Asides
Change to New URL
I had to take a lot of time away from my pursuit of machine shop pleasures. There was a cyber DDoS attack on the shared IP address I use for a lot of my domains. More details are over on my personal blog, Ramblin’ Dan. Let’s just say my shared Internet address was very busy for a few days.
One of the things I did was to give this blog its own web address. This site used to be a sub-domain of TEDatum (THMSBlog.TEDatum.com) on a shared IP address, but now has its own identity (THMSBlog.com). Note the TEDatum is gone in the middle.
It’s a bit of work to make that change (switch IP addresses) and it was actually a nice (?) learning experience. The old URL with the TEDatum will continue to work but I suggest if you have this site book marked, you change to the new shorter URL, just in case there is another DDoS or someday I forget and remove the cross link. Not likely to forget, but I am getting older…
I don’t know why the attack started and persisted so long. I assume what I do here is pretty innocuous to most folks. However I do not know who or what else may have been on the shared IP. Just roll with the punches and they won’t hurt so badly.
New Look Again
Some of the blog “regulars” may have noticed the look of this site has changed a bit. We are still running inside WordPress but I built a new template using Artisteer. Today it is possible to do something that looks this good without directly using HTML, a special language to create web pages.
There is some very minor use of HTML for “tweaking” for a little more (but unnecessary) personal touch.
I hope it looks good to you too.
A Note on Appearance Change
New Publication Format
I am nurturing an idea for a “future state” THMS web publication. The literal big picture is video. I believe Internet bandwidth and present day hardware are fully capable of exploiting this content delivery method. Example: My last post contains video.
Since the beginning of the World Wide Web, but more so as it became commercial, the medium has been handicapped by the belief (and a self standard) we could not abandon the old obsolete tools and practices of the past. Some websites today are still being constructed to accommodate text only browsers. I am not trying to be a techno snob but, TEXT ONLY BROWSERS!! Give me a break.
The Amish value the “simple” life, so the horse and buggy make perfect sense. But just like the horse, text only browsing is not in my view a mission of the modern highway called the Internet. Yes, it can be accommodated over on the berm*, but it is truly out of place. (*Chiefly Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. the bank of a canal or the shoulder of a road.)
I am designing my future messages using the visual method of quality video presentation as well as continue my present standard of high quality photography. The video and new photo story pages will be in a new format section linked to the present THMS website. The present “frames” site and this blog will continue unchanged.
Blogs are the hot delivery medium, and I already have three. I decided not use the blog format for my new design. I won’t be looking for easy feedback, as blogs attract a huge assortment of low life and spammers because of that feature. I presently reject 99.9% of entered comments because of off topic abuse. In my… Continue reading
Make a Cannon
I have been corresponding with a old fellow named John Gerling about the X3 motor controller. He must be really old as he says he is older than me! 🙂 He is retired ( I am not) so I guess he does have the age credentials.
I found a link to him in the Little Machine Shop web site. Chris Wood, the owner of LMS, has a suggestion posted on the page where he sells the Sieg replacement board I need, to check John out if you have a Sieg controller board that needs serviced.
John is a retired electrical engineer who now has a small business repairing said controller boards. A recommendation from Chris is good enough for me, so I have been emailing John several times. John seems like a fair enough guy, a great repair flat rate (if repairable) and an otherwise good first choice if you have a bad board. Here is his website: http://www.www.repaircontrol.com. He calls himself Gerling Laboratories but the URL is a bit different. (Yes, two WWW’s?)
John, Chris and I all decided in my case that two burned through traces from lighting is not a good thing as certainly most other parts are affected (no more magic smoke left), so I have ordered a full replacement board from LMS.
John is also an active hobby machinist and has produced a very well done instruction manual for building an all brass cannon from raw stock. He gave me permission to publish the link to the manual. So it is free to you to download. He intended to publish the instruction manual as a part of a kit for a profit. I assume to invest in more tools for his retirement center. … Continue reading