Random Musings - Day #182

Canada Day
Today is Canada's Independence day or Dominion Day. Canada is 142 years old. Meanwhile it's arguable Hong Kong Day too as the handover to China took place on this day in 1997.

Essential items over inflation rate
There are so many ways to interpret economy indicators. To me, food and energy costs have been going up. These factors may or may not be included in these indicators as a consequence, you get a slight misdemeanor where general inflation is low compared to the inflation of essential items (e.g. food has gone up 9%). Those that require essential items are the not well-off and they are struggling.

Veggies beat cancer
The claim that vegetables avoid more cancers may be taken with a pinch of salt. But you can decide for yourself.

Gagging and unmasking
People in the know being gagged is not a new thing and case in point as a researcher is barred from presenting a
ATM Security Vulnerability.
According to some security experts shoulder surfing is not a problem as they state masked passwords should just disappear.

Nothing beats a swine flu party
People are actually trying to catch the killer flu deliberately, thinking the effect is not as bad in the summer as it would be in the winter. So why not have a party

Celebrity Deaths
Ever since Michael Jackson died, aside from the numerous jokes. A number of fake deaths have occurred. Jeff Goldblum, Natalie Portman, George Clooney, Britney Spears, Harrison Ford and even Rick Astley have suffered from the hoax. The hoaxes are apparently originating from twitter and used for link baiting, which forces users interested celeb deaths to visit advertisers site to increase traffic and per click revenue.
Talking of death matches how about the iphone -vs- pre death match.


How to Hack
Here's how to become a hacker

Random Musings - Day #28

After regailing shutdown messages on Unix boxes at university and discussing Calvin Harris. The thought crossed my mind. I am sure I remember seeing something computery about Calvin and Hobbes. It turns out, it possibly because one of the earliest ever websites (back in 1995) was the digital calvin and hobbes site. One of Calvin's quotes is also considered a famous computer quote

"I'm not dumb. I just have a command of throughly useless information."

Java vs Flash. Well Java look to be taking be on Adobe in terms of dynamic content over the web. Recently, they have been promoting JavaFX. This not to be confused with the go-between solution of JFlash.

Hacker Meetup? I'll be keeping a close eye on these boys from songkick. They are hoping to have meetups every month. Interesting to also the UK govenment have set up a security response team, similar to our friends in the states.

Staying in is the new going out. There looks to be a positive side to the credit crunch for certain companies. Sky are creating a 1000 jobs and my sources tell me that Coca-Cola are creating jobs in London. So business is good. Why? Well more people are staying in as it is perceived to be more expensive to go out. Hence people are buying more drinks and watching tv/entertainment. That said Sky recently increased their broadband 5 pounds across the range (including the 'free' broadband + tv package).
Talking of going out, the Notting Hill Carnival is under threat of being cancelled for 2009. Interesting this forum suggests it should be banned. :( Come on people, it's part of the sub-culture in London! I suspect there are political undertones as the council / government are trying to cutback on expenditure. Hence why they are making these difficult demands to ensure that they do not have to fund the event. That's what it all boils down to.

I'll sign off with this eerie video that Amy Winehouse recorded with Pete Doherty