Do you ever find yourself mired in the mediocrity of life? I was driving around the other day in my vehicle and looked around the insides. When did all these stains on the floor mats happen? Shouldn't the vehicle get vacuumed out once every lifetime? Why did I let my backyard get to looking so sad? What about my appearance? My wardrobe? My daily dress? My relationship? My job? Have I slipped into a happy complacency going through my life settling for a continued decline in everything around me?
Fighting mediocrity is very difficult, since we are surrounded by increasing levels of mediocrity on TV, newspapers, magazines and movies. It affects not only our daily little lives, but on a broader scale; culture, politics and arts, and science. Yet, hope looms eternal. As I survey my surroundings I feel a renewed commitment to raising the bar on my existence. We must constantly strive to be better humans, push ourselves farther and fight this complacent existence. Push away the fog and fight through the tired feelings.
Renew your commitment to being better in whatever way is important to you!
Friday, May 27, 2005
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
There's no Aloha in Los Angeles
"Aloha" is more than a word of greeting or farewell or a salutation. "Aloha" means mutual regard and affection and extends warmth through caring with no obligation in return. There is NO ALOHA in Los Angeles, believe me! I notice this because I've spent a lot of time in the great state of Hawaii over the past decade and have had the pleasure of visiting there probably 5 weeks in the last 2 years. What a fortunate person I am.
Did you know that Aloha is a law in Hawaii? It should be law in every state of the union. Road rage is an ever increasing scourge in Southern California & who can blame us? I used to spend 4 - 5 hours a day on the freeway commuting from my home to my job and back. This was 10 years ago. I remember once sitting at the 10/57 interchange pounding my fist against the steering wheel in frustration and screaming. And even though some of you would beg to differ, I am not that different than your average SoCal commuter.
The latest April 2005 census shows that in a ranking of large cities (with populations of 250,000 or more) the average commute time was; New York (38.3 minutes), Chicago (33.2 minutes), Newark, N.J. (31.5 minutes), Riverside, Calif. (31.2 minutes), Philadelphia (29.4 minutes), and Los Angeles (29.0 minutes). Kay, first of all, this is bullshit. Maybe if they survey someone living in West LA that's driving to work in Santa Monica, but come on, how many of those people are there? What about some poor schmuck living in Pomona driving to downtown LA everyday. He's doing about 90 minutes each way. These stupid survey's are all skewed. You can read the article here.
This is the law in Los Angeles:
- Don't signal cause we'll just speed up 'cause we sure as hell aren't going to let you in.
- If you're going to drive in the carpool lane, you'd better be doing over 70 mph or we're gonna run your ass over.
- Go with the flow of traffic, if traffic is doing 20 mph, don't be an ass & do 5 mph, if its doing 80 mph you'd better be in the slow lane or we'll run up your butt.
- Know where you're going. If you realize you are in the wrong lane and you're offramps coming, tough shit. No one is going to let you in. Maybe we would if you didn't signal...
- Driving with headlights on during the day because you don't have running lights indicates fear. You will be taken advantage of.
- The speed limit on the toll road is 80 to 90, you're paying to go fast. If you're driving <>
Well, there are lots more rules.......send me some comments with your California "rules"
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Adware, spyware and Malware
The average person's computer is infected with > 30 adware programs. This is a statistics from Network World (April 5, 2005). Do you know what adware is? What's the difference between adware and spyware? What the hell is malware? How are you supposed to deal with all this crap on the computer and who really cares anyways?
adware:
(n.) (1) A form of spyware that collects information about the user in order to display advertisements in the Web browser based on the information it collects from the user's browsing patterns. Similar to spyware but it has legitimate purposes, for example, the ads on weather underground allow the provider to offer the service free to web surfers. All adware is not necessarily malicious nor is all adware innocent.
Unfortunately, some freeware applications which contain adware do track your surfing habits in order to serve ads related to you. When the adware becomes intrusive like this, then we move it in the spyware category and it then becomes something you should avoid for privacy and security reasons. Due to its invasive nature, spyware has really given adware a bad name as many people do not know the differences between the two, or use the the terms interchangeably.
spyware:
(n.) Any software that covertly gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet; however, it should be noted that the majority of shareware and freeware applications do not come with spyware. Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can also gather information about e-mail addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.
malware:
(mal´wãr) (n.) Short for malicious software, software designed specifically to damage or disrupt a system, such as a virus or a Trojan horse.
phishing:
(fish´ing) (n.) The act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card #'s, social security & bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has.
Phishing, also referred to as brand spoofing or carding, is a variation on “fishing,” the idea being that bait is thrown out with the hopes that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting.
adware:
(n.) (1) A form of spyware that collects information about the user in order to display advertisements in the Web browser based on the information it collects from the user's browsing patterns. Similar to spyware but it has legitimate purposes, for example, the ads on weather underground allow the provider to offer the service free to web surfers. All adware is not necessarily malicious nor is all adware innocent.
Unfortunately, some freeware applications which contain adware do track your surfing habits in order to serve ads related to you. When the adware becomes intrusive like this, then we move it in the spyware category and it then becomes something you should avoid for privacy and security reasons. Due to its invasive nature, spyware has really given adware a bad name as many people do not know the differences between the two, or use the the terms interchangeably.
spyware:
(n.) Any software that covertly gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet; however, it should be noted that the majority of shareware and freeware applications do not come with spyware. Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can also gather information about e-mail addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.
malware:
(mal´wãr) (n.) Short for malicious software, software designed specifically to damage or disrupt a system, such as a virus or a Trojan horse.
phishing:
(fish´ing) (n.) The act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card #'s, social security & bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has.
Phishing, also referred to as brand spoofing or carding, is a variation on “fishing,” the idea being that bait is thrown out with the hopes that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting.
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