Misc. Ramblings

Monday - 16 October 2000

Benny and the Mets. From almost being sent back down to the minors at the beginning of the season to the toast of the town. Hawai'i born and raised Benny Agbayani has probably seen it all. And so have the National League New York Mets baseball team. Not to jinx them or anything, but all they need is one more win to clinch the league pennant. If the other New York team can finish off their series, it may, dare I say it, be an all New York World Series.

Another Hawai'i resident doing well is the newly crowned Miss America Angela Perez Baraquio. The Physical Education teacher (she surfs, she plays volleyball, she does everything!) and Athletic Director at Holy Family Catholic Academy near Hickam Air Force Base appears to be an outstanding representative of her culture, her family, and her students. Well done Angie!

And while I'm on the subject, a well done to the members of the US Olympic Volleyball team with Hawai'i ties. Namely, starting setter Robyn Ah Mow and starting middle blocker Heather Bown. Both lifted the team to a finish higher than the sum of the teams parts would have indicated. While they did not medal, they showed team spirit and flashes of individual brilliance that bodes well for the next Olympics.

And finally, the University of Hawai'i (American style) football team finally won its first game this past weekend. I guess you could call this a rebuilding year. But their freshman quarterback is coming along quickly. Good luck Warriors!

Voice in the Wilderness. InfoWorld's Nicholas Petreley is the proverbial voice in the wilderness. He's trying to get a "standard Linux distribution anyone can install and run. Every commercial and nonprofit Linux distributor would start with this standard then add the unique kind of value that does not cause incompatibilities." See his column here.

Here, here. Most distributions put 90 to 95 percent of the base install into the same places. But it's the last five or 10 percent that will drive you nuts. For example, is it modules.conf or conf.modules? Is it make bzImage or make bzlilo (or even zlilo)? The Balkanization of Unix is one of things that has kept Unix from becoming more accepted. The same fate awaits Linux if it doesn't start standardizing things soon. Yes, there will always be a tension between standardization and creativity. But if Linux is going to mature into something Aunt Minnie can use (and there are those who don't want that to happen), then standardization will have to occur.

There's a couple of other interesting things going on in the world but my back is killing me and I need to finish a report for work on the "paperless office." Paperless Office?!?!!

Aloha!

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Tuesday - 17 October 2000

Ho! Ho! Ho! 'tis the season in Hawai'i when the airlines announce their "Mele Kalikimaka" (Merry Christmas) airfares. Say what? The annual fares are announced about this time of year and are limited time specials during December. It appears that fares this year will be lower than last year's specials. These seats usually go fast, so if you've had a hankering for a trip to the islands for the holidays, call your travel agent now!

Mets Win! Mets Win! Mets Win! So, one half of baseball's World Series will include the New York Mets. This after winning game four of the best of seven series with the St. Louis Cardinals 7-0. Met's pitcher Mike Hampton was named MVP.

Volleyball Magazine this week will be naming the University of Hawai'i Wahine Volleyball team the number one rated team in the US. Their site still has last weeks ratings but they should be updating that soon. Not bad for a team that lost their starting setter and middle blocker (see Monday's post on Robyn and Heather) last year. It's been four years since the team has made it to the top of the polls, but this is well deserved. We hope they can keep their level of play up and make it to the NCAA finals.

I have a couple of hundred pages of reading for tonight's class so I am out of here - Aloha!

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Hump Day Wednesday - 18 October 2000

Black Berets. The Los Angeles Times has an article ( here) on why the US Army is going to change from their standard head wear to wearing black berets. They feel that, now wait for this, it will raise morale. "It will be a symbol of unity, a symbol of Army excellence, a symbol of our values." says Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki.

Me thinks that Shinseki, who hails from Hawai'i, must have been living on the mainland too long. One pundit compared the wearing of berets to wearing bell bottom pants from the 1960s. Another noted that if everyone is wearing one, it is no longer exclusive. Thus losing whatever cachet it may have had before. Sigh. Well, I guess if you can't do anything effective, you may as well do something symbolic. That way, it appears that you are doing something effective, even if you aren't.

Debate this. So the great presidential debates are finally over. If up until now you haven't been able to decide who to vote for, the last debate should be of some value. There are some clear differences between the candidates. For instance, Bush argued that Gore is a "big spender" who believes that Washington has the answer to most of the nation's problems. By contrast, Gore noted that Bush is a defender of the priveledged and big-money interests. Gore was strong on health care. Bush seemed to do well on defense (notwithstanding Gore's budget which would spend more on defense than Bush's).

All typical of each party. And thus illustrative of the differences between the two candidates. Don't say you don't have a choice, because you do. A clear choice. So, in November, get out and vote - early and often. <G>

The Dot.com Dilemma. For a short while, it appeared that e-business could defy gravity. And a lot of other constraints that affect the rest of us. But as recent events are showing, what goes up, usually comes down. So if your business plan doesn't include the idea of making a profit, you will eventually go out of business. Fortune magazine (see the article here) takes a look at what works, and what doesn't. They've come up with a list of 12 'truths' learned the hard way. You and I may not agree with all of them, but if you have the time, it may be worth your time to read the article.

1.  The Internet isn't as "disruptive" as we thought.
2.  If it doesn't make cents, it doesn't make sense.
3.  Time favors incumbents.
4.  Making a market is harder than it looks.
5.  There's no such things as 'Internet time.'
6.  'Branding' is not a strategy.
7.  Entrepreneurship cannot be systematized.
8.  Investors are not your customers.
9.  The Internet still changes everything.
10. The Internet changes your job.
11. The distinction between Internet companies and non-Internet companies is fading fast. 
12. The real wealth creation is yet to come.

As usual, I have two hundred pages to read for tomorrow's class, another ten page paper for class due next Tuesday, and another paper for work. So I am out of here. -Aloha!

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Thursday - 19 October 2000

The British are coming! The British are coming! Break out your triangle hats and muskets! The BBC is coming to town. Actually, they are already here. Our local cable company (is that an oxymoron?) recently added the BBC America channel to our line-up. So now I get to watch Absolutely Fabulous, the Vicar of Dibley, and Sister Randy. They also have some pretty good comedies.

Locals Only. What does it mean to be a "local"? Do you have to grow up in a culture to be part of it? Those, and other questions relating to race, bigotry, culture, and identity are being asked as part of a four-part series being held at the East-West Center in Honolulu. Read all about it from the morning paper (see it here, note that the link will expire sometime today).

So much reading and writing to do. I'm only in my first semester of graduate school and I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed. In talking with my classmates, they feel the same so I guess I'm in good company. Oh well, this too shall pass. - Aloha!

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Aloha Friday - 20 October 2000

It's Friday!

Linux-3, Dan-1 Okay, so if you are using an IBM 16/4 token-ring PCI network interface card (NIC), and you can't seem to get it to work with Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4, "out-of-the box", do the following: 1. Compile the kernel with token-ring support and include the Olympic module. 2. Download the www.isc.org dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) client. The one that comes with the Caldera distribution specifically says it works only with Ethernet. Which I can tell you is definitely true. So download, compile, and install the ISC client. Then edit your /etc/modules.conf file to include the line alias tr0 olympic (note that the character after the tr part of the command is a zero and refers to the first instance of a NIC. The word olympic refers the the driver). If the NIC still won't initialize, try installing the Linux 2.2.16 kernel from ftp.kernel.org (remembering to include token-ring support and the Olympic driver as a module) and try again. Note that these instructions are specifically for the Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 distribution and the IBM 16/4 PCI Wake on LAN Token-Ring NIC. It also assumes you know how to compile the kernel (find the kernel how-to if you don't know) and the DHCP client.

Right now I am using the 2.2.16 kernel and the ISC DHCP client and can get internet access. There are problems however. As before, with the Olicom NIC, when the DHCP client initializes, it appears to erase all previous information as to the dynamic name servers (DNS). Hence, I have to manually type in addresses of the DNS servers every time I boot. I don't know why I have to do this since the DHCP client should be retrieving that information from the DHCP server, but it doesn't. I also need to figure out how to get the client to be run at boot time. Right now, I can't figure that out and have to manually type in the name of the executable to get it to run. One step forward, three behind. But at least the IBM 16/4 token-ring is working. YMMV.

Poetic Justice. Recently, an off-duty police officer hit and killed another driver. The officer was arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol (DUI). At the time of the accident, he refused to take a breath or blood test to determine the level of alcohol in his system so his driver's license was immediately suspended. Well, bad as that is, what's so interesting about that?

Well, here's the rest of the story. Last night, while riding his bicycle, the officer was, now don't get ahead of me, hit by a drunk driver. The drunk driver was driving without, now wait for this, a driver's license because it had been suspended for a previous DUI. Karma nei?

On a sad note. A friend of mine, from when I was at the Health Department, died this past weekend. She died of a heart attack. As far as I know there were no warning signs so it was very sudden and unexpected.

I think what I'll remember most about her was her sense of humor and ability to not let things get her down. She will be missed. Aloha `Oe to you, my friend. Always.

Have a great weekend everyone! And remember to give a hug to the ones you love, because life is sometimes a very fragile thing. - Aloha!

© 2000 Daniel K. Seto. All rights reserved.