Archive for May, 2009
My RAID5 setup broke again. The controller told me that one of the hard disks had failed. OK, no biggy, that’s what RAID5 is there, all the data are safe. Sure, but Murphy’s Law states that when something can break at the most inconvenient time, it will. So did another PC and the bug is so weird that to this day I still have found no way to fix it (short of a format). Amidst my frustration, I left it alone to go fix my RAID.
Big mistake. Never troubleshoot when frustrated or sleepy or whatever impairs your judgment. The following is given in historical order, but keep in mind that I’m messing with the wrong disk, just so you can laugh at me.
I removed the disk that failed (which now I know was a healthy one). Went back in to check on my data and I found them inaccessible. Befuddled, I tried to see if it was just a glitch so I took the failed disk to my main PC, run a chkdsk and it did not find any errors. Plug it back in the RAID and try a rebuild. Nope… no luck. OK then, maybe if I format it and check it. Back to the main PC for a low level format, which went on very well (yes, I formatted a healthy disk…). Back to the RAID and rebuild, nothing!
All the while, the RAID controller shows me info that should have woken me up, but I was just too involved in my process of reviving the “failed” disk to figure out.
OK, back to the main PC and format it again, make a system volume and test copy files and run chkdsk. All works perfectly! Now I’m really starting to lose it. Back in the RAID and rebuild… nothing (of course…). At this time I give up and task my laptop to temporary storage, thinking that the disks is indeed lost and planning to send it back to WD for a replacement.
Thankfully, I did not send it, but rather, in a moment of clarity, decide to troubleshoot each disks separately. It is during this process that I finally posses enough clarity to call myself a true idiot and do what I should have done.
Lessons to be learned:
• Know the logical number of your controller’s ports, i.e. which port is port0, which is port1 etc.
• Test drives independently and LISTEN to your controller’s console.
• Never troubleshoot when not 100% concentrated
• When one drive fails in a RAID5 array and you cannot access your data, you have removed the WRONG disk. Slap yourself awake and prey you caught it on time.
May 16th, 2009
So many people have problems with this new movie. The fora are in flames with posts of people supporting and flaming the new movie, so much so that in a day a simple thread starting with “I like the new movie” becomes a 10 page rampage of all the problems it has.
I do not agree with most of it, but I also note that many people do not even pay attention to the arguments, they simply don’t like the plot and dismiss arguments with simple remarks of laziness or practicality (That would never happen, or, this is just lazy writing to explain that and this – no matter it explained it, it was lazy so I don’t like it).
Some of the easiest to explain “plot holes” include:
1. Enterprise, the flagship of the Federation, is so poorly staffed that almost the entire bridge is replaced within minutes of the film.
2. Sulu cannot even get to warp.
3. Spok relieves himself from captain because he is emotional, when he is struggling so much with being a good Vulcan and rejects his human side.
4. Kirk becomes captain (directly linked from 3).
5. Old Spok does not warn people although he is so close to a Federation outpost.
6. Chekov can beam two people falling at terminal velocity but is unable to beam a single person falling from a ledge.
7. On the flip side however, Scotty can beam people across vast distances on a ship moving at warp speeds.
8. Uhura told no one about the intercepted Klingon message which could have saved the ships going in the trap.
Those are just the ones that keep coming up and are easy to explain.
1. Enterprise is NOT the flagship of the Federation, it is only intended to become the flagship. As such the crew that it should have is not available on a short notice and is staffed with whatever is available on short notice from whoever was nearby. It is only natural to select crew that has some rank and/or experience for the role. However it is a crisis and the captain makes changes as he sees fit. And who really is changed? One comm officer! That’s all that is changed and we have been told time and time again of Uhura’s special abilities that make her more than capable for the job. As for Kirk becoming 1st officer, that is for later.
2. Sulu is a last minute replacement on a newly build ship of a new class of ship. As such, and although some briefing will have happened, it is all too easy to assume the Enterprise is just a little bit different from the other ships and Sulu just forgets the external inertia dampener. The fact that Spok even gets it right on the first try what the problem is might enforce that he knows what is different with Enterprise compared to other vessels and thus understands where Sulu might have gotten it wrong.
3. Vulcan’s ability to control emotion is not in their genes. Their genetic makeup is one of extreme emotion, so much so that they were very violent in the past. It is this past that lead them to control their emotions and conceal it with logic. Furthermore, no Vulcan is complete in this endeavor until he has completed the Kolinar ritual, something that Spok has never done. All that information is spread in the series and movies and is fact. However none of the people arguing that Spok should not be that emotional accept these as valid reasons. They must truly be Vulcans amongst us.
4. That is a bit flaky, but keep in mind that there are points that make this possible, possible being the key issue here. Most of the big moments in movies are about what is possible, not probable. In that sense, one reason can be Pike admiring Kirk’s father and recognizing in him a greatness waiting to be revealed which is why he makes him 1st officer. Pike did not make Kirk captain, that was a totally different matter, one that Pike could not even foresee (who expected that day to witness the destruction of Vulcan and the death of Spok’s mother?). Kirk’s rise to captain was part “fatherly” admiration/nurture and part emergency action. Finally, this is Star Trek, this is the Enterprise, this is Kirk and this is a movie. We all know Kirk will be captain and this way was pretty dramatic. A meteoric rise of a legend, things that happen just once in a thousand years.
5. Exactly what was he supposed to say? We don’t know how long Spok was on that planet, we don’t know how concerned he was with trying to preserve the time line. Did Nero tell him what was going to happen? Did he leave it as a surprise? I could go on. Just put yourself in his shoes. How do you explain what you know, where you come from? How will the outpost treat you? Could some eager security officer blame you of being a spy for Nero? There are too many unknowns to make any kind of guess. All that makes is a bit of bad storytelling and not much more. Again, it is simply possible that there were reasons for Old Spok to not have gone to the outpost and I would like to know what they were, but that’s all.
6. Terminal velocity is being thrown out too much as so important in the process because it provides a contrast to Spok’s mother falling but not having reached that speed. People watching closely can see that the beaming has started when Spok’s mother falls, that Chekov tries to re-establish a lock but he only had 2 seconds MAYBE before falling to her death. Kirk and Sulu were falling for about 15-20 seconds before Chekov managed to beam them up. I really don’t understand what the problem is here.
7. No, Scotty cannot beam people on ships traveling at warp speeds, Old Spok gave him the equations for that. End of story.
8. That statement suggests that Uhura knew the relation between the Klingons being attacked and the SOS from Vulcan. She did not. She most definitely reported that to whoever was in charge at that time but no connection was ever made, not even by Kirk when he first heard it, unless people are suggesting that whenever Klingon ships (or whatever ships) are destroyed, the Federation must immediately assume a trap.
Just my two pence.
May 13th, 2009
Having seen both new “blockbuster” movies, the new Star Trek and Wolverine, I must say that I was not impressed.
However, the reasons are very different. Wolverine is a movie that deserved to be much longer while Star Trek was just rather pointless to a fan. It showed us something that does not add anything to, or play a role in, all the previous events we have seen in any movie or series.
——–Spoilers———–
For Star Trek, the creation of an alternate time line makes all knowledge of who Kirk and his crew were in reality (by reality I am referring to the actual time line of the universe). The change of events does not even limit the differences to Kirk because Nero is active in this movie and he affects events that would not have happened otherwise. Even Old Spok says so, in his question “Are you not the captain?” when New Kirk tell him that New Spok marooned him for mutiny.
So we have some info about the actual timeline from Old Spok (Kirk was captain at that stardate, he and Spok were friends) which are sufficient for us to say that we don’t really know what happened to the original characters in their original timeline.
————-End Spoiler—————
Having said that, the movie is fun and engaging, but it fails to provide people that love the universe with more relevant info about the characters and that is a major flaw in my humble opinion.
As for Wolverine, the flaw in that movie is that it only has one viewpoint, that of Wolverine. So many characters and events are discussed in the movie but not given any background or substance. Hence we are left with a feeling of lost info, wondering what happened there or there, who that is, why did he did that etc. This is a movie that deserved many more hours of storytelling but we did not get that. Also, what is wrong with naming the characters with the aliases that Marvel gave them? So many of them are not called by their better known aliases.
May 12th, 2009