text:
Reasonable request
Working helpdesk for local government a few years back I am still amused by an email from one of the councillors asking for a copy of the internet on CD so they could use it at home...
IT support, as we know, is that job function in the technical ecosystem that takes the flack for any problem affecting a user. These can range from the straightforward if annoying forgotten password requests and slightly cryptic 'my-laptop-isn't-working-anymore' complaints, through to the more serious 'accidentally deleted' …
I dunno if this actually did happen, but I'd love to believe it's true. Whilst working for a very large computer manufacturer, I heard this story of a site visit gone wrong.
Said company used to arrange tours of their facility for IT students from a local college.
One of these tours had finally arrived in the main machine room, and the tour guide was running through his script about "mainframe this", "disk storage that", "comms rack the other"; when one voice from the back of the tour group called out "what does this big red switch on the wall do?" The guide looked round just in time to see the student accidentally press the emergency power cut off switch for the entire room!
Fortunately, the button was the "release to break" type and legend has it the poor student had to stand there, with his hand on the button for 15 minutes while the IT staff initiated a graceful shutdown of all the kit in the room.
Hmm having worked in a support desk environment for 5+ years now. Providing support for a range of people from the general public to lawyers and secretaries in various firms to council staff I have had possibly hundreds, nay thousands, of fantastic support calls. Here are some that still tickle me today.
Telephony issue:
User having difficulty retrieving voicemail, done the manual phone reset so proceeded to ask him to unclip the "curly cord" from the bottom of the phone. The user didnt need to use the clip as he appeared to be physically able to removed the cable without...DOH!!!!
Different user (telephony)
Me: What type of phone do you have (referring to make model etc)
User: A yellow one!! LOL!!!! (that still makes me wet myself today)
Joe public. User calling, My pc has caught fire due to a part that was replaced by one of your engineers. (child in background "but daddy, the computer didnt catch fire, you set it on fire") you couldnt write it!
Switching over to VNC edition instead of connecting via Remote desktop Control with XP Pro was the best plan we could come up with considering we could show and learn the users what they are doing wrong and maybe tell me what is going wrong.
But the sheer laughter of connecting first time to an 'un-experienced' remote desktop user and taking over there computer, was a mass amount of phone calls involving mainly women absolutely petrified that there was a ghost or some sort rummaging through her files and setting.
But it's not always the vulgar women that lose all inteligence when IT support takes over the computer. my experience made me nearly pissed my self for the dumbness that occured.
a bloke at my work at another site phoned up for a bit of support, as they do. on the phone he sounded really concern why a folder would not able him to copy and paste to another folder, (reason was a word document was still open) but the sheer funny ness of the poor old man shouting at telling me which folder he wanted to edit, by telling me that he was pointing at the folder, 'i'm pointing at the folder!!' not with hi mouse but with his finger! total silence of embarrassment!
This will be the early 80s when I was a humble op for a large sweetie firm in Sheffield which had a subsidiary many miles away.
"Me computer's brok"
"Is the cursor flashing?"
"Can you see a little flashing square on the screen?"
"Is there a light on the keyboard?"
There was more of this, eventually we were getting to the stage of the only option being loading up a car for a long drive out with replacement kit.
"'ang on a bit, s'not plugged in"
User calls me.
User: My laptop won't turn on.
Me: Are there any lights showing?
User: No, it's just not working.
<We go around the houses a few times checking the power etc>
Me: OK, looks like it'll have to come in.
<Time passes, then user comes into my office>
User: I've brought my laptop in, it still won't turn on.
Me: OK, let's have a look.
<User hands me laptop case, most notable feature of same being a &%$£ing huge tyre-mark across the middle.>
User: It's just not been working at all...
Me: ...since you drove your car over it?
User: <sheepish look> Errrrrr...yes...
Me: No shit.
User: Is it covered under the warranty?
Me: Oddly, no...
Paris, 'cause she's still got some tread on her too...
Back in the days when I was a engineer in a computer shop, three little times allways pop to mind. A customer when insisted on buying a pack of blank cd's just to see what would hapen, even know we insisted they would not work when he did not poses a CD-RW. Another customer who came in and wanted to buy an ATX case, on hearing that the cheapest we had was 20 pounds, he seemed shocked, saying he wanted more then one, he infact was interested in the 2000 we had. Puzzeled I asked why, it seems on the recormendation of his IT Support officer, he needed lots of ATX cases to "build a firewall". and lastly A young man of 15/16 yrs came in and bough a CD-RW drive, confident he could take the nice new drive home and fit it him self. near the end of the an older gent (namly the boys dad) came in carring a PC with the sheepish lad behind him. On hearing that the PC 'blew up" with an array of sparks and smoke after the fitting of this drive, In pure curiosity I removed the side panel to find that insted of connecting the 2 required cables (the power and data cable) the young promosing engineer had indeed pluged them in, and also striped a live lead inside, soldered speaker wire to it and then soldered the other end of the speaker wire from the live lead to the pins for selecting slave or master. The result was the frying of the CD-RW, and the speaker wire melting and catching fire. When asked why on earth he would do this the answer was simply, I though it was what I had to do.
Done that! Had an IBM 600E lappie with two ports, RH 7.3 (Still the best) . One connected to the office intranet, and the other supplying dhcp to the blade server I was testing.
This Cupid Stunt did wrong, and when I set it up I failed to tell dhcp to serve only eth1 (the blade)
Wondered why the disk was thrashing hopelessly while doing nothing....
Worse, I went for an 'extended lunch' (ok, I lived nearby, missus off that day and it turned into a "grub-screw" ;-) to see if it'd get stable, leaving the machine in a quite restricted room. Very few employees (10?) had access.
'course, it was giving IP addy's to anyone who rebooted their PC. In a complex of 1000+, that'll happen a lot. Esp. with Senior Execs arriving regularly to give presentations.
Returned about 2 hours later. Bollocking was too good for me. Other IT blokes thought "Good day for a hanging".
As I've left - unrelated reason - , I can tell you that this was c. 2004 @ Nokia, Tampere, Finland. Finns aren't noted for their emotions, but these blokes rewrote the rules!
The Midlands, late 80s, a large regional brewer.
The IT Director was an accountant transferred over from Finance because he knew how to set up a spreadsheet. Would sit in his office, red-faced, puffing on his pipe.
There was no computer in his office.
The Project Manager had no computer in his office either.
The IT Director's first brilliant idea - get rid of all the computers IN THE IT DEPARTMENT.
We could write everything down and the secretary would type them in for us.
I'm sure that by now he's running a bank.
Going back a decade ago, used to work for a small IT company.
Attending a customer site to do the monthly server health check (check the logs, do a test restore, check disk space, etc), was approached by the manager and a tech who was onsite doing an upgrade of the banking software they ran on all their PCs who informed me the server had been running very poorly. Only thing I could think of was that, when I came in, the server (running NT4) had a 3D screensaver set - which, in those days of having no 3D processing on the graphics card was a CPU killer. Of course I had turned this off as soon as I logged in - and I then explained this issue to the manager.
Got the tech to run an install and it ran really well. Packed up and headed for the next site.
20 minutes later, my boss is on the phone telling me to turn around and head back, as the server wasn't working properly and the manager had just given him an earful. I called the company and asked her if she had turned on the 3D screensaver, which she said she had, as it was her server and if I thought this was the problem I was an idiot. Eventually I convinced her to walk over to the server whilst the tech was mid-install and just move the mouse. Screensaver cut-out, install instantly speed up, "lady" manager went silent, then "Bye" and hung up.
Rang my boss back and told him what had transpired. Was rather glad when I got back to the office that afternoon and was informed he had canned their support agreement.
I was once in a rather large pharmaceutical company campus where a mobile user couldn't get his laptop to work on the network. After going through all the usual rigmarole I gave up on the telephone solution and electrd to walk the two and a half miles to his office.
By the time I got to his office, he was most apologetic. While I was walking to him, he worked out that he had managed to put the network cable in upside down. Yes - upside down.
Needless to say I didn't ask for a demonstration as to just how he had managed to achieve this; I simply thanked him for being so honest and proceeded to walk a number of miles back to the office.
I was fascinated to read that the Argus 500 with my hot backup software was still running the Advanced Gas-Cooled Nuclear Power Station after the 2MB Burroughs Disks were replaced. I debugged the OS on those machines.
One of those Burroughs disks had an intermittent problem when it was delivered, would drop a couple of bits once every few hours. A keen hardware engineer sat looking at a scope connected to the data lines waiting for the problem to occur. He spotted that there was a glitch when the vacuum pump operated - the disc was in a sealed enclosure, with a small window through which we could check how bad the scratches were after a head crash. He replaced a filter across the pump drive circuit, and the drive never lost a bit again.
My help-desk story: I was called up one night at 3am by a power station operator telling me that the printer wasn't working. It turned out it had run out of paper. I led him through connecting up a new box of fan-fold paper and went back to bed. An hour later I'd just got back to sleep when he rang me again: "the printer is working ok now" .
1. When I got my first subscription to the internet (28.8k mode, windows 98), I could not connect to my ISP. Now I am a developer and pretty hopeless at networking, so I ended up with the ISP support person going through the applications installed on their pc to see if it matched mine,...
Supt: Terminal Services
Me: Yep
Supt: TCP/IP
Me: Yep,.. uh hang on what was that one again?
Supt: TCP/IP
Me: Thats the missing one - I think its important somehow.
2. In my days in miltiary IT Support of an old mainframe application, I got a phone call from a Major in the Supply division.
Maj: I have been trying to logout from your application. it says "F10=Exit" and I have been pressing the "F" key, the "1" key and the "0" key and nothing is happening.
Me: O-O-O-O-OK sir, if you look above the main row of number keys on the keyboard, there is a set of 12 keys grouped into bunches of 4. They have F followed by a number on them - press the tenth one along.
(I was a private at the time, so was not permitted to laugh until I had signed off)
3. Helping a female Doctor friend over the phone.
Me: Type "dir c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc"
Her: OK, I made a mistake with the last character, it said "No such file or directory".
Me: Press F3 then backspace over the last character and change it
Her: (in amazement): The last line I typed just got redisplayed! How on earth did you do that?
4. Troubleshooting an HP Printer with JetDirect installed.
Me: Does the Printer XX99 have paper.
User: yes I am standing by it and it does.
Me: I just interrogated this printer using JetAdmin, it says "out of paper".
User: Definitely paper in all trays
Me: I have just printed a test page, it has gone through the printer OK, is it there?
User: Nope.
[15 minutes later]
Me: Is there a label on the printer, top-right? What does it say?
User: "Printer YY26"
Me: You have been standing by the wrong printer for the last 15 minutes.
In 1987 a colleague called me about a problem he was having with his home computer (we only had three PC's in the company then, of which I happened to have one). He had already spoken to the shop where he bought the machine and had taken it in, but the only solution they had was to wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows (3.11). Since he had some important spreadsheets on it that existed only on his machine, he obviously declined the offer and called me instead.
His problem was that everything had gone white - he could not see anything. A couple of questions later it transpired that the windows were still there, but the contents had disappeared.
Eventually I discovered that he had been fiddling around with settings, trying to make Windows look better, and managed to set both the background and font colour to white.
It took some mental gymnastics to fix, as I was not near a machine, so had to try and remember the commands to change it back to something he could read, but we eventually managed.
If he could he would have kissed me over the phone, he was so happy. Also a lot cheaper than what the shop wanted to charge him to rebuild his machine.
Admittedly some years ago:
Me: ".. and then you click on the Start button with your mouse.."
She: ".. oh I've never used a mouse before - how do it do that?"
Me: ".. Umm.. hold it like you a bar of soap and move it around the desk"
She: "I never use soap".
Silence - presumably she used shower gel though
.. for a big computer supplier, was told thsi story about a customer who came in before i started.
A man came in with a burnt out pc, the pc smelt of parafin(or something nice and flamable anyway). Puts it down on the desk and says "i want a new pc, this one caught fire, i was able to chuck it out of the window where it landed on a bail of hay"
it went to court and apparently he managed to get money back, dunno which judge decided on that.
Flames cause.. well ..
a CSO was a user with slightly-advanced access for basic IT maintenance at remote sites.
One numpty kept asking us every week or so to alter the hosts file for a printer IP address. When he eventually was asked why, he said it kept changing every time he rebooted it.
Last I heard he is an MSCE and causing even more obtuse problems.
I received a call from a user in a remote office. He complained that his Desktop was running slow. I RD into his computer and start poking around at his Start Up programs. Discovered kazaa running on a corporate desktop downloading movies and music.
I explained how bad this program not only could affect him but his job. He then stated, "Oh, maybe that is why my tablet is running slow as well?" He had kazaa running on it as well, over the corporate wireless.
We had a user drop a laptop down a lift shaft, down the little gap between the lift doors and the floor doors. I guess her system crashed. I am sure that takes some doing.
I also had a colleague - a road warrior - who, on a drunken night out, fell into the sea boarding a mutual friend's boat at a marina. The mutual friend , who had fished our man out of the sea, rang me next morning to tell me as it was quite a laugh. Road Warrior calls in later to say that he needed a new smartphone as he'd dropped his smartphone in the lav ('it fell out my jacket pocket!').
You could have heard a pin drop when I asked him why there was salt water in the 'lav'...
In a previous existence, one of my tasks was keeping an eye on a thing we used to run for the Ministry of Filth and Lies, or "BBC" as some are wont to call it. Among the clever things it did to amuse itself in the still watches of the night was automatically to execute stored searches of the Data Bases and e-mail the results to the intended recipient. One such recipient was a well-known TV presenter. His searches, though, had clearly been set up by someone else, as the automagic system soon received a plaintive reply from the well-known TV presenter, along the lines of "Help! What am I supposed to do with this?"
Because I am evil, and don't like wasting time wielding the Cluebat, I had set up an auto-reply saying "I am only a a piece of software and cannot help you. Pray call the Helldesk". The well-known TV presenter, however, did not heed the warning, and kept replying. Until, that is, I got fed up with him and deleted all his searches. Blissful e-silence ensued.
Eventually the Ministry of Filth and Lies declined to pay for the system any more, so we buried it in an unmarked grave at midnight with a stake through its heart, and used the disks to make soap. It would be cruel and heartless of me to mention the well-known TV presenter's name, but I'm betting the merest mention of his name makes Mik-ell How-erd squirm with embarrassment.
All the following are from my time spent at London Business School in the IT Dept.
"What Operating System are you running?"
Asked many times in 1993 - 1995 by MBA students (in an American accent): "How do I get on Innernet?". I watched those people become addicted to Windows 3.11 on laptops. Then to the "Innernet". I believe that these people, our future "business leaders", are responsible for a lot of the crap we still deal with. Microsoft spent their marketing dollars well.
I am manning the helpdesk. I get a call: "This is the 3rd time this week I have called you. There is a computer in its box outside my office. It is blocking the corridor. When will you come and move it."
I replied "Did it occur to you that maybe the porters left it there? Just because the box has a computer in it, why do you call IT? Please call the porters and ask them to remove it."
Another call to Helpdesk: "Hi, I think there is a problem with my computer screen. The picture is kinda wavy."
It's a hot day, so I ask "is there an electrical applicance that is switched on near the monitor?"
"Er, no."
Undaunted, I continued, "Is there a fan near your computer?"
"Yes there is. Please wait a moment ... There, I've moved it and the picture is fine. Thank you very much."
[The user was always civil, and genuinely pleased that I solved his problem. But note the automatic "no" to my question.]
"Good morning, IT Helpdesk."
"Hello, there is a problem with my computer. I want you to come and fix it." This said in an accusatorial tone. Therefore, the user will not get a visit unless I think there is a non-PEBKAC problem.
"Can you describe the problem?"
"The computer is white."
"You mean the box is white, or the picture is white?"
"The picture is white."
I suspected that this was becuase the VGA cable was loose. I've noticed this before. The first thing to do is to reseat the cable. In principle, if a user can put a key in a lock, the user is capable of doing this.
"And it was fine yesterday?"
"Has anything changed since yesterday?"
[Note the automatic "No"]
"Have you moved your PC recently?"
"Yes. This morning." This without a trace of irony.
"OK. Can you please disconnect the monitor cable and plug it in again? Not the electrical cable, the blah blah one."
"I've done it and it is still broken. Please come and fix it."
[That was too fast. I know she's lying.]
"Ah, maybe one of the pins is bent. Can you please remove the video cable from the monitor and tell me if the pins are bent?"
[The user will now worry that if there is aproblem, they might get the blame (after all, she moved the PC herself. Our porters flat refused to move PCs, even if we disconnected them, etc.) This gets the user to remove the cable and check it..]
"OK. The pins are not bent."
"Please put the cable back."
"OK. I've done it. It is fixed now."
I was in a bad mood when I got this one:
"Hi, I appear to have a memory problem."
"Then go and see a doctor." <click>
remember someone ringing me from another office saying that his computer was just beeping at him and the screen had frozen...
made him wait 5 mins then rang back and told him to shift the pile of papers from the edge of his keyboard that were resting on the small enter key...
then fed him a load about having to dial into the spy camera's in his office to find out what was wrong.
apparantly caused a bit of panic in that office, one of the directors tried to bollock me but was laughing too much...
I had a user ring me up to say his colleague could not logon to our system so i reset the password and ensured all was correct with his account. Still no joy so i asked what he was entering in the username, password, domain boxes but he said these options werent available on his screen. After a brief silence he then said "If i logoff first, would this help?"
Yes we all slap our heads and let out the Homer Simpson "D'oh!" when these things happen but for some, its what keeps them employed. A couple examples I have experienced as inbound tech for a local ISP.
A caller calls in with their internet is not working and they need it to work. Equipment all checks out fine, so what is going on with the computer. The computer is booting up with a black screen with the no system disk found message.
Another situation of everything plugged in correctly but not working was due to a modem being plugged into an outlet that was controlled by a wall switch. The modem had a battery back up so when the switch was off it would run for a few hours but stop working once the battery died. Once the battery died the phone would stop working since it was a Voip style of phone. The real kicker is this went on for a few weeks including dispatching two techs to the home where everything appeared fine.
Finally one that stands out in my mind is when someone called and while going through support the person requested that the caller close the window. Throughout the call this request was made a few times without ever catching on that when the close the window request was made, the caller would say hold on a second. Finally the last time the request to close the window is made, the caller stated that it is going to be difficult closing any further windows in her home because they all have been closed.
My old boss a few years back was a classic example of the Peter Principle, perpetually complaining about stuff like "my printer doesn't print" after selecting US paper size on an A4 printer and being unable to press the big green button.
She also claimed much expertise in writing presentations. The example below is one of many. I wasn't even IT support, by this point the real support guy was way beyond being patient.
(phone rings)
me: Hello, Graphics.
boss: There's something wrong with my computer, I can't see how to sort slides in Powerpoint.
me: Uh, OK. Just click the icon in the bottom left. It looks like four little slides.
boss: What? I can't see that.
me: It's on the lower left. Four little white squares in a 2 by 2 grid. Or you could also use the View menu at the top and select slide sorter.
boss: That's not right. I can see View but there's no slide sorter.
me: That's odd. Have you asked IT?
boss: They're no good. You'll have to come down. (hangs up)
(1 floor, 2 security doors later)
boss: See? Like I said, no icon. You're meant to know about this!
me: I see. Is everything on screen exactly as it was when you called?
boss: Of course! What's the problem?
me: Well, first, this document is in Word...
I imagine I've had loads of funnies over the past 13 or so years I've worked in IT support although I can't think of many at the moment.
I do recall a couple of annoying calls though from my last job working as an IT support bod for a large group of radio stations (who were taken over last year).
Now I was the one IT bod for the region with two Broadcast Engineers so to be helpful and learn a bit more about Broadcast Engineering I said I'd be happy to provide on-call cover 1 week in three. Now there was one user who tended to be a bit of a pain in the arse, he was a nice enough bloke and I got on okay with him but he had a tenancy to call for the littlest of things. This guy did travel news for the breakfast and drive time shows so did early shifts (5am start).
I got a call from him one day to say that one of the playout systems wasn't working and that he couldn't pre-record his show. Now the general idea was, only phone an engineer out of hours if the station has gone off air or if something mission critical has stopped working (i.e. the playout system gone down and they're playing off CDs, or the news computers don't work).
So he thought it was critical but I tried to explain in the best way possible whilst half asleep that it could wait (his show wasn't due to go out until 12pm and he was recording about 30 mins of links). Suffice to say I talked him through restarting the playout system but I was not impressed. Annoyingly he used to do that quite often.
On another occasion I had a call from a presenter at our most remote (geographically anyway) station for our region. He said that the computer for e-mail and internet wasn't working in the studio. Now this isn't as mission critical but still fairly important. After much over the phone troubleshooting and remoting in to find the PC was working okay I got ready to head up to the station (this was a Saturday morning about 10am and the journey was about a 180 mile round trip). Luckily before making the trip I called one of the other more clued up presenters who lived nearby who popped in. Turns out the presenter hadn't tried turning the monitor on. Was kind of my fault for not thinking of that but generally the kit was never turned off in the studios.
Apart from that I've had a couple of annoying calls, an ad's machine failing at 8pm and me spending the night messing about getting it going and things like KVM over ethernet boxes failing and the presenters not being able to work (usually this sort of thing happened over night or on a weekend, never during working hours!). The great thing about being on call though for that company was that we got a minimum of 30 mins time off in leiu for sorting things out so if a call took 5 minutes we'd get 30 mins off, I think I must have got about an extra week's holiday a year out of that.
I have also made some boo-boo's in the past...
Once when I was working at one of the radio stations I ended up taking a station off air for 5 mins (the station was automated the majority of the day from an old DOS based playout system). I pressed CTRL-ALT-DEL on the wrong keyboard and it rebooted the machine. Luckily it wasn't a much listened to station.
Also when I was much younger and learning more about computers I ended up screwing up my dad's PC a couple of times. Once I accidentally deleted the Stacker files from his hard drive so it wouldn't boot and all he was left with was a big hidden compressed file, and another time I set a BIOS password on his PC and forgot it. Luckily with the help of my local school technician (who I haven't seen in years, if you're reading this Francis, look me up on Facebook), he helped me get back up and running and saved me a grounding.
Mine's the one with the 40MB hard drive with Stacker compression set to 30:1 on it.
[This isn't a remote support one, but it's still a good one to show just how much trouble a little knowledge can create.]
I work on the other side of the wall from support, in development. For a product we were working on, we had to create a root file system image. To do this, we essentially created an entire directory tree of files, and then tar'd it up.
Being new at some of the things, we came up with a simple set of steps and automated the process
1. su root (so everything we make is root)
2. empty the working directory (by doing an 'rm -rf $WORK_DIRECTORY')
3. copy all the files
4. build the tar ball
One day, while developing the script, someone set the environment variable WORK_DIRECTORY incorrectly so it pointed at the root of our build server's directory tree. Lucikly, "/bin" and "/lib" were before "/home", so we only had to reinstall the OS, not rebuild the system.
Then we learned about fakeroot...
- John
A company I once worked for was writing the code for a railway simulator for a museum on a Pentium 500 with the keyboard rewired to the controls of a real train exhibit. (Basically a railway game).
One nice day the museum called my boss and told him in no uncertain terms that our software had "failed". Boss send me down with a work order of "Take a look at this and pull a few teeth while you are down there."
A 3 hour drive later I was staring at a BIOS error message: 3B stuck key. - our software hadn't even run yet. Took me 20 minutes to persuade the local manager to get me a replacement keyboard.
The project was cursed anyway. Two weeks later the board failed intermittently and guess what was blamed? And of course the customer never understood why they didn't get the same kind of gfx and functionality from a Pentium and 80K Marks worth of programming than from the 3M Marks custom hardware simulator used for train drivers' training.
I used to work as a helpdesk manager and one of our techs was taking a call and then bursts out laughing after he put the phone down.
I asked him what happened as the scenario is one of the managers 'upstairs' calls down to say he has forgotten his password (following a liquid lunch) my guy dutifully resets the password and says it's todays date, in numbers you'll need to reset it once you've logged in.
All good and perfectly normal...
The next thing he hears is beep beep beep beep beep beep in his ear, calm as you like he reminds the caller that he needs to use the keypad on his PC rather than the buttons on his phone....
I think that story is a common theme in IT departments.
I heard a strikingly similar story at my last job about one of the operations guys. At the time he was new to the department, and had gone into the server room to reboot one of the dev machines. Literally as he pushed the power button on the fascia, a colleague who happened to be with him at the time yelled 'STOP!! Thats the production box!!".
The production box had just started processing its end of day batch as well, so the poor guy couldn't let go of the button as this would kill the machine mid-batch and *really* screw things up. Despite all attempts there was no room to get a screwdriver or other implement past his finger to secure the recessed button ... so he had to stand there with his finger holding in the power button, slowly going blue, until the batch was done an hour or two later and the machine could be gracefully shut down.
There was a similar story at the same site about a different colleague who accidentally stepped into a void in the server room floor where there was a missing floor tile. Instinctively reaching out to catch himself from a nasty fall, he very unfortunately happened to slap his hand right on emergency power shutoff button with catastrophic results...
Has everyone forgotten the fiasco of PCs not booting up because of the punter leaving a floppy in the drive? Maybe I am too old...
A bit off-topic but in my youth I repaired people's motorbikes at their homes to supplement my income. I received a call from a rather eloquent gent saying that he had given up trying to fix his trial bike and could I come and have a look. Probably something electrical, he said. I arrived and looked at the bike - a nice little Yamaha trial bike. The guy told me he ran a firm of solicitors in the town and he certainly had a nice house and car to match. He said the bike wouldn't start one day and he had eventually ascertained that it had no spark. He had then changed the sparking plug, HT lead, coil and battery.
I wheeled the bike out of the large garage, checked the fuel and the fuel taps, checked it was in neutral, put the kill switch in the run position, checked the brakes, put the choke on, switched the ignition on and kicked on the kick-starter a couple of times wherupon the machine burst into life. I let the engine warm up and took the choke off and it idled quite nicely. I checked the lights and horn and found everything working OK. I switched it off and then saw the man was standing in amazement with his mouth open.
It turned out he had accidentally knocked the engine run-switch to the off position.
From then on (I did more work for him) he was known as the Off-Switch man...
PS Ditto the OS=Word for my mother.
PPS Ditto the plugging speakers into the mains for my sister!
PPS Someone saw my teacher sister "power-cycling" the school's electronic whiteboard to reset it and made her head of I(C)T!
I'm the sole sys and tech admin for a business critical system with over 2,500 users on it (some our own company workers, others contractors). As this system is (thankfully) independent from our IT department, our overseas helldesk has no access at all to it (and long may it stay that way!), so I am also the top level system support, giving me a user base of technical abilities from techno-whizz to techno-luddite to handle.
However, whilst most users know to call me directly for support, some inevitably call the helldesk instead, who have instructions to pass them on to me. This gives me dual potential sources of 'amusement':
1. Clueless Users - nuff said!
2. Incompetent Helldesk drones - let's just say that my standard cut'n'paste e-mail to users following an e-mail ticket from the helldesk begins "Hi, xxxx here - I have had a rather content free e-mail from the helpdesk saying you have a problem with System Y, can you fill me in on the details?" - knowing full well the poor person would have spent ages trying to explain the problem in the first place. Assuming the helldesk e-mail actually bothers to give me any contact details in the first place...
And now an example of each:
1. I had a request in for a new user account, which I duly created and dispatched. Having logged in successfully, next day the user called me asking for an account reset, which I did - new user, new password mislaid, it happens - or so I figured. Reset done, user logs in, all OK.
Next morning, a e-mail from the same user - their password had 'stopped working again since yesterday', could I reset it? Bit of eye rolling at my end, but one reset my end and everything is OK again.
The following morning they're back again! By now I'm suspicious, so I don't reset the password and try the login details I supplied to them yesterday. Hey presto, they work, and the Sys Admin spider sense tingles with a suspicion as to what is going on. Ten minutes and one phone call to the user later, suspicion confirmed - the system asks new users to type in their full name when they log in for the first time, and somehow this user believed (contrary to their experience with EVERY other system we have) that putting in their full name also changed their login name... Had inspiration not struck, goodness knows how many resets we would have gone through!
2. Not specifically related to my system, but I once spent about 15 minutes trying to explain to helldesk drone (who appeared to have left his brains in his sock drawer) in ever more simple terms that no, we couldn't confirm whether someone had access to a specific secure folder on the network because the user's main computer login was not working, and therefore they couldn't even get into the machine let alone that folder! My 'favourite' part of the conversation went as follows:
Drone: The user cannot log in?
Me: No
Drone: Well, can you get them to log in then, please? We need to close the case down.
Me: Well, it wasn't working this morning, but we'll try...
Drone: Please to try, we need to close the case down.
<one failed login attempt later>
Me: Sorry, they still can't log in?
Drone: They cannot log in?
Me: No.
Drone: Well, can they see xxxx folder, we need to close the case down?
Me: *here-we-go-again-sigh*
Company I used to work at is still running Windows 95 on all their desktops. A few years ago, some of the machines had corrupted the antivirus installs, and I called to get a disk to re-install. Now, I was a fleet mechanic, but was well on my way into transitioning to a unix admin, and had more than enough of a clue to do this simple task. It turned out the software required access to a central FTP server to pull updates, so I called the hell desk.
Me: "I'd like to get the user name and password for the antivirus update server, so the software can pull updates."
Helpdesk: "We don't have an FTP server."
Me: "Actually, you do, I found the server IP for the update server on one of the installs that is still working. All I need is the access to do antivirus updates."
...time passes, and no progress is made...
Helpdesk: "I'm sorry, I can't give you the password. You might hack the server."
Me (after completely losing all sanity) "Motherf___er, I do not need a f___ing read-only FTP password to hack your g_dd__m server!"
Things went downhill from there.
I got written up, but it was worth it...
As per the title, I'm a helldesk analyst for a firm with around 2,500 LAN and WAN users. We have around 400 users each and deal with everything form software how tos to catastrophic hardware failure (e.g. terminals don't work very well when underwater for some unknown reason).
A few stand out as truly memorable:
1) The screen says "no video input" on it. What do I do? - try turning the PC on. Minimum half a dozen per week.
2) I'm clicking on the picture on the screen but nothing happens - the picture that's in black and white with a notice saying "this is a screen shot" on it. Perhaps it needs a blinking message in neon pink and lime green, something subtle... A couple of these every week without fail.
3) A one off, 20 minutes spent trying to guide someone to the single, solitary silver release catch located on the side of a black printer. They couldn't see it. At all. 20 minutes on the phone, 15 spent on mute screaming with frustration and literally beating my head on the desk. Having everyone else in the department crying with laughter REALLY helped my temper no end. Finding out that the user couldn't tell left from right and never thought to check the other side was truly, truly priceless.
Flames 'cos I was positively incandescent then!
" Has everyone forgotten the fiasco of PCs not booting up because of the punter leaving a floppy in the drive?"
Oh yes!
Where I worked 12 years ago, the on-site IT support role was given to three managers who knew little about PCs.
Once, one was summoned to a PC. Five minutes later, another arrived, followed by a third shortly afterwards. My curiosity go the better of me, I approached them, ejected the floppy, pressed the return key, and walked away without saying anything.
Some time later, one of them sat down at a W95 machine with a stack of floppies, Clearly intending to back up the 20MB database to restore it to the replacement W98 PC. I didn't have the heart to tell him it wouldn't work. Not until he'd finished the backup, that is.
Back when I was writing and supporting an old COBOL green-screen app, I had the following call.
"I can't find the 'any' key."
I had to explain to the bemused user (without laughing) that she could in fact press any of the keys on her keyboard.
God's honest truth - it REALLY happened!
Biting the hand that feeds IT © 1998–2020


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Most Important Video Ever Shows How McDonald's Chicken McNuggets Are Made
You may now feel free to eat your McNuggets without any worry.
Rumors about how McDonald's Chicken McNuggets are made have been around longer than some of the fries that get buried in the bottom of a Happy Meal, but the fast food goliath seeks to dispel the chatter with this new video in which we see just how they end up on your tray.
Of course, this is McDonald's Canada releasing video, so who knows what's going on south of the border? All we know is we loved this video because it's awesome to hear people say 'pro-cess' instead of 'prah-cess,' like we Americans do.

subset: commoncrawl


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Aggregate Demand
Aggregate Demand is the relationship between the aggregate price level and the quantity of output. AD is similar to the law of demand that already exists but the factors that affect AD are slightly different than demand. The factors that affect AD are household consumption, government spending, investment, and net exports. It is important to note that AD is the same in both the short run and the long run. Aggregate Demand represents how a change in a certain price level will change expenditures on all services and goods in an economy. There are several components that make up AD and explain how it works. These are:
The AD curve is downward sloping due to the interest rate effect, the international effect, and the wealth effect.


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The staff of the Community Action Council always made our best efforts to find the lowest costs. We took advantage of state-wide pricing contracts to ensure that the lowest price has been found. In spite of our efforts, ACC's contract pricing and negotiating techniques resulted in lower pricing on over half of the suppliers reviewed in this project. The negotiations with our postage meter and copier suppliers were particularly valuable, helping us lock in large discounts for five-year contract periods.
Ohio Valley Wholesale was very pleased with the results we experienced with our ACC cost containment project. We achieved significant savings consistent with their original estimates. The bidding and bid acceptance process was smooth and easy, with no pressure to accept any particular bid. The follow-up and billing process was clear and accurate. Overall, I was impressed with your professionalism, the ease of implementation and execution, and – most importantly – the results that were achieved.
We worked with Alliance Cost Containment to help us analyze our spending and determine if we had the potential for cost reductions. Their team did an excellent job of involving the right people and keeping the meetings and staff interruptions to a minimum. The reports we received were informative and professionally prepared. What we loved about the process was the zero risk. If we didn't save money, we were not out-of-pocket. We were pleased with both the results and how the process was conducted. We would not hesitate to recommend ACC to other folks interested in obtaining cost savings based on actual results.
The program was a major win. ACC's VP met with me in person, and then we communicated a few times by e-mail. After we provided the standard information they needed, ACC put together a high-level report with recommendations for us to approve. After that, the savings rolled in. I suggest that anyone trying to contain costs give ACC a call.
We were very pleased with the services of Alliance Cost Containment. There were no downsides for us to look at several areas of expenses to see if we could reduce some of our costs. The end result was significant amounts saved in multiple areas. Our relationship with ACC helped improve our overall financial performance.
We were a billion dollar operation during our first engagement with ACC. Since then, we have doubled our revenue. They secured us lower prices in an area of MRO manufacturing facilities that we could not have done without them. They had key contacts, relations with premium vendors and a network of companies that returned remarkable savings for us — more. Their process was transparent and proof was quantitative.
The obvious benefit to mention is how much money we saved after partnering with ACC. Equally impressive, however, was how little work was needed internally for it to happen. ACC rolled up their sleeves and went to bat for us. After pulling our records, our job was essentially finished. They worked through the complicated elements like contracts and supplier negotiations, taking the time to learn about our specific purchasing needs. They found savings in every category they reviewed and cut 20% off of our annual spending.
ACC reduced costs in ways our internal procurement team never considered. They really leveraged their buying power for impressive savings company-wide. We benefited greatly from Alliance Cost Containment's cost analysis and negotiations. I would absolutely recommend this service.
We were impressed by the straightforwardness of ACC and their philosophy that if they don't generate documented savings, then they don't get paid. With their buying power we were able to negotiate better pricing with our existing vendors and realized some really outstanding savings. Their initial findings were so impressive that I extended our agreement to utilize them in other departments of our organization.
What separated ACC from their competitors was that they did not come in making strong promises. They were disciplined, did thorough homework and were very quantitative. Their team poured over all of our purchasing info, gathered the facts and did an impressive analysis to find where our organization could benefit most. We came out with more than 35% in savings that went right into our bottom line.
We were extremely impressed with what ACC did for our organization. Their consultants were very knowledgeable, but more importantly, they helped us save more than 30% on our energy and shipping costs. At the beginning of the project they laid out a game plan so there were no surprises. We went by that plan and the result was a major win for our business.
ACC achieved savings in significant areas. Our relationship with them was extremely helpful because we have several campuses across the state and no internal procurement department. ACC helped us identify areas where consolidating expense would be beneficial and turned those findings into savings. ACC's buying power helped us see benefits across the entire 7,000 student institution and saved us more than $105,000 annually.


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iLEARN is an ATO (Accredited Training Organization) of APMG for
For an online verification of accreditments, do the research with
P3O is a mix of principles, processes, roles and techniques aligned with PRINCE2, MSP e M_o_R which facilitate Portfolio, Programme and Project Management.
P3O Foundation course provides participants a knowledge of P3O method that enables them to work with it in an effective way or within a team work, by applying this method.
Classroom courses are confirmed approximately three weeks before the actual start of the course, reaching the minimum number of participants required. For this reason, please, contact us before making any payments.
The aim of this qualification is to confirm that the candidate has acquired sufficient knowledge and understanding of the P3O guidelines to be able to interact efficiently with a Portfolio Office that works to this model.
The Foundation qualification is a pre-requisite to the Practitioner qualification.
Provided material:
To be able to take the exam, it is necessary to have read and accepted the terms and conditions of the examination institute. The acceptance of such terms and conditions will have to be confirmed when taking the exam.
P3O Foundation official certificate


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The Alphas were Jem'Hadar who were created in the Alpha Quadrant in 2374, after the Dominion realized that no reinforcements could come through the Bajoran wormhole.
The Alphas were genetically engineered to fight against Alpha Quadrant species. They believed themselves to be superior to the "Gammas", Jem'Hadar who were bred in the Gamma Quadrant, leading to considerable friction between the two groups. They believed that their actions better demonstrated their loyalty to the Founders than just words. They were also more willing to take independent actions which advanced their goals, while Gammas only did what they were ordered to, and no more.
The first significant combat action of the Alphas was the brief capture of the USS Defiant under Kudak'Etan. (DS9: "One Little Ship") In addition to being specifically engineered for combat against Alpha Quadrant species, Alphas had a slightly different skin tone than their Gamma counterparts, appearing to be more green and less blueish grey, as well as more prominent head crests in place of the Gammas' bone-Mohawk ridges.
List of Alphas Edit
- In the story of Star Trek Online, many Alphas remained in the Alpha Quadrant after the Treaty of Bajor and aligned themselves with the resurgent True Way.


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"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
To commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College teams up with Indiana State University to serve Wabash Valley nonprofit agencies on Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, for the MLK Day of Service. Student volunteers will lend a helping hand to support local community agencies in their missions.
Malia Hoffman, coordinator of campus ministry explains the importance of engaging in this service opportunity. "On a day dedicated to celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important for our students to continue his legacy of service by reaching out to the community and helping others. I hope our students gain an appreciation of what Dr. King went through to help others and are inspired to continue serving."
The event will take place noon – 4 p.m. Registration will begin at noon in Dede I, Hulman Memorial Student Union at Indiana State. Lunch will be provided. After lunch, volunteers will disperse to their service sites from 1– 4 p.m.
To participate with the SMWC team, contact Malia Hoffman, coordinator of campus ministry at or (812) 535-5244.


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Samsung's ATIV S might be late to the party, but the festivities are still in full swing in the Windows Phone 8 world as we close out the year. Since receiving our review unit, we've given you an unboxing and hardware tour, compared it to the Lumia 920, given it the full review treatment, and talked it to pieces on today's episode of the Pocketnow Weekly. Now it's time to put it up against its Android-powered predecessor, its spiritual sibling, the Galaxy S III.
Normally our comparison videos focus on specs, app launch times, benchmarks, and so forth. With a video like this, though, that's impractical. The platform differences between Android and Windows Phone are extreme, and if you're a prospective buyer, you've already given thought to which ecosystem you're committing to.
That said, there are significant hardware similarities between these smartphones, so many that the ATIV S's unofficial nickname around these parts is "the Galaxy S III with Windows Phone" (creative, I know). So, for those buyers still vaccillating between Microsoft and Google, or those just curious about how different or alike these devices actually are, click the video below to get a little nerdy with us. In this "just for fun" comparison, we quickly pit the ATIV S against the Galaxy S III in three areas: build, display, and camera. (Spoiler alert: these phones are a lot alike!)


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Friday, June 06, 2008
Gliding Into D-Day
"Yes, yes, I'm painfully aware," I responded as I rolled over to lull myself back to sleep trying hard not to think of all the many, many things I needed to accomplish during my fourth day of summer… mainly because it will be all over before you know it.
Yes, I'll admit it….it does seem strange for my husband and I to begin our day discussing D-Day of all things. It wasn't the only thing we discussed, however. I also mentioned the durn birds had already started belting out their chirps, chortles, and whistles to each other, and our cat, (actually a small child disguised in a cat's body) was already at the bedroom door meowing to be set free to the confines of the back yard. Dear Hubby and I bantered back and forth regarding who would let the cat out. It seemed fair to me that he should let the cat out since he had to get up anyway. He argued that the cat wasn't his. She isn't mine either, and anyway,I didn't have anywhere to be…..anywhere but my soft, warm bed.
I tried to divert the sporadic conversation away from the cat. "Hey," I said, "have you noticed that the top six news stories so far this morning have all involved murder? Sheesh!"
Hubby ignored Atlanta's murder rate and said, "Hey, if you go let the cat out you can make the coffee before you come back." He gave my shoulder a rub as an attempt to convince me.
"No, no, no, no…."
We bantered back for a bit. The cat's meow eventually developed into a cry that might as well have been nails on a chalkboard. I gave in and flipped the covers back, "Ok, ok," I said, "but I'm NOT making your coffee." I half expected the cat to have her back legs crossed. She didn't, but she did make a quick path to the door.
Hubby chuckled as I stalked off. As a parting shot he reminded me once more, "Hey, it's D-Day tomorrow." I grimaced.
So, it's D-Day again. Another D-Day and I don't have IT prepared. Another D-Day and I have failed yet again to get my research together to honor my paternal uncle….Cyrus "Buck" Carson, a glider pilot during the D-Day invasion.
Earlier in the week it dawned on me D-Day was almost upon us. I got busy and began looking for the order of service from Uncle Buck's funeral a few years ago. I had saved it because Uncle Buck's wartime exploits were detailed on the folded brochure along with his picture. For the past two years I have let D-Day come and go and have not written a thing about Uncle Buck because I was depending on that elusive paper.
I had saved the paper because I knew I could use it in someway with my World War II unit. As a history teacher I feel it is very important that my colleagues and I not only know our content backwards and forwards, I also feel we need to know and understand how the event has impacted our own family….our lives. We are then so much better prepared when one of our students asks the inevitable question, "Why is this important?" or the more popular "So what?"
By connecting to events in a personal way I am able to help my students connect in their own way. Maybe their grandmother or grandfather served during World War II or the Korean War. Perhaps their father was a POW during Vietnam? Perhaps their grandmother has hung onto a ration book from World War II. What a great way to bring history up close and personal.
I've looked everywhere for my papers regarding Uncle Buck and his wartime exploits. I mean everywhere. I know I saw it just six months ago. I know because I remember saying to myself, "Self…..stick this where you can find it come the first of June. You're going to need it." Guess I stuck it somewhere really good. Now, I've run out of time. I can't even call my cousin to say send me something……I'm out of time.
But I've made a decision…I'm not going to let not having the paper I need stop me from writing about Uncle Buck. Much like our forefathers who were members of our "Greatest Generation" I will plow on ahead and look my foe straight on win or loose. Afterall, I call always write a follow up post when I come upon the paper, can't I?
Growing up my Uncle Buck was at my house quite a bit. My aunt would stay inside and talk to my mom while Uncle Buck would get involved in some outside project with my dad…..usually something mechanical. I would enjoy their conversations popping back and forth between the men and the women taking it all in. My Uncle worked for Lockheed back then. I knew he had an important job working with the C5A Galaxy plane. Family lore says that when a wheel came off one of the planes during the 70s upon landing, and the wheel went bouncing across the runaway, my uncle was very involved with figuring out why the wheel fell off in the first place.
During all the times I spent with my uncle he would always engage me in grown up conversation regarding current events, mechanical things, and even a bit of history. I'm not sure what Uncle Buck loved more…..talking to people, or having them listen to him talk. You didn't get a lot of words in….
Yes, my uncle was involved in aviation, but I didn't give it much thought. I mean lots of my relatives had worked for Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia at some point in time. It never even crossed my mind he had ever done anything else but go to work or wait on my aunt, a woman that my Uncle Buck simply adored.
It wasn't until later in his life that it dawned on me he had served during World War II and had been involved in the D-Day invasion. I was floored…simply floored. During one reunion visit I got him to talk (this was Uncle Buck….it wasn't hard) and his story was amazing. I had recently watched the movie The Longest Day and was really intrigued by the gliders and the men they carried in prior to the invasion by sea. Just a few days later I'm sitting with my own relative telling me things about flying a glider and some of the horrible things he witnessed that day. He cried as he related some of his memories, and I welled up with love, respect and pride…..so much pride for this man who was simply my Uncle Buck.
When we think of the he Normandy D-Day invasion our mind often rests on images on of the amphibious landing craft heading into the beach and waves of men wading up out of the water while being assalted by thousands of bullets, but the invasion actually began with overnight parachute and glider landings. Had it not been for my Uncle Buck and the other members of the US Army Aircorp Glider Pilot Corps the first wave of soldiers would not have gotten to the shores of Normandy as they did. The soldiers who were carried on the gliders had the very important job of securing the right and left flanks of the beach prior to the advance of the larger invasion force on the beach.
So, what's it like to fly a glider? At this website I found a vivid description from a veteran American glider pilot. He said: "Imagine", he said, "flying a motorless, fabric-covered, CG-4A glider, violently bouncing and jerking on a 11/16 inch thick nylon rope 350 feet back of the C-47 tow plane. You see the nervous glider infantrymen behind you, some vomiting, many in prayer, as you hedge-hop along at tree-top level instinctively jumping up in your seat everytime you hear bullets and flak tearing through the glider. You try not to think about the explosives aboard. It's like flying a stick of dynamite through the gates of Hell."
Uncle Buck told me the hardest part of flying a glider into an invasion situation was at the moment of release from the tow plane. At that moment the pilot was committed to landing no matter what. There was no way for him to gain altitude. This means that many gliders had little wiggle room if the landing zone was under fire, mined, or if there was large equipment, buildings, etc. blocking the way.
The actual flights began on June 5th….and what of the glider pilots themselves? George Buckley's account is the closest I've found that mirrors many of the triumphs, fears, and tragedies that my Uncle Buck told me. Buckley relives his first few minutes over France:
Shortly after we crossed the coast of France, small arms fire and heavier flak started coming up at the planes at the front of the formation, and intensified the closer we got to our LZ. It looked like fluid streams of tracers zigzagging and hosing across the sky, mixed in with the heavier explosions of flak. One wondered how anything could fly through that and come out in one piece. After the front of the formation had passed over the German positions and woke them all up, we at the tail end of the line began to get hit by a heavier volume of small arms fire which sounded like corn popping, or typewriter keys banging on loose paper as it went through our glider. I tried to pull my head down into my chest to make myself as small as possible; I tucked my elbows in close to my body, pulled my knees together to protect the vital parts of my manhood and was even tempted to take my feet off the rudder pedals so they wouldn't stick out so far. At that point I really started to sweat.
Buckley also recounts what happened to several of the individual gliders that made it into Normandy that morning including Glider No. 1. It crashed into a line of trees and the co-pilot was killed along with Brig. Gen. Pratt, the Assistant Division Commander of the 101st Airborne Division. I remember Uncle Buck telling me about Pratt's death. The story goes that many felt the glider was overloaded. It also didn't help that a steel plate had been added to the floor of the glider to protect the flight crew from flak.
Another glider pilot, James Di Pietro, tells of his D-Day glider experience here and a brief history of the combat glider can be found here.
I started off this post with a little mundane morning banter between myself and my husband. It seems a bit out of place, doesn't it? I mean isn't this supposed to be a remembrance of my uncle and the other glider pilots that served during the D-Day invasion and during the following days?
I guess the point I'm attempting to make by including the back and forth between my husband and I is the men and women who served with the Allied forces during World War II ensured our right to the mundane. Yes, we have new enemies today to worry about, but my only real worries this morning was avoiding making the coffee, hoping the cat didn't have an accident on my carpet, and finding some little piece of paper I thought was required to pay proper homage to uncle.
I don't even have a clue….can't even begin to fathom what my uncle and the other men at Normandy went through that day and I'm worried about a piece of paper and getting out of a warm bed.
Context and perspective……I need to get a grip.
If you are able to get close to a member of our Greatest Generation today whether they were at Normandy or not….give them a hug and say thank-you.
See many of my other posts regarding World War II here
See my tribute to the war service of my maternal uncle here
4 comments:
- Mrs. Bluebird said...
Thank you so very much for this.
God Bless your Uncle Buck.
My family didn't have anyone in the invasion of D-Day - my mom's cousin was killed in March of '45, a bit later. However, in my family we've always been very strong believers in respecting and thanking those men and women who, quite honestly, saved the world. June 6th has always been special to us. Before 9/11, I always flew my flag on June 6th - now it flies every day.
I remember vividly when President Reagan did his speech there in Normandy, honoring those who fought and died during D-Day. And I remember how fitting, somehow, it was that he passed away nearly on the same day. He was the first President I voted for.
And then there's flag day on the 14th, and when you collect Rev War flags (like I do) and your hubby is a Civil War flag historian, that's a pretty special day too.
And my birthday is the 15th...but that's something I don't celebrate anymore. :)
Again, thank you.
- M-Dawg said...
Lovely post EHT -
I've been to the American Cemetary in Normandy and all I can say is that it was very emotional for me. Those men buried in that cemetary gave their lives for my freedom - wow.
My grandfather fought in Battle of the Bulge and never spoke about it. I'm glad that your Uncle spoke about his experience to you.
- Cotter Pen said...
June 6 is a difficult day for me to forget. See my blog http://cotter-b.blogspot.com/2008/06/birthday-greeting-bottle-of-wine.html I have visited Normandy several times, as it holds an almost mystical attraction for me. Also gliders. Long story. I served in the U.S. Army in the 1960's in France, alongside an airfield where gliders took off in-tow, were dropped like kites on a broken string, then floated and circled again and again, then landed. I loved to watch them.
- Dan Edwards said...
Thanks for the great post! One of my Uncles was at Normandy; he piloted a C-47 dropping the paratroopers off. His plane was hit by flak and went down. He told me he thought he'd jumped out from somewhere between four and three hundred feet up.....He had numerous adventures and finally, was told by his capturers, "Fur sich, der Krieg ist uber." Off to POW camp he went.
Uncle Stan used to talk to kids at a middle school in suburban Chicago area.....and the teacher of one class got him to tell her enough of it to create a short book, "D-Day and Beyond: A true story of Escape and POW survival" by Julie Phrend and Stanley Edwards, Jr.
We need to get down the stories of our family history. I have three cassette tapes I made while talking to my uncle. I need to transcribe them sometime.....
Again, thanks for your D-Day story !


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Spain: Girona & Costa Brava Guided Bicycle Vacation
- Departure Date: Saturday May 02 2020
- How to Reserve
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Check out our low-cost trip extentions below:
Your Flights
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Rooms are assigned by hotels at check-in. To make a reservation for more than two guests, please complete another reservation online or contact VBT directly at 866.787.9974 or via email at email@example.com.
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In the Midst of the Slums, a Pool of Talent Waiting to be Tapped
Children from the Mukuru Talent Development center showcasing their creativity in the Lunga Lunga slum in Kenya.
From Bombay to Manila to the favelas in Rio, more than one billion people are estimated to be currently living in slums. According to the United Nations [1], this figure is expected to surpass the two billion mark by 2030.
With no roof or solid walls and no access to clean water or toilets, living conditions in the slums are unhygienic and hazardous. Considering that approximately 70% of slum dwellers are under 30, the future of the slums rests in the hands of the young generations. What do these youth need to reverse the trend and improve the daily lives of slum dwellers?
Transforming the slums from within
During a recent trip to Brussels [2], I met Benedetta Mwongeli Kyengo, a social sciences student and founder of the Mukuru Talent Development [3] (MTD) center. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, this community organization seeks to help young people living in slums develop their creative talents.
Kyengo was raised in the Lunga Lunga slum. She was 25 years old when she launched the Mukuru project. She envisioned a place for meeting and exchanging ideas, where "young people would gain the confidence needed to take control of their lives."
I was expecting her to explain to me how her initiative would help these young people leave the slums, but I was mistaken. When one is growing up in a slum, isn't finding a way to get out a matter of urgency?
"Leave the slums? That is all well and good, but to go where?" Kyengo told me that the majority of young people in the slums drop out of school at a very early age without any qualifications. They know nothing but hardship and believe they can do nothing to change their circumstances. This attitude leads some of them to embrace a life of drugs and violence. Many would like to leave to avoid that fate, but where can they go, and will they be able to start a new life?
Nurturing talent
MTD's mission is not to help young people escape poverty, but rather to help them overcome it. By giving them the skills and the confidence they need to have the courage to be vocal and realize their plans, Mukuru provides them with an opportunity to take ownership of their future and transform not only their lives, but the lives of their families as well.
For MTD, art, sports, and fashion are an integral part of vocational training because being a success is not just about learning to "do;" it is first and foremost about learning to believe in oneself.
Dance, music, acrobatics, karate, yoga, and jewelry and sandal making are just a few of the myriad activities offered by the center. Events are organized on a regular basis to present the work of the young people and showcase their creations.
As a result of the support provided by MTD, dozens of out-of-school youth have been able to earn an income from their work at the center, and many plan to start their own businesses. With the help of Kyengo and other MTD volunteers, these young people have found a way to do something that they like while contributing to the development of their community. Isn't empowering young people to take back control of their lives the most effective way to bring about fundamental change?
To learn more, go to Mukuru Talent Development's website [3] and Facebook [4] page.
Tell us, what is your strategy to help alleviate poverty?
- Tags:
- Community Driven Development [5]
- jobs [6]
- Slums [7]
- Youth [8]
- Urban Development [9]
- Social Development [10]
- Africa [11]
- Kenya [12]


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Court rules on police search
In the only decision of the day, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that police do not act unconstitutionally if they conduct a search following an arrest, even if the arrest violated a state law. The ruling, written by Justice Antonin Scalia, came in Virginia v. Moore (06-1082) involving the discovery of crack cocaine in a search of a driver who had been stopped for driving on a suspended license.
So long as the police had probable cause to make the arrest, the Court said, it makes no difference that a state law barred police from making an arrest when the crime involved was only a misdemeanor traffic offense. "An arrest based on probable cause serves interests that have long been seen as sufficient to justify the seizure" of evidence after the arrest, the opinion added.
In the circumstance that confronted David Lee Moore of Portsmouth, Va., in 2003, police were supposed to give him only a ticket. But, instead, they arrested him, took him to a hotel where they conducted a personal search of Moore, finding about 16 grams of cocaine in a jacket pocket and $516 in cash in a pants pocket. The evidence was used to convict Moore of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute it. He was sentenced to five years in prison, with 18 months of the sentence suspended.
The Court noted that, with its policy on ticketing only after a traffic offense, "Virginia chooses to protect individual privacy and dignity more than the Fourth Amendment requires." But, it added, that choice does not make a resulting search invalid under the federal Constitution.
"Moore would allow Virginia to accord enhanced protection only on pain of accompanying that protection with federal remedies for Fourth Amendment violations, which often include the exclusionary rule. States unwilling to lose control over the remedy would have to abandon restrictions on arrest altogether. This is an odd consequence of a provision designed to protect against searches and seizures," Scalia wrote.
The opinion was joined by all of the members of the Court except Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She supported the result only, saying she would read the historical record differently.


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Prada Sweatshirts
Established in Milan, Italy in 1913 by Mario Prada, and pushed to global prominence by granddaughter Miuccia, the Italian luxury label is known worldwide for its strong design principles and aura of offhand sophistication. Rising in the 1980s with a series of durable, now signature nylon totes and Saffiano calfskin bags, the label's collections have thrived on their consistent defiance of high-end standards. Miuccia's Prada has carefully balanced industrial innovation with artisanal tradition, in the process delivering some of the most iconic high-end apparel and accessory designs in living memory. Always crafting its products in Italy, but always also seeking the next relevant move forward, Prada looks outwards while maintaining a lineage that respects history and demands quality.
There are currently no products available for Prada Sweatshirts.
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WhisperKOOL Cabinet Systems
WhisperKOOL Cabinet Cooling Systems incorporate WhisperKOOL's newest advances in cooling technology. The WhisperKOOL cabinet systems use the Platinum series controllers, which use multiple monitoring probes to ensure superior temperature management and efficiency. WhisperKOOl Cabinet cooling units are designed specifically for use in cabinets and restricted air spaces, and offer quiet and efficient operation. The control systems offer adjustable humidity and energy saving, quick chill and anti-frost modes. These WhisperKOOL Cabinet Cooling Systems can be used to replace other cabinet cooling systems, including WhisperKOOL 1000, 1100, 1200 and 2300 models. Replacing other brands of cooling units may require modifications. Call us at 1-800-876-8789 for more information.


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Hi, I am Sachin 17 yrs old studying in class twelfth. My mom Kavita is a 36 yrs old sexy eyes big boob. This is the story about how my mom made me fuck her. I am telling you the story from my momĺs point of view as she told me how was she feeling before she saw me and what made her to have sex with her son Mom shifted restlessly in her bed. Sleep had been evading her for the past 2 hours. It was almost 2'o clock in the night. Dad was snoring as usual. But that was not the reason why she was not able to sleep. She was used to dad's snoring. After all she had been hearing it for almost 19 years now. What had made her restless this night was the movie she had seen on Cable TV earlier that night. It was one of those Friday night adult movies. Images from that movie kept coming back to her mind. Whatĺs more her life was so similar to the actress's life in that movie. She could not follow everything in the movie as it was in English and she hardly knew a few words in that language.
Nevertheless she had been able to follow the essence of the story. Like her, the woman in the movie too had a husband who had lost his manhood. The woman lived a life devoid of physical intimacy for 5 years. Then she succumbed and became involved into an extra-marital affair. For the past two hours mummy had been thinking about her own life. My dad Rajesh had lost his manhood almost six years ago. For six long years she had been without sex. Somehow it had seemed tolerable for these six years but tonight it somehow seemed unbearable. She wondered if she would never again have sex in her life. Mom had thought of sometimes having an extra marital affair but it scared her. What if somebody finds out? She did not want to take all those risks. But yet the fact remained that she yearned for a man today as she lay there beside her impotent husband. Mom wasn't bad looking. In fact she looked quite sensuous as she lay there on the bed. She was in a sari. She normally changed into a gown before going to bed but today she had not bothered to change. She had a pretty face, which somehow looked prettier due to her sadness.
Her skin complexion was that typical dusky Indian one. Her hairs were long. She was a bit fat but her body was broadened out all over. Hence the extra weight served rather to enhance her appeal. Her breasts were big and they were still firm even though she was almost 36 years old now and mother of two sons, me and Ajay 15 yrs old and a daughter Shikha 14yrs old who was studying in hostel. Mom was feeling a bit thirsty. So she got up and walked out of the room towards the kitchen. She was about to enter the kitchen when she suddenly noticed the faint light of the night bulb coming from my room. She was puzzled. I never slept with any light on. So mom figured out that I must be awake. But she wondered what was I doing so late in the night. She walked towards my room. The door was slightly open. She pushed open the door. Mom was taken aback by what she saw. I was sitting on the bed. My trousers and undies were pushed down to my ankles. In one hand I held a book. My other hand held my hard and stiff organ. I also was totally taken aback. For quite a few moments neither knew how to react. Then I suddenly pulled a blanket that was lying on the bed to cover my nudity. I was feeling terribly ashamed and embarrassed.
As I lowered my head I swore at myself for not latching the door. Mom too felt embarrassed. She knew she had no reason to feel embarrassed. After all it wasnĺt she who had been caught doing something naughty. But still her sense of embarrassment refused to go away. She wondered whether she should say anything to me but she really had no idea what to say. She just walked back to her room. As mom laid herself on the bed she suddenly realized something - she was wet! A sense of guilt pervaded her whole mind as she suddenly grasped why she had felt embarrassed. It was because her body had reacted to the nudity of her own son and her mind unconsciously registered this and made her feel embarrassed. The image of me i.e. her son with her trousers down suddenly flashed back to her mind and she felt a tingling sensation all over her body. She tried to think of something else to clear his mind of this dirt but the image kept coming back to her again and again. The tingling sensation became sharper and she had to reluctantly admit to herself that it felt nice. She tried hard to suppress her arousal but the more she tried the more intensified it became. After some time she just gave up the struggle. She let her mind recall the image of my hardness.
She thought about how big it had looked. She had been surprised by its size. After all I was just a kid studying in class twelfth. Yet it had seemed longer than probably her palm. As the turmoil in momĺs mind continued she suddenly realized that if she wanted I could satisfy her. I could give her what she wanted so badly. This incestuous thought made her wild with arousal. She knew it was 'paap' letting such thoughts into her mind but it made her feel so good that she simply didn't care anymore. She wondered how incredible it would feel doing it actually, when the thought itself was exciting her so much. For almost half an hour her thoughts continued like this. Then suddenly the desire to fornicate became unbearable. She got up from the bed and walked out of her room. A part of momĺs mind yelled at her 'Kavita, tu pagal to nahin ho gai! Kya karne ja rahi hai tu! Woh tera apna beta hai!!'. But mom was too aroused and the lust that had been unsatisfied for six years now manifested itself with a ferocious intensity and made her ignore the voice of her conscience. As she walked towards my room she had many apprehensions. Will I find her attractive? Will I agree? Will I be disgusted by the idea? However mom simply didnĺt care. She was just mad with desire. I had latched the door now. Mom knocked at it lightly.
After 2-3 knocks, I opened the door. The room was dark but in the faint moonlight mom could see me peering out at her puzzled and wondering why she had now come back. Mom entered the room and switched on the night bulb and then closed the door behind her. I meanwhile felt sure that she was now going to reproach me and tell me how ashamed she was of me. With head lowered I just stood there waiting for her to begin. But what I heard surprised me. 'Sachin, mein tujhe dantane nahin aai hoon. Mein darasal yahaan sona chahti hoon. Tere papa wahaan itni aawaz kar rahe hain ki mujhe neend hi nahin aa rahi.' Saying this mom laid herself on the bed. 'Chal tu bhi aa ja.' I looked at her confused and obeying her I got into the bed beside her. Mom stayed silent for some time. Then suddenly she asked him 'Sachin, tu woh roz karta hain?' I nodded feeling shy and embarrassed. 'Woh kitab kounsi hai, jisko tu dekh raha tha us time? Mujhe dikha zara. I looked at mom wondering why she wanted to see the book. When she again asked for the book, I brought it out from under the mattress and gave it to her. She switched on the dim light and opened the book.
It was full of pictures of naked girls posing themselves in tempting ways. 'Sachin, inme sabse accha photo kounsa lagata hai tujhe?' As soon as I heard this I started getting aroused. I was still very confused though. What was happening was unbelievable - my mother lying beside me at 4 in the night turning the pages of a dirty book and asking which photo did I like most! I had no idea what my mother's intentions were but now I knew in a vague way that something exciting was going to happen. Mom meanwhile once again asked me 'Bata na, sabse accha kounsa lagta hai tujhe?' I shyly took the book and opened the page that contained my favorite picture. Mom looked at the girl in the picture. She was a voluptuous girl with big breasts. She pointed her finger towards the boobs of the girl in the picture and asked me 'Yeh itne bade-bade hain, isi liye acchi lagti hain na tujhe?' I was terribly hard by now. I looked at momĺs face. She was looking at me in a motherly and affectionate way. Then she smiled and said, 'Sachin itna sharma mat. mere sawal ka jawab de na.' I nodded now. The big boobs really were the reason why I liked that particular picture so much. By now mom was totally wet. She decided that it was now time to start seeking what she wanted from me.
Mom put the 'pallu' of her sari to one side and cupping her breasts with her hands, she said ' Dekh, mere to is ladki se bhi jyada bade hain.' I just gaped at her face as I heard this. My excitement was visible on my face by now and this made mom bolder. 'Ruk. Main tujhe blouse khol ke dikhati hoon. Saying this mom quickly unhooked her blouse revealing her big breasts held tightly inside her brassiere. Now mom took my hand and after placing it on the hook of her brassiere, asked me to undo it. With a trembling hand I did so. My hot mom immediately pulled out the brassiere and threw it on the floor. I gaped at the pair of beautiful tits that lay before me. They were big and firm. They were dark like the rest of her body. The nipples were big and looked stiff. This was the first time I was seeing a woman's bosom naked and the fact that it belonged to my own mother made it terribly exciting for me. I felt hard like I had never before felt. Till now I had always thought of mummy simply as a mummy and nothing else but now for the first time I realized that my mom was also a sensuous woman.
Mom was in fact what my friends at school would call 'maal'. I was now dying to feel mom's breasts and when mom asked me in a mischievous voice 'Sachin, inko chhoone ka man nahi kar raha kya tera?', I immediate put my hand upon her breast. My hand almost trembled with excitement as my hand caressed her breast. Inside my mind, my conscience told him that what was happening was sinful and wrong but like mom I also was too aroused to care for the voice of conscience. However, I felt scared about dad waking up and finding us like this. So I said to mom, 'Mommy, papa yaan Ajay jag gaye to!'. Mommy knew that what I was saying wasnĺt impossible. However dad usually slept like a log and so the likelihood of his waking up was low. My brother Ajay too was a deep sleeper. Moreover, mommy was too turned on to stop what we were doing. In a soft soothing voice mom assured me,'Uski chinta mat kar.Tere papa raat ko ek baar sote hain, to phir seedha subah ko hi uthte hain. Aur tera chhota bhai bhi waisa hee hai. By now we both were feeling less inhibited. Now we both knew that we wanted each other. Mom also was beginning to feel impatient. Quickly she unbuttoned my shirt. She then unzipped my trousers and pushed them down towards my ankles.
My undies looked like a tent due to my hardness. Mom eagerly pushed them down. She gaped as my full hardness was revealed. Lovingly she took it into her hands and stroked it softly and gently. My whole body tingled as the stroking went on. It felt incredibly nice. Suddenly I felt the ejaculation coming. But mom realized it too and she stopped stroking it. She didnĺt want me to ejaculate at this moment. She decided that it was time for us to take off their clothes completely. Mommy stood up near the bed and pulled down the sari. She then undid the knot of her petticoat and let it fall around her ankles on the floor. She also took off the already open blouse and threw it on the floor. She was about to pull down the panties when mom decided to ask me to do it instead, 'bete, yeh utaar.' I eagerly began to pull momĺs panties down. I swallowed hard as mommy's bushiness revealed itself. Between the bushiness lay my mother's cunt. It looked beautiful and I yearned to touch it. After stepping out of her panties, mommy helped me undress totally.
Then she laid herself on the bed and whispered to me,'Chal, mere uupar aa ja.' As I put myself on top of her, she put her arms around me. For a moment we looked into each other's eyes. Then mommy whispered,'Sachin bete, ek pappee de apni mummy ko.' On hearing this, I immediately put my lips upon her lips. As we opened our mouths and our tongues met, we both felt excited in a way they had never felt before. After this kiss, I stopped feeling inhibited. Mommy no longer had to give me instructions. Spontaneously I explored every part of her body. I planted kisses all over her face, then went down and hungrily sucked her breasts. Mommy moaned as I fondled, tickled, suckled and caressed her breasts. Then suddenly she whispered, 'bete, ek puppy de.' I was about to put my mouth upon hers, when she smiled and said, 'Buddhhu kahin ka! In hothon pe nahin, neeche wala hothon pe puppy chahiye mujhe.' I blushed for a moment and the I moved back. I paused for some time after putting my face close to her cunt. My mom had musky smell down there and I found the smell terribly exciting. I took inhaled it deeply and then put my lips upon mommy's cunt lips. I had seen a dirty picture some days ago, which showed a man licking a woman's cunt.
That time I had found it disgusting but now that act seemed so beautiful and natural. Mommy moaned as my lips parted and my tongue began to tickle her cunt. Soon the excitement became unbearable and mommy realized that she wanted me inside her now. She moaned out, 'Sachin, ab apni mummy ke andar aa ja.' I kissed her cunt once and then brought my face in front of her face. We looked at each other for some time and then I began to enter her. I fumbled due to inexperience and mommy helped me enter her. But I immediately withdrew myself out. Mommy asked me, 'Kya hua?' I replied back,'Mummy condom to hai hi nahin. Aap pregnant ho gaeen to!' Mom realized that what I was saying was true. She might get pregnant. However, she was feeling too hot to care about this. She impatiently cried out in a soft voice,'Mujhe parwah nahin uski. Abhi mujhe bas tera pyar chahiye. Chal phir se andar aa, jaldi se. Agar pregnant hoti hoon, to hone do' So I once again entered mom. I paused for some time and then i began to move inside her.
As I moved inside her, mommy caressed my back with one hand and the other she lovingly ran through his hair. It didnĺt last very long. Just after 2-3 minutes I exploded inside her. Mommy was for a moment angry, as she wasnĺt yet close to her orgasm. However, she immediately recalled that this was her son's first time. She waited for me to regain hardness and this time when I entered, she told me 'Sachin is baar araam se karna. Jaldbaazi mat karna. Thik hai?' I nodded. This time it turned out to be better. Mommy got an orgasm that shuddered through her whole body. Soon I too came. We made love three more times and it was almost 5.30 when we did it for the last time. We both were feeling exhausted now. Moreover, we were now scared that Ajay or dad might wake up any moment. So after kissing me for the last time, mommy picked up her clothes and walked back to her room. That day we again made love in the afternoon when we were alone in the house. In the evening, after our lovemaking was over, mommy got a bright idea. That night she cribbed after dinner to dad about his snoring habit. She told him that his snoring was becoming unbearable for her. So she would sleep in the extra guest bedroom they had. Dad agreed to this. From that day, mommy began sleeping in the other bedroom. That room was adjacent to my room and even had a connecting door. So every night mommy would sneak into my room or I would sneak into mommy's room and we would make love without any fear of getting caught in the act. Itĺs now three years since we started our love game and I had fucked her in every way possible.
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Style/class tutorials
I am a newbie at LaTeX. But I need start from my own text style in LaTeX. I want to setup page format, margins, paragraphs style, fonts, etc. Can you please give me a link to the guide or show me your simple class? I was searching through the internet and I have not found any good tutorials for beginners.


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/ Saturday, July 16, 2011 / 10 Comments / Chicken , Grilling , Salads , Vegetables
Grilled Chicken Salad
Grilled Chicken Salad
4 Pieces (800g) Organic Chicken Breast, boneless and skinless
½ tsp Ancho Chili Powder
½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Cumin Powder
2 tsp Coriander Powder
1 ¼ tsp Sea Salt
½ tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Juice of 1 Lime (about 2 Tbsp)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Small Romaine Lettuce, halved, rinsed and pat-dry
6 Stalks Scallion
1 Can (540ml) Chickpea, rinsed and drained
1 Can (15oz/425g) Organic Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1 Packet (227g) Small Tomatoes, halved
1 Avocado, sliced, grilled lightly (if desired)
A Handful of Toasted Pine Nuts, or Slivered Almonds
A Handful of Fresh Coriander Leaves
A Handful of Fresh Raspberries (optional)
A Handful of Fresh Blueberries (optional)
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Juice of 1 Lime, or more to taste
6 Tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
3 Tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Coriander/Cilantro
1 tsp Chili Flakes
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt, to taste
Grilled Chicken, Lettuce and Scallions: Marinate the chicken for at least 3 hours. Bring it to room temperature before grilling. Brush lettuce and scallions with olive oil and season lightly with black pepper and sea salt. Light up the charcoal or prepare the gas grill for direct cooking over medium heat. Grill and baste the chicken with additional oil until the chicken is fully cooked. Let the chicken rest for at least 2 to 3 minutes before slicing. Grill the lettuce and scallions about 6 to 7 minutes, turning once or twice until they are tender.
Salad Dressing: Whisk together the lemon juice, coriander, chili flakes and olive oil until emulsified and season with sea salt and pepper.
In a large bowl, gently toss all the salad ingredients with some salad dressing and season with salt and pepper, if necessary.
10 comments:
That looks like a great salad! Loved the chickpeas and the dressing.ReplyDelete
I love adding fruits into salad too, give the salad a delicious sweetness! Not to mention so pretty too!ReplyDelete
This looks incredibly healthy and so pretty too.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 16, 2011 at 11:24 AM
This salad sounds wonderful! Yum!ReplyDelete
Looks beautiful and healthy. Love the ingredients you have used.ReplyDelete
That photo is enough to make me salivate! I love the idea of mixing nuts and berries in the chicken salad - I bet the salad's really flavorful (not to mention colorful too)!ReplyDelete
The salad looks great.ReplyDelete
Yummy! This looks amazing. Gorgeous photo too! I am going to have to make this asapReplyDelete
- StephanieAugust 12, 2011 at 1:34 PM
I tried this recipe and I have to tell you that it was absolutely amazing. It was so good that I opted not to have any dressing with it. Thank you.ReplyDelete


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Continuing its bold, brave and surprisingly successful e-Reader battle with Amazon, Barnes & Noble is soon to launch its fifth Nook device.
Over the weekend, the New York Times ran a long feature piece on the book seller. Tucked away, two-thirds of the way through, was a tantalizing nod toward the company's future tech:
"At its labs in Silicon Valley last week, engineers were putting final touches on their fifth e-reading device, a product that executives said would be released sometime this spring."
Sadly, that's all we've got to go on. No word on whether it's dirt-cheap, some type of iPad contender, or something else entirely. We'll just have to wait and see what reliable tid-bits work their way out of the rumor mill.
According to the New York Times, Barnes & Noble now hold a respectable 27 per cent of the ebook market, compared to at least 60 percent for Amazon. Considering B&N were a little late to the game, that's an impressive achievement.
The fact that B&N are reinvesting so heavily is a sign they believe in the medium. Before long, we might even know them better for tech than tomes.
Elsewhere, the New York Times painted a wonderful picture of the offices in which the Nook is developed, a kind of literary version of Silicon Valley tech giants:
In one room, a virtual wallpaper of Nook color devices hangs in rows neat as a checkerboard. A common area holds a foosball table and a cooler of VitaminWater. Some of the walls are made of silver-colored mesh. Some of the cubicles are lime green.
But there are also reminders of the old Barnes & Noble. Over here is a basket of actual books, including "Travels With Charley" and "The Little Prince." Over there on a wall are enormous vintage covers of books like "Of Mice and Men" and "The Great Gatsby."
If I didn't work from home, I'd want to work in an office like that. [New York Times]


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Sound engineers have digitally restored some of the earliest recordings of stereo sound by the technology's inventor, Alan Blumlein. Blumlein, a research engineer at EMI, had lodged a patent for "binaural" sound in 1931 and made several experimental recordings to see if they could sell it to the fledgling film and audio industry. In 1934, EMI decided that nobody really needed surround sound and shelved all projects related to it. File that under late great historical oopses.
By the time Blumlein's patents were put to use—nearly twenty five years later— the prolific inventor had already passed away. In 1942, while testing radar technology, Blumein's plane crashed in Wales and killed everyone on board. He left behind a legacy of 128 different patents, one for every six weeks of his working life.
The person in charge of restoring Blumlein's recordings, sound engineer Roger Beardsley, called the transfers "incredibly historic." He used digital remastering to remove crackles and hisses from 78 original pressings, allowing the recordings to sound the way they were originally meant to. Check out the BBC for a fun little video of Blumlein and colleagues walking through a room counting to demonstrate the technology. [BBC]


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Suryanelli gangrape: Kerala Assembly disrupted
The CPI(M)-led LDFopposition disrupted proceedings in the Kerala Assembly today, demanding a fresh probe into the allegation of the victim against Rajya Sabha deputy chairman PJ Kurien in the Suryanelli gangrape case.india Updated: Feb 04, 2013 12:12 IST
The CPI(M)-led LDFopposition disrupted proceedings in the Kerala Assembly on Monday, demanding a fresh probe into the allegation of the victim against Rajya Sabha deputy chairman PJ Kurien in the Suryanelli gangrape case.
Rejecting the LDF's adjournment notice on the issue during zero hour, home minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan held that the state government could not comply with the demand for a re-investigation since the complaint against Kurien had been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
The placard-waving opposition members, led by their women colleagues, then rushed to the well of the house and raised slogans denouncing the government's stand, forcing speaker G Karthikeyan to adjourn the proceedings briefly.
Seeking leave for the motion, CPI(M) leader and former home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the recent Apex Court verdict ordering the Kerala high court to conduct a retrial in the 1996 case paved the way for re-investigating the victim's complaint against Kurien.
Balakrishnan said the girl had persisted in her complaint and last week had forwarded a request to the home minister, seeking a fresh probe.
He said the revelation of a former police officer, who was part of the team that investigated the case, that Kurien's alleged involvement was not properly looked into was also significant in view of recent developments in the case.
Seeking to turn the tables on the opposition, the home minister said when the complaint against Kurien was rejected by the Apex Court in 2007, LDF was in power in the state and sought to know why the then government had not filed an SLP (Special Leave Petition) and remained silent all these years.
The minister said he would not blame the opposition for that as a government could act only within the framework of the law in any matter.


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pipopipo (pronounced pee-po pee-po), a baby and toddler apparel and accessory company for fashionable kids aged five and under, launches its brand with one-of-a-kind infant socks sets that keep your little one's toes warm, while entertaining them with the pipopipo friends adorable and irresistibly squeezable 3D faces.
The collection features the signature pipopipo friends – whimsical characters- Aster, Busby, Lin, Mimi, Ruby and Hana- epitomizing all the best about childhood: fun, adventure and imagination.
Additionally, these characters truly come to life through its interactive Web site, an online entertainment destination featuring storytelling and age-‐appropriate content for children 5 and under. Original comics are also posted daily on their Facebook and Twitter pages.