http://www.gutenberg.net/find.shtml

The Gutenberg Project is awesome - if you read a lot like I do, this is the place for you. Books and writings that have come into the public domain are available here for downloading.

Update on areyougame.com: I got my stuff! And this makes me happy. Now all I've gotta do is wrap all the stuff I bought. Oh well, life isn't perfect, and while lazy, I have a distinctive way of wrapping that makes it imperative that I wrap presents myself (hasty, and little decoration :)).

If you want some equipment for networking - please check out www.milestek.com. This is a Texas based business, who delivers. They have a knowledgeable staff, who is more than willing to answer your questions (no matter how much or how little you know about networking). Check it out! I use them and end up paying sales tax on purchases from them - so if I'm willing to pay extra (there are a lot of companies who sell the same equipment outside of Texas) for their service, then they've gotta be pretty good.

Something that I obviously need to mention here is -

If you know someone who has a webcam - you need to buy them a FlexStand. You can purchase a FlexStand from amazon.com - or from strangesolutions.com.

They will be forever grateful for your thoughtfulness in resolving a problem that they knew they had, but didn't know how to fix.

If you are going to buy someone a webcam - the FlexStand is the perfect accessory (show the people you love, how much you care about them).

Yes, to see me in action, you should go here. Yes, I know - I have neglected my blog horrible for the past few months - reason being......well, while I don't have a life, I have been busy.

Did you know that Christmas is rolling down upon us? ACK! Well, I have avoided stores all together and done my shopping online. amazon.com, thinkgeek.com, and the latest addition has been areyougame.com. I purchase regularly from amazon - and they haven't let me down yet. Thinkgeek just got my first order, and responded like a champ. Areyougame.com was ordered from this Sunday - so we will see how they do (or don't do).

Shopping online is better than catalog shopping - because who has room for catalogs from every site on the internet? Could you imagine amazon's catalog? Probably about 5-6 phone book size books. I have decided to shop online, because the thought of standing in line & smelling other people's body odor churns my stomach.

Dave Barry has a wonderful gift guide available, and I highly recommend it. No, I haven't bought anything that is on his list (yet).

All right, well this is all that I have time to write right now. If you cannot stand the thought of not having something to read that I have written, then send me an e-mail at: info@strangesolutions.com (no - I'm not going to link it).

Hello. Yep still here. Still doing stuff. Yeah.

High bullshit meter:

http://www.etrafficsolutions.com/about/news/newsletters/may2003.html

"When the end users and the creators of content attempt to envision the complementary power of technology, they must understand that in order for content to be dynamically generated according to specific learning needs or criteria, elearning content is best produced using sizable chunks that are directly related to the instructional design of the elearning environment that is being developed. "

Talk about obfuscated language!

blogger sucks

Good site for young kids: http://www.funschool.com
(I like playing the games there too - don't tell anyone)

WOW! OK. Well, I guess we won't see another iteration of the so big virus - apparently they have enough slaves. Who knew? The ultimate answer is for people to stop responding to Spam...but then that kills "legitimate" marketing. Sad.

Grove: Competitive Crisis Looms In U.S.

The chairman of Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) says that the United States is facing a competitive crisis that puts the country is danger of losing its lead as the world's most innovative technology provider.

"I'm here to be the skunk at your garden party," Grove told a group of about 150 beltway types gathered here for the Global Tech Forum, hosted by lobbying group Business Software Alliance.

Why is the U.S. waning? Grove says it's because of offshore outsourcing, lack of federal support of sciences education and a "ho-hum" telecommunications infrastructure. "We've lost more than 500,000 tech jobs in the last two years to foreign competitors."

Indeed, many U.S.-based companies are either thinking about or have already sent white-collar jobs outside the country. Companies can often cut costs and boost productivity dramatically by hiring skilled labor in India and other countries. Much of that work lately has involved software development and professional services.

Could this be you? Instant messaging addiction.

Another Forbes.com article on TV advertising.

Here is a paragraph from a Forbes.com article on the impact of DVR (Digital Video Recorders - TiVo) on the broadcast industry:

No problem, net execs say: While DVRs and other gear may proliferate, most viewers won't use the gadgets as ad-killers or pay for commercial-free programs. "This is the big myth. The big majority of people are not commercial avoiders," says David Poltrack, the head of CBS research and strategic planning, who has heard predictions of the networks' demise for 20 years. At worst, he figures, DVRs will erode audience by just under 3% a year. Alan Wurtzel, NBC's research head, says that networks can survive such losses, pointing to the huge checks that advertisers just wrote: "Until you can find an alternative that's better, they really will have no choice."

What can you say about that? How about this one?:

"What I feel absolutely confident is going to happen is this: The traditional 30-second commercial will continue to prosper, and TiVo and Replay will never amount to much more than a minor irritant to the TV networks," Rance Crain, the editor-in-chief of Advertising Age, wrote in a column earlier this year.

Reminds me of these quotes on computers:

"Where a calculator on the ENIAC the original computer is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1 ½ tons" -- Popular Mechanics, March 1949

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- IBM Chairman Thomas Watson, 1943

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- DEC Chairman Ken Olson, 1977

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, 1981

(Quotes from here)

http://www.internetweek.com/security02/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15200576&pgno=1

Swen virus activity, and how Greyware Automation Products dealt with an attack.

Very interesting, and I agree that a "quiet" virus may be spreading as we speak. Since the MS patch didn't work, and users are slow in applying the patches that do work - there is plenty of opportunity for someone to write a virus that doesn't attack or do anything exciting except to self-install when the opportunity is presented (during a download for example) to do so and then lay idle...doing a date check on boot waiting for the date to activate. I guess like Herpes or HIV?

Worker unrest? Gasp!
I'm telling you, people who outsource off shore are setting themselves up for a world of hurt in the next few years. Not only are you dealing with people who will do exactly what you tell them to do, you are dealing with different cultures. Telemarketing is probably an OK thing to outsource (thanks to the do not call list that may dwindle off to nothingness anyway). But moving critical application development to a foreign country (CHINA? for crying out loud? How about you send the code / idea / hardware you want to work with to Cuba and North Korea too?) is suicide. Not only is your application going to be riddled with security risks (oh, I'm not worried about that, I've got QA...go ahead and live in your little world) and probably ripped off and developed by another team to sell to your customers (and competitors). And, when your customer calls in for support, and gets the person with a funny accent, who doesn't speak English that well, you will alienate your customer base. Sure, all this stuff looks good on paper, but when customers find out what you are doing (hello HP?) and they discover that you offer 24/7 support, but it is scripted and sucks - they will go away, they won't tell you why (unless they like you), they just won't renew the contract, upgrade to the next version, whatever keeps your revenue coming in. That is going to affect the bottom line but by the time that happens, I hope that your customers have moved to a company that kept their customer service / development here in the US and that that company will keep that customer for life, cutting you out.

Man! OK. I'm feeling a little bit better.

New word:

dasturful

Rock Singer Robert Palmer Dies at Age 54

I need to see a picture NOW! Arrgh.

"Huge insects distroy 40 foot tree"

FlexStand - Flexible Web Camera Stand
There it is, the amazon.com entry for the FlexStand. Please note that they don't have it in stock, because we haven't sent them any yet. Oh...this is too cool. I'm still quivering.

The FlexStand(tm) has been added to amazon.com's selection of products. I'm all aflutter.
The person handling our account at Amazon suggested that we get some customer reviews on their site, so I've sent out 20 e-mails to customers who have responded to our customer surveys.

This is funny. Banned because it is "immoral" in the country with the naked news.
Quirky people they have over there.

OK, the ruling in favor of Eolas against M$ has people shook up (including the W3C).

Now, above and beyond, that. This is more than M$, for example Netscape is probably lible as well for royalties, since they use plug-in technology as well.

I got curious about Eolas and looked at their technology page. There is a patent there that makes me wonder if they are going to sue the computer gaming industry next.

From their site:
The patent also covers image space collision detection technology believed to be currently in widespread use throughout the computer game industry.

Only 80 stars?
This makes me sad, because surely more than 80 people in the CIA have died serving our country?

This is an interesting read about the origins of Murphy's Law. I haven't been able to go through the whole thing, but you may want to bookmark it for future reference.

Origin of Murphy's Law

Yahoo! IM shutting out Trillian.
I tried Trillian in early? 2001. It was a pain in the buttocks. It was such a pain, I have never tried it again. I'm on Yahoo! Messenger & I have an ICQ# laying around that I never use (I don't like ICQ either). I don't like MSN Messenger, nor do I like AOLs Messenger. Unless and until Yahoo! does something seriously stupid, I'll be sticking with them and their IM software. So, go ahead and call me either stubborn, loyal, or lazy (all three or a combination, would be acceptable as well).
As far as Trillian goes, I've heard that if you pay for it, it works much better than the free version does. One day, I may have to debase myself, and see how the webcam integration is going for each (~shudder~). I've already been through an MSN Messenger installation (after they announced the webcam integration in their latest version - I do believe I mentioned that it was not nearly as easy to use as Yahoo! and was .... icky) and I'm still working on disinfecting my home computer.
Ah, the sacrifices I make for my work.

If you love me, buy one.

tapwave Zodiac. Looks like fun!



Forbes.com article.

Big Brother watching you?

Well. Here is some more excitement about computer vulnerability:
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/333628
CERT Advisory
Vulnerability Note VU#333628
OpenSSH contains a buffer management error

Another buffer overrun/overflow issue. When are they going to fix the code that they write with/the compiler?

I have returned from the new members breakfast for the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce.
I will be taken out back and horsewhipped, because I forgot to take business cards with me (networking, networking, networking). We are considering also offering a computer troubleshooting business, and small project computer programming to Strange Solutions, Inc's list of offerings. Tony and I are both "computer people," you know - the person who gets called by ex-wives and family members to do phone tech support for free. I think we should turn that into another (biz talk here) revenue stream.

New twist on an old scam. I think that this e-mail has become part of the internet culture.

Open Source Search Engine
http://www.nutch.org/
Being able to view the algorithms responsible for the search results returned, and for indexing will be interesting. The only concern I have is fraud/spam results. Look at the "google dance" watchers. People literally sit around and watch what Google's reaction to their website is and then tweak it. If you could view the source, surely that would make the results that much more contrived?

Here is an article that is confusing.

The title is:
Bottled water blamed for rush of cavities
Missing out on fluoride

One of the paragraphs is:
Problems are particularly pronounced among certain pockets of low-income children, with Montreal and Winnipeg, for instance, facing near-crisis levels of young people who need so much work they must be put under general anesthetic.

So, low-income people have enough money to purchase and only consume bottled water? I don't think so. I think they are looking for a reason to blame business, instead of parents.

Oh man! OK, here is an excellent example to make sure that your business name doesn't overlap with any Trademark or other corporation's name.

YES folks! Apple Corps is suing Apple Computer Inc. (again).

I find this funny. I actually smiled about it. I hadn't heard of the earlier suits, but now that I have, I think it is hilarious. I wonder if Steve Jobs is wishing that he would have named his company Kiwi, or Pear, or some other fruit?

A warning regarding offshore programming.

Boils down to - if you get your code offshore, how are you going to know that a trojan or backdoor wasn't included (nevermind that they almost always are, because programmers are lazy)? And if say a fortune 500 company gets their application developed overseas, how ethical are the people doing the work? How much money could they get for proprietary information that would be accessible? Since they work for so little anyway, I'd guess that it wouldn't cost that much to bribe them to include a little "easter egg" in the package.

I thought Microsoft had fixed the DCOM issue? I suppose not.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-039.asp

"Hello, New York times? I'm calling to let you know that I just compromised your network."
"Yes, I'm more than willing to tell you exactly how I did it, and how you can fix it."
"No, no, sir - I don't want any money. I just want to make sure that your network is secure."

Knock, knock, knock.
BANG BANG BANG
Police! Open UP!

"We consider the breach of The New York Times Company's internal corporate network in February 2002 to be a serious security matter, and have been cooperating with the FBI and local authorities in their investigation of Adrian Lamo," The New York Times Company said in a statement provided by spokeswoman Christine Mohan.

Geez. What is the NYT hiding that they feel compelled to get someone arrested who was trying to help them? Now - I'll admit that it wasn't the smartest thing to do. But, if you are walking through the neighborhood, if you come across an open door, should you open it? If you open it, and then call the owners of the house and let them know thier door is unlocked - should they then work with the FBI to get you arrested for trying the doorknob?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Since writing this I've received more information. Apparently he logged in and started messing around with their network, 3 months after his initial alert to them that their information was not secure. So - this is kinda' like a guy finding an unlocked door notifying the ower, going back 3 months later, finding the door still unlocked and deciding that he'd go in and take a look around. So, I don't know how I feel about it now.

What can be said about this? I cannot imagine something like this happening in the US. If we get government medicine, I supposed it could. It is quite sad really. I wonder how much guilt the families of the people who died feel? I hope quite a bit. You can blame doctors, nurses, caretakers, whoever...but really, if you had an elderly parent, wouldn't you call from your beach-side hotel and make sure that they were ok?

15,000 people. Fifteen THOUSAND people. Five times the deaths from the WTC on 9/11/01. This isn't a tragedy, it is genocide on old people. When is the United Nations going to launch an investigation?

This was a big day today. I went to the ribbon cutting for By Design Interiors. Very nice people. BIG office space.

Here is part of what was written about them in the Profiles magazine, Summer 2003 edition.

By Design Interiors, Inc. has been providing distinctively exquisite interior design and decorating in NW Houston’s finest communities for years. With an incredibly creative design staff they often utilize a team concept approach. The design team works together from conceptual design through the final phase of accessorizing to achieve for their clients an interior of comfortable elegance. Years of experience as general contractors will ensure that you are receiving highly qualified and professionally trained individuals, to carefully critique blueprints. Thus, earning their remodeling slogan..."More than just a contractor."
By Design Interiors encourages their clients to consider unique options by introducing them to new and innovative products and ideas from a studio fully staffed and equipped with a wealth of resources. From exquisite accessories and furniture to state-of the art design, you'll be truly impressed by their talent, professionalism, impeccable taste, desire to please and most assuredly...their reputation of utmost integrity. You will, see why beautiful interiors don't just happen...they are created "By Design."

And may I add to what the article said? They were all quite nice to me. Which is saying quite a bit, considering that I'm slightly socially inept. They weren't snooty - which I think has been the stereotype for interior designers in general. I would scan in the pictures from the magazine, but I'm not home (I'm breaking the rules and posting from work). Some of the accessories that they had in their offices were beautiful. There is a whole couch of pillows that were beaded - gorgeous hand work from the look of it. Going by their offices, which were functional but stylish, I'd say that they do some very nice work.

Just my 2 cents.

Last week I joined the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce. This was a big step for Strange Solutions, but I think it will be worth it. If I can just get myself to deal with people in person (as opposed to through e-mail and chat).

Well, isn't this interesting. AOL took a swipe at MSN through RoadRunner. I guess it is a bid for more money, or a slap for some insult MS handed AOL.

Here is a picture of the new $20. I guess it isn't too ugly.

Oh man. No way! Peach Money?!!? It starts with the $20 and I guess other bills will be modified over time. *sigh* I guess the phrase "green backs" will go away and become "peach backs?" Talk about Monopoly money.

I just remember hearing on the radio a caller saying that a plane had crashed into the WTC in New York. The DJ (a woman) said that that report was unconfirmed. I immediately called home and asked what was going on. Tony didn't know, he turned on the TV and the Tower was smoking. I got home and the second Tower had been hit.

Never Forget

OH MY GOODNESS!
On the night of Wednesday, August 27, two men dressed as computer technicians and carrying tool bags entered the cargo processing and intelligence centre at Sydney International Airport.
The men, described as being of Pakistani-Indian-Arabic appearance, took a lift to the third floor of the Charles Ulm building in Link Road, next to the customs handling depot and the Qantas Jet Base.
They presented themselves to the security desk as technicians sent by Electronic Data Systems, the outsourced customs computer services provider which regularly sends people to work on computers after normal office hours.
After supplying false names and signatures, they were given access to the top-security mainframe room. They knew the room's location and no directions were needed.
Inside, they spent two hours disconnecting two computers, which they put on trolleys and wheeled out of the room, past the security desk, into the lift and out of the building.

Talk about physical security or lack thereof. The article says that it had to be an inside job - but surely an observant person after a month or so of watching could have figured: EDS is the provider, Techs go in and out of the server room, the server room is over there.
The question is - it sounds like the servers removed were targed specifically which would make me think that they had information from someone who works there (all servers look the same on the outside pretty much). And the big question is - Were they running Microsoft? I wonder how long it will take for this to become MicroSoft's fault?

I must talk about this:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1234663,00.asp

"Parson is being charged with modifying the original "Blaster" or "LovSan" virus and releasing it on the Internet, infecting at least 7,000 PCs and using them as "drones" to mount a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, according to the complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's office. Antivirus vendor Symantec Corp. said the worm infected over 500,000 machines, which were programmed to attack Microsoft's WindowsUpdate.com web site, which Microsoft redirected in a successful bid to avoid the worm. "

This person is responsible for 1.4% of the infected computers. OK - where is the jerk who wrote the original virus? Why is this one guy being played up so much? He is a moronic child, and should have been caught - but the fact that the original blaster writer remains free is a testament to the Feebies inability to get to an intelligent criminal. How about the sobig virus writer? (S)He has released several different versions of a virus and hasn't been caught.

I guess what I'm trying to say is : "Good job - now catch the real bad-guy. And don't break your arm patting yourself on the back for catching an idiot who is probably continually surprised by the sunrise and needs help tying his shoes."

Geeks gone wild
I want one of the shirts that says: "There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't"

It is necessary to post this here. So that people can know that I am aware, but continue to post anyhow.
Stop the Blogging Madness

Something to brighten telemarketers day:
Newsflash: Call Centers Moving to India
Now we get to look forward to getting calls soliciting stuff, in British accented broken-English (but I guess if it is a script they could get really good at reading it).

OK. The broken-English thing was not warranted. I mean, they probably speak better English than most Americans - could that be a tip off? My question is, when asked directly where they are - do they have to answer honestly? Or can they lie? Also, what are the implications as far as the National Do Not Call list? Does that apply, since this would be an international call - and they are in India? Humn.

Giggle and snort
It is turning into a day of funny stuff. I know some people may not find the above funny...but I do - and surely others will as well. Like anyone actually reads this blog. ~snort
Never mind - apparently that link has gone into the archives now - forcing a log-in. Sorry about that. It was an article about how France was protecting its businesses with government money and stuff - while protesting other EU countries doing the same (or something along those lines).

ROTFLMAO in Hysterics

And you people who are afraid to click on a link I guess you will just miss out on the humor.

A senior French health official resigned Monday after the health minister acknowledged that as many as 5,000 people might have died in a blistering heat wave.

Apparently healthcare people went on vacation, leaving the hospitals understaffed. I guess they didn't get "Drink Water!" out over the airwaves.
And here I was making fun of a radio news interviewer who asked a woman what she did when running in the park when it is hot (the answer was - "If I get dizzy I walk."). I guess there are some people who just don't know.

Do they not have air conditioning in France?

I'm sure you have all been wondering why I haven't posted to my blog (you my oh-so loyal readers).
My DSL at home went down :( on Monday. This was a horrible thing. Why, you may wonder did it take so long for me to get it fixed? Because my home phone line hasn't been working for about two months now (gasp!). I use my cell phone for calling people I want to talk to, and have my home line for the DSL pretty much. But I was damned if I was going to call SBC tech support on my cell phone. So, I had to call and get my home line fixed first (which happened yesterday). Once I called DSL support (after assuring the tech that I'd patched that little MS problem right after they released the tech bulletin) we went through some steps. It was discovered that I had lost my primary DNS information, and my NIC had been disabled :(. I don't know what is up with the NIC, but now that I know what to look for....well I'll handle it. There is still some fishy stuff going on when I connect to the internet (I only connect when I'm doing stuff online which means I connect and disconnect quite frequently) like the Dial up form pops up *after* I've connected through the network connection. I'll deal with it though. And, as to the last question, why am I posting from work - and couldn't I have posted from work at some point in this week, so as to keep you entertained? Well, I'm posting from work because I wanted to get this in before I forgot - and I try to not post from work (usually), even if this is linked on our website.

Extortion:
The SCO Group Inc. moved forward Tuesday with its plans to offer Linux users protection against a lawsuit by making available a license that gives them the rights to run the open-source operating system.

protection
I'm not sure why the whole SCO v. Linux thing interests me so much. I don't use linux - or unix, or anything except MS products.
Here are a couple of interesting resources for those of you who are interested in the suit(s).
http://lamlaw.com/
http://radio.weblogs.com/0120124/

The more I use blogger the less I like the service. If I want to blog, I guess I'm going to have to have to pay for it somewhere or get a server and install moveable type and all that jazz. *sigh*

If you readme and you know it, send me an e-mail: prometheusad@hotmail.com
And when I move, I'll let you know (yeah, like anyone reads my blog ~snicker)

The cat's name may be : gizmo.
I'm leaning towards Bruce personally.

http://feeds.blogstreet.com/13217.rss

RSS Feed for my blog?

Name for Strange Cat:

It will either be Steve Park (he keeps on running into things)
Wally
Strange
Strange Luck

Right now his name is "Hey You~kissing sounds~ Fuzzy Butt ~wiggling figers~" (which is just too hard to write down on the vet's forms).

The Strange Cat is free of FIV and Feline Lukemia. He is, however, full of worms. Tapeworms and roundworms to be disgustingly exact. The vet provided medication and gave him a shot and a bath. The thing he hated the most was the bath. He is still a little dirty, but much cleaner than when the pictures were taken. He is a cute little bugger, and very curious.

Tony and I have the word "sucker" engraved upon our bodies, visible to cats only. This afternoon, we were outside the office, talking, taking out the trash...and then there it is, running towards us.

A boy kitten. Filfthy, wide eyed, and big eared. Happy to see us, and willing to go anywhere with us. So now we have another cat. I have two cats in my apartment. Tony has two cats in his apartment. Now we will have a traveling cat. This cat will stay at the office, and go home every night with one of us (we are going to take turns). He is a vicious little thing. We go to the vet this evening to get him examined. I'm sure he has worms and ear mites. I hope no FIV, or feline lukemia.

Pictures will be posted on strangesolutions.com and I think we are going to have a "name this cat" contest (once we determine he will live).

WebConferencing Equipment

I'm sorry. I thought that companies had woken up and smelled the money burning? Talk about excessive?? $3,000.00 upwards for a "voice tracking camera." Here you go - buy a FlexStand(tm) and then have a person in the meeting move the camera.

Then with the money you have saved....I dunno - maybe actually pay a dividend (ok, not enough money would be saved for something like that, but across a large enterprise with several hundred locations - it could).

OK, so Tony and I were going through the drivethrough at McDonalds, and he paid, and got his change, and then said (to me), "Where is the food?" I replied that this was the new Diet McDonalds, where you drivethrough, pay your money, and then you don't get any food.

We now have a new concept for a chain of restraunts called: "Vous Allez Affamé À la maison" (French for you go home hungry).

Very swanky layout and table cloths, cloth napkins, very heavy flatware beautiful glasses and vases of flowers. Sterotypical rude French waiters. Lemon slices in the water. The menu will be the following:
(Prices only on the menus for men)
Plat de rien : $25.00
Grande cuvette d'air : $30.00
Cuillère de vide : $15.00
- well you get the idea.

The wonderful thing is that there is no cooking involved, no kitchen needed, and only waiters.

If we could get Clastia Flockheart to endorse it I think it would really take off. Think of the franchising opportunites!

This is sung slowly and low:

"I Like Traffic Lights"
I like traffic lights, I like traffic lights,
I like traffic lights, No matter where they've been.
I like traffic lights, I like traffic lights,
I like traffic lights, But only when they're green.

He likes traffic lights, He likes traffic lights,
He likes traffic lights, No matter where they've been.
He likes traffic lights, He likes traffic lights,
He likes traffic lights, But only when they're green.

I like traffic lights, I like traffic lights,
I like traffic lights, That is what I said.
I like traffic lights, I like traffic lights,
I like traffic lights, But not when they are red.

He likes traffic lights, He likes traffic lights,
He likes traffic lights, That is what he said.
He likes traffic lights, He likes traffic lights,
He likes traffic lights, But not when they are red.

I like traffic lights, I like traffic lights,
I like traffic lights, Although my name's not Bamber.
I like traffic lights, ...oh God...

Only Monty Python could produce such a wonderful and soul wrenching song. Of course, we are left to wonder about how the singer feels about about amber (yellow) lights. Probably doesn't like them, since he only likes traffic lights when they are green.

ewwwwwwwwww!!!!

OK, well, the FlexStand is on the Screen Savers (did I mention this before?). And yesterday was a bad day for us (we were quite low), because Patrick umnnn....let's just say he only used one hand to move the platform, and that is not how you use it, so when he did that, it popped out of the base...but TODAY Patrick and Leo touched it on camera and moved it, and mentioned that it was the "spycam to nowhere." NOTHING bad happend. I'm sooooo happy!!

Dramastically: new word you figure out what it means.

RIAA nails 1,000 music-lovers in 'new Prohibition' jihad
The flag drops, the war is on. How exciting! I wonder what the jail time will be, and I wonder how many more people will be arrested. What is going to happen next, and is the RIAA ready for it? hummmm.

Oh, yeah, I'm upset. Check this out I have done a pretty good job keeping myself off the net, and I show up here. And I tell you what I'm not on here because of some website. Reliant Energy sells their subscriber list. Isn't that nice?

http://www.ussearch.com/wlcs/commerce/about/FAQ.jsp#q31 to remove yourself from this service. BUT you have to provide addresses for the past 15 years (and if you are anything like me, you don't know them all).

The contest is still going on - the most pitiful one is not winning. Please - go and vote!!! Vote for the one that really needs a FlexStand!!! And if you don't know what a FlexStand is, click here before you go vote.

E-mail to TheScreenSavers:

Tony and I watched in a state of calm as on Friday, the FlexStand made its appearance on the show.

Who am I kidding - we were excited and thrilled down to our toes, this is FANTASTIC. Thank you for putting the FlexStand on the set (please let me know if you would like a replacement) whoever it was that did so (Tony thinks it was Leo - because it is almost always looking at Leo).

If you want to have a give-a-way of the FlexStand, just let us know and we will work out the details. We are more than willing to sacrifice 10 FlexStands upon the alter of TSS (one a day for two weeks).

Once again, thank you very much. And if you could please let Leo & Patrick know that we appreciate this very much I would appreciate it.

So, I have joined the blogs & bloggers network on Ryze.com I am sure that this will be interesting.

And I gave my neighbor some bricks yesterday because she too is tired of worring if her furniture is going to get wrecked...(it is usually only about an inch of water that comes in from the back - but that is still a pain in the buttocks).

Well the hurricane is gone, with no flooding, and no wind damage (at my apt anyway). I did break down and get some bricks to put my furniture up on though - I'm tired of worring everytime a storm blows through.

The Small Business Market & Micro Soft this is a very interesting report. MS is expensive, and where people are more inclined to eye the bottom line than worry about convience, apparently they do well, but not as well as they do with large corporations. I've got a screed about IT and MS and Linux, but I won't go into it here.

What is it about men and how tall they are? I've looked for guys on the internet and when you meet them in person they are ALWAYS shorter than they say they are. I'm 5'7" I tower over men who claim to be 5'9". I don't mind a guy being shorter than I am, but do they have to freakin' lie about it?

So, a word of advise to you guys lookin' for love on the internet. DO NOT lie about your height - you will be found out eventually when you meet the woman you are "courting" online and she will probably think, "He lied about how tall he is, what else is he lying about? What a midget" (that last bit is especially true if she is taller than you are in real life - don't forget about shoes guys - when I put on heels I'm 5'10" and if you say you are 6' and are really 5'8"....you get the idea).

Ahhh - look at me! And I am having a bad hair day.

OK. The Contest is going swimmingly, and this makes me happy. I really want the cam on the cardboard attached to the wall to win. I refuse to cheat though. So I'm watching the results anxiously.

"Customer Service Concerns Still Dog E-Business" by Judy DeMocker

From the article:
Despite the confusion, consumers clearly want to control access to their personal information. More than 10 million people registered last week with the new national Do Not Call list, hoping to opt out of telephone solicitations.

This relates to this blog entry.

I have to say - I think that the author's conclusion that people signing up for the Do Not Call List was due to them wanting to control their information is the wrong conclusion (and the do not call list shouldn't even be part of this - that list is going to be sold by the government to telemarketing companies - so how this relates to "controlling" your personal information I'm not sure). I know the reason I registered had nothing to do with controlling my information and everything to do with not getting phone calls. People who are truly concerned (or paranoid), will call their credit card company(s) and ask to be removed from marketing lists. I'm curious about the people who were polled in the survey that is the root of all these articles that are springing up about "concerns about online privacy." Who were they, where do they live, what is their income level, do they purchase items from the internet? I guess I'm going to have to actually read the damn report.

Update on "What me worry?" I'm worried now. Looks like we are going to get a lot of rain and some hurricane. This, of course, is horrible.

And to round out my day, I visited the Apple store in the Galleria, to check out the stands that come with the iSight webcam from Apple. I determined that the stand that is meant to be stuck to the top of a monitor (the one with a little less than an 90 degree angle) will work with the FlexStand.

This is the point were I don't mention that I felt like I had "MS/Dell/PC/Gateway/Plebeian" tattooed to my forehead, because I had to wait for 12 min to get someone to pay attention to me. Yep, I didn't mention that. Nor am I going to mention that while they look cool, my very first (and last) experience with a Mac was in CompUSA, where I tried to run a program on an iMac(?) and was advised by said iMac that I was going to have to allocate more memory, because there wasn't enough allocated to that program. I know they are easy to use and simple and stuff, but for some reason I just don't have a desire to leave Micky Soft. If I do get the urge to learn another OS, it will be Linux or some flavor thereof.

(and while scrounging for those links, do you know what I found? That the apple.com site has a 10/10 page rank per Google toolbar, and Linux and MS only have a 9/10 I wonder how that happened?)

You ever have one of those days when only Jabberwocky seems to make sense?
For some reason, that is me today *sigh* I'm sure I'll get over it, I just wish I knew when.

Something that may come in handy - postal abbreviations for countries

Evil. I love jigsaw puzzles. I don't do them very often, because I become obsessive compulsive about them...meaning that I'll stay up until 2am working on them. This dragon puzzle is the root of all evil in the world, and its creator will - nevermind. I've just started on it and am getting no where. *sigh*

Laugh out loud funny.

What happens when some people want to dub a foreign language T.V. show, and just be silly. Iron Chef doesn't have anything on the Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.

C-Net News Article "Spam-Bot Tests Flunk the Blind"

An increasingly popular technique for preventing e-mail abuse is frustrating some visually impaired Net users, setting the stage for a conflict between spam busters and advocates for the disabled.

I hadn't thought about this, but it is a good point. Networksolutions' bot test bugs me, because I like to use www.network-tools.com for my domain lookups, and if a domain is registered to Networksolutions, you have to go to their site to see who the owner is.

I'm wondering if I should worry about this or not. My apartment has flooded two times in the past year (once from rain, and once from a busted toilet feed line in my upstairs neighbor's bath room) and I've seriously considered putting everything up on cinder blocks or bricks.

I'm liking it.

http://www.ridiculopathy.com
Funny stuff. If well, you know, you like funny.

http://dearread.blogspot.com/

http://www.richmails.com

http://www.richmails.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?p=terms&r=

From the richmail.com site (payout):
"Payments:
Members may earn by receiving paid-emails and visiting or signing up the advertiser websites after they have entered their member ID in the area on the website provided by RichMails. Members will earn $100 as a signup bonus, after confirming their registration. Members may earn by referring new members to the RichMails program. Members will earn $25 per each of their direct referrals, $25 per each of their indirect referrals, $25 per each of their 3rd level referrals. The referral payment will be assessed when the referrals reach the minimum payment requested and cash out. Members will be paid via PayPal, e-gold or check. RichMails will pay members when their balance reaches $350.00 and they request payment. There is a $3 processing fee for checks, no fee for PayPal or e-gold. Payments will be made within 30 days or a reasonable time after requesting the payment. "

So - let us think about this shall we? I sign up - I get credited $100 for confirming my e-mail account. I then get 10 more people to sign up (=$250 + $100 signup) so I should be able to cash out, umn - NO. I cannot cash out until my referrals get $350 to cash out and they qualify to cash out (ie: the people that they have referred are qualified to cash out). In other words - no one is going to see any money from this scheme. Here is a cashed google page that explains it probably better than I have.

nbc6.net - Politics - Katherine Harris Alive, Despite Radio Host's Announcement

What does this mean? Is it the fault of the internet that Mr. Rogers did not confirm his information? Also, I love in the headline "despite," almost like he could wish her dead through his announcement.

Toad The Wet Sprocket - Silo Lullaby Lyrics

I know that I seem to be on a lyrics kick lately, but it is nice to know what it is the band / singer is saying. Sounds lovely, but you never know, for example in DMB "Crash":

Oh I watch you there
through the window
And I stare at you
You wear nothing but you
wear it so well

But the Presidents of the United States of America were banned from Wal*Mart....because they sounded like they were saying bad stuff.

I agree with this whole-heartedly. As someone who worked in purchasing, having management grind me down about price (get the vendors to come down, get them to come down), over quality of results. Cost is an issue (sure it is - I'm not going to lie), but to overlook quality for cost ends up costing more in the end.

OK, the google toolbar / blogit feature ain't working. It posts it, but doesn't publish it. I think that this makes me upset. What is the point of having the blogit button if it means that I've got to go to blogger.com to publish? GAH!
~deep breath in counting to 10

nancies.org: lyrics

I guess my next experiment will be with AOL's IM. It will take a while for me to work up the nerve for that though.

For a bit of excitement last night I installed MSN messenger on my computer at home (XP home box). Bleah. I'm disappointed in their webcam "integration." Yahoo! Chat still rocks as far as that goes. Why? you may ask (and if you didn't you should have). Yahoo! is better, because you can run around with your webcam broadcasting, and people can look at you. MSN you have to have someone who wants to look at you, and then you "hook-up" with them after finding the person. If you are a flagrant exhibitionist - this MSN arrangement doesn't work out, because you have to find a vouyer first instead of running across peeping toms. So, I'm not even going to link to MSN's chat here - because I don't like it. I will give Yahoo! Chat a link though.

Origami Boulder Company -- Original Origami Gifts!

This site is an example of .... I'm not sure what .... but you will get a laugh if you go there.

Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz | Allen | Hamilton - Don't know who they are, don't know what they do, but with a name like Booz, at least one of the owners must be OK.

A Warning from England don't go metric.

AdAge.com link to current TV commercials of Note (page w/ TV commercials. Kinda' funny.

OrlandoSentinel.com: Space: "The agency had adhered to environmental restrictions and phased out the Freon gas used to make foam expand in a way similar to what happens when shaving cream is sprayed from a can. The replacement gas lessened the foam's ability to adhere."

So, phasing out Freon could be one of the many steps that lead to the Columbia disaster.

Palladium rears it's ugly head in a NYTimes article. Being one to throw gasoline on fire, as opposed to oil on water here is some more information on it (just go to google and look up MS Palladium - I think MS has dropped Palladium as a descriptor, because they want to "forget" the (negative) information that has been written about it).

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2002/jul02/0724palladiumwp.asp

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/25852.html

http://www.epic.org/privacy/consumer/microsoft/palladium.html

http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0208.html

http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/1378731

Google Toolbar Installed This is a test of the Blogger/Google integration with Google 2.0 toolbar.

Online Privacy
A new survey says that people who use the internet are ignorant. Here is a quote from the article:

...57 percent of the adults surveyed who use the Internet at home told researchers they believed incorrectly that when a Web site publishes a privacy policy, it will not share their personal information with other Web sites or companies.

The report is titled: Americans and Online Privacy The System is Broken by Joseph Turow June 2003.

This one is laugh out loud funny - here is the headline in the TechWeb Today Security & Privacy newsletter dated Wednesday, June 25, 2003:


TODAY'S NEWS
3. Gates Talks Spam In Bulk E-Mail
A message to 75,000 customers outlines Microsoft's battle plans against junk e-mail.
http://update.techweb.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eMcO0FGn2U0CLf0B2v60Az

If you'd like to subscribe go here. I like getting the news from them, especially keeping track of SCO's wailing in the wilderness.

I cannot belive that this was said:

"He [Clarence Thomas] knew that he could not make a powerful legal argument against racial preferences, given the fact that he got into Yale Law School and got picked for the Supreme Court thanks to his race."

And republicans are racist?

Read the rest - because I can't.

Oh, yeah. I have returned to the office - isn't that exciting? I know that I'm thrilled down to my toes.

If anyone is interested:

A good article about google.

Ah, well. I'm sick today (out of the office and everything). I'm not which is making me feel worse, being sick, or not being in the office. :(

Orrin Hatch is embarrassing. While the questions of vigilantism, and due process are lightly skipped across; his website was using pirated software.

If they go ahead with this "risky scheme" to deny people due process I'd feel *real* bad for the people who are responsible for computer security at companies like Geffen and the RIAA.

Matt Drudge - he could almost be an urban legend.

Here we go - the EU is now out to make (more) money off of e-commerce. Oh well.

Woo hoo! Never heard of www.aberzombie.com before - but I'm glad that I've heard of it now (if they are really selling t-shirts I will buy one).

And to think I'd of never heard of this site except that Abercrombie & Fitch pitched a fit (how dare you make fun of ME!!!).

And Lost......

I found something sneaky to do with my FlexStand on Friday. It is set up at a funny bend right now, and when I swung it around, guess what? I was looking in Tony's office, and caught him napping on the couch. I took some pictures, but then I was advised that publication of said pictures could result in deleterious effects to my person.

A good word, and describes how I feel about blogging:

Main Entry: am·biv·a·lence
Pronunciation: am-'bi-v&-l&n(t)s
Function: noun
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary
Date: 1918
1 : simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings (as attraction and repulsion) toward an object, person, or action
2 a : continual fluctuation (as between one thing and its opposite) b : uncertainty as to which approach to follow
- am·biv·a·lent /-l&nt/ adjective
- am·biv·a·lent·ly adverb

Which OS are You?
"You are Apple Dos. Simple and primitive with a good understanding of the common man. You're still a work in progress, but a good start."


How exciting. Since I didn't get WinME, I'm happy.

Mugging: Main Entry: 3mug
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): mugged; mug·ging
Etymology: probably from earlier mug to strike in the face, perhaps from 1mug
Date: circa 1864
: to assault usually with intent to rob
(courtesy of www.m-w.com)

On March 24, 2003 - my purse was snatched while leaving the movie theatre after watching "The Fellowship of the Ring." Apparently it was well thought out because there wasn't anyone there except me and my daughter in the parking lot (and I have to confess that it was my inattention that probably made me appealing - talking on a cell phone while walking to the car). So anyway, he snags my purse and we fight over it for a couple of seconds and I think "ok, here is this stocky black guy who *really* wants my purse and I've got my kid here, and what happens if he decides to hurt me?" so I let go and chase him through the parking lot to the get away car.

So I'm all shaking and pissed, and looking for my kid (who shows up quickly) and then on the phone to 911 to report it. We wander back to the theatre and tell them what happened, they get the security guard involved, I call my (at the time ex) boyfriend to give him a heads up (I had a business CC & one of his cards in my wallet). So the cops show, take my statement give me a little scrap of paper with the incident number on it. So I retire to my ex's house (he lived close to the theater at the time) and start calling credit card companies. This literally took hours. I worked the land line and my cell, while my daughter watched TV and wondered what happened.

Just thinking about this pisses me off. I'm done for now.

So, I was at Starbucks this morning, feeling inhuman before my coffee, and I suddenly had an irrational urge to kick the guy standing in front of me in the back of the knee. But then I thought that that would probly cause more problems than it was worth and decided not to. People who stand with one leg bent and the other knee locked need to be aware, that if someone is behind you, and pushes / kicks the locked knee from the back - you are going down (don't believe me? Find a soft place to fall and do it to someone).

Dilbert I love Scott Adams. He is on my list of brilliantly funny people. Toward the end anyway. The above link is littered with pop up stuff...just so you know.

Best Places for Singles (Forbes.com)
Well - I guess Houston just isn't attracting enough artistic singles to qualify - but GO
AUSTIN & DALLAS!

(apparently the people in Houston are evil smokers while Austin & Dallas only attract non-smoking alcoholics)

Where I work

The FlexStand is perfection. A low tech solution to a (perceived) high tech problem. There are other things on the market - a camera that incorporates a moving base, a base that moves the camera, and a camera that is not automated, but has a flexible arm.

What makes the FlexStand different? If you own a camera, you don't end up buying a second one. If the camera you have breaks, or you decide to upgrade - you can still use the FlexStand, and finally - height variation....the automated bases, can't do anything about how high your webcam is from a surface - you still need to get it up on to a shelf or the (groan) top of your monitor.

Sure, the automated bases allow a remote user to move the camera - but that only works in certain situations - not while you are chatting on Yahoo! or MSN. So you are in the same old, immobile camera boat. The FlexStand puts the control in the your hands - literally. And when all is said and done - just push it toward the wall, or somewhere else while you pick your nose....and then move it back when you are ready to go back on camera.

Moore's Law

"The basic rule--which states that the number of transistors on a chip doubles every 24 months--has been the guiding principle of the high tech industry since it was coined by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965.

It predicts technological progress and explains why the computer industry has been able consistently to come out with products that are smaller, more powerful and less expensive than their predecessors--a dynamic curve that other industries can't match. "


Absolutly boggles the mind doesn't it? I still fondly remember my Commodore 64, plugged in to the black and white TV in the spare bedroom.

Article text

Page that shows before and after redesign.

This is about Administaff's redesign of their "marketing" website. A website that is content driven to get return hits while warming the customer to the idea of out-sourcing HR.

Interesting stuff.

www.dmbcrash.com
DMB Fan Site History page

Well, this will most likely be the last post for the day. So, please allow me to mention some stuff that I will be bringing up here. My experience w/ a purse snatching (frustrating). My job (a joy). My daughter (a joy). Life in general. Philosophical thoughts that pop into my head at random, and should be tied down somewhere, so they can't bother anyone else.

First off I guess it would be best to say something anonymous about myself, while giving details about myself...

I am a huge Dave Matthews Band fan.
I love Monty Python.
Terry Pratchett rules.

There you go.

oh - and I've been diagnosed as an InTP.

That about sums it up. So, hopefully you now have a point of reference when reading me. :)

And so, I jump in to the blog hysteria. The only question I have is - if a flea jumps into a pool - does it make a splash, or does it not even break through the surface tension?