Pintmaster

Holy Poop! There are so many people that are going to be there… look at the list:

1. Abhishek Dugar
2. Alex Noel
3. Alex van Haute
4. Angela Chew
5. Anna Roell
6. AnneSelena Cramwicnkel
7. Arief Rabik
8. Artika Suleiman
9. Budi Djwandono
10. Candice Greedy
11. Shaun Tullidge
12. Carla Allen
13. Caroline Marcus
14. Chris Huke
15. David Mackerness
16. Eric Gaustad
17. Eva Noller
18. Farooq Oomberbhoy
19. Halim
20. Harry Mason
21. Helen Mueller
22. Heron Holloway
23. Irene Hadisantoso
24. James Haigh
25. James Roberts
26. Jazmine Raznahan
27. Jason Tan
28. Jenida Satem
29. Joanna Bovill
30. Christy Ji Young Yoon
31. Joanna Liem
32. Jon Wang
33. Kabir Kapoor
34. Joshua Greedy
35. Justine Kirkham
36. Klerwi Le Fol
37. Kurt Randall
38. Lauren Marcus
39. Mark Attwood
40. Melinda Lee
41. Michelle Cavanagh
42. Mike Helmsley
43. Mike Khattak
44. Momoko Nomura
45. Nandini Singh
46. Nicholas Leong
47. Nikki Lindman
48. Oscar Silberberg
49. Pratik Argawal
50. Richard Sung
51. Ross McClements
52. Russell Britton
53. Ryan Clemence
54. Sara Heitman
55. Sarah Collis
56. Sidharth Singania
57. Suraj Choksi
58. Tim Kuhberg
59. Todd Lupton
60. Tom Fairclough
61. Tom Van der Wijngaart
62. Vedant Jatia
63. Vicky Gupta
64. Vinay Chowdary
65. Wei Jie
66. Wendy Saudjana
67. Yash Mehta
68. Yin Yin
69. Yogi Watts
70. Yuen Nirmala
71. Yuta Kawamoto
72. Zivana Luhur

I really wish I was going as I am disappointed I am not going to be able to see all of these people!

The New York Times is reporting on a new technology that Homeland Security would like to use in the airports to give underskilled screeners a free peek at passenger’s privates! The ACLU will have a field day with this one. I guess that in the “post 9-11 world”, even your privates are not private.

I am looking at a copy of an ad that ran in the back of comic books in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. “X-Ray Specs! See Thru Clothing!” blares the copy, which is illustrated with a cartoon of a drooling geek wearing the amazing toy goggles and leering at a shapely woman.

Now, any kid with half a brain knew that X-Ray Specs were a novelty gag that didn’t really work. But time marches on and technology makes the impossible possible. Stand by, air travelers, because the Homeland Security Department is preparing to install and test high-tech machines at airport checkpoints that will, as the comic-book ads promised, “See Thru Clothing!”

Get ready for electronic portals known as backscatters, expected to be tested at a handful of airports this year, that use X-ray imaging technology to allow a screener to scan a body. And yes, the body image is detailed. Let’s not be coy here, ladies and gentlemen:

“Well, you’ll see basically everything,” said Bill Scannell, a privacy advocate and technology consultant. “It shows nipples. It shows the clear outline of genitals.”

The Homeland Security Department’s justification for the electronic strip searches has a certain logic. In field test after field test, it found that federal airport screeners using metal-detecting magnetometers did a miserable job identifying weapons concealed in carry-on bags or on the bodies of undercover agents.

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Anandtech Article

The Kiosk

The not so cleverly hidden G5s

Another reason not to eat airline food:

HONOLULU (AP) — Contaminated carrots served on several flights out of Honolulu are believed to have caused 45 cases of food poisoning for people in Florida, 21 other states, Japan, Australia and American Samoa.

The outbreak has sparked a lawsuit by an Orlando man against airline caterer Gate Gourmet. Its staff put the carrots in meals served for three days late last August.

Ernie Lyon says in the lawsuit that he developed nausea, diarrhea, cramps, fever and tremors three days after a Northwest Airlines flight from Honolulu to Minneapolis. He tested positive for the Shigella bacteria.

The Food and Drug Administration has sent a warning letter to Gate Gourmet.

The letter cites violations found in a February inspection of Gate Gourmet’s Honolulu facility. Problems included pink slime dripping onto a conveyor belt to a pot-washing machine, mold on refrigerator windows, live cockroaches and flies.

The company provides meals for Northwest, Delta, United, Hawaiian and Aloha airlines.

I have been teaching “Intellectual Property” (although I dislike the term) among other subjects at a Masters Degree in the Polytechnic University of Valencia UPV (Spain) for over 5 years. Two weeks ago I was scheduled (invited by the ETSIA Student Union and Linux Users’ Group for the celebration of “Culture Week”) to give a conference in one of the university’s buildings. During that conference I was to analyze the legal use and benefits of the P2P networks, even when dealing with copyrighted works (according to the Spanish Intellectual Property Law, Private Copy provision, and many research papers, books and court rulings). I was even going to use the network to “prove” that it was legal, since members of the Collecting Society “SGAE” had appeared on TV and newspapers saying that “P2P networks are ilegal” (sic) just like that, and to that extent I even contacted SGAE, National Police, and the Attorney General in advance to inform them about it.

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About 5 years ago, my parents invested in a Ski property at Keystone Resort in the Ski Tip Ranch Neighborhood. Keystone promised they would build a new Ski Lift for the residents in that area and promised Ski in, ski out ability. Instead of protecting the interests of the homeowners there, Keystone, owned by Vail corporation keeps building and building and saturating the small local market. In the deed to the property, there are also numerous favorable clauses for the resort - they get a cut on each sale. When the property was under the management of the resort, there was hardly any occupancy except for over the major holidays. Generally, a good rule of thumb is - dont buy property where you are relying on the builder to control your interests, because they make more money on building and selling more property than they do protecting the interests of current owners. Dont buy in a place where there is excess land - such as around many ski areas. It may be hard to get to, but it isnt hard to build more properties if the demand is there. Do not buy timeshares (i.e. Westgate resorts which is in the ground floor of my office building and in the nearby mall just smells like a scam). But I digress… the important thing here is do not trust Vail corporation to protect your interests as a home owner… do not buy within a ski resort.

I always knew this but no one ever listened to me - if it is low fat, it makes you fat!!!! It sounds ridiculous, and part of it is the additional sugar that is put in. This is a different take on my theory, but hey, I will take it.

Diets too low in fat may be responsible for stubborn bulges on bellies, thighs and butts, according to a new study.

Dieters trying slim down by following extremely low-fat diets may be causing the exact opposite results, according to new research from the University of Washington at St. Louis. Eating at least small amounts of dietary fats, such as fish oils, might be a better way to kick-start fat-burning, say researchers.

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I was searching for it and found an awesome article on how to have VOIP in your whole house! Fantastic… here is a snippit

http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html

One obstacle to replacing traditional phone service with Voice over IP is that for your existing home phone jacks to work, it’s necessary to make a change to your inside telephone wiring.

Fortunately, this change is very easy to make. In some cases it’s as simple as removing a plug from a jack. Still, a basic understanding of how telephone wiring works is useful before attempting to make such a switch.

Just cruising on Ebay and saw that some idiot posted their Windows XP product license key - what a muppet. Take a look