Statistics and trust... what do they have to do with each other? Well a while back my previously-innocuous stats package suddenly Did Evil to my page. An unnoticed change in the terms of service had paved the way for pop-up, pop-under, pop in-between, in fact think of any advert that has pissed you off - they were all on their way.
So I spent a couple of hours removing Nedstats from every page I had (there were a lot).
Since then, this blog has been unmonitored and my others (hosted on my own server) were being tracked by the hosting setup's Webalizer install. Which was fine until my hosting company deleted about a year's worth of data, with no warning. Hey, they're cheap; you get what you pay for.
Which brings me to Google Analytics. I actually signed up to get into Measuremap; but no account was forthcoming. A few days later the reason became clear: Google had acquired Measuremap and hired Jeff Veen (not a bad package, really :)).
So where does trust come in? Well, at Web Essentials 2005 Jeff talked about - amongst other things - "joining the culture of generosity" and building trust with your users. I scribbled down - amongst other things :) - "check out Measuremap".
I basically don't trust anyone. Well, that's not true. It just takes a fucking long time to earn my trust, a lesson not learned the hard way but certainly not the easy way either. After the Nedstats incident I am certainly wary of any internet company offering free stuff.
I am placing enough trust in Google Analytics to install its code into this blog's template. I'm basically doing this based on my trust in Jeff Veen not to be evil :)
So anyway, if you get any odd cookies or weirdness; let me know. I don't really expect trouble but I'll be watching out for it nonetheless.
...as seen by Kevin Smith:
Since the gossip sites have seen fit to print only the portion of the Jason Mewes story I told at UPenn (that portion being what said sites seem to feel is the only interesting aspect of Mewes' life), I figured why not put the whole tale of Jason's battle with drug addiction into print here, where folks can get a better idea of who Jason truly is and maybe why he fell victim to heroin abuse in the first place. I'm thinking it's gonna be at least a four-parter, and I'm hoping to wrap it up by April 6th, the day Mewes celebrates his 'Sober Birthday', when Jay will mark his third straight year of living completely drug and alcohol free.
Yeah, it's big. But it's worth reading.
You Are: 70% Dog, 30% Cat
You and dogs definitely have a lot in common. You're both goofy, happy, and content with the small things in life. However, you're definitely not as needy as the average dog. You need your down time occasionally.
Are You More Cat or Dog?
That should surprise *nobody* :)
U2's new dates | Top stories | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (21-07-2006): IRISH rock group U2 has announced dates in November for its rescheduled tour of Australia and New Zealand.
After all these months of waiting, they're making a really huge effort to accommodate people who can't make the new dates: Those wanting a refund can receive one at the point of purchase from today until July 26.
Fuckwitmaster have updated their site with more details - http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/custom/u2/u2vertigo.html (why are all ticket sales companies so crap to deal with? just a general thought).
On another note.... Kanye West supporting? Kanye fucking West? WTF? Of all the acts to pick, why the fuck... no, it makes no sense.
... yeah baby, could that image be bigger? Well, ok, it could. Anyway, the feed is now being run through FeedBurner and repeated locally (it makes sense to me ;P). http://www.200ok.com.au/feeds/linkblogoffun.php. This way I can update it again later and you don't have to do nuttin'. LJ users need not change a thing, that's all taken care of (although it still doesn't change the fact that LJ deletes all syndicated posts and comments after two weeks).
I am currently unable to get this quote from Snatch out of my head: Yes, London. You know, fish, chips, cup o' tea. Bad food, worse weather, Mary fuckin' Poppins, London!
Catch this if you can: SWEATSHOP | Brisbane Festival 2006. Even if you don't normally like dance. Hell, especially if you don't normally like dance! :)
One thing in Windows XP really shits me - the Find prompt in Windows Explorer. In Win2k it's utilitarian and quick to use. In XP it's a bunch of extra clicks and an overexcited animated dog.
But, thankfully, you can get the Win2k style back. I happened to find this today... wish I'd had a look sooner!
Get Tweak UI -
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx. Then run Tweak UI → Explorer → Use classic search in Explorer. While you're there, check out the Group Policy editor.
Update 2009.05.01: if you want to get rid of Windows Search and get classic search ("search companion") back...
- Start → Run
regsvr32 /u "%programfiles%\Windows Desktop Search\wdsShell.dll"- hit OK
After a restart you should be back to normal.
Labels: windows xp
QUEENSLANDER!!!
What a match! Holy shit! Another Queensland miracle win against the odds! :)
my luck with computer hardware continues.
my computer started throwing bluescreens the other day, pretty much the moment i booted up the tablet pc from work next to it. sulking? maybe. so anyway it's either ram or motherboard, but i don't have enough ram for decent troubleshooting and the motherboard would be too big a pain to replace. off to the shop it goes.
the result? one stick of ram is fucked and the cpu fan "isn't turning". which is one of the strangest ways i've heard someone say 'your cpu fan is fucked'. if it's not turning, it's not doing the one bloody thing it does so i don't know what subtlety i missed there.
anyway, they pull out the dead ram and - after much back and forth - fit a new cpu fan, this new one with a variable speed control in the front of the case. all good, except they didn't give me the plastic facia where the control knob is now. i send an email and get the usual non response. what the hell, i'm not seriously thinking about swapping to the slim control you can fit in a pci slot.
so tonight i boot the machine and it sounds like a cessna. holy crap! twiddle the knob, no change. shut it down, try the alternate controller and lo and behold it's fine. fuck!
so now i have to deal with their warranty return people again. sigh. at the very least i need them to produce the plastic bit to close the hole up and use the small controller at the back; much better would be a replacement controller. ideal would be them just swapping the controller, but i'm sure they'll make me lug the whole case in to verify that the part really has failed. bleh.
