Marks Malarkey

Another semester, another episode of Computer Science marking malarkey.

My marks were "raised" first by two, then by an additional six marks. That matches and topss my last such - six marks for back in 2007H1 vs a total increase of eight this time around!

But that's not all. Some poor soul had an additional ten(!) marks found in their test. They went from 15 (50%) to 25 (83%). That's from nearly failing to receiving a first. Keep in mind that they didn't do anything extra after the test. Those marks were just lying there waiting to be found, like gold nuggets.

Mmmmm, gold.

Lowest SXW shot yet

This is the lowest landing I've seen at SXW yet.

I call shotgun!

Internet service providers in the U.S. experienced a service slowdown Monday after fiber-optic cables near Cleveland were apparently sabotaged by gunfire. [Emphasis mine -Al]

The report then goes on to name three different ISPs/NSPs that were affected:

• Level3 (who owns the cable)
• TeliaSonera, and
• Cogent

Don't these people have redundant circuits? Does Level3 have cheap non-protected circuits on offer? Or are some networking companies smart enough to build their own infrastructure on Level3's dark fibre and yet simultaneously dumb enough to not protect that same infrastructure? Wow.

Alternatively, it's a great excuse for more Cogent de-peering *ahem*...
(thanks PCWorld / Yahoo!)

Game over man, game over!

(thanks Hudson and PCNews.ro)

Dedication

(thank you SFGate via militaryphotos.net)
There's no mistaking which branch of the military Nicholas Popaditch served with -- his prosthetic eye is embedded with the Marine Corps emblem. Popaditch, a retired gunnery sergeant and tank commander from San Diego, was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade in Fallujah, Iraq. He lost his right eye and most of the vision in his left.