July 31, 2004
The 'ands' in Overture
I changed my 'Nikon 5700' post to 'Nikon and Coolpix and 5700' just as an experiment. Why? Something interesting. If you look on Overture at the Search Term Suggestions, the top item for Nikon 5700 is 'Nikon and Coolpix and 5700' (8013). The next is 'Nikon 5700' at 6929. Isn't that strange? I'm pretty sure Google ignores the ands. Perhaps for another search engine?Here's what the folks were looking for:
July 30, 2004
Stokke Xplory
Ok, this is really, umm, well, err... you decide for yourself. Gizmodo has the enhanced scoop. The Stokke Xplory is the latest high end stroller to hit the streets. At around $800, it has got to have a serious pitch. And it does, sort of. As you can see from the heisted image on the right, the seat can be brought up high so that your kids can be further away from dust and exhaust fumes. (Someone bring in a physicist on this... I'm not so sure about the fumes.) Sonja says that it is kind of cute - but it is eight hundred dollars cute? Ok, now she says that it sort of looks like a cheap office chair.
Update
I found a better site for going through the Xplory features. Very well thought out!
Overture stroller search
The double stroller is getting to be a big hassle. It bascially fills up the back of the van making it very difficult to even go shopping. Plus, #1 barely uses the stroller anymore. Time for an upgrade? I decided to search via Overture following an earlier method. Here's the top 10...Here's everything!
count search term 6603 maclaren stroller 6591 graco stroller 4016 combi stroller 2958 peg perego stroller 2920 bugaboo stroller 2406 eddie bauer stroller 1871 chicco stroller 1604 zooper stroller 1515 evenflo stroller 1472 cosco stroller
Nikon and Coolpix and 5700
I like this one. Check out the reviews and accessories for the Nikon 5700. I saw a floor model for sale for $600 at Costco the other day (regularly $799). I'll have to admit, I was pretty tempted despite not really having the money. Fortunately, I saw it for less online with extra accessories... so no hurry. :)
I had a Nikon Coolpix 990 for about a year. I liked the color and I liked the macro mode, but the size what not very convenient. I found myself leaving it at home to avoid having to carry it. Make special note of the Nikon MB-E5700 Battery Pack.
July 29, 2004
Patent bar practice exam
For what it is worth, here's a sample of the new electronic patent exam by Prometric. The reviews have been less than positive.
rhodium - mohs and vickers
Rhodium is a wonderful metal because it is non-corrosive, like gold, but, unlike gold, is quite scratch resistant. For this reason, it is often use as a final coating on silver and gold jewelry. But how hard is hard? And what does that mean? It turns out that there are a number of hardness scales. Two which jewelers and metal workers use are mohs and vickers. I'm still looking for a non-web source (no, it isn't in the CRC) so, for the time being, the reference goes to artisanplating.com.
Now I bet you are wondering what mohs and vickers are.
material vickers mohs rhodium 600-700 5.5 platinum 500-600 4.3 nickel 200-500 7.0 gold 90-190 2.75 silver 90 3.25
Pair: singular or plural?
Is pair singular or plural? I suppose that 'a pair' is singular but 'the pair' plural? As you can see, I'm very confused. From Bartleby,
The noun pair can be followed by a singular or plural verb. The singular is always used when pair refers to a set considered as a single entity: This pair of shoes is on sale. A plural verb is used when the members are considered as individuals: The pair are working more harmoniously now. After a number other than one, pair itself can be either singular or plural, but the plural is now more common: She bought six pairs (or pair) of stockings. For more on this, see subject and verb agreement under Grammar.What if it is a pair of hoodlums, as in, "a pair of hoodlums are walking down the street." Does that sond right? Or is it, "a pair of hoodlums is walking down the street." Ok that sounds worse.
July 28, 2004
The hunt for Oatios
For a few weeks now, our cereal selection hsa been limited to Arrowhead Mills' organic Puffed Kamut and Puffed Millet. #2 sure loves it, but I have to say, it isn't really my favorite. Where are the Oatios? I found a source online that seems promising, except they label the cereal as "snack bars", making me a bit worried. Amazon sells the 15 oz. package of Oatios for $4.59. This place, ENK Natural, sells the 8 oz. package of Oatios for $2.29 - with $5.99 shipping up to 6 lbs. You can save 5% ordering by mail with check or money order. Has anyone ever ordered from these folks? Maybe better to stick with Amazon.
July 26, 2004
Seven Google patents
Just for fun, I searched the USPTO and found seven Google patents. They've been busy. The latest is by Ken Law! He's a cool dude.
July 24, 2004
Col. Sanders' secret recipe
My son and I had a bit of Kentucky Fried Chicken at the beach this morning. I have to say, that is tasty stuff. What do we know about the recipe? According to KFC, the recipe, developed at a roadside restaurant in the 30s, is locked away in a safe in Louisville, KY. It consists of 11 herbs and spices. Previously mixed on a "specially cleaned concrete porch", today the blend is put together by two companies using computer processing systems. Neither company knows the complete recipe.
William Poundstone's Big Secrets has the most thorough discussion of the secret recipe. He reportgs, according to an interview of Sanders in The New York Times, that the herbs and spices "stand on everybody's shelf". Poundstone managed to get a sample of the powder from a KFC employee and had it analyzed in a lab - the result? No herbs, one spice: black pepper, salt, flour and MSG. Hmmmm...
On a thread, I found someone who claimed to have the original recipe:
2 cups of flour,Someone try this and tell me if works.
1/2 tsp salt,
1/2 tsp thyme,
1/2 tsp basil,
1/2 tsp oregano,
1 tbsp celery salt,
1 tbsp black pepper,
1 tbsp dry mustard,
4 tbsp paprika,
2 tsp garlic salt,
1 tsp ground ginger,
3 tbsp MSG (accent)Mix all ingrediants in a large bowl.
Dip chicken pieces in beaten eggs, then turn them over in regular bread crumbs (commercial). Finally plunge them into the above mix.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in a tray and cover with foil. (shiny side out) Cook 40 minutes. Remove foil and cook for another 40 minutes. Baste lightly with oil 5 minutes before the end, let stand 5 minutes and serve.
July 23, 2004
Changing poll to ALL in phpBB
I've been experimenting with phpBB polls, and noticed something very annoying. Despite repeated setting poll voting to ALL (from REG - for registered), the system reports no error and yet sets the poll voting back to REG. Basically, 40-some people have visited my laminate flooring survey with no way to vote. Arrrr.... Fortunately, there is a MOD called guestvote_mod that will fix this problem. Remember that this is beta software, so use at your own risk. Also, you will have to get your hands dirty to install this, so have some paper towels handy.Let's do it.
- Download the latest version of guestvote_mod.zip. In the archive you will find two php files and a txt file containing the instructions, which I will outline below.
- Copy guestvote.php and guestvote_config.php into your phpBB directory.
- In the same directory, make backup copies of posting.php, viewtopic.php and viewforum.php. As you can see below, the next steps are a lot of work. If you trust me and have a fresh copy of phpBB, just replace the files with the ones found here, otherwise...
- Open up posting.php with your favorite editor, e.g., XEmacs, and make the following changes:
After
appendinclude($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/functions_post.'.$phpEx);
This will give posting.php access to the guestvote functions.// begin guestvote mod include($phpbb_root_path . 'guestvote.'.$phpEx); include($phpbb_root_path . 'guestvote_config.'.$phpEx); // end guestvote mod
Comment out
(line 160) and replace it with$is_auth_type = 'auth_vote';
// begin guestvote mod $is_auth_type = guestvote_auth_type(); // end guestvote modComment out
(line 482) and replace it with$sql = "SELECT * FROM " . VOTE_USERS_TABLE . " WHERE vote_id = $vote_id AND vote_user_id = " . $userdata['user_id'];Comment out
(line 494) and replace it withif ( !($row = $db->sql_fetchrow($result2)) )
// begin guestvote mod if ( !($row = $db->sql_fetchrow($result2)) && !(guestvote_already_voted_by_cookie()) ) // end guestvote modComment out
(line 508) and replace it with$sql = "INSERT INTO " . VOTE_USERS_TABLE . " (vote_id, vote_user_id, vote_user_ip) VALUES ($vote_id, " . $userdata['user_id'] . ", '$user_ip')"; if ( !$db->sql_query($sql, END_TRANSACTION) ) { message_die(GENERAL_ERROR, "Could not insert user_id for poll", "", __LINE__, __FILE__,$sql); }// begin guestvote mod if ($guestvote_logging == 1 || $guestvote_logging == 3) { $sql = "INSERT INTO " . VOTE_USERS_TABLE . " (vote_id, vote_user_id, vote_user_ip) VALUES ($vote_id, " . $userdata['user_id'] . ", '$user_ip')"; if ( !$db->sql_query($sql, END_TRANSACTION) ) { message_die(GENERAL_ERROR, "Could not insert user_id for poll", "", __LINE__, __FILE__, $sql); } } guestvote_set_cookie(); // end guestvote mod - Open up viewtopic.php and make the following changes:
After
appendinclude($phpbb_root_path . 'includes/bbcode.'.$phpEx);
// begin guestvote mod include($phpbb_root_path . 'guestvote.'.$phpEx); include($phpbb_root_path . 'guestvote_config.'.$phpEx); // end guestvote mod
After
(line 581) append// // User authorisation levels output //
// begin guestvote mod if ($userdata['user_id'] == ANONYMOUS && guestvote_allowed()) { $is_auth['auth_vote'] = TRUE; } // end guestvote modComment out
(line 708) and replace it with$sql = "SELECT vote_id FROM " . VOTE_USERS_TABLE . " WHERE vote_id = $vote_id AND vote_user_id = " . intval($userdata['user_id']);// begin guestvote mod $is_auth_type = guestvote_auth_type(); // end guestvote modComment out
(line 720) and replace it with$user_voted = ( $row = $db->sql_fetchrow($result) ) ? TRUE : 0;
// begin guestvote mod $user_voted = $user_voted || guestvote_already_voted_by_cookie(); // end guestvote mod - Open up viewforum.php and make the following changes:
After
appendinclude($phpbb_root_path . 'common.'.$phpEx);
// begin guestvote mod include($phpbb_root_path . 'guestvote.'.$phpEx); include($phpbb_root_path . 'guestvote_config.'.$phpEx); // end guestvote mod
After
(line 367) append// // User authorisation levels output //
// begin guestvote mod if ($userdata['user_id'] == ANONYMOUS && guestvote_allowed()) { $is_auth['auth_vote'] = TRUE; } // end guestvote mod
July 22, 2004
Preskill's baseball encyclopedia
Of all the possible encyclopedias to choose from, why did John Preskill insist on Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia?
I can tell from his site that he is a baseball fan. Nestled underneath physics-related poems are Baseball: ESPN Sportszone and the A-hats Team Song (Caltech's quantum optics softball team). Preskill is also an expert in quantum computing, might the spin of a baseballs have led him there?
Say It Right the First Time
I skimmed through Loretta Malandro's Say It Right the First Time this afternoon. A lot of it is common sense, though it is the sort of common sense that never seems to be present at the right time. Her big thing is taking the accountability instead of laying blame, and realizing that what you say is not what people hear. Lots and lots of examples. It would be best implemented into a small voice recognition device which lights up green when you are using the right language and flashes red when you aren't so you can correct yourself.
July 20, 2004
MIT's 5 Patents to Watch
Several years ago, MIT Technology Review Magazine published a piece on 5 patents to watch. Amazon sells the piece for a whopping $7.50. They are IBM's distributed computing patent, ProdiGene's method for expressing vaccines in plants, Lucent's in-fiber amplification using Raman scattering, hydrogel-cell tissue engineering, and HP's molecular wire crossbar memory (how'd they patent that?).
July 16, 2004
Laminated versus hardwood floors
We ended up going with carpet, but for those of you interested, I did a little more research on laminate flooring versus hardwood. A good resource? Floorshop.com. If you are concerned about appearance, uniqueness and how the floor sounds, better go with the hardwood. If you are concerned about price, installation and durability, go with the laminate. One thing they pointed out, which I've heard before, is that the laminate sounds more "hollow" when walked on with hard soled shoes. What is laminate flooring? Laminate flooring is typically high density fiber board, sandwiched between a melamine laminate backing, high quality photographic paper with an image of wood, and then another melamine laminate top. Of course, the problem with this is immediately evident. The number of patterns will be limited. (How, how about an auto-wood pattern generation algorithm? Hmm, but maybe printing costs are prohibitive...). Some new hybrid products use a real thin slice of wood instead of the paper.
Acrophobia
Over the last couple days, I have been measuring scalp-electrode impedance over frequency on myself. The process takes quite a bit of time and requires that I keep my head rather still (mostly because my setup is rather delicate). In order to do so, I've been reading online. Today I stumbled across James Waldroop and Timothy Butler's The 12 Bad Habits That Hold Good People Back: Overcoming the Behavior Patterns That Keep You from Getting Ahead. I found it looking for books on anger management, after losing my cool with #1. They call the first bad habit acrophobia, i.e., never feeling good enough.
Why acrophobia? Acrophobia is the fear of heights, or, more properly, the fear of falling from heights. This happens when you are where you shouldn't be. If you've ever looked at a job offer letter, or a college acceptance letter and thought, they must have made a mistake, or been in a meeting where you felt totally outclassed and out of place, that is what they mean. Waldroop and Butler's book covers bad habits, Achilles' heels, as they call them, that cause talented people to fail. Think of them as personal glass ceilings. In this case, acrophobia either consciously or unconsciously causes some to sabotage their own careers in order to get back to where they are supposed to be.
They give the example of Paul, a quant banker with an MBA from the University of Texas. After a few years of excellent performance, he was assigned to manage a group of Harvard, Wharton bankers who, when the Mexican peso collapsed, lost millions of dollars. Paul, as you might guessed, felt completely out of place and not worthy of this position. This reflected in how he interacted with people, e.g., not being able to delegate down to how he walked. It got so bad that people, while recognizing him to be hard worker, did not really go to him for advice. They started to see him as how he saw himself, a quant that got lifted up too high. This story has a happy ending though, since Paul consulted Waldroop and Butler, who identify his problem and help him overcome it. One interesting advice: walking with your hands behind your back. It forces you to slow down and projects the image that even with all the crises around you, that you are in control. Hmmm, I need to work on that.
July 14, 2004
Online book resellers
I got an email the other day from an online reseller, Ashish Gupta, a.k.a. Bob, who offered to buy my books at 1/3 of the Amazon used book price. Funny guy. I told him I'd think about it and maybe call him back. He said, next time it'll be 30%. He must email tons of people, he could barely remember which books I had or who I was.
In case you want to sell your books at that price, here's his contact info: Ashish Gupta, (415) 661-3114, 1233 Shrader St, San Francisco, CA 94117. I asked if he would pick up the books and he said that he can "probably arrange for one of his tenants to pick it up on the way to San Jose." When they pick up, 75% of the money is delivered up front and 25% is held in case the conditions are different than stated. After it gets to SF, the conditions are checked and the 25% plus whatever difference is paid. Typically, people bring to them and then they scan it all it. It is also possible to do it by consignment in which case the proceeds are split 50/50. (Hmmm, what about transaction costs? Mailing costs? Labor costs? Tricky...) Apparently you can even check your books online. They have two stores, hotdealfinders and newforyou.
The IPIX patent
IPIX has a patent on software to convert wide angle lens images into normal photos to be viewed in "interactive viewers". How did they get away with this? Here's a court summary from IPIX vs. Graphics Effects. Markus Altendorff has an good summary of the whole issue. Here's something interesting from the court summary...
Claim 1 was initially rejected by an Examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under, inter alia, 35 U.S.C. § 103, as being obvious over U.S. Patent 5,067,019, issued to Juday et al., in light of U.S. Patent 5,068,735, issued to Tuchiya et al. The applicant challenged the propriety of the rejection by noting several deficiencies in the Juday reference vis-à-vis claim 1 and disputing the relevance of Tuchiya. Additionally, the applicant amended claim 1 in several ways, including inserting the words “transform calculation” to the section reciting the “image transform processor means,” so that “output signals” became “output transform calculation signals.” That change was made without any explanation. After receipt of the applicant’s claim amendments and arguments, the Examiner allowed claim 1 without stating in the record any reasons for the allowance.Wired has an article from 99 prior to the IPIX IPO on their patents being "rock solid". One more resource on potentially useful prior art...
July 13, 2004
spoolsv.exe hogging 99% of cpu - the fix
I came into lab to find the printer printing strange ASCII characters, one line per page, and a basically inoperably slow PC. Checking Task Manager, I found the culprit - one spoolsv.exe at 99% cpu which I killed. About 30 seconds later, the cpu was once again clogged by a revived app. Here's the fix. First, get some breathing room - go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services and stop the Print Spooler. Turn off the printer. Now go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS and delete the files there. I found '00020.SHD' and '00020.SPL'. Now turn your printer back on and restart the service. Check task manager, spoolsv.exe should be at 00%. Whew!
Semi-update
I'm glad that this post has been of use to you. It drove me crazy too. In my particular case the problems started occuring again after a couple days. This happend because the 'bad' spooler files were coming from another computer on the network. Once that person gave up printing that file, the madness stopped. If you are on your own, chances are it is just a corrupt print file that needs to be cleared out.
BTW, if you would like to contribute, one way to do it is to make a link to this page using the keyword 'spoolsv.exe'. Spread the love!
Also, if you need inkjet cartridges and toners, checkout Inkblvd<a href="http://torque.oncloud8.com/archives/000384.html">spoolsv.exe<a>
July 10, 2004
The Library of Alexandria
I want to know more about the Library of Alexandria. Why was it so famous? Were there other libraries of similar repute? What happened to it?
The library at Alexandria actually competed with that at Pergamum in amassing the most complete collection of books in the world. This went on in the 200's B. C., and it is interesting to note that there were already so many works in existence that obtaining a copy of each would have been an impossible undertaking even then. The destruction of this priceless treasure was a stroke of the most unimaginable bad luck. If Byzantine Egypt had been taken by one of the later Islamic conquerors, this irreplaceable collection would have been counted amongst the finest of the spoils of war to fall into a victor's hands.Wow...Early in the year A. D. 642, Alexandria surrendered to Amrou, the Islamic general leading the armies of Omar, Caliph of Baghdad. Long one of the most important cities of the ancient world and capital of Byzantine Egypt, Alexandria surrendered only after a long siege and attempts to rescue the city by the Byzantines. On the orders of Omar, Caliph of Baghdad, the entire collection of books (except for the works of Aristotle) stored at the Library of Alexandria were removed and used as fuel to heat water for the city's public baths.
July 8, 2004
I'm selling my books
As part of my life cleanup - I'm selling the [insert large number] lbs of books I've been lugging around since Tech. Check out the collection. Notice that the books are auto-sorted by Library of Congress call numbers! If you are interesting in cataloging (and pricing) your collection, let me know. I've almost got the system together. I'll need beta testers.
July 5, 2004
Where are the patent agents?
I've been messing around with a US patent agent/attorney database. If you were to guess which ten cities in the US had the most patent agents, what would you guess? Click 'continue reading' after you guess...
| city | state | total |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | DC | 1721 |
| New York | NY | 1581 |
| Chicago | IL | 1200 |
| Houston | TX | 631 |
| Boston | MA | 570 |
| San Diego | CA | 536 |
| Palo Alto | CA | 481 |
| Minneapolis | MN | 453 |
| Los Angeles | CA | 430 |
| Dallas | TX | 400 |
Surprised? To give you some perspective, Colorado has 487.
July 2, 2004
wdcsun30.usdoj.gov
I noticed a very interesting visitor while reviewing my June logs. I think it is part of the Big Brother bot... it was looking at my blogs on Costco diapers. I did also notice a uspto one.
July 1, 2004
Costco harmonics laminate flooring - bargain laminated flooring
Update
I'm doing a survey on laminate flooring, please vote! Now, back to our regular program...
I've been thinking about getting some Harmonics flooring. Costco sells it in 17.18 sq ft cartons for $26.89 (1.565 pre sq ft). A coupon this up coming week (7/5-7/11) gives you $5 off (1.274 per sq ft). Don't forget to factor in the installation kit (padding, tapping block, spacers, etc. for $29.69 per 150 sq ft. (.198 per sq ft). Total cost, about $1.50 per sq ft (excluding tax).
My sisters actually installed this product into my dad's office with no problems and good results. I've heard others complain that laminate flooring sounds cheaper when you step on it. So what's the real story? I talked to the painters about it and one of them mentioned that you still should use some glue.
More
- I found a discussion group at Better Homes and Gardens on the subject. I was especially concerned about the water issue...
I bought 250 square feet of this floor, fo my bedroom. I rent an apt and I didn't want to spend a lot. I have asthma from 9/11 so I had to get the carpet out asap.
It's very easy to install. I love the quality. I agree with the bare feet coments above. It's also easy to keep clean, just get a swiffer.
I did not buy the install kit. I bought the foam pad stuff from home depot. I did the whole job with a cordless circular saw. Instead of the tapping block I used a small scrap it works, but a block would be better because when you hit it, it delaminates and breaks apart.
I have a customer with laminate flooring in a hair salon. It flooded twice and the floor still looks good. It kind of curld up, but laid back down when it dried.
- Harmonics is "Quick Step".
Well, after reading up on this post yesterday, I stopped by Costco today to check out the Harmonics flooring again and show my wife. I got a scrap plank of Pergo from a friend and subjected it to a key scratch test (scratching my car key against the surface pretty hard to see the result). I also did this test today at Costco on a scrap piece that someone had taken out of a box. It seemed like the Pergo was a little more resistant to the scratch test. THe harmonics seemed to show damage with less pressure than the Pergo did. Anyways, I think the price is unbeatable.
I also checked on the coupon that someone mentioned in an earlier post and found a coupon for $5 off (between Feb 16, 2004 and Feb 29, 2004). THe interesting thing is, I think this coupon settles the "who makes Harmonics?" mystery. The coupon says it is good on "Quick Step" glueless laminate flooring (item #'s 695303, 696727, 696728). The picture looks just like the Harmonics packages that are there now. Unfortunately, I did not check the item #'s of the Harmonics boxes that are currently there (didn't think to check until I had left), but I have a feeling they are the same as on the coupon.
I also read the fine print on the warranty. It requires the "wear" spot to be at least a one square inch area! That's pretty big!! However, I'm sure all the laminate floor warranties have similar constraints.
- Address and contact info
Harmonics- 1000 Cal Oak Rd., Oroville, CA 95965
Tech support number 1-888-459-9220