The Red Brick Times

One of the tech sites I read (NetworkWorld Compendium) will occasionally include a "strange but true" posting from the wonderful world of computing. As a (more or less) 'puter professional I think they're a hoot. Here are two I found particularly ammusing:

#1 - Not your typical dry bug report:

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create 2 unique user accounts (for steps sake, let's call the two accounts Joe and Mary) in Windows XP Home.
2. Logout and sign-in under Joe.
3. Open Firefox and go to an e-mail site or to jdate.com or wherever.
4. Attempt to log-in to the site so that Firefox will ask whether or not you want your password saved.
5. Choose not to save the password.
6. After successfully logging in and having selected the "never save password" option, logout.
7. Log-in as Mary and open Firefox.
8. Browse, browse, browse ... but you don't really have to. Just go to "View Saved Passwords," click on the tab that will show you sites to never save passwords for, and you'll see whatever painful site Joe denied to save a password for.
9. Break-up with fiancé.

#2 - Why every city council needs at least one geek.
Posted 6:21 AM by whatley (1) comments

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Flame, flame, flame. TV went from wonderbox to wonderbread. The Web is heading there. Op-ed is an online cocktail party. It would be funnier if it didn't smack of road rage and checkout counter rage and IRS rage and all the rages that come from being taken over and out of control.

# posted by  Andy : March 29, 2006 9:40 AM
 
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The millennium is over. This truly is the 21st century. The traditional companies who own dirty factories and make noisy and smelly things are dying as the world squeezes them out. Those that live by the dollar also expire under the same pressures. GM and Ford are changing fundamentally, finally facing the inevitable reality of loss of influence and product arrogance. But the band plays on. Yesterday as I was buying new wiper blade inserts for Betsy's car, a fellow customer came up, looked at the Aamco display and snorted "Made in Mexico. There used to be some made in the USA." I replied, "There probably still are, but they cost three times as much and only last half as long." After a few moments of glowering at me, he growled "Money well spent."

And that is why USA Inc. is in trouble. Slow to adapt, arrogant, fiercely self-protective, and unbelieving that any mere foreign firm could ever even THINK that they are as good as the ol' boys who beat up the rest of the world in the 1940s.

Result - pain. Lots of it. Mourning, wailing, lamentation.

The barbarians are at the gates. Rome is falling. All roads lead to...where? Ironic that when the world center of democracy (Greece) was threatened, they wanted to keep it all inside their city-state walls. Rome took it, changed it and evolved the concept to something much larger and less idealistic. The modern West has rubbed democracy in the world's face, denying others stability by prying with military and economic levers. Now that others are beginning to use capitalism as an engine of progress, the USA wants to surround them with the same ineffective economic and military sanctions. Robert Reich recently commented on NPR about the Bush inclination to surround China with an Asian "NATO" of Australia, South Korea, Tawain and Japan. He noted that China was the largest and fastest growing capitalist nation in the world, and indicated that the attempt to impose military and economic sanctions would could result in creating the enemy state that the Bush administration already imagines. Raich's comments, on NPR's "Marketplace", were broadcast on March 22, 2006 and can be heard under "China is our Friend" on the Web. Other Marketplace commentaries are avialaible, listed by topic. See the section titled "Asia" for additional thoughts.
Posted 12:24 PM by Andy (1) comments

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An interesting book review (from The New York Times) that's more or less on this topic: 'The Disposable American'.

# posted by  whatley : March 29, 2006 6:02 AM
 
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Badges? We don't need no steenking badges!

U.S. Uses Terror Law to Pursue Crimes From Drugs to Swindling. "The Bush administration, which calls the USA Patriot Act perhaps its most essential tool in fighting terrorists, has begun using the law with increasing frequency in many criminal investigations that have little or no connection to terrorism."

The White House says spying on terrorism suspects without court approval is OK. What about physical searches?: "John Martin, a former Justice Department attorney who prosecuted the two most important cases involving warrantless searches and surveillance, says the department is sending an unambiguous message to Congress. 'They couldn't make it clearer,' says Martin, 'that they are also making the case for inherent presidential power to conduct warrantless physical searches.'"
Posted 6:23 AM by whatley (3) comments

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Is it time for an overt Constitutional crisis? We are living through several that call the basic interpretation of our country's foundation into question. The questions about self-determination are inherent in Roe v. Wade and assisted suicide which bracket our life spans. The power of the Executive branch shifted with FDR and boiled over with Nixon/Watergate, FBI abuses and Iran-Contragate. Now the Executive branch is seeking to formalize, legalize and legitimize the entire package, drape it in bunting, and place it on a fundamentalist altar. Will the Supreme Court and the Congress become rubber stamps for the Executive? Are we well on our way to an elected tyranny? The existing power inherent in the Executive finds expression in the control of money, collected by the IRS, and enforced by the administrative court system (completely separate from the Judicial branch), and in which one has no rights of representation or protection from arbitrary action. The succesful survivor needs cunning and the ability to manipulate complex systems to keep the administrative shredder at bay. Either that or be really tiny and insignificant so when you get swatted, it is more like an accident than a preemptive strike. Too bad for the dead bug, though.

# posted by  Andy : March 20, 2006 10:30 AM
 
Man for All Seasons, by Robert Bolt. Near the end of Act 1: "More: What would you do? Cut a great road throught he law to get after the Devil? Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that! More: Oh" And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you-where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? ... and if you cut them down-and you're just the man to do it-d'you realy think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?" I feel that this is what is happening now. Disguised as "Patriotism" and "Being on the side of Right and Goodness", the long-established protections and wonderfully complex thickets of tangled law established by the noisy bickering mass of humanity are being whacked, burned, pruned, fenced, and cleared to make vast superhighways so that juggernaughts of retribution can swoop and roar everywhere in repsonse to percieved threats of the moment. BUT, a highway is a two-way street. I seem to be happier on a wandering forest trail than on an 8-lane sun-baked concrete desert. A pedestrian in 75 mph traffic without even a stop sign to protect met.

# posted by  Andy : March 20, 2006 10:44 AM
 
Good quote.

# posted by  whatley : March 20, 2006 2:29 PM
 
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I went for a walk along the Ohio/Erie Canal Park and the Cuyahoga River today. Red-winged blackbirds singing like rusty hinges. A mockingbird looking for seeds among the weeds. Robins seeking worms by listening REALLY hard. Geese chasing each other out of imagined territories on both land and water. And the tops of trees are aflush with big buds that are showing a bit of reddish/pinkish color. I think spring is trying to arrive. Even the grass, in honor of St. Patrick's day, looks more chlorophyllish than it did yesterday. 'Bout dam time! By the way, the maple syrup from the park program is absolutely delicious.
Posted 3:53 PM by Andy (0) comments

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Guy gets credit card application in mail. Guy tears application into small pieces. Guy tapes pieces (raggedly) back together then fills it out, using delivery address and phone number other than his own. Sends it off in handy prepaid envelope. No way a card is issued, right? Wrong.
Posted 4:39 PM by whatley (1) comments

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Marketstein's monster lives! Greed conquers all. Is it even possible to have a business that aims for things other than money? Unfortunately, money (or its barter equivalents) can buy freedom from Mazlow's needs. And that's enough for many.

# posted by  Andy : March 16, 2006 6:21 AM
 
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The sap is running at the Rocky River Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks. Betsy and I made teeny tiny pancakes on Sunday to carry the maple syrup from the jar to one's mouth. But many people have trouble finding their mouths. There were senseless walk-by maple syrupings with the evidence on fingers, chins, and fronts of coats. Me too. Yummy!

From the event schedule on the web site:
" History of Maple Sugaring
February 25, March 1-12
11 a.m. - 3 p.m. weekdays (by appointment only),
11 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. weekends
Rocky River Reservation
The season brings another year of gathering sap, making syrup, and leading hikes through the Sugarbush at Maple Grove Picnic Area. Each day, through March 12 (except February 27 and March 6), walk through time along the Sugarbush Trail to see the sap-collecting methods used by Native Americans and pioneers, then stop by the sugarhouse where sap is boiled into delicious maple syrup. On weekends, guided hikes leave the sugarhouse every 20 minutes (from 11 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.)"

Directions:
If you travel on I-480 to the Great Northern Boulevard exit, turn South (away from the mall) on GN Blvd, then East (left) on Butternut Ridge Rd (next light), you will see arrow-signs saying "Maple Sugaring" at the T-intersection where Butternut Ridge Rd ends at Columbia Rd. Follow the signs to the sugarbush. If you want to walk in the woods among the spiles and buckets, bring mud-shoes, gloves and ear-hats. It is cooler in the valley than on the heights.

See the Cleveland Metroparks event calendar for more stuff.

Posted 10:49 AM by Andy (0) comments

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For cripe's sake. Its March already. I wanna walk barefoot in MUD! I wanna ride my BIKE! I wanna stay out in daylight until NINE PM! I must have carpin' fever. What's the use of being unemployed when you gotta stay indoors and do laundry and write stupid things on some ingrown BLOG for corn's sake? Even finding out the symptoms of winter blahs is depressing. I looked for Seasonal Affective Disorder and got more depressed. How about human hibernation? Two enzymes in squirrels enable breakdown of stored fat and also maintain adequate body glucose levels. Hmm. Lose weight while you sleep. The article states that "The next goal that has to be achieved is to identify the genes that begin the hibernation process, and what exactly triggers those genes - currently, it is believed that low light levels and shorter days brought about by winter is the trigger." *Yawn* I'm going back to bed.
Posted 9:23 AM by Andy (2) comments

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It was 82 degrees here today. Sunny too. Had to reapply my anti-perspirant.

# posted by  Terri S : March 06, 2006 5:29 PM
 
I unclig my nose in your gen-er-al direction!

# posted by  Andy : March 07, 2006 12:54 AM
 
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The situation: You're in a location (at work maybe?) where browsing to, now how should I put this, "certain sites?", yeah, let's call 'em "certain sites", is blocked by web monitoring software. So there you are, desperatly needing to view some naughty bits, but all you get is "Access Denied". Poor baby. I feel your pain.

Google free proxy!: "Access restricted web sites using Google language tools service as a proxy."
Posted 7:03 AM by whatley (2) comments

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On a related note: I know a guy who runs tech for a large architectural firm in Cleveland. A few years ago he told me his users were complaining about how slow their internet connection was becoming. He at first thought there was a physical problem with the system, bad cable or router or something, but he couldn't find it. Everything was working fine, it was just maxed out with traffic. That was puzzling because, even with 200 or so users on the network, he had plenty of bandwidth and that shouldn't happen. Then it hit him. Late one Friday he messaged everyone that as of 8:00am Monday morning all sites browsed from within the office, and the associated user names, would be logged. Nothing blocked, just logged. Result: Monday morning internet traffic decreased by almost 80%. Problem solved.

# posted by  whatley : March 04, 2006 7:54 AM
 
Same thing happened where I used to work. One day, they announced that "If you use any computer resources for non-work-related activity, you will be disciplined up to, and including, termination." Computer resources included copiers, printers, blank paper, and presumably, pens and pencils (you write notes on the computer screen, don't you?). Use went down by 3/4 and stayed there.

# posted by  Andy : March 04, 2006 9:34 AM
 
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Dateline: East Lansing, Michigan. Hanging with my brudder. Good Indian food at a restaraunt named "Taj". Helping my niece with her algebra homework. Prepping some wooden louver doors for painting. It doesn't get much more exciting than this, I can tell you. Saw an article in the Lansing paper that said that Sales Representatives and Engineers were the two most in-demand employee skills for employers seeking help. In Mexico. Yo hablo Espanol. Sorta. Adios.
Posted 8:32 PM by Andy (0) comments

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