Randomblings from Rich

Dear Jeff Bezos - Why Didn't You Say So?

2009-05-07T06:46:00.002-04:00

Why didn't you tell us this the first time? I bought a Kindle 1 and I love it. I take it with me on my commute and read the daily news on the way in while listening to some 'wake up' music. Why, just this morning I was trying to download my newspaper from a website that kept failing and eventually locked up my Kindle 1. I was so happy to be able to pop out my battery to reset the device (Had

The Electromagnetic Sphere

2009-04-24T07:39:00.005-04:00

I propose a hypothesis that IT workers are surrounded by an electro-magnetic sphere of influence that changes the behaviour in computers. It seems to me that somewhere between 25% and 50% of the time that someone calls me to their desk to help them with their computer, the problem is irreproducable. The business worker will step through the motions of what they did, not a moment before, and then

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2009-04-23T13:28:00.006-04:00

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31gli-y sgrd mfu vilN

2009-04-23T11:51:00.000-04:00

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2009-04-23T07:18:00.002-04:00

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Proof That the World Has Gone Mad

2009-04-15T10:59:00.002-04:00

Just seen on Digg,Spokane parks to detonate squirrels. Go ahead, go to the link and read it. Yes, they're blowing up ground squirrels to control their population. As in 'Blown Up, Sir!'. Bill Murray would be proud. The world, it has gone mad, and there is no turning back.

Why Lowering Transaction Costs is the Best Thing You Can Do

2009-04-01T11:03:00.003-04:00

Just some quick math/thinking - I was just thinking about wealth distribution, wealthy people and fair capitalism. By fair capitalism, I mean that it should be fair for someone to create something that everyone wanted, and receive fair compensation for the item when distributed to thousands and/or millions of customers. You get strange thoughts when you try to mix ideas of fairness (socialism)

Finished Book: Crime and Punishment

2009-03-12T12:47:00.003-04:00

I have just finished "Crime and Punishment" (Dostoyevsky - Project Gutenberg published translation) on my Kindle (version 1). This is probably the first 'classic' that I have read in a very, very long while. I must say that I am even perhaps a little bit impressed with myself at having stuck it out and finished it, but much of that credit certainly belongs to Dostoyevsky himself. I found the

Told you so....

2009-02-17T15:52:00.000-05:00

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1146503/DNA-left-crime-scene-used-create-picture-criminals-FACE-say-scientists.html

Time to buy a tin foil hat?

2008-12-11T19:14:00.003-05:00

This is unbelievable! Scientists have announced that they have been able to view images from the fMRI of a person's brain. While it may not be time for a tin-foil hat just yet, we need to reminds ourselves of just how quickly technology improves over time. One scientist stated that soon he'd likely be able to see the images in color. I can just imagine the possibilities for something like

Writing What You Mean - Reading What Was Written

2008-12-04T09:54:00.002-05:00

When I write a blog comment, an email, or a letter or written communication, I spend a lot of time writing, editing, modifying the words that I've used to ensure that they get across the intent that I meant. I saw a video today saying there are 540,000 words in the English language, 10x more than were available to the language in the time of Shakespeare. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Shakespeare,

Racism is an ugly disease

2008-11-16T15:21:00.003-05:00

Guess what's new again? Racism in America! It's ugly, it's stupid, it's based in falsehood and fear. Racism is one of the most toxic things in our society, and it has long been the time to put a stop to it. If you say, or do something racist, whether you be black, white, Indian or other, you should feel shame. Think about what you're doing. Is it something you would do in front of a

Proud Owner of a Kindle

2008-11-11T21:18:00.003-05:00

I am the proud owner of a new (used) Amazon Kindle. So far, I am impressed by its capabilities, its ease of use and its potential. I very much like the built in dictionary capability, as well as the search capability. Finding text in a book is extremely simple, and the keyboard is very easy to thumb-type with. The really nice thing is the built-in basic web browser which has made it very easy

Secret Excel 2007 Tip #2098126.23

2008-11-10T09:19:00.005-05:00

Using Excel, I had data that was presented as a percentage, but the source data was not output in decimal notation. Thus, 67.53% was in the original data as 67.53. I wished to graph a pivot table of this data, but didn't want to go through the extra steps to convert the data by dividing it by 100 and re-graphing it.When going in to the Axis Format and choosing Number, when I chose Percentage,

Why Consumers Aren't Buying

2008-11-09T19:51:00.002-05:00

Just a few suggestions as to why consumers (the ones that are left) aren't buying things. Perhaps those of us who still have our jobs don't have anything left to buy. There is absolutely nothing out on the market today that I need, apart from foodstuffs. HDTV? Got one, Blu-Ray player? Who needs it for $300, Computer? Sorry, my two year old laptop does everything I want or need at the moment

What would be nice...

2008-11-04T22:29:00.003-05:00

Here's one final hope for Congress. Why don't you try DE-regulating some of the stupid laws put into place by your former congressional sessions? Instead of concentrating on passing NEW laws that work for your goals, why not pay some attention to repealing stupid laws and old ideas that didn't work? How about aiming for lessening the regulatory stress of the federal government, and repeal some

Virginia doesn't even matter

2008-11-04T22:14:00.002-05:00

In the end, whether Virginia switches or not doesn't even matter. The race was close, and it looks like Barack Obama may carry the state, but with Ohio, it won't even matter. The nation now has it's 'Hope' candidate for President. It's going to be a long and grueling road for Mr. Obama. He's left with a mess of a country. It's going to take hard work, intelligence, compassion and some very

Back to 220 and a diet

2008-11-04T12:06:00.002-05:00

Ok, making it known that I have gained back all the weight I had lost, and I am now cutting myself off from 'diet' soda, coffee and other caffeine products (including candy). Public accountability has to be part of a diet plan. I am switching from Subway sandwiches to Subway salads for lunch, and will do my best to avoid non-complex carbs (sugars, pastas, etc.). Let's see what I can do about

Human Efficiency?

2008-10-29T10:04:00.004-04:00

Ran into an interesting link: 23.5 miles per gallonCreated by The Car ConnectionThis link leads to some other questions. Efficiency of the car is obviously higher because it can carry more and go faster..but what about carbon footprint? What is my output for the same mileage (or over the time frame it would take me to walk this far)? How expensive is a gallon of food/water compared to gasoline

Natural Language Processing

2008-10-29T09:01:00.003-04:00

'Pentagon!' - One word - that's normally all that is communicated between commuters each morning as they pick up riders for the HOV lanes here in Northern VA. With three riders, cars can use a special section of I-395 meant for high occupancy vehicles. It's a fast way to work and the process is known as 'slugging' here in the suburbs of our nation's capital.After the cry of 'Pentagon!' out the

Speed of Commerce Kills Big Box Stores

2008-10-25T16:47:00.003-04:00

The speed of commerce using the Internet just kills the price models at big box stores like Best Buy and Circuit City. Today I was shopping for an 8GB micro SD card to fit my new phone. Nothing like lots of storage for video and music to take with my on my commute. More space means fewer days organizing data once I watch and listen to everything on my small 2GB card. Any-who, I looked online

3GP videos on the AT&T Tilt (HTC 8925)

2008-10-21T21:51:00.002-04:00

Do you have an AT&T Tilt with Windows Mobile 6.1 on it? Are you trying to play your 3GP files on it? Are you frustrated by the million or so posts on the web about how to make it work properly? Do you feel you should just be able to download and install a codec or something to make it just WORK? Well, here's the answer:Download and install a special version of TCPMP made just for the Tilt.

What did Circuit City do wrong?

2008-10-20T17:55:00.002-04:00

Over on Ars, I read an article about Circuit City possibly closing stores. It got me to thinking about my own personal experiences with Circuit City. What did they do wrong? Why are they losing market share to Best Buy?The first thing that struck my mind is their trade dress. The colors for Circuit City are drab and dull. Even the red in their logo isn't bright and cheery. The font itself

Been Meaning to Write

2008-10-14T18:19:00.003-04:00

Ok - been meaning to write, so stream of conscience(sp? - whatever) may pop up here. Interesting, Google Chrome gave me a red underline while composing that word (in Edit HTML mode) but didn't bother to tell me HOW to spell it. I'm sure that it is now spelled right, but it could be a homynym for whatever I meant.I was out riding my bike (been a long time since I've done that, but it feels good)

What did YOU invent?

2008-09-16T22:16:00.002-04:00

So, let's see, Al Gore invented the Internet, John McCain invented the Blackberry. What have you invented today? If you were going to claim that you'd invented something, what would it be? Would it be technology related, or would it be something else with lasting effect on the world?I think that perhaps I'll claim that I invented the aglet, the plastic sleeve that encloses the end of the