Farewell to an IT Icon

After 18 years, Microsoft has finally stopped supporting Windows 3.x ... Oh the days of running an ISP and supporting Windows 3.x... Windows 9x was such a change in mind set, as were Windows NT, Windows 2000 and XP, and here we are now with Vista... Incredible, the change in user experience in the past 20 years...

I've used every version of Windows from 1.0, which was a runtime version that came with the first versions of Excel and Word, and most recently, I've had a play with a preview release of Windows 7, and I'm still mostly impressed with what Microsoft deliver in the end user experience in their OS.

How do you get a research gig like this?

Potato Chip Flavoring Boosts Longevity Of Concrete

Summarized from : http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/iecred/2007/46/i16/html/ie070527l.html

The ingredient that helps give “salt & vinegar” potato chips that tangy snap is the key to a new waterproof coating for protecting concrete from water damage, scheduled for the current (August 1) issue of ACS’ Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, a bi-weekly journal. Awni Al-Otoom and colleagues in Jordan point out that concrete’s unique properties have made it the world’s most widely used structural material. Concrete, however, is so porous that water soaks in, corroding steel reinforcing bars and meshes that strengthen concrete roads and buildings and causing cracks as water expands and contracts during freeze-thaw cycles. Sealants are commercially available, but they have serious shortcomings, the study notes. In the new report, researchers describe the use of sodium acetate as an inexpensive and environmentally friendly concrete sealant. One of sodium acetate’s many uses is in flavored potato chips. In laboratory studies using freshly made concrete, the researchers showed that sodium acetate seeps into pores in concrete and then hardens and crystallizes upon exposure to water. The resultant swelling blocks entry of additional moisture, they said. Under dry conditions, the crystals shrink back to their original size and allow moisture to evaporate. The net result is “a significant reduction in water permeability,” that “can be expected to increase the service life of the concrete,” the report said.

Some People Will Scam ANYONE!!!

Here's an article from The Age today, which tickled my fancy...

It reminds me of going to the Melbourne 4WD and Camping Show last year with my sister and her husband, and while looking at the animals in the Petting Zoo, hearing a woman ask of the guy with the animals: "What sort of dog is this" and the guy answering "It's a Pig"

Japanese Fleeced in Poodle Scam

Sheep or poodle?
Photo: Erin Jonasson

Thousands of Japanese have been swindled in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles.

Flocks of sheep were imported to Japan and then sold by a company called Poodles as Pets, marketed as fashionable accessories, available at $1,600 each.

That is a snip compared to a real poodle which retails for twice that much in Japan.

The scam was uncovered when Japanese moviestar Maiko Kawamaki went on a talk-show and wondered why her new pet would not bark or eat dog food.

She was crestfallen when told it was a sheep.

Then hundreds of other women got in touch with police to say they feared their new "poodle" was also a sheep.

One couple said they became suspicious when they took their "dog" to have its claws trimmed and were told it had hooves.

Japanese police believe there could be 2,000 people affected by the scam, which operated in Sapporo and capitalised on the fact that sheep are rare in Japan, so many do not know what they look like.

"We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company were selling sheep as poodles,'' Japanese police said.

"Sadly we think there is more than one company operating in this way.

"The sheep are believed to have been imported from overseas - Britain, Australia.''

Many of the sheep have now been donated to zoos and farms.

Source: AAP