Category: Life. Don’t talk to me about life.

I’m having a harder and harder time lately getting behind my phone provider, Verizon Wireless. On the one hand, they have by far the most complete and well run network around. No dropouts, excellent coverage, etc. I’ve been using my Kyocera 7135 phone for almost 2 years now on the Verizon network, and things have been pretty good. My plan had been to upgrade to a Treo 650 within the next month or two (now that the prices have dropped down to something reasonable, I don’t mind being behing the tech curve if I get to pay half the original price of the device), but Verizon has been doing some very shifty things that make me want to seriously consider jumping ship.
First, they have deliberately crippled Bluetooth functions on several of their phones, including the Treo 650. (See article here and thread here). There have been attempts to explain away these changes as ‘benefits’ to the user – providing ‘more security’ or such other bunk. In reality they are nothing more than pure greed. An attempt to lock in the captive user into a system that requires them to use expensive Verizon services, even though the devices are capable of the functionality on their own.
Now there’s a confirmed report that Verizons new music service, which is advertising itself as supporting MP3’s and the like, is a total sham. This article details the deal that Verizon and has struck with Microsoft to make sure you absolutely must use Microsofts proprietary audio format AND audio player to work with music on their phones. That completely cuts out Macintosh and Linux users, not to mention opening up the device to nefarious DRM restrictions:

You may ask why this was done? As far as we can analyze, Microsoft made an agreement to enginner [sic] VCast Music phones as WMA-only devices, in order to lock out iTunes and other competition from most interaction with the device that does not involve burning, ripping, and integrating into Windows Media Player. This type of monopolist tatic [sic] is something that iTunes has avoided, but Windows Media Player embraces.

It appears Verizon knows internally that this is a liability. In a leaked internal memo from Verizon’s corporate intranet, Verizon states that customers that want MP3 support should be issued a refurbished VX-8100 with V04 firmware. However, the average consumer is to not be informed that there is a difference between what VX-8100s support formats, and customers are encouraged without prior warning that MP3 support will be lost with the V06 update. Presumably a Mac or Linux customer could be downgraded to V04 firmware.

These sort of tactics make me seriously question whether I want to continue my business relationship with Verizon. Already, Microsoft has had a strong hand in destroying one of the only decent alternatives to the Microsoft ‘smartphone’, the Treo line – by forcing Palm to manufacture and distribute… a device running Windows Mobile. It’s enough to make you head for the mountains and give up on all this techno-crap.
I’m not ready to embrace the evil that is Microsoft’s monopoly and suppression of innovation. I suspect soon I may have to, but until then I’ll continue to fight.

One of the big arguments often heard against using opensource software for mission critical applications is “Who do I call if something goes wrong?” In the commercial sector, the answer is simple – call up the manufacturer’s support lines, and in theory, you can get your answer.
In practice, as most have discovered, this is rarely the cure-all, with problems ranging from inability to get in touch with tech support at all, through to finding that support is available, but it’ll cost money, and there’s still no guarantee of a solution. The true detail is that with a commercial vendor, if something goes wrong, you have someone to yell at.
As opensource software gets larger and more complex (Openoffice has over 5 million lines of code), the traditional “Use the source, Luke!” argument really doesn’t work anymore. Other avenues need to be followed to track down problems.

Continue reading “The Culture of Opensource Support” →

I haven’t found a cite yet, but I’m willing to bet that Verizon SMS network traffic leapt through the stratosphere last night on New Years Eve. I’ve been using SMS messaging a fair amount with Cat, and last night got a “Happy New Years!” (she was out pahtaying whilst I was home with sick child and friend). 20 minutes of trying to reply with tons of “Network Error” messages pretty much convinced me that Verizon’s SMS service had gone belly up.
Apparently Verizon wasn’t the only one inundated.
Maybe this’ll convince VZ that SMS has seriously taken hold in the US.

I’m a pretty regular reader of James Randi’s weekly column. It’s a neverending story about what sort of noise is flying around the world masquerading as paranormal claims and magic.
One of my more recent addictions though is watching the claim forum. This is a log by the head of the claims group at the JREF that processes claims for the $1million challenge. There’s a very specific and detailed process for the challenge that offers a million dollars to anyone who can demonstrate, clearly and without ambiguity, some form of paranormal ability or event. After years and years of this challenge being public, no one has ever passed the preliminary test.
But folks keep trying. Check out the forum logs for characters like Prophet Yahweh – Master UFO Caller, Sylvia Browne, and other wonders of the world, all of which have applied for the challenge, most of which could not even agree on what ability the person was trying to prove. Dowsers, mentalists – all are welcome to the cash, if they can prove they can do what they claim to do. Not a single one has.
The forum logs all exchanges between applicants and the JREF, and it gets pretty interesting. A good read, and something to check in on every once in a while.

A computer is not an AI. It is not a living, breathing, thinking being, has no internal thought processes of it’s own that reflect it’s mood. Even more to the point, a SCRIPT is not a being. If a script or a program or a computer or an application has a problem, it should NEVER report said problem in the first person, because there is NO first person to make the statement. “Well it adds personability and comfort to the user experience” – Bull. It adds ambiguity, confusion, and makes the whole interaction more surreal. I offer as evidence the error message I just got:

I cannot start the X server (your graphical interface). It is likely that it is not set up correctly. Would you like to view the X server output to diagnose the problem? [Yes] [No]

Don’t anthropomorphize computers. They hate that.

… well, not necessarily a shoe, but gravity was definately involved.
Today through Saturday I’m down in NJ visiting ${client} and doing their X-mas party thingy. What better way to start a visit to your best client than.. to drop your laptop the night before leaving.
Yup, ‘hunter’ took a 3′ dive onto the floor on Wednesday night. Nothing immediately apparent broke, but I’m getting sporadic HD errors now – and fscking is not fixing them (so it’s most likely a calibration fault on the drive now). Generally, I have to consider this drive suspect, and swap it out asap.
In the meantime, linux is not booting cleanly, so I’m forced to use XP to at least do some blogging. A call to Lenova is scheduled for tomorrow to get a new drive sent out for me. I do have a clean backup of $HOME, so there should be no ‘loss’ other than time and productivity, but gosh what a pain in the buttski. Paraphrasing Rod Rescueman here… “bleah! ptui! feh!… I just upgraded this thing!”

Like this is going to come as a surprise to anyone.

This weekend I’m travelling out to Pittsburgh to visit a friend for a few days. I normally enjoy travel a lot, though admittedly finding seats for a 6’6″ 260lb super-geek can be a challenge. I’ve learned a few tricks to iron over the rough spots. On the trip out I got to put a few of them into play.
First of all, don’t fly out of the major airports. Boston’s Logan Airport is a MAJOR airport, and small to boot. It’s always crowded, and the folks there are harried. Parking is extremely expensive (yes, I know there’s things like Logan Express, that has it’s own challenges). This weekend I’m flying out of RI’s “TF Green” airport. It’s about an hour south of me (5 miles south of Providence), and is mighty nice all around. Large, comfortable, not insanely crowded, and parking is $10/day.
Second trick is one appropriate for ‘largish’ folks. And I win in one respect because I’m large in a way that can’t be sneered at for overeating or something. You don’t get unusually tall by eating too many twinkies. I usually show up and check in at the automatic checkin whoozie early (an hour and a half early). This gives option 1 for changing my seat assignement to a bulkhead or exit row seat (most checkin kiosks allow you to choose your seat if any are available). If I don’t get a seat that’s good for me there, I try to show up at the gate before the staff arrives. When they first get there, quietly and politely go up and say hi, and ask if there are any bulkhead or exit row seats. I tend to be as friendly and open as possible here – Yes, I’m one of the biomass moving through the system, but recognize me as human, and then note that I’m a good head and a half taller than most people on the planet, and MAYBE you could see my reasoning for wanting a seat that won’t drive my kneecaps into the drink tray.
Generally, once the gate person recognizes my humanness and actual needs, they take the ‘extra effort’ to see what’s available. Here’s a hint. Almost all scheduled flights ‘block out’ 1-2 seats toward the front (bulkhead seats) specifically for crew or ‘unusual’ needs. They stay blocked until the flight fills up. I’ve been on 3 flights now that have had the gate operator say “They’re all blocked out” “Owait, one of these is blocked by the crew, but doesn’t have a passenger in it. I’ll give you that one.” Pleasant flights all.
But that’s not what I came here to tell you about. Another unusual thing happened while at the Providence airport. I had checked my bag (yes, I don’t mind checking bags. Carting 80lbs of luggage onto a small plane is not my idea of fun, even though it ‘technically’ fits in the bins. Myself, my backpack, and my jacket are enough, thankyouvermuch). At any rate, I had checkd my bag, it went through the X-ray thingamajig, and I was on my way over to the security check, when I had a total V-8 moment. I still had my Leatherman hanging on my belt, par usual. Despite stirrings about the TSA relaxing their idiotic requirements on carry-on items, the policy about ‘no pocket knives’ was still in effect. I had this same problem on a trip back from Florida, and ended up mailing my leatherman back to me (at a cost of $18 or so).
I went back to the TSA security guys (who were very friendly when I was there before) and asked if my bag was ‘gone gone gone’ having gone through the little chute already. “Yup, what’s wrong?” they asked. I explained my problem, and the fellow scratched his chin a moment, and he said “Well, just get a small box, we’ll put the knife in that, and just check that as checked in luggage.” “Hey! That’s a great idea! Do you have one? ” “No, but I bet the fellow behind the counter over there does.”
So off I go to the other counter where in fact, they have a small (small = 2x the size of a shoebox – a tad overkill, but hey, this is NOT costing me anything). I take a spare shirt out of my backpack, roll the leatherman in it to keep it fro mrattling around, pack it into the box, and sign it in as checked luggage. Fwoosh! Off it goes!
I thanked the TSA fellow profusely, and asked if there was a good word I could put in somewhere. He rattled off something fairly boilerplate, in a tongue in cheek phrasing, that anything given to him or offered could be considered a bribe, but he did say “After you go through security, there’s a TSA booth just after it. Just tell them something nice.” “Okay!”
So I did. After going through security, I stopped by the TSA booth. They were obviously expecting another abusive annoyed passenger, but I relayed my story, and commented how helpful the fellow had been, and how he had saved me a lot of hassle regarding the item. They were all sort of lost as to what to do, but thanked me for not yelling at them 🙂
The TSA folks in the airports are not hte ones making these ridiculous policy decisions. They’re just doing the job they were hired to do. Yelling at them is not going to help, and they get a lot of it anyway. Having a pleasant experience there was a nice change, for them, and for me.

It’s the age old conundrum. If you’re a guy, and you’re looking for friends, dates, or romance on the net, you’re immediately at a disadvantage. It’s generally up to the guy to take the initiative. So how DO you reply to the personal ad of that wonderfully sexy person on OkCupid or Craigslist and not sound like a total dweeb?
There is help! Enter ClueChick! Her job? Help the poor schmoes like yourself come across as something other than slobbering hordes of testosterone. She’s taken on the admirable role of educating the masses on how to function in the online dating scene. Not only how to answer ads, but how to choose which ads to answer, and what to say in those responses.
An excellent read, whether you’re on the lookout or just interested in an up front and honest statement about what to do, what not to do, and what to AVOID AVOID AVOID!

I found this posting recently. It talks about a fellow who picks up a hitchhiker and gets a whole new perspective on things. A wonderful read, very thought provoking and honest.
Thanks to Greg Hughes for the pointer.

This is a fairly personal-type post, but I want to point folks to something Chip said regarding kids and community. Amen brother.

Back in the good old days, I thought one of the coolest jobs on the planet would be to run a video game store. You know, always have all the games at your fingertips, tons of cool toys, and everyone would come visit you and talk about games, gaming, and all the fun it was.
There may have been a slight element of self-delusion there.
As if to underline that possibility, there are the wonderful comments of one Gord, the owner of ‘Gamers Edge’ up in Canada. Although no longer running his store, he faithfully documented the daily fun encountered in his store.
From the introduction:

But the story was not yet over. For some time The Gord and I concurrently kept The Retail Faith. His Establishment maintained, surpassed and soon eclipsed mine in sheer Consumer Idiocy. Tales were told that begged disbelief. “No one,” we thought, “Is really that stupid.” But the stories continued, and the cries of the wretched grew louder and more plentiful. The stories were true: The Gord had become an Owner in Hell. Witness after Witness held forth tales of lunacy and mental vacuousness.
I knew him as Gord. These were his stories..

The website for the band I play in, Deluded Blues has been revamped. We’re looking for gigs! If you have an event you’d like us to play at, drop us a line! We do a mix of blues and classic rock (edging toward blues – Clapton, CCR, Joe Cocker, etc).

Said yesterday during one of Mosaic’s workshops.

There are no problems, only expenses”

Boy ain’t that the truth.