Jason Gilmore debunks five misconceptions and myths about PostgreSQL in his article “Five reasons why you should never use PostgreSQL — ever.
And now the reason to use it: if you do Ruby, you do not want to be a LAMR!
Every time I sell a server to a client, I always hear him crying about the CDROM reader: “it’s only 24x and it costs 150$”, they say. Yes, that’s true. It’s expensive. It’s slow.
Why? Good question. I do not know a single IT worker who does not wonder the same question.
Most people say Sun, IBM, HP, etc bought those slow CDROM drives in the thousands years ago and now they have a pile of slow drives and they must sell them using any means. Well, sorry, but I don’t buy that hypothesis. Should that be true, the CDROM drive would be 15$ instead of 150$. After all, wasn’t your theory Sun wanted to get rid of those drives? Then they should sell them very cheap, even at a loss! (last week I bought 100 USB Logitech ball mice with the HP logo at 0.74 EUR/piece; that’s exactly what I mean when I say “even at a loss”)
Today I came up with a better hypothesis on why servers ship with slow CDROM drives.: you have to blame the CDROM media (the disk itself).
“WTF!?”, you are thinking now.
Let me explain.
When you buy a CDROM drive for a server, you will usually employ it only twice: when installing the operating system and when installing a driver you need before you have an Internet connection. That’s exactly twice, so you won’t care if it works at 24x or at 52x. In case you didn’t know, 52x is the technology limit for CDROM drives, otherwise you couldn’t read it properly because pitches are too small in the media.
Did you notice the emphasis in “you couldn’t read it properly”? That’s the key for my hypothesis on why servers ship with slow CDROM drives. Our world is loaded with crap CDROM media.
A lot of software vendors and IT people use crappy XinXunXao CDs instead of Verbatim CDs because they are a full cent cheaper! (wow, what a huge savings). Well, the problem is XinXunXao CDs are crap and if you try to read them at, say, 32x they will probably fail and you will be reading a 0 when you should have read a 1.
Now comes the interesting part: Sun, HP, IBM are not responsible for you (or your software vendor) to be using XinXunXao CDs. After all, they did not choose to use XinXunXao instead of Verbatim and their advice would be to use Verbatim! The problem is when the US $4000 IBM server you have just bought does not read that XinXunXao CDs at 32x or 48x, most probably you are going to blame IBM and that’s bad for them.
So what could IBM do? Easy, IBM sells you a 24x CD so you cannot read a CDs faster than 24x. Now IBM can rest sure even those XinXinXao CDs will work flawlessly and you will be happy.
Summary: as you might be using bad-quality CD media, IBM sells you a slow CD for you to be able to read even the worst-quality CD with it. They are fixing a problem they did not cause.
PS: On related news, 90% of the times I sell a server with Windows, clients also complain about the Windows Server license fees. But that’d be another post
[via Magonia]
Los enigmas de la Navidad – La Navidad gira alrededor de cinco o seis páginas de la Biblia. 1.900 millones de personas celebrarán en las próximas dos semanas la gran fiesta cristiana: el nacimiento de un bebé en la Palestina ocupada por los romanos hace dos milenios. Jesús, según narran Mateo y Lucas, nació de madre virgen, se salvó milagrosamente de ser asesinado por Herodes I el Grande y fue adorado por peregrinos de lejanas tierras que llegaron hasta él guiados por una estrella. ¿Esta historia responde a hechos reales o es una fábula?
By means of the Asus Hotkeys project and this this keyboard definition file I created for Hotkeys, I almost got my new laptop’s keyboard to fully work.
The only thing that still doesn’t work is the touchpad enable/disable key and the sleep key, the problem being those keys do not trigger an X event (at least, not one I could view with xev).
I will try to merge my keyboard definition file for Hotkeys with the Asus Hotkeys project in the following days, as it will be a cleaner and more elegant solution.
By the way, the Z92K is sometimes referred as A6K or A6000 and it works great with Linux. I am running KUbuntu 5.10 on it since the beginning of November and I couldn’t be happier.
Update: Here is the script I installed in /etc/init.d for Hotkeys to start at boot. Copy it to /etc/init.d then run update-rc.d hotkeys defaults as root.
By means of the Asus Hotkeys project and this this keyboard definition file I created for Hotkeys, I almost got my new laptop’s keyboard to fully work.
The only thing that still doesn’t work is the touchpad enable/disable key and the sleep key, the problem being those keys do not trigger an X event (at least, not one I could view with xev).
I will try to merge my keyboard definition file for Hotkeys with the Asus Hotkeys project in the following days, as it will be a cleaner and more elegant solution.
By the way, the Z92K is sometimes referred as A6K or A6000 and it works great with Linux. I am running KUbuntu 5.10 on it since the beginning of November and I couldn’t be happier.
Carol i jo fem TRES anys junts. Et vull, bombó!
Do you need to take a flight somewhere? Find the cheapest fare using Trabber and SkyScanner. Fortunately, Oceanic Airlines results do not show.
[via Microsiervos]
Reposteado de Unix Admin Corner:
(Català)
Sóc la xica feta fora de casa perquè li vaig contar a ma mare que sóc lesbiana.
Sóc la prostituta que treballa el carrer perquè ningú contracta una dona transexual.
Sóc la germana que consola el seu germà gai durant les nit plenes de llàgrimes i dolor.
Som els pares que enterràrem la nostra filla molt abans que li arribara la seua hora.
Sóc l’home que morí a soles a l’hospital perquè no deixaren el meu company de vint-i-set anys estar a l’habitació amb mi.
Sóc el fill acollit que es desperta a mitjanit amb malsons en els quals sóc apartat dels meus dos pares, que són l’única família de veritat que he tingut mai. M’agradaria que pugueren adoptar-me.
Jo sóc un dels afortunats, supose. Vaig sobreviure l’atac que em deixà en coma durant tres setmanes, i d’ací un any possiblement puga tornar a caminar.
Jo no sóc un dels afortunats. Em vaig suicidar poques setmanes abans d’acabar l’institut. (El que deien dels gais) Era més del que podia aguantar.
Som la parella a qui penjà el telèfon l’agent immobiliarià quan (ella) s’enterà que voliem llogar un apartament d’una habitació per a dos homes.
Sóc la persona que mai no sap quin bany he d’utilitzar si vull evitar que em criden l’atenció des de Direcció.
Sóc la mare a qui no li permeten visitar els xiquets que vaig allumbrar, cuidar i criar. El jutjat diu que no sóc una mare adequada perquè ara visc amb una altra dona.
Sóc la supervivent a la violència domèstica a qui els assistents socials deixen de banda quan se n’adonen que qui em maltracta és una altra dona.
Sóc el supervivent a la violència domèstica que no té a qui acudir perquè sóc home.
Sóc el pare que mai abraçà el seu fill perquè vaig créixer acomplexat de mostrar afecte a altres homes.
Sóc el professor d’Economia Domèstica que volia ser professor de Gimnàsia fins que algú em digué que no més les lesbianes fan això.
Sóc l’home que morí quan els infermers de l’ambulància deixaren de tractar-me quan se n’adonaren que sóc transexual.
Sóc la persona que se sent culpable perquè crec que podria ser molt millor persona si no havera de lidiar amb una societat que m’odia tots els dies i a tota hora.
Sóc l’home que deixà d’anar a l’església, no perquè no creguera, sinó perquè ells tancaren les portes als que són com jo.
Sóc la persona que ha d’amagar el que més necessita aquest món, l’amor.
Publica aquest article al teu web si creus que l’homofòbia és roïna
(Castellano)
Soy la chica echada de casa porque le dije a mi madre que soy lesbiana.
Soy la prostituta que hace la calle porque nadie contrata a mujeres transexuales.
Soy la hermana que consuela a su hermano gay durante las noches de lágrimas y dolor.
Somos los padres que enterramos a nuestra hija mucho antes de que le llegara su hora.
Soy el hombre que murió solo en el hospital porque no dejaron que mi compañero de veintisiete años estuviera en la habitación.
Soy el hijo de acogida que se despierta a medianoche con pesadillas en las que soy apartado de los dos padres que son la única familia de verdad que he tenido. Ojalá pudieran adoptarme.
Yo soy uno de los afortunados, supongo. Sobreviví al ataque que me dejóe n coma durante tres semanas, y dentro de un año posiblement pueda volver a caminar.
Yo no soy uno de los afortunados. Me suicidé pocas semanas antes de terminar el instituto. (Lo que dicen de los gays) Era mucho más de lo que podía aguantar.
Somos la pareja a la que colgó el teléfono la agente inmobiliaria cuando (ella) se enteró de que queríamos alquilar un apartamento de una sola habitación para dos hombres.
Soy la persona que nunca sabe a que aseo debería ir para evitar que me llamen la atención desde Dirección.
Soy la madre a quien no permiten ni siquiera visitar los hijos a los que di a luz, cuidé y crié. El juzgado dice que no soy una madre adecuada porque ahora vivo con otra mujer.
Soy la superviviente a la violencia doméstica a quien los asistentes sociales dejan de lado porque quien me maltrata es otra mujer.
Soy el superviviente a la violencia doméstica que no tiene a quien acudir porque soy un hombre.
Soy el padre que nunca abrazó a su hijo porque crecí asustado de mostrar afecto a otros hombres.
Soy el profesor de Economía Doméstica que siempre quiso enseñar Gimnasia, hasta que alguien me dijo que sólo las lesbianas hacían eso.
Soy el hombre que murió cuando los enfermeros de la ambulancia dejaron de tratarme porque se dieron cuenta de que eran transexual.
Soy la persona que se siente culpable porque creo que podria ser mucho mejor persona si no tuviera que lidiar continuamente con una sociedad que me odia todos los días y a toda hora.
Soy el hombre que dejó de ir a la iglesia, no porque no creyera, sino porque ellos cerraron las puertas a los que son como yo.
Soy la persona que tiene que esconder lo que este mundo más necesita, el amor.
Publica este artículo en tu blog si crees que la homofobia es mala.
(English)
I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.
I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.
I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.
We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.
I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.
I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.
I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.
I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.
We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.
I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.
I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.
I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.
I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.
I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.
I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.
I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.
I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didn’t have to always deal with society hating me.
I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don’t believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.
I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.
Repost this if you believe homophobia is wrong.
Do you need to know what font is that text composed in? Take a screenshot or scan a piece of text and send it to What the font.
Un empleado de una tienda de videojuegos de Canadá mantiene una web con historias que no se sabe muy bien si son para reir o para llorar… Acts of Gord. Cualquiera que haya trabajado de cara al público o dando soporte al usuario final sabe de qué hablo 😀