This has been a busy weekend, what with Yom Kippur and MoTAS building the Sukkah on Sunday. As a result, the posting of the usual News Chum stew got delayed until today. Hopefully it didn’t get burned sitting on the stove for so long.
- Looking Back at the Past. A few computer related articles looking back at the past. With the announcement of Windows 10, this made a number of people look back at the history of Windows versions. This is significant, as it appears Windows 9 was skipped as a name due to all the software that checked for Windows 95/98 by testing for “Windows 9”. In other “old” news, IBM dropped support for Lotus 1-2-3, and what happened when someone was forced to use Mac OS 9 for a few days.
- Dogs and Hogs. Two animal related items. The first looks at “hog processing” — that is, what happens in the pork industry, and how they are one of the most efficient industries in how they use the animal. I feel that if animals must die for food, it is good that they are completely used and their death isn’t wasted. The second looks at the mythology of dog years — the notion of multiply dog years by 7 to get the human equivalent is false. The real answer is that it is much more complicated.
- The Human Brain. Two articles related to dealing with the human brain. The first deals with those fearful of flying, and how an innovative special effects studio is utilizing their terminal and aircraft sets. The second looks at Costco, and the psychology behind the “free samples” you enjoy when you are there.
- 15 and 15. Two items with counts of 15. The first provides some observations 15 lessons from 15 years of blogging. The second looking at 15 interesting places in the valley, including a few that are very near us.
- Cybersecurity Twosome. Two cybersecurity articles: The first looks at how medical records are much more valuable to hackers than credit card records. The second is an announcement from the FDA on how they are increasing the cybersecurity of medical devices.
- Two Singlets. Two unrelated items, which are paired because they are unrelated. The first is about YidLife Crisis, the first Yiddish sitcom. The second is about a restaurant reviewer in Dallas, who wanted to pay for his meal, but the restaurant refused. Here’s the reviewer’s side of the story. This last one is significant to me: I write up theatre shows I go to, and I (in general) pay for every ticket. I’m offered comp tickets and press reviews, but do not take advantage of them — for the same reason. I feel it taints the reviewer and creates the appearance of “pay for play”. That doesn’t fit with my ethics.
