Good Idea. Bad Idea.

USB Bowling Ball

Frank — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:41:00 GMT

Just when you thought that anything USB-able has been USB'd, here's a new one: the Bowling Ball USB drive.

As thumb drive have gone up in capacity and smaller in physical size, they hold more data and are more easily lost --a problem which the USB Bowling Ball hopes to resolve.

Coming in at 16 lbs (that's about 8kg to the metric set) and the size of a standard bowling ball, this should be pretty hard to lose. Although, it's not exactly intended for mobile devices.

Unless of course, the ball return mechanism at your local bowling alley is broken.

Technorati tags: Humor, USB, USB Devices, Thumb Drive, Bowling, Bowling Ball

Text Messaging Is Making Kids Illiterate?

Frank — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 21:32:00 GMT

Maybe it's the cold medicine, but WXPnews asks the funniest question I've ever heard: Is Text Messaging Making Kids Illiterate?

The story is quite interesting and it links to a story on USAToday about how a father decided to remove instant messaging from his kids' lives rather than do what a parent ought to do -- teach the kid when it's ok to use slang and when it's not to.

The text of the USA Today story is hilarious:

Carl Sharp knew there was a problem when he spotted his 15-year-old son's summer job application: "i want 2 b a counselor because i love 2 work with kids."

That night, the father in Phoenix removed the AOL Instant Messenger program from the family computer and informed both his children they were no longer to chat with friends online.

"That shorthand comes from talking on the Internet, and it's unacceptable," Sharp says. "I never thought I'd be encouraging my kids to talk on the telephone, but I realized that the constant chatting on the Internet was destroying their ability to write properly."

Come on now, I hate the AIM client as much as the next guy, but don't you think that's a little extreme?

You need to teach the kids when it's ok to use txtSpeak and when it's not to, just like your parents taught you when it was ok to use slang and when it's not ok to. I hope they did the same with profanity.

The problem isn't that the kids are speaking in their own way, it's that they don't know when it's appropriate to use it and when not to.

Good Idea. Bad Idea. TSA Allowing Sharp Objects Again

Frank — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 10:46:00 GMT

Just in time for Christmas, the TSA is easing up on their restrictions on sharp objects. The idea is to give screeners more time to focus their search for on other objects such as bombs.

As a 9/11 survivor, I find this change in tactics deeply disturbing, even more so in light of former members on the 9/11 Commission citing that the US is still vulnerable.

The threat from the terrorists is ever changing, but stopping one form of screening in favor of another is beyond stupid, no matter how intelligent it may sound to the TSA. Remember, the 9/11 hijackers used very low tech means to acheive their means.

Let's assume the best case scernario: even if passengers put down a terrorist hijacking and managed to land the plane safely, imagine the economic, psychological, and political impact of such an event. Sure, a handful of people will make money off of book, TV, and movie deals, but the vast majority of the American public will suffer the negative consequences.

Good Idea: Adapting anti-terrorist tactics based on current threats and recent intelligence.

Bad Idea: Forgetting how low-tech items such as box cutters and scissors resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent civillians.

RoboDocs Prove Anything Can Be Offshored

Frank — Wed, 18 May 2005 09:41:00 GMT

Don't be fooled by the great PR that the RoboDoc is getting.

While some people in remote areas will definitely benefit from the technology, this sets the stage for our health care workers to be outsourced offshore. First, it was call centers, developers, then even X-Ray technicians.

After all, why should an insurance company pay a doctor in the US hundreds of thousands of dollars when you get one offshore for a fraction of the price?

I'm not going to debate the points of offshoring work overseas. My point is that no profession is immune to the relentless march of ~~progress~~ cost-cutting.

Good Idea. Bad Idea.

Frank — Fri, 23 Apr 2004 16:59:00 GMT

Time for this week's edition of Good Idea. Bad Idea.

Good Idea: Encourage kids to study engineering and the sciences.

Bad Idea: This billboard will scare people away from higher education.

Good Idea. Bad Idea.

Frank — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:45:00 GMT

Good Idea

NY State governor George Pataki and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg want to put in a new football stadium on the West Side. A football stadium would be a great idea for New York City. After all, the “New York“ Jets play in Giants Stadium, in New Jersey.

It could also bring in more trade shows and conventions into town and a covered stadium is something that New York sorely needs.

Bad Idea

Probably, the worst part about the plan is that the stadium will sit in the only place on Manhattan Island with no subway or rail access. Unfortunately, the plan calls for adding in only one subway line to that neighborhood. Furthermore adding to the “duh“ factor, there's no plans to build a parking complex. Meaning, that the existing parking lots will have to take the extra cars.

Also, no tailgate parties. Baseball fans could do without tailgate parties, but football fans couldn't live without their little tradition.

Oh yeah and putting a stadium above a train yard in this day and age of terrorism is even dumber than that..

Mr. Pataki and Mr. Bloomberg, think this one through.