The Empirical Manifesto

^{Photo: http://unix.bris.ac.uk/2013/08/21/forcing-cssh-to-use-ipv4}



Back when I was running linux on my work laptop, I could cut my workload in half by using efficiency tools such as Cluster SSH, which allowed me to open a terminal on multiple hosts simultaneously and send concurrent commands. This was especially helpful when performing repetitive tasks, such as global password changes. I even had a little script I could copy & paste into the cssh console to get me into whole blocks of servers at a time.

Of course the requirement to use tools which only run on Windows (as well as a whole host of other supportability issues) led to me to finally relent and use an official operating system. However! I still had my ace in the hole with a linux VM on my desktop so I was still able to utilize cssh on the sly. Until I was no longer able to bridge the virtual NIC through VPN.

After a particularly hectic week of work plus weekend surprises, I volunteered to help the new guy with password changes, because that sounded nice and calm. That's when I learned there really is something to be said for, "repetitive tasks." About 50 boxes in, the tops of my hands started burning. Now, maybe its my age - I'm getting a little long in the tooth for rote data entry - but it was so bad I actually considered hydrocodone. I almost never take that stuff unless I absolutely have to.

So instead I bought some of these goofy supports and wrapped them tightly around the tops of my hands after some liquid Advil and a topical analgesic. Lowered my office chair to the ground, reclined it, and managed another 50 boxes pain-free. We'll see how the next hundred go, but I'm already considering replacing old-reliable with a backlit ergonomic keyboard (like this one, because I have Office[Max/Depot] store credit, and its the only backlit ergonomic keyboard I could find - what I wouldn't give for a backlit Logitech WAVE).