Recent Access Problems To Moon of Alabama Have Been Fixed
During the last 36 hours some people had problems to reach Moon of Alabama.
The issue was weird. For some it worked on their phone and laptop but not on their tablet. Others had the opposite experience. I could not reproduce the problem on my machines.
It took a while to track this down but now the problem is solved.
For people with some Internet Protocol knowledge here is in short what had happened:
User device <---> Google DNS <---> Registrar DNS
The problem occurred only recently and only on devices configured to use Google's public Domain Name Servers. Google's DNS servers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 responded to NSlookup requests for moonofalabama.org with 'failure'.
The reason for that turned out to be a weird error in the communication between Google's DNS and PAIRnic, the domain registrar for moonofalabama.org. When Google's DNS requested the IP4 address for the site from the registrar DNS everything went well. When Google requested the IP6 address for the site from the registrar DNS the request failed for all domain names at PAIRnic that are configured with DNSSEC enabled (which moonofalabama.org usually is). This happened only for IP6 request from Google's DNS, not for IP6 resolver requests from elsewhere.
The registrar now found a workaround that avoids the Google IP6 resolve problem.
Still, Google should have been able to deliver valid responses for IP4 resolver requests to it. But because the Google IP6 request to the registrar DNS failed, Google responded to both, IP4 and IP6 lookup requests for moonofalabama.org, with 'failure'. That behavior is somewhat unexpected and IMHO a bad implementation.
Anyway - you now know what I spent my day on and why there is no regular blog post.
Thanks to everyone who helped to solve this problem.
Posted by b on July 16, 2021 at 17:58 UTC | Permalink
The next time that happens just call the Biden Administration. They are always willing to help to restore internet access and freedom of information.
BTW the propaganda ... 'brutal repression' are finding it hard to find actual examples to make the demonstrations look even half as bad as the ones in Seattle or DC where they actually used tear gas but just repeat 'brutal repression' and glare at anyone who says otherwise. I have not seen any tear gas, water canon, rubber bullets, or even police lines with shields and batons.
I have not seen protesters with Molotov cocktails, I've read but did not see any rock throwers, and no destruction of property.
Yep, time for humanitarian intervention.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jul 16 2021 18:39 utc | 2
actually, no, not what i saw.
i'm not an 8.8.x.x user, pinged, tracerouted and looked at your dns records, discovering that the www. domain record was missing from dns for the duration. it has now been restored. i see no other changes (in my terminal's scrollback buffer) from last night.
fwiw. glad to see that you didn't get washed away by the flood!
Posted by: Michael | Jul 16 2021 18:41 utc | 3
p.s. if i now go to https://moonofalabama.org/ -- i see a bad/ (expired on 5/30/2022, 1:59:59 AM CEST) SSL certificate on the redirect to www. this doesnt happen when i go to https://www.moonofalabama.org .. suggesting that you dealt with the wrong level of tech-support guys. call back and escalate?
Posted by: Michael | Jul 16 2021 18:46 utc | 4
@James
My current mobile phone has text and a camera but no goggle maps.
Is that a version 1.5?
It is small and light, flips open but also has an outer displays and set be back only some 20 Euros. Can use it for several days without recharging.
@1 Are you talking about the Freedom Phone? Supposed to be completely uncensored.
https://freedomphone.com/?fbclid=IwAR2W7IhoKoI-QzRIJka6weep1oAXyLnUx50LvO0sYB0BjYldffMzfhzlDpM
Posted by: dh | Jul 16 2021 19:01 utc | 6
bought a new chromebook , my pictures transfers automatic except three pictures of hunter biden with kids from his famous laptop.big brother is watching.
Posted by: gast | Jul 16 2021 19:04 utc | 7
I know some Google net eng people, they are way too far up their own a$$ to realize they can make mistakes and way too self absorbed in their personal projects on company dime to give a fk about what they're hired to do...
Posted by: A.L. | Jul 16 2021 20:02 utc | 8
I had similar but somewhat different problems with the DNS here in Oregon. My version of Opera complained about the connection and had me change from fixed DNS address (8.8.8.8) to "DNS-over-HTTPS provider" which is a 3rd party service provided by Cloudflare.
I got that to work but then that died also and nothing worked for an hour of going back and forth, re-booting everything, etc. and then finally the Cloudflare DNS-over-HTTPS provider service started working and is stable currently....all this time, everything I tried online could connect to MoA but me.
I think it is possible that other DNS servers had their routes poisoned for a bit given my experience.
It had me scratching my head.....
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 16 2021 20:07 utc | 9
@gast | Jul 16 2021 19:04 utc | 7
Not sure if you're joking but it wouldn't surprise me.
Google is a dem shop and it's highly likely that 3 letter agency money were involved in the early days.
Posted by: A.L. | Jul 16 2021 20:08 utc | 10
Ah, thats why inoreader had a problem with the feed.
@6/dh: DONT BUY THIS SHIT! It is a cash grab scam that sadly many influencers push because of fat affiliate promotions payed.
It is simply a cheap chinese phone (Umidigi is the brand) with a LinageOS GSI image flashed. The "uncensored" store is the SAME google play store through the FOSS Aurora project. Its a crap 180$ MRSP phone from a crap brand, with some APKs preloaded.
Just get a Google (SIC!) Pixel phone and flash a TRUE privacy first OS like CalyxOS and GrapheneOS.
Or go full FOSS and get a Pinephone with pure Linux.
I have waited for a TRUE privacy first mass market phone, THIS IS NOT IT!
Just a sadly very amercian way of scamming out one's fellow citizens.
If one invest some money and time and work, the above mentioned true alternatives are achiveable for most. Youtube tutorials must be plenty by now.
Posted by: DontBelieveEitherPr. | Jul 16 2021 20:30 utc | 11
Bernhard
you might want to add another redirect to www.moonofalabama.org on your default page. as it is now, http://moonofalabama.org redirects to https://www.moonofalabama.org. however as Michael points out, should you try to open https://moonofalabama.org you will get a cert error as the Subject Alternative name for that is listed as www.pair.com
Posted by: dan of steele | Jul 16 2021 21:11 utc | 12
also, just to waste electrons, I never had a problem accessing the site today. I do not use Google DNS, just the one my telecom has.
Posted by: dan of steele | Jul 16 2021 21:17 utc | 13
@ 5 b.... that sounds good and looks interesting.. where can one buy this phone?? searching, i can't find it for sale on amazon! must be good and the price is right.... these light phones are 200 us$ which is a lot steeper price wise... wikipedia overview on them here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Phone
@ 6 dh.. no.. that is something different... @11 dbep is probably right about it too..
Posted by: james | Jul 16 2021 21:20 utc | 14
Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) has become a prime tool of censorship. The United States controls the .com and .net top level domains, so they can make any website using those domains inaccessible through its domain name or through any URLs containing it. This is what happened to PressTV and other Iranian sites this summer. One can of course blame PressTV for using a .com domain name for its English language pages.
But the censorship has gone further. Last November the US Department of Justice seized the .com domain name of the Canadian site the American Herald Tribune. But it did not end there. The journal quickly moved to a Canadian domain at ahtribune.ca. But this spring the new Canadian domain was seized by US authorities. So much for Canadian independence and sovereignty.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jul 16 2021 22:04 utc | 15
I had trouble with my Mac desktop using a browser that has a Chrome base.
Posted by: Bart Hansen | Jul 16 2021 22:13 utc | 16
take 3:
i know there is some moderation going on here but do you also filter anything b? 2 posts over tor (3 with this one) and both of them are lost.
Posted by: throw_away_fur | Jul 16 2021 22:20 utc | 18
take 5:
i give up, 4th time on open-thread and failed again, it says posted yet nothing was posted. i am hoping this is another tech-issue and not one of the standard reddit/hackernews/twitter practices.
Posted by: throw_away_fur | Jul 16 2021 22:53 utc | 19
...
fwiw. glad to see that you (b) didn't get washed away by the flood!
Posted by: Michael | Jul 16 2021 18:41 utc | 3
Me too. But the 'surprise' German flood points to a massive "asleep at the wheel" failure of EU/Germany's Weather Bureau. EU/Germany seem to have been treating weather as a trivial inconvenience for commuters, beach-goers and picnickers?
In Oz, we've known for 50+ years that weather extremes can wreck regions and kill people with very little warning. We've been getting ACCURATE 5-day forecasts for 20+ years AND timely warnings of looming
catastrophic weather events.
I'm predicting there'll be a big EU re-think because deadly weather events are going to get worse before they get better.
Two BBC docos "What's Wrong With Our Weather?" (2014) and "Global Weirding" (2012) provide some background info on forecaster's attempts to catch up with the trends.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 17 2021 3:42 utc | 21
@21 "But the 'surprise' German flood points to a massive "asleep at the wheel" failure of EU/Germany's Weather Bureau. EU/Germany seem to have been treating weather as a trivial inconvenience for commuters, beach-goers and picnickers?"
There were warnings of very heavy rain since July 12 but most people simply ignored them.
Some places got 180+ liter water per square meter in 24 hours. That's 1020 cubic inch per square foot. The yearly average in Germany is 710 liter per sqm. Three months worth of rain within one day was a bit too much for the local rivers and water systems.
Also - this happened in a quite densely settled area around Cologne and Düsseldorf, There wasn't much room for water to go but through settlements.
Once the water had ripped up roads evacuation became very difficult.
Good to know you have it worked out, b. I was having issues too, first attributing them to being in Costa Rica at the moment, but then to the horrible floods that happened in Germany. Glad that Moon of Alabama and you are safe and that your country gets a break from the rains.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 17 2021 5:57 utc | 23
Petri Krohn @ 15
This would be a good addition for the Totalitarian Media Regime Wiki page.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/11/04/goog-n04.html
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 17 2021 6:02 utc | 24
...
There were warnings of very heavy rain since July 12 but most people simply ignored them.
...
Posted by: b | Jul 17 2021 5:21 utc | 22
That's a tiny demographic in Oz, b.
But sorry for unjustly smearing the Weather Bureau.
It was quite bizarre watching people waist-deep in mud, trees, motor cars and rubble, expressing surprise that the Weather could do "this" to them.
So it's the People, themselves, who have persuaded each other that weather is little more than a trivial inconvenience?
Maybe the Bureau can append "We're not kidding!" to their future warnings?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 17 2021 6:37 utc | 25
Google should change their DNS server address to 6.6.6
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 17 2021 7:45 utc | 26
@Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 17 2021 3:42 utc | 21
I'm predicting there'll be a big EU re-think because deadly weather events are going to get worse before they get better.You are predicting that weather events will be used without scientific basis in order to further political ideologies. There is no basis for saying the weather is going to get "worse", and as you know: weather is not climate.
Whenever someone points to cold winter events, it is met with derision because "it is weather, not climate". But when you have a 50 year flood (meaning it statistically happens at such intervals) it is suddenly a sure sign that "events are going to get worse".
It is foolish.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 17 2021 7:58 utc | 28
Weather conspiracy theory;
Three years before he died, Durer, (German painter) "had a premonitory dream about a fearful deluge and cyclone which engulfed the earth". So in 1525 he did a watercolour, called "Nightmare" which is now in Albertina, Vienna.
He just got a bit too far ahead it seems.
Leonardo had a similar idea.
H-G. Wells saw the US divided, with fortified compounds and (armed?) mobs outside. He did write about time travel, so all we need now are trolls appearing as Morlocks.
*******
Cyber problems. My modem told me this morning that it's Internet connection had been re-established. Which was news, as I didn't know it had been lost. Followed by problems reconnectiing the mouse on startup. etc.
SO; Cyber Conspiracy theory;
"Schwab and the Davos Resetters" have been doing "simulated" cyber attacks since the 9th July. To do practice runs and to see how to be "prepared" in case of.....
Reminds me of the practice runs before Pandemics, 9/11 and 7/7.
****
I know, I know, conspiracies don't really exist, do they?
Posted by: Stonebird | Jul 17 2021 9:09 utc | 29
It is foolish. Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 17 2021 7:58 utc | 28
The problem is not about weather and climate but memory
Every 20,50 or 100 years...
Rheinhochwasser 1993
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinhochwasser 1993.
Enlarge your memory :
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_von_Wetterereignissen_in_Europa
Posted by: Odenwälder | Jul 17 2021 10:40 utc | 30
"Some places got 180+ liter water per square meter in 24 hours. "
________________________________________________
That seems like an odd way to state rainfall amounts.
Why not just say 180mm of rain? Or 18 cms of rain. Or 7 inches of rain.
It doesn't matter if the area covered by rain is a sq meter or a square inch or a square foot the depth of the rainfall will be the same.
Posted by: jinn | Jul 17 2021 12:00 utc | 31
"That seems like an odd way to state rainfall amounts."
Posted by:jinn | Jul 17 2021 12:00 utc | 31
my thought to.
"Google should change their DNS server address to 6.6.6"
Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 17 2021 7:45 utc | 26
Are you aware that w,w,w, in hebrew (and other semite languages) is waw, waw, waw, - waw is associated numerologicaly with the number 6 ...
Posted by: tucenz | Jul 17 2021 13:44 utc | 32
That seems like an odd way to state rainfall amounts. Why not just say 180mm of rain? Or 18 cms of rain. Or 7 inches of rain. It doesn't matter if the area covered by rain is a sq meter or a square inch or a square foot the depth of the rainfall will be the same.Posted by: jinn | Jul 17 2021 12:00 utc | 31
To promote understanding ? To show clearly and quickly how much actual aqua, much moisture, the piss is hitting the fan ?
I know instantly how much a litre, or a pint is, but 'mm' ?
Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | Jul 17 2021 15:10 utc | 33
Pleas keep up thegood work, mr. b! Unfortunately, I hváve hit on hard times as to my personal fortunes nd cannot be sendt You to anyone deserving of moneyed support. Hope to be able when my Ausanderdersetzof mine yunge wit Nordic fundts of mine (accumd in China, but put in wait due to US of North A illegalities)
ABER noch eine frage: Was für rolle hattest Du im wwhrmacht oder im anii-wäseuropeischen ing aucnort-amerikanische zeiten währent Deinen yünger Tagen`?
Reikner von Rilke:
"Und aus unsern jungen tagen
Diese tiefe Einsamkeit"
(Weisst Du, ich will mich scleichen ¨
Leise aus lautem Kreiss
Als ich die eirste Eichen
Bøühen weiss.
Wege wirtd ich Dich ersuchen
die selten wer erkiest,
Und keinen traum als diesen: ¨
Du gehst mit!
"
I have secited this often to orthodox jiddisch-speaking Gews in palestine, and they havae all understoodd it -- also paartly to "the bride of zion -- which they condemned as a jharlot.
Posted by: Tollef Ås/秋涛乐/טלפ וש | Jul 17 2021 18:27 utc | 34
Anyone else seeing an HTTP/403 Forbidden when trying to access https://thesaker.is?
Posted by: Chardonnay | Jul 18 2021 9:08 utc | 35
Moon of Alabama is not the only one with DNS problems.
Websites of Major American Banks, Airlines, and IT Giants Go Offline - Sputnik, July 22, 2021The websites of many American companies reported major outages on Thursday, according to the Downdetector portal, which monitors the status of various online services in real time. The list of affected companies includes Microsoft, Google, Amazon, McDonald's, FedEx, American Express, Delta Airlines, UPS, Steam, Airbnb, HBO Max, and many others.
Many users reported domain name system (DNS) errors, meaning their requests could not reach the said websites.
Cloud service provider Akamai Technologies has issued an alert about an "Edge DNS" service incident, noting that it is investigating a "partial outage".
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jul 22 2021 18:08 utc | 37
The comments to this entry are closed.
glad it got resolved b.... i am on a mainframe computer, so i haven't suffered any loss of connection...
speaking of this, a few friends told me about this new phone that is only for phone calls.. version 2 has text and google maps.. light phone is the brand name..
Posted by: james | Jul 16 2021 18:16 utc | 1