Airline WiFi is one of those things that could potentially be pretty cool.  To be able to access the internet while flying in a plane at 30,000 feet would be a nice little benefit.  For an airline to offer it at no charge would be absolutely unheard of.  Airlines don't give anything away for free, so this would be no exception.  I doubt I'd be willing to pay money for it, but if it were conveniently included in the cost of my ticket, I wouldn't be too upset (unless it was like $50 extra).  The "Guide to Airline WiFi" has some information about Boeing's Connexion service and a list of airlines which currently have it.  Unfortunately, Boeing stopped offering to install this service, so the only planes that'll have it are the ones that currently have it installed.  Their prices are kind of high, starting at around $10 per hour.  I've already stated my position on paying for internet access, so I highly doubt I'd be willing to pay such a high amount for a single hour of access.  But again, if the price was conveniently "hidden" or paid for by my employer, I wouldn't have a problem with it. 

At the same time, airline WiFi could potentially be bad.  Email and internet are one thing.  But AIM?  VOIP?  It's annoying as it is when little kids are playing loud video games and people are watching movies with the sound on (and no headphones).  And sure cell phones aren't allowed, but with VOIP, people would be able to easily talk on the phone via their computer.  I think part of the reason cell phones aren't allowed is because plane rides are bad enough as it is; nobody wants to be forced to listen to somebody's phone conversation. 

To be honest, I doubt airline WiFi will ever exist in America.  We're constantly in a state of regression due to fear of terrorism, so I'd imagine that in a few years, planes won't have windows, bathrooms, drinks, or even seats.  Passengers will be drugged as they walk on the plane and then placed in sealed, compartmentalized containers.  Actually, that doesn't sound too bad. 

This is a sponsored post. #technology

WebmasterWorld always comes up in my search results for internet and computer geekery.  But I learned to ignore them and even blacklisted them from my search results because all their content seemed to be behind an evil paywall.  Matt Cutts changed my mind.  He enlightened me to the fact that there's an obscure little link on the paywall page that says "need to register?".  All you have to do is click there and accept the incredibly long list of rules and regulations.  (On a sidenote, I wasn't able to register with a Gmail account, suggesting that they don't allow webmail accounts.  This is the stupidest thing on earth and I hate them even more for it.  But I just used a non-webmail address and it worked.)  I can't even begin to understand why they make their site so difficult to use, but it hardly matters now because I found a way in.  WebmasterWorld and Experts Exchange, I win. #technology

This guy wrote a little thing detailing 10 reasons why Target is better than Walmart (via Digg).  I totally agree with his points about customers' clothing ("I've Never Seen Anyone Wearing a NASCAR Shirt, Purple Sweat Pants, and Pink Fluffy Slippers at Target") and employees' inability to help customers.  The Digg comments mentioned one more thing:  "Hotter women shop at Target".  I'd have to fully agree.  Whenever I go to Target, I'm surprised at the number of attractive women in the store.  I'm usually not met with the same type of experience at Walmart.  And it's not that I go shopping to check out women, nor do I spend a lot of time checking people out in the first place.  But I have to agree that the average Target is filled with a plethora of attractive moms and childless females. 

Disclaimer:  Wendy, on a bad day, has got these women beat by far. #business

Google Browser Sync is a Firefox extension that synchronizes your cookies, passwords, bookmarks, history, and tabs across any number of computers with the extension installed.  I've found it extremely useful for being logged into a website while I'm at work and still being logged into the website when I get home (depending on whether or not the website keeps logins active or the user has to login with each new session).  It's also useful to type something into the address bar at home and have it autocompleted with a website I saw while at work.  Very useful plugin.  I'm a fan. #technology

Whenever people bring up any type of politics in a discussion, I usually keep my mouth shut and refuse to share my opinion.  It's not that I don't have an opinion.  Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't.  The reason I don't talk is because I don't want to add anything to a conversation that's doomed from the start.  Based on my experience, the overwhelmingly vast majority of people are not only unqualified to give their opinion on politics, but they're also completely biased and usually just plain wrong. 

Let me explain.  I'm an engineer.  When I hear people talking about math and physics, I'm at least slightly qualified to give my input.  But when I hear people talking about brain surgery, I'm unqualified to speak on the subject because I don't know enough about it to give an intelligent opinion.  It's the same with the average person and politics.  Sure, it's quite possible to have a working knowledge of politics based on watching the news and reading some newspapers.  But overall, the average person doesn't know enough about politics and the way the world works to give an intelligent opinion (me included). 

Politics is a biased field.  That's the nature of the beast.  Nothing's neutral.  It can't be.  That's why politics was (were?) invented (huh?).  So any subject that's discussed and any topic that's mentioned has an opinion attached to it.  It's hard to have an intelligent discussion about George W. Bush when a supporter can see no wrong and an opponent can see no right.  It would be different if people didn't make up their minds based on a small amount of information.  But that's the way it happens, so most political discussions (or arguments, depending on how loud they are) are deadlocked from the start. 

Since most people don't do much research on political topics and their opinions are affected by their preconceptions, they're often just plain wrong.  This is another reason why I don't spew out my opinions in the midst of political discussions:  I don't know the whole story and I'm not completely sure of my facts.  (This is also why I usually don't talk much about creation vs. evolution.  There's a lot of information out there, but it's hard to get reliable information when it's biased by either religion or science.  Plus, I just don't have the desire to sift through information sometimes.)  So in this murky lack-of-information pond, people are all too willing to spread false information and argue half-truths. 

In the end, I get a little annoyed whenever people give their stupid political opinions.  My purpose in these conversations is to change the topic as soon as possible.  Nothing good can come from a political discussion.  Except maybe a fist fight. #politics

According to the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar, the universe was created on October 23, 4004 BC, making today its 6009th birthday (via Kottke).  Most scientists and logical people treat this as utter stupidity because microwave measurement and other methods of dating have determined the age of the universe to be 13.7 billion years.  I'm not convinced of either estimate.  I don't like to blindly trust science just because scientists appear smarter than me.  But I also don't like to blindly trust man's interpretation of the Bible, especially when it has anything to do with time (as evidenced by the myriad of incorrect end-of-the-world predictions).  I think the universe was created on April 18, 1982, which also happens to be the date of my birth. #science

I, along with several other people, believe there should be an injury time limit in the NFL.  If a player is injured, he should be allowed 30 seconds to get himself off the field.  If he is unable to get himself off the field in that amount of time, he should simply be taken off in a stretcher.  The bottom line is that time shouldn't be wasted every time a player goes down.  Injuries often aren't as bad as they seem, and injured players usually only sit out for a play or two and then come back in.  Plus, whenever a player goes down with an injury, he must leave the field for at least one play.  If we know the conclusion, the only thing that's preventing the conclusion from occurring is a player writhing in pain on the ground.  He could just as easily be writhing in pain on the sideline, which is where he'll eventually be anyway.  So instead of filling most of my Sundays with injury timeouts and subsequent commercial breaks, injured players should by given a fighting chance to get themselves off the field, and if they can't, they should be forcibly taken off. #sports

Prosper is a peer-to-peer (or people-to-people) lending network, meaning that an average Joe can use the website to loan money (with interest) to another average Joe.  It sounds like a pretty crazy idea at first, but when you think about it, it's actually kinda cool.  People with money can make more money by letting other people borrow it.  And people without money can borrow money from someone other than a big, stinky bank, usually at rates lower than a normal lender would charge.  The rate is actually up to the lender.  This other site, www.utopialoans.com, is a group that exists within Prosper that provides information and advice to borrowers and lenders using the Prosper service.  Plus, they currently have a group contest whose goal is to earn the highest number of points by listing new loans, closing existing loans, and referring new people to the program.  The one with the most points at the end wins cold hard cash. 

All in all, Prosper sounds like a pretty cool service.  In terms of security, their website has some good security information and looks to be legitimate (VeriSign Secured).  In terms of price, they charge different percentages for borrowing and lending, and they have a few different delinquency fees.  The service is kinda cool in that it resembles eBay's method of selling and bidding:  A borrower lists an amount, a time period, and a maximum interest rate; lenders look through these listings and "bid" a certain amount for a certain time period at a certain rate; at the end of the listing period, the bid with the lowest rate is selected, and payments are automatically deducted from the borrower's bank account (that part I don't like).  Interesting idea. 

This is a sponsored post. #money

Phishing is when you get an email (or sometimes a phone call) that asks you to confirm your bank account information or your social security number.  It's one of the most prolific types of fraud, making it quite a major problem.  The wife of the CEO of DreamHost recently fell for a scam that said she was owed a tax refund from the IRS.  All she had to do was go to a website and enter her credit card information and her social security number, which she promptly did.  Thankfully, the credit card was cancelled and nothing else happened.  But it was a pretty big mistake. 

What I don't fully understand is how people fall for these things.  Actually, I do understand:  People get an email from somebody claiming to be PayPal, eBay, or SouthTrust Bank, at which point they're asked to verify some information or fill out a form to receive money.  People don't want their accounts to be cancelled and they'll do pretty much anything for money, so they quickly comply.  It's actually a really good system.  Scammers know that there are people out there who are naive enough or ignorant (unaware) enough to give out important information on the internet, so it's just a matter of sending email to a large enough number of people.  The percentages work out:  If it's even 1% effective, that means out of every 1000 emails sent, the scammer will get 10 people's information.  Not bad at all. 

So I have some practical advice for how to avoid phishing attacks: 

1.  Never trust an email.  No bank will ever ask you to verify your information via email (when would a bank ask you to verify your information in the first place?).  The IRS will never notify you of a tax refund opportunity via email.  Basically, nothing important will ever happen through email.  It's just too unreliable.  Things get lost, caught in spam filters, or just ignored. 

2.  Be extremely cautious about entering your financial information and credit card number online.  For some things, it's necessary:  To sign up for PayPal, to transfer money to a different bank account, to get paid by selling things online, to buy things online.  But that's pretty much it. 

3.  Never enter your social security number into a website.  And by never, I mean pretty much never.  Again, it's sometimes necessary to enter your SSN for tax identification purposes if you're signing up for something that will earn you money.  But most other times (the extreme majority of times), it's not necessary. 

#technology

A few weeks ago, I went to the Franklin Institute with Wendy and her cousin.  The best part of the museum was this amazing traveling exhibit called Animal Grossology (main site).  It had all sorts of information about animals, their bodily functions, and other assorted "gross" things.  It was thoroughly disgusting while at the same time incredibly fascinating.  The three pictures included below give a little "taste" of what it was all about (taste ... gross things ... joke attempt). 

This first picture shows some animals and some samples of poop.  It was part of a game where you were supposed to match the animal with the poop.  A sign right near it said, "You may think that if you've seen one poop, you've seen them all."  Each type of poop had a specific name, size, color, and shape.  Gross, yet amazing.  I found this particularly interesting because it confirmed that I had indeed encountered "bear skat" on my hike.  There was also a huge display talking about dung beetles, their purpose in life, and where we'd be without them.  Apparently, the earth would be covered in tons of poop if it weren't for these little gross bugs.  Who knew?  The second picture shows a small dog sniffing the butt of a big dog, who in turn is preparing to sniff some poop on the ground.  This exhibit explained how most animals recognize each other by scents.  There were 5 or 6 samples of scents just below the picture, and Wendy and her cousin convinced me to sniff the one called "Fox urine".  They told me to put my face right near it and take a good long whiff.  I have a really strong sense of smell, so this almost made me throw up.  Thanks, Wendy!  The third picture says, "'Retch.'  Kitty hurls a warm, hairy hot dog."  It was all about cats and why they have hairballs.  I found it disgusting yet oddly amusing that they compared a hairball to a hairy hot dog.  It really hit home for me because my cats throw up quite a bit, though their "hot dogs" usually consist of the grass they eat when they get outside.  I would highly recommend visiting this exhibit.  It, like the whole museum, is geared towards kids.  But despite that, I had a great time and learned an incredible amount of information.  Who knew the average owl pellet contains the remains of three animals?  Fascinating stuff. #nature