Where do I begin? How about with this being perhaps the most overpriced tech book I have ever seen. At just under 70 pages, and a penny shy of $25, {{Deploying OpenStack}} by {{Ken Pepple}} exceeds the cost per page numbers I can remember from college. Wow. Thankfully, I did NOT pay for this book – I …
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Category:commentary
conceal your intentions – law 3 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 3 Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelop them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will …
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never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies – law 2 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 2 Be wary of friends – they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also becomes spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends …
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never outshine the master – law 1 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 1 Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your mission appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power. …
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finding your niche
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” You’ve probably been asked that questions hundreds of times in your life – parents, friends, teachers, yourself, movies. It’s a common theme. For most of us, the decision gets made sometime in our late teens or during college: doctor, mom, lawyer, electrician, plumber, teacher, policeman, …
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zombie crime
If zombie apocalypse stories could be true, there should be no crime (other than the zombies’ havoc-wreaking). In a world where the dead are rising and attacking anything living (in the process making those attacked zombies, too), ‘normal’ crime should cease: folks’d be too busy trying to stay alive to be worried about anything else.
more fixes for patents
An addition to my previous post on patents is due. If you are a non-producing entity, ie you have a patent “just to have it” (you’re a company, not a person, and you only have patents to use as legal ammunition), you relinquish rights to sue over infringement. If you are not producing anything the …
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why blog
There are myriad reasons to blog. However, the biggest reason should be because you want to. You feel there is something you need to share with others, and that the best way of doing that is via your blog. Maybe it’s a collection of recipes, maybe it’s a series of tutorials, maybe it’s mindless ramblings …
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asymmetric communication – the facebookification of society
The first communication method we ever learn is the interaction between ourselves as infants and our caregivers (just to cover the possibility of a parent, foster parent, day care worker, orphanage employee, etc). They speak to us, hold us, and in general take care of us while we cry, burp, laugh, and gurgle in response. …
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thoughts on vilt
Over the years, I have taken (and given) a lot of training. I’ve had self-paced tutorials (printed and electronic), in-person lectures, hand-on labs, small groups, formal classes, one-on-one tutoring, and virtual instructor led training (VILT). I’ve seen two distinct types of VILT – good and bad. I have yet to see any “ok” training. It’s …
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taxation as a solution to the “gay marriage” issue
While I have some pretty strong personal views on the issue of “gay marriage”, I have a possible solution that not only gets it away from being a societal problem, but also gets the government out of being involved in our personal lives a little more. There is a side benefit of being able to …
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the failure of the technical sales cycle in enterprise software
Specifically in the realm of data center management and {{automation}} software, but applicable to all other niches, sales people are too focused on this quarter, their commission, and getting ink on the page. In the broader context of the software companies producing tools / products, there is a general focus of getting to the next customer – forgetting …
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automation
I have been deeply involved in data center management and automation for well over 5 years. Most companies still view automation the Wrong Way™, though – and it’s a hard mindset to change. Automation is NOT about reducing your headcount, or reducing hiring. Automation is used to: improve the efficiency of business tasks improve employee productivity reduce human …
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asking the wrong question
A recent question (“Is it possible to trace someone using Google during an online exam?“) on superuser had me thinking about asking the right question again. I want to design an online exam for over 1000 students via around 50 computers right after the vacation ends. Now the problem is that I have heard that …
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the pros and cons of “gamification”
Slashdot has a post on gamification in the workplace today. One of the myriad replies was from a poster, gomoX, who was pushing his company’s gamified tech support tool (invgate.com/en/service-desk/gamification). I’m all for product placement and pushing when it’s relevant (and here it most certainly was), but I don’t like the general concepts in that …
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on twitter and the police
Dave Winer had an interesting take on the recent Twitter-NYPD flare-up. Personally, the thought of any government organization demanding records without a warrant is abhorrent. However, since the entire point of Twitter is to make your tweets public … then what is there to subpoena? They’re all out there – visible to the world… Unless the user …
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tax day
Tax Day in the US is “late” this year because the 15th of April was a Sunday. I was able to prepare and file my taxes early-ish (January) thanks to a proactive employer who got our W2s out quickly. Every month I look at my pay stub, and am appalled at how much the various …
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fixing copyrights and patents
Following-up a recent post on copyrights, I want to share some further thoughts I have on the topic, and about patents, too. First of all, the concept of a copyright is meant to protect the author from others unduly benefiting from their work. One obvious conclusion to make from that statement is that after the …
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fixing copyrights
ars technica has a great article on some short-term, easy-to-implement fixes to the current copyright fiasco in the United States. I have a bevy of thoughts on this myself, but not quite enough time today to write them down.
a plea for following standards
If you ever install or setup something that someone else will have to maintain, please, please, please follow as close as possible the vendor’s typical installation process. And whether you go “standard” or not, please, please, please document everything you do! Those of us who will come after you will be intensely grateful for your …
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gaming expense reports? really?
At various stages in my career, I have traveled extensively – yet never even thought of “gaming” the expense reproting system the way it has been recently reported by CNN. Being terminated over charging a movie to your room? Seems harsh (getting the $9.95 back from the employee would seem to be easier) – but breaking the rule …
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how intel could save itanium
It’s not news that the Itanium processor is doomed in its current incarnations. Microsoft has dropped support, as has Red Hat – meaning only HP supports it with an active platform in the US (with HPUX). The Itanim should have been Intel’s chance to totally walk away with the processor market – but they blew …
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personal vs professional blogging
A friend of mine recently pointed me at the newspaper-associated blog of a “recent Appalachian State University graduate and now a freelance reporter for The Charlotte Observer”. Ms Penland seems like a nice person – but her writing is not at all what I would expect for a blog associated with a newspaper – it …
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staybridge suites – avoid like the plague
I rarely have good reason to complain about hotels, restaurants, etc. This is one of those rare occasions. And it was made worse because my wife had to go through it, too 🙁 The following is the message I sent to the general manager of the Fishers IN Staybridge Suites location on Tuesday 19 July 2011 …
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zynga and the [potential] folly of relying on others
Zynga is getting ready to IPO. They’re the group that does “Farmville” and other games on facebook. The problem with their planned $1B IPO, though, is that they rely completely on facebook’s continued existence to make any of their earnings. Last year their profits were in the neighborhood of $400M. That’s a lot of dough. …
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