Posts by Greg Stovall

Sysadmin left finger on power button for an hour to avert SAP outage

Silence is NOT golden...

Back in the 80s, I was on a coop term at a major telecommunications manufacturer. My assignment for the summer was to port a wire wrapping program from an DG Eclipse to an HP 3000. It was a very enjoyable exercise writing a converter from RATFOR to Fortran 77.

The factory floor was quite a noisy place with all the manufacturing equipment. Since I was new to the HP 3000, I spent a little time exploring. Discovered that as administrator, I could actually poke any memory location directly. I experimented with this...then noticed it was quiet --- too quiet. Panic filled my soul when I realized that the HP3000 I was poking on was the same one that ran all the manufacturing equipment -- and I had crashed it in the middle of the work day.

I learned NOT TO POKE memory on the HP 3000...

Quebec takes mature approach to 'grilled cheese' ban

"And sorry, done properly one uses a stainless steel pan, low heat and one butters both sides of the bread, NOT the pan, two 1/8" thick slices of *real* cheddar and some cracked black pepper."

You got the pan and the butter correct, but CHEDDAR??? Nah. A real grilled cheese is made with AMERICAN... :) Cheddar is only to be used if the American was consumed before next shopping day. My personal favorite is a nice habanero cheese. Brie can do in a pinch, but it's too mild. Deeply aged Bleu Cheese is absolutely wonderful! There is one Bleu Cheese I've had shipped from Ireland that is quite yummy.

Canadian family gives up modern tech to live like it's 1986

Re: May I humbly suggest

Interesting. I've lived in rural Arkansas for the last 10 years (moved from Dallas after 23 years there) and have had a completely different experience. I live in one of the poorest counties in Arkansas. Cell phones are nearly ubiquitous, and a substantial fraction of the phone are various models of iPhone and Android versions. Satellite TV used to be the norm, but a rising percentage of the population have canceled satellite and now use broadband internet. While speeds are not as high as in cities, I enjoy 20Mbps download speeds.

You paint the state like something out of "Deliverance". Perhaps you were mistaken about where you were staying? :)

Yes, firearms are the norm in rural areas, but I've only seen them used responsibly. Children are taught proper firearm safety at an early age. The vast majority of people I've met have been decent, hardworking, considerate people -- much higher quality folk than so many I encounted while living in urban areas. I really don't understand the comments about firearms I read so often these days.

Mullets + mustaches? Here?? Now I know you're making this up. :)

Rabid skunks attack US

Re: Whatever.

Well, that is true...unless the animal is rabid. Here in Arkansas we've had quite a few rabid skunks, as well as rabid dogs, cats, and even a rabid COW. The rabid skunks have been very aggressive, unlike their usual mild demeanor, chasing people in quite a number of instances.

Site guesses your sex via age-old web flaw

Just because I handle the finances

It appears that just because I handle the finances in my family, that this algorithm has decided there's a 93% probability of me being female, rather than the real answer of male. I guess the fact that drudgereport.com and slashdot.org were in the list weren't enough to sway the decision the other way.

Baptist church in assault rifle giveaway

Grandma and her 410

Reminds me of my Grandma back in the Great Depression. She and her family lived down in a hollow here in the Ozarks, about a mile off the road. Grandpa had left to work for the WPA to earn money for the family, leaving her home alone with 8 little ones.

She was little (under 5 foot, but she was tough). She kept a 410 (a small double barrelled shotgun) near the door, to deal with varmints, human and otherwise. When a drifter would come to the house and would threaten, as they would sometimes do to women without menfolk around, she'd grab the 410 and say, "The first barrel is loaded with salt, the second is loaded with buck-shot. I suggest you leave." She never had to use the buck-shot barrel on a human...

Hunting is the norm in rural areas

I understand this is difficult for people in urban areas, who only associate firearms with murder and mayhem, but in rural areas like where I live, nearly everyone hunts, and the results of the hunt end up in the freezer and then on the dinner table. In this environment, giving away a rifle, or a musket, or a nice hunting bow, is just like giving away a television, a game console, or a computer, or some other desirable tech prize in an urban area.

My church (yes, a Baptist church), has skeet shoots and wild game suppers a couple of times a year, and we typically give away hunting related prizes, because that is what interests people. And no, these are not fund raisers; entry is free. It is just one more way to try to reach people for Christ that would not otherwise be reached.

BTW, I myself have never discharged a firearm. But I support those who do so responsibly.