Author: admin

A new Y2K bug?. From the IT person for my department: Congress changed Daylight Savings Time from the first Sunday of April (1st) to the second Sunday in March (11th). This is new, many computers, Palm Pilots, Blackberries, cell phones and  software may not yet be equipped to handle this change.  We are beginning to… Continue reading A new Y2K bug?

What we need is a new strategy …  In following the political debate over the Iraq debacle, it helps to take a step back from time to time and to re-focus on Iraq from a strategic vantage point. Our President isn't able to do that, and for the most part neither is the media nor… Continue reading What we need is a new strategy …

6-figure pay for care plan overseers. Employees of the new state agency established to provide health insurance to the state's low-income residents have been hired at an average salary of $111,000 a year, with 12 of the 22 staff members making more than $100,000 and six earning more than Governor Deval Patrick and his Cabinet… Continue reading 6-figure pay for care plan overseers

How To Process Credit Cards with Ruby, Rails, and Active Merchant. Mark A. McBride has put together a great article about processing credit cards with Ruby on Rails using the Active Merchant plugin.  [Ruby Inside]

On the “War on Terror” Rhetoric. Echoing what I said in my previous post, Sir Ken Macdonald — the UK's “director of public prosecutions” — has spoken out against the “war on terror”: He said: “London is not a battlefield. Those innocents who were murdered on July 7 2005 were not victims of war. And… Continue reading On the “War on Terror” Rhetoric

What makes a dream job situation?. In my opinion, the major factor is being able to make a difference! It is the basis of real job satisfaction. That phrase, being able to make a difference rarely appeared on the job descriptions I have seen and when it did appear, it was used as motivation when… Continue reading What makes a dream job situation?

#1: Keeping it FREE. This is one post in a series, describing challenges we need to overcome to make free software ubiquitous on the desktop. We have to work together to keep free software freely available. It will be a failure if the world moves from paying for shrink-wrapped Windows to paying for shrink-wrapped Linux.… Continue reading #1: Keeping it FREE

Joey Stanford: Top Secret: Unboxing System76's Unannounced Laptop!.  Get yourself some water and a napkin because this is a drool-fest. Gizmodo eat your heart out. I stirred up quite a bit of excitement with my previous post concerning a new System76 laptop prototype that I spotted at my CoLoCo presentation to NCLUG. I am now… Continue reading Joey Stanford: Top Secret: Unboxing System76's Unannounced Laptop!

Digital Lifestyle Servers Everywhere. Marc has been struggling to find the right phrase the helps people understand what he's working on. Yesterday he wrote something I've heard him say, but I don't understand, that he was “forced” to change from calling it server in the closet. Why? I find that helps to position the software,… Continue reading Digital Lifestyle Servers Everywhere

Sensemaking 1.  Here’s an important question for all of us: How do you make sense of something that’s big and complicated?  Say… something like why your users aren’t passionate about your product? For the past several years I’ve been thinking a great deal about sensemaking—that is, the processes people go through when trying to “make… Continue reading Sensemaking 1