July 26th personal thoughts

Patience and Perseverance are two tremendous traits that i am slowly becoming familiar with. I have been applying for jobs all week and really haven't got any good feedback yet but I am staying positive although i continue to receive thank you but no thank you letters from companies. There is a grocery store & a mall down the street that i will be going to next week if i don't hear anything by then. I know that it takes time but i need money. At least it will be within walking distance and i will be able to pay my own bills. I really respect my sister Kim, she has ALOT going for herself and i am proud to be her brother. I just wish i wouldn't have been so rebellious an stupid as a kid, maybe i would be in a better position. Everyone seems to be expecting the best from me and it's keeping me somewhat motivated. I just want to be a normal guy with a normal job and a normal life, but more and more it seems that normality isn't in my cards. I have to be more than normal.

The Lost Art of doing Research

Lately I've noticed a few bogus stories that get started due to crazy Twitter post. People will see something and without doing any research to make sure that it's valid, run with it no questions asked. Case in point, Hugh Hefner's death rumors. To be honest I really don't condone the man or what he does for a living and probably could use a different thesis for this example, but it still proves my point none the less. An anonymous Twitter post came across my time line a day ago stating "RIP Hugh." Before i clicked the all mighty retweet button I decided to do a little research first because death is serious, and I definitely don't wish that fate upon anyone. After about a minute worth of searching it was a total hoax. Then I noticed that the post was spreading like a Facebook computer virus (imagine that) and i thought to myself, "Do people research anything anymore?" I mean true it's Hugh but Damn? What if this happened to you? What if everyone you knew started calling your family and friends stating you had passed away? What type of effect do you think this could have on them? But i digress...

Year of the Hackers

2011 seems to be the year of the hackers. Something that used to be Taboo and somewhat "Cult-ish" has been thrown into the public eye and the media by groups such as LulzSec & Anonymous who are two of the most publicized hacking group out there. And now with this huge scandal involving one Rupert Murdock (if you don't recognize the name, google it) and his "News of the World" corporation supposedly being involved in phone hacking to gain sensitive information on British dignitaries, it's only going to dirty the term even more. Which brings me to my point, Hackers aren't all bad individuals. Do a google search and you will find certain levels of hackers. Most are good people that become security experts for major companies and never do anything out of malicious intent or to get monetary gain out of it besides the salaries in which they are paid, but yes their are some that do it with malicious intent on mind. Criminals are everywhere and just because they aren't your typical criminal, crime is crime. But lets dig deeper shall we, We are living in a culture where greed is the endgame when it comes to business. Bottom line, is it profitable? I say that to say this, when you apply for a job one of the first things you read on a application is "Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?" basically meaning are you willing to be loyal to the company? But now days the same companies are willing to just kick you to the curb for a few extra bucks that they could save by cutting jobs. Case in point, Sony has been "roshambo" by the hacking community as of late, they significantly downsized their online security department months before they got their Playstation Network brought down for about a month by a hacking group. One could say they got what they deserved and in theory they did, but what if, and i do mean IF, some of the employees that got "Pink Slipped" gave up sensitive data to the hacking groups? Or even collaborated with the groups? Or EVEN were key members of those groups? I understand that some companies have to downsize to survive but who thinks that Sony was in that bad of financial shape? I think not, but that's just my 2 cents...