DANG IT!

OK, so I've been holding Verizon stock for a little while.

Today Apple announces the iPhone will be available on Verizon. So then Verizon stock drops. WHAT????!!!! ARGH!

Safety first guys!

You know, they really should be wearing helmets.

Mac Mail vs Thunderbird

OK, so I upgraded to Snow Leopard. And that included an update to Mac Mail. Dunno, I can't see much different. What is different though is that this requires extensions to be updated. No big deal, except that my favorite extension, MailActOn, at the level of Snow Leopard, is now no longer free and is $24.95. I'm not against anybody making any money, and MailActOn is a really good extension. However, my use for MailActOn was to define keyboard shortcuts so I could file incoming messages into 4 folders. Hardly worth $24.95 for something that should be possible in Mac Mail to start with! Gargh!

I've been using Thunderbird on windows for a while and have been happy. I've been using keyconfig() to define keys to file my messages after I've read them. So, time to try this on the Mac instead of using Mac Mail.

First up, Add-ons. I found:

• keyconfig
• Lightning
• Provider for Google Calendar

Keyconfig lets me configure keystrokes for filing my mail:

I define things like:
MsgMoveMessage(GetMsgFolderFromUri('imap://account@server.bu.edu/saved-messages'));
and then assign to a key. Let's me run through my inbox quickly and file messages to various folders. (Note that the Uri account@server *MUST* match the name in the Thunderbird profile. I'm an admin for some mail servers and they have at least 3 or 4 names that all work and end up at the same server. If I don't have the exact name that I used when setting up the account originally then it won't match the thunderbird profile and it will be ignored. To see the profile, look at http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Profiles. (You don't know how long it took me to figure that one out!))

The GUI on the Mac needs a bit of tweaking. For example, deleted messages don't look different visually - they just have a little gray circle with a line through next to them. Much better would be if the line was gray or had a line through it or something like that. Here's an article on how to change the GUI - http://eriwen.com/css/tweaking-thunderbirds-chrome/

Basically, create a folder "chrome" in your profiles folder and then create a file called userChrome.css with the following content:

/* set default namespace to XUL */
@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul");

/* Change color of deleted messages */
treechildren::-moz-tree-cell(imapdeleted) {
background-color: #999999 !important;
}
treechildren:-moz-tree-cell-text(imapdeleted) {
color: #FFFFFF !important;
text-decoration: line-through !important;
}
treechildren::-moz-tree-cell(imapdeleted,selected) {
background-color: #333333 !important;
}
treechildren::-moz-tree-cell(imapdeleted,current) {
background-color: #666666 !important;
}
treechildren:-moz-tree-cell-text(imapdeleted,selected) {
color: #DDDDFF !important;
}
treechildren:-moz-tree-cell-text(imapdeleted,current) {
color: #DDDDFF !important;
}
treechildren::-moz-tree-cell-text(imapdeleted, offline) {
background-color: #DDDDDD !important;
text-decoration: line-through !important;
}

So what am I missing?

• Mac Mail has Quick Look which Thunderbird does not have. Evidently somebody is working on getting that working for Thunderbird - http://grbmozilla.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/gsoc2010-proposal-add-quicklook-support-in-thunderbird/
• Mac Mail has good integration with iCal. Thunderbird integrates with google calendar (which I have integrated with iCal). But, I miss being able to click on dates in messages and create iCal events from them. And have the event in iCal tie back to the original message.
  

So what does Thunderbird do that Mac Mail can't?

• Awesome extensibility.
• "Filter these messages" is awesome. Can filter on various combinations of sender, recipient, subject. Can only do one of those for the search box for Mac Mail.
  
• Way faster. Mac Mail sometimes can take ages to trawl through mailboxes. Thunderbird is really zippy.

What do they have in common that's a bit different?

• Mac Mail's Smart Mailboxes is Thunderbird's "File->New->Saved Search..."

So far, I've been happy with the swap.

Stubbs BBQ

Stubbs BBQ, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

This BBQ sauce I haven't tried yet. I've used some dry rub spices by this guy. The awesome thing about it all is the quote "LADIES and GENTLEMEN, I'M a COOK". The guy sounds really BADASS! I can imagine him walking into some restaurant, the room goes quiet, and he stands up and proclaims "I'M A COOK, DANG IT!" I'd buy this guy's BBQ sauce any day of the week.

I've always thought the idea of getting a boat and sailing around would be a lot of fun.

And then I listened to this story...


http://castroller.com/podcasts/TheMothPodcast/1534043-Deborah%20Scaling%20Kiley%20Lost%20at%20Sea

Not fun, not fun at all.

Genius

Genius, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

Why yes, I am a genius, thank you for asking.

Note to haters, the "Genius Opponent" was NOT Mr. Potato Head.

Not reading

I've read Perdido Street Station and enjoyed it, so I picked up "The City & The City". Gave up after about 100 pages. Not really SF, the plot was very slow, and things were mostly dialogue. Not really what I was looking for. Next up, non fiction, "Life Ascending - The Ton Great Inventions of Evolution".

Makers

Just finished reading Makers - http://craphound.com/makers/

Great book, tons of fun. Brings back the feel of wandering old Florida indoor flea markets inside some converted Kmart or Walmart or such.

Also made me want to buy a 3d printer.

Windows 7 Pro

Made the swap from the RC to Windows 7 Pro on the Asus 1005HA netbook.

Install was OK, although couldn't get the ISO onto a USB to do the install that way. Worked fine for the RC (used unetbootin) but wouldn't boot for the Windows 7 Pro.

So, used the download and upgrade install. Upgraded the RC just fine.

The ASUS utility stuff (hotkeys and Super Hybrid Engine), a pain. I needed to upgrade the BIOS to install the hotkey stuff, but the BIOS update utility needed ACPI which ASUS stopped providing as of Windows 7 (evidently there's something more advanced?)

Googled around and found some instructions here. The basic idea is to install the ACPI from the XP download area (in XP compatibility mode service pack 2) and then do the BIOS upgrade and then remove the ACPI. Then everything else will slide into place. Instructions worked like a charm.

Next up is to get Jolicloud back on since the nice W7 installer blew away the grub MBR. Naughty.

The Magicians

Just read "The Magicians" - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0670020559 by Lev Grossman (http://levgrossman.com/).

This was what Harry Potter should have been. The book feels like a blatant rip-off of Harry Potter and Narnia, yet because it's so obviously what those books really should have been, it feels fresh, it's readable, and it's fun.

Highly recommended.

Google Maps ads.

OK, so everybody uses google maps to figure out where to go.

How long before businesses realize they could put huge honking letters and banners on their roof so they would show up on the maps?

They could provide confirmation like yes indeed this is the "Hilton Hotel". Or a supermarket could use it as a way to show people that it has the "lowest prices around".

Why that new fangled ...!

http://http//www.salon.com/books/int/2009/09/19/better_pencil/

Historically, when the new communication device comes out, the reaction tends to be divided. Some people think it's the best thing since sliced bread; other people fear it as the end of civilization as we know it. And most people take a wait and see attitude. And if it does something that they're interested in, they pick up on it, if it doesn't, they don't buy into it.

I start with Plato's critique of writing where he says that if we depend on writing, we will lose the ability to remember things. Our memory will become weak. And he also criticizes writing because the written text is not interactive in the way spoken communication is. He also says that written words are essentially shadows of the things they represent. They're not the thing itself. Of course we remember all this because Plato wrote it down -- the ultimate irony.

We hear a thousand objections of this sort throughout history: Thoreau objecting to the telegraph, because even though it speeds things up, people won't have anything to say to one another. Then we have Samuel Morse, who invents the telegraph, objecting to the telephone because nothing important is ever going to be done over the telephone because there's no way to preserve or record a phone conversation. There were complaints about typewriters making writing too mechanical, too distant -- it disconnects the author from the words. That a pen and pencil connects you more directly with the page. And then with the computer, you have the whole range of "this is going to revolutionize everything" versus "this is going to destroy everything."

So let's keep that all in mind, stop whining about the latest and greatest whatever, and get down to buisness instead.

Luggage

luggage, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

Luke you imbecile! Why did you bring so much crap! Now we are going to have to spend hours trying to get this to fit in the suitcase when we could be spending valuable time trying to figure out how to shuffle trash into a trash can that is obscured by rectangles and squares!

Menu

Menu, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

Menu errors. Who doesn't get tired of them?

Cookies for less than a penny. Har har har har.

And what is this Cannoli guy trying to sell me?

Conspiracy theory #1

What's up with Pirates being trendy with the kids these days? Obviously it was brought on by the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. But, think about it for a minute. Who is marketing this? Hollywood. The movie industry. They are glamorizing pirates in a big way. Now, who is Hollywood's biggest problem? Yep, people who pirate their movies. Hollywood brings about lawsuits and demands large sums of money for downloading a movie that you can get at the Walmarts for about $5.99. I think this is all Hollywood's big plan to regain their revenue stream of former days since now movies sell for hardly anything and there's no income in that.

unetbootin?

After hours of messing around following borken and complificated instructions trying to get the Windows 7 ISO on a bootable USB, discovered unetbootin. Worked really well, just tell it the .iso and tell it the USB stick to put it on. Bake for 30 minutes. Done. Works just fine on the Windows 7 install even though the site and the utility is focused towards Linux distros.

Dinner, Wednesday

Dinner, Wednesday, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

Noodles are the magical fiber that weaves together left-overs and alien crud found in the kitchen cabinets.

Dinner at Kingfish Hall

Dinner at Kingfish Hall, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

Wasabi-Crusted Tuna, Sauteed Pea Tendrils, Ginger Carrot Puree & Sticky Rice.

Lobster SAlad Roll, Fresh Shucked Lobster Meat, Toasted Brioche, House Made Baked Beans, Old Bay Chips & Cole Slaw.

Beverage: Mai Tai.

See also their Automatic Fish Roaster.


Not seen, trek to North End where we purchased two lobster tail pastries, mistakenly thinking they were small. We got about 5 desserts out of those...

Upgrade cycle?

Is it just me, or does the new IE8 (I just upgraded) suck memory bigtime? The usual pages now seem to be taking about 1.5G of memory and that's just one instance of IE when I have 3 or 4 up. Wouldn't matter much except my poor P4 with 2G of RAM on XP can't keep up with that sort of usage.

I have this sneaking suspicion that Microsoft is trying to drive an upgrade cycle to Win7. Sad part is it's working; I'm ready to upgrade now.

Saturday Night

Saturday Night, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

The best thing about Saturday Night?

Scott Pilgrim (#3!) and Bailey's Irish Cream. We ran out of ice cream so this was the next best thing.

Good to pass the time while ripping Amy's books on CD to the iTunes. And now, perhaps it's time for the chips.

Chipotle Grill

Chipotle Grill, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

If you're really hungry, you can get 1 lb 2.6oz of Chipotle Grill Steak Burrito. $6.95. The perfect Friday Night anti-hunger dinner.

Walmarts have the weird stuff

Walmarts have the weird stuff, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

Water bomb hand grenades. These were in the aisle next to the gummy land mines.

HTML editor

Trawled the web looking for a good html editor. Settled on http://www.w3.org/Amaya which is a bit clunky but does the trick for my limited HTML use.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_HTML_editors

Sushi

Sushi is great.

Here's a lecture which explains why it's so great:

http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/buniverse/videos/view/?id=332

Apple Crumble Coffee

Apple Crumble Coffee, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

Yes indeed, apple crumble flavored coffee. Not just apple flavored or apple cinnamon, but apple crumble. The crumble part is subtle. And that's what I'm looking for in coffee. Perhaps they will be coming out with chocolate chip cookie flavor next.

I took one for the team and tried a delicious cup of it. Maybe this batch was bad because it tasted like somebody had taken a bunch of beans or berries, burned them in an oven, ground them up, and then added water. Just nasty.

Hearing Test

Pretty much since day 1 I've been able to hear a whine from TVs and CRT monitors. This has diminished with age, but I can still hear it. I can tell when TVs are on or off with my eyes closed. I can tell if a TV is on but the screen is black (like it's set on video 1 but there's no input source). Very convenient.

The sound is very high pitched, sort of like this:

Created by Train Horns

I also have tinnitus and so can hear a more subtle but similarly pitched sound if all around me is quiet.

Wiki Editing

I'm a big Emacs guy, so having to use a Wiki and edit through the browser was a bit tricky. Luckily Mozilla on the Mac has some emacs edit shortcuts, ^a for beginning of line, ^e for end, etc., but things like ^n and ^p were navigating to other pages. Argh!

I googled around and found a great wikipedia article on text editors - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_editor_support

I installed Mozex which is something that will let you run external commands for certain Firefox things. I configured it to run emacs when I edit in a text area.

Mozex configuration to run emacs as an editor:



Mozex in use:



I also followed instructions on installing Emacs Wikipedia Mode which provides syntax highlighting and edit commands appropriate for wikis.

So far everything is working nicely. I have the same set-up on the Mac and on the Linux desktop.

Software Update

Why, oh why, software update, do you require me to restart my system after applying an update to RAW image compatibility for Aperture 2 and iPhoto '08 neither of which I use, for a bunch of cameras I don't have.

News round-up 01/31/2009

Barron's Feb 2, 2009, pg. 8, Up & Down Wall Street, Randall Forsyth notes that in response to President Obama's indignation at bonuses (something being echoed by most people I hear), it's actually the massive bonuses in the good years that create bubbles and a subsequent bust. Executives take unsustainable short-term short-cuts to boost bonuses in good years. The problems that may cause in the longer-term will just be somebody else's problems.

Barron's Feb 2, 2009, pg. 12, Streetwise, Michael Santoli notes how unwanted DOW Financials are Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and American Express. Also noted money-fund assets are at a historically high proportion of stock-market value, "the fuel is there to move the market fast and far." Also noted micro caps are very cleam now. No sense in buying a random smattering of the stocks; chapter 11 is waiting for some. This could be a good place for an actively managed fund?

Fun Facts!

A medical study found that the slump in air travel following the September 11 terrorist attacks inadvertently slowed the spread of influenza.

* From the Freakonomics 2008 daily calendar.

Electric Car comparison

GM figures that it takes 8 kwh to give the Chevy Volt a 40 mile charge. They say at 10 cents per kwh that's 80 cents, so works out 2 cents/mile. More realistically it's 20 cents per kwh, so $1.60, or 4 cents/mile. At $3.00 for 1G gasoline, a 52 mpg Prius is about 6 cents/mile.

EDIT: 4/23/2009. My prius has been getting 44 mpg recently, so at ~$2.00 for 1G gasoline, that's roughly 4.5 cents/mile.

Barron's 10/13/2008

Michael Santoli, my #2 after Thomas G. Donlan, has some sage advice this week:

• The past 2 months approximates the August 1987 crash, although back then there was a 22% loss in a single session.
• In 1987 44% of people were in stocks, now it's more like 70%.
• 401(k) assets were trivial back in 1987. Now they total about $9 trillion (much in stock funds).
• Investors are now down to ~ 50% stocks, matching 2002 market bottom.
• Irrational prices are showing - InBev (INB) is buying Anheuser-Busch (BUD) for $70 yet the market price is $58.50.

He also quotes Wood Dorsey of Market Semiotics:

"This is not the time to sell. If possible, it is better to just watch
and not act or even better, step away until Tuesday. Purgation can be over
at any time and be followed by a reprieve rally as occurred after Sept. 26,
2001."

Ode to QuickTime

QuickTime, how I love those frequent updates that require me to reboot.
(For long enough, only my Mac required a reboot on QuickTime updates - the PC managed to do it without a reboot. That has now been fixed and the PC has to be rebooted as well.)

QuickTime, how I love that you can't remember the volume the last time I played something and so just assume I want the volume to be at max 100%.

QuickTime, how I love your embrace for closed proprietary codecs.

QuickTime, how I love how you take away the focus from having a flash player in the iPod.

QuickTime, how I love how you register yourself as the default app for a bunch of video file types and then play only the audio for them.

Panoramas

http://lifehacker.com/378490/stitch-photos-into-panoramas-with-free-software

Front Pocket Wallet

The perfect front pocket wallet. Not too thick.

http://www.all-ett.com/products.asp#allett

Florida has weird stuff

Florida has weird stuff, originally uploaded by nikconwell.

Seen in a Publix.

Budweiser and Clamato juice. In the same can. Together. Mixed together. At the same time.

I suppose bloggers of the 1940's had the same reaction when they saw Tomato juice and Clam Juice. Together. In the same can.

Why we banned Legos

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/21_02/lego212.shtml

Showed up on reddit and my knee jerk reaction was WTF! On further reading, as is typical of reddit, the headline is there to provoke reaction. The article was an insightful discourse on power structures as observed by teachers of a grade school age after school program. These are the teachers we need more of, not dispensers of rote.

Free Track

There have been recent hacks posted for the Wii and PS3 that let you do head tracking for immersive VR. Here's some open source PC software to do the same thing using some LEDs glued to a hat. This would also be cool for a window manager to let you see depth of the windows to look behind things.


http://www.free-track.net/english/

In the video, to the right is that mounted LED view from the webcam.

EULA

Anti EULA from http://www.boingboing.net/2007/12/26/applyyourself-in-ord.html

READ CAREFULLY. By reading this email, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer.

http://reasonableagreement.org/