Fun with SecurID

So in order to get into our company internet when we're not at a P&G site, we use a SecurID device. The thing fits on your keychain and spits out random numbers, and changes every minute or so. You're supposed to type in that number at that time when you want to log in. Well I was looking at it one day and the number that was up caught my eye... check it out

Bailout according to Dilbert

This cartoon pretty much sums up how I feel about people in Congress acting all holier than thou... (click on it to see the last pane)

My idea to help the housing crisis

OK, so here's my idea to help fix the housing crisis. Instead of forcing banks to not foreclose or giving money to people to pay their mortgages, how about this:

Help people move out of their current house and into a smaller, more affordable one.

This would be a lot more sustainable then just giving people money, and it would be a lot better than leaving people out in the street. If you just give people money or prevent banks from foreclosing, then even after the economy goes back to normal, people are still in hosues they can't afford. Maybe the government would pay for realtor fees or moving fees. This would get people into houses they should've been in in the first place. Then, when things come back to normal, they will be in a better place.

Maybe this helps housing prices increase, except for the most expensive ones. But I'd think this would reduce the total number of foreclosurs. Anyone else care to build on this idea?

Eavesdropping on traffic control

The plane I was on when I was flying back from a recent trip to San Francisco had one of those channels where you can listen to what the air traffic controllers are saying. I've always been mesmerized by all the communication and stuff going on, and I would usually listen to it for quite a long while.

Aside: So why do they still use this archaic technology? You'd think they'd at least have caller ID, so when someone transmitted the plane ID would automatically show up. And instead of manually and verbally telling "American 1650 climb to 20 niner" and then having the plane go "Climbing to 20 niner American 1650" they could just send the equivalent of a text message by touching a few things on the radar. Or even have a computer figure out the best configuration for all the planes coming in and automatically sending out commands as to where a plane should go. Of course you could have a few live humans monitoring it. But seriously.

Anyways... I remember a couple of funny moments as I was eavesdropping. A long time ago I was listening and the guy on the ground would say "American 1560 blah blah takeoff position" except he would say it like "takeoff posi-SHAWN" like Cajun Man of SNL fame would.

So on this flight back from SF to O'Hare, we were making our final approach to O'Hare so planes were lining up to land. The following took place:

Tower: United 1250 cleared to land on runway 42L
United 1250: Requesting runway 48R, running a little behind and would like to cut down on taxi time.
Another voice: Aren't we all
Another voice: Me too
Another voice: me three
Another voice: 4
Another voice: 5

Then silence. The tower never did respond to the request. He got DISSED! I wonder if his request was really out of line or what. I suppose O'Hare is one of the busiest airports in the world so they probably weren't too keen on taking requests.

A great story

Here's a great story... I love the attitudes of both the firefighter and the other woman. "Thanks for thinking of me." What a great line!

A good day on the stock market

Man you live for a day like today when you portfolio looks like this... too bad they don't happen enough for me to retire yet.

At the UC Berkeley campus

I called my dad from here (visiting some friends) and had the folowing exchange:

Me: hi dad guess what I'm on the Berkeley campus
Dad: what are you doing there?
Me: getting a PhD
Dad: ha yeah right

My take on Miley Cyrus

Thought you guys might be interested in my take on the latest controversial Miley Cyrus picture...