Victoria's Secret Is To "Think Pink"

Ahhh, yeah. My jaw dropped too when I got this flyer in the mail with a sexy model sprawling, nearly nude, to showcase her tiny sheer pink panties. Above her head were big bold letters saying "THINK PINK". It appears the secret is out! It also appears that Victoria is messing with all of our heads. I believe their new slogan is a play on words, has 2 different meanings. If you can't figure it out, well then I'm sorry but I'm not going to spell it out for you. I can however guide you to a "Need To Get Laid This Decade Clinic" if you are that rusty when it comes to sexual connotations. I am going to give the #1 lingerie store (and one of personal favorite places to shop and browse) the benefit of the doubt here. Let's say the slogan means this...

Think Pink is what VS wants women to have on their mind when shopping for underwear. They want women to associate the color pink with the store Victoria's Secret. Harmless enough right? Ok now turn the estrogen switch off now and flip on the testosterone switch. Then let me tell you what a guy thinks when we hears this slogan. To us "think pink" means, well you know. What else do you expect us to think? We think about it all the time as it is already, do we really need a slogan to remind us? I know, we are sickos with sex on the brain 24/7, so what's your point? That is just stating the obvious. Perhaps VS goal is to get men to somehow associate pink with the store. Is it possible? Sure anything is possible, but not likely we will make that connection in our cave-like minds. We will just associate pink with something else and head to VS. Either way we remember it, it's still getting us in there to shop so mission accomplished. Brilliant advertising scheme there on the part of Victoria's Secret.

No matter what, I just love the fact that I have been on the VS mailing list for years now, ha-ha. You gotta love getting that softcore complementary/free porn in the mail. Well it's not porn, but it is defiantly easy on the eyes. Only tip guys, you must keep your credit card at Victoria's Secret semi-active on a regular basis to stay on their mailing list. A few years back the running joke got out and the store caught onto the fact that more men where signing up to get the catalog than women. Most of these guys didn't have any intention of actually buying anything. They just liked (cough) "reading" it. Sad I know. So the store decided to drop the non-buyers off their mailing list. Boo-hoo for those that got dumped, but then come on, how can you just look and not want to buy and enjoy it on someone? That's the best part!

Personally the only thing I find sexier than their lingerie is a girl who pairs her panties up with one of my dress shirts half buttoned. Wow! Yes, I graduated from the college days where the sexiest thing to me was seeing my girlfriend sleeping in my boxer shorts or just wearing my frat tee and that's it. Don't get me wrong, that is still a sexy image for a woman. And tight tanks, baby t-shirts, thongs? Yum, don't get me started on those. ;)

Post A Secret, An Outlet For Anonymous Voices

Yesterday I came across a blog with a very interesting and unique idea. They ask for people to anonymously send in postcards with their deepest, darkest secret on them. The postcards are then scanned into a computer and uploaded on the blog. The secrets vary from funny little things like a woman who masturbated so much that she pulled a neck muscle (but told her husband she got injured from moving furniture), to secrets of people who are now in their 40s and for the first time are admitting they have hid the fact they were molested as a child. So it can be depressing to read at times, but it also makes you feel better knowing that you are not alone in being the only one that may hold a similar secret.

Among the countless postcards that are on the blog, there is also a section of reader's comments. The comments come from around the world from people who have visited the site and those who have actually submitted a postcard of their own. One comment in particular caught my eye and I think sums up the blog very well...

"On Monday night a boy jumped out of his dorm room window on the 8th floor of a dorm at my school. No one knows why he did it, one of my very closest friends was good friends with him and he didn't really see it coming. I wish Morgan had known about this site because I think maybe he would have realized that there are a lot of people who don't feel like they fit in anywhere, and some people believe that's why he decided to end it. Seeing some of these secrets is really shocking and heart breaking but in the end it just draws everyone closer together as a people. And who knows, someone's secret might reach out and save someone's life." - New York

For many people, keeping a secret is very stressful emotionally and physically. You feel like you can't open up and share with anyone. If you can take the first step in finding the courage to speak out, sometimes just telling the secret will lift alot of pain and help ease your mind. The sheer weight of carrying this burden on your shoulders and holding it within yourself can be enough to make anyone crumble. It's ok to feel weak at times and it's ok to let it out. After all, we are only human and it's perfectly normal to feel trapped by a secret. So if you have a secret that is eating at you, why not share it in an anonymous voice. You will feel like you have finally been heard for the first time, while still holding onto your privacy and protecting your true identity. Don't be afraid. Go grab a postcard, get creative and release yourself to be heard on www.postsecret.blogspot.com

1-Year-Old Teaches Me To Stop And Smell The Roses

Life's greatest lessons are usually taught by your parents and grandparents. They are also learned unconsciously growing up from your own personal experiences. It can happen on any average, ordinary day. Even if much of what we learn occurs early in life, we never really stop learning even as we grow older. I found that to be true the other day when my 1-year-old niece taught me, or should I say reminded me, of one of life's greatest lessons. The lesson is simple, beautiful and very true...stop and smell the roses.

Everyone has heard of the phrase "stop and smell the roses", but if for some odd reason you haven't, let me explain. It means you shouldn't rush thru life and not take a moment to actually stop, look around and enjoy the simple things that the world has to offer. Take a moment to pause, reflect and be grateful for the beauty that surrounds you. Working your ass off setting goal after goal and creating numerous to-do lists is not always the most important and pressing thing you should be focusing on. Sometimes you need to just stop and smell the roses for a change. If you don't, you may wakeup one day an old man or woman, regretting all the time that flew by while you rushed around so much instead of actually enjoying your youth. Time is precious and as you get older I think you tend to realize that more. Right now I know that is true, but I don't feel I can really understand it like someone say my Grandmother's age can. What is funny is that my Grandmother could preach that saying to me and I could nod and agree, but it doesn't sink in until I see someone so much YOUNGER than myself actually showing me.

I had my niece over at my house last weekend and in my backyard I have a rose bush. We are playing outside, I'm kicking a ball to her and helping her ride a mini-bike, when all of the sudden she spots the roses. Her attention is immediately drawn to the flowers and away from me and the toys. She walked/wobbled over to one of the lower hanging vines and stopped to reach for a single rose to pull towards her face. Of course I panicked for a second when I saw her reach for the roses because they are covered in thorns, but for whatever reason she managed not to get even the smallest of scrapes. I watched her close her eyes and sniff in the sweet scent. After breathing in her first smell of roses, she turned around and smiled at me.

I think that is all I need to say to make my point. So as you are rushing thru yet another Monday morning of pure madness, perhaps you will keep this story in mind. More importantly, may you be reminded of one of life's greatest lessons that even a baby is aware of and can teach us all.

The Official "Goodbye" To AOL

Remember back when everyone you knew, including yourself, was on AOL? Remember the "Goodbye" voice that chimed when you signed off of AOL? Well for those still holding onto their AOL account, those who refuse to make a change for the better and have yet to move to the modern days of broadband, you may of heard that old familiar "Goodbye" voice for the last time. It looks as if America Online is finally tumbling down. AOL became a cyber-powerhouse in the era when most people connected to the Internet with a modem and a telephone line. Ultimately, the company signed up more than 25 million subscribers who paid up to $23.50 a month for unlimited dial-up access to the Internet and AOL's proprietary content and services. Although more recently, as millions have migrated to broadband connections offered by cable and DSL providers, AOL has struggled to craft a new business strategy. Therefore AOL has decided to do away with their subscription service.

Yes, that is a chair constructed entirely out of AOL CDs.

Even though AOL has been de-throned as the once ISP king...

the chair will live on.

AOL held onto the idea that they would have so many good things to offer (such as shopping, chat, news, music, videos, etc.) that subscribers would spend their time within the online service instead of venturing out on the Internet. Another effort by AOL involved trying to hang onto broadband subscribers with discounts on bring-your-own-Internet-access packages and new features that took advantage of broadband links. These strategies helped for a time, but defections by AOL subscribers to broadband alternatives have accelerated at an alarming rate. What's more, it's not just broadband that AOL has to compete with. The growing services offered by Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft Network, not to mention the rest of the Internet. This must have many AOL customers asking themselves...what are we paying for that they can't get elsewhere for free?

Now comes word that America Online is planning a radical shift in strategy that may hold benefits for all Internet users. According to news reports, AOL will begin moving much of its content outside the "AOL Keyword area" and onto the Internet where anyone, AOL subscriber or not, can access it. The idea is that by reaching the larger segment of the Internet, America Online will be able to generate more money from advertising than it loses in subscriptions. AOL is calling this its "audience strategy." It's a big gamble because subscriptions that regularly bring in up to $23.50 a month are a hard asset to give up and an even harder one to replace, but AOL must do something or risk losing subscribers steadily for years to come.

For non-subscribers, the benefits will be enormous. AOL's vast holdings of news, sports, music and more will add variety and quality to the programming available free online. It's possible that AOL could have avoided this. If AOL had aggressively moved to provide broadband access, perhaps through its own Time Warner cable and partnerships with other providers, it might have brought its online service intact into the broadband age. It's too late to worry about that now because AOL is crumbling. If you have any of those AOL floppy discs and CDs that the company used to spread around, you might consider hanging onto them as a souvenir of a bygone era. Better yet, just use them as coasters like everyone else does.

London Bombing Images/Videos Captured On Cell Phones

Mobile phones transformed victims into journalists after the transport attacks in London as amateur photographs and video footage played a key role in newspaper, television and Internet coverage. A grainy image of commuters trudging along darkened Underground tracks filled the entire back page of Britain's Times newspaper Friday. A cell phone video taken by a survivor gave viewers worldwide their first look at the London Underground bombing. That haunting image of people escaping through the smoke-filled, claustrophobic gloom was taken with a mobile phone camera (as shown below) by Adam Stacey and was used by many news media, often without giving him credit.

I'll give Adam the credit he deserves.
His blog is www.moblog.co.uk/blog/misteralfie

Sky News TV frequently replayed homemade video footage shot in the aftermath of the blasts. Independent Television (ITV) sent out a mobile phone text message request to hundreds of subscribers to its service seeking any video footage of the events, some of which wound up broadcast, but most of which was of too poor a quality or too graphic to be shown. Amateur photographers played an even more critical role documenting Thursday's wreckage because tight security blocked news agencies from accessing the explosion sites. Another reason news organizations are using more home footage is that the quality has improved dramatically in recent years. Blogs, or personal online journals, supplied some of the earliest on-scene photographs and first-person accounts.

Much as the blog phenomenon has given citizens power over the news, cell phone videos have allowed people in the right place at the right time the ability to capture crucial events when there's no TV cameras in sight. These videos have shown up in network news coverage of the second Bush inauguration, Pope John Paul II's funeral and coverage of damage from tropical storms. ABC and NBC have given space to cell phone videos well before Thursday morning. It gave a look at a place where journalists' cameras weren't able to go. It's all about experiencing things live online, as they're happening, along with the people who are there. It's changed the way news is done.

Thou Shall Not Steal Wi-Fi Access

As a follow-up post to yesterday's blog entry, I have to update everyone on my current "net status". I'm happy to say I'm back online! After 3 days of my home DSL being out, I'm finally back up and functioning with no help from all the dumb asses at the phone company and ISP. I fixed it myself as I figured I would have to do considering there are alot of morons in the tech field that should be off bagging groceries instead of trying to troubleshot computers. Anyways, it turned out to be an easy fix. I had a blown Ethernet card. So I replaced that, put back up my firewall and updated my router = good to go now. During my "net outage", as I stated the other day, I choose to piggyback on someone else's Wi-Fi in order to get myself online and get some work done. Well alot of people "steal" Internet access that way and it doesn't mean it's right, but it's easy and yeah I did it too. Of course now everyone may want to think twice before doing it since wireless trespassers are being arrested!

(Note: My comments will be in red.)
Case in point, meet 41-year-old Benjamin Smith III from Florida. CNN is reporting that Smith is facing 3rd-degree felony charges after using his laptop to access a St. Petersburg resident's wireless Internet network without permission. According to the police, Smith was seen by Richard Dinon outside Dinon's home on the night of April 20, 2005, sitting in a parked SUV and using a laptop computer. When Dinon went outside to deposit his trash, Smith quickly closed the laptop and tried to hide it (too suspicious acting). Dinon also stated that he later observed foreign icons on his home computer screen (sloppy rookie mistake by Smith) and suspected that Smith may have been using his network. He called police and an officer confronted Smith at 11:30PM, two hours after the initial sighting.

The arresting officer wasn't initially sure a violation took place (I can believe that). He had to consul legal staff and they looked up the relevant statute. The charge, unauthorized access to a computer network, applies to all varieties of computer network breaches and gives prosecutors considerable leeway depending on the severity. It carries a potential sentence ranging from probation to 5 years in prison (a little stiff I think when you compare it to more serious crimes)! Smith faces a pretrial hearing on Monday, July 11. The sentence will depend on whether he was accessing the Internet for basic personal use or using it for pecuniary gain - like identity theft or other illicit reasons (music/movie/software piracy, hacking etc). Smith's motives in using the network are unclear, but the laptop was confiscated from him (no net for him now either :P ) at the time of arrest and will be analyzed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

The article went on to talk about how Florida believes it's only the 3rd case of unauthorized wireless access in the state (wake up, I can assure you it's not only the 3rd case, it's only the 3rd case that YOU have caught). Wireless networks are becoming more prevalent with the spread of broadband Internet access and many consumers are not aware of how to configure their networks to avoid unauthorized access. Law enforcement is behind the curve in confronting computer crime. Wireless networks are only just starting to be recognized. More and more people are buying wireless routers and not educating themselves about the consequences. People are very haphazard about security and the stakes are high.

In short, don't expect this problem to go away anytime soon. People in general are lazy and too over confident in thinking they are safe (can you say 9-11?). They don't want to take a few minutes to educate themselves on the technology they are using and they leave all the settings to default which is the equivalent of leaving your house key sticking out of your front door knob. Hackers know these default logins by heart. Hell, I can even recite the top ones for you. The whole idea of a router and going wi-fi is not only for connivance, but also for SECURITY. It you fail to make it secure by locking it down properly, then you are defeating one of the main purposes of the equipment to being with. You are now actually LESS SECURE and more open to attacks. So in a way I don't feel bad for this Dinon guy. He was stupid and in over his head when it came to tech gadgets, but lucky for him he was in the right place at the right time to catch the intruder. Then again Smith was a true rookie by leaving icons laying around on the target system. He was sloppy and suspicious, bound to get caught sooner or later. I feel if you don't want to learn how to use something properly, then don't use it at all. If you can't follow that rule, then don't be surprised or shocked when something bad happens to you.

Hurricane Cindy Washed My Net Away

It's only early July but already it seems we have our first hurricane of the season and her name is Hurricane Cindy. Normally hurricane season isn't until September, but Cindy decided to pay a visit early and a rotten visitor she is. She is one cruel heartless b*tch. Cindy has begun ripping up the east coast, mostly in the Caribbean, and the affects can be felt all the way up to where I live and even into NY (or so I hear). In short, Hurricane Cindy is now mixing in with Hurricane Dennis and bringing lots of tropical rain and high wind storms. Nearby tree limbs falling on power lines have caused outages, including taking out my DSL line - bastards!

Now my house hasn't been washed away or anything like that, but just as bad my Internet access has! I know, you are either gasping or laughing depending on if you're a tech head or not. To a tech guy, the net is important. Well it's more than important, it helps pay my bills. I need to get online for work and other things and not having the ability to do that at home is beyond annoying and frustrating. So for 2 days now it has been off.

Am I having withdrawal? Yeah a little, but only because I need it for work. Otherwise I am kind of enjoying doing other things non-computer related. Although the past few days it has made me realize how dependent I am on technology in my everyday life. It's like when I'm out and my cell phone battery dies and I don't have a charger or an extra battery on me. It drives me nuts! I feel like a part of me is missing and I'm not even that addicted to my cell phone like some people are. You won't see it glued to my ear every minute of the day and I'll be the first to vote in favor of banning cell phones while driving. (Sorry to those that disagree, but 99% of people CAN NOT drive well while BSing on the phone. Accident statistics will prove that if you don't believe me.) I'm sure you can name a few pieces of modern day technology that you couldn't live without. In the meantime until it's back up, I am "forced to steal my access". It's a harmless piggyback ride on someone else's Wi-Fi. Shh, don't tell.

You don't realize what you have until it's gone and it's so easy to take life's little connivances for granted. Remember I was born at a time where I don't even know life before MTV existed. Video games have always been around and I wouldn't of made it thru college without the Internet as my main source for research...the old fashion library still existed, but who uses that these days? Ok so now I know how good I have it/had it and I'll be more appreciative and all that other crap, blah blah blah. Now just give me back my net Cindy!