The Mouse is 40 years Old Today
On December 9, 1968, before a packed Brooks Hall auditorium in San Francisco, Douglas Engelbart, the director of Stanford Research Institute’s Augmentation Research Center, took the stage and changed computing forever.
During a 100-minute presentation, Engelbart demonstrated to 1,000 people the work that he and SRI’s chief engineer, Bill English, had been doing, work that is still recognizable in the way that everyone uses computers today.
It’s possible, some have said, that there never had been, nor never would be, another presentation that unveiled as many new paradigm-shifting technologies. They included the world’s first publicly seen mouse, as well as the introduction of hyperlinks and navigable windows. The presentation drew a standing ovation.
And it moved John Markoff, reporter at The New York Times and author of What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry, to write: “There were two things that particularly dazzled the audience on that rainy Monday morning.”
First, computing had made the leap from number crunching to become a communications and information-retrieval tool. Second, the machine was being used interactively with all its resources appearing to be devoted to a single individual. It was the first time that truly personal computing had been seen.
On Tuesday, SRI will present “Engelbart and the Dawn of Interactive Computing: SRI’s Revolutionary 1968 Demo,” a 40th anniversary celebration of what technology writer Steven Levy once called “the mother of all demos.”
Photo by Stanford Research Institute
Microsoft’s Free PC Protection
What’s New:
- Pictures – Naughty Nature
- Technology – Blu-Spec CD
- Videos – Charice Pempengco
REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 18, 2008 — To address the growing need for a PC security solution tailored to the demands of emerging markets, smaller PC form factors and rapid increases in the incidence of malware, Microsoft Corp. plans to offer a new consumer security offering focused on core anti-malware protection.
Code-named “Morro,” this streamlined solution will be available in the second half of 2009 and will provide comprehensive protection from malware including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans. This new solution, to be offered at no charge to consumers, will be architected for a smaller footprint that will use fewer computing resources, making it ideal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs. As part of Microsoft’s move to focus on this simplified offering, the company also announced today that it will discontinue retail sales of its Windows Live OneCare subscription service effective June 30, 2009. (more…)
Town in the middle of a Lake
Here’s something you don’t see every day: a town built in the middle of a lake. Not on an island, but actually below water level. It’s the ancient city of Seuthopolis, in Bulgaria, which was discovered in 1948. Six years later, a dam was destroyed and it was covered in water, ending up at the bottom of a huge lake. Now, the city is being unearthed via the most insane architectural project ever.
This is going to be done via the construction of a huge circular dike that’ll be a whopping 1,377 feet in diameter and 65 feet high. People will be able to access the recessed city by boat, heading down into it to see the city. And the focus isn’t on archeology here, but rather on tourism, with Bulgaria looking to create a striking image that draws people in. And really, there are few things that make a town more striking than have it sit on the bottom of a lake. Cool stuff.
Election 2008 Results
OBAMA WINS!
***
| OBAMA | MCCAIN |
|---|---|
| Vermont (3) | Kentucky (8) |
| Pennsylvania (21) | S. Carolina(8) |
| Maine (4) | Tennessee (11) |
| N. Hampshire (4) | Oklahoma (7) |
| Massachusetts (12) | Alabama (9) |
| New Jersey (15) | Arkansas (6) |
| Delaware (3) | Georgia (15) |
| Connecticut (7) | Wyoming (3) |
| D. C. (3) | North Dakota (3) |
| Maryland (10) | Kansas (6) |
| Illinois (21) | West Virginia (5) |
| Rhode Island (4) | Louisiana (9) |
| Michigan (17) | |
| Wisconsin (10) | |
| Minnesota (10) | |
| New York (31) | |
| Ohio (20) | |
| New Mexico (5) | |
| Total: 200 | Total: 90 |
Frequent updates to be posted.
Happy Halloween!
TOP TEN REASONS TRICK-0R-TREATING IS BETTER THAN SEX
10. Guaranteed to get at least a little something in the sack.
9. If you get tired, wait ten minutes and go at it again.
8. The uglier you look, the easier it is to get some.
7. You don’t have to compliment the person who gave you some.
6. Person giving you some, doesn’t fantasize you’re someone else.
5. If you get a stomach ache, it won’t last for nine months.
4. If you wear your Batman mask, no one will think you’re weird. (This one is especially funny to some people we know)
3. Doesn’t matter if kids hear you moaning and groaning.
2. No guilt the next morning.
And, the #1 reason trick or treating is better than sex….
1. If you don’t get what you want, you can always go next door.
America needs Obama
What does an Obama presidency offer America? First and foremost: his face. Think of it as the most effective re-branding of the United States. America’s world standing has been tarnished badly by the Bush administration. A McCain presidency, in the eyes of the world will just be a continuation of the Bush administration. Obama brings a new image and such a “re-branding”, a new image of America will be potentially effective in winning the hearts and minds of America’s enemies. The war on Islamist terror, after all, is being waged in two fronts: hard power and soft power. Military and diplomacy if you will. We have seen the potential of hard power in removing the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. We have also seen its weaknesses in Iraq, and its limitations in winning a long war against radical Islam. The next president has to create a sophisticated mixture of soft and hard power to isolate the enemy, to fight where necessary, but also to create an ideological template that works to the West’s advantage over the long haul. There is simply no other candidate with the potential of Obama to do this. Which is where his face comes in.
Consider this. Tuesday night Obama is declared the winner. A young Muslim, a potential radical islamist’s recruit is watching television and sees that this man—Barack Hussein Obama—is the new face of America. In one simple image, America’s soft power has been pushed up-front on day one. A brown-skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy, is now the alleged enemy. Obama’s persona proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can. Obama brings an image of America that is inclusive, and an America where freedom lets anybody, even a “colored” man soar to his potential.
Contrast: Obama, Palin Interview
“I can see Russia from Alaska” – Sarah Palin.
We’ve come to know this from Governor Palin’s interview with Kathie Couric when she was asked about her foreign policy credentials. Contrast this with the latest interview Senator Obama had with Joe Klein. Who’s inexperienced? You decide.
The following is the full text of Obama’s interview with Joe Klein of time magazine:
Question: I want to ask you some questions about the way you make decisions and then some questions about issues. To me the signal decision of this election was the way you chose your vice-president and the way he chose his. You are known for deliberation and being a rational decision-maker. But sometimes you have to make decisions another way. I just wanted to ask you whether you have made gut decisions during the course of this and whether you can tell me about any of those.
Barack Obama: Sure. I think that, in some ways deciding to run in the first place was a gut decision. If you looked at the pros and cons of running now versus later, there was a lot of potential downside. I was in a very good place—[inaudible] Michelle and the girls were very happy and it was [inaudible] with some risks if the campaign wasn’t successful then I would be seen as presumptuous—probably lose some potential leverage in the senate. My gut told me that the country was looking for something different and that if we were able to build an organization that harnesses that. (more…)
Obama Gaining Grounds in Red State
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, addresses supporters at a rally at the American Legion Mall in Indianapolis, Ind., Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008
Indiana, which has 11 electoral votes, hasn’t backed a Democrat for president since 1964. But polls show a tight race between McCain and Obama.
Looking out at a sea of 35,000 people who crammed a downtown park on a chilly day, the Democratic presidential candidate noted blue-collar and manufacturing workers in the audience who waited hours to see him. They face disappearing jobs in this traditionally Republican state which has both a Rust Belt economy and rural areas.
“That’s whose president I want to be,” he yelled, getting rousing cheers in response.
(more…)
ACORN, Voter Registration Fraud
It seems voter registration fraud is on the news again lately. ACORN? Not this time. The culprit is on the other team, the head of a group hired by the California Republican Party (CRP). The guy was arrested and sure enough, the knee-jerk reaction of the CRP is that this is ‘politically motivated’. Take note that the CRP did not contest the charges. Charges against ACORN is now part of the McCain/Palin campaign. ACORN, for their part, is saying they themselves reported this anomaly to the authorities. They say by law they have to turn over all forms but have marked the suspicious ones. Charges and counter charges of fraud are not new. Remember not too long ago, the Democrats were complaining about being cheated in Florida during the Bush vs. Gore elections and in Ohio during the Bush vs. Kerry face-off.
UPDATE:
in at least three West Virginia counties, voters have complained that when they tried to vote for Barack Obama, the touchscreen voting machine cast their vote for John McCain. One voter reported that all of their Democratic votes, for every level of government, were magically transformed into Republican ones.
http://www.gizmodo.com/5066652/voting-machine-no-you-really-meant-to-vote-for-mccain/
So, folks, who, REALLY is cheating here?
FOXNews.com
Monday, October 20, 2008
The head of a voter registration group hired by the California Republican Party was arrested over the weekend for allegedly lying about his address in the state in order to vote illegally, the office of California’s secretary of state announced Sunday.
Mark Anthony Jacoby, the owner of a signature-gathering firm called Young Political Majors, was taken into custody by Ontario police just after midnight Saturday and booked with a felony punishable by up to three years in prison.
Jacoby allegedly registered himself at his childhood home in Los Angeles, even though he no longer lives there. It is voter fraud to register if ineligible and perjury to provide false information on a voter registration card. Jacoby was charged with two counts of each relating to his 2006 and 2007 registration.
“Voter registration fraud is a serious issue, which is why I vigorously investigate all allegations of elections fraud,” said Bowen, California’s chief elections officer. “Where there’s a case to be made, I will forward it to law enforcement for criminal prosecution.”
An arraignment date has not been scheduled yet. Bail was set at $50,000.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Jacoby’s firm was paid $7 to $12 by the CRP for each GOP voter registration signature, but dozens of voters who signed on said they were duped into registering as Republicans and thought they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters.
The CRP called the arrest “politically motivated.”
“The fact that these charges are being leveled against an individual operating in a highly-contested area of California, and the significant gap between recent allegations and the charges we’ve seen today suggests that this is politically motivated,” reads a statement by the party.
It also claims Bowen, a recipient of donations from the embattled ACORN voter registration group, is trying to “achieve maximum political benefit and deflect attention from the Democratic presidential nominee’s high-profiled problems and associations with the radical community activist group ACORN.
“While we condemn voter fraud in all forms, it is evident that Debra Bowen is using her office to play politics with the public’s perception of political parties. This is inappropriate at least, and an abuse of her office and a willing suspension of her duties at worst,” the statement reads.
Dina, Pinoy 
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