Posts

I haven’t posted in a while. Busy. Buying house. Working. Thinking about house. Celebrating. Inspecting house. All that kind of thing. :) Well, okay, I’m not that busy, but it does take a lot of energy. Cue the Saturday Night Live version of the first Presidential debate from 2004: Lehrer – And what happens in phase three? Bush – Jim, we’re still working on phase three. You know, huh, and believe me…we’re working hard…‘cause it’s, huh, it’s hard work…and we’re…working hard…every day…working evenings…ordering in…working hard together…now to answer your question, we don’t know all the details yet. But basically on phase three, we crush the terrorists and hold elections, so that the Iraqi people can choose their own destiny. Because I believe all people want freedom, don’t you? ...

I honestly do not understand the controversy over UNC cutting down the nets after winning the ACC regular season. I wonder if Duke thinks the ACC regular season title is “pathetic?” ;) While it might be excessive under the old Carolina Tradition, this is the same team that hadn’t finished in the top three at any point during their careers. The seniors had suffered through the infamous 8-20 season and came back to win the ACC. That was a long journey for them, and one unlikely to happen again. (Heck, I thought they should have put the NIT banner up after that 8-20 season. How often do you get to see playoff basketball at the Dean Dome involving UNC?) ...

USA Today runs an article that basically sounds like the rewriting of a press release from the Ponemon Institute. (I really wish he had run something from the Pokémon Institute instead.) The article itself is basically a scare piece about the idea that MP3 players could record your personal information, music files, and digital photos, and share them over Bluetooth with nearby eavesdroppers. (Engadget has a few reasons why that logic is flawed. ‘Ware of shiny MP3 players. ;) ) ...

“They’re detached from reality and susceptible to influence” - Israel Defense Forces spokesperson talking about Dungeons & Dragons Hope they don’t include reading fiction in that list as well. :) Link courtesy of Schneier on Security

Just watched 49th Parallel (1941) off the DVR tonight, and despite missing the last few minutes because of a scheduling glitch, I would have to say it’s the best Nazis escaping across Canada movie I’ve ever seen. And why wouldn’t it be, with an all-star cast — including Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, and Raymond Massie — featured prominently in the credits? It was even nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1942. ...

I’ve found it interesting how many people start off email exchanges in an insulting, aggressive tone, even though what they are looking for is a simple bit of customer service or an answer. I don’t speak to people I don’t know like that and expect them to respond, and I wouldn’t expect it if I sent a hateful email either. Guess it’s pretty common. Link courtesy of The Editor’s Log, over at The (Greensboro) News & Record. ...

Well, guess what. Another large company that collects personal information about people without their knowledge has been hacked. This time it’s Seisint, owned by Lexis Nexis. This is a database used to supply the MATRIX (Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange) system with data. In other words, a system designed to help law enforcement fight terrorism left itself open to a group with stolen passwords. But don’t worry, everyone, the data that was stolen about 32,000 people “included names, addresses, Social Security and driver license numbers, but not credit history, medical records or financial information,” according to a spokesperson. We know no one can do much damage with that, right? :| ...

Looks like American Express is sending out a fascinating little calculator as a promotional item. I haven’t seen one myself, but here are some of the results, as reported by Contentious: 100 - 10 = 10 7.1 + 3.4 = 24.14 144.35 + 525 = 75,783.75 246 - 13 = 18.923076

Flying. Robot parts. Human brains. Let’s just give all of the rodents tiny laser pistols and be done with it. Courtesy of Boing Boing

Raymond Felton and Sean May are on the first team, Rashad McCants and Jawad Williams are on the third. Marvin Williams made honorable mention as a freshman. Now, if only Jackie makes it to the All-Defensive team. You can see the rest here. Update: Jackie did make it on the All-Defensive team. He’s a better defensive player than Chris Paul — Felton’s a better defensive player than Paul, as Paul can attest — and he probably should have been competing with Shelden Williams as Defensive Player of the Year for his shutdown performances. Unfortunately, they don’t have a points scored against vs. average points per game stat, and I suspect the Defensive team is picked on stats first, then impression. ...