Tribute

sUzi

Long ago, when I was in college, less humble — more of a dick — I partied a lot. I ended up getting in with the guys who set up the industrial room at a club in the early-to-mid 90s. This was a few years after the infamous club newsletter, and after I had moved back to SF.

A friend of mine gave this guy, newly immigrated from Florida, a sticker we used to print up before clubs to hand out one of our stickers thinking we were friends. What he didn’t know was that a few weeks prior when he had seen us talking on the roof, we almost got into a fist fight. So, it is natural to assume from a distance that we were talking as friends. Words were exchanged, over a perceived insult, but we both remained calm, and Rose, a mutual friend who introduced us, felt bad that we didn’t hit it off.

Flash forward a month or so, after said sticker is given to the Floridian, his friend invites my best friend and I, (unbeknownst to him at the time) back to his buddy’s flat after the club. He thought the stickers were really cool. They simply said: “No, I’m Not in a Band.”

The backstory on that was we always got asked if we were in a band due to our presence and style of dress. We looked like musicians. While both of us could play, at least somewhat competently, neither of us were in a band.

So we show up, and when I walk in, it is like accidentally walking into a lion’s den. Luckily, they gave me a chance. It was a bit stand-offish at first. I ended up getting along with the Floridian and his friend, X. In fact, X became one of my best friends for a while. He, the Floridian and I became a sort of 3 Musketeers in the club scene. Where there was 1 of us, there were must likely the other 2 wandering around the club.

We set up the very industrial room of the club where I almost got into the fight with the Floridian, and we each took a Moniker: Chromer (X), Booster (Floridian) & Jammer (yours truly & archaic slang for “Fucker”). We had grand adventures, but the preceding was all a setup for the real story…

HTML5 Developer’s Conference Wrap Up

Badges? We do need some stinkin’ badges. Gracias!

HTML5 is here in full swing. With portions of CSS3 reaching recommendation candidate status and ES6 coming, it I critical for web developers to continue to learn not only the new technologies, but also current best practices. Because I try to do the right thing, I went to the HTML5 Developer’s Conference in SF. My Editor was in town and we ended up meeting and while I was enthusiastically telling him about it, he asked me if I would write up an article for DiceNews about what I found.

That would be great, I said. So, I pounded out a quick one the next day. You can read the article by clicking this link http://news.dice.com/2013/04/15/lessons-learned-at-html5-dev/if you so desire.

Feel free to comment here or there. But please forgive my generalizations. I know people are making full use of animations, and other modern features, but many more are not. And yes, I realize sometimes a page refresh is desired too. With that said, enjoy.

"Rude password - login denied": the AT&T April Fool that wasn't

Reblogged from Naked Security:

• 
• 

Earlier today, fellow Naked Security writer Graham Cluley pointed me at a fantastic April Fool's story.

AT&T, the tall tale told, had introduced a policy that prohibited passwords that "contain obscene language."

There was even a handy screenshot to add some vernal veracity (or autumnal authenticity in the Southern Hemisphere):

"Very droll," I thought.

After all, it surely wasn't true, since:

Read more… 598 more words

When I was with AT&T my verbal confirmation password contained …“F*ck AT&T….” When I gave it to CSRs, some were offended , and a few stifled a laugh. Looks like a lot of people have a dependency-hate relationship with AT&T as well as other mobile carriers. It is either that or my password was noticed. And while I would love to think I single-handedly changed a massive corporations policy by clever/obscene use of a use case, I know better. Every few months someone comes to me asking, “What’s a good mobile provider?” My answer is usually: they all suck in one way or another because they don’t care about any 1 customer. They’re all out to ream you & get you to the $100+/month tier. Last time I was asked, the woman who asked me had a follow up question: “Then which one screws you the least?” My answer: “It depends on what you need, and what you will tolerate.” Often the word “lube” is in the conversation somewhere.

Tools Geeks Don’t Know that They Need

Tools Geeks Don’t Know that They Need

A Woman that has no problem being silly, and loves Mel Brooks? This must be an awesome blog!

App.net For Conversation

App.net For Conversation

People ask me why App.net. This article is spot on in the answer. Also, I do not invite people en masse. I selectively chose people that a interesting and might have something to say or insight. I have invited a Snarky Psychologist that taught me a lot when we were younger, a Charismatic and sharp EMT, a Wick smart and trustworthy Lawyer, a new smart and cool female coder, my best friend who is a beyond great guy and unparalleled genius, a Linux Kernal Dev, a smart young lady that sees things with wisdom beyond her years,  and a smart guy with almost no filter that is very much responsible for the chain of events that got into IT when he taught me the basics of Pagemaker last Century. Sadly, most do not see the need for “Yet Another Social Network.” The ones that have joined will recognize themselves. So, do not mistake my invite and my enthusiasm as spam.

Fortunate: Fortune Control For Idiots Like Me

I am fortunate. I am thankful, and I take responsibility for being where I am at any given point in time. I sat down to write something very different an this is what is coming out.

I app.net (ADN) a new remote friend, @bojan, was inspired to write an article when we got on the subject of burnout. I was very curious as to his perspective. About a decade ago, I heard from a psychologist that many of her patients in Santa Clara that suffered from burnout where from one field: IT. I was surprised, truly surprised that this field of “smarter than the average bear” professionals would have such a high rate. But then I reflected on my own experience well over a decade ago with burning the candle at both ends and having my inner Scotty giving me more power to work 10,12 even 16 hour days at a great little start up, that still exists to this day.

WebFracking Article Live on DiceNews Now.

A few years ago, I started leaving Social Media because the social media left me… While people are aware of what is happening in SoNet space, the idea of what and why they are doing this has not been crystalized and formalized. Late last year, I wrote a piece that I decided to sit on and let gel a bit more. Then a few announcements were made in the past month that lend credibility to my hypothesis that SoNetCorps are engaging in WebFracking. Read more on Dice. And look at the link storm of references to support the article’s accuracy below if you wish.