Tag Archives: caption

Blowing Stuff Up

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Atom Bomb Testing in 1951... yeah those are real troops.

Atom Bomb Testing in 1951... yeah those are real troops. Can you say crispy?

You may have noticed we had a major outage to digitalflood.com from around 7 pm EST 12/8/09 into the early morning of 12/9/09 sometime. This was the result of a major spam attack against digitalflood.com. To prevent future attacks of this type against our site, yesterday afternoon I finished migrating email services from the same platform that serves our web page into burlier clustered email server solution. By splitting apart these services and using the web server to only serve web pages (a novel idea indeed) we should no longer see these type of spam attacks “downing” the web site.

While I was at it yesterday (12/9), I also did a whole bunch of OS updates, as well as, some plug in updates to df.com. This is too keep things up to date and secure, as well as, insure top notch delivery of the web site. As a result of all this work, we’re back in business and everything is loading pretty good on the site considering the recent spike in web page viewership. I’m still noticing some anomalies I’m trying to iron out, but ultimately it’s looking like I’m quickly outgrowing my current server. This is admittedly quicker than expected. I cannot complain about df.com being so popular so soon after it’s return– clearly that is a blessing. Therefore my only real long term solution will be to move to a beefier web server and I plan on doing that sometime early in 2010 if all goes right. I may have to “speed up” that new web server deployment though if things continue getting hairy during high volume hours.

Now onto the real bad news, that same night of 12/8/09 of the spam attack my computer’s main hard drive completely failed (it’s a total coincidence– but what bad timing for irony to strike). While I won’t lose any of my music or web cast recordings (including the still in production digitalflood Pirate Radio Vol. 5 Episode 4) it certainly stops production of Pirate Radio for this week. Thus I’m regrettably (but without choice) going to have to move the release of Vol. 5 Ep. 4 into next week. If things change and I somehow get my hard drive replaced/rebuilt faster I’ll let you know right here on df.com, but for the time being– consider this an unexpected week long hiatus in Pirate Radio production.

I’m finding that when it rains– it truly pours. *boom*

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The Deal

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A castle in Germany? DAH!

A castle in Germany? DAH!

Today I got some mixed news and I think (without getting too personal about the whole deal… it is business after all) that the best way to deal with challenges is to use some creative energy to recharge myself  and to just simply tear into some DJ mixing. With that– I have recorded “digitalflood Pirate Radio Vol. 5 Ep. 4” in raw mix session format. It’s the only way I know to deal with challenges in life (to create). A few glasses of Bacardi Rum Select and a few hours later– I believe I have recorded the best mix tape ever. Angst breeds artistry. Artistry leads to creation. And now you the viewer can prosper from my angst. This Sunday (12/13/09) I promise you the best mix tape session ever. It is heavy on a certain genre. It is a tribute to a certain club in Newark, NJ (the select few of you have caught on already) and it is possibly the most incredible mix ever. On 12/13/09 the new digitalflood Pirate Radio drops. It is unreal. I promise you this much. I’m listening to the raw mix right now– prepare to be blown away.

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Pirate Radio Scheduled: Vol. 5 Ep. 3

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The feast is almost here! It won't be ham hock and artichokes though.

The feast is almost here! It won't be a ham hock and artichokes though. Sorry.

I had to push back the release of “digitalflood Pirate Radio Volume 5 Episode 3 – The 2009 Beat Feast” to tomorrow (12/6/09). The actual live mixtape session is all recorded and finalized. I’m putting on the final post-production touches. The overall mix is heavy on hip hop, but you will find some classic gems and even a metal song or two thrown in for fun. Total run time is over one and half hours of absolute non-stop music. My right arm was pretty fatigued after the DJ mixing portion of the session and I had to give up after a half hour of post-production work (putting me at about 65% complete). I’m feeling better though today and should be able to bang out the final mix by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Keep your eyes peeled for it!

Also, I joined the Hot97 forum called “Who’s Next Online?“. Hot97 is a radio station (WQHT – 92.3 FM) out of New York City known for its mainstay presence in the East Coast (and worldwide) hip hop and rap scene. It’s arguably the center of the music scene for the urban Northeast US scene and my personal favorite radio station. You can find our profile (which has been pursued by a about twelve people at this point) at: http://www.whosnextonline.com/Artist.aspx?ID=11953

You’ll be able to find that link listed on our Beyond DF.com page as well.

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Hoopla and Hootenannism

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Nationals Jersey Spelling Issue - Source: totalprosports.com

Nationals Jersey Spelling Issue - Source: totalprosports.com

Some minor updates to df.com have been implemented, that should help keep things humming along:

  • I updated the CAPTCHA feature used to post comments. This will add some complexity to the graphic and deter comment spammers from trying to put junk ads on article/posts. I’ve also updated the verbal read out button so if you have trouble reading a particular CAPTCHA output you can click on the little speaker icon and it will read what the letters are (pretty nifty huh?). That feature also helps the vision impaired browse the blog with ease. We try with every effort to make our site accessible to those with special needs and this is just one way we accomplish that.
  • Updated background caching system, which helps the site load faster.
  • Also updated the optimization tools I use to help speed up page loads.

All in all these are minor changes, but they keep things humming along well enough to be noted.

Over at the df.com Merch Shop, I’ve added a whole line of kids, toddlers, and infants clothing. This rounds out our offerings for the holiday season. If you haven’t checked out the merchandise, please do. You’re sure to find something for yourself or someone you know who loves our site.

This week’s DF Pirate Radio will be out on 12/5/09 (Volume 5 Episode 3). It will be the infamous and much loved mixtape seasonal bonanza known as “The Beat Feast”. Our previous editions have been very popular with our viewers so with that in mind you’ll be sure to want to download this one as well.

Finally, don’t you hate it when you forget to spell check an email? How about if you forgot to spell check a message that some million people would see? Like say– a Major League Baseball jersey? It happened to the poor Washington Nationals this year back in April 2009. Nobody is quite sure how it happened, but some of the players’ jerseys sported the logo of “NATINALS”. On top of it, they lost the game to the Florida Marlins as well. Can you say “served”?

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