Featuring rants unworthy of due consideration. Spell checked, but not proofread
If I wasn’t so tired, this would have been a real post. 
See vanberge’s post for more insight.
Always make sure that when you are running a web server locally, that you are running everything as the web user. Up until recently I just had it running as myself, because it was quick to setup, and I did not want to screw with it.
Well, after just watching my screen get flooded with permission denied errors as php trying to “rm -rf /” me, I am glad that I recently set it up correctly!
Also, make sure that when you are using a piece of a framework you did not write, make sure that it checks to make sure the path you are sending it to delete is valid, not just the root of the entire system.
Good grief.
Last week I was attacked by the “you don’t always need to upgrade to the latest version” theory.
Shortly after I upgraded to 10.4.10 on my MacBook, things began to rapidly slow down. My system monitor would register < 10% CPU utilization, and 73% of memory was free. So, the machine should have been blazing. But, it wasn’t. In fact, it was going slower than my 1 GHz model. I started to run diagnostics, and discovered some serious corruption on my HDD.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my old license key for DiskWarrior, so I had to shell out the full $100 to get the latest version. Regardless, like always, DiskWarrior did the trick. The only problem was that it happened again, almost immediately afterward. So, I had to screw around some more to figure out the problem.
It appears that 10.4.10 corrupted my kernel cache, as a result of this corruption, the OS was screwing up my file system something fierce. So, I did the next logical thing, purge everything cache for everything on my system.
After purging everything, I fixed the file system again, and then ran all the standard maintenance scripts. Now everything is back up and running normally, thankfully.
Beware unneeded system updated. There be gremlins about!
Today, I ventured forth into the great horror that is Grand Rapids.
My brother, Jesse, busted his iPod Shuffle, presumably by sitting on it. However, is defensive if asked directly. Technically, it would still work, but he bent the clip something fierce, so it long longer fits on the dock used for charging/syncing. As an older brother, I accordingly chuckled and said, “tough luck, should have taken better care of it.”
However, my mother was no so easily put off. So, she called up AppleCare and got forwarded to an Indian tech support specialist. The Indian did not understand what the problem was, so they just told her to take it to the Apple Store, and if the techs could not fix it, they would replace it.
Of course, when I get there, they say, “too bad so said, maybe you could cut the clip off.” However, after some coaxing, the manager finally agreed to exchange the iPod since their Indian tech support said they would.
So, while he had one of the lackeys doing the paper work, I asked another associated about getting a copy of Photoshop CS3 Upgrade edition. Ironically, this was the same girl that I bought the MacBook from. She said that she did not know if they had any, but disappeared into the back to check.
While the MacGirl was in the back, I picked up the copy on display to verify the price. Much to my surprise it was marked at 159.96, not the 199.99 that I expected. Surprised I placed the box back on the shelf and waited.
Eventually, the MacGirl wondered back out with a copy. The following conversation occurred:
Girl: You’re in luck, we had a copy
Me: Wonderful
Girl: Ok, it’s going to be 199 plus tax
Me: Interesting, I think you guys should probably fix the price on the display box
Girl: What?
Me: The price on the box over there is different
Girl: <walks over to shelf> Which one?
Me: The one on the bottom
Girl: <picks up the box third from the bottom>
Me: Nope, all the way down
Girl: <picks up the correct box> Uh-oh
Girl: <walks back over to table and proceeds to stare at both boxes for several moments, and then goes into the back to get the manager>
Manager: <looks at both boxes for several moments> What is the price online?
Girl: <looks up price>
Manager: <to girl> Great, well I’ll take care of this.
Manager <to me> I’ll price match the display box
Me: Really? Ok, I didn’t me to burn you guys twice in one day.
Manager: Yeah, don’t worry about it.
Girl: <sighs>
Girl: <begins ringing it up> What’s your email address?
Me: j-j-a-fuller
Girl: j-j-a-4?
Me: No. Fuller.
Girl: j-j-a-full-er?
Me: Yes. j-j-a-fuller-at-misled-dot-us
Girl: m-i-s-l-e-a-d?
Me: …no. That would be “mislead” not “misled”
Girl: So…
Me: m-i-s-l-e-d
Girl: m-i-s-l-e-d?
Me: Yes.
Girl: dot-com, or dot-net?
Me: dot-u-s
Girl: Ok. I’m just having a mixed up day
Me: …
Well, I officially have as much memory as I had storage in my first laptop. Thus, I expect to have 120 GB of ram in six years. Micron, are you listening?
So far, for the most part the user experience is unchanged. However, I have noticed a big different in the performance of larger rosetta apps, such as image ready. Before if I used an adobe product and firefox, performance lagged when I switched back and forth between them. But, now things to be a bit smoother.
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