Diary of a Network Geek

Well, maybe. In New Jersey.

According to this article on Wired News, there’s a move in New Jersey to make it illegal to hire anyone who’s not a legal US Citizen, or legal resident, for certain government contracts. Now, I’m sure this is will cause an uproar with certain offshore outsource companies, but so what? If it keeps jobs in America, I’m all for it. Besides, do you want to risk a potential terrorist handling government information? Even if it’s state government?
I hope this is a growing trend among lawmakers, and technology workers. I like the idea of keeping American jobs for Americans. Call me silly, but I think we should take care of our own before we worry about the rest of the world.

It happens once in a while…

According to this article on Australia IT, a US judge struck down the move to reveal the names of suspected pirates. Of course, it was mainly due to minor technicalities, like the supeonas were issued in a state other than where the suspected pirates were allegedly located, but, still they got struck down. You still need proof before violating privacy. And, until they have proof, the RIAA needs to muzzle their over-zealous attack lawyers.

No, really, actual Zen!

According to this article on Business Week, more companies are offering free, on-site meditation and yoga classes to help their employees deal with stress. I have to admit that I’d actually get into that. I’m so pressed for time these days that I have a hard time working in any meditation time or spiritual practice, so having it at work would help a lot. Also, lessons and classes can get kind of expensive and, since the job market is still in the hamper, money is pretty tight.
Of course, I don’t have a very stressful job right now, either so I guess I don’t need it that bad. And, I have this blog to let of steam with, too! Ah, well, it would still be a great benefit to get.

I’m not sure if this is good, or not…

I tend to think it’s not good, but, then again, as someone who would like to make their living at producing copyrighted works, I like the protection it would give me. According to this article on Wired News, a pair of Democrats, Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.), have introduced a bill that would land a person in prison for up to five years and impose a fine of up to $250,000 for uploading a single file to a peer-to-peer network.
At first look, this seems a little harsh, but that’s been the penalty for illegally copying software for a really long time. And, while it seems like a nasty penalty for something that so many people seem to be doing, violating copyright is illegal. I guess my problem with it is that there seems to be some issues involved here that haven’t been completely addressed. Things like, when I buy a CD, what do I really own? Is it the right to listen to the music? Or have I bought a license to the music, or the CD? Anyway, it’s a little bothersome, to me, that they don’t seem to have worked out all the details of what is really legal, but they’re already stumping for really big penalties.
This is one to watch, folks.

Hey, this makes NASA all worth while!

No, really! According to this article in our own Houston Chronicle, NASA let a woman who moved to Houston from Russia get married to a Russian Cosmonaut in their command center this past weekend. And, considering that she plans to move back to Russia to be with her new husband, it was mighty generous of them. Too bad we couldn’t get him to move to Houston!
Anyway, a fun story for a Friday.

The tides of change are lapping at the “offshore”.

At least, according to this article on YahooNews, IBM is catching a lot of flack from both employees and politicians for their plan to move a significant number of programming jobs “offshore”. They don’t specify where, but they won’t be jobs for Americans. But, I see this as a good sign.
First, politicians are finally starting to take notice of their constituant’s problems and concerns. This has been going on for quite a while now, but not too many folks have been willing to speak out about it, much less do anything about it.
Second, IBM is getting pressure, both political and social, to change their policy. This, in my opinion, is the way to handle these issues. Social pressure, economic pressure and political pressure can all be brought to bear on these decisions. We, the American Workers, can influence this stuff. And we should.
And, third, there’s been talk of an IT union again. Now, I grew up in Chicago, so I know about unions and some of the problems that can go with them, but… But, once upon a time, unions protected the American Worker from business and politics that would have chewed them up and spat them out. So, even though I’m not a big fan of unions, maybe it’s time for one.

In any case, it’s a great article and it does show that we can make a difference!

Can it be true?

Well, according to this story on CNet News, Novell is seriously thinking about moving to an all Linux platform. Is this good, bad, or does it make any difference at all?
I don’t know, but I know it’s interesting. Not too long ago, Novell said they’d “support” Linux. Then, last week, they bought Ximian. Now, this news. I don’t know what it means, but it sure is interesting.
But, this story on eWeek would seem to indicate differently. Two conflicting stories about where Novell is going with Linux. Well, at least they’re in the news!!
But, again, it makes me really, really glad that I’ve been focusing on my Linux skills lately!

See what happens when I start reading new in Australia?

According to this article on Australia IT, there’s a company out there offering free servers! Well, not quite “free”…
The hardware is free, but you have to buy their services. Sort of like that “free PC” craze that went on a couple of years back. Of course, that was the boom times, but still, it’s interesting. At least, it’s interesting to a Network Geek!