Lakers and Spurs: Matching the Closers

The Los Angeles Lakers may be favored to win the third round of the Western Conference playoffs. However, if the game is close in the last five minutes, the advantage swings to the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers may have the best ‘closer’ in basketball in the league MVP Kobe Bryant, but there are only a few others who are an offensive threat in the final minutes. The ball will definitely be in Kobe Bryant’s hands. Perhaps Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol will be a threat. Lamar Odom would be a passer in the final minutes - and a concern at the foul line. And Sasha Vujacic would be willing to shoot in the final minutes. The question is ‘would you want a playoff game resting on a Sasha Vujacic three point shot?’.

On the other hand, the San Antonio Spurs have been consistently dangerous in the last minutes:

• perhaps three points shots: Manu Ginobili, Michael Finley, Robert Horry, Brent Barry - and even Bruce Bowen
• perhaps a drive to the basket: Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili
• perhaps points from the post: Tim Duncan and Kurt Thomas

Tim Duncan is not included in the three point shooters because he has made his one three point shot for the season during the Spurs / Suns series:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/5PDdb48g4_c" width="350" height="288" wmode="transparent" /]

In the final minutes, San Antonio may be more dangerous than the Lakers, even with a healthy Kobe Bryant. Arguably, this may be a moot point if the Lakers can build a significant lead before the final minutes. The Lakers, though, showed in the Utah series that they are quite capable of squandering away a double digit lead. Without a doubt, Phil Jackson will have reminded his team about protecting a lead and about never leaving Robert Horry alone in the last minute.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

[tag]nba, playoffs, los angeles lakers, san antonio spurs, closers[/tag]

According to Cisco’s CSO, Malware Wins

It is not an encouraging commentary. John Stewart, Cisco’s Chief Security Officer, thinks that malware is winning:

“…”If patching and antivirus is where I spend my money, and I’m still getting infected and I still have to clean up computers and I still need to reload them and still have to recover the user’s data and I still have to reinstall it, the entire cost equation of that is a waste.

“It’s completely wasted money,” Stewart told delegates.”

link: Antivirus is ‘completely wasted money’: Cisco CSO

For years, some in the security community have speculated that continuous ‘live’ updates might be part of the solution. That means that it is not a scheduled download of patches or an update at the discretion of the computer user. It means that the security software would be updated as continuously as possible, while the user is online. On starting the computer, the security program would ‘call home’ and download the latest protection.

The cost of such vigilance and this level of urgency would be cost prohibitive. The experts at security firms and at help sites simply know that malware purveyors far outnumber those who on the protective security side. And, sadly, continuous updates might be too late.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster

A Dog Remembers Your Anger

There will be days when the dog’s behaviour raises your blood pressure. You may be having a bad training day. You may catch the dog breaking the house rules. You may have had the worse day at work. Whatever the circumstance, you are ready to explode and let the anger flow - and sometimes the anger is directed at the dog. Don’t! Don’t do it.

Don’t crush the dog.

An unwarranted, prolonged outburst of anger may cause long term harm to your relationship with the dog. This may seem like a preposterous notion but experienced trainers know this for a fact. Often, they have had to learn this the hard way - and exercised patience and restraint with the second, third and following dogs.

Dogs have a basic expectation of fairness. This can be seen with how the mother dog corrects her pups. The correction is swift and appropriate and then it is finished. The lesson has been taught and it is completed. There is no brow-beating. There is no harangue - there is no ranting and raving. Pup learns the lesson and mother dog has not damaged the trust that pup has in her. Pup will continue to explore and learn the limits of what is acceptable and what is not.

In a moment of anger, it is possible to damage the trust that your pup / dog has in you. People who think that the dog will forget are mistaken. The dog will not forget. The dog may forgive but that dog’s trust in you as a fair leader will have been damaged. Have you forgotten an unwarranted explosion from a boss or from a respected teacher?

In extreme cases where the human response has been too severe, the dog will cease to try. In effect, it freezes - and not just temporarily. The dog will be afraid to give any response. It becomes afraid to try any response. And that is truly sad to see and it is so difficult to overcome that fear.

Remember that your long term goal is to have a happy, bold and confident dog. The dog trusts you - and a good leader never violates that trust. Never.

Catherine

A Dog Remembers Your Anger

There will be days when the dog’s behaviour raises your blood pressure. You may be having a bad training day. You may catch the dog breaking the house rules. You may have had the worse day at work. Whatever the circumstance, you are ready to explode and let the anger flow - and sometimes the anger is directed at the dog. Don’t! Don’t do it.

Don’t crush the dog.

An unwarranted, prolonged outburst of anger may cause long term harm to your relationship with the dog. This may seem like a preposterous notion but experienced trainers know this for a fact. Often, they have had to learn this the hard way - and exercised patience and restraint with the second, third and following dogs.

Dogs have a basic expectation of fairness. This can be seen with how the mother dog corrects her pups. The correction is swift and appropriate and then it is finished. The lesson has been taught and it is completed. There is no brow-beating. There is no harangue - there is no ranting and raving. Pup learns the lesson and mother dog has not damaged the trust that pup has in her. Pup will continue to explore and learn the limits of what is acceptable and what is not.

In a moment of anger, it is possible to damage the trust that your pup / dog has in you. People who think that the dog will forget are mistaken. The dog will not forget. The dog may forgive but that dog’s trust in you as a fair leader will have been damaged. Have you forgotten an unwarranted explosion from a boss or from a respected teacher?

In extreme cases where the human response has been too severe, the dog will cease to try. In effect, it freezes - and not just temporarily. The dog will be afraid to give any response. It becomes afraid to try any response. And that is truly sad to see.

Remember that your long term goal is to have a happy, bold and confident dog. The dog trusts you - and a good leader never violates that trust. Never.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

[tag]dogs, training, anger, restraint, patience, trust, relationship[/tag]

Google’s Security Dilemma

Once again, Google is faced with security issues that have widespread implication. Google is being asked to limit the content of YouTube, which is a part of its corporate conglomerate. On this occasion, it is to prevent terrorists from using YouTube as a means of communication and propaganda:

“…While YouTube has community guidelines for its users, Lieberman said “it does not appear that [Google] is enforcing these guidelines to the extent they would apply to [terrorist] content.

“Searches on YouTube return dozens of videos branded with an icon or logo identifying the videos as the work of one of these Islamist terrorist organizations,” Lieberman said. “A great majority of these videos document horrific attacks on American soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan. Others provide weapons training, speeches by al-Qaeda leadership, and general material intended to radicalize potential recruits.”"

link: Senator Lieberman Wants Terrorist Videos Removed From YouTube

While there may be universal agreement that terrorism should be thwarted by every possible means, it also places Google in the role of policing the internet. Terrorists to one country are fundamentalist warriors to other cultures. Google and other internet firms are finding themselves at the center of controversial issues. For example, ‘when is a religion a cult’ - ‘when is free speech hate mongering’ - ‘when does a technology follow local legislation which is at odds with the laws of its home country’…

Such questions places Google and other technology companies in the position of shaping the cultural Zeitgeist. It makes it very difficult to follow the corporate philosophy of ‘don’t be evil’. A corporate motto of ‘evil by forced legislation’ does not have the same cachet.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

[tag]google, security, terrorism, legislation, zeitgeist[/tag]