Facebook | 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

Facebook | 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know: "Everyday I receive an email from somebody about how their account was hacked, how a friend tagged them in the photo and they want a way to avoid it, as well as a number of other complications related to their privacy on Facebook. Over the weekend one individual contacted me to let me know that he would be removing me as a friend from Facebook because he was “going to make a shift with my Facebook use - going to just mostly family stuff.”"

SLAs: A CIO's Guide to Success

SLAs: A CIO's Guide to Success:

"The work doesn't stop once all the SLAs are in place, either. The agreements
require constant discussion and renegotiation as the needs of the business
change. Untended SLAs can lull IT into a false sense of security about the level
of existential happiness among its customers. E-mail response time and network
availability statistics may look great to IT, but the business may actually be
seething about a wholly unrelated issue. To be effective, SLAs require more
thoroughness and vigilance in measuring customer satisfaction so that
dissatisfaction not reflected in the SLA metrics will reach IT before a real
crisis hits.

Yet despite the trouble and expense, SLAs provide
invaluable performance metrics to IT and create more informed customers. 'The
biggest benefit of an SLA in my mind is it makes the business aware that there's
a relationship between support and dollars,' says Tim Parsons, senior vice
president for IT at Interstate/Johnson Lane Inc., a brokerage firm based in
Charlotte, N.C., that created an SLA for help desk support. 'If they can
understand the relationship between cost and the level of support, then they can
make a better business decision about what support is required and how much it
will cost.' Without lining up customer expectations with IT's ability to
realistically meet those expectations, IT stands little chance of breaking out
of the first circle of 'service bureau hell': unrealistic expectations matched
to limited resources."

YouTube - Rock'em Sock'em 2008

YouTube - Rock'em Sock'em 2008: "Rock'em Sock'em 2008"

Interesting TouchTable video

the whole Iranian nuclear facility is interesting also...

xkcd: converting To Metric

The Temperature list is actually pretty handy. Original - full size

xkcd: I Know You Are Listening

InternetNews Realtime IT News - Work Ethic 2.0: Attention Control

InternetNews Realtime IT News - Work Ethic 2.0: Attention Control:

"The need for 'attention,' rather than 'hard work,' as the centerpiece of
the new work ethic has arisen along with the rise of distractions carried on the
wings of Internet protocol. In one generation, we've gone from a total
separation of 'work' from 'non-work' to one in which both work and play are
always sitting right in front of us.

Now, we find ourselves with absolutely nothing standing between us and
a universe of distractions -- nothing except our own abilities to control
attention. Porn, gambling, funny videos, flirting, socializing, playing games,
shopping -- it's all literally one click away. Making matters worse, indulging
these distractions looks just like work. And it's easy to work and play at the
same time -- and call it work. These new, increasingly compelling distractions
get piled on to older ones -- office pop-ins, e-mail, IM, text messages,
meetings and others.

Kids now grow up with the whole range of distractions, from big-screen
TVs to video games to cell phones to PCs in their rooms. They're addicted to
screens before they even start high school. Their attention spans have been
whittled down to seconds, and their expectations for constant amusement are
highly developed.
In a world in which entire industries bet their businesses
on gaining access to our attention, which value leads to better personal
success: hard work or the ability to control attention?"

The Cigarette Camps: U. S. Army Camps in the Le Havre Area -- Introduction

My grandpa on my Dad's side was a PX Officer at Lucky Strike and Chesterfield.

The Cigarette Camps: U. S. Army Camps in the Le Havre Area -- Introduction: "Introduction: The Cigarette Camps"

TaxProf Blog: Inside Higher Ed: Women Profs Spend More Time on Teaching, Less on Research

TaxProf Blog: Inside Higher Ed: Women Profs Spend More Time on Teaching, Less on Research:

"Joycelyn K. Moody, the Sue E. Denman Distinguished Chair in American Literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said that what most troubled her about the responses was that women reported feeling shame about their interest and success in teaching. Women should be feeling pride in their success as teachers, she said, but are “perceiving themselves as performing below expectations,” because they aren’t doing more research. It’s time to “dismantle those institutional values,” Moody said, so that the shame disappears."

What If New York Goes Bust? - The Daily Beast

What If New York Goes Bust? - The Daily Beast: "The Alice in Wonderland absurdity of the current budget debates was nicely illustrated by the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten. She was quoted without irony in The New York Times saying, 'We understand there will be cuts. The real question, will there be cuts, not just cuts against growth, but real cuts that will turn back the clock.'

A close reading reveals that for union leaders like Ms. Weingarten, the only acceptable 'cuts' are not cuts at all, but rather reductions in the rate of increase for public spending. She is willing, in effect, to receive a reduced bonus this year, but not the cut in pay or benefits that would constitute shared sacrifice in a financial crisis."

Armchair Commentary: Exclusive Interview: Fillion on Captain Hammer & Classic "Firefly"

Armchair Commentary: Exclusive Interview: Fillion on Captain Hammer & Classic "Firefly": "Exclusive Interview: Fillion on Captain Hammer & Classic 'Firefly'"

xkcd - A Webcomic - 11th Grade

xkcd - A Webcomic - 11th Grade

LiveWeb - insert and update web pages real-time in PowerPoint

LiveWeb - insert and update web pages real-time in PowerPoint

Christmas bokeh | dooce ®

Christmas bokeh | dooce ®

The picture at this link is the first I have seen that starts to capture what a Christmas tree looks like to me when I don' have my glasses on. For years, I have enjoyed sitting with my glasses off and staring at the tree after it is decorated. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The only difference between this picture and what I see is that I don't see a smooth circle. Instead I see a pattern of lighter and darker in each circle. Note that each light circle is the same size, regardless of how obscured some of it may be. If it is mostly obscured, it appears not as bright, but it exactly the same size and has the same pattern in it.

One of the few joys of wearing glasses.

CD/DVD drives disappear after installing iTunes - GEAR CD / DVD Software Support Knowledgebase

CD/DVD drives disappear after installing iTunes - GEAR CD / DVD Software Support Knowledgebase: "Summary:
After installing a GEAR Software or a GEARWorks GEAR Powered Product (such as Apple iTunes and Norton Ghost) on Vista, the CD/DVD drives disappear in Windows Explorer and the installed software is unable to detect any CD/DVD drives on the system"

CIO - SOA What? Why You Need SOA Governance Framework

CIO - SOA What? Why You Need SOA Governance Framework:

"Without an established governance plan and policy, the original author and
support organization may not even know this 'use' of their software is
happening. This can lead to a lawless environment where: 1.) Increased volume
may cause a jump in users from hundreds to thousands overnight. Servers or
networks being used for this process may not be able to handle the load; 2)
Contrarily a service is created but 'no one comes' to re-use it because there is
no established procedure about how to communicate service availability within
the enterprise; 3) Finally, it is easy for a developer to read a service
definition and create a sample request message in minutes. In a SOA world, the
data travels on the wire in the clear and even has tags identifying each and
every data element. Ease of access to SOA services raises an important issue of
security policies and SOA governance.

So without a well-thought out governance plan SOA can seem like the lawless Wild, Wild West."

Op-Ed Contributor - What They Hate About Mumbai - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributor - What They Hate About Mumbai - NYTimes.com

Minnesota Management Institute

EDC General Management Programs - Minnesota Management Institute

Obama's small donor base image is a myth, new study reveals | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

When people try to make something look like something else, it makes me wonder why...

Obama's small donor base image is a myth, new study reveals | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times:

"Everybody knows how President-elect Barack Obama's amazing campaign money machine was dominated by several million regular folks sending in hard-earned amounts under $200, a real sign of his broadbased grassroots support.

Except, it turns out, that's not really true.

In fact, Obama's base of small donors was almost exactly the same percent as George W. Bush's in 2004 -- Obama had 26% and the great Republican satan 25%. Obviously, this is unacceptable to current popular thinking."

Slashdot | Suggestions For Cheap Metrics Eye Candy Software?

Slashdot | Suggestions For Cheap Metrics Eye Candy Software?: "Suggestions For Cheap Metrics Eye Candy Software?"