Fedora Core 7 Kernel Bug

I noticed some kernel bugs in Fedora Core 7 which appear shortly after booting up.
The error log is like this :

BUG: warning at kernel/softirq.c:138/local_bh_enable() (Not tainted)
[] local_bh_enable+0x45/0x92
[] cond_resched_softirq+0x2c/0x42
[] release_sock+0x4f/0x9d
[] tcp_sendmsg+0x90b/0x9f9
[] dput+0x31/0xf7
[] inet_sendmsg+0x3b/0x45
[] sock_aio_write+0xf6/0x102
[] do_sync_write+0xc7/0x10a
[] autoremove_wake_function+0x0/0x35
[] sys_lstat64+0x1e/0x23
[] vfs_write+0xbc/0x154
[] sys_write+0x41/0x67
[] syscall_call+0x7/0xb
=======================

Other than getting an error message, I did not notice any abnormalies or application crash afterward. Just leave them for the time being until RedHat and Fedora Core issue a workaround solution or patches.

Reciprocal Recognition Agreement (RRA) between HKIE and IET

I have been informed by IET that HKIE does not recognize the status of IET members when IET members in Hong Kong wish to apply for HKIE membership. The applications of our IET members are subject to a review which may comprise any or all of the following :


(a) Submission of a training and experience report
(b) Interview
(c) Essay test
(d) Submission of record of continuing professional development

We are further informed that HKIE has the discretion to determine on the extent and scope of the review.

I am sure there are a large number of engineers in Hong Kong who wish to have dual membership of IET and HKIE. As a corporate member of IET, I feel frustrated to see the unnecessary restrictions/procedures imposed by HKIE. I would say that HKIE has done something detrimental to the status and professional development of all working engineers in Hong Kong.

Le Tour De California

I joined the 3-hour marathon cycling class at Causeway Bay California Fitness Centre today. The event was called Le Tour De California. Certainly, this name was derived from Le Tour De France which is the best-known cycling race in the world lasting for 22 day long, 20 stage road race covering more than 3000km.

I was on the waiting list so I did not have a formal attendance certificate despite completing the challenge. Hey, it doesn’t matter. What I wanted to do is to participate in a marathon cycling challenge class with a large group of people. This is my second time. I will join again next year.

JAlbum

The first web album software that I used was Album GV1.7 dated back to 2001. Album GV1.7 stayed with me for over 5 years until I switched to web album generator. Web album generator is good, easy to use but lacks of beautiful skins.

I have now moved to JAlbum. There are tens of colorful skins for me to use. Moreover, photos can be accompanied with text and comments. I think JAlbum is the best web album I have ever used.

spam statistics

I found that I marked down some spam statistics, but forgot from which sites. Quite interseting figures :

1. The average PC user receives over 2,000 and counting spammed emails per year.
2. The average computer user receives about 10 spams per day.
3. Spam is expected to increase by about 63% in 2007.
4. About 28% of people answer spam emails.
5. 15-20% of corporate email is spam and it is ever-growing.
6. 25% of spam is product-related.
7. About 90 billion spam emails are sent per day.
8. Nearly 80% of spam emails are sent from zombie networks or botnets.
9. China has the highest rate of spamvertized websites.
10. 63% of take my email off your list are not fulfilled.
11. 86% of emails posted on websites end up receiving spam.

2GB file limit

I find that there is a limit of 2GB on the size of file to be listed in a web directory if directory listing is enable in the web server settings. If a file is bigger than 2GB, it can not be shown in the directory through http access. I guess this is the reason why Fedora Core and Centos mirror sites which distribute DVD iso images can only be accessed by FTP. As far s I know, this problem will not be overcome in the coming new releases of Apache.

夏天坐的士

不要以為夏天坐的士一定比坐巴士或小巴舒服。何解 ?

正午時份，的士的前後排坐位都受到猛烈陽光正面照射，正因為車箱細小而令所吸收的熱力聚集，縱使是泠氣車亦不能有效地降溫。巴士及小巴沒有這問題，而現時的泠氣巴士及小巴，每個乘客坐位處都有出風位，比起的士的出風位在前排位置，實在涼快及舒服得多。

Generating 10 million numbers

I need to have a text file containing 10 million sequential numbers. This is the script I use :

#!/bin/bash
for i in {20000000..29999999};
do
echo $i >> numbers;
done

On a P4 3GHz machine, how much time is needed to generate such huge numbers ?

The answer is 53 minutes.