Had 'nough?

Background:
e-mail, e-commerce, e-talk

Customers are being overwhelmed by a flood of ebusinesses, according to Lou Gerstner, chief executive of IBM.

Gerstner surprised delegates at Telecom 99 by saying that the multitude of ecommerce startups are making ebusiness more confusing for customers, rather than more efficient.

"There are already so many ebusinesses vying for your attention. Etoys, Etrade, Eshoes, Ebay... soon we'll all be crying e-nough," he said.

In 2000, IBM said e-nough.

imac, ipod, iphone

I've had i-nough

Flak Day II

The Los Angeles Dodgers® have agreed to review a stadium policy that bans the waving of national banners after security attempted to confiscate a Canadian® flag from an expat fan during the June 9th game between the Jays® and Dodgers®.

The brouhaha started June 9 when a group of Canadian fans got tossed from a Dodgers game for waving the Maple Leaf® during the California club's game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Dodgers, it seems, have a policy restricting all flags, banners and oversized posters in the stands.

"I think they got slammed," Pembroke's Lee Fraser, the owner of the flag and president of Canadians Abroad®, said of the aftermath of the controversy. The group's website was flooded with traffic and Fraser received hundreds of angry emails after the incident was reported in the Toronto Star®.

A week later, fans waving a Taiwanese® flag got the same 'lose it or leave' treatment from stadium security.

In light of the two incidents, the Dodgers announced yesterday they are rethinking their policy. Said Dodgers PR director Josh Rawitch®: "We are reviewing our policy on permitting flags into the stadium to try and help fans show pride for their home country."

The Dodgers have offered to treat the members of Canadians Abroad who were at the park that night to another game. Once there, they will meet with the Dodgers' Toronto®-born catcher Russell Martin®.

The nearby Oakland A's® have gone a step farther, inviting one of the group's members, Tammy Laverty of Ottawa®, to perform both national anthems at a future game.

Fraser expressed satisfaction at the result and hopes that a review of the ban has resulted in a new set of rules.

"The most important thing is that this bone-headed policy is repealed," he said.

For this, let's applaud the Dodgers brass. Common sense has won out on this day.

While teams must worry about insurance and safety concerns, you can't turn the stands into a library. Imagine trying to pull that move at an English Premier League soccer game?

Attending sporting events in North America is, compared to much of the rest of the world, a safe outing, and letting fans cheer on their countrymen poses no real hazard

You Talkin' to Me?

I was sitting in Winners' today, trying on sneakers. A teenaged girl came into sight on my right side. She was talking - I could hear only one side of a conversation - and there was no cell phone visible.

Ah ha, I thought, I know this one! She's talking into a headset, or a bluetooth, or something. She turned toward me - no headset or blue teeth or anything. Hmmm. Whom could she be speaking to?

Then, a second teenager came around the corner. The first girl was talking to a live person!

What are the odds?

Flak Day

June 14th is Flag Day® - aka National Flag Day - in the United States. Isn't every day Flag Day in the United States?

That's like National Beer Day in Germany ;o)

Except:

During last Saturday night's baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the L.A. Dodgers, at Dodger Stadium®, a security guard attempted to confiscate a Canadian flag from a fan, Lee Fraser, a native of Pembroke, Ontario.

Upon entering the ballpark, he was warned by Dodger security not to wave the flag. He said he was permitted to hold it up during the national anthem.

During the sixth inning, the Dodgers loaded the bases with two out. Toronto pitcher Shaun Marcum got L.A. slugger Luis Gonzalez to pop up to end the inning. Fraser stood up and began waving his flag.

"The security guard ran up and said, `Get that flag down,'" Fraser recalled. "They tried to confiscate my flag."

Flag waving "causes the fans, at times, to become aggressive toward each other." I guess he means American fans. "It's a zero tolerance policy," Dodgers vice-president of stadium operations Lon Rosenberg said, adding that the same rule would apply to the U.S. flag. Banners featuring the L.A. Dodger logo are exempt.

Would this have happened on (National) Flag Day?

Next?

As an avid - that's diva spelled backwards - amateur cryptographer, I've recently written some encryption/decryption programmes in Visual Basic®, using Microsoft's® CryptoAPI®, whose protocols, I think, were originally formulated in the late 90's. As with most cryptographic software of the times, the MS CryptoAPI allowed for weak cryptography. Now, with the release of Windows® Vista®, Microsoft has introduced Cryptography API: Next Generation® (CNG), the replacement for the CryptoAPI.

I look forward to CryptoAPI DS9, strong cryptography for the International Space Station, and CryptoAPI Voyager, strong cryptography for SUV's.

Nice Hair

Now that I'm retired, I've grown my snow-white hair to more or less shoulder-length, and counting.

Today, as I was having my returns checked in by a guy at the library, a young girl from the neighbouring parochial school walked up to the counter, and said to the guy, "Excuse me, can you ... oh, I'm sorry. Are you helping her?" Meaning me.

"Her?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't look."

What Ever!