Category: Uncategorized

Warnings on soft drinks?

Post ImageYou’ve got to be kidding me:

An organization that lobbies for increased regulation of the food and drug industries called on Wednesday for cigarette-style warnings on soft drinks to alert consumers that too much of the beverages can cause obesity and other health problems.

I’ll admit that people generally don’t think of pop (or soda for the Americans reading) when they think of what causes obesity, but get real. A warning label? Yeah, because that’s really going to make me think twice about buying my weekly case of Coke. I saw Super Size Me and I still drink Coke when I order McDonalds. Maybe it’s just me?

Read: New York Times

Firefox 1.0.5 Released

Post ImageThe latest update to Firefox was released today by the Mozilla Foundation, version 1.0.5. No new features, but there are a number of security fixes, as well as improvements to stability.

Firefox 1.0.5 is a security update that is part of our ongoing program to provide a safe Internet experience for our customers. We recommend that all users upgrade to this latest version.

Release notes are up, and you can download from the Mozilla site.

I love Firefox, and use it as my main browser. I just wish that people would realize that it has the same potential for security problems as every other browser, including Internet Explorer. I mean, look at the issues that were fixed in this version – “Code execution through shared function objects”, “Standalone applications can run arbitrary code through the browser”, and a bunch of others. Nobody’s perfect!

Read: Mozilla Firefox

Return to Flight…Delayed

Post ImageJust hours before the space shuttle Discovery was to take off, the launch was postponed. The NASA word for this is “scrubbed”:

In a telephone conversation, a NASA spokeswoman at the Kennedy Space Center confirmed that no launch would happen Wednesday. “It has been scrubbed,” the spokeswoman said.

Apparently there was a problem with a sensor in one of the fuel tanks. I was talking to Andrew about this kind of thing last night. If we could land on the moon seventeen times (and with inferior technology), how can we have so many problems launching the shuttle?

And isn’t NASA planning to launch a new vehicle anyway? I understand that they need to honor commitments made regarding the International Space Station, but surely they could have come to some sort of an agreement that would allow them to scrap the shuttles altogether.

Read: Return to Flight

Create your own TagCloud!

Post ImageI stumbled across TagCloud tonight, and I am really quite impressed! If you’re into tagging and folksonomies and the like, you’ll probably find it interesting too:

TagCloud is an automated Folksonomy tool. Essentially, TagCloud searches any number of RSS feeds you specify, extracts keywords from the content and lists them according to prevalence within the RSS feeds. Clicking on the tag’s link will display a list of all the article abstracts associated with that keyword.

Here’s the TagCloud for my blog. Basically, it gives you an idea of what I’ve been talking about lately in my posts. Very cool stuff, I must admit.

Read: TagCloud

We're Not Afraid!

Post ImageVia Darren, I came across We’re Not Afraid. While I think the site is borderline profiting from the misery of others, the message is still good:

Show the world that we’re not afraid of what happened in London, and that the world is a better place without fear.

There are hundreds of user-submitted photos, many with people holding up signs proclaiming their lack of fear. If the site is slow, it’s because they have been getting a lot of press recently and as a result tons of traffic, so be patient. There’s also a “We’re not afraid!” group setup on Flickr.

Read: We’re Not Afraid

Talking about Technorati

Post ImageLots of discussion going on right now about Technorati. This piece by Doc Searls does a very good job of bringing you up to speed on what has been said in the last few days. What kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t add my two cents?

One thing I like about Technorati is that they are not afraid to setup special sites, like they did for both Live 8 and the London attacks. I think that bringing all of that information onto a single aggregated page is useful. However, like Jeremy, I find that Technorati really lags behind the other services in terms of accuracy. I subscribe to keyword feeds from Feedster, Technorati, Pubsub and BlogPulse, and I would honestly rank Technorati at the bottom of those services. The others find more items, and they generally find them much faster. Actually I am somewhat amazed at how one service can find a post and the others won’t. Happens more often than you’d think.

I have also been disappointed with the service provided by Technorati. My site has not shown up in their Tags feature for a long time, so I sent a couple of support emails. I never heard back though. The only thing I got was an automated response, and nothing further. It’s frustrating. Note the date:

I sent one more recently too, but never heard back from that one either.

I like Technorati, and I have long been a user, I just think that whether they mean to or not, they create far too many opportunities for improvement for themselves.

Read: Technorati

Canada's banks attack the U.S.

Post ImageIf the government isn’t going to allow bank mergers, the banks will look elsewhere for growth, and that’s exactly what they’re doing. In fact, they turned south of the border:

TD Banknorth Inc., which is paying $1.9 billion for New Jersey-based Hudson United Bancorp Inc., hopes to double in size and make a push into New York City over the next few years, its chief executive officer said on Tuesday.

[The deal] would also give Canada’s Toronto-Dominion Bank, TD Banknorth’s new majority shareholder, a much larger U.S. presence. Other Canadian banks interested in the country include Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal, which owns Chicago’s Harris Bank.

I don’t know if it’s good or bad that our banks are expanding into the States. On the one hand, it’s great for growth and to allow them to compete globally. On the other hand, what if they forget about tiny old Canada?

Read: Reuters

New York shuts off cell service in tunnels

Post ImageA quick scan of the headlines and you’ll see that we’re once again in that “what now” period that tends to follow a world event like the bombings in London last week. One that caught my eye today was “Cell phone service disabled in New York tunnels“:

Cell phone service was disabled inside the four tunnels leading into Manhattan after the terrorist bombings in London, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg questioned Monday whether the move “makes the most sense.”

The Department of Homeland Security said the decision in New York to cut off cellular service was made without any recommendation by the federal government’s National Communications System, which ensures communications are available during national emergencies.

I don’t agree with the decision at all. At least they re-enabled cellular service in train tunnels today. No cell phones means no ability to call 911 in case there is an emergency. I think it’s incredibly difficult to try and prevent something like the disasters in London, Madrid and New York, but it’s entirely possible to save lives by having a connection to 911.

I can’t help but think that the terrorists are succeeding when we place our fears of future acts of terror above our ability to call for help when we really need to.

Read: CNN

Trading textbooks for laptops

Post ImageIn case you missed it, we’re in the year 2005 now, and I don’t know about you but I expected far more schools to have laptops by now:

An Arizona high school is set to become one of the first ebook-only schools, as it preps to hand out laptops to 350 students this fall. The cost for the laptops at Vail High School will be about $850 per student, compared to about $600 for textbooks. The school plans to supplement electronic versions of traditional textbooks with online articles assigned by teachers.

I like the idea of using computers in school for more than just “computer class” or research in the library. Seems to me that Tablet PC’s would be better suited for a classroom environment, but maybe the price is still a little prohibitive.

Read: Engadget

Lisa's Birthday Bash!

Post ImageHappy Birthday Lisa! Just got back this afternoon from the big bash up at her family’s cabin in Bonnie Lake, which is near Vilna, northeast of the city. The people, food, drink, and weather were all great, what more can you ask for, really? Lisa’s cabin is really nice, thanks so much for having us!

Megan and I drove up sometime yesterday afternoon (we got going rather slowly) and arrived in time for some relaxing on the beach before dinner. We followed the instructions Lisa had provided, and while we found the place okay and went through some interesting towns like Andrew (where we saw this sign) we decided that the route was really more complex than it needed to be. Needless to say, we came home a different way!

After dinner, the rest of the evening consisted of drinking games, some birthday cake (that no one ate!), drinking around the campfire, and generally, more drinking resulting in lots of empties! A grand time was had by all (at least I think it was). Quite a few people had to leave early for work, but those of us who did stick around just took it easy.

All in all, a great weekend! Lisa’s party seems to get bigger and better every year, so I look forward to the 2006 bash! You can check out all the photos I took at the party on Flickr.