You will pay the price for your lack of vision: IT departments generally suck

Jackasses I know

Me
This is some junk I wrote between 2001 and Feb 2003. Topics: google, linux, applications, open source, etc. Please check it out if you are interested.
Pigg
This guy hacks everything; cars, furniture, web sites...whatever.
Knoblog
This 1337 sysadmin is always busting my chops in Quake 3, and he has pictures to prove it.
SYSADMIN
The robots that rule the world.
Felix
Another Elite SysAdmin
Techmonkey
This site is created with magic. Postmaster "thrawn" would be me.
Joey
The best windows admin in the business.
Gaza
My cohort. Also the best Linux admin/Developer I know.

About

Photo Albums

Tokyo 2003

Stuff I'm reading

william gibson: neuromancer
I was too busy getting outta high school and looking for chicks n stuff to read this when it first came out...so, now I'm reading it. (****)
ray kurzweil: The singularity is near
mankind/machine convergence. Everybody loves robots that tell jokes! (****)
rudy rucker: the lifebox, the seashell, and the soul
I'm always a sucker for philosophy + machines. (****)
perl for bioinformatics
perl rules for text processing, and genetic sequences are assloads of GATC text strings. Here is how to use both to peer into the code of life. (*****)
Ray Jackendoff: Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution
I like linguistics; but, I always have to read this stuff like 3 times before I get what they're talking about. Very cool stuff nonetheless. (****)
The Year's Best Science Fiction Twenty-first Annual Collection (Year's Best Science Fiction)
Just starting... It's really hard to find science fiction that doesn't suck.
Professional php5
Excellent php5 (and web app development in general) resource. (*****)
Ruby in a Nutshell
Ruby, Rails, and the general coolness of this language. (*****)
Michael Chabon: The Final Solution: A Story Of Detection
A master of literature...summerland and kavalier and clay were outstanding...this is shaping-up to be gripping as well. (****)
Simon Winchester: Krakatoa : The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883
Much to love about this book...cool geography, history of the spice trade, salty sea captains, wallace vs. darwin...what more could you need? (*****)
Neal Stephenson: Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)
I loved cryptonomicon so much, I had to start this. So far, so good...nice and dense. (*****)
Clayton M. Christensen: Seeing What's Next: Using Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change
The first two book were nice...we'll see how this one goes.
Frans Johansson: The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures
Just started.
BO PEABODY: Lucky or Smart? : Secrets to an Entrepreneurial Life
Short and perfectly sweet.
Evan I. Schwartz: Juice: The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors
I love this kind of stuff.
Michael Chabon: Summerland
Reading this book to Catherine. This is a great book, and right up my alley (I wish I was still 10).
Robert Charles Wilson: The Chronoliths
Just started...the concept sounded interesting, and it's hard for me to find sci-fi books that don't make me say,"Oh, jesus H. Christ." and throw them away after the first 2 chapters.
John H. Holland: Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity
this book is ruling so far...
Brian Greene: The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality
dense and excellent.
Paul Graham: Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age
Loved the article...now loving the book.

Stuff I've read

Kyle D. Dent: Postfix : The Definitive Guide
Perfect, but could use some more info on courier IMAPD. (*****)
Cricket Liu: DNS & BIND Cookbook
Perfect DNS companion. All the stuff you need to do, but always forget how to do (cuz once you setup named, you usually don't have to touch it for months at a time) (*****)
Jeff Hawkins: On Intelligence
Great stuff on A.I. (****)
Mark Pilgrim: Dive Into Python
Perfect Python book for beginning and intermediate hackage. (*****)
John Goerzen: Foundations of Python Network Programming (Foundations)
Another juicy Python book with all the junk you need to know for web apps. (*****)
Jeremy D. Zawodny: High Performance MySQL
Exactly what you need to know about the subject. Linux hacks has some good mysql hackalapooza too. (*****)
George Schlossnagle: Advanced PHP Programming
Hard to find PHP books that give you some new insight. This is one of them. (*****)
Guy Kawasaki: The Art Of The Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide For Anyone Starting Anything
Great book...just the kind of stuff I read to get the start-up juices flowing. Like entrepreneur work-out tapes for lame-o's like me. (****)
Stanislaw Lem: Solaris
This is the best Lem book I have read so far; however, His Master's Voice is pretty close. Incredibly written with outstanding concepts. Intelligent, with the added bonus of not having stupid-ass aliens speaking english. I love this stuff. (*****)
Stanislaw Lem: His Master's Voice
Quite simply some of the best science fiction I have ever read. When Arthur C. Clarke said,"If Lem originally published in english instead of polish, we (Clarke, Asimov, etc) would all be in trouble." He was not kidding. Lem is incredible. (*****)
Melanie Mitchell: An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms (Complex Adaptive Systems)
(*****)
Stephen Wolfram: A New Kind of Science
(****)
Donna Tartt: Secret History
(*****)
Richard Dawkins: The Selfish Gene
(*****)
Mark Buchanan: Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks
(****)
Howard Rheingold: Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution
(*****)
Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon
(*****)
Steven Strogatz: Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order
(****)
Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics
(****)
Howard K. Bloom: The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History
(*****)

December 09, 2003

IT departments generally suck

Funny and true article

Clue to sysadmins:

Stop being power hungry, control-freak, little S.O.B.'s and do your job correctly. Your job is to provide information services that are available 99% of the time, not to slurp, giggle, chortle, and snort loudly when somebody has a problem or needs access. IT is not about how you can lock-down everything and then sit on your ass refreshing slashdot ( well...actually), but rather providing SERVICES to CUSTOMERS (which happen to be named users). I know it sucks, but that's the scene.

December 09, 2003 in Information Technology | Permalink

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Comments

I like snorting though. I also like wearing a "lumbar satchel" (fanny pack)

Posted by: Gaza | December 10, 2003 at 07:40 AM

You don't suck, You blow.

Posted by: Carson | December 11, 2003 at 12:09 AM

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Stuff I'm listening to

Magnetic Fields: Holiday
Man, I just love these dudes. Dreamy pop stuff. Desert Island and Strange Powers are my favorite songs from this album. (*****)
William Shatner: Has Been
Nice n trippy. Plus, you so totally know I can't NOT buy a Shatner album. (****)
Ozzy Osbourne: Blizzard of Ozz
Juicy Geetar licks n Ozzy 2. (****)
Polyphonic Spree: Together We're Heavy
These guys rule. Somebody should do a mash-up of Polyphonic Spree and Rage Against The Machine. (****)
Radiohead: Hail To The Thief
Radiohead, please always supply me with music. Thank you, Mike. (*****)
The Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin
Classic badass Flaming Lips. (*****)
R.E.M.: Fables Of The Reconstruction
I wish these guys would start making albums like this again. (*****)
Guster: Keep It Together
"Jesus On The Radio" sounds exactly like REM. (****)
Van Halen: fair warning
Mean Streets, Sinners Swing! = some of the gnarliest guitar ever. Game over. That's it. Everybody go home. CYLENCE! (*****)
grandaddy: sumday
more wonderful robot love songs. (*****)
Filter: The Amalgamut
Another album best served at 11+. (*****)
deltron 3030: Deltron 3030
Ginormous robotic sci-fi fun. (*****)
Green Day: american idiot
This is one hell of an album. Crisp sound, killer lyrics, and the trademarked green day riffs. (*****)
Rage Against the Machine: renegades
this gets turned-up to 11. (*****)
radiohead: ok computer
(*****)
Otaku: Bitwise Operators
(*****)
the white stripes: white blood cells
(*****)
Starlight Mints: Dream That Stuff Was Made Of
(*****)
All
Mf Doom: Operation Doomsday
I love this kind of stuff. Don't miss "Hey!" for extra coolness. (****)