Circuit

Chief information officers are a somewhat geeky crowd.Transportation Department CIO Dan Mintz is a big fan of the Fox TV show “Firefly,” a science fiction program created by writer and director Joss Whedon, who also created the popular programs “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel.”“Firefly,” which only had 14 episodes before it was canceled, had an incredible cult following.Mintz hosted a regular lunchtime gathering for “Firefly” fans to watch the show.“Firefly” inspired a 2005 film, “Serenity.” The DOT group wanted to watch that movie together, but the 119-minute running time was more than feds can allocate for lunch without triggering some oversight issue.The movie session, however, was allowed to go forward when the agency’s general counsel determined that it could be classified as a team-building exercise.Mintz spoke last week at a breakfast forum sponsored by Input, the market research firm.His presentation was peppered with quotes from “Firefly” characters.Having never seen the show, we couldn’t quite make sense of them, but apparently others could.It’s not only agencies that have trouble tracking their laptop PCs.The Associated Press reported last week that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Boston campaign headquarters was broken into.The thieves apparently took a TV and several laptops.Romney’s campaign staff told the AP that the incident appeared to be a routine burglary. He said the computers were password-protected and the hard drives were encrypted.This isn’t the first such crack into a presidential campaign’s headquarters. In August, Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) Hartford office was broken into. A 47-year-old homeless man was charged with taking a TV, a computer and other electronics, AP reported.The deadline for nominating an outstanding person for Federal Computer Week’s Rising Star awards program is coming up fast. The final, final deadline is Sept. 21.