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This site exists to tell the story of a slightly atypical suburban family that decided to unplug from the information age and set out in search of planet Ocean. It is a guide for the Tinnaro-Stephens family first - a way for them to mark milestones in their collective life as it evolves. It is also a way for them share their experiences with their extended family. Finally, it might inform and perhaps teach other humans that it is possible to act on dreams. To these ends this small vessel afloat upon the vast expanse of the Internet Ocean aspires - sometimes, like it's ocean-bound counterpart, it will succeed. And it is the success of personal communication and the joy of sentient contact that compells a young family of four (plus cat) to at least try.
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All the various bits of software that make this site possible run atop a little AMD-K62-based computer system running FreeBSD 4.1. I've been a big FreeBSD fan since 1992 when I first ran a little OS called bsd/386 on a 386sx system I hacked together with bits of gum and spit. Gum and spit being about all I could afford in 1992. FreeBSD has given me an incredible amount of joy and excitement over the years and I'm sure it could do the same for you if you give it a chance. Check it out - it's FREE!
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The #1 all time greatest web server in the UNIVERSE is Apache. It started as a bunch of hacks (or patches) to the original NCSA httpd back in the mid 1990s. It finally broke free of NCSA-dom and became its own project. Since it was originally just a very patchy version of the NCSA httpd it made sense to call it Apache. Amazing story, isn't it? I've had so much fun with Apache over the last five years I would never even consider running another web server. In fact, since I first loaded it on a FreeBSD system in 1995, I've not run anything else. And, like FreeBSD, it's free!
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Why use Word when there's vi? No other text editor comes close to the speed and simplicity of this fantastic little tool. I've used vi continuously for almost all my text editing needs since 1991 and wouldn't consider anything else. All the text you see, all the html, all the perl scripts, all the php code, all the configuration of every component of this site was edited in vi. Nothing else touches my text. It may not be fancy, but it's fast! And free!
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Much of what is seen on this site is actually dynamically created from content housed within a few databases running inside a PostgreSQL database engine. I am prone to boredom after cutting and pasting the same basic bits of html a zillion times - enter dynamic content. I simply write a few php or Perl scripts that call a few databases, and Bob's your uncle. Well, he's my uncle, anyway. The point is, there's this incredible database system called PostgreSQL that I've been fooling around with since 1994 and I just love it. I use it whenever I can as I'm secretly a database junkie. I've sought help... Anyway, PostgreSQL ROCKS and, like everything else on this site, it's FREE!
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Perl is my friend. This was not always the case, however. It took a long time and a lot of C coded cgi stuff with lots of strtoks and strlens to convince me that Perl is beautiful. And Perl is my friend. I really have to thank Keith V. Moore for this as he's the odd nut that really hammered the blessings of Perl into my hard head. Thank you, Keith. I've been a true Perl enthusiast since 1995 and would never consider writing another cgi in C. I still like C, but only when speed's a requirement. About half of the cgi scripts that make this site possible, along with lots of little utilities to make my life easier, are written in Perl. And, of course, Perl is FREE!
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The other half of the cgi-ish scripts that make this site possible are written in a lovely language called php. I am relatively new to php - I started using it at my last job around 1998. Though compared to the other tools I employ in web development, php is a relative newcomer to my toolbox, I am absolutely amazed at how incredibly useful and quick it is. If you've never used php, go get it and try it out. Unless, of course, you've got no use for a imbedded scripting language. Guess what, it's FREE too.
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Today's web sites are bloated with fat, oppulent graphics. The first web sites I created in the early 1990's had no images on them at all. They were purely text and loaded faster than you can say threehundredbaud. Of course, they had to be lean since most people were accessing the sites at 9600 bps. Also, at that time, inline images were a blessing of the future. Well, times have changed and so have I. I really like the look of those fat, juicy graphics and I have a cable modem that spits them into my browser faster than you can say Ugh. But, to have nifty graphics, one needs a nifty graphics editor. Okay, even if you don't have, or in my case, can't really make nifty graphics, you still need a nifty graphics editor. I use gimp. It doesn't really make my graphics look any better. In fact, some may say they reek a bit of the sewer. But it sure is fun to use. All the gnarly, reeking graphics on this site were mangled with gimp. And mangled for free!
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Everything on this site was created in a humane, organic, green environment without any Microsoft additives or preservatives. I am proud to claim this site a 100% microsoft-free-zone. Support the free and open exchange of ideas and opinions - support the Open Source movement today.
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