Dirty Spammers Getting Clever

We all get spam every day, and most of the time it's really obvious that it's spam. From the gibberish we get in our inboxes to the obviously fake pop-ups on so many websites, we can usually tell that it's just spam. Obviously somebody is clicking these and purchasing products, otherwise it wouldn't be so pervasive.

Some of them are more clever than others, though.

I came home from work today to a message on my screen. It happened to be a random IM via Skype. Note to Windows readers: I don't recommend opening the link in the screenshot below. Because you run Windows, you run the risk of that link installing malware of some kind.

I did click the link out of curiosity. Because I don't use Windows I'm not at risk of drive-by malware installations. The page is a fairly slick "System Scan" (Scam?) animation that I think could easily have fooled the average Windows user. Think Grandma or your less-than-savvy neighbor who double-clicks links and buttons in Internet Explorer because that's how they're used to interacting with Windows.

I'm simultaneously disgusted and impressed.

Freelance

So I'm toying with the idea of going fully freelance and making a living of it. I've got a few people that are pushing pretty hard for me to work for them so that fits, but I'm super gun-shy after the few years of scarce work between 2001 and 2004.

That really is the only reason I've taken the job I have now. It's rock-stable, a job for the rest of my life if I so choose.

At what expense, though?

One per Month

I'm a software developer by trade and training. The language I've made my living with for 12 years or so is Java. It's like an old pair of jeans - it fits me nicely, it's comfortable and I wear it every day, even if I am starting to get tired of the holes worn in the ass.

I have always had other languages and technologies on my "todo" list, but I've never made the time to actually get to know them more than a couple hours' worth of playing. So to broaden my horizons a bit I'm going to try to adopt a "one-language-per-month" strategy.

I'm already somewhat useful with C, so I'll probably skip that one for now.

This month is Python. Next month will probably be Ruby. Other languages: Lisp, Smalltalk, Objective-C (and Cocoa). Cocoa might get a boost in priority over some others only because of my Mac love affair.

First things first, though: get my day-job hours down to something sane so I have some time for things I enjoy. And leave some time for my other happy pursuits too...

Maybe I'll start using this thing

So I've been reading somebody else's blog that has inspired me to start actually blogging. The problem I have is that I don't really have anything that I consider worth writing about, at least for an audience of others to read.

I could vent frustration about my job: the fact that I'm doing exactly the same work I was doing almost 15 years ago when I got my start in the technology business... or the fact that I've swallowed my principles for the safety net - forgo the risk and incredible reward of something I actually enjoy for the safety and drudgery of working for a megacorp, something I have sworn for my entire adult life that I would never do.

I could vent frustration about the sad, sorry state of affairs of the government of this country, but that's so trendy and everybody else is doing that! I hate Bush, but so does everybody else. I don't care much for the current crop of candidates vying to replace him, either. The candidates I like (ok, really only one) haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of even being nominated for the simple fact that they don't play the game. Do I set aside my principles to back a horse that has a better chance of being nominated, just because he has a better chance of preventing the front-runner from catching the party vote? I must admit that the one thing that Mr. Obama has over any other candidate is that he has clearly stated his policy on technology, and I agree with most of it. Ambitious, perhaps to the point of being unrealistic, but he is at least addressing it!

I could choose not to vent at all, but to post about the happy things. I'm spending time with my son. Even if we're both engaged in our computers independently and doing our own things. And he's a Mac geek too. How proud could a Dad be? :) (OK, so I bought him the Macbook, but he loves it.)

Oh look, I've gone and blogged without realizing it.

Long Time No Post

So it's been quite some time since I've posted anything here. I was browsing through my previous entries and thought I'd follow up on my job interview prep post.

I ended up taking that contract. It started out as a 6-month assignment, and was extended for another 6 months. By the end of the second 6-month stint, I was offered a permanent position, which I accepted.

I took a huge pay cut going from a contract to a permanent role, but I expected that to be the trade-off for job security, which I've definitely got. I'm employed for the rest of my life, if I so choose. I'm not sure yet, because quite frankly the work sucks. I haven't touched a line of code since about 2 weeks after I started there. My title is "Systems Administrator", which is really an exaggeration. It was "Sr. Systems Analyst, MDS" until a couple weeks ago when they completely rewrote almost everybody's title, and in some cases their salaries. This job really does drain my soul. I work >60 hours per week, but that should be coming back down to relatively sane in the near future (a few weeks). Once it does, I might have the energy and motivation to get back on track with technology I enjoy, as well as some more leisurely activities.

Random OS X/Java Links

Just dumping these here now for lack of a better place to store them. Lame, huh?

ADC Java Section
OS X at java.net
Apple's Java Docs
Introduction to Java Property, VM Option, and Info.plist key reference for OS X
Make Your Swing App Go Native, Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3
Bringing your Java Application to Mac OS X, Pt. 2, Pt. 3
JGoodies
Quaqua

To Asia, With Love

Porn legend Asia Carrera is suffering an unthinkable tragedy: she lost her husband in a car accident over the weekend. They have a beautiful one-year-old daughter, and she is eight months pregnant. She's been somewhat famous in gamer nerd circles since she left the porn industry, having taken to Unreal Tournament (a few years ago anyway).

I was on a bit of an Asia kick a few years ago when I was doing some, uh, "research" on sexy female computer geeks and found her page and all kinds of articles about her geekhood.

What a sad terrible thing. If I weren't so concerned about just paying the rent these days, I'd happily help by purchasing some videos from her store or by donating via PayPal (asiac@asiacarrera.com is her ID there).

My thoughts are with Asia and her young family. I can't even begin to comprehend...

RFK Jr. Report: 2004 Election Stolen

The conclusion of the article is probably old news for most of us - at least those of us with an IQ higher than that of a dust mite - but in an article for Rolling Stone Magazine, Robert F. Kennedy presents overwhelming and compelling citation and reference for the fact that the 2004 election was manipulated on a massive national scale by the Repugnican Party.

Job interview prep

I've got an interview tomorrow for a 3-6 month contract doing middle-tier J2EE stuff. Nervous as hell, but that's typical for me - no matter how long I've been playing the game, no matter how many interviews I've done, and no matter what kind of feedback I get (almost unanimously overwhelmingly positive, apparently I interview very well) I still get super anxious.

I try to get as much information as I can ahead of time. In this case I've already gone through the initial phone screen with the hiring manager, so I know what products they're using, what they're trying to accomplish, and where the team fits in with the company. I've spent the past 3 days or so doing little but skimming through as much as I can on the various bits I expect to need to know for the position. Strong unix (AIX and linux specifically - very strong linux here, very moderate AIX, but I've been a unix guy for 18 years straight anyway), strong java, middleware (the ejb/dbms/tx bit of J2EE, no real need for servlets, JSP, etc), some perl. They're a very large IBM shop, with WebSphere and Eclipse in heavy use. I don't particularly care for WebSphere, and very strongly dislike Eclipse, but I'm not expecting to walk into an IntelliJ shop either.

They're still on j2ee 1.3, which has posed a bit of an issue for me. Sun's RI won't run in a 1.5 JDK, evidently - I've tried in both Mac OS X and Windows XP (my linux box is tied up) - and startup fails while looking for some com.sun.corba.* libraries in both cases.

Back to pouring over j2ee 1.3 specs...

FUCK WINDOWS

Any system in which an application running in userspace can take the operating system down is not to be taken seriously.

It is a TOY.

Unethical spamming headhunters - your time has come.

Between May 2001 and February 2005, the depth of the most recent technology industry collapse, I worked sporadically at best. I sent my résumé to no less than 50 potential openings each week. For the first 6 months or so, I was sending it out at a rate of 50-100 per day. Throughout that period, I was lucky to even get one reply per month.

Now that the industry is turning around again, the slimy fuckers are coming out of the woodwork. I receive no less than 15 unsolicited emails per day from headhunters that clearly have not even read my résumé or profile information.

I have resolved to boycott any agencies that send "opportunities" to me that have clearly not even glanced at my CV. I'm in the process of compiling a list which I will probably initially post here. However, I would prefer not to do anything to increase search engine ranking for these unethical dirtbags, so posting here might be out of the question. Maybe just drop it somewhere with a robots.txt directive, or maybe as an image. Who knows, it might become a useful app if it looks like other people will want to submit entries as well. I'm wary of doing that though... the potential for abuse is high.

Helping Dreams Come True

Helping Dreams Come True

Hey, look! Latecomer to the blogosphere, my brother Jamie.

what next, really?

My younger brother has been staying with me for a month or so, having had a rough stretch of luck brought on by what some might term as questionable decisions recently.

This morning he woke up lightheaded and with chest pain; he thought he had bronchitis, and wanted to be seen by a doctor and hopefully get some antibiotics going. I brought him to the emergency room where they brought him in for treage ahead of people with visible injuries.
After they took him in, I waited outside in my car; far more comfortable than the waiting room chairs. After 2 hours of waiting and my anxiety creeping upward a bit, he came outside in a hospital gown and told me that an EKG had shown "abnormal" results and that they wanted to perform some more tests.

I left him with my cell phone and drove home, now wondering if my 35 year old brother has suffered a mild heart attack.

Update: bronchitis. Evidently, he has an unusual heartbeat rhythm that prompted all sorts of curiosity and worry with the doctors. They beat the shit out of him with stress tests - treadmill to the point of exhaustion, essentially - and his heart is strong and healthy.

*sigh*