January 2008 Blog Posts (78)

For many years we have studied, debated and improved our knowledge of application and system performance. We know that a mature IT organization is one that measures, plans for the future, then measures again, striving for continuous improvement without painful surprises. Business performance management and truly aligned IT service optimization require capacity planning. We…

I once kept a running statistical tally of the test cases I was executing, passing and failing. It consisted of a total number of test cases, and then a ratio of executed, passed, and failed which was then converted to a percentage. Sounds pretty simple eh? Senior management absolutely loved it because it provided the illusion of visibility to them.…

I was recently asked an intriguing question. The question was simple: do you have to be a programmer to write automated tests? But I struggled a bit to answer the question because to me the answer is not as simple as yes or no.…

Estimates

If I had to think of one subject that was not taught in school, and only covered in industry…

Question: What are the differences between sanity testing, smoke testing, regression testing, and monkey testing?…

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things…

NOTE: It is important to wear gloves when handling peatmoss because of danger of contracting Sporotrichosis (Skilling).

There is a dead zone near the condo where the soil has been sandy and dry. It is a patch surrounded by concrete where the only things that have survived have been one tall palm tree and a shrub, one dwarf azalea (out of four planted) and one spearmint plant (out of three planted). So, since it is a shady area protected from the harsher weather changes because it is…

The works of man namely art is predisposed. A time that is forward with freedom and chaos. The tragedy of this is the affluent desires that fuel our drive of this democratic state. The state of mind embodied in our contest, our state and our culture are in a spiral down ward toward obscenity and recession. The recession comes from military chauvinism and the idea of a working class. A equal society of demos; for the people it stands wrought in irons through religiosity…

We could have told them this! Researchers in Germany found that fibromyalgia patients had frustrating interactions with their doctors. They came up with a shared decision-making training program for the doctors. Then they did a study where some patients were chosen by chance to either get a shared decision-making or get regular treatment plus a computer based information package. All patients got the same treatment options. There were only 85 patients in the study, 44 who ended up in the…

Yesterday, my husband brought home some plastic for covering the outdoor plants. We covered most of the vulnerable plants, and moved some of the plants in containers in. Later, after the sun had a chance to warm everything up, I uncovered the plants, and everything except the basil seems to have survived. I went over to the botanical gardens, but they said it was too cold to do much. We might need to cover the plants again tonight because it is supposed to get cold.

There were some…

A lot of people with fibromyalgia feel pain all over, and find that their bodies overreact to stress. A lot of doctors will tell them that they are just "nervous" and need to learn to handle stress better. This study showed that there is a problem with how the adrenal glands of people with fibromyalgia react to stress. The adrenal glands are tiny glands that sit at the top of your kidneys. Their job is to release cortisol into your bloodstream in response to stress. If you have ever had to…

I figure that if Al Gore and other celebrity types are trying to save the world for free there must be something really happening. They mention the word "Green" an awful lot, something to do with not wasting energy etc. So how could I help with a solution?

We all need to live somewhere and "they" say the we use almost 50% of our consumable energy on heating and cooling these structures, so this would be a good place to start to redesign and make changes. There is announcements about…

Hi, I am not in the habit of writing a blog. My son is, though, so I have a feel for the genre. He is 23 tomorrow, and has a healthy following for his blog, healthy enough anyway for the Google ads to eventually pay for his webhosting bills, so that's nice. I might even give you the link to his blog later..

Later in the month I am hoping to be flying off to Beijing to visit his sister ( my daughter) who is teaching English at a university close to the Olympic stadium that looks like a…

NOTE:

There might be a frost in Tampa Wednesday night. Water well, mulch well, move at-risk plants indoors or cover them, leave any strings of lights in garden up and lit overnight, leave any drip irrigation systems on. (Source: Seminar at Tampa Bay Garden Club)

• Saturday, met with a gardener interested in community gardening and toured her garden. Traded some bok (chinese cabbage) seeds for some turnip greens and a lemon.
• Watered purple showers and dwarf azaleas…