General Rambling

Staff Time Isn't Free

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I just submitted a quote to a client for some work they want done. They didn’t like the numbers, though. Too high. Now they’re talking about having someone in-house do the work “because it’s free.” Staff time isn’t free. It just might look free, depending on where you sit. If a different budget pays the salaries it’s easy to forget that staff have an hourly cost just like a consultant. Those costs are covered already, though, so it isn’t an additional expense, and therefore “free.” I might be able to complete something in two hours where in-house staff would take twenty, but I’m an additional expense. *sigh*

Wildfires, Ugh

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The scary thing about the current California wildfires is that the containment on the big ones is 20% or less. So hot, so dry, and the winds coming in the wrong way. This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, especially if the energy transmission emergency continues. If folks have to stay inside because of smoke they’ll run their air conditioning, which makes life even worse. UW-Madison Space Science & Engineering wildfire coverage Google Maps mashup of the fires

Patching != Vision

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Patching your systems isn’t the same as having vision. Knowing when your software needs an update is a symptom of reading the Secunia RSS feed. Sometimes upgrading software is a symptom of a vision, but even then usually not. It’s usually the result of a support issue, reactive instead of proactive. I asked Google to define ‘vision’ and m+w zander put it well: “An element of leadership that outlines where the organization should go and what it should become; focuses on strategic advantages, inspiration to deliver those advantages consistently, and clarity as a decision-making criterion.” Being hacker-free is good, but not a strategic advantage since everybody else is doing it, too.

College Courses & IT Skills

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Interesting article over at Server Specs about how certification doesn’t pay anymore. She asks a question at the end about computer science education, and its relevance to IT jobs. “Are today’s college courses relevant to the technologies actually used in today’s data center?” My response: yes and no. Yes, in that my CS education taught me the fundamentals of programming, program design, APIs, and operating systems. My solid understanding of operating system concepts has served me well. I understand how an OS makes scheduling decisions, allocates resources, and interacts with applications much better than many of my peers. I also understand programming language concepts very well, too, which helps a lot when dealing with my developer brethren. No, in that …

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@%$&# Comment Spammers

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I find it interesting that my post entitled “F’in Comment Spammers” is the #1 post targeted by comment spammers. Morons. In reading that old post I realize I’ve fallen way behind on my project to script the finding and killing of comment spammers. As I said, “not just a quick death, but a long, painful one involving cucumbers, grizzly bears, and sandstone. And not the nice cucumbers, either, but the homegrown ones with all the little spiky things on them.” I still feel that way, though I may replace the sandstone with sporks.

Paying Billions To Never See The Stars Again

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(this post is in support of Blog Action Day, with 15,000+ bloggers all writing about the environment. Learn more at their web site, blogactionday.org) Where I live we pay lots of money every year so we never have to see the stars. Our grand plan to mask the sky completely isn’t 100% complete. Looking up from my backyard I can see one or two bright stars and a planet or two through the orangish sodium vapor haze. It’s a shame, too. With that handful of celestial bodies I still remember that we are adrift in the heavens, one planet in one solar system in one galaxy among thousands. I still remember the pesky, unanswerable questions of scientists about where the …

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How to Play Podcasts Back to Back on The iPod/iPhone

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I love the Scientific American podcasts “60-Second Science” and “60-Second Psych.” I queue them up and listen to them in batches. However, my iPhone won’t play all of them continuously. Since they’re all about a minute long that means a lot of extra clicking to find the next one, which just won’t do. I am not very good at walking in a straight line and controlling my iPod, and very bad at driving and doing so. What I’ve started to do is instead of using the podcast sync feature I create a smart playlist and sync that instead. The podcasts won’t appear as podcasts on the iPod/iPhone, but they will appear in a playlist that will play continuously. My smart …

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CIHost Sucks and I Need Another Host

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If you’re thinking about hosting with CIHost: don’t. Not colocation, not hosted services, nothing. Their Chicago data center has been completely offline all yesterday, and their ETA for resolution is basically indefinite now. Every hour it moves another hour out. This began yesterday as a mysterious power outage. Right now I suspect won’t be resolved until I go get my server, dispute the credit card charge to get my money back, and find a new colocation facility. This is the worst outage yet, but every couple of months the data center loses power, the network dies, etc. Lame but tolerable, until now. Now it looks like this is a lame way of saying “going out of business.” Or, maybe I’ll …

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Michael Franti & Spearhead = mfsh

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Went to the Michael Franti & Spearhead show in Madison, WI. This was the third or fourth time I’ve seen them and it just keeps getting better. The Australian band Blue King Brown opened for them. Lots of energy there, and you just can’t beat two percussionists, especially one with two cowbells. One classy touch was when each of the Blue King Brown singers soloed the other two would disappear to stop drawing focus away from the other singer. Very considerate. If you aren’t familiar with Michael Franti & Spearhead and like alternative, reggae, hip-hop, or jazz (they’re kinda all over the place, genre-wise) you might listen to or watch some of their stuff. They’re up on iTunes, too. “I …

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iPhone Bricks, MacWorld, and Warnings

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So Jonathan Seff over at iPhone Central bricked his unlocked iPhone by updating it. As Jason Snell said in the comments, “We’re Macworld. This is what we do. We’ll buy Jon a new phone if need be — he bricked his phone in the interest of finding out what would happen.” Awesome. People should be thanking MacWorld. A lot. My thoughts: 1) iPhone owners agreed to the rules before getting into this. The rules included using AT&T, among others. 2) Apple has been silent about all the hacking going on. But, when it came to the update they decided to speak out about it. Why? Does this sound like the behavior of a company that wants to crap on its …

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