Dvorak Uncensored » Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog General interest observations and true web-log. Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:38:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Filled out My Census – Except for Questions 8 and 9 http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/16/filled-out-my-census-except-for-questions-8-and-9/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/16/filled-out-my-census-except-for-questions-8-and-9/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:01:45 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=70620

http://www.saycampuslife.com/images/census.png

Got my census yesterday and filled it out. It just had 10 questions. I refused however to fill out questions 8 and 9 because they were about race.

The way I see it the race issue will never be dead until we quit focusing on it. Ever since blacks were deemed to be people and women were given the right to vote, the purpose of the census is just to count people. If you go back in time far enough we are all African. So I decided the questions were out of bounds. My opinion is that this question will lead to race based decisions and is therefore racist.

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/16/filled-out-my-census-except-for-questions-8-and-9/feed/ 91 UFO Over Cleveland Hoax — It’s a Laser! http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/10/ufo-over-cleveland-hoax-its-a-laser/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/10/ufo-over-cleveland-hoax-its-a-laser/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:42:26 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=70389

It’s amazing how easily the news media is fooled by a simple laser trick. It’s a laser shot into a cloud. The fact that it’s white means they are probably using a krypton laser which lases at 4 frequencies that combined produce a white light. This laser is used in laser shows and the beam is split with a prism into 4 colors to produce a color laser show. So they could produce a UFO of multiple colors.

It’s the motion of the object that gave it away. You bump it a little and you get that specific motion.

How do I know this? My first paid computer project back in 1981 was to build a custom computer to control lasers shows. So I’ve seen this before.

Case solved!

(btw – the Toyota Prius problem – IT’S THE COMPUTER!)

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/10/ufo-over-cleveland-hoax-its-a-laser/feed/ 22 Unreleased Squirrel Video http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/03/unreleased-squirrel-video/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/03/unreleased-squirrel-video/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:56:13 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=70022

This is a previously unreleased video of the squirrel. I saw him about a month ago. He’s grown up and has become fully wild. Hard to recognize except that at some point he lost the very tip of his tail and although he doesn’t respond to me anymore he doesn’t run away as fast as most squirrels would. I was beginning to think he was cat food so it was good to see he’s still alive.

This video was taken with a different camera so the video quality isn’t as good as with my Sony high resolution camera.

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/03/unreleased-squirrel-video/feed/ 9 Bank of America vs. Wells Fargo on Merchant Discount Rates http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/01/bank-of-america-vs-wells-fargo-on-merchant-discount-rates/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/01/bank-of-america-vs-wells-fargo-on-merchant-discount-rates/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:13:03 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=69950 http://www.truelifeonline.org/ftc1/images/stories/bank_of_america.jpg

vs.

http://daveibsen.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451db4269e201156e343d8c970c-800wi

Just got a rate increase from Wells Fargo Bank where they want to raise my rates to 3% for US transactions and 6% for outside the US… and there are other fees that could add another 1% on nickle and dime stuff.

So I went to Bank of America and they are quoting me 2.13% on US and 2.47% on foreign and no other percentage charges. So I’m wondering – what’s up with that? Wells is almost twice the BofA rate.

I’ve been with Wells for a decade. My account is golden. No charge backs. Extremely low risk. Yet Wells is screwing me. However, not sure I can trust Bank of America. Am I missing something?

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/03/01/bank-of-america-vs-wells-fargo-on-merchant-discount-rates/feed/ 47 Verizon Lowers my Cell Phone Bill — Too Good to be True? http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/02/11/verizon-lowers-my-cell-phone-bill-too-good-to-be-true/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/02/11/verizon-lowers-my-cell-phone-bill-too-good-to-be-true/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:49:21 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=68998

http://kully.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/04_school_days_00.jpg

I got a call yesterday from Verizon and they asked me if I wanted to change my plan to save some money. They said they were cutting the cost of my plan (Droid) from $129 to $119. I asked what the catch was and they said no catch. They were just lowering their price. I asked if anything else changed. They said -”Yes, we’re giving you unlimited minutes as well.”

“Sounds like a good deal to me,” I said. “Are there any other changes?” They replied “No.” I asked if there is any downside. They said no. Seems too good to be true. I went for it though and we’ll see if I get screwed. In this day, where every business is screwing the consumer every way they can, this is very unusual.

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/02/11/verizon-lowers-my-cell-phone-bill-too-good-to-be-true/feed/ 29 99 Cent Stores Actually Charge One Dollar http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/02/08/99-cent-stores-actually-charge-one-dollar/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/02/08/99-cent-stores-actually-charge-one-dollar/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:20:34 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=68788 http://www.weddingdecoratorblog.com/images/logo_99cent_400a.jpg

I went to the local 99 cent store in Gilroy California yesterday and noticed that I was being charged one dollar on every item I bought. Although it is just a penny and I can afford a penny, it’s the fact that I’m being lied to one more time that bothers me.

The way they cover this is once you are in the store, some signs have the fine print where it’s not really 99 cents, it’s 99.99 cents. When you get to the cash register however the screen indicates that they are rounding the 99.99 cents up to a dollar, so it’s not really even 99.99 cents. It is actually $1.00.

When a store uses 99 cents as it’s identity stating that you will never pay more and 99 cents for anything and then you end up paying a dollar, that’s more than just a 1 cent fib. It makes the whole premise of your business model a lie. It makes your identity a lie. It makes your brand a lie. That’s a big lie. It takes the magic out of the 99 cent name. And once the magic is gone then you realize that you probably could get the same item at Walmart or Costco for even less.

So Dvorak/blog readers – How do you feel about paying a buck at the 99 cent store? Do you think they are being smart about this by milking the customer for that extra penny at the expense of their very identity?

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/02/08/99-cent-stores-actually-charge-one-dollar/feed/ 56 Oh by the way Senator Obama – You’re the President now http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/02/06/oh-by-the-way-senator-obama-youre-the-president-now/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/02/06/oh-by-the-way-senator-obama-youre-the-president-now/#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:18:59 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=68674 http://mste.illinois.edu/patel/chisquare/gifs/peanutsfair.gif

Instead of just pointing to other articles, this is an original opinion piece I wrote about Obama’s leadership… something I think a lot of people will agree with. We’ll see.

There’s a difference between getting elected and assuming leadership and I’m still waiting for President Obama to assume leadership. Obama’s management style seems to be that he’s just another member of a team rather than the team captain. America is in a crisis and both the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress are acting like a class full of unruly 10 year olds with a weak substitute teacher.

I am asking you Mr. President today to take charge. I am asking you to be a leader. I am asking you to assume your role as the decider. You are the chief executive and you are in charge. You are the leader but you have yet to assume leadership. A year ago we made you the most powerful man on the planet. We gave you the power and we expect you to use it. Instead you’re like a Jedi Knight who won’t use The Force. You’re like Superman in his role as Clark Kent. You’re like Charlie Brown who just tries to keep kicking the football just to have it jerked away by Congress at the last minute.

It is time, Mr. President, for you to take charge. It’s time to open up a can of whoop-ass and set Congress straight. It’s OK to be reasonable and rational in the way you make decisions but please, if you are passionate about something you can at least raise your voice and show it. Here in real America things are so bad that we are waking up in the middle of the night screaming. We want to hear you scream too. The role of President was given to you. We are still waiting for you to claim it. Be the leader!

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/02/06/oh-by-the-way-senator-obama-youre-the-president-now/feed/ 55 No AMD Opterons at NewEgg? Why? http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/31/no-amd-opterons-at-newegg-why/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/31/no-amd-opterons-at-newegg-why/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:32:39 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=68278 http://tiphut.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/newegg.jpg

Something has been bothering me for months and I’m wondering if anyone knows why. NewEgg has been phasing out all their AMD Opteron processors, selling only Intel. NewEgg does, however, carry a full line of AMD desktop processors. I’ve been thinking of building a new server with a pair of 6 core Opterons. So what’s up with NewEgg?

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/31/no-amd-opterons-at-newegg-why/feed/ 14 Church of Reality Lawsuit to get Legal Pot DENIED! http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/30/church-of-reality-lawsuit-to-get-legal-pot-denied/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/30/church-of-reality-lawsuit-to-get-legal-pot-denied/#comments Sat, 30 Jan 2010 20:05:34 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=68215 http://www.churchofreality.org/images/cor-logo2.jpg

The Church of Reality (yes – the one I started) has been DENIED in it’s lawsuit with the DEA in order to get legal religious marijuana for it’s members. The Church intends to ask for a rehearing on the basis that the decision fails to address 90% of the issues raised and was a memorandum decision which isn’t appropriate for a case of first impression that requires the strict scrutiny standard. The decision is basically a blow-off decision. Here’s a link to the decision.

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/30/church-of-reality-lawsuit-to-get-legal-pot-denied/feed/ 18 Toyota Recall – Is it the Computer, not the Gas Pedal? http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/28/toyota-recall-is-it-the-computer-not-the-gas-pedal/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/28/toyota-recall-is-it-the-computer-not-the-gas-pedal/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:16:56 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=68047 http://me.stanford.edu/groups/design/automotive/images/LogoToyota.jpg

As someone who has been in software for over 30 years, I have to ask Toyota this question, “Have you ruled out the computer?” As I understand it, the cars in question are all “drive by wire” cars. Unlike the cars I drove as a teen where the gas pedal was connected to the carburetor with metal rods, these days the pedal is an input device that merely indicates to the car’s computer how fast the driver wishes to go. The computer is what directly controls the engine speed.

Even if the gas pedal was actually sticking, the computer could be programmed to detect a faulty pedal and shut down the engine automatically upon fault detection. Such software would be trivial to implement and could save lives until the real problem is determined. However there seems to be evidence of cases that defy the pedal theory and Toyota should be looking at the computer.

Computer code:

If (gas on floor) and (break on floor) then kill engine;

What do you think?

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/28/toyota-recall-is-it-the-computer-not-the-gas-pedal/feed/ 53 John and Elizabeth Edwards Split Up http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/28/john-and-elizebeth-edwars-split-up/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/28/john-and-elizebeth-edwars-split-up/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:39:28 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=68010

http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID22153/images/elizabeth-edwards-blog-cherubim-comments-john-edwards-rielle-hunter.jpg

I guess she’s just not dying fast enough and he can’t wait any longer to go on to his next piece of tail Rielle Hunter. And he could have ended up as president. Story Here.

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/01/28/john-and-elizebeth-edwars-split-up/feed/ 46 AT&T – False Advertising? http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/22/65360/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/22/65360/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:01:52 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=65360 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2604/4053415203_f1616d6994.jpg

Just saw an AT&T commercial saying that on Verizon you can’t surf the web and talk at the same time but on AT&T you can. HUH?

I’m a Droid user and I can surf the web, check email, and use GPS navigation at the same time as well as running any other app I want and it all works. So isn’t this clearly false advertising? I’ve never owned an iPhone but I thought it was the one that couldn’t multitask. Have they fixed that?

UPDATE: Whoops! I swear I remember it did work – but I just tried it and it didn’t work. I wonder if the last “upgrade” screwed it up. I’m going to do more testing.

UPDATE2: Further investigation. The reason I thought it worked was that I had a WIFI connection to the Internet. You can surf and talk at the same time if you have WIFI. So – it appears that AT&T is correct and I’m now disappointed in Verizon.

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/22/65360/feed/ 47 1-800-FLOWERS Check Scam – DON’T CASH IT! http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/19/1-800-flowers-check-scam-dont-cash-it/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/19/1-800-flowers-check-scam-dont-cash-it/#comments Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:54:01 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=65176 http://www.dvorak.org/blog/images/flowers-check-back.jpg

Be careful who you do business with. Occasionally I’ve sent flowers to people using 1-800-FLOWERS and it never occurred to me that they would try to scam me. A few days ago I get a check from them for $9.25 which was kind of a mystery. I turned the check over and on the back was an agreement (above) that if I cashed the check then they would send my credit card information to someone called Elite Excursions who would start billing me $19.99 a month.

I wonder how many people who get a lot of checks in the mail might deposit this without realizing they signed up for some bogus service that’s just going to con them out of their money.

I damn sure will never use 1-800-FLOWERS again!

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/19/1-800-flowers-check-scam-dont-cash-it/feed/ 37 HP Laptop ate my homework! http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/10/hp-laptop-ate-my-homework/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/10/hp-laptop-ate-my-homework/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:42:55 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=64571 http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41zwRhbyLTL.jpg

On October 24th I bought this new HP laptop with Windows 7 on it. Two days ago it died hard. Had a few internet connection problems and it got a confused connection to a remote share. Usually a reboot clears that up, so before I rebooted I decided to check to see if there were any updates to download and there were two. I downloaded and rebooted and it seemed to be hung up after not booting up to a login prompt. So I powered it down as that tends to get Windows to repair itself and it came up to an HP recovery utility that HP had added.

I have to admit that I wasn’t paying close attention and one of the choices was “Restore”. In the windows world sometime when it crashes it asks to go back to a “restore point” or things like the way it was on the last good boot and such and I sad yes and it began formatting my drive without any working.

So – I’m REALLY PISSED at HP for having a utility that formats your drive without giving you any warning. So I had to install everything from scratch. They had a partition that had the OS on it to reinstall itself and it took over 2 hours to just get back to the point of the way it was when I bought it. In fact the first attempt at it failed and it actually took 4 hours.

So I had to wait hours because HP had added scripts to install all this CRAP and I decided that for $130 at Walmart I can get a virgin copy of Windows 7 without all the HP crap, and I’m glad I did.

No HP utility that’s going to format my drives. No adware. No HP monitoring utility. Not 30 trial version of Norton Utilities. No Quickbooks trial. No adding their suggested bookmarks, none of that.

I know Windows 7 comes “free” with a laptop but quite frankly it is worth $130 to me to get an OS that doesn’t take me weeks to delete all the extra crap they add in. It’s absolutely clear to me from not just what I saw but the phone call with their tech support that they don’t test their add-on in the real world. You certainly don’t format a drive without telling the user that you’re going to do that. My opinion of HP just dropped dramatically. I used to say, “Get an HP laptop.” Now I think not.

]]> http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/10/hp-laptop-ate-my-homework/feed/ 61 Verizon releases Android 2.0.1 OS Today for Motorola Droid http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/10/verizon-releases-android-2-0-1-os-today-for-motorola-droid/ http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/12/10/verizon-releases-android-2-0-1-os-today-for-motorola-droid/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:19:17 +0000 Marc Perkel http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=64568 http://revolver360.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/android-254x300.jpg

Still fairly happy with my Droid. About 10 am today my phone informed me that it downloaded an upgrade and asked if I wanted to install it now or later. I said now and it upgraded itself just like they said it would when I bought it. Not yet noticing any great improvement, in fact the phone seems a little weirder. Had a number of dropped calls and the screen going blank during a call and having a hard time waking it up so I can hang up. Maybe it’s a coincidence.

So – any other Android users want to talk about the upgrade? I’m still hoping that I can get it to become a WIFI hotspot like you can with Windows Mobile.

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