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You can't move a couch with a Mini Cooper ... or can you?

 

Heh, I guess you can!

Don't try this at home.

 

greene v county of sonoma et al

Please read this article.

Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place—wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.

via kallen.typepad.com

I'll trust my friends over "the county" any day.

This is outrageous.

bad cabling 101

worst cabling idea yet

Some of you will think this is brilliant.  But if you have 'enough' foresight to buy these cables and you aren't willing to do the proper documentation of your work, just go home.

This is just saying to everyone on your team 'I'm ok with not doing it right the first time.'  And there's no room for you in Ops.

But I didn't have a box fan..

What do you do on a rainy day in San Francisco?  Make beef jerky!

I looked into doing this a while ago, though it seemed a bit expensive.  But last month I paid off my last credit card (the 0.0% offer ended) so I figured, what the heck!  Thank God I had the fan already!  You're looking at $25 worth of furnace filters and bungie cords and $34! in flank steak.  I don't know when flank steak got elevated to NY strip price, but WOW.

I used Alton Brown's recipe, but I didn't have a box fan and I wasn't going to buy one!  Ok, that's a lie.  Lowe's was out of box fans.  I guess that makes sense, who needs a box fan in Feb?  I just wasn't going to let that stop me.

According to the recipe it should be dried out by 8am. :)  It smells SO good in here now.

But the big question: should I share with my coworkers or not?  And if I did, would they eat it?? :D

Should I use the iTMS? (or where is the music?)

Recently my favorite auntie asked me how to get a song on her iPod.  The iTunes music store (iTMS) didn't offer the particular song she was looking for in a non-album form.  If she bought the entire album from the iTMS, she could get that track, but it wasn't offered separately.

Luckily for everyone, there are still many options available for (legally) expanding our music collection.  In this instance the Amazon music store had exactly what she was looking for.  (I also check eMusic when people ask me about obscure tracks, they have a HUGE jazz and classical section.)

I really like the Amazon music store.  All of the songs work in iTunes, iPods, AppleTVs, and just about every other music player, plus they are less expensive than the iTMS.  The iTMS only distributes AAC files.  They are quality files, but they aren't MP3s.  My car has an MP3 CD player (from the factory.)  If I build a mix in iTunes and burn it as an MP3 CD, it will exclude any non-MP3 songs.  This is bad if you mostly buy from the iTMS.  You can generally get about 100 songs on an MP3 CD.  While I generally have my iPod connected in the car, it's nice to have a couple of MP3 CDs in the car as well, for those all too common trips to the grocery store.  I guess the corollary to that is I hate the iTMS because they can only be played on iPods, in iTunes, etc.  (I hate being locked in, that's why I'll never buy anything Sony again (memory stick..))

When I go looking for new music I go everywhere.  When I decide to buy, the iTMS is my last resort because I want music to be encumbrance free.  I want it to play anywhere and everywhere.  Plus the Amazon music store is always (in my experience) cheaper than iTMS.  But you should always shop around.

Your next question is: What are you listening to now?  Well, it's Margo Reymundo.  For you Blue Collar Comedy fans, she's Ron White's latest fiance.  (Soon to be his 4th wife.)  She actually has a great voice.

Thanks for reading!

-Dave

Travelling with 9 volt batteries

When travelling with 9 volt batteries, put them in your pocket. This way you'll remember to put them in the tub as you pass security. All I can say is that it was NOT the TSA that tipped me off to this tip. Nope, not the TSA. They are prohibited from giving you tips. Why travel with 9 volt batteries? Someone out there makes an iPod charger that uses them.

USB AC outlet

 Yes please!  I just ordered myself a pair.

"Please also note that the USB ports only draw power when something is physically connected to the port. We didn't want a vampire port that continually sucks and wastes power when not in use so this was one of the features on the top of our priority list during the design phase."

I wish they were a standard Decora plate, but no matter.  Get your own here!

Thanks to Geek Brief #667 for pointing out this awesome .. gadget?

P.S. I orient my screw heads horizontally for a cleaner look, but that's just me.

Chevy Volt or a car with Gallardo lines?

I just got back from the SF Auto Show. In my opinion, the most exciting thing to come out of Detroit in the last 50 years is the Chevy Volt. I'm glad that they had one this year, last year they didn't. The series hybrid electric vehicle is, in my opinion, the way of the future. Hybrids have no range limitation, so you won't get stranded if your batteries run out. I also like that they might be able to swap engines (gas to hydrogen, diesel, etc.) Do series hybrids maintain their performance when the batteries run out? (References desired here.)

The Volt isn't perfect, and they aren't done yet, but it doesn't look like anything special. Keep in mind that the current pictures are of the concept vehicle. If it turns out like anything they've done before (I like to call concept vehicles bait and switch vehicles) it'll really turn out looking like a Malibu. Which will be greatly disappointing. It has already gone through at least one transformation.

People are confused by it. I stood by the Volt for a while today and I noted that many people saw it as an 'electric only vehicle, which means you can get stranded.' I don't know why, but Chevrolet insists on calling it an 'Extended Range Electric Vehicle' (let's not kid ourselves, it's a series hybrid.) This will undoubtedly hold it back in the market place.

Also on display was the Cadillac Converj. This has basically the same Voltec drivetrain as the Volt, but in a MUCH sexier body. This concept has lines that have been compared to a Lamborghini Gallardo.

The Volt is 'expected' to cost less than $40k, plus there is a $7500 tax credit. If the Converj was $60k it'd still be less than half of a Gallardo. And much less than the Tesla Roadster. Take the Volt, toss in a higher powered electric motor, a few extra batteries and then we'd have a performance vehicle! Even if the range was lowered to 30 miles, who cares, I can still get home.

In general, I think GM hasn't targeted the proper demographic. Tesla has proven that people who are excited about these kinds of cars are also excited about performance and style AND like to be seen as forward thinkers. If I'm looking for a car that gives me the lowest cost per mile, I probably drive a LOT of miles, more than 40 per day or 14,600 miles per year, as the Volt targets. If my usage is 100% linear, then it might work. But raise your hand if you enjoy road trips. 1,2,3,... yeah, that's what I thought. Almost ALL of us. If you're a traveling salesman, a Prius might just be your best bet. If you like to get out of town on the weekends, you might not want to do so in a Tesla.

For the rest of us, the Prius has been the only mass market vehicle that has broken the fuel efficiency and range barrier. It's the only vehicle today that says 'I care about the human interaction with the earth', pay no mind to the man behind the curtain. Hybrids are in their infancy, hummers are based on a century of 'doing it all the same way.' Tesla Motors does it another way, but with range limitations. An all electric vehicle might be your second car, but it likely won't be your only car.

So then the question becomes: Will any of you Prius owners jump the fence? And if so, do you want a Volt or a Converj? Pay no mind to the bad name.

Who are Prius owners? One study shows that they are (statistically) men, at least 40 years old, and make more than $100,000 per year. Also note they those are "people that traded down from a luxury vehicle, such as Audi A6, BMW X3 or Acura TL."

So, of you over 40, male, higher income geeks: Would you rather have something that looks like a Malibu or something that has more Gallardo like lines (for half the price)? Are you ready to get back into a luxury vehicle?

I know which one I want. Now let's see if they can overcome their urge to dumb down their concept cars. If GM is listening: KEEP THE EDGE. Also, give me a Converj to drive across the country and back and I'll blog about it daily.

just send me the form

The IRS sent me a 'Notice of Proposed Changes' to my 2007 tax bill. They were right, I screwed up my taxes, but why can't they send me a pre-filled out tax form BEFORE it's due? Sign here if you accept this tax form ___. Do you know how many people would just sign it? Masochists (like myself) will go in and 'correct' the form and whittle down the amount they owe. But if you give an incentive like 'no audits if you accept this amount.' That might just grab a few more people on board. Plus it would decrease the number of auditors that the IRS would need to employ. I think this is a win/win/win (unless your an auditor.) Ok, let me refine this a bit. By 'send me' I mean make available on their website. No use wasting all that postage. (Let's ignore the fact that the USPS needs all the help they can get these days.) In fact, you can have people sign up in advance. If you sign up, you don't get all those booklets and forms and crap in the mail. You get an email saying 'go here to review.' You always have the opportunity to send in your own forms, but they won't proactively send booklets to you. Saves even more postage. If you didn't sign up in advance, you can still file this way, and if you do, next year, no booklets sent. This probably needs (at least an initial) income limit. Maybe start with 1040EZ customers. This would lower the administrative overhead of the IRS and put more money in our coffers. We might also get better planning numbers out of it. At the very least, I'll be able to check to see if I've grossly missed anything that they were expecting to see. (And by *I'll* there I mean TurboTax.) Somehow I'm sure this dovetails into a flat tax, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

main blog

Just a link to my main blog: http://blog.toppledwagon.com/