Dan Grossman | 2007 April

Whose number is this?

April 27, 2007

I don’t answer my cell phone while at work; it stays on silent in my bag ’til i get home and check any voice mails left. This week, a certain number has called more than 15 times, about twice a day, and doesn’t leave voice mail. When I try to call the number back, [...]

2

SoftLayer Automated OS Reloads To the Rescue

April 27, 2007

I poked around the database on the beefier of my new servers from Softlayer a bit too much and ended up breaking Plesk. While a control panel isn’t really necessary for what will be a single domain server, when there’s one installed, it’s usually a good idea to use it as editing certain things [...]

6

I’m at a loss for words to describe this person

April 26, 2007

One of the stupidest opinions to ever be published in a newspaper.

5

MySQL Tuning: Disable Query Cache on Frequently Updated Databases

April 26, 2007

It may seem counterintuitive, but for some types of applications, the query cache, especially if set to be large, can reduce performance. MySQL’s query cache stores the results of previously executed queries. In theory, the cache exists to speed up your application by responding to the same query with results directly from memory instead [...]

1

Simple Versioned MySQL Backups With CVS or Subversion

April 26, 2007

Your CVS or Subversion server can do more than just safeguard your source code. It can double as an easy to use, versioned, low disk space database backup solution as well. Typically backing up a MySQL database involves writing a script to execute mysqldump or mysqlhotcopy to create backup files, appending the date to [...]

0

The Vista Suicide Note: Content Protection Gone Overboard

April 23, 2007

I somehow stumbled into a blog debate of Vista DRM today which led me to A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection, a lengthy but extremely interesting look into the world of Vista’s content protection measures. The author, security researcher Peter Gutmann, sums up the document as follows:
The Vista Content Protection specification could [...]

1

Request: Graphing CPU Load

April 23, 2007

Can anyone recommend a Linux program that can produce graphs of CPU usage on a server? I could always write something that runs “uptime” every few minutes and logs the values, then produces some graphs, but I assume someone must’ve made something like this before, and I’d rather not duplicate the effort. I’d like [...]

2

I’m selling a couple websites

April 23, 2007

I’ve listed a package of 5 websites from 1-3 years old on the SitePoint marketplace. Check it out if you’re interested. There’s no reserve price and the minimum bid is $0.

0

2007 Guide to CSS Support in Email

April 20, 2007

Campaign Monitor’s released their 2007 Guide to CSS Support in Email, a comprehensive study of CSS support by both desktop and webmail clients. This guide is an essential for anyone sending HTML mails out, especially in wide distribution as part of a mailing list or e-mail marketing.

4

Jack Thompson blames Bill Gates for shootings

April 19, 2007

Attorney and activist Jack Thompson yesterday wrote a letter to Bill Gates blaming him for the Virginia Tech shootings. Thompson claims that Cho Seung Hui was trained to enjoy violent killing by playing Counterstrike, which he claims Microsoft developed.
Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, [...]