Thrill ride

Sure beats the crap out of Danish theme park commercials.

The Arrogance of Power

Reading this almost makes me want to cry.

I remember my horror when Wolfowitz was first appointed. A man so biased and with his right wing cowboy-hawk track record should never have been appointed to that office.

It is quite ironic that a man accused of nepotism is now being defended vigorously by his old buddies in the political system. If that doesn't constitute political nepotism and a lower form of corruption, then I don't know what does. I know it's all part of the geopolitical game but at the very least the Americans should have the decency to acknowledge due process - saving Wolfowitz' face doesn't help either the World Bank nor the US administration itself. It only enhances the feeling that there is some kind of Men's Club over there, always ready to bend global issues to favour personal causes.

According to NYT, it's really the British that have no balls and continue to suck up to an American administration that is probably weak as never before. What does it take to challenge the American political arrogance, even when they continue to fuck everything up?

A chance to study

Roskilde 2007 is right around the corner - and I've dived headlong into Last.FM to easily access an artist radio channel. Not a bad thing.

Last.FM is a beginner's disaster, however. As a registered user I see a general level of menus to access Last.FM on the surface. I also have my personal profile (accessed by either a very small link to the far left or to the far right) and a Dashboard (first thought to be the same thing as the profile)...which I think handles the building of my musical profile. Each of the sub-levels hold 7-8 distinct menu tabs. I was on the verge of giving up when I finally found a way to actually see the Roskilde 2007 group I had previously subscribed to.

Why on earth make things so complicated and bloated? Pandora has a much easier concept...but I still - much more easily - manage to hear the music I like. LFM is obviously extremely customizable...but I get so weary when I enter the page :/

[Edit]
Pandora's shut down for extra-terrestrials, by the way. Easily circumvented, I read. Some simple proxy setting in the browser should do it. No idea where I read it, unfortunately. Must tag more often.

What I'm payed for

Here's a list of stuff I need to relate to in my new job:

IBM VisualAge Generator (v.4.5)

IBM AIX

NetOp Remote Control
This gadget works a charm, actually - although I have no clue how complicated it is to configure. Danware.

Reflection for IBM
Mainframe connectivity/emulation software. We use it to access what we program, as users.

PuTTY
Mainframe connection app. We use it to access what we program, as nerds.

Lotus Notes (v. 6.5.4)
The user interface is a disaster - learning curve surpassed only by the slopes of Everest. Still, it is extensive...and covers a lot of ground if you're a medium-large company. This version is from 2003...the new 2008 looks promising, with blog, wiki and web2.0 features integrated.

TestDirector
A test management environment. Seems pretty cool and customizable.

Advanced Query Tool
Used for accessing and checking the DB2 database records on various accounts. Neat little program for the SQL dependant.

Apart from these, Word and Excel are the order of the day - of course.

I'm also getting very much into productivity tools, thanks to my favourite site at the moment, Lifehacker.
Through it, I stumbled upon the best app of the year.
I even integrated it into the remote VisualAge development through NetOp that I need to do every day. Mouse scrolling bliss restored remotely..!