Monkey Musing Daily Open Discussion #6 9/17 - 9/30/2007

[San]

Morning Monkeys
Lalas, last week there was a fire & the power company killed the power here. We had to re-set up our modem, router etc. I know what you mean about the puter forgetting the ip.
Have a great day all. I am going to pig out on pizza today. So may not be able to sit in a chair afterwards. Will have to roll me out on hand trucks. 
Oh & the pizza place has a chocolate eclair pizza. 

Enjoy your pizza and have a wonderful Birthday Yap.

[Lala'sMom]

Speaking of the music thread.  I need to start an Elvis thread over there.  I am not sure how to post those links, but I will try to get started tomorrow. 

FYI, tomorrow is Yapperz, birthday.  Thread in lounge.  Shhhhhh!  You didn't hear it from me.

Hi Lala's.

Let me know if you need help tomorrow with the links.  It's really easy, just copy and paste. 

Good Morning Monkeys!  Shout out to Lala's and Klaas, there is already an Elvis thread under Music

Then I suppose I don't need to start another. How did I miss that? Gosh!

[klaasend]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297143,00.html

Load of Croc? Popular Shoes May Pose Danger to Toes on Escalators
Tuesday , September 18, 2007

 WASHINGTON —

At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are popping up of people, particularly young children, getting their toes caught in escalators. The one common theme seems to be the clunky soft-soled clogs known by the name of the most popular brand, Crocs.

One of the nation's largest subway systems — the Washington Metro — has even posted ads warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways. The ads feature a photo of a crocodile, though they don't mention Crocs by name.

Four-year-old Rory McDermott got a Croc-clad foot caught in an escalator last month at a mall in northern Virginia. His mother managed to yank him free, but the nail on his big toe was almost completely ripped off, causing heavy bleeding.
(snipped)

[MuffyBee]

Ohhh.  That sounds soooo painful   Poor little guy.

[2NJSons_Mom]

Thanks for that article on the crocs, Klaas..going to send it to my niece....her 2 year old has a pair or two. 

[klaasend]

Ohhh.  That sounds soooo painful   Poor little guy.

If you read the entire article, one small child lost his entire big toe.   

[Dugga]

I have a Dugga question...if he's still here.  Well, if he's not maybe he will see this...apologies if it's in the wrong thread. 

Why would computers forget their IP addy?  Do they have to get new ones each time you log on to the internet or do they keep a certain one each time?  Does the internet provider change them? 

Good morning, Lalas. Klaas is correct in stating that your computer will sometimes change IP's if you have a cable modem or DSL, and you get a new IP every time you dial into a service like AOL.

Sometimes cable modems and DSL modems do lose their settings. When this happens, unplug power to the cable modem (the little box that the cable TV wire is connected to) and let that sit for about 30 seconds. Then plug it back in and wait about 1 minute until most or all of the lights on the front of the modem stop blinking (there may be one that never stops blinking - depends on your setup). After you've had it plugged in about a minute, try rebooting your computer. If the problem is anything that you can remedy without the assistance of the cable company, then that will always take care of it.

If there's anything I can help with or explain, please let me know. I am happy to help.

[San]

Thanks for that article on the crocs, Klaas..going to send it to my niece....her 2 year old has a pair or two. 

I wear Crocs but not that kind.  Mine are a totally different style and I love wearing them in the house.

[klaasend]

Student gets tasered at Kerry event:

[2NJSons_Mom]

Saw that on the news before I went to bed last night....

[klaasend]

I have a Dugga question...if he's still here.  Well, if he's not maybe he will see this...apologies if it's in the wrong thread. 

Why would computers forget their IP addy?  Do they have to get new ones each time you log on to the internet or do they keep a certain one each time?  Does the internet provider change them? 

Good morning, Lalas. Klaas is correct in stating that your computer will sometimes change IP's if you have a cable modem or DSL, and you get a new IP every time you dial into a service like AOL.

Sometimes cable modems and DSL modems do lose their settings. When this happens, unplug power to the cable modem (the little box that the cable TV wire is connected to) and let that sit for about 30 seconds. Then plug it back in and wait about 1 minute until most or all of the lights on the front of the modem stop blinking (there may be one that never stops blinking - depends on your setup). After you've had it plugged in about a minute, try rebooting your computer. If the problem is anything that you can remedy without the assistance of the cable company, then that will always take care of it.

If there's anything I can help with or explain, please let me know. I am happy to help.

Wow - I was pretty close to right 

[MuffyBee]

Klaas ~  I posted this as a new topic in the Missing Persons:
    
Anni Liu Missing/Her 3 yo child found abandoned at train station by father
« on: Today at 09:55:06 AM »

I wrote it so it appears the father found the abandoned child at the train station, when in fact HE abandoned the child at the train station and others found the child. 

Anni Liu Missing/Her 3 yo child abandoned at train station by father (it should read like this)

Would you please fix it for me.  Thanks!

[klaasend]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20824058/

Diabetics swap finger pricks for new sensors
Under-the-skin devices monitor blood-sugar levels around the clock

Updated: 3:35 p.m. PT Sept 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - Diabetes care is undergoing a transformation: Thousands of patients are switching from a few finger-pricks a day to track their disease to new sensors that keep guard around the clock.

The last six months brought boosts to the technology, as federal health officials approved children’s use of a sensor that works for three days in a row — and cleared the longest-lasting version yet, a seven-day model, for adults.

The ultimate goal is to create an “artificial pancreas,” pairing such sensors with implanted pumps that would automatically dispense insulin to make a diabetic’s blood sugar better resemble a healthy person’s.

(snipped)

[klaasend]

Klaas ~  I posted this as a new topic in the Missing Persons:
    
Anni Liu Missing/Her 3 yo child found abandoned at train station by father
« on: Today at 09:55:06 AM »

I wrote it so it appears the father found the abandoned child at the train station, when in fact HE abandoned the child at the train station and others found the child. 

Anni Liu Missing/Her 3 yo child abandoned at train station by father (it should read like this)

Would you please fix it for me.  Thanks!

Fixed 

[klaasend]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297152,00.html



U.S. Prosecutor Accused of Seeking Sex With Girl, 5
Tuesday , September 18, 2007
 DETROIT —

An assistant U.S. attorney from Florida was arrested in an Internet sting operation after flying to Michigan to have sex with a 5-year-old girl, authorities said Monday.

John D.R. Atchison, 53, appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit on a charge of interstate travel to have sex with a minor. He is a prosecutor for the U.S. attorney's office for northern Florida, based in Tallahassee.

The arrest followed several weeks of Internet conversations between the prosecutor and a detective posing as the mother of a 5-year-old girl, authorities say.

Atchison is charged with using interstate communication to entice a minor to have sexual contact and with traveling across state lines with the intent of engaging in illicit sexual contact. The charges carry a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

The Gulf Breeze, Fla., resident was arrested Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport as part of an undercover sting operation by the Macomb Area Computer Enforcement Team.

"There wasn't much reaction from him at all," said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel, whose department runs the team. He said Atchison was cooperative with authorities.

The fact that an Internet child sex suspect is a law enforcement official shouldn't be unexpected, Hackel said.

"The people who are doing it come from all walks of life. It doesn't surprise us anymore," the sheriff said.

According to court records, Atchison initiated an online chat Aug. 29 with an undercover officer posing as a mother interested in letting men have sex with her daughter.

In several conversations, he said he wanted to have oral, vaginal and anal sex with the woman's fictitious daughter, Hackel said.

"I'm always gentle and loving; not to worry; no damage ever; no rough stuff ever ever," Atchison said at one point, according to an affidavit filed in court.

Hackel said his department brought in federal authorities after it became clear that the case involved an out-of-state suspect.

Atchison asked for a court-appointed lawyer. A detention hearing was scheduled for Tuesday.


This sickens me 

[klaasend]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297190,00.html



Smiley-Face Emoticon Turning 25
Tuesday , September 18, 2007

PITTSBURGH  —

It was a serious contribution to the electronic lexicon.

Twenty-five years ago, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman says, he was the first to use three keystrokes — a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis — as a horizontal "smiley face" in a computer message.

To mark the anniversary Wednesday, Fahlman and his colleagues are starting an annual student contest for innovation in technology-assisted, person-to-person communication. The Smiley Award, sponsored by Yahoo Inc., carries a $500 cash prize.

Language experts say the smiley face and other emotional icons, known as emoticons, have given people a concise way in e-mail and other electronic messages of expressing sentiments that otherwise would be difficult to detect.

Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly.

"I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: ," wrote Fahlman. "Read it sideways."

The suggestion gave computer users a way to convey humor or positive feelings with a smile — or the opposite sentiments by reversing the parenthesis to form a frown.

Carnegie Mellon said Fahlman's smileys spread from its campus to other universities, then businesses and eventually around the world as the Internet gained popularity.

Computer science and linguistics professors contacted by The Associated Press said they were unaware of who first used the symbol.

"I've never seen any hard evidence that the sequence was in use before my original post, and I've never run into anyone who actually claims to have invented it before I did," Fahlman wrote on the university's Web page dedicated to the smiley face. "But it's always possible that someone else had the same idea — it's a simple and obvious idea, after all."

Variations, such as the "wink" that uses a semicolon, emerged later. And today people can hardly imagine using computer chat programs that don't translate keystrokes into colorful graphics, said Ryan Stansifer, a computer science professor at the Florida Institute of Technology.

"Now we have so much power, we don't settle for a colon-dash-paren," he said. "You want the smiley face, so all these chatting softwares have to have them."

Instant messaging programs often contain an array of faces intended to express emotions ranging from surprise to affection to embarrassment.

"It has been fascinating to watch this phenomenon grow from a little message I tossed off in 10 minutes to something that has spread all around the world," Fahlman was quoted as saying in a university statement. "I sometimes wonder how many millions of people have typed these characters, and how many have turned their heads to one side to view a smiley, in the 25 years since this all started."

Amy Weinberg, a University of Maryland linguist and computer scientist, said emoticons such as the smiley were "definitely creeping into the way, both in business and academia, people communicate."

"In terms of things that language processing does, you have to take them into account," she said. "If you're doing almost anything ... and you have a sentence that says 'I love my boss' and then there's a smiley face, you better not take that seriously."

Emoticons reflect the likely original purpose of language — to enable people to express emotion, said Clifford Nass, a professor of communications at Stanford University. The emotion behind a written sentence may be hard to discern because emotion is often conveyed through tone of voice, he said.

"What emoticons do is essentially provide a mechanism to transmit emotion when you don't have the voice," Nass said.

In some ways, he added, they also give people "the ability not to think as hard about the words they're using."

Stansifer said the emoticon was part of a natural progression in communication.

"I don't think the smiley face was the beginning and the end," he said. "All people at all times take advantage of whatever means of communication they have."

[SunFreak2]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Yapperz!

[SunFreak2]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297152,00.html



U.S. Prosecutor Accused of Seeking Sex With Girl, 5
Tuesday , September 18, 2007
 DETROIT —

That is abominable behavior.  He will really have trouble in prison.

[MumInOhio]

Hi Marlee, Logged back in to say hi!  How was florida?

[MuffyBee]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297152,00.html



U.S. Prosecutor Accused of Seeking Sex With Girl, 5
Tuesday , September 18, 2007
 DETROIT —

That is abominable behavior.  He will really have trouble in prison.

This upsets me so much, I can't find the words to make a front page post. Certain words and names come to mind but they seem paltry in light of what this guy proposed to do to the little girl.  And him saying he's done it plenty before?   And he's a federal prosecutor, no less?  I wonder if anyone around him had any idea he had these interests?