Passwords

Surveys have found that 36 per cent of computer users have between six and 15 passwords to remember; a further 18 per cent have more than 15 unique identifiers to memorise. Research from the Burton Group suggests that the average user can spend up to 15 minutes every day logging on to separate applications – which adds up to 65 weekday hours spent entering user IDs and passwords each year. The Gartner Group estimates that 25 to 35 per cent of calls made to IT helpdesks are password related at an estimated cost of around $25 - $35 a call, adding millions to the support bill at larger companies.

How many passwords do you have?

"For the Curious"

Bata Shoe Museum

The tagline for the Bata Shoe Museum is "For the Curious". It's an
appropriate motto, as this provocative museum in Toronto contains over
10,000 shoes within its prodigious holdings. The museum opened in 1995, and
visitors to this site can traipse through sections such as "Exhibitions" and
"Collections" to learn more about their interpretive mission and their
thematic areas. Most visitors will want to start by looking at the online
exhibit "All About Shoes". Developed in cooperation with the Department of
Canadian Heritage, the collection allows visitors to view over 500 shoe
images, 200 of which are in 3D. Short of actually picking up the actual
shoes themselves, this is a very effective and immersive way to examining
the intricate patterns and designs on each item of footwear. Moving on,
visitors can also check out the podcasts by assistant curator Sarah Beam-
Borg. In recent months, Borg has offered up talks and commentary on "Dancing
through the Halls of History" and "The Fate of Fashion". Finally, interested
parties may also wish to check out the "Visiting" area to learn about the
museum's hours of operation, special events, and so on.

Visit the site here


From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2008.
http://scout.wisc.edu/

A good way to start the day

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in
traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day
and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry
and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young
man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college
student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of
not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the
same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to
addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow
through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are
savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got
back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping
together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give
us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love
with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are
close to
us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive,
show patience, empathy and love.

Famous Quotations

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the
world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely
nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird
and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very
early the difference between knowing the name of something and
knowing something. - Richard Feynman

It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous. - Robert Benchley

All the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway. - Harry S Truman

The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture, finished, and put inside boxes. - Dave Barry

Puns Alert!

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
3. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
4. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
5. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
6. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
7. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
8. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
9. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here, I'll go on a-head.'
10. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
11. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, 'No change yet.'
12. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
13. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium, at large.
14. A backward poet writes in-verse.
15. In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.
16. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
17. Don't join dangerous cults. Practice safe sects!

“From Ralph Milton's RUMORS, a free Internet ‘e-zine’ for Christians with a sense of humor."

Plastic Bags

Teen Finds Way to Decompose Plastic Bags in Just 3 Months!

An 11th grader from Canada set out to make the dream of degrading plastic bags come true as part of his school science project. A wildly successful endeavor he figures will make them decompose in just 3 months. This extraordinary young scientist named Daniel Burd identified two strains of naturally occurring microorganism bacteria, rarely found in nature, that actually do make plastic decompose. The charmingly named Sphingomonas serves as the primary decomposer with help from Pseudomonas. Well done Daniel! More from Treehugger

Change

It's been more than a week since the historic election of Barack Obama, and the energy unleashed by his campaign and its supporters has yet to diminish. In fact, it seems to be getting stronger: last week the Obama transition team launched Change.gov, the transition site devoted to getting supporters involved in the administration.

On Change.gov, Americans can participate in governance on an unprecedented level (and this is just the beginning). President-Elect Obama, we think this could be the beginning of a beautiful worldwide friendship.

Old English Poetry

It's never too late to learn Old English poetry, and this site is just the
place to delve into this fascinating subject. Created by Murray McGillivray
at the University of Calgary, the site presents a wide range of Old English
poems and poetic lines in a very simplified and easy to use fashion. The
purpose of this project is "to make useable and reliable texts of Old
English poems available in convenient form for students and scholars."
Visitors can click on the "Old English Poetry" section to review a list of
all the poems by title. Also, visitors can view a list of the poems by
original manuscript, and they can also learn about the project's history as
well.

Visit the website The Online Corpus of Old English Poetry

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2008.
http://scout.wisc.edu/

Things to Know

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping
the length of a football field. (But I ask...Why?)

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.
(What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)

Butterflies taste with their feet.
(Something I always wanted to know.)

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.(WOW)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.
(If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump.
(Okay, so that would be a good thing)

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.(I know some people like that.)

Starfish have no brains..
(I know some people like that too.)

Polar bears are left-handed.
(If they switch, they'll live a lot longer)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour
(Don't try this at home,maybe at work)

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced
enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
(Hardly seems worth it.)

Quotations

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough
to make them all yourself."

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

"How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can
start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that
everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward
introducing justice straightaway... And you can always, always
give something, even if it is only kindness!"

-- Anne Frank

"When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when
work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having,
just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road,
without thought on anything but the ride you are taking."

-- Arthur Conan Doyle

"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes,
playing a poor hand well."

-- Jack London

"One of the nice things about problems is that a good many of
them do not exist except in our imaginations."

-- Steve Allen

"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My
strength lies solely in my tenacity."

-- Louis Pasteur

"If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability
to get the other person's point of view and see things from
that person's angle as well as from your own."

-- Henry Ford

"The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax
return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale."

-- Arthur C. Clarke

Beauty

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry

For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others

Moving Toward Vegetarianism

It wasn't so long ago many people in North America thought vegetarians were weird, lived in hippie communes and lived off of tofu and brown rice. Our cultural ideas have shifted enough in the last decade that this concept has mostly fallen away.

There's no question that more people are embracing a vegetarian diet, especially in the under 30 age group, but there is still some resistance. There are many people out there who are flummoxed by the idea of cooking and eating a meal without meat.

We'd like to change that.

The challenge this week: Eat just one dinner without meat or fish in it.

Creation Explanation

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth and populated the Earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow and red vegetables
of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

Then using God's great gifts, Satan created Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and Krispy Creme Donuts. And Satan said, "You want chocolate with that?"

And Man said, "Yes!" and Woman said, "and as long as you're at it, add some sprinkles." And they gained 10 pounds. And Satan smiled.

And God created the healthful yogurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair. And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat, and sugar
from the cane and combined them. And Woman went from size 6 to size 14.

So God said, "Try my fresh green salad." And Satan presented Thousand-Island Dressing, buttery croutons and garlic toast on the side. And Man and Woman
unfastened their belts following the repast.

God then said, "I have sent you heart healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them.." And Satan brought forth deep fried fish and chicken-fried
steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained more weight and his cholesterol went through the roof.

God then created a light, fluffy white cake, named it "Angel Food Cake," and said, "It is good." Satan then created chocolate cake and named it "Devil's
Food."

God then brought forth running shoes so that His children might lose those extra pounds. And Satan gave cable TV with a remote control so Man would not
have to toil changing the channels. And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering blue light and gained pounds.

Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center
into chips and deep-fried them. And Man gained pounds.

God then gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite. And Satan created McDonald's and its 99-cent double cheeseburger.
Then said, "You want fries with that?" And Man replied, "Yes! And super size them!" And Satan said, "It is good." And Man went into cardiac arrest.

God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery.

Then Satan created OHIP.