Rantings of a Nerd

Products

Do kids actualy need a product that helps them hide their activities from their parents? I can only think that this must have been invented by pedophiles. Now before anyeone out there starts screaming that I don't understand privacy rights follow my logic.

If this were inteneded for adults who work in the security world and just used by teenager girls to hide their on-line activities from parents then I never would have found it. This is a product actually marketed to teenage girls.

The testimonial on their home page is from a 13 year old girl.

If this company can come up with a legitimate reason that a teenage girl needs a device with a special feature to hide what they are doing please let me know.

Instapundit.com

This site is almost as addictive as fark.

KIROTV.com - News - Man Caught After Chase At Border Held On $2M Bail: "About 20 Canadian border guards, who are unarmed, fled for safety as the chase neared the border, an official of the union representing the guards confirmed.
A prominent member of Canada's incoming Conservative government said the party will stand behind its promise to arm the country's border guards."

Canadian Border guards are not armed? Wow! Guess murders usually don't run north to escape the law.

"You can have you own opinions, but you can't have you own facts."

I don't know who said it, but it is great.

Earnhardt Jr. ready for radio - NASCAR - Yahoo! Sports

This might be too little too late. XM is losing NASCAR in 2007 to their Rival Sirius.

If XM would do something other than just run the radio network feed of the race then the deal might have made them some money. It is disheartening to tune into XM 144 1 hour before a race begins and you are treated to a 5 year old 'Heros of racing' story.

Why can't they do a tailgate show like the Sirius NFL channel? I have a feeling that Sirius will offer a little more personality.

Toyota to enter Nextel Cup and Busch in 2007 - NASCAR - Yahoo! Sports

The Prius will dominate the long distance events...

Okay, really this is a good thing. When you go to a race you see a large number of Toyota vehicles in the parking lots. Why not put that logo on a stock car and run it around the track like the other manufacturers.

I wonder what engines they will use? Will they use the Dodge engine like they do in the Truck Series? For those that don't know, Toyota does not make a carburated engine anymore, and in Nascar they do not use fuel injectors.

One other fact is that most of the engines are built on the same block. There is no real manufacturer affiliation, it is more of an engine builder affiliation.

This is going to be neat in any event. I will slap a toyota racing logo on my Prius. Pictures to follow when it happens.

United Press International - Security & Terrorism - New super-gun to be tested in Feb

This is finally getting into the real testing phase. These guns will change how warfighting is done. This technology being brought to the battlefields will be like the first machine gun. One might even go as far as saying this will cause changes like the addition of artillery to modern armies.

New York Daily News - World & National Report - Anti-nude law KOd by Fla. court

I have friends who travel to Daytona every year for the race and another for bike week. I suppose this is good news for them.

AngolaPress - News

Nifty.

The State | 01/16/2006 | 24 gets cut off in last 10 minutes

Incidents like this make the point for those of us who say the current media delivery model is broken. You should be able to watch and purchase media when you want.

Apple's iTunes is doing a nifty job with Battlestar Galactica. If I were to lose power or my DVR fails I know I can pay for and download the show the next day.

I bet there are a few fans of 24 who wished they could do that right now.

Broadcast and pay to download can co-exist.

autoserviceworld.com - Auto Service World - 1/13/2006

I have no idea how this will impact future hybrid sales.

NBC 4 - News - Sprint Refuses To Reveal Location Of Cell Phone In Carjacked SUV: "'The deputies were told that Sprint had the location of the vehicle but that they could not disclose it to them because they needed to pay the $25 fee for a subpoena or fill out some forms,' said Stephanie."

Congratulations Sprint employees of the year. There is difference in protecting one's privacy and finding someone who is kidnapped. For the purposes of full discolsure I don't currently have a sprint phone and don't think I ever did. My provider is just massive and not all that cheap. They don't have nifty features like GPS in the phones.

I sincerely hope the employee or employees involved are fired for not following the emergency procedures Sprint has in place.

CNN.com - Report: Nanotech outpaces safeguards - Jan 11, 2006: "Few will say whether the nano materials, often hundreds of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, are unquestionably safe or dangerous given the lack of definitive research into the matter."

Here comes the Gray goo.

Symantec Admits Rootkit Usage in SystemWorks @ Alice Hill�s Real Tech News - Independent Tech

I would think that the fact anyone is surprised here is just funny. The facts are that companies don't mind infringing on your rights as a consumer. They don't see this as a problem.

I don't care about data collection invading my privacy. The part of this that aggrivates me is someone installing software on my computers that won't uninstall or that I don't know is being installed.

The concept here he simple, you would not let someone put a camera in your livingroom, just to let the a company know when you are home. Why would you let someone install something on your computer?

William Shatner DVD Club

$50 bucks a year, and $4 a DVD per month. Not sure this is worth it, since I probably actually own a lot of the movies. Since they have not released a big list of Bill's favorites.

I may do this just for fun.

BREITBART.COM - Play it again, pants: Levi's introduces iPod-compatible jeans

That is so nerdy. I want the cargo pant version.

A morning break room discussion lead me down a path of thought that I just thought I would throw out and see it if sticks. Indulge me for a money to listen to this.

Without going into great detail consider the racist or bigot who has hundreds of excuses as to why he cannot get a job at the local (inset name of place that sells gasoline and high priced snacks.) This fine racist can most likely quote fascinating historical references and pull together disparate pieces of information to prove to you that he never had a chance at the assistant manager position because, the (insert racial group here ) was destined for this job.

When you overlay the person who has been abducted and probed by aliens from another planet eerie similarities begin to take shape. The abductee or one who knows the abductee, hereafter referred to as a believer, can show you pictures and detailed stories of all the horrible incidents that occurred to them or someone else.

Believers need the belief to fill some void in their life, why their marriage failed, why they can't get a good job, why they are depressed, even why life just isn't as good as it could be.

Perhaps there is just something in the human mind that makes us susceptible to these kinds of things. I have no great conclusions here, just wanted to see if anyone else has an opinion.

Cool, allthis time we thought it was a binary. Thanks to the hubble we can see it is s a triple.

CNN.com - Leader of U.N. Haiti peacekeeping force found dead - Jan 7, 2006

This sounds like something out of a Ben Bova novel. The second one about nanotech on the moon. Just weird.

Let's see how long this lives. My track record with plants is not that good. Especially ones that are finicky and require attention.

Lil River Grill

This is an awesome restaurant located in downtown Lawrenceville, GA. If you are in the area and looking for a nice place for lunch or a nice dinner put this place on your list.

You will not be disappointed.

Network Calculators

A useful network calculator.

I suppose I should elaborate on that title, but it is true. With Madden 06 one Xbox live account worked perfectly. The second says the account is locked and I need to contact EA Customer support.

Ummm... there is no number for EA Customer Support. If you call their technical support they have no idea what you are talking about. They directed me to the EA Support Web Site.

That seemed helpful... well it wasn't. After 4 tries with updating the problem on their web site after each reply in broken English, they close the problem and said I could resubmit.

I wish there was a competitor for EA in sports games. They would have my business.

FT.com / By industry / IT - Windows PCs face �huge� virus threat

This is the dreaded image file vulnerability. I remember a rumor of something like this in 1992 or 1993, but it was just a BBS rumor. Now it appears that this one is real.

What if it is really a scam to scare people off or porn? It seems like a good one if it is.