Face Stealers Redux

A little Video

Here is a change up.  I this post as a video.  Follow this link.  Enjoy!

I Have a Ten Cow Wife

Would you ask a plumber how to wire an electrical socket? Of course not (at least I hope you wouldn't). However, I have met many people who make this same mistake when seeking information about a religion. Now, I am not just talking about all the misnomers about the Mormon Religion (our temple spires are not missile silos thank you very much!). Getting information from random people off the streets or random anti-mormon websites on the internet will not only give you a very skewed perspective, but will, in fact, give you misinformation. If you want to know about Mormons, ask a Mormon (or you can go to Mormon.org for starters). If you want to now about Catholicism, ask a Catholic. So please, the next time you find out a coworker is Mormon don't ask him how many wives he has.  It is just bad form.

Catholics, Muslims, and Operating Systems?

There have been many Holy Wars over the years. The Crusades, WWII, and the Iraq War. The most recent Holy War is the Mac vs. the PC. Many of you probably have seen the commercials. Mac bashes on the PC (which runs Windows) and Windows rebuttals by simply showing all the cool new features it has (most of which it has stolen from other operating systems). Now, I am not going to take one side or the other. I have had both. Each has their advantages, and each has their disadvantages. I have had issues and qualms with both OSX and Windows. The fact is each person needs to decide which operating system best fits their needs. If that is a Mac more power to you. If it is a PC I suggest getting Windows 7, or (if you are a like to tinker with things and/or are a masochist) try Linux. Either way, please don't try to proselyte me to one side or the other. It won't work.

Outsourcing the Competition

Why has College enrollment in the Computer Science Major been significantly low the past couple of years? It is an interesting (at least to me) field of study with a potentially large starting salary. The answer comes from a statement by my professor Dr. Charles Knutson.  He stated (I am paraphrasing) “What have parents been telling their children about technology jobs these last couple of years? … Since the mid 2000s they have been telling their children their jobs will be outsourced”.  I can't tell you how many times I have heard that very sentiment. But is it true?

It is true that Companies are continuing to increase their IT outsourcing.  You only need to google “outsourcing statistics” to find a disturbing number of articles about companies outsourcing.  However, when you look more carefully you find that the news is not all bad.  There are companies that are hesitant or even against outsourcing (take for instance The DOD).  So, who do you believe?

My answer is both. Companies will continue to outsource tech jobs.  Tech jobs will continue to be created here in the United States (or wherever you are from) as both technology advances and the market for that technology expands.  Sometimes the market will expand faster than the outsourcing and sometimes it won't.  To stay employed you only need to stay current in your skills, continue to learn new ones, and make yourself indispensable.  That way you will be less likely to be outsourced, and if you are outsourced you will still have other avenues for employment.  If that fails, try finding a job that is likely not to be outsourced (for example get a job for the DOD).  If you are worried about being outsourced just ask the same question Dilbert is trying to answer in this comic.

Really? I Mean, Really!?

It is insane the things people patent. For instance take a look at the patent found here. It is pretty much a linked list with a couple extra links. Basically, it is extension of a basic data structure used on almost a daily basis. Heck, this is the first data structure most computer programmers learn how to program, and someone has managed to patent it. Being able to do this is pure stupidity, and it shows how broken our patent laws are. You shouldn't be able to patent something that is already widely used. Period.

The Oldest Tricks in the Book

If I asked you for your password to your email, Twitter, or Facebook account (hopefully they are not the same!) would you give them to me? What if I told you I was a system administrator? This is exactly what phishing attacks do, and what is more disturbing is that they are extremely successful. The reason they are so successful is not a technology flaw, it is a human one. Phishing attacks are successful because of successful social engineering. As outlined by an article on CNN many of these attacks seem legitimate at first glance. They use tinyurls and web pages that look like the real thing. Be careful, educate yourselves about phishing attacks, and for goodness sakes don't give your passwords to strangers.