Saturday, December 26, 2009

First SAAA Event a Success

Meeting at TJ on a foggy and misty December 26th, the first SysAdmin Alumni Association event consisted of Jefferson graduates of the classes of 1991 up until 2011. The ‘new’ SAAA group briefly met up with the group of Sysadmins that have been meeting at the Annandale Fuddruckers since around 2000, and introductions were made. Members of SAAA trickled in over time after 2pm, and story sharing between the two groups took over much of the talking (with an obligatory Emacs/Vim discussion). Bodies from the “older” admin group included Mr. Don Hyatt, the first Syslab faculty director, Ilia Mirkin (01), and Brent Metz (98). Several members of the older group left early, as they had already met at Fuddruckers slightly earlier in the day and ate there.

After being kicked of the school building, the admins stood in the Senior parking lot for about an hour, and then moved over to Fuddruckers to order food and talk some more. The meeting ended at 6:48pm, and people left shortly thereafter. Plans were made to make this event annual, combining both groups into one as to allow for a large reunion. Others voiced interest in having smaller events throughout the year held near/in the school.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Creative Sun Blog Sign-Off

As Sun Microsystems experiences these hard times while negotiations with the EU take place, it seems a fair number of Sun bloggers have left in order to pursue jobs elsewhere, or for retirement. The other day I saw a really creative farewell notice on a Sun employee's blog, that was based on the Dr. Seuss book . The book, a popular gift for students graduating from high school and college (my high school once made a video montage of teachers and faculty reading parts of the book), carries some themes applicable to all aspects of life. This Sun employee took the book (or at least a condensed version) and made it relate to the ups and downs of working at Sun, and posted it here. Best of luck for the future!

Monday, December 7, 2009

EPA to Limit Carbon Emissions?

Well, maybe not just quite yet, but a study to be released in the near future is expected to report that greenhouse gases "pose a danger to human health and the environment", which would be the first step to limiting emissions, and lead to a (hopefully) more fruitful climate summit in Copenhagen.

'Fourteen days to seal history's judgment on this generation'

An article at The Guardian caught my eye earlier. On December 7th, an editorial about the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Council meeting will be published by "56 newspapers in 45 countries", and urge the leaders at the summit to set goals for greenhouse gas emissions. The goals of the editorial are noble, and I sincerely hope action is taken, and quickly. Having (hopefully) many years left on this Earth, being left with an inhabitable Earth that isn't being overrun with floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes would be just a small gesture of hope in our generation by those currently in power.

Leaving us with an economy that isn't on the brink of failing (see the U.S. Debt Clock and the country's current debt, not to mention the unfunded liabilities) would also be nice. I'm not sure about other Americans, but I would be more than willing to raise taxes in order to help pay down our enormous debts to other countries, as well as to ourselves. I'm not keen on our economic situation being able to be dictated by other nations that may not have our best interests at heart.

Update 2009-12-06 2244 - A Wall Street Journal article published today fits in very nicely with the Guardian article. Some preliminary numbers published by the World Bank detail how much the adaptation of nations to the increased sea levels and other global warming effects might cost, and suggests that these help nations to determine a starting point for fixing the problem.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Finally Taking Off?

Well, it seems the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is finally about ready to be put to testing for flight conditions. The Wall Street Journal reports that the airliner "could make its first test flight as early as next week." With the Airbus A380 seeming to be getting the upper hand in the race for the next generation of high-capacity jets, this looks to be fairly good news for Boeing. The road ahead is still rocky, however. The tests need to show good results, and airlines that have put in orders for the plane need to not back out!