Author: Maëlys McArdle

Wohoo! Well, I have made another “background” script. Basically, when anyone ever accesses a certain targetted domain, they will first encounter a page with 4 lines of code. Basically, it will
check to see if the better and yet unreliable secondary server for the site is up. If it is, it will forward the user there. If it isn’t, then it will forward the user to the crappier and yet always on primary server. This also helps alleviate the bandwidth constrictions placed upon the primary server, and maintains an optimal environment for the user.

Possible applications are those who run HTTP servers at home that may not be left on 24/7.

It would seem that Win2k, the current OS responsible for this content being delivered to you faithful readers is having a minor glitch which causes everything to be double spaced. This
isn’t new, I remember having the same problem a few years ago when last this OS was in use by dear me.

On another note, school is going relatively well. I feel like I’m being hit with work from all angles, and I find it difficult to accomodate it all. I’m trying my best however, and I’ve set
myself in a daily routine of work t’ill 7, play t’ill 10, sleep t’ill morning type thing. So far, so good.

What else. Well, if you want my nomination of “Best Freeware of the Year” award, go check out TightVCN. It’s a solution that lets you remotely control other PCs. My “secondary” PC, has but two cables running out: a power cable, and the RJ-45 ethernet cable. Instead of having to switch monitor cabling, or having the blindness-inducing matter of 2 monitors, I can simply access it
through TightVCN on my main computer.

That said, I also edited my router settings to allow me to access my computer from the internet, as to write emails, go to sites without it being registered on the main computer (think cheap
proxy server, only not). However, thought TightVCN is undoubtedly the best proggie ever for personal control, my other nomination goes to SCWebcam3, a little golden nugget that allows you to automatically upload piccies of your desktop and from your webcam to any folder, FTP server, or as its own HTTP server. This is perfect to show the rest of the world your wonderful space.

Of course I could also nominate Firebird and the like, but unlike the above, already garner enough attention as is.

Bad News: I failed 2 classes in my first semester. I failed both Chemistry and Calculus. To rectify the situation, I have chosen to forego my current Advanced Vector/Geometry class for that of
my unpassed mathematics, and take chemistry once more next term. Since chemistry is no longer needed in my second year on, this implies that I will not be held back (less the geo- classes of next year require such prerequesites [though initial searches would prove in my favour]. On the plus side, I passed my other four courses.

On an other note, I have chosen to take advantage of the current IE6 spoof around to fake the Ottawa U. site [see links section]. It is somewhat a proof of concept to my friends and family to
forcibly demonstrate this unfortunate exploit, and hopefully convert them to Mozilla. Right now it only points to the index page of my site, but I will later today create a whole page for
it. Hehe, I will have fun on this bit ;).

Well, I am somewhat depressed right now due to my failures, and on such a note I shall take off and see you my dear technology adept readers later on.

Note: I shouldn’t bash IE too much, however. If it wasn’t for its half-decent FTP abilities, I would not have been able to upload the editing I did to my site from a random university internet
abled computer (using the tag ftp://user:pass@site.com/). What am I saying: bash it all that you can!

Wow, I did a new sig from NX whilst being inspired from listening some LOTR music. Although not under The Influence, I sure felt as hell that I was, esp. considering I ended up making something with the message “peace.seal” and a heavily modified picture of a butterfly I had as a wallpaper.

Actually no, I just shrunk it and put it to the right edge, then posted another copy in the background to fill the rest of the space. I then used the smudge tool to blend the two images together nicely. I used the font “A Drink for All Ages” I had found in a search for the graphics on
the website I was designing for my mom, and put it in the left corner. Since there was a blue blur there that mixed too well with the font’s intended colour, I smudged the background
colour over it, and then copied the wallpaper image again and placed it in the middle. I cut out everything but just the leafs, and used a gaussian blur to well, blur it and recreate that spot
I had removed from the left. After adding a black border and another internal border with a screen-multiply blending option to lighten its colours, I was nearly done. The font had no periods, so I rasterized the layer and took the top part of the L to make a dot. Then I moved the various pieces of the text to look more natural. Anyways, this was relatively easy to do (esp compared with my previous sig where I had spent 3 hours putting 1 and 0s to form what I thought were nice looking streaks). It just goes to show you how it isn’t the time you put into it as much as the original creative idea you had to begin with.

I’m sure this must have bored the hell out of you readers, so I shall just conclude with yet some more egoistical content: people liked it. Moreso than my previous efforts. Simpler was indeed
better.

First day back at uni. This upcomming semester will be easier for me, since I shall be undertaking 4 courses instead of the previous semester’s 6. Furthermore, I should be done earlier in the day, and start on average later as well. Of course, the unforseen DGDs and labs sort of dissolve this illusion, but its all good for now.

On a second note, I want to do something special with the girl I really really like. Only I can’t think up of anything :S There are no good movies out, the city is sort of desolate at this time
of year, there will be no Canal to skate on this time round…

But before the week is out I shall come up with something!