01.01.2007

(off-site links open in new windows)

Don says:

Every time I decide to update my Win2K computer it takes two days because I've got to go to Microsoft Update, then I've got go open all my favorite applications, click on help, click on About, jot down the version number, then go to the website for that particular application and check to see what the latest version is.   Some software has a Check For Updates option under "Help", some doesn't so I've got to go to the website and track down the latest version number and compare it to the version I have.

Most Linux distributions have an awesome software solution to this dilemma.   It's called a "Package Manager".   In Debian Sarge the package manager is an application called "Synaptic".   Synaptic downloads and installs updates to the Operating System and all installed software applications in one step.   Synaptic also permits you to search the software repository for additional software apps and, if you find one you want, installing it is a two-click operation.   There are plenty of things I really like about Debian Linux but nothing has impressed me more than Synaptic; I don't see how any confirmed Windows user could find it any less than mind-boggling.


Lisa and I wrote this page early in November of 2006 but were unable to post it then because we got locked out of our website for exceeding arbitrary bandwidth limitations that were suddenly imposed upon us.   I suspect that we may have been mentioned in Lockergnome once too often, I don't really know because we weren't a paying customer with that host; we were guests of my friend Bill who bought and paid for the web space.

The host didn't dispute his right to give us space and they didn't impose any limits upon his access to the space but they locked out my FTP access to the site so I was unable to update or add to it.   Bill seemed to think that they were trying to persuade us to become paying customers and if they'd contacted me at all about our increased use of bandwidth I'd long since have set up my own account with them but I really dislike bullies.   Locking us out of our own website instead of simply talking to us was exactly the sort of thing a bully would do and I never for one moment considered discussing it with them, I just started researching web hosts.

What a can of worms that was!   Sure there are online reviews but some of the reviewers are very clearly biased giving high marks to all of the hosts who support them with advertising.   Most of the hosts I could find who offer plans that are within our budget got poor or bad marks from the few seemingly-unbiased reviewers I could find and the short list of hosts which survived the first few screenings got reviews that were so mixed as to be meaningless.   I was pretty discouraged until I remembered Kyle Yates.

Back in February of 2003 when I was researching free web hosts for a mini-feature in the ezine I found an English speaking web host in Japan, kansaiconnect.com, that was offering two megs of web space with a very sophisticated control panel and no advertising in return for an email telling them what you intended to do with the space.   No ads, no strings of any kind in fact, and two megs of web space with a control panel in return for an email.   I have to say, it sounded just a little too good to be true and I wasn't going to mention it in the ezine unless I knew it was on-the-level so I wrote them an email, told them I wanted to use the space to learn HTML and try my wings on the web and they gave me my very first website.   You might be thinking that two megs isn't much space but consider this; the size of the HTML file for the average web page is under 8 KB before images are added and if I allowed myself say 42 KB of images per page, making the average page 50 KB in size, I could fit 40 web pages into two megs of space.   If I allowed myself an extra 50 KB of images per page I could still fit 20 pages into two megs of space.   I had a wonderful time with my kansai site for a couple of years and never even came close to using up my two megs of space before I got my own domain and moved into the space my friend Bill gave me.

After several days of painstaking research and finding myself very little more knowledgeable than when I started I suddenly remembered kansaiconnect, googled them, sent off an email and was happily surprised to get a response from Kyle Yates, the same person who set me up with my first website and patiently answered all my questions, just as if I was a paying customer.   Kyle told me that they had some new plans that were very competitive so I checked them out, bought two years of hosting (for $78.36 U.S., the Economy Plan for 24 months) and spent every spare moment for the next couple of weeks reading tutorials, trying to learn how to move our site to the new host.   "How did that go?" you ask, "Terribly" I must reply.   I just didn't get it and was totally unprepared for the changeover but my website and email suddenly "went away" and I learned almost everything that had previously made no sense to me in less than 24 hours because I had no other choice.   It was a sink-or-swim situation and I sort-of dog paddled.   I don't have the CGI contact forms working yet but I'll try to sort that out later.   For now, most of the site is up and running and that's enough for me, for the moment at least. *whew*

See you next time.

Lisa says:

Colt in April

The same colt, a few days ago.

     
A little shy                          OK, I trust you                          Got sugar?

On our personal news page dated 4-15-06, there's a photo of the colt and his mom down the road from us.   We've enjoyed passing by and watching him grow day by day.   The other day I got out of the car and found out he's gotten over his shyness and is spoiled.   He's certain that friendly-looking people have something good for him, a pat on the nose was all I had to offer but he seemed satisfied.

Texas has wide shoulders

     
We pull aside                    So does the next driver            He's on his way

There's an interesting phenomenon in the state of Texas.   Two-lane highways are often made with wide shoulders.   Many studies have found that the rate of accidents decreases dramatically when wide shoulders are available.   A happy side effect is added safety for bycyclists, as in this article praising Texas roads and residents.   A friendly habit is the one of 'stepping aside'.   Most folks have to drive long distances to get anywhere, we're 20 minutes from the nearest supermarket in any direction, for example.   Speed limits are usually 65-70 mph, but you get the best gas mileage at 55-60 mph.   Some folks need to get where they're going faster, others need or want to conserve gas.   There's not a name for this maneuver, but there should be.   When you're going slower than the speed limit and another driver is coming up fast behind you, you check that it's safe to do so, then you gently veer onto the shoulder, maintaining your speed and nodding politely or doing the "Texas Wave".   That's looking the other driver in the eye (Northeasterners may want to stop and take a deep, relaxing breath here) and flicking up the index finger of the hand on top of the steering wheel.

All over Texas are signs reminding us to "drive friendly" and we do.   If someone doesn't, we just assume he or she is not from around here ;-)   Later, y'all.