(This is a re-post from Saturday evening for those who may have missed it)
Folks,
Our hosting company, Hosting Matters, is in reach of Irma. So lines or power could go down and so could this site. They have generators, backups, all kinds of great and groovy stufff, but shit happens.
Luckily, we have a test server. Right now, it’s configured for test usage, not live site usage. So please don’t go there to check it out. But, should the main site go down, I will upgrade the memory and processers so you can use it instead. It is hosted far away from Irma (or José, for that matter!)
Even after memory and CPU upgrades, it will be much less powerful then the main server, but it will work to keep the community going.
Please consider the site a resource to help get through Irma, and whatever cruel twist of fate José might offer.
Your normal nyms should work, and it should work and look like the main site but there may be twitches – it’s a development, testing, and staging site.
The site is at https://test.balloon-juice.com
I will repost this post over the next day or so, stopping when the threat to the main site has passed.
debbie
Again, thanks for all you do.
rikyrah
Thank you for all you do?
geg6
You are the best, Alain.
Mike in NC
Sitting in sunny Philadelphia awaiting next connection…
Amir Khalid
I presume you’ll give us a heads-up if you have to cut over? Thanks for the yeoman work you do to keep the joint running.
Suzanne
Thank you, Alain!
Mark B
What’s the URL to the test server, or do you just plan to change the DNS entry if the main site goes down?
EDIT: Duh, never mind. I can’t read.
Alain the site fixer
@Amir Khalid: not really – if this site is down, try the test server, I won’t be able to alter DNS entries so that’s why I wanted to post this, so write it down!
eclare
Thank you Alain!
hedgehog mobile
Thank you Alain!
Schlemazel
I want to echo all the kudos to you, not just because you do all of this work but because you also have to put up with the whining and bitching when everything is not just “perfect”*
*
perfect is a fungible term to mean “what I want when I want the way I want as quickly as I want
Alain the site fixer
Thanks to all, hopefully we won’t need to use the test site. I pushed back some work I was planning until after the storm(s) pass, in case the test site is necessary
Adam L Silverman
It’s raining.
Adam L Silverman
There is only one guy at the Pinellas County Emergency Operations update wearing a ball cap. This is an improvement.
Though it’s the
Fire ChiefSt. Pete Mayor, his hair is close cropped, so just take the damn thing off you’re not going to have hat hair.Cheryl Rofer
From Betty:
debit
@Cheryl Rofer: Thanks for passing along the update!
Ruviana
@debit: I see what you did there!
ThresherK
Thank you for the preparation, Alain. As in governance, I want my internets to be something that functions, boringly, because people who bother themselves with details have the authority and resources to do so.
bemused
@Cheryl Rofer:
The dog rump closeup is hilarious.
Cheryl Rofer
Adam L Silverman
The meteorologists on WFLA Storm Team 8 are now giddily celebrating that Itma’s track has now shifted back east a bit and will make landfall between Naples and Northport.
They’re celebrating that death and destruction will be rained down on someone else so that the Tampa Bay area has it easier.
bemused
@Cheryl Rofer:
Also hilarious but guessing not from BC’s proximity.
Jeffro
@Cheryl Rofer: I just saw that, and I’m still giggling – fare thee well, Ms. Betty of Crackere (and try to breathe through your mouth, like a Trump voter would)
lollipopguild
Doggies have to be doggies.
FlyingToaster
@Adam L Silverman: Given Irma’s diameter, it isn’t going to make much difference.
The eastward shift means my mom’s house is definitely inside the cat-2 winds; she’s made it through cat 3 twice, but I’m terrified about the aftermath.
From what I can piece together from the fplmaps page (and other providers), by tomorrow morning the entire state will be without electricity. No matter how many power crews you have on standby, this is catastrophic.
Schlemazel
@Adam L Silverman:
All TV weather bots are terrorists. It is their job to scare the shit out of you so you stay tuned for the next load of commercials. When the bad thing does actually happen it is their job to amplify the death and destruction so you stay tuned for more commercials.
These are not good people
rikyrah
@Cheryl Rofer: yeah
rikyrah
Folks,
TAMPA BAY IS GONE!
NO WATER ANYWHERE ??
Schlemazel
@FlyingToaster:
There are a lot of very long days and night ahead for those folks doing the difficult job of restoring power. Of all the recovery workers they seem to get the least respect, we just expect them to get the lights back on now.
Many weeks of drudge work for many people and months before anything like ‘normal’ is restored. I remember driving through Homestead a little over a year after Andrew and there were still huge piles of trash in the streets because there was no place to take it all to. Many houses were abandoned or gutted and half rebuilt. Unless you live it I guess it is easy to assume everything goes back to the way it was easily.
Schlemazel
@rikyrah:
Don’t worry, it’ll be back shortly
sorry, black humor is all I have left
Miss Bianca
@Cheryl Rofer: Oh, Betty and boxers et al. have had to evac? Been out of the loop this weekend and trying not to think about hurricanes, wildfires, or shitstorms at work. Last I knew BC and all were still stayed put, Adam et al. had just made it to shelter.
Trust Betty Cracker to be able to make me laugh at a hurricane evacuation. : )
Amir Khalid
@Alain the site fixer:
I’ve bookmarked the test server URL, just in case.
Amir Khalid
@Cheryl Rofer:
Which dog is it? For purposes of facial recognition, that’s not the right end of her.
Cheryl Rofer
@Amir Khalid: I’m just passing on Betty’s tweets. I don’t know any more than that.
Another Scott
I assume she’s Daisy. Patsy Marie is striped, I think.
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.