Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck? Maybe there's a Conservation Law of Suckitude. I haven't noticed Verizon DNS sucking lately. Maybe Verizon Mass recruited Comcast NH's one good DNS tech to fix their breakage ?-) -- Bill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: OT: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
> From: "Michael ODonnell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 21:12:32 -0500 > >> And the mome raths outgrabe! > >> > > > >You joke! But, on OSCAR, someone once said "youre so grabe" to me. > >To this day, I wonder what s/he meant... *scratches head* > > > My sincere apologies if I damage any illusions you may have > been cherishing about the intensely profound significance > of that comment, but it's likely that it was a simple typo; > 'b' is next to 'v' on the keyboard and they were probably > just suggesting that you lighten up a bit... Well, yes, on some peoples' keyboards, B is next to V. However, this was likely not the intended meaning of the correspondent, because they were talking to my flirtbot---not me. (a perl+/lotsaregex/ Gaim plugin) ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Real Men use XML, was quote, was Google Earth...
What XML gives you is a standard way to define the structure, schema, and so on, in a way that is unambiguous and machine-friendly. Right. And if you do NOT create a X-Schema or DTD, and are using a non-validating parser, and then have to write code to explore the DOM generated from whatever XML it receives, you've given up 80% of the advantage. XHTML recaptulates HTML's errors of mixing presentation with contenat AND of accepting invalid syntax forgivingly. As others have said, the major benefit to this is you don't have to write a new parser and validator every time you create a new data structure. You just use the pre-existing XML library. AND USE THE VALIDATOR. That being said, the hype behind XML is largely, well, hype. But that's nothing new, either. I'm still waiting for my flying car. Yup. The real win is PORTABLE , multiplatform, choice of parser implementations that will accept a standard Schema (or DTD) definition. Currently, XML is fostering some improvements in the area of open data formats. A very good thing. While XML does lend itself to this well, I personally think it is more a coincidence than anything else. It's more than a coincidence, the availability of open-source parser/validators and viewers makes it a viable basis for standards-mongers. XML just happened to be in the right place at the right time. We're fortunate we got XML, and not something truely awful like DER or OLE Container Documents or something. Yeah. I'm hoping the magic pixie dust currently associated with XML keeps the momentum behind open data formats going. Yeah -- Bill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On 11/14/06, Bruce Dawson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Paul Lussier wrote: >... >>> How about the GNHLUG server? Can we make that a DNS server as a >>> "membership" benefit? >> Well, from a policy standpoint, I have no objections, but I wonder >> about some technical aspects. I'm not sure about the performance of >> that system. More importantly, unless you have a static IP address, >> how do we open it up to just "members"? > > We couldn't really restrict it, not practically anyway. Perhaps we > could play with DNSSEC, but I don't believe that actually is intended > for this purpose. That server (liberty) is bandwidth restricted. I don't recommend opening it up to the world as a DNS server. Hey, liberty is the name of my home 'server' ;-) ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Real Men use Lojban (fnord)
On 11/14/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: What XML gives you is a standard way to define the structure, schema, and so on, in a way that is unambiguous and machine-friendly. Hm. "unambiguous" and "machine-friendly". Lojban, which is formally defined by a yacc grammar, meets both these criteria. Not "standard", though. "Standard", in this case, meaning "has a snowball's chance in a supernova of having someone else using it", not "written down somewhere". There's a standard parser for the Lojban language, too. And since a spoken language can represent pretty much anything humanly experienceable, there's no doubt that it can represent any computer data the programmer chooses. Perhaps, but perhaps not well. I expect it would be ugly putting, say, JPEG data into Lojban. Sure, you could do it, as a sequence of numbers written/spoken in the language, but it's not very pretty. XML is somewhat less ugly. (Never thought I'd say that.) No need to document data structures or their meanings---because the data structure is a spoken language itself. Um. Yah. Just like declaring variables in a C program eliminates the need for comments. Ontologies, standards, and parsing aside, Lojban is easier for humans to author/edit than XML ... I rather think XML in one's native tongue will always be easier than Lojban (excepting the currently hypothetical case of Lojban being one's native tongue). ... and can be spoken aloud. Try doing that with XML! Open ach tee em ell close open body close open tee one close oh pee ee en open slash tee one close ... Who is to say that is any more or less ugly that "la fus. se skari lo blanu" or whatever? Slightly more verbose, I suppose. For those curious ... Short list. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: OT: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
>> And the mome raths outgrabe! >> > >You joke! But, on OSCAR, someone once said "youre so grabe" to me. >To this day, I wonder what s/he meant... *scratches head* My sincere apologies if I damage any illusions you may have been cherishing about the intensely profound significance of that comment, but it's likely that it was a simple typo; 'b' is next to 'v' on the keyboard and they were probably just suggesting that you lighten up a bit... ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Real Men use Lojban WAS: Re: Real Men use XML, was quote, was Google Earth...
> What XML gives you is a standard way to define the structure, > schema, and so on, in a way that is unambiguous and machine-friendly. Hm. "unambiguous" and "machine-friendly". Lojban, which is formally defined by a yacc grammar, meets both these criteria. > As others have said, the major benefit to this is you don't have to > write a new parser and validator every time you create a new data > structure. You just use the pre-existing XML library. Likewise, you > save some time in ramping up a new syntax or whatever. Kind of like There's a standard parser for the Lojban language, too. And since a spoken language can represent pretty much anything humanly experienceable, there's no doubt that it can represent any computer data the programmer chooses. The big advantage which Lojban has over XML is that you don't need to design elaborate ontologies. Lojban has a pre-existing, universal, ontology: the whole of human experience. No need to document data structures or their meanings---because the data structure is a spoken language itself. Ontologies, standards, and parsing aside, Lojban is easier for humans to author/edit than XML, and can be spoken aloud. Try doing that with XML! For those curious, the example I posted: > la fus. se skari lo blanu > gi'e mitre li papici loka clani > gi'e rainei lo bavyvacysai poi se cmene zoi gy. pie .gy. ku'o > .e lo skina poi se cmene zoi gy. Brazil .gy. ku'o > gi'e ki'ogra li rere translates to: something called Foo has color(blue) and measures-in-meters(the number 1.3, in-the-property-of length) and has-favorite(a dessert which is named "pie" AND a movie which is named "Brazil") and measures-in-kilograms(the number 2.2) ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: OT: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
> Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 16:00:30 -0500 > From: "Ben Scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > On 11/14/06, Michael ODonnell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thy micturations are to me > > As plurdled gabbleblotchits... > > And the mome raths outgrabe! > You joke! But, on OSCAR, someone once said "youre so grabe" to me. To this day, I wonder what s/he meant... *scratches head* ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Real Men use XML, was quote, was Google Earth...
On 11/14/06, Ted Roche <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: XML can be superior to plain text .conf files because it can introduce structure, character-set specifications and can be associated with a schema that can define and validate the document. All of that can be applied to just about anything else, too. /etc/hosts has a very well-defined structure. What XML gives you is a standard way to define the structure, schema, and so on, in a way that is unambiguous and machine-friendly. As others have said, the major benefit to this is you don't have to write a new parser and validator every time you create a new data structure. You just use the pre-existing XML library. Likewise, you save some time in ramping up a new syntax or whatever. Kind of like BNF. It's not like it does the implementation for you, but at least everyone understands what the author's trying to get across. That being said, the hype behind XML is largely, well, hype. But that's nothing new, either. I'm still waiting for my flying car. Currently, XML is fostering some improvements in the area of open data formats. While XML does lend itself to this well, I personally think it is more a coincidence than anything else. XML just happened to be in the right place at the right time. We're fortunate we got XML, and not something truely awful like DER or OLE Container Documents or something. I'm hoping the magic pixie dust currently associated with XML keeps the momentum behind open data formats going. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
Paul Lussier wrote: >... >>> How about the GNHLUG server? Can we make that a DNS server as a >>> "membership" benefit? >> Well, from a policy standpoint, I have no objections, but I wonder >> about some technical aspects. I'm not sure about the performance of >> that system. More importantly, unless you have a static IP address, >> how do we open it up to just "members"? > > We couldn't really restrict it, not practically anyway. Perhaps we > could play with DNSSEC, but I don't believe that actually is intended > for this purpose. That server (liberty) is bandwidth restricted. I don't recommend opening it up to the world as a DNS server. --Bruce ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: OT: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
On 11/14/06, Michael ODonnell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Thy micturations are to me As plurdled gabbleblotchits... And the mome raths outgrabe! -- B ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
OT: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
Thy micturations are to me As plurdled gabbleblotchits... ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kevin D. Clark) > Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:23:01 -0500 > > On the other hand, if the communication protocol was formed solely of > > grammatical Lojban text, this problem would never happen: > > I'm betting that Lojban poetry is even worse than Paul Neil Milne > Johnstone's of Redbridge. Since you asked. :) http://www.lojban.org/files/texts/cukta1.html http://www.lojban.org/files/texts/cukta2.html http://www.lojban.org/files/texts/cukta3.html ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
aluminumsulfate writes: > That's great, but when v3 of the protocol comes out, and the message > is encoded [snip] > your v1 and v2 nodes are going to be incompatible with your v3 nodes. Like I said, I was speaking very generally. > On the other hand, if the communication protocol was formed solely of > grammatical Lojban text, this problem would never happen: I'm betting that Lojban poetry is even worse than Paul Neil Milne Johnstone's of Redbridge. Regards, --kevin -- GnuPG ID: B280F24E Never could stand that dog. alumni.unh.edu!kdc -- Tom Waits ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On 11/14/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: The best results I've gotten, looking at the whole picture (price, performance, reliability, customer service, etc.) are with local ISPs doing fixed wireless. The major advantage is that by eliminating a Really?! I don't know this to be very popular. Is it now? Popular? I certainly like it. It is not that common, though, which I suspect is what you're really after. You need RF line-of-sight and cannot have more than several miles between stations. As it happens, there's a big hill in the middle of Amesbury, covered in radio towers, so it's convenient here. Elsewhere in hilly New England? I dunno. A lot of it is luck-of-the-draw. Find out if there are any ISPs homed near you and give them a call. Any local providers you can suggest? We're using MVA at work (http://www.mva.net). I'm generally happy with it. We're getting everything we pay for. It's a symmetric feed with SLA, CIR, and all those other acronyms. I'm sure a home user would be horrified at what we pay for it, but it's a whole different class of service vs. a consumer feed. They do offer consumer feeds, but I have no idea what the terms or rates are like. Reliability has been very good over the three years or so we've had it. There was one outage due to equipment failure at the tower once. It went out around 4 PM and was back later that evening. Said owner was there, at the base of the tower, in the rain, until the techs got finished fixing things. There have been maybe two or three other times were performance got bad due to upstream circuit trouble, but those were all resolved within an hour or so. The NET^W NYNEX^W Bell Atlantic^W^W Verizon frame relay circuit we had before that wasn't any more reliable. Again, the "local company" factor is huge. Trouble is always acknowledged and sometimes proactively reported. I'm on a first-name basis with the owner, and I can call right into their NOC if I need to. No run around, no recordings, no help desk b*llsh*t. Even if something happens, I at least know what and why and when. That's worth a lot to me. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
> Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:26:32 -0500 > From: "Ben Scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > The best results I've gotten, looking at the whole picture (price, > performance, reliability, customer service, etc.) are with local ISPs > doing fixed wireless. The major advantage is that by eliminating a Really?! I don't know this to be very popular. Is it now? Any local providers you can suggest? > incompetent monopolies. If I have a serious problem with the wireless > feed at work, I can drive to the ISP's office in the next town, and > beat the owner over the head with his radio. I find the GNU Emacs manual more effective when used in this manner. I find it tends to instill more fear in the person I'm beating. ;) ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
> Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:22:05 -0500 > From: "Ben Scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > One problem I did encounter in the past was that Adelphia was > dropping UDP packets with a *source* port of 53. Any other source > port was fine. Today's Internet is a weird place. :) /me is really looking forward to that RFC they're putting together for Internet-over-Internet encapsulation. I think it'll be a good workaround of braindead ISPs. Of course, after a while they'd probably catch onto that too and we'd have to start using Virtual Private Internets. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
> Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:21:40 -0500 > From: Chip Marshall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > On November 14, 2006, Steven W. Orr sent me the following: > > On Tuesday, Nov 14th 2006 at 09:06 -0800, quoth Thomas Charron: > > => Brace yourself. I don't know the current status, but in the past, I know > > =>Comcast has intercepted all DNS queries, regardless or destination, and > > =>redirected them to their own. > > > > If they do that how can you tell? > > I think for that to work, they'd have to spoof the source IP of the > returning UDP packet. I think the only way you'd be able to tell if it's > being tampered with is by comparing the TTL of the returning UDP packets > to what you'd expect to see if they were coming from the actual name > server. Theoretically, the packets from Comcast's nameserver should have > a higher TTL, having traversed less hops to get to you. A more reliable test would be to find a set of test cases for which Comcast's and Real DNS servers return different responses and periodically query names from that set of domains. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kevin D. Clark) > Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:30:12 -0500 > Suppose this is version 1 of the protocol. > > Now suppose in version 2 of the protocol we want to add some more > properties: > > >blue >1.3m >pie >22kg >Brazil > That's great, but when v3 of the protocol comes out, and the message is encoded blue 1.3m pie Brazil 22kg your v1 and v2 nodes are going to be incompatible with your v3 nodes. On the other hand, if the communication protocol was formed solely of grammatical Lojban text, this problem would never happen: la fus. se skari lo blanu gi'e mitre li papici loka clani gi'e rainei lo bavyvacysai poi se cmene zoi gy. pie .gy. ku'o .e lo skina poi se cmene zoi gy. Brazil .gy. ku'o gi'e ki'ogra li rere Easy as that. :) The text will parse into a tree just like XML, but with the advantage that standard rewriting rules can be used to convert between different *representations* with the same *meaning*. Hm. Sounds like one of the original goals of SGML, doesn't it? ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Fios. Was: Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On Tuesday 14 November 2006 11:25, kenta uttered thusly: > I'd love to try Verzion's FiOS but they're not offering it in my part of > Nashua. :( If anyone here has it, how is it? I'm also not sure how any > local DSL providers are stacking up these days. Feedback is appreciated. > > -Kenta > ___ > gnhlug-discuss mailing list > gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org > http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ I've been using Fios for quite some time now, and if you search the archives I did a write-up on them shortly after the install. Well, it's been quite a few months, and the service has been nice and fast. Not one outage that I can recall. Just friggin there, reliable, and invisible. There are a couple of caveats -- as there always are -- with it, though. For me, who likes to keep ssh sessions open all the time, Fios tends to drop inactive TCP/IP connections after a time (a few minutes). Got around this problem with enabling keepalive in ssh. Another caveat with Fios, if you get their dynamic IP offering, is that dynamic means dynamic. Every so often Fios will shift the IP, open connections or not. Generally about once or twice a month. If your router (there is no "modem") gets turned off, you will always have a different IP when it is turned back on. The dynamic IP problem was an issue for me since I do development "on the road", as it were, but got around this problem by writing a couple of scripts to update my name servers with the IP periodically. If you don't have your own name servers, you can always use something like DynDNS, I suppose. But compared to Crumcast, it's reliable, and much cheaper -- something on the order of $35 per month for their 2Mbit/5Mbit bandwidth -- their lowest offering. For modest increases you can get higher down bandwidth, but they are stingy on their up bandwidth, keeping you to 2Mbit for most offerings. Also, the bandwidth with Fios stays consistent -- I've not seen slowdowns like I have with Comcast. Overall, I am happy with Verzion and what they've done. Which is saying a lot since I dealt with them back in 2000, where they could barely spell "DSL", let alone get it right. Back then, they promised me DSL service, then made me wait for months, only to tell me that they "ran out of ports". Sigh. Now, they waited on me hand and foot during the installation, including fishing wires through walls and the like. And their Customer Service also greatly improved, and actually understood my technical questions, which blew me away. Usually I have to fight the "is it plugged in" queries, but not this time. Having worked with DSLAMs and the like in the past, when fibre to the last mile seemed like a pipe dream, we've come quite a long way. Phew! -Fred ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
"Ben Scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Those reverse to: > > 24.34.240.9 chlm2-pdns-tmp.chelmsfdrdc2.ma.boston.comcast.net. > 24.34.241.9 chlm2-2dns-tmp.chelmsfdrdc2.ma.boston.comcast.net. > 68.87.64.196 ns.inflow.pa.bo.comcast.net. > > Note the "-tmp" in those first two names. Meanwhile, I have > these, from DHCP: > > 68.87.71.226 cns.chelmsfdrdc2.ma.boston.comcast.net. > 68.87.73.242 cns.manassaspr.va.dc02.comcast.net. Interesting. I don't recall ever mucking with my dhcp config such that /etc/resolv.conf wouldn't get updated. I suppose it's possible... > At a guess, it looks like you have stale entries in your resolv.conf file. Definitely. Changing them to what you have makes those sites resolve instantly. Now to hunt down why those were static... > Of course, as others suggested, setting up your own local, > full-service, recursive resolver is probably a good idea, too. I might do that if I feel the need to build yadnss :) -- Seeya, Paul "who sometimes just wants to be a user" -- Key fingerprint = 1660 FECC 5D21 D286 F853 E808 BB07 9239 53F1 28EE A: Yes. > Q: Are you sure? >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation. >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email? ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On Tue, 14 Nov 2006, Ben Scott wrote: Both result in 'not found' errors from home: $ host www.evangelicaloutpost.com Host www.evangelicaloutpost.com not found: 2(SERVFAIL) Hmmm, SERVFAIL is more than just a simple "not found", it means "something is actively broken". I have seen nameservers give that response when you attempt to send a recursive query to a nameserver configured to refuse connections or recursion. But it can also originate from a broken authoritative server or a lame delegation. This happens the Carnivore server is broken, just call the ISP and request the FBI reboot the box or replace it with a simple linux box running Ethereal :D -Kenta ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Earthlink DNS (Was: Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?)
On 11/14/06, Mark Polhamus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: http://blogs.earthlink.net/2006/09/more_info_on_dead_domain_handl.php Earthlink says: "...this isn't something that you'll be able to get customer support help with..." My response would then be: This isn't something you'll get my subscriber fee with. Voting with your wallet is a great form of democracy. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On Tue, 14 Nov 2006, Travis Roy wrote: When I worked at the MediaOne NOC (under my horrible manager there) some guy called saying he was going to kill and/or beat one of the callcenter people (they worked upstairs). Now I remember why I paid you less than everyone else. GOOD TIMES. (-1 point for me for clogging everyone's inbox, but it just had to be done) -Kenta ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Earthlink DNS (Was: Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?)
Travis Roy wrote: > >> On Tue, 14 Nov 2006, Michael ODonnell wrote: >>> I have no love for ComcCast - I'd drop them yesterday >>> if I had any better (or even comparable) choices - > > I use Earthlink for my cable service... > > It's from Comcast, and my bill actually comes from Comcast, but I get an > Earthlink IP, Earthlink DNS, and Earthlink reverse DNS. > > I did this because I have DirecTV. If you have Comcast for TV and > internet, then Comcast is cheaper, but if you don't use Comcast for TV > service Earthlink is cheaper (due to Concast's bundle discounts). > > I've been very happy with it. I'm a long time Earthlink subscriber -- started with dialup but now have Earthlink through my cable broadband. Until recently I have been perfectly happy, but now I have one huge issue with Earthlink: Remember when VeriSign decided to grab all nonexistent domain names and return the IP address of their "helpful" search service called SiteFinder? They did it using a wildcard DNS entry. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitefinder. Now Earthlink is doing the same thing for users of it's default DNS servers (from DHCP). Enter a non-existent DNS domain and you get an invalid "found" response with the IP address of their search/advertising portal run by an outfit called barefruit.com. You can read Earthlink's blog about this "helpful" service and the furious responses from users here: http://blogs.earthlink.net/2006/08/handling_dead_domains_1.php http://blogs.earthlink.net/2006/09/update_on_dead_domain_handling_1.php http://blogs.earthlink.net/2006/09/more_info_on_dead_domain_handl.php See also http://weblog.infoworld.com/gripeline/archives/2006/09/earthlink_tries.html. I'm an Earthlink subscriber (a reluctant one after this "SiteFinder" stunt) but I've configured alternate DNS. -- Mark Polhamus ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
If I have a serious problem with the wireless feed at work, I can drive to the ISP's office in the next town, and beat the owner over the head with his radio. Just don't call first.. When I worked at the MediaOne NOC (under my horrible manager there) some guy called saying he was going to kill and/or beat one of the callcenter people (they worked upstairs). We were in lockdown for a few hours and couldn't leave the building.. Not that there was much to do at 3am, but it still sucked. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On 11/14/06, kenta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: That being said, does anyone have experiences with other residential high speed providers that are in the same price range as Comcast? At that price range, your options are always going to be fairly limited. The best results I've gotten, looking at the whole picture (price, performance, reliability, customer service, etc.) are with local ISPs doing fixed wireless. The major advantage is that by eliminating a dependency on local wired infrastructure, you also eliminate large incompetent monopolies. If I have a serious problem with the wireless feed at work, I can drive to the ISP's office in the next town, and beat the owner over the head with his radio. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On November 14, 2006, Steven W. Orr sent me the following: > On Tuesday, Nov 14th 2006 at 09:06 -0800, quoth Thomas Charron: > => Brace yourself. I don't know the current status, but in the past, I know > =>Comcast has intercepted all DNS queries, regardless or destination, and > =>redirected them to their own. > > If they do that how can you tell? I think for that to work, they'd have to spoof the source IP of the returning UDP packet. I think the only way you'd be able to tell if it's being tampered with is by comparing the TTL of the returning UDP packets to what you'd expect to see if they were coming from the actual name server. Theoretically, the packets from Comcast's nameserver should have a higher TTL, having traversed less hops to get to you. -- Chip Marshall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://kyzoku.2bithacker.net/ GCM/IT d+(-) s+:++ a25>? C++ UB$ P+++$ L- E--- W++ N@ o K- w O M+ V-- PS+ PE Y+ PGP++ t+@ R@ tv@ b++@ DI D+(-) G++ e>++ h>++ r-- y? ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On 11/14/06, Thomas Charron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Brace yourself. I don't know the current status, but in the past, I know Comcast has intercepted all DNS queries, regardless or destination, and redirected them to their own. FWIW, in my service area (Dover, NH), they do not appear to be doing this. Or, if they are, they are adjusting the response time for queries based on distance to the real nameserver. ;-) One problem I did encounter in the past was that Adelphia was dropping UDP packets with a *source* port of 53. Any other source port was fine. Today's Internet is a weird place. :) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On Tuesday, Nov 14th 2006 at 09:06 -0800, quoth Thomas Charron: => Brace yourself. I don't know the current status, but in the past, I know =>Comcast has intercepted all DNS queries, regardless or destination, and =>redirected them to their own. If they do that how can you tell? ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On Tue, 2006-11-14 at 11:25 -0500, kenta wrote: > That being said, does anyone have experiences with other residential high > speed providers that are in the same price range as Comcast? I've used Worldpath (http://www.worldpath.com) for home DSL for several years now and couldn't be happier. The service has been reliable, the rare occasions where I've needed to talk to a tech have been pleasant with knowledgeable (and local) individuals. I get about 4.2Mb down and about 768Kb up. I get that and a static IP for about $50/month. -- Cole Tuininga <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.code-energy.com/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
Brace yourself. I don't know the current status, but in the past, I know Comcast has intercepted all DNS queries, regardless or destination, and redirected them to their own. Thomas On 11/14/06, Paul Lussier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Over the past couple of weeks I've noticed that sites I can get toboth easily and quickly from work are completely unreachable fromhome. From Comcast's perspective, these sites seem to not even exist. Is this intentional censoring on Comcast's part, or just incompetanceat maintaining a DNS server infrastructure?And on that note, can anyone recommend a decent set of DNS servers topoint at instead of using Comcast's? How about the GNHLUG server? Can we make that a DNS server as a"membership" benefit?Thanks.--Seeya,Paul___gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.orghttp://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On Tue, 14 Nov 2006, Michael ODonnell wrote: I have no love for ComcCast - I'd drop them yesterday if I had any better (or even comparable) choices - I use Earthlink for my cable service... It's from Comcast, and my bill actually comes from Comcast, but I get an Earthlink IP, Earthlink DNS, and Earthlink reverse DNS. I did this because I have DirecTV. If you have Comcast for TV and internet, then Comcast is cheaper, but if you don't use Comcast for TV service Earthlink is cheaper (due to Concast's bundle discounts). I've been very happy with it. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On 11/14/06, Paul Lussier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Nope. The two I can remember of hand are: www.evangelicaloutpost.com[1] www.shamusyoung.com[2] FWIW: I just ssh'ed into my home system and checked those two names against the two Comcast DNS servers present in my /etc/resolv.conf, and everything appeared to resolve fine. Both result in 'not found' errors from home: $ host www.evangelicaloutpost.com Host www.evangelicaloutpost.com not found: 2(SERVFAIL) Hmmm, SERVFAIL is more than just a simple "not found", it means "something is actively broken". I have seen nameservers give that response when you attempt to send a recursive query to a nameserver configured to refuse connections or recursion. But it can also originate from a broken authoritative server or a lame delegation. $ cat /etc/resolv.conf search hsd1.ma.comcast.net. nameserver 24.34.240.9 nameserver 24.34.241.9 nameserver 68.87.64.196 Those reverse to: 24.34.240.9 chlm2-pdns-tmp.chelmsfdrdc2.ma.boston.comcast.net. 24.34.241.9 chlm2-2dns-tmp.chelmsfdrdc2.ma.boston.comcast.net. 68.87.64.196ns.inflow.pa.bo.comcast.net. Note the "-tmp" in those first two names. Meanwhile, I have these, from DHCP: 68.87.71.226cns.chelmsfdrdc2.ma.boston.comcast.net. 68.87.73.242cns.manassaspr.va.dc02.comcast.net. At a guess, it looks like you have stale entries in your resolv.conf file. I think they're managed via DHCP. You might want to make sure of that. :-) Of course, as others suggested, setting up your own local, full-service, recursive resolver is probably a good idea, too. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On Tuesday, Nov 14th 2006 at 09:57 -0500, quoth Cole Tuininga: =>On Tue, 2006-11-14 at 09:29 -0500, Paul Lussier wrote: =>> And on that note, can anyone recommend a decent set of DNS servers to =>> point at instead of using Comcast's? => => => =>The company I work for (DynDNS) offers a pretty high quality recursive =>DNS service for $29.95/year. => =>Here's a link to our "features" page: => =>http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/recursivedns/features.html => => Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this service for the purpose of hosting a domain? It sounded to me like Paul was looking for another server to point to in his resolv.conf ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
On 11/14/06, Kevin D. Clark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Paul Lussier writes: > Is there anyway we could foster this into a real discussion on XML, > what it is, what it's used for, why it's > good/bad/evil/sucks-rocks/better-than-sliced-bread ? Well, everybody has their own view on the world. You need to understand where I stand before you understand my perspective. I occasionally design (and implement) non-trivial communications protocols. When you're designing protocols, you need to get the protocol to be expressive enough in order to transport the information you need over the wire. Of course, this should be obvious. What isn't necessarily so obvious is the fact that the entire time you're designing and working with the protocol, you've got to be thinking to yourself "how do I design this protocol to be future-proof?". At some point you need to make the protocol flexible enough so that implementations of one version of the protocol can be backwards-compatible and interoperate with previous implementations of the protocol. This is the kind of problem that can make you lose a lot of sleep at night. One of the useful ways to think about a protocol is to think about it in terms of the information that is carried in each logical message (the semantics) and on the other hand, how each message is logically expressed/encoded on the wire. XML encoding is useful here. Speaking very generally, suppose I have a message that is encoded like this: blue 1.3m pie Suppose this is version 1 of the protocol. Now suppose in version 2 of the protocol we want to add some more properties: blue 1.3m pie 22kg Brazil By using XML encoding, a version 1 peer's protocol implementation isn't so inflexible that it bombs when it sees these extra fields -- it can, for example, choose to ignore these extra fields. Contrast this behavior with some other, fixed-field protocols (how about TCP for example). How would you arbitrarily add a field to such a protocol? (answer: not very easily) When you're working on a rapidly changing product that involves a custom protocol (or, alternatively, a protocol that you merely wish to extend), having flexibility like this can be very useful. Another big reason is the reason SGML (predecessor to XML) came about - separating content from presentation. IBM (some company that actually DOES innovate) developed it and sold it to the DoD. Concept - you have documents that will be displayed multiple ways (on-screen, printed, etc). However, you don't want to rewrite them each time. SGML (now XML) separates the two. In SGML you had 3 parts: the data with markups for structure, a DTD that described the markup allowed for a given kind of document (another reason for it - ensured consistency of the documents), and a presentation element. The presentation element would be different, depending on the medium. So, by writing one document and marking it up, it would be usable on multiple display formats. As mentioned, it's also good for ensuring consistancy. And it's portable - based on text. Probably more reasons, but that's oen that I remember. jeff ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
I have no love for ComcCast - I'd drop them yesterday if I had any better (or even comparable) choices - but I can't say that their DNS sucks any worse than anybody else's. They do fsck it up occasionally but (here in Chelmsford) it's working OK at the moment. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
Here's some XML to gander at: http://em1.sensatronics.com/xmldata http://em1.sensatronics.com/xmlconfig (Note that for some reason Firefox will only display it after I click refresh - haven't seen that happen before today, but if you just get a blank screen try a refresh.) Your browser will probably make it pretty for you, though the indenting etc. isn't in the data that's actually being sent. Basically it's just HTML with made-up tags instead of standards like This is bold. The advantage is that you can use a standard parser rather than inventing a new parser every time, and then just look through your already parsed data for particular application-dependent key->value pairs. --DTVZ On 11/14/06, Paul Lussier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kevin D. Clark) writes: > "Bill Ricker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >>> "XML is for people who don't understand Scheme." (not my quote, >>> that just seems like such good flamewar fodder that I had to pass it >>> along) >> >> There's nothing new under the sun. Each generation thinks they >> invented sex and fast square root algorithms. >> >> I've said for years, if LISP stands for Lots of Invidious Silly >> Parentheses, >> and usesancient ENDIF syntax, as if syntax-aware editors couldn't >> handle closing-brace-match. > > I agree with this all 100%. XML is just another markup language for > me. Earlier in my career ASN.1 and BER-encoding were my bread and > butter. Nowadays XML has more popularity (probably deservedly so). Is there anyway we could foster this into a real discussion on XML, what it is, what it's used for, why it's good/bad/evil/sucks-rocks/better-than-sliced-bread ? About the only thing I know about XML is that it appears to be a markup language for Pirate Treasure Maps (you know, X-marks-the-spot... okay, sorry, not funny :) I know it wasn't intended for wetware-parsing, but increasingly hear how many people have trouble dealing with it. Conversely, I haven't yet heard a single computer say anything bad about it :) -- Seeya, Paul ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On Tue, 2006-11-14 at 09:29 -0500, Paul Lussier wrote: > And on that note, can anyone recommend a decent set of DNS servers to > point at instead of using Comcast's? The company I work for (DynDNS) offers a pretty high quality recursive DNS service for $29.95/year. Here's a link to our "features" page: http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/recursivedns/features.html -- Cole Tuininga <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.code-energy.com/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On Tue, 14 Nov 2006, Michael ODonnell wrote: I have no love for ComcCast - I'd drop them yesterday if I had any better (or even comparable) choices - That being said, does anyone have experiences with other residential high speed providers that are in the same price range as Comcast? Comcast has actually been pretty good to me. To be honest I can't remember the last time my Internet service was out. My IP rarely changes (once in 2 years) and for the most part they still seem to have a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy when it comes to having a server type box at home. I'd love to try Verzion's FiOS but they're not offering it in my part of Nashua. :( If anyone here has it, how is it? I'm also not sure how any local DSL providers are stacking up these days. Feedback is appreciated. -Kenta ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On 11/14/06, Paul Lussier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Over the past couple of weeks I've noticed that sites I can get to both easily and quickly from work are completely unreachable from home. From Comcast's perspective, these sites seem to not even exist. Really. That's interesting. I'm on Comcast (Dover, NH) and I haven't noticed any problems of that sort. Any pattern to the sites, that you can discern? Also, are you using manually configured DNS servers, or what they give out via DHCP? If the former, you might want to try the later. I know they've been changing things around as of late. Is this intentional censoring on Comcast's part, or just incompetance at maintaining a DNS server infrastructure? "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." How about the GNHLUG server? Can we make that a DNS server as a "membership" benefit? Well, from a policy standpoint, I have no objections, but I wonder about some technical aspects. I'm not sure about the performance of that system. More importantly, unless you have a static IP address, how do we open it up to just "members"? -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Real Men use XML, was quote, was Google Earth...
On Nov 14, 2006, at 9:40 AM, Paul Lussier wrote: Is there anyway we could foster this into a real discussion on XML, what it is, what it's used for, why it's good/bad/evil/sucks-rocks/better-than-sliced-bread ? We can if we start it. A pocket summary sure to offend many and distort history a bit: XML is a spinoff/outgrowth/subset of SGML, the Standardized General Markup Language. The idea of XML was to be simpler to use and create. It has few rules to create fully-formed and valid XML, so it's easier to get right in a text editor. XML can be superior to plain text .conf files because it can introduce structure, character-set specifications and can be associated with a schema that can define and validate the document. XML can be useful in many kinds of document exchange, like EDI, where current standards or protocols fail to sufficiently validate or strictly define the documents. (There's an entire sub-industry that makes money converting submitted documents of form XXX into the format expected by the recipient.) XML can be overkill for .conf files that are just sets of name-value pairs, but once you get into nested sets and want to express values with valid ranges or characters outside of 0x01 to 0x7f, XML starts to be a better fit. XHTML is an XML superset of HTML that's more consistent, easier to validate and easier to process. Nearly every computer languages has XML parsers and XML factories to read and write the format. Most even work well together. XML is useful in data exchanges where sender and receiver do not have to agree on much else other than to use XML and appropriate schemas. You can use code page 1252 while I convert the document to Unicode and others read it in other formats, as long as there are mappings. The GNHLUG produces XML in the form of RSS feeds that are consumed by readers, aggregators and other machine processes to help us spread our news. http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/WebRss?skin=rss Confirm it's valid here: http://www.feedvalidator.org In Hackers and Painters, Paul Graham refers to Java as the "magic pixie dust" of the last Web Bubble. Paraphrasing, "sprinkle it on any business plan and the VCs throw money at you." XML certainly has the potential to do the same for the Web 2.0 marketing Ponzi scheme. But there is some deep value in this stuff beyond exploiting VCs to buy bimmers for the CTO. Lots of specialty languages, all of which are valid XML have sprung up, making it easier to create and exchange documents: MathML, MusicML, OPML, and others. Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
Paul Lussier writes: > Is there anyway we could foster this into a real discussion on XML, > what it is, what it's used for, why it's > good/bad/evil/sucks-rocks/better-than-sliced-bread ? Well, everybody has their own view on the world. You need to understand where I stand before you understand my perspective. I occasionally design (and implement) non-trivial communications protocols. When you're designing protocols, you need to get the protocol to be expressive enough in order to transport the information you need over the wire. Of course, this should be obvious. What isn't necessarily so obvious is the fact that the entire time you're designing and working with the protocol, you've got to be thinking to yourself "how do I design this protocol to be future-proof?". At some point you need to make the protocol flexible enough so that implementations of one version of the protocol can be backwards-compatible and interoperate with previous implementations of the protocol. This is the kind of problem that can make you lose a lot of sleep at night. One of the useful ways to think about a protocol is to think about it in terms of the information that is carried in each logical message (the semantics) and on the other hand, how each message is logically expressed/encoded on the wire. XML encoding is useful here. Speaking very generally, suppose I have a message that is encoded like this: blue 1.3m pie Suppose this is version 1 of the protocol. Now suppose in version 2 of the protocol we want to add some more properties: blue 1.3m pie 22kg Brazil By using XML encoding, a version 1 peer's protocol implementation isn't so inflexible that it bombs when it sees these extra fields -- it can, for example, choose to ignore these extra fields. Contrast this behavior with some other, fixed-field protocols (how about TCP for example). How would you arbitrarily add a field to such a protocol? (answer: not very easily) When you're working on a rapidly changing product that involves a custom protocol (or, alternatively, a protocol that you merely wish to extend), having flexibility like this can be very useful. Anyways, that's my perspective. Regards, --kevin -- GnuPG ID: B280F24E Never could stand that dog. alumni.unh.edu!kdc -- Tom Waits ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
Paul Lussier wrote: Is there anyway we could foster this into a real discussion on XML, what it is, what it's used for, why it's good/bad/evil/sucks-rocks/better-than-sliced-bread ? About the only thing I know about XML is that it appears to be a markup language for Pirate Treasure Maps (you know, X-marks-the-spot... okay, sorry, not funny :) As far as what it is, there is a huge amount of material available online to answer this. Here are a few starting places: A Technical Introduction to XML http://xml.com/pub/a/98/10/guide0.html Many other articles on xml.com Processing XML with Java - complete book available online, the first two chapters are general introduction to XML. http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xmljava/ Kent ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
And on that note, can anyone recommend a decent set of DNS servers to point at instead of using Comcast's? Run your own local DNS server with caching. You do have a server at home right? Or run a caching server on localhost. Linux and MacOSX can do it. Point it at the root servers if you can't find reliable secondaries. Recommendations? ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Two security discussions on the evening of the 16th
The nice thing about MythTV is that you can record one program while watching another. Unfortunately, I haven't figure out how to do that in real-space, yet. I plan to attend Shawn O'Shea's presentation on VMWare at MerriLUG (http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.org.user-groups.linux.gnhlug/7394), but if that's not your cup of tea, check out these two presentations: The Greater Boston Chapter of the ACM will have Jeffrey I. Schiller of MIT presenting "Computer and Network Security in the 21st Century." Details at http://www.gbcacm.org/website/semInfo.php? id=1119 - sounds fascinating! Also, the New England Information Security Group will be presenting "Cyber Forensics - What To Do When Presented With a Computer That May Contain Evidence of Criminal Activity," by Melissa Royer of Defender Data Recovery and Forensic Services. Details at http://www.neisg.org/ Meetings/Default.htm So little time, so many good meetings... Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
"Bill Ricker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> "XML is for people who don't understand Scheme." (not my quote, >> that just seems like such good flamewar fodder that I had to pass it >> along) > > There's nothing new under the sun. Each generation thinks they > invented sex and fast square root algorithms. > > I've said for years, if LISP stands for Lots of Invidious Silly > Parentheses, > and usesancient ENDIF syntax, as if syntax-aware editors couldn't > handle closing-brace-match. I agree with this all 100%. XML is just another markup language for me. Earlier in my career ASN.1 and BER-encoding were my bread and butter. Nowadays XML has more popularity (probably deservedly so). Regards, --kevin -- GnuPG ID: B280F24E Never could stand that dog. alumni.unh.edu!kdc -- Tom Waits ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
On 11/14/06, Bill Ricker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Another old quote -- every non-trivial application has a non-trivial subset of a Lisp interpretter (and/or Fortran library) embedded, but implemented badly. "Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Common Lisp." -- Greenspun's Tenth Rule of Programming "…including Common Lisp." -- Robert Morris's Corollary -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
"Tom Buskey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Run your own local DNS server with caching. You do have a server at > home right? Or run a caching server on localhost. Linux and MacOSX > can do it. Good point, don't know why I never thought of that. For that matter, I can also use the ones here at work :) Duh. My caffeine system must have too much blood in it this morning. > Point it at the root servers if you can't find reliable secondaries. > Recommendations? Can't we just go back to using /etc/hosts ? -- Seeya, Paul -- Key fingerprint = 1660 FECC 5D21 D286 F853 E808 BB07 9239 53F1 28EE A: Yes. > Q: Are you sure? >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation. >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email? ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
"Ben Scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Really. That's interesting. I'm on Comcast (Dover, NH) and I > haven't noticed any problems of that sort. Any pattern to the sites, > that you can discern? Nope. The two I can remember of hand are: www.evangelicaloutpost.com[1] www.shamusyoung.com[2] Both result in 'not found' errors from home: $ host www.evangelicaloutpost.com Host www.evangelicaloutpost.com not found: 2(SERVFAIL) $ host www.shamusyoung.com Host www.shamusyoung.com not found: 2(SERVFAIL) using these DNS servers: $ cat /etc/resolv.conf search hsd1.ma.comcast.net. nameserver 24.34.240.9 nameserver 24.34.241.9 nameserver 68.87.64.196 > Also, are you using manually configured DNS servers, or what they > give out via DHCP? If the former, you might want to try the later. I > know they've been changing things around as of late. I think they're managed via DHCP. >> Is this intentional censoring on Comcast's part, or just incompetance >> at maintaining a DNS server infrastructure? > > "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by > stupidity." Theirs or mine ;) >> How about the GNHLUG server? Can we make that a DNS server as a >> "membership" benefit? > > Well, from a policy standpoint, I have no objections, but I wonder > about some technical aspects. I'm not sure about the performance of > that system. More importantly, unless you have a static IP address, > how do we open it up to just "members"? We couldn't really restrict it, not practically anyway. Perhaps we could play with DNSSEC, but I don't believe that actually is intended for this purpose. -- Seeya, Paul The actual urls I was trying to access were: [1] http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/archives/003253.html (Marine Corps Rules for Gun Fighting) [2] http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=612 (DM of the Rings) Both quite amusing, though the latter is much more of a time sink :) ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
On 11/14/06, Bill Ricker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: ... and usesancient ENDIF syntax, as if syntax-aware editors couldn't handle closing-brace-match. I'm of two minds when it comes to this sort of thing. (Normally, I'm lucky to have one mind.) On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, there have been times where the mismatch between "open foo" and "close foo" (regardless of syntax) has helped me find bugs. On the gripping hand, choice is good. It should be optional. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
"XML is for people who don't understand Scheme." (not my quote, that just seems like such good flamewar fodder that I had to pass it along) There's nothing new under the sun. Each generation thinks they invented sex and fast square root algorithms. I've said for years, if LISP stands for Lots of Invidious Silly Parentheses, >http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: [SPAM-25] Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
Drew Van Zandt wrote: Basically it's just HTML with made-up tags instead of standards like This is bold. The advantage is that you can use a standard parser rather than inventing a new parser every time, and then just look through your already parsed data for particular application-dependent key->value pairs. Sigh, this isn't really true. Both HTML and XML are more like siblings. Both are subsets of SGML. (Standard Generalized Markup Language) SGML was devised many years ago to be a way to represent documentation markup. Sort of a descendant of nroff if you like. The team that designed SGML was senior enough and forward thinking enough to craft a markup language that could be used to represent almost anything. Part of the SGML standard allows for the creation of user-defined tags, what Drew refers to as made-up tags. User defined tags must be defined following a set of rules, just like definining variables in your favorite programming language. HTML allows for sloppy parsing that doesn't strictly conform to the SGML specification. On the other hand XML adheres strictly to the SGML standard and doesn't allow sloppy parsing. Therefore where HTML allows things like a tag with no closing tag XML requires either a matching begin-end tag pair (such as ) or an empty tag (such as ) that explicitly says 'this tag has no content.' --DTVZ On 11/14/06, Paul Lussier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kevin D. Clark) writes: > "Bill Ricker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >>> "XML is for people who don't understand Scheme." (not my quote, >>> that just seems like such good flamewar fodder that I had to pass it >>> along) >> >> There's nothing new under the sun. Each generation thinks they >> invented sex and fast square root algorithms. >> >> I've said for years, if LISP stands for Lots of Invidious Silly >> Parentheses, >> and usesancient ENDIF syntax, as if syntax-aware editors couldn't >> handle closing-brace-match. > > I agree with this all 100%. XML is just another markup language for > me. Earlier in my career ASN.1 and BER-encoding were my bread and > butter. Nowadays XML has more popularity (probably deservedly so). Is there anyway we could foster this into a real discussion on XML, what it is, what it's used for, why it's good/bad/evil/sucks-rocks/better-than-sliced-bread ? About the only thing I know about XML is that it appears to be a markup language for Pirate Treasure Maps (you know, X-marks-the-spot... okay, sorry, not funny :) I know it wasn't intended for wetware-parsing, but increasingly hear how many people have trouble dealing with it. Conversely, I haven't yet heard a single computer say anything bad about it :) -- Seeya, Paul ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
Why not run one on localhost? -N On Tuesday 14 November 2006 09:29 am, Paul Lussier wrote: > Over the past couple of weeks I've noticed that sites I can get to > both easily and quickly from work are completely unreachable from > home. From Comcast's perspective, these sites seem to not even exist. > > Is this intentional censoring on Comcast's part, or just incompetance > at maintaining a DNS server infrastructure? > > And on that note, can anyone recommend a decent set of DNS servers to > point at instead of using Comcast's? > > How about the GNHLUG server? Can we make that a DNS server as a > "membership" benefit? > > Thanks. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Two security discussions on the evening of the 16th
The nice thing about MythTV is that you can record one program while watching another. Unfortunately, I haven't figure out how to do that in real-space, yet. You can actually record/watch as many channels as you have tuners. If you have 4 tuners you can record 3 shows while watch another. The DirecTiVo could always record 2 shows at once (or record one while watch another). The series3 TiVo also includes 2 tuners. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: XML quote Re: Meeting Notes: SLUG Mon 14 Nov - Google Earth and everything else
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kevin D. Clark) writes: > "Bill Ricker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >>> "XML is for people who don't understand Scheme." (not my quote, >>> that just seems like such good flamewar fodder that I had to pass it >>> along) >> >> There's nothing new under the sun. Each generation thinks they >> invented sex and fast square root algorithms. >> >> I've said for years, if LISP stands for Lots of Invidious Silly >> Parentheses, >> and usesancient ENDIF syntax, as if syntax-aware editors couldn't >> handle closing-brace-match. > > I agree with this all 100%. XML is just another markup language for > me. Earlier in my career ASN.1 and BER-encoding were my bread and > butter. Nowadays XML has more popularity (probably deservedly so). Is there anyway we could foster this into a real discussion on XML, what it is, what it's used for, why it's good/bad/evil/sucks-rocks/better-than-sliced-bread ? About the only thing I know about XML is that it appears to be a markup language for Pirate Treasure Maps (you know, X-marks-the-spot... okay, sorry, not funny :) I know it wasn't intended for wetware-parsing, but increasingly hear how many people have trouble dealing with it. Conversely, I haven't yet heard a single computer say anything bad about it :) -- Seeya, Paul ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
Over the past couple of weeks I've noticed that sites I can get to both easily and quickly from work are completely unreachable from home. From Comcast's perspective, these sites seem to not even exist. Is this intentional censoring on Comcast's part, or just incompetance at maintaining a DNS server infrastructure? And on that note, can anyone recommend a decent set of DNS servers to point at instead of using Comcast's? How about the GNHLUG server? Can we make that a DNS server as a "membership" benefit? Thanks. -- Seeya, Paul ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?
On 11/14/06, Steven W. Orr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/recursivedns/features.html Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this service for the purpose of hosting a domain? No, those would be all the other DNS services they offer. Recursive DNS service means a namserver that takes recursive queries from other resolvers (like the stub resolver in the C library), and then does iterative queries until it gets the final answer. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
