10 weeks.
Kasie Cavanaugh's Fetish Fever. Full nudity.
My free (free to members) email service (it's a similar kind of thing to Hotmail, Yahoo and loads of others, without the advertising) has just been improved. I've added "Diana the Valkyrie's Antivirus". What that does, is any email that includes .exe, .pif, .scr or .bat is considered to be including an executable. That's how many viruses travel. So, StoneColdMail just discards such emails, unless you create a folder called "executable", in which case, it's delivered into that (maybe you actually do want to receive an executable file).
The main reason for doing that, is that recently there's been such a huge volume of viruses going by email; Sobig, and a bunch of others that I actually can't be bothered to identify, but anything that's emailed to me that's executable, isn't something I want. Unless it's something I'm specifically expecting (for example, if I asked someone to email it to me).
So, in the default action, you won't even know the virus tried to email itself to you, and the apparent sender (I say apparent, because the "from" is forged, it didn't come from who it says it came from) isn't sent any notification (because what's the point, he didn't sent the thing).
Do let me know if this causes any inconvenience.
Lots of news from down on the farm this month, and no big disasters!
Gradually upgrading computers from Pentium 3 to Pentium 4, I found that there was a major problem. A P4 needs an extra power supply connector to the motherboard that a P3 doesn't have. So, the power supplies in my 1U boxes won't run P4s.
I spoke to my case supplier, I thought maybe he's met this problem before. I was quite ready to fork out £30 apiece for new power supplies, but I was hoping that wouldn't be necessary.
The extra connector supplies 12 volts to the motherboard. But the hard drives also take 12 volts. Lo and behold, there's a cable adaptor that lets you use a hard drive power line for the motherboard, so I bought a dozen of those for a few pounds.
My fax broke. Or, to be more accurate, a tiny weeny piece of plastic broke off the fax, so that the ink cartridge no longer clings to the printer like a baby kangaroo to its mother. This means that the whole fax machine is non-working.
Mend it? Get a replacement part? Surely you're jesting?
Fortunately, I have a big old thing I used to use, a combination copier/fax, vintage 1996, retired. I brought it out of retirement, guessed how to connect it up and set it for fax work, and I thought, great.
A few days later, the display was asking for a new cartridge. Oh great, it's run out of toner. I did a web search, a new cartridge would be anything frmo £100 to £195, depending on who I got it from.
You what??? I mean, I get about ten faxes per month, fax isn't exactly central to my needs. But, I do need one occasionally.
I rummaged around the web. I can buy a whole new fax for £60. New cartridge for the old fax, twice the cost of a whole new fax. No brainer. I ordered a new fax machine. I hope it doesn't have tiny weeny pieces of fragile plastic that spontaneously self-destruct.
September 15, Carol stopped working. All I knew, is that even though there was power being applied, the computer was dead, no lights showing. That's not something I can fix remotely, so it was time to switch to the backup.
Carol, at that time, was the main Newsthumbs server. Wanda was the backup, so the first thing I did, was switch the load of people browsing, over to Wanda. One problem, though - Carol had the September 15 data, and Wanda didn't, because I hadn't done that backup yet. Huh. Now I remember why I load up two news servers in parallel to each other.
So, I told Wanda to get the latest data (that would be about 120,000 pictures, about 12 gigabytes). Wanda crashed. I tried again, Wanda crashed again. Hurrah. So, I left Wanda carrying the load, which she seemed to be able to do without crashing, and told Belle to get the latest data. I also got Edina and Fluff ready so that one of them could be the backup to Belle.
Several hours after the problem with Carol happened, I had a thought. You see, all the servers at Watford are configured to start up when poewr is applied, and not to need a push of the on-button. So, I hadn't bothered with that. My thought was, let's push the on-button. And guess what - as soon as it was pushed, Carol came alive. Duh. Have you ever felt like a complete Wally?
The big project this month, was to get mobile internet access. So that I can go on a cruise, but still check every now and then that the servers are working, and take action if there's some problem. A lot of the problems I get, are really minor and can be fixed in a moment, but if not fixed, can snowball.
So I got a Nokia 6310, which does Bluetooth (radio link to nearby computer), and a Bluetooth dongle for my laptop. I signed up for GPRS (I can't remember what that stands for, it means internet access via a mobile). And it worked fine in the shop, but when I got it home ...
I expect you know how this goes. It turns out, that with one bar of signal, you can talk on your mobile. But it needs four bars of signal to use GPRS. And where I live, I'm doing well to get two bars, three is the best I can hope for. One is more normal.
Well, this isn't a disaster, the last place I want to use mobile internet, is my home. Except I do want to make sure I have everything set up and working, I don't want to get to Mammamia in Italy and discover I didn't framinsh the cordwangle.
So I bought an antenna. It's nearly three feet long, several inches across. I can mount it on a photographic monopod, and I can get six bars of signal using it. There's also a thing you can buy that you just glue on to the phone. I'm a bit sceptical about whether it works, so I didn't get one. With this yagi antenna, at least I understand the principle it works on.
Since it gets me so much more signal, I'm planning to take it with me on the cruise. I'll go to the top deck of the ship, set up my monopod with the antenna attached, rotate it until I find the best direction to pick up a signal, connect my laptop, and log in to my servers in England.
And if anyone comes up to me and asks me what I'm doing, I'll tell them it's my connection to Valhalla.
If this works well, I'm going to look into satellite phones. I've heard that they aren't that much more expensive than ordinary mobile phones, especially if you don't use them much, which I won't. But with a satellite phone ... I can be in mid-ocean and log in to my server farm!
I don't like the Western Digital 200 gb drive. I only bought half a dozen of them, but I have trouble with all of them. It isn't that they totally stop working. The problem is that, after some days working OK, they "drop out". To get them going again, I need to power the server off and on again, and then they work again for a while.
This is obviously not suitable for serious use as a customer-facing server. So what I've started to do, is pull them out of the computers they're in (I keep a record of what's in each server) and build them into servers that I just use to store data that I hardly ever need to access. It would be cheaper to put it on tape, but since I can't think of any good way of using these drives, that's what they're going to get used for. So, I put a couple in an old 75MHz machine, and at least I'll get some use out of them.
So which drives am I happy with? Actually, none. Every type of drive I've bought seems to get failures in larger numbers than I'm happy with. One advantage of Maxtors, is that they make it really easy to return them under warranty, but you need to get drives with a three year warranty for that to be good, one year isn't enough. More than three years isn't necessary, because three years after you bought a drive, you'll be able to get the same thing for a tenth of the cost. Mostly, I buy Maxtor, but I also buy some IBM drives.
I've done a bunch of articles on understanding the internet. It occurs to me, though, that I've neglected to explain to you how the real world works, thus leaving web site members excellently equipped for dealing with the internet, and duffers at reality. This is the first in a series of articles intended to rectify that oversight.
You all know how it goes. You need to get a little bit of help to fix something, or you're trying to sort out a billing error. Or whatever. And every time you phone the company, you get told you'll get called back, and you don't. And after calling for a few days, and holding, eventually you get through to someone and they tell you that isn't their department, try James Jobsworth. And when you finally get hold of Jobsworth eight days later, Jobsworth tells you "Oh no, you've come through to the wrong place, try Sarah Battersea." Who turns out to be A) on holiday for a week and B) not the right person when you do finally get hold of her. And so on, and so on, and so on.
I guess most people, eventually, give up. It isn't that the people in the company are trying to be difficult, it's that they are A) genuinely so disorganised that they can't do simple things like return a call, and B) the people at the bottom of the heap, the people you need to talk to, have as priority one making their boss happy, and customers like you aren't even on their radar except as a minor nuisance.
Well, gather round my little cubs, because Akela is about to share with you Diana the Valkyrie's unpatented guerrilla tactics for getting a company to take you seriously.
You need to use the internet; go on to the company web site. But you're looking for something quite specific. You're looking for either "Investor relations" or "Corporate Communications". Sure, you could try Customer Service, but the reason you're reading this article is that you tried that and it didn't work.
You need to find out the name of the person in charge of "Investor Relations" or "Corporate Communications", or whatever they call it. Let's suppose his name is "Mr Horatio Hornblower". Now you phone the company (using the phone number you just gathered), and you ask to talk to Mr Hornblower. If necessary, if he isn't there, or if he's in a meeting, then leave your number and ask him to call back. When they ask what it's about, explain that it's about a Corporate Communications (or Investor Relations, as the case may be) problem, and you need to talk to him. You talk very politely, and in a friendly way.
Horatio, of course, is a Very Important Person, he's near the apex of the corporate pyramid. That's the reason why he has time on his hands, and will actually call you back. He is also, of course, almost entirely impotent to solve your problem. Don't worry about that for now, my little cubs, trust your Akela.
When you talk to Mr Hornblower, explain to him that he has a Corporate Communications problem (because that dumps it in his lap), then outline (outline, no detail) to him what the actual situation is. Conclude with the summary "And so, you see, you have a Corporate Communications problem". All very friendly, you're helping him solve a problem that he has, you see. Your problem is merely a symptom of the Corporate Communications problem he has. Oh, he might ask you which stockbroker you do research for, or which financial magazine you write for. I usually tell them "I freelance, and I write for a number of publications", which of course is completely true.
He won't solve your problem.
Oh no.
He'll do something much better than that.
He'll find a subordinate to dump it on to. Your problem is far too trivial for him to care about. I mean, if it wasn't important to the minions you originally spoke to before you took this step, then for sure it's totally unimportant to Mr Hornblower. So, he dumps it on one of his peons.
Now, just for a moment, let's look at it from the point of view of the peon. A Very Important Person in the company has just dumped a problem in her lap, and told her to deal with it. This has come from her boss, or her boss's boss, or maybe her boss's boss's boss, who is only one step removed from the Right Hand of God, and is therefore high priority. So, Penelope Peon will call you. Last time I did this, she called me within ten minutes of my conversation with Mr Hornblower.
She introduces herself, and explains that Mr Hornblower has asked her to deal with it. "Oh, excellent," you say, "I knew Horatio would get it sorted out." There's an implication there that you're on first name terms with Mr Hornblower. Penny Peon is now practically quivering with eagerness.
Get her phone number. She's now your main point of contact with the company. She's been tasked by no less a personage than Horatio Hornblower to look after you, and you can assume that she'll move heaven and earth to make him happy; he's her boss (or boss's boss etc etc), and he says what her next year's salary rise will be.
You'll need to explain the problem all over again to Penelope Peon. You didn't think that Horatio was actually listening when you explained it to him, did you? And Penny will work out who in the company ought to be dealing with it. That's fine, and when she says she'll get Henry Henchman to call you, say "thank you".
If Henry doesn't call within a couple of hours (yes, a couple of hours, this is something that Horatio asked to be dealt with, remember) then call Penny back, and explain that Henry didn't call, could we try someone else?
In other words, you now have generated, within the company, considerable pressure to sort out your problem. You need to maintain that pressure. You are the squeaky wheel, but you're not just squeaking with your voice, the squeal came from the top of the corporate ladder.
This technique has worked for me *every time*. Please don't abuse it, though. Go through the normal customer service process first, give them a chance to do the right thing before resorting to guerrilla tactics. Otherwise, I might be forced to phone your boss's boss's boss and explain that he has a communications problem ...
Nothing new
I don't make these up. These are actual spams sent to me, which just
strike me as funny. I don't include their contact details - go find your own spammers!
Please dont tell anyone
OK, I won't. And just to make sure, I won't read your email, either.
Learn How You can Beat H&R Block At Their Own Game
Chess? Cricket? Croquet? The mind boggles.
1 Acre of Land on the Moon $29.99
Could I trade you my acre on Mars for that?
Painless Pain Relief Overnight!
You mean, there's also painful pain relief?
Do you think it'll work?
No. And I don't even need to read your spam to know that.
Lets get it straight
Oops, is it crooked again?
you have therefore been approved for a
lump sum pay out of US$ 1,000,000 (One Million United States Dollars)
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Uh - no thanks. Don't ask me why I'm turning this down - I didn't read your email very carefully. Maybe my conscience is telling me that I don't deserve it? Or maybe I just think you're a snufting liar.
Sobig.F, I got a zillion of them.
We've sponsored lots of the women; Nicole Bass, Andrulla Blanchette, Sheila Burgess, Christine Envall, Marilyn Perret, Peggy Schoolcraft, Larisa Hakobyan, Steph Parks.
We're also sponsoring individual events such as the Femsport Valkyrie Festival, and the New York Muscle Club, and funding athletes to go to events with grant dollars.
We're also doing free hosting and free bandwidth for many of our sponsored women. Bandwidth can mount up to a large bill when you're running a popular web site.
And we've sponsored Heather Foster, Kara Bohigian, Priscilla Ribic, KerryAnn Allen, Linda Cusmano and Jodi Miller. Anita Ramsey and Rhonda Dethlefs coming up.
By Wessex Man
September 23 -- Bodybuilder and strength athlete Sally M. McNeil, in jail for murdering her husband since 1996, yesterday won her plea before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a statement from the court said.
An opinion given by circuit judge Richard Paez said "....we reverse the district court's judgment and remand with instructions to grant the petition for writ of habeas corpus and to issue a writ containing conditions the district court finds to be appropriate."
Sally could not be immediately contacted for comment, though she recently told me that a favourable decision would be her best imaginable birthday present. She will be 43 on September 30th. Sally now looks set for an involuntary manslaughter ruling instead of second degree murder. She killed her husband Ray McNeil, himself a bodybuilder holding the Mr California title, with a shotgun on St Valentine's Day 1995 after a tempestuous marriage. All along she has asserted that her Battered Woman Syndrome ex[periences were ignored by the lower courts.
The 9th Circuit has upheld arguments from Sally's legal team that her original trial jury was erroneously instructed by the bench.
Sally has been held at the Valley State Prison for Women at Chowchilla near Fresno, California. Further reports will follow.
New feature. There's been talk about the idea that you can read sentences fairly easily provided the first and last letter of each word is intact; the other letters can be scrambled. So, I've got a new feature in the chatroom. /mix on and /mix off to use it. There's also /drunk on and /drunk off, and /cockney on, /yiddish on and /strine on. A Chatroom of Babel!
Member | Posts |
| tre1313 | 4943 |
| pamela69 | 4700 |
| jcc115 | 3576 |
| alphacentaurian | 3484 |
| 64mikayla | 3026 |
| boomer444 | 2674 |
| buffy18976 | 2333 |
| zig563 | 2270 |
| mikeac | 2217 |
| hiram2000 | 2198 |
| TomNine | 2170 |
| gaily304 | 1826 |
| seldom | 1764 |
| Diana the Valkyrie | 1703 |
| gman292 | 1580 |
| fistman | 1491 |
| mit19237 | 1446 |
| rainer0000 | 1422 |
| gonzo7025 | 1404 |
| 1973manc | 1332 |
Tre only just edges out Pam.
This month, we had 2961 posts to the boards.
Most posted Board of the month | Poster of the month | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
| TomNine takes top slot | Tre is Mr Poster again. |
Mavis is counting the number of times the message list is checked for each board. This gives a very different picture from the one above.
Most listed Board of the month | Most read Board of the month | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The usual boards are in top place | The Grinch got the stats. |
There are two kinds of fascists; fascists and anti-fascists.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't.
Hate your computer? Go smash it up
I checked the site statistics that Sandra counts up each night.
At the end of September 2003, there were about 656,000 pictures (39 gigabytes), 122 gigabytes of video, 7500 text files (mostly stories) and a total of about 161 gigabytes. The Current Newsthumbs has 6.1 million pictures; there's about 60 million pictures altogether in Newsthumbs.