"Murphy was an optimist!"
Bellsouth’s Privacy Director January 12, 2006 11:48 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, TechnologyGood information on Bellsouth’s Privacy Director I love the service but for about 2 months now I’ve had a recorded message trying to get me to talk to someone. Their poor system thinks someone is answering the phone but Privacy Director cuts them off before the recording identifies itself. No human ever calls. It’s laughable but they call everyday.
Privacy Director gives a recorded messages to callers that are anonymous asking that the caller identify themselves (much like you would with a collect call). The phone rings at the house and after listening to the brief recording I have 3 options: take the call, reject sales call (gives the caller a no solicitation message), or reject the call. It drastically cut down on phone solicitations!
add a commentHow cool! January 12, 2006 11:02 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeBlog Stats
There are currently 32 posts and 32 comments, contained within 32 categories.
Of course, this post messed that up. Numbers are so cool.
Protect your member only area January 12, 2006 10:57 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Programming, TechnologyProgrammers need to review this tech tip explaining how to use the FireFox User Agent Switcher extension to access member only areas of some websites. Effectively you simply add “Googlebot 2.1” to the description and user agent.
add a commentColdFusion on the rise! January 12, 2006 10:13 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Programming, TechnologyYes! ColdFusion jumps to position 16 in the TIOBE Programming Community Index for January 2006! In January 2005 it was position 25 which isn’t too shabby in my book.
see also these alternative CF servers: Railo, IgniteFusion and BlueDragon
add a commentThe Prejudice Map January 12, 2006 7:55 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeKim at Bacon and Eh’s points out The Prejudice Map summing up how people of the world are viewed. For example, this one is either for the United States or perhaps only New Mexico:
add a commentstrength
dislike of walking
geniality and hospitality
guarding their rights
anti-Muslim politics
National Delurking Week January 12, 2006 7:03 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : MeMe, Of Interest
Hello, hello, hello
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone at home?
Who needs cable when you have kids January 11, 2006 11:04 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Family, From the mouths of babes, Humor, VideoAmy toots her own horn 3.56MB avi – if I knew how to compress movies I would (I recommend you have your sound on for this one)
add a commentHabits Meme Redux January 11, 2006 10:55 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, MeMe, Of InterestMy wife enjoyed my Habits Meme so much that she’s asked for more.
Pocket Rules:
- If at all possible, I must carry two quarters, a nickle and a dime so that if I become bored I can balance the nickle vertically on a horizontal quarter; then the dime
horizontally on the edge of the nickle; and finally the remaining quarter horizontally on the dime. (click picture to enlarge) - Minimal “pocket stuff”: 2 pocket knives, 1 American Red Cross breathing dam for CPR, 2 sets of keys (1 for each car plus store discount cards etc), loose change (see #1), 1 handkerchief, 1 pen, 1 cell phone and 1 wallet. [I frequently make an effort to leave with only 1 pocket knife, wallet, cell phone and 1 set of keys. I rarely succeed.]
- The pocket knives and ARC equipment go in the front left pocket. If the cell phone cannot clip to a belt it also goes in the front left pocket. Loose change and keys in the front right. Handkerchief and pen in the back right. Wallet in the back left except in crowds when it is moved to the front left. Wallet and keys are removed when sitting down for long periods of time. Wallet and keys are always kept together because when I removed only the wallet I kept leaving the house without it.
- I prefer to have empty pockets so I used to carry a purse (a “man bag!”) which allowed me to carry more stuff including juggling balls, lock picks, kleenex, eye glasses, sunglasses, a pda, and a journal (just to name a few things). My wife didn’t like my man bag. I don’t have a purse anymore. Once I was denied service at K-Mart because I wouldn’t leave my purse at the customer service counter despite it being far smaller than most of the luggage the female customers were carrying. During the scene that ensued more than one woman approached customer service, unprompted, to offer their purses in order to point out the ridiculousness.
- I always pat down my pockets before leaving the house. Two pats to the front pockets; one pat to the back pockets. I can usually tell by feel and jingling if everything is in its place. I’ve been mistaken before and been uncomfortable without the missing item (usually the cell phone) even if it wasn’t needed.
There. Ammunition for my wife to decry OCD.
add a commentOf Grasshoppers January 11, 2006 10:33 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Grasshoppers, PhilosophyStudent: Lost
Master: Oh yeah!
Thermal-sensitive polymer January 11, 2006 3:49 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Gadgets, Technology“The secret? Thermal-sensitive polymer.” Just the sound of that is cool. I could think of so many uses for this material. These people made vases.
add a commentRaggy! Roomba Rooba Roo! January 11, 2006 1:10 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Gadgets, Technology
I wish I could have had a video camera! Molly was resting on the floor and the Roomba whirs over and bounces off her nose. She doesn’t flinch! Since her long nose is obviously new territory for the Roomba, it immediately kicks into “outline the perimeter mode” where it moves a little bit then rotates back into the barrier and repeats over and over. So here’s poor Molly trying to get a nap and this robot is noisily tracing her snout!
After about the 5th bump she nonchalantly raised her head and let it pass. If you have pets and are concerned your pet and Roomba won’t be friends, I’d put your fears to rest.
add a commentA peek at your next Windows OS – Vista January 11, 2006 10:11 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Software, TechnologyBent User highlights Windows Vista, Microsoft’s next major operating system release. Looks cool but hasn’t knocked me out of my chair yet.
add a commentBlogger comments now with your real name January 11, 2006 7:05 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : News, Of InterestBlogger, that horrible company which deleted my account without correspondence and which still refuses to answer my emails, doesn’t care about customer service but is very quick to cover their own butts. In answer to Mr. Bush’s further shredding of the Constitution, Blogger comments are now done with your display name instead of your Blogger alias.
1 comment so farNational Delurking Week January 11, 2006 6:27 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : MeMe, Of InterestI have turned off comment moderation to help encourage participation in National Delurking Week. So, let’s see how many readers were lost to the Blogger debacle in which my account and 2 years of drafts were deleted. I call out to you! Delurk! (comments from non-lurkers also encouraged)
Habits Meme January 11, 2006 5:54 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : MeMe, Of InterestIn two years of blogging, I think I’ve done one meme. Barry from the Inn of the Last Home has tagged me.
The “rules†indicate that I should add this portion of text so here you go; enjoy.
The first player of this game starts with the topic “five weird habits of yourself,†and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don’t forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says “You have been tagged†(assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.
My wife thought I may find this one rather challenging. She wondered how I could possibly choose only 5. I agree that I could list far more than 5 so I’m going to focus on the morning habits.
- I wake up chastising myself for sleeping [to long]. I used to wake by jolting from the bed to the center of the room into a fighting stance, often still not fully awake. My roommate in my first apartment found this quite amusing. I wake without an alarm clock usually within minutes of the time I told myself to wake up as I fell asleep. I can fall asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.
- I blow my nose first thing after waking whether I need to or not.
- After blowing my nose, I wipe my right nostril twice; then my left nostril twice; then my right nostril once. Despite my wife mimicing me I can’t stop the habit.
- I drink a half a pot of coffee everyday even if I don’t want the coffee. It used to be two pots a day then I quit cold turkey for a while. I only brew half a pot so that I can’t drink more without concerted effort. I choose my coffee mugs very particularly based on mood and the activity I’ll be doing while drinking.
- I put my right shoe on first. When I was 10 or 11 living in New Orleans with voodoo and superstition, I became convinced that it was bad luck to put your left shoe on before your right. Since then I have laughed off the superstition but never kicked the habit. Occasionally I put the left shoe on first but it is very intentionally going against the grain and often with the inner dialog of “I’m putting on my left shoe first just to show that it doesn’t always have to be the right shoe first.”
Ah! Now comes the tagging. I see there is a “5 weird things about me” meme going around that is similar to this habits meme. So KristyK is absolved.
And I tag: Mackee at Appalachistan, James of Puerilis, Philip of The Blue Sloth, (going on a limb here) Amanda Congdon of RocketBoom, and Juliepatchoulie.
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