A shop your size - you're staffed correctly as far as headcount is concerned. Need to cross-train your programmers to help with the day-to-day helpdesk stuff.
Telephone systems - analog, digital and VoIP pays my bills.
Copper POTS - yes, archaic, obsolete... but ya know what? When everything fails, the POTS stuff still works... and the sound quality is what we compare other systems to.
I understand that it's a very expensive network to keep up and running, and so long as there are viable alternatives I'm not opposed to allowing the copper system to be phased out... so long as the alternatives can equal voice quality and reliability. For many, POTS is literally a lifeline... the telcos and the FCC need to factor this in.
Where I live in upstate NY - we have hundreds of miles of trails made from abandoned railroads and the towpath along the Erie Canal system (including both the present-day Barge Canal and original Erie Canal that was abandoned around 1919). Other than the risk of riding off the trail and hitting a tree or falling in the canal - other than road crossings, it's pretty safe.
I try to avoid streets where possible - too many people on their phones or texting. And yes I wear my helmet - always.
Rochester is a small airport - every time I've flown out of there (or Syracuse for that matter), from the time I enter the property, park, walk to the terminal, go through security and get to my gate, no more than 20 minutes has passed.
If you really need valet parking at a small airport with a parking lot next to the terminal, you're just fucking lazy.
If said IT Manager you're being paid to come up with a good reason to fire is a heterosexual male, 18-40 years of age, they would have walked his ass out the door by now.
Looks like you're sizing up an IT manager who is one or more of the following:
* Race other than Caucasian * Gender other than male * Sexual preference other than heterosexual * Some sort of statutory protection (i.e., union contract, employment contract, public sector civil servant, right to work laws, etc...) * Age older than 40 * A beneficiary of nepotism * Something else can turn a simple termination into a legal mess
My last IT Director position, my predecessor was just that - 60 yr old guy, long-time employee with a contract, and shareholder (privately held corporation) - so they couldn't just toss him out the door. The board of directors brought in a "bad cop" consultant to make the recommendation of how to clean house at the C-level down to some select directors. Of course I walked into a complete and total clusterfuck and left 8 months later. The company folded in less than a year.
Moral of the story is the company that retained you may have some serious structural issues that goes beyond the IT department. Most states are employment at will and can freely fire anyone they want for any reason they want (or no reason at all) so long as it doesn't violate state/federal discrimination laws.
I took a director level position a couple years ago... I lasted about 8 months before I couldn't handle the pressure anymore, couldn't even stick it out for a year end bonus. Much happier now.
Been there... done that. 8 months was about when I said 'fuck it'... and I make more money now with prevailing wage, overtime, and a take-home company vehicle dicking around with PBX's and Cisco gear in the field with an overworked boss 90 minutes away who couldn't give a shit about what I do every day. Bliss.
Any time I read in the news that someone gets into a gnarly DWI accident that usually involves serious injuries/death - the BAC was usually well north of 0.15% and the driver is usually well known to local authorities.
So really what's the problem here? Sounds like just another dragnet for cash strapped municipalities to siphon more cash from us.
Will I expect to hear modem tones squealing from my gun as it boots up before I can fire it? What if the "smart" stuff in the gun crashes? How reliable will it be in a device that gets dirty, greasy, cleaned with solvents, subject to high pressures and forces from the gun firing? I wouldn't trust my life to it. Guns have been mechanically simple for centuries for a reason.
Bottom line - my guns have no safeties. I didn't wait 8 months for a full unrestricted carry-concealed pistol permit from the Peoples Republic of New York only to be further hamstrung by needless safeties that only serve to make the gun useless if they fail.
Don't limit my ability to defend myself because some mentally insane fucktard from Connecticut or Colorado decided to go out and kill for thrills.
We didn't have these problems when we locked up mentally ill people until the 1980's.
I carry my SIG P239 hammer down. No safety on the gun other than a decocker and a firing pin block to keep it from going "bang" if I drop it. Bottom line is I don't want to be futzing with any controls when the shit hits the fan. Draw, pull trigger and kill bad guy. As all guns should do.
I'd never buy a smart gun and reject the concept on principal. Last thing I need to do is have my gun throw a BSOD when I'm trying to fire the damn thing. My guns are kept locked up or strapped to my waist and carry concealed. No need for biometric security. If someone is dumb enough to try and grab my gun while I'm wearing it - they'll likely end up very dead.
CZ75 - nice gun - want one. Fired it at a rental range in FL... if I can only find one with a 10-round mag to satisfy NY's stupid gun laws.
Bottom line is - most CFL's run about $1.50-2.00 nowadays. I've already made the investment in CFL's throughout my house several years ago - they all still work - and I'm not about to spend $20 for lightbulbs that aren't exactly omni-directional like normal type-A bulbs are. I have something like 35 light fixtures in my house, most of which have 60w equivalent CFL's in them now - it would cost $650 to replace all of them with say Phillips 60w equivalents (the ones with the orange lenses).
Annual power savings over CFL's is negligible. 12.5w for LED vs 13w for CFL. I'd simply never see any ROI.
We don't keep all of our lights on all day long. Just in the rooms we're in (and even with CFL's - I'm always yelling at the kids to turn the lights off).
Now - down the road, when CFL's start shitting the bed on me - and LED's are price-competitive with CFL's, sure - I'll go that route.
I'm willing to bet for every Steve Jobs out there, there's a thousand more like him who will never make it very far in a given company more than a year or two, never to get a promoted or otherwise recognized because they're considered too "eccentric", too abrasive, or simply an asshole because he has a critical eye and little tolerance for idiots. Problem is, too many corporate cultures are afraid of hearing the truth about why they suck, then years later they wonder why their assets are being liquidated in a bankruptcy auction because they lacked courage.
I see it all the time. I'm not a Jobs 'fanboi' by any stretch... don't own a single Apple product. Just not my cup of tea, but I have a lot of respect for what he built and how he did it early on until the corporate 'yes men', lawyers and accountants nearly drove Apple into the ground.
a.) too many techies with titles and zero people or leadership skills masquerading as IT Managers or IT Directors b.) too many social outcasts working as IT people because they now have "power" over their oppressors c.) too many huge ego's in IT, plenty of backstabbing and people who will throw you under the bus to move their careers forward d.) the lack of upper management's understanding that a single disgruntled IT employee can and will destroy your company by: -- 1.) having full and unfettered access to everyone's e-mail, files, accounting systems, etc... -- 2.) changing all of the admin passwords and shutting all systems down 2 minutes before he quits -- 3.) dropping off a large stack of e-mails on the desk of the local newspaper editor -- 4.) stopping by the local FBI office with backup media from the last full system backup
Too many companies don't realize how essential it is to hire a good IT Manager/Director with some sense of technical skills for the job - but isn't necessarily a technical wizard. Most importantly he/she will be a good leader that his or her subordinates will respect. Accordingly, this person will hire people with good people skills. Finally, no one person shall hold all the keys to everything. Giving your one and only "trusted" network administrator the admin passwords to everything is inviting disaster.
I've dealt with my share of asshole IT Directors and other management types above me with no sense of leadership or people management skills. Along the way I've thrown a few of them under the bus as I made my way out the door without losing a minute's sleep over it. They deserved it.
We had Time-Warner until Verizon strung fiber down our block. Went from 7/1 with Time-Warner to 25/25 with FiOS... got more channels, better digital/hi def quality, POTS line (not digital phone - which I can't use with a modem to dial into customer sites... yeah - still using old school tech), and overall better service - and still paying less than what T-W was charging us for just cable/internet. I can upgrade to 35/35 or 50/50 and probably still pay less than T-W.
Music always has been, and always will be shit job that never pays well. Most do it because the like what they do with no disillusions of being some rich and famous person. What sells records and concert tickets is what you hear on the radio and gets play on cable TV. These days it's all about image until you fuck up or get too old (i.e., Leif Garrett). Anything else is just beer money. The labels, producers, writers, and distributors and retaillers get the lion's share of the proceeds of a CD sale. On tour - promoters, the owners of the venues, local hired help (especially if they're union), etc... get their cut too. Everyone has their hands in the pockets of the musicians who actually record and perform for the masses. When the bills are all paid up - they're probably no better off than if they got a full-time job at McDonalds.
I've seen my share of shitty bands in concert, and I would always mention to my buddy something along the lines of "I hope these guys didn't quit their day jobs for this". Sometimes they make it for a bit, sometimes they go back to whatever shit job they had before they hit the road when they realize it's a zero-sum game. Remember the metal band Manowar? Here in the US they're a joke and rarely tour in the States anymore - but in Europe they're revered as the gods of metal. Their music is OK - I listen to it sometimes but nothing I'd go out of my way for either. So they'll fly over there, do a bunch of large festivals where there's money to be made, pack their gear, come back to their shitty little town where they live (Auburn, NY - between Rochester and Syracuse where the only real industry is the state prison where license plates are made by guys serving life sentences), and resume their normal lives doing construction, teaching bow hunting at BassPro and guitar lessons. I once saw a well known bassist for several metal bands working as a cashier at a local BestBuy once.
And speaking of touring, give Henry Rollins' book "Get in the Van" a read if you want to see how most lesser known bands really live on the road. It ain't no glamorous life.
But online sources of music is a godsend for many bands who are no longer actively making albums or touring. They're getting royalty checks for sitting on their asses as guys like me are still stuck in the late 80's / early 90's with our music.
Once in a while I'll find a good CVR recording - makes for some interesting listening. Seeing the terror in a pilot's face as he's about to eat dirt would be priceless.
Here's one from 2006 where a business jet clipped a 737. The 737 crashed - the business jet landed safely.
Slashdot Mirror
Hang the fucking traitor.
Perhaps something like this...?
http://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/2013/06/100-ton-slag-at-the-port-of-rochester/
A shop your size - you're staffed correctly as far as headcount is concerned. Need to cross-train your programmers to help with the day-to-day helpdesk stuff.
Telephone systems - analog, digital and VoIP pays my bills.
Copper POTS - yes, archaic, obsolete... but ya know what? When everything fails, the POTS stuff still works... and the sound quality is what we compare other systems to.
I understand that it's a very expensive network to keep up and running, and so long as there are viable alternatives I'm not opposed to allowing the copper system to be phased out... so long as the alternatives can equal voice quality and reliability. For many, POTS is literally a lifeline... the telcos and the FCC need to factor this in.
GPS is a good management tool in that you're sending resources where they need to go and catching the bad cops where there shouldn't be.
The good cops have nothing to worry about.
The bad cops may want to start thinking of another career... or start lubing up their rectums for when they're finally sent to prison.
Where I live in upstate NY - we have hundreds of miles of trails made from abandoned railroads and the towpath along the Erie Canal system (including both the present-day Barge Canal and original Erie Canal that was abandoned around 1919). Other than the risk of riding off the trail and hitting a tree or falling in the canal - other than road crossings, it's pretty safe.
I try to avoid streets where possible - too many people on their phones or texting. And yes I wear my helmet - always.
Rochester is a small airport - every time I've flown out of there (or Syracuse for that matter), from the time I enter the property, park, walk to the terminal, go through security and get to my gate, no more than 20 minutes has passed.
If you really need valet parking at a small airport with a parking lot next to the terminal, you're just fucking lazy.
News for gay nerds?
Ack! Ack! Ack ack ack! AAAACK!
If said IT Manager you're being paid to come up with a good reason to fire is a heterosexual male, 18-40 years of age, they would have walked his ass out the door by now.
Looks like you're sizing up an IT manager who is one or more of the following:
* Race other than Caucasian
* Gender other than male
* Sexual preference other than heterosexual
* Some sort of statutory protection (i.e., union contract, employment contract, public sector civil servant, right to work laws, etc...)
* Age older than 40
* A beneficiary of nepotism
* Something else can turn a simple termination into a legal mess
My last IT Director position, my predecessor was just that - 60 yr old guy, long-time employee with a contract, and shareholder (privately held corporation) - so they couldn't just toss him out the door. The board of directors brought in a "bad cop" consultant to make the recommendation of how to clean house at the C-level down to some select directors. Of course I walked into a complete and total clusterfuck and left 8 months later. The company folded in less than a year.
Moral of the story is the company that retained you may have some serious structural issues that goes beyond the IT department. Most states are employment at will and can freely fire anyone they want for any reason they want (or no reason at all) so long as it doesn't violate state/federal discrimination laws.
Been there, done that.
I was invited into a company that was going through bankruptcy, and the previous C-level folks had already been indited for federal crimes.
Been there... done that too.
I took a director level position a couple years ago... I lasted about 8 months before I couldn't handle the pressure anymore, couldn't even stick it out for a year end bonus. Much happier now.
Been there... done that. 8 months was about when I said 'fuck it'... and I make more money now with prevailing wage, overtime, and a take-home company vehicle dicking around with PBX's and Cisco gear in the field with an overworked boss 90 minutes away who couldn't give a shit about what I do every day. Bliss.
Any time I read in the news that someone gets into a gnarly DWI accident that usually involves serious injuries/death - the BAC was usually well north of 0.15% and the driver is usually well known to local authorities.
So really what's the problem here? Sounds like just another dragnet for cash strapped municipalities to siphon more cash from us.
Will I expect to hear modem tones squealing from my gun as it boots up before I can fire it? What if the "smart" stuff in the gun crashes? How reliable will it be in a device that gets dirty, greasy, cleaned with solvents, subject to high pressures and forces from the gun firing? I wouldn't trust my life to it. Guns have been mechanically simple for centuries for a reason.
Bottom line - my guns have no safeties. I didn't wait 8 months for a full unrestricted carry-concealed pistol permit from the Peoples Republic of New York only to be further hamstrung by needless safeties that only serve to make the gun useless if they fail.
Don't limit my ability to defend myself because some mentally insane fucktard from Connecticut or Colorado decided to go out and kill for thrills.
We didn't have these problems when we locked up mentally ill people until the 1980's.
I carry my SIG P239 hammer down. No safety on the gun other than a decocker and a firing pin block to keep it from going "bang" if I drop it. Bottom line is I don't want to be futzing with any controls when the shit hits the fan. Draw, pull trigger and kill bad guy. As all guns should do.
I'd never buy a smart gun and reject the concept on principal. Last thing I need to do is have my gun throw a BSOD when I'm trying to fire the damn thing. My guns are kept locked up or strapped to my waist and carry concealed. No need for biometric security. If someone is dumb enough to try and grab my gun while I'm wearing it - they'll likely end up very dead.
CZ75 - nice gun - want one. Fired it at a rental range in FL... if I can only find one with a 10-round mag to satisfy NY's stupid gun laws.
Bottom line is - most CFL's run about $1.50-2.00 nowadays. I've already made the investment in CFL's throughout my house several years ago - they all still work - and I'm not about to spend $20 for lightbulbs that aren't exactly omni-directional like normal type-A bulbs are. I have something like 35 light fixtures in my house, most of which have 60w equivalent CFL's in them now - it would cost $650 to replace all of them with say Phillips 60w equivalents (the ones with the orange lenses).
Annual power savings over CFL's is negligible. 12.5w for LED vs 13w for CFL. I'd simply never see any ROI.
We don't keep all of our lights on all day long. Just in the rooms we're in (and even with CFL's - I'm always yelling at the kids to turn the lights off).
Now - down the road, when CFL's start shitting the bed on me - and LED's are price-competitive with CFL's, sure - I'll go that route.
I'm willing to bet for every Steve Jobs out there, there's a thousand more like him who will never make it very far in a given company more than a year or two, never to get a promoted or otherwise recognized because they're considered too "eccentric", too abrasive, or simply an asshole because he has a critical eye and little tolerance for idiots. Problem is, too many corporate cultures are afraid of hearing the truth about why they suck, then years later they wonder why their assets are being liquidated in a bankruptcy auction because they lacked courage.
I see it all the time. I'm not a Jobs 'fanboi' by any stretch... don't own a single Apple product. Just not my cup of tea, but I have a lot of respect for what he built and how he did it early on until the corporate 'yes men', lawyers and accountants nearly drove Apple into the ground.
Bottom line is this...
a.) too many techies with titles and zero people or leadership skills masquerading as IT Managers or IT Directors
b.) too many social outcasts working as IT people because they now have "power" over their oppressors
c.) too many huge ego's in IT, plenty of backstabbing and people who will throw you under the bus to move their careers forward
d.) the lack of upper management's understanding that a single disgruntled IT employee can and will destroy your company by:
-- 1.) having full and unfettered access to everyone's e-mail, files, accounting systems, etc...
-- 2.) changing all of the admin passwords and shutting all systems down 2 minutes before he quits
-- 3.) dropping off a large stack of e-mails on the desk of the local newspaper editor
-- 4.) stopping by the local FBI office with backup media from the last full system backup
Too many companies don't realize how essential it is to hire a good IT Manager/Director with some sense of technical skills for the job - but isn't necessarily a technical wizard. Most importantly he/she will be a good leader that his or her subordinates will respect. Accordingly, this person will hire people with good people skills. Finally, no one person shall hold all the keys to everything. Giving your one and only "trusted" network administrator the admin passwords to everything is inviting disaster.
I've dealt with my share of asshole IT Directors and other management types above me with no sense of leadership or people management skills. Along the way I've thrown a few of them under the bus as I made my way out the door without losing a minute's sleep over it. They deserved it.
Bottom line - don't fuck with your IT people.
We had Time-Warner until Verizon strung fiber down our block. Went from 7/1 with Time-Warner to 25/25 with FiOS... got more channels, better digital/hi def quality, POTS line (not digital phone - which I can't use with a modem to dial into customer sites... yeah - still using old school tech), and overall better service - and still paying less than what T-W was charging us for just cable/internet. I can upgrade to 35/35 or 50/50 and probably still pay less than T-W.
Competition is a good thing.
I say line them all up next to a trench and put a bullet in their heads...
We can all dream: http://i48.tinypic.com/2dc8kg1.jpg
Music always has been, and always will be shit job that never pays well. Most do it because the like what they do with no disillusions of being some rich and famous person. What sells records and concert tickets is what you hear on the radio and gets play on cable TV. These days it's all about image until you fuck up or get too old (i.e., Leif Garrett). Anything else is just beer money. The labels, producers, writers, and distributors and retaillers get the lion's share of the proceeds of a CD sale. On tour - promoters, the owners of the venues, local hired help (especially if they're union), etc... get their cut too. Everyone has their hands in the pockets of the musicians who actually record and perform for the masses. When the bills are all paid up - they're probably no better off than if they got a full-time job at McDonalds.
I've seen my share of shitty bands in concert, and I would always mention to my buddy something along the lines of "I hope these guys didn't quit their day jobs for this". Sometimes they make it for a bit, sometimes they go back to whatever shit job they had before they hit the road when they realize it's a zero-sum game. Remember the metal band Manowar? Here in the US they're a joke and rarely tour in the States anymore - but in Europe they're revered as the gods of metal. Their music is OK - I listen to it sometimes but nothing I'd go out of my way for either. So they'll fly over there, do a bunch of large festivals where there's money to be made, pack their gear, come back to their shitty little town where they live (Auburn, NY - between Rochester and Syracuse where the only real industry is the state prison where license plates are made by guys serving life sentences), and resume their normal lives doing construction, teaching bow hunting at BassPro and guitar lessons. I once saw a well known bassist for several metal bands working as a cashier at a local BestBuy once.
And speaking of touring, give Henry Rollins' book "Get in the Van" a read if you want to see how most lesser known bands really live on the road. It ain't no glamorous life.
But online sources of music is a godsend for many bands who are no longer actively making albums or touring. They're getting royalty checks for sitting on their asses as guys like me are still stuck in the late 80's / early 90's with our music.
Wrong. The deadly part of a gun is the grey matter between the ears of the person holding it.
And you like to touch young Asian boys in their private spots.
Next stupid idea?
The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h42zOpPlPLY
Pilot's unions put the kibosh on that.
Once in a while I'll find a good CVR recording - makes for some interesting listening. Seeing the terror in a pilot's face as he's about to eat dirt would be priceless.
Here's one from 2006 where a business jet clipped a 737. The 737 crashed - the business jet landed safely.
http://www.firstpost.com/topic/organization/boeing-new-embraer-legacy-600-business-jet-n600xl-cockpit-voice-recording-part-12-video-a5DPElgPpWI-692-1.html