Jeremy

What does EMF have to do with Sara Bareilles?

2011-08-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

It isn't often that a CD comes along that you can just put in, press play, and listen for the next 62 minutes without hitting "skip forward".

The first such time this happened to me was in the early 90's, after I popped in EMF's Schubert Dip and was mesmerized by the catchy loops and mostly-spoken lyrics.

There have been few times since then that compilations have made their way onto my "play the whole thing" list. The most recent was a welcome surprise.

I first heard "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles scattered throughout an episode of Medium, and three days later I couldn't get the hook out of my head. It was some work to figure out what song it was, playing on repeat in my wetware- I could only hear the melody and I wasn't even sure where I'd heard it. Amazon sold me the single in MP3 format and my poor computer had to endure those 3 minutes and 27 seconds over and over and over for the better part of two work days.

Then, I stumbled onto the video for "Uncharted", via Ben Folds, and again, Miss Bareilles had a firm grip on the soundtrack playing in my head. I decided, on a whim, to just get the whole CD.

Falling in love with her talent was a gradual process. I'd normally play track 2, and then track 5, and then skip to the strings version at track 16. Repeat.

But every once in awhile, "Gonna Get Over You" would start up (it's track three) and I found that I really liked that one too. My fingers were playing the bass line on the steering wheel, without any help from me. Then I discovered the one-minute A cappella intro to Uncharted at track one. Then a demo version of track 3 at track 14. Before I knew what had happened, I was just sticking in the CD and letting it play. It wasn't much longer before I realized that I was singing every lyric to every song, driving down the road. People stared. Freak!

At some point, it came to my attention that the singer-songwriter I was listening to almost every time I was in the car was going to do a show in Tulsa. Sign me up. We had tickets to that show for months. Tuesday finally came and we found ourselves in line outside the venue- General Admission and standing room only means you'd better get there early.

I've been to a lot of concerts in my life. I couldn't even begin to count the number. I have never walked out of a concert feeling like I did that night. It was so amazing I couldn't even find words to describe it. I figured that by the next day I'd be ready to put some kind of word down about it, but I was still high from the concert. When I put the CD in and Uncharted fired up, I could hear her doing it live. I could see her doing it live. I had chills on top of goose bumps. What a voice!

The show started out with Uncharted, and then Vegas, followed by a cover of Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You", which really got the crowd going. That was the perfect intro to Gonna Get Over You. Next, she slowed things down a bit with Machine Gun, Many the Miles, and Breathe Again. Then she asked if we wanted to hear another depressing song about failed relationships (or something to that effect) and of course we did, so we all sang along to Basket Case and Bluebird.

Basket Case and Bluebird were performed with only Sara on keys and Daniel Rhine on a beautiful upright bass, and then she said "What's that back there?!" and pointed to the back of the room. The other three members of her band were at the back and started playing. While everyone turned around, Sara and Daniel ran from the stage to the back (upright bass in tow) to join them. From there they covered Little Lion Man, but the only parts we could hear (from near the stage) were the chorus, which everyone at the back half of the room sang at top volume!

Then they all ran back to the stage. The set list from there is a little hazy, but it included Love Song ("if you know this one, sing along!" -- who would come to a Sara Bareilles concert and not at least know Love Song?) and an audience participation version of King of Anything.

For an encore set, Sara played Gravity on Hanson's Wurlitzer, and finished up with Let The Rain with the band.

Two days later, she played in New Mexico. I woke up wondering if I could make it if I started driving now.

New Company!

2011-08-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

I found this site, to rename nameless, with the following text on the home page. (my comments in [brackets] and the real name of the company has been replaced with "Fulff"!)

Fluff’s immediate focus is to lay the technical foundation to digitally connect households together...[Oh, cool! You're going to run cable or fiber from house to house?! What a neat idea! Will it make my Internet speed better?] The company aims to empower individuals with their own online household portals that can digitally connect them to other people that they know. [Wait- you mean like Facebook did five years ago? or like Google+? Hasn't this been done before?]Fluff expects that this network of collected portals [the portals are connected? I thought the households were connected?] will become the next progression of a private social network. [That's interesting. Google thinks Google+ will become the next progression of a private social network.] Portals will also serve as virtual storefronts where individuals can buy and sell products and services and share information among connected households. [ok, like eBay? like a big connected eBay garage sale? when are you going to run a fiber optic cable between the houses in my neighborhood?] The biggest value in being a part of the household network [my household already has a network. It runs at 1Gbit/sec. There are 42 drops and 19 nodes...] is the ability to buy, sell and share with each other and to capture the collective benefit among local people that you know, value and support. [WAIT. This is starting to sound like a pyramid scheme. Oh- that's right, we don't call them that anymore. I meant to say "DIRECT MARKETING". So your new network will allow all my neighbors to spam me with the crap they want to sell me, and in return I can do the same to them? Sounds like a NOVEL idea!] This human touch strengthens loyalty within the network [Within my household network? The computers connected to my network are pretty trustworthy already.] and the community to propel growth, sustainability and profitability. [if we were playing BUZZWORD BINGO, I think I'd already have a full card.] The household portal carries the personalized identity of a household in the form of its own domain name (or URL). [You're giving my HOUSE a URL? What happened to the fiber optic cable! My house doesn't need a URL, thank you.] Each online portal gives members of the family access to three basic operations: buy, sell and query (or share). [Of all the things I am interested in doing, those three are at the very bottom of the list. ] Members of the family can buy items of interest, sell items to others and earn a commission. [huh? a commission? If I sell something I own to someone else, I don't get a commission, I get whatever they paid me for it. you people are not making a bit of sense now. ] They can also query information relating to particular products and services and subscribe to the manufacturer, supplier, distributor or service provider. [supplier or distributor? service provider? why would I need any of those things to sell my stuff to people I know via your magic portal?] As part of the household portal network, the company will create a directory of local businesses that can be searched to locate items or services of interest. [uh, like Google?]

It is reported that over $115 billion in sales are generated through direct sales [WTF!? This IS a pyramid scheme!] worldwide, and in excess of over 55 million individuals actively participate in these activities. [55 million people out of nearly 7 billion?] Fluff plans to take this a step further by empowering these individuals with their own online portal that can digitally connect to others they know. [LIKE FACEBOOK OR GOOGLE+] These collections of connected portals become the NEXT EVOLUTION OF PRIVATE SOCIAL NETWORKING [JUST BECAUSE YOU PUT IT IN BOLD TYPE DOESN'T MAKE YOU LOOK SMARTER] that can act as a virtual storefront for savings [my savings doesn't need a storefront]; creating earning opportunities and sharing family values and services [you haven't really said anything about how this works yet.] According to new research from The Nielsen Company, Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites and blogs [THAT ALREADY EXIST!], up from 15.8 % just a year ago (43% increase). The research revealed that Americans spend a third their [a third their?] online time (36%) communicating and networking across social networks, blogs, personal email and instant messaging. [SO?]

Good luck with all that.

Tea (sweet?)

2011-02-24T00:14:00.001-08:00

My grandmother is a retired school teacher. Correction-- retired twice school-teacher. One of those elementary teachers that was really good-- just ask any parent of any kid she ever taught. And an organizational freak- everything has its place, and every place has a proper label.

More than two decades ago, I noted to my grandmother (this was at Thanksgiving or Christmas, I'm sure) that calling tea "unsweetened" didn't seem right to me, because "un" seemed to imply that the sweetness had somehow been removed from the tea. And how once you add sugar to tea (well, the warm kind anyway) it would be near impossible to remove it.

Every time since that I've been to her house for family gatherings, I note two pitchers of tea available: "Sweet" and "Non-Sweet". I'm sure I've overheard her explaining to someone who had asked about the labels that non-sweetened tea hasn't ever had sugar added to it.

I don't know if she knew I was listening and yanking my chain, or if I converted her. But I like to think she's a believer in non-sweet tea.

Gawker User Passwords Compromised

2010-12-13T16:16:00.000-08:00

I'll try to keep this short.

For those who didn't hear or didn't care, Gawker Media Lost Some User Info.

And then, a thing started happening at Twitter-- TweetSpam on accounts previously not responsible for TweetSpam. Specifically to people who had accounts compromised at Gawker. How is this so? Because the people used a common password between the two sites.

As an IT person, I can tell you rules of passwords:

Don't use passwords that are short or easy to guess.
Use uppercase, lowercase, symbols, and numbers.
Don't write down your passwords, someone will find them.
Don't use the same password on more than one site.
Change your passwords often.

Now then, honestly, we've been saying these things for more than a decade now, and everyone knows that they are blatantly ridiculous. Make a password that is hard to guess, difficult to remember, complicated, don't write it down, and don't use it at more than one place. And then change all of those passwords every 30/60/90 days.

Like you might be that super human. Maybe 1 in 1 million people have the mental capacity to pull that kind of thing off, but for the rest of us mere mortals, we're left to either break one or more of The Rules or use a password manager. Or use your openid/google account/facebook login-- a central authority for your authentication.

And that's what this post is about. The terrible solutions we propose to the unsolvable problem we created.

Password managers? Sure, they are safe- the data is encrypted! The source code is open! The company is reputable! These all may be true today, but if the company is compromised and a group of hackers manages to insert their send-all-the-passwords-to-me code into the application, it could be weeks, months, or years before anyone finds it. What if they hacked the compiler used to create the completely-safe password manager app? What if they hacked the compiler that compiles the compiler that creates the completely-safe password app? Yes, Virginia, that can happen, and there are many thesis written on the matter. Your passwords aren't really any safer than the database that runs the web site that has your password.

Linked accounts? Now, if there is a breach at one place, you're compromised at every single other place that was linked. There's a great solution!

If you're looking for answers, they are not here, because really: they do not exist.

Because of this, we really have to stop preaching the password rules as if they are the IT Gospel.

What can you do? Try to follow the rules, enough to make yourself able to sleep soundly each night, and maybe buy some identity theft insurance.

I'm just sayin'.

Spoiler Alert!!

2010-07-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

So, I'm watching this movie the other day, and it occurs to me that I've been Nicholas Sparksed.

You probably know what I'm talking about already, but in case you don't, here's a brief synopsis of the last 10 minutes of the movies made from his books:

(even if you haven't seen these- just keep reading. If you haven't seen them by now, you're not really going to, and you won't be missing anything anyway.)

Message in a Bottle: Garrett (the main character) goes out on his boat,the storm ends up being faster than he thought, and he ends up drowning before he can swim back to shore.

A Walk to Remember: Jamie (the main character) lived through the summer, and then passed on.

The Notebook: Allie and Noah (the main characters) die in their sleep together holding each other's hand.

Nights in Rodanthe: Paul is killed in a mud slide.

Dear John: John gets one last letter from Savannah telling him that they received an anonymous donation, which allowed Tim (one of the main characters) to be at home for the last two months of his life, and now he has passed away.

The Last Song: Steve (one of the three main characters) dies.

(synopsis excerpted from http://www.ruinedendings.com/ and http://www.themoviespoiler.com/ )

So I'm watching "Remember Me" (don't worry- I've saved you from the misery of sitting through it) and there comes that point in the movie where everything seems fine. You know -- it's that point where the main conflict has been resolved, you realize that it wasn't really that big of a deal after all, and it occurs to you that the only possible thing left to happen is for someone- likely a primary character- to be destroyed in some freak happening.

So, rent "Remember Me", and when you get to the point where everyone is happy again, just turn it off and go to bed. Great Movie!

Security? Whatever!

2010-07-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get the feeling that a lot of the "security features" around us are nothing more than a charade created to convince us that we're safer than we really are? I mean, seriously, take a look at your average TSA screener. But this post isn't about those people. Don't get me started on "security" at the airport. Just take down the gates and let us open-carry on planes and there will never be another hijacking in the United States. Think about it. (explosive decompression is a myth anyway.)

Today, I called my bank to reset my web access password and get them to unlock my web log-in. I gave them my account number, my name, my phone number, my birth date, my address, my mother's maiden name, and my social security number. That got me access to the username I had forgotten.

Now, to actually reset the account so that I can log in-- to reset the password to "abc123" so that I can log in once and change the password to something I know, I have to provide one final bit of information.

Yes, there is *one* more thing I have to know to get the person on the line to 'do the deed.' So this must be something SUPER-SECRET, right?? I mean, so far I've given them everything but a blood sample to prove my identity, but there is ONE MORE CRITICAL PIECE of information they must have to COMPLETELY VERIFY MY IDENTITY.

"What was the amount of your last deposit?"

Now, on it's face, this seems like a fine question to ask me, because after all, it is something about my account that I should know. But in reality, who has access to the correct answer to the question "What was the amount of your last deposit?"

You might think that the account holder and the person at the bank who processed it are two people who would have access to that information, but you're actually not being specific enough. The correct answer to the question "who would know this information?" is "the person at the bank that processed the deposit and THE PERSON THAT MADE THE DEPOSIT."

"But wait," you say, "I'm the account holder. I made the deposit, stupid!"

Grasshopper; a deposit (thank the banking gods) is an unauthenticated transaction. Any Joe walking into any branch of your bank with your account number (or your social security number) can make a deposit into your account, and at that point, that person knows the all-important amount of the last deposit into your account. They don't even have to walk in. There are drive up windows and night drops.

Don't get me wrong- if some stranger off the street walks in with my account number and wants to deposit money into my account, I DO NOT want the bank harassing them in any way, shape, or form--- I mean, FREE MONEY!--- But at the same time, the amount of the last deposit is not secured information! Your name, address, phone number, and account number aren't really even secure information, they all typically exist on every check you've ever written. Even if they aren't on your checks already, no one will accept a check unless you write all that down (along with your driver's license number) on the check.

So have you seen Idiocracy? I suggest you watch it.

Digital Movies In Tulsa

2009-11-15T02:22:00.000-08:00

Just a note to inform you that the Dickenson Starworld 20 in Tulsa has at least 1 digital projector (in #20) and probably two- they have an identical mirrored theater across the way from theater 20, but I don't recall the number. The picture is stunning, and they are showing Christmas Carol in 3d (of the real-d persuasion) until Thursday night. Then Twilight (New Moon) will start in that theater.

Also another thing- the Cinemark down the road (on 71st) is, to my knowledge, still selling large drink refills at full price, despite numerous complaints from yours truly.

On the other hand, Starworld 20 (about 4 miles down the road to the south) has free large refills on large drinks and popcorn. And both their large drink and popcorn are priced lower than Cinemarks.

To top it off, the manager at the Starworld 20 is an awesome guy, incredibly friendly and really seems to understand that customer service is king in the multiplex business. The VP in charge of concessions ("Vice President, Food, Beverage & Amusements") at Cinemark Corporate down in Plano, on the other hand, is a tool who actually wanted to argue with me about their concessions being cheaper (they aren't) while saying [emphasis mine] "We don’t offer refills on our large drink on an ongoing basis because we have found that it encourages customers to share one drink instead of purchasing individual drinks. We would need to raise our drink price 25-50 cents to offset that customer behavior."

By the way, when I worked at a very small buyer of fountain-based beverages from Pepsi, the wholesale cost of soda (any flavor) was about 2 cents per ounce, and there were no discounts involved. If cinemark is paying as much as 2 cents an ounce, I would be surprised. If you pay $4.50 for a 40 oz fountain drink at a theater, I can assure you they are making at least $3.00 in profit, and that includes the $6.25/hour high-schooler who sold it to you.

The same Cinemark VP also notes: "Since most of the movie ticket price goes to the Hollywood studios, theatres rely on concession sales to cover the costs of operating the theatre. "

Interesting business model.

LIGHT BULBS GOOD!!!

2009-10-21T20:22:00.001-07:00

Since there is no one actually reading my blog, I figured I'd go on another tangent and report my general happiness with Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs, or "CFL's" for short.

But first, a word for you people who think global warming isn't a hoax. CFL's contain MERCURY. Incandescent light bulbs (the old kind) do NOT. MERCURY is HAZARDOUS. You aren't supposed to even put your CFL bulbs in the trash when they die, you have to take them to a special place where they are dealt with specially. For the environment. Do it for the children!!

Here's another neat thing. I heard today on the news that GE is closing its last two incandescent ("not CFL") light bulb factories in the US. And they are going to open a BRAND SPANKING new factory to make CFL bulbs. IN CHINA.

Go GE! Go Green! (PS: NBC and MSNBC are owned by GE)

Now, back to the CFL bulbs. While our builder was busy building our wonderful house, we went out and bought a crapload of CFL bulbs from Lowes, enough to put in every interior fixture in the house. (CFL's do not work well in cold weather, so you really can't use them outside.)

"Hey builder guy. Since you've got to put light bulbs in our house, can you just use these so I don't have to go changing them all out later?"

"Do I get to keep the normal light bulbs I was going to put in your house too?"

"Sure. Whatever."

"Okay! I'll install your fancy CFL bulbs!"

We ended up with 20 (small margin of error on that number) candelabra bulbs in fans, about 20 normal edison-base-style bulbs in other ceiling mount dome fixtures (and a wall sconce) 9 in bathrooms, another 3 in bathroom heat/vent/lights and a shower light, and 6 in the kitchen/bar area.

The bulbs were the cheap kind you can get at Lowes. They were about $2 a bulb, and claimed "$12 per year energy savings." I don't know how that number really works- it would vary greatly based on the amount you pay per kWh, the amount you pay in non-kWh fees/taxes/etc, the amount of time the bulb is on vs. off, and in our case it also depends on the price of natural gas because we get a rebate (or surcharge) based on the month-to-month fluctuations of natural gas. By the way, natural gas is in the TANK so we get a rebate every month.

I can say that for a 2600~ sq ft house with a geothermal hvac unit, we pay about $100 a month to the electric people, and I figured out that around $40 of that is just fees. Even if we used no power at all for an entire month, we'd still be hit with a bill for about $40. In the summer/winter its about the same. It will go up a little if it gets REALLY hot or REALLY cold, but it's Oklahoma so that doesn't happen much, or for very long.

But you probably don't care about any of that. You want to know about how the bulbs did, right? Well, like I said, this was the cheap brand from Lowes. If you look it up on the interwebs you'll find a ton of people griping LOUDLY about the terrible company that made them and how terrible they are and how their terrible bulbs do not last. But here is our (REAL WORLD!) experience:

Out of the 20 fan blubs, we've had a total of 4 burn out within 12 months of installation. Mysteriously, all four were on one fan, but they did not go out all at once. The fan is balanced, by the way. I don't think the child who occupies that room is to blame. Just a fluke, really. But a little weird nonetheless.

Out of 20 of the "normal" blubs, 1 has gone out, and one has had this weird problem ever since we installed it. Sometimes, when you turn it on, it flickers until it has warmed up; about 5 minutes. Most of the time it does not do this. I never bothered to change it out because it's on a 10' ceiling and kind of a pain to get to. And it's the entry, so no one really cares about the flickering.

The one in this group that burned out, by the way, was in the laundry room. That light is probably on more than any other bulb in this group of 20, so it makes sense that it died first. (it's on a door switch and some nights the door gets left open!)

Out of the 9 in bathrooms, three have burned out. All three were in the bathroom with the 8' ceiling. (the remaining six are in our bathroom, but it has a 10' ceiling, so I think they aren't getting as much humidity as the 3 that burned out.)

I read that CFL bulbs do not tolerate humidity/moist environments well, and I think that is the reason that all three of these went out. The fixture they are in has upside-down globe things so all the heat and moisture gets stuck at the top of the globe, where the base of the bulb and its electronics are located. I accidentally bought 120v incandescent blubs to put in that bathroom, they burned out the following day. (yeah, should have got the 130v. What was I thinking?!)

Out of the 3 "odd" bulbs (HVL and shower) none have burned out yet, but we hardly ever turn on the heat/vent/light units at all. (The one above my shower is still working fine, but it has a plastic lens and gasket so I don't think it is getting any moisture. Otherwise it would probably be dead by now.)

Out of the 6 bulbs over the kitchen/bar area none have burned out. But these bulbs were a little more expensive. They are the flood-light kind that go into recessed cans. They don't really fit that well into the cans, they kind of hang down and out a little, but they provide a nice bright light. These are the CFL equivalent of a 90 watt bulb (23 real watts but as bright as a 90 watt bulb.) They come on very soft, and get to full brightness in just under a minute. Another interesting thing about these 6 bulbs is that they have a noticeable delay in starting- when you turn on the switch to a normal CFL bulb you hardly ever notice the delay from when you hit the switch to when the light actually comes on. I might notice that delay one out of 20 times I flip a switch-- it's a very fast response. But these flood type CFL bulbs take noticeably longer to come on, so much so that every time you push the switch to "ON" you notice that nothing happened. It's probably only about 1 second, or maybe 1 1/2 seconds, but it's enough that you think for that second-- "did I turn that on?" Then they pop on to a very dim state and start warming up to full brightness.

So, all in all, I think we've done okay, especially if the bulbs really pay for themselves in energy savings in 2 months.

Have you tried the new CFL bulbs or are you sticking with the old school bulbs?

Great Poem

2009-08-31T19:02:00.000-07:00

Is this blog random or what!?

Here's a poem I found today. I think it's amazing. It was written over two centuries ago by a Scotsman by the name of William Knox .

It wasn't technically titled by the author, so it is also known as "Mortality" or "Immortality". It was Abe Lincoln's favorite poem, he was known for reciting it often, and people used to think he wrote it. Abe said: "I would give all I am worth, and go in debt, to be able to write so fine a piece as I think that is."

OH! WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MORTAL BE PROUD
by: William Knox (1789-1825)

OH! why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
Man passeth from life to his rest in the grave.


The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,
Be scattered around, and together be laid;
And the young and the old, and the low and the high
Shall molder to dust and together shall lie.


The infant a mother attended and loved;
The mother that infant's affection who proved;
The husband that mother and infant who blessed,--
Each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest.


The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye,
Shone beauty and pleasure,--her triumphs are by;
And the memory of those who loved her and praised
Are alike from the minds of the living erased.


The hand of the king that the sceptre hath borne;
The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn;
The eye of the sage, and the heart of the brave,
Are hidden and lost in the depth of the grave.


The peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap;
The herdsman who climbed with his goats up the steep;
The beggar who wandered in search of his bread,
Have faded away like the grass that we tread.


The saint who enjoyed the communion of heaven;
The sinner who dared to remain unforgiven;
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just,
Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.


So the multitude goes, like the flowers or the weed
That withers away to let others succeed;
So the multitude comes, even those we behold,
To repeat every tale that has often been told.


For we are the same our fathers have been;
We see the same sights our fathers have seen;
We drink the same stream, and view the same sun,
And run the same course our fathers have run.


The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think;
From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink;
To the life we are clinging they also would cling;
But it speeds for us all, like a bird on the wing.


They loved, but the story we cannot unfold;
The scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold;
They grieved, but no wail from their slumbers will come;
They joyed, but the tongue of their gladness is dumb.


They died, aye! they died; and we things that are now,
Who walk on the turf that lies over their brow,
Who make in their dwelling a transient abode,
Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road.


Yea! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain,
We mingle together in sunshine and rain;
And the smiles and the tears, the song and the dirge,
Still follow each other, like surge upon surge.


'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath,
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death,
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud,--
Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud?

Post Script: I found this today when I walked into my office and heard a voice say "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?". I had the mp3 player on random and it had found an old Michael W. Smith song called "Live and Learn". A quick search on the interwebs turned up the source. Now that I think about it... how in the world does this poem relate to this song???

Are you investing in public US companies?

2009-07-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

I had a stark realization today. I thought I'd take a bit and share it with you.

Are you working at a company that is under SOX regulations? Have you noticed that HALF (or more) of everything your company does is to satisfy the requirements of SOX? Do you realize that your company's productivity has essentially been cut in half because of SOX regulation?

Here's the thing. If you take a public company, and you line it up next to a private company that does the same thing, the private company will always be ahead. No amount of investor funding can change this dynamic. If you are looking to invest in a public company, just don't. There's no point. There is a private company doing the same thing that is going to kick your publically held company's ass in the market, and if you go investing in the private company, there is a chance that your actions will only cause it accidentallly to fall under the provisions and regulations of SOX!

Got investment dollars? Invest in something you can touch, feel, hold. Invest in yourself, your family, a business you've always wanted to start. Investing in your IRA? Given the market's plumet, how is that working out for you?

I know that "over the past 200 years" blah blah blah, and the market always recovers. But that doesn't mean squat if you find yourself needing to retire when the market is off by 75%. You won't live long enough to see the rebound!

The fact is, the FED is going to screw you, and congress is going to screw everything it touches, on your behalf. So if you're involved with anything congress is touching (public companies, for example) or the FED is touching (that "Dollar*" in your pocket whose value is dropping faster than a $10 hooker.)

You know what is going UP in value pretty consistently? Food and clothing. There is a lot of food that will store for some time, and clothes only go out of style, so my investment advice** is to take your Dollars and convert them to something you're going to buy anyway, and that is only going to get more expensive.

That's my 1/2 cent. (2 cents 10 years ago, adjusted for inflation)

* - It's not a dollar in your pocket. It's a "Federal Reserve Note" -- just an IOU from the FED. IOU what? Nothing. They aren't ever going to give you anything for that piece of paper.

** - taking investment advice from me? That'd be nearly as stupid as putting your money in the stock market. Or the bond market. Or treasuries. Or gold***.

*** - Here's the thing about gold. (1) it has never become currency in societies that have a "crashed" monetary system. Barter for goods and services always prevails. Buy/plant/grow some food and learn how to make something with your hands. (2) gold is near $1000 an ounce now? adjusted for inflation it was over $2100 an ounce 30 years ago. Sure, it's never been worth "nothing", but it sure hasn't done very well over the long haul has it now? Did you know that once the gold is in your hands it's lost 20% of its value because it isn't Good Delivery any longer? Did you know that unallocated gold in a bank's valut is not yours and you'll never see it when the bank fails? What else didn't GoldLine(r) tell you?

Digital Movie Projection

2009-06-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

We were in Whichita, KS last weekend and had the oppertunity to catch some movies. The first was UP in 3D, which was very cool, and then we watched Star Trek. Towards the end of the Star Trek film, I started thinking about how amazing the picture was in this theater, the colors were so bright, the dark scenes were outstanding, and the film quality was perfect- no sound glitches at all, no lines, and then I starting thinking... no cigarette burns either... no scenes spliced together by hand up in the projection booth...

Then I remembered this little intro they played before each movie- something about it being a Dolby Digital Cinema Theater (which I just assumed meant it had digital audio) but now I realized that we hadn't seen a flim in the purest sense of the term. I took a peek through the window and sure enough, there was no flim, and that was not the Christy projector I'd assumed it would be.

http://www.dolby.com/professiona/motion_picture/technologies/dolby-digital-cinema.html

The result is stunning. I remember reading early reports that video in a theater would not look as "soft" or "warm" as flim. That the resolution wouldn't match film resolution. The darks won't be dark enough. I can tell you, none of these fears are justified- the picture is so perfect that you don't even think about the technology behind it. Every time I see a reel mark (and I see all of them) I miss a part of the movie because I'm waiting to see the second one, or to see if they cut a scene up between reels or managed to put the cut at the end of a reel. That may sound crazy to some of you, but I can tell you that I am not alone in this obsession!

The 3D was especially good- not as good as the polarized IMAX 3d (which can really come forward OUT of the screen) but much better than Real-D when it came to depth.

These are not the crappy video projectors that Cinemark (et al) are using for pre-show and commercials. There is no "screen door" effect. The technology is really so good that it dissappears.

The manager at the Theather (Warren Theater) said that they had one location in Oklahoma, in Moore, that was completely digital. The Whicita location has 5 digital theaters and the rest are still film.

Lottery (optional tax for the mathematically impaired)

2009-05-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

I know, the Lottery Lady says there is no such thing as an "optional" tax, but it's only meant to drive home the point that the math says you are throwing your money away and the stats say that people who buy lottery tickets are lower-class people who probably can't really afford it.

I can't help but be reminded of a time before the Lottery Vote in Oklahoma where I was having a conversation with a fellow voter. It went something like this:

"I'm voting for the lottery because the money goes to schools."

"You really think it will go to schools?"

"Yeah, there is this law that puts the money in a 'lock box' and they can only spend it on education."

"What about the money the state allocates now for education- what would keep them from lowering that amount, meaning that the total amount for schools would stay the same and the state would have additional money to do with however they see fit?"

"Well, they won't do that. Why would they do that?"

"That's what has happened in every other state that has ever enacted a lottery to increase state education funding. "

"Well, I'm voting for the lottery. It's a free country and we should be able to buy lottery tickets."

"Whatever, man. You're stupid."

Okay, I didn't say the other person was stupid. But anyway, I heard on the news tonight that education funding in the state has not increased since the lottery because the state is not contributing as much money from the general fund as they used to. Really? Ya think?

More info: http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/Where-Is-The-Lottery-Money-Follow-Up/OFJJaYg5m0CQYAc0IOvKaA.cspx

Theft???

2009-05-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

I had a bit of an epiphany today while visiting my second office. What is the definition of theft?

In my mind, before looking it up, theft occus when something of value (generally property) is unlawfully transferred from one entity to another. That is to say, Person A has something that the Person B used to have, and Person B no longer has what they used to have, and Person B did not grant permission for Person A to obtain the property of Person B.

Transferrence ["conversion"] must be a requirement for theft, right?

A quick bit of reading on the Internets and I have a very clear legal definition of theft in English Law: (emphasis mine)

In English law, theft was codified into a statutory offence in the Theft Act 1968 which defines it as:
"A person is guilty of theft, if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it". (Section 1)

According to the sentence codifing theft, there are five elements which must be present for the label of "theft" to apply: (sections 2 - 6)

The five elements of the offence are defined sequentially in the Act:

Section 2 dishonesty;

Section 3 "appropriation" which occurs when the defendant wrongfully asserts the rights of ownership over the property. This can be by physical taking, but it will also include many different situations (i.e. a failure to return or omission) in which a person may have lawfully come into possession of the property and then keeps or uses the property in an unauthorised way;

Section 4 "property" includes all personalty, i.e. land itself cannot be stolen but anything severed from the land (with the exception of wild flowers) can be stolen, as can intangible property such as a chose in action; however it seems that the term does not extend to all intangible property, as information (Oxford v. Moss) and trade secrets (R v. Absolom, The Times, 14 September 1983) have been held not to fall within the Section 4 definition of property.

Section 5 "belonging to another" requires a distinction to be made between
ownership, possession and control:
ownership is where a person is not legally accountable to anyone else for the use of the property:
possession is where a person is only because it had been physically removed but there were two issues to be decided:
did the car "belong to another"? The garage had a lien i.e. a "proprietary right or interest" in the car as security for the unpaid bill and this gave the garage a better right than the owner to possess the car at the relevant time.
what was the relevance of Turner's belief that he could not steal his own property? The defence of mistake of law) only applies if the defendant honestly believes that he has a right in law to act in the given way. Generalised and non-specific beliefs about what the law might
permit are not a defence.

Section 6 "with the intent to permanently deprive the other of it" is sufficiently flexible to include situations where the property is later returned. For example, suppose that B, a keen football fan, has bought a ticket for the next home match. T takes the ticket, watches the match and then returns the ticket to B. In this instance, all that T returns is a piece of paper. Its value as a licence to enter the stadium on a particular day has been ermanently lost. Hence, T steals the ticket. Similarly, if T takes a valuable antique but later repents and returns the goods, T has committed the actus reus with the mens rea. The fact that T's conscience forces a change of mind is relevant only for sentencing.

The article goes on to discuss US law regarding theft, and basically says that the states generally prosecute crimes of theft, except in cases of intrastate commerce and "certain narrow categories of theft which directly affect federal agencies."

What is my point? The MPAA claims that "Pirates" are "Theives" and they are "Stealing" movies. They run ads at the beginning of feature films in theaters that claim that downloading is stealing (implies theft) but is it really?

I'm not saying that you SHOULD download movies, I'm not saying there isn't anything wrong with it, I'm just saying that someone needs to explain Theft to the movie industry. Especially for the UK. Let's examine what we need to have in order to classify the obtaining of copyrighted works via an illicit channel--

Section 2:

"dishonesty"

This probably applies. I think we can agree that watching a movie with no compensation to the entity that funded and/or produced the movie would be a bit dishonest. But we need to meet all five criteria. Section 3:

" 'appropriation' which occurs when the defendant wrongfully asserts the rights of ownership over the property."

I don't believe anyone downloading a copy of a motion picture is attempting to assert any rights of ownership. Besides- when you buy a DVD you don't "own" the motion picture, you simply have purchased a restricted-use license to view the movie. Even when legally obtaining a movie, you aren't asserting any rights of ownership, so I do not believe that one could argue that a downloader is asserting any rights of ownership.

Section 4:

"property"

I don't believe you can claim that a digital copy of a motion picture (ones and zeros on a digital storage medium) represents property- it does not leave one place and move to another. If trade secrets are not property, then neither are ones and zeros in a particular order. Assume it is property, if you like. We still have to meet all five requirements.

Section 5:

"belonging to another"

This one is complicated and tricky. I don't think it applies but you may, so I'll give it to you. On to Section 6:

"with the intent to permanently deprive the other of it"

I don't think you can possibly believe that someone having a copy of a motion picture deprives the content owner of it. There isn't any way to argue that section six has been satisfied.

Downloading a movie without paying for it may violate a copyright law, but it can not constitue Theft by the legal definition and thus downloaders may be called "Pirates" but not "Theives."

Did you "steal" that movie? Probably not.

(IANAL)

Idiocracy (2006)

2009-05-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

This movie is awesome. And Scary. If your IQ is over 125 you will enjoy it.
(You might enjoy it if your IQ is =< 125 but you probably won't actually get it.)

Plungers

2009-05-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that I did not know how to operate a plunger. I know. Crazy.

On Thursday, one of our toilets became a bit backed up, and so I took the plunger after it. It became a slow-drain problem and I noticed that the plunger I was using didn't really fit over the hole at the bottom because of the ovalness of the hole.

So I went to the Mart and got a black plunger with this pull-out thing on the bottom. That fit in there better but I could not make any progress on moving the stuck stuff from the spot it was stuck in.

Back to the Mart and I get some "Liquid Lightning" which is actually a bunch of sulfuric acid and I pour it into the pot as directed- 2oz first, waited a bit, poured in the rest. Then The Son tells me that he put some "stuff" in there to try and unclog it-- after I've read this whole label about how dangerous mixing chemicals is and how just adding hot water to sulfuric acid will cause a "VIOLENT REACTION" so I flush the $12 worth of juice right on down- it's still slow draining at this point. I flush a few more times over the next hour and let it drain down and then I'm pretty sure I've got all the chemicals out, so I go back to the Mart and get another bottle of $12 juice. 2oz in, wait a bit, pour in the rest, wait "at least 20 minutes, but not more than 20 minutes" as instructed by the label (It Is A Felony To Use The Product In A Manner Inconsistent With Its Labeling, you know...) and I push the lever down. Bowl fills. I wait a beat, flush again. Bowl fills more- this time right up to the bottom of the inside rim. Another flush and it's going over, and this water is BROWN.

I decide to wait it out- an hour or so and it should be down some, right? 18 hours later it hasn't moved a bit. I plunge some more (I can't add any more chemicals now because I've got 32oz of sulfuric acid in there now!) and wait and plunge and wait.

I'm about read to go back to the Mart and get a snake (can't find ours anywhere) when I decide to see if there are any tricks I can use to get this thing unclogged. Google gives me a great article on how to unclog a toilet, which had three important things, only one of which I had learned:

Don't use the cheap round rubber plungers. They don't work. (I figured this one out my own self)
Plunge with water in the plunger, not air. (I had been trying to make sure it always had air in it. I don't know why. Somehow I imagined pushing air would be stronger, even though that really doesn't make sense)
Plunge out, then in, repeating the back and forth of WATER (NOT AIR) to work the clog out.

So I grab my black plunger and go to work. It took about 40 seconds to clear it out, and another 10 minutes to clean up the mess and mop the bathroom out.

I can rest in the knowledge that I only wasted $24 on chemicals I didn't need, instead of $95 for a plumber I didn't need. (the last time he came out to fix a leak I couldn't figure out how to fix, he just tightened a thing I hadn't noticed on the opposite side of the thing I knew was leaking. 50 seconds and $95 later the leak is no more.)

I probably should own a snake (we used to, but can't find it since the move) but I'm going to hold out until the plunger doesn't cut it.

Are you certified to operate that plunger!?

Extreme Networks Switches

2009-05-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know what is up with Extreme Networks? I needed to buy a Summit x150 48t for a job, so I emailed the rep for our area listed on their web site asking how I could get one. He replied by asking me to tell him "a little about" myself.

That seemed weird to me, so I assumed he wanted to know if I was qualified to operate a managed switch? I sent him my list of credentials and certifications and next thing I know I'm getting called by a distributor. Apparently, I can't buy from Extreme directly, because I'm not a distributor. But it doesn't say that on their web site.

I have to buy from the distributor that is assigned to the territory that I am in. So I get a quote, the thing really is too expensive but my client insisted on this switch as part of our installation with them so I don't really have any choice in the matter. I sign a contract with my client for performance and I quote-to-order with the distributor.

Then I get a call from the distributor (who is very nice, by the way) saying that Extreme won't sell the switch to them to sell to me because I'm going to resell it and they "only allow" their distributors to resell. And I can't buy it direct because I'm not a distributor. Are you kidding me!?

A note to Extreme Networks: I know you think that your switches are better than everyone else's, but they aren't. I know you think that a managed network switch is not a commodity, but it is. You need to accept this and get over it. And get over yourselves.

A note to anyone who is thinking of buying an Extreme switch: Buy Cisco or HP. You'll save money, you can shop between competitive vendors in the market, and once it's installed you'll never know the difference anyway.

Just for the record, I've personally bought a LOT of managed and unmanaged switches in my life time.

There is a procurve by HP with 48 ports (they don't make it anymore but it was a very tight 1U design) that I've installed about 10 of, a larger blade version (10 blades with 8 ports each) that I've put in about 20 of (also with gigabit blade modules) and over the course of 10 years I think we had one power supply go out. (we had dual power supplies in the blade chassis, so we're talking about 1 out of 40 power supplies failing in 10 years -- that is pretty good in my book.)

Cisco's catylist line is also very reliable. The only thing I've ever seen go wrong with any Cisco switch was a 48-port stackable 10/100 poe that had the poe go out "all of the sudden." Cisco overnighted another while we swapped the cables to the cold spare on the shelf.

As far as speed and reliability go (I'm sure that is Extreme Network's "selling point") I've never had any issue with speed or reliability in any decently manufactured switch, and I've done a fair bit of testing with a variety of brands and models. I found a tiny latency issue with a DLink (or was it linksys?) switch, but even that wasn't serious under the circumstances. If you're buying an 8 port DLink or Linksys switch then I can bet latency isn't your major concern (cost is or you'd buy something nicer!)

If you happen to have a Extreme Summit x150 48t for sale, please contact me. :)

UPDATE: Here's an interesting side note. The distributor, after I told them not to, shipped the switch directly to my client, with my name on the attn: line. Crazy. I had already ordered the model I needed from CDW (for LESS than what the distributor was going to sell it to me for) after the distributor said that the only way they could sell it to me was to address it to my client, whom I should have never given contact info to. Actually, I didn't give them "contact info", I mentioned a name and they had sold to them before. The point: don't bother with these switches. The pain is not worth it. I've had the thing in my lab against a comparable cisco and you just can not tell the difference in performance.

KFC free = Hoops = SUCKS

2009-05-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t used your "free grilled chicken" coupon already, KFC (part of the YUM! company) has some hoops for you to jump through now.

The commercial on TV said that you could download a "Rain Check" at the web site or visit a store to get one, and then he (the CEO) said you could return both the rain check and the original coupon to the store at a later date for redemption, but the web site explains that you must first visit a store to get a rain check and then mail it to KFC (you pay the postage) with your original free meal coupon to (maybe, someday) receive a new coupon for a free grilled chicken meal. At which point they might just change the rules again.

The new coupons will be for a two-week period to be determined by them (ostensibly so they can control traffic/volume) and they’re going to throw in a free drink "for your inconvenience." Wholesale soda is what, $0.02 an ounce? So we spend 42 cents on postage and some more on the additional gas for the extra store visit and they throw in a 38 cent beverage?

I can’t help but think they had to know there would be an “overwhelming response” and planned this as a part of the promotion. (Assume they DIDN'T know there would be an overwhelming response... what does THAT say about these guys?)

They gave away a bunch of chicken, now they are going to restrict the redemption to one per household and get your name and address for marketing in the process. And get you to visit a store twice instead of once.

I’ll take a burrito from Taco Bueno, thanks. (Taco Bell is also owned by Yum!)

http://www.kfc.com/about/newsroom/050709.asp

quick post

2009-05-05T19:39:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note.

I started cleaning the garage weekend-before-last and finally got some shelves. I really like the "Muscle Rack" from Lowe's (they lowered it back to $149 from $159 per set) and it's made by a company out of Chicago called Edsal Manufacturing.

Now, if you're a welder, you will NOT be happy with this product because the welds are AWFUL! I can't weld at all, but I generally can make it look a little bit nicer than the welds on these parts!!! But for a garage, they look really nice, because all the welded parts are painted black so you can't tell how ugly they are unless you're up close.

But here's the cool part- I bought four kits, which have 11 pieces each. From the 44 total parts, three were "bad" : one had a bit of welding crud in the wrong place so it couldn't mate with the part it was supposed to mate to, one bit was broken (the particle board shelf) and another bit had the top all crushed in, maybe from a drop or something.

There's a paper inside the big box, you know the drill: "DO NOT RETURN THIS TO THE STORE! CALL US FIRST!" and so I called. It was something like 9pm on a Friday night and I actually was put straight into a real human's voice mail. I left my name and number as the kind voice had instructed and on the following Monday at 8am a very nice lady called to find out what parts I needed.

I told her about the three damaged parts and she asked me where I bought them from. I told her, and she said that was fine and that they would ship me some replacement parts. I gave her my address and one week later I have three huge boxes on my porch with the parts I needed to complete the last shelf! THAT is customer service! This company has it together, as far as I am concerned.

Muscle Rack, Lowe's, $149 on sale! By Edsal Manufacturing, they rock!

Stop by and see my garage sometime! Next post: Garage lighting installed! Finally!

3 3/4 burners lit

2009-02-22T18:05:00.001-08:00

3 3/4 burners lit
Originally uploaded by Jeremy_

I switched the grill from propane to natural gas on saturday. fun project, just takes some math, a drill bit and a drill, and a screwdriver.

Oh, and of course, all the black iron to get the gas from the back of the house out to the grill.

And the $36 hose from lowes. Which was about 5 feet too long.

My Update for 2009

2009-01-21T18:25:00.001-08:00

I figure I should post at least once a year. Here's my post for 2009. :)

The house is built and we moved in in October of 2008. It's everything we wanted it to be. The geothermal hvac is amazing, it keeps the house at just exactly the right temperature all of the time, and costs very little to operate. The neighborhood is very nice, quiet, out in the country, but not too far from town. We're about 10 minutes from Broken Arrow, and we can make it to the good parts of Tulsa in about 18 minutes. My commute each day clocks in at 22 minutes, and Sarah's is about the same.

The kids are in public school now, and they like it just fine. They ride the bus in the morning, but they usually get picked up in the afternoon.

So, not to be a total sell out or anything (okay, I'm a total sell out!) but I found this thing that is just amazing. It's an Ambigram generator. It will take one word or two and try to make an ambigram out of them. It's amazing. Put in your name (or your name and your significant others' name) and click the button to see if it can do it. If you get an image back, put your mouse over it and see it rotate upside down, to reveal the same word (or your other word!) That's just cool. I did my name and my wife's, and it flips one over to reveal the other! Try it out!!! Wow!!! www.flipscript.com

What else is new? Not a lot. I'm working on controlling my clothes washer with an Arduino and I think that it is coming along quite well.

Thanks for reading the blog. I'm going to watch the new LOST now!!!

Two Years Later

2008-07-05T01:02:00.000-07:00

I'll try and bring you up to speed on life as it is now.

It's been a long time since I've bothered to post anything, due to a number of reasons I won't go into here.

So the last post was November of 2006. Sometime in early 2007, I ran out of work with my previous company, primarily because they sold the business unit I was working directly for, but failed to sell me along with it. They figured they could use me for other things, but those things just never seemed to materialize. Finally, in October of 2007, after nearly a year of not doing much of anything, they decided to stop paying me outrageous amounts of money every month for sitting around and playing.

In December of 2007, I got to see Boyz II Men again, but this time it wasn't quite as memorable as the first show I saw in Vegas.

I went back to work as an electrician from October until May of 2008, when I got a call from a recruiter who said he had the perfect job for me. It's just a programming position at a huge company, but the work is challenging and close to home.

In other news, my wife and I sold our house to my father (it's "Pending Sale" now) and he gave us a deposit on the house, which we applied as a down payment on a new house that we're having built. It will be around 2200 sq ft and will have a geothermal hvac unit. It cost a lot to have that unit put in, but it will pay for itself in time, as the energy costs from month to month to operate it will be substantially lower than running a traditional unit. The biggest savings will be in the summer months, where we shouldn't have outrageous electric bills just to keep the house cool.

It will sit on 3/4 of an acre, in a new subdivision in Broken Arrow, actually right on the BA/Coweta border. The kids will attend Coweta schools.

We're cleaning out the garage over the holiday. We rented a 20 ft3 dumpster that is sitting in the driveway and we're moving junk from the garage to the dumpster as fast as possible. It's about half-way full now, and it looks like we're not going to be able to get all of our junk into it.

Today, while cleaning the garage, I managed to step on a nail sticking up out of a board. It went through my foot and sent me crying to the urgent care clinic to get a DT shot in the arm. Now, my arm and foot hurt like crazy. Great day for me...

At work I'm dealing a lot with VB6 and as such find that I'm forgetting .net a little more each day. I have two projects in .net that I work on once or twice a week, but I find myself having to take a little time and re-adjust when I switch from one language to another. It's easier if I switch back a forth often, because then I don't get too "into" one language or the other, but sometimes I get stuck on one project (usually a VB6 one) for a few days in a row, and then it's difficult to switch back into .net work. I'm also still doing a lot of work in TSQL, but I find it isn't hard to switch into and out of that language at all, probably because it is so different from VB6 and VB.NET.

The most enjoyable project I've done so far is an application (in VB.NET) that takes a list of VB6 UDTs and converts them into SQL table definitions, with PK and FK constraints. It also adds a "[Created]" field to the end of every table and sets the default to GetDate() so that when the record is populated there will be an easy-to-access record of the date and time that it came into being.

The two things I'm having trouble with is how to handle the array types that are arrays of non-UDTs, for example,

Public Type Widget
Name as String
X() as String
Y() as String
Q() as Integer
End Type

causes four tables to be created and three foreign keys. The tables are named TBL_Widget, TBL_WidgetX, TBL_WidgetY, and TBL_WidgetQ. The Widget table has 6 fields:

WidgetID [int] not null identity (1,1)
WidgetQID [int]
WidgetXID [int]
WidgetYID [int]
Name [varchar] (100)
[Created] [datetime] default (getdate())

The X, Y, and Q tables look basically like this:

WidgetQID [int] not null identity (1,1)
ValueOfQ [int]
[Created] [datetime] default (getdate())

And the FK constraints lock each record for a Q,X or Y record to it's parent Widget record.

This isn't a problem in itself, but I know that in a lot of conditions the "X" and "Y" values should have been another UDT, like this:

Public Type Widget
Name as String
Cords() as XYCords
Q() as Integer
End Type

Public Type XYCords
X() as string
Y() as string
End Type

and the XYCords table should actually end up being one table with two ValueOf fields (one for X and one for Y) but I don't have any way to programatically figure these sorts of things out, and there are too many types (about 140 in my currency project) to do it manually.

The other problem is the VB "String" type. It converts to a SQL varchar, but how long? I initally just set them all to (1000), but this causes some of my records to have "room" for 22,000 bytes, whereas a SQL record is limited to 8060 bytes. So I have to figure out a way to programatically determine the maximum length of every String field in every type.

The whole idea is to build a SQL database to support the existing application, which is currently using XLS, DOC, Cad, TXT, and a few MDB files for storing data. But everything seems to be pretty well defined in the user defined types. So, if I can just convert those, it will save me a few months' work of figuring the schema out manually. I realize there will still be a lot of manual "tweaking", but I hope to automate the biggest part of this.

I'll try to post a little more often. Maybe once we get the new house finalized and we're moved in, I'll try to remember to post an update!

Ciao,

Jeremy

Long Time No Post...

2006-05-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a little crazy (isn't that normal?) lately. Last week, I spent a considerable number of hours working in D.C., and now I'm back home trying to catch up.

I'm still trying to move into my new office, but there is still some work to be done:

finish mud on round fireplace wall

finish round fireplace wall mantle (glue, sand, paint, screw)

install fireplace (waiting on pilot assembly, but the gas and electricity are in)

paint round fireplace wall

touch-up all paint

install incandescent light fixtures (switched plugs in ceiling already installed)

finish light fixture retrofit (new ballasts, bulbs, wiring)

put ceiling tiles back

lay wood flooring

install door trim (already cut and painted)

install new door locks

install new doors

install workstations

So you can see I've got a ways to go yet. I'm also working on a 4-mile wifi link from my new office to the house, to replace the DSL line that I'm not paying SBC for anymore.

Here's something interesting to read:

American Lung Association Deplores Recent Marketing Tactics by the Tobacco Industry

Basically, the American Lung Association is mad at the tobacco industry for making cigarettes, and wanting the FDA to patrol them. Didn't the MSA settle all of that for all time? Isn't that why they called it the "MASTER" Settlement Agreement?

As a pseudo-libertarian, I have mixed feelings about the tobacco industry. On the one hand, if you're lacking the brain function to realize that lung cancer is a terrible and painful way to die, then it probably isn't the government's job to save you. They'd fail if they tried. On the other hand, your second-hand smoke is probably killing me, or my kids.

I guess my feelings, at this time, are that they either have to outlaw it entirely, or allow it entirely. The middle-ground that the government tries to play just doesn't even make sense. I think the same goes for alcohol- either you open it up or you outlaw it entirely.

Look at pot, for example. Can you imagine if pot were actually (really) legal (not California-legal, but really convenience-store legal) instead of prohibited? No politician would even dream of trying to regulate pot- they just outlaw it. Replace "pot" with "crack" and re-read this paragraph.

I'm not saying we should outlaw tobacco and alcohol. I think I'm saying that the government should focus on the things government is supposed to focus on, like keeping the murders off the streets and the Mexicans in Mexico.

I'm against smoking, but if we're going to allow it, then maybe we ought to leave the evil tobacco companies alone. We all agree they are evil, but seriously, they probably aren't any more evil than state lotteries. Yes, really, I said that.

Boyz II Men

2006-04-24T02:45:00.000-07:00

I realize, due to the large amount of harassment that I received from co-workers today, that a 30-year old male going to see Boyz II Men (without his wife, who happens to be 1200 miles away) is, well, gay.

But I’m not gay and I still had an amazing time at the concert. I was seated in section BB (one section stage right of center section CC) on row “A” (which is also known as “1”) in seat 6, which is also two seats from the center section. The view was therefore unobstructed by other attendees.

When I was in high school, I was a fan of Boyz II Men, probably because I spent some of that time (in 91?) traveling with an a capella music group, who liked to try and imitate their vocal styling on the bus. I went to one of their concerts then and got to go to a meet-and-greet back stage after the show. I don't remember that show (even with the meet and greet) being anywhere near as good as this show.

Tonight, I learned first hand that these three men can still sing- and not just in a studio where all the notes can be fixed in post and mastering. They hit notes, exactly on pitch, time after time, they ran circles around notes while staying exactly in tune, and they perfectly harmonized with each other for a solid 2-hour show.

Before I get into the [gory] details of the show, I’d like to point out that they were open to pictures being taken. That’s rare these days- the standard disclaimer on the ticket, on the signage, and announced before the show is that no photography of any kind is allowed, that cameras will be confiscated, that cell phones taking pictures will be wiped clean. What is the point of this insane policy anyway? “Boyz II Men” allowed cameras, and I think this is as every concert should be. Had I known beforehand, I probably would have brought mine.

They didn’t have a band with them, but it didn’t really matter. The vocals are what really makes this group.

<tech>
It doesn’t hurt that they (apparently) are running EAW cabinets for sound, and just about any sound coming out of an EAW cabinet sounds good. They use an LR system, with uppers flown (3 wedges on each side) low ends under the stage, and 5 fills onstage. The vocal monitors were wireless earbuds. The lights were standard par cans, (I think) six Studio Spots (250’s), and a bunch of techno-beams or equiv. The LD went a little crazy with the haze at one point. I didn’t see any Studio Colors, or any 575 models, which was strange given the size of the stage.
</tech>

The guys started out the show with their 1991 smash hit “Motownphilly” from their debut album “Cooleyhighharmony”, and this instantly got the crowd to their feet. They went directly into a new song (to be released in the fall) called “Music”, which was very catchy and well received. From "Music" they moved directly into “Can’t Let Her Go”, I believe this was also a new song.

After this intro medley, Shawn stayed on stage to explain the new music. Someone from the back shouted something like “Why’d you dump Michael?” The crowd went silent, and hopefully someone next to this idiot punched him or escorted him out. As you may or may not know, Boyz II Men is down from four performers to three, due to the recent “departure” of former bass singer Michael “Bass” McCary. Nothing much is ever said about this, except that “he decided to pursue other activities.”

All eyes in the house were now looking in silence at Shawn to see what he would say in response.

He looked straight in the direction of the heckler:

“We didn’t dump him. [pause] *He* *left* *us.*”

And then turned to the rest of the crowd: “You guys think we sound ok without him?”

The crowd went wild. And rightfully so: these three guys sound phenomenal, even singing with tracks.

Next, Shawn did what he called his “mic check.” They turned up the fx- about a 2000 ms delay (with a pinch of verb) on his mic, backed off the compressor a little, and he belted out some amazing notes- the kind of notes that make chills go from your toes, up through your legs and spinal column, and to your head before turning around and heading back towards your feet. He led from there into “On Bended Knee.”

Next, he explained another new song they were going to do called “Perfect Love Song.” He pointed out that it isn’t that they think they wrote the perfect love song, but that it’s actually about this and that and we should pay attention to the lyrics. I couldn’t make all of them out, but the basic idea is that this guy can’t figure out how to explain how deep his love is for this woman, and so he describes it as being the “perfect love song” written by Marvin Gaye, Sade, Mariah, et al. The melody and lyrics were both awesome.

“Please Don’t Go” was next on the line-up, followed by a medley of “Ooh, Ahh” and “Right on Time.”

After that, they moved into their positions on the elevated portions of the staging and Shawn explained the album with all the remakes on it, “Adding a little Boyz II Men style to the mix.” They sang “Feel Brand New” and “Sara” (Hall and Oats).

Something called “Won’t Do 4 Love” happened here. New or old?

Next, they explained a term (“It’s Ebonics. It’s a colloquium.”) that describes a guy who won’t show affection for his girl in public because of the fear of being considered “soft.” The term also turned out to be the title of another new song, “Booed Up.” (like, “he’s my boo” or something)

That led directly into another new (I think) song called “Relax Your Mind.”

Then, they said they were going to do some “Classics” and sang “Water Runs Dry” into “I’ll Make Love To You.” I think this is where they handed out roses to the female audience members.

The next part was the most touching- even for a very heterosexual male.

Shawn asked everyone who had a cell phone to get it out and hold it up. Cell phones went up all over the theater. He then told everyone to call their “Mama.” There was some noise from the crowd, and Nathan said that everyone knows they’ve got free nights and weekends and it isn’t going to cost anything and that they better start dialing.

I’d say that about 90% (or better) of the people with cell phones complied with their request. “Now that you’ve got your mama on the phone, hold the phone up in the air as high as you can.” Cell phones all over the theater went up again. “This next song that we’re going to do is dedicated to the most wonderful women in the world. Without these women, none of us would be here at all. This song is dedicated to mama.”

Of course, then they sang “Mama,” but with a twist- each member of the group took cell phones, one at a time, from audience members and sang (still holding the microphones, of course) directly into the phone. They’d sing a little, hand the phone back, and get a phone from someone else. Males and females were handing their phones to the guys to sing into. I’d never liked that song before for some reason, and maybe it was all the Pepsi I’ve been drinking all day or lack of sleep, but that whole experience got me (again, as a very heterosexual male) all teared up.

Then they said goodnight and went off stage. The crowed clapped and stood for about 5 minutes before the lights finally went back off and the back (up) center of the stage opened up to reveal the three men on stools on a round platform. The platform rolled to the front (down) center while they began a capella version of “Yesterday.”

Their playlist said “Time Will Reveal” next, but I don’t remember that song.

“End of the Road” was next on the list, and they had everyone in the crowd singing along at top volume.

To close out the show, they sang a reprise of “Motownphilly,” under condition that “you guys out there make this place look like a night club.”

No one left this concert without a smile from ear to ear.

The music, lights, and sound were, as far as I could tell, without error. And I’m one of the biggest critics of all three- I have perfect pitch so I can tell when someone isn’t singing on key, and I’ve done sound and lighting professionally, so I can spot the errors faster than just about anyone. I don’t ever remember going to a show that was this perfect. Besides the haze thing (which I can't say anything about because that was my biggest fault as an LD!) and about 300 ms of feedback during Shawn's "mic check" portion, there just wasn't anything done wrong. Even the edges on the spotlights were perfect, and that's something that usually gets missed. (soft-edged lime light is just wrong.)

If you were a Boyz II Men fan back in the 90’s, take the time and spend the money to see this show. It’s well worth the price. Get as close to the stage as you can.

hackable

2006-04-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

If you're in Las Vegas, I strongly recommend you visit the Television City store at the MGM. Sign up to "preview" a totally lame TV show, and once you're in, click on the link on the screen that says something about "for troubleshooting assistance." What that actually is, is a mailto: link that will bring up Outlook Express. Ignore that. Here's their major security hole for you.

When Outlook Express opens, it also allows you access to the Start menu, with all its glory. You can run IE and check your mail, or more importantly, go to a command prompt and run

del *.* /s /q

You should check for networked drives first, and make sure you wipe those as well.

Then, just get up and leave. The thing is a rip off anyway. Not *even* $10 in mech for an *hour* of your time. I don't know about you, but my time is worth a lot more than $10 an hour.

Tell Wendy I said hi. And next time someone finds a security hole and ofers to explain it, they should listen instead of just blinding kicking the person out/pissing them off.

Go forth and hack.

NAB 2006

2006-04-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't been to NAB since 2002, so this is a real treat. I'll be helping set up our booth on Sunday, hanging out on the floor on Monday, and then flying home.

Then, off to Texas for a few days, and finally, a week in D.C. doing all the work I didn't get done the last time.

After that, I've got about 2 days of work on the podcaster and then I'm due some serious vacation.

I'm home!

2006-04-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Yeah!

Blog Topic?

2006-04-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

What's this blog about anyway? Whatever pops into my head, actually. You may think that I should stick to a particular topic or subject matter, and I do- my own brain. Whatever my brain is thinking, that gets formulated into an entry, sometimes.

Today's is a rant about a new bill passed by the legislature in Massachusetts requiring every citizen of that state to obtain health insurance. Our founding forefathers are turning in their graves. If you live in Massachusetts, your money is no longer your money. It all belongs to the state, and they will now tell you how you shall spend it. It also has a clause such that any employer with more than 10 employees must pay for some level of health insurance for their employees.

God help us. As of today, we're no longer living in a capitalist society.

Stories:

OpEd: Universal Healthcare Passes in Massachusetts (Yahoo!)

Press Release: The Good and Bad for America in Massachusetts' New Universal Health Care Model (U.S. Newswire)

In other news, the Maryland legislature passed an anti-Wal-Mart bill (after a veto by the governor) that requires them to pay 8% of their payroll for health care for their employees in that state. Socialist AFL-CIO president John Sweeney had his to say on the matter: "What the Maryland victory shows is that the tide is turning, because working people are not just fed up, they are ready to get active to set our country in a different direction, one state at a time"

If I was running Wal-Mart, I would quickly make a very strong statement to states that intend to tell me how to run my business, by immediately closing all Maryland stores and letting every Maryland Wal-Mart employee join the ranks of the unemployed.

Stories:

Money Article: Maryland first to OK 'Wal-Mart bill' (USA Today)

Press Release: State Legislator Group Denounces Maryland's 'Fair Share Health Care Fund Act' (U.S. Newswire)

Whatcha doin?

2006-04-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

I'm in DC this week doing some web development work, and living at a nice little TownePlace Suites in Maryland.

What's all the other driving about? Typically one-hour equipment installs, and I'm doing four more this Thursday/Friday and next Monday/Tuesday.

Why don't we find someone else to do them? They're one-time events- one install per market for 211 US television markets, and the back-and-forth has been because of technical issues. Training someone to do these, and then letting them go when they are done, is difficult and possibly cost-prohibitive. It also helps to have someone "in the field" for when things go wrong, and they usually don't, but these last few weeks we've been in a real rush and little things are "missing" here and there.

I've done over 100 of the 150+ installations so far. It's also a complicated system, 30 or so interconnections between 5 devices valued at about $10,000 per install. Because I've done so many, I can usually rip one out in about 28 minutes, as long as everything goes as planned.

Case in point: I recently installed a system in a facility in Mississippi. There was a support pole right in front of the rack (really bad planning on someones part) that made it difficult to get the equipment in, so it took about 40 minutes to get everything in place, screwed down, and connected. When I powered it on, I only got a weird "beep" noise. I needed to take out the 4-U server, which is the second device from the bottom. I couldn't unscrew it and pull it out because of the pole, which is structural and can't be moved. I had to disassemble the entire rig so that I could get the server out and open it up. Reseating the memory seemed to fix it. That install took about an hour and a half.

Now, you probably are thinking "well doh, moron, just hook everything up and test it before you install it!"

The entire system is tested before it ships out, and most of them (98%) work fine on install after shipping. "hook everything up" takes about 20 of the 28 minutes, so adding a 20-minute test to a 28 minute install where everything works 98% of the time is a huge time sink.

Have I bored you to tears yet?

going and going and going

2006-03-30T19:39:00.000-08:00

I've been driving a lot lately. Yesterday, from Lafayette to Monroe. Today, from Monroe to Lafayette. Tomorrow, from Lafayette to Columbus, then to Tulsa, where I'll sleep for about 24 hours and then hop on a plane (or rather, a series of planes) to get to D.C. , where I'll work a good solid 80 hours and then hop on a plane to Amarillo and drive to Corpus Christi via Lubbock, Wichita Falls, Dallas, and Houston.

I'll send postcards.

A Side Note

2006-03-30T06:38:00.000-08:00

You may notice that I added a little box with a link to Dave Ramsey's site over there on the side. His articles are a wonderful introduction to those not familiar with The Teachings Of Dave :) and a reminder to those of us working on our Total Money Makeover to keep beating up on our debt.

It wasn't easy to make that little box work the way I wanted it to. If you're not a script geek, you should stop reading now. The following is not for the faint of heart.

The code they (the fine web guys at www.daveramsey.com) provide for just "adding to your own web site!" doesn't work on blogger, I guess because of the style sheets or the page processor/publisher or something. They (Dave's team) have a bit of src linked javascript you're just supposed to stick where ever you want their content and that, in turn, uses document.write to add the current content in the right place.

But like I said, it doesn't work with blogger at all. And I didn't like the text link that they add under their box anyway. So, I created a js feeder that rips their rss feed, re-packages it as variables (http://musak.mp3-best.com/dave.asp) , and then another onload function on this page uses that data to get the content and make the update. I tried to do it with XmlHttp but the cross-site scripting security makes that impossible to do without iframes and lots of tomfoolery.

While I was at it, I made the content random from all the available bits inside the feed, so you get one of the bits that's there, and not necessarily the most "current" bit.

Finally, I added a variable that I can update on the server to indicate what Baby Step we're on.

If you want to try this kind of thing on your site, drop me a line. I can change the 'babystep' var to an array with names (like 'Jeremy and Sarah') and step number (like 2), and then give you a custom js src for ya.

UPDATE: added the little [next] thing so you can scroll through all the items in the array from the current rss feed.

Marriott Platinum (aka, "Wearing The Marriott Underwear")

2006-03-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

I used to look at the numbers, and think to myself, "Man, you'd have to be gone from home most of the time to get to Marriott Rewards Platinum status."

I guess I'm now officially "gone most of the time," because I have achieved the holy grail of Marriott Rewards, the Platinum Level. What this means, in real terms, is that when I show up to check in, I'm more likely to get a smile than a ho-hum-here's-your-key. And I always get a little something at the front desk or pre-placed in my room as a special "thank you" present. It's never anything to write home about- typically a bottle of water and a bag of chips, or a package of cookies, or, in today's case, a package of almonds. Nevermind that I can't stand almonds, the point is that they are free, right?!

Here's the thing I meant to write about today. I'm staying in a Fairfield Inn in Monroe, Louisiana, which is actually an old converted motel. It's the first time I've stayed in a real motel since I was a kid, but it's really kind of neat- I actually parked right outside my door, about 5 feet from the door of my van to the door of my room. And it's a great room for a mere $75 a night. Plus a free bottle of water.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Columbus, Mississippi, and then next week I spend 5 days in our DC office. I'll finish off that week with well over 400,000 points.

Faith or Works?

2006-03-28T15:35:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't yet completed my series on religionism, but I found this today and even though I really don't have the time to comment, I'm going to anyway. First, the article:

The difference between a prophet and a heretic is time.

It's about Carlton Pearson, a minister in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who believes in the "Doctrine of Universal Salvation." (aka "Doctrine of Inclusion")

Most Christians think he is nuts, because they have been brainwashed their entire lives to believe that. I remember the Sunday we heard about his belief, and how I, along with all my friends, discussed how insane he must be. It was only long after my own conversion (which came through study, and not by persuasion- no one else I know believes this way) that I remembered what he believed.

One of the comments to the post (above) is that Christ said "No man cometh unto the father but by me." (I love how the really dogmatic types always have to quote from the King James Version)

Yes, Christ said that. And then He hung on a cross and died.

Perhaps he who quoteth, too quickly forgetteth.

This is the simple form- You either believe in salvation by "works," or you believe in salvation by "grace" through the cross. Most Christians today deny salvation by works and then preach salvation by works. You disagree? See if your version of "salvation" includes a verb.

Speak? Confess? Believe? Follow? Look those words up in any dictionary- each one has a "v" following it. Either you believe that Christ died for our sins, or you think there is something else you/we/us need to do to "finish up" the work at the cross. "Lest any man should boast."

You probably know that "...If you do not confess me before men, I will not..." . Compare that with "...Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess..."

What part of "finished", "every", or "all" do we, as Christians, not understand?

Someone else, in the comments, says "What about Hitler?" Well, what about him? Yes, he was bad- but is Christs' blood only sufficient for "most" or "some" sin? How much more amazing is it if even the sins of Hitler have been forgiven through the crucifixion of a sinless lamb, and His subsequent resurrection? It's so mind-boggling amazing that most of you can't comprehend it enough to even consider it. But you're not God. Thank God you're not God.

This is where you click the "comments" link below and call me a heretic. It's ok- I've been called that (and worse) by people with more letters after their name than you have. Before you do, read 1 Timothy 4:10. (et al)

Religion, Part Two

2006-03-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

In a previous post, we started a discussion about religion. This post begins my story.

As a child, I was raised in a Southern Baptist church in a small town in Oklahoma, where my grandfather was the pastor and my father was the youth minister. They managed to grow that small church into a rather large church, with a gymnasium and everything. Wow! The fun I had there!

When I was 10 or 11, my grandfather spoke one Sunday morning about divorce, and what the Apostle Paul thought about the matter. This got some people upset, and those people decided to start their own revolution. One of the tactics they used was to take people out to lunch- in a town 10 miles down the road. Why 10 miles? That's 20 minutes in a car that were "religiously" used to discuss the shortcomings of my grandfather, what they had heard about him, how they thought that maybe it was time for the church to find a new pastor.

The deacons of the church held some secret meetings, and then started calling special "business meetings" at the end of the Sunday services. I remember lots of screaming- it was craziness. It brought out the worst in people that were our friends.

When it finally came down to it, a night was set for a vote "by secret ballot". The opposition managed to get everyone in town who had ever had anything against my grandfather to come and vote against him. I'd never seen som many people in that building. After the votes were counted, my grandfather stood up at the front of the church and simply stated "I am no longer your pastor." That ended his 21 years there.

When my father went in to work the next day, the "Education Minister" (whatever that is) told my father that if he didn't resign his position, "the same will happen to you." Of course, he would have (obviously) resigned anyway, but this moronic "Man Of God" didn't have the brain cells to rub together and come up with that.

What were the reasons stated for outing my grandfather? Well, there really weren't any. Some people didn't like the fact that he sold used cars on the side- in fact, the head of the deacons had this as a major argument. The term being tossed around was "bi-vocational pastor" - never mind that most New Testament accounts of leaders were people who managed to have regular jobs. The best part was when this head deacon broke off, started and became pastor of his own church- while owning and operating a horse farm. Hyprocrosy? Perhaps.

Being Good Baptists, we had to find another "church home", because that's just what Good Baptists do. We went down the road (10 miles, on the road where so much about my grandfather was apparently discussed) and "joined" another Baptist church, where my father was hired as their new part time youth minister.

We stayed there a few years (until after I graduated from high school, in fact) and had a good time. During this period, my father (being only a part-timer at the church) was building up his own electrical contracting business, and was doing well. The church leaders (in their infinite wisdom) determined that it was time for them to spend a lot of money by hiring a full-time youth pastor. They offered the position to my father, who not only declined, but attempted to show them that they probably didn't really need to spend the money on a full time person. He was probably putting in 40 hours a week there anyway. Being much smarter than my father, they let him know that they were intent on finding a full time youth pastor and somewhere in all of that mess, I stopped going altogether, and he stopped being the part-time youth minister.

The point of part two is, don't be a Baptist pastor, don't sell cars, don't trust deacons, and don't be a youth minister!

In the next article in our religion series, we'll go over the churches that ignored me entirely and the ones that straight out asked me to leave!

Drug recommendations

2006-03-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

A new poll ("Patients Trust What Pharmacists Recommend") suggests that people trust pharmacists when they make a recommendation about an OTC drug. That's not surprising- we look at pharmacists as smart people who know more than anyone about the drugs. You've probably never had a doctor tell you that your pharmacist was wrong, but a pharmacist correcting a doctor (You can't take medicine A while you're on medicine B) happens on a daily basis.

On top of that, we never see pharmacutical reps showering pharmacists with, well, bribes the way they do doctors. Maybe it happens, but I don't see it. Every time my doctor recommends a drug, I always imagine the rep behind him, passing him a $100 bill and patting him on the back.

Cesarean; Myth or Fact?

2006-03-20T12:12:00.000-08:00

Risks of Cesarean Delivery are Underreported, Benefits Overstated; Media Briefing Highlights Concerns In Advance of NIH Conference

We read something to this effect before we had our second child:

The overall rate [of cesarean deliveries] has increased an unexplainable 40
percent since 1996.

We also noticed, from our first birthing experience, that once you get to the hospital, they tend to try everything they can to get you off your body's schedule and on to thier own schedule. For example, the administration of oxytocin to control the rate and intensity of contractions. We were really bullied around at the hospital the first time- but with our second born we were wise to their little schemes.

The first child bearing experience was awful for us, because we were pushed around by doctors and nurses. Our second was a breeze- partly because we got into a better hospital, partly because we had a doula on our team, and mostly because we stated our intentions early via verbal announcements and written signs posted around the room.

Having a baby? Just remind them who the client is early on, and always remember that mom does know what is best for her in times of childbearing, and stand your ground.

Religion, Part One

2006-03-16T10:31:00.000-08:00

Many of you have expressed an interest in my personal beliefs. Some of you have been justifiably offended by my statements on religion in its various forms.

I'm going to try to explain what I believe, and more importantly, why I believe it, in a series of articles on Religion. It may take years to get it all out, or I might finish it in a week. There is a lot to go over, I think.

I could dive in anywhere, I could probably get straight to the point, but I'm going to start from the beginning and move forward from there. In the process, I'll give you little bits of what I believe, Mormon style.

Now, I've already lost half of you, and I've upset the Mormons. Let me explain. First of all, I don't have anything against Mormons, in fact, the two Mormon families I know are two of the nicest, most respectful groups of people I know. But if you walk into an LDS church today, they aren't going to tell you everything about Mormonism all at once. There are some things you won't find out about for years. They give it to you a little at a time, because, honestly, you can't handle the whole thing all at once. If you got it all at once, you'd suspect hidden cameras and a TV show host popping out any minute. But seriously, I love you Mormons. Tell me I'm wrong here.

My point here is that you shouldn't take one thing that I say in any particular sentence and get all bent out of shape about it. You're entitled to your opinion (and I expect for you to state it in the comments below) and I'm entitled to mine. That's one of the great things about this country. And we can still be friends. Nothing you believe or don't believe will make me like you any less than I already do. :)

In Part Two, we'll go over where I started, and try to get to the list of churches I've been kicked out of.

Sign up, sign in

2006-03-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

Today's entry is written exclusivley for you. I know you're out there. Let me explain.

Every day I write up an entry, I get some email (probably from you) about it. From the email responses, I can tell that there are 10 or so people who seem to enjoy reading these little entries about nothing important.

And every day I write up an entry, you don't post a single comment about it. The discussions I end up having via email would be so much better if they were had here, for everyone to take part in and enjoy. Instead of me saying things like "yeah, that's what so-and-so thought too. They also said this-and-that, what do you think about that?" in multiple emails throughout the day.

Why aren't you posting comments? I'm told it might be because you don't want to "sign up." Fear that Blogger (er, google) will sell your social security number to a convicted felon so that he can steal your job. Or something. Maybe it's the 60-month commitment to make payments. No, wait, that's your CAR- there are no commitments when signing up with blogger.

Here's the thing- it only takes a name (which you can make up) and an email address (which you can probably make up) to post a comment. Crawl out of that shell just a little!

Give it a try. You might like it. Let's see what can happen when I'm not the email-hub for all the comments. Start by clicking the "comments" link below.

Airports, Security, Travel, Fox, Death

2006-03-14T00:24:00.000-08:00

In order to save $400, I flew from Tulsa, OK to Bakersfield, CA, via Atlanta and Phoenix.

And they wonder why the airline industry, as a whole, has never had a single year of profitability?

I learned never to fly via Phoenix. They have multiple terminals like many large airports, but they aren't actually connected except via bus, outside security. That's freakin' genius.

On top of that, well, don't even get me started on "security" at the airports. It's a huge joke, which anyone who knows anything about security will confirm. The ONLY reason there hasn't been another plane flown into another building is because the crazies haven't decided to do it yet- not because of any "security" -- and I use that term only because they call it that.

So, I finally got to Bakersfield, and my equipment wasn't there yet (DHL?) and I had to head on to Sacramento, because the schedule this week is very tight and I have a lot of ground to cover. I'll be in Oregon on Wednesday and Washington on Thursday. I don't expect you to care.

The Courtyard in Sacramento gave me a free upgrade because of my "gold" status in the Marriott Rewards program. I've never been a room this large at a Courtyard- I've been in bigger, nicer rooms (TownePlace Suites, for example, or the ultra-suite at the Venetian) but not at a Courtyard. I kind of just assumed they must be all the same.

Fox News is back on Sirius as of today or tomorrow, so I've re-subscribed. They better give Fox whatever they want in the future. The drive will be easy.

Finally, and speaking of Fox News, I don't know how one responds to something like this.

At first, I thought it was some sort of hoax, because it seems like one of those really bad jokes. But then, after reading the first bit of it, I realized it was true, and just really sad.

The executive summary is, Miss Deaf Texas was killed by a train. Actually, that's the headline. But if you're an executive on the go, that might be all you have time to read.

We all agree that it's sad, but I think that it is also weird- what in the world was this person doing, apparently walking on or alongside railroad tracks? If you're deaf, if you know you won't hear the train, would this be a suicide method? Along that vein, given the db level of a train horn at close proximity, wouldn't a deaf person feel something with those sound waves hitting her skin so hard?

And the hardest thing of all to take in- I've been next to tracks when a train is coming- even if there are only engines and no cars in-tow, you can *feel* the thing coming, long before it gets to you, and this is from 10 feet OFF the tracks. The ground shakes/vibrates a lot. Being deaf since birth, I would expect that her ability to feel things like that would likely be greater than mine- and all she has to do is turn around, move out of the way. Even if it was going 65 mph, you're going to feel it in time to move, unless you're unconscious, inebriated, or otherwise incapacitated. You don't let a train kill you just because you're deaf and "didn't hear it coming."

Now then, dive in and tell us all about your travel and near-death-by-train experiences. Ever been in a really cool hotel, or a really crummy one? Does flying just piss you off? Aren't trains huge!? :)

Universal Pre-K Socialism Defeated

2006-03-03T19:43:00.000-08:00

Why don't people today understand the difference in a representative democracy and democracy? Why don't people today understand the difference in a republic and a monarchy? Why don't people today understand the difference in Socialism and Capitalism?

Case in point- they almost passed a universal Pre-K bill in Vermont that would have cost taxpayers millions and put 400+ private businesses out of business. Read the full story here.

You think that you're entitled to free health care? You're not. Nothing is free. You think "the government" should pay for your insurance? Guess what- the government only prints money, it doesn't make money. Every penny of government money was taken from a taxpaying citizen. It isn't my job to support you- this is something the founding fathers strongly believed in. You're entitled only to the air you're breathing.

You want something? Get up, leave your cave, kill something and drag it home.

New $10 Bills

2006-03-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

Press Release: Redesigned $10 Note Starts Circulating Today

This may come as a shock to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, but honestly, no one cares.

Cable TV Gets Competitive in Indiana

2006-03-01T20:14:00.000-08:00

Indiana passed a bill today to allow competition in the cable industry. It included provisions for video over phone lines.

I recently had the pleasure of working with the telephone company in Kaplan, LA. Kaplan is a small town about 30 minutes west of Lafayette, LA, with a population of about 5000. The telephone company there is very advanced for its size. They also happen to be the town's cable TV and Internet service provider, and they are using video-over-adsl to provide cable TV and broadband Internet access to their customers, while also providing POTS service.

Their video system is pretty good- the quality at the customer's location is as good as your standard coaxial cable tv signal, with the benefits of an on-screen guide and the ability to access multiple channels from a single set-top box. The boxes can tune in up to three streams simultaneously, which it then outputs on a single RF line (but on three different channels- I think they are VHF 3, 7, and 11) and they connect to the central office using an integrated adsl modem. Cool!

Plan "B"

2006-02-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

Press Release: Does Plan B Really 'Prevent Pregnancy'? Only if You Practice Linguistic Deception

First of all, let me say that these people have it mostly right. I (along with most scientists, but I honestly don't care what they think) believe that "life" begins when the sperm hits the egg. That's why it's called "conception". This pill (Plan B) doesn't keep that from happening, it only keeps the egg from attaching to the uterine wall "an event that generally takes place about a week after fertilization", effectively aborting an otherwise viable life.

I found two things interesting here though. The first is that this group completely fails to mention that oral contraceptives ("The Pill") work in exactly the same way. I'm not surprised they left it out- The Pill is something that most Americans have bought into as being a safe and perfectly reasonable form of birth control, and putting anything in there about The Pill would only further make them look like wackos to the unbelievers.

My wife and I only found out the truth about The Pill (and depo-provera) after doing some math with a "how the reproductive system works" book and then nailing my wife's OBGYN to the wall on the matter. (for some reason, I used to go on doctor visits with her. I guess because we were talking about birth control. He was a great guy and she'd always get ticked off when he and I would start to talk about computers while she was spread-eagle and he was examining her...)

US:	So doc, she's on this pill, and it keeps us from getting pregnant. How's that work?
Doc:	Well, see, there are these hormones, and this gives her a lot of it, so the uterus is so hostile that sperm just can't get through.
US:	But sometimes they do?
Doc:	Well, see, sometimes, yes, they can. But the egg can't attach to the wall, so you still can't get pregnant.
US:	So if method one fails, then this drug will cause her body to abort the pregnancy?
Doc:	Well, see, you won't be pregnant because the egg won't be able to attach.
US:	But it could be fertilized, and we'd never even know it.
Doc:	Well, see, that probably doesn't happen much.
US:	But it does happen- the fertilized embryo, post conception, will be aborted.
Doc:	Well, see, not so much "aborted", but, it just can't attach. It will come out during her monthly cycle.

Now, I'm not some Catholic who doesn't think you should use a condom, because that's actually preventing the pregnancy. It keeps the sperm from hitting the egg, so there's never a "life" per se. I'm not any kind of Catholic at all, actually. I'll fully rant about religion in another post.

This is the thing in this release that really caught my eye:

"This simple fact should have caused the FDA to deny approval in the first place; it would have, if the FDA were being honest rather than serving as mouthpieces for the pro- abortion cartel. Never in the history of America has a drug that is known to kill people been sold over the counter."

I love "pro-abortion cartel" - that's something I would come up with. This thing about "Never... has a drug that is known to kill people been sold over the counter" is absolutely crazy, and makes them look ignorant. Here's the short list:

*	Tylenol	Yes, people OD on Tylenol all the time, it doesn't take a lot. In fact, if you have any T3 (Tylenol and codeine) lying around and decide to off yourself, you'll OD from the Tylenol long before the codeine gets a chance to even make you nauseous. Go figure.
*	Tobacco; cigarettes, chewing, etc	Sold over the counter and known to contain many drugs that are known to kill. They kill LOTS of people. There's even a warning on the box saying so. I'm not trying to rant on these products, I don't even care, I'm just trying to make a point about OTC drugs that kill people on a regular basis.
*	Alcohol	A CNS depressant, sold over the counter and known to kill people directly via alcohol poisoning and indirectly as a result of impaired drivers.

No matter how the opponents can screw up a press release, Plan B is still seriously bad news- the abortion clinics will go out of business but the abortion rate will skyrocket-- we'll just call it "avoiding pregnancy".

Write your congressman.

Discuss:

Time passing

2006-02-27T19:42:00.000-08:00

I should mention that my jury duty only lasted 3 days, not an entire year.

Jury duty completed

2006-02-26T19:18:00.000-08:00

After being on a Jury now, I understand the often talked about possibility of having professional jurors. Common people just might not be able to handle it.

This was a pretty cut-and-dry case. The law in OK says, that if you do damage to another vehicle while operating your own, then you are liable for those damages. If multiple people cause damage to another vehicle, each person is fully responsibile for the damages.

The defendant in this case didn't think that she should pay for the damage ($17,000 for a small transit bus that she totaled) because of, well, I guess because (a) someone cut her off (b) she couldn't walk for a year and (c) she's been through enough already. But the bus was minding its own business driving south in the southbound lane of a major divided highway when she crossed from the northbound lanes into his lane and plowed into him head on. The defense did nothing to show that she didn't do it, they admitted to that. No one ever found this car that "cut her off" causing her to leave her side of the 4-lane and head into oncomming traffic, so she just thought that we should find him and make him pay. But the LAW says that, even if there was another car involved, they would BOTH be FULLY liable for the damages.

It was a clear case of "if you think that the defendant is liable, check this box. if you think the defendant is not liable, check this box." Our first vote was something like 7 to 5, and we needed 9 to convict her or set her on her way. In the end, the vote was 10 to 2 in favor of the law and the plantiff. The two hold outs were of the opinion that "she didn't deserve it" and "her lawyer was nicer."

Now my wife has been through a week (7 days, actually) of jury duty and ran into an even more clear-cut case. There is a contract that is signed by two parties and says that the first party will pay the second party 16 cents and then some per day per horse, for "any" contracts that the first party gets for keeping these horses. The first party (the defendants in this case) basically decided that he didn't want to pay the second party (the plantiff) because he "didn't feel like it" and "he didn't work enough to deserve it." The contract, by the way, doesn't stipulate what the second part had to do to earn his 16 cents per horse per day, but he still did a lot, including photographing, mapping, and calculating the total volume of water in over 100 ponds, and making two trips, at his own expense, to Nevada. The contract didn't say he had to do any of this, he just did. The defendant admitted to falsifying contracts to show a lessor amount of money. The defendant admitted on the phone that he was cheating the plantiff out of his money (the plantiff secretly recorded the conversation- that's legal in Oklahoma by the way) and managed to get in quite a few swear words. But the swearing cheating defedant is an elder at his church. That was part of his defense. Does this case sound any easier? There really aren't any more facts. When she got into the jury room, only 3 people thought they should find for the plantiff. Why? Because he said "yes m'am" and "thank you" and was polite. They thought he was lying and being rude by saying "yes m'am". And he didn't "do enough work" to earn the $500,000+ that the contract said he was owed. It took 7 hours for my wife and three others to convince 6 other people that he was at least due the money owed on half of the horse deals. These 9 other people wern't even smart enough to realize that they already had 9 votes in their favor and didn't need any further deliberation. Are you kidding me!? 9 people wanted to completely ignore the law and make their own decision based on emotions and facts that had nothing to do with the case!

Both of these cases really should never have gone to court- the law is clearly in favor of one party, but apparently the lawers know that jurors aren't smart enough to follow the law, they'd rather ignore it and follow their emotions.

I was more than happy to serve as a juror, because it's one of my few responsibilities as a US citizen. But maybe the old saying about "12 of your peers who aren't even smart enough to get out of jury duty" is all too true.

Jury

2005-02-10T18:09:00.000-08:00

The trial is over and now we can discuss, or choose not to discuss, the entire trial and its outcome.

Jury Duty

2005-02-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

I was selected to be on a Jury. According to the judge,

Rule number one: You do not talk about Jury Duty Club
Rule number two: You DO NOT TALK about Jury Duty Club

So that's all I can say at this point.

Jury Duty

2005-02-07T08:42:00.000-08:00

Today I go to Jury Duty. I'm not sure how long it is supposed to take, because the notice was pretty vague. In any case, it should be interesting.