American Ethnic Geography

Found this interesting site via Boing Boing this morning. What I found educational to me were the several 'Map Galleries' in the middle of the page. Graphical representaions of several social/economic/cultural/religious indicators laid out on county maps of the United States. Some results are obvious (high Cuban population in Miami-Dade county), but others were new to me (large percentage of Lutherans in the northern Midwest).

Overall, fun to browse through.

Quest for Better Mobile Email

My boss recently traded her Cingular Treo 600 in for a Alltel Treo 650. It's not the carrier I would have chosen, but we are limited by our University in what carriers we can choose.

Overall she likes the device, and since she was already a Treo user/fan, there was little or no learning curve. However, as most Treo 650 users are aware, the Achilles heel of that device is the built in mail app, Versamail. Overall, it's adequate, but in many ways, it sucks. She also expressed that she liked the way our Business Director's Blackberry got email instantly, rather than having to manually check the server with Versamail.

Ah, the need for push email.

As a result of this request, I've installed Chatter Email (www.chatteremail.com) on my Sprint Treo 650 as a way to test it out and see if it will meet our needs. So far, I'm impressed. I do have several reservations about the product, most notably in how it's going to impact my battery life. We use an IMAP mail server in our office, which supports the IDLE command, which allows Chatter to operate in a true 'push mode'.

It's pretty nice, and a heck of a lot simple to implement than a Blackberry/Exchange set up.

I'll post my complete impressions of the product here in the coming days as I evaluate it more.

Widgets are Cool

Somehow, someway, I got a subscription to PC Magazine (I suspect it came with an order I put it to Newegg last year). No matter how it happened, I've been enjoying it. I used to subscribe for years, but eventually dropped it in favor of this little thing called 'the internet'. Now I realize how nice it is to get interesting PC info dropped in my lap twice a month without me having to hunt for it.

As a prime example, the last issue was the 'Utility Roundup'. It had a bunch of things designed to make your computing life easier, and I saw a few items that I wanted to check out in more detail. Once of these was Yahoo Widgets. It's a collection of 'widgets' for your desktop that are useful, fun, and nice to look at. I can tell that the search for newer and better widgets is going to be an ongoing obsession for a while.

Check it out.

Hello. I am an American, and apparently, I'm stupid. Or a sheep.

Thanks to the uninformed masses concentrating on things that aren't important, the Dubai Port World deal has been 'modified'. They will turn over control of the six U.S. ports to a 'U.S. concern'. I have no idea what that means, and frankly I don't care.

I need to understand how it is that the American people can get so worked up over this issue, yet completely ignore things that will actually impact their lives. If folks would get this hot and bothered over warrentless wiretaps, the Patriot Act, and dumb-as-nails foreign policy I doubt those issues would survive. Instead, the sheep of American take the media line, and get worked up over what exactly? Who pays the longshoremen? The logo on a building? The Dubai Ports World detail would have had a negligible impact on port security - it's abysmal even without an Middle Eastern Company controlling terminal contracts - yet everyone reacted as if we were giving Osama Bin Laden a free pass to import anything he wanted.

Hey! Wake the fuck up! I supposed everyone forgot about the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Coast Guard. Not a great endorsement of public confidence in those agencies, eh?

I can easily see why President Bush was taken off guard on this one. It's a non-starter, a throw away, a non-issue. But Democrats need an issue, any issue (or non-issue) that they can whip into a froth and then claim that they are "tougher on terrorism" than the GOP. Partisan politics at it's best. Republicans got on board the protest once their offices started getting deluged with e-mail, phone calls, and letters from their constituents - you know, the people who elect them.

It boggles my mind. Really.

From the "Need Another Mideast Problem" Department

There are reports coming out that indicate that Iran is designing, manufacturing, and smuggling effective IED's into Iraq for use against U.S. troops.

This is bad. With a confrontation brewing over Iran's fledgling nuclear program, it appears that they are finding ways to strike at American troops without a direct confrontation. I do not want to see an armed conflcit with Iran, but it may come to that in the future. The question will become, "are we capable of fighting Iran while still in Iraq and Afganistan?" I can't answer that, but I will be following these issues more closely.

The Magic Kingdom. Best. Visit. Ever.

My wife and I have been Disney fans for years. As corny as it may sound, we honeymooned at Disney World in Orlando, and we had a great time. We typically go at least once a year, and as we had kids it gained another level of enjoyment. I've never had a bad time in any Disney park or property, but last weekend was possibly the best ever.

We headed down to my folks on Friday afternoon, after picking my son up from school. My parents live about an hour from Disney, so we were planning on staying with them, and then all of us would go to the Magic Kingdom on Saturday. We were starting the day with breakfast at Cinderella's castle, which my daughter had been looking forward to for three months.

We got to the park very early; in fact we were the first car in the parking lot. Literally. As I was getting the stroller out of the back of the minivan, and thinking that wearing shorts was a bonehead move (it was about 55 degrees at the time), another family pulled up. A girl got out of the van and asked if there was better parking. Looking at the Transportaion and Ticket Center only 50 yards away, I chuckled and replied that this was as good as you are ever going to get. In your whole life. Trust me.

Breakfast was awesome, complete with live Princesses, which of course made my daughter's decade. She's three and completely entranced with all the Disney Princesses and getting to meet the 'real' Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle was a real treat. My son probably couldn't have cared less, but they gave him a plastic sword. To keep. Boredom issue solved.

When we got out of breakfast, the park had just opened, and we were already in the middle of it. We enjoyed a couple of hours of almost no crowds, and it was wonderful. We walked onto to Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear (twice) and the Indy Speedway with almost no wait. It was great.

Space Mountain was a great moment.

My son has never shown any interest in roller coasters. He's five (and a half) and decided this time that he wanted to try it. I held my breath (not the whole time, I would have passed out) and took him. He, my wife, my Dad, and myself walked into Space Mountain, through the empty queues, and onto the ride. He didn't have time to change his mind, which was probably a good thing.

I'd like to take a minute to say that Disney has restored the glorious *darkness* of Space Mountain. When I was younger, riding Space Mountain was like riding a roller coaster blindfolded. Part of the thrill, hell, most of the thrill, was the fact the you had no idea what was coming next. At some point, Disney screwed the pooch and lightened up the ride. You could see the track in front of you, and you had an inkling where it was going. Since the ride itself is tame compared to other coasters, it spoiled the effect some.

So, when we finished the initial climb last Saturday and hurtled into comparative blackness, the realization that they had restored the ride to inky darkness again made me laugh with glee... until I remembered that my five year old in the seat in front of me has occasional issues with the dark.

Shit.

Oh well, nothing to be done now, right? I reached over his seat back and grabbed his shoulder, and tried to listen for his screams of terror over the laughter and bedlam that is a typical roller coaster ride. About halfway through, I realized he was laughing and screaming, in other words, he was having fun.

When we got off, I asked him how he liked it.

"Awesome!"

"Do you want to ride it again?" After all, opportunities to walk onto Space Mountain are rare, and the Disney veteran in me was screaming to get back in line.

"Uh. No."

So we moved on. No harm done and I was secretly proud that he had taken it so well. I was also thrilled that Disney came to its senses all these years later and returned Space Mountain to it's proper lighting level.

Later in the day, we worked our way around the park to Tom Sawyer's Island. This place bores my wife to death, but my son has realized its huge un-politically correct potential (forts, caves, guns, and cannon!) and was thoroughly enjoying running around unfettered and armed (remember the plastic sword?). We got to the fort, and as we were standing in the ramparts, shooting fake rifles (complete with great sound effects) at real trees, we see the Thunder Mountain Railroad sweep by across the river.

"What was that train, Daddy?"

"That's the Thunder Mountain Railroad. It's a roller coaster."

"Can we ride that?"

That's my boy. "You bet we can."

A trip to the Fastpass machine, and a Mickey Ice Cream Bar later, and we were climbing into Thunder Mountain. Three minutes later, my son was hooked.

"That was awesome! Can we ride it again? Please!"

Thanks to his grandmother not wanting to ride, and his sister being too short, we had two more Fastpasses. That enabled he and his mother to virtually walk straight back on and ride it again. I think he enjoyed it even more the second time. In fact, I think he would have ridden all afternoon had we been able to. He had to settle for two more rides that evening once we got more Fastpasses.

So my son loved Thunder Mountain, and at least enjoyed Space Mountain. I couldn't get him on Splash Mountain - he didn't want to get wet. My daughter got to meet Princesses and ride all her rides and by the time we left the park twelve hours after arriving, they were both dead tired. But I could tell it was that I-had-the-best-day-evar! kind of tired.

Which just made my wife and I smile all the more.

HDTV, digital cable, Blu-Ray, and my pressing need for... what exactly?

In the past couple of weeks, I've started doing research into HDTV, LCD TV's, plasma TV's, digital cable, and other shiny(!) technologies. For a huge amount of money, I can get a new flat screen TV, digital cable, and new DVD player... and have absolutely nothing that I want. My biggest problem, hands down, is the fact that I do not want to pay $80+ per month for digital cable with HDTV server. Add in the fact that HDTV and my TiVo aren't going to get along very well until the Series 3 TiVo's come out (another pile of cash, I'm sure) and it's just another reason to not upgrade.

This whole scenario can be summed up as: I'm unimpressed.

TiVo is TV to me now. Not just a digital video recorder - TiVo. I've gotten very accustomed to my TiVo setup, complete with TiVoToGo, TV on my Treo thanks to TVHarmony, TiVo in my bedroom thanks to Radio Shack, and archiving to DVD. These features are more important to me than 1080p resolution, or just about anything else. I want my TV, my way. Whenever and wherever.

I could get digital cable now, without HDTV, and could even splurge on a flat screen TV in either LCD or plasma. However, I'd have to install a cable box - and I hate set-top boxes. Once again, TiVo Series 3, with its built in CableCard and HDTV tuners will eliminate the need for a cable box, but that is still months away, and won't be cheap.

I think that's the crux of my complaint - none of this is going to be simple or cheap. And I feel it's all unnecessary. What happens to my perfectly good analog 27in. TV in my den in 2009 when HDTV becomes the standard? I'll probably have to have a set top box to convert the digital signal to something the TV can use - and did I mention that I hate set top boxes?

And I haven't even started on Hi Def DVD players, be it Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Manufacturers have announced that retail Blu-Ray DVD's will sell for $29.99 for some titles and $39.99 for premium new release titles. What? $40 for a freaking movie? That is totally ridiculous. And how long before I'll have to buy a new DVD player? And what about the three I have now?

All in all, I'm frustrated by the evolution of home entertainment. I feel it's 'progress' for the sake of profit alone - in other words, a way to soak the consumer for every dollar the manufacturers and media companies can get.

And one day, I'll probably buy in. Damnit.

A Fine Example

In the years since 9/11, a war has been raging in this country. Not against terrorism, or drugs, or... Iraq. Those things have been happening, but the war I'm referring to is the ongoing war the Bush administration is waging against my rights to privacy and other civil liberties. This slow and inexorable assault has included warrantless wiretaps, the Patriot Act and the Bank Privacy Act.

Cloaked in the guise of 'national security', a Rhode Island man had $6,522 that he sent to a credit card company held up because the payment was out of the ordinary. This action was taken by the credit card company under the provisions of the Bank Privacy Act, and occurred simply because the payment was much higher than the amount the man normally paid on his account. I can only assume that the action was taken because the transaction looked like money laundering.

I understand that money laundering is a crime, and that it could be used to support terrorism. Fine. Got it. However, the fact that banks and credit card companies are acting as surveillance proxies for the U.S. Government bothers me.

Is the illusion of increased national security worth the price we pay in privacy and freedom? I think not, but I'm not in charge. I guess all I can do is vote.

Gmail as a Time Tracking/Invoicing Tool

I do a bit of consulting work on the side. One of my biggest administrative headaches has always been tracking time and invoicing accurately. It never failed, the end of the month would roll around, and I would spend hours figuring out how much to bill to whom. Not a great way to run a business.

I tried several systems to track my time, but they all failed me in one particular aspect - portability. I needed to be able to enter time, as I worked it, from wherever I was at that moment. Timely (no pun intended) entry of data was the only way that I found I was ever accurate in my record keeping. I tried several online systems, and while very full featured, they still required a working browser and web connection. I tried an Excel document that I kept synced to my Treo using DocumentsToGo, and while that was very, very close, the entry interface on a tiny 320x320 screen left a lot to be desired.

Last month, I stumbled across an idea that I think is perfect: Gmail. I'm a huge Gmail fan, and was a pretty early adopter. I sent myself an invite (I still have 97 left) and created a new Gmail account called 'youwishiputmyaddresshere.time@gmail.com'. Now when I finish a billable item, I send an email to that address with the pertinent info in the subject line, such as, "My Client - 1.25 hours - Email Troubleshooting". If I feel the need, I can expand on that in the body of the email, but that's pretty much all I need. The message automatically has a date and timestamp, so no need to record that. At the end of the month, I go into my 'time' Gmail account, and there are all my entries. I can search for a specific client since I use consistent abbreviations for them all, and once I've transferred the time to an invoice, I can archive the messages.

Personally, it's perfect. And free. I no longer have any excuse for not tracking my time, since I can send email from just about anywhere, thanks to my Treo. If you have need of something like this, I strongly suggest you try it before spending time and money on solutions that you may not need.

More Guild Wars

As a big fan of Guild Wars, I'm looking forward to the new expansion, Guild Wars: Factions, due out this spring. This Gamespot article has a general overview of the new continent we will be able to explore. Pretty cool.

I am curious how this will work with existing characters. By the time Factions is available, my Ranger should be maxed at 20th level. The article mentions that we'll be able to move characters from the original game to the expansion, but it also states you don't need the original to play. My concern is that will the adventures be geared toward lower level characters, or toward the high end?

The Ports, The U.A.E, and the U.S. Government

A Dubai based, United Arab Emirates government owned company called Dubai Ports World is set to purchase the British firm Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. That British firm currently operates major commercial operations at six major U.S. ports, including Miami, Baltimore, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. The Bush Administration has approved this action, even though it would give a MIddle Eastern country a controlling interest in some of our businest ports.

Add to that decision the known fact that U.S. Ports are one of our most vulnerable security areas, and you have a recipe for... drama in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. Senators and Representatives from both sides of the aisle, as well as two govorners - Pataki from NY and Ehrlich from MD - are voicing concerns over this transaction.

Ehrlich, concerned about security at the Port of Baltimore, said Monday he was "very troubled" that Maryland officials got no advance notice before the Bush administration approved the Arab company's takeover of the operations at the six ports.

You should note that I have called this a recipe for drama. Not disaster, as some reports are making this out to be.

I'm confused as to what the issue is here, but my cynical side is pretty sure it's got the problem nailed down. Simply put, our government is apparently afraid of all folks from that part of the world. In news reports on NPR, as well as the AP newswire, the biggest concern listed is that two of the 9/11 hijackers were from the United Arab Emirates. Huh? What has that got to do with anything?

To that concern, I'd like to bar Mr. Pataki from having anything to do with his ports, because one of the Oklahoma City bombers (McVeigh) was from upstate New York. That's valid right? Right?

We live in a global economy. And frankly, I can't see how the resistance to this action is anything but a knee-jerk, fearful reaction. This is exactly the kind of behavior that breeds anti-Americanism and resentment around the world.

Yeah, I'm back.

So I took a break. :) It wasn't planned, but it happened. I should start to ease back in this as I scratch the need to write. I've got some updates on paintball, blogging in general, and other stuff.

New Google Desktop Features?

Can't say that I'm too keen on some of the new features of Google Desktop. The new 'Search Across Computers' feature allows users to search for certain file types across mulitple computers. While this may be very convenient for folks like myself who routinely use multiple computers, I'm not keen on the idea of my documents being stored on Google's servers.

In order to share your indexed files between your computers, we first copy this content to Google Desktop servers located at Google. This is necessary, for example, if one of your computers is turned off or otherwise offline when new or updated items are indexed on another of your machines.

The EFF is particularly concerned about the possiblity that law enforcement could subpoena information stored on those servers. This would, in effect, allow the government to access data that would normally require a search warrant to obtain.

I'm not an overly paranoid person, but I'm not thirlled about the general direction the state of personal liberties and protections are headed in our country. While this does not necessarily fall into that category; disabling this feature, or abstaining from the use of Google Desktop does represent a simple step that the private citizen can do to protect themselves.

Ah, the Holidays

I like this time of year, really, I do. What I don't like is the constant and increasing capitalistic pressures. I don't want it to be Christmas for six weeks - that kinds spoils the effect.

I'm going to refrain from a further rant on this subject, for fear of being called 'Grinch'.

In other news, my new PC is running great, my son and I are going camping in a few days, and my job has given my two weeks off for the holidays. Not a bad situation, to be sure. My wife has been travelling a lot, and with that, work, and other projects, I've had little time to blog. I'll try to get some decent writing done over the Christmas break, and things should settle back into a routine after the New Year.

In the meantime, I wish everyone peace, grace, and happiness.

Shiny!

Well, I've ordered a new PC to replace my old system (which recently gave an audible gasp and then died). The parts will start trickling in over the next few days, and I should have it assembled and running by early next week. I decided to build my own again, rather then buying a new Dell, simply because I can get way more PC for the money that way. I'm looking to the future on this purchase, and should have enough horsepower and storage to keep me in the mainstream for three years or so.

I skipped on some stuff, but the motherboard will support upgrades as we move down the line, including dual core processors and SATA RAID setups.

I'll post here once things start to get assembled and tested.