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SFF disks

I recently bought a refurbished HP DL385 server at auction. It turns out that it takes SFF (Small Form Factor) disks and has the ability to take 8 hot-swap disks (not bad for a 2U server).

The machine supports SAS disks and S-ATA disks as well. So the next thing to do is to buy […]

features of BMW 5 and 7 series

I was reading the brochure about the BMW 530i Touring (which seems to be the BMW name for what is known as a “Station Wagon” in Australia or an “Estate” in Europe). I looked at the brochure on the “Touring” because I am interested in a Station-Wagon – the Sedan version of the 5 series […]

reading email on a tram

This morning there were two or three classes from a local primary school on board my tram taking up all the seats (mostly three children to a seat).

So to answer some email and write blog entries I had to sit in a stair-well. Melbourne trams are symmetrical so that they can just change direction […]

presentations and background color

In response to my last post about using laptops for presentations it has been suggested to me that using white (or a very bright color) as the background color can help some displays synchronise with the signal. I haven’t had an opportunity to test this but it seems likely that as most computers are configured […]

last beard post

On Tuesday the 23rd of January I shaved off my beard after spending 107 days growing it, see above for the final beard pic. It was an interesting experiment and it’s something that I recommend trying, but I couldn’t keep it.

Having a beard is more effort than being clean-shaven. Eating is more difficult […]

vaccinations

You might expect that a vaccine against a disease that causes cancer would be widely embraced as soon as it was proven safe. If the disease in question was transmitted by contaminated food or water, sneezing, or most of the other ways that diseases spread then it probably would be widely accepted.

However recently there […]

the word “beamer”

Martin F. Krafft blogs about looking for advice on buying a “beamer“. He describes the word as meaning a projector in Germany (it also means the same in the Netherlands).

Since the time when I lived in the Netherlands I have been using the word in English, most people immediately understand what it means, and […]

meeting people at Linux conferences

One thing that has always surprised me is how few people talk to speakers after they have finished their lecture. A lecture might have many questions and the questions may be cut off, but when the speaker leaves the room they will usually do so alone.

When I give lectures at conferences I’m always happy […]

spare tires

The following letter was published in the RACV Magazine. The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria is a driver advocacy organization that provides roadside assistance and insurance. The fact that they published my letter means that the idea can’t be totally wacky so I’ll blog it. ;)

There have been many mentions recently in RoyalAuto about […]

Mercedes S class and car safety

The S Class Mercedes has some really interesting safety features, see this 6.8M PDF file for details. If you are interested in technology then you want to read it just to learn about all the cool features – it’s got more technology than a Prius!

The S class includes the following features to protect the […]