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Debating the Effectiveness of Vaccination
Movies like 28 Days Later, Contagion and Outbreak cater to our fear that something is going to come along that will destroy our way of life. Ultimately it is more than that. In a society that is both ever more connected and ever more disconnected, by interacting so…
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Premature Announcement Syndrome
Is it just me, or are companies really having a problem dealing with technology? For those that don't know, I work in the technology field – and I'm not just talking about whatever residual income may flow through the site here. I'm talking about my actual "day job",…
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Intelligently Extending Your Brand
Fast-food behemoth McDonald's recently released a new item – dubbed Fish McBites – and it has been noted that they did not spark sales. Really? That's a surprised? No one lined up for Fish McBites? No one in the entire company thought this might be a bad idea?…
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One Reason Kids Don't Get Enough Exercise
I talked about bus routes in Charlotte a while back. I would have to assume that other cities have the same problem, but I could be wrong – I've lived here for a while now, so the rest of the world may just be a part of my…
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The Money (and Politics) of the NFL
Though sports are often in the news – almost always daily – recent announcements make things all the more interesting. In Charlotte, the Carolina Panthers are seeking money for stadium upgrades. This is interesting on several fronts. One, because what we see as outsiders is that the team…
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Fix Quicken Loan Calculation Error
I noticed the other day – okay, it has probably been a couple of months and I'm just getting around to addressing the problem – that Quicken has started to miscalculated the principal and interest on a loan (specifically a mortgage – I don't know if it's a…
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Marissa Mayer and Working Remotely
The uproar this week is that recently appointed savior of Yahoo Marissa Mayer may have just caused herself irreparable damage by issuing a decree that requires everyone to work from the office rather than from home. Even well-regarded titan of all things Richard Branson weighed in on the…
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What a Long Strange Trip It's Been
Nearly ten years ago – seriously! – I heard about this blogging thing and decided I would figure out what it was all about. So I installed Movable Type on a hosting account I had sitting around collecting dust. At the time, it was running on version 2.64….
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Are movies going to undergo a fundamental change?
Our youngest has said for years that he wants to make movies. Unfortunately, he doesn't actually do so, but that is a story for another time. This does, however, lead to another discussion – the movie industry. We want to try and get him to think about what…
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Move Thunderbird Signature for Identity
One difficulty in current versions of Thunderbird is that even if you have set the preference to move the signature line related to the quote, it will not be saved correctly. Luckily there is a way to move this manually. The only problem is that it is a…
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Back-to-Back Bombs in Baghdad
Way back in 2001, just after the second plane hit the second World Trade Center tower, before anyone in the US really thought much about terrorism, I turned to my girlfriend (who would later become my wife) and told her that it made sense that the second plane…
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VC8 Library was not Installed Correctly
Another week, another software problem. But this one isn't coming from Microsoft. No, this time it is Logitech who is causing issues. Though I waffle between keyboards from time to time, my mouse is almost always Logitech, because they are just so comfortable. These days it is really…