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Sat 22nd Dec 2007 @ 23:29 2007: Solaris programming language???!
As I mentioned earlier this month, I joined the elite few who are Sun Certified Solaris Sysadmins. Today my certificate arrived in the post, along with two cover letters (why two different cover letters are needed, I do not know). One of them contained the above text, congratulating me on being one of "selected individuals who demonstrate their knowledge across various skill sets using the Solaris™ programming language."
Why, thank you very much, I do feel proud of mysel... wait, what? I should have failed the exams, because I could have sworn that Solaris was an Operating System (nay, Operating Environment), and not a programming language at all.
There is a thing called Java, which Sun are rather excited about these days, which is (amongst other things) a programming language, but Solaris - at one time (and still today, to a fair extent) considered to be Sun's crown jewels, is definitely not a programming language.
There's no major harm done, of course, in this simple copy/paste error ("using the Java™ programming language" -> "using the Solaris™ operating environment") - it's not an advert in the WSJ, but it would be nice if communication with the few people to whom the distinction does matter actually managed to use the correct terminology.
D'oh!
Thu 20th Dec 2007 @ 00:05 2007: Kite-assisted Ship
Kite-Assisted Ship Prepares For January Maiden Voyage
I like the sound of this... it's greener, and cheaper, than the normal approach, so it should appeal to freighters' pockets as well as adding to the eco-friendly blurb in their PR material.
Tue 18th Dec 2007 @ 22:46 2007: Icelandic tourist arrested by USA DHS
http://eggmann.blog.is/blog/eggmann/entry/389611/
"During the last twenty-four hours I have probably experienced the greatest humiliation to which I have ever been subjected. During these last twenty-four hours I have been handcuffed and chained, denied the chance to sleep, been without food and drink and been confined to a place without anyone knowing my whereabouts, imprisoned."
Her crime? She had outstayed her Visa on a 1995 visit to the USA. True, she shouldn't have done so, but the treatment described, assuming it is true, is appalling.
Sat 15th Dec 2007 @ 23:13 2007: PensionBook
(Firefox may shrink the image down if 1024x768 or smaller - click/expand to resize)
Thu 13th Dec 2007 @ 00:18 2007: Linux: Likely and Unlikely
As you do, I was browsing through Linux kernel source code tonight, and came across the likely/unlikely macros. I initially assumed it was just a documentation trick, to make the code a bit more readable:
if (unlikely(!(sblk->status & SD_STATUS_UPDATED))) {
...
}
However, it seems that it's a compiler trick to optimise for the main codepath, whilst still allowing for (unlikely()) deviations. The link above explains in more detail.
Maybe I'm just easily impressed, but that seems pretty cool to me. It probably makes very little difference to performance in reality, but it's a funky thing, and - to be honest - it helps human readability of the code, too.
Mon 10th Dec 2007 @ 00:16 2007: HMRC Security Breach: What You Can Do to Protect Yourself From Us
In the light of the recent security breach at Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), The Department of Social Scrutiny (DoSS) has issued the following statement on the subject of Identity Theft (IT) on behalf of The Government. This statement contains vital advice and the answers to a number of questions you may have about what you can do to protect yourself from it, now that we have released your details into the public domain as part of our obligations under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act; you should read the following information carefully, then completely destroy the computer you are reading it on.
Fri 7th Dec 2007 @ 13:19 2007: Alastair Campbell
I see that Alastair Campbell's autograph is worth minus £4.00 on play.com
Fri 7th Dec 2007 @ 00:30 2007: Smug - Part II
Back in October, I got Sun Certified System Administrator for the Solaris 10 OS, Part I.
Today, I got Sun Certified System Administrator for the Solaris 10 OS, Part II.
So I'm now certified to be, erm, well, my own customer, I suppose. The kind of person who calls on someone like me, to get the trickier/scarier/riskier stuff done.
That's nice, then. It's one of those situations, where you've got a test, and if you pass, then nobody is particularly impressed. If you fail, then everbody will be particularly unimpressed.
So it's a cause for happiness, if not outright celebration; I've shown that I'm not unqualified for my own job. Good-oh.
