Something that we all need for the office

I was looking at the headlines on my Google homepage and noticed this one.. “USB AirSoft turret mows down unsuspecting office mates” Well, I had to read that…

“Where else but the good ole US of A would we revel in crafting items that not only utilized that oh-so-lonely USB port on the rear of your leased laptop, but had the potential to "deliver welts" to unsuspecting co-workers? While the pre-packaged USB missile launchers are quite the novel desk adornment, this DIY job seriously brings the heat (and the pain). While the modder responsible here envisions a more robust, costly, and dangerous version in the future, his 1.0 edition features a $19 electronic AirSoft gun, the turret base from an aforementioned USB missile launcher, super glue, and the usual compliment of assembly tools. After disassembling the launcher and tapping into its base, a bit of fancy wire work is required to affix the more powerful AirSoft gun to the rotating turret. A few more screws and finagling, and you're all set to demolish the fun at your annual holiday bash, all for just around $70 and a few hours of your time. So if you couldn't handle boot camp, but still have a passion for mechanical sentries, be sure to hit the read link for the full skinny.” http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/11/usb-airsoft-turret-mows-down-unsuspecting-office-mates/


Another More Powerfull turret.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/16/airsoft-project-2-0-touts-four-times-the-firepower/

I have two computers to hook up that would me more than able to use this kind of firepower.

Do you want to steal my lunch?

Do you feel lucky?

Well, Do ya'...

Annoucements

It looks like Halo 3 has a firm release date – September 25th. Could be a GOOD Birthday Present … Collectors Edition - Please!

Corillian is now CheckFree. I will have to see what happened to my stock.

Microsoft announced that Vista will be the last 32-bit operating system that Microsoft will be shipping. The end of an era…

Google searching just got that much better. Google has expanded its search capabilities to more than just WebPages. “The change means users will also get results from news sites, blogs, video services and other relevant places.”

How To: Find a Users Memberships

Ever get those questions from people - "What groups does Jane belong to?" or "We have a new person to our group. Can you set them up the same way as Jane?"

Well, here is a quick way to get a list of memberships for a specific user.

dsget user "CN=Smith\, Jane,OU=Users,OU=Domain,DC=Company,DC=com" -memberof >>c:\temp\users.txt

I am sure that you can do this for a lot of people, but I will let you figure that part out. :P

Game Review: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

A friend at work started talking to me about this game, so I had to try it out. So, I went on Ebay and managed to pick it up for $30 bucks. Even though it is an older game, it is still $60 dollars at Best Buy. So, I thought that thirty was a good deal.


Step into the most richly detailed and vibrant game world ever created. The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™ is the latest chapter in the epic and highly successful saga from Bethesda Softworks.
Oblivion is the sequel to the best-selling, award-winning role-playing game (RPG) The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind®, named 2002 RPG and Game of the Year for Xbox®. Oblivion is another leap forward in role-playing with its combination of freeform gameplay and cutting-edge graphics. - XBox

I found it a little difficult to change my mind set from my days of D&D rules (yes, I played D&D) to the way Oblivion manages classes, races and experience. Well, there is no experience points, like you would remember from D&D. It is all done by skills and the use of those skills. For example, If you want to increase your strength, you can use hand-to-hand combat or another skill to increase this attribute. Plus, there are bonuses that you can acquire. If you use a minor skill, like hand-to-hand (for my character it is a minor skill) and increase that skill 10 times, you will get a +5 bonus to strength when you level up. Remember, the more strength you have, the more you can carry. Classes don’t really exist. You can favor one skill more than another, but you can be an Archer, Fighter, Mage, Thief, Assassin, Conjurer, illusionist, etc, as long as you increase those skills. There are several races that you can be, each with their own special abilities. There is also birth signs that may give you pluses in your abilities or even a special skill, like invisibility.

The only thing that I do not like about the game is that it scales based on your level. So, if you are 5th level all opponents that you come across are scaled down or up based on your character. I would like to see things a bit more static, like in D&D. There are just some places that you just do go to, otherwise you are going to be handed your head on a platter. This also means that as you get higher in level, a bandit may have leather armor (when you are at a low level) to a bandit with iron platemail and a bad-ass enchanted sword.

There is a main quest, that you can choose to do or not. There are also many many many side quests. The game is totally open ended and you can check anything out, especially in a marketplace store, just don’t get caught.

I am really enjoying the game……

…as an assassin

HIPAA / HIPAA Penalties

I was asked a couple of questions regarding my post Security - Making information secure. What is HIPAA? And Is a HIPAA violation that serious?

So, here is a good definition of what HIPA.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) website,
Title II of HIPAA, the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers.
The provision also address the security and privacy of health data. The standards are meant to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the nation's health care system by encouraging the widespread use of electronic data interchange in the US health care system. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIPAA)

violation penalties (HIPAA)
42 USC 1320d-6 (HIPAA Sec. 1177) contains the criminal penalties for violating the HIPAA privacy standards. It states:
"a. Offense.—
A person who is in violation of this part—
1. uses or causes to be used a unique health identifier;
2. obtains individually identifiable health information relating to an individual; or
3. discloses individually identifiable health information to another person,
shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).
b. Penalties.—
A person described in subsection (a) shall—
1. be fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both;
2. if the offense is committed under false pretenses, be fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both; and
3. if the offense is committed with intent to sell, transfer, or use individually identifiable health information for commercial advantage, personal gain, or malicious harm, be fined not more than $250,000, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both."

So… Do you think that they are serious??? By the way, that is per incident – 2.9 million incidents.