JimGorski.com

Virtual servers are wonderful, allowing you to leverage huge systems by splitting them up into smaller servers that are easily upgraded, downgraded and backed up as a disk image.
They have only a few weaknesses, and one of those is the lack of an actual, physical chip that tells them roughly how much time has passed since the last time they cared about the time.
Since the ‘hardware’ the virtual server is running on shares the ‘clock chip’ with a variable number of other systems it can be tough to ensure that the clock is always correct.
Many modern applications don’t care about the time.
Many software solutions exist today to keep those virtual clocks on the correct time.

But what if you only had a single port to connect a virtual system with a clock source?

I am sending an unsolicited email today – asking another person – a stranger – for something. It’s an odd situation since I loathe spam and the people who send it. I’ve never found a use for spam and I have never found myself influenced by the deluge I wade through every day.

So what makes this different? Is sending one email to only one person enough to make it ‘okay’?

I’m going to say yes since I don’t think that there is an army of ‘pseudo-marketers’ out there crafting each single email sent about ‘male enhancement’ then sending it along one at a time.

It’s like Halloween – where you expect people to knock and ask for things – it’s the same letter but a unique spirit.

OK – I’ve convinced myself – here goes nothing…

The only real downside to saving it forever is constantly sending sending back the same email a person sent you in 2006. On the one hand you’re the genius who can always remember where things are and what the password might be. On the other hand – EVERYONE ASKS YOU FIRST. You have been warned.

Today on my desk I have (from left to right) a Mac mini, a Windows PC and a Frankenputer that is running Ubuntu Linux. The Ubuntu box is for hacking. When I get a wild idea to use my camcorder for a high resolution webcam the Linux OS becomes my place to explore. Compilers abound, scripts are interpreted by a gaggle of binaries and if you make a mess you can start fresh without digging out the old license key. The flip side of Linux is the depth of the rabbit hole. You say something simple like ‘I want to install my scanner’ and you end up on some Russian hackers webpage at four in the morning learning how to compile Ruby to enable the SANE front end extensions. The hole is deep my friend, and the water is cold at the bottom.
The Windows PC is my media center. Games call down updates once a week and the drivers update themselves almost as frequently. Blasting, questing and p0wning newbs all take place on this system and when the fan kicks in – you better grab the cat before she gets blown to Kansas. Unfortunately this system also runs Windows. Sure it’s Win7 (8 is still making up it’s mind about tablets) so it’s the most stable Windows ever – I only reset about three times a week. Sometimes I even reset the system on purpose! That leaves only Mini-me, my aluminum slab that is fun to be with. It’s slow because I am cheap. It doesn’t crash, it doesn’t reset itself, and when it needs my attention it asks me in a cute little voice to come and click on a dialog box. It just works.

He’s getting so big.

Oh and guess what – if they say something like “move along or I will spray you with this horrible chemical” – they mean it.

They have mortgages, they have children, they have a job that pays just enough to keep them afloat like anyone else.

Vilifying them because they have a stronger sense of family preservation than a sense of empathy with protesters is as wrong as using force when a powerful irritant can be deployed.

I feel bad for the ‘pepper spray guy’ at Berkeley.

He’s not following orders to kill children or to beat grandparents. He was asked to disperse a crowd. He asked the crowd to move along, he warned them that they would be sprayed and arrested, and when the protesters decided that is what they would like to have happen, he complied.

It will happen every time.

Maybe leaving and then returning the next morning would have been a better plan for the occupiers…

So mayors are now asking people to leave the parks to clean up.
People who don’t comply are pepper sprayed to prevent resistance and then arrested.
People are not allowed back in the same park because mayors do not want to have to repeat the whole process again in a few months.

Media coverage of the protests is mixed and running at a fever pitch.

Some outlets look at the occupyers as idealists fed up with a failing system.
Others feel the occupiers are life losers complaining about the end of handouts and free benefits.

But what has actually happenned here?
Has anything changed?

Do we have new political candidates pledging to avoid lobbying firms and special interest groups?
Do we see new legislation preventing banks from offering unrealistic credit and profiteering from human suffering?
Do we have a place for homeless uninsured people to enojy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

No, we have a nation distracted by the police tactics used to move people along.
We have a window of opportunity for lunatics to suggest insane changes (I heard someone suggseting government by sortition – google it for a laugh).

Personally I am frustrated.
I’m frustrated that companies are allowwed to send work overseas in an effort to line the pockets of shareholders here and abroad.
I’m frustrated that neccesary medecines can cost thousands of dollars in the U.S. but only a few dollars in Mexico or Canada.
I’m angry that students can graduate from high school and still be unable to spell, read or perform basic math.
I’m sad that all these passionate people slept in tents, shared food and ideas (even some good ideas) and nothing has changed.

Nothing has changed.

Somehow my defensive end, big man under the basket, massive eleven year old also grew the soul of an artist. Okay – maybe a little angry in his craft – but art nonetheless.

Who would have guessed our first snow in Penfield would be weeks after the first snow downstate?