Symantec CEO Says Buy An Apple
May 17, 2006 – 4:53 amThe CEO of security firm Symantec, John Thompson, advises computer buyers to buy a Mac.
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Legal Issues – Academy Membership
May 15, 2006 – 14:53 pmSeveral agency administrators have indicated to me that they are confused about the procedures for joining or leaving their academy of record. I have prepared this memorandum in an effort to explain the procedures as I understand them.
Mr. Ronald E. Bessent, the Program Director for the Division of Standards and Training of the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) sent out a memorandum on March 16, 2006 entitled Important Training Notice: Academy Re-Assignments. In his memorandum, Mr. Bessent wrote:
In 2001, the General Assembly enacted legislation to stabilize regional academy membership. Section 15.2 – 1747 of the Code of Virginia required agency membership terms of five (5) years with their designated regional academy. The initial five year-term expires this year and an open membership period will exist during 2006. The Code section specifically spells out the requirements for establishing or transferring membership with a regional academy.
Local agencies may change their designated regional academy membership this year by notifying their respective academy by October 1, 2006, and complying with the Criminal Justice Services Board’s policy for regional academies.
Notices must be given to the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the academies prior to October 1st to take effect July 1, 2007. Regional academy membership as October 1, 2006 will remain in effect for a five-year period in accordance with Section 15.2 – 1747 of the Code of Virginia…
Although this information is factually correct, it fails to explain the complete procedure and the obligations of local agencies under § 15.2 – 1747. The General Assembly amended § 15.2 – 1747 in 2000 in an effort to stabilize regional academy membership in response to a report of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission entitled Alternatives to Stabilize Regional Criminal Justice Training Academy Membership (Senate Document No.7, 2000). The amendments were as follows:
C. Any governmental unit not a party to an original agreement creating an academy under this section or § 15.2-1300 may join the academy only by two-thirds vote of the board of directors of the academy. The governing body of the governmental unit seeking to join the academy shall request membership by resolution or ordinance. The board of directors shall provide for the addition of the joining governmental unit to the academy and the number, terms of office, and voting rights of members of the board of directors, if any, to be appointed by the joining governmental unit.
D. A governmental unit may withdraw from an academy created under this section or § 15.2-1300 only by two-thirds vote of the board of directors of the academy. The governing body of the governmental unit seeking to withdraw from the academy shall signify its desire by resolution or ordinance. The board of directors shall consider requests to withdraw in October 2001, and in October of every fifth year thereafter. No requests to withdraw shall be considered at any other time, unless agreed to unanimously. Any withdrawal approved by the board of directors shall be effective on June 30 of the following year. The board of directors shall provide for the conditions of withdrawal.
Section 15.2 – 1747, Paragraph C establishes the procedure by which an agency that was not a party to an original agreement to form an academy can become a member. It should be noted that the language of this section does not specify a “regional†academy. In fact, it specifically mentions academies created under § 15.2-1300 Joint Exercise of Powers By Political Subdivisions, which may also include independent academies where two or more political subdivisions have entered into an agreement to provide training services.
Section 15.2 – 1747, Paragraph D establishes the procedure by which a governmental unit may withdraw from an academy. Part of the confusion was caused by the statement in Mr. Bessent’s memorandum that this section:
“…required agency membership terms of five (5) years with their designated regional academy. The initial five year-term expires this year and an open membership period will exist during 2006.â€
This section does not specify any “agency membership term†at all. Instead, it specifies that in order for a governmental unit to withdraw from an academy, they must receive permission from at least two-thirds of the board of directors of the academy. It goes on to specify that the board of directors shall only consider requests to withdraw in October 2001, and in October of every fifth year thereafter. In fact, it goes on to state that, “No requests to withdraw shall be considered at any other time, unless agreed to unanimously.â€
Contrary to Mr. Bessent’s assertion that, “Local agencies may change their designated regional academy membership this year by notifying their respective academy by October 1, 2006, and complying with the Criminal Justice Services Board’s policy for regional academies…â€, under § 15.2 – 1747 local agencies may only change academies after receiving permission to do so from at least two-thirds of the board of directors of the academy.
Any local governmental unit that desires to change its academy affiliation must first signal its desire to do so by resolution or ordinance. The board of directors of the academy can only consider the request during the month of October 2006 unless the members agree unanimously to consider the request at some other time. Two-thirds of the board of directors must agree to release the governmental unit from its membership obligations before the requesting government unit can terminate its academy membership. Provided that the governmental unit receives the necessary votes, they may petition to join any other academy provided that two-thirds or more of the receiving academy’s board of directors vote to permit the governmental unit to join.
Unfortunately, the Department of Criminal Justice Services has not amended its regulations or guidelines pertaining to this issue so the Criminal Justice Training Reference Manual does not provide any guidance. The Criminal Justice Services Board’s Committee On Training and DCJS are currently reviewing the regulations and revisions can be expected in the future.
I hope the information contained in this memorandum clarifies the procedures that must be followed in order to comply with § 15.2 – 1747, Code of Virginia. Please do not hesitate to contact me at 540.375.3095 or rschumaker@cardinalacademy.org if you require any additional information.
Keep Your PowerPoint File Smaller
May 9, 2006 – 5:42 amWe encourage our instructors to use images sparingly in the PowerPoint presentations that we use at the academy. However, it is just as important that the images that are used be used in an intelligent manner. The best way to put images in a presentation is to save the image to your hard drive and then use Insert/Picture/From File to insert your images onto your slides.
If you just paste or drag and drop an image onto a PowerPoint slide, it may create what is known as an embedded OLE object. When you cut and paste, you are not just pasting the image, you also get application overhead that lets you double-click the image on the slide to open up an application window and edit the photo from within PowerPoint. Although that can be convenient, it significantly increases file size. When you are dealing with multiple images, the PowerPoint slide can increase in size quickly.
Department of Defense Gunfighting Rules
May 8, 2006 – 14:07 pmMarine Corp Rules for Gunfights:
1. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.
2. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.
3. Have a plan.
4. Have a back-up plan, because the first one probably won’t work.
5. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
6. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun whose caliber does not start
with a “4.”
7. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life
is expensive.
8. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral &
diagonal preferred.)
9. Use cover or concealment as much as possible.
10. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
11. Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
12. In ten years, nobody will remember the caliber, stance, or tactics.
They will remember who lived.
13. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating.
Navy SEALS Rules For Gunfights:
1. Look very cool in sunglasses.
2. Kill every living thing within view.
3 . Return quickly to looking cool in latest beach wear.
4. Check hair in mirror.
Army Rangers Rules For Gunfights:
1. Walk in 50 miles wearing 75 pound ruck while starving.
2. Locate individuals requiring killing.
3. Request permission via radio from “Higher” to perform killing.
4. Curse bitterly when mission is aborted.
5. Walk out 50 miles wearing a 75 pound ruck while starving.
Army Rules For Gunfights:
1. Select a new beret to wear
2. Sew combat patch on right shoulder
3. Change the color of beret you decide to wear
Air Force Rules For Gunfights:
1. Have a cocktail
2. Adjust temperature on air-conditioner
3. See what’s on HBO
4. Determine “what is a gunfight”
5. Request more funding from Congress with a “killer” Power Point
presentation
6. Wine & dine “key” Congressmen, invite DOD & defense industry executives
7. Receive funding, set up new command and assemble assets
8. Declare the assets “strategic” and never deploy them operationally
9. Tell the Navy to send the Marines
Navy Rules For Gunfights:
1. Go to Sea
2. Drink Coffee
3. Send in the Marines
When Will Your Thumb Drive Bite The Dust?
May 7, 2006 – 16:56 pmIt is difficult to put an exact time expectation on the life of a thumb (flash) drive but, like any other media, they won’t last forever. The best tip I can give you is to back up the data on your thumb drive regularly. I back mine periodically to my 30 gid iPod. Just create a “Thumb Driver” folder on your computer’s hard drive or an external drive. Inside the folder that you created, create a second folder and name it for the date “050606“, then copy the contents of your drive into the dated folder. Each time you back up, just create another dated folder.
For those of you who don’t backup regularly, the good news is thumb drives may last longer than other types of media. Some manufacturers say that the flash cells are good for anywhere between 100,000 and a million write cycles. You will probably lose the drive before you wear it out. However, as my son found out when his Iomega flash drive dumped his data, nothing is certain.
Some manufacturers claim these flash drives will last up to 10 years but I wouldn’t take that to bank. If you replace them about every five years, you are probably in the safe zone. Of course, keep in mind that your hard drive will probably crap out in 3 – 5 years and you can’t depend on CDs or DVDs to last even that long.
How About A Mac?
May 2, 2006 – 16:37 pmIn my continuing effort to get everyone to try a Mac and dump their PC, here are a few cute and persuasive movie clips to make my points.
CLICK HERE:
Living Will
April 28, 2006 – 4:52 amMy brother, who lives in Pennsylvania, sent me an e-mail the other day. He related the following story that I thought some of you should keep in mind:
While watching a football game a couple weeks back, my wife and I were discussing life and death. I told her, “Just so you know, I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.”
She promptly got up, unplugged the TV and threw out all my beer. Some days I hate being married to a smartass.
A Little Computer Paranoia Is Good
April 26, 2006 – 7:33 amIf you use a computer someone, somewhere may be able to recover the information or track your movements (including on-line training records). Don’t use a computer for anything that you wouldn’t want to to become public knowledge or show up later. As law enforcement officers, you should be aware that forensics experts can retrieve information that people may have thougt was was deleted, even when ordinary users cannot.
If you share or use an office computer, you should have little or no expectation of privacy. Even if certain information isn’t admissible in court, it can work against you in other proceedings. There is even some question whether an attorney-client privilege applies to communications stored on a shared computer.
Trouble in paradise? Your web-surfing habits, e-mail and financial records are often targets in divorce and child custody cases. So, if a divorce or separation is possibly in your future, take steps to protect yourself.
Here are a few simple rules to help keep yourself out of trouble.
Sometimes we focus so much on protecting our information from prying eyes that we forget about an equally serious threat, the loss of our information. Backing up your data is just a good computing practice but it is very important if there is a chance that your data could be deleted by someone with a malicious purpose. Sometimes people can actually benefit more from the disappearance of information than they can from the information itself. Make sure that you set up a schedule for backing up important data and then store the copy in a safe off site place like a safety deposit box.
Use your head when sending e-mail. Don’t disclose sensitive information or personal details in e-mail. Remember, unlike a letter, your e-mail can be sent to an unlimited number of recipients with the touch of a button and you have no control over how the message will be used.
The great thing about the internet is also the scary thing about it. You can find information about almost any topic including how to hack e-mail accounts. Also, if you don’t use secure password and change them often, your spouse or your co-workers may be able to guess your passwords. Don’t forget that if the internet provider is subpoenaed, it may have to turn over your e-mail. This could include messages you thought were deleted. Emptying your trash folder is good, but it may not protect you since it doesn’t truely “erase” the information.
There is no law against visiting websites that contain questionable content but it could be used to cast doubt about your character in a child custody battle.
Many people mistakenly believe that they are anonymous when they visit chat rooms and Internet forums. Unfortunately, they are mistaken so use them cautiously. When you chat or post messages online, your IP address (computer address) is recorded and it can be traced back to you.
There are a number of ways that your internet activity can be monitored. At work, activity logs may be kept that document all of the activity on a given network. Employers and spouses have also been known to use keylogging programs that can be installed and monitored from a remote computer. Keyloggers are designed to be very difficult to detect once they have been installed on a computer. If a keylogger is installed on your computer, the only way you may be able to detect it is to use a program like SpyCop or SpyDetect to find it. Be careful about using a keylogging program since they may violate state or federal laws.
Now you know so govern yourself accordingly.
Website: Share Your Travel Experiences
April 25, 2006 – 5:10 amAre you a frequent traveler that loves to share your travel experiences with others? Do you like to investigate the experiences of others before planning your trip? A travel blog is a good way to do both.
Sign up for a free account at TravBuddy and you can write your travel blog, trace your steps on a Google map and share unlimited photos. You can log on to your site from any internet connected location.
You can also look for travel ideas by reading the blogs of other travelers. The blogs can be browsed by locations (country, city or region). Each destination has recommendations on sites, food and lodging.
CLICK HERE:
Change the Default Opening Folder in Windows Explorer
April 20, 2006 – 6:57 amBy default, Windows Explorer opens showing the My Documents folder. I may be the exception to the rule but I prefer to choose from all of the folders and drives, not just My Documents.
To change the default setting so that all top–level drives and folders are shown, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, point to Programs, then Accessories, then right–click Windows Explorer, and click Properties.
2. Under Target field, which reads %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe, add to make the line read %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n, /e, /select, C:\ (or replace C:\ with whatever folder you desire)
3. Click OK.
Note:Â If you have already placed a Windows Explorer icon on your desktop, you will have to delete it and create a new icon.
Website: Games, Games and More Games
April 18, 2006 – 5:27 amThere are countless game site on the net but finding a site worth visiting in tough. That is why Arcaplay is such a great find. The have over 100 Flash-based games that you will love.
They organize the games by categories and tags. Tags are like subcategories, which can span categories.
Registered users can also receive free code to place any game on their own sites.
CLICK HERE:
Website: Reverse Phone Directory
April 11, 2006 – 5:04 amA lot of folks have caller ID on their cell phones or home phones and from time to time you may get a call from a number you don’t recognize. Try using the Reverse Phone Directory. Type in a number, address or name. Any one piece may get you the rest. There are three databases to use from this site.
Want to see what others can find out about you, type yourself in. The results might persuade you to opt out of listing services, particularly if you are a cop.
There are also links to other features like package tracking and search engines. The only catch is that many of these links will cost you to use.
CLICK HERE:
New Google Toolbar Improves Surfing Safety
April 10, 2006 – 5:15 amGoogle has just made the Google Toolbar 2 for Firefox available. Like the previous version, it has tools to help you surf the net more easily but the real reason to upgrade is Google’s Safe Browsing extension. This extension used to be an optional add-on. This extension helps you identify phishing sites which is worth the download by itself.
CLICK HERE:
Add Shadows to Paragraphs in Word
April 10, 2006 – 5:01 amMost folks know placing a border around a paragraph makes the text look like it’s in a box. To make it look even more professional , you can add a drop shadow to your text, giving it a 3-D appearance (the text will “stand out†from the rest of your document).
Here’s how to add a drop shadow to a paragraph:
1. Move your insertion point (the blinking vertical bar that indicates where your cursor is) inside the paragraph you want to change.
2. From the Format menu, choose the Borders and Shading command.
3. From the Borders and Shading dialog box, pick the Borders tab.
4. In the Setting area (it’s the leftmost column in the dialog box), select the Shadow effect.
5. In the Width drop-down, choose the heaviness of the shadow. Choose “1/2 point†for a light shadow.
6. Click on OK.
Word will add a border around the entire paragraph. The right and bottom borders are heavier (thicker), giving the text that three-dimensional look. (See our online edition this week for an example.)
Note: You can put a shadow around multiple paragraphs. Instead of moving your insertion point in Step 1, select the paragraphs you want surrounded. Complete the remaining steps, and Word places a single box around all the paragraphs you selected.
