Reality Me

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  • R.I.P. MyBlogLog

    In case you haven’t heard, Yahoo (in true Yahoo form), is shutting down MyBlogLog. The official email arrived today:

    Dear MyBlogLog Customer,

    You have been identified as a customer of Yahoo! MyBlogLog. We will officially discontinue Yahoo! MyBlogLog effective May 24, 2011. Your agreement with Yahoo!, to the extent that it applies to the Yahoo! MyBlogLog, will terminate on May 24, 2011.

    After May 24, 2011 your credit card will no longer be charged for premium services on MyBlogLog. We will refund you the unused portion of your subscription, if any. The refund will appear as a credit via the billing method we have on file for you. To make sure that your billing information is correct and up to date, visit https://billing.yahoo.com.

    Questions?
    If you have questions about these changes, please visit the Yahoo! MyBlogLog help pages.

    We thank you for being a customer on Yahoo! MyBlogLog.

    Sincerely,

    The Yahoo! My BlogLog Team

    Yahoo suggests switching to Pulse.

    MyBlogLog will no longer be in service from 24 May 2011. We recommend Yahoo! Pulse as a service for you to see all your social updates from your favorite networks in one place.

    With Yahoo! Pulse, you can create your own identity on Yahoo! and you can easily connect and engage with the people, content, and applications that matter to you, wherever you are on Yahoo!.

    Here’s hoping that if I ever have a successful Internet company that Yahoo never buys it.

  • When religions die, do they go to Heaven?

    Interesting.

    Using census data going back a century, a team of mathematicians have created a model showing that, according to them, "religion will all but vanish eventually from nine Western-style democracies" – Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Switzerland and . . . drum roll . . . Ireland.

    [Source, CNN, Organized religion ‘will be driven toward extinction’ in 9 countries, experts predict]

  • And I thought I’d seen the whole Internet

    Pole dancing for Jesus (it’s a news report so it’s safe for work):

    Pole Dancing For Jesus – Watch more Funny Videos

  • Word of the Day

    Blindsided

  • From the mouths of babes

    Me: "Whoa!"
    Amy: "What was that?"
    Me: "I almost fell off the roof."
    Amy, calmly: "Well, that wouldn’t be good. We don’t want a broken finger AND a broken leg."

  • Canada apologizes to the United States

  • Upgrading my dev server

    As a web application developer, I have a development server in the house. It’s been running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS…let’s be straight..Ubuntu Desktop 8.04 converted to also be a server and highly customized. Last night, I boldly decided to upgrade directly from Ubuntu 8.04 to Ubunto 10.04 LTS. My original plan had been to bring in new hardware and create an entirely new server from scratch. Here’s hoping this goes well. Hold onto your socks!

    Update: This went without a hitch.

  • How America can jump start the real estate market

    Learn to sell!

    Thank you Roger Ebert!

  • Japan’s radiation has arrived in California

    The nuclear disaster in Japan has increased from a 4 to 5 on a scale of 1 to 7.

    These are categories on the International Nuclear and Radiological Events Scale (INES), which runs from zero (nothing happened, essentially) to seven, a "major accident".

    So far, Chernobyl is the only seven-rated incident in nuclear history.

    Level five is defined as an "accident with wider consequences".

    [Source, BBC News Science & Environment, Japan raises nuclear alert level]

    Three Mile Island was also a level 5 incident. Now the radiation has reached the United States.

    [1:39 p.m. ET Friday, 2:39 a.m. Saturday in Tokyo] Monitors in Sacramento, California, have detected a small amount of radioactive material from the earthquake-struck nuclear power plant in Japan, an official with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization said. The exact amounts were not available, but were far less than what would be considered harmful to human health, the official said.

    [Source, CNN, Japan quake live blog: Small amount of radiation reaches California, official says]

    Before you put on your tinfoil hats (and remember, mine is shinier than yours), and cover your testicles in aluminum foil, re-read the sentence that the radiation is "far less than what would be considered harmful to human health."

    Update: Another doctor cautions against over-reaction:

    "I think the biggest health impact is the psychological impact," said Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. "Anytime people hear ‘radiation’ it evokes a level of fear that is disproportionate to the threat."

    [Source, The New York Times, For Radiation, the Alarm Bells Are Boxes]

  • I love technology. However…

    I find this commercial disturbing.

  • Ministry of Truth to be created in California

    A California corporation has been awarded has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom) to build the Ministry of Truth. "The project has been likened by web experts to China’s attempts to control and restrict free speech on the internet."

    The Centcom contract stipulates that each fake online persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 US-based controllers should be able to operate false identities from their workstations "without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries".

    [Source, guardian.co.uk, Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media]

    Now, before you grab your tinfoil hat (and mine is shinier than yours), note that "said none of the interventions would be in English, as it would be unlawful to ‘address US audiences’ with such technology"

    …any English-language use of social media by Centcom was always clearly attributed. The languages in which the interventions are conducted include Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto.

    In his evidence to the Senate committee, Gen Mattis said: "OEV seeks to disrupt recruitment and training of suicide bombers; deny safe havens for our adversaries; and counter extremist ideology and propaganda." He added that Centcom was working with “our coalition partners” to develop new techniques and tactics the US could use "to counter the adversary in the cyber domain".

    [Source, guardian.co.uk, Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media]

    See also: Inspector General – Information Operations Contracts in Iraq page 9, Operation Earnest Voice (OEV) – online engagement, The man behind Operation Earnest Voice, and Operation Earnest Voice Part III.

  • 1000 words – checking for radiation

    Checking the Radio Activity???????????

    If you aren’t following what is happening in Japan and Fukushima, you should be.

  • Dear Starbucks, we have an issue…

    Recently, Starbucks introduced its iPhone app which allows you to associate a Starbucks gift card with the phone and a credit card with the application. When I make a purchase from Starbucks, I simply show them the QR Code (bar code) on the phone and I’m done. Plus I get bonuses like a free drink after so many uses. I can also put more money on the application with a couple of taps of the screen. Almost too easy. And I get annoyed. That’s right ANNOYED!

    See, your wonderful application has made it easier than ever for me to spend money at Starbucks. I calculate my expenditure at Starbucks since installing the iPhone app has quadrupled. Where do I get annoyed? It’s your employees. You’ve made it incredibly easy, and almost fun, to make purchases at Starbucks and your employees kill it when I try to hand them my phone and they utter, "I’m sorry. I’m not allowed to touch your phone." Well yes they are. Because I have given them permission and I speak those words, "I give you permission to take my phone." In short, that means I assume liability. If they drop my phone in a sink of soapy water, it’s my fault.

    Watching a barista do acrobatics out the drive through window to stretch a scanner beyond the length of its cord because they won’t take my phone in their hand is absurd. To tell me I have to come inside to use the application is counter productive. But, since this seems to be such an issue, I now avoid your drive through which means sometimes I avoid your business altogether. That’s right. You created an application that dramatically increased my business with you. But you are quickly creating an employee culture that is driving me away.

    Dear Starbucks, I ask you to do something simple. Tell your staff that if I give them permission to take my phone, they can. And if you really need to cover your ass, just put a sign by the register and at the drive through window that reads "Starbucks cannot be held liable for damage to your phone if you hand it to our employees" then have your employees ask, "Do I have permission to hold your phone?" Thanks!

    Update: If I accidentally leave my phone on the counter, does this policy mean that management won’t touch it? Or do they pick it up and put it in a lost and found?

  • From the mouths of babes

    Evan, 5 years old, has religious debate: "It’s kinda weird."
    Amy, 8 years old: "What do you mean?"
    Evan: "Well, Jesus. How did he create himself?"

  • The Internet has nothing left for me

    I’ve now seen it all.

    Btw, according to this comment, the scuba gear cost $20,000.

    I’m a cat lover, and if you’ve ever seen an extended clip, you’d know that this guy? spent $20,000 on the kitty scuba gear. Now I can’t imagine burning that kind of cash on something so… silly, but he did it because Hawkeye really loves the water. I think this is more a case of a ridiculously pampered pet rather than animal abuse (though I could rescue a whole bunch of cats with $20,000…) [Source

    Well there is this.