Dark Days
A bright Hawai'ian morning to you all! It's Tuesday. There's a couple of long discussions about Linux that came in yesterday. They are located above in Monday's notes. If you have the time, check them out.
Of course, a cloud just came over the system and if and when I can get this to the server is in question (sigh). It seems the IT boys are experimenting with adding an Ethernet segment to the WAN. This would be the first such segment since up until lately, this has been a true blue IBM shop. That translates into being a token-ring network topology. Leaving aside debates as to which is the "better" technology, I think its safe to say that the world does seem to be heading in a different direction (read that ethernet). Even IBM seems to have bitten the bullet (just TRY to find a Linux driver for an IBM token ring card).
All during the time I was experimenting with Linux, IBM would refer all inquiries about such a driver to private parties saying that traditionally, in the Linux world, private groups wrote the drivers, not manufacturers. This while IBM flacks were trumpeting to the world that IBM "supported" Linux (big sigh).
A lot of bad things seem to be happening in the world recently. Yesterday was the untimely death of Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton. My condolences to his friends and family. Farewell Sweetness.
On a lighter sports note, the National Basketball Association season begins today with 13 games. Having gone to college in California, I'm always pulling for the Los Angeles Lakers to win another championship. Whether Phil Jackson, formerly of the Chicago Bulls can help them to do that remains to be seen. The glory days of Magic Johnson seem so long ago.
For those who are subscribers to Dr. Jerry Pournelle's site, didn't you think his pictures of his trip to Japan were great? Not in the technical sense, but in giving us a glimpse of what he experienced while there. Worth every penny of the $36US/year to be a subscriber. For those who are not subscribers and have not visited his free site yet, please do so. The more people that go there increases the chances that he will be able to continue to do all those wacky and wonderful things with cutting edge computers and software.
A roller coaster of a morning. But if you are a reader of my page, you heard it here first, seven people killed at 8:08am (HST) in the Xerox building in Honolulu. The gunman was later surrounded by the police several miles from shooting site. ...Very Big Sigh. Welcome to the 20th century.
May they rest in peace. This is indeed a very dark day.
PM Update This very dark day has just gotten darker. We just learned that the husband of one of our employees was one of the seven killed. She is very young and had much to look forward too. While I was merely very sad before, now I am full of sorrow (and anger too).