There is an estimated $730 billion in outstanding federal and private student-loan debt, says Mark Kantrowitz of FinAid, a Web site that tracks financial-aid issues — and only 40% of that debt is actively being repaid. The rest is in default, or in deferment, which means payments and interest are halted, or in forbearance, which means payments are stopped while interest accrues.

(referenced from http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/CutCollegeCosts/the-555000-dollar-student-loan-debt.aspx)

It is Copyright © 2005-2009 Shalabh Chaturvedi

http://www.cafepy.com/article/python_attributes_and_methods/python_attributes_and_methods.html#method-resolution-order

But did you know this:

git add .

adds all the files. Use with care (only after git status, for example).

git add -u .

adds and deletes all KNOWN files.

This is great if you added and removed or renamed files.

If I have to say no again, you will officially be a nuisance. Have a great day, and best wishes with your endeavors.

–

Best Regards,

Jason Garber
Senior Systems Engineer
AppCove, Inc.

On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 10:35 AM, Darryll ——— wrote:

Jason,

I don’t mean to be a nuisance, but I wanted to try one more time to see if you, or someone you could direct me to would have a couple of minutes to discuss how my company can increase your access to working capital, a process which the Wall St. Journal calls, ‘An idea whose time has come.’ Just reply to my email, or contact me at the number below and I’ll follow up with you.

Best,

Darryll ——–
504———–

Regardless of the reason, it’s hard to dispute that Google, Inc. lacks in Customer Service. Most recent post I saw was this Computer World article on the Nexus One fiasco.  Or just search google for the issue.

In my own experience with Google at work, I’ve had horrible, terrible, and just downright non-existent support on critical issues with Google Apps and Google Enterprise Support (both of which we are a paying customer).

A 7 day response time is about as good as a 700 day response time in today’s business world.  A phone number which we pay to have access to that is not answered in a time of need?  Unanswered requests by email and web forms?

Google has figured out how to manage vast quantites of talent to produce a wide array of successful products.  But if they continue to ignore their paying customers, it will take a toll on them that will be beyond repair.

If Google is reading this, remember that bad word of mouth is 100 times as fast spreading as good word of mouth.  I encourage you, Mr. Schmidt, to apply a resonable fraction of your vast resources to create the best customer service experience in the world.   Then, you will truly, do no evil.

I just read your well done article on ways to prevent a pirate attack.  I liked the infographic, and the descriptions that accompanied it.

http://www.ngoilgas.com/news/oil-tanker-pirate-attack/

While all seem to be interesting ideas, consider this:

Given that a M2 .50 caliber machine gun and spotlight mounted on the bow and stern would provide a physical, actual, capable, and pointed defense against any small to medium pirate attack…

Given that these ships travel in international water, where it is not reasonable to expect any police protection…

Given that the security issues of maintaining such weapons are important, but any organized army will entrust this and more powerful weapons to a trained 18 year old solider…

Given that the captain of the ship already has the responsiblity for life and wellbeing of his crew, not causing tremendous environmental disasters, and not crashing his ship…

Given that the pirates intend to use real military weapons to cause death and mayhem…

Why is it that such a reasonable (even if politically unlikely) method of defense was not even mentioned in your article — as if it didn’t exist?

As if it didn’t exist, when in reality, it is perhaps the most secure and reasonable approach to deterring armed pirates.   The same reason that army soldiers carry weapons.  The same reason that police carry weapons.  The same reason that security guards carry weapons.  The same reason that many civilians carry weapons.

May I suggest, that if  most rational people who would be asked why police carry weapons, were re-asked why oil tankers should carry weapons, the answer would be the same.

These are the same vessels that transport huge quantities of all kinds of goods, chemicals, military hardware, and other toxic, dangerous, or harmful substances.  It would be pathetic to think of transporting large quantities of cash from bank to bank without armed guards.  How much more so the cargo of merchant ships in the middle of the ocean?

In summary, why did you not mention this as a possibility in your otherwise excellent article?

Sincerely,

Jason Garber
Citizen, Father, Business Owner
Altoona, Pennsylvania

Update:  as soon as I posted this, these were the possibly related links that appeared.  Interesting…

• Somali pirates hijack vessel illegally carrying cruise missiles
• Dangerous Cargo on Hijacked Iranian Ship
• Garowe Online – Home

…switch to a good BSD or Linux distribution!

What follows is an email that I typed up to someone who was being aggressively sold anti virus software by a PC security vendor. It was not intended to be 100% technically complete, but rather just an overview and recommendations for that specific person.

Your mileage may vary.

Hello,

There are only a couple ways of getting a virus:

• Your computer has a security hole, and you visit a malicious web site.
• Your computer has a security hole, and another computer “pushes” a virus into your computer (other computers in the same office).
• Your email client has a security hole and you read a malicious email.
• You open a malicious attachment
• You download stuff or install stuff that other people gave you.

The last two are bold, because they are the most common.  And the most easy to avoid.

Here is how to not get viruses:

1. I DO NOT open attachments from people unless I know WHAT THEY ARE and WHY IT WAS SENT to me.
2. I DO NOT download stuff from the internet, except from the most reputable sites (Microsoft, Google, Sun, etc…)
3. I KEEP my computers up to date all the time by running windows update.
4. I DO NOT browse the internet using Internet Explorer.   I only use it for specific sites that require it.

What if you get one anyway, through something that is beyond your control?

The thing to remember here is that computers can DIE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE.  They are fragile machines that have 1,000,000 things that can go wrong.  If you are keeping data on your PC and planning on it being there tomorrow, you will eventually be in for a nasty surprise.

Your computer will stop working at some point due to (a) malfunction, (b) virus, (c) hardware failure, (d) software failure.

So what is the answer?  Backup, backup, backup…

–
To illustrate…  I could lose any of my computers right now, and not be much more than inconvenienced.  In fact, I just erased my whole PC at home and had 100% confidence that I could put everything back.

That is the attitude that NEEDS to be taken — PC’s are totally unreliable.  Keep anything of any value always backed up.

How do you keep it backed up?

I did a good bit of research on that.  Here is what my circumstance looks like:

–
At work, we keep everything on the server.  And we backup the server every day.  However, this is impractical for some users who just naturally use “My Documents” and forget to use the server drive.

–
At home, I use http://sugarsync.com.  That is a great service that ALWAYS keeps your computers backed up ALL the time.  You just tell it what to keep track of, and it notices any time there is a change and backs it up.  I think this is an excellent solution (it starts at $5.00 / month for 30 GB or $10.00 / month for 60 GB).

I recommend that you guys take a look at sugar sync.  It’s a snap to use, and gives you the confidence that your PC’s are unreliable, but you are covered.  It also keeps the latest 5 versions of each file, incase you need to look back at a previous version.  I did a lot of research before picking one that I was confident in.

Actually, my laptop just died.  Really — it won’t turn on.  I cannot get into it to do anything at all.  But everything I had on it is at my fingertips.  I can pull it down to my PC and keep moving.

But what about viruses, etc…?

Well, users are not always the most thoughtful about what files they download, or install, or interact with.  So it is an advisable idea to run a good UP TO DATE anti virus solution.

I use Norton on some computers (notably, not on any of my PC’s for years, and never had a virus on any of those computers).  But I do prefer to have it on most computers just because it does scan incoming files, and tells you if you were infected.

However, the anti virus software MUST be kept up to date.

Anti virus won’t do any good if Windows has a security hole.  Windows update is not optional, it is a MUST.

Lastly, DO NOT use internet explorer for browsing the internet.  Use Fire Fox.  Sometimes you need to use IE for a conference call, or to check compatibility, but it has far fewer and less severe security holes than IE.

In Summary:

1. Keep your computer updated via windows update (automatic).
2. Keep your computer backed up (via sugar sync (automatic).
3. Keep your browser secure and updated (firefox, automatic)
4. Don’t download anything except the most reputable software
5. Don’t install anything from anyone — directly download it if you need it
6. Don’t open attachments unless you know WHAT they are and WHY you have them.
7. Run a good up to date anti virus package (norton, automatic updates)

Did I mention keep your computer backed up?  https://www.sugarsync.com/

(Not to be confused with the other Jason Garber in MD, or the other one in DC, I am the one from PA.)

Being born and raised by good parents in central Pennsylvania has given me a great appericiation for life, family, and nature. I currently live in Altoona with my wife and all of our children (>= plural^2).

All of my life I have been very interested in creating. Creating falls into a number of categories which I will outline here…

Please read more on the About Me page…