Loaded

http://www.rdrop.com/~jsexton/screen.html

Crime

Here's a strange crime with a local connection... This isn't surprising though. In my experience things like security systems that use any sort of IP network are usually extremely unsecured. Passwords are generally "password", there's no firewall or encryption and worst of all, they run on Windows! Ya right, real secure, sure...

"The FBI is investigating fifteen store robberies in eleven states, committed via phone and internet. The perpetrators hack the store's security system so they can observe their victims. They then make customers take their clothes off and get the store to wire money. "

http://slashdot.org/articles/07/08/30/0321232.shtml

Local Safeway target of bizarre nationwide threat calls

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_082907_news_safeway_threats.81f28c7c.html

"The first of the threats that federal investigators are aware of came last Thursday at a Safeway in Sandy, Ore."

The End of Time in California

Actually, I'm amazed that they were still doing this. Calling time was a part of learning to use the telephone for a generation. Of course the telephone as we know it is also nearing extinction.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus29aug29,0,2466396,full.column?coll=la-home-center

"What that means is that people throughout Southern California will no longer be able to call 853-1212 to hear a woman's recorded voice state that "at the tone, Pacific Daylight Time will be . . ." with the recording automatically updating at 10-second intervals.

""Times change," said John Britton, an AT&T spokesman. "In today's world, there are just too many other ways to get this information. You can look at your cellphone or your computer. You no longer have to pick up the telephone."

"Indeed, time already has stopped in 48 other states, he said. California and Nevada are the two remaining holdouts."

Bolton Wine

One of the two families that still hold a part of the original Bolton land claimed in 1853 are growing grapes now:

http://www.columbiagorgewineclub.com/bolton.htm

How To Make Sybase ASE Non-Case Sensitive

Sybase ASE servers are case sensitive by default. This is a server-wide setting driven by the default character set and the sort order. Changing this impacts both object names and data itself so if you have to do this, expect unexpected consequences.

There is no way to change case sensitivity on a per-connection basis, or on a per-database basis. Changing it on an existing server is difficult and involves a lot more steps. But I recently had to make this change on a new install, having no databases and no data. It's much easier in that case.

To make a new Sybase ASE server install non-case sensitive (using it's default English character set), on Linux:

1. After the install, as the Sybase user with the usual permissions, run this (if you just installed the server, then the sa password is empty, specify the -P with no text after):

charset -Usa -P -S nocase.srt iso_1

2. Connect to the server as sa and change the sort order:

isql -Usa -P -S
1> sp_configure 'default sortorder id', 52, 'iso_1'
2> go

3. Shutdown and restart the server. The server will change its sort order and then shut itself down. The server output to the console will show this.

4. Restart the server again, all set.

Installing Sybase ASE 15.04 on Fedora 6

I just finished an install of the 64-bit Sybase ASE server on Fedora 6. I had to do a few things to get this to work that others might run into.

0. For some reason the Sybase setup utility refuses to run regardless of X11 security. I ran "setup -console" for a text version of the install (why everyone seems to think everything has to be GUI is beyond me anyway).

1. Sybase (64-bit) requires a libaio package that wasn't installed by my Fedora install. It would tell me that libaio.so.1 can't be loaded when trying to start the server. I managed to get this library using the Fedora add/update software GUI tool. This tool is a pain. The best bet is to use "list" and just find it. The package providing this library has an obvious name.

2. The server still won't start. A look at my server log in the Sybase software target directory, and down in "install", said it was unable to allocate the needed amount of shared memory. To correct this, I added this line:

kernel.shmmax=2147483648

to the file /etc/sysctl.conf and then ran the command "/sbin/sysctl -p". Then I went over to the Sybase install directories and started the server as I normally would. It worked.

3. The Sybase environment variables are setup in the install directory in some sample scripts. On my machine, that's /opt/sybase/SYBASE.sh for example.

A note about the Fedora software update program - it is truly shockingly awful. For one thing you can not use it if you are not connected to the internet. It will not install software from CDs or a DVD without some modification for which no help is provided (do some searches on Google to get some tips if you have to do this).

Also, Sybase does require a few other packages. But if you installed Fedora with various development options, you'll get them. It also needs a Java install.

It is said that the 32-bit version on ASE can run on a 64-bit Fedora install too, but to do that you must collect up some 32-bit libraries by, get this, installing the 32-bit version of Fedora someplace and copying off the needed files. Here's a tip on this:

http://www.petersap.nl/SybaseWiki/index.php/Running_a_32_bit_ASE_executable_with_a_64_bit_chipd

I am not at all impressed with Fedora. I would not recommend it. Its "out of the box" configuration is all but unusable, and it is deeply flawed with regard to hardware identification, particularly for graphics systems. There's no excuse. Other distributions are vastly superior in this area.

Cuba

Here's a great internet rumor - Is Fidel dead?

http://reddit.com/info/2gfh6/comments

"Fidel Castro is dead. I have a relative called me this morning and
said something is a big is going on. Military vehicles everywhere etc."

Sim-Bernanke

http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN0925619220070816?feedType=RSS&feedName=internetNews

"Players want standardized data about Eve's economy to help them track prices and make investment decisions as they battle to control interstellar space on behalf of mega-corporations whose size and power would make any real multinational blush."

Lunch

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofsandwichareyouquiz/

Here's mine:

You are have a big personality. It's hard for anyone to ignore you!
You dream big. You think big. And you eat big.
Some people consider you high maintenance, but you just know what you want... and when you want it.

Your best friend: The Tuna Fish Sandwich

Your mortal enemy: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Googlebot

Today Google's web tools show that Google last visited my site August 11th. Finally! However a few quick searches show that July's additions to the web site, specifically this:

http://www.rdrop.com/~jsexton/watches/museum/

still do not all come up correctly in search results (some do). What's more, the pages that I moved under that URL, still come up in the search results in their old locations, and so are now bad links. That's what I really don't like about this, and the real downside about moving things around. It did need to be done though before I add additional "Elgin Watch Word" material.

It's strange that some of the material comes up correctly in search results and some does not. Updates to the Google index appearently don't happen all at once.

Opps

I got this from my Google home page today...

#
# An unexpected error has been detected by Java Runtime Environment:
#
#  EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at pc=0x6c342afe, pid=2816, tid=4060
#
# Java VM: Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (1.6.0-b105 mixed mode, sharing)
# Problematic frame:
# C  0x6c342afe
#
# If you would like to submit a bug report, please visit:
#   http://java.sun.com/webapps/bugreport/crash.jsp
#

---------------  T H R E A D  ---------------

Current thread (0x00691000):  JavaThread "main" [_thread_in_Java, id=4060]

siginfo: ExceptionCode=0xc0000005, reading address 0x6c342afe

Registers:
EAX=0x229d594a, EBX=0x00000000, ECX=0x00000000, EDX=0x00000002
ESP=0x0032f100, EBP=0x0032f108, ESI=0x229d5948, EDI=0x229d59e0
EIP=0x6c342afe, EFLAGS=0x00010202

Top of Stack: (sp=0x0032f100)
0x0032f100:   229d5974 0000006e 0032f148 6d80d2f9
0x0032f110:   229d5974 229d58dc 0000006e 011e700d
0x0032f120:   229d58dc 229d5974 0000006e 006910e8
0x0032f130:   0032f140 0128f311 006910e8 0032f140
0x0032f140:   229d57a8 00690a44 0032f188 01227956
0x0032f150:   00000037 229d5968 00000000 012f9ecd
0x0032f160:   229d5548 00000000 0000002e 00000003
0x0032f170:   00000037 229d5950 00000006 2b767e38 

Instructions: (pc=0x6c342afe)
0x6c342aee:   
[error occurred during error reporting, step 100, id 0xc0000005]

Stack: [0x002e0000,0x00330000),  sp=0x0032f100,  free space=316k
Native frames: (J=compiled Java code, j=interpreted, Vv=VM code, C=native code)
C  0x6c342afe
V  [jvm.dll+0x4d2f9]
J  java.lang.String.concat(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/String;
J  java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run()Ljava/lang/Object;
v  ~StubRoutines::call_stub


---------------  P R O C E S S  ---------------

Java Threads: ( => current thread )
  0x04a21c00 JavaThread "Timer-7" [_thread_blocked, id=3448]
  0x03b3b000 JavaThread "Timer-6" [_thread_blocked, id=3836]
  0x03b35800 JavaThread "TimerQueue" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=2720]
  0x03b0b800 JavaThread "Timer-5" [_thread_blocked, id=2040]
  0x00789000 JavaThread "Timer-4" [_thread_blocked, id=2360]
  0x0346fc00 JavaThread "Timer-3" [_thread_blocked, id=3108]
  0x00786400 JavaThread "Timer-2" [_thread_blocked, id=3036]
  0x03a7d000 JavaThread "com.mchange.v2.async.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner$PoolThread-#2" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3012]
  0x03a7c400 JavaThread "com.mchange.v2.async.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner$PoolThread-#1" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=1140]
  0x03a8e000 JavaThread "com.mchange.v2.async.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner$PoolThread-#0" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=1500]
  0x03a7f000 JavaThread "Timer-1" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3724]
  0x039cf400 JavaThread "Timer-0" [_thread_blocked, id=2976]
  0x039b5400 JavaThread "Image Fetcher 2" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=2608]
  0x03927c00 JavaThread "AWT-EventQueue-0" [_thread_blocked, id=4044]
  0x03926800 JavaThread "AWT-Shutdown" [_thread_blocked, id=920]
  0x03925000 JavaThread "Image Fetcher 3" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3648]
  0x03923c00 JavaThread "Image Fetcher 0" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=2312]
  0x03918800 JavaThread "Thread-3" [_thread_in_native, id=3556]
  0x033bb800 JavaThread "AWT-Windows" daemon [_thread_in_native, id=2900]
  0x033ba000 JavaThread "Java2D Disposer" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=2556]
  0x006bcc00 JavaThread "Low Memory Detector" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3944]
  0x006b8000 JavaThread "CompilerThread0" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3892]
  0x006b6c00 JavaThread "Attach Listener" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=2392]
  0x006b6000 JavaThread "Signal Dispatcher" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=2228]
  0x006b1800 JavaThread "Finalizer" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3736]
  0x006ad400 JavaThread "Reference Handler" daemon [_thread_blocked, id=3772]
=>0x00691000 JavaThread "main" [_thread_in_Java, id=4060]

Other Threads:
  0x006a4000 VMThread [id=536]
  0x006be400 WatcherThread [id=4028]

VM state:not at safepoint (normal execution)

VM Mutex/Monitor currently owned by a thread: None

Heap
 def new generation   total 960K, used 539K [0x22960000, 0x22a60000, 0x22e40000)
  eden space 896K,  53% used [0x22960000, 0x229d6dc0, 0x22a40000)
  from space 64K, 100% used [0x22a40000, 0x22a50000, 0x22a50000)
  to   space 64K,   0% used [0x22a50000, 0x22a50000, 0x22a60000)
 tenured generation   total 9452K, used 9134K [0x22e40000, 0x2377b000, 0x26960000)
   the space 9452K,  96% used [0x22e40000, 0x2372b990, 0x2372ba00, 0x2377b000)
 compacting perm gen  total 12288K, used 10201K [0x26960000, 0x27560000, 0x2a960000)
   the space 12288K,  83% used [0x26960000, 0x273564a8, 0x27356600, 0x27560000)
    ro space 8192K,  62% used [0x2a960000, 0x2ae5b9c8, 0x2ae5ba00, 0x2b160000)
    rw space 12288K,  52% used [0x2b160000, 0x2b79e348, 0x2b79e400, 0x2bd60000)

Dynamic libraries:
0x00400000 - 0x00423000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\java.exe
0x7c900000 - 0x7c9b0000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntdll.dll
0x7c800000 - 0x7c8f4000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\kernel32.dll
0x77dd0000 - 0x77e6b000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\ADVAPI32.dll
0x77e70000 - 0x77f01000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\RPCRT4.dll
0x00800000 - 0x00817000  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Logitech\LVMVFM\LVPrcInj.dll
0x77d40000 - 0x77dd0000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
0x77f10000 - 0x77f56000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\GDI32.dll
0x7c340000 - 0x7c396000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\msvcr71.dll
0x6d7c0000 - 0x6da07000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\client\jvm.dll
0x76b40000 - 0x76b6d000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINMM.dll
0x6d720000 - 0x6d742000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\splashscreen.dll
0x6d310000 - 0x6d318000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\hpi.dll
0x76bf0000 - 0x76bfb000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\PSAPI.DLL
0x6d770000 - 0x6d77c000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\verify.dll
0x6d3b0000 - 0x6d3cf000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\java.dll
0x6d7b0000 - 0x6d7bf000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\zip.dll
0x6d000000 - 0x6d1c3000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\awt.dll
0x73000000 - 0x73026000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINSPOOL.DRV
0x77c10000 - 0x77c68000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\msvcrt.dll
0x76390000 - 0x763ad000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\IMM32.dll
0x774e0000 - 0x7761c000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\ole32.dll
0x73760000 - 0x737a9000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\ddraw.dll
0x73bc0000 - 0x73bc6000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\DCIMAN32.dll
0x6d570000 - 0x6d583000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\net.dll
0x71ab0000 - 0x71ac7000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2_32.dll
0x71aa0000 - 0x71aa8000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2HELP.dll
0x71a50000 - 0x71a8f000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\mswsock.dll
0x662b0000 - 0x66308000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\hnetcfg.dll
0x71a90000 - 0x71a98000  C:\WINDOWS\System32\wshtcpip.dll
0x76f20000 - 0x76f47000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\DNSAPI.dll
0x76fb0000 - 0x76fb8000  C:\WINDOWS\System32\winrnr.dll
0x76f60000 - 0x76f8c000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\WLDAP32.dll
0x76fc0000 - 0x76fc6000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\rasadhlp.dll
0x10000000 - 0x1006b000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\EPIBuilder_jni.dll
0x77120000 - 0x771ac000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\OLEAUT32.dll
0x6d3e0000 - 0x6d3e6000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\jawt.dll
0x036d0000 - 0x036de000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\IWSProcImg.dll
0x036e0000 - 0x0371c000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\ac_iow32.dll
0x03b70000 - 0x03b8c000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\wsq_dll.dll
0x76b20000 - 0x76b31000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\ATL.DLL
0x76fd0000 - 0x7704f000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\CLBCATQ.DLL
0x77050000 - 0x77115000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\COMRes.dll
0x77c00000 - 0x77c08000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\VERSION.dll
0x745e0000 - 0x748a6000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\msi.dll
0x75e90000 - 0x75f40000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\SXS.DLL
0x03cf0000 - 0x03d0e000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPILicense.dll
0x72830000 - 0x7292e000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\MFC42u.DLL
0x03e10000 - 0x03e5c000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EN\EPISDKRes.dll
0x03f70000 - 0x03f7e000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\GAError.dll
0x03f80000 - 0x03faa000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EN\GACoreRes.dll
0x040c0000 - 0x040d9000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPIConfig.dll
0x6d2b0000 - 0x6d303000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\fontmanager.dll
0x7c9c0000 - 0x7d1d4000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\shell32.dll
0x77f60000 - 0x77fd6000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHLWAPI.dll
0x773d0000 - 0x774d2000  C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.2600.2180_x-ww_a84f1ff9\comctl32.dll
0x5d090000 - 0x5d127000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\comctl32.dll
0x04240000 - 0x0424c000  C:\Program Files\Joystick 2 Mouse 3\Hook.dll
0x6d590000 - 0x6d599000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\nio.dll
0x6d450000 - 0x6d474000  C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\jpeg.dll
0x044f0000 - 0x0451b000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapture.ocx
0x5edd0000 - 0x5ede7000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\OLEPRO32.DLL
0x04680000 - 0x04691000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\GAFieldSet.dll
0x046a0000 - 0x046af000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapLFFIWS.dll
0x046b0000 - 0x046c8000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapJirisJPC1000IWS.dll
0x04720000 - 0x0472f000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\Jpc3.dll
0x7c140000 - 0x7c243000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\MFC71.DLL
0x04730000 - 0x04739000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EN\EPICapJirisJPC1000IWSRes.dll
0x75f40000 - 0x75f51000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\devenum.dll
0x77920000 - 0x77a13000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\setupapi.dll
0x76c30000 - 0x76c5e000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINTRUST.dll
0x77a80000 - 0x77b14000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\CRYPT32.dll
0x77b20000 - 0x77b32000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSASN1.dll
0x76c90000 - 0x76cb8000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\IMAGEHLP.dll
0x736b0000 - 0x736b7000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\msdmo.dll
0x04840000 - 0x04863000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapI3LiveScanIWS.dll
0x050f0000 - 0x051a1000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\i3LiveScan.dll
0x04880000 - 0x048a4000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EN\EPICapI3LiveScanIWSRes.dll
0x052b0000 - 0x052f0000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\IbisDrv.dll
0x048c0000 - 0x048d7000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapAtlantisCamIWS.dll
0x052f0000 - 0x0545d000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\QUARTZ.dll
0x76080000 - 0x760e5000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSVCP60.dll
0x05470000 - 0x05493000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EN\EPICapAtlantisCamIWSRes.dll
0x054a0000 - 0x054bf000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapUPEKIWS.dll
0x054c0000 - 0x055a5000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\BIO-key.dll
0x5b860000 - 0x5b8b4000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\NETAPI32.dll
0x055c0000 - 0x055e4000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EN\EPICapUPEKIWSRes.dll
0x055f0000 - 0x05602000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapTwnIWS.dll
0x1fff0000 - 0x20052000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\LTKRN12n.dll
0x1ffb0000 - 0x1ffbd000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\LTTWN12n.dll
0x05e30000 - 0x060f5000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\xpsp2res.dll
0x061a0000 - 0x061b7000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapWTBIWS.dll
0x061c0000 - 0x061d8000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapJirisJPC1000MIWS.dll
0x061e0000 - 0x061ef000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\Jpc315.dll
0x061f0000 - 0x061f9000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EN\EPICapJirisJPC1000MIWSRes.dll
0x062f0000 - 0x06304000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapVFWIWS.dll
0x73b80000 - 0x73b92000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\AVICAP32.dll
0x75a70000 - 0x75a91000  C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSVFW32.dll
0x06310000 - 0x06322000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EPICapFileIWS.dll
0x06330000 - 0x06338000  C:\Program Files\ImageWare Systems\EPIBUILDER\6\EN\EPICapFileIWSRes.dll

VM Arguments:
java_command: C:\Atlantis\application\lib\atlantisui.jar
Launcher Type: SUN_STANDARD

Environment Variables:
PATH=C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin;C:\Program Files\Micro Systemation\XRY;
USERNAME=Administrator
OS=Windows_NT
PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=x86 Family 6 Model 9 Stepping 5, GenuineIntel



---------------  S Y S T E M  ---------------

OS: Windows XP Build 2600 Service Pack 2

CPU:total 1 family 6, cmov, cx8, fxsr, mmx, sse, sse2

Memory: 4k page, physical 2087344k(1121028k free), swap 4029316k(3187392k free)

vm_info: Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (1.6.0-b105) for windows-x86, built on Nov 29 2006 00:48:48 by "java_re" with unknown MS VC++:1310

Potential for Comedy

http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1441417520070814?feedType=RSS&feedName=internetNews

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, whose programs were once among the most viewed on YouTube, were requested by the video site to give testimony in legal proceedings as it fights a $1 billion lawsuit by Viacom Inc, according to court filings."

What? Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are comedians??!

Googlebot? Hello?

About three weeks ago I moved some web pages and set up a new more centralized page, pointing to various new things under a single directory. As a result some links returned in Google search no longer exist.

http://www.rdrop.com/~jsexton/watches/museum/

Google's web crawler can be monitored using their webmaster tools (which I highly recommend).

http://www.google.com/webmasters

Today is August 13th. Google has not indexed my pages since July 8th. This is in spite of there existing at least four regularly updated blogs containing references to my pages, posts in USENET news groups, my having brand new pages on the past two Googlebot scans, and my entering the new page here:

http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl

I realize Googlebot has a lot on its plate, but it's very frustrating watching days go by and knowing that links to no place are turning up as high as the first and second pages of search results. I light of how I know it would be abused if Google offered some way to request a rescan more directly, there's nothing to do but wait.

The Microsoft search engine and Yahoo have already updated themselves weeks ago. Yahoo in particular seems to come through quite frequently.

OBF '07 Pictures

New pictures posted -

http://picasaweb.google.com/jsexton0/OBF2007

The Oregon Brewers Festival, 2007.

!

http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/08/1999202.htm?section=justin

Giant Lego man washed up on Dutch beach!

Making the Grade 55

Making the Elgin grade 55 J. T. Ryerson vintage pocketwatch...

http://www.rdrop.com/~jsexton/watches/museum/elgin250834.html

Phone Review

I just replaced my phone with one of the most popular phones around; the
Motorola 3xx. My old phone was an obscure NEC model that I've had for at
least two years. I bought the NEC because of it's advanced features at
the time. It was rough around the edges, not well documented, and hard to
set up, but it was an early phone to include a usable camera, a java VM,
and internet capabilities like web browsing and real SMTP email via POP.

Pro:

* It's nice and loud and clear. It's easy to hear, and other hear me well
when I use it.

* It uses G3 networks and gets great reception everywhere I need it to, so
far.

* The display is remarkably bright and sharp.

* Sending an SMS email from the phone is remarkably fast compared to my
old phone. I assume this is because of the G3 network.

* Speaker mode. My old phone didn't have that and I frequently wished it
did.

* 1.3 mp camera.

* The new phone has a mini USB port and will charge itself from any USB
connection.

* An SD card installed in the phone can be used as general removable media
via USB. This can used to move MP3 files, phones and other files to and
from the phone.

* Google's java applications work fine. I can access gmail for example
even though the phone doesn't offer that built in.

* The voice dialing interface on this phone is interesting. You don't
have to pre-record yourself saying a voice command. It actually dialed a
person that I had in the phone book simply by "reading" their name. I only
tried this a couple of times, and I had to say the name 3 or 4 times, but
it worked.

Cons

* The menu system is a mixed bag when compared to my old phone. For
example, one of the things I didn't like about the old one is that is that
it took too many key clicks to change the ring mode. On the Motorola,
that's much easier. On the the other hand, on the Motorola, it takes too
many clicks to activate the camera. On the old one it took just button.

* This new phone can not act as a POP client. It's locked down to
read email only from AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft and a couple others, none of
which do I use. With the old phone I could access any email system via
a plain old POP server.

* The much hyped media capabilities of the phone are no so great (shocking
I know). Crippled, as usual, the device and service channel the user into
a restricted set of locked down providers, like AT&T Music Service (ya,
I'll get right on that...). The phone will play general MP3 files
however, if one buys an extra SD card for the phone.

* MP3 files have to be less then 128 bit sampled.

* There's no audio jack on the phone. To play an MP3 file, you need some
Blue Tooth enabled headphones.

* The camera takes remarkably color-poor photos. It's become increasing
obvious that phone cameras skimp on things, like the lens, in order to
increase the mega-pixel number, at a fixed cost.

* Minor point - the camera lens is at the bottom (hinge end) for the phone
lid. There's a tendency to cover the lens with one's fingers while taking
a photo.