Author Archive for Ben Dechrau

Coffee Tasting Results

Published on April 20, 2010 in Random. 0 Comments

We tasted some coffees at work today. Here are the results…

The Coffees

Five Senses – Earth (Blend)
There are no subtleties in this cup – earthy, forest-floor like
flavours, lots of body, low acidity and a lingering after-taste make this
one a versatile coffee that can be enjoyed either as espresso or through
milk.
Five Senses – Harmony (Blend)
Harmonising squeaky green Fairtrade Organic beans in a smooth symphony
of rich cocoa, this blend has fresh overtones that resonate across the
palate, leaving you lingering, wantonly, for just one more cup…
Five Senses – Purosa (Papua New Guinean)
Blackcurrant and mulberry aromas. Liquorice undertones with a hint of
dried apricots. Buttery mouth-feel, long lasting after-taste.
Five Senses – Harrar (Ethiopian)
The blueberry aroma is a classic characteristic for all Harrar’s. This
fragrance translates to deep berry fruit on the palate with persistent
sweetness and velvety mouthfeel.)
Gravity Organic (Blend)
Full-bodied, smooth and creamy blend, highlighting delicious chocolate
and toffee characteristics with delicate fruit flavours and a rich, long
after-taste.

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How do you relate to your twitter followers?

Published on March 16, 2010 in Random. 3 Comments

I sent out a status update this morning. It read, simply “I think I just quit smoking…” Within minutes, @StopSmoking_Now retweeted my message. I don’t have a problem with that. However, within 3 hours, @QuitSmokingZone followed me and I’m unsure how to react.

You see, my twitter feed is public, so it’s not like following me will help you, unless you’re interested in what I have to say and want that delivered to you. I don’t know why @QuitSmokingZone is interested in my feed – perhaps it’s my insightful prose, or occasional use of the word “fuck”.

The only reason I can think they’re following me is in the hope that I auto-follow and build a relationship and their relative importance in the Twittersphere. I don’t auto-follow, so that’s not an issue.

Now I’m left with the question – should I allow them to continue following me, which could represent some relationship between us, albeit rather one sided, and also has a small benefit to me of increasing my follower count and increasing my perceived importance (not that I could care less about that)? Or do I block them for no apparent reason, at least none that I can rationally explain?

What do you do when someone follows you because the content of one of your Twitter/Status.net updates relates to their cause, irrespective of the general content and context of your status updates?

VPSLand Staff: illiterate, incompetent or just don’t care?

Published on October 28, 2009 in Hosting and Work Life. 7 Comments Tags: customer service, Hosting, vpsland.

I’ve been a customer of VPSLand’s for some years in one form or another. A friend recommended them when the Melbourne PHP Users Group was looking for a new server, he’d been with them for a while. I decided to get one for MooBox too.

Time passed, servers churned, and for the most I was happy. Then MooBox’s VPS dropped off the face of the ether. An email to support had the issue resolved in slightly more time that I’d hoped and all was well. Apparently the host server my VPS was on had issues and I was migrated. A year later, the same happened again, same reason.

The Last Straw

A short while ago, this server then stopped being able to communicate externally. Web sites were being served, but our spam detection system died (it needs to be able to talk to external servers) which meant our clients on that server couldn’t receive email. I emailed VPSLand support for assistance. 4 hours later I was told the issue had been escalated to senior admins. When I asked their sales staff how long I’d have to wait for a response on a ticket I was told an hour or two.

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Senator Stephen Fielding Seeing Spots

Published on June 10, 2009 in Environment and Politics. 5 Comments

Family First Senator Stephen Fielding has just returned from a study tour in America and is now undecided about the effect of carbon emissions on global warming.

While the solar flares debate, which Senator Fielding has recently cottoned on to, has been around for many years, no evidence exists to link them to the current warming, according to Graeme Pearman, former chief of atmospheric research at the CSIRO. Pearman goes one to say that solar flares are not likely to be a major factor for the next 90 years or so.

Senator Fielding states he’s open-minded about the situation and will be asking Climate Change Minister Penny Wong to “explain why what they’ve put forward isn’t credible”. His main concern is, “what happens if what they’re saying is true?”.

This author’s scientific accomplishments are somewhat restricted to computer science, but few will agree with the view that reducing carbon emissions will make matters worse.

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Australian Bushfires – Housing the Homeless

Published on February 11, 2009 in charity. 2 Comments Tags: australian bushfires, disaster relief.

I’ve been working with my co-workers Jon (@jpoh), Gil (@gilfer), Dimitry, Becky, Danielle and Andrew on a very exciting project for the past two days, and the first iteration has just been released!

Like so many people around the world, we have been touched by the devastating effects of the 2009 bushfires that have swept through Victoria and New South Wales and wanted to use the skills we have to provide an online resource for connecting those in need with those who are able to help.

Please be upstanding for Bushfire Housing, an online tool to facilitate the pairing of those that are homeless due to the Australian bushfires and those that have room in their house, a vacant rental, newly purchased investment property or holiday home.

We Need Your Help

This site isn’t going to work if no-one knows about it, so please tell everyone you know. The Bushfire Housing, Spread The Word page includes a short message suitable for Twitter, Identi.ca and SMSing, badges for your blog, company web sites and email signatures, and some text that you can email to your family, friends and colleagues. Why not also write a blog post, set your LinkedIn and Facebook statuses and call your local talk back radio show?

If you or anyone you know has the ability to offer a room, a holiday house or any form of emergency shelter, please register. Your generosity will directly help the victims of the worst natural disaster in Australia’s recorded history.

Have you got an idea of how to spread the word? Let me know in the comments.

Inspiration

This website was inspired by a similar concept used during the Hurricane Katrina disaster in the New Orleans. There, it achieved great success and helped thousands of people find shelter in their darkest hours. We hope Bushfire Housing can do the same here.

What’s In Store For The Site?

We wrote the whole site in about 8 hours and have spent the last 6 hours working on minor bug fixes and UI updates. Given the nature of the site, we’re working extreme agile; ideally having multiple release cycles per day.

Phase two updates include SMS notification, Google map integration and more. If you have any suggestions or feedback, leave a comment.