dannyman.toldme.com : Technology

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/10/07/negative-reader-feedback/

October 7, 2005
Letters to The Man, Technical, Technology, Testimonials

Negative “Reader” Feedback

(I tried Google Reader today. It sucked. Then I went back to my other “Google Reader” and saw they had posted about Reader to the blog . . . I tried to keep it civil . . . but I failed.) (more…)

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/10/03/ups-heat-dissipation/

October 3, 2005
Technical, Technology

It’s Getting Hot in Here!

Last Thursday I was picking up Yayoi when I got a page from one of my UPSes that it had switched to battery power. That’s never a page you want to get, unless there is shortly afterward a subsequent page about switching back to AC. (more…)

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/10/03/nerdtv-library-alexandria/

October 3, 2005
Excerpts, Good Reads, Technology

The Library of Alexandria

I just finished watching the most recent episode of NerdTV, which, if you are a nerd, especially a Silicon Valley type nerd, you ought to check out. You don’t need cable to watch, you can download from the Internet. Using BitTorrent. Truth in distribution!

NerdTV is a blast because they basically take all-star nerds, people who are often not far removed from myself, and interview them, 1:1 for an hour, about, whatever, and while you have to be in the right mood to watch a one-hour interview with a Nerd, well . . . insightful. “Charlie Rose with Nerds,” I think is the tagline. (more…)

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/09/01/new-orleans-livejournal/

September 1, 2005
Good Reads, News and Reaction, Technical, Technology, Testimonials

Live from New Orleans

Pointed to a fascinating blog from someone who is manning a Data Center in New Orleans. I haven’t been preoccupied with the disaster, and pretty good about focusing on work, but this is really interesting stuff.

Highlights:

They’re still online. But are down to one carrier at the moment.
Bell South is working on bringing lines back up.
Looting is completely out of hand. Civilians and police.
Civilians are firing at Police and Fire workers.
New Orleans PD has no command and control.
The Data Center has taken on diesel fuel to keep generators running.
“Dead bodies everywhere: convention center, down camp street, all over.”
Building management is still functioning, and has requested supplies from tenants, including ammunition.

Why are these people so uptight about staying online? Well, apparently the guy works for “Directnic” and the “NIC” implies that they control WHOIS and DNS information for a lot of domains that may have nothing to do with New Orleans. So, it is pretty critical that they stay online, if possible.

I saw some other chatter on IRC that national fuel rationing may come within a month due to the refining capacity that we have lost in the Gulf of Mexico. I take that with a grain of salt, but it is an interesting possibility. It sounds as if a lot of the nation’s oil is offloaded and then refined down there, and then transported throughout the Midwest and East . . . so, that doesn’t trouble me so much in California, but that doesn’t sound so great as you move East.

Update: “THE REAL MILITARY IS NOW FLOWING IN. National Guard is being replaced before our eyes. Watch the feed. Word is that the Marines are at 1515 Poydras where our OC4s are. I think we’re coming back online in force shortly.”

Also, BBC has some excellent coverage, particularly pictures. I find this one especially moving, whereas this guy ought to be target practice.

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/08/26/google-hates-usa/

August 26, 2005
Technology

Google Hates the United States *

I’m a Google fan, and I’m a contrarian idealist. And I know the pain of being ignored by technical support while travelling abroad. So, I bring you Greg Kaiser‘s explanation of why Google Hates the United States: (more…)

5 Comments

August 23, 2005
Excerpts, Good Reads, Technology

The Daily Show and Piracy

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/08/23/daily-show-piracy/

We watch The Daily Show every day. It is actually one of the very few shows we watch regularly, and so instead of spending tens of dollars a month on cable television, we download our television off the Internet. It is a little less convenient because I have to download the shows manually instead of setting up a DVR, and the video quality is often inconsistent. On the other hand, the people who upload the shows edit the commercials out beforehand, and I can copy the files to a laptop to watch on the plane.

Wired magazine publishes an interview with Daily Show anchor Jon Stewart and producer Ben Karlin:

Wired: [The Daily Show is] among the most popular shows traded online. People download and watch the whole thing, every day. Were you guys aware of that?
Karlin: Not only am I not aware of that, I don’t want to be aware of that.
Wired: Well, don’t go shutting it down.
Stewart: We’re not going to shut it down – we don’t even know what it is. I’m having enough trouble just getting porn.

Whew! (more…)

August 17, 2005
Politics, Technology

Dumb AFA

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/08/17/dumb-afa-xxx/

From: “American Family Association” <afapetition@afa.net>
To: Jesus McChrist
Subject: Stop Triple X Domain

Dear Jesus,

Your help is needed to stop pornographers from having their own Internet domain.
.
.
.
In addition to having the .xxx domain, the pornographers could (and would) continue sending out billions of pornographic images on every other domain. As bad as pornography is on the Internet now, it would be infinitely worse with the triple X domain. The establishment of a triple X domain would give legitimacy to the pornographers.

(more…)

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/07/29/dinner-at-google/

July 29, 2005
Technology

Dinner at Google

We carpooled down from Oakland. “Ah, the old country,” I remarked, as we sped south down 101 past San Antonio Road. Mountain View was home to so many of us when we first moved to California, during the boom.

The Google campus is at the edge of the Shoreline recreation area. There’s a tranquil view of Shoreline’s rolling yellow hills, which must provide a pleasing hint of seasonality when the rains green them in the spring.

Entering the Google Campus was like stepping into a land of enchantment comparable for geeks to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Every building has its variant of the free snack pantry. I gobbled a few malted milk balls, and later some chocolate peanut clusters. Yum! Matt remarked that at Yahoo! The snacks aren’t free but the coffee is manned by professional baristas, which might be cool, if he drank coffee. (more…)

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/07/19/peanut-butter-mochi/

July 19, 2005
Technology

Peanut butter Mochi

Yayoi came home from Japantown today. She was excited. “You must try this new product,” she explained.

It was a flat, pink, gelatinous food substance. Mochi! Mochi is basically a a bland, dry, rice-based(?) wrapper for snacks, like “mochi ice” which is a lump of ice cream wrapped in mochi. (Think of it as a flexible cracker for snacks.) (more…)

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/06/23/quizzes-are-dumb/

June 23, 2005
Technology

Quizzes are Dumb

I never do them.

But, somehow, I was oddly attracted to these. (Thanks, Keith!)

You are Windows XP. Under your bright and cheerful exterior is a strong and stable personality. You have a tendency to do more than what is asked or even desired.
Which OS are You?

You are .inf You are informative. When you are gone you make life very difficult for others.
Which File Extension are You?

Damn.

June 20, 2005
Letters to The Man, Technology

Evolve!

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/06/20/evolve/

(more…)

June 9, 2005
About Me, Technology

Typing Names

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/06/09/typing-names/

As recently observed at work:

(16:19:06) taras: for centuries, my clan has insisted on only naming their children with names that can be typed exclusively with the left hand, b/c we knew that one day we might be working with a left-hand-typing-only system administrator

For those who have never seen me type, let me tell you that the above is an apt description of yours truly.

(16:35:04) sara: dman: note that ‘sara’ can also be typed only w/ your left hand
(16:35:22) ***sara sucks up to the sysadmin

It’s good to be root.

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/05/10/cisco-sucks-zebra-rules/

May 10, 2005
Technical, Technology, Testimonials

Cisco Doesn’t Sell Routers

So . . . this is an old rant.

I was working on a project to multi-home our upstream Internet connectivity. When I started, I was inheriting something where the telco providing us with the new circuit would also give us a router, and configure it, and take care of all the BGP configuration, and we wouldn’t have to renumber. (more…)