I moved in to my current apartment in July 2011 and when I signed up for my utilities, one of the mandatory fields was my social security number.  I left it blank.  (In fact, I think I wrote “no way!”)  They still sent me a bill and they still get paid.  My old energy company in Minneapolis was the same way.  I always refused to give them my social security number and every time I talked to them, they told me it was required.  I never once gave it to them and they never once cut off my service.

The point is – don’t give people your social security number, even if they “require it.”

Let’s take a look at their letter

Now, I’ve attached a PDF of the letter below.  I’ve even run it though OCR so Google can find it easier.  I want to quote a line from their document:

While we have no evidence that such data has actually been misused, or that there was any malicious intent..

WTF is that?  The data were just stolen.  I’m not surprised that no one has confirmed that it hasn’t been misused yet. Let’s count the steps that you would need:

1. Your data has to be sold to someone willing to commit identity fraud.
2. They have to setup a line of credit in your name.
3. It has to be approved.
4. It then they have to draw on that line of credit.
5. The account then has to become delinquent.
6. The bank then has to send a warning letter to the victim demanding payment.
7. The victim has to figure out that their identity was stolen
8. find the source of the leaked information
9. definitively prove that it was NYSEG that lost the information and they have to admit what happened.

OF COURSE IT HASN’T BEEN PROVEN YET.

The second half of that quote states that there was no malicious intent.  This is even more ludicrous than then first part. Do people steal SSNs because they like collecting strings of 9-digit numbers?  They steal them because they have value!  What kind of moron PR firm wrote that statement?  That is as dumb as saying that someone steals money because they like the look of it, not because they have any malicious intent.

From the day that the data were stolen until the day that every last NYSEG customer dies, someone will be at risk for identity theft.  This will be a perpetual problem for everyone involved.  We don’t get new SSNs when there is a data breach.  Instead we get a SINGLE YEAR of credit monitoring service that costs maybe $30/customer.

Do you know what I would do if I stole these numbers?  I’d let them age for a year.  Most of the victims will still be alive but you’ll get a higher yield once this monitoring service is over.

And NYSEG is a monopoly so they don’t have to care.

The letter:

NYSEG RG&E PO Box 483 Chanhassen, MN 55317-9678 Dear Valued Customer: January 23 , 2012
We take our responsibility to protect your personal data very seriously. For this reason, we are writing to inform you that earlier this month we discovered that an employee of an independent software development consulting firm (contracted by NYSEG and RG&E) allowed unauthorized access to one of our customer information systems. The customer records contain Social Security numbers, dates of birth and, in some cases, financial institution
account numbers. While we have no evidence that such data has actually been misused, or that there was any malicious intent, we are notifying you out of an abundance of caution so that you have the information and tools necessary to help detect and prevent any misuse of personal information. We have consulted with law enforcement and engaged computer forensics experts. Our investigation is ongoing and we will continue to provide law enforcement with our full assistance. Credit Monitoring Assistance Above all, we ask you to be vigilant in monitoring your credit and bank accounts for any sign of unauthorized activity. If you suspect any incidence of identity theft, please contact your local law enforcement agency or the Federal Trade Commission. As a precautionary measure, NYSEG and RG&E have arranged for Experian to offer you the option of a year of credit monitoring free of charge through ProtectMyIDTM. If you’d like to take advantage of this offer, you must enroll by April 30, 2012. You can activate your membership in two easy steps:
1. Visit the ProtectMyID website: www.protectmyid.com/NYSEGandRGE or call 1.877.736.4495 (toll-free) or 1.479.573.7373 (for international callers) to enroll. 2. Provide Your Activation Code: Your complimentary 12-month ProtectMyID membership includes: • Credit Report: A free copy of your Experian credit report. • Daily Credit Monitoring: Alerts you to suspicious activity including new inquiries, newly-opened accounts, delinquencies, or collections found on your Experian credit report. You can elect to receive alerts bye-mail, text message, or first class mail.
• Identity Theft Resolution: If you have been a victim of identity theft as a result of this situation, you will be assigned a dedicated, U.S.-based Experian Identity Theft Resolution Agent who will walk you through the fraud resolution process, from start to finish. • $1 Million Identity Theft Insurance*: As a ProtectMyID member, you are immediately covered by a $1 million insurance policy that can help you cover certain costs including lost wages, private investigator fees and unauthorized electronic fund transfers in the event of an identity theft incident. Support If you have questions, need help enrolling in the credit monitoring program, or feel that you may have an identity theft issue, assistance is available at 1.877.736.4495 (toll-free) or 1.479.573.7373 (for international callers), Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Eastern Time), and Saturday through Sunday, II a.m. to 8 p.m. In addition, you are entitled under U.S. law to order one free copy ofyour credit report every 12 months from each ofthe three nationwide credit bureaus. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1.877.322.8228 (toll-free). Additional information about this matter is available on our websites – www.nyseg.com and www.rge.com. If you wish to learn more about ways to limit the risk of identity theft, such as fraud monitoring and security freezes on credit accounts, consider contacting the Federal Trade Commission or your state Attorney General. Federal Trade Commission: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20580 1.877.IDTHEFT (1.877.438.4338) wwwftc.govlidtheft We take pride in serving you and apologize for any inconvenience or concern that this incident may cause. Please be assured that we take the privacy of customer data very seriously, and we remain dedicated to using our best efforts to regularly assess and adapt our physical, administrative and technical security measures in order to protect such data. Sincerely, Mark S. Lynch President NYSEG and RG&E • Identity theft insurance is underwritten by insurance company subsidiaries or affiliates of Chartis, Inc. The description herein is a summary and intended for infoImational purposes only and does not include all teIms, conditions and exclusions of the policies described. Please refer to the actual policies for tenns, conditions, and exclusions of coverage. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions.

Personal atomic clocks.

Seriously.  Hear me out:

There are people who spend tens of thousands of dollars on home audio and call themselves audiophiles.  They buy low oxygen, ancient Western Electric cables to use to connect their speakers.  They buy dedicated amps that offer zero features by modern standards.  And, this market is big enough to support SEVERAL magazines on the topic.

Likewise, there is a market for watches that cost several thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.  Again, everyone has heard of Rolex, Longines and Breitling and these brands regularly advertise in broad interest magazines.

Knowing this, why do people look at me when I say that there is a demand for a personal atomic clock?  The market may not be huge but it is one that is willing to spend money. Even better, they can be made with off the shelf parts for little money. The blunt truth is that someone who is willing to buy used parts and is willing to tinker can make their own for less than $100 from parts for sale on ebay.

Let’s step back for a second.

What is a clock?  Simply, a clock is an oscillator and a counter.  The oscillator moves or ticks at a regular interval and the counter keeps track of the ticks.

An atomic clock is one that derives its frequency reference from some sort of an atomic event.  So, instead of gravity driving a pendulum, you measure the energy emitted from a rubidium source.  Dave Jones of the EEVBlog has a great video on how these work so I won’t go in to much detail here.  Rubidium oscillators are a common atomic reference while cesium standards are the industry standard for precision.

These devices can be small.  The standard rubidium oscillator is a few cubic inches.  Symmetricom has managed to shrink this in to what they call a Chipscale Atomic Clock – a device so small it can be mounted right to the PCB.

http://www.symmetricom.com/csac/

And how much does a rubidium oscillator cost?  About $50 used on eBay.  And how much does a counter cost?  Maybe a dollar if you use a common microcontroller.  The total price may be closer to $30 if you use something prebuilt like an Arduino.

The one last part of the equation that is missing is the display.  If you know me, you already know that I am going to say Nixie tubes.  Nixies would actually be perfect for this application because a modest investment could mean that one manufacturer would own the remaining stock of IN-18s.  Talk about a competitive advantage – no one could produce a similar clock.  There may be one or two popping up on eBay but my rough estimate of the market is that for around $100,000 you could buy the remaining known stock.

Of course, there are dozens of types of nixie tubes and great care must be taken to ensure that there is a sufficient supply for mass production.  Sourcing tubes would likely require several trips to former Soviet countries to meet with dealers and source NOS.  However, initial prototypes could be built with tubes for sale on eBay.

So we now have an oscillator, a counter, and a display.  From an electronics perspective, we now have a minimum viable product.  But we want to make the BEST clock on the market, not just a good one so there are three things that we will do different.   First, we will include a redundant frequency reference.  This will increase both the short-term and long-term stability of the device and will as provide a compelling selling point.

Second, we will include a series of external frequency references – probably 1 PPS and 10 MHz.  Now, if someone has another oscillator or reference that they want to add, they can easily integrate it.  If you’re a lab and have a house reference, this will work perfectly.

Lastly, we will include a bi-directional time reference –ideally both NTP and GPS.  This not only saves the user from having to manually set the time but it also allows them to have an additional frequency reference.  This clock should also act as a frequency reference and output the same 1 PPS and 10 MHz outputs so it can be used as a reference for other devices.

To this point, I’ve only been talking about the electronics.  The last part is the quality of the enclosure.  I am not a fan of the Sony-Black design (I don’t hate it as much as Steve Jobs apparently did) but I am a fan of laboratory or industrial looking test equipment with sharp edges.  I want it to be heavy.  I want people to know that this device is not a toy.

It’s possible to build the BEST clock for the consumer market.  So what?

Well, okay, the point of making a product is to sell it, right?  We would need to perform some market tests but based on anecdotal conversations with serious nixie clock collectors and want-to-be time nuts.  Based on my connection to the nixie clock market as well as to the manufacturers, I believe that a target price is $10k is realistically achievable.  I have been shown proprietary designs of unreleased products that sell for similar price points and personally know many of the buyers who have expressed purchase intent in the unreleased products.

How would one go about building this?  Well, there are two parallel design tasks as far as I can tell.  We will assume that we are using a common development platform like a PIC or an Arduino and that some components, such as the power supply can be built from reference designs or purchase as assembled components.  That leaves the tasks of designing the enclosure and the electronics.

The enclosure can be developed without the complete electronics.  The outline of the major components are known and, ideally, this will be a large enough device to ensure that space will not be an issue.

The electrical engineering task will take some research.  None of the components have particularly obscure requirements.  The nixie tubes require a high voltage current limited power source but that should be relatively easy to engineer.

The biggest challenge will be writing the software.  How does one account for more than one frequency reference?  Do you simply average the outputs?  Do you use one to correct another?  Does one simply act as a backup?  These are not questions with obvious answers but these problems have been solved.  Generally speaking, each frequency reference is used to “steer” another oscillator to produce a more accurate signal.  This synthesized signal is what is used to measure time as well as provide the output reference.

Lastly, and this is a major consideration, the insides of the device must look nice.  After I finished Steve Jobs’ biography I had a new appreciate for the level of design that went in to every product.  I want to carry that same level of detail in to my product.  I want users to be able to open it up and I want them to be able to see the inside workings of their ultimate clock.

So what’s next?

Nixie clocks are inherently limited by the number of tubes on the market.  It may be possible to manufacturer new ones but eventually other display technologies will need to be used.

Aside from the display, it may be possible to create variations of the product.  For example, what about a $1000 alarm clock that is based off of the Symmetricom Chipscale device?  There are many other options and those will be the subject of another blog post.

How rubidium oscillators work

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Official site: http://joesparks.com/radiskull/episodes/e01/playback.htm

I did not purchase from BismuthCrystal.com but they do have some of the nicest ones that I’ve seen for sale.  Click on the read more link for photos.

[Show as slideshow]

(Edited for formatting – not for spelling)

INTERNETS, 18th of January 2012.

PRESS RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

Over a century ago Thomas Edison got the patent for a device which would “do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear”. He called it the Kinetoscope. He was not only amongst the first to record video, he was also the first person to own the copyright to a motion picture.

Because of Edisons patents for the motion pictures it was close to financially impossible to create motion pictures in the North american east coast. The movie studios therefor relocated to California, and founded what we today call Hollywood. The reason was mostly because there was no patent. There was also no copyright to speak of, so the studios could copy old stories and make movies out of them – like Fantasia, one of Disneys biggest hits ever.

So, the whole basis of this industry, that today is screaming about losing control over immaterial rights, is that they circumvented immaterial rights. They copied (or put in their terminology: “stole”) other peoples creative works, without paying for it. They did it in order to make a huge profit. Today, they’re all successful and most of the studios are on the Fortune 500 list of the richest companies in the world. Congratulations – it’s all based on being able to re-use other peoples creative works. And today they hold the rights to what other people create. If you want to get something released, you have to abide to their rules. The ones they created after circumventing other peoples rules.

The reason they are always complainting about “pirates” today is simple. We’ve done what they did. We circumvented the rules they created and created our own. We crushed their monopoly by giving people something more efficient. We allow people to have direct communication between eachother, circumventing the profitable middle man, that in some cases take over 107% of the profits (yes, you pay to work for them). It’s all based on the fact that we’re competition. We’ve proven that their existance in their current form is no longer needed. We’re just better than they are.

And the funny part is that our rules are very similar to the founding ideas of the USA. We fight for freedom of speech. We see all people as equal. We believe that the public, not the elite, should rule the nation. We believe that laws should be created to serve the public, not the rich corporations.

The Pirate Bay is truly an international community. The team is spread all over the globe – but we’ve stayed out of the USA. We have Swedish roots and a swedish friend said this:

The word SOPA means “trash” in Swedish. The word PIPA means “a pipe” in Swedish. This is of course not a coincidence. They want to make the internet inte a one way pipe, with them at the top, shoving trash through the pipe down to the rest of us obedient consumers.  The public opinion on this matter is clear. Ask anyone on the street and you’ll learn that noone wants to be fed with trash. Why the US government want the american people to be fed with trash is beyond our imagination but we hope that you will stop them, before we all drown.

SOPA can’t do anything to stop TPB. Worst case we’ll change top level domain from our current .org to one of the hundreds of other names that we already also use. In countries where TPB is blocked, China and Saudi Arabia springs to mind, they block hundreds of our domain names. And did it work? Not really. To fix the “problem of piracy” one should go to the source of the problem. The entertainment industry say they’re creating “culture” but what they really do is stuff like selling overpriced plushy dolls and making 11 year old girls become anorexic. Either from working in the factories that creates the dolls for basically no salary or by watching movies and tv shows that make them think that they’re fat.

In the great Sid Meiers computer game Civilization you can build Wonders of the world. One of the most powerful ones is Hollywood. With that you control all culture and media in the world. Rupert Murdoch was happy with MySpace and had no problems with their own piracy until it failed. Now he’s complainting that Google is the biggest source of piracy in the world – because he’s jealous. He wants to retain his mind control over people and clearly you’d get a more honest view of things on Wikipedia and Google than on Fox News.

Some facts (years, dates) are probably wrong in this press release. The reason is that we can’t access this information when Wikipedia is blacked out. Because of pressure from our failing competitors. We’re sorry for that.

THE PIRATE BAY, (K)2012

Original: http://static.thepiratebay.org/legal/sopa.txt

Click the Read More link to see part of his Wikipedia entry

Shortly after graduating from high school, he was arrested for possession of cocaine.[7]

While recording Doggystyle in August 1993, Snoop Dogg was arrested in connection with the death of Phillip Woldermarian, a member of a rival gang who was shot and killed by Snoop’s bodyguard, McKinley Lee; Snoop was charged with murder along with Lee as he was driving the vehicle from which the shooting had commenced. Snoop and Lee were defended by Johnnie Cochran.[97] Both Snoop and Lee were acquitted; Lee was acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but Snoop Dogg remained entangled in the legal battles around the case for three years.[98]

In July 1993, Snoop was stopped for a traffic violation and a firearm was found by police while conducting a search of his car. In February 1997, he pleaded guilty to possession of a handgun and was ordered to record three public service announcements, pay a $1,000 fine, and serve three years’ probation.[99][100]

In May 1998, Snoop Dogg was fined and arrested for a misdemeanor of marijuana possession.[101]

In October 2001, Snoop Dogg was arrested again for a misdemeanor of marijuana possession.[101] In 2002 he pleaded no contest and was fined a total of $398.30 and received a suspended 30-day jail sentence.[102]

Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, and The Game were sued for assaulting a fan on stage at a May 2005 concert at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, Washington. The accuser, Richard Monroe, Jr., claimed he was beaten by the artists’ entourage while mounting the stage.[103] He alleged that he reacted to an “open invite” to come on stage. Before he could, Snoop’s bodyguards grabbed him and he was beaten unconscious by crewmembers, including the rapper and producer Soopafly; Snoop and The Game were included in the suit for not intervening. The lawsuit focuses on a pecuniary claim of $22 million in punitive and compensatory damages, battery, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.[104] The concerned parties appeared in court in April 2009.

On April 26, 2006, Snoop Dogg and members of his entourage were arrested after being turned away from British Airways’ first class lounge at Heathrow Airport. Snoop and his party were not allowed to enter the lounge because some of the entourage were flying first class, other members in economy class. After the group was escorted outside, they vandalized a duty-free shop by throwing whiskey bottles. Seven police officers were injured in the midst of the disturbance. After a night in prison, Snoop and the other men were released on bail on April 27, but he was unable to perform at the Premier Foods People’s Concert in Johannesburg on the same day. As part of his bail conditions, he had to return to the police station in May. The group has been banned by British Airways for “the foreseeable future.”[105][106] When Snoop Dogg appeared at a London police station on May 11, he was cautioned for affray under Section 4 of the Public Order Act for use of threatening words or behavior.[107] On May 15, the Home Office decided that Snoop Dogg should be denied entry to the United Kingdom for the foreseeable future due to the incident at Heathrow as well as his previous convictions in the United States for drugs and firearms offenses.[108][109] Snoop Dogg’s visa card was rejected by local authorities on March 24, 2007 because of the Heathrow incident.[110] A concert at London’s Wembley Arena on March 27 went ahead with Diddy (with whom he toured Europe) and the rest of the show. However the decision affected four more British performances in Cardiff, Manchester and Glasgow[111] and Budapest (due to rescheduling).[112] As of March 2010, Snoop Dogg has been allowed back into the UK.[1]

On September 27, 2006, Snoop Dogg was detained at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California by airport security, after airport screeners found a collapsible police baton in Snoop’s carry-on bag. The baton was confiscated but Snoop was allowed to board the flight. He has been charged with various weapons violations stemming from this incident. Donald Etra, Snoop’s lawyer, told deputies the baton was a prop for a musical sketch. Snoop was sentenced to three years’ probation and 160 hours of community service starting on September 20, 2007.[113]

Snoop Dogg was arrested again on October 26, 2006 at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California while parked in a passenger loading zone. Approached by airport security for a traffic infraction, he was found in possession of marijuana and a firearm, according to a police statement. He was transported to Burbank Police Department Jail, booked, and released on $35,000 bond. He faced firearm and drug possession charges on December 12 at Burbank Superior Court.[114]

He was again arrested on November 29, 2006, after performing on The Tonight Show, for possession of marijuana and a firearm.[115]

Snoop was arrested again on March 12, 2007 in Stockholm, Sweden after performing in a concert with P. Diddy in Stockholm’s Globe Arena after he and a female companion reportedly “reeked” of marijuana. They were released four hours later after providing a urine sample. The results on urine determined whether charges would be pressed. However the rapper denied all charges.[116][117]

On April 26, 2007, the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship banned him from entering the country on character grounds, citing his prior criminal convictions. He had been scheduled to appear at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards on April 29, 2007.[118] Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship lifted the ban in September 2008 and had granted him visa to tour Australia. DIAC said “In making this decision, the department weighed his criminal convictions against his previous behaviour while in Australia, recent conduct – including charity work – and any likely risk to the Australian community … We took into account all relevant factors and, on balance, the department decided to grant the visa.”[119]

Snoop Dogg’s many legal issues forced San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom to withdraw his plan to issue a proclamation to the rapper.[120]

Snoop Dogg was banned from Parkpop, a festival in the Netherlands on June 27, 2010, where he was scheduled to perform. The mayor and law enforcement officials asked organizers of the festival to find an artist more “open and friendly” to play the event.[121]

Snoop Dogg was arrested again on January 7, 2012 for posession of Marijuana charge after Border control agents discovered a small amount of marijuana on his tour bus. Snoop Dogg was stopped at the same Sierra Blanca, Texas, checkpoint on Saturday where country singer Willie Nelson was arrested for marijuana possession in 2010. The agents conducted a routine inspection of his tour bus at the U.S.- Mexico border checkpoint, east of El Paso, Texas and thought they smelled marijuana. Snoop Dogg was issued a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia, released and given a court date of Friday, January 20, 2012.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Broadus#Legal_issues

Click here to view the embedded video.

Best Billfold

Ettinger Purple Billfold (£146 – $230)

These guys are a Royal Warrant holder.  They regularly supply the Prince of Whales and they produce some of the finest leather goods that I’ve come across.  You can buy their work domestically – they have stores in NYC and LA.  Link http://www.ettinger.co.uk

Best Umbrella

James Smith & Sons Solid Stick (£225 /  $350)

A man’s umbrella instantly tells you about his social status and his financial well being.  This is a solid stick umbrella; the entire umbrella is a single piece of wood for durability.  Each umbrella is handmade and cut to the owner’s height.  The are finished with a rubber or metal (you better order the metal) ferrule (the tip of the umbrella).  Link: http://james-smitj.co.uk

Best iPhone Case

Hard Graft Leather iPhone Case / Heritage ($72)

Hard Graft is a haberdashery based in Austria that makes predominately leather goods.  This design hand crafted from the best hides they can find.  It is vegetable tanned Italian leather that has been hand finished in florence using traditional artisan techniques.  It features a natural skin structure and patina which give this a subtle depth that is missing from all other leather iPhone cases that I’ve found.  Be sure to check out their other goods too.  Link http://www.hardgraft.com

Best iPad Case

Vaja iVolution Top SP ($180)

I like Vaja.  Some of their designs may be a bit over the top but sometimes a streak of color isn’t bad.  I really like the work that Hard Graft does but the color options on the iPad case here win out.  Like with most Vaja products, you can select the colors and they will hand make one to your specifications.  It takes about 25 days to build your new case and once you get it, you will have something that is uniquely you.  This model has a cover that is completely detachable and can be used as a kick stand.  This also has the dubious distinction on having one of the worst product names I’ve ever heard.  Link http://www.vajacases.com

Best Wool Tie

J.CREW faded herringbone tie ($60)

So this is the least expensive item on the list and it is nowhere near the most expensive tie that I’ve seen but I love this one.  I have a few wool ties from J.CREW and every one is well made, travels nicely, and looks great.  The Vaja case won the award for worst product name.  This tie wins the award for worst website copy: “A ruggedly handsome interpretation of a classic. Expertly hand-finished in English wool hailing from the Abraham Moon mill—world famous for their fine fabrics.”  Please fire that copywriter.  Link http://www.jcrew.com

Best Suit under $1500

Hickey Freeman Grey Solid Suit ($1,395)

This is a two button, single breasted suit.  N’uff said.  Link http://www.hickeyfreeman.com

Best White Shirt

Banana Republic BR Monogram white poplin dress shirt ($130)

Don’t overlook the white shirt.  A $40 white shirt is great at times but it is hard to beat a well crafted dress shirt.  I have a few of these and they are hard to beat.  They fit great and look clean.  Even if you’re not wearing a suit, or, especially if you’re not wearing a suit and you need to look sharp, this shirt plus the J.CREW tie above is a hard to beat.  Link: http://www.bananarepublic.com

Best Art For Your Workspace

Luke Chueh ($100 – $10,000+)

Yes, this is the most subjective one on the list.  Luke Chueh is a California based artist whose recurring themes include the macabre, surrealism, and alienation.  He is generally classified as a member of the lowbrow / pop surrealism art movement.  I own two giclée prints of his: Possessed (shown above) and I Asked For Scrambled. If you are interested in buying his work you will need to go through a dealer.  Black Market, Gallery 1988, Copro/Nason, and Munkey King generally sell signed prints and original works.  Link http://lukechueh.com

NBA 5110 – Financial Modeling
NBA 5170 – Leveraged Buyouts and Structured Finance
NBA 5320 – Due Diligence in Private Equity Investments
NBA 5590 – The Venture Capital Industry and Private Equity
NBA 5640 – Entrepreneurship and Private Equity
NBA 6560 – Valuation Principles
NBA 6800 – Entrepreneurial Executives
NCC 5040 – Managing and Leading Organizations
NCC 5080 – Managing Operations

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role:           Romania Data Systems NOC
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remarks:        |    ABUSE CONTACT: abuse@rcs-rds.ro IN CASE OF HACK ATTACKS,  |
remarks:        |    ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, VIOLATION, SCANS, PROBES, SPAM, ETC.    |
remarks:        | !! PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT OTHER PERSONS FOR THESE PROBLEMS !! |
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route:        86.120.0.0/13
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http://www.tubeclockdb.com/non-clocks/312-nixie-spl-review.html

Screenshot from Mint

I use two different tools to track my website usage.  Primarily, I use Google Analytics to measure trends, traffic sources, and generate pretty graphs that make me look sophisticated.  I also use a self-hosted tool called Mint.  Mint gives me realtime information about my site usage which is handy for spotting and responding to trends as they happen.

Yesterday, someone came to my website looking for a tape of “brian stuckey being murdered.” ಠ_ಠ  It is worth noting that someone with whom I shared a name was murdered a few months ago (in fact, we were the same age at the time).  Okay, so they probably aren’t looking for ME but they are looking for a tape of someone being brutally murdered.  That brings me to my main point: WTF is wrong with people?  Why would you WANT to watch something like that?

</rant>

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

via Hack A Day

SYSTEM V SYNOPSIS
 /usr/5bin/BABY [ -sex ] [ -name ]

AVAILABILITY
 The System V version of this command is available with the Sys-
 tem V software installation option. Refer to Installing
 SunOS 4.1 for information on how to install and invoke BABY.

DESCRIPTION
 BABY is initiated when one parent process polls another server
process through a socket connection (BSD) or through pipes in the
system V implementation. BABY runs at a low priority for approximately
40 weeks then terminates with heavy system load. Most systems require
constant monitoring when BABY reaches it's final stages of execution.

 Older implementations of BABY required that the initiating
process not be present at the time of completion, In these versions
the initiating process is awakened and notified of the results upon
completion. Modern versions allow both parent processes to be active
during the final stages of BABY.

 example% BABY -sex m -name fred

OPTIONS

 -sex
 option indicating type of process created.

 -name
 process identification to be attached to the new process.

RESULT
 Successful execution of the BABY(1) results in new process
 being created and named. Parent processes then typically
 broadcast messages to all other processes informing them of their
 new status in the system.

BUGS
 The SLEEP command may not work on either parent processes for some
 time afterward, as new BABY processes constantly send interrupts
 which must be handled by one or more parent.

 BABY processes upon being created may frequently dump
 in /tmp requiring /tmp to be cleaned out frequently by one
 of the parent processes.

 The original AT&T version was provided without instructions
 regarding the created process, this remains in current implementations.

SEE ALSO
 cigars(6) dump(5) cry(3)

OTHER IMPLEMENTATIONS

 gnoops(1)
 FSF version of BABY where none of the authors will accept
 responsibility for anything.

NOTES

 baby -sex F -name Samantha Lynn Garriques

 Completed successfully at the St. Joseph Medical Center on
 November 2, at 3:31 P.M. after about 20 hours of labour.
 New Mom Lisa is doing fine and will come home in about 2 days.
 More information can be gotten from Dad by e-mail or by
 calling the new baby hotline @931-XXXX. Celebrations can
 probably begin in about 18 years.

Sun Release 4.1 Last change: Just when I got home from the hospital.

To begin, I shot this as a series of stills, JPEG, 21 Megapixel, fine resolution @ 1 shot ever 2 seconds. I did not shoot in RAW because the resulting files take much longer to process than the JPEG files do. If I was shooting for National Geographic I would – but I’m not.

Click here to view the embedded video.

My goal was to take a nice video of the sun set. As I was considering wrapping up shooting I noticed that the moon was rising over campus and was entering the frame. Unfortunately, I was shooting with a polarizing filter and that significantly cut down on the incoming light. I couldn’t remove the filter between shots because if the camera moved or the lens settings changed in any way the final video would have a jump in the final product. Of course, shooting at night, at f/8 with a polarizing filter causes other problems. The exposure time went from 1/800 in the daylight to 1.5S a dark. To compensate, I had to stop the time lapse at two points and bump up the ISO from 800 to 2000 to 3200. This added noise to the scene that I will address later.

Once I was done, I had nearly 20,000MB of photographs to work with. I imported them in to a new Aperture library and played with the settings until I achieved a look that I liked. I cropped the frame to 16×9 and applied the adjustments to all of the images. From there, I exported the frames as a series of images @2,000 pixels wide. 1080P HD video is 1920 pixels wide so this gave me a slight buffer when working with the sequence in After Effects.

In AE CS3, I imported the sequence as a new clip and setup a new composition for the video. From there, I used motion stabilization to analyze and remove most of the jitter caused by the wind. I selected two targets on opposite sides of the frame to calculate rotation and let AE do the rest. Next, I applied a noise reduction filter and I used a non-default temporal setting (5 frames, I believe) to help identify the noise in the higher-ISO sections. One of the benefits of shooting @ 21 Megapixels is that when you scale down the image, you are effectively oversampling the image and reducing the signal to noise ratio. The resulting frames were still pretty grainy so that is why I elected to use the noise reduction filter.

Next up, I enabled frame blending and remapped the time to 50%. The resulting video was too long to be enjoyable so I had to speed it up. This also had the added benefit of removing some of the flicker caused by the camera.

When you are filming a time lapse, you have a critical choice to make: do you manually set the exposure or do you let the camera? If you manually set the exposure, the resulting video will not flicker. This is great for clips where the lighting does not change dramatically. Unfortunately, in a sunset clip like this, you pretty much have to let the camera meter each and every frame. Each photo is slightly different: trees are moving, lights are reflecting off buildings and people are walking throughout the scene. This causes the camera to meter some frames brighter than others and the result is a video that flickers.

There are plugins to remove time-lapse flicker but I have not experimented with them too much. Apparently the color stabilizer filter can help with some of this but I’ve had limited success. Thankfully, speeding up the clip with blending helps to a degree.

Lastly, the resulting composition was exported as a high bit rate video and sent to Vimeo.

Listen:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I think it was borrowed from Goonies (you probably already guessed that fromt he post title).  Jump to 3:20 in the video below under the section titled Map and Willie.  It is almost exactly the same pattern and even the title in Portal 2 fits.  That or I’ve been awake too long and had too much caffeine.  Am I wrong?  Did anyone else notice this?  Let me know in the comments.

Click here to view the embedded video.

EDIT: one more version

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So much of movement is invisible to the human eye. Sure, our eyes can see a cymbal move when struck by a drum stick. But it’s what our eyes can’t see that is most captivating. Metal rippling as if it were fabric fluttering in the wind, droplets of water bouncing and hovering just above the surface of a puddle; the beauty and science of movement is in the details. And the details are often the result of vibrations.

via www.fluke.com/vibrations

A brief description of the city from Wikipedia:

The city of Ithaca, named for the Greek island of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area (which also contains the separate municipalities of the town of Ithaca, the village of Cayuga Heights, the village of Lansing and other towns and villages in Tompkins County). The city of Ithaca sits on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, in Central New York, US. It is best known for being home to Cornell University, an Ivy League school of over 20,000 students (most of whom study on Cornell’s Ithaca campus). Ithaca College is located just south of the city in the town of Ithaca, adding to Ithaca’s “college town” focus and atmosphere. Nearby is Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3). These three colleges influence Ithaca’s seasonal population. In 2010, the city’s population was 30,014, and the metropolitan area had a population of 101,564.

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Please do not use these images without permission.

I have no idea who originally made this but hats off to them!

NIST sells Standard Reference Materials.  These are things that laboratories can buy to ensure that they have consistent material to work with through their experiments.  Want to see some of the weird stuff they sell?  Keep reading.

Cigarettes $239.00 / SRM 1196

https://www-s.nist.gov/srmors/view_detail.cfm?srm=1196

Notes: The SRM is a tobacco or tobacco product, wood or wood product which is exempted by OSHA under paragraph (b) (6) (iii) and (iv) of Standards 29 CFR Part 1910.1200. These cigarettes are NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. There are substantial safety hazards associated with exposure to both primary and second hand smoke from cigarettes. These cigarettes are only to be used under laboratory conditions described in ASTM E 2187-09.

Human Milk (non-fortified) $534.00 / SRM 1953

https://www-s.nist.gov/srmors/view_detail.cfm?srm=1953

Notes: “Hazardous Shipping Code: Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods”

Human Lung Powder $633.00 / SRM 4351

https://www-s.nist.gov/srmors/view_detail.cfm?srm=4351

Notes: I don’t have a friggin clue what this stuff is.

Toxic Metals in Freeze-Dried Urine / SRM 2670a

https://www-s.nist.gov/srmors/view_detail.cfm?srm=2670a

Notes: “Reconstituted Vol of Urine per vial 20.0 mL”

Natural Water $412.00 / SRM 1640a

https://www-s.nist.gov/srmors/view_detail.cfm?srm=1640a

Notes: “Major Health Hazards: Corrosive effects may be expected, however, severity of the damage depends on the concentration and duration of exposure. Nitric acid fumes can cause burns if inhaled. May cause burns if nitric acid solutions are swallowed or in contact with the skin.”

Baking Chocolate $670.00 / SRM 2384

https://www-s.nist.gov/srmors/view_detail.cfm?srm=2384

Notes: Based on everything else on this list, I don’t think I would eat it.

Peanut Butter $686.00 / SRM 2384

https://www-s.nist.gov/srmors/view_detail.cfm?srm=2387

Notes: “Hazardous Shipping Code: Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods” (Thanks for the tip, @cd0)

]]> http://www.ineedcaffeine.com/content/uncategorized/netflix-poltergeist-desperate-housewives/feed/ 0 http://www.ineedcaffeine.com/content/uncategorized/lightbulb1/ http://www.ineedcaffeine.com/content/uncategorized/lightbulb1/#comments Thu, 30 Dec 2010 03:38:17 +0000 Brian Stuckey http://www.ineedcaffeine.com/content/?p=2844 On Wed, 14 Jan 1998, Paul Bleisch wrote:

> What are light bulbs?

On Thu, 15 Jan 1998, Steve Baker replied:

Oh dear. I wish people would RTFM...

---------------------------------------------------------------------
lightbulb(1)                                             lightbulb(1)

NAME
     lightbulb - Convert electrons to photons

SYNOPSIS
     lightbulb [-wattage number]

DESCRIPTION
     lightbulb reads a stream of electrons from standard input and
     produces photons on standard output.
     Thus

         lightbulb <110_volts_ac >light

     The following options apply to lightbulb:

     -wattage  Sets the rate at which electrons are converted
               to photons.

FILES
     None

SEE ALSO
     xmas_tree_lights(1), streetlamp(1), led(2)

KNOWN BUGS
     lightbulb is known to fail unexpectedly after some unknown
     number of applications. Repeated complaints to the authors
     of lightbulb have failed to come up with a fix for this
     bug. The only known workaround for a crashed lightbulb is
     re-installation from a fresh copy of the source media.

NOTES
     I believe M$ Windows is based on lighbulb because they
     share the same bug - and the same workaround.

     It is important to ensure that the input stream is correctly
     formatted or the lightbulb may crash unexpectedly and with
     undefined results.

     Do not attempt to apply lightbulb's input files to other
     UNIX tools (esp. 'finger(1)'), however, lightbulb's output
     stream is fairly compatible with most other devices.

INSTALLATION
     Consult a hardware engineer.

PREREQUISITES
     Your operating system must support sockets and switches.

[Show as slideshow]

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.