Wonder how much information you really put out there through Facebook?
This information can be had by anyone who can build an application using the Facebook API.
Writer. Nerd. Gamer.
Wonder how much information you really put out there through Facebook?
This information can be had by anyone who can build an application using the Facebook API.
This story comes from Reuters.
A woman who worked at a super market in Germany took bread home that was supposed to be discarded. Is she guilty of a crime?
The 44-year-old cashier had been asked to dispose of the bread in a bio-waste container in March this year, but it was later found in her bag when she was searched by supermarket security personnel on leaving work later that day.
The woman, who was not named, argued that she had intended to put the bread in the bio-waste container, but her employer believed she meant to take it home and eat it.
The Leipzig labor court ruled on Monday that even if the employee did intend to eat the bread, it did not constitute grounds for dismissal, especially given her 27-year employment record with the company and the fact that the bread no longer had any monetary worth for the employer.
The answer is yes. She is guilty of a crime. She took something that did not belong to her. Whether or not it is worth $0.00 or $2,000.00 the fact remains that the property did not belong to her and she took it.
The law really is or rather, should be that simple.
Stealing is a very simple concept. I own a CD. I bought it at Wal-Mart. I have a receipt for it and the CD clearly belongs to me. You come along and take it from me. That is stealing. You don’t own it. It didn’t belong to you.
The bread was the sole property of her employer and she willfully took it.
For reasons unknown to me, German courts seem to think that they can just add a condition to the definition of theft. Well, it wasn’t really very expensive so it’s ok if the woman took it.
And that my friends, is why the world is going to hell in a hand basket.
…Geek Brief?
I saw the new Revision 3 show with Cali Lewis and subscribed to it without thinking too much of it.
I just watched her latest show and noticed her wedding ring was missing.
I Googled it.
Sad.
This small rant is about a program I used to love and recommend.
Cyberduck had to be one of the easiest FTP clients for Mac that I’ve ever found. Very little set up involved for any site and it just worked.
Until now.
Late changes in its development have made this program a complete and total pain in the ass. Asking me if I want to change the way I communicate with the site I’m trying to access and arbitrarily making changes to my settings that worked up until now. For software developers out there let me say something that needs said. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Believe me, I understand “why” you thought these changes were needed and perhaps they are but my gripe is how you’ve implemented these changes and how you continue forcing me to do something I may not want to do.
For example, a dialog box popped up asking me if I’d like to change from FTP to sFTP (secure FTP) and the choices are continue, cancel, and don’t show me this again.
I chose “don’t show me this again” because…I don’t want to see that dialog EVER again. What does the program do? It changes my settings anyway!
My website is not set up to use sFTP at the moment even though Cyberduck seems to think it is and the way I have my sites configured, it is not necessary. Security should never be forced on a webmaster by software. We are well aware of security threats and will deal with them accordingly; thank you very much!
The next to last point I feel I need to make is whether or not I can continue to recommend Cyberduck to my friends and family.
The answer is a resounding NO.
If I have trouble initially understanding what Cyberduck is trying to force me to do, I’m quite sure my mother will have troubles. My father will get angry and possibly throw the computer and my kids will call me every five minutes until their Cyberduck gets fixed.
I hate having to change this recommendation, my personal recommendation on Mac OS X FTP programs is to use FileZilla. Don’t get me wrong, FileZilla is awesome but up until now it has been a bit too complicated to recommend to my family (but not by much). Weighing Cyberduck‘s changes and now forced me to conclude that FileZilla is easier to use on a Mac. Of course, FileZilla is available on ALL platforms.
Finally, I’d like to address the issue of the “Donate” dialog. This dialog pops up every time you upgrade Cyberduck. If you have donated in the past as I have (twice) then you’ll appreciate what I’m about to say.
(Caption: This issue was considered so annoying that a help desk request was submitted to the developer. Go here to read the whole thing.)
In the past, a dialog box popped up asking if you’d like to donate to the Cyberduck project. Let’s face it, developers appreciate a little “scratch” now and again for their work and rightfully so. After you donate, you simply check that you’ve donated and move on with your life.
Until, the next Cyberduck update. The dialog re-appears and asks you if you’ve donated. You say “Yes” and the dialog goes away until…
…you get the idea.
From a coding standpoint, it is not very difficult to write a routine that “knows” that you’ve donated from change to change thus keeping the annoying dialog box from rearing it’s ugly head every time you upgrade. Common practice is that you would ask for a donation again only after a major upgrade (e.g. version 3 to version 4). This program asks for a donation after each and every “incremental” change (e.g. version 3.1.1 to version 3.1.2). The numbers may not be accurate and I’m just throwing them out as examples but you get the idea.
The latest implementation shows a “Get a Donation Key!” button at the top of the window. The problems I am speaking about occurred prior to this change and no; I will not be donating a third time just so that I can now get a freaking donation key.
I can easily dismiss the annoying donation issue but when it’s combined with the sFTP changes, it becomes too much for even me to bear.
Cyberduck is neither easy nor fun to use anymore.
That makes me sad.
Note: This article is based on my own experiences and my own opinions. If you aren’t bothered by these things then “good on ya.”
…why my $%^^%## spell and grammar checker would ever doubt me?
The grammar is correct and it REALLY is used that way!!!!
Now, leave me alone and let me live my life.
Did you ever write a website post just because you wanted the top post to contain the current month?
Yeah. Me neither.
As most of you already know, I have 2 full time jobs.
Podcast Production (now married with terrestrial radio and management of a young ladies career) is one of those jobs and my regular day shift job is the other.
The day job was forced to lay-off a bunch of people on Friday and while we saw this coming, it still rings hard with a sense of dread, worry, and compassion for those folks who got walking papers. Let’s face it; getting laid off even 5 years ago is not the same as getting laid off under this economic climate. It’s bad. I can’t say that this is the worst business climate there has ever been because I only have my own frame of reference. The GDP numbers just released show only a 1.6% growth. I’ve never seen the GDP that low. The number simply means that country isn’t really growing economically and that’s really bad.
So, we worry. We worry about our friends and we worry about ourselves.
There might be a light at the end of the tunnel but so far we seem to be having trouble finding the entrance.
(Reuters) – French police have arrested two teenage girls they say stole hundreds of euros from unsuspecting cash machine customers after distracting them by flashing their breasts.
Um, the side effects of an open society?
I thought Europeans didn’t get “shocked” by nudity?
This week I wrote this column about keeping secure information on your cell phone or other hand held device like an iPod Touch.
I realize lately that my columns have been more “doom and gloomy” so I wrote this “cheery” piece about losing your phone.
Yes; occasionally we all have to bow to the masses. 🙂
While this story makes me smile, the very notion of using property that doesn’t belong to you is wrong.
Whether or not the guy had a liquor license is a different issue and a different debate for another time.
via CNN…
(CNN) — A homeless man allegedly broke into a California bar and served drinks to unsuspecting patrons all weekend — before police came calling.
The bar, called the Valencia Club, had gone out of business for some time and its liquor license had expired, police said this week.
But the suspect, Travis Lloyd Kevie, 29, somehow got into the California establishment in the Penryn area of Sacramento Valley last week. He reopened the bar using beer he bought from a nearby store.
Kevie allegedly started with a six-pack of beer and used money he received to buy more alcohol.
As I said, I like the spirit that Mr. Lloyd displays in that true entrepreneur fashion just can’t agree with the execution.
(Hat Tip: Drew)
My “talking point” of the day. Why the conservatives do so poorly in new media compared to the left?
Conservatives have to name everything “Right.”
On the left…
They know how to name things.
Huffington Post. Daily Koz. Etc. Can you tell what their politics are by the name? No. Not everyone may be as net savvy as you are.
At this point in time, it’s actually annoying to see “liberal” or “conservative” in a name.
If your podcast, website, or conference didn’t have the word “right” in it, you may have actually tricked someone from the opposite side into discovering it and taking part instead of seeing the word “right” and running the other way.
Statistically speaking; leaving your politics out of your name is one of the easiest ways of attracting a new following.
Just sayin.
That is all.
I very rarely even talk about this on my website but after seeing an article in my local paper this morning about the increasing number of motorcycle accidents perhaps, its time to say a few words.
To the riders: Don’t be stupid.
From LancasterOnline…
Ten motorcyclists have died in crashes in about a four-week period in Lancaster County.
A watch repair technician died when his cycle ran off the road on a sunny morning near a Manheim Township neighborhood. Two 20-year-old buddies died when their motorcycle hit a tree that was downed during a summer storm one night in Martic Township.
And five friends, including two married couples, died in a crash after they collided with a van during a Sunday afternoon ride down Route 72.So far this year, 14 motorcyclists have died in crashes.
Later on in the article (I suggest you read the whole thing) they ask a veteran rider about the things he does to keep safe on the road. It struck me that this man has the same philosophy that I do when it comes to intersections and driver behavior.
“If I come to an intersection and there’s a car sitting there, I assume he’s going to pull out in front of me, and I start slowing down and planning evasive action,” he said.
Why does he do that?
“Ninety percent of the time, they do pull out in front of you,” said Richard, who said his 128-member chapter distributes yard signs that say, “Look twice, save a life.”
While riding your bike, you are the captain of the ship and the one in control. Accidents are caused by assumptions. Not only do assumptions make “an ass out of you and me” but they can also get you killed. Never assume that the driver is just going to sit there while you cross an intersection. It’s a better bet that he won’t.
My rule of thumb is to make the car go first if it comes down to either of us waiting. I MAKE them go whether they blow their horn or wave me on; I simply can’t trust them.
Any how, good information none the less.
I just wrote a piece for the American Chronicle folks about political podcasting.
I’ll post a link when the publisher approves the story.
Update: Published Link Here.
Let me get this straight.
We have managed to run up a massive deficit because of our inability to manage the tax money we get at the federal level. We spend way more money than we take in.
In any other small business model (or corporation for that matter) this formula wouldn’t work. This formula also doesn’t work for your average family budget either. You simply can not sustain an existence based on spending more money than you actually have.
We’ve held a federal level deficit for many many years.
Spending other people’s money is just too damn appealing I suppose because logic and common sense dictate that this behavior be corrected in order to allow growth and stability.
The “transition” tax is supposed to help combat the rapidly growing deficit but I’m afraid it’s akin to trying to fix a stab wound by making more stab wounds.
As I’ve said on Twitter and Facebook, what planet am I on?
Really.
*** iPhone 4 ***
Why does the new iPhone have various reception issues regarding the cellular antenna?
You can thank the Federal Government for meddling in business along with design and development once again.
via MacWorld…
First, iPhone 4, like almost every other modern cell phone, puts the cellular antennas at the bottom, where they are most likely to be covered by your hand. The reason is that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has strict limits on the amount of energy that can be absorbed by the human body from a handheld device, Webb says in his first post last week. The energy limit is called the Specific Absorption Rate or SAR. So the phone designers move the antennas as far away from the head as possible—to the bottom of the phone.
Because of this SAR restriction that seems to be an entirely arbitrary number (let’s face it, the numbers will change tomorrow) the designers of the iPhone 4 as well as others are faced with serious fundamental functionality issues when it comes to cell phones in general.
Engineering will come up with a solution. I’m sure of that.
From a “stay the hell out of my life” position with respect to the FCC driving design of a cell phone, I think this is a great example of government over reaching into our lives.
Of course, there will be those few who argue about the safety concerns involving having a cell phone too close to your head and possibly (never proven) causing cancer but the real question becomes “do you want the government to make those decisions for you?”
If a cell phone is proven to cause cancer, I’m pretty sure people will stop using them.
*** The Rant (in no particular order) ***
Neither any individual nor the government (body politic) as a whole is smart enough to tell me how to live my life. In fact, quite the opposite is true. This generation of politicians is so corrupt that the fact that they can no longer read (e.g. the constitution) pales in comparison.
If true representative government worked as it should in a Republic such as ours, this post would be entirely unnecessary.
Unfortunately, most of the people of this great land who elected a socialist as President and now feel the pains of buyers remorse can rejoice in the fact that despite all of the technology and the internet and all of our advances they remain the “diet Pepsi” of American society since our inception. Perhaps, the stupidest generation of adults the world has ever produced. Just one calorie, hardly even capable of turning on the television without the remote control. I have watched my daughter spend over 15 minutes searching for a remote instead of just going over to the television and using the “ON” switch. I rest my case.
We need laws to spell out the painfully obvious and at the moment this started to happen the forefathers collectively turned in their graves yet again.
I believe that America is the greatest country on the face of the Earth even in it’s presently unrecognizable form.
Will we ever make the necessary changes to fix our broken society? We have become too fat and too lazy so probably not.
If you really like air conditioning instead of letting your body naturally control your weight than you may actually live longer if the fact that you are living like a piece of steak in the refrigerator doesn’t bother you.
I can hear it now, “I’m a political blogger and I’m making a difference.” Actually, no you are not. At the very best, you are preaching to the folks who believe exactly as you do. At worst, you are getting web traffic because you wrote a post that contained either the words “boob” or “nude” in it. Preaching to the same side doesn’t advance anything. The real mission is conversation, discussion, and eventually conversion to your side and way of thinking.
I posted a quote from Bill Clinton a few weeks ago…
The problem with ideology is, if you’ve got an ideology you’ve already got your mind made up. You know all the answers and that makes evidence irrelevant and arguments a waste of time.
The bloggers that make a real effort to reach across the political divides and engage their counterparts are the real winners of political blogging.
If you are conservative and consider Fox News to be conservative and you watch Fox News all day, how could your opinion be considered in any way a fair one. The same applies to those who watch CNN all day long as well. I have a friend who watches CNN all day long and the funny thing is…if I want his opinion on any given political issue all I have to do is turn on CNN. It’s as predicable as my 10:00 alarm clock.
Ok, I’ve done enough ranting this morning.
This stuff pisses me off.
While still under construction, here’s a look at the new home of Take That! Media’s east coast studio.
Just in case you think all of your main stream news is biased, here comes an article found on Slashdot. This could be a fault in the way the article is written but on the surface your common sense filter should go off.
Here is what you read when you are on the site…
“We know that the iPad is selling like hotcakes, but how satisfied are the people who buy it? Over at Technologizer, we conducted a survey of 6,000 iPad early adopters. There are a few places where they were critical — the majority, for instance, aren’t happy with Apple’s App Store approval process. Overall, however, they’re overwhelmingly upbeat.”
Now, the first red light to go off would be the one that says “Why would an iPad user give a rat’s ass about the iTunes Store Application Approval Process?”
(picture source: PC World)
The quick answer. They wouldn’t. The person buying an iPad is buying to use it. If they want an application, they simply go to iTunes and pick what they want and buy it. At present, Apple does NOT have a section in the iTunes store devoted to applications that they may be sitting on waiting to release or deny at some future date.
In order for the consumer to “care” about the approval process they would have to know something about it and why would they? How would they know who is developing what and in addition, what problems they may be having getting their product up on the iTunes store? “EA is coming out with this really cool game but Apple is holding up releasing it. I really don’t like the application approval process.” So, a majority of those random folks you surveyed sounded something like that?
I submit that they wouldn’t.
A majority of a survey of 6,000 users would not turn up such findings unless those 6,000 were strictly developers. Without taking a survey, I can tell you that my daughter doesn’t like the fact that it doesn’t have a USB port.
Me: So, Jennifer what don’t you like about the iPad.
Jennifer: I wish it had a USB port.
Me: So, what do you think about the application approval process?
Jennifer: Huh? Is that an app? How much is that?
Me: Nevermind.
When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken. – Benjamin Disraeli
by William Jefferson Clinton. Stop laughing. Its good.
The problem with ideology is, if you’ve got an ideology you’ve already got your mind made up. You know all the answers and that makes evidence irrelevant and arguments a waste of time.
See?
I told you it was good.
Typically, I don’t cross post very much between my radio stuff and here but Wayne Rogers was by far the most fun M*A*S*H character to watch. Andrew and Ari got a chance to talk to him last night on their show and it’s worth a listen.
On this edition of Strictly Right, Ari and Andrew chat about the latest case of political correctness, the state of affairs in Israel, and a great interview with Wayne Rogers of FOX News and M*A*S*H.