Recently in rants Category

My wife watches the show, her best friend wants to be them, and my neice is obsessed with them. And now they won't leave the headlines. First he's cheating on her, then she's cheating on him... Who cares? (And yes, I see the irony in perpetuating their media juggernaut by embedding a link to buy their first two seasons).

Here's the thing: she treats him like dirt. He wants the kids to play, she's worried about how messy their clothes will get. He wants to do something fun, she's worried that their going to learn something from the experience. She talks to him like he's a servant - worse actually, since you treat a servant with a level of respect if you don't want them spitting in your food....

I have to wonder - when it comes time for the divorce proceedings, and he asks for full custody of the kids and everything, can he use all five or so seasons of the show as evidence? The proof is all on tape, as far as I can tell....

Take a look at that screen grab I just took. CNN is running some great articles, don't get me wrong, but when they have to encapsulate and article into four bullet points like that, and it's basically the whole story, why bother having the story at all?

Are you familiar with Schrödinger's cat? Take a second to take a look.

Now that you've done that, I propose a second, corollary experiment: Schrödinger's coffee. Given a cup of coffee, until you taste it, it's going to either be the best cup of coffee in the world, tolerable, or horrendous. Clearly the act of tasting it collapses the waveforms and determines what it's going to be, but can you actually measure the state before tasting it?

I propose that if you make the cup/pot of coffee, you can influence it to some degree. If you're buying it, clearly you're hoping for an optimal outcome (best coffee in the world or at least tolerable). And if you go to someone's house and have had coffee there before, you have an idea of whether or not to avoid it in the future.

But what about the unknowns? Your first time at a friends house? You're trying a new coffee shop? Is there anyway to attempt to determine which cup of coffee you're going to get? And let's not forget that randomness factors in: your favorite coffee place will, on occasion, throw you a wild card in the form of coffee not made to order or sub-standard coffee. What do you do then?

Is there any way to predict - and therefore avoid - bad coffee???

I was stopped at a stop light - 2nd in line. The car in front of me put their car into reverse - I didn't do anything. A second later, they were still in reverse - so I got ready to honk the horn in case they started to move backwards. Then they did start to reverse - so I laid into the horn. The woman driving started to look around - left, right - but still kept coming. The results are above.

She got out and apologized, explaining that she's lost and trying to get to the hospital to get her mother or something. Not really my concern, but whatever. I told her to turn the corner and pull over, since we were blocking the lane we were in. I got her info, and she was very emphatic about going to get her mother and dealing with this later. I told her we would talk later, and as she drove off, I called the police. A few minutes later, they were there, listened to my tale of woe, and took my and her info.

Since we had exchanged phone numbers, she called me twice - once to make sure she hadn't erased it, and the second time to find out why I had "lied" to her - by calling the police, I apparently broke some sort of promise between us. I don't remember that - I remember telling her that we would talk later. She was very upset and doing lots of yelling, so I didn't really understand what she was saying - except that she was apparently coming back to the scene.

When she did arrive, she came from down the road, and I didn't recall seeing her pull up. She glared at me as she walked by, and then went to the police officers. After a minute or two, the responding officer brought my paperwork and notes back, gave me my case number, and told me that she hadn't wanted to hang around because she was..... driving with a suspended license. At this point, I drove off - cranky, but able to move still, so happy for that - the last accident I had resulted in a car that I didn't really feel safe driving in.

Fast forward to today - four days later. After making a few calls, getting the insurance company's estimate, getting my own estimate, and making more calls, I got a voicemail this afternoon from my insurance agent. Their auto-accident person was calling me back - I had asked for help figuring out which of the many companies with the same name she was actually using for her insurance. It turns out she doesn't have insurance. Of course.

Now, look, I'm not saying that she didn't have to go get her mother or whatever. But if you're license is suspended, and you don't have insurance, DON'T DRIVE YOUR CAR. Simple, straightforward, and easy. With my last incident, I'm waiting for the insurance company to "subrogate" the claim - meaning that if they ever manage to get money from him, and we all know it will take more than a couple of weeks - then I'll eventually get my deductible back. Maybe.

AWESOME.

Daylight savings sucks. First of all, why start it on Saturday night/Sunday morning? It takes a week or so to get used to it - just start it on Friday night/Saturday morning so we have a fighting chance come Monday. Seriously.

I realize that the concept of DST is quite useful - we get up earlier, so there is a bigger "useful" part of the day. Really - it's pretty clear to me. (The US Navy has a write up of some of the details here) But we are no longer an agrarian society. Well, we still farm, but it's a smaller percentage of the population that does it. Not that I mind getting up at "0 dark thirty" to get ready for my day - I'm used to that from the fall and winter months. And while having the daylight on the front end of the day is useful, I was just getting used to the idea of the sun still being up on my ride home.

There is some argument among scholars, economists, and who knows who else that the change to and from DST costs the economy money (Google search on "daylight savings time money"). I would argue that it does, but only in lost productivity - and that's mostly because of the fact that the change happens on Sunday, not Saturday. It may not seem like much, but I think that the extra day would be very useful.

My experience is always the same: I wake up one hour late on Monday morning. This year the problem was compounded by not feeling well (chest cold that makes me sound like I should be looking out for the Grim Reaper) and being up late the night before. If Jen hadn't come home early today, there's a good chance I would have been asleep until about 9:00 - possibly later. Since I was supposed to have the kids at school at 8:00, that would have been a bit of a problem. In the end, they got where they needed to be and I did what I needed to, but it seems to me that there's a solution to this problem:

Don't use Daylight Savings Time.

This might be boring, tedious, or both. If you don't have Cablevision for your internet/tv, or if you don't live in an area where they are located, or you just don't care, then move along. The rest of you can read more by clicking the link....

The Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE) Act is supposed to be a good thing. Turns out that it's been hacked quite a bit by various people (aka special interest groups) to allow them to disregard the network neutrality agreements. What is network neutrality? Check out the wikipedia link (new window) for more info.

Basically, the way things are worded now, if the bill becomes a law, then your ISP will be able to "tax" websites for access to their customers. If, say, Google doesn't pay the fee, then an ISP could slow customer access to the website, or block it entirely. They could even, theoretically, make it so that when you go to Google, you end up at their own search engine. And blogs that are critical of the ISP? Oh darn, you no longer have access to that site - it's now on the black list.

It would also allow companies to do whatever they wanted on their own networks - in the mid-90's, Cox Cable blocked the common ports used for VPN access - "forcing the state of Washington, for example, to contract with telecommunications providers to be sure its employees had access to unimpeded broadband for telecommuting applications." (Wikipedia).

If you enjoy the internet the way it is now - where you can access a wide variety of information in a timely manner (based on the level of your internet access, of course), then you need to take action.

You can:
Contact your Congressperson (via the House website, or MoveOn.org)

Sign the Save the Internet Petition

Spread the word.

Brianwho?, of Miles, etc sort of sums up part of the problem:
Miles, etc.: To The GTWD:


SAHM's get a good amount of attention these days, and sympathy. It is much deserved, as they've earned it - and from time to time I've been right there with the rest of the left-leaning tree-huggers patting my wife on the back. And, lately, SAHD's are even getting their 15 minutes, and they deserve it, too. But this here, this is my little shout out to the guy who loves the shit out of his family, and who works his ass off for them. In other words, this one goes out to all the Go To Work Dads.

I never really considered the plight of the GTWD (Go To Work Dad) - which is odd, considering that I'm one of them (us?).

First, some useful links, in case you don't already have them:
Katrina.org
Katrina.com
Red Cross

Ok, while I have misgivings about what happened - poor planning on many peoples parts - it's not time to gripe about things just now. I watch tv or listen to news on the radio and am just amazed. Not just at the level of destruction, but at people's reactions. On the one hand, you have all the humanitarian relief efforts getting started in other parts of the country and the world - all positive things, just as you'd expect.

On the other hand, you have the looting, pillaging, beatings, and rapes occuring inside the affected area. Look, I realize things are bad in there, but WHY MAKE THEM WORSE? I realize none of the affected people can get online to read this, and why do they even care about my opinion, but I don't recall reading about anything like this in Asia after the tsunami hit last December. New York city didn't have the same kind of reaction after 9/11. It's just wrong.

I realize that there are many many factors contributing to the behaviors we're seeing, and I don't want to get into it now - matters of class, race and government are best not speculated on right now - but it bears looking at in the future.

Speaking of the future, I don't know if anyone else saw it, but FX had a fictional documentary called "Oil Storm" a few months back. It traced fictional events similar to what just happened in New Orleans - and what they predicted could happen just might.

I'm predicting martial law in and around the affected areas, I'm prediciting civil unrest, and I'm predicting gas at $5+ a gallon. Things are going to get much worse before they get better.

More to come - have to get to work...

Deroy Murdock on Patriot Act on National Review Online:
These dangerously naïve or clandestinely seditious librarians are beyond foolish. They potentially jeopardize the lives of American citizens.

Who are these dangerous people? Yes, that's right, he said librarians.

I really don't understand the conservative Republican's way of thinking. Wasn't this country founded in part on the idea of having personal freedoms? Doesn't that include the right to go to the library and do research without fear of being questioned by the police about it?

If you think about it, the 9/11 terrorists could have just as easily taken books out on the various topics. Or just read the books while at the library and never actually checked them out.

When I worked in the local library in high school, there were people who would show up in the morning, read all day, and the just go home - how would I have known if they were a terrorist? It's not like reading a specific type of book defines who you are, right?

Oh, wait - Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski's September 1995 manifesto, published in U.S. newspapers in exchange for his stopping his attacks, referred to L. Sprague De Camp's "The Ancient Engineer".

When NYPD detectives suspected Scottish occult poet Aleister Crowley may have inspired "Zodiac Killer" Heriberto Seda, a Queens grand jury granted them a subpoena on July 3, 1990, to see who requested Crowley's books from NYPL's Bryant Park headquarters

So apparently reading Scottish poetry and non-fiction about the history of engineering are now seditious acts?

Look, I'm not saying that I'm a fan of the people who like to make buildings blow up - quite the opposite - but how are we doing anything but making our lives miserable - one of the terrorists goals - if we restrict personal freedoms? Aren't these same freedoms one of the reasons that we are so hated? Our women walk the streets without burqa's. They get educated - hell, we treat them (for the most part - some men never learn) like equals. People are allowed to practice just about any religion they want. People can say almost anything they want to without fear of reprisal from the government - note I said almost anything. If we start taking away these rights, these freedoms, then we start to make our society start to be more like theirs - and then that means that they're starting to win. We can't let them - so stop being an idiot, get your head out of your ass, and realize that making the librarian keep track of who used which computer when isn't going to stop anyone from doing anything.

Ok, time for a little venting. I don't normally get into this type of stuff, but I have to, because it's been driving me nuts. Keep in mind that I am neither a lawyer nor a doctor, and that the ramblings below are informed only by what I've read in the various media reports and by my own learnings and dealings with the medical professionals that have entered my life via various means.

As a parent, I can certainly understand the point of view of the Schindlers, Terry Schiavo's parents - that they don't want to give up on their little girl. But that is all I have - an understanding of their point of view as a fellow parent. I cannot, however, understand their thought processes beyond that.

* The server this site is on was hacked. Bad. It was down for a day and a half, everyone on the server lost at least that much email, and one of my sites still isn't working. Oh, wait, it doesn't matter - that client just took their business elsewhere.

* I just got a notice from my ISP that I'm violating the TOS (terms of service) by participating in file sharing. The reason they said something? A "copyright owner" has a record indicating that my IP was sharing a file that had the name of one of their shows in it. I really don't want to go into any more detail, but don't they have better things to do with their time?

* It's snowing again. I don't mind that so much, but it usually means that work is going to send me somewhere that's not close to home. True to form, I'm headed out to Watertown tomorrow. For those who don't know - that would be most of you readers - it's up by Waterbury, CT, or about 50 minutes from home on a good day. In snowy weather, that's more like 90 minutes. The last time I went, was there two days, and one of them was during the last snowfall. During the trip up during the snow, someone was kind enough to change lanes into my lane, but without warning and almost into me. They didn't think it was a problem, and were perplexed by my honking at them. Idiots.

* I tried to buy a camera for a client last Thursday, right about the same time that the server was crapping out. They sent me an email asking me to call them to "confirm the order", and also allegedly called my cell phone for the same reason. I didn't get any email - the server was hosed - and I know for a fact that they didn't call me. Whatever - I just want the camera. So I tried to call on Friday, but didn't call before they closed. Then they were closed Saturday - but, oddly, open on Sunday. I called again, and was told that there was an "issue" with my order - they would gladly transfer my call to someone to help with that. Problem was, I didn't have the 45 minutes they were hoping I'd stay on hold to finalize the order. Anyway, I finally got the order resolved on Monday - but only after finding out about the alleged phone calls, and then dealing with the guy trying to upsell me stuff - accessories, extended warranties, you name it, he was trying to sell it to me. When I finally got off the phone, I felt dirty.

As I write this, it's 11:33 am. I'm still (!) on the 9:08 to Grand Central Station. The last 3 hours of my life have been spent on this train, with the last chance to get off being in Stamford. I had my chance to get off, and I didn't take it - partially because it was still pretty early in the day, and partially because I want to see how this little trip will end up.

I'm going to the big city to setup a scanner and some software for a client. They're paying the company I work for to have me come out, which in this case includes "travel time" - something they may regret by the time this is over. It just occured to me, of course, that I'm not sure how - or when - I will get back home...

The problem is in New Rochelle, NY - it would seem that a train, while passing along the tracks, managed to hook itself up in the wiring that runs this whole system and rip one down. When we finally slowly trudged past the scene of the accident, the train in question was very clear to those looking - the wiring device that touches the live wires above was ripped from the top of the train - not an every day occurrence, but also not a pleasant one. And because of the whole problem, there is only one track that's clear - meaning that one train can pass at a time, and that they're probably letting a train go North/East and then another go South/West. Fun. Of course, they've been working on it since about 8:00 when it happened, so that means that it might - might be fixed before I have to leave to go home.

Writing now at 20:10 - many many hours later. When I left Grand Central, the trains going north were only going in that direction every hour. I went and did my work for the client, then hustled back to Grand Central - only to realize, before I left the client, that I'd missed the 14:10 train.

After stopping to pick up some food and a drink, I bought my ticket and hopped aboard - and then got right off again. Apparently they're being forced to use whatever is on hand in NYC, and that includes some trains with no working Air Conditioning - or air circulation for that matter - units. When I found a slightly cooler car, I settled in for my 35 minute wait until 15:10 so I could return home at long long long last.

The problem with having reduced train service is that you end up with everyone and their mother cramming onto the train to get home - much like myself. Being a "big" person, I'm not comfortable on the train to begin with, but add in that every seat is being used and that I had to share with three Filapino's who seemed irriatated that I was so big.... well, it makes for an interesting trip to South Norwalk.

It also makes for an interesting fact: it takes 90 minutes or so (on a good day) to get from Milford to NYC with the "express" service - local stops from New Haven to Stamford, then straight through to NYC. When you're going "local", it's a 3 hour trip. Factor in not being able to move for fear of crushing your neighbor, and you have a fun time on hand.

Anyway, I made it back home safe and relatively sound - a little worse for the wear, and much more inclined to just say no to any other trips to NYC.....

I'm just sick of this, so I better get it off my chest now.

Why is it that parents put their kids in the car without a car seat? I realize that if you don't have kids of your own you might not own one, so if you're "borrowing" a kid for a weekend, you might not have one - but then again, what careful parent wouldn't lend a friend the carseat to go with the kid?

The reason I ask: today, on my way home from work, I saw an SUV of recent vintage with three boys "loose" in the back seat on the Post Road in Branford. Then, on I-95 in New Haven, I saw at least 4 kids - and possibly one teenager - "loose" in the back seat of some kind of Honda from the late 80's.

Now, in the first case, it looked simply like a matter of dad not paying attention to his kids and making sure they were buckled. Not forgivable, but at least it explains it. The other case looked simply like too many kids, barely enough seat space, let alone space for car seats. Also not forgivable.

Car seats can be expensive, sure - if you want the top of the line model with all sorts of silly things on it (cup holder, cd holder, whatever). But you can get a basic, safe model for like $30. How can you have a kid and NOT spend $30 to make sure your kid is safe in the car?

I was driving back from a client today when I was passed by another vehicle doing like 90 mph. Now this type of behavior doesn't normally bother me - if they want to risk the ticket, it's their money and insurance, not mine. Granted, they could just as easily have a blow out and hit my car as pass me on the road, but I try not to worry about the small stuff.

The problem I have with it was that it was a Ford Excursion - a big honking SUV. Doing 90 mph. I'm pretty sure that they should have just had a tractor trailer filled with gasoline following them - that's how fuel efficient those things are.

Why is it necessary to drive that fast? And why the hell would you do it in an SUV? I mean, if it was a new Mustang or some other sports car, I could see it - but it's not.

The SciFi channel's Scare Tactics is a bad show. I can't stand this type of show - whatever it's called, I can assure you it's NOT "reality TV" -and the fact that it's even on tv, let alone on SciFi.... well, that's just wrong.

Anyway, the whole point of this post: the host of Scare Tactics is Shannen Doherty. You might remember her from "Beverly Hills 90210" or "Charmed" - but it would seem that the only way she can be on a show is to be the only one on it - she apparently has issues working with other people - at least on camera, according to the tabloids and such. I just find it so very interesting that she's finally got work, and that it's standing in front of a green screen talking to a camera - but not interacting in any way with any "co-stars".

When you go to a restaurant, what are you there for? Food. So you expect it to come out of the kitchen hot and tasty.

What you probably don't expect, unless you're ordering fajitas, is a plate so hot that touching it will fuse your skin to the plate. When I eat, occasionally I have to move the plate - either to get at something on the table, or maybe to re-situate things before I dig in. This is much harder to do when you're hand is stuck to the plate, or you're afraid it will so you don't want to touch it.

Along the same lines, then, I have to wonder why these same restaurants insist on serving my childrens meals on the same piping hot plates. If one of the kids touches the plate, there's going to be screaming and quite possibly a lawsuit - I don't care what their reasoning is - the plate is too hot.

And let's just think about it for a second, shall we? How often do you think a full-grown adult orders a plate of grilled cheese from the kids menu? Or a plate of hot dogs and macaroni-and-cheese? I'm thinking not too often. It's not like the kids plates are even the same size as the adult plates - they're usually smaller, and quite possibly of a different material that's less likely to break when dropped. But they stick those in the plate heater just as readily as the ones for my appetizer, my main course and my dessert. Yes, the one with ice cream on it. Whatever.

We do they do this? Is it to cook the food just a little more while bringing it to the table? Is it to make the food tasty just a little longer? No-one has been able to explain it to me, but I certainly would appreciate it if someone could.

So, I have some pretty wild opinions, and I express them here - it is, after all, my website. I occasionally get stupid things posted to the comments, but today I got some "feedback" that was stupider than usual. I have it here, along with my reply, so that you can share and enjoy.

Share and enjoy!

Up Yours - And More Helpful Tips But that said, when it comes to isolating and then punishing criminals I am as sadistic, violent, vindictive and dehumanized as any killing machine. Finally, someone else agrees with me that the felons need more punishment and less rehab. I'm willing to give them a chance, but if they prove they're not capable of changing, then we need to find a nice secujre place to put them all. As long as they stay inside, they can do whatever they want to each other.

Ok, look, I'm all for people getting together to protest something that they feel strongly about - it's one of the things this country is founded on. But when a bunch of people get together on the green of New Haven, CT, to protest the fact that King Bush II is trying to declare war on Iraq, it makes me mad for two reasons: 1) they probably moved as far away from the homeless people protesting the fact that they have nowhere to live as they could 2) do they really think that they're dinky little protest is gonna make the King think to himself "Hold up - the people don't want me to go to war??" The homeless thing is a whole other topic for debate/rant, but let's just say that those people have a better reason to protest then the anti-war folks. Let's see.... do you want to have a warm place to sleep at night or worry about people dying in another part of the world? I'll worry about the homefront before I'll worry about my neighbors. Think about it - a tree falls down on your house and your neighbors house. Are you going to rush over to your neighbors house, or are you going to see how bad off your house is? It's not rocket science, is it? This is one of the reasons that I think we need to pull the hell out of the Middle East and let them figure things out for themselves. It's not bad enough that we're in trouble with various folks for either supporting or not supporting various sides in the various conflicts. But now we're trying to take out Saddam Husein who, as far as I can tell, has not made any recent overt moves against the US (i.e. I don't recall him ordering the events of 9/11, I don't remember reading about him declaring war against us, and I haven't seen him on the TV news saying that the US must perish in a nuclear fire). I'm not saying he's a nice guy and should come over for lunch, I'm just saying that we have bigger fish to fry on the home front before we should start mucking around in other peoples affairs. Sure, it could be argued that we have a dependance on the area and we need their oil to run our country. But guess what? If we had a President who wasn't in deep with the US oil cartels/energy concerns (did you know that he used an Enron jet to fly around the country before he lost won the election?) then we might actually spend some money on alternate energy sources (i.e. wind, water, solar) or even on finding new and better ways to use the energy sources we have. So instead of getting all worked up about a war in another country, think to yourself - is there something thats a little more important I should be worried about? What can I do to help get the focus on that? What can I do to help the country? (And yes, I know that historically a war has helped our country out of various recessions and whatnot. But is that really the answer?)

Nothing to report personally, except that I'm getting fed up with all the crappy ads and people in general all being like "oh, wow, you're DIETING... that's hard. it's not worth it..." There's even an ad for some magic weight loss product that just basically says that if you don't use their product, your dieting is not going to work and that you're a dumbass not using their product. AHHHHHHH All I have to say is that I'm doing this diet, and it's not as evil/hard as people seem to think. Yes, it sucked for the first week - but if it's not hard to do, then it's probably not worth doing, right?? The other thing to keep in mind is that diets are a very personal thing - what works for one person (aka me) may not work for other people. Or it may work for others, but it may not work as well. It's very individual, and you have to keep that in mind. My goals aren't the same as yours, so I'm gauging my success differently then everyone else - so while it may look good that I've lost over 40lbs, that's only about half of what my ultimate goal is. I get frustrated at stuff just like everyone else - I just need to keep thinking about my past performance and let that be my guide for what I hope to do in the future. I can't dwell on the fact that I gained a pound, or "only" lost 4 ounces. It's all cumulative, and I am noticing some of the overall effects anyway, so I concentrate on the positive aspects and let it be. You should try the same.

I was just out running some errands and decided to get some coffee. I chose to use the drive thru - the weather today is just crappy (rain, sleet, snow, stops, then starts again all over, and it's like 26 degrees out there). Anyway, so I place my order and get soaked - it sucks, but what can you do, right? Then I drive around to get my order, and get soaked more. And more. And more. I didn't want to close the window 'cause it's manual, and by the time I was done, they'd be back at the window, then I'd have to open it again. Have these people never heard of awnings? This particular location was only built a year or so ago - did they forget that they're in the northeast and that it actually rains? Why is it that almost all drive thru locations make you endure this type of crap????

What the heck is wrong with people? You're driving along, minding your own business, when all of a sudden the moron in the next lane jumps in front of you. Why? He wanted to change lanes, but "forgot" to signal.

and I'm NOT gonna take it anymore.

I'm trying to re-do the templates for my site so I can change the colors and stuff if the mood strikes - for example, I was going to have a Halloween theme, and a winter solstice theme, maybe even something for Valentines day. But NOOOOOOOOO.

Motherjones.com -- Web Exclusives Undercutting Executions Death penalty opponents are launching a new campaign to make it more difficult -- and more costly -- for prison officials to carry out lethal injection executions. What is wrong with killing people? Prison systems aren't tough enough, so we have to have a strong deterrent to let these people (aka repeat offenders, kids who think they're soooo tough, etc.) know that we're serious.

Yet another [poll]. It's the end of the year, so that means it's time to relive the events of Sept. 11th. I've got plenty of images/movies/stuff on my site here, but that doesn't mean I want to dwell on it. Or hear about it again in EVERY news cast today. My trip to Miami keeps getting longer. I'm now staying in a hotel at the airport the night before my flight (have to be at the hotel at 4:00 for security). Then I finally got confirmation that the client booked my room in Miami, but it may not be available when I arrive (at 10:00 am or so). So that means I'll be irritated (flying always does that to me) and unable to do much about it. GREAT! I did find out that my work can be done on the same day I fly in, as opposed to the next day - giving me MUCH more room for error. I'm not expecting problems, but I'd rather have too much time than not enough - know what I mean? The Weakest Link - what the heck? It's a hit in the UK, so bring it here. Now it's a hit on NBC, so CBS is making it a daily show??? Do these people know how to come up with NEW things anymore??? Ok, that's enough. Now this post is actually a rant, so I've changed it. And I'm going to bed - I'm wicked tired. Later!

So, I can't put my personal laptop on the network, but the dozen or so folks who have company laptops can do what they please with them. I have a Mac (there are about 6 in the company) so the only other people I could possibly infect with a virus (yeah, right, like I'd let that happen) would be them - but they all use the same anti-virus software I do.