February Approaches

I am doing my “mental reviewing” a bit early this month.. as the first calendar month of 2013 ticks away its final days.. How has the New Year fared so far?

* I understand many of you are in a “deep freeze”, and it’s rather cold.
Like, bust the water pipes cold.

You have my sympathies, and I hope you’ll have great success keeping the frostbite away, and that your pipes don’t break. (I [also] understand there are some highly effective frostbite preventatives available..)

* A day or two ago, I received an email telling me that – all month long – it has been National Stalking Awareness Month.

No. I’m not kidding. See? Here’s a button.

“Stalking is a dangerous crime that affected 6.6 million adults in the United States in one year.  The better we understand the facts about stalking, the more we can do to stop it.

That’s why the Stalking Resource Center, National Center for Victims of Crime, and the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice, launched National Stalking Awareness Month in 2004. Every January since then, communities across the country have focused on stalking – holding events, sharing information, and building awareness about the crime.” Learn more here.

Please don’t think I am taking anything away from the seriousness of crime with what I say next — but I am old enough to remember life before Political Correctness, lapel ribbons, and calls to raise “awareness”. I have nothing against ‘raising awareness’ (and I’d like to think that’s kind of what I do here, at Tech – for Everyone) or anything else that helps make us less ignorant… But I think we’ve reached a point where a fear-mongering media, and 12,932 “awareness” months, are kind of overwhelming us.. and creating a reverse effect.
And there’s only so much room on our lapels for pins…

Sorry. I digressed. Please visit the Stalking Resource Center, at http://www.stalkingawarenessmonth.org/. There’s a short quiz there. You can “test” your stalking “awareness”.

* I don’t really have any comment about this big news..  Microsoft May Back Dell Buyout

.. Partly because the PC has been declared “dead” (seems all people really want are wimpy little “smart devices” like tablets and phones) and partly because I’m not smart enough to predict the future.

* I had an interesting conversation with a very sharp fella who’s betting big on near-field technology, and is hoping that before long, we here will be a cash-less society, that there’ll be no more credit cards, and that we’ll be using our “smart” phones as our wallets and purses.. as he said they are already doing (more) in Europe and Japan.

I couldn’t argue that that is the direction many want to take us. Nor that it seems the direction we head. I did present him with some ‘bigger’ arguments he really did not want to hear. There’s nothing wrong with using some other form of “payment” than actual money. The credit card proves that. Right?

* ‘Dexter’ Malware Bleeds Retail POS Systems

“With so much of retailers’ profitability tied up in the holiday season, now would be the worst time for malware to infect point-of-sale (POS) systems. Yet that’s precisely what’s happening.” Read more..

Today’s quote: “Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” ~ Plato

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.