User: Myst R.E.

IT is a vital part of a much larger puzzle.

On: Where Does IT Fall Within Your Organization?

I know I'm going to get modded into oblivion for this post but... I've had the opportunity to work for several companies over the course of my career. One common thread, that all the all successful companies shared was to put IT in it's proper place. Proper within the context of the organization. So the short answer is that you're asking the wrong question. Don't ask, where does IT fit in my organization. Ask what does your organization do, and what does IT do for your organization? If you can answer that, then you've found the proper place for IT.

Prognostication in the scientific disciplines.

On: Geologists Might Be Charged For Not Predicting Quake

I'm preaching to the choir here I know. But honestly, if they investigated and didn't see any signs that is one thing. If however they investigated, found possible signs and didn't report them for fear of a mass panic, then that is a whole other story. This reminds me of the whole, "We're overdue for the big one!", that we keep seeing in the media. It seems everyday the news reports some "big one" we're overdue for, when the fact is nothing on earth is truly cyclical. We're overdue for a large meteor/comet strike! Oh really? Is there someone out there lobbing these things at us? If there is, is it possible, maybe he/she ran out of ammo? We're overdue for Yellowstone to blow, sending us all to kingdom come! Truly, yes that is a hot spot, but we really, don't know the exact depth & composition of that part of the earths crust. If it's identical to previous eruptions, which is doubtful then yes, we should see something / should have seen something by now. We also have no clue whats causing that portion of the earths mantle to be a hot spot, maybe it's cooling off a bit, maybe it's getting hotter. The fact is we don't know, and there are too many variables. Anyone working in a field of analysis needs to be careful to make predictions. The future is not certain and frankly, we aren't even that sure of the past. I work in Systems Analysis, I'm supposed to find root cause for failure and take steps to prevent failures in the future. I've come to the conclusion that people read what they want to read & hear what they want to hear. As people of the scientific disciplines, it is not our job at all, to be prognosticators. Our job is only to gather data, analyze it and present it in a form that is understandable to our intended audience. We should never be chicken littles, claiming that the sky is falling, and we should never try to hide the fact that the sky is in fact falling, but that should only be if it's a fact, not an opinion. We can only say we have observed current conditions and determined the statistical probably that certain similar events, were preceded by certain similar circumstances. We cannot predict the future, therefore we should never incite anything whether fear or calm by attempting to.