Hockey-Coach Quota on WSJ.com: "The University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves hockey team is on a roll, and interim coach Dave Shyiak is a top candidate for coach of the year in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association."

"But the team has a big problem. Mr. Shyiak was born in Canada and is working as a so-called temporary H1-B professional worker. His visa is expiring and U.S. immigration officials fret that this foreigner may be taking a job from an American citizen. So the university must comply with rules that require it to verify that there is no American worker who is 'able, willing, qualified, and available to accept the job at the prevailing wage for that occupation.' The university is taking out newspaper ads for the hockey team's head-coach position and hoping no one applies."

Who would have thought that the H1-B visa program would impact NCAA Division I college hockey? [ Subscription probably required. ]

Does VMware for Macs have a chance? on news.yahoo.com from Infoworld: "About 70,000 people registered for a free download of {VMware for Intel-based Macintosh computers} prior to the release of the beta version Dec. 21 and since then, about half of them have proceeded with the download, said Srinivas Krishnamurti, director of product management and market development for VMware."

This software is probably going to make Parallels look a little weak before too long. VMware has some amazing virtualization technology in its arsenal.

The North Face Endurus XCR Boa Trail Running Shoe on 37 Signals SVN: "I’m a sucker for novel inventions that solve real problems. Enter the Endurus XCR Boa by The North Face. It may not solve a problem that a whole lot of people face, but it’s a real innovation for long distance runners."

"In The Perfect Human, Dean Karnazes — a man who ran 50 marathons in 50 days — shares his 12 secrets for success. Among them: Go laceless."

The Endurus XCR Boa is not the first laceless running shoe, but it looks like a good design. My wife will probably want to buy a pair for me, since I often have to stop and retie my shoes when we go on walks around Newtown.