Amazon Login Confusion

You are now connected to Mr. Singh from Amazon.com.

Me:Trying to solve a login problem

Mr. Singh :Hello, my name is Mr. Singh. I’ll be happy to help you.

Me: cool I’ve had this specific issue happen twice, once in August and just today. I’m concerned about it and want to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I will attempt a login using my correct username and email, and will get an error back saying the username/password is invalid. I know for sure that a) the username and password are correct, and b)that I typed it in correctly. I end up having to do a password reset.

Mr. Singh :Sluggets, could you please tell me, do you have more than one account with amazon?

Me:No I have only one account. My wife does have her own account associated with her email though.

Mr. Singh :Please don’t worry, I have checked and found that there were two account and one has been closed. I assure that your account and account details are safe and secure.

Me:There were two accounts associated with my email address?

Mr. Singh :Yes, you are correct. Continue reading →

Moth Photos!

Heather was out taking care of the Vincas in the front yard and came across a really cool-looking potentially rare moth. I always try to identify bugs/insects when I find an especially interesting one. Most turn out to be common in the midwest, like this Virginian Tiger Moth (Spilosoma virginica) I photographed in Jones County Iowa:

Virginian Tiger Moth

Or this Brown-Shaded Gray Moth(Anacamptodes defectaria) I photographed in Scott County Iowa:

Brown-Shaded Gray Moth

However this new moth, which I’m guessing is a Hummingbird Hawk Moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) because of Google Image search comparisons is not common at all on this continent! If my identification is correct it is a rare catch by Heather! The wikipedia entry does say that it is a strong flier, even though our continent isn’t even listed in the “possible Summer distribution”. Either way it is a neat moth. Here are the pics I got of it:

Hummingbird Hawk Moth?
Hummingbird Hawk Moth?
Hummingbird Hawk Moth?
Not a real photo of a real moth, but a Pokemon named Volcarona. For shits and giggles.

 

 

 

Cobalt Bomb as Villain

Ramblings about Nevil Shute’s On The Beach

This is a post-apocalyptic story originally published in 1950s, but the setting of the story is in the “future” of 1963. The obligatory apocalypse scenario is in the form of nuclear world war and subsequent destructive fallout. The story mainly takes place in Australia.

When I finished reading the book, it struck me as such a different structure and story arc, that I immediately went to Amazon.com and started reading some of the reviews of it by users there. Lots of interesting opinions there. Many people there disliked the book, but for reasons I wouldn’t have thought. I figured people would not recommend this book simply due to its extremely hopeless and depressing nature, but instead I found people claiming that they could not suspend their disbelief successfully enough to enjoy the fiction. There were many claims that the characters in the story would not have behaved in the way that they did given their terminal situation. There were also observations that despondent adolescents in the story (even though none were central characters) would have created a different atmosphere. I think these critiques are actually people reacting emotionally to the desperation of the story, because they can’t actually figure out what they would do in the character’s shoes. Also, what I think is being lost is that this story was written in the 50s! Additionally, it takes place in Australia, and although I haven’t been there and can’t claim to account for cultural differences there, I can safely assume that the culture in the 50s was quite a bit different than want we have today. I know some things never change, but there are a myriad variables here, from philosophical differences to simple practical consequences of being a less technologically advanced society. These things would color one’s reaction to the circumstances of the story quite a bit. Continue reading →

Pink Wristbands at Mohonk

We weren’t really allowed in the drugstore due to our pink day-use wristbands. I still intruded upon their good graces and bought a packet of single-use advil. It takes a higher class of paying citizen to use the lodge facilities I think. Although we were able to get some drinks, including a Heineken that I was able to decant into a fancy glass. We also crashed a completely unattended tea party and stole some cookies before making our escape via the servants’ driveway. The hike/rock scramble was extremely fun and and some mildly vigorous exercise. Beautiful valley that area is.

Making Sauerkraut

Another video I made using Openshot Video Editor. The program seems to be coming along nicely,and is updated and maintained very well. I’m learning more about using it bit by bit, but think I would enjoy using it if I put more time into learning and experimenting with the features. After trying to show exactly how to make sauerkraut, I actually did not have a good level of brine/cabbage juice up and over the cabbage, and the top parts of the cabbage started rotting. So, I’m starting a new batch, and I will watch it more closely so that it stays fermenting the right way.

Acekard Says “Merry Christmas”

When I first became aware of the flash carts that enable piracy on the Nintendo DS, I wasn’t very interested. The R4 was the most recognizable name at the time and I knew folks who boasted of their pirated game libraries. I won’t claim to be a saint, or of never “acquiring” digital stuff online, but in regards to the NDS I didn’t see a need for it. I was aware of the non-piracy utility of these cards, but that aspect did not interest me either. I guess I shouldn’t start this off by mischaracterizing the true nature of these devices. Just because mainstream news outlets dismiss any function outside of piracy for these carts as dishonest justification  doesn’t mean it is true. It seems similar to individuals dismissing the bittorrent technology as simply a piracy tool, guffawing at legitimate uses for it…like downloading linux distributions (of which I use it for often). The homebrew scene for NDS is real. Although I had never been interested in the past, aside from reading the occasional article about it in Google Reader, I definitely considered homebrew authentic and genuine. I certainly didn’t feel the sins of the vast amount of piracy outweighed the wholesome good of a homebrew scene.

The other feature of these cards, backing up your home collection for safe keeping, seemed more of an excuse to me, actual dishonest justification, than the homebrew use. That is until I had several of my DS games stolen while I was attending a Basment Jaxx/Modeselektor show in Chicago. The financial prospect of replacing the games that I really liked DID suck, but it was a different consideration that really disheartened me. As mentioned in this post, I had broken my Pokemon cherry with Pokemon Platinum, and made it to the elite four at the end of the game. After leveling my pokemon up considerably and sinking probably at least 50 hours into it, my game card got stolen. I also mentioned at the end of the article that I was going to begin playing Retro Game Challenge. Well, I did, and had a GREAT game save on that as well. My Tetris DS game card from 2006 had actually over time become rare and is currently out of print. So, the game saves cannot be replaced…they are GONE, and I had to shell out $50.00 for now-rare used copy of Tetris DS. Continue reading →

A Fully Informed Juror is the Least of a Jury’s Problems

Reddit links, there are a lot of lame ones, and the perspective of the posters often seems predictable. Just today I read a massively upvoted link complaining about old people not dying off fast enough. There definitely are cool things found there though. I found this youtube video through reddit weeks before I had to report for jury duty. It’s not really worth watching, just some officials outside a courthouse harassing some FIJA(Fully Informed Jury Association)  fans that were passing out informational pamphlets. I didn’t pay a whole bunch of attention to it. Of course, then I approach the county courthouse the morning of reporting for jury duty and there are folks there handing out the same materials. No one was harassing them, and I thanked them for the information and read it. It is definitely interesting stuff, and I can see how it would be upsetting to some people. FIJA advocates jurors to not simply judge whether someone is guilty or innocent of the stated law, but to judge also the law itself if need be.

I decided to write about this because of the River Cities’ Reader article I read recently entitled “A Law Unto Themselves”: Jury Nullification and the Deck Stacked Against It and also my recent experience serving as a juror. This was my first time actually serving as a juror. I was previously called to the Federal Building on 4th St. in Davenport to serve, but during voir dire I was stricken from the pool by the prosecuting attorneys. It was a drug conspiracy case involving 92 pounds of marijuana. The prosecuting attorneys asked if anyone in the jury pool thought marijuana should be legalized. Besides me only one other person raised their hand. I presume they struck me on those grounds, which was a relief to me because I didn’t want to be on the jury. It wasn’t just an excuse, because I do think it should be legalized for recreational use. That belief certainly wouldn’t have affected my judging the facts of the case in that instance though. At that time I wasn’t even aware of jury nullification, but in retrospect, I really think I wouldn’t have used nullification as a tool in that specific case. Sure I think marijuana should be legalized, but this wasn’t an individual with a user’s amount of marijuana, this was 92 pounds of the stuff, and this business is costing people their lives in Mexico. So far, according to this L.A. Times page, there are 22,700 drug-related deaths since January of 2007. Obviously illegal purchasers contribute to this problem, but nullification would have been a more likely candidate in a simple marijuana possession case depending on the penalties involved.

Continue reading →

Rest in Peace Little Cowon

I knew it would happen eventually, I sure did drop it enough. Although, I don’t think that is the cause. I think it just died of old age. I used this player for three years, and it has served me well, the excellent audio quality and the amazing battery life combined together to make this the best audio player I had ever used. Three years doesn’t seem like much time, but in portable electronic years, I think its a ripe old age, what with planned obsolescence and all. The wikipedia article linked there states that “it must be decided early in the design of a complex product how long it is designed to last so that each component can be made to those specifications.”

Well, the power button component of my player was apparently spec’d less rigorously than the rest of the player. I mean, even with planned obsolescence, any engineer could figure out that the power button slider was going to probably take more abuse than any other button on the thing. At least I foiled Cowon’s plans, because as of this date, there have been two other iAudio models since my original purchase of my iAudio 7,(the iAudio U5 and the iAudio 9). So, I’ve bypassed the planned obsolescence a little bit, by not prematurely tossing out my iAudio 7 as so much disposable tech for the shiny new thing. In fact it looks as if Amazon has my same exact model on sale right now, so I think I’ll double-down on this one.

Cowon iAudio 7 vs SanDisk Sansa Clip+

After at least a couple of years of use, my trusty iAudio 7 is beginning to malfunction. It has rarely useful touchscreen controls that are disabled by sliding a lock button over. Once done, there are buttons that assume new functions, which is very handy. You can play/pause, control volume, and skip/forward/rewind tracks all without using the cursed touch screen. Unfortunately, the lock button is malfunctioning and now the touchscreen gets brushed in my pocket which suddenly changes tracks and/or increases the volume to an ear-bleeding level.

I use my mp3 player constantly. I listen to Girl Talk and Kid Cudi while jogging, several different podcasts, and Spanish lessons from Pimsleur.

I figured I might as well try out a new mp3 player. I like the idea of single-purpose mp3 players. I don’t need a camera, a huge fancy color screen or video playback, and a review I read of the Sansa Clip+ seemed to fit the bill. It was tinier, cheaper, and had a clip on it to attach wherever I wanted-no need for a pocket. The music file formats supported were nice, and the sound quality was reviewed as really good. The battery performance, which is very important to me was reviewed as really good as well. I bought the bastard for $35 or so, whereas my iAudio 7 was over $100 I believe. I’m extremely unimpressed with this Sansa Clip+.

When HDTVs first came out it was said upgrading to one doesn’t bring about about an extremely noticeable change, but once used to it, downgrading was horribly noticeable. I totally experienced that when it came to HDTVs, but would never suspect that my ears were sensitive enough for an audibly equivalent experience. Well, downgrading to the Sansa Clip+ has been horrible. Girl Talk sounds significantly less bumping, and podcasts sound like they’re streaming from the internet… in 1997. Okay, maybe that last part is an exaggeration.

I also had grown accustomed to the battery life of my iAudio 7. I assumed a much newer, and smaller device would match or exceed the battery life of it. Boy was I wrong. Last week I was listening to a podcast while washing the dishes, and it went kaput. Apparently Moore’s Law doesn’t apply to batteries. The battery life with the iAudio 7 was such that in the over two years I used it I never once ran out of a charge. Seriously. Not only that, I never really had to expressly plug it in to recharge it. It recharged whenever I was putting new content on it. Every now and then I would forget to unplug it at night, and then it would recharge over night.There was honestly never any forced recharging time. I’m sure this had much to do with me adding new content daily, but it still was largely an unnoticed effort, and it never went kaput on me.

The features I liked on the Sansa Clip+ were the clip, the OLED screen, and the resume playback feature. On the Sansa Clip+ it was possible to leave a podcast, lesson, or song, and come back to it, resuming where you left off. This is not so easy to do on the iAudio 7. I can’t believe how incredibly handy having a clip on the Sansa is. Still, I have to say, if you’re concerned about having a tiny portable audio player, and not so concerned with carrying your whole library around with you (the player maxes out at 16 GB) the iAudio 7 is highly recommended by me. For a more thorough look, check out some of the links.

http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/iaudio/7/

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2007/07/cowon-iaudio-7-review.php

http://iaudiophile.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=63

http://www.sandisk.com/products/sansa-music-and-video-players/sandisk-sansa-clipplus-mp3-player-.aspx