Let me tell you, the slashdot, cowboy neil option probably came about by evolution. That is, someone was making a joke about cowboy neil and eventually someone realised that it should just go into every poll as an ongoing joke. This is a feature of slashdot, and it is only doable because it came about through evolution. They dont use it anymore.

When some one requrests, on another sites forum, such as Amiga.org, "we want a slashdot style cowboy nil option", and then the site starts putting an option like that on every poll, not only does it seem to have no relevance or place, its damn lame.

I know i used the word, infesting within the title, this may not be an accurate description, but who cares?

Have you seen other things such as this? Is this a new "Slasdotting" or a new "Slashdot effect"? Will slashdot eventualy dictate the fasions in the western world?

What i also think is sad, is the never ending use of words or phrases that once made people lauf, but after a day or two, no one likes to hear them again. Such as "Our something overloards" or "beuwulf clusters" -- did i spell that right? :)

Again, another example of lameness that slashdot is seemlessly harbouring. It is no doubt spreading through out the web. It's like the fashion of the 80s, and mullets... It seemed good at the time, but 10 years down the track, what was i thinking. Only, in our case, its a week or two down the track.

I hope other sites, and members of slashdot stop reusing things that had a time and a place months or weeks ago, but not now. It's time to get over it and get original.

Ok, thats my rant for the year. "Peace Out" !

So i was wondering, prolly time to write in here, since i have nothing else to do, besides waiting for someone to get back to me on the possibility i may have earned an interview for a job.

Which brings me to my subject. I had a tip from someoen that said when you'r writing your cover letter to make it interesting, passionate and not 2 paragraphs like most of the sites on the net tell us too.

So i did, i mentioned how i wanted to change the world and how this job would be the best starting point for me. I told him/her about my passion for new technologies (i was applying to be a mobile applications developer for a startup) and technology in general. I also mentioned my experience and other stuff which came to half a page.

Most sites on the net would discourage this. The ones i've read always say to make it professional, short and too the point. However, this has never worked, and seeing as though this was a start up, dealing with new technology, i though it was an appropriate place to test out this idea someone had given me.

In short, it worked. At least, he got back to me and said my resume stood out. Which i know isnt my cover letter, but it must have impressed him enough to look at my resume. And now im just waiting on the possibility of an interview after giving him an executive, technical and financial summary on a prototype for a new technology on mobile devices. He said it was good work, so im proud.

I wouldnt mind hearing comments from people about what they think of coverletters. How they go about writing thers? Should it be passionate or professional? Long short? Or does it depend on the organisation your apply to?

Thoughts?

In Australia, we have this nifty thing called work for the dole (dole == government handouts). Some people are required to work for the dole (if they are already receiving it) and others can apply for it if eligible. What I want to know is, how long does it take people in the IT industry to find another job? Do IT non-profit organisations (open source projects for example) look for people on the dole who might have skills to do some work? Would unemployed IT professionals be happy doing work for the dole at an IT related non profit organisation that matched their skills instead of getting a job straight away? Would you rather find a job as quickly as possible? Would you like to do non profit work while looking for a job to gain more experience, increase skills or try to keep skill levels at where they are? I also think that during the last few years so many IT professional have lost their job, I'm wondering how many of them are still sitting on their bums receiving their dole checks when they could be putting their skills to use and not letting their skills diminish. Non profit organisations can apply through the government web-site to take advantage of this and also people looking for volunteer work can apply to search the database of non-profit organisations to volunteer their help. Also, I know its not much but those who do work for the dole get an extra $20 every 2 weeks. Of course I don't think this applies to any organisations out side of Australia, sorry :).

I curious because i've recently lost my job, and i wouldnt mind working on open source if i did take a long time for me to get a job. Open source work would let me aquire new skills or at the very least let me keep them at their current level. Im just wondering how many people out there actualy do work for the dole and get paid to work on a nonprofit organisation with whom is in the IT industry.