Posted inThank You Sir May I Have Another

Loud Cell Phone Addict 0 Universe 1

On Saturday I finally got to fly back from New York. Nothing makes one miss home like being in New York. Yes, it was a trip from hell involving a bout with the flu, an accident in a cab, and a host of other bad things. All pretty typical. The flight home allowed for a brief moment of joy though. I arrived at the airport 3 hours early and spent my time napping at the … Loud Cell Phone Addict 0 Universe 1Read more

Posted inInformation Technology

Vendor Management Systems = Price Fixing and Wire Fraud

Price fixing is rampant in IT since Vendor Management Systems were introduced. Indeed, price fixing is the primary reason the systems were adopted. Recently I had an interesting discussion with a pimp about a contract opening. They had posted the contract opening on Dice and tagged the entry as “market rate”, but when the called me, they were offering a billing rate well below half of market rate. Several other pimps had called about this … Vendor Management Systems = Price Fixing and Wire FraudRead more

Posted inInformation Technology

Substring Exists in String

Today I got to burn about three hours looking online for an answer to what F$LOCATE() makes a simple task. What simple task you ask? Why, I was trying to verify one string existed inside of another string while working in Bash under Linux. You see, I learned to write software on robust systems. Yes, I know, the Linux/Unix developer motto is “test nothing, just let it fail”, but I was taught to write good … Substring Exists in StringRead more

Posted inInformation Technology

Plausible Deniability or Just Plain Lazy?

Years ago, pimps actually did a tiny bit of work for their massive margins. They actually read resumes rather than using a GREP utility searching for keywords. They also engaged in “creative writing” when they were low on placement quota. Of course this required that pimps be fluent in the native language of the country where they made money. Today, most pimps are too lazy to even use a GREP utility. They go to on-line … Plausible Deniability or Just Plain Lazy?Read more

Posted inThank You Sir May I Have Another

Wrong Bucket for the Job

For about a week now I have been hearing the Wall Street supporters saying “leave executive pay out of this package, deal with it later” while Wall Street engages in a massive sell-off to force Congress into a bail out. Yeah right. If there is a ruling on executive pay in this bail out package that will be the ONLY thing which benefits the ordinary taxpayer. Some of you have been long time readers of … Wrong Bucket for the JobRead more