Some time ago I wrote about various accidental, "impossible" ways to injure myself.  Until the times at which they came to pass, none would have even occurred to me.  I had not given them any forethought, and if I had, I still would have believed them to be extremely low in their probability of occurrence.  I do not believe that I am accident prone.  That would imply that I had some character flaw or an unconscious need to punish myself for my past misdeeds.  I have no such need, as I usually get caught.  No, this is a stranger phenomenon.  Accidents actively pursue me, stealthily awaiting their chance for a sneak attack.  Although I am almost always on my guard, my finely attuned senses working overtime to ward off the inherent danger they pose, they sometimes slip past my carefully guarded perimeter and get me.

Such was the case as I gathered my bags of recyclables, garbage, and cat poop.  There seemed to be little danger in this act and it would be a good thing to have accomplished and done for the day.  The fact that I am a cheapskate thrifty, eco-conscious individual enters at this point.  I have almost never purchased garbage bags.  Why would one buy something with only the intent of throwing it away?  I re-use grocery bags as garbage bags.  Granted, they are somewhat smaller and not the most attractive waste containers available, but for the most part, they serve the purpose well.  I also fill Pepsi cartons with any paper to be recycled.  The point of all this explanation is that I end up carrying multiple small bags to the garbage receptacles rather than one or two, and that this is slightly more difficult to do.  I managed to get the majority of the bags, boxes, and contents to the proper receptacles, only losing a can or two along the way.  That was easy enough to correct.

OK.  We now have Doc at the scene of the great dumpster incident of the week.  There is one further element that needs to be known before this tale will make sense (this statement presumes that I ever make much sense, a possibly unjustified assumption on my part.)  I am very nearsighted and the eyeglasses I got about two years ago have gone through a slow but steady process of falling apart.  First the nose pads disintegrated and were replaced free by the unnamed eyeglass emporium.  Last year I was called by them to come in for my annual eye exam, which I did and to which I took the taped together pieces of their deluxe frames.  They repaired the right earpiece, which had simply fallen apart at the hinge, with a vaguely matching piece from the scrap bin.  It worked, but I was informed that I was not eligible for insurance benefits for frames or lenses until this summer.  OK, the sides didn't match, but they worked.  Since that time, the left side earpiece broke in exactly the same place and manner in which the right one had previously done.  My thought was that I could wait a month or so, while looking a bit foolish and nerdy, with the left earpiece simply taped together.  This worked to a less desirable degree than had the previous repair.  They are looser and have to be bent back into shape multiple times per day.  I let this go as I was awaiting an appointment with my ophthalmologic surgeon and felt it would be foolish to replace glasses which I would only have to re-replace in a month or so.

For some reason, unknown to me, I feel compelled to look into the dumpster to be certain that the recycling bags had landed in the general area toward which I had tossed them.  Large error in judgment there (or lack thereof.)  As I did this, the aforementioned loose, taped together, spectacles followed the bags into the dumpster.  As I contemplated this development I realized that the dumpster was too tall to simply step or reach into; that I couldn't see the very object that I needed to see to retrieve; and that there was absolutely no way to accomplish this without appearing to be as odd as I actually am to the neighbors.  The lowest point close to the search area was about 4.5 feet tall and I ended up (pun intended) bent over the side, feeling around for any item that might be eyeglasses.  The good news was that I found them in fairly short order.  The bad news was that the cracking noise I heard near my left shirt pocket, as I exited the green monster, was not the plastic pen that I had briefly hoped it might be.  It was some portion of my anatomy, presumably a rib, making the sound.  This guess was quickly confirmed as I engaged in one more foolish action.  I breathed. 

Anyway, the rib thing seems to be healing as long as I don't do anything to anger the offended skeletal member – like sneezing, coughing, or hiccupping.  The green beast needs to be taught a lesson, however, and I am contemplating something appropriately vengeful.  Three bags of cat poop just doesn't seem like enough.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2009, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“Sometimes accidents happen in life from which we have need of a little madness to extricate ourselves successfully” - François de la Rochefoucauld

I have temporarily returned from my trip away from Spaces.  No, it was not the type that a youth of the 60's and 70's might have taken along with Dr. Leary.  Actually, I never did that.  I was afraid of what I might find.  Given the disproportionate amount of strangeness which I have amassed during my adult years, I believe that was a good decision.

Neither was this a literal vacation, wherein I left the apartment to travel a distance of greater than five miles.  I didn't even go anywhere with premeditated fun in mind.  I was prepared, though, with all the repairs made to the car and even having most of my laundry done.  I almost always want to go toward something rather than away from a problem or place, but in this case it started as going toward something from which I intended to return immediately, but ended staying for a while.

More important to my staying for a while was that it was simply a trip away from something before I began to dislike it.  I was beginning to feel obligated to produce an interesting, informative, humorous, or otherwise entertaining post at regular intervals here on Spaces.  Honestly it was beginning to feel like a burden.  With no payment or worldwide recognition at stake, I simply quit posting for a while.  I did not and do not want an activity that gives me pleasure (blogging on Spaces) to either cease to do so, or worse, become aversive enough that I abandoned it.  My destination was that other place to where a number of Spacers have defected on a more permanent basis.  I met many of them there.  I would not have thought of joining on my own.  I was invited to view another Spacer's photos on that other place and found I had to be a member to see them.  I signed up with basic information and no real intention of doing more than looking at the photos, writing some comments, and leaving.  Well, I think I stayed for dinner, quickly becoming used to the many posts per day and short comments.  Even more typically of me, I became engrossed in playing with an imaginary zoo to the point of attempting to get virtual platypuses (platypi?) to breed and trying to earn enough points to purchase a second unicorn.  Please don't tell anyone, though, as it might cost me a certain loss of credibility in future posts.   Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation.  I do find that this relatively mindless activity provides a certain amount of relief in other aspects of my life as well.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2009, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“If some people didn't tell you, you'd never know they'd been away on a vacation” - Kin Hubbard

Now, I am usually not one to complain much (we know I'm lying here, don't we?) however, I must report a most grievous error in an interview conducted by none other than the newest Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP), Technogran.  I will simply link to her usually excellent magazine page and allow you to read for yourselves the seriousness of this situation.

Now, I'm sure you can all see why I am so upset! … You can't? … Can you not differentiate between the Queen's English and good old American spelling?  The interviewer has most clearly used a British spellchecker on the article!  One can see this for themselves as the last word in the second sentence of the final paragraph of the interview.  How could you have missed it?  Quite clearly, I have a "sense of humor," not a "sense of humour!"  Windows Live Writer even underlined the offending word in red as I wrote this sentence.

In one of my rare moments between depression and paranoia, I would like to thank Technogran for including me in her most professionally produced Round And About Windows Live magazine.  I would especially like to thank her for the work she has done to make Windows Live changes understandable to the many of us who had no clue as to what was happening from week to week, and saving us from floundering around until we gave up.  Congratulations on becoming a Microsoft MVP, TG.  You are certainly deserving of the honour.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2009, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

Mandxx; you are in trouble and I am going to get you for it! – Doc

Anniversaries

Celebrate the past

Recall a better season

Gone without reason

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2009, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

Thank you, Dr. Lindsay Bates.  Your works are good.

I am quickly coming to the conclusion that this Dell laptop is becoming as quirky as its owner.  Everyone gets their settings and preferences arranged to a configuration that just feels right to them.  There are a number of ways in which that can be done incorrectly, but mostly if it only involves poking keys without digging into system or protected files, you're OK.  It can be fixed relatively easily.  This Vostro, however, seems to be displaying some early signs of AI (Artificial Intelligence.)  It isn't as big as HAL of 2001: A Space Odyssey so I should probably give it a smaller name like AL (Artificial Lunatic.) 

Yes.  It has begun to develop odd behaviors for which I have no logical explanation.  For instance, during boot up, it has taught me to wait until it makes a small "screep" noise before I may proceed or I am doomed to a really unusual session.

I don't know if it resents my placing it on the floor when I go to the refrigerator (or elsewhere), but it will be doing something I hadn't planned on when I return.  Possibly I'm projecting if I admit to being uncertain, here.  I think it may feel abandoned and act out its anger by "doing something funny," or whether this may actually be the case.  I have pretty well ruled out cats on the keyboard, and the mouse seems unmoved.  Here I reach one of the many "I don't know" moments of my life.  Those seem to be getting more frequent lately, but I digress. 

One immediate reason I am writing about this is that I have just had to reboot to restore it to sanity.  The keyboard refused to respond while I was writing an email.  This occurred immediately after a trip to the kitchen for some water and a mixed fruit cup.  The mouse worked and any page functions related to it worked well.  It simply refused to write anything.  About two days ago, my Google gadget sidebar disappeared from the right side of the screen.  AL will let me visit it if I wish by left clicking the far right side of the monitor screen.  It then appears exactly as I left it, until anything else on the desktop is clicked, at which time it once again hides behind the right edge of the screen.

The thing that most upsets and intrigues me is its decision to unexpectedly play music.  It only does this while the Firefox browser is in use and it is always the first line of a Grateful Dead song I downloaded to RealPlayer about four months ago.  It is predictable only in that it will be the same song and always associated with Firefox.  It does not seem to be related to any particular website, to my amount of time online, using the browser while another app is being used, or any other factor I can discover.  The upsetting part that I mentioned earlier is the song it always plays; "It Must Have Been The Roses."  This is a song that I strongly associate with Annie's death and the lack of friends after her death.  It contains a line, "Nobody comes 'round much anymore," which has been true of my life since her death.  What do you think (other than someone planting a RFID chip, that is)?

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2009, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

"My software never has bugs. It just develops random features." – geek24.com site.

A short while ago I wrote a post about RFID transponders being placed in credit cards and included some information and a link to a video showing how easily they could be hacked.  This week, I saw an advertisement on TV for the same type of shielded credit card sleeves to block unauthorized reading.  They were selling for $20.00 (USD) for five sleeves.  Sizes for passports, security ID badges, and the like were also available. 

Technology has gone farther than these relatively "above-board" uses for RFID over the past ten years.  The technology has developed from bar codes, to the simple RFID transponders that caused an alarm to go off if one tried to leave a store with an stolen valuable item, to inventory tracking uses and more.  Along with the furor that has come with the changes in the credit card industry, there have been several cases of people's credit limits being lowered due to where they shop (say, from upscale stores to Wal-**rt.)  The tracking of marital counseling is being monitored because it might indicate that financial problems are coming with divorce and the CC company doesn't want to get stuck with a large unpaid balance.  The same is true for people identified as having difficulty paying for their homes or who have lost employment.  This happened to me about about a year ago when the BOA-Constrictor company cut the credit limit on a card I have with them (through an auto club) in half.  It was a high limit card and I only used it for gasoline and auto services as there was a 5% discount.  My credit rating has been consistently "Excellent" with all three reporting bureaus.  I think they noticed I had sold my house.  No reason was given on the notification and I believe I recall the letter congratulating me on the change in credit limit (possibly believing I was senile enough to miss the fact that it was cut, not raised.)  Now I am being passive-aggressive with them by leaving a positive balance of $0.47 in the account.

The other side of this type of data collection about our spending habits has little or nothing to do with RFID, but rather to what is done with it.  Credit card companies, banks, debit card processors, and retail stores all may track our purchases to consolidate our spending data into a combined database to predict our future behavior.  Again, a two sided phenomenon.  If we are to be rewarded for good credit ratings, on time payments, and offered discounts on items we are likely to purchase it could be a good thing.  If it is being done to "protect us from ourselves" and inhibit our getting deeply into high interest debt it might be a good or bad thing.  The fact that it is done to us without input from us is troubling.  When information is collected about us without our knowledge and used for purposes unknown to us, it becomes very troubling indeed.  The simple answer that was proposed by investigating groups was to pay in cash.

RFID chips have continually been reduced in size and ability such that they have been implanted in banknotes, gift certificates, documents, and whole paper media.  Let me display a single picture and refer you to the source.  On the right half of the illustration the "line" is a human hair.  The microscopic sized objects are RFID chips, are 1/64th the size of those on the human finger on the left side, are 0.05 x 0.05 mm in size, and have a read only memory (ROM) capacity of 128 bits, enough to retain a 38 digit ID number or equivalent alpha-numeric characters.  Let me display a single illustration and refer you to the source, http://www.loveforlife.com.au/node/6852

You might well find the site to be too extreme or conspiracy oriented to be believable.  I did on many issues.  Take away only three bits of information.  Microscopic RFID chips exist.  They may contain 128 bits of memory.  They will fit into the bore of a hypodermic needle.  Please read the original article and follow several of the links from the text or below it.  You may not believe 98% of what you read, but I think the remaining 2% will scare your pants off.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2009, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

"They want to put this on every consumer item and even every piece of money....in ID cards and everything you have...even your body!.... It is already taking place and they can hide a spy chip in the dot on the i of product label......and tell where you are, what you do, and more.....hey its fun in the new United Police States of America!...." - From: www.spychips.com [....if you don't want to sleep tonight!.....]