**10:53 am - SSH weirdness**This morning I tried to upload a file to my website and found I couldn't get an SFTP connection to my web server; it wasn't even prompting for a password. I put in a request with he.net and called when things started to look complicated. After trying a few things, the support person suggested I try an SSH connection somewhere else. I tried to connect to a work server and found I was getting the same silence there. At this point it started looking like a local problem, so I thanked him and ended the call, and tried some other things. It just gets weirder from there.My MacBook has the same problem; it can't SSH anywhere. However, I was able to make a VPN connection to work, and after that I can make SSH connections, but only sometimes. I got "access denied" for the work server one time, then was able to log on the next. Once I'm typing at the server's shell, I can connect anywhere I want, including my website server. So I can mongol my file to my server, so to speak.This is just weird. Next I'll try taking my laptop to the library to get further confirmation of whether it's a network issue.
**11:16 am - Boskone silent movie preview**I wanted to provide a way to let people preview my accompaniment of Faust at the upcoming Boskone, but couldn't get hold of any downloadable clips from the movie to add a soundtrack to. So here's a bargain-basement approach for those who may be interested.Step 1: Download the recording of my accompaniment. Open it in a suitable player application.Step 2: Go to this YouTube clip from the movie. Mute the sound and let it preload completely, so there won't be any pauses to mess up the synchronization.Step 3: Start playing the MP3 from step 1. I give a countdown; when it reaches zero, click the Play button on the YouTube clip. The music runs a few seconds past the end of the clip, so don't worry that you missynchronized when that happens.Extra blooper recording: If you want some cheap amusement, listen to my first recording attempt, rudely interrupted by Mokka before I even got started.This was recorded with a Zoom H1. I like it. The device, that is. Well, the music I recorded too.Incidentally, I solved the SSH problem. At some point I'd changed the firewall settings for my DSL modem from "minimum security" to "typical security." Apparently Fairpoint doesn't think the typical user uses SSH. Changing it back to "minimum" solved the problem. If I go back and look at it more carefully, I can probably use "typical" security with custom port settings to allow SSH and SFTP.
**06:43 pm - Memorial status note**I've put in a request to LiveJournal support asking for badgerthorazine's account to be placed in memorial status, as explained here. Presumably they're more confident about the legitimacy of a request if it comes from more than one person, so if you're so inclined, please send them a confirming request.Edit: Another note: Donations to Massachusetts General Hospital have been suggested, in consideration of all they did to try to save her life. I'll be sending a check there shortly.Edit 2: There will be a memorial service for Badger at the MIT Chapel (the cylindrical building across the street from 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge) on Friday, January 13, at 3 PM.Edit 3: Her account is now in memorial status. Thanks to any who sent confirming requests.
**07:48 pm - The left's war on rights**Today I received a spew in the mail from Public Citizen declaring that the word "corporation" doesn't appear in the Constitution, apparently as a justification for the argument that people are not entitled to exercise their Constitutional rights through corporations. I might also note that the words "blog," "website," "email," and "telephone" don't appear in the Constitution. By Public Citizen's logic, people have no constitutional claim to their use of those media to express their views. "Democracy is for people," says Public Citizen, and corporations (qua corporations) are not people. Computers and telephones also aren't people, so the same argument would apply there. What's left? People's use of their vocal chords and their personal printing presses. The mainstream left is the deadliest enemy of free speech in America today. It follows the Harrison Bergeron idea of democracy, in which no one may have a greater voice than anyone else. But even when speech through organizations is deemed a legitimate target for censorship, some people will be more eloquent and persuasive than others, and not necessarily the ones with better reasoning behind their views.Will you put gags on those people in the name of "democracy"? If not, what logical reason is there not to, by your standards?Current Mood:enraged
badgerthorazine's account to be placed in memorial status, as explained here. Presumably they're more confident about the legitimacy of a request if it comes from more than one person, so if you're so inclined, please send them a confirming request.Edit: Another note: Donations to Massachusetts General Hospital have been suggested, in consideration of all they did to try to save her life. I'll be sending a check there shortly.Edit 2: There will be a memorial service for Badger at the MIT Chapel (the cylindrical building across the street from 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge) on Friday, January 13, at 3 PM.Edit 3: Her account is now in memorial status. Thanks to any who sent confirming requests.
enraged