Quote of the Day - 07/29/05

Artificial Intelligence: the art of making computers that behave like the ones in movies.

-Bill Bulko

Photo Tour of Adobe's Office

This is an awesome pictorial tour of Adobe's Office. So much cooler than the building I work in. These guys actually look like they're having fun. I like the carpets in the hallways.

(P.S. - I think PhotoshopNews was impressed with the planes flying overhead.)

PhotoshopNews: A Visit to Adobe

Logogle

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so I guess the guy's at Logogle really like Google. Their site will allow you to turn text into a google-style logo.

What do you think as this for the new logo at Bill's Blog?



Generate your own Google-esque logo at Logogle

Tags: Logogle, Google, Logo Generator, Logo

The Left Just Doesn't Get it

Doug Ross has a great post on his site about the War on Terror and how out of touch the Left is with the rest of Americans in this regards. His basic premise is that they do not see us as being involved in a war at all and this renders "the Democratic party less relevant on that same daily basis, each tick marking their inevitable collapse in a stunning reprise of the fall of the Whigs".

I love this guys rhetoric:

The Democrats will continue to be consigned to irrelevance until they excise the cancerous Michael Moore and Hollywood Leftists. This whacked-out brigade of moonbats has soiled Democratic ranks with an anti-American ideology seldom seen in the last two centuries. And despite Hillary Clinton's posturing and Joe Biden's attempts to pull the "we're pro-military!" lever, no one trusts them to do the job. Because they don't even think we're at war.

and

The Democratic party will continue to lose elections -- by scorching, humiliating margins -- until they excommunicate the moonbat wing, which is as incompatible with most Americans as Michael Jackson is to the Marin County daycare center.

Check out the rest of his post at Doug Ross: War

Tags: Doug Ross, War on Terror, America's Left, Left

Quote of the Day - 07/27/05

The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.

-Stephen Ambrose, Fast Company

Leo the Lizard

I posted yesterday about picking up food for our leopard gecko and mentioned that I would get pictures of the little guy posted. Here they are -




(Click on these thumbnail to see the full-size picture)

Funny story about Leo. We got him a few months ago from a girl who could no longer keep him. Once we decided to call him Leo, we began referring to him as Leo the Lizard. The kids took to this as well. However, David, our two year old, has problems with his 'L's and Leo the Lizard comes out Weo the Wizard. Now he is called Weo more than Leo. He doesn't seem to mind. He is actually pretty ambivalent to everything we do.

Tags: Leo the Lizard, Leopard Gecko, Gecko

We Have Liftoff!!!

This morning at 10:39 the Space Shuttle Discovery tookoff from Kennedy Space Center marking the 'return to flight' for the space shuttle program. This was the first launch since the February 2003 Columbia tragedy. NASA ground personnel will now pour over launch video and sensor readouts, while astronauts conduct space-walk inspections to ensure no damage was done to the shuttle during launch.

I actually missed the launch, but watched the video online after the fact. I am amazed that something that I've watched so many times in my life can still be so awe inspiring. To see the shuttle take off, I always hear the words spoken by Ronald Reagan following the Challenger explosion (my earliest memory of the space program):

"Oh I Have Slipped
The Surly Bonds of Earth...
Put Out My Hand
And Touched the Face of God"
-John Gillespie Magee

All eyes will be on them as they return to Earth in 12 days.

CNN: NASA Astronauts Return To Spaceflight

MSNBC: Space Shuttle Takes Off On Historic Flight

Tags: Discovery, Shuttle, Space Shuttle, Nasa, Liftoff, Challenger, Magee

CardSystem's May Be Forced to Shut Down

Anyone feel sorry for these guys? CardSystems, the company that exposed 40 million consumer records to identity theft, may be forced to shut down after Visa and American Express announced they were canceling their contracts. Their CEO is whining to Congress that Visa and AmEx are ignoring the efforts CardSystems is putting in to correct the problem. I applaud Visa and AmEx in their reaction to this lapse in security by CardSystems. CardSystems shutting down is an example of the marketplace cleansing itself.

What Congress needs to do is get tough on these guys (so when the marketplace doesn't respond, consumers have something to fight back with). There needs to be specific legislation with teeth passed and signed into law that will regulate these data firms. The onus should be on them to protect the data they store (and to only store data they're supposed to). If they can't do that, they shouldn't be in the business. The CEOs and other top execs and the companies money need to be on the line for any such legislation to work. Send the CEOs to prison and take the companies money. That will stop this kind of data loss very quickly.

Internet News: CardSystems May Close Doors

Tags: cardsystems, card systems, visa, amex, congress, identity theft, security

Cool Bug

After getting my new license on Saturday, I hit the pet store for some crickets and wax worms for my leopard gecko, Leo (Yeah I know original name...I'll have to get some pictures of him up and posted). Anyway, while the clerk was in the back digging out the worms, I wondered around the reptile room they have there. Lots of snakes, lizards, turtles in stock. As I roamed, I saw this little tank with a tiny insect. The tank wasn't marked and when the clerk came back in, he didn't know anything about it. It was probably the most interesting looking bug I have ever seen. It looked something like this:



The bug I saw was about the size of a small gum ball and had more red over his entire back than the one pictured. I'll see if I can find a picture that matches closer to what I saw or find out what it was they had there. It really was a cool bug.

Tags: bug, insect, leopard gecko, frazer zoo

Fat Man Walking

In an effort to lose weight, Steve Vaught is walking across the country. Fed up with weight loss drugs and dietary gimmicks, Steve is taking matters into his own hands and making a trek across the country. It is a unique idea in weight loss. He's giving up 5-6 months of his life to travel across the country. I guess if regular diet and exercise weren't working, he had to come up with something else. I wish him luck in his travel and hope that once he returns to the real world, he can keep that weight off.

London Bombing - Man Shot Not Connected

Last week, I wrote about the London bombings and, specifically, about the man who was shot and killed by British Police. Reports over the weekend indicated that this man was not involved in the bombings and was not connected to the terrorists. Of course, this is a tragedy. Innocent people should not be shot and killed. I pray for his family and friends and hope they can find comfort in this dark time.

I still believe the police acted in the appropriate manner. Reading this on the BBC's site, raises many questions and certainly seems to indicate the police were justified. The man was under surveillance, he vaulted the ticket stall, he ran from police, and he was wearing a bulky jacket in the middle of the summer. Had I been one of the police officers, I certainly would have done the same. The police were thinking of not only their own safety, but also the safety of all the other people in the subway station at the time.

In a city where bombs are being set off in the subways, why would you run from police? Why, when you know there is more security than ever, would you hope the ticket stall? Why, once the police caught up with you again, would you not obey their instructions? Why on a hot July day would you wear a heavy jacket?

Again, I feel this was a tragedy and I do hope that it does not happen again. Innocent civilians need to have a bit more common sense than this guy did. Most police in London do not carry firearms. As soon as he saw they were armed, he should have made the connection that this was an anti-terror force and immediately complied with their instructions. That's not to say that it is ok for someone to run from unarmed police officers, just that he should have been able to realize that with everything that has been going on in London in the past month, maybe it would be a good idea to listen to those charged with protecting the public from further attacks.

Tags: london bombings, london, bombings, terrorists