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Vol. 27, No. 8 • August, 2009

Is Caps Lock The Next Dodo Bird? . . . . . . Computer makers have been tinkering with the keyboard. This spring, Apple ditched the number pad on its iMac desktop keyboard. Last month, Hewlett-Packard unveiled its 5101 netbook with smaller f1-to-f12 function keys - “relics from DOS-era computer,” says Stacy Wolff, HP’s director of notebook product design. (HP researchers found just 10% of consumers use the keys.) And Lenovo doubled the size of the Delete and Escape keys on its just-released T400s ThinkPad. After a year of using key-tracking software to study how it’s sales and marketing staffers pound their laptops (and after polling 1,000 customers), Lenovo found that people hit “Del” and “Esc” 700 times a week each, more than any other key - often with force. “Hitting these keys represents big, sometimes emotional decisions, like getting rid of a note from your boss,” says David Hill, Lenovo’s head of design. Will more keyboard tweaks follow? Don Norman, a design critic who heads a joint MBA and engineering program at Northwestern University, points out that no one has yet addressed the Caps Lock key, a source of widespread frustration when mistakenly hit. “I have been trying to eliminate Caps Lock for over a decade,” Norman says. Then there are the Lenovo study’s least used keys: Scroll Lock, Num Lock, and SysRq. Says Hill: “I’ve spoken with high-level executives working at Lenovo for decades who didn’t know what SysRq does.” (For most users, the System Request key doesn’t do anything. IBM installed it in early PCs to help debug programs without interfering with other software,) (Reena Jana in BusinessWeek)

The Teens Are Worried . . . . . . So much for the carefree innocence of youth. In an online national survey of 2,000 teenagers, Bank of America and Seventeen Magazine found they are deeply worried about the economy. The girls are more concerned about the economy (85 percent say they’re “stressed”) than the boys (with a 75 percent stress level), as well as in other monetary issues: girls worry more about paying for college (69 percent vs. 59 percent of the boys) and have more fights with their family over money (47 percent vs. 31 percent of the boys). But the teens also are much more optimistic in some areas: 90 percent of the boys and 82 percent of the girls believe they’ll eventually be better off financially than their parents. Even so, more than a third of the girls surveyed - 40 percent - “think their parents should bail them out of a tough money situation, no matter how old they are,” according to the findings. (American Banker)

The Best Paid . . . . . . . . The best paid talking heads are paid top dollar to gab. Here are estimated earnings over the past 12 months by Forbes Magazine:

Celebrity $ Millions Celebrity $ Millions Celebrity $ Millions

1. Oprah Winfrey $275 5. Rush Limbaugh $54 9. Ryan Seacrest $38

2. Dr. Phil McGraw $ 80 6. Donald Trump $50 10. Ellen DeGeneres $35

3. Simon Cowell $ 75 7. David Letterman $45 11. Jay Leno $32

4. Howard Stern $ 70 8. Judge Judy $45 12. Tyra Banks $30

Make Your Passwords Unbreakable But Memorable . . . . . . Criminals are very good at cracking simple passwords. Take the recent case at Twitter. A number of high-profile accounts were hacked. These accounts belonged to various public figures, including Barack Obama. Some embarrassing posts were made in their names. But none of these people were at fault. A Twitter employee’s account was hacked. This gave the criminal full access to administrative tools. It wasn’t hard to do. The employee’s account has a simple password, “happiness.” This password is a great example of what not to do. It’s fairly short. It only uses lowercase letters. And, worse of all, it’s a dictionary word. Passwords out of the dictionary can be cracked in minutes. They are the first passwords criminals try. So, what makes a password strong? There are a couple key features you should remember.

• Avoid names and dictionary words.

• Use at least eight characters; the more the better.

• Include upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.

A strong password should look like random characters.......(Kim Komando)

Personal Comment: This article goes on to tell you how to come up with random letters and numbers and symbols. Most people just won’t do it - they use their kids or dogs names. If you are one that uses easy passwords - AT LEAST - add a period somewhere in the name. Add a number in the middle, start or end. Happi.ness09. That would have a better chance of saving the Twitter account - than just - happiness. You can remember that one - don’t put it off. Change those passwords.

Fifty Dollars . . . . . . . . Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year, and every year Morris would say, “Esther, I’d like to ride in that helicopter.” Esther always replied, “I know Morris, but the helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” One year Esther and Morris went to the fair, and Morris said, “Esther, I’m 85 years old. If I don’t ride that helicopter, I might never get another chance.” The pilot overheard the couple and said, “Folks I’ll make you a deal. I’ll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and don’t say a word - I won’t charge you a penny! But if you say one word, it’s fifty dollars.” Morris and Esther agreed and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers, but not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks over and over again, but still not a word. When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, “By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn’t I’m impressed!” Morris replied, “Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Esther fell out, but you know, fifty dollars is fifty dollars.” (Bishop)

Buzz-o-meter . . . . . . . . . . . . The tipping point from perky to panicky often occurs once you have taken in about 300 mg of caffeine in a 1-hour period. How much wallop is in your mug?

Drink Ounces Caffeine

• Decaf Coffee 8 2 mg

• Green Tea 8 20 mg

• Diet Coke 12 47 mg

• Black Tea 8 47 mg

• Espresso 1 64 mg

• Red Bull 8.4 80 mg

• Coffee (home) 8 95 mg

• Dunkin’D coffee 14 (med.) 178 mg

• Pike’s Pl. Brew 16 (grande) 330-500 (Self Magazine)

Diving Speeds of Birds . . . . . . . Peregrine Falcon - 242 mph / Golden Eagle - 200 mph / Gyrfalcon - 130 mph / Bald Eagle - 100 mph / Osprey - 80 mph / Hummingbird - 50 mph / Brown Pelican - 40 mph (Wired)

Miserable In The Middle . . . . . What would you do to avoid getting stuck in the middle seat on an airplane flight? A little more than half of 806 travelers polled in a new survey said they’d rather visit the dentist than sit in the middle seat. One in 5 respondents said they’d stay an extra night to avoid it. And 80 percent said they go out of their way to get an aisle or window seat on a full flight. “Only 1 percent of those polled actually prefer to sit in the middle seat,” said 3M Privacy, which commissioned the survey, conducted by Global Strategy. More than half the respondents said they’d rather go on a blind date or be stuck in traffic than sit in the middle seat. Nine percent said they’d refuse to sit in the middle seat on a full flight if it was more than 1 to 2 hours. 3M Privacy also commissioned an e-booklet on middle-seat etiquette. Five things respondents found most annoying about the middle:

□ Having a nosy seatmate peering over your shoulder.

□ Crawling over someone to get to the bathroom.

□ Not being able to stretch out.

□ Having an overweight seatmate on either side of you.

□ Not having a place to rest your head. (McClatchy / Tribune News)

Confused In Blue . . . . . . . . . A cop was patrolling late at night in a well-know spot. He sees a couple in a car, with the interior light brightly glowing. The cop carefully approaches the car to get a closer look. Then he sees a young man behind the steering wheel, reading a computer magazine. He immediately notices a young woman in the rear seat, filing her fingernails. Puzzled by this surprising situation, the cop walks to the car and gently raps on the driver’s window. The young man lowers his window . . . . “Uh, yes, Officer?” The cop says: “What are you doing?” The young man says: “Well Officer, I’m reading a magazine.” Pointing towards the young woman in the back seat the cop says: “And her, what is she doing?” The young man shrugs: “Sir, I believe she’s filing her fingernails.” Now the cop is totally confused. A young couple, alone in a car, at night in a lover’s lane . . . and nothing obscene is happening! The cop asks: “What’s your age young man?” The young man says: “I’m 22 sir.” The cop asks: “And her . . . what’s her age?” The young man looks at his watch and replies: “She’ll be 18 in 11 minutes!” (LaFree)

Why do the symbols ♂ and ♀ represent male and female? . . . . . . . No, these are anatomical representations. They are symbols related to Greek mythology. The female symbol ♀ is supposed to represent a woman holding a hand mirror and is associated with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty. The male symbol ♂ represents a spear and shield and is associated with the Greek god of war, Ares. The male and female symbols also represent the planets Mars and Venus (the Roman god of war and the Roman goddess of beauty). (The Book of Totally Useless Information)

“Anyone who has never made a mistake,

has never tried anything new.” Albert Einstein Sincerely,

“Three little sentences that will get you through life:

1. Cover for me. Edward C. Levy

2. Oh, good idea, boss! President

3. It was like that when I got here.” Homer Simpson