Postcards From Myself

A reminder to us all for good backups and a solid disaster recovery plan. This in from EntreCard who host their sites and services with ThePlanet.

Unfortunately, there has been an electrical fire at the data center housing Entrecard’s servers. The servers have not been damaged, but the site may be down for as long as 12 hours.

Entrecard is hosted with ThePlanet, and this fire has effected over 9000 websites, as many of the world’s most popualar websites are hosted with ThePlanet. They are working around the clock to get their data center back online, and we are hoping that they get it back online fast.

Thank you for your pateince and understanding with this rare and frustrating problem. Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing we can do but wait for The Planet to get their datacenter back online.

Please check back with Entrecard in 12 to 24 hours.

This is affecting not only EntreCard, but all the other sites that are hosted there as well. Another one is MenWithPens. Anyway, that should explain a few glitches on some sites this morning.

More importantly though, it should serve as a reminder to us all that we need good backups and good disaster recover plans. What would you do if your host suddenly became unavailable? How would you get back up and in the running? And how long would it take you?

My father is being persecuted, and I am so proud of him for it! My dad, in an effort to increase civility in society, has started a movement called “Say Something Nice.” That doesn’t mean to lie, whitewash or ignore the bad, it basically just means to approach everything with a positive attitude and try to build people up instead of tear them down. This started after constantly hearing from his school teacher wife how ugly the tone of all interactions between her students in high school was. He then really started listing to all social interactions around him and decided that things had taken an ugly turn. So, we need to be more positive, enabling, and enouraging. Basic good stuff right? Well not according to some. Read this article in the Florida Baptist Witness and you will see what I mean.

I think some people are missing an awful lot here. Everything from “love thy neighbor as they self” right on down to the reasons why so many churches are losing members. It is amazing to me that anyone would want to hear about how damned they are constantly. And they wonder why no one wants to hear their message….

There is a very interesting post over at The Sunflower Chalice on “locavorism” and “food deserts”. I was not familiar with either of these terms, but after reading the article some things really hit home. By the way, a “food desert” is defined by Tony as “an urban district with little or no access to foods needed maintain a healthy diet, but often served by plenty of fast food restaurants.” As he says, “Ouch!”

So, take a few minutes and read the article. Let me know what you think. I really have to admit that not only am I not a vegetarian, but I am really a serious carnivore. And I love fast and junk food. But due to both health and social concerns, I can see the benefit of changing my ways.

I don’t know how many of you use Twitter, but I am doing so more and more these days. It takes a while to get the hang of, and it can be as distracting or more so than instant messaging. (No, I don’t use IM very much at all - I love email.) But once you start to use it, you really start to depend on it.

Twitter is great for just seeing where friends and colleagues are and what they are up to. It is also good for posting that same information about yourself so that others can just check in on what is going with you. Follow me on Twitter if you want to see how often I get confounded by people’s computer problems, where I am going for lunch, or when I am working on a new post for this blog. For a good intro to Twitter and its uses, check out The Big Juicy Twitter Guide by Caroline Middleton.

I have also added a little Twitter section in the sidebar of this blog that will display the last five updates I have made to Twitter. So while I may not post an article every day, you can always get a taste for what is going on by looking over there to the right. Feel free to comment on those actions too!

If you are using Twitter, or you have any questions about it, please let me know. Also, please leave your Twitter ID in the comments so that I can follow you and stay in touch. Oh! And tell me what Twitter tool you are using. Are you just using Twitter’s webpage? I am doing that some, but using twhirl more and more as a stand alone Twitter client.

Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
(…)
Article 22
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
(…)
Article 23
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.”

Source: knowyourrights2008.org and more specifically, here.