Bend in the Weather (Entries tagged as mistake)

tzdata changelog

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:40:00 +1100

Often changelogs have important information on why a package was updated. Other times, they are just humorous:

tzdata (2009n-0ubuntu0.9.04.1) jaunty-proposed; urgency=low

* Add argentinas-dst-2009.diff: Disable DST switch for Argentina tomorrow,
as the Argentina government decided yesterday. Careful planning is boring.
Thanks to Margarita Manterola for the patch! (LP: #453165)

-- Martin Pitt Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:22:39 +0200

Perspective

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:48:00 +1000

MX is a free commuter magazine published in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

A regular feature, they ask commuters a question.

Given their time again, I think John and Claire would answer differently.

Source: PhotoBasement

Presenting Pr0n.

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:49:00 +1000

I read Jacinta's post and have to agree with the statements she made.
I'm a red blooded male with crazy hormones running around my body like the next person, yet I know there is a time and a place for such things.

Let's put it in clear context. "Pr0n has no place in a technical conference presentation."

One wouldn't show pr0n related images to their own grandmother or a stranger in the street.
Use this 'stranger in the street' or 'my own grandmother' as a general guide if you are unsure.

If you feel the need to resort to showing such images, you need to ask why.
Is your presentation that dull you need to distract your audience?
Are your presentation skills that poor you need to resort to cheap stunts to keep your audience interested?
Is your knowledge on the given topic limited and needs attention to be misdirected away from the main discussion point?
Are you sure all your audience is of legal age? Being a technical conference doesn't mean there aren't minors present. Keep this in mind.
As a parent, I would be outraged if my teenage child attended such a conference to be subjected to pornographic images.

Playing the 'pr0n card' in a presentation shows a lack of maturity and disregard for your audiences intelligence.
It really isn't 'witty' at all and quite offensive.

Feel free to use humour in your presentation to liven it up, but keep it on a neutral topic and not one that is controversial.
Remember - your presentation is supposed to educate people to your point of view. You won't do this if it polarises your audience!

You would expect a backlash to your presentation if it contained anti-semitic or a white supremacist suggestions... expect the same with anything controversial.

If in doubt, why not run your presentation prior to the conference via the organisers. It's much easier cleaning up the slides prior to the presentation rather than the egg you'll have on your face.

Strange IRC messages from across the Indian Ocean

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:34:00 +1100

Leave your IRC client set to away for a day, and then check your private chats later that night.

It's amazing some of the strange banter you get:

[someuser] hi..
[someuser] yesterday we completed the network config change in all servers, and now network part is clear
[someuser] ;P
[someuser] ;P
[someuser] :p
[someuser] please ignore above 3 lines

For the record, I was helping a fellow admin out with configuring a series of bonded interfaces for a server (7 connections - 3 bonded, one not).

I take it the first two lines of the message tells me it's been completed.
The next 3 lines were meant for someone else, whilst the last the user recognised what they had done.

The lesson for today: Check which window you're in before typing.