*blog

bank sues google over mis-mailed info!?!

2009-09-30T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems that Rocky Mountain Bank had one of its employees email a gmail account with names, addresses, and social security numbers of its customers. They sued Google to reveal the identity and shut down the account.

I'll start with: what?!? A bank emailed a random gmail account with confidential information?!?

From one of the articles below: a customer asked the bank to email loan documents to a third party gmail address. The wrong gmail address was emailed. An additional document was accidentally included.

It sounds like the employee kept the customers files in the same folder as the banks internal files. At least I imagine that the customer called and said, "hey, can you email those files to x@gmail.com?", the bank employee created an email and selected the files from a folder and selected one too many.

You shouldn't do business with third parties that have a gmail account. You can't be sure who you are dealing with. Banks especially should not, but it sounds like this was the bank's customer who was dealing with the third party.
You shouldn't be emailing confidential information. Or at least you shouldn't email it unencrypted.
When emailing files, you should make sure you have the right ones included. If you work with confidential data, double-check for sure. And triple-check and why doesn't their IT department have a verification process for approving outgoing email with attachments?!?
You should keep different classes of data in separate places. You put confidential papers in a safe. You put weapons in a safe location. You put valuables in a safe deposit box. All because it's more difficult to do something stupid with them if they are in a special location. (hmm, makes me think of holiness) If you left your birth certificate on your desk, you might accidentally throw it out. If you have files that should never, in any case, be emailed outside the bank, don't keep them in the same folder. Or at least encrypt them.

To sum up, an employee mailed a confidential document to the wrong email address. It's sort of like telling the bank to pay the electric company $80 and they give some random person $100,000 of everyone's money instead.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/23/google_sued_for_gmail_user_identity/

http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2009-09-24-n14.html

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220100410&cid=tab_art_int_C

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=114264

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220300364

wal-mart bags

2009-08-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

I cleaned out my closet recently. If I had guessed before cleaning it, I would have said I had 3 or 4 Wal-Mart bags in there. Turns out there were a lot more. I found 40 of them hiding in there.

saggy pants

2009-04-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

cute.

http://www.news-journal.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/04/09/04092009_dress_ordinance.html

house closed

2009-01-11T17:58:00.001-08:00

and a status update on the house. It finally closed the Monday after the closing date. The title company didn't call me like I asked them to, however, and I didn't find out till calling them a week later.

Status Update

2009-01-11T17:56:00.000-08:00

My cat continues to fear the vacuum cleaner. While I admire her evasion skills, it is clear to me now why her species has failed to rule the planet or even make a significant impact upon it.

house take 374

2008-12-19T12:18:00.000-08:00

and the house is still not closed yet. One of the notaries forgot to sign her documents... No comment... lol

closing on house

2008-12-18T08:19:00.000-08:00

Today I will close on the house that should have closed in Sept. It has been a long time...

slow cat

2008-07-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

my spotted frostsaber can only run 6 kph (or about 3.75 mph). Seems kind of slow to me.

annoying software

2008-07-30T12:59:00.001-07:00

most I agree with:

http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-3513_11-202392.html

Knowledge of Good and Evil

2008-07-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

I thought of something after reading The Shack concerning where “Papa” is explaining that he didn’t prevent Missy’s death for reasons that couldn’t be understood now. But I thought of one that is easy to understand. If God intervened in all cases where evil is occurring (which is what most people want), then we wouldn’t really know evil, which is what Adam gained for us when he ate the apple. You can't really know something until you experience it, which is unfortunate in the case of evil. But because Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we “get to” know evil, because God won’t go back on his word about the tree. If you look at it like that, it makes God’s command “don’t eat from the tree” more of a “don’t stick your hand in the fire” type of command. Less arbitrary, in other words. Then we have the consequences of disobeying God: death; and the consequences of eating from the tree: knowledge of good and evil.

Helmet stolen

2008-06-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

I had my helmet stolen Monday. I came out to ride my bike to work and realized I left it out in the driveway Sun. night. The helmet was gone, but one of the gloves was lying on the driveway. (I stick them inside the helmet.) I think this is the second time I've had something stolen (if I count the DVDs that disappeared who knows where).

Easter

2008-03-29T11:30:00.001-07:00

I bought some Cadbury Cream eggs from Wal-Mart last week. I was pleased to hear the cashier saying "Happy Easter" to customers as well as my receipt saying "Easter Candy" as opposed to "holiday candy" or something similar. Of course, not that the name has almost lost its meaning anyways.

The Amazing Race

2008-01-03T13:02:00.000-08:00

I was watching the TV on the flight back home. The had The Amazing Race which had a couple of people Kate and Pat who I had difficulty reading the subtitle for because of where the monitor was in the plane. I finally caught that it said "Married Ministers", but thought that it should perhaps be "Hypocritical Ministers" or "Ministers Living in Sin", something along those lines.

blog

2008-01-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

but no one reads it anyways

blogging

2008-01-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

hmm, been awhile

Star Trek Auction

2006-10-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

I discovered last night that it was too late to register for the Star Trek auction by Christie's in New York today. Missed it by a few days. Which depresses me somewhat because there probably won't be one like it for a long time if ever. I thought to register two weeks ago, but never did. Too much other stuff kept me from getting around to it. Which makes me seriously think that it's time to dump stuff in my life that's clogging it up. Like the mound of paper in my inbox or the several feet of books in my closet. Time to make some decisions that I've been procrastinating about. Time to finish programs that I mean to write, but don't quite finish. Sometimes if you're not ready, you end up missing out.

people database

2006-09-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

Just did a query today and found out I wasn't in my own database of people. I was, like, I must have miswrote that query, but nope, I'm not in there. It makes sense. But I'd better add myself in case my memory goes...

Documentation vs. Programming

2006-09-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

The reason that programmers do not make good documenters is that good programmers understand how to use an application without reading the documentation. A well-written program does not need external documentation for a programmer to know how to use it. Therefore a programmer will not understand how to communicate with someone who needs documentation because their mind does not think in the same way.

Start Menu

2006-09-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

today I opened my Start Menu and something looked odd. It took me a few seconds to realize that something was out of place. WoW was no longer in the #1 slot. It's been several weeks since I've played and Excel and Calculator have taken the #1 and #2 spots. oh, well.

homework

2006-08-31T09:06:00.001-07:00

I went to talk to my roommate last night and saw him sitting at his desk with a textbook open. That was a sight I haven't seen in a long while. (which is strange since one of my other roommates is also a student)

homework

2006-08-31T09:06:00.000-07:00

WoW addiction?

2006-08-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.twitchguru.com/2006/08/08/world_of_warcraft_players_addicted/

Mortgages

2006-07-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

I was talking with someone recently about the necessity of owning a home and he said it would be impossible to save up enough to buy one outright. I personally managed to save up 20% over a couple of years fairly easily. But I do have a fairly decent paying job also.

However, I came across this article on the web recently: Understanding the Mortgage Payment Structure. It says the government created a mortgage program in 1934. "Before the creation of this mortgage program a 50% down payment was required to purchase a home." Though I couldn't answer him then, it seems fairly clear to me now that our culture recently only believes that such a thing is not possible. In fact, there are programs where you don't even need a down payment. Our culture is so "I need it, and I need it now," that people no longer believe that they can do great things financially.

Homosexuals can't marry in Washington

2006-07-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

The court ruled that the legislature does indeed have the power to limit marriage (in favor of raising children by their biological parents).

Here's the complete ruling (not for the faint of heart). But interesting to read their statements. (I got to about page 25 or so.)

http://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/content/pdf/759341opn.pdf

500 miles

2006-07-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

Now I've passed 500 miles on my bike and can go up to 6 krpm, at least according to the manual. Which allows me to get hit by gusts of strong wind riding around the loop at 50. I think I need a heavier bike...

So much for the 1st amendment

2006-07-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

You would think that school officials would be adverse to censorship of what ought to be free speech. They say the 1st amentment prohibits them from making religious statements, so they prohibit others from making them as well, thus not only prohibiting free speech, but also breaking the establishment of religion clause ("or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"). Hard to believe that free speech could be repressed in this country, but ever since I found out the Karl Marx advocated public schools, I haven't been surprised at what they produce.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Jun-17-Sat-2006/news/8014416.html

Click

2006-07-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Click is the second movie to come out recently that has a really good message while being presented as a comedy (the other being Bruce Almighty). It's somewhat surprising to see good stuff come out of Hollywood, but then I guess I have a negative bias against it because everyone is always so hard on them.

black horse and the cherry tree

2006-07-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

good song: http://projectparadox.f2o.org/entertainment/music/kt-tunstall-black-horse-and-the-cherry-tree.php

100 miles

2006-06-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

Here's me passing 100 miles on my motorcycle last week. Looks like my glove was in the way, but it's not that easy to drive and take pictures. lol.

J's vs. P's

2006-06-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

I read in a book about different personality types. J's like to make decisions. P's like to leave their options open as long as possible. It said that sometimes J's will hear decisions being made when P's are actually just thinking about their options. That happened to me once, where I said something and the guy I was talking to thought I had made a decision when I really hadn't. I find this personality theory explains a lot about how people communicate--or more often miscommunicate.

dancers

2006-06-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

I think that dancers should have teeth removed to help them with their posture. When you get a tooth removed it's really important that you not look down. And if you do look down and you drool blood on the carpet, it's really important not to look down again to see what you drooled on. I think it would help them to always look up. Maybe have one tooth removed every couple weeks till they got the hang of it.

motorcycle hearse

2006-06-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

cool, but annoying background music. beware:

http://www.buggy.com/motorcyclehearse.html

v 2.0

2006-06-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

I'm getting braces tomorrow. What with the new bike and now braces, I feel like I'm upgrading myself to a new version. Always a few bugs when you do that. heh, heh.

bike

2006-06-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

got insurance on my bike today. about half of my car. so I rode it to work after lunch. A guy on a scooter saw me while riding and asked me about it. Then when I got to work I killed it in front of some of the guys. Always cool to do.

east side of the country

2006-06-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

I'm doing training in VA this week. Reminds me of home. Not home where I live, but home home where I grew up. Rainy. And about 70-80. I'd live there easily if my company moves out there. Not like here where you can get branded by the seat belt buckles and even the seat belts can burn you.

birthdays

2006-06-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

Called my sister today to ask about the mouse I left at her house last week. Was going to ask her about a movie that someone she knew had made, but couldn't remember what it was. Then as I was talking to her I realized it was her birthday. lol. That was just luck. Usually I forget. My brother's birthday is easy to remember, I have months to plan. But my sister's being only a week later takes me completely by surprise. lol.

bike

2006-06-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

tried to start my bike today. Had to call J to come help me figure it out. I guess I flooded it. Still got to work on starting the thing...

got my bike

2006-06-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

picked up my bike today. Kawasaki Ninja 250. Small, but looks cool. Drove it home, then saw a friend Maria and stopped to talk to her. Thought the oil light was on, but I think I just killed it before I stopped. So she drove me back to the dealer. They gave me oil, then I went back and restarted it just in time to go to prayer at the school.

almost got my bike

2006-06-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

went to the Kawasaki dealer today to pick up my bike, but it wasn't ready. tomorrow afternoon then...

1984

2006-05-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

watched Pirates of Silicon Valley this weekend. Very interesting. And in light of that, this parody of the 1984 Apple commercial is very funny: http://www.theroyalwe.org/1984.html

ironic

2006-05-23T06:51:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironic_%28song%29

read the stuff in references by Ed Byrne. Funny. Those are ironic.

top 10 ways to destroy the earth!

2006-05-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

in case you needed some helpful hints...

http://www.livescience.com/technology/10ways_destroyearth.html

Separation of church and state

2006-05-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

I think that one key in the last article I linked is the following in "The Legal Eagle" section: "In 1971, the IRS issued a decision redefining the tax exemption as a public endorsement or subsidy." Tax exemption should not be looked on as a public endorsement or subsidy. Such a view implies that Government is meddling in religion. The first amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...". But endorsing (or not endorsing) religious groups does just that. If you charge someone for exercising their religious beliefs, you are attempting to establish religion. Perhaps not directly, but indirectly through people's pocketbooks, which is actually probably more effective than just by law.

I think that the only solution is to either not tax religious groups (currently the case, I think) or tax them all the same (no loopholes). The first is definitely easier, but admittedly allows the possibility of non-standard religious groups trying to use the tax exempt status. It has some issues that need to be dealt with, but I think we don't want the government messing around with religious definitions.

gay marriage/church rights

2006-05-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

here's an interesting read if you want to follow the effect of gay marriage on our society. Apparently the Catholics can no longer run an adoption agency in Massachusetts since they refuse to place children with gay couples.

http://www.afa.net/websites/weeklystandard_05_15_2006.htm

inappropriate comments

2006-05-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

today I was out with some guys and there happened to be a girl selling drinks that had very short shorts, etc. on. Some of the guys with me made inappropriate comments which I hope that she didn't hear, but she might have.

While I definitely think that it's not right to talk about girls as the guys with me were, a friend of mine pointed out that the establishment that employed the girl was also at fault. To have a young, attractive girl selling alcohol and being dressed provocatively is not a good combination. He brought to my attention that more than one party was at fault. (and now I almost consider the business that employed her to be in the worse)

send a brick

2006-05-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

he, he. America's great:

http://www.send-a-brick.com/

check out the pics too

gold farming article

2006-05-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

http://azeroth.metblogs.com/archives/2006/05/on_gold_and_gollums_an_overvie.phtml

truck prayer

2006-05-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

a few days ago my friend told me that his truck problem had cleared up. which I thought was cool because I had borrowed his truck a few days prior to that and he had told me about the problem it was having. While driving it, I prayed that God would fix what was wrong with it. And, praise the Lord, he did!

slime?

2006-05-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

slime is not fast. It should be be able to outrun a man. Or even a small child. What's up with that???

ecxlent spy tactics

2006-05-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=176

bring a sword

2006-05-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

cool guy: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=529

Class M driver's license

2006-05-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago I took a motorcycle class. Today I passed my test at the DMV, so I'm now legal to drive one. One step more is to decide what I want to buy and then purchase one. Almost there. :)

celandine - another word I like

2006-05-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

celandine - a yellowish flower (found in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe)

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=celandine

picture:
http://www.archiemiles.co.uk/Images/Flowers/am_Lesser%20celandine.jpg

Forgiveness

2006-05-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

Recently I realized that forgiveness is just not possible. For example, I know of a situation where some people treated some guy I know poorly. They probably won't realize how their actions were wrong. And so this guy I know has trouble because people just like to at least be acknowledged that they were wronged.

The church teaches a couple of ways of getting around this. They teach you should have low expectations or you can talk it out with the person. But talking won't help if the person won't realize their faults or won't admit it because of pride, etc. And I don't know of a foolproof way of lowering your expectations. Fasting maybe. But I think maybe there comes a time when you just have to forgive because you can't avoid being offended.

Hmm. I was just looking at Luke 17 (which is hard to find if you can't spell offence right). Which is where Jesus says that it's impossible for offenses not to come. Although in different translations it seems to be talking about people sinning against you. Maybe that's the same thing. Yeah, that sounds like it will work. Anyways, I notice that after Jesus says to forgive seven times, the disciples asked for more faith. No doubt.

But back to what I was thinking. I think sometimes that you just can't forgive (at least in your own strength). You have to forgive through the power of God working in you. And that's when there is real spiritual power, not some churchy method of forgiveness that is only done in the flesh. :) Why people don't teach the first, I can't understand.

extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

2006-04-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

I read in an article recently that referenced Carl Sagan and his saying that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". I think many people would consider Jesus' miracles to be in that category. They were extraordinary (walking on water, healing blind people, multipling bread, etc.). And so people say that they need really good evidence to believe them.

What struck me just now is that Jesus actually used his miracles as the "extraordinary evidence". That is to say that Jesus had some extraordinary claims and one of the ways he backed those claims up was through his miracles, the greatest being the resurrection. (If you are who you say you are, show us a miracle. - pharisees. No miracle will be given except that of the prophet Jonah. - Jesus)

Since we are removed from the actual physical evidence today (back then, people could point to Lazarus for instance), we are left with first trying to prove the miracles, and then from there showing that Jesus' words were true. Interesting.

invade Canada

2006-04-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

America's Secret Plan to Invade Canada

hate passwords? use kittens instead

2006-04-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.kittenauth.com/ka.php

recipes

2006-04-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

If I had more time, I'd cook more.

http://www.recipesource.com/

Professional JMS Programming

2006-04-14T06:50:00.000-07:00

I work on an application that we call JMS, so when I saw this at Book-A-Million last night, I couldn't help but take a look. I wanted to take a picture with my cell phone, but it had lost power and was at home recharging. I knew I'd forget if I didn't do something to remind myself. I also take notes with my phone (a Razr) by e-mailing them to myself. That was out also. So I did the next best thing and put my wallet in my right pocket instead of the left. When I got home I remembered immediately when I put the truck keys in my pocket. Strange, but it works.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1861004931/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-6970272-5978367#reader-link

saxifrage

2006-04-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

I will have to add this to my list of favorite words. I read it in a fantasy book recently (The Subtle Knife). Interesting book also. My other favorite word would be aguacate. That's Spanish though. Means avocado. Nice to say, nice to eat. What more could you want?

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=saxifrage

Want to talk to a human instead of a machine?

2006-04-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

I find it annoying to have to wade through a phone menu system, or worse, have to talk to a machine when I call some company. Even more annoying is when you type information in and then when you finally get someone, they ask you for it again. This link shows phone numbers and how to get to a real person quickly.

http://www.gethuman.com/us/

make your own stamps

2006-04-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

http://photo.stamps.com

lasik really cheap!!! buy now!

2006-04-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.lasikathome.com/

just be careful not to send them the wrong measurements. ha ha.

That's weird: more elephant news

2006-04-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

more elephant news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/240527.stm

Elephants, villagers, and beer is a bad combination

2006-04-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2583891.stm

Ancient dentistry

2006-04-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

I've heard that modern dentistry is not completely new (nothing new under the sun, I guess). Here's an article about some of what they used to do about 9000 years ago.

Prehistoric Dentistry

Jesus on ice?

2006-04-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

A scientist suggests that Jesus may have walked on ice. It could have fooled distant observers.

Jesus walks on ice?

Nice, but I don't think it would have fooled Peter who would have had to either step directly onto the ice or have Jesus move the ice around with his foot. The gospel account sounds like Jesus was pretty far from the boat, thus making it difficult for the ice to be in the right place. Either that or the boat was surrounded by ice, in which case the disciples would have noticed and the boat would have had trouble moving. Doesn't sound to me like ice would work with the disciples.

Sudoku

2006-04-05T06:16:00.000-07:00

Play sudoku: http://www.dailysudoku.co.uk/sudoku/index.shtml

Warlock kills everyone in the bank

2006-03-30T07:16:00.000-08:00

Cool video of a warlock summoning his demon with a bomb curse on it. Kills everyone in the bank. Blizzard suspended him, but they did think it was funny.

was Katrina God's Will? Poll...

2005-09-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

Click here to see the poll.

http://www.beliefnet.com/polls/poll_vote.asp?pollID=1187&voteType=result

shredding (cool)

2005-08-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.ssiworld.com/watch/watch-en.htm

Jesus to Christ

2005-07-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

An interesting fairly balanced look from a public source at Jesus being the Christ. Interesting to see that from the media.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7244999/site/newsweek/?GT1=6305

Man fired for pro family views

2005-06-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

This is kind of crazy:

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44961

if only I had known about the auction sooner

2005-05-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

if I had known about the auction sooner, I could have bought it and returned to the future already: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5563490518

read the questions, they're funny

new alarm clock

2005-05-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

This is what I need: an alarm clock that randomly moves around the room: http://bicillin.media.mit.edu/clocky/

Security vehicles

2005-04-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

http://www.ibistek.com/secveh.asp

I want one...

web farm

2005-03-31T13:35:00.000-08:00

it has since occurred to me that the likely cause of errant caching was probably caused by a web farm setup. one of the web servers must have had the original name, while others had the updated name.

html

2005-03-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

well, at least they allow one to edit the html template. I replaced <$BlogItemAuthorNickname$> with the text of my nickname.

blast

2005-03-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

blast, there's my name again! time to recreate the whole dang thing from scratch.

death by blogging

2005-03-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

so much for a simple user interface. my name came back and I had to edit the posts to revert to my nickname. then I figured out how to change the timezone and it changed the dates on the two previous posts. hmm. better get back to work.

blogging 1.1

2005-03-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

well, no offense to whoever wrote this blogging software, but there are a few bugs. trying to change my name after setting it up initially resulted in about 10 to 15 minutes of trying to clear whatever cache it was in. had to recreate my initial blog 3 times (the reason for the 1.3).

*blog 1.3

2005-03-24T10:41:00.000-08:00

*date 20050324.1241

blog 1.3