The same old thing with a new twist (aka my personal infocloud)
As I find myself using Twitter more for quick posts I have added a sidebar widget to display the last handful of devastatingly witty tweets that I have bestowed upon the world. If you’re in for the full punishment, you can follow me as (not surprisingly) rcampoamor on twitter.
Some of the tweets can tend to be a little more ‘raw’ that the blog postings, but I am sure you will figure that out if you have a look.
After listening to the rapacious credit card industry whine and cry and hew over the prospect of some regulation that will reel them back from their semi-usarous ways, I was struck by a thought. One so obvious that I don’t know why there is no media discussion of it.
During the artificial price spike in gas last Spring and Summer, pundits were going on about how ‘high gas prices are a good thing’ because they change consumer behavior. By the same logic, why aren’t high credit card interest rates a good thing, because they should prevent consumers from over spending? If credit card companies what to react to regulation buy jacking up rates and fees, so be it. There will always be one or two who won’t and that is were consumers will take their business.
Of course, credit card companies have already proven that they don’t operate on a rational basis anyway. Personal example: I had a credit card with CapitalOne for over 20 years, used it regularly, paid it off every month with great consistency. My reward for that was that they first changed my fixed rate to a variable rate (effectively doubling it), then doubled it again while simultaneously shortening the payment period to 15 days. All of these changes were though no actions of my own. When I called a CapitalOne rep to ask why the changes were made the response was ‘I am sure it was done for a good reason’. When I pressed the matter, her supervisor basically said ‘if you disagree with the changes you can always stop using your card — would you like me to cancel it now for you?’ Thank you for your years of patronage, shall I poke your other eye out, now?
To answer my own question, the reason why high credit card rates won’t have the same effect is because the impact is deferred. The purchase is made and the balance goes up on next month’s bill, with very little friction. However, at the pump, it is very real as you watch the numbers click by for you $100 fuel up — do that twice a week and it really drives it home.
Recognizing the rather grave safety implications to traffic signal detectors that don’t that a scooter or motorcycle is waiting, the Ohio Department of Transportation has provided an phone number and email address to report bustage.
Technorati Tags:
scootering
How to make a business card disappear. Certainly more classy than just throwing it in the trash.
Proving once again that the street will find its own uses for technology, the US military has adopted the iPod Touch as a war theatre handheld device.
The iPod isn’t the only multifunction handheld on the market, but among soldiers it’s the most popular. Since most recruits have used one—and many already own one—it’s that much easier to train them to prepare and upload new content. Users can add phrases to language software, annotate maps and link text or voice recordings to photos (“Have you seen this man?”). Apple devices make it easy to shoot, store and play video. Consider the impact of showing villagers a video message of a relaxed and respected local leader encouraging them to help root out insurgents.
My wife and I rode in the WKRP Scooter Rally in Cincinnati last weekend (April 4th). It was our first rally since we starting riding last year. It was a huge amount of fun and an opportunity to meet and talk with a lot of like minded scooter folk.
Two things that seemed to come up in discussions were 1) the setup that we were using to talk to each other while scooting and 2) how to best mount things to the scooter (GPSs being the most popular item). If on the off chance any of the WKRP folks who were curious and wanted more details might somehow find this blog post; well, here are the details:
[Full disclosure: if you buy from the Amazon links that I provide here I make a few pennies off of the sale. It doesn’t add any additional cost to the product if you buy via these links.]
For scooter to scooter communication I picked up an inexpensive set of Midland handsets from Amazon (specifically the MIDLAND GXT900VP4 2 Way 22 Channels Radio
For best results grab one of the helmet headset kits from Midland. Be aware that there are two different kits depending on whether you have a full face helmet (Midland AVPH2 Closed Face Helment Headset for Midland GMRS
One of the advantages over the helmet mounted units I saw at the rally is that the Midland kit gives you a push to talk button that you can velcro attach to the left hand grip so that you don’t have to take your hands off the scooter to initiate a call. Granted, this does leave you with a bit of connecting wire that you need to sort out, but typically that isn’t a big deal. Another huge advantage is that buying the two radio kit and two helmet kits is much cheaper (~$120USD) than buying one of the helmet mounted units (~$200-300 each). It also leaves you with a pair of handsets you can use while hiking, camping, working in the yard or wherever you don’t want to have to shout between.
For mounting GPSs or just about anything else to the scooter, get yourself straight over to the RAM Mounting Systems web site. They have a handy configuration wizard that will guide you through the parts and options necessary to mount whatever you want to your ride. Seriously, if RAM doesn’t make a mount for it, then it probably doesn’t exist. I have a ball mount on my GTV that I can mount (using the same attachment arm) either a GPS (Garmin nüvi 660
Hopefully these little tidbits might help someone who is curious about mounts and scooter to scooter communications.
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gadgets, scootering, wkrp
The title of this posting is a reference to a statistic in an article called That Muslim in the White House. It relates to a statistic that is tempting to apply to poll results:
Here is another fact: About 11 percent of adult Americans have an IQ score of 81 or below. This is the region of the IQ distribution curve traditionally labeled “dull” at the top and “defective” or “idiot” at the bottom, with various and variously colorful tabs in between.
What conclusion shall we draw? Some of you are tempted, aren’t you? The proper answer is, None; but in practice how people interpret facts depends heavily on their preexisting attitudes toward and opinions on sundry matters.
There is probably an easier answer: the considerably more than 11% that think that Fox News is news and parrot the right wing hatred coming from Fox and ‘shout radio’ broadcasts. I am confident that the tempting 11% is well represented in there as well.
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dubious, ideas, news, statistics
Here are a few things I wanted to get off my mind after returning from a four day ‘Spring Break’ trip to Washington, DC:
Spring Break + Washington DC = 10 million people in one place who act like they have never been off the farm before.
Dear DC ‘hipsters’: huge Sophia Loren sunglasses look even stupider on guys than they do on women and that’s plenty STUPID!
Dear DC ‘hipsters’: the whole Converse wearing thing is totally stale/lame; when they make them for geriatrics ITS OVER.
Dear DC ‘hipsters’ the mullet was never in style and putting it in a pony tail just puts you in quadruple lameness jeopardy. Color and streaks just magnify the lameness.
Dear DC ‘hipsters’: the long sleeve shirt under a short sleeve shirt is stale/lame as well; elementary school kids do it (ugh!). move on.
Dear DC ‘hipsters’: the flip flops with tattered jeans was over 5 years ago in Europe and has reached the Midwest — give it up it is LAME.
Everyone in DC: I don’t care who you think you are, you can wait in line like everyone else. I’ll remind you when you forget.
In general: DC you are a city of ‘big thinkers’ living tiny thoughts. Get over yourselves.
The latest Mac Heist Bundle is available for the low, low price of $39USD.
I bought it just for the Kinemac 3D animation software ($300 value) and Wiretap Studio.
Today is the 20th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web (not to be confused with the Internet). Apparently, today is also the 15th anniversary of Linux. I wonder how pervasive Linux would be had the WWW not preceded it. It seemed it was the world wide interest, adoption and coding that made Linux what it is today. Well, I suppose the same could be said for the Interwebs as well.
In any case, raise your glass for two of technologies finest. And note that Microsuck ‘innovation’ had nothing to do with either of them.
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ingenuity, innovation, internet, linux, technology, webdev, webtools
A Japanese study shows that riding on two wheels makes you smarter. Thank you Vespa.
It might be telling that the test was conducted with riders in their 40s and 50s. That would tend to screen out the young morons who weave in and out of highway traffic on their ballburners wearing nothing but sunglasses. So either you are smart enough not to do that in the first place and make it to 40 or natural selection cleans things up and you don’t make it to 40. That doesn’t appear to be part of the study, however.
The already awesome LibraryThing has recently added Twitter integration making it easy to add books into your online library on the go.
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books, librarything, mobile, twitter, webtools
Why would any reputable company put an easily accessible button to delete audit logs from an electronic voting machine? I think I just answered my own question by assuming that they are reputable.
I am fairly certain that this function doesn’t exist on the ATM machines that they manufacture. It would seem that Diebold considers cash more important than votes. I guess it also helped the head of Diebold, Walden O’Dell, deliver on his (in)famous promise to “helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president [Bush] next year.”
“Deletion of the records in either log would make it impossible to monitor operator access to GEMS or to reconstruct the sequence of operator access, defeating the purpose of [federal guidelines] that GEMS version 1.18.19 was required to adhere to.”
Under guidelines established by the Federal Election Commission in 1990, tabulation software used in all US elections must automatically create and permanently retain electronic audit logs of important system events while tallying votes. The guidelines state they are intended to provide a “concrete, indestructible archival record of all system activity” and are “essential for public confidence in the accuracy of the tally.”
I think that the proposed truth and reconciliation commission has a lot of work ahead of it.
Some handy twitter hacks for the wordpress blogging software, if you are so inclined.
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blogging, hacks, twitter, webtools, wordpress
The SOA Social web site fails at the most fundamental level — it’s RSS feeds don’t actually take you to the item they reference. Rather they take you to a truncated entry on the soa social site itself (presumably to drive up ad revenue; otherwise, just to be incompetent). Annoying and missing the point of having a feed. More FAIL from IBM.
Dear Republicans: stuff a sock in all of the phony ‘outrage’ over the economy and the stimulus package. Seriously. Your time for outrage was when 2.3 Trillion dollars went missing from the Pentagon or when $9 or was it 50 BILLION (no one knows for sure) went missing from Iraq or the illegal no-bid contracts to Cheney’s henchmen let alone the cost of the war in Iraq itself. Why didn’t we hear a peep then? Was it because it was the Republicans who were benefiting at the taxpayers expense?
Once we stop handing out money to the banks so they can pocket it rather than make the loans they committed, we should at least this time around we’ll have something to show for the money spent.
If we had a serious press corp in the US they would be asking these follow up questions every time one of the right wing mouthpieces started spouting forth their talking points. I want to hear them answer. They won’t because they won’t be asked. Oh, an someone please remind the right that saying anything bad about the President is ‘treason’.
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dubious, economy, politics, propaganda
The DSLR camera that I shoot with has been selected to go on the next Space Shuttle mission. Well, not, my camera, but the same model camera that I use, the Olympus E3. Take that, Canikon buying robots!
The E3 was chosen because Olympus’ flagship model was created “to survive the toughest shooting environments”, although its splash- and dust-proof magnesium alloy body is unlikely to be tested on the ISS (unless astronauts are particularly sloppy about their house-keeping).
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cameras, e3, olympus, photography, spaceshuttle, technology
I wanted to riff a bit on a theme that a collegue of mine touched on earlier in the year regarding the relative importance that some people place on ultimately arbitrary dates. Why do people put so much emphasis on making resolutions at the start of a new year? or a new month for that matter? Is it simply the need for a ‘clean’ boundary to demarcate things?
The interesting thing is, people seem to find these significant dates all over the place. Recently, there was a modicum of apocryphal hysteria in the tech community because the representation of time in computers was going to be 1234567890 last week. And, to add surety to that, that same day was Friday the 13th, that assuredly unlucky day for all. *GASP*. Yet, somehow, the date passed without incident (as far as I am aware).
What of other dates that are supposed to have such significance? As was previously pointed out, even the concept of ‘what day it is’ is a bit of a made up construct depending upon which calendar system you happen to choose (Gregorian, Julian, Islamic, Hebrew, or Chinese, etc).
What of these ‘special’ dates themselves? It appears that over the years they have just multiplied (seemingly at the whim of the greeting card industry). We now how Teacher’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, Student’s Day, Administrative Assistant’s Day, Valentines Day, Earth Day, Groundhog Day, Arbor Day and the list goes on and on. In many cases these ‘holidays’ are celebrated on different days in different countries; in some cases they aren’t celebrated at all. My point is, why can’t you be nice to these people on every day? Why is a ‘special’ day needed to take action? Is something that happened (or didn’t) on Earth Day, really more special than if it happened (or didn’t) on any other day?
I fear that such relative value placed on arbitrary days can be the source of resentment and disappointment for some. For sure, some dates, such as anniversaries should be noted and commemorated accordingly (birthday and wedding celebrations and more solemn remembrances of those no longer with us). These are tied to actual events on actual days and (if one chooses) have actual significance. No need to wait for the first of the month to celebrate or for the next greeting card holiday.
I recently rediscovered these quotes; both of which relate back to this whole theme:
“I conceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false
estimates that they have made of the value of things.”
— Benjamin Franklin
and
“We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.”
— Oscar Wilde
I guess this is my long, rattling way to say “make the best of every day, express your gratitude and recognize, that, after all, good or bad, it is just another day”.
Finally, Google have delivered a (task) list that is basic but usable and includes the option for mobile access and annotation. If you have an existing gmail account, you just need to go into the ‘labs’ options to enable it.
While on the go, you can reference your list (and add to it) by going to http://gmail.com/tasks . And most importantly of all, it gets two thumbs up from my wife who has been wanting a usable mobile list for some time now. It fact, the new google task list was declared the best thing since fish grew legs!
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gmail, google, googletasks, tasks, webtools