“Guess how many pieces of gum Beth chewed last year. “

broderic on September 14, 2005

In September school starts. This semester I am only taking one class, CS780 Software Reliability and Testing. I’ll be posting some notes about the class and some homework here. Join in the discussion to help me get an A.

First up is an assignment about DSC Communication Corp. and problems with telephony code.

Notes on the paper, “Testing Time Cut on Software Linked to Phone Outages.” Balt. Sun , Leslie Cauley:

  • They took the risk that they didn’t need to test the changes. What risk management did they have in place? What processes and procedures allowed them to accept the changes?

  • Would the changes have been caught in the first place? Did they have tests to catch this type of problem? Did they have regression testing? Would their test plan have caught this issue?

  • It was rather costly issue: 200 engineers on a bug hung!

  • How old is the system in use?

  • There was a mention of the regulation of the industry prevented them from acting quickly to identify the problem. Why is that an issue? Can’t the Bells ask for better testing from their suppliers? Insist on it in their contracts?

Links to more information:

  1. comp.risks digest forum post about the root cause.

  2. A Google Search for any information about this problem.

  3. More about the liability issues facing the company.

  4. More about the problem

If you have any help, please post it in comments.

“Sir, Siskel and Ebert are two people.”

broderic on September 11, 2005

The latest DVD that I bought was the full run of Undeclared. It’s another TV show on DVD that I like. I found it hilarious. Seth Rogan rocks. It is seventeen 30 minute episodes of hilarity.

Unfortunately, I can’t see the last three. The third DVD of the set doesn’t load on my DVD player or TiBook. I think the DVD is blank. I get error 13! How do you exchange these things anyhow? O well.

I recommend the show highly. It would’ve been the second TV show DVD that I watched all episodes of. Following in the grand tradition of News Radio.

“I wanted a house just like Xanadu, but without a dorky name.”

broderic on September 9, 2005

I am really getting lazy with my movie reviews. Here’s a quick roound up of the last few I saw.

40 Year Old Virgin – 3 of 5 stars. Could’ve been 20 minutes shorter seems to be the running complaint this summer. Don’t see it with your mom. Even if you’ve been laid it will make you feel like your the titular character.

The Constant Gardner – 3 of 5 stars. A challenging movie for the summer. First, the accents where somewhat hard to decipher that it made it hard to catch some of the plot points. Are they speaking in English?

Red Eye – 3 of 5 stars. Sweet 90 minute movie! Not enough of Rachel McAdams running. The script writes itself — See these people. They’ll be part of the plot soon. Yadda. Yadda. Yadda.

“You see, it’s like the old saying, ‘Everybody loves a cane.'”

broderic on September 8, 2005

A couple months ago, there was a dustup between Nike Skateboarding and Minor Threat over the former appropriating the image from the seminal Minor Threat album cover for their summer tour. I really want to go on a rant about this, but don’t have the time to. I think that Jason Kottke was right in calling it an homage.

I remember about 15 years ago that the rage in skateboarding graphics was copying a well known logo and transforming it into a skateboard manufacturer logo. The best was the NBA logo of red, white and blue lay up guy transformed into a skater doing a kickflip. These were all tweaking of the establishment. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

I remember about 20 years ago that my favorite pair of skate shoes were the black and red Air Jordans. Still the best after all these years. Nike was a part of skate culture a long way back. I can still recall a cover of Thrasher with Jesse Martinez kicking out a big judo air in a pair of Air Jordan’s.

“Don’t try to confuse me with the facts.”

broderic on September 2, 2005

I am saddened by the events befalling the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. I wish it would not have happened like this. I remember coming into South Florida after Hurricane Andrew. The place never looked so strange.

Yet, the devestation showing on TV is out of this world. Katrina was a Cat 4 and it would seem that it should not have wreaked as much destruction as the Cat 5 Andrew. Yet, here it is almost a week after it has hit and it looks as if the end of the world has arrived there. I can’t imagine facing this.

New Orleans is gone. She won’t recover for years if not decades.

My heart and thoughts go out to those affected by this.