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If you’ve spent any time around UNIX, you’ve no doubt learned to use and appreciate cron, the ubiquitous job scheduler that comes with almost every version of UNIX that exists. Cron is simple and easy to use, and most important, it just works. It sure beats having to remember to run your backups by hand, for example.
But cron does have its limits. Today’s enterprises are larger, more interdependent, and more interconnected than ever before, and cron just hasn’t kept up. These days, virtual servers can spring into existence on demand. There are accounting jobs that have to run after billing jobs have completed, but before the backups run.
Author : Sol Lederman
What Is a Container and How Are Containers Used? A starting point for an exploration of containers and how they’re used is this simple definition: a container is a packaging format for a unit of software that ships together.
A container is a format that encapsulates a set of software and its dependencies, the minimal set of runtime resources the software needs to do its function. A container is a form of virtualization that is similar to a virtual machine (VM) in some ways and different in others. VMs encapsulate functionality in the form of the application platform and its dependencies. The key difference between VMs and containers is that each VM has its own full-sized OS, while containers typically have a more minimal OS.
Author : Greg Bledsoe
“If you build it they will come.” Are freeways built to travel between existing communities, or do communities spring up around freeways? Is this a chicken-and-egg problem, or is there a complex interaction where such things shape each other?
The use of UNIX and Linux security tools raises similar questions. Do people work the way they do because of the tools they have, or do people have the tools they have because of the way they work?
Author: Kyle Rankin
This book explores system administrator fundamentals. These days, DevOps has made even the job title “system administrator” seem a bit archaic, much like the “systems analyst” title it replaced. These DevOps positions are rather different from typical sysadmin jobs in the past in that they have a much larger emphasis on software development far beyond basic shell scripting. As a result, they often are filled with people with software development backgrounds without much prior sys- admin experience. In the past, sysadmins would enter the role at a junior level and be mentored by a senior sysadmin on the team, but in many cases currently, companies go quite a while with cloud outsourcing before their first DevOps hire. As a result, DevOps engineers might be thrust into the role at a junior level with no mentor around apart from search engines and Stack Overflow posts. In this book, I expound on some of the lessons I’ve learned through the years that might be obvious to longtime sysadmins but may be news to someone just coming into this position.
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Bottom Line Up Front.
Or, in other words, make your point immediately, then follow up with only the most pertinent supporting information to help set context or tone. //
Why do we write the long way?
The type of writing we’re required to master in school trains us in the opposite direction. We’re raised to produce that longer, more verbose style. It’s also more polite and conversational, and as such is a more natural flow for many writers.
But it’s not the most efficient way to convey this sort of information. //
It’s unlikely that publishers would even consider changing to this format, but it’s been an interesting exercise to think about. It’s certainly a wish of mine that these books were written in a format that was more efficient to consume.
The jingling of the door-bell announced four arrivals: a blast of cold December wind; a spray of fine snowflakes borne upon it; the sound of horses clopping up the cobbled street; and two gentlemen. They were good portly fellows, pleasant to behold. The younger of the pair doffed his top hat and shook fresh snow from the brim as the elder consulted a list.
“Cratchit,” read the old gentleman. “Ware-housing, Pawn-brokering, Business Loans.” He looked up to find the sole occupant of the establishment seated behind a large wooden desk: a slight, sandy-haired young man of twenty-odd years with a genial expression. The gentleman adjusted his spectacles. “Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. P. Cratchit?”
Historian Bruce Gilley’s provocative book, ‘In Defense of German Colonialism,’ makes a compelling case that many historical narratives surrounding Africa are motivated by politics, not facts. //
Our anti-Western conceptions of colonial Africa are equally misinformed. In 1904, a policy in German East Africa decreed that all children born to slaves beginning in 1906 were free. Moreover, between 1891 and 1912, more than 50,000 slaves in the colony were freed by legal, social, and financial means. By 1920, slavery had virtually been eradicated from the region.
German East Africa was also environmentally conscious, codifying laws prohibiting unlicensed elephant hunting and creating the first game reserves. It promoted education by natives: By 1910, there were more than 4,000 students in state schools. “The Germans have accomplished marvels,” noted a 1924 British report on local education initiatives. The education system in German colonies provided instruction in local histories, cultures, and geographies, as well as technical subjects common in German curricula. Because of this, local language media prospered. “German transformed Swahili from a coastal language of Muslim elites to the lingua franca for the future country of Tanzania,” writes Gilley.
Prescription for the Planet
by Tom Blees
"This is the most important book that has ever been written on sustainable development... You MUST read it! It is not A revolution, it is THE revolution, THE way to go."
- Bruno Comby Ph.D, Founder and President of Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy
Click here to download the entire book as a PDF courtesy of the author and SCGI.
Plentiful Energy
The Story of the Integral Fast Reactor: The complex history of a simple reactor technology, with emphasis on its scientific basis for non-specialists
Authored by Charles E. Till, Yoon Il Chang
Audrey Stockin Eyler
Ortlip art history and images, 22 pages