once, we had a less-than-skilled attack on a company i was network admining at. I traced the source down to an ISP in a South American country and ISP and I contacted them stating that such-and-such IP on their network was engaging in an attack on my company. I asked them to look into this and block the user from hitting us thru the routes I provided. They said there was nothing they could do. I asked them what other recourse I had. They told me there was nothing I could do but shut down our systems and hope it went away. I asked them if I could take action to stop it and could I get and e-mail statement to that effect. They sent me an e-mail stating there is nothing they could do and I could do whatever I needed to correct the situation.

I ran it by the legal guys. got a thumbs up. put on a darker hat.

moved a bit of traffic off the oc-12 we had and proceeded to clobber the offending IP address and the nodes at the far end (ISP equipment). I got a very polite call after about an hour telling me that the offender has been pulled off-line and asking if I would be so kind as to stop defending myself as it was killing their network. I stopped my defense and was given a few names with contact info to call in the future should the needs arise.

a good result.

so, now that the Azure cloud is down and the news has hit Slashdot - the "service dashboard" has now been "slashdotted"

Network Error (tcp_error)

A communication error occurred: "Operation timed out"
The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time.

For assistance, please raise a ticket through the CSC Help Desk (E-mail: CSS_Internal_Help_Desk@csc.com), and provide the information on this page for Proxy: CSC-CHD-CDC-1

ya'll killin' me :-)

you need the work shoes (black, brown and 2-3 casual types), athletic (2 + depending on what you do), dress shoes (2 black, 2 brown depending on the occasion(shiney or not so much)) and boots (hiking, winter, work... 4+ pairs), sandals (a variety based on application (beach, casual etc.) and any specialized footwear required (motorcycle (3 pairs, offroad, street warm and cold)) and sailing shoes (5 types).

that's um.... about 26 pairs of footwear.... do I win?

you know the hunters are basically happy shooting things. the 'SHARK" people want to save the pigeons. you should all compromise. Have the "SHARK" people just launch an ass-load of cheap RC things into the air and let the hunters shoot those. this'll keep the hunters in an amused state and the pigeons in a not-dead state. win-win.

--- this is my no-sig sig ---

nope. Medical Expenses. it keeps you sane.

as the head-end is bolted into a rack that is bolted to the floor..... it counts as housing and anything i put in the rack follows. I like my media flow. keeps us all fuzzy and happy.

He worked for you too?

We had a contractor, 20+ years at a telco, interviewed great, like a master-class in troubleshooting. We threw him at a customer-driven iOS (Cisco) update project. For 2 weeks he documented, prepared and printed a vast library of "stuff." He didn't actually "do" anything. When I approached him for his status and he told me he was preparing for his first one. I was a little surprised, but figured "OK, maybe he's gonna do a bunch now (looking at all the docs)". The next week goes by, more documenting..... He finally gets to actual work. Proceeds to load the wrong iOS image for the first switch he touched......

lesson learned = experience only matters if it's practical AND relevant. Old empirical knowledge is great for standing in front of a class but does not necessarily translate to the real world.

The next guy was much better.

- me = 20+ years in various IT, last 7 in Network Engineering, no certs, never bothered -

just what i need..... something else to tell me i'm over-weight and out of shape and need to get my tubby-butt in gear. i thought they already invented mirrors?

good sig

i've got this going on now. i have all my dvd's loaded to a server. said server also hosts a tv-tuner card (that allows us to record broadcast hd stuff) and our music and photos. all this digital joy is accessible from any connected device on the home network (ps3, laptops etc.). my family has learned to navigate the folder structure and watch what they want when they want and where they want.

the living room lcd has a small m$ netbook connected to it and a cheap 2.4GHz wireless mini-keyboard/touchpad combo. this can access the media share and the internet. the only problem is the lo-spec n270 proc has trouble doing 1080-hd content (it can handle 720 or less fine). the ps3 does all the blu-ray stuff thru a big 52" plasma screen (movies look real good on it with the better black levels).

the network is a slightly tweaked 2-wire setup and all the peripherals are wifi laptops and all-in-ones. the server and ps3 are wired.

i would add a cable feed IF i was able to pay for just what i want (i am not really feeling the need to add 50+ to my monthly bills). as it is, we are just paying for a high-speed internet link and a cell phone (i have a corporate one).

meh, it's just a bunch-a kids with RC toys. if you got an RC helicopter for x-mas you'd want to fly it too.

The ONLY time I use 5.1 is watching a DVD or movie that is from a suitable source. Lucky for me, my house has a basement into which went the rec room (re-hab project). this room is abundantly large and shaped correctly to allow a wide front sound-field (approx 20 feet) and a nearly deep enough (10 feet) surround/rear speaker depth. I have also delayed the rear speakers 30m/sec to give the illusion of greater depth. the reciever is a ProLogic unit (older) and a newer DVD player, speakers are Boston mid-range, large book-shelf type for the left and right with a similar spec center channel across the front with Bose 151 for rear surround. This system is a pleasure to watch movies on. the rear-projection, letterbox HDTV monitor helps loads here. the speakers are all mounted near the ceiling (with the exception of the center channel which is just over the display) with the wiring run inside the walls and ceiling to minimize the clutter

for music... same reciever with differing sources (LP, cassette and reel tape with CD-s from the DVD player and MP3 playback from the DVD and an iPod). this outputs to a nice pair of older Magnaplanar speakers. I noticed that that my (and most recievers have this option, sorry, being a smart-ass here) reciever has a A,B,A+B switch. This allows me to have my 5.1 system for movies and a good stereo system for music. win-win. I have noticed that with correct placment, the Magnaplanar speakers do a commendable job on thier own for movie watching. I believe that this is due to the speakers being of the electro-static variety that allows sound to eminate from the front AND the rear thus providing a very nice depth when run thru my reciever's "Dolby Simulated" mode. Only hitch with the Magnaplanars, get a high quality reciever as these are by no means an "efficient" speaker, it take some serious power to make these sing and my reciever is good and gets real warm, never shut down yet.

i do not consider my self to be an audiophile or anything like that. this system is reasonably inexpensive, with the exception of the Magnaplanars ($1500) and the display ($1200), and ran around $850 thur the time it took to biuld (i was single and living alone when i started and am now married with 2 kids). only the speakers and DVD player were aquired new. I have yet to have anyone complain about the sound or anything else regarding music or movies. I'm a happy tech-dweeb.

lucky enough to have a sig and a good stereo....oh, yeah. The beer fridge is nice too....