A leap second must be added to the Coordinated Universal Time just before midnight this New Year’s Eve to account for the slowing of the Earth’s rotation. So before you make a toast, wait just a second, and have a Happy 2006!

HANA, the High Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance has been established to enable consumer electronics devices such as HDTVs, and media players become more interoperable using IEEE 1394 (Apple’s FireWire) cables. Does this mean we will finally have a truly ‘universal’ remote? Check out the Wikipedia article as well.

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It looks like this project is coming closer to reality. Taiwan’s Quanta, the biggest manufacturer of notebooks in the world, has signed on to the $100 laptop project. There has been a great deal of doubt and criticism surrounding MIT’s One Laptop Per Child. Many, including Intel, feel that users want full fledged computers. In my opinion, a basic inexpensive computer is better than none at all. MIT has done a good job of working with governments to get these into hands of users. This is not a retail product, and I believe that is where some of the confusion and skepticism is coming from.

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Yesterday we had the first major snow of the season; approximately 4 inches. I noticed as I walked around campus how much good cheer snowfall brings to people. Maybe it is the time of year when people are feeling cheerful. Perhaps it is the fact that most of the students are excited to go home for the break. But I believe that it conjures childhood memories of snowball fights, sledding and (attempting) to ride your bike in the snow with neighborhood friends. There is nothing that beats a good romp in the white stuff then after, to go back inside and warm up to a nice cup of hot cocoa.

Let it snow!

A band called Pant Pants Pants recreates the opening sequences to the hit comedy “Full House” with an amazing attention to detail and their own funky soundtrack. Original is synchronized in the bottom right corner.

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My wife’s grandma “Merdie” passed away this Thanksgiving. She was an amazing woman with a historical political career as a local Democrat Party leader in Lafayette, Indiana. She was twice elected to the Democratic National Convention (1980 and 1984) as a delegate from Indiana and served as a voter registration officer for Tippecanoe County, Indiana. During the past year she took up water color painting and re-created a Monet, a portait of her grandson Giuseppe Alkire, some lovely outdoor scenes from various photo clippings. We remembered Merdie at a memorial service on December 1st with photo albums, her paintings and other memorabilia. Merdie was always full of joy and laughter and for that she will be missed. Here are the funeral notice and obituaries.