Daily Nonsense

Uhm, hi *waves* i’m Vale *looks at username* or just call me Captain Obvious

Aaaaanyway……just wanted to say hi

A Youtube Video:

Welcome!

This is the next step in the evolution of Daily Nonsense. Daily Nonsense is a daily commentary on the condition of the world and the people who live in it. It is filled with my opinions and observations, both of which I hope will amuse and entertain you as much as they do me.

Thanks for stopping by.

New Things Going On!

Tomorrow I start a new job!

I’ve accepted a position with Apian Software, right here in the Greenwood district of Seattle. Last week I found an ad on Craigslist for a Technical Support Rep that intrigued me. The title was something like “Not Your Typical Support Position”. The text described a position where I would be encouraged to work with the customers and find the right solution to their problems.

I applied immediately and soon received a reply from the sales manager of the company. We set up an appointment for last Thursday. I interviewed with her, a techie type and the president of the company. (It’s only a 7 person organization at this point). They called me later that day(!) and asked me to come back by and pick up an offer letter. After careful discussion with Brooke, I accepted the next morning.

So, starting tomorrow morning at 8am PST I’m going back to work full time.

Web 2.0 takes a new turn – down a pipe!

This week Yahoo released one of the most exciting Web 2.0 applications I’ve seen in a long while. It’s called pipes, and it’s cool! What is Pipes you may ask? Well the blurb from the homepage says:

Pipes is a hosted service that lets you remix feeds and create new data mashups in a visual programming environment. The name of the service pays tribute to Unix pipes, which let programmers do astonishingly clever things by making it easy to chain simple utilities together on the command line.

What it does is to take the info you want, from where you want it and display links on it’s output page. I’ve only futzed with it a little bit and to tell you the truth, it’s HARD to make a valid, working pipe, but if you look at the work others have done you can see the potential.

NY law would ban iPod listening when crossing street

Sen. Carl Kruger would like to ban the use of iPods and cell phones in crosswalks throughout New York City. As the following article notes, it’s better than getting flattened by a city bus. The question this brings up is simple. If YOU could ban any technology, what would it be? Leave comments….

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN
Associated Press Writer

February 7, 2007, 4:12 PM EST

ALBANY, N.Y. — You could get clipped $100 for walking, jogging or cycling across a New York street with an iPod plugged into your ears under a new law proposed by a state senator from Brooklyn.

That’s better than getting clipped by a city bus, like a 21-year-old man who was listening to music when he stepped off the curb at the busy intersection of Avenue U and Flatbush Avenue and was killed Sept. 1, says Sen. Carl Kruger. The Democrat points to another incident in his district: A 23-year-old iPod listener killed in Bergen Beach Jan. 11.

“If you’re so involved in your electronic device that you can’t see or hear a car coming, this is indicative of a larger problem that requires some sort of enforcement beyond the applicaton of common sense,” Kruger said. His bill would also outlaw using cell phones, Blackberries, video games or other electronic devices when crossing the street.

“You should pull it out of your ear for the three seconds or four seconds that it takes you to cross,” said Jason Koppel, Kruger’s chief of staff. “Even if you have a light … you could have a fire engine coming and you wouldn’t hear it.”

The legislation will be introduced this week, Koppel said Wednesday. He wasn’t aware of any other state or city that has adopted a similar ban, but he said it’s a growing issue.

Violators in New York would get a court summons with a penalty of $100.

Charlotte Troisgros, 16, a Manhattan student talking on her cell phone in a crosswalk near City Hallon Wednesday, laughed and said the law may not be such a bad idea. “You really don’t pay attention. You might get hit by a car,” she said.

Restaurateur Cordell Lochin was talking on his cell phone as he crossed a city street. He said any law should be backed by research and not just enacted to raise revenue from tickets. “Laws are made to protect people. If they are going to protect people, it makes sense,” he said.

So-called “iPod oblivion” is on the radar in San Diego, where people have been warned it makes them easier prey for muggers, according to Kruger.

In November, New York City officials unveiled new automatic timers at five intersections _ one in each of the five boroughs _ to see if they boost safety and should be extended to the more than 100,000 city traffic signals. They count down the seconds before the light changes. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there were 156 pedestrian deaths in each of the last two years _ the lowest number since 1910.

Under current state traffic law, both motorists and pedestrians are required to obey traffic signals. Cars have to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks with no signal. Pedestrians have to yield to cars on roadways outside of marked crosswalks.

There are some fine points about turning.

At traffic lights, motorists have to yield to crosswalk pedestrians even when drivers have a green right-turn arrow. It’s the same when a driver stops at a red light and turns right.

However, the law requires pedestrians to obey signals and to avoid stepping suddenly into crosswalks right in front of turning cars. ___

Associated Press writer Adam Goldman in New York City contributed to this report.

[Thanks, Newsday.com]

Home Again

We’ve been gone for a week. I don’t suppose that anyone noticed……

It was a great week spent in Myrtle Beach. Brooke and I went to visit and babysit her nephew Gavin for the week. The weather was Seattle-like, cold and rainy, so we spent most of our time indoors. A real high point of the week was when we went to Ripley’s Aquarium there in Myrtle Beach.

It’s a real nice aquarium where you actually walk through the largest of the tanks in a serpentine acrylic tunnel. Really cool effect when you walk under a cruisin’ shark or saw fish. I’ll post some pictures later on.

Other highlights included Sunday breakfast at Akel’s House of Pancakes (2005 winner of Best Breakfast of the Year). The food was both good and plentiful. We also ate at Greg Norman’s Australian Grille. This is the only restaurant to bear the name Greg Norman and boy was it good! Tasty meals and the full selection of Greg Norman wines.

Anyway, I’m back now and will start posting regularly again.

Where do Americans spend their time on the web?

Wow! This is quite scary.

MySpace beats out any other destination. Ouch. Does that mean I have to get with the times and sign up for MySpace?

If your first thought was MySpace, then you’re not wrong, according to Compete’s list of Top 20 sites by time.

Less obvious is that Yahoo! is in second, presumably because of the success of its email service. Its news and Yahoo Finance services are pretty good too. And it owns Flickr.

Jay Meattle says:

Yahoo holds a significant lead over Google+YouTube.com, MSN+Live.com and AOL+AIM.com. Yahoo simply needs to merge with MSN to take #1 (hint hint)

But that would never happen, would it?

Super Bowl Ad Spoiler!

USA Today posted an article on their website about the ads for this years Super Bowl. Not really interesting except for the last couple of paragraphs which describe an ad by Nationwide Mutual Insurance that features Kevin Federline (Britney Spears ex). The ad has K-Fed fantasizing about being a rap star while in actuality he’s a fry cook in a fast food.

Now the National Restaurant Association CEO Steve Anderson has sent a letter to Nationwide CEO Jerry Jurgensen expressing “serious concerns.” I’m sorry, I don’t get it. Isn’t K-Fed allowed to fantasize just like everyone else? If that’s his fantasy, so be it. Regardless of his actual skills he’s as deserving of fantasies as anyone else.

Advertisers kick off dash for Super Bowl commercial slots

By Laura Petrecca and Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
Now that the matchup on the field is set for Super Bowl XLI, the lineup for advertisers for the game is also filling up.

Announcing Wednesday that they will join about a dozen already planning to suit up for advertising’s biggest game will be beverage giant Coca-Cola, sales lead website Salesgenie.com and GPS device maker Garmin. Drug company King Pharmaceuticals said earlier this week that it will advertise during the game on CBS on Feb. 4.

Last year, Coke bought ads in the pre-game show and its energy drink Full Throttle sponsored the kickoff, but it has let rival Pepsi have the game to itself for cola ads since 1998. Its advertising this year in the game will be for its flagship Coca-Cola brand.

Coke will air a 60-second ad with video-game-like animation. The ad has been shown in movie theaters since Dec. 29 and on the new season of American Idol. The company likely will have a 30-second ad, as well, says Katie Bayne, head of Coca-Cola brands for North America. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to use high-profile appointment viewing.”

Last year, more than 90 million people watched the game, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Super Bowl ad developments:

•Rookie advertisers. Salesgenie.com’s ad will show how its service providing sales leads can make a businessperson successful — without too much hard work. Garmin’s ad, for its personal navigation system, is a humorous take on the troubles of using a paper map for directions.

•Returning players. Taco Bell will introduce a pair of comic live lions in an ad for its new Carne Asada Steak Grilled Taquitos. The lions “chat” about game hunters that they are watching return to camp with the new taquitos.

“When the Super Bowl falls at the beginning of a new product launch, it makes perfect sense to advertise,” says Jeff Fox, chief creative director for Yum Brands, Taco Bell’s parent. “What better way to reach so many people at once?”

As part of the promotion, Taco Bell also will launch an interactive website where the comic lions recite punch lines from visitors.

•Not laughing. Published descriptions of a Nationwide Mutual Insurance ad — Britney Spear’s estranged husband Kevin Federline appears to be a rap star, but turns out to be a french fry cook — prompted National Restaurant Association CEO Steve Anderson to send a letter to Nationwide CEO Jerry Jurgensen expressing “serious concerns.”

It says, “An ad such as this would be a strong and a direct insult to the 12.8 million Americans who work in the restaurant industry.”

“The intent of the ad isn’t to offend or insult the many fine individuals who work in the restaurant industry,” says Steven Schreibman, Nationwide ad chief. “The focus … is the element of surprise.”

Ford Loses Record $12.7 Billion in ’06

It’s a shame that Ford has to live amid the fallout from the whole electric car farce out in California. When the California Air Resource Board (CARB) passed legislation that basically overturned a previous law requiring car manufacturers to sell zero emission vehicles, all of the major US automobile companies abandoned their electric car projects. Toyota and Honda, on the other hand, kept at it. R&D dollars and marketing successes led to the current Prius which gets 60 miles to the gallon. And the best possible answer from the US industry is actually a Ford product, the Ford Escape Hybrid. It gets 32 miles per gallon. A smidgen more than half.

Now, it’s important to note that there are NO American CARS in the mix, just two SUVs. Pretty sad I think. Anyway, here’s part of the NY Times article about Ford’s losses:

DEARBORN, Mich., Jan. 25 — The Ford Motor Company had the worst year in its history in 2006, losing $12.7 billion and suffering sharp erosion of its share of the United States auto market.
ord lost $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter alone, the company reported today. In the same period a year earlier, it lost a comparatively trivial $74 million.

The company took in $160.1 billion in revenue in 2006, 9 percent less than in 2005.

Ford’s full-year loss, equivalent to $6.79 per share, far exceeds the $7.39 billion it lost in 1992, the worst previous year in its history, and it even surpasses the $10.6 billion loss posted by General Motors in 2005.

Most of the red ink in the latest year was produced by the cost of shrinking and reorganizing the company, buying out workers and writing down asset values. Those charges accounted for $9.9 billion of Ford’s full-year loss after taxes. But Ford’s day-to-day business did very poorly as well, with a loss of $2.8 billion on continuing operations, compared with a $1.9 billion loss in 2005.

The figures were an unwelcome surprise to many Wall Street analysts, who on average had forecast a loss of about $2.5 billion for the year, excluding special items such as restructuring charges.

More of the article here.

[Thanks, NY Times]

Who Loves the Smell of Coffee??

Well, I can only imagine everyone does. What a wonderful smell! I remember a friend of mine went to Kona in Hawaii and brought back a t-shirt that had been dyed in coffee. Man, that was the nicest smelling t-shirt ever. Anyway, I came across a web site today that makes me wish we had a fireplace. Java Products Corporation manufactures an artificial fireplace log out of recycled coffee. How cool is that? Click on the picture for more information!

The Invisible Enemy in Iraq: drug-resistant supergerm

Have we finally encountered the infamous “Weapons of Mass Destruction” that Bush’s administration has somehow not yet been able to find? With only 7 deaths attributed to to the supergerm, know as Acinetobacter baumannii, I don’t think this is the one. But the article in Wired sure is compelling. I’ts long, but worth the read.

Since OPERATION Iraqi Freedom began in 2003, more than 700 US soldiers have been infected or colonized with Acinetobacter baumannii. A significant number of additional cases have been found in the Canadian and British armed forces, and among wounded Iraqi civilians. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology has recorded seven deaths caused by the bacteria in US hospitals along the evacuation chain. Four were unlucky civilians who picked up the bug at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, while undergoing treatment for other life-threatening conditions. Another was a 63-year-old woman, also chronically ill, who shared a ward at Landstuhl with infected coalition troops.

[Thanks, Wired]

THE AD GENERATOR

This is, without a doubt, one of the most intriguing sites I’ve been to in a long time. Words from corporate slogans, images from Flickr. It’s hard to describe but fascinating to watch. Below is creator Alexis Lloyd’s text from the homepage:

The ad generator is a generative artwork that explores how advertising uses and manipulates language. Words and semantic structures from real corporate slogans are remixed and randomized to generate invented slogans. These slogans are then paired with related images from Flickr, thereby generating fake advertisements on the fly. By remixing corporate slogans, I intend to show how the language of advertising is both deeply meaningful, in that it represents real cultural values and desires, and yet utterly meaningless in that these ideas have no relationship to the products being sold. In using the Flickr images, the piece explores the relationship between language and image, and how meaning is constructed by the juxtaposition of the two.

The ad generator was created by Alexis Lloyd as a component of an MFA thesis project in the Design and Technology department at Parsons The New School for Design.

My YouTube video of cars sliding down the street. {Here}

Storm chaos prompts virus surge

Western Europe has been battered by huge storms for the last couple of days. So bad were they, they actually have 47 casualties that they are attributing to the weather. So, what is the second biggest news story to come out of the destruction? Email virus attacks with storm themed subject lines. How low will these guys go? Read this article from the BBC:

E-mails claiming to contain details of the storms that battered Europe contain a malicious virus, security firms warn.

The e-mails with the subject line “230 dead as storm batters Europe”, can leave computers vulnerable to attack.

The messages were first detected as the storms, which have killed at least 28 people, continued to rage.

Variants of the virus have circulated for a number of days, but experts say they were surprised at how quickly the new modified virus appeared.

“The new virus only started spreading a few hours ago,” said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at security firm F-Secure. “The spamming started when the storms were still raging.”

Mr Hypponen believes the adaptation was designed to take advantage of the interest in the storms.

Security firms advise computer users not to open e-mail attachments unless they are expecting them and to keep security software up to date.

There is actually much more to the article here!

[Thanks, BBC News]

Foreign Diplomats Owe $18 Million in Parking Fines

The city of New York is owed more than 18 million dollars by UN diplomats.

And it’s all from parking violations. Can you imagine? Parking tickets.

Why do these countries and diplomats take advantage of our good nature. An agreement between the UN and the U.S. State Department in 2002 indicates that diplomatic immunity no longer protects UN Members from certain types of civil and criminal infractions. Parking is one of them.

I would think that we could get the $1.9 MILLION dollars that Egypt owes with some creative applications of the BOOT.

U.N. diplomats’ NYC parking fines near $18 million, despite crackdown

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The new U.N. secretary-general expressed support for New York City’s goal of recouping nearly $18 million in traffic fines owed by U.N. diplomats and members of the consular community.

Most of that debt came prior to a city crackdown four years ago on envoys who routinely were cited for illegal parking on city streets but rarely paid because of diplomatic immunity.

When asked what he would say to diplomats to get rid of the backlog, Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday: “It is important for diplomatic officials who enjoy diplomatic immunities and privileges to abide by and comply with all necessary regulations in force in the countries where one is working.”

According to the New York City Department of Finance, 99% of the outstanding debt by the diplomatic and consular community was incurred before a 2002 agreement between the mayor’s office and the U.S. State Department to help the city collect on the unpaid tickets.

The number of tickets issued to diplomats at the United Nations and consulates in New York has been dropping since the deal and as of late December had decreased by 94.4%, according to the city finance department. Only about $250,000 of unpaid fines have accumulated since the agreement, but the department said some of these violations are new or haven’t gone through the courts yet.

U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq suggested a way for delegates to avoid the problem altogether — walking.

He noted that Ban has been walking to work from a midtown hotel while his residence is being renovated. “So maybe some people can follow his example.”

Topping the Department of Finance list of countries owing the most was Egypt, racking up about $1.9 million in fines, followed by Kuwait, with nearly $1.3 million. The Egyptian Mission to the United Nations said no one was available for comment.

Ban’s home country of South Korea, one of 177 countries that have yet to pay city fines, owes $17,000.

Delinquent countries have not gone unpunished.

As part of the 2002 agreement, the U.S. government has been withholding, in the form of aid, the amount owed by each country, plus 10% on fines dating back to 1997.

Part of the agreement also stipulates that the State Department can remove license plates from a vehicle if three or more tickets issued after 2002 have not been paid within 100 days.

In the four years since the deal, the city finance department said it has collected $3 million of debt owed by countries before 2002.

[Thanks, USA Today]

China Launches Ballistic Missile, Shoots Down Satellite

In a move reminiscent of Doctor Evil from the Austin Powers movies, China launched a “kinetic vehicle” killer missile at an aging weather satellite on January 11th. A Kinetic Vehicle Missile would be one that does not contain explosives, rather it uses it’s stored kinetic energy to destroy it’s target.

As you can imagine, this is wrong on many levels. Primarily, where did the debris go? Can we expect it to land on our heads? Just irresponsible behavior on the part of the government of China.

(Not the real missile, but it is a kinetic missile.)

US condemns China ’space weapon’

The United States, Australia and Canada have criticised China over a weapons test it is said to have carried out in space last week.

The Americans say the Chinese sent up a ballistic missile to destroy an ageing weather satellite.

They say the test went against the spirit of co-operation both countries aspire to in the area of civil space.

Reports say Britain, South Korea and Japan were expected to express their concerns to China soon.

Earlier, a report in the American Aviation Week magazine said that US spy agencies had concluded that China conducted a successful test of a satellite-killing weapon on January 11.

It said China knocked out the weather satellite with a “kinetic kill vehicle” launched on board a ballistic missile.

The impact occurred at more than 500 miles (800 km) above Earth.

[Thanks, BBC News]

Police Confiscate Mysterious Bottle From Michael Vick

Are professional athletes really this dumb? Michael Vick tried to get on an airplane with a water bottle tricked out with a secret compartment that contained the residue that appeared to be pot. What was this guy thinking?

Newport News native and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick had a water bottle confiscated by security officials at Miami International Airport.

A police report says the bottle had a hidden compartment and that it contained a small amount of residue that is “closely associated with marijuana.”

The police report says Vick was at first hesitant to turn the bottle over to security screeners and that the compartment was hidden by the bottle’s label. The effect was that the bottle appeared to be full of water when held upright.

The bottle and its contents were sent to a crime lab and police say the results of the investigation may not be known for weeks. No charges have been filed.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[Thanks, WTKR.com]

Unsigned Band Makes Chart History

Koopa, a rock band from Essex in England has made history this week by being the first unsigned act to hit the UK top 40. Koopa is the first band to take advantage of new chart rules that allow the sales of digital singles to count towards chart position even though there is no CD!

This is quite the coup. Not only are they unsigned with one of the RIAA megaliths, they don’t even have a CD! They’ve done all this by selling the song in it’s digital version ONLY! That is so sweet. A real success story against the recording industry that has tried to grind the artist into the dirt while ripping off both the artist and the consumer.

Here’s the full story:

Essex rock band Koopa have made chart history by becoming the first unsigned band to land a UK top 40 hit.

Under new chart rules their download-only single Blag, Steal & Borrow debuted at number 31.

Chart rules were changed at the start of the year to allow digital single sales to count towards a chart position even if there is no CD version.

At the top of the charts, X Factor winner Leona Lewis made it four weeks at number one with A Moment Like This.

Mika, winner of the BBC’s Sound of 2007 survey of new talent, has the highest new entry at three with his single Grace Kelly, while Eric Prydz was at number two with Proper Education.

The second highest new entry was Just Jack at four with Starz In Their Eyes, pushing Take That’s Patience to number five.

Amy Winehouse climbed to the top of the album chart with her latest offering Back to Black.

James Morrison’s Undiscovered rose three places to number two, Snow Patrol’s Eyes Open was a non-mover at three and Take That’s Beautiful World fell from the top slot to number four.

Koopa have benefited from a change in chart rules introduce on the 1 January.

Before that date an artist needed to release singles on CD or another physical format – and therefore have a record deal – to qualify for the chart.

Record deal

Singer and bassist Joe Murphy told the BBC News website it was all down to their manager and “awesome” fans.

“Without them we would not have done it,” he said.

“Just four days ago nobody had heard of us, now it seems like everyone has. I can’t get my head around it.”

Murphy added that they had been contacted by a number of big record labels, including one who recently turned them down.

There is also talk of a US label flying them out to America for talks.

Koopa, from Colchester, have been together for seven years in various forms and have built up a fanbase on the internet and on the live circuit.

They have played almost 500 gigs in the past three years, including a headline show at the Mean Fiddler in London last summer.

[Thanks, BBC News]

Skype does TV!

Well, that about does it! The perfect web application, internet TV! This is really what I’ve been waiting for. The ability to connect to programming in any language form any country. I’m hoping to be a Beta tester, although I’m NOT above begging for a beta invite from someone who already has the service.

Here’s what the BBC had to say about the new service called JOOST.

The founders of the Skype internet telephony service are launching what they describe as the world’s first broadcast quality internet TV service.

Following speculation about a service dubbed The Venice Project, the online television software is now being unveiled under the name Joost.

It is designed to enable broadcasters to get their programmes in front of a global internet audience.

It will allow viewers to access all kinds of television over the internet.

Trial period

The chief executive, Frederik de Wahl, showing off the service in Joost’s London offices, claimed that it provided a different experience from other internet television ventures.

“We are trying to replicate the complete television experience,” he explained as he flicked through channels using the Joost interface on a widescreen television.

“It’s full-screen, broadcast quality, you’ve got instant channel flipping, and interactivity – a viewer can come to us and get all their TV needs.”

The service is still undergoing trials, but thousands of people have taken up an invitation to download the software and try it out.

But the big question is what is there to watch?

So far, it is hard to see a compelling reason to switch on to Joost, which will be a free service supported by advertising.

Competitive market

There is a line-up of sports, documentaries and music programming, but nothing that is going to tempt many away from their existing television diet.

But Mr De Wahl insists this is just trial programming and when the full launch takes place in the next few months there will be much more impressive content on offer.

Joost is backed by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who founded Skype, while Frederik de Wahl previously ran a business whose peer-to-peer software was used in Skype.

He says a version of that software is key to the appeal of Joost, with new peer-to-peer technology, backed up by the firm’s own servers, making it possible to stream video on demand.

But rival services are already casting doubt on the claim that Joost represents a new frontier for internet television.

BT Vision, launched in December, offers video-on-demand via broadband, and Channel Four Television says its 4OD service promises DVD-quality programmes to download to your computer.

Meanwhile another company calling itself Babelgum contacted the BBC to insist that its service, launching in March, would also use peer-to-peer technology to stream video at “near-TV resolution”.

A spokesman said “the Venice Project hasn’t got this to itself.”

The battle to broadcast over the internet is hotting up and the Venice Project – or Joost as we now must call it – will have to make plenty of noise to make itself heard.

[Thanks, BBC News]