Fewer than two dozen people were in the lift line, so we have the resort practically to ourselves. I bet on a couple hundred people are on the slopes today (maybe because most are preparing for the Super Bowl). With the slopes practically empty and the snow fast, skiers are shooting down the mountain, even on the relatively flat sections.

I think that there are few things in life as enjoyable as family vacations. With everyone excited to be together and no household chores or schoolwork hanging over our heads, we can feel free to just enjoy one another’s company.

I hope that every family has the opportunity to get away from their daily responsibilities and enjoy being a family.

 

Some Moments are Precious!

The chapel park is located a few miles off the highway, down a two-lane country road. However, we knew that we had arrived when we saw the oversized signage and acres of free parking.

Cooling My Feet with a few Precious Friends

However, when I stepped out of the pool onto the brick pathway, I burned the soles of both of my feet! (Maybe it was my penance for being sacrilegious in a chapel park.)

Sometimes We Have to Laugh at Ourselves

We are glad that we stopped. An afternoon spent laughing enriched our relationship.

To get a full flavor of the park’s amenities, visit the Precious Moment’s Park website.

 

Maybe it was too much cabin pressure, but after a passenger attempted to retrieve overhead luggage and whacked Slater in the head, Slater had enough. He gave the passengers a piece of his mind over the airliner’s PA system, grabbed two beers, popped the emergency slide, and waved goodbye as he slid away to personal freedom.

At least once in life, everyone needs two beers and an escape chute.

 

The iPad is a bit heavy to hold, which makes it cumbersome for reading in bed, but it is not so heavy as to prevent my carrying it to class. I copied my PDF textbooks and lecture notes using Good Reader, and the iPad will be easier to tote than an armful of textbooks and notebooks. This was my principal desire for the Kindle2, Kindle DX, and iPad. it seems that only the iPad will fit the bill.

Typing on the iPad tedious, but I expect a wireless keyboard will solve that problem. Creating this article in the WordPress app is frustratingly slow. After switching to landscape mode with the larger keyboard, I can move along at about 25 words a minute, much slower than my normal pace of 60 wpm.

Overall, a two-day evaluation leaves me even more in love with Apple. While note a replacement for my MacBook Pro, iPad really does place a computer in my hands.

 

My brother-in-law and another guest, both of whom drove four-wheel-drive trucks this weekend, had us happily on our way to the an entrance path to the top of one of the ski slopes. The driving was still a bit slippery and it was a good thing that our driver’s are patient men, as only one lane was open on the ski slope’s access road and we had to traverse through good sized snow piles that were on each side of the road.

We snapped on our skis and we were off! The three feet of fresh powder was just settling; the wind had died and the blowing snow of last night was not a problem, today. The air was crystal clear, the sun was shining, and the temperature was a perfect 26 degrees Fahrenheit.

We split up, taking the trails and runs that best suited our individual skills, and we met up at the bottom of the mountain to share the lift back to the top. Up and down we went (the mountain, that is). None of us fell, the entire day (although, I twice demonstrated klutzy “tricks” a few times).

We returned to the vacation house in time for a feast prepared by those who stayed in the house with the youngest children. Now, satiated and with a coffee by my side, I report that there’s never too much snow to go skiing.

There’s even better news. Our home town received three feet of snow, too. Many of the highways are passable, but the secondary roads are not yet plowed. I expect that my Monday classes will be canceled; we can all stay on the mountain an extra day! The only thing better than going on a ski vacation with family and friends is extending the vacation because of too much snow!

 

I am with family and friends at a mountain house in McHenry, Maryland. I wish I could leave this blog entry unwritten and be skiing today, but so much snow fell yesterday and overnight that we are housebound. The driving snow has switched to snow showers, but with about three feet of wet snow on the ground, none of our vehicles, including the four wheel drive SUVs and pickup truck can get to a ski run, let alone the resort at the base of the ski area.

One of 13 lifts may be running today, but the only people who will be skiing are those who have a room in the resort.

My family and I skied yesterday in blowing snow. Yesterday’s fresh powder made for soft runs down the hill, but today’s snow is wet and will make it difficult to even fall down the hill (that is if I could even get to the ski area, which is all of a half mile away).

Fortunately, I brought my Kindle DX and I have plenty of academic papers to grade, so I can keep busy inside the house.

With a dozen kids keeping us company, I hope that no one goes johnny.

 

What is the Cloud?
The cloud is a reference to storing data on a computer that is available through an Internet connection, usually via TCP/IP. An example of cloud computing is Amazon’s S3 service, which offers effectively unlimited storage space to database administrators and website designers.

What are Cloud Backups?
Cloud backups are offsite copies of data that are accessible through an Internet connection, 24/7. Rather than storing data backups onsite, cloud backups are stored in a well monitored, secure data storage center. All data are securely encrypted using security ciphers, such as the ultrasecure AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). Unless the decryption passphrase is known, the data cannot be accessed. Users of cloud backup systems are assured that no one may access the data files, unless the passphrase (or passphrases) are properly authenticated.

Most users are familiar with using onsite backups, such as flash media, CD/DVD discs, or external hard drives. All of these media suffer from a shared risk: local physical security. If your office were burgled or destroyed in a fire, these locally-stored backups would be at as much risk as your primary storage media (workstations and network servers). Since data are your organization’s most valuable resource, and the only resource that is irreplaceable (and uninsurable), you must take extra precautions to ensure your organization will survive in the event your computing equipment were lost.

Because the security and privacy of data is so important, users often have a difficult time selecting a service for offsite backups. The backed up data must not be left open to the public (especially competitors). After reading thousands of pages of related security material and investing a year in testing cloud backup solutions, ITrain uses and recommends two services: BackBlaze and JungleDisk.

Popular Cloud Backup Solutions
Our recommendation comes from careful evaluation of many online backup solutions. BackBlaze and JungleDisk easily became the top solutions for a number of reasons:
1. Ultrasecure data storage
2. Fast, unencumbered upstream and downstream bandwidth
3. No outages
4. Unlimited storage space
5. Simple, automated backup control user interface

Our office network currently stores about 72GB of important data, a combination of small word processing/spreadsheet files and large desktop publishing, audio, and video files. These files are required for daily operations, and must be protected. Hundreds of additional gigabytes of video files are also saved, but these are of secondary importance.

We backup all important files to BackBlaze, which costs $5 per month. We backup all critical word processing and spreadsheet files, about 20GB worth, to JungleDisk which costs $0.15 per gigabyte per month. In addition, all files are duplicated on multiple servers and encrypted external hard disks within the office.

Both BackBlaze and JungleDisk accept our data backups as fast as our upstream bandwidth can send the files (usually 5-8MB per second).

Both services allow us to protect the securing of the data using two passphrases; JungleDisk even double encrypts the files. In both cases, we use passphrases of up to 64 pseudorandom characters (a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numerals, and punctuation marks). Because our files include information about you, our members, we take extra precautions to ensure your information is well protected.

BackBlaze stores the files on its proprietary servers; JungleDisk offers the option of storing the files on Amazon’s S3 service or RackSpace’s servers.

Managing Multiple Copies of Backups
JungleDisk’s backup software is the ultimate in flexibility. We can control how many copies of each backed up file are stored and for how long copies are maintained. BackBlaze automatically retains copies of backed up files for 30 days. In both cases, the most recent copy of each file is retained until manually removed.

Restoring Data
Both JungleDisk and BackBlaze offer a web-based restoration menu. JungleDisk also offers a shared drive interface, so the backup directories appear as a network drive.

For large restorations–those that are too large to quickly download, BackBlaze will send the files on DVD or external hard disk, shipped via overnight FedEx.

Dave’s Opinion
I personally recommend both services, BackBlaze and JungleDisk. They offer the same level of data protection; however, they offer different benefits regarding data access and restoration. That is why ITrain uses both services.

BackBlaze is a generous sponsor of ITrain, the International Association of Information Technology Trainers, and is offering the association a complementary annual subscription (even after we offered to pay for the subscription). In addition, through May 30, 2009, you may subscribe to BackBlaze’s backup service at a 10% discount. Whether you subscribe for one month or one year, you may receive a 10% discount on your first order, if you use the BackBlaze hyperlink below and the discount code, ITRAIN.

Please, test the services and post a comment telling us your evaluation.

Call for Comments
What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References
BackBlaze
JungleDisk

 

Amazon’s e-book reader meets the criteria for an digital book reader that I described 20 years ago: easy to use, clear text, substantive capacity, over-the-air downloads.

Kindle 2 Physical Size & Capacity

The Kindle2 is lightweight, 10.2 oz, about the size of a trade paperback book,
8” by 5.3”, and about as thick as a magazine, 0.36”. It was surprisingly thinner and lighter than I expected. This makes the Kindle2 easy to hold and carry. I can slip the e-book reader into my notebook case or keep it in its own leather binder. Either way, it is smaller than all but a few of the paperback books in my library.

I currently have five dozen books installed in the Kindle’s memory, and I have used less than .09GB of the device’s 1.49GB of available memory. This means that I should be able to store about 1,000 books similar to the ones that I have already downloaded. However, the books that I have installed are significantly longer than most books: Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s, the complete collections of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s and Mark Twain’s. Some of the books that I have installed are each thousands of pages in length, so I expect that the average reader will be able to carry upwards of 2,000 typical length books. Not bad for a device that can be carried in purse or computer bag.

Available Content for Kindle

With a quarter million books available from Amazon.com and thousands more available for free from other sites, I have had no problem finding interesting material to read on my Kindle. I downloaded classics that are now in the public domain from feedbooks.com, others from Amazon.com. Most popular books sell for $9.99; however, I was surprised to find that many books cost less, many for under a dollar.

Whether I purchase the books using my notebook or Kindle’s web interface, the books immediately download via a cellular connection to the device.

The device includes a web browser through which I can access Google and Wikipedia, as well as most sites. Some complex HTML designs confuse the device’s browser, but for the most part, I have had no significant problems.

Many of the academic papers that I read are delivered in PDF. The Kindle cannot directly read PDF files; however, Amazon offers a free conversion service: I e-mail the PDF files to my private Amazon.com e-mail address, and the Kindle versions of the documents automatically download to my device within a few minutes.

Change in Reading Habit

What most struck me about the e-book reader is the ways that it has changed my reading habits. I have read a dozen books on the device during the last two weeks. During the same period I read two paperback and two hardcover books. I compared reading physical and digital books during the same period.

I never noticed it before, but reading a physical book presents a few challenges. My thumbs were tired after holding the physical books open; I had never taken notice of this problem before. In addition, I had difficulty taking notes while reading the physical books. When my writing hand moved to the pad on my knee or desk, the book folded over, making it difficult to refer to the text.

Neither of these physical problems occurred while reading on the Kindle. In addition, I noticed that I more closely focused on the content of the text, as the Kindle displays only a single page at a time. When making notes, I could lay the device down and easily write in my notebook. I experimented with the digital notetaking feature of the Kindle, but the device’s keyboard does not lend itself to fast typing, so I kept to my paper notes.

Recommendation

I recommend, without hesitation, Amazon’s new e-book reader. Whether you read books, magazines, newspapers, or other documents–or a combination–I think that you will find the Kindle 2 a welcome tool in your literary kit. Buy the Kindle 2 directly from Amazon.com through this hyperlink: Amazon Kindle 2.

 

I was waiting for a car inspection, and the service manager recommended Kelsey’s. I was seated in the formal dining room and allowed to read in private. I was surprised by the attentive wait staff, who respected my concentration by quietly serving me.

I will return to Kelsey’s, bringing my family for a meal.

(posted by iPhone)

 

The earcup cushion on right side of the headphones came lose due to a broken connection. I could not reconnect the cushion, so I stopped by the Bose store at The Mall in Columbia (Maryland) to purchase a replacement cushion.

The sales representative and I recognized one another, as she had sold me my headphones 19 months ago. Even though my headphones are now well past the warranty period, the sales representative offered to solve my problem for free.

Rather than replacing my cushion, she replaced my entire headphone. I could not have been happier. I love my Bose Wave® radio and I still love my noise canceling headphones.

I was treated in a manner that makes me a loyal Bose customer, and I am glad to be a Bose fanboy.

###

I am amending this article after reading Harry’s article on Men with Pens.

Harry received a free upgrade to a software application after offering to buy the upgrade and complimenting the company on the great product. Being nice to a customer service representative creates a useful dynamic: both parties, the customer and the service representative, are able to do good for the other. I think this is why I received such excellent service from Melissa at the Bose store. I was polite to her, and I offered to purchase a replacement earcup cushion. She, in return, was able to help me to feel like an extra special customer by going far beyond my expectations.

Maybe we should all take a lesson from Blanchard and Bowles’s book, Raving Fans.

 

Time Machine is Apple’s automatic backup system. It allows me to use a second hard drive as a duplicate storage medium for everything on my MacBook Pro. Yes, everything: data, user settings, desktop…everything. If my MacBook Pro were to crash (or be stolen), the Time Machine drive can easily restore all of my settings and files to the new MacBook Pro. I risk losing only those files that were changed since the last automatic Time Machine backup. Since the backups run automatically every hour, I risk losing at most an hour’s worth of work. Even while I am working, Time Machine quietly backs up all my computer’s files.

I see a potential problem with this autmoatic backup system. I often work with data that requires careful handling, such as databases of passwords, network security settings, and personal data. These databases are in a variety of file formats, including relational databases, spreadsheets, and documents. Some of these files, such as the spreadsheets and documents are not locked while they are open, meaning the unencrypted version of the file may be temporarily stored on my hard drive while I am using the file. Because the file is stored on the drive, albeit temporarily, and it is not locked, Time Machine can back it up in its unencrypted state. This means that confidential data could be stored on my Time Machine drive without the protection that it would normally have if it were fully encrypted and saved on my computer’s hard drive.

What do you think? Is Time Machine a potential security vulnerability?

 

This distributed network will allow all users of the new Linux version to share one another’s central processing units (CPU). Users who are not taking full advantage of their computers’ CPUs will automatically share available CPU cycles with those Linux users who are executing procedures that can take advantage of extra cycles that exceed their own computer’s CPU.

Distributed networks, such as the Seti@Home project, which now requires the BOINC application, enable potentially millions of computer CPUs to share the effort of calculating complex formulae and searching large data pools. BOINC and Seti@Home are provided courtesy of the University of California, Berkeley.

The new Linux distribution, while similar to the BOINC network in effect, will not require the installation of the BOINC client software. By design, each computer on which the new version of Linux is installed will automatically seek out other similar installations and connect seamlessly into a distributed network, all without requiring the user’s taking any affirmative consent or action. The net effect of will be a global distributed network of Linux computers, some of which have hundreds of thousands of CPUs already networked into a single cluster, will share the processing power of one another’s CPUs.

A single user executing an application that requires trillions of CPU cycles may find the application completing in seconds, as the Linux distributed network shared the applications execution across hundreds of free CPUs. Given that Linux is used worldwide, free CPU cycles are expected to always be available, as computers are usually left running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Those computers that are expected to provide the greatest service are Web servers, which are connected to the Internet backbone through high bandwith connections. Home users connected via broadband will also provide a solid foundation to this new distributed Linux network, especially those with fiber to the home connections that have high speed upstream connections.

 

I bought one of the most capable notebooks available, spending ten times more than I did for my the eight-person 1964 Oldsmobile Jetstar 88 that I drove while I was in college. Yet, Vista ruined this fine piece of computing hardware. Yet, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and for the last two weeks, I have been in computing heaven.

I was on spring break with my family; we were sharing space at my wife’s sister’s beach house. On the fourth day of the vacation, while I was preparing discussion questions for my online classes, my Sony Vaio, running Windows Vista Business Edition, crashed for the umpteenth time. This time it was serious, requiring me to restore the entire system partition from a backup image.

After a few minutes of grumbling, I got to work recreating the partition and hoping that the master boot record was not corrupted, as that would complicate my restoration efforts. My wife, a computer engineer, overheard my under-the-breath comments and suggested that I finally give up on Vista, as it seemed to require more time to maintain that to productively use. She suggested that I call Apple and order a MacBook; she was sure that they could deliver it within a day to the beach house, and I would lose only one day’s work. Every man needs a woman as supportive as my wife is to me!

Using our youngest daughter’s notebook, I visted Apple’s website and evaluated the current line of MacBook notebook computers. I narrowed my options down to three models, and I called the Apple sales line. Sure enough, in less than 10 minutes and dozens of specific technical questions, I was confident that a MacBook would meet all of my needs. The Apple salesperson offered to deliver the computer to our vacation spot within 24 hours for as many dollars. I promised to call back, after talking to my wife.

After talking to Peg, I decided to drive two hours to the nearest Apple store to touch the machine that I had selected, just to be sure it was exactly what I was expecting. I grabbed our oldest daughter, who, as a teenager, loves road trips, and we struck off.

The Apple Genius with whom we spoke at the Apple store was patient and friendly. For an hour, I peppered him with questions and comments about each MacBook model. He remained calm and actually seemed to enjoy helping me. Finally, he said, “You seem to be very particular about your computers.” My daughter nearly passed out from laughing. I have been called many things, but particular is the most polite of them all.

My daughter suggested that I would be most happy with the MacBook Pro, as it had a separate video card and the keyboard was most comfortable for me. I agreed with her evaluation, and we bought the computer, an extra power adapter, a case, and a copy of Microsoft Office. Even though the Apple Genius promised that I would not need Office, I thought it would be a safe bet, as I need to be fully compatible with my student’s documents.

While ringing up our purchase, I noticed that the Apple Genius granted me over $200 in educator discounts. Everything about Apple, from the employees, to the store, to the computer, has been a pleasure. I love great customer service, and I feel right at home with everything Apple.

Today, it has been two weeks since my Vista computer last crashed. I don’t care; I am in heaven with my MacBook Pro. I have been more productive on this machine than I ever was on a DOS or Windows machine. The system automatically backs itself up to my Time Machine drive, and my data is automatically backed up to Amazon’s S3 servers, using JungleDisk.

I cannot imagine ever buying another Windows notebook.

 

The national chain restaurant was much less than I expected. I ordered a shredded beef burrito, my wife a chicken burrito. Neither was appetizing; they were each barely edible. The mushy, sticky burrito was overstuffed with rice and beans, leaving little room for meat or seasoning.

We ordered a taco salad for one of our daughters, and she was happy with her dinner; however, she had none of her usually positive comments that follow her meals.

I suggest that you pass Qdoba in favor of a locally owned restaurant the next time that you feel like eating a bit of Mexican food.

The restaurant at which we ate was in Ellicott City, Maryland:
9050 Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21042
410-203-0010
410-203-9191 fax

 

The Pew Internet & American Life Project surveyed Americans’ use of a variety of information sources that help them seek answers to common problems that could in some way be related to government agencies and programs. The survey evaluated how Americans seek information on

1. dealing with a serious illness or health concern
2. making a decision about school enrollment
3. financing school
4. upgrading work skill
5. dealing with a tax matter
6. changing a job or starting a business
7. getting information about major programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid

The survey’s major findings are

1. The internet is a go-to source
2. Searchers usually end up satisfied
3. Libraries meet special needs
4. Digital divides matter
5. Government documents should be created and delivered in all shapes and sizes
6. E-government is not an option, it’s a necessity

Like most Americans, I grew up using public libraries. My parents were often willing to drive me to the major public library in my hometown. When I was old enough to ride my bicycle more than just a few miles from home, I started spending time at the local college libraries. This respect for and love of library resources continues in me today. If it were not for the inclement weather, I would be spending this lazy Sunday afternoon at the public library.

The Pew report introduces the role of libraries, “For generations, public libraries have played a central role in providing a vast range of information to Americans. From the stacks of non-fiction books, to racks of newspapers and magazines, to shelves of reference materials and government documents, libraries have been the place to go to find answers to questions.”

Over the last decade and a half, the internet has offered a challenge to libraries’ dominance of reference resources. Most popular magazines publish the same content material in digital format as is published in the print format. Dictionaries and encyclopedias, including those with which most Americans are familiar, are available for free or a nominal annual fee on the internet. Now, with the popularization of e-book readers, such as those from Sony and Amazon.com, books can be easily delivered in digital format, no longer requiring avid readers to physically travel to the library. In fact, my local public library offers a wide selection of digital materials through its internet portal, including streaming music, music downloads, and books, which may be checked out for three weeks, just like a printed book.

However, as the Pew report identifies, this flexibility of accessing published data is only available to those with broadband internet access. Dial-up users are more restricted in accessing online resources, and are more likely to use their physical library resources for research.

Pew Internet & American Life Project report: Information Searches that Solve Problems.

 

My family and I were promptly seated, just before the dinner rush on a Wednesday evening. We accepted a booth between the hostess’s stand and the kitchen, and this may have accounted for the quality of our service.

Our server was prompt and polite. She was efficient without a hint of being brusque: friendly and focused. Our drinks arrived within two minutes, and our food arrived just a few minutes later. I honestly felt as if we were the only patrons in the restaurant.

While we were sipping our drinks, a party of nine entered the restaurant. Chips and salsa were efficiently placed on the large table before the party was seated. The manager choreographed the staff’s efforts so that this large party would be well cared for and would not disrupt our server’s responsibilities toward the other tables.

Our food was well prepared and neatly presented. I am a finicky eater, and I found nothing amiss with my family’s meals.

I recommend On The Border, locations and menu details are available online.

 

I ordered a tuna and bacon melt on sourdough bread. Peggy ordered the crabcake melt on sourdough. Although my tuna sandwich was great, I should have ordered the crabcake; it was out of this world!

The service was quick and seamless. Our server was attentive and polite.

The restaurant, now three week’s old is considering expanding into the space next door, which I think is a great move. We waited 20 minutes for our table on Friday evening, and the restaurant was filled throughout the dinner hours.

I am glad to see that the restaurant has a solid clientele. The word must be getting around town that this is the place to eat…both lunch and dinner.

I hope to see you soon at Soto’s Grill. You will find the restaurant at 8001 Hillsborough Road in Ellicott City 21043 (map). If you would like to call ahead for reservations, the phone number is 443.574.8989.

 

Soto’s Grill opened at the end of May 2007, and I have twice eaten at this upscale, yet relaxed, restaurant. Serving Greek, Italian, and American fare, Soto’s Grill is a respite from the noise and commotion of the national chain restaurants.

I suggest that you order the stromboli. You will have sufficient food for two meals. I have talked with many diners and everyone likes the restaurant and the food. This is a must-see restaurant.

Located at 8001 Hillsborough Road in Ellicott City 21043 (map), the restaurant faces the community recreation park and the woods surrounding old Ellicott City. The restaurant accepts reservations, 443.574.8989

 

Large Hadron Collider

While the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest high-energy particle accelerator, was not expected to come online and be available for research activities for another six months, this information-transfer process was tested during the system’s post-installation efficacy evaluation process (PIEEP). The LHC resides within a 27 km circumference underground tunnel that ranges in depth below ground level from 50 to 150 meters.

The telecommunications network, which requires no physical interstitial points of transmission, will allow transmission bandwidth of at least 100MB/s between endpoints. Owing to the quantum distribution properties of protons and the availability of unused geosynchronous satellites currently in orbit, terrestrial endpoints may be located anywhere and airborne endpoints may be located to a maximum altitude of 150 miles above the surface of the Earth.

Technology Background

A proton is a subatomic particle with a positive electrical charge of one fundamental unit (1.602 x 10-19 coulomb). The CERN scientists, led by Dr. Albus Luminare, were able to store 8 bytes of quantum data within a single photon of pure white light. Using light photons, which travel through a vacuum at 299,792,458 meters per second, the scientists were able to effect the high bandwidth data network, creating multiple individual channels of data between two end points at near fiber-optic speed.

The current research demonstrates that data transmission does not have to be limited to a single transmission medium, such as a fiber-optic cable. Rather, multiple independent transmission streams may be effected through the use of quantum entanglement, and directed focus mirrors, which allow the digital data to be transmitted without the need of physical cables. Data endpoints may transmit and receive data between cellular and internet endpoints using satellite-based mirrors, literally reflecting the multiple data streams off mirrors in geostationary orbit, 22,500 miles above the surface of the Earth.

Dr. Luminare, chairman of the Worldwide System Hardware Language Infrastructure Systems & Technology Symposium (WiSHLISTS), has announced that the charitable organization will license—at no cost–the new technology, called the Proton-based Information System (PIS), to nations willing to offer free nationalized cellular and internet service to citizens, without restriction.

Dave’s Opinion

The PIS network sounds the death knell for terrestrial telephone and broadband providers. My sources confirm that the symposium’s services will be available before the end of the year, and I expect to see a plethora of new mobile digital devices that will take advantage of this high-speed data network.
It is fortunate that Dr. Luminaire’s team of scientists conducted their research during the LHC’s PIEEP phase, as CERN reported earlier this week that the LHC suffered a failure of its three quadrupole magnets.

Call for Comments

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References

CERN
LHC Magnet Test Failure

 

I have avoided eating at this restaurant, because my experience tells me that mall restaurants often cater to diners who do not expect proper service, so long as the food is delivered quickly. I was in such a good mood after our religious services, that I wanted to eat with my family, regardless of the restaurant that we selected. I let my guard down, and we ventured into P.F. Chang’s China Bistro.

We were politely greeted and warned of a possible 25-35 minute wait. The greeters were courteous to overestimate the wait, and they seated us within 20 minutes. However, from there, the service stopped.

Our server was surly and abrupt, interrupting my family as we placed our drink and food orders. Her interruptions caused her to misunderstand our preferences, and she failed to accurately deliver our preferred beverages.

She then dropped two wet and dirty empty plates in front of my daughters, well before our meals were to be delivered. I asked that the plates be removed and replaced with clean ones. The server clanked the plates together next to my ear and quite literally huffed off to the kitchen. One of the replacement plates was also soiled, and the server demonstrated her displeasure by asking me if she should stand there while I inspected the new plate.

We left before our food was delivered.

I cannot, in any good conscious make a recommendation about this restaurant other than stay far away from P.F. Chang’s China Bistro.

 

I was on my way to the university, this evening, and I needed to grab a bite. I dropped into the Frisco Grille & Cantina for a sandwich and fries, and I discovered a little bit of south-of-the-border heaven.

When I first entered the foyer, I almost walked out…it’s not much to speak of, visually, but a bartender saw me and pointed out the menu. The cook prepares meals in full view of the carryout counter, so you’ll what’s going into your meal. This setup doesn’t present well, but it’s an informal combo southwestern-sports bar and restaurant; I took the ambience with a grain of salt. Good thing I did.

I ordered the Sante Fe burger with fries. It was prepared quickly and fully-cooked, as I asked. The cook prepared the platter well, and the portion was more than generous. This was a dinner that made me happy.

The bar serves 19 different microbrews, and every week features a different brewery. Weeknights have a happy hour from 2-6, and Thursday-Saturday nights different musicians come into entertain, starting at 9.

The menu includes burritos, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, nachos, taquitos, fajitas, salads, and burgers. A kid’s menu includes quesadilla and chicken fingers.

The restaurant is located at 8865 Stanford Blvd, off Dobbin Road. The restaurant’s phone number is 410.312.4907, and the website is friscogrille.com.

When you stop in tell ‘em that you heard about the food on SaysDave.com.

 

Murdoch explains, “When a crystal is manufactured, it has a clock skew, and it’s different for each crystal (throughout its) lifetime.” Tadayoshi Kohno, now an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, has shown that computers on the internet can be identified by their clock skews, by tracking the timestamps of each machine’s transmitted packets. Clock skew, however, yields up to only 64 separate identifiers, making it an incomplete confirmation tool.

Clock skew has long been a concern of engineers of synchronous network, as it causes the clock signal for system components to arrive at different times; however, Murdoch is the first to take advantage of this hardware fallibility. Murdoch attacked The Onion Router, Tor, an anonymizing network that allows unregistered users to access web sites without identifying themselves. Tor network encrypts web traffic, through multiple servers, creating layers of anonymizing packets, none of which may be decrypted by another node on the Tor network.

Murdoch tested his digital attack by setting up a Tor network server and causing the server to warm up by executing intensive processes. The increase in system temperature caused minor changes in clock skew.

Dave’s Opinion

To understand how clock skew can be used to affect the security of anonymity networks, such as Tor, I think that we must first understand how Tor works. I suggest reviewing the audio recording or transcript of Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte’s Security Now! podcast. Episode 70 of this podcast explains in clear, lucid detail how the Tor network creates anonymity for web users.

Kohno’s theoretical work and Murdoch’s proof of concept attack does not bode well for network security systems, including the GPS and other national digital assets that require precise timings to function properly.

Call for Comments

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References

Steven J. Murdoch’s notes, Detecting temperature through clock skew – Hot or Not: Defeating anonymity by moniToring clock skew to remotely detect the temperature of a PC

Steven J. Murdoch’s University of Cambridge website

Electronic Frontier Foundation Tor Network

Tadayoshi Kohno’s paper, Remote Physical Device Fingerprinting

Tadayoshi Kohno’s University of Washington website

Steve Gibson & Leo Laporte’s Security Now! Podcast, Achieving Internet Anonymity (episode 70)

 

This thought came to me while I was sitting in a Barnes & Noble bookstore, drinking a cup of coffee and working through the last few pages of a book on multidimensional physics.

My acquaintances, John and Dan, and I went out for lunch last Sunday. I picked up Dan and together we drove to John’s house. As I hoped, John was ready to go, when we arrived—it was almost 2:30, and I was hungry. We had not seen one another in a while, so we were interested in catching up with one another’s news—especially John’s academic studies. John had a laughing about his falling asleep while reading a less-the-gripping textbook, a problem that plagues all scholars on occasion.

It did not strike us a unusual that a student would find a textbook dry until we remembered that John is blind. It was Dan who first remembered, and he asked John if he were reading the book or listening to the book on tape. I got to thinking about the problems that John might face while completing his academic work—what if a text were not published in audio format? I asked him about this, and he explained how he converts digital texts to audio format.

His comments have been twisting and turning in the back of my mind for the last few days. I am an academic, a full time faculty member. All of my texts are delivered in digital format, as either HTML or Adobe PDF documents. With the exception of two grammatical style manuals, all texts are digitized and delivered electronically, to both students and faculty. The university has a fully-digitized reference library, so with the exception of two writing references, all books are available in digital format.

Many of the Adobe PDF books are protected from unauthorized distribution by DRM (digital rights management) encryption, a system that allows only authorized recipients to open, view, and print the books.

Many of my students have complained that the publishers’ DRM encryption fails to work on home computers, so they are left to read each chapter in HTML, without being able to download and print the entire properly-formatted text,

As much as I advocated within the university for a conversion from physical to digital texts, I never imagined that the publishers would so bungle the books’ distribution chain. Protection of copyright is vital in America, and I so believer in copyright and other intellectual property protections that I made the topic the focus of my dissertation. However, unless the works are accessible to the scholars—the book’s consumers—who pay the bills, the DRM protections defeat their purpose: making the texts accessible only to those who have paid for the text.

 

Why Are We Receiving More Spam?

Spammers are not giving up; in fact, they are getting smarter.

One of the reasons that we are lately receiving more spam is that spammers are diligently working to get past our antispam filters by embedding their messages in graphic images. Antispam filters are effective at reading the content of incoming messages and detecting common telltale word patterns, image spam gets past the keyphrase filters because it does not include ASCII text, only a graphic image. Since last year, the amount of image spam has increased 400%, it now represents almost up to half of all unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) messages.

BotNets

Spammers also hide their identities and locations by using botnets, remotely-controlled personal computers that have been infected with a malware application and used to transmit the spam messages to their final, intended recipients. An article in Wikipedia states that spammers send 80% of UCE via botnet, sending transmitted 55 billion spam messages each day. While these numbers are unconfirmed, e-mail users generally agree that they get too many spam messages a day.

There Is No Legal Protection

U.S. e-mail users took heart in the federal Can-Spam Act of 2003, which requires UCE senders to properly identify their content and allow users to opt-out of future transmissions; however, much spam is coming from outside of the United States, and the spammers are not beholden to the U.S. law.

What Can We Do?

IronPort offers ten tips to help prevent and reduce the amount of spam that we receive.

1. Don’t open messages from someone that we do not recognize.
2. Don’t respond to spam messages.
3. Don’t click on hyperlinks included in the spam message.
4. Don’t buy from spammers—ever!
5. Don’t use a primary e-mail address; create a secondary e-mail address when submitting an online registration.
6. Don’t believe everything we read.
7. Do use a temporary or one-time-use credit card.
8. Do read security policies.
9. Use an antispam filter, either through our ISP or a standalone application.
10. Do use common sense.

Dave’s Opinion

I receive over 1,000 spam messages to one of my e-mail addresses, alone. If it were not for effective antispam filters, I would be afraid to open my inbox.

Call for Comments

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References

IronPort Systems Offers the “Do’s and Don’ts” to Avoid Spam Deluge During Holiday Season
Wikipedia, Botnet
Wikipedia, E-mail Spam

 

Knowledge is power, when it is wielded to advantage. I came to consider this caveat a few months ago, when my wife challenged me with the question, “What are you going to do with all of the books that you read?” What was left unsaid in her question was, what would I do with the knowledge that I gained from reading the books?

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

I have been pondering that question since last autumn, and I do not yet have an answer. Last June, when the Discovery Channel ran the special Krakatoa: Volcano of Destruction, I reserved a Sunday evening to watch the show. During the two weeks leading up to the show, I read every book on Karatoau and volcanoes that were in my county library, which is ranked first in the nation among great public libraries. Since then, I have had a simmering interest in geology, and I have read a few dozen more books on the general subject. This behavior is not unusual for me…I frequently find a topic piquing my interest, and I delve into it obsessively.

But, so what? What will I do with my broad introductory knowledge of geology and volcanism? I do not yet have an answer. My family and friends invite me to be on their team, when we play Trivial Pursuit, and I win our annual family vacation game of Who can state the most esoteric fact?…although, I have a wife and sister-in-law who give me a run for my money!

I am filled with questions, and I create new questions to be answered, throughout the day. I write my questions and queer tidbits of data in a small notebook that I carry in my backpack; here are a few examples:

1. Orthography: writing system
2. Orthoepy: pronunciation (phonology)
3. Out of a group of 23 people, there is a 75 percent chance of two sharing the same birthday.
4. There are an estimated 100 billion stars in a galaxy, 100 billion galaxies in the universe; the universe is 13.8 billion years old.
5. A. Einstein wrote, “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”
6. Galileo’s principle of relativity: So long as one is moving at a constant velocity, there is nothing one can do to measure the speed of motion–or whether motion exists at all.
7. Coins (money) have milled edges to prevent counterfeiters’ clipping off edges to make new coins.
8. There were 250 individual languages and cultures in North America at the time of Columbus’s landing.
9. Stochastic resonance is the physical noise from solar variations. Stochastic resonance is also used as background noise to improve faint signal reception in both electronic and audio transmission.
10. Fluctuations in the height of the oceans may explain the 10,000-year periodicity of Earth’s ice ages.

I have created a world for myself in which I can explore topics that have immediate interest; however, I have not yet figured out how to put the knowledge that I gain to advantage (other than by making interesting dinner conversation and winning at a board game).

On the other hand, I also delved into the learning and thinking about the application of information technology, specific digital technology, with the same passion, and I was fortunate to build two businesses from this knowledge (and eventually return to academic teaching).

I encourage us all to be passionate about learning and to constantly seek applications for our knowledge.

 

According to a report published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project this week, 12 percent of internet users reported downloading at least one podcast; however, only 1 percent download on a typical day.

More men who are online, 15 percent, have downloaded a podcast, compared to 8 percent of online women. Users who have been online for more than six or more years are twice as likely as those who have been online for three or fewer years (13 vs 6 percent).

Dave’s Opinion

I have been listening to podcast recordings of my favorite news and conference recordings for six years. I used to carry a Sony MiniDisc player; now I use a SanDisk Sansa flash drive media player. I subscribe to 49 feeds, most of which are published by national news services or universities. The flexibility of timeshifting my listening has freed me to keep up with my preferred news sources. I carry the media player in the car, plugging it into the vehicle’s audio system, and when I exercise.

I am surprised that more folk do not listen to podcasts. The value of timeshifting makes podcasting one of the most useful digital applications.

Call for Comments

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

References

Pew Internet & American Life Project Report: Podcast Downloading

 

When I originally wrote this article, I was visiting one of my favoriate vacation spots in the United States: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I am shocked that a paucity of public life line networks the coffee shop down the road from our resort offers free wireless Internet service and the sundry store on the other side of the shopping doubles as an Internet café selling access for $6.00 a day.

One of the Marriott facilities has a public a spot in the lobby, and that is about it. I’ve run across over a dozen guests with notebook computers; how many more could there be a who haven’t brought their computers down to the pool? What is the facility manager thinking? I wonder if there are 100 or more guests who would jump at the chance to get on the net for a bit–there are four of us, just in my vacation party.

I am disappointed that there are not more public wi-fi hot spots on the island. The hot spot that I found in our resort’s lobby is not really designed to be accessed by notebook computers,rather it is for owners of wireless digital cameras that would like to access the photo printer.
The owner of sundries store in the shopping plaza a half mile from our resort is friendly enough, and he opens the store early in the morning, at 6 o’clock. However, in order to use his wi-fi network to log into my class newsgroups or to check e-mail or the day’s news, I have to either walk with my backpack down to the plaza or jump in the family van and drive off in either case I’m gone for my family for the better part of an hour or two, which is not something that I find appealing while on vacation.

I have spoken with resort manager few times over the last few years asking when wi fi network will be more readily accessible across the complex and I’ve received platitudes and broad promises that next year we should have wi-fi access available in each of the condos. To me, that’s just not a good answer, given the business climate in which were expected to be accessible for at least a few minutes, each day.

At this ski chalet that we visit each winter during Super Bowl weekend, wi-fi access is available, and I am able to maintain a consistent all be at abbreviated work schedule during that vacation. I feel much more comfortable during that vacation—even though I am really up each person—because I can check in with my classes very easily both first thing in the morning and again after dinner, and I stay up with national and international news by leaving my rss feed reader open on my notebook computer.

How does it work for you? Are you able to find wi-fi access when you’re on vacation?

 

Reliance on digital technology creates a sense of emphasis on keeping busy and productive. The internet and the burgeoning world of e-business allow both geographic and chronologic flexibility. Word, both commercial and personal, may be attended with greater individual flexibility than ever before. No longer are many white collar professional—am I am not sure that this term is any longer appropriate, as casual dress is now encouraged during the entire work week—required to complete work at the corporate office.

Home desktop computers and especially portable notebook computers allow professionals to attend ot responsibilities at locations other than the office or rather, the personal computers enable the “office” to be flexible, as to location. For example, I am writing this article at our vacation beach house on a Sunday morning. I have significant discretion in choosing where and when I write because I am able to easily carry my notebook computer with me…in other words, I can easily carry my workplace with me.

As a full-time academic, my notebook computer has allowed me to change the way that I do library research. I take it with me to the library, use the wi-fi service to access the internet, and search the card catalog—all without leaving my study carrel. My time in the library is more productive, as I save time in physical movement, and I am able to cut and past data from the catalog (or other research reference) into my digital documents, ensuring greater accuracy for my reference citations.

The outcome of this available flexibility is a reliance on the digital technology as an aid to constantly-available work. I often find the I squeeze in work when I would otherwise be at ease or engaged in other pursuits. The always-available work environment intrudes into my life, at times.

 

I am not sure that most retail associates would be able to calculate the correct change for a $37.63 charge if the customer presented a $100 bill. Retail clerks rely on the cash register to calculate the sales tax and change that should be returned to the customer. Some registers even suggest alternative combinations of bills and coins to hand to the customer so that the proper change is delivered.

I am not sure that most retail associates would be able to calculate the correct change for a $37.63 charge if the customer presented a $100 bill. Retail clerks rely on the cash register to calculate the sales tax and change that should be returned to the customer. Some registers even suggest alternative combinations of bills and coins to hand to the customer so that the proper change is delivered.As a child, I was taught to accurately compute my sales totals, estimate the sales tax, and determine the anticipated change that I would receive for each purchase that I made. I was even taught to do these calculations in my head, without the help of a pencil and paper, let alone a calculator or automatic cash register—not that I would have been able to bring a cash register along in my pocket! To this day, I can quickly do a fast estimation of arithmetic, especially summations. This is a skill that serves me well as I move through the checkout line at the grocery store.

I find it difficult to believe that the proliferation of electronic calculators, spreadsheet applications, and yes, self-totaling cash registers has not had a deleterious effect on the general population’s skills at arithmetic. Skills, once learned but rarely practiced, are lost. Skills never learned are, by definition, lost to the user.

The general population, by all accounts, feels no need to learn, let alone practice, arithmetic, in its daily activities. Prove this to yourself by mentally estimating the cost of a fuel for an 850 mile road trip in a vehicle that yields 28 miles per gallon of gasoline at a cost of $3.05 per gallon. Even a quick estimate, without minor rounding of $1.00 per 10 miles, times 85 (or $0.10 per mile times 850) equals a rough estimate of $85 in gasoline cost (close to the actual cost of $92.59).

My mother, who was graduated from only high school just after World War II and had no further academic training amazed me recently during a phone call by arguing that airline fares would cost less than the cost of fuel and lodging should she and Dad come for a visit. It is just this type of numeracy that is lost to the current generation of Americans. Why have we lost this skill?

Without a calculator, most of us are innumerate. As helpful as a calculator or spreadsheet is to use—and I own at least a dozen calculators of various sizes—I rue our loss of the skills that were once considered academic de rigueur.

 

How does the public access to weblogs (blogs) affect our culture? Recently, online pundits have considered the effect that blogs have had on our nation’s political process. The presidential election of 2004 was the first to receive significant effect from bloggers, rather than just from those pseudo-journalists who report live from the national political conventions. Both major parties, the Republicans and Democrats, as well as the second-tier parties made full and good use of the low-cost (free) and concurrent interaction afforded by the blogosphere. I call this concurrent interaction because blogging allows readers immediate access to posted articles.

Just as soon as an article is posted to a blog, by the blog’s author, it is available to be read by anyone, anywhere in the world using no technology more sophisticated than a web browser.
Not only blogging, but also branding and the creation of a vertical mass of support came on the wave of digital activism in the 2004 election. Gradually, as with most new media, the net, blogging in particular, became an essential component of American politics.

However, like a hometown newspaper, yet to a global venue, the internet served the purposes of the candidates, themselves; the professional journalists in addition to their traditional outlets of television, radio, magazines, and newspapers; the active political voices: pollsters, pundits, and activists, both organized and individual, and citizen individuals, in addition to offering front yards and automobile bumpers and letters to the editor, through digital publications, including blogs and their follow-on comments and feedback tools.

An excellent example of the net’s political power netted candidate, Vermont Governor Howard Dean a half million dollars in a digital campaign to raise donations in competition with a forthcoming Republican fundraiser. The Republican fundraiser, a $2,000-a-plate luncheon netted a quarter million dollars in donations, while in the same time, the online Dean campaign netted a cool half million dollars. Also of note, the Republicans touched only 125 guests (donors), while the Dean campaign touched 9,700 donors.

Not only did the Dan campaign raise significantly more money and tap almost two magnitudes more supporters, it did so for less cost and effort.

Dean’s campaign slogan, “You have the power,” reflected not only poetically, but also, directly, the influence of digital politics.

However, by the time of each major party’s convention, the lessons of Howard Dean’s campaign were already forgotten–or maybe they were yet to be internalized–because at nether convention were leading candidates’ website URLs prominently displayed or promoted.

Further campaigns will likely play out in the digital arena, more so than in the past. Driven by a desire to promote populist values and inclusion of an increasingly diverse electorate, candidates’ managers will seek to parlay the low-cost, immediate publication of simultaneous interaction services of the net; blogging is but the first of the new technologies to be developed.

 

It is estimated, based on Technorati’s numbers, that the blogosphere, the global blog space, is doubling in size about every six months.

One hundred and seventy-five thousand blogs are created every day–two every second. These aren’t blog entires, but new blogs, each with dozens to thousands of articles. an estimated 1.6 million entries are posted to blogs each day–eighteen per second. These numbers do not account for the comments, trackback pings, and e-mail distributions that follow many of the articles.

While most bloggers post in English–about thirty-nine percent–thirty-one percent ware written in Japanese. Together, these languages comprise seventy percent of the blogosphere.

Call for Comments
What do you think? Please leave your comments below.

References
Technorati

 

My youngest daughter and I were running errands, today, and we were looking for a restaurant on the east side of Columbia. We found the Blue Cow Cafe in our Entertainment book, along with a “buy-one-get-one-free” coupon. The coffee shop was so inviting that I’ll return, even without another coupon!

The menu serves a wide selection of grilled and cold sandwiches, but we took our server’s recommendation of the grilled turkey and cold tuna fish sandwiches. Both were ample, and the turkey was out of this world. I describe it, without hesitation, as the best turkey sandwich that I have ever eaten. Garnished with avocado, it was a healthy, filling lunch. I added a bowl of chili that beats mine (and I judge that I make a mean chili).

The decorations include artwork from local artists, most of which is available for purchase. Board games, newspapers, and magazines are available to diners, and a free lending library fills one shelf. I suggest that you bring a book to swap, when you visit.

An old-fashioned ice cream bar sits along one wall, and it appears that the staff can make more than just milkshakes.

This is just the type of restaurant that every community deserves. The owner, Karen Blue, shows her true colors by not only supporting her local Thunder Hill community, but those from far away. Following Hurricane Katrina, Karen’s family invited four survivors to their home, and Karen offered them work in the coffeehouse.

This is a restaurant that we must support.

Blue Cow Cafe
5134 Thunder Hill Rd
Columbia, Maryland 21045
410.772.8999
410.772.1343 fax

Specials
Free limite area delivery with $20 minimum order.
All credit and debit cards accepted
10% teacher discount on Mondays

Additional details
Modern Babies & Children review
Yahoo! Local

 

Having completed the first milestone in their pilot training, the cadets are now preparing for their written academic test, which they will complete by this coming Sunday.

Kudos go to both the cadet student pilots and their instructors. Both the students and instructors deserve credit for their volunteer efforts to prepare a new cadre of pilots. I wish them all well.

Details
CAP Student Pilots Prepare to Solo in Hagerstown

 

The Maryland Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is hosting a 10-day solo school for highly-motivated cadets at the Hagerstown Regional Airport-Richard A Henson Field. My friend, Dan, is one of the flight instructors at the school; he invited me to come out to meet the cadets and have lunch, today.

I picked up my favorite CAP aircraft at Tipton Airport at Fort Meade, Maryland, and flew out to Hagerstown. The weather, today, is absolutely perfect for visual flying: 10 mile visibility, low winds, and about 65 degrees (up at 5,500 feet). The cool air is a welcome relief, after a week of record-breaking temperatures.

When I arrived, Dan was preparing to take off wth a student to practice steep turns and emergency procedures. I was invited to fly along in the back seat, but I opted to wait in the pilot’s lounge. Aviation maneuvers are tough enough when I’m the pilot; I don’t want to sit through them in a cramped back seat. Other cadets were hard at work preparing for their ground school test. They have just over week to prepare for and complete a written test and a practical test that will culminate in their flying solo in the traffic pattern, a major milestone for all pilots. The first solo flight is often more emotionally rewarding than completing the requirements for a pilot’s certificate, as it is the first time that a student pilot is able to demonstrate autonomy in the cockpit, through three take-offs and landings.

Although we had planned on eating lunch at a restaurant, the cadets and CAP senior members talked Dan and me into eating with them, and I’m glad that we did. There’s not much that complements a good meal as much as camaraderie.

I think that I may return to Hagerstown on Wednesday, so I can watch the students solo. They deserve my cheers.

 

The drive home was enjoyable, mostly because my wife read a new diet book that her doctor had recommended. The thesis of the diet plan is that we should be eating more fish oil that is high in Omega-3 fatty acids. The author stretched this simple theme out for a few hundred pages, mostly by repeating himself and interjecting fluffy personal asides, some of which we practically satirical in and of themselves. I appreciate my wife’s reading aloud when we drive. He voice is level and clear; it’s very easy to listen to.

We picked up our family dog at the kennel, right after unloading the family van. Our dog had a great time, and she didn’t’ terrorize the larger dogs, according to the staffer at the front desk. She seems grateful to be home with us, so she must not have gotten her usual dose of personal attention, this stay. That sometimes happens during our summer vacations, the kennel is so busy, that each dog is mostly left to keep itself entertained.

Speaking of doses, is it common to assess an extra charge to administer a pill with each dog’s meal? Our kennel added a two dollar-per-pill surcharge to our bill, a new fee. We negotiated the extra charge away, but it bothers me that a charge would even be assessed for a pill that can be served in the dog’s food.

Oh, and another fee was going to be assessed for feeding our dog her own feed. Fortunately, I learned of this new fee when we dropped off the dog. I figured save money on the fee and food; let the dot eat eh kennel’s fare…it’s the same brand of food that we serve the dog at home.

At any rate, we’re home, safe and sound. A little tanner, and we have plenty of great memories. Best of all, it’s the first vacation in recent memory that didn’t find someone in the emergency room!

 

This morning I bought my coffee at the convenience store, about a half mile inland from the ocean. The store is a regular stop for the laborers who are on their way to repair roads, build decks, and install electrical wiring; at least those are the jobs that I assume from the lettering on the side of the trucks parked out front.

The prime purchases, this morning, are coffee—large—and pastries, not fresh doughnuts. The pastries are packaged and fatty, you’ve seen them on the rack…they sell for about a buck, each. One coffee, two pastries per man.

The two checkout clerks are young, blonde and perky…pretty local girls who know the banter and are able to giggle and flirt with the customers. These girls are Unlike the Russian students who come to work in the restaurants and clothing stores for the summer. The foreign teenagers are recruited for their work ethic and willingness to work through to the end of the season, but they lack the facility with English to entice the working class crowd at the convenience store.

I took my coffee down to the beach, planning to read on the boardwalk. As I reached the steps leading up to the walkway, I lieutenant from the town’s fire department greet me, as he headed in the direction of the fire station. I noticed that he was carrying a cup of coffee from the same convenience store. The firefighter had ignored other walkers who were carrying coffee in drip-proof thermal mugs or in cups from the fancy coffee shop on the boardwalk. Does drinking economy-priced coffee mark me as worthy of a morning acknowledgement?

Probably so. I have noticed this behavior before, on the part of the locals. The locals know where to get a good cup of coffee at a reasonable price and the vacationers usually buy their coffee in the shopping district, along the main drag.

So, coffee becomes a social marker. Where one buys coffee tells a lot about a person: are you worth a hello?

 

I enjoy swimming in the ocean—if only I had a boardwalk that connected the surf to the Boardwarlk, the beach would be perfect for me. I enjoy sitting on the benches—up on the boardwalk—watching the sunbathers, but I am no longer one to bake myself. I would rather have my skin for another eight decades than a tan for eight days.

I found two small piles of sand in the family van yesterday, right where my wife puts her feet. Even after washing her feet, the sand was collected in her zoris, and it fell off as it dried.

What is it that so attracts us to sand, at least after the age of eight? After the sand castles are built, there’s nothing to do with beach sand but sit on it. Is the ocean so appealing that we are willing to put up with the sand, or am I missing something? I enjoy watching the ocean from the porch of a beach house and from the boardwalk, but I feel a strong aversion to the sand.

I wonder why so many others flock to lay their towels down at ten o’clock each morning, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and beyond for hearty folk, like my family.

 

Nothing calls my family to the picnic table quite a well as the smell of steamed crabs. First, the children, who are full after picking one apiece. Then, the adults, those who will stay seated until the last bit of meat has been picked, peeled, pried, and sucked from the chests, legs, and claws of each crab, even the ones that were poorly picked by the children.

Crab eating is a slow affair. A relationship-building activity that can easily last for hours. Breaks for beer and bandages may interrupt the constant work, but not for too long. The conversation varies across a wide spectrum: sports, politics, school, religion, work. We discuss everything, because ultimately, crabs are not about satiating physical hunger as much as emotional. We learn to like those we love across the piles of crab shells.

I didn’t grow up in Maryland, so crab eating is a learned skill for me. I have been struck from my first crabfeast by the social overtones that accompany this Chesapeake standard. Crabs are social, both in in the bsay and on the table.

 

I noticed them for the first time this year, although the lights may have been hung a year ago. I would have to ask my wife to be sure; she has a better memory for these mundane details, than I. The lights add a carnival atmosphere to the town hall, at the entrance to the three-block-long main street.

During the day, drivers and walkers are greeted by a twenty-foot-tall totem pole, as the turn onto the main street from the coastal highway. It is a popular landmark for those giving driving directions: “Turn at the totem pole, then park anywhere along the main drag.” At night, the totem pole becomes invisible, so the midway-styled lights of the town hall are the directional marker.

When I saw the lights for the first time, as I recall, last evening, I thought the gaudy display was distracting to the quiet ambience of this seaside village. The lights seemed out of place—maybe too commercial? Tonight, though, I had a different thought. Maybe the lights, while being a bit too bright, add sparkle and life to the town. The lights are the town’s growing pain—like a teenager who wears a bit too much eye shadow or slaps on too much cologne. The town needs to learn to grow into its decorations and that most of the time, understatement sounds loudest.

 

Regulars open the sidewalks at six o’clock each morning. They gather at the coffee shop to talk about the weather and to complain about the latest real estate developments that bring the mcmansions to block the ocean view from the highway. The town bakery opens at six thirty, but only the vacationers stop there—locals know that the largest cup of coffee can now be had at the new coffee shop, down on the boardwalk.

Routine is the rule of this fledgling beach town. Caught in the adolescence of growth, old and new share the sidewalk. Each summer one new restaurant or store comes in as a replacement for the one that went out of business. Only one, maybe two. Not so much change that the routine is disrupted. Except for the coffee shop. When it arrived three years ago, the town began to awaken a half hour earlier, and the conversation became a half hour longer.

I am not a native, but I am a regular. July and August are my months for beach coffee—one week in each month. I have come in June and in the fall, but my daughters are now well into school, and we can no longer skip whole weeks during the school year, just to beat the summer traffic.

Therefore, for two weeks, in the middle of summer, each year, I join the conversation. Not that it is worth joining for any particular reason other than joining. It is the same every day, routine. That is what I like about it—simple talk, something that I will do nowhere else for the rest of the year.

 

John Stossel’s latest book, Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel–Why Everything You Know is Wrong