Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric v4

Month: December 2009

  • Google Chrome on Linux

    I was excited to read today a Google Chrome Beta is now available on Linux. Gmail and Google Reader have weird font issues for me on both Linux and Window Firefox. So I tend split my browser load based on where the sites work best for me. Making the Linux switch meant leaving Chrome behind…

  • Disclaimer

    At the request of my boss, I added this disclaimer. Positive things I say here about Blackboard are okay. Negative things require distancing my employer from me so the defamation lawsuit comes to me not them. 🙂 This is a personal weblog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.

  • Failed Sessions

    For exactly two months now I have been working on a re-opened issue (on Oct 7, 2009) where sessions appear to die in Blackboard Vista 8.0.2 hf1. The first time this came up, Blackboard support wanted us to overhaul the session management. BIG-IP documents saying attempting this new method was a horrible idea caused us…

  • Last Known Good config.xml

    Saw this on Laura Gekeler’s blog: Tip: Keep a ‘last known good’ config.xml file on your admin node. Your Bb Vista cluster config.xml file | laura gekeler Very good tip! We learned this lesson a couple months into hosting Vista 8 in pre-production. She goes on to explain this file gets overwritten any time a…

  • GIMP Raw

    When photographers I know talk about processing their digital images, they generally talk about Adobe products like Photoshop or Light Room. Some talk about Apple’s Aperture. Operating system only matters when it manages to make filters finish faster on the equivalent hardware. But… I am cheap. Photoshop was in my tool set back when work…

  • Self-Reporting

    When I read something like this, I start to question the validity of the method. Psychologist Sam Gosling analyzed the Facebook profiles of 236 college-aged people, who were also asked to fill out personality questionnaires… surveys that were designed to assess not only how study participants viewed themselves in reality, but also what their personalities…

  • Linux Adventure Part 3 [SOLVED]

    Linux Adventure Part 1 | Linux Adventure Part 2 \ Use these to catch up on the story. After work and much ridicule from a coworker over this Ubuntu mess, I come home to play some more on this wireless mess. I was even somewhat leaning towards giving the firmware cutter stuff a try. After…

  • Linux Adventure Part 2

    Linux Adventure Part 1 | Linux Adventure Part 3 [SOLVED] So far into the story, I tried repairing Windows Vista which failed to actually give me a working entry into the operating system. The Linux Live CDs were non-committed forays into Knoppix, CentOS, and Ubuntu. All failed to turn on the wireless. An ethernet cord would…

  • Linux Adventure Part 1

    For about a week now I’ve been without my personal laptop as anything much more than a brick. I think tonight I am going to copy off the pictures and other important information to my desktop. From there, anything I do to make the situation worse will no longer matter as much. Monday night, I…