Archive for category Opinion
How Much is Too Much?
How much information is a prospective employeer entitled to while doing a background check as part of the hiring process?
Let’s think about this, they have our name and our email address since you likely emailed them your resume. Who uses paper nowadays right? On top of that you have probably filled out an application which included your phone number, social security number, previous employers and address.
So that would allow them to find out some information through traditional channels as well as general Google searches, unless a Google search is now considered traditional? What about usernames or alternative email addresses? What about a list of all forums, chat rooms, groups or social sites that you use? What about the login and password to those sites?
Did that last line catch you off guard? Did it make you do an “OMG WTF LOL” at the very idea of giving someone your username and password to a website?
Many people have felt the same way about the City of Bozeman Montana who is requesting that very information as past of their standard “CONSENT AND RELEASE TO CONDUCT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND and REFERENCE CHECKS” for all prospective employees to the city.
Needless to say, I won’t be applying for a job with Bozeman anytime soon, but I wonder if this idea will start to spread out to other places as well. Is this really a set of information that an employer needs in order to do a background check into someone prior to hiring them? I don’t think so and I think it’s a huge violation of personal privacy.
Should an employer also be allowed full access to do a search of your home? Read all personal diaries? Get the full lowdown on why you left previous jobs?
No to all of these, public information is what should be relevant to employment. Private information should only be considered if it is relevant to something that would directly affect yoru ability to perform the duties of your job, these jobs are few and far between.
On top of the personal privacy issues, there is also another point which needs to be addressed, the Terms of Use/Service of the websites for which they are requesting username and passwords.
3.4 You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.
4.6 You will not share your password, let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.
4. Password. When you sign up to become a Member, you will also be asked to choose a password. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password. You agree not to use the account, username, or password of another Member at any time or to disclose your password to any third party. You agree to notify MySpace immediately if you suspect any unauthorized use of your account or access to your password. You are solely responsible for any and all use of your account.
Now above and beyond the privacy issues, there are also personal security issues with giving this information to someone, especially on a sheet of paper that will be seen by who knows how many people and be stored in who knows what manner? This is a security nightmare of epic proportions for anyone in my opinion. Google and Yahoo are not just social clubs, chat rooms or forums, they are also email providers, so not only would someone have access to that, they could potentially have access to every website you belong to by simply going and having your password emailed to yourself, or scanning through old emails that are still stored within your account.
On top of all that, there is also the risk of whoever is doing the research getting caught up in unrelated social drama where another person could be posting things that aren’t true.
When do we say when? Where do the boundries of personal and professional stop? Who decides what is or is not relevant and do they really have that right?
I honestly question some of the legality of this request in the first place, and while I am sure the city had lawyers that have cleared it; I am sure there are lawyers out there who could find some references that could help clear up the murky waters of legality.
Just to be fair, there are plenty of other parts of this consent and release form that I have issues with, but they don’t really apply to IE, so I won’t go into them.
If the city of Bozeman is interested in hiring me, then they can go get their own Facebook account or Myspace account and become my friend if they want to know what is on my profile.
So I Setup and Tested the Wii
Posted by nedster in Entertainment, Fun, Opinion, Sports on 2009/05/19
Well, the Wii is definitely just as much fun as I have heard it is supposed to be. I got home last night, actually read the directions, and then setup my Wii in the livingroom.
My initial setup had the sensor put on the top of the TV, but then after I played with it a little bit I realized this was a poor placement for the sensor. I have my TV mounted above the mantle of my fireplace, and having the sensor on the top makes it a little tough to aim the controller and get a good reaction from it’s field of view. I moved it down and put it on my mantle and the action and responsiveness became much much better.
So I played each of the games in the Wii Sports once I had things setup.
First was bowling since it was the simplest. It was a little tricky the first couple throws, but then I started to get a hang of it. I scored a 132 my first game, and then a 143 my second game. I definitely have a slight hook to my throws, but the funny thing is that I have the same when I bowl for real. Easy to compensate for and even helped me a little for scoring to have the hook.
Next up… Tennis!
I didn’t explore all the options but I played 1 player tennis doubles. First match was just 1 game and I lost scoring only once. However, once I was done with that, I played a 3 game and a 5 game match and won 3-1 and 3-0 in those, so I think I have a handle on it.
Next up… Boxing!
This was fun, I only did 2 fights, but they were fun. I definitely move faster than the controllers can react, but it’s not too bad, the real trick was figuring out how to do different punches instead of just a jab. I won both fights by knock outs, one in the second round on the 2nd knock down(3rd overall) and one in the 3rd round(4th overall), I still don’t know how he got up so many times in those first two rounds.
Next up… Golf!
This was hard… I think it was probably harder for me because I play real golf than it would be for someone else. I played 3 holes(pars 4, 3, 5) and scored a 6, 5, and 6 respectively. It was fun but I also need more room for it to be a lot of fun.
Last up… Baseball!
Pitching was easy, but not til the end of the 3rd inning did I discover how to throw a curveball, and I know I need to read up a little more on what is what to get that down better. Hitting was a little weird because of the bat position, that may have been my fault though. Another quirk was fielding, that’s all automatic, and the fact that everyone in the field looks like a weeble is weird too, NO LEGS!! That game ended after 3 innings, with a score of 0-0. I almost hit a home run 3 times though, only to have it caught on the warning track.
Late Note/Edit: One thing that would make this a whole lot better to play would be having higher ceilings in my house, I think I only have a 7-7.5 foot ceiling, so it makes it pretty hard if I am playing tennis and go to swing with the overhand to slam it through to try to win the point.
It is now ok for me to criticize it…
Not only is it one of the fucking ugliest cars out there, I now have the ability and qualifications to say that a Prius fucking sucks to drive!
Horribly uncomfortable, awkward, and absolute crap for sight lines.
Power is iffy at times and I really dislike how it doesn’t slow you down when you take your foot off the gas since the electric part takes over to keep the car moving more than you would in a normal car.
Just another car to add to the list with minivan and HHR on my no drive list with Avis.
Well About Freakin Time!!
Let us bid farewell to Brett Favre, he has now officially retired.
No more talk about “the streak” no more talk about the battling veteran QB, no more talk about the records he is setting, no more putting his own glory and desire above and beyond those of the team.
Great career, some great things, but at least he was able to go out with some dignity with a halfway decent season this past year.
***UPDATE: Unfortunately this post turned out not to be true… even now, in 2010, Favre is still playing and will likely play again for the Vikings this year***
Pretty Disappointed
So, I had a craving last night and went north from the airport instead of west to home…
I picked up a roast beef sandwich and chowder at Kelly’s Roast Beef on rt 1.
The sandwich, as always was great, the meat, the roll, everything was perfect.
The chowder however, left a lot to be desired.
Plenty of clam, that is for certain and the potatoes were a good size, however… it was far far too thin, far too few onions, and WAY too much sand!!
I Rarely Get Really Annoyed With Things…
but I really have to say that the double standards that some people have and their attitudes about the internet really piss me off.
“oh, it is just the internet, it doesn’t matter what I say”
“oh get over it, it is just the internet”
“Of course I would be pissed off if someone said that about my sister, but she is not my sister and she is not your sister, so why do you care what I say about her?”
Are people really this stupid? Do they really believe that just because it is “only the internet” that they have some sort of free pass to say whatever they want about whoever they want and not have to respect anyone because of that?
and what the hell is with people who can make dirty, disgusting, creepy, and disturbing comments about someone that they would absolutely in no way ever have the guts to actually say in person to someone in the real world but yet get totally pissed off if someone else says the exact same things about their sister or mother? I call that a double standard, but these people seem to deny that it is a double standards.
What the hell? and people really wonder why our society is the way it is?
wake the hell up and look in the mirror you F***** Morons!!!
Are You Ferserious?
Now, I understand that some people have allergies etc, and I can see some special accommodations being made by companies for people who are allergic to certain things.
but today, i think things went a bit far with this while on a United flight serviced by Ted.
Someone had a peanut allergy and there were no peanuts or anything with any type of peanut ingredients allowed on the entire plane.
What the hell? The guy sitting next to me got yelled at by the stewardess for eating a snickers bar, and another person was told they had to put their reese’s pieces away immediately and not open them again until they were off the plane.
They would not tell us where the person was seated, I could totally understand asking anyone near this person to not eat any, but if this person is in the last row of the plane, then why not let the people in the front eat a snickers or some reese’s pieces on the flight?
Honestly, if you have that severe an allergy, contemplate some other solution to travel or get yourself a bubble or something like that.
Kind of Useful and Neat
and there are a few people out there who I think I want to go covertly install this on their computers….
Where Do Old, Over Controlling, and Annoying Flight Attendants Go?
They get thrown on Regional jet flights where they are the only flight attendant on the flight and get to have complete control and exercise their god complex!!
So, first thing I am on the plane, I have Seat 1D, which means no seat in front of me on the ever so small CanadAir regional jet, but I took that seat because there would be no one sitting next to me, which is always a nice thing. So I get on and she sees where I am sitting and right away she starts out with the “you need to put that bag in the overhead compartment since you don’t have a seat to put it under in front of you”
“thank you, I know I just need to re-arrange a few things first”
and I get into the row and start to re-arrange some of the things in the bag so it will fit up there, and while I am doing so she comes over to remind me again that I need to put it up above and again I remind her that I am moving some things around so I can fit it in the overhead compartment so it willbe a few minutes”
As soon as I am done telling her that, she says “I am going to hold people from boarding to you can go down the aisle and put yout bag in an overhead compartment, I will let you keep a book with you though so you don’t have to get it once we are up in the air”
Hello?!? Did you not listen to me when I said I was re-arraigning things and would be a couple minutes? Gee, thanks, I get to keep a book? How thoughtful and nice of you!
So then, we are sitting down, I have my headphones with me and a bottle of water I had gotten, and I get scolded that I cannot put the bottle of water in the pocket in front of me because it is only meant for magazines, the safety card and the air sickness bag, and if there is any kind of major turbulence then the bottle could fly and hit someone. So I should hold into it in my hands instead.
Are you serious woman? If there is turbulence enough to shake the bottle free from the seat pocket in front of me and could go hit someone else, do you really think that I will be able to keep hold of it in the same turbulence? Personally, I am more worried about why we would be having that bad of turbulence that would cause that to happen more so than that bottle going off somewhere. My guess is that if the turbulence is that bad, the plane is probably gonna go down and crash at that point and I would rather get knocked out with a bottle of water and be unconscious instead of being conscious and watching the ground come at me really fast.
SO THEN we are up and flying… and we have not leveled off yet, but I plugged my headphones into my mindisc and put them on my head because it was about the time that they always announce we can do it (even though I usually have them on before we leave the ground), and she then scolds me that I am not allowed to use approved electronics yet on the flight and I give her the “are you serious” look and she does that little thing that your mom does with her finger that means turn it off. So I turn it off and take the headphones off my ears.
SHE THEN PICKS UP THE INTERCOM AND ANNOUNCES THAT WE HAVE REACHED AN ALTITUDE WHERE WE CAN USE APPROVED ELECTRONICS!!!
What the hell?!?!
Does anyone know if I can buy a shirt that says “I fly 6000 miles a week, leave me alone, I know what I am doing”
To Semi Quote Denny Green – “It was what I thought it was”
That’s what I have to say about the Mexican Place called Hacienda’s here in Warsaw, IN.
It was exactly what I was expecting from a mexican resteraunt here in the state if Indiana.
I got the fajitas, tough to really screw it up… and they did not but it just was severely underwhelming of a meal… I skipped the beans, and no peppers with the fajitas.
I got 3 strips of chicken, and 5 strips of steak. but they gave me 5 fajitas wraps. Do they really think I can stretch that out to many wraps? Also, the onions, normally you would expect some nice slices or rings all saute’d up? Not at this place! Super high class! Ya know those micro-sized diced onions you get on a McDonald’s hamburger? Picture those saute’d up underneath my heaping portions of meat. Yeah, that REALLY got me all kinds of excited when it arrived to the table!!
The salsa tasted more like Hunts Tomato paste mixed with some jalapeno juice…
awesome…