zen.org Communal Weblog

You can telnet to 192.168.0.1 to get the HN7000S’s vxWorks command prompt; for username do brighton and password do swordfish. Or telnet to 192.168.0.1 on port 1953 to get the menu interface.

Browsers can use the HN7000S box as a proxy to get traffic accelerated quite a bit by configuring to use 192.168.0.1 port 87 as the HTTP proxy (In the past some things have failed when going through this, though, but we don’t have any notes yet on what those were.
). In the list of exceptions to using the proxy, remember to put 192.168.0.1 itself there, as well as ‘localhost’ and 127.0.0.1, at least. I added our local subnet as well with 10.9.79.0/24 so I can properly visit the various access points, etc.

If SSL traffic is so slow as to be unusable, try configuring your browser to use a proxy for SSL also: host is 69.19.14.10 and port 3128. It’s not necessarily faster under normal circumstances.

Make sure anyone using your connection has DISABLED any operating system updates on their computer. Laptops which download Mac OS X updates, for example, will slam you to exceed the 24-hour download cap and make you suffer for 24 hours at ~30kps cuz of the (un)Fair Access Policy.

To get at the advanced configuration page, point at the URL
http://192.168.0.1/fs/advanced/advanced.html

The status page at
http://192.168.0.1/sys_status/
has a Diagnostics Code value like
0000-0002-6400-0002
You can visit
http://192.168.0.1/cgi/execAdvCom.bin?Command=30&NoAutoRefresh=1&PrintMsg=Diag%20Code%20Analyze
and put in the code from the status page. This will give you an explanation for why each of the particular bits are set to make up that series of numbers, with the values covering the most recent hour, 1 hour later, and 2 hours later.

At 2008-12-31T18:59:59-0500 (2008-12-31T23:59:59+0000) there is going to be a leap second! Anybody have a good cocktail suggestion to celebrate this? If you are in Japan, perhaps something to stave off the hangover from the previous night’s party.

It’s a good thing my systems use ntp.

I try to drink wine local to me, Crossing Vineyards and Winery does a great job, and is my wine of choice when at home. Now grᴉst tells me I can enjoy European wine with less eco-guilt then west coast wine. I wonder if my state store still has any Beaujolais Nouveau left. Gotta get the big bottle!

I’ve been whining about food miles for years! Well, to myself anyway. Plus I’ve never embeded a YouTube thing before, lets see how it works. I’d suggest you just skip it.

This Thursday is Yuri’s Night. I know nobody who celebrates, and even if there was a party closer then NYC to me I don’t think I could make it. Nevertheless I will try to entice my family out to dinner that evening and I will order a Vodka drink and, assuming dictionary.com is correct, I wall say ваше здоровье and watch my wife and child look inquisitively at me while I try to explain it to them. Apart from, maybe 萬虎, Ю́рий Гага́рин was the first human is space. You can’t take that away from the Soviets.

Tonight’s dinner:

1 125g package cubed bacon (pancetta?)
5 cubes frozen spinach, thawed
1/2 pkg spaghetti
4 oz soy cream cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
white wine
salt and pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions. While cooking:

In a non-stick skillet (we use our well-seasoned cast iron one), cook bacon to desired doneness and remove to bowl. Do not drain skillet! Add spinach and garlic to bowl, toss together. and remove to separate bowl/plate. To warm skillet, add cream cheese, and a couple spashes white wine. Cook, stirring, to sauce consistency. Add cream cheese mixture to drained pasta in a large pot, toss together, then add bacon and spinach and combine with pasta. Serve.

Today is expected to have a high of 38°F, tomorrow the low is expected to be 41°F.  Since Monday it often been below 30°F.  Last weekend it was in the fifties.  I guess that’s Indian Winter?  On a different note, but in my mind related, New Hope’s Blue Tortilla is one of the few places one can go in my area and actually get spicy food!  It’s mucho deneras, but every now and then it’s good to get something that makes your mouth feel like it’s on fire.

Barbara Kafka has a blog! WHOO HOO.

Getting back into the swing of food blogging…

Today’s dinner: sausages and peppers over ciabatta bread.

The sausages were from Jane Russell sausages, their Italian ones. We get them from the market in Dun Laoghaire on Sundays, where they have a stall. These sausages are heavenly. Different from Italian sausages in the US, not as spicy, but the flavor is more authentic. And there is almost no fat coming off these, compared to the US ones.

Jane’s sausages work really well with the recipe from Barbara Kafka’s book, Microwave Gourmet. This book, given to me by my mom, is gold, GOLD I TELL YOU. I was one of the naysayers, the ones who say “What? Microwaves are for things other than defrosting and popcorn?” Then this book changed my life. Leek and potato soup in under a half hour. Chicken paprikas that is to. die. for. I cannot recommend this book highly enough; this and Vegan Planet and you’re set.

Erm, back to the recipe. Chop up some sausages, cook in the micro. Add some peppers, some onion, some basil (okay, we used dried cause the basil we did have in the fridge was *manky*. I forgot to pull an Alton on it and wash and wrap in damp paper towels). Now, you’re supposed to add some marinara sauce to it and then cook it a bit more. But no toms for this house. So we added 4 garlic cloves, some oregano and some olive oil. Served up over artisan ciabatta (also gotten at the market on Sunday), it was perfect for this nasty, rainy, windy day.

This year, for the first time, thanksgiving is at my house!  I got everything all sorted out, apart from the dressing.  I look it up on the web, and most things have more stuff in them then everything else I have to get combined!  Humph.