Big bug

Last night I got home after a trip to the store. I had all of the windows open - as I shutoff the engine I heard this very strange noise coming from the front engine area.

I got out... put my head next to the hood and listened to what sounded like a boiling sound... water gurgling through the pipes. I'm going on a trip to Albany tomorrow and I'm thinking "great - what could be wrong?!?!"

So I popped the hood and kept listening around for what might be making the noise. Then the noise got a bit louder and I realized it was right next to my ear and I jumped back thinking something was about to "pop". Then this big-ass dragon fly crawled out of the front grill.

I jumped like the chicken that I am and whacked the little bugger.

Latent Inhibition

and it has nothing to do with asking somebody out in a bar (although…)

Rather it is defined as “an animal's unconscious capacity to ignore stimuli that experience has shown are irrelevant to its needs.” 

I found this article to be very interesting, it has been shown that “creative individuals are much more likely to have low levels of latent inhibition” and that research is starting to show why there is a correlation between madness and creativity.

 

Original article: 

 

University Of Toronto (2003, October 1). Biological Basis For Creativity Linked To Mental Illness. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031001061055.htm#

 

UAE Blackberry users being spied upon

Stuff like this makes me nervous. Hopefully nobody in the USA is trying to do this to us (although with Google owning everything - there is an easy place to tap into).

Blackberry users in the UAE were instructed by their cell-phone provider to install a "Performance Enhancement" patch - which turned out to be spyware that intercepted all outgoing emails and sent them to a central location. RIM says they know nothing and offered a spyware removal patch on their web site.

Google Voice

I received my invite for Google Voice last week and activated it over the weekend. I really like the “pick your phone#” wizard which lets you type in “words” and find #’s that match it. Unfortunately “beer” wasn’t available (a friend used to have 862-BEER back in college).

The only thing I found that needed a bit of improvement was SMS handling. Voice messages arrive in your gmail inbox, however SMS only goes to your Voice inbox (although they are immediately sent to your cell phone if so configured). Gmail and Voice aren’t tightly integrated – two separate systems with hyperlinks between them.

And the Call Presentation feature needs a tad more work. First – don’t do what I did when I first tried it, “hey this is a test” --- you can’t delete the announcement recording (at least I couldn’t find a way). Second – the audio so far has been horribly garbled, I’m not sure I’d actually know who was calling.

Now I see the Google master plan. They now know who emails each other, what you search for, calls between people, and since Voice also includes the ability to transcribe vmail to text… they also know What We’re Talking About. Add that information to a social website like Facebook and they can play the Kevin Bacon game on each of us… with context!

It will be a matter of time before some bank or insurance company tries to buy a social website. Years ago I would have thought that wasn’t a good fit. Now I’d think it was right in line with their algorithms that attempt to figure out who we are and build risk based products for each individual. Have you ever looked at the information you are giving up when playing a “game” in Facebook? The game is like the candy that a creepy old guy gives out when trying to lure a kid away in a park – remember your childhood training - don’t take it and run!

Strip VerizonWireless messages

I was getting annoyed that VerizonWireless couldn't (wouldn't) remove the text message that they include at the bottom of every picture message sent from my phone ("This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless! ... blah blah"). I called VZW tech support and they suggested I post something to the suggestion box.

Anyhow after digging around I found a post on the Blogger web site detailing a feature on Blogger intended for this kind of purpose. Simply include the text "#end" in the message and blogger will throw away the remainder of the message.

So I then stumbled across a setup option on my phone.. I can have it automatically attach a signature to each Pic's message ... and I'll let you guess what my signature is. Works like a charm - no more having to edit my picture posts to this blog.

Is VerizonWireless in the same place Microsoft was 6 years ago.. not getting the Internet?!

Weekend project

I (re)applied the finish to my sidewalk. Looks like brick - really stamped concrete. The only maintenance is putting the top coat on it every few years.

HP packing

Big box small part.

This is my HP packing story - you'll find stories like this all over the web. It was a huge box full of air packing, I couldn't even put my arms around it. It's about 24 inches wide. The box inside contained the actual part - a set of rack rails (think of the metal sliders in your filing cabinet). I understand they don't want to have the part get crushed by the shipper.

New Toy

I just receive my new toy, a Garmin nuvi 755T GPS Nav. I've done a few quick trips with it, working the kinks out getting ready for the big trip.

I found a web site http://www.takitwithme.com (Take It without the "e") that allows you to export your Google MyMaps to the Garmin as a Route. So I have my trip to Yellow Stone figured out day-by-day and am working to save them as daily Routes. It's actually why I bought the 755T over the 265wt, the 7x5 series supports Routes where-as the 2x5 only does point-to-point.

It's a neat web site. I was having a minor problem so I sent some feedback to them at 10pm Sunday night... and the developer replied to me in less than 15 minutes!