The Stand-up Philosopher

The Most Read Blog Post I’ve Ever Written

I am, by definition, an amateur blogger. Nobody pays for for this. I’ve written close to 850 blog posts. I can’t tell you how many hundreds I haven’t written, or started writing and never finished. Those 850 or so blog posts were written over more than 6 years. I’ve written in spurts. Last year, when I found myself out of a job, I was posting four to six times per day in an effort to drive traffic and launch some kind of freelance writing career. Then I stopped posting. Sometimes I have a lot to say, and sometimes I have nothing to say. I’ve authored at least 7 blogs. All of them are still up. Four of them are duplicates of each other as I struggle to decide which one will be my main blog.

By far, the most read post I’ve ever written lies here: Sundance Vacations- Is There Really Value in Buying 30 Vacations Wholesale? That’s from my Blogger Blog, which is the one that pulls in the most views. I wrote that post in April of 2007, almost four years ago. And I still stand by it.

I’ve gotten a lot of comments on this post over the years. I lost most of them. I was using a service called HaloScan for my Blogger blog for a few years, but it went down and I was unable to recover my comments. Not all were positive. I’ve gotten quite a few comments with ad-hominem attacks and other dishonest debate tactics. I’ve gotten email about this post.

If you’ve been contacted by Sundance Vacations, I welcome you to read about my experience, and the tips I’ve provided to evaluate their offer. Or any other high-pressure sales offer.

Test For Coming Back To TypePad

When I cancelled my TypePad Pro membership this past summer, I figured my days here were over. I really liked TypePad, but didn’t have the means at the time to renew my membership.

But, my blog was converted to TypePad Micro, which apparently isn’t as limited as I thought.

I’ve been going nuts trying to figure out which blog to stick with. I could link many posts from my archives about the blog services I’ve tried. Wordpress is elegant, but I can’t embed Amazon Affiliate links. Blogger requires me to use a CAPCHA for each and every post, and I can’t turn it off. MSN Spaces sucks. I can’t even get the page to load tonight. Supposedly, they’ve converted to Wordpress.

I like to write, whether anybody reads or not. I need to not have to worry about leaving a blog platform and moving my posts. For some reason, if I write something, even if it’s bad, I have to keep it. It’s a record of where my mind was at in a certain point in time.

I’m going to try to embed an Amazon link. I was in a rush. This is for a book Amazon recommended based off another book I bought. If this goes through the posting, I’ll just switch back to TypePad.

Never mind.

How To Import Netscape Communicator 4 Messages Into Outlook

This is sort of a silly post. I was reading a book on John Newton, which was heavily based off his letters and journal entries. While nobody will ever care about my personal correspondence, I got an urge to look at some of the emails I was sending and receiving in my early days on the Internet.

I’ve carried an archive of my old Netscape messages for years. I wondered if I had a way to read them.

It turns out, there is. And that way is Outlook Express.

Because Outlook Express was the only way I could find to do this, I don’t have screenshots. I hope my disorganized ramblings can be of use to somebody else. Otherwise, I’m sure this post will get exactly as much traffic as the other 850 or so on my blog.

The problem I have is that my 2 main computers run Windows 7. Obviously, Outlook Express was discontinued when Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail were released. Neither will import from Netscape Communicator (part of the Netscape Navigator suite). Thunderbird, which I believe is a descendant of Netscape, will not import Netscape Communicator either.

I still have my Acer AspireOne netbook, piece of junk that it is. The keyboard stopped working a long time ago, and since my in-laws bought me a 15” HP laptop, the Acer has been one “I’m too lazy to take it” step from the trash pile.So I still had it. I copied the Netscape Communicator emails to my portable hard drive, and went to work.

Actually, I also have them on a synced folder with Windows Live Mesh, but in typical Microsoft fashion, when I went to install Mesh on my netbook, I got “this is not an installable file” or some typical bullcrap that I get from about 75% of the .exe files I try to download and install from Microsoft’s servers. Yes, I tried it twice, then rebooted and tried 2 more times. The problem was the file.

This process was simple, yet frustrating. I haven’t done anything with the netbook since the keyboard stopped working, so Windows XP had buttloads of updates to install, and since Microsoft hasn’t created a coherent updates scheme, I had to work around several batches of update files.

I fired up Outlook Express, which had never been used. I stopped using OE after I graduated from the University of Phoenix in 2007.

Side note, my Blogger blog is somehow considered an authority on University of Phoenix matters. Even though I don’t use it anymore and all of the posts from there are here, somehow UOP students searching for ways to make Thunderbird work with UOP newsgroups keep landing on my blog.

Once Outlook Express was started, I selected File-> Import. Netscape Communicator was among the file formats. I selected that, directed it to the directory on my portable hard drive, and let it rip.

I won’t bore you with details of trying to get the messages OUT of Outlook Express. The easiest way to do it was to configure OE to use my gmail account through IMAP. Then I created a new folder (label in gmail) and copied all of the messages to it. Later, I’ll sort through them in gmail or in Outlook on my laptop.

Assuming anybody actually reads this, or cares, or is even curious why I want to read an email archive from 1997-2001, lets just say morbid curiosity. My mom passed away in 2006, and I realized that I might have had some email during that time period from her since it was before I got married, so I was lonely and had a lot more time to email my mom. During the brief digging I did, I found the first emails my wife and I sent to each other when we first met. I found some good jokes from back in the days when I collected them. I forgot, but during one period around 1999, I subscribed to an email that sent me jokes every day. Such a service is not needed anymore, but one entire email could have provided enough fodder for Fail Blog for a week. I’m sure I’ll also find a treasure trove of bad jokes and chain emails.

This also brought back some memories. I can remember when Netscape was the best browser around, even though it stalled constantly. Still, it didn’t suck as bad as Internet Exploder. I almost feel bad for Microsoft in the “Browser Wars”. They’ve made some giant stride forward in IE, but it still seems like every IE update, they’re 2 years behind. IE is considered to be the best way to download Firefox (or Chrome, my current favorite browser), but at one point, every time I had to reformat and reinstall Windows 95, the ONLY thing I used IE for was to download Netscape.

I’m surprised I haven’t deleted more email. Prior to the roll-out of gmail, which started with the motto “Never delete another email”, or something similar, most of us had storage limitations and had to delete email. I’ve been on gmail since early 2005, and have about 60,000 emails on it, and I’m at 36% of capacity. And I’m a lightweight by many standards.

This exercise is over, and my netbook is back in the “should I throw it away” pile. If you have old Netscape Communicator email archives you want to access, better do it before Windows XP (and Outlook Express) are gone forever.

When Thinking Ruins TV

Sometimes I wonder if I think too much. In many cases, my enjoyment of entertainment is ruined by my thinking.

Star Trek

For instance, last week, I finally got to see the new Star Trek movie. After the final Star Trek: TNG movie, Nemesis, I wasn’t planning to see another Star Trek movie. I figured the franchise should remain in my past where I enjoyed it more. But, I’d heard good things about the new movie, which sort of departed from the present by visiting the past. I saw it, and loved it.

However, as a former Navy man, and as an engineer, my thinking in some ways ruined the experience for me. OK, what would a sci-fi action movie be without some epic fight scene in some vast space with small platforms suspended in mid-air? But still, during the final fight scene between young James T. Kirk and that Romulan miner-turned vengeance guy, I spent the whole scene wondering “what freaking idiot would design a ship with that much space, populated by tiny platforms? It’s not like you’d design a mining ship just so Kirk could fight a bad guy at the end of a movie.

I also had some minor issues with the whole “3 year cadet becomes Captain of a starship after 1 mission, no matter how successful”. The military can certainly violate its own rules, but career paths are there for a reason. In the Navy, line officers must do so much time in each department. I had several division officers who transferred from or to engineering after a brief stint in my division. It’s only the specialized officers (chaplains, supply, medical, dental, etc) who only do one thing for their entire careers. If you want to be a captain of a Naval ship, you have to do time in engineering, deck, operations, combat systems, etc. Sometimes, you go back. The first captain I served on the U.S.S. Oldendorf under was promoted to O-6 and left to be the Chief Engineer on an aircraft carrier. From CO to department head.

Stargate Universe:

I enjoy SGU. But, especially in the 2nd season, I agonize over one annoying detail: only 1 member of the crew has managed to find the pilot house. I know, the show centers around Air Force personnel. It may not naturally occur to them that ships have a central point from which they’re operated or navigated. But still, had I been a member of the crew, the first thing I would have done is locate the pilot house (bridge). Also, I would have looked for something like a CIC. But they spend the entire 1st season using some “control interface room”, then in the 2nd season, Dr. Rush “accidentally” stumbles across the pilot house and decides not to tell anybody he found it. And since the concept never occurs to the other members of the cast, he is able to keep it hidden for a while.

I would have found it long before that. But again, I only grew up in the Air Force. I didn’t serve in it.

Why I ’ m (Rationalizing) Enduring AT & T

I’ve been complaining a lot lately about AT&T. I’m sorry. I tend to talk to my wife in the evenings while I’m sitting on my laptop and it’s easy to open Twitter and complain while I’m trying to reconnect the call. I guess I should stop. I’ve always had a problem when I get frustrated and have easy access to Twitter. You have no idea how hard it was not to rant on Twitter while I was working as a Realtor. I had other people’s businesses at stake, so I forced myself to keep my digital mouth shut.

I have no love for AT&T. I’ve endured them for a long time. I’ve been with “The New AT&T” since 2005, but before that I kept bouncing between Cingular and AT&T Wireless for 5 years prior to that as I’d leave one for the other only to be bought back by the one I left.

I used to be a Windows Mobile user. Microsoft rebuilt the platform from scratch and calls it Windows Phone now. I still see the same problems that have plagued it all along, except that none of the Windows Mobile applications I’ve bought over the years will work with Windows Phone, and most of the developers of applications I like to use have no plans to develop for it. You can’t even get Kindle for it, and Amazon has written a Kindle app for just about every other platform with more than 20 users.

People helpfully recommend that I switch to Verizon. I’m sure it’s a much better carrier, especially considering Consumer Reports rates AT&T as the worst U.S. Cell Phone carrier. My experience validates that. It’s nice to have some objective data to back experience. And it’s not like I live in the sticks. The majority of our time is spent in the Washington D.C. and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, where all cell providers should have a full and reliable network established.

So why don’t I just switch to Verizon and get a Droid of some kind? No doubt, there are some nice android devices. A coworker of mine just got an Incredible. They sure are nice.

I heard somewhere that we never make an objective decision. We mostly make decisions based on emotion THEN look for objective reasons to justify those decisions. Yes, my wife and I bought a timeshare once.

These are the rationalizations I’ve chosen for continuing to endure AT&T, even though it sucks and I can’t talk to my wife for 10 minutes without the call dropping 5 times:

1: I really do like the iPhone- Yes, I’m a true believer. I like the iPhone. I just got my iPhone 4 a few weeks ago, and I’m really happy with it. It’s far from perfect, but it does what I need it to do. I’ve long since integrated iTunes into my workflow for music, podcasts, and audiobooks. That’s probably what I use the iPhone for the most. In the dark days of Windows Mobile, I had to manually transfer podcasts to the device each and every day, and delete those that I listened to. It just happens on the iPhone. It’s beautiful. It works for me.

Also, I already had to rebuy some of the apps I used on Windows Mobile for the iPhone. I don’t want to have to buy them again for a droid device, and again if I switch droid devices.

2: I’m afraid a droid device will end up with some of the same problems I had on Windows Mobile- I agree, droids are wonderful, but hear me out. I know Apple is a “closed” platform. Steve jobs calls it integrated. Rather than “open”, he refers to Android as a fragmented system.

This is one of the biggest problems I had with Windows Mobile (beside the fact that it sucked). I would go out and buy a new Windows Mobile phone. Then Microsoft released a new version of the OS. Microsoft made the OS, then released it to the hardware manufacturers. The hardware manufacturers would then integrate it into their devices. They’d often add extra software. They also wrote the drivers. But they often had many different models of phones, and I’m not convinced they tested them well enough. They’d release a buggy phone to the market and not support it. Even if support was provided, it took months to come out, leaving the paying customer with a buggy product. Then, when Microsoft releases a new version of the OS, it’s up to the manufacturer to provide an update for the device. Most manufacturers had the attitude of “You want a new OS, buy a new phone”. Even if the last one was under 6 months old. I went through that when I bought an HP 68xx not too long before Windows Mobile 6 came out. HP had no plans to provide an upgrade for the device.

I’m afraid of that happening with Android, because I’ve lived through it on Windows Mobile. Then, with all the different versions of the OS floating around on different devices, it becomes a nightmare for developers to support. They often discontinue support for older devices, leaving you unable to use some good apps.

Don’t' forget, Verizon was originally offered the iPhone. They turned it down, because they wouldn’t bend to Apple’s demands. As much as I don’t like AT&T, I’m happy not to have an iPhone full of stupid icons and apps like “AT&T Music”, “AT&T Navigator”, and all that other pointless junk that never gets used. Can you imagine how much crap Verizon would install on the iPhone? Don’t forget, Verizon neuters Bluetooth and other capabilities on phones that run on their network. Even though AT&T objectively sucks in the service they deliver, at least they were willing to bend on those issues.

If I could only delete “Stocks” and “Game Zone” from my iPhone. But thanks to iOS 4, I have them grouped in a folder “Undeletable BS”.

So that’s why I’m making the choice to endure AT&T’s crappy network and lack of service until I can get the iPhone on a real network.

Ramit Sethi- Useless Black Friday Advice

OK, Black Friday was yesterday. I didn’t have a chance to write a blog post until now.

Ramit Sethi is one of my favorite bloggers. He’s the blogger behind I Will Teach You To Be Rich. He wrote a post yesterday about how the typical financial pundit the media digs up for segments will whine and complain about typical Black Friday behavior.

Black Friday: the biggest consumer spending day of the year. And also the day with the most annoying advice in the world.

Seriously, guys, you would not believe how many press releases I’ve gotten about how what a terrible, scary, foreboding day this is going to be for our country. And every “expert” is eager to take advantage of it.

“Americans are spending too much!” these so-called “experts” will cry. “They just need to _____ (keep a budget/stop spending/resist evil marketers).”

They’ve been repeating advice like this for decades, but has anything changed?

No. We spend more and save less than almost ever before.

When your entire philosophy rests on urging Americans to NOT do something they want to do, chances are very good that you’ll fail. It’s like trying to push back a tsunami.

I’ve been reading Ramit’s blog for years now. He puts an interesting perspective on personal finance. Rather than telling you to be frugal in all your ways, he suggests spending what you want in those areas that you value, and cut costs mercilessly in other areas. A friend of his greatly values eating out, and spends about $21,000 a year doing it. But he lives in a smaller apartment and drives a smaller car, as those things don’t mean as much to him.

I don’t quite understand Black Friday. I used to go Black Friday shopping with my wife, but eventually I got fed up with it. I’m not convinced the bargains were that good, and getting up at 0300 to save a few dollars on something that would end up on sale for the same price a few weeks later didn’t make sense to me. I started staying home with the kids.

This year, she did the midnight madness thing. She was out all night shopping. No thank you. It made me feel refreshed to get up at 5 for work.

The Continental Congress of 1776 With Twitter

Matt Silverman at Mashable came up with an amusing comic exploring what it would have been like if the founding fathers were using social media.

I thought it was funny.

Dexter

When I first heard about the show “Dexter”, I wrote it off. It was an interesting concept, but I had preconceived notions.

For one thing, it’s on Showtime. My impression of most Showtime and HBO “original” series is that they follow this pattern of development:

1) How much soft-porn can we cram into 60 minutes?

2) How many cuss words can we work into the dialogue around the 60 minutes of soft porn?

3) OK, now that we have our soft porn and cussing quota, what kind of story can we write around it?

The first 2 episode of True Blood were enough to validate my opinion.

So when I first heard about this show about a serial killer who was raised by a cop father to only kill bad guys, I wrote it off.

Then I ended up watching it. I was visiting some friends, who had a disk from Season 4 from Netflix. They asked if I wanted to watch. I didn’t want to be rude. I was hooked quickly. The disk ended with the episode “Hello, Dexter Morgan”, where John Lithgow’s character found Dexter in the police station. I’m still feeling anxiety from the cliff-hanger. I need closure on the story.

I’ve since gone out of my way to watch as much Dexter as I can. I actually enjoy it, and I’m intrigued by the concept. It’s sort of how, as “gay” and emo as Twilight is, I was intrigued by the concept of a “vegetarian vampire”, or a monster that consciously decided not to be evil. I don’t mean gay as in homo, but as in “stupid” or “cheesy”. Basically, consider that I’m using the word in the same context that it is used on South Park, like when Stan says “Dude, this is totally gay”. On the subject of Twilight, I know it’s written for tween girls, but seriously, not a single male shows a sign of testorerone. They all lack hair in any place other than their heads. And, as I’m fond of teasing my wife, who likes Twilight, a vampire lacks a beating heart, which means no blood pressure, which means he is physiologically incapable of achieving an erection.

OK, I’m rambling. I like Dexter. I’m a fan now.

I had a similar idea. I came up with an idea for a story about a sociopath who believed and decided to obey the Gospel. But I’m not a fiction writer, so the idea is languishing in the “Writing Ideas” tag in my Evernote account. I had that idea long before I’d heard of Dexter.

My Comment On A Blog Post About Windows Phone 7

A colleague at work pointed out a blog post about Windows Phone 7. The writer of the post bought a new phone with Windows Phone 7 installed on it. He took it back within 4 hours and had to pay a restocking fee.

I would have simply left a comment on the blog post itself, but it’s hosted on InfoWorld, and I would have to register for an account. In a day and age when a 10 year old could easily code a site to allow me to log in with an existing account (like FaceBook, Twitter, or Wordpress), InfoWorld, a site that apparently markets itself to IT professionals, requires me to create yet another account on their site. I’m tired of having to keep track of logins and passwords. I can’t tell you have many sites and blogs and forums I’ve had to create an account on just to leave a comment or view information and NEVER GO BACK AGAIN. I’m tired of it.

So I’ll just use my existing blog to share my thoughts. You can find the original post here. My colleague and I both saw the post as totally unprofessional. Ooh, a supposed professional IT journalist sees an advertisement about how cool Windows Phone 7 is, runs out, buys one, and finds it totally unworkable in real life. How the heck is that news?

I’ve paid my dues with Windows Mobile, which is now called Windows Phone. Yeah, renaming it is sure to change things. I know, they supposed rebuilt the code from scratch. That, of course, means none of the programs I’ve bought for Windows Mobile over the years will work on the new platform. I have to buy them all over again IF THE DEVELOPER EVEN DECIDES TO PURSUE THE PLATFORM. Of course, the programs I’m used to on the iPhone aren’t likely to port over quickly or easily. Most developers of programs I use are waiting to see if the darn thing actually sells before spending time developing for it. Talk about a catch-22.

I’ve had 8 devices with Windows Mobile on them, from Pocket PC’s to touchscreen phones to Smart Phones. I’ve used every version of Windows Mobile from 2002 to 6.1. Each had the same problems. In some cases, new problems were introduced. Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 had a deliberate smtp bug BUILT INTO THE CODE which caused you to have to delete and recreate your email account after sending 2 or 3 email messages.

I finally jumped ship to the iPhone after the Samsung Epix. It was my last straw. For the most part, I like the iPhone. It’s not perfect, but it does what I want it to do well enough. I still have the iPhone 3G, which is slow and functionally obsolete even though it’s still under warranty. Yeah, I know. You have to accept that with Apple products. I’m looking forward to getting an iPhone 4 soon. I’ll probably get one just in time for the iPhone 5 to come out.

I thought the blog post was childish and whiny, even though it was correct. The commercials made Windows Phone 7 sound really cool. But in real life, it doesn’t work. The commercials say something about “take the office with you”, but you can’t. It won’t work with an encrypted Exchange server (a Microsoft product, come on, Microsoft, really?) and Pocket Office doesn’t work any better than it did on Windows Mobile 2005 when it was first rolled out. Pocket Word and Pocket Excel existed previously, but required files to be in a special mobile format. It stripped formatting out of any documents synced to the device, like resumes.

Windows Phone 7 won’t support static IP addresses for those paranoid freaks (like the blogger on InfoWorld) who can’t use DHCP because hackers are targeting THEIR HOME NETWORK for special hacking. The iPhone will!

I already have long since decided that I won’t be getting a Windows Phone 7 phone. This InfoWorld blog post was mostly a waste of my time to read (and comment on), but it validated my decision.

Veterans and Active Duty, Here Are Some Veteran ’ s Day Freebies

With Veteran’s Day coming up in 2 days, several businesses are offering freebies for veterans and active duty service members. You can find one catalogue of them here.

I have a question I’ve always wanted to ask other veterans. Do you ever feel uncomfortable when people who have not served in the military seem to make a big deal out of “Thank you for serving our country!”?

Granted, I would not want to live through the 70’s when being military was a bad thing in some parts of the culture. But I did what I did because it was about the only option I seemed to have. I didn’t have many altruistic motives. OK, I had a few. But not many. I was 17, wasn’t ready for college, and had few options besides fast food. My dad retired after 21 years in the Air Force. I grew up in the military, most of my friends were military brats, and I didn’t really know any different. So I went in the Navy.

I served 6 years, went to some interesting places, learned electronics, a work ethic, and how to endure without sleep or comforts and how to get along with some really weird people. I got my GI Bill, VA Loan, and have had a decent career from the experience I gained.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not above a free meal at Chilli’s. I appreciate it. But sometimes I wonder if I really deserve to have a big deal made of my service. John T. Reed says we live in a nation of draft dodgers. Most are trying to make up for their guilt. I think from my observations, he has a point.

If you know of any Veteran’s Day freebies, feel free to post them here in my comments.