David Hurst

Higher Sites have just launch a new website for Blake Training - specialists in food hygiene and arboriculture training. It may seem like an odd mix, but these guys know their training. The new website gives Blake Training a smart new front end to their business and gives potential customers all the information they need about the courses and the training facilities.

I had this problem the other day: two websites using identical code to collect RSS news feeds from identical sources. Website A loads its pages in about a second, whereas Website B takes up to 10 seconds. Go figure.

After I had thought about the problem for a while, and checked the codebase was identical, I decided the problem must be due to the server. Website A runs on a Red Hat Fedora machine, whereas Website B runs on a Debian server. It finally dawned on me that the server has to resolve the DNS for each RSS feed address, and I concluded (incorrectly) that as the two servers are on different networks, there must be a problem with name servers on the network. I tried swapping the name servers around in my network configuration, and even trying different servers - all to no avail.

A bit of Googling finally revealed that Debian switches on IPv6 by default, and then uses this before it uses IPv4 for DNS resolution. This problem won’t just be affecting servers, it will affect anyone using a Debian linux distribution, and this includes the very popular Ubuntu. So if you have slow website response on websites with external sources, or you are fed up with sitting waiting for your browser to resolve each address you type in, here is the solution:

There is a configuration file called “aliases” here: /etc/modprobe.d/aliases

In there you will find a line like this: alias net-pf-10 ipv6

Change it to: alias net-pf-10 off ipv6

Reboot the machine. If you are running a server with BIND, double check that your BIND server has come back online.

Done.

What I don’t understand, is why Debian should default to this configuration. IPv6 is a while away from widespread use, so why not at least provide an option in the install script for the OS so the user can make their own choice?

It’s about time I had another rant about eBay. It still amazes me that people put up with their crap, and here’s my latest experience:

I’ve been looking to buy a motorcycle. I found something local and perfect for my needs on eBay. I messaged the seller, looked at the merchandise, made my bid. The auction was due to finish today and I was the high bidder - yippee. I had the cash ready and I had agreed delivery terms with seller should I win the auction. But lo and behold, when I logged in this morning, no trace of my bid whatsoever in the My eBay screen. So, I checked my email and it turns out my bid was cancelled because “the item is no longer for sale”. Presumably the seller did a behind the scenes deal with another eBay punter. So, I am back to square one.

Had I, the buyer, failed to meet my obligations, I would receive an eBay strike and negative feedback. But it would seem the seller can do whatever the hell he or she wishes. I can’t think of an auction house anywhere where bidding would be stopped because the seller got a better offer elsewhere, so why should this be the case with online auctions?

eBay have this big graphic on their home page at the moment: “Your pound goes further with eBay”. Rubbish! If you do manage to successfully purchase something, beating all the last minute bid snipers, and without being conned in the process by one of the many crooks operating on eBay, chances are you will have paid over the odds for your item. There are very few bargains on eBay, except in the busiest categories.

I could write a better auction website in my sleep. The problem is getting people to use it. Will the sellers come if there are no buyers? Will the buyers come if there are no sellers?

So we’re stuck with eBay then? Not at all! I think I’ll go and quietly scour the classifieds in the local press and see what I can find - I bet I get a better deal that way anyway.

I didn’t even know the 10p tax rate had been axed - they kept that much quieter than the 2% cut. I guess this explains why, when I was calculating my take home pay for next year, there was barely any difference. The benefit of the 2p cut on income tax is virtually eliminated by the lack of the 10p band. So why do it? What a waste of time.

In fact, unless you earn more than £15k per year, you will actually lose money with the new rates. The people that gain the most are those that earn the maximum amount on the 20p band (i.e. higher rate tax payers), who will be about £300 better off per year.

Who does this woman think she is? For centuries, lexicons and illustrative guides to literature have been published by people other than the author of the original works, without any claim of copyright infringement being made. The works of similar fantasy writers such as Tolkien, are made immeasurably more enjoyable with the help of an illustrative guide and lexicon. All students of literature will be familiar with such devices, and I have no doubt Ms. Rowling has herself used such guides in her own literary studies.

The published lexicon is derived from an online lexicon website established 8 years ago - a website that J. K. Rowling and her publishers, editors and writing staff have all admitted using, and have commended. Now all of a sudden it’s copyright theft? Presumably, because the book version will have a charge, whereas the website doesn’t. This is nonsense.

Ms. Rowling’s argument is that this lexicon may diminish the value of her own Harry Potter encyclopaedia that she is planning to publish - give me a break!

In fact, this lexicon would help make her books available to a wider audience, and therefore increase her worth and income. If she and Warner Bros succeed in this ridiculous court case, then it will set a dangerous precedent that will surely impact the future study of literary works, as lexicons and guides will not be published by third parties until copyright expires. This will mean that students of the future may be limited to studying archaic literature rather than contemporary literature.

I’ve never read a Harry Potter book, and I certainly don’t intend to. I don’t believe J. K. Rowling deserves any credit for bringing witchcraft and demonism to the masses. If she now gets away with this madness then her literary contribution to the world, spellmongering aside, will certainly be a negative one.