New home theater pc is on its way:

HP Pavilion s5750z PC
• SAVE $21! Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• AMD Phenom(TM) X4 840 quad-core processor [2.9GHz, 2MB L2 + 6MB L3 shared, up to 4000MHz]
• 8GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [4 DIMMs]
• 1.5TB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
• No additional office software
• No additional security software
• 1GB DDR3 AMD Radeon HD 6450 [DVI, HDMI. VGA adapter]
• LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• Integrated Ethernet port, No wireless LAN
• 6-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, audio ports
• No TV Tuner
• Integrated sound
• HP wireless keyboard and wireless optical mouse

Thank you Uncle Sam!

Samsung TVs

So, my samsung TV which is only 2 years old has started taking a 'long' time to turn on. While turning on, there is a clicking sound from the area of the tv where the power supply board would be.  Seems everyone who has this TV has this same problem after 6 months to a year after the warranty expires.  Turns out Samsung used capacitors rated for 10V on a board that runs 12V!  A guaranteed failure after at least a year of use.  So, i called them and they said they could give me a one time free servicing for the capacitors.  I guess if you want to avoid the bad press of a recall, offer a one time free service to replace the bad part.

Anyway, everyone stay away from Samsung TV's.

Auto playlists and music libraries

When i first got my ipod, i was disappointed a little. I had expected itunes to have some really cool syncing utility to get the best music on my ipod. Several things irked me about it though: if i tried to sync more music than would fit, nothing would get synced onto the ipod. At that point, i had to start building smart playlists that would get only 8GB of my music (actually a little less to account for games, photos, videos, etc.). I was also disappointed to find out that itunes didn't know which music i liked. I guess i've been spoiled by yahoo! music which learns the music i like based on my ratings and on how often i played or skipped the song. Out of the box, itunes did nothing to put my favorite music on my ipod. It was all manual! Being the perfectionist i am, i set out to make a set of auto playlists that would mine through my library and find my favorite music. I listen to my music on my ipod as well as on my laptop at work, so luckily those play counts sync. So, here are the playlists that i've created to do what i thought itunes would do for me. They're not perfect lists, but they get the job done.

First, i had to decide on a couple rules: If a song was rated with 4 or 5 stars, it is probably one of my favorites and should be on my ipod. If a song was unrated, that doesn't mean that i don't like the song, rather it means that i haven't gotten around to rating it. So, i needed a way to easily identify songs that i don't like (i've collected a lot of music over the years that i don't like and would like to weed out of my library). I decided that any song that has only 1 star should be considered a song that i don't like and a candidate for removal from my library. I also have to consider the fact that i have christmas music mixed into my library that i probably don't want this whole mechanism to apply to. Most of these playlists will filter out any music in the Christmas genre. I also consider global filters to exclude podcasts, movies, audio books, etc., but i haven't necessarily implemented them on all these playlists.

Playlist #1: Whitelist - this list contains any song that has been rated with 4 or 5 stars. I don't put any size limits on this playlist, this one contains my absolute favorites.

Playlist #2: Liked Songs - this list should contain any songs that i like based on play count. So, i look for any songs that aren't in the Whitelist and have a playcount of more than 10. This number is adjustable, i started with a value of 3 so that this list would have something in it. As my playcounts get higher and higher, i raise this number, but only once or twice a year. No size limits on this playlist either.

Playlist #3: New Items - this list should contain brand new items so i make sure to give them a chance at getting in my Whitelist or Liked Songs list. I look for any songs that have been added in the last month. I don't filter out items that make it into the Whitelist or Liked Songs list. The reason for this is that i often want to find some song that i recently acquired. This list contains those items whether or not it's been promoted to one of the other lists. Itunes isn't going to copy the song twice onto my ipod, so it doesn't take up any more space on the ipod. This list doesn't have any size limits either.

Playlist #4: Never been played - I needed to add this list later on because i discovered that songs that had never been played didn't get into the mix enough. I ended up having the same songs over and over. This list ensures that unexperienced music gets presented. If i like it, it will end up in the whitelist or liked songs list. If i don't, it'll end up in the blacklist (read on). No size limits on this list either.

Playlist #5: Other - This list is the catch all for all songs that don't appear anywhere else. It looks for any songs that aren't in playlists 1-4 and aren't blacklisted. This one does have a size limit. These first 5 playlists will comprise what ends up on the ipod. So i set the size limit to whatever will fit. If itunes freaks out and says it can't sync because i'm trying to put too much on my ipod, i simply reduce the size of this list.

Playlist #6: iPod List - This list simply contains all the songs that appear in any of the first five playlists. There's no need to limit the size of this playlist, but if you want, you can apply a limit that is the same as the capacity of your ipod. I don't like to do this because this is the list that i listen to when i'm listening to music on my computer.

Playlist #7: Blacklist-Auto - This is half of the blacklist. This is an attempt to identify music that i probably don't like based on skip count. It looks for any songs that have been skipped more than once, have a rating of less than 2, AND a playcount of less than 3. I had to tweak these numbers to meet my own tastes, but they work pretty well for me. The thing is, itunes doesn't increment the play count for a song until the end of the song. So if you only listen to half a song, the play count doesn't go up. Also, itunes doesn't increment the skip count until 4 or 5 seconds after the song starts playing. So if you quickly skip through a bunch of songs, none of their skip counts actually get incremented. It's actually fairly difficult for songs to get into this list because of this behavior.

Playlist #8: Blacklist - this is the other half of the blacklisting system. This playlist includes any songs that are in the auto blacklist OR have a rating of only 1 star. The idea behind this playlist is that i can look at this list and see items that i either want to save or delete. They are on the proverbial chopping block. If i want to save it, i need to give it a rating of 3 or above. If i want to delete it, just highlight it and press Delete while holding down the shift key. I only have to check this list every or every other month.

Sync all these playlists to your ipod (you have to put the blacklists on there too because the other lists depend on them). I numbered the first 5 playlists so they would show up in order of preference on my ipod. You could put a 0 at the beginning of the ipod list so that it shows up at the very top.

Anyway, i'm open to suggestions. The cool thing is that this method can be applied to an itunes library even after you've been using it for years. In fact, i'd be interested to see how well it identifies music preferences when applied to an older library.

You should be able to apply this method to a windows media library since it keeps play counts and skip counts and has a rating system. You'd just have to make sure that your portable media device synchronizes the ratings, play counts, and skip counts to your library.

Liked Songs

New Music

Whitelist

Wireless Encryption Methods

What's the difference between the various wireless security methods, and which one should i choose?

There are three possible answers to this question: None, WEP, and WPA. Which one do you choose? It depends.

None - you don't have to use encryption. If you don't have any encryption on your wireless network, people who want to connect don't have to provide a password or key to connect. This can be acceptible, if you don't mind people next door or driving by to gain access to your network and use your internet bandwidth. However, this method can be secured farily easily.
Think of your wireless network as a night club and your router as a bouncer. By not enforcing any encryption, your bouncer speaks english and will listen to anyone's petition to get in. You can tell your bouncer to only let certain people in. The bouncer then checks everyone's drivers license and only let's the permitted people in.
This is like having no encryption but restricting access to certain MAC addresses. Look on wikipedia to find out what a MAC address is. Think of it as a unique unforgeable identification number. (Well, it could be forged, but people who could do that will break in no matter what.) The data between the router and the user is not encrypted, which means that anyone listening can understand the data going between the user and the router. This could be a problem if you're logging onto your bank's website. Not a problem, though. Ever notice how sometimes the web address starts with https:// instead of http://? That means that your data is actually scrambled before it leaves your computer and unscrambled after it's received by the server. This is actually more secure than the encryption you could put on your wireless network. Of course, if you put security on your wireless network, you'll scramble the data again when it gets transmitted into the air.

WEP - WEP is simple encryption. Remember the bouncer? Well, this bouncer will let anyone in as long as they have one of the passwords. The passwords are HEX numbers. In other words, the password consists of only numbers and the letters A-G. The advantage of WEP is that it's very simple. The passwords are restricted to characters that the router can understand very easily, so he's not going to spend any time at all trying to figure out if the passwords match. Also, when data is sent between the router and the user's computer, the data is scrambled, so that only those who have the password can understand it.

WPA - WPA is more difficult to hack than WEP. The reason for this is the complexity of the passwords. It's much like WEP just that the passwords can be much more elaborate. Again the data between the router and user is encrypted. Since things are a little more complex, the bouncer may take a little longer to verify the password, normally not noticeable.

My recommendation? Unless you have problems with it, use WPA. It has the strongest security while allowing you to use plain old passwords.

If you can't use WPA because it's giving you problems, use WEP. If not that, then go without security but remember to filter by MAC.

Cable vs. DSL

Recent events have prompted me to officially publicize my opinion about the different advantages of Cable and DSL "high-speed" internet access.

Both DSL and Cable will require a modem. The modem is a separate small piece of hardware that translates between you and the internet. Each requires its own special modem, they can't be interchanged. Usually your internet provider will try to sell you a modem when you sign up for the service. I've seen the best deals with DSL. DSL modems tend to come with a rebate for the whole price of the modem, so it ends up yours for free. Most cable providers will lease you a modem for a small fee every month, usually $5. This is fine as long as you don't plan to have it for more than a few months. Eventually, you'll have paid enough every month for it to have been cheaper to just buy one from Best Buy or Fry's.

The modem will have two main ports on it: one to connect to the cable or phone line. The other is an ethernet port that you will connect to something on your end. If you have only one computer, the other end will be your computer. If you will be using a wireless router, then the other end will be the Internet or WAN port on the router. The router splits the signal so that multiple computers can access the same modem.

So the main difference between DSL and cable is speed. Cable is normally faster than DSL. However, DSL has a guaranteed speed. Cable access speeds can vary depending on how many people in the neighborhood are using it at one time. Sometimes cable is faster than DSL, sometimes it is slower. If you're willing to put up with the variations, go with Cable because you'll get an average higher speed.

My vote has been with DSL because i like the guaranteed speed. Which one is better will depend on your needs.

Chain Mail

So, occasionally I receive chain mail from people who have my email address. Unfortunately, they don't know how much it irritates me that they've attached my name to one of these things that will get circulated around the internet.

Don't know what I mean? Ever gotten one of those emails that claims something tremendous will happen if you forward it to 10 people in the next five minutes? Or one of my favorites is the one that claims that Microsoft or aol will give you 5 cents for every person you forward the money making email to? Those. Bane of society, I tell you.

"So, how does it all work? And why is it so bad? The forward button was the best thing invented since blogs!" (I know, history proves that the reply button came first, but that's beside the point)

-Unfortunately, no it isn't. Blue LEDs were, but I’m straying from the point. Chain letters work by purporting something outrageous then promising untold benefits to the actuator. Sound familiar? Yep, that's it: infomercials. How often do those things actually work? Have you ever seen something completely useful on an infomercial? I mean, imagine if you saw an infomercial for a microwave? You'd probably think to yourself, "I need to by a new microwave to replace the perfectly good one I already have. In fact, I need THAT microwave, because it has even more features that I’ll never learn how to use!"

NO! Wrong. You won't think that because since the microwave is completely useful and is a really good thing, you would have been exposed to it in other places, like Wal-mart. I mean, if I really wanted a good microwave, I might go to GE's website and see what they have, but I can probably find the same thing at walmart.com.

Have you ever actually bought anything on an infomercial? If so, I pity you. Although, I pity myself. I've done it, so I’m a little hypocritical.

So that's how they work. It should be pretty easy to recognize that most of the information in them is bogus. There are even websites that specialize in differentiating the true urban legends from the utterly false ones (snopes.com). Some chain emails even refer to the snopes.com article describing how the email is a hoax. <"Bold" he says as he slowly shakes his lowered head>

Why are they bad? How many times have you had to scroll through 45 pages of email addresses to get to the actual message of the chain letter? Those 45 pages are the reason they are so bad. They contain the email addresses (and full names often) of the people the email was sent to. The emails are there even if the person saw the chain letter and immediately discarded it (stirring up the wrath of fate, luck, and other mystical forces bound to the promises in the letter). Since the email has the potential to circle the globe several times, it also has the potential to end up in the hands of unknown malicious persons. Those people (who aren't bound even when there is a law prohibiting it) will sell all 45 pages of email addresses to any number of people who will sell it to others, who will eventually give it to those people who will send YOU emails on how to increase your manhood, or lose weight, or find a morally challenged partner tonight.

Do you like getting those emails? I don't. Even though I have a spam filter, I still get those emails sometimes. And I attribute it to the innumerable chain letters that are circulating through the internet with my email address on it.

I mean, seriously, you wouldn't put your name, home address, and phone number on a billboard in Times Square, would you? Yet, others have no qualms about doing it for you.
I can’t gripe without a possible solution. There is a better way. Actually, there are several better ways. Blog about it. If you’re that concerned that you will lose your hair because an email says so, multiply the methods of distribution by putting it up on a web page. That web page will be searchable by Google and Yahoo! Another option, if you can’t ignore the urge to follow whatever instructions show up in your inbox, is BCC or blind carbon copy. You might be familiar with CC or carbon copy. It allows you to send an email to your friend Julie, while also sending it to Jamie for her information. BCC works the same way and allows you to send a copy to someone without revealing that fact to the original addressee. This means that you can send an email to your friend Julie and also send a secret copy to Jamie. Easy right? Also, if you’re going to forward an email in any form, please delete the 45 pages of email addresses. If you can’t do all of them, at least delete my email address from it!

Of course, the other option is to get a real life and communicate with people instead of spouting back out the same garbage that gets spouted to you. Do research to find out if the email is true.

I know I’m harsh, but I’ve been thinking about it for years and needed to get it off my chest.

Trying to keep up a habit

This past weekend, we painted our living room. Christy bit the bullet on her color decisions last week and invited Dad & Betty to come down for the weekend to help. That was a fiasco since Betty fell and kinda broke her thumb in the Houston airport. They landed Friday afternoon and went to the hospital directly. When i got home, Christy and Dad had already started on the walls by moving things. Christy started cutting away and Dad started rolling. When i got there, i took over for dad and we worked the rest of the evening. We painted while dad & betty watched the debate. Don't even get me started on the debate. As soon as it was over, i took the tv off the wall and we painted around it. We finished everything but a section of wall that still needed another coat, behind the tv. The next morning dad & i went to get the cars cleaned and christy and betty went shopping. Christy and I went to a baptism that afternoon, which was very good. That night we all went to Texas roadhouse to enjoy us some cinnamon butter. Dad told the waitress that it was christy's 21st birthday and they brought over a saddle for her to sit on while they sang happy birthday to her. It was hilarious. Christy vowed vengeance. Dad and betty left early sunday morning. I dont' remember much of saturday afternoon because i slept for 5 hours! It was like i was catching up on months of missed sleep. It was great. I'll have to get christy to email me some pictures of the living room so i can post them here.
Heroes was interest monday night, i'm not sure if they're heading down the same road as Lost. I hope not.

Lake Jackson Cleanup Weekend

So, the weekend started with a rush to get everything packed. Parrish, William, and myself got all our stuff in my car and we set off for Stephen F. Austin state park. We arrived shortly after the park closed and locked the gate. Luckily, one of the other campers drove up behind us and notified us of the combination to the lock on the gate. We got in, pitched my tent (thanks andy) and went straight to bed. I woke up at 5 and started breakfast. I guess i was noisy because another camper yelled at me from inside his own tent across the street. Parrish and William got up around 5:30 and we finished making breakfast and striking camp. We had sausage and pancakes without syrup. We left a little later than i would have wanted, so we were a little late getting to the rondezvous point.
We met up with 4 of the other guys from our ward and formed a squad. We had 2 chainsaws and my chain pruner. We went to our first site only to find out that the other two chainsaws didn't work. So, i used mine for the little jobs that were still undone. At the next house, there were two branches that were broken but had not come loose from the tree. I climbed up the tree using my spurs and climbing gear and cut the branches out while the rest of the group lowered the branches without letting them hit the power lines.
The next house was in a poorer part of town. There was a lot to do. We got two saws up and running (mine and a 16" one). We did the most work at this site. All of it was trees though, no house gutting like Katrina. We went to our third assignment only to be refused because the work had already been done. We went back to headquarters and got another assignment: a park. There was a park that we had passed several times going to our distinct locations and several crews were already working on it. We added our saws to the mix and took down a couple large trees.
We finished the day and headed back to Austin. All in all, it was a really good day of work. Wish we could have stayed another day and continued the work. I guess if they were giving us parks to work on, they must not have had much to do. Maybe next time we'll go closer to galveston. We made it home by 10:30.

One Month and Counting

I realized today that i only have one month until christy's birthday. I have a couple of ideas for what she wants. We'll have to see.

I'm in NYC for a few days. Actually going home today. I'm ready to be home. I haven't slept well while here. Must be something about the time zone. I took sleeping pills both days, but i must not have given it time to wear off because i've been groggy both mornings. I want to get home to the nice weather there.

The next project we did on the house was our master shower. It was a glass and aluminium shower, but the grout/caulking had mildew underneath it. Wouldn't normally be a problem except that the caulk was clear so we could see it but not clean it. So we decided to take off the caulk, clean it, and replace the grout. Well, the more we took off, the more we found that we had to take off in order to clean properly. We eventually removed the entire thing. I lost confidence that i'd be able to put it back together. So, we put it out in the garage and i went curtian rod hunting. it wasn't that easy since i had to get a curtain rod that wasn't straight but had a 90 degree bend in it. I eventually found one at Home Depot, brought it home and installed it. So we now have a curtain up instead of the glass. I don't know which i would have preferred. There's a little water escaping and getting on the sheetrock wall. We might have to put a piece of glass on the entrance step to raise it up a bit. That way, it's harder for the water to get up and over the glass to get on the wall.

I need to take more pictures and post them. I post pictures and videos and links on my facebook blog. Also, this blog is automatically imported into my facebook. So, for the latest and greatest, go to facebook. Maybe one day, this blog will finally fail and i'll go only with facebook.

Garage Door Opener

Now that i have my own house, i'm automating it to the extreme. I've always wanted a garage door opener so i didn't have to go in and out of the front door. Parking the car in the garage is also a plus. My garage had been so full of stuff since we moved in that i couldn't really get the car in anyway, but the task weighed on my mind. The first thing i had to do was tighten the spring. This is harder than it seems and much more dangerous than you might think. The problem is that you have to tighten the spring with the door in the down position, which puts the spring in a stressed state. If you ever have to do this, let me know; i bought some steel rods that will help. Plus, it requires two people and probably two ladders to keep the cables from getting tangled up. Anyway, after i tightened the spring, the door would pretty much open itself, but it required effort to close it. That meant that i had tightened it too much and had to reverse the process a little. Not hard, just unweildy.

Gotta go, but i'll post a picture and the rest of the story later.

Whoa

Temporary Pergola

Our new house didn't have any shade in the backyard, which was especially hot during the sunny months of the summer. We decided to build a pergola. A pergola is one of those pavillion type things that doesn't have an exactly solid roof. You can build it fairly simply and put vines and stuff on it.

So, we were going to build it during the summer. I say "we" really meaning "I". Due to the hot weather and the abundance of other projects that needed doing, we decided to opt for a temporary solution then build a wood pergola in the fall when the weather cooled off. So, this is a picture of the temporary solution. I'm not sure where we're going to get the money to build the pergola, but at least i can probably count on Caul's help.

Home Improvements

So, I'm going to try to chronicle the improvements we've done to our home since we moved in. It'll probably take a few blog entries because i still haven't figured out how to post more than one photo per blog entry. Maybe i should put my blog somewhere else. I continually find computer software lacking the basic features that seem to me that would make things so much easier. Blogs seem so popular, but i haven't found a sufficiently feature rich blog host. I mean, just look at Yahoo! I can't post more than one photo per blog entry, the url for my blog has a huge randomly generated key at the end, the blog actually resides one click down from the main 360.yahoo.com page. Why doesn't facebook have a blog feature? If they do, why isn't it called a blog?

Christy and I went on a bike ride this evening. I hope i can build up my strengh and handle a ride like tonight better.

Texan Technology

After having dug to a depth of 1000 meters last year, Scottish scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 1000 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the Scots, in the weeks that followed, English scientists dug to a depth of 2000 meters and shortly after headlines in the UK newspapers read:

"English archaeologists have found traces of 2000 year copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a thousand years earlier than the Scots."

One week later, Texas newspapers reported the following:

"After digging as deep as 5000 meters in West Texas, scientists have found absolutely nothing. They have therefore concluded that 5000 years ago Texas inhabitants were already using wireless technology."

I love Star Wars parodies

Especially this one:

Ruston Police Once Again Demonstrate Their Investigative Prowess

Do you know a Steve Weenig?

"So, Steve, did you run out of gas?" Such were the words of the incredibly observant Police officer earlier today. I guess I should introduce the story a little better than that. 
With Christy now working in Shreveport, she drives the wonderfully gas-efficient Kia, the car that had been my constant companion during the long commute from Ruston to Monroe at least four times a week to work. So, I was left with my trusty Ford Ranger. Well, the Ranger is now 12 years old and it's showing. It's on its third transmission, which has already passed its peak and is on it's way down the opposite slope. Arrangements had to be made if I planned on taking it above its current maximum speed of 45 mph. 
My dad offered to loan me his pickup truck for the next few months until we move to Austin. I took him up on the deal in January. I quickly found out that this pickup was not like most other cars. Rather, I discovered that this truck can run on gasoline or on ethanol (a nifty discovery seeing how Chevy has just announced that it's the only car maker to have such a model; dad's truck is a '99 Ford Ranger). Anyway, either because of its dual fuel capacity or because some oversight by a Ford engineer, this truck has no reserve fuel capacity. By that I mean that where normal cars can run for several miles (sometimes up to 50 or 60) after the fuel gauge reads Empty, this truck is completely out of gas as soon as the needle is exactly lined up with the E. This was an unfortunate discovery on my way home from work one night at 9:30 PM. Luckily, I was only about 1/4 mile away from the nearest gas station where I purchased a gas can and some gasoline. Since then, the gas can has been a permanent fixture in the back of the truck, carrying 2 gallons of extra gasoline just in case of emergency, or running out of gas on Sunday. 
Where was I? Oh yeah, the Ruston police. Well, last night I was headed to work when I noticed that I was low on gas. I filed the information away and decided that I would fill up either on the way home from work or the next morning before leaving for Monroe. Well, I filed it in one of those government folders that never turns up again. I didn't think about it again until I was late going to class and knew I had no time to fill up. I coasted into the Tech parking lot on fumes. After class, I actually made it half way home before the engine started to choke. It died on me just as I had pulled into the middle lane to turn onto my street. I proceeded to empty the spare gasoline into the tank. As I was filling the tank, gas can in my hand, gasoline fluid moving from the spare can to the tank, one of Ruston's finest pulled up behind the truck and proceeded to inspect the situation. He strolled up to me and asked, "Did you run out of gas?" I was sorely tempted, in the most excruciating way, to respond that I had just discovered too much gasoline in my tank and was siphoning some into the spare can to keep the truck from getting indigestion. 

Speeding is Dangerous

Argueably, the most broken law today is the speed limit. Others could contend that it's copyright infringement, especially if they've seen my music and DivX movie collection. But that's another topic for another day. 
With speeding so rampant nowadays, the injustice of actually getting punished for such a crime can be very frustrating. Therefore, the quesiton must be posed: why do we have a speed limit? I know, it's a stupid question because the answer is so obvious. Well, these comments are directed at Ruston's finest, who, as established above, aren't exactly running on Pentium processors. The answer is blatantly that certain speeds are dangerous to the person speeding and the other drivers on the road with the offender. 
Now, obviously, there must be exceptions to the speed limit. One (if not the only) current exception is that police officers often have the need to exceed the maximum allowable speed in order to carry out some sort of action that is in the public's best interest and safety. This is a perfectly acceptable exception and should be allowed. With one restriction. 
Since exceeding the maximum speed limit is dangerous to the public, police officers at least turn on their lights in order to alert other drivers on the road to the heightened level of danger. This measure counter acts, in the best way possible, the negative effects of the officer's need to travel at a dangerous speed. All of this makes perfect sense. This however, is not reality. That would have been nice wouldn't it?
Now is the point where you either stop reading this or wonder to yourself where I've said something that is not a part of our reality. When was the last time a police officer passed you on the interstate? Or was going the same elevated speed as everyone else through a school zone? This would fall under that exception that allows police officers to exceed the maximum allowable speed. The logical succession would follow that that police officer has his lights and maybe even his siren on. When was the last time you saw a cop do that? 
The point is that police officers often abuse their exception, but fail to turn on their lights. This fact can only lead to one of two conclusions: (1) either his lights are not on because the level of danger is not elevated by his speeding or (2) the officer is choosing not to turn on his lights even though his actions are making the roads more dangerous. 
Conclusion 1 leads into an argument that since it is not dangerous to drive at elevated speeds, the speed limit has been imposed unnecessarily and should be increased until the danger is truly increased. Wouldn't that be nice!
The second conclusion can only mean that the police officer is willfully disobeying his oath to serve and protect the public. In this case, the obvious recourse is that the officer is not fit for his public duty and cannot be trusted with the safety of the public.
The strange thing is, neither of these actions is taking place. (I love logic.) This means that, logically, those responsible for either raising the speed limits on our streets are not fullfilling their duties and should be removed from office, or that those responsible for reprimanding and maintaining the quality of our finest are not doing their job and should also be removed from office. 
And now, for my conclusion: our voters are apathetic and those in office know it. This is why they abuse the privileges we've given them: because they fear no reprimand. If you've followed the logic, I only want to make one other point: 1 + 1 = um... well, you figure it out.

The Digitally Enhanced Automobile

With computer components becoming smaller and smaller, more and more car manufacturers should think about designing entire computers into new model cars. The only reasons I can think of that it hasn't been done yet is that either no one's brave enough to suggest it to penny pinching CEO's or that the computer parts aren't small or durable enough for a car. I think both of these reasons are kibosh.

It is obvious that people want more out of their cars. Since I spend most of my time commuting in my car (45 minutes a day), I often wonder about the different things I could do if I had a full blown pc in the car. I've actually done it from time to time with my laptop, but it proved slightly difficult for reasons I'll explain below.

Here are some of the features I would like to see in my car:

• GPS - A lot of new cars come with GPS technology anyway. Adding GPS capability to a personal computer will allow for more extensive maps and tracking of system information. If my 16 year old son takes the car out for a spin, having a GPS on board will help me find him when he's broken down or when his girlfriend's father calls me asking where my no good son has taken his daughter.
• ODB-II Interface - A mechanic friend of mine enlightened my mind when it came to this tool. He has a handheld ODB-II scanner that reads the information from the On Board Diagnostics computer in the car and can tell him why the Check Engine light is on. He said there is a USB version that you can plug into a computer and do the same thing. What a wonderful idea. Instead of a vague Check Engine light, that could mean anything from a loose gas cap to something serious, the computer could actually look up the English translation of the output code from the ODB-II computer and tell you how serious this problem is. With the right software, your car could even contact the local auto parts store and buy the replacement part needed, or schedule an appointment with the mechanic. It shouldn't be too difficult to design a system that does this. Couldn't be any harder than designing a TV to fit in your cell phone.
• Command/Control Interface - While we're at it, consolidating the controls to A/C, heating, power mirrors, door locks, sunroof, lights, cruise control, and any other mechanism for which there's a cacophony of switches and buttons on current cars. Skinnable controls built into the computer could allow easy access to all the controls on a car. Seats and mirrors could be easily adjusted to memorized positions based on whoever is driving. Not to forget the dials and displays that currently plague the dashboard. You want your speed to be a digital readout instead of a dial, so be it. You don't care to see what the tachometer is reading but your husband does, fine.
• Entertainment Console - Everyone knows the entertainment value of the computer. Couple that with the mobility and power of a car, and the resulting entertainment power is incomprehensible. Movies, Music, email, internet, instant messaging, gaming, all available from the passenger seat. With available headset jacks or the car stereo for sound, the possibilities are endless. Of course, the entertainment console would require expert design in order to meet with the demands of the users. Windows media is simple and versatile enough to do this, however it needs one basic feature that Microsoft has yet to pay any attention to. If this entertainment console could be setup to appear to be a portable device (such as a flash mp3 player, or flash card) and could connect to the media library on a home computer, the entire music library could be replicated to the car. Any changes made in the car or on the home computer libraries would automatically replicate to the other. Individual user ratings tracked in the Windows Media database would also make it easy to create playlists that the driver likes. (I like rock, my wife likes country). When my car is parked in my garage, it will automatically synchronize with the library on my home computer then shutdown until the car is started again. Music on the go, ready to go. Sounds nice doesn't it?
• Autopilot - Of all the features I think should exist in my car, this one would be the most advantageous. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about the Night Rider car that will be able to do stunts and maneuver through the worst traffic. I wish I had a car that would keep my car between the lines on the interstate. As I've mentioned before, I commute to work, a large chunk of my day that is wasted listening to the local radio DJ's complain about how crappy their lives are. Once I set the cruise control on my car, the only thing I really have to pay attention to is how close I am to the car in front of me and keeping myself between the lines. There are currently systems out there that do these functions quite well. With a computer in the car, the interface between this system and the driver would be greatly enhanced. Imagine cruising the internet while cruising down I-20!
• Driver Assistance - There's a huge blind spot on my dad's truck. It makes it virtually impossible to change lanes without completely turning around and sticking your head out the window to see if there's anyone beside you. Wouldn't it be nice to have a little USB webcam mounted to the front corners of your car to give you the best possible view of what's beside you? What about a camera mounted behind the car to help when backing up? Webcam - $25. USB Extension cable $7. Seeing that someone's walking behind your car before you back up - priceless.
• Bluetooth Cell Phone Connectivity - With a couple of USB ports on your onboard computer, it would be very simple to add Bluetooth^® connectivity for use as a wireless headset with your cell phone while driving. Add a couple of controls to the console and you wouldn't even have to open the cell phone to dial out. Use the Outlook contacts (already synchronized with your phone address book) to dial without ever having to remember anyone's cell phone number. Voice recognition could even make dialing obsolete.

So, why hasn't this been done yet. If you know, tell me. If I get to it first, I'll be richer than Bill himself.

Two Things

Two Things
You know, there are only two things I can't get my computer to do in a seamless fashion. Like most people (or only like most of the people I know), I have two computers in my home. I also have a PDA as does my wife. The feature I would like to eventually see my computer do for me is synchronization of information between the two computers.

The Problem
I have an extensive music collection that has grown to behemoth proportions over the last decade. Long ago, I made the decision that I would not try to keep my music organized manually. That proved to be a long and arduous process that was usually undone as soon as I opened the music in a media player that automatically retrieves information for the music from the web. So I surrendered the reins to Windows Media Player. Since that time, I haven't looked at the actual directory structure and file names of my music library. Everything I do with my music is done through the WMP interface: burning CD's, copying music to my MP3 player, listening, etc.. I used to have my computer setup with multiple users and separated settings until my wife explained to me that her settings weren't as nice as mine since she didn't know how to tweak them. Additionally, I kept my music library organized, filling in the gaps where the automatic information retriever could not. This meant that she could more easily find her music in my library than her own.

For my wife's graduation, I bought her a PDA. She liked the idea of sharing our contacts and calendar. She didn't want to have anything else synchronized so I set her PDA up to sync with my outlook and grab my contacts and calendar. Everything was great.

Recently, I bought myself a new computer.

The Current Solution
With this new variable in the equation, the problem arises again on how to make sure my wife and I are using the same music library, contact list, calendar, and also have access to each other's documents. Here are my current solutions.

With the two computers networked together in our home, it was easy to setup offline files so that her documents would be accessible from my computer, even if hers is turned off. However, it can be problematic from time to time; not to mention that it can slow down network performance while files are being synchronized.

The easiest way to synchronize Outlook data (that I've found) is to synchronize through Yahoo!'s Intellisync. I synchronize my calendar and contacts to Yahoo! and my wife does the same.

I don't have an easy solution to the music sharing problem. This is actually the aspect of my frustration that spurred me on to write this article.

I realize that the easiest solution to the document situation is to setup a server that acts as a domain controller. Actually this is what I will eventually do, once I have a place that I can put all the networking hardware with it in some closet. On the same note, I realize that I should shell out the money to purchase Exchange (built for dozens of users) so that the two users in my home can share their Outlook data. However, even with a fancy server running all kinds of media services, there is still no easy way to ensure that media library information perpetuates to all users in the domain.

The Ultimate Solution
It is at this point that I wish to comment on the inability of the programming community at large (especially Microsoft) to cope with these changes in "normal" households. The current trends for entertainment and computing indicate that in the near future, a greater majority of "normal" households will have some type of media centered computer connected to their TV and sound systems. This type of computer is normally a single user environment with enhanced computing ability (RAID, TV-tuner cards, high end graphics, etc.).

This computer presents the perfect environment in which all of the shared information could be stored. The media centered computer could act as the home/domain server. It would contain every user's Outlook data, a master media library (supporting synchronization to other pc's for faster performance and mobility), and each user's documents. This server could also include such services as web, ftp, Remote Desktop, PDA synchronization, etc.

That's great, how do we do that? Well, frankly, I'm surprised it hasn't been done already. What am I talking about? Well, the synchronization of Outlook data is quite easy between my PC and PDA. Why then, can't ActiveSync recognize another PC and synchronize the data with it? I mean, I'd only need ActiveSync on both computers and one acting as the host. The connection, once established, would be maintained and any information that changes on one would automatically be synchronized to the other through the network. No third party software needed, no user intervention. Synchronization between the calendar on my PDA through my PC to my wife's PC and subsequently to her PDA would be automatic and seamless. How hard would that be?

As for the music synchronization, that would be too hard either. Windows Media Player already recognizes portable devices connected to the computer and can (after it's setup) automatically synchronize all or part of the media library to the device. Well, I have this device that connects through the network to my computer that I would like to treat as a portable device and synchronize my media library to: it's called my wife's computer. I mean, if some little USB stick can contain the necessary guts for Media Player to synchronize to, why can't a full blown PC be the recipient of such goodness?