Techdirt has an article up today talking about something rather amusing which should be obvious but, I guess just isn’t.
You know how when you receive a confirmation email or something similar, often the address is something @ donotreply.com? well, someone actually owns that domain, and yes he really does get all those emails. It’s not just people who don’t realize that their not supposed to be replying to the address, it’s a lot of internal emails as well.
The problem stems from network admins either not realizing that these emails actually go some where (which you should if your a network admin), or they don’t want to burden their own server with all the emails and don’t care. These aren’t just small unimportant companies either. We’re talking about companies like Capital One and Verizon just to name a couple.
The person who owns this domain has a blog and posts some rather amusing emails that h receives. The ethics of this might be somewhat questionable but really, he didn’t ask to get these emails right?
A few days ago NASA announced the discovery of proof that organic molecules exist outside our solar system…. And?
I’m really not trying to put down the hard work of the many people involved in doing this. The method they used to do this was extremely advanced and very well thought out. My only problem with this (and maybe I’m wrong, please let me know) is that organic compounds are some of the most abundant materials in our solar system. Thinking these compounds might not exist outside it is kind of silly.
On the other hand, some very interesting discoveries are being made right in out own backyard. More than one of Saturn’s moons is now thought to have a heated core and liquid water. Salt deposits from extinct oceans were found on Mars, suggesting it may have been very supportive of life in the past, and may contain fossils.
I think looking outside our solar system is great and all, but really with our current technology, and any technology in the see-able future, it is completely impossible to reach those planets or even come close. Mars and Saturn on the other hand, we have already been too.
Once again, a friend from the Gagg boards has pointed me to an interesting link. A company call Boston Dynamics is working on a four legged robot with the most fluid and life like movements I’ve ever seen (except from living things of course.)
I think the video mentions they get at least some of their funding through DARPA which doesn’t surprise me, a legged robot can just go so many places that one on wheels can’t.
My guess would be that It functions on a combination of accelerometers similar to the wiimote and gyros to figure out orientation and help with balance.
Today’s comic is a reference to this news article I happened upon over the weekend. Apparently Florida is trying to pass a law that would make it illegal for kids teenagers to wear their pants below a certain level. The article doesn’t say what that level is or whether or not its only enforceable in school or on the streets as well. It does however, state that repeat offenders could spend up to 60 days in jail.
All I could think of when I read this was how stereotypical this is of a retirement state like Florida. The first image that came to my mind was a group of eighty year old men, standing around complaining about kids these days.
As funny as this is I think its more than a little drastic. Your trying to control how kids act and think by changing how they dress. I can tell you first hand that this doesn’t work. A persons style of dress is influenced by their personality, not the other way around.
I haven’t written anything in quite a while, so I thought I would post something just so everyone knows I’m still at it.
Monday’s comic “Over Reliance” is kind of interesting when you think about it. Take a look around you and make note of all the things that are computerized or electronic. Do they really need to be as high tech as they are. For instance, sitting on my desk right now is a computerized label maker with a USB interface and a full qwerty keyboard, I’m sure it wasn’t cheap. Yet, all this machine does is print letters on a white sticker. Why does it need a USB interface? Why does it need an over sized LCD display?
I remember when I bought my first palm pilot, I think it was the first one that palm made with a color display. It was advanced for it’s time and back then it seemed like a great piece of technology but, now as I look back and think about it there was so many things I couldn’t do with it. your really couldn’t transport files with it because you needed the sync cradle. It didn’t play music, only had a few mildly amusing games, note taking on it was far too slow. So this $250 piece of equipment now became a glorified address book and alarm clock.
In the end most gadgets turn out to be nothing more than flashy… well, gadgets. I find that I don’t even use a usb flash drive anymore. If I need to move files I just do it over the Internet/network. Though, I will admit that I sometimes find myself looking at flash drives in the store and thinking “If only it was a little bit bigger, I might find a use for it.”
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