Thought for the Day: John Stuart Mill

In Philosophy by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

“All that has been said of the importance of individuality of character, and diversity in opinions and modes of conduct, involves, as of the same unspeakable importance, diversity of education. A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another: and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the …

Quote of the Day – Frederick Douglass

In Philosophy by J Michel Metz1 Comment

“Everybody has asked the question. . .”What shall we do with the Negro?” I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are wormeaten at the …

You Do Good Work

In Philosophy by J Michel Metz4 Comments

There is something I’ve been struggling with lately, trying to deal with some major issues of the pressure that comes naturally to a workaholic in high-stress environments. You may have been too; in fact a friend of yours may have sent you a link to this blog for one very important reason that you may have missed somewhere along the …

Please…

In Philosophy by J Michel Metz6 Comments

It’s the text message that you never want to get at 3 a.m. “Dad is in the hospital. They have ruled out a stroke. They think it’s an atypical seizure but are waiting for results to find out. Right now he’s unconscious but they are waiting to move him to the ICU.” You may never want to get it, but …

Thought for the Day, From Cicero

In Government, Philosophy, Politics by J Michel Metz4 Comments

“Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the ‘new, wonderful good society’ which shall now be Rome, interpreted to mean …

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Welcome to the Participation Ribbon Generation

In Philosophy by J Michel Metz8 Comments

I can’t even begin to express how much this troubles me. I saw this infographic last week and tried my best to put it out of my head, just one of the many emotional gut-grabbing ideas about “believe in yourself” stuff that gets a zillion ‘likes’ and ultimately winds up doing far more damage than good. This is the result …

Proposed Conference Code of Conduct (Technical or Otherwise)

In Philosophy by J Michel Metz1 Comment

Feeding off my earlier post on inappropriate behavior at conferences, and seeing that it has resonated with a lot of people, I threw together a proposed code of conduct for attendees of conferences. This doesn’t need to be technical conferences – it could be any type. Take it for what it’s worth, these are just the top 11 (this one goes …

Technical Conferences and (In)Appropriate Behavior

In Philosophy by J Michel Metz10 Comments

This past week there have been two major technical conferences in Las Vegas – EMCWorld and Interop. Both of these conferences have provided enormous highs for me in the form of technical whiz-bangery (I think I coined a word) and some incredible feedback from attendees to my presentations. (I’m truly humbled and grateful for the enthusiasm and feedback – thank …

Deeply Disturbing – The Troll or The Terrorist

In Philosophy, Technology by J Michel Metz1 Comment

Yesterday a blog post came across my Twitter stream from Leo Traynor, an Irish writer who blogged about why he left Twitter (and subsequently came back). The story, entitled “Meeting a Troll…“, is deeply, deeply disturbing and horrific. I read this blog post and felt physically ill for hours at the depth of depravity and darkest human psyche and motivations. …

The Chronicle of Highly Educated Whining

In Academia, Philosophy, Politics by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

The Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE) has been getting a lot of flak lately as some of the more conservative (read: Matt Drudge and Neal Boortz) have found some of the typical CHE leftist articles to be showing up on their radar. CHE has always, as far as I can tell from the time I was a professor, been rabidly leftist. …