| Monday, January 6, 2003 |  |
| Server Down |
| I hate it when my server's down. Was just down for about 17 hours. Without any good reason, so hopefully it will stay up now. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it unfortunately usually is during the weekend when there's nobody in the office where it is located.
My wife figures that if my server's down, I might as well go outside and do some totally different things. But usually I get nothing else done than worrying about the server. The point is not just that I can't get on the net. If it is just my own connection, yeah, then I can go outside and sit in the sun instead. But when it is the server, I feel a certain responsibility to keep it up, as there are many people using it every day. So much so that I almost have physical discomfort if something is wrong. A server administrator becomes a bit of a cyborg, merging with a machine. [ Diary | 2003-01-06 11:15 | 4 comments | PermaLink ] More > |
| Tutu on USA |
 From Kim Baker in South Africa:Our beloved Desmond Tutu has spoken outAnd Kim says: "At this time especially, I am really proud to be South African. I am proud that our government is keeping a level head, and not going along with the "boys" Bush, Blair, Howard, and others, but rather making independent decisions, and maintaining a perspective of considering what is right for the global good."Yes, indeed. I'm very un-proud of sort of being an American at this point. Here in the Dark Ages. [ Politics | 2003-01-06 11:15 | 9 comments | PermaLink ] More > |
| Linux Administrators |
Slashdot:"ZDNet is running a story on what a lot of us already know: Linux IS cheaper than Windows. This not because it is free. It is because Linux admins, although slightly more expensive, can handle a significantly larger number of systems than their Windows counterparts." I can attest to that. The most horrible job (to me) I've had, after supermarket checkout clerk, was to administer two Windows NT servers. Because what is really going on is usually a proprietary mystery, and you'll waste a lot of time on hold with Microsoft, or pulling your hair out and rebooting the machine. And, on the other side, I've had the job of single-handedly administering around 150 Linux servers, and I was quite content with that. [ Technology | 2003-01-06 11:36 | 2 comments | PermaLink ] More > |
| Disruptive Media |
| I get this stack of computer industry news magazines every week, and the past few months I haven't gotten around to reading them much. And now, reading InfoWorld today, I realize the world changed while I looked the other way. Or, rather, I was looking at where the action was, and now InfoWorld reflects it. This issue is about Disruptive Technologies, and I realize that I know most of the people saying anything important there from their weblogs, or from their friends' weblogs. Excellent frontpage interview with Ray Ozzie by Jon Udell and Steve Gillmor (Dan Gillmor's brother) about Groove and collaborative software. And in other places mentions of Dave Winer, Doc Searls, Tim O'Reilly, Lawrence Lessig, column by Robert Cringely and more. My point being that I read those people's weblogs regularly, and much of the contents of that magazine is what they've been discussing publically between themselves in the past few months. And weblogs have already changed the media world a good deal. A number of people have mentioned that it was quite clear that Trent Lott (former U.S. Senate Majority Leader) was brought down by bloggers, who spread around his racist comments that mainstream media was planning on ignoring. [ Inspiration | 2003-01-06 20:34 | 1 comment | PermaLink ] More > |