fettig.net

I just got the heads up that

Oxford Networks,

my ISP, is shutting down the network that this web server is currently

running on.

If I may rant briefly: I hate the instability of the telecommunications

industry. This will be the second time in a year I’ve had to find a new

ISP because my old one changed their business plan and stopped

providing fixed internet access, and during that time I’ve seen a few

other companies drop off the map completely. At this point it seems

like if you want a stable ISP your only option is to pick one of

the overpriced, functionally crippled plans offered by a

giant corporation like

Verizon

or Time Warner.

At this point I’m not sure what my best option is going forward. For

the benefit of my friends who have accounts and web sites on this

server I’d like to keep it going rather than switching

to a shared hosting setup. We’ll see.

Due to a death in the family I’m going to be away for most of this week.

I probably won’t be checking my e-mail very often during this time.

Please don’t take offense if it takes me a while to reply to you.

And to Mr. Fettig from Germany, who sent me a message regarding our common last name:

I’d like to tell you what I know about

my family history, but I can’t reply unless you give me your e-mail

address. :-)

One last

title='An Optical Illusion'>link before I head out (an optical illusion

from techinterview.org,

whose

puzzle archive is also worth a visit).

I’m showing XML-RPC to Glenn, updating my web log from the command prompt.

In preparation for an upcoming project with some friends I did some

research on video editing tools for Linux. And, surprise, they exist!

This morning I took Broadcast 2000 for a quick spin, since it seemed to

be the most recommended program. During a 15 minute break I was

able to open a .mpg video file, place a caption over a few seconds

of it (in the form of a PNG image, the first format I tried),

and add an mp3 audio track. Very slick, and not too bad of a

learning curve.

Unfortunately, the people that developed Broadcast 2000 seem to be

having some issues with lawyers at the moment. As far as I could

tell, they have had some issues with people holding them liable

for bugs in the software, even though it’s GPL’d and comes with no

warranty. Strange. Anyhow, they no longer have Broadcast 2000 up

for download on their site, so you’ll have to snag it from somewhere

else. Red Hat folks should be able

to find an RPM with no difficulty

at all. For Debian users, there’s a ‘bcast’ package available as part

of the Debian Multimedia Distribution.

Last week’s

A List Apart shows how to set up stylesheet switching on your

site. Some good technique and theory, and generally a better

approach then my way :-)