Archive for November 1st, 2005
Apoligies for the recent three hours of downtime experienced by this website. The hosting provider performed an “upgrade” without notifying me…or at least, that is what they told me on the phone. I’m not inclined to believe them as the way the website reacted makes me think that something failed.
At first I was receiving “Connection Timed Out” errors which indicates that a service failed, especially seeing as the server was still responsing to pings. This later changed to “Connection Refused” errors, which indicates that the hosting provider probably pulled the plug.
It is unusual in my view to perform upgrades whilst still accepting incoming connections to services you are upgrading. Standard procedure would tell you to deny incoming connections before starting an upgrade, as this helps (in some cases) to prevent incoming connections creating problems with the upgrade. Of course my sense of procedure would also tell you that you should notify the people who will be affected by the upgrade.
I think something failed and the technicians either took advantage of that to perform an upgrade, or they called it an upgrade so that nobody would know that things failed.
I must thank regular reader and contributor John B1_B5 for confirming that the problem was not at my ISP, as this would be the first thing which a hosting provider would tell you to check if you tell them that their servers are offline. I agree with this, but I couldn’t really see a point in yelling at the technician on the phone as it is really a management decision when it comes to upgrades, and I will email them to ask them to inform customers before performing upgrades, and to make the service status visible from an external website, as it is currently only accessible through the hosting control panel website (which was also down).
John B1_B5 mentioned that he was getting a “page cannot be displayed” message. This is one of Internet Explorer’s many “friendly” messages which it will display when something is wrong. The one problem I have with these messages is that they will appear even if the website being visited has a page of it’s own for that purpose. For example, a website may (and most do) have a 404 page for cases where the page you requested can’t be found, such a page is likely to contain some useful links back to the homepage, a site search facility and probably some contact information if you think the page has appeared incorrectly. The Internet Explorer “friendly” page has a link to the homepage of the site, but is incapable of bringing you any other information, such as contact information or any messages which the website has on it’s own 404 page.
The IE Friendly pages on their own are just fine, I just think they should make way for those which the website offers when they are offered. When I was using IE I turned off friendly error pages as they annoyed me, that setting can be found at Tools–>Internet Options–>Advanced–>Browsing–>Show Friendly HTTP Error Messages
Mozilla Firefox and other browsers do not have a similar function that I am aware of.
Anyway, the site is back online now, and I apoligise for any inconvenience which the downtime caused, as I’m sure the hosting provider will to me when I email them.
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 08:59pm
This has to be the most number of posts on one subject I have ever posted that doesn’t have a category of it’s own. Anyway, let’s have a look at how the Melbourne Cup went.
Firstly congratulations must go to Makybe Diva and my mum who tipped Makybe Diva.
I checked to see what the various Canberra radio station did for the Melbourne Cup, and I noticed that the ABC appeared to have their own coverage, the two major FM stations shared another coverage, and 2CC and 2CA both used a direct feed from race caller Greg Miles (presumably from the Southern Cross Syndication coverage).
2CC went to the news at about eight to three and then went to Welshy who then took us to Flemington, interupted to tell us there was a delay, played about 15 seconds of music and took us back to Flemington.
2CA ran a delayed version of 2CC’s news at five to three (or maybe it was pre-recorded and the stations played it when they were ready), At the end of the news Gregg Easton provided the weather report and then joined the Melbourne Cup coverage.
At this point in time I noticed that 2CC & 2CA were about 5 seconds ahead of Channel 7, who also used Greg Miles. At this time I turned off the radio and watched the race unfold on Channel 7.
As for my tips, well…
On A Jeune came 2nd
Leica Falcon came 4th
Railings came 14th
Nattie’s tip, Strasbourg came 18th.
I have added my quote of “I have to agree with most experts who say that Makybe Diva will not win” to the random quote list with the subtext “Samuel a few hours before Makybe Diva won the 2005 Melbourne Cup”. I suppose I had a 23 in 24 chance of being right about that!
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 08:32pm
Alrighty then, time for the top eight from the Melbourne Cup
1. Makybe Diva
16. On A Jeune
8. Xcellent
22. Leica Falcon
13. Lachlan River
14. Portland Singa
19. Envoy
2. Vinnie Roe
And last was Franklins Gardens which walked across the finish line.
For the record, Xcellent was the first horse in history to start the Melbourne Cup with a name starting with the letter X.
Update:
Full finishing results:
MAKYBE DIVA
ON A JEUNE
XCELLENT
Leica Falcon
Lachlan River
Portland Singa
Envoy
Vinnie Roe
Kindjhal
Rizon
Dizelle
Eye Popper
Demerger
Railings
Vouvray
Kamsky
Greys Inn
Strasbourg
Distinction
Umbula
Hugs Dancer
Bazelle
Mr Celebrity
Franklins Gardens
Whilst Channel 7 tell us that Franklins Gardens did finish the race, other sources say it didn’t…as Channel 7 provided that information after the other sources I am more inclined to believe Channel 7.
END UPDATE
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 03:58pm
We have Correct Weight!
1st: 1. Makybe Diva (Win: $3.60, Place: $2.00)
2nd: 16. On A Jeune (Place: $14.60)
3rd: 8. Xcellent (Place: $5.80)
UPDATE: Official finishing time 3:19.17
Trifecta 1-16-8 $4,951.70
Quinella 1 & 16 $164.60
Exacta 1-16 $197.50
Duet 1 & 16 $36.90
Duet 1 & 8 $19.90
Duet 16 & 8 $180.20
Running Double (Race 6 Number 6 & Race 7 Number 1) $117.90
Further placings as they come to hand.
Dividends are Super TAB which encompasses the Victorian TAB, ACTTAB and many more.
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 03:31pm
1st: 1-Makybe Diva
2nd: 16-On A Jeune
3rd: 8-Xcellent
4th: 22-Leica Falcon*
*4th place according to race caller
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 03:10pm
The time has come for me to announce my Melbourne Cup tips for this year.
I have to agree with most experts who say that Makybe Diva will not win. It was fairly obvious in my view that she wouldn’t be scratched, but she won’t win. Don’t get me wrong, I think she is a very good horse, but I just don’t think she will win.
Anyway, my top three selections
7: Railings
16: On A Juene
22: Leica Falcon
And a tip from Nattie
21: Strasbourg (Well it is a food word).
The race gets underway at 3pm (GMT+11). If you can’t be near a TV to see Channel 7’s coverage (or the Sky Channel coverage) and you can’t make it to a radio (most radio stations will cover it) then you could always listen to it on the 2KY Racing Radio webstream (Website is down, but webstream still works) or the Sport 927 webstream or even the ACTTAB Radio Webstream.
Of course I’ll bring you results from the race as well.
Whoever you pick, good luck and enjoy the afternoon.
Just like last year’s Melbourne Cup day, it is raining here in Canberra.
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 12:32pm
This is something which I can only describe as sad news.
From radioinfo.com.au
3AW commentator and presenter Rex Hunt and his son Matthew have been victims of a savage street attack by at least 15 youths armed with bottles and skateboards in Byron Bay.
In what must be news to the local tourism office the gang told them visitors were not welcome then proceeded to attack the couple in front of Hunt’s wife Lynne and Matthew’s girlfriend Jodie Petrusov.
The already injured Hunt said he was horrified to see the teenage gang then aiming lethal kicks at Matthew’s head as he lay on the ground. He jumped in to help, receiving more blows and a slashed scalp, possibly from a piece of glass.
The attack only stopped when onlookers stepped in to help.
The Hunts and Petrusov were in town for a wedding and had just left an hotel after a brief drink.
Police said there was nothing they could do because of the offenders’ age and no complaint was filed. Hunt said he would take legal action against the boy’s parents.
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 12:21pm
The metropolitan radio ratings were released yesterday, and of particular interest to me are the Sydney ratings (sorry, but Canberra isn’t considered Metropolitan).
Of the daytime shows from 2UE that are also broadcast in Canberra
- John Laws Morning Show: Up from 9.7% to 10.1%
- John Stanley Afternoon Show: Down from 9.6% to 9.2%
I found the breakdown of the age groups to be rather interesting when comparing 2UE and 2GB.
- 10-17YO: 2UE 1.5% – 2GB 0.9%
- 18-24YO: 2UE 5.5% – 2GB 1.6%
- 25-39YO: 2GB 5.3% – 2UE 3.8%
- 40-54YO: 2GB 8.8% – 2UE 7.7%
- 55YO+: 2GB: 26.4% – 2UE 16.2%
- Grocery Buyer: 2GB 13.8% – 10.1%
Would anybody care to explain to me what differentiates a person from a grocery buyer? Do we actually have people who never visit a shop?
Ayway, the thing I find interesting is the way 2UE are rating fairly well in my age group of 18-24 which is not traditionally a talk radio listener filled age group.
Overall in Sydney the ratings results show the following:
- 2GB 12.5%
- 2DAY 9.1%
- WSFM 9.1%
- 2UE 8.9%
- MMM 8.7%
- ABC702 8.2%
- Mix 106.5 8.2%
- Nova 96.9 7.7%
- 2CH 5.7%
- JJJ 3.5%
- ABC Classic FM 2.5%
- ABC Radio National 2.4%
- ABC News Radio 1.5%
The official ratings sheet from Nielsen Media can be viewed at http://www.nielsenmedia.com.au/files/sydney705.pdf
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 12:18pm
Yesterday around midday Dickson College had the annual year 12 photo taken. This would have been enjoyable if it wasn’t for the fact that it took about 20 photos until the photographer was satisfied. After about the third attempt it becomes increasingly difficult to look happy…I was certainly underwhelmed by the time the 20th photo came around.
On the plus side, after this I had lunch and took a birthday card out to 2CC. If I remember I’ll update this post later with a PDF or image of it. Before I forget, I must thank the Dickson College Library staff for laminating it for me…I didn’t even ask them to do it, they just offered.
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 11:56am