Events

Security expert Bruce Schneier has a good article today about threats to your computer (hint: Sony is one): There are all sorts of interests vying for control of your computer. There are media companies that want to control what you can do with the music and videos they sell you. There are companies that use software as a conduit to collect marketing information, deliver advertising or do whatever it is their real owners require. And there are software companies that are trying to make money by pleasing...

Found: a cool and simple geographic tool. So here's where I've been: create your own visited country map or check our Venice travel guide create your own personalized map of the USA or check out ourCalifornia travel guide create your own personalized map of Canada or check out ourVancouver travel guide create your personalized map of europe or check out our Barcelona travel guide

NHPR reported this morning that today is Moose Appreciation Day in New Hampshire. The event has outraged squirrels, who encounter cars far more often than moose with significantly worse results.

Very funny: How To Write Unmaintainable Code: Ensure a job for life, by Roedy Green. Very helpful, even in C#: Tips for maintainable Java code, by Rolf Howarth. Spend an hour reading them, then send them to your teams.

The New York Times editorial page today reminded everyone who values the Internet to call their representatives in Congress and demand continued net neutrality: One of the Internet's great strengths is that a single blogger or a small political group can inexpensively create a Web page that is just as accessible to the world as Microsoft's home page. But this democratic Internet would be in danger if the companies that deliver Internet service changed the rules so that Web sites that pay them money...

Seems God was just about done creating the universe, but He had two extra things left in his bag of creations, so He decided to split them between Adam and Eve. He told the couple that one of the things He had to give away was the ability to stand up while urinating. "It's a very handy thing," God told the couple, "I was wondering if either one of you wanted the ability." Adam jumped up and blurted, "Oh, give that to me! I'd love to oh please, oh please, oh please, let me have that ability. It'd be so...

Daily Kos has the complete transcript. Unbelievable. So, Mr. President, please, pay no attention to the people that say the glass is half full. 32% means the glass -- it's important to set up your jokes properly, sir. Sir, pay no attention to the people who say the glass is half empty, because 32% means it's 2/3 empty. There's still some liquid in that glass is my point, but I wouldn't drink it. The last third is usually backwash. Okay, look, folks, my point is that I don't believe this is a low point...

The New Hampshire legislature is about to reject the Federal Real ID Act, which was passed to "close the kinds of loopholes that allowed the 9/11 hijackers to get valid ID cards," according to its principal sponsor, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). New Hampshire would become the first of possibly many states to refuse to implement the law, and given New Hampshire's history and character, that's not surprising: "The war on our civil liberties is actually begun," New Hampshire state Rep. Neal M. Kurk (R)...

Visiting New York this weekend allowed me to read the Sunday New York Times in its native form, ink on paper, something I rarely do. So I was able to see, on page 21, a story I might not have found on-line: "Welcome to our town, or maybe not." Apparently, residents of Kanab, Utah, are up-in-arms about little "Everyone's Welcome" stickers that shops display: ...which sounds pretty tame until you get to the little rainbow-colored people beneath the text. Are those little people gay? Terril Honey, for one...

A lady opened her refrigerator and saw a rabbit sitting on one of the shelves. "What are you doing in there?" she asked. The rabbit replied, "This is a Westinghouse, isn't it?" "Why, yes," replied the lady. "Well," the rabbit said, "I'm westing."