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| Friday, February 20th, 2009 | | 8:01 pm |
| | Thursday, January 15th, 2009 | | 7:16 pm |
It's Ice Cream day!
The high was below zero in Madison. That can reasonably mean only one thing -- Ice Cream Day! Really, it being the likely coldest day of the season, I again had my ice cream for the walk home. Still, I talked to the worker a bit too long(I know him from culinary school), and my ice cream actually had melty bits. I did my best to rectify that situation with my walk home. Since this is becoming a bigger holiday in my world, I suppose I'll have to at least program a scrolling LED name badge or something. Maybe even attempt to double or triple the participation. Well, I don't want it to get too crazy or anything, since then I'd have to stop celebrating it... | | Saturday, December 6th, 2008 | | 12:24 am |
Ironic: singing "Happy Birthday" to Walt Disney
I should've posted this on Ninja Day(December 5th), as that's when this Heart In the City comic appeared, as was Walt Disney's birthday(he would've been 107). Still, I love how unintentionally ironic the cartoon is -- "Happy Birthday" is still under copyright protection, and the reason is because of the Mickey Mouse Protection Act(technically, the Copyright Term Extension Act, which the Disney corporation helped get passed so that no one can legally re-distribute Steamboat Willy, or publish any stories with Mickey Mouse at its center(i.e., do the same thing to Mickey Mouse that Disney did to The Jungle Book, among other creations). | | Monday, December 1st, 2008 | | 8:54 pm |
Consumer Reports got suckered by marketing
Consumer Reports had an article about salt in people's diets. At the end of the article, they mentioned salt alternatives. They said, "Only Diamond Crystal Salt Sense, a blend without potassium chloride, tasted pretty much like real salt. And it has roughly one-third less sodium (390 mg per ¼ teaspoon)" I googled "salt sense" along with "ingredients", and the top hit was a page from Wegmans that stated, "100 Grams of either product contains 39,100 mg of sodium. Real salt. Not a salt substitute." So, I fired off a message to Consumer Reports: I was amazed when Consumer Reports said, "Only Diamond Crystal Salt Sense, a blend without potassium chloride, tasted pretty much like real salt. And it has roughly one-third less sodium (390 mg per ¼ teaspoon)". Salt Sense is roughly 99% sodium chloride. The "one-third less sodium" is because the crystals are larger, thus including more air per teaspoon. I expect Consumer Reports to see through marketing hype, and in this case you should have recommended just using one-third less table salt, rather than encouraging people to pay extra for air. I kinda felt like I should mention the options of sea salt and kosher salt, both of which include more air per volume than table salt, but that just seems like useful knowledge on the topic, rather than pertinent information. As a side note, it's probably best that I normally shop for groceries alone. | | Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 | | 12:49 pm |
When you buy Blu-Ray, you're paying for CRAP
I just read a blog post by Jason Scott, about how he was thinking about having his next documentary( Get Lamp1) available on Blu-Ray. To spoil the punchline, "AACS is required on all Blu-ray discs and costs $1,585 per title plus $0.05/disc". So, despite the fact that Jason Scott would prefer a disc without a layer of Content Restriction And Protection( CRAP, which is a more accurate acronym than DRM(Digital Rights Management) or whatever the media industry prefers to call it now.), he would be required to not only have it, but pay through the nose for it. So, if you're thinking about buying Blu-Ray, remember that you'll be paying the media industry to continue making a product that's defective by design, even when the copyright holder would prefer something else. 1As a side note, my brother plugged the documentary in his text adventure, Magic | | Monday, July 21st, 2008 | | 12:49 am |
World Wide Rebates Sucks/Is a Fraud/Stole from me
See previous rebate post. I will never buy anything with a rebate from Newegg again. I will attempt to never buy anything with a rebate ever again. Anyone know which consumer/government groups I should complain to about this? ------------------- Dear (removed), Your Rebate was not approved for the following reason(s) - Copy of Receipt/Invoice or Packing List is missing - No proof of purchase - Reseller is not eligible for this offer - No proof of purchase date in documentation Our decision to not approve your rebate claim was based upon examination of the documents that we received from you. If you wish to view all documentation you may simply click on this link (removed) However, the rebates sponsoring manufacture/reseller has authorized us to offer you one additional opportunity to re-apply for this rebate claim. There is only one exception to re-applying, and that is, if your rebate claim was denied due to being outside of the allowable time frame, then unfortunately you are not eligible to re-apply. For those of you that are eligible to re-apply, kindly follow the following steps: 1 - Kindly click on (removed) to re-apply. 2 - Once you complete Step #1, simply reprint and sign your rebate application from the Rebate Status page by clicking on the link that reads "Print Your Rebate". 3 - Include any missing documentation and/or information that we have listed above as the reason(s) for your claim being denied. 4 - Send your printed rebate along with all required documentation to the PO Box address indicated on the rebate application. For your convenience the rebate application contains a mailing label with the preprinted address. 5 - In order for your claim to be re-considered, you must to re-apply within 30 days from the date that your original rebate application was declined. 6 - For all customer service inquires, please call: 1-800-286-9146 Mon. - Fri. 9-6 pm (EST) YOUR REBATE APPLICATION INFORMATION: E-mail Address: (removed) Rebate Tracking Number: (removed) Rebate Offer: TRM-5406 Rebate Item : Thermaltake / PurePower / 430-Watt Power Supply Thank you for using WorldwideRebates.com! | | Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 | | 7:49 pm |
Stupid rebates...
The power supply in my linux box stopped wanting to power the hard drive inside the box after a utility pole replacement had me turned the box off for an afternoon. So, long story short, I ended up with a cheaper power supply through Newegg. I purchased it because it seemed to be good enough for my needs, and reasonably cheap. I also noticed it had a mail-in rebate, but the price before rebate was good enough for me. If I had seen another decent option, I would've avoided the mail-in rebate offer, as I normally do. So, of course, I think about this rebate today, 9 days after I purchased the item, and 5 days since I received it. I have 11 days left before the deadline to get the letter post marked. This is less of a grace period than almost every credit card company gives. I attempted to find the rebate form on Newegg, and found it pretty quickly after searching for the item. Except that it wasn't the rebate form; it told me to go to the rebate site to actually claim the rebate. I start filling things out, and then realize that the rebate I was filling out was for June 30th to July 15th(or thereabouts). So, I searched on this rebate site for the rebate I qualify for. I looked up the rebates in the "power supplies" area, and find one that has the correct range of dates that covers the power supply I purchased. I fill out the form, which includes double-typing two separate e-mail addresses, and then realize that the rebate I chose is evidently for Radio Shack. I go back to the rebate list, find another couple of rebates that are the correct rebate amount, correct rebate period, and correct item. I click through them, and after a couple of tries(that required re-doing the search and scrolling through the list again, with no way to search for Newegg rebates or see, before clicking, where the rebate is through.), I find one that is for Newegg and seems to be the rebate I qualify for(though, admittedly, I'm not all that confident about it.). I filled the form out, printed out what they gave me(which included a second, wasted sheet of paper). I'm supposed to cut out the address label included on that sheet(Since they have a range of places rebates go to, so as to have more reasons to deny rebates, I imagine). After they receive the forms, they'll have 8 to 10 weeks to get a check to me(assuming they don't "lose" the paperwork. I _could_ pay $1 to get it processed within 5 to 7 days.). The check has to be cashed within 90 days. I assume from the time they start processing it. Now, I can't imagine anyone has read through that, but there's something about that process that should be illegal. I'm not sure exactly what. I'm strongly for free markets, but with the caveat that there have to be extremely strong labeling laws. Or, in other words, I'm okay with companies attempting to sell me poison to eat, so long as they have, in big, bold letters, "WARNING: This product will almost certainly make you sick, and possibly kill you." This indirectly runs afoul of that ideal -- there are many steps in here that are needlessly complicated; they're there solely to waste time and decrease the amount of redemptions. A rebate redemption should be something along the lines of, "Here's a copy of my receipt, and here's the proof of purchase. You figure it out and send me a check." | | Friday, March 14th, 2008 | | 4:49 pm |
Happy Pi Day!
 ...and, at roughly 1:59p today, my coworker and I chanted about 15 digits of pi together. I imagine we would've gone further, but work interfered. | | Friday, January 25th, 2008 | | 11:28 am |
Biking at night on a dark street is as irresponsible as driving drunk
...or so says Jack M.: 20. Comment by Jack M. (Jacksterm) — December 7,2007 @ 2:56PM
Drunk driving is irresponsible, most everyone who has had a few drinks has been guilt of it at one time or another. Not even realizing they are over the limit. I feel riding a bicycle at night on a total dark narrow road is equally irresponsible. No one meant for it to happen, just a very sad accident. This was the most recent comment on an Arizona Daily Star article about a drunk driver on a suspended license who happened to swerve into a five-foot-wide bike lane and deposit a guy in the bed of her truck. This points out two things for me, at the moment: 1) Some people suck, and will never accept bicyclists on the road, and 2) I really shouldn't read comments on most articles -- the ratio of stupid people is too high. Perhaps my reading of his comment was equally as irresponsible as his thinking and writing it. | | Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 | | 11:47 pm |
| | Saturday, January 19th, 2008 | | 12:16 am |
Necessary clauses
From the "Delicious Bookmarks"("delicious" meaning del.icio.us) Firefox plugin: b. YOU MAY NOT:
(snip)
(iv) use the Delicious Software to operate nuclear facilities, life support,
or other mission critical application where human life or property may be at
stake. You understand that the Delicious Software is not designed for such
purposes and that its failure in such cases could lead to death, personal
injury, or severe property or environmental damage for which Delicious is not
responsible. | | Monday, January 7th, 2008 | | 7:38 am |
January thunderstorm
Ah, a January thunderstorm. Maybe this means that we got winter out of the way early, and it's just "spring" snowstorms from here on out. | | 12:02 am |
XKCD, Ron Paul
Immediately after reading this XKCD comic, I turned to my other computer and attempted to start a video from a New Hampshire TV station that was from a Ron Paul event earlier in the day. And no, I didn't do it because of anything I read in the XKCD comic. Of course, that video didn't actually work, because the servers had long ago collapsed under the crush of internet-savvy Ron Paul supporters. Oh, and if you were hoping to talk to me about something other than politics, you're probably going to have to wait until after February 5th. | | Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 | | 1:45 pm |
Oscar has died
While I'm loath to talk on the internet about anything even vaguely personal, I know there are at least a few of you out there who'd want to know. Oscar died at some point yesterday; it had been a bit longer than a week since he last ate, and I noticed yesterday morning that his belly was pretty concave. The tank was pretty cloudy last night, as the bacteria got to work on Oscar's massive(at least for a fish) body. That said, Oscar had been in the old grandpa(with grumpiness included) stage for at least a year, and I had been feeding him for awhile by dropping food in his mouth. He is survived in the 55-gallon tank by Bitey and a couple of Hypostemuses(P6 or P7 and... I'm not really sure. They're also hard to tell apart.). He was preceded in death by Hitler, Lola, and countless others, some of whom he personally saw to. If the spirit ever hits, I'll do a retrospective of some sort, but for now let it suffice to say that Oscar was the most personality-filled fish I've had, from his rambunctious youth to his grumpy old age. He'll be missed. | | Friday, August 3rd, 2007 | | 12:35 am |
Consumer Reports oddity
Edit:Thanks to an anonymous commenter sending along a link to this thread, I now have a fuller understanding of exactly what Consumer Reports meant. The short version is that there's a flag that cripples the device. It does make me wonder if Sony is capable of producing a device that isn't crippled in some major way. Anyway, to quote the clearest post: There's something known as the Serial Copy Management System that allows a single digital copy to be made. If you try to make a digital copy of that copy, SCMS cuts in and prevents it from happening. The only way you can make a copy of that copy is to go through an analog conversion process. To be sure, that analog signal can be redigitized and written to another CD. So yes, CDs are digital, but there is such a thing as an "analog CD", in the sense that the source and copy may not be identical, bit for bit, having gone through a D --> A and A --> D process. Thankfully, regular CD writers are not normally crippled in this manner. Original Post:Perhaps someone out there can explain to me what Consumer Reports is talking about: Once you've burned a CD, you can't make digital copies of it -- only analog copies, which might be more involved. This was at the end of a review for CD recorders such as the TEAC GF-350 or the Sony RCD-W500C. Those devices are designed to take records or cassette tapes and turn them into CDs. Now, the conversion from record or cassette is an analog to digital conversion, but they don't seem to be talking about that conversion. They even "clarified" things with a letter to the editor: GOING DIGITAL
The June article "Go Digital" was right on target except for one statement: "Once you've burned a CD, you can't make digital copies of it." I did this more than a year ago on my Sony RCD-W500C.
James Chastain Los Angeles
When you burn a copy of a digital CD, the copy is analog, not digital. And copies might not be as high quality as originals, although the average ear won't be able to hear the difference. It's a CD. CDs are always digital; there's no groove or variable amount of a magnetic field, as it's just "on" or "off". So, there's no possible way for a CD to be analog until after the bits are converted into music. So do any of you have any idea what Consumer Reports is talking about, or how exactly I could phrase a letter to the editor that would get them to explain why they think that a digital format can only be copied analogly? | | Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 | | 10:19 pm |
Annie's Mailbox gives such... interesting advice
This is from today's Annie's Mailbox. I hope I'm not stretching the limits of fair use too far to quote over a third of the column. Dear Annie: I am so fired up right now. My daughter turned 19 last weekend. Her co-workers and friends treated her to a night out that included "adults" buying her alcohol shots. I did the "Mean Mom" thing and checked up on her. When I discovered she'd lied about spending the night at a girlfriend's, I called her cell phone and tried to persuade her to come home.
One of her friends' mothers called me back and said my daughter would be fine with her friends and co-workers. Forget about the car, the possible accidents that could happen, being charged by the police -- I am supposed to understand that kids will be kids. It's a "rite of passage."
When did the only way to have fun turn into being drunk? Find a local pizza place or movie theater, but not a bar. I am not sorry that I checked up on her. I am not sorry I tracked her down after three hours, calling every phone number I knew. I am not sorry because she is here today, embarrassed, but alive and well.
I am not a prude. I enjoy a drink with dinner out, but I think it's so sad that I am in the minority. I only hope my daughter can one day see that no one could love her more than I do. --Mean Mom
Dear Mom: Buying shots for a 19-year-old is illegal. Those "friends" who plied her with drinks, not to mention the bar owners, could have been arrested and certainly would have been held liable had your daughter been hurt or caused harm on her way home. Good for you for not being afraid to be the bad guy. We suspect your daughter appreciates you more than you know. Yay for advice that would be entirely irrelevant had it been written in 1986 or so*, and will be irrelevant in the future if the drinking age ever goes back to 18. I'm for responsible usage of alcohol, and this includes generally following the law, especially in areas where there's a good reason for it, or the penalties are excessive. But lots of 19-year-olds drink alcohol, and most parents realize that parenting includes letting go of their children eventually, knowing that they have little say over whether or not their kids will screw up their lives. My preferred response would have included, "Dude. She's 19. Your parenting now is about responding when she comes to you for advice, and staying in touch. She's going to screw her life up or not, and you won't be able to stop it." Annie's mailbox would be significantly improved with a greater usage of "dude". And why, oh why, does Annie's Mailbox have to be so completely boring and legalistic with their responses? Is this like all the 75-year-old comics in the newspaper, where they're such a part of the cultural memory that we put up with the fact that, once original creators die, their creations tend to become boring imitations of what they once were? Or, in other words, do we have a need to cheapen the memory of Ann Lander's advice by having an advice column that's a pale imitation of hers? *Perhaps just in Wisconsin, but around that time the federal government told the states to raise their drinking age to 21 or lose highway funding. | | Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 | | 10:38 pm |
Happy Birthday To Me...
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this'll be the heaviest snowfall Madison will ever receive on my birthday, at least during my officially forecast life expectancy. Total snow accumulations ranging from 5-10" by tomorrow morning, according to channel3000.com. Still, I'm only annoyed that the snow isn't the right type to make snow creatures. | | Monday, March 19th, 2007 | | 10:12 pm |
My response to Charter's response
I don't know if I'll bother to send a response to Charter, but I disagree with a few points in here: to improve new and novice Internet users' surfing experience by offering a list of suggestions when a customer types in something in the customer's address bar that is not a web address. "improve" new and novice Internet users' surfing experience by downgrading experienced users' surfing experience? Okay, I'll admit I can understand that tradeoff. The thing is, this is nakedly commercial; if novice users had typed in a wrong address previous to the introduction of this product, what would have happened? Internet Explorer would have searched using MSN search. I dearly hate that "feature" of Internet Explorer, and immediately turn it off. Now, Charter has introduced the same feature, except that I CAN'T turn it off. Yes, I can choose a different error page, but I can't turn it off; there's a huge difference. Oh, and if you think a "novice" user would have something other than a default Internet Explorer window open, that "novice" user has a not-so-novice helper who set things up(and doesn't work for Charter, as they default to Internet Explorer, too.). If a customer objects to being re-directed in this way, clicking the "About This Page" button in the lower corner of the screen accesses the information and options menu. From this popup, customer's have the option to no longer be directed to the search results page. This is misleading; after setting up a cookie to no longer be directed to the search results page, your browser is instead directed to http://www11.charter.net/not_found . I object to being re-directed. I also object to giving Charter more money for the same level of service, but if they could manage to not make it annoying, I wouldn't care. This Web Lookup feature eliminates "Page cannot be displayed" error pages that do nobody any good ...except me, evidently. ...and Slashdot...and DSL Reports...and other random peopleIs this a Spyware? I didn't refer to it as "spyware", I said it was like spam. I'm technically adept enough to know the difference; extra pages that I didn't request, nor want, and waste my time? That's like spam. Hoping that this will answer your concern. Should you need to asked more on this regard One thing I don't understand: does Charter really want to tell me that it cares so little about my concerns that they outsource their boilerplate text? All this said, I've switched my default DNS servers on one of my routers to 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.3, thus entirely avoiding the Charter annoyance. I still can't say it's an optimal solution, and this is yet another thing that makes me yearn for the days of ISPs -- competition is a wonderful thing for consumers. If we had some, we would have broadband on par with South Korea or France, rather than Slovenia. | | 10:11 pm |
Charter's response
Dear Clay, Thank you so much for contacting Charter Communications. I would be glad to assist you in the best manner possible. I apologize for the inconveniences brought about regarding this issue. It would be really annoying if the result of an action does not meet our expected outcome. Me too, would also find it disappointing. But, there are good reasons why Charter is launching this feature. The Web Lookup page, which you are referring to, is a feature which was launched early November of last year, to improve new and novice Internet users' surfing experience by offering a list of suggestions when a customer types in something in the customer's address bar that is not a web address. No name will be presented other that Charter's will be presented to customers. Customers will simply see a Yahoo-powered search results page branded with the Charter Logo. The Web Lookup is based on Charter's DNS servers. If a customer mistypes an URL into an IE address bar, and our DNS does not have a listing for the site, then the request is handed over to the lookup server, which searches for sites and results similar to the customer's search. If a customer objects to being re-directed in this way, clicking the "About This Page" button in the lower corner of the screen accesses the information and options menu. From this popup, customer's have the option to no longer be directed to the search results page. This Web Lookup feature eliminates "Page cannot be displayed" error pages that do nobody any good and replaces these with valid search results that actually assist customers with the navigation. It also creates a more consistent experience when customers search from the address bar of the browser. Is this a Spyware? No, Charter is not installing any software on the customer's computer, and we are not "watching" our customers surf. This lookup catches typographical errors and turns them into common search results. Clay, you may click on the "About This Page" button and set the feature off so that, you will not be re-directed to the Web Lookup page. Hoping that this will answer your concern. Should you need to asked more on this regard, please do not hesitate to call us at the number 800-545-0994, or you may chat with online with our technical support representatives at www.support.charter.com, or you may respond to this message. Thank you. Respectfully, Raymond Internet Email Support Team Charter Communications | | 2:26 pm |
My letter to Charter about their breaking the DNS error page
I wrote Charter today: Why did you break DNS Error Page functionality? I suppose that's a dumb question, as you did it for money. Anyway, my complaint is that, when I type in a wrong address(such as, oh, claybuskers.com), rather than giving me the 404 error page while keeping my address bar intact(allowing me to just delete the 's' and go on my merry way), Charter has decided that they'd prefer to break that functionality for me(or force me to scroll to the bottom of your money-making screen and use your search box. If you don't see the problem with this, you haven't thought about spam recently.). Please, please get rid of this "functionality"; it's highly annoying, and gives you the image of being anti-consumer. Please also note that I'll be posting a copy of this letter on my livejournal(www.livejournal.com/users/pa radoks), and I will also post a copy of any response I receive from you, and I will take any direct response from you as explicitly agreeing to waive any copyright or liability considerations for posting a verbatim copy of your message. Thanks for your time, and I imagine whomever is receiving this likely has no say over policy decisions like this. I feel your pain, and mostly just wanted to register a complaint, in the hopes that there would be enough of them to get the higher-ups of Charter to stop doing this. Current Mood:  annoyed |
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