I was having this problem at work where the webserver would crash about once a week and need to be restarted. So I got another server and installed a clean version of everything from scratch and upgraded to the very latest versions of everything. I moved this server into production and the net result was that it crashed every six hours rather than every six days. I spent most of last night trying to 'save' the new server (which is why I didn't post), but this morning I was forced to move back to the old server, and that's when I really screwed up...
When I switched servers yesterday I just unplugged the network cable from the one which had been in production and then changed the IP address of the new server to match the old server. To switch them back this morning I figured I would pull the network cable out of the new server, re-plug the network cable into the old one (clear the arp table on all the switches) and I'd be done. I expected the whole operation to take less than 30 seconds. Unfortunately, helpful labels which identify which server is which are on the front and the network plug is on the back, so rather than unplugging the new server I unplugged the intranet server...
In addition to unintentionally shutting down one server I had made it so that two of the servers had the same IP address, and to top it all off I was using the server I had unplugged to browse to the other servers to see if what I'd done had worked. Helped in significant measure by all the people yelling at me to fix the intranet, I finally figured out what I had done and managed to eventually undo all of the damage I had caused. Of course, I still have fo figure out a solution to the original problem, and this mess hasn't helped at all in terms of catching up, but you have to play the hand you're dealt. Additionally, for some reason all of this reminded me of a question I saw on Slashdot asking wether there is any correlation between technology and stress (the post up top about the MS Paper Clip is classic).
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Ross
I'm still feeling a little bit nauseated; I'm not sure what it is -- maybe I'm pregnant. WebMD has helpfully suggested that it might be cancer. I doubt it, but if I were a character in a novel this is precisely the way it would happen. I'd love to say that I was all caught up on everything, but mostly I just want to go to bed.
In reference to the comment on yesterday's post, 'Fred' has touched on the Achilles heel of computers, sex appeal. I concede that sex appeal has never been a strong point of computers, and for those who need 'appeal augmentation,' a snowmobile may be the way to go. For those of us who have plenty of sex appeal already, there's really no need for a snowmobile.
In any case, I really should get to bed, so I'll just leave you with this link to an NPR story on the non-randomness of coin-tossing.
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Ross
As usual with these big projects, they never quite wrap up when you expect them to, plus I think I may be coming down with the flu. I guess only time will tell, but moving on... In my family essentially, half the men are snowmobilers and the other half are computer geeks. My brother-in-law (a snowmobiler) made the claim that snowmobiles are four times as cool as computers, so I thought I would take the opportunity to rebut:
1- Snowmobiles can only be used at most during half of the year (unless you're my brother but that's a subject for another blog).
2- You can use your computer naked (I don't recommend this, BTW) or in your pajama bottoms. Try this on a snowmobile and you'll quickly discover how little frostbite it takes before something starts falling off.
3- Using your computer generally only requires walking downstairs, while using a snowmobile requires driving somewhere with snow, which may not seem like a big deal if you live at the foot of the Rockies, but what if you live in Hawaii.
4- While both computers (video cards, monitors, printers) and snowmobiles (trailer, SUV, avalanche beacon) require lots of accessories, snowmobile accessories (and snowmobiles for that matter) are orders of magnitude more expensive.
5- You can take over the galaxy, storm the beach at Normandy, kill a dragon (or use a spreadsheet to keep track of your finances, sicko) on a computer but pretty much all you can do on a snowmobile is travel...on snow...
It's late, so I'll end here, but feel free to add your own.
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Ross
I got home from work about 8, after spending the day struggling (unsuccessfully I might add) to meet my big deadline. It's not that big of a deal -- I did what I needed to do, but I am way behind on everything even remotely related to DireKobold, which definitely sucks. In any case, I'm hoping to get back on top of things in the next couple of days. Sorry I don't have any more to write, though I will say that paella is great when first prepared, but even better the next day.
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Ross
On the balance, I like my 9-5 job. It's reasonably low stress with a pretty good salary and the people (with a few exceptions) are cool. However, once a quarter (more often this last year), I have this huge deadline which turns my otherwise inoffensive job into a merry-go-round of stress, overtime and pain. Once a year, for reasons too convoluted and arcane to get into (essentially it's a book, once a year it's published and quarterly it's updated) this deadline is even worse than usual. Monday is that deadline. I'm reminded of the words of Dogbert:
Try not to think of yourself as an organic pain collector hurtling towards oblivion
Sometimes it's hard not to.
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Ross
It was quite an interesting day at work today. I had heard through the grapevine that the guy in charge of security for the IT Department had done some fairly questionable things with company resources (including, if reports can be believed, setting up an automatic file transfer which ftp'd files from inside the company to somewhere outside the company). Seems fairly cut and dried, but there was a twist. His wife had just had their first baby, and he was out on FMLA when his 'misdeeds' were discovered. In other words, he was on job-protected leave when it became apparent he was going to lose his job.
To be honest I'm not sure how that works. The job-protection is so that you can't be fired for taking the vacation, but it would seem logical that you could be fired for other causes, but the minute you get fired during this period the reflexive assumption would be that you were fired for taking time off. Not to mention the reluctance anyone would feel at firing someone just after they had their first child, so that was the first interesting thing to happen, and for all of the possible ramifications it still wasn't as weird as the second thing which happened...
So I get a call just as I'm about to leave, and a programmer who used to work for the Clinical Trials has sent us an invoice for a website he designed...wait for it...while he was working for us. Now I agree that website design was not part of his core job description but, come on, he was a programmer -- it's not like we asked him to paint or lay tile. Plus (and perhaps this is why it wasn't part of his core job description) it's just not that great of a website. At best, it represents maybe an hour of work. But more than that, under what circumstances could you conceivably send someone a bill for work you did while a paid employee?
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Ross
Well, it's my birthday today. I have reached the venerable age of 33. Kind people have pointed out that I'm half-way to retirement. I sure hope not. I'd really like to be retired by the time l'm 50, but that's neither here nor there. For some reason birthdays really enervate me. I think I'm much too melodramatic -- 33 doesn't feel any different than 32, but getting older just isn't any fun.
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Ross
Let's assume that when you have one kid that they're sick 10% of the time. Given that you might think that if you have two kids that one of them would be sick 20% of the time (actually it would be 19% of the time, but we're close enough for government work or meaningless weblogs). You might further assume that three kids would mean that one was sick 30% of the time (or 27.1% if you want to be anal) and that four kids would equal 40% (okay fine, fine, 34.4% of the time). But if you thought that you would be wrong, the progression isn't arithmetic ... it's geometric...
If one kid is sick 10% of the time, then if you have two kids one of them is sick 30% of the time and with three kids it will be 70% of the time, by the time you hit four kids you're well over 100%. I'm too tired to work through all the probabilities of two, three or four kids being sick at the same time but that's where I was this last weekend. Toss in a sick wife and the scene is complete. Okay, actually no, I forgot helping my friend with critiquing his two IRON DM entries.
The long and the short of it is that I didn't get the next Xenogenic NPC up. He's mostly done, but I ran out of time. However I should have him up in the next day or two depending on whether I have to spend any extra time with my 9 to 5 job. Anyhow, while you're waiting head on over to E-Bay and pick up your own Navy F-18 Hornet.
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Ross
Let's have a little talk about Peter Scolari. Here's a guy who got his start on the show Bosom Buddies with a man you might have heard of, Tom Hanks. Now certainly Peter has not lacked for work, nor do I imagine that he is impoverished or even unhappy, but sometimes you really have to wonder about how fickle fate is.
Here's Tom Hanks, one of the top three actors in Hollywood, recognized the world over by hundreds of millions of people and then there's poor Peter, relegated to poorly produced Disney series, bit roles on The King of Queens (which is how I was reminded of him), and anything else which requires an uptight inoffensive white male. You have to figure that sometimes late at night when he's lying in bed staring at the ceiling he wonders what Tom did that he didn't.
Where I am going with this, I have no idea. Maybe I'm saying that no matter how good you have it, there's always someone who has it better than you, and if old Peter had arranged for Hanks to have some kind of accident, maybe he'd be the one making 20 million dollars a movie. Of course, now it's far too late -- Hanks is much too visible to be conveniently removed. So the moral is that if you're going to eliminate your rivals do it before they become world-famous.
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Ross
I've got tickets to go see a play tonight, so my time is kind of limited. The show, for those that are curious, is Brighton Beach Memoirs, by Neil Simon. I confess to not having a huge familiarity with Simon's plays. Like everyone else, I've seen the Odd Couple, but that's really about it. As such, I'm not sure what to expect from this evening's show. I can always hope that's it's actually a replay of the Superbowl Halftime Lingerie Bowl, which was apparently so successful that they're going to start a league.
Well, I know you're all going to be very sad about this, but that's all I have time for. Tomorrow I promise to write more (notice I didn't say anything about the quality).
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Okay a new Xenogenic NPC, Gutnak the Devoted, an orcish cleric, is out there for your enjoyment. It's available for both Demo and Full subscribers, so knock yourselves out. Here's the flavor text of the NPC to whet your appetite:
Editor's Intro
One of my favorite improvements introduced by Third Edition is the ability to give classes and levels to monsters. Some would argue that this has always been possible to a limited extent, but undeniably Third Edition made it much easier. I will confess that I'm not doing anything revolutionary with this NPC: this isn't a half-dragon/mind-flayer with the vampire template and two prestige classes. It's just an orcish cleric, but given that with the Xenogenic system you can jack this puppy all the way up to 20th lvl, I think you'll agree that as a DM there is no limit to the evil you could inflict with a 20th level.
Backstory
The fetid, damp, slimy hole that Gutnak grew up in could only be described as a cave by someone who lacked the sense of smell, sight or both. Gutnak hated it, but every time the small tribe of his birth tried to secure better accommodations they were beaten back with heavy losses. Over the years, Gutnak became an orc racist, convinced that the best lands, the most fertile fields, and the richest minerals should all belong to orcs, and Gutnak in particular. Though it started with a desire for a better home,it has moved into a genocidal campaign against all non-orcs. This is not to say that Gutnak is stupid, or even hasty. The defeats of his youth have taught him patience and cunning. Gutnak realizes that there are very few orcish clerics of any power and he often pretends to be much weaker than he actually is.
Personality
Gutnak is an orc with a vision. He is sure that one day all of the kingdoms of men, elves and dwarves will be no more. In their place will be orcish lands and kingdoms, that the power now wielded by the kings of men will be in his hands. Unfortunately, these grandiose visions often lead him to overlook the smaller details. In particular he's not very good at commanding small numbers. His strong sense of destiny gives him an equally strong sense of self-preservation, and he will flee readily if things begin to turn against him.
Tactics
Gutnak prefers to lead from the rear, casting buff spells and summons where possible. However, he is so convinced of orcish racial superiority that he does not hesitate to engage anyone in single combat. He generally surrounds himself with big, dumb brutes (Ogres are members of the "Orcish Nation" in Gutnak's estimation) and uses them for the dirty work.
Using Gutnak in your campaign
Gutnak makes an excellent recurring villian. The party can encounter him early in their career as nothing more than the orc that got away. His power can grow with theirs as he harrasses them from one end of the campaign to the other. Ideally, when the party first meets Gutnak there should be nothing to indicate that he is anything other than an average orc.
Well, that's basically it for now. Check back in a week when we'll have another Xenogenic NPC. Also, for my obligatory link here is The Hacker Hall of Fame.
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Ross
Once again as further proof of my lameness and sloth, I do not have the Xenogenic NPC as promised. Getting back into things was slower than I thought. Actually it's basically all done, but I'm too tired to tie everything together and test it to make sure it works. It should be up by lunch tomorrow -- my apologies. In reference to the question that was posed, I did manage to get on the bike for about 40 minutes today, so that was good at least. In any event, it's late and I should get to bed before I come down with something.
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Ross
Another day, another blog. One of my primary authors, Wil Upchurch, started a blog. Reading it over, I have to say I'm jealous, since by comparison it seemed quite a bit more energetic and humorous than my blog. Of course, by this point anyone who is still reading must like the drudgery and ennui I bring to every entry. I think one of the issues is that thus far most of his entries have consisted of answering questions which gives him something to play off of. Since no one is asking any questions (or if they are they're not the kind that are conducive to energetic responses), I figured I'll just ask some questions of myself.
In a battle between yourself and Godzilla who would win?
What, are you an idiot!! Godzilla, of course. I mean he's like 250 feet tall and breathes nuclear fire, plus doesn't he shoot death beams out of his eyes or something like that? I mean, come on, who are we kidding?
What's your favorite book?
I can't read (or write for that matter, as many of you can attest).
If you could be any kind of Myxomycetes which one would you be?
Definitely the Physarum Polycephalum. I mean isn't it obvious?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Pretty much my long term goal is to be a cabdriver in Calcutta. Whether or not I'll have reached that in five years, it's tough to say. You'd be surprised how competitive the overseas taxi-driver market is, so much so that those who can't make it there come here.
Any parting words?
Remember me not by what I did, but rather by all the crazy ideas I had which would have ended western democracy as we know it if any had been implemented.
Well that's all the questions we have time for, maybe this will inspire someone to ask me some questions in the comments... *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*
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Ross
There are some books which are so long, that the page count alone is tragic. Merely reading them takes so much effort that regardless of the actual plot of the book, by the end you're tired and depressed. This is the way it is with my car. In terms of total expense it hasn't really been that bad (especially when you consider how much I paid for the car initially), but in terms of length, effort and pathos it's easily the War and Peace of cars. Okay, okay War and Peace may be an exageration, but How to Eat Fried Worms would certainly be appropriate.
The latest thing I'm trying is replacing the catalytic converter. Apparently, some of the symptoms I've been having could be caused by that, and sure enough, when I took it in during lunch today there was about 2 lbs of back pressure. Unfortunately, I didn't know if that was merely slightly bad or collosally bad. I was hoping for the latter, actually. What I wanted to hear was, "Man! It's a wonder you were able to get here under your own power. You should notice a 200% improvement once we replace this!" Instead, what I got was, "Yeah, it's bad, but it could be all kinds of things, so if it isn't this, make sure you find out what it is, because it could quickly screw up your brand new catalytic converter."
I'm always amazed how much energy one nagging problem can suck out of you, but hopefully I'm near if not at the end of this particular headache, and I'll be able to focus on getting those Xenogenic NPCs out the door. In any event, with a wish for good news, I'll end for today.
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Ross
Well, it's time for the long promised update of what's happening with DireKobold.com over the next few months. I understand that there has been a big gap since the last adventure, and I apologize for that. There are a few reasons for this: first off, I was more burned out that I thought; secondly, I had an adventure that was being coded for me fall through, and then my day job and the holidays combined to sap whatever remaining energy I had. I realize this sounds like a big steaming pile of excuses and it is, but that doesn't make it any less amusing to people watching from afar.
In any case, without further ado here's what we're looking at going forward:
February 9th: Xenogenic NPC
February 16th: Xenogenic NPC
March: Midnight Adventure
April: Anyaka 6
May: Redemption by Luke Johnson
Obviously, the short-term schedule is a little more defined than the long term, and in addition to the adventures in March, April and May there will also be at least one Xenogenic NPC in each of those months as well. Yeah, I know, it seems anti-climatic to me as well, and there's the whole business of one adventure a month rather than three, but all of these adventures are basically twice as long as the adventures we published last year.
In other news, my car is still not quite all there. I was accelerating up a steep hill the other day and it suddenly lurched and lost power, which is what it did before, only not as profoundly this time. Since then I've had this big knot in my stomach every time I have to drive it. It sucks to live in constant fear, but I think at least I know how cockroaches feel.
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Ross
I know that I promised a big update over a week ago, but since then I've been battling with a Microsoft webserver. He won the first few rounds (with highly questionable tactics I might add) and it looked like I was down for the count, but after I threatened to take the server out back and beat on it like the fax machine in Office Space (best office satire ever!), it suddenly started working. In any case, I actually do feel like I've been in a fight, one I eventually won, but in one of those "You should see the other guy!" fashions, so I'm going to wrap it up early.
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Ross
It's Groundhog Day, which as far as February holidays go, ranks third, after President's Day (because I get a day off), and my birthday, but ahead of Valentine's Day. My female readers may object to the ranking, but even though countless movies have been made with Valentine's Day in mind, none are as good as Groundhog Day. I once heard the film critic for Vanity Fair (at least I think that's who he wrote for) say that he had often thought of putting Groundhog Day on his "Desert Island List" but he felt the storyline of every day being exactly the same as the day before might hit a little to close to home if he were trapped on an island.
Furthermore, one of my friends celebrates Groundhog's Day instead of Christmas, so although that is more a commentary on my friends than an argument for the day itself, I thought I'd throw it out there. On a separate note, the easy thing today would have been to talk about the Super Bowl, but since everybody is doing that, I doubt I have anything original to add. I will say I was very disappointed to have it not go into overtime. Actually in the course of browsing I came across something much cooler. It's a periodic table that has examples of the actual elements and takes up an entire wall. Let me just say right now that if I am ever wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice I am going to get me one of those -- that and a private sub.
The only disappointing thing about the display is that for a variety of very sensible, but completely uncool reasons like "If we had a visible quantity on display here, you would be dead," they don't actually have all of the elements. Still, even taking that into account, it's still pretty cool. I was going to talk about the massive server issues that have been beleaguering, but I still can't talk about it without pulling my hair out in frustration, and I already look funny enough as it is, but imagine you open a closet door and everything starts falling out, but you manage to sort of get underneath it and support it, meanwhile tossing boxes back in, which sometimes stay there and other times just fall back out. That's what today was like.
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Ross