Friday, October 10, 2003

Bush Seeks Ideas for Cuban Regime Change. President Bush announced several steps today that he said were meant to speed the coming of "a new, free, democratic Cuba" after 44 years of the rule of Fidel Castro. By David Stout. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] Let's see, the last time President Bush discussed "freedom" and regime change, there were tanks rolling into Baghdad.  Now, given the proximity to the US, all he would have to do is dispatch a few pleasure crusers from Miami with a couple of cruse missles on board and it would be over in a matter of hours.  Then he could ask the Amercian people for a couple billion more.  But this time, he could tie it to the improvements needed in the electrical infrastructure by saying he was going to run electricity from the southern grid under the ocean! Perhaps he should focus on finishing up with the projects he already has on his plate - The Middle East, Iraq, Afganistan, and a couple from prior administrations - Somalia, Bosnia and Korea before starting on any new missions.  While he is at it, he might want to take a look at that power grid before the next election - it is difficult to vote on electronic machines when the power is out. 9:41:27 PM    comment []

Parents Sue School Over Wi-Fi. Worried that the wireless network could adversely affect growing children's health, a group of parents launches a lawsuit against a Chicago-area institution. The school says the technology is safe. [Wired News] Now, let me see if I understand this - parents are concerned that their children, who are exposed to more RF watching TV, could suffer adverse affects from Wi-Fi?  It isn't like they live under power lines or anything.  Maybe they should be more concerned about their children's increasing risk of obesity and diabetes from sitting in front of the keyboard snarfing Jolt and chocolate chip cookies instead of running around outside.  Oh, but then there are those nasty UV rays.... 9:31:20 PM    comment []

The Mets' Leiter Talks a Good Game. Al Leiter established himself as a compelling and intelligent analyst during Game 1 of the N.L.C.S. on Tuesday. By Richard Sandomir. [New York Times: Business] Now why would this article be in the business section?  Well, for one thing, Al is coming to the end of his career as a pitcher and as good as he is, all good pitchers need to have something to do when they are finished.  He could be a coach, but we all know the really big, dependable money is having your face on TV.  Not that any professional athlete today should be wanting for money. 9:23:04 PM    comment []

CEOs defend moving jobs offshore at tech summit. WASHINGTON - Moving IT jobs outside of the U.S. is necessary if technology companies want to remain competitive in a world market, a group of software vendor chief executive officers (CEOs) said Thursday. [InfoWorld: Top News] I am far too cynical to think that this is anything other than cost cutting by the companies involved.  And don't expect that the benefits from the reduced costs to the company will result in better, or more affordable software... 9:19:31 PM    comment []

Fiorina joins Schwarzenegger transition team. Hewlett-Packard Co.'s top executive, Carly Fiorina, has been appointed to Arnold Schwarzenegger's transition team. [InfoWorld: Top News] Accused of groping women, Gov-Elect Schwarzenegger appoints a woman (and a pretty sharp one) to his transition team.  Maybe he does know what he is going to do about the mess in California.... 9:13:48 PM    comment []

Upgrade to the Official Sun Java Platform. Read about the benefits of upgrading the MSJVM to the official Sun JRE in this article, and visit the Upgrade Program Site where you'll find resources, including a detailed technical guide, a forum, and more. [java.sun.com] I have been working with JAVA almost from the begining.  I have played with Applets and done my best to learn how to program.  I am still learning, but that is more because I am not a programmer as much as I am other things.  That being said, there is almost no reason why you should not get the most recent JVM.  About the only reason I can think of is if you have to submit trouble tickets to PeopleSoft.  Maybe they will get their software updated soon so that you can actually use JAVA, instead of whatever they are putting out as JAVA.  After all, Scott McNealy guarentees that the bugs are cross-platform! If you are new to JAVA and want to learn the language from a book rather than through the on-line tutorial (which is quite good), check out the new "Head First" series from O'Reilly, starting with Head First Java (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfjava/).  Cubs are up 2-0, bottom 2nd, Game 3. 8:55:58 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 David Lane.