Welcome to the Claar's!

The global warming hacking incident reminds me of the part in the "Wizard of Oz" where Toto pulls the curtain back. "Pay no attention to the fraud behind the curtain. The great and powerful science has spoken!" Or maybe the witch's question; "But what kind of science are you? Are you a good science, or a bad science?" Let's investigate.

Real science follows the data. This science says "the data must be wrong", and comes up with "tricks" to "hide the decline".

Real science says "I've reached this conclusion, based on this data, and these methods", and invites anyone and everyone to try and redo the work. This is how cold fusion was discovered to be experimental error. This science destroys the raw data, and colludes to prevent disclosure of either data or methods. Besides CRU's destruction of data, NASA has cooked their numbers three different times, refusing to explain their reasoning or methods any of those times.

Real science is open to all comers, with a peer review process to make sure that good science is done. This science actively works to shut out any opposing views, sabotaging the process to ensure those views won't get a peer review--so they can say "well, that's not peer reviewed", and dismiss it--and takes unseemly joy at the death of another scientist who is seen as "the enemy".

This "science" looks more like a religion than a science. If AGW is real, then they've dealt that cause a severe blow. As Jon Stewart said (paraphrased) "If it important, don't cut corners! Do it right." This science's practitioners have become the new inquisition; they've become anti-science church they love to disparage. It's not a pretty sight.

If AGW is real, the best thing that could happen would be for these scientists to get back to the scientific method, publish their data and methods, and challenge--even dare--the world to prove them wrong. If they are so sure of their conclusions, what do they have to fear? Why are they fighting so hard to keep it all secret?

I've spent some time (probably, waaay too much time) cruising google
images, and I give you...The full armor of God, as visualized by many,
many different people! If you have some time, check out a few! Note, all of the characterizations below are mine. I don't vouch for the contents of any of the sites below!

• Army
  
• Modern soldier
  
• Logo sketch
  
• Manga
  
• Ummm...
  
• Mullet
  
• Shiny
  
• Tshirt
  
• Women's Tshirt
  
• Another shirt
  
• YA Tshirt (YA=Yet another)
  
• Cartoon
  
• Small cartoon
  
• Minimalist line drawing Pretty cool
  
• Dressing table cartoon
  
• Miniature model
  
• Dark
  
• Thomas Kinkade-ish
  
• Evil-looking (How weird is that?)
  
• Iron Man
  
• LOTR-ish (Lord of The Rings Movie)
  
• Bilbo Baggins cartoon
  
• Cutesy cartoon
  
• Cheesy animation
  
• Kid's board game
  
• Teddy bear Another picture
  
• Storm Trooper-ish
  
• Even more storm trooper-ish
  
• Ninja-ish
  
• Anatomy textbook
  
• Coloring book
  
• Clip art Collect the whole set!
  
  
  
  • Sword
    
  • sandals
    
  • belt
    
  • helmet
    
  • breastplate
    
  • shield
    
  • praying always.
    
  
  
• Movie extra
  
• Knight
  
• Buff
  
• Even more buff
  
• Gung ho
  
• Sci Fi
  
• Fine art
  
• Ooh, colorful!
  
• Armadillo
  
• Freeway
  
• Stained glass..kinda.
  
• Egg-looking craft
  
• Robot dog
  
• Poster
  
• Vacant stare
  
• Kids Actually, these are PJs!
  
• Elf Verse text is 2 Cor 4:17-18, though!
  
• Kids that look like elves VBS
  
• Scary dragon
  
• Batman & Robin movie (remember the controversy about their suits)
  
• Paper doll
  
• Fangs
  
• This helmet is too tight
  
• Tatoo
  
• Pilgrim's Progress artwork-ish
  
• Jewelry
  
• More jewelry (Some of the imagery is rather obscure. An umbrella?)
  
• Oh, it's on!
  
• Praying hands
  
• The "oops, I forgot my armor"
  

My wife keeps wondering why I want a tablet computer, maybe something like the very intriguing Touch Book, or maybe the TouchNote. The former is quite unique, reasonably inexpensive, but it is still "beta", and can't run windows, and--having tried to live in the linux world--I know that there are some things that don't work too well in linux land (I still can't get any of my three wifi cards to do wpa in Ubuntu). The latter is a bit pricey for my mental usage model, and there's some talk about the screen resolution causing headaches, but it seems pretty cool otherwise.

So, why this tablet fascination? I like to write things down. I have notebooks--the paper kind. I have one for work. I have one for my home projects. I have one for meetings with people like our financial planner. I'm pretty good at remembering that I wrote something down, and with enough searching, I generally do find it. But it can be a pain, especially if there are a lot of volumes. (The set of lab notebooks I penned at HP was truly impressive. Not as impressive--or as well organized--as Mark R, but still pretty massive. They were hard to shred...)

I know that some folks have "solved" this by putting everything on a computer, and with netbooks becoming cheaper, lighter, and with all-day battery life, this might almost be an option. Before, carrying a 10 pound notebook--with a 2 hour battery life--was just nuts. Most of the day, you'd be carrying a dead brick...actually, I think bricks are lighter, and they are certainly smaller.

I've gone down that path at bit: I'm using the "ink" feature of the Notes application on my phone to take notes when I'm out somewhere. But the screen is really, really small, and that tends to limit what I can put down, although I am pretty fast, and can usually get the gist. But it is hard to read afterwards, although that's mostly due to Notes being stupid, and moving what you wrote around, ruining your nice neat rows and columns.

In my mental model of what this would look like, my tablet would be lightweight, and compact, easy to carry. It would be inexpensive, so I wouldn't have to worry too much about it getting banged up or lost/stolen (although lost/stolen would be a real bummer, so encryption would be a must). My cell phone wouldn't be that cheap to replace, either, so the device doesn't have to be dirt cheap, but the cell is easier to keep close. I'm thinking that my ideal price point would be in the $200-$300 range. The rumored Apple tablet is also rumored to be $700+, which is just too expensive. And it's Apple, so it is likely to be too fascist for my tastes. But I'll bet it will be pretty. And white.

My tablet would be large enough to draw on, and to write longhand--at least 6"x8", although 8"x10" would be better (Even lined notebook paper isn't 8.5x11 any more. If you don't believe me, go to your nearest office store and try to find some). Ideally, it would do handwriting recognition--the PDA stuff does this pretty well, so that's probably not entirely a stretch. For some things, nothing replaces a real keyboard--even my cell phone has a keyboard--so having the ability do type would be nice. My cell phone also proves that even a tiny keyboard with tactile feedback can be fairly efficient, so some compromise might be possible. One interesting possibility would be to have a virtual keyboard on the tablet, with haptic feedback. This still would likely not replace a real keyboard, which is why the Touch Book is so interesting. Need a keyboard? Hook it up. Going out, going light? Just take the tablet.

Anyway, that's what I'm looking for in a tablet. And, as the song says, "I still haven't found/what I'm looking for". But the Touch Book seems to come pretty close. If I could actually "touch" one--mostly to get a feel for how heavy it is, how the keyboard feels (I've tried out some really, really awful netbook keyboards), and they weren't back-ordered, and beta, and...I might take a chance on one.

Someone suggested that we help shuttle folks from the parking area for an upcoming event as a group project. I'm still trying to figure out how this works: There are 12 seats in the van, and 12 people in our group...

"I'm sorry, we're full up! You'll have to wait for the next trip."

"Five times? Well, I'm very sorry! Maybe you'll have better luck next go around."

"Why yes, same folks as the last time: How very observant of you!"

"No, no, no, it's completely different this time: Marcy was driving. I mean, use your eyes...Tankini, swim trunks--not at all the same!"

"Well, it is hard to say. Someone would have to get off to let you on, and then they would feel deserted, and that wouldn't be good for group dynamics, now would it?"

"Well, we're off. See you next time!"

"No? Do you think that's wise, what with your pregnant wife and three kids? It's a couple of miles, you know."

"Well, God bless you!"

"Wow, he was a bit selfish, wasn't he? Who wants to drive next?"

Magazine articles on taxes are like bible commentaries: They can be useful, but you need to check the source, the bible. Turbotax is like the New American Standard bible: Not as simplified as Today's English Version, or as user-friendly as The Message, it is still much simpler to understand than the IRS publications, which are the King James Version of the tax world. Like the KJV, a lot of people think that the IRS pubs are the actual text, but--of course--neither one is.

The thousands of pages of tax laws are the original language. The tax code is law, not gospel, so I guess it would be Hebrew. This actually works quite well, because--just as in Judiasm--the actual law is the written code (the torah) and what the judges have decided (or the rabbis, in the talmud).

But us regular folk have to depend on the translations. And if we make a mistake, we have to hope for grace and mercy!

"Who are you? And what have you done with my father?!
Oh. You are my father. Damn."

Lines Spielberg left out of Star Wars.

Yeah.

That's what it is.

Another annoying thing about Northwest is that, when you go to book your flight, they tell you that all of the seats, except for some middle ones, are booked. So we were going to have to sit behind each other. But the truth is, those seats aren't really booked. Some time before the flight (it might only be a day or two), they offer to sell you those seats for an extra $20-$25! Pretty cheeky, if you ask me. Fortunately, one of the available seats was next to my lovely bride, so I only had to pony up an extra $25.

To add insult to injury, the flight was nowhere near full, so I could have moved to that seat for free: We actually had the entire row on that side to ourselves. On the second half of the flight, the plane was too small for that: all the seats were either window or aisle, and on the way home, I was able to get us seats together (even on the rescheduled flight, which was actually pretty full).

On the, um, "bright" side, they only charge $15 for the first bag, instead of $25 like some other airlines. I wonder how long before they put a credit card reader on the...no, I don't want to give them any ideas!

One really spooky thing was that, while we were on the trip, I got an email claiming that I had purchased tickets on Northwest's web site, and they had charged my credit card. I just needed to open up the attached zip file to see what the tickets were. It looked really legit, and I almost fell for it, since we were on Northwest, but there were actually quite a few reasons why it couldn't be true. But I can see how people fall for these things.

While it probably wouldn't have hurt my PDA to open the file, I just tossed it out. Why take a chance, why encourage the scumbags? A day or so later, I read an article talking about "the new Northwest Airlines trojan", and how they were seeing a lot of it recently. I guess I was on the leading edge of that one...

Our luggage is found...no thanks, really, to NWA. I think my brain is still mssing, though...

Here's how our return trip broke down, and our luggage was...misplaced.

Our plane, which was scheduled to leave at 6:40 AM (meaning we had to get up at 4 AM, which was 1 AM our time) had "mechanical problems". What this meant was that someone was too lazy to do the maintenance, so the Oxygen tank wasn't full. Also, there was no water for coffee or snacks on the snack cart--those weren't mechanical problems, but it reinforces the idea that they just decided to head home early. Makes you wonder what else they slacked off on.

Anyway, being a holiday (MLK), we had to wait an hour to get someone to top off the tank. As we only had 45 minutes to get our next plane, we missed it. No problem, they could put us on a flight nine hours later. As much as I love God's frozen wasteland, spending 9 hours in the Minneapolis/St Paul airport was not my idea of fun. So I got us on a flight into Frisco only a couple hours later, and got some friends to pick us up.

Our luggage, however, didn't follow us; it was on that flight 9 hours later. Once that flight came in, I called Northwest, and they had no information on our luggage, 2.5 hours after it landed. I could only talk to the 800 number person, and they said that they would love to give us the number for our local baggage claim folks, but it wasn't actually available in their system. I tried to find it in google, but no luck. I finally went to bed.

The next morning, their web site said that our luggage had been sent to a delivery company. They gave us a phone number for that company, and--finally--the local baggage number. Or so we thought. The delivery company's phone number was disconnected, and the baggage number was constantly busy. I finally found a number for the delivery company, up in Oakland or somewhere. They said "we sold that part of the business 3 months ago", and gave me another number to try. We called them, and they said that they had no record of our luggage. I called Northwest again, and they finally found me a number for San Jose, but that number just went to a recording. (It was a 441- number, so it might be the one below. I don't remember).

Finally, I decided to go back to the airport and get in their face. There's no Northwest office in the baggage area, but there is a Delta one, and--as they kept telling us the whole time--Delta and Northwest are now one. Even if they aren't really quite. So I went and talked to the Delta guy, and he poked his keyboard a little, and said that there was no record of our luggage. Great. I wasn't going away, though, so he asked me to wait, closed up his little office, and went to "talk to the Northwest folks". About 5 minutes later, he returned with our luggage. So I guess the delivery company was right, they really didn't have our luggage!

Sheesh, if they weren't going to deliver our luggage, why didn't they just say so in the first place?

As I thought about this whole episode, I wondered why they would do this. Didn't it cost them something to do this? Then I realized that all the inconvenience and cost was on our part: The plane we got bumped to was flying anyway, and so putting us on it didn't cost them a dime. Ditto that family heading to Disneyland that got split up on two flights 4 hours apart. It didn't matter to Northwest that this family would have to wait 5 and 9 hours in Minneapolis and then half would have to wait another 4 hours in LA. It didn't matter that there was no water and only a bit of food and drinks on the flight. And if they have a fixed contract with the delivery company, it doesn't even matter if they have to deliver a few bags--if they manage to get around to it. And there's not a whole lot of choices in flight any more, so what do they care?

Northwest baggage claim, San Jose's phone number is listed as (408) 441-5502 in the airport. You might also try (408) 414-4503 or (408) 441-4503, I couldn't see that one as well on the agent's bulletin board.
The new delivery company is City Services, (408) 573-7067

Update:
I received a comment via private email from someone who got a call from City Services insisting that they had her bags, based on some...questionable assumptions. When she told them that they weren't her bags, they essentially said "OK, we're just going to give up, then". She came away with this moral:

SO the moral of story is....
1) Airlines NO LONGER care to find you; they subcontract out to this 'airline delivery service'
2) this sub contractor does NOT care about accuracy or even a good samaritan trying to encourage and provide assistance;

So do NOT have ANY expectations of finding 'lost luggage' .

She went on to say "CARRY ON at all costs". I'm not sure I'd go that far, but then, my luggage hasn't been lost for nine years!