Jun

27

Mass Emails

Filed Under Overheard | Leave a Comment

I find some of the emails that circulate around here funny. Here is an example.

A hubcap off someone’s vehicle was found in our parking lot.  Claim at front desk.

Jun

26

Did the average Immaturity Quotient of the room just drop 20 points?

Filed Under Science | Leave a Comment

Discovery Channel :: News - Human :: Serious Study: Immaturity Levels Rising:

The adage “like a kid at heart” may be truer than we think, since new research is showing that grown-ups are more immature than ever. Specifically, it seems a growing number of people are retaining the behaviors and attitudes associated with youth. As a consequence, many older people simply never achieve mental adulthood, according to a leading expert on evolutionary psychiatry.

Jun

24

Circle of Friends

Filed Under Science, Social | Leave a Comment

Americans’ circle of friends is shrinking, new study shows | Science Blog:

Americans’ circle of close confidants has shrunk dramatically in the past two decades and the number of people who say they have no one with whom to discuss important matters has more than doubled, according to a new study by sociologists at Duke University and the University of Arizona.

“The evidence shows that Americans have fewer confidants and those ties are also more family-based than they used to be,” said Lynn Smith-Lovin, Robert L. Wilson Professor of Sociology at Duke University and one of the study’s authors.

“This change indicates something that’s not good for our society. Ties with a close network of people create a safety net. These ties also lead to civic engagement and local political action,” she said.

My confidants seem very distant lately. Yes, they are generally hundreds of miles away. However, as I am a techie, miles don’t mean anything. Between IM and phone, we can still discuss things. Its just that lately we seem to have other things happening that take away the opportunities.

Better work on correcting it.

Jun

15

Netscape.com 3.0

Filed Under News | Leave a Comment

Poor Netscape…. They work and work at achieving again the glories of their past. Through their browser (eventually outsourced), web server (eventually sold of to become iPlanet, SunOne, and now something else), and web site, this brand just has not seemed to flourish since their IPO back in the mid 1990s. Will this latest try at rebirth as a blog site change the tide?

Netscape, which started life as a Web browser company and then evolved into a media destination site, is being reinvented once again to merge news reporting and blogs with the latest Internet trends.

On Thursday, the revised Netscape.com will begin a public test of what its new general manager, dot-com news entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, said aims to reinvent the modern news service.

As a blogger and dabbler I will probably play with it. Doesn’t mean I will like it.

Jun

14

Physics for Eight Year Olds

Filed Under Personal / Relationships, Science | Leave a Comment

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Hawking to write children’s book:

Physicist Stephen Hawking and his daughter are to write a science book for children which will be “a bit like Harry Potter”, but without the magic.

Too bad I don’t have any children to which to read such a book. My favorite college volunteer experience was spending a couple hours a week working with Second graders for a “Human Growth and Development” class. I sensed the teacher’s hesitation at covering the Solar System and stepped in to help her.

The students seemed to enjoy it more than I did. :)

We need books like this. At the pace of science and engineering, introductions to these principles need to be introduced at younger and younger ages. My brother tackled Algebra at this age. So I can see many children finding such a book interesting.

Jun

12

Anger and computers don’t mix

Filed Under Computers | Leave a Comment

Ex-Boss Describes Sys Admin’s Anger During PaineWebber Sabotage Trial | June 8, 2006:

On the day a system administrator at UBS PaineWebber learned his annual bonus had fallen short by about $15,000, he leveled an ultimatum at his boss: give him a written contract for more money or he was walking out the door, according to testimony Thursday in the federal criminal computer sabotage trial.

But prosecutors charge that quitting his job wasn’t the only thing on his mind in late February of 2002. They say Roger Duronio, a three-year employee in the financial giant’s IT department, had already hatched a plan to plant malicious code on the network that would wipe out critical data across the country and drive down the company’s stock price.

Once Duronio packed up and was escorted out the building that day, he headed straight to a broker’s office to buy stock options that would pay out if UBS suffered a setback. And that, the government contends, put the final stages of Duronio’s plot into action.

C’mon people… I know we can all quote Kahn from Star Trek II, “Revenge is dish best served cold.” We also have seen the fraction of a penny scam in Office Space. Look at the end results. Kahn died suicide bomber style killing only himself and others on his ship. The Enterprise escaped. Everyone lost their job at Innatech.

This goes even for you non-technical people who think you can do something in the heat of the moment and the system administrators will never know. Believe me, all too often I have had to give to a boss a report of what people did in terms of deleting data. Computers leave a trail which we can follow. Maybe there are people who get away with it? Is it worth jail time that you might be the one who does?

Jun

10

GERMANY 4-2 COSTA RICA

Filed Under Sports | Leave a Comment

The next 30 days will probably have highlights of my love, the World Cup. Many fantastic teams have come together to compete for the title. Game one started with a bang. Germany plays aggressively (though their back line is shoddy). Catching the start at lunch (, brother supplied the play by play over IM,) and watching the rest later tonight made my day.

GERMANY 4-2 COSTA RICA

Germany made the best possible start to the finals with three points and a healthy return of four goals, but there will be questions raised about their offside tactics after being caught out twice at the back.

I’ve enjoyed Lehmann playing for Arsenal. Anyone know why Klinsman put his in over the Golden Ball from 2002, Kahn? I hope Lehmann is okay for Poland. If not, Kahn probably should have had those shoes in the first place.

Jun

9

game of “rock, paper, scissors”

Filed Under Gov't & Politics | Leave a Comment

Have I said before that I like news from the state of Florida?

Order of the court - Jun. 7, 2006

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff’s Motion to designate location of a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition (Doc. 105). Upon consideration of the Motion – the latest in a series of Gordian knots that the parties have been unable to untangle without enlisting the assistance of the federal courts – it is ORDERED that said Motion is DENIED. Instead, the Court will fashion a new form of alternative dispute resolution, to wit: at 4:00 P.M. on Friday, June 30, 2006, counsel shall convene at a neutral site agreeable to both parties. If counsel cannot agree on a neutral site, they shall meet on the front steps of the Sam M. Gibbons U.S. Courthouse, 801 North Florida Ave., Tampa, Florida 33602. Each lawyer shall be entitled to be accompanied by one paralegal who shall act as an attendant and witness. At that time and location, counsel shall engage in one (1) game of “rock, paper, scissors.” The winner of this engagement shall be entitled to select the location for the 30(b)(6) deposition to be held somewhere in Hillsborough County during the period July 11-12, 2006. If either party disputes the outcome of this engagement, an appeal may be filed and a hearing will be held at 8:30 A.M. on Friday, July 7, 2006 before the undersigned in Courtroom 3, George C. Young United States Courthouse and Federal Building, 80 North Hughey Avenue, Orlando, Florida 32801. DONE and ORDERED in Chambers, Orlando, Florida on June 6, 2006.

Jun

9

FIFA vs. the hackers

Filed Under Computers, Corporations, Interweb, Sports | 1 Comment

C’mon people. Don’t do anything that will make me miss the biggest sporting event in the past 4 years! Maybe I need to go back and set TiVo to record both showings?

World Cup matchup: FIFA vs. the hackers | CNET News.com

Roger Jones, Avaya’s business development manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said he expected malicious computer users to reprise the to-date unsuccessful denial-of-service attacks against the networks servicing the 2002 World Cup, the 2003 Women’s World Cup and the Confederations Cup, the warm-up tournament for Germany 2006.

Jun

7

Flash 404

Filed Under Interweb | Leave a Comment

There have been many interesting 404 (a web server error code for “The page cannot be found”) pages. Here is a funny flash 404.

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