Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Damnit.That site's back at number one on google again. I guess it was just a glitch.
Oh well... it was nice while it lasted.
Steve 6:58 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Ahhhhh.... the first piece of good news I've had in too long.The site that had knocked one of my web pages off of first place on google, causing one of my main sources of income to plummet, has been delisted.
I'm guessing they got penalised for something... maybe trying some dubious promotional techniques... I dunno.
Whatever the reason, it's boosted the results for my own page considerably. I just checked the stats and that page is going ballistic, better than it's ever done. It'd be nice if it stayed at that level, but common sense says it'll slow down some, just as it picked up a bit after it first slumped.
Steve 9:51 PM [+] (0) comments
Tripod are REALLY pissing me off.
I opted for popups on this blog so I wouldn't have banners fucking up my nice design and what do they go and do? They stick a banner down at the bottom of the page anyway.
Okay... I can deal with that... not many people scroll all the way to the bottom I'm sure, so the effect is minimal.
So then they go and slap that huge great monstrosity right across the top of the page.
Bastards!
Labels: annoyed
Steve 6:55 AM [+] (0) comments
Monday, October 27, 2003
This quitting smoking lark is tough.Curiously, I don't actually crave a cigarette at all, but the physical and mental effects of nicotine withdrawl are taking a toll.
Yesterday I felt very highly strung and aggitated, very quick to anger... today I feel burned out and depressed.
Two weeks, that's how long I expect it to take before I feel human again and have a proper grip of myself. Unfortunately, I have to find work before then... and I really don't relish the prospect of working in such a state, however temporary the job may be.
On an entirely different note... have you ever noticed that chilli really makes your pee stink?
Labels: quitting smoking
Steve 5:00 PM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, October 26, 2003
I saw a thing in a chatroom today that got my brain boggling a bit, especially since I'm no mathematician or physicist, so I figure I'll muse about it here, and see what people think. It's probably a very basic problem that's already been answered by some smarty pants, but I dont know the answer.So the question is this... is the concept of infinity a realistic idea? Is it provable?
The first and easiest response to that would be "Of course it is, you can always take a number and add one to it."
But wait.... can you?
Suppose you break the entire universe down to its most basic *stable* subatomic particles... be they electrons or whatever... just so long as they're stable. Now.. you use those particles to count, or calculate on... sooner or later you're gonna run out.
The volume of space may be constantly expanding, but the ammount of matter and energy contained within that space is fixed and finite... which suggests that it is actually impossible to calculate infinity... the time would come when you literally couldnt add one more, because there would be nothing left to calculate with.
Maybe that logic is flawed, but if it is, I don't see the flaw. So supposing the logic is correct and infinity is a mathematical impossibility, where the hell is the universe expanding to?
I invite your thoughts on this... when comments are fixed that is.
Steve 4:41 PM [+] (0) comments
Oh lookie.
Some bright spark has been trying to gain access to my yahoo launchcast account again, and caused it to be locked down.
Sad, sad, sad.
Well, it's not the first time, and probably won't be the last. I've seen it all before.
Chances are it's some silly little kid with attention defecit disorder... so lemme tell you... you'll get bore and go away long before I will.
On an entirely different subject, that advertising banner down at the bottom of this page is rather clever. I'd heard about these new targetted advertising schemes, and it seems the technology really does work. I only mentioned quitting smoking a couple of days ago, and all of a sudden the banner's full of 'quit smoking' remedies and schemes.
Labels: annoyed, launchcast
Steve 9:54 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, October 24, 2003
Yup, withdrawl is setting in bigtime, and it's only been one day.We're not talking about just climbing the walls... oh no, we're talking complete mental fuck up... lol. To say my judgement is impaired is something of an understatement.
Rational thought is kinda hard to come by... I wonder if this is what pmt (pms) is like... 'cause I'd bite a person's head off at the drop of a hat in this state.
Not giving up though... or rather, I am giving up... or, oh, you know what I mean.
No cigs. Nonononono.
Labels: quitting smoking
Steve 11:53 AM [+] (0) comments
Gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette, gimme cigarette.................................................. AAAAAAARRRRGGGGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Labels: quitting smoking
Steve 6:13 AM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Today begins my serious attempt to quit smoking.I ran out of cigs around 6am this morning, and dug out the nicorette inhaler thing about an hour ago.
I guess there's not much need to go into the details of why I'm quitting... they're the same for everybody... health and money.
Fingers crossed then.
Expect much ranting and raving as I start climbing the walls in the near future.
Labels: quitting smoking
Steve 9:34 AM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
So it's official, I'm a single man again.Brigitte moved out this morning, though to be honest, it hasn't really sunk in yet... I feel kind of numb.
I guess I don't want to say anything else about it, as I've explained the situation in previous posts. There will be no posts regarding my emotional state in connection with the situation, be it good bad or otherwise. That would be highly insensetive given that Brigitte reads this blog.
So, what else can I tell you?
I've started work on adding PayPal donation buttons to various of my websites... any pages with my own creative works eg my MP3s, or where I provide some kind of popular service, will include a PayPal donation button.
Basically, anywhere I can reasonably put one without looking too cheeky will get a button, though I don't think I'll be putting one on this blog somehow.
Something about asking for money for letting people read my lame ramblings... nah, it wouldn't be right. All the other sites will feature donation buttons in one place or another though. I figure considering the number of web pages I have online, and we're talking about several hundred here.... saturation coverage might just bring in a few extra pennies.
Steve 12:56 PM [+] (0) comments
Monday, October 20, 2003
While I'm in the mood to have a bit of a moan, I'm deeply unimpressed with the latest round of Microsoft security patches for Windows XP.Ever since installing said patches, my browser now refuses to find at least 50% of websites without multiple clicks on the refresh button. It would seem that Microsoft's idea of good internet security is to block all traffic, legitimate or otherwise.
Yeah... good one.
Steve 5:59 AM [+] (0) comments
Right, lets make this absolutely clear... David Blaine is a twat!
This stunt of his is entirely pointless, beyond self promotion... and frankly, I don't see that starving himself to gain recognition is much of an achievment.
He's not broken any records, to the point that the Guinness Book Of Records snubbed him completely. People have gone much longer without food, ie people in prison on hunger strike. People have been in isotaion for much longer... POW's and political prisoners.
He's not performing any impressive feat of magic or illusion. It's entirely pointless.
The media, particularly american media, has made some note of the antipathy towards Blaine by the english public, seemingly unable to understand our dislike of him.
Let me put it in very simple terms, for those who don't understand. The Brits don't like a showoff... and that's all he is.
"Hey everybody, look at me. I'm not eating. Aren't I clever?"
Well, actually, no. Mr Blaine, you are a twat.
I for one will be very glad when I don't have to see extremely dull images of some unwashed pillock sitting in a perspex box doing nothing, while making himself ill. If there's one thing I don't understand about the whole thing, it's how anyone with half a brain can not see him for the complete waste of time that he is.
Labels: annoyed
Steve 12:10 AM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, October 18, 2003
I have an online friend who watches my webcam from time to time when we're chatting.Now, every once in a while he'd report a strange phenomenon on his pc. Apparently, my webcam image was appearing in places it simply shouldn't be, like on websites that I have absolutely nothing to do with.
Imagine the horror of finding my image plastered all over yahoo, or worse, on some porn site. Anyway, this chap's a funny guy, with a sense of humour I can totally relate to, so I can't say I always took such reports one hundred percent seriously... not to say I though he was lying... just... oh, y'know... I know a good joke when I hear one, and tended to think it was one.
So anyway... he's recently bought a digital camera, and just look at the pic he sent me.
That's my webcam image appearing slap bang in the middle of a tripod popup from this very weblog.
Poor, poor guy.
I've known people to get obsessed with me, but when a pc does it, there's something very wrong with the world.
Labels: webcams
Steve 9:00 PM [+] (0) comments
Friday, October 17, 2003
Its not often I see something online that REALLY upsets me, but THIS did.I dont care if this is a joke or for real. These people are sick.
I'm not one to advocate hacking or such stuff, but someone needs to ddos the hell out of that site.
Sick sick SICK fuckers!!!!!
Okay, now I've got that little rant out of my system, here's a fun kitten picture, to cheer everyone up again, 'cause I cant leave you all on such a low note.
Labels: annoyed
Steve 3:20 AM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Ho-hum.Treading water at the moment.
Brigitte's moving out on wednesday, so there's preparations being made, packing being done, etc.
I guess there's an element of waiting to get it over and done with, combined with being sad that it's come to this.
Pretty confusing, but such is life. We're dealing with it, and probably better than would be reasonable to expect.
Anyway... what else can I tell you?
The chatroom's bobbing along fairly nicely since moving to undernet, even without a bot, and having ops in #england is certainly proving interetsing, if only because people react to me differently.
Ummm... ummm... I dunno. I'm just rambling now for the sake of writing something.
Time to shut up.
Steve 3:32 AM [+] (0) comments
Monday, October 13, 2003
Okay, completely disregarding everything from tuesday's post, here's why things are *really* a bit on the crappy side just now.Brigitte and myself have mutually agreed to go our separate ways.
Though we still love each other to bits, our lifestyles, dreams and ambitions are completely at odds, which makes living with each other problematic. It's not like we argue or anything like that... we get along great, but it's not enough to sustain a meaningful relationship when we both want to be doing entirely different things.
There's no recriminations, no blame, no unpleasantness, and we fully intend to remain friends.
So now Brigitte's looking for new accomodation, and may already have found somewhere, while I have to find a job, since even if my current income returns to where it was before, I still won't bring in enough money to pay all of the rent and bills by myself.
It's very difficult to write about the whole thing here, but suffice to say that yes I am depressed about how things have turned out and I'm going to miss Brigitte a great deal. Thing is though, we're both realistic about it, and know we aren't the people each other needs, and would ultimately make each other more unhappy if we stayed together.
Some people might say "Well can't you change? Can't you compromise?", but in truth, if you have to change, either yourself or your partner, you're with the wrong person... and really, compromise is just the process where neither person gets what they want, for the sake of calling it fair.
Sad as it is to say, it's the grown up decision, and the right decision, even though it hurts.
Steve 1:24 AM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, October 11, 2003
I'm still here.Things still suck, and it's stressing me, but such is life.
Expect an announcment here soon on what's actually going down.
Steve 3:47 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Trip to the zoo this weekend aside, things have gone a bit crappy since the start of the week.A particular webpage of mine which had been listed at number one on google has dropped down the rankings all of a sudden, `causing traffic to more than halve, and cutting my advertising income to pretty much zero so far.
Then there's my bank, which is taking it's sweet time to clear the cheques that actually have arrived... all of which is leaving me pretty much broke.
On top of that, the server that my new chatroom bot has been residing on has permenantly shut down, leaving the room insecure .
That's just the stuff I'm prepared to talk about here.
On the plus side.... I'll have to think about that. I'm not sure if there is a plus side.
Fed up? You better believe it.
Steve 7:58 PM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, October 04, 2003
League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen.Brilliant.
Nuff said.
Steve 9:27 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, October 03, 2003
Ok, chatroom news.I've moved the main webcam chatroom and combined it with the new one on undernet.
This won't affect anyone who usually uses the applet on my websites, but mirc users will now need to log onto Undernet (irc.undernet.org) and join room #uk-usa
This may cause a little confusion for mirc users who frequent the new room and don't know about the cam room, but overall, I have a feeling both rooms should benefit, as there'll be more people about.
Labels: chatrooms
Steve 3:30 PM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, October 02, 2003
How cool!I got assigned Ops status in #England on undernet, one of the larger english speaking rooms on the netwrok.
Needless to say, I'm rather pleased.
So I sat up all night and most of today fulfilling my Op duties while in a completely addled and sleep deprived state, which is quite a surreal experience when you get a big multi user flood attack.
My own room #uk-usa, also on undernet seems to be ticking along nicely too, and I think I'm gonna be merging it with my webcam chatroom, since they have pretty much the same aims. That should work out okay provided the shell account for the Octopus bot remains stable.
Fingers crossed.
Labels: chatrooms
Steve 7:55 PM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Woo... the eggdrop is up and running.Things are a happening on undernet. Not only have I got my own room up and running, albeit in an embryonic state in #uk-usa, but there seems to be some movement regarding ops in a certain other channel. We'll see.
In the meantime, do feel free to drop into #uk-usa on undernet. Private message ^Octopus^ and say hello, and all being well, he should set you with auto voice next time you drop in. Assuming I set him up right.
Considering I learned the basics of eggdrop configuration in one day, there's bound to be some screw ups in there somewhere, but it seems cool so far.
Labels: chatrooms
Steve 4:07 AM [+] (0) comments
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