Category: Interesting

Scriptable, Internet controlled sex toys. Via BB.

Just saw this in this month’s Wired magazine, and the article’s now online. Thanks to some excellent detective work, the origins of the infamous “Bill Gates is going to give you money” e-mail hoax has been found.

In short, yes. It’s not a ton right now, but it’s increasing it just the same. Bend.com has their feed, and I wonder how much it’s helping them (considering it’s not even mentioned anywhere on the site). Now we just have to convince the Bulletin to get one.

In the past, I’ve applied for jobs at big companies that have human resources departments that are run by buffoons. I’m obviously applying for technical jobs, and because I don’t certain keywords in my resume, they’ll end up tossing it, despite the fact that I’m more than qualified.

I’m convinced that non-techy humans that are looking at techy resumes shouldn’t be so quick to chunk things. I got a great response when I e-mailed my resume to a department head directly, but my resume didn’t get through human resources.

What it computers started to take over the process? It’s starting to happen, and I’m welcoming it, as a computer can be programmed to know that experience in Citrix Metaframe XP means you know how to work (for the most part) Citrix Metaframe 1.8, for example. Or that having five years experience in Windows 2003, when it’s only been out a year, is absolute bulls**t as well.

I guess I just have standards. I won’t pad my resume, and that’s why I’ve never lost a job because of being unable to do something. Hopefully computers will be smart enough to weed out the morons.

Quoting the site:

For each day of the Lewis and Clark expedition two hundred years ago I post, on the corresponding day in the present, a little summary of what the expedition did on that day and also a little summary of something else that happened in American history on that day.

I always like sites like this that tell us about the stories we missed because of other events. I can only imagine what we would’ve heard about had we not gone to war, for example.

An interesting PopSci article that links to a pile of sites on how you can unlock and otherwise hack your cell phone. I’m mostly posting this for my future “reference” as I hate using my bookmark folder.

Dan Wieden is a stud. The Commentator pointed this one out (and I agree with them, which I probably would’ve never said working at the Ol’ Dirty Emerald):

He’s not only rich and successful, but also gives the best assignments ever. At least, according to the accounts of the seminar he’s teaching this term. Run naked through a golf course? Crash a stranger’s wedding? Man, I wish my Econ classes had assignments like that.

It seems a lot of the J-school kids have objections to this sort of thing, but my feeling is that 1) this class isn’t required and 2) they should stop being wusses and just find creative solutions to these problems. The golf-course one is pretty easy, you see, if you go outside of the city limits into Lane County, it is technically legal to be naked in public (at least on certain public lands). So, find a municipal golf course that’s outside of city limits. I’ll admit that I wouldn’t steal a wedding gift, not because it would ruin the wedding but because that’s theft, but I’d certainly object at some wedding. The reason? I had to for a class.

Last year kids had to interview for jobs for which they had no qualifications, I think that’s also a pretty awesome assignment. Many felt that they were being asked to lie, but that wasn’t actually part of the assignment. I think the point was probably learning to sell your qualifications regardless of the job. Toughen up, J-school kids, and learn to have some fun with this sort of stuff.

The Emerald editorial board decried the workshop.

Granted these things should’ve been done before Star Wars Episode I was written, but these are all great ideas. I’ve believed for a long time that if George Lucas wasn’t running the entire show, and let some other talent come on board, that the whole lot of movies wouldn’t suck nearly as bad. They’re still fun movies, but can you imagine how much better they could’ve been?

I don’t know much about this picture other than it was sent from an old high school friend of mine who was doing IT work for the Marines in the middle east (quoting what he said: “Basically being a Generals AOL bitch and answering service.”). I’ve yet to write him back, as I haven’t had time. Needless to say, he’s the guy on the left — the one that looks like a Central-Oregonian. I won’t mention his name, in case he doesn’t want me to, but anybody who went to high school with me will recognize the guy.