Rush Hour 3…

When watching Rush Hour 3 you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching either of the first two films, except Chris Tucker has put on some weight and Jackie Chan is looking that bit older. Once again, it plays heavily on stereotypes of Chinese and African Americans, but this time it includes the French in the mix. I know it’s meant to be comedy, but this kind of stuff is getting very old these days. It is funny in parts, but it’s more of DVD film for those occasions when you’ve got nothing better to do.

The only real thing of note in the film is Noémie Lenoir. She’s one of the models in the current advertising campaign for Marks & Spencers in the UK, amongst other things. As you would expect from a model-turned-actress, she looks great, but when you see her with her head shaved she is off the scale. If I were her I would keep my head shaved, or have very short hair all the time. She looks amazing.

Cheers

Tim…

The Bourne Ultimatum…

I don’t know who starred in this film, or what happened because the camera never stopped shaking long enough for me to focus on anything. 🙂

Seriously though, The Bourne Ultimatum is a cool film. Like the previous films, it’s gritty and ugly and feels kind-of real, in as much as a Hollywood assassin film can. I thought the rough camera work worked really well on the first two films. It was quite over the top on this film, but even this didn’t spoil it for me.

I think this franchise has run its course, because I can’t see where else they can take it, but if they do make any more I will definitely see them.

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle 11g RAC on NFS…

As a follow-on from my 10g RAC on NFS article, I thought it would be nice to have an 11g RAC on NFS article. The process is very similar, with a couple of exceptions:

  • The Virtual IP Configuration Assistant (vipca) runs in silent mode without any problems now. Under 10g, you had to use a “real” public IP address for this to work. Under 11g it now works with private IPs like “192.168.x.x” etc.
  • Oracle 11g includes a Direct NFS Client for “optimized” Oracle over NFS performance. I don’t have the relevant kit to do a performance comparison, so I don’t know if it’s worth it or not. If someone has some figures for this I would be interested to hear them.

Cheers

Tim…

Update: For information on Direct NFS Client performance look here.

Database 11g…

You’ve gotta love Eddie Awad! I think he deserves “Oracle Blogger of the Year” again for this post alone:

Download Oracle Database 11g Release 1 Now

I’ve added links to the 11g documentation, a documentation search and an error message search to the ORACLE-BASE.com website navigation bar.

Currently 11% downloaded. The internet is too slow. I demand it gets faster! 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

PS. Don’t talk to me for a month!

PPS. Just kidding. 🙂

Update: My first 11g article is now complete:

Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1) Installation On Enterprise Linux 4.5 and 5.0

Polenta…

I was at the supermarket and by accident I came across Polenta, which is dried ground sweetcorn (maize). I initially thought it was couscous, which I eat by the bucket load, but was intrigued by a single warning on the back, which read,

“Warning. When cooking this product may boil volcanically.”

They should put that in big letters on the front of the packet! I would have bought it years ago if I’d seen a marketing campaign saying that.

I’ve just cooked some, and sure enough, it makes a right mess. Not surprisingly, it tastes like mashed sweetcorn, but the visual experience makes it must-buy product… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Work and Oracle ACE Director… (again)

Work (or not)

The company I work for was taken over 2 years ago and I’ve been waiting since then to see what the result of this takeover would be. In that time loads of staff have left and it’s been a bit of a nightmare.

Yesterday I had a meeting where I had to make some decisions about my future in the company. As most of my colleagues already know, I don’t believe there is a role for someone like me in a company like this, so I’ve made the decision that our paths should diverge.

The result of this is that some time in the next 12 months I’ve got to get off my ass and find a new job. At this point I don’t have a clue what I want to do next. I guess time will reveal all.

Oracle ACE Director

On a more pleasant note, I’ve been invited to become an Oracle ACE Director!

My initial reaction was, “We’re not worthy”, but then I decided it would be a cool thing to do. I’m waiting for clarification of the level of commitment required before actually accepting the offer. Most of the commitments are things I already do, but others include:

  • Attend annual Oracle ACE Directors’ meeting at Oracle Open World
  • Attend most web conferences with product team
  • Attend local Oracle event(s)
  • Present at non-Oracle event(s)

For someone like me, with no company backing, this is actually quite a big commitment. All the time comes out of my holidays and all the expenses come out of my pocket. Committing to Open World every year in itself is quite a financial drain. I guess guys from big consulting companies do this as part of their job already, but for me it involves putting my hands in my own pockets.

Over the next few days I’ll get some more feedback and have to make my decision. I like the sound of getting involved, but it may be a step too far for someone in my position.

Cheers

Tim…

ACE Director 2…

This morning I received and email detailing the merger of the ACE program with the Fusion Middleware Regional Director scheme. It’s a pity this mail didn’t come a couple of days earlier, then my “toys out of the pram” post yesterday wouldn’t have happened. I’m sure over the coming weeks the people I consider the stars of the Oracle world will be recognized as they should be.

Cheers

Tim…

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