US Bank

I was wondering if US Bank had an Android application.  It appears they don't, but they do have a good mobile version on their website that I didn't know about.

https://m.usbank.com/usbmobile/Auth/useridAuthentication.do

Mt Hood On The Money

There's a new Mt Hood quarter in the works.

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/atb/?local=mtHood

"This reverse image depicts a view of Mount Hood with Lost Lake in the foreground.  Inscriptions are MOUNT HOOD, OREGON, 2010 andE PLURIBUS UNUM."

Netflix News

Image via Wikipediahttp://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68M43T20100924  
"Shares of Netflix Inc hit an all-time high on Thursday after rival Blockbuster Inc filed for bankruptcy protection."

* * * 

http://www.fastcompany.com/1690069/librarians-take-advantage-of-netflix-in-violation-of-terms-of-use  
"For some time now, academic librarians have been resorting to Netflix to plug shortages in their media holdings."

* * * 

http://newteevee.com/2010/09/23/netflix-may-launch-streaming-only-plan-in-the-u-s/ 
Netflix may offer a cheaper streaming-only plan. There's still a of things not available streaming, and the quality could really use a boost. Still it seems to be a logical step. I'm surprised they haven't done it already.

* * * 

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/24/netflix-nbc-universal-content-deal-brings-battlestar-galactica/
Netflix has added NBC shows to streaming. Now I can get caught up on Battlestar Galactica. I need more hours in the day.

* * * 

http://blog.netflix.com/2010/09/apologies.html 
Netflix is sorry Americans are self-absorbed.

Link Rodeo

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/google-me-coming-this-fall/2458
"What’s interesting to me is that this doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a stand-alone product — it appears the plan is to weave some social goodness into Google’s existing product base. Squeezing social stuff into their already successful products is probably Google’s best shot at getting widespread adoption — as I imagine it would be extremely difficult to get 500 million users to see the value in a competing service, and then decide to switch."

* * *

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/library-desk-made-from

A creative library creates a desk made from old books...

* * * 

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/15/gorgeous-mid-century.html
One awesome computer case...  I may have to build something like this.

* * *

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/09/200lb_octopus_cake.html
A 200 pound octopus cake.  Sort of speaks for itself.

* * *

http://nilno.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
 "This site provides the highlights for construction of a CNC table with a 250 watt laser used to cut sheet metal. It includes an overview of the system and a description of the laser, its optics and how the laser is controlled. The system also has an X-Y table with CNC software."

Oh to have the time for such a project...

Salo

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3825221.stm 

"Forget deep-fried Mars bar. One of the unhealthiest snacks in the world can now be found in Ukraine."

 Chocolate covered pork fat...

Last Thursday, Out of Control?

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/08/portland_city_hall_continues_t.html 

"Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard wants to beef up police patrols to crack down on musicians who play too loud or too long at Last Thursday, the monthly street festival along Northeast Alberta Street. Separately, city neighborhood officials have floated the idea of taking contact information for festival vendors."

If supporters of Last Thursday want the event to continue, then local residents and Alberta businesses are going to have to step up and take ownership of the event - and pay for some of the costs.

MS Lost

Image via Wikipedia

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/05/microsofts_lost_generation/

"Microsoft has "lost a generation" of users — but from this number-cruncher's point of view, the situation is worse than Microsoft's CEO concedes."

Oh?
Just one generation?

Getting users used to products at an early stage has served Microsoft well in the past. But eventually, the products have to actually be good.

Meanwhile...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/05/microsoft_august_2010_patch_tuesday/

"The next Patch Tuesday, scheduled for August 10, will include 14 bulletins, eight of which are rated critical, Microsoft's highest severity classification, generally reserved for bugs that can be exploited to remotely execute malware on vulnerable systems with little or no interaction on the part of the end user."

Wave

Image via CrunchBase

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/update-on-google-wave.html

Google is ending development on Wave because it has "not seen the user adoption we would have liked." Why has Wave not been a success? There will be a lot of commentary on this, and I'd predict that the main point made will be that Wave provided little that wasn't being done already by other good applications, including cloud applications from Google itself like Docs and Buzz. But I think this misses the mark. After all, the same thing is true of Twitter whose popularity continues to baffle.

It is true that a typical user sees Wave as a communications tool. As such, the very first concern is, "do I the need to check both email and Wave now?"

This point reveals one thing Google could have done a better job of. Wave should have been folded into GMail at least, if not also Reader and Docs right from the beginning. Wave as a stand alone tool (even going to far as to have its own independent user names!) should come as no surprise however given how Google seems to pursue it projects as a multitude of completely independent tracks - toss everything out there, go with what flies.

And so Wave's presentation to the world invites missing its most interesting feature; what Wave is, a question that seemed to be asked endlessly.

What Wave actually does, is provide a federated server environment that can keep synchronized a complex XML structure. This is incredibly powerful, with significant business applications well outside people chatting and sharing a photo "live". I hope Google doesn't miss this point. I don't think they do, since the official blog entry includes this:

"...we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects."

Wave technology in other products? Yes, please.

Aside from the ability to synchronize and revision complex data, Wave has a second innovation going for it in federation. Wave servers can be set up and put on line by anyone, anywhere, and will communication with each other, just like email servers, or MTAs, do. In other words Google doesn't have Wave all locked down to its own hosts only. This is sure something one could never picture the likes of Microsoft doing. And its something that adds exponential value to Wave.

I hope it has a future, in some new form. I think it will.

New Pok Pok

Image via Wikipedia

"Foodie haven Pok Pok restaurant in Southeast Portland is opening an outlet at NE 15th and Prescott."

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Popular-Pok-Pok-eatery-coming-to-NE-Portland-99984689.html

No, not Prescott Arizona.

Modes of Time

Image by ToniVC via Flickr“With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.”

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

* * *

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."

-- Thomas Jefferson

* * *

"We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time."

-- Art Buchwald

* * *

Some food for thought... Philip Zimbardo’s remarkable talk on the Secret Powers of Time:

A Two Level Economy

Image via Wikipedia

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/why-it-still-feels-like-a-recession/

"MR. ALAN GREENSPAN: …I think we’re in a pause in a recovery, a modest recovery. But a pause in the modest recovery feels like quasi recession. Our problem, basically, is that we have a very distorted economy in the sense that there has been a significant recovery in a limited area of the economy amongst high-income individuals who have just had $800 billion added to their 401(k)s and are spending it and are carrying what consumption there is. Large banks, who are doing much better, and large corporations, whom you point out and the — and everyone’s pointing out, are in excellent shape. The rest of the economy, small business, small banks, and a very significant amount of the labor force, which is in tragic unemployment, long-term unemployment, that is pulling the economy apart. The average of those two is what we are looking at, but they are fundamentally two separate types of economy."

Oracle Creates it's First Java Bug

Image via CrunchBase

http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6969236

"Regression: With Java 1.6.0_21, the ("\\StringFileInfo\\%04x%04x\\CompanyName") has changed in the java.exe and javaw.exe programs from "Sun Microsystems, Inc" to "Oracle".

"This causes a severe regression for programs that need to identify the Sun/Oracle HostSpot VM such that they know whether the "-XX:MaxPermSize" argument needs to be used or not." 

Ha! Classic......

Shocking!

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmT59dgLTTziX4p9X9MRBRpWZGdQD9H3JO4O0

Stock drop sharply as Bernanke stunningly fails to say he can predict the future!

Crash

"One person was killed and another critically injured in a crash on Highway 99W, just west of downtown Newberg Monday night.

"The critically injured patient was flown in a LifeFlight helicopter to a Portland-area hospital for treatment. The other victim was pronounced dead at the scene, police said."

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Deadly-crash-on-Hwy-99W-near-Newberg-98837744.html

I'm starting to think I never want to go to the Oregon coast again.

Judy Meredith, 1945-2010

Judith Ann Meredith was born Judith Ann Hasse in Spokane, Washington, Oct. 12 1945.

As a teen she was helped along by my Grandparents, Everett and Veda Sexton, in Cour d'Alene Idaho. She meet my father Gene Sexton and they were married in 1963. I was born in 1964 and the family moved to Portland. A few years later my brothers Tim and Stephen came along.

Things were not always easy or simple for my Mother in the decades after my parents divorced. She was married two further times, and suffered from health issues, some serious. But she was caring and thoughtful, and always did what she could for others, even when things were not going well for herself. She loved animals, family, children, and the ocean. She also enjoyed ink drawing and was always reading. Most of all she should be remembered as a person that was by nature ever at the ready to help all those to whom the world was unkind.

It was not always easy, but there were a great many good years, dear memories and many good friends along her way.

The end was a moment of violence; instantaneous and random. Left behind are our thoughts, a few possessions, objects now without context, and a twisted heap of scrap that was once an automobile. The human condition prevents us from ever understanding what has happened. The facts of the matter are of little use. There is no real way to come to grips with the void a person leaves behind when they are gone forever. We are simply left with it. As it is. There is no explanation.

Life is fragile and brief, there is not one day free to be wasted, and not one hope we are not under the strongest force of obligation to pursue, with all the strength we can find.

Thank you Mom, for everything. Finally rest in peace.

Veda Sexton

My Grandmother was born to the family Lewis Lloyd and Margaret Bolton of Boyd Oregon in 1915. She was one of three sisters.

When she was school age, my Great Grandfather moved his family to a new house "in town," The Dallas, where my Grandmother grew up surrounded by the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins of her large, extended pioneer family.

Veda Bolton attended Oregon State Agricultural College (now OSU) and Willamette University before marrying a watchmaker in 1937 and becoming Veda Sexton.

The new family relocated to Cour d'Alene, Idaho for a watchmaking position at a store, Overjourde's, which is still there on Sherman Ave. Today, the shop is Clark's Jewelers. Eventually, my Grandfather came to own the store, where my Grandmother did the books.

My Grandparents were married for 70 years. They raised two children in Cour d'Alene, my father, Gene, and my Aunt Carol. They were very happy there, but for my Grandmother The Dalles was always and forever her home. They visited The Dalles frequently.

Veda Sexton was a living memory of a time when draft horses were the only engines on the great wheat fields of the Columbia River basin. She was proud of their Oregon Trail history, and of their home, which still stands, and the of Boltons that still work the land.

My Grandmother was loved by everyone that knew her. She was a devoted mother and wife, and cared for my Grandfather through to his last days. Even though his passing left a large hole in her life, she carried on, with a smile for everyone. She had an uncanny cheerfulness and above all else she believed that, no matter what, things were always right in the end.

She made it easy to believe that she would always be there.

We will miss her very much.

This Week's Economic News

Image via Wikipedia

The Week of June 6th...

"For the first time in a year, unemployed workers in April outnumbered job openings in America by a ratio that was less than 5 to 1."

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/small-progress-in-job-openings-ratio/

* * *

"Americans reported spending an average of $80 a day last week, the highest such weekly spending average in more than 17 months"

http://www.gallup.com/poll/139613/Consumer-Spending-Job-Creation-Near-Month-Highs.aspx

* * *

Wholesale inventories rose for a fourth straight month in April, sales rose for a 13th consecutive time.

http://www.census.gov/wholesale/

* * *

"In testimony prepared for delivery to the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee, Bernanke said the economic recovery appeared to be on solid footing and that while a double-dip recession "can never be entirely ruled out," he expects the economy to continue growing."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65612920100609

* * *

Beige Book: "Economic activity continued to improve since the last report across all twelve Federal Reserve districts, although many districts described the pace of growth as 'modest,'" the central bank said

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWAL9HE68F20100609

* * *

"The number of people receiving continuing claims -- a measure of long-term unemployment -- dropped to 4.46 million, the lowest figure since December 2008."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2010/06/new_jobless_claims_drops_3000.html

* * *

"Foreclosure filings were made on 322,920 U.S. properties in May, up less than 1% from a year earlier. Bank repossessions hit a record monthly high for the second month in a row, totaling 93,777--up 1% from April and 44% from last year. Meanwhile, default notices dropped 7% and 22%, respectively, while scheduled foreclosure auctions edged down from both periods."

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100609-716734.html

* * *

"Sales at retailers unexpectedly fell in May for the first time since September following a record slump in purchases of building materials, adding to fears the economic recovery was losing some steam."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6592N720100611

* * *

"Confidence among U.S. consumers rose in June to the highest level in more than two years, a private survey showed."

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-11/u-s-michigan-consumer-sentiment-index-rose-to-75-5-update2-.html

* * *

These statistics and reports are not here selectively. These are, I think, the major bits of economic data reported during the week.

In spite of these items being almost entirely good news, or at the very least solid and indisputable evidence of a recovery, traders continued the create extreme market volatility all week. Why? "Nervousness"? In what other jobs do professionals get to behave like this and attribute it to nervousness?

The only "bad" news in these reports is May retail data which were weaker than expected. They are also 7% better than the same period 12 months ago.

One percent swings in the Dow day after day are not normal.

Of course, yes, yes, everyone knows that short term market behaviors are not rational and should not be taken into consideration by long term investors. This is quite true. However we have just come off a 30-40% loss in the savings of the world. It has taken quite a lot of dollar cost averaging and bargain hunting to rebuilt only up to the levels of two years before. No one expects markets to be rational, but volatility is breaking records these days. This isn't just irrational, it's random.

Memo to traders: the United States is not headed into a Mad Max scenario in the third quarter. A poor economy in Greece will not trigger collapse of all the world's major governments before Christmas. China is not planning a fire sale on Euro bonds for next Wednesday. And Iran is not going to cause world wide nuclear Armageddon during your lunch break.

I just received the July issue of Harper's Magazine. There's an amusing list there of statements found in the transcripts of the Federal Open Market Committee meetings of 2004 that were noted to have provoke laughter. For example:

"He suggested that we do what those in the survey industry do - have focus groups and really experiment with traders. My reaction was that the only time I've ever thought about experimenting with traders it involved cattle prods!"

What's My Wave ID?

Google Waves have an ID, and a URL. This information is needed with some add-ons, and of course is needed in order to tell someone how to find your Wave.

Yet Google does not make it obvious what the URL and the ID of Waves are. Here's how to tell...

First, the URL. The URL of a Wave is visible in the address bar of the web browser when you have a Wave selected. For example, this is the Elgintime vintage watch Wave:

https://wave.google.com/wave/#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252BBi-bhBc4A

The Wave ID is included in this path. It is:

googlewave.com!w+2BBi-bhBc4A

To get this, the escaped "%24" has been changed to "+".
Sometimes, and I don't know why, a decimal point and a number appear at the end of the URL, like this:

https://wave.google.com/wave/#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252BBi-bhBc4A.4

This, the ".4" in this example, is not part of the Wave ID and should be removed.

Some add-ons want to know the Wave's path. Unless you're working with Wave through a Google Sites or a Google Apps domain, this path is;

https://wave.google.com/wave/

There is at least one robot that will tell you what the ID of a Wave is, as well as the "path". To use this robot, just add the address below to your Wave contacts, and add the resulting contact to your Wave. The ID will be displayed. You can then remove the robot from the Wave.

"My Wave ID" robot:

mywaveid@appspot.com

The Pearl

View Larger Map

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2010/05/10/daily30.html

"Work has begun on a $400,000 effort to stop passing trains from blasting their horns near the Pearl District."

Because when you move to a trendy industrial loft in the core of the city's industrial area, you don't want to hear trains! Right?

Google GMail is Dead

This has been going on since at least 6:00 AM; "Temporary Error (500)". Occasionally it gets a little further, very, very slowly, but when it does log in I've also seen repeated "Problem 793" messages. I have managed to send about 3 messages today, but nothing has been incoming. I wonder if it really sent anything? Hard to say...

Many Google applications have been extremely slow off and on for the past couple of weeks, sometimes to the point of being unusable.

Update: GMail seems to be working again? About 3:30 PM...

Breakfast

So, if you were planning on having a KFC Double-Down for lunch, what would you have for breakfast?

How about an IHOP Stacker!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/29/ihop-pancake-stackers-iho_n_557322.html

Just 1250 Calories! Hopefully it'll hold you over 'til lunchtime...

Kauai

A view of Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii...

Links Dumped

Oregon DMV offices cancel their Muzak service.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/2010/03/oregon_dmv_killing_muzak_in_se.html

"Oregon taxpayers pay up to $160 a month to pipe Muzak’s acoustic wallpaper into lobbies where drivers come to take tests, renew licenses and register vehicles."

* * *

Make your URL shady with ShadyURL!

http://www.shadyurl.com/

* * *

End tables from Ikea turn out to work great as 19" hardware racks.

http://wiki.eth-0.nl/index.php/LackRack

* * *

Here's in impressive visualization of the science, or lack o science, behind food supplements.

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/play/snake-oil-supplements/

* * *

Google Public Data Explorer...

http://www.google.com/publicdata/home

* * *

Raptor-Cam!

http://www.kgw.com/lifestyle/raptor-cam

Extending Java Socket Logging With SSL

The java.util.logging package includes a handy way to send log message out a port to a server. This is done by replacing the usual log handler with an instance java.util.logging.SocketHandler. The provided SocketHandler, by default, uses java.util.logging.XMLFormatter to create an XML message that will be send out a socket to the host of your choice, and to your own server code. Suppose you need to do this with an SSL connection, rather than a normal socket? This is simple to do using a alternate handler which functions similarly to SocketHandler, but creates an SSL connection.

package com.example.logger;

import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.util.logging.LogRecord;
import java.util.logging.StreamHandler;
import javax.net.ssl.SSLSocket;
import javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory;
import java.util.logging.SocketHandler;
public class SSLHandler extends StreamHandler {
 private SSLSocket sslSocket;
 private String host;
 private int port;

 private SSLHandler() throws IOException {
 }

 public SSLHandler(String h, int p) throws IOException {
  host = h;
  port = p;
  connect();
 }

 private void connect() throws IOException {
  SSLSocketFactory sslsocketfactory = (SSLSocketFactory) SSLSocketFactory.getDefault();
  sslSocket = (SSLSocket) sslsocketfactory.createSocket(host, port);

  OutputStream out = sslSocket.getOutputStream();
  BufferedOutputStream bufferedOutputStream = new BufferedOutputStream(out);
  setOutputStream(bufferedOutputStream);
  java.util.logging.Logger.getLogger(getClass().getName()).log(
    java.util.logging.Level.INFO,
    "connect() completed to [" + host + "] at port " + port);
 }

 public boolean isLoggable(LogRecord record) {
  return true;
 }

 public synchronized void publish(LogRecord record) {
  if (isLoggable(record)) {
   super.publish(record);
   flush();
  }
 }

 public synchronized void close() throws SecurityException {
  super.close();
  if (sslSocket != null) {
   try {
    sslSocket.close();
   } catch (IOException e) {
   }
  }
  sslSocket = null;
 }
}

The use of this class is the same as using a SocketLogger. Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(getClass().getName()); Handler handler = new SSLHandler("my_host_name", 3000); logger.addHandler(handler); logger.log(Level.INFO, "Hello World"); Logged messages are send as XML fragments to the designated host at port 3000 via SSL. The developer is free to implement any sort of server needed to catch and process these messages. There's some good information related to remote logging here, including a simple non-SSL logging server example: http://blogs.sun.com/CoreJavaTechTips/entry/socket_logging The non-SSL server code is easily altered to open an SSL connection using an instance of SSLServerSocket.

Panic

Image via Wikipedia

This is the sort of thing that gets people really hating stock market traders.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-pare-gains-after-fed-hawkishness-2010-03-02

"Kansas City Federal Reserve President Thomas Hoenig reiterated . . . that the Federal Reserve should not guarantee zero-percent interest rates for an extended period. "We're going to have these days throughout the year, when investors get hit with the idea of eventual tightening," said Owen Fitzpatrick, head of U.S. equity group at Deutsche Bank. But the reaction is largely a knee-jerk one that's bound to dissipate, Fitzpatrick added"

Proving Hoenig correct, as he (shockingly reiterated) that interest rates might not stay near zero forever, the indexes dipped sharply on these words at about 10:30 eastern time this morning - only (of course) to climb right back up again.

So... I'm just wondering what traders expected him to to say? Maybe something like "I absolutely guarantee that interest rates will remain near zero from now until the end of times, for sure, no matter what." Ya, that would make sense. But since he didn't say that it's all OMG! Sell! Sell! Sell!

You just have to laugh...

Google Features and Changes I'd Like to See

Image via Wikipedia

1. I'd like to be able to share items in Buzz with selected groups of my contacts much like is allowed in Google Docs.

2. Some sort of notification should be available from Google Wave to Google Buzz. Wave is notably absent from subscriptions that can be added to Buzz.

3. Gmail and Google Reader share many elements of interface style. Why doesn't Buzz look the same way?

4. Google Wave would be a useful addition for Google enterprise accounts.

5. Using Google Buzz can make the "People you follow" feed in Google Reader unnecessary. Why can't I turn it off?

6. Why can't I make a PDF file public in Google Docs the way I can a spreadsheet, for example?

7. Making Gmail-like filters available in Google Reader would be nice.

8. There really needs to be a way to collapse and expand items in Buzz, again, this it something Gmail does.

Tape

Tape measure stunts!