Security, computer style, small business

Wall St Journal reports that hackers are having a field day hacking small business computer systems. Smaller operations lack a big well trained IT department dedicated to keeping hackers out.
For small business men, I offer the following advice to keep your business information confidential. Worry about the security of plans and drawings, the CAD files that control the making of your product. And the software, both source code and executable that make the product run. Email, customer lists, human resources material such as employee reviews, and especially payroll. You don't want your competitor hiring away your best people, and going after your customers.
Remember that Windows computers have no security, any high school kid can break in and do anything he likes, tracelessly. Windows computers connected to the internet are even more vulnerable. An unpatched Windows computer will be infected by a virus within 10 minutes of connecting it to the net.
In light of this, step one means don't keep anything on a Windows computer that you don't absolutely have to have there. Let ADP do your payroll on their machines. Back the plans, drawings and software up to CD's and store them in file cabinets. Review all those reports each department makes and keeps, with an eye to weeding out the deadwood and backing up the historical stuff. If you ever get sued or investigated it's stuff from your files they will use to hang you. Less is better.
Don't allow dialup connections to your company machines. A dialup user is most likely a hacker.
Disconnect from the network all machines that don't absolutely have to have live internet access. Those dedicated machines down in production that burn proms, and test product don't need to be on the internet.
Brief your people that anything they put in email is public, just as if they posted it on the cafeteria bulletin board. Discussion of issues of interest to your competitors should be down face to face, not by email.
There are no silver bullets, your company computer network is vulnerable. Your only chance is to remove stuff you don't want your competitors to see.

Geography

Today's WSJ had an article bewailing the poor showing of American school children on a geography test.
They taught geography when I was in third grade. By the time I reached sixth grade, they stopped teaching geography, in stead we had "social studies" None of my children had a geography book or class.
If you don't teach it, don't expect children to know it.

Corporate Income Tax reform

Corporate income tax (at least for publicly traded corporations) should be a straight 20% (down from 35%) of the yearly profit from the corporation's annual report, the SEC approved, and audited report they show to Wall St investors. No allowances for domestic production, use of ethanol, purchase of electrical vehicles, green goodness or anything else. No loss carryover, loosing money last year is no reason to get a tax break this year.
Rationale. Accounting is so slippery that clever and crooked accountants can and do turn losses into profits, loans into income, phone bills into capital investments, and similar trickery that we might as well take advantage of all the rules and paperwork that attempts to limit accounting swindles for tax assessment. Plus companies are less likely to declare purely imaginary profits when they have to pay taxes on them.

Three D in the movies

I forgot to mention the last Harry Potter movie was in Three D, and we now have three D up here, unlike a few years ago when we had to watch Avatar in two D.
The effect was pretty good. At least everything looked three d, and the color was good, the focus was acceptable, and there were no artifacts. But it didn't really add much to the flick. The three-D glasses are uncomfortable, especially over eye glasses and they show odd reflections from theater lighting.
The director mostly refrained from having things fly out of the screen into the audience's lap. Showing mature restraint on his part.

The Last Harry Potter Movie

So of course we went to see it. This is the third night it has been playing in Littleton, and apparently a good many townspeople had yet to see it. The Jax Jr was pretty full.
It was a good Potter movie, better than the last one. More action and less standing around thinking gloomy thoughts. The principles, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint did their usual competent acting. Plot continuity sucked, as is usual in Potter movies. If you haven't read the book, it's meaningless whirl of special effects. I have read the book, and the two hour movie manages to cover most of the book's plot. The ending is the same. There are some great scenes, like when the dragon rises up thru the floor of Gringotts bank, scattering Goblin tellers left and right and bringing down the biggest crystal chandelier in the world. Or when the underground rail car at Gringott's stops on a bridge, sets out anti collision flashers and then dumps all the passengers into the deep gorge below the bridge.

I'm gonna miss the yearly Harry Potter movie. Too bad we have reached the end of the line.

What do Republicans do now?

The Republicans hoped to tie some spending cuts or even entitlement revision to the debt limit increase. It isn't working, Obama said no deal. In fact he is asking for tax hikes.
If the Republicans hang tough, let the money run out and shut the US government down, will it help them win in 2012? With the ever helpful main stream media blaming the republicans full time? Something like this happened back in Gingrich/Clinton time and it didn't work out for the GOP. That's why Gingrich is no longer Republican Speaker of the House, or even a Congressman.
Or, the Republicans can say, "Here is a $2.5 trillion hike to the national credit limit." Humiliating, but perhaps better than losing the blame game. And then spend the time to election refusing to pass porky spending bills. McConnell in the Senate is proposing just that policy.
What comes next? Film at 11.