Well, I have started my new position with a flight to Houston, Texas to meet the team at Texas Memory Systems, my new employer. I accepted the position, Oracle Guru, yes, that is my real title and will be on my business card. I guess if Steve Feuerstein can be a PL/SQL Evangelist for Quest Software I can be an Oracle Guru for Texas Memory Systems.
For those not sure what Texas Memory Systems does, check out their website at http://www.texmemsys.com/. One of my duties will be to manage/monitor the StatsPack Analyzer website at http://www.statspackanalyzer.com/, if you have a statspack (or AWR) report you want analyzed, log on and upload it! Also, swing by the forums and have a go at improving our rules for statspack/AWR evaluation. We want to improve the Statspack Analyzer application and we value your feedback.
So, I was actually unemployed for 15 days (11 workdays) but I did have the offer within 36 hours a new record for me. I can’t imagine how I would feel being out of work for several weeks or months as 15 days was disturbing enough (after all, how much Oprah or Dr. Phil can one person take?) To all of those job hunting right now, stick with it, good luck and I hope you have as good a luck as I did in my search.
I am really looking forward to getting in the new equipment down in the dungeon where I can torture it to my hearts content with various tests, benchmarks and other procedures my devious mind can come up, I am looking forward to also publishing the results so everyone can see how really amazing is this SSD technology. Imagine a 146 times improvement in query performance. How about virtually no latency for redo log operations? Take a look at some of the client histories and white papers on the http://www.texmemsys.com/ to see real data.
Anyway, it is great to be part of the working masses once again, unemployment is hard work!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Opportunity
It has been said that with each problem or trouble comes opportunity. In recent times we have all seen or been subject to the whims of the marketplace. In 1990 I was laid off from the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) from the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant Training Facility, I used that as an indicator to me that perhaps it was time to leave the Nuclear industry and looked to change career paths into the computer industry. Needless to say that my switch to being an Oracle DBA (Database Administrator) proved a good choice and I have been gainfully employed working with Oracle databases as both in-house and consultant.
During my 10 years as a Nuclear Chemist I watched the Nuclear industry grow from a growth industry, to a stable, to a declining one. Now of course with oil prices rising and CO/CO2 emissions on everyone’s mind the Nuclear industry is making a come back. No, I am not returning to the Nuclear industry as my skill set is nearly 20 years out of date. However, for the first time in 18 years I have been noticing certain indicators in the Oracle DBA marketplace that show it may be time for a change.
The indicators of course deal with the increased automation of the Oracle DBA job by Oracle coupled with the large supply of (at least on the low end) DBA services as outsource resources. It is difficult to compete with DBA resources that are happy to receive a small fraction of the salary you need to live on in the USA. I predict that the DBA job for Oracle will cease to exist as we know it within 3-5 years. Perhaps rather than being part of the large out flux of skilled but overpriced Oracle talent at this future date it is time to evaluate where you want to be in 3-5 years.
You may know (or you may not as they are keeping things rather under raps) Quest just went through a large round of layoffs in their Oracle and database areas. Yes, I was caught in the lay off and was officially put in the ranks of the unemployed on May 15, 2008. Perhaps it is a signal that it is time to move to another area of expertise. Don’t worry, I am landing on my feet and already have an excellent opportunity I am considering and unless something else shows up that is absolutely stellar, I will probably take it. The opportunity provides a path to stop feeding from the Oracle trough and move into an area that is more future-proof. I’ll keep you posted as I move forward with this new prospect.
Of course this is a record for me, in 35 years of working it is the longest I have gone without a job (so far 2 full work days) however, I did have the offer within 36 hours of being laid off. So, I plan to use this as an opportunity to step back and really consider where the computer industry is going and look to a position that will enable me to make full use of the skills I have acquired while moving forward into new and exciting areas. Opportunity is knocking, I think I’ll answer.
During my 10 years as a Nuclear Chemist I watched the Nuclear industry grow from a growth industry, to a stable, to a declining one. Now of course with oil prices rising and CO/CO2 emissions on everyone’s mind the Nuclear industry is making a come back. No, I am not returning to the Nuclear industry as my skill set is nearly 20 years out of date. However, for the first time in 18 years I have been noticing certain indicators in the Oracle DBA marketplace that show it may be time for a change.
The indicators of course deal with the increased automation of the Oracle DBA job by Oracle coupled with the large supply of (at least on the low end) DBA services as outsource resources. It is difficult to compete with DBA resources that are happy to receive a small fraction of the salary you need to live on in the USA. I predict that the DBA job for Oracle will cease to exist as we know it within 3-5 years. Perhaps rather than being part of the large out flux of skilled but overpriced Oracle talent at this future date it is time to evaluate where you want to be in 3-5 years.
You may know (or you may not as they are keeping things rather under raps) Quest just went through a large round of layoffs in their Oracle and database areas. Yes, I was caught in the lay off and was officially put in the ranks of the unemployed on May 15, 2008. Perhaps it is a signal that it is time to move to another area of expertise. Don’t worry, I am landing on my feet and already have an excellent opportunity I am considering and unless something else shows up that is absolutely stellar, I will probably take it. The opportunity provides a path to stop feeding from the Oracle trough and move into an area that is more future-proof. I’ll keep you posted as I move forward with this new prospect.
Of course this is a record for me, in 35 years of working it is the longest I have gone without a job (so far 2 full work days) however, I did have the offer within 36 hours of being laid off. So, I plan to use this as an opportunity to step back and really consider where the computer industry is going and look to a position that will enable me to make full use of the skills I have acquired while moving forward into new and exciting areas. Opportunity is knocking, I think I’ll answer.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
If you aren't part of the Solution, you are part of the Precipitate...
I am not one to complain about things unless I can propose solutions (generally speaking.) In my last blog I did a bit of complaining so in this edition let’s examine some possible mitigating ideas for the problems I brought up last time.
In my last blog I basically stated that the western nations could do little to reduce green house gas emissions and that even if we (we as the old established, stable nations) completely eliminated green house emissions that it would make virtually no difference in the long run.
So, what can we do? Well let me list a few items first.
Point 1: Melting of polar/glacial ice is reducing the albedo of the Earth (decreasing our reflectivity) because when the white snow/ice melts it is being replaced by dirt/water which absorb infrared and other energies rather than reflecting it, producing heat.
Point 2: The replacing of trees with manmade, usually dark structures is resulting in urban areas absorbing more heat
Point 3: The highest use of energy comes from air conditioning, heating, and heating of water in most homes.
Point 4: The major cause of global warming is the effect of the nearly circular orbit in this phase of the Earths 100,000 year cyclic dance with the sun resulting in the highest level of solar input to the eco-system in 100,000 years.
Point 5: Burning of fossil fuels for power generation and transportation adds millions of tons of green house gases to the environment.
Point 6: Developing third world countries and China and India have little incentive to reduce emissions.
Ok, what can be done about point 1? Well, we could paint the ground reflective white where the ice/snow has melted and construct large floating reflective surfaces in place of the missing ice, of course this would have to be done over and over again as the calving ice flows smashed down. In addition the angle that the Sun’s rays strike at the poles makes this very inefficient. So, what else could we do?
Hmmm, how about a tax credit for everyone in the USA that is willing to have their dark roofs painted with reflective paint? Since the sunlight reaching the USA (for the most part) is at a more oblique angle than the polar sunlight we would get more efficient reflection. This would also reduce the internal temperature of the houses reducing the cooling loads in the summer months, perhaps something could be done with high tech coatings that, when the temperature dropped below a certain level, these coatings would absorb heat? Hmmm…this also covers some of point 2.
Alright what about point 2? Require builders to not be able to take building sites to grade over 100 percent of the site. At least in Atlanta the first thing builders do to a new subdivision is knock down all of the trees, bushes and grass and scrape away the top inches of topsoil so they can “clear to grade”. Make builders have to justify every tree they remove. Give huge tax credits to “green” builders who build off the grid homes, build underground homes and homes embedded in hillsides. Make it worth their while to not knock all the vegetation to flinders when they build new homes. Penalize them heavily if they do clear to grade. Use of passive solar for water heating, solar panels, and other energy saving techniques should also give tax benefits to those who pursue them.
On point 3, use of the solutions for point 1 and 2 should handle most if not all of point 3. Use of proper passive solar designs can help heat the home, heat hot water and provide for cooling through proper use of convection flow.
On point 4, Ok, this one is tough. However, let me delve into my engineer, and radiation technologist background. The actual percentage of the suns energy that reaches us is quite small. By obscuring even a small (relatively speaking) percentage of this radiation nearer the source it could make a large difference in temperature rises on Earth. As you get nearer the sun the amount of area needed to be actually blocked becomes quite small (a small percentage of the Earths diameter actually.)
Think of a flashlight beam, the width of the beam at the flashlight head is much smaller than if you project the light onto a building 100 feet away. Now, if we assume the diameter of the Sun is equal to the diameter of that flashlight lens, the Earths diameter is 1/110 of that diameter. So, for ease of calculation let’s make the diameter of the lens 11 inches (a really big light!) in this case, the Earth would be roughly 1/10 of an inch in diameter. Now, place the 1/10 of an inch diameter Earth 28 feet away, how much of the flashlight beam is intersecting our 1/10 of an inch Earth? Not a whole heck of a lot, this is equivalent to the actual amount of Solar energy we get out of the ½ of the Sun’s total output (remember, half of the Sun’s output gets sent the other way.)
Everyone has seen or at least heard of total solar eclipses. A solar eclipse happens when the moon (roughly 1/4 the size of Earth) passes between us and the Sun. The moon completely covers the Sun’s disk when this happens. So, assuming that we wanted to block 2 percent of the Solar input we would need a disk roughly the same distance from the Earth as the moon is that is 1/50th the size of the Moon (21 miles in diameter). If we move it out to twice as far as the moons orbit this drops to 10.5 miles in diameter, at 4 times as far, to 5.25 miles in diameter and so forth and so on.
It would be a relatively stupid satellite, only needing to keep itself relatively stationary directly between the Earth and the Sun in a solar orbit, minimal thrusters to combat light pressure and do station keeping. Manufacture it out of used aluminum cans. At only an inch thick, that would require a little more than 685 tons of aluminum (or, make it inflatable out of mylar only a couple of millimeters thick…) you would be surprised how fast temperatures would go down. Build it with shutters so we could fine tune how much we let through, make it solar powered or use the entire thing as a parabolic disk to run a thermionic generator to provide the power to run it…When we didn’t need it anymore (in a couple of hundred years) nuke it into oblivion to restore the solar output, shoot, build in a self destruct after 100 or so years or just turn it edge wise or push it off solar axis in orbit using it’s thrusters.
On point 5, give big tax breaks for companies that show they really are going green. Utilize nuclear energy. Give breaks to companies that produce “green” hydrogen and breaks to consumers who utilize hydrogen burning cars.
For point 6, pay subsistence farmers to not cut down the rain forest. Provide food from all that we waste to feed them and their families. Only give foreign aid to countries that can prove they are doing everything possible to develop “green” technology. Put stiff import trade embargoes on anything that is not produced using green technologies world wide.
Just a few suggestions, and believe it or not, all of them doable and all of them would provide positive and lasting results. Let’s stop gnashing our teeth and solve the issues that we can.
In my last blog I basically stated that the western nations could do little to reduce green house gas emissions and that even if we (we as the old established, stable nations) completely eliminated green house emissions that it would make virtually no difference in the long run.
So, what can we do? Well let me list a few items first.
Point 1: Melting of polar/glacial ice is reducing the albedo of the Earth (decreasing our reflectivity) because when the white snow/ice melts it is being replaced by dirt/water which absorb infrared and other energies rather than reflecting it, producing heat.
Point 2: The replacing of trees with manmade, usually dark structures is resulting in urban areas absorbing more heat
Point 3: The highest use of energy comes from air conditioning, heating, and heating of water in most homes.
Point 4: The major cause of global warming is the effect of the nearly circular orbit in this phase of the Earths 100,000 year cyclic dance with the sun resulting in the highest level of solar input to the eco-system in 100,000 years.
Point 5: Burning of fossil fuels for power generation and transportation adds millions of tons of green house gases to the environment.
Point 6: Developing third world countries and China and India have little incentive to reduce emissions.
Ok, what can be done about point 1? Well, we could paint the ground reflective white where the ice/snow has melted and construct large floating reflective surfaces in place of the missing ice, of course this would have to be done over and over again as the calving ice flows smashed down. In addition the angle that the Sun’s rays strike at the poles makes this very inefficient. So, what else could we do?
Hmmm, how about a tax credit for everyone in the USA that is willing to have their dark roofs painted with reflective paint? Since the sunlight reaching the USA (for the most part) is at a more oblique angle than the polar sunlight we would get more efficient reflection. This would also reduce the internal temperature of the houses reducing the cooling loads in the summer months, perhaps something could be done with high tech coatings that, when the temperature dropped below a certain level, these coatings would absorb heat? Hmmm…this also covers some of point 2.
Alright what about point 2? Require builders to not be able to take building sites to grade over 100 percent of the site. At least in Atlanta the first thing builders do to a new subdivision is knock down all of the trees, bushes and grass and scrape away the top inches of topsoil so they can “clear to grade”. Make builders have to justify every tree they remove. Give huge tax credits to “green” builders who build off the grid homes, build underground homes and homes embedded in hillsides. Make it worth their while to not knock all the vegetation to flinders when they build new homes. Penalize them heavily if they do clear to grade. Use of passive solar for water heating, solar panels, and other energy saving techniques should also give tax benefits to those who pursue them.
On point 3, use of the solutions for point 1 and 2 should handle most if not all of point 3. Use of proper passive solar designs can help heat the home, heat hot water and provide for cooling through proper use of convection flow.
On point 4, Ok, this one is tough. However, let me delve into my engineer, and radiation technologist background. The actual percentage of the suns energy that reaches us is quite small. By obscuring even a small (relatively speaking) percentage of this radiation nearer the source it could make a large difference in temperature rises on Earth. As you get nearer the sun the amount of area needed to be actually blocked becomes quite small (a small percentage of the Earths diameter actually.)
Think of a flashlight beam, the width of the beam at the flashlight head is much smaller than if you project the light onto a building 100 feet away. Now, if we assume the diameter of the Sun is equal to the diameter of that flashlight lens, the Earths diameter is 1/110 of that diameter. So, for ease of calculation let’s make the diameter of the lens 11 inches (a really big light!) in this case, the Earth would be roughly 1/10 of an inch in diameter. Now, place the 1/10 of an inch diameter Earth 28 feet away, how much of the flashlight beam is intersecting our 1/10 of an inch Earth? Not a whole heck of a lot, this is equivalent to the actual amount of Solar energy we get out of the ½ of the Sun’s total output (remember, half of the Sun’s output gets sent the other way.)
Everyone has seen or at least heard of total solar eclipses. A solar eclipse happens when the moon (roughly 1/4 the size of Earth) passes between us and the Sun. The moon completely covers the Sun’s disk when this happens. So, assuming that we wanted to block 2 percent of the Solar input we would need a disk roughly the same distance from the Earth as the moon is that is 1/50th the size of the Moon (21 miles in diameter). If we move it out to twice as far as the moons orbit this drops to 10.5 miles in diameter, at 4 times as far, to 5.25 miles in diameter and so forth and so on.
It would be a relatively stupid satellite, only needing to keep itself relatively stationary directly between the Earth and the Sun in a solar orbit, minimal thrusters to combat light pressure and do station keeping. Manufacture it out of used aluminum cans. At only an inch thick, that would require a little more than 685 tons of aluminum (or, make it inflatable out of mylar only a couple of millimeters thick…) you would be surprised how fast temperatures would go down. Build it with shutters so we could fine tune how much we let through, make it solar powered or use the entire thing as a parabolic disk to run a thermionic generator to provide the power to run it…When we didn’t need it anymore (in a couple of hundred years) nuke it into oblivion to restore the solar output, shoot, build in a self destruct after 100 or so years or just turn it edge wise or push it off solar axis in orbit using it’s thrusters.
On point 5, give big tax breaks for companies that show they really are going green. Utilize nuclear energy. Give breaks to companies that produce “green” hydrogen and breaks to consumers who utilize hydrogen burning cars.
For point 6, pay subsistence farmers to not cut down the rain forest. Provide food from all that we waste to feed them and their families. Only give foreign aid to countries that can prove they are doing everything possible to develop “green” technology. Put stiff import trade embargoes on anything that is not produced using green technologies world wide.
Just a few suggestions, and believe it or not, all of them doable and all of them would provide positive and lasting results. Let’s stop gnashing our teeth and solve the issues that we can.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Global Warming
The other night I watched two shows on different networks that both proposed to show what would happen to the earth should all of mankind just up and disappear. Then another show talked about global warming. Gloom and doom let me tell you!
But all of the gloom and doom got me thinking. I’ve seen the same reports most of you have, and probably a couple you haven’t, I am sure you can say you’ve seen reports I haven’t. Anyway, mashing it all together my mind came up with a few salient points.
Population of China: 1,321,851,888
Population of India: 1,129,866,154
Population of USA: 301,139,947
Population of Europe: 788,000,000
Population of South America: 371,000,000
Population of Russia 141,000,000
Others: 2.5 billion
China and India are charging into an economic growth unprecedented in history. This growth will mean industry, power production, cars, trucks, etc. all on a scale we have never seen.
Even if USA and Europe drop their carbon and other emissions to zero immediately I seriously doubt China, India and South America will go back to the primitive conditions they have striven to climb out of over the last decade or two. So, unless we are willing to force stagnation and no growth on China, India, South America and everyone else who falls into the “third world” category there is precious little we can do about humans global warming contributions.
Of course there are computer models that show that if all human greenhouse gases stopped dead tomorrow, it would make maybe a half a degree or less difference over the next 50 years. The major problem is that the Earths orbit is fairly circular right now, meaning that the solar energy being input into the Earths ecosystem is at a maximum. This happens on a grand cycle of about 100,000 years as the orbit goes from elliptical to circular and back again and as the Earth “nutates” on its access.
One of the well meaning scientists showed a chart of CO2 levels and temperature over the last several thousand years which clearly showed the rise in CO2 levels corresponds to a rise in temperature, as has happened over and over again as far back as can be determined! This means this cycle has been happening since before the industrial revolution, heck, before the agricultural revolution, before the stone age. In short, it is a natural cycle. To my slightly trained eyes the curves looked nearly identical right up to the most current one. Of course he immediately zoomed in the on the most current and blamed it all on man.
The graphic above shows the CO2 curve I am talking about, it shows the CO2 concentrations as charted at Vostok, Antarctica from ice cores. Notice a sudden jump in CO2 about every 100 thousand years (some say corresponding to a long solar cycle where we reach the closest we ever get to the sun.) You can also see we are right on schedule for a sudden jump and are right on path. Of course what usually happens after this cycle is an ice age (are you ready for global cooling?) The graph is the current time on the far left going to 400,000 years ago on the far right. At the low point in the current graph the city recently found submerged off of India, the one off of Cuba and the carvings off of Japan were thriving on what was the sea shore. No telling what other archeological marvels are sitting on the old sea coast at about 120-160 feet deep along the continental shelves.
In fact the largest jumps in CO2 happened well before man was doing anything other than scraping the ground with sticks in most places to plant maze. Now I suppose I could really go off the deep end and propose that these 100 thousand year cycles correspond to previous peaks in heretofore unknown civilizations that because of glaciations and natural decay we have no clue about, but I am afraid the fossil record doesn’t support that.
To think us humans are the sole agents of change in all of this is rather egotistical don’t you think? Especially ironic is that Mars, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are all experiencing their own global warming, I suppose we are responsible for their problems as well.
But all of the gloom and doom got me thinking. I’ve seen the same reports most of you have, and probably a couple you haven’t, I am sure you can say you’ve seen reports I haven’t. Anyway, mashing it all together my mind came up with a few salient points.
Population of China: 1,321,851,888
Population of India: 1,129,866,154
Population of USA: 301,139,947
Population of Europe: 788,000,000
Population of South America: 371,000,000
Population of Russia 141,000,000
Others: 2.5 billion
China and India are charging into an economic growth unprecedented in history. This growth will mean industry, power production, cars, trucks, etc. all on a scale we have never seen.
Even if USA and Europe drop their carbon and other emissions to zero immediately I seriously doubt China, India and South America will go back to the primitive conditions they have striven to climb out of over the last decade or two. So, unless we are willing to force stagnation and no growth on China, India, South America and everyone else who falls into the “third world” category there is precious little we can do about humans global warming contributions.
Of course there are computer models that show that if all human greenhouse gases stopped dead tomorrow, it would make maybe a half a degree or less difference over the next 50 years. The major problem is that the Earths orbit is fairly circular right now, meaning that the solar energy being input into the Earths ecosystem is at a maximum. This happens on a grand cycle of about 100,000 years as the orbit goes from elliptical to circular and back again and as the Earth “nutates” on its access.
One of the well meaning scientists showed a chart of CO2 levels and temperature over the last several thousand years which clearly showed the rise in CO2 levels corresponds to a rise in temperature, as has happened over and over again as far back as can be determined! This means this cycle has been happening since before the industrial revolution, heck, before the agricultural revolution, before the stone age. In short, it is a natural cycle. To my slightly trained eyes the curves looked nearly identical right up to the most current one. Of course he immediately zoomed in the on the most current and blamed it all on man.
The graphic above shows the CO2 curve I am talking about, it shows the CO2 concentrations as charted at Vostok, Antarctica from ice cores. Notice a sudden jump in CO2 about every 100 thousand years (some say corresponding to a long solar cycle where we reach the closest we ever get to the sun.) You can also see we are right on schedule for a sudden jump and are right on path. Of course what usually happens after this cycle is an ice age (are you ready for global cooling?) The graph is the current time on the far left going to 400,000 years ago on the far right. At the low point in the current graph the city recently found submerged off of India, the one off of Cuba and the carvings off of Japan were thriving on what was the sea shore. No telling what other archeological marvels are sitting on the old sea coast at about 120-160 feet deep along the continental shelves.
In fact the largest jumps in CO2 happened well before man was doing anything other than scraping the ground with sticks in most places to plant maze. Now I suppose I could really go off the deep end and propose that these 100 thousand year cycles correspond to previous peaks in heretofore unknown civilizations that because of glaciations and natural decay we have no clue about, but I am afraid the fossil record doesn’t support that.
To think us humans are the sole agents of change in all of this is rather egotistical don’t you think? Especially ironic is that Mars, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are all experiencing their own global warming, I suppose we are responsible for their problems as well.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Are Humans Intelligent Enough for Religion?
Believe it or not, I am not being flip. I see almost daily new atrocities and stupidities done in the name of religion and it truly sickens me. About the only religion that isn’t participating in one way or another seems to be Buddhism. Almost every religion other than Buddhism seems to think killing in the name of their god is the way to do things. Islam (the religion of peace), Christianity (There is no greater commandment than this: Love your brother), Hinduism, you name it, all seem to be bent on destroying their version of heathens.
Islam used to be the most enlightened religion of its day, encouraging learning, thinking and acceptance, now I suspect its Phophet wouldn’t recognize it. The atrocities done in the name of Christianity over the centuries are many, as are those being done right now both by and to Christians. All of this raises my original question in the title of this blog: Are humans intelligent enough for religion?
It seems humans in general can’t help twisting even the most enlightened teachings to meet their own twisted logic. Of course more at fault are the pathetic followers who swallow teachings of monsters as whole and good even when in their heart of hearts (one hopes) they know it is drivel.
The latest example is the story of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a student in Afghanistan who shared an article he had read about women’s rights with some friends, was turned in, and now faces a death sentence. Yes, that is right, a death sentence, for daring to read and show his friends an article on women’s rights. If you find this as wrong as I do, sign the digital petition at www.independent.co.uk/petition maybe they will listen if enough of the world stands up to them.
Prove that we are smart enough for religion, take it back from those who twist it to their own means.
Islam used to be the most enlightened religion of its day, encouraging learning, thinking and acceptance, now I suspect its Phophet wouldn’t recognize it. The atrocities done in the name of Christianity over the centuries are many, as are those being done right now both by and to Christians. All of this raises my original question in the title of this blog: Are humans intelligent enough for religion?
It seems humans in general can’t help twisting even the most enlightened teachings to meet their own twisted logic. Of course more at fault are the pathetic followers who swallow teachings of monsters as whole and good even when in their heart of hearts (one hopes) they know it is drivel.
The latest example is the story of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a student in Afghanistan who shared an article he had read about women’s rights with some friends, was turned in, and now faces a death sentence. Yes, that is right, a death sentence, for daring to read and show his friends an article on women’s rights. If you find this as wrong as I do, sign the digital petition at www.independent.co.uk/petition maybe they will listen if enough of the world stands up to them.
Prove that we are smart enough for religion, take it back from those who twist it to their own means.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Everything I Really Needed I learned from Twilight Zone
I find myself often wondering where people get the odd ideas they seem to get. I see so many closed minds that almost refuse new ideas to the point of death. After long thought I realized why.
Many places and people where never exposed to Twilight Zone. For those not aware of Twilight Zone it was a 60's era TV series hosted (and sometimes written) by a man named Rod Serling. Rod Serling grew up in Binghamton, New York, not that that has a lot to do with it, but it is an interesting bit of trivia (and every small "idellic" town he used in his stories was based on it.) Anyway, the stories usually took one idea and took that idea to its maximum execution (For example: What if there was a war and everyone died but a single amn and woman...on opposite sides of course.) Each show was designed to make you think, as well as entertain.
Later in the 60's came The Outer Limits, another show that wanted to make you think. Between them they stired the neurons in my young, forming mind around a bit making quite a few interesting connections and forming my immature sense of right and wrond and sense of humor into what they are today. Many of the lessons in the shows are very important.
1. If you don't know what it does, don't mess with it
2. Treat others as you wish to be treated
3. Tolerate new ideas
4. Tell the truth as often as possible
5. Just because something is different doesn't make it bad
6. God might be the next person you talk to
7. Respect everyone; man, woman, child, or alien from Beta Lauri
Maybe if everyone was exposed to as many new ideas and thoughts as these shows pumped into my young mind we wouldn't have as many issues as we do now. If we all could practice moderation in word, thought and deed, wouldn't it make the world a bit easier to deal with?
Anyway, just some musing on this, the first day of 2008. By trhe way, I have been upgrading my picture galleries on http://www.scubamage.com/, stop by and have a peek.
Happy New year to everyone, may this be the year you have been waiting for!
Many places and people where never exposed to Twilight Zone. For those not aware of Twilight Zone it was a 60's era TV series hosted (and sometimes written) by a man named Rod Serling. Rod Serling grew up in Binghamton, New York, not that that has a lot to do with it, but it is an interesting bit of trivia (and every small "idellic" town he used in his stories was based on it.) Anyway, the stories usually took one idea and took that idea to its maximum execution (For example: What if there was a war and everyone died but a single amn and woman...on opposite sides of course.) Each show was designed to make you think, as well as entertain.
Later in the 60's came The Outer Limits, another show that wanted to make you think. Between them they stired the neurons in my young, forming mind around a bit making quite a few interesting connections and forming my immature sense of right and wrond and sense of humor into what they are today. Many of the lessons in the shows are very important.
1. If you don't know what it does, don't mess with it
2. Treat others as you wish to be treated
3. Tolerate new ideas
4. Tell the truth as often as possible
5. Just because something is different doesn't make it bad
6. God might be the next person you talk to
7. Respect everyone; man, woman, child, or alien from Beta Lauri
Maybe if everyone was exposed to as many new ideas and thoughts as these shows pumped into my young mind we wouldn't have as many issues as we do now. If we all could practice moderation in word, thought and deed, wouldn't it make the world a bit easier to deal with?
Anyway, just some musing on this, the first day of 2008. By trhe way, I have been upgrading my picture galleries on http://www.scubamage.com/, stop by and have a peek.
Happy New year to everyone, may this be the year you have been waiting for!
Friday, November 02, 2007
There are many times in life when you just want to give up. It seems no matter what you try, nothing works. It is very frustrating to try, try, try and have your efforts result in failure.
However, let me suggest something, always give it one more try, it may be the one that succeeds, you only fail when you have stopped trying.
However, let me suggest something, always give it one more try, it may be the one that succeeds, you only fail when you have stopped trying.
Let me tell you a little story. I was diving in a local lake looking to take some underwater shots of the remains of a forest that had been flooded when the dam that created the lake was built. Unfortunately I was violating a basic tenant of diving, never dive alone. After taking a couple of shots I found a fishing rod and reel lying on the bottom. Securing the camera housing to my dive harness with its carabineer I grabbed the rod and made for shore. After a couple of kick cycles I realized the camera, housing and strobe set up, worth about $3000.00, was no longer attached to my harness. I planted the rod and reel butt end into the mud as a marker and then retraced my path to try and find the camera. I feel sick to my stomach as I realize that I have effectively traded a $3000.00 camera setup for a broken $70.00 rod and reel. If I had been diving with a buddy I can’t help but think he (or she) probably would have seen me lose the camera. You can guess what happens next.
The lake bottom where I dive is covered with a foot thick (or more) layer of fine silt, the slightest movement of the water drives the silt into an all-obscuring cloud. Even at the best times visibility only ranges from 5-10 feet. My previous movement through the area had raised a cloud of silt effectively covering my back trail, I could have passed within a foot of the camera and I wouldn’t have seen it. In fact, on that dive, and on two others that day I didn’t find the camera. I have also promised my wife I will never dive alone again after I confess when she delivers more tanks that I was single diving.I returned to lake whenever I was able, diving with whatever buddies I could find and searching the area where I first thought the camera to be. It turned out I had miss-identified a buoy I used to mark the location, thus I was not able to locate the fishing rod marker or any other underwater landmark I remembered from the dive when I lost the camera. The area had several lines run along the bottom to help divers to navigate to various structures, the lower lake levels had resulted in boat anchors, or maybe malicious divers, cutting some of the lines leaving entanglement hazards in many locations. It was very frustrating diving.
I prayed that God would help me in my search. On my seventh return dive I got completely turned around (with limited visibility and presbyopia making compass headings at times difficult to see) and ended up many yards east of where I thought the camera was located, I came upon a submerged tree top I recognized, then some saplings arranged in a familiar pattern and finally the fishing rod! I immediately surfaced and retook the bearings on two points. Finally I felt I was close. I submerged and searched the area around the pole, unfortunately I didn’t find the camera on that dive, I couldn’t even relocate the rod once again.
In fact, I didn’t find any sign of the camera or the fishing pole during over 5 more attempts in spite of having the coordinates. Needless to say I was getting discouraged. I was checking Ebay for prices for replacements and had asked for quotes on a new system from online merchants. Even a local county’s search and rescue diver unit couldn’t find the camera or the rod. After helping out several times by acting as a surface watcher when I couldn’t get a buddy, my wife had basically given up, I can’t say I blamed her, I was near giving up myself and every time I wanted to go back out to the lake to search it was getting to be more and more of a struggle. A voice inside my head insisted I keep trying, just one more time.
Plagued with doubts I wondered if someone had already found the camera rig, maybe a fisherman had snagged it and really got a catch of the day, maybe a boat anchor had drug it out to deeper water or maybe it was buried in the silt. Still, I had to keep trying, at least one more time. I set a limit on time, if I didn’t find the camera by the 15th of the next month I would give up.
On the way to the lake I ask God for guidance one more time. I waited at the dive site for two hours for my dive buddy to show, finally he arrived and we donned our gear for the dive. While he tried to get his buoyancy adjusted and worked with some new equipment configurations I searched the final area where I felt the camera could be.
Equipped with magnifying lenses inserted into my mask to make reading the compass easier and a sonar transponder/receiver set (one on the dive flag which I had attached at the coordinate point to a log on the bottom and one on my dive harness) to help me stay oriented underwater in the limited visibility I began another search dive. From the best coordinates I had, the ones from the rod and reel when I found it the second time, I began doing sweeps from 30 feet depth down to 50 feet depth working from east to west from the coordinates. I worked slowly and carefully trying to stir up as little silt as possible. 30 down to 50 and back up to 30 each time only moving west enough to just overlap the previous swath of bottom I could see within the beam of my 10 watt HID light. At 25 minutes into the dive, halfway through the fourth cycle (the second return from 50 feet) I see the camera, it is just sitting there on top of the silt, waiting.
Even though I was under water I said through my regulator “Thank you God” over and over again. I grabbed the camera with my right hand in a death grip and using the transponder headed back to the dive flag. After a safety stop at 15 feet I surfaced less than 15 feet from the dive flag. I carefully carried the camera back to shore, handing it to my dive buddy just long enough to remove my fins. A quick inspection on shore showed that in spite of being submerged at a depth of 43-50 feet (the lake has dropped almost a foot a week) for nearly 8 weeks the Ikelite housing has not leaked a drop of water and the sealed battery chambers on the DS51 strobes appear water tight.
After I got the camera, housing and strobes home I carefully rinsed the silt and slime off of the gear and wiped it dry with a soft cloth towel. Opening the back of the housing I found it was dry as a bone inside, no leakage in over 8 weeks of submergence to 50 feet deep. I removed the camera and touched the shutter button, activating the camera that has been sleeping for 56 days, it wakes up and complains its battery is critically low, I pointed it at my wife and took a picture, the sound of the mirror cycling was the sweetest thing I have heard in a long time. I dried the strobes and carefully removed the battery compartment doors, while the batteries themselves where dead (after trying to keep the strobes active for 8 weeks it was no wonder) the compartments are dry and clean. A quick check with new batteries showed the strobes are both fully operational.Everyone is amazed that the camera was found, most had given up hope.
If I had given up at 5 search dives, or 10 search dives I wouldn’t have found my camera, it took 13 dives over 8 weeks. It also took many prayers and the help of several friends and acquaintances to eliminate areas until the final area where I found the camera was isolated. All told there where over 20 dives that I know of to search for my camera by 5-6 other divers and myself. There may have been many more that I didn’t know of, I was offering a $200-$300 reward for its safe return. Since I found the camera, I am donating the reward to a charity.
Always give it one more try, don’t allow what others say to discourage you.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Mind over Mussels
Well, lake Lanier, Georgia is heading for historic low levels while building continues unabated for new home, condos and businesses in and around Atlanta. For those of you who may not understand the connection, Lake Lanier is the main (read only) source of water for most of the Metro-Atlanta area. Of course as Paul Harvey likes to say, there is a rest of the story.
It seems there are two species of nearly extinct mussel and one species of fish that are on the endangered species list. These nearly extinct critters are why the Corps of Engineers says they need to maintain the high flow rates out of Buford Dam on Lake Lanier, flows so high that they are releasing nearly twice as much water as is coming into the lake from other sources. And the hard science these flow rates were based on? It doesn’t exist, but of course the fact that the flow helps keep a small coal fired power plant operating that provides power that the Corps would have to buy somewhere else might have a bit to do with it.
Of course the Corps has not been known for wise management decisions, it seems every year they plan on a huge storm season which never quite develops. In the Corps managed resources in central Florida where my father and brother live, lakes are also at an all time low, thanks to Corps mismanagement and over releasing.
Finally, now that it may be too late to prevent draconian measures, a study is being done to determine if those pesky mussels and fish really need all that water. Of course Atlanta and Georgia aren’t blameless. As I said above the governments of the various communities seem hell bent on cutting down every possible tree and growing houses, businesses and apartment complexes even though they strain already maxed out infrastructures and resources. Commute times of 2-3 hours to go less than 30 miles are becoming common place and water rationing is just around the corner.
I am afraid without a moratorium on new construction, more oversight on the Corps of Engineers and a lot more common sense Atlanta and points south down river are in for a rough, and dry, ride.
It seems there are two species of nearly extinct mussel and one species of fish that are on the endangered species list. These nearly extinct critters are why the Corps of Engineers says they need to maintain the high flow rates out of Buford Dam on Lake Lanier, flows so high that they are releasing nearly twice as much water as is coming into the lake from other sources. And the hard science these flow rates were based on? It doesn’t exist, but of course the fact that the flow helps keep a small coal fired power plant operating that provides power that the Corps would have to buy somewhere else might have a bit to do with it.
Of course the Corps has not been known for wise management decisions, it seems every year they plan on a huge storm season which never quite develops. In the Corps managed resources in central Florida where my father and brother live, lakes are also at an all time low, thanks to Corps mismanagement and over releasing.
Finally, now that it may be too late to prevent draconian measures, a study is being done to determine if those pesky mussels and fish really need all that water. Of course Atlanta and Georgia aren’t blameless. As I said above the governments of the various communities seem hell bent on cutting down every possible tree and growing houses, businesses and apartment complexes even though they strain already maxed out infrastructures and resources. Commute times of 2-3 hours to go less than 30 miles are becoming common place and water rationing is just around the corner.
I am afraid without a moratorium on new construction, more oversight on the Corps of Engineers and a lot more common sense Atlanta and points south down river are in for a rough, and dry, ride.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
The Writers Group
I recently visited my Father and Step Mother in Inverness, Florida. One of the things I enjoy doing with my father is attending his writer’s group with him when I am able to. The group meets once a week at a community theater and center on the way to Crystal River. The group leader and organizer, a younger lady named Elissa, scours the web to find topics and then she places the topics on slips of paper and places the slips into a small cloth bag. A the group waits she selects a topic at random and everyone gets a chance to write a short essay, story or just their thoughts on the topic. As Elissa’s tastes are rather eclectic, so of course are the topics that catch her eye and make into her little cloth sack.
This weeks Writer’s Group topics where:
“My Workspace” (assigned the week before)
“A Century Old Symbol of Rebirth”
“On Top of the Sky Scraper”
And
“Gold Plated Diapers”
I don’t just sit and watch when I visit the group, I also take part in the writing and critique. I guess my favorite topic from the four above was “On Top of the Sky Scraper” for some reason this brought up an interesting vision for me so I thought I would share what I wrote with you.
“On Top of the Sky Scraper”
The water is calm this morning. You can see the torch of the statue of Liberty through the morning mists. The air is still fairly cool, not like it will be later in the day as the temperature and humidity rise to a crescendo of hot, wet heat that steals your breath and energy, only dying back to livable levels after dark.
The morning sun plays on the water, glittering and dancing as the only breeze f the day runs across the surface far below chasing itself into oblivion. The sky is a hard blue bowl with just the wisp of a cloud here and there.
You can hear the water lap against the stone, slowly eating it. Eventually the water will wear it all away. Over the side I look far down to the water, if you fell you wouldn’t survive more than likely.
“It used to be a lot taller.” The words interrupt my thoughts. “Several stories infact.” My father comes up behind me, old before his time, his face showing the lines of thousands of drifting miles of ocean and the leather of his skin, years of sun. “Then the ice up north and down south melted, of course it was the ice down south that mattered.” He rambles sometimes now, we used to listen, but now it has become part of the background.
We turn and go back to the stairwell, out of the sun which is already getting intense. In the last month the water had climbed another floor down below us and at night the building moans and rattles. Soon we will have to move again.
“People used to pay millions for that view.”
“Millions of what?” I ask, not really caring about the answer. Our footsteps echo from the musty depths of the stairs.
“Never mind, it isn’t important” he answers.
Until next entry, have fun and stay safe!
Mike
This weeks Writer’s Group topics where:
“My Workspace” (assigned the week before)
“A Century Old Symbol of Rebirth”
“On Top of the Sky Scraper”
And
“Gold Plated Diapers”
I don’t just sit and watch when I visit the group, I also take part in the writing and critique. I guess my favorite topic from the four above was “On Top of the Sky Scraper” for some reason this brought up an interesting vision for me so I thought I would share what I wrote with you.
“On Top of the Sky Scraper”
The water is calm this morning. You can see the torch of the statue of Liberty through the morning mists. The air is still fairly cool, not like it will be later in the day as the temperature and humidity rise to a crescendo of hot, wet heat that steals your breath and energy, only dying back to livable levels after dark.
The morning sun plays on the water, glittering and dancing as the only breeze f the day runs across the surface far below chasing itself into oblivion. The sky is a hard blue bowl with just the wisp of a cloud here and there.
You can hear the water lap against the stone, slowly eating it. Eventually the water will wear it all away. Over the side I look far down to the water, if you fell you wouldn’t survive more than likely.
“It used to be a lot taller.” The words interrupt my thoughts. “Several stories infact.” My father comes up behind me, old before his time, his face showing the lines of thousands of drifting miles of ocean and the leather of his skin, years of sun. “Then the ice up north and down south melted, of course it was the ice down south that mattered.” He rambles sometimes now, we used to listen, but now it has become part of the background.
We turn and go back to the stairwell, out of the sun which is already getting intense. In the last month the water had climbed another floor down below us and at night the building moans and rattles. Soon we will have to move again.
“People used to pay millions for that view.”
“Millions of what?” I ask, not really caring about the answer. Our footsteps echo from the musty depths of the stairs.
“Never mind, it isn’t important” he answers.
Until next entry, have fun and stay safe!
Mike
Monday, June 11, 2007
A Mazatlan Vacation Review
Mazatlan as a vacation spot doesn’t offer the same level of options as other Mexican destinations such as Cancun or Cozumel. I would roughly compare it to the Cabo San Lucas area.
The tours in Mazatlan available to the tourist aren’t really very interesting to tell the truth, we took the City tour which ended up being a thinly disguised attempt to get you to buy things from selected merchants, at least in Cancun they call it the shopping tour, we also took the country tour to Coppela. The Coppela tour stopped at a couple of small villages but mostly tried to get you to buy things. The villages weren’t very scenic and overall pretty run down. The traditional bakery in one village was good and seeing tiles made was interesting, but I don’t know if you can build a tour around them. With the large number of abandoned gold, silver, copper and platinum mines in the area I am surprised they didn’t have a mine tour, now that might have been more interesting.
I am afraid the best part of the vacation was at the resort with the pool and beaches and the scuba diving. We didn’t take the third tour we had for free, the Stone Island tour, due to time constraints so I can’t address that one. They also had a Jungle and Bird watching tour available but they took over 8-10 hours each and again, we just didn’t have the time.
In places like Cancun and Cozumel there are numerous family oriented tours available and other tourist attractions including clear water (100 foot visibility is common) diving and snorkeling, tours of archeological sites, cenote’ diving and a better market area for shopping. Mazatlan offers good sport fishing and a relaxing atmosphere that is not as frenetic as its Caribbean cousins and if all you want to do is lay around the pool or at the beach sipping your favorite beverage then Mazatlan may be perfect for you.
The scuba diving in Mazatlan is totally different than the Caribbean style diving in Cancun and Cozumel in that on a good day in Mazatlan the visibility is 30 feet, on a good day in the Caribbean it is over 100. While we were there the best visibility was about 20 feet which dropped to 5-10 feet in the afternoons. There is plenty of sea life and the dives are mostly shallow (less than 30 feet) if you are in to Much Diving (taking macro photographic shots of small reef and bottom dwelling critters) then Mazatlan is the place. If you want wide open underwater vistas with lots of pretty coral and fish, then you will be disappointed. On thing they could do to add some interest to the diving would be to sink a couple of old fishing or shrimp boats out on the deeper sand flats and create an artificial reef area, the problem with the shallow sites was that they were to prone to losing visibility with the shift of the wind or current. The other item that you need to be aware of, at least with the dive operator I used, they had only a small open boat as a dive boat which did not have a dive ladder so you had to alley-oop it over the gunwale to get back on board.
There were several night clubs and many yuppie style bars near the Resorts so there was nightlife for the more swinging individual but having gone beyond that stage I really didn’t try them out, however, they didn’t seem to be quite as crazy as their Cancun counterparts. There were also a couple of nice restaurants one called Espanola even had some great paella I heard but didn’t get a chance to test it out.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Mazatlan, I enjoyed the challenges of diving and photography there, but that might not be for you. So again, if you want to lay by the pool and go to the beach and don’t mind low visibility snorkeling and diving, then by all means consider Mazatlan as a low cost alternative to Cancun and Cozumel.
For my dive report with pictures go to:
http://www.scubamage.com/files/Diving_Mazatlan.pdf
Mike
The tours in Mazatlan available to the tourist aren’t really very interesting to tell the truth, we took the City tour which ended up being a thinly disguised attempt to get you to buy things from selected merchants, at least in Cancun they call it the shopping tour, we also took the country tour to Coppela. The Coppela tour stopped at a couple of small villages but mostly tried to get you to buy things. The villages weren’t very scenic and overall pretty run down. The traditional bakery in one village was good and seeing tiles made was interesting, but I don’t know if you can build a tour around them. With the large number of abandoned gold, silver, copper and platinum mines in the area I am surprised they didn’t have a mine tour, now that might have been more interesting.
I am afraid the best part of the vacation was at the resort with the pool and beaches and the scuba diving. We didn’t take the third tour we had for free, the Stone Island tour, due to time constraints so I can’t address that one. They also had a Jungle and Bird watching tour available but they took over 8-10 hours each and again, we just didn’t have the time.
In places like Cancun and Cozumel there are numerous family oriented tours available and other tourist attractions including clear water (100 foot visibility is common) diving and snorkeling, tours of archeological sites, cenote’ diving and a better market area for shopping. Mazatlan offers good sport fishing and a relaxing atmosphere that is not as frenetic as its Caribbean cousins and if all you want to do is lay around the pool or at the beach sipping your favorite beverage then Mazatlan may be perfect for you.
The scuba diving in Mazatlan is totally different than the Caribbean style diving in Cancun and Cozumel in that on a good day in Mazatlan the visibility is 30 feet, on a good day in the Caribbean it is over 100. While we were there the best visibility was about 20 feet which dropped to 5-10 feet in the afternoons. There is plenty of sea life and the dives are mostly shallow (less than 30 feet) if you are in to Much Diving (taking macro photographic shots of small reef and bottom dwelling critters) then Mazatlan is the place. If you want wide open underwater vistas with lots of pretty coral and fish, then you will be disappointed. On thing they could do to add some interest to the diving would be to sink a couple of old fishing or shrimp boats out on the deeper sand flats and create an artificial reef area, the problem with the shallow sites was that they were to prone to losing visibility with the shift of the wind or current. The other item that you need to be aware of, at least with the dive operator I used, they had only a small open boat as a dive boat which did not have a dive ladder so you had to alley-oop it over the gunwale to get back on board.
There were several night clubs and many yuppie style bars near the Resorts so there was nightlife for the more swinging individual but having gone beyond that stage I really didn’t try them out, however, they didn’t seem to be quite as crazy as their Cancun counterparts. There were also a couple of nice restaurants one called Espanola even had some great paella I heard but didn’t get a chance to test it out.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Mazatlan, I enjoyed the challenges of diving and photography there, but that might not be for you. So again, if you want to lay by the pool and go to the beach and don’t mind low visibility snorkeling and diving, then by all means consider Mazatlan as a low cost alternative to Cancun and Cozumel.
For my dive report with pictures go to:
http://www.scubamage.com/files/Diving_Mazatlan.pdf
Mike
Friday, May 04, 2007
Tokyo
I had the opportunity to spend some time in Tokyo, Japan on business recently. I found the people to be freindly and very business oriented. Of course you must wear a suit and tie for any business there luckily I still have a couple. No doubt you have also heard about their business card ceremony.
In Japan you must have a bunch of business cards with you. Each contact you make will present you his card, writing facing you. You take it, carefully examine both sides and place it somewhere safe, you then hand him your card in the same way. You never write on their cards or treat them with disrespect as the card represents the person.
While I was there I noticed a definate disparity between the generations, maybe more than we see anywhere else, here is a shot I took which probably best exemplifies what I mean:
The youth in Japan seem to be rebelling in dress and mannerisms, I hate to see this happen as I think the culture of respect for others and the concept of "face" are very valuable and I wish more folks ascribed to them.
Of course there is still beauty all over Japan, even in the middle of downtown Tokyo:
If you get a chance, I do suggest a trip to Japan.
Mike
In Japan you must have a bunch of business cards with you. Each contact you make will present you his card, writing facing you. You take it, carefully examine both sides and place it somewhere safe, you then hand him your card in the same way. You never write on their cards or treat them with disrespect as the card represents the person.
While I was there I noticed a definate disparity between the generations, maybe more than we see anywhere else, here is a shot I took which probably best exemplifies what I mean:
The youth in Japan seem to be rebelling in dress and mannerisms, I hate to see this happen as I think the culture of respect for others and the concept of "face" are very valuable and I wish more folks ascribed to them.
Of course there is still beauty all over Japan, even in the middle of downtown Tokyo:
If you get a chance, I do suggest a trip to Japan.
Mike
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Anyone up for Lake Meade?
Like I said in my last blog I will be in Las Vegas for Collaborate 07 (April 15th - 19th) following Collaborate I am going to try and do a dive in Lake Meade and am looking for a dive buddy (or two or three) anyone interested? Just drop me an email.
Mike
Mike
Monday, March 19, 2007
Collaborate 2007 - Shameless Plug
Well, Collaborate 2007 is just around the bend (April 15th - 19th) in Las Vegas, Nevada. I hope I can see many of you there. I will be giving a Full-Day University Seminar, U6: “Testing to Destruction – Benchmarking Oracle” on Sunday, April 14th for anyone interested in learning about the latest benchmarks and how Benchmark Factory can help you with doing capacity planning and SLA management. We will be giving away a free copy of our Benchmarking Book and a fully functional demo copy of the Benchmark Factory product to all participants. The seminar will cover the benchmarks that are currently in use and the new TPC-E and TPC-App benchmarks and will provide demonstrations of TPC-C and TPC-H benchmarks and present case studies of actual client benchmarks including custom scalability testing.
I will also be doing a one-hour presentation on “Beefing up Oracle10g memory” at 09:45 on Thursday, April 19th. In this presentation I discuss the management of memory when you use the new Oracle10g features such as ASSM, ASM and automated PGA management.
I really want to encourage you to attend Collaborate 2007 as it tends to be a very good conference with loads of good technical content from folks who have been there and done that, with real in-the-trenches presentations on real world Oracle issues and topics. Besides, who doesn’t want to go to Las Vegas on expenses?
I hope to see you all there and let’s all have a great learning experience at Collaborate 2007!
I will also be doing a one-hour presentation on “Beefing up Oracle10g memory” at 09:45 on Thursday, April 19th. In this presentation I discuss the management of memory when you use the new Oracle10g features such as ASSM, ASM and automated PGA management.
I really want to encourage you to attend Collaborate 2007 as it tends to be a very good conference with loads of good technical content from folks who have been there and done that, with real in-the-trenches presentations on real world Oracle issues and topics. Besides, who doesn’t want to go to Las Vegas on expenses?
I hope to see you all there and let’s all have a great learning experience at Collaborate 2007!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Down with the New!
I live in a nice neighborhood, swimming pool and tennis courts, large lots, established yards and nice trees and shrubs. All-in-all the neighborhood is about 20 years old but has been well maintained, the houses are all in great shape, none are in need of paint, none have old cars in the yards or odd pieces of machinery in the front yards on blocks.
The median price for a house is about $300K in my neighborhood (I got mine 10 years ago when prices were much less) not bad for the Atlanta area, I should be quite pleased. However, I have a gripe (imagine that!).
Within easy driving (or even walking distance) of my neighborhood are several new developments, they may or may not be swim/tennis, none of course have established yards or landscaping and for the most part the houses are so close you can hear your neighbors hair growing (or falling out, whatever the case may be.) In these new houses the square footage is usually less or equal to mine with some that have more of course. What really chaps my rear end is that almost to the last one, all start at prices that are higher than a majority of the homes in my neighborhood. The only thing going for these homes with higher price tags is they are new.
Next home owners meeting I think I will call for a general price increase by 100K across the board in my neighborhood. Instead of being tied to a pricing system that lock steps older homes forcing them to lower prices than inferior new homes. Why do I say inferior? I guess I like a bit of privacy with my house, I don’t like to be able to reach out and touch my neighbors from my window. I like to be able to look at mature trees and not worry if my sod is going to die next time it doesn’t rain for a bit.
In an older home I know my foundation isn’t going to crack, that the pipes that are supposed to carry hot, carry hot and those that carry cold, carry cold. I had a new house where they plumbed the toilet to use hot water, believe me it doesn’t work very well. Usually an older home will have gone through its troubled youth and will not have many problems as long as it is maintained properly.
Anyway enough of ranting I guess. I am sure that the home owners will reject my proposal no matter how eloquently phrased, after all the real estate agents wouldn’t mislead us would they?
The median price for a house is about $300K in my neighborhood (I got mine 10 years ago when prices were much less) not bad for the Atlanta area, I should be quite pleased. However, I have a gripe (imagine that!).
Within easy driving (or even walking distance) of my neighborhood are several new developments, they may or may not be swim/tennis, none of course have established yards or landscaping and for the most part the houses are so close you can hear your neighbors hair growing (or falling out, whatever the case may be.) In these new houses the square footage is usually less or equal to mine with some that have more of course. What really chaps my rear end is that almost to the last one, all start at prices that are higher than a majority of the homes in my neighborhood. The only thing going for these homes with higher price tags is they are new.
Next home owners meeting I think I will call for a general price increase by 100K across the board in my neighborhood. Instead of being tied to a pricing system that lock steps older homes forcing them to lower prices than inferior new homes. Why do I say inferior? I guess I like a bit of privacy with my house, I don’t like to be able to reach out and touch my neighbors from my window. I like to be able to look at mature trees and not worry if my sod is going to die next time it doesn’t rain for a bit.
In an older home I know my foundation isn’t going to crack, that the pipes that are supposed to carry hot, carry hot and those that carry cold, carry cold. I had a new house where they plumbed the toilet to use hot water, believe me it doesn’t work very well. Usually an older home will have gone through its troubled youth and will not have many problems as long as it is maintained properly.
Anyway enough of ranting I guess. I am sure that the home owners will reject my proposal no matter how eloquently phrased, after all the real estate agents wouldn’t mislead us would they?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Help! I'm Writing and Can't Stop!
Things have a way of taking on a life of their own. At one time I had a life, I really did. I camped with my kids, did some hunting with my buddies, went on fishing trips, I even spent quiet nights at home with the wife on occasion. I had a dream of writing fiction, even had a couple of short stories published in some regional magazines and had a few rejection slips from my novels. Then I began writing technical.
It started out with just an article now and then, free stuff to magazines like Radiation protection Management. Then I started getting paid for doing product reviews and for documenting things I had done with Oracle and the long slippery side into writing servitude began. Before I knew it I was writing books, I had no weekends, I did no camping, hunting or fishing. I carried a laptop with me everywhere and snuck in a few words whenever I could. I was even writing at work!
Soon I was doing articles, presentations, books and now blogs (I have 3 of them including this one) I can't sit down and feel comfortable without having a laptop in my lap, my hands curl naturally into writing position (or is it arthritis from too much writing?)
I was pulled over the other day, the officer said I was driving erratically, I explained about a deadline and how I had to finish an article, he saw the laptop sitting beside me, how embarrassing, he let me go with a warning and plea that I get help.
I checked my resume, 7 pages of writing credits, this has got to stop I told myself. Is there a 12 step program for writers? "Hello, I am Mike and I am a writer...."
It started out with just an article now and then, free stuff to magazines like Radiation protection Management. Then I started getting paid for doing product reviews and for documenting things I had done with Oracle and the long slippery side into writing servitude began. Before I knew it I was writing books, I had no weekends, I did no camping, hunting or fishing. I carried a laptop with me everywhere and snuck in a few words whenever I could. I was even writing at work!
Soon I was doing articles, presentations, books and now blogs (I have 3 of them including this one) I can't sit down and feel comfortable without having a laptop in my lap, my hands curl naturally into writing position (or is it arthritis from too much writing?)
I was pulled over the other day, the officer said I was driving erratically, I explained about a deadline and how I had to finish an article, he saw the laptop sitting beside me, how embarrassing, he let me go with a warning and plea that I get help.
I checked my resume, 7 pages of writing credits, this has got to stop I told myself. Is there a 12 step program for writers? "Hello, I am Mike and I am a writer...."
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Prime Vendors Take Prime Cuts
In the February 2007 Readers Digest, Sacha Zimmerman has penned the article Your Money for This? In this article Sacha delineates the outrages allowed to occur within the defense Prime Vendor program. The Prime Vendor program was initiated by the Defense Logistics Agency in response to the abuses reported in the previous spending programs in the defense agencies that resulted in the infamous $600 toilet seats and $400 hammers of yesteryear.
In this article such outrages as $20 plastic ice trays (99 cents for you and I), $1,000 hotplates (last years $450 specials, less than $200 for you and I) and $22,797 mini-refrigerators (similar if not exact matches to the $99 Kmart specials), and these are just a few examples of the outrageous prices charged by the vendors in the Prime Vendor program. It seems whenever one of these defense vendors gets a monopoly they can’t resist bilking the government out of everything they can, and the government allows it! If they are overcharging this much for minor items one has to wonder how much we are being raped for the guns, bombs and other “real” defense hardware. Perhaps we should put the controls in the hands of Walmart with bonuses designated by how much they save us on these bulk purchases based on amount paid below an average retail price.
I believe it is time for a civilian oversight committee, appointed by a lottery system, who is charged with periodic, random overviews of non-security defense purchases. Participants would serve for a term of a year during which time they would be paid the same salary with the same benefits of their civilian job and their civilian job would be guaranteed during that time period to be held for them. All reasonable expenses to perform the required audits would be covered.
If the oversight committee finds that these prime vendors have charged more than a specified amount above the average price for the items they provide, the prime vendors are immediately dropped from the program and are prohibited from participating in government contracts for a period of years, say 5. In addition, if any member of the oversight committee is found to be taking kick-backs, payoffs or bribes of any sort from any prime vendor or prime vendor alternate, then both the committee member and the CEO or president of the company that bribed or otherwise enticed them would be sentenced to a prison sentence of at least 5 years with no chance of parole.
It is time the congressmen and senators that allow and condone these billing practices have the controls removed from their well greased hands and us poor dumb civilians given more of a say into how our money is spent.
In this article such outrages as $20 plastic ice trays (99 cents for you and I), $1,000 hotplates (last years $450 specials, less than $200 for you and I) and $22,797 mini-refrigerators (similar if not exact matches to the $99 Kmart specials), and these are just a few examples of the outrageous prices charged by the vendors in the Prime Vendor program. It seems whenever one of these defense vendors gets a monopoly they can’t resist bilking the government out of everything they can, and the government allows it! If they are overcharging this much for minor items one has to wonder how much we are being raped for the guns, bombs and other “real” defense hardware. Perhaps we should put the controls in the hands of Walmart with bonuses designated by how much they save us on these bulk purchases based on amount paid below an average retail price.
I believe it is time for a civilian oversight committee, appointed by a lottery system, who is charged with periodic, random overviews of non-security defense purchases. Participants would serve for a term of a year during which time they would be paid the same salary with the same benefits of their civilian job and their civilian job would be guaranteed during that time period to be held for them. All reasonable expenses to perform the required audits would be covered.
If the oversight committee finds that these prime vendors have charged more than a specified amount above the average price for the items they provide, the prime vendors are immediately dropped from the program and are prohibited from participating in government contracts for a period of years, say 5. In addition, if any member of the oversight committee is found to be taking kick-backs, payoffs or bribes of any sort from any prime vendor or prime vendor alternate, then both the committee member and the CEO or president of the company that bribed or otherwise enticed them would be sentenced to a prison sentence of at least 5 years with no chance of parole.
It is time the congressmen and senators that allow and condone these billing practices have the controls removed from their well greased hands and us poor dumb civilians given more of a say into how our money is spent.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Glue
Mike Ault, Copyright Jan 4, 2007
A recent happening at a local university got me thinking. You see, they had a very expensive sculpture, entitled “Spaceship Earth” that collapsed because it was created with the wrong kind of glue. Seems almost a parallel to our current situation on Earth doesn’t it? Have we created the world community with the wrong kind of glue?
What have we tried to glue our world community together with? In the past, we used the glue of conflict and conquest, of course many would argue we are still using the same glue today, but I would have to disagree. Today we use the glue of economics and only resort to force when economics and its sister glue diplomacy, fail. Is economics the proper glue to hold our world together?
No one would disagree that economics (the ebb and flow of money and resources) is powerful glue, it will force dire enemies to the bargaining table. Unfortunately economics can also destabilize and dissolve bonds just as easily if it is not applied correctly. So economics requires an expert craftsman to produce the desired bonding, as we have seen in the current world, these are few and far between.
So what would a proper glue for a world be? A glue that doesn’t dissolve as many bonds as it makes? How about glue composed of equal parts of compassion and tolerance? Any creed or belief that says it is better or has more right to exist, or that it is the only proper one is not binding glue, it drives disunity, stifles compassion and promotes intolerance.
Of course there are obviously creeds and beliefs that by their very nature are intolerable to society (those promoting human sacrifice, cannibalism or exploitation of the weak for example) must be expunged in civilized society, compassion and tolerance must also be tempered with wisdom and have boundaries. Of course one could argue that if everyone embraced the concepts of compassion and tolerance, such atrocities would not be allowed to occur anyway.
If we don’t find binding glue for the world I am afraid we will meet the same fate as the sculpture “Spaceship Earth”, a pile of ruble in the early morning rain.
A recent happening at a local university got me thinking. You see, they had a very expensive sculpture, entitled “Spaceship Earth” that collapsed because it was created with the wrong kind of glue. Seems almost a parallel to our current situation on Earth doesn’t it? Have we created the world community with the wrong kind of glue?
What have we tried to glue our world community together with? In the past, we used the glue of conflict and conquest, of course many would argue we are still using the same glue today, but I would have to disagree. Today we use the glue of economics and only resort to force when economics and its sister glue diplomacy, fail. Is economics the proper glue to hold our world together?
No one would disagree that economics (the ebb and flow of money and resources) is powerful glue, it will force dire enemies to the bargaining table. Unfortunately economics can also destabilize and dissolve bonds just as easily if it is not applied correctly. So economics requires an expert craftsman to produce the desired bonding, as we have seen in the current world, these are few and far between.
So what would a proper glue for a world be? A glue that doesn’t dissolve as many bonds as it makes? How about glue composed of equal parts of compassion and tolerance? Any creed or belief that says it is better or has more right to exist, or that it is the only proper one is not binding glue, it drives disunity, stifles compassion and promotes intolerance.
Of course there are obviously creeds and beliefs that by their very nature are intolerable to society (those promoting human sacrifice, cannibalism or exploitation of the weak for example) must be expunged in civilized society, compassion and tolerance must also be tempered with wisdom and have boundaries. Of course one could argue that if everyone embraced the concepts of compassion and tolerance, such atrocities would not be allowed to occur anyway.
If we don’t find binding glue for the world I am afraid we will meet the same fate as the sculpture “Spaceship Earth”, a pile of ruble in the early morning rain.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Diving a Backplate and Wing with Double Tanks
By Mike Ault, Copyright 2006
If you have been following my material on scuba diving you know I have been writing about diving, diving dry suits and diving back inflate BCDs (buoyancy compensation device) a natural follow-on is diving what are known as backplate with wing type BCDs and the configuration of tanks, regulators and hoses known as the DIR (Doing It Right) configuration. The main purpose of double tanks is to extend the amount of time one can remain underwater and to provide for redundancies in your air supply.
If you have been following my material on scuba diving you know I have been writing about diving, diving dry suits and diving back inflate BCDs (buoyancy compensation device) a natural follow-on is diving what are known as backplate with wing type BCDs and the configuration of tanks, regulators and hoses known as the DIR (Doing It Right) configuration. The main purpose of double tanks is to extend the amount of time one can remain underwater and to provide for redundancies in your air supply.
In normal configuration for an open water certified diver the diver has a single air tank, a primary and backup regulator (known as an “Octo” or “Octopus”) a gauge console, usually including a submersible pressure gauge (SPG), a air pressure gage, a compass and in advanced configurations, a dive computer. The dive computer may or may not be air-integrated, which means it is able to sense and record changes in your air tank volume. The normal configuration may also include one or more low pressure inflator hoses; one for your BCD and one for a dry suit. In a DIR configuration using double tanks, the tanks are connected through a three-valve manifold assembly with a right and left tank isolator valves (called the right and left posts) and a cross connect valve. This configuration utilizes two-primary regulator stages with the various hoses logically configured across the two primaries.
Usually the right hand tank valve has the main primary regulator attached, the main primary has the primary-secondary stage (the one you breath through, normally called the primary) and the fill line for the wing. On the left tank valve (or “post” you attach the secondary-primary regulator you attach the backup secondary regulator (taking the place of the octopus) however now it is simply called the backup. On this left hand regulator you also have (in a “pure” configuration) a single, small SPG (usually what is known as a brass and glass SPG) and the fill line for your dry suit, if needed, since actually in a “pure” setup you would have a small bottle of compressed argon with its own regulator that would fill your dry suit.
Let me explain about this backplate and wing I keep talking about. The backplate is just what its name implies, an aluminum or stainless steel (I guess there may some titanium ones out there, but I haven’t seen any) plate that is specially drilled and milled to hold a single continuous length of nylon webbing that forms the shoulder straps and waist belt. This continuous piece of nylon webbing makes for a simple, easy to maintain, method of wearing the backplate for a diver. Being a continuous piece of webbing this eliminates points of failure present in standard BCDs. There is usually a second strap, called the crotch strap, coming off of the bottom of the backplate. The crotch strap prevents the backplate from riding up and provides a point of attachment for a pull line from a scooter, relieving your arms from having to provide not only steering control but a grip on the scooter itself.
A wing is a flotation bladder with an inflation hose (called a “corrugated hose”) and usually a dump valve (on the back side of the one pictured below.) The buoyancy bladder is encased in a protective covering usually of a rugged nylon fabric. Some wings, Like the Oxycheq Signature 50 pound, have a double layer of fabric for added protection of the inner bladder.
The metal backplate provides a rigid mounting point for either a single tank or a set of doubles. When a single tank is utilized it is more stable to use a special metal bracket called a single tank adapter or STA. STAs are usually made from the same metal as the backplate to reduce the possibility of galvanic corrosion, likewise the attachment posts or bolts should be of the same material, either aluminum or stainless steel.
As its name implies a set of doubles consists of two air tanks connected through a manifold assembly and rigidly mounted to each other through a set of stainless steel tank bands. The tank bands have the attachment fasteners (bolts) that attach the tanks to the backplate and are usually mounted on the tanks with 11 inch centers to allow mounting to the standard backplate.. Using an STA when using a single tank allows for rapid conversion between diving a single tank and diving a set of doubles as it only requires removing two wing or butterfly nuts and swapping out the doubles for a single tank mounted to an STA.
One major difference between a backplate and wing assembly and a BCD is that many modern BCDs have built-in or “integrated” weight pockets, some fixed, some removable, while, generally speaking, backplates with wings do not. This lack of weight pockets requires either mounting weight pouches on your tanks or your harness, wearing a weight belt, or, utilizing a weight harness. Most advanced divers seem to prefer the weight harness over the other options usually with placement of “trim” weights either on the tank or harness straps. Below is a picture of the DUI weight harness I use. The DUI harness has threaded weight packets (see the yellow handles?) you simply pull the yellow handles and it unthreads a heavy nylon cord that holds the pouch in place allowing dropping the weight pouches if needed. The use of the harness removes the weight pouches from the BP/W or tanks unless trim weights are needed.
I purchased a stainless steel backplate from Kraken Forge (a custom backplate provider) and using the DIR guidelines from http://www.gue.com/Projects/WKPP/Equipment/index.html, configured my webbing, buckles and D-rings as specified. I then had my local dive shop (LDS), Sea Sports Scuba, http://www.seasports.com/, configure a set of dual 80 cubic foot air bottles with a DiveRite 300 bar manifold. A bar is a single unit of pressure equivalent to the pressure of the air at sea level (not exactly, but close enough) therefore a 300 bar manifold can withstand internal pressures of 300 times that of the air at sea level ( 4350 PSI, your car tire has about 35 PSI.) I also had them O2 clean and certify the tanks and manifolds so I can utilize Nitrox (air with increased levels of Oxygen.)
I also purchased an Oxycheq 50 pound lift wing and a DiveRite TrekWing 35 pound lift wing with an aluminum backplate. To provide single tank use capability I purchased both a aluminum and a stainless steel STA. Once I had all of the required components, I had the LDS assemble the stainless steel backplate, the Oxycheq wing and the set of doubles. I assembled the aluminum backplate with the DiveRite TrekWing wing and aluminum STA for use with single tanks.
Meanwhile I purchased two Oceanic Alpha 8 PX3 Piston Regulators, a seven foot hose for my primary and a set of inflator hoses and a Sherwood Compact Navigational 3 Gauge Console with Compass from http://www.leisurepro.com/. I realize that a three gauge console with a SPG, depth gauge and compass is not true DIR but I like it simple and having the three in one place makes it easier for me. I then configured the dual regulators as shown on the GUE website.
So, what does it feel like to dive this contraption? Now as you can imagine, dual tanks, a manifold, and a stainless steel backplate are all heavy, to the tune of around 100 pounds with the tanks fully loaded with air. Add to that the needed lead weights to ensure you are neutrally buoyant if you breathed the tanks down to 500 pounds of pressure (where they become positively buoyant) and to offset the possible positive buoyancy of the wet or dry suit you are using for thermal protection, in my case an additional 14 pounds of lead. So all told, about 114 pounds of equipment not counting the weight of the exposure suit, fins, mask, gloves, hood and other paraphernalia. All told, diving a dry suit with a backplate and wing using double aluminum 80 tanks, a diver probably weighs at least 120 pounds more than their normal weight when out of the water.
Lifting the backplate and wing with the doubles from the ground up to your back could result in a hernia, it is much simpler to don it from the back of a SUV or pickup truck tailgate. Once it is in place, and the straps of the webbing are properly adjusted, it actually is not difficult to walk around with, as long as you aren’t climbing stairs or navigating difficult terrain.
Once you get in the water, you must inject some air into your wing to provide flotation, usually you carry your fins and then lay back in waist deep water to put them on, if you don’t inject some air into your wing you could get pulled under by the heavy gear, this nearly happened to me when I lost my balance. Once you are in the water the weight of the equipment becomes negligible due to the buoyancy of the air tanks (a Catalina aluminum 80 is listed at 31.6 pounds with 4.1 pounds positive buoyancy empty. So its real weight is 35.7 pounds, however in water the apparent weight will be about 2 pounds for each tank when full.)
Once I got my buoyancy nearly sorted out (I started out nearly 12 pounds over-weighted at 26 pounds of lead additional weight) the actual diving with the backplate and wing was comfortable and easy. Of course viewing me underwater when I was over weighted you would have thought I was a rototiller. I also had some issues with hose creep with some of the hoses, but as I learn to position them better and clip some of them to the harness assembly that will be reduced. There have been comments about the 7 foot primary being difficult to deal with, I found no such issues when I rigged it as suggested (down the back, under the right arm, across the chest, around the back of the neck to the mouth). The secondary has a bungee necklace attached that is used to hang it directly below your chin so it is available immediately for use. In this configuration you donate the 7 foot primary hose to a dive buddy who has an out-of-air (OOA) situation and then breath off the backup yourself.
The original idea behind the 7 foot hose on the primary is that in situations where there may be restrictions, such as in a cave or wreck dive, you would not be able to share air with an OOA buddy if you were tandem with a short hose. A long hose used in an OOA allows for two divers to swim in tandem formation (one in front of the other.) If the diver never does cave or wreck a 5 foot hose on the primary should be sufficient.
Another question asked usually goes something like “In my open water class we were taught to give the octopus (backup regulator) to an OOA diver, why do you give the primary?” The answer to this is simple, many times an OOA diver will be near panic, he or she will grab your primary as it is usually the most readily visible air source. It is also easy to just take the primary and pass it properly oriented and you know it works, so it just makes sense to pass the primary, dip and grab the backup that is bungeed around your neck and resolve the OOA divers problem, then assist him or her to exit the water.
Once the buoyancy weighting is determined and proper trim weights (if needed) are mounted, diving a backplate and wing is just as comfortable, if not more, than a vest or back inflate BCD. In fact I am finding it takes less weight to get me neutral with the backplate and wing with doubles (about 14 pounds) than it did diving a back inflate BCD with a single tank (18 pounds) while offering more freedom of movement and more secure tank mounting.
So the main downside to the BP/W with doubles is that it is more bulky and heavy on land. With proper planning you can overcome the cumbersome nature of the BP/W with doubles and once you are in the water will really enjoy this configuration.
It should be stressed that before you use a set of doubles with a manifold that you be properly trained in the manipulation of the three valves in emergencies such as a free flowing primary or backup, rupture disk rupture, or ruptured hose. These “valve drills” as they are called usually involve switching to the backup regulator (if the primary was the one that failed) then isolating the free flowing hose or tank by use of the tank valve and isolator valve (the one in the middle). Reaching the valves in a dry suit or thick wetsuit can be tough and you should practice stretching exercises to ensure you are limber enough to reach them.
For the compete article with photos go to:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! Happy Holidays!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Personal Responsibility
Mike Ault, Copyright 2006 (Edited on 11/21/2006 to add a seventh item to list, thanks Robert!)
Since taking up scuba diving as a hobby I pay a lot of attention to diving accidents and near misses, always striving to improve my dive skills so I don’t become a statistic. Many of these accidents begin with typical behavior I would expect from teenagers; dares, trying to do things beyond your skill level, just doing dumb things. The scuba accidents that happen because of equipment failure are few and far between and can usually be traced back to improper maintenance or knowledge of operation. Of course accidents caused by health issues also occur, but that is beyond the scope of this blog.
In many of the follow up posts abut these accidents and incidents people are quick to jump on the instructors, dive masters and other professionals, blaming them for the people who are with them’s mistakes. Many folks seem to believe that unless someone tells you don’t do something stupid, they are responsible for you doing something stupid. Many times it seems our whole tort system is based on that premise.
For those not familiar with the Scuba certification process, the process involves classroom, self study and practical factors. All of the certification agencies provide training materials that are a part of this certification process. There are also many third-party books available for diving.
Let’s examine two divers:
Diver A:
Took a quick Resort Dive cert, decided he loved it. Upon getting home from vacation Diver A enrolled in a full certification class, went to the local library and bookstore and picked up several diving instructional books. Diver A read all that he could and visited many online sources to find out everything he could before class. Diver A read all of the manual, answered all of the questions and participated in class as much as possible.
During the water certification phase Diver A practiced as much as possible and asked questions, even dumb ones.
Diver B:
Took a quick Resort Dive cert, decided he loved it. Upon getting home from vacation Diver B enrolled in a full certification class. Being a very busy person diver B didn’t have time to read the materials or do the questions, he got his answers from folks he knew had taken the class before. Diver B did the minimum needed to get certified. Knowing that questions only delayed the class, he didn’t ask any questions and often made others in the class feel stupid for asking them.
During the water certification phase Diver B did the minimum required, never feeling totally comfortable during the sessions but figured he could pick it up later.
Ok, which diver would you want as a buddy?
Diver A takes responsibility for his actions and his life, he posts his mistakes to his favorite scuba board and asks for criticisms so he can improve. On dives he does his best to be self-reliant and watch out for his buddies. He carefully monitors his air and depth and pays attention to his dive computer. If the dive starts feeling wrong, he aborts it.
Diver B is rude and arrogant hiding his lack of knowledge by being condescending and belittling those around him. In the water Diver B has poor buoyancy control, sucks down air like he has an unlimited supply and expects everyone to help him. He never checks his air pressure or depth figuring that the dive master will take care of that. Diver B depends on the DM for making sure he doesn’t exceed limits, doesn’t have a dive computer and barely remembers where he put the recreational dive planner charts, let alone how to use them.
Which diver do you think will immediately think of suing someone if they get bent or have an accident? We all need to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions. I would say more than half of the problems facing the USA, and the World, today are because we don’t practice self-responsibility. It is always some one else’s fault.
Students don’t learn, we blame the teachers, kids misbehave, we blame video games. No one wants to say Johnny can’t read because Johnny didn’t apply himself to learning to read. Sure, children learn from their parents, however, after a certain age, they have to take responsibility for their actions. We spend too much time finding others to blame for our problems when the person we need to point the finger at is right in the mirror in front of us.
So, what do I believe needs to be taught? These seven basic values:
1. Everyone cannot be a winner
2. Win and lose gracefully
3. Nobody owes you anything
4. Accept criticism
5. Take responsibility for your actions
6. Treat others like you want to be treated, even when they don’t
7. Life isn't fair, don't expect it to be
If these seven things were taught to everyone at an early age more than half of the problems in our society would disappear. The only way to build true character is through both winning and losing. We seem to concentrate on nobody ever having to face defeat, we mustn’t harm Johnny’s self-esteem. Some of my most valuable lessons came from my defeats, not my victories. We have games where no one is allowed to win and everyone gets a trophy, we have to promote students who don’t earn it and we reward benefits to those who have never worked to earn them. And we wonder why society is going to hell in a hand basket? You can’t give someone self-esteem, it has to be earned from both winning and losing and dealing with both.
An old saw says that when you point at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at you. You have to take responsibility for whatever you do. You are responsible for your life, your learning and your safety, no one else.
Since taking up scuba diving as a hobby I pay a lot of attention to diving accidents and near misses, always striving to improve my dive skills so I don’t become a statistic. Many of these accidents begin with typical behavior I would expect from teenagers; dares, trying to do things beyond your skill level, just doing dumb things. The scuba accidents that happen because of equipment failure are few and far between and can usually be traced back to improper maintenance or knowledge of operation. Of course accidents caused by health issues also occur, but that is beyond the scope of this blog.
In many of the follow up posts abut these accidents and incidents people are quick to jump on the instructors, dive masters and other professionals, blaming them for the people who are with them’s mistakes. Many folks seem to believe that unless someone tells you don’t do something stupid, they are responsible for you doing something stupid. Many times it seems our whole tort system is based on that premise.
For those not familiar with the Scuba certification process, the process involves classroom, self study and practical factors. All of the certification agencies provide training materials that are a part of this certification process. There are also many third-party books available for diving.
Let’s examine two divers:
Diver A:
Took a quick Resort Dive cert, decided he loved it. Upon getting home from vacation Diver A enrolled in a full certification class, went to the local library and bookstore and picked up several diving instructional books. Diver A read all that he could and visited many online sources to find out everything he could before class. Diver A read all of the manual, answered all of the questions and participated in class as much as possible.
During the water certification phase Diver A practiced as much as possible and asked questions, even dumb ones.
Diver B:
Took a quick Resort Dive cert, decided he loved it. Upon getting home from vacation Diver B enrolled in a full certification class. Being a very busy person diver B didn’t have time to read the materials or do the questions, he got his answers from folks he knew had taken the class before. Diver B did the minimum needed to get certified. Knowing that questions only delayed the class, he didn’t ask any questions and often made others in the class feel stupid for asking them.
During the water certification phase Diver B did the minimum required, never feeling totally comfortable during the sessions but figured he could pick it up later.
Ok, which diver would you want as a buddy?
Diver A takes responsibility for his actions and his life, he posts his mistakes to his favorite scuba board and asks for criticisms so he can improve. On dives he does his best to be self-reliant and watch out for his buddies. He carefully monitors his air and depth and pays attention to his dive computer. If the dive starts feeling wrong, he aborts it.
Diver B is rude and arrogant hiding his lack of knowledge by being condescending and belittling those around him. In the water Diver B has poor buoyancy control, sucks down air like he has an unlimited supply and expects everyone to help him. He never checks his air pressure or depth figuring that the dive master will take care of that. Diver B depends on the DM for making sure he doesn’t exceed limits, doesn’t have a dive computer and barely remembers where he put the recreational dive planner charts, let alone how to use them.
Which diver do you think will immediately think of suing someone if they get bent or have an accident? We all need to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions. I would say more than half of the problems facing the USA, and the World, today are because we don’t practice self-responsibility. It is always some one else’s fault.
Students don’t learn, we blame the teachers, kids misbehave, we blame video games. No one wants to say Johnny can’t read because Johnny didn’t apply himself to learning to read. Sure, children learn from their parents, however, after a certain age, they have to take responsibility for their actions. We spend too much time finding others to blame for our problems when the person we need to point the finger at is right in the mirror in front of us.
So, what do I believe needs to be taught? These seven basic values:
1. Everyone cannot be a winner
2. Win and lose gracefully
3. Nobody owes you anything
4. Accept criticism
5. Take responsibility for your actions
6. Treat others like you want to be treated, even when they don’t
7. Life isn't fair, don't expect it to be
If these seven things were taught to everyone at an early age more than half of the problems in our society would disappear. The only way to build true character is through both winning and losing. We seem to concentrate on nobody ever having to face defeat, we mustn’t harm Johnny’s self-esteem. Some of my most valuable lessons came from my defeats, not my victories. We have games where no one is allowed to win and everyone gets a trophy, we have to promote students who don’t earn it and we reward benefits to those who have never worked to earn them. And we wonder why society is going to hell in a hand basket? You can’t give someone self-esteem, it has to be earned from both winning and losing and dealing with both.
An old saw says that when you point at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at you. You have to take responsibility for whatever you do. You are responsible for your life, your learning and your safety, no one else.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Ebay Comments
I do a lot of buying and some selling on Ebay. One facet of Ebay is the comments section where you can enter a comment and rating for a buyer or seller with whom you have had a transaction.
About a month ago I bought some hard drives for my Nexstor 18fc array from an Ebay seller. According to his listing these were Seagate model ST118202FC hard drives. The SAN array I use for my real work (believe it or not I do have a real job) uses this model of drive and I needed to increase my storage space (well, actually I wanted to increase my input/output rate and the increase in storage space is a side-effect.) I found a companion drive to the ones currently in the array (I thought) so I put in my bid, got the drive for a very good price and when I received it, it installed just fine in my array and spun up with green lights across the control panel.
So from the previous paragraph it would seem all was right with the world correct? Well, then I tried to access the drive to format it and make it useful for the system. I am afraid the drive would not respond to any of the low level format or high level commands I issued. I looked carefully at the startup file log, sure enough, was a ST118202FC hard drive, but wait, there was a CLAR18 following the designation. What this means was that the firmware for the drive was modified by a SAN provider (in this case I believe EMC) to be specific for a particular SAN, in this case a CLARIION system. No biggie I thought to myself, I’ll just reburn the firmware, well, you can’t do that with EMC firmware unless you go to another version of EMC firmware, which kind of defeated the purpose for me. Here is how the listing described the drive:
You are bidding on a Seagate Cheetah 18.2GB Fibre Channel 10,000 RPM Hard Drive with a Dell Tray.
Seagate Model #: Cheetah / ST118202FC
Technical Features:
External Data transfer Rate: 100MBps
Seek Time: 6 ms
Average Latency: 3ms
Buffer Size : 1MB
Interface: Fibre Channel
Happy Bidding!
Manufacturer: SEAGATE
Model: ST118202FC
CHEETAH 18GB HARD DRIVE
As you can see, no mention of the CLAR18 designation that would be critical to determine compatibility.
Ok, obviously these EMC drives were not going to work for my Nexstor array.
On their shipping receipt they put:
“If, for any reason, you are unsatisfied with your purchase, please contact me at ebaysales@threesalegroup.com with your order number 12551 and the reason for your dissatisfaction. I will make all reasonable efforts to resolve the issue.”
I emailed the representative from the company I purchased them from, explained the situation and asked to return the drive. Here is the email trail:
Subject: eBay Item #170024231254
This disk appears to be a pull from an EMC Clariion or related architecture. Unfortunately that means that it has EMC proprietary microcode burned into its firmware rendering it useless in anything but another array of a similar type. It identifies itself as ST118202 CLAR18 on spin up and won't allow format commands or partitioning commands (reports its size as zero) afraid this is just so much spinning rust and DOA as far as I am concerned. If you don't have something that you know can be accessed by normal arrays then I will return it for my money back. Thanks.
Their Customer Service wrote:
This item only has a DOA warranty. The auction states: This item is represented as accurately as possible; we do not guarantee compatibility please check your part numbers.
(Right, like deliberately leaving off the CLAR18)
To which I responded:
You did not provide the complete part number, the other drives in the array have the same part number except that they do not have the CLAR18 add on which indicates yours were pulled from a Clarion array and which you left off of the description. Had I known the full part number (which I assumed you had provided) I wouldn't have bought them. You did not provide accurate information.
Their Customer Service wrote:
Why didn't you ask? That is what the terms tell you in the auction that you should do. It also states that you should not assume anything.
(So I assume I would need to have a complete list of all incompatible possible microcodes and SANs and call them with a detailed question about this…like their order taker on the other end would know…)
To Which I responded:
You know what? Forget it, I'll just note this in my feedback on Ebay and then resell it, properly labeled and probably get more for it than you did. Thanks for nada.
Their Customer Service wrote:
No problem, just remember that the feedback goes both ways. Thanks...
So, basically I was told that I should have foreseen that the drive might have had its firmware overwritten by a vendor and I should have asked before I bought it. I explained there was no way of knowing this without seeing the full model number (which they hadn’t provided) which required me to install the drives before I could see the serial numbers. Essentially I was told to pack sand and they wouldn’t take the drives back or refund my money.
Being a man of my word I entered the following comment for them on Ebay:
“Was not satisfied, didn't give complete description of item, would not take back”
And here is how they responded:
“BEWARE - ATTEMPTED EXTORTION BY FEEDBACK - BLOCK THIS USER - SELLERS BEWARE”
Extortion? Asking them to stand by their product or I would tell people they didn’t, extortion? A bit of an over reaction I felt. Who was extorting who? Oh, and what was the transaction final amount?
$14.99
This company, Three Sale Group LTD, I will never have dealings with again, nor will I recommend them.
I also purchased 6 additional drives from a second source on Ebay, unfortunately they also were CLAR18, which also wasn’t indicated in the description, but, when I pointed that out, they handled it as a DOA and fully refunded my money, this company, Online Data Solutions, Inc., I will recommend to others and will use again in a heartbeat.
However, this all has a happy ending, I found 18-72 gb drives for my array on Ebay from Morgen Industries, Inc., they were professional, courteous and knowledgeable and I would buy from them in a heartbeat and recommend them to others.
So remember, Caveat Emptor and ask every possible question you can think of from Ebay sellers unless their description of the object being bought is detailed and precise.
Anyone need some Clariion compatible 18 gb drives? Cheap! I also have some 18 gb Nexstor comaptible drives and a complete Nexstor 8s array....if anyone is interested
About a month ago I bought some hard drives for my Nexstor 18fc array from an Ebay seller. According to his listing these were Seagate model ST118202FC hard drives. The SAN array I use for my real work (believe it or not I do have a real job) uses this model of drive and I needed to increase my storage space (well, actually I wanted to increase my input/output rate and the increase in storage space is a side-effect.) I found a companion drive to the ones currently in the array (I thought) so I put in my bid, got the drive for a very good price and when I received it, it installed just fine in my array and spun up with green lights across the control panel.
So from the previous paragraph it would seem all was right with the world correct? Well, then I tried to access the drive to format it and make it useful for the system. I am afraid the drive would not respond to any of the low level format or high level commands I issued. I looked carefully at the startup file log, sure enough, was a ST118202FC hard drive, but wait, there was a CLAR18 following the designation. What this means was that the firmware for the drive was modified by a SAN provider (in this case I believe EMC) to be specific for a particular SAN, in this case a CLARIION system. No biggie I thought to myself, I’ll just reburn the firmware, well, you can’t do that with EMC firmware unless you go to another version of EMC firmware, which kind of defeated the purpose for me. Here is how the listing described the drive:
You are bidding on a Seagate Cheetah 18.2GB Fibre Channel 10,000 RPM Hard Drive with a Dell Tray.
Seagate Model #: Cheetah / ST118202FC
Technical Features:
External Data transfer Rate: 100MBps
Seek Time: 6 ms
Average Latency: 3ms
Buffer Size : 1MB
Interface: Fibre Channel
Happy Bidding!
Manufacturer: SEAGATE
Model: ST118202FC
CHEETAH 18GB HARD DRIVE
As you can see, no mention of the CLAR18 designation that would be critical to determine compatibility.
Ok, obviously these EMC drives were not going to work for my Nexstor array.
On their shipping receipt they put:
“If, for any reason, you are unsatisfied with your purchase, please contact me at ebaysales@threesalegroup.com with your order number 12551 and the reason for your dissatisfaction. I will make all reasonable efforts to resolve the issue.”
I emailed the representative from the company I purchased them from, explained the situation and asked to return the drive. Here is the email trail:
Subject: eBay Item #170024231254
This disk appears to be a pull from an EMC Clariion or related architecture. Unfortunately that means that it has EMC proprietary microcode burned into its firmware rendering it useless in anything but another array of a similar type. It identifies itself as ST118202 CLAR18 on spin up and won't allow format commands or partitioning commands (reports its size as zero) afraid this is just so much spinning rust and DOA as far as I am concerned. If you don't have something that you know can be accessed by normal arrays then I will return it for my money back. Thanks.
Their Customer Service wrote:
This item only has a DOA warranty. The auction states: This item is represented as accurately as possible; we do not guarantee compatibility please check your part numbers.
(Right, like deliberately leaving off the CLAR18)
To which I responded:
You did not provide the complete part number, the other drives in the array have the same part number except that they do not have the CLAR18 add on which indicates yours were pulled from a Clarion array and which you left off of the description. Had I known the full part number (which I assumed you had provided) I wouldn't have bought them. You did not provide accurate information.
Their Customer Service wrote:
Why didn't you ask? That is what the terms tell you in the auction that you should do. It also states that you should not assume anything.
(So I assume I would need to have a complete list of all incompatible possible microcodes and SANs and call them with a detailed question about this…like their order taker on the other end would know…)
To Which I responded:
You know what? Forget it, I'll just note this in my feedback on Ebay and then resell it, properly labeled and probably get more for it than you did. Thanks for nada.
Their Customer Service wrote:
No problem, just remember that the feedback goes both ways. Thanks...
So, basically I was told that I should have foreseen that the drive might have had its firmware overwritten by a vendor and I should have asked before I bought it. I explained there was no way of knowing this without seeing the full model number (which they hadn’t provided) which required me to install the drives before I could see the serial numbers. Essentially I was told to pack sand and they wouldn’t take the drives back or refund my money.
Being a man of my word I entered the following comment for them on Ebay:
“Was not satisfied, didn't give complete description of item, would not take back”
And here is how they responded:
“BEWARE - ATTEMPTED EXTORTION BY FEEDBACK - BLOCK THIS USER - SELLERS BEWARE”
Extortion? Asking them to stand by their product or I would tell people they didn’t, extortion? A bit of an over reaction I felt. Who was extorting who? Oh, and what was the transaction final amount?
$14.99
This company, Three Sale Group LTD, I will never have dealings with again, nor will I recommend them.
I also purchased 6 additional drives from a second source on Ebay, unfortunately they also were CLAR18, which also wasn’t indicated in the description, but, when I pointed that out, they handled it as a DOA and fully refunded my money, this company, Online Data Solutions, Inc., I will recommend to others and will use again in a heartbeat.
However, this all has a happy ending, I found 18-72 gb drives for my array on Ebay from Morgen Industries, Inc., they were professional, courteous and knowledgeable and I would buy from them in a heartbeat and recommend them to others.
So remember, Caveat Emptor and ask every possible question you can think of from Ebay sellers unless their description of the object being bought is detailed and precise.
Anyone need some Clariion compatible 18 gb drives? Cheap! I also have some 18 gb Nexstor comaptible drives and a complete Nexstor 8s array....if anyone is interested
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
