Archive for February, 2007
Convert Apache common logs to combined logs
Thursday, February 15th, 2007
I was setting up AWStats for my server a while ago and realized my Apache server log format was wrong for all my sites. It was in the “Common” format, which doesn’t include referrer or user-agent information. As soon as I caught that, I immediately switched the “Combined” log format, which gives all that information.
However, after switching formats, I didn’t want to lose all the old stats I had gathered. I had to find some way to convert the old Common-format Apache logs so that I could run my new log through AWStats without losing anything. Read on for how I did it…
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IE rant from the ZP forums
Thursday, February 15th, 2007
I just discovered another wonderful Internet Explorer bug—it didn’t understand how to download mod_deflate compressed zip files (Firefox, Opera, Safari all handle that case correctly) and was resulting in complaints about corrupt downloads. Well, okay, no, they’re not corrupt, your browser is corrupt!
Seriously, I thought everyone knew better than to use Internet Explorer these days. Get Firefox, Opera, Safari, anything else!
On the forums, Craig said “Wow. You really feel quite strongly about IE don’t you?” and this is my explanation why:
I do feel quite strongly about it, yes; as a programmer I’m appalled that other programmers made such a low quality product. It’s like people driving around a 10-year-old beat-up car that can only go 40 miles per hour, breaks down every ten minutes, doesn’t have a radio, and is put together with duct tape (coughCSS hackscough) when you could get a souped-up fire-orange Ferarri (FIREFOX) for FREE. Or a nice Honda Accord (Safari) or maybe a Toyota Camry (Opera), all for free, but no, people just keep on drivin the junker. I just don’t understand it, and it’s such a pain in the rear for web developers that I feel like speaking my mind about it sometimes, especially when I find another “new” bug. It’s just an unacceptable quality level. Even IE 7 doesn’t make it much better, so don’t bother, just use Firefox, Safari, Opera, whatever, anything but Internet Explorer.
So please, folks, if you’re using Internet Explorer, you are part of the problem. Go get a better browser right now.
New Phone?
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007
Hey everyone reading this, do you like your cell phone? I’m in the market for a new one after my LG VX6000’s battery broke off, and since it started dropping calls randomly, not vibrating sometimes, turning itself off, and doing other strange and unpredictable things. That was one great solid phone, the problems only started after 4 years of daily usage. I’m looking for the highest quality most solidly built phone I can get at a reasonable price.
I’d like to stick with Verizon, they’ve always been great and I hear the alternatives (Cingular, T-Mobile) are dismal. If you have experience otherwise please let me know! And no, I’m not getting an iPhone, unless I start working for Apple or something.
What do you recommend? Thanks!
View of the Bay
Monday, February 12th, 2007
I wouldn’t normally hotlink an image, but this one’s dynamic and frankly, the load from this site won’t hurt them.
This is how I watch the sky these days when I can’t get my own eyes above the buildings. It happens to be one of the best webcams I know of, situated in the perfect place.
Update: changed to a static image as of 2/18
I’m somewhere down there. Just a minute ago it was pouring rain, and a minute later the rain stopped and the sun came out under the clouds right over the golden gate and the whole bay area was shrouded in red. It happens once every few weeks, but it’s very cool when it does. It’s like the world is pointing a big red flashlight at everyone’s face saying, wake up! You’re alive, ain’t it great?
And no, I don’t always watch the sky on my computer screen. I do actually go outside every once in a while… 