tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69594022011-06-03T23:53:58.601-04:00American. Husband. Father. Geek.Briannoreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1118070341091015342005-06-06T10:59:00.000-04:002005-06-06T11:05:41.096-04:00

OK, his readers did.And maybe they didn't solve it.But their suggestion sounds like fun, and ripe for automation:If you get phishing e-mail, go the web sites and enter false data. Make up everything -- name, sign-on name, password, credit card numbers, everything. Instead of one million messages yielding 100 good replies, now the phisher will have one million messages yielding 100,000 replies of

Briannoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1117815532062432712005-06-03T12:17:00.000-04:002005-06-03T12:18:52.066-04:00

A nice starting point.I see that I'm supposed to wait until fifth grade before asking the little guy to man the mower.Hmpf.

Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1115395825714180752005-05-06T12:05:00.000-04:002005-05-06T12:19:50.603-04:00

Declan McCullagh says that the legislation mandating that all devices capable of receiving a digital TV signal also respect the "Broadcast Flag" has been struck down by the courts.What's the "Broadcast Flag"? It's a bit in the transmission that instructs receivers not to allow the transmission to be recorded. It was a crime (until today, it seems) to manufacture a device that ignored that flag in

Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1112702374116895072005-04-05T07:54:00.000-04:002005-04-05T07:59:34.116-04:00

I didn't know that Macromedia Flash has cookie-like client storage.So, if you're one of those people (like me) who deletes his cookies now and then, you might want to see what Macromedia has to say about doing the same for these PIEs (Persistent Identification Elements - how's that for a name...)Like cookies, I don't think these are evil on their face, but few things are. It's how they're used. I

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1109871829641836942005-03-03T12:19:00.000-05:002005-03-03T12:43:49.653-05:00

That's CNet's title. How's that for over-the-top? There are non-partisan - even non-political - blogs out there, you know...Anyhow - Declan McCullagh interviews Bradley Smith, of the Federal Elections Commission.Nutshell: hyperlinks to a campaign site have value, so they may be regulated soon. Internet-only publications don't fit under the "press exemption" to the campaign finance reform law.In

Briannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1109173958336478732005-02-23T10:50:00.000-05:002005-02-23T10:52:38.336-05:00

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by dictatorship....The only

Briannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1107090072827246632005-01-30T07:57:00.000-05:002005-01-30T08:01:12.826-05:00

Saw a commercial for Honda - pointing out that all car makers test for the safety of the car occupants. But who tests for everyone else? Honda does. Already, more than two million U.S. Honda and Acura vehicles including the 2005 Accord, Civic, CR-V, Element, Odyssey and Pilot, along with the 2005 Acura RL, RSX, TSX and TL are equipped with a number of these [pedestrian-conscious] features

Briannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1106675442408315582005-01-25T13:40:00.000-05:002005-01-25T12:50:42.406-05:00

I always notice when a sign is punctuated incorrectly. Normally, I ignore the mistakes and take the sign at how it's meant, not how it's written. Lately, though, I've been seeing things advertised at a price of ".99c" (imagine that little c is the cents symbol), when the seller clearly means $.99. It's been coffee and pop, most of the time. I've been wanting to order, say, five of them, and pay

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1103894612000827682004-12-24T08:19:00.000-05:002005-03-03T12:58:20.123-05:00

One way to read this is as a justification for buying a Porsche.Another is as a call for more personal responsibility.I'd like a Porsche. But not nearly so much as I'd like more people to act more responsibly. Or even as much as I'd like to attend one of those week-long professional driving schools. With my wife, and every other driver in my family.It is kind of long, but it's worth the read -

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1101128855871089262004-11-22T07:54:00.000-05:002004-11-22T08:07:35.870-05:00

This morning, I didn't manage to put coffee on before I left, so I stopped at Starbucks to get some. At the drive-through: "A large coffee with cream and sugar, please." "One venti coffee, cream and sugar. How many sugars?" (venti, schmenti. 'Large'!) ... "Two, please." I get to the window and there are four people in there laughing in the manner you'd expect from caffeinated part-timers at 7AM

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1099759507030233102004-11-06T11:40:00.000-05:002004-11-06T11:45:07.030-05:00

David Brooks from the New York times convincingly argues that theory that "voting on morals" somehow means "conservative Christian values" (which will lead to things like a ban on all abortion and compulsary prayer in public schools) is silly. When asked about the issue that most influenced their vote, voters were given the option of saying "moral values." But that phrase can mean anything - or

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1098792696823910802004-10-26T08:09:00.000-04:002004-10-26T08:11:36.823-04:00

Given the opposition we heard to Sinclair Media's desire to use its television networks last week to put on a television show, why is nobody making the least little bit of noise over what PBS will air on Frontline tonight? Rumsfeld's War Now, I'm not saying this to point out how the Kerry supporters aren't complaining about this (likely) anti-Bush show. They can complain about things critical

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1095727978548174512004-09-20T20:51:00.000-04:002004-09-21T21:09:02.246-04:00

Well, we're making plans to go to Jupiter, anyhow. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., selected Northrop Grumman Space Technology, Redondo Beach, Calif., as the contractor for co-designing the proposed Prometheus Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) spacecraft. The contract award is for approximately $400 million, covering work through mid-2008. The Prometheus JIMO mission is

Briannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1095450593095316842004-09-17T15:45:00.000-04:002004-11-06T11:47:15.823-05:00

Some people misuse “aggravate” When surely they mean “irritate”. Pay heed, girls and boys: “Irritation” annoys While to “aggravate” worsens that state. But they're not all dictionary-related A chaste lad could not acquiesce When his girlfriend began to undress. “Please stop it!” he cried, To which she replied, “I abhor your abstemiousness.” OK, that one is. But this one's not: So the story

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1095208348964010832004-09-14T20:28:00.000-04:002004-09-14T20:32:28.966-04:00

These are amazingly clear. Pictures from the Mars Odyssey orbiter. Fault Line. Well, NASA isn't calling it a fault line, and maybe it's not. Maybe it's just a big crack. But it looks like a fault line, doesn't it? Sand Dunes - looks like flying over Lake Michigan... Crater

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1094953397342989952004-09-11T20:20:00.000-04:002004-09-11T21:47:14.460-04:00

I don't know who came up with the term, but "phishing" is the act of sending someone an e-mail in an effort to get them to divulge their username and password to something - usually their online banking application, auction site, or something else that might give acces to money or something of value. This is the kind of thing that a lot of people find easy to fall for, but once you know the

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1094818627509726882004-09-10T08:05:00.000-04:002004-09-11T21:51:15.370-04:00

CBS's 60 Minutes aired a story the other night, supporting claims that President Bush got preferential treatment from the Texas Air National Guard. The documents supporting the story are obvious forgeries. You can leave comments for CBS, if you scroll to the bottom of this page and click "Contact Us". Here's what I left: I've seen a lot of evidence on the internet since last evening that seems

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1094751686877724442004-09-09T13:34:00.000-04:002004-09-09T13:44:15.326-04:00

I quote from a CNN repeat of an AP story: Roy Haggard, who took part in the initial reconnaissance of the capsule, said the capsule's shell had been breached about three inches and the science canister inside appeared to have a small break. ... "This is something that's not a total disaster," said Carlton Allen, astromaterials curator for the Houston-based Johnson Space Center. "We didn't lose

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1094732598715075722004-09-09T08:09:00.000-04:002004-09-09T08:23:18.716-04:00

Blogger wouldn't let me post yesterday. I was excited about the return of the Genesis capsule. Turns out the parachutes never deployed and it hit the ground at 193 MPH. The parachutes were supposed to slow it to 9MPH, and even that was faster than NASA wanted, so they had two helicopters with hooks attached waiting to catch it and lower it ever so gently. So, it's pretty well broken. But, all

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1094645413260433512004-09-08T07:52:00.000-04:002004-09-09T08:06:58.716-04:00

For the first time since 1972 (the first time in my lifetime) NASA is returning from space with something it didn't send up there. The Genesis craft has been out collecting particles from the solar wind on plates of gold, sapphire, silicon and diamond. The collected particles will help develop a better understanding of the origins of our solar system. They've been working on this since July, 1997

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1094347275231424282004-09-04T21:16:00.000-04:002004-09-04T21:21:15.230-04:00

If you're at all interested in astronomy - or if you just like cool pictures - you should bookmark NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day They have archives all the way back to June of 1995. A picture each day. And it's easy to browse the archives to find interesting pictures. This one is an animated GIF of the moon over one full lunar month - from full moon to full moon. It shows (among other

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1093465403228621232004-08-25T16:01:00.000-04:002004-08-25T16:23:23.226-04:00

It wasn't that long ago that we didn't know of any extra-solar system planets. You'd have thought it would require some pretty serious equipment, then, to find them. I did, anyhow. Turns out it mostly just takes some smarts, some luck, and some patience: It took several Ph.D. scientists working full-time to develop the data analysis methods for this search program, but the equipment itself uses

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1093021370711297422004-08-20T12:43:00.000-04:002004-08-20T13:02:50.710-04:00

If ... the American people choose to make John Kerry their Commander In Chief--including if he should lose the popular vote and win the electoral college vote--I will be the very first to stand in line and say that it is time to move on and welcome our new President and wish him the best, and to tell his obsessive right-wing critics to shut the fuck up. He is quite thoroughly unimpressed with

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1093019542902265922004-08-20T12:24:00.000-04:002004-08-20T12:32:22.903-04:00

Time is one of the key differences between traditional school and home school, says Laura Derrick, president of the National Home Education Network, a web of support groups for home schooling parents and students. Derrick points out that without the administrative necessities of traditional school -- dealing with things like attendance rolls, discipline, doctor's notes and permission slips --

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1092791073720741742004-08-17T20:50:00.000-04:002004-08-18T21:19:57.523-04:00

A guy in Georgia named Xavier Cortez is going to ride his bike across the US from the Pacific to the Atlantic next month to raise money for American children whose parents were killed in Iraq. On Sept. 26, Xavier Cortez will cycle cross-country from Los Angeles, CA to Savannah, GA in 27 days. Although a remarkable show of endurance, at an average of 120 miles and six hours of cycling per day,

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1092313024572441322004-08-12T08:13:00.000-04:002004-08-12T08:17:04.573-04:00

Who describes your philosophy? I don't know who describes mine, but this thing lines me up thus: I need to read more... 1. Aristotle   (100%)  2. John Stuart Mill   (96%)  3. Aquinas   (96%)  4. Jeremy Bentham   (87%)  5. Epicureans   (80%)  6. Kant   (80%) 7. Spinoza   (74%) 8. Ayn Rand   (69%) 9. Prescriptivism   (69%) 10. Ockham   (66%) 11. Stoics   (55%) 12. Nietzsche   (51%)  13. Plato   

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1090499958073395012004-07-22T08:30:00.000-04:002004-07-22T08:39:18.073-04:00

A list of examples showing that, no matter how hard he tries, President Bush just can't do the right thing. They're right, you know.

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1090499387090227492004-07-22T08:28:00.000-04:002004-07-22T08:29:47.090-04:00

No, really. A fairy. When you put that on your resume, don't you have to include a photograph?

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1090149810441695402004-07-18T07:17:00.000-04:002004-07-18T07:23:30.443-04:00

If the criminals in the area have more and better weapons than the police do, would it make sense for the police commissioner to ask that the police be better armed? Of course it would. But in SanFransisco, guns are just plain bad. Giving the police weapons comparable to the ones on the street will just lead to more violence. Looks to me a lot like head-in-the-sand, if-everyone-were-rational,

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1089142764750339382004-07-06T15:30:00.000-04:002004-07-06T15:39:24.750-04:00

The journal Pediatrics says today that cough syrup is as effective as sugar water in time to recover from the cough severity of the cough quality of sleep while cough persists There's a series of graphs here. In the graphs, DM is dextromethorphan and DPH is Diphenhydramine. both of those are common active ingredients in cough syrups. PL is placebo - sugar water. Full article is here.

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1089141601739040802004-07-06T15:11:00.000-04:002004-07-06T15:20:01.740-04:00

Think that the Europe's freedoms are just like America's? You cannot own a gun in the UK. But that's OK, because you cannot use violence to defend yourself, no matter how violent the attack on your person. And now, Britian is "out of step" with other European nations because they don't prohibit parents punishing their own children.. British lawmakers yesterday voted against a ban on parents

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1087408655748672832004-06-16T13:49:00.000-04:002004-07-06T20:45:32.293-04:00

If you want to be free, you have to pay a really big price, one which many think is much too high. If you want to be free, you have to put up with everyone else being free. If you want to be able to do things that your neighbors disapprove of, you have to put up with the fact that they will do things you disapprove of. If you want to be able to say things others despise, you have to put up with

Briannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1086782574543347332004-06-09T07:57:00.000-04:002004-06-09T08:02:54.543-04:00

While I'm waiting for the rest of the world to arrive at work, I found this story, about an all-star little league baseball game where, near the end of the game, score tied, one team (er ... one coach, more likely) tried to cheat. He was called on it by the adults and, after a bit of screaming and yelling relented, only to encourage his team to boo the other team. Guess which team paid attention

Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1086780833208151362004-06-09T07:24:00.000-04:002004-06-09T07:33:53.206-04:00

Wow. The Mars rover team is looking for places for the rovers to spend the Martian winter! They'll put them in a kind of hibernation mode so that they can be woken up in the Martian spring and get back to work for as long as they can. They say the most likely cause for their eventual failure is dust buildup on the solar panels, and that they're seeing evidence of that now. And Opportunity is

Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1086652937583957312004-06-07T19:59:00.000-04:002004-06-07T20:03:54.850-04:00

Well, that depends. If you're saying, "now that you've heard everything..." it's "all told." If you're saying, "now that everything's been counted..." it's "all tolled." So, "All tolled, 74 homes were damaged by the storm." And, "All told, the trip was more fun than we'd expected." Got it, then?

Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1086178319623991622004-06-02T08:07:00.000-04:002004-06-02T08:11:59.623-04:00

Debbie in Iraq shares her photos. One for Memorial Day. Another for Memorial Day. And one for the future.

Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1085765845789722742004-05-28T13:32:00.000-04:002004-05-28T13:37:25.790-04:00

Zeyad, over at Healing Iraq, explains celebratory gunfire. I've always thought of this as similar to fireworks in the US, though clearly used more frequently. I didn't realize that some of it combines the bandwith of morse code with the abbreviated style of text messaging.

Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1085746080201870882004-05-28T07:59:00.000-04:002004-05-28T08:13:54.223-04:00

On the radio this morning, I heard about a bill that just passed in the Ohio House of Representatives, sponsored by Courtney Combes(R) and "backed" by Joyce Beatty(D). It "requires" that kids be vaccinated against chicken pox before they can attend public school. There's some dispute about the nature of the vaccine (Jamie Callender(R) says that the vaccine originated "from lung tissue from

Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1085157729699919502004-05-21T12:39:00.000-04:002004-05-21T13:27:03.660-04:00

My 8th wedding anniversary was this month. So was Sekimori's. They, too, know the secret: After eight years of FAR more better than worse, I can now safely say that the secret to a long and happy marriage is this: Don't be a selfish asshole. Yep, it's that simple. When "they" say marriage is about compromise, "they" are totally not shitting you. Really. They're not.

Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1085146665490517662004-05-21T09:10:00.000-04:002004-05-21T09:38:54.556-04:00

From The New York Times: Early on weekday mornings, as Lesley-Anne Jones implores her three sons to button their shirts and knot their ties and tie their dress shoes, they ask why they can't attend her school. If Ms. Jones wanted to be factual about it, she could say that the family lives just outside the boundary for Public School 158 in the East New York section of Brooklyn, where she teaches

Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959402.post-1085143106927108372004-05-21T08:33:00.000-04:002004-05-21T08:38:26.926-04:00

John Kerry doesn't want us to be in Iraq, and says he'll withdraw our troops completely within four years if he's elected. That seems like a bad idea. It's clear that the decent Iraqis are benefitting from our help resisting the terrorists who are trying to take over their country.

Briannoreply@blogger.com