Getting OSX on an Old Mac

Apparently, the G3 PowerMac I bought for $75 from the moving sale downstairs is one of the only machines still in existence that won't boot from a Firewire device AND doesn't offer Target Disk mode. This is exceptionally lame, as now I have to send my OSX DVD to Apple for a set of CDs (please allow approximately six years for shipping and handling). Yes, I tried booting from a Firewire DVD drive. Yes, I tried booting into Target Disk mode anyway. Won't do it.

Either I have to send away for the CDs or I have to somehow find an OEM internal DVD drive that will work with that machine. I think I'd rather send away for the CDs. It's not like I need the machine right away. I was just hoping to wipe it clean, get it set up for e-mail and web browsing and send it over to my grandfather by the time he comes back up from Florida.

Here We Go

Link. And the telecoms even positioned it just like we thought they would - premiums for priority access.

That doesn't bode well for folks who would use run of the mill non-premium access, would it? Wouldn't you think that natural market forces would keep non-premium access at pretty much the same speed while speed and bandwidth would increase on the premium side? How long before the non-premium access completely drops out of the picture?

A nearly perfect analogy would be a comparison between broadcast television and cable television. What sorts of innovations have we seen on the broadcast side in the past 25 years? And how many on the cable side, now that consumers are paying to have the signal piped directly into the home? How many people could put up with rabbit ears today?

It disgusts me that people can't see this bullshit coming a mile away.

You Get These Phone Calls Too, Right?

I can't stand cold calls from executive recruiters. I get at least five a week these days. Most of them tell me they're looking for someone to fill a position and hope I can help them by providing some names of people I think might be interested. (Really, they're hoping I'll hear the job description and want to jump on the opportunity myself.) You wouldn't believe the nerve of some of these recruiters when I politely decline to spend my time helping them find their candidate. Many of them get insistent. Meanwhile, I can't remember the last time one of them gave me a finder's fee for doing their job for them. Folks like me give them candidates who end up taking their positions and earning them money.

Meanwhile, I've heard the business pitches of many of these recruiters from the other end. They claim to know my business and have plenty of contacts. Meanwhile, many of them are just cold-calling people and asking for referrals. Not only are they getting paid for other people's information, but they're getting rewarded for playing up their contacts when they don't have them to begin with.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Stop being so uptight and just give them a few names. Maybe someone you know will get a nice job as a result.

Nah, I cringe to think I'm helping to build someone else's business for no compensation. These guys should be offering a finder's fee in exchange for a viable candidate who takes the job, not making money from my Rolodex.

Media Planner Spam

Sales reps need to understand that the fact that I talked to them about a buy three years ago doesn't mean they can sign me up for every e-mail newsletter and outbound partner e-mail that their publisher puts out. I'm getting newsletters about drivetrain components (probably due to someone on the MathWorks plan), teen girl fashion newsletters (probably someone we talked to for Zingy) and tons of other irrelevant crap. I wonder what my database profile looks like to the catalog marketers...