downforeveryoneorjustme.com is garbage, don't use it

Executive summary: downforeveryoneorjustme.com is garbage, use host-tracker.com instead.

Okay. This drives me wild.

My webhost (for another site) had a (legit) problem with the CPU load for our domain. So they move our domain to their "high load" server and send me an email about it.

Problem? The high load server settings block traffic from 40% of the planet including several parts of the USA (Florida, Texas, California) and Canada (Montreal, Ottawa, etc). So now I can't get to my own server.

The thing is, since they sent me the email to the account at the domain they moved (which I now cannot reach), I can't read their email.

So... Noticing on my own that there appears to be a problem, I contact them via live tech support chat.

And here it occurs...

The tech points me to downforeveryoneorjustme.com and says... "it's just you".

The fact that I point out that people I have contacted by phone (who have different ISPs and are in different cities) can't access our site seems irrelevant to him. Because the poorly conceived downforeveryoneorjustme.com site says we're up - so case closed.

Had I known about host-tracker.com at that time I could have forced the issue. Now I do, and I have.

8 hours now "partially offline". The host now acknowledges that it isn't in fact "justme" and that the problem is at their end. They're "working on it".

The point is: The fact that a site is up from a single point (like downforeveryoneorjustme.com), isn't very helpful. host-tracker.com provides useful data. If they say you're up, then you're up.

Want a discount TalkSwitch memory card?

In the spirit of sharing...

Talkswitch is a very nice phone switch option for a small business. Auto-attendant, call logging, intelligent routing, the whole bit. Really a nice piece of hardware. But when you decide you need a voicemail storage upgrade, I can guarantee their pricing will make you think twice.

TalkSwitch memory cards cost a fortune.

You can use a blank SmartMedia card. Works fine. I've been running my system on one for 5 months.

That's all. SmartMedia cards are actually defunct, but you should have no problem finding them (new) online.

I just saved you hundreds of dollars. Think $375 vs $47.

Ubuntu terminal server client - exit full screen

It took me a while to figure out how to exit full screen mode in terminal server client. The toggle keys are CTRL-ALT-ENTER.

The documentation on the sourceforge page for TSClient isn't the best.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/tsclient

Being new to Linux, I continue having trouble keeping track of Gnome, KDE, Ubuntu, etc (different things that don't even fall into the same category - oh well, I'll learn).

New blog - Healthy Cooking on a Budget

I've created my first BlogSpot hosted blog... a themed blog (they're the best) about healthy cooking on a budget. I've called it (this is amazing) Healthy Cooking on a Budget.

http://healthycookingonabudget.blogspot.com/

Hosting on blogspot has really improved. Now that I've seen what is available, and they you can use your own domain name (no need for blogspot.com) I plan to migrate all my blogs over to blogspot to take advantage of the extra services they offer.

Shooting at stuff with a CO2 Laser

My company makes pulsed CO2 laser systems. They have a peak power output of 5000000 watts. So we thought it would be fun to shoot at stuff with the laser and upload the video to Youtube... Unfortunately in this case... We didn't plan at all, and failed to set up a spot focus to concentrate the energy and get the ball to explode.

Anyhow. Here is the video.

Openform action was canceled - Access 2007

I develop (i.e. constantly improve) an MS Access based MRP/ERP/CRM application for my employer. The company absolutely relies on the system. So if an employee can't use the database - they are seriously constrained.

The database was developed in Access 2003. When I recently bought a new system for our CAD designer, it came pre-loaded with Office 2007 (and Windows XP thanks to Dell's wise decision to not force Vista upon the world).

Anyhow, I ran into some compatibility issues between the Access 2003 and Access 2007 and thought I would document them here.

It appears that Access 2007 doesn't like OnOpen events for forms. If try to open a form that has an OnOpen event from the Switchboard (or any other form), you get an error: "The OpenForm action was canceled".

So, my work around was to change the OnOpen events to OnLoad events... Seemed to make the problem go away. I just wish I didn't have so many forms to go through and change!

AllRecipes.com - not the best "did you mean" program

I'm no programmer, but I think your "did you mean" program should be able to connect "prok" to "pork" on a recipe search.

I searched (accidentally) for "prok tenderloin" on allrecipes.com ... check out the suggested alternative spelling.