The Mudcat is 10x faster

Subject: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Max
Date: 09 Apr 98 - 10:48 AM

Hello all, I awoke this morning with some great news. The Mudcat is now serving 10x faster than any day before. Our T1 is in place, and the mudcat traffic is using it. This should solve 99% of the troubles and downtime. Have a ball.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Max
Date: 09 Apr 98 - 11:33 AM

Strike that, at midnight tonight EST, this will take effect to the world.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Will
Date: 09 Apr 98 - 09:17 PM

Hurrah for elegant speed.

And Max, who may live on speed.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Max
Date: 10 Apr 98 - 12:06 PM

My speed is natural, I only like green things. It's all on now guys, the mudcat is now on a T1. 1.5 Megabits per second. As much speed as I can afford.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From:
Date: 11 Apr 98 - 08:00 AM

That green thing reminds me. There is a great cartoon called "One Froggy Morning" from which this animation looks like it was taken. Does anyone know if it is available on video?

Mudcat is not only faster, but it seems more stable Max. Now for a super chat room.......

Murray

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Apr 98 - 11:08 AM

Well, Max, you did it up right, I'll tell ya. I didn't notice the speed earlier this week, but I guess that was the transition time. It sure comes in well now.
So, max, now that we've got the speed, does that mean we can put a little more fancy stuff in, like the graphic above? Wanna give us some guidelines on that?
I asked another question in an earlier thread, and don't know if you answered - some of us have been putting links to songs in the database into messages here in the forum. Trouble is, the songs appear to be in the October 97 edition of the database. Does that mean that those links will go dead once the April edition comes out?
Thanks for all the work you've done, Max.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Apr 98 - 01:32 PM

Joe...as I'm sure Max will explain, graphics like the frog live on some other server, and has to be 'sent' from that server each time someone clicks on that thread...if you make a link to one that happens to be on a slow server, or one that is only intermittently working, the thread will be slowed for as long as it takes for either the slow machine to feed the graphic to Mudcat, or for your machine to give up and 'time out' on trying to load it...thus it behooves us to be judicious about 'inline' graphics...the clickable links are safer...(but not nearly as cute somethimes!) If we are ever able to 'store' certain images, .wavs, midis, etc. on Mudcats server, then they are available at whatever speed Mudcat is operating (like that test thread where we posted tunes)...not sure what Max plans for the future on that score...(gee, it is easy to get used to neat stuff and take it for granted...)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Max
Date: 14 Apr 98 - 11:27 AM

Well said bill. Yes, all images you see posted in the forum are on other machines. I get annoyed sometimes when my viewing pleasure is held up by some completely pointless image someone felt the need to post, so I still hold to keep them to a minimum.

Also, we are a week or two away from a new version of the forum that allows you to upload images, songs, midi, and all kinds of multimedia as a link. This will allow the user to chose whether he or she would like to download it.

And yes, it will have a chat room. I am also going to begin accepting stories, articles, reviews and pictures from festivals and such. I would like to be more of a publication on a continual basis. Soon as I get my head together, (the IRS nearly banckrupted me this year) I will tell you more about it and get moving on it.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Apr 98 - 02:45 PM

gee, Max...you mean you can't write off all of us addicts as dependants?? *grin*...We DO depend on you--surely there is some IRS form to reflect that!!

(looking forward to being able to post midis, folk pics, etc...what a neat prospect!! I'd like to see pics of some of these people I share music with,,,perhaps a 'rogues gallery' that lives on some Mudcat page.....)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Max
Date: 14 Apr 98 - 04:52 PM

I didn't even file for the Mudcat. All the donations didn't even add up to $500. My accountant told me that his fees would be higher than that.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Apr 98 - 05:49 PM

Is it just me, or is Mudcat back to turtle speed today? I couldn't get on at all Tuesday night, and now it's Wednesday daytime and it's S-L-O-O-O-W!!!! Was ist los, Max? Que pasa? Or something like that.....
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Max
Date: 15 Apr 98 - 07:32 PM

We got a client on the same box (computer) as the mudcat that's real busy and intensive. We are moving it to a new box friday night. Still also need to convert the database to a better one, but some of these messages (400 out of 26,000) have funny characters in them that freaks out the new database. Keepin on Pluggin. a never ending battle.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: alison
Date: 15 Apr 98 - 07:40 PM

Hi from Oz,

Haven't noticed much increase in speed, and haven't been able to get on at all since 11/4. Is everyone having the same trouble?

Keep up the good work Max.

Slainte

Alison

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Apr 98 - 08:11 PM

11/4? Say, Alison, are we in the U.S. the only ones who put the month first, and then the day? Is is day first and then month in both Australia and Ireland? What else do we do backwards here in the U.S.?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From:
Date: 16 Apr 98 - 07:41 PM

Hi,

Yes Joe, and you drive on the wrong side of the road too!!

Slainte

Alison

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Helen
Date: 16 Apr 98 - 10:54 PM

And yes Joe,

Not only do you Americans spell "centre", "colour", "organisation" etc etc wrong, but you get the date the wrong way around as well. It's the price of giving the people democracy when they break away from imperial rule, I suppose. ;->

I've had heaps of trouble getting into Mudcat this week as well.

Helen, also in Oz

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Jon W.
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 10:20 AM

And don't forget our appalling use of the English(?!?!?) measurement system.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Whippoorwill
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 10:29 AM

Yeah, but they haven't taken our guns away.... Yet.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Bert
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 11:56 AM

Let's start a new thread on American cultural oddities.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From:
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 08:11 PM

I am also having intermittent trouble getting on--but only in the last week. The frustrating thing is that I keep composing a long message for the "diggin my potatoes" thread and it gets wiped out when I post :-( .

I am hanging in there and trying.

Murray

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From:
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 09:23 PM

Hi again

Murray,I have learned now to copy and paste my message into a word file before I send it, because I have lost some of my messages by being thrown out of the system too.

Is there some reason why 3 Oz members are having truble this week getting into Mudcat? (No, no, I'm not paranoid, just because I participated in a little humorous Yank-bashing in this thread. Who's that behind me at my computter desk - aaaaaarrrgh!)

No, seriously, could it be something to do with a general Australian telecommunications problem? I plead total ignorance about this IT stuff.

I just got blocked out trying to get directly to the forum page, but I got in through the Mudcat home page, I think it's because there is less chance of getting timed out while waiting for the threads to load - maybe?

Helen

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Max
Date: 17 Apr 98 - 10:22 PM

Yes, troubles are happening, but are very temporary. All should be well by end of weekend. Hang in there.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Apr 98 - 01:02 AM

...You Ozstralians needn't worry, Helen. We're all getting blanked out. But don't worry. Max will make it better. He always comes through.
I typed up a question about the oddities of Australians for this thread, and it disappeared. My question was about the size of paper I got on a note from Alan - it was 8-1/4 by 11-3/4 inches, which makes even less sense than our 8-1/2 by 11 inches. Does it have a metric measurement that makes sense? I guess I don't have a metric ruler in the house any more, We Americans gave up our feeble attempt at metric some 20 years ago.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From:
Date: 18 Apr 98 - 01:35 AM

Yes, Joe

I have great faith in the powers of the wonderful Max, despite his innocent, youthful looks (see t-shirt picture).

And you're right about the measurement of the paper - it is metric, 29.7cm by 21cm, but don't ask me why it is 29.7, and not a rounded figure - none of this metric stuff made half as much sense as the imperial measures even though the metric maths is much, much easier with multiples of 10. It was forced upon us by the government - no choice in the matter.

Helen

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 20 Apr 98 - 12:48 AM

G'day,
The common paper size here is A4 which as Helen said is 210mm by 297mm. The actual sizes might not make much sense but the proportion is 1 by root 2. If you increase each side by a factor of root 2 the area doubles and that's the next size, or to put it another way one A3 sheet is the same size as two A4 sheets etc. Good system, even if the numbers work backwards. End of maths lesson.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Helen
Date: 20 Apr 98 - 04:52 AM

Murray,

The cartoon you are looking for is called "One Froggy Evening" and I did a long and not extrememly fruitful internet search for it and found out that it seems to be only available on Video Laser Disc, with the title of Looney Tunes Curtain Calls. This site might have information for ordering it, but I couldn't get into the site to check it.

http://www.uk.imdb.com/Sections/Laserdiscs/Index/O

It's an old Looney Tunes cartoon, put out by Warner Brothers and on one site I found it was voted No. 1 of a Top Ten list of the best ever cartoons. It has been one of my favourite cartoons ever since I first saw it many years ago, and I have only seen it once since then. Also a sequel has been made in 1995 which is due to be released this year, called "Another Froggy Evening"

All Movie Guide site has it listed on the database but didn't have availability details. http://205.186.189.2/amg/movie_root.html

One Froggy Evening 1955 - USA - Feature Director Chuck Jones

Plot Synopsis Another classic cartoon from director Chuck Jones, this hilarious Merrie Melodies short introduces the singing, dancing amphibian Michigan J. Frog (later to become the official symbol of the Warner Brothers television network.) The frog is initially discovered by a fairly average man, who finds a mysterious box in the remnants of a demolished building. Inside the box is the frog, who immediately begins a rousing performance of "Hello My Ragtime Gal," complete with kick-step, top hat and cane. The man is thrilled at this discovery, realizing such a rare frog could be quite valuable. He decides to stage a public performance by the frog, and ends up sinking his life savings into the show. Things go awry, however, when the frog refuses to perform -- it turns out the frog will only sing and dance when the man is alone. If anyone else is around, it just sits there and ribbits. Michigan J. Frog's songs are the only dialogue in this film, which also features performances of "'I'm Just Wild About Harry," a Rossini aria, and an original number, "The Michigan Rag," penned by Jones and writer Michael Maltese

Helen

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From:
Date: 20 Apr 98 - 05:05 AM

Thanks Helen. You think you don't know anything about IT--I don't know what a laser video disk is!! (Although I imagine it is a CD made to store video as well as audio information.) Anyway, I don't think I will be able to afford the equipment to play it for a while.

Murray

Subject: RE: The Mudcat is 10x faster
From: Helen
Date: 20 Apr 98 - 09:12 PM

Murray

The other, slower option is to keep a lookout for it on any of the Warner Brothers cartoon shows, Bugs Bunny, Animaniacs (I think), etc because I found a couple of lists on the net of the American television screenings of cartoons for each episode and Michigan J. Frog seems to show up on a relatively regular basis. As I said, it was voted No.1 of a Top Ten list, so the producers must know it's regarded as a well-loved classic, and re-run it regularly.

Helen