« June 2002 | Main | August 2002 »
July 31, 2002
Getting Apache in line!
I've been having some troubles with the Project Achieve CVE server. I've always had virtual IP set up to host my old server, But last year, when I had to rebuild the box, I couldn't get Virtual IP working. Now, with the help of Michel, it is working again. I had him look over what I was doing, not being able to figure out the problem myself. He couldn't find out the problem either. Basically, I could have either achieve OR noisey, but not both. As we were giving up, he made a casual comment which triggered something... and voila! It turns out that the apache documentation don't explicitly mention that if you want to have a virtual host that you MUST set up both domain names as virtual, not just the one you want. Sheesh. More good wishes for document writers that they get out more. Thanks Michel! Unfortunately, this solution doesn't work with OS X, so jasonnolan.net, edublog.com and edublog.kmdi.utoronto.ca is still a bit of a mess. Perhaps tomorrow."
Posted by jason at 10:42 PM
Office Pictures!!!!
<-- click"
Posted by jason at 10:34 PM
July 30, 2002
Such a lou reed day.
Why today is a cool day... Listened to Salmon's Pollen Two. My replacement Airport basestation arrived today, and after a bit of fiddling, Yuka and I have a wireless network at home again. yayayaya. Then, I spent the day reading and marking essay outlines and annotated bibliographies of my students. Wild bunch. I can't wait to read their papers. After a year of wondering, I finally found found out how to get the LambdaMOO server to compile on Mac OS X. First I had to download and install the apple developer utilities so that I had c-compilers and stuff like that. Only 250megs, but it took 4.5 hours!!!!!!! Lucky I was busy marking. It took a bit of making changes in the C libraries then to recompile and voila... jasonnolan.net can run a moo now!!! That, and the fact that I bought the coolest new computer case down at a store on King, just next to MEC. I can get my willow case inside, and it has a billion pockets. It is like a courier bag, but with accoutrements. And it was yellow. A steal at $120. But it was 70% off, so I paid $40. I think I'll go get another one. Of course, my propellor beanie is too cool for words, and with my office window open, it twirls all day."
Posted by jason at 09:35 PM
Inflated Highschool Marks? Never!
U of T examines results of private academies in an attempt to see if students are buying inflated marks. Next we'll have entrance exams. Just let me teach first year courses, and we'll find out bloody quickly who should be there and who shouldn't. What a comforting thought."
Posted by jason at 01:13 PM
July 27, 2002
Ghost Writers in the Sky
I spend the day cleaning the apartment, in preparation for some folks over for dinner tonight, and working on my book review of Cryptomimesis: The Gothic and Jacques Derrida's Ghost Writing. Slow going. Slogity slog slog. Great book. Learned tonnes. It's PoMo, so I can't tie it up into a neat package. But a draft is done. Now to Kensignton market for some smoked salmon and brie."
Posted by jason at 04:13 PM
Favourite Tools for Blogging
I'm teaching a course this fall at KMDI, and the first assignment will including having to work with a variety of environments that can be used for blogging, including: MoveableType, GreyMatter, Blogger, Livejournal, TWiki. I would like to know what your favourite blogging tool is, the URL for the site, and why you like it. I'll make up a list for the students to consider and use. I'm looking for insight about journaling tools like the ones mentioned above, and also things like blogdex, blogroller, comments. Thanks in advance for your help. Jason"
Posted by jason at 10:08 AM
July 23, 2002
MacOSX is cooler because...
And I mean cooler than it was yesterday, not cooler than your OS. I'm sure everyone else has a more cooler OS than me... but we have StreamRipperX. When you listen to internet broadcasts and radio, you'd often like to caputer the content. Like when Salmon was talking about blogs on DNTO. Well, StreamRipperX allows you to do just that. And it is free: ""StreamRipperX is an open source (GPL) application for Mac OS X that allows you to listen to Internet radio streams and rip the songs as individual MP3 files."" Something nice to wakeup to."
Posted by jason at 08:13 AM
July 22, 2002
Nobody told me it was online.
If you go to Barry Wellman's Publications page you can find http://wearcam.org/cyborg_and_community/cyborg.pdf, the forthcoming publication that Steve and I did with barry."
Posted by jason at 07:12 AM
July 21, 2002
For Sale
I got some stuff for sale for a friend of mine... best offer on all items. ZipDrive 120 meg, 4 disks, scsi, powerbook scsi connector. 3Com/Megahertz 56k Cellular modem PC-card. I'll add other stuff as I find anything of mine around here. I'm cleaning up my apartment for houseguests in August."
Posted by jason at 09:15 AM
July 20, 2002
Screw the rich.
The Globe and Mail: Stocks Collapse ""On Bay Street, stocks also lost serious ground. The S&P/TSX composite index lost 179.91 points or 2.68 per cent to close at 6,535.44, down 4.1 per cent on the week."" Isn't it great that I have no money for stocks. I've not lost a cent. I guess the marginally employed will win in the end, eh?"
Posted by jason at 08:56 AM
July 19, 2002
Of course I need one.
The very cool Geek Culture Caps!. How could I have survived so long without one. Screw the cost and the postage, and the border hastles. I'm ordering one now."
Posted by jason at 11:22 AM
July 18, 2002
Wireless Bandit
Wireless Bandit ""This blog is here to document the wardriving and warwalking the streets of Toronto to find open/unsecure WLAN access points. ""When you just need a Net connection anywhere, look here."" Hmmm... I wonder if my home network is available."
Posted by jason at 04:52 PM
July 17, 2002
Jason Unlocked!
Faster than you can shake a stick in a clear-cut, I'm in my office. Actually, I was to move in on June 17. I moved in July 8th. And today, July 17, they finally got the door to open for my key. Not bad, eh? One month to get my key to work. Of course it was a computerized swipe thingy. That said, Peter my co-office mate who has been able to let me into our office this entire time decided, today, to learn how to install OSX on a Mac. He's 99.5% windows. He did it in 30 minutes, and was sharing software (running software from another computer across a network) before he knew what hit him. Just goes to prove, using a Mac is easier than just opening the door."
Posted by jason at 04:01 PM
July 15, 2002
Camel!
Yuka and I went to the Toronto Zoo on Sunday. We took the bus, if you can believe it. It takes only 1 hour from Yonge and Bloor. Amazing. Amazing is also this: And now we have a pile of animal pictures including more of yuka on the Sally the Camel."
Posted by jason at 09:22 PM
Not a drop to drink.
City of Toronto using 2100 megalitres of Water a day. That's 2.1 billion litres per day!!! Just think about it, ok?"
Posted by jason at 05:26 PM
July 14, 2002
Pizza and Tigers and Bears. Oh My!
I met EvaB lastnight!!!! She came over with Hildegarde for Saturday Night Za, and we had a wonderful time jawing of many and varied shiny things, including Hildegarde's upcoming transportation into literary stardom, as I see it. Strange Za. New dough from the market, and one was fresh basil, 3 colours of peppers, cheese and wild boar. Nothing new. The second had cranberry smoked elk. That was great. Made sangria too... which, as hildegarde described it, smelled a bit like balsamic vinegar. Then I added 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, and it was as it should be. I just forget to add sugar to anything."
Posted by jason at 08:17 PM
Are Mac users smarter?
Are Mac users smarter? - Tech News - CNET.com Those who surf the Web using a Mac tend to be better educated and make more money than their PC-using counterparts, according to a report from Nielsen/NetRatings."
Posted by jason at 08:27 AM
July 11, 2002
AirCrash
AirVase is what happens to my dead AirPort basestation, if I can't figure out how to fix it. Pretty though."
Posted by jason at 07:54 AM
July 10, 2002
Transgenerational Pedagogy
Something interesting to share today. I'm teaching this grad course in Education called Foundations of Curriculum at OISE. I've mentioned it a lot. I love teaching it. I wish I could do it all the time. No joking. I've got 25 enthusiastic and intelligent people who think I'm from outerspace. How is that different from usual? Well, I don't hang out in large groups, and I.... Anyway. I was talking with two overseas students, and during the conversation I mentioned that I'd taught in Japan in the mid-80s, and that my step-father (Lars Thompson, aka Large Thompson) had taught in China in the early 80s. It turns out that one of my students was one of HIS students when he was over there. And she remembered him. That's not a shock. He's a 6'2"" great dane of an english teacher, always ready to dress up and wax theatrical when he's teaching. He's someone I never forget, and I know him. Hmmmm... It was neat. Shandong On Internet"
Posted by jason at 10:09 PM
July 09, 2002
My present
This is a nice beer mug. Notice that it is ice covered. Notice that it is full of a half litre of St Peter's Lemon and Ginger Spiced Ale. Click on it to see it bigger. Don't you want one?"
Posted by jason at 11:09 AM
Encyclopedia of Community
[Just posted this on GTAbloggers first...] I just got an invitation to contribute an entry on blogging for the Encyclopedia of Community to be published by Sage in 2003. As the editors say, ""We believe that this much-needed work will define the field of community and community studies and provide a common ground for future research and exploration..."" Don't you bet that for some reason the notion of weblogs is going to centre on Toronto and my friends? I hope not, but I know that when I read about online community, you wonder why it seems to reflect a community I'm not part of. Well, perhaps not htis time."
Posted by jason at 10:12 AM
"Canada burned it, Bushes live inside of it, Shrubbery outside"
Haikoo! - the haiku-based directory Site Listings for United States: —"
Posted by jason at 08:51 AM
Bad Literary Agents
From the ""Kat's got a summer job and therefore surfs all day"" Department: Riley Martin... visits his alien friends on their mothership in Saturn's orbit and buy the book, ""The Coming of Tan"" by Martin and O-Qua Tangin Wann. You'd think that if Martin was alien-writing (like ghostwriting but with spaceships) for Tangin, we'd put Tangin's name first?"
Posted by jason at 08:45 AM
July 07, 2002
I want more like this... everyday.
It was a good day. The best birthday ever. Though there were some interruptions. Kenny called and sang into my answering machine, Dave said something really scary, and I got this on my moo screen when I got out of the shower: [+][beam] Kat has connected. [+][beam] Kat exclaims, ""HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!"" [+][beam] Kat does her obligatory duty. [+][beam] Kat has disconnected. And yuka bought me a beer mug! Oh, and I called my mom to thank her for having me 40 years ago... there was silence on the other end of the phone, then I heard ""oh, yes. It IS your birthday today. I wasn't sure what day it was..."" That's what you get when you spend your summer on an island. She was thanked nonetheless."
Posted by jason at 10:42 PM
July 06, 2002
Birthday
Happy 19th Birthday Mud!!!
And only Mud (and now catspaw) know why I remembered her bday. [I didn't think Mud had a web page, but she does.]"Posted by jason at 11:19 PM
Garbage Fears in Toronto
The Toronto Garbage Strike of 18,000 city workers is a great summer fiction. Let me explain. I live in Toronto. To me, and everyone until the provincial government forced, by imperial caviat, otherwise, Toronto is the downtown bit from the lake to around Eglinton Avenue, and from Victoria Park Avenue to the Humber River. It is surrounded by 4-5 other cities: Scarbrough, East York, North York, York and Etobicoke. They are suburbs to me, and all right thinking Torontonians.
Posted by jason at 08:08 AM
July 03, 2002
Curriculifying
Had my first class of CTL1000 today. Before I knew what had hit me, the full class got fuller. We have 24 folks enrolled now. Seems like a very robust group, many of whom may have figured out how to get to this weblog already, so if you want the dirt, email me directly."
Posted by jason at 05:45 PM
Why didn't anyone tell me?
Why am I so stupid? And if you're not, why didn't you tell me? I just picked up a book in Joel's office, where I'm hiding while teaching at OISE this summer... and as I open it, I see this footnote: ""One must bear in mind that gas derives from the Greek Khaos, a perfectly general term for chaos."" [Derek J. de Solla Price. (1962) little science: big science. NY: Columbia UP] Then I go to Dictionary.com/gas and get this... [Dutch, an occult physical principle supposed to be present in all bodies, alteration of Greek khaos, chaos, empty space, coined by Jan Baptista van Helmont (1577-1644), Flemish chemist.] Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Posted by jason at 08:06 AM
July 01, 2002
Proof of Summer
Posted by jason at 04:40 PM
DNS'r'US
I'm 'trying' to manage my own DNS these days, using Free DNS service - Easy, web-based domain manager - ZoneEdit.com. It is all set up and running, but who knows what the net knows. Sympatico's running so strange today, either that or my wireless network router is borking, that I'm not sure if the new DNS has taken over from the old one. If you go to jasonnolan.net and end up at a pretty cartoon of two cats,LET ME KNOW!."
Posted by jason at 11:01 AM