Site News

Thursday 17th
November 2005

posted by Jim

Friday 11th
November 2005

posted by Jim

Following a few minor updates to the KillerFish section of the site, including an RSS 2.0 feed for up to date info on your favourite comics, we've added another brand new section to the site.

Shastrix Blogs have launched today, featuring blogs by myself, Ash and Matt Pickering (well mine doesn't have any entries yet). Soon to be added are three further blogs, including that of the KillerFish.

Tuesday 1st
November 2005

posted by ASH
(but Jim typed)

Monday 22nd
August 2005

posted by JiM

Friday 19th
August 2005

posted by JiM

Well, updates have been rather few and far between of late (except the Killerfish's pages which have had lots of new comics), however now that the summer is nearly over and we're all leaving work and heading back to uni, we shall hopefully be keeping the site on top form.

To start with, the new kitten journal, which we have been working on for longer than we can remember, was uploaded last night.

The images from the Lake District can now be found in the gallery, more updates to follow in the coming days. Just trying to get back up to date, whilst also trying to find a job for the summer... v_v

Sunday 26th
June 2005

posted by JiM

Sorry about the lack of recent updates - we've added a few images, and KillerFish has obviously recieved it's daily updates. We've been on holiday to the Lake District, so although we had some time off of the website we do have some photos which will soon go up in the gallery.

Saturday 11th
June 2005

posted by JiM

Okay, we've bowed to the pressure and changed the arrows on the KillerFish pages. Just because people have perverted minds and thought they look phallic. Honestly... Freud was right.

Thursday 9th
June 2005

posted by JiM

Apologies for the lack of updates recently - we're in the middle of exams so not much time free to spend on the site. However I did re-write KillerFish again so that it will function on its own whilst we are away next weekend.

Thursday 2nd
June 2005

posted by JiM

A few minor changes - completely rewrote most of the new KillerFish section last night to make it less bandwidth whoring. Fortunately, this worked, although I still have to fix the archive page into the new system. Lots of other minor edits made, and a new image added.

Wednesday 1st
June 2005

posted by ASH

Sunday 29th
May 2005

posted by JiM

Another of Kitten's Journals has made it's way to the site, along with the release of the fourth gallery a few days ago with some videos of Mat on his trials bike. We've also added another minor subtelty that some may have noticed - the notice on the front page saying we're optimised for Firefox with a 1024x768 resolution.

Everything is nearly ready for Wednesday's launch of the new Killerfish section...

Sunday 22nd
May 2005

posted by JiM

Thursday 28th April 2005

posted by ASH

Minor updates, a new image, a new link and a new word. Along with the normal updates there is a new section in the pipeline. I know the site has a lot of image based sections but by request i'm adding a photo section. It will have images I have shot myself and i'm trying an make it interactive somehow...

Sunday 24th April 2005

posted by JiM

Not much new today, just a couple of images and 'Being Blake'. This is a rather long winded project we've been playing with for some time, based on the real life adventures of our once potential housemate Blake, who we lost somewhere along the way.

A few things have changed since the last news entry. The observant among you will have noticed we have now switched server (jimternet.shastrix.com instead of the original shastrix.jimternet.com). There is a new section on the front page, a Gallery for work by Killerfish, an artist we featured in the Images section on 03/04/05. We will hopefully be updating this section as more material is provided, with the possibility of a webcomic in the coming months. The images section has been updated daily since the last update.

Unbelievable, another update 0_o. For a while now there has been a half completed parody stilling on my hard drive, but finally it has been completed and can be found in the parodies section. Some alterations have also been made to the 'No meat today' lyrics and another image has been added.

Yes, believe it or not, two updates on consecutive days... It's amazing what you can achieve when you are supposed to be revising. Another new word has been added to the definitions page 'miscompilexion', sounds obscure but it sort of makes sense. Kitten has finally got round to writing a journal entry, with a definite air of nostalgia. Also a button on the front page has finally gained some content. The about page has been completed, it tries to make sense of this site, and explains where it all came from. And of course there is today's image for your general amusement.

Well, several things have been updated. We've added a new image from our new artist, 'Killerfish', and ASH has added a new definition, 'blake', to the define page, as well as making a few other tweaks. I've fixed the problem with the banners not working to take you back to the front page too, that was a bit annoying - just a vestigial problem from the merger I think. ASH has added a new link, and we're currently working on making a swish about section.

Another new front page has been added to the site. The old one was a bit hard to use, so this one features the same buttons but in a new layout with 'shastrix.com' and 'The JiMternet' above and below. There are also four new buttons which we've added: 'Parodies', which frees up the 'Misc' button for other stuff; 'Flash' as a dump for any crappy flash I make; 'About', which will go to a page with a description of the site(s) and its(their) histories; and 'Meemies', which is a site Aimée is starting and we thought we'd give a link to.

Much has happened. ASH has sort of given the game away in his post of a week ago, but now the two sites have merged into this sort of hybrid version. The front page is a little hard to use and ASH thinks it's a bit lame so it might not stay there for too long. Other updates include a new entry in Kitten's Journal (ASH has been in correspondence with his cat and we're hoping he might become somewhat more prolific in the coming weeks. The archives page now contains all the old stuff from both sites, and we might add a few new definitions. Oh yes... and the news page has a new entry.

Okay, so we're not the top result on Google, in fact we are the bottom link... No doubt in part to a 'Mr Shastri's' prolific blogging. I have a theory that Google just doesn't like the frames on the site; to be honest neither do I... A sadistic work load has kept me from adding to the site recently. My mathematician housemate who appears to have endless free time owns 'JiMternet.com', which is also in a dire state of affairs. Plans are floating around to merge the two sites, perhaps together the sites can be rather less pathetic...

Tuesday 1st February 2005

Urgh, February already. Nothing much has happened, just thought i'd say shastrix.com is now the top search result on Google (when searching for shastrix). Huzzah!

It finally arrived... the MSN league is now on the front page and there are new images to follow. Depending on how long my concentration span is, more things may appear shortly... [UPDATE] A new front page, ^_^ finally got around to a re-design. If you want to play with the old setup it can be found here

I'm still here; hard to believe it has been a month since thinking about this site. Christmas was much as expected. Managed to get 5 of the 6 lab reports completed, and I'm going to procrastinate on the essays for a while. The exam was, well, bad >_< Anyways, can't change that now. Been working on an MSN league, trying to get it automated which is taking some time to iron out the bugs; so that may appear in the near future. Still pondering over what I can add on here, Damien has created some java games which I might integrate with the 'Daily Image' section somehow, if he gets around to converting it to an applet. Until next time... ^_^

Urrgh, so long since an update. To be honest I'd almost forgotten about this site, but now it is the Christmas 'holiday' so maybe i'll add something to it. ('holiday' in the loosest definition of the word, 6 lab reports 2 essays and an exam on the 6th of January isn't really my idea of a Christmas break). I've added the 'Daily Image', not so much daily, but nonetheless an image, kitten has added a journal and the 'funerial' definition has been edited on my definitions page... apparently it's a real word after all 0_o

Although the new front page has been up for a while, I have tweaked it to iron out a few niggling bugs it had. If you want to play with it you can use your mouse (you probably gathered that) but also ' and / will zoom in and out. A and Z, up and down, left and right will all rotate it in the x, y and z axes. The old intro has been consigned to the cache, and I have also changed a few other bits and pieces like Define and Images. Hopefully inspiration will strike and a new section will be added, my creativity for the bits present at the moment is a bit stagnant. - Oh a point worth adding is that refreshing a page with F5 or reload on the browser will not work due to frames. Instead right-click and refresh.

The mother of all News updates. Not only did I neglect to mention the site would be down for a while, I underestimated the duration by about three weeks. So what's been happening? First, the site: new Images section again, now have 'real' hosting... sort of... and some other bits and pieces. But what have I been doing? After returning from my brief stay at Uni there were two weeks of nothingness - too lazy to update anything other than images. On the 18th I moved in to my house at uni - internetless v_v. One week passed before term started, phone was meant to be connected on 28th, but Mr BT dislocated his hip up our pole, and so it wasn't installed until the 30th that we got our 31.2kbps connection. First three weeks of term: too much work; labs suck; and so I sit at (real) home typing this, hoping that my 1024k line has been fitted at uni... Oh and yes we lost Blake... 0_o

Decided to rework the Images section again, to make it easier to navigate. All the previous/next buttons approximately align now, and if you click on 'Images' you can now return to the home page (this is now true for all page titles). Also the 'MSN Logs' has been consigned to the Cache. Today's image is of the über spider that I caught early this morning, seemed to be plagued by them recently, along with wasps... >_<

No updates for a while, due to visits to Sussex, a short stay at my house at Uni, and a guest. I have added some new Images, but I have given up making a set for each day. Other changes include a new site in the Links section and a new Parody. I will be moving into the new house on the 18/09/04, but without any form of internet connection until the 28/09/04 and no hosting organised yet, therefore the site will be down for a while.

Yesterday the Parody section was added, the culmination of three days of boredom and too much Weird Al Yankovic. Although its best sung to the 'eBay' parody, I have provided a midi, for those without the piece. The Journal continues with its weekly updates, I'm not sure who is reading this, if anyone, but I shall continue with it until I get bored.

Went to Long Mynd today, flew a glider thing briefly before the wind faded away. Concluded the day with a spot of walking and extreme frisbee ^_^. Slightly stressful Friday, retuned home to discover the site was not working, instead forwarding to ukreg (the site from which the domain was purchased). I then had one of those moments of dread when I realised my actions a few days back had come back to haunt me. Anyways, now its all fixed [UPDATE - may not be working for everybody due to an assortment of reasons, hopefully one of those things that will fix themselves] with thanks to Damien, who stayed clam amidst all my fretting.

Woken by the arrival of the paper, whilst filtering between the usual regional oddities I came across an amusing story. It would appear the Severn Valley Railway crashed into a van, quite how a driver would be unable to spot a vintage train chugging towards it at 25 mph whilst blowing a whistle escapes me. The old 'MSN Logs' have been relegated to the Cache, and have been replaced with a new feature, there is also the addition of 4 more words to the Ashley dictionary. Oh and of course the 'News' section was added, but you had noticed that already, right?

Nothing much happened today, but it did go out with a bang. A thunderstorm passed overhead and torrential rain managed to lift the man hole outside the house. It was inevitable that a car would hit it, and no sooner had I toyed with the idea, a nice new car (84 miles old) crashed into the protruding disc. Surprisingly the council answered their phones at 22:00 and both the council workers and Severn Trent water were out by 22:45 to replace the manhole cover. Played around with the site a bit by redesigning the Images section, I will try and get a new set on there each day. I also added the second instalment of Kitten's journal.

Thursday 17th November 2005 posted by Jim	Well, today kitten's journal is being transferred onto Shastrix Blogs, and the parody, flash, and news sections are being relegated to the archive. Not sure why I'm bothering posting this really.
Friday 11th November 2005 posted by Jim	Following a few minor updates to the KillerFish section of the site, including an RSS 2.0 feed for up to date info on your favourite comics, we've added another brand new section to the site. Shastrix Blogs have launched today, featuring blogs by myself, Ash and Matt Pickering (well mine doesn't have any entries yet). Soon to be added are three further blogs, including that of the KillerFish.
Tuesday 1st November 2005 posted by ASH (but Jim typed)	After returning to Uni, it's been a long time since we've had a chance to update the website, especially with the KillerFish section occupying most of our time. However, the following updates have been made: the definitions page has had a minor style change with some definitions removed and a new one added; the links page has been updated; the KillerFish logo now appears in the centre of the main page; a mystery new section is in development; and some new images have been added. The website is also on the move to PHP. On the KillerFish section you will now notice the ability to comment on individual comics, and an up to date archives page. This news entry is only an intermediate update on the state of the website - many new features are in the pipeline.
Monday 22nd August 2005 posted by JiM	Continuing our renewed run of updates, two new photo galleries have been added to the site. The first contains photographs from Ash's cycling trip to Afan in Wales, and the second depicts the sights on his walk onto campus last year. In addition, the KillerFish has announced he will now only be producing original comics, not Pluto Wars, and will be moving to a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday schedule. In light of this, I have taken the opportunity to make a few cosmetic changes to the KillerFish pages.
Friday 19th August 2005 posted by JiM	Well, updates have been rather few and far between of late (except the Killerfish's pages which have had lots of new comics), however now that the summer is nearly over and we're all leaving work and heading back to uni, we shall hopefully be keeping the site on top form. To start with, the new kitten journal, which we have been working on for longer than we can remember, was uploaded last night.
Friday 1st July 2005 posted by ASH	The images from the Lake District can now be found in the gallery, more updates to follow in the coming days. Just trying to get back up to date, whilst also trying to find a job for the summer... v_v
Sunday 26th June 2005 posted by JiM	Sorry about the lack of recent updates - we've added a few images, and KillerFish has obviously recieved it's daily updates. We've been on holiday to the Lake District, so although we had some time off of the website we do have some photos which will soon go up in the gallery.
Saturday 11th June 2005 posted by JiM	Okay, we've bowed to the pressure and changed the arrows on the KillerFish pages. Just because people have perverted minds and thought they look phallic. Honestly... Freud was right.
Thursday 9th June 2005 posted by JiM	Apologies for the lack of updates recently - we're in the middle of exams so not much time free to spend on the site. However I did re-write KillerFish again so that it will function on its own whilst we are away next weekend.
Thursday 2nd June 2005 posted by JiM	A few minor changes - completely rewrote most of the new KillerFish section last night to make it less bandwidth whoring. Fortunately, this worked, although I still have to fix the archive page into the new system. Lots of other minor edits made, and a new image added.
Wednesday 1st June 2005 posted by ASH	Like we promissed, here's the new KillerFish section.
Sunday 29th May 2005 posted by JiM	Another of Kitten's Journals has made it's way to the site, along with the release of the fourth gallery a few days ago with some videos of Mat on his trials bike. We've also added another minor subtelty that some may have noticed - the notice on the front page saying we're optimised for Firefox with a 1024x768 resolution. Everything is nearly ready for Wednesday's launch of the new Killerfish section...
Sunday 22nd May 2005 posted by JiM	It's been some time since either of us have posted on this news page, but we haven't forgotten about the site whilst revising. There are some exciting new developments coming up soon, including further galleries for the Photos section (including videos), and some changes to the KillerFish section of the site (which I have just renamed on the front page from 'gallery'). In the meantime, I've just uploaded some more Images for ASH, as he is at home and away from his computer. And yesterday I made the little favicon thing that you can see in your address bar.
Thursday 28th April 2005 posted by ASH	Some general updates to Gallery, Images, Photos and MSN Logs
Tuesday 26th April 2005 posted by ASH	The photos section is now on the front page, at the moment there are not that many images, but this is because we are just checking the concept. More image will follow in the coming weeks.
Monday 25th April 2005 posted by ASH	Minor updates, a new image, a new link and a new word. Along with the normal updates there is a new section in the pipeline. I know the site has a lot of image based sections but by request i'm adding a photo section. It will have images I have shot myself and i'm trying an make it interactive somehow...
Sunday 24th April 2005 posted by JiM	Not much new today, just a couple of images and 'Being Blake'. This is a rather long winded project we've been playing with for some time, based on the real life adventures of our once potential housemate Blake, who we lost somewhere along the way.
Monday 11th April 2005 posted by ASH	A few things have changed since the last news entry. The observant among you will have noticed we have now switched server (jimternet.shastrix.com instead of the original shastrix.jimternet.com). There is a new section on the front page, a Gallery for work by Killerfish, an artist we featured in the Images section on 03/04/05. We will hopefully be updating this section as more material is provided, with the possibility of a webcomic in the coming months. The images section has been updated daily since the last update.
Wednesday 6th April 2005 posted by ASH	Unbelievable, another update 0_o. For a while now there has been a half completed parody stilling on my hard drive, but finally it has been completed and can be found in the parodies section. Some alterations have also been made to the 'No meat today' lyrics and another image has been added.
Tuesday 5th April 2005 posted by ASH	Yes, believe it or not, two updates on consecutive days... It's amazing what you can achieve when you are supposed to be revising. Another new word has been added to the definitions page 'miscompilexion', sounds obscure but it sort of makes sense. Kitten has finally got round to writing a journal entry, with a definite air of nostalgia. Also a button on the front page has finally gained some content. The about page has been completed, it tries to make sense of this site, and explains where it all came from. And of course there is today's image for your general amusement.
Monday 4th April 2005 posted by JiM	Well, several things have been updated. We've added a new image from our new artist, 'Killerfish', and ASH has added a new definition, 'blake', to the define page, as well as making a few other tweaks. I've fixed the problem with the banners not working to take you back to the front page too, that was a bit annoying - just a vestigial problem from the merger I think. ASH has added a new link, and we're currently working on making a swish about section.
Wednesday 16th March 2005 posted by JiM	Another new front page has been added to the site. The old one was a bit hard to use, so this one features the same buttons but in a new layout with 'shastrix.com' and 'The JiMternet' above and below. There are also four new buttons which we've added: 'Parodies', which frees up the 'Misc' button for other stuff; 'Flash' as a dump for any crappy flash I make; 'About', which will go to a page with a description of the site(s) and its(their) histories; and 'Meemies', which is a site Aimée is starting and we thought we'd give a link to.
Thursday 3rd March 2005 posted by JiM	Much has happened. ASH has sort of given the game away in his post of a week ago, but now the two sites have merged into this sort of hybrid version. The front page is a little hard to use and ASH thinks it's a bit lame so it might not stay there for too long. Other updates include a new entry in Kitten's Journal (ASH has been in correspondence with his cat and we're hoping he might become somewhat more prolific in the coming weeks. The archives page now contains all the old stuff from both sites, and we might add a few new definitions. Oh yes... and the news page has a new entry.
Thursday 24th February 2005 posted by ASH	Okay, so we're not the top result on Google, in fact we are the bottom link... No doubt in part to a 'Mr Shastri's' prolific blogging. I have a theory that Google just doesn't like the frames on the site; to be honest neither do I... A sadistic work load has kept me from adding to the site recently. My mathematician housemate who appears to have endless free time owns 'JiMternet.com', which is also in a dire state of affairs. Plans are floating around to merge the two sites, perhaps together the sites can be rather less pathetic...
Tuesday 1st February 2005 posted by ASH	Urgh, February already. Nothing much has happened, just thought i'd say shastrix.com is now the top search result on Google (when searching for shastrix). Huzzah!
Sunday 16th January 2005 posted by ASH	It finally arrived... the MSN league is now on the front page and there are new images to follow. Depending on how long my concentration span is, more things may appear shortly... [UPDATE] A new front page, ^_^ finally got around to a re-design. If you want to play with the old setup it can be found here
Friday 07th January 2005 posted by ASH	I'm still here; hard to believe it has been a month since thinking about this site. Christmas was much as expected. Managed to get 5 of the 6 lab reports completed, and I'm going to procrastinate on the essays for a while. The exam was, well, bad >_< Anyways, can't change that now. Been working on an MSN league, trying to get it automated which is taking some time to iron out the bugs; so that may appear in the near future. Still pondering over what I can add on here, Damien has created some java games which I might integrate with the 'Daily Image' section somehow, if he gets around to converting it to an applet. Until next time... ^_^
Monday 06th December 2004 posted by ASH	Urrgh, so long since an update. To be honest I'd almost forgotten about this site, but now it is the Christmas 'holiday' so maybe i'll add something to it. ('holiday' in the loosest definition of the word, 6 lab reports 2 essays and an exam on the 6th of January isn't really my idea of a Christmas break). I've added the 'Daily Image', not so much daily, but nonetheless an image, kitten has added a journal and the 'funerial' definition has been edited on my definitions page... apparently it's a real word after all 0_o
Wednesday 20th October 2004 posted by ASH	Although the new front page has been up for a while, I have tweaked it to iron out a few niggling bugs it had. If you want to play with it you can use your mouse (you probably gathered that) but also ' and / will zoom in and out. A and Z, up and down, left and right will all rotate it in the x, y and z axes. The old intro has been consigned to the cache, and I have also changed a few other bits and pieces like Define and Images. Hopefully inspiration will strike and a new section will be added, my creativity for the bits present at the moment is a bit stagnant. - Oh a point worth adding is that refreshing a page with F5 or reload on the browser will not work due to frames. Instead right-click and refresh.
Saturday 16th October 2004 posted by ASH	The mother of all News updates. Not only did I neglect to mention the site would be down for a while, I underestimated the duration by about three weeks. So what's been happening? First, the site: new Images section again, now have 'real' hosting... sort of... and some other bits and pieces. But what have I been doing? After returning from my brief stay at Uni there were two weeks of nothingness - too lazy to update anything other than images. On the 18th I moved in to my house at uni - internetless v_v. One week passed before term started, phone was meant to be connected on 28th, but Mr BT dislocated his hip up our pole, and so it wasn't installed until the 30th that we got our 31.2kbps connection. First three weeks of term: too much work; labs suck; and so I sit at (real) home typing this, hoping that my 1024k line has been fitted at uni... Oh and yes we lost Blake... 0_o
Monday 6th September 2004 posted by ASH	Decided to rework the Images section again, to make it easier to navigate. All the previous/next buttons approximately align now, and if you click on 'Images' you can now return to the home page (this is now true for all page titles). Also the 'MSN Logs' has been consigned to the Cache. Today's image is of the über spider that I caught early this morning, seemed to be plagued by them recently, along with wasps... >_<
Sunday 5th September 2004 posted by ASH	No updates for a while, due to visits to Sussex, a short stay at my house at Uni, and a guest. I have added some new Images, but I have given up making a set for each day. Other changes include a new site in the Links section and a new Parody. I will be moving into the new house on the 18/09/04, but without any form of internet connection until the 28/09/04 and no hosting organised yet, therefore the site will be down for a while.
Monday 23rd August 2004 posted by ASH	Yesterday the Parody section was added, the culmination of three days of boredom and too much Weird Al Yankovic. Although its best sung to the 'eBay' parody, I have provided a midi, for those without the piece. The Journal continues with its weekly updates, I'm not sure who is reading this, if anyone, but I shall continue with it until I get bored.
Saturday 21st August 2004 posted by ASH	Went to Long Mynd today, flew a glider thing briefly before the wind faded away. Concluded the day with a spot of walking and extreme frisbee ^_^. Slightly stressful Friday, retuned home to discover the site was not working, instead forwarding to ukreg (the site from which the domain was purchased). I then had one of those moments of dread when I realised my actions a few days back had come back to haunt me. Anyways, now its all fixed [UPDATE - may not be working for everybody due to an assortment of reasons, hopefully one of those things that will fix themselves] with thanks to Damien, who stayed clam amidst all my fretting.
Thursday 19th August 2004 posted by ASH	Woken by the arrival of the paper, whilst filtering between the usual regional oddities I came across an amusing story. It would appear the Severn Valley Railway crashed into a van, quite how a driver would be unable to spot a vintage train chugging towards it at 25 mph whilst blowing a whistle escapes me. The old 'MSN Logs' have been relegated to the Cache, and have been replaced with a new feature, there is also the addition of 4 more words to the Ashley dictionary. Oh and of course the 'News' section was added, but you had noticed that already, right?
Wednesday 18th August 2004 posted by ASH	Nothing much happened today, but it did go out with a bang. A thunderstorm passed overhead and torrential rain managed to lift the man hole outside the house. It was inevitable that a car would hit it, and no sooner had I toyed with the idea, a nice new car (84 miles old) crashed into the protruding disc. Surprisingly the council answered their phones at 22:00 and both the council workers and Severn Trent water were out by 22:45 to replace the manhole cover. Played around with the site a bit by redesigning the Images section, I will try and get a new set on there each day. I also added the second instalment of Kitten's journal.