General

On January 17, 1994, I lived in Sherman Oaks, CA. At 4:31 AM on that day, I woke up to the most violent jolt I ever felt. My room lurched up & down sharply and everything was falling around me. I fumbled through the dark to get out of my apartment. The entire area was without electricity & water, and it remained out for several days.

We all huddled together outside and there were constant aftershocks. Someone had a cell phone, so we all took turns using it to call our family and let them know we were OK.

After sunrise, we went back in to inspect the damage. Luckily my building had no structural damage, but most of the contents were destroyed. There were a few minor cracks in the walls and we were able to stay in our apartments. The building next to me and several others on my block weren’t so lucky – they were uninhabitable. I lived in an older building. All of the seriously damaged buildings were newer and had underground parking which collapsed.

It took several months for everything to get back to normal.

The domain shareyourmusic.com is now active. It looks like I’ll have to write my own software. I looked at every content management package at DMOZ and they all sucked. Drupal is the nicest, but it falls down when you try to create a site that isn’t a weblog or news based.

Remember the kid who got in trouble for using the NET SEND command to send a message to the entire school? He posted his side of the story here.

Now for my take on it. In his school, “computer literacy” means knowing how to use Word & Excel and how to get around in some version of Windows. They don’t teach general computer skills and exploration is discouraged. They were told to learn, not “play around”, so playing Solitaire is acceptable.

“fooling around” with the system is the best way to learn about computers. Knowing how to use a few applications and one operating system doesn’t constitute computer literacy. When they graduate and find that the applications they learned are obsolete, they’ll be lost.

Schools should be teaching students how to learn and encouraging exploration instead of just learning some basic skills. Students should be encouraged to go further and learn on their own.

One more thing – what he did – learning how to use a built-in command – shouldn’t be treated as if he let loose a virus or tried to hack into some unauthorized account. No harm was done and the system’s security was never violated.

I signed up for a free hosting account at 1and1 for shareyourmusic.com and I’m now starting to work on the design & software. I had started to look at drupal but I’m not sure if it’s really appropriate. It does have a lot of features I like and it could be a starting point, since it can be customized a lot and new modules can be written for it.

Hey! A thirteen year-old kid gets suspended for three days for using a DOS command to send a one-word message to all 80 computers on his school’s network. Even more charming is that the computer teacher of his school apparently doesn’t know much about the computicatin’ machines. [metafilter.com]

Troopers thwart ten-year-old [The Register]

A mother’s enquiry about buying Microsoft Flight Simulator for her ten-year-old son prompted a night-time visit to her home from a state trooper.

Julie Olearcek, a USAF Reserve pilot made the enquiry at a Staples store in Massachusetts, home to an earlier bout of hysteria, during the Salem witch trials.

So alarmed was the Staples clerk at the prospect of the ten year old learning to fly, that he informed the police, the Greenfield Recorder reports. The authorities moved into action, leaving nothing to chance. A few days later, Olearcek was alarmed to discover a state trooper flashing a torch into to her home through a sliding glass door at 8:30 pm on a rainy night.

Olearcek is a regular Staples customer and schools her son at home. The Staples manager simply explained that staff were obeying advice. Shortly before Christmas, the FBI issued a terror alert to beware of drivers with maps, or reference books.

At one time it was rare to find US citizens, in the safest and most prosperous country in the world, jumping at their own shadows. Now we only note how high.

Police in Prince William County recovered more than $30,000 worth of stolen computer equipment thanks to modern tracking technology.

The computers were stolen from Country Wide Home Loans on Tacketts Mill Road in Lake Ridge. According to a police affidavit, the burglars broke through a window to get the computers and equipment.

However, the thieves apparently didn’t know that the computers had been loaded with software that is designed to keep track of computers.

The software is called ComputracePlus and is made by Absolute Software. At regular intervals, the computer relays its location to a main office.

A stolen laptop gave its location as a house on Pilgrim Drive in Lake Ridge. That gave police enough information to obtain a search warrant.

“We executed a search warrant at that residence last night and came up with $33,000 in computers and property. All three suspects were there. All three were charged with burglary, grand larceny,” said Detective Dennis Mangan of the Prince William County Police Department. [nbc4.com]

I contacted the city of Oakland Park about the serious flooding problem on my street. The email I got back from them said:

Your street is a county road, which means Broward County maintains it. I have not heard of any plans for improvements north of Commercial.

I know the other side of the street is unincorporated Broward County even though my condo is supposedly in Oakland Park.

Interesting history of General Magic by Richard Doherty.

I actually owned a Magic Link, along with the development system. I never did write any software for it, and I didn’t use it once the initial amusement wore off. It was cute at first, but useless. Nothing worked well & it tended to lock up at random. The main street parade easter egg was the only good feature.

$50m in the bank, but no escape from smacked-up harlot mum [The Register]

Dear Sir/Madam

How are you?

I am Tony Fred Willaims i am 14 years old i live in London (Uk) before my father died, now i live with my mother in Scottland. my father is from London (Uk) and my mother is from Scottland. my late father Mr. Fred Willaims was an engineer in London (Uk) before he died in a car acedent this year july 9th 2003. he left $50M (Fifty Million Dollars) in his account before he died. The $50M is in the ( first union naional bank-na london Uk) i have been trying to collect the money from ( first union naional bank-na london Uk) but the Md Ceo Mr James Orriss told me to go and look for some body that is old enough to help me collect the money. I could have told my mother to assist me to collect the $50M for me but my mother and father has divorce before my father died and my father told me to not have anything to do with my mother i dont even want her to know because what my father told me before he died was not a lie, now that i stay with my mother in Scottland she dont even have time for me all she do is to take hard drugs and to bring men to the house to sleep with and she also hate me all the time. i dont want to have anything to do with her. i just want some body that is old enough and honest to help me collect the $50m from the bank as i am to young to take care of $50M. Please i need your help if you can assist me to collect the $50M from the bank i will give you 35% and take 65%. I have the affidavite of claims that makes me the indeed bonified next of kin to my late father Mr. Fred Williams which i have show it to the bank Md Ceo Mr James Orriss. he told me to look for some body that is old enough so that he can send the $50m to the person in 24 hours. if you can help me i will contact Mr. James Orriss and told him that i have find someone who want to help me collect the $50M . and i will give you is contact so that you can contact him to enable him send the $50M to your provided account in 24 hours. if you are intrested to help me get back to me on this my email (tony_fred@tiscali.co.uk ) so that i can forward to you the contact of the bank. I will be waiting for your urgent reply.

Best Regards

Mr Tony Fred Williams.