Author: admin

WP HTTP Error: connect() timed out!

That error up there has been causing me some head scratching. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was, and it causes issues with different parts of WordPress. I was seeing it on the Dashboard but it stops things like upgrades and plugins installing. I tried different solutions, adding .htaccess files etc etc. None of it looked that convincing, and none of it worked. Then one evening, this evening in fact, as I uploaded the newest version of WordPress (3.2) because the automatic update wouldn’t work it occured to me that I hadn’t tried poking the firewall.

It was the bloody firewall! Blocking all outgoing connections. Although this is good for security its not good for WordPress. So if you are seeing this error and have tried everything else. Take a look at your firewall. I wish I had weeks ago.

New banner picture

I changed the banner picture to one I took of my computer screen. It’s some of the programs/data/output from the programs I have written to gather share price data. I finally got round to moving the scrubbing programs onto my rackpsace server. Saves me running computers all day, and rackspace is more reliable . I had problems with my internet connection dropping out etc etc. The basic cloud server isn’t expensive either, about $10 plus traffic a month.

Getting data is crucial to doing any sort of modelling on shares/markets. The way that data is tightly controlled by financial and trading companies is a very good indication of what it is worth. However, I often think that it might not be worth as much as they think. The raw price data alone is not that helpful. I think more information is required if you want to predict future market movements. Its all about the people involved, that it was you need the data on. Markets are unpredictable; large groups of people however, they are very predictable.

Take three(ish).

I have launched this site a least three times in the past. I never managed to keep up with it. I think its because I lacked time and wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do with it. Well, this time I think I have the idea that will keep my interest. To provide a chronicle of my more adventurous work modelling complex systems. With a focus on financial systems, notably markets. Mainly for my own use as a time line of ideas, but it might prove interesting to other people.