The Major

Author: FourMajor

  • Web OS

    Operating systems are slowly becoming less and less important. We can perform more and more tasks through a web browser.

    I am rather picky about what applications I use, but even I have migrated some of my tasks to be web-based:
    email: Gmail
    IM: Meebo
    RSS: Bloglines
    Life Organization: Somewhat custom implementation using MediaWiki

    Having these things entirely online is great because it gives me a consistant environment to work with. I don’t have to worry about customizing every single computer that I work on. I can simply fire up a few web pages, log in, and I feel comfortable.

    And if you need to, there are a few more things you can do entirely in a web browser like word processing (Writely) and spreadsheets (Google Spreadsheets).

    I like the direction things are going.

  • Domo Kun in Napa Valley

    Alyssa recently went to Napa Valley, and took her Domo Kun along for the ride:


         

  • OK, I Usually Don’t Do This

    I am nerdier than 89% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!

  • LOL

    In the House, lawmakers moved toward a vote Friday after more than 11 hours of debate on a Republican resolution promising to “complete the mission” in Iraq…

    …Let’s rewind a bit here…Mission Accomplished

  • California Phone Call Recording

    I have been thinking about setting up an organized system to track my correspondence with businesses and the like. One thing I would like to do is have a detailed record of all emails and phone calls between myself and a business. The basic premise here is that it would make it easier to protect my own consumer rights – “You specifically told me on June 2nd at 10:38am that I would only be billed once!” Stuff like that.

    So I figured it might be a good idea to set up a recording system on my home phone to record my conversations. Then hopefully I could save these conversations to digital format and link them to a case number that I would create. But I knew that wiretap laws can be a little tricky, so I googled a bit and found this from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse: “Wiretapping/Eavesdropping on Telephone Conversations: Is There Cause for Concern?” Specifically, this is exactly the information I was looking for:

    California law does not allow tape recording of telephone calls unless all parties to the conversation consent (California Penal Code 632), or they are notified of the recording by a distinct “beep tone” warning (CPUC General Order 107-B(II)(A)(5)).

    So I think this leaves me with two options:
    1) Every time I call up a business or receive a call on my home phone, I ask for the consent of the other end that I record the call.
    2) I take detailed written notes of each call as it comes in.

    Either way, this isn’t really relevant until I get this system in a workable state. But I thought I would post this information here just as an FYI to my California reader(s).

  • Bye Bye, Beautiful Car

    I was reading an article yesterday on high-speed rail in California (still just a dream, by the way), when I realized how insane it was for me to own a car. It costs me over $800/month to own my car in the city:
    $300 car payment
    $300 garage payment
    $150 car insurance (even though I have a clean driving record *shakes fist*)
    $50 gas (conservative estimate)

    And this doesn’t even take into account repairs.

    So it looks like I will probably sell my car very shortly here. I am not completely sure I am going to do this yet, but I am about 90% sure. Thankfully I live in what is considered “downtown,” so there is great bus access right near my place. And since I live downtown, groceries are just a walk down the street, as is drinking. So here is what I would do for transportation in lieu of a car:
    – SF MUNI bus for going to work, EFF, Best Buy, other not-too-far-away city places
    – Caltrain for going to places south of San Francisco
    – walking for things that I already do (no-brainer)
    – a new Trek bike for medium trips during the day when it doesn’t involve carrying much
    – City Car Share for when I need a car. They have a few different models, and plenty of parking spots (where they store the cars) throughout the city. One of them is five blocks away (right near where I currently park my car) and one is just a few more blocks away than that. I would look forward to driving the Scion, Prius, and Civic Hybrid.

    I think the biggest thing holding me back is that I love my car and I love driving a fast car. But I don’t think this is a good enough reason to spend $800/month. I have been thinking a lot about all the toys I could buy with that amount 🙂

    And I also think that if I got rid of my car, I’d get part of my soul back. I think we all have our concepts of “how the world should be,” and in my world I see a lot less cars and a lot more public transit. So I’ll be one more bus-riding bum, very slightly growing the demand for expanded public transportation.

  • Taking a Stand on One Thing at a Time

    I read a short article about Richard Stallman trying to meet with the French PM. I have a lot of respect for Stallman, but the Slashdot nerds brought up a good point: If you want to play ball with the politicians and businessmen, you have to dress the part, or you’re going to lose a lot of respect for your original cause.

    This reminds me of a few years ago when Michael Newdow was fighting against the word “God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. At the same time he was a stickler for using the word “de” as a unisex version of “he” or “she.” Sure, I could maybe agree with that…but could you hold off until you’re done with the other issue please?

    I guess the basic moral is: Choose your battles wisely.

  • MCP

    Now that the CCNA is a thing of the past…Active Directory, here I come.

    Honestly I am much less excited about learning Active Directory than I was about Cisco stuff. But hopefully it will start to interest me as I read more.

  • A Note on Cleaning

    I went on a bit of a cleaning binge last night, as much of a binge as the time between dinner and work will allow, and I noticed that you can clean a kitchen 80% of the way in about 15 minutes, and 100% of the way in about 3 hours. Still, though, it is good to get a “perfect clean” once in a while.

  • Elections Today

    Looking up my polling place information…

    It is in a garage which is located in…
    an alley on a…
    15.3% slope.

    Only in San Francisco 🙂

    My cousin Mark says, “15.3% slope? Does that affect the way people lean towards or away from a candidate?”