[209] GS: The Secret Monastery of Webcomicry

console

< Piro >

"Comcast Blues..."

Sunday - December 30, 2001

(grumble)

Ok, its around 4:00pm, and I just got to the office (I have to work this weekend - big ass deadline on the 3rd - one of the many reasons that i am damn glad that i took a little week off - jeeze) but that's not why i am taking a few minutes out to write this.

Last night, around 2:30 am, Comcast did the big changeover for all of us cable modem users here in lower michigan in the Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti area who were on the Roadrunner system (we were MediaOne for the longest time). Of course, as you can read in this lovely article over on ArsTechnica, Comcast is pulling some really funky shit with the software package you have to install. I never did figure out if they were switching from MAC address verification to PPPoE or something like that - but lets just say it was a pain in the ass this morning. First off, i was dead set against installing their software. I do NOT LIKE the idea of being forced to use a 'branded' Comcast browser, and this 'support.com' thing that they install - talk about severe privacy violation issues. Anyways, once i realized that there was no way around it, i installed the frickin software.

So, you'd think that after that, everything would be peachy-keen, right? Wrong. Oddly enough, my net connection started working again and was just fine. IRC came online, Yahoo.com loaded, everything seemed fine.

Then i tried to load the megatokyo.com page. Nothing. Couldn't find it.

After verifying that the server was indeed working, i came to the conclusion, after attempting to ping the MT server that perhaps the new Comcast DNS server wasn't working properly, and didn't have the address in it, so i switched to another set of DNS servers. That fixed the ping problem. In fact, my email worked, ftp worked, i could SSH into the MT box, everything worked fine...

But i still could not load a webpage from megatokyo.com. fredart.com and none of the other stuff on that box would read either. I tried different browsers, rebooting, even entering in the raw IP address... nothing. It would sit there for a long time, then finally give up.

Puzzled, largo and tried a few things - and the odd thing we discovered was that if we changed the port that we served webpages to, i could load them. But anything i tried to load from Port 80 (which is the default port for webpages) didn't work. It was like the port was blocked or something.

but... every other webpage i tried worked fine. Slashdot.org, tinami.com, shoutcast.com, groovetech.com - but megatokyo.com and fredart.com refused to respond.

We have a few theories, some of it having something to do with the possible use of a really fuggored up proxy server on comcast's end, but really - i have no idea what is wrong. So, in an effort to find out if it's just me, and that i need to look on my side of the cable - if you live in the Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti Michigan area and are a Comcast user who went thru the big change over last night - let me know if you have trouble accessing the site.

Hopefully i can get this cleared up. Damn, i picked a good week to take a 'break', so to speak... :( AT T and Comcast are SOOOOOO on my shit list right now... (i am very close to writing something about my AT T problem right now - keep in mind, i am not an AT T customer either...)

Anyhoo, on a lighter note, a big thanks to the guys at MacHall for today's... guest strip. I think it's pretty amusing. Not only do we have server disasters all week, no comics to speak of, lame replacement rants... but we have a guest strip calling our fans monkeys. hehheh. kinda cool.

Happy New Year folks - 2001 was an amazing year for Megatokyo. 2002 is gonna be even better... er, as soon as we figure out how to put our pants back on, that is. ^^;;

... support mt stuff ...

You can support Megatokyo by getting yourself some cool YakPak swag using the link below. Piro has been carrying a black Medium Flapdoozy since the comic started (because that's what i really use ^_^). Also, the YakPak people are cool folk:

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< Largo >

"New Year Plug-atage"

Tuesday - January 1, 2002

[Largo] - 00:00:01 - [link here]

Happy New Year or something!

You ever wonder what they do with the old years when they get the new ones? I have to wonder if it's like computer hardware. New Year comes in and the old ones get donated to some under funded universe or school system, or there is the Steven King version where they get eaten by flying pac-man like things... I dunno. moving on now...

Resolutions, simple - I resolve to drink more, and rant less. -- or was it the other way round? Rubiko seems to want to resolve to eat more pie. (rubiko like pie)

Well it’s been awhile, but I’m back in the rant-seat and kicking it old school… er, okay, screw that. I’ve got some things I’d like to plug, and whether or not you continue reading will determine if I’ve inflicted my shameless plugging upon your person.

First up, conventions.

Piro and I generally only attend conventions that can pay our way (hotel/travel), it makes it easier on our tiny mt-budget, the time we have to take away from both our day jobs and the website, etc. As such, we don’t attend very many anime conventions.

However, some exceptions have popped up in the next few weeks for those interested.

I will be attending Ohayocon in lovely smog filled Cleveland, OH on January 11th-13th.

Also, I’ll be displaying some Texas pride that I picked up recently by attending one of the state’s local conventions - Ushicon on February 1st-3rd.

The only convention to book both Piro and I for 2002 so far is the ancient tradition known as A-Kon in Dallas, TX on May 31st-June 2nd.

For randomness we plan to be lurking around E3 again this year, hopefully run into some other of the website crews that seem to flock to that tradeshow like flies to a very bright light.

Ahhh.. E3 goodness… Nothing like wall to wall jumbotrons blasting you from every direction with video game sweetness. It’s akin to my religious pilgrimidge now, but like any good holy-type quest, only the truly divine can survive the trials such as the line of hell. Last year I had to save Piro from the Minotaur in the center of the maze-like main ballroom. I dunno why, but Minotaurs like webcomic artists, especially on toasted bread with honey mustard.

And Finally, before I get slapped. Rubiko is holding a fanart contest with the prize being some of her cool stuff(tm). The cool stuff being her own personal collection of Asuka, Ribbon & LaLa compilation manga. Information is located here on her forum.