As much as I’m petrified right now of who our next presidential type might be, I think this is great and I’m definitely adding it here! 

Sorry I haven’t been much for the blogging, but the boy child has had a rough week and we’ve been up at St. Jude.  He’s gotten an infusion and he’s at home now, doing much better.   We did miss Valentine’s Day, but here’s something for all you lovers out there. 

And if you absolutely have to, don’t use any plastic!

In case you’ve been living under a rock, thieves are stealing debit and credit card numbers from local retailers here in DeSoto County. And I think I know at least one way they could be doing it. I’m blogging (ranting) about it again because as of yet no one has done anything to fix it. I see at least two separate hits from Verifone.com, but no one has as yet removed the document they put on line outlining how to hack wireless networks in place at retail locations that utilize their terminals. And the worst part, I found this document via Google!!!!! What genius puts an internal security document online for the whole world to see? I know if anyone did that where I worked, they’d be fired tout de suite! I’ve outlined how I found it, how others have found it, but I hadn’t posted the link here. Til now. Obviously no one cares about my money more than me, but it’s about time someone claiming to be a company responsible for securely transmitting data about my money is held accountable. So here goes. Check out PCI Req Protecting Cardholder Information written by Jeff Wakefield, Vice President Marketing, Integrated Systems Verifone. It’s a pdf copy of a PowerPoint presentation outlining security issues with credit/debit card terminals and PCI compliance. It’s a little wordy for my taste, but it does get really interesting around slide 50. I love the way it outlines exactly which exploits work and then the directory location of log files containing stored credit/debit card data. Makes for some interesting potty reading.

Now, will removing the offending document from the web fix the problem? Of course not. But if they put measures in place to make sure this never happens again, and then work with merchants to fix the measures outlined in the document maybe, just maybe it’ll make it a little more difficult for anybody with a laptop and a wireless card to steal my debit card number and clean out my bank account. This isn’t the only way that these things get stolen. But let’s not make it easier for the crooks, ok?

Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers had his carotid artery almost severed by a teammate’s skate during a freak accident in Buffalo, playing the Sabres. He’s had it repaired and is currently in the hospital in stable condition. I hope he recovers soon. No one ever wants to see this kind of accident.

I’m telling you, whenever I see a funny photo of our president, I just can’t help but to blogify about  it!

They want to sue a search engine for providing links to articles that actually pertain to the search terms? Are you kidding me?

From ABC.net.au

Real estate agents launch defamation action against Google

Posted Fri Feb 8, 2008 6:44pm AEDT

Two Victorian real estate agents have launched a defamation action against the search engine company Google.

Counsel for agents Mark Forytarz and Paul Castran of Castran Gilbert, appeared in the Supreme Court today for a directions hearing, alleging their clients have been defamed by articles found via Google searches.

The plaintiffs claim the articles suggest Mr Forytarz bullied an intellectually disabled man into selling his home in order to claim a commission of at least $200,000.

It is claimed the article paints Mr Forytarz as unscrupulous and unethical and he suffered distress embarrassment and humiliation as a result.

They also claim another article alleges Mr Castran used dummy bidders to inflate the prices of the properties he sold.

They claim they asked Google to remove links to the articles late last year, but no effective action was taken.

They will return to court in March.

If they were to win this, and I can’t imagine they will, it would render search engines useless. Imagine trying to protest something or someone online only to have the link to your comments, criticism, whatever removed because the person you’re commenting on didn’t like what you had to say. The whole point of the web is the free exchange of ideas. Search engines were designed to make the web not just easier to navigate, but to make the web worth anything. Without search engines and keywords no website gets any traffic and websites are rendered useless. I mean, what good is a billboard if no one can find it to see it?

Ever have one of those days where you were busy from dawn til dusk but feel at the end of the day like you didn’t get anything accomplished? Saturday was that day for me. I spent the whole day working on the website for my church, New Discovery, but Saturday night I looked around and the house was a wreck and I hadn’t done any laundry and I felt like the whole day had just slipped by. Don’t get me wrong, I worked my booty off on that site, and I think it looks darn spiffy, but I just hate sitting in front of the computer all day when I’m at home. It’s bad enough that it’s all I do Monday - Friday, but I feel like I ‘wasted’ Saturday doing that too. Oh well, at least it’s done and I think everyone is happy with it. I hope.

These are 9 important words and phrases that women say, but they mean something else. You can thank me later guys.
(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission Don’t Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That’s Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you’re welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says ‘Thanks a lot’ - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say ‘you’re welcome’ … that will bring on a ‘whatever’).

(8) Whatever: Is a women’s way of saying “This conversation is over”!

(9) Don’t worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking ‘What’s wrong?’ For the woman’s response refer to # 3.