Bureacracy Hypocrisy

Why do workplaces want to hire specialists AND document every procedure well enough that a trained monkey could carry out the steps?

This is not only counter-intuitive, redundant, time-wasting, Vogon-esque, and enthusiasm draining; but it is also preventative of the conditions that facilitate creative problem solving and progressive change.

Organizations that fall into the pit of having far too many compliance and regulatory work flow controls are at risk of alienating the truly talented resources on their staff.

These control procedures do provide the benefit of increased stability and better available documentation and communications regarding changes. My argument here is not for the abolition of change management; but rather the contextual evaluation of what steps are really necessary to foster stability and communication and what steps are frivilous. I also believe that investigation must be made into the ability to make the change management processes more transparent and more obvious/natural to use.

My letter to the SME Server folks

Dear [webmaster@smeserver.org],

The information on the website(s) relating to SME server is very ambiguous. It is fine for people who have already tried and used SME Server (I have been a user since the days of E-Smith 4.x); but it does not provide enough information to lure a net-new user into trying it out.

The creation of some decent “features”, “screenshots” [pages,] and even a [page comparing it with] other distros and Windows for the particular uses …has to be included on the website.

This kind of pseudo-marketing material must be developed in order to drive user adoption and the overall popularity of the project in order to maintain critical mass of development and testing.

I really believe in SME server as the ideal platform of choice for certain tasks.

Air is Poor Thermal Conductor

This article was written while observing Earth Day.

So why are we using giant air conditioners in data centres? They inefficiently cool the whole room without targeting the heat sources and waste energy on collateral cooling. Fans make noise. That noise is lost energy. Not to mention, air is not very thermally conductive.

IBM has designed a new high-density server rig to pool resources centrally. Click here for the news.com article.

This is something I have thought about before (ever since purchasing my first peltier cooling plate which provided a 70 Celsius difference between the two sides). Since then, I have purchased a Shuttle SFF PC that has  HeatPipe cooling for the CPU.

Interesting news from today

CO2 derived plastics present a potentially more eco-friendly way to produce hard plastic products:
CBC News reports on this story

The TTCs Renovations to Museum Subway Station were unveiled yesterday:
Click here to see many more photos from Torontoist

Q + A

The spectre of possibility holds responsibility for each morning that I rise
Inspiration needed to leave the comforting covers and pry open my eyes
The world progressed in a decade past, suspended in stasis I remain undefined
History erases itself in the wake of regret that follows me close behind
Those days and hours I wish I summoned the courage to make marvelous mistakes
And transform into action those intentions my soul, my senses, my mind makes
Optimism opposed by that fiery, sinking implosion I perceive where guts meet chest
Vociferation of the parts of me that are dying to live and to be expressed
Tell me something worth remembering; respond to a query nobody could conceive
The question you have been waiting for; the answer that gives us both something to believe

beau talks

It is time to start redefining those tan-lines and smile-lines while lounging on chatty patios, strolling the boardwalk, or exploring an unfamiliar city block.

March 20th was the passing of the equinox and the crowds of walking traffic that were enjoying the weather this past weekend seemed to indicate that spring has arrived. Our heavy coats and ear-warming hats can be shed and stored until cool weather returns in late autumn.