Weather Maps

Checking the weather at weather.com is nothing new or groundbreaking, but recently the rain has been coming in downpours that seem hard to predict... until I saw this weather map!

It keeps updating with the next 5 minutes of data shortly after it has happened and shows you what might be moving your way on the horizon.  It does a hell of a lot better than their hourly projections which just give % chance of rain but no real indicator of what's imminent.  I now know that I can walk home in safety because there's no downpours on the horizon, unlike the major flood that happened just minutes ago.  Technology just keeps getting better.

Apple...lies?

Background for anyone not versed in Apple: Beginning with a patch that enabled 802.11n functionality on Macs and continuing with applications being made available for the ipod touch, Apple has claimed that their accounting practices forced them to charge for updates that added functionality to a product they had already sold.  The accounting practice allowed them to recognize income from a product sold immediately rather than over a useful life.  They similarly reason that because they receive a perpetual stream of income from iphones that they can provide updates to that hardware for free.

Now the lie.  They have just updated the ipod touch to allow me to download podcasts directly from my ipod, rather than through itunes on my computer.  They have added functionality and for once have not charged me.  It is obvious that they consider this an added functionality because they blocked another software company from making a similar application available in the itunes application store.  So how do they justify this position?  They don't, because they don't ever have to justify their positions.  Oh well, I guess I'll just be satisfied with the earlier lies and take my functionality for free this one time.

Stupid Passwords

Everyone knows that passwords are getting ridiculous, and there are 101 solutions from the basic web browser remember most of your passwords to the password protected word document to dedicated programs that store your passwords.  What I'd like is if every page that had some convoluted password requirement would just tell you what it was from the start.  8 characters? Needs a symbol #@!*$? Can't start or end with a number?!?  Just give me a clue and maybe I can provide the right password for the occasion without being bothered with the "Forgot my Password" link.

After trying twice at Verizon, I clicked the link, answered the questions, was prompted to change my password where I was finally told the rules for said password, and changed it to exactly the same password it was before.  Had I known the rule this process would have never happened.

Now if this was anything like my work computer that would then tell me I couldn't reuse a password I already used I'd promptly put my fist through my monitor, but luckily things didn't get that ugly.  Still, a little help would be nice.

Halloween Candy

Guess how many nerds are in the small Halloween box...  highlight the answer(s) below (i will be running tests until the office supply runs out):

241
211
275
155 (it seems orange is a ripoff!)

Credit Card Debt

"A quarter of consumers polled in a Standard & Poor's survey released Oct. 15 said they're at or near the limits on their primary credit card, and 20 percent said they're approaching the limit on their secondary cards."


Wow... just wow.

Make History Tomorrow

That's the headline of an e-mail I got today, with sincere appreciation from John McCain.

With that in mind and not getting all political, when I clicked on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the e-mail these were my following choices:

I am a McCain Supporter but don't wish to be contacted until closer to the election.
I am a McCain Supporter but I am receiving too many emails. Please only send me newsletters and urgent alerts.
I am a McCain Supporter but do not wish to receive email any longer.
I am no longer a McCain Supporter and want to be taken off the email list.

I'm having a tough time hitting the unsubscribe button because no matter what is says that I was at some point a McCain supporter and I'm terrified by that notion.  Damn they're tricky!

Government Screw-up - Election Edition

I feel compelled to rant about Los Angeles County and their pitiful job at handling the election/registration/voting by mail.  I will accept a modicum of guilt in that in theory I could have registered and applied to vote by mail as soon as I moved, rather than waiting until the deadline, but regardless, I met the deadline and so far they haven't.

What bothers me is that they set a deadline which in theory would suggest that they were capable of handling their responsibilities for all entries before this deadline.  For the option to vote by mail, the deadline was 7 days before the election.  So 8 days before the election I went online and registered to vote by mail so I was expecting my election materials to arrive sometime last week.  After getting nothing I checked the web for details and found out that they sent their last batch of vote by mail materials on Friday, 10/31 and "should be aware that there is likely not sufficient time to return them by mail."  Thanks LA, that was the whole point and now it's not possible.  Good job!

(and as a side note, the fact that voting by mail requires postage is total and complete BS.  If we have a right to vote then the one thing the post office as a government agency should be able to pick up for free is a damn ballot.  Imagine the homeless person who can write the street corner they live on to get a ballot delivered to them and they have to pay 42 cents to send that in.  Very stupid!)