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Comcast = Broadband hell

scaredpoet

Note: Comcast service is finally back to normal as of late today.

If you are like me, and are unfortuante enough to be a Comcast broadband internet customer, you are probably experiencing the same hell I’ve been through for the past day. The problem? Comcast’s high speed internet service is totally up and running, but without a single DNS server for the whole friggin’ network. Apparently even under normal circusmtances, Comcast normally maintains only one DNS server for all 21.5 million subscribers on its network. And whoops! It happened to break down last night. For those who are unaware, without DNS, you effectively have all the bandwidth you want, but no way to go anywhere with it.

For those of you in the same boat who might be reading this at work or through an alternate ISP, there is a workaround here.

Update: DNS still down as of 9:00 am EDT here today. Oh and by the way, for those of you were able to restore connectivity using the above fix, whatever you do, don’t reset your connection, or try to change back to Comcast’s DNS servers just yet. Comcast decided that in order to “fix” the DNS problem, they also needed to shut down their DHCP servers in some areas, so if you do anything that requires releasing/renewing your IP address, your connection will likely go down for good, until the morons at Comcast finish mucking up whatever they felt like mucking up today. I learned this the hard way this morning, and I’m still waiting to get any signs of life from my cable modem.

Times like this, I’m thankful for n00b neighbors who chose DSL over cable, AND who are too dumb to secure their wireless access point. 🙂

More coverage can be found here.

Ribbon Magnet Mania

scaredpoet

austism

Ever since the infamous “God Bless America” ribbon magnets came on the scene, it seems like everyone and their dog has decided that they, too, should find a cause and make a ribbon magnet for it. Everything now from tsunami relief, to childhood cancer, to autism (pictured above) and even the totally tasteless “I just had a miscarriage” ribbon has been devised. It amazes me how incredibly motivated people are to buy a worthless piece of magnet-impregnated plastic that’s guaranteed to scratch the paint on your car, and yet has NO guarantee of actually donating some proceeds to the causes represented.

If you want to help a cause folks, cut a check to the appropriate charity, to ensure they get your money… all of it. Don’t waste that money on a silly looking flimsy magnet.

Google your house; freak out over privacy

scaredpoet

So, google launches a satellite imagery feature on their new maps service, and now privacy advocates are freaking out over this.

The satellite maps could unnerve some people, even as the technology impresses others. That’s because the Keyhole technology is designed to provide close-up perspective of specific addresses.

Please. If I showed you this image, which happens to be at Google Maps’ highest zoom level, and told you my house was shown somewhere in that photo, is there really something more hamrful that any of you could do or know that you didn’t before?

(Incidentally, even though I typed in my correct address, the pointer’s location on the image is actually wrong. So it would seem a would-be stalker might even be pointed to the wrong place at times.)

Clearly, I don’t think this is anything to worry about. A grainy image of the roof of my house is not, in my book anyway, an invasion of privacy. To even obtain a meaningful result, one would have to know the address or location they’re trying to see, at which point they either are supposed to have this information (and have probably visited and seen the inside of my house, let alone the top of it), or they’ve already invaded my privacy in some other way.

Besides, I think it’s more dangerous to offer a service where you’re given step by step directions to get to a person’s house if all you know is the street address, rather than merely be shown an aerial view. And yet while direction engines have been around for years, no one has complained.

Discriminate against the vain?

scaredpoet

Did she really think this would fly? Someone sued Harvard claiming that because she was seen as a “pretty girl,” she was discriminated against and passed up for promotion.

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) — Harvard University did not discriminate against a library assistant who claimed she was repeatedly turned down for promotions because school officials saw her as “a pretty girl” whose attire was too “sexy,” a federal jury found Monday.

I’ve heard of the too-ugly cases of discrimination, but “too sexy?” Uhmmm, no.

“…I shall not want…”

scaredpoet

I understand that this is a critical moment for people of the Catholic faith, and I’m trying hard to understand. But, there are things about the Catholic religion in general that irk me, and this was all brought to the surface tonight thanks to the New York Times (registration required). For those who don’t want to register, view the screenshot. The headline? “Global Flock Braces for the Loss of Its Shepherd.”

I hate to nitpick, but what about the 23rd Psalm? And is not God, or at the very least Jesus, supposed to be the “leader” of the Christian religions, including Catholicism? It just rubs me the wrong way that Catholics everywhere are suddenly acting as if they are without direction and without a leader in their faith, when they seem to be ignoring the very ceterpiece of their religion, in favor of someone who, when you get down to it, is just one man.