The man who came up with the "Control-Alt-Delete" command to deal with frozen programs, a Mr. Bradley, has retired from Microsoft after 28 years of service.
The programing for the command supposedly took only 5 minutes to compile.
And ever since then, Bill was always pushing him for "another five minutes."
Lately, there's been a problem with "Identity Thieves" on the internet. Posing as reps of legitimate web sites, they target users of popular online places such as Internet Service Providers, sending emails labeled as fraud alerts, asking the reader to send their paswords and/or credit card numbers to "confirm" their account.
This scam is known as "phishing."
Apparently, viruses aren't the only worms we have to worry about.
Also in the news, Bill Gates is getting a knighthood - News item
It's not for his development of Windows, but for "his work on poverty reduction around the world."
So Mac owners need not feel completely flabbergasted.
In the news, the "Dean Scream" (aka the "I Have a Scream" speech as it was done on MLK Day) has been getting a "cult like status on the web" - News item
It's also been the subject of a few parodies, such as this one
Sounds like the noise one makes when shooting oneself in the foot.
For a computer programming class, I sat directly across from someone, and our computers were facing away from each other.
A few minutes into the class, she got up to leave the room.
I reached between our computers and switched the inputs for the keyboards.
She came back and started typing and immediately got a distressed look on her face.
She called the teacher over and explained that no matter what she typed, nothing would happen. The teacher tried everything.
By this time I was hiding behind my monitor and quaking red-faced. I started to type, "Leave me alone!"
They both jumped back, silenced. "What the . . . " the teacher said. I typed, "I said leave me alone!" The kid got real upset. "I didn't do anything to it, I swear!"
It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. The conversation between them and HAL 2000 went on for an amazing five minutes. Me: "Don't touch me!" Her: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit your keys that hard." Me: "Who do you think you are anyway?!" Etc.
Finally, I couldn't contain myself any longer and fell out of my chair laughing. After they had realised what I had done, they both turned beet red.
Funny, I never got more than a C- in that class.
from Topgreetings.com
Remember those "X-Ray glasses" from the ads in the comics?
They must have been the inspiration for the "Lie Detector Glasses" coming to some airports: News Item
Wonder if they're about as effective?
Remember the online version of "The Sims," where players can act out in a virtual city? Well, a Philosphy professor decided to take a look at it. - News Item.
"Alphaville, the game's fictional city, could have gone in any number of directions, depending on the arbitrary decisions of the online game players who make up its people through their chosen 'avatars', or game characters.
"Alphaville could have become a socialist utopia, a grand experiment in free-market capitalism or simply a reflection of the allure and the pitfalls of any real Western city.
"As it was, Alphaville quickly turned into a hellhole of scam-artists, crime syndicates, mafia extortion artists and teenage girls turning tricks to make ends meet. It became a breeding ground for the very worst in human nature ..."
The professor decided to publicize what he found by setting up a virtual newspaper run by his online alter-ego. He reported on the scams and prostitution rings.
One would think the makers of the game would reward him by trying to help clean things up. Instead, they closed the paper down and threw him out of the game.
The company claims he was trying to help others cheat by publishing codes. But the professor says the real reason was the business felt embarased by the exposure of "The Sims Online" seemy nature, and felt threatened by his questioning whether teens should be alowed to play the game at all, which would have deprived the game of a sizeable audience.
Even online, money talks and no good deed goes unpunished.
The news of President Bush's plans for NASA to establish a base on the moon and then land a man on Mars was followed by the space agency's announcment that it plans to abandon the Hubble space telescope soon - News Item
The reason, will all shuttle flights restricted to the space station for safety reasons, Hubble cannot be repaired or given the fuel it needs to stay in orbit. - Details
Still, that this expensive peice of equipment is being left to its fate makes some wonder if NASA stands for Not Alota Sense Administration
from Freakingnews.com
Happy new year from Rube Goldberg
The climactic battle in "The Return of the King" was a spectacular feat of computer animation, with programing for over 200,000 sperate soldiers that was designed to accurately animate each soldier - News Item.
"So each of these computerized soldiers is assessing the environment around them, drawing on a repertoire of military moves that have been taught them through motion capture - determining how they will combat the enemy, step over the terrain, deal with obstacles in front of them through their own intelligence - and there's 200,000 of them doing that."
There was just one problem. The AI was so good, they had a problem with soldiers fleeing the battle.
"We could not make their computers stupid enough to not run away."
Fortunetly, a little extra tinkering made things right. But still, once again computers proved smarter than we expected.
In the news, President Bush outlined new goals for the space program, including a lunar base - News Item
Politicians have figuratively promised us the Moon before. It's no surprise one is doing it literally.
Okay, here's a tip: never, ever play video games for more than an hour - maybe two - at a time. Yesterday, as an early Christmas present, I received a copy of the X-Box game Hunter: Redemption. It's kind of a shoot-'em-up game. So I called Mason up and invited him over to test it out. That was about two in the afternoon.
Seven hours, a half case of beer and two pizzas later we were still playing with blood-shot eyes and cramped hands and we hadn't even finished half of the game.
But I wasn't even so disappointed in myself that I had wasted an entire evening playing video games. I paid the real price that night. I couldn't sleep a wink without vivid dreams of video game characters waking me up every hour. It was like not sleeping at all!
Now I have to figure out how to deprogram myself so I can get some work done.
Joe, from Clean Laffs
Also in the news, Timothy Breners-Lee, the man credited with the invention of the "world wide web," was knighted in a ceremony in London. - News Item
"... Mr. Breners-Lee gave his invention away rather than trying to pattent ... its use, making it possible for the web to grow at a rate never seen. Without his creation, there would be no 'www' computer adresses, and the Internet might still be the exclusive domain of a handful of computer experts."
This hero doesn't need a knighthood for net junkies to call him "Sir."
In the news, NASA's "Spirit" rover sucessfully landed on Mars - News Item
This abut a week after Europe's "Beagle" probe failed to make contact after its touchdown.
Guess "that dog can't bark."
A flying saucer landed at a gas station on a lonely country road. The two space aliens inside seemed completely unconcerned about detection; in fact, the letters "UFO" were emblazoned in big, bold letters on one side of their shiny craft.
As the station owner stood and gawked in silence, paralyzed with shock, his young blond attendant nonchalantly filled up the tank and waved to the two aliens as they took off.
"Do you realize what just happened?" the station owner finally uttered.
"Yeah," said the blond attendant. "So?"
"Didn't you see the space aliens in that vehicle?!"
"Yeah," repeated the blonde attendant. "So?"
"Didn't you see the letters 'UFO' on the side of that vehicle?!"
"Yeah," repeated the blonde attendant. "So?"
"Don't you know what 'UFO' means?!"
The blonde attendant rolled his eyes. "Good grief, boss! I've been working here for six years. Of course I know what 'UFO' means - 'Unleaded Fuel Only.'"
from Michele, on topgreetings.com