What's Up with those WWWACky people?

For me, sometimes the WWWAC list is a great indicator of what's going on in the industry. And a recent re-viewing of it revealed a lot! People all over the US are on this New York City originated and based mailing list for those-in-the-trenches technology talents. Here were among the more popular threads this week:

Baby names? Yes, baby names. The U.S. government has its own historical database of popular names: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/. But the Baby Name Wizard is the coolest app I've seen for this type of project: http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html. Then, if you're just trying to come up with character names for your next Great American Novel, you can find one using Nameomatic: http://www.nameomatic.com/nameomatic.php

Google's ranking secrets are out! Discover the hidden secrets yourself at: http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-
bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20050071741&OS=20050071741&RS=200500717
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Steve Jobs provided a speech at Stanford's Commencement exercises. Some found it inspirational, some felt like if they didn't take a Calligraphy course they were screwed and some used it as a spring board to discuss career paths and "jobs" versus "gigs."

Next up in the hot-lineup is how employers can do background searches and even what you write in your blog can get you fired. No kidding?!

And finally, a subject close to my heart - discussion on where we are in 2005 versus 2000 and earlier in terms of jobs, salaries and whatnot. Contribute your thoughts too at: www.SiliconAlleyReunion.com -- just sign up and post away!