Archive | February, 2010
February 27, 2010

LEGO Atlantis Neptune Carrier

LEGO Atlantis Neptune Carrier

LEGO Atlantis Neptune Carrier

The Son has been highly interested in the LEGO Atlantis collection. Yesterday, when he got the LEGO Atlantis Neptune Carrier, I decided to film him assembling the kit. This is our second attempt at this experiment. The first was assembling the LEGO Atlantis Turbo Typhoon Sub

You can see more in my latest post on GeekDad: Assembling the LEGO Atlantis Neptune Carrier.

Some of my recent posts on GeekDad:

  1. 20 Geeky Images from Space
  2. Assembling the LEGO Atlantis Turbo Typhoon Sub
  3. Own Your World With Location-Based Mobile Games
  4. Catalog Your Books Online

February 25, 2010

Geeky Images from Space

spiderweb-660×374

Being a real estate guy, I have a big interest in maps and the visualization of the land around us. Google Earth has provided a treasure trove of information. That system provides has some great images of weird, cool and geeky things as viewed from space.

I picked 20 of the geekiest images I could find. You can see then in my latest post on GeekDad: 20 Geeky Images from Space.

Below is a map of all 20 and a few others that I found. Click on an icon to zoom in. Use the arrows and scale to pan around and zoom in or zoom out.


View Geeky Images on Google Earth in a larger map

February 24, 2010

New England Winter Weather Signs

epic-fail-new-england-road-sign-win

Translating winter road conditions into “New England-ish”:

from FailBlog: New England Road Sign Win.

February 20, 2010

Compliance Building Roundup

Compliance Building Roundup

Here are the past week’s posts from my Compliance Building blog on compliance and business ethics:

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Compliance Bits and Pieces for February 19

February 19, 2010
Here are some interesting compliance related stories from the past two weeks. (I reserved last week for my blogoversary.) Details Emerge on SEC Office of Market Intelligence by Bruce Carton in Compliance Week One of the first tools that the Securities Exchange Commission launched after it ushered itself into the Internet era in the mid-1990s…
Read more »

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New York City Enacts New Rules for Its Pension Fund Investments

February 18, 2010
New York City Enacts New Rules for Its Pension Fund InvestmentsNew York City Comptroller John C. Liu announced sweeping changes in the way New York City pension funds make investment decisions. Following the lead of New York state and several other states, New York City is changing how it deals with gifts, campaign contributions and placement agents. Ban on Campaign Contributions Comptroller Liu declines any campaign…Read more »

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Securities Class Actions in Canada

February 18, 2010
Securities Class Actions in CanadaWith the winter Olympics going full swing in Canada, I thought I would look to how that country is dealing with securities class actions. NERA Economic Consulting just released their 2009 Update on Trends in Canadian Securities Class Actions. Some tidbits: Eight securities class actions were filed in 2009, compared with the 10 filings in 2008. There…Read more »

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Media Leak is not Protected as a SOX Whistleblower

February 17, 2010
Media Leak is not Protected as a SOX WhistleblowerLeaking information to the media about bad financial controls is not protected by SOX whistleblower retaliation clause. Nicholas P. Tides and Matthew C. Neumann were working as “Audit IT SOX auditors” at The Boeing Company. They made several complaints about auditing deficiencies to their supervisors. They claimed “that Boeing’s auditing culture was unethical and that…Read more »

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The Economist: Special Report on Financial Risk

February 16, 2010
<em>The Economist</em>: Special Report on Financial RiskThis week’s The Economist has an excellent special report: The Gods Strike Back. The title comes from Peter Bernstein’s Against the Gods: “The revolutionary idea that defines the boundary between modern times and the past is the mastery of risk: the notion that the future is more than a whim of the gods and that men…Read more »

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President’s Day

February 15, 2010
President’s DayWashington’s Birthday, the federal holiday was originally implemented by the United States Congress in 1880 for government offices in the District of Columbia (20 Stat. 277) and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices (23 Stat. 516). As the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen, the holiday was celebrated on Washington’s…Read more »

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Weekend Book Review: In Fed We Trust

February 14, 2010
Weekend Book Review: <em>In Fed We Trust</em>It is only fitting that I am writing this book review on a Sunday. In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic starts off by telling about the importance of a few Sundays in 2008. In March, there was the Sunday when the Federal Reserve announced an unprecedented action to lend…Read more »

February 19, 2010

LEGO Atlantis Turbo Typhoon Sub

lego atlantis typhoon turbo sub

The Son has been highly interested in the LEGO Atlantis collection. Yesterday, when he got the LEGO Atlantis Turbo Typhoon Sub, I decided to film him assembling the kit.

You can see more in my latest post on GeekDad: Assembling the LEGO Atlantis Turbo Typhoon Sub.

Some of my recent posts on GeekDad:

  1. Own Your World With Location-Based Mobile Games
  2. Catalog Your Books Online
  3. 10 Things Parents Should Know About The Princess and the Frog
  4. A Visit to the Patee House Museum

February 16, 2010

America’s Cup – Now Brought to you by BMW and Oracle

BMW Oracle

With all of the non-traditional sport focus on the Olympics, I nearly missed the news that the America’s Cup sailing competition was happening in Valencia Spain. The BMW Oracle team triumphed over the Alinghi team. That means the US boat beat the Swiss boat.

Part of my family comes from Newport, Rhode Island, so I’ve had an interest in the America’s Cup. The sailing race was based in Newport starting in 1851. Then in 1983, an Australian boat won the cup and took it down under.

In 1983 the Australians won by using a radical design in the hull of their boat. The Australia II used a winged keel. They also made extensive use of kevlar and carbon fiber.

The BMW Oracle Racing boat, USA 17, was also a radical design. It is a tirmaran that is nearly 90 feet across. It also uses a rigid sail wing instead of a sail. The wing is almost twice as big as the wing of a 747.

Congratulations to Larry Ellison and BMW Oracle Racing.

There is no news on where the next America’s Cup race will be held.

Sources:

February 15, 2010

Difference Between Being an Adult and a Parent

pumpkin vomit

One of the differences between being an adult and a being parent:

When you are awake in the middle of the night and covered in vomit. It’s not your vomit.

February 14, 2010

The Lightning Thief

percy-jackson-movie-poster-200×296

I finally got The Son to listen to chapter books for bedtime reading. I had no success with the Harry Potter books. His babysitter recommended the Percy Jackson books.

The premise of the Percy Jackson stories is that Greek mythology is true. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and the rest of the gods are still with us. Percy’s full name is Perseus. Like him, he is also the child of Poseidon and a mortal woman.

The Son loves the books. They are more lighthearted than the Harry Potter books. Instead of taking place in a gloomy castle, the action takes place in more recognizable locations across the United States.

Last night, we finished the third book in the series: The Titan’s Curse.

The Son saw the trailer for movie adaptation for the first book: The Lightning Thief. It just opened this weekend and he wanted to see it.

I wrote a review of the movie from the parent’s perspective. You can read it on GeekDad: 10 Things Parents Should Know About The Lightning Thief.

February 13, 2010

The Winter Olympic Events I Want to See

NBC-Vancouver

I don’t have Olympic fever because I’m not that interested in the headline events. My tastes are a bit quirkier.

I hate ice skating. The downhill events are boring, except for the crashes. The snowboard halfpipe is fun, but I can’t tell when one person is doing better than the other.

These are the events I want to see:

Preview: Women's 7.5km sprint Women’s Biathalon
7.5km Sprint
Sat, Feb 13
Preview: Men's 10km sprint
Men’s Biathalon
10km Sprint
Sun, Feb 14
Men's snowboard cross final Snowboard Cross
Men’s Qualifier
Mon, Feb 15
Men's snowboard cross final Snowboard Cross
Men’s Medal Round
Mon, Feb 15
Women's snowboard cross qualification Snowboard Cross
Women’s Qualifier
Tue, Feb 16
Women's snowboard cross final Snowboard Cross
Women’s Medal Round
Tue, Feb 16
Preview: Women's 10km pursuit Women’s Biathalon
10km Pursuit
Tue, Feb 16
Preview: Women's 10km pursuit Men’s Biathalon
12.5km Pursuit
Tue, Feb 16
Preview: Women's 10km pursuit Women’s Biathalon
4 x 6km Relay
Tue, Feb 23
Preview: Women's 10km pursuit Men’s Biathalon
4 x 7.5km Relay
Fri, Feb 26
Curling Basics Women’s Curling
Bronze Medal Game
Fri, Feb 26
U.S. team rock solid behind revitalized captain Women’s Curling
Gold Medal Game
Fri, Feb 26
Curling Basics Men’s Curling
Bronze Medal Game
Sat, Feb 27
Debbie McCormick's photos Men’s Curling
Gold Medal Game
Sat, Feb 27

All images are blatantly stolen from the NBC Olympics webpage.

February 12, 2010

Here I Am. . . . Again

boston-mbta-map-200×206

Location-based games and location-based social networking sites have exploded along with the proliferation of GPS enabled phones.

I’ve tried my hand at BrightKite, FourSquare, and Gowalla.

When I heard the developer of Own This World describe his game as a combination of Risk and FourSquare I jumped at the chance to try it out.

You can read more on my latest GeekDad post: Own Your World With Location-Based Mobile Games.

Some of my other recent GeekDad posts:

  1. Catalog Your Books Online
  2. 10 Things Parents Should Know About The Princess and the Frog
  3. Data Privacy Day is January 28
  4. A Visit to the Patee House Museum