Ontario Empoblog

I occasionally delve into biometrics issues , but these people do it more often: Biometrics E-Symposium Blog (more) onClick Biometrics in Touch From the Ontario Empoblog

KROQ's Kevin and Bean (who used to work with Tami Heide) devoted a portion of this morning's show to R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" : Since the indictment, he has released several songs maintaining his innocence, along with other tunes that border on the pornographic, playing up his image as a self-proclaimed "Sexual Super Freak" and using public interest in his case to keep listeners curious about how far he'll go in his music. "Trapped in the Closet" is Kelly's boldest step yet....In a masterful marketing move, the elaborate story-song was released to radio and on Kelly's Web site in installments, building suspense as listeners wondered what would happen next in the 16-minute soap opera, which he has described as "a ghetto 'Desperate Housewives.' " Over a minimal musical backing, Kelly tells the story of six characters caught in a web of adulterous affairs, singing each role himself. In part one, the main cha...

As the death toll mounts from Hurricane Katrina, and you start wondering why these people didn't evacuate after all the pleas to do so, thoughts turn to arguably the most famous non-evacuee, Harry Truman of Mt. St. Helen's fame: All he did to become a legend was stay on Mount St. Helens and die. But there was more to crotchety old Harry Truman than his last stand -- which he really did not want to make, according to family and friends of Truman, who refused to leave his home below the volcano.... A lot of folks feel Truman was simply a crotchety old man who refused to listen to reason, says Barry Murray, who's helping create the Tyee Trail Association's Volcano Loop. "They don't want him to be the icon of the eruption." Roberta Dickerson, a former Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce director who runs the trail group, says a lot of townfolk tolerate the memorial only "because some feel it helps tourism." Of course, Truman has defenders. "We ...

Preamble - Mitzee's picture is here . This has nothing to do with the entry below, but you may enjoy it more. Something has happened to me 2-3 times this last month. The most recent occurrence was last night: MAN TO MY WIFE: And you are the sister of _____? MY WIFE: Yes. MAN TO ME: And you are the father? Now I will grant that my wife is very young-looking, but I don't think of myself as old-looking. Then again, upon further reflection (literally), I discovered that the gray hairs that used to be only around my ears are now all throughout my hair. It's not personally upsetting to me, but when three similar comments are made in the space of a single month, it appears that the "distinguished look" may be out. From the Ontario Empoblog

'Scuse me while I don't kiss this guy. From Basic Christian : These are Seven Miracles performed by Jesus and recorded in the Gospel of John by John a disciple of Jesus. John was an eyewitness present at each of these seven miracles. These miracles are illustrations representing miracles that Jesus is currently doing in the life of each and every Christian.... This first marvelous miracle that Jesus is performing is an illustration to us His believers. When we obey Jesus we become His servant, Romans 6:16 says "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" When we acknowledge our sins and the forgiveness of the cross of Jesus we become clean like the stone water pots. Once we are clean Jesus then comes inside and fills us with His presence. We are then to draw out the wine of Jesus' presence in us and pour it out to others. When we do this we are ...

From the Waldorf Critics Archive : From: Herman de Tollenaere (hermantl@stad.dsl.nl) Subject: Re: SF State hosting cult medical course Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 20:04:00 +0200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 12:21 AM 10/10/97 -0700, PLANS wrote: )FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10/10/97 ) )SF STATE HOSTING CULT MEDICAL COURSE ) )People for Legal and Non-Sectarian Schools (PLANS), is blowing the whistle )on a San Francisco State University course called "Anthroposophical )Medicine." "Not only is medical quackery being promoted by a public )university," said PLANS President Debra Snell, "but this course violates )separation of church and state. Anthroposophy is a cult-like religious )sect. The University is being used to give legitimacy to lunatic fringe )beliefs." )"Anthroposophical Medicine" is a full-credit course in the Department of )Holistic Health. What else does this *Department of Holistic Health* teach, apar...

From ajc.com : Happy birthday: Regional sports network FSN South [turned] 15 years old on Monday. The network, originally known as SportSouth, came on the air Aug. 29, 1990, with host Van Earl Wright welcoming viewers to "the best thing to hit the South since free refills of iced tea." Through several name changes, FSN South has become the nation's largest regional sports network, with 10.7 million subscribers in seven states. From the Ontario Empoblog

My freshman dorm had a couple of physics majors, as well as those of us who majored in the softer subjects. However, I believe that all of us agreed at the time that psychology was bogus. We were right . Emphasis mine. Why Would You Want to Live in Holographic Time? Your entire life will be improved by Mastering Holographic Time because you will literally change your perception of who you are in the world. You can only find this unique information right here - it isn't found anywhere else. You can help transform the entire world to Holographic Time! Millions are discovering the benefits of moving away from Linear Thinking into a powerful new mind-set. When you know you are an unlimited being in an abundant universe, you create abundance instead of scarcity! Millionaire T. Harv Eker says that your income will grow only to the extent that you do! You and your income will grow dramatically when you change your time-consciousness. Realms of Joy - Time of Light will extremely chang...

Back in my BBS'ing days, I once claimed to be a "fount of all knowledge." Well, dang my turpentine , looks like I am: Ontario Empoblog on the Demise of Interex Ontario Empoblog (in Jewish Blogging) Just as long as the refrigerator folks don't regard me as authoritative, I'll be fine. From the Ontario Empoblog

Roadnotes has a web page that includes all of the following: Cracker Barrel locations Flying J Travel Plaza locations Hotel and motel toll-free numbers Rest area/welcome center information Love's Travel Stop locations Travel Centers of America locations much more... The associated blog , however, primarily caters to RV'ers. Until I visited this site, I had never run across the term RV dump stations before. Pretty important, though. From the Ontario Empoblog

If you look at my Texas rest stop picture of the KFI and KECA logo (see previous posts [1] [2] ), you'll find references to the NBC Red Network and the NBC Blue Network. I found some more information on all of this at a description of the former Morgan, Walls, and Clements Building in Los Angeles. Built: 1936 Demolished 2003 Formerly: KFI/KECA building Formerly: KEHE building Designed by: Stiles O. Clements of Morgan, Walls and Clements Stories: 1 Type: Office building Location: 133-141 North Vermont Avenue [Los Angeles, California 90004] .... This building, known as the The Morgan, Walls and Clements building, was built as the studios and offices of KEHE radio (780 AM). Its call letters derive from the fact that it was owned by the Hearst newspaper company, and was the radio voice of the Evening Herald Express. In 1939 Earl C. Anthony, the owner of KFI radio (640 AM) bought KEHE, took it off the air and moved his existing station, KECA (1430 formerly KPLA) onto the 780 frequenc...

Donley County Eastbound Safety Rest Area, Alanreed, TX 79002 Finally resuming my series of posts on my three week trip by posting a followup to my August 7 post about the multi-million dollar rest room. View my Perplexmi Mind Gallery photo album , which includes four pictures taken at the Donley County Eastbound Safety Rest Area, including My own picture of the art in the rest area bathroom (my August 7 post included someone else's picture). An old Bell System logo. The aforementioned KFI/KECA logo. A picture of the outside of the building. Frankly, I was very surprised to find something this elaborate, because most of the state-maintained stops on Interstate 40 (which crosses the Texas Panhandle) aren't even rest areas - most are parking areas with no bathrooms. Regarding the name of the nearby town - according to legendsofamerica.com , Alanreed, Texas was named after the contracting firm Alan and Reed. From the Ontario Empoblog

Recently I alluded to Louise L. Hay in connection to refrigerators. Therein lies a tale. There was a faculty meeting at a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) school in Southern California in the late 1980s or early 1990s. One of the church members attended the faculty meeting and suggested that Louise Hay tapes be used at the school. Several faculty members listened to the tapes and unanimously rejected the idea. For those who are unfamiliar with the LCMS, its congregations tend toward more orthodox Christianity, and thus naturally reject New Age and related stuff. So when Louise Hay, in her meditations, urged the listener to bless the inanimate objects in their homes, including their refrigerators, alarm bells went off all over the place. I found the exact tape in question (although it's now a CD) on amazon.com : Morning & Evening Meditations [ABRIDGED] (Audio CD) by Louise L. Hay... Price: $8.21 and eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. See details Yo...

Donald Mitchell authors the blog Live Better than a Billionaire on $5 Extra a Day . If you click on this link , you can see his entry for Sunday, August 28. Note that I am writing this on Friday, August 26. So let's see what he said...whoops, what he will say: Do you feel your best when you are overweight? I know that I don't. In fact, I am acutely aware at such times of feeling uncomfortable. My clothes are too tight. The seat is too small. My stomach feels bloated. You get the idea.... Imagine yourself feeling a little overwhelmed by your weight and all those negative internal messages. Now, try to think about God, peace, happiness, forgiveness and all the other spiritual subjects and states. I'll bet you're thinking about a hot fudge sundae instead. That's what I mean about being overweight. It takes you away from your soul's food which is nourishment for your spirit rather than your oversized waist line.... It then gets into some visualization stuff that re...

A quickie list of proponents and opponents of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts : The Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays announced their opposition to Roberts' nomination on Thursday. That day, the Congress of Racial Equality, the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, Project 21 and the Center for New Black Leadership endorsed the federal judge. From the Ontario Empoblog

Ignore the plane as it makes its loop Wear your sneak ers while you eat your soup Listen to your muse at a shady spot Join the club and link a lot Make a call to see the switch Don't you know not to jest with a witch? Abbie Hoffman was a steal Find a nice kitty and keep it real From the Ontario Empoblog

From the Houston Chronicle : Van Earl Wright has disappeared from the Fox Sports Radio Morning Extravaganza , heard locally on KBME (790 AM), but a spokeswoman said Wright remains with the network. Which basically means that he isn't working for any other network. From the same article: If you need subplots to hold your interest during Saturday night's Texans-Cowboys broadcast on KTRK (Channel 13), Spencer Tillman suggests you focus on the performance of Houston's first-string offense and defense and on the traffic jam at wideout. Tillman, who will call Saturday's game with Joel Meyers, said the Texans' defense showed potentially alarming weakness last weekend against the Raiders, particularly at defensive back. Joel Meyers is a busy man. But for a seasonal sports announcer, you have to keep busy. Ross Porter (most famous as a Dodgers announcer) also announced UNLV football at one time, and I believe he announced basketball also. Back to Van Earl Wright. Reaction ...

There iss a companny caled Netrics that ofers medicul softwear that claimes to corecktly identifiy douplicate recorrds: When a single patient is represented in an MPI system by more than one entry, that person's medical information is divided, and may not be available in a single view to a clinician who needs it. Incomplete and inaccessible patient records are an avoidable cause of medical errors. Netrics' advanced duplicate record reporting and reconciliation ensures that each patient is represented exactly once in your MPI system, and that that person's medical information is accessible in a single comprehensive view.... Many hospitals rely on their MPI systems' internal duplicate reporting features. These systems can miss 20 - 50% of the actual duplicate records in your database because they are not able to take account of partial or inexact matches between corresponding fields of records.... Record matching technology has come a long way since the simplistic concep...

The Original Route 66 Super Store sells Route 66 lollipops with the tagline Get Your Licks On RT66 From the Ontario Empoblog

From the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University . Emphasis mine. Patients may access their own health records. The definition of “patient” also includes the surviving spouse , the parents of a deceased patient, or a person the patient appoints in writing as a legally recognized representative. Patients also have the right to amend their health records. Patients will be referred to their provider to discuss information maintained in their record. A person may not access their spouse’s personal information without an authorization (or consent) from the patient. A parent or legal guardian of a minor may access and authorize the release of the minor’s health information. However, if the minor is married, emancipated, has borne a child, or if the records in question concern venereal disease, chemical dependency, or pregnancy and related conditions, the parent or legal guardian may not access or release the minor’s health information without the minor’s express written consent...

I haven't talked about base closure efforts in a while . Time for an update. ABC provides the latest : The base closing commission voted Friday to keep open Air Force bases in South Dakota and New Mexico rejecting the Pentagon's plans to close them as the panel labored toward conclusion of a politically delicate task that has brought alternating sighs of relief and exasperation in communities across America. Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota would remain fully operational and Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico would stay open at least until Dec. 31, 2009 but lose all of its aircraft.... Ellsworth, famous for its Cold War-era arsenal of missiles and nuclear bombers aimed toward the Soviet Union, is home to half the nation's fleet of B1-B bombers and means some 4,000 jobs for the South Dakota plains. The Pentagon had wanted to move all the bombers to their other location, Dyess Air Force Base in Texas. But the commission found that closing Ellsworth wouldn't save...

From CommsDesign : New York this week started seeking bids to extend cellular phone service to its subway system... [A]ll four national cellular operators -- Cingular, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile -- are among the vendors considering submitting bids for a system that will provide service in 277 or New York's 468 subway stations. The bids are due October 12. The Request for Proposals (RFP) was released earlier in the week, on the same day that the city announced it had awarded a $212 million contract for an electronic surveillance system in subway stations.... The RFP indicates that subscribers of all wireless carriers should be able to use the system, the newspaper reported. Clyde Haberman doesn't like the idea : But life is now about to change in an important respect. In the name of security, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will install equipment to make cellphone service possible on scores of subway stations, 277 in all. Say goodbye to some of the last refuges from...

From InfoWorld : Biometric security systems have one particularly critical vulnerability: How do you replace your finger if a hacker figures out how to duplicate it? An IBM...research team working on that problem says it's recently cracked a major problem in the area of "cancelable biometrics."... IBM's idea for navigating that obstacle is to construct a kind of technological screen separating a user's actual biological identification information from the records stored in profile databases. The company is developing software to transform biometric data such as fingerprints into distorted models that still preserve enough actual identification markers to make the distortion repeatable.... IBM's system wouldn't entirely solve the replaceability problem of biometrics: If a hacker got hold of a user's fingerprint and made a passable model, he could still wreak havoc with it. What IBM's technology could do, however, is significantly narrow hackers'...

I previously posted pictures that illustrated the coincidence of my encountering US Route 20 twice during my vacation - once in Marengo, Illinois, and once in Lusk, Wyoming. I didn't even realize this until I returned home from vacation and was looking at my pictures (and yes, I'll post some more at some point - stuff happens). Incidentally, the distance between these two cities is 1000 miles, provided you take either the southern or northern route on the freeway.. If you take the shortest route (which pretty much happens to be route 20), it's less than 900 miles . Speaking of US Route 20, there's an entire web site devoted to the highway. From the goals page: Welcome to our new site, which is dedicated to Historic US Route 20. This historic road begins in Boston, Massachusetts and ends in Newport, Oregon. US Route 20 is over 3200 miles long and travels through twelve states. It is our goal to promote this great road, so that travelers can once again experience the...

From Chartattack : For the first time in history, it is actually a crime to listen to Depeche Mode. The battle against downloading and filesharing continues in Poland, after a man was arrested for allegedly making the band's new single and video available for downloading way, way, way ahead of its scheduled October 3 release date. The man was said to have put Depeche Mode's upcoming single "Precious" on a Polish website for illegal downloading.... A team effort produced the sting, as Depeche Mode's label Mute worked together with Polish industry group ZPAV to trace the origin of the illegal files. They then assisted the International Federation Of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) to remove the offending files. The new material and video from the band was accessed from a supposedly secure copy.... Lyrics to the song are here . The songwriter is Gore. Here are some excerpts from a June press conference : Journalist: First of all I'd like to thank you guys for comi...

VH1, in a superbly unbrilliant move, is premiering some new shows on September 11 , including Danny Bonaduce's latest : BREAKING BONADUCE -- PREMIERES SEPTEMBER 11, 2005 at 10:30 PM ET/PT This series is a dramatic, honest, and compelling look into the complex relationship between Danny Bonaduce , his wife Gretchen and their two young children Isabella (10-years old) and Dante (4-years old). Meeting and marrying seven hours into their first date, the Bonaduces, who have been together for fifteen years, have faced addiction, infidelity and Danny's "death wish" antics, but can they continue to survive as a couple? VH1 endeavored to tape a show about their unique marriage and family life but as production ensued the series took on a life of its own. Told through the unique lens of their couple's therapy sessions, nothing is held back and the emotions are all real as they both deal with Danny's descent into drug use, drinking binges, sex addiction and his resul...

I couldn't figure out why I've been hearing references to "Money" (with a capital M) on various sports talk stations in Los Angeles. Now I know why, thanks to radio-info.com, who linked to a press release : FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LEE “HACKSAW” HAMILTON GOES 7 DAYS A WEEK MATT "MONEY" SMITH (KROQ) AND JOE GRANDE (POWER 106) TEAM UP FOR AFTERNOON DRIVE (Los Angeles, CA August 23, 2005) – 19-year, award winning sports talker, Lee “Hacksaw” Hamilton kicks off PM drive with “the best 15 minutes in sports” and “Hacksaw’s Headlines.” Then, teammates Matt “Money” Smith and Joe Grande talk sports. Hacksaw will also be heard in AM drive with Mancow’s Morning Madhouse, Middays with The Loose Cannons, and Afternoon Drive with Money and Grande. In addition to his Monday through Friday responsibilities, Hacksaw will anchor the weekends with the best 4-hours of Sports Talk radio in the nation on Saturdays and Sundays. General Manager Don Martin says, " Th...

I received the following search hit: 25/08/2005 06:59:47 is barry manilow dave gahan's father (Google) But it did allow me to find Amazon user James Stephen Garrett's rip of Depeche Mode's "Exciter" album: The New Depeche Mode---or rather, the *really old* Depeche Mode, withered away to three key-punchers---is serving up a reeking slab of Out with the New & In with the Old. What's for lunch in this outing, you ask? Lounge tunes.... It's a whole album---with one glaring exception, the downbeat-upbeat "The Dead of Night", which feels like classic Depeche, but isn't enough to save this flaccid release---of sleepy lounge tunes, sugary sweet & whiney torch songs. There are two settings here: Snooze and Extra-Snooze. Don't listen to this infernal sleep-inducing thing in the car: I did so, unwisely, nodded off and nearly wrecked three times, and that was just during the first minutes of "Dream On".... I even played a few prime...

Last night, I posted about Bob Parson's thoughts on advertising on the Super Bowl again. However, in my excerpts, I didn't post some of Bob's thoughts about the supposed family nature of the Super Bowl : Now here’s why I think the NFL is making a big mistake by trying to make the SuperBowl a family event. In short, it’s because we as a people want certain things to be reserved for adults, instead of the entire family.... I personally believe that it’s a mistake to make the SuperBowl a family event. To me, that makes about as much sense as making Desperate Housewives a family show. That’s not why viewers watch these shows (and like it or not the SuperBowl is a TV show). They watch them for adult level entertainment. I’m not saying that the SuperBowl should be pornographic. In fact, no show on network TV should even approach that. However, there was nothing wrong with the old, and maybe gone forever commercials, like the flatulent horse and crotch biting dog, that gave all o...