Its cool, because although I have never attended DEF CON, I am in the loop. It was probably 1995 or 1996 when I printed the cDc Ninja Strike Force t-shirts for Deth Veggie.
I got into printing the t-shirt printing business while at school at Tufts, and thanks to my awesome Massachusetts connections, I was able to print the shirts at my buddy Craig F.’s place in the basement of the Toxic Narcotic house basement. Yes, those were good times.
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And the panda we saw earlier in the day at the Smithsonian National Zoo:
The new Kindle Wi-Fi is a very cool device at only $139. For the gadget lovers among us, its a perfect fit - especially because of the e-ink + month long battery life!
The one thing I really can't stand about gadgets is the fact that they have such short battery lives - let alone a myriad of incompatible battery chargers!! Thankfully, most manufacturers (with the notable exception of Apple and the iDevices) are starting to simply use USB connectors as device charges. Rejoice!
Ranting aside, the fact that the Kindle can operate so long on a single charge is absolutely wonderful. I've seen a couple, but I haven't actually tried one out to read for several hours.
Perhaps if I travel more someday I'll get one, but for now I do most of my reading at home, and I have plenty of real books to keep me occupied!
]]>Paulo Coelho also wrote "The Alchemist", which I read and enjoyed several years ago.
Today I was by myself so I swam in the lap pool and swam ten laps. Swimming is perfect exercise for me - not too intense, but a full body work out.
I'm planning on going again soon!
UPDATE: I've continued to swim a whole bunch - 40 laps yesterday and another 20 today. Feels great! I also bought my daughter a little floating swim jacket and we're going at least once a week.
]]>I'm about halfway through "Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid", by Bill Bryson and its great! I've previously listened to his book "A Brief History of Nearly Everything" on my iPod and it was totally awesome. This book isn't as amazing as that masterpiece, but its still quite good.
"Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" is a memoir of growing up in the 1950s, and since I grew up in the 1980s, I might not appreciate it as much as others who grew up at that time.
UPDATE: I've finished this book and definitely enjoyed it. Its not Bryson's best, but its still good.
]]>My comment:
This is a terrific post. I enjoyed the part about banking - as in the US we initially were bound to Fort Knox for backing up our bills with gold stockpiles, but have been off that plan for some time now and no one seems to mind all that much (but some do). Also in the US, people are apparently feeling more comfortable with an unknown future - they switch jobs more readily, and even religions.
Is our six sense coming to fruition?
]]>I gained a lot of respect for the legal profession, but I also came to realize that there is very little that can be done to prevent someone from suing you. As one of my lawyers said, "All anyone needs to sue someone else is a piece of paper, an envelope, and a stamp."
Another lawyer once told me that getting sued can be a sign of success; the plaintiff might be suing you because they are afraid of the power you have, or wants something you have. In my cases, I believe that to have been the cause, but truly its of little consolation!
But what about the title of this post? What is a SLAPP lawsuit? All caps, it must stand for something, right? Yes:
Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation
The public participation referred to here is the speech, and our right to its freedom. There are circumstances where free speech is not protected, as in cases of libel or defamation. For example, if one restaurant falsely states that another restaurant serves tainted food, they can and in my humble opinion should be silenced and held liable for the potential monetary damages caused by their false claims.
On the flip side, if their claims are true, I do not feel that they should be silenced, or held liable for damages resulting from the truth being made public. However, the offending restaurant can still sue in an effort to defend themselves. What has evolved within our legal system is the use of merit-less libel and defamation lawsuits used to spend opponents into submission. Similar to frivolous lawsuits, they are usually expected to lose if they run their course.
Apparently these types of frivolous lawsuits are so commonplace that they deserve specific legislation to be handled, and are even afforded their own acronym!
While its nice to know that injustice can potentially be corrected through the due process, its disappointing to learn that such a system can be so grossly abused. Furthermore its disappointing to learn that for the most part, it is the lawyers, not the judges, play the role of policing the system.
Most states have anti-SLAPP legislation, and NPR is reporting that the federal government is considering nationwide anti-SLAPP legislation, too.
I'm not a lawmaker nor a legislator, but in my humble opinion there should be treble punitive damages for merit-less SLAPP lawsuits. The system needs some sort of systematic process for preventing this type of legal abuse.
What do you think?
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Unfortunately, GACCO (The George A. Caldwell Company) was not as successful as GEICO. Maybe they should have gone with the gecko spokesanimal.
]]>I haven't read any of his books, but they look interesting to me.
The weather here in Bethesda Maryland has been insane. Last Friday, February 5th, 2010, the snow started coming down in the late morning. I drove my daughter to her mother’s house at 1PM, and you could tell people were concerned about the storm - the traffic was heavy with people already leaving work!
At 10:30PM, the power in my neighborhood went out. I expected it to be back on in the morning, but no luck. The next day we had more snow. Lots and lots more snow. It was between 24 and 28 inches, and Bethesda could not handle it.
I hunkered down and did a lot of reading, hoping for power, heat, and hot water. No luck. My sisters’ and I sent SMS messages back and forth with little to update. After a second cold night, Sarah and Richard came through big time with an invite to Kate and Kevin’s house where they maintained power. I don’t like to impose, but I still jumped at the offer. After a few hundred shovels of snow to dig out the Yota and help my neighbors free their wheels, I was so thankful to find myself basking in the glow of incandescent bulbs, a warm fire, good friends, and even a cool black lab. Those folks are quality folks.
Thankfully I didn’t have to inconvenience them too much because my power came back on today. Once again, my apartment is warm, my refrigerator is cold, and I’m online. No complaints.
But what about the storm coming tomorrow? Another 10-20 inches? The crew on Cromwell put it best: “Holy Snowplow!”
]]>Since I'm still getting through Cloudsplitter (though I made good progress last night by flashlight due to a blackout), so I decided to post about "Rule of The Bone".
I read this book at my sister's suggestion years ago and I really loved it. I liked it so much that I decided to buy Cloudsplitter. The subjects are totally different different, and I liked the content of "Rule of The Bone" better, but the writing in both books is really good.
]]>I'm still making my way through Cloudsplitter (I started last November). It is a large book, and the topic is heavy, so I'm not too embarrassed that its taken me so long to finish it.
After this one, I've got some terrific books to choose from for my next read. Including a book edited by Jeffrey Deaver which will most likely be my next choice.
]]>Read this book in October 2005.
This book focuses primarily on personal relationships, though I would have preferred it to include more business situations. My favorite part is the last chapter on persuasion and encourages me to find a book solely focused on persuation. In this chapter, Swets breaks down the process of persuation into five steps: