Security Patches and "Sing Off" Part III


Yesterday, both Adobe and Mozilla announced they had realized that there are gaping security holes in their products, Adobe in the Acrobat Reader versions 9.2 and earlier and Mozilla in its Firefox browser 3.5.5. Mozilla quickly patched the holes and released version 3.5.6 by the end of the day yesterday. I noticed my PC and Mac both had automatically updated to 3.5.6 when I first started them up and they were patched and ready to go. Adobe's response is not so impressive. They say they will have a patch released by January 12, 2010, and in the meanwhile users should manually disable JavaScript in the Acrobat products. My advice to them would be to ditch Adobe's huge PDF reader and use something lighter and safer like Foxit Reader on Windows, Apple's built-in Preview on a Mac or Evince on a Linux box.

Last night was the third installment of NBC's "Sing Off" and we watched it even though we do not watch that much prime time television. We were expecting Maxx Factor, the barbershop quartet of older ladies from Baltimore, to get eliminated and were curious to see which collegiate group would be cut, since we guessed Nota and the Beelzebubs from Tufts would survive. At the end it was the SoCals from USC who had to depart and the "Voices of Lee" from Lee University who were able to stay on to the live finals next Monday. Even though I think Nota is the best performing group with the Beelzebubs a close second, I will have to say I am also cheering for Voices of Lee. Before the show I doubt many people including myself had ever heard of Lee University, a small Christian college outside of Memphis, and they cannot be compared to the larger, more prominent schools like Tufts, USC, or Brigham Young. This must be doing wonders for their PR and image. They may not be as polished as Nota or the Bubs but they seem to perform with more heart.

And unfortunately for Tufts, since I work at Wash U when I hear their name I think of the "Tuft's Syndrome" that we are often accused of ourselves -- waitlisting and rejecting top caliber college applicants who admissions officers do not think will attend and who just apply as a safety. They are another excellent school that gets a bum rap for having an admissions office that may not play by the most obvious rules. The truth is that Tufts is still a fine academic institution and the Bubs are definitely a very talented a capella group!

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