A few months ago, I woke up after a long sleep-in to find A looking a bit confused. She had just received a phone call from “Microsoft” who had detected a problem with our router. At least, it was a problem on our router, or perhaps a problem from our router. Either way, apparently there was some malicious problem with the computer here — which one, they did not say — and they were apparently calling to resolve the issue; in English, no less!
I shrugged it off as complete and utter bollocks, and life went on.
After speaking with my father in Australia today, it turns out he's received a few of these calls too. For him, it was “Microsoft” on Castlereagh Street in Sydney, although with a terrible phone line and some almost incomprehensible Asian accent it could have been anywhere.
The similarity between the two incidents seemed too much of a coincidence — it seems like our friends from the Republic of Poyais have returned.
Continue reading "Microsoft opens office in Poyais"
The media are abuzz about a new gallery at the National Media Museum in the UK which is opening today. The new exhibit is called Life Online, although they're also referring to it as LOL, probably to keep the kiddies happy.
I'm curious as to how accurate the exhibit is, because museums tend to embellish facts to keep things interesting. If they mention that the Internet was created for nuclear preparedness, I'd walk away. Since the focus is more “web” orientated, I'd probably be a bit disappointed if they didn't mention Gopher as an early iteration of the web.
I'd be really disappointed if they didn't at least mention Doug Engelbart's extraordinary demonstration from 1968, which showed groundbreaking stuff created by him and his team at SRI that we take for granted today (watch it if you haven't)..
Continue reading "History of the web"
G
Dear Google,
You're annoying me lately.
Stop it.
Continue reading "Dear Google"
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Living in an apartment building can be difficult. It's important to get along with your neighbours and respect each other, but everyone has different ideas on just how far that goes and what that encompasses.
Most of our neighbours are lovely people and keep to themselves. Unfortunately a small few just aren't considerate, probably for no reason other than they've never thought about how their actions affect others. To this end, I offer a short list of things you can do to ensure that you are a considerate neighbour for a peaceful coexistence with your neighbours in the apartment building.
Continue reading "Neighbourly consideration"
Things are going well, albeit slower than I would have hoped. Starting a business in Belgium is a lot more tedious than in other countries, but then again they have a much lower rate of failure for small businesses here.
I didn't manage to post a “benespection” at all last year, and to be honest I've been keeping my head down and getting things done so I haven't spotted much worth taking a photo of, let alone actually taken the photo.
Continue reading "Benespection"
After a year (or two) of hand-over, training those around me in the department on everything under my remit, it's time for me to walk away from my job after seven years. It's been fun, and painful, and educational, and torturous. It may not be the wisest decision, or the best timing, but to maintain my own sanity it had to be done.
Continue reading "So long, and thanks for all the fish"
Aside from the big news, obviously A and I have spent the long weekend in London, an annual event quickly becoming a bit of a tradition.
As with every trip to London, there's a little bit of tourism, a lot of shopping, a lot of slobbing about, and a lot of walking.
Continue reading "London"
A and I have been together for so many years now, the early years are starting to get all blurry. A while ago I had decided it was probably about time to formalise the arrangement with an engagement, as it would mean quite a lot to her. It's been on my mind for quite some time, but the day had to be special. It had to be a surprise. It also had to be relatively low-key, as we're both all about keeping it relaxed and simple.
I've been seeking thoughts casually from friends as to whether or not it was really necessary — do a ring and a legal document really change anything? Or, as John puts it, “does the government really have to be involved?” Eventually I came to the conclusion that it would mean a lot to A, and the family on both sides, and ultimately it would mean quite a bit to me too. It’s a statement of commitment.
So, I suppose you want the juicy details…
Continue reading "La question à Dinner"
A and I have just returned from a week in Montréal. Canada has always been a bit of a curiosity to me and I've wanted to visit for some time now, and after finding some cheap flights with Air Transat and a cheap, central, funky hotel, there was no reason to put a trip off any longer.
As usual, we arrived with not much of a plan beyond general exploration, this time armed with Google Maps on our phones (with an international data plan). I always like to get a feeling of what it's like to live in cities I visit rather than try to put together an itinerary of stuff to see and do.
Continue reading "Montréal"
It's been a while since I've gone on a rollercoaster binge, and I suspect I'm getting over my rollercoasterholicism (probably because I got annoyed with the whole thing). Being in Montréal though, we couldn't resist (more on that later).
Today A and I spent the day at La Ronde, located fairly centrally within metropolitan Montréal on Île Sainte-Hélène. It's a metro stop or two from the city centre plus a short 15 minute walk through the pretty Parc Jean-Drapeau. With it nearly the end of the season, we had to go and check out this unique park!
Continue reading "La Ronde"
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The observant amongst you will have noticed that this website has become entirely secured by HTTPS.
If you didn't notice, then I've done my job correctly!
By redirecting every page to its HTTPS counterpart, every page you see here will be secured. However, I'd prefer all traffic was secured and reduce the number of redirections from non-secure to secure pages, and that's where HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) comes into play. In this article, I'll explain my motivations, and how to implement HSTS on your own site.
Continue reading "HTTP Strict Transport Security"
A few days ago I ordered some new Lafuma boots from Amazon. My old ones are possibly the most comfortable shoes I've had in years, and having worn them almost every day since I bought them in Chamonix (over three years ago) the outsoles are starting to break down.
The new ones arrived today, and that was pretty lucky as today was the day for my old shoes to prove just how waterproof they are.
Continue reading "The flood"
Remember my new computer? Well, it's dead. It died a few weeks ago, and after some diagnostics it's clear that the CPU was completely cooked. Yes, the most expensive part of the build is the part that died.
I guess this is all part of the fun of the so-called bleeding edge.
Continue reading "Cooked CPU"
Everything's a computer these days, and with so many of these devices being connected to the Internet it seems that engineers are getting lazier. Being a software engineer myself, I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't become a plumber.
I worked a full day yesterday despite it being a Saturday, mostly performing code deployment and system maintenance. For those of you who work in the industry, you'll know that it basically means sitting around waiting for progress bars. I've returned home and want to decompress from my day of waiting, only to find more progress bars waiting for me!
Continue reading "Progress"
After building the new computer and the arrival of the new monitors, it's been a while since I've been able to complete my “evil plan”. The final pieces of the puzzle arrived today, including a shiny new 30" HP ZR30w monitor (another S-IPS panel).
Continue reading "The final pieces of the puzzle"
