Japan Earthquake 2011

admin    Society, Technology     2011, 8.8, directory, earthquake, east coast, google, japan, magnitude, person finder, Philippines, sendai, tsunami

Japan has been hit by a terrible earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 today. Many of the roads and farmland has been destroyed by tsunami and as of this writing, there is a confirmed report of 15 casualties.

If you are in Japan and have internet connection, please help by providing information about other people’s location and yours using Google’s Person Finder.

Today is System Administrator Appreciation Day

Rai    Society     event, holiday, System Administrator Appreciation Day

July 31, 2009 (Last Friday Of July)
10th Annual System Administrator Appreciation Day

A sysadmin unpacked the server for this website from its box, installed an operating system, patched it for security, made sure the power and air conditioning was working in the server room, monitored it for stability, set up the software, and kept backups in case anything went wrong. All to serve this webpage.

A sysadmin installed the routers, laid the cables, configured the networks, set up the firewalls, and watched and guided the traffic for each hop of the network that runs over copper, fiber optic glass, and even the air itself to bring the Internet to your computer. All to make sure the webpage found its way from the server to your computer.

A sysadmin makes sure your network connection is safe, secure, open, and working. A sysadmin makes sure your computer is working in a healthy way on a healthy network. A sysadmin takes backups to guard against disaster both human and otherwise, holds the gates against security threats and crackers, and keeps the printers going no matter how many copies of the tax code someone from Accounting prints out.

A sysadmin worries about spam, viruses, spyware, but also power outages, fires and floods.

When the email server goes down at 2 AM on a Sunday, your sysadmin is paged, wakes up, and goes to work.

A sysadmin is a professional, who plans, worries, hacks, fixes, pushes, advocates, protects and creates good computer networks, to get you your data, to help you do work — to bring the potential of computing ever closer to reality.

So if you can read this, thank your sysadmin — and know he or she is only one of dozens or possibly hundreds whose work brings you the email from your aunt on the West Coast, the instant message from your son at college, the free phone call from the friend in Australia, and this webpage.

Show your appreciation

Friday, July 31, 2009, is the 10th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. On this special international day, give your System Administrator something that shows that you truly appreciate their hard work and dedication. (All day Friday, 24 hours, your local timezone).

Let’s face it, System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year. This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe, will be showered with expensive sports cars and large piles of cash in appreciation of their diligent work. But seriously, we are asking for a nice token gift and some public acknowledgement. It’s the least you could do.

Consider all the daunting tasks and long hours (weekends too.) Let’s be honest, sometimes we don’t know our System Administrators as well as they know us. Remember this is one day to recognize your System Administrator for their workplace contributions and to promote professional excellence. Thank them for all the things they do for you and your business.

We are overworked and most of the time, underpaid. Our only drive is our passion. Cheers to all System Administrators all over the world!

Earth Hour 2009

Rai    Society     earth hour, Philippines

I encourage everyone to join Earth Hour this coming March 28, 2009. As a symbol of our devotion to protect Mother Earth, let us turn off our unessential lights and appliances to reduce power consumption and carbon emissions for 1 hour.

Earth Hour will start at 8:30 PM localtime. This means wherever you are, Earth Hour will commence at your city’s localtime.

Barack Obama Inauguration: Watch Live Streaming Video

Rai    Society     barack obama, inauguration, live, president, streaming, video, washington, watch

For those who want to watch the live streaming broadcast of Barack Obama’s Inauguration, I have added an embedded video for my readers. Take part in this historical event and watch how United States of America takes a different direction as the 44th and First African-American President begins changing the country, hopefully for the good.

Hug A Developer Today

Rai    Society     developer, hug, love, spread the word

Behind every software or website is a developer who toils. A developer spends all night to fix a bug or goes to office on Sunday to upload updates. Now it is time to give back the love. Hug a developer now.