what does a systems admin do?:  http://www.sysadminday.com/whatsysadmin.html

Here is a typical job description:

Position Responsibilities
1. Provide 24/7/365 primary support of all RedHat and Sun Solaris servers for the Equity business in North America.
2. Proactively monitor all Linux and Unix systems utilizing our clients standard tools.
3. Maintain complete inventory and documentation of deployed systems.
4. Liaise with Equity application developers to gather requirements, design and deploy standard systems which clearly differentiate between production, development, UAT, and DR.
5. Identify operational and infrastructure risks within the environment and work with the application development team and Equity business to make corrections and mitigate risks.
6. Ensure that all systems are backed up according to the business requirements and notify the data owners when there are failures.
7. Ensure optimal resilience of deployed systems and meet all disaster recovery requirements dictated by the business.
8. Liaise with Equity and Core Engineers in troubleshooting complex, cross-platform issues.
9. Maintain top-notch technical skills and Equity business knowledge through proactive self-learning in addition to any formal instructor-led training provided by our client.
10. Evaluate emerging system technologies and align their benefits with the business strategy of our clients Equities.

Position Requirements
1. Expert knowledge of RedHat Enterprise 3.x, 4.x, 5.x and Sun Solaris 2.8/10
2. Expert knowledge of Linux kernel internals, building customized kernels, and building customized RPM packages
3. Strong knowledge of system performance and monitoring tools such as CA UniCenter, sar, iostat, vmstat, etc.
4. Strong programming skills with Perl, awk, sed, Shell script (Bourne, C, Korn)
5. Solid understanding of TCP/IP and basic networking * ability to use and understand output of tcpdump/snoop
6. Administration of Unix core services and applications such as NIS, NFS, automount, DNS, DHCP, Samba, SendMail, Apache, NTP, sudo, Jumpstart/Kickstart, LDAP, SSH, samba
7. Hands-on experience with virtualization technologies (Solaris Zones, Xen, VMWare, etc.)
8. Should be comfortable performing system upgrades, installing layered products, and analyzing and troubleshooting complex production systems.
9. Hands-on experience with various hardware including Dell and IBM Blade Chassis * H Series
10. Basic knowledge of EMC SAN storage arrays and NetAPP Network Appliances.
11. Should be familiar with system administration regarding relational databases (Sybase, Oracle) and WebSphere MQ.
12. Some experience with a market data distribution system, Reuters RMDS a plus.
13. Ability to interface with users at all levels of the organization and good end-user support skills.
14. Must be well-organized, responsible, a good project manager, have good verbal and written communication skills, and able to multitask in dynamic trading environment.
15. Work as a member of a team, adhere to corporate standards and change management processes, and work to improve Equity standards and policies.

This is a student in Iran protesting Iranian President Ahmadinejad.  The sign says: Fascist President University is not your place.

Article here

Kid Attaches Loose Tooth To Rocket - Watch more Funny Videos

biffsocko.com is a huge fan of the crew of Apollo 11 and NASA in general.  For related posts:

http://www.biffsocko.com/2010/05/14/neil-armstrong-kicking-ass/

Millennials are at the leading edge of [technology],” said Tom Rosenstiel, director of Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and moderator of a panel on media and information.

Some 24 percent of Millennials say technology use makes their generation unique, far more than the 11 percent who identified music and pop culture.

yet NPR in an article titled Cyberwarrior Shortage Threatens U.S. Security states

U.S. security officials say the country’s cyberdefenses are not up to the challenge. In part, it’s due to a severe shortage of computer security specialists and engineers with the skills and knowledge necessary to do battle against would-be adversaries.

This leads to a stunning realization that most Americans won’t admit; that there is a huge difference between being a consumer of technology and understanding how it’s built. For instance, everyone knows how to use a DVD player, but few people know how a DVD player actually works and can build them.

Tell her you love her,  because a limited amount of time is all you have together.

I miss the hardcore scene.  There is nothing like it today.  It was a movement of young people that were pissed off.  Pissed off with politics, crappy 80’s music, the economy, the world.  What really pissed the hardcore scene off was that nobody seemed to care.  In a sense, The hardcore scene around the United States was about youth and activism.  I guess as I get older, it upsets me that I don’t see the same kind of rage in younger people today.  The world hasn’t gotten any better, but the youth of America doesn’t seem to care.

Mr. Dawes Sr, Mr. Banks and Bankers:
If you invest your tuppence
Wisely in the bank
Safe and sound
Soon that tuppence,
Safely invested in the bank,
Will compound

You see, Michael
Tuppence, patiently, cautiously trustingly invested
In the, to be specific,
In the Dawes, Tomes
Mousely, Grubbs
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank!

Like a lot of people my age, I ponder my retirement savings.  Am I on track?  Where should I be?  There was an article in Forbes this weekend called “The Millionaire’s Retirement Plan“.  I strongly recommend reading it.  It gives benchmarks at different ages to see if you are on track.  Check it out, and make adjustments accordingly.

Another good article: http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/a-catchup-guide-to-retirement.html