An awful secret

During WWII, apparently thousands of women were enlisted into “sex slavery”.  Just the mere thought is absolutely horrible.  What’s even worse is that while these attrocities occurred in the 1940’s, many were not reported until the 1990’s.  CNN article about a related protest.

Something to try with old iPods…

I was looking to see if my iPod will support the Vorbis OGG file format (same quality as MP3, but smaller files).  Sadly no… but I did find this open source project underway:  iPodLinux

I will have to try this with one of my old iPods.

Here’s a list of portable media players who do support OGG…  I may have to get one at some point.

Happy Earth Day 2007

I just made a pledge to switch out an additional 10 lightbulbs to CFL’s this year.  I think that’s pretty conservative and hope to go beyond just 10.

I encourage you to do the same…

Dear Friend,

I just made my pledge to replace inefficient incandescent light bulbs as part of Earth Day Network’s Project Switch!  Join me in effecting change and you will:

> Save money on electricity bills
> Use less energy
> Reduce your carbon footprint
> Help stop global climate change!

Visit the campaign to learn more and make your pledge to switch today!

Sincerely,

Va Tech Shooting

I’ve held off until now about writing anything about this event… but I’m compelled at this point to at least make mention of it. Basically, a “crazy” student decided to go on a shooting rampage at VA Tech where he was a student. He killed about 32 others (students, faculty, and staff), and then killed himself. There’s no other way to express my feelings other than to say, it makes me very sad and shocked.  This kind of thing should never happen to anyone.

Event websites for the major news agencies I listen to are here, here, here, and here. Here’s the wikipedia entry.

The blog is titled “My Crazy World” and this definitely fits in to the “crazy” category.

Fortunately no one I know was directly affected… but my thoughts go out to those who were. At this stage in the game, the press has been reporting relentlessly for the past week — every newscast, every day, every hour. As new tiny details appear, they splash them up as if they were super headlines.

I’ve heard that apparently the parents of the shooter (who live in nearby Centreville, VA) have been getting death threats. I can only imagine what those people threatening are saying and thinking…

“I think what your son did was horrible. I think you need to be killed as a result.” ???

(for the record, that’s equally as psychotic folks…)

I guess I’m just surprised that people would take it out on the parents so directly. At the same time… I’ve long been a believer that alot of the world’s problems would disappear if parents (in general) would do a better job of parenting. It seems silly, but if you don’t directly teach your kids not to do such things how will they learn what to do. As a relatively new parent myself, I can see how it could easily happen that you might “assume” the kids know things. But the fact is, they only know what YOU teach them. While I don’t have stats to back it up, I do believe that FAR too many parents are relying on others (schools, religion, friends, TV, etc.) to teach their kids the important lessons in life — things as simple as being “nice” to others even. If you’re not going to take the time to bring your kids up “right” (whatever your definition might be), you shouldn’t even bother having kids in the first place.

I would like to point out (as a sign of the times) that while this news item is indeed shocking, and 33 people did die.  During the same week, hundreds lost their lives in a single event elsewhere in the world.  It’s sad that it got barely a mention in the US press…

What’s wrong with warm water?

So I’ve been doing a little traveling lately for work… What is the deal with the super hot water in airport restrooms?!?!?!? Seriously, I’m just trying to wash my hands after using the bathroom, and I put my hands under the automatic faucets (so there is no way to control the temperature) - as I highly recommend… The water was seriously at least 120-130 deg F (at least). It was way hotter than a hot tub (about 100 deg) and certainly into the very uncomfortable level.

I’ve noticed this at two airports — is this the beginning of a trend? So beware if you’re going to be in the Salt Lake City UT or Charlotte NC airports.

At the same time, I’ve experienced airport water that is probably 33 deg F (just above freezing). Can’t we strive for something that’s a comfortable warm level??

WTF!

Cool new way to share photos…

Man I’m old!  I bet everybody under 25 already knows about these sites…  I’m thinking there might be somethings I can do to combine these websites and Shoebox Memories services…

RockYou.com

Smilebox

Tim Tams vs Oreos?

I had some Oreos tonight (with Milk of course), but that’s only because I’m out of Tim Tams.  Hey - they’re hard to find in the US…  Had my first Tim Tams in Sydney, Australia during my visit in Feb 2007.  I’m a convert!  Love those Tim Tams!

Wash your hands!

While I’m not quite this OCD, I do wash my hands alot… It helps keep you from getting sick, and considering how many people DON’T wash their hands — esp after coming out of the bathroom (and you know who you are)… who knows what’s on the things that we all touch? Doorknobs, Handles, etc.

Anyway, this video is good for a little laugh.

Cool New Toy to Save for… UMPC

Ultra Mobile PCs are not brand new, but they are getting better and better — and this one runs Linux!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/16/intels-mid-umpcs-so-long-xp-vista-hello-linux/

Linux at the Indy 500?

Remember the community sponsored ad for Firefox in the WSJ a few years ago…

This group is trying to get Linux to be a community sponsorship for an Indy 500 car this year.  I’m not sure why the Linux community doesn’t do this kinda thing every year? If every Linux user contributed only a $1 or $2 every year, that would add up to a TON of money and publicity!