electric bunnies

IN COMPARISON

2009-10-25T10:11:00.000+02:00

SCOM 2007: OpsMgr can monitor everything: The Coretech Coffee Monitor Management Pack – 0.0.0.1

2009-10-23T15:36:00.000+02:00

OpsMgr can monitor everything: The Coretech Coffee Monitor Management Pack – 0.0.0.1: "
How cool is this? Coretech has created a coffee monitor MP.

This management packs can be used to keep track of the level of coffee in left in the pot.

With this management pack, you will never run dry of, what we all know, is the most important part of a productive environment!
(read more)

First glance: Sony Ericsson C905

2009-10-10T15:14:00.001+02:00

I picked up my new phone yesterday, the Sony Ericsson C905.

I chose this phone mostly because of the stunning 8.1 megapixel camera, but was secretly concerned about the interface, especially because my previous phone was a Windows Mobile phone (which I do adore), but have been pleasantly surprised so far.

Rather than the 8-16 hour charge that I am used to for new phones, this one only required a 2.5 hour charge, and I was able to use the phone while it was charging.

Syncing my contacts back from Outlook was a quick and painless process – almost easier than with Mobile Sync Center on first run. In fact, I was up and running within minutes – including installing the software that comes in the box.

The camera is phenomenal. The shutter is fast, the flash not overpowering and the picture quality is fantastic. I love taking pictures, but have struggled with the camera on my previous phone, because most of the pictures were just too blurry to use, even online. I took a couple of pictures last night and this morning, and here are some of the results:

Our tortoise, who fits into the palm of my hand.

The dude’s future garden (where I am trying to grow lettuce, spinach and morogo).

My daughter, hula-hooping.

The phone includes MotionGaming and comes with Need for Speed Prostreet installed. To play, you simply move the phone. I am sure if I had to find a lightsaber app, I could have hours of fun :)

I am a little disappointed that the WiFi only supports up to WEP and not WEP2, because this means I cannot connect the phone to our home network seamlessly, but this is not the end of the world, as the HSDPA connection is blistering fast. And with the Blogger app built in, I suspect I may do a LOT of photo blogging going forward.

First glance score: 4.5/5

Ninja cat

2009-09-26T08:33:00.001+02:00

Stuff that I have been working on

2009-09-12T09:01:00.001+02:00

Been hectically busy recently, hence the lack of activity here. I have been working on a couple of SCOM projects, mostly, with the following:

Unix/Linux agents: The Unix agents were mostly Solaris, so once we got the first one in, the rest were easy. When I got stuck, the following blogs were great:

- Xplat Xperts
- Daniele Muscetta
- Contoso.se

The linux agents area little more complicated, because they are running CentOS (not currently supported in SCOM) and is still in progress.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager integration: This we did to enable SCOM to monitor the VMWare environments for our customers. Simple, easy and straight forward, providing your install media is not corrupt (as ours was in the one instance).

I have also been building web dashboards, much against best practise, to display pie charts and so on from SCOM. The current dashboard I am working displays an overall state from SCOM, machines not reporting, machines with disk space issues, patch compliance from SCCM and AV compliance from McAfee. Most of this is functional now, but I am suddenly needing to learn SCCM, which has also proven interesting.

I used the free components from Fusion Charts for building the graphs, which made life very easy for me. The pie chart here is a FusionChart that displays the overall state from SCOM in my home environment.

7 things I like about Windows 7

2009-08-15T14:55:00.002+02:00

As we are all holding our breath for the RTM release of Windows 7 (22 October), I thought I would list the 7 things I like about Windows 7. Keep in mind that my points are based on Windows 7 RC (build 7100) and not RTM.

1. Speed. There is no denying it, Windows 7 is fast. Lightning fast. No matter what you throw at it, it just keeps going. You no longer need to go make yourself a cup of coffee while you reboot. Log-in time is just phenomenal. And once you get going, there seems to be no limit to the number of apps you can have open. I tend to run heavy applications, such as Visual Studio, along with everything else I do and I don’t even notice it as I did on XP. And games just cruise. My daughter agrees that everything is faster, and she can play Sims3 without growing old at the same rate as her Sim :)

2. Libraries. Truly one of the best time-savers in Windows 7, and one that I have noticed others overlook until they start using it. With a simple click, you can add folders you access regularly to a library – either one of the existing ones, or your own, custom one – and you can add multiple folders to one library, making it easy to access your (scattered) files in one location. You can also share your libraries, which is great in a home/SOHO network environment – and if you have an Xbox360.

3. Search. I know that search was included in Windows Vista, but it is much better in Windows 7. Indexing no longer consumes all your processing, and finding apps/files is just a click away. And search is integrated everywhere, from your start menu to explorer windows to compatible applications. And it is awesome. Especially if you suck at filing, as I sometimes do.

4. Three words: Windows key P. If you have to swap between screens and projectors on a regular basis, you will absolutely love this as much as I do. And it works, every time.

5. Mobile. My husband and I agree, it would seem as if Windows 7 was built for more mobile devices. It is just easier to simply close your laptop lid, bag it and open at your destination again that before. And moving between networks is no longer a pain. And and and.

6. Old stuff. I like playing old games. I am talking really old. Like Caesar III old, not quite Space quest old. And they just work. As does my old scanner, that XP struggled with and Vista refused to even greet. I haven’t yet found something that didn’t work when I plugged it in.

7. Purdy. There is no denying it, Windows 7 is pretty. But it doesn’t feel like pretty that got up at 5 this morning to apply the layers and do the hair, but rather like pretty that drinks enough water and does yoga and rolled out of the bed this morning fresh and natural. And randomising wallpapers (another new built-in feature) every 10 seconds makes no difference to your performance.

(All my current wallpapers are from Interfacelift.com)

I have never been a great fan of the desktop operating system until now. Finally, like with Office 2007, Microsoft has produced a desktop offering that I enjoy using at all times. I am looking forward to seeing RTM in production.

You strike a woman, you strike a rock

2009-08-09T11:35:00.001+02:00

[picture source]

On August 9, 1956, 20,000 women staged a march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act (commonly known as the pass laws) of 1950. They left bundles of petitions containing more than 100,000 signatures at prime minister J.G. Strijdom's office door.

Outside they stood silently for 30 minutes, many with their children on their backs. Those who were working for whites as nannies were carrying their white charges with them. The women sang a protest song that was composed in honour of the occasion: Wathint'Abafazi Wathint'imbokodo! (Now you have touched the women, you have struck a rock.). In the 54 years since, the phrase (or its latest incarnation: "you strike a woman, you strike a rock") has come to represent women's courage and strength in South Africa.

The march was led by Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn.

(source)

Sadly, 53 years later in 2009, things are not much better for women in South Africa. While women do have the right to vote, own property, have ‘high’ jobs, etc., abuse is still rife and women are often victims of violent crimes. Let us hope that it doesn’t take another 50 years to eradicate the violence.

SCOM: backup management packs

2009-07-28T13:16:00.001+02:00

A colleague of mine has created a script for backing up management packs in SCOM, as follows:

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager.Client
New-PSDrive -Name: Monitoring -PSProvider: OperationsManagerMonitoring
-Root: \
cd Monitoring:\
New-ManagementGroupConnection [rms]
cd [rms]

$all_mps = get-managementpack
foreach($mp in $all_mps)
{
export-managementpack -managementpack $mp -path "[backup path]"
}

Replace the following (including the brackets):

[rms]with the name of your RMS server (2 locations in script)
[backup path]
with the path where the backups should be written to e.g. c:\backups\

In powershell, run the following command:

set-executionpolicy remotesigned

This command sets your run permissions on your powershell scripts so you can run any locally created powershell script. Downloaded powershell scripts still need to be signed.

Save the script as a .ps1 file.

You can now schedule it through task scheduler as follows:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe powershell "full path to your powershell script, including the script name"

E.g.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe powershell
"C:\Backups\Scripts\BackupSCOMMPs.ps1"

The script will export all management packs, sealed and unsealed, creating an XML file for each. Currently, the script will overwrite any existing files in the location specified

The most violent country in Europe…

2009-07-05T09:17:00.001+02:00

Britain's violent crime record is worse than any other country in the European union, it has been revealed.

Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries.

[source]

I have to admit that I am hesitant to believe any article that makes these kind of claims these days. Crime and crime rates appear to be sensational news and I suspect facts and figures are blown out of proportion, or not accurately reported. Like the recent story that 1 in 4 men in South Africa have raped at least one person.

Yes, South Africa has a high crime rate. Yes, the UK has a high crime rate. I suspect one may find the same in any country with densely populated areas.

Sims 3

2009-07-04T12:51:00.001+02:00

My daughter is a massive Sims fan, and has been playing consistently since Sims 1. And, as her mother, I always test drive the games she plays, just to make sure that, ahem, they are friendly and safe and all that stuff, you know, but I am not a big fan of the Sims, mostly because, when I play a game, I like to escape reality, and the whole business of having to take care of your sim’s bodily needs is far too much like reality for me.

When we bought Sims 3 for her recently, I of course had to install it and see what it is all about, as usual. And, out of the series, this one is by far the best.

Other than the improvements in the interface and the Sim creator, there are a couple of other things I really do like about the latest offering. I love the fact that the Sims are no longer bound to their property, but are able to go jogging around the neighbourhood or even walk to the beach. And, once they are on the beach, as you can see from the caps above, they are able to go fishing. And not only is fishing fun, but they can either use the fish they catch in their homes – either as pets or for cooking – or they can sell the fish at the grocery store, earning them money. And, every now and again, they can also donate the fish to science.

There are also more options for your sims to make money now. They can buy into the existing businesses in town, and earn weekly ‘royalties’, sell paintings, sell novels and articles and the vegetables and fruit they can grow in their own gardens.

Things I really like:

More realistic sim creator
Ability to customise everything, including furniture, without much effort
Ease of making money without a job
You can set lifespans to be longer

Things that annoy me:

Swapping between households in the same game is cumbersome.
You still need to take care of those bodily functions.

Sims have come a far way. I look forward to seeing what expansion packs will be available for this version.

SCOM 2007: Health state query

2009-06-23T14:34:00.001+02:00

In MOM 2005, it was so easy to pull the overall state of a device from the database, but the SCOM database is a little trickier and has had me doing query after query for some time now. I finally came across this post by SCOM Bag this morning, and refined the query a little, so it looks like this:

select basemanagedentityinternalid, networkname, ipaddress, healthstate, state.lastmodified as lastdate
from basemanagedentity inner join mt_computer
on basemanagedentity.basemanagedentityid = mt_computer.basemanagedentityid
inner join state
on basemanagedentity.basemanagedentityid = state.basemanagedentityid
where IsManaged = 1
and datepart(yyyy, state.lastmodified) = datepart(yyyy, GetDate()) and datepart(mm, state.lastmodified) = datepart(mm, GetDate()) and datepart(dd, state.lastmodified) = datepart(dd, GetDate())

This will pull the state for each device in the database for current date. Not quite perfect yet, but it is a hell of a lot closer to where I want to be so I can rewrite my dashboard for SCOM

16 June - Youth Day

2009-06-16T10:27:00.001+02:00

"I saw a child fall down. Under a shower of bullets I rushed forward and went for the picture. It had been a peaceful march, the children were told to disperse, they started singing Nkosi Sikelele. The police were ordered to shoot." (source)

Hector Pietersen, 13, carried by a friend.
(picture source)

May we never forget. And may our children always be free and safe.

SCOM Quick and Dirties…

2009-06-10T18:55:00.001+02:00

I was sure I saw an email come into my mailbox this week about one of the two quick and dirty scripts for SCOM I posted recently asking how to implement it, but it looks like something ate it.

Just to clarify: these scripts are not for use within SCOM. Instead, it should be saved as a .vbs file (visual basic script file) and run either as needed or as a scheduled task in Windows. Apologies if I was not clear in my instructions.

I have also noticed that the formatting has gone for a ball of crap, so I have uploaded the files as text files to Skrydrive. They may be found here and here.

Gizmodo - Star Wars Death Star Grill

2009-06-08T18:05:00.001+02:00

Gizmodo - Star Wars Death Star Grill Unleashes the True Power of Dark Meat - Star Wars'

The Youngest Kid to Graduate College Feature Story

2009-06-07T19:35:00.001+02:00

Holy cow

The Youngest Kid to Graduate College
6-Jun-2009
Written by: Stefan Julian
11 Year Old Graduates With Honors
Moshe Kai Cavalin started college at age 8 and graduated at 11. On Friday he graduated with honors from East Los Angeles College.
According to Foxnews.com, he graduated with a degree in astrophysics. Cavalin wants to be a movie actor and compete in the 2016 Olympics in martial arts. According to Digtriad.com, he wants to go to Stanford and be an astrophysicist.
Kotaku.com reports, Cavalin has tutored his classmates and is graduating with a 4.0 grade point average. Cavalin plans to head to a 4 year university.
He is the only child of an Israeli father and a Taiwanese mother. Calavin looks up to Bruce Lee and Albert Einstein. The little prodigy says that he’s just a regular kid who loves piano and martial arts. He specializes in algebra and advanced astronomy.
Calavin is the youngest kid ever to receive an Associate of Arts Degree. His mom and dad have decided it is time for him to take a break.

The Youngest Kid to Graduate College Feature Story

And now for the gnus

2009-05-27T21:21:00.001+02:00

Two quick pieces of news:

1. I wrote (and passed) the SCOM exam (70-400) today. This means I am finally qualified to do my job :)

2. SCOM R2 went gold on the 22 of May. I am really looking forward to upgrading my environments soon.

My first movie

2009-05-21T07:41:00.001+02:00

I played around with Live Movie Maker last night, and spliced together a couple of videos of my brother clowning around.
Full time taken to create movie: 1 hour.
Most of the time was spent converting the video files, first from MP4 to WMV, because, for some reason LMM cannot read anything but WMV, and then from WMV to MPG for uploading.

I am quite pleased with the results:

Abuse of Child 'Witches' Burgeoning

2009-05-19T13:26:00.001+02:00

Abuse of Child 'Witches' Burgeoning
Posted May 18, 09 10:17 AM CDT in Crime & Courts, World
(Newser) – Children dubbed “witches” are facing increasing abuse in Nigeria and elsewhere, advocates say. “They would take my clothes off, tie me up and beat me,” said a 14-year-old, whose grandfather concluded he was a “witch” 2 years ago when he cried at the threat of being beaten with a broom. “Nigerian witches are terrified of brooms,” the grandfather tells CNN.

“Children accused of witchcraft are often incarcerated in churches for weeks on end and beaten, starved, and tortured in order to extract a confession,” said a member of an advocacy group. Often, the children have conditions like learning disabilities or epilepsy. Some 15,000 kids are labeled witches in two Nigerian states, and “it is a growing issue worldwide, among not just African communities, but in countries such as Nepal,” said a UN worker.
Source: CNN

Over and over, i read stories like this. Stories of our children being abused. In Africa, in Asia, in Europe.
When, oh when, will our children be safe?

Eskom wants more…

2009-05-17T09:45:00.001+02:00

And for a change, Cosatu and I are in agreement…

The Congress of South African Trade Unions says it is "totally opposed" to power utility Eskom’s proposed 34% electricity tariff increase - and urges National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to reject it.

"Such a massive increase would inflict misery on thousands of poor households, especially as there is not yet a tariff policy that protects poor consumers, many of whom would have to give up using electricity at all, faced with such a rise in their cost of living," says Cosatu.

It adds that a 34% increase would also hit hundreds of small and medium businesses who are already struggling with the effects of the global financial crisis.

More

We are already paying through our arses for basic services that are not reliable. We are paying a penalty if we use more than an ‘appropriate’ amount of electricity – which, I can tell you, is not as much as a normal household would need running the bare minimum of appliances. To add 35% to that will kill both low-income families and small businesses. Not only will it directly impact on how much it costs to run a household, but it will also increase the cost of food and everything else. I am sorry, Eskom, but maybe you need to relook at your finances and how much you pay your fatcats before you try and milk this country for another cent.

We, the public, have until 2 June 2009 to comment, in writing, this requested increase. Please, use your voice. Visit NERSA for more info.

Thunderous Thursday

2009-05-14T11:22:00.001+02:00

The song stuck in my head today. It is one of two NiN songs I actually like, and I always misquote this song by saying 'black would be the colour if I had a heart'

I still recall the taste of your tears
Echoing your voice just like the ringing in my ears
My favorite dreams of you still wash ashore
Scraping through my head 'till I don't want to sleep
Anymore

You make this all go away
You make this all go away
I'm down to just one thing
And i'm starting to scare myself
You make this all go away
You make this all go way
I just want something
I just want something I can never have

You always were the one to show me how
Back then I couldn't do the things that I can do now
This thing is slowly taking me apart
Gray would be the colour if I had a heart
Come on, tell me

You make this all go away
You make this all go away
I'm down to just one thing
And I'm starting to scare myself
You make this all go away
You make this all go away
I just want something
I just want something I can never have

In this place it seems like such a shame
Though it all looks different now
I know it's still the same
Everywhere I look you're all I see
Just a fading fucking reminder of who I used to be
Come on, tell me!

You make this all go away
You make this all go away
I'm down to just one thing
And i'm starting to scare myself
You make this all go away
You make it all go way
I just want something
I just want something I can never have
I just want something I can never have

~ Something I Can Never Have, Nine Inch Nails

May...

2009-05-04T13:47:00.000+02:00

Windows 7 RC Announced

2009-05-03T19:00:00.001+02:00

This via email today:

Windows 7 Release Candidate Announcement
Thank you very much for your help in testing the Windows 7 Beta. Your feedback is invaluable in helping make Windows 7 a high quality operating system. With your help, we have reached the next major milestone on the journey to Windows 7: the Release Candidate (RC).

On April 30th, the RC became available to MSDN subscribers and TechNet Plus subscribers.

On Tuesday, May 5 (PST), the RC will be available to everyone via our Customer Preview Program. As with the Beta, the Windows 7 RC Customer Preview Program is a broad public program that offers the RC free to anyone who wants to download it. It will be available at least through June 30, 2009, with no limits on the number of downloads or product keys available.

I will do my next round of reviews once I have installed the RC rather than on the Beta.

Darth Vader Toaster | GeekAlerts

2009-05-02T09:25:00.001+02:00

I wants one!!!!

Darth Vader Toaster

When sipping your morning coffee from Darth Vaders helmet, you can now also brand your toast with a silhouette of the Dark Lord of the Sith, using this Star Wars toaster.

This black, ominous kitchen appliance easily leaves the mark of Vader’s helmet in every yummy piece of toast. Slather some Bantha butter on top, or make two pieces for an extra-Sithy BLT. Force power not required to operate toaster.

The Darth Vader Toaster is estimated to arrive in January 2009 and the product can now be pre-ordered for $54.99 from the official Star Wars webshop.

Darth Vader Toaster | GeekAlerts

points of view

2009-05-02T09:21:00.001+02:00

source

electric bunnies

IN COMPARISON

SCOM 2007: OpsMgr can monitor everything: The Coretech Coffee Monitor Management Pack – 0.0.0.1

This management packs can be used to keep track of the level of coffee in left in the pot.

First glance: Sony Ericsson C905

Ninja cat

Stuff that I have been working on

7 things I like about Windows 7

You strike a woman, you strike a rock

SCOM: backup management packs

The most violent country in Europe…

Sims 3

SCOM 2007: Health state query

16 June - Youth Day

SCOM Quick and Dirties…

Gizmodo - Star Wars Death Star Grill

The Youngest Kid to Graduate College Feature Story

And now for the gnus

My first movie

Abuse of Child 'Witches' Burgeoning

Eskom wants more…

Tag clouds

Thunderous Thursday

May...

Windows 7 RC Announced

Darth Vader Toaster | GeekAlerts

Darth Vader Toaster

points of view