Messing around in the social media corner of the Internet today (specifically Twitter) and found this item thanks to Jason Hiner, The editor in chief at TechRepublic.  Proverbs about programming and other technical adventures. Worth a few minutes of your time.

Lots o' news coming out of the ARC Forum down in Orlando. Judging from the number of releases Walt Boyes, Da Boss, is sending here to be uploaded, all those refugees from last week's blizzard have NOT, contrary to expectations, spent all their time at the pool.

This release came over the transom this morning. Some thought-provoking ideas on the economy and manufacturing's piece of the recovery. It's commentary from Dr. Chris Kuehl, Economic Analyst, Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International.

His three reasons:  Better Management, Emphasis on Strategy and Marketing, and Adaptation

Agree or disagree?

The Mobile Automation Revolution

The mobile automation revolution isn’t coming, it is already here. It is no longer a question of banning cellphones and laptops in the plant, it is rather a question of how to handle the deluge of mobile devices and smart applications that end-user employees will be bringing into the plant whether you want them to or not.

Apparently things are quite sunny in Munich as well as Milwaukee. (FWIW, it's  46 deg F. and sunny there today.) But even if it had been raining buckets, I think the folks at Siemens would be smiling. This news came over the wires this morning:

It's been a lovely fall here in the Midwest. Lots of sunshine. And today the sun was shining just a bit brighter up the road in Milwaukee. This morning, Rockwell Automation released it's 2010 fourth-quarter earnings report, which gave CEO Keith Nosbusch and the rest of the Rockwell gang a lot of reasons to smile.

The money quotes -- to coin a phrase -- are these:

A quick update to my last post. A couple of Congressmen from my own state have also discovered manufacturing. 

I'm not dissing their efforts. The government, like it or not, is going to have to play some part in getting a sensible manufacturing policy going. But we need to watch these guys and give them input and point them in the right direction. Just sayin'.

Have spent most of the day on the phone interviewing folks on various subjects. The morning began with a conference call announcing Rockwell Automation's 3Q 2010 results. Things are looking good for the Milwaukee-based company. The short take is this:

    * Revenue up 25 percent year over year and up 9 percent sequentially
    * Diluted EPS from continuing operations of $0.83
    * Company raises fiscal 2010 EPS guidance to $2.95 to $3.05 

Here's a link to a page on the Siemens site containing information on the Trojan that has affected Siemens software. The good news is that so far, apparently only one site has actually been hit. We will provide more updates as they become available.

Coming to work on a Monday and finding an email outlining the report of a major cyber security breach affecting an important supplier and its customers is never a good way to start the week. But that's what happened this morning. Late last week and into the weekend, reports began trickling out about a piece of malware apparently targeted at Siemens systems.