Spinning Bird Heads

Have you seen it

I've seen it on the net, have you.  The picture of the bird with the spinning head, it's gone around the world in emails.  Well even the old squirrel here on the Permafrost Ranch has one.  I wonder if it will fly around the world.

Live Squirrel Cam Problems

Live Cams are Back up and Running

Thanks ACS, says the old squirrel, he appreciates the quick response in fixing the ftp problems

Live Squirrel Cam Problems

FTP Problems with the Squirrel Cam Servers

If your wanting live images from Cam 1 or ads on Cam 2 I'm sorry says the old squirrel.  He's been trying all morning but there must be a problem with ACS and the server.  It won't accept passive ftp connections for some reason.  

Winter Mode

Winter is locked and loaded

The old squirrel was telling me this morning over coffee.  Winter has locked and loaded and we are getting both barrels he feels.  ACS, tore up the road in front of the house and had us blocked in the drive way all day yesterday.  They were laying new cable and my driveway took the beating of all the digging.  I don't think they will put it back to normal it's going to be a mess next spring he said.  They had to dig under the culvert that was there.  They dinged it a couple of times.  Not only that they didn't compact the dirt under the area they dug and  or over the pipe when they recovered it.  It's liable to subside with the moisture in the spring and cave in the pipe.  I suspect I'll be asking for relief from ACS before it's all over with next year.  Not only that they still accidently got into the cable for the phone lines that run around Victoria Circle.  It didn't affect our service but the rest of the neighborhood was down.  I suppose then they had to splice the cable before they reburied it.  

The Great Alaskan Red Squirrel Cam

www.thesquirrelcam.com

The squirrel cam's web site is back up for those who watch the cams and donate to the feeding of my little friends.

www.thesquirrelcam.com

Web Site is Down

The Web page is down at www.thesquirrelcam.com   and this old squirrel is upset.  You guys have heard me rant about the cost and the speed of our internet access here in the Great Land before.

So, I'm not going to say anything more, but as you see when you try to access the page, it's not there.  I can't ftp the server to fix it either.  It's not on my end and I notified them about the problem last night on the 29th.  When it failed to accept a new pic update through the ftp.

Being it's a holiday weekend. Well, you know the story. 

Internet Speeds on the Permafrost Ranch

Wow imagine, something I've been harping about for a long time. Internet speeds and the cost of our connections. Our download speeds are the slowest in the country. Read this article in the Anchorage Daily News Story.
I'm just screaming mad about it and what we pay is out of this world compared to others in the US and as an addendum. The Fairbanks Daily News Miner got in on the story too.

Internet Connection Speed Rant

I don't know what the average consumer pays for a medium speed dsl line from Alaska Communication System. I pay an average of over 100 dollars a month. As many of you know, I stream over the Internet on Ustream.tv and here lately my stream lags considerably. It makes my stream unintelligible on the receiving end. When you do a speed test to ACS in Anchorage where the servers are, the speed level is fine. It's the next leg down to the Lower 48 where my real market for my content is that the speed falls to undesirable levels. We pay the highest price for such services and yet it fails to live up to the promise of the broadband Internet. Why is Alaska's cost for services consistently higher than the lower continental states? ACS fails to provide any measurable benefit for the extra cost that we pay and the service falls below what is consistently available elsewhere. In fact Chris Pirillo was streaming from a tour boat in the Hawaiian Islands this last week and his stream was better than mine. It's the same old song and dance for Alaskans. Whether it be in fuel prices or consumer goods and services. The consumer is short changed for the price we pay.