Twitter. It's practically everywhere nowadays. It seems rare for me to be able to visit a web site without seeing something to do with Twitter on the page, even if it's as simple as a “Share this via Twitter” button. Well, that actually happens less now, since I have various web browser extensions installed specifically to remove all “sharing” buttons (and similarly, Facebook's “Like” buttons—those are among the dumbest things I've ever seen. I couldn't care less how many Facebook users liked the article I'm reading) and iframes that display Twitter feeds. But I still see loads of “Follow Me/Us on Twitter” links and/or banners everywhere, as I don't think there will ever be a way to suppress those. And then there's signs in stores, telling me I really should follow them on Twitter.
But why do I dislike Twitter so much? Well the short answer is I personally think it's lame. I rarely see any compelling Twitter content that makes me really want to sign up. From what I've seen, content on Twitter can be summed up in the following categories:
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
So, You Think You Can Vote?
The other day, I saw a vehicle with lettering on the back window saying, “Vote for so-and-so from Abbotsford on So You Think You Can Dance.” I've also seen a similar sign hanging on a telephone pole (except it said something like, “Vote so-and-so SYCYC Dance”—it took me seeing it a dozen times before I finally clued in as to what that stood for). Maybe it's just a concept I don't understand because I don't watch any of those televised singing/dancing/talent shows, but would someone seriously be enticed to vote for someone just because they saw a sign somewhere telling them to? Or because they happened to be from the same city?
If I were voting on any of those shows, I would vote for people based on their actual talent, not where they reside. Their physical proximity to me does not affect their ability in any way. Actually, that's also how I view the results of events like the Olympics. Why should I care that a specific person won an award just because they reside in the same country as me? I couldn't care less who won what award, unless they happened to be someone I knew personally. But then again, I really don't even care about the Olympics period, not even when they were being hosted locally last year, so maybe that might not be the best example.
And thinking about signs about voting, it's the same deal with elections for government positions. Whenever an election is coming around, you'd think the rule was, “He who has the most signs wins.” I would never vote for someone just because he had 10 signs out on the same corner. I realize getting your name out there is important. However, if someone didn't know anything about the candidates and votes for someone simply because they recognized the name from all those signs, that person has no business voting.
If I were voting on any of those shows, I would vote for people based on their actual talent, not where they reside. Their physical proximity to me does not affect their ability in any way. Actually, that's also how I view the results of events like the Olympics. Why should I care that a specific person won an award just because they reside in the same country as me? I couldn't care less who won what award, unless they happened to be someone I knew personally. But then again, I really don't even care about the Olympics period, not even when they were being hosted locally last year, so maybe that might not be the best example.
And thinking about signs about voting, it's the same deal with elections for government positions. Whenever an election is coming around, you'd think the rule was, “He who has the most signs wins.” I would never vote for someone just because he had 10 signs out on the same corner. I realize getting your name out there is important. However, if someone didn't know anything about the candidates and votes for someone simply because they recognized the name from all those signs, that person has no business voting.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Routine is Your Friend!
It has been said, “Routine is your friend.” I am here to say that is completely true. Sticking to one routine in particular would have saved me a lot of headache troubleshooting a computer issue this evening. At one point I was genuinely worried that my Mac was dead and would need to be sent out for repairs. Which would have been very bad luck, since it was only one week ago that my Xbox 360 died and needed to be sent away (it's still within warranty, fortunately!).
Because of another issue I was having, I went to reboot my Mac, and it wouldn't actually reboot. It just hung indefinitely at a solid grey screen, and the same thing happened with all other attempts. Even when I left it and went to the living room to watch something for a bit, I came back to the same grey screen. I'll spare you the tale of my troubleshooting attempts (which would be quite the tale in and of itself), and skip to the end.
I have what is called an hard drive dock. It's sort of like an iPod dock except bigger, and designed for computer internal hard drives. Those of you who work with me may have seen a hard drive on my desk—I use that as an off-site backup. I occasionally take it home, power on the dock, pop in the HD, let Carbon Copy Cloner do its thing, eject the drive from my Mac's desktop, power off the dock, remove the HD, then take it back to work the next morning so it once again meets the “off-site” part of “off-site backup.”
It turns out that the last time I updated it, I missed my “power off the dock” step. You wouldn't think that would be important, but it seems that little thing was the cause of all my problems. After I finally determined that to be the cause, with repeated testing I confirmed that my Mac indeed only boots up fine when this HD dock isn't turned on.
Of course, I have formulated a theory about why this is the case. My hunch is that, as part of the boot process, the Mac firmware enumerates all the attached HDs. And since there was no physical HD plugged into the dock the Mac hung indefinitely trying to read the disc that it thought should be there but actually wasn't. I'm definitely going to have to test this the next time I bring home my HD. If my hunch is correct, having the dock turned on but with an HD in it should allow my Mac to reboot correctly.
But is it a Mac issue? An odd quirk of this HD dock in particular? Or something that can be duplicated using any HD dock on any modern computer? But you know what, at this point I really don't care. As long as I stick to my routine and switch it off when my backup is complete I won't have further problems, and if I do slip up sometime, at least I know what to check right away.
Because of another issue I was having, I went to reboot my Mac, and it wouldn't actually reboot. It just hung indefinitely at a solid grey screen, and the same thing happened with all other attempts. Even when I left it and went to the living room to watch something for a bit, I came back to the same grey screen. I'll spare you the tale of my troubleshooting attempts (which would be quite the tale in and of itself), and skip to the end.
I have what is called an hard drive dock. It's sort of like an iPod dock except bigger, and designed for computer internal hard drives. Those of you who work with me may have seen a hard drive on my desk—I use that as an off-site backup. I occasionally take it home, power on the dock, pop in the HD, let Carbon Copy Cloner do its thing, eject the drive from my Mac's desktop, power off the dock, remove the HD, then take it back to work the next morning so it once again meets the “off-site” part of “off-site backup.”
It turns out that the last time I updated it, I missed my “power off the dock” step. You wouldn't think that would be important, but it seems that little thing was the cause of all my problems. After I finally determined that to be the cause, with repeated testing I confirmed that my Mac indeed only boots up fine when this HD dock isn't turned on.
Of course, I have formulated a theory about why this is the case. My hunch is that, as part of the boot process, the Mac firmware enumerates all the attached HDs. And since there was no physical HD plugged into the dock the Mac hung indefinitely trying to read the disc that it thought should be there but actually wasn't. I'm definitely going to have to test this the next time I bring home my HD. If my hunch is correct, having the dock turned on but with an HD in it should allow my Mac to reboot correctly.
But is it a Mac issue? An odd quirk of this HD dock in particular? Or something that can be duplicated using any HD dock on any modern computer? But you know what, at this point I really don't care. As long as I stick to my routine and switch it off when my backup is complete I won't have further problems, and if I do slip up sometime, at least I know what to check right away.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
How to fit eight pairs of shoes in a cabinet designed for eight pairs of shoes
This past weekend, I made another Ikea trip. I had a couple things in mind that I wanted to buy (including their cheap breakfast... what better way to start off a Saturday!), but of course a large part of my Ikea trips always involve just browsing and seeing what catches my eye that time around.
And this time around, what caught my eye was a cool shoe cabinet, which also happened to be on sale. It stands about 3 feet tall and has two flip-down drawers that each hold four pairs of shoes. The drawer is split in two, so two pairs go in the top compartment and another two pairs in the bottom. Assembling it went pretty good, considering I accidentally did one step out of order and had to partially disassemble it to do the steps in the correct order. But then I went to load my shoes in.
Lo and behold, I could not fit two pairs of shoes in one compartment. One and a half, yes, but not the two required to make it the “Cabinet for eight pairs of shoes” that it was advertised as. I don't consider myself to have large feet, and the drawer was just under half an inch too narrow to fit four of my shoes across. So for me, I could only actually fit six pairs, not eight. Maybe when they said the cabinet holds eight pairs of shoes, what they meant was ladies' or children's shoes. Or maybe Swedes just have smaller feet. The picture on the web site clearly shows the open drawer holding four pairs comfortably.
Fortunately I wasn't disappointed, as I don't even own six pairs of shoes, let alone eight. My plan from the start was to use the top drawer for things like my hat, umbrella, etc. Plus, I thought the top of the cabinet would be a perfect spot to place my keys and wallet, since I recently relocated the small end table I previously used for that. But then I had a brainstorm, and discovered a way that I could indeed fit all four pairs of shoes in the same drawer—flip every second shoe upside-down. Problem solved!
And this time around, what caught my eye was a cool shoe cabinet, which also happened to be on sale. It stands about 3 feet tall and has two flip-down drawers that each hold four pairs of shoes. The drawer is split in two, so two pairs go in the top compartment and another two pairs in the bottom. Assembling it went pretty good, considering I accidentally did one step out of order and had to partially disassemble it to do the steps in the correct order. But then I went to load my shoes in.
Lo and behold, I could not fit two pairs of shoes in one compartment. One and a half, yes, but not the two required to make it the “Cabinet for eight pairs of shoes” that it was advertised as. I don't consider myself to have large feet, and the drawer was just under half an inch too narrow to fit four of my shoes across. So for me, I could only actually fit six pairs, not eight. Maybe when they said the cabinet holds eight pairs of shoes, what they meant was ladies' or children's shoes. Or maybe Swedes just have smaller feet. The picture on the web site clearly shows the open drawer holding four pairs comfortably.
Fortunately I wasn't disappointed, as I don't even own six pairs of shoes, let alone eight. My plan from the start was to use the top drawer for things like my hat, umbrella, etc. Plus, I thought the top of the cabinet would be a perfect spot to place my keys and wallet, since I recently relocated the small end table I previously used for that. But then I had a brainstorm, and discovered a way that I could indeed fit all four pairs of shoes in the same drawer—flip every second shoe upside-down. Problem solved!
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