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Being of the sort that likes to engage of conversations of a lively sort, at some point or another I tend to end up in discussions of politics and/or political outlooks. It was during such a conversation recently that the book Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand once again popped into the subject matter. I would like to say that I have read Atlas Shrugged, and that I could talk about the points that it makes, but alas that is not so. While I have owned a copy of the book for nigh on 7 years, it has been in my wife’s reading pile for the majority of the time.

Atlas Shrugged

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As a result of this conversation however, I decided that it was high time for me to get another copy of Atlas Shrugged and begin reading this colossus tale. Turns out the person that I was speaking with had his copy at hand, and was more than willing to part ways with it for the time that it would take for me to make my way through it. So I brought it home and began reading.

The first thing that caught my attention was the question that I have heard asked on more than just one occasion, “Who is John Galt?” This is a question whose answer I want to discover. In the story it is used almost more as a statement than that of a question. On this point I am not 100% certain, but that is the initial feeling that is put forth in the book.

Being 50 pages into it there is one parallel that I find massively disturbing. While there are socialistic undertones and capitalistic undertones the concept that bothers me is people not being willing to make decisions and take responsibility for those decisions. I find this disturbing because it is something that I have not only seen in everyday dealings with people, but also in my experiences in the corporate world. I cannot count the number of times I have been in meetings where no one wants to throw out an idea or make a decision for fear of being wrong. How can we continue on like this?

We have achieved a state where people are afraid to be accountable for their actions, and are apathetic when it comes to striving for excellence. Strange that I should see this parallel first, but then again it is a work of fiction and I have many pages yet to read.

More to come.

His Majesty’s Dragon
by Naomi Novik
Published: 26 March 2006
Rating: 8/10

His Majesty’s Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1)

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This is the first book in the Temaraire  series. As indicated by the title, this is a series about dragons. However, this book takes a twist on Dragons and the world in which they exist. Most novels dealing with dragons take place in universes that contain magic or realms that are far different than our own. Naomi Novik takes a different approach. Hers is an alternate history. The time frame is that of Napoleon in France at war with Brittan. In this alternate reality, dragons exist, and are used by the military as fighting beasts.

There are two main characters in this book. The most obvious is the dragon. However, the story is not told from the perspective of the dragon, but instead from the dragon’s master/companion. The dragon’s partner is the other main character of the book, and the story revolves as much around the character dynamics as it does about the dragons.

This is an excellent book that can be read by itself, without having to read the other books to feel satisfied with the novel.

Sorry for the short review.

I have recently added a wiki/faq section to the site. This is mainly for my own notes and thoughts, but I find that if I am working on something, then someone else has as well. You may or may not find the information useful.

I could have waited until I had populated it more fully, but better partial information than none. Most of the items will be computer related, but you never know what I might start looking into.  This being said, I have also not determined how I am going to handle comments. Currently they are disabled. This is mainly due to the wonderful fact that spam bots would fill up the entire thing in about 20 days if I was not careful.

To this effect, I may have to enable some sort of feedback loop to help minimize those types of responses.

Mountain biking is an inherently dangerous sport. Riding through the woods on two wheels with branches, roots, and other nonsuch leads to the very high potential of being injured. The injuries can rank from the minor scratch to ending up in a cast, or two. Even with these dangers, I would rather run into a tree than to be taken out by an auto while on a road bike.

Recently at a race, I took a bad spill on a downhill section. While nothing was broken, I had some major bruising. I had to take about a week off to recuperate, but no major issues. These types of crashes are the ones that you are glad to have.

Now last week, my foot came unclipped due to sliding on a root, and my eggbeaters (pedals) swung around and slapped me in the shin. For all intents and purposes it was a minor accident. However, the shin is a bad place for wounds. The skin is taunt and shallow depth to the bone. Needless to say after continuous bleeding for 4 hours I went the emergency medical clinic.

No stiches (because it was a puncture wound and there was not enough skin to bind), but a tetnus shot and compression pack to stop the bleeding, and I was fine. However, I was asked that famous question of “How painful on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst pain you have ever felt.” So when I saw the XKCD comic today I laughed, because of the slight change in the question, “worst pain you can imagine.”

I have had my shares of scrapes and injuries over the years so it is rare for anything to break a 2 or 3 any more. But I would have to agree with this comic, that my imagination holds much worse things than I have ever felt. If I do ever get asked that question, my response will have to be much the same.

Hopefully though, injuries will be kept to a minimum, and I will never have to answer this question.

As I stated earlier, the first 3 days of the Red Hat rapid track training went by in a blur. The amount of information covered was more than I believe a lot of people could absorb in the short time frame. There were a number of people at the training claiming that they were going to fail the certification exam at the end of the week.

Day 4.

The first half of the day was spent finishing the course material. In a strange twist, the stuff that we covered on the last day was some of the easiest items that we had covered all week. During the training I was able to pull out my laptop and answer a few emails that needed seeing to. While the material covered in the last day did not seem that important it is where I spent the second half of the day that made all the difference.

The course material contains a number of hands on labs. These labs are actually very well written, and actually require you to learn something if you want to be able to complete them. The catch is this. If you cannot complete the labs quickly without looking for how to do them in the notes of your book, then you are probably not ready for the exam, or will run out of time. This was the feel that I was getting, so during part of the morning session, I spent my time going back over the material that we had covered which was new to me. Could I have skipped this? Maybe. Did it help? Definitely.

The second half of the day I spent going over a review lab. This lab has you configure a system utilizing a number of the skills that you learned throughout the week. For the most part I was able to go through the lab of working with firewalls, LVMs, apache, and such without having to refer to the training material. However, I was not fast at it, and it took me 3 to 3.5 hours to complete. Not a good sign when the time that you have during the RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) exam is shorter than this. The review was good though, and I felt that I had a good grasp of the material.

In addition to this, as I was checking my work against the guide in the back, I saw that they had additional work you could do if you wanted more practice. This seemed like a good idea, and I stayed longer to ensure that I could accomplish all of these goals as well.

Day 5.

Exam Day.

The RHCE exam consists of two parts. The first part is the RHCSA (Red Hat Certified System Administrator) and the second half is the RHCE. In order to obtain the RHCE you must first pass the RHCSA exam. Once you have passed both, then you have your RHCE.

In order to take the exam you must sign a non-disclosure agreement. Because of this, I am not able to go into any detail of the exam. I believe it is OK if I say that there is no multiple choice section. The entire exam is a practical exam. You must be able to do the work if you want to get either of the certifications.

You do not receive your results instantaneously. It is a shame, but it is also understandable. Red Hat states you should have them within 72 business hours. I received my results the following Saturday.

Overall thoughts.

Was the class worth it? Yes. There is enough stuff that you may not do on a daily basis to warrant taking the class.

Could you pass the RHCE exam without it? Yes, if you can do everything listed on the objectives provided by Red Hat then you should be fine. (If you can do them fast)

Did I pass? Yes, I passed both the RHCSA and RHCE exams.