[Quote:]

The following exchange between atheist activist Rob Sherman of Buffalo Grove and Ill. Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) took place Wednesday afternoon in the General Assembly as Sherman testified before the House State Government Administration Committee.

I know from experience that many of you will side with Davis, but I ask you to consider what the outcry would have been if a lawmaker had  launched a similar attack on the beliefs of a religious person.

Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him.  We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy — it’s tragic –  when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight.  They want to fight prayer in school. 

I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln  where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to  [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Een kennis van me had wat problemen met het registreren van de airmiles kaart op “airmiles.nl”. Om een lang verhaal samen te vatten:

1. ze sturen je na aanmelding een emailtje met zowel gebruikersnaam als wachtwoord.
2. van een niet bestaande afzender “klantenservice@airmiles.nl”
3. als je vervolgens via de webformulieren een klacht indient, omdat je dat te onveilig vindt en dus wil dat al je persoonsgegevens gewist worden uit hun bestand, krijg je een mailtje terug waarin ze glashard beweren: “U heeft enkel uw wachtwoord retour gekregen. Niet de combinatie gebruikersnaam + wachtwoord. Dit is een voldoende beveilegings niveau in combinatie met service verlening. ”
4. met een niet bestaande afzender “klantenservice@airmiles.nl”

vanwege 2 en 4 ben ik op zoek gegaan naar een alternatief email adres.

De whois informatie van het airmiles.nl domein vermeldt als administratief en technisch contact: postmaster@airmiles.nl.

5. dit is een niet bestaand adres, en post stuitert

Aangezien dit tegen de SIDN richtlijnen is, zou ik de SIDN nu kunnen vragen het domein op te heffen…

Al het bovenstaande is gemeld via het online klachtenformulier. Wedden dat ze er geen flikker mee doen?

[Quote:]

Over the past few years, we have watched Apple climb the music sales chart courtesy of the iTunes. Last month we learned that Apple passed Best Buy to become the number two retailer in the the US in December. Now, Apple has ascended to the top of the charts, surpassing Wal-Mart for the first time ever, according to an NPD MusicWatch Survey for the month January contained in an internal Apple e-mail which was leaked to Ars Technica but has not been officially published.

[..]

For the music industry, there is a dark side to Apple’s ascension to the top of the charts. Buying patterns for digital downloads are different, as customers are far more likely to cherry pick a favorite track or two from an album than purchase the whole thing. In contrast, brick-and-mortar sales are predominantly high-margin CDs. For 2007, that translated into a 10 percent decline in overall music spending according to the NPD Group, and it’s a trend that’s expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

[Quote:]

Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry device, said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter profit and sales more than doubled as it increased its subscriber base and shipped about 4.4 million of its smart phones.

An analyst with Canaccord Adams, Peter Misek, called it a “monster quarter” and said R.I.M. had benefited from Apple’s introduction of the iPhone, which brought attention to the smart phone market.

“People are staring to realize, ‘Why should I buy a Razr when I can buy a BlackBerry or an iPhone?’ I think the iPhone was the single biggest blessing R.I.M. ever had,” Mr. Misek said.

He said sales of the BlackBerry are accelerating.