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Linux and Unix
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Final grade in one class
Well, I took networking and database management this past term at University of Phoenix. I’ve gotten my grade for the database class.
I guess that means I did all right. Now waiting to for the networking class. Going in to the last week I had a 96.7% (yeah, kinda funny that I would be lower in Networking than in databases). However 24% of the grade is scored the last week. So, I could have a 76% or a 97.4% or anywhere in between.
I guess I’ll know in the next day or two.
Taking these two classes during this time in my life was exceedingly difficult. First, there was a lot of work. Second, my groups were less than ideal. Third, there were a number of outside inconveniences including Pascha and a job related trip to Florida.
I am a little nervous about my networking grade. I would hate to lose my 4.0.
Ah well, time will tell, and now I am in my next to last class - IT Risk Management. Should be a fun class. After last term, it should be much easier and much less stressful. P
Comments:
Matsu on 05/15 at 04:04 AM said:
You wrote, “...my groups were less than ideal” about the two classes you just completed. WOW! Was that ever a challenge when I got my degree from UoP online.
There were some unbelievable free-loaders in the program and they got credit for just being thrown into a group, whether they did anything (and most did nothing) or not. But, I wasn’t willing to take a low grade because of them, so the students who cared about their grades and doing good work ended up carrying the work load of the students who didn’t care and didn’t do hardly any work. I guess that’s the nature of group projects.
Congrats on your high scores, especially deserved given the circumstances you were under when you earned them.
Moose on 05/15 at 10:00 AM said:
Matsu,
Thank you. You know… I remember the same issues at Asbury. I don’t think this is a UoP issue, per se, but a group dynamic issue as you have stated.
Part of the problem with me is that by doubling up on classes I change groups. I’ve done this a couple times, so I am with people at the latter stages of the degree that I have no clue about.
Additionally, everybody else in the class does have a clue about and has requested to either not be in certain people’s groups or have requested to be in other groups. Thus, you end up with the strong students working together, and schmucks like me being stuck with the free-loaders, as you called them.
This is the price I pay for finishing a 14 month Masters in less than a year I guess.
Again, thanks for the congrats and for reading my blog.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Okay, i’ve done it and you probably have too, but when google does it…
Gmail… locked up…
“Still working....” it says at the top.
“Unable to reach Gmail. Please check your internet connection.”
I like that. It makes me think it is MY fault that I can’t reach the great goog.
well, I can post this, so my internet must be working.
“And we’re back...”
It now says.
I guess they are…
Nope, gone again.
Oh, back again.
Hmm… bad day to be goog. I guess someone needs to go back in time and send them an e-mail that they are having problems.
Friday, March 14, 2008
cuchunk cuchunk cuchunk
"Dude, what’s the deal with your server?”
That was the question I was asked today.
My response… “I don’t know… I’ll check it at lunch.”
When I got home, that the noise that I heard was “cuchunk cuchunk cuchunk”.
I *think* I have everything backed up as of 12/12/07… three months ago…
sigh..
So, we are back to just before Christmas....
If you find something missing that you think was there before this date… let me know as I probably have it, but haven’t restored it yet.
There were a number of databases that I didn’t restore. I got the ones that I thought were active.
I restored homes and /etc/passwd type files…
my apologies....
David
Posted by Moose on
03/14 at 12:09 AM
Personal • Job • Linux and Unix • Community • Blogging • News • Permalink
Personal • Job • Linux and Unix • Community • Blogging • News • Permalink
Comments:
Matsu on 03/14 at 02:56 AM said:
OUCH! I’m really to hear about the data loss.
Hey, you might want to google some of the content that you know you had (like the posts about class or your health) and use the Google cache function to recapture that content (i.e. cut/paste into a new entry and backdate it).
Just a thought.
Matsu
Moose on 03/14 at 02:05 PM said:
Matsu,
Thanks!
I can get some content back that way (and have)… however I don’t think I’ll get it all.
Some is better than none.
David
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
System administrator convicted of logic bomb
"Medco sys admin gets 30 months for planting logic bomb” see story at http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9056284&intsrc=hm_list
Obviously there are several things going on here…
1) The dude was stupid and not a good programmer
2) While the media called the trick “sophisticated” it obviously wasn’t.
3) Medco doesn’t have a good system to monitor changes to their systems. If nothing else, it should have caught the cron or at job the sys admin used to schedule the job
4) He got 30 months and then 2 years probation and not allowed to touch a computer while in jail - seems like a small punishment to me.
A related story (http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=cybercrime_and_hacking&articleId=9038218) is about his conviction. The first story is his sentencing. He was convicted in September and not sentenced until Jan 8th. So much for timeliness in the judicial system!
Friday, January 04, 2008
Beating the averages, a second look
A friend of mine sent me a link to the article ”Beating the Averages”, which I read in 2001. I read it again today, and best I can tell, I have come up with the same answer I had back then. That is, the most important statement in the whole article, while it has a lot of good and important things to say throughout, is this line which starts the eleventh paragraph:
Robert and I both knew Lisp well
You have to use a programming language your programmers know and know well. If your programmers know more than one language, then, sure, you get other choices. However, this leads me to my second point which is that once you are ready to outgrow your initial programmers - be that attrition, death, growth, or one of any other number of reasons, you have to be able to get more programmers.
LISP is a fantastic language. I would argue that it was and is ahead of the rest for many of the same reasons the author talked about in 2001. I supported the Artificial Intelligence group at Boeing for about 6-8 months. They programmed in Lisp. It was quite impressive. And, they learned those languages in thos fancy academic institutions they got their degrees from - Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, Cal Tech, etc.
FYI, LISP was developed in the late 50’s at MIT.
People who know LISP, in my mind, are real programmers. People who know LISP probably know a half dozen other languages too. These type of people are the programmers who really understand and are examples of the phrase, “Use the right tool for the job”. I am not saying that you can’t be a “real programmer” without knowing LISP. Please do not fall into this or any other fallacy.
Fortunately for me, I do not work for a startup looking to find a competitive advantage to have the chance of staying alive. Unfortunately for me I work in an area that has few people who have graduated from programs that even have heard of LISP or for that matter anything beyond VB, , C Sharp, and MAYBE Perl or PHP. I would be more likely to find around here where “html” is considered a programming language. (Go Michigan!) (Okay, to give them a little break, that page is from 1996, but it is still up, so I can’t give them too much of a break.) Or, you go here, and find that it is listed in the drop-down as an option under “programming languages” and is listed in the text as well.
Overall, the article is a good article. However, my job as a technologist, and especially as a technology manager, is to read such articles and then to see the reality in them. I would encourage others to do the same (starting with this one).
