President's Message

March, 2007

Well, this is it, my final President’s Column.  

I have been trying to decide what to write about but I am at a loss.  

I was going to write about Windows Vista but my mother used to say, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything.” That may be a little harsh. Windows Vista is not awful but there are more than a few annoyances and I can’t see any compelling reason to upgrade so… I’ll leave my thoughts on Windows Vista as “No comment.” 

Upcoming Events 

 

Election of Officers 
 
This is it, folks. This month, the Board of Directors will be electing the officers who are responsible for conducting the day-to-day operations of DACS over the next year.  

DACS needs you and your ideas and energy if it is going to continue to thrive in the future. Officers do not need to be members of the Board. All you need is a willingness to share a little of your time, energy and talent with DACS.  

If you would like to help shape the future of DACS by running for President or VP of Programs please contact a member of the board… DACS needs you! 

MySpace 

Hopefully, this month’s General Meeting will help clear up some of the myths and misunderstandings about MySpace. MySpace and other social networking sites like Facebook allow users to create virtual communities made up of family, friends, coworkers, etc. Users can share photos, videos, create a blog and share personal information through their profile and blog. 

For better or for worse, there seems to be a media created impression that MySpace is a den of iniquity infested with pornographers and pedophiles… It’s not! Make no mistake though, there are people on MySpace you don’t want your kids to meet. That said, in my brief experience with MySpace the good guys seem to outnumber the bad guys by a sizable margin. People use MySpace for a variety of reasons… Entertainers – everyone from musicians like Vince Gill and Jane Monheit to porn stars like Jenna Jameson use MySpace to network with their fans. Others use it as way to keep in touch with classmates or family members and still others use it as a kind of virtual support group. See http://www.myspace.com/yourfriendcrissy for an example.  

The biggest problem I saw in my brief flirtation with MySpace was that people – especially young people – shared too much personal information with strangers. 

Always remember that MySpace is a public place; never post anything in your profile, blog or in forums that you don’t want to share with rest of the world or that could be used to identify where you live or the places you like to hang out… Personally, I never used my real name in my profile… just a nickname. And I never posted pictures of myself or my listed my home town in my profile. 

Beyond that, keep in mind that people aren’t always what they seem or who they claim to be. Use caution when adding friends or IMing someone… Do not share personal information with anyone you don’t know in real life. 

The bottom line is that you control what information you put in your profile and who you add to your circle of friends. If you use the same degree of caution and skepticism on MySpace that you do in real life, MySpace can be a lot of fun. 

By the way, please don’t ask for my profile address… I deleted it months ago. 

End Notes 

Well, that’s it. Next month this column will be in someone else’s hands, I’ve greatly enjoyed my time as President and would like to offer one final thanks to the other officers and directors for their assistance and counsel over the last two years.  

 Thanks to everyone who sent book recommendations and a special thanks to Allan Ostergren and Patrick Libert for editing my sometimes incoherent prose and putting up with my chronic lateness.  

I did take advantage of a little recent downtime to catch up on my reading… I was able to blast trough Cross by James Patterson, Hundred Dollar Baby by Robert Parker, Act of Treason by Vince Flynn and Wild Fire by Nelson Demille over the last couple of weeks. I have The Hunter by W.E.B. Griffin sitting here but I haven’t had a chance to dig into yet. 

Feel free to contact me at jasetaro@mags.net or jasetaro@yahoo.com with your comments, questions, criticisms or book recommendations. 

 

Cheers;

—Jeff Setaro



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