A person familiar with the inquiry said investigatorsare looking into the possibility that the breach occurred in Hannaford's wireless system for transmitting data between the card-swiping machine and a computer server. Security experts have identified wireless transmissions as a particular vulnerability for retailers.

Last year Hannaford Bros. upgraded the encryption system for its credit-card and computer networks to one that is more difficult for outsiders to crack. The system is recommended by major credit-card associations, and the upgrade was completed about a week before the incident is believed to have taken place, Ms. Eleazer said.

Hannaford is the third major retailer in New England to be hit withsecurity breaches in the past year, following TJX Cos. and Stop &Shop Supermarket.

1. Run Ubuntu.
   
2. Run Ruby on Rails based web apps. Photo gallery, calendar, address book, and stuff I dream up. Not high traffic websites, just little useful things for a few people.
   
3. Run Oracle. I'm taking an Oracle DBA class and I want to play with it on my own system.
   
4. Storage. Large hard disks, for storing photos and music. I also have a Travan 40GB tape drive which fits into the floppy drive bay of classic PC cabinet. Is there any good reason not to keep using it for backups? Whenever I mention the idea to anyone, I get a funny look, but no real good answers.
   
5. Low power consumption. It seems like the classic open architecture x86 gear consumes relatively more power than some of the smaller stuff out there now. Hmm.
   

Kerviel was known to start work as early as nine in the morning and still be at his desk at five or even five-thirty, often with just an hour and a half for lunch. One colleague said: "He was, how you say, une workaholique. I have a family and a mistress so I would leave the office at around 2pm at the latest, if I wasn't on strike. "But Jerome was tied to that desk. One day I came back to the office at 3pm because I had forgotten my stupid little hat, and there he was, fast asleep on the photocopier. "At first I assumed he had been having sex with it, but then I remembered he'd been working for almost six hours."

As the losses mounted, Kerviel tried to conceal his bad trades by covering them with an intense red wine sauce, later switching to delicate pastry horns. At one point he managed to dispose of dozens of transactions by hiding them inside vol-au-vent cases and staging a fake reception.

Last night a spokesman for Sócíété Générálé denied that Kerviel was overworked, insisting he lost the money after betting that the French were about to stop being rude, lazy, arrogant bastards.

A Time of London reporter seems to be the only English-speaking journalist to have traveled to Obama's father's village to talk to his family.

A Canadian newspaper reports: "In Kenya, a grim joke says a member of the Luo tribe stands a better chance of becoming president of the United States than being elected president of Kenya. Now, the joke might be coming true." (Obama's father is Luo. The recent election in Kenya denied a Luo from winning the presidency there.)

My loyalty faded in the 2005 season, as I found other things to do.

Tonight, the Sox are on the brink of failure once again, and I resumed watching. Looks like my mojo is working for them.

Last night I discovered that there are several PC software packages for managing recipes. The part of me that does systems integration work all day dreads committing to one of these and getting boxed into something that doesn't work too well. The project of extracting my data from a bad system would take too much time. So I didn't go to far down this path.

Tonight I am looking around at all the recipe websites out there. Some of them are dressed up in the strappings of "Web 2.0" social sharing paradigm. Could be promising. But then there are several, and I don't know which one to choose.

The best thing I found is the Google Custom Search Engine at iChef. Look! Taro root with no garlic.

When I got home in the evening, plugged it in, and turned it on, I was still dropped out, because I forgot to cancel the call forwarding. Later in the evening, Penelope missed the last train home, and tried to call me. Since we don't have a landline, she had no way to reach me. It turned out okay though. She got on the subway, which runs parallel to our commuter rail line, and managed reach the next transfer station ahead of the train. She charged over to the commuter rail platform and jumped on with a few seconds to spare. So it ended without a needless cab fare.

But it has me thinking that we should get some kind of red hotline "always-on" phone at home, just for these kinds of situations. Looking for a cheapest, most reliable option. I guess having 911 service would be a good idea too. Here are the options I can think of:

• Plain old telephone service. Plug an antique into the wall, pay Verizon for the most limited calling plan available.
  
• RCN provides our TV and broadband, so add phone service with them.
  
• Get an additional cell phone from T-Mobile and add it to our friends and family plan. And chain it to the bedpost.
  
• Rig up a Skype-In client on one of our dumpy old computers. Does Skype run on Xubuntu? Does can Xubuntu play nice with my sound card (no crashing)?

America’s elite is pulling further ahead

Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive and co-founder of Blackstone Group, one of the world’s largest and richest private equity firms, makes for an unlikely champion of the average American.

But minutes before chairing a meeting that will decide how to reward Blackstone’s partners for its record profits this year, Mr Schwarzman, whose fortune Forbes has estimated at $2.5bn (£1.3bn, €1.9bn), says he is worried about the increasingly unequal distribution of wealth in the US.

“America is a place where people like to have the American dream, everybody successful,” he says in an interview with the Financial Times. “The middle class in the United States hasn’t done as well over the last 20 years as people at the high end and I think part of the compact in America is everybody has got to do better.” ( This is a really good read )

I don't have a big list yet. Here it is:

• "Good Morning" by the Beatles
• "(It's Gonna Be) A Lovely Day" by Bill Withers
• "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles
• "Rise and Shine" by the Cardigans
• "Chelsea Morning" by Joni Mitchell (found on Last.fm tagged "morning")
• Michael Jackson – "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", also suggested by Last.fm

September 9 (Saturday) 7 pm
September 12 (Tuesday) 7 pm
Peter Whitehead: Pop Films
Directed by Peter Whitehead
UK 1966-69, video, b/w and color, 70 min.
A precursor to the music video, Whitehead’s work with The Dubliners, The Small Faces and many others was the very inception of the artful, experimental and daring pop promo. This program includes the films Whitehead made with The Jimi Hendrix Experience (“Hey Joe”), Nico (“I’m Not Sayin”), and some rare surprises from the director’s extensive archive.

The Beach Boys in London
Directed by Peter Whitehead
UK 1967, video, color, 30 min.
Rare footage of the brothers Wilson and company culled from a European tour, Whitehead’s concert film captures this seminal band in the wake of their creative masterpiece, Pet Sounds.
 
Pink Floyd: London 1966-67
Directed by Peter Whitehead
UK 1967, video, color, 30 min.
Filmed with their original lineup including the recently deceased Syd Barrett, rock gods Pink Floyd perform some of their lesser known early tracks in Whitehead’s documentary which also features appearances by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
 
Led Zeppelin: Live at Royal Albert Hall
Directed by Peter Whitehead
UK 1970, video, color, 102 min.
Recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Whitehead’s film is an exemplary example of what a concert film should be. No titles or credits, just one hundred minutes of the British band at their peak, including a thirteen-minute drum solo by John Bonham. Shot three months after the release of their second LP, the film highlights Whitehead’s expert on-the-hoof camerawork and inspired editing.