Wednesday, March 03, 2004


Not hiring jerks

The Human Capital EdgeThere's another good thread on JOS regarding the importance of not hiring jerks. Sure, technical talent is key. Ability to prioritize. Quick ramp-up times. But the ability to -- well -- just get along with people is critical to efficient teamwork. Deep into the thread, a good post by "Boofus" highlights some examples. As a long-time consultant-type, I thought I'd add what I would say in those same situations...

Co-worker: "What do you think of ....?"

Jerk: "That's fine, IF YOU WANT TO BRING THE SYSTEM TO ITS KNEES."

Non-Jerk: "I really don't think that's a good idea because ..."

Doug: I wonder whether the plughometer would interfere with the system because of ... ?

--------------

Co-worker: "Can you tell me what the function ... does?"

Jerk: "Go look it up, you shitwit."

Non-jerk: "I'm not sure I can describe all the nuances, and I'm pretty busy. Why don't you check the documentation and come back if you have questions."

Doug: (flipping to VSS) Hold on and I'll check... Note: you may internally sigh and not want to do this... and be quite busy... but few situations are really so dire that you can't spend 45 seconds to help someone out. Yes, yes, I understand that you might have to unwind your current "state" (e.g., creating or reading an algorithm) but it's oftentimes worth it. You're supposed to be a mentor. You're supposed to be a leader. Act like it.

---------------

Co-worker: "Good morning"

Jerk: "I hate you with the heat of a thousand burning suns."

Non-jerk: "Good morning."

Doug: What's happening, youngster?


Not hiring jerks

The Hot Zone meets The Da Vinci Code

Year ZeroJust posted this Amazon Book review of Jeff Long's excellent Year Zero. Five stars.

Sowing seeds cultivated from Stephen King's _The Stand_ -- as well as _The Da Vinci Code_ and _The Hot Zone_ -- Jeff Long has written a complex, compelling, and stunningly unique thriller.

Nathan Lee Swift is an archaeologist cum museum-sanctioned grave-robber who takes advantage of a monstrous Middle East earthquake by stealing ancient Christian bones and artifacts from Golgotha. This theft from Jesus' crucifixion site will have calamitous results for all of humanity. For an unwitting antiquities dealer inadvertently releases a 2000 year old plague that literally wipes the world clean of humanity.

Racing before the tidal wave of epidemic, Nathan Lee makes his way to Los Alamos -- the last bastion of humanity. There, scientists have resorted to using the "Year Zero" bones in bizarre cloning experiments... all to determine whether the ancients had an immunity to the plague. But somehow the clones have more in store for humanity than a possible cure. Many have their original memories intact. And one has made the claim that he is the Messiach: Jesus Christ.


Outstanding novel - I had some rough nights sleeping while ripping through this. And that's about the highest accolade I can give a book.

Year Zero

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Google hacks!  Whickety whacks!I somehow missed this CNN article in which Google is rumored to be creating their own email service... web-based, one would assume.

Interesting take-aways from the article:

1) GoogleMail would be an additional, lucrative channel for AdWords (its "sponsored links" advertising program).

2) It PPC (pay-per-click) model -- under attack due to fraudulent click-throughs by bots, unscrupulous advertisers, and the like -- can transmogrify itself into a less fraud-prone service. It's easy to track, for example, a specific user opening an email -- and by then customizing an encrypted click-through URL for that user - cut down on bogus clicks.

My impressions and suggestions:

1) GoogleMail will have to offer a free account option (a la Hotmail) because they are so late to the game. A premium service will have to be very, very good to get conversions. Webmail and email client technology is already competitive enough.

2) Here's how GoogleMail can make a dent in the spam wars and dramatically improve the user experience. Users who report spam -- and are accurate with their reports -- should have their "SpamRank" scores raised. Similar in concept to "PageRank", a SpamRank correlates the probability that a given email is true junk-mail. But here's the kicker: users who have high SpamRanks (i.e., their reports are accurate, based upon this very democratic ranking approach)... get premium services for some period of time. Good advertising vehicle for premium services, motivates users to team up against spam, improves the user experience for everyone. Nuff said. No-brainer. Someone send this to the GoogleMail gurus.

3) GoogleMail should have the option of integrating my Orkut friends' list. Hey, my address book is already in Orkut. I want it in GoogleMail, too, with a single 'Yes, that's cool' permission click.

"In fact, Google's AdSense contextual ads are already used in a number of e-mail newsletters," he said... As an aside, BadBlue's email newsletters are serving Google AdSense ads.

Sources: Google developing ad service for e-mail

Is password-lending a cybercrime?

Authentication: From Passwords to Public KeysIn an almost insanely wrong-headed decision, a federal court rules that a willing password lender could be subject to a DMCA violation! SecurityFocus reports:

In a little-observed civil lawsuit involving tracking of magazine subscriptions, a federal court in Manhattan issued a ruling last week that could theoretically result in prosecutors going after people who use another person's password and userid with their permission, but without the permission of the issuer.

The case, decided last Monday, arose out of a dispute between two competing companies, Inquiry Management Systems (IMS), and Berkshire Information Systems, both of whom tracked magazine advertisements for their clients. Employees of Berkshire obtained a userid and password from a client of IMS, and used them to access IMS's website and tracking service. This act violated the customer's agreement with IMS.

From there, the Berkshire employees either read, or downloaded (or both) certain copyrighted information about the tracking of magazine advertisements, which of course, they used to compete with IMS.

Is this an unfair and deceptive trade practice? Sure! Inducing a breach of contract between IMS and its customer? Absolutely! Fraud? Sure, why not.

But IMS sued Berkshire for computer crime, and a violation of the DMCA...
"

Password-lending a cyber-crime?


Monday, March 01, 2004


Worst Working Environments... Ever

Click for The New Office Professional's Handbook: How to Survive and Thrive in Today's Office EnvironmentFunny Slashdot thread on the worst working environments (for developers, mostly).

"I'm working 2 jobs right now (paying off credit cards/student loans). One as a half-assed programmer, the other cleaning monkey s**t at a primate lab. 40 hour week at the monkey lab, standing in a puddle of monkey poo, while shooting hot water through the empty cages.

Hosing poo, trying not to be splashed, while wondering "Is this one of the cages with the SIV poo?" SIV is Simian HIV. Or maybe it'll be a Hepatitis C monkey cage. It won't kill monkeys, but it'll kill humans.

But hey, it's winter so the poo isn't as stinky and there's no flies & mosquitos. I'd much rather freeze my ass off then wonder if I'm getting bitten by an mosquito that's been dining off an infected research monkey.

Last month they did some work on bubonic plague monkeys. I can't wait for the R.A.G.E. monkeys. Then I'll have an excuse for my upcoming killing spree.

...or...

...I did work in a pit in yorkshire - just outside Hull. The working day consisted of getting up at 5:30am, setting off at 5:50 arriving at the charcoal pits about 6:30 - think of giant power station chimmneys, half-height with the tops blocked off. We'd get changed into our disposable overalls and face-mask, enter a bunker which was lit by giant and very very hot floodlights. A big truck would be backed-up against the doors and we'd start unloading it. This meant climb up, grab a sack of charcoal, carry it back into the bunker, split it with your knife and tip it out. Go back again. Split it, tip it, go back again. Split it, tip it, go back again, etc. We did three bunkers a day, four hours a bunker. We'd take a break between each one - a fourteen hour day, not counting travel. We got 4 quid an hour.

You'd have a shower when you got back, but it'd take a hour to get properly clean, and even then you'd still cough up black stuff for the rest of the night. And my god, did your back ache!

And you try and tell someone how lucky they are to be working at a computer, and they just don't believe you!
"

The absolute worst working environment

Village Voice Pillories Kerry on MIA's

A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better AmericaIt's not exactly a bastion of conservative thought, but the Village Voice has published a scathing article on John Kerry and his alleged coverup of a major issue: possibly hundreds of POW's and MIA's that were left behind after the Vietnam War ended. I could be off-base, but this strikes me as an extremely sensitive issue for Kerry's campaign.

"Senator John Kerry, a decorated battle veteran, was courageous as a navy lieutenant in the Vietnam War. But he was not so courageous more than two decades later, when he covered up voluminous evidence that a significant number of live American prisoners—perhaps hundreds—were never acknowledged or returned after the war-ending treaty was signed in January 1973.

The Massachusetts senator, now seeking the presidency, carried out this subterfuge a little over a decade ago— shredding documents, suppressing testimony, and sanitizing the committee's final report—when he was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on P.O.W./ M.I.A. Affairs...
"

When John Kerry's Courage Went M.I.A.

Don Bendell goes OFF!

In the Kerry vein, check this Don Bendell rant out. It's been circulating via email and the web for several weeks now. I happened upon it via Google News. It's pretty intense.

" I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not just kill people, we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out soap, food, and clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad, Saigon, and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our candy bars and rations to kids. Our hearts to oppressed people all over the globe.

My children and grandchildren could read your words, and think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced, unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar. Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass character, integrity, and morality. I earn my green beret over and over daily in all aspects of my life...

John Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human Rights Bill, HR2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote, and thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribespeople in Vietnam died since then who could have been saved, by you. Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any and all veterans to report sightings of living POW’s, when you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to normalize relations with Vietnam for years. Why, Mr. Kerry? Simple, your first cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier’s International to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam...
"

Don Bendell on John Kerry

Sunday, February 29, 2004


Why Open-Source Usability Tends to Suck

CUPS - Common Unix Printing SystemEric Raymond has a compelling story of an open-source usability disaster.

"I've just gone through the experience of trying to configure CUPS, the Common Unix Printing System. It has proved a textbook lesson in why nontechnical people run screaming from Unix. This is all the more frustrating because the developers of CUPS have obviously tried hard to produce an accessible system — but the best intentions and effort have led to a system which despite its superficial pseudo-friendliness is so undiscoverable that it might as well have been written in ancient Sanskrit...

...CUPS is not alone. This kind of fecklessness is endemic in open-source land. And it's what's keeping Microsoft in business — because by Goddess, they may write crappy insecure overpriced shoddy software, but on this one issue their half-assed semi-competent best is an order of magnitude better than we usually manage.
"

The Luxury of Ignorance: An Open-Source Horror Story and Why Free Software usability tends to suck

JOS Thread on Offshoring

Offshore Software DevelopmentExcellent thread on JOS regarding outsourcing and the differences between software design... and software development.

"When talking about "offshoring", I often use a different context to add perspective.

For example, John Grisham writes best-selling novels about lawyers. Could he offshore? Say, he plots out the entire novel, sketches out character bios and writes an example chapter or two. Then, he ships the whole package off to thirty Indian writers who each write a chapter in a month or two. Using offshoring, John Grisham could pump out six or so novels a year. Even if the quality impacts sales a bit, he's going to come out way ahead on gross revenues. Right?

No, and it is pretty obvious why.

First, book writing (and software, commercial software, at least) is not really about finding the cheapest way to get the job minimally done. Seemingly minor nits can have a major impact on sales...
"

JOS Thread: Offshoring

Lest Darkness Fall

Lest Darkness FallFor my bi-annual sci-fi review, the following is my Amazon recap of the L. Sprague de Camp classic, Lest Darkness Fall:

"4 Stars - Creative, Concise and Appealing

Martin Padway, mild-mannered archaeologist, is visiting Rome when he is thrust backwards in time... all the way back to the sixth century A.D. The Roman Empire is fading fast... facing foes on all sides... with the thousand-year blight we now know as the Dark Ages fast approaching. Can a single man -- Padway --change history and prevent the fall of Rome? Nothing less than the 'Age of Enlightenment' hangs in the balance.

The literary descendent of 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court', de Camp lets Padway grapple with raw issues. I found these areas the story's most interesting sections: how to make a living, having arrived with only modern currency in hand... how to avoid the authorities, given their proclivity to brand any new technology 'witchcraft'... how to assemble allies, fend off enemies and stay healthy in an environment not conducive to outsiders.

Because it was written in 1939, there is a level of 'political incorrectness' that is entertainingly fresh. Italian women, Muslims, the French and others are insulted with broad brush-strokes. Nonetheless, it is historically informative, important from a literary standpoint and makes for interesting reading. Despite its age, it is a fluid, fast read. de Camp had a lot of interesting things to say... and said them well.
"

Amazon - Lest Darkness Fall

25th Hour

25th HourThey should have called it Amnesia. My review of "25th Hour".

"Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) is supposed to be a lovable drug dealer with whom we can sympathize. In a series of flashbacks, we find out how he adopted his dog; how he met his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson); his long-standing friendships with Wall Streeter Frank (Barry Pepper) and Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman); oh, and by the way, how he got busted with mega-dealer quantities of smack and cash.

But the story's foundation, it's reason for being, is the tale of Monty's last day of freedom before reporting to prison. Grappling with issues like: who gave him up to the DEA and stressing about meeting the Russian mob boss who's demanded to see him before he leaves for the can. The trouble is, despite Spike Lee's best efforts and the talented Mr. Norton, we just don't care.

The story could have been compelling, but there are too many things that don't work. Barry Pepper is supposed to be Monty's best friend but is a completely hateful person. Philip Seymour Hoffman's considerable talents are put to no use here, playing a teacher that has all the charisma of a road sign. NFL'er Tony Siragusa (Kostya) is not a professional actor and is out of his depth. Rosaria Dawson is beautiful and talented -- but the story lets us not care about her whatsoever.

The best thing about the flick -- and truly, the only things worth watching -- are two solliloquies: Norton's R-rated rant on New York while facing himself in the mirror... and his Father's beautiful, fictionalized account of now Monty could escape his fate. Those two vignettes, occupying maybe five minutes of screen time total, made the movie for me.

In the end, it all just doesn't compute. I think they should have called this flick "Amnesia". You'll have forgotten the entire story by the next day.
"

Saturday, February 28, 2004


Sweet Science

History of BoxingFANTASTIC fight card coming up on HBO. Baby Joe Mesi --the latest in the long series of GWH's (Great White Hopes) in the heavyweight division -- has been termed 'Buffalo's third professional franchise'. He's a hitter. Powerful, with deceptively fast hands. He's not the greatest athlete among the up-and-coming heavyweights, but he's not the worst either. Not by a long shot.

Funny interview on Mesi's web site: "Q. Sorry, but the question must be asked. Which Rocky was the best movie and why?

A. By far the first movie. It's one of the best sporting movies. Rocky was forced to overcome setbacks. He appeared on the scene from nowhere. How could you not root for the underdog?

Q. Which Rocky opponent would you least want to fight and why?

A. The Russian - Ivan Drago from Rocky 4. Too big and too strong.
"


WCB
"Sugar" Shane Mosley
39-2, 35 KO's

VS.

Ronald "Winky" Wright
46-3, 25 KO's
12 Round
Undisputed Super Welterweight Title
March 13, 2004
9:30 PM ET/6:30 PM PT
Mandalay Bay
Las Vegas, NV
WCB
Joe Mesi
28-0, 25 KO's

VS.

Vassiliy Jirov
33-1, 29 KO's
UNDERCARD
10 Round
Heavyweight fight
March 13, 2004
9:30 PM ET/6:30 PM PT
Mandalay Bay
Las Vegas, NV


p.s., you have no idea how hard it was to get that table to post correctly in Blogger. ;-)

T on Tivo

TivoMr. T's blog had an excellent discussion of Tivo and the power it puts into the hands of the audience.

"...I can fast-forward through anything that doesn't interest me. I can create my own personal "director's cut" of any show I want. And the thing is, even the shows I love and watch every week have some excess fat that I can trim with the good ol' TiVo remote...

...On "Friends," I've learned that my opinion of a given episode increases dramatically if I race through the Monica/Chandler adoption arc at top speed...

...Bitter "ER" pill Abby Lockhart? Let's just say that on my "ER," there is no Abby Lockhart...
"

If me and my Tivo ruled the world