Category Archives: Work

Build A Moat

Posted on August 24, 2009 by M@

Your app is falling down because it’s been Slashdotted. Your database can’t handle the query surge. Your app is highly dynamic so tossing up a static front-page, using Akamai, etc. isn’t viable. How can you handle 30kviews/s? You have a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Linuxy, Work | Leave a comment

FOSS’s Microsoft Hatred "a Disease"

Posted on July 27, 2009 by M@

Purloined wholesale from SlashDot, and reposted. The hypocrisy of a vocal minority of FOSS-purists has been overwhelming. As Linus accurately points out, we’re all in it for selfish reasons. No one likes working on the boring bits, and we all … Continue reading →

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They Lie Because They Can

Posted on April 27, 2009 by M@

Bruce has an excellent post about the data you’re voluntarilly giving to corporations. While he takes a consumerist view, and makes excuses for you frittering away your privacy (which I’m sure you’ll appreciate), the meat of this article is that … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Opinions, Rants/Tirades, Work | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Of Hemlines and Oars

Posted on February 10, 2009 by M@

naach na jaane aangan tedha Aada theriyadhava koodam konal endralam Árinni kennir illur ræðari Buruk muka, cermin dibelah Altíð bagir illum barni okkurt ZÅ‚ej baletnicy przeszkadza rÄ…bek u spódnicy Whether the proverb is Hindi, Tamil, Norse, Malay, Farose, Polish or … Continue reading →

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Training–

Posted on February 5, 2009 by M@

A student asked me in class last night, how I “keep up” with changes in technology. Without hesitation I answered “by doing”. People frequently think there is some magic to being good at something. There isn’t. Whether we’re talking about … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Life, Work | Leave a comment

Grading Sucks

Posted on April 2, 2008 by M@

Multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank questions are probably easy – Very black and white. Subjective grading of projects and papers just completely sucks. I have students who I know busted their hump and did a lot of research and probably learned … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Work | 9 Comments

Critical vs. Important vs. *Yawn*

Posted on March 17, 2008 by M@

I have written previously about how my priorities are set. But what about service criticality? Which services do we care about 24×7 vs 8×5 vs 0x0? Well it looks awful similar. The most critical services we have, in general, our … Continue reading →

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All IMAP Servers Are Not Created Equal

Posted on February 22, 2008 by M@

Many moons ago, we decided to move away from the old standard POP -based e-mail, and offer/promote IMAP instead. The paradigms are drastically different. With POP, users log in and [are supposed to] download their mail to their local computer. … Continue reading →

Posted in Linuxy, Opinions, Work | 1 Comment

Relative Labor Value: Aka Stars Amongst Superstars

Posted on February 18, 2008 by M@

I had an interesting conversation over the weekend with a couple old friends. It’s an ages-old topic, and I don’t pretend to be profound in my revelations, on it. But it’s come up in a number of areas in my … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Opinions, Work | 1 Comment

Hell Week, Oh How I Rue You

Posted on August 23, 2007 by M@

Annually, the week before the Fall Semester, is an event that students in higher-education get spared from. It’s called Hell Week. It’s when Faculty return from their vacations, and suddenly realize that even though they’ve known about X and Y … Continue reading →

Posted in Rants/Tirades, Work | 3 Comments