Certification Demand and Quality : Gustavo Duarte

Excerpt : "My conclusion is that certifications based solely on multiple-choice tests are at best misguided and at worst vulgar scams. I don't see how they could be fixed either. There is a fundamental disconnect between filling in the right blank and getting technology work done. For programming certifications the multiple-choice format is ludicrous. Hence these silly tests will remain a marketing and money-making scheme fueled by naive employers, who put faith in vacuous credentials, and the professionals who play along for supposed career benefits. Or maybe they're fueled by the naive customers of the employers."
posted by MikeM at 8:40 AM    

 
Microsoft looks to 'Mojave' to revive Vista's image
posted by MikeM at 3:30 PM    

 
Joss Whedon to produce 13 Dollhouse Webisodes
posted by MikeM at 1:22 PM    

 
Patent Law Blog (Patently-O): The Death of Most Software Patents?
posted by MikeM at 12:10 PM    

 
Maggie seems to be doing better - we have increased her thyroid meds and have her on antibiotics, and we also started giving her fairly high doses of fiber. Did you know that 1 tsp of pure Psyllium (fiber) when mixed with 1 tablespoon of yogurt makes a fairly nice dog treat? It quickly gels into a sticky rubbery mess that she loves.

So hopefully this latest health issue will resolve itself happily. The full-spectrum blood tests came back showing that her liver has actually improved a bit! Her thyroid numbers were low, and I'm seeing signs of her hypothyroidism coming back, so we increased her dosage by 25% and we'll retest in a bit.
posted by MikeM at 10:44 AM    

 
I talked with Greg yesterday, he seems to be doing much better! He has a MySpace page with lots of (graphic) pictures of the burns, hospital scenes, grafts, and recovery process. sgrmil is his myspace ID - click on the 'pictures' link under the name section.


I took Maggie to the vet as an emergency drop-in last night, as her feces was bloody. Very bloody. Had been a little bit bloody, but last night it was bad. Bloody diarrhea all over the back yard bad.

He put her on a strong antibiotic and we'll just watch her and see.

The chronic liver failure means she is on a heavy dose of steroids long-term, which wrecks her immune system, and now this is the second time in 2 months that she has some sort of bad infection - the last time was the abcess on the back of her head. Plus her thyroid is screwing up more and we may need to increase the meds for that. I'm worried.
posted by MikeM at 7:45 AM    

 
Michael Crichton: Evil, Or Just A Crazy Luddite?
posted by MikeM at 1:59 PM    

 
Whedonesque : Joss Whedon weblog
posted by MikeM at 1:32 PM    

 
New TV series : True Blood, based on the Southern Vampire books by Charlaine Harris.
posted by MikeM at 1:30 PM    

 
TWILIGHT - The Official Movie Site - IN THEATERS 12.12.08
posted by MikeM at 1:29 PM    

 
Catalog: HOLLYWOOD AUCTION 32
posted by MikeM at 11:10 AM    

 
218 HD Resolution Desktop Wallpapers for Nerds
posted by MikeM at 3:37 PM    

 
Gustavo Duarte, 3 articles on the boot process :

Motherboard Chipsets and the Memory Map : This one also explains why a 32-bit OS like XP cannot see the full 4gb of ram even if you paid for it.

How Computers Boot Up : Including the MBR and why it's critical.

The Kernel Boot Process : Why it's bad to delete files you don't know what do. :)
posted by MikeM at 3:19 PM    

 
Asus Maximus II Formula Intel P45 Motherboard : Looks like a very nice mobo - I'll be keeping an eye on these when I build up our replacement systems in several months.
posted by MikeM at 2:40 PM    

 
official Dr. John Web Page woo! Not much there yet, but it's looking interesting.
posted by MikeM at 11:33 AM    

 
Dr. Horrible : Joss Whedon's latest work of art! A lot of actors from Buffy, Angel, Firefly, etc. :)
posted by MikeM at 1:32 PM    

 
Gallery: Nuclear Blasts Show Terrifying Power
posted by MikeM at 8:47 AM    

 
July 16, 1945: Trinity Blast Opens Atomic Age
posted by MikeM at 8:47 AM    

 
All NVIDIA 8400M / 8600M chips faulty? If you are looking to buy a laptop, you might wanna swing towards the ATI video and avoid nVidia. As much as I like their products, it doesn't look good for them right now.
posted by MikeM at 9:14 AM    

 
Timelines and Trivia: What Goes Around Comes Around: The History of Dungeons & Dragons
posted by MikeM at 5:58 PM    

 
If you use Google Calendar, you may want to know how to export (backup) your calendar data. I'm paranoid enough to do this after major changes, just in case google loses it's mind.
posted by MikeM at 4:18 PM    

 
FireShot - Take screenshots of web pages with Firefox extension! Can be used to grab either the visible section or the entire page, saves as an image. JPG is quite useful. So while FF3.0 cannot print websites correctly, at least you can grab the website as an image. Doesn't support PDF though - but that's a minor issue.
posted by MikeM at 8:19 AM