January 2006 Archives

I've posted a few times about Time Warner Cable's tendency to tick me off (here and here, for example), and they've gone and done it again.

Today, I got a "delinquent payment" notice. I thought that was kind of odd since I've been in their automatic electronic funds transfer (auto-pay) system for about four years now. So I looked at the past couple of bills and it appears that their auto-payment systems simply forgot to pay my bill due in December. That's despite this message typed in all caps on the bill itself:

THIS STATEMENT WILL BE PAID AUTOMATICALLY VIA ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER ON THE DUE DATE SHOWN ABOVE. PAYMENTS SCHEDULED ON WEEKENDS AND HOLIDAYS WILL BE PROCESSED ON THE FIRST BANKING DAY FOLLOWING THE DUE DATE. THANK YOU

So, given that this delinquency notice threatens to shut-off my cable service and assess me a [gulp] $5 fee, I decided to call tonight to see if I could get it straightened out.

8:56 PM -- I call and, after a few minutes in queue, talk to Amanda, who, after asking for my phone number, verifies that auto-pay is indeed active on my account. Unfortunately, Amanda can't actually do anything about my account status, so she informs me that she'll need to transfer me to a "billing specialist" who will take care of things. I get put on hold.

9:32 PM -- Glenda picks up my call and, after asking for my phone number and verifying that things look OK with my account (other than the missing payment), informs me that she will need to contact "Collections," who aren't in this late (I'm shocked). So, she'll email them and then call me back when (if?) she gets a response from that department. At 9:35 PM, I get put on hold again while Glenda types up her email to Collections.

9:45 PM -- Glenda comes back. Apparently, Glenda is a really slow typist, or she had a lot to say to Collections, or she decided to knit her grandson a sweater while I was on hold.

So tomorrow, she'll try to call me back (at my home number, where I won't be) to let me know what the response from Collections is. Then I'll get to call back, wait in another 35-freaking-minute queue most likely, just to find out that things are fine again.

It's just stunning how poorly a profitable business can be operated when it's a monopoly.

Update (2/1/2006): A rep called me back the next day and explained that everything had been sorted out and that they were even refunding my $5.25 late fee. That's terrific...now how about compensating me for the hour of my life I'll never get back that I had to spend sorting out the mess that TWC's own systems caused?

Needing a flash drive, I searched out the best bang for the buck -- maximum MB per dollar spent. The 2GB Memorex TravelDrive, a USB2.0 thin-profile flash drive, set me back just under $100 at Newegg.com, and I thought I'd post some thoughts about it.

PROS
First, the good stuff. It's cheap -- 2GB for under $100 is currently a pretty good deal, at least for flash drives (micro-HDD based USB drives are in a whole different class). It's also very thin, making it easy to fit into nearly any open USB slots, even if it's between two occupied slots. When plugged into a WinXP machine, it identifies itself as "TRAVELDRIVE" (much better than just getting an unnamed drive letter, which can be aggravating to find quickly). A blue LED indicates drive activity. And, it comes with a nifty lanyard (which attaches to the body of the drive, NOT the cap...an important feature) and quick-release clasp...a nice touch for a bargain drive.

CONS
Now, the downsides. One thing, and this may not be considered a negative by some, is that it comes with no software, so those trying to use this with Win98 or older operating systems that don't support FAT-based USB flash drives natively may need to download drivers from the Memorex website. The drive is also a little slower than I'd like -- my limited testing revealed the following mixed results in terms of write speeds:

• 54MB worth of data in 1,921 files and 71 directories (a real torture test) took almost four minutes (3'43" to be exact) to write to the drive (deleting took roughly 1 minute). For comparison, copying the same files to a high-speed 2GB Secure Digital card via a USB2.0 card reader took 12'35".

• 59MB of data in just 1 file copied to the root directory happened in 19 sec. For comparison, copying the same file to the same SD card as above took less than 8 seconds.

Conclusion: While I can't speak to the drive's long-term durability or compatibility across multiple OSes, so far I'm satisfied with the value this drive offers. The flash drive market is very competitive, but Memorex (now owned by Imation) seems to have a fairly compelling package at a very reasonable price in its TravelDrive.

The New York Times has an interesting article wherein NASA's top climate scientist, Dr. James E. Hansen, claims his ability to discuss his research with the public is being curtailed by NASA and White House administrators. Other instances of this have been widespread (e.g., "Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us"), so this is just one more example of the US administration's unwillingness to upset its relationship with the power lobbyists.

Perhaps equally interesting is a paper by Dr. Hansen refuting Michael Crichton's critique (PDF) of scientists whose work finds that global warming is happening, nearly all of whom attribute it to industrialization's release of various pollutants into the environment. It uses actual data to debunk Crichton's factless claims...imagine! That paper is publicly available from Dr. Hansen's public webpage at Columbia University.

Rare throughout history has it been for a majority of the world's scientists to agree on something and then later for that to be found false. Even when churches and governments hold steady to whatever belief best fits their ideology/platform/foundation of power, science tends to prevail in the long term. I believe we will see the same outcome related to global warming decades or centuries into the future, but by then it may be too late to restore the planet's thermal cycle to a more natural, and stable, state.

My wife came home from the grocery store with this box of cereal. Apparently, the product name was developed by the same engineers who designed the packaging machinery, as what marketing person in their right mind would name a cereal 'Crispy Hexagons'???

And why, oh why, would you advertise that corn and rice have been "blended" in your product? I mean, is the mental image of corn and rice tossed in a blender appealing to anyone with teeth?

Oh, Flavorite, how you mess with our minds.

"America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week."
    - Evan Esar

I stumbled across this graph just now, showing the US personal savings rate, or the percentage of individual income stashed away for a rainy day.

Holy crap, folks...you do NOT need that new flatscreen TV that badly.

Of course, maybe my fellow Americans are just being exposed to a bad influence: our Congress and President seem to be unable to limit the government's budget deficit growth recently.

CNN.com has a great story on the evolutionary trade-off between smarts and sexual endowment.

A research team led by Syracuse University biologist Scott Pitnick found that in bat species where the females are promiscuous, the males boasting the largest testicles also had the smallest brains. Conversely, where the females were faithful, the males had smaller testes and larger brains.

The study offers evidence that males -- at least in some species -- make an evolutionary trade-off between intelligence and sexual prowess, said David Hoskens, a biologist at the Center for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter in England and a leading authority on bats' mating behavior.

"Bats invest an enormous amount in testis, and the investment has to come from somewhere. There are no free lunches," said Hoskens, who did not participate in the study.

Read the entire story (CNN.com)

What I found most interesting was the influence of mating behavior on this trade-off, as described in the first paragraph. That suggests that monogomy aids cerebral development, something I hadn't heard anywhere before. But it makes sense.

What would be fascinating, obviously, is to determine if a similar phenomenon is observable in humans. Since most societies have covered their nakedness for thousands of years now, it would likely be hard to detect in all but the most primitive cultures.

eWeek: Treo 700w Outshone by 650

Summary: The Treo 700w, the first Palm handheld to run Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, combines the Treo's proven smart-phone design with a speedy new EvDO radio. The 700w's 240-by-240-pixel display is a step back from the excellent 320-by-320 display that graces its sibling, the Treo 650, but we found the 700w a strong smart-phone contender nevertheless.

Interesting write-up. Read more.

CNN.com has a nice review of the major films slated to come out in 2006. Read the article: X-Men, Superman and the impossible (CNN.com).

The most depressing statement in the whole piece is this: "Jackman said 'X3' would conclude the 'X-Men' trilogy." NOOOOO!

To my daughter,
Tonight, as I lay asleep, I saw you in a dream. It was the future. You and I were walking through what looked like an airport or transportation terminal of some sort. On the polished faux-marble floor, I found two coaster-sized discs of semi-transparent yellow -- what they were, or would be, I've no idea. But I held them up to my forehead and stared at you, invoking an age-old game where I challenge you to say what I'm thinking. In real life, we've yet to play this, but I now yearn for you to be old enough so that we can try. You look at me, catch my eye, and initially know the game is on. Barely a moment passes, but I notice how you've grown up. You are as tall as I, straight-ish, glossy auburn hair hangs past your shoulders, neatly ordered by one of those semicircular headband things that arcs from ear to ear (this one is red). You look like your mother, but a taller, more mature and formidable version -- your lips are painted (something your mom would never have done willingly) a rather daunting burgundy gloss. In that moment, a wry half-smile (yep, there's me in there, too) cracks your face and you say with all the confidence typical of a late-teen all-star, "Yellow." And we both know that's exactly what I was thinking, because you are me and we are each other.

Fast-forward a few years, not too many. You are showing me an amazing new educational product that your company (yes, the one you founded) just released, promising to be revolutionary. You demonstrate one particularly innovative feature and look up at me, beaming. I grin back at you like a simpleton, eyes a bit shiny. And you ask me what that look is for. I then say, "Let me try to explain. At this moment I am experiencing two different and conflicting emotions, both of which threaten to overwhelm me entirely. First, I am so incredibly proud at what you have become: a brilliant, confident, impressive woman. I wish I could say more, but pride in one's offspring is apparently difficult to put into precise words. Second, I am overwrought by the fact that you have grown up, for I so loved the infant, the little girl that you once were and enjoyed seeing you each day, different from the one before in shades so slight as to be like the movement of sunlight across the floor. You are grown and time has passed and there is no way I can ever enjoy those moments with you as a baby again. Not that I would trade now for then -- that I would not want, either -- but the tragedy of having only one of you at a time brings me to the verge of tears. So these two emotions -- immense, chest-swelling pride at what you are now and heart-rending longing for everything you have been -- are colliding in me and making me this quiet, doleful, smiling idiot before you." At this point, I can't tell if you grasp the magnitude of what I just described, but you will, I expect, if you have a child.

Love,
your dad

I awoke tonight from deep sleep with an epiphany (or maybe indigestion, I'm not quite clear on that yet). If there are any of you out there who actually read what I post here, I want you to know that GearBits is changing, um, gears a bit (sorry).

From now on, I don't expect that I'll be writing for you as much as I have attempted to in the past. I will still be posting news and items of interest to the gadget fan, for I am too much of one of those to avoid it. But GearBits will soon (very soon) start incorporating content of a more varied, and I dare say personal, nature than it has in the past.

Why the change? Three reasons. First, GearBits is clearly not able, or intended, to replicate the services offered by other, full-time and professionally managed technology news sites. To attempt to emulate that style produces little more than sporadic posts, any one of which having perhaps only modest appeal even to me.

Second, doing something different allows me to produce a more complete record of my thoughts. Not that all my thoughts are inherently interesting to you, but as I said above, the writing will henceforth be less specifically directed at you, my dear reader(s). By writing for myself as much as anyone else, at least one person will get long-term value out of my efforts (I apologize if that one person turns out not to be you).

And third, well, because I enjoy looking back over mundane details of my life as a sort of introverted, personal reminiscing. Paging through something as banal as a daily planner from my high school years is thoroughly enjoyable to me -- sort of a temporally displaced auto-voyeurism. While my Treo keeps track of the whens and whos and whats of my day-to-day life now, there's no good place in it for more complex musings, and that is what I'd like to add to this blog.

So, in advance, I apologize if you are less entertained by more of what you see here; my intent is not to drive you away. But, should you be engaged more, or differently, that's great...we both win.

Browsing the circulars in the newspaper this morning, I noticed what seems like a pretty decent deal.

OfficeDepot is offering the SmartDisk FotoChute FCD20, a portable 20GB receptacle for digital camera files (and anything else that can be transferred via its USB2.0 port), for $70 after rebate (valid for purchases between Jan. 22nd and 28th, 2006).

Here's the link to the OfficeDepot webpage. The website still says $169.99, but the flyer said they were giving an additional $30 off in "instant savings."

The reviews I've read seem to indicate that it works pretty well as a file sherpa, but it doesn't do some things that other, more expensive devices do (like play MP3s, allow you to view photos on a little display, provide memory card slots, etc.).

I don't have one of these, and probably won't run out and get one, but for those of you looking for cheap, small file storage or about to take a long trip and don't want to stock up on flash media for your camera, this might be a decent deal.

I think about this and it makes no sense.

I go to the movie theater and every movie playing there is the same price (too high, mind you, but that's a different issue). Why is this so?

Surely the independent/international documentary that cost $7 million to make should be cheaper to see than the latest Hollywood special effects-spectacular with a production budget of $100 million. Surely a ticket to the 8-person cast, 92-minute romantic comedy should be less expensive than one to the 3-hour-plus mega-blockbuster sci-fi-fantasy adventure. Yet they all cost the same. How can this be?

Is it a function of distribution economics? The cheap documentary is only showing in 500 theaters, so it needs to charge more per seat than what would seem to make sense?

Or is it a function of commercialization and franchising? The disposable romantic comedy won't get the added revenue from lunchboxes, action figures, and playing cards, so it needs to charge more per seat than one would otherwise expect?

I don't know the answer...do you?

Always on the lookout for good freeware and open source utilities, I stumbled upon Notepad++, a slick, full-featured text and source code editor for Windows environments. All the expected functions, such as search/replace, context-sensitive color-coding, etc. are included, and it seems pretty robust.

Give it a try.

In case you want to see what all the uproar is about, check out the GoDaddy.com commercials on Google Video.

Too racy for the Super Bowl?

I dunno...the halftime show two years ago was pretty funky.

From the Associated Press

Mouse Thrown Into Fire Sets Home Ablaze

FORT SUMNER, N.M. - A mouse got its revenge against a homeowner who tried to dispose of it in a pile of burning leaves. The blazing creature ran back to the man's house and set it on fire.

Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner said he caught the mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it.

"I had some leaves burning outside, so I threw it in the fire, and the mouse was on fire and ran back at the house," Mares said from a motel room Saturday.

Village Fire Chief Juan Chavez said the burning mouse ran to just beneath a window, and the flames spread up from there and throughout the house.

No was hurt inside, but the home and everything in it was destroyed.

Unseasonably dry and windy conditions have charred more than 53,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes in southeastern New Mexico in recent weeks.

"I've seen numerous house fires," village Fire Department Capt. Jim Lyssy said, "but nothing as unique as this one."

The score is now:
Animals -- 1
Idiots who like to torture animals -- 12,353

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
    - Abraham Lincoln

From the Associated Press:

Calif. Husband, Wife Leave Sons Home Alone

by JULIANA BARBASSA
Associated Press Writer

MANTECA, Calif., Jan 5, 2006 - A husband and wife who found a dog sitter for their new puppies, but left their 9-year-old son home to care for his younger autistic brother while they celebrated the new year in Las Vegas, were arrested Wednesday, police said.

Jacob Calero, 39, and his wife, Michelle De La Vega, 32, left Calero's sons _ Joshua and Jason, 5 _ at their San Ramon home early Friday while the newlyweds headed out of town for a five-day trip, police said.

The children's mother, Cristina Calero, died of breast cancer in 2003 and Jacob Calero married De La Vega last year.

Joshua, interviewed Wednesday at his maternal grandmother's apartment in Manteca, said his dad and stepmother got each other puppies for Christmas, and went so far as to bring the pug and the poodle-Maltese mix to De La Vega's mother before leaving town.

"I thought they loved them more than us," the boy said.

Read the whole story (ABC News)

And more...

S.D. Woman Admits Putting Baby in Landfill

By CARSON WALKER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 4, 2006; 9:30 PM

ELK POINT, S.D. -- Saying she was afraid of how her boyfriend would react, a woman admitted Wednesday to throwing away her newborn, whose body was found in a garbage bag at a Nebraska landfill.

Lori Schultz, 21, pleaded guilty in Union County court to second-degree manslaughter, in an agreement with prosecutors. She could receive up to 10 years in prison at sentencing, set for Feb. 28.

Read the whole story (Washington Post)

I feel sorry for the kids, but the parents certainly don't deserve to be parents. It's amazing to think that we need a license to drive a car, own a gun, and even fish, yet there's no qualification for being a parent other than having a functional reproductive system.

Update: And one more, just because it's so apalling:

Mom Jailed After Deputy Finds Kids, 7-Day-Old Outside Without Coats

UPDATED: 9:08 pm EST January 7, 2006

NEW CARLISLE, Ohio -- A woman was jailed after a deputy said three of her young children and her newborn were outside alone Friday in freezing weather -- without coats -- as she slept soundly on a sofa.

Rosetta Welbaum, 25, faces four counts of endangering children, a misdemeanor that carries up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

Three of the children, ages 2, 3 and 4, were still outside when Clark County Sheriff's Deputy Chad Eubanks arrived at the home, where the door stood open. The youngest was covered in urine and feces, and none had coats, hats or gloves, the sheriff's office said in a release.

Temperatures hovered around 30 degrees on Friday, and wind made it feel like 17 degrees.

Eubanks found Welbaum sleeping inside. As he tried several times to wake her, the 4-year-old girl alerted him to her 7-day-old brother, lying face down and covered on a chair. The baby had reddened, cold skin, and the children indicated they'd been playing outside with him.

The infant and 2-year-old boy were treated for hypothermia at Mercy Medical Center of Springfield. All four children were released to their father, who was not at home when they were outside.

Read the whole story (NewsNet5)

It just boggles my mind.

My Google homepage had a great quote this morning:

"A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled."
   - Sir Barnett Cocks

Microsoft will, of course, want everyone currently running any flavor of Windows on their PCs to upgrade to some form of Windows Vista when it's launched. That much is a given.

However, Microsoft's own support policies, as detailed by Ars Technica may put it in a difficult position.

On one hand, if Microsoft is too lenient about supporting Windows XP users, it may find that its current user base adopts Vista far more slowly than the company needs it to.

On the other hand, if Microsoft pushes people to move to Vista too hard, it risks alienating them -- many consumers might be just as happy to go plunk down $500 and buy a Mac mini or some other OS X machine.

So, the whole migration to Vista looks like it will be an interesting experiment for Redmond. I've yet to see a wholly compelling reason to move away from XP (it's the first version of Windows I'd say is as stable as it is full-featured) in favor of Vista, so Microsoft may find it challenging to motivate users to switch to Vista without resorting to support restrictions or other implied threats. The company may find itself just having to wait out the PC upgrade cycle, which is how most consumers end up with the OS version they have. And that won't sit will with management.