Author: The Timedok

“Schools are a pipeline to prison.”

Those words were spoken by our not so illustrious AG, not so long ago. I don’t know where this man got his degree but, I firmly suspect it came out of a package with a little blue man with a dog by his side as the logo.

The problems in our society are not a mystery as to how they happened and the “fix” is really not that esoteric either. The simple facts are that there is no easy fix.

To repair the problem one first has to identify where the problems started and reverse the trend. Any pilot knows that when you get into trouble or off course or what have you the first thing is not some knee jerk response but, slow small course corrections.

It still boggles my mind that we are where we are at and the AG makes such a lame statement on national TV. The answer he says is to “give minorities a pass. Don’t correct them as harshly as you would someone who is not a minority.”

There are two basic problems. The breakdown of the family unit, (no dad around) and the schools have been neutered by those that feel that grading with red pens or reprimanding children or heaven forbid, spanking a child is just simply not done! You might damage their self esteem! The parents have gone as crazy by giving into their children’s empty threats of “give me my way or I will hurt myself, I will cut my self and then you will be sorry!” “Oh ok honey, here is your iPhone back and I have upped your data plan, please don’t hurt yourself.” Kids have taken “I will hold my breath” one step further to cutting or worse. If they do this parents, they need more help than you can give them with your parenting skills, seek help!

Consistent boundary setting is a lost concept today. “Explain to the “child” I really wish you wouldn’t do that because there will be consequences to your actions if you do but, that is your decision. I am keeping the phone for X weeks as I told you, because you did not do what you were supposed to….”

When you set their expectation that “if they do or don’t do” as the case may be the consequence will be X,Y,or Z than you must follow through each and every time.

The legal system is real good about setting boundaries for all of us in that if we speed, and get caught, we will get a ticket which cost us money, time and yes it could be embarrassing.

When I was in school if we did something that was even slightly egregious, it usually meant a visit to the dean, coach or principal which usually ended up with a few swats and depending upon the offence, may be followed up with after school detention.

If you check the charts of people in prison in this country today you will see that there is a direct correlation between that rise in prison population and this drive to neuter the teachers from disciplining your child! There are 2.2 million people in prison in the US, 75K from non-violent drug offenses. If you could do the math you would quickly see that we have made an industry out of housing inmates!

Let’s take that one step further, of the people that are currently on the government dole, how many of them could have benefited from a little “course correction” in school? There is such a thing as character, and I think that between missing dad’s or sperm donors; and the lack of programs for young people and quite frankly the “Stuff” that these teachers are forced to teach, you have the elements for the perfect storm of mediocrity and or “failure as a people.”

For instance, if we could re-direct some of that money currently going out to welfare or to house prisoners and put it towards the space program, we no doubt would have people living on MARS by now. Instead we have to waste our precious resources housing prisoners and paying people not to work.

How about educating those “Americans” that would like to learn, before worrying about educating illegal aliens? This is not a diatribe against Hispanics or others who come here to have a better life; it is however a statement that those that are here “legally” should have fist shot and not the other way around as we are currently doing in Texas and Mr. Christie is proposing doing!

The goal of school is to turn out taxpayers. School by definition is part of the process and tax payers invest in you, your children and so forth in hopes that you will be a productive citizen. While I doubt few get up in the morning and say, “today I want to be a better criminal,” there are probably some who do, and that is a real loss, not only for them but for all of society.

Give the schools the power to discipline all children equally. That means make the course correction in a way that will get through to that child. If the consequence is embarrassing and painful enough, the odds of the kid doing something to earn it again are much lower than if you simply throw them onto the street! You were right about one thing MR AG… We need to show these kids that “we do love them and care for them, and one way you do that is by not sparing the rod!”

The numbers don’t lie and I am aghast that no one has put it together and done something about it. So get out those red pens teachers! Not everyone wins a trophy and some need to see a big red “F” to get their attention. No child needs to be on the street or swept aside in some “program” that is indeed a pathway to prison. Make some course corrections before it gets that far. How about spending some of that money allocated for “prisons” on programs aimed at working with those families with “no dad at home.”

It is not rocket science MR Holder but, if we would take some steps now, just maybe we could get to teaching “rocket science” instead of “how to look innocent in a lineup.” What kids see at home today they will no doubt re-peat in their lives thus adding to the already growing prison populations, broken families and homes and “Detroits,” all over America! Stop the madness!

Happy 2014!

Ebay, some things to watch for.

Greetings to you and so long 2013!

I have spent a number of years on eBay and for the most part been happy with the services and products. Having said that a few stand out in my mind and I thought an airing of the facts might help someone else.

Sites like eBay have accountability built in however; many of us don’t leave a negative rating when the person deserves it, thus skewing the results. Some of us leave them a bad mark because the item was defective or what have you when it was clearly marked “as is no returns.”

I have been known to leave them a positive feedback but then voice my concerns for their way of doing business in the comments. For instance one fellow sold me something and then just threw it into a “if it fits it ships box, no packing and barely any tape. Why the post office took it is another story but it did make it. The box did not survive and the device inside looked as if the Cowboys used it for a football. Anyone reading his feedback will see that he needs to step up his shipping game.

Here is my argument, see what you think. I have always felt that we are too litigious of a society, we are “sue happy.” Anything goes wrong and there is some lawyer somewhere looking to make some money and will take the case no matter how petty the suite. Much like sharks; the more hungry the beast, the more appetizing a license plate or old shoe looks as opposed to a “wrongful death suite” that just don’t fall into “everyone’s” lap..

Is there a time to sue and is there a time to leave a negative rating? The answer is yes to both. If you are suing someone because you see it as a way to make money; (much like the lawyer,) than probably not. However; if you are bringing legal action as a way to hold the entity accountable, and possibly get them to change the way that they do business, than I believe that you are not only justified, but you should. The same is true about not leaving five stars.

Did they earn it?

Was the description accurate?

Was the product or service delivered as expected?

Was the shipping “normal” or was it high?

Was the item packed correctly?

If there was a problem, did they go out of their way to make it right?

Did they communicate with you until it was resolved?

Online buying has evolved over the years and I would suspect that the day of shopping via printed catalogue will be history in the next few years. With companies like Amazon, and others, it seems that the market place is much larger, only limited by internet access and access to the mail, or UPS or what have you.

I collect, purchase and refurbish old radio’s, purely as a hobby. I visited a re-cycle plant a few years ago where I saw home electronics being shredded, ground up, pulverized etc. While there is a need for this, I really would like to salvage some of “Americana” via its technology of the 50’s and 60’s and before, for the next generations. This quest has me looking for and purchasing unique antique e-stuff and than looking for the parts to repair it. Few young people today know what a tube is or how it works. We have managed to pack a video camera into wristwatch that still tells the time and only a few years ago (60) the transistor was replacing the tube allowing for smaller power supplies and of course smaller radio’s. We got the first transistor radio in 1954 which was a combined effort of Texas Instruments and Industrial Development Engineering Associates. A year later over 100,000 pocket radios were on the market. That is when Raytheon jumped in to make a better radio hence came along the 8 TP 1 which basically was a radio that doubled the amount of transistors incorporated from 4 to 8 allowing for better sound.

eBay seems like a natural place for this as it is rife with all kinds of these things.

Here are some things that I learned over the years that may help you and or might guilt the person or person’s who practice this type of behavior to stop it.

When selling an old “transistor radio” the seller said, “I am not sure how to test this.” Translated “I have done everything that I know and this thing is dead.” If you are incapable of installing a 9volt battery and turning a couple of knobs to see what happens, than perhaps you should not be selling on-line.

“I put a battery in and just static, there are no AM stations in my area.” Unless you live on the moon or in a cave or a solid brick building, there are radio stations that you can hear, that is especially true if you have the internet and cell phone. Translated, “this thing is screwed up and I will say this in hopes that someone will buy it.”

I guess what I see most of is that “I got this at an estate sale and have no way to test it.” Folks, the most idiotic person out there knows that it is worth more money if it works and most people who buy at an estate sale know more than just a little about what they are buying. So, translated, “I did everything that I know, called all of my normal resources and this thing appears to be dead so I will say I don’t know how to test it and it will be someone else’s problem.”

A few others that I have received over the years are “for parts or repairs.” Now this is fair game. Accompanied along with pictures so people can see what they are bidding on, I now know that it is dead, that you don’t know how or don’t want to repair it and you want to move it. Here is where the rub comes in.

I have bought many such radio’s to find that someone had opened them up and removed parts to repair another radio and then sold what they did not want as “for parts or repair.” Translated, “I took what I needed, but I am not going to tell you that there are parts already gone.” The real problem is that I can’t prove that is what they did, but I can watch them and not purchase from them again.

Another “parts or repair item” is this, electronics that have been under water. Folks, it is dishonest to sell something as “unknown condition,” parts or repair, I don’t know how to test etc if the item has been under water! It is ruined if that is the case. Case in point, I purchased a “lot of 3” RCA radio’s from the 50’s. Three radios’ that were of an unknown condition, “for parts or repair.” There were fuzzy pictures of the cases and that was about it. By the time you bid against others looking for these little collectables, pay shipping to find out that they are worthless well; that is just wrong on so many levels. Not only were parts missing out of the three, each and every one was filled with mud. The cases are not pristine so I pretty much threw away money and have nothing to show for it.

My last bone of contention is really the first radio that I bought like this. As a long time Ham I started my radio hobby with a borrowed Hallicrafters SX-99 back in the late 60’s. If you have not experienced what I am going to relate, you have missed out. There is something magical about sitting in front of a radio such as this and listening to stations from all over the world; bask in the glow of dial lights, knobs and meters swaying with the signal strength. It is as if you are somehow connected to the station on the other end. I remember listening to a station in Hawaii and for a few moments I was there. Shortwave used to be much more influential than it is today. I think it was used as a propaganda method as well as a way to get information into areas that were blacked out by their local government. To control the people, you control what they hear, see, read and so forth. We still do it today but that is another blog.

I think a huge part of the success of eBay is people, much like me, trying to reclaim that lost moment through an old radio or trinket or favorite toy. I started my search looking for one of these radios. They are popular these days so the bidding gets intense and they frequently go for much more than they are worth.

Found one and bid on it. After an intense bidding war I got it from a local store and by local I mean in Texas. Bad news there, not only did I pay premium dollar but, I had to pay sales tax. Good news, I arranged to pick it up some weeks later when we were both going to be at the same event saving me $40 in shipping.

At first glance the case was not right; I could tell that it had been dropped. Looking through the top cover everything else seemed rough but workable. The money I paid for this the radio should have been turn key but alas, it was not.

After getting it home I pulled the case off of it thinking I would straighten it out, to discover that this radio must have sat in a barn where water was allowed to enter it every time that it rained and stay until it evaporated. My guess is that it was in this barn for years. A restoration of that radio would mean replacing each and every control, the capacitors and who knows what else. These things are very old and finding parts for them is not as easy as one might think.

The person, who sold it to me, took it on trade. The person who traded it to him is likely the person who knew its history, and just did not care.

So here is my last bit of eBay advice, if they took it on trade, you may want to think about looking elsewhere as that is another escape clause if you are unhappy. “No returns, all sales final etc” are just things that I tend to stay away from. Now I know why some take no returns as there are those out there who need a part and will buy your item, take the part that they need from it and than send it back to you as a DOA. You are then held hostage by your eBay rating.

I would rather eat a bug than take advantage of someone or a circumstance or in this case, steal from someone. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone felt that way?

Watch their feedback, if it is less than 100%, why is it that way? If you get had by someone; warn others by leaving them less than positive. eBay has a good resolution center which I have used before but this was really only when someone sold me something that they did not have to sell. This happens more than you might suspect.

Hope that you have a great New Years and that you can use this to your advantage or at least to protect yourself, friends and family from the less than scrupulous people out there. And by the way, some of the junk on eBay really does need to go to the e-cycle place, especially if it has been under water.

Best to you and those that you care about and Happy Bidding!

The case of the password vs insanity.

We have all heard that the definition of insanity is: doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. This was not lost on me when recently my password on my home PC was no longer accepted.

Imagine logging in to your own PC, that no one else touches, and the password no longer works.

I cannot tell you how many times that I tried the password that I know that it is supposed to be, and then doubting my sanity, trying every other password that it might be “just in case I changed it” without remembering I did.

The only reason there was a smidgeon of a doubt is that recently Yahoo forced me to change my password. They would accept nothing less than a strong password which by the way is so strong that I have trouble typing it while looking at it, and there is not a chance of remembering it.

No longer are the days of the family pet or address or birthday acceptable as passwords. Imagine having to type a password like this T4^s#hg^9? every time you logged on to your computer!

While the home PC’s password was not quite this strong, there is more than room for error. This led to a rather frustrating afternoon as one might guess.

The trouble shooting process was difficult as Windows allows little room for error and certainly not much for diagnostics. My first guess was the keyboard had to be messing up in some way so I changed the batteries. When that did not bear fruit I hooked up a hard wired keyboard to the USB port and still nothing. “Incorrect login name or password.”

Google produced nothing relevant other than an ad for some company that sells some software to recover your password. Microsoft was no help. If I were in a decision making role at Microsoft I would make some sort of option on the login screen that would allow for one to make certain that their keyboard is typing the correct letter and that the caps is on or off. Wireless keyboards don’t have any LED on them to tell you about “num lock” or shift lock and , the screen was not giving me any hint of this either although it normally would.

Windows 7 offers a way to reset the password, but you have to plan for it first and oh yes, it requires the “A drive, a floppy.” This too needs to be re-thought as few computers today have a floppy drive.

Somewhere in the process of trying to boot into safe mode I get an error that says “keyboard failure.”

At this point I try the wired keyboard into several different USB ports with the same results. I then installed a usb card thinking that maybe that would work, nope same results.

I could do things in Bios but not in Windows. The thing that would have helped is a way to check the keyboard, in Bios. My guess is that Bios is not as picky about what it sees from the keyboard and since you are only using limited keyboard functions, curser movements, enter and tab, one would not have guessed that the USB was having issues.

I just happen to own another machine of identical configuration, so a swap of the hardrive to the other machine rendered a machine that worked with my password that worked all along.

I can only conclude that there is an issue with the USB controller on the motherboard.

I am considering clearing out the Bios on the old board and trying a re-install of the software just to see if that fixes it. There may also be some sort of update from Dell for that Bios.

For you hardware junkies out there, this is probably standard fare. While I could have purchased a new machine for the $$ wasted in time to diagnose this, I have a new found empathy towards those who just use the machine and have no clue how it works.

Can you imagine Joe Q User out there that really looks for the “any key” having an issue like this?

If I was frustrated (and I have been at this when DOS 1 was new,) I cannot even fathom what something like this would be like for others who have less experience than I.

I hope that this helps someone somewhere possibly saving some time and frustration as this type of bugaboo should not happen.

Best to you and those that you care about!

Disasters Big and Small

As a Disaster Recovery Specialist, I walk into many companies that are one step away from disaster. Some of them have been living on a wing and a prayer for a long time and are absolutely oblivious to the precipice on which they are perched.

One of the largest challenges one faces in this line of work are people. By that I mean more specifically egos. People are threatened by someone that “knows more than they do.”

Let me tell you a secret. This is a Jack Palance type secret, (from City Slickers) “This is the one thing” that will save your keister as well as change your attitude.

I worked for a man who owned this business that was very successful. I was a young guy fresh out of school and this guy saw something in me that I remember to this day. As time passed he took me under his wing and helped me knock some of the rough edges off of my “perception” of the world as it was. He took me out one day to JC Penny and had some sales clerk measure me for a suite and then he picked out a couple of them. We went to the shirts and he purchased a few of them right down to the shoes. While these were not super expensive, they were not cheap and his generosity never escaped me. The only thing that he did not replace were my shorts! Some might have taken offence to this but I am no creature of fad or style and while I would not qualify for a candidate on “what not to wear,” I did know that style was not my strong suite. “Knowing your limitations” is good advice, but not the secret.

Later he had me take over the service manager position in one of his branches which came with a company car and credit card. This was before the tax laws changed. He told me to use the car as I wished and if I took it on vacation to at least “pay for some of the gas myself.” He took me over to the office which was a good drive from the Dallas office. He regaled me with stories of advertisement and marketing. He told me the story of the sign with the waterfall on it by downtown Dallas. Back then it was a Pearl Beer sign. This man was pretty close to deaf. He was from Georgia and his accent was still very thick. It turns out that he was a tank commander in WWII. He told me that the secret to survival is to “surround yourself with smart people.” That not only applies to war, but business and oh yes, life in general. If you want to be successful, surround yourself with people smarter than yourself and learn to humble yourself. It is only by this step of humbling yourself will you realize the advantage of being around these people. I have never forgotten this and to this day I still practice this.

I offer this advice to all IT people in that “you are not the end all be all.” You cannot know it all even though you think that you do. We become focused on what interest us and then the rest of technology passes us by. Learn to control your ego for it is your enemy. No doubt you have heard the phrase “you are your own worst enemy.” Think of the truth of this statement and then marry it, own it and then change it. When someone starts talking to you about something which you think you know about and you feel that “anxiousness” start to well up inside, recognize this for what it is, you’re undoing. Squelch the feeling, take a deep breath and listen to what this person has to say. It may be worthy of hearing or it may be total crap. Before long this will be habit and you will have trained your ego to stand down.

One of the first steps in the DR process is an AUDIT. In order to prepare for a disaster one has to know what one has. This is done by an audit of the technology, how it is configured and of course managed. We look at policies and procedures and just really get into your business in a big way. The more you work with us the more you will get out of it. Conversely the more truculent or evasive that your staff is, the more it will cost. This is a “by the hour” service and time is money.

Audits are never fun but necessary, in that no one is perfect. Audits uncover the “dirt” so to speak and no one wants to acknowledge that they have dirt. Nobody wants to look bad so they are either un-helpful or become very defensive and blame the guy before them and so forth. No one in their right mind would welcome an IRS audit because of this. You know that you are playing by the rules but the rules are thousands of pages long. What if? Individuals should budget for an accountant for this reason. Companies should have more than one accountant “even if it is a small company” in that they can check one another. (another story for another blog)

While IT audits wont land you in front of a judge, it could have an effect on the bottom line in that deficiencies could be uncovered which could end up in with un-budgeted expenditures. Having an up to date DR and BC plan will not only prevent this but, will keep your IT department on their toes and up to date. A fresh set of eyes looking at how things are done contrasted against your business processes and needs, often bear fruit in that there may be a better way to do things. Personally I subscribe to “best practice” methodologies and policies.

Some companies don’t take IT seriously and look at it only as a necessary evil. An attitude which must be changed as IT is much more than a necessary Evil. IT is a resource which ties the entire company together. This department is the glue that binds most departments together as well as the interface between the customer and the company. In looking at the want ads occasionally one might notice ads for IT people with the following “PC Wizard” needed. Really? Does this person come from over the rainbow? The simple facts are that some HR people are totally bereft of any ability to interview for this position and the company as a whole does not take the department very seriously. I would liken this to the “audio visual club” at school. Know this all you who mock them, the nerds will inherit the earth. I digress..

If you really look at the way that your technical infrastructure touches every person in your company and your customers; your attitude on this matter might change.

During the process of a disaster recovery plan, this becomes very clear in that one of the pieces of this plan is a Business Impact analysis. It is during this process that the lights turn on in the CEO’s, or CFO’s head. I have heard the question posed to the CIO or CFO on many occasions “why hasn’t anyone told me this?” The simple facts are that the CEO’s job is to run the company, not the IT department. He or she depends upon the CIO to look out for the company on all things IT and a DR plan is simply one small part of it.

Simple programs like asset management and S.A.M. “software asset management” are not only not in play, but not even thought of. How can one budget for new stuff if one has no clue what one will need down the road? A complete Asset management program should be SOP in any company. This program accounts for hardware from the cradle to grave.

The same is true regarding software. Often time’s, companies pay way too much for software as it is installed by policy on computers with users who will never use it. Users may bring in their own software and install it, leaving a liability for the company to contend with should there be a software audit and it is done by the SBA.

While there are no good surprises in business there are certainly no good surprises after an event has been suffered by a company. A fire in the data center could take the entire company out of the marketplace for good.

Fire caused by poor cable management practices.

Human error accounts for a large percentage of the events which caused companies to fail. Doing a root cause analysis on failed companies who suffered a disaster you find that they did not value such a thing as “it will never happen to me.” You don’t have to suffer a Sandy or Katrina type event to bring your business to its knees. A simple mistake from some employee, working for a company without a business continuity or disaster recovery plan can ruin your day, if not your career.

It is at this time many companies wish that they had spent the money on such a plan. Too Late… If you fail to plan you plan to fail.

You can purchase insurance which will assist with the closing of the company but, that is not the way to go out of business, with a whimper, because you failed to plan.

Updated documentation of your infrastructure otherwise known as a “living document,” should also be SOP. IT folk absolutely do not like documentation, more specifically creating it. There are many schools of thought on this reason, but I suspect that laziness along with a “need” to have proprietary information so they are not expendable weighs somewhere in their decision. If the latter is your reason for not doing what is right for the company you need to re-examine your life.

If you are taking the paycheck you owe your employer the best that you can offer. If you managers feel like you have people in your department who are not expendable you need to address this post haste! One rule of preventing a disaster is avoiding single points of failure; and that means people as well.

Part of disaster recovery is averting disasters to begin with! Through solid best practices in policies and procedures, a large percentage of disasters can be negated.

One last topic on the subject that comes up from time to time. “Do I have a legal obligation to have a DR/BC plan?

The answer is not as clear cut as one would like. The interesting thing however from a legal perspective is that there is legal precedence whereby companies were held liable for failing to provide a more error tolerant system. They in fact were found to be negligent and case law purports to award large sums of cash to the plaintiff. These cases not only hold the owners of the company negligent but any and all officers of the company are liable. Think carefully about that promotion and VP title.

While companies are apathetic towards spending the money on such a plan, doing so is not only moral, it is strategic and most likely a legal obligation. As Billions of dollars are spent annually on technology to maintain a competitive edge “standards of care” and due diligence are required of all corporations both public and private. Not having such a plan violates the fiduciary standard of care.

-Best to you!

staylor@guard-protect.com

www.guard-protect.com

Trust Me

It never ceases to amaze me how people will blindly trust “in this case” the government.

People continue to surrender their rights to privacy in exchange for safety. How safe are you?

Here is an article I found most disturbing. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/14explorers.html?_r=1&

These are kids playing soldier. Does this not look eerily reminiscent of this?

The government has deals with cell phone providers to get anything that they want detailing your account and activity. My guess would be that they can also tell what you watch on TV and where you have been on the Internet, all without a warrant.

Bush opened this can of worms and Obama is just capitalizing on it. Do you know that once you surrender your rights that you will never get them back? Again, looking at history; it will take a war with our young men and women fighting each other to bring about some sort of government that is not so “corrupt” if we don’t start now. It will be that or the word “free” will have a whole new meaning. With each new law you loose some freedoms.

We learn that they have supercomputers which break your passwords and security algorithms (most probably using brute force) and that too is done without oversight from a governing body.

In months to come your complete medical history will be available online. That includes notes about your confidential conversations with your mental health provider. If you are prescribed any type of medicine for anything, big brother will know about it and most likely profile you in some sort of slot.

It would seem to me that they should tie this profile to a unique number. There would be no names in it that could identify the person to whom the medical information belonged. Until you provide them a number either by telling it to them or producing a card with it on it would they have access to it. I realize that it will take hundreds of thinkers in several states and committee meeting after committee meeting to think the process through and come up with this idea but, you can have it for free; and save the tax payers billions while you try to come up with it. Oh, and use a hexadecimal numbering scheme so you have lots of numbers.

We have many companies out there providing backup services to companies and individuals via “The Cloud.” Now how much would you care to wager that the same cloud that houses your encrypted data also provides a shadow over a less than honorable sector of our government? “all in the name of safety of course.”

Their reasons for originally doing this may seem honorable but with absolute power comes absolute corruption. If you doubt this, try reading some history. It happens to be rife with such events although the internet was not invented then..

We in fact are following cyclical history and we don’t ever seem to learn from it.

Like the frog in the boiling water, we just never saw it coming…

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Rant for the summer…Enjoy

I have not written in a while. I have received multiple e-mails asking me about it.. So, here is my most recent rant… Hope you enjoy it or at least it gives you something to talk about with others.

With the upcoming elections in 2014 the spin is in full swing in the media. Create a schism or perceived schism between anyone and everyone is the end goal. They must have Americans divided on all issues so they, the democrats can make the conservative groups look like the bad guy in some form or fashion. Instead of looking for things that we have in common and building a relationship on those things they seek to divide everyone. That in and of itself is a travesty of everything that America stands for. To promote hate and discontent among Americans is well, Un-American!

Hollywood is complicit as well. When you are a “celebrity” you have a responsibility to watch what you say. To guard what you say as truth and not to put forth an agenda for political parties. Too many times we see celebrities “actors” acting as if they know something. They don’t and if you listen to them you will see that they are speaking to people who don’t read, don’t care but recognize them and if they say what to do, they do it.

This week CNN released two articles; one pitting blacks against whites and one pitting rich against poor. The articles were pure opinion and crap! Simply not true but, some people will read them and agree with this “writer.”

Somewhere women’s rights issues will rise back up and it wont be about killing 5 month old babies but somehow giving women some perceived right to not be inconvenienced with a child! What did Obama say, “I would not want my child to be “punished” with having a baby that she did not want.” He talks about pregnancy as if it is a disease like measles. Teach your daughters about safe sex Mr. President. Teach them that there are consequences to your actions. Sometimes those result in an unexpected pregnancy and sometimes, in some sort of STD or worse. When you say things like this your “character or lack thereof, is showing.”

We as a nation have drifted away from the simple fact that our actions have consequences. We are in fact held accountable for them, and should be. We as a people especially mothers protect their young from any and all harm. It is instinctual. Is there a safer place for a child than in its mother’s womb? What kind of people have we become that we would allow some “person” to suck the brains out of our 5 month old child crushing its skull and then rip it out of the womb because we are too busy to be bothered with a child? Those actions bespeak of a monster; both the person who would allow it and the “person” who would profit by doing it.

The ends do not justify the means. To further divide this country, manipulating everyone in the process is nothing less than evil. They cannot run on morals as they have none. They cannot run on character because theirs is corrupt beyond hope. So, they paint the republicans “or the other guy” as the bad guys.

A large majority will not pay any attention to the facts. They will in fact take the bait that celebrities, news outlets and others are spewing out to divide the country on any lines that they can. We have a complicit news media that I cannot figure out for the life of me why? Why are they in bed with this administration? What happened to journalistic integrity? What happened to reporting things objectively, as they are? Today you really have no idea if the news is actual news or some fantasy that is made up to sell subscriptions, or air time, or simply to pander to the current regime in order to get one on one interviews in the oval office, or possibly first question in the morning press meetings.

The political system today is a complete farce. We have law makers who make laws for us that don’t pertain to them. We have law makers that use your money to make money for them selves by manipulating public companies and practicing insider trading. They do this so they can live in opulence, while you and I barely scrape by. We have an administration that is crippling 50% of the country by not teaching them to fish. (Metaphor) We have an administration that wants to corrupt the voting process, so people of ill-repute can vote multiple times. They cannot win in a fair contest so they manipulate the votes, use the IRS to screw conservative groups, and who knows what other evil lurks. What other Chicago politics are under the surface?

We have people who call you a racist if you don’t agree with, and step in line with the thinking of the current administration. If “Stupid” is a race Mr. President; than I am proud to be a racist! We are being held hostage by those that scream political correctness at every opportunity! Screw that! We need to call it what it is and not sugar coat it so someone who has done some real stupid things doesn’t get their feelings hurt!

Every day we read in the news of corruptions within our government, corruptions that got Nixon impeached, today are child’s play. Where are the checks and balances?

Every issue turns into a political football. The game that they play is true brinksmanship, at its best. The result of their posturing and actions could very well put Americans at risk not only in this country but abroad.

We really have some dangerous, serious issues today and we should be focusing on dealing with them instead of winning yet another election. There are laws that need to be changed and they should start with restricting the power of the government. They have obviously forgotten that they work for us.

Certifications a good idea or bad?

Is the person with the most certifications the best hire? Maybe yes, maybe no.

The history of the certification for IT really started with Novell. Novell used to charge computer manufacturers to “certify” that their equipment was compatible with their software. This was no inexpensive proposition. Somewhere around the release of V2.15 there was the invention of the CNE or Certified Netware Administrator.

Back at this time this was no easy certification to obtain. Proficiency in hardware, DOS, NetWare, Networking equipment and topologies, datagram’s, IPX XPS, NetBIOS and the list went on.

As the certification idea took off, adaptive test were created. If the test found a weakness, it would give you more questions around that weakness which may very well be your doom. These tests were not inexpensive. The study material was not cheap and when you boiled it all down, unless you are really good at taking test; you had to have the experience and knowledge the back it up.

So in theory this was a good idea and should have given employers an excellent way to gauge someone’s level of expertise.

What changed?

It is human nature to cheat. I am beginning to think that making ones way through college was in part, how good you were at gaming the system.

This is true of the certifications today for the most part. There are too many websites and groups dedicated to giving out information to the applicant, that we really have no idea how much the person knows. That is why it is paramount that you, the hiring manager know the technology and not just look at his or her pedigree.

We don’t like to take test and I appreciate that. As a professional I want to know that I know the material. Would you want your doctor or Pilot to “game the system?” Why would we hold them to a higher standard; other than the obvious of the life and death thing?

Do we not put the company at risk if we are not qualified? The people that you hire absolutely can make bad decisions and as one who sells disaster recovery, that is one of the things to consider, “an oops.” I have seen this happen more times than I would like to say and it is never pretty. (No, it never happened on my watch.)

After my company hired a person on their credentials alone, I soon learned that you had better know more or at least as much about the subject as that person who you are looking to hire. The person was a paper certified pro meaning he could take test, not actually do it.

I look for someone with a good track record in the field that they want to pursue, a solid work history and lastly I consider their certifications. I need to know if they can do the job and not just take a test. I also check their references and backgrounds if they make it past the first few hurdles.

Technology is an extremely liquid entity. The books and materials that you buy today may not be salient tomorrow. Spending thousands of dollars on classes, books and test is only good for such a short time, before you have to hit the books again.

Your “technologist” the CIO in most cases should understand technology better than anyone else in the company. He or She should have a very in depth background and not only understand the nuts and bolts of things but, should possess enough business acumen to know what products or services are relevant for their company; and those that would have a poor ROI or high TCO not to mention poor application.

All purchases and changes to the architecture should make sense. Anyone that you hire to administer that equipment should not only grasp the equipment or technology, but also the company’s vision.

In short, I am not given to looking solely at certifications. Can they do the job and how did they do it before? Were they successful? Are they willing to go to classes if the job requires it?

The trick to committing to obtaining a certification is to determine the viability of the company or product, and if that product will take off or die on the vine? That is the rub in that I have seen technology come and go. Xerox had the best of the best, 30 years ago and had their marketing been better, and they not try to recover their total development cost with the first few sales, Bill gates might still be working out of his garage.

Xerox had the GUI and the Mouse before Steve and Bill. That is another story.

If you are looking to the information technology field as a career I can tell you from experience that the length of your job at that company will only take you until you have maxed out on the salary that they want to pay; or they find a way to outsource what you do. There are fewer and fewer indispensible employees any more as most CEO’s or owners have figured out that everyone should be replaceable. If you are one of the people who have stayed in one place for a long time you are either underpaid, or the company does not have the guts to replace you with a less expensive alternative. Keep doing what you are doing as it is working for you and for the boss, get real; nobody is indispensable.

It is therefore paramount for you the job seeker to keep your resume up and current, analyze trends in the market to see what company is doing what, and who is using them. Most of us will get into the rhythm of our jobs and get comfortable. This can no longer be the case, as very few companies have any loyalty to their employee’s . Employee should empower themselves to become even more marketable. Accomplishments are a great thing to put on your CV especially projects with dollar figures or some other quantifiable metric. “saved the company $13 million dollars a year by changing the way that they did business.”

It is up to you the worker to maintain your marketability through skills, career choices, education and even personal appearance plays a role. I cringe when I see these young people today with piercings and tattoos. I personally see this as not a real bright decision and a possible impediment to getting a good job as I know that most serious business people feel the same way. You now will have to go with some young company that is really out there like Google or Microsoft or, find a way to cover up your decisions… I don’t mean to sound critical but, it is a shame that youth is wasted on the young.

These are pearls from me to you…

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Dot Zero

After 30 odd years of being in the field of Information Technology; one might have guessed that I had picked up a thing or two.

When a project does not go as planned something called a root cause analysis needs to be performed. Basically why did the project fail? Was it poorly planned, poorly funded, poorly thought out, were the deliverable s too much or too little?

There are a host of things that should be considered before embarking on any project. One really needs to play the “what if” game. We are not striving for analysis to paralysis here but, we do need to know that everything is well thought out and a fallback plan is in place.

Is the project necessary?

What are the driving factors for the project?

What are the deliverables?

What will the TCO (total cost of ownership) be?

What is the (Return on investment), ROI?

How long to implement?

What impediments to business will the project cause, if any?

Are those impediments accounted for with workarounds?

What are the risk?

Are the milestones clearly defined and; expectations set with all members of the project?

Are the tasks clearly defined and assigned?

Is there a test plan to determine feasibility as well as to determine a baseline?

Is adequate documentation of the project occurring?

Are key players involved through a process like a change control committee?

Will training be necessary and if so; has that documentation been planned for and prepped?

If tweaking was necessary, what was it and why?

Did the project perform as expected, if not why not?

Did the project come in at or under budget? If not why not?

Some manager’s think that upgrading to the newest latest greatest is the thing to do and press on. I for one, have learned never be on the bleeding edge of technology. I always wait until a service pack has been released, especially if Microsoft is any part of the equation. Never load Rev.0 into a production environment, unless you really don’t like your job or company as you will most certainly have to explain why as it most likely will fail. As the sysadmin you really have to be able to tell your manager “no,” and back it up with sound logic and reasons. Some will ask for the .0 not realizing the inherent dangers that go along with that. You will be the one with the arrows in your back from the users, and the owners / manager and CEO. They wont see the software bugs as the issue, they most likely will blame you and or your staff, or anyone that had their hands in it.

The hallmark of a PM is to be able to communicate every aspect of the project with everyone involved. To be able to manage their resources in such a way as to not have any wasted dollars or time. The project should be on track and on budget at each and every milestone. Having a good Gantt chart, or at the very least a good plan of the project in excel will help to keep you from getting off track. There are no good surprises in business and hardly ever any good surprises with projects!

-Best to you and those that you care about.

Ego and Widgets

I have never met anyone that was puffed up by their ego that could be objective about anything. When we get a case of the “by gods” we loose ourselves to anger, arrogance, and objectivity.

Seeking that which would validate your opinion vs. looking for the truth; no matter what it is, is by nature our folly. We are so prejudiced by our “feelings” to the point of severing ties with people that we care about who happen to see things differently. We will go so far as to sever relations with those who think differently than us, because of pride.

There is strength in diversity. A bunch of like minded people will convince each other that they are correct and everyone else is a fool. We see this all over the globe in all sorts of situations. Once we make up our minds about something, we for the most part stop looking for the truth and will vehemently fight for our particular slant on the facts. When facts are provided that would disprove our opinion we tend to argue the validity of the facts and even question things like the scientific method.

The early church did this with Galileo. They believed that the sun revolved around the earth and the earth was the center of everything. As the early church was the de-facto authority for any questions about any subject; anyone who dared to disagree with them may very well face the noose or the sword. They were the government, the school and of course the one and only way to heaven. Very prideful people which reminds me of a story…

There was this fellow that built a business. He built it by the sweat of his brow, constantly honing it, making gentle course correction to achieve optimal penetration into his particular niche.

A lot of the employees were either impressed by him or alienated by his sometime brute force approach to problems. When the business became too much for one person to manage it was decided to bring in an assistant. The board members (people who provided the seed money) insisted as they were looking out for their investment.

For a while things were rocking along nicely until the two disagreed over policy or procedure. One person being stogy, and rigid, and self righteous; while the other person wanting to try something new or different. Words were said that should not have been said and the lot was cast when forgiveness was not asked for or offered until it was too late. These facts were not told to the employees but they all knew something was up, as one of them would be gone for long stretches at a time. The product was not as radiant as it once was, and the customers were really not getting what they were paying for; as the quality was lacking. The machine in fact was broken because of arrogance and pride.

The Board of directors, keeping up with the P&L, took stock of these numbers and were very much concerned that their investment was going down the tubes. Having absolute power over the main players, they decided to get rid of both of the managers, as neither one was capable of getting past the events that had transpired. While they were there; neither one was doing their jobs with any alacrity, so they were handed their hats and asked to leave.

The value of the stock was slipping and the competition was picking up new customers as people are not only apathetic but fickle. We are quick to judge and form an opinion and then act on it, with virtually no facts, no truth, just hearsay.

One of the leaders started over again, and the other just simply left as he knew that his actions had damaged the company, their product and the satisfaction and trust of the customers.

The Board of directors looked long and hard to replace the leaders but the niche market for these widgets is narrow and hard to find qualified people who understand this particular widget and all of the intricacies that go with it.

In the meantime the employees picked sides and when the leaders were let go, many went and looked for other employment with other companies as they did not trust the board of directors or agree with their actions. Some stayed however as they were not there for the leaders, but the product, and how much the customers needed and enjoyed the product. They were of course saddened to see the managers leave but the true focus of the company was not on the men that started it; but the widget!

In time the company got production going again. They hired new employees and found new customers to buy the product. Some of the old employees were unhappy with this and sent terrible hurtful letters to those that stayed, because those that stayed were not willing to strike and walkout like they were. The people that stayed were looked upon as “scabs” or strikebreakers. The employees that left were truly angered by those that crossed the picket line as their battle should be everyone’s call to action (or so they thought). Those who crossed the picket line cared for the greater good, the customer and the survival of the company. They did not want to see another Hostess episode after all.

The widget factory survived because the majority of the people trusted the board of directors and knew that the widgets must be made and sent out on time.

The employees that left still had bitter feelings toward the company and those people that stayed behind, relations were severed. I think that they even took a dislike to the widget which they once were very fond of. When they saw one another in the street, they snubbed their once fellow co-worker. Had they trusted in the “board of directors” and not given their allegiance and “faith” to a single human being, the widget factory would never have experienced this loss of production, hence lack of profit and the customers would not have had to go look for widgets of unknown quality elsewhere, and relationships that were built over years and years would not have been destroyed.

When ones ego gets too inflated, it pops. When it blows up, there is lots of collateral damage, innocent people get hurt. When you use the nuclear option to settle an argument with your neighbor, you may very well take out the entire city.

Your perception of the facts may be inaccurate. You were not there when the original “event” went down, so you really don’t have anything but conjecture and hear say to act upon. For some that is enough. Before you kill off Little Debbie by your willingness to act on few facts, please keep in mind that like Hostess, that company has been around for years and has graced the lunch box of many children for generations. What would the world be like without Little Debbie, or the Widget?

-Best to you and those that you care about.

Man of Steel

This film did not disappoint. The effects were great, best seen in 3D.

Amy Adams is always a thrill to watch, talented young lady. It was also a treat to see Kevin Costner. I am glad that they found a way to bring Russell Crowe into the movie on several occasions.

The plot was predictable and really no big surprises. Special effects and cast make this movie worth seeing. Special kudos to the writer with the sense of humor, regarding the sign with number of days without an accident.

I give this movie a thumbs up, if you like lots of action this movie is for you.