Author: Max

March 17, 2010
Max Life, Photography

cncpics – Wrong database.

*sigh

Where to begin ?

Because I was in a catch-22 with Go-Daddy, I found a new fast, friendly host and created a new domain. Purely for testing purposes. The idea was that I could setup a clone of cncpics.com and then once it was all working, simply make some dns changes and all would be good.

Behind the scenes of cncpics.com there is a heavily customized version of an off-the-shelf gallery product which uses a mysql database to store data. It is not enough to simply grab a copy of the photographs and install a nice shiney new copy of gallery, because they I would need to add 45,000 photographs to the gallery and this is a heck of a task.

So the three components are the code, the photo’s and the database.

The code and the database are fairly easy to FTP from my old host, but because I am in ‘violation’ I was unable to get to the control panel to backup the databases.

So at 10AM I asked godaddy for a backup of the databases. The third person I spoke to told me that they where doing the job and that they were no ‘all there’. So I FTP’d them to my windows box and tried to upload them to the new host. Sadly there are a few hundred thousand records in some of the tables and the restore failed. So I jumped over to Linux land and found a tool that will no only connect to the remote database, but it will also load the data in much smaller chunks.

The downside is that this takes a long time and if there is any other traffic on the internet it is slower too.

Many hours later the database restore has finished and after a few minor tweeks to a configuration file the site worked.

Except the galleries ended in the middle of November 2009.

The database backup was several months old.

Somehow I was calm when I called godaddy, somehow I persuaded the support rep to snag a new backup and somehow it looks like he did a good job.

I am obviously now a long way behind, I need to leave the database upload running overnight and then most of tomorrow will be taken up with allowing the photographs to upload too.

Then it will be more configuration changes and more tweeking,

Hopefully on Friday I will be able to tell Godaddy that I no longer need their services….

March 17, 2010
Max Life, Photography, Technology

CNCPICS – an update

Further to my logic catch22 yesterday, it looks like cncpics.com is going to be broken for a while.

Godaddy – the host of both that site and this blog (for the moment) are incapable of keeping a promise, they promised me late last night that they would not take the site off line and would give me time this morning to work through the issues.

The issues are fairly simple, for reasons unknown the caching mechanism is creating a lot of file in the, well, cache area. This is not a bad thing generally as the cache helps the performance.

However, the host has a strict 1024 file limit in any one folder. This limit was broken this week by a 925 picture collection – including the various derivatives the cache folders spiked up to 2-3000 files.

There is a simple answer, all I need is access to the gallery so that I can remove a bunch of photo’s from this week. Once this happens the cache growth will go away everything will return to normal. except this morning the account is suspended.

However, the issues is made a whole lot worse, very, very quickly. As soon as an admin notices that there are 1025 files in a folder, they instantly block access to the entire cache folder hierachy. Which leads the software to dump endless files in the $home folder, which leads to 16k files there, which leads to the account suspension.

Long story short, I need to re-host the site, I am done with godaddy.

I also cannot move the domains elsewhere for 60 day as I recently moved them to godaddy in a fit of ‘trying to keep everything together’.

I have signed up for a new more powerful host elsewhere and I am testing gallery 3

mehpics.com

The biggest issue of course is that uploading 50gb’s of images takes some time and regardless of where I find to host, the upload gap is going to be substantial.

So, my plan is thus

  • Upload the gallery code to the new host – done
  • Upload the 34mb database backup to the new host – in progress
  • Make the gallery work – meh
  • upload the images – in progress
  • convert to gallery 3  (optional step)

Beyond that I need to move this blog and gallery and a couple of others that share this hosting space.

Stay tuned for details…..

March 16, 2010
Max Technology, WebMastering

Access Denied – catch 22

This morning I sat having coffee with a friend when my phone displayed a voicemail

Hi. This is Amanda calling from go daddy hosting at (480) 505-8712
to say we sent you an email regarding your hosting account
recipient keep X dot in for which requires your attention. Thank you.

As this is not the first such call I have had from them I waited until I got home to deal with it.

It appears that the cache had built up to the point of impacting performance, again.

So they simply blocked access to my hosting account.

The first call had the following logic problem

We cannot allow you access to your account until the cache is deleted

But I cannot delete the cache without access to the account

We cannot allow you access to your account until the cache is deleted

But……..

As you can see, this loop has no end and the first support rep was adamant that I needed to delete the files before they would unlock the domain.

The second guy was better, he wanted to create an archive of all of the files that were in the problem folders for me.

this would take a few minutes.

a couple of hours elapsed and I got hold of an exceptionally feisty young man that basically called me a liar and suggested that I needed a dedicated server

Finally I got hold of a much more sensible person called ‘Jared’ that was able to tell me what the files were and to get the ones that I no longer needed, deleted.

i am now waiting for the site to come back and/or more logic errors – I am not sure which will happen though….

March 14, 2010
Max F1

F1 Race report – Farce 1 – Bahrain

Having just endured the first F1 race of the year, I am finding it a little difficult to express my disappointment.

First off let me mention the broadcast time. The race started at 5AM for me. In order to watch it live I would have needed to get out of bed at 04:30, give the clocks changed this weekend, that works out as 3:30AM. I am not usually at my best then. Until Bernie realizes that the world does not revolve around CET, I guess that this is about as good as it gets.

I started watching the race at around 6AM, skipping the build-up and only dropping from 32x to 1x during the warm-up lap.

Prior to the race there was much speculation that the first corner would be problematic, however apart from Mark Webber laying down a smoke screen that would have made Q-Branch proud, it was pretty much a none event.

Sadly that phrase springs to mind for the rest of the race too. The race quickly settled into a procession with no driver able to overtake without a significant car advantage.

But, lets rewind a little, some time ago the FIA (Ferrari International Assistance) announced that in 2010 there would be a ban on refueling as the majority of the ‘changes to position’ were brought about due to fuel stops and those with the best strategy computers generally rose to the surface. occasionally the logic broke, but in general the race became among the strategic teams.

The ban on in-race refueling has forced the cars to carry an entire race worth of fuel in their car from the start of the race to the flag. Add to this a narrower front tire and team-wide acceptance of the ‘double diffuser’ that emerged in 2009 and you have cars that start very heavy, then gradually get lighter and lighter as the race goes on, but also cars that have more rear-end grip (via the diffuser) and less front end mechanical grip (tires). You do not need an advanced degree in aerodynamics to figure out that the cars are going to be unbalanced and any instance of ‘dirty air’ will reduce the front end grip to, well, not much.

…..and the double diffuser produces a lot of dirty air.

Read More

March 11, 2010
Max F1

F1 Bahrain Predictions

Friday predictions…..

This will be the first time that we will even see some of the cars on track and I expect that Friday will be far from ‘incident free’. The Campos HRT cars will be rubbish, they will be at least five seconds / lap off the pace, or slightly faster than the Virgin cars, maybe. Lotus will be faster, but not by a great deal. Up at the front the McLaren and RedBull cars will be leading the way, much to the annoyance of everyone that has not got a ‘stalling’ rear wing or Adrian Newey on the design team. Ferrari and Mercedes will be close, but the infighting will somehow detract. Yes this is race one and there will be a lot of tension in the team.

The shock of the session with be Kamakazi sticking in a blindingly fast lap and overtaking an ‘on the limit’ Schumacher around the outside of turn 19 and heading the timesheets for a few minutes. Sauber may well prove to be the best of the rest at times on Friday, again much to the annoyance of many.

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March 11, 2010
Max Life

Job Board Spam !

Spam, Spam, Spam

During my current job hunt I have signed up for a number of job board that promise the opportunity to search for interesting and applicable jobs. Every morning I look forward to seeing the latest job postings that my searches find and every morning, along with the searches, I get Spam.

Of the well known job boards,  Monster.com is easily the best, this is despite the rather confusing advertising offering me opportunities ranging from at-home degree studies to insurance and personal finance products. Monster has many very interesting opportunities, but because it is not the only board, I have signed up for many others.

Given that unemployment is a serious problem in the US at the moment, I would wager that a significant number of people are treading the same path towards employment at the moment. We, the unemployed, are all signed up for many e-mail alerts and many job boards.

We want to work, in many cases, we need to work as we have to keep a roof over our heads and pay our way. Which makes it all the more annoying to find that I keep getting spam e-mails.

My Spam experience started relatively lightly, with ‘offers’ to work in completely unrelated fields. I am a software product and project manager, not an insurance salesman (Farmers and State Farm, I am looking at you), every single day I get ‘selected by a senior recruiter’ to join the fast paced world of insurance sales and frankly I am a tad board with it. Nothing about my resume shouts ‘salesman’, everything shouts ‘software geek’, I called one of the numbers and after listening to an over excited, ultra enthusiastic man waffle on about how thrilling the experience of selling insurance is, I felt that I needed a nap and could probably not keep up without hourly doses of Red Bull.

The second type of spam is a little more difficult to quantify, this is the ‘baad speelin’ e-mail trying to get you to click on a link.

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March 9, 2010
Max Driving, Life

F1 Prediction

Every year I try to predict the F1 season, this year I think I will go public with those predictions.

Lets get the big predictions out of the way up-front.

The 2010 Championship will go down to the wire between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, these two are the only truly top flight contenders with experience of their respective teams. of the other contenders, Alonso and Schumacher are both new to their teams and will struggle at times when their expectations are not fully realized, Webber is not up to Vettel’s standards, nor is Massa and Button is really a rank outsider in a new team. So it will go down the wire to Hamilton and Vettel. Of the two it probably comes down to a combination of their experience and the team’s ability to give them the car to do the job. having flipped a coin I say Vettel will get it done, but not by very much.

2010 Champion – Sebastian Vettel

The team title is tough too, with fours top teams that all stand a decent chance, for once there are four teams in the hunt too, Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes. Again RedBull have the continuity advantage, Mclaren have two champions, Mercedes have Schumacher and Ferrari have Alonso and Massa. Personally I feel that Mercedes do not have the strength of team to win, sure Schumacher may win races, but Rosberg has not show enough himself to be consistently good enough in my view. The same goes for Massa. Which brings us to McLaren. Button is fast when everything is running his way, but as soon as something is wrong he stops trying and falls out of the points. Webber too is inconsistent and can be an accident magnet at time. Going out on a limb though I think that the constructors title can only have one of two possible homes, Red Bull or Ferrari. Assuming the Massa/Alonso relationship can be managed, Ferrari will do it, Massa needs to impress as it is contract time too, so…..

2010 Constructors – Ferrari

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March 2, 2010
Max Life

We Got the Parcel

My father sent me an e-mail earlier today to thank me for the parcel that I sent to him.

I sent it on Friday afternoon.

It is now Tuesday.

My father lives several thousand miles away, back in the UK.

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February 28, 2010
Max Driving, Photography

Supercar Sunday

Due to inclement weather yesterday, Cars and Coffee was ‘rained out’, or at least we all assumed it was.

Baby Enzo

When I grow up....

So, in order to get my weekly fix of automotive eye candy I decided to attend ‘Supercar Sunday’ in Woodland Hills. Despite looking up the directions, I did not really comprehend just how far away it actually is. When I looked I noticed the estimated time, rather than the mileage. The estimate was something over an hour and the event is scheduled to run from 7AM to 10AM.

No Problem I thought, on a Sunday morning the traffic will be light, I can leave home at 6:45 and probably be there not much after 7:30.

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February 23, 2010
Max Life

Courtesy

Since when did ‘common courtesy’ become uncommon ?

On Sunday afternoon we were out and about trying to find inexpensive watch batteries as we had rather a lot of battery powered watches that were dead.

Clutching at straws a little we tried the $.99c store. On a Sunday afternoon the parking lot is a zoo at best, but I was able to find a space to throw the ‘Vlad’ the Impala into and after wandering around the store we came away a few dollars lighter, but without the necessary batteries, although we did get a pack of batteries for the garage door opener..

Trying to get out of the parking spot was a test of my patience. Despite people zooming around trying to find a space, nobody would let me out. It was not only really frustrating for me, it was incredible that all of those idiots fighting over spaces would not let someone out and snag a ‘prime’ space right outside the store.

While trying to get out several rocket scientists stopped by the door to allow passengers out and then stayed there too, adding to the congestion and the danger considerably.

When I eventually managed to force my way out one of those rocket scientists grabbed the space, but only after a 7419 point turn to get into it. Much to the rest of the lots’ displeasure.

While yes, it would have slowed one or two people down in the hunt for a space, it would have been really nice if they had let me out.

When I finally got out of the space there was a guy waiting to turn left (across the front of me) and I slowed and waved at him to let him do so (partly to annoy the marauding hordes behind me) He looked amazing, It was like he simply could not believe that someone was being courteous towards him.

So, perhaps we should rename it ?

It appears to have become uncommon.