Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde have returned today in the form of Google’s logo to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our much loved electronic friend from the 80s. There are sure to be a lot of people across the globe reliving their childhood arcade memories.
For those of you who prefer Ms. Pacman, be sure to press the insert coin twice for her to join in as a second player!
Cybersecurity is an interesting, challenging and exciting field for those who wish to pursue a career in I.T. security, cybersecurity analysts, digital forensic experts and many others. The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) recently announced several new degree programs beginning this fall, 2010 in the field of Cybersecurity. Among their offerings are two masters programs, an additional specialization in their existing Information Technology degree and an undergraduate program. Along with the new degree paths, UMUC are also offering graduate certificates in Homeland Security Management and Information Assurance.
These programs are catered for anyone seeking entry into this exciting field as well as those current technology professionals looking to learn more about security and expanding their current skill-sets. The masters programs also offer a dual-degree option, where students may enroll in the MBA program offered at the university and complete their studies in an accelerated time. According to UMUC, The Master of Science in Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity policy are designed for midcareer professionals to help meet challenges posed by increasing cyber-threats. The programs are designed to provide a broad analytical framework for evaluating and solving cybersecurity problems.
For more information on the Cybersecurity masters programs, visit http://www.umuc.edu/spotlight/cybersecurity.shtml.
For many of the residents in the Washington DC Metro area, driving to work listening to their talk local radio station WMAL has become a daily part of their lives. Those familiar with the station, are of course avid listeners of the famous morning show duo, Grandy and Andy, aka Fred Grandy and Andy Parks.
For those of you who don’t already know, Fred Grandy is a former member of the United States congress, and perhaps more well known for his role as Gopher in the show, “The Love Boat”. His co-host to the early morning show on WMAL “The Grandy and Andy Show”, Andy Parks is a long time radio veteran and has been an important part of the show since its inception. The show has always had an obvious conservative leaning, mixed with informative news, shared opinions and daily calls from listeners. Bryan Nehman, a younger co-host has also become a more prominent part of the show in recent years.
So what happened to Grandy and Andy? On April 26th, fans of the show learned the shocking news that after over 25 years as a morning host, Andy Parks left WMAL. In a very strange twist, Chris Plante, who apparently was let go earlier in the month at WMAL, stepped in to take over as co-host to a shortly lived Plante and Grandy show. Within a week Fred Grandy left the station.
It seems that Bryan Nehman has kept his position at the station and continues to provide “Nehman’s news and notes” early in the morning. Many of the existing fans of the Grandy and Andy morning show are extremely upset at the loss of their favorite radio hosts. Browsing various Internet sources, it appears Grandy and Andy may have been axed due to cost cutting at the station.
Furious at the decision of WMAL’s executives, fans of the former show have already fiercely criticized the station and a Facebook group has been setup called: Bring Back Grandy & Andy to 630 WMAL!. According to the group, “Citadel has terminated the Grandy & Andy show and fired Paul Duckworth, and seem to be on a path to dismantle the station’s programming and loyal listener base.”
So what does this mean for the future of Grandy and Andy? It is unlikely either will return to WMAL in the near future, however there may be other possibilities of a return in the form of online radio or XM / Sirius. At this point there is no information from the former hosts, however it is very clear that they have left behind a void that will be very difficult to fill for the morning commuters in the Washington DC area!
The initial website for Blue Ridge Mountain Exchange (BRME) has launched. The Roanoke local currency project is on hold while a Virginia statutory prohibition on scrip currency is under review. This prohibition likely arose during the Great Depression when payment in scrip to coal miners who could only use it to make purchases at the “company store” was a notorious abuse.
This website provides helpful information regarding Nokies and the Blue Ridge Mountain Exchange™. Site pages include policies and procedures for how the system works, including guidelines for businesses that accept Nokies in trade.
In it’s current form, the website is a WordPress based site. Once the project launches, a more extensive system will be developed.
For more information, visit the Blue Ridge Mountain Exchange blog.
Mozilla has just released their latest version of the popular web browser Firefox. The new version has been significantly improved making it 20% faster than the previous version. With this version Mozilla have introduced “Personas”, which allow you to customize the browser by selecting from a vast library of downloadable themes.
You can download the latest version of Firefox for free directly at http://www.getfirefox.com for Windows, Mac and Linux. You can read more about Firefox 3.6 at the Mozilla Blog.
NIDating is a free Northern Ireland Dating and matching personals service for local singles from Belfast to all other regions across the province. The site also caters to other singles throughout the rest of the UK and Ireland.Northern Ireland Dating (nidating.com) is Northern Ireland’s favourite personals site. Carnaghan LLC has been working on a complete site redesign incorporating the new Boonex Dolphin 7 content management system. The software provides the most advanced services the site offered to date. All areas of the site have been optimized including the existing media upload options for profiles, chat, messenger and forums. Additional security options have been added so it is now easy for you to share or make private any aspect of your profile.
Other improvements include a new and more advanced member portal with easy to access menu items, and complete redesign of various member sections including new photograph and video galleries. Our site design has been tweaked and enhanced for greater usability and accessibility.
Some areas are still in transition including the Help section, which will be completed in the weeks ahead.
Blue Ridge Mountain Exchange: Proposed website – http://www.ournokies.com
Background:
The Blue Ridge Mountain Exchange™ (BRME) is a non-profit membership corporation that is implementing a regional complementary currency for the Roanoke, Virginia, area.
Such currencies are legal and are used in dozens of communities. The most famous U.S. system is Ithaca Hours in Ithaca, New York, where over $120,000 has been issued, fueling several million dollars in commerce. The Swiss WIR system has over 70,000 members, with annual trade in the hundreds of millions of Swiss francs. Business bartering systems also trade in a complementary currency known as Trade Units. The International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA), headquartered in Rochester, New York, facilitates trade among 400,000 companies trading annual value of around $10 billion.
Project:
Initial website will be information only based on WordPress. Later in 2010 the site will be expanded as the program is expanded to allow for online transactions and other financial management tools. Other management tools will be added later on as the system develops.
Site Launch: TBD – est. March 2010.
We are pleased to announce our new partnership with 2Checkout for all payment transactions. 2Checkout has been providing payment processing services since 2000 and after reviewing many different payment processors and merchant providers we made the choice to go with them based on reputation and ease of integration into our existing site and services.
You will still have to option to make payments through Paypal via our 2Checkout connection if you wish. All payments will be processed over 2Checkout’s secure servers for peace of mind.
Richard C Cook is a former U.S. federal government analyst who works as a writer and private consultant with particular focus on Monetary Reform. His articles on economics, politics, and space policy have been published in numerous magazines, newspapers a
The redesign of http://www.richardccook.com has been completed. Richard requested a new website design that would be easy for him to update and blog about his latest articles. We completed a WordPress based site with a fresh custom design.
Richard C. (Rick) Cook is an author, consultant, and teacher who works out of College Park, MD, Williamsburg, VA, and Roanoke, VA. His interests are local economic sustainability, monetary reform, health and wellness, meditation and spirituality, and space exploration. He attended the College of William and Mary, the alma mater of Thomas Jefferson, where he graduated with honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He is married to Karen Shirron, a public school teacher in Maryland. He has five children and four stepchildren.
Rick is a former U.S. federal government analyst who in 1986 became one of the foremost whistleblowers of modern times. He was instrumental in exposing multiple layers of cover-up in the wake of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. As a witness to the incident and a participant in the subsequent investigations, he received the Cavallo Foundation Award for Moral Courage in Business and Government for his testimony. In 2007, his memoirs of the tragedy were published in a book entitled: Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age. It has been called by one reviewer, “The most important space flight book in 20 years.”
Nothing surpasses the delicious taste of warm Belguim chocolate – except when it’s covering the sweet tang of a fresh plump succulent mouth-watering strawberry.”
They are a sister company of Video View, who have also worked with us in the past. Melting Moments approached us requesting a basic website to showcase their services.
