Month: May 2002

  • Testing anew

    I’m getting my custom blog management software reconfigured, in light of the problems I outlined in the last post. So far, it seems to be working.

  • Grrrrrr

    Something in the server configuration running this site has changed, causing my PHP script to add blog entries to not work, and I can’t quite figure out why. (Incidentally, this is also why there’s a big gap since the last post.) My script is supposed to send an authentication header to the browser, for simple Apache realm authentication, but the browser (Internet Explorer 6; I haven’t tested with others yet) hangs. Very, very, very frustrating.

    As near as I can tell, this became a problem when WebDAV was installed on this server, which must have changed the configuration somewhere to affect this. In the meantime, I’m posting directly via phpMyAdmin, which is a totally killer MySQL GUI-like interface written in PHP.

  • Progress Quest!

    What is Progress Quest? Think of Nethack and Seti@Home rolled into one: It’s an online RPG that runs autonomously on your computer, in the background. You start it up, create a character, and go; everything is automatic and it even does away with the “annoying” aspects of fantasy roleplaying: dying, wandering around mazes, solving puzzles.

    Visit the homepage.

    I’ve been running it for just a day now and I just let it run in the background, yet it’s oddly addicting just to watch. The cool thing is, in Multiplayer/Online mode, it can actively compare your stats and progress in the game with all the other players in online mode, over the web. So, in a sense, it’s a MMORPG. And you don’t even have to pay any money!

  • The Boob Tube

    I definitely watch way too much TV. Each year around the end of the TV season I reach some sort of critical mass where I just want to throw out the TV and not watch anything again, and use the time I spend in front of the zombie box in much better ways. Way, way too much time. And yet— and this is weak, really weak— I can’t not watch the damn TV shows through the respective season finales because of the inertia that’s built up from watching them all season…

    But the irony is, I’d be spending a lot more time in front of the computer, so that’s probably not really much better. Depending on what I’m doing at the computer, of course.

    One great reason to love the summer: reruns (sad but true); you don’t have to watch TV at all because you’re not caught in that vicious circle of keeping up with new episodes of this show or that show… and the reclaimed time is wonderful.

  • Rock!

    Spider-Man rules! I have to admit, I had initial doubts for some time now, but after seeing it tonight, “Spider-Man” turned out to be a great movie— one of the best comic book adaptions that I’ve ever seen. I was blown away by how good the web slinging/swinging effects were; extremely realistic, with Spider-Man moving and swinging just the way you’d expect someone to. This was classic Spidey at its best— very true to the mythology, with only sensible changes to bring it more in line with a movie adaption.

    Probably the only fault I can find is that there are 1 or 2 scenes which are overly Matrix-ish. You’ll know them when you see them. But then, what movie these days doesn’t have some sort of Matrix tribute/rip-off?

  • Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can

    We’re going out to see “Spider-Man” tomorrow! I actually get to go see a movie, and on opening day, no less! Last movie in the theater we saw was “The Mothman Prophecies”— not my choice, an entirely forgettable movie, pass it by— and before that, I was able to make it to “The Lord of the Rings” but that’s the last I can remember. Such is life with kids!