tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57872312009-03-15T12:33:56.708-04:00paulenglish.comPaul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comBlogger301125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-42888147136486036102009-03-15T12:23:00.002-04:002009-03-15T12:33:56.738-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/Picture-1-761568.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 182px;" src="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/Picture-1-761422.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />My Iranian friend Taghi Amirani describes his <a href="http://tagz23.posterous.com/touched-by-the-hand-of-history-0">meeting Presidential candidate Barack Obama</a> last October in Londonderry, NH.<br /><br />I fear the stories of radical Islams in Iran, but I also have some great friends from Iran, and I know their country (like all countries) has wonderful people. <br /><br />I look forward to the day of secular states with equal educational rights for all people, including both boys and girls, and an open press and internet so all people can learn unbiased truth from each other.<br /><br />Yet while I wait for change in other states, such as Iran, what changes do I need in our own country? The biggest change I want is the further decline in xenophobia, and increased interactions across different peoples.<br /><br />When I read posts such as that one from <a href="http://www.amiranifilms.com">Taghi</a>, it gives me hope.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-4288814713648603610?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-15325881132169813952009-03-06T18:09:00.003-05:002009-03-06T18:19:42.944-05:00<b>How to hack credit cards</b>. (I post this about once a year or so.)<br /><br />I just got the following voice mail message:<br /><br />"Hello, this message is from the Card Services Security Department in regard to possible suspicious activity on your account. As a benefit, we monitor your account for fraudulent activity and need to verify some recent transactions. It is important that we speak to you as soon as possible to ensure continued use of your account. Please return our call to 1-800-383-0618 at your earliest convenience. Thank you for choosing Card Services."<br /><br />When I called that number, it asked me to enter my 16 digit credit card number, my home phone number, and my birthday.<br /><br />So if you want to hack credit cards, just setup your computer to leave the exact same message -- but with a temporary anonymous phone number you control -- on the answering machines of thousands of people.<br /><br />When they call you back, give them the same prompts as above. And maybe throw in a question about their social security number as well.<br /><br />Then capture that info, along with the name on their callerID, and use that info to place false charges against their card and/or to open up new credit accounts.<br /><br />Banks, are you listening? Do *not* leave messages as above, as you are simply training your customers to become victims of credit card scams.<br /><br />Do not ever leave a voice mail with a phone number for consumers to call. Instead, ask them to call the number on the back of their Citibank (or whatever) Mastercard (or whatever). That way you will train your customers to only call your actual number as opposed to any random number someone leaves on their answering machine.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-1532588113216981395?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-38886363747147561172009-03-03T07:29:00.002-05:002009-03-03T07:35:23.811-05:00<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiPzM98h7NA&feature=related">Bush Freudian slip</a>. Is it evil to find this humorous? :) But of the thousands of Bush youtube videos over the years, including speeches given while drunk, the most interesting one to me was a video comparing his excellent verbal skills while governor compared to his very poor vocabulary and speech when he was president. I'd not be surprised if Bush had one of the largest declines in quality of speech (and thought?) during a presidency. (And I'm sure many folks are looking forward to some screwed up speeches by Obama too!:)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-3888636374714756117?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-28715536639180638242009-03-02T08:43:00.003-05:002009-03-02T08:45:48.246-05:00<b>Facebook killing blogs?</b> I just spent some time going through my blogroll list of friend blogs from a couple years ago. Half of my friends are no longer blogging.<br /><br />I wonder how much Facebook status updates, and to a lesser degree, twitter, are killing the desire to blog? Facebook status updates are of course much briefer than a blog, but they are so easy to do, and the newsfeed is such a simple place to in one place see what your friends are up to. (And unlike most blogs, Facebook has your status updates available only to your friends, vs. to anyone on the web.)<br /><br />Wdyt?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-2871553663918063824?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-72846450146326281702009-03-01T10:00:00.002-05:002009-03-01T10:06:21.165-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/Picture-1-769678.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/Picture-1-769671.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><b>Kayak.com released our iPhone travel application today</b>! Please try it and let me know what you think, especially if you have any suggestions. (Thanks christian and billo.)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-7284645014632628170?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-46232335678822015572009-01-12T06:17:00.002-05:002009-01-12T06:26:18.653-05:00<b>Fake Amazon Reviews</b>. What to do about them? I'm finding more and more of these fake reviews on Amazon, where it appears that the company who makes the product gets several people to post glowing but fake reviews. I've discussed this with several friends, many of whom have also encountered this. This depresses me, as I used to think the best part of Amazon was the reviews. You can read through the most negative reviews (in addition to the most positive) to get a sense of possible negatives of a product which otherwise gets "glowing" reviews. And also perhaps trust the "Real Name" reviews a <b>little</b> bit more than ones posted with just a screen name, but I'm finding even the Real Name reviews are often shills.<br /><br />I wonder if there are already fake review services popping up on the web. I could even imagine some offshore company offering to post fake Amazon reviews on your product. You could pay $5 for each fake review and $10 for each fake review using a "Real Name".<br /><br />What solutions might Amazon bring to this?<br /><br />Possibly the number of orders and money spent by a customer should factor into the "weight" of their reviews.<br /><br />I did see an amusing attempt by one frustrated review reader -- he created an Amazon "tag" called "fake reviews from company shills" -- HAHAHAHA. However, it has only been used on a few products so far.<br /><br />Maybe to publish this approach more widely, someone could crate a Firefox plugin called "Amazon Cleaner" which simply created a browser button to tag the current review as a shill? (Of course, this could be used by a company to mark all positive reviews of competitor products as shills. Damn.)<br /><br />Other ideas?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-4623233567882201557?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-15553207212939118862008-09-29T10:35:00.002-04:002008-09-29T10:44:24.646-04:00<b>I've been getting lots of spam from different companies using cvent.com email services</b>. So I just called cvent at 866-318-4358 and asked for their Chief Privacy Officer (CPO). The woman on the phone was very elusive, and asked if she could remove my email from their list. When I said no, I wanted to speak with their CPO, she instead gave me the email address privacy@cvent.com. I asked if their CPO had a name. She covered the phone receiver and I could hear her whispering to someone next to her. Then she said "Dwayne Sye". I asked if he had a phone number, and she said she could only give me his email address. Hmm.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-1555320721293911886?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-21529712085009581022008-09-03T21:48:00.002-04:002008-09-03T22:00:41.504-04:00Two initial thoughts about <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome/">Chrome</a>:<br /><br />1) Google has more infrastructure than <a href="http://www.akamai.com">Akamai</a>. Imagine what Chrome browsing will be like when Google gives Chrome-only access to a cache of the web which is stored within a couple hops from your desk. Neither a Firefox p2p cache nor Microsoft would have any chance of competing with that speed.<br /><br />2) It is interesting to see the amount of <a href="http://www.reddit.com/search?q=chrome&x=0&y=0">energy</a> and venom people put into finding and reporting problems with new products from Google (and other successful companies). Why are people surprised to find bugs in beta software? And do you think that Google (for example) is not quick on making bug fixes? The alternative is "old school" tech companies who spend so much time "perfecting" new products that customers don't even get to give input on them. No thanks for those days.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-2152971208500958102?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-90401320140169914452008-08-26T21:48:00.001-04:002008-08-26T21:48:19.654-04:00McCain<!-- Converted from text/plain format --> <P><FONT SIZE=2>I'm going to create bumper stickers which say "McCain/Bush for President". </FONT> </P> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-9040132014016991445?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-58465346693963961692008-08-04T14:03:00.002-04:002008-08-04T14:09:12.944-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/bostondeath-715048.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/bostondeath-714962.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><b>Someone should put boston.com out of its misery.</b> How is it possible that the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com">New York Times</a> has not yet laid off every employee at boston.com, and replaced it with a clean and functional website -- like nytimes.com -- without all the annoying popups and animated ads.<br /><br />At a minimum, boston.com should just use Google AdSense for relevant text ads, and then just publish Boston Globe stories. The site then might become usable. (And boston.com could probably do a staff reduction since they would not need a team to manage the annoying online ads.)<br /><br />Just now I had to go to boston.com for the first time in months -- to lookup a death notice. Boston.com can't even get this right -- see the layout of the screen here.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-5846534669396396169?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-34220370170405935982008-08-02T00:44:00.003-04:002008-08-02T00:51:34.372-04:00I used to be a HUGE fan of Obama. I had never before been so interested in national politics. I love his message of inclusion etc.<br /><br />But once he had beaten Clinton, Obama started to pander to the "mass market". <br /><br />First, when he reversed his position on telco immunity. And now he is reversing his opinion on offshore drilling.<br /><br />Maybe this is "what is required" to win in a nation of idiots who watch Fox TV.<br /><br />But I've become disillusioned.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-3422037017040593598?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-60583653785345072942008-07-31T04:42:00.002-04:002008-07-31T04:45:42.821-04:00<b>I wonder why gmail Contacts feature is so slow</b>.<br /><br />It used to be fast. But then some gmail programmer did a "fancy version" with ajaxy stuff (oh so 2008) and yet, as is the case with most software, this "fancy stuff" actually deteriorated the software performance (and thus usability).<br /><br />Given how obsessed Google is with performance monitoring, it makes me wonder what about the gmail team lets that bad programmer get away with such a crappy rewrite?<br /><br />I would not be surprised if there were something dysfunctional about the gmail engineering team which allowed that programmer to get away with this. Perhaps the Contacts coder has a Big Title (/arrogance) and is left alone by a weak manager.<br /><br />Wdyt?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-6058365378534507294?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-18978090652442431312008-07-30T14:23:00.002-04:002008-07-30T14:26:21.235-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/iomega-737320.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/iomega-737304.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><b>iomega sucks</b>. I bought an iomega nas drive. The CD did not work on Mac. Fine. So I haul out a Windows PC. Then the install does not install the "discovery tool" to find the device on my LAN. Each time I launch the install tool, it tells me my iomega software is out of date, even though I click to install it each time. Of course the install *requires* that you register with them. And, check out this crazy font they are using for their legal agreement -- unreal!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-1897809065244243131?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-52807665298045225112008-07-27T08:16:00.004-04:002008-07-27T08:38:20.962-04:00There's another <a href="http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/26/mommas-dont-let-your-babies-become-kids-who-use-cell-phones/">scary article about cancer and cell phones</a>.<br /><br />Staying in denial for a moment about <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=cell+phone+drunk+driving">cell phones vs. drunk driving</a>, I'm going to immediately start using my wired (not silly bluetooth) mobile earphones when DWT, and, I'm going to move my charger from bedside to the other side of the room.<br /><br />Here is the full list of recommendations from <a href="http://www.upci.upmc.edu/news/upci_news/2008/072308_celladvisory.html">Dr. Ronald Heberman's advisory</a>:<br /><br /> 1. Do not allow children to use a cell phone, except for emergencies. The developing organs of a fetus or child are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields.<br /><br /> 2. While communicating using your cell phone, try to keep the cell phone away from the body as much as possible. The amplitude of the electromagnetic field is one fourth the strength at a distance of two inches and fifty times lower at three feet. Whenever possible, use the speaker-phone mode or a wireless Bluetooth headset, which has less than 1/100th of the electromagnetic emission of a normal cell phone. Use of a hands-free ear piece attachment may also reduce exposures.<br /><br /> 3. Avoid using your cell phone in places, like a bus, where you can passively expose others to your phone's electromagnetic fields.<br /><br /> 4. Avoid carrying your cell phone on your body at all times. Do not keep it near your body at night such as under the pillow or on a bedside table, particularly if pregnant. You can also put it on "flight" or "off-line" mode, which stops electromagnetic emissions.<br /><br /> 5. If you must carry your cell phone on you, make sure that the keypad is positioned toward your body and the back is positioned toward the outside so that the transmitted electromagnetic fields move away from your rather than through you.<br /><br /> 6. Only use your cell phone to establish contact or for conversations lasting a few minutes, as the biological effects are directly related to the duration of exposure. For longer conversations, use a land line with a corded phone, not a cordless phone, which uses electromagnetic emitting technology similar to that of cell phones.<br /><br /> 7. Switch sides regularly while communicating on your cell phone to spread out your exposure. Before putting your cell phone to the ear, wait until your correspondent has picked up. This limits the power of the electromagnetic field emitted near your ear and the duration of your exposure.<br /><br /> 8. Avoid using your cell phone when the signal is weak or when moving at high speed, such as in a car or train, as this automatically increases power to a maximum as the phone repeatedly attempts to connect to a new relay antenna.<br /><br /> 9. When possible, communicate via text messaging rather than making a call, limiting the duration of exposure and the proximity to the body.<br /><br /> 10. Choose a device with the lowest SAR possible (SAR = Specific Absorption Rate, which is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field absorbed by the body). SAR ratings of contemporary phones by different manufacturers are available by searching for <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=sar+ratings+cell+phones">sar ratings cell phones</a> on the internet.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-5280766529804522511?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-28557138604243580582008-07-25T23:24:00.002-04:002008-07-25T23:38:43.011-04:00<b>iHate iPhone, v2</b><br /><br />Well, the iPhone v2 lasted three days before I returned it, for these reasons:<br /><br /><li>No cell connection in my house or on my way to work, even though I always had great connection with my AT&T blackberry. (I'm told that the 3G iPhone coverage is not that great in many areas.)<br /><br /><li>The battery lasts less than a day. (I'm told that 3G consumes batteries.)<br /><br /><li>I could not tell which part of the phone was the top vs bottom each time I picked it up.<br /><br /><li>The keyboard sucks. It really, really does. (Most Apple lovers will first say they learned to type almost as fast on the iPhone as their prior qwerty phone, until you challenge them to a typing contest, at which point they say "well, you really shouldn't type that much on a phone anyway, because we enlightened Apple lovers learn to smell the roses (when we're not playing games on our iPhones)".<br /><br /><li>The iPhone kept crashing. Really.<br /><br /><li>Many common operations were significantly slower on iPhone than on Blackberry. For example, when I want to lookup a contact on the Blackberry, I pickup my Blackberry, roll-click Contacts and start typing the first letter(s) of the contacts name. On the iPhone, I pick it up, press the home button, wait for it to light up, then I see it put me back to the last application I was using, which is usually not the one I use now. So then I hit the Home button again. Then I go down to Contacts. But then I notice that the iPhone doesn't have a search function, instead, it thinks you need only use its clever drag-scroll (sometimes with initial right column click to letter index), which works fine when you have a couple hundred contacts, but not when you are a business user with a couple thousand contacts.<br /><br />I could go on, and on, but you get the point. The iPhone is a toy. It is not for someone who treats mobile productivity (phone, email, contacts, calendar) seriously.<br /><br />Maybe I will try again with the iPhone v3 in a year. But for now, I have only one question -- <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI">will it blend</a>?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-2855713860424358058?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-10670700776399399652008-07-23T14:38:00.002-04:002008-07-23T14:48:50.704-04:00<b>I just got the new iPhone</b>.<br /><br />I had previously purchased the v1 iPhone when it came out, but I returned it after a week. Not due to its shitty keyboard, but due to:<br /><br />1) the lack of asynchronous email. (Fixed in v2.)<br /><br />2) the lack of Exchange integration. (Fixed in v2.)<br /><br />3) the lack of "autotext" macros. I have hundreds of these on my Blackberry.<br /><br />4) to "delete" an email took more than 10 milliseconds. I get several hundred emails a day; the Blackberry simply requires "click delete key" to have a message _instantly_ disappear and then show the next message. The stupid animation on the iPhone was incredibly annoying.<br /><br />But the reasons I'm now trying the new iPhone are:<br /><br />1) it has a browser which works. (Damn you Blackberry for going this long without a real browser.)<br /><br />2) it has a nice third party developer platform, and a simple way to find and buy new applications. (The first app I downloaded was iBeer.)<br /><br />3) it is 3G<br /><br />4) my Blackberry broke yesterday :)<br /><br />Also, I think the new iPhone might save my life. Given that it's email will still suck compared to the Blackberry, I probably won't Drive While Texting anymore.<br /><br />Now I have to go find a yoga class to teach me how to slow down my life so I don't need to email from my phone anymore. (I currently plan not to email from my iPhone that much, given how crappy the keyboard is vs the Blackberry.) Or, maybe all the iPhone applications will be enough to amuse me when I have some minutes to spare and would otherwise be doing email.<br /><br />We'll see. Stay tuna.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-1067070077639939965?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-72171989709239938322008-07-20T10:16:00.002-04:002008-07-20T10:25:45.531-04:00How is it possible that gmail does not accurately diagnose whether emails claiming to be from paypal are authentic or not?<br /><br />I just got a legitimate email from Paypal and it was put into my gmail spam folder.<br /><br />Any email claiming to be from paypal but which is not really from paypal (easily identifiable by google based on a registered email server mechanism) should be deleted, not even put into my spam folder.<br /><br />If gmail can't authenticate emails from paypal, god help them in trying to determine if other emails are legit or not.<br /><br />There is so much spam these days that the number of false positives is increasing, and the spam folders are getting so large that it is not possible for me to review my spam folder anymore. Unfortunately, this means that we can no longer rely on legitimate email as being sent. So if I do not reply to your email to me, try calling me on the phone. :)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-7217198970923993832?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-90840905211167077862008-07-11T07:16:00.005-04:002008-07-18T20:39:56.177-04:00<a href="http://codesnap.com"><img src="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/codesnap-logo-701291.gif" border="0" alt="codesnap"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://codesnap.com/">codesnap</a> is a new website to allow code buyers to quickly find coders to build small projects. A posting costs you just $5, and then completion of typical project will be $100 or so. Your posting will be seen by hundreds of coders, who will then complete your job usually within a few days. Buyers, this is also a good recruiting tool -- to meet coders and to quickly evaluate them via your small project.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-9084090521116707786?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-45239490401113715092008-07-08T07:00:00.002-04:002008-07-08T07:06:06.295-04:00When will there be a service to have someone post tons of fake reviews and high ratings of your item on amazon?<br /><br />I'm looking to buy a futon. Of course I looked on amazon, even though that sounds like a weird place to buy furniture. But amazon seems to sell *everything* these days.<br /><br />I was surprised that amazon had <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_hg?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=%22futon+mattress%22&x=0&y=0">512 futon mattress search results</a>.<br /><br />I was even more surprised that one of these 512 futon mattresses had <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B0006Z3URE/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?_encoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1">24 reviews</a>.<br /><br />Most of the reviews seemed to be bland, as if one person in India had to type them all in.<br /><br />What do you think?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-4523949040111371509?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-12872689656844747532008-06-09T07:29:00.002-04:002008-06-09T07:29:47.435-04:00<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-zoPgv_nYg">McCain and Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-1287268965684474753?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-49029595668608889322008-06-05T04:24:00.002-04:002008-06-05T04:28:24.278-04:00<a href=http://paulenglish.com/travel/zambia/>I've posted Nicole's photos from the Zambia trip</a> that we did together last week, when I went to present at a <a href="http://www.cidrz.org">CIDRZ</a> electronic medical records meeting. We visited some CIDRZ projects in Lusaka, and then went to Victoria Falls (unreal) and also to a safari from Mfuwe Lodge in Luanga National Park. This was one of the best trips I have ever taken...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-4902959566860888932?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-71009654241178795492008-05-20T17:27:00.000-04:002008-05-20T17:28:49.197-04:00<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/19/smallbusiness/customer_service.fsb/index.htm?postversion=2008052009">Kayak describes its use of QuickBase for customer service</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-7100965424117879549?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-55664522180623648332008-05-10T07:25:00.003-04:002008-05-10T07:27:07.525-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/androidsnap-743880.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/androidsnap-743878.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The new Google "Android" platform allows third party developers to build apps on the new Google Phone. Android includes of course the ability for great location-based services and mapping.<br /><br />Check out these <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/09/sneak-peak-at-android-apps-out-of-mit/">cool Android applications from MIT</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-5566452218062364833?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-78275675794950825412008-05-09T06:08:00.005-04:002008-05-09T06:22:54.495-04:00<a href="/ubuntu/"><img src="http://paulenglish.com/uploaded_images/ubuntulogo-792411.png" border="0" alt="ubuntu"></a>
<br />
<br />I have become a major fan of the Ubuntu Linux-based operating system. I have now converted each of my desktop and laptop computers from Windows to Ubuntu. The major benefits are Stability, Safety (not virus-ridden like Windows), Simplicity, and Speed.
<br />
<br />Ubuntu can transform a slow buggy Windows computer into a sleek and high performance Linux computer. There are many other benefits as well in terms of usability.
<br />
<br />I will keep a set of <a href="/ubuntu/">Ubuntu installation notes</a> of my suggestions and experiences.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-7827567579495082541?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787231.post-29581468210779649622008-05-04T13:14:00.002-04:002008-05-04T13:17:39.677-04:00<a href="http://www.roesler-ac.de/wolfram/hello.htm">Hello, world</a> written in hundreds of different programming languages. See also <a href="http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/">99-bottles-of-beer</a> which implements the infamous song in over 1,000 languages! :)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5787231-2958146821077964962?l=paulenglish.com%2Fblog.html'/></div>Paul Englishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685395137940290758noreply@blogger.com