Mostly about my amusement

Month: December 2008 (page 2 of 2)

Monster Cable has got to be kidding

Just read this on Consumerist. This is a Monster Cable web site http://www.monstercable.com/monster_truth/ about the Monster Mini Golf lawsuit. From Monster Cable’s point of view.

It’s a pretty pathetic read. They sued another company in another area of business because they used the word Monster in their business name. That’s it, it’s about over aggressive trademark protection.

I once bought a set of Monster cables and considered myself gouged.  Now if I need an HDMI cable, I look for one that is less than $20.  I’ve had both and I do not see a difference. The fact that they sue other companies doesn’t really make me inclined to buy another product from them again.

Cold called by FindToto.org?

I don’t like getting calls from strangers.  I’m on the national do not call list for that reason, and whenever the “We’re taking a survey” creeps call I give them the short spiel:

Them: Hello, we’re taking a survey and not soliciting anything –

Me: Remove my number from your list and never call me again. Goodbye and have a nice day.

And then I hang up.  I don’t know if it really works but I get less and less calls.

Robo-calling is pathetic.  When you get a call from a system, they intentionally leave out anyway to get off their list. Politicians use robo-calling and I think that is the worst thing I can say about that.

I just got a call from FindToto.org.  Apparently one of my neighbors lost a beige chihuahua and is using this service to find their dog.  I’ve had pets so I can sympathize but I don’t have to like it.

FindToto.org uses a service called Call-em-All. While tracking down lost pets is admirable, FindToto.org does not do that; they annoy neighbors. I went to that web site and opt-ed out.

Call-em-All’s name sounds like a problem right there.  If people don’t like getting calls from strangers, how exactly will they feel about getting an automated call without an easy non-Internet connected way to make it stop? It’s all automated so how is this not a problem for people like me who are registered with the DNC list?

Sigh, I’m in the technology business but some business ideas should have been put down in it’s infancy.

The Christmas tree is up

2008-xmas-tree

We used the old tree; no one really liked the 2007 tree. Last year’s tree was pre-lit and many of the lights went out.  This one has about 20 strings of lights on it! When it gets cold it can heat up as room 🙂

I put up the branches and the lights.  Mom and the kids started putting on the decorations and then Alek came and helped finish off the tree. It’s good and the whole house is nice and in the Christmas spirit.

Naturally I took lots of pictures. You can see the set of photos on Flickr.

WordPress 2.7 is shaping up nicely

I’ve had this blog on WordPress 2.7-beta using SVN for a while. So when it went release candidate, all I had to do was another just run another “svn up”.

The comment enhancements are cool and Otto provided a good write up for modifying the files to take advantage of it. Implementing it and staying XHTML valid was not a problem.

My problem was that without styling it, the new comments looked like crap.

Lucky on the WordPress support forums I found that Chris Harrison mapped out all the CSS for the comment list. Adding the elements that he provided let me easily make changes and get the comments close to the original look.

I still need to play around with it but so far I’m satisfied with the results.

Speed Grade Wing Gundam

My son completed another model. This time the 1/200 Speed Grade Wing Gundam.

speed-grade-wing-gundam

I have to slow him down or we’ll run out of models for him to work on. This one is his third model this week.

It’s great seeing him concentrate on the parts and following directions. He gets very focused on what he’s doing and so far has not run into any problems.  I’ve broken pieces before and even cut myself so I keep an eye on him.  He’s only 6 1/2 and I don’t want him to get frustrated.

You can see more pictures on my Flickr! set.