Monthly Archives: February 2006

Computers/Technology

Learning the Lesson

1 Comment

We had an interesting incident with the blog this week. I got home on Tuesday to a decidedly annoyed Beth who almost as soon as I walked through the door asked me to read a printout of a comment to a pretty old posting on the blog. The posting contained a couple of pictures of Beth’s classroom which she had posted so that friends in Canada could see where she worked.

The content of the posting was, shall we say, interesting, and was posted under the name of someone who Beth had taught previously. Thanks to the fact that WordPress logs the IP address for anyone who comments we knew that it had been posted from the school, as the IP address was the schools web proxy. On top of that we had a time for the posting too, putting it during the final lesson on Tuesday. However based on the content it was more than likely not going to be the kind of thing that someone would put their real name to, it seemed to be much more of a prank posting. I pretty quickly worked out how they had found the site. It turns out that if you put the name of the school into Google, the posting which was commented on comes up as seventh in the list, so what appears to have happened was that someone was looking up pages on the school, and came across ours. I pretty quickly took steps to ensure that the next time Google indexes our site, the posting should be removed, although that can take a number of days to filter through, so I’ve also put a block on any access from the school network too. The one remaining thing that I couldn’t do from home, was track down exactly who posted the comment.

As an aside, looking back to the couple of months I worked at the school a few years ago, one of the things that struck me most was really how naive some of the pupils were when it came to the computer systems. Essentially, like the systems at most organisations, the school keeps track of and filters all the e-mails sent and received, sites accessed, files downloaded and so on. Just like IT in any big organisation, the biggest risk to the systems is the users themselves, and during the time I was there we had everything from a sixth-former with a porn collection ‘hidden’ in his area on the server, to regular installs of the spyware loaded delights of the latest P2P software, plus a good few pupils who used the school broadband connection to grab the latest warez from the internet. Of course all of this stuff is logged to ensure that the school stays on the right side of the law, and keeps it’s pupils safe on the internet. Suffice to say I really don’t think that the average pupil realises that though their teacher may not have noticed what they are doing, the server always notices!

Going back to the events of this week, on Wednesday, Beth took the details of the comment up to the current IT admins, who said they would track through the relevant logs. She also talked to various of her colleagues about it, one of whom said that she had heard a group of boys, one of whom was the name on the comment, discussing ‘Mr’s Peat’s Website’ at one point earlier in the day.

Anyway, by yesterday, the IT admin pulled out the relevant bit of the logs, complete with the account name of the pupil who had posted the comment, and another who had been accessing the site, both of whom had been in an IT lesson at the time – and as expected neither of them the name on the comment. Essentially it seems like it was a prank to try and get the other student in to trouble.

Armed with a copy of the logs, and the comment, Beth went and had a chat with one of the deputy heads, who pretty near exploded having read the content of the comment, and immediately summoned both young gentlemen to his office. Needless to say neither of them had any idea that all their internet access was logged, and apparently the face of the young gentleman responsible for the comment was an absolute picture when he was faced with a copy of the comment, the time he made the posting, plus a list of all the other sites he accessed that he shouldn’t have been using. Both were suspended for the day today for ‘misuse of the Internet, and ‘vulgar behaviour towards a member of staff’, had to apologise to Beth, and of course had to face their parents with what they had done, and the content of the comment. Put it this way, I know what my mother would have done if I had written what they did…

So the moral of the story is to always remember that whatever you do, and wherever you go on the internet, someone, somewhere is logging it. Whether that be your school, your employer, your ISP, or even the websites you access (this one included), they are all collecting data about what you do, where you came from, and where you go. Just take a look at the 7000 suspects and 1200 convictions as a result of Operation Ore, or the recent debate over the search records held by Google.

For example, looking at the kind of information my ISP logs for this site, the most popular posting since the beginning of the month has been my review of the new series of Rock School, although not far behind is this blog entry about the headlight bulb on the Focus. Most people come to the site either directly, or from a Google search, and not surprisingly from the most popular pages, the top search terms include ‘Rock School’ and ‘How to change a Ford Focus Headlamp bulb’. Looking at the location of the people who read the site, the biggest group is from US commercial hosts, followed by hosts in the UK, then Canada. Looking further down the list we’ve also had visits from as far afield as Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tonga and Venezuela! Of course all of this comes from the basic list of everybody who has accessed the site and when, which is exactly how we were able to trace the source of the comment.

Incidentally, having found the source of the comment, and received an apology, Beth has definitely reached the point of being able to see the funny side of the whole thing now.

Church, Movies & TV

A Passion for Weddings

3 Comments

Over the past few weeks we’ve been watching A Passion for Churches on BBC2. It is a series of twelve programmes, each looking at a different church. Amongst the varied programmes so far have been a church buried in a sand dune and a church reclaimed from devil worshipers, however tonights church was really interesting.

The church in question was St. Mary’s Church in Orchardleigh in Somerset. The church is located on an island in the Orchardleigh estate, and in terms of it’s parish consists of only a few houses. Back in 1999 the estate house wasn’t habitable, and there was talk of declaring the church redundant as congregations at the twice monthly services were minimal. However that all changed when the estate was bought and turned into a conference centre and wedding venue. Many of the wedding couples who booked the house were then keen to marry in the church, however this being a Church of England church they were subject to the rules on residence to get married. What is really good is that there are a significant number of couples who are willing traveling several hours one Sunday a month in order to qualify for the electoral roll of the church. This is also having an effect on the church with some of the wedding couples getting baptised and congregations as a whole increasing by three times.

This however has caused a problem. Like many churches in Somerset the church is grouped with others, with one priest responsible for the church and four others, and the others having local congregations, whereas St. Mary’s congregation are primarily people who are coming from far away, and only for a short period of time. With upwards of thirty weddings a year and climbing, when a new rector arrives he feels that it is too much work and that he should be devoting his time to his local parishioners, and sets a limit of three weddings a month.

The crunch comes when a fourth couple tries to book a December wedding, and the rector initially says no. However he then talks to the Bishop. Although you only get a report from the rector, it does sound like he got a fairly clear message to find a way from the Bishop. The rector is told that as part of looking for new forms of church, and with the possibility of many parishes not being able to maintain a viable congregation, having a good sized congregation, wherever they may come from is to be encouraged. He is told to share the workload between the local clergy in order to meet the demand, which is what he has done by the end of the programme.

Although it’s not to quite the same level, marriage couples are one of the larger groups in our congregation because again we’re a pretty church, but with limited housing. Again we have a relatively large number of couples who are willing to attend services regularly to use the church for a wedding. Also, as with St. Mary’s the regular attendance has effects with couples attending Alpha courses and the like, and ultimately becoming part of the Church. As the Bishop tells the rector, it is about new forms of Church, and whilst some may be concerned at marrying people who effectively are there for the location, rather than belief, the possibilities of bringing them into the Church, even if only for a few months should be encouraged.

Incidentally, in terms of the weddings at St. Mary’s, the final line of the programme revealed that there are currently over sixty booked for 2006!

MobLog, Pictures

Temptation

2 Comments
A Yard of Jaffa Cakes

At Christmas, my Uncle who for years has worked as a freelancer out of an office in the back of his garage was talking about the culture shock of going back to working in a city office environment, as he was having to do for his current contract.

Aside from the differences being around more people, one of the other things he commented on was how hard it was to avoid putting on weight as he was sat next to the desk where his office colleagues would leave cakes for their fellow workers.

I have to say that since the rearrangement of our office, which put us next to the e-commerce team, we’ve had similar temptations. The picture here shows the Yard of Jaffa Cakes that Jon came back from buying his lunch having bought. Reading the text on the box it was fairly obviously some sort of Christmas promotion, which explains why it was being sold off. It is worth saying that between the four teams around our area most of these were eaten by the end of the afternoon.

A Load of Real Cakes

However, this follows on from a load of other temptations – tins of sweets over Christmas, and chocolates brought in whenever anybody returns from holiday.

Perhaps the ultimate though was this selection of cakes that Jon brought back from the bakers a week or so ago. Oddly enough these were a bit too much for most people, so in fact some of them ended up being divided up to take home. I guess a couple of Jaffa cakes or a few sweets can slip through temptation, but you just end up feeling really bad having too many of these!!! Anyway, whether it’s cakes, sweets or jaffa cakes, working in an office can seriously damage your waistline!

Movies & TV

Will the Real Gene Simmons Please Step Forward?

1 Comment

In last weeks Rock School, the housekeeper hired to look after Gene Simmons in Lowestoft speculated as to how much of an act his rock star persona really was. Certainly, some of the sequences in this weeks episode add more to the discussion as to the Gene Simmons rock star persona on show most of the time, and the Gene Simmons underneath.

What leads me to think that in particular is the way he dealt with one young person in particular, Jedda who he describes at one point as probably the most troubled teenager in the whole class. Despite his concerns, he appoints Jedda to be manager, despite him having missed sessions already, but with the caveat that he will be replaced if he fails to perform. This happens pretty quickly, as when the class is asked to come in for extra practice on a Saturday, the new manager turns up with a raging hangover. Gene shows little sympathy in front of the class, even deliberately making lots of loud noise to get a response. Pretty swiftly Jedda walks out and goes home. However, despite what has been said before, and what has happened with the class, Gene leaves the band practising, and goes to visit Jedda at home. Firstly he discusses the situation with the boys mother and grandparents, and says how much potential he believes that Jedda has. He then gives Jedda another chance!

The second chance goes down like the proverbial lead balloon with the rest of the class. As a result, when a few days later Jedda is again absent, the rest of the class take a vote to replace him as manager, and Gene doesn’t stand in their way.

However that isn’t the end of the story. When Jedda returns to school the next day, we see Gene talking to him one to one, Jedda having found out what has happened, and struggling to keep it together. Despite all the hard man talk, here Gene comes across as particularly sensitive, and primarily concerned that Jedda get the best out of the experience. Gene tells him how much potential he believes he has, and tries to persuade the boy to go in and fight for his position. The impression I very much get is that despite what Jedda has said about wanting the job, in some part he believes that he is not up to it and is going to fail. Therefore almost subconsciously sets out to prove it to himself by messing up, whether that is by drinking too much, failing to turn up or whatever. Some of the other young people express this directly, saying that they see the band as their only chance to make something of themselves.

Gene, with both Jedda and the other young people seems to take that view, that whatever their circumstances they have the potential to succeed. Whilst he is tough on them a lot of the time, ultimately it seems it is because he believes that by channelling their anger and frustration towards the fact that he is never happy with them that will give them the motivation to prove him wrong.

Whilst I enjoyed the first series of the show, series two of Rock School is definitely shaping up to be a lot more interesting, and in terms of Gene’s relationship with the young people, gives an awful lot more to think about. Whilst it could be argued that everything he is doing is to try and ensure the best band possible, to me it seems that he went an awful lot further than someone who was only interested in the band would go. As Beth commented during the first series, whatever has happened since, you can see why it was that he trained as a teacher.

Computers/Technology, Movies & TV

Learning to Laugh at Yourself?

2 Comments

This weekend we had the first two episodes of Channel 4’s new comedy series ‘The IT Crowd’. It has been available for download for the last week from the web, so I’d heard a couple of opinions of the show, however we waited until Friday to see the show.

The reviews I’d had from friends who had seen the show were pretty mixed, ranging from a ‘not bad’ to one person – who oddly enough works on an IT support desk – who thought it was absolutely dire. Having watched the first two episodes, I really enjoyed it, and Beth thought it was pretty good too. The writer of the show was also behind Father Ted, which I think gave us a pretty good idea of what to expect – as Beth said, it was pretty much Father Ted in an IT department. Thinking about it, you could almost describe it as a cross between Father Ted and a Dilbert cartoon!

Watching it, I suspect that the reason my support desk friend didn’t like it is that a number of the jokes are very much at the expense of support desks. For example right at the beginning of the first episode we have one of the support team ignoring a ringing phone, something that I guess most people who have to phone IT support think they have encountered – certainly there is one particular team at work who we are sure leave their phones off the hook at times! Watching it as someone who works in IT you definitely need the ability to laugh at yourself, for example the efforts to not have to speak to someone on the phone, even sending an e-mail to the fire brigade to report a fire, and the whole sequence where the two techies cause a good deal of stress in the stress reduction session.

Anyway, in our opinion the series certainly seemed to get off to a good start, and if you’re a fan of Father Ted, I’m sure you’ll find much to enjoy in the IT Crowd.