Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric v4

Category: Computers

  • Verify Node Has War Update

    Last week I posted on how to verify the cookie domain on nodes not just looking in the Ear file on the admin node. That same concept has another cool use: Verifying which VSTs the nodes actually have. Typically one-off updates from Blackboard has us run the updateWebctEar to replace classes in the war file.…

  • Safeassign

    A couple thoughts about problems with Blackboard’s SafeAssign product. The product appears to be designed to be used by a single institution learning context from CE/Vista systems. We have an institution (InstA) which hosts collaborative programs. Faculty quite reasonably would like to use SafeAssign at InstA just like they do at their home institution (InstB). It appears…

  • Another Way to Verify Cookie Domain

    Just finished a Oracle WebLogic Server 11g: Administration Essentials class today. So there are lots of things floating about in my head I want try. (Thankfully we have lots of development clusters for me to break beyond repair. Kidding. Sorta.) One of the common support questions Blackboard asks for those of us CE/Vista clients running…

  • Microsoft Failed

    A good error message in my opinion provides enough information for the user or administrator to determine likely cause. It doesn’t have to be THE cause. Just something I can try changing and see if the problem disappears. For a while now, Outlook was telling me the “Operation Failed” in a toaster pop-up. O… kay….…

  • I Write Like Me

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    Check which famous writer you write like with this statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers. Not trusting a single sample, I tested fifteen writing samples including stories and blog posts (excluding those with block quotes). The Cory Doctorow result was the…

  • Most Recent Data

    One of the common complaints instructors have about CE/Vista is the Tracking reports don’t have recent enough data. They are shown this for selecting the date range. Including here the most recent time the tracking was processed (which the application already displays to the server administrator in background jobs) would help the instructor know whether…

  • How Google Works

    A few basics of Search Engine Optimization came up at brunch a couple weekends ago. A few of the key points were that its not just important to have good information, but one has to have good metadata, good incoming links to raise authority, and no nefarious techniques. When I saw this, I immediate thought…

  • Another Ironic Keynote

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    Earlier today, Blackboard announced the keynote will be given by Anya Kamenetz, author of DIY U as the DevCon keynote. It continues the tradition of ironic keynote speakers in even years: 2008 Michael Wesch who spoke on how the traditional one-to-many classroom model isn’t good for helping students learn. The two LMS products Blackboard makes…

  • Upgraded to WP3.0

    The upgrade to WordPress 3.0 doesn’t appear to have broken anything? Good. It pointed out my Tarski theme was a point revision behind. That has also been upgraded. No apparent problems. No need to go mess with code. That makes me verrrry happy.