Fezmid

http://www.slickdeals.net - I love getting stuff cheap http://www.fatwallet.com - lots of good info, especially on finances

No problem - I wasn't upset about your post at all, just chalked it up to a difference in opinion.

Best record in the NHL!

Well first of all, the IT that I do doesn't interface with external customers directly. You have customer reps that handle that, find out the requirements, and then bring them to the IT group to figure out how to implement. Based on your "Have you ever been miffed at an eatery or gin mill that didn't open up as promised," comment, I'm guessing that you don't really know how IT works. You're thinking of it as a restauarant where people walk in and expect a service to be performed, whereas in reality the stuff runs in the background. I worked a 34 hour shift just a couple of weeks ago to get a server fixed for Re/Max, but I never once spoke to anyone at Re/Max, our rep handled that. If I have a 9am meeting, then being at the meeting is part of "getting my job done" and I obviously have to be there. If someone runs into a problem they can't handle, I'm on call 24x7x365. Again, all part of getting my job done. The IT offshoring fiasco is best left for another thread, but I'll just say that a lot of companies are reconsidering what they're sending off because they're realizing it's not quite the cost saver they thought it would be. CW

I've always thought that if an employee is getting their job done, who cares what hours they're in the office? If someone is consistently working only 6 hours/day, chances are they're not getting their job done. On the flip side, if someone's working 12 hours/day, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're 50% more productive than the 8 hour/day guy, they might just take longer to finish their work. I hate people who punch a timecard when you're a salaried employee. CW

Digital Millenium Copyright Act. It's a peice of crap legislation that companies are taking advantage of. The spirit of the law is good, but the letter of the law is stupid. For example, a company that made a universal garage door opener remote was sued by a company because they "reverse engineered" the signal to open a specific garage door opener: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,60383-0.html Did you know that it's illegal for you to backup your own personal DVD collection because in order to do so, you have to circumvent the copyprotection on the disk (even though the whole routine is automated by most software nowadays). You have the right to make a backup copy of your own media, but the DMCA basically takes that right away. The law needs a seriouis rewrite. CW

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/03/21/014232.shtml

I don't know about that. At my last place, there were three UNIX admins, and each of us was offered the "team lead" position. All three of us were friends, hanging out from time to time, very social, etc. When I was offered the position, my first question was, "If I don't like it or it doesn't fit, can I go back to my technical position?" I was told no, so I turned the job down because I felt it'd be weird being the boss of the other two guys. Turns out they both said pretty much the same thing.... Of course it turned out for the best, since the guy they hired to be the "team lead" instead became the Windows/UNIX manager - and that's a position I had no interest in. Then again, I couldn't have done any worse than this guy did.... He managed to chase off all three UNIX guys (and all three of us were rock stars.... The replacements pale in comparison), and something like 8 of the 11 Windows guys. Shortly after I left, they "demoted" him to "Sr. Architect" and when asked what his job was, he said, "I have no idea." Talked to some people at my new shop who all pretty much hate the guy too, so it wasn't an isolated incident. Oh well If you're really not convinced that you want to go the management route, I wouldn't apply. If you're on the fence though, go for it and at least find out more about it. You can always turn them down after the interview (assuming there would be an interview process, right?) CW

It looks like someone stole your godly powers... I'm guessing you meant this? http://deadspin.com/sports/nfl/the-truly-i...game-230341.php CW

Ooops -- we've had firewall problems here at work today so I was getting timeout errors. I didn't realize any of them got through, much less three... CW

That's great -- "I don't like what you're doing, so I don't want you to have a career anymore." Really nice. Granted you haven't shared any details, but it still sounds a bit extreme (and actually a lot like a whiny client, but hey).

http://www.slickdeals.net/?permadeal=9151#direct_deal_9151

http://tor.eff.org/ https://secure.eff.org/site/SPageServer?pag...sgeu0o2n1.app6a

Don't worry, they'll probably be changing it back http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/print?id=2938715 Cliff notes: Kellogg and Wolff came to their conclusion by studying Australia, where several states extended daylight-saving time (DST for short) by two months in 2000 to accommodate the Olympic Games in Sydney that year. They compared electric demand in the state of Victoria, which extended DST, with its next-door neighbor, South Australia, which did not. "Our results show that the extension failed to conserve electricity," they wrote. In fact, the two said, shifting Australians' clocks led to a tiny increase in power use. “In the 2005 energy bill, Congress calls on the department to report whether energy consumption drops, as hoped, after the early start of DST. If not, the bill has a provision for the country to return to the old daylight savings calendar. Under the previous law, standardized in 1986, DST began on the first Sunday in April.”

People's reactions are similar to Y2k. When nothing happened, lots of people said, "Oh see, IT just made up the problem! Nothing happened!" I was up from midnight until 9am (8am...) because we had a few minor issues at work (7 servers out of 700 - not bad...). CW

No, that's pretty much what it said.

Anyone know if it'll be in HD?

You mean everything I read on the Internet isn't true? I found mine to be accurate, but I know what you mean about making everything positive. For example, I chose the messy bedroom, but I wouldn't say that's a good thing.

Notice Millbank never gives HIS answers to these things.... Mood: Dreamer Fun: Worker Bee Habits: Junkee Monkey (that sounds bad...) Love: Love Bug Pretty accurate for me.

What the heck, don't these officials have anything better to do? http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,729...wn_technology_3 CW

Of course I do. I've seen proof, even have one in my house. I'm kinda surprised that you haven't... Maybe you haven't heard of Boston either? http://tinyurl.com/znh8j CW

You could always say, "Yeah, but the Bandits beat the Swarm!!!!!" Hmmm, on second though... CW

Actually, he beat you to it by 27 minutes... Learn to read the threads before posting

The one game I wanted them to win this year, and they get blown out. I'll be hearing about that from people around here *sigh* They have to win tomorrow night or they'll be in serious jeopardy of falling out of the #1 sopt in the east. They're already 3 points behind Nashville for the best overall record (although they have two games in hand). We gotta get that home ice advantage!

I'm guessing that the first three numbers of Mike's SSN are between 268 and 302, and that the first three numbers of KD in CT's are between 040 and 049. For those who didn't know, the first three numbers are based on what state you lived in when the number was issued. http://www.totse.com/en/politics/political_spew/ssncode.html