Halloween by Robert Burns (an excerpt)

An excerpt of the poem Halloween by Robert Burns.

Upon that night, when fairies light
On Cassilis Downans dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the route is ta’en,
Beneath the moon’s pale beams;
There, up the cove, to stray and rove,
Among the rocks and streams
To sport that night.

Among the bonny winding banks,
Where Doon rins, wimplin’ clear,
Where Bruce ance ruled the martial ranks,
And shook his Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, country-folks,
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, and pou their stocks,
And haud their Halloween
Fu’ blithe that night.

The lasses feat, and cleanly neat,
Mair braw than when they’re fine;
Their faces blithe, fu’ sweetly kythe,
Hearts leal, and warm, and kin’;
The lads sae trig, wi’ wooer-babs,
Weel knotted on their garten,
Some unco blate, and some wi’ gabs,
Gar lasses’ hearts gang startin’
Whiles fast at night.

It’s Halloween time

It’s that wonderful time of year again, Halloween! A time of magic, mystery, fun, and all manner of good-natured tomfoolery!

As a kid growing up, Halloween meant going trick-or-treat.  We had costumes, oftentimes homemade, which were pretty cool.  I remember a tiger somewhere in there.

We got to harass our neighbors for food that wasn’t good for us, we got to play tricks on other kids at school, we got to have parties with other kids, and we could get away with some things that we couldn’t at other times of the year.  It was a time for scary stories, for scary movies, and for a generally boo-riffic good time.

As I got older and went to college Halloween was still a time for parties, but of a more adult nature. And now instead of going to other people’s house getting treats, parents were bringing their kids to mine.  I went through many bags of mini-size candybars, candy corn, and other not-so-healthy goodies.

Then there are the Halloween TV specials.  “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” is a annual favorite.  Other shows that I have enjoyed watching, either by myself or with others (and/or their kids), included the Halloweentown series on the Disney Channel and A Disney Halloween, among others.  There have always been the classic horror movies as well, such as The Mummy and Frankenstein.

So no matter what memories you may have of Halloween or how you choose to celebrate it, I wish you all a wonderful All Hallow’s Eve!

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs

On Wednesday, October 5, 2011, the world lost a true visionary.

It was with great sadness that I heard of the passing of Steve Jobs, after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer.  He was a impresario in the world of computers and technology, constantly pushing the boundaries, always coming up with “one more thing.”

Seldom has there been an individual that has shaped the course of the technological world in the way that Steve has done.  While everyone may not agree with the way in which he guided Apple, Inc., there can be little doubt in anyone’s mind that his vision of the future has left an indelible mark on the fabric of society.  From the garage of a small house came the seed that sparked a revolution in computers.

What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.
– Steve Jobs, 1991

I wish his family and his wife Laurene my condolences in the time of their loss.

She liked the ring

For those of you who know me outside of my blog (or those that have been following me on Facebook) it will not be a huge surprise that I am engaged.

On June 10, 2011, I asked my girlfriend, Lisa Nicole Vickers neé Shaw, to marry me.  We are now officially engaged!

Engagement ring for Lisa

Plagiarism, flattery and the Internet

Frequently I write posts that others may find useful.  In fact I have even been cited in software manuals and on other sites across the web as a reference or a resource for information on a particular topic. Earlier today a visitor to my site alerted me to the fact that two of my posts on the Nagios system and using it with Mac OS X had been copied outright on a blog located in Belgium.

While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, wholesale plagiarism is not very flattering at all.

The website in question is the WordPress blog published by CP IT Solutions, Inc. Both posts are obvious copy/paste entries from my own blog.  Here are the details:

Copies

http://cpsolutions.be/wordpress/?p=213

http://cpsolutions.be/wordpress/?p=215

Originals

http://arfore.com/2008/10/12/starting-nrpe-via-launchd/

http://arfore.com/2008/09/25/nagios-nrpe-on-os-x-server-105/

The person in question is apparently a Microsoft Certified Professional, and also hosts a Joomla site on the same domain.

WordPress blog – http://cpsolutions.be/wordpress/

Main site – http://www.cpsolutions.be/JOOMLA/

I wonder what his clients would think if they knew that he was just copying other people’s work and putting it up as original thought?  I have sent e-mails to both the owner of CP IT Solutions as well as the ISP for his site.  Interestingly enough, for someone that provides IT consulting services they use a hosting provider rather than run their own site, as seen by the WHOIS entry below, hopefully they are going to be called on for hosting consultancy services.

WHOIS entry for cpsoltuions.be

% WHOIS cpsolutions
Domain:      cpsolutions
Status:      REGISTERED
Registered:  Wed Sep 27 2006

Licensee:
   Not shown, please visit www.dns.be for webbased whois.

Agent Technical Contacts:
   Last Name:     Kristof De Vlieger
   Company Name:  DVK Systems & Consultancy BVBA
   Language:      nl
   Street:        Luikersteenweg 547
   Location:      3800 Sint-Truiden
   Country:       BE
   Phone:         +32.11768005
   Fax:           +32.11768002
   Email:         tech@dvkhosting.be

Agent:
   Name:      DVK Systems & Consultancy Bvba
   Website:   www.dvkhosting.be

Nameservers:
   ns3.dvkhosting.com
   ns2.dvkhosting.com

Sure many of us use snippets and other items from our fellow IT professionals, but at the very least give credit where it is due.