Sheffus Links

Drive a car? Vote? Read this! U.S. Nears Milestone: Net Fuel Exporter

2012-02-12T21:52:00.001-05:00

U.S. drivers aren't seeing much benefit in the form of lower prices because refineries on the Gulf Coast are shipping much of their output to places where demand is strong, keeping prices high.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203441704577068670488306242.html

Great piece -

2012-02-12T21:44:00.001-05:00

I had thought that Jesus talked more about helping the poor than about banning contraceptives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/kristof-beyond-pelvic-politics.html

Fred Trotter » Blog Archive » Cloud + VistA = Astronaut Shuttle

2012-02-09T21:46:00.000-05:00

http://www.fredtrotter.com/2010/01/13/cloud-vista-astronuat-shuttle/

Very strange stuff. Artificial cranial deformation

2012-02-08T12:29:00.001-05:00

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_cranial_deformation

But we still haven't had a parade for the Iraq War vets...

2012-02-07T19:34:00.001-05:00

Giants lauded as Super Bowl champs in NYC parade

Join the M revolution | opensource.com

2012-02-07T13:57:00.001-05:00

http://opensource.com/health/12/2/join-m-revolution?sc_cid=70160000000UDY3AAO

Good reminder... IT Vulnerability & ToolsWatch | The 10 Most Common iPhone Passwords

2012-02-06T19:29:00.001-05:00

http://www.vulnerabilitydatabase.com/2011/06/the-10-most-common-iphone-passwords/

Somebody needs to look at their QA program.

2012-02-05T09:22:00.001-05:00

Inmate adds pig image to Vt. police cruiser decals

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A prison inmate who makes stationery and license plates pulled a fast one on state police by adding the image of a pig to the state decal on their cruisers.

On the 16-inch car door decals, made by prisoners in Windsor, one of the spots on a cow in a scene with mountains and a pine tree has been changed to the shape of a pig, a derogatory term for police.

A Vermont state trooper discovered the pig while inspecting his vehicle on Wednesday. State police say they believe the decals have been added to about 30 cruisers in the past year.

About 60 altered decals were made over the last couple of years, said Andy Pallito, commissioner of the Department of Corrections, which is looking into who made the modification and when.

Wow. And I thought that Furries were odd...

2012-02-05T09:15:00.001-05:00

Man admits to jumping on backs of student athletes

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A 250-pound man with a history of jumping on the backs of student athletes in the Pacific Northwest has pleaded guilty to assault.

The Independent Record (http://bit.ly/zS4tib) reports 28-year-old Sherwin Shayegan acknowledged in court Wednesday that he hopped on two players at a soccer tournament in Helena in October. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of assault.

Seriously. The McRib isn't worth all that...

2012-02-05T09:10:00.001-05:00

Authorities: Stun gun used on woman at drive-thru

HOPE MILLS, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina authorities say they used a stun gun on a woman motorist who blocked a McDonald's drive-thru for 20 minutes after employees refused to serve her because she cut in line.

Authorities say 37-year-old Evangeline Lucca bypassed the order screen and line and pulled directly up to the pick-up window Friday afternoon at the restaurant in Hope Mills, about 60 miles south of Raleigh.

Tricky issue. No easy answers.

2012-02-05T09:03:00.000-05:00

Venice rebels against cruise ship intrusions

VENICE, Italy (AP) - It's a matter of perspective. From aboard a 12-deck cruise liner, the sight of St. Mark's Square, the Doge's Palace and Bridge of Sighs gliding past from a cabin balcony is a breathtaking thrill.

But against the backdrop of Venice's storied canals and Byzantine architecture, these floating condominiums present a jarring sight, out of scale and sync with the surroundings.

Medicine wheel. I have never heard of these. How did I miss this?

2012-02-03T19:13:00.001-05:00

Medicine wheels, or sacred hoops, were constructed by laying stones in a particular pattern on the ground. Most medicine wheels follow the basic pattern of having a center of stone(s), and surrounding that is an outer ring of stones with "spokes", or lines of rocks radiating from the center. Some ancient types of sacred architecture were built by laying stones on the surface of the ground in particular patterns common to aboriginal peoples. Originally, and still today, medicine wheels are stone structures constructed by certain indigenous peoplesof North America for various astronomical, ritual, healing, and teaching purposes. Medicine wheels are still "opened" or inaugurated in Native American spirituality where they are more often referred to as "sacred hoops", which is the favored English rendering by some. There are various native words to describe the ancient forms and types of rock alignments. One teaching involves the description of the four directions. More recently, syncretic, hybridized uses of medicine wheels, magic circles, and mandala sacred technology are employed inNew Age, Wiccan, Pagan and other spiritualdiscourse throughout the World. The rite of the sacred hoop and medicine wheel differed and differs amongst indigenous traditions, as it now does between non-indigenous peoples, and between traditional and modernist variations. The essential nature of the rite common to these divergent traditions deserves further anthropological exploration as does an exegesis of their valence.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_wheel

Check out AppRedeem

2012-02-02T20:42:00.001-05:00

Check out AppRedeem on your iPhone/iPod or iPad where you get points towards gift cards when you try and rate mobile apps!

Go to AppRedeem here http://bit.ly/e6UcKh and then use my bonus code 'printsloan' for extra points when you signup.

Android headed to DOD's classified networks -- Federal Computer Week

2012-02-02T16:31:00.000-05:00

http://fcw.com/articles/2012/01/24/android-smart-phones-tablets-classified-sipr-network.aspx?m=1

Things that cannot screen for breast cancer and things that can.

2012-02-01T21:25:00.000-05:00

http://lianamaris.tumblr.com/post/16884980496/things-that-cannot-screen-for-breast-cancer-and

Best. EVER.

The New WorldVistA VM - early version now available - Hardhats | Google Groups

2012-02-01T16:41:00.001-05:00

http://groups.google.com/group/hardhats/browse_thread/thread/1da86e7419b9ab8d?pli=1

Official 2012 Honda CR-V Game Day Commercial - "Matthew's Day Off" Extended Version

2012-02-01T16:14:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhkDdayA4iA

Apple updates AirPort Utility, base station firmware | Networking & Wireless |

2012-01-31T11:32:00.001-05:00

Chief among the improvements in AirPort firmware update 7.6.1 is the capability to remotely access a Time Capsule's hard drive or a hard drive connected to an AirPort device via USB. This feature previously operated via the Back to My Mac feature of Apple's MobileMe online service, but it became unusable once MobileMe users transitioned their accounts to iCloud; the new update relies instead on the latest incarnation of Apple's online service. There's also an additional fix for wireless performance, and security improvements. The update applies to all 802.11n AirPort base stations and Time Capsules, and Apple recommends installing AirPort Utility 5.5.3 or later before installing the firmware update.

http://www.macworld.com/article/165109/2012/01/apple_updates_airport_utility_base_station_firmware.html#lsrc.rss_main

I'm looking at this little gem -

2012-01-30T22:52:00.001-05:00

GMailRSS - by Karthikeyan Sankaralingam

Motivation

After toying around with a bunch of RSS readers I concluded that using GMail as an RSS reader is a very good option, for the following main reasons:

Since GMail stores all state on the server, it doesn't matter where you login from to get your RSS fix! You can read a couple of feeds at work, a couple at home from a different machine etc. and everything is synchronized. This was the killer feature I was missing in all RSS readers.
GMail's infinite archiving capability effectively creates a personal news archive for everyone.
GMail's search helps you search easily through RSS feeds.
Individual messages can be marked as read and unread, so its easy to track what you are reading

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~karu/gmailrss/

SANS: Analyst Webcast: Integrating Security into Development, No Pain Required

2012-01-29T16:30:00.001-05:00

I'm a big fan of Dave Shackleford. This should be really good.

https://www.sans.org/webcasts/integrating-security-development-pain-required-94649

HP Plans To Release Open-Source WebOS In September

2012-01-26T08:21:00.001-05:00

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) said Wednesday that it plans to release the full open-source version of WebOS in September, while also offering a road map of key milestones along the way.

HP also released the source code for Enyo 2.0, its WebOS development environment, which allows developers to write applications that run on both mobile devices and PC Web browsers. HP is planning to release Enyo version 2.1 in April and version 2.2 in July.

Enyo was one of the key assets HP gained in its $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm in July 2010, and HP Chairman Ray Lane has referred to it as "the leading Web app development environment today."

HP will distribute both WebOS and Enyo under the Apache license version 2.0, which is also the predominant license for Android and OpenStack.

More: http://www.crn.com/news/applications-os/232500504/hp-plans-to-release-open-source-webos-in-september.htm

Spaceports: Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Should Become the 4th Human Orbital Spaceport

2012-01-23T19:23:00.001-05:00

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Should Become the 4th Human Orbital Spaceport

The United States space policy is shifting to change from government designed large and costly rockets to a multitude of cheaper and smaller commercial design rockets to achieve human transport to space in this decade. But where will all these newly designed FAA-approved orbital rockets be lofted to orbital space?

http://spaceports.blogspot.com/2010/02/mid-atlantic-regional-spaceport-should.html

Did you know Virginia has a Spaceport?

2012-01-23T19:07:00.001-05:00

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item1.ADR;type=HOME;type=pref:;;;;Virginia;;USA
item1.X-ABADR:us
item2.URL;type=pref:http://maps.google.com/?q=loc:Virginia+(Virginia)&sll=37.850594\,-75.471025
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Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

Accomack, Virginia

Virginia

Really PCWorld? Seems like a stretch.

2012-01-22T10:32:00.001-05:00

Windows Phone Predicted to Displace iPhone

Posted on Saturday Jan 21, 2012 11:16 AM by Matt Hamblen

Thanks mainly to the new Lumia 900 and Nokia, Windows Phone could represent nearly 17 percent of the smartphones shipped in 2015, edging out Apple's iPhone for the second-place ranking behind Android smartphones.

That's the view of analysts at IHS (formerly iSuppli) who are well aware that Windows Phone made up only 1.9 percent of the market for all of 2011, with Apple's iOS at 18 percent and Android smartphones by all makers at 47.4 percent. (Note: Apple'siPhone share surged to 44 percent in the fourth quarter, according to Nielsen and others.)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/248458/windows_phone_predicted_to_displace_iphone.html#tk.rss_news

Fascinating article.

2012-01-22T08:36:00.001-05:00

Apple, America and a Squeezed Middle Class - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=2