That was good.
September, 2008
5
Sep 08
Not Your Father's Money Supply
I’ve finally gotten a chance to read through some of John
Williams’ website Shadow Government Statistics: Analysis Behind and Beyond Government Economic Reporting. It’s an horrible title – to me it connotes fringe wacko theories about FEMA and Mt. Weather. It is, in fact, conclusive academic analysis of some of the nagging suspicions I’ve had for years – that the cost of living in this country is increasing at a far greater pace than the CPI would lead us to believe.
The chart at the beginning of this post is a good example of how vastly inaccurate BLS figures might be, depending on how the data is collected and interpreted.
5
Sep 08
…AND THEY'RE MOUTHY!!!
Apparently, my intelligence estimate of the Russo-Georgian conflict did not live up to the expectations of a seventh-grade social studies class. Kids are so hard to please these days.
At least I know how to use the apostrophe. —-> :’)
When the whole Black Sea sitch first hit the presses, I have to admit, I had to consult a map to refresh my memory as to the location of South Ossetia. Like I’d mentioned in earlier posts, I’d first played Ghost Recon back in 2003 and, sadly, that had been one of my sole points of reference for the Republic of Georgia (that’s Stalin, not Sherman). I knew it had been part of the USSR, that there had been elections funny business a year or two back, and that we’d had stronger ties with Georgia than with any other former USSR state still outside NATO.
As for my feeble analysis of the historical analogy between Russia’s annexation of South Ossetia and the Mexican-American War, you failed to miss some of the more dramatic errors in my conclusion (yes, I’m talking to the Poli-Sci Bruin). Listen, there is no way I support those baby-killing, godless Russians savages. However, the comparison does serve as a good way to explain the situation to the average Joe who, if we’re lucky, might know enough American history to be able to cognate the relationship between the two conflicts.
4
Sep 08
WHITE ELEPHANT
Someone (or something) posted a question earlier today asking, “What is a white elephant?”
From Wikipedia:
A white elephant is a valuable possession which its owner cannot dispose of and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) exceeds its usefulness.
Examples include the Spruce Goose and the house in which I spent my childhood.
3
Sep 08
Exchange Streaming Database
ATTENTION: DO NOT F- WITH YOUR EXCHANGE DATABASE UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING – HILARITY MAY ENSUE.
The system volume on our Exchange server filled up over the weekend again. I got tired of addressing this issue, so spent a few minutes researching the problem. The offending files had the extensions edb and stm. Apparently, these files deal with the Exchange database information store.
Like any heavily used database, these guys will grow quite large if they aren’t groomed and compressed from time to time. How does one get a maintenance plan going for an Exchange information store database? With routine backups of course!
Don’t ask me why – I guess since I’ve learned to think like a Microserf over the last couple of years, now this sort of thing makes sense. When I think like Bill Gates, this is the obvious course of action. “Of course the exchange information store database compression and grooming maintenance program should be initiated by a backup. Duh! What’s wrong with you?”
So, that aside, MSExchange.org has a great article that targets this subject with laser-like focus. Of course, I didn’t find it until after I’d figured out the solution, but it is great for those (this guy) who care to do academic study of the subject.
Kyle Hayes