Seven and a half years ago, the INDY.CC website was released. Throughout those years, the site has had many transformations [Internet Archive]. I've tried to keep the format, layout, and appearance of the site updated to stay aligned with the progression of technology and ascetics.
As of this posting, you'll find that the website has a new landing page. This is the page first seen when going directly to INDY.CC. Previously, this page had contained a detailed overview of the site's purpose and main attractions. It also contained helped redirection for those people who may have come to the site by mistake.
Now, the internet has become a place of social connection and flowing information, more so than a place of independent islands connected by search engines. As such, I've made the INDY landing page into a simple, but elegant presentation of myself, my website, and the many public connections and services of which I am a part of.
Showing posts with label INDY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label INDY. Show all posts
2012-02-21
2011-08-21
I am an Alchemist
On this date seven years ago, I revealed the INDY.CC website. In conclusion to a statement welcoming visitors, I wrote the phrase: "No matter what you choose to do here, remember one thing: VITRIOL! It is within ourselves that we discover the greatest wonders of the universe." I believe it's time that I reveal the deeper meaning behind it.
I am an Alchemist.
I have been for many years; that is to say, I've studied aspects of Alchemy for a long while. My curiosity in it began more than ten years ago. For a while I learned what I could on my own, developing an greater interest in what it was and what it wasn't.
It's repeated often that "when the student is ready, the teacher appears"; that's how it was for my apprenticeship in Alchemy. Consistent with Alchemy for thousands of years, I was taught by a master Alchemist who was taught by a master Alchemist. I learned how to interpret and understand the imagery, practices, and phrases of Alchemy. After some time, my teacher informed me that I was no longer a student, I was an Alchemist myself.
The word vitriol, to an Alchemist, is layered with meaning. It is a name given to sulfuric acid. It is a synonym for "bitterness". Most of all, it is an acronym for the Latin "Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Inveniens Occultum Lapidem", translated "Visit the interior of the Earth, set things right to find the hidden stone". As with many things in life, the meaning is not literal; it means to look within ourselves to find our potential/purpose/life.
Alchemy isn't a science, an art, a magic, a cult, a religion; it is humanity, it is us. It is the study of our essence, our balance between what we Alchemists call the Above and Below (enlightenment and instinct). Alchemists study many aspects, I chose to focus on the psychological, the balance and power of the mind.
Recently, I have felt very out of focus with myself. I see life as an adventurous journey, a travel through mountains, valleys, oceans, and deserts. One should never expect that life is a calm level walk along the beach; in fact, I embrace the excitement of the adventure. However, there are times where it consumes me. It is at those times where I need to look to others to help me refocus and retrace my steps back to the path I had intended for my adventure.
Alchemy means a great deal to me, but it's not something I speak about often. The Alchemy section of my website has been oddly vacant for 7 years. Some of my closest friends have expressed an interest in what it could mean to them, but I've shrugged away that request in the past. Today, on my 28th birthday, I hope that this post will help me to begin revealing that part of myself.
I am an Alchemist.
I have been for many years; that is to say, I've studied aspects of Alchemy for a long while. My curiosity in it began more than ten years ago. For a while I learned what I could on my own, developing an greater interest in what it was and what it wasn't.
It's repeated often that "when the student is ready, the teacher appears"; that's how it was for my apprenticeship in Alchemy. Consistent with Alchemy for thousands of years, I was taught by a master Alchemist who was taught by a master Alchemist. I learned how to interpret and understand the imagery, practices, and phrases of Alchemy. After some time, my teacher informed me that I was no longer a student, I was an Alchemist myself.
The word vitriol, to an Alchemist, is layered with meaning. It is a name given to sulfuric acid. It is a synonym for "bitterness". Most of all, it is an acronym for the Latin "Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Inveniens Occultum Lapidem", translated "Visit the interior of the Earth, set things right to find the hidden stone". As with many things in life, the meaning is not literal; it means to look within ourselves to find our potential/purpose/life.
Alchemy isn't a science, an art, a magic, a cult, a religion; it is humanity, it is us. It is the study of our essence, our balance between what we Alchemists call the Above and Below (enlightenment and instinct). Alchemists study many aspects, I chose to focus on the psychological, the balance and power of the mind.
Recently, I have felt very out of focus with myself. I see life as an adventurous journey, a travel through mountains, valleys, oceans, and deserts. One should never expect that life is a calm level walk along the beach; in fact, I embrace the excitement of the adventure. However, there are times where it consumes me. It is at those times where I need to look to others to help me refocus and retrace my steps back to the path I had intended for my adventure.
Alchemy means a great deal to me, but it's not something I speak about often. The Alchemy section of my website has been oddly vacant for 7 years. Some of my closest friends have expressed an interest in what it could mean to them, but I've shrugged away that request in the past. Today, on my 28th birthday, I hope that this post will help me to begin revealing that part of myself.
2011-06-09
INDY Members attach OpenIDs
In a post in April, I encouraged all current INDY Members to attach OpenID logins (e.g. Google, Twitter, etc.) to their INDY accounts. By doing so, members would not have to remember an additional username/password for the INDY website and information would be better secured.
If you are a current INDY member, please consider attaching an OpenID to your INDY account as soon as possible. For assistance with this process, please revisit the original post on the subject of OpenID.
I intend to phase out the INDY password in favor of the more secure (and memorable) OpenID authentication by 1 July 2011, so attach an OpenID now to avoid any inconvenience or interruption of your access to the INDY website.
If you are a current INDY member, please consider attaching an OpenID to your INDY account as soon as possible. For assistance with this process, please revisit the original post on the subject of OpenID.
I intend to phase out the INDY password in favor of the more secure (and memorable) OpenID authentication by 1 July 2011, so attach an OpenID now to avoid any inconvenience or interruption of your access to the INDY website.
2011-04-25
INDY login with OpenID
Today, I'm proud to announce a new feature for existing INDY members.
If you're an INDY member, you can now "attach" one or many OpenIDs to your INDY account. This will allow you to log into INDY using your credentials from those sites.
As of the publishing of this post (2011-04-25 @ 16:00), the OpenID sites you can use are:
I encourage all current INDY members to attach at least one OpenID to their account as soon as possible. At the least, this will give you "a second set of keys" should you forget the password for your INDY account. You can find the OpenID manager in the "My INDY" section. Look in the third row of navigation links.
If you're an INDY member, you can now "attach" one or many OpenIDs to your INDY account. This will allow you to log into INDY using your credentials from those sites.
As of the publishing of this post (2011-04-25 @ 16:00), the OpenID sites you can use are:
- OpenID
- Yahoo!
I encourage all current INDY members to attach at least one OpenID to their account as soon as possible. At the least, this will give you "a second set of keys" should you forget the password for your INDY account. You can find the OpenID manager in the "My INDY" section. Look in the third row of navigation links.
2011-04-01
Site down time while I move to California!
The main INDY site will be down for a time while I move my things to California. I've decided to accept a job offer in Irvine. I have missed the ocean so much; I am thrilled to have this opportunity!
UPDATE (2011-04-01 @ 11:30): Here's a map of Irvine, CA. I found a place on Crosscreek which is about a 5 minute bike ride from Irvine College where I'll be working.
UPDATE (2011-04-01 @ 18:00): APRIL FOOLS! I do miss California and the ocean, but I'm kept content with the beauty of the Rocky Mountains; especially Fort Collins and working with the people I do at my current job.
UPDATE (2011-04-01 @ 11:30): Here's a map of Irvine, CA. I found a place on Crosscreek which is about a 5 minute bike ride from Irvine College where I'll be working.
UPDATE (2011-04-01 @ 18:00): APRIL FOOLS! I do miss California and the ocean, but I'm kept content with the beauty of the Rocky Mountains; especially Fort Collins and working with the people I do at my current job.
2011-02-11
INDY Nostalgia
I've become nostalgic about the site design of INDY.CC before the 2007 redesign. In remembrance of the original layout, over the course of the next 10 days I will be adjusting the site's appearance. The commutation of this effort will come on February 21st, six and a half years after INDY.CC was revealed in 2004 on August 21st.
2010-12-08
New INDY Gallery Features
Beginning today INDY members can now enjoy some new features in the INDY Gallery.
After many months of work tweaking and testing, I'm finally making keyword searches available to all members with access to the Gallery. As of right now, the search function will look for images containing all of the keywords (or directory/filename). To exclude a specific keyword, precede it with NOT.
Examples:
Adding the keywords to images is a very time consuming process; I've barely scratched the surface of the Gallery's contents so far. I do hope you will enjoy the new features; personally, I've found it extremely useful over the past year in which I've been testing it.
After many months of work tweaking and testing, I'm finally making keyword searches available to all members with access to the Gallery. As of right now, the search function will look for images containing all of the keywords (or directory/filename). To exclude a specific keyword, precede it with NOT.
Examples:
indy fedora
This will find any image with both "indy" and "fedora" in its keywords or directory/filename.
indy fedora
(excluding directory names)
This will find any image with both "indy" and "fedora" in its keywords (only).
fedora NOT indy
This will find any image with "fedora" in its keywords or directory/filename, but will ignore any image which contains "indy" in its keywords or directory/filename.
Adding the keywords to images is a very time consuming process; I've barely scratched the surface of the Gallery's contents so far. I do hope you will enjoy the new features; personally, I've found it extremely useful over the past year in which I've been testing it.
2010-08-18
INDY server outages recently
Sorry about the intermittent server uptime recently. There's been a lot of really cool redecorating going on where the server is; it should be back to normal now though. (Well, once the DNS update hits the Internet, anyway.)
2010-08-03
INDY site back online
Grab your boards because the surf is back up!
(Translation: The server has been moved successfully and it's active now.)
(Translation: The server has been moved successfully and it's active now.)
2010-08-01
INDY site outage
The main INDY site will be down for a couple days while some hardware location changes are made. (Translation: The server is turned off while I move it around.) I hope to have a everything settled and accessible within 48 hours.
2009-11-17
Fedora 12 Upgrade Success
All went well with the upgrade to Fedora 12. I have a few tweaks to make for my end, but everything should be as normal for the website again.
Another upgrade - possible INDY outages
Here's the usual upgrade blather:
Now, I'm going to add something more....
With the way things have gone historically with these upgrades, I'm planned and ready for the worst. If the server's out for a few days, don't worry or be surprised. Just wish me luck.
Alright, Fedora 12. Here we go!
I will be upgrading the web server over the course of the next couple days. You may notice some downtime, though it is more likely that the upgrade will only cause a single outage of up to an hour tonight. (As always, any outages will not effect email or the blog, as they are hosted externally.)
Now, I'm going to add something more....
With the way things have gone historically with these upgrades, I'm planned and ready for the worst. If the server's out for a few days, don't worry or be surprised. Just wish me luck.
Alright, Fedora 12. Here we go!
2009-10-16
Unanticipated Outage!
The cats chewed through some cables. We're trying to get things replaced quickly. Sorry for the unannounced outage.
UPDATE (2009-10-16 20:41:00 MDT): Thanks to the efforts of a close friend, we managed to obtain a 50ft replacement cable and have now rerouted the cable away from curious fangs.
UPDATE (2009-10-16 20:41:00 MDT): Thanks to the efforts of a close friend, we managed to obtain a 50ft replacement cable and have now rerouted the cable away from curious fangs.
2009-09-30
INDY site is back online
That was not fun at all.
I definitely don't feel like reviewing the details of my anguish, so instead I'll candidly encapsulate the experience by saying: "It's a good thing that I run backups as diligently as I do."
Anyway, at this point, everything should be exactly as it was the moment before I took things offline to perform the "simple" upgrade.
Ugh... I'm so glad that's over with.
I definitely don't feel like reviewing the details of my anguish, so instead I'll candidly encapsulate the experience by saying: "It's a good thing that I run backups as diligently as I do."
Anyway, at this point, everything should be exactly as it was the moment before I took things offline to perform the "simple" upgrade.
Ugh... I'm so glad that's over with.
2009-09-27
Possible INDY outages
I will be upgrading the web server over the course of the next couple days. You may notice some downtime, though it is more likely that the upgrade will only cause a single outage of up to an hour tonight. (As always, any outages will not effect email or the blog, as they are hosted externally.)
Here we go!
Here we go!
2009-06-30
INDY and HTML 5
Within the past week, I have moved much of the underlying code of INDY.CC from XHTML 1.1 [wikipedia] to HTML 5 [wikipedia].
What does this mean to you? Well, if things are done right, you shouldn't really notice any differences, rather features will "just work" and without you needing to download/install random proprietary plug-ins (e.g. Flash or Silverlight).
You will need to take one step though: you need to get yourself a better browser, one which can interpret HTML 5.
Here are the browsers whose current versions can interpret (the most valuable parts of) HTML 5: Firefox, Opera, and Safari. I expect more browsers will step up in the future, though it's no surprise that Microsoft's Internet Explorer isn't on this list.
As an aside, if you use a browser that cannot interpret HTML 5, websites which use it will still load decently in your browser. (You just might have to fight with your computer in order to get what HTML 5 gives naturally.)
So, go find the most recent version of your favorite browser (or pick a real favorite [browse happy] if you claim that IE is your current favorite). I'll be adding more tweaks to INDY which will use HTML 5 as time goes on, for now I recommend that members check out the videos in the Gallery which are using the new HTML 5 video tag.
What does this mean to you? Well, if things are done right, you shouldn't really notice any differences, rather features will "just work" and without you needing to download/install random proprietary plug-ins (e.g. Flash or Silverlight).
You will need to take one step though: you need to get yourself a better browser, one which can interpret HTML 5.
Here are the browsers whose current versions can interpret (the most valuable parts of) HTML 5: Firefox, Opera, and Safari. I expect more browsers will step up in the future, though it's no surprise that Microsoft's Internet Explorer isn't on this list.
As an aside, if you use a browser that cannot interpret HTML 5, websites which use it will still load decently in your browser. (You just might have to fight with your computer in order to get what HTML 5 gives naturally.)
So, go find the most recent version of your favorite browser (or pick a real favorite [browse happy] if you claim that IE is your current favorite). I'll be adding more tweaks to INDY which will use HTML 5 as time goes on, for now I recommend that members check out the videos in the Gallery which are using the new HTML 5 video tag.
2009-03-14
Load times much improved
I made some changes to the INDY server last night and also some very minor alterations to the main INDY website itself. You should see some much faster load times now, compared to yesterday. In fact, it seems to be responding even better than when it was run under the previous ISP.
I should have made these sorts of changes long ago! Enjoy!
I should have made these sorts of changes long ago! Enjoy!
2009-03-13
ISPs, Upload Speeds, and Web Design
In the interest of saving money, I recently changed Internet Service Providers. I won't name names, but I will say that making the switch cut the cost of internet access in half while only lowering the download speed by 1 Mibps. (Well worth the change!)
Unfortunately, the switch brought with it a very slow upload speed (that which takes what's on my server and gives it to you), dropping from 1.5 Mibps (1500 Kibps) - not that great in the first place - down to 768 Kibps. Ouch!
I formerly rented a rack-mounted server with unbelievable connection speeds (both up and down), at a much higher price. I opted to cut that and "bring the server home" a couple months back. That change didn't really affect my site's performance, as I had already tweaked INDY to be pretty efficient.
I begged and pleaded with the new ISP today to try raise the upload speed, but they have said that they have no way of doing that in my area right now. So, it looks like I may have to take another look at that efficiency, now that I've switched to a different service altogether.
The gist of all of this follows: the site is going to be very VERY slow for a time, while I work out the kinks. Wish me luck!
Unfortunately, the switch brought with it a very slow upload speed (that which takes what's on my server and gives it to you), dropping from 1.5 Mibps (1500 Kibps) - not that great in the first place - down to 768 Kibps. Ouch!
I formerly rented a rack-mounted server with unbelievable connection speeds (both up and down), at a much higher price. I opted to cut that and "bring the server home" a couple months back. That change didn't really affect my site's performance, as I had already tweaked INDY to be pretty efficient.
I begged and pleaded with the new ISP today to try raise the upload speed, but they have said that they have no way of doing that in my area right now. So, it looks like I may have to take another look at that efficiency, now that I've switched to a different service altogether.
The gist of all of this follows: the site is going to be very VERY slow for a time, while I work out the kinks. Wish me luck!
2009-03-12
Temporary Outage
INDY.CC web services will be temporarily offline while I switch Internet Service Providers.
INDY email and blogs will remain on-line, as they are run on the Google Apps platforms. (Thank you, Google!!!)
INDY email and blogs will remain on-line, as they are run on the Google Apps platforms. (Thank you, Google!!!)
2008-02-14
The Man with the Hat is Back.... again
Get ready to mark your calendars. On May 22nd, the Fedora wearing, whip-snapping, butt-kicking archaeologist after whom I am nicknamed is returning to theaters. That's right! Indiana Jones IV is coming soon.
I've been following it's production for some time now, but I did not want to make the announcement until the official trailer was released. Well, here it is. And it just happens to be one of the best trailers I've seen in a long time!
URL: http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/indianajones.html
I am so excited to have a chance to put on my Fedora and finally see an Indiana Jones film on the big screen!
I've been following it's production for some time now, but I did not want to make the announcement until the official trailer was released. Well, here it is. And it just happens to be one of the best trailers I've seen in a long time!
URL: http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/indianajones.html
I am so excited to have a chance to put on my Fedora and finally see an Indiana Jones film on the big screen!
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