Telespam - The Do Not Call Registry isn’t Working
Is it me or is telemarketing now worse than before the Do Not Call Registry arrived? The Registry was supposed to save us from annoying unwanted calls throughout the day. Even though my phone number is registered on the Do Not Call Registry, I am not only annoyed but am being harassed. I get calls from the same organization several times a day, every day. If you ignore them (using caller ID) they just keep trying, and if you answer and decline their request they still don’t take the hint. I’ve had some keep calling even after I had explicitly told them to take me off their list and to stop calling me. There must be some statistics that tell the telemarketers to be persistent even through rejection.
Since the Do Not Call Registry does not apply to charities, political organizations and pollsters, it is my hunch that the telemarketing agencies immediately latched on to charities (legitimate or otherwise) and offered to raise money for them. They are now back to their old tricks and things have gotten worse, not better. It is also my suspicion that they use the Do Not Call list as a cheap and easy way to get your phone number. Oh the irony!
I’m not sure an unlisted number would help either. If they randomly dial your number and you or your answering machine picks up the phone, they immediately know the phone number is active and will continue to hit it every time they have something to sell beg for. Have you solve this problem? How do you combat telespam?
photo credit: l0ckergn0me
Confessions of a Dandelion Killer
OK, I admit it and I’m not proud of it. The rumors are true, when I was a little boy I used to pluck dandelions from the ground singing “Mamma had a baby and its head popped off” and then with a flick of my thumb the dandelion’s head would fly off of its stem. I know some of you are now reeling in horror so I will pause while you compose yourself………..
Why confess now after all these years? Well, after reading a report on The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants (PDF) I realized that deep down inside I knew what I had done was morally reprehensible and the guilt had become too much to bare. The report, published by the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology, opened my eyes and allowed me to see that I wasn’t treating plants as living organisms that have worth and therefore rights that I trampled upon. An article by Wesley J. Smith in The Weekly Standard has a nice review of the ECNH’s report and in it he summarizes the ECNH’s findings:
A “clear majority” of the panel adopted what it called a “biocentric” moral view, meaning that “living organisms should be considered morally for their own sake because they are alive.” Thus, the panel determined that we cannot claim “absolute ownership” over plants and, moreover, that “individual plants have an inherent worth.” This means that “we may not use them just as we please, even if the plant community is not in danger, or if our actions do not endanger the species, or if we are not acting arbitrarily.”
I can see the pain and destruction I have caused. Now that I have gotten this out, I hope there is enough time for me to seek forgiveness. I know some of you may see me differently now (I can’t even tell you about the torturous “She loves me, she loves me not” episodes) but I hope that this won’t come between us. Let the healing begin.
photo credit: la bella rivolta
A Name Like No Other
Our four-year-old daughter just informed us that she doesn’t “want to be named Kate anymore.” She wants to be called “Velvet, Velvet Gold.” I’m not sure where a name like that will take her but it is hard to imagine. “Paging Dr. Gold, paging Dr. Velvet Gold” or maybe “In Johnson vs. Noland, Chief Justice Velvet Gold wrote the majority opinion stating that… .” With a name like that we will definitely have to steer her clear of a career in the entertainment industry.
They Don’t Make Doctors Like Him Anymore
I have the best doctor. I recently needed to see him and he offered to meet me at his office at 8:00 pm the same day. It wasn’t an emergency. Although I was very uncomfortable, it could have waited until the next day. He once treated my wife, Amy, in the evening at his home office, on New Years Eve no less! He often calls to check up on us a couple of days after a visit. I believe he makes house calls and even carries a little black bag. He can’t be a day younger than 80 and my first impression after meeting him was that I was going to have to find another family doctor. He is definitely old-school but has certainly kept up with current medical techniques and treatments. He doesn’t have a nurse. He takes your weight, pulse, blood pressure, etc. himself. He also does all his own paper work and even shows you exactly what he is writing in his notes. If you would like to travel back in time, presumably to the late 60’s or early 70’s, you just need to enter though his office door. The wood paneling brings me back as do the funky chairs, formica counter tops and green carpeting. While he won’t be getting any style points he makes up for it by being very thorough, caring, transparent, and accessible.
I think doctors like this are rare but I hope others will notice the potential market and fill the void. Dr. Jay Parkinson is certainly someone trying to fill that void by reinventing how he practices medicine. I hope he is successful and others take notice.
Remember Tax Day on Election Day
Another tax filing deadline has come and gone and it has me painfully aware of how much of my money is given to the government in the form of taxes. With programs like TuboTax it becomes so easy to focus on the little box at the top which keeps a running total of your refund that you forget you actually paid the government a significant chunk of change. Ask five people you know how much they paid in taxes this year and I bet they don’t know the figure but I’m sure they could recite the amount of their refund check to the nearest dollar.
Why do I bring this up? Because 2008 is an election year and I think it is important to remember that April 15th feeling on November 4th. In fact, I’ve heard of two ideas I believe would have a large impact on our government. First, move tax day to October 15 or there abouts. Second, discontinue the practice of employers withholding taxes from employees paychecks thereby forcing everyone to have to write a big check on tax day. That would make you think twice before you pull the lever for a candidate. More importantly politicians would be more likely to become accountable for their spending. This of course is a pipe dream as the politicians who make the laws would obviously not be on board with this.
Meanwhile candidates are telling us we don’t deserve tax cuts, that we are not taxed enough, especially “the rich”. I came across a blog post on current candidates plans to raise taxes and it includes a little parable titled “Barstool Economics” that I found funny and poignant. (If you have some time and really want a laugh, check out Leo’s comments following the parable.)
So to recap, please remember April 15th on November 4th.
Voted off the Island
Well, I never made it to La Palma. As I posted previously, we were having trouble flying to La Palma from Tenerife in the Canary Islands. We tried one last day to fly but we were thwarted again. Since we missed the window of opportunity for our business plans we decided to return home as scheduled, after a little more sight-seeing of course.
Tenerife was very beautiful, the food was excellent and the people were extremely friendly towards us. I would definitely recommend the Canary Islands if you’re looking for an island-style vacation.
“Stuck” on Tenerife
I am currently in Puerto de la Cruz on island of Tenerife, which is part of the Canary Islands. I said I am “stuck” here because I am supposed to be on the island of La Palma for business but can’t seem to make it there. The small plane we took from Tenerife to La Palma had to abort its landing (at the last second I might add) due to high winds and returned to Tenerife. I have never seen so many people look for the exit and double check if they remembered where the life vests were located. We tried to go again this morning but all flights were canceled so instead we did some sight seeing around the island. The weather has been beautiful, despite the wind, and between the beer and paella, I am certainly having a good time “working”. We will give La Palma one last try tomorrow morning otherwise we will just have to go home. C’est la vie. Wait….that’s French. Oh well.
The LaPazz Graphic Tablet (WP8060-TAB08) on OS X
If you are having trouble with your LaPazz Graphic Tablet on OS X keep reading for the solution.
I recently purchased the LaPazz Graphic Tablet, WP8060-TAB08, from Geeks.com. The product advertises that it works on Intel Macs with OS X 10.2.6 and higher. As you have probably guessed, it didn’t work as advertised. After installing the driver software and plugging the tablet into the USB port on my MacBook Pro, all I could get the tablet to do is register mouse clicks. The cursor refused to move about the screen as I moved the pen. Downloading and installing new drivers from the LaPazz website didn’t improve the situation.
How to Fix the LaPazz Driver Issue
After poking around a bit I realized the driver is not loading at startup. LaPazz creates a new directory at /Library/StartupItems/PenTabletDriver and installs the driver there but for some reason it is not running at startup. Instead I setup the driver to run at login and it worked. To configure the driver to run at login follow these steps:
- Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
- Choose Accounts from the View menu.
- Click the name of the user.
- Click the Startup Items button
- Click the “Add {+}” button and select the PenTableDriver application at /Library/StartupItems/PenTabletDriver
- Reboot
The tablet should work now!
If anyone has any ideas why the driver doesn’t launch properly on startup I would love to hear from you. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your working tablet.
Online Video Killed the TV Star
It finally happened. Last week I watched more video online than a I did on TV. It is only a matter of time before a significant number of people are doing the same. I hope this forces cable companies to offer a la carte channel price plans. I am currently paying too much money for a bunch of channels that I have never watched while some other channels that I would like are only available on the Super-Duper-Ultra-Premium Plan. Alternatively I can watch what I want, when I want, where I want with video online.
Some of the videos I watch online are traditional network tv shows like ‘Lost’ and ‘Numb3rs’. All three networks let you watch some or all of their shows on their websites. NBC also launched Hulu which streams shows from their various network and cable channels as well as some movies.
I also enjoy some programs that were made just for the net. Revision3 is a “TV network” on the internet that has a dozen or so shows to watch. Many of the shows are quite geeky which is why I probably like them. My favorites are ‘Tekzilla’, ‘Systm‘, ‘Diggnation’ and ‘PixelPerfect’. Using my favorite video player, Miro, I download these shows automatically when new episodes become available. Miro hosts thousands of channels and allows you to search for video on the net as well. For a little comedy I like to watch short clips from the Onion News Network (yes, that Onion). Another popular channel on Miro is TED which hosts “Inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers.” I should also mention Joost, which is another video player/platform that hosts both content made for the web as well as shows from traditional TV. I don’t like the interface as much as Miro’s but it is still worth checking out. Finally, if you subscribe to Netflix, you can stream movies instantly to your computer (no joy for Mac users though) in addition to receiving DVD’s in the mail.
What do you watch online? I’d like to hear about some great videos or programs you have discovered.
Recommended: OpenDNS
I have been using OpenDNS for maybe a year now and I thought others might like to know about it as well. It is a free DNS service that protects you and your children online while speeding up your internet browsing at the same time. It replaces your ISP’s DNS (think of a massive phone book for the internet) with a larger, more reliable one from OpenDNS providing a faster browsing experience. Phishing scam sites are automatically blocked and you can also set it up to filter out adult content or other categories you need blocked. I like this approach since it keeps objectionable material off my network without degrading performance like other programs do. It is really easy to set up as well. I chose to enable OpenDNS on my router so every computer in my home is automatically using the service. If you have children in the house or want just a little more surfing umph!, I think this a no-brainer.