Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Finding work when you are some kind of mutuant

If you think it is not easy being green, then think again. At least when you are green, you are identifiable. It may be true that you do not have much experience, but at least a certain set of your skills are fresh and someone, somewhere, either through internships or other, will take you aboard.

In my self-pitying case, having a background which is not so clearly cut, in applied sciences, then later in the humanities, but little experience in either, selling myself has not been that straight forward. A friend just recently told me that she thought that I have given up. In someways, there is little reason to believe that a job, a form of voluntary submission in the name of revenue, should justify one's existence.

Where should I go from here. Although I do appreciate the tools, gadgets or other products that make our lives enjoyable, I am well aware of how many of them fail to address more pressing issues. For example you may have heard about the Smart Watch Pebble project on Kickstarter which sounds like a good project, but everyone know the minute hand old style watch will outlive any technology that depends on another to function.

Regarding projects that need funding, geoengineering is not moving along as well as it could given a lack of funding. Some projects to reduce the greenhouse effect by increasing the cloud cover with white clouds through increased sea water in the air which would create white clouds, would require about 2 million dollars, but funding is not quite sufficient.

In thinking of offering my services to a company or another, I have to be realistic on what are the expectations. Designing a slurry pump system, or an enclosure for an electrical system does not have nowhere the same challenges as designing a research plan or a questionnaire where the variables do not conform to the expectations of a scientific model.
Although none of us a half-this of half-that, some have taken on streamlined career paths, which make it easier getting employment.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Apple Bashing to Google Praise

Yes this blog is on Blogger - a Google service. Although not every Google service has been successful, I know that the founders of Google, and the many workers at the company have brought far more to society in the past ten years that their competitor Apple. Although they do not compete exactly for the same market, simple MP3 players, phones and tablets all existed well before the "designer" salesman Steve Jobs presented them. I am sure that he had a much better understanding of humans than I do, but the goal of his understanding of society was driven for a need to change it.
When I look at what Jobs left us, there is no doubt that the technocratic approach is dominant. Many artists, authors, educators have preferred Apple products for various reasons, but the push to the rest of Apple products like phones, tablets and some of the software are more reflective of the mass consumer appeal.
Some technology will flop even if it offers better speeds, energy efficiency or other characteristics that may be sought. The iPad does not have what most would need of want from one moment to another ie. ability to change system fonts, USB or HDMI ports, expandable storage, stylus input. Being thin and rounded may be nice, but it does not meet ergonomic criteria where it must be held in two hands. ( not to mention the neck strain from the tablet.) Unfortunately, seeing Apple winning at the game, all other manufacturers threw resources and money at such products with only a few making a profit.

So where does Google do what Apple does not : organize, produce (survey) and link information. There is no doubt that there is an interest to make money from advertisers, the commercialization of the Internet has been a profitable venture for many. Perhaps keeping information walled and concealed is part of the problem.

Bouncing back from social networking ( Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.)

I made an effort in the past couple months to make use of the social networking tools. In fact I cannot say that I made that much of an effort. In fact, I created the accounts, but could not be bothered to sign in on a daily basis, nor did I want people to know what I am up to.

In some respects, not using LinkedIn may be a fault, but I keep contact with the people with whom I believe it is necessary.  Were I an employer, searching for a name online may not be a good method to determine whether or not someone is a suitable candidate, however it is one method that was never available in the past.

So I tried for under a month using a Facebook , Twitter, LinkedIn - but now, the accounts have been deleted. I failed to find any use for them.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

How to cut a wheel boot

If you are next to your car looking for a solution online from your smartphone, I think you are probably out of luck. However if you prepare yourself with a few items, you may very well be able to get rid of a parking boot.

A high performance tire compressor
A disc cutter

With these two items, you will be able to cut through the tempered steel.

Be sure to have some water to cool the steel off before you touch it.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Official Gmail Blog: Introducing Gmail Tap

Official Gmail Blog: Introducing Gmail Tap

I am actually quite excited about this ! If only facebook had something similar where posts on the wall would be binary. Reading ungrammatical sentences is taxing. A dot or a line would make more sense.