Category: Opinions

What I think about things

Prediction: Within 2 years it will be pretty common for thieves to be using RFID

RecallI heard recently about thieves who were using handheld RFID scanners to determine the contents of tractor trailer trucks to see which ones would be worth breaking into.

Such a double-edged sword can be these devices which offer so much convenience for retailers to maintain their inventory.

One of the practices that keep shoppers safe, especially at Christmas when the buying frenzy is at its peak, is to keep purchases out of sight. The trunk of your car is usually good for this. It’s pretty risky to break into a car, especially if a thief doesn’t know that he’ll be rewarded for his efforts.

But picture someone walking through the mall parking lot, a small scanner in hand (or up sleeve) surreptitiously reading the RFID tags for everything within each vehicle. Heck, with the right technology, I’m sure you can do this from within a moving car so one can pretend they are simply slowly looking for a parking spot. Then, once recorded and evaluated against increasingly available RFID tag databases, all the thief needs to do is go directly to the vehicle(s) in question and surgically extract the items of value.

I suppose the next step will be the “Shopper’s Package” that will be offered on vehicles much like you can get a “Sports Package” today. This “Shopper’s Package” will have some kind of stealthing or interference technology that will prevent exactly the scenario above.

There is never a shortage of possibilities…

Sorry about the website this past weekend

Lunarpages elected to relocate my site to a new server which promptly messed it up.

I had two tickets open with them neither of which got very quick action.

I originally chose Lunarpages because they are rated VERY highly by sites that rate such things but so far I’ve received no help at all. My response to the original notification indicating that my website was messed up appears to have been logged but no action was taken (my email to them was sent about 15 minutes after they notified me).

I called on Friday and was told that they’d look at it and get back to me in a couple of hours (thanks for efficiently getting me off of the phone James).

I reworked this post a bit because I wanted to place it on my blog while I was still having problems (thought I might be able to find a way to do this) but no go.

But, they eventually switched me back to my original server sometime this morning and apologized for the inconvenience.

So the site was down for 80+ hours. 🙁

This is the first real issue I’ve had with them so I’ll assume this is a fluke this time..

You have Vista on a computer reporting only 3.2 Gigabytes of RAM on a system with 4 Gigabytes installed

RecallIt’s too bad that they don’t actually tell you about this when you are, I don’t know, actually purchasing your computer!

I picked up a new Dell Inspiron 530 computer back in early October of 2007 and saw that, in spite of having paid for 4 Gigabytes of RAM, the system reported only 3.2 Gigabytes.

In looking around I saw various folks talking about BIOS issues etc. But I’m pretty sure that this MS article explains the situation the best.

To paraphrase, your chip set is only capable of addressing up to 4 Gigabytes of memory. Addressing for other devices (video card memory is given as an example) must also come out of that. So if you have 2 or 3 Gigabytes of RAM installed, the other pieces can still be addressed by the operating system and you don’t notice anything. But install 4 Gigabytes of RAM and you will see Vista’s need to address those devices limited by your chip set and it will eat into the addressing available for your RAM.

The proposed workaround is to ensure that you use a chip set that supports at least 8 Gigabytes of address space. 

Ah, well, as a consumer I suppose I should have known that. Silly me.

This series of exchanges in “James Hayes’ Blog” indicate that there is still an advantage to going with the 4 Gigabytes of RAM if you want more than 2 Gigabytes (check the comments section and look for the postings by “DellCA”). I can’t vouch for what is being expressed, but I can say that they knew about the issue nearly a year before I bought my system and made no effort to either inform or correct my purchase options.

Of course I cannot see how much the wasted .75 Gigabytes of memory has cost me, Dell’s pretty savvy in how they report the computer options on the receipt – one lump sum price. But I think that one of the posters in the blog comments is right in that what Dell is liable for is 3/8 of the cost of the hefty 2 Gigabyte upgrade price. Not so much because it’s not usable, but because they knew it to be unusable and blithely offer the option anyway. Let’s face it. Were I a *real* computer hardware expert, I would be piecing together my own system, not buying from Dell anyway. We buy from Dell because we know enough to want to customize our systems for a known need (I know my computer habits mean that I need more memory than average) but do not want to spend all of our waking hours troubleshooting those systems. Dell’s biggest value to me is that they will ensure that all the pieces I have chosen will all work together properly and then deliver the result to me so I can just get on with using it.

Dell has fallen down on the job here.

Christmas Canon (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

Without question, one of my favorite musical pieces (I know, I know, I’m not very original liking Pachelbel’s Canon, so sue me), these “Trans-Siberian Orchestra” versions are two of my staple Christmas musical pieces. Both are based on the same piece yet both bring unique beauty to a genre that is brimming with magnificence.

And the Rock version

Here is another pleasant Rock version (a bit higher quality) but it has a short interview before the song begins.

And, if you’re wondering, that lady with the wonderfully potent voice is Jennifer Cella. She maintains a MySpace page here. Be careful, it launches a song right away when you enter it…

Georgetown Homecoming has spurred my curiosity

PICT3140.JPGBack at the end of July of this year I attended the Georgetown Homecoming event. It was a novel idea where, not just a particular class or year from the high school would get together, but rather the ENTIRE TOWN – anybody who had ever lived there – were invited back to partake in various events intended to help folks reconnect and reminisce about days gone by.

This would have marked my 23rd anniversary of graduating from high school. So I was pretty sure that folks in my bracket would likely be there. Also, from the exposed attendee list (you could elect to not have your name show up if you preferred) I could see that there were several people who I would be very interested in seeing and finding out what is going on with them today.

I was astonished at the age range of the folks who I saw attending. By and large these folks seemed to be about 20 years my senior. In attending the initial night’s Wine and Cheese function, Michelle and I wandered around the large and very crowded arena and encountered not a single person that we could recognize. Between the nametags and just the fact that you can usually see hints of a someone’s younger self in their current person led me to the conclusion that there were a LOT of folks in Georgetown that I didn’t know!

I suppose I should have made more of an effort to contact some folks before the event so that we could perhaps hook up and see what time had done for them. But I honestly thought that we’d be able to just bump into folks by happenstance.

Take it from me, if you are ever to attend something like this, that is much grander in scope than a simple class or high-school reunion, either ensure that there will be designated class or age events or make your connections before you go and know where you’ll be meeting once there.

Even looking at the photo galleries posted after the event I managed to find only a couple of names of folks that I even recognized much less hung out with.

No slam against the organizers. This is a HUGE deal and they deserve plenty of accolades for pulling off an event of such magnitude.

Still there are folks that I would have liked to meet again and those I would have liked to have asked about just out of curiosity. I figure I’ll list them here. If anybody reading this blog happens to have any information please feel free to add a comment or drop me a line (check out the “About Marc” link in the sidebar – I don’t put my address in the actual blog due to spammers). And if you’re reading this and don’t see your name here, ping me anyway. It’s been over 20 years and I’ve only listed the folks that jump to mind immediately. I’m sad to say that some names simply have escaped me!

Folks I know about:

  • Pete Carson (and wife Liz) – met up with them in Georgetown some years ago
  • Devin Baines – He pinged me a while ago and had a web site (now defunct – devinbaines.com) through which I was able to keep up with his goings on

Folks I would like to have bumped into:

  • Steve Roach – It looks like he’s now living on the East coast of the US?
  • Thijs Millenaar – It looks like he’s still living in Georgetown
  • Natalie Fisher – Last saw her in Toronto taking care of an injured boyfriend
  • Michael Hartford – Still exchange Christmas cards with Mike
  • Joel Weisz – Last I heard was in Brampton with 3rd wife?
  • Sheila Britton – I *think* maybe she was in Toronto?

 Whatever happened to:

  • Joanne Powell
  • Suzette Brown
  • Joanne Labine
  • Mike Daquano
  • Rene Schwarz
  • Lynn Cazabon
  • Brenda Morrow
  • Sandra Crane
  • John Siderius
  • Sue Masson
  • Ken Stanley
  • Debbie Sunnucks
  • Rob Rush
  • Rick Walterson
  • Tim Dixon
  • Jeff Forsyth
  • Debbie Newman
  • Sheila MacDonald
  • Allison MacDonald
  • Bruce Reiger
  • John Rothwell
  • Lisa Woolgar
  • Diane Bransch
  • Kim Rudman
  • Denean Jones
  • Robin Maybee
  • Sandra Wilson
  • Craig Carlisle

Go Kathy Griffin!

I’ve always been intrigued by the notion of a god (y’know, the one responsible for creating life, the universe… everything) that would hang around to help folks win at basketball or achieve individual [insert sport or event here] notoriety.

It was interesting to me that we have no problem listening to folks stand up at award ceremonies and thank mythological figures for their success yet we balk when someone stands up and says that a mythological figure had nothing to do with the achievement being recognized. In fact Kathy’s acceptance statement was excised from the broadcast.

I can’t say I really blame the network. They, after all, need to cater to majority opinion in order to maximize market share and profit. But I can’t help wondering if little incidents such as this tell us an awful lot about who we are as a culture.

Emphasis on the word “awful”…

CautionaryTale, Acer 3680 computer. Good service, not so good reliability.

About a year ago (November 2006) I picked up a laptop for Mich from MicroCenter. The guy I usually deal with has always been trustworthy in the past so I worked with him to pick up this new machine.

I didn’t want to spend a *lot* of money on this laptop, according to Michelle her existing (200 MHz) laptop was fine. But I knew that the browsing experience on that old machine was glacial and unsatisfying. So we compromised and went for one of those “back-to-school” type of machines.

We settled on an Acer 3680 for which I also shelled out for an additional Gigabyte of memory to ensure that it would be as fast as a lower end machine could be. Al, the MicroCenter guy, practically begged me to not buy this machine. He told me the warranty was such that you needed to send it to Acer yourself if you have problems so if I *was* going to buy this box, I should at least get the extended warranty so that MicroCenter would deal with problems and the manufacturer on my behalf.

The machine was a night-and-day improvement for Michelle’s experience, nicer screen much more responsive, the new battery actually worked (the old machine was a sell-off from my old company and I got it with a pretty much dead battery… but the price was right and it was never intended to be mobile.).

Heh, it seems I should have listened to Al. The Machine’s motherboard failed sometime in late April 2007 and they were good enough to do some basic troubleshooting over the phone and quickly agree that we should ship it to them and they would replace it.

We sent off the machine in late May (hey, life happens) and they were true to their word. A few weeks later the repaired machine arrived and we were right as rain again.

Man, a couple of months ago – after one of those 2nd Tuesday M$ updates, the machine rebooted but did not come back up. Complaining about a missing hard drive – never a good sign. Using the old 1 inch drop rule the machine corrected itself but I knew this was going to grow into an issue soon. Sure enough a couple of weeks later the machine failed again. Opening and reseating the hard drive worked until the next reboot at which point NOTHING I did helped.

So the machine is winging its way back to Acer in Texas again. I’ll credit them with pretty good customer service as far as addressing these failures, but I am concerned about modestly-used hardware having so many failures. I’m more concerned about what to expect once the warranty period ends (oh.. next week).

I just wanted to toss out this cautionary missive. I cannot speak for anybody else, but I’ve personally owned 3 laptops and probably 6 or 7 desktop computers not to mention the ones that have been in my care for work and I seldom have failures. Prior to this I’ve had a video card fail on a Dell machine near the end of it’s life as my primary machine (for which their dismal customer service on a $25 part cost them my business for my next machine) and a couple of power supplies on an NEC box for which their repair and replacement service was outstanding.

But I’m not used to defective products. I own two Honda cars. A 1995 Civic and a 1997 Odyssey. I do basic routine maintenance on them, major services and such. I also make sure that their braking systems and tires are kept in top-notch condition – rule 1 for cars: always be able to stop – but for both of these vehicles the worst thing that’s happened is that one of my Odyssey electric windows (rear left passenger side) needed to be repaired. This is a level of quality that I’ve come to expect from every corner of my life and I am significantly disappointed if products do not clear that bar.

I do not repatronize merchants that do not live up to their claims or my expectations. I vote with my dollars. I am willing to pay a little more up front for less hassle down the line. And I will evangelize anybody who I feel has done right by me.

**Update** I wrote the above before sending the Acer off to Texas for repair. I just wanted to report that the machine was returned in working order (albeit with all the data and programs missing from the hard drive). So so far so good. Hopefully, if we treat the machine with especial kindness it may last through my hoped-for lifespan of 3 years…

Charleston, South Carolina

We’re here in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina eating breakfast at “Joseph’s”. The food portions are generous and the atmosphere convivial. There is a live band playing sax, clarinet and guitar about 15 feet from us.

3200

3197

3194

Here is a link to the growing album. I’m trying to blog more or less real-time.

We had a bit of a SNAFU when we arrived last night, they assigned us to a room that had plenty of space, but few amenities:

3167

3163

There were a couple of other hiccoughs but I used the “comments” section on their internal website and the manager called us this morning to apologize and is moving us to a new room. I’ll let you know if things are great now.

TED Talks – Jill Sobule

If you enjoyed Jill’s song you’ll probably enjoy this tongue in cheek offering from TED talks. This one about Global Warming. The first 25 seconds of TED credits are always a little much but the content of ANY TED talk is worth it. I subscribe to both the video and audio TED feeds and heartily recommend them to anybody. They cover a breadth of topics that are sure to have an appeal for anybody with an interest in anything…

Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

Mich and I just finished watching Nova’s “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial” on PBS.

I was very pleased to see that the ID proponents got their butts handed to them in their outrageous attempt to further dilute what is already considered to be a shaky science curriculum. We very much need to grow up, put away the fairy tales and begin to accept what life has to offer us without hiding behind our mother’s skirts.

What was very clear to me from the statements of the ID proponents was that the point of the judgment against their actions was completely lost on them. I too believe, as George W. Bush was stated to have said, that ID needs to be discussed and presented to students so that they understand these issues. But the proper forum for ID is NOT a science class. *Social Science* perhaps, for it’s relevance in society today, or mythology, for it’s quaint point of view for folks unable to grasp epochal aeons of time (check out my opinion in the 7th paragraph of this blog entry) .

I have to say that the scariest part of the show was the discussion about “The Wedge” strategy whose primary instigator seeks nothing less than a complete regression of folks’ literacy and life outlook to a more religious perspective. Let’s see… can we think of a time when that was the case?  Hmmm.. Yes, indeed, it was called “the dark ages”.