I can’t program lately.
But I can still blog. Thank God for that.
I’m sure my clients will understand.
chalk one up for google!
the boys worry me with all the information they have but this is good to see.
“Google stands up to US government porn probe”
crazy conspiracy theory:
microsoft set it all up to gain some data from google to compare against their own logs 😉
disclaimer:
i’m all for protecting kids on the internet. however, i think the governement labels things they want with emotionally loaded reasons so dissenters seem like they are the bad guys. i think this falls into that realm. so, go google!
If I was being chased by bad guys someplace like a rice patty and I had a Twizzler, I would bite off both ends and hide under the water.
Okay, nobody understood the whole “fear of success” post. It was the one entitled “one silly step at a time”. 2 out of 2 readers were completely confused. I guess if this is a trend, I really don’t have to worry too much about it.
Glad I don’t have a fear of failure… 😐
Utter and complete destruction is always just one step away from where you are at any given moment.
So, like, don’t take that step, eh? Things seem so obvious when you get up this early. Maybe there’s something to this whole “morning” thing after all.
I wrote something about “fear of success” and posted a link to lazaris.com.
Specifically, the link was to: http://www.lazaris.com/publibrary/pubfear.cfm
Thanks to the power of search engines, when I did a search for “fear of success” it pointed me directly to the above page. I jive with what this page says and I never would have found it on my own – especially if I’d “walked” in through the front door of the website. Why? The site appears to be written by alien abductees and 1970’s ex-hippies on permanent flashbacks. But if you can get beyond all that – and it really helps to read the article before knowing anything about the website (trust me) – there’s some very good information there.
So I want to pass along the following lesson.
Don’t just close your mind and keep walking – sometimes even kooks have something valuable to say.
ps – I didn’t mean *me* when I said kooks. You know, I *can* hear you snickering out there!
I write a lot about silly things.
Fear of Success
http://choosetoprosper.com/bcole-fear-success.html
It’s easy to write about silly things.
Perhaps I even like to write about silly things.
Sometimes.
Working with Fear of Success
http://www.lazaris.com/publibrary/pubfear.cfm
It’s a step ahead of not writing about anything at all.
I’m trying to figure out a skin allergy so I recently switched to all dye-free and scent-free laundry detergent and dryer sheets.
Now all my clothes smell like, well, either what fabric smells like naturally or like the inside of my dryer.
I never realized how much I’d miss the smell of “Spring Breeze”.
I ran out of shampoo this morning and had to use my five-year-old’s shampoo.
Now my head smells like bananas.
So why exactly do we want our children to smell like food? I’m amazed we don’t hear more about monkey-head-eating-attacks at the zoo.
I always hear we use 10% of our brains. Well, my 10% is full. It took 38 years, but that’s it – it’s full. Maybe that makes me an idiot. Maybe it makes me a genius. Don’t know, don’t care. If I have to think about it, then I have to push something else out of my head. Heck, the 10% rule may be bogus or modified since I last heard it. Maybe it’s really 17% or 30%. Don’t know. Don’t care. If I go look it up, then something else is going to fall out. It’s as simple as that. Heck, it HAS to be as simple as that. Remember, my brain is full.
Bad thing is, I’m like an alcoholic with a Vodka IV. Internet 24/7. 276 hour TiVo. I’m blasted with information, entertainment, and advertising every waking moment. I fall asleep with the computer on my lap or the television playing so I’m probably inundated every SLEEPING moment also. I’m not even considering human interaction overstimulating my synapses. Work. Friends. Family. Personal life.
The things I need to do and the things I’d like to do – that I’ve bookmarked, recorded, saved as text files, stacked on my desk, made word-of-mouth obligations to – have overtaken my expected lifetime. 70-some years these days? 80 with luck and good behavior? Don’t know. Don’t care to look it up.
My brain is full.
I need to succeed in business. I’m tired of looking at the thermostat thinking, “I can’t afford 72.”
“If you stare into the Abyss long enough the Abyss stares back at you.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche
“We are moving to a Google that knows more about you.”
– Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Welcome to the Internet. Here, take a Google fruit basket as a welcome gift. No, no, don’t worry, it’s free. No charge. Nada. We just want you to have a pleasurable experience.
Oh, I see you like oranges.
How would you like a napkin to protect your shirt from juice splatters? I happen to have one here that matches the blue button-up 100% cotton short-sleeved shirt you ordered yesterday.
No? Okay, I respect your privacy.
So…
How about a juicer?
—notes—
[1] Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher of the late 19th century who challenged the foundations of traditional morality and Christianity. He believed in life, creativity, health, and the realities of the world we live in, rather than those situated in a world beyond. Central to Nietzsche’s philosophy is the idea of “life-affirmation,” which involves an honest questioning of all doctrines which drain life’s energies, however socially prevalent those views might be. [bio from this site]
[2] Google CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking to financial analysts, February 9, 2005, as quoted in the New York Times the next day.
“Google aims to monitor whatever you type in your word processor, the things you copy to your clipboard, the position of your mouse, the content of your emails, instant messenger messages and more.” [original article below]
I found this while I was catching up on my e-mail. Everybody talks about Google these days. Heck, even the Amish are probably sick of hearing about them. Google Google Google Google. Working with computers and the ‘net, I’m almost numb to the name from media overkill. Just when I think I’m pretty much jaded to anything Google, I read something like the above quote.
Hey, you know what, Google? If labor gets cheap enough, maybe you could hire someone to follow me around every waking moment of every day. They could see me go to the post office, the supermarket, the park, and all my favorite stores. They could log what movies I go see and what I order from restaurants. If they pull up beside my car at a stoplight, they can jot down what song I’m listening to on the radio and if I lip-synch or just belt it out without caring. Then, once you know me – even though the sports magazine I bought at the newsstand was an errand for a guy at the office and I only walked into the cigar store to use the bathroom – you can start popping up uninvited every public place I go. If I leave my house door unlocked or a window accidentally open, it’s not like you’re forcing your way in, so I guess you’re welcome there too, aren’t you?
But I’m being absurd.
Why hire someone when you can do it electronically on a global scale for free?
—original article—
Axandra news archive: 11 October 2005
1. Facts of the week: The Google-Sun deal and its impact on search
Copyright Axandra.com
Web site promotion software tools.
Last week, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt and Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy announced a distribution partnership.
What did they decide?
Google’s toolbar will be bundled into downloads of the Java Runtime Environment and Sun’s Java will be used to power new software developed and released by Google.
Google might also include links to Sun software that directly competes with Microsoft software such as the Open Office suite in future updates of its toolbar.
What does this mean for search?
This is probably only the first step in Google’s and Sun’s battle against Microsoft. Google wants to win more market share on the desktop of computer users and it wants to move computer applications from the desktop to the Internet.
Google has also recently filed a new patent that indicates that Google is working on a way to constantly monitor all of your actions in order to build personalized search queries.
According to the patent specification, Google aims to monitor whatever you type in your word processor, the things you copy to your clipboard, the position of your mouse, the content of your emails, instant messenger messages and more.
If Google has access to Sun’s free Open Office suite, it might be easier to do that. By gathering as much information about you as possible, Google can offer you personalized search results and – more important to Google – personalized ads.
What does this mean to you?
It seems that many of Google’s recent “free” applications mainly serve the purpose of gathering more data about you for Google so that Google can monetize that information for targeted ads.
If you use many different Google services, you share a lot of information with Google. It’s up to you to decide if you’re willing to exchange private information for “free” software and services.
This distribution partnership is probably only the start. It’s likely that we can expect a lot more from this alliance between these two online giants.
I saw a hit and run today.
I looked down for a second and when I looked back up, the lady in front of me was pulling out onto the main road when a guy in another car came out of nowhere right at her. My first thought before he smashed right into her was sort of an unemotional, “Whoa. That guy is going to hit her.”Right afterwards, “Damn. I’m going to be late to my meeting.” I felt a little guilty that I didn’t wonder if anyone was hurt first, which made me think about how desensitized we are to crazy things like this.
Next thing it was like, “Wait-a-minute! He’s not just pulling into the parking lot beside me, he’s taking off like a bat out of hell!” I tried to get his license number but failed. It was a white car. I’m sure that will help a lot. If life were anything like CSI, they’d catch him with any number of surveillance parking lot cameras and tire skid marks. This is real-life Fort Wayne, though, so he’s long gone and scott-free. Great, now I’m jaded too.
I pulled up beside the woman who got hit – only moderate damage to her car – and we rolled down our windows. As the people behind us honked their horns, I passed over my business card in case she needed a witness.
Desensitized and jaded, but I’m civic-minded. So, is that a start in the right direction or just the last thing I haven’t lost yet?
My laptop is alive. And it doesn’t want to be.
I’d always thought of my laptop as an inanimate tool until this morning. It all started two days ago when my brother and I ordered new Sony Vaio laptops to replace our almost four-year-old Vaios that are barely holding together. The *very* next morning after placing the order, I get to the office and take my laptop out of it’s bag. The LCD is broken. It’s still viewable, but it looks like a window with cracks spidering across the top third of the display. At the time, I figured Murphy’s Law – nothing mystical.
That was yesterday.
This morning, I picked up my case by the shoulder strap (just like *every* other morning for the past four years) and I heard the sound of zippers unzipping followed quickly by a loud crash behind me and felt a very sudden lightening sensation of my laptop bag. I turned around to see the laptop several feet behind me up against a wall with the battery compartment door another foot away and the battery spilled out onto the floor. I put it all back together and it still works, though the battery door seems a little less tight than it used to be.
Normally I’d say “dumb accident” but two days in a row?!? Immediately after ordering a replacement laptop?!? I’m a both-feet-on-the-ground kind of man, but I can’t help but believe my laptop is depressed that I’m leaving it for another, younger, processor and that it’s trying to commit suicide!
I’ve since removed the strap from my bag – so it can’t hang itself. I’ve updated my virus software – so it can’t poison itself. Tonight, I’m gathering together all the other house electronics and organizing an intervention. Chin up, little Sony… I’ll always be there for you!
Well… at least for another 5 to 10 business days with standard shipping.
I was at a birthday party with a bunch of eleven-year-olds this weekend.
3 girls took to calling me, “Mister Old Guy.” For example, “Mister Old Guy, you’ve got a lot of grey.” Real quote.
The birthday boy stopped me and said, “You know why I like you?”
“Why?”
“Because you look old…”
Argh.
“But you act like a kid.”
Hmm… Okay, I can take that. 🙂
Did you ever wonder, “How long would it take somebody to find me if…”
I returned upstairs at work after a small break and, as I rubbed sore spot on my head, asked my coworkers how long before I returned would anyone come looking for me?
Why do I think of such things? Well, I had to visit “the little boy’s room” which is downstairs at the far side of the warehouse. Women don’t have to worry about this next part, but men will know what I mean. Sometimes you lift the seat up by hooking it on the tip of your shoe and pushing it up and backwards – this way you don’t have to actually touch it. As I was doing this I was unbuckling my belt at the same time and – probably because I have the coordination of a garden gnome – I tripped a little sideways on my one grounded foot and the seat slipped off the tip of my other foot. With one foot up towards the toilet reservoir where the seat should have been, belt undone and working on the jeans button, I tried to get both feet back on the ground and catch the toilet seat. Throwing my hands forward from my now mostly open fly threw me even more off-balance and my airborne leg kicked the seat as it was already falling, sending it down at warp speed into the porcelain bowl with a resounding BOOM. My brain, more concerned about coming up with an explanation as to what the heck I was doing to create all this commotion when I walked out of the bathroom, didn’t seem to notice that at this point perhaps catching myself on the wall to stop from falling should have been priority. I did catch myself – with my head – hitting the wall with, not so much a resounding BOOM, but a loud THUD. I was surprised when I emerged that there was nobody in the warehouse to razz me about what exactly was going on with the BOOM and the THUD all alone in the commode.
I should have just quietly taken a couple of Advil and cheered for my intact dignity. Instead, morbidly wondering what would have happened had I knocked myself out and fallen headfirst into the tidy-bowl-blue, I asked the question at the beginning of this story.
To which, of course, my coworkers then asked, “Why exactly do you ask…?”
Luckily my job does not require a lot of dignity.
Yes, Part 3.
“S”, one of the girls in the office was telling me that “R” – the subject of Part 1 and Part 2 of our ongoing microwave story – was going to raid the freezer in our warehouse last week and bring some beefstick up for an office snack. She decided not to, however, because it would be too frozen to eat. “S” told her – seriously – that she should just put it into the microwave. We found out today that she never did it because after all of the microwave jokes, she just figured “S” was yanking her chain about using the microwave to thaw something.
When we told her that it was really okay to do that, she said, “In my defense, I only cook stuff in the microwave at home that’s already on the little buttons.”
I was curious what the dinner menu must be like…
Monday – BAKED POTATO
Tuesday – POPCORN
Wednesday – BAKED POTATO w/POPCORN
Thursday – leftover BAKED POTATO
Friday – POPCORN w/BAKED POTATO
Oh yeah, and of course…
Saturday & Sunday – FROZEN BEEFSTICK 😉
I’ve burned a few audio compilations to CD and have had trouble with the playback within a few months. I went looking for what might be wrong.
Here is what I’ve found:
(1)
I use cheap/bulk CD-R’s. Generally, they’ve always worked fine for burning a program to disc or backing up some data to disc. HOWEVER, these are the same ones that are having problems with playback when burned as audio CDs. The cheap/bulk CD-R’s leave the “foil” on the label side exposed. What does this mean? Well, if you scratch or damage it, it can become unusable. From my experience, audio CDs are even more susceptible. My guess is that you fit less data on an audio CD the way it writes it so a smaller “damaged” area affects more of the physical media. Also, I think that many of the audio players are less able to handle a damaged disk – especially older players.
(2)
WAIT-A-MINUTE! I put a really nice fancy label on my cheap CD and covered all the exposed “foil”. How did it get damaged? Well, it turns out that some of the adhesives in the labels MAY react with the foil and/or dye in the CD and cause problems. Also, a label not applied just right may affect the spin of the CD which can affect the ability to read the data on it. Another problem – especially with those of us who are anal about applying labels – is if you smooth out a bubble under the label, you could be compressing the media and causing damage in that area where you are applying pressure. I have personally had adhesive labeled CDs stop working. Was it because of this stuff? I don’t know, but why take chances – especially if you are giving a CD to someone else and they can’t just reburn it if/when it fails.
(3)
What about just using a marker? I’m not even going to mention ball-point pens. If you are labeling a CD with a ball-point (pressure) pen, then just turn off the internet and never come back again. You should use a felt-tip permanent marker. I guess you could use a non-permanent marker, but umm, what exactly would be the point? However, some solvents and types of inks can actually migrate through the disc surface and – you guessed it – damage the disc.
Geez. Perhaps the RIAA should just point out the futility of it all, eh? One should never even try making a mix CD (of their own music – I’m not looking to have my blog shut down by “the man”).
So, here is what I’m planning to do:
(1)
Continue using the cheap/bulk CDs for non-essential backups, transferring things from place to place, burning an install CD, and sending files to other people (where it then becomes THEIR responsibility to put it somewhere safe).
(2)
For audio CDs I’m going to use the ones that are precoated on the label side – like the ones that already have designs printed on them to look “cool”. Then I’m going to buy a CD safe marker and label them that way. I like the neat look of adhesive labels when I make a compilation and design the jewel case insert and label BUT I don’t want the expense of the labels if they are just going to increase the chance of the CD failing. Then I’ll just go ahead and design the jewel case which is probably going to get tossed aside anyway.
Some of the links I read:
Andy McFadden’s CD-Recordable FAQ (section 7 deals with media)
http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq.html
Understanding CD-R & CD-RW from the Optical Storage Technology Association (they sound impressive, eh?)
http://www.osta.org/technology/cdqa.htm
I’m sure there is a LOT more out there, but this has already taken up too much time this morning! Err… Afternoon now.
If you find this via Google or something – and actually read down this far – and know more than I do on the subject (a likely possibility) please leave me a comment with any additional info. Thanks!
I got a very nice complement at work when one of the girls downstairs asked her sister who works for us, “Doesn’t Scott look cute today?” It’s not like I’m The Elephant Man or anything but I was kinda surprised and a little embarrassed. All I can figure is that I was up early and instead of coming in with a day’s beard wearing my “Sarcasm is just one more free service I offer” t-shirt like most days, I shaved and for some reason threw on a mostly unwrinkled button-up with no picture. Complements are pretty cool, but damned if I just can’t help wondering how bad I must look the OTHER 364 days of the year! 😉
