I have always wondered about this, but never got around to looking it up.
The answer, courtesy of SteveRadick.com
"It all started back in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, however, kids ended up calling NORAD’s Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.” The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, realizing that kids were relying on him for quite possibly the most important information of the year, regularly checked the radar for Santa as he made his way around the world delivering presents. All of the children who called were given updates on his location…and a 50 year old tradition was born."
It's certainly nice when mistakes lead to a happy outcome.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
My dork life is now complete
Hi, @sheffus.
Leonard Hofstadter (leonardhofstadt) is now following your tweets on Twitter.
And for those who snicker and laugh?
Jealousy is bad for your karma...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Lost It? You gotta come clean. FAST!
From a CIO.com article on the cost of a lost laptop
FTA: "According to Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a lost or stolen laptop PC is more than $49,000. Most of this cost is due to the exposure of sensitive data." That is bad, but not entirely unexpected. The hardware/software is 1-2% of that cost. The rest is the 'clean-up'.
but the Important Point is this:
"The study reports that if a company becomes aware of the loss the same day it happens, the average cost is only $8,950. If it takes more than a week to discover the loss, the cost jumps to an average of $115,849."
That is a serious chunk of change. Almost 13 times as much in just one week...
FTA: "According to Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a lost or stolen laptop PC is more than $49,000. Most of this cost is due to the exposure of sensitive data." That is bad, but not entirely unexpected. The hardware/software is 1-2% of that cost. The rest is the 'clean-up'.
but the Important Point is this:
"The study reports that if a company becomes aware of the loss the same day it happens, the average cost is only $8,950. If it takes more than a week to discover the loss, the cost jumps to an average of $115,849."
That is a serious chunk of change. Almost 13 times as much in just one week...
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Govt Open Source Conf, DC
November 5 2009
Reagan Building
Anyone else attending?
It is CHEAP ($99.00) Until 10/23/2009
Direct from the site: http://goscon.org/
November 5 2009Reagan Building
Anyone else attending?
It is CHEAP ($99.00) Until 10/23/2009
Direct from the site: http://goscon.org/
Conference Overview
Be part of the open source conversation in Federal Government, and join agency information technology leaders for a day of intensive education and networking on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
GOSCON, the premier annual government open source conference for government information technology leadership, will present a special one-day event on Nov 5, 2009, showcasing real-world open source success stories from federal agencies. Increasing requests by Federal agencies and legislative members for general education, interest moving to “Gov2.0” and the role open source plays in it, as well as a sea change in the political environment make this fall in D.C. the right time and place for an open technology event designed specifically for government managers and their key technology staff. Attendance will be venue-limited.
Special to the DC event: the new Open Techology Forum brings a deeper dive into the technology of open source, along with the Open Techology Lab.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Somebody in the US Navy 'Gets It'...
This article shows an example of the US Navy providing Navy specific content to sailors on hand held devices. The folks over at Fleet Forces Command "Get It".
In fact, the article includes this line "The Navy IA apps, as well as Facebook and Twitter sites, are all components of U.S. Fleet Forces Command's overarching communication strategy"...
The application they have developed, titled "Navy IA", is nice. It provides good content, including videos and books on the Apple iPhone/Touch platform. That said, the application itself isn't stellar. It is functional, has a few bells and whistles (videos) and also needs some work (Landscape when reading documents is a must have).
The really important thing about this application is that it can be used when disconnected from the network AND it can be used on the sailor's schedule, which is quite different from the average employee's.
For years the Navy has struggled with how to train sailors while afloat. There has been plenty of money spent and efforts to try to deliver training content to sailors. Overall the programs, including the Distance Support efforts and the Revolution in Training programs have been successful. That said, the problem, afloat at least, has been an individual sailors ability to get to an available computer, with the required connectivity to access the Training systems.
It's not that the Navy hasn't tried. It's just a reality of an operation that relies heavily on a very limited amount of computers and even more limited connectivity. As you would expect, the Navy ship requires that "Command and Control" systems get priority on the available computers and bandwidth. That leaves a very small amount of bandwidth available for Non-Command and Control usage.
Using the "Navy IA" application as a model, the Navy could move a considerable amount of training to the Apple iPhone/Touch platform. Imagine if the required annual refresher training for "Sexual Harassment", "Trafficking in Persons", and "Information Assurance Awareness" could be completed by Sailors via a hand held device. Imagine if it could be done without having to secure time on a very over-subscribed PC, at odd hours, when a desk is available.
Given the amount of time and effort (translated into $) spent completing these courses, my guess is that the Navy could purchase an Apple Touch for every new recruit and load it with Navy specific classes.
Later, you could also drop on all the technical manuals needed for the different specialties, weapons systems, etc.
Of course there is a logistical tale to these efforts. People break things, the devices are not at all ruggedized, you have to deal with updates, etc. But the Navy has successfully handled much more complex systems...
This article shows an example of the US Navy providing Navy specific content to sailors on hand held devices. The folks over at Fleet Forces Command "Get It".In fact, the article includes this line "The Navy IA apps, as well as Facebook and Twitter sites, are all components of U.S. Fleet Forces Command's overarching communication strategy"...
The application they have developed, titled "Navy IA", is nice. It provides good content, including videos and books on the Apple iPhone/Touch platform. That said, the application itself isn't stellar. It is functional, has a few bells and whistles (videos) and also needs some work (Landscape when reading documents is a must have).
The really important thing about this application is that it can be used when disconnected from the network AND it can be used on the sailor's schedule, which is quite different from the average employee's.
For years the Navy has struggled with how to train sailors while afloat. There has been plenty of money spent and efforts to try to deliver training content to sailors. Overall the programs, including the Distance Support efforts and the Revolution in Training programs have been successful. That said, the problem, afloat at least, has been an individual sailors ability to get to an available computer, with the required connectivity to access the Training systems.
It's not that the Navy hasn't tried. It's just a reality of an operation that relies heavily on a very limited amount of computers and even more limited connectivity. As you would expect, the Navy ship requires that "Command and Control" systems get priority on the available computers and bandwidth. That leaves a very small amount of bandwidth available for Non-Command and Control usage.
Using the "Navy IA" application as a model, the Navy could move a considerable amount of training to the Apple iPhone/Touch platform. Imagine if the required annual refresher training for "Sexual Harassment", "Trafficking in Persons", and "Information Assurance Awareness" could be completed by Sailors via a hand held device. Imagine if it could be done without having to secure time on a very over-subscribed PC, at odd hours, when a desk is available.
Given the amount of time and effort (translated into $) spent completing these courses, my guess is that the Navy could purchase an Apple Touch for every new recruit and load it with Navy specific classes.
Later, you could also drop on all the technical manuals needed for the different specialties, weapons systems, etc.
Of course there is a logistical tale to these efforts. People break things, the devices are not at all ruggedized, you have to deal with updates, etc. But the Navy has successfully handled much more complex systems...
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)