Protesters at SJSU [opinion]

Protesters have been on campus protesting what they are alleging are atrocities being committed by Israel against Palestinian civilians.

• Israel had been under rocket attack for eight years.
• Recently Hamas has been firing missiles from Palestinian population centers in Gaza, using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
• The Hamas rockets have been targeted at Israeli cities hoping to kill civilians.
• I wonder how long we would have tolerated rockets being targeted at our cities (like San Jose) before we would respond militarily?

The death of Palestinian civilians is a tragedy. I totally defend the right of the protesters to protest. I just think they're wrong to blame only Israel and not blame Hamas.

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Hamas, Israel, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

More Malware Attacks on Macs

According to the Register:

Less than a week after researchers spotted new malware targeting naive Mac users, two additional titles have been spotted...

Technorati Tags: Apple, Malware, ssloansjca

Downadup a serious threat to PCs

Worm threatens about a third of all PCs experts warn. See article in Network World:

The Downadup worm—also called Conflicker—has now infected an estimated 10 million PCs worldwide, and security experts say they expect to see a dangerous second-stage payload dropped soon.

"It has the potential to infect about 30% of Windows systems online, a potential 300 to 350 million PCs," says Don Jackson, director of threat intelligence in the counter threat unit at SecureWorks.

Family Visit

Sue's brother John is visiting California and staying with their mom in Campbell. We are getting ready to meet him for lunch.

Downtown Businesses Hurting

Closed, not to open again
This recession is getting deeper. Are we headed for Great Depression 2.0? More and more local businesses are closing and many more are laying off. I spoke with a local business owner who she does not know if they will survive. Downtown businesses and even the theater has been laying off staff and liquidating inventory.

Only time will tell if this is GD 2.0. But, things are getting worse.

Students happy returns

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

February B&BB Newsletter

Here is the February 2009 issue of the Black and Blue Bottom, the Almaden Cycle Touring Club newsletter. I layout the newsletter for this club. These are in PDF format:

• Normal version for viewing.
• Special "two page up" version for printer.

Kiosk by Art Building at SJSU

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

Winter Light at SJSU

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

Ruchi's birthday at the help desk

Ruchi Binjola's birthday was a cause of celebration at our help desk. We have a great staff almost all of whom are thousands of miles from home. So, we try to create a small bit of home here at the help desk.

Ruchi is an important person on our staff.

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

What I love most about MacWorld

Adobe was not at this years MacWorld and Apple will not be at the next. If MacWorld survives the loss of these anchors the best part will hopefully remain. My favorite part of MacWorld are the displays around the edge and in the obscure corners of MacWorld. That is where you find passionate developers like Jessie Youngblood and Steven Abbagnaro of Tooble. These are the folks who have the new ideas and the fresh products the ones you don't read about on the A-list blogs or in the trades. Tooble is a cool product and will meet a need I have to use YouTube Videos in classroom presentations.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MacWorld, Tooble, ssloansjca

Incident with bicyclist indicates safety problem at SJSU

Yesterday evening while walking to my car, moments after a near miss by one bicyclist I was hit by another. Fortunately I was not injured or knocked down. There were witnesses and I filed a police report (Case #090020.)

Both cyclists were riding at excessive speed, in the dark with no lights.

What is it going to take for this university to deal with this safety problem, somebody getting seriously injured or killed?

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

Are reporters too lazy to walk at SJSU?

Hey, I am all for freedom of the press. But, I do not know why members of the press need to drive on campus and park on our sidewalks when school is in session. This KGO radio reporter does not have a big uplink antenna on this vehicle. Why can't he/she park in the parking lot and walk to the story. There was no big breaking news event going on. Could it be the reporter was, well, too lazy to walk? Why are they allowed to get away with this?

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca, press, kgo, news media

Is Apple considering a Kindle killer?

As we approach MacWorld there is a credible rumor that Apple may be considering a super-sized version of the iPod Touch. Such a device could have a disruptive effect on both the newspaper and book market. If you increase the size of an iPod touch by 50-100% you have an easy to read video and audio capable device with about the dimensions of a paperback book.

This is such a natural I am amazed they have not done it sooner. The Apple store would be such a fantastic distribution medium for books readable on such a device, not to mention videos.

I would hope such a device would have text-to-speech mechanism to offer just in time transcription of printed material.

Barnes and Noble as well as Amazon could go the way of the daily newspaper. Audiobooks.com would also be hurt.

Like it or not, this could be the beginning of the end for paper books and be the final nail in the coffin of newspapers!

Technorati Tags: Apple, ssloansjca

Sloan Christmas 2008

[Click here to see more photos]

"What is your favorite part of Christmas?" "Presents!" Madison did not hesitate to answer. Four-year-olds are absolutely candid. She was having a blast. There will be plenty of time later to learn the deeper meanings of Christmas.

For now...

When asked is it was okay that she got more presents than anybody else Madison enthusiastically replied, "Oh My, Yes!"