So much to say (take six divided by two)

In my life, the last 22.3 hours:

• a screaming baby duet
  
  
• faux yogacized safety instructions
  
  
• dozens of signs telling me not to stand
  
  
• yet another brush with fame (soon, I'll have top-level contacts at EVERY major broadway play! Okay, three. But it's a start!)
  
  
• a massively huge sauna -- free!
  
  
• dirty rotten scoundrels (from a distance)
  
  
• the cheapest expensive hotel in the world? Or is it the most expensive cheap hotel? Hmm.
  
  
• A hot british fitness instructor who had never heard of blogging... and hates computers (or "Why is life sometimes so damn unfair?")
  
  
• The most costly cheerios in the world?

Hmm... I need to stop this teasing, don't I, or at least deliver? This certainly isn't the first time that I've mentioned wacky mini-bits from my life without getting around to actually going into details. And indeed, the list of AdamHappenings and Musings I need to eventually journalize is getting to be quite lengthy. Ah, but the more time I spend blogging, the less time I have to get myself into and out of Life's glorious and capricious randomness. No easy solutions.



For now, though, I have to catch some z's so I can be awake to haul 230 pounds a dozen blocks or so in order for me to eventually get to another famous (infamous?) Camp For Swingers(tm). From there, you can bet computering will be the last thing on my mind ;-) Bye for now!

P.S. -- Hey, TabletPC-heads, don't worry... I still have much more to say about those things. In a week. Or three. Ack.

A brief update on my tablet PC experiences; a bit happier now

Another day, a happier Adam.



First of all, via the prompting of a thoughtful work friend yesterday afternon, I realized that I hadn't installed a critical update on OneNote (SP1)... and installing that made a world of difference. No more wonky behavior of menus not coming up or the system getting stuck in select-mode, etc. Chris Pratley, one of the OneNote developers, also was kind enough to include a very thoughtful comment on my earlier blog entry, confirming that SP1 fixes a ton of stuff with OneNote and tablets (specifically for my brand of tablet, Toshiba).

Either related to that update, or just my "training," I'm finding that the tablet's recognition of my handwriting is now excellent. Its recognition of my printing is only fair, but perhaps that'll improve with time, too.



Some questions about writing things:



- I wonder if it'll be confusing to the poor bugger if I switch back and forth between handwriting and printing.



- I'm also unsure how to optimize my printing so as to get the greatest recognition results.



- How can I consistently get small fonts? This seems easier with printing than with handwriting, but I'm not sure.



Some other discoveries / thoughts:



Writing the number "1" has so far been nearly impossible. Argh!



For some reason, one of the Tablet Input Panels I have is to "recognize" words I type into the English UK dictionary. Huh? Why the UK dictionary? Was my tablet set up in the wrong language? How do I even check this? And what does that TIP option do anyway? Is it the same as "Add to dictionary"?



I played "Spider Solitaire" which was both fun and (embarrassingly) hard even at the easiest level. One thing that made me annoyed and even a little uncomfortable, though, was the requirement that one literally drag stuff every move. Why couldn't I simply tap on the origin and destination? That'd not only be a lot more efficient, but it'd also freak me out less about scratching my screen. Yes, I have a screen protector (looks crappy, but I haven't yet bought a new / nicer one), but still...



I know others have mentioned this angrily in many other places, but I'll chime in: Toshiba, it's a travesty how much crapware you've installed on this machine, both in terms of actual software and shortcuts. Three AOL links, two AT&T things, + Zinio, Franklin Covey, and other stuff, too. Sheesh! Throw in some more paper leaflets like credit card companies do, if you must, but please stop the practice of crapifying my tablet (unless you want to reduce the cost by $500 per tablet, in which case, sure, go ahead, make my day).



On a happier note, this thing is kinda fun to use in bed. I read my blog feeds, checked out a few Web sites, played solitaire... wheee!



And this tablet rarely has the fan go on and is also not very hot to the touch. That's refreshing, especially compared to other laptops I've used!



Oh, and I'm proud that so far, I've used this as a slate most of the time. The only time it has gotten to be a huge pain is when filling out registration forms. Oh yeah, and entering in the WEP key (twice!) to access my home wireless network. I cried uncle on that and used the keyboard.



Frankly, I'm still not yet really sold on my purchase. I could have surfed bloglines in bed using a laptop, for instance. But the true test will be, I think, how this goes in a meeting... especially an upcoming meeting in which I'm taking notes about some Web site design and flow issues. Perhaps I'll then use the keyboard, but keep the pen handy so I can make drawing notes on top of text (arrows, highlighting, etc.).



I'll keep y'all posted here. And thanks, everyone, for the thoughtful comments on my previous tablet entry!

First day with a tablet PC

I just bought a used tablet PC (TPC) via eBay, and I'm not quite sure why. Guess it's just the insatiably curious geek in me. I could have likely gotten a free laptop to use via work, but no, I had to try a tablet :-P.



It's a Toshiba M205, and here are a few of my initial thoughts after playing with it for an hour or two.

This pen feels cheap, like a thicker version of the pens I used to use on those $1 write-on-peel-off "tablet" thingies my folks'd buy me from Sav-On when I was little.



This screen is ugly with the protective cover thingy. Little bubbles, wrinkles, oh well. Doesn't really hurt readability though.



And speaking of readability, I was really worried that my old tired eyes wouldn't be able to make out fonts on a 12 inch screen at ~1400x1000, but it's not bad at all. Text looks decently sharp.



Okay, now for the pen try-it demo thing. This damn thing doesn't want to doubleclick! Ack. What's the trick to this?!



The Tablet Input Panel (TIP) just doesn't seem very intuitive at all. It disappears if I float my pen a little too far away from the screen, which is way too easy to do. And there appear to be clickable shortcuts to www and .com, but they disappear as soon as I pen a letter?!



Hmm... this thing (sort of) recognizes both printing and cursive. Kinda cool.



Damn, not much battery life on this thing! 2-3 hours, tops? I guess I knew that, but gee, that's a bummer. Good thing I got a spare battery.



Okay, let's play with OneNote. I already know this app from playing with it on my desktop. What the heck?! A measly 30 day trial? I thought this tablet came with a free license. That's cheap.



Anyway, let's see how it is with a pen. Grrrr... not very good! First time, it seemed to get 'stuck' on a particular selection point. No matter what I did, it'd select text before and after a particular point. Had to close and restart the program. Other frustrations:



- Bulleting with a pen is impossible. I've tried dashes. Little dots. Nothing gets interpreted as unordered lists. How dumb IS this thing?!



- Why does it keep automatically switching back to pen? I want to stay in select mode!



- I like how it suggests auto-correct-type words. Surprisingly good most of the time.



- Why does it insist on creating separate blocks when I'm trying to just create a couple of paragraphs with a line space in between as one block?



Grrr... so far, not off to a great start. And the paper docs are useless, too. Ridiculously general (don't use the TPC in the bathtub kinda stuff). Maybe the manual-on-CD will give me a better jumpstart into the world of TPC'ing? I know I really should have thought about this before plunking down more than a grand, but why the heck did I buy a TPC anyway? I'm not an artist, nor do I want to be one. And maybe it's just a steep learning curve, but so far it seems that I could take notes on a paper portfolio, then type them up manually on my desktop faster than I could clean up a handwritten OneNote page via my TPC.



Or maybe I'm just too impatient.



Hmm... okay, tomorrow I think I'll try Evernote. It seems like a nifty program on my desktop and it has a very enthusiastic following with good support. And I guess I should install Office on this thing, along with the special Office Tablet extensions thingy.



Ack, and then so much general-PC stuff to set up... Firefox+extensions, trillian, logmein, desktop search, some sort of synchronizing program and/or backup program, yahoo music engine, MyLifeOrganized, and lots more.



Forgive me for being rather cranky tonight, but sometimes I can't help but wonder whether owning a laptop will end up creating more work and headaches for me in the long run. Yeah, I'm a geek, but all this system prepping, learning, and maintenance stuff is just seeming daunting at the moment.



* * *



UPDATE:

Some of the problems I complained about in this entry have been solved, largely by installing the OneNote SP1 update. See this more recent post for details.

A review of Google Talk: Not yet revolutionary or compelling

As hyped in breathless news articles over the last few days, Google came out with their own IM (instant messaging) client this evening, Google Talk.







VERDICT: Clean, uncluttered, intuitive, and rather unexciting in its current version.

To be frank, I was (somewhat unfairly) disappointed with GTalk. Granted, it's just v1 of a public beta, so I shouldn't be so greedy, but... unlike with Gmail, I didn't see anything that made me go WOW!



Great voice quality? Sure, but Skype has already got that (and also already has a humungous userbase).



Ad-free (at least for now)? Yes, but so is Trillian, the IM app I already use and love. Incidentally, the Pro version of Trillian (a very worthwhile buy, IMHO), along with other clients, can connect to the Google network. This is because Google is smartly and unselfishly running their chat service on the open source Jabber platform.



And indeed, I'm having trouble seeing how Gtalk will gain traction for the time being. AIM, Yahoo, and MSN users really have little incentive to switch, especially since GTalk doesn't (at least yet) interoperate with the big 3. Trillian users... I can't see any reason why they'd switch, either. Skype folks? As noted above, I simply can't forsee any defections.



* * *



Let me sprinkle in a few positive notes, though:



You can run an 'embedded' form of GTalk within the Google Desktop sidebar. Exit GD, wait a few moments, then restart it. Click the little down-arrow at the top right, select ADD/REMOVE PANELS, and check off Google Talk.



Google Talk replaces the current Gmail Notifier, and that's handy.



GTalk scans your existing GMail address book, and lets you easily find and invite others to GTalk.



Oh, and there's a puzzling little easter egg in the About dialog box. Click on the ABOUT link in GTalk (or the sidebar component), and you'll notice this in light text towards the bottom:



play 23 21 13 16 21 19 . 7 1 13 5



Anyone wanna guess what the significance of that is? 23, undoubtedly, stands for the 23rd of August -- the release day, but the rest...? Maybe it's something that, if you can solve it, you get a Google job offer? Get cracking! :D



* * *



Anyway, I'm guessing (and hoping) that Googlers have a trick or two up their sleeve with regards to this new product.



What are your thoughts on this?

Google Desktop review -- check out the cool new beta version!

Introduction

What is Google Desktop ("GD")?

Google Desktop (formerly known as Google Desktop Search or "GDS") is free program from Google that enables you to search for data on your computer much like you use Google to search the Web. You can look for and open e-mails, photos, music files, PDFs, and lots of other good stuff. No ads are shown. Below you can see a screenshot of me searching for "drink."

How to get GD



Go to http://desktop.google.com/ and follow the very simple instructions. Note that you have a choice of the latest version (2.0 beta -- a version still in testing, described in the rest of this post, or 1.0 final).

A brief background on my love / not-so-love relationship with GD

I had just about given up on GD. Initially impressed and pleased with the product, I was losing love for GD as I became more seduced by the find-as-you-type capability from competitors such as X1 and MSN Desktop Search. Sometime straying, I would somewhat grudgingly come back to GD, appreciative of the handy contextual Web snippets but wishing there was a product that combined the richness of this with find-as-you-type speediness.

Just in time... Google Desktop Search v2 (GD2) is that charming fleet-footed if still a bit gawky new friend.

For those too lazy or impatient to read through my entire review, I'll summarize with this...

Google Desktop offers a delightful mix of usefulness and fun. For those who have humungous amounts of data and need to finely drill down by multiple fields, X1 and Copernic may remain more favorable options. But for the vast majority of geeks and non-geeks alike, GD's speed, light footprint, and currently-entertaining-if-not-yet-essential non-search extras will likely be enough to earn a place on their desktop.

Key improvements

GD2 is a significant step above GDS. Here's a sampling of what's new and improved:

• Find-as-you-type (search results quickly pop up as you type each letter, narrowing the search with each additional letter)


• Search Gmail and network drives.


• Search Outlook items like tasks, notes, appointments. Search directly from the Outlook interface, too.


• A nifty sidebar (discussed in detail below) with an open API!


• Items moved (even from an IMAP to non-IMAP folder) are now handled more effectively by GD.

Installation and pre-installation

Installation of GD is easy and pretty painless. On my reasonably beefy P4, the download took a few seconds and the entire install process took under 3 minutes. This, of course, doesn't include indexing time, which (though I didn't time it) seemed only a few hours for my drive with 100+ megs of stuff AND my Gmail account.

Google's GD privacy policy, thankfully written in English rather than legalese, is similarly straightforward. Highlights:

• The contents of your computer aren't shared with Google or other folks without your explicit permission.


• A limited amount of non-personal info is sent to Google to help in troubleshooting, software development, and content personalization. You can opt out of this if you want.


• You have control over what GD indexes.


• You can uninstall GD if you like (duh!).

Google walks you through some basic configuration options and then, voila, you're done. Well, almost done. You have to go read a book, ride a bike, or do something away from your computer (ack!) for a while if you want Google to actually index your stuff. And hey, make sure your (supported) e-mail program is open in the meantime, or GD won't be able to index your mail.

The nifty GD Sidebar

The sidebar consists of the following components, any of which may be either not shown or minimized. Items in green are ones I personally find particularly cool.

• Email
  
  This only supports Gmail for now. It shows a bit of each recent email's title, AUTHOR, and time of receipt ([x] minutes ago).


• News
  
  This shows a number (your choice) of headlines from Google News... article title, source, and time of posting ([x] minutes ago). This is very frequently updated and you can actually see new items gradually push down older items in a nice gradual sliding effect (which I suppose some could find distracting).


• Web Clips
  
  This presents "feeds" to you either from sites you've frequently visited and/or from sites you specify. For instance, after I visited Wired.com, this sidebar component started including headlines from Wired. When I visited a friend's blog, it started including headlines from her blog. You get the idea.


• Scratch Pad
  
  Pretty much like what it sounds like. Write plain-text notes here and they'll stay here :-).


• Photos
  
  GD crawls through your photo collection (which you can bound by specific limits) and displays a mini-slideshow here... a new photo fades in every 15 seconds by default. Clicking on the photo takes you to a list of recently shown photos. Clicking on one of those photos brings up the full-sized version. In addition to grabbing photos from your hard drive, this panel item also optionally shows photos from sites you visit.


• What's Hot
  
  I'm not exactly sure how this works, but it seems like some sort of Zeitgeist / Blogpulse type of thing highlighting the Web pages that have recently been popular. I find the stuff on www.spurl.net to be more comprehensive and entertaining.


• Quick View
  
  This
  panel item lists items or pages you've recently accessed or viewed. Sounds great in theory, but I've found it pretty useless in practice, since it tends to show files that my computer accesses frequently (preference files, etc.), or files that I regularly -- but indirectly -- access on the 'net.


• Stocks
  
  Add stocks or stock indices, see the numbers. Pretty basic.
  


• Weather
  
  Add a city, see the highs, lows, and so on. Pulls from the same weather data you see if you type weather [zipcode] into Google... that is to say, not terribly accurate data, IMHO.

Information from each sidebar can also be viewed in a larger panel; for instance, you can click on the << mark on the title bar of News, and you'll get a larger (attached) window showing news items. Click on one of those news items and you'll see a snippet. Click on the title in the snippet, and you'll be brought to the original Web page. Whew! Sounds complicated, but it's all rather intuitive.

You can also easily drag-and-drop resize, and minimize sidebar components.

Most importantly, I see this sidebar as just a glimpse of stuff to come. I have no doubt that people will create and share their own useful or fun sidebar items via GD plugins pretty quickly, especially given that the sidebar -- as GD on the whole -- has an API that independent developers can write for.

Configurability and options

GD is reasonably configurable. You can set, among other things...

• What types of data you want indexed (email, chats, Web history, etc.)


• Your Gmail signin info (so GD can search your Gmail)


• Additional hard drives and network drives to search


• Web sites and hard drive directories to exclude from searching


• Encrypt or not-encrypt for the GD database (default is unencrypted... better speed!)


• How you want the search box displayed (as part of the sidebar, as described above, or as a small box in your taskbar or a small floating box you can place anywhere on your desktop)

Pictured below are the main options box (via the systray icon) and the sidebar preferences box respectively:

Strengths, weaknesses, and AdamWishes

GD has some stark strengths and weaknesses when compared to some rather admirable competitors.

STRENGTHS

• Small footprint.
  
  Unlike other desktop search programs I've tried, GD never slows down my system... either in indexing or when conducting a search.
  
  


• Plugin architecture:
  
  Like the MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search (whew! just MSNDS henceforth!), GD provides a framework where developers can create neat plugins that extend the functionality of and even improve the interface of the software.
  
  


• Ability to search desktop and Webmail (well, at least Gmail) simultaneously:
  
  For those who maintain mail accounts both locally (e.g., on Outlook) and on Gmail, GD is the only offering that can search both simultaneously.
  
  


• Enjoyable extras:
  
  Do we really need a mini photo slideshow along with tickers for news, weather, and other stuff? Not really. But, if even a mere guilty pleasure, it's a treat having them all optionally stacked together in a well-behaved docked sidebar with GD. And the scratch pad is more useful than I initially suspected it would be. So, too, does the frequently-updating news component provide a greater amount of engaging information than I initially expected. Oh, and one particularly fun use I've found for the Hyper find-as-you-type feature: entering in the name of a song on the spur-of-the-moment, hitting [enter] and then (as it's quickly loaded into my music player), hearing the song played. Much faster than loading up music software (winamp, wmp, whatever) and searching for the song there.
  
  


• Fast and comprehensive indexing:
  
  I've found GD to be among the fastest of the bunch to include files and e-mails, and -- particularly with various plugins -- it boasts a pretty comprehensive list of supported filetypes (though if memory serves me right, X1 may still take the prize in the comprehensiveness if not the speed area).
  
  


• Web history
  
  This is a biggie for me! I haven't seen any other desktop search program that lets me not only pull up Web pages I've visited (via a full-text search!), but even keeps cached copies. Super-useful in research (what was that page I saw last week or the week before about new advances in speech recognition?...)

WEAKNESSES

• Search results narrowing by field:
  
  Here is where competitors like X1 and Copernic shine. Type a few letters of a mail recipient and then refine it with a few letters from the subject line. Boom! Or drill down by one of at least a dozen other useful fields as an extension of a general search. This, perhaps more than anything else, is the feature I still miss in GD.
  
  


• Full-pane previews:
  
  While I appreciate GD's snippets in the Web browser view, I sometimes yearn for the full-pane preview I grew accustomed to with competing products.
  
  


• Limited hits in find-as-you-type:
  
  While GD's inclusion of "hyper" (the technology (?) that lets you display up to ten hits as you enter letter by letter of a search query) is quite valuable, it's frustrating that it's limited to a mere ten hits. Contrast this with the competitors seemingly almost-limitless view of as-you-type results.
  
  


• Lack of synchronization of panel extras:
  
  When you type a useful note in your scratchpad at home, you may find yourself surprised and miffed that it doesn't show up on your GD panel on your work computer. Indeed, as far as I can tell, there's no sharing of configurations or scratchpad data at all. You'll need to set up your preferred stocks, weather, and other data bits on each installation, and that's rather annoying. So, too, I'd assume, are "remove this" requests not synchronized from one installation to another, resulting in you dismissing those annoying whatsit Webclips on multiple computers. Since GD provides the option to log in to one's Gmail account, it's a pity that they didn't (yet) go one step further and have initial and ongoing personalization efforts attached to one's account and affect all of one's GD installations.

ADAMWISHES

• More keyboardability!
  
  Once in the Hyper search box, I'd like to be able to to select numbers 0-9 to quickly select a search option, or letters A-whatever to select another option (search more, etc.). Heck, while we're at it, why can't I access items within a panel component (e.g., News) with a keyboard shortcut, too? :-) Incidentally, I've suggested the former UI idea to the Gmail team as well; on the pull-down options, why should I have to use my mouse? Why can't they let me type the first letter of an option, e.g., R) Mark as read, S) Add Star and so on? But I digress.
  
  


• Filetype and field shortcut listing, please
  
  I know I can specify from: and to: and I think there's type, but what other magic things can I modify use to narrow my searches with? Ah, okay, I just noticed some details here, but surely there must be more? Or there should be, I'd hope, for us powergeeks :-).
  
  


• More Outlook friendliness
  
  When I type Fred Smith in Hyper, one of the ten item listings should be his contact entry if one exists. And I'm still trying to figure out how I can look up a contact specifically (contact: [name] doesn't work). Also, while I like having a search option with Outlook, it's currently rather hobbled since the field listings aren't flexible; noting a set of e-mails are from me doesn't do much good if I can't scan quickly who they're to.

* * *

Okay, enough of my blathering. Now it's your turn!

- Have you tried GD? If so, what did you think? If not, are you going to try it?

- What other desktop search programs have you tried? If you've also used GD, how do you think it compares?

- What would you most like to see added to or improved in GD?

- Got any GD questions?

Oh, and here are some other cool sites talking about this latest GD version:

- Review by Nathan at InsideGoogle

- Search Engine Journal review

EDITS:

• 8/22: Changed references to Google Desktop Search to the correct name of Google Desktop ("GD")

Intuition confirmed: Homophobia, SUV purchases linked to wee willies

In research that shouldn't be a great surprise to anyone, a recent Cornell University study has shown that men who felt more insecure about their masculinity were "more likely to support the war in Iraq, more likely to oppose gay marriage and denounce gays, and more likely to express a desire to buy an SUV." [Source: The Week magazine, August 26, 2005, page 21; see related articles]

Clearly, the converse must be true, too: we men who are gay-friendly, against the war, and unlikely to buy SUVs must have really big... uh... IQs :-)



Interestingly, no theories were offered as to why so many women buy SUVs, but I'm guessing it's the typically "I feel big and safe!" crap playing a role in those purchases.



With that said, sincere apologies to my friend E and others reading this who actually have purchased SUVs due to the car's functional qualifications (e.g., people who are actually avid campers and other folks who genuinely use the carrying capacity of SUVs).



And, though it should go without saying, I hope everyone realizes that Anti-War does not (or, at least IMNSHO, SHOULD not) ever imply animosity towards the brave military men and women who serve and have served our country. They're not the ones who got us into this mess in Iraq; the blame for that squarely rests on selfish, deluded old white men who never served and whose kids will never serve.



No apologies to anyone who is anti-gay or opposed to gay marriage, however. While we're all entitled to our opinions, I don't have to respect yours in this context :-).

Why (some) law firms and lawyers annoy me

Disclaimer: I have a law degree, but -- for a variety of reasons -- decided not to practice law even before I attended law school. Long story :D



---



So yesterday I received an e-mail with the following boilerplate as the sig:

This E-mail message is private and confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. All emails sent by me remain my property. You must obtain written permission to forward in part or whole any message, data contained within, MX and other header information. Doing so without my written permission constitutes an agreement between me, you and the party you forwarded the information to pay me a sum of no less than $5000. This is a legally enforceable contract between me, you, and the party to whom you forwarded the information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying, reproduction, modification, or publication of this communication is illegal and prohibited by law. Please delete the message from your computer and destroy any copies. This message is not intended to be relied upon by any person without subsequent written confirmation of its contents. The sender therefore disclaims all responsibility and accepts no liability of any kind that may arise from any person acting, or refraining from acting, upon the contents of the message without having had subsequent written confirmation. If you have received this message in error, please contact me at the following number:

[REALLY large font]Moron, Idiot & Associates Inc.[/font]


Url: www.moron-idiot.com


Office: 555-555-5555


E-fax: 555-555-5555


E-Mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)


Moron Idiot & Associates Inc.

Bad enough as it is, but -- here's the clincher: it was sent to a discussion group that I moderate! I politely told the person that:

1) The mere size of his sig was discourteous to list members.

2) Beyond that, it was the biggest bunch of bovine excrement (not to mention unenforceable nonsense) I had ever seen in a sig, and that was saying a lot.



He wrote back angrily with the following:

1) Was I trying to dictate what sigs were and were not allowed in this group? How dare I!

2) In today's society, not enough people respect intellectual property, dammit, and he was doing his part to change that!

3) Okay, so maybe it didn't form an enforceable contract [you don't say!], but it was the principle of the matter, and hopefully it'd serve as a deterrent from evil people forwarding his e-mails to others.

4) His LAWYER FRIEND specifically wrote it up for him, and she knew what she was doing!

5) Had I passed the Bar, or was I illegally practicing law by commenting on his sig?



* * *



Is there a more potently annoying combination than a stupid lawyer and her gullible friend? Or, if I may wax conspiratorially, perhaps she secretly loathed the fella and decided to have a little fun with him?



And seriously, people, why *DO* so many law firms (and other companies) add such drivel to their e-mails? I especially love it when friends at these loser organizations send me a one-line reply like, "Sure, 7pm for drinks sounds great!" followed by 37 lines of balderdash. Can't they at least selectively turn the dodo-sig on and off?



Do any of these companies actually think:

1) These "contracts" are enforceable (without consideration much less consent)?!

2) That evildoers will think twice about forwarding juicy e-mailed tidbits just because of a stupid toothless sig?

3) That there aren't dozens or hundreds of people who think their firms are complete twits for crufting up folks' e-boxes with such assinine bloviations?



When will these ridiculous sigs die a well-deserved death? And what can you and I do to hasten the matter?



* * *



And while we're on the topic of other lawyer-related-annoyances...



Why do people still use "Attorney at Law" in promotional literature, yellowpages ads, etc.? Yes, yes, I vaguely recall the historical significance of such a label, but really, do we have Attorneys at Plumbing or Attorneys at Yodeling nowadays? Wouldn't "Attorney" or "Lawyer" suffice?



Also, why do law firms (and, admittedly many other professional firms) insist on using their partners' names as the company name, e.g., "The Law Offices of Fredericks, Hollywood, and Vine"? What else should they call their law firm? Hell, I don't know, and I don't care, but the current convention just smacks of oft-difficult-to-spell pomposity to me. One might protest that, well, how might one distinguish the many law firms in a given city from one another, and I'd say, hell, there are 1,179 Chinese Restaurants within 20 blocks of my apartment, and they seem to manage. Accenture isn't someone's last name, and they don't seem to be doing appreciably worse than the Delighted Tushes and Poop Wiserhouses of the world. And wouldn't the world (or at least the courtroom) be a bit more charming if folks were represented by attorneys from the "Happy Law and Doughnuts" firm, or "Lucky Rabbit Foot" law firm or "Fire Dragon Boat" law firm?



Don't get me wrong. I like lawyers overall. I eat and dance with many of them and one day I'm sure at least one will save my sorry ass (unless, of course, he or she has read this blog entry, in which case they/'ll likely just throw me to the wolves). But the institution of law itself is, IMNSHO, in ripe need of reform, and not just the sort of chocolate tort reform our congresscritters (themselves, the worst sort of lawyers) are busy shoving in each others' faces.



* * *



Oh, if the nitwit who posted the above sig file is reading this? Please feel free to sue me. I could use the extra publicity for my blog :-)

The answer to life is no longer 42

I now understand that the meaning of life is goverened not by evolution, nor by the number 42, but rather by the Flying Spaghetti Monster.



Also, I've come to realize that steadfastly believing in the THEORY of gravity is very foolhardy. I overlooked Intelligent Falling!

On life's little surprises

So I'm listening to Internet radio and, without noticing the current title playing, marveling at a rich and engaging orchestral piece I don't recognize.



Holy smokes... it's from the first Pokemon movie?! Studio execs hired a decent full orchestra AND reasonably talented composer/arranger for THAT???



Just goes to show you that, even in the most seemingly inconsequential of places, there are little and surprising joys to be found.