What is right about Liberals?

Michael Bérubé responding to criticism leveled by "Maximilian Pakaluk’s recent review of my book in the National Review Online." offered the following position....

As I explain in What’s Liberal?, there’s another reason I don’t share Harris’s faith (or that of any other “ethical realist") in mind-independent concepts: I think that believing in them can have nasty consequences. That is, people who believe that they’ve discovered objective moral principles out there in the ether (as distinct from people who think they’re working out sublunary moral principles with their fellow human beings) are especially likely to think of people who believe otherwise—or who simply believe in other principles—as not merely mistaken about this or that but objectively wrong as measured by some nonhuman, observer-independent criterion. Or, as I write elsewhere in the chapter, “you might conclude that people who disagree with you are not simply working from different moral premises but, rather, are alien—or opposed—to morality itself. It then becomes all the easier to exclude them from the conversation, from all forms of human community.” And one of the purposes of the liberal arts—golly, but I thought this argument was as clear as a mountain stream—is to teach people how to think about fundamental disagreements in human affairs, and how to conceptualize fundamental disagreements without coming to the conclusion that the people who disagree with you must be expelled or exterminated.

Not to sound fawning or patronizing but this is the clearest explanation of a "Liberal" position that I have ever encountered. In the space of one paragraph, albeit a complex one, Bérubé is able to point to the crux of the matter, mind-independent concepts. I see his discussion not just as a personal one but as a world-view as well - clarifying many, if not all, of the world struggles.

How clearly I can hear the Christian Fundamentalists saying, "you are not simply working from different moral premises but, rather, are alien—or opposed—to morality itself." Echoed are the voices of the Extremists of almost every camp. Armed with such righteous indignation it is easy to see how violence is the next available method of cleansing the alien immoral influences.

Life becomes very cheap when we disconnect ethics and values from our day to day existence. Mind-independent concepts are just such a disconnect.

Your wall, my graffiti?

Jeneane iffen you are going to offer comments (spray graffiti) on another's blog site (my wall) then you have to know that I get to do what I like with my wall. If that means repainting it, so be it. If it means charging admission to view my wall, extant with your graffiti then so be it.

Lives up to its name, is as good as its word...

Steven over at WinExtra pointed us toward a product that you just don't see every day. Here is a product that really does exactly what it claims. It comes clearly packaged, it is easy to install, does exactly what it says it will do, doesn't have any back-doors or hidden "features"... NaDa, zip ziltch, zero... just exactly what you would expect from every good software provider.

Go here, get yours => Get your NaDa here

I got mine and it is great!

Vacation is over, back to work.

Spent 8 of the last 9 days on "vacation" ...

Getting to spend time with an old friend, priceless. Getting to attend the Goodrich Club Board Meeting, invaluable. Setting aside 1 day to visit my father's cousin in Holland Michigan, beyond measure.

Working my butt off trying to keep pace with my old friend - a daunting challenge at best, an exercise in futility at worst. Ken Shenstone is building a studio complex to compliment the 20 year old wood fire Anagama kiln. Not one to enter into small projects Ken and Buck, in partnership, are building two major studio spaces and a common room/kitchen/music studio. As soon as I get the old fashioned film pictures developed I will post a few. (And, as soon as I get permission I will post earlier pix from mid summer that contrast the progress being made.)

So here is a partial list of accomplishments*...

Roofing: Installed metal ribbed roof and trim (rake side x2 plus high side) on a 37' x 52' slant roof
Roofing: Bituthene and roof felt for the common room
Electrics: Bore 4" hole through 12+ inches of 4000lb concrete
Carpentry: Sheathing exterior wall of common room
Carpentry: Bituthene and Typar wall of ceramic studio
Landscape: Prepare area between house and studio for grass planting
Landscape: French drain (stone over drainage pipe) back of commom room

Social: Friday night losing 3 out of two games of Cribbage to Rusty (Yup, got skunked.)
Social: Saturday night, won 2 out of 2 games of Cribbage from Rusty (small revenge.)


* Fine Print Disclaimer: I merely assisted in these accomplishments. Ken is duly credited with doing the actual work.


Technorati Tags: Goodrich Club, Anagama

New Google Feature

Log into Google and go to Google Docs

While the entire world is a buzz with the GoogleTube extravaganza Google has continued to quietly build the state of the art online office experience. Google Docs appears to be the central interface of access to the "working" side of the online office.

My son, of whom I am very proud, was excited beyond words with the thought of his stop-motion videos being accessible via Google. His interests are not in the business of websites but rather the enjoyment of his creations. GoogleTube will be just the forum for the display and admiration of his videos. Keep up the great work!


tag: Google, Online Office,

No Reservations

Anthony Bourdain has no reservations. Thank the deity of your choice. To my ears and eyes Tony brings a new standard of excellence to television. Breaking the traditional Travelogue mold, swearing and eating his way across this country and a nation near where you live. Poking fun at all things commercial. Favoring instead local flavors, street foods and strong drink.

In particular watch for his Beirut episode. It is truly disquieting. We get to see a side of television production that isn't often available. Bourdain avoids the the sensationalism of the "News" media. He and his team focus on the reality of being in a place that is rapidly becoming unpredictable.

What I found most telling was Bourdain's precarious position of not being in control. Here is a rugged individual who is relegated to being a refuge. His world is tossed and he just has to go for a ride. We see a man who doesn't quite know what to make of it all - and in showing us this side Tony Bourdain becomes one of the real people. He becomes one of the people he takes such delight in shocking us with in any other setting.

Odds are that Bourdain and the entire 'No Reservations' production team will not get anything more than a passing attaboy - and that is a damned shame 'cause they did really good work. Yeah, they worked their asses off when the going got tough. All the while focusing on people.

Saturday morning...

Saturday morning at our house is often filled with the smell of frying bacon. Then hash brown potatoes. Then eggs and finally toast. Saturday morning breakfast is my weekly reward. It is also a vestigial remnant of my youth. A reward from a time of poverty. A time when as church-mouse poor college students we would splurge and spend a couple of early Saturday morning hours at Kate's Kitchen. Those were the days of Camel non-filters and countless cups of scalding counter coffee. Those were the hours when we would be served and satisfied. Two over easy bacon whole wheat... For an hour or two the poverty and the winter wind and the studies were pushed away in favor of a classic 'greasy spoon' breakfast.

Kate's is gone even if the building remains. A big name pizza franchise lives there now.

In response to Doug Karr: Protecting Software and Customers from Counterfeiters?

Doug Karr's original post... When I tried to respond to Doug's questions my answer just seemed to grow beyond a comment post... so I put it here...

What follows will appear to be off-topic initially but I assure you it will circle around to the issues that you have brought up...

I am a dyed-in-the-wool Slackware Linux advocate. I am particular about Slackware. I am particular about Linux. These two combined means that I am particular about Open Source Software. This in turn means that I am particular about “free” software.

I have had the luxury, the inclination, the opportunity and the technological resources to become a moderately fluent Linux 'Business' user. (I have 7 linux servers in production providing a number of "back office" services (e.g. firewalls, proxy, HTTP, router/gateway, alpha-numeric paging, and network management).) It has taken time and effort to capitalize on my situation. Time and effort that most likely is not available to Joe Average.

I have sampled many of the mainstream Linux distributions (distros). I have had the opportunity to try a myriad of avant-nerdy-custom distros. The mainstream distros are as proprietary as a well know commercial OS. The smaller specialty distros are keen, neat and interesting but lack a polished finish. Slackware, the work of Patrick Volkerding, is the seminal foundation of Linux distributions. One of its many claims to fame is that it puts the onus of responsibility on the user. While a few "features" are turned on the rest of the configuration is left up to preferences of the person using Slackware. In addition Slack, as it is lovingly called, is not natively encumbered with the burden of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Every aspect of Slack can be configured using a simple text editor.

[I am supposed to add here; not for the faint of heart.]

Linux is born on the back of Open Source Software (OSS). OSS is an affirmation of the value of software as a contribution to a larger community. It, software, is written because it needs to be written the way a painting need to be painted. Occasionally an artist will paint "on commission" as a programmer will develop a specific program for a client. More often than not the artist/programmer will create to fulfill the need of creation.

The business model that has evolved out of OSS is an acknowledgement of where the true value lies in software. It is best seen in the "Distro" business model. The value is not in the software but in the packaging and integrating of the software into the distro package. Red Hat was quick to tell me that the support cost I was asked to incur was not to "purchase" the software but rather to cover the cost of ongoing support for _all_ of its constituent elements. I was assured that the software was available for download from a number of sources at no cost. [BTW: I received the same position statement from Novell's SUSE - so this isn't vendor specific.]

This business model extends to individual applications as well. PostgreSQL, the RDBMS with the difficult to pronounce name, is a very good example. PostgreSQL is readily available for download at no cost. It comes complete with _very_ comprehensive documentation. Additionally there are publicly accessible forums where usage discussions and even some problem solving is available, again for free. If however you want or need to please the PHB by being able to point to a service contract that stipulates the terms of support - PostgreSQL is more than happy to oblige, for a price. Do not mistake my levity in this matter for a slight against PostgreSQL. Their application is professional at every turn as is their support. It just so happens that they have chosen to place monetary value not on a world class program but on world class service and support.

After all that Slackware Linux OSS evangelizing I now put on my professional hat: I am the Manager of Information Systems for a mid-sized manufacturing concern here in the mid-west. We do business the old fashioned way - Microsoft Windows: 9 Servers and 70+ desktops. We use Windows as a business resource because that is what our most important business resources, people, are trained and proficient with. We use Windows because our second most valuable business resources, our customers, use Windows. We use Windows because the business applications we depend on are Windows based. So, regardless of my personal preference I am a staunch supporter of Microsoft Windows.

I have also 'enjoyed' the polite invitation from Microsoft to run an internal audit and verify that all of my PCs and servers running Windows were and are duly licensed. I assumed that if I had not complied with their polite request I would have ended up on a list to be visited by the BSA. I am not a lawyer and I do not suggest that I fully understand the dotted "i's" and crossed 't's" of the EULA but I am relatively sure Microsoft was and will continue to be within their rights to respectfully offer such 'Invitations'. My position, whether I personally like it or not, is that I do business using Microsoft products and I am honor bound to adhere to a contractual agreement regarding their use.

In my view the question of whether I should be saddled with the responsibility of verifying and validating the implementation of their product is mute. Caveat emptor! "Buyer beware" is the watch word that we should live by. I view the verification and validation mechanisms as just another type of 'dongle'. In reviewing the Microsoft Position I was heartened to hear that only minor punitive measures will be taken against those who are not in compliance. Of particular note is Microsoft's insistence that they will not prevent non-compliant instances of Windows from obtaining critical updates. I take this as a significant gesture of good will.

As to the cost verses the worth of Microsoft products I have one observation; contemporary OS and software customers expect the same functionality from their home PC that they do from their business PC. In many cases people have higher expectations from their personal computers than they do of the PCs that they use at work. I believe this disparity of expectation significantly colors the "supply and demand" market influences. To put a finer point of this I believe that Microsoft is on the right track offering 'Windows Lite' to burgeoning third world nations who have severely limited technological resources. (I know, this is a departure from my pervious rant regarding Microsoft pricing schedule. See Microsoft Redux ) On the other hand, if Joe Average expects his home PC to perform as well or better than his office PC then Joe should be expected to pay for that performance.

The problem is that Windows is not a qualifiable or even quantifiable product. It does not wear out nor is it [intentionally] designed to stop working after a specified period of time. It is not, in and of itself, a dependable income generator over time. That coupled with the fact that software (OSs and Applications) are easily duplicated means that Microsoft has very little to actually market unless they impose arbitrary value limits. Their first imposition is the actual price of the product, the unit cost. Second are the measures they impose on the customer to insure the adherence to contractual obligation. Finally, Microsoft should be acknowledged for making each successive version of their flagship product Windows better. It is this value that we as consumers should measure when considering our next OS or application purchase.

The OSS model depends on free distribution to extend applications and distros into the greater computing community. Then it is a matter of trial by fire. If the app or distro meets community imposed standards of excellence it flourishes. When it does succeed then its value is acknowledged and the authors can exercise their right to realize monetary rewards for the real value of their efforts. There are some cases where an author will actually choose not to accept remuneration for their apps or distros but instead use the creditability of their success to further their careers in other ways. A good example of this is nmap, acknowledged widely as the premier port scanner. Nmap author fyodor@insecure.org doesn't (yet) charge for his program but he is acknowledged in his field as an expert and sought after as such.

So it would appear that Microsoft is in the unenviable position of having to establish and then protect its product in order to realize a monetary return. OSS, on the other hand, does not have to protect its product and is able to capitalize on the real value that the community places upon it. Microsoft must place demands on the public. OSS receives support from the public. Microsoft will inevitably crumble beneath its own weight. OSS will just continue to grow in its freedom.

This is a catastrophy of the highest order!!!

The New York Times reports...

FRISCO, Tex., Sept. 28 — “Keep the ‘Art’ in ‘Smart’ and ‘Heart,’ ” Sydney McGee had posted on her Web site at Wilma Fisher Elementary School in this moneyed boomtown that is gobbling up the farm fields north of Dallas.

But Ms. McGee, 51, a popular art teacher with 28 years in the classroom, is out of a job after leading her fifth-grade classes last April through the Dallas Museum of Art. One of her students saw nude art in the museum, and after the child’s parent complained, the teacher was suspended.

Although the tour had been approved by the principal, and the 89 students were accompanied by 4 other teachers, at least 12 parents and a museum docent, Ms. McGee said, she was called to the principal the next day and “bashed.”

She later received a memorandum in which the principal, Nancy Lawson, wrote: “During a study trip that you planned for fifth graders, students were exposed to nude statues and other nude art representations.” It cited additional complaints, which Ms. McGee has challenged.

The school board suspended her with pay on Sept. 22.

This is why America consistently gets failing grades in the world community. Not only in Education but Civics as well. One might surmise that as a nation we are willing, nay, wanting to be uncultured! It would appear that we want to turn our back on the very fabric of our civilization.

We need to put a stop to illiterate and uneducated parents insisting that their children be intentionally "dumbed down". This stupidity has to stop, literally!!!

one liberal blogger

The following is taken from the Washington Post

Stan Collender, a public relations specialist at Qorvis Communications LLC in the District, said the potential for bloggers to damage the reputation of a business or person is a growing concern.

"It's like pamphleteering on the corner, only its cheaper, quicker and vastly more broad," Collender said. "But unlike the traditional media, it's completely unregulated in that there's no fact checking, no editing. It has all the potential for creating a lot of damage to someone's or something's reputation very quickly, and it's almost impossible to eliminate it. Any unsubstantiated rumor has a very good chance of getting out there."

A growing concern to whom? Spin Doctors on both sides of every aisle have been bending the truth since the term Nom de Guerre was coined. Stan Collender should be more concerned with the 'Cliche Phenomenon' than anything else in this unseemly matter. As we all know a cliche exists because it holds some essential truth. Pamphleteering worked because of the essential truth expressed, however egregiously presented.

Giving Frank Paynter's blog entry, ' If Murry Gunty didn’t exist we’d have to invent him' a quick read we see the real value of his 'pamphlet' ... Namely the clear and concise criticism of the entire matter. Frank is willing to paint a telling picture of Murry Gunty, acknowledging readily available facts. Then when it comes to the comment [posted in response to the Pincus mentioning Gunty] Paynter is very particular in pointing out the impropriety of the comments. He characterizes them as "hearsay and potentially damaging". This is the very real essence of correct blogging - Blogging must be and is self-policing.

Such self-policing practices are the backbone of the blogosphere. The many voices, vox populi, that blog on a given topic or issue bring many if not all the varied perspectives to the reader. This is in contrast to the touted Mainstream Media who provide one or two sterilzed and encapsulated views or opinions.

The bottom line is that serious criticism of blogging cannot be leveled at a single blogger or even a select group of bloggers. Individuals who are critical of blogging have only one recourse, the court of the blogosphere. Get a blog, write your side of the story. Set the story straight. Exercise your right of Free Speech.

P.S. I had no idea that Frank Paynter was, and I quote, "one liberal blogger". What is the world coming to?

That grain of rice... is yours.

...an ant carrying a grain of rice... or 'Walking among Giants!'

I am a very selective blog subscriber. I decided early on to pay attention to who was reading whom and then subscribe accordingly. People who consistently showed up in blogrolls did so for a reason. These are the people who I started to read. This means of course that I am quantitatively not very well read. On the other hand it turns out that I am well read qualitatively. That is where the Giants come in.

On the Internet no one can tell you are an ant walking among or reading the Giants.

So I was only a little surprised by Om Malik's revelation that so many people are not in tune with the latest and greatest that the net has to 2.0 offer. Then I began to reflect on the fact that the Giants are all about the early adoption of technology - or the very early origination of such technology. Us ants are just about comfort and ease of use. We like the old ways.

The grain of rice, your grain of rice, is huge. But boy, oh boy, is it good.

Do you do 2 point oh?

Very very refreshing to hear that there are many other people that do not know about all things 2.0

Om and Niall PodSessions remind us that there are a great many people who want comfort and ease of use. They are not interested in the bleeding edge of technology.

A gift

A gift given and received... of my work in 2Voices my spirit sister offered the following...

a rambunctious poet
is looking for comeuppance
from Internet foes

Looking for God as if I were blind.

RealLivePreacher gladdens my heart and gives me hope. Gordon Atkinson pulls no punches. He stands as a man among men and tells the truth as he sees, feels, lives and in some instances dies with it. So when RLP speaks I have a tendency to pay just a little more attention...

When something of import prompts RLP to speak I pay just a little more attention. Today his blog entry ( Jacob's Well: Portrait of an Emergent Church ) pointed us to this article published in 'The Christian Century' about a postmodern church in the heart of the country.

Keel is the pastor of an 'Emergent church' in Kansas City, Missouri. Of him it is said,

Keel is drawn to theologians who articulate a post-Christendom perspective and who argue that Christians are most faithful when they are not seeking cultural or political power. Keel carries no weapons in the culture war, and he figures that his people, hardly stereotypical evangelicals, vote Democratic or Green as often as Republican.

Perhaps the most refreshing part of Keel's approach to the "Great Commission" is the faith he exhibits when he gives the seeker the opportunity to discover why a community of believers gathers so consistently to celebrate.

"If most evangelicals follow a pattern of believe-behave-belong, we reverse that pattern and make it belong-behave-believe," said Keel. "We say, 'Try on these clothes, take up these practices, and see what happens.'"

We need to stop looking for God as if he were lost. I need to look for God as if I were blind.

Fudge and Darn - R.I.P. John M. Ford

There was a disturbance in the Force...


Why does this internet thing have to be so vast that I only learn of great wordsmiths upon the occasion of their death.

Like McGonagall, only without the rhymes

The grape known as Thompson Seedless,
By Robert Mondavi he swore,
That the upstart group of the base-born drupe
Called the Flame should grow no more …

Uh, where were we?

Marginalize and/or Destroy

Michael Bérubé takes a great Monday morning shot by posting a list of those who maybe, might, could, sorta, Marginalize and/or Destroy "...the brave guy who’s looking out for you."

Crab Log ?

Ooops, my bad...

Small Network Needs

... or...
Every important thing I know I learned from building a small network.


In the latter half of the 1990's I had the luxury of building a network environment from scratch. I cite this as an exceptional circumstance because very rarely does one get to start with a clean blank canvas when implementing a network. Almost always there are existing infrastructures to contend with and legacy technologies to accommodate. I found myself in a circumstance where there was no pre-existing conditions. I was given liberty to grow a network from a single seed. From that seed a small to mid-sized network has evolved but not without learning curves and growing pains. In recounting the development and evolution of this network I hope to emphasize a few very important lessons learned.

• Small networks require the same infrastructure components that larger networks require.
• Planning, planning, planning!
• Networks are a very good example of "Pay-me-now-or pay-me-later"
• Computers really only do one job at a time well. Only people think they can multi-task.
• 100% Over-Pull - Anticipate growth!

Small Business Owners beware... Small networks require the same infrastructure components that larger networks require.

This is a statement-of-the-obvious for any Information Systems Manager worth his or her salt. Unfortunately it comes as a HUGE and dissappointing surprise to most small business owners. Too often the refrain is, "All I want to do is get my e-mail and run some kind of simple ERP application." Unfortunately there are three deceptive inclusions in such a statement. First is that there is no such thing as a simple ERP application. Second, getting e-mail is considerably more involved that just dialing into an ISP. Finally, the largest deception by far is the assertion "all I want to do..." These are the famous last words (actually first words) of Feature Creep, the enxorable march of additional functions and "needs" that suddenly appear as soon as the network is established. Feature Creep is almost always rationalized after the fact by saying, "Well, we already paid all this money, we should at least be able to (fill in the blank)."

We will revisit this point ... again and again ...

Planning, planning, planning!

The best way to combat the "all I want to do..." attitude is to determine exactly what you really do want to do. Ask all the questions first - they are cheap at the price and the answers will offer clear direction for the overall project. Start by determining the general responsibilities of your proposed network environment. File Sharing means a central repository, a file Server (1) that network users can get to. Preventing labor from accessing management files means having a user security system. Print Sharing means that both the computers and the printers have to be interconnected. E-mail means that in some fashion the network has to be able to connect the internet. E-mail, in some cases, may require a Server (1). Having a web site means that a Web Server (1) must be accessible by the Internet. Keeping your information safe means having many different layers of security; firewalls, anti-virus programs, anti-spyware programs, user security systems and reporting systems.

Then there are physical issues to address. How will users PCs communicate? Will you install a wired network? This will include distribution devices (switches and hubs). If you implement fiber-optic cabling then suitable converters will be needed. All of these constituent elements will need suitable places to reside. Most often these will be in closets or phonerooms. Network resources need to be physically secure. It does not good to have a strong password when a thief can steal your file server. Even closets and phonerooms can be vulnerable to someone walking in and "jacking" into your network.

Then there is the realistic evaluation of the actual number of users on a network. All too often I have heard something like 'only the main partners and their assistants...' This suggesting that the number of users is relatively small. Serious followup finds that there are 14 partners, each having a personal secretary (14) and an assistant (14). Each office suite shares two printers (14). Seven of the partners use a laptop in addition to their desktop (7). The HR Manager and her secretary are not considered partners but they use a PC(2) and two printers(2). The receptionist, three records clerks and the Building/Security Manager all use PCs (5) and share two printers (2). By my simple count the users PCs total 55 and the printers total 18. So in this example of a Law Office there are 73 connections that have to be made, not counting any of the servers (at least 3 from the above example).

Computers really only do one job at a time well. Only people think they can multi-task.

Almost to a person small business owners have asked, "Why can't a secretary use that server, the one locked in a closet, to type up invoices?" Well, the most obvious answer is, 'You shouldn't lock secretarys in closets.' The real answer is very simple and very dissappointing. Computers are really only single-taskers. The best scenario in a small business setting is one server is assigned one role or responsibility. Many of my counterparts in the industry will take exception with this but my response is just as simple as my rule. If a server "crashes" how many roles or responsibilities would a business operator like to lose for the duration of the crash? If the File Server malfunctions the E-mail is still operational as is the E-Commerce site that runs on the Web Server.

This highlights a paradigm of business that is worthy of note. The network is not the 'thing'. The network is the communication channel that business 'things' use to transfer valuable information. The network is a utility, not unlike water and electricity, that business can make good use of but are not directly dependent on. Networks don't, as a rule, do business - they make business work better. This brings me to the awareness that computing the ROI of a network capital investment is as difficult as determining the value of running water or dependable electricity. On the other hand, an E-Commerce system that increases annual sales by 200% can clearly be evaluated in terms of ROI.

100% Over-Pull - Anticipate growth

When estimating the number of strands of fiber-optic cable to pull between any two given points I apply the '100% Over-Pull' rule. At a minimum I will specify twice as many strands as I anticipate using. More often than not I will specify 300 - 500% over-pull. Experience has shown me that networks grow in the same way that Features Creep. Once a resource such as a network infractructure is established then everybody will find yet another use for it. So where initially 2 of 6 strand are dedicated to the digital network all of a sudden an additional 6 strands are needed for the transmission of CCTV images.

"Wait! You never mentioned anything about CCTV!!! We thought you were talking about computer networks." It is true that I have been focused on computers but again the network is not the 'thing'. In the case of a fiber-optic network infrastructure it can be a resource to any system that can speak "glass" - computers, CCTV, audio, telephone, HVAC controllers, and more.

The same '100% Over-Pull' rule applies to computers and networking. Just like nature abhores a vacuum, business will grow to fill an empty network. Business will grow very quickly to fill an empty network. So it is imperative to anticipate growth. A 300-500% growth rate is not unusual in the first 5 years of a network. This brings us back to my first point - Small networks require the same infrastructure components that larger networks require. (Did I mention we would revisit it again and again... ) Where the real value can be realized is in the correct specification the first time when building a network infrastructure. And of course this correct specification is an out growth of my second point ( Planning, planning, planning! ) married to the spirit of the 100% Over-Pull rule.

Everything I have offered here is about having realistic expectations. Too often under-sizing our needs and objectives leads us to make less than economically valuable business decisions. To be fair, our fathers and their fathers ran businesses with yellow legal pads and Ticondaroga #2 pencils. The supply-and-demand business rules that served them well just don't seem to stand up to JIT thinking and Business@Internet.speed. When we take the first steps out of our father's business paradigm we must be prepared to hit the cyber-space surfing (...hit the ground running...)

--------------------------------

William Meloney is an Information Systems Manager for a small mid-western manufacturing concern. The views expressed within are his alone and do not reflect those of anyone else, living or dead. Do not operate heavy machinery. Be sure you can sleep for 8 full hours before taking. If a condition lasting more than four hour occurs contact your physician immediatly.

I've been to...

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

I have always wanted to see this map... of the states that I have at least set foot in... if not actually visited.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls...

Bipartisan Poll Shows the Majority of Americans Favor Video Choice Over Onerous Net Neutrality Regulations

The survey found that very few registered voters are familiar with the issue of network neutrality. In some regions of the country, only 5 percent of likely voters had even heard of “Net Neutrality.” The survey found broad support for a “Consumer Internet Bill of Rights,” like that contained in the Senate’s communications bill. The provision contained in the Senate bill prevents Internet service providers from blocking access to competitors or degrading a consumer’s broadband service. According to the survey, when presented with a choice between video choice and additional net neutrality legislation, an overwhelming majority of voters supported video choice.

Please, please don't mess with my euphoric mind altering substance deliver system. Please don't let free enterprise and world culture overshadow World Federation Wrastlin' or Studio 60 (This deserves a separate post but let me just say that a TV Soap Opera about a tv soap opera is the very height of insults.)

'Sides which, how's come we gots to legislate the "Net Neutrality" stuff? Everybody knows Al Gore invented the Internet. Ain't no way anything is ever gonna happen to change that. 'Sides only-est thing its good for is keepin' stats during NASCAR races... and them pick-tures, ya'll know the ones I's talkin' about...

Just remember...

When freedom is outlawed only outlaws will be free.

or

'They will pry my freedom from my cold dead hands.'

If you missed PhoneCon go back to bed ...

...and sleep until next year!

Jeneane Sessum pulled off the coup of the of all times! An event unparalleled in the history of technology... a floating convention. A convention dedicated to good old fashioned communication. Just plain folks getting together on the phone to share the goodness of thier lives. People from all corners of the globe.

Land lines, mobiles, Skype, Flickr, ChatCreator and much much more. Fresh baked Croissants, Talking Like Pirates, Trains (Kevin Marks), singing (Frank Paynter), gardening, conference calls...

It was a gathering of gathers - people who know people who know people.

Thanks Jeneane!

My Children, My OS. Their choices...

Bridget Kulakauskas offers a keen insight in to the adoption of technology across generational boundaries in her authoritative article Didn’t God say “...and the geeks shall inherit the earth”?>

If you say stuff like “Linux will never take over on the desktop because people just aren’t into doing geek stuff—they don’t want to know how to do things and they just want usability” I will respond with even if that is true at the moment—and there isn’t conclusive evidence to suggest this is so—what about today’s six year olds?

Unfortunately I feel that Ms Kulakauskas has failed to acknowledge one important facet of her position: What does a six year old want?

All three of my children, R(16), S(14), and W(12) have been brought up with computers from the first day they came home from the hospital. I can say with fatherly pride that all of my children can use either Linux (Slackware at that) or Windows. In fairness I must acknowledge that none of them are called upon to do system administration nor are they obliged to use the CLI (Command Line Interface). I am sure in my assumption that if they had access to a MAC they would not have any more difficulty than I do using one.

So what is the important facet? Which OS do they prefer or want to use. Or, roughly transliterated; What [OS] does a six year old want? Experience shows us that no real amount of OS sophistication or stability is important to a young person as they begin to use computers. Instead the computer, which becomes synonymous with the OS, has to have the features and baubles that are common in a young persons world view. This can be summed up in one assertion: if the majority of their friends are using Windows then you can be sure they will want to use Windows.

I have demonstrated the merits and values of Linux on many occasions. I have shown the functionality of similar programs (AIM clients, IRC clients, browsers, et al) assuring them the same resources on the Linux box. In return I have gotten the "Yes Papa, we know all that but we like Windows better" response.

So I ask myself why would they like an OS that is so much unlike Linux. Linux being my OS of choice. The first observation that comes to mind is the fact that many (if not all) of the sites that my children are interested in demand, or only support, Microsoft's InternetExplorer. Another factor is the commonality of language that my children use with their peers when communication complex computer information. Again, most if not all are couched in the vernacular of Microsoft.

This is also seen in adults who insist they don't use a spreadsheet instead they use Excel. This is a clear case that I have stated in the past where the object (the OS) and the brand (Microsoft) and the behavior (computing) all have the same name - "using the PC". (See "Microsofting")

Which came first...the circle or the content?

I followed a article link in the Arts section of the NewYorkTimes and ended up here...

BANKSY



Which so much reminded me of the work of hugh







Then I stumbled across this...







"A guide to blagging things

One

Never write a guide telling other people
how to blag things"

BRILLIANT!

After 9-11

Walk with me in Brooklyn after midnight

to the intersection of Old Fulton and Water streets

directly beneath the Brooklyn Bridge

walk with me half a block from the disaster relief kitchen

to Fulton's Ferry Landing

to look out across the East River

the smouldering Manhattan skyline

radiating the eerie stark white glare of
thousands of emergency lights

the remaining buildings silhouetted, standing
as silent sentinels around their fallen comrades

...

Our team is working the second shift - 6:PM to 6:AM

The midnight snack, hot hamburgers, have been cooked,
packaged, and shipped to the rescue workers

the night air is soft

with our chores done until breakfast a group
of us decide to go have a look at
ground zero

the silence of the Brooklyn Bridge is almost
deafening - the bridge is still closed - pedestrians only

from the height of the bridge span - there is a wonderful panoramic
view of New York City

bridge is closed because there is nowhere to
go on the Manhattan side - emergency vehicles only

but there are people out - walking, standing, red-eyed policemen,
exhausted national guard, fire men and women, rescue personnel,
red cross volunteers, news crews
spectators

and the displaced - New Yorkers, heart broken, hopeless and lost,
just wandering around...

...

Hastily erected cyclone fences keep all but
the authorized a full block away from
ground zero

everywhere there is a dull gray layer of
concrete dust - covering everything, plants,
window sills, cars, streets

I've never been to a war zone, but I have been to
ground zero

from our vantage point - a block away we
can see across an empty lot directly into the
smouldering remains of the World Trade
center

I've never been to a war zone, but I have been to
ground zero

I spent a number of years working the
ambulance as an emergency medical
technician - responding to horrendous
automobile accidents and all manner of
human insults and injuries

my heart has been broken many times

... and then I went to ground zero

with disaster relief I have responded to numerous
floods and tornadoes

my heart has been broken many times

...and then I went to ground zero

...

we returned to the disaster relief kitchen,
shaken and feeling empty

we sat silently on the sidewalk, outside the
kitchen compound in a semi-circle of street
light

she appeared out of the darkness, like an
apparition, standing just at the edge of the
light, smoking a cigarette

she was trying to decide if she would
approach or not

she sat stiffly, quietly chain smoking -
offering one and two word answers to our
initial questions

She said, "I've been having trouble sleeping..."

then she said

My land lady had called me from the
apartment downstairs, said something was
going on, something about the World Trade
Center, she said go down to the street - Old
Fulton street, to see

stepping from her apartment door and
turning right gave her a full view of both
towers - one already involved from the
impact of the first plane

then as if in a dream she watched the second
plane approach and slam into the
second tower

her description becomes vague - I assume that
she stood and watched in shock as the
situation unfolded before her very eyes

retreating to her apartment only when the
huge dust cloud crossed the East River and
swept into Brooklyn right past her door

...

sitting with us is the shell of a woman, a
woman who's heart is broken, a woman who is
lost, a woman with no hope

a woman who needs to tell and retell her
story - and we must listen

because listening is our only real ministry
listening is the only christian act of charity
available to us in the immediacy of this
catastrophe

Niche Markets, the King of...

As I was writing an apologetic sounding resolution that I would no longer dislike, criticize, haranguing, or otherwise dis Microsoft I came to this stunning realization... the Redmond giant occupies only a small niche market seat.

How many microprocessors are there out in the world?

How many microprocessors out in the world actually run a Microsoft OS?

Of the many choices available which microprocessor and OS is the next consumer going to run right out and buy?

My guess is it will be a Tweener or a Twenty-something buying either an music device or a cellular device. Priced in a range that is accessible to either of those target markets.

NOW HERE IS THE QUESTION WORTH SHOUTING ABOUT... How long will it be before PC manufactures realize that interfacing not with the device but with the device's OS will become paramount in the next big cyber-techno push? Wouldn't a PC running Symbian interface better with a phone running the same OS?

OH!... wait...

If God had meant for us to be naked, we would have been born that way.

[Borrowed from Slackware Linux|Fortune]

Thinking [Borrowed]

THINKING

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at cocktail parties. Now and then -- just to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's. I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What exactly is it that we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me in to his office. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find employment elsewhere." This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking ..." "I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!" "But honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!" "That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors... They didn't open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. As I sank to the ground, clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "*Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?"* it asked.

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a Recovering Thinker.

I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed...easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I believe the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.

Today, I registered to vote as a Republican.

Borrowed from Kalilily Time. Thanks!

I AM JUST ambivalent ABOUT MAX

Scoble made the crashing declaration "I love the new MAX but..." citing several values that he found appealing in the new MAX. So I downloaded the beast to see it for my self. Very slick! Installed politely and started promptly -- indeed, wonderful graphics and very cool user interface.

And then the illusion began to crumble... Strange!!! None of the links worked. Mouse-over indicated that the system was 'alive' but nada, zip, zero, ziltch... yo no connecto [sorry, alliteration carried me away.] Seems that MAX suffers from a low level Microsoft condition: Proprietary-ism!

Yupper, just another example of Microsoft insisting, demanding, coercing, assimilating users into the Microsoft Blorg. Seems that MAX doesn't like to play nice when FireFox is designated as the default browser. I verified this by manually designating IE7 as the default and MAX started working like a charm[ing snake].

So, Microsoft has done it again. I will reset my browser default to FireFox and discard MAX. Simple as that. Seems like a HUGE amount of work on Microsoft's part, work well done to be simple shelved. But...I am just ambivalent about MAX.

Rent-a-Bum

Bums - as we are affectionately known are Roadies. Renown far and wide in the music and entertainment industry for our professionalism and our integrity. We get them loaded in, we set the show up, we leave them alone, we tear down the show, load it and get them on their way, in record time.

"This ain't our first rodeo."


Tonight: Nashville Stars in the Executive Inn Showroom

Nashville Star is hitting the road this summer to perform a series of concerts across the country!

Featured on the Nashville Star Tour will be this season's final four contestants -- Nicole Jamrose, Matt Mason, Casey Rivers and Chris Young -- along with John Bohlinger and the Nashville Star Band.

Each of the four Nashville Stars will have their own block of time on stage. The show will open with the first of the four contestants to be voted off the show performing their own set of music, including original and cover material. The show progresses through each of the finalists in the order they were eliminated, until we reach the Nashville Star Winner!

Last week we did .38 Special-LOUD driving Rock'n'Roll

After more than two decades together, 38 SPECIAL is still playing more than 100 shows per year. And at every one of them, thousands of audience members are completely blindsided by the power and muscle of the band's performance. "When we come out, people are like, 'Whoa! It's like a freight train rolling over them'" says vocalist/guitarist DON BARNES. While most associate the group with its arena-rock '80s pop smashes, these days the band's harder edge is what is immediately noticeable. Barnes says it's all about maintaining the intensity that they deliver in their live shows.

It is as easy as pizza...

On Influence and Automation
a marketing and technology blog, douglas a karr, indianapolis, indiana


HP will be hoisted in its own petard... Doug, you nailed it!

Corporate Arrogance

You told me what you were going to sell me. I told you how I wanted it. You told me when I would get it. You delivered it to me when you said you would. You delivered what you said you would. You delivered what I asked you to. I paid you. You thanked me. I thanked you. I’ll order again soon.

It’s as easy as Pizza.

More of the Cheap Revolution

Seems that Forbes magazine in a strong proponent of the Cheap Revolution...


Technorati Tags: Cheap Revolution, Linux, Desktop

If you IM me do I not read?

I believe the common perception of IMing is the adolescent, late at night in the privacy of TheirSpace or AIM typing short cryptic message blasts at one another. LOL, How R U?

I wish to explore another facet of Instant Messaging. The very controlled and mature deliberate conversation. IMing offers a unique facility for careful and specific communication. It can support a multi-thread model for simultaneous conversations. It can offer a retrospective or historical perspective on conversations. Its speed and the fact that it is text based provides a concise means of communicating complex thoughts in a timely fashion with some stability of the communication channel.

I have experienced conversations using IM that are both mature in nature and deliberate in context. IM is ideally suited for two or more people to engage in a near-real time conversation. Such a conversation can be deliberate in nature, by this I mean it can be concerning issues beyond anecdotal chat. Because of the "I-talk-then-you-talk" nature of IMing there is a heightened sense of turn taking courtesy. This turn taking can be refined into a multi-threaded model which I will discuss later.

Because IMing is text based it imposes certain constraints on the communicators. Clearly and concisely conveying meaning in a written format requires careful and specific word choices. Due to the "expense" of writing out each communique the sender has a tendency to be much more careful than during a typical verbal based communication session. IM sentences and phrases are much more succinct and on topic. It is inherent in this form of communication that corrections or clarifications, while employed, are also expensive and avoided at most cost. Another factor that contributes to this careful and specific communication is the "on the Internet no one can tell you are a dog" phenomenon. Careful tonal and inferential corrections must be made linguistically to prevent either mis-spoken emotion/intent or to indicate emotional/intentional content.

Because most IM programs offer Historical logging it is possible to record and then play back conversations. This provides an opportunity to review and clarify messages that were not fully developed or were misleading. Such a historical perspective also offers the reader a sense of the evolution of the topic material as well as the development of the speakers.

Once two or more individuals become comfortable with the IM medium then it is possible to change to a multi-thread model of communication. Due to the inevitable time lag (Internet transmission time as well as the ability of an individual to type) gaps in the "conversation" develop. By initiating a second or third communication line it is possible for the participants to hold two separate conversations at the same time using the same channel. It is worthy of note that this second or third "conversation" may or may not be contextually linked to the primary communication line.

IMing is a recorded technology, even if logging is not enabled. I record my message then I send it, you receive it then you play it back. This resembles the letter writing model. Because of the speed of transmission "letters" written in IM are shorter, more concise. The combination of the written message and the time lag offers a slower paced communication model. This allows the reader the opportunity to evaluate the incoming message leisurely. Responses can then be thoughtfully composed and sent. The rhythm of the conversation is preserved but is significantly faster than a snail-mail conversation. Conversely participants do not fall into the trap of having to respond immediately in a way that a telephone type or face-to-face conversation fosters.

Instant Messaging offers a unique communication experience in our cyber enhanced world. In the seeming light speed send-and-receive world of the Internet IM offers us the opportunity to actually slow down to an optimum human speed and engage in the very fulfilling exchange of ideas and information. So slow down ... If you IM me do I not read?



Technorati Tags: IM, communication, conversation

What a show!

And the price... the price says it all.

Please let me be...

...a New Barbarian!

"We're about to see a huge tectonic shift, more dramatic than anything in the past. This is the next boom, the next big storm. Things are going to get really wild."

They already are. Coleman is one of dozens of new barbarians plotting the Cheap Revolution, the wholesale shift by corporate customers and techmakers to cheap chips and open-source (often free) software such as Linux. They are embracing simplicity, unlocking prodigious new power and cutting tech costs by up to 90%, threatening the Silicon Valley plutocracy: the proprietary gear, "closed" software, redundant backup systems and fat profit margins of incumbents like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Cisco, EMC and other blue-chip nameplates.

The Cheap Revolution will not be televised!!! The Cheap Revolution will be LIVE!!!

Be prepared, this is a turning point of huge import. This is the formalization of what many of us have been engaged in quietly, in back-office spaces, server rooms across this great internet-work land of ours. Now we get to take it to the digital super-highways.

People get ready! The Barbarians are coming!!!

Lobby4Linux

This is a long post but it tells a very real story about Linux.

Seems the major stumbling block to the adoption of Linux is that it is not as predictable as its major competitors. (Reads: Uninitiated users cannot find what they are looking for in the places they expect to find them.)

Now this is a given…most people will forgive one small inconsistancy in an operating system, in fact, they will forgive quite a few. BUT…if you have a new user who approaches the change-over to Linux with any measure of trepidation or a pre-existing bias, “little” things soon accumulate into an intangable jumble of negatives. Maybe the user cannot immediately tell you the number of specific negatives it took to back her away from Linux. That does not make her decision any less valid, not in her mind. All she knows is that with some measure of regularity and expectation, these little things piled up until her perception tilted permanently into the negative column. And once is all it takes.

Many of us know the person next door who had a bad experience with DOS and has maintained the Luddite view ever since. This is a computing thing not just a Linux thing. But it affects the way the next user might see Linux.

Scoble on Google

Robert Scoble has gone to the mountain and he has looked into the face of Google. In addition to acknowledging those things that G is already famous for 'the Scoblizer' touched on something that is at the heart of the matter.

One other small thing I noticed? A lot more blog listening behavior. Carl Sjogreen, who runs the Google Calendar team, told me that the first thing he does every morning is do this search on Google’s Blogsearch service: “Google Calendar.” He says he answers everyone’s questions, even if you’re a kid in another country with only four readers.

This is an example of the discipline that Google brings to the fray. Paying attention to the smallest parts of an extremely large picture. Expensive but worth every user who feels that they are being served, personally.

Bing. Small things. They are gonna prove to be dramatically important over time.

Thanks Robert

The Great Seal...

...is great fun!

A List

In light of Hugh's revelations I can only say that being a member of the "Z" list makes life very e-Z. I am not burdened with the responsibility of determining anything within the blogosphere social structure. Ahhhhh...

DANGER DANGER DANGER

This will be the most viewed YouTube video in just a matter of minutes...

Googling Re-Redux!!!

With a sense of trepidation I clicked the "Ok, upgrade my Blogger accounts to the new beta version..." And then I saw the fleeting remains of the "One Way" sign that says once you upgrade you cannot go back. So, what have I done? Stepped off the Blogspot cliff and begun my rapid descent into... beta-blogging (sounds vaguely like a cardiac med, a drifting memory from my EMT days).

WOO HOO!!! Hot stuff! Google has really stepped up to the plate and hit the HOME RUN with this one!!! My compliments to the chef. Outstanding. Excellent.

I am not scared of.... Hugh :)

But I do have a new found respect for HUGH! I got to spend some more time with Sigurd Rinde and all I can say is WOW! Thingamy is HUGH - No, not macleod I mean BIG! No, I don't mean massively volumetrically large, I mean Thingamy has incredible potential.

There I said it.

After Sigurd walked me through a demonstration I was just blown away. And to borrow a telling line from Firesign Theatre, "Yes, kinda like having bees in your head, but there they are..."

Which in turn reminded me of this visual Commitment explanation offered by the real Hugh.

Ok, enough linguistic gymnastics. Let me cite the attribute of Thingamy that tells me so clearly that it has so much potential - Simplicity. Blown away, with bees in your head over simplicity? Yes, emphatically! (I am sure that both Sigurd and Hugh are now laughing and wondering just kind of groat clusters I have been smoking.) Yes, simplicity.

Joe Average will open his shrink-wrapped copy of Thingamy and pours it out on the table and find very few moving parts. There won't be bright shiney baubles, there won't be an excess of progromatic chrome. There will only be a Thingamy.

How then will Joe be satisfied and fulfilled by his new Thingamy? Joe will quickly realize that Thingamy doesn't impose itself on Joe's business process. It doesn't make Joe pound square pegs into round holes. Thingamy doesn't make Joe do things differently. In fact it will help Joe do the things he has always done better. It will help Joe see his business in a clear and focused light.

Business is not a game but it should be. We should all be able to play at our work as we did games when we were young. Thingamy has a characteristic that is shared with the greatest of the games we humans play. I am not sure to whom it should be attibuted but it is said that the best games have the fewest rules. Thingamy has some structure to be sure but it has only a few "rules" - making it one of the best systems for giving you the edge in the "playing" of your business.

Tomorrow I have the great honor to be able to open my "shrink-wrapped" copy of Thingamy and begin to "play"... (Oh to be young again.)

10 Lessons

This is the list I wish some one had sat me down with...and then used a 2x4 to get my attention...

1. How to talk to your boss.
2. How to survive a meeting that’s poorly run.
3. How to run a meeting.
4. How to figure out anything on your own.
5. How to negotiate.
6. How to have a conversation.
7. How to explain something in thirty seconds.
8. How to write a one-page report.
9. How to write a five-sentence email.
10. How to get along with co-workers.
11. How to use PowerPoint.
12. How to leave a voicemail.

Thanks Guy!

At the time...

At the time the tone will be exactly 261.625565 Hz.  I really have no idea what the tone really is.  I do know what time it is.  Now the question arises, which time?

I finally broke down and bought clocks.  Oh I know the old saw about a man with two clocks doesn't know what time it is... true enough.  I bought three clocks.  Like the command center I have the clocks lined up across one wall.

All of this so I can begin to answer for myself "Which time is it?"   Here in the Central Timezone (USA) during the month of August we enjoy Daylight Savings Time (CDT = GMT -5).  During the winter months we revert back to CST = GMT -6.  This is only moderately confusing if you focus only on one timezone.  But our corporate headquarters is in EDT now (EST during the winter).  Because we have settled on coordinated standard time changes ( April and October ) we are always 1 hour different from the HQ.

This may be all well and good for systems that programmatically understand the vagaries of Daylight Savings Time (Kudos to Microsoft on that) but what of systems that do not or don't care to?  In a manufacturing environment the trending for our process, graphs of data over time, don't fare will when DST kicks in.  Either data points cover each other for 1 hour (fall back) or there is a blank spot in the graph when time is advanced 1 hour (spring forward).

And then there is the matter of trying to coordinate meetings with individuals that are half (or more?) the world away.  Not only is there the difficulty of dealing with the hours common decency but there is the confusion of "what time is displayed on the clock where you are?"

So in an attempt to resolve this matter for myself I now have three clocks.  One set to local time, Central Dalight Time.  One set to HQ time; Eastern Daylight Time.  The last is the most important.  It is set to the Universal Time Coordinate.




Technorati Tags: Time, GMT, UTC

I just got paged by one of my computers

05:00 CDT - Pager went off

Under any other circumstances my pager going off is not a good thing. Either someone at work is paging because they are having a problem or the NMS system is paging to indicate there is a computer problem. Or both.

But in this case I just cron-ed a job to page me at 05:00 Monday thru Friday - so I don't have to set my alarm clock any more. This has a number of advantages. First on Saturday and Sunday my "alarm" doesn't go off. On the days when I need it...it is there right on schedule, not susceptable to power outages. How many times have you awoken to an alarm clock blinking 12:00 AND you are late for work.

The other advantage is that I have affirmation on a work-daily basis that both my paging system and my primary NMS system are on-line.

Good morning... and I can smell fresh coffee brewing. Ahhhh


Technorati Tags: NMS, pager

Salmon Day from the Cardboard Spaceship

Go here and read... and when you get to Salmon Day take a moment to laugh and cry... truer words were ne'r spoken, "A Salmon Day is when you swim upstream all day..."

RestauRANT: Ban The Brat!

I found my way to Charlotte's Web-log and was just cruising along until I stumbled over her entry, "Little Devils, Little Darling and their Somewhat Silly Parents" At first I was afraid this would be another of those cloying How-can-you-be-so-cruel? tirades...and then I got to the line that read, "... if they cry at the restaurant, comfort them, feed them or better still, take them outside." Better still, take them outside. Yes! Accept and assume responsibility. Yes!

I would like to respond briefly to the concept that is put forth earlier in the article, "I would rather my kids were true to themselves than “good”, which means that they sometimes fall apart." I have great difficulty with this. Children should be allowed to "fall apart" to be sure. I am not sure that I have to pay restaurant prices for an interrupted meal because little Johnny or Janey needs to 'fall apart'. Appropriate restaurant behavior is part of the overall experience. If your children are not prepared to act accordingly then they should not be allowed in - this is a decision of the parents, proactively. I know because from the earliest ages this was the arrangement that I put before my children. And they knew full well that they would be escorted out promptly at the first sign of crumbling.

I am particularly fortunate that my children were always able to maintain. I don't believe they were or are any the worse for ware enduring such rigors.

Keep a secret, be held hostage by it.

Tell a secret and be free... try it and see!

This bears repeating... until we get it right!

Author : Richard M. Stallman

Free as in Freedom
The term “free software” is sometimes misunderstood—it has nothing to do with
price. It is about freedom. Here, therefore, is the definition of free software: a
program is free software, for you, a particular user, if:
• You have the freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
• You have the freedom to modify the program to suit your needs. (To make this
freedom effective in practice, you must have access to the source code, since
making changes in a program without having the source code is exceedingly
difficult.)
• You have the freedom to redistribute copies, either gratis or for a fee.
• You have the freedom to distribute modified versions of the program, so that
the community can benefit from your improvements.

Googling Redux

Just wrote about my Googling yesterday... and look what they are doing for me today. :)

Googling

Google is changing the way I compute. This is no great earth shattering story. People much smarter than me identified Google as a driving force long ago. So why is this of any import what so ever?

I am for the most part a regular guy. My only real claim to fame, such as it is, was writing a 500+ card Tic-Tac-Toe Fortran 4 program in 1970. Oh yeah, we were hot then. Three hours of system time on Friday night to make the Lansing School System IBM System/360 get up and dance. The rest of the week we poured over greenbar print outs of cryptic code. Making corrections using a hand-me-down keypunch machine in the back room of the Eastern High School Physics lab. Oh yeah, we were hot. Took a COBOL sub-routine to access the IBM Selectric keyboard mounted in the washing machine sized module for you to enter your "X" or "O". Smokin'! Worst thing was the program would never ever lose. At the very best you could force it into a draw but it would never ever lose. Not very sophisticated as a game went. But then again, losing was not in the mind of a then 17 year old programmer.

But I digress... Google is becoming my computing platform. This is important how? Well for an average, regular guy like me to begin to have his paradigm shifted is very significant. It means that net-centric computing is coming of age. It means that I am no longer tied to any given PC. It means that I am now willing to commit to the net. And you know how difficult it is for us old guys to make commitments.

So far I have chosen a home page. My Google personalized home page which contains my Gmail, my calendar, weather for favorite locations, and the Google Notebook icon down in my status bar. When I open my Gmail I have access to my Spreadsheets as well. While not directly linked from my home page or Gmail I have taken to doing word processing in Writely.

What is most significant in all this is the absence of the Redmond Software Giant. We are (I am) finally breaking the bonds of PC centric computing (AKA Microsofting).

Oh, one last note before closing... As a die hard Linux fan Googling means that I can have the same great functionality and work in a great OS as well.


Technorati Tags:
Google,
FORTRAN 4,
IBM,
writely.com,
Linux

Here we go...

As Manager of Information Systems for a mid-sized manufacturing concern* I am charged with maintaining technology as well as keeping up with technology. As I have previously posted (see below - "The IT staff Leaves at 5 PM") my expectation is 24x365^2 where ^2 is the time and effort put into keeping up with technology.

I am always on the lookout for the "better mousetrap" and I think I have found one. How I found it is in-and-of-itself a great Internet viral 6-degrees-of-separation story. Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away I encountered a social-networker entrepreneur, Joi Ito. Joi engendered a community forum to explore social networking (#joiito) and the many assembled. Great and small (like me) we gathered and shared, laughter and tears, joys and fears. I listened. One day somebody mentioned Hugh at GapingVoid and how great his business-card-back cartoons were. So I go to check out the no-nonsense-cut-the-crap-speak-your-mind observations and I am hooked. I needed daily fixes. (Thanks Joi.)

Then his "How To Be Creative" weasels its way into my psyche, into my subconscious. I am taken with the thought of hard work, integrity and "Ignore everybody." The first two I can identify with thanks to my father who instilled in me the great dictums of the Protestant Work Ethic. The last, but not least, is the true liberator. Be free to go, look, be, taste, feel the world not as others would but as you would, as I would. True freedom. (Thanks Hugh.)

Amid all of Hugh's acerbic observations and glasses of wine is a mention of a guy and a "Thingamy" ... What ever the hell that is... Says Hugh, "What's interesting is that he's building software that actually allows companies to replace hierarchies with "something better"." So off I go in search of this Thingamy... And I read, and I follow links and I read and I follow links and I finally determine that Thingamy is most aptly named. It defies pigeon-holing, categorizing, labeling or defining.

So all of that happened, figuratively, the day-before-yesterday. Yesterday through the wonders of Skype I got to spend some time with Sigurd Rinde, the principal architect of Thingmay. I can say that I still don't know what Thingamy is...HOWEVER, I can say that I know it has great potential. I know because the man I spoke with is not hampered by the traditional encumberences that force a project into a given mold.

In truth I do know what Thingamy is. Thingamy is a knowledge container system. Not just any old static written-down knowledge but living dynamic open-for-business real-world working knowledge. What is very important about Thingamy is that the container is designed by the knowledge. In most, if not all, existing systems the container defines the contents (knowledge). If what you know doesn't fit into one of their containers/boxes/compartments then it is not valid. If it is not valid then it is not important to your process. If it is not valid then you do not know it.

This is the paradigm shift that I have been searching for. This is the "better-moustrap" that I have been seeking for some time. "What's interesting is not that Sig thinks thinks traditional corporate hierarchies (including the marketing department) are inefficient and should be replaced with something better." says Huge. This is the very essence of "^2" that I demand of IT.

On Tuesday next I will get to spend some more time with Sigurd via Skype and RealVNC. He has offered to show me a demo of Thingamy that he developed for a Bicycle Factory. This is of particular interest as I am, as previously mentioned, the MIS for a mid-sized manufacturing concern. To date one of the major software problems we have encountered it the inability of existing software packages to properly contain the knowledge of our business. It is my great wish that Thingamy will change all of that.

Tuesday will tell...



* Mid-sized manufacturing concern - is a privately held, family business that I do not speak for.

When Kobi Alexander made a 1 minute Skype "call" he made a very big mistake. Not unlike Will Smith's character, Robert Clayton Dean, in "Enemy of the State" the call cost him his freedom. I am not here to speak to the relative legitimacy of Kobi's freedom but rather the nature of the incident.

In all the world the law enforcement/ information analysts (LE/IA) somebody knew either to monitor Kobi's Skype account _or_ they had the ability to monitor the account(s) of possible call recipients.

Because there are no clear international standards for personal privacy on the Internet then LE/IA is not prevented from eavesdropping on any Internet communication. So I am sure it was a simple matter to single out his Skype account and then just sit back and listen. IF on the other hand Kobi established a unique, anonymous account then the matter becomes a bit sticky-er.

Not knowing where a possible call would be coming from or who might be placing such a call then suggests a completely different scenario. Possibly LE/IA was ingaged in listening to Internet traffic directed to individuals known to Mr. Alexander. Instead of targeting a known or suspected/alledged criminal LE/IA quite possibly is listening to the incoming traffic of innocent folks in the remote hopes of catching a possiblel bad guy.

Here in the USA we have well crafted laws that are designed to protect individuals from unlawful searches. These types of laws have been extended to protect individuals from illegal monitoring of telephone communication, wiretapping. It is unclear to me the subtle distinction between voice communication carried by TPC (The Phone Company) and other electronic forms of communication carried by... in my case, my telephone service provider.

Bottom line: DON"T SKYPE! Somebody or everybody is listening to calls made and received. Or, don't be an internationally wanted fugitive and make the Robert Clayton Dean mistake.

I am mad as hell...

I am just pissed!

I logged onto one of my linux systems and my "fortune" was a quote from Hunter S. Thompson...

Todays weirdness is tomorrows reason why.
-- H.S. Thompson


...and to make matters worse I then SSHed to another system and the "fortune" there was by H.S. himself... (Quoted below...) So, why am I mad as hell? Pissed? Because the dumb SOB went and blew his brains out instead of becoming the GonzoBlogger that he should have become.

What could possibly been more natural than Hunter S. Thompson blogging?

Quick, get your lawyer and a quart of EverClear...and BLOG this!

After two or three weeks of this madness, you begin to feel As One with
the man who said, "No news is good news." In twenty-eight papers, only
the rarest kind of luck will turn up more than two or three articles of
any interest... but even then the interest items are usually buried
deep around paragraph 16 on the jump (or "Cont. on ...") page...

The Post will have a story about Muskie making a speech in Iowa. The
Star will say the same thing, and the Journal will say nothing at all.
But the Times might have enough room on the jump page to include a line
or so that says something like: "When he finished his speech, Muskie
burst into tears and seized his campaign manager by the side of the
neck. They grappled briefly, but the struggle was kicked apart by an
oriental woman who seemed to be in control."

Now that's good journalism. Totally objective; very active and
straight to the point.
-- Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing '72"

Meta-blog, blah, blah, blah... DO NOT READ THIS!!!

"He generalizes half the time about most of the stuff he says...so that he can be right some of the time regardless how reality comes out..."

I have spent way too much time in the company of intellectual idea mongers. Folks who by virtue of their linguistic abilities can mount a "meaningful" arguement for or against anything. I know because I am one of the folks I need to get away from. Then I met a fellow who had no feet...er, mind, ...had no intellect. Which is not to say that this person could not think but rather that he could not afford to expend any energy fabricating "meaningful" positions about anything. He is too tired. He is too hungry. He is too socially compromised by greed, lust, gluttony and the worst, fear.

The greed of having to get his before the person next to him takes it away. The lust of tele-idols flashing skin flavored treats as rewards for buying the next great widget. Gluttony bourne of a poor diet of fast convenient foods that hold little or no real nuitritional value. Fear as tangible as the smell of two-week old socks showing through worn shoes. Fear that in the Land-o-Plenty there won't be enough for him. Fear that being second class will keep him distant from a loving and caring God.

All too quickly the intellectual construct forms the ideological foundation of self-will and self-rule beneath the dirty feet of this fellow. "It is readily evident that this person has made their own decisions, picked his choices, accepted his lot in life."
His lot is not my concern in real-time but rather a Greater-Good issue that must be addressed by established systems that are designed to provide a Safety-net.



"I generalizes half the time about most of the stuff I says...so
that I can be right some of the time regardless how reality comes
out..."

Happy New Year

A GREAT AND WONDERFUL GIFT...

Exploding the Self-Esteem Myth

Boosting people's sense of self-worth has become a national preoccupation. Yet surprisingly, researchshows that such efforts are of little value in fostering academic progress or preventing undesirable behavior

By Roy F. Baumeister, Jennifer D. Campbell, Joachim I. Krueger and Kathleen D. Vohs

Yeah, yippee, yahoooooooooo!!!!! It is about flipping time someone said this out loud!

Self-esteem is not something you are born with! Self-esteem is something you earn just like every other perc.

And the thought of protecting an individual's self-esteem is tantamount to keeping them from it! Let people fail and succeed and fail and be hurt and be fulfilled and be _themselves_!!!

Yeah, yippeeeeee, yahooooooo...

Microsofting, to Microsoft - a verb

Originally published 12/17/04

Using Microsoft applications on a computer running a Microsoft Operating System.

While the practice is well known, the name of the practice is still new to many people. I became aware of the need for this verb when I attempted to explain why many people cannot warm up to Linux. They do not use the computer, they are not computing. Rather, they are Microsofting.

Unless or until this realization is made, it is all but impossible to convince people to try anything else.

Common Microsofting examples...

"I don't do spreadsheets, I use Excel."

"I don't have an OS on my computer, I use Windows."

I rest my case.

The IT staff that leaves at 5pm

Originally published 12/17/04

URL: The IT staff that leaves at 5pm I'm sorry, I haven't heard the important word, yet. And the word is? Expectation. As an IT leader I believe there are really only two issues that need to be addressed in this scenario. Is the Mail Server down and who is going to fix it? My expectation? 24x365^2 Ok, the 24x365 is rather self explanitory but for those unfamiliar let me elaborate. IT operations, big ones, small ones and even tiny ones must be operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is not optional. The system that is broken at 3:AM will be the same system that is broken at the start of business at 8:AM. When should it be fixed? When it is broken, not when it is "convenient"! But what about that "^2"? What does that mean? My expectation is that any IT person worth their salt must be responsible for self improvement and personal development. In what other industry is technological evolution happening at the "speed of thought"? (Thanks Bill G.) In what other industry is "hurry-up-and-wait" any more prevalent? During the wait time my expectation is that IT personnel are growing. They are engaged in R&D, Information Gathering, Position Building/Clarification, Experimentation and Innovation. IT personnel are expected to keep systems up 24x365 _AND_ they are resourced to keep up with IT(^2).

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