The coldest winter I ever spent
Archive for the ‘General’ Category.
If you have seen this steel raven, please contact me. It belongs to Haideen Anderson. Tom Kennedy‘s container was broken in to at the Box Shop in San Francisco in January of 2008. Many tools were stolen but this is the most important item. This metal bird is far more valuable to Haideen than it will ever be to anyone else in the world.
Apparently there is a new (September 2007) California law that says when a document is translated for a court case, the translator must be either a certified interpreter or a member of the American Translators Association.
That sounds well and good except that very few translators are certified interpreters. Translators do printed words, interpreters do spoken words. Maybe legislators confused the two professions? That leaves us with ATA membership. The trouble is, ATA membership doesn’t bestow skills upon their members via osmosis. Why should translators have to pay the ATA $145/year membership fee and companies the $300/year fee in order to continue to do the job they’ve been doing perfectly adequately for the last hundred years? I think I know the answer: pork.
A local translation company is working to fight this ill-conceived law. They’re looking at going to the Institute for Justice, a legal group that fights for economic liberties.
If you are concerned about this issue as well, contact me directly at 
.
My very good friend Travis has been running a few independent businesses very successfully for the last 4 years or so. He’s been growing at a tremendous but consistent pace. He started with Smartflix.com. It’s now the world’s largest how-to video rental store. He then expanded to Heavyink.com which is poised to become the Amazon.com of comic books (and then some). Both of these companies are functioning and doing well. At last count, I think he’s got 8 employees or so. HeavyInk is new. He’d like to expand it. To do this, he needs to add stock and man-power to get it rolling. He’s looking to borrow money. I personally think this is an excellent opportunity. I’ve been wanting to invest in this business for a while and I’m going to try now. I’ll let him tell you about it:
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Speaking of growth: we’d love to borrow somewhere between $100,000 and $500,000. We pay a nice interest rate. If you or someone you know is interested in loaning us funds (min amount is probably $20k or so; minimum term is probably 2+ years), get in touch. References, spreadsheets, accountant-verified books, etc. would, of course, be displayed.
If you’re not interested in loaning funds, but are looking to invest, that’s not our first choice, but we can talk. Minimum amount is probably $100-200k.
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Email me directly at for more information.
I just got update:returned a new laptop. It has Windows Vista, mostly because getting Windows XP via Dell would have cost $200 EXTRA. Though I heard last night from Rick L that if you call them on the phone and tell them, “I’m not buying a computer from you if it has Vista”, you can get XP at no additional charge.
I’ve been using Vista for about 1 hr and I’m just about ready to go back to XP. Vista is very pretty. Performance-wise, it makes my 1.9 Ghz dual core processor feel like a 400Mhz PII. It’ll often show you a screen but actually it’s not ready for you to click on it for 3 or 5 or 8 seconds. It’s very frustrating.
And for the security… this is how I feel:
local version:
2-12-08 Followup: I returned the Vista Laptop. Here’s another humorous video on the subject:
“I switched back to XP 3 weeks ago. …So much happier.”
local version:
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Ok, this is pretty fun…
I got this in an email from Smartflix.com today
The Top Ten Wackiest DVDs at Smartflix.com
Continue reading ‘The Top Ten Wackiest DVDs at Smartflix.com’ »
My
favorite t-shirt is one that I purchased about 15 years ago in Boston. People often ask me about it. They are simply memorized by it! I likely purchased it at a Tufts University on-campus sale. I’ve been meaning for years to try and find more by the same artist, Ken Brown.
[UPDATE 4-15-25! Ken Brown’s art is on sale again! See it at https://kenbrownstuff.com/]
I tracked the artist down via the Mirror Image website. Rick Roth at that site forwarded my message on to Ken and he wrote me back.
He wrote
Rick forwarded this little time capsule today and it gave me a chuckle. I wish I could help you out with a shirt selection, but I’ve been out of the biz for many years. I do miss it though and may yet reconsider. Meanwhile, check out hoopla.org (the ken Brown section at the top o the noggin’) for recent rantings. )
I took a look and… wow, that art brings back memories and gives me a great smile. I’m pretty sure I recognize a few and I -definitely- recognize the style. It reminds me of a card and “stuff” store that was on Mass Ave near Gypsy Moon. Apparently, he’s the guy they bought all their cards from!
Take a look at Ken Brown’s comical commodities!
I saw this really funny set of photos at this site two weeks ago. I made a note to go back and check it out again. This is what I found today:
Grrr. I -used- to run my own server. No, the only way to be totally sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen is if I run my own server ISP internet.
I got a ticket, a “citation” for having an expired car registration in Oakland. That’s handled in the “Superior Court of California, County of Alameda”. Actually my registration wasn’t expired but I didn’t have the new registration in the car at the time. But that’s not the point. The point is, I wasted 1 1/2 hours of my day this morning going to Oakland Superior Court and I’m here to tell you how to make your experience easier.
At
the bottom of my citation, it said that I was supposed to go to court on 1-22-08 at 9am. This is wrong. Here’s how it really works: It takes 4-8 forever(?) weeks from the time the citation is issued until it’s in the computer. Then I’ll be sent a “courtesy notice” by snail mail telling me what I’m supposed to do. Note that my violation was on 11-22-07. Today is 1-24-08… 8 weeks later and my citation still isn’t in the system. I should also note that the phone number the officer wrote isn’t the correct number… but when you call, it tells you what the new number is.
The nice gentleman at the information booth told me to check the status of my citation every 2 weeks at http://www.acgov.org/courts. (note: the site actually forwards to this site). Or I can call the Wiley W Manuel Courthouse – Traffic Division at 510-627-4701. But I’ve called that number and sat on the line waiting for someone to answer the phone for 20 minutes in vain. Use the website instead.
The
citation said that I was supposed to show up at 9am. This is wrong. The nice gentleman at the info desk told me that registration for the morning court session opens at 8am. Shortly it will open at 7:30am. But at 7:30am, there is already a long line outside so you’ll do best to show up at the courthouse at 7am or even 6:30am. That way, you’ll be able to register for one of the 120 spots in the 10am morning court session. If you don’t get into the first session, you’ll be registering for the second session which starts at 2pm (IE your entire day wasted). And if there were too many people in front of you, you’ll be told to come back tomorrow, rinse and repeat. Also note that there is no afternoon court session on Thursdays. The nice gentleman at the info desk told me that many people were turned away today (Thursday) because of that.
The address of the Wiley W. Manual Courthouse is 661 Washington, Oakland, CA between 6th and 7th st. When I approached the building, I initially almost walked into the detention center (IE: Jail) in the same structure on 7th St because it looked all governmenty. Don’t make that mistake.
Tickets went on sale at 10am. I got in virtual line at 10:15 and checked out at 1:30pm with 6,100 people in front of me. The first tier of 10,000 tickets had already been sold. But I’ve got mine.
:-)
I borrowed Barry’s Kill a Watt. It’s a gizmo that tells you how many watts and kilowatt*hours your appliances are using. I found out a couple interesting tidbits.
Electricity costs me $0.11 per kilowatt. In my small apartment, I never get out of the first tier of electric rates, which peak out at $0.36 per kilowatt.
