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Conflicting Medical Studies |
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Mike
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By Mike Murray on
4/24/2006
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For those of you who watch what you eat, here’s the final word on nutrition and health. It’s a relief to know the truth after all the conflicting medical studies:
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausage and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.
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Why Startlogic.com sucks! |
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Mike
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By Mike Murray on
4/16/2006
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I feel like I need to spread the word about Startlogic.com. The worst web hosting company I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. But hey, don't take my word for it check out StartlogicSucks.com for a whole bunch of people who feel the same way I do!
Last fall I ordered the WindowsLogic webhosting package to host murraynet.net (this site). It started out OK, but within two weeks I started having people tell me they couldn't get to my site. I'd check it and it wouldn't come up. This was usually hours later. I finally setup WhatsUpGold to monitor my site remotely and found it would be unavailable anywhere from minutes to hours a day. I started complaining to tech support and they would always tell me "We don't see a problem, check your local PC." I would tell them that my PC was fine and that I couldn't access it from my work or other family member's PC either. They would tell me that my server was working fine and they couldn't help me. Amazingly about 5 minutes after these phone calls it would start working again.
One day in February of 2006 my server became unavailable for several hours. I called technical support and was told that there were no known issues. I was fed up. I started calling back and looking for managers. I finally got to someone who admitted the entire server was down and that all sites on that server would be unavailable for at least the next 24 hours. I said "So you are admitting that your front line people lied to me." He said "They didn't lie, they were just uninformed." I replied "Wait a minute! The tech support person said he could access my site just fine. You just told me the server is down completely and that no sites on that server would be available for the next 24 hours!! Are you lying to me now?" The reply I received was classic startlogic BS: "I'm sorry sir, I can't help you any further." After a little more bickering with this person I was told I would receive another three months of hosting for free.
Fast forward to last week. I finally got my server setup at home and moved murraynet.net to my server running on my FIOS connection. I decided that since I still had several months of service left with Startlogic (did I mention they suck?) that I would use thier server to FTP backup copies of my site and database files each night. I emailed technical support and asked them to drop murraynet.net from their DNS servers and set IIS to respond to www2 and ftp2 (.murraynet.net). The email I received back was obviously from a total idiot. He said "without DNS how to you expect us to do this?" I replied and said "I am hosting my own DNS. All you need to do is update the HOST_HEADERS in IIS and I will take care of the rest." Two days pass with no response from them. I guess I threw them for a loop. That was a little to technical for them to understand. It probably went to 4th tier support. Evidently even they didn't get it because I finally got an email back saying "Your ticket has been closed." I checked and they didn't update the HOST_HEADERS!!! UGH!!
I decided I was finished with them. I sent them an email (in great detail like this blog entry) explaining to them that I was done with them and since they didn't meet their uptime guarantees I wanted to take advantage of their 'guaranteed satisfaction or your money back' clause. I was immediately told that I could only cancel within the first 30 days. I replied that it didn't matter because they didn't meet their uptime guarantee. I couldn't believe his response "If you want to get your money back you'll need to have your attorney contact our legal department." Wow. I won't even bother to tell you about the conversation I had with Yasmin who called me back a few days later. Oh... yes I will. She told me that to cancel my account she was going to charge me a $50 early termination fee. Yes! That's right! They are at fault, admitted they lied, told me to call their legal department and then tell my they are going to charge me a cancellation fee? I hit the roof. I just told her to do whatever she needed to do. If they charged me though, I would sue for damages in the largest amount I could possibly go for and I hung up on her. We will see what they do next.
Tags: Startlogic, Startlogic Review, Startlogic sucks, start logic web hosting, startlogic windowslogic
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Why Doctor Who is my new favorite TV series |
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Mike
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By Mike Murray on
4/15/2006
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 That's right! Doctor Who is my favorite show on TV right now. Well, Doctor Who, Survivorman, The MythBusters, How It's Made, Desperate Housewives, Modern Marvels and Battlestar Galactica are all pretty close in my rating scale. Doctor Who has really caught my fascination again. I've probably seen every single episode of the Tom Baker thru Collin Baker series twenty times. When I was a teenager and even younger I would stay up all night watching Doctor Who marathons on KERA-13. But when they replaced Collin Baker with dipstick, er uhm, I mean Sylvester McCoy I quit watching the series. They totally ruined the show. It became a mockery of what the original series was always liked for.
I've always liked Doctor Who because most of the subject material was thought provoking an believable. I loved the scientific content and the way The Doctor was able to solve puzzles by thinking outside of the box. After the series was cancelled in the late 80's I had lost all hope that it would ever return and be good again. Even in the late 90's a single episode was made with an 8th Doctor, but it was a failure with the fans as well.
When I heard that a new series would start in 2005 I got excited. I even downloaded the first episode from bittorrent two weeks before it was broadcast on TV. IT WAS TERRIBLE. I never looked for or watched another episode. Then one day a few weeks ago I noticed that my Tivo had started recording them from a wish-list I put in over a year ago for the old series. I started watching them. To my amazement, every episode I have seen has been really good. I guess the first was just a dud! I am so glad to say it too. I just watched Dalek last night. This is the first time the Dalek's have made an appearance in the new series. It was one of the best Doctor Who episodes I can remember! I've been reading some spoilers and reviews and it seems that some of the next few are even better! Great job BBC! This series is excellent and the character choices of Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper are perfect (although it seems Mr. Eccleston has left the series for 2006). This new series brings back all of the core values and designs of the orignal series that I grew up loving. As long as you keep making episodes like these, I will keep watching every week!
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Gas Powered Blender |
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Mike
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By Mike Murray on
4/10/2006
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Tailgating parties aren’t complete without the “Daiquiri Whacker Gas Powered Blender”. It comes with an unbreakable Oster blender jar and a Mountain Safety Research aluminum fuel bottle (for gas mixing/fuel storage). This powerful blender will start any party off with a bang, get yours now for just $275.00 from TheBigChill.
Powerful enough to whip up a batch of your favorite blended drink faster than you can say” Dos Margaritas por favor!”
Oh my Gawd... Well, you have to give them credit for actually having the balls to advertise and produce such an insane product. I guess there is a market for anything but I just don't see it. And to top it off - I realize I am the dumb one: I just gave them free advertising. They must be smarter than me...
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Poor Jazz... |
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Mike
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By Mike Murray on
4/9/2006
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Dad! I can't beleive you did that to Jazz. Good Job. That poor Bark-Rat needed a new hairstyle!
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If you see this... |
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Mike
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By Mike Murray on
4/6/2006
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That means you are visiting us on the new server at our house! I got the PIX Firewall configured and the new SQL 2005 Server up and running! I added a couple of Gigs of RAM to the server too. It is running Windows 2003 on a Shuttle XPC with a 1.8Ghz Intel P4 proc. I also replicated all the data from the sucky StartLogic.com server to the new SQL database. Welecome to Murraynet's new server!
Now that I am not using them anymore, let me tell you: StartLogic.com is the worst WebHost I have ever used. Their servers go down on a weekly basis, and they obviously do NOT monitor them.
Now that I have this finished, I can start working on HarpersGlen.com and WayStupid.com which are my next projects.
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Verizon has FIOS, but that won't save them from failure... |
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Mike
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By Mike Murray on
4/3/2006
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So several weeks back I decided to upgrade my FIOS connection to the business service so I could get the 5 static IP addresses. For those of you who don't know, FIOS is Verizon's implementation of Fiber to the Premises(FTTP) that provides up to 30Mb/s of downstream bandwidth and up to 5Mb/s of upstream bandwidth in their current service offering (as well as telephone an Cable TV services) over a single strand of fiber optic cable. After calling Verizon and explaining that I wanted to upgrade from residential service to the business service I was told that I would need to cancel my entire service and then call back in two weeks and reorder the business service once my old service had completed cancellation. This is crazy. After talking to a supervisor and explaining to her that I knew quite a bit about routers and switches and that this is a software change, she said "Yes you are correct, but our billing system doesn't understand that."
After spending a little while on the phone the rep said she found a new procedure to allow me to order the business service without canceling and waiting a month to get new service. She entered my order and scheduled a date of March 28th at 8:00am for my upgrade to take place. She said a Verizon tech would come out with a new router capable of supporting the 5 IPs. I asked if I could supply my own router since I preferred a Cisco solution over their Adtran router. I was told that I must use the Adtran at a cost of $249 bucks.
On Tuesday, March 28th I sat waiting eagerly for Verizon to show up. 8am came and went, 10am came and went. At noon, I decided to call them. I was told "We have no record of your order." I guess the new procedure didn't work. Luckily I found my order number and they found my order which had been rescheduled for March 31st. It would have been nice to have been notified, but I guess Verizon doesn't care that I had to take off work and waste my entire day sitting at home waiting for them. I explained to the service rep. that this was unacceptable treatment and asked why the order had been delayed. She said "They need to install another ONT on your house and another strand of fiber since you already have residential FIOS." Does anyone at Verizon talk to anyone else at Verizon? I explained that I was upgrading and she said "OK. I can send a technician out this evening." I agreed that would be OK.
5:45pm: Technician arrives. He says "Do you have an Adtran router?" I said "No! You didn't bring one?" He said "No. That's not my job. I can't do anything for you and he left." Furious, I called Verizon back and escalated as far up the chain as I could. Finally, I found their smartest tech (or at least I was told) and he said "This is absolutely ridiculous! This is a billing change in the system and a software change at the switch. I can fix you up in 10 minutes. Hang on." So 10 minutes goes by and guess what, I have five static IP addresses running on my little DLink Router(not their Adtran and soon to be replaced with a Cisco PIX 501).
So you think the story ends there? No it doesn't. Verizon still had a tech come out and install a brand new patch in the Fiber box down the street that never got used. A technician showed up at my house on Friday to do the install that was already complete and according to my on-line Verizon bill I have been charged for an Adtran router that I have never been given.
All this goes to show, that no matter how cool your product is if your business processes are so beauracratic and bloated that you can't be profitable you are doomed to fail.
On another note:
I have obtained a Cisco PIX 501 and for the life of me I can't get the static command to work. I even copied a Cisco template config to my PIX and replaced the IP addresses. No go. I am going to build a bogus network and isntall packet sniffers tonight to find out what is wrong. I suspect the PIX may be faulty.
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| | |  | | Leland Murray Memorial | | An old video I cut in September 2001 in rememberance of my Grandfather Leland Murray. | | | Added:12 months ago, in category:Misc | | From:Mike Murray | | Comments:0 / Views:29 | | | |
 | | Doctor Who Theme | | The making of the original Doctor Who Theme. The best part is the last minute or so. | | | Added:10 months ago, in category:Misc | | From:Mike Murray | | Comments:0 / Views:11 | | | |  | | Blue Tank Test with David Murray | | A quick test shot we did for a short film we almost really made (but never did). David and Leslie G. Murray. | | | Added:12 months ago, in category:Misc | | From:Mike Murray | | Comments:0 / Views:22 | | | |
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 | Leslie in a Giant Refuling Plane
Alliance AirShow October 20th, 2007 |  | Dustin in a Giant Refuling Plane
Alliance AirShow October 20th, 2007. |  | Connor in a Giant Refuling Plane
Alliance Air Show October 20th, 2007 |  | Blue Angels
The Blue Angels at the Alliance Airshow on October... |  | Keystone Video & Sound Booth
I picture from my perspective in my booth at Churc... |
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