t 'n t luoma

For some reason, my Stickies (a free Post-It note-like app that comes with Mac OS X) seem to sometimes want to wander off-screen. I first saw this after I started using a dual monitor system at work. Stickies often appear partially off-screen when the external monitor is not attached.

To fix:

1. Quit Stickies while off-screen
2. Resize the Display (use System Preferences, I recommend the smallest display size available)
3. Start Stickies (you may want to make some change, even just dragging a window to a new position
4. Quit stickies
5. Resize screen to normal resolution
6. Restart stickies

Stickies should be on-screen now.

Tested with 10.3.8 on a Powerbook.

Posted by TjL at 02:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

CNet is reporting on some new alarm clocks.

One of them measures how deeply asleep you are, and gives an appropriate alarm depending on the level of sleep (i.e. light sleep might equal a chirp, whereas a heavy sleep might require a fire engine).

As a chronic oversleeper who has been known to turn off alarm clocks without even waking up, this news interests me.

The second model is a clock with wheels that will roll away out of reach before you can hit the snooze button again. Far too easily thwarted by positioning it parallel to your bed, but a creative idea nonetheless.

Next thing you know they'll have the "Tim's Mom Alarm Clock" which will ring one of those amazingly piercing red counter-top bells (most often seen next to a sign "Ring bell for attendant"), with a backup plan of a Dixie cup full of cold water.

Hrm. I couldn't find a picture of the kind of bell I'm talking about. Searching for images online is still fairly limited.

Posted by TjL at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I can't remember how long ago it was, but I think it was probably almost 10 years ago, because I think we were living in Princeton at the time (1995-1998), and I think it was in our first apartment (1995-1997). We had company, I think our friend Shawn from Allegheny, staying with us for a few days, and we were trying to figure out what movie we should rent.

My suggestion: Krull. I remembered it being a Science Fiction classic, a battle between good and evil, a scary monster, a very cool weapon (see picture). It was shaped something like a starfish with each left had a blade on it, and it would come back to him, boomerang-style (no explanation as to how he learned to catch it without losing fingers).

I remembered movie, I had spent hours of my youth playing the Krull video game for the Atari 2600, and I was excited to see it again. Neither Tracey nor Shawn had seen it, so I was going to get to share this really cool movie with them.

Except that it wasn't cool.

At all.

In fact, it was incredibly... what's the word?.... Oh yeah, "bad." It would be insufficient to say it was "campy," it was just bad... I distinctly remember looking at the box and seeing that it came out in 1983 and defending myself by saying "I was only 10 when this came out!!!"

The only good thing that came out of the experience was that we coined a new word:

Krulled (verb)

A movie, or other experience, which one remembers as being highly enjoyable, but, when actually, truthfully reviewed, turns out to be a huge disappointment. (See also: high school/adolescence.)

Usage: “Wow, riding that roller coaster totalled Krulled my memory of how scary it was.” or “I thought she was really attractive, but going to the reunion really Krulled that.”

It was interesting to see that others put Krull on their top-movie lists, such as the author of this review of Krull (weaintcool.com, where I borrowed the image above). Someone at IMDB called it “A guilty pleasure if ever there was one” to which I just have to say that I wish I could consider it a guilty pleasure. Instead it was an embarassing disappointment.

Oh well.

Anyone else have a similar "Gee, this seemed better the first time I saw it?" movie or other experience?

Posted by TjL at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So I was at the post office today, which is always a good place for interesting observations about life. Or at least, interesting observations about the post office.

Today I actually read the sign on the wall that's been there as long as I can remember. (Checkout the poster, and see if you can see it coming.)

The poster is alerting people about suspicious mail (in case you couldn't tell from the subtle SUSPICIOUS MAIL ALERT in red at the top of the poster). There are various tips for identifying suspicious mail (strange odor, excessive tape or string, rigid or bulky, badly typed or written).

One of the suspicious traits: "Possibly mailed from a foreign country."

Ah yes, of course! Because of course no American would send anything dangerous through the mail. *sigh*

But that wasn't the really interesting part. I was more interested in the list of steps to take if you have suspicious package:

1. Handle with care. Don't shake or bump.
2. Isolate it immediately
3. Don't open, smell, touch, or taste
4. Treat it as suspect. Call local law enforement authorities

Now those are good tips.... I guess. Well, maybe. I mean, sure, if you think it's a bomb, it's probably a good idea not to shake it. This clue would be necessary in case you've never seen a move.

"Isolate it immediately" would not be a problem either, although I'd probably isolate myself from it.

But what really caught my attention was clue #3. Do not open (duh), smell (ok, but you said that having a strange odor was a sign it might be dangerous, but if I know that I've already smelled it), touch (gee! Don't touch the possible bomb! You don't say?! But wait, didn't you just say I should isolate it? How should I do that without touching it? Ah, we should all leave the building I guess.) Ok, I can live with all of those.... but the last one:

Taste.

Taste.

I actually had to ask the clerk about this one. (We've got a quite enjoyable clerk at our local post office branch. I wouldn't say he's a cracked nut, but, well , others might :-)

Me: "Is this a big problem, people tasting their mail? Because me, personally, I don't even taste my unsuspicious mail."

Him: "Actually, yes. We have trained professionals in the back who lick the suspicious packages. You really shouldn't be trying this at home."

Told ya he was a kindred spirit.

(See also When will it get there?, a user-friendly guide to post office shipping-related terms.)

Posted by TjL at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Laws of Attraction is a lousy movie.

But Julianne Moore is quite possibly the most beautiful actress I've seen, and quite talented too, which is a definite plus.

She's on the list, and I don't just mean the TiVo automatically-record-everything-she's-in wishlist, although she's on there too. I had one for Tracey for Sean Connery, but the man has been in a lot of really bad movies. So now we just record the James Bond ones.

It was also nice to see a movie where an actor and actress of similar age (16 May 1953 for him, 3 December 1960 for her, according to IMDB) were paired. Sure, she's still younger, but compared to many of his other co-stars, and the pairings of many other much-older-men with much-younger-women, it's a vast improvement.

Speaking of which, there appears to be a sequel to the Thomas Crowe Affair in the works. I couldn't find official word whether the lovely Ms. Russo (17 February 1954) will be joining him. I hope so.

Google "The Topkapi Affair"

Posted by TjL at 11:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amazing as it seems, almost a year after I moved to Mac, Windows XP is still giving me problems.

This time it was via VirtualPC. I wanted to tweak XP's performance in VirtualPC, which is something like saying "I wanted to pimp out my Pinto for the big car show" but nonetheless... my plan was to follow the "safe" suggestions and turn off all the services listed here. But when I tried, I received a very annoying alert:

Snap-in failed to load
clsid 58221c67-ea27-11cf-adcf-00aa00a80033

I tried a new user account and other suggestions to no avail.

Finally I saw a suggestion to try sfc /scannow which triggers a scan of Windows File Protection, but that wanted my XP SP2 CD, and, unlike most people, I don't travel around with my XP SP2 CD.

Then I found this post on the wonderfully-named Windows-related forum "Annoyances.org" which indicated that someone else had recently solved this problem by replacing and re-registering "filemgmt.dll"

Hrm.

Ok, but how do I get a new copy of filemgmt.dll without my CD?

Aha.

Fortunately for me, I have access to another computer running Windows XP SP2. I logged into it using Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac. I found the file in c:\windows\system32\ and verified that my Services window was working there.

Then I logged into AIM using Trillian (because AOL has gone out of their minds with the ads in their AIM client) and dropped the file in and transferred it to my Mac (where I was logged into a different AIM account using iChat).

From there I dropped the file onto my Windows XP desktop in VirutalPC. I suppose if I were truly adept I would have had AIM installed in VirtualPC, but I tend to only install what I absolutely must have there, and AIM isn't on the list).

Once I had the file I simply did:

copy filemgmt.dll c:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache\
[and confirmed that I wanted to replace the file]

and then

copy filemgmt.dll c:\WINDOWS\system32\
[and confirmed that I wanted to replace that file]

Note that I replaced the dllcache version first, otherwise there is a slight chance that when I replaced the other version, Windows would "fix" it (i.e. take the version from dllcache and replace the other one) before I had the chance.

I right clicked on My Computer and chose "Manage" and voila! The page magically appears.

Some days there are advantages to being a geek. Of course everyone in the house went to bed some time ago, but no matter....

Posted by TjL at 01:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been importing video to an external drive but was confused why it would automatically stop at 4294928384 bytes (4 gigabytes).

The solution came via Matti Haveri who pointed me to http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovie_HD_bugs.html#formatting on the MacDV list.

The short version is that the drive must be formatted in HFS+. I had chosen UFS because I needed case sensitivity.

I had no luck finding this information via Google and Toast technical support was no use either, so I'm noting it here in the hopes that someone else might benefit from my experience.

By the way, I was going to try a HFSX until I read The dangers of case-sensitive HFS+. So I guess I'll skip it.

Posted by TjL at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I really thought this was was a joke.

Couple Sells Candles That Smell Like Jesus (print version)

But you can't make this stuff up... My in-depth analysis...

Product Flying Off Shelves

Not to mention the blood coming from the walls...

POSTED: 4:17 pm EST March 15, 2005
UPDATED: 4:22 pm EST March 15, 2005

aka we spent 7 minutes wondering if lightning was going to strike us for writing this up

A South Dakota couple makes and markets candles they say smell like Jesus.

is this before or after the resurrection? Cuz, you know... 3 days in the crypt...

You can find candles with just about every fragrance imaginable, from blueberry to ocean mist to hot apple pie.

and soon, "Burning Hot Blasphemer"!

Now there's a candle that lets you experience the scent of Jesus, and they've been selling out by the case.

let's focus on the words "selling out"...

"We see it as a ministry, " says Bob Tosterud, who together with his wife came up with the idea for the candle.

we'll skip the fact that I read his name as "Toasterturd" the first time I read this, and fall back on an old Letterman quip: "It took TWO PEOPLE to come up with this idea?!?!?"

Light up the candle called "His Essence" and its makers say you'll experience the fragrance of Christ.

"Say, Bob, what's that smell? Is it Apple Pie? Cookies? It's vaguely familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it"

"Sure you can! In fact you can put your finger in its side too! It's the smell of our Lord and Savior!"

"Oh, that's it.... Betty guessed 'vanilla' but I said 'No, I think it's Jesus'"

Bob Tosterud and wife Karen say the formula is all spelled out in Psalm 45. "It's a Messianic Psalm referring to when Christ returns and his garments will have the scent of myrrh, aloe and cassia," says Karen Tosterud.

This is actually their second attempt, the first one was based on Numbers 19:5, but they found that the smell of burning heifer skin and flesh and dung didn't sell.

Wondering what that must smell like, Karen Tosterud ordered those oils, a combination that produces sort of a flowery, cinnamon aroma. Then she called on a friend who just happened to be a candle-maker.

And how did that go? "Hello my friend who just happens to be a candle-maker, how are you?.... uh-huh... really?.... Oh.... that's interesting.... Hey, did I tell you that I discovered The Jesus Smell? Oh wait, you're a candle maker, what a coincidence... Surely the spirit of the Lord is in this place.... So how much do you think we can sell them for and when can you have them ready?"

"And in October, we got our first batch of 768 candles. We had no idea how it would go," Karen Tosterud says. But once word got out they went through 10,000 candles. "It's the only one on the market and everyone tells us it's very unique and nothing like it," says Karen Tosterud.

Wow! It's the "only one" and "very unique" and there's nothing like it? It must be, like, super-unique. (Reminder: "unique" isn't a matter of degree, it's binary, either/or.... like being pregnant... you either are or you aren't. There is no "very unique")

"We wanted people to be able to experience Christ in new ways and to be able to read a bible and have that scent and that candle as a reminder that he is with us all the time."

And we're giving all the money to charity. Oh, wait, no, we're keeping it. But that other stuff is nice too.

"You can't see him and you can't touch him," says Bob Tosterud. "This is a situation where you may be able to sense him by smelling. And it provides a really new dimension to one's experience with Jesus."

Whatd'ya mean you can see Him or touch Him? Tell that to the Catholics. Or artists/sculptors. OH! You mean those other ways aren't as real as yours. I see.

The candles never stay on the shelves for long.

mostly because the ground keeps opening up and swallowing them down into the pits of Gehenna, but...

The Tosteruds say each one that goes out is like a ministry in itself.

And the Lord said, "I send thee into all the world, to spread my scent."

The candles sell for about $18. They are sold in about 150 stores around the country. Or you can order them online at www.hisessence.com. You can also call this phone number: 877-psalm-45.

Operators are standing by! Call now before they're raptured, or struck dead by lightning. Could go either way.

Copyright 2005 by NBC10.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I invoke my fair use rights for purposes of entertainment, specifically, mockery.

Posted by TjL at 04:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As you may recall, I've been trying to find a good way to have Act and Mac work together.

Unfortunately my testing has resulted in one conclusion:

There is no replacement for ACT! on the Mac. But I have found a new way to make this work better.

Let me reiterate that I'm not saying that there aren't good calendar/PIM options on the Mac. There are. Two of the best seem to be Daylite and Now Up to Date.

However, ACT has one advantage over all of these: a full Palm version.

Syncing from any PIM to Palm is fraught with potential problems, most notably duplication. Having a full Palm version of ACT is a "killer feature" for me, so I am going to keep using it until Daylite gets a Palm version (which I hope they someday do).

My first thought was to use VirtualPC.

Problems with using Virtual PC with ACT:

1. It's slow (Powerbook G4 1.5 Ghz with 1GB of RAM)


2. It's slow to launch


3. It's slow to use


4. It makes everything else slower


5. Oh yeah, and I can't get HotSync to work

Other than being slow, making everything else slow, and not working, it's the perfect solution.

Apparently some have gotten this to work but problems with VirtualPC HotSyncing seem to be the norm.

So scratch that. A little higher... ahh..

Ok, back to work.

What are my other alternatives?

Well, I tried to setup a Network Sync (PDF, new window). Except that I couldn't get it to work.

Oh, PalmOne doesn't support network sync for Mac. Nice. And yet PalmOne claims to care about Mac customers. Interesting. If they aren't lying, they'd better be talking to Mark/Space makers of MissingSync.

MissingSync will let you do a Network Sync on the Mac, along with a ton of other features. I seriously considered buying MissingSync, because a) they make a fabulous product, and b) they are really good at supporting it. They maintain a very active mailing list and I've never heard anything but rave reviews (Review at EverythingTreo, Macworld Review (4.5 mice), Review at TreoCentral). Still, I had made the mistake of dropping over $100 on DayLite in a fit of "I am going to make this work" only to find out that I couldn't leave ACT. So MissingSync will have to wait.

Even if Network Sync worked, there was another problem.

My Windows machine is non-mobile. What do I do when I'm away?

Enter Remote Desktop Connection Client (RDC) for Mac which will let you connect to a Windows XP Pro (not XP Home!) machine from a Mac. (Note: don't confuse this with a similar sounding Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) which is how you connect from one Mac to another.)

That was the easy part. Even over a dialup connection, I can view and change my calendar using RDC to connect to my Windows machine.

But what about those times that I'm (*GASP*) away from my laptop? Say, like the other night when I was out with friends, and at the end of the night we all pulled out our cell phones to update contact information? I'm actually going to be away from my Windows machine for a week (which is rare, I admit, but still). I do use BackupBuddyVFS to backup my Treo to a SD card, but to me that's the modern day equivalent to backing up to floppy: perilous, very perilous.

By complete accident, I stumbled across a way to HotSync that I was completely unfamiliar with: Modem Sync. At first I was going to try to setup my laptop to accept incoming calls. That sounded like a very secure way of handling it, but I couldn't get it to work. Only then did I realize that I could use my SprintPCS connection to wirelessly sync my Treo.

Have you ever read a book or seen a movie and come away thinking: "Wow, that was great, why doesn't anyone know about this?" only to find out that apparently everyone else knew about it? Well that's how I felt about this. I've had a wireless Treo for almost 2 years and never knew I could sync it wirelessly.

Others have listed these steps, but for the sake of completeness (and so I can find it later if I need it) here's what I did:

On the PC:

1. HotSync (under "Setup")
   
   
   
   1. General -> Choose "always available" (put in startup folder)
   
   
   2. Network -> Check box next to my HotSync ID
   
   
   
   


2. Sign up for DynDNS and install DynDNS Updater v2.2.0.76 to keep my hostname automatically updated
   

On the router:

1. Forward HotSync ports 14237 and 14238 (TCP and UDP) to my Windows PC [this may be slightly more than needed, but it worked for me]


2. Forward Remote Desktop port 3389 (TCP) to my Windows PC

On the Treo:

1. Modem Sync -> Choose Network (not "Direct to Modem")


2. LANSync -> Local HotSync (not LANSync)


3. Conduit Setup -> Select ACT (unselect all others for fastest sync)


4. Primary PC Setup -> enter DynDNS.org hostname under Primary PC Name (leave others blank) [SEE NOTE BELOW]


5. On main HotSync screen, choose Modem (not local) and PCSVision should appear where Cradle/Cable usually appears

Most of the instructions I saw online suggested that the "Primary PC Name" should be "!!" which apparently forces the Treo to use the IP address, but that means that I have to manually update the IP address, which is exactly the problem that the DynDNS was supposed to solve in the first place.

So I tried just putting in the hostname and leaving everything else blank, and it worked, BUT there was one important note: After the sync was completed, the Treo had automatically filled in the current IP address. If the IP changes before I HotSync again, I will have to go in and remove the IP under the "Primary PC Address"

That said, I can now automatically

3:17:15pm pressed HotSync
3:17:33pm recognized, handshake begins
3:17:58pm begin sync ACT
3:18:43pm begin backing up/sync of other apps (no changes, but HotSync checks anyway)
3:20:46pm HotSync Complete

Note that after I completed this, I tried to do it again and it failed. The hostname had been reset to an old value, and I had to re-enter the DynDNS hostname.

I wanted to see how long it would take with absolutely no changes, so I immediately did another HotSync. It took almost exactly 3 minutes AND reset my Primary PC Setup information again. When I get back I will probably do a hard reset and a clean installation of my apps and see if I can't rid the Treo of the memory of those old settings.

What is annoying is that I can't seem to turn off the backup of all the other apps when doing a modem sync. This seems like a problem I ought to be able to solve. What PalmOne ought to offer is another window like Conduit Setup that offers to backup only apps that I specify when doing a modem sync, but they want a 100% backup every time.

Update (2005/03/20): I just realized that I had a copy of this hanging around too and apparently never bothering reading it. Oh well. It may be useful to others: “ACT! Real Time Data Solutions: Configuring Network Synchronization” (PDF) (I have a local copy (PDF) in case the other one disappears).

Also, I have discovered that by using the Internet Sharing of Missing Sync I can do a full sync of ACT! much faster than using my Sprint PCS connection. I think I'll be buying it.

Posted by TjL at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My time in Massachusetts is nearly over, but I just came across this "Visitors Guide to Bawstin" that a friend sent awhile ago. I don't know the origin, but I can verify most of the information personally, but there were a few that I didn't even know.

Enjoy the list... it's a wicked pissa.

Next time you come to Bawstin, you'll need this to communicate correctly. For those of you who have never been to "Bawstin", this is a good guideline. I hope you will consider coming to "Beantown" in the near future. For those who call New England home, this is just plain great!

Information on Boston and the surrounding area:

There's no school on School Street, no court on Court Street, no dock on Dock Square, no water on Water Street.

Back Bay streets are in alphabetical "oddah": Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, etc.

So are South Boston streets: A, B, C, D, etc.

If the streets are named after trees (e.g. Walnut, Chestnut, Cedar), you're on Beacon Hill.

If they're named after poets, you're in Wellesley.

Massachusetts Ave is Mass Ave; Commonwealth Ave is Comm Ave; South Boston is Southie.

The South End is the South End. East Boston is Eastie.

The North End is east of the former West End.

The West End and Scollay Square are no more; a guy named Rappaport got rid of them one night.

Roxbury is The Burry, Jamaica Plain is J.P.

Definitions:
Frappes have ice cream, milkshakes don't. If it is fizzy and flavored, it's tonic.

Soda is CLUB SODA.

"Pop" is Dad.

When we want Tonic WATER, we will ask for Tonic WATER.

The smallest beer is a pint.

Scrod is whatever they tell you it is, usually fish. If you paid more than $6/pound, you got scrod.

It's not a water fountain; it's a bubblah.

It's not a trashcan; it's a barrel.

It's not a shopping cart; it's a carriage.

It's not a purse; it's a pockabook.

They're not franks; they're haht dahgs. Franks are money in France.

Police don't drive patrol units or black and whites they drive a "crooza".

If you take the bus, your on the "looza crooza".

It's not a rubber band, it's an elastic.

It's not a traffic circle, it's a rotary.

"Going to the islands" means Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket.

If something's good, it's "pissa". If something's really good, it's "wicked pissa".

The Pat's = The Patriots
The Sox = The Red Sox
The C's = The Celtics
The B's = The Bruins

Things not to do: Don't pahk your cah in Hahvid Yahd ... they'll tow it to Meffa (Medford) or Slumaville (Somerville).

Don't sleep in the Common. (Boston Common)

Don't wear Orange in Southie on St. Patrick's Day.

Things you should know: There are two State Houses, two City Halls, two courthouses, two Hancock buildings (one old, one new for each).

The colored lights on top the old Hancock tell the weatha':
"Solid blue, clear view...."
"Flashing blue, clouds due...."
"Solid red, rain ahead...."
"Flashing red, snow instead...." - (except in summer; flashing red means the Red Sox game was rained out)

Route 128 is also I-95 south. It's also I-93 north.

The underground train is not a subway. It's the "T", and it doesn't run all night (this ain't Noo Yawk).

Order the "cold tea" in China Town after 2:00 am you'll get a kettle full of beer.

Bostonians... think that it's their God-given right to cut off someone in traffic.

Bostonians...think that there are only 25 letters in the alphabet (no R's).

Bostonians...think that three straight days of 90+ temperatures is a heat wave.

Bostonians...refer to six inches of snow as a "dusting."

Bostonians...always "bang a left" as soon as the light turns green, and oncoming traffic always expects it.

Bostonians...say everything in town is "a five-minute walk." (pronounced "wok")

Bostonians...believe that using your turn signal is a sign of weakness.

Bostonians...think that 63-degree ocean water is warm.

Bostonians...think Rhode Island accents are annoying.

How to say these Massachusetts city names correctly:
Worcester: Wuhsta (or Wistah)
Gloucester: Glawsta
Leicester: Lesta
Woburn: Wooban
Dedham: Dedim (like denim)
Revere: Re-vee-ah
Quincy: Quinzee
Peabody: Peabuddy
Waltham: Walth-ham
Chatham: Chattum

Posted by TjL at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You may now admire the cuteness of the newest member of the family:

Carissa Angelise Aiello
9lbs 3oz
21"
Born 4 March 2005 at 19:19 (aka 7:19pm Eastern Time, USA)

March 4th is my maternal grandmother's birthday. You may recall that Nana died about 2 years ago, not long after we moved to Gallipolis. I know Lauren is pleased that their birthdays had aligned.

Less pleasing, I'm sure, was that Carissa came into the world 6 ounces larger than Nicholas and a full THREE POUNDS larger than Kristyn. Oy.

Posted by TjL at 01:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bill O'Reilly and The O'Reilly Network (no relation).

More importantly, a reminder that Hypertext Linking does not violate Copyright.

Our country and our freedoms are under attack from companies with huge bankrolls who are using copyright as a club. They aren't looking out for anything but their own wallets, and your freedoms are at risk.

If you aren't outraged at this, you haven't been paying attention.

Posted by TjL at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I asked for your feedback about the feeds, and the response was clear:

People like full text.

Well, I'm all for giving people what they want. Just a few quick notes.

If you want full text of all the posts, be sure to subscribe to the Atom feeds. The full text is always included in them.

The RSS 1.0 and RSS 2.0 may not show the full-text, because they do not show the "extended" part of the post (i.e. any post that says "Continue reading...")

Unfortunately RSS 1 and 2 don't indicate if there is more text than what is included in the feed. So either a) I have to give some indication in the first part of the post that there is more, or b) you have to deduce it.

I might see if I can fix this for RSS 1 and 2, but since there is a solution available (use Atom) I probably won't even look at it until I've solved the other existing issues.

Posted by TjL at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SpyKiller writes:

Spyware is installed "piggy backed" along with popular programs such as KaZaA, GrokSter, iMesh, Opera and others.

Short response: Skykiller lies. I know you'll find it hard to believe that anyone would write something untrue in their marketing copy, but it's true.

Longer response follows:

Most marketing is all about making quick claims and assuming that no one will fact-check you. Most of the time this is done by saying things that border on truth without actually being completely true.

In this case, it isn't even close to the truth. This isn't a difficult nuance to understand.

Many applications, such as KaZaA, will install applications that work alongside of the main application. These applications are generally well hidden, hard to erase, set to automatically launch when Windows boots up, and require a special program to remove. They serve pop-up and/or pop-under ads, they suck your RAM, you can't quit them easily (if at all). They hide in the Windows process listing and if you try to quit it, most spyware will relaunch itself.

Opera does not match any definition of "spyware" that passes the laugh-test.

Opera is ad-supported. Opera makes this very clear. Opera lets you choose what kinds of ads you want (graphical ads or Google relevant text ads, otherwise known as "rads").

The Google rads work like Google Ad-sense. They offer you ads which are similar to pages that you are viewing.

The ads only appear in the Opera window.

There is no personal identification used.

Want to be completely anonymous? Choose the graphical ad version. How? Goto Preferences > Advertising > Show Generic Selection of Graphical Ads.

Quit Opera, and the ads go away.

How is this spyware? Really, can anyone make an argument with a straight face?

See also: Opera's ad privacy declaration.

Folks have been understandably concerned about security and privacy online. The problem is that there is far too often worried about the wrong thing. First it was cookies (which are 99% innocent).

There is a lot of spyware out there, no question. But any anti-spyware program that claims Opera contains spyware is simply wrong and deceitful by any reasonable definition.

Posted by TjL at 09:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I write to you from a table about 1 yard (that's about 1 meter for my international readers) in circumference. I am sitting on a hard wooden chair about 20 yards (that's about 20 meters for my international readers) from more comfortable chairs. The chair was designed clearly designed my a Finnish Dutch Calvinist who believed that we ought to repent for our sins through pain in the gluetus maximus.

Actually, I presume the chairs were designed to prevent people from lounging here for longer than absolutely necessary.

So where am I? I'm in Dulles Airport in Washington, DC. I have alluded to my international readers, and my recent request for RSS feedback has led me to realize that most of my readers, at least most of my readers who care about RSS, are international readers. This is no doubt because of the copious amounts of information regarding Opera, and Opera users are not only smarter than the average person, they are most often international. (By the way, I have deduced this from my own thoughts.)

As a service to my international readers, I will, from time to time, try to provide guides or helps for dealing with the English language. Someone who is learning English might look at "Dulles" and be tempted to pronounce it as the plural of "dull" (boring, unexciting, etc). That would, however, be incorrect. The correct pronunciation is "dul-LEZ" (almost like "Dallas" with a "U"). I've never been good at explaining how to pronounce things, especially in text.

I am sitting outside a Starbucks, actually I am next to a Starbucks, outside of "Rent-a-cellular" which provided me with a wireless connection for $9.95. I am flying from Ohio to Rhode Island, and the cheapest way to go was through Dulles International Airport. There is an old saying that you can either save time or money, but not both. That is certainly true in this case. By saving money, I had to accept a connection. That didn't seem too bad, because it was only 50 minutes.

Note I said "was."

A few days ago I received a note from my travel agent informing me that my 1:30 p.m. flight had been changed to 11:30 a.m. Now on Monday, it's going to cost me $25 to change my flight (on this same airline) from 3pm to 12noon. That seems unfair, doesn't it? After all, they didn't pay me $25 for changing my flight 2 hours earlier. What's worse, my connecting flight was not moved up... in fact, it was pushed back 10 minutes. So instead of a 50 minute layover, I have a 3 hour layover.

I was actually looking forward to it. After all, this is a key airport in a major city in the US. There ought to be a lot of cool stuff here, right? Some interesting shops, maybe, to show to our international guests who travel to BLEEPING capital, right?

Well, as you may have guessed, there AIN'T.

There's nothing here. Ok, there's a Starbucks. And an Applebees or some clone thereof. But mostly there are just terminals. So I am going to start calling it "DULLez" (which explains why I spent $9.95 on wireless internet. There's nothing else to do here.

Oh, and why am I sitting on this uncomfortable chair when there are more comfortable chairs not far from here (and an electrical outlet)? Because the wireless barely reaches over there, and if I'm paying $10 for 3 hours worth of Internet (when you can get a month's worth of dialup for $20), you'd better believe I'm going to use as much as I can.

Dear international readers: if you come to the USA, try to land in Atlanta, which has a much more interesting airport.

The only interesting thing has been to watch the flood of people who arrive all at the same time at Starbucks, and 5 minutes later: nobody.

That's the most interesting thing in the airport. And, my friends, when the most interesting thing you can do is watch pedestrian traffic at StarBucks, you are having a bad day. Or at least a DULL one.

At least I have my trusty Powerbook, and my iTunes library. I am currently listening to Queen. The temptation to sing out at the top of my lungs (for no other reason than to alleviate boredom) is nearly overwhelming. I would have to choose my song carefully though.... I don't think anyone wants to hear someone singing "WE'RE JUST A-WAITING FOR THE HAMMER TO FALL" while they're waiting for a plane.

I suppose I can wander over to my gate now. They'll be bored-ing... oops, I mean "boarding" in a few minutes. I do think I'll pick up a t-shirt to commemorate my experience while I'm here, because this is an unforgettable day... no matter how hard I try.

Posted by TjL at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Are you reading these posts in an RSS application?

If so, drop me an email at tim @ [this domain name ] or use the http://tntluoma.com/contact/ form.

I just realized that MT3 puts full text of posts in the feeds. This has plusses and minuses, and I'd like to know how folks feel about it.

Previously I was just posting excerpts. The "full text feeds" often lack links to URLs and other stuff that might be useful (i.e. like being able to tell when something is in a BLOCKQUOTE rather than being my own words).

But if people like the full text feeds, I'll keep them.

You have until the weekend to cast your vote.

By the way, I haven't figured out a way to be notified when someone posts a comment, so I have to manually look for them and approve them. Don't be offended if this takes awhile, I probably just forgot to check. If you use TypeKey (www.typekey.com) your comments will be instantly posted and I do get a copy of them (in case any lousy spammers sign up to TypeKey and try to post comments).

By the way, if you have no idea what I'm talking about (Hi mom!) feel free to ignore this entirely :-)

Posted by TjL at 05:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I just spent $20 to have my dog’s anal sacs squeezed because he’s been greasing the couch lately. That may seem a bit exorbitant for a little gland squeezing, but it will definitely go down as the best $20 I ever spent: I DON‘T HAVE TO SQUEEZE THEM MYSELF.

No question! For awhile, Jerry needed this done every 3-4 weeks, which meant 30-40 minutes in NJ traffic to get him there and back, plus waiting in the lobby.

Sure, I felt a little silly in the lobby.

"What's your dog in for? Heartworm? Oh, that's terrible.... My dog? Yeah, he's got stinkbutt. Yeah, it's really bad"

How bad was it? Well, apparently there are 2 of these glands. I never really checked myself, but I deduced there were two by listening to the techs. There is apparently a class in vet school where they teach you the proper order of anal gland squeezing. Like mounting a horse from whatever the proper side to mount a horse is. Whichever the proper side to begin is, that side was never particularly bad, because I'd always hear the same thing.

"So you think Jerry needs his glands expressed?" (which is the technical term for the squeezing)
"Yeah, I know it was only a few weeks ago, but they've gotten really bad again."
"Ok, well let's check."

At which point I would turn to face the opposite direction, and usually take Jerry's head and start petting him. Partly I did this so he wouldn't turn around and bite the vet, because for some reason or another Jerry didn't particularly enjoy this experience. But the other reason I did this is because I wanted there to be absolutely ZERO chance that I would see anything that happened down there.

The next part was 100% reproducible:

"Ok, well that one didn't seem too bad" (translation: "You're a lousy dog owner who is over-reacting.")_

"So let's just get the other---OH GAWD." (translation: "Oh that stain is never going to come out... I should have gone into a different line of work. I thought I had seen some nasty stuff before, but that.... UGH... I'm going to have to cancel our dinner plans. In fact, I may never eat again")

Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of techs coming back a second time. I wouldn't be surprised if they had posted a chart in the break room where people added their names after taking care of Jerry's glands so they didn't have to go back. This list was apparently kept a secret from the other techs, because no one ever came in with the proper attire (say, like a hazmat suit from Chernobyl).

Come to think of it, Jerry may have been the equivalent of New Vet Tech Hazing, a rite of passage for the new recruits. Every week the same "Oh, well that doesn't seem to bad" initial diagnosis, followed by the sound of trying not to scream and/or throw up in front of a client.

Afterwards The Actual Vet came in (being smart enough to not appear until after the glands were "expressed") she checked to make sure there wasn't an infection (How could you tell?!? Nevermind, I don't want to know). During the 4th or 5th visit, she said, "You know, if you'd like, we could show you how to do this yourself, and you wouldn't have to bring him in here."

To which I replied, "Thanks, doc, but that's just not a level of familiarity I'm interested in attaining."

What I wanted to say was, "Are you nuts? That thing can gag a vet tech do you think I'm going anywhere near it?"

$20 and an hour in traffic? A bargain at twice the price.

(By the way, we started feeding Jerry a higher-quality of dog food and his glands improved dramatically. We paid a little more for the food, but we saved time, hassle, and more than one innocent and unsuspecting vet tech.)

Posted by TjL at 04:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

have I mentioned that my birthday is in less than a month?

If anyone is looking for gift ideas, Dell has a suggestion.

Just in case anyone was having trouble deciding what to get me.

:-)

Posted by TjL at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)