Assuming you know that a DDoS attack is a distributed denial of service attack on big computer systems, then you might get a grin out of how bad the DDoS attack on Wal-Mart, Amazon and other sites went this week: very poorly from the perp’s point of view.
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The BBC reports on a …”YouTube video suggesting “face recognition cameras installed in HP laptops cannot detect black faces has had over one million views...” The the WSJ blog site followed with “Critics of H-P Software Soften Their Stance.“
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I’ve been looking around for a new computer – I buy one after Christmas often and try to keep abreast of technology – and you know what the least important feature is? Face ors thumb-print capability. More important to me? i7 processor, 8 GB and 1TB and a 1333 FSB – know what I mean? A lot of us in Texas use these old-fashioned external 9 MM security devices.
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Of course when to buy the computer becomes a problem if you’re looking at a laptop because there are so many cool innovations in the pipeline. For example, Panasonic has a new battery that in the home version could power a Japanese home for a week – not sure how much power they use, but it’s all part of Panasonics acquisition of Sanyo – and you know as power/density figures ramp up with evolving technology that will extend laptop run times. First of the home powering batteries due in 2011 but can I wait on a new computer that long?
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Then there’s the matter of should I wait until Microsoft pops with Office 2010? I hear it’s in beta now and you saw where Microsoft lost a patent case and may have to tweak Office 2007 to conform. Has something to do with XML features that I never use. Office 2007 is still on sale until January 11th with the old code.
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ComputerWorld cites a ChangeWave report that “High Windows 7 satisfaction spurs corporate IT spending.”. Story quotes 93% satisfaction with 7 – and I have to admit – after I put it in a few months back not a single problem here and not even one BSOD.
Down at the WuJo
That place where woo-woo and science gather on the mat of public debate, there’s a good read over at the Divine Cosmos website “Disclosure Endgame: free ebook” if you’ve got a little unallocated/non-manic time to burn. Covers a lot of recent ground, discussions and disagreements within the PTB and even the spiral lights over Norway recently. Eggnog helps.
Around the Ranch: Christmas Morning
Here at the ranch we got what passes in East Texas for a white Christmas: exactly 17 flakes of snow mixed in with passing rain showers. But then it turned cold overnight down into the low 20′s and cool for the next few days but clear. Along about the time George II leaves, we are due to get snow or ice pellets in this coming week, but nothing like the rest of the country.
Over on the National Weather Service’s site, the upper Midwest is in blizzard warning conditions…
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This morning’s column is a little shorter than normal for a Friday – not as much going on. As soon as I hit ‘publish’ this morning, we start putting the turkey together – and then snooze while it cooks and then eat, snooze, eat, snooze, eat, watch movie, snooze…typical American routine.
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Our next update here will come Monday morning…by which time I figure to weigh about 5-pounds more than I do this morning. The Saturday Peoplenomics report will be posted tomorrow on schedule and the Sunday in-depth report deals with the migration to high-density language and some of the implications of that. Most interesting line of inquiry there.
Drive safely if you can’t avoid it, relax and have fun. Odds are good that Life’s only 18,000 days long – and each morning you burn another one. Best I can tell, the idea is to make each one memorable. If you get through life with good memories, good friends, and love…hey! That’s even better than Christmas.
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Send your comments to george@ure.net
The UrbanSurvival Mall:
Peoplenomics This Week
Short Term Values, Capital Preservation, 2
Several readers have asked me for an update to the August 30 Peoplenomics report (#418) in which I expressed growing skepticism of the rally which was then in the are of Dow 9,544. What is difficult to find in investing are clear signals when one should flee from a particular investment and see something else. So this week I’ll pick on a couple of markets (gold and stocks) and show you just how close I think both are to the ‘fight-or-flight’ technical level. Along the way, some discussion of an indicator that very few people seem to use anymore – exponential curves. Before we can do that, however, a little math and long-term perspective is necessary. Not hard stuff – unless you were math-averse in school – in which case we’ll make this as painless as possible. As usual, this is not trading advice, and I assume you’ve read our comprehensive disclaimer here. True, that’s like holding you a lit stick of dynamite, and saying “Now – you hold this….while I go hide behind that rock…” But, that’s how today’s litigious world operates, isn’t it? So we’ll start with you holding a chart and me lighting it like so….
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Maxa-Cookie Manager
Been a while since I’ve updated you on how many cookies and web bugs have been removed from my main computer by the Maxa Cookie Manager from Maxa Tools: 1,602 web bugs and 54,131 cookies so far. It’s amazing.
Take it for a free test drive by downloading it. To upgrade to full functionality will set you back $35 bucks, but Christmas is coming… Is your privacy worth it?
Once you try it out, click the upgrade button (!) on the upper right hand side for the $35 unlock to get it to remove even those nasty and highly intrusive ‘non-browser specific’ cookies. Bonus: You computer may run faster.
Attn: Mac Drivers: MCM does support the Safari Browser, but that does not mean it is compatible with Mac OS. Maxa-Tools only support the Windows world….so far. Given Jens and the other engineers time…
“Live on $10,000″ A Year
With another round of layoffs due to start later this month…a round which will start to axe many of the middle managers who have managed to avoid the HR grenades…might I suggest a preemptive tactical move? Voluntarily dropping your lifestyle back a bit, since we’re all being marched down that road by either circumstances or some out-of-control-PTB types who write checks to Washington lobby and to anti-reformers in California! A good starting point, at least if you’ve still got $10-bucks is my e-book “How to Live on #10,000 a Year…or less!”
It’s an automatic download. It’s written in an information dense style: The whole thing runs about 65 pages, but it gives you a vision of how to not only live on the cheap, but also how to migrate up the economic foodchain if you have a little hustle left… Click here for the index and details.
MyGroPonics
My commodity broker JB Slear and I have written a simple book to get you started on high density hydroponics. It’s an example of how someone with a little creativity, access to a few ‘dollar stores’ and willing to try out some new farming techniques can grow an amazing amount of produce sin a very small space – like even an apartment balcony (if it gets some sunlight). Sound interesting? It’s just $10 bucks here…
Pass It On
The business model of this website is base Simply click here and send a link to this site to everyone on your distro list…Nothing more dangerous than sharp, clear-thinking upstarts who ask a lot of questions, eh? Unless you believe WTC-7 fell over on its own, of course….
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Last week’s report is here. For back issues of this site, click here. (Goes back to 1997!)
“If you ain’t paranoid, you ain’t payin’ attention!”
