eBay item 7158636121 (Ends May-29-05 17:47:51 PDT) - Star Wars C-3PO CEREAL BOX VADER MASK Kellogg 1984

eBay item 7158636121 (Ends May-29-05 17:47:51 PDT) - Star Wars C-3PO CEREAL BOX VADER MASK Kellogg 1984

Just a little banter today...

Not much else going on... just thought these stories from MSNBC.com were worth blogging about... especially the Tsunami one... a little freaky if you ask me. Kinda reinforces the belief that nature was not meant to be "developed"... my daughter recently got the movie Pocohontas as a gift from her grandparents, and some of the lessons in that movie (yes, I'm wreaking of "momdom," but bear with me) seem quite applicable here. Who is to say that one society is more "civilized" than another? Seems "civilization" didn't help much when 100 foot waves started hitting the shores... actually a detriment. Interesting, eh?

At the same time, I'm not ready to pack up and move to some granola commune or anything... it's about to be the middle of the summer here in good ol' Texas, and I'll take my air conditioning and ice cubes with a twist of lime, if it's all the same to you.

Cheers, y'all!

Keep your friends close and bloggers closer - Clicked - MSNBC.com

MSNBC.com: Powerline tells the story of Joe Trippi organizing a conference call between a group of bloggers and Bob Geldof to talk about the upcoming Live8 concert. Interestingly, while I understand there was a political mix (or at least a polar balance) of bloggers on the call, it's only rightie bloggers (here and here) who came up on popular link lists today. Though my initial thought was skepticism about the usefulness of holding a private press conference with bloggers, what I see is that some of the people who would have been most likely to tear the Live8 effort to shreds now have at least a little respect for the project. The idea of personally, preemptively addressing the taste-makers of the English-speaking blogosphere turns out to have been a brilliant move. (Credit also his ability to answer their questions without making an ass of himself.)

Have you ever played the game of taking some English text and running it through a language translator and then taking that translation and running it back through the translator to English? When I read this Star Wars script I imagined a similar process. Take a movie script and turn it into a movie, then take the movie and write the script. In this case the result is both funny and honest. Note: This has spoilers, but if you haven't seen the movie by now, do you really care?

Lawmakers take aim at 'patent trolls' - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com

MSNBC.com: WASHINGTON - The high-tech industry calls them 'patent trolls' - people who get patents for products they never plan to make, just so they can sue for infringement if a company does turn out something similar.

That is how critics describe the inventor from Great Falls, Va., whom Internet giant eBay wants to take to the Supreme Court over online selling techniques he patented.

How development made tsunami worse - Technology & Science - MSNBC.com

MSNBC.com: WASHINGTON - Coral mining, landscaping and other instances of human development in Sri Lanka helped last December's devastating tsunami sweep even further inland than it might have, causing intense destruction, scientists said Thursday.

They recommended that officials and developers in areas that might be threatened by tsunamis take note.
"The implications are applicable for any other tsunami," Harinda Joseph Fernando of Arizona State University said in a statement. "We'd like this report to sound an alarm that governments have to be more careful about enforcing coral poaching and destroying the beaches' natural defenses."

Are we too reliant on email?

It's amazing how my job has changed over the last five years. In the good ol' days of PR, we would take pictures with 35mm cameras, wait to get the pictures developed or stalk the one hour photo guy and mail ... yes, mail... pictures to the media outlets we wanted to target along with a hard copy of a press release. The whole process sometimes took days.

Now, snap a few digital pics, hammer out a few kind words in an email, attach pics and click "send." What used to take a few days now takes just a few minutes. Don't get me started on how pitching has changed... that's a whole 'nother topic that may be discussed at a later date.

This whole easy world got me thinking... am I now too reliant on email? If so, what are the implications if, for instance, our email system went down for a couple of hours, or, god forbid, a couple of days. It could happen, you know. No email server is safe in the world where diabolical minds make it their life's work to taunt IT managers. It's like Lex Luthor with a lessor Superman.

There are days when I may not even speak to my colleagues... now, my office is near the kitchen (a very popular place 'round these parts), so that scenario is unlikely. But often, I drop a quick email or send an IM to a colleague rather than picking up the phone or (novel idea coming...) actually getting up off my behind and walking down to their office. Thank god I'm a relatively social person who enjoys human interaction, but I really wouldn'd need to call or do a face-to-faace, for the most part.

If our email was down, I would have no idea if a reporter was trying to get a hold of me or not. They so rarely call and have become even more reclusive than days gone by, that email is often the only way to reach them... so, if our system was down, I could live in an ignorant bliss, but someone, somewhere might be trying to reach me. Their blood might be boiling... they could be screaming curse words about me... sending death wishes my way... and here I would be... ignorant, happy, cleaning off my desk admiring the beautiful weather. Clueless... at least, until the system gets back up... then I would be mired down for the next few hours kissing their proverbial a@$es to make it right.

Yeah. Let's hope that day never comes because a dark one it will be. At least I have you, my blogging friends to keep me company if that dark curtain ever shall fall on little TechGirl.

In the end, the answer is "yes" - we are WAY too reliant on email, but unfortunately, we are powerless to stop it... in the words of Roland of Gilead, the world has moved on.

IT Blogging Is One-Sided - Computerworld

Computerworld: News Story by Patrick Thibodeau

MAY 30, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Major IT vendors are encouraging employees to start blogs to reach out to users in new ways and help make the companies seem less impersonal. But so far, the blogging conversation is mostly one-sided.

As yet, there aren't many IT managers blogging about big-picture technology issues, based on interviews with vendors and Internet searches conducted by Computerworld.

'Clearly, vendors have much stronger pressure on them to have a relationship with the world,' said Tim Bray, director of Web technologies at Sun Microsystems Inc. But CIO blogs would get instant attention from vendors, Bray added. 'If a few of those guys started doing that, you can darn well bet that we would be reading them. I sure would,' he said.

...more

Radio Industry Hits Shuffle

Wired News: "From Seattle and San Diego to Baltimore and Buffalo, more than a dozen big-city radio stations have converted to a format known as Jack-FM over the past two months. On Friday, even legendary New York City oldies station WCBS-FM dumped '60s rock and joined the 'Jack' parade. "

Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips

CNET News.com: "Apple has used IBM's PowerPC processors since 1994, but will begin a phased transition to Intel's chips, sources familiar with the situation said. Apple plans to move lower-end computers such as the Mac Mini to Intel chips in mid-2006 and higher-end models such as the Power Mac in mid-2007, sources said. "

The Innocence of Small Towns

Brenham, Texas
In one of my previous careers, I spent a great deal of time in small towns all over the state of Texas. There is something innocent and charming about them, and their aura is just quite magnetic.

My husband is from a small town in Central Texas - Brenham. It's smack dab in between Austin and Houston on Highway 290. The square has a courthouse area complete with gazebo, and the streets are lined by antique shops. If you're from the south, surely you know about Blue Bell ice cream. It is the platinum standard in ice cream 'round these parts, and it's home is Brenham. Their slogan says it best... "The Best Ice Cream in the Country" complete with double entendre and everything. It's a fairly sophisticated little town, as small towns go.

This little town (about 10,000 population) has become our second home. We have our annual treks around the holidays, try to make a couple of trips to catch some summer Hill Country sunsets, get pics of the girls in the bluebonnets in the spring (a huge Texas tradition - no picking!) and this past weekend was another annual tradition - the Ice Cream Festival. It was complete with ice cream stands, face painters, the "train" ride for small children and lots of carnival games - not the obnoxious kind associated with traveling carnivals, but the ones that make you go "awe..."

There were two big events going on Saturday. The first was the Mr. and Miss Scoop contest, and the second was the Street Dance. It has been my privilege to serve as the Mistress of Ceremonies for all but one year of the annual Mr. and Miss Scoop pageant. This is a contest of pageantry and adorable charm between 14-20 three, four and five year olds who are just so much fun! This was the first year my eldest daughter was old enough to understand what was going on. My family later told me that as I was asking the contestants their questions over the sound system, she would answer them herself.

Me: So, little one, what's your name?
Johnnie: Johnnie
My daughter: No! Bailey!

Me: So, little Johnnie, what kind of pet do you have?
Johnnie: A cat
My daughter: No! puppy!

Me: What's your pet's name?
Johnnie: Fluffy
My daughter: No! William!

Apparently, it was quite adorable... and even though there is a conflict of interest, and she could never enter this very prestigious contest (it's rumored a year's supply of ice cream goes to the winners, but this has not been confirmed), she will participate on the sidelines and get ready for her turn on the stage. She did, however, get three balloons painted on her arm, ride the "train" and run all around the square with the fam. A good time was had by all... and we have the sunburns to prove it!

Don't do wireless security in isolation

Techworld.com - Don't do wireless security in isolation: "Corporations should think of wireless security as an add-on to their existing security architecture, not as a separate entity, either integrating the new wireless piece into the overall company security policy, if one already exists, or taking the opportunity to create a plan for the entire IT infrastructure.

Instead of considering wireless security in isolation, technology managers should think of defending their existing wired network against a new set of threats that emanate from the wireless world, Craig Mathias, principal at advisory and systems integration company Farpoint Group, said at the recent Wireless Security Expo in Cambridge Massachussets. "