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FUN: Raving Libertarian Warning
Friday, August 31, 2007
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Posted by reinkefj
TECHNOLOGY: from the Ebenezer Scrooge School of Overseer Management
Friday, August 31, 2007Network World’s Security Strategies Newsletter, 08/30/07
Ethical decision-making: Identifying the ethical issue
By Mark Gibbs
***Begin Quote***
Let’s assume for the sake of this discussion that an employee, Bob, has signed an appropriate-use agreement with his employer and that he’s not supposed to use his company computer for non-work-related Web surfing.
*** end quote ***
It’s all too black and white. Cut and dried. Either or. The real world is much more gray!
If the employee we are talking about is an hourly employee — the IT equivalent of a burger flipper — then the case presented makes some amount of sense. But, I am hard pressed why they have a fully functional browser, and expensive hardware.
I think the more interesting case is when you apply this to what I will classify as “knowledge workers”. They present a tougher case in what’s acceptable use. Proper leadership would know when the people were being productive and then trying to micro mange what people do by AUPs — which never work — would be unnecessary.
While we are talking about following rules, the rule maker’s hands are not always that clean. Sometimes there are different AUPs for the AUP-makers. AND, then we have many organizations, who want knowledge workers to provide off hour support from home without compensation, wanting to enforce an AUP. Seems like the rules are used when they are convenient.
Bottom line: Everyone must tread very carefully. And, keep notes on what is “current practice”. They’ll be useful when you negotiate your severance or can be used as evidence at your trial. AUPs are another gotcha from the Ebenezer Scrooge School of Overseer Management!
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Posted by reinkefj
INTERESTING: Sir! No Sir!
Friday, August 31, 2007http://www.sirnosir.com/home_about_film.html
***Begin Quote***
This is why David Zeiger decided he had to make a documentary about the antiwar movement that we’ve been taught to forget: the antiwar movement that organised itself in barracks, on aircraft carriers, in country, at listening posts, in the line for mess hall. His film is called Sir! No Sir! and in this viewer’s opinion it’s one of the best documentaries of recent years.
***End Quote***
I guess I led a sheltered life. In my USAF time 70-73, I never saw any such resistance.
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Posted by reinkefj
INTERESTING: Which was this young lady?
Friday, August 31, 2007http://execunet.blogspot.com/2007/08/miss-teen-usa-miss-south-carolina-power.html
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Miss Teen USA, Miss South Carolina, & The Power of the Web
Dave Opton over at Execunet opined on the young lady’s flub. And, he was nice enough to allow my comment to post.
Upon reflection, either this young lady was amazingly dumb or amazingly smart. She may have had her fifteen minutes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_minutes_of_fame Or, she may have out Paris Hiltoned the latest vamp of the idle rich kids.
I don’t know.
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Posted by reinkefj
JOBSEARCH: Monster did NOT do enough
Friday, August 31, 2007FROM A MONSTER EMAIL
***Begin Quote***
Dear Valued Monster Customer,
Protecting the job seekers who use our website is a top priority, and we value the trust you place in Monster. Regrettably, opportunistic criminals are increasingly using the Internet for illegitimate purposes. As is the case with many companies that maintain large databases of information, Monster is from time to time subject to attempts to illegally extract information from its database.
As you may be aware, the Monster resume database was recently the target of malicious activity that involved the illegal downloading of information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses for some of our job seekers with resumes posted on Monster sites. Monster responded to this specific incident by conducting a comprehensive review of internal processes and procedures, notified those job seekers that their contact records had been downloaded illegally, and shut down a rogue server that was hosting these records.
The Company has determined that this incident is not the first time Monster’s database has been the target of criminal activity. Due to the significant amount of uncertainty in determining which individual job seekers may have been impacted, Monster felt that it was in your best interest to take the precautionary steps of reaching out to you and all Monster job seekers regarding this issue. Monster believes illegally downloaded contact information may be used to lure job seekers into opening a “phishing” email that attempts to acquire financial information or lure job seekers into fraudulent financial transactions. This has been the case in similar attacks on other websites.
We want to inform you about preventive measures you can take to protect yourself from online fraud. While no company can completely prevent unauthorized access to data, we believe that by reaching out to job seekers like you, the Company can help users better defend themselves against those who have attacked Monster as well as other databases.
We are committed to maintaining an ongoing dialogue with all of our job seekers about Internet security and the steps Monster is taking to protect its job seekers. The Company has placed a security alert on Monster sites offering information to educate you about online fraud. This information can be found at http://help.monster.com/besafe/. We have also included information on Internet safety and examples of fraudulent “phishing” emails at the bottom of this letter.
Monster has launched a series of initiatives to enhance and to protect the information you have entrusted to us. Some of these steps are being immediately implemented, while others will be put into place as appropriate.
We believe these actions are the responsible steps to protect the trust you place in Monster. We are also working with Monster’s hundreds of thousands of employer customers to ensure a safe and effective online job search. We will continue to share information with you about the enhancements we are making as we serve as your online career resource partner. We invite you to keep reading to learn more about how to use the Internet safely.
Sincerely,
Sal Iannuzzi
Chairman and CEO
Monster Worldwide
***End Quote***
Sorry, I don’t think that Monster did NOT do enough both before and after the horse and the barn!
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Posted by reinkefj
LINUX: Well, the die is cast!
Friday, August 31, 2007I placed my order for a Linux laptop. I’ve begun to separate myself from the Microsoft Death Star and join the Linux revolution. I’m returning to my roots as an injineer, unix nerd, and “falling knife” catcher. Good bye, Bill! No more winrot! No more verbose network conversation as all the workstations in my home lan try to elect a domain controller. No more treadmill of fatter operating systems needing bigger hardware.
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Posted by reinkefj
LIBERTY: Thirty days back to a Constitutional America
Thursday, August 30, 2007http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/30-day-plan.html
Rockwell’s Thirty-Day Plan
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
***Begin Quote***
When Eastern Europe broke free in 1989, we all realized just how little thought had been given to the transition from socialism to capitalism. Mises had told us the collapse was coming, and we should have been prepared.
As America comes to resemble a command economy, we need a transition plan here too. Yuri Maltsev proposed a “One-Year Plan” for the U.S.S.R. We’re not in that bad a shape (yet), so we could do it in 30 days.
DAY ONE: The federal income tax is abolished and April 15th is declared a national holiday. The 40% reduction in federal revenues is matched by a 40% cut in spending. The budget is still almost twice as big as Jimmy Carter’s.
***AND***
DAY FOURTEEN: The shaky fiat dollar is defined in terms of gold, with the ratio determined by dividing the government’s gold stock by all existing dollars on that day.
***AND***
DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: The American people are given the unrestricted right to keep and bear arms.
***End Quote***
Well said. I have some minor quibbles.
In #1, what national holidays? What is is a holiday from? Where in the newly brushed off Constitution does it say anything about National Holidays? On April 15th, after Lew nukes the IRS, I’ll be happy to take a day off at my own choosing to tell my younger in-laws who were educated in gooferment skoolz that there once was a time when theft by a gang of very bad men holed up in a Maryland swamp were so strong that they convinced people that they should send half of their production to that swamp. But, I don’t need a gooferment holiday to do that!
In #14, I don’t agree in the redemption method. I think all those green pieces of paper need redemption and that all those unfunded promises need to be made whole, but how to do it is my quibble. I think all those federal assets need to be sold off for the creditors.
In #28, rights aren’t given! They may be restored from their previous infringement but they are after all inalienable.
All in all, I thing the schedule needs a little shuffling, but the next month should be fun!
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Posted by reinkefj
INTERESTING: transplants are needed
Thursday, August 30, 2007No Trade-Offs?
By Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
***Begin Quote***
More organs to transplant are needed, and people tend to supply more of anything when they are paid more — and especially when they are paid something instead of being paid nothing.
But, here as elsewhere, we must first overcome squeamishness. And the first step is to stop confusing it with being humane.
***End Quote***
We allow the politicians, bureaucrats, and fuzzy thinking sheep to keep us from doing the right thing in some many areas of life.
As you know, I believe that free markets are miniature elections. A buyer and seller can (usually) make a bargain from whence they both benefit. (if they didn’t, then the deal would not close.) That says to the world that X = Y. A barrel of oil is worth 65$. Aside from all other arguments, that sets the stage for people to make decisions and plans. If your potential use would bring you 66$ in value, then you proceed. Otherwise, you decline. It’s an election. And, it’s interesting because it sums up all the wants, need, and desires across all the people. The next barrel is up for bid. The one who needs it “most” will get it. And, they will have the money to pay based on their contributions to their fellow man. Yup, that’s right. The only way to get money is to appeal to you fellow man to give you some by satisfying their needs. The market place is not only an election, rationing agent, and an auctioneer, it’s a mechanism to enforce cooperation.
So, let’s use it to solve the organ donation problem.
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Posted by reinkefj
INTERESTING: Get botox faster than cancer screening. No surprise!
Thursday, August 30, 2007http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070830043429.boo9bmfz&show_article=1
Patients get appointments for Botox faster than for moles: study
Aug 30 12:34 AM US/Eastern
***Begin Quote***
Patients who want a Botox treatment for wrinkles get appointments with US dermatologists much faster than those with potentially cancerous moles, according to a new study.
For a Botox injection, patients waited typically for eight days, while those asking doctors to look at worrisome moles that might indicate skin cancer waited 26 days, said the study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
***End Quote***
You pay for what you get. If the doc can make X with no insurance hassle, then is it a surprise that he will do what turns time into bucks fastest? That’s the free market allocating resources, better faster and cheaper than any administrative system.
When we get Hillarycare, I can’t wait to see the queues.
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Posted by reinkefj
TECH SOFTWARE: ROBOFORM (Highly Recommended — Essential Software)
Wednesday, August 29, 2007Have a few situations where I think roboform2go could do a little better.
(1) When I resume, the roboform2go can’t remember where the fob was. even though it never left its place in the usb slot. Rerunning roboform2go fixes it.
(2) When I reboot, roboform2go restarts but the little icon — that gives me access easily to all the functions — gets “lost”. Rerunning roboform2go restores to its proper place.
(3) On resume, if I put the fob in too early in the boot process, then roboform2go never triggers to start.
I just think that it could be handled a little better.
For example, when roboform2go “loses” its fob, there should be a pick from the little icon to “look around for it”.
For example, when the little roboform2go icon goes “mia”, (Note: roboform2go is running and will supply data), there should be a secret key combo to restore the icon.
Just some kvetches that have been building up and I thought I’d mention them.
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