Links for April 3rd, 2012

(Editor’s note: I’m going to fire up the Delicious autoposter again. Those of you that are long-time subscribers (thank you!) may remember a time when I did this as a type of short-take post. Twitter and the death of del.icio.us ended it for a couple of years, but enough things are fixed up now that I think I’ll bring it back. Plus, I’m hoping that it’ll encourage me to keep up more with my blog reading. Thanks y’all. – Bob)

  • This is the original text that Baz Luhrmann put into his spoken word song “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)”. My favorite quote from it is: “Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.” Sounds like advice I’d give a junior sysadmin, though people should not conflate or confuse planning with worrying.
  • I’ve said in a few of my presentations that you, as a sysadmin or virtualization admin, are a business asset. This is a great, if somewhat NSFW, presentation about that. Good points & short. Go home, get a life, then return to work refreshed and ready to work.
  • This deserves more than a mention, and it’s sort of a ramble, but I will say in passing that he touches on a lot of stuff, like technical debt, excuses, and the idea that things are temporary fixes. Nothing is ever a temporary fix.