Found 3 today, but did not get to mark one, as the person enabling my new potential addiction is a premium member and so I don't have access to add one to my official count.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Not sure what to think yet...
Found 3 today, but did not get to mark one, as the person enabling my new potential addiction is a premium member and so I don't have access to add one to my official count.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
So, I read somewhere...
So I've been reading some books recently (Mind Hacks and Mind Wide Open since it is necessary due to the nature of this post) about the nature of the mind. One of the biggest things that I have learned about is the problem of source confusion and false memories. Boiling it down, here's the real problem: I use the phrase "I read somewhere" more often than I should, and I trust people who use the phrase "I read somewhere" much more than I should.
So why is this a problem? When learning new information, your mind makes connections with previous information. If you read something or hear something from a unreliable source (or even better, you hear half of something while you are flipping channels), and then something else from some source (either reliable or unreliable), your brain begins to synthesize this ideas into new thoughts. Well, here's the core of the problem: That new thought might be total garbage because a garbage source was used in its development.
What I have learned through reading the books mentioned above, as it has processed and connected with a few other experiences recently, is that I have lots of garbage in my mind that is scaffolding for lots of other garbage - and I have no idea what the original sources are for quite a bit of this information. ("Somewhere" and second-hand "somewhere".)
So, how much of whever is in my mind reliable? Do I need to start completely over? Obviously, I can't just throw away 35 years of knowledge and memories. I also have a large amount of practical knowledge that I didn't learn from books or from classroom settings that I feel that I can rely on because I learned by doing and that "doing" works (such as computer programming and breathing).
I think that several people in the world also need some mental housekeeping. How many of our convictions are based on things that we were taught and that we have never actually convinced ourselves of?
So why is this a problem? When learning new information, your mind makes connections with previous information. If you read something or hear something from a unreliable source (or even better, you hear half of something while you are flipping channels), and then something else from some source (either reliable or unreliable), your brain begins to synthesize this ideas into new thoughts. Well, here's the core of the problem: That new thought might be total garbage because a garbage source was used in its development.
What I have learned through reading the books mentioned above, as it has processed and connected with a few other experiences recently, is that I have lots of garbage in my mind that is scaffolding for lots of other garbage - and I have no idea what the original sources are for quite a bit of this information. ("Somewhere" and second-hand "somewhere".)
So, how much of whever is in my mind reliable? Do I need to start completely over? Obviously, I can't just throw away 35 years of knowledge and memories. I also have a large amount of practical knowledge that I didn't learn from books or from classroom settings that I feel that I can rely on because I learned by doing and that "doing" works (such as computer programming and breathing).
I think that several people in the world also need some mental housekeeping. How many of our convictions are based on things that we were taught and that we have never actually convinced ourselves of?
Friday, July 06, 2007
My Centennial
So, this marks 100 posts. It's interesting because today I went through my blog and added Labels to everything now that this is a feature of Blogger2, which gave me an opportunity to read all 99 other posts. (It also gave me an opportunity to completely hose my RSS feed - sorry about that.)
As I read, I realized that my blog has grown up quite a bit in the last two years. At first my posts were random thoughts, but I think that I have finally selected a few themes to stick with - for now. Most of those posts at the beginning could only be Labeled as Funny, since they had little to do with my life, getting to know me, or really sharing any of the things that I think about on a regular basis.
I also find it sadly amusing that my readership has dwindled down to next to nothing - I think there are still maybe five people who might read my blog regularly. But that's ok - I'm not trying to change the world, I'm just trying to let people get to know me a little and give a few people a little something to ponder. A chance to laugh a little at what parenthood and tech support throw my way.
I recently spent a week at a Technology in Education conference which has given me a few ideas as to what directions my blog should go from here.
So for now, thanks to those who are still here, and hopefully I will his the 200th post in shorter than the 2 years it took to get here.
As I read, I realized that my blog has grown up quite a bit in the last two years. At first my posts were random thoughts, but I think that I have finally selected a few themes to stick with - for now. Most of those posts at the beginning could only be Labeled as Funny, since they had little to do with my life, getting to know me, or really sharing any of the things that I think about on a regular basis.
I also find it sadly amusing that my readership has dwindled down to next to nothing - I think there are still maybe five people who might read my blog regularly. But that's ok - I'm not trying to change the world, I'm just trying to let people get to know me a little and give a few people a little something to ponder. A chance to laugh a little at what parenthood and tech support throw my way.
I recently spent a week at a Technology in Education conference which has given me a few ideas as to what directions my blog should go from here.
So for now, thanks to those who are still here, and hopefully I will his the 200th post in shorter than the 2 years it took to get here.
Tech Support
Yesterday, I got to call tech support while working on my parents computer. This ranks up there with my least favorite activities in the world. After spending 2 hours troubleshooting the issue I determined that it must be a server issue. Well, when you call tech support, they take you through everything that you've already been doing for the last two hours. And as we all know, most tech support has recently been outsourced to India, so not only do you get to be redundant, you get to struggle with the English language at the same time (apparently coin-furg-ation is the Indian pronunciation for configuration). And since it's my parents' computer, all the software is at least 5 years out of date.
The first person that I talked to had a great idea of deleting the coin-furg-ation file and he didn't have enough sense to back the file up first, but since he was getting paid for his advice, I figured that he was confidant in what he was doing. (I generally don't spend the extra time to back up files if I am confidant in what I am doing.) Well after deleting the coin-furg-ation file, we got an error that the configuration file could not be found - was I supposed to be surprised. So, he decided at this time to escalate my issue to the next tier.
The guy at the next tier spoke significantly better English and confirmed that there was a change in the server configuration. He gave me the settings that I needed to change but wanted to send me in a different direction for application support on the configuration file. Instead of spending another 20 minutes on hold, I figured that I could reinstall the software instead (since I'm sure that's the conclusion that application support would come to anyway).
Well, I reinstalled (and actually upgraded since we couldn't find the original installation disks) and I typed in the settings that I was given at the second tier of support - and of course it still didn't work. Doing all of my background server pinging and route tracing, it still seemed as though the server wasn't connecting.
When I called a second time, the guy started me through all of the same things that I had done before. Then it came to my mind that the newest version of the software that I had just upgraded had a better way of connecting to the server - I mentioned this to the tech support guy and as he rambled on for a few minutes about how much better the new connection is, I changed the configuration to include the new connection and confirmed that it worked correctly. Finally, the tech support guy started with "so let's open up the coin-furg-ation set up [yes the second call started on teir 1 again] - go to Start and Control Panel". I told him that I already had it confugured and tested, I thanked him for his time and ended the call.
So, my question: Is there a way to bypass tier one? Can there be a code phrase known by all tech support that says "let's act like we've done everything in your little booklet already, can you just pass me to tier 2, where probability is higher that I will talk to somebody who speaks English with a more American accent, and so I don't waste your time and you don't waste mine?"
The guy who had me delete my configuration file just sent me over the top. Especially when it still seems that their inital connection port is dead on their server. I guess that it forces the upgrade process, but I think that it seems really rude.
The first person that I talked to had a great idea of deleting the coin-furg-ation file and he didn't have enough sense to back the file up first, but since he was getting paid for his advice, I figured that he was confidant in what he was doing. (I generally don't spend the extra time to back up files if I am confidant in what I am doing.) Well after deleting the coin-furg-ation file, we got an error that the configuration file could not be found - was I supposed to be surprised. So, he decided at this time to escalate my issue to the next tier.
The guy at the next tier spoke significantly better English and confirmed that there was a change in the server configuration. He gave me the settings that I needed to change but wanted to send me in a different direction for application support on the configuration file. Instead of spending another 20 minutes on hold, I figured that I could reinstall the software instead (since I'm sure that's the conclusion that application support would come to anyway).
Well, I reinstalled (and actually upgraded since we couldn't find the original installation disks) and I typed in the settings that I was given at the second tier of support - and of course it still didn't work. Doing all of my background server pinging and route tracing, it still seemed as though the server wasn't connecting.
When I called a second time, the guy started me through all of the same things that I had done before. Then it came to my mind that the newest version of the software that I had just upgraded had a better way of connecting to the server - I mentioned this to the tech support guy and as he rambled on for a few minutes about how much better the new connection is, I changed the configuration to include the new connection and confirmed that it worked correctly. Finally, the tech support guy started with "so let's open up the coin-furg-ation set up [yes the second call started on teir 1 again] - go to Start and Control Panel". I told him that I already had it confugured and tested, I thanked him for his time and ended the call.
So, my question: Is there a way to bypass tier one? Can there be a code phrase known by all tech support that says "let's act like we've done everything in your little booklet already, can you just pass me to tier 2, where probability is higher that I will talk to somebody who speaks English with a more American accent, and so I don't waste your time and you don't waste mine?"
The guy who had me delete my configuration file just sent me over the top. Especially when it still seems that their inital connection port is dead on their server. I guess that it forces the upgrade process, but I think that it seems really rude.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Well, it's free... like a puppy....
People who like Linux obviously don't value their time. I have spent the last 2 months installing Linux on my server. (I obviously haven't spent 8 solid weeks, but I started the process 2 months ago. I have spent about 40 hours in the last week.)
I have used Linux before, but the server was about 15 years old. (It was given to me by somebody who upgraded their home computer and knew I was needing a server. So, it was obsolete to him, and that was 9 years ago.) And the version of Linux that was on it didn't get updated very often - aka ever. I will appreciate the comfort of knowing the there is an update engine now.
On the positive side, as I sort of stated before, Linux will run on very old equipment very well. And from past experience, it is very stable. I also have a Windows server and other than not getting along with my KVM switch, it has been very reliable, too. But the computer that is now running Linux was dying under XP, I didn't want to even consider Vista on it. I can see how if I was getting Linux for a desktop or laptop where I might not care so much about detail-tweaking Linux might be worth it.
On the negative side, since it is Open Source, the flaws are very exposed, which creates a very uncomfortable feeling. Several years ago, I actually received calls from a university because somebody had hacked my system, set up their own user account and was actively using that account to hack into the university's servers. Ever since then, I have never really favored the security model that Linux provides. Also, finding help with issues is very difficult for several reasons. First of all, the people like me who don't quite trust the reliability of Linux aren't willing to give too much information about their systems' setups for exposure reasons - if I talk about servicexyz on my system and the trouble I had with setting up the tuv-port, it would show that I might not have considered the issues with qrs-port that all the hackers are exploiting. Secondly, the assistance that I was able to find talked about servicexyz v4, and I really have no idea what version was included with my version of Linux. Finally, there are lots of wikis and forums on Linux, but I don't know if the post that I am reading was written by Linus Torvalds himself or somebody just as incompetent as myself.
I do feel that my server is up and running now, so our rss feeds and email should be much more stable. For now, I am going to do my victory lap as I sing "I am the champion... of my world!"
I have used Linux before, but the server was about 15 years old. (It was given to me by somebody who upgraded their home computer and knew I was needing a server. So, it was obsolete to him, and that was 9 years ago.) And the version of Linux that was on it didn't get updated very often - aka ever. I will appreciate the comfort of knowing the there is an update engine now.
On the positive side, as I sort of stated before, Linux will run on very old equipment very well. And from past experience, it is very stable. I also have a Windows server and other than not getting along with my KVM switch, it has been very reliable, too. But the computer that is now running Linux was dying under XP, I didn't want to even consider Vista on it. I can see how if I was getting Linux for a desktop or laptop where I might not care so much about detail-tweaking Linux might be worth it.
On the negative side, since it is Open Source, the flaws are very exposed, which creates a very uncomfortable feeling. Several years ago, I actually received calls from a university because somebody had hacked my system, set up their own user account and was actively using that account to hack into the university's servers. Ever since then, I have never really favored the security model that Linux provides. Also, finding help with issues is very difficult for several reasons. First of all, the people like me who don't quite trust the reliability of Linux aren't willing to give too much information about their systems' setups for exposure reasons - if I talk about servicexyz on my system and the trouble I had with setting up the tuv-port, it would show that I might not have considered the issues with qrs-port that all the hackers are exploiting. Secondly, the assistance that I was able to find talked about servicexyz v4, and I really have no idea what version was included with my version of Linux. Finally, there are lots of wikis and forums on Linux, but I don't know if the post that I am reading was written by Linus Torvalds himself or somebody just as incompetent as myself.
I do feel that my server is up and running now, so our rss feeds and email should be much more stable. For now, I am going to do my victory lap as I sing "I am the champion... of my world!"
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