I still remember a visit from a PC sales rep that was hired straight off the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleading squad. OMG I bet she could sell computers.

So did the last 'open source' router I bought from Netgear - then I found out it could ONLY be configured with IE6. I think I'll hold off on buying any more 'open source' netgear equipment until I can confirm they aren't still confused about this 'open source' stuff.

I've been it "IT" for 20 years, and have experienced the "glory" at least twice.

Once, while twiddling with some workstation upgrades at a client site I had a cute young secretary ask if I could do something about all the static on her phone. I checked some lines at the key system in the closet, and noticed the power cord had been neatly wrapped and bundled in with the phone lines. I cut it loose and shifted it a bit, and the noise went away. The secretary was so elated she offered "to have my children". Being the socially dysfunctional dork that I am, I backed away slowly while wondering if my recent marriage may have been my best move.

The second event, much more recently, occurred while I was at a cool old-time whiskey bar near Reno enjoying a beer with some friends. When the bar maid started complaining that their Internet connection was down (again!), preventing them from running credit cards, one of my (rather inebriated) buddies piped up that I was some kind of computer genius, while I kept my head down and tried to look inconspicuous. They ended up talking me into 'looking into it' with free scotch and cigars. It turned out that the boss had installed a new wifi video surveillance system that was interfering with the crappy USB wifi dongle on their crappy, ancient windows 98 box. I guessed the router password on the first attempt (I'm no Bruce Schneier - it was just that bad a password - I wonder if scotch helps with password guessing?) and changed the wifi channel, and it started working. I got a kiss and lots more scotch out of it. Every time my buddies retell it (they know nothing about IT - they really believe I'm a genius) the story just gets better.

At this rate, I'll have TWO more glorious IT experiences before I retire!

In my experience, it's necessary to upgrade a windows machine to newer hardware at least every six years or else it isn't powerful enough to run current anti-virus software.

No kidding, although I was thinking of even MORE practical skills:
"Regardless of the career a child takes up when they leave school, a high percentage of them will use a %A in their daily work, and all of them are likely to %B"

For values of %A and %B:
- Checkbook, use cash (I didn't learn SQUAT about money management in school)
- relationship, have friends and a spouse (I didn't learn anything about interpersonal skills - at least not formally)
- source of nourishment, eat (I didn't learn more than the very basics - and most of that is now considered incorrect - about diet and nutrition)
- (an) exercise routine, be somewhat physically active (I took 'gym', but didn't learn anything about basic weight training, the benefits of aerobics and importance of flexibility)

I lack the imagination to fit this into my pithy example, but something about dealing with children and basic parenting would certainly work in the list, too. Seriously, what's more important - knowing what year Washington crossed the Delaware, or how to not turn into a broke, fat, wife beater with bratty kids?

All the stuff about how to speed read, think critically, debate logically, memorize easily and see through the clouded vale of shoddy statistics one is constantly showered with would be awesome, too. You'd think all that could EASILY be fit into 12 FREAKIN' YEARS of education, but somehow many students barely manage to learn the basics of reading and grammar. I swear primary school has just become a subsidized baby-sitting service.

I haven't actually fired up ipv6 (yet), but I did a lot of preliminary legwork, and found that:

- An end user cannot find a Verizon tech who knows what IPv6 is, let alone sign up for it

- The local indy ISP doesn't want to mess with it

- while my linux and mac workstations, and OpenWRT router will support ipv6, my networked HP printer/scanner/fax gee-whiz box, my asterisk appliance, none of my various VoIP phones, my chumby or my Nabistag have any idea what ipv6 is - and they out number my PCs

- the proliferation of the ethernet enabled 'gadgets' is really driving our ipv4 depletion - and they are the very devices least likely to support ipv6

I love using linux for as much as I possibly can, but I have noticed a distinct difference in the audio quality between my old power book Ti and a 'business' grade dell. The audio out my mac mini is MUCH better than what I get out of Dell desktops I've used, too. My eeePC 901 does seem to sound pretty good, though.

Doctor Who was on the presidential commission to raise the drinking age? I bet it was the Doctor with the stupid celery stock on his lapel... I never did like him; it doesn't surprise me that a more recent regeneration would recant - he seems to be getting more easy going.

Out of curiosity... how do they get that information off the person being thrown out to know which of the hundreds of patrons that came in that night make the 'banned' list? Wouldn't the person actually need to get arrested, such that the information on the list is retrieved from the police?

They occasionally post clutter-busting suggestions over at www.lifehacker.com. The original links from this one no longer seem to work, but I thought it was brilliant:
http://lifehacker.com/237789/diy-under+desk-gadget-mount
Basically, mount a peg board on hinged stand-offs with hasps to lock it in the 'up' position, and then mount all the small peripherals and cabling to the bottom of the desk. May not be completely child proof, depending on the size of your children and the extent of the cable fasteners you use.

I used to work for a company that pioneered some early voice recognition, and employed a team of Polish engineers who had escaped the soviets. Their early versions only understood English with a Polish accent.

I'm currently working on (or should be, instead of surfing /.) a book project for Syngress, an 'impress' of Elsevier. This almost makes me feel dirty. I'm doing it more for the experience than the cash, and there isn't any 'research' involved, so I suspect this scandal won't affect me directly. Still, for any serious future projects I'll certainly look elsewhere first.

Why on earth isn't there a torrent for the netbook remix? I found one off TPB, and downloaded it, but my hash doesn't match what ubuntu claims it should (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes) - I got d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e. Maybe an innocent artefact from the generous fellow who created the torrent - maybe not. I deleted the file and now am getting it straight from an official ftp site - at 1/8 the speed. I had really hoped to 1) get the file in such a way as to share it with other enthusiasts (you know - 'ubuntu') and 2) actually demonstrate a completely legitimate use for bittorrent, but I've been stymied. GAAAH!

Led by Phil the Prince of Insufficient Light?

Wow - You're the one with the last running Windows Me box?