A few months ago I purchased a Motorola HS50 Bluetooth headset for use with my Blackberry. It's been invaluable to me, since the Blackberry isn't a very good phone (If a phone were my primary requirement I'd never get a BB).
In any case, my headset went missing last week... I knew it had to be somewhere though. The last place I epxected to find it though was in the dryer. Uh-oh! I must have left it in my shirt pocket and it went through the wash! I try to turn in on... no luck. Also, no surprise, it was just immersed in water several times then subjected to the heat of a commercial dryer.
When I got home, just for kicks, I plugged it into it's charger. Shockingly the blue LED lights up, indicating that it's charging. I give it a few minutes and try to turn it on again. OH MY GOD! It's working! Make a call... it works just fine.
What does it take?!?! I have never been able to destroy ANY of the Motorola products I've had. I've always sworn by their phones. Over the years I've had a LOT of phones (of 10 phones, 5 have been Motorola), never had I broken one. The same can't be said for some of the others.
Kudos to Motorola for making REALLY TOUGH products.
2007/01/28
2007/01/16
I love my shopping bins...
A while back I was looking for something under the kitchen sink. It was nearly impossible because there were plastic grocery bags EVERYWHERE (and this is a 4'x10' space). I hauled them all out and got rid of them, compressed they filled an entire green garbage bag.Halton Region (where I live) as well as the City of Toronto can not/do not recycle them, so they all go to landfill (or you can throw them under your sink and have them form their own "micro landfill").
Grocery stores in the Loblaws family (Loblaws, Fortinos, Zehrs, Great Canadian Superstores) offer shopping bins (pictured left, for purposes of scale the model is five years old) for their customers at most of their stores, they also use a slightly different cart design which allows for five bins to be places in the cart at once, all accessible. They cost about $4. On my next trip to the grocery store I purchased one to try. It was a good experience and the next time out I snagged another one.
I've been using them for about 8 months now and they make life so much easier, especially at the checkout. I can unload my cart onto the conveyor in under 10 seconds. It's also much easier to carry them into the house, one in each hand.
I purchased them for the convenience factor as well as the environmental factor (mostly for convenience though, it's nice when the two coincide... far too often are they in conflict). But, as an added bonus the Fortinos I go to gives a $0.03 discount for each bin you use to acknowledge the fact that you're not using bags. Three cents means nothing... I like to see it on my receipt though.
Now that the City of Toronto is considering a levy of $0.25 per plastic bag these may become more popular. Ireland has done something similar on a national level and reduced plastic bag usage by close to 90% in the first year.
2007/01/15
'Tis fit for neither man nor beast today...
Good Monday morning!
As I write this the inclement weather continues. The freezing rain that began during the night (leaving 1/8" of ice on everything so far) has now turned to ice pellets as the temperature drops and is expected to turn to snow as the day goes on. It's currently -4.
To hell with it all, I'm working from home today!
(Later the same day....)
Well, shortly after posting the above I got called out out to Mississauga to deal with a dead server. 30 minutes of scraping (breaking both of my scrapers, the ice on the windshield was closer to 1/2" thick). Once that was done it took 1 1/2 hours to get to the client... those poor bastards... they weren't able to get email until almost 1:00.
As I write this the inclement weather continues. The freezing rain that began during the night (leaving 1/8" of ice on everything so far) has now turned to ice pellets as the temperature drops and is expected to turn to snow as the day goes on. It's currently -4.
To hell with it all, I'm working from home today!
(Later the same day....)
Well, shortly after posting the above I got called out out to Mississauga to deal with a dead server. 30 minutes of scraping (breaking both of my scrapers, the ice on the windshield was closer to 1/2" thick). Once that was done it took 1 1/2 hours to get to the client... those poor bastards... they weren't able to get email until almost 1:00.
2007/01/10
A pilgrimage is required....
Here we go...
As my regular readers are aware I've been going through a rough time lately... damn this being an emotional being!
For the past several months I've been feeling the call of Lake Superior. I lived on the north shore from 1981-86 (ages 7-11.5) and did quite a bit of growing up there. The town in question was Schreiber, about 1/2 way between Thunder Bay and Wawa. Not the middle of nowhere, but you could see it from there. A great place to be a kid... I think we left a just the right time though, I wouldn't want to be a teenager there though. Everyone I spoke to after I left had issues with alcohol, drugs and teen pregnancies.
Moving to and from Schreiber was major culture shock... this is a Northern Ontario Railway town, 9 miles from a Mill town. Most of the men in Schreiber worked at the Kimberly Clark mill in Terrace bay, the rest worked for the CPR (I was, at least partially, raised by the CPR). Nearly all the local businesses were run by Italians... the Figlomenis, Costas, Cebrarios, Spadonis and Cacamos ("The Five Families of Schreiber"). There are, of course, exceptions to this but in general it's the way of things.
I hadn't thought much about the place in years, I haven't been closer than Sudbury (unless you count flying over) since '86, but recently it's really come back to me. In the past 10 years I've re-visited nearly every site from my childhood, except this one. As I exorcise demons I have fewer and fewer to deal with, so the same ones come up more frequently. If you've read ,y earlier posts you know that the biggest has been/is being dealt with right now. All that really leaves is Schreiber and its demons.
I need to go... I need to go soon, but I'll have to wait until spring. Winter is not a good season for tourism there, besides, at least two major spots I need to go to are in the bush... the snow's deeper there.
Until then, I'll just keep hanging on.
As my regular readers are aware I've been going through a rough time lately... damn this being an emotional being!
For the past several months I've been feeling the call of Lake Superior. I lived on the north shore from 1981-86 (ages 7-11.5) and did quite a bit of growing up there. The town in question was Schreiber, about 1/2 way between Thunder Bay and Wawa. Not the middle of nowhere, but you could see it from there. A great place to be a kid... I think we left a just the right time though, I wouldn't want to be a teenager there though. Everyone I spoke to after I left had issues with alcohol, drugs and teen pregnancies.
Moving to and from Schreiber was major culture shock... this is a Northern Ontario Railway town, 9 miles from a Mill town. Most of the men in Schreiber worked at the Kimberly Clark mill in Terrace bay, the rest worked for the CPR (I was, at least partially, raised by the CPR). Nearly all the local businesses were run by Italians... the Figlomenis, Costas, Cebrarios, Spadonis and Cacamos ("The Five Families of Schreiber"). There are, of course, exceptions to this but in general it's the way of things.
I hadn't thought much about the place in years, I haven't been closer than Sudbury (unless you count flying over) since '86, but recently it's really come back to me. In the past 10 years I've re-visited nearly every site from my childhood, except this one. As I exorcise demons I have fewer and fewer to deal with, so the same ones come up more frequently. If you've read ,y earlier posts you know that the biggest has been/is being dealt with right now. All that really leaves is Schreiber and its demons.
I need to go... I need to go soon, but I'll have to wait until spring. Winter is not a good season for tourism there, besides, at least two major spots I need to go to are in the bush... the snow's deeper there.
Until then, I'll just keep hanging on.
2007/01/09
Doing a B&E on the house of God...
Last night at Beavers Benjamin has a rather trying time...
It was his first day back at Thistleoaks after Christmas and he was tired (they all were). We had arrived a little early (since I'm a leader we always do).. while we were going around the gym, both of us trying to stay awake...
I heard a door slam behind me, Benjamin had closed the door to one of the activity rooms... with himself inside it. He startes banging on the door... he's unable to get out. I go to open the door... locked.
I talk to him through the door trying to explain the concept of unlocking it but am not getting anywhere. By this time another parent had come to drop her son off, I asked her to keep an eye on things while I go to see if I can get the window open. Cut through the screen... no luck, the window is locked. Try to jimmy it with my 9" tool (leatherman supertool), can't do it... damn my lack of a misspent youth!
I go back into the church, to find that another parent has managed to talk him through opening the door... he's out! My blood pressure begins to return to high (down from dangerously hypertensive).
This week's demonstration: Lock operation and doorknob removal.
Next week's demonstration: Window screen repair.
It was his first day back at Thistleoaks after Christmas and he was tired (they all were). We had arrived a little early (since I'm a leader we always do).. while we were going around the gym, both of us trying to stay awake...
I heard a door slam behind me, Benjamin had closed the door to one of the activity rooms... with himself inside it. He startes banging on the door... he's unable to get out. I go to open the door... locked.
I talk to him through the door trying to explain the concept of unlocking it but am not getting anywhere. By this time another parent had come to drop her son off, I asked her to keep an eye on things while I go to see if I can get the window open. Cut through the screen... no luck, the window is locked. Try to jimmy it with my 9" tool (leatherman supertool), can't do it... damn my lack of a misspent youth!
I go back into the church, to find that another parent has managed to talk him through opening the door... he's out! My blood pressure begins to return to high (down from dangerously hypertensive).
This week's demonstration: Lock operation and doorknob removal.
Next week's demonstration: Window screen repair.
2007/01/06
Blood Oranges are back!
I've been waiting for this since spring... my favorite fruit has come back into season... the wonderful, yes little known (it seems sometimes) Blood Orange.
Less sweet than most oranges and featuring a reddish flesh these oranges are a joy to eat. It seems that too few people know about them though... I've had the following conversation too many times:
Me: (sitting quietly eating an orange)
Someone else: "What's that?" in a tone that implies I'm eating something unrecognizable and inexplicable
Me: "An orange." Usually in a "What the hell do you think it is?" tone.
Someone else: "It's red."
Me: "Yeah... have some." The yeah is usually one of those "No shit" kinda responses... I've also been surprised by the number of people refusing to try them... it's an orange, not an alien!
So if, like me, you love blood oranges I wish you the best of the season... if not... go buy/try some. They're very good.
Less sweet than most oranges and featuring a reddish flesh these oranges are a joy to eat. It seems that too few people know about them though... I've had the following conversation too many times:
Me: (sitting quietly eating an orange)
Someone else: "What's that?" in a tone that implies I'm eating something unrecognizable and inexplicable
Me: "An orange." Usually in a "What the hell do you think it is?" tone.
Someone else: "It's red."
Me: "Yeah... have some." The yeah is usually one of those "No shit" kinda responses... I've also been surprised by the number of people refusing to try them... it's an orange, not an alien!
So if, like me, you love blood oranges I wish you the best of the season... if not... go buy/try some. They're very good.
Stinkin' Mac users!!
I've been saying this for years... now I have to stop. I have officially gone over to the dark side... er... the light side.. er... (more on this later).
Over the past year I've had three people close to me make the move to Mac... as I think is part of the Apple license agreement they've all become insufferable promoters of the platform (don't be offended, I'm beginning to understand).
When I told Jesse he asked me if I had joined the light side, I commented that it was more like the dark side since going to the light side often means compromising your desires. That didn't seem quite right either since going to the dark side often means compromising your principles. (Besides, I think everyone can agree the M$ is the evil empire...)
I've thought about it some more and have come up with the following: (Continuing the Star Wars analogies)
The Dark Side of the Force: Microsoft Windows (Any version)
I'll try not to be too annoying though.....
Over the past year I've had three people close to me make the move to Mac... as I think is part of the Apple license agreement they've all become insufferable promoters of the platform (don't be offended, I'm beginning to understand).
When I told Jesse he asked me if I had joined the light side, I commented that it was more like the dark side since going to the light side often means compromising your desires. That didn't seem quite right either since going to the dark side often means compromising your principles. (Besides, I think everyone can agree the M$ is the evil empire...)
I've thought about it some more and have come up with the following: (Continuing the Star Wars analogies)
The Dark Side of the Force: Microsoft Windows (Any version)
- Huge, corrupt (pron: buggy) cumbersome
- Simple tasks can be very complicated, especially if you're trying to do something non-standard
- Everything works "well enough" and if you're willing to deal with the continual security issues
- Huge, poorly organized
- No central authority, there are 100 different ways to do everything and there's no consensus as to the best way to do anything
- Everything works "well enough" if you're willing to put an enormous amount of effort into it. Much of it you'll probably have to build yourself.
- Small enough to not really attract TOO much of the wrong sort of attention
- A powerful, simple to use interface with a powerful BSD UNIX OS behind it. (Fully usable if you know what you're doing)
- Certainly not low-cost computing though
I'll try not to be too annoying though.....
2007/01/03
This means I'm a blogger now doesn't it?
I don't know how this happened.
Me, who has been denigrating blogging as narcissistic...
Me, who considered anyone who would, essentially, write a diary that they WANT people to read arrogant... spraying their inner-most thoughts across the net hoping that utter strangers will love them...
Me, who described bloggers as "being possessed of a self-love so deep that it borders on masturbatory" (I think that's paraphrased from Will Ferguson).
I have a blog? WTF?
I'm going to need a moment to re-center and re-evaluate my thinking here...
Do the strangers love me yet? Who knows, who cares... probably not. I can deal with that.
Me, who has been denigrating blogging as narcissistic...
Me, who considered anyone who would, essentially, write a diary that they WANT people to read arrogant... spraying their inner-most thoughts across the net hoping that utter strangers will love them...
Me, who described bloggers as "being possessed of a self-love so deep that it borders on masturbatory" (I think that's paraphrased from Will Ferguson).
I have a blog? WTF?
I'm going to need a moment to re-center and re-evaluate my thinking here...
Do the strangers love me yet? Who knows, who cares... probably not. I can deal with that.
2007/01/02
This whole "emotional being" business can be damned inconvenient at times
The holidays are difficult at the best of times; I've recently discovered that I'm a workaholic (that's right... I can't get enough workahol). On top of that, the shit has hit the fan in a couple of other areas as well.
My stress levels have been higher than usual of late, the holidays do that to me. In addition, my ex-wife Jenn, who is still a close friend, was admitted to hospital on the 22nd with heart trouble. They've got her pretty doped up (they released her on the 28th) to keep everything in order and want to see her again in a month. Until then she's been order to take it easy. They've also said she can't work (she's a professional driver). We'll just have to wait and see there...
I went to Kingston for Christmas to spent it at my Aunt's house (my Grandmother was there as well). Benjamin and I had a good Christmas morning, then I took him to the bus station where his Grandmother (Jenn's mom) picked him up and took him to Montreal to spend the week with her.
I went back to my Aunt's place and enjoyed the rest of the day. Late that evening though I found myself feeling very sad... crying inconsolably no less. It took me a little while to figure out why that was: I was crying because my mother had died. As most of you will remember, my mother died in August 1997. At the time it didn't have too much effect on my... I guess it finally caught up on me.
Since then I haven't been myself... admittedly, last week wasn't a normal week, but I haven't been normal myself. In the same way as when you pull a scab off a wound you find raw, sensitive skin underneath, I've pulled off an emotional scab and have found a raw, sensitive psyche underneath. Looks like I actually need to deal with it this time.
It's been quite some time since I've allowed myself to feel anything; I can't say I'm enjoying it. All part of the process though. I have no intention of returning to the "shut down" state I've been living in for so long.
My stress levels have been higher than usual of late, the holidays do that to me. In addition, my ex-wife Jenn, who is still a close friend, was admitted to hospital on the 22nd with heart trouble. They've got her pretty doped up (they released her on the 28th) to keep everything in order and want to see her again in a month. Until then she's been order to take it easy. They've also said she can't work (she's a professional driver). We'll just have to wait and see there...
I went to Kingston for Christmas to spent it at my Aunt's house (my Grandmother was there as well). Benjamin and I had a good Christmas morning, then I took him to the bus station where his Grandmother (Jenn's mom) picked him up and took him to Montreal to spend the week with her.
I went back to my Aunt's place and enjoyed the rest of the day. Late that evening though I found myself feeling very sad... crying inconsolably no less. It took me a little while to figure out why that was: I was crying because my mother had died. As most of you will remember, my mother died in August 1997. At the time it didn't have too much effect on my... I guess it finally caught up on me.
Since then I haven't been myself... admittedly, last week wasn't a normal week, but I haven't been normal myself. In the same way as when you pull a scab off a wound you find raw, sensitive skin underneath, I've pulled off an emotional scab and have found a raw, sensitive psyche underneath. Looks like I actually need to deal with it this time.
It's been quite some time since I've allowed myself to feel anything; I can't say I'm enjoying it. All part of the process though. I have no intention of returning to the "shut down" state I've been living in for so long.
GroupWise... working despite your best efforts
Last week I was doing a GroupWise 7 upgrade. No problem, 1 Post Office, in-place upgrade... what do you want me to do with the rest of the morning? Naturally there's some prep work to be done, some post work as well.
For the non-GroupWise engineers out there, GroupWise is Novell's premier e-mail and collaboration suite. Novell has a few recommendations to help keep it running well.
When I ran a structure check on the database I didn't find anything too alarming (apart from the fact that it took 16 hours). Contents was another story. These checks were taking 70-80 hours to complete.
Looking at a recent contents check that had been run at our behest there were tens of thousands of errors, nearly all minor or irrelevant. They did, however, show that there had been almost no maintenance done.
A HUGE number of outdated execution records (expired notifications or alarms). While these are normal, harmless and to be expected, the date stamps were unexpected. Outdated execution records are directly linked to the date an item was created, when a GWCHECK is run they are removed. I was finding outdated execution records dating back to June of 1998... 8 1/2 years. Had a GWCHECK been run in the past 8 1/2 years they would have been removed.
In 1998 we were just beginning to see GroupWise 5.5... that 5.5 (or 5.2) post office was upgraded to 6.0 and 6.5 with these errors in place the whole time.
GroupWise just works no matter how hard you try to kill it.
For the non-GroupWise engineers out there, GroupWise is Novell's premier e-mail and collaboration suite. Novell has a few recommendations to help keep it running well.
- Try to keep fewer than 1,000 users on each post office
- Maintain retention policies so that users will have no more than a year or two of mail on the live system. GroupWise and third parties have archiving options for just that reason.
- Use the built-in database maintenance utilities (primarily GWCHECK) to maintain and repair database errors. A check should be made of the database structure nightly and the contents weekly.
When I ran a structure check on the database I didn't find anything too alarming (apart from the fact that it took 16 hours). Contents was another story. These checks were taking 70-80 hours to complete.
Looking at a recent contents check that had been run at our behest there were tens of thousands of errors, nearly all minor or irrelevant. They did, however, show that there had been almost no maintenance done.
A HUGE number of outdated execution records (expired notifications or alarms). While these are normal, harmless and to be expected, the date stamps were unexpected. Outdated execution records are directly linked to the date an item was created, when a GWCHECK is run they are removed. I was finding outdated execution records dating back to June of 1998... 8 1/2 years. Had a GWCHECK been run in the past 8 1/2 years they would have been removed.
In 1998 we were just beginning to see GroupWise 5.5... that 5.5 (or 5.2) post office was upgraded to 6.0 and 6.5 with these errors in place the whole time.
GroupWise just works no matter how hard you try to kill it.
The 12 Laws of Networking
From the Archives:
Stumbled upon this one today... truer words were never spoken.
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1925.html
Stumbled upon this one today... truer words were never spoken.
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1925.html
The Speed of Dreams
From the Archives:
Let's see how much productivity I can kill this morning... it's seems I can occasionally waste everyone's morning with one of these threads.
Ever had one of those mornings where, for some reason, your alarm clock wasn't loud enough to wake you up, only loud enough to influence your dreams? This happens to me on occasion and I find it quite unnerving to hear all about my dreams on the news as I drive to work. Today however, I was slightly more conscious than normal.
The dream in question centred around a single article on Metro Morning (about creating "big courts" for complicated and gang-related trials). I remember hearing the beginning, I remember hearing the end, and I remember a dream in the middle. What surprised me is that, during a period no longer than 8 minutes I had a dream that encompassed several hours, possibly multiple days (you know how funny time gets when you're dreaming, and there were some "skips" as well). I know dreaming isn't a real-time event but I still thought it would take longer than that. I've never had it put so clearly before...
I realize this falls under the "Profound revelations that, later, turn out to be not so profound" category.
Has anyone had a similar experience?
Let's see how much productivity I can kill this morning... it's seems I can occasionally waste everyone's morning with one of these threads.
Ever had one of those mornings where, for some reason, your alarm clock wasn't loud enough to wake you up, only loud enough to influence your dreams? This happens to me on occasion and I find it quite unnerving to hear all about my dreams on the news as I drive to work. Today however, I was slightly more conscious than normal.
The dream in question centred around a single article on Metro Morning (about creating "big courts" for complicated and gang-related trials). I remember hearing the beginning, I remember hearing the end, and I remember a dream in the middle. What surprised me is that, during a period no longer than 8 minutes I had a dream that encompassed several hours, possibly multiple days (you know how funny time gets when you're dreaming, and there were some "skips" as well). I know dreaming isn't a real-time event but I still thought it would take longer than that. I've never had it put so clearly before...
I realize this falls under the "Profound revelations that, later, turn out to be not so profound" category.
Has anyone had a similar experience?
Fast food and General Relativity
From the Archives:
Someone actually managed to use general relativity to explain why fast food is so awful....
As you accelerate your food, it takes exponentially more and more energy to increase its velocity, until you hit a limit at C. This energy has to come from somewhere; in this case, from the food's nutritional value. Thus, the faster the food is, the worse it gets.
-- Mark Hughes, comprehending the taste of fast food
Someone actually managed to use general relativity to explain why fast food is so awful....
As you accelerate your food, it takes exponentially more and more energy to increase its velocity, until you hit a limit at C. This energy has to come from somewhere; in this case, from the food's nutritional value. Thus, the faster the food is, the worse it gets.
-- Mark Hughes, comprehending the taste of fast food
The Letter C; Sentimental or Redundant?
From the Archives:
Today on the "Ian's damaged mind" channel we will be examining the letter C.
While the English language is full of contradictions, rules, exceptions to those rules and stolen grammar and vocabulary the letter C has to be one of the greatest wastes. I recall several years ago there was an e-mail joke passed around dealing with the European Union adopting English as its official language (as opposed to French or German). It then went through a five year process of adapting the language to European usage by simplifying the grammar and eliminating redundant letters and letter combinations. In the end they had essentially turned English into German.
http://www.ahajokes.com/eng011.html
But that just serves to underscore the true redundancy of C. After all, what does a C sound like? Most will tell you that a "hard C" sounds like a K and a "soft C" sounds like an S. Based on that information is there ANY word in the language where C cannot be replaced with K or S? I have yet to find any... if you do please let me know.
Please note: Arguments that a certain (sertain?) word "looks funny" or "doesn't parse well" will not be accepted (aksepted?). That is just a side effect of having looked at them in their current (kurrent?) format for 30+ years.
Lucky, you just get to listen to my ramblings on occasion then delete them from your inboxes. I have to live inside this brain 24x7....
Today on the "Ian's damaged mind" channel we will be examining the letter C.
While the English language is full of contradictions, rules, exceptions to those rules and stolen grammar and vocabulary the letter C has to be one of the greatest wastes. I recall several years ago there was an e-mail joke passed around dealing with the European Union adopting English as its official language (as opposed to French or German). It then went through a five year process of adapting the language to European usage by simplifying the grammar and eliminating redundant letters and letter combinations. In the end they had essentially turned English into German.
http://www.ahajokes.com/eng011.html
But that just serves to underscore the true redundancy of C. After all, what does a C sound like? Most will tell you that a "hard C" sounds like a K and a "soft C" sounds like an S. Based on that information is there ANY word in the language where C cannot be replaced with K or S? I have yet to find any... if you do please let me know.
Please note: Arguments that a certain (sertain?) word "looks funny" or "doesn't parse well" will not be accepted (aksepted?). That is just a side effect of having looked at them in their current (kurrent?) format for 30+ years.
Lucky, you just get to listen to my ramblings on occasion then delete them from your inboxes. I have to live inside this brain 24x7....
What's up with the Liberals?
From the Archives:
What's going on??
Bob Rae skinny dipping on CBC with Rick Mercer... Scott Bryson posing nude for a calendar... are the Liberals becoming the naked party? What's next? Gerrard Kennedy's next job at the strip club?
Although I'm sure most of us wouldn't mind if Belinda Stronach were next...
What's going on??
Bob Rae skinny dipping on CBC with Rick Mercer... Scott Bryson posing nude for a calendar... are the Liberals becoming the naked party? What's next? Gerrard Kennedy's next job at the strip club?
Although I'm sure most of us wouldn't mind if Belinda Stronach were next...
Personal ads you never see...
From the archives:
My brain concocted this one this morning... Can't it take vacations on its own time??
Looking for:
1 legged man (left) who wears size 10 1/2 wide shoes for ongoing exchange. Large collection of unused left-only shoes available. My left for your right! Long term preferred.
There are probably medications I can take to prevent these thoughts....
My brain concocted this one this morning... Can't it take vacations on its own time??
Looking for:
1 legged man (left) who wears size 10 1/2 wide shoes for ongoing exchange. Large collection of unused left-only shoes available. My left for your right! Long term preferred.
There are probably medications I can take to prevent these thoughts....
NTP Servers
I'm sure that like me you're getting tired of hunting for reliable NTP servers... Sure, we have the old standbys:
time.nrc.ca
tick.utoronto.ca
tock.utoronto.ca
but what else?
Recently I was in Ottawa looking for local NTP sources (instead of hitting the UToronto servers) and discovered that the NTP project manages NTP server "pools". These pools are arranged geographically and hierarchically, with the ability to drill down. For example, the North America Pool has 244 servers in it right now, there are also 4 sub-pools for Canada (23 servers), Guatemala (3 servers), Mexico (4 servers) and USA (215 servers).
Check it out at http://www.pool.ntp.org
Since I discovered this I've been converting my existing servers to use the Canada pool.
They're always looking for new servers to make the pools more reliable, so if you happen to have a NTP server with a static IP please consider contributing it to the pool. I expect to be adding a couple in the next few weeks. Support the community effort.
time.nrc.ca
tick.utoronto.ca
tock.utoronto.ca
but what else?
Recently I was in Ottawa looking for local NTP sources (instead of hitting the UToronto servers) and discovered that the NTP project manages NTP server "pools". These pools are arranged geographically and hierarchically, with the ability to drill down. For example, the North America Pool has 244 servers in it right now, there are also 4 sub-pools for Canada (23 servers), Guatemala (3 servers), Mexico (4 servers) and USA (215 servers).
Check it out at http://www.pool.ntp.org
Since I discovered this I've been converting my existing servers to use the Canada pool.
They're always looking for new servers to make the pools more reliable, so if you happen to have a NTP server with a static IP please consider contributing it to the pool. I expect to be adding a couple in the next few weeks. Support the community effort.
A geek reacting to advertising...
So, this afternoon I'm driving down the Gardiner and saw a billboard for Dasani. All it was, was a bottle with the caption H5O (5 was subscript). One wonders just how many geeks started thinking about chemistry upon seeing this. I'm sure they were talking about their 5-stage filtration process... all I could think was how unstable H5O would be. We're talking about some serious free radicals here.
Happy Calendar Obsolescence
Here we are again... January 1st (well 2nd actually) and once again our paper calendars are garbage. This has to be one of the more ridiculous times to place the new year.
Sensibly, I would expect a change of year to accompany a change of season. Instead we have it 8 days AFTER the winter solstice... right when everything (here in the northern hemisphere at least) is throughly dead.
I'm not quite sure what Aloysius Lilius was smoking when he decided to put it there...
Anyway, happy calendar obsolescence...
Sensibly, I would expect a change of year to accompany a change of season. Instead we have it 8 days AFTER the winter solstice... right when everything (here in the northern hemisphere at least) is throughly dead.
I'm not quite sure what Aloysius Lilius was smoking when he decided to put it there...
Anyway, happy calendar obsolescence...
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