rambling on through the world

Fin-world.png (PNG Image, 778x1036 pixels) - Scaled (53%)

2010-09-16T17:15:00.000-04:00

Oh how accurate this is!

Gold Bugs, Not Bed Bugs, Found in East Village Bar - WNYC

2010-09-15T22:25:00.000-04:00

When film directors hanging out in East Village bars are telling you it's time to invest in gold...I'd suggest that it may be time to sell. This reeks of taxi drivers trading in their cars in the last 90's internet bubble.

Parking Lots Help Predict Earnings

2010-08-18T21:23:00.000-04:00

Parking Lots Help Predict Earnings: "

Satellite images aren’t just useful for protecting national security, looking up online directions and checking out your roof on Google Earth anymore. Now market analysts are spying on us from above. UBS Investment Research has started incorporating analysis of satellite images of the parking lots of big-box retailers into its earnings estimates, reports CNBC, forecasting an uptick in sales based on parking lot traffic where a drop was previously expected.

It turns out that rather than a 1 percent decline in sales for Walmart in the second quarter compared to year ago, relatively full parking lots indicate a 0.7 percent gain in sales for the quarter.

Satellite picture of a Walmart parking lot

UBS bought its satellite data and analysis from a startup called Remote Sensing Metrics, which built a model for how customer flow presages quarterly earnings. Remote Sensing found that Walmart parking lot traffic was up 4 percent in June from a year ago, probably because of an aggressive “rollback” marketing campaign.

Remote Sensing also determined that earlier this year, Walmart stores were attracting growth in areas where there was more unemployment, while Target stores were doing the opposite. Now both retailers are seeing growth, which the firm thinks bodes well for the economy. It also found that Lowe’s is outpacing Home Depot in summer shoppers.

Lanworth, another research company mentioned in the CNBC report, analyzes commodity crop production using infrared and microwave images. Last year, it detected a drop in corn production months months before the USDA, and it recently warned that 2010 Russian wheat production is far below reported levels.

Just imagine if such satellite image analysis were crowdsourced on a service like Amazon Mechanical Turk. We could probably figure out just about everything that’s happening in the world at any time. Privacy lovers might want to avoid satellite detection by staying indoors and buying from Walmart.com where they can’t be tracked. Oh wait — that won’t work either.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

How Search Is Evolving Beyond Text

Obama me

2009-01-14T20:10:00.000-05:00

If you like Obama you'll love this!

r.

Russia joining OPEC?

2008-12-12T11:38:00.000-05:00

This could be an interesting move - one that may introduce a whole new dynamic to world oil pricing.

r.

McCain Transition Chief Helped Saddam Hussein

2008-10-14T20:09:00.000-04:00

Wow...this just can't be good.

McCain's transition chief was a lobbyist for Saddam Hussein?!?!

r.

McCain Touts ‘Energy Expert’ Palin’s Credentials

2008-10-10T13:03:00.000-04:00

Oh, yet another feather in Palin's cap of crap -

The gas pipeline that's being bragged about? Yeah, it's a $500mm (that's half a billion dollars in corporate welfare) GIFT to a CANADIAN company for work they don't have to do?!?!?!?!

W...T....F

r.

McCain's mortgage plan

2008-10-10T12:57:00.000-04:00

It's f'ing mind boggling that McCain is planning on paying the banks 100% of the value of the bad loans they wrote....f'ing mind boggling!!!

Donna Brazile Is Not Going To The Back Of The Bus

2008-10-08T16:55:00.000-04:00

Do me a favor....watch this, pass it on, and think about it before you pull the handle to close the curtain on your polling booth...

"I Voted For Hillary Clinton!"

2008-10-08T16:45:00.000-04:00

Absolute proof that you should have to take an IQ test and get a license before being allowed to vote....there is no f'ing way that someone this STUPID should be allowed to have ANY part of electing the next leader of the free world! It makes me cry that their votes count the same as mine ;-(

r.

Electoral College Projections

2008-10-08T16:33:00.000-04:00

I wonder what McCain and Winky the clown would say if they saw this analysis of the current polling numbers:

"We are now projecting Obama to win the election 90.5 percent of the time, with an average of 346.8 electoral votes, and a 5.4-point margin in the national popular vote."

Kind of puts a smile on my face...a smile that has a hard time breaking through the grimace caused by the anger and hate of the McCain/Palin campaign.

McCain screwing up history....again...

2008-10-08T14:21:00.000-04:00

I love when politicians say silly things like this....

1 In 6 US Homeowners Underwater

2008-10-08T11:37:00.000-04:00

One in six homeowners owe more then the value of their home?!?! WHAT THE F*&K?

While this doesn't "really" impact them till they sell, it's a huge psychological weight....huge.

r.

Stop sending mail you later regret

2008-10-07T10:58:00.000-04:00

Gmail has hit a new high/low - you can now set up controls to prevent EWI (emailing while intoxicated!!)

Obama or McCain: Global Electoral College

2008-10-04T00:24:00.001-04:00

Ok, I'll be the first one to admit that it's not very scientific. That being said - seeing Obama ahead 8375 to 15 in a "global electoral college" (McCain is winning the country of Georgia) makes you stop and think about how the rest of the world views that "shining city on the hill" and who's best positioned to lead it into the next decade.

And to top it all off, this is being done via The Economist - hardly a left leaning/liberal publication!

CNN: McCain cedes ground in Michigan

2008-10-02T16:49:00.001-04:00

A month out and McCain is already starting to give up? What a freakin' wuss!

r.

Correlating Rock Music to US Oil Production

2008-09-25T18:05:00.000-04:00

Ok....I'm going to say it - anyone who takes the time to correlate US oil production against the 500 greatest rock music songs as decided on by Rolling Stone has WAY too much time on their hands....or are they onto something?!?!

Think Progress » McCain Clueless When Asked About Fiorina’s $40 Million Golden Parachute: ‘I Do Not Know The Details’

2008-09-22T12:29:00.000-04:00

Let me get this straight.....McCain screams and yells (justly, I feel) about excessive executive pay yet doesn't know that Carly Fiorina got an ~ $40,000,000 payout......what kind of leadership is that??

Palin cut funding for Alaska Special Olympics.

2008-09-16T14:42:00.000-04:00

At the RNC Palin stood up and said that the parents of special needs kids would have "a friend in the White House"....I guess they just didn't have one @ the governors mansion in Alaska when she cut Special Olympics funding??

r.

McCain: Obama didn't call Palin a pig - War Room - Salon.com

2008-09-16T14:07:00.000-04:00

So now McCain says Obamba DIDN'T call Palin a pig?? So we chalk it up to "much ado about nothing"??

It either is or isn't an issue....

r.

Why Lehman's Failure Is the Best Outcome

2008-09-16T10:37:00.000-04:00

Wow, I like this.....someone taking the position (and notionally backing it up) that it was GOOD to let Lehman fail.

r.

Today's Sarah Palin Madness

2008-09-07T11:49:00.000-04:00

Oh, I love this...the "Caribou Barbie" / Sarah Palin doll!

The cruel offshore-drilling hoax, part 1 | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist

2008-09-04T23:56:00.000-04:00

Some great, straightforward analysis on the TRUTH about off-shore drilling and what a scam it is as a political issue.

Problem 1 - The oil companies have access to 200% more oil that they haven't tapped yet then there is available in ALL the new areas they want to start poking around!

Problem 2 - Even if they did start looking at the new areas it won't make a difference till 2030...maybe later?!?!

perspctv

2008-08-29T17:32:00.000-04:00

This is just plain cool.

It's also a great example of stats being skewed via self-selection. Take a look at how Obama "polls" via Twitter users - it's a LANDSLIDE!! I don't know how much better Electoral-vote.com and Hubdub.com work around the self-selection bias but at least it looks a bit more reasonable.

In addition, it's a great lesson in the oddities of the electoral college system. Obama and McCain could be a dead-heat percentage wise but as long as Obama carries the big states he's can walk away with it...hence the ever present discussion of battleground states.

Campaign Cola 2008 | Election Resources | Voting Vernacular

2008-08-28T14:08:00.000-04:00

What are the poll tracking implications of the number of cases of soda bought with each candidates likeness on it?

r.

Shannon, Marve, Suspensions and other things

2008-08-28T13:58:00.000-04:00

Here's the keys to the article:
UF welcomes back player that beat up then shot at another student....with an AK-47!?!?!?
FSU welcomes back a player that was caught with a gun and weed
Penn State has had 46 players arrested since 2002 and says "I can't control what they do off field"
Georgia had 8 players arrested this off season

AND THEY STILL CALL MIAMI THUG U!

Every single REAL Canes fan needs to get behind Randy Shannon and support him 110% - no questions asked.

PickensPlan » Blog Archive » Too Hot For NBC

2008-08-28T13:00:00.000-04:00

Alright, I know that Pickens has a vested interest in natural gas....but if this is true....and NBC simply doesn't want to run the ad for an as yet undetermined reason then this is just plain silly.

r.

Apple’s iPod Touch Can Act as iTunes Remote For Music System | Nick Wingfield | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

2008-08-28T10:54:00.000-04:00

This is just a cool, slick little app....makes me almost want to go get an iPod touch right now

Hacker: Gymnast He is 14, not 16 - Salon Olympics Daily - Salon

2008-08-22T12:38:00.000-04:00

Hacker: Gymnast He is 14, not 16 - Salon Olympics Daily - Salon

In a pathetic attempt to achieve "Project 119" and greater glory, the Chinese government has actually done the opposite and "lost face" by doing things like this....sad....pathetic and sad

Think Progress » McCain falsely takes credit for ‘creating’ Do Not Call list.

2008-08-15T15:04:00.000-04:00

Think Progress » McCain falsely takes credit for ‘creating’ Do Not Call list.

I wonder if this is going to be John McCain's version of "I invented the internet"??

Tooooo funny!

r.

Best iTunes tip ever??

2008-08-04T23:10:00.000-04:00

This is quite possibly the best iTunes tip EVER!!

Thanks Paul ;-)

r.

Last of the Howard Johnsons?

2008-07-22T14:13:00.000-04:00

I found this incredible to learn today - there are only THREE HoJo's left out there?!?!

Yeah, the site may not be inclusive but rabid fans that build sites like this usually have some good info.

r.

30 Most Incredible Abstract Satellite Images of Earth : Environmental News Blog | Environmental Graffiti

2008-07-21T12:24:00.000-04:00

These are some of the most incredible images I've ever seen....absolutely beautiful.

r.

Think Progress » Despite all his fearmongering, McCain admits he doesn’t know ‘the nature of the threat’ from Iran.

2008-07-10T19:12:00.000-04:00

This is mindboggling......I'm a bit flabbergasted to see someone who could possibly be the next President of the United States say "I can’t know whether a strike would be justified because I don’t know the progress or the significance or the nature of the threat. I know the threat is growing because of the continued development of nuclear weapons." and then he continues to say that the Iranian threat is serious!!

Huba wuba?!?!? Waaa?? I'm speechless as my ability to process remarks that ridiculous are completely stumped.

Honestly, no joke, I think this dude has stroked out a couple of times and no one has told us yet....he has a mini-stroke a day.

Like my email signature line says, "there is a time when panic is the appropriate response"and when someone this stupid has the potential to become President, it's high time to panic!!

Adding a feature to Gmail - how to organize email by attachment size

2008-04-24T12:41:00.002-04:00

Here's one way to auto-magically do it (one way, probably not the right way but one way)

- Under the "More Actions" drop down is an option "sort by size"

- Gmail automatically scans all email attachments and creates a rank order by size.

- Gmail then automatically creates three buckets of small/medium/large. These buckets would be calculated based on a pre-set percentage - the 25% that are the largest are "large" - 50% in the middle are "medium" and the 25% that are the smallest are "small"

- The presentation would appear to the user much like the "settings" tab with "large" being the default that you always see first and set to the left (in the same fashion as Settings > General) and then medium (Settings > Account) and small (Settings > Label) following in order to the right.

- The emails themselves would be presented in a manner similar to the main Inbox view but with the file name, type and size shown and a check box in the far right column.

- If the user puts a check in the box and selects "delete attachment" from a button on the top or bottom of the array then the attachments are removed and the rest of the message is preserved with a tag underneath the conversation header containing information something like "File XYZ.mp3 deleted on 4/16/2008"

What do you think?

Think Progress » Blog Archive » Cheney: If U.S. Withdraws From Iraq, Al Qaeda Would ‘Acquire Control’ Of Country’s Oil Resources

2008-04-11T16:05:00.000-04:00

Ok, up till now I have to admit that I just laughed at most of what came out of Cheney's mouth but this is so ridiculous that I'm actually stunned....and I'm terrified that someone out there might believe him.

Question 1 - Regardless of what the Shia and Sunni "may" do to al Qaeda the real question is what in the world would they (al Qaeda) DO with the oil? Does he really think that people would be lining up to buy oil from a known terrorist organization? Where would these phantom revenues come from?

Question 2 - Does the Dark Lord think that Saudi, Iran, Syria and...for that matter...the rest of the world would sit idly by and let al Qaeda take control of Iraq's oil? Being the master historian that he is, doesn't he remember Gulf War 1 when we kicked Hussein out of Kuwait over oil - and that time did it with global support by the way...ah, good old days before an imperial presidency :-)

r.

Traffic shaping, network management and other broadband carrier issues

2008-03-21T13:28:00.000-04:00

Traffic shaping, network management - it doesn't matter what you call it because there are parties on both sides of the argument that are bound and determined to shout and be heard above the opposition.

The worst part? I see and feel for both sides of the discussion. On the one hand you have people using their connection for perfectly legitimate reasons (but come on...we all "know" that the vast majority of bit torrent traffic is illegal downloads!! blind denial of this simply makes the rest of your arguments carry less weight!) who have signed up for "X" amount of bandwidth to use (for the most part) however they please. They simply expect their connectivity to work, no matter what. For the most part, I can't disagree with that stance.

On the other side you have the service provider/carrier that has been making investments over time and is adding customers to their network as fast as possible. They have a mission to make every customer as happy as the other.

So where do the fights start? Well, the service providers say that at peak conditions 90%+ of the network traffic can often be attributed to a very small number of users (those bit torrent fiends!!) and they want to make sure that everyone else isn't brought to their knees by these scurvy dogs!

The flip side - users simply say that the service provider should build bigger pipes if they can't support what is currently being requested, that they signed up for open and equitable access to the pipe and the carrier can't indiscriminately decide that their traffic isn't as important as someone else.

When do the rights of the few outweigh the rights of the many?
When do random decisions to block certain kinds of traffic shift into a decision to block access to certain kinds of content....China anyone?

With both sides of the argument screaming away on this topic I FINALLY read something that, in my mind at least, finally makes sense of how to approach this and it's wrapped up in a concept called "fair queuing" or "max-min fairness" - read on for more info.

r.

Scientific American: A Solar Grand Plan

2008-03-20T13:41:00.001-04:00

This article is a virtual must read if you are at all interested in seeing what can be done to push the boundaries of what we can do to break the chain of dependence (addiction) on oil....more importantly pushing petro-dollars to the Middle East.

OK lawmaker: ‘Gays are infiltrating city councils.’

2008-03-07T13:57:00.000-05:00

Wow, I guess it's me being naive that I am so surprised to hear a politician saying things like this in a public forum.....a bigger threat then terrorism?!?! I'd also LOVE to hear his background data on which studies show this being the death knell to America.

r.

McCain is ‘arrogant,’ his advisers ’scare me.’

2008-03-07T13:34:00.000-05:00

Here's some thoughts on McCain and the people he chooses to surround himself with from the former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell...and I have a certain amount of confidence in the kind of people Powell picks to surround himself with.

Study: Daylight Saving Time actually raises utility bills : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech

2008-03-07T13:09:00.000-05:00

While the rest of the article is interesting, it's the last sentence that I like the most :)

r.

Bob Dole: McCain ‘has a temper.’

2008-03-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

Via Think Progress
JUST what we're looking for in a president :)

Interesting Online Media plays

2008-03-06T15:38:00.000-05:00

CBS steamed 50x more video content then Fox?!? I don't know what's more impressive, that number or the fact that NBC says that watching online video content increases brand recall while finding online video ads less disruptive....

That note, increased brand recall, really catches my attention. I wonder what could be done to boost that even higher? The converged/multimedia aspects of online video make the possiblities endless - from the fact that you can dynamically provide more relevant advertising in a very focused manner (i.e. if you are watching a travel show about the Caribbean you could get one ad if you are a man living in NYC vs. a woman living in the Midwest) as well as providing focused ancillary content, maybe blog posts or Wikipedia articles about the topic....providing a richer, more robust experience.

And by the way, wonder how much of their soul Move Networks sold to the devil to get this deal with M$??

Life is like a box of chocolates

2008-03-06T11:20:00.000-05:00

I hope someone tells this croc that "life is like a box of chocolates" sometimes you just don't know what you're going to get when you bite in......I'm guessing this guy is happy that he won't be winning the Darwin Award this year :-)

Do Not Buy: Anti-Shark Device Eaten by Irony-Loving Great White

2008-03-04T23:18:00.000-05:00

It's a bad day at the office when your anti-shark device attracts them instead.

r.

Think Progress » The economic costs of war.

2008-03-04T13:47:00.000-05:00

here's one of the reasons that an increase in taxes is, in my mind, inevitable. that doesn't mean that EVERYONE will have to pay more taxes, it's just that we're going to need to both decrease spending (getting us out of Iraq will be a huge help here!!) and increase revenue.

i'm a bit more likely to trust the guys at goldman and nobel winning economists then the white house on issues like this.

Hormones Produced By Heart Eliminated Human Cancers In Most Mice Treated

2008-02-27T14:22:00.002-05:00

What a fascinating piece of research....yeah...it's only working on mice now but still. We are so early in our potential for scientific discovery and it's leaps of the imagination like this that need to be applied to things like alternative energy and other critical issues for our growing world - urban planning, agriculture.

The Democratic Math -- Political Wire

2008-02-08T10:23:00.000-05:00

Wow - I thought that I was pretty well tuned into the process but this truly surprises me. From what I understand, Hillary has a fair bit of advantage with the super-delegates....so far at least.

r.

Official Google Docs Blog: Stop sharing spreadsheets, start collecting information

2008-02-07T15:23:00.000-05:00

Once we stop and think about the power of this and new tools like Blist, the opportunities to create applications that truly add value are going to be exploding over the next few years. Zombies, Vampire Bites and other silly "Web 2.0" applications are going to fade into the same recesses of our mind as the Pets.com sock puppet.....

Lone trader caused 100 dollar price for oil - Yahoo! News

2008-01-04T15:04:00.000-05:00

Lone trader caused 100 dollar price for oil - Yahoo! News

It feels incredible that in this day and age a lone trader can move a market so far and generate so much news globally as this guy did in making oil cross that magical $100/barrel mark. The crazy thing is that it's just psychological - there's no REAL value in that trade yet it created a big buzz around the world. Guess he was able to do what he set out to do and get a little famous....thanks Mr. Warhol

McLaren stripped of constructors' points and fined $100 million in Formula One spy case - Yahoo! Sports

2007-09-13T16:08:00.000-04:00

Hmmm, I wonder if the NFL would ever think of fining the Patriots a similar amount?

Oden lost for season - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

2007-09-13T15:59:00.000-04:00

Is this really a surprise? Did anyone ACTUALLY believe that he wasn't already 35 and getting ready to have the kinds of aches/pains and other problems that a regular 35 year old NBA center has to deal with?

r.

I'm a monkey.........

2007-09-13T14:38:00.000-04:00

Ok, this could quite possibly be the best video/advertising clip ever.....I mean it.....ever

r.

WikiVote?

2007-09-12T20:28:00.000-04:00

So I was watching an episode of Dan Rather reports on HD Net last night - episode 227 where he talks about the voting machine industry - both touchscreen and paper ballots.

While he brings up some excellent points about how paper ballots, when manufactured correctly, are a great way to count votes - the show made me think even more about the voting machine industry and how secretive it is about the inner workings. He made in interesting comment about whether or not the thing that is one of the cornerstones of the American way, voting, should be shrouded in mystery and covered up like it is.

It made me think - there are so many opensource technologies that are if not as complicated then at least approaching it - from the software point of view at least. There are the obvious things like Firefox, MySQL and Asterisk. There are the hundreds of applications, plug-ins and sundry items that you find on SourceForge.

What's been missing? A hardware platform. Well, as it so happens there is a new company being backed by Fred and the guys at USV - Bug Labs. On the Bug Labs roadmap for Q4 2007 is a touch sensitive screen.

In watching the sorry a$$ user interface I KNOW that the open source community can do better.

So what would it take? That's a damn good question.

I think the obvious first step is to create the wiki (for lack of a better idea) to base the idea from. You then need to break down the tasks into subcategories like hardware, software, security (physical, software), networking/communications, etc. Then get people excited about each of the areas and watch 'em go. I'd love to be able to access that one day a week that Googlers are able to spend on "outside projects" for this - I'm betting we could get a mockup done in weeks.

It would be hard to get many people excited about a pie in the sky idea with no end game - no payoff - be it literal or not. So I think soon after the beginning of the development process we would need to find two things - 1) someone that is willing to be a guinea pig and 2) someone that is willing to pay for it. That could be one in the same but it doesn't have to be.

I'm thinking that #1 could be some smaller community, likely in a tech friendly and progressive state (Vermont? California?). Someone that is willing to take a chance. The only problem is that we're going to be asking them to take a chance with that most American of rights - voting. How do you get them over the hump? A problem but one that I'm sure can be overcome.

I bet that #2 won't be as hard as we think. There's going to be someone out there with the moderate amount of money that will be required that will foot the bill to help pay Bug for the HW. Once the HW is paid for then the SW and assembly will be the sweat equity.

There has been so much written and screamed about for the last few years over voting - it's time to do something about it.

2006-11-29T00:22:00.000-05:00

china

2006-04-24T11:11:00.000-04:00

a very interesting (and quite different then most) view on what's going on in china these days.

selling "stuff"

2006-03-31T13:11:00.000-05:00

So, in the process of moving in with Katie I have had to pare down my pile o' stuff. Part of that paring down is the elimination of a healthy amount of recorded media.

I went through all my dvd's and sorted out about 2/3 to sell. Once I had figured out what I was going to do with them I had to figure out a way to do it. The first thought about was to try selling them to a used cd/dvd store here in the city but I was only going to get $1 or $2 each for the ~ 70 DVD's that I was getting rid of. That didnt' really satisfy me I decided to see what was available online.

The first thing that I had to do was create a list of everything that I wanted to sell - these damn guys expect to know what you're selling before they will tell how much they'll pay! So one Excel spreadsheet later I was running along and looking at a number of different websites to see what they had to offer. All you need to do is Google "sell used DVD" and a veritable plethora of options will be returned.

I went through and looked at about 6 or 7 options. Some of these sites expected you to enter information via UPC codes!! Wow - those were some sites I left immeadiately. Another problem is that most of them expect you to enter title's in one at a time which is great for a small order of 10 or less but I had about 70! Their other rule is that you have to send in a list of at least 100 to be considered for "bulk pricing" - what a pain in the butt. So, the one's that had the 100 DVD minimum, I sent in my list anyway via an email attachment. There were a couple that let me copy and paste the majority if not all of my list into a bulk upload tool....did I ever fall in love with them :) The first couple responses have already come back this morning - one told me that yes, I had to use their tool since it wasn't an order of 100 DVD's or more. The other people were a little more accomadating and offered me either $198(+ $10 to cover the cost of shipping) or $281 to use on their site as a credit to buy things....me thinks that I would be going for the cash. I'll give some of the other sites a day or two before I make up my mind on who to go with.

So now that the DVD's are in process I'm starting to figure out what to do with my ~ 180 CD's. I ended up going with a friend of a friend that is running a service called Hungry Pod. She came last night and picked up two boxes of CD's to be burned to DVD's as MP3 tracks and then I'm going to have to figure out a way to sell these CD's as well. At least the sites that ask for 100 or more will accept my list as an email attachment. It's all digital from here on out baby!

I'm wondering what I'll get for the CD's when I go to sell them....

The best part is that we are, I think, on the cusp of a revolution in which we won't have to buy physical media ever again....if we don't want to. Everything that can be delivered via the 'net will be delivered that way. It's soooo much more efficient and with the price of storage dropping so quickly it will simply be a matter of choosing to store the content locally yourself, with the site that sold it, or at some 3rd party that offers advanced storage and backup capabilities. The penetration of broadband is making a real business out of some of these online storage solutions.

Back to work and waiting for some more quotes!

r.

getting past the IVR

2006-02-26T15:14:00.000-05:00

This website is a great resource for EVERYONE!

Cruel

2006-02-24T18:04:00.000-05:00

Cruel and unusual treatment!

Summer is almost here!!

2006-02-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

shot on sight

2006-02-15T22:04:00.000-05:00

The results of a 28 gauge shotgun blast of birdshot from 30 yards.

skippin

2006-02-15T21:50:00.000-05:00

who in the world would have ever thought that i would enjoy an article about physics??? not i, that's for sure!

Garden of Eden

2006-02-07T10:06:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while you hear about something like this that totally blows my mind.

ballistic rose

2006-02-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

wonder if my fiance would find this as cool as i do??

see the forest for the trees

2006-02-01T14:17:00.000-05:00

Just what we all need - better napping options......

Gates tooooo rich for the IRS

2006-02-01T14:07:00.000-05:00

Oh, to have such problems :)

Western Union Stops Sending Telegrams

2006-02-01T13:54:00.000-05:00

Not that surprising when you stop and think about it but a bit of a shocker none the less!

Redskins Sean Taylor's trial postponed

2006-01-14T17:13:00.000-05:00

I'm just guessing but I think that this judge is either a big Hurricane or Redskins fan. I mean, who else but a pro-athlete would get their FIREARMS trial postponed THREE times just so his damn team doesn't miss him for the regular season and now the playoffs?!?! This is a farce of justice - no other way that I can put it.

FON home ET, FON home.....

2006-01-14T16:42:00.000-05:00

I'm getting cranky about the wi-fi collective that FON is trying to toss together. Google or not - it just won't matter if you are trying to grow it from the bottom up. In the end I would be highly surprised if Google ended up being a network operator - why in the world would they want to? I don't think that locational relevance of your ad's is going to be worth the price and hassle of running a wireless network....but I've been wrong before and will likely be wrong again in the not to distant future.

seriously lowering your real estate overhead

2006-01-13T13:46:00.000-05:00

While the software product that they product sounds interesting, the thought of a software development company based out of a COFFEE SHOP blows my mind!

The Complete Military History of France

2006-01-12T11:29:00.000-05:00

Now this stuff is FUNNY!

highway signs

2006-01-11T12:10:00.000-05:00

How great is this sign?

Victory in Bowl Mania 2005!

2006-01-11T10:01:00.000-05:00

May the lord have mercy on the souls of those that choose to take me on in College Pick 'em 2006! Another victory at the expense of my buddies ;)

IP PBX from Linksys

2006-01-05T16:55:00.000-05:00

Andy is usually a great read but in this case I think that he has forgotten one of the most important parts about an IP-PBX and voice overhead - the ~ 80k load - is only applicable when someone is actually talking. Upwards of 50% of any phone conversation is actually silence - pay attention next time you're on the phone and see how much time there no one is actually talking...it may surprise you. There is actually so much silence in a typical phone call that Cisco had to artificially simulate "white noise" on their IP phone handsets so that people would stop saying “hello, are you there?” 

Of course, there are a number of other problems with the call going out over the wilds of the internet not the least of which is the total lack of QoS - that's a bigger problem then the limited bandwidth of a DSL circuit...and last time I checked cable modems actually had a higher penetration....though that doesn't solve the bigger problems which is most people quote DOWNLOAD speeds and it's quite common to have a significantly slower UPLOAD speed. A 1 MB downstream circuit may have an upload speed a quarter of that.

Andy did have a good point in questioning the who/what/where/when/why of deploying this solution. I’m thinking that it will be more then the typical CDW customer will be able to handle on their own. If they have 1000 VAR’s already lined up I’m guessing that they are counting every POS that currently sells Linksys gear as a VAR and that’s a recipe for disaster! These people are used to handing over a low end switch/router – not a telephony product.

Interesting concept, I’m just not to sure how it’s going to play out.

This looks like just too much fun...

2006-01-05T12:05:00.000-05:00

have fun and torture the MTA at the same time!

Dick hoggin the power

2005-12-23T14:04:00.000-05:00

I mean, it is his plane after all :)

Dude, you're really selling the Porsche?

2005-12-19T00:16:00.000-05:00

Now this is what I call a DEDICATED "start up" team player!!

2005-12-14T22:56:00.000-05:00

No matter how you feel about President Bush you have to (well, at least I think you SHOULD!) take his declaration that the decision to start the Iraq war was his responsability as a significant step. Kind of sad that I have to view a president as saying something like this as being important but regardless of that, I do!

I freakin LOVE college football!

2005-12-02T12:11:00.000-05:00

Proof of my all knowing superiority with a final ranking of #1578 out of approximately 170,000 contestants to close out the season....I should really go to Vegas :)

2005-11-29T16:55:00.000-05:00

Yet another reason to love the internet - crazy stories like this that someone wrote while sitting around their apartment....no other medium in the world would allow an individual to distribute something so funny to so many so easily! fyi - for background it's in a section of the website Craigslist called "Missed Connections" which is where you post, largely on a lark, a description of someone you found fetching and didn't have the stones to even say "hi" to!

K and me in Boulder in front of "The Sink"

2005-11-22T00:58:00.000-05:00

More pics from the Colorado trip. This one is outside a popular Boulder bar called "The Sink"....which is likely a reference to the fact that it's desperately in need of a wash ;) ....oh, Katie's going to HATE that one! She actually used to live in that apartment right on top of The Sink. Yeah, I'm sure that was conductive for good study habits.....

Shark and I at G$'s wedding

2005-11-22T00:52:00.000-05:00

Hanging out with my buddy Shark at G$'s wedding...what a great night.

Halloween 2005

2005-11-22T00:47:00.000-05:00

Halloween 2005 was AWESOME. Spent most of it on the roof of a 4 story apartment building looking down on the parade in the Village...what a view....what an experience.

2005-11-13T11:36:00.000-05:00

There's not much more I can add to this: Rejected iPod Engravings.

2005-11-09T16:26:00.000-05:00

I realize that this is going to be coming across quite nerdish as it's just a few posts past my "hip hop yoda" but how in the world, being a child of the 70's as I am, could I pass up reading about "How the Death Star Works"? I mean, come on folks! This is the DEATH STAR that we are talking about. Home to Lord Vader and all that is evil in the universe ;)

Yet again, like with Yoda and other forms of random, the Internet continues to amaze me. How else would someone be able to distribute such a ridiculously excellent form of entertainment without spending too much time or money getting it published for print (and just exactly what mag would this work in? a fanzine of some kind or maybe Popular Science?) or do be some kind of special on a network - which would be basically the only two ways to go just a few short years ago.

The only problem that I see with the fracturing of the media world is how we find things we like. If there are 450 channels on - how do we know when a show we like will be on? There will need to be a merger of web based community ranking technology with the digitial distribution so that we can find what we like when we want it.

2005-11-09T14:57:00.000-05:00

It's official - the Japanese are freaking CRAZY! Somehow or another they have decided it's entertaining to pit little girls with meat tied to their faces vs. a ravenous lizard! And no....I'm not joking.

2005-11-09T14:37:00.000-05:00

Ok, let me get this straight - there was actually a fight in a bar involving two Carolina Panters cheerleaders because they were having sex in a bathroom stall? You have gotta be kidding me....why in the world am I not around when things like this happen???

2005-11-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

I've been enjoying using Picassa from Google. It's a free photo editing tool that is extremely easy to use. This pic was originally a color shot from my trip to Boulder earlier this fall. I did some cropping, applied the sepia tone and then a film grain effect. It's one of my, I think, better efforts!

2005-10-28T19:47:00.000-04:00

proof that my buddy is smaaatt.

2005-10-28T14:48:00.000-04:00

yet another reason that i LOVE the internet - hip hop YODA. how else but with a medium like the internet could something like this be created, distributed and then pimped by people like me around the world? the whole concept, when you sit back and think about it is freakin' awesome and i love it!!

2005-10-28T12:42:00.000-04:00

It doesn't matter if you like George W. or not - you have to admit that this week has been about as bad politically as it could have been. In just the past week we have:

1) Crossed the line to 2,000 American deaths in Iraq. While the 2,000th death doesn't have any less significance then 1,956th, the symbolism hasn't been lost on the press and I'm guessing in the eyes of many.

2) Harriet Miers pulls out of the running to become Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. The interesting part here is that I read in the NY Times a quote by a Republican Senator just the day before that there was no way that she would pull out before going to the Judicial Committee - it would be seen as embarassing to the President. Guess he's embarassed as she didnt' even make it close.

3) Now it's time to ring up a nice closing to the week with "Scooter" and Karl "Satan" Rove tee'd up for possible indictments. I shouldn't mock Karl too much - he's just THE perfect political operative - nothing more, nothing less. If he was supporting and advising someone that I liked then I would love him!

I understand that George is heading up to Camp David for the weekend - think he had to ask Condi if he could go out of town for the weekend :)

2005-10-26T15:27:00.000-04:00

Back to the metro wi-fi party again with Cisco looking to announce a mesh product.

Now, I'm not really a big fan of meshing to start with but at least Cisco is taking a two radio approach to the problem - one radio for client acquisition and one for backhaul. This is, in my mind at least, a significantly better solution then the single radio solution proposed by the likes of Tropos. The contention issue is simply something that can't be ignored - but those Tropos guys can sell around just about anything......

2005-10-26T11:47:00.000-04:00

Driver, 93, rolls through St. Pete toll booth with body sticking out of windshield.....what more can i add to this?

2005-10-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

so i've been sitting and stewing over the ridiculousness flying all over the web re: scratches on the ipod nano and it's come to the point that i have to finally weigh in. when i saw the news yesterday that some lunatic is planning a class action law suit over the nano scratching too easily i nearly lost it - especially when i read that the heart of their complaint is that apple designed the nano with an poly/acrylic layer that is too thin therefore making it more susceptible to scratching. now here's my question, how would the thickness of the layer make it any more or less "scratchable"? it doesn't matter if it's an eigth of an inch thick or two inches thick - the scratching would be the same. it's completely irrelevant! the point SHOULD be if the resin layer is any less hard then that used on previous ipods - making it more susceptible to scratching and that my friends is where they are going to have a problem because apple is using exactly the same material. in my mind, the problem is that the black nano is outselling the white nano something like 5 to 1 and the scratches are much more visible against that black background. the other problem is that people are taking advantage of the nano's small size and putting it in their pockets and other places where it can be easily scratched with keys, change, etc. the larger ipods don't have that problem because, well, they're larger! if you want to see the results of a completely non-scientific test on the nano's durability - take a look here.

so here's my closing thought - you have to be a complete f'ing nelly to bitch and moan about this. this is nothing more then a sign of how plush and easy our lives are when people can get this wrapped around the axle over something so ridiculous!

2005-10-25T15:56:00.000-04:00

oh, i know it's a horrible sign of conspicuous consumption but i absolutely crave this new camera from kodak! first of all, it's black, which is much cooler then all the damn silver electronic gear that we have been dealing with for the last few years. check out the size of that screen on the back - it's totally drool-worthy. why is it conspicuous consumption? because i already have a perfectly good digital camera - another kodak to tell you the truth. the only problem is that it's not as small, the screens not as big, it's silver and not black and it's not 5 mp....but other then that it's fine!

who in the world woke up one day and decided that cell phones, tv's, and everything else looked better in silver then in black?? HELLOOOOO - don't they know that black is more slimming :) perfect example - motorola stratac. the black version was, quite possibly, the most perfect phone ever made. i know, the functionality can't rival what we can do these days on the newest samsung or whatever - but it looked soooo good! i'm betting that's why they went and came out with the black RAZR....i'm tempted to get one just cuz it's so bad ass looking. i've been a samsung customer for the last few years while using sprint pcs and just swapped back to moto when i changed to verizon and i have no idea what in the world i was thinking. i mean, this thing is so f'ing cludgy. the menu's suck, the UI blows, i'm an idiot.

on a much better note let's talk about how i totally kicked a$$ at guesstures this weekend when we had "game night" after a dinner party. if you don't know the game it's like charades on speed. not exactly the most brain-bending game of all time but hey, it makes everyone laugh and that's what counts.

2005-10-24T16:36:00.000-04:00

The New Times people are buying the Village Voice.

2005-10-21T17:09:00.000-04:00

A very interesting article about Apple, it's growth, and it's future as a media center for the home

2005-10-21T16:05:00.000-04:00

I have no idea how many people peruse this blog o' mine but I may as well show those random visitors something to, hopefully, let them know that I'm at least a little smart. This is the team that I put together to bid the Philly Wi-Fi project - the one that Earthlink ended up winning. We (I was working for SAIC at the time of the decision) decided to "no-bid" the job when the customer said that there was no money - we (SAIC) along with a number of the large players bailed at that time. In the end I think that the best team likely won - regardless of the fact that it's awefully hard to beat a team that isn't charging the customer a nickel! Oh well, onwards and upwards I guess.

2005-10-21T13:18:00.000-04:00

If you're hurting for ideas for that next "great" trip then check out these 50 places in an article from New York Magazine.....and don't forget who showed you the promised land i.e. take me along for the ride!

2005-10-20T11:59:00.000-04:00

this is all i want to know - is harriet miers really the MOST qualified candidate for the Supreme Court out there? Of the 295,734,134 people in the United States, is she the best? so far her credentials seem to be the ability to tell the bush's that their daughters ought to realize that they are "cool"....hmmm....shaky legal qualifications in my mind. she ran her law firm - that should be telling in and of itself. what law firm put's it's sharpest legal mind in an operational role where she will spend more time deciding on which supplier to buy paper from?!?!

hell, to top it all off she get her JD @ SMU - hardly a bastion of legal excellence ranking just ahead of pitt and just behind baylor in this years us news & world report grad school rankings.

shouldn't we strive to have the BEST legal minds on that bench? more then ever before this appoinment reeks of cronyism and it's pathetic, no, it's just sad.....