Internet on the Fritz, and A New Look at the Fantasy of War

As you might have deduced from my lack of recent posts, my Internet has been acting up again. Want to know the strange bit? The lag is so awful that I can no longer access websites normally since it will take at least one minute to tell me that the remote server dropped the connection. After that, it'll take me about 5 minutes to actually load the page. You can easily imagine what kind of horror it is to surf the Internet in this kind of situation. It took me close to forever to do anything beyond nothing. Here's the reallly interesting bit. Despite all the lag and dropped connections, BitTorrent actually works fine over the network. It might be a little slow, but it actually works. It was pretty damn interesting to look at all this happening and it was pretty funny. In a sense, it meant I could see only what was on BitTorrent. The problem cropped up towards the weekend, and I hope it'll be fixed soon. This time, I don't think it is any fault or oversight on the management's part.

However, all of these incidents do tell a tale. TMNet in Malaysia is a far cry from something to complain about. In fact, I don't foresee myself referring to streamyx any more when my connection drops. I'll probably say it Arrow'ed on me. :D

As for Fantasy of War, my lack of a stable Internet connection has led me to be unable to continuously post new pages to the story, and as such, it won't continue until I get my Internet back. (how many times have I put it off by now... hmmm.... I think plenty should cover it). Of course, any time I put it off means that I will continue to develop the depth and scale of the storyline by leaps and bounds. I have just recently added new sections to a later part of the storyline, and am now looking through the current portion of the storyline to articulate better and clearer the point of view I am trying to push.

As you should have noticed by now, all I've been doing is ranting. What else can I do? It's not like I can do anything constructive by just sitting here without a plausible solution to my problem. Of course, as long as I come to uni, can use a computer (PC/Mac/Linux/UNIX) no longer matters much anymore as long as it has Internet, I can continue to study effectively. Probably. Maybe. Or... not.

(This is being posted from an iMac Intel Core Duo with 1.5GB RAM in the CSHE. Since there are an abundance of Macs usually free for me to use, don't expect me to be posting from a Windows machine any time soon since for one, I don't have a Windows machine at home, and most of the Windows machines in uni are usually taken, leaving the Macs to me to post from. Happy news from some, sad news from most. :D)

Poor Yam and His Computer Troubles

(Refer to: http://kcforge.blogspot.com/2006/03/revenge-of-revenged.html for more details.) I just read that the workaround Yam and I worked out no longer works for HELP computers. :( (To be truthful, I merely presented the idea after I saw what happened during a server breakdown, and Yam refined the techniques considerably from there (since he was around the labs more often than I was)).

It's pretty sad that he can no longer access these computers which I believe we should rightly have access to, since we did a whole lot on our fees, and we do need computer access for doing our assignments. Now, of course, this flaw as I had already realised, wouldn't be existent if the software were newer. This is because nobody in their right mind in offices that require far more secure systems would use this kind of security where the entire had drive of the system could easily  be compromised by a simple cable pull.

While this simple cable pull problem could easily be actually an allowance for when authentication servers breakdown, so that work can go on despite failure. this would work if everything was on a central server instead of the computer hard drives.

I was pleasantly surprised by the news the HELP has finally decided to roll out Windows XP equipped PCs into all the labs when I read it, of course, since this upgrade also entails a software upgrade, the result is that until a new workaround is found, there will be no free access to HELP computers. People have to pay. Boo-hoo.

There goes our nice workaround to use free Internet. Of course, since I'm already being made to pay for it here, I have access to most of the student computer labs here. There is no point in trying to break the system here. However, I see plenty of fun in seeing how to break into the other one - again. :D

Until then, may Yam find a way to soothe his lack of Internet at college (without trading off significant amounts of financial resources). (And if you are wondering, yes I am bored. And yes, I have nothing better to do than read other peoples' blogs. And yes, this course isn't close to being to difficult to comprehend despite what people say. And no, I'm not the occasional genius. I got nowhere close to perfect grade for my SPM or my Diploma in Business. That is, of course, unless SPM is a lousy benchmark for future performance (which is what I would like to believe, but I know it's probably not true, maybe.).)

Internet at Arrow is Still Slightly Erratic

As you should already knjow, I stated earlier that the Internet at Arrow on Swanston was a little erratic and I thought that it wouldn't be fixed until a lot later, like about a week after I made that post. They have managed to come up with a temporary fix for the problem: block BitTorrent and block certain routers in the system. However, this does not make it foolproof. It is still possible to easily overwhelm their network server and it still crashes and reboots every once in a while, resulting in a temporary disconnection of every one in the building who then has to wait for it to reboot. Or at the very least, that's my theory. I am, of course, willing to admit that I might be wrong - but I think Arrow probably isn't. Considering that it can't stand the load without BT and without certain routers operating, the server they are using should be pretty much useless. I mean: how many people could there be in the buildling?

And are they telling me that people hammering the server with viruses and worms will cause it to crash? What kind of half-assed firewall are you guys using? I'm certain it can't take the normal load of people at Arrow, let alone bringing in the problems with worms and what nots. On a second note, I am just speculating. I haven't seen their network setup and I have no idea what they are doing. For all I know, they are just using this small office router to attempt to connect the entire building to the Internet (although this should be unlikely, I don't know how anybody would think this would work since this for one isn't an office (meaning loads and loads of not-so-wanted traffic, far more than any typical office can generate) and Arrow ain't small)

I don't know what to attribute the problem to, but I think it was probably just sheer underestimation of how much load Arrow residents and hammering from outside worms could put on the server. I'll just keep on having fun using BitTorrent on this crappy network anyway. Oh yeah, and by the way, this post is being made from uni from an iMac G5 in Union House Computing Centre. I forgot to bring my laptop. I'm just cleaning up bits and pieces of my program so that it is nice and clean. :D

I'm just being really bored and decided to rant. Please do note that this post will eventually be deleted and consolidated into a new post later when I feel like giving you the whole story. :D

Why I Haven't Posted in a While

I haven't posted in a while because my Internet access at Arrow has been erroneous the past few days. I believe I know what the problem actually is, but since I can't do anything and I don't actually have access to the network room at Arrow, I won't speculate on this site. However, I am suffering from the lack of Internet. Where is this post being made you ask? From a WiFi point in uni. It's highly fortunate that Melbourne Uni has a wireless access point nearly everywhere it needs to be. My PowerBook is, of course, being drained of it's battery as we speak, but it has been about 2.5 hours of use and we're still looking at 58%. Pretty good battery life, I would have to say. :D

If I'm right, don't expect me to be online for a while. (A while being about a week, maybe.) See you later. :D

Having a Good Laugh on the Internet

Where can you get a good laugh on the Internet? All I've been doing these few days is reading a few sites where you can find good, hilarious things to read. Here are those among my favourites (in no particular order):

Things People Said Things People Said just lists all the crazy things people say or write in every day normal things. I believe most of them are real and actually did happen.

Computer Stupidities Computer Stupidities lists tech support calls and events that are sure to outstrip your worst experience. That is, unless you are actually in one of them. Of course, we have crazy computer things too!

The Best Page in the Universe Whether or not this is the best page in the universe has yet to be proven, but he gives his own interpretation of things people make noise about in the real world, reviews some services and stuff in his own unique way which is sure to interest you. Some things are not funny or entertaining, but what the feedback hedecides to display publicly most definitely is.

kennysia.com Well, this is Kenny Sia's blog. He shows you what funny things happen in his life and sometimes purely insights into his own life. He also shares his view on the light side of things and shows off his photographing and photoshopping skills to great hilarity.

bash.org bash.org is a legendary archive of entertaining quotes from IRC chats. 'nuff said.

Darwin Awards Some of you have seen the book. Some of you have seen them happening. This lists some real stories and some urban legends of how 'clever' some members of the human race are. Be prepared.

cockeyed cockeyed is like Mythbusters. They try what you won't try yourself and don't have the time to try yourself, and document every bit of it. The result is obviously very entertaining.

Note: If your site is listed and you wish to have it removed, comment and tell me. If any of the links don't work, comment and tell me also. :D If you have anything to add, tell me, I'll happily laugh over a new site. XD