Bank On It. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has their annual meeting here in Honolulu today. The ADB, based in Manila, is a multi-national lending institution whose stated goal is to reduce poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.
While no institution created by man is perfect, on balance, I would guess people are better off when they have a school, electricity, medical care, and safe water to drink. I would guess having the opportunity to better oneself and your family is a Good Thing. But maybe it's only me. Maybe poverty and sickness isn't as bad as some say. Maybe isolationism is the wave of the future and not the discredited fable of the past.
So I guess it's a sign of the times that millions are
being spent on security to keep the imported
idiots/anarchists, brave socialists working brethren
(and make no mistake, this is being run by Caucasian males,
you won't find any females, Blacks, Hispanics, or Asians
leaders in their group) from turning paradise into a another
Seattle or Quebec. One hopes that the outside
agitators peaceful protestors will respect the rights of
others and not create a riot, but I'm not holding my breath.
Even our building has increased security during the run of
the conference.
My deepest condolences to fellow Daynoter
Sjon
Svenson. A little while ago his father passed away. Now
his sister common-law step-mother has followed [my
deepest apologies for the error in the relationship]. This
must be a very difficult time for him and I hope you will
remember him in your prayers. I wish you well my friend.
I have my last paper to write for this year (due tomorrow) so I gotta go - Aloha!
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Tuesday - 8 May 2001
Signs of the Times. After 21 straight years of increases, the number of U.S. households with Internet access dropped slightly by 0.3 per cent to 68.5 million in the first quarter of this year, says Telecommunications Reports International. TR blames the drop in the death of several free Internet service providers but also suggests that the U.S. market may be approaching saturation.
While you are pondering that, go out and get the Clarion's DVD player. Well, what's so special about that, you ask? The player is for your car, in-dash no less. The Clarion Joyride plays DVD movies, CD music discs, and MP3 digital music files. But wait, there's more. It's voice operated. That is, it responds to your voice commands. The price of this toy? If you have to ask...Well, okay then, if you must know, depending on the options, it goes for between $3,000 to $4,900 USD. Operators are waiting [Ginzu knives not included - Ed].
So you've had a hankering for a CD burner but don't want the hassle of installing it into one PC. Or maybe you want to be able to flitter from PC to PC like a butterfly taking your burner with you. Well, has Sony got a drive for you. The Sony CRX10U-A2 connects to a PC via an USB port and writes CD-R and CD-RW disks (4X4X6X). No, it's not blindingly fast. No, it's not cheap ($399.99USD). But if portable is what you want, portable it is.
Earth to Major Tom. If you already have Verizon as your digital cell phone service provider, and you have a PDA, you may be able to link the two and get your Internet e-mail. Or as Verizon calls it, the Mobile Office. The $70 kit includes a data cable, PDA adapter, and software.
I was up until 1:30am last night working on my paper. Unfortunately, I've only done four pages so far and I need 10. So I gotta go - Aloha!
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Hump Day Wednesday - 9 May 2001 (T-5)
Whooo Hooo! I turned in the last paper of this year. Words can not describe the grind this last semester has been. I am happy I got through my first year. Now, only a year and a half more to go.
The Bank that Says Qui. Speaking of class, I mentioned earlier that my practicum would start 1 June at First Hawaiian Bank. Well, the bank is in the news because its parent company, BancWest is being bought by a French bank called BNP Paribas. The Paris based bank is reported to be offering BancWest shareholders $2.5 billion (USD) which their board of directors are recommending approval of. As usual, the BancWest folks are saying nothing will change. All the same services at the same prices will be offered. But if you believe that, I have some ocean front property on the Big Island I want to sell. Cheap. All you have to do is let the lava cool first.
11 Ways to Get Along Better with Everyone (found over at The Employee Assistance Center)
Before you say anything to anyone, ask yourself three things: 1) Is it true? 2) Is it kind? 3) Is it necessary?
Never miss the opportunity to compliment or to say something encouraging to someone.
Refuse to talk negatively about others; don't gossip and don't listen to gossip.
Have a forgiving view of people. Believe that most people are doing the best they can.
Let your virtues speak for themselves.
Keep an open mind; discuss, but don't argue. It is possible to disagree without being disagreeable.
Make promises sparingly and keep them faithfully.
Forget about counting to 10. Count to 1,000 before doing or saying anything that could make matters worse.
If someone criticizes you, see if there is any truth to what he or she is saying; if so, make changes. If there is no truth to the criticism, ignore it and live so that no one will believe the negative remark.
Cultivate your sense of humor; laughter is the shortest distance between two people.
"Do not seek so much to be consoled, as to console; do not seek so much to be understood, as to understand; do not seek so much to be loved, as to love."
Aloha!
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Thursday - 10 May 2001
Master of My Domain II. Just a quick update on the changes in registration that I started awhile back. The transfer of www.seto.org registration from Network Solutions (hawk, spit) to pairNIC/TUCOWS went smoothly and quickly.
The registration and parking of danseto.com was trickier and more expensive than I thought. First, it's a two-step process. You register the domain like you would any other (pay $19, do not pass go). Then you park it. Now, I seem to remember domain parking as a free service on other hosts. And I guess you could say it was free at pair also. Sort of. Except you have to pay a $10 set-up fee. Which seems a little steep since everything is automated and they don't actually do anything (except send you a bill). Being that as it may, its (danseto.com) been parked and the DNS changes should propagate around the world in a day or so.
What will you see if you type in www.danseto.com? Exactly what you would if you typed in seto.org. Remember, it's a parked domain. So why would I pay $10 for this? Because at some point, the seto.org domain may be taken away from me because I'm not a registered non-profit organization. You see, ICAAN was making some noise about changing who could have an .org domain. Now, I don't know what the current status of the proposed ICAAN change is, but if they do go forward with it, I will at least have a .com domain to fall back on (as long as they don't screw around with who can have one of those).
Homepage VBS Virus Strikes City! The so-called homepage VBS virus hit the City and County of Honolulu mail servers yesterday afternoon. The servers was taken off-line from about 3:00pm to 8:00pm to clean out the infection. During that time, no email service was available to thousands of city workers.
However, the state's mail servers seem to have escaped infection and are up and running. That's less then can be said for two state web servers which were defaced sometime over the weekend. The break-ins was blamed on Chinese hackers retaliating for the recent downing of one of their aircraft.
Lizards Seen Running Loose! Run for your lives! Well, maybe not. I don't know if anyone cares anymore but the Mozilla browser version 0.9 was released several days ago. I haven't tried it myself, and actually don't plan to. But if you have a hankering (and there are drugs now-a-days to control that) to give it a try, follow this link here. Remember this is alphaware so all manner of mayhem are not unknown. YMMV.
Recipes for a New eXPerience. The following top secret link (see it here) shows some of the new menu choices available in XP2003 from MicroBrains, LLP. Below is a sample screen shot:
So Far, So Good. After the hype about how many protestors would be here for the Asian Development Bank conference, and comparisons with Seattle and Quebec, I am happy to report that everything has gone well. So far. Yesterday was supposed to be the big protest day with thousands expected. But only about 500 people actually showed up. And many of those were sovereignty groups that had nothing to do with the conference.
In any case, well done to all of those who were involved in planning for the protests. This includes mostly the police but also our courts and others. Lets hope things continue as well as they have been.
Aloha!
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Aloha Friday - 11 May 2001
As a Heads Up. I will be on vacation next week. SWMBO and I are going to Las Vegas and then Los Angeles. During that time, there will be no posts. When I am on vacation, I am on vacation. But as someone famous once said, "I shall return."
Speaking of WWII. The US aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis left port in San Diego headed for Pearl Harbor. Added to its deck were new, top secret structures. They appear to be long rows of what look to be wooden slats (no doubt to be stealthy). Security experts, viewing satellite images, have described the arrangement as looking much like stadium-type seating, with some kind of giant screen at one end, although one described it as looking pretty Mickey Mouse to her.
Speaking of Mickey Mouse. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation says 3,000 pages of materials relating to the Oklahoma City bombing were inadvertently mislaid and were only recently "found", in Dallas [were the documents in a book repository, perhaps? Just asking - Ed.]. Let me pause for 10 seconds while I try to lower my blood pressure by thinking good thoughts. Okay, 10 seconds have passed.
If the materials are not exculpatory in nature then it doesn't matter. If they are, certain people will need to explain themselves, in court or before conduct committees. But in either case, this incident at least gives the appearance of impropriety. Something McVeigh, and people of his ilk, are only too happy to point to as evidence of the Evil Empire. And in times like these, it's hard for me to say otherwise.
Speaking of Fantasies. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the film by Square USA, is set for release on July 11. Much of the 97-minute computer generated animation movie was created in Square's Honolulu office. Square invested $10 million alone in equipment in Honolulu where at one time, 250 were working on the movie. Character voices are by: Ming-na Wen (Mulan), Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin, Ving Rhames, Donald Sutherland, and James Woods. The sound track music is performed by the London Symphony Orchestra with sound effects by Skywalker Sound in California.
Click on the poster below to see an image of the main character "Aki" (and remember, this is all computer generated).
Mother's Day. Mother's Day (in the US) is this weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there.
Well, that's it for me. Lord willing and the crick don't rise, I'll see you in a couple of weeks. Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!
© 2001 Daniel K. Seto. All rights reserved. The check is in the mail. O.J. is innocent.