Ryan Jacobs

July 11,2008: BlackJack Independence Day

Provided I will be able to get the new iPhone, July 11th,2008 will become the day I will be free from my BlackJack. It has been a marginal device over the years, but never really could take advantage of the 3G network in a meaningful way. Lately, more often than not, the applications don’t even know the network is present without a reboot which takes longer than booting my MacBook. I will most likely be getting my iPhone on or around that day. The keynote sold me — the changes in this version are so significant that they would have justified the original price tag. Chopping the price in half seals the deal.

My Browser Plugin Diet

FireFox plugins are great. Indeed, with decently rendered pages in IE7 and access to Safari on both Windows and Mac, the plugins are probably the biggest single reason I still use FireFox as my default browser. Virtually identical browsing experience on OS X or Windows is another plus.

But lately, the plugins are slowing me down. They are bloated, buggy and beginning to annoy me. I appreciate software updates, but some of them seem to update virtually everyday. Annoying. 

Besides that, I am finding the plugins to be a bit of a crutch. When using other computers without my favorite plugins, I feel emasculated without them. I realize now that I may have been a junkie.

Alas, I am giving them up. Like all diets, there should be exceptions. For me, that is Firebug. I really need that one.  Here is what I am giving up:

• Gmail Notifier:Probably a time waster and there are other utilities to serve this purpose which are not tied to a browser.
• TwitterFox: This is great, when it works. Probably a time waster and there are myriad alternatives.
• DOM Inspector: Firebug pretty much makes this redundant.
• Better Gmail: I think I’ll survive.

Oldest Concrete Street in America

I noticed an article in the Dispatch about debate on what to do with an historic landmark in my old hometown of Bellefontaine, Ohio. Apparently it is the old debate on what to do post-restoration: use it as a street, or close it and memorialize it.

I had forgotten that Court Avenue, in downtown Bellefontaine, is the oldest concrete street in America. This and the highest point in Ohio are part of the town’s legacy.

The tone of the article suggests that this issue is of such importance that it is splitting the community apart. My sense is that the larger issue affecting the community is the debate on wind turbines which may or may not be coming to the area.

Hartzler’s Dairy: Too Good For Cereal Duty

I decided to splurge and buy a bottle of Hartzler’s skim milk for making latte’s with. Why Hartzler’s? I remember hearing the producer of the Curt Boster radio show, ‘Young Daniel’ rave about it a few years back. That show is now gone, but the thought has lingered in my mind. Since a majority of the fluid volume of a cafe latte is milk, not espresso, I figured why not tweak the milk variable?

I steamed my first pitcher of it shortly after getting back from the store to make some latte’s for Rebecca and I. The microfoam was far better than any milk I have used before. I snuck a taste sample of the milk prior to combining with espresso. I immediately could tell the difference. Miles apart from the stuff in the plastic jug or even that Horizon Organic crap in the cardboard box. This is hands down the best milk I have tasted — or at least as I remember.

I grew up close to neighbors who had dairy cattle and on occasion I would spend the night at their house. I recall having fresh non-pasteurized, non-homogenized whole milk served at breakfast, which at the time was strange to my senses. I didn’t like it at the time, but I suppose it was actually better than Hartzler’s.

If you want to know why the milk is so good, you can read a bit about it at Hartzler Family Dairy. A key factor for me in addition to the production quality is that it is produced in Wooster, which is relatively close to Columbus.

There is a bit of sticker shock on this product. A half gallon of skim cost ~$4.50. However, $1.50 is a refundable deposit on the glass bottle which you get back upon returning to the store. I don’t drink a lot of milk at all. In fact, I usually only use milk in coffee or espresso based beverages, so to me this isn’t a huge barrier at all.

Highbanks Metro Park

Rebecca and I enjoyed a nice hike Sunday at the Highbanks Metro Park just outside of Columbus. This picture was taken at the overlook deck on the Overlook Trail. With full leaf coverage, the view below was obstructed — we’ll go back in the fall.

Somehow I have managed to never take the time to enjoy this gem of a park. It has numerous shelter houses and play areas and a few hiking trails that were better than I expected.

One word of caution, the trails listed on the map of the website are represented by names, but at the park, they are symbols which aren’t mentioned at the website. I didn’t get them all figured out since we didn’t hike them all, but below is my translation. The left side represents the name and color of the trail as represented on the website, the right side represents the symbols as I have chosen to describe them.

Overlook Trail ( Purple) = Something that looks like a corn cob or a tree?

Scenic River Trail ( Hot Pink) = A fish

Dripping Rock Trail (Yellow) = A woodpecker on a snowboard

Big Meadows Path ( Brown) = A leaf and acorn

On a weather-friendly day, you’ll have far more fun walking around here than at the nearby Polaris Shopping Center.

Highbanks Photo Gallery

Leveque Tower

Rebecca and I rode from Antrim Park to downtown Columbus and back on Saturday. I carried the GPS unit with me and then used GPS Photo Linker to add the GPS data into the EXIF data portion of the photos. I think it worked really well. This is a picture taken of the Leveque Tower just outside of Battelle Park.

View the complete photo gallery or use the map this feature to view the location of these pics.

Full Service Only

Some time ago, I was in the Portland, Oregon area on a business trip with a few colleagues. As part of the usual drill of filling the rental car with gas prior to returning it, we discovered that Oregon is a Full Service Only gas state, meaning you can’t pump your own gas.

But what is the reasoning for this?

Found in Oregon Revised Statutes 480.315

You can read the details, but you’ll find arguments related to safety, jobs, etc. New Jersey also has a similar ban.

Was there some tragic event that caused these laws to be enacted? I recall that scene in Zoolander where the models are playing with the gasoline pumps and wonder if something like that really ever happened to prompt such legislation.

From what I can gather, the bans on self-service were designed to prevent smaller service stations from going out of business. Larger self-service chains with convenience stores were disruptive to the service station market and thus the bans came in to protect businesses. The safety claims seem to be thrown in for good measure. 23 states had such bans as late as 1968. Even today, you’ll find a city or two that bans the practice within its jurisdiction, presumably holding ground after the bans were repealed.

If anyone has more history, please pass along. I am intrigued by this.

Netflix Ready?

Netflix announced the first Netflix Ready device today. You may remember I recently bought an Apple TV and love it, so I am sold on movies/TV over IP.

The Roku box, at 99 bucks, seems a decent entry point for many consumers. But what this does, is basically allow you to do the whole Netflix Now thing on your TV without going through your browser. I have enjoyed my Netflix subscription, and while I like this idea, I am really not sold on the device yet. I am skeptical how it will work without having storage for the average consumer — even just for buffering, not long term storage. If anyone wants to send me a Roku to review, I promise to deliver an honest review.

Many stories I have read today indicate this will kill the Apple TV, but anyone who has used one will immediately see the things missing from the Roku to even be on the same playing field. Those who haven’t used the Apple TV might not be the wiser and below are my initial thoughts. In full disclosure, I am still bitter that Netflix hasn’t allowed Mac users to use the Netflix Now feature.

Missing from Roku’s Netflix Ready device which are on Apple TV :

• Listening to my music collection, seamlessly. I have heard the ‘lessons’ learned of this complexity in earlier Roku products. Complexity is not a problem with iTunes/Apple TV.
• Viewing YouTube Videos on demand
• Purchasing TV shows that have just aired
• Viewing my Photos
• Downloading Video Podcasts on Demand

Missing from Netflix Ready in general:

• HD movies. That’s kind of a big miss.
• Most of the Netflix Collection. Only 10% is available in Watch Now. Go look at your account if you have one. I couldn’t find a single recent movie hit in the top 50 or recently added section. From a content perspective it is about as interesting as Joost or Hulu IMHO.

What I like so far :

• The Roku will work fine on non-HD sets. Technically, my Apple TV did work on my non-HD set, but this offers perhaps broader appeal than Apple TV.
• While the Watch Now catalogue isn’t the hottest content, it is interesting and could fill in what is missing from the iTunes offerings.

What I’d like to see:

• Netflix has hinted the Roku is the first in a series of devices. Netflix Ready would make a wonderful addition to the Apple TV. In fact, such a partnership was the first thing I added to my Apple TV wishlist. That is just a software upgrade — the hardware is all there.
• Continued improvement of these devices in general. I do love my Apple TV, but there is a lot of room for this idea to expand much further.

Physics of the Impossible

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel

Michio Kaku presents concepts familiar to both casual and hard-core sci-fi fans alike and discusses the possibility of them happening. Each concept fits into what he calls a Class I, Class II or Class III impossibility.

Class I = Impossible today, but do not violate laws of physics. These could become possible within a few centuries.

Class II= Impossible today and maybe not possible for thousands to millions of years.

Class III= These could only be possible by re-writing current laws of physics.

I don’t recall ever enjoying a book like this so much. His narrative includes explanations of how historical events shaped science and vice-versa.

I really appreciate how he never really closes the door on the possibility of anything, perhaps recognizing how so much has changed scientifically within the last century. Rather, he explains what it would mean for any of these things to be realized. As an example, on the discussion of perpetual motion machines one might ask if they are possible. He classifies these as Class III impossibilities meaning for them to be realized would mean a large change to current understanding of physics.

In short, the book sounds a bit geeky and probably is. Yet I think there is enough balance here to entertain the geek and non-geek alike.

Freshly Scooped On

I saw an odd thing in Starbucks. While waiting in line, I noticed a nice display promoting the Pike Place blend. The little paper bags had seals on them with a hand-written date. I was curious if perhaps they had fixed their freshness problem and were promoting the roast date. No such luck. Closer inspection revealed the verbiage ‘Freshly Scooped On: 5/14′. At least 5/14 happened to be that day, but it is odd to think that they are paying people to scoop stale beans into individual bags at the store to give an illusion of freshness.

Allow me to invoke the great Charlie Brown, ‘Good Grief’. This idea would not have done well in the INeedCoffee Roundtable of Starbucks Ideas.

Interesting side note: the phrase ‘freshly scooped on’ via google returns a link to a cat litter product as the highest link at the moment. That’s certain to change now