Peacebringers

A few days ago, or maybe it was yesterday? I don’t recall… but I tried updating my server, only to find out the commands: rpm, rpmbuild, rpmdb and yum; would not work.  They reported “Illegal Operation” no matter what I tried.  Today, I go to to post, realizing I left MySQL off, and upon restarting the service, I found that “rpm -qa” works…  Yay. My system sporadically decided to fix itself, or something.  Either way, now I will have to scan my system for rootkits, security exploits, and everything else to cure my paranoia that someone got through.  I’m not security-minded & anal retentive, but I do not run my systems without taking precautions and closing most security prone areas of an OS.

Now comes the part everyone else in the “blog-o-sphere” is talking about… the purchase of Sun Microsystems by Oracle.  I won’t commit to writing prose, technical white papers and a dissertation on my fears for those things that Sun owns… but let’s just say: I’m worried.   I’m worried foremost, about MySQL.  With Oracle DB, what will Oracle do with a RDBMS that they consider far inferior to their flagship product?  Sun *just* purchased MySQL from MySQL AB, well… it feels like it.  I was just getting used to Sun doing decent with MySQL.

Then, there is VirtualBox and Java.  Oracle just made a mess in their pants… they have Java.  My lips are pursed in curiosity and hesitation… Just what will Oracle do with it?  My gut feeling is they won’t mess too harshly with a good thing.  Then there is VirtualBox, the virtual server system that Sun also acquired shortly after acquiring MySQL.   I use both MySQL & VirtualBox almost religiously… and now I’m contemplating wearing Depends, the adult diapers, just in case Oracle goes and does something stupid.

Like the rest of those on the Internet, I sit here in trepidation, wondering and waiting for Oracle’s first move.

I just completed converting a blog of mine from Drupal 6 to WordPress.  In my opinion, there is nothing better suited for blogging than that.  I tried GeekLog, and moved to Drupal. GeekLog had issues, and Drupal was…. overkill.  Unfortunately, there are no converters either.   Given the capabilities of Drupal, I’m not really that surprised: Drupal is rarely used as “just a blog”.  Again, it’s overkill for that.  Considering my other site had about a dozen or so entries, I figured it would be less time consuming to just cut, paste & back date entries in WP, than try and find a converter, configure and tweak it and have it “not quite work”.

Oh, and apparently MySQL just released 5.1.34, which I’m now going to have to upgrade.  At least there is no major upgrade hassle from 5.1.33 to 5.1.34

I’m combining all my blogs and letting the dozen or so random old sites go.  In the end, I should have a personal blog, a professional blog, and a specialty blog which I have for kicks.  I’m one step closer… (to the edge).

During a medical checkup, I got thinking about the technology and computer systems that the medical field uses.   Seeing as how I am not in this field professionally, I can only observe and wonder as to the technologies used.  What got me thinking about this, is listening to the receptionist at my doctors office typing away.

This got me thinking about what kind of equipment they use.  Receptionist computers, doctors personal computers, nurses workstations, and a central office database perhaps?  Then, add into that fact, that my doctor’s office had their own lab… an EKG unit, X-Ray machine, blood testing, etc.  In what way, if any, are they interconnected?  What safety procedures and what requirements are there for safeguarding confidential and personally identifiable information pertaining to health records and other data?  These things come to mind, though since I’m in the hosting/web development sector, medical technology is far from my specialty.  I may look into this further, for curiosity sake.

Early this morning, I upgraded the server that runs this site from MySQL 5.0.77 to 5.1.33.  The last time I attempted this, it borked and didn’t like what I attempted to do.  This time around, it’s golden.

MySQL’s upgrade instructions basically state the best way to upgrade is to do a complete dump of all databases, uninstall the old MySQL version, install the latest stable 5.1 version, and then import the data back in.  My first attempt borked.  I’m thinking it was due to some oversight, such as not repairing all the tables beforehand, or some such.  This time, I had one issue with a table that contained cache data.  Since I wasn’t keen on keeping cache data, or rather, since cache data is not vital, I removed it… and voila, we’re back up and running.

Now comes the part where I watch the system like a hawk, and see if any of my web app’s have issues working with MySQL 5.1.  So far, no problems.

Welcome to one of my many little spots on the web.   My goal is to use this particular spot as a professionally minded blog.  I’m not always good at my “enuncipation proclimamification” but I’ll try to elaborate and enunciate as best as I can, when I post.  I will also try to make no apologies and to stand up for my own opinions, even when they differ from everyone else.  However, I do intend to fully admit when wrong, so don’t think I’m out to be a jerk, I’m just going to stand up and not allow myself to be walked on… as much.

For those that know me, they know I correct a lot of what I do and say, for fear of either being rejected, or for fear of offending people.  Here however, this is my world, my opinions, spilled out for everyone.  If that’s a good thing, or if I keep up with this, is a different issue.