Random Thoughts of a Disorganized Mind

It all starts with this…

Life has been crazy the last few months. I’m back working at Microsoft, in a very different position than last time.  I’m working on an Xbox team, as opposed to working at MGS as a tester.  This is still a contracted position, but without a set end date, and I don’t have to take that 100-day break.

For this position I’ve had to move yet again, and have had to get used to living in Redmond again.  This time I’m in a much better location than before.  This place is much more central so getting around without a car is much easier.
I truly love the job I do, and the people I work with. It’s always nice to fit in with such an awesome group of people.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a place in my life where I’ve laughed and smiled so much.  There’s very much a family feel with this group.

So that’s what I’ve been up to and why I’ve ‘gone dark’ the last several months.

I’m hoping to post more often once I’ve got more of a routine going.  It will probably be more personal stuff than tech related stuff, but I’ll probably still sneak in the occasional post about new tech that I’ve acquired.
So I hope those that read my site are well, and always feel free to post comments.

To quote the great Dennis Miller, “Now I don’t want to get off on a rant here…”

However, I think that’s exactly what I’m going to be doing.

I’m of the opinion that in the last decade the quality of journalism in all forms, but especially tech journalism, has been in decline.  This seems to be related to the rise of the web journalist. I’m talking about the new form of instant gratification journalism that has less fact checking, and apparently little to no copy-editing either.

When did traditional media outlets decide that it’s fine to let articles be presented to the wide world without making sure they’re polished and have their facts in place?

Who decided this was a good idea?

Now I’m not going to name individual outlets here.  I will say that it’s ridiculous when a majority of their articles are replete with misspellings, grammar errors, and ‘facts’ that have no sourcing or do not properly credit the source.  The sites I refer to are not simple blogs, but big media sites that are often cited as the source material for other smaller sites.  When did responsible journalism fall out of fashion?

What happens when you call these journalists out on their sloppy reporting?  Often times it’s either met with silence, or with ridicule.  That’s right.  The community of posters, or often times even the article writers will show no respect for your attempt to give them constructive criticism.  The rally cry around these postings is often something like ‘grammar nazi’ or ‘go back to your cave troll’.  When did people become so ridiculous that they equate a critique to the killing of millions of Jewish people?

I know that when I receive a note from someone that is well written, noting a mistake, I’ll almost always thank the person and fix the error.  The only time this doesn’t apply is if it is worded rudely.  Then I’ll take the time to write them back and note that rudeness is not required, and then fix the error.

In fact I’ve had a managing editor at a well known tech site literally curse at me.  He couldn’t handle my critique of their site and how they handle their members. Instead of discussing the situation he decided to fire away.  I have to say that I’m personally tired of this type of behavior. It is irrational and irresponsible.

What do you think?

I have something I want to be upfront about.

You may notice that I’m editing my earlier posts and that future posts will all include referrer links to Amazon.com.

I’m not making this huge and outrageous, but you’ll see that the links are underlined.  No funny ad pop-up’s or anything like that.  These are just plain old links.  The reason I’m doing this is pretty simple.  I can make money if people buy items through these links.  They aren’t going to some phishing site, they are direct links to Amazon, but they include my ID so I can get paid.

If you still don’t want to trust it, but want to buy the items then go ahead, I’ll never know .  I just figure this is a way to possibly make some spare cash on the side to help with living/hosting expenses.

Also I’ll never make a posting just to make money.  This blog is truly about my random thoughts, and you’ll notice that I didn’t kick through any links on this post since it’s just a notifier.  If in the course of a posting though I happen to mention a movie, or a book, then chances are I will link it to Amazon.  I’m doing this so people can enjoy things I enjoy and in doing so I also get money for pointing traffic their way.  Sounds fair don’t ya think?

This isn’t going to turn into one of those sites that has ads everywhere.  The only additional ‘ad’ you’ll see is the Amazon search bar up top right.  It pulls keywords off the page so the ads should always be in context and also includes my Amazon ID.  I’m doing this as low-key as possible so it doesn’t interfere with browsing speeds, or cause your kids to see Really Bad Things.™

Now according to Amazon I do have to tell you that I’m not a part of Amazon.com in any way, shape, or form.  This is just a cool program they have out there for people who run their own websites

So today I’m sitting in my non air-conditioned bedroom on the second floor of my house.  The place hits around the mid-90′s on a day when it’s only in the low-80′s outside.  I decide that I’m going to head to a local park where it’s heavily wooded, so it should be nice and cool.

Before I leave I decide I should grab a couple small items for my Kindle that I’ve been meaning to pick up anyways.  So I head over to grab a copy of Wil Wheaton’s ‘Just a Geek’ which I recommended in my Kindle post.  I’m hoping to have some laughs, and also some reflection which is what Wil does best.  I then figure I should take the time to actually go to all of his other books listings on Amazon and press the little ‘I’d like to read this book on Kindle’ link.  So from the ‘Just a Geek’ listing I click on Wil’s name so it’ll take me to his listing.

BLUESCREEN!

Windows 7 has now shat itself.

I look and see it’s an error caused by a file named atihdmi.sys. Being fluent in geek parlance tells me this means that for some reason the click sound (Windows ‘clicks’ when you click a link…sort of redundant) being sent from Windows via the HDMI port on my video card to my TV (which is being used as a secondary monitor) just caused the whole system to just go splat.

See Wil, these are the sorts of things that happen when you don’t respect the Kindle.  I hope you’ve learned your lesson.

As for ATi, you’re next on my list, so I suggest you learn how to sleep with your eyes open.