And just like that my Rugby season has come to end with a crushing defeat at the hands of The Pittsburgh RFC, 17-10. It was a nasty game played in terrible conditions (if you were anywhere on the east coast this weekend you know what I'm talking about). Reasons for the loss? Short Prep/warm up time, not having the regular starting 15 all there and good to go at the same time, rainy cold conditions, and a general lack of preparedness. This is a team we spanked at the beginning of the season, and while we have gotten better, I would say they stayed the same. We simply did not bring our A game. Too bad, its over now with nothing but free time and the gym to look forward to in the upcoming death season some like to call Winter. We did not get home until around 12:45am, but that did not stop us from going out. Everyone on the team was generally disappointed so the night could have been better, but it was still a fun time. Because the weather was crappy I chose to leave my camera in the bag, so no good pictures this weekend, save for the late night video I like to keep to myself.
In the LA Times there is another article about those awful 419 scams, named after the Nigerian law that prohibits them. This article is a lot better than the one I posted about Microsoft helping Nigeria's cyber crime department in cracking down on these scams. This article deals more with the culture of the scammers and one man's adventure in the game, and why he chose to leave it. I am gonna have to say that the best part of the article is the few lyrics to the theme song of the 419 scammers called "I Go Chop Your Dollar". This whole concept seems absurd, but at least they can make a cool song/video out of it.
Here is something you don't read every day. Tech writer John C. Dvorak is complaining about the Apple media bias in newspapers and tech stories. Dvorak's main hypothesis is that because the people who write tech columns and stories are mostly 1)unknowledgeable about technology and 2) Mac users there is a bias in the media about Apple announcements while Microsoft gets the shaft even if they release a slew of good products. The theory behind this media bias thinking is good, but I don't agree. I think that media bias exists for certain topics and groups, but just not for Apple. If people keep on reporting things from the Apple camp, it could simply mean that Apple announcements and release of products is what is interesting people more, it's what's selling papers and getting readers to come to the site. Apple has been releasing a lot of consumer products lately which might make it look like there is a serious media bias, but I can't remember the last consumer product that Microsoft came out with. I mean besides Anti-spyware beta, the revamping of the MSN franchise, and the continuing updates to vista that your average user has no interest in, I don't really think Microsoft has done anything of real note that would compare to a story about Apple's Nano music player. I am not trying to knock Microsoft (which Dvorak also says is a bi-product of this media bias), I'm just saying that what he sees as a media bias may just be everything coming up Apple.
A reprieve for those that have been caught for driving under the influence in Florida. A law in Florida guarantees the right of those accused of a DUI to get all the details of the technology used to convict them. This gives them the right to get the hardware specs, manuals for use and related documents to the device and any changes to the device not contained on those documents. Well now the defense wants a little more, they are asking for the Source Code of the breathalizer itself. This does seem a little ridiculous, but the breathalizer in question was once recalled for a software bug so its not impossible that problems with the device could be found by inspecting the source code, but I doubt it. The company refuses to give up the source code because they claim its a trade secret. I am interested to see how this plays out, the company will most likely be forced to give up the code. Who is going inspect it? The company and lawyers will probably have to agree on a neutral party or something. I wonder if they are going find anything?
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