Lazy Linux: 10 essential tricks for admins

 

"Learn these 10 tricks and you'll be the most powerful Linux® systems administrator in the universe...well, maybe not the universe, but you will need these tips to play in the big leagues. Learn about SSH tunnels, VNC, password recovery, console spying, and more. Examples accompany each trick, so you can duplicate them on your own systems."



Trick 1: Unmounting the unresponsive DVD drive

Trick 2: Getting your screen back when it's hosed

Trick 3: Collaboration with screen

Trick 4: Getting back the root password

Trick 5: SSH back door

Trick 6: Remote VNC session through an SSH tunnel

Trick 7: Checking your bandwidth

Trick 8: Command-line scripting and utilities

Trick 9: Spying on the console

Trick 10: Random system information collection



http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-10sysadtips/

NASA Says You Can See The International Space Station Without A Telescope

"In order to get a glimpse, you need the right set of conditions. Your viewing point should be in darkness. The ISS should be lit by the Sun on the side visible to you. These visible passes can run from a few seconds to five minutes or more. The Space Station will take an arc through the sky. Because it must be in sunshine for the sighting to be possible, the ISS often illuminates while midway through the sky, or disappears as if a light switch was thrown."



http://www.appscout.com/2008/07/nasa_says_you_can_see_the_inte_1.php

OOXML - Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

 

"We are coming down to the last week for JTC1 to decide on whether to hear the four NB appeals concerning various claimed errors in the processing of DIS 29500 (OOXML), or whether summarily to dismiss these appeals without hearing them. The decision lies with two committees, the Technical Management Board (TMB) in ISO and the Standards Management Board (SMB) in the IEC."



"Dismissing an appeal with so many open unresolved issue is not expediency. It is merely creating more dissent, more distrust and more trouble that we'll all need to deal with next time around. It is better, I think, to hear the appeals, get to the bottom of this, seek resolution, consensus and closure, and then to move on. Ignoring mistakes will not make them go away."



http://www.robweir.com/blog/2008/07/sed-quis-custodiet-ipsos-custodies.html



Also





http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=2428

Knol, Google's Version of Wikipedia, Goes Public

"With Knol, we are introducing a new method for authors to work together that we call 'moderated collaboration,'" Cedric Dupont, a Google product manager, and Michael McNally, a Google software engineer, wrote in a blog post. "With this feature, any reader can make suggested edits to a knol which the author may then choose to accept, reject, or modify before these contributions become visible to the public."





http://www.appscout.com/2008/07/knol_googles_version_of_wikipe.php



Also





http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/07/share-your-expertise-in-googles-knol.html





http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/knol-is-open-to-everyone.html