On IT Observer today:
Car RFID Tags Cracked
31 January 2005
30 January 2005
Gentlemen (and Ladies?), I Salute You
From the Winston-Salem Journal’s Web site recently:
Confederate group, blacks to clean up cemetery
Thanks to Dick Eastman’s blog for the tip.
29 January 2005
27 January 2005
Yea, Though I Walk Through the Valley of the Fire of Death...
From MercuryNews.com today:
Ex-Fire Victim Pulled People From Train
Chain-reaction crash points to wider hazard
From MercuryNews.com today:
Chain-reaction crash points to wider hazard
May Their Memories Be Eternal
From reuters.com today:
World Remembers Holocaust at Snow-Swept Auschwitz
26 January 2005
Suicide Is Not Painless
On CNN.com this morning:
Train collision near Los Angeles kills 10
On SignOnSanDiego.com:
Suicide try triggers California commuter rail tragedy, police say
From ABC News:
10 Killed in Suburban L.A. Train Crash
22 January 2005
21 January 2005
Politician, Thy Name Is Hubris
From the MercuryNews.com today:
Possible contender for council forced to retract claim
“A prospective candidate seeking to replace former Councilman Terry Gregory was forced this week to drop his claim that he serves on the board of a labor group’s domestic violence project after labor leaders said the project doesn’t even exist.
Ryan Nguyen Hubris listed on his résumé that he was an “advisory board member” on Working Partnerships’ “Domestic Violence Project.” Hubris, a commercial real estate developer and former roommate of Mayor Ron Gonzales, also repeated the claim to the Mercury News, which published it in a story this week about Gregory’s resignation over alleged ethics violations.”
Could this be any more perfect??
It Would Seem Our Chancellor Designate Didn’t Waste Any Time…
…making a fool of herself after all.
From MercuryNews.com today:
Creation of job by UC criticized
“The creation of a $192,000-a-year job for the partner of newly appointed UC-Santa Cruz Chancellor Denice Denton in the University of California's Office of the President has drawn the ire of clerical and service workers, who have not had raises for three years.”
Now This Is Scary
From MercuryNews.com today:
Fremont’s alarming decision
“Burglars may arrive at your home, but the Fremont police may not.
In a first for the state, California’s 14th largest city is set to adopt a policy of not responding to residential or commercial burglary alarms unless they’re first verified as legitimate -- because about 98.5 percent aren’t.
It just costs too much money and time for a department already beset with cuts -- for example, Fremont cops no longer investigate car burglaries or even car thefts. And the department has axed all crime prevention programs.”
20 January 2005
Room for Cautious Optimism?
From MercuryNews.com today:
Spread of oak death slows
"Sudden oak death has run its course in the most vulnerable forests in coastal Bay Area counties, although it continues to pose a threat to new areas of wilderness as well as commercial nurseries, experts said Wednesday.
The fungal pathogen that causes the disease has a firm foothold in the region and is not going away, said Steve Tjosvold, a University of California extension agent for Santa Cruz and Monterey counties."
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
1156 - According to legend, freeholder Lalli slays English crusader Bishop Henry with an axe on the ice of the lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland
1265 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now also known as the Houses of Parliament
1356 - Edward Balliol resigns as King of Scotland
1783 - Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the Revolutionary War
1801 - John Marshall is appointed Chief Justice of the United States
1840 - Dumont D’Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica
1885 - L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster
1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base
1892 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played
1937 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first inauguration scheduled on January 20, following adoption of the 20th Amendment. Previous inaugurations were scheduled on March 4
1941 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a third term as President of the United States, becoming the only President to be elected to three terms
1945 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a fourth term as President of the United States, becoming the only President to be elected to four terms
1949 - Harry S. Truman is re-inaugurated as the 33rd President of the United States
1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States
1957 - Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States
1958 - Elvis Presley receives his draft notice
1961 - John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States
1965 - Lyndon B. Johnson is re-inaugurated as the 36th President of the United States
1969 - The first pulsar is discovered, in the Crab Nebula
1969 - Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th President of the United States
1973 - Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States
1977 - Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States
1981 - Ronald W. Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States. Minutes later, Iran releases 52 American hostages
1985 - Super Bowl XIX becomes the most watched game in history. Television commercials ran for a million dollars a minute
1985 - Ronald W. Reagan is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States
1986 - The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel
1987 - Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in the Lebanon
1989 - George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st President of the United States
2001 - George W. Bush is inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States
2005 - George W. Bush is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States
Births
1812 - Thomas Meik, engineer (d. 1896)
1896 - George Burns, American actor, comedian (d. 1996)
1920 - DeForest Kelly, actor (d. 1999)
1920 - John O’Connor, Cardinal of New York City (d. 2000)
1926 - Patricia Neal, actress
1929 - Arte Johnson, actor
1929 - Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, NASCAR race car driver (d. 1964)
1930 - Buzz Aldrin, astronaut
Deaths
1156 - Bishop Henry, patron saint of Finland
1779 - David Garrick, actor (b. 1717)
1907 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, Russian chemist and inventor of the Periodic table (b. 1834)
1984 - Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimming gold medalist, actor (b. 1904)
1993 - Audrey Hepburn, actress (b. 1929)
2003 - Al Hirschfeld, caricaturist
Holidays & observances
The Eve of St. Agnes
Presidential Inauguration Day in the United States
dy of Saint Sebastian in catholic church. Also holidy in rio de janeiro as he is the city’s saint
On This Day
From the BBC:
1961: John F Kennedy sworn in as US president
1958: Explorers meet at South Pole
They Actually Know Who Made Up the Bundt Pan?!?
From mercurynews.com yesterday:
Beloved Bundt pan still leaves mark
19 January 2005
CONGRATULATIONS!!
TO THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 30s 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn’t get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright-colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms… WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent’s bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success, and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!
(Thanks to April for passing this along!)
I’d Have Panicked…
From PCWorld.com yesterday:
Australian Firm Takes Blame for U.S. Domain Name Hijack
18 January 2005
Much Ado about Not Much
On news.com.com today:
Harvard chief defends talk on women, science
At least the chancellor designate of UCSC didn’t make too much of a fool of herself over it…
15 January 2005
Huygens Has Arrived!!!
From news.scotsman.com today:
Scientists Celebrate Space Probe Pictures
From washingtonpost.com today:
Huygens Shows Titan's Weather and Craggy Landscape
12 January 2005
Ah! A New Day!!
It’s gorgeous out: the sun is shining, the sky is blue, the barometer is at 30.70 and rising… Well, it was 30.70 and rising about noon; it’s 30.12 and falling now, but that’s still a darned sight better than it has been.
11 January 2005
09 January 2005
NASA Fireworks
More from washingtonpost.com tomorrow morning:
‘Deep Impact’ Probe to Try to Puncture a Comet
Man! Who Tried to Fool Mother Nature?
From washingtonpost.com tomorrow morning:
Sierra Nevada Areas Hit With Most Snow Since 1916
08 January 2005
It’s Been Raining…
Bear announced that we’ve gotten 22" since he left 26 December… (the pickle bucket had to be emptied this afternoon)
07 January 2005
What a Cool House!
From MercuryNews.com today:
Historic library becomes home
Too bad there were’t pictures…
06 January 2005
Newspapers with Bee in their names…
…have REALLY big stingers these days!!
From the Modesto Bee’s Web site today:
Don't get too excited: York is still the owner
What Dope Is John York Smoking??
I need to know, ’cause I don’t ever want to do it…
From MercuryNews.com today:
Stadium dreams seem to be fueling York’s resolve
03 January 2005
01 January 2005
Today in History
From wikipedia.org:
Events
45 BC - Julian calendar goes into effect
404 - Last gladiator competition in Rome and martyrdom of Saint Telemachus
1438 - Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of Hungary
1502 - The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro explored.
1600 - Scotland first began the numbered year of its Julian calendar
1651 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland
1700 - Russia first adopted Western numbers for its Julian calendar
1707 - John V becomes King of Portugal
1738 - Bouvet Island was discovered
1752 - England and its colonies first began the numbered year of their calendar
1788 - First edition of The Times, previously The Daily Universal Register, was published
1801 - Discovery of 1 Ceres, first known asteroid
1808 - Importation of slaves into the United States is banned
1863 - Abraham Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation during the second year of the American Civil War
1863 - The first claim under the Homestead Act is made for a farm in Nebraska
1874 - New York City annexes The Bronx
1876 - First modern-day mummers parade held to celebrate America’s centennary
1880 - Construction of the Panama Canal begins
1892 - Ellis Island opens to begin accepting immigrants to the United States
1893 - Japan accepts the Gregorian calendar
1897 - Brooklyn, New York merges with New York City
1898 - New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island
1899 - Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City
1902 - The first Rose Bowl game is played in Pasadena, California
1908 - A ball signifying New Year’s Day drops in New York City’s Times Square for the first time
1934 - Alcatraz becomes a federal prison
1935 - Bucknell University wins the first Orange Bowl 26-0 over the University of Miami
1937 - The first Cotton Bowl game is played in Dallas, Texas
1970 - Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC
1971 - Cigarette advertisements banned on United States television
1983 - The ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet
1984 - AT&T is broken up into 22 independent units
1985 - Creation of the Internet’s Domain Name System
1985 - First British mobile phone call made by Ernie Wise to Vodafone
1992 - George H. W. Bush is first President of the United States to address the Australian Parliament
1993 - Velvet Divorce: Czechoslovakia divides into Slovakia and the Czech Republic
1998 - Smoking is banned in all bars and restaurants in the US state of California
Births
1449 - Lorenzo de Medici, Italian statesman (d. 1492)
1735 - Paul Revere, American silversmith, patriot (d. 1818)
1750 - Frederick Muhlenberg, first speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1801)
1752 - Betsy Ross, American seamstress (d. 1836)
1804? - James Fannin, Texas Revolutionary (d. 1836)
1860 - George Washington Carver, American educator, inventor, botanist (d. 1943)
1863 - Pierre de Coubertin, French historian and pedagogue, initiator of modern Olympic Games (d. 1937)
1864 - Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (d. 1946)
1900 - Xavier Cugat, Catalan-Cuban musician, bandleader (d. 1990)
1942 - Country Joe McDonald, American musician, (Country Joe and the Fish)
1945 - Jacky Ickx, Belgian automobile racer
Deaths
379 - Saint Basil of Caesarea (b. 330)
1515 - Louis XII of France (b. 1462)
1782 - Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
1953 - Hank Williams, American country music singer (b. 1923)
1958 - Edward Weston, American photographer (b. 1886)
1972 - Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
1992 - Grace Hopper, American computer pioneer (b. 1906)
1996 - Arleigh Burke, U.S. admiral (b. 1901)
1997 - Townes Van Zandt, musician (b. 1944)
2001 - Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
Holidays & observations
The seventh day and eighth night of Christmas in Western Christianity
Many countries around the world using Gregorian Calendar - New Year’s Day; often celebrated at 0:00 with fireworks
Vienna New Year’s Concert
United States - Copyright Expiration Day, celebrating the expiration of the copyright of a year's worth of works of authorship into the public domain. Not celebrated from 1978 to 2018 because of repeated copyright term extensions
Catholicism - Holy Day of Obligation Octave of Christmas, Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God (New calendar)
Catholicism - Feast of the Circumcision (Old calendar)
Catholicism - National Migration Week begins (varying official support by the office of U.S. President, not strictly religious)
Slovakia: Establishment of Slovak Republic
Pasadena, California - The Tournament of Roses parade and, traditionally, the Rose Bowl football championship
World Day for Prayer for Peace
Mars Rover Wanders Through Littered Landscape
On Yahoo! News yesterday:
Mars Rover Wanders Through Littered Landscape
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