|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Login
Search Recent Articles Recent CommentsPlease create a "reader account"! At present you can post comments anonymously but I may have to turn that feature off if comment spam gets out of control. I reserve the right to delete offensive comments or spam, and ban repeat offenders. Month Archive Yearly Archives Topics About the Author BADGES AND DOODADS Blogroll Interesting Articles I've Read |
Tuesday, July 20
by
Abacquer
on Tue 20 Jul 2010 12:49 PM EDT
It's very simple Microsoft. If I go into my settings and specify that mail account X is the default account for outgoing mail messages, then that means that mail account X is the default account for outgoing mail messages.
I know that's a complex concept, but you've been getting it consistently wrong since 2003 at least and I'm getting a little tired of customers receiving business e-mails from my personal account because Outlook doesn't understand that "this is where I want my mail sent from" means "this is where I want my mail sent from"... forcing me to remember to check the outgoing mail address EVERY TIME I SEND A MESSAGE to make sure Outlook has done what it was supposed to do. As an added bit of joy, if I change from an account that uses no signature to one that does use a signature, Outlook helpfully replaces the content of my e-mail message with the signature. Difficult concept number two: signatures go at the ends of messages, they don't replace them. (And BTW, this wouldn't happen as often if Outlook wasn't continually choosing to ignore my default account for sending.) For years people have been getting around this problem by installing both Outlook and Outlook Express... two e-mail readers because ONE reader can't seem to manage the dizzyingly complex notion of sending mail from the default account. Instead they run two readers and split the accounts between the readers. This is a dismal state of affairs for an e-mail reader that is over 10 years old. Get it right, get it over with. And provide a PATCH for people who are using Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003--because this should have worked right from day one. Tuesday, April 13
by
Abacquer
on Tue 13 Apr 2010 01:35 PM EDT
Comment moderation is now turned on. Your spam comments will never grace the pages of this blog. Have a nice day.
Sunday, September 6
by
Abacquer
on Sun 06 Sep 2009 03:27 PM EDT
So this morning I tried to process an order a customer had sent me last night. I went to log into my photolab service provider, exposuremanager.com, just like I always do. Bzzzt. Can't get in. "This link appears to be broken." Huh, maybe it's my machine. So I try my daughter's machine, nope she can't see it either. Internet down? Nope I can get my email and see all the other sites I use regularly. So I (reasonably) assume exposuremanager is down. That's not too cool--because while it is down my customers can't place orders. So I call customer support and leave them a message that their site is down. A little while later I get an e-mail from them stating their site is up and running fine (and by the way, nice pictures on your site!) Thanks, but I still can't get in. So I try the DOS utility "ping" to ping their server. Sometimes it can't resolve exposuremanager to an IP address (implying a problem with a domain name server at Comcast) and other times it can resolve the IP address but gets no response. I check with WHOIS on Tucows (their registrar) to see if their domain has expired, but it hasn't. WTF? So then I run a traceroute in an attempt to see where the communication fails between me and exposuremanager: Tracing route to exposuremanager.com [66.254.91.235] over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms www.routerlogin.com [192.168.1.1] 2 7 ms 10 ms 7 ms [ my IP omitted ] 3 8 ms 8 ms 6 ms ge-1-2-ur01.gardner.ma.boston.comcast.net [68.85.187.109] 4 11 ms 10 ms 9 ms te-0-8-0-2-ar01.woburn.ma.boston.comcast.net [68.85.162.93] 5 14 ms 9 ms 9 ms pos-0-15-0-0-ar01.needham.ma.boston.comcast.net [68.85.162.145] 6 15 ms 14 ms 22 ms pos-0-0-0-0-ar01.chartford.ct.hartford.comcast.net [68.85.162.70] 7 16 ms 18 ms 17 ms pos-2-4-0-0-cr01.newyork.ny.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.61] 8 22 ms 18 ms 17 ms Vlan546.icore1.NJY-Newark.as6453.net [206.82.132.41] 9 17 ms 45 ms 18 ms if-6-0-0-25.mcore3.NJY-Newark.as6453.net [216.6.57.41] 10 19 ms 17 ms 18 ms if-2-0.core1.NTO-NewYork.as6453.net [216.6.57.66] 11 17 ms 18 ms 19 ms sl-gw31-nyc-14-0-0.sprintlink.net [160.81.249.29] 12 18 ms 19 ms 17 ms sl-crs2-nyc-0-2-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.13.35] 13 23 ms 27 ms 19 ms sl-bb20-msq-2-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.74] 14 22 ms 22 ms 24 ms sl-bb21-msq-15-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.9.110] 15 26 ms 26 ms 27 ms sl-crs1-rly-0-8-5-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.73] 16 25 ms 25 ms 26 ms sl-bb20-dc-5-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.8.162] 17 24 ms 28 ms 25 ms sl-crs1-dc-0-0-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.15.11] 18 74 ms 73 ms 74 ms sl-crs2-fw-0-11-3-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.19.200] 19 * * * Request timed out. 20 * * * Request timed out. 21 * * * Request timed out. 22 * * * Request timed out. 23 * * * Request timed out. 24 * * * Request timed out. 25 * * * Request timed out. 26 * * * Request timed out. 27 * * * Request timed out. 28 * * * Request timed out. 29 * * * Request timed out. 30 * * * Request timed out. Trace complete. As you can see, the communication makes it to "sl-crs2-fw-0-11-3-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.19.200]" and then fails. Sprintlink.net is inside of the Sprint network. To get as far as I did required the services of three companies, Comcast (comcast.net), Tata Communications (as6453.net), and Sprint (sprintlink.net). None of these companies is my company (sagewoodstudios.com) or my photolab service provider (exposuremanager.com). In fact after the last hop, I don't know what the next address would be--it might be a fourth company, or another server in the Sprint network. Exposure Manager can't help me--it's not their computer. Comcast can't help me--it's not their computer either. Sprint *might* be able to help me, but I'm not their customer. What I do know is, if I didn't have to use this route, I would indeed be able to get there. I found an online provider of the standard 'net tools (ping, traceroute, etc.) called Network-Tools.com (that's a handy link btw, you might want to bookmark it). I can get to their server to see their website, and when I ask THEM to do a traceroute to exposuremanager, they can get there just fine:
As you can see, because they are starting from a different provider (level3.net) their communication path takes a different route that never involves any of the companies I'm forced to use. If Network-Tools.com provided a "browser in a browser" basically an embedded frame that I could point anywhere I want to, I'd be able to get to my photolab and process my customer's orders. In the meantime I'm pretty stuck. I can't help my customers, and my service provider can't help me. Welcome to the Internet... where you really "can't get thar from hyar". Saturday, August 29
by
Abacquer
on Sat 29 Aug 2009 03:05 PM EDT
If I get an answer, I'll post it here.
Wednesday, August 19
by
Abacquer
on Wed 19 Aug 2009 03:42 PM EDT
Wednesday, June 17
by
Abacquer
on Wed 17 Jun 2009 05:40 PM EDT
For a guy terrified of air travel, I have a peculiar fascination for stories about air disasters and the investigations that follow (mostly about the investigations that follow). As such I've been collecting together links to YouTube videos of documentaries about air disasters/incidents/accidents. National Geographic produced a series called Air Crash Investigation (ACI) which you annoyingly cannot buy on DVD from Amazon, so if your local cable isn't carrying it, YouTube is the only place to go. Other such programs which covered air disasters are the show "Seconds from Disaster" (SFD) and the "Black Box" (BB) miniseries. On the off chance that other people are interested in such stories, I'm posting the text file that I've been building over the last few months with links to these stories (nobody on YouTube seems to be able to build a playlist worth a damn, so I find this more useful.) I've also included one-off programs which are not part of ACI, SFD, or BB. Some of the stories I find the most haunting or compelling are: There's a couple videos about the Erebus disaster and the apparent coverup--but neither are ACI episodes, and ACI is supposed to include an episode about this story at some point. They tend to do the best job making the story both dramatic and accessible. Obviously, if you also are afraid of air travel, you may find these stories disturbing, and may want to give it a pass. Text file contents follows:
Wiki on Commercial Aircraft Incidents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_on_commercial_airliners Wiki on Commercial Aircraft Incidents for which there are no articles: AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION - SEASON 1 ============================================ Episode 1: Racing the Storm (American Airlines Flight 1420 - McDonnel-Douglas MD-82) Episode 2: Unlocking Disaster (United Airlines Flight 811 - Boeing 747-122) Episode 3: Flying On Empty (Air Transat Flight 236 - Airbus A330) Episode 4: Fire on Board (SwissAir Flight 111 - McDonnell Douglas MD-11) Episode 5: Flying Blind (Aeroperu Flight 603 - Boeing 757) Episode 6: Cutting Corners (Alaska Airlines Flight 261 - McDonnell Douglas MD-83) AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION - SEASON 2 ============================================ Episode 1: Blow Out (British Airways 5390 - BAC One-Eleven) Episode 2: Wounded Bird (Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 - Embraer Brasilia) Episode 3: The Killing Machine (Air France 8969 - Airbus A300) Episode 4: Deadly Crossroads (Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 & DHL Flight 611 - Tupolev Tu-154M & Boeing 757-23APF) Episode 5: LOST (American Airlines 965 - Boeing 757) Episode 6: Missing Over New York (Avianca Flight 52 - Boeing 707) AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION - SEASON 3 ============================================ Episode 1: Hanging by a Thread (Aloha Airlines Flight 243 - Boeing 737-297) Episode 2: Attack Over Baghdad (European Air Transport DHL OO-DLL - Airbus A300) Episode 3: Out of Control (Japan Airlines 123 - Boeing 747-SR46) Episode 4: Suicide Attack (FedEx Flight 705 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30) Episode 5: Mistaken Identity (Iran Air 655 - Airbus A300) Episode 6: Bomb on Board (Philippine Airlines Flight 434 - Boeing 747) Episode 7: Helicopter Down (Bristow Flight 56C - Eurocopter Super Puma) Episode 8: Egyptair 990 (Egypt Air Flight 990 - Boeing 767-366ER) Episode 9: Kid in the Cockpit (Aeroflot Flight 593 - Airbus A310-304) Episode 10: African Hijack (Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 - Boeing 767-260ER) AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION - SEASON 4 ============================================ Episode 1: Miracle Escape (Air France 358 - Airbus A340) Episode 2: Falling From the Sky (British Airways Flight 9 - Boeing 747-236B) Episode 3: Fire Fight (Air Canada Flight 797) Episode 4: Missed Approach (Korean Airlines Flight 801 - Boeing 747-300) Episode 5: Hidden Danger (United 585 & USAir 427 & Eastwind 517 - Boeing 737) Episode 6: Panic Over the Pacific (China Airlines 006 - Boeing 747) Episode 7: Out of Sight (Aeromexico Flight 498 & Piper 4891 - DC-9 & Piper PA-28-181 Archer) Episode 8: Fog of War (USAF 21 - Boeing CT-43) Episode 9: Desperate Dive (Flash Airlines Flight 604 - Boeing 737-300) Episode 10: Ghost Plane (Helios Airways Flight 522 - Boeing 737-31S) AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION - SEASON 5 ============================================ Episode 1: Dead Weight (Air Midwest 5481 - Beechcraft 1900-D) Episode 2: Behind Closed Doors (American Airlines Flight 96 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10) Episode 3: The Gimli Glider (Air Canada Flight 143) Episode 4: Slammed to the Ground (Delta Flight 191 - Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar) Episode 5: Southern Storm (Southern Airways Flight 242 - DC-9) Episode 6: Cargo Conspiracy (South African Airways Flight 295 - Boeing 747) Episode 7: Explosive Evidence (Air India Flight 182) Episode 8: The Plane That Wouldn't Talk (Birgenair Flight 301 - Boeing 757) Episode 9: Who's at the Controls? (Eastern Airlines 401) Episode 10: Radio Silence (GOL FLIGHT 1907 & ExcelAire N600XL - Boeing 737-8EH SFP & Embraer Legacy 600) AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION - SEASON 6 ============================================ Episode 1: Lockerbie (Pan Am Flight 103 - Boeing 747) Episode 2: Head-on Collision (Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763 & Air Kazakhstan 1907 - Boeing 747 & Ilyushin Il-76) Episode 3: Shattered in Seconds (China Airlines 611 - Boeing 747) Episode 4: Deadly Prize (Partnair Flight 394 - Convair 340-580) Episode 5: Operation Babylift (Operation Babylift - Lockheed C-5A Galaxy) Episode 6: Ditch the Plane (Tuninter Flight 1153 - ATR-72) Episode 7: The Plane That Vanished (Adam Air Flight 574 - Boeing 737-4Q8) Episode 8: Frozen in Flight (American Eagle Flight 4184 - ATR-72) Episode 9: Erebus Collision (Air New Zealand Flight 901 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30) Episode 10: Who Caused the crash? (China Airlines Flight 140 - Airbus A300B4-622R)
SECONDS FROM DISASTER - SEASON 1 ============================================== Episode 1: Crash of the Concorde (Air France Flight 4590 - Concorde) Episode 12: Collision on the Runway (KLM 4805 & Pan Am 1736 - Boeing 747-206B & Boeing 747-121) Episode 13: Pentagon 9/11 (American Airlines Flight 77 - Boeing 757) SECONDS FROM DISASTER - SEASON 2 ============================================== Episode 3: Motorway Plane Crash (British Midland Flight 092 - Boeing 737) Episode 7: Crash Landing at Sioux City (United Airlines Flight 232 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10) Episode 10: TWA Flight 800 (TWA Flight 800 - Boeing 747-131) SECONDS FROM DISASTER - SEASON 3 ============================================== Episode 2: Amsterdam Air Crash (El Al Flight 1862 - Boeing 747) Episode 6: Florida Swamp Air Crash (ValuJet Flight 592 - DC-9) Episode 9: Plane Crash in Queens (American Airlines 587 - Airbus A300) Episode 12: Plane Crash in the Potomac (Air Florida Flight 90 - Boeing 737) Episode 14: Comet Air Crash (BOAC Flight 781 - de Havilland DH-106 Comet-1) Episode 15: Chicago Air Crash (American Airlines Flight 191 - DC-10)
BLACK BOX ===================================================================== Blackbox-01 - Sky Crimes (Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 - British Aerospace BAe 146-200 / Pan Am Flight 103 - Boeing 747 / FedEx Flight 705 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30) Blackbox-02 - Deadly Weather (American Eagle Flight 4184 - ATR-72) Blackbox-03 - Crash Detectives (TACA International Airlines Flight 510 - Boeing 767-2S1ER / ValuJet Flight 592 - DC-9 / British Midland Flight 092 - Boeing 737 / BOAC Flight 781 - de Havilland DH-106 Comet-1 / Turkish Airlines Flight 981 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 / British Airtours Flight 28M - Boeing 737-236) Blackbox-04 - Wing and a Prayer (Aloha Airlines Flight 243 - Boeing 737-297 / Japan Airlines Flight 123 - Boeing 747-SR46 / United Airlines Flight 232 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10) Blackbox-05 - Blaming the Pilot (Birgenair Flight 301 - Boeing 757 / British European Airways Flight 548 - Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C / KLM Flight 4805 & Pan Am Flight 1736 - Boeing 747-206B & Boeing 747-121 / Air Inter Flight 148 - Airbus A-320-111 / Air France Flight 296 - Airbus A320-111)
MISCELLANEOUS VIDEOS ========================================================== Crash of the Century - Tenerife Disaster (KLM Flight 4805 & Pan Am Flight 1736 - Boeing 747-206B & Boeing 747-121) SilkAir 185 Pilot Suicide? (Silk Air 185 - Boeing 737-36N) Munich Air Crash 1958 (British European Airways Flight 609 - Airspeed AS-57 Ambassador) Erebus The Legacy (Air New Zealand Flight 901 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30) LOOKOUT: Flight 901 The Erebus Disaster (Air New Zealand Flight 901 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30) A320 Airbus Down, Mulhouse France 1988 (News Footage) (Air France Flight 296 - Airbus A320) The History of Air Traffic Control [NextGen / ADSB Technology] (United Airlines Flight 718 & TWA Flight 2 - Douglas DC-7 Mainliner & Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation / Aeromexico Flight 498 & Piper 4891 - DC-9 & Piper PA-28-181 Archer / Avianca Flight 52 - Boeing 707 / GOL FLIGHT 1907 & ExcelAire N600XL - Boeing 737-8EH SFP & Embraer Legacy 600 / Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 & DHL Flight 611 - Tupolev Tu-154M & Boeing 757-23APF) Plane crash...737 tries to land with gear up (audio! - 1989) (News Footage) (Piedmont Airlines Flight 1489 - Boeing 737-400) China Airlines MD-11 crashes in 1999 (China Airlines Flight 642 - McDonnell Douglas MD-11) B-52 Air Crash, Fairchild AFB June 24, 1991 Airplane Crash Landing on the 405 (Humor) Sunday, June 14
by
Abacquer
on Sun 14 Jun 2009 11:58 PM EDT
What I don't have is interest. There's a lot going on in my life, and I'd rather get on with it than write about it. Besides I doubt anybody really wants to read about it. So I've been neither writing in my blog, nor really reading the blogs of others. I check in on Aces Full and Pandora's Tea Room every now and again, but that is pretty much it. I post on MOTL every now and again, but not too frequently now that the werewolf games were cancelled due to people taking them too seriously. What's been occupying my time is my photography business. It seems to be picking up, which is great, because I simply love this work. I did a school dance in February, and a photoshoot for an aspiring actor. In May I did a costume shoot for a dance school which is the first shoot I've done where I can unequivocably say that I made pretty good money. June's been hopping. I did a graduation shoot for a relative (no money, but I did some networking at the school while I was there that might turn into business), and a graduation party for the same relative. This past Thursday night I shot the dress rehearsal for a stage production of a dance interpretation of Peter Pan. Friday night I shot the eighth grade dance of a middle school in southeastern Massachusetts. Then Saturday I shot the 1PM and 7PM performances of Peter Pan (42 Gb of pix in one day... yowza!) I wrote about this a little bit on a message forum, so I figured I'd share that here.
June 12, 2009 11:01 AM Last night's shoot went well but I am exhausted. I took a chance and produced a 36" x 24" (poster size) print of the main cast (with some added text) and it came out GREAT. I was amazed. I expected at that size the image would be very fuzzy--you know "stand a few feet away and it will look fine". Nope, it was nice and sharp. About 90 minutes of post production and cost about $50 to print, and I gave it to the dance school director as a gift. She went positively gaga over it and hung it immediately as a poster for her show. The kids loved it too. Of course I had a couple totally unrealistic parents come up to me after the show asking if I "had any extras" or would "give them one". "These are quite expensive to print. Of course I can have one made and shipped to you but it would cost $100." "Oh forget it then." LOL. It's so hard to make money in this business unless you are doing weddings or products. For the costume shoot I spent 8 hours shooting, and 50 hours in post production. My total profit after printing and shipping was $800--that's $13.75 per hour and no matter what price you charge people think it's too much. Anyway the dress rehearsal shoot went great, apart from the 580 EX burning though batteries like there's no tomorrow. 4.5 hours of shooting, 1,105 pictures, 30 batteries eaten. I picked up a digital frame and loaded it with a bunch of work I've done over the last couple years and set that up next to the fliers--that got some attention. I had a number of people come up to me after the show and tell me how much they loved my work, which is always nice. We'll see if they still love me when I raise my prices next year. So tonight I have a middle school dance to shoot, and then tomorrow I have to shoot the performances that I went to the dress rehearsal for. Busy few days! June 13, 2009 1:55 AM Tonight's Middle School Dance shoot was exhausting but fun. These kids were different that the kids at my daughter's middle school--they were a lot stiffer... nobody danced for like the first 90 minutes. I was like WTF? Heck I wanted to put the camera down and dance myself. The DJ was great, all the tunes were current. This was an 8th grade dance and soon the kids will all be going off to different highschools so there was a lot of emotionality... a lot of kids were crying toward the end... that doesn't exactly make for a nice photo. Kids at my daughter's art school are also more hammy for the camera, these kids pretty much constantly ducked and hid whenever the camera showed up. This behavior drives me nuts, I'm being paid to shoot the dance, these kids are bawling that they're not going to see their friends again, and they're not going to have pictures of their friends to remember because they're too busy responding to the camera in the way they've been trained to respond "ooh don't take my picture I look ugly". You just want to say "Jesus, grow up already." Sometimes I say to them "this may come as a surprise, but we can all see you... we already know what you look like." No matter, I just switched to the 200mm and shot long... you get nice closeups that way and the kids don't know who is being photographed. All in all I think it went well. Two big shoots tomorrow... man am I beat. June 13, 2009 9:44 AM Fell out of bed about 8:20... showered, shaved, and will be heading out for the third and biggest of this weeks three shoots. What an exhausting time this has been! No flash today ('cept before and after) so I shouldn't need a frickin' gross of AA batts... June 14, 2009 7:37 PM Yesterday's shoots were positively EXHAUSTING! But I think it went well. At the end of the afternoon performance I knew I was in trouble tho... I had shot 20+ Gb of pictures, and I only had 22 Gb in CF cards with me. I had time before the 7PM performance so I went to best buy and purchased another 20 Gb of CF memory (1x 8 GB, 3x 4 Gb). During the second performance I shot the entire remaining 22 Gb. For the after photos I had to switch from RAW to JPG, and pull out my old "emergency card"--a 512 mB card that I've often questioned why I still carry it. Thank heavens I had it! But 42 jigglebytes in a single day is some outrageous shooting. About 3,500 pictures. Sorting through this is going to be fun. Lightroom is chewing on them now and probably will be until tomorrow. Emma was able to perform as Peter Pan, which was nice, though she had to hold back and give a slightly more subdued performance to prevent further injury to her ankle. It was nice seeing her dance at all though. The "movie poster" was a big hit. About 700 people filed past it and every time I went out into the hall to shoot candids there were people looking at it and my digital frame (yay!). The thing I liked best was when I caught the dancers looking at it, they really liked it and it made for some nice photos. Have I mentioned how much I love this work? I got more compliments and requests on Saturday, some people looking to buy the poster print. I added it to the show gallery and enabled large format printing options (and T-shirts, which my lab has begun to offer). So now begins the long slog of post processing. But with so many pictures to choose from I should be able to come up with some that are sure to please. And the post work should be hella easier than the costume shoot was. Gonna be a lot of busy nights tho... but not today, today I am recuperating... 12 hours of driving over the last 3 days, getting home every night after 1 AM, sore as heck from shooting... (Good news, I had two orders today from earlier galleries. Yay! Only $70 but I'm taking it as a good sign.) Wow am I beat. On a quick run through the performance photos I found a nice little series. Peter Pan was not on a wire, so she got about by making beautiful acrobatic leaps. I managed to snap a series of leaps (on the tail end of the leap as she was coming down) as she leapt around the dancer playing the part of Wendy Darling. In the series it looks like Peter is flying... |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Search
Recent Comments




