It Is High Time For a Revolution !!

Greetings:

[Warning:  This is a rant!  Feel free to comment... Anonymously if you like.] 

It is time for all AI Guys (and other decent programmers) to rise up in revolt!  I, for one, am sick and tired of having headhunters, er, recruiters, call me back within two or three minutes of my having sent them an email with my five-page CV asking, "What is your hourly rate?"  You know, I know, everyone knows, that they never did read the CV!!  These guys are not even worthy of the name "headhunter" - they are nothing more than slot-fillers, clerks, looking for warm bodies to fill a slot somewhere.  They see only one or two qualifications on a résumé or CV, pick up the telephone and immediately try to beat down the asking price.  And the Asians are the worst!  I have been discussing this with some of my "AI Guy" friends and this is what we have discovered.  First some history:

Way back in the 1990's the big recruiting firms used to work with the Fortune 500 or Fortune 100 firms and take 5% off the top to supply 100 to 1,000 contractors to the firms.  Now, do the math for just COBOL programmers who were making $35 / hour.  Large recruiting firms like Maxim were making $40 per hour.  That is $5 per hour per person and, let's say Maxim had 500 COBOL programmers at FedEx (they actually had a lot more) then Maxim was making $2,500 per hour just at FedEx or $100,000 per week.  All of that usually was due to one or two fairly busy account executives.  That's $5M per year for the company and the account executives made good money along the way as well.  Everybody was happy.  Some greedier recruiters got $7 to $10 per hour but we all knew them and stayed away from them.  The COBOL guys were making $70K per year, way more than they had ever made at FedEx before they retired and started contracting to make some extra bucks, the account executives were happy, Maxim was happy and FedEx was saving major bucks by not having to pay out all of the "perks" that they would have had to pay for employees.  Everything was Rosy.

Then came the up-times and the down-times.  FedEx and other large companies moved to "Client-Server", meaning Unix, and started hiring more expensive Unix guys, C/C++ guys, GUI guys, then Java guys and J2EE guys.  YUCK!  These guys wanted more money.  And then more firms wanted their services.  These guys started making $50, $60, $70 per hour and more.  And then the headhunters came out of the woodwork.  By the end of the 1990's headhunters (formerly known as recruiters) were waking up to making a bigger share of the pie.   Now they were taking 20% off the top.  By the mid 2000's the headhunters were taking 30% or more but at least they were fairly up-front about it.

Then in the mid 1990's came the Java-based Business Rule Management Systems (BRMS), formerly known as RuleBased Systems.  BRMS was a rulebased system with a GUI on top so that the business guys could make some sense of the rules.  The BRMS consulting guys were new to the game and could command really good hourly wages at that time.  Especially since Neuron Data (later FICO) and ILOG (later IBM) were commanding $300 per hour plus expenses.  But, then, IBM, Oracle and other big companies were commanding $400 to $500 per hour for their guys so ND and ILOG were cheap compared to those guys and when you consider that the factory guys were there for two weeks or less it was not so bad. 

Then came Drools, a Java-base rulebase that did not have a GUI interface but did have a Rete engine.  Drools was free under the Apache License and anyone who could spell "Java" could claim to be a Drools expert.  You did not have to know anything about AI or be a Rete-guru to do Drools; just know something about "if-then-else" and something about not implementing an infinite loop.  If the company did not have more the 200 rules you were gold.  If they had more than 200 rules then you called in the Big Boys and bailed out with what you had made so far.  The poor clients did not know the difference between Drools and JRules or Advisor.  Unfortunately for Mark Proctor, Drools programmers gave Drools a bad name even though he was working harder and harder to make it a better and better product.  It is a far better product today but is still suffers from a bad past.

By 2010 the industry was having a headhunter feast.  These guys were taking between 40% to 60% off the top, charging expenses to the client and keeping it for themselves and the poor schlimiel programmers did not catch on for several years.  The clients did not care.  Now we, the programmers, have caught on!  So, whenever a headhunter says, "That's all that this job is paying." then they are lying.  Plain and simple.  How do you know that they are lying?  THEIR LIPS ARE MOVING!!  OK, maybe one or two out there are truthful - but I have not found them yet.  What we need is a National Database of Jobs Available from Independent Customers so that Independent Programmers can apply to them.  All of this has been brought about by totally lazy and incredibly inefficient HR divisions within companies who are just too damned lazy to do their own homework and find the right guys for the job.  They would rather let headhunters do the their work for them and find somebody rather than sift through the résumés themselves and have to think about what is there and what they need to do and who they need to call to check on what that person has said on the résumé. 

So, now let us think about what we should be doing.

1. Set an hourly rate plus per diem (expenses) and DO NOT deviate.
2. Set an hourly rate all-inclusive that includes $35 per hour for expenses and DO NOT deviate.
3. Go get GOOD training on your particular field, whether DBA, Java, J2EE, BRMS or whatever.  BE the Guru that you claim to be.

Now, you are worth whatever you demand.  Do not be greedy - but know your worth.

The East Coast (even FL and PA) is worth an extra $10 per hour in expenses.  Demand it.  Do not back down.

The West Coast (CA, WA, OR) is worth an extra $15 per hour in expenses.  Demand it.  Do not back down.

Expenses include air fare, meals, taxi, auto rental, incidentals (tips, etc.), coffee breaks, breakfast, everything that you have to spend while on the road.  Everything!!  And do NOT let them tell you that the limit is $60 or $75 per day.  If they can live on that while on the road, then let them go on the road and live on that in NYC!

DC-2013: It Is NOT Too Late

Decision Camp 2013 will be November 4 - 6 in San Jose at eBay.  You can still register.  Registration is free BUT there are only a few seats left so if you are reading this AND you want to go AND you can get there AND you actually know the way to San Jose, you had better register today!!!  Oh.  You went and there were no seats left?  Well, try again tomorrow.  Maybe someone cancelled and a seat opened up.  I just called Carole Ann Matignon (the main organizer) and right now there are a few seats left.

So!  Why should you attend?  Mainly because I said so, of course.  Secondly, because of the great lineup of speakers.  Let's see; first, of course, there is Dr. Charles Forgy, the "head liner" - the man who invented the Rete Algorithm.  And then there is Carlos Seranno-Morales, the man who invented Advisor that later became Blaze Advisor, the first Java version of a rulebased system to hit the market.  (That's right - it hit the market six months before Jess.)  Then there is Mark Proctor, co-inventor of Drools, the leading rulebased system that is free to everyone under the Apache license that is also the commercial version put out by Red Hat.  Oh, and don't forget Dr. Jacob Feldman, the inventor of Open Rules.  And our most gracious host will be speaking, Kenny Shi from eBay.  And there is James Taylor, the writer and former VP at FICO, not the singer, will be there to speak on "The Decision Management Journey."  Oops!  I almost forgot the main person!  The Lady of the Lake, Our Spirit of Inspiration, the Dominatrix of Decisions, the one person who has made all of these "geeky-business" conferences possible since October Rules Fest 2008, Carole Ann Berlioz-Matignon, former VP of FICO and now the CEO of Sparkling Logic and primary instigator of Decision Camp 2013. 

AND there will be many, many others there as well!  Three days of great speakers meeting at eBay in a great city  It all begins on Monday at High Noon.  We should be through in time for you to be home for supper Wednesday night - if you live near San Jose.  Unless, of course you want to check out San Francisco Bay that evening or something silly like that.  Whatever... it will be a wonderful opportunity for you to meet some of the greatest minds in our industry, hear them talk and ask them questions and just hang out for a while in California.  See you there!

Shalom
James

Gibb's 39 Rules - Updated 3/10/15

Greetings:

[Same post, just updated some of the rules and added a couple, 20 June 2014]

NCIS - (Former Gunny Sgt) Leroy Jethro Gibbs has 39 (now 50 or 51) Rules of Conduct.  While these are, well, kind of "macho" and Geeks are really not "macho" guys, we really, deep-down, want to be macho, he-man guys and not the Dilbert web-weenie kind of guys for which we are normally personified.  So, I have been thinking:  We, the Geeks of the World probably should adopt some of these rules for our own.  Just for your edification, I have searched the internet and listed what I could find of them here.  If you can find the missing rules, let me know.  Persons who stated the rule other than Gibbs and the episodes in which the rules were given are listed in parentheses.

1. Never let suspects (Managers?) stay together (Franks in "Yankee White")
2. (2a) Never screw over your Partner. ("Blowback")  [2b] Always wear gloves. (Gibbs in "Choke Hold" 1014/14) 
3. (3a) Don't believe what you're told.  Double check everything. (Franks, "Yankee White")  (3b) Never be unreachable ("Deception")  (3c) Never underestimate your opponent. ("Hiatus, Part 2")
4. The best way to keep a secret?  Keep it to yourself.  Second best?  Tell one other person - if you must.  There is no third best.  ("Blowback") [My Note: This is a rephrase of Poor Richard's Almanac: "Three may keep a secret if two are dead."  - Benjamin Franklin] [Or - from Sir Humphrey Appleby in "Yes, Minister": "One may keep a secret if one keeps it a secret that one hath a secret to keep."]
5. You don't waste good...  ("Baltimore")
6. Never apologize.  It's a sign of weakness. ("Flesh and Blood", Hiatus - Part 1", Also credited to John Wayne in the movie, "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon")
7. Always be specific when you lie. ("Reveille")
8. Never take anything for granted. ("Probie")
9. Never go anywhere without a knife. ("One Shot, One Kill", "Missing")
10. Never get personally involved in a case. ("Obsession")
11. When the job is done, walk away. ("Semper Fidelis")
12. Never date a co-worker.  ("Enigma")
13. Never, ever involve a lawyer. ("Collateral Damage" & "Rule Fifty-One")
14. .
15. Always Work as a Team. ("Leap of Faith")
16. If someone thinks that they have the upper hand, break it! ("Pyramid")
17. .
18. It's better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission. ("Silver War")
19. .
20. Always look under. ("The Artful Dodger" - 3/10/15, Bishop)
21. .
22. Never, ever bother Gibbs during an interrogation. ("Smoked")
23. Never mess with a Marine's coffee if you want to live. ("Forced Entry")
24.  .
25. .
26. .
27. Two ways to follow.  The first, they never notice you.  The second, they notice only you. ("Jack the Knife"and "Rule Fifty-One")
28. .
29. .
30. .
31. .
32. .
33. .
34. .
35. Always watch the watch the watchers. ("Baltimore")
36. If it feels like your are being betrayed, you probably are. (Season 9, Episode 1)
37. .
38. Your case, your lead. ("Bounce")
39. There is no such thing as a coincidence. ("Obsession")
40. (40a) The Fortys are for emergency use only. (Abby, "Rule Fifty-One") (40b)  If it seems that someone is out to get you, they are.  (Abby, agreed to by Gibbs, "Rule Fifty-One")
41. .
42. Never accept an apology from someone who just sucker punched you. (Season 9, Episode 16)
43. .
44. First things first.  Hide the women and children.  ("Patriot Down")
45. Always clean up your own mess. ("Rule Fifty-One", "Gut-Check")
46. .
47. .
48. .
49. .
50. .
51. Sometime you're wrong. ("Rule Fifty-One")

Rule 64: Always give personal space in an elevator.
Rule 69: Never trust a woman who doesn't trust her man. (Season 9, Episode 7)

Unwritten Rules:

1. You do what you have to for family. 
2.  A slap to the face is an insult.  A slap to the back of the head is a wake-up call.
3. We don't believe in coincidence.  But we do believe in bad luck.
4. Don't speak Geek-Speak.  Speak English. (Gibbs to McGee)
5. Always anticipate.
6. Don't call Ziva "Ma'am" and don't call Jenny "Madam Director", if you want to live.
7. When hacking the CIA's database, give the person doing the hacking a get out of jail free pass.
8. When breaking others' rules, do not get caught.
9. If you want to gain access to a secure area to investigate, carry a cup of coffee, some paperwork and act like you belong.   
10. Never underestimate a mama bear when her cub is in danger.  (Frank, "False Witness")

These were collected from the following links
http://www.ncisfanatic.com/2010/06/gibbs-rules-ncis-the-complete-list-of-gibbs-rules.html
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2012/09/gibbs-rules-list-ncis-quotes-to-live-by/

So!  There you have it.  48 Rules considering 3b, 3c, 40a, 40b, 44, 45, and 51!  58 Rules if you add in the 10 Unwritten Rules.  OK, somebody lied about the number of rules.  But it was not Gibbs because Gibbs never lies.  Probably it was Tony who lied because, well, Tony always lies.   But we all know that getting rid of Zeva was the biggest mistake the show has made so far. 

BTW, the "One Shot, One Kill" is the motto of almost all "real" snipers.  A good policy to follow and not the "Spray and Pray" policy of most modern-day shoot-outs in city jungles with fully-automatic weapons.  Only raw beginners (or street punks) who never learned how to shoot need a fully-automatic weapon.  Real shooters only need a semi-auto for that second shot at more than 300 meters when a sudden wind gust took the first head-shot off by an inch or so.  Also, real snipers never, ever use lasers.  If you can see the laser tag, so can the target which means that and they can see you.  Well, or so I've been told.  :-)

Later, Gator...

Ode to Willie Hall

Ode To Wille Hall

Willie died last week.
Nobody told me at the time.
Irwin called me later.
And told 'bout the crime.

'Bout what crime you might ask.
What crime if 'twere crime at all.
The crime that more folks were not there.
To weep for my friend Willie Hall.

Willie was a mighty big man.
Not quite six feet tall.
Built like a big brick court-house.
And a grin that spread wall-to-wall.

Always with a good word for everyone.
Always a hale fellow well-met.
Always a good man to have on your side.
Always a good man in ways not set.

Of all things that were said last week,
Of all things that I could not hear,
Of all things that I wish I had heard,
Willie, my friend, you were most dear. 

Ahavath V'Shalom, Willie Hall
Ahavath V'Shalom
Ahavath V'Shalom, Willie Hall
Ahavath V'Shalom


(Ahavath V'Shalom is Hebrew for Love and Peace)

Communication versus Babble

Greetings:

(Note: This was originally written in 2008)

Babble is aptly named after the Tower of Babel where, if you believe what is written in the TaNaKh or Bible, The Almighty confused the tongues of men so that they could not understand each other. And so it is with communications in Information Technology (IT). Rolando Hernandez and I were talking today about having a meeting where we would have both business users and IT users (commonly called geeks or nerds or...) in the same meeting. Here is the problem:

If you talk about objects, attributes, LHS, RHS, EHS, Rete, Rete 2, Rete III, Sequential Rules, etc. in a meeting with Business Analysts, PMs, CEOs, CIOs or CTOs you will get lots of blank looks while they try to determine whether or not to call the guys in white coats to escort you out of the building. BUT, if you talk about ease of programming, ROI, IROI, NETP, NET-NETP and things like that, then they will applaud you for being able to communicate.

On the other hand, if you explain objects, attributes, LHS, RHS, EHS, Rete, Rete 2, Rete III, Sequential Rules, etc in the meeting with the Rule Geeks, then they will just get up and leave the room since you would be, effectively, talking down to them. Using the terms is OK because the Rule Geeks understand them fluently. BUT, mention ROI, IROI, NETP, NET-NETP and the Rule Geeks will not come back - that is NOT why they want to use a rulebased system.

Another great example: Rolando Hernandez sent out an email to various users and business guys where he was explaining things in relation to Zachman's Chart on Enterprise Architecture. He talked about the Executives and Managers being on row 1 or row 2 while the implementors, the coders, would be on row 5 or 6. However, he forgot to mention that he was referring to Zachman's Chart and the geeks were thinking that the managers would be sitting on the first row in the meeting and the programmers would have to sit in the back of the room on row 5 or row 6.

On ANY presentation you HAVE to know your audience; Geek Speak is cool with Geeks. Financial Analysis is great with the CxO guys. So, Rolando is now proposing a monthly meeting in DRG for Business guys from 5:00 - 6:00 and the subject will be rulebased systems (usually sponsored by a specific vendor) and the information will be on HOW the rulebased systems can help the company increase the bottom line. Then, from 6:00 to 7:00 there will be a social hour (yes, a whole hour) where the Vendors, Business Guys and Geeks get together and just hang out with drinks and maybe supper of some kind, and then there will be a two hour meeting from 7:00 to 9:00 on some technical part (DRG) of rulebased system just using Geek Speak.

Same room. Same subject. Different audiences. Different words. What a deal!

SDG

jco

Failure is NOT an Option

Greetings:

Remember the movie, "Apollo 13" starring Tom Hanks, Gary Sinese, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton.  Four of my favorite actors.  It came out way back in 1995.  Quite a movie.  What if the motto of Apollo 13 had been, "Well, maybe failure is OK and we can try again next time."  No way, Jocko!  The Flight Director's motto was, "Failure is NOT an option!"  You see, that movie was based on real-life story.  And the Flight Director's motto was taken from a real-life person at NASA.  They just did not accept failure.

That movie came to mind when I went to a web site today and saw a link that said "Accept Failure and Focus on Experimentation for Innovation".  The rest said "As Scott Anthony says, 'No matter how smart you are, no matter how hard you work, your first idea will be wrong.' Innovation experts Scott Anthony and Steve Wunker describe the mentality organizations must have to foster true innovation: one in which failure is accepted and experimentation (even those that do not succeed) is rewarded. " 

With this attitude, no wonder we have so many failures in today's startups.  There used to be the"Magic 7-Ps of Planning:  Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance !"  (OK, it's a bit risque but it makes the point!) I really believe in this planning principle.  And in the first word of it:  PROPER Prior Planning, not just Prior Planning.  Like my Dear Old Dad used to say, "Practice doesn't make Perfect.  Perfect Practice makes Perfect."  In order to do things properly, it takes training; lots of training and experience.  Experience that you don't get by going to one-week schools nor reading books nor by attending the best universities.  You get this in the school of hard-knocks at the feet of some of the very best in the world.  In whatever field of endeavor you have selected to be trained.  Train with the best and learn from the best.  Then, one day, you will be one of the best and you can train others to be the best.  There is no easy path to being the best.

Shalom
jco

One More Book Series

Greetings:

Already my bookshelves creak and groan in protest over the number of books per shelf on each one. So, the question is: Is there room for one more book on rulebased systems? Maybe not. Anything that we could say about the elements and strings of rulebased systems has already been said many times over - maybe not in the way that I would have said it but in a way that many readers did understand it.

On the other hand, what if we gathered together this year under one big tent just a few of the voices, knowledge and wisdom of several industry spokes persons and wrote a series of coordinated papers on rulebased systems and it's misbegotten step-child, BRMS as well as Neural Networks? Remember, a BRMS (Business Rule Management System) can be something as simple as a notebook that contains the rules of the business or something as complicated as JRules or Advisor. Both and everything in between serve a purpose; to help the user understand and manage the rules of their company or industry.

So, then: This is an open call to the God Fathers and God Mothers of this AI working industry to work together to build a system that will complete the needs of all users. I'm thinking of a series of books: Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced - things on  Statistical, Analytical, Industry-Specific (Psychology, Oil and Gas, Insurance, Banking, etc.) as well as those white papers from around the world on various topics of interest.

The series could be, might be White Books (Beginner 1), Yellow Books (Beginner 2), Green Books (Intermediate 1), Blue Books (Intermediate 2), Brown Books (Advanced) and Black Books (Industry Specific). The White Books (Beginner 1) would be a continuing series of books intended for the introduction of both technical and non-technical users so that they could get grounded in the principles of AI and rulebased systems. (This could be easily done by ripping out the first two or three chapters from each of the 15 books on my bookshelf and mashing them together.) The Yellow Books (Beginner 2) would be slightly more advanced in explaining the principles of the Rete Algorithm, SOAR, Conflict Resolution, Searching Algorithms, etc.

The Green Books (Intermediate 1) would delve into Neural Networks, ANN theory, etc.  These would prepare the novice for life with the other branches of AI and data analysis.  The Blue Books (Intermediate 2) would go deeper into Statistical Reasoning, Forecasting, Probabilities and Constraints, Confidence Intervals and Gaming Theories.

The Brown Books would be would continue to be more in-depth analysis of the Blue Books and prepare the student for the final phase of going into Black Belt industry.  (More on this later.)  The Black Books would be those concerned with specific industries, each to a different aspect of the industry such as Banking, Insurance, Oil and Gas, Psychology, Astrophysics, etc. In these books, the first few chapters would explain the specific industry itself while the middle chapters would address the problems being faced by that particular industry and the final chapters would deal with theory and meta-thinking.

New Macs

Greetings:

OK, I bit the bullet and bought a new MacBookPro.  My old Core2Duo MacBookPro that I had upgraded to a 1TB HD and maxed the memory to 3GB of RAM could not be upgraded to Mountain Lion.  Even with the new Logic Board.  All-in-all, I have spend about $2K on that puppy.  So, I upgraded to the new MacBookPro with 16GB of RAM, 750GB SSHD that is really lightweight and super-thin.  And, might I say, extremely fast.  I haven't run the benchmarks on it yet, but I'll be posting those later this summer.  I expect it to be on the order of 4 - 6 times faster than my old MacBookPro.

And the screen, while only 15" rather than the 17" of the old MacBookPro, is really clear.  (OK, so the Retina is really sharp.)  But the problem was that I had to buy a ton of adaptors to go from the Thunderbolt port to my 30" Mac Cinema, another to my Firewire 800 HDs that I already owned, another to all of my USB stuff that I already owned, even though there is ONE (only) USB port on the MacBookPro, and finally I had to spend another $80 for an external SuperDrive that used to come standard on the MacBookPro.  Yes, there are $30 versions of DVD drives but sometimes they work and sometimes they don't and when you are on-the-road you really, really want something that really, really works all the time.  Sure, sure.  All of you "rich" guys who upgraded two years ago or last year wrote tons of articles and warned me about all of this already so I kind of knew what to expect, but it still hurt when I had to spend an extra grand to adapt to the Brave New Mac World. 

So, now I am carrying my new Mac around with the 20-pound Dell that my client gave me to carry around. OK, the Dell is only 11 pounds.  But it feels like 20 pounts when it's on my back and I'm carrying it across parking lots and down the streets of big cities.  At least the Mac doesn't add a lot of weight.  Maybe 6 pounds at most even with adaptors and power supplies.  Also, my Mac stays charged.  That Dell boat-anchor discharges overnight even if you don't use it.  What a piece of junk!  And it's a NEW Dell!!  It gets charged all day at the office and at night it just sits in my backpack.  I use my Mac all day at the office (off and on - not all the time) and it is still pretty much ready to go when I get back home at night.

Mac still rules!  And, no!  I will not sully my Mac with Windows!  It already has Windows Office on it.  That's about my only concession to the Windows world.  I tried to go the Open Office route but there were just too many inconsistencies and problems.  I don't have time to adjust a Windows Office look-alike and spend countless hours finding "fixes" and solve their problems.  It's just way, way cheaper to go ahead and buy the Mac version of Windows Office and go on my way.  BUT, since I already have to have a Windows laptop with Office on it I don't normally use Windows Office on the Mac anyway unless I'm NOT working on something specific for that particular client.  And there are plenty of those times - like when my son needs to use it for school work or my wife needs it for her work. 

Anyway...  Such is life for a Mac guy who has to live and work in the Windows World.  Mac has made life easier now so I guess I'll tote my Mac around quitely act all superior around my office mates.  Maybe I'll give the MacBookPro to my son and just carry an iPad around for EMail and not even do development anymore.  Maybe...  Naaaahhhh....  Then I'd be a manager and I'd have to cut my throat or something.

Shalom,
jco

I H-A-T-E WINDOWS !!

Greetings:

It has been a really long time since I have posted anything about Macs or Windows or Unix or Linux or Zenix or anything like that.  But, recently, I tried to "upgrade" my Win-7-Pro installation and, before you could say, "Stop, Billy!  Stop!" WinDoze had gone and re-partitioned my HD.  Just as I had finally gotten everything installed the way I wanted in on the new machine. 

Yes, I know, I know.  WinDoze is not like Unix or Mac where you just upgrade the OS and nothing else is directly affected - well, not normally, anyway.  And I guess I was just hoping that maybe, just maybe, I was condemning WinDoze too early because it took two days to get everything RE-installed for just the WinDoze part.  After all of the upgrades, and more upgrades and more upgrades...  Ad infinitum ad nauseum.  And, well, you know what happened.  It really did re-partition the HD and erased all of my hard, three-weeks work. 

So, now I get to start all over.  WinDoze STILL ain't anything like Unix nor Linux nor Mac.  And I really, really, REALLY HATE WINDOWS !!!  And, no, since it was a new machine, I had NOT installed the backup software nor done a backup.  Bad, bad, programmer!!  Mea culpa.  But, I've learned my lesson.  Backup, backup, backup!  Especially with WinDoze.  My Macs are always backed up all the time. 

I guess I deserve what I got for treating WinDoze like a red-headed step-child.  But I only have two of them; a Big Dell desktop with 12GB of HS-RAM, great graphics and a dual-i7 cpu (quite old now - almost 2 years) and a new quad-core-i7 Toshiba laptop with 8GB of RAM that I take out to my clients.  The rest are all Macs.  The Big D will have to wait until I have some quiet weekend time to get everything installed.  But I will backup everything as I go this time.  Just in case it kicks me in the pants again.

Shalom,
jco

Decision Camp 2013

Greetings Programs:

You may have heard already.  Maybe not...  But, just in case, here it is! >> Decision Camp 2013 is coming November 4 - 6, 2013, to San Jose, CA.  It will be hosted by >> eBay - thanks eBay!!  This will not replace IntelliFest but will be in addition to IntelliFest.  Speakers will include but NOT be limited to:

• Carole-Ann Matignon (CEO of Sparkling Logic)
• Dr. Charles Forgy (inventor of the Rete Algorithms)
• Mark Proctor (inventor of Drools)
• Dr. Jacob Feldman (inventor of Open Rules)
• Carlos Seranno-Morales (inventor of ND-Advisor, later Blaze-Advisor)
• Kenny Shi (Decision Management Leader, eBay)

And, get this, ATTENDANCE IS FREE !!  Yes, totally FREE.  As in NO CHARGE.  FREE.

So, just get there, pay for your own meals, your own hotel and attendance is free.  More speakers to come.  It's just been announced  Sign up now because space is limited.  Tell'em James sent you.  It won't mean anything but tell'em anyway.  :-)

Shalom,
James Owen