I blink therefore I am

Ok, it's my fault. I was unclear. I've complained time and time again about people not using their signal lights when changing lanes. So often in fact, that people are starting to listen. Take this man, for example:
As we were approaching a traffic light this morning, he was alongside me. Then he signaled. Good job! But then, he was in my lane. And so was I; even though we weren't time travelling, we couldn't occupy the same physical space, so I had to slam on the brakes to avoid being hit.

Right, so what. I wasn't just braking, I was regenerative braking - one minute I'm making power, the next I'm not moving, and you're sitting in front of me, stopped at the same light. Why? What was so important that you needed to be in front of me? But I digress. This isn't about me, it's about signaling, and my failure to communicate.

So let me try again. Signaling is good, dare I say very good. But there's just a tiny bit more involved in changing lanes. I took the liberty of writing down the steps for those who are unsure:

1. Turn on your signal light to indicate your desire to change lanes,
2. Look to see that there are no cars in the lane you're planning on moving into,
3. Change lanes

I know, I know, three steps, so much to remember. But it's got a cutesy acronym (TLC) which should help you a bit, no?

I think we're starting to master step 1 (see above). And lord knows everyone has step 3 down. But step 2 is even more important.

Sure, I know what you're thinking. You signaled, so anyone who happens to be next to you should know you're coming and get out of your way. But you're assuming they saw your signal light.

What if they didn't? Maybe they're on the phone - I know, what are the odds? I'm afraid the onus is still on you, the lane changer, to make sure there are no lane changee's involved.

For our next lesson, we'll cover the differences between changing lanes when the white line is dotted and when it's solid.

Told ya' so

Woohoo!! We just had an earthquake!

I know, scary, people might be hurt, property damaged, etc. I remember where I was when we had our last major earthquake. On Oct 17, 1989, I was cruising up 880 just south of the Oakland on my way to a Hooters concert. It was my first major quake; my first thought was "damn, I've got a flat tire," followed shortly by "four flats? I can't afford to replace four tires, what the hell did I run over!" And then lastly "ha, all you people pulling over checking your tires, it was an earthquake, you don't have flat tires."

So what's with the celebration tonight? Well, there's the obvious - apart from one fish down (long story) and the grandfather clock stopping, everything seems fine. That's always worth celebrating.

But more importantly, I've been exchanging email with people in my homeowner association about the benefits of earthquake insurance. A significant number of members, apparently, think earthquake insurance is a waste of money - they consider the idea that you would pay money for insurance that you might never need absurd.

Ha, take that! In the next big one, do I want to have to come up with a $100K deductible, or $500K to rebuild my freaking house? Let me think about it for a minute...

While the Cat's away..

Ethel was out of town last week, so I had some time to kick back, relax, and write a bit of arguably meaningless code. It started out simple enough - Ethel likes horses, so I wanted to try to draw one in a web page. Turns out that's not too hard:
But a single horse was lonely, so I changed the code to draw a bunch of horses - a coral if you will, or maybe wild Mustangs.

Then I thought "well, they're horses, maybe they should race." And I added lots of code and a couple of buttons so that the horses could race across the screen. And that was cool for a while.

But then I thought "that's kind of stupid - the just run at random speeds. And I thought "wait, what if I gave the horses names, and then looked up each "name" on the Yahoo! to see how popular it was, and the more popular a horse was, the faster it ran, etc.

And lo and behold, my cheesy horse racing application was done.

Don't get me wrong, it's by no means perfect. The graphics are a little rough - Halo 3 is certainly better (but I think they spent more money on their game than I did), and the code is a bit iffy in places, but it's sort of neat in a Magic 8-ball sort of predict things way.

And it does have this neat side effect - when run in Internet Explorer (6 and 7), the first race works fine, but then the second race causes the browser to crash. Oopsie..

Take that! evil near-monopoly with an inept customer support staff

Ha! Comcast didn't know who they were messing with when they took away my California channel (whatever that is) with a scant 12 hours of notice and left a couple of mo-rons to answer their phone. They thought I was just some raving lunatic with a hammer who would accept their acts as gospel.

Think again! You see, the search engine is mightier than the sword. With a few scant queries on the Google, I found the FCC regulations guiding your operations. In particular:

Changes in Rates or Service and Billing Practices

Thirty days advance written notice (using any reasonable written means) must be given to subscribers and local franchising authorities of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions, if the change is within the control of the cable operator....

Thirty days - do you see that? That's different than 12 hours. It's much more. Even if you count the hours slowly - one ... two ... three ... you won't be able to make 12 hours drag on for 30 days. No, I don't think even the Maccabees could have helped you with this one.

Ok, sure, if I was a fruit fly that only lived for 8 hours I'd never even know - you could have lied in your phone message and said "next month the California channel would go away" and I'd be dead long before I ever knew what happened.

But thankfully (for me, not you), I'm not a fruit fly so I do know what happened. And now you're so screwed.

Stupid Drivers

Yesterday was one of those "I should have stayed home days." Other people on the road seemed out to get me. Take this guy for example:


I was minding my own business puttering down the freeway in the right lane doing my usual 57mph (hey - I get great mileage, leave me alone) and this guy comes up behind me. Apparently 57mph isn't good enough for him (did I mention I was in the right lane), cuz he went blowing around me. Didn't matter to me, except that he beeped and gestured at me.

Uhm, hello. I'm in the right lane. As you demonstrated, there was plenty of room to go around me. Was it really necessary to beep at me? No, it wasn't. That's why I gave you the finger (because your beeping scared the crap out of me)

A mere 9 hours later, I'm on my way home, once again puttering along in the right lane, about to get off the freeway when this guy appears:



You know the type - driving in the left lane until the last possible minute then cuts over into the exit lane. Jerk. Did it really mean that much to you to be in front of me? There was plenty of room behind me you could have cut into, but instead, you cut in between me and the car in front of me where there wasn't enough room. And that's why you got the finger.

Were you wondering what I was doing when I stopped behind you at the next two traffic lights (I guess cutting in at the last minute didn't really save you any time as we sat through the same traffic lights, huh?) I was taking your picture so I could post it here. Good quality too, don't you think? In the full size image, your license plate is very clear. To bad you don't have one of those "How's my driving?" bumper stickers..

Comtastic means Craptastic

I had an interesting conversation with some support people at Comcast this afternoon. Some background first. We've had Comcast for about three years now. They're our Internet provider and we get basic analog cable television from them.

I know, I know, the world is going digital, but I'm not ready for it yet. I suppose the primary reason I'm not ready for it yet is because I use a computer with SnapStream's BeyondTV to record shows I want to watch. It's just like Tivo, except that it's my computer, so I can put as much disk in it as I want without dealing with warranties, etc. I call it my Me-vo in fact.

Ok, back to the present. For the past few weeks, Comcast has been calling and saying "on XX, you'll no longer be able to receive channel YY with your analog cable, you'll need to switch to digital." So far, they've removed four channels. I'm not worried yet, as they've removed channels I didn't watch (TV Guide channel, AZN, CSPAN2, and most recently the California Channel), but I wanted to find out what their plans were so I could plan accordingly (i.e. panic if they were going to pull a channel I actually watched).

So I called them. After a few rounds with their phone system, I found Edgar. He seemed willing to help. I asked him what was going on:

Me: Edgar, listen, in the past three weeks you've pulled 4 channels; can you tell me what other channels you're planning to remove in the future? I'd like to make sure you're not going to get rid of anything I actually care about
Edgar: We're not going to get rid of any more channels. But you can upgrade to digital cable and it will only cost you $1 more per month
Me: I don't want digital cable, thanks. Do you have any sort of timeframe? Like you're not going to remove any channels this week, or this month, or this year?
Edgar: I don't. But let me check with my supervisor....

[Edgar came back a few minutes later]

Edgar: You should be ok for the next six months.
Me: That's great, can I get your information so I'll have someone to blame if that's not the case?
Edgar: Sure.
Me: I'd also like your supervisor's info so I can blame him or her
Edgar: I can't give that to you
Me: Then perhaps he or she can, maybe you can transfer me?

[A short time later Maricela came on the line - this is when the fun began]

Me: Edgar tells me that nothing more will change for six months, I just wanted your information so I would be able to tell the next Comcast person who it was that told me nothing would change for six months.
Maricela: Analog television is going away in January
Me: January is not six months from now. Edgar told me that you told him I had six months.
Maricela: It's about six months.
Me: No, it's not. There's November, and then December; that's two months
Maricela: October too
Me: October's half over, ok, so I'll throw you a bone. We have two months and two weeks
Maricela: O-c-t-o-b-e-r, N-o-v-e-m-b-e-r, D-e-c-e-m-b-e-r
Me: Saying the names slower doesn't make the month any longer
Maricela: Maybe til the end of January
Me: Ok, that's three months, two weeks
Maricela: You can get digital cable for only $1 more
Me: I don't want digital cable, and it will cost more than $1
Maricela: No, it's only $1
Me: Ok, how does it work
Maricela: We send you a box, you plug it in, hook cable up to it, hook it up to your television and its done
Me: Does it use electricity?
Maricela: Of course
Me: Well, that's not free, I pay for that too, so I guess it costs more than $1
Maricela: Uhm

That was about as far as we got. I really just wanted information, and Maricela wasn't in a position to give it to me - the only thing she knew for sure was that it would only cost me $1 to upgrade to digital cable, and I think she was heartbroken when I showed her it was more.

But I'm left wondering a bunch of things, including..

1. Is there a competent person at Comcast that I can talk to to find out what channels are disappearing and when?
   
2. Can they really do this - just yank channels with effectively no notice (I got a call on the 17th that the California channel was going away on the 18th)
3. Shouldn't I be getting money back? I getgot 80 channels, 4 are gone, that's 5%, so should I not be receiving a discount on my service now?
   

Phisherman

I just received another phishing scam. This one claimed I had forgotten to pay for an item I bought on eBay. The owner of the web site is Miroslaw Malicki - his site info is below..

Domain ID:D2577447-LRMS
Domain Name:MALICKI.INFO
Created On:17-Feb-2003 10:39:26 UTC
Last Updated On:06-Feb-2007 09:02:29 UTC
Expiration Date:17-Feb-2008 10:39:26 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:eNom, Inc. (R126-LRMS)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:C4372766-LRMS
Registrant Name:Miroslaw Malicki
Registrant Organization:n/a
Registrant Street1:ul. Komorowicka 336b/41
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Bielsko-Biala
Registrant State/Province:
Registrant Postal Code:43-346
Registrant Country:PL
Registrant Phone:
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:mirek@malicki.info
Admin ID:C4372766-LRMS
Admin Name:Miroslaw Malicki
Admin Organization:n/a
Admin Street1:ul. Komorowicka 336b/41
Admin City:Bielsko-Biala
Admin State/Province:
Admin Postal Code:43-346
Admin Country:PL
Admin Email:mirek@malicki.info
Billing ID:C4372766-LRMS
Billing Name:Miroslaw Malicki
Billing Organization:n/a
Billing Street1:ul. Komorowicka 336b/41
Billing City:Bielsko-Biala
Billing State/Province:
Billing Postal Code:43-346
Billing Country:PL
Billing Email:mirek@malicki.info
Tech ID:C4372766-LRMS
Tech Name:Miroslaw Malicki
Tech Organization:n/a
Tech Street1:ul. Komorowicka 336b/41
Tech City:Bielsko-Biala
Tech State/Province:
Tech Postal Code:43-346
Tech Country:PL
Tech Phone:
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:mirek@malicki.info

Amazing who they'll give a domain to these days..

New Bluetooth Review

My bluetooth headset died yesterday. Ok, well, it didn't quite die, it was more of a series of siezures. It worked for a bit, then stopped, then started, etc. Pity, I liked it. It was a Plantronics Explorer 350. Interesting, it was a model 350, and lasted exactly 35 days. I wonder if that was intentional. Plantronics, any comments?

The replacement is a Jabra BT 5020. It's nice - lightweight, multi-something or other (which lets me pair with two phones at once), and charges via USB - a definite plus, as I use it with my computer more than my cell phone.

I picked it up at Frys. I should have suspected something, their description of it was, uhm, different.

The all new Bluetooth Jabra BT5010 takes advantage of the new Multipoint technology for being able at the same time to communicate with any Bluetooth technology. Equipped with version 2.0 Bluetooth and Vibration it is the ideal for your long communications thanks to the 10 hours of autonomy in conversation. Jabra BT5010 features Slide-Up a microphone to cancellation of noise in order to make so that your calls clear and are cleaned up from the bottom noises.

The user friendly BT5010 has a push-button multifunction that allows to uncouple, to couple, to recall or to transfer one called. The Jabra BT5010 is aimed at business users and is designed to go over the ear, and also features a sliding boom arm.

See the problems? First, the description isn't actually English. I guess we all know where Miss Teen South Carolina is working, huh? And it describes a BT5010 - what's that? I clicked on the BT5020 link, and I read the 5010 description. I wonder - if I clicked on the 5030 link, would I find the 5020 description? I'll have to try that.

When I finally got the package opened (note to manufacturers: your plastic packaging sucks completely - how about something that's a) recyclable and b) openable with something smaller than an oxy-acetelyne torch), I flipped through the enclosed instructions to figure out how to pair it with my computer. Seemed simple enough (from the Jabra site):

3) Pair it with your phone

Before you use your Jabra BT5020, you need to pair it with your mobile phone. The first time you turn on the Jabra BT 5020 it will automatically go into pairing mode. If you would like to pair again at another time, follow the instructions below.

A. Put the headset in pairing mode
• Make sure the headset is off .
• Press and hold the answer/end button until a solid blue light comes on.
B. Set your Bluetooth phone to ‘discover’ the Jabra BT5020

As promised, it paired with my computer when first turned on. But I wanted to pair with my phone too - Jabra said the phone could do it, I wanted to do it - I'm like that.. I got as far as the second part of step "A."

Turning the phone off was easy - a gimme if you will. But no amount of pressing the "answer/end" button would make the solid blue light turn on. The manual says "press and hold" means "hold for more than 3 seconds" - I held it for 15 seconds, nothing happened. Nothing.. Great, back to Frys..

Then I noticed that one of the buttons (button 6 for those keeping score at home) was labeled "On/Off/Pairing." WTF! Why would they name the button "On/Off/Pairing" but want me to press the "Answer/End" button to pair?

They wouldn't. I pressed/held button 6 and magically the blue light came on, and I paired the headset with my phone.

So, to Jabra (and Frys), I extend the same offer I've extended to phishers. I'll proofread your text to insure it's somewhat reasonable. There's nothing more embarrassing than shipping a product with stupid mistakes (is there?).