Tuesday, December 25, 2007

A geek who can't get enough x'mas light

Mmm.. I know it's bit late haha. He used $10,000 worth of professional lighting and sound equipment that he borrowed from his job as a lighting designer, Hansen's 25,000-light display is synchronized to five songs. This is cool!




Haha abit too extreme I think. Merry Christmas everyone :)

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

How to bury a mainframe

Got this news from networkworld.com. On November 21, 2007, the University of Manitoba said goodbye to its beloved 47-year-old IBM 650 mainframe Betelgeuse by holding a funeral. @.@

They wrote an interesting (I found it funny muahahha) eulogy. I cut and paste it here.

For forty-seven years you've served us well, you cast us in yourgreen spell. You processed transactions without complaint, we've askedthe Pope to make you a saint.

The users you were always able to please, with a little training theycould enter with ease, all the data they needed in 2 or 3 screensinstead of the 57 in VIP. And getting data was easy in IMS, there were six hundred reports inthe RS. And Finance was easy with FRGLA, in the time when the mainframe held sway. And the programmers they had all the tools they need, Easytrieveand COBOL made programming a breeze. And Mantes were there tomanage the files, and to help with debugging if it wouldn't compile.

Now gone are the punch cards and card readers of yore, andmainframe computers that used up the whole floor. With tape drivecontrollers and large stacks of tapes, that kept operators scramblingall over the place.

Farewell IMS, we'll remember you well. After forty-seven years,there are many stories to tell. Like when Tel Reg nearly shut downMTS, and when the Y2K bug put us under duress. You helped us achieve our academic objectives, and gave our adminprocesses a proper perspective.

But now we must lay you under theflora, because we have to go deal with this bloody Aurora. So we commit your parts to be recycled.Earth to EarthAshes to AshesDust to DustTo the god of computers, please bless it and keep itAnd give it grace and peaceBut please do not resurrect it.







What a nice and touching way to said goodbye to a mainframe that serve them for 47 years haha. Respect