10 things to learn on May 1st

10 things to learn from the almighty WWW today:

How a Checklist Can Postpone Your Bucket List « N e u r o n a r r a t i v e

After the surgical safety checklist was introduced, researchers collected data on 3,955 consecutively enrolled patients with the same criteria. Both the death rate and overall complications rate were analyzed for the first 30 days after the operation.

The results: the rate of death at the hospitals was 1.5% before the checklist was introduced and declined to 0.8% afterward. The rate of complications was 11% before the checklist, declining to 7% after. In short, using the checklist cut the death and complications rates nearly in half.

Five Ways to Sharpen Your Communication Skills – John Baldoni – HarvardBusiness.org

We need people who can communicate!

Raise your hand if you have heard this line at least a thousand times. In fact, you've likely heard it so much that it's become meaningless. Communication, as I teach and coach, is the glue that holds an organization together. It is the means by which we exchange ideas, learn from each others, and perhaps most importantly, connect to each other.

"Communication and interpersonal skills remain at the top of the list of what matters most to recruiters." That's according to the most recent Harris Interactive/Wall Street Journal business school survey published in September 2007.

So why do we ignore the relevance of communication until it becomes an issue? One reason may be because we don't take the time to quantify what we mean by it.

That's why I found Adam Bryant's New York Times interview with Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Airlines, refreshing. In the interview Anderson proceeded to define his expectations for effective communication.

How to convert DVDs into iPhone, iPod, PSP or AVI formats | freewaregenius.com

This article will describe an easy, straightforward way to convert DVD videos, including commercial/encrypted DVDs, into any of a handful of popular video formats; specifically iPhone/iPod/PSP (MP4 or M4V), as well as AVI. It will use two freeware titles in the conversion process: Handbrake and DVD43.

10 Essential Firefox Plugins for the Infosec Professional | dmiessler.com

I’ve moved to Chrome and Safari as my primary browsers, but nothing compares to Firefox when it comes to functionality and plugin support. Shown below are the information security related plugins I recommend any infosec professional (or enthusiast) install upon spinning up a new Firefox instance.

10 Dos and Don'ts for Security Job Interviews – CSO Online – Security and Risk

The pickings are slim in the job market and the time line of interviewing and then hiring new people is slow. But there are positions available in the security field, according to three veteran security recruiters that we spoke with recently. If you're looking for a change in your career, or are simply looking to get back to work, there is simply no room for anything less than the best impression these days.

Hiring managers have plenty of candidates to choose from in the current economic climate. If you get a call that you've got a shot at a job interview, every move counts. How can you have an edge over other candidates angling for the same position? Our experts weigh in on important steps to excel when you get your chance to wow a possible new employer

Things I Wish I'd Been Told

The idea behind the lecture was to provide very basic information that the average computer science student needs, and that my friends and I found that we were not given by the time we had graduated from college. Some of the advice here is from my own experience, but a lot is also from the experience of friends, several of whom kindly shared advice they wished they’d gotten earlier.

I should emphasize that the advice here is not comprehensive. It is intended simply to ensure someone starts out with some basic information. For more complete advice you will need to consult a financial advisor and, possibly, a lawyer. Keep in mind, too, that the advice here is heavily tuned for computer science and electrical engineering students who plan to work for high-tech firms in California.

12 Content Management Systems Recommended by Readers

I recently published a post, CMS Toolbox, that described a number of leading content management systems and provided links to resources for each. The post drew some very good feedback and a lot of suggestions for others that readers would like to see included. So as a result I thought it might be helpful to publish this list of recommendations that were made by readers (and in fact this follow up was also suggested by a reader).

Here you will find 12 content management systems and quotes from reader comments about each. Since I haven’t used these systems before I thought it would be best to simply let the readers do the talking. Some of the comments included more descriptive information than others, so for those CMSs that didn’t have much of a description from readers I have also included some information from their website.

The Big Book of BitTorrent: The Torrent Guide for Everyone | MakeUseOf.com

There are tons of ways to download files, be it pictures of last Christmas party, or that new cinema flick. Amongst them are the conventional direct download, FTP, and of course Peer-to-Peer.

BitTorrent, an example of P2P, is a great, perhaps even the best way to download files, both in concept as in use – that is, once you’ve got the hang of it.

Because all of it seems pretty abstract to innitiates, many people experience difficulties at the start. Even those that would call themselves ‘advanced users’ often don’t know even half of what’s possible.

MakeUseOf proudly presents to you The Big Book of BitTorrent. All you think you should know, and more.

The Atlantic Online | June 2006 | The Management Myth | Matthew Stewart

Management theory came to life in 1899 with a simple question: “How many tons of pig iron bars can a worker load onto a rail car in the course of a working day?” The man behind this question was Frederick Winslow Taylor, the author of The Principles of Scientific Management and, by most accounts, the founding father of the whole management business.

Internet Users in Developing Countries Drag on Sites’ Profits – NYTimes.com

Facebook is booming in Turkey and Indonesia. YouTube’s audience has nearly doubled in India and Brazil.

That may seem like good news. But it is also a major reason these and other Web companies with big global audiences and renowned brands struggle to turn even a tiny profit.

Call it the International Paradox.

Web companies that rely on advertising are enjoying some of their most vibrant growth in developing countries. But those are also the same places where it can be the most expensive to operate, since Web companies often need more servers to make content available to parts of the world with limited bandwidth. And in those countries, online display advertising is least likely to translate into results.

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