Sometime last week my new boss called me and a colleague into the 'goldfish bowl'... first thoughts are always negative ones and as I'm still learning the ropes, I assumed that I'd ballsed up somewhere along the line.
As it turned out, I hadn't... Steve wanted to offer us the chance to participate in Sun's annual conference for engineers (CEC), this year being held in Las Vegas in mid-October. The thing has been running a fair while now and by all accounts is a chance to meet other 'Sunnies' from around the world, do a bit of tech swotting-up, and get incredibly drunk in the evenings... certain tales I've heard haven't limited the drinking to just the evenings, either.
Unsurprisingly, I jumped at the opportunity and earlier on today, I booked a flight to Las Vegas. I'll be flying from Gatwick on October 6th, and flying back on the 11th. By the sounds of it, I've got a window seat (my choice -- less being disturbed by other randoms) flying direct, non-stop to Vegas. As the conference is during the week, hotels are supposed to be dirt cheap -- this basically means that Sun is putting is up in a decent posh hotel.
As I find out more about what's going on, which 'break out sessions' I'll be attending, and what I'll be doing on my free Sunday before the event, I'll get some updates posted.
Until then, I'll be answering the 'phones.
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Buying a bike
Since starting my new job at Sun I once again have the option to buy a bike now for a tax incentive. The idea is that I cycle to work in return for a close-to 50% reduction in final cost to me. As I live quite close to work and am keen to get "back on the bike" (in a purely bike-related way, of course) this seems the way to go. To be honest, it seemed the way to go last year, but I didn't pursue it hard enough (i.e. when they didn't have the size I wanted, I gave up... I think I also got a car shortly afterwards).
But now, things are different. I've got the car and the tummy to go with it, so buying a bike becomes a sensible idea once more.
After talking to the two bicycling Chrises in my life I have come to the following conclusions:
So, I want a hybrid bike. It'll hopefully be more practical for toddling around... I should be able to do tarmac and towpaths and the like.
So what do I want from a bike:
(this is actually rather interesting as the last time I bought a bike my criteria where quite different. I wanted something to go off-road, that had no mudguards, no storage space, and *had* to look good)
Chris Gerhard ruled out a rather good looking Scott Sportster P1 I was eyeing up... it had front suspension. I was liking the fact I could lock or unlock it as required, but Chris convinced me it just adds weight. This got me thinking... logic tells me I want a nice light bike, but these days I doubt that the extra 2kg the suspension adds is really all that significant compared to putting me on top.
Anyway, since then I've decided to concentrate my research into a couple of different bikes. I basically picked a bike that looked suitable from a bunch of different manufacturers:
This is about as complete as my list is so far. I just picked hybrid bikes that fit my price range. The next step is to go and pester Chrises and work from there.
But now, things are different. I've got the car and the tummy to go with it, so buying a bike becomes a sensible idea once more.
After talking to the two bicycling Chrises in my life I have come to the following conclusions:
- A recumbent is not suitable because I don't want to: a) break my legs; b) kill myself going up hills; and c) not see over the hedges
- Racing bikes are uncomfortable if you just want to toddle around like I do
- Touring bikes are probably in a similar class to racing bikes... on the plus side they have lots of storage space
- Mountain bikes are big, clunky and have unnecessary suspension (weight, effort up hills, etc.)
- Hybrid bikes... ah, I think we're onto something here
So, I want a hybrid bike. It'll hopefully be more practical for toddling around... I should be able to do tarmac and towpaths and the like.
So what do I want from a bike:
- Mostly on-road use (minor roads, country lanes, not the M3)
- Light off-road use (towpaths, well cycled paths and the like)
- Not getting covered in crap (also known as mudguards)
- Storage space (for cameras, lenses, film, waterproofs)
- Hopefully something that doesn't look like crap
(this is actually rather interesting as the last time I bought a bike my criteria where quite different. I wanted something to go off-road, that had no mudguards, no storage space, and *had* to look good)
Chris Gerhard ruled out a rather good looking Scott Sportster P1 I was eyeing up... it had front suspension. I was liking the fact I could lock or unlock it as required, but Chris convinced me it just adds weight. This got me thinking... logic tells me I want a nice light bike, but these days I doubt that the extra 2kg the suspension adds is really all that significant compared to putting me on top.
Anyway, since then I've decided to concentrate my research into a couple of different bikes. I basically picked a bike that looked suitable from a bunch of different manufacturers:
- Scott Sub 10 - looks nice, has all the spangly bits.
- Trek 7.5 FX (disc) - a little cheaper than the Sub 10, also with disc brakes. I don't know that these are really a plus or not.
- Dawes Discovery 601 - another nice looking bike, lots of people seem to say good things about Dawes. No disc brakes, but it specifically mentions mudguards and granny trolleys. I'm put off by the really low 'racer' rating Evans have given this bike. Sure, it's not a racing bike, but does a rating this low indicate I'm going to be achieving a maximum speed of 15mph? Probably not... from what I can tell, those Evans ratings are bollocks.
- Bianchi Camaleonte IV 105 - Evans gave this a way better racer rating; who knows why? I always found the tilty handlebars on my old bike quite comfortable for some things... not sure if this is a plus or not, does it indicate wider-than-average handlebars? Or the same size, but with less space for regular holding style?
This is about as complete as my list is so far. I just picked hybrid bikes that fit my price range. The next step is to go and pester Chrises and work from there.
Sunday, 8 July 2007
Nanking (Nanjing, China)
According to the BBC, a new US documentary is due to premiere in China's capital city, Beijing.
I don't know too much about the film itself, but I do know a very basic history of the Nanjing massacre, involving Japanese troops during their occupation of China in WWII.
Relations between Japan and China are under constant strain, and this new release certainly won't do anything to help.
Many Chinese argue that the massacre at Nanjing is still such a hot topic is not down to the atrocities committed, but instead are upset at the way the Japanese government now handle the issue. I suspect (but have no way to back this up) that very few Chinese are even aware of the existence of numerous statements made publicly by Japanese officials. Here are some relevant apologies dealing with the issue of 'comfort women' (female rape victims):
Incidents at Nanjing were not limited to rape. Hundreds of thousands are thought to have been beaten, mutilated and murdered (as many as 20,000 women of all ages were raped first). I will not include images here, but one Chinese student in the United States has a website that discusses the atrocities depited in photos at http://prion.bchs.uh.edu/~zzhang/1/Nanking_Massacre/.
Japanese apologies have addressed the broader issue too:
It is certainly not hard to understand why those affected by the war time activities of the Japanese would still be upset. No apology can undo acts that have been committed. What is not so straightforward to understand is why so many Chinese are still protesting for the Japanese government to take an extra step in showing remorse for these events.
Firstly, as I have already mentioned, I am not convinced that all Chinese are aware of the many past statements and apologies made by the Japanese. Over the last sixty years there have been a number of such apologies, but in a country such as China where up until recently all media and publications have been controlled by the state*, it is quite possible that such information has not been available. It is also possible that both social and political unreset within China have taken presedence.
Second, despite public apologies, some people argue that Japanese middle and highschool textbooks 'gloss over' what they refer to as the 'Nanjing Incident'. Here is how one middleschool textbook covers the issue:
There has been some discussion as to the exact number of Chinese killed during the occupation, "some Japanese claims of several hundred, to the Chinese claim of a non-combatant death toll of 300,000. Other nations usually believe the death toll to be between 150,000 – 300,000." (Nanking Massacre, Wikipedia) While this textbook includes a conservative estimate of total casualities, it is by no means an unrealistic one, but it does fall short of the IMTFE's (International Military Tribunal for the Far East) estimate of 300,000. What this (and most other) textbooks fails to convey is the importance of the event as well as the devastation and despair it caused. However, is a history book the proper place for such detail?
Third, official state visits to Yasukuni-jinja (Yasukuni shrine) by high-ranking officials such as now ex-PM Junichiro Koizumi
Finally, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) still exercise considerable control over media broadcasts, publications and the Internet. Films dealing with sensitive cultural, political and religious issues are frequently cut and sometimes are not even released. Within the country, dissent against the Party is not tolerated: non-conforming websites are removed, it is not uncommon for journalists to lose their jobs over published articles, and so on.
While in China a short while ago I saw many adverts on state television (CCTV) about interview documentaries with members of the Japanese army who were involved in the advance into Nanjing. I am not surprised, but I do find it 'interesting' that such a massively controversial film as 'Nanking' is to receive its first public viewing in Beijing.
I am not arguing that the events that took place in Nanjing should be forgotten or ignored, or that the rest of the world is not right to question Japanese motives behind recent changes to textbooks, but I can't help wondering if the selective CCTV broadcasts are doing more harm than good:
It seems unlikely that such a protest could go ahead without government approval. With this in mind and considering state media one can't help but wonder if the Communist Party is attempting to encourage anger and hostility towards Japan.
I don't know too much about the film itself, but I do know a very basic history of the Nanjing massacre, involving Japanese troops during their occupation of China in WWII.
Relations between Japan and China are under constant strain, and this new release certainly won't do anything to help.
Many Chinese argue that the massacre at Nanjing is still such a hot topic is not down to the atrocities committed, but instead are upset at the way the Japanese government now handle the issue. I suspect (but have no way to back this up) that very few Chinese are even aware of the existence of numerous statements made publicly by Japanese officials. Here are some relevant apologies dealing with the issue of 'comfort women' (female rape victims):
"The Government again would like to express its sincere apology and remorse to all those who have suffered indescribable hardship as so-called 'wartime comfort women,' irrespective of their nationality or place of birth." Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Kato (July 6 1992)
"On the issue of wartime 'comfort women,' which seriously stained the honor and dignity of many women, I would like to take this opportunity once again to express my profound and sincere remorse and apologies. With regard to this issue as well, I believe that one way of demonstrating such feelings of apologies and remorse is to work to further promote mutual understanding with the countries and areas concerned as well as to face squarely to the past and ensure that it is rightly conveyed to future generations." Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama (August 31 1994)
"As Prime Minister of Japan, I thus extend anew my most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women." Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (2001)
Incidents at Nanjing were not limited to rape. Hundreds of thousands are thought to have been beaten, mutilated and murdered (as many as 20,000 women of all ages were raped first). I will not include images here, but one Chinese student in the United States has a website that discusses the atrocities depited in photos at http://prion.bchs.uh.edu/~zzhang/1/Nanking_Massacre/.
Japanese apologies have addressed the broader issue too:
"The Japanese side is keenly conscious of the responsibility for the serious distress and damage that Japan caused to the Chinese people through its aggression against China during a certain period in the past and expressed deep remorse for this." Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama (August 15 1995)
"I have seen for myself the brutal scenes of war exhibited in the Memorial Hall, and I come to know that the wound of war was immeasurable." Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (October 8 2001)
It is certainly not hard to understand why those affected by the war time activities of the Japanese would still be upset. No apology can undo acts that have been committed. What is not so straightforward to understand is why so many Chinese are still protesting for the Japanese government to take an extra step in showing remorse for these events.
Firstly, as I have already mentioned, I am not convinced that all Chinese are aware of the many past statements and apologies made by the Japanese. Over the last sixty years there have been a number of such apologies, but in a country such as China where up until recently all media and publications have been controlled by the state*, it is quite possible that such information has not been available. It is also possible that both social and political unreset within China have taken presedence.
Second, despite public apologies, some people argue that Japanese middle and highschool textbooks 'gloss over' what they refer to as the 'Nanjing Incident'. Here is how one middleschool textbook covers the issue:
"At the end of the year, the Japanese army occupied the capital, Nanjing. In the process the army reportedly massacred as many as 200,000 civilians and prisoners of war, and the endless cycle of violence and looting that ensued drew harsh international condemnation." Chater 5 (Japan and Two World Wars) of The Historical Field by Nihon Shoseki Shinsha. This quote included the following subnote: "There are a variety of views on how many Chinese were killed."
There has been some discussion as to the exact number of Chinese killed during the occupation, "some Japanese claims of several hundred, to the Chinese claim of a non-combatant death toll of 300,000. Other nations usually believe the death toll to be between 150,000 – 300,000." (Nanking Massacre, Wikipedia) While this textbook includes a conservative estimate of total casualities, it is by no means an unrealistic one, but it does fall short of the IMTFE's (International Military Tribunal for the Far East) estimate of 300,000. What this (and most other) textbooks fails to convey is the importance of the event as well as the devastation and despair it caused. However, is a history book the proper place for such detail?
Third, official state visits to Yasukuni-jinja (Yasukuni shrine) by high-ranking officials such as now ex-PM Junichiro Koizumi
Finally, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) still exercise considerable control over media broadcasts, publications and the Internet. Films dealing with sensitive cultural, political and religious issues are frequently cut and sometimes are not even released. Within the country, dissent against the Party is not tolerated: non-conforming websites are removed, it is not uncommon for journalists to lose their jobs over published articles, and so on.
While in China a short while ago I saw many adverts on state television (CCTV) about interview documentaries with members of the Japanese army who were involved in the advance into Nanjing. I am not surprised, but I do find it 'interesting' that such a massively controversial film as 'Nanking' is to receive its first public viewing in Beijing.
I am not arguing that the events that took place in Nanjing should be forgotten or ignored, or that the rest of the world is not right to question Japanese motives behind recent changes to textbooks, but I can't help wondering if the selective CCTV broadcasts are doing more harm than good:
"Hundreds of young Chinese broke windows at the Japanese Embassy and other buildings Saturday after as many as 10,000 people marched through Beijing calling for a boycott of Japanese goods in a demonstration [...] over atrocities it committed in China during World War II [...] that appeared to have been sanctioned by the government." Philip P. Pan, Washington Post Foreign Service (April 10 2005)
It seems unlikely that such a protest could go ahead without government approval. With this in mind and considering state media one can't help but wonder if the Communist Party is attempting to encourage anger and hostility towards Japan.
Thursday, 5 July 2007
blogs.sun.com
http://blogs.sun.com/lewiz/ now exists!
I'll probably be sticking the techy stuff on there from now on, probably.
I'll probably be sticking the techy stuff on there from now on, probably.
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
Global Solutions Centre Support Engineer (BT Group)
Talk about a mouthful...
This Monday I started a new job as a support engineer in the Solutions Centre. There are product/technology 'verticals' in the solutions centre, and I've joined the BT group... this isn't actually a technology vertical, it seems to be a remnant of an older model where verticals were built around customers and industries instead of products.
Starting a job as a permanent Sun employee means a number of things:
This is actually not a very representative list of what new stuff happens. There's a lot more to it than this, but it's hard to properly talk/explain about things that I've not yet done... I'll attempt to motivate myself to write a follow-up entry once I've felt my way around some now.
There are also a couple of downsides to taking this new job:
And of course one really big thing that will change is my boss -- Paul.
Over the past year (to the day, I think) I've learned absolutely loads of stuff about Sun, working in a company, being a member of a global team, dealing with engineers, and of course about how the global labs work (which I get to forget).
Now seems an entirely appropriate time to say thank you to everybody that I've been working with... Paul and David, the other lab guys (so that's Chris, Anton, James, Liam and (sort-of) Wilson), wdvs, Keith, JonCA, PTS people (Chris Gerhard, Tim Uglow, Matt Finch, John Alderson, Mick Mullins and plenty more) and the other lab guys around the world.
So... thanks a lot, it was fun :)
This Monday I started a new job as a support engineer in the Solutions Centre. There are product/technology 'verticals' in the solutions centre, and I've joined the BT group... this isn't actually a technology vertical, it seems to be a remnant of an older model where verticals were built around customers and industries instead of products.
Starting a job as a permanent Sun employee means a number of things:
- I get an awesome-looking yellow Sun badge (I've still not actually got this... hopefully I should be able to get it sorted on Wednesday)
- I get to have a blogs.sun.com blog!
- I get to actually speak with customers and help them resolve their problems (as opposed to engineers in my current temporary position)
- I get to forget *everything* I've learned as a lab guy
- I get more money
This is actually not a very representative list of what new stuff happens. There's a lot more to it than this, but it's hard to properly talk/explain about things that I've not yet done... I'll attempt to motivate myself to write a follow-up entry once I've felt my way around some now.
There are also a couple of downsides to taking this new job:
- No more messing around
- No more access to the good stuff in the lab (I guess I'll have to tag along to the organised tours)
- No more root access to a bunch of production servers
And of course one really big thing that will change is my boss -- Paul.
Over the past year (to the day, I think) I've learned absolutely loads of stuff about Sun, working in a company, being a member of a global team, dealing with engineers, and of course about how the global labs work (which I get to forget).
Now seems an entirely appropriate time to say thank you to everybody that I've been working with... Paul and David, the other lab guys (so that's Chris, Anton, James, Liam and (sort-of) Wilson), wdvs, Keith, JonCA, PTS people (Chris Gerhard, Tim Uglow, Matt Finch, John Alderson, Mick Mullins and plenty more) and the other lab guys around the world.
So... thanks a lot, it was fun :)
'Repairing' a disk under Solaris
If you are seeing errors about reading from a particular disk block on your system console, you can use the format utility to 'repair' the problem. In addition, you can use an analyze mode to detect (and repair) problems:
# format
Searching for disks...done
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
0. c0t0d0
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0
Specify disk (enter its number): 0
selecting c0t0d0
[disk formatted]
Warning: Current Disk has mounted partitions.
FORMAT MENU:
disk - select a disk
type - select (define) a disk type
partition - select (define) a partition table
current - describe the current disk
format - format and analyze the disk
repair - repair a defective sector
label - write label to the disk
analyze - surface analysis
defect - defect list management
backup - search for backup labels
verify - read and display labels
save - save new disk/partition definitions
inquiry - show vendor, product and revision
volname - set 8-character volume name
!- execute , then return
quit
format> analyze
ANALYZE MENU:
read - read only test (doesn't harm SunOS)
refresh - read then write (doesn't harm data)
test - pattern testing (doesn't harm data)
write - write then read (corrupts data)
compare - write, read, compare (corrupts data)
purge - write, read, write (corrupts data)
verify - write entire disk, then verify (corrupts data)
print - display data buffer
setup - set analysis parameters
config - show analysis parameters
!- execute , then return
quit
analyze> read
Ready to analyze (won't harm SunOS). This takes a long time,
but is interruptable with CTRL-C. Continue? y
pass 0
4884/26/70
pass 1
4884/26/70
Total of 0 defective blocks repaired.
analyze>
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