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Archive for the ‘random chat’ Category
Sick of obtaining low numbers of useless visitors for your website?
A Tale of Two Wiki’s
Atlas heard about this venture and shrugged...(cause he had the whooooole world....)
I was introduced to a fun little “tool” today: Find the shortest route between two Wikipedia articles.
The first thing I tried was an analysis of the path from Death to VoIP, and I discovered Read the rest of this entry »
InSecurity
Sometimes, VoIP tech chat is more about tech, and less about VoIP.
As a follow up to our podcast last week, Fred left the teaser of a discussion of airport security this week. In (unexpected) preparation for this discussion, I took a “short” trip from my home in Chattanooga, TN to Salt Lake city, UT. The flight out was uneventful, Chattanooga is a small, 5-gate airport with a fairly simple metal detector security checkpoint.
On the trip back, things got interesting. Read the rest of this entry »
FOIA Friday Fun
Edward Vielmetti, who you may remember from the Asterisk/Parking piece, writes great blog posts. Whether on his personal site, AnnArbor.com, or numerous other blogs, Ed’s posts certainly capture my attention.
Recently, Ed started writing a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) Friday series, detailing examples and stories from the world of Public Information. The article mostly deals with the Michigan FOIA, however parallels can be drawn for other states (such as Florida’s Sunshine Laws) and the Federal government.
It’s a great read. This week, Ed discusses how to write a FOIA request. Check out the post at http://www.annarbor.com/news/government/foia-friday-how-to-write/.
Random Useless Trivia
Do you know what album features the first professional recording of Jon Bon Jovi? (hint: yes, this is “tech” related) Read the rest of this entry »
Sun Restructures, Lays off 6000
Sun Microsystems Inc., (NASDAQ: JAVA) announced today a “series of changes” in response to the changing economic climate. You have to love their NASDAQ ticker name, don’t you?
In order to “accelerate the introduction of compelling open source innovations,” Sun will be restructuring the company into new business groups:
- Application Platform Software (JAVA, MySQL, etc.)
- Systems Platforms (Solaris Virtualization, Open Storage, etc.)
- Cloud Computing & Developer Platforms (StarOffice, NetBeans, etc.)
The restructuring aims to remove costs by 700 – 800 million dollars each year. Of course, there is also a human price tag — a reduction of 15 – 18% of the workforce (about 5000 – 6000 employees).
Sun provides popular open source software and promotes itself as a leader in the open source community. Popular Free, OpenSource Sun products include:
- Java
- MySQL Database Software
- OpenSolaris OS
- OpenOffice (Compare to MS Office)
FCC Seeks USF Tax Input
If for no other reason to say you at least voice your opinion, there is a limited opportunity to share your opinions with the FCC. Currently, the FCC seeks additional comment on telecom reforms; specifically the Universal Service Fund (USF) and intercarrier compensation.
Although the FCC does not have a track record of following public opinion, it never hurts to try. Listening to one person’s voice versus a heavy lobbyist? Chances are very, very, very small that our Mr. Smith’s opinion will prevail — but then again, without voicing at all, the chance is zero.
Proposals range from taxing a flat fee of $1.00/month per telephone number to a cap of fees at $0.0007 per minute.
Our proposal is no taxes on telecommunication. Period.
George Carlin was a Modern Man
One of our favorite — honestly, not sure if this should be called a bit, routine, or poem, but anyway… one of our favorite recent memories of George Carlin has to be his Modern Man material. It’s a good read, but it’s a better listen. We’ve posted the words below and here’s a link to the You Tube video. Enjoy.
I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium. Digital and smoke free. A diversified multi cultural, post modern deconstruction that is anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been up linked and downloaded, I’ve been inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high tech low life. A cutting edge, state of the art bi coastal multi tasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.
I’m new wave, but I’m old school and my inner child is outward bound. I’m a hot wired, heat seeking, warm hearted cool customer, voice activated and bio degradable. I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I’m interactive, I’m hyperactive and from time to time I’m radioactive.
RIP George Carlin
Patrick and Fred were saddened to learn of George Carlin’s passing. Although George Carlin did not make any significant advances in IP Telephony and VoIP technology, he did make Patrick and Fred laugh; and laugh hard.
Mr. Carlin also starred with Ben Affleck in Jersey Girl; a favorite of both Fred and Patrick.
Scorpions in Florida
In this week’s Voip Tech Chat, Fred wondered if scorpions actually live in Florida. Thanks to (as Patrick would say) the Interweb we stumbled upon a great article from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
Apparently, there are 90 species of scorpion living in the United States — with only 4 living east of the ol’ Mississippi River (for some reason I’m picturing the Evans family chanting M – I – crooked letter crooked letter… gotta love Good Times).
The article has some great advice on “ending” a scorpion’s visit to your home and some “interesting” facts. Did you know that scorpions glow under black/UV light? Fred sure didn’t… (Patrick did, but then again he’s the resident Reptile expert at VoipTechChat)
