Every dollar counts.  Every thoughtful gesture counts.  Every prayer counts regardless of your religious beliefs.

Also, don’t forget to check with your employer as they may provide a charitable matching gifts program.

Back to my indefinite hiatus from blogging because I didn’t get the memo that (full) blogging is now lame and you should (micro) blog in less than 140 characters per entry but at a higher frequency.

Dr. Cox: (peptalk to new residents) Each and every one of you is going to kill a patient. At some point in your residency, you will screw up, they will die, and it will be burned in your conscience forever. Now take pee pants here. He just might go get himself a good clean kill this morning seeing as his patient, Ms. Samson, is in DKA and he hasn’t been tracking her phosphate level, her phosphate level, her phosphate level.

JD: Doug! Stop writing and go!

Dr. Cox: That young man has killed so many patients I’m starting to think he just might be a government operative. The point is, the harder you study, the longer you just might be able to hold off that first kill. Other then that, I guess cross your fingers and hope that the guy you murder is a jackass with no family. Great to see you kids. All the best.

And another…

JD: Ooh, Dr. Cox- can I ask you something?

Dr. Cox: The answer is yes, it was me who saw you doing leg lifts in the gym on that inflatable ball. Quite the display of girl power. Ab-so-lutely love the leg warmers.

JD: First of all, they were just big socks. Okay? And secondly, if you need to do some laundry, here’s the washboard (lifting up scrubs to show flat abs), riiiighht?

And another…

Dr. Kelso: That young man’s father is very important.

Dr. Cox: Don’t tell me, he donated a wing.

Dr. Kelso: He donated a wing, a thigh, and a breast.

JD: Sir…

Dr. Kelso: Yes, genius, in this metaphor the hospital is a chicken.

JD: Please sir, I totally get that. (Inner monologue: How can a hospital be a chicken?)

… yes, I’ve been watching reruns of Scrubs lately.

The premise is that site-authentication images increase security because customers will not enter their passwords if they do not see the correct image,” … “From the study we learned that the premise is right less than 10 percent of the time… He added: “If a bank were to ask me if they should deploy it, I would say no, wait for something better,” he said.

… the study demonstrated that site-authentication images are fundamentally flawed and, worse, might actually detract from security by giving users a false sense of confidence.

The study found that 60 out of the 67 subjects in their experiment still entered in their password even when the experimentation website did not display a sitekey at all.  Apparently, from this result, the researchers concluded that features like sitekey only gives everyone a 'false sense of confidence' because their experimental subjects neglected the security layer altogether.

Now, I certainly hope that I am not the only one here that can't make logical sense of how they went from result to conclusion.  Not to take any credit away from these researchers but by completely neglecting their conclusion and focusing on the results, the conclusion I make for myself is that people don't understand the risk of neglecting security measures such as this.  I think that instead of degrading such features and recommending institutions to "wait for something better," researchers either need to find how best to make people aware of security risks and/or find that "something better" that will resolve this issue altogether (if there is such a thing).  It is as if the study was about one problem with two variables but on the other side of the equation, the 'solution' only refers to a single variable.  Meaning?  It's not a flaw in such systems, it's a flaw of human judgment.

Arguably, let's adopt the conclusion of the experiment.  From that, we can generalize that any security scheme that is dependent on a human being is flawed because… well, because of the human inability to make absolutely correct judgments.  So for example, PIN numbers and passwords are all flawed because people give them away while being victimized in a phishing scheme.  Likewise, the idea of ATM cards is flawed because people get them stolen.  A bit far-fetched but theoretically, a 256-bit RSA encryption scheme is flawed because it can be decrypted by an intellect (artificial or not) eventually as time approaches infinity.

I wonder how many man hours and money was spent carrying out and studying this experiment.  Certainly, all those resources could have been better spent on research into how security can be improved and not to undermine a measure to thwart phishing.  I would consider this experiment incomplete until "something better" comes out of it.

In other news, tomorrow, we're probably going to see the result of a study that concludes that the idea of cars is flawed because humans who drive them cause accidents.  So everyone should walk while twiddling their thumbs until "something better" comes along.

Haha, wow – how dorky were we back in those days?  Anyway, I hope all of you are doing well.

Yet here I am, five weeks later, I keep thinking of all the fun I’ve had and all I’ve learned. While I don’t believe in the idea of fate, I can’t help but think that I was meant to be there at those times. As if all the choices that I’ve made in my life has led me to this point and my experience there was simply a confirmation. Tell me, is it too weird to think that?

It didn’t have to be NYC. I honestly think it could have been anywhere and anytime. It was the people. However crazy this may sound, even though at first they were complete strangers, I felt an affinity with a lot of the people I’ve met there after the first week. And it only took a week.

They are all coming down to Charlotte in a few months; however, I am not naive enough to say that we’ll all keep in touch afterwards. I know we won’t. I will certainly try to keep in touch with everyone but I know I am not very good at it.

Thanks.

It’s official: Distracted drivers are dangerous – Some sources: CNN, Chicago Sun Times

A new study lends scientific credence to what many already suspect: Drivers dabbing on makeup, chatting on cell phones or eating breakfast are three times as likely to be involved in a crash as more attentive motorists.

[sarcasm] Wow, that is a breakthrough scientific study! What the heck?! [/sarcasm] There needed to have been a scientific study to find that out? That is like saying “It’s official: Distracted hair stylists cause bad hair days!” or “Distracted surgeons cause deaths!” or “Distracted police lets loose perpetrators!” or “Distracted students fail tests!” or *ahem* “Distracted test scorers incorrectly grade tests!” or “Distracted American Idol* contestant gets booted!” I can think of hundreds of these “no duh” headlines. The problem I had with this story was that almost every single newspaper, online news site, and other news sources carried this article as one of their top headlines. Either the research group(s) who ‘conducted’ this awesome study thinks the American public is absolutely stupid or the news agencies do; either way, I vote it to give it the ‘No Shit Award of 2006′ where we write that in pencil on a notebook paper and give them a box of crap to go along with it.

Duke Lacrosse Rape Case – Google Aggregated News

Two lacrosse players arrested on rape and kidnapping charges have been suspended by Duke University, a source familiar with the investigation told ESPN on Wednesday.

There has got to be a rape reported somewhere in the United States at least once a week. Why is the Duke case given so much attention by the entire nation? I’m surprised President Bush hasn’t made a comment about this case to the press seeing as how the press is all over this. For example, the Chicago Tribune has an article about this case… why would anyone in Chicago give a crap about this case? Are there no lacrosse teams in Chicago? Are there no rape cases in Chicago? Is the nation a big fan of Duke’s lacrosse team? Honestly, I never even knew Duke had a decently skilled lacrosse team. You know, I’d understand the national attention if Duke’s basketball team was involved in such a controversy because they were one of the top NCAA teams last season; there are fans and haters of Duke basketball alike spread out across the entire nation… but Duke’s lacrosse team? I feel bad for the three students that are involved (the accused and the accuser). Move on and find better things to report on, media.

American Idol* – Google Aggregated News

This season, the singing contest has hit its highest note yet: An average of 31 million Americans are tuning in to watch Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler, Taylor Hicks and the others vie for instant success and celebrity, to follow in the recording contract footsteps of previous Idols Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia and Carrie Underwood.

I hate American Idol. I thought it was dumb the first season, I still think it is absolutely dumb. I don’t understand how so many Americans seem addicted to this glamour-ized version of whatever it was at the Apollo show decades ago. It’s a reality show that is governed by television gimmicks like any other show on 24 hours a day. What? The show gets viewers involved? How do you know? You ever seen a 1994 movie called Quiz Show? It was about a very popular quiz show with contestants that were picked to win prior to the show being taped. Now, I’m not saying American Idol is fixed (although it would be awesome if it was and it causes the downfall of American Idol). In the end though, all those votes that the American public sends in – they are not ever accounted for in their production of the show. There is always news once every season of American Idol where media reports “Favorite American Idol gets booted” – no viewer stops to question how they got booted and why they were labeled as favorites in the first place. People made mistakes grading the SATs. People made mistakes keeping track of Presidential election votes. And at the end of the day, 31 million Americans trust a TV show to keep a record of ~31 million (more or less) votes.

What FOX should do is provide a confirmation ID everytime someone voted and keep a database of their votes and this database should be released to the public. This way you can always go check to make sure they got your vote counted correctly and those interested can actually take the data and make sure it matches with what FOX shows as the results on television. And no, I’ve never voted and never will. This was just a random thought that I had when I was reminded of the Quiz Show movie whenever I saw a news article about American Idol. I wouldn’t think it as the dumbest show on television if they had a way for the public to account for the show’s results since this would actually take some guts to incorporate for a TV show.

* I’m sorry but I think American Idol plainly sucks; I can not believe it is the most watched show. It’s a karaoke show with better lighting and TV cameras. There, I said it.

This is the weirdest of all coincidences but whenever I look at a digital representation of time (cell phone clock, computer clock, digital alarm clock, television clock, and etc) to see what time it is, it is always the eleventh minute of the hour. The scary thing is that 80% of the time (approximation), it is always the eleventh minute of the ninth hour, making it 9:11 AM or PM. It doesn’t happen every morning or every night on a consecutive basis. It happens in a way that at the time I think “weird” and it’s put away in my mind. Then at some point later, it happens again and you are reminded of the last time it happened. This has been happening since last semester down at Tech.

It is one of the weirdest feelings in the world that curiosity picques your interest and you want to know what time it is to find that it is exactly 9:11 in the morning or 9:11 at night.

There are some things you expect as you keep stepping up the ladder of knowledge; however, the interrogation I have faced against my own expectations of a collegiate environment here in Atlanta has given me a brand new perspective and I will never forget it.

In fact, excitement aside, I was sad. I was scared. It made me look around to see what I had, what I missed, and what I have done. Ever since August 2001, I have been waiting for this day. Now, I sort of wonder what would have happened if I were to redo everything. Looking back, my interests and my choice of education split across a wide Y-shaped road. It never once converged. Nevertheless, I think I was able to keep both feet on each road as I went from classes to work then work to classes. I can’t say I have had the typical college life; however, I can say that I have learned a lot from classes and from work.

Out of all the things that has given me reason for continuing to face the frequent challenges, I have no one other to thank than my friends and family. It is close to December 18th, 2005. Tomorrow, I will be moving back to Charlotte to take a relatively short break before starting my career.

(As cheesy as that was, I have expressed my thoughts frankly. You let me know how you feel when you reach this crossroad of life.)

Merely an afterthought … from years and years ago. It shocks me to think how young I was back then… how young we all were.

Now, I’ve never delved into the depth of symptoms and explanations of OCD but I knew my own symptoms; personally, my OCD was all about right vs. wrong. I always had the right way of doing things and if it wasn’t perfect then it was the wrong way over and over until it was right. Unfortunately, it sort of tied in with my superstitious nature so I believed (and believe to some extent to this day) that if I left things a wrong way, something bad was going to happen. This sole belief deteriorated my OCD to the point that it probably became noticeable to people I saw on a daily basis. It was as if my mind would convince me that I did something the wrong way and I could not think of anything other than to go back and do it right. Of course, it wasn’t as simple as it sounds when I am typing it up right now because more often than not, my mind wasn’t satisfied with it until I repeated the action multiple times.

I will list a few of the things that I used to (have to) do as a result of my OCD, but I’m still trying to decide on some that won’t make people start to believe I am a nut. Here we go: I prefer right over left, top over bottom, and clockwise over counter-clockwise, evens over odds, and over-balance or balance over under-balance. From there you can derive others like my preference to lead with my right foot than the left, top-right hand corners, and turning things clockwise. Sometimes it just doesn’t even make sense logically but my mind has already setup these ‘rules’ and if I don’t follow them to the dot, I need to keep on doing it until it’s done right. I like the number six and eight so if there is repetition, I’d usually repeat it six or eight times. I sometimes have to read things over and over until I feel that I’ve read them correctly and that again, is my mind’s decision. I do things related to security and a second later, I can’t think whether or not I’ve done it and have to go back to check and double-check (locking doors, turning headlights off and windows up out of cars, etc).

The OCD that I have is not destructive as other cases that may have been portrayed elsewhere. The worst point of my OCD was when I’d have to literally waste thirty minutes of my time doing something until it’s done right and this I grew out of for a few years now. Thankfully, my timeliness was a priority over my OCD so I was never late to things because of its effects.

So within the past few years, if you have seen me doing things over and over or have seen me doing something that made you tilt your head left or right, then yes; I had/have a relatively mild case of OCD. I hope nobody gets freaked out or finds this extraordinarily amusing because it can be a very serious disorder. For those of you who have OCD: aside from medical treatments (if there are treatments available) just try, even for once, to break out of your habit and distract yourself right afterwards. I think I did this unknowingly and was able to break away from some OCD-related habits.