IT Insights Blog — certification

As explained by Starfleet captain and occasional rock climber James T. Kirk at the beginning of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the "most important reason to climb any mountain" is the root motivation for many, if not most, feats of human adventure and daring: "Because it's there." (Kirk is busy attempting to climb Yosemite's El Capitan.) A challenge exists, ergo I must overcome it. The impulse to prove ... something has inspired many a mountaineer to attempt the insurmountable.

There's a long tradition in the annals of humanity of resolving to improve oneself in various ways at the start of each year. Many centuries ago, the inhabitants of Babylon would make a religious vow at the start of each year to return borrowed objects and pay debts. In ancient Rome, many citizens of the empire would begin the first month of the year by making promises to Janus, the god of (among several other things) beginnings.

Most of your who are a) reading these words, and b) live somewhere in Earth's northern hemisphere, have doubtless begun to take notice of the annual shift in the weather that occurs over the final two months of the year. Furnaces have been tuned up, clothing that provides additional warmth is out of the closet and circulating in the regular lineup, and stockpiles of such cold-weather essentials as Kleenex tissues, hot chocolate, and ice scrapers have been replenished.

Saving money is a beautiful thing. Almost everyone who buys things on a regular basis would choose to save money if they could. Suppose that you are driving down the street with your gas indicator on E. You see two service stations ahead, one on either side of the road. On the left, gas is $2.99/gallon, while on the right the price is $2.44/gallon. Assuming all other variables are equal, do you turn right or left? Let's face it: Most of you turned right as soon as you saw "$2.44."

Sometimes in professional sports there's a moment so exciting that it transcends mere fandom. And in the information age, you don't even need to be there to appreciate the drama and the chills. Such a moment was bequeathed to us all at the end of yesterday's game between the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins. Here at the IT Insights Blog, we don't really even follow the NFL (except for on Super Bowl Sunday), and we still got chills watching it this morning.