TECHNOLOGY: Should have used a disposable address

Sunday, April 4, 2010

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/03/plain_dealer_sparks_ethical_de.html

Plain Dealer sparks ethical debate by unmasking anonymous Cleveland.com poster
By Henry J. Gomez, The Plain Dealer
March 26, 2010, 7:00AM

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On one side are experts who believe the newspaper has violated a trust by exploring and revealing information about a critic. On the other are those, including Plain Dealer Editor Susan Goldberg, who believe that information is too important not to see the light of day.

Until this week, “lawmiss” was known only as one of thousands who, often known only by nicknames, share views on news blogs and stories reported at cleveland.com.

But after investigating a comment directed at the relative of a Plain Dealer reporter, editors learned that lawmiss had the same e-mail address as Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold. A closer look revealed that the user had offered opinions on three of Saffold’s cases, including the capital murder trial of accused serial killer Anthony Sowell.

When confronted with the newspaper’s findings Wednesday, the judge denied responsibility for the posts. Her daughter, Sydney Saffold, came forward later to accept responsibility for posting “quite a few, more than five” of more than 80 lawmiss comments.

*** end quote ***

Silly people.

With gmail, and other free providers, using a “real” email address is a bone-headed move.

About the only thing dumber is using an ISP’s address.

And, if you’re uncomfortable about using a free email service, you can buy an email account from any number of providers.

You can still be tracked by IP address and credit cards.

But it’s not as easy as, in the newspapers case, of peeking at the computer records.

Silly, to expect honesty from the media. Next, you’ll expect honest from the police. Or the government.

(Stop, stop, I’m laughing so hard, I’m going to wet myself.)

Fore warned is fore armed!

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FUN: United States Redneck Special Forces (USRSF)

Sunday, April 4, 2010

FROM LUDDITE (He gets the funniest spam):

The Pentagon announced TODAY the formation of a new 500-man elite fighting unit called the:

United States Redneck Special Forces (USRSF)


201004041052.jpg

These mostly Southern boys will be dropped off into Afghanistan and
will be given only the following facts about the Taliban and terrorists:

1. The season opened today.
2. There is no limit.
3. They taste just like chicken.
4. They don’t like beer, pickups, country music, or Jesus.
5. They are directly responsible for the death of
Dale Earnhardt.

The Pentagon expects the problem in
Afghanistan to
be over by Friday.

(Applications are available at your local Wal-Mart
sporting goods counter.) mostly in texas.
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RANT: Political dirty tricks

Saturday, April 3, 2010

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/53-glenn-beck-fans-get-tricked-and-their-cars-towed/

53 Glenn Beck Fans Get Tricked and Their Cars Towed
by Jon Bershad | 8:19 pm, March 30th, 2010

*** begin quote ***

They may have begun the night angry at our government, but last Saturday, 53 Glenn Beck fans got a new insidious and possibly corrupt faction to hate: a small towing company in Central Florida! (cue dramatic music)

According to Orlando news channel WFTV9, the possible scam went down at the University of Central Florida where Beck was kicking off the first leg of his American Revival Tour. The fans involved followed event parking signs and parked in a big lot. Unfortunately, it turns out the signs were fake and the lot was the private property of a local fraternity. Next thing you know, Orange County Towing and Recovery is spending eight hours hauling away vehicles.

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but this is “dirty pool”.

Special place in Hell for all involved.

And, I’m sure it will be promptly investigated. Like Tiger Woods was!

Argh!

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TECHNOLOGY: JAVA is “closed”; that’s a killer

Saturday, April 3, 2010

http://developers.slashdot.org/story/10/04/03/0147255/The-Struggle-To-Keep-Java-Relevant

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snydeq writes “Fatal Exception’s Neil McAllister questions Oracle’s ability to revive interest in Java in the wake of Oracle VP Jeet Kaul’s announcement at EclipseCon that he would ‘like to see people with piercings doing Java programming.’ ‘If Kaul is hoping Java will once again attract youthful, cutting-edge developers, as it did when it debuted in 1995, [Kaul] may be in for a long wait,’ McAllister writes. ‘Java has evolved from a groundbreaking, revolutionary language platform to something closer to a modern-day version of Cobol.’ And, as McAllister sees it, ‘Nothing screams “get off my lawn” like a language controlled by Oracle, the world’s largest enterprise software vendor. The chances that Java can attract the mohawks-and-tattoos set today seem slimmer than ever.'”

*** end quote ***

When I’m doing my spiel as a consultant, I use the line: “Creating tomorrow’s legacy today!” a lot.

There’s nothing that people want less than a dead end. Maybe right next to that is an “island” controlled by a vandor. Microsoft comes to mind first. Oracle is next.

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SERVICE: Yahoo and Facebook are cooperating

Saturday, April 3, 2010

*** begin quote ***

facebook

Hi XXX-owner,

Use the automatic Friend Finder for XXX@YYY.COM. Now it will be easier than ever to share and connect with your friends.

Use our Friend Finder to find your email contacts on Facebook

Find Friends

Thanks,

The Facebook Team

*** end quote ***

Looks like Yahoo and Facebook are cooperating to accomplish something. What I have no idea?

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HARDWARE: SOlar powered trash can risks?

Saturday, April 3, 2010

http://www.impactlab.com/2010/03/26/move-over-trash-cans-introducing-the-solar-powered-trash-compactor/

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A growing number of cities and municipalities are testing solar-powered trash compactors as a way to go green and save some green. Communities in 46 states, as well as some state parks and colleges, are replacing regular trash cans, according to Richard Kennelly, vice president of BigBelly Solar marketing, which manufactures the devices.

*** end quote ***

Given how valuable solar panels are, how long until these are stolen? Then we begin the war of escalation. Bolt down; bolt cutters. Motion sensors (for when they are pulled up); Faraday cage over them. Should be amusing!

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INTERESTING: A rigged game!

Friday, April 2, 2010

7-7-7-7 costs Pa. Lottery bigtime
By Peter Mucha Inquirer Staff Writer

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Talk about your lucky 7s.

Wednesday night, all 7s came up in Pennsylvania Lottery’s Big 4 drawing, resulting in a whopping $7.77 million payout to 3,107 winning tickets.

Even more oddly, the news comes on a day when the Super 7 jackpot is $7.3 million, and Cash 5’s top prize is $770,000.

The Big 4 payout was a staggering 1,573 percent of sales, according to lottery spokeswoman Kirstin Alvanitakis.

In other words: The lottery has to dish out about $7.2 million more than it took in for that drawing.

“We definitely lost money on the Big 4, that’s for sure,” Alvanitakis said. “But it’s great for our players. People love to play quadruple numbers.”

“It’s definitely not an April Fools joke,” she said.

*** and ***

“We operate our numbers games with the expectation that when triples or quadruples hit we will lose money,” she said. “Drawing triples and quadruples is great for the large number of our players who enjoy playing these number combinations.”

Besides, there is a safeguard. “We have a sales cutoff of $10 million for Big 4 for any number combination – including quadruples – to ensure Lottery’s liability does not exceed its ability to pay winners,” she said.

*** end quote ***

This agravates me on so many levels.

It’s the politicians “stealing” from the poor. Who plays these “games”? Poor people trying to catch a break.

And the economics are a joke. It’s a tax on stupidity. Which, thanks to the gooferment skrools, there’s a lot to go around.

Final note: Notice how they limit their losses. That’s unfair to the folks who get “locked out”.

It’s a losing proposition for EVERYONE!

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INTERESTING: Maybe the Great Apes are “smarter” than we are?

Friday, April 2, 2010

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100324094640.htm

Science News
Great Apes Know They Could Be Wrong, Research Suggests
ScienceDaily (Mar. 24, 2010)

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Dr. Call concludes: “The current results indicate that the looking response appears to be a function of at least three factors: the cost of looking inside the tube, the value of the reward and the state of the information. The combination of these three factors creates an information processing system that possesses complexity, flexibility and control, three of the features of metacognition*. These findings suggest that nonhuman animals may possess some metacognitive abilities, too.”*Metacognition: cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing.

*** end quote ***

Sigh, I thought I was smart, but I could be wrong. Can some one explain this to me?

My tool set stopped at “thinking about thinking” with DeBono.

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INTERESTING: Life after basketball “fame”

Thursday, April 1, 2010

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20100401_The_1985_Wildcats__Where_are_the_champs_now_.html?viewAll=y

Posted on Thu, Apr. 1, 2010
The 1985 Wildcats: Where are the champs now?
Compiled by Pat Maguire and Anthony Machcinski
Inquirer Staff Writers

*** begin quote ***

Villanova’s stunning 66-64 win over Georgetown for the NCAA basketball championship took place exactly 25 years ago.

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While most are dithering through life, or prattling about April Fool jokes, here’s some wisdom — life goes on. I found it because of a modest “manhattan college” connection. But in reading it, it gave me a sense of “continuity”. Well written. Only apparently one man’s life was a “train wreck”. One was unfindable. And, everyone else made their way. Is it always like that? In those proportions. Throughout history, do we all “labor in the vineyard” and pass namelessly away without much of a splash?

Sadly seems so.

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INSPIRATIONAL: Did my novel presage what will happen eventually?

Thursday, April 1, 2010

http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/vermont-secession-strategy/

Vermont Secession Strategy
by Kirkpatrick Sale, Director
The Middlebury Institute

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March 19, 2010—Thomas Naylor has just outlined the strategy that the Second Vermont Republic is operating under in a paper he has distributed this week. Though it is (very) specific to Vermont, where there are now at least nine candidates for the fall election, it should be of interest and perhaps instruction to secessionists everywhere.

*** and ***

3. Imagine…Free Vermont. Launch a new political party whose aim is to elect state government officials and members of the legislature committed to Vermont independence. Once the party has a majority in the legislature, a motion will be introduced calling for a statewide convention to consider articles of secession. After these articles of secession have been approved by a two-thirds majority of the convention delegates, negotiations will begin with the United States Government for the peaceable departure of Vermont from the Union.

*** end quote ***

Maybe my GrandAunt Marion, who plays a big role in my novel “CHURCH 10●19●62” http://www.itstartedinchurch.com, may have been ahead of the battle for freedom. To bad she didn’t sell my Mom the farm, also described in the novel, who knows how things might have been different. Also in the novel, I predict that Vermont could become the “New Switzerland”. Too bad, I won’t be here to find out if I was right. Maybe I’ll be the “Jules Verne” of the Vermont story. ROFL, yeah, I know “get a job”. But I have one driving Frau nuts!

Seriously, maybe New Hampshire won’t be the first “Free State”.

p.s., a good post for April 1st!

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