There always has to be one damn bug, doesn't there?

Speaking of which...has anyone yet tried typing The Word That Must Not Be Typed yet? (I don't wanna do it!)

DO IT - I dare you.

chunked

Ha-HA!!!!! Man has triumphed over machine!!!!!

(I wanted an admin to do it; damned if I was gonna be blamed for screwing up the brand-new server!!!!)

Ahh - our PHP compile doesn't include the GD libraries required to do things like generate the thumbnails, produce the CAPTCHA graphic etc. Hopefully the server-admins will do that today. I'll then do a complete thumbnail rebuild to bring things up to speed

Update

There may be some downtime in over the next 24 hrs to get this sorted.

Maybe Bob will be able to get back on now...?

Phil

CAPTCHA now working with the GD library - I'll run a rebuild of thumbnails now as well.

Doug

I had to enter my username and password again (normaly automatic on my computer); It happens once in a while. Anything to do with the change ?

If you are losing the password cookie, try using www.unmannedspaceflight.com instead of just unmannedspaceflight.com

I've switched to the stronghold cookie - which is more robust than the usual one and would prevent a similar hack to the one that caused a virus to be linked-to from the foum previous.

Doug

I'm having trouble staying loged in. Bumped out when I try and post.

Floyd

This is what I use actualy. I've been asked again for pasword today (but this time my computer remembered it so I had to hit "enter" only)

I've switched back to the non-stronghold cookie - so it would ask some people again.

Doug.

Just for those that like stats...




New server doing beautifully.

Also - the problem of getting GD to rebuild the thumbnails from the few days when it wasn't working is fixed - PHP didn't have enough memory allocated to play with. Fixed with a quick ini file setting change.

Doug

Oooo...AWESOME new banner, Doug, thank you!!!!

Gotta say frankly that this is the best yet by far; really captures what UMSF is about in a single image. Love it!!!!

Go Phoenix!!!!

The latest in a series of 'Pimp my banner' courtesy of AstroO He's VERY good at these

Doug

Obviously. Astro0 is a Mac Daddy pimp then...well done!!!

PC Daddy actually. Photoshop Rules!
Astro0

PC Daddy it is then...nevertheless, thank you!!! Really nice, just love it.

Doug, I just dumped my entire cache (finally), and ever since I've noticed that I have to log on every time I surf back to the site from elsewhere. Not a big deal, just thought you'd like to know. Running IE7 here on XP.

You shouldn't, I certainly don't. Not a forum problem I'm afraid. Are you visiting www. not just .umsf ? There isn't a 'make people forget logins' button that has been pressed.

Doug

Yeah, seems to have been me; it's working fine now.

Weird. Maybe the cookie didn't load successfully the first few times.

Well that was interesting. No idea of a cause for that 1hr of downtime yet. Server management team are on the case.

"It was related to a small power issue we had, everything should be fine now."

YOU'VE got power issues. Clearly you've never parked on home plate for 8 months.

On the way back up, the database got a kicking which cause some session control issues. I repaired the database ( by hitting a button marked 'repair' ) and it's back up and running fine now.

What's amazing is how quickly the current visitors number rocketed back up after downtime. Having had look at Google Analytics - yesterday was UMSF's busiest day this year - and I can see a pre-phoenix trend. We needed this server

Doug

#1: GO TO BED & READ THIS LATER!!! (Please?)

#2: As I mentioned on the Lifeboat blog, ask these guys about their UPS arrangements...might be time for another fundraiser for a standalone device.

Quick war story: Last year during my Reserve duty here in sunny SoCal we started taking bets as to when our automated test bench would shut down during the afternoon...we got within less then ten minutes of error, usually. The power grid drain from air conditioning use throughout the area was so high that the supply voltage would drop below the station's tolerance for a second or two at a time & it would shut down. We bought & installed a nice 15KVa UPS (way bigger than needed for a server, obviously, but that station does a lot of other stuff, like providing high-current DC for testing flight control computer servoamps)...no probs from then on, and in fact much greater reliability because it conditions the input power as well, thus preventing power transients from messing up components.

So, if the server's well inland (Pasadena or further east), it's gonna have some power issues in the summer. Today was an anomaly--we almost never get T-storms this time of year; actually, we almost never get T-storms, period--but it might be a harbinger of future probs.

Don't worry. He's just acclimating himself to be up and bright-eyed when Phoenix lands.

<grumble>...ya just gotta worry about the guy; he's still got a day job! Running UMSF alone woulda killed me outright two years ago...</grumble>

Brace yourself, this is something you may not like to think about...................................................he's young.

Oh, yeah, THAT lasts forever... . My warranty ran out when I turned 30, and the extension was definitely gone at 40...

Not only that, he doesn't have kids yet. He has approximately eleventeen times the 'free' time that us old breeders have.

It's a good point about the UPS arrangements. The power issue could have been related to today's freak storms -- I heard on the radio that there was actually a tornado east of here, which is practically unheard of. In honor of the polar landing, it actually hailed at JPL today -- I've got pics to post later. After waiting out the hail I drove out of a thundery downpour across the valley to cloudless skies and fire-tinder-dry landscape at home.

--Emily

Would you believe two tornadoes that skirted the south edge of my USAF Reserve base? Article & a video of one of them:

http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=20080522...reno_valley.htm

No deaths or serious injuries, thankfully.

This is unusual in the extreme. I read somewhere that on the average everywhere in the US gets hit by a tornado at least once every 200 years...guess we got "lucky".

EDIT: An unfortunate correction: a trucker was in fact seriously hurt when one of the twisters mangled his rig. The storms also blew several railroad cargo cars off of their tracks. These would seem to have been at least F2 tornadoes. Heads up: possibly more of the same sort of weather today.

Just emphasizing that the new server switch couldn't have been better timed
Moreover, with the Phoenix landing, I've never seen so many "Junior Members" online...

Doug, any idea how the Phoenix landing affected the number of newly registered members on UMSF?

Wondering that myself; we got 124 people on right now as I write this (0845 PDT)...REALLY high for a Monday morning, even if it is a US & UK holiday.

160 people right now. No doubt that we would have been knocked-out without this server switch.
Doug, do you have any statistics to share?

I'll give it a day or two, and then show the build-up, and following fall off

One thing I will say - the usual number of posts per day is about 30-60. Yesterday was 267 and today, so far, is 547. Today is the busiest UMSF day ever, yesterday the 4th. Previously is was Jan 19th 2006.

Doug

What time is the "day" cutoff? 12:00 UT? I was a bit shocked by 547 since from my perspective its 10:00 am on a holiday here

Forum time is BST (so 1810 right now ) - but the raw server stats will be PST.

Doug

Speaking of time zones, I've noticed a problem that I didn't have before the server switch, so I suppose this is the best place to post about it.

It's certainly not a big deal, but for some odd reason the 'board time' keeps jumping backwards and forwards an hour. For instance, Doug's post right above this one currently says "12:10PM." But if I were to navigate away from the site and then come back it might say "11:10AM." Rinse and repeat and it's back to "12:10PM." This occurs not only within the post itself but also on the main board page.

I've cleared my cookies but the problem persists. Not sure there's anything else I can do on my end. But like I said, it's nothing but a very minor inconvenience. Anyone else have this issue?

Oh... I'm using Firefox.

Edit :: Sure enough, as soon as I post about it I found a fix. The problem was the auto-DST setting. Turned it off and all is fine now.

Thought people might enjoy this - UMSF over the past month, including the Phoenix 'Spike'

Google Analytics produced this PDF.

Indeed !
I can see that there are not too many hits from France but we've got the record of the number of pages per visit. This must be because of the 35 work hours per week
I guess we'll go up again when we'll have sample analysis results, full pano, not talking about other discoveries...
Did I read right, 24% more people here ?

Week 21 on '08 saw 39 registrations.

That's a record, beating 24 from Nov '05. (if you ignore the week that got 123 new regs because I accidentally turned off forum visibility to non members)

Doug

Well, the server just withstood a 5.6 earthquake about 45 minutes ago without a hitch, and my cel providers apparently did not...good news! (For the server; not pleased about the phone outage.)

I heard it was down in Chino Hills. I called a friend there and he said lots of shaking, not much damage that he can see anywhere.

I guess it's apropos to ask here, then -- everyone out on the Left Coast doing OK, now? I saw the news and while there isn't anything along the lines of "big damage" reports in what I'm seeing, I figured I'd make sure no one on the Forum is in a bad way.

-the other Doug

All's fine here. I think anything under magnitude 6, even a little higher, is in the realm of scary but not damaging.

--Emily

Yeah, all's well here in downtown LA, but it really was a hell of a shake. I did the doorway thing in my bathroom (fortunately (?) I'm home today due to lack of hot water in my 5th floor apartment!), and watched stuff in my closet swaying for a full minute, at least. Lots of building creaking as well.

Saw a lot of these in Alaska, but this was definitely the second-strongest shake I've ever felt.

EDIT: Local news here is endlessly repeating the possibility that this was a foreshock (5% chance)... Okay, I might need a place to stay for the next few months. Who's got the beer?

FYI - still working from the donations pot - the server is now paid for until the end of June '09.

Hmmm, only until June '09.
Time to start thinking about extra donations for the expected increase in discussions about MSL's pending launch and cruise.

The goal - enough to pay for extra server space/speed/features(?) to get us through to July 14 2015 - New Horizons closest approach to Pluto. Then we can worry about the Kuiper Belt.

Next time ( MSL 2009 ) I'll double my donation ... promised

With MSL being delayed, we'll need to find another "reason" to start donating to UMSF.com again
Just warn the UMSF community on time...