It was the last day of class, and things were extremely relaxed (probably more than they needed to be). We ended up simply exploring the Internet a little and talking briefly about Chapter 9, which you are responsible for on your own.
Homework:
It’s the last full day of lecture/lab! To celebrate, we did the last two chapters in the book — Chapters 12 and 13 which dealt with file backups and AD backups and restoration. Remember the important difference between authoritative restores and non-authoritative restores. Also remember, you will be having the 2nd checkpoint exam next week. Afterwards, I’ll be able to tell you what your final grade is and whether or not I’ll need to see you on the week of the final.
Homework:
Tonight we covered Chapters 9 and 10 covering sharing (sharing is caring, remember that grasshopper) and printing, respectively.
Homework:
It’s almost the end of the quarter — can you believe it?
Today we did the 6th and last chapter in our Excel book. This one is arguably the hardest chapter in the book, but it is extremely useful. This gives us just a taste of some of the power that Excel has (I especially like Goal Seek). Next week, we will have the third and final “regular” test, which will be over Chapters 5 and 6. Afterwards, I’ll be able to give you your grades and let you know if you will need to come in for the final, which will be the Monday after that.
Homework:
I spoke briefly Monday night about blogging about using some fun server technologies to install a distributed computing application to several computers I’m in charge of at another job. Judging by the blank looks I got, I realized it would be important to first explain what distributed computing is and why it’s so important. THEN, I could talk about how I got (and how you can get) these programs installed on several computers at once.
So anyway, imagine a huge problem. Like AIDS, or cancer or even finding prime numbers. A problem so huge that lots of statistical research must be disseminated through. So huge that our contemporary home/office computers can’t even begin — even with their modern dual/quad core power — to knock a dent in the problem. A computer with several, no, several hundred processors might be nice, but still. AIDS is a big problem, yo.
What distributed computing does is ally a group of computer users together in order to donate their CPU’s idle time — in effect making a huge supercomputer. A centralized server is in constant contact with thousands of clients (you and me, who download client software). That server sends in a manageable packet of information that needs “crunching”. The client receives that packet, crunches it, and sends it back to the server. Then, the server sends another packet that needs crunching. The process repeats for each client as long as the client’s owner allows the process to run. Imagine that process times 1,000 or 10,000 or 250,000 or even a million clients. Each client has a processor! It’s like having a supercomputer with a million processors. You can’t buy that kind of computing power — and it’s basically FREE for the research institute, so they have money they can spend on more noble needs. Like, AIDS or cancer or prime number research.
There are all kinds of different distributed computing projects out there you can participate in — many are found at http://www.distributedcomputing.info/. My personal favorite is one from Stanford University called http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/ (folding refers to the behavior of proteins in certain situations). Part of their research involves Alzheimer’s disease — the disease my grandfather died from at age 66 after a 12 year battle. So, of course, I would like to see this disease eradicated and am willing to donate my already-running PC’s idle time to fighting it.
I urge anyone reading this to, seriously, download some sort of distributed computing project designed for the betterment of society. The word is still out about whether or not you can deduct the CPU time on your taxes.
Later, I’ll detail how I used Remote Desktop and various command-line utilities to install the Folding@Home client on the machines in my lab without leaving my desk.
Kudos to Jamarcus Alexander and David Chute for this video. I came back from lunch on Tuesday afternoon to find this jewel playing on one of my classroom computers. Hilarious.
Liz Heller visited our class today and talked with us about resumes and cover letters. We will be talking over the next remaining weeks about these and be working on them briefly as well. I will be taking them up, along with your portfolios on September 5.
Today we did units 13, 14, and 15 and also saw some more collages. Remember, if you haven’t shown us your collage, you have only next week to do so, and then it will be too late to turn in! Don’t forget or choose not to do one — it will negatively impact your grade. Immensely!!!
It’s freakin’ hot in here!
Ok, yeah, tonight we did Chapter 8, which was on Computer Accounts. The chapter was a little thin, so we had some time to do some additional hands on kind of stuff, which I think I’ll implement next quarter. I also showed you how to use some of the command line stuff we’ve been using, like dsadd, in conjunction with a batch file to speed up and automate some mundane tasks.
I really do think I’m going to switch the computers at Holy Trinity over to some sort of cool naming system. I don’t think I’ll use rock stars, since I think I’ll have the computers physically labeled (you know, to help me remember which computer is what) and I think parents might frown on sending their kids to a Christian school only to find out that their kid learned how to download music on a computer named “Axl Rose”. I don’t know, it’s just me maybe. But maybe using city names, or presidents, or something like that would be cool. Or! I could use Bible characters. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Bible characters.
All I’m saying is, my computer will be called “God”. 
Ok, so no homework since I forgot to assign it before I left. Nice job guys.
Homework:
Today’s class covered Chapters 7 and 8, dealing with OUs and Firewalls.
Homework:
Today we did security templates, and explored the aspects of their creation and how to use them with group policy to lock down groups of computers all at once. All of the policy editing was tedius, but it allowed us to see the impact of adding all of the policies on top of each other (RSOP).
Homework:
