Catastrophic server failure!

on December 18th, my web site went down.

i checked my web host provider's web site, and found out that the server i was hosted on went down. not only did it go down, but its hard drive had failed. not only that, they didnt seem to have any backups that worked!

so, my site was down, and wasn't going to come back up until i restored a backup.

my most recent backup was from September 1st, 2006. so a LOT of stuff was lost. luckily, using Google and MSN's cache system, i was able to restore the front page stories. however, i need to restore most of the content that was linked to on the menus. around the end of September, i moved many of the files on my site into a MySQL database to make things easier to manage. well, that MySQL file was lost, and all i have are local backups of the files. so i have to go back and put them into the database again.

my web host did locate a backup from October 8th. that helped a lot, but some stuff was still lost.

i used the down time to upgrade my forum, wordpress, and multiple plugins.

Catastrophic server failure! Read More »

Verizon doesn't know the difference between Dollars and Cents!

Recently I came across a post on Slashdot where someone was charged .002 dollars for service, after being quoted over and over at a .002 cents rate. He got a bill where he was charged around $71 for downloading around 35 megs of stuff. At the quoted rate, he should have been charged closer to 71¢.

He called up Verizon, pointing out the error, and no one seemed to understand the difference between cents and dollars! He pointed out the difference over and over to multiple people on the phone, and still, no one understood him. The manager on the phone again confirmed that the rate was .002 cents, but then quoted him the price due at a rate of .002 dollars.

The guy's blog is here: http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/

A shortened version of the phone call is here: http://verizonfails.ytmnd.com/

And a quick Google math check that Verizon couldn't seem to understand: http://www.google.com/search?q=.002+cents%2Fkb+times+35893kb+in+cents

Verizon doesn't know the difference between Dollars and Cents! Read More »

my YouTube, and Del.icio.us pages.

i've been using Del.icio.us for a while now. its a great service that serves as an online bookmark system, and a way to share your bookmarks with others.

my Del.icio.us page was here: Del.icio.us/Xenomorph (the service is now dead)

i've also been using YouTube for a while (as many other people are). i recently started moving some of the local copies of videos off of this site to YouTube. it will help me save space, bandwidth costs, and possibly get more people to view some of the stuff i've uploaded.

my YouTube page is here: YouTube.com/NeonGerbil

my YouTube, and Del.icio.us pages. Read More »

robbery update

a few days ago, i posted about a robbery i was the victim of. after taking all my money and cell phone, the robbers used my cell phone to rob a neighboring pizza store. as per the police request, i left my cell phone on for a week after the robbery.

my cell phone company recorded all of the calls they made, and using reverse lookup, several addresses were found of the places that were called. using this information, the police made an arrest. i'm still waiting to hear from a detective if there is anything more i need to do with the case.

someone from Webster University interviewed me, and the interview was printed in their local paper. you can read the article HERE.

the local Channel 4 news ran a story on the mine and another robbery, you can read the story HERE.

robbery update Read More »