If you should happen to need to know the current time as a unix timestamp, try http://www.unixtime.se/. Alternatively typing
date +%s
at a convenient command line might be faster, and more accurate…
The Unix Toolbox lists a lot of useful Unix/Linux/BSD commands. It covers commands for a wide range of operations, i.e. processes, file system, networking, CVS, databases, etc.. Also it covers the very basics of scripting and programming.
This classic article from Mario Wolczko first appeared on Usenet in 1986.
Have you ever left your terminal logged in, only to find when you came back to it that a (supposed) friend had typed “rm -rf ~/*” and was hovering over the keyboard with threats along the lines of “lend me a fiver ’til Thursday, or I hit return”? Undoubtedly the person in question would not have had the nerve to inflict such a trauma upon you, and was doing it in jest. So you’ve probably never experienced the worst of such disasters….
I first came across this dialogue several years ago, which I believe was originally written by Eric S. Raymond in 1993.
Speak, O Guru: How can I become a Unix Wizard?
O, Nobly Born: know that the Way to Wizardhood is long, and winding, and
Fraught with Risks. Thou must Attune thyself with the Source, attaining the
arcane Knowledge and Conversation of the System Libraries and Internals. Yea;
and such an all-consuming Time and Energy Sink is this as to greatly Imperil
thy Grade Point Average (if one thou hast), not to mention thy Sex Life (if one
thou hast). But persevere, oh Larval One; rewards beyond the Dreams of Lusers
await thee!