My first thought yesterday upon seeing that Cisco Partners was asking its Twitter audience to help name its new blog was, “What, have these people learned nothing from the Boaty McBoatface kerfuffle?”Alas, the Cisco social media folks weren’t born yesterday, so they had the good sense to limit those wanting to help name the blog to only three choices.
As of this morning, the third option – Weekly Rewind – was enjoying a comfortable lead.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Perhaps you noticed the story last week about an economics professor whose math scribblings prior to takeoff from Philadelphia so alarmed a paranoid ninny sitting next to him that she reported the “suspicious behavior” in a note passed to an American Airlines flight attendant. You know, as in math means terrorist so flight delayed two hours.
Twitter noticed and this morning the hashtag #PassesNoteToFlightAttendant produced much merriment. Here’s a sampling, the first of which would have blown that ninny’s mind:
There’s plenty more if this kind of thing amuses you.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Perhaps you noticed the story last week about an economics professor whose math scribblings prior to takeoff from Philadelphia so alarmed a paranoid ninny sitting next to him that she reported the “suspicious behavior” in a note passed to an American Airlines flight attendant. You know, as in math means terrorist so flight delayed two hours.
Twitter noticed and this morning the hashtag #PassesNoteToFlightAttendant produced much merriment. Here’s a sampling, the first of which would have blown that ninny’s mind:
There’s plenty more if this kind of thing amuses you.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Housecleaning yesterday unearthed this miniature 8-page publication called TimesFax, which was delivered to me by the New York Times aboard a cruise ship somewhere in the Caribbean on May 23, 1998. Measuring 7 by 8.5 inches, it was, as I recall, the only source of news available, and since it lacked a full-service sports section, meant I had to go without the box scores needed to follow my fantasy baseball team (unthinkable today).
Such were the limitations of leisure travel in that primitive era, at least the manner of leisure travel that I could afford.
While the form factor and delivery method were unusual by today’s standards, the headlines were certainly familiar, as the front page featured accounts of both a school shooting and a Clinton scandal, the latter involving the former president as opposed to the future one, of course. That skimpy sports section did include an Associated Press story about the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, meeting in the final of the French Open, marking the first time they had ever met in the final of a professional tournament.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Housecleaning yesterday unearthed this miniature 8-page publication called TimesFax, which was delivered to me by the New York Times aboard a cruise ship somewhere in the Caribbean on May 23, 1998. Measuring 7 by 8.5 inches, it was, as I recall, the only source of news available, and since it lacked a full-service sports section, meant I had to go without the box scores needed to follow my fantasy baseball team (unthinkable today).
Such were the limitations of leisure travel in that primitive era, at least the manner of leisure travel that I could afford.
While the form factor and delivery method were unusual by today’s standards, the headlines were certainly familiar, as the front page featured accounts of both a school shooting and a Clinton scandal, the latter involving the former president as opposed to the future one, of course. That skimpy sports section did include an Associated Press story about the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, meeting in the final of the French Open, marking the first time they had ever met in the final of a professional tournament.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has released surveillance camera video of an unintentionally driverless Red Line train zipping through two commuter stops in December, a potential catastrophe triggered by the operator’s decision to wrap a rubber cord around the vehicle’s accelerator before stepping out to address a signal problem. The train left without him and travelled through a total of four stations before stopping after power was cut to the third rail.While the episode itself was dramatic, to say to the least, the video – even this edited version from WCVB Channel 5 TV -- is underwhelming.
Even the people on the platforms didn’t seem to realize anything was wrong.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has released surveillance camera video of an unintentionally driverless Red Line train zipping through two commuter stops in December, a potential catastrophe triggered by the operator’s decision to wrap a rubber cord around the vehicle’s accelerator before stepping out to address a signal problem. The train left without him and travelled through a total of four stations before stopping after power was cut to the third rail.While the episode itself was dramatic, to say to the least, the video – even this edited version from WCVB Channel 5 TV -- is underwhelming.
Even the people on the platforms didn’t seem to realize anything was wrong.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With the strike by Verizon union members now in its fourth week – and no settlement appearing near -- frustrations born of service delays and cancelations remain primarily the bane of consumers, although business customers are also taking on collateral damage, some of which may not be visible to the untrained eye.That’s the view of David Rohde, a longtime industry watcher and senior consultant at TechCaliber in Washington D.C.“Customers are asking their Verizon (Enterprise) account teams for, you name it – an inventory of current services, a next response to a bid for new services, a network management request that can’t otherwise be handled automatically – and the answer is coming back very frequently that those people aren’t around right now so you’re going to have to wait,” Rohde writes in a recent blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With the strike by Verizon union members now in its fourth week – and no settlement appearing near -- frustrations born of service delays and cancelations remain primarily the bane of consumers, although business customers are also taking on collateral damage, some of which may not be visible to the untrained eye.That’s the view of David Rohde, a longtime industry watcher and senior consultant at TechCaliber in Washington D.C.“Customers are asking their Verizon (Enterprise) account teams for, you name it – an inventory of current services, a next response to a bid for new services, a network management request that can’t otherwise be handled automatically – and the answer is coming back very frequently that those people aren’t around right now so you’re going to have to wait,” Rohde writes in a recent blog post.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Star Wars Day – May 4th – brings out the creative sides of those who love the cinematic series and marketers who recognize a viral opportunity when they see one.Today, Japan’s ANA (All Nippon Airways) joins the fun with an innovative rendition of the classic opening theme song. A site called Luxury Launches (new to me) offers this description:
As seen in the video below it is a very thoughtful and beautiful compilation of sights and sounds which includes take offs, printing of the boarding pass, luggage on the conveyor belt, engine coming to life, air hostesses on the moving walkway and more of the typical activities you and me face and see on a flight. There is also a guest appearance by the newest member of the franchisee the BB-8 robot. The video is shot across 10 locations which include Tokyo’s Narita airport, maintenance centers, hangars and training facilities of ANA.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Truth be told, I am not a model citizen when it comes to password management, so the sentiment behind this latest installment of “Geek-themed Meme of the Week” resonated with me. And the discussion on Reddit that followed was interesting, too. Reddit
A suggestion from the comments:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Truth be told, I am not a model citizen when it comes to password management, so the sentiment behind this latest installment of “Geek-themed Meme of the Week” resonated with me. And the discussion on Reddit that followed was interesting, too. Reddit
[DON'T MISS: Geek-Themed Meme of the Week Archive]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Boston Globe, whose Pulitzer-winning work behind the Oscar-honored movie “Spotlight” earned it a shout-out from President Obama this weekend, today is relying upon the photographic skills of a mobster’s attorney to illustrate a breaking news story about the FBI’s latest attempt to solve the famous Gardner Museum art heist.The photos, credited to attorney A. Ryan McGuigan, show FBI vehicles and work tents in front of the Connecticut home of McGuigan’s client. And while it is my opinion that a screen capture would represent fair use in this instance … did I mention that the photos were taken by an attorney?From the Globe story, which is behind a pay wall:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The worst part of this mistake – other than the pain caused to innocent weasels – is that it should have been avoided, at least here. After all, as I was typing last Friday’s post about an electrocution-sparked electrical outage at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) the question did occur to me: Is a weasel actually a rodent, as I am about to allege?Unfortunately, I failed to act upon that inquisitive impulse and the answer to the question is no, a weasel is not a rodent. And I am hearing about it from those who know better.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The worst part of this mistake – other than the pain caused to innocent weasels – is that it should have been avoided, at least here. After all, as I was typing last Friday’s post about an electrocution-sparked electrical outage at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) the question did occur to me: Is a weasel actually a rodent, as I am about to allege?Unfortunately, I failed to act upon that inquisitive impulse and the answer to the question is no, a weasel is not a rodent. And I am hearing about it from those who know better.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Robo-versatility on displayImage by ReutersWhile some of us wait patiently for a real-life version of the housekeeper from The Jetsons, today’s “working robots” are taking on a surprising variety of tasks, as evidenced by this collection of recent photos provided by Reuters.Waiting to buy an iPhoneImage by Reuters/Robert GalbraithTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Robo-versatility on displayImage by ReutersWhile some of us wait patiently for a real-life version of the housekeeper from The Jetsons, today’s “working robots” are taking on a surprising variety of tasks, as evidenced by this collection of recent photos provided by Reuters.Waiting to buy an iPhoneImage by Reuters/Robert GalbraithTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a battle between a rodent and a 17-mile-long superconducting machine designed to smash protons, one might expect the rodent to fare poorly. And in this case, it did, though not without the little guy doing some damage of its own.From a BBC report:
The Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator at Cern is offline after a short circuit - caused by a weasel.The unfortunate creature did not survive the encounter with a high-voltage transformer at the site near Geneva in Switzerland.The LHC was running when a "severe electrical perturbation" occurred in the early hours of Friday morning.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a battle between a rodent and a 17-mile-long superconducting machine designed to smash protons, one might expect the rodent to fare poorly. And in this case, it did, though not without the little guy doing some damage of its own.From a BBC report:
The Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator at Cern is offline after a short circuit - caused by a weasel.The unfortunate creature did not survive the encounter with a high-voltage transformer at the site near Geneva in Switzerland.The LHC was running when a "severe electrical perturbation" occurred in the early hours of Friday morning.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
On April 27, 1986, a Florida man with workplace access to a satellite transmission dish – and a financial beef with HBO -- pulled off the kind of audacious stunt that were it to happen today would likely land him in prison for a long, long time.From a 2011 Buzzblog post:
John MacDougall, then 25, was the lonely pamphleteer of lore, only instead of paper and ink he was armed with a 30-foot transmission dish, an electronic keyboard, and a burning objection to HBO's decision in 1986 to begin scrambling its satellite signal and charging viewers $12.95 a month.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Paul McNamara