I Understand Dr. Johnny Fever Now

Unbelievably, I have the power to effect change across the internet with only the slightest of effort.

Last week I mentioned a plethora of social-networking buttons that were infesting the web and picked on one 'blog more or less because his post happened to be the one I was reading when I had the time to write. As a result of that, said blogger ran an opinion poll, observed the voting, and then changed his setup.

I just wanted to share the doubling of traffic at this blog created by this firestorm of controversy I triggered, courtesy of Google Analytics:



I promise to only use this power for good in the future. And to take Cincinnati home and kiss her all over in the dark.

$100

Wait, what, really? $100 a year? $2 a week? Per family? Spread out over the year across all the purchases a family makes? That's what the conservatives have their collective shorts in a bunch over?

The impact for households with income ranging between $70,000 and $80,000 will be $95 a year, the study says. The tally jumps to $480 a year for those households with incomes between $150,000 and $300,000, the highest level examined.

Surely there must be something more relevant: the poor getting screwed, perhaps?

However, those households that fall below the $60,000 threshold will come out ahead financially, the study says. This group will benefit from new tax relief measures that will more than offset the higher cost of everyday goods under the HST.

As a Kanata home owner, I'm about to get "special levied" $100 a year for 10 years so the city can bury a hydro line.

Mr. Hudak, you seriously need a sense of perspective. Surely there are real things you can do to protect taxpayer interests rather than this cheap pandering and grandstanding?

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.