Diary of a Network Geek

Or, as I like to remind people, correlation is not causation.

I pride myself on my logic and reason. Perhaps, too much so. I’m relatively well read and I actually paid attention in Science, History and English classes, but I’m always surprised at how little I really know. And, think about all the things that people have said or claimed without any real evidence. Just like a Facebook meme, these “facts” get repeated over and over until people start to take them as the actual truth.
For instance, did you know that an undercover police officer can, in fact, lie to you about being a police officer? Or, that Vikings never had helmets with horns on them? Or, that Napoleon Bonaparte wasn’t actually short? Or, that frogs won’t try to escape water that is slowly brought to a boil? Or, how about one of my personal favorites, “irregardless”? Yeah, that is TOTALLY not a real word.

And, no, you don’t have to go to Snopes for these, they’re all collected at Wikipedia’s List of Common Misconceptions.
So, read up before heading out with your friends tonight and correct that poor, misguided drunk spouting off in the corner!
And have a great weekend!

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words.

I don’t know about you, but I love free stuff.

I do a lot of stuff on the web every day.  Yeah, I know you can’t tell that from how neglected this blog is these days, especially compared to the old days when I was posting pretty much every day, but, trust me, I’m always buzzing around the web doing something.  Sometimes, it’s building websites like this one.  Not very pretty, but pretty functional and sometimes, not even sites for me.  When I build a site, I generally leave it to the owners to come up with the actual content and just help them get the framework setup, including all the legalese that seems to be pretty much de rigueur these days.
Well, now, thanks to PriorityDigital.com, I think I have a slightly better solution.  They have a page of free utilities that include a Privacy Policy Builder, a Disclaimer Builder and a Non-Disclosure Agreement Maker, among others.  So now, you, or I, can go to these utilities and fill in a few relevant details and quickly get a fairly generic, but still useful, privacy policy, general website disclaimer or non-disclosure agreement without having to pay a lawyer!  Granted, they are pretty generic, but, still, for most of us, they’ll handily take care of our needs.

So, okay, yeah, kind of lame for a Friday, but, still it might give you a little something extra for your side project this weekend.
Enjoy!

Have New Year’s Resolutions ever worked?  Really?

Yeah, I’m pretty sure no one has ever stuck to a New Year’s Resolution, ever in the history of New Year’s Resolutions.  Seriously.  I’m sure there are a thousand reasons for that, but, well, doe they matter?  Not really.
So, rather than be serious, why not try something more fun this year and generate your resolution randomly with the Diary of a Network Geek’s New Year’s Resolution Generator!
It’s fun! It’s FREE! And, I have to admit, it tends to lean toward resolutions that involve hard liquor and inappropriate behavior, especially with strangers.
Trust me, you’ll love it. Be sure to share it with all your drunk friends this weekend at your parties!
See you next year!

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"A great deal of good can be done in the world if one is not too careful who gets the credit."
   --Jesuit Motto

I’ve got the new job!

I got the call from the headhunter about 3:30pm yesterday telling me that Oceaneering International had met my minumum salary. So, in some respects it’s a bit of a lateral move, but the benefits are way, way better than anything I’ve had since I left Hyatt. And, of course, it’ll be a very interesting job and place to work.

The only small hitch is that, at the time of this entry, I couldn’t get the headhunter who lined up the interview I have this afternoon with the law firm on the phone. So, I may end up going to the interview, just to make sure no one looks bad. Crazy. But, whatever makes things look okay for both me and that headhunter is okay with me. After all, I may need them some other time!

Well, I’m sure there will be more details later, but this is the meat of it.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Friday Fun Link…..

Well, maybe not entirely…

But, according to this article on Australian IT, it sure hasn’t had much effect. The law was supposed to stop unwanted “junk” e-mail completely, but it hasn’t quite done that. In fact, according to the article, it’s barely had any effect at all.
Frankly, I’m not surprised. That law didn’t really have much in the way of teeth. I know I could see that back when it was first proposed. Honestly, I couldn’t believe that lawmakers thought it would do any good at all! But, still, it got passed and it was at least something that headed in the right direction. Now, at least, there’s precedent for the law. Maybe they can draft new laws that will add a bit of oomph to the enforcement end of things. God knows, I’d love to stop the 50+ junk e-mails I get every day.
Oh, well, just remember, when you see people running for office that are in favor of stricter laws regarding this kind of thing, vote for them!