Information Salad - Episode #10

We make plans to celebrate Banned Books Week, we talk about boobs and gay guys, and we talk about the new season of Survivor. You don’t want to miss this one!

Here’s what we “tossed up” this week:

• Vinny remembers a co-worker who was murdered in California.
• Josh Wolf’s appeal was denied.
  

  The ruling said U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who held Wolf in contempt Aug. 1, was correct not to seek a balance between the importance of the grand jury investigation and Wolf’s rights as a journalist. However, the panel noted that such a balancing test would favor the government.

  “He simply videotaped what people did in a public place,” the judges wrote. “Wolf does not claim that he filmed anything confidential nor that he promised anyone anonymity or confidentiality. Therefore, this case does not raise the usual concerns in cases involving journalists.”

• Don’t Eat The Spinach
  

  Step away from the spinach. For now anyway. I know you dont eat “rabbit food” some do.

• Frustrated AOL Caller Uses Vinny’s Name
• Support Banned Books Week. Find out more at Google’s Banned Books
• Toys R Us Ain’t Diggin Boobies
• Principal Says No To Starbucks Mermaid Boobies
• When Zero Tolerance Is Too Much
  

  Ben Lewandowski says he was only trying to be patriotic when he wore a homemade T-shirt featuring an American flag bumper sticker and the words “Remember 9/11” to Lincoln Park High School on Monday.

  After all, it was Sept. 11—five years after the terrorist attacks.
  The 17-year-old Lincoln Park resident put the shirt on Monday morning and headed to school—where he was quickly sent to the office and suspended for three days for violating the school’s dress code.

• Stop The ACLU - A great site we discuss.
• Jim McGreevey and his Big…Book
• Survivor: Cook Islands - What do you think about the “racial” division of the teams?
• The Amazing Race returns on Sunday!
• The latest SloboPoll has John Edwards in the lead for the Democratic nomination in 2008.
• Muslims Outraged At Pope’s Speech

- Read the full text at Catholic News.

• Slobokan is on Non-Muslim Terrorist Watch - How long do you think it will be until a non-Muslim terrorist strikes? Just don’t call them Islamic Fascists.
• NASCAR Nextel Cup - The field for the chase is set. Slobokan makes a prediction that none of the chase contenders will win the race, but if any of the 10 has a shot, it’s Kevin Harvick.
• Jimmie Johnson’s XM Radio Show - Not What you Expected
• “Can You Pass These Tests, the Toughest Tests You’Ll Never Have to Take But Always Wanted to Try” - Join us as we take a test. You’ll be glad you did.
• Listen for our upcoming “no-notes” podcast (episode #12)

Tags: California, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Lincoln Park High School, Sprint Cup Series

Information Salad - Episode #9

This week, we remember Steve Irwin and discuss everything else from viruses and AOL to freedom of speech and Microsoft Vista.

We took time out yesterday to remember the victims of September 11th, hence the delay in releasing the podcast.

Here’s what we “tossed up” this week:

• Gmail Notifier - A nice little app to inform you when you have Gmail.
• Steve Irwin Dies - Our prayers go out to the Irwin family.
• Jay Leno’s tribute to Steve Irwin
• Discovery Channel Remembers Steve Irwin
• zCodec : A Codec That Does Some Damage
  

  Panda’s advisory last week revealed that the 100KB file is in fact adware, which “downloads and runs files, changes the DNS configuration and monitors accesses to several adult websites”.

  zCodec, formally known as Adware/ZCodec or Adware/EMediacodec, affects most versions of Windows and was first detected last week, Panda said.

• AOL Research Closes - AOL is closing the division that leaked search results to the masses.
• AOL’s New Customer Retention Policy?
• Google Plans To Use PC Microphones - Yikes!
• When Is Everything Not Everything?
  

  Apparently though, everything, in this case, doesn’t really mean everything. It just means some things, which is probably what the coupon should’ve said, instead of everything.

• Rurics - A new way of thinking? - Slobokan mentioned this link in reference to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
• The Microsoft School - I wonder if the school turns blue and needs to be “restarted” a few times each day?
• Scrappleface - News Fairly Unbalanced.
• John Gruber Sweetens WiFi Challenge
  

  Jim Thompson, whose own coverage of this issue I’ve linked to several times, has offered to contribute a second matching MacBook, should Maynor and Ellch succeed in my challenge. Not only does this double the size of the bounty, but it should also make it easier for Maynor and Ellch to split their winnings — it admittedly wouldn’t be much fun to split a single MacBook.

• Boycott Vista?

Will Vista Premium be worth the extra cost? Essentially, the features you get with the more expensive version are better security, a prettier user interface, and the audio-video software formerly found in Microsoft’s Media Center edition of Windows XP. That doesn’t seem like a lot for five years’ work, or for $40 extra.

Hat Tip: Slashdot.

• The Path to 9/11 - When does our government have the right to coerce a television network to pull programs?
• - A great resource for seeing the money that goes into elections in our country.
• - Richmond is the last race before the chase. By now the field is set.

Tags: Gmail, Google, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Steve Irwin, Windows, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Information Salad - Episode #8

Our attempt to make you think the world ended by holding up last week’s episode may not have worked, but we talk about some topics this week that may make you wish otherwise.

This is our second podcast since the end of the world, and we had a blast! Vinny is now producing the podcast on his new iMac, yes, I said iMac. Things will only get better from this point forward.

Here are the topics we discussed this week:

• Vinny’s desktop PC died, so now he has a brand new iMac.
• Vinny has a new microphone too!
• AVG Anti-Virus - A great anti-virus solution for windows (which we highly recommend).
• Windows Defender - Microsoft’s homegrown anti-spyware solution.
• Great news! Josh Wolf is out on bail!
• Ray Nagin apologizes.
  

  “I will never again refer to that site as a hole,” Nagin said. “It’s a sacred site that’s currently in an undeveloped state.”

• Richard (from a blog at townhall.com) needs to stop sending me email stating “Richard has updated their Blog. Please click here to go to their blog”
  

  Dear Richard,

  I’m sure your blog over at Townhall.com is a spiffy dandy site, but do I really need 12 emails throughout the day telling me that you have updated it?

  Seriously?

  I don’t recall ever asking to be notified when your blog updated.

  Since you are good at taking things upon yourself (as evident from the fact I am getting the emails in the first place), I would appreciate it if you did so again and removed me from whatever list you have my address on.

  Hint: It will be the @slobokan.com address on your list.

  Thanks a bunch.
  Slobo

• Bloglines - Slobo and Vinny’s rss reader of choice.
• Daring Fireball Challenges Secureworks
  

  If I’m wrong, and they have discovered such a vulnerability, they may or may not choose to accept this challenge. But it’s a bet that they’ll only accept if they can win.

  It comes down to this. If I’m wrong, it’d be worth $1099 to know that MacBook users are in fact at risk. And if I’m right, someone needs to call Maynor and Ellch on their bullshit.

• EXT2 IFS for Windows A system driver which can read the Linux Second Extended File System (EXT2) and Third Extended File System (EXT3).
• Windows Vista RC1 is released. Weeeeeeee.
• Amazon.com is pre-selling Windows Vista. Cough it up people.
• Apple and Ubuntu. Alternative operating systems, for those of you who want a choice.
• The new Channel 4 “docudrama” depicts the assassination of the President. Not some fictional President, but our current sitting President. Vinny and I discuss it.
• NBC and Conan O’Brien received some bad press this week because of their insensitivity after an airline crash. You may want to hear what we have to say about this.
• Speaking of the Emmy’s, the Parents Television Council is upset… Again…
  

  The Parents Television Council filed an indecency complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the NBC broadcast of the Emmy Awards during which actresses Helen Mirren and Calista Flockhart used vulgar and obscene language on the live broadcast. The PTC™, on behalf of its over one million members nationwide, has asked the FCC to levy a Notice of Apparent Liability against each NBC affiliate that aired the unedited program.

  During the 9:30 pm CT/MT hour on August 27, 2006, the phrase “t*ts over a*s” was spoken by both Ms. Mirren and Ms. Flockhart and both times aired unedited during the NBC Network broadcast of the Emmys.

• Aleta Smith, The World’s Biggest Christian Hypocrite - Was it the Lord, or the “triple-espresso high” that convinced her to pursue this ” great opportunity to help a sister in the Lord”? If you know of someone who proves to be a bigger hypocrite, let us know, but for now, Aleta Smith holds the record.

Tags: Microsoft, Parents Television Council, townhall.com, Windows, Windows Vista

Information Salad - Episode #7

This is our first podcast since the end of the world. Join us as we discuss everything from iPod Killers to Ray Nagin.

Vinny was sick last week, and my hard disk decided it had issues, so we had a week off so he could recuperate and I could rebuild my system. Here is what we “tossed up” this week:

• Ubuntu - Slobokan’s operating system of choice.
• Ubuntu X-Server Core Upgrade News, and the fix for the Upgrade.
• FreeNode - IRC chat network (#ubuntu channel, the official support channel for Ubuntu).
• Vinny tells us about another iPod killer: Microsoft Zune.
  

  An obesely proportioned digital media player, confirmed to be Microsoft’s upcoming Zune device, has turned up in photos and documentation filed with the FCC.

  The filing, published on Thursday, was made by Toshiba Corp, suggesting that electronics and component maker will play an integral role in the manufacturing of the device.

  According to a draft user manual accompanying the filing, Zune will include a 30GB 1.8-inch Toshiba hard drive, 3.0-inch low temperature polysilicone TFT LCD display, high qualify FM tuner with RDBS, headphone jack and USB 2.0 connectivity.

• NYC Specialized Schools Get Large Asian Influx
• Ray Nagin Is A Moron
  

  On a tour of the decimated Ninth Ward, Nagin tells Pitts the city has removed most of the debris from public property and it’s mainly private land that’s still affected – areas that can’t be cleaned without the owners’ permission. But when Pitts points to flood-damaged cars in the street and a house washed partially into the street, the mayor shoots back. “That’s alright. You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair.”

• Is Survivor Racist?
  

  Ahhh yes, there’s nothing like an overblown controversy to get the blogosphere a-buzzin’. This time, it’s the news that the upcoming season of Survivor will start out with various races split into teams as such. Of course, the race-baiters are out blazing with cries of racism, hatred, divisiveness and so on. Get over it, people.

• TiVo attempts to get Dish Network DVR’s disabled.
• No NASCAR News: NBC/TNT has not been showing the national anthem, so I have no updates about my pet peeve.
• ACLU Tries To Hide Their Name.
• Supermarket Bans Woman
  

  Alana Lipkin walked out of the Shaw’s Supermarket here last week with 12 items — everything from a Kodak disposable camera to Neutrogena hand cream — all for free.

  She wasn’t shoplifting. She was taking advantage of the chain’s price accuracy guarantee, which gives shoppers a product for free if it scans at the register for a price higher than advertised. Lipkin is so good at finding mispriced items that she says she typically snags more than $200 worth of free merchandise per store visit.

  But her days as the queen of supermarket pricing errors may be nearing an end. The region’s two largest supermarket chains have banned Lipkin from their stores, calling her a disruptive influence. Lipkin, a 45-year-old single mother of two from Framingham, says the stores are blaming her for their failure to accurately price their products.

• Josh Wolf sits in jail. Check out his site, and do what you can to help.

Tags: Hard disk drive, Microsoft Zune, Ray Nagin, Ubuntu