Nicola Zordan blog

Criminal Searches

2008-08-01T14:02:00.000-04:00

FREE Criminal Search on anyone in USA today.

Very nice site that allows searches on public records for criminal records in USA

MappedTrips starts alpha

2008-05-16T23:47:00.000-04:00

My MappedTrips.com

enters Alpha test.

Check it out.

Useful RSS feed for My phone

2008-05-13T15:40:00.000-04:00

Useful RSS feed for My phone

// MSNBC news for PocketPC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5216556/
// Top News
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032091/device/rss/rss.xml
// Tech - Sience
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032117/device/rss/rss.xml
// World
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032506/device/rss/rss.xml
// Travel
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032122/device/rss/rss.xml
// Weather
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032127/device/rss/rss.xml
// Video
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4001724/device/rss/rss.xml

// Freeware for PocketPC
http://feeds.feedburner.com/PocketPCfreeware

// Alessandra
http://alekos89.spaces.live.com/feed.rss
// Nicola
http://NicolaZordan.blogspot.com/rss.xml

// Luisa
http://LuisaCrosara.blogspot.com/rss.xml
// CERT Boca Raton
http://blog.certbocaraton.com/rss.xml
// MappedTrips
http://mappedtrips.blogspot.com/rss.xml

16 THINGS THAT IT TOOK ME OVER 50 YEARS TO LEARN

2007-11-01T10:36:00.000-04:00

From an email I received.

16 THINGS THAT IT TOOK ME OVER 50 YEARS TO LEARN:
By Dave Barry, Nationally Syndicated Columnist

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved and never will achieve its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.

13. A person who is nice to you but rude to a waiter is not a nice person (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

16. Men are like fine wine. They start out as grapes, and it's up to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into some thing acceptable to have dinner with.

Fora Febraro

2007-03-01T08:47:00.000-05:00

Nice take on Fora Febraro from a Estonian who lives in Valdagno VI, Italy

Miracolo Marzotto, from Time Magazine 1963

2006-11-01T10:53:00.000-05:00

Il Miracolo Marzotto del 1963

dall'archivio del Time magazine (in inglese)

http://strweb1-12.websys.aol.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,896625,00.htm

eBay gets worse as more morons start to sell on it

2006-08-02T21:24:00.000-04:00

eBay gets worse and I will not purchase any more on it but for something really special that I cannot find anywhere else.

The problem is that if there is a problem the solution take a long time and a lot of frustration, plus the feeback system is flawed by the fact that the sellers with lots of sale use retaliatory feedback and users cannot leave onest opinions on feedbacks.

my horror story for a cell phone

Global warming's effect on hurricane strength disputed in new report

2006-07-28T18:24:00.000-04:00

Global warming's effect on hurricane strength disputed in new report

the data on global warming is NOT right

www.centos.org - News - CentOS in the News - It's L-i-n-u-x, that is an Operating System

2006-06-01T17:21:00.000-04:00

www.centos.org - News - CentOS in the News - It's L-i-n-u-x, that is an Operating System

City IT manager is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
:-O

Le mille sfumature del dialetto veneto

2006-05-19T19:32:00.000-04:00

Le mille sfumature del dialetto veneto

:-O

Tattooed mummy unlocks Peru's Moche culture - Yahoo! News

2006-05-17T15:52:00.000-04:00

Tattooed mummy unlocks Peru's Moche culture - Yahoo! News

Peru mummies

When Things go wrong using eBay, it is terrible

2006-04-05T10:27:00.000-04:00

eBay: DELL INSPIRON 7500 PII400 128MB 12GB DVD XP (item 6855959848 end time Mar-05-06 06:20:14 PST)

When Things go wrong using eBay.
It is terrible.
You get aggravated and cannot recover the cost.

Here is my Horror story:
on 5 March 2006
I purchased a laptop PC on eBay from
Henry Fields
my winning bid was for $155
shipping was $35
I paid the $190 the very same day.

Some time later I get a package with the PC in it.
The laptop is listed as: "fully functional", "ready to go"

I open the package and pull out the PC.
It is a laptop.
The screen comes apart, and almost separates from the keyboard. Not a good start.
There is no power adaptor for the laptop (this is a laptop from Dell, it is impossible to use it without a DELL power adaptor)
I manage not to break it and to make it stand, and power it up.
The screen, not surprisingly, has almost 1/2 of the screen unreadable, and look terrible.

I immediately contact the seller by email.
I get an automatic error response.
I have to go to eBay and file to request info on the seller to be able to contact him.
After a few hours I get an email from eBay with the contact information for Henry Fields.
I immediately call his listed phone number.

I explain the situation to him, and he swears that he has tested if for days before shipping it and that he will never ship a broken PC.
After a lengthy discussion he agrees to send me another of the very same PC (he says he has many of them, and that the one I received has probably been damaged during the shipment) making sure that this one works properly, and he assure me he will ship the new one on Friday, we also agree that I will pay him $12.50 to include the power adaptor without which the PC will NOT work.
I ship the broken one back to him the very same day (and pay $30 more in shipping, to send it back)

He send me an email a few days later and states that the PC he has received from me is perfectly working.
I am enraged, he was supposed to have sent me the replacement few days back, but he has NOT shipped it yet.

So I call Henry Fields again, on a long discussion I explain to him that a) if you cannot see half of the screen the PC is not fully functional, b) if the screen breaks a apart from the keyboard the PC is not fully functional either, and this is NOT acceptable.

Now he has a different story, he says that he does not have any more of this type of PCs (he said before he had several others).
He says he wants to refund me $95.00 and I said that I paid $190. And if he cannot provide a working PC I will accept the full refund (note that I will still be out of $30 for shipping the PC back to him), but that I would prefer to have a PC, I bid on eBay to have a PC not to get a refund.
When he realizes that he will have to refund $190 instead of 90 he agrees to send me a PC, he says that he has a similar one, not the same, with different feature, less powerful processor and no DVD. To compensate for the difference we agree that he will install some more RAM.

Again I tell him clearly that he must make sure that the PC is working, to make sure than we do not have to go through this again. Again he says that he will ship the next 2 days and ship it overnight.

Naturally no shipment came in at the time he said.
But finally, after about a week I get another package.
I open it, and see the PC, this one looks better, it has the power adaptor.
I turn it on immediately, and surprise, the screen is completely white and shows nothing.
This time I take a picture and send immediately to Henry Fields.
I call him on the phone, and ask him what the hell he is doing.
he still reiterates that the PC has been damaged during shipment, naturally this is bullshit and I am not going to buy it.

He says he wants to get things right, and other hot air.
I explain to him that it is impossible that the PC has been tested as he tells, and that I think he is selling cheap stuff without even looking at it once.

In the end we get to an agreement, that he will refund me for the PC. He says that he will refund me when I will give him a shipment confirmation of the PC. I ship the PC and tell him the tracking number, we agree that he will refund me by the evening so that I can purchase something else.

The result of this sad story is:

1. I spent a month being aggravated with this and NOT having a PC
2. I paid $155 + $12.50 = $167.50 for the PC
3. I paid $35 + $30 + $30 = $95 in shipment

Henry Fields didn't even refund me the amount he said he would.
I tryed to contact Henry Fields, but he did not answer and I left him a few voice messages, he did NOT call me back.

Was it worth this ?
Definitely NOT.

I am growing weary of eBay sellers.

Next time something like this happen.
No more shipping back at my expense.

I will immediately file an eBay dispute for "Item not as described"
Get a refund.
And ask the seller to pay for the shipment of his junk back.

Repubblica.it - scienza_e_tecnologia - Egitto, scoperta una tomba intatta accanto a quella di Tutankhamon

2006-02-10T16:51:00.000-05:00

Repubblica.it - scienza_e_tecnologia - Egitto, scoperta una tomba intatta accanto a quella di Tutankhamon:
"Da 100 anni - ha commentato Podzorski - la gente dice che la valle dei Re non nasconde piu' nulla. Lo dissero anche prima che Howard Carter trovasse e la tomba di Tutankhamon, e persino dopo. Ma continuavano e continuano a sbagliarsi. "

CalculatorNZ by Nicola Zordan - Google Modules

2006-01-24T18:23:00.000-05:00

CalculatorNZ by Nicola Zordan - Google Modules

I have created a Calculator for iGoogle
You can see it at GoogleModules
CalculatorNZ

Check it out.

Calculator Scientific by Nicola Zordan - MicrosoftGadgets.com

2006-01-24T18:20:00.000-05:00

Calculator Scientific by Nicola Zordan - MicrosoftGadgets.com

I have created a Calculator for Windows live

Check it out.

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, another proof

2005-12-30T19:14:00.000-05:00

I received this from an email:

Here's a prime example of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus", offered by an English professor from the University of Colorado for an actual class assignment:

The professor told his class one day: "Today we will experiment wiith a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair
off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right.

As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me.
The partner will read the first paragraph, and then add another paragraph to the story, and send it back, also sending another copy to me.
The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on, back-and-forth.

Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep
the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of
the e-mails, and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been
reached."

The following was actually turned in by two of his English
students: Rebecca and Gary.

THE STORY: (first paragraph by Rebecca)

At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl,
who once said, in happier times,
that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much,
her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(second paragraph by Gary)
Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an
air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie, with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago.
"A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic
communicator. " Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed
out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Rebecca)
He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he
felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one
woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4.
"Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space
Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news
simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the
window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and
carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things
around her. "Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.

(Gary)
Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live.
Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership
launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through the Congress had
left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires, who were determined to destroy the human race.
Within two hours after the passage of the treaty, the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the
entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated
their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor
off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid Laurie.

(Rebecca)
This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic, semi-literate
adolescent.

(Gary)
Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium.
"Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F--KING TEA??? Oh, no, what am I to do? I'm such an air-headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle
Steele novels!"

(Rebecca)
As*h@le

(Gary)
B*tch!

(Rebecca)
F**K YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!!

(Gary)
In your dreams, Ho. Go drink some tea.

(TEACHER)
A+ - I really liked this one.

"He who knows nothing is nearer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods
and errors". - Thomas Jefferson

Consumer complaints about STUPID SITEKEY

2005-12-03T09:18:00.000-05:00

Bank of Amercia
stupid SiteKey login

- The login page is NOT encrypted
- The sitekeys quuestions are facts that the bank does NOT need to know, and will only increase users exposure if a hacker accesses the bank computer

- WE MUST HAVE SSL at least for the login
-- SSL encryption has been specifically designed for web site security, it is stupid that a bank decide not to use it for the most important phase of the connection (the login)

Comments on the Washington Post

Consumer complaints about: "Unwitting customers can click on a site thinking it's legitimate, and be taken to a site that resembles the one they want, but is controlled by phishers looking to steal their personal data."

PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption (Alertbox)

2005-11-18T11:35:00.000-05:00

Another one that, like me, hates PDF

The user interaction with PDF gets worse every time I open one.

meebo.com

2005-10-13T11:01:00.000-04:00

Finally a IM directly from the web.

Google Press Center: Zeitgeist

2005-10-11T12:09:00.000-04:00

Google Zeitgeist

The feeling of an era

Great

Russell Beattie Notebook - Why I Might Switch Back

2005-10-07T10:37:00.000-04:00

A Mac user thinks of switching back to Win

There is an interesting list of things he doesn't like about Mac.
And disposes of some miths of Mac platform.

Interesting.

IEBlog

2005-10-05T16:23:00.000-04:00

IEBlog

Internet Explorer Blog by Microsoft

Download details: Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar Beta

2005-10-05T16:22:00.000-04:00

The best web developer add in I have ever seen.

Microsoft
Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar

This is GREAT !

It is a toolbar for IE that let you go through the DOM model of a web page.

My advise, download and install it !

Study: No Link Between Cell Phones, Tumors - Yahoo! News

2005-08-31T12:09:00.000-04:00

Using cell phones does NOT cause tumors

Redeeming Skymiles at Delta is impossible

2005-08-11T16:39:00.000-04:00

Site Feedback

I have many miles with Delta.
Unfortunately it seems that in the last 5 years I could not manage to use them for any of the flights i needed to take, it seems that redeming skymiles is a legend, even if I try to make reservation several months in advance.

A few years ago I was very pleased with Delta airlines, and I signed up for their frequent flier program SkyMiles.
Unfortunately it has proven extremely hard to use the rewards earned and I

Too bad.
I wish I could transfer the rewards to another program.

My feedback to Delta: (10 Agugust 2005)
-----
- Looked to purchase a trip
- Not able to do what I wanted
- Very difficult
Once you are in a page, there is no clear link to go back and start a new reservation.
Flights returned for a trip are in an unknown order (not price, not number of stops, not travel time) what use is that ?

Making a flight reservation should really be SIMPLE !
-> From where, to Where, When
<- Price, Itinerary, better options (price, travel time)

Your prices seems to be exorbitant compared to other airlines.

Making a reservation skymiles is impossible (redeming skymiles must be a legend), I could NEVER make a reservation for the trip I need.

Quality at Delta went down severly in the last 2 years, and does not seem to be getting any better.

I am sorry I have all my miles with Delta, I wish I could transfer them to another airline.

a suggestion for you:
KEPP IT SIMPLE