Parents and students at Pine Forest High School in Fayetteville, N.C. received quite a scare when a student from Louisiana posted death threats on Edmodo, the school sponsored social network. The failing was not in the security of Edmodo, but in the security of the passwords used to administer the social platform.
Apparently at least one password was accessible on the school web site. One of the big discussions in security today is how to replace passwords, which suffer from the likelihood of being either too easy to guess or discover using sophisticated software and hardware, or too hard to remember for most people. But it really doesn't matter how hard to guess or easy to remember the password is if you leave it out for anyone to find.
There are any number of ways to secure passwords. Some are good - software like Lastpass, and some are better than nothing - like a password protected Exel spreadsheet. There are excellent free and commercial solutions, so figuring out which one is best for you might take a little research. Googling "best password manager" brings up reviews by several reputable sites and publications. Don't let your passwords be exposed to strangers, find a password manager that works for you.
Monday, October 07, 2013
Sunday, October 06, 2013
Monday, January 25, 2010
Say What?!!!
I was driving to work this morning, and there was a short news piece about the World Health Organization. I've never thought much of the WHO, but this took my opinion to new lows. It seems they've come under fire for the H1-N1 joke. People are claiming the WHO overhyped the situation to benefit pharmaceutical companies.
The WHO response?
We always characterized the virus as mild, but would have been negligent not to label it a pandemic.
How the hell do you have a MILD PANDEMIC?!!!!
The WHO response?
We always characterized the virus as mild, but would have been negligent not to label it a pandemic.
How the hell do you have a MILD PANDEMIC?!!!!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tough blow to the Libs
To me the only surprise in Scott Browns Massachussets victory is that the liberals were so surprised. Are they ostriches? Has their collective head been buried in the sand for the last year? Tea parties, conservative authors spending much time at or near the top of best seller lists, much noise and thunder in the form of polls saying Americans overall do not want the government running their healthcare, people like me writing congressmen, senators and President Obama with our concerns. Of that list, the only one I never even got a form letter response from was the President.
How many signs do they need to convince them that they are elected by the people, not by the intelligentsia, academia, or the fringe of either party?
How many signs do they need to convince them that they are elected by the people, not by the intelligentsia, academia, or the fringe of either party?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Change? What change?
After 911 President Bush was accused loudly and often of using the tragedy as a means to forward his political agendas. I would like to say that President Obama (agree or disagree with the man, the office deserves respect) is living up to his promise to bring change to politics, but he and his administration are continuing the tradition started long before the Bush administration - the biggest differences between when Bush did it after 911 and Obama doing it now is, President Obama is openly admitting it, and no one is screaming foul the they did when Bush was doing it. In fact using a bad situation to further political ends appears to be not just A tactic, but THE tactic of this administration.
“Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste,” Mr. Emanuel said in an interview on Sunday. “They are opportunities to do big things.” This from the NY Times.
Speaking to young Europeans on March 6th, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "Never waste a good crisis."
In his radio broadcast the same day, President Obama said (more wordily) with great crisis comes great opportunity.
These statements set the stage for the Obama administrations economic restructuring of the U.S. And no time is being wasted to set that restructuring in motion. In his podcast of March 7th, President Obama briefly discussed his desire for healthcare reform, and it's importance to the economic recovery of the U.S. The problem is, healthcare reform is not important to our economic recovery. Our current economic situation is directly due to bad practices in the financial sector. The healthcare industry has little or nothing to do with it. In fact, nationalizing healthcare will require increased government spending and increased taxes. Both practices put a damper on investment, research, and economic growth. In the same speech quoted earlier, Hillary Clinton sees this as a time to force industry to reduce greenhouse gases. At a time when the U.S. and world economy is reeling, the billions of dollars needed to do this will not be easy to find, if they can be found at all.
It becomes obvious that the Obama administration is not trying to devise an economic recovery, but to force social change, regardless of the effect on the economy. In fact, a large part of the plan seems to be to remove money and freedom from the taxpayer and use it to give the government as much control over both industry and individuals as can be managed while appearing to most that the idea is to return things to the way they were, but without the risk of another economic disaster.
The most frustrating thing is that the American people could put a stop to this, if they were paying attention, but they're not. Being people, the majority just want to live their lives with as little muss and fuss as possible. If they bother to vote, they vote for someone who sounds like he will keep things going, and then ignore him until the next election. Come on people, you have the power, USE IT!
“Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste,” Mr. Emanuel said in an interview on Sunday. “They are opportunities to do big things.” This from the NY Times.
Speaking to young Europeans on March 6th, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "Never waste a good crisis."
In his radio broadcast the same day, President Obama said (more wordily) with great crisis comes great opportunity.
These statements set the stage for the Obama administrations economic restructuring of the U.S. And no time is being wasted to set that restructuring in motion. In his podcast of March 7th, President Obama briefly discussed his desire for healthcare reform, and it's importance to the economic recovery of the U.S. The problem is, healthcare reform is not important to our economic recovery. Our current economic situation is directly due to bad practices in the financial sector. The healthcare industry has little or nothing to do with it. In fact, nationalizing healthcare will require increased government spending and increased taxes. Both practices put a damper on investment, research, and economic growth. In the same speech quoted earlier, Hillary Clinton sees this as a time to force industry to reduce greenhouse gases. At a time when the U.S. and world economy is reeling, the billions of dollars needed to do this will not be easy to find, if they can be found at all.
It becomes obvious that the Obama administration is not trying to devise an economic recovery, but to force social change, regardless of the effect on the economy. In fact, a large part of the plan seems to be to remove money and freedom from the taxpayer and use it to give the government as much control over both industry and individuals as can be managed while appearing to most that the idea is to return things to the way they were, but without the risk of another economic disaster.
The most frustrating thing is that the American people could put a stop to this, if they were paying attention, but they're not. Being people, the majority just want to live their lives with as little muss and fuss as possible. If they bother to vote, they vote for someone who sounds like he will keep things going, and then ignore him until the next election. Come on people, you have the power, USE IT!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wow, I'm right
I haven't been posting it here, but I've been saying since November that bailing out the banks, then GM and Chrysler, is a bad idea. It escalates the national debt and props up businesses who have shown an inability to adjust to changing conditions and manage their resources. Now a nationally recognized economist has said the same thing. The best thing government can do in bad economic times (or any economic times, really) is get out of the way and let the free market take care of itself. Let businesses fail. Face it, GM isn't going to close it's doors. It will go through debt reorganization and hopefully come out leaner and more competitive. But with Uncle Sam Barack Obama and company pumping $30,000,000,000 into GM's coffers every few months to keep it from going under, is it any wonder there is no real effort to decrease expenses in an economically sensible fashion.
It should be obvious that propping up businesses whose problems arise from bad business practices is, believe it or not, bad business. Banks who give loans to people who can't afford them should face the consequences of their bad decisions. And saying that everyone deserves their shot at the American Dream is not a justification. We seem to have forgotten that the American dream has two parts, the first part being that if you work hard and use your money wisely, saving, investing, and being frugal, you can get the second part: a home, a car (or two) and 2.5 (or is it 1.5 now?) kids. In other words, you work hard to be able to buy the American Dream. If you can't afford the home you want, you save more, or find a home you can afford.
Two years ago my wife and I were looking for a new home. Our family had grown, and we needed a larger home. We were offered some truly wondrous ARM's and those fun loans that allow you to pay only the interest for the first 5 or 7 years, then hit you with payments that are 4 or 5 times what you were paying. If they couldn't guarantee I would be making enough to make those payments by that time, I wasn't going to get a loan that would require I make them. If the mortgage company was going to be so irresponsible as to give me a loan that was much higher than I could afford, it was my job to say "forget it" and look for a loan I could afford. But the bank should never even have made the offer.
Twelve years ago my wife and I bought our first home. And we almost didn't get it. We knew we could afford the payments for the home we wanted, but according to the formulas the bank used, we couldn't. We did eventually get a loan, but it was nerve-wracking. And it should have been. Today we have a financial meltdown with banks closing and loan defaults at epidemic levels because it has been too easy to get loans. It shouldn't have happened.
Granted, this is not just a problem caused by the banking industry. Bush was anything but fiscally conservative. He ran the deficit up to record level, which is detrimental to the health of the economy. It would have been nice if Obama would have turned around the spending policies of Bush, but he has taken the ball and is running with it. The world may not come to an end in 2012, but if we keep trying to spend our way out of this economic crisis, the world economy might.
It should be obvious that propping up businesses whose problems arise from bad business practices is, believe it or not, bad business. Banks who give loans to people who can't afford them should face the consequences of their bad decisions. And saying that everyone deserves their shot at the American Dream is not a justification. We seem to have forgotten that the American dream has two parts, the first part being that if you work hard and use your money wisely, saving, investing, and being frugal, you can get the second part: a home, a car (or two) and 2.5 (or is it 1.5 now?) kids. In other words, you work hard to be able to buy the American Dream. If you can't afford the home you want, you save more, or find a home you can afford.
Two years ago my wife and I were looking for a new home. Our family had grown, and we needed a larger home. We were offered some truly wondrous ARM's and those fun loans that allow you to pay only the interest for the first 5 or 7 years, then hit you with payments that are 4 or 5 times what you were paying. If they couldn't guarantee I would be making enough to make those payments by that time, I wasn't going to get a loan that would require I make them. If the mortgage company was going to be so irresponsible as to give me a loan that was much higher than I could afford, it was my job to say "forget it" and look for a loan I could afford. But the bank should never even have made the offer.
Twelve years ago my wife and I bought our first home. And we almost didn't get it. We knew we could afford the payments for the home we wanted, but according to the formulas the bank used, we couldn't. We did eventually get a loan, but it was nerve-wracking. And it should have been. Today we have a financial meltdown with banks closing and loan defaults at epidemic levels because it has been too easy to get loans. It shouldn't have happened.
Granted, this is not just a problem caused by the banking industry. Bush was anything but fiscally conservative. He ran the deficit up to record level, which is detrimental to the health of the economy. It would have been nice if Obama would have turned around the spending policies of Bush, but he has taken the ball and is running with it. The world may not come to an end in 2012, but if we keep trying to spend our way out of this economic crisis, the world economy might.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Fetal stemcell research now ok (sort of)
Obama is going to ease restrictions on fetal stemcell research...well, lets be honest. He's going to ease restrictions on government funded fetal stemcell research. The truth is, stemcell research has not really been hampered by lack of government funding. To quote the USA today story linked to in the title:
Osiris Therapeutics, a seventeen year old company who has long been in the forefront of adult stemcell research, sees no reason to change direction with the change federal opinion. They have several therapies currently in clinical trial using adult stemcells, and may even have one FDA approved before all the details of how federal money would be allocated for fetal stemcell research are ironed out.
It's been several years since I read that evidence showed adult stemcells could be used to form cell types other than the types in the organ they came from - that is the only major advantage of fetal stemcells, they can become any cell type in the body. So if adult stemcells can also become any type of cell in the body, why are we wasting money on a highly controversial and unnecessary technology?
If you want to learn a little more about the issue of fetal stemcells and adult stemcells a good brief look at it can be found at the governments own stemcell info site Stem Cell Information
So why, in these troubled economic times, when everyone is looking at ways to save money, is Obama opening up the federal coffers to researchers who have little need of the additional funding? And that ignores another branch of stemcell research, one that is far ahead of fetal stemcell research, at least in some areas: adult stemcell research.Work didn't stop. Indeed, it advanced enough that this summer, the private Geron Corp. will begin the world's first study of a treatment using human embryonic stem cells, in people who recently suffered a spinal cord injury.
Osiris Therapeutics, a seventeen year old company who has long been in the forefront of adult stemcell research, sees no reason to change direction with the change federal opinion. They have several therapies currently in clinical trial using adult stemcells, and may even have one FDA approved before all the details of how federal money would be allocated for fetal stemcell research are ironed out.
It's been several years since I read that evidence showed adult stemcells could be used to form cell types other than the types in the organ they came from - that is the only major advantage of fetal stemcells, they can become any cell type in the body. So if adult stemcells can also become any type of cell in the body, why are we wasting money on a highly controversial and unnecessary technology?
If you want to learn a little more about the issue of fetal stemcells and adult stemcells a good brief look at it can be found at the governments own stemcell info site Stem Cell Information
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Stimulus package isn't...unless
It's been a while, but I'm back, and I will be watching the Obama administration with the same eye that I watched the administration of Bush the Younger. The focus this time will be mostly on the economy and related policies, although the handling of Iraq and Afghanistan will also be in my sights.
I am a registered independent and am far less concerned about party affiliations than I am about policies and results, so I hope I can present an unbiased an opinion as can be expected from a human being. That said, I admit to being a fiscal conservative, so I expect I will have more than a few disagreements on economic policy with a liberal administration.
Now, to business - but only briefly for today. I am horrified at the passage of the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" because, in the long run, it is anything but a recovery act. In the long term the effect it will have on the economy will be to slow it down even further. But there is a lightening of the dark cloud looming over the horizon. According to a NY Times story , Obama admits the truth of that, and is planning on reducing the federal deficit by 50% by the end of this term. If he can actually manage it, he will have my vote for a second term, barring horrific performance in other areas.
Well, that's all for today, but I look forward to regular posts in the future.
I am a registered independent and am far less concerned about party affiliations than I am about policies and results, so I hope I can present an unbiased an opinion as can be expected from a human being. That said, I admit to being a fiscal conservative, so I expect I will have more than a few disagreements on economic policy with a liberal administration.
Now, to business - but only briefly for today. I am horrified at the passage of the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" because, in the long run, it is anything but a recovery act. In the long term the effect it will have on the economy will be to slow it down even further. But there is a lightening of the dark cloud looming over the horizon. According to a NY Times story , Obama admits the truth of that, and is planning on reducing the federal deficit by 50% by the end of this term. If he can actually manage it, he will have my vote for a second term, barring horrific performance in other areas.
Well, that's all for today, but I look forward to regular posts in the future.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
I'm Baaaaack!!
I've been waaay busy to blog, but now I've got a tech blog on my jobs website, and with the election year here, what self respecting blogger with political opinions could resist? This is destined to be either one of the most entertaining presidential campaigns ever, or the biggest snorefest since I don't know when. But in case it's the former, I have to take part. So look for me to start commenting on candidates in the next week or so. And I won't forget current events. See ya soon.
Geradin
Geradin
Saturday, September 23, 2006
The more things change...
The more they stay the same. Throughout this war we've heard administration officials saying that the U.S. is not violating the Geneva conventions. And we've seen over and over again that its just not true. Time and again the U.S. has been caught mistreating prisoners of war. U.S. troops have been caught performing atrocities AGAINST THE PEOPLE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LIBERATING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't get me wrong. I think it's great that we are putting our commitment to upholding the Geneva conventions in writing. But it was already in writing, and we were not abiding by those laws. In order to protect officials who had broken that law a clause was added guaranteeing they would not be prosecuted. It's another example of the administration saying, "We are on a mission from God and anything we do is justified." That attitude is a large part of the problem, both with our troops and with our sagging relationship with many (most?) of our allies.
What is the answer? If he would listen to some of the people outside his circle of "yes men" he might begin to look beyond what he wants to the consequences of what he does. Unfortunately, President Bush seems immune to criticism. That's a hazard in people who consider themselves to be on missions from God, but George W. is in a position to do serious harm, more harm than almost anyone else in the world. And at the moment, it looks like he is pushing the Muslim world into war with the western world in general, but most especially with the U.S.
President Bush, please start considering the long term consequences of your actions, and find some advisors who are willing to disagree with the group.
Don't get me wrong. I think it's great that we are putting our commitment to upholding the Geneva conventions in writing. But it was already in writing, and we were not abiding by those laws. In order to protect officials who had broken that law a clause was added guaranteeing they would not be prosecuted. It's another example of the administration saying, "We are on a mission from God and anything we do is justified." That attitude is a large part of the problem, both with our troops and with our sagging relationship with many (most?) of our allies.
What is the answer? If he would listen to some of the people outside his circle of "yes men" he might begin to look beyond what he wants to the consequences of what he does. Unfortunately, President Bush seems immune to criticism. That's a hazard in people who consider themselves to be on missions from God, but George W. is in a position to do serious harm, more harm than almost anyone else in the world. And at the moment, it looks like he is pushing the Muslim world into war with the western world in general, but most especially with the U.S.
President Bush, please start considering the long term consequences of your actions, and find some advisors who are willing to disagree with the group.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
WIC Realizes Times Change
Gov't adds fruits, veggies to WIC list - Yahoo! News
Wow, it only took 1/4 century for them to notice that knowledge has advanced, and their food list is woefully out of date. But instead of adding to the food list, they are substituting the fruits and vegetables for portions of the foods already provided...while that is a step in the right direction, it isn't ideal. Low income families could use much more help. I'm glad we're helping those in need, but can't we do more?
Wow, it only took 1/4 century for them to notice that knowledge has advanced, and their food list is woefully out of date. But instead of adding to the food list, they are substituting the fruits and vegetables for portions of the foods already provided...while that is a step in the right direction, it isn't ideal. Low income families could use much more help. I'm glad we're helping those in need, but can't we do more?
Blogged with Flock
Monday, July 24, 2006
A problem? I'm not so sure.
Newsvine - Group Decries Bush's Law Interpretations
The American Bar Association is issuing a report denouncing president Bushes exceptions. Exceptions are comments written by the president explaining his perceptions about the law he is signing. The problem the ABA has is that not only does president Bush write more of them than any other president, he uses them as policy statements explaining why he may choose to ignore them at some later date. He's not the first to do that, just the most prolific about it.
The ABA sees this as a problem. Personally, I see it as potentially the most important writing this president does. I voted for Bush. The first time because I believed in The second time because I thought (and still do) that the other guy would be worse. But that doesn't mean I believe President Bush has done everything right or that he can do no wrong. I believe he has made many mistakes and is leading this country into a dictatorship. His exceptions to laws he signs can provide insight into what his future plans are.
Either he doesn't realize what he's doing, or he thinks it's his God given duty to take us away from the Republic our forefathers created. It doesn't matter which. What does matter is that he is doing things that are infringing on our personal rights, and is going to keep on removing personal freedoms until he is out of office. President Bushes law interpretations provide a window to see what he is thinking when it comes to the law, the government and the citizens. That is important for those of us who are as concerned about personal freedom as we are about preventing another WTC bombing.
Blogged with Flock
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Didn't we just go through this?
"Hunter, in opening remarks at the hearing, suggested that Congress must not grant detainees access to the military's courts-martial system, which would afford them certain rights, such as immediately being informed of charges against them and immediate access to legal counsel."
From: CNN.com - House chairman: Pentagon must remain tough on terror suspects - Jul 12, 2006
What a concept. Suspected criminals should know what they are accused of. Barely a week after a judge threw out 2/3 of SCO's lawsuit against IBM because SCO would not tell IBM what they had done wrong (comparing it to telling a shoplifter at Macy's, "I'm not telling you because you know what you stole"), a US congressman is saying that suspected terrorists don't deserve the basic rights that any judicial system founded on the premise of "innocent until proven guilty" should give any suspect. I don't remember congressmen saying Timothy McVeigh shouldn't be told what he was accused of, or that he shouldn't get a speedy and fair trial.
I don't care what we suspect them of, these people deserve to be treated as human until they've been proven guilty. That is a basic part of the US legal system and cannot be ignored if we are to be true to ourselves and the ideals we claim to believe in.
Blogged with Flock
Does the president have new clothes?
US to comply with Geneva Conventions - Yahoo! News
After 5 years of pressure at home and abroad President Bush and his administration finally realized that there is no good that can come of their chosen policy towards suspected terrorist detainees. After the defeat in the Supreme Court last week they have finally admitted that the detainees are prisoners of war...well, not exactly. They've admitted that they have to take the prisoners out of limbo and are treating them according to the rules established by the Geneva conventions.
So what does it take to convince our president that he was wrong? Apparently getting it pounded into his head by most of the free world, a majority of the US citizenry, and last, but not least, the US Supreme Court. If nothing else, you have to give the President credit for sticking to his guns.
One thing that concerns me is President Bush's public persona as a sincere Christian. I believe in God, and I believe we have God given responsibilities, but a lot of what I see George Bush doing does not appear very Christ-like. Granted that the leader of a nation cannot "turn the other cheek" to terrorists, it seems that a leader who makes his faith such an important part of his public persona should strive to treat all people as Christ would treat them. That means that you only go to war when it is the last possible option. When at war you make it clear to the generals and admirals that all prisoners will be treated with dignity and respect, and make sure that they pass it down to all the soldiers under them. And when soldiers do commit attrocities (if the war is very long it will happen) they should be dealt with quickly. Fairly, but quickly. None of that has occurred in the war in Iraq, and that should concern all of us.
Blogged with Flock
Monday, July 10, 2006
Is our society sick?
Two college football players are accused of raping an 11 year old. 7 others may have been involved. The circumstances described indicate she was not willing. The 7 other players told a lawyer she was tall and appeared older. So? She ran out of the apartment and grabbed a couple off the street for help. That is not in the definition of consenting, it doesn't matter how old you are. I have to reserve judgement until more details are available, but it sounds like an excuse made to get out of trouble.
Blogged with Flock
With friends like these...
Once again the U.S. military has put it's worst foot forward. And the reason it keeps happening is becoming clearer with each incident. These are a few of the reasons I see for our militaries continuing failure to treat the citizens of Iraq as people:
1. As United States citizens, many soldiers already believe deep down that they are better than any one who is not from the United States
2. Our countries leadership, with its belief that it is our God given duty to protect the world from itself, strengthen that belief.
3. The agreements that were made with Iraq that exempts U.S. military from Iraq law gives an impression that US soldiers are above the law.
These are not the only factors, perhaps not even major factors, but the fact is that 4 soldiers are believed to have raped a fourteen year old girl and killed her and her family. A fifth soldier was either aware of the crime or a witness and didn't report it. These men should be handed over to the Iraqi government and made to face whatever punishment Islamic law requires. Yes, I said Islamic law, not Iraq law. I'm sure that the government we put in place has much nicer, more humane punishments than the law of Islam. And I do not believe that such horrific crime deserves humane punishment. It deserves punishment as violent and sadistic as the crime itself.
The situation in Iraq has become so bad that a doctor whose estimate of the girls age differed from that of the official report would not give his name for fear of reprisal from the military. We are supposed to be there helping the people. Somewhere someone has made terrible mistakes, and we are becoming as bad as the fiend we removed.
Remaining in Iraq is no longer a matter of only being there until the government is ready to control the country. It is now a matter of getting out before we make it impossible for them to.
If you haven't heard this story, here is a link:
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Just touching base
There's been so much going on in the world and I've been so busy it's been tough to find time to breath. Immigration issues, the war in Iraq, Irans Nuclear program, Mac's almost all running Intel processors, and much turmoil on the religious front.
Can you say "Da Vinci Code"?
And then I had a very convincing false heart attack. Cat Scan, Angiogram, and no problems with my heart found. No high blood pressure, blocked arteries, or even gas. What happened? We may never know.
But look for me to be back and regularly posting soon.
Can you say "Da Vinci Code"?
And then I had a very convincing false heart attack. Cat Scan, Angiogram, and no problems with my heart found. No high blood pressure, blocked arteries, or even gas. What happened? We may never know.
But look for me to be back and regularly posting soon.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Why is $1.99 too little for TV episodes?
You have to wonder what the executives at CBS and NBC are thinking. Shoot, even what they're thinking at ABC. On Amazon.com the first season of "Desparate Housewives" costs about $39 U.S. dollars, or about $1.69 per episode (less if you include special features in the cost). Apple charges $1.99 per low res episode that only looks good in a small window on your computer, or on an iPod screen. It's an easy bet that the anyone who buys the iTunes episode will eventually want to watch it on their TV. Even if someone breaks the DRM and makes it possible to burn the episodes to DVD the picture will be almost unviewable on a TV screen. Which means they will have to buy the DVD set for a decent picture. And if they're a real fan, they'll want the DVD for the extra features, too. That means the network gets to make money three times per episode (not counting syndication): Original airing, iPod version, DVD version.
Add to that the fact that the iTunes version lacks cost of pressing DVD's and distributing them and 1,000,000 videos have sold in 20 days, and putting episodes on iTunes seems like a no-brainer. Of course, network executives haven't always been noted for their intelligence.
Add to that the fact that the iTunes version lacks cost of pressing DVD's and distributing them and 1,000,000 videos have sold in 20 days, and putting episodes on iTunes seems like a no-brainer. Of course, network executives haven't always been noted for their intelligence.
Friday, September 09, 2005
The aftermath of hurricane Katrina
It's tempting to go into a lengthy description of the events that started just before Katrina hit land and will continue into the foreseeable future. But anyone reading this now is aware of most of them. Anyone reading it in the future should have no trouble finding detailed accounts of them. So I will hold fast to my main purpose, putting my thoughts, hopes, and fears regarding the controversies surrounding the governments action, or some would say inaction, after Katrina hit land.
The whole situation was poorly handled, yet reading the Wikipedia article on the situation in New Orleans before and after Katrina hit, I don't know that anyone would have done better. Most of the problems were actually years, and maybe even decades in the making. Levies and retaining walls that should have been updated and reinforced long ago. Disaster plans that failed to accurately assess the results of a category 4 (or 5) hurricane and officials who failed to fully appreciate the number of policemen and soldiers or the number of relief workers necessary to keep order and assist victims following a disaster of such proportion. I'm glad that, after doing some quick research beyond Wikipedia, it appears to me that the delays and problems were much more likely due to poor planning and a failure to understand the likely result of Katrina hitting New Orleans than to an actual racist attitude pervading the government. But the fact remains that the majority of the victims were black, and it's not very far to leap to see a racist agenda in the handling of Katrina.
Why is it that in a time of disaster, a time when we should be pulling together more than any other, we are purposely wasting energy perpetuating racist stereotypes that we all know are not true? Why, instead of attacking the president, aren't we encouraging him to take action, and taking action ourselves? Why are we looking for reasons to hate each other almost as hard as we are trying to help the victims of Katrina? Yes, the situation was handled horribly. Yes, most of the victims were black. But in my heart of hearts I hope and pray that what I feel to be true really is. This entire horror of a rescue effort was a result of poor planning, not racism. That difference may not matter to those who died, but it is direly important for those who survived.
Forget race. Love people.
The whole situation was poorly handled, yet reading the Wikipedia article on the situation in New Orleans before and after Katrina hit, I don't know that anyone would have done better. Most of the problems were actually years, and maybe even decades in the making. Levies and retaining walls that should have been updated and reinforced long ago. Disaster plans that failed to accurately assess the results of a category 4 (or 5) hurricane and officials who failed to fully appreciate the number of policemen and soldiers or the number of relief workers necessary to keep order and assist victims following a disaster of such proportion. I'm glad that, after doing some quick research beyond Wikipedia, it appears to me that the delays and problems were much more likely due to poor planning and a failure to understand the likely result of Katrina hitting New Orleans than to an actual racist attitude pervading the government. But the fact remains that the majority of the victims were black, and it's not very far to leap to see a racist agenda in the handling of Katrina.
Why is it that in a time of disaster, a time when we should be pulling together more than any other, we are purposely wasting energy perpetuating racist stereotypes that we all know are not true? Why, instead of attacking the president, aren't we encouraging him to take action, and taking action ourselves? Why are we looking for reasons to hate each other almost as hard as we are trying to help the victims of Katrina? Yes, the situation was handled horribly. Yes, most of the victims were black. But in my heart of hearts I hope and pray that what I feel to be true really is. This entire horror of a rescue effort was a result of poor planning, not racism. That difference may not matter to those who died, but it is direly important for those who survived.
Forget race. Love people.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Intel on Mac
It's amazing the things that have changed in just the last 48 hours when it comes to computing. Apple has finally done what pundits and users have begged for for years and years. They're dumping IBM and embracing Intel. What does that mean? Maybe not much, when it comes to the average user. Since they've licensed a technology they are calling Rosetta which will allow Intel based Mac's to run PowerPC based code seamlessly the change will be as painless (or even more painless) than the transition from OS 9 to OS X. For developers it means more work, but from the buzz I've seen from developers at the Apple WWDC who have had the opportunity to play with an Intel based Mac it won't be nearly as bad as they feared. Many things will just recompile, but even those that will require non-trivial conversions will be much, much easier than first expected.
So should I scrap my plans to buy a new Mac in the next few months? Nah. The PowerPC's will be supported through at least one more iteration of the OS, and developers will probably be developing for them at least that long. But I can't wait to get my hands on an Intel Mac Powerbook running at 4.7GHz - with a dual core processor. :)
So should I scrap my plans to buy a new Mac in the next few months? Nah. The PowerPC's will be supported through at least one more iteration of the OS, and developers will probably be developing for them at least that long. But I can't wait to get my hands on an Intel Mac Powerbook running at 4.7GHz - with a dual core processor. :)
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