Sunday, January 11, 2009

How Stuff Works - Quizzes

http://people.howstuffworks.com/quizzes.htm

Wiki Policy, Politics and Social Interactions

How Wiki's Work:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wiki.htm

Vandalism and Edit Wars:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wiki3.htm

OpEd: Why Wikipedia Must Jettison Its Anti-Elitism
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=wiki.htm&url=http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/30/142458/25

Personally, I believe that a good community is the best police force... Power in numbers. These are two of the main reasons why Wikipedia is and will continue to be so successful.

Web 3.0:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-30-quiz.htm

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Urine or You're Out

Here's an entertaining bit of email that has been forwarded around recently:

THE JOB - URINE TEST
(Whoever wrote this one deserves a HUGE pat on the back!)

I HAVE TO PASS A URINE TEST FOR MY JOB... SO I AGREE 100%

Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.

Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their ASS, doing drugs, while I work. . . . Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?

I guess we could title that program, 'Urine or You're Out'. Just a thought.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Two Great Sites

http://lifehacker.com/

http://www.instructables.com/

What is your data backup plan? Fear the worst. It can happen!

Check out this article on Lifehacker:
Hard Lessons in the Importance of Backups: JournalSpace Wiped Out.

"Blogging service JournalSpace has been completely wiped out after the drives that housed their entire database were overwritten."

According to JournalSpace, this is what happened:
http://journalspace.com/this_is_the_way_the_world_ends/not_with_a_bang_but_a_whimper.html

"The server which held the journalspace data had two large drives in a RAID configuration. As data is written (such as saving an item to the database), it's automatically copied to both drives, as a backup mechanism.
The value of such a setup is that if one drive fails, the server keeps running, using the remaining drive. Since the remaining drive has a copy of the data on the other drive, the data is intact. The administrator simply replaces the drive that's gone bad, and the server is back to operating with two redundant drives.
But that's not what happened here. There was no hardware failure. Both drives are operating fine; DriveSavers had no problem in making images of the drives. The data was simply gone. Overwritten.
The data server had only one purpose: maintaining the journalspace database. There were no other web sites or processes running on the server, and it would be impossible for a software bug in journalspace to overwrite the drives, sector by sector.
The list of potential causes for this disaster is a short one. It includes a catastrophic failure by the operating system (OS X Server, in case you're interested), or a deliberate effort. A disgruntled member of the Lagomorphics team sabotaged some key servers several months ago after he was caught stealing from the company; as awful as the thought is, we can't rule out the possibility of additional sabotage.
But, clearly, we failed to take the steps to prevent this from happening. And for that we are very sorry.
So, after nearly six years, journalspace is no more.
If you haven't yet, visit Dorrie's Fun Forum; it's operated by a long-time journalspace member. If you're continuing your blog elsewhere, you can post the URL there so people can keep up with you.
We're considering releasing the journalspace source code to the open source community. We may also sell the journalspace domain and trademarks. Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/jsupgrades for news."

What a shame. Over six years of data from multiple users. Gone.

Here is another posting on the subject: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/03/journalspace-drama-all-data-lost-without-backup-company-deadpooled/