The Lifelong Learner :: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are -Roosevelt ::

Holidays are around the corner! (Hopefully, you’re not buying gifts today )

Anyway, I wish everybody Happy Holidays and a successful, joyful, and happy 2004!

Days for the spammers are limited — I doubt it. Nevertheles, history has been made for anti-spam law: senate approved the law, Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM), today and should be signed by Bush early december (he said he’ll sign it).

The law, basically, makes it easier to get the bad guys. Is it going to stop the spam? Most likely not. It is, nonetheles, a step in a right direction.

See the whole story on News.com here.

It’s not in the US! It’s in Canada, and it’s Alberta’s No. 1 tourist spot.

West Edmunton Mall covers 5.3 million square feet on two levels — the equivalent of 115 footbal fiedls — and cost about $800 million to build. The largest in US, in Bloomington, Minn., has 4.2 million square feet.

So what’s in the mall? It is listed in Guiness World Records for housing the planet’s largest parking lot, with 20,000 spaces. Besides its 800-plus shops, and more than 110 eateries, it also has seven major attractions, including the world’s biggest indoor amusement park, and six major retail franchises.

Wow! Seems like a city in itself! Visit WestEdMall.com

Finalists have been picked. The top design, out of the eight (listed below), will be chosen by the end of the year. Take a look at pictures of the designs.

The designs by name:

1) Dual Memory — pic

2) Gardens of Light — pic

3) Inversion of Light — pic

4) Lower Waters — pic

5) Passages of Light — pic

6) Reflecting Absence — pic (plus the small image)

7) Suspending Memory — pic (and the big image, above)

8) Votives in Suspension — pic

Starting Monday, 11/24/03, when you switch your cell-phone carrier you will be allowed to keep your old phone number. Good news!

Should you rush and switch right away? No, you’re better off waiting for couple of weeks, or even couple months. Why? Here are couple of good reasons (taken from WSJ.com).

1) The first few days under the new rules — possibly even the first few weeks or months — will likely be filled with technical glitches, long lines and confused customer-service reps.

2) The deals that carriers have been throwing at consumers to keep them from jumping ship are expected to get better once subscriber defections mount.

So, yeah, those seem to be valid points. So just wait a little before you switch (I know I will.)

11/25/03 — Update on the switch on News.com.

What do you see on the following picture?

When I looked at it I saw 2 horse heads. Well, see for yourself — you’ll be surprised. Pretty cool!

Other ones: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

(Right click on the pic and save it to your computer, open with Picture Viewer and turn clockwise.)

Seems like the broadband war is becoming more fierce: cable companies are becoming to offer prices that are the same, or lower, than the DSL prices. At last! Comcast is promoting a deal for $19.95/m for the full first-year. Not a bad deal. Read the story on CNet.

I use Cablevision cable and I’m fairly satisfied, except for the price: $50. I’d like the price to go down to, say, $30 or $35.

So let the war continue!

Later this month, when you switch your cell-phone provider, you will be able to take the old number and carry it with you. That’s pretty good, and that’s how it should be. More competition = More choices.

An article on News.com (good tech-news source).

I’m a New York Knicks fan but I think the NJ Nets are finally going to win the championship (I’d like to see them win). The Nets, with Kidd, Mourning, Martin, Jefferson, and because of the experience they gained, are my favorite to win it all.

From West?? I’ll bet on Dallas Mavericks (no, I don’t think the Lakers will win it; they’re my 2nd favorite, though).

Nets-Dallas in the finals and Nets win? We’ll see. I’ll be watching!

See the NBA roundup from NY Times: East | West

As far as the Knicks are concerned, I’ll be happy if they get into playoffs (if not, Chaney should be out). I’m also hopefull, that if they suck, Chaney will give some playing time to develop their rookies (I’m thinking about Maciej Lampe here).

See my pics from a preseason Nets-Knicks game that I went to recently.

Have you had the new $20 yet? I’ve got mine recently and I’m keeping it! It’s pretty cool, and very different than the previous ones: Very colorful and containing quite a few new security-features.

Check out the presentation here on the new features and design. Impressive.

Also, check out the official banknote publisher, MoneyFactory.com