Tag: office supply

What the hell is going on?
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What the hell is going on?

To start this blog, let me first tell you that what you think is the truth is probably anything but.

As an author, I do my best not to be distracted by the news. Why?

First, the news is either broadcast through a lens of bias or is straight-out propaganda.

I like Bill Mahar, and I also like Ben Shapiro. Where have you been if you don’t know those names?

Bill is a classic liberal, and Ben is a traditional conservative. Both are intelligent people and worthy of your time.

Republicans and Democrats are dehumanized and marginalized by the media. If you have been brainwashed by the left, you won’t consider listening to a conservative. If, on the other hand, the right has bent your ear, you will dismiss anything you hear from the democrats.

It’s not enough to divide us along political ideologies. They need us divided along racial lines too.

Our current administration is going out of its way to curry favor with people who typically lean left by demonizing white males. I find what our leaders say offensive and, in the words of this generation, cray cray.

Bill went on Ben’s show. He clearly had based much of his ideology on talking points by the left.

I don’t think Ben shifted his opinions by anything Bill had to say. On the other hand, I moved some of my thoughts by what I heard. While both men are articulate and funny, I think Ben’s opinions are based on history and reality vs. what Bill heard on CNN.

The first lesson in life is,

  • Don’t believe everything that you hear.
  • Follow the money.
  • Just maybe you can judge a book by its cover.
  • Watch what someone does, and discount what they say until their actions match their values.

The world is a crazy place. Megalomaniacs with Nukes hold the entire world hostage. Weapons of mass destruction should be outlawed worldwide…period. I touch on this in my latest novel, Earth’s Last Hope.

If you wonder why there are so many shootings, you must follow where people get their input.

  • Hollywood
  • The Media
  • The gaming industry

Garbage in equals garbage out.

When we think of a time when the world, or at least this country (USA), was at its peak, Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver were what we watched. Shows with moral construct.

Acting up in school would get your butt warmed up rather nicely. It was both painful and humiliating. It should be.

Gun Reform is not the answer. Mental illness is.

We will never fix the problem. Both the entertainment industry and the gaming industry own too many lawmakers.

Until we clean up DC, the world is in peril. Money is the root of all evil. Money turns into power, and power is addictive as any drug that was ever conceived.

While Elon thinks occupying Mars is the answer, we must look past Mars. Read my novel for my thoughts on the subject.

My thoughts are my own; I am not for sale. My book is.

If you like it, please give it a review.

You can find it on Amazon and the E-version on Smashwords.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1327396

-Best

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Big Red Button or Time to Panic!

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Nothing says “push me” like a big red button.  One of the office supply stores even created a big red button that says “EASY” on it, to advertise how they can simplify your work life.

One of the data centers that I was responsible for had such a button.  It was covered with a little plastic rectangular box that said “emergency shut off” on it.

I have been in many data centers during my career.  There were several that had a big red button by the door with it sole purpose to release the magnetic latch on the door, to open it.

Like any other location, security in a data center is paramount.  Not only are network security firewalls and such important but physical security as well.  Only those who needed access to the data center, could access it with their security card.  Not even the CEO had access as he did not need it.  Their entrance was logged and in fact throughout the building one could forensically track any employee’s movements as this card was necessary to gain access to just about anywhere.  With the technology available today, I could design such a better system, but that is beyond the scope of this document.

One day, a vendor was visiting with a proposed solution to a problem.  Like any other vendor, if access to the data center is required, they are escorted at all times by one of, if not more of my staff or me.  The data center was in the middle of a retrofit and redesign while keeping the company running in parallel.  (This is much like changing the tires on a race car while it is moving down the track.)  On their way out of the data center, just as quickly as anything, the sales guy in front reaches up to the left of the door pops the cover open and pushes the big red button!  By the time that the sound of “NO” had left my lips, there was an eerie quite in the room.

The chain of events that this action triggered, were phenomenal.  Lights went off, the air handling unit went off, the Battery back-ups clicked on and for the moment; it looked as though the carefully engineered back-up power supplies were working.  I should mention that the look on this guys face was priceless, and I am just about certain that he had to change his shorts afterwards.  It dawned on me that no one had tested this button, and nobody knew where all of the circuit breakers were; well almost no one.  As I was the one that specified the power requirements for this data center and oversaw the installation of the new transformer, I knew where the main breaker was.  Within moments I had most of the power back on however; there was one legacy system that was still not on main power.

In another closet in another part of the building were still more circuits for this room.  I did not have a key to this and getting building maintenance involved was time consuming as they typically think like union employees; (don’t care if the place is on fire, when it is time for a break, they take it.)  Before the UPS was totally drained for that system I had gained access to that closet and found one tripped breaker.

I had inherited a mess of a data center that was put together on a shoestring budget.  Not because the company could not afford to do it right, their boss was cheap beyond reason.  They had cut corners at every place they could, including splicing old type 3 wires to cat 5 wires and running 16mg token ring over it.  They could not understand why 5250 and 3270 traffic would constantly be garbled and why connections to the server would be dropped frequently.  When I say spliced, I literally mean wires twisted together and a wad of electrical tape stuffed in the wall and or ceiling.  (Another story)

It did not take me long to get that circuit changed over and documented with everything else.  I also got to check off the list “test emergency shut down.”

Moral of the story; if you have a big red button, find a time to test it.  Secondly make certain that the button is labeled in big white letters on a red sign etc EMERGENCY SHUT OFF!

I am a stickler for documentation, which IT personnel are loath to do.  A living document should exist within each and every company that explains the ins and outs of everything, so if need be, someone else can take over.  It is part of the audit process for a disaster recovery plan and is one of the deliverable s.

-Best to you and all those that you care about!