Jeff Greenfield's analysis of Paul Ryan's acceptance speech on Yahoo! Finance was particularly disappointing. Greenfield pointed out several errors/lies/misrepresentations in the speech and then went on to explain that the Republican/Conservative faithful can dismiss the particulars because they'll attribute the charge to a tainted source, their traditional whipping boy, "liberal media".
That this is now accepted, that demonstrable facts can be dismissed because one doesn't like the source of the information bodes ill for this country. (Is it ironic that Sally Kohn's article on Fox News, Paul Ryan’s speech in 3 words boiled it down to this: Dazzling, Deceiving, and Distracting.)
Alluding to Nazis is now a marker of the point where a debate/discussion goes off the rails. However in this case, my immediate thought was "The Big Lie", perfected by Paul Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda under Hitler. I'm not drawing a parallel between Ryan and Goebbels, but the phenomenon of repeating a falsehood loudly and persistently that others will repeat the statement as given truth.
As for the particulars in Ryan's speech:
The claims that Obamacare cuts $716 billion of benefits from Medicare when in fact the cuts are to payments to hospitals, not benefits.
He pinned S&P's downgrade of U.S. debt on Obama, when S&P itself explained its downgrade resulted from Congressional Republicans refusal to pass measures to increase revenues.
Ryan accused Obama of promising to keep a GM plant open for "hundreds of years" after he was
elected, only to have it closed in the first year. In fact, GM closed the plant before Obama even took office.
Sigh.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
The Mist of Collecting Data
The email from the editor read:
"We are in the mist of collecting data for our annual best places to work story."I responded:
"I'm available to do prufreeding on a part-thyme basis."I hope he appreciates the humor.
Friday, July 27, 2012
38 Studios Post-mortem
Boston Magazine had a sobering article about 38 Studio, the video game company started by Curt Schilling, the baseball player. In a nutshell, the never-say-die, positive thinking which served him so well in sports doomed his company.
I passed the link to the prof who teaches the entrepreneurship course. It might be required reading for sports stars.
The point is made that fame and expertise in one field does not presage business ability. The article made clear that those in the trenches didn't now how dire things were until checks started bouncing. In one of the tougher ramifications, one employee found himself with two mortgages, a pregnant wife, and no income. (He was hired with the understanding that a firm hired by 38 Studios would arrange for the sale of his house. When 38 Studios stopped paying the firm, the mortgage then became the employee's responsibility.)
All very sad.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/2012/07/38-studios-end-game/
I passed the link to the prof who teaches the entrepreneurship course. It might be required reading for sports stars.
The point is made that fame and expertise in one field does not presage business ability. The article made clear that those in the trenches didn't now how dire things were until checks started bouncing. In one of the tougher ramifications, one employee found himself with two mortgages, a pregnant wife, and no income. (He was hired with the understanding that a firm hired by 38 Studios would arrange for the sale of his house. When 38 Studios stopped paying the firm, the mortgage then became the employee's responsibility.)
All very sad.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/2012/07/38-studios-end-game/
Thursday, July 26, 2012
A Body at Rest Stays at Rest
Woman charged with cashing mummified friend's checks
In brief (http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/26/12970220-woman-charged-with-cashing-mummified-friends-checks?lite):A 72-year-old Michigan woman [ Linda Lou Chase] who authorities say kept the body of her longtime companion [Charles Zigler] in her house for more than 18 months after he died is being charged with cashing more than $28,000 worth of his benefit checksNow the really interesting thing about the case is that she didn't do anything other than cover the body. Cashing the checks was illegal, but:
Most of Michigan’s current laws concerning bodies deal with inappropriate disposition by a licensed mortician or removal to interfere with a criminal investigation.A mental competency exam is scheduled.
“She literally did not move the body – so moving a body before the medical examiner could examine it doesn’t apply,” [chief assistant prosecutor] Blumer said.
Monday, July 23, 2012
50 Shades of Grey Reviews
Gotta love the comments. "50 Shades of Grey", the current erotic bodice ripper favorite, has terrific comments on Amazon:
Identifying himself as "a male senior citizen, a semi-retired gynecologist whose customary literary fare is spy novels and military techno-thrillers", david shobin/thatch pond corp wrote, "At my age, my arthritis flared up just reading about Ana's sexual gymnastics. And for some reason, I kept thinking about her contracting genital warts."
"DS from LA" used the Kindle search function, to tabulate the repetitive physical references to eyes rolling (41), lip biting (35), lips "quirking up" (16 and, no I don't know what it means either), "cocks his head to one side" (17), etc.
edenae pointed out that when " characters speak to each other they have to remind themselves who they are talking to 'Hello Mrs. Steele', 'How was your day Mr. Grey', 'It was fine Anastasia', 'Oh good, mine was great Christian.'"
Elly Abs had some quibbles: "EL James has very limited vocabulary and frankly if a man screamed my name every time he reached climax i would have to slap him into next Tuesday."
DocKaren "dockaren" : "The best thing to come of this book are the multiple cleverly written reviews posted here that describe how repellant this book is much more eloquently than I could ever hope to."
Identifying himself as "a male senior citizen, a semi-retired gynecologist whose customary literary fare is spy novels and military techno-thrillers", david shobin/thatch pond corp wrote, "At my age, my arthritis flared up just reading about Ana's sexual gymnastics. And for some reason, I kept thinking about her contracting genital warts."
"DS from LA" used the Kindle search function, to tabulate the repetitive physical references to eyes rolling (41), lip biting (35), lips "quirking up" (16 and, no I don't know what it means either), "cocks his head to one side" (17), etc.
edenae pointed out that when " characters speak to each other they have to remind themselves who they are talking to 'Hello Mrs. Steele', 'How was your day Mr. Grey', 'It was fine Anastasia', 'Oh good, mine was great Christian.'"
Elly Abs had some quibbles: "EL James has very limited vocabulary and frankly if a man screamed my name every time he reached climax i would have to slap him into next Tuesday."
DocKaren "dockaren" : "The best thing to come of this book are the multiple cleverly written reviews posted here that describe how repellant this book is much more eloquently than I could ever hope to."
Monday, July 16, 2012
I Flunk Celebrity Trivia - Again
There was an article about Lindsay Lohan getting a new half-sibling because her father's girl friend, Kate Major was pregnant. Who is Kate Major?
You may know who Ms Major is, but I'm clueless. Celebrity magazines at the supermarket trace the amorous exploits of bold faced names I don't recognize. It doesn't make a real difference, but I usually feel that there are two stories: the one which is written and the one about the implications of the story.
For example, the latest biggest Hollywood bust up between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes has fascinating legal plotting behind it. Ms Holmes ability to get sole custody of the child will have matrimonial lawyers doubler checking the custody arrangement clauses in their prenups.
Anyway, about Ms Major: a web search found this mug shot (http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/gallery/kate-major-mugshot/):
It made me wonder if fans argue about which mugshot made the object of their obsession look the most or least wasted. "Oh yeah, the DWI mug shot in Santa Monica was so much better than the DUI in Maryland."
It reminded me of an article in the local college paper from a student who stated that the best way for her to control her drinking was to think of her mother's reaction to her mug shot.
You may know who Ms Major is, but I'm clueless. Celebrity magazines at the supermarket trace the amorous exploits of bold faced names I don't recognize. It doesn't make a real difference, but I usually feel that there are two stories: the one which is written and the one about the implications of the story.
For example, the latest biggest Hollywood bust up between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes has fascinating legal plotting behind it. Ms Holmes ability to get sole custody of the child will have matrimonial lawyers doubler checking the custody arrangement clauses in their prenups.
Anyway, about Ms Major: a web search found this mug shot (http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/gallery/kate-major-mugshot/):
Kate Major's mugshot from early 2012. Not to be confused with her other recent efforts.
It reminded me of an article in the local college paper from a student who stated that the best way for her to control her drinking was to think of her mother's reaction to her mug shot.
Monday, July 02, 2012
Morse: Before
Yesterday, Sunday July 1st, marked the first American appearance of Endeavour the prequel to the popular Inspector Morse series. The episode had a well turned praise which started as an insult: One of the secondary characters says to Morse, "Poor old Morse. You were never Oxford material. Too bloody decent by half." (http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/endeavour-morse)
A thought about forensics occurred to me. A death appears to be a suicide because of the powder marks on the skull, but nothing was said about gunshot residues on the deceased hand. Is this classic misdirection?
A thought about forensics occurred to me. A death appears to be a suicide because of the powder marks on the skull, but nothing was said about gunshot residues on the deceased hand. Is this classic misdirection?
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Alex's Wedding
This past week Doonesbury has been concerned with Alex's Wedding to Toggle. Sunday's strip in which Mike is stunned to see his little girl in her bridal dress brought an outpouring of posts from men recounting their own emotions on seeing their own daughters marry.
In follow up strips BD tries to explain the rules of marriage to Leo. It brought this response from L. Rodriguez | Guaynabo | Puerto Rico | June 18, 2012:
RULES
Okay, Leo, here you have the Three Main Rules of Marriage, in a nutshell:
- Men always have the last word in a discussion, as long as they say "Yes, dear." (My cousin uses the same line: "I never have any trouble with my women [his wife and daughter]. I just look them in the eye and say, "Yes, dear." Works every time.")
- When men demand hot water, they get hot water. Doing the dishes otherwise is not reasonable.
- No matter what, women always end up kneeling before men. And when they are kneeling, you will hear them say "Get out from under the bed!".
Best of luck.
A few days later this post:
Reminded me of a Benny Anderson poem on Prairie Home Companion.
A few days later this post:
POOF!
CB's Grandma | Baltimore, MD | June 21, 2012
Today's strip is so true. You see a little girl pretending to be a bride and then poof! She is one. One second she's playing with a doll, and then poof! It's not a toy, it's your grandchild.Reminded me of a Benny Anderson poem on Prairie Home Companion.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
XXX
As part of a database project I thought I'd demonstrate how entering a fake item in the ITEM table would automatically enable the new item to appear with its image when the user tried to place an order.
My fake item was named "xxx". Can you see where this is going?
I'll chalk it up to being tired. I searched for "XXX" hoping to see something like the Super Bowl XXX logo,
although I imagined silver X's on a blue background.
What I got was thumbnail images of women who thought it was clothing optional day. Nice under other circumstances, but definitely not what I wanted at the time. I spent another fruitless minute looking for a logo for "yyy" or "zzz".
In the end, I made my own XXX image at a make-your-own-logo site:
It's nothing to write home about, but it served the purpose which was to figure out in code how the image should be manipulated to fit the online form.
My fake item was named "xxx". Can you see where this is going?
I'll chalk it up to being tired. I searched for "XXX" hoping to see something like the Super Bowl XXX logo,
What I got was thumbnail images of women who thought it was clothing optional day. Nice under other circumstances, but definitely not what I wanted at the time. I spent another fruitless minute looking for a logo for "yyy" or "zzz".
In the end, I made my own XXX image at a make-your-own-logo site:
Monday, June 04, 2012
Doc Watson
The May 31st edition of the NY Times had a short article by Ry Cooder about Doc Watson in which Cooder described the first time he heard Doc Watson. Watson, Clarence Ashley, Fred Price, and Clint Howard sang "Daniel Prayed" on the UCLA campus.
Cooder remembered thinking, "these men know something about music I'll never know, even if I practice and study all my life. You have to be born into that."
For myself, I remember one memorable moment of a Doc Watson concert. (I've forgotten the guitarists Doc referred to, but you'll see it doesn't matter.) Doc said, "I always like the way the Johnson brothers played. Earl Johnson played like this." Doc played a little. "And Ray, he played like this." Doc played a little more. "And together they sounded like this."
It sounded nice. Then jaws dropped when we realized that what sounded like two guitars was Doc on a single guitar. Most of us laughed and applauded. The poor folkies were probably wondering if they should head off to the bathrooms to cut their wrists right then and there or wait until after the concert because it was at that moment that they realized that they would never, ever, be that good.
He told a joke about a Quaker farmer who owned a cow which would swat him with it's tail and try to kick him or overturn the milk pail. Imitating the farmer patting the cow on the head, Doc said, "I will not beat thee, but in the morning I will sell thee to a Baptist."
I cherish the memory of that concert because I believe it was the first time I heard him sing "Otto Wood the Bandit". I was taken with the way he sang Otto stressing both syllables as"Ot-tow" instead of "Otoh". (I was unaware that that was the way the song was originally sung. See for example The Carolina Buddies recording at http://www.oldtimeherald.org/archive/back_issues/volume-9/9-6/otto-wood.html.)
If you want to get some measure of the man and why he was so revered listen to Terry Gross's 1988 Fresh Air interview with Doc Watson. The interview proceeds as one might expect when interviewing an unassuming legend until Terry respectfully asked him about the death of his son Merle. With the honesty that marked the man, he recounted that he was so devastated that he didn't want to play anymore. If he hadn't been persuaded to keep playing he might have stopped. His wife had stopped singing, being unable to deal with Merle's death. A very moving interview.
There's a good biography of Doc Watson, " Doc Watson: Blind But Now I See (Book Review) on eartymemusic.com which includes this quote from Daryl Anger:
Cooder remembered thinking, "these men know something about music I'll never know, even if I practice and study all my life. You have to be born into that."
For myself, I remember one memorable moment of a Doc Watson concert. (I've forgotten the guitarists Doc referred to, but you'll see it doesn't matter.) Doc said, "I always like the way the Johnson brothers played. Earl Johnson played like this." Doc played a little. "And Ray, he played like this." Doc played a little more. "And together they sounded like this."
It sounded nice. Then jaws dropped when we realized that what sounded like two guitars was Doc on a single guitar. Most of us laughed and applauded. The poor folkies were probably wondering if they should head off to the bathrooms to cut their wrists right then and there or wait until after the concert because it was at that moment that they realized that they would never, ever, be that good.
He told a joke about a Quaker farmer who owned a cow which would swat him with it's tail and try to kick him or overturn the milk pail. Imitating the farmer patting the cow on the head, Doc said, "I will not beat thee, but in the morning I will sell thee to a Baptist."
I cherish the memory of that concert because I believe it was the first time I heard him sing "Otto Wood the Bandit". I was taken with the way he sang Otto stressing both syllables as"Ot-tow" instead of "Otoh". (I was unaware that that was the way the song was originally sung. See for example The Carolina Buddies recording at http://www.oldtimeherald.org/archive/back_issues/volume-9/9-6/otto-wood.html.)
If you want to get some measure of the man and why he was so revered listen to Terry Gross's 1988 Fresh Air interview with Doc Watson. The interview proceeds as one might expect when interviewing an unassuming legend until Terry respectfully asked him about the death of his son Merle. With the honesty that marked the man, he recounted that he was so devastated that he didn't want to play anymore. If he hadn't been persuaded to keep playing he might have stopped. His wife had stopped singing, being unable to deal with Merle's death. A very moving interview.
There's a good biography of Doc Watson, " Doc Watson: Blind But Now I See (Book Review) on eartymemusic.com which includes this quote from Daryl Anger:
I can only add that those who never had the opportunity to see him in person have missed something memorable.“There was a feeling… that Doc was sort of like a spectacular natural feature of the landscape; inevitable, fully formed, iconic. He seemed ageless, and his so-called disability and spectacular transcendence of that along with his folksy manner made him a kind of mythic character, sort of a household god.”
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Quotes "Headhunters" | Christie Brinkley
I picked up some Jo Nexbø paperbacks at a garage sale on the morning of the computer science final two weeks ago. "Headhunters" has yielded two quotes in the first 50 pages:
"The lease had been signed, the extensive decoration work was under way and our financial ruin secured." (p 34)
"An artist who maintains that he has been misunderstood is almost always a bad artist who, I'm afraid to say this, has been understood." (p 41)
Asasellobulgakov made this comment on 5/27/2012 to a YouTube video of Andres Segovia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9efHwnFAkuA) "Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.
I like it!
WWJD = "Who Wants Jelly Donuts/Jack Daniels"
Zombies hate fast food.
A comment on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReW9uUYm-DA, John Fahey - Poor Boys Long Way From Home:
"I'll give you a little tip about the blues, folks: it's not enough to know which notes to play. You need to know why they need to be played" - George Carlin
cicerone - a person who conducts and informs sightseers (C18: from Italian: antiquarian scholar, guide, after Cicero, alluding to the eloquence and erudition of these men)
Newsday, the Long Island paper carried a story about a contest over child support payments between Christie Brinkley and her former husband, Peter Cook.
A comment on Ana Popovic's performance at the 2010 Montreal Jazz Festival icarusdescending881 wrote
The words of the Prophet used to be written on the subway walls. Now they're on T-shirts (snorgtees.com/t-shirts):
Wife: What are you going to do today?
Husband: Nothing.
Wife: Nothing? That's what you did yesterday.
Husband: I didn't finish.
"The lease had been signed, the extensive decoration work was under way and our financial ruin secured." (p 34)
"An artist who maintains that he has been misunderstood is almost always a bad artist who, I'm afraid to say this, has been understood." (p 41)
Asasellobulgakov made this comment on 5/27/2012 to a YouTube video of Andres Segovia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9efHwnFAkuA) "Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.
I like it!
WWJD = "Who Wants Jelly Donuts/Jack Daniels"
Zombies hate fast food.
A comment on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReW9uUYm-DA, John Fahey - Poor Boys Long Way From Home:
"I'll give you a little tip about the blues, folks: it's not enough to know which notes to play. You need to know why they need to be played" - George Carlin
cicerone - a person who conducts and informs sightseers (C18: from Italian: antiquarian scholar, guide, after Cicero, alluding to the eloquence and erudition of these men)
Newsday, the Long Island paper carried a story about a contest over child support payments between Christie Brinkley and her former husband, Peter Cook.
At one point in the hallway, Brinkley responded to a remark made by Cook's new wife, Suzanne, by putting her hand on her shoulder and telling her, "When you find out he's been cheating on you, I'll be here for you.
"You need to get a new line," Suzanne Cook told Brinkley."I've imagined hypothetical catty exchanges between a hypothetical former significant and current other who refuses to rise to the bait:
Former: "By the time we broke up he wasn't much in bed."
Current: "Maybe he's taken lessons."
Former: "After we broke up I learned how good lovemaking could be."Current: "I must have lower standards."
A comment on Ana Popovic's performance at the 2010 Montreal Jazz Festival icarusdescending881 wrote
"When Ana can roll over Crossroads, I'll sell my house, go find her, and follow her everywhere... Oh, wait, they arrest guys for that now.""Math is like love : a simple idea but it can get complicated." - virang21 (http://www.codeproject.com/Lounge.aspx?msg=4316769#xx4316769xx)
The words of the Prophet used to be written on the subway walls. Now they're on T-shirts (snorgtees.com/t-shirts):
- There's a fine line between Numberator and Denominator.
- If it weren't for law enforcement and physics I'd be unstoppable.
- The name Pavlov rings a bell.
- The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. ... And spiders.
- I survived the Rapture.
- If you can't be a good example be a warning.
Wife: What are you going to do today?
Husband: Nothing.
Wife: Nothing? That's what you did yesterday.
Husband: I didn't finish.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Just Kids Playing With Dynamite
Henry Blodget's article on Yahoo Finance was direct and to the point: "JPMORGAN PROVES IT: Wall Street Is Just Kids Playing With Dynamite".
The story was a reaction to the announcement of a $2 billion trading loss from JP Morgan-Chase. It is well worth a read/listen. (For a Reuters review see, "London Whale took big bets below the surface".)
The part of Blogett's story that will twist people's knickers is the statement that people who do damage do so without endangering their own compensation. The expectation that someone with a multi-million dollar compensation who screws up will lose their job and then get a position at a hedge fund with better compensation.
The term "London Whale" has been attached to this announcement because Bruno Iksil, the trader at the center of the furor, acquired that nickname because of the size of his trading positions. It would be reasonable to expect that working for a bank the size of JPMorgan-Chase that their trades would be larger than average. Iksil had 3 years of success prior to this. I haven't seen a story to determine whether JPMorgan actually came out ahead even with the $2 billion loss. The big deal apparently is that the money which was used for the trading was money which was not supposed to be used for hedging. Ooops. Of course the weasel factor looms large as to whether the money in question was for insurance or a hedge. The former would have been OK. The later a no-no.
Maybe time to check the facts.
The story was a reaction to the announcement of a $2 billion trading loss from JP Morgan-Chase. It is well worth a read/listen. (For a Reuters review see, "London Whale took big bets below the surface".)
The part of Blogett's story that will twist people's knickers is the statement that people who do damage do so without endangering their own compensation. The expectation that someone with a multi-million dollar compensation who screws up will lose their job and then get a position at a hedge fund with better compensation.
The term "London Whale" has been attached to this announcement because Bruno Iksil, the trader at the center of the furor, acquired that nickname because of the size of his trading positions. It would be reasonable to expect that working for a bank the size of JPMorgan-Chase that their trades would be larger than average. Iksil had 3 years of success prior to this. I haven't seen a story to determine whether JPMorgan actually came out ahead even with the $2 billion loss. The big deal apparently is that the money which was used for the trading was money which was not supposed to be used for hedging. Ooops. Of course the weasel factor looms large as to whether the money in question was for insurance or a hedge. The former would have been OK. The later a no-no.
Maybe time to check the facts.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Poor Writing: Sherlock, Series II - The Hounds of Baskerville
So disappointing.
Masterpiece Mystery's revised updated Hound of the Baskervilles is to be avoided
That may be old thinking. In this day and age, with easy access to video editing tools someone is sure to put all the good bits together (Sherlock elucidating his prodigious powers of reasoning) to reduce the wretched hour and a half to a thoroughly enjoyable couple of minutes.
There was a wealth of confusing, blurry camera work in the manner of Blair Witch Project. (I'm guessing actually. I never saw the film.) Whereas car chases could be relied upon to fill out a TV show's time slot, this episode used blurry sequences.
Perhaps I was bothered by the ease with witch Sherlock and Watson cold so blithely waltz into a super secret super secure facility with Mycroft's security card. (Mycroft is Sherlock's smarter brother.)
Now folks, in the age of cell phones please explain how Sherlock, using his brother's All Access swipe card would not have a picture. A brief glance at the face on the card would certainly arouse some suspicion. I should have switched channels, but I decided to give it a chance. Wrong decision.
Do you think the card Sherlock swiped "some time ago" would still be valid? One would think that after Philby, Burgess and MacLean (and that scum, Anthony Blunt ) the Brits would have stepped up their security. At the very least the cards would expire periodically.
Yes I know one shouldn't take these things seriously, but I'm offended by such stupidity.
Masterpiece Mystery's revised updated Hound of the Baskervilles is to be avoided
That may be old thinking. In this day and age, with easy access to video editing tools someone is sure to put all the good bits together (Sherlock elucidating his prodigious powers of reasoning) to reduce the wretched hour and a half to a thoroughly enjoyable couple of minutes.
There was a wealth of confusing, blurry camera work in the manner of Blair Witch Project. (I'm guessing actually. I never saw the film.) Whereas car chases could be relied upon to fill out a TV show's time slot, this episode used blurry sequences.
Perhaps I was bothered by the ease with witch Sherlock and Watson cold so blithely waltz into a super secret super secure facility with Mycroft's security card. (Mycroft is Sherlock's smarter brother.)
Now folks, in the age of cell phones please explain how Sherlock, using his brother's All Access swipe card would not have a picture. A brief glance at the face on the card would certainly arouse some suspicion. I should have switched channels, but I decided to give it a chance. Wrong decision.
Do you think the card Sherlock swiped "some time ago" would still be valid? One would think that after Philby, Burgess and MacLean (and that scum, Anthony Blunt ) the Brits would have stepped up their security. At the very least the cards would expire periodically.
Yes I know one shouldn't take these things seriously, but I'm offended by such stupidity.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Startups - Where are they now?
I came across the December 31, 2007 issue of NetworkWorld with an article "Start-Ups That Should Matter". I took a look and this is what I found:.
Not too shoddy a track record. I'd count Scalent as a success.
| 3Leaf Systems | RIP | |
| Apatar | It lives | |
| Atune Systems | URL available for $1,195 from hugedomains.com | |
| mValent | Server wasn't responding | |
| NewStep | Owner is listed as a post office box in Vancouver, WA, but the server was not responding | |
| Palo Alto Networks | Looks like a success. Their website displays Gartner's analysis of the company as a leader and visionaries who could execute. | |
| Scalent | Acquired by Dell in 2010 | |
| http://Sipera | It lives! | |
| http://Tango Networks | It lives! | |
| http://http://Xangati/ | It lives! |
Not too shoddy a track record. I'd count Scalent as a success.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Corey Booker Races Through Flames
Corey Booker, mayor of Newark, NJ rushed into a burning building to rescue a neighbor's daughter. Fire officials cautioned that such heroics can often end badly. Here's a link to a CBS News story. (The story contains a typo, "here" instead of "her":
The WNYC news story quoted Corey Booker as saying, "I was chiseled, now I just jiggle." ("When chiseled turns to jiggles" might make good copy in a come-on for a health club. It might be in use already, but a quick search with Google didn't uncover it. )
I would have liked to quote directly from the WNYC site, but it was down for maintenance:
I would have liked to quote directly from the WNYC site, but it was down for maintenance:
Monday, April 09, 2012
Google Cartoon
I went looking for a picture of the 450' x 4' vinyl cartoon mural attached to the scaffolding around Google's New York headquarters at 111 Eighth Avenue. The cartoon went up today. WNYC had some pictures, but I was unable to find an image of the whole thing.
Instead I found this:
It seemed just the thing for people I know who feel that the government is watching them. In their mind, the surveillance is not specific, just business as usual for the government. I quickly fired off a link for our amusement.
Instead I found this:
Stephanie Plum
I was gathering paper to recycle when I came across the name "Stephanie Plum" written on a sheet of paper. The paper was originally a note from the department secretary about a student, but had been annotated with notes about MARIE assembler, a few phone numbers I didn't recognize, but seemed to be local, and some calculations related to computer memory addressing.
A web search quickly found Janet Evanovich's web site and then Katherine Hegl's film, "One for the Money". The film was not released for critical review. Uh oh! A very bad sign.
Setting that aside, Stephanie Plum is the heroine of novels written by Janet Evanovich and I'm sure I got the name from an NPR interview, either for her latest book, Explosive Eighteen or "Stephanie Plum: Trenton's Scrappy Bounty Hunter".
Now with that out of the way I can recycle the paper.
A web search quickly found Janet Evanovich's web site and then Katherine Hegl's film, "One for the Money". The film was not released for critical review. Uh oh! A very bad sign.
Setting that aside, Stephanie Plum is the heroine of novels written by Janet Evanovich and I'm sure I got the name from an NPR interview, either for her latest book, Explosive Eighteen or "Stephanie Plum: Trenton's Scrappy Bounty Hunter".
Now with that out of the way I can recycle the paper.
Sunday, April 08, 2012
I'm So Behind the Times: Social Vending Machines
Stumbling through the May 16, 2011 hard copy edition of InformationWeek I found "Pepsi Takes Vending Machines Social". Who knew? Certainly not me. It's amazing what I miss by not watching TV or listening to commercial media. I seems that you can buy drinks as gifts for other people in the form of
redeemable codes delivered via text messages. It doesn't work in bars.
Might this work in countries where corruption steals from the destitute? the public-private key encryption probably figures into the authentication of the request. If I can think of it, others must be working on it.
(I couldn't find the article on line, but this is similar: http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/retail/229402472?cid=nl_IW_daily_2011-04-30_html.)
Might this work in countries where corruption steals from the destitute? the public-private key encryption probably figures into the authentication of the request. If I can think of it, others must be working on it.
(I couldn't find the article on line, but this is similar: http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/retail/229402472?cid=nl_IW_daily_2011-04-30_html.)
Monday, April 02, 2012
"I'm quite the guru"
While rooting through some papers I found some notes from a staff meeting. A former director had said, "I'm quite the FileMaker guru." She said this shortly after indicating some confusion between a database and a database table. My notation after the quote was "Perhaps she was tired." In truth it's closer to the classic "a legend in her own mind."
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