Is this a trick question?

Uninstalling APCUPSD because it doesn't work on Windows 7-64. And I get this.



...no "Next" button here. But the "Uninstall" button works just fine.

I Don't Share Well With Others

One of the thing that's baffled me over the years is this urge people have to put one-click-share buttons on their web content. The idea being that this content you've just discovered has transformed your life so much that it must immediately be disseminated to your followers such that they can bask in a similar enlightenment.

This was annoying when it was just "Digg!" "Slashdot!" "Blog This!" and one or two others. But one weblog I read through RSS takes the cake so far:



By my count that's 18 ways to share this content through the social media clouds. And it is worse through RSS, since each one of those icons is translated into a list of text links for the RSS feed. Sometimes the list of potential ways to share the post exceeds the content of the post its self!



The whole thing smacks slightly of excessive ego to me -- that your content is so important that it should be as easy as possible to spread the word. More than a bit ridiculous.

Personally if I find something that I want to share, I'll deal with the distribution of the goodness.

Similarly, if someone finds my words worth sharing, I place the burden of sharing on them, since they are the ones who want to do it.

(Oh, and in the unlikely event said blogger finds his way here -- I'm not picking on you, you were just the most handy example. You are in my RSS reader, which means I do read you, and that counts for something.)

The Lawless Need Not Apply

Courtesy Craigslist, comes this ad with an oddly specific requirement:

Perform work in accordance with the provisions of the Canada Labour Code and all corporate/departmental policies and procedures related to Occupational Health and Safety.

Weird, eh? The ability to follow the law where it pertains to employment is an actual, stated requirement? Do they have positions where following the law is not a requirement?

Maybe that has something to do with this:

WORKING CONDITIONS:

• 24/7 availability for 12 hour rotating shift work including evenings, weekends and holidays
• Occasionally required to extend hours of work to meet work demands including occasional peak periods where required to work evenings or weekends.

So, uh, yeah, the regular shifts are 12 hours in length, except when they are longer.

Is that legal?...

(Previously.)

Totally Different

The World Wide Web Diaspora is a distributed network social network in which end users run their own web servers nodes, where they generate their own content interact with other users, and decide who can see their information decide who can see their information.

No seriously, it's totally different.

Somehow.

Why does everyone try to re-invent the wheel?

Survivor:Sysadmin 2 -- The Sysadminining

The drug users are back.

VACANCIES: 3

Local Ottawa firm is looking for a Server Administrator Intern. This position is perfect for students or recent graduates who are unable to find a job in their field as they have no job experience. This position is unpaid but may lead into a permanent contract position for the right individual.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE (but are not limited to):

• First point of contact for end user support.
• Manage and maintain all servers in environment and networking equipment.
• Ensure data availability by performing and validating backups, file replications and script management. PC, server, and network setup and maintenance.
• Documentation of network systems, operational procedures, network topology and

hardware inventory.
• Clear workstations of viruses, spy ware, or other malicious software
• Troubleshoot and resolve system issues and constantly work to improve existing system designs and bring new technology ideas to the table.
• Administer and troubleshoot company accounting systems and other third party and in-house business applications.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS and ABILITIES:

• A degree is preferred or a related field of study and a minimum of 3 years progressively more responsible experience; or any combination of training and experience that provides the necessary skills, knowledge and abilities.
• Ability to communicate with non-technical users.
• Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium experience
• Must have knowledge of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008
• Well organized and can manage multiple priorities.
• Demonstrate problem solving and decision making skills.
• Demonstrate design documentation and capacity planning techniques.

WHAT WE CAN OFFER:

• Experience working in an exciting industry
• Resume builder
• Recommendation letter

HOURS:

Preferably 10 hours per week, between 2 to 3 days per week, Monday thru Friday.

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply, please forward a cover letter explaining why you believe you are the best candidate for this position and your most recent resume.

***When applying for a position, please include the position title in the Subject line. For applications that don't specify which position in the subject line, their e-mail will be deleted automatically.

I guess playing Survivor:Sysadmin since February didn't net any long term suckers takers.

I wonder if they've found some government program that pays them to take on interns? If so, it would be a clever way to get the government to pay you to have an IT department.

Angry Puppies in Parliament

A conservative senator recommended that some advocates "shut the f--k up" about pushing their agenda or risk a backlash. Naturally the opposition parties in the house are all in an uproar over this behavior, and with PM Steve off somewhere it falls to Sidekick Baird (pictured, who can always be relied upon to participate in political discourse with calm reasonability) to answer for him.

The answer? It isn't appropriate behavior....

In Question Period, Mr. Baird tried to assign blame to the Liberals, accusing them of wanting to mount a culture war against his party.

In one respect, he's right, in that if the opposition parties didn't make an issue out of this there would be no issue to address. Why not let this issue lie where it belongs, under the rug?

GOD HATES DEBTORS

Unreal.

A post by Seth Godin led me to an entry by Dave Ramsey called The Truth About Debt. Mr. Godin's article is well formed, and makes the usual pitches for avoiding consumer debt. He even comes up with some history that I was not aware of -- namely being that consumer debt was an invention to increase total consumer spending.

I don't know why Mr. Ramsay's article got linked. In it, Mr. Ramsey spends a lot of time saying that use of debt as a tool by the "wealthy" is not as frequent as we have been led to believe. But the kicker -- the reason why debt is not a good idea?

Boy, what a reach. I could spout the myth with enthusiasm, but life and God had some lessons to teach me. [...] I was confronted with this scripture and had to make a conscious decision of who was right – my broke finance professor, who taught that debt is a tool, or God, who showed the obvious disdain for debt.

That's right, debit may be bad because it means you spend more of your money to bankers rather than saving it for your own use and all that, but what seals the deal is Proverbs 22:7.

Personally, I think debt is a tool. Debt can be used to buy things that you cannot afford right now. And while using debt for investing purposes means you should buy things that appreciate -- for example, theoretically housing -- there are some things that we buy that do not appreciate that debt will probably be used for.

From Mr. Ramsey's article:

Imagine how much you could put toward retirement if you just didn't have a stinking car payment?

The problem with this is that it presents a very dim view of financial management. To wit: sure, you don't have a car payment because you paid cash for your car -- good for you! But where did that cash come from? If you want to have cash for the next car, you'd better be saving for that -- not retirement! And yes, it does mean that if you are saving for the future, interest works for you rather than against you, but in practice the difference is probably not that great. So there will be extra money for retirement, but it won't be the entire amount of the car payment.

Just because you use a tool improperly doesn't mean that the tool is bad. It is a poor carpenter financial planner who blames his tools. Isn't there something in the Bible about that too?