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GAC: Finding the email of a potential date

QUESTION

Is it OK to email someone you are interested in dating, even if that person didn't give you his/her address personally?

AMANDA: NO

My opinion is no, unless you want to look like a stalker. The obvious response to the email will be, "So, how did you get my address?" And what will the reply to that be? "Oh, I decided to look at member directories at every email service I could think of to try to find out how to contact you." Talk about scaring someone off!

Tech illustrations are often pretty bizarre

Sometimes, technical manuals are hard to read and understand. Occasionally, they may even include pictographs that are supposed to help the user better understand the instructions. But what happens when even the pictographs make no freakin' sense?

Global warming doesn't just mean it's getting hot in herre

Fill in the blank

Binary scoring system needed for Olympic gymnastics

Perform a Google news search on "olympic gymnastics controversy" and you'll notice 1,230 articles (at least, at this point) pertaining to what seems to be evolving into a silly event.

I don't want to take away the athleticism of the participants. They do things that not even the best breakdancer, which is what I want to be when I grow up, cannot do. But the reward for their efforts is a couple of judges apparently randomly giving out scores. One time, I think I saw the South Korean judge with a Scantron, trying to create a flag pattern with his scoring.

Don't try this at home, or at IHOP

Two teenagers in Grand Rapids, Mich., set a new Guinness World Record recently by watching TV for 52 hours straight. And, of all places, they performed their feat at an International House of Pancakes.

The father of one of the young men said, "He has to be good at something, this is just as well." Is this for real? People don't have anything better to do than set records watching TV? Better yet, did they try the stuffed French toast?

From the Archive

Book review: 'The Soul of a New Machine' by Tracy Kidder

Being an author (occasionally) and having book events (rarer than occasionally), people often recommend other books or authors I should read. Usually the books pertain to what I have written about (technology) or possibly the style in which I attempt to write (sarcastic humor?).

Book review: "Baseball Between the Numbers" by The Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts

We are inching closer to the pennant chases, and we have already seen Barry Bonds break Hank Aaron's home run record. Still, there's a lot more to solve in the world of baseball right now.

How can some teams spend a ton of money for a cellar-dwelling result? How do other teams build a thrifty team and manage to thrive?

Virus, pharming, phishing: It's all geek to some

A recent survey compiled in the UK showed that the common computer user didn't understand, or even worse, had never heard of many typical technological jargon terms.

According to the survey, only 39 percent of users knew what a Trojan was, 10 percent thought spyware was a computer program to check on cheating partners and 16 percent had never even heard of spam.

Bing Maps launches

Microsoft continues its march toward competing with Google by launching Bing Maps. I took it for a quick test run, and in general, it's pretty comparable to Google Maps. There's hardly a discernible difference between the two, honestly. You can change routes pretty easily, look for local businesses and email links to friends. Probably the strangest thing I noticed, however, is that the base URL turns into bing.com/maps, instead of remaining maps.bing.com.

Next stop: Baltimore bookstores

Although I'm still in the process of setting up book events in Baltimore, I do have at least two confirmed appearances for "The Developers."

At 2 p.m. April 21, I'll be at the Marley Station Borders in Glen Burnie, Md. On the following day, April 22, I will be at the Columbia (Md.) Mall Borders, again at 2 p.m.

Besides the normal meet-and-greet that always occurs at this appearances, I hope to give interested visitors a sneak peek at my new book, which I hope to release at the end of the year.

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