u l t r a m o o k i e

My lovely wife completely surprised me last night when she gave me…well, a surprising second part of my graduation and birthday gift!
Yes, she got me the watch of my dreams!  Thirteen years ago, when I was a mere 20 years old, I saw a Omega Seamaster Professional on Pierce Brosnan’s wrist in GoldenEye — and [...]

My lovely wife completely surprised me last night when she gave me…well, a surprising second part of my graduation and birthday gift!

Yes, she got me the watch of my dreams!  Thirteen years ago, when I was a mere 20 years old, I saw a Omega Seamaster Professional on Pierce Brosnan’s wrist in GoldenEye — and that was the watch that I wanted.  Now that I’m turning 33 (tomorrow), my wife has gotten me the watch!  It is a beauty and I LOVE it.  It will get a lot of wrist time compared to my other watches — even the Breitling that I received from my father-in-law when my wife and I got engaged.

This is the new model (#2220.80) that Daniel Craig wore in Casino Royale.  The “Seamaster” is now printed in red, the hour markers are raised (very cool), and it has the Omega co-axial escapement.

Thank you honey for the best birthday (and graduation) gift ever!

So, I installed Ubuntu 8.04LTS (Hardy Heron) on my play notebook and found it extremely well-done. So, I figured, after four months of Vista on my main notebook, I could switch over. Heron did everything that I need, so why not get away from Vista for a while? I installed it on [...]

So, I installed Ubuntu 8.04LTS (Hardy Heron) on my play notebook and found it extremely well-done. So, I figured, after four months of Vista on my main notebook, I could switch over. Heron did everything that I need, so why not get away from Vista for a while? I installed it on my main notebook and it was heavenly. The damned thing is smooth, fast, and runs really well. It boots up quickly and has a sense of polish all over. Though, I did switch away from the Human theme over to the blue Glossy one. Everything else was great. Then, I remembered something.

A while back, I found a bug report about the APM settings in Ubuntu that were overly aggressive and led to people’s harddrives dying. What was happening was that when a notebook was woken up from suspend or hibernate, it was unable to decided if it were on battery power or AC. It just decided that it was on battery power — then switches on the most aggressive power savings mode on the harddrives. This causes some people to see their harddrives in a sleep/wake cycle that happened at a rate of 10s per second (most harddrives have a 600,000 sleep/wake cycle limit).

I thought, hey it has been a year-and-a-half since this bug was opened. They must have fixed it already — especially for a Long Term Support release like Heron. Nope, they didn’t do it yet.

I just reinstalled Vista on my main notebook and the Vista SP1 update is running right now.

Hi, I’d like to lose my identity.
From the “Help & How-To: Tips and Tricks To Make Tech Easier” section of the tech rag Computer Shopper (April 2008, page 80):
Tip of the Month:
E-Archive Your Personal Papers
I scan all my important documents (such as copies of my Social Security card, passport, U.S. citizenship certificates, and county tax [...]

Hi, I’d like to lose my identity.

From the “Help & How-To: Tips and Tricks To Make Tech Easier” section of the tech rag Computer Shopper (April 2008, page 80):

Tip of the Month:

E-Archive Your Personal Papers

I scan all my important documents (such as copies of my Social Security card, passport, U.S. citizenship certificates, and county tax bills) and upload them onto PBase (www.pbase.com), then secure it with a key [password]. PBase costs me an annual fee, but I can print a copy of my important documents at any time, from anywhere. -Anupam Bhomia

Thanks for another great tip, Anupam! This is a great idea for frequent travelers or others who often need access to critical papers, yet don’t wish to carry copies.

Obviously, PBase isn’t the only image-hosting service you can use for this. But I like that it lets you create nonpublic photo galleries that are not only password-protected, but also invisible to snoopers — no one can try guessing the password unless he or she has been given the gallery URL. Nonetheless, identity theft is well worth being vigilant about, so use a secure, unguessable password incorporating letters, numbers and characters.

Quite possibly the worst advice ever given — and the worst “published” support of bad advice ever. Don’t ever put unencrypted versions of documents that have anything to do with your identity online. Hell, don’t ever put any version of your these documents online — and carry a copy when you’re traveling.

The question is not if a bug on PBase (or whatever hosting site you choose) exposes your documents to the world, it is when something like that will happen. Though I’ve actually communicated with the owners of PBase before and they are nice people, what if you put up your documents on a different site — and those owners are not so nice? They put together the software, so your images aren’t protected on their servers from their eyes.  Now, you’ve just handed over your identity to these people.  Remember, your files may seem like they are protected from the public, but they are not.  On the back-end, unscrupulous admins still have access to your files in raw readable formats without the password protection.  On the front-end, well anything can happen and your files can become readable by the public.  You really want your Social Security card floating around on the internet?  Probably not.

Don’t be stupid like Anupam. Don’t listen to Computer Shopper when they praise Anupam. This is one of the worst ideas ever.

Ten months ago, I had a root canal and it was the worst thing in my life. Read about the pain and pain and pain here. I thought that was the hard part, but it wasn’t! After a short break (because I ran out of insurance coverage), I went back to the [...]

Ten months ago, I had a root canal and it was the worst thing in my life. Read about the pain and pain and pain here. I thought that was the hard part, but it wasn’t! After a short break (because I ran out of insurance coverage), I went back to the dentist in the beginning of January to get an impression taken for a crown. Today, on my fourth visit, they’re still trying to get a good impression taken. I can’t count how many impressions they have taken, but it’s been a bunch. Even my dentist is frustrated. They can’t get a good impression because the gums around the tooth keep messing up the impressions. Today, my dentist pulled out the big guns — see the picture above.

Yes, that’s a picture at the dentist’s office of an Electrosurge 500SE. It looks like it was stolen from the workbench of some electronics technician — maybe an AC to DC power converter? Nope. The red wire was connected to a pad, which was put underneath my shoulder — my guess is that it was a ground of some sort. Attached to the black wire was a pen-like device that had a thin piece of metal sticking out. What was it for? To cut off gum! Ouch! My dentist told me to open wide and I told him “Hell No” because that thing was frigging scary as hell — and with a name like “Electrosurge” it did not make it any more friendly. Eventually, I was convinced that it would not give me pain (since the side of my head was already numb). And it didn’t hurt, I didn’t feel a thing…Until I got home and the anesthetics wore off. The gums around my tooth are killing me right now. Ugh. I hate my teeth — and right now, I hate this one tooth that after 10 months has still not been fixed.

Note to the manufacturer of the Electrosurge 500SE:  Please, make it more friendly looking and give it a better name.  My suggestion?  Make it white and fluffy…name it Cuddly Kitten 500SE.

So, this whole steroids thing is just plain stupid — I am not going to use the term “Human Growth Hormone” or HGH, because it is what it is: Steroids. Check out Andy Pettitte who came out and “apologized” this weekend. Here’s what he said:
“I didn’t do it to try to get [...]

So, this whole steroids thing is just plain stupid — I am not going to use the term “Human Growth Hormone” or HGH, because it is what it is: Steroids. Check out Andy Pettitte who came out and “apologized” this weekend. Here’s what he said:

“I didn’t do it to try to get an edge on anyone, I didn’t do it to try to get stronger, faster or to throw harder.”

Really? So, why did you take steroids?

“I did it because I was told that it might be able to help me.”

So, let me get this straight. You took steroids to help yourself. But, you didn’t take them to help yourself get the edge on anyone. Nor did you take them to help yourself get stronger, faster or to throw harder. So, why the hell did you take the steroids? What were you looking for the steroids to help you do? Fly like Superman? Leap over tall buildings? Did you take the steroids to help your health decline? Oh, I know, you took the steroids to help you become a better person!

No, actually, he took steroids because he thought it would help him heal faster from his injuries.  Isn’t that trying “to get an edge” on other players?  I mean, if your fellow player is injured, he sits his ass out of the game until he heals.  You sought a way to get an edge on him by using steroids to heal faster.  What a sad excuse.

Cripes! If you’re going to apologize, then do it right! Admit it: You, Andy Pettitte, took steroids so that you could get the edge on other players. You, Andy Pettitte, took steroids so that you could get stronger, faster or to throw harder. Stop being such a dumb-ass. And, please don’t think that people are stupid as you are — we can see through your act.  Apology not accepted.

Update: Disregard this post. Sony BMG has come to their senses and are going to be offering their non-DRM music through Amazon’s MP3 Store.
In what maybe the biggest backasswards way of selling digital music, Sony BMG detailed their plans on how they will sell DRM-free music: In retail stores only. What [...]

Update: Disregard this post. Sony BMG has come to their senses and are going to be offering their non-DRM music through Amazon’s MP3 Store.

In what maybe the biggest backasswards way of selling digital music, Sony BMG detailed their plans on how they will sell DRM-free music: In retail stores only. What the hell?

So, it is really possible that Sony BMG will be able to “sell out” of MP3s! Wow! That is just brilliant. Here’s how Sony BMG wants to sell digital music:

1. You decide you want to buy a Sony BMG album
2. You get in your car
3. Drive to Best Buy
4. Buy a $12.99 “Platinum Music Pass”
5. Drive Home
6. Log into the Sony website
7. Punch in the code from your card
8. Download music

That has got to be the most idiotic way of selling digital music ever. People buy digital music because it is convenient and easy to get (not to mention makes for an excellent impulse buy). By inserting steps 2-7, Sony has just eliminated the convenience and easy of digital music. And on top of that, they are charging a lot more per digital album than either Amazon or iTunes. Someone’s ass needs to get kicked for putting together such a “brilliant” plan.

Sony BMG feels “strongly that there’s a group that will enjoy carrying the imagery of an artist they love around with them, or sharing it with their friends.” Yea, you know what Sony BMG? With gas prices so high, I’d rather not buy your music than to pay $12.99 and gas to get a digital download. I could care less about “carrying the imagery of an artist I love around with me. Thanks, but no thanks.

Lets not forget about the unnecessary damage that is caused to the environment because of this scheme:

• The trees cut down to print the card backings
• The plastic cards that contain codes which are going to be tossed in the trash
• The fuel needed for the trucks to bring all this stuff to the stores
• The fuel needed for a consumer to drive to and from a store to buy a card

If only the management at Sony BMG “got it”…

If you’re a regular reader, you won’t notice any ads on ultramookie.com because I only show them to people who arrive via major search engines (aol, ask, google, msn, and yahoo).
Only recently have I started tracking just how well each group of searchers perform. Now that I have some data, it is really interesting to [...]

If you’re a regular reader, you won’t notice any ads on ultramookie.com because I only show them to people who arrive via major search engines (aol, ask, google, msn, and yahoo).

Only recently have I started tracking just how well each group of searchers perform. Now that I have some data, it is really interesting to see which search engines attract the “click monkeys“. The industry average click-through-rate is around 1%. Google and AOL users hover around that average. Yahoo! users seem to click more. What is surprising is the CTR of MSN and Ask users: They are freaking click monkeys — especially the MSN users. MSN users are by far worth more per million clicks than any other users: 8% CTR with a $26.86 eCPM, that is fantastic.