i summon one kim

I’ve been running UseModWiki on www.tcsh.org and some other sites since April, 2001. I just collected the most useful tweaks and patches I’ve made to it. Links to all that are now available on my personal page on UseModWiki.

So much for Manhattan, then… A week ago I moved all the computers to my apartment, with the help of Christos, Karen and Larry.

I’ve spent hours tweaking configurations to make sure all the home pages, mail and domains are functioning like before. There is still work to be done, and I also want to replace one of the computers with a quieter one (yes, I get to listen to these all day and night).

The old DNS server with some supporting infrastructure is still running on Manhattan, until I have a new one in Stamford to take over its role. The Astron FTP server is also still on Manhattan. The GW FTP server is still unavailable.

Servers that are accessed from the Internet will all be dual-homed due to technical restrictions on the DSL line (it is a bridged connection). Each machine will need a second network card with an external IP address and a firewall access list. To make the experience smooth for users I also have to setup dual DNS. This should all be completed by the end of the month.

Tonight turned out to be a double feature, a rare occasion since years ago. I chose another feel good movie: Disney’s The Kid.

I guess a Disney film would be a safe bet in the feel good category. Bruce Willis and Spencer Breslin provide a good contrast as the 39-year old Russel Duritz of today and the 8-year old Rusty, the kid of Russel’s forgotten childhood. Russel has worked hard to change himself into what he is today, but it turns out Rusty’s dreams don’t match the man he has become.

You may feel like you can guess the whole story, but even if you did, I think the plot stays interesting throughout the movie and you’ll never guess all of it.

And then there is Lily Tomlin, who always delivers a delightfully funny experience, no matter how small or big a role.

Here is a movie for everyone to see. Life is serious, life is rewarding, life is surprising. If this does not get you hooked on Scandinavian films, nothing will.

As you can read from any review, Babette’s Feast is about a French cook, Babette, who flees Paris and moves into a small and remote seaside town in Denmark. After winning in a lottery she asks to prepare a French feast dinner for the villagers. She is granted her wish, but then the villagers start to worry about opening the door to sinly pleasures, not knowing what to expect. It is a pleasure to see the effects of the feast on everyone.

I really enjoyed the movie. The story is heart-warming, the actors true to life, and the scenery is beautiful if austere. Definitely worth renting, or better yet — add it to your collection.

GW’s Manhattan network has been back since October 6th. It took a while to bring everything back to normal, but now it is done!

We had no Internet connectivity for almost 3 weeks, and there was really nothing we could do about it. These pictures from the CO that our lines run to won’t leave you wondering why. I’m glad it didn’t take any longer to restore connectivity. We had a wireless link up a bit earlier, but it was only for private connectivity and could not be used effectively for our services.

Several temporary services have been running at my home to provide e-mail and net access to our users. Next week these are being closed down — my residential RADSL line is no T-1. I almost lost that line, too, but Speakeasy relocated their NYC POP customers to other POPs. For a while I had to run everything on the Optimum Online cable TV hookup, which is practically never down. It is just a pity they don’t provide static IP addresses or allow running servers.

Now it is time to plan for better replication of important data, an off-line archive of backups, and a new network hookup that does not run through NYC.

I don’t usually like movies with lots of violence, but I just have to make an exception here (once again). The camera work and the soundtrack combine extremely well with the plot. You will not want to leave your seat for a minute.

The experience from watching Snatch is a combination of Pulp Fiction and Fight Club (yeah, I know — hardly an original comment for this movie). Yet it is not a copy of either one. The plot moves at an extremely fast pace so don’t blink your eyes. Except for one or two predictable turns the movie keeps far ahead of you.

The amount of violence is unfortunate. It is so well put together that it is sad that I cannot recommend it to all my friends. I guess the well picked soundtrack softens some of the rawest parts for me.

I’m now definitely going to have to see other films by Guy Richie, especially Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Another melancholy smooth album from Shawn Colvin. Excellent for those evenings of headphone listening.

I can put on Whole New You any evening and listen to it from beginning to end, and it always ends too soon. My favorite songs are Another Plane Went Down, Bonefields and A Matter of Minutes.

Another album from Shawn that has gotten a lot of play time here is A Few Small Repairs. I just love those train whistles on Wichita Skyline. This is actually the first album that I heard from her — so for me it has that original Shawn sound to it.

I spent the whole evening modifying the settings and the code for this weblog installation. I can see learning of PHP in my future.

The original code for the weblog is Personal Weblog 0.9.4 by Mark Pulford. I haven’t done any major changes to the code, but I have changed the configuration a lot.