SPARTA News November 2004

November 2004

SPARTA Chapter President’s Corner

- by Brad Carson

November is here and we finally made it through the Halloween and elections, whew. At least now we don't have to deal with all those political ads on TV and radio for another four years. I hope the presentation from Cornerstone last month went well for you, I would have liked to be there for it.

The DR test we had last month at DHTS went very well for our part. We had the core system volumes restored, all other volumes initialized, and all catalogs restored in three hours. We IPL'ed our system only once for DR and never needed another IPL! The DBA's had a few issues with their DB2 restores that we worked through (compressed archive logs was a biggie). We completed our test early and used the open time to write and test detailed procedures for the fall time change (First time doing it without an IPL). All in all a very good test, we will probably make only one more trip to Sterling Forest before we bring DR recovery in house (being developed right now).

At DDA things are just on a support and health check basis right now. We still haven't gotten a copy of the latest Application developer CD yet, so I'm still waiting. By the way DDA is running their systems on a FLEX server by Cornerstone and I have been very pleased with it.

This month our speaker will be our own Ed Webb from SAS Institute to discuss their migration to z/OS 1.6. I look forward to seeing you all there on the 30th. Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Be sure to ask for Tommy Thomas when you arrive at LabCorp. Pizza, drinks, and dessert will be provided.

2004-2005 SPARTA
Board of Directors

Brad Carson - President
Duke Health Technology Solutions 919-668-0545
2424 Ervin Road, Suite 9000
Durham, NC 27710

Duane Reaugh - Vice President
DTS Software 919-833-8426
2913 Wake Forest Road
Raleigh, NC 27609-7841

Mike Lockey - Secretary
Guilford Co. Information Services 336-641-6235
201 N. Eugene St. 336-449-7198 (Home)
Greensboro, NC 27401

Tommy Thomas - Treasurer
LabCorp 336-436-4178
231 Maple Ave, Koury Ctr 3rd Fl. 919-361-7267
Burlington, NC 27215

Ed Webb - Communications Director
SAS Institute 919-531-4162
SAS Campus Drive 919-362-0232 (Home)
Cary, NC 27513

Meetings

Meetings are scheduled for the last Tuesday evening of each month (except no meeting in December), with optional dinner at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m.

These monthly meetings usually are held at LabCorp’s Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology (CMBP) near the Research Triangle Park (see last page). Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn Left to the CMBP Building. In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Tommy Thomas. Tommy will escort you to the conference room.

Call for Articles

If you have any ideas for speakers, presentations, newsletter articles, or are interested in taking part in a presentation, PLEASE contact one of the Board of Directors with your suggestions.

Newsletter Mailings

The SPARTA chapter policy is to mail a copy of the monthly chapter newsletter to each SPARTA member, NaSPA national, each advertiser, persons who have requested a copy, and to other chapters who send us a copy of their newsletter. The newsletter is mailed about the 20th of each month so you can prepare for the meeting. The mailing list is maintained by Mike Lockey at (336) 412-6235; if you have corrections or problems receiving your newsletter, call Mike.

July 2004 CBT Tape Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V466 (dated July 25, 2004) are available from www.cbttape.org.

If you need help obtaining one or more files, contact Brad Carson at Duke Health or Ed Webb at SAS (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).

Minutes of the October 26th, 2004 Meeting

•Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Duane Reaugh, the Chapter Vice President. Brad Carson was unable to attend the meeting.

•Fourteen (14) people were present; twelve (12) were members.

•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job function.

•The minutes of September 2004 meeting were accepted as published in the October 2004 newsletter.

•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's report. As of October 17, 2004, the balance is $1431.31. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report.

OLD BUSINESS

•Articles are needed for this newsletter. If you would like to write an article for this newsletter, please contact Ed Webb. Keep in mind that you don't really need to write the article, it can be an article that you read that you would like to share with the membership.

•The SPARTA Web page is available. To access the SPARTA Web page, point your Web browser to this site: http://www.spartanc.org. Please send any comments or suggestions about the Web page to Mike Lockey. Be sure to check the Web page every once in a while to see any new or changed information.

•Brad reminded everyone to leave the SAS conference room as clean as we usually leave the LabCorp room.


NEW BUSINESS

•Future Speakers and Topics:
(subject to change)

Nov. 2004: z/OS 1.6 installation - Ed Webb

If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Duane Reaugh.

•Thanks to Tommy Thomas of LabCorp for hosting the October meeting.

•The November 30th SPARTA meeting will be held at LabCorp in the RTP.

•Food for the November meeting will be pizza, drinks and dessert.

•The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:30 p.m.

•Mike Hammond of Cornerstone Systems, Inc. talked about FLEX/ES and zFrame. Some of the topics Mike discussed were:

Cornerstone's zFrame Objectives

How zFrames are being used

FLEX-ES Architectural Compliance

IBM CMOS - FLEX-ES similarities

Processor Performance

Current zFrame Models

IBM PWD (Partner World for Developers) Program

Current zDev Models

IBM Software License Charges

How does it work?

System Structure

Multiple Instances

Disk Subsystem

Other I/O Device Support

Extended Capabilities

FLEX-ES - zFrame

Limitations

Futures

Additional References

The meeting ended at 8:40 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report for November 2004

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $ 1370.30 as of November 18, 2004.

Financial Report
2/01/2004 through 11/18/2004

Items of Interest

SPARTA Food Menu for 2004

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Nov. - Pizza


IBM z/OS 1.6 Customized Migration Books

contributed by Ed Webb

As noted in my SHARE report at the September meeting, IBM has a series of customized books for migrating from supported releases to z/OS 1.6. For example, one is devoted to moving from z/ OS 1.4 to 16. These customized versions are available online at http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/zos/bkserv/zos_migration_manuals.html.

Humor

Brush Up Your Java

Contributed by Duane Reaugh

Tune: Brush up your Shakespeare from Kiss Me Kate

Brush up your Java, Start writing it now
Brush up your Java and the women you will wow.
Just define a few new java classes, head to SCIDS for a couple of glasses
COBOL program takes so long to create, its no wonder they can’t get a date.
JAVA is easy to code and to test, so much better then all of the rest.

Brush up your Java, Start writing it now
Brush up your Java and the women you will wow.
Once the JVM is ready to run, the programming is practically done.
Include a couple of JAVA beans, don’t forget a dozen Krispy Kremes
Coding is easy with so little strife; JAVA programmers still have time for a life.

Brush up your Java, Start writing it now
Brush up your Java and the women you will wow.


OK, Hockey Fans, the Government is Going to Take Over!!!!

Contributed by Chris Blackshire

Prime Minister Martin [of Canada] today announced that the federal government will take over the National Hockey League and run it as a "sacred trust, just like health care."

The announcement came as pressure mounted for the government to do something to end the current NHL shutdown.

"No Canadian should be deprived of NHL hockey during hockey season," Martin said. "We will take over the NHL and run it in the public interest, just like we run the government of Canada."

In an hour-long news conference, the prime minister outlined reforms to the national game that his government will present to an emergency session of Parliament next week.

"To protect the NHL from further Americanization, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will be fired and replaced immediately by Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson," Martin said.

Asked whether the Governor-General knew anything about hockey, Martin replied "not much," but that Clarkson and 200 of her closest friends would be leaving immediately on a fact-finding tour to investigate hockey-government relations in Hawaii, Fiji and Monaco.

To address long standing concerns about escalating violence in hockey, Martin said the government will increase the number of linesmen and referees to 12 per game, one official for each player on the ice. In addition, Canada's gun registry legislation will be amended to require all hockey sticks to be registered.

Once nationalized, all NHL teams will be subject to federal government guidelines for gender equality, affirmative action, and non- discrimination in hiring.

"Inability to skate, shoot, or pass," Martin said, "will no longer be a sufficient reason for denying any Canadian an opportunity to play in the NHL."

Martin added that in future all NHL teams will also be required to abolish the position of "right wing" from their rosters.

Asked why, Martin said it was necessary to increase support for hockey among union members, and to secure NDP backing for the NHL nationalization bill in Parliament.

The PM affirmed that "the great Canadian principle of equalization will be fully applied to our national game."

"The current distribution of NHL teams in Canada is unacceptable to this government," he said. "It violates the principle of regional equality for Alberta and Ontario to have two NHL teams each while some provinces have none. Commencing next season, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be moved to Fredericton and the Edmonton Oilers to Charlottetown."

Martin declared the seating arrangements at NHL hockey rinks "unacceptable" as well.

"We do not accept two-tier medicine in this country and we cannot accept multi-tier seating at hockey arenas. It's un-Canadian."

Martin explained that former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano will be put in charge of a program to flatten the seating arrangements in all NHL arenas.

Asked how spectators in the back rows would be able to see the game, Martin said the government is devising a plan for rotating spectators from back seats to front seats between periods.

"It is our intention, in the interests of fairness, to ensure that any inability to see the game is fully equalized among all spectators, Martin said. "It's the Canadian way."

In recognition of the principle of "asymmetric federalism," and to secure the support of the Bloc Quêbecois for the nationalization measure, Martin also confirmed that the Montrêal Canadiens will be exempted from the proposed reforms.

Finally, to pay for the nationalization program, the government's next budget will include a Fan Tax, an Ice Tax, a Puck Tax, a Stick Registration Fee and a new 115-per-cent income tax bracket for any hockey player making more money than the PM.


Now You Know Everything

Contributed by Chris Blackshire

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."

There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise
it will digest itself.

Now you know everything.

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Location: LabCorp in the RTP

Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn left to the CMBP Building. In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Tommy Thomas. Tommy will escort you to the conference room.

Free Food: Pizza, Drinks, Dessert

Program:

z/OS 1.6 Installation and Migration

Speaker:

Ed Webb of SAS Institute

SPARTA News
P.O. Box 13194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3194











First Class Postage

Phillips Software