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By Janet Evans
Thursday, Jul 17 2008, 07:02 AM
By Janet Evans
Wednesday, Jul 9 2008, 06:40 AM
Peer-to-Peer file sharing networks such as LimeWire or Napster allow computer users to share data, music, or movie files between computers. You have to remember, copyrighted material is not legal to share with these programs, which severely limits file sharing.
I would think the average person is going to "file share" from home. First of all, while most computer connections are now faster with cable, it still takes time and bandwidth to do so. Plus you are allowing someone to link to your computer when you "share."
"Sometime late last year, an employee of a McLean investment firm decided to trade some music, or maybe a movie, with like-minded users of the online file-sharing network LimeWire while using a company computer. In doing so, he inadvertently opened the private files of his firm, Wagner Resource Group, to the public.
That exposed the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of about 2,000 of the firm's clients, including a number of high-powered lawyers and Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer.
The breach was not discovered for nearly six months. A reader of washingtonpost.com's Security Fix blog found the information while searching LimeWire in June."
Like I said in my title...I could see a teenager doing this...
Read the article from the Washington Post
Justice Breyer Is Among Victims in Data Breach Caused by File Sharing Justice Breyer
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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, Jul 8 2008, 11:58 AM
Having some technology troubles sent me to the web for a reinstall of a program….
I had an interesting find....
Take a peek at my Righty Blog “Hug a Tree” for a look at how you can save the environment : )
Here ç
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By Janet Evans
Wednesday, Jun 25 2008, 05:37 PM
I happened to come across this blog regarding 12 Beers You Should Only Drink In College and noticed that there are three or four Milwaukee beers on the list.
“Everyone loves college. You live in a building full of your friends and the opposite sex sans parents for months, with a veritable smorgasbord of food, parties and alcohol to distract you from worthless schoolwork. But the sacrifice is that you’re broke. Still, you have to get drunk. What do you buy? Here’s a list of beers that encourage you to do your homework so you can afford the good stuff after graduation. But for now, you drink these purely out of circumstance.”
Ð
That’s what the “Campus Squeeze” says……
It’s a scary place, parents….be afraid…be very afraid….
It was just easier before their were blogs and websites...it was easier when you asked your college student how things were going and the just said, "Fine, can I have some money?"
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By Janet Evans
Monday, Jun 23 2008, 07:05 AM
A Basic Abacus
In Asia, the Chinese were becoming very involved in commerce with the Japanese, Indians, and Koreans. Businessmen needed a way to tally accounts and bills. Somehow, out of this need, the abacus was born. The abacus is the first true precursor to the adding machines and computers which would follow. It worked somewhat like this:The value assigned to each pebble (or bead, shell, or stick) is determined not by its shape but by its position: one pebble on a particular line or one bead on a particular wire has the value of 1; two together have the value of 2. A pebble on the next line, however, might have the value of 10, and a pebble on the third line would have the value of 100. Therefore, three properly placed pebbles--two with values of 1 and one with the value of 10--could signify 12, and the addition of a fourth pebble with the value of 100 could signify 112, using a place-value notational system with multiples of 10. Thus, the abacus works on the principle of place-value notation: the location of the bead determines its value. In this way, relatively few beads are required to depict large numbers. The beads are counted, or given numerical values, by shifting them in one direction. The values are erased (freeing the counters for reuse) by shifting the beads in the other direction. An abacus is really a memory aid for the user making mental calculations, as opposed to the true mechanical calculating machines which were still to come.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In 1985, as a stay at home mom, I felt I was very fortunate. My daughter went to school at Country Dale Elementary School, in Franklin. Apple computers were the rage in the Franklin schools. I had never owned or used a computer before, but my daughter, who was in the Gifted and Talented Program (which, if I remember correctly had just been instituted in the school system) was very interested in computers. With me being a volunteer at school, I was also interested, and I wanted a computer at home for both of us to use.
We saved, and we purchased an computer. I also bought the same programs that my daughter was using at school. The cool thing was, the printer was dot matrix. Wow! The best thing, before we started using the internet for everything? Having an encyclopedia program. It was the greatest! Having that computer not only helped my children, but helped me with future employment. Could we have lived without it? Of course. But right now, it’s awfully hard to think of times without computers.
I do think back to my school days without them. We had manual typewriters and we did term papers that didn’t always look very nice, but they were a least typed. Teachers were making copies on actual mimeograph machines that used blue ink. I can still smell that ink, with the papers that were still damp when we got them. Calculators, if you were lucky enough to have one, were huge and clumsy.
There are many things in life that I wouldn’t mind giving up and just going back to the old fashioned way. But a computer is not one of them. Back in 1985 the computer was an amazing adventure for me, even though it was in a basic form. But now, a computer has pretty much opened up the world....Just think where a computer can take you.
Read about the history of computers: Computers From Past to Present ç here
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By Janet Evans
Sunday, Jun 15 2008, 10:30 PM
In the 50s and 60s robots were very mechanical in appearance, and extremely clumsy. In the 70s and 80s their movement was more lifelike. In the 90s, and now the 2000s they have become more human-like; even showing emotion and facial expression.
The reality is, in the coming decades human-robot relationships of the romantic nature are expected to become something commonplace. For those who can't find the "real thing," forget the blow-up doll in the closet…no more lonely hearts club…a robot will be able to carry on a conversation of sorts with a partner….among other things.
The Japanese made a very lifelike robot back in 2006. Except for the "Hello Kitty" shirt, that's a pretty convincing robot.
Actroid Der-2
See what Dutch researcher, Vincent Wiegel has to say about the fact that….
In 2050, your lover may be a ... robot ç here
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By Janet Evans
Friday, Jun 13 2008, 10:32 PM
What NASA earlier reported as an “unidentified” object ‘floating” (UFLO….my acronym) away from space shuttle Discovery, which is on a return trip from the international space station, has now been identified. The 1.5 foot long object is a clip that is part of the rudder speed brake insulation. No worries, says NASA, this has happened before…..
“NASA says the missing clip isn't critical for landing. It's used to protect the speed brake from high temperatures during the shuttle's launch. "Orbiters have come back with those missing. It's just not a factor for entry," Mission Control told the shuttle crew. “
Oh, my…I know I feel better. I hope the crew does.
Read about it from Breitbart ç here
Space Shuttle Discovery being
prepared for mission
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By Janet Evans
Thursday, Jun 12 2008, 11:54 AM
Thinking of alternative ways to take care of that lawn for the rest of the season?
 Perhaps something a little less of an alternative?
How about an electric lawn mower?
It's something to think about.
And it's certainly cost effective after the initial investment.
from the Christian Science Monitor
Earthtalk: Greener ways to cut the grass í here
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By Janet Evans
Saturday, Jun 7 2008, 09:10 AM
….I’m Rambo, damn it!
Too bad there isn’t a way to make sure these weapons never get in the hands of the enemy. But that’s impossible.
The close-up of the ammunition was pretty chilling.
In the end, it's just like when the military used to throw a grenade into a building before they went in...now, they use this weapon instead.
Don't forget about military Robobugs .
If you're interested, here's a link to BLACKWATER Ã
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By Janet Evans
Friday, Jun 6 2008, 11:15 AM
Looks like airports are going to be seeing a little more than your underpants, since eventually over 2000 of the nation's airports will be replacing metal detectors with body-scanners that can see through your clothing. You've probably heard of these scanners before...they can see your body parts very clearly.
"Body-scanning machines that show images of people underneath their clothing are being installed in 10 of the nation's busiest airports in one of the biggest public uses of security devices that reveal intimate body parts.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently started using body scans on randomly chosen passengers in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Denver, Albuquerque and at New York's Kennedy airport.
Airports in Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas and Miami will be added this month. Reagan National Airport in Washington starts using a body scanner today. A total of 38 machines will be in use within weeks.
"It's the wave of the future," said James Schear, the TSA security director at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, where two body scanners are in use at one checkpoint.
Schear said the scanners could eventually replace metal detectors at the nation's 2,000 airport checkpoints and the pat-downs done on passengers who need extra screening. "We're just scratching the surface of what we can do with whole-body imaging," Schear said."
Read the full story on USA Today
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By Janet Evans
Friday, Jun 6 2008, 06:52 AM
There are workplaces out there that want employees to get microchips implanted in their bodies. Some states, Wisconsin included, have passed laws stating employees can’t be forced to have chips implanted. There are other states that have yet to do so.
“This year at least 17 states have considered bills regulating or restricting radio frequency identification, or RFID, according the National Conference of State Legislatures. Last year, there were 13.”
If your employer wanted you to get a chip, would you consider it? The chips are about the size of a grain of rice, enclosed in a glass capsule. There are many reasons why companies want employees to be implanted with chips. One reason is for high security clearance.
One reason for concern is the cancer risk. Then there is this….
Irwin Baxter Jr., who runs Texas-based Endtime Ministries, said his primary concern is the overlap between a traceable implant and biblical descriptions of a “666” mark required to buy and sell goods.
Baxter said that after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Americans tolerated greater privacy intrusions in the interest of security. He predicts even more acceptance for less liberty and greater pressure for using microchips after a war of biblical proportions that kills much of the world’s population.
“A day after 2 billion die, there will be an absolute call for absolute security,” he said. “Part of that will be a foolproof means of identification, and once the demand for a foolproof means of identification comes, then the logical step is the RFID chip under the skin.”
Read the story in the Daily Journal Online ç here
“A day after 2 billion die”
I don’t think microchips are going to be helping us with that.
We’ve been doing pretty well so far after 9-11.
Let’s hope we continue to make the right choices in fighting terrorism.
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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, Jun 3 2008, 06:00 PM
Perhaps you have a child already attending a college or university, or maybe you are getting ready to send one off in the fall. Maybe you who are reading this are attending a university. Whatever the case may be, if you have a laptop that you carry to class in college to take notes, consider bringing along a notebook and pen with you in the near future.
University of Chicago Law School officials have made the move to ban all wireless connections from their classrooms. Beginning April 11th, they instituted a school-wide ban. Students may still use the laptops to take notes.
University of Chicago Law School is not the first school, and won’t be the last to institute some sort of ban. Some schools have banned laptops totally from class. Suffolk University Law School (Boston) made national headlines in November 2007 when a professor banned laptops outright in her classroom.
According to e School News, Many law schools have given professors the choice of banning wireless access or laptops altogether. A professor at Harvard Law School who did not want her name published said disallowing laptops has cultivated class discussion and student participation. “Students have never complained about it, and if anything, they say the classroom environment is vastly improved,” the professor said. “And I find the students listen to each other more.”
While I’m just referring to law schools here, I imagine this option will spread to all schools eventually. It’s too easy for a student to be distanced from the lecture and the discussion when typing notes. Can you picture a lecture hall filled with laptops and everyone pounding away on them? How distracting is that? Then throw in a few cell phones with some texting going on, too. But not everyone agrees. We have technology for a purpose, after all. Perhaps the answer is having your lecture via the laptop from your dorm room or apartment.
Read an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education: Information Technology
The Fight for Classroom Attention: Professor vs. Laptop í here
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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, May 27 2008, 07:30 PM
My twenty-something son dated and married his lovely high school sweetheart.
My thirty-something daughter didn’t. She dated in high school and dated in college, too. She had a relationship after college. Life was busy, work was hectic. And Mr. Right was nowhere to be found. At least, not in plain sight.
When she told me some of her friends had tried internet dating and she was considering it, I wasn’t happy about it. Too dangerous, I thought....and I still do. But she, just as at least one of her friends that I’m aware of, met her husband during the process.
So, why is it so difficult to meet that “someone special” if you don’t meet them in school or in the workplace?
If you're single would you, or have you used an online dating service?
If you're a parent, would you be worried if one of your children used one?
I'm still not crazy about the fact that my daughter used one, but I'm crazy about my son-in-law. Funny thing is, it ends up that he didn't live too far away from my daughter, and some friends in her work circle new him, and never thought of introducing them to each other. Go figure.
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By Janet Evans
Wednesday, May 21 2008, 06:40 AM
A woman demonstrates Nintendo's "Wii Fit"
game console. REUTERS
Remember how I mentioned Wii Fit might not be the nicest gift to give for Mother’s Day? I mean, no mom wants to be reminded that she may need to lose weight.
Well, Mother's Day is over, and Father's Day is just around the corner.
Dad would love this!
REUTERS
When you first step onto the Wii Balance Board, a sturdy platform that comes with the system, it asks for your age and height and figures out your body mass index (BMI). Sensors in the board detect a user's weight and balancing skills, too, because you are given a balance assessment. Once you get past the assessment, you can pick a trainer -- male or female, and then choose from aerobics, strength training, yoga or balance. Each segment (there are more than 40) is only about three to five minutes -- not enough to break a sweat in a serious gym rat, but okay for the person who wants to have some fun and start an exercise regimen. "
Read more about it
Wii Fit Gives Kinder, Gentler Workout ç here
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By Janet Evans
Saturday, May 17 2008, 08:10 PM
It’s been missing since 1999 and NASA is asking for your help to find it now….
What is it?
"Mars Polar Lander was due to reach the Red Planet's south polar region in 1999, but it went out of contact during its descent from the surface and was never heard from again. Investigators surmised that a glitch with the spacecraft's thruster system led to a catastrophically hard landing."
Mars Polar Lander, shown in this
artist's conception, disappeared
during its descent in 1999. NASA
I’m serious.....
NASA is looking for help in finding it.
The University of Arizona Department of Planetary Sciences site has many high resolution imaging maps taken from the one below for you to look over.
Click on the image below to join in or to read what other people have found:
And read the story about it on MSNBC
PORING OVER MARS PICTURES
Happy hunting!
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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, May 6 2008, 06:35 AM
But I know they are necessary on this Earth (at least most of them).
I really don’t like those insects that run faster than I do…and I guess that’s most of them nowadays.
I’m one of those people who calls for HELP! to get rid of a bug.
Other critters in the animal kingdom?
I can handle them…no problem.
But what about this?
BAE Systems is creating a series of tiny electronic spiders, insects and snakes that could become the eyes and ears of soldiers on the battlefield, helping to save thousands of lives.
Plans for a robot that can crawl like a spider are 'well developed'
Now, if these “bugs” are for "real"…I’ll change my opinion (somewhat).
Are we seriously at this point?
I know we use drones (UAVs) – and they’re much larger than insect robots.
So I suppose we can produce a functional “Robobug.”
Now we'll have these bug robots released by soldiers, into buildings and combat areas to scout the scene, take pictures and report back.
Simulation showing a 'bug' being sent into a danger zone in a special vehicle
Of course this is all good.
It will help to save lives.
That said, I can't help but look at the bigger picture...
The future picture.
The one that is a bit more Terminator-like, with all-robot armies.
Those robot soldiers will save lives, people will say...as we march on closer to the end of civilization (maybe).
That's a long way off in the future.
But for now, picture this....
BAE promotional video
Read the article from Union Leader.com "The Spy Who Bugged Me"
BAE Systems Develops Combat Devices á here
And from Popular Mechanics:
Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) have already flooded the battlefield. There are at least 6000 robots in use by the Army and Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan. For years these small, remote-control vehicles have allowed troops to peek around corners and investigate suspected bombs. And while unmanned aerial vehicles have been loaded with missiles since 2001, the arming of ground robots is relatively uncharted territory.
Last June the Army deployed the first-ever armed UGVs. Three SWORDS (Special Weapons Observation Remote Direct-Action System) robots landed in Iraq, each equipped with an M249 light machine gun. These UGVs are essentially guns on tracks, a variant of the remote-control Talon bots routinely blown up while investigating improvised explosive devices. When the trio was approved for combat duty, the potential for historic robot-versus-human carnage lit up the blogosphere. Never mind the dozens of air-to-ground Hellfire missiles that have already been launched by a squadron of armed Predator drones over the past seven years—this was a robot soldier, packing the same machine gun used by ground troops.
So, maybe this isn’t so farfetched after all….
At least in the movies, humans always win…
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By Janet Evans
Sunday, May 4 2008, 08:45 AM
No?
Good…
How about a “set” of exercises you can do anywhere....
You won’t even break a sweat.
And the older you are, the better it is for you to do them, unlike many other exercise programs.
What’s that?
You think I must be losing my mind?
That’s the whole point….
I’m talking about doing brain calisthenics.
Because, I don’t want to keep losing my marbles.
Find out what I mean on The New York Times
Exercise Your Brain, or Else You’ll ... Uh ... É here
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By Janet Evans
Saturday, May 3 2008, 10:00 PM
But, those are usually the ones people like to remind us of….
Like this one.
30 years ago it happened quite by mistake.
It was unpopular.
And it took a while before it earned its name....
SPAM
"It was 30 years ago this Saturday that users of Arpanet, a U.S. government-designed precursor to the Internet, logged onto their accounts to find what is considered the first piece of unsolicited commercial e-mail ever sent."
From the Washington Post
A Clear and Flagrant Abuse à here
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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, Apr 22 2008, 11:30 AM
"The longest smoke break of Nicholas White’s life began at around eleven o’clock on a Friday night in October, 1999. White, a thirty-four-year-old production manager at Business Week, working late on a special supplement, had just watched the Braves beat the Mets on a television in the office pantry. Now he wanted a cigarette. He told a colleague he’d be right back and, leaving behind his jacket, headed downstairs.
The magazine’s offices were on the forty-third floor of the McGraw-Hill Building, an unadorned tower added to Rockefeller Center in 1972. When White finished his cigarette, he returned to the lobby and, waved along by a janitor buffing the terrazzo floors, got into Car No. 30 and pressed the button marked 43. The car accelerated. It was an express elevator, with no stops below the thirty-ninth floor, and the building was deserted. But after a moment White felt a jolt. The lights went out and immediately flashed on again. And then the elevator stopped."
[...]
"Looking back on the experience now, with a peculiarly melancholic kind of bewilderment, he recognizes that he walked onto an elevator one night, with his life in one kind of shape, and emerged from it with his life in another. Still, he now sees that it wasn’t so much the elevator that changed him as his reaction to it."
~~~~~~~~~~
Have you got a few minutes?
Your going to need them.
That’s if you want to read the long, sad, but true story of what happened next to Nicholas White because he made the choice to take a cigarette break and then hop on an elevator back up to the 43rd floor.
You’ll also learn all you ever wanted to know about elevators.
From The New Yorker
Up and Then Down í here
The lives of elevators
Aren’t stairs great?
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By Janet Evans
Thursday, Apr 17 2008, 07:14 PM
I happened to see the following old news blurb:
CBS Evening News for
Thursday, Apr 16, 1981
Headline: Cow Magnets and Auto Mileage
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(Studio) Report introduced
REPORTER: Dan Rather (Windhorst, Texas) Willy Hoff's use of magnets in his cows and H.C. Lyles' use of magnets for improved gasoline mileage examined; films shown. [LYLES - notes he can use them in his cows if they don't work on his truck.] [Farm store owner Cotton FLATT - comments on sales.] [Texas A&M spokesperson Richard DAVISON - thinks consumer union should test use of magnets in cars.]
REPORTER: David Dick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What's funny about this, to me anyway, is I have one of those cow magnets. My brother gave it to me when I was a kid, back in the 60s. We lived in Connecticut, and he had a friend who lived on a farm. They used to drop those magnets down the cows to catch nails and things.
I can't tell you why I kept it, except it's a heck of a strong magnet, three inches long, and it's unusual. I keep it in my sewing box where everyone of my pins clings to it like mad.
Here is a picture of the thing:
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So, back to the magnet/gas story.
I thought it was odd that this story made national news.
So I looked around some more and found that a Minnesota State University Engineering professor investigated the cow magnet theory, along with other gas saving techniques, and found it to be a "hoax."
"Since the days of the Arab Oil Embargo, whenever rising fuel prices have driven people to try dubious technologies promising better gas mileage, two Minnesota State University professors have tested and debunked them.
Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering Technology professor Bruce Jones and professor emeritus Kirk Ready have tested many gas-mileage enhancers over the years and have yet to find one that makes a significant difference.
From magnets to fuel additives, anything that claims to dramatically improve fuel efficiency is probably too good to be true, Ready said. "If it were that easy, every car sold would already have it," Ready said.
At best, Ready said, some of the technologies may have a minor effect if used as part of regular maintenance. At worst, the technologies are bogus.
One of the first claims he tested, and "probably the biggest hoax," was placing cow magnets on or near the fuel line to improve gas mileage. The magnets - used by cattle farmers to safely collect any metal objects their animals might ingest - would supposedly ionize gas for better fuel distribution, Ready explained.
Ready said his test results, however, were conclusive: "It makes absolutely no difference."
While the gas-mileage enhancers on the market today are more sophisticated, they still routinely wither under Ready's and Jones' scrutiny. Still, especially when gas prices go up, those who sell gas-mileage enhancers find a public willing to try anything to save at the pump.
"The products go in cycles with gas prices," Ready said."
Read the rest of the story, from MSU Cow Magnets Too Good To Be True í here
~~~~~~~~~
Looks like I’ll be putting my cow magnet back in my sewing box.
It was nice to know I had it if I needed it though.
I was thinking about putting in my seed order for my garden to make this though
Instructions í here
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