if open(floodgates) then recall(water)

It's amazing how much plagiarism exists on the Internet, and once something's posted, it's nearly impossible to correct something.

I searched for "Film at 11" hoping to find an explanation of its' usage in early television, when live remotes were still in the future. I didn't find it; instead there were many references to life outside MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology], each a ripoff of the others.

The same problem exists for the nonsense that the Texas flag should be flown at the same height as the US flag (debunked on snopes.com) yet I got yet another email this week in a list of Yee-Haa-Ain't-Texas-Great malarky. I corrected the sender, but no retraction was issued. Most people won't admit that they didn't check their facts.

I had to visit 3 different online mapping sites before finding one that would accept the Fry's Electronics location in Irving (none would take the address in Arlington). The nearest Fry's to me is 13 minutes (and 7 miles) away in Plano; the 2nd nearest is 15 minutes (and 8 miles) away, in Dallas-Garland. The one that seemed closest wasn't even - 20 minutes and 13 miles (in Irving). Not sure why I assumed Irving was closer; perhaps it's the picturesque drive en route DFW Airport? Either way, now I must wait until 8am when they open.

Silicon Valley peyote(or, Tangent Heaven)

So, Sun plans to Get Rich Quick by selling (proprietary) Java Horn Tunes (vs Ring Tones) to teenagers for $5 a pop? Ring Tones are a fad; although they're a multibillion dollar business today, it will pass.

Yes, one of the first things I did when getting my new cellphone was download a ringtone, for $2. ONE ringtone, and not one a month; not only am I not that fickle, I'd soon forget which ringtone was mine. Ring tones have value because of the personalization; horn tunes have no such value (unless it's for the putz who pulls up front of Becky Bob's house and blows his horn, rather than ring her doorbell).

A lesson that soooo many people have not learned is that spreadsheets do not go forever .. eventually every fad will pinnacle.

What started me on this rant? Well, I spotted an article which exemplifies how out of touch the executives at Sun Microsystems are: Buy data service, get a free car?

Earth to Jonathan: people buy cars as reliable transportation, not as a platform to run Java (or whatever you're peddling at the moment). Forget the subscription model way of thinking; try offering stability to your customers instead.

I am convinced that every few years, Sun's execs gather in the desert to smoke some peyote, and emerge with a 1960's-era vision of how the world will come around to their way of thinking. Sun's "disruptive innovation" is simply Planned Obsolescence: lesson learned. Scott always had the desire to keep mixing things up, so the company doesn't get stale (like Wang or DEC or any of the Long Goners). While there's validity to that tactic, it sure would've been nice to go even one year without a major reorg, just to see whether that would have a positive impact on sales. Then again, selling computers isn't SimCity -- a laboratory experiment, where you have a quiescent/controlled environment. Even if sales had risen year-to-year, that doesn't mean it was because there was no reorg; it could've been related to hundreds of factors.

The Republican Party successfully peyote'd the population (during one of Reagan's terms); they convinced everyone that Democrat=Liberal=Bad .. and the Democrats are just now recovering from this Branding. I think this is partly a result of American Attention Deficit Disorder: we want everything in 30-second bursts and are annoyed when something can't be reduced to a Reagan-era sound quip [sic].

Note to Al-Qaida: beheadings are no longer shocking. We got over the first one, and the rest have (sadly) become "been there, done that" material.

Along another tangent: Branding [marketing] is so hard to achieve, and I was frequently baffled by Sun's Marketing (example: when they decided to jettison the Solstice brand .. Which was replaced by .. Nothing). I won't discuss the battle over Solaris branding .. no way.

I recall when CHMSLs (Center High Mounted Stop Lights - those red bulbs mounted at driver-height in a vehicle's rear window) first appeared. The thought was that they'd put an end to rear-end collisions. For awhile (until the novelty wore off) they probably did. I suspect that once we became accustomed to CHMSLs, their effectiveness wore off.

I never did believe in tailgating (repairing a damaged car takes too much time out of my day, so I don't get into accidents) but I watch a lot of drivers who tailgate, and dart from lane to lane, trying to get somewhere 30 seconds faster than the next guy. They are idiots, for the most part. Eventually, drivers will be graded and only allowed to be in the left lane if they have sufficient intelligence to be there (moving right when a faster car is behind, etc.). Alas, it's now time for my daily peyote smoking .. I will blog again tomorrow.

Behind the Green Brain

I took the "What Color is Your Brain?" quiz on quizilla.com and found it almost as useful as the daily horoscope (meaning: not at all). For posterity, here is the diagnosis:

Gene Bob has a GREEN brain:

At work or in school: I work best by myself. I like to focus on my ideas until my desire for understanding is satisfied. I am easily bored if the subject holds no interest to me. Sometimes, it is hard for me to set priorities because so many things are of interest.

With friends: I may seem reserved. Although my thoughts and feelings run deep, I am uneasy with frequent displays of emotion. I enjoy people who are interesting and of high integrity.

With family: I am probably seen as a loner because I like a lot of private time to think. Sometimes, I find family activities boring and have difficulty following family rules that don't make sense to me. I show love by spending time with my family and sharing ideas and interests.

Why don't I find horoscopes useful? Well (other than the obvious: what possible connection is there between when I was born .. in relation to an arbitrary set of stars .. to whether I'll meet Miss Perfect at Starbucks?) ... is that horoscopes are nonsensical general advice. The same people who believe these read The Star and the accounts of J Lo's abduction by aliens who look like Dick ("the F-man") Cheney.

I was amused when (earlier this week) the DMN Horoscopes began issuing a rating (10=perfect day) to accompany each horoscope. Amusing observation: none were below 5 (everyone on the planet will have an above-average day! Whoopee!!).

one phish, two phish, red phish, blue phish *

Are the rest of you seeing traffic about phishing? I suspect a campaign is underway, trying to make us more savvy about what to expect from our financial institutions. I'm on a regular distribution from mine, and always pay attention when I MouseOver a link, to be sure it's really going back to their site. I've seen IP addresses during a MouseOver, and I never trust those (give me DNS lookup any day). I often err on the side of paranoia (!) and manually type in web addresses.

The top hit when Google'ing for [phishing] is: antiphishing.org .. wonder if that's anything like anti-matter (from Star Trek)?

Here's other stuff I've seen about phishing:

Tangled in the Phishing Lines by Amey Stone (June 2004)

How to Avoid the 'Phish' Hook by Amey Stone (May 2004)

Phishing Tackle (June 2004)

and some good screen captures: Phishing email alerts

* with appropriate apologies to Dr. Seuss

Beta rescued!

Someone knocked on my door at 10am and said "we have your dog!" Huh? Since Beta (the wonder dog) was in the backyard -- just a few minutes ago -- it couldn't be mine .. but, there she sat, in their back seat. The nice lady (sadly, I didn't catch her name) said that Beta had nearly been hit by several cars (ouch!), and was thirsty.

It's a good thing I have her name, address and phone number on her collar, along with a microchip (in case the collar is lost).

Since there's a large fence around my backyard, I quickly went outside to see how she got out. Turns out someone had opened the gate on the south side of the house and left it wide open. There haven't been any contractors here recently, and it was closed when I mowed the grass yesterday, so .. someone opened it between noon yesterday and now. Hmm .. will have to keep an eye on it. There's nothing obviously missing from my backyard, so .. not sure what to think.

After I got Beta inside (without a leash), I turned around to offer a reward to The Nice Lady, but she'd already driven away. So, if you're reading my blog, Nice Lady --- thank you thank you thank you!

Fried Egg? Fry Day? oh, Friday!

morning
woke up;
got out of bed;
dragged a comb across my head;
let Beta (the Wonder Dog) outside;
fetch the paper;
check email;
check the RSS feeds;
notice that cellphone balance was ~$2.25 (it came with $10);
call Jill-Bob to see if lunch was still on (it was - i didn't get the email until 4:30p Friday);
GoMowGrass (front yard);
let Beta inside.

afternoon
do lunch (Drew-Bob didn't come: I was somewhat bummed);
mosey to Target and bought a $20 Top-Up card for my cellphone; socks; and a compass that was on sale (for the next time I visit Underground Dallas);

... then I dodged the thunderbolts en route Plano (2 hours at the eye doctor) -- he said there wasn't much change, and suggested i dig out that set of +1 reading glasses when i find myself unable to read when i'm wearing my contacts! {sigh}

I asked for dilation of my pupil (wanted a full checkup); he put some drops in my eyes (after asking if i was allergic to Novocaine) which felt like Super-Glue. Then he took some photos, and pronounced my eyes healthy (except for needing a -10 diopter correction but that's old news). Had to pay for this with personal funds, since the VSP wasn't available until August (not sure if that's part of COBRA anyway). They tried to see if my United Healthcare (PPO) would cover it, but .. no such luck.

5 pm
then i came home and read the last 3 newspapers;
went online to Virgin Mobile's website and did the Top-Up thing (a few seconds later my phone lit up with the message "$20 has been added to your account!");

9 pm
noticed that today's snail mail contained 3 checks from Sun: regular paycheck; last paycheck; accrued vacation. interesting that the last paycheck arrived before my last official day (July 4th - Independence Day - how apropos!). on July 5th, I can sign and mail the paperwork for the 12 weeks severance, then start looking for work.

Just another manic Thursday

Okay, I updated my Sundry on Thursday blog for the week. It's amazing how many tangents exist, not that I have Adult ADD or anything.


I was invited (by an Anarcho-Syndicalist, no less) to visit a Hazardous Chemical Collection site today. Most household chemicals degrade after a year, and I still had some goodies dating back to World War II, so .. they're all gone now.  

This one was located in a slice of high-rent real estate next to the DART light rail line, and (like the one other time I've been to one of these), we were first (and last) in line. Although I brought along my Texas driver's license, and my Dallas water bill (to show that I am a resident and thus allowed to bring my Diazinon, flea killer, etc.) they didn't ask to inspect either one. I suppose they were just happy to get the business.