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Well, this should be interesting...
Posted Jul 31, 2011
Next week at work ought to be an interesting one. My manager is away on a month leave, and the next most senior person is taking a week's holiday. Okay, still doesn't seem that problematic, right? Did I mention that we're now left with just me and the intern?
Yeah, I'm--for some reason--being left in charge of the intern's schedule. I've never been actually in charge of someone before, in any formal capacity. Not that I think I'm incapable; it's just intimidating.
I guess it's a good thing it's only four days; there's an upper limit on how long this will last!
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Latest reply: Jul 31, 2011
On taking the time
Posted Dec 31, 2009
I spend a lot of time on the Internet and the Web... and I do mean a lot. I realise that I don't really contribute that much to it, though. I have a couple of blogs somewhere around here, for different purposes throughout the ages, but I rarely ever feel that I have anything to write in them. The occasions that I do think of something to write, I find I get accused of being inflammatory.
There's a reason that I don't link to those blogs. One of them is a technical blog that I link to from my LinkedIn profile; the other is a LiveJournal that I've had since at least the middle of high school. I've said some pretty ridiculous things, and because I don't like to redact things that I've said in that journal (long story), I feel, for the time being, that I should keep a strong separation between the two.
I've considered dropping that LiveJournal altogether, but I got a pretty good nickname for it that I likely wouldn't be able to duplicate... and, like I said, I wouldn't drop it in terms of burning the entire thing, but rather formally end it. Renounce it, as it were. Admit that these were views I once held, but I'll not be posting in it again, and officially distance myself from the foolish things I said.
The problem with that idea is that I've posted there recently, and if I were to suspend that journal altogether, there isn't much I'd replace it with. I used to write, prolifically, in high school, but back in high school I felt either like I had something to say, or that it was MY LiveJournal, and that I'd write whatever I wanted in it, thank you very much. So I wrote... a lot. Some of it, deeply embarrassing stuff.
But it remains there, because it's nevertheless an accurate picture of the sixteen-/seventeen-/eighteen-year-old that I was, and being able to remember what you were like seven to nine years ago is always important in being able to see what kind of growth you've made as a person. Also, because of a fight I got into with a girlfriend I had in my first year of university that was the formation of my policy "I will not edit my LiveJournal for anyone short of the police". She pretty much forced me to edit it (as I recall, but I'm not known for my excellent recall), based largely on a lie that I later caught her out in (this lie was also the catalyst for my policies of "I won't ask a question to which I can't deal with the answer" and "I'll never get mad at you for being honest, even if the truth hurts").
I subscribe to a number of RSS feeds on my Google Reader account, and I'm continuously marking items for later followup, but I never really follow up on them. There are a limited few that I've used the "Note in Google Reader" bookmarklet, that I actually have used later, but by and large, I mark items that I want to discuss in one blog or another, and/or look into with greater depth because I think it's an important subject, professionally, that I simply never get back to. I'm not sure why.
Perhaps it's because I know, deep down, that actually going back and taking the time to address these items that I want to address, even if I get at it at the time I think, "hey, I should look into this and write about it", would take an hour or two that I really can't spare these days. I haven't had more than a few hours a week since the beginning of August without any obligations, for a wide variety of reasons (though the two major reasons are my return to school to finally finish my degree, and, well, getting married in September), and that isn't likely to change until, well, the end of this coming August when I've finished all my coursework for the degree.
Kind of ridiculous, I know. I guess I'd just feel guilty taking all the time necessary to look into the 5th Underhanded C Contest (an excellent example of why thorough QA and code audits are important in my industry, particularly when you have a large group of developers working on a project, though the example works in kind of a backwards way that deserves better explanation than a parenthetical digression--on my wife's computer!--can afford) to write a coherent piece about it, when I know that I should be studying so that I can actually spent time with my new wife.
I feel like I'm being pulled in several directions at once, and while they're all Important Things that are demanding my attention... there's always that one little thing that's completely selfish that I'd like to be able to take the time to do. After all, I think anybody deserves a completely selfish pursuit that's just for them, right?
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Latest reply: Dec 31, 2009
Social Commentary
Posted Apr 17, 2002
No, no, no, I'm not writing a social commentary here... I'm talking about social commentary. I'm surprised I enjoyed William Golding's Lord of the Flies as much as I did.
My mom is the ultimate social commentator. It's almost scary. To the point where there's pretty much nothing that happens that she can't help but comment on. New servers at McDonald's. Other drivers. TV. All manners of things. You name it, if it rubs my mom any way that even resembles being somewhat close to possibly being the wrong way, she'll bitch about it at the dinner table at our next meal. It's ridiculous. Stupid mom.
[ current music | smashing pumpkins - silverfuck ]
[ current mood | annoyed ]
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Latest reply: Apr 17, 2002
Views on Life, Installation 3 - Control, and the abuse of it
Posted Jan 16, 2001
I accidentally deleted this one. Here it is, from December 18 2000.
I see I haven't written an Opinion in a while, but not too many weird things have been happening to me all that lately. Until now, of course.
I'll fill you in on the background details: My school board has been amalgamated with a nearby school board. The new board's administration decided to send a board-sanctioned guy in to adminstrate our school network. At first, I didn't notice that much of a change. I was enjoying my two computer classes. Then the printers stopped working properly - this guy (I won't use his name) was re-building our network. That's okay, because it's been years since our network was built and there are new network construction standards. In fact, I'm learning them - I'm helping my school pilot-test Cisco Systems' CCNA class in high schools. We're one of 3 in the province, I think. Either way, I figure all our little network problems will be solved in a few days; the guy seems competent in his work. Not so. Our network has slowed to a crawl (probably because it's one big collision domain) and this guy originally blamed it on the Linux machine in my 4th period class, run by a guy that's also in my 3rd period CCNA class. We've been fasttracking through Semester One (we're both done) and we're both into network security, hacking (in the sense that we're damn good with computers, not the pejorative sense that the media seems to love) and a little bit of programming on the side. Our new I/T tech discovered that by removing my 4th period class from the network, everything speeds up.. so he promptly placed the blame on the Linux server. Idiot. It's just because of sheer data volume on the network. It's been slow since I've gone to the school, but not THIS slow. Probably because we have a nice 'new' lab of Apple Macintrash Quadras attached to the network. Gotta love AppleTalk, sending out broadcast packets like diarrhea. Oh yeah. The board also made him reinstate the 'Bess' filtering software. I can understand using it for grade schoolers, the ones who are tempted to go into what they shouldn't the second the teacher's back is turned, but come on, we're high schoolers - we know better, and we know we're being monitored in some light. Bess slows down Web access to the point where a snail could fetch each individual bit faster, and cuts off about three quarters of the internet.. and about a third of that is completely legit stuff. Now half the school hates him. Including the teachers.
Fairly recently, somebody in town, using a free internet account, cracked our school's server - and, apparently, the public board's server. I first heard about it when my 4th period teacher told me about it and to keep quiet about it. So I did. The provincial police (and I've heard the RCMP too) got on the case straightaway, to find the wee boogar who did it.. I thought nothing of it. I didn't do it. I don't know who did it. Why should I really care?
Well, the other day (Dec 15/2K) I came home and found a message on the answering machine. Not an unusual event - just an unusual caller. A police officer. Asking for me. To call him back. So I do. He says he's been told about my 'technical expertise' and wants to ask me a few questions about it and about the two cracks (He used the terms 'hacks'. I still intend to 'straighten him out' regarding it. As a member of the Hacker Anti-Defamation League, I can't stand for people misrepresenting hackers.), so I answer them. He came right out and asked me, 'Did you do it?' and I told him the truth - 'No. I don't know how, and even if I did, I wouldn't.' That simple.
However, I was perturbed about why he was calling me. Apparently my school's I/T tech forwarded him an email I barely remember sending, from school, that involved my email address and something about me knowing how to circumvent my pay ISP's access-ban due to dual logins. At the time of writing, the ban was on, and I was probably bitching to somebody about it. However, I know that I didn't say that I could circumvent it. I can't. If I would have done anything, it would have been logging into their Telnet server and changing the password (what they wanted done) from school.. but that wouldn't have been circumvention, that would have been playing by their rules. And thirdly, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to say something like that in a school email. I know they can be read. I was already suspecting that the I/T guy grepped through them for keywords anyway. And besides, there's no trace of this message in my MailBox. That would mean I deleted it. You'd think that once you delete a message, it's gone for good, right? Not with FirstClass, obviously. Looks like he went through old mail, trying to find a clue.. and noticed the similarity between my name, my email address, and the name of their prime suspect.. an odd, happenstance coincidence, but it made him think I was involved.. or there was a nick involved. Either way, he must have thought I was involved and forwarded this letter to the police.. and at some point, I know it's been altered or taken out of context, as I told you earlier about my 'policies' on my ISP and abilities of circumvention.
Our I/T guy is taking complete advantage over his little position of control. It's really uncool. True, most people in his position would do the same, but the degree he's taking it to? Nobody's impressed. While it is human nature to take advantage of positions of control, I'll admit, he's got to realise how many people want him dethroned. My 4th period teacher, my 'buddy' from 3rd and 4th (Linux machine administrator) and I have thought about how things would work once he's gone.. because he may end up leaving.. and we're thinking that my classmate and I could probably easily take over. I'll admit, I keep having daydreams about what that would be like, and to be honest, my daydreams are power-tripping. So yeah, it's definitely human nature to power-trip, especially when it's I/T technicians and administrators (hell, look at my ISP - they wouldn't even just say 'okay, we'll bill you for two accounts then') but the good techs realise what they're starting to do and stop. But our I/T guy isn't. Maybe because he's only Microsoft certified. And not CCNA.
A warning to everyone reading - power's great, in moderation. Don't step over your bounds and into Naziism.
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Latest reply: Jan 16, 2001
Views on Life, Installation 4 - Sadomasochism
Posted Jan 16, 2001
Maybe "Sadomasochism" isn't the right title, given the obvious sexual context, but if I'm correct, sadomasochism is generally the fact that people naturally take pleasure out of the pain of others. Hence the bondage used in sexual sadomasochism.
Maybe you've come across it before, but there's a site on the net called [URL Removed by moderator] it's chock-full of so-called funny videos. If you haven't seen it, all the videos are tapes of people injuring or killing themselves in gruesome or painful manners. Some are fakes, but the majority are real. The real footage includes an "X-treme" biker trying to make a jump, falling off his bike and landing on his stomach - on a rail; as well as a man jumping from the 20th-storey window of a burning building - to asphalt. Funny? It doesn't seem like it here, but when one watches these videos, it's actually difficult not to laugh. It's the same principle behind such television shows as America's Funniest Videos - a half-hour of 'humourously' narrated tapes that people willingly send in of themselves or their relatives injuring or embarrassing themselves. Again, it's hard not to laugh at America's Funniest Videos. Why do we laugh? It's human nature. It could be an animal instinct, but I doubt it. Does your dog laugh when another dog gets bitten in the crotch by the third dog? Not at all. I personally think that this instinct comes from the fact that the human race, in general, is inherently evil. I know, there are a lot of good people in the world, but in general, humanity is evil. Evil may seem harsh, but to someone who plays role-playing games, it's a distinction between a moral, amoral and immoral character. Humanity is unjust, unfair; whatever you want to say. Any way you put it, humans like to hurt things. We hurt each other, we hurt buildings, we hurt lower life forms. Anything to sastify ourselves, really. The reason I've deduced that humanity introduced evil to the world is simple - does any other species have wars? Bear grudges? Not at all. I'm starting to get off topic here, though. Or am I? I don't know.
It's not that I accost myself when I laugh at AFV. I can't help it, and these people do it willingly. Maybe this whole thing got massively out of hand in the Information Age - Americans somehow feel the need to videotape everything, and see to it that everyone knows. As Billy Corgan said in The Smashing Pumpkins' smash hit, Cash Car Star, "everybody's business is everybody's business."Maybe "Sadomasochism" isn't the right title, given the obvious sexual context, but if I'm correct, sadomasochism is generally the fact that people naturally take pleasure out of the pain of others. Hence the bondage used in sexual sadomasochism.
Maybe you've come across it before, but there's a site on the net called [URL Removed by moderator] it's chock-full of so-called funny videos. If you haven't seen it, all the videos are tapes of people injuring or killing themselves in gruesome or painful manners. Some are fakes, but the majority are real. The real footage includes an "X-treme" biker trying to make a jump, falling off his bike and landing on his stomach - on a rail; as well as a man jumping from the 20th-storey window of a burning building - to asphalt. Funny? It doesn't seem like it here, but when one watches these videos, it's actually difficult not to laugh. It's the same principle behind such television shows as America's Funniest Videos - a half-hour of 'humourously' narrated tapes that people willingly send in of themselves or their relatives injuring or embarrassing themselves. Again, it's hard not to laugh at America's Funniest Videos. Why do we laugh? It's human nature. It could be an animal instinct, but I doubt it. Does your dog laugh when another dog gets bitten in the crotch by the third dog? Not at all. I personally think that this instinct comes from the fact that the human race, in general, is inherently evil. I know, there are a lot of good people in the world, but in general, humanity is evil. Evil may seem harsh, but to someone who plays role-playing games, it's a distinction between a moral, amoral and immoral character. Humanity is unjust, unfair; whatever you want to say. Any way you put it, humans like to hurt things. We hurt each other, we hurt buildings, we hurt lower life forms. Anything to sastify ourselves, really. The reason I've deduced that humanity introduced evil to the world is simple - does any other species have wars? Bear grudges? Not at all. I'm starting to get off topic here, though. Or am I? I don't know.
It's not that I accost myself when I laugh at AFV. I can't help it, and these people do it willingly. Maybe this whole thing got massively out of hand in the Information Age - Americans somehow feel the need to videotape everything, and see to it that everyone knows. As Billy Corgan said in The Smashing Pumpkins' smash hit, Cash Car Star, "everybody's business is everybody's business."
The second thing I'd like to bring up, under this topic, is the commercialisation of the dead. Ever noticed how many books have been written about the dead? There's the story about Princess Di on the day she died; I just saw a book called "The Day John Died", about JFK Junior's last day on earth.. Honestly, people. Let the dead rest. They're dead now. Why are you being so greedy that you think you can make honest money off the pain and suffering of their loved ones? I wonder how much money's been made from Princess Di's unfortunate death. I'd wager that it's in the area of a few million dollars. And probably none of it goes to her estate. Nice. Real nice.
Worst thing is, most people involved in this desecration of the dead call themselves Christian. That's b*****t.
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Latest reply: Jan 16, 2001
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Matthew G P Coe
Researcher U152739
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