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And an afternoon of troubleshooting goes to one line

So IIS v6 wasn’t letting form variables post. <cfdump var="#form#"> would show an empty structure. CF’s built-in webserver on the development box worked fine. Changing the method from post to get made things even stranger with the query string using &amp; instead of &. I finally found the solution. I had used the obscure html tag <base"

<base href="http://domain.com/">

IIS v6 did not like this. Removing that one line fixed the problem. So much for trying to be the perfect coder.

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I need sponsors quickly!

Last year Cathy, Barry, Jay and myself had a blast raising money for Farm Aid with Blogathon 2006. Cathy has participated in Blogathon several years. This year I thought we were taking off. I was mistaken. Thank you Barry for inspiring us this year. I like the cause.

Star has done an incredible service for Tommy. Star has a waiting list. It took us 3 years to get accepted into the program and I have heard of some folks waiting 7 years. Once they complete their indoor arena, they will be able to double capacity and reduce the waiting lists (as I understand). Please support us by making a pledge for this Saturday’s (in 3 days) Blogathon! You can follow our 24 hours of blogging at http://domesticpsychology.com/blogathon/.

sponsor me

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Oh! That acid rain…

Wow! The things that we miss. I just learned that Pennsylvania has had an underground fire burning for 45 years and that it is likely to burn for another 245 years!

An exposed vein of coal ignited in 1962 due to the standard policy of burning the garbage on a weekly basis in the borough landfill, located in an abandoned mine pit in the southeast portion of Centralia. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, and it continued to burn throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

There are no current plans to extinguish the fire, which is consuming an eight-mile seam containing enough coal to fuel it for 250 years.
[Source]

Apparently, at $42 million, it is cheaper to move a town than extinguish the fire.

The federal and state governments gave up trying to extinguish the fire in the 1980s. “Pennsylvania didn’t have enough money in the bank to do the job,” says Steve Jones, a geologist with the state’s Office of Surface Mining.

Across the globe, thousands of coal fires are burning. Nearly impossible to reach and extinguish once they get started, the underground blazes threaten towns and roads, poison the air and soil and, some say, worsen global warming. … The United States, with the world’s largest coal reserves, harbors hundreds of blazes from Alaska to Alabama. Pennsylvania, the worst-afflicted state, has at least 38—an insignificant number compared with China and India, where poverty, old unregulated mining practices and runaway development have created waves of Centralias.

Scientists estimate that Australia’s BurningMountain, the oldest known coal fire, has burned for 6,000 years.

…in the United States; near Glenwood Springs, Colorado, for example, an old coal mine has burned for the past 100 years.
[Source]

So, why are we still using coal?