Disqus - Latest Comments for martin_english

Re: Install SAP on Amazon Web Services #2 – the Installation

martin_english — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:13:43 -0000

Sorry, Kevin, I forgot to add that part in the blog

The Amazon manifest for the base image is sap.nw70.win-64.db2/nw70.manifest.xml

The AMI id is ami-5dae4f34

Re: HowTo: River2 is a fresh start

dave — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:43:07 -0000

If you can upload the OPML that caused problems or send it to me via email I
can try to fix the problem.

It's true that we're looking for a flat list. Should be easy to allow for a
structured list.

Dave

Re: HowTo: River2 is a fresh start

martin_english — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:21:07 -0000

A problem I noted with exporting my Google reader subscriptions and importing them into River2.

If you have tagged a subscription in GR, then the OPML created by the export has <outline ... > data for that subscription is stored WITHIN a higher order <outline> </outline> container - see below for a subset.....

When this is imported into River2, while it doesn't crash and burn, the 'sub outlines' y don't get loaded as feeds - I THINK River2 is just not expecting an <outline> within another <outline> container.

<outline title="200 Google Alerts" text="200 Google Alerts">
<outline text="Google Alerts - "martin english""
title="Google Alerts - "martin english""
type="rss"
xmlUrl="http://www.google.com/reader/public/atom/user/00907783891347362261/state/com.google/alerts/14931976699557527584" htmlUrl="http://www.google.com/reader/view/user%2F00907783891347362261%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Falerts%2F14931976699557527584"/>
<outline text="Google Alerts - CSC Australia"
title="Google Alerts - CSC Australia" type="rss"
xmlUrl="http://www.google.com/reader/public/atom/user/00907783891347362261/state/com.google/alerts/16523657427510630823" htmlUrl="http://www.google.com/reader/view/user%2F00907783891347362261%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Falerts%2F16523657427510630823"/>
<outline text="Google Alerts - martin_english"
title="Google Alerts - martin_english" type="rss"
xmlUrl="http://www.google.com/reader/public/atom/user/00907783891347362261/state/com.google/alerts/1607023170862202353" htmlUrl="http://www.google.com/reader/view/user%2F00907783891347362261%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Falerts%2F1607023170862202353"/>
</outline>

Re: RSS has no Fail Whale (Scripting News)

martin_english — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 01:34:36 -0000

It's probably due to my style of work and / or workflow, but I can't function without RSS - An appropriate example is that many of the people I follow on twitter are outside my timezone. So I follow their notifications / conversations via RSS.

Having some or most of my incoming signals as RSS means any other signal must also be RSS compatible. If I can't read you directly via RSS, you better be worth the effort for me to go to one of those services that produce an RSS feed, or I dont bother.

(PS I'm not into format wars, whatever the location - When I say RSS feed I mean anything that my RSS reader can parse - be it RSS, ATOM, or any other XML like 'thingo')

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/08/iphone-call-recording-it-makes-too-much.html

martin_english — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:13:28 -0000

What you allude to is a great idea (such a good idea, its been available for years on other phones, despite the legal complications), but I couldn't get over the promise inherent in that first paragraph. So I followed the link.

WOW!!!! voice recording ? on a device with an inbuilt microphone ? with 16 or 32GB to store your recordings ? and its been available since, when ? most of this year ?

Re: You are SO unfollowed!

martin_english — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:37:56 -0000

is this an idea who's time has come ? I recently turned off auto follow and have started paring back my following as well, and as you said neither of us are alone on this. The spam and plain rubbish comiung throug were annoying...

BTW, regardless of whether you follow me back or not, i'll keep following you - not just for you, but for who you follow and the conversations that ensue. Just listening in on these conversations makes me a smarter person.Twitter

Re: The Guardian Tackles the Moon Landing Hoax… Badly

martin_english — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:42:27 -0000

One thing I've never heard the hoaxers explain is the Laser Ranging Retroreflectors that were left behind by all successful landings. The LRRR has been used in various experiments, such as precisely determining the distance from the Earth to the Moon (to within 15 centimeters), learning about the internal motion of the Earth and the Moon, and testing Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

The LRRRs deployed by Apollo 11, 14, and 15 are still being used in experiments today. In fact, in March 2005 a team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that they confirmed Einstein’s Strong Equivalence Principle to double the previous possible precision by using laser range measurements to the LRRR.

http://www.martin-english.com/whatsup/2009/07/a...

Re: Sage is # 3 and Microsoft # 7 Enterprise Application Vendor according to recent AMR Research Report

martin_english — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:46:43 -0000

So, based on the methodology, the SAP systems running on Windows and SQL Server only count towards the SAP total ?

Re: Helen Thomas calls Obama administration out on social media smokescreen

martin_english — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:53:13 -0000

I think people tend to forget that whatever his 'left-wing' (only in the US would Obama be called a socialist) politics, he is STILL a politician. ALL Polirticians, Obama included, are all about trying to control their message.

Just like Carter, Bush, Thatcher, Clinton, Howard, Blair, Bush, Brown, Rudd and all the others. Infact, just like any other marketeer....

Re: twdsc.us: @davewiner. "It's funny, the news people want me to fight for their jobs, but when was the last time they even thought about fighting for mine?"

martin_english — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:36:28 -0000

Its Journalism V Newspapers

Journalism can be practiced in many different media - 60 minutes is a kind of journalism, tho a bit tabloid for my taste. And quite frankly, I know a hell of a lot of people outside the IT industry that have had their careers and lives dislocated by changes in technology - Why should the journalists (let alone the printers, publishers, &tc) get a better break than my friends ?

Re: twdsc.us: @davewiner. "A friend is launching a site that says: "Only contributors can log in because we don't care what anonymous Internet commenters think." :-)"

martin_english — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:31:50 -0000

I came into here with a frim opinion (A combination of "Its the internet, its about sharing:" and "get over your ego woman"), but exposure to the comments here have given me a totally different perspective. So , thanks to everyone (including your friend, Dave)

I run two very low volume blogs and I probably won't change my current practice, but I will certainly be less judgemental about people who operate their comment policies differently to me.

PS This comment stream is exactly why I like reading comments, even if I can't respond like I just have :)

Re: twdsc.us: @davewiner. "Most programmers won't show you their work-in-progress. Think different. Not important. Move on. http://tr.im/mY1E"

martin_english — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:23:48 -0000

Short version: I'm not THAT stupid....

Long version: In some areas, I am IGNORANT (which can be easily conflated with stupidity), compared to some of the people I hang with. One of things that help make us friends as well as co workers is that we know the others strengths and weaknesses. So THEY won't wast my time (and theirs) showing me UML charts and so on... HOWEVER, the know I'm a bit of a packrat with bookmarks, so they will sometimes come to me before google for particular sites.

It's the same way with programming. There is ALWAYS a better way, and sometimes it's quicker to a) implement and b) learn about, that better way by asking other people.

A clean set of eyes is almost as good as a clean screen / sheet of paper.

Re: studio.rizzn == new.media: /blog: #Spymaster: Tips for the Twitter Game

martin_english — Sat, 30 May 2009 07:39:47 -0000

Hi Mark. Thanks for the game notes. I'd love an invite, thanks @martin_english

Re: Defeating Ruddonomics a pile of money at a time

duncanriley — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:56:05 -0000

In some regard, you're right. Well, specifically economically you're right, but I'm not sure it's a political message that is getting through (and hence the only real advantage from it for the Government). My deep concern, and I've really rolled the dice here, is what will be the effect on the market post first home buyers grant. The play is: will the economy have bounced by the end of the year or not. If it has, there will be no move. If it goes dramatically backwards, there's going to be a correction...and that screws me buying now (although we've bought a new property further out, so I'm hoping the impact would be lower vs something more expensive closer in).

We'll know about November :-)

Re: Defeating Ruddonomics a pile of money at a time

martin_english — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:45:39 -0000

Ross Gittins commented in the SM earlier this year on the same problem. However, he saw it as having a 'politically correct' outcome; It loks like Rudd is doing something to help the first home buyer, but by maintaining the prices of existing housing stock, he lessens the loss of confidence (and the attnendant risks of defaults or foreclosures) due to people loosing equity in their houses.

Re: Ep 179: Freeview, Revisiting Old Television, Shame on Henrie Stride and Channel 10

martin_english — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:15:26 -0000

Facebook User,
I did the extreme comparison to highlight what yo weant on to discuss - that mean and women are held to different standards. No one cares that Steven k Amos is black and gay.. But they would in the case of a women.

I do take your point about Ms Stride justifying her position (i.e. the people she has to offer). To a large extent it IS up to her to say "You're paying good money for my opinion / advice, so take it", and then to follow through with ethical responsible advice.

Actually, having given it more thought, TV execs of all people should be aware of all the "it'll never work" ideas and peopl that actually HAVE worked :)

Additionally, IF (and it is a bit of an if...) humour can be seen as a defence / weapon in social circumstances, then a woman with a quickfire wit can be seen as a threat. And if her humour has the bite that a Judith Lucy can bring to the stage, then she may just be "proving" (to the insecure male, anyway) that she is too dangerous to have around at all...

BTW, I am ordering one of the shirts. I've also tweeted Josh for his t-shirt size so I can buy him one as well :)

Re: Ep 179: Freeview, Revisiting Old Television, Shame on Henrie Stride and Channel 10

martin_english — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:29:41 -0000

+1 for the "I am an angry, hard, bitter, man-hating, lesbiany kind of woman" t-shirt. I'll cross the wo part of woman out myself (hey, if a lesbian is someone who likes sleeping with females, then i'm a lesbian....).

BTW, generously sized I may be, but given the description of the crumpler shirts, I'm going to enter the contest. If I win, I'll hang it in the pool room.

DaveAAA and FaceBook user,
You only have to look at the Eddie Maguire / Jessica Rowe thing at Ch 9 (last year ?) to see it IS an industry problem. To sheet it home to SBS is to ignore shows like Salam Cafe (a product of ch31).
To suggest that it is Ms Stride's task to change the mentatlity of her customers is a bit specious - after all, having chosen her job ("talent Scout" for Oz TV), she has to provide talent that her market will accept... If she kept presenting excellent comedians, who BTW were black lesbians, then the suits of Oz TV would ignore them, and very soon, ignore Ms Stride.

love the show

Re: Accessing a Home Server - Using VNC when SSH wont get through

martin_english — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:09:50 -0000

I guess this issue is what you access from the server once you've got on it.

I've used it to demo stuff that I didn't have installed at work, or to access music I didn't have at work or while I was out..

Re: Google soon to be banned in Australia under draconian censorship laws

martin_english — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:43:01 -0000

... and of course, what you say can't be proved, because we aren't meant to be able to see the link. This is how a dentist, who moved hosts after a security breach, ends up on the list. Once you're on the list, no one is allowed to know you're there (not even the owner of the banned site), and so you don't know if you need to take action.....

BTW, feel free to include this link somewhere on your site :)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W2J5NFLX
and
http://martin-english.com/whatsup/wp-content/up...

Re: Why it's time to break out of Twitter (Scripting News)

martin_english — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:34:50 -0000

1 Advert ==> info for me ==> spam for you, and vice versa (eg I'm not interested in mac ads, info, articles, howtos at all, BUT I'll read penthouse for the articles if they're about Chad Reed or Kevin Schwantz).

back to the topic... Follower numbers are irrelevant, it's like saying a free paper that distributes, say, 5 million copies a day, has more clout than the NYT or WP. Delivering more eyeballs to techcrunch sites is irrelevant... Its what those eyeballs do when they get there that matters (BTW, would the person who follows @iamdiddy click and advert on a @techcrunch site ?)

Having said that, for my own interest, I'd love to know (and attempt to understand the logic behind) how these disparate people were selected for the list..

Re: New policy on interviews (Scripting News)

martin_english — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:46:49 -0000

Don't forget, another issue is that the reporter thinks his readers want a "story". Whether they're right or wrong, I don't know, but everything I've seen and heard suggests that Editors / Journalists (prin, TV, Radio) believe bad news sells better than good news.

Perhaps because its more "engaing" for the audience ? For example, based on what I've read on these pages, I'm more likely to look at a story titled "Dave Winer: Arsehole", if only to see what the writers assumptions are based on.

OTH, I'd ignore a piece titled "Dave Winer: Knows what He's Talking About" because it is not "news" to me.

Re: louisgray.com: Quantcast Shows Which Services Rely Most on Their "Addicts"

louismg — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:03:11 -0000

Martin, Quantcast's methodology can't be any more incorrect than
Compete and the rest. Twitter's activity is likely more affected by
external third party apps than is FriendFeed, for example, but you do
have a point.

Re: Support Package Manager - Reset Queue

martin_english — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:44:24 -0000

Thanks for the kind words, Gary

Re: louisgray.com: Quantcast Shows Which Services Rely Most on Their "Addicts"

martin_english — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:43:08 -0000

I'm a bit concerned about the methodology. For example, the web site traffic is a very small proportion of the friendfeed and twitter activity; In both cases, all addicts (and probably most regular users) would be using an application to access the backend data via API (ala twhirl, tweetdeck &tc).

If something this obvious is not allowed for, what has been missed on other sites ?

Re: Getting an SAP job

Damian Cox — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:50:09 -0000

Hi Martin,

I couldn't agree more. My background is similar to your but I went the Analyst programmer path and there has been more than one occasion where I have been grateful for learning my trade under sysprogs who cherished every operation and every slice of memory.

Things aren't so different these days in SAP land and the premise that being a competent programmer is far more valuable than being able to code still holds true. Language is essentially irrelevant in the end ... that's what manuals are for,

These days I run data conversion teams and I will always take programmers and techno-functional guys that understand business processes over those that simply "know ABAP" or "know LSMW".

I liked reading your comment.

Damian Cox