Annoying Software

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ZDNet UK has a great summary of some of the most annoying software products around.

I pretty much agree with them on all counts … although my personal annoyance with anything that tries to install the Yahoo tool bar goes way beyond what they indicate.

I also really dislike Java’s insistence on a background task that’s constantly checking for updates. Personally, I think that any stand alone product that requires Java should install it’s own copy. Updating Java without considering the requirements of the software that is dependent on it is asking for trouble.

32 Percent

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One in eight U.S. high school teachers presents creationism as a valid alternative to evolution, says a poll published in Public Library of Science Biology.

– One in Eight High School Biology Teachers Still Teach Creationism

The article states that 32% of the 900 teachers, who responded to a poll conducted by Penn State University political scientist Michael Berkman, agreed that creationism and intelligent design should be taught as scientifically unsound. Forty percent said that such explanations are religiously valid but inappropriate for science class. EXACTLY!

However, 25% said they devoted classroom time to creationism or intelligent design. Of these, about one-half — 12% of all teachers — called creationism a “valid scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species,” and the same number said that “many reputable scientists view these as valid alternatives to Darwinian theory.”

Excuse me? ‘valid scientific alternative’??? What’s scientific about the bible? Where is the proof?

Personally, I think that any teacher who is found teaching Creationism or Intelligent Design should loose their teaching certificate. They shouldn’t even be allowed to be a substitute teacher.

I’ve said it before … I’m saying it now .. and I’m sure I’ll say it again … science class is for teaching FACTS … not religion.

Florida is going to be the laughing stock

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I heard this on Morning Edition as I was getting ready for work …

Florida’s legislature is working out the details of a bill that would either allow or require science teachers to present students with alternatives to the theory of evolution. It could signal a new opening in the perennial battle over evolution in public schools.

Bill in Fla. Lets Schools Teach Evolution Alternatives

The thing that gets me the most is the term “academic freedom”. Freedom to do what? Teach lies? Proselytize their religion?

Don’t get me wrong … if someone can come up with an alternative theory to explain how life came to be the way it is, I’m all for it. But that theory has to be based in science, lacking any super-natural involvement, and be peer reviewed by reputable research organizations.

“Intelligent Design” is nothing more, and nothing less, than creationism. It’s based on biblical texts and has no basis whatsoever in science. Thus, it has absolutely no place in public schools.

The thing that gets me the most is the number of people who, on other topics, are the most logical, level headed, intelligent, people I know. But when it comes to things like Evolution vs. Creationism, they throw all that logic and intelligence out the window.

  • Do they have an inferiority complex?
  • Does the idea that humans and apes share a common ancestor somehow denigrate them as a human being?
  • Is the idea that, because their holy book is wrong on a specific topic, the book is totally wrong and doesn’t merit study and consideration?

The odd thing is, most mainstream religious organizations have actually endorsed Evolution. Even the Vatican has weighed in on it …

The Vatican’s chief astronomer said Friday that “intelligent design” isn’t science and doesn’t belong in science classrooms, the latest high-ranking Roman Catholic official to enter the evolution debate in the United States.

– Vatican astronomer joins evolution debate

So what’s the problem folks? Let’s view the bible for what it is … a book that tries to tell a morality story and not a reference text.

iPhone Buzzing

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Radio InteferenceEver since I got the iPhone, I’ve noticed that it causes nearby speakers (radios, desk phones, etc) to emit a buzzing noise.

The odd thing is, my boss Brian’s Blackberry does the same thing.

I finally found the reason why:

The cause of this buzzing has to do with GSM’s “time division nature. The ever-knowledgeable Keith Nowak, spokesperson for Nokia, explains it as follows: “[[With GSM]] the RF transmitter is turned on/off at a fast rate, and that ‘pulsing’ is often picked up by nearby devices that don’t have good RF shielding. In the case of GSM the pulse rate is 217 Hz, which can be easily heard.

– That Crazy GSM Buzz

When I put my iPhone in the clock radio / iPhone dock that Ginny got me for the holidays, it does the same thing. Luckily the dock isn’t recognized as being 100% iPhone compatible, so the iPhone offers to shut off the radio (go into Airplane mode) whenever I dock it. This eliminates the buzzing (mostly) because the phone isn’t transmitting.

iPhone

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iPhoneWe bit the bullet … we got iPhones.   Our Verizon cell phone contract has been up for quite a while and they’ve been bugging us to re-up for a new two year contract … but I haven’t been super happy with the service and phones, so we started thinking about what other provider and phone’s would be a suitable substitute.

My co-worker Jerome has the iPhone and is very happy to show it off.   Even on the first release I have to admit, it was pretty cool.   The interface was nice, the features were nice, and the sound quality wasn’t bad at all.

The only things I really didn’t like at the get go was the fact that you were tied to AT&T and the battery wasn’t replaceable.

After mulling our alternatives, we decided to go for it.   Both Ginny and I got the 8gb   model.   We were originally thinking about the 16gb model, but the Apple store didn’t have any in stock and we figured, since we only used a fraction of our 4gb iPods, it wasn’t that big a deal.

A few observations …

  1. It doesn’t like the fact that I use self signed certs on my mail server.   I’ll probably have to bite the bullet and get a proper cert.
  2. I haven’t found any ability to select which folders I show in my IMAP mail account.   Wish I could, as I really only care about a handful on an ongoing basis.
  3. One feature that’s missing, and was almost a deal breaker, was the lack of voice command dialing.   On my old moto phone I could just tell it “Call James Rich Mobile” and it would call James Rich’s cell phone (in my address book).   Nice for talking while driving.
  4. As one would expect from an Apple product, the user interface is slick.   The screen is a bit over sensitive though.   I suspect it’s just something to get used to.
  5. The pseudo GPS functionality is very cool … I really want to figure out how they do it, because it was able to figure out where was I better than my GPS can.
  6. Porting of both the phone numbers on my Verizon account was smooth and fast.   It only took 30 minutes to complete.   I’m going to verify that Verizon cancels my account just in case.

One annoyance, unrelated to the iPhone itself, was the fact that it seems kind of hard to find accessories at stores that don’t actually sell the iPhone.   Woodfield mall, and the Apple store, were both very crowded … and both Ginny and I were in a hurry to escape (yeah, so we could play with the new toys) … so we skipped getting protective skins for the new phones.   We stopped at Best Buy on the way home, but they only had 2 or 3 skins & cases for the iPhone.   I’ll probably stop at Frys on my way home tomorrow to pick something up.

I’m kind of interested to see what the SDK is all about … I’ve got some ideas for apps that could be   fun.

The Coding Congressman

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Bill FosterI found this on CNET (via Slashdot) today:

In what appears to be a first, the US House of Representatives now has a Congressman who can code…in assembly. That’s right, a Congressman with geek skills.

Democratic Representative Bill Foster won a special election this past Saturday in the 14th Congressional District of Illinois. This was the district that former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert held from 1986-2007. Hastert stepped down in November of 2007.

– The tech world rejoices: A Congressman who can code.

Ok, this guy is officially my second favorite politician after Barack Obama. Even if he doesn’t represent our district (Melissa Bean is pretty good too).

Not only did he eat the republicans lunch, cast the deciding vote in a major ethics reform bill, but he knows the difference between ram, rom, dasd, and control structures.

Apparently he’s proficient in Assembly, Fortran, and VB (two out of three ain’t bad). Sadly, RPG is apparently not among his skills.

Thank you Riley

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Well, it looks like Riley does a bit more than shed, chew on cords, and season the furniture … I found this on the web (via slashdot):

The finding, from a 10-year study of more than 4,300 Americans, suggests that the stress relief pets provide humans is heart-healthy.

– US News & World Report : Cats Help Shield Owners From Heart Attack
‘course I knew he made me feel calmer… and I think I found a site that referenced a study that showed cats helped lower blood pressure.

Foundation Sealing

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flood.gifLast year, when we were having the heavy rains, I noticed there was some water coming into our basement … not a lot, but enough to be worrying. Ginny and I did a bit of investigating and found that water was pooling near the foundation of our house. We figured it had to do with our less than efficient gutters & downspouts.

So, later that year, we had the gutters replaced … we had leaf guards installed, oversized down spouts, the works. Everything seemed good. Water was being routed away from the house.

Well, earlier this year … when we were having the heavy rains during the brief warm spell, I noticed we were getting water in the basement again. Clearly this is not good.

So I start looking for foundation water proofing companies. I put in a request at servicemagic.com and got 3 contractors interested in giving us a quote, although only two bothered to call us.

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