Well I’ve been wanting one for ages, and I’m going to Paris in a few weeks… and I’ve just got a pay rise, so I thought hell. I’ll finally get one.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3
It has 10x optical zoom in a small compact camera The reason I’ve wanted one so long!

There are two higher models the TZ4 and TZ5 but it’s really just down to the megapixels and I didn’t see the point spending the extra money. Most end up on this website, maybe the odd one printed, and this will do it happily.

It’s got plenty of impressive bits. For example - ever tried to take a photo with the camera above your head, i.e. in a crowd? It has a special LCD mode so you can see the screen!

Paris is at the end of the month, so keep your eyes peeled for photos from it. Hopefully before if I get an excuse.

The lovely pay raise at work is nice too…

Now off to a typical bank holiday weekend. Oh wait. The sun’s shining!

Over and out.

I have discovered greylisting, and it’s fantastic for fighting spam! It basically gives the sending mail server a “temporary unavailable” message the first time it talks to your server to send an email to someone. This means the sending mail server will then retry (as it’s a ‘temporary’ message and not permanent failure), but the email gets accepted the next time (after a time period specified, I have 1 minute), and any other time 1st time when they send in future.

The key:Most spammers don’t try twice!

I’ve had people moan about delays when recommending it. IMHO any well configured mail server should be configured to retry after several minutes. If not, it’s not my problem! A few minute wait isn’t no where near as much of a problem as a hell of a lot of spam is.

I have recommended this to work who are now implementing it as well. It’s cutting the amount of emails received by 98% (on their servers and mine)! Bloody impressive it is

Such a simple but effective idea.

First a rant about buying books online, and then a note about new a gadget/toy.

17:34 <@shell> Amazon ftl
17:35 <@shell> Waterstones ftw
17:36 <@shell> French Lonely Planet phrase book. 3 options:
17:36 <@shell> 1) Amazon, £3.99 for the book plus £2.75 delivery
17:36 <@shell> 2) Waterstones, £4.99, free delivery
17:37 <@shell> 3) buy in the high street for £4.99 (RRP)
17:37 <@shell> guess which option i went for!
17:38 <@shell> also just bought 2 new buffalo cable routers to install linux on for people off ebuyer, and ink off mx2

Off to Paris at the end of May! Never been, kept meaning to, finally got a round to it.

Sorry. I was doing some fiddling the other day with domains and forgot/accidently removed the name servers for this domain.

All sorted now though! Well, untill I get around to moving the website to the new server too… just getting the mail sorted out at the moment. I wish there was a perfect option of all the nice bits of PostFix along with the nice bits of Exim, like the .forward file.

Akismet has caught 24,128 spam for you since you first installed it. It’s stopped 7 in the time I wrote that post

Also, bloody hell that was a long post!

… I pop my head up again. Same old story.

So what have I been up to? The boring and the interesting. Had few things I’ve been wanting to go on about recently

I had nice drive (not, it was pissing it down) to Manchester and back in early January for an interesting day at Zen HQ (an ISP) for a DSL diagnostics training session. We are partners with Zen at work. Highly recommended. Nice to phone up an ISP, and to talk techy and get some one who understands. Unlike Virgin. In January I ended up shouting down the phone at them on behalf of my parents. I’m normally very tollerent with call centre staff, having been one for many years. The idiot in India just couldn’t grasp the fact the cable modem was at fault. It was just totally locking up randomly, completely inaccessible. Fool wanted me to do diags and stuff on my PC. He couldn’t grasp I was more qualified than he was and had a clue. The cable modem was from the dark ages where cable modem broadband was 128k!! It was OLD. Ended up posting on the ISPs support newsgroups, who booked an engineer no problems. English tech support FTW. When the engineer turned up he just laughed because of how old it was and replaced it. No testing, no questions

I have a new phone! Vodafone v1415 (actually a HTC S710). Another Microsoft Windows Mobile phone, yes I know, but I am Microsoft Exchange girl these days. After recent experience of setting up of mail servers on Linux, even more so too! Now it isn’t as high spec’d as my old TYTN but it’s more like a normal phone. Normal size. Normal numeric keypad - but still has a qwerty keyboard hidden away! I have a PDA style (touch screen) phone for work like my old Tytn (currently a O2 XDA Mini S (Qtek 9100)). I don’t need 2 though, especially 2 bulky phones. Work phone soon to get upgraded to a Tytn II anyway!

I’ve been really happy with Vodafone. I rang them up last week as my TYTN was faulty yet again. Must have got through 3 or 4 of them. 1 had a jammed button. Another had a dodgy keyboard after a while. Then the last one they sent me didn’t charge the battery properly so it was dead in less than 24 hours. I just politely explained I had lost faith in Tytns. Now I’d seen the new phone I had now and was aiming at getting one somehow. I was expecting to have to pay something as when I asked before how much it would cost me to just get one they said £225 but because I’m nice customer they’d sell me one for £150. I’m only about 8 months into this contract.. they turned around with out me asking and just gave it me for nothing!

Complete contrast to Orange and why I left them a few years ago. A decade ago they were the best. No more though. Orange really don’t care any more, and if they mess up are not interested in fixing it, or owning up to it and apologising. They let me go with no effort to keep me over a £50 phone. Vodafone have kept me now no arguments over 2 phones each being approx £200 phones! I pay about the same a month to Vodafone as I did to Orange. Vodafone have made a few cock ups but they’ve been straight up with them and apologised, and admitted their faults. We’re having right problems at work at the moment with clients who use Orange and have Blackberry’s. Orange seem to have lost the ability now to even set up accounts correctly! I once wrote Orange a bloody long letter because I could not all of a sudden access my account online. I was told to call a 50p/min line. I reluctantly did as I heavily used the online service. They didn’t fix it. I rang customer services and explained I was not doing that again, it was clearly their side that was broken. Not interested. As I said, I wrote a 2 page letter about this and general annoyances I had with their recent crappyness. I got a 2 line letter back just telling me to call the 50p a min number… I left them a few weeks later.

Spent the last week recovering from a horrible stomach bug or food poisoning or something Never fun. Sister had been staying with me and it started the evening she left (last Tuesday). She felt ill a few days later, so I’m thinking it’s a stomach bug. We hardly ate that day and what we did we both had. For hers to come on days later it couldn’t have been something we ate!

Nicky stayed over from the Saturday to the Tuesday and we did all touristy stuff in London. A sorry for me as I buggered off to Germany for her 18th birthday. We spent Sunday in The Strand/Trafalgar Square/Leicester Square/China Town enjoying all the Chinese New Year celebrations. Monday’s highlight was the evening at the theatre seeing Cabaret with Julian Clarey, and some guy who was in Home and Away. It was, err, different to my previous theatre experiences. That’s what I get for telling my sister to choose I guess. She was interested in the whole dancing side of it. I wasn’t expecting the nudity - I wasn’t expecting an evening with Julian Clarey’s back side We Will Rock You is still my favourite though Avenue Q was hilarious. From a musical stand point though, We Will Rock You was just an experience and a half. Tuesday we went to the London Dungeons. Now me and my sister are not wimps, like the screaming teenage girls who ended up being in our group going round. There were several points we were stood/sat there holding on to each other though lol. An experience I highly recommend (unless you have heart issues!!). It’s basically a whole set up of scenes etc that you go through with actors leading you through it, being part of it with a few rides and various ’stages’, all to do with the history of London. The gory history. Make sure you take an Oyster card and you get buy 1 get 1 free on tickets too.

Looks like my sister may be down this way come September It’s uni time for her, already! She is doing ‘Fashion Management’. She’s got an offer from Manchester Uni. She is more impressed though by Westminster uni who have given her an offer too (campus in Harrow though for her degree) as she will get to go America for a while to study and a year out working. They’ve also offered her a scholarship which will help out with finances hugely! The only other one she is interested in is The London College of Fashion, right off Oxford Street. It’s a ‘Who knows who’ nose in the air place though. She has her interview there next week but she’s growing less and less fond on the idea of the place. I think she would like to get an offer just to say she got an offer but think she would go to Harrow though! Also the fact Harrow is just outside London so cheaper, but only 20 mins on the tube away. She loves the idea of living in London.

Doing the Tutankhamun exhibition at the 02 and Terracotta Army at the British Museum in a few weeks with my mum (got to keep them all happy…!). Will let you know if they are not as boring as I am expecting

Off to Swansea this weekend to enjoy the nice Welsh scenery and beer with Hyphen. Well in need of it at the moment.

Still got to sort out going to Copenhagen to see lovely Ida. I will get round to it Ida! Especially as the plane tickets to get there and back are cheaper than going to Swansea and back on the train. How stupid?! A rant for another day..

Got Ubuntu on my laptop now seeing as how pissed off I was getting with Vista, and how Linux now understands the stupid sound+modem chip in 1 in it and can produce sound. Also how friggin easy they’ve made wireless now. Yay! Also doing a n Ubuntu server at the moment. I did start but had HDD over heating issues, and splat. 0Expect to see some random Ubuntu-y posts with links/howtos to stuff. Nothing more annoying then forgetting how you sorted something out last time when you spent hours doing so. It’s good to share.

Desktop with 64bit XP OS and 4GB RAM for gaming FTUW though.

Currently listening to and enjoying ‘Ministry Of Sound Anthems 1991-2008′ album. Classic.

I don’t think this is quite the use they had in mind for the “Cities I’ve Visited” Application on Facebook? I’m well traveled in England and that’s about it…

Alot of them aren’t even cities! Annoying cause if they are doing it like that there are looooooads more I can add, Wales would be busier for starters.

Okay. Long story, but it’s back.

If I host websites for you and they are still screwed give me bell via the normal methods and we’ll sort it out. Going to try and get through all the sites though as soon as possible (there’s a lot of them.. this won’t be quick..) and try and sort them.

“Akismet has caught 2,071 spam for you since you first installed it.”

ntl.talk, it is no more.

For those wondering what ntl.talk is, or should I say was.. It was a newsgroup on NTL (an ISP - now Virgin Media).

I think the easiest way of expressing this is just pasting some people’s final and last posts here.

My post, the last ever post at all in ntl.talk (I wasn’t trying!):

“Ditto. This place has been a whole lot more than just a newsgroup to me. More than just place to post.

A WHOLE LOT MORE.

The people who are making this happen - They either don’t realise because they can’t be bothered to look past the end of their nose, or are just evil rotten people.
This isn’t just any old newsgroup. It’s ntl.talk.”

It’s even made lurkers come out of the woodwork:

“Just wanted to say bye bye to ntl.talk I have lurked here for many years and have always been amused with you lot on here, watching as you have your get togethers you all seem like a nice lot, I hope things stay just as good in the FUNTO group, Cheerio

Lenie”

And all the good, real friends I’ve made:

“Don’t know how much longer we’ll be going, but each message will show people how much we care about our friends.

I didn’t join this group when it was formed, but since I have been in it I’ve had a great time.  Information, advice, jokes, and real life friends.

To say we’ve managed to do all this without being moderated like some people NEED, is fantastic.

Now we’re in FUNTO.  It is beginning to replace this group but has a bit to go yet.

Must go and check the doors and things, can’t stop the vandals but can try to make it a bit harder for them.

Take care everyone, see you all next-door when this place closes.

Gander.”

Hyphen’s post is the one that hit home the most for me. Echoing exactly what I feel. Also see his blog.

“Sorry I haven’t been around much lately, guys.

University obligations, over-active IRC, various other stuff happening in my life, etc have kept me away but I want to personally thank everybody who’s ever posted here for making me feel the most welcome I have *ever* felt.

I don’t know if this’ll propagate outside Ponder’s server (I don’t have access to news.ntli.net ATM) but if it does, I hope I’ll see you in FUNTO (even if I’m not that active) and for those unable to make it across, thank you and I wish you all the best.

We’ll be here, out in the rain, looking through the window at what was possibly one of the best behaved communities on the Internet. Just please remember to turn the lights and the heating off and leave a note
for the milkman.

Best wishes all,
Khyle Westmoreland (Hyphen).

–
Hyphen
http://www.khyle.org.uk/“

Pingu..

“Ever since I came to .talk, I have enjoyed the banter, the meetings away from home and getting to know the residents who are from all walks of life.
Im sure we will meet again.
So all that i have left to say is thanks Talktown and good luck to all the residents in whatever they do.

So long.
– 
Pingu”

Kat..

“Absolutely.

One the nicest things about this group has been the age range.  I have watched kids grow up in here, felt a little like they were my own, too, as mine aren’t much older.  We might not get youngsters out in the world of
free.uk, but it has been a pleasure - and still is - knowing the ones we have.
–
kat
     >^..^< "

So much more has been said. So little have Virgin listened. Everyone just saying “oh it’s only a newsgroup”.

It’s not only a newsgroup. It’s ntl.talk. A whole lot more.

See you over in free.uk.ntl.talk.outcasts guys, and our own private place over at Ponder’s. Also, not forgetting all the great get togethers we have - see you at Easter. We’ll stick together. We all know that.

ntl.talk - full of the most crazy, nicest people you would ever want to know. I love you guys

You know where the comment link is… get on with it