Another organization using a laptop for backup. I'd love to see the rest of their plan (if they ever decide to create one.)

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/county_51837___article.html/information_brown.html

Yuba County data stolen

Child-services computer had private info on 70,000 people

By Daniel Witter/Appeal-Democrat July 28, 2007 - 12:53AM

Yuba County scrambled this week to contact 70,000 people whose names and personal information were on a laptop computer stolen from the new Child Support Services office in Linda.

County officials said the stolen laptop contained Social Security numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers and other private information on 70,000 people, including 30,000 children, whose cases were opened prior to May 2001.

The laptop was being used as a backup system for the county’s computer system, said county spokesman Russ Brown. The computer requires double passwords for access, [Making the security twice worthless. Bob] so officials are hoping the information inside remains safe.

... The theft, discovered Monday, occurred at the new Health and Human Services Building on Packard Avenue in Linda.

... Also missing from the Child Support Services office were a microwave and several computers screens, said Brown. [No one noticed these people taking things OUT of the building they were supposed to be moving INTO? Bob]

Overall, this way is easier. No teachers are required to think.

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/28/1950217&from=rss

School District To Parents — Buy Office 2007

Posted by kdawson on Saturday July 28, @09:06PM from the no-more-parents'-dirty-looks dept. Upgrades Microsoft The Almighty Buck

WS Nick writes "Batavia school district in Illinois is recommending that parents of high school students upgrade their home computers to Microsoft Office 2007. Why not use one of the free alternatives and relieve parents of some of the financial burden they face to buy all the stuff for their children the school requires?"

A comment from a reader points out how easy it is to interoperate with Office 2007 from earlier versions.

Ironic, isn't it?

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/28/2158211&from=rss

NZ MPs Outlaw Satire of Parliament

Posted by kdawson on Sunday July 29, @04:45AM from the head-and-shoulders-only dept. Censorship Politics

mernil writes "New Zealand's Parliament has voted itself far-reaching powers to control satire and ridicule of MPs in Parliament, attracting a storm of media and academic criticism. The new standing orders, voted in last month, concern the use of images of Parliamentary debates, and make it a contempt of Parliament for broadcasters or anyone else to use footage of the chamber for 'satire, ridicule or denigration.' The new rules are actually more liberal than the previous ones, but the threat of felony contempt is new."

Very interesting idea!

http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001777.php

SCOLA Television

World news unfiltered

SCOLA is a non-profit that rebroadcasts television programming (mostly news) from around the world in original languages (everything from Albanian to Vietnamese). It's intended as a language learning aid -- and it's great for that -- but you don't necessarily need to speak the language in order to get something out of the broadcasts.

SCOLA TV $10 – 30* Available from SCOLA

[*$15 (Level 2) gets you 25 hours per month; $20 (Level 3) gets you 40 hours per month; as it turns out, my Comcast cable package includes SCOLA and I didn't even know it until now --sl]

I can't help laughing. Number 01 is great!

http://digg.com/offbeat_news/The_Best_Geek_Quotes_Top10_over_the_years

The Best Geek Quotes: Top10 over the years

This is how it goes- 1. There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. 5.1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d .... Read on for some geeky advice !

http://www.boardofwisdom.com/default.asp?topic=1005&listname=Geek

[My favorite:

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.

I don't think this adds any useful information to the e-Discovery debate, but it is amusing.

http://ralphlosey.wordpress.com/2007/07/26/it-techs-fast-talk-had-zero-persuasive-value-with-judge/

IT Tech’s Fast-Talk Had Zero Persuasive Value with Judge

The porn industry is an early adopter of technologies. Here is Porn 2.0

http://wrigis.csusb.edu/repo/thehun.htm

Still Surfin The Hun?

Web 2.0 Has Hit Porn