An average picture of “The Tron” (Hamilton, New Zealand)

Have migrated this website peak.nz to the Main VPS (where nui.nz currently is).

The server pcluster09.stablehost.com has allegedly been suffering a DDoS attack that is now going on two weeks. In an apparent attempt to try and mitigate this, Stablehost deployed BitNinja which results in the frequent triggering off of false positives under WAF rules 941100, 941160 when ever I attempt to edit any given WordPress post.

Scanned the web space for potential Malware using both of the Antivirus tools they had available and nothing was found. In addition to that, as a test… laid down a fresh install of WordPress and attempted to edit the sole example post there, BitNinja again kicked me off the server. Support as friendly and as eager to assist as they were, were not able to ultimately resolve the issue.

Anyway, having migrated this successfully to the Main VPS, noticed this site now loads up so much faster and is so much more responsive both at the front end and at the back (composing posts)

Discovered in the billing section of my Stablehost account that I’m only paying 36 USD a year for the service (Billing history indicated I was originally paying over 100 USD per year). No wonder it is now crap. To be honest, I’m done with shared hosting. It always starts off great, then somehow it always ends up being a race to the bottom when providers slash prices to compete resulting in frankly shit quality hosting performance.

Unfortunately broke my Weider Home Gym over the weekend.

Have gone and put in a M20 bolt in the meantime. But looking at the whole construction, will need to replace it as it’s clearly under designed to handle the weight it was supposed to be able to handle

Continue reading “Home Gym Breakage” →

Could some unscrupulous businesses as a business strategy possibly be intentionally sneaking on extra charges onto selected customers hoping the customer not notice it? And if the customer does notice the discrepancy such as an unusual charge (or line item) and queries it, simply say sorry, correct the billing error and say it was a mistake?

Been a few cases recently when procuring products or services, errors have been spotted in either the quote or with a given invoice and have usually given the business the benefit of the doubt. I like to think (and still believe) the vast majority of these have been genuine and innocent mistakes, but the increasing frequently of such experiences in recent years has left me to question, is it a possibility that some businesses could be feigning mistakes? Particularly in these more challenging economic conditions?

My concern is that it can be extremely difficult if not downright impossible to determine between what are genuine billing mistakes that any business (despite the best of intentions) could still make and what could be feigned billing mistakes undertaken willfully as a business strategy by less than honest businesses.

Government agencies and Government appointed authorities in my view need be very careful about increasing the amount of ‘Strict Liability’ offenses on offer, particularly in light of recent reporting in the media about other crimes (such as Ram Raids, Assaults) being left unresolved / unpunished with offenders of these crimes getting off with merely a few months of home detention or even just a warning.

’Strict Liability’ supposedly does away with the need prove a ‘Guilty Mind’ (intention).

As the “infringement fines” base increases and the net widens, we are now seeing more and more otherwise Law abiding people getting pinged over an ever increasing array of ‘Strict Liability’ offences.

While arguably in many cases, the punishment may be warranted, This brings to light a number of issues and considerations…

• Where ordinary people who otherwise have the best intentions and have no intent on causing harm are now no longer able to go about their lives without worrying about the the state coming down on them for what is often an innocent mistake.

• This also comes on the back that of many events recently where people who are perceived to be committing real crimes with greater social and public harm are getting away with a slap on a wrist or just a warning while the ordinary member of the public who drove a few metres too long in the bus lane are slapped with a hefty  $150 NZD fine which anecdotally is extremely difficult to get out of. This is the same monetary penalty as someone running a red light which by all accounts is a much more serious act with more material consequences.

• Another issue this situation brings up is that instead of the state being seen as an ally out to assist the lives of the ordinary tax-paying citizens, the state are increasing instead seen as an adversary out to get at them at any means possible in turn causing public to distrust those in power

• It potentially normalizes offences and offending. We are now seeing more and more people regard certain fines as just another tax and revenue generation (or “revenue raisers” more commonly used in Australia / Across the Tasman). It is also ultimately has the real potential of reducing the public’s regard or “respect of authority”.

• More significantly, the fixed nature of this penalty means those on the lowest incomes are the most impacted by the imposition of such fixed value monetary penalties. For those on low incomes, a $150 may mean a weeks worth of groceries and the inability to feed one’s family. For a more financial well off it may be a little mere a minor slap on the wrist.

The imposition of Automatic fixed camera bus lanes enforcement at fines of $150 is I feel a slippery slope in the wrong direction, a step too far already. This also confirms my anxiety as it were over what I originally saw back in Melbourne, Victoria Australia with respect to Victoria being a fine state increasingly being applied to New Zealand as well.

This post is purely my personal opinion as a layman regarding the Influenza Vaccine specifically and is no way a shot against Vaccines or vaccinations in general.

I’m wondering if my body’s immune system even responds effectively to the annual influenza vaccine at all? Been Steamrolled by influenza like symptoms again (Starting Friday Morning). Unlike the COVID-19 vaccine where I do get a noticeable reaction after each shot, I do not get any appreciable reaction at all after receiving the influenza vaccine.

Yeah, it could be something else other than influenza that has rolled me, but the hit rate on any given year where I come down with flu-like symptoms such as high fever, body aches, itchy lungs (dry cough) which come on rather suddenly and swiftly versus the years where I don’t get this affliction appears to be rather poor for me. 7 out of the last 12 years, I’ve come down with “influenza-like” symptoms above that have bed stricken me at least over a few days and sometimes in those years, ended up with flu-like symptoms twice.

My GP (at least in the past) will base diagnosis of “The flu” based on the IFI (“Influenza-Like Illnesses”) symptoms I’ve given above alone. I guess that question should be asked… Is there anywhere we can get an influenza test to definitively confirm or deny this? And how much does it cost?

Yes, I’ve taken a few COVID Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT), and they have come back negative. I still have my smell and taste, so further indicates that it’s less likely to be COVID. It’s possible I picked up this Influenza-like affliction at my work’s “All in day” last Wednesday as that was the only time that week I ventured out of the house.

With that out of the way, I hear that from the CDC over in America suggests that the Flu Vaccine wasn’t a good match for 2021 and 2022. I feel I’ve been hearing that assessment more often in recent years. I wonder if the Influenza vaccine on average is losing it’s effectiveness as years go by? Do we need to reconsider how we produce this vaccine and the messaging that the public is given in terms of it’s actual effficacy?

As mentioned previously, there appears to be suggestion that getting your annual flu vaccine each year may blunt effectiveness. Yeah, may be a I should try giving the flu shot a rest for a year or two. But who knows? We just don’t know enough and it may take a few years before we all learn more. All I know is that I’m quickly losing my faith in the Flu shot as providing me any real effective protection against Influenza-Like Illnesses (ILI) and feel the Industry may be overstating the Influenza Vaccine’s efficacy.

I believe at best, the Flu Vaccine may reduce the overall disease burden on society (as in, reduce hospital admissions, etc) and right now, that is perhaps the largest argument in favour of getting this vaccine. In terms of individual protection against Influenza-Like Illnesses (ILI), the Flu shot has at least for me personally (and quite a few others) been infuriatingly ineffective and I call upon the industry to at least look into and perhaps acknowledge the Influenza Vaccine could be falling short in it’s delivery of expected outcomes for the public.

Got a new Android tablet and noticed that Spotify has been continuously phoning home to places such as api2.branch.io and app.adjust.com (every few seconds). If I force close the App, the DNS calls immediately cease.

Have flicked Spotify support an Email about this asking how I can turn this off on the Android version of their App. However, If I get no joy, will most probably move forward with ending my Spotify Premium subscription.