Day: July 29, 2011

You knew that, right? Aren’t On-Line Internet surveys fun!?!

STUDY: Internet Explorer Users Are Dumber

“A research firm posted an IQ test on its Web site and then compiled the results from more than 100,000 users.

It found that there was no substantial difference between users of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

But Internet Explorer users had IQs below average.

That’s a switch from five years ago, when IQs were more or less the same across all browsers.

The company, Aptiquant, bills itself as a “psychometric consultant.” Its main business is creating tests to help businesses hire well.

Now before all you Opera users get too satisfied with yourselves, there are lots of possible reasons why IE users scored so low:

IE has about twice the installed base of any other browser, so IQs are more likely to tend toward the mean.

IE is the default browser of 95% of people who don’t know how to download and install a new browser, which drags down the average. (Mac users in this boat stick with Safari.)

People who use other browsers include a disproportionate number of computer geeks, which brings their averages up.

Online IQ tests — or IQ tests in general — are silly.

IE users really are kind of dumb.

Today is the 12th Annual celebration of System Administrator Appreciation Day! Say something nice about your System Admin!

12th Annual System Administrator Appreciation Day

“A sysadmin unpacked the server for this website from its box, installed an operating system, patched it for security, made sure the power and air conditioning was working in the server room, monitored it for stability, set up the software, and kept backups in case anything went wrong. All to serve this webpage.

A sysadmin installed the routers, laid the cables, configured the networks, set up the firewalls, and watched and guided the traffic for each hop of the network that runs over copper, fiber optic glass, and even the air itself to bring the Internet to your computer. All to make sure the webpage found its way from the server to your computer.

A sysadmin makes sure your network connection is safe, secure, open, and working. A sysadmin makes sure your computer is working in a healthy way on a healthy network. A sysadmin takes backups to guard against disaster both human and otherwise, holds the gates against security threats and crackers, and keeps the printers going no matter how many copies of the tax code someone from Accounting prints out.

A sysadmin worries about spam, viruses, spyware, but also power outages, fires and floods.

When the email server goes down at 2 AM on a Sunday, your sysadmin is paged, wakes up, and goes to work.

A sysadmin is a professional, who plans, worries, hacks, fixes, pushes, advocates, protects and creates good computer networks, to get you your data, to help you do work — to bring the potential of computing ever closer to reality.

So if you can read this, thank your sysadmin — and know he or she is only one of dozens or possibly hundreds whose work brings you the email from your aunt on the West Coast, the instant message from your son at college, the free phone call from the friend in Australia, and this webpage.”