It's not a supernova. Nor is it a galaxy, or a black hole.
From FOX News: "In fact, astronomers have no idea what the mysterious object that in February 2006 suddenly flared up in an otherwise barren patch of sky might be, or even what it's made of."
It is probably the remains of a destroyed planet, or perhaps a moon. Or if not a moon, a space station.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Google: Brainwash
My wife finally started to use her Outlook calendar to some of its potential. Now that she is putting in her own appointments and using it to run her day to day schedule, she suggested we somehow share our calendars. Since I use my work Exchange server and she uses Outlook as a front end POP client for her Comcast email, I figured our only hope was Google calendar which we both have with our GMail accounts (for Google Talk and all other things Google - like this blog for instance).
I'm loathe to put extra software on a PC if I truly don't need it but I scoured the web for a program that would sync Outlook calendars with Google calendars - which I thought was my only hope - and low and behold; there is one! What struck me last night when I found the best answer is that the first thing I did was assume something shared online must be done with Google.
Microsoft Outlook 2007 can share calendars natively online for free with Office Live. You just need a Live ID ("hotmail" account for instance - which we have for our MSN chat clients). This works a treat! I publish my calendar and she publishes hers. We subscribe to each others and lock down the viewing to each other and ourselves only. I can now view her calendar super-imposed on mine in my Outlook client natively; and likewise, she can do the same with my calendar!
Maybe I shouldn't be so excited or singing the praises of Microsoft, but I'm all for the best solution with the least amount of "kludge", dynamic and easy. In this case, Microsoft beats Google hands down.
I'm loathe to put extra software on a PC if I truly don't need it but I scoured the web for a program that would sync Outlook calendars with Google calendars - which I thought was my only hope - and low and behold; there is one! What struck me last night when I found the best answer is that the first thing I did was assume something shared online must be done with Google.
Microsoft Outlook 2007 can share calendars natively online for free with Office Live. You just need a Live ID ("hotmail" account for instance - which we have for our MSN chat clients). This works a treat! I publish my calendar and she publishes hers. We subscribe to each others and lock down the viewing to each other and ourselves only. I can now view her calendar super-imposed on mine in my Outlook client natively; and likewise, she can do the same with my calendar!
Maybe I shouldn't be so excited or singing the praises of Microsoft, but I'm all for the best solution with the least amount of "kludge", dynamic and easy. In this case, Microsoft beats Google hands down.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Can't See the Forest For the Trees (Killed by the Faxes)
A while back, I posted an entry about IP telephony being dead and cited the forward looking trends of mobilty and device convergence. I may have spoken too soon.
I'm sure we'll head that way eventually, but I may be WAY before my time if we're still worrying about faxes, as indicated by this Network World article.
Seriously, faxing was invented in the 1920's (look it up). With today's technology, can't we scan to email or use a service like eFax? But then again, we still use desk phones while we put our mobile phones down right next to them. Perhaps we'll have stopped using cars to commute before we rid the world of fax machines.
...
... wait, you didn't think I was talking about teleportation or anything did you? I just mean telecommuting!
I'm sure we'll head that way eventually, but I may be WAY before my time if we're still worrying about faxes, as indicated by this Network World article.
Seriously, faxing was invented in the 1920's (look it up). With today's technology, can't we scan to email or use a service like eFax? But then again, we still use desk phones while we put our mobile phones down right next to them. Perhaps we'll have stopped using cars to commute before we rid the world of fax machines.
...
... wait, you didn't think I was talking about teleportation or anything did you? I just mean telecommuting!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Iran-ic
On behalf of my whitty, better-looking brother:
Report: CBS News' Logan talks about her baby drama
So let me get this straight. A CBS News foreign affairs correspondent for the Middle East stationed in Iraq gets knocked up by a married contractor she met while stationed in Iraq because she had a ... wait for it ... foreign affair?
If that's not the definition of irony, I don't know what is.
Report: CBS News' Logan talks about her baby drama
So let me get this straight. A CBS News foreign affairs correspondent for the Middle East stationed in Iraq gets knocked up by a married contractor she met while stationed in Iraq because she had a ... wait for it ... foreign affair?
If that's not the definition of irony, I don't know what is.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Mighty Mighty Review
Last night, my brother and I went to the Mighty Mighty BossTones and Dropkick Murphy's show at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, RI. My bother is more of a Dropkick's fan while I tend more towards the BossTones sound - being a fan since the early 90's.
An all-girl band from LA opened - they were no Kittie. Following that abortion, the BossTones took the stage.
It was a pretty good show, the first time I had seen them in many years and the first time ever outside, rather than a small club in either Providence or Boston/Cambridge.
They opened with "Kinder Words" and then went into "Drunks and Children" - although I don't remember what name they gave it this time. During the middle of that song, Dicky had them bring a young kid up on stage who was obviously into it. He jumped around with Ben and even sang the "God, it's been fun" refrain both times. When the song was done, Dicky put a mic in the kid's face and asked his name.
"Liam", replied the boy.
Dicky, matter of factly replied, "Liam. Of course, I forgot we're in Ireland!"
I guess you had to be there.
They went on to play a good set with some favorites: "Illegal Left", "Toxic Toast", "Rascal King", "Where Did You Go" and of course "Someday I Suppose". Dicky brought his mom on stage and we sang all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.
They left "The Impression That I Get" for their supposed finale, but when that song was done, they launched into "The Impossible Dream" which Dicky announced was about the '67 Red Sox, but as the song ended, the BossTones banner dropped (actually getting caught diagnolly across the banner behind it) half revealing an image of Barrack Obama and the word "Dream".
I was pleasantly surprised when I heard at least half as many boos as cheers. The moral of the story: "Almost Anything Goes", but "Think Again" BossTones if you believe your political views will 'Question the Answers' we have; you may just be left with "A Sad Silence".
An all-girl band from LA opened - they were no Kittie. Following that abortion, the BossTones took the stage.
It was a pretty good show, the first time I had seen them in many years and the first time ever outside, rather than a small club in either Providence or Boston/Cambridge.
They opened with "Kinder Words" and then went into "Drunks and Children" - although I don't remember what name they gave it this time. During the middle of that song, Dicky had them bring a young kid up on stage who was obviously into it. He jumped around with Ben and even sang the "God, it's been fun" refrain both times. When the song was done, Dicky put a mic in the kid's face and asked his name.
"Liam", replied the boy.
Dicky, matter of factly replied, "Liam. Of course, I forgot we're in Ireland!"
I guess you had to be there.
They went on to play a good set with some favorites: "Illegal Left", "Toxic Toast", "Rascal King", "Where Did You Go" and of course "Someday I Suppose". Dicky brought his mom on stage and we sang all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.
They left "The Impression That I Get" for their supposed finale, but when that song was done, they launched into "The Impossible Dream" which Dicky announced was about the '67 Red Sox, but as the song ended, the BossTones banner dropped (actually getting caught diagnolly across the banner behind it) half revealing an image of Barrack Obama and the word "Dream".
I was pleasantly surprised when I heard at least half as many boos as cheers. The moral of the story: "Almost Anything Goes", but "Think Again" BossTones if you believe your political views will 'Question the Answers' we have; you may just be left with "A Sad Silence".
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
A Hysterical Historical Perspective
We are dangerously close to letting history repeat itself in the field of Information Technology. Back in the day, mainframes were the center - in fact, the only embodiment - of the computing world. Their reach was extended by terminals that allowed interface, but had no means of local computing power.
The model switched from centralized processing to distributing processing as desktop computers became more powerful and more convenient (portable laptops - mobility). Today, we are reigning in our distributing computing power in favor of consolidated data centers, virtualized servers in single large racks of computing prowess. They aren't mainframes, but they sure look like it.
We've gone from accessing centralized information centrally to accessing distributed information distributed-ly and now what can we possibly call our current situation? The web is the new world wide database - or mainframe. Google is the Structured Query Language (SQL) interface. Web based, Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud computing are reinforcing the move to a "centralized" platform - the distributed Internet.
What's next, the reinvention of the punch card manifesting itself in the form of a touch screen where the user pinches and brushes to zoom and scroll? Unbelievable - have we learned nothing?
;-)
The model switched from centralized processing to distributing processing as desktop computers became more powerful and more convenient (portable laptops - mobility). Today, we are reigning in our distributing computing power in favor of consolidated data centers, virtualized servers in single large racks of computing prowess. They aren't mainframes, but they sure look like it.
We've gone from accessing centralized information centrally to accessing distributed information distributed-ly and now what can we possibly call our current situation? The web is the new world wide database - or mainframe. Google is the Structured Query Language (SQL) interface. Web based, Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud computing are reinforcing the move to a "centralized" platform - the distributed Internet.
What's next, the reinvention of the punch card manifesting itself in the form of a touch screen where the user pinches and brushes to zoom and scroll? Unbelievable - have we learned nothing?
;-)
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