Rants, Raves and Rambling…

This year, Nicole and I are trying something new in the garden. We lost some sweet pea to aphids last year, so this year we are trying an environmentally friendly way to control them: lady bugs!

Live lady bugs are sold at a variety of places, including the Internet. We found ours at the 13th street nursery in Salem, OR. It cost about $7 for a pack of about 1500.  If things work out well, these lady bugs will take up residence in your plants and provide you with multiple generations.  So that 1500 lady bugs could turn into a perpetual population fighting aphids and spider mites.

The live bugs are kept refrigerated, so that when you get them they aren’t very active. By the time we got home they looked far more lively! Because you are supposed to distribute them at dusk (they don’t fly at night, and so they are more likely to stay where you release them), it was back in the chill chest for them once we got home.  Prior to release you want to keep them cool, to keep their metabolisms low.

Had we really wanted to increase the odds that they stay where placed, it is recommended to spray them (in the bag) with a mild sugar solution, such as soda. This essentially “glues” their wings down for a few days. That sounded a little harsh to me, so we skipped that step. 

They have something in the bag with them that could be food, but they don’t have any water.  So, upon release you know that they will be thirsty!  This actually plays to your advantage, because you can mist the plants where you would like the lady bugs and they will find their way to the water.

Later that night, it was time to release the bugs! We watered any plant that we thought might get aphids, and set about releasing the bugs.  Initially, while they are still cool, they essentially sprinkle out of the bag. You can see them moving (very slowly) so it is clear they are alive, but they aren’t really going far from where they are placed. As they warm up, they get considerably more active, eventually getting to the point where I was brushing them off my hands and arms rather than shaking them on the plants like a powder.

After two or three days, I no longer saw lady bugs in our garden. I’m not sure if they flew off because we didn’t glue their wings, if they were eaten by birds, or if something else happened. I’m hoping that they are just keeping a low profile and are still there, somewhere.

The jury is still out as to whether they prevent the aphids or not. We have another sweet pea in front of our house, in the same place that was overrun by aphids last year.  Time will tell if our lady bug approach works or not. 

A pair of starlings have made a nest on our roof, right above my office.  From the sounds of it, 4-5 chicks are keeping their parents very busy.  The constant ‘chirp, chirp, chirp’ of baby birds keeps me company all day long, getting particularly voiciferous when one of the parents drops by with a delivery of food.  If I had to guess, these little guys are being fed every few minutes.  It’s cute and annoying, all at the same time.

The good news is that baby starlings leave the nest after about three weeks and I’m travelling next week, so when I return, it is possible that they may already be gone.  The bad news is that pairs of starlings can have up to three broods in a year….

Starlings have an interesting history in North America, as they are an introduced species.  Back in 1890, Mr. Eugene Sheifflin, apparently a large Shakespeare fan, set out to introduce to the New World all of the birds mentioned in the bard’s work.  He released 60 (or 100, depending on your source) European Starlings into New York City’s Central Park.  Since then, those released birds have reproduced and expanded across the continent, currently numbering upwards of 200 million.

In 2008, the US government poisoned, trapped and shot 1.7 million starlings, more than any other nuisance species.  Large flocks of these birds have been responsible for multiple plane crashes, not to mention displacing native birds.  The starling is extremely aggressive when selecting a nesting site, and can actually drive off larger birds from an existing nesting site.

Odd, that all of this goes back to a few lines from Henry IV, Act 1 Scene 3:

Nay, I will; that’s flat: 
He said he would not ransom Mortimer; 
Forbad my tongue to speak of Mortimer; 
But I will find him when he lies asleep, 
And in his ear I’ll holla ‘Mortimer!’ 
Nay, 
I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak 
Nothing but ‘Mortimer,’ and give it him 
To keep his anger still in motion.

Nicole and I have been having our backyard reworked in order to make the space a little more usable, as well as to bring it more in line with our tastes and interests.  I’m most excited about the raised beds we put in so that we have a bit of a garden!

Anyhow, here is a quick shot, both before and after all the work….

One of the big pieces of news these days (besides all of the April Fool’s Day jokes) is the release of the Apple iPad.  Personally, I don’t get it yet, but I am intrigued by the extra competition in the electronic book market.

Both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have reacted to Apple’s entry into the digital book distribution space by allowing publishers to set their own prices. Somewhat counter-intuitively, it means that more competition means higher prices for consumers in this case.

Watching the video of the “iBook” reader, a couple of concerns come to mind.  First of all is the backlit screen; there is a general consensus that backlighting creates more eye strain than passively lit screens.  Of course, it means that you can’t read a nook or kindle in the dark, but I suspect that battery performance on the nook and kindle will far outlast the iPad when it comes to reading.

Secondly, the page flipping animation really bothers me.  I personally feel that Apple missed in an area that is typically such a strength for them — user interaction.  Fundamentally, an iPad is a very different beast than a book.  I understand that they want to carry forward the book metaphor since that is what they are trying to replace, but page flipping on something that lacks pages?  I don’t understand.  What I see is an immersive experience interrupted every minute or so by a slow animation that pulls you out of the author’s world and into “Gee Whiz!  Isn’t our iPad nifty!  We look like a turning page!”

It seems that Apple (and other eBook manufacturers to date) have missed an opportunity to re-evaluate the whole experience of reading.  When something no longer has a physical representation, why do we cling to the notion of a “page”?  Why must I pause at the end of every few paragraphs to “flip” something that doesn’t exist?  If the focus should be on immersing the reader into the words of the author, shoudn’t the device do what it can to fade into the background?

I’m not saying that automatic, scrolling text is necessarily the way to go, but I would encourage anyone creating a electronic reader to at least consider alternate approaches.

Last night Kobe Bryant passed Jerry West (aka, “the Logo”) as the Lakers all-time scoring leader.  So naturally, that raises the question.  Does this mean Kobe Bryant actually needs to replace Jerry West as the logo?

 

(Sorry, this is what you get when someone with no experience or skill spends 20 minutes with the gimp, modifying a photo….)

Historically, people have been concerned about the electromagnetic radiation generated by cellular telephones and their associated base station equipment.  There have been warnings about brain cancer, neurological damage or changes to the blood/brain barrier. Studies have varied in their results and recommendations, and it has been very confusing what to believe.

For it’s part, the World Health Organization explains the risks as:

• Cancer: Current scientific evidence indicates that exposure to RF fields, such as those emitted by mobile phones and their base stations, is unlikely to induce or promote cancers. Several studies of animals exposed to RF fields similar to those emitted by mobile phones found no evidence that RF causes or promotes brain cancer. While one 1997 study found that RF fields increased the rate at which genetically engineered mice developed lymphoma, the health implications of this result is unclear. Several studies are underway to confirm this finding and determine any relevance of these results to cancer in human beings. Three recent epidemiological studies found no convincing evidence of increase in risk of cancer or any other disease with use of mobile phones.
• Other health risks: Scientists have reported other effects of using mobile phones including changes in brain activity, reaction times, and sleep patterns. These effects are small and have no apparent health significance. More studies are in progress to try to confirm these findings.
• Driving: Research has clearly shown an increased risk of traffic accidents when mobile phones (either handheld or with a “hands-free” kit) are used while driving.
• Electromagnetic interference: When mobile phones are used close to some medical devices (including pacemakers, implantable defibrillators, and certain hearing aids) there is the possibility of causing interference. There is also the potential of interference between mobile phones and aircraft electronics.

Well, adding fuel to the fire was a recent study of mobile phone radiation and the impact upon mice bred to be susceptible to Alzheimer’s Disease. In short, the study found that if these mice were exposed to two, one-hour sessions of radiation similar to that of a modile phone call each day for seven to nine months, the development of Alzheimer’s symptoms was prevented. In mice already demonstrating symptoms of Alzheimer’s, exposure to the radiation eliminated these symptoms and subsequent memory tests matched those of control animals. After the stufy autopsies were performed on all the mice involved and no abnormalities to the brains or peripheral organs were found.

The study is described by the BBC and published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.  If these results extend to humans there could be hope for an effective treatment of Alzheimer’s after diagnosis, not just a way to slow the degenerative effects!

Given our family history with this disease, I may have to call my mom and let her know of these results… on her cell phone, of course.

Dan Gilbert, Harvard psychologist and author, has a wonderful talk on happiness and how the human mind seeks it out. It’s 21 minutes, but please don’t let that scare you off. In it, he discusses research into the “phychological immune system” and how it leads us to seek and find happiness in areas where an outside observer may not expect.

Fascinating stuff….  I especially like the idea that the mind adapts to be happy with a decision after there is nothing else we can do about it.

(Full link: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html)

Last time I was in San Diego, I went out to dinner at a Mimi’s Cafe. It isn’t the first time we’ve been there, and when my wife and I lived in Scripps Ranch, we would eat there once or twice a month. I enjoy their food (particularly their breakfasts) and it is typically a pretty decent value.  Their servings are very generous, and that probably contributes significantly to the later information.

I was held up leaving work, so my friends had 10 minutes or so to look over the menu while they waited for me. Turns out, Mimi’s has added nutritional information to their menu! Kudos to them, for making the information available, especially in the menu itself (although in a separate section in the back).

Having had a chance to go through this list, I now understand why more places don’t do this. Given the choice of price, taste or health, I know which one would be sacrificed in most every restaurant.

Check out a few of the worst offenders:

• Breakfast: Pancake Breakfast; 1252 calories, 46g protein, 140g carbs, 57g fat
• Lunch: West Coast Reuben; 1733 calories, 53g protein, 62g carbs, 136g fat
• Appetizer: Tuscan Artichoke Dip; 2333 calories, 82g protein, 147g carbs, 154g fat
• Dinner: Spice Rubbed Baby Back Ribs; 2101 calories, 85g protein, 131g carbs, 138g fat
• Dinner Salad: Blackened Chicken Caesar Salad; 1524 calories, 61g protein, 47g carbs, 119g fat
• Dessert: Triple Chocolate Brownie; 1950 calories, 25g protein, 280g carbs, 87g fat

(Nutritional Information for Mimi’s, and many other restaurants, can be found at calorielab.com.)

Now, some of those menu items approach or exceed the US Department of Agriculture’s Recommended Daily Allowance of calories for the average person.  But the biggest surprise, to me at least, was their:

• 8oz Hot Chocolate with Whipped Cream; 968 calories, 8g protein, 193g carbs, 17g fat

Now, 12 ounces is what they consider a “small” for most of you that drink coffee; so to put it in perspective, this is 2/3rds of a “tall” beverage. In that 8 ounces, however, they manage to pack in 968 calories, 17 grams of fat, and 193 grams of carbs. Wow.

Now I want to go order one, just to find out if it is worth it.

Michael Barry, a professional cyclist and author, has some interesting ideas on bringing parity back to the professional cycling peloton — get rid of the race radios every rider wears!  The full article is here(courtesy of VeloNews).

On June 27th, 2009, I puchased “The New York Times Crosswords Daily 2009″ application, by Magmic Inc. for my iPhone.  At the time, it had a rating higher than 4 stars, and promised access to daily and archived New York Times crossword puzzles for a one-time cost of $5.99.  That seemed reasonable to me, and so I purchased the application and have enjoyed it.

Yesterday, they released an updated version of the application, v1.1.  Suddenly, rather than offering access to the puzzles, it requires a $1.99/month subscription to access puzzle data.  Previous customers, such as myself, are granted access through the end of 2009, but after that will need to buy a subscription for 1 month ($1.99), 6 months ($9.99) or 12 months ($16.99).  At the time of purchase, there was no indication that the application was only providing puzzle access through December 31st.

I consider this unacceptable, and have immediately removed the application from my device.  I am also trying to determine how to move forward.  I feel that a refund is due, because they have fundamentally changed the application that I purchased, in a way that feels like a blatant grab for more money.

My first step has been reporting a problem with the application via the iTunes application interface.  In my note indicating that the application did not function as expected, I provided the following explanation:

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With the release of the “free update” to v1.1 of this application, they have moved from a purchase model where you buy the application and have continued access to puzzles, to a subscription model where you must pay to download the puzzles.  There was no indication at the time of purchase that this would change into an application with an ongoing monthly fee.

 

I purchased this application in good faith, believing that the $5.99 payment would cover me for as long as I chose to use that application.  Instead, I have been granted access to puzzle data through the end of the year.  Starting January 1, 2010, I am expected to start paying a monthly fee for this application to continue to function.

 

Due to the dramatic changes in the cost and pricing of the application, I am requesting that my $5.99 be refunded.  I have already removed the application from my device, although I am happy to provide whatever proof you require showing that it has been deleted.

Thank you,

Dan Abplanalp

 

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Unfortunately, upon submission of this issue, iTunes responds with:

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Please contact the application developer.

We have taken note of the problem for our records, however we are not able to provide support for the features and functionality of applications. Please click the support link below to contact the developer for resolution.

The New York Times Crosswords Daily support

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I have also contacted Magmic directly asking for a refund, but Apple is far from blameless in this as well.  Ultimately, Apple must approve all applications for their store.  Additionally, the subscription cost for the updated application is collected by Apple via the iTunes store.  By approving the update and setting up billing for these recurring charges, Apple has given its approval for changing “purchased” applications into “subscription” applications.

 

I’ll update this as I hear back with more information.

Update, 10/2/2009

It appears that I bear some of the blame for this as well, as apparently Magmic claimed that the application “…includes access to daily and archived puzzles until the end of 2009.”  If that was indeed the case (the claim was made in this review), then they are within their technical rights to end the download of new puzzles at that time.  However, that statement was apparently not particularly prominent (I sure missed it) and it was not sufficiently specific to indicate that all of the app will apparently stop functioning at that time.

Update, 10/5/2009

No response from Apple, although I am not particularly surprised at this.  I did receive a response from Magmic:

Hi,

Unfortunately we have not been able to find your Order ID(receipt) with any of your
listed information. Please reply with all of the following information to allow us
to find your Order ID:

What was the email address used?

What was the phone number used to purchase?

What was the full name used to purchase?

Did you use the ‘Bill to Phone’ option or a Credit Card to purchase?

If you purchased from a website other than Bplay.com, what site did you purchase your content from?

Thank you,

—————-

<Name Removed>

Customer Support Specialist

—————-

The fact that I purchased the application via iTunes was in the original support request, and it was sent from the same e-mail address used to purchase the application.  It appears that they are not setup to support iTunes store purchases.  *sigh*