London baggage

I recently flew to London for three days of meetings. Generally speaking, I like to pack light and avoid checking bags when I can. I knew I could easily fit my clothes into a small back pack and would also need my laptop case. I was not sure of baggage regulations for London, so called both US Airways for the flight in and United for the flight home. Both assured me their policy of one carry on and one "personal" item (which includes laptops) applied to my trip.

So off I went. Getting there was no issue, but the way back home was different. In Heathrow, I passed those baggie people - those people at the airport who hand out quart size bags for 3 oz or less liquids. "No thanks," I said proudly , "I brought my own baggie." I am not sure if I offended her because she then looked at my two pieces of luggage and said I couldn't take both through security. Only one bag per person for security. Hmmm. I needed to clarify this.

"Are you saying I need to check my bag?" I politely questioned.
"No," she replied, "you can carry both onto the plane, but you can only carry one bag through security."

Hmmm. Does she know I need to go through security to actually get onto the plane. This is like telling me I am more than welcome to bring an elephant onto the plane, but of course, I am not allowed to bring that elephant through security.

I must have looked dumbfounded, because she suggested I get a plastic bag from the "Glorious British" souvenir shop behind me and put both pieces into it. If I could fit my two luggage items into the one plastic bag, I could go through security. Ok, so, on their own these bags pose a security risk, but put together in a single plastic bag, you have sudden safety. I don't fully understand, but I need to get on the plane.

I go to the Glorious British shop.
I ask if I can have a plastic bag to get through security.
The clerk seems to understand the situation, and replies, "You need to buy something,"
"Can I buy a plastic bag?" I ask.
"No, we don't sell bags. But if you buy something from the shop, I can put it in a bag"
I see a chocolate bar in front of me. It is much much smaller than my luggage.
"If I buy this will you give me a bag big enough to put my luggage in?" I ask while holding up the candy bar.
"I will give you the biggest bag we have"
"Can I see the bag?"
She shows me the bag.
I ask for her opinion, "do you think my luggage will fit in that bag?"
"Sure" she replies, although I am not sure if she was really so sure.

I buy the chocolate. She gives me the bag. I somehow stuff my backpack and laptop case into the bag although it is really not large enough. It does rip in various spots, but my luggage is mostly in. I carry it through to the security checkpoint. But of course, now I need to take out my laptop for inspection. I do that and jam the bags back into the plastic bag, tearing it just a little more. The inspector eyes the bag, I assume to make sure the individual bags do not escape from the plastic and cause havoc in the airport.

I get to the gate. Oh-uh. Another security check. And this looks serious. They actually pat you down, swab you shoes for explosive residue, and go through your bags. Luckily I kept the half torn plastic bag. If they finger me as a security risk I can quickly pull out the plastic bag and jam my luggage into it, assuaging all fears. And thank god I didn't bring that elephant.

They don't seem to mind my bags. I get through and onto the plane.

And at least I have some chocolate.

I'll miss film canisters

I remember when I was a child my parents had a few old tin Sucrets containers they used to store some other items (for some reason I can't remember what the items were - some other medicine I think).

For years I've used plastic 35mm film canisters for other purposes. When I lived in an apartment and did my laundry at a coin-operated machine, I found the containers perfect for holding quarters. I occasionally travel overnight for work and I keep vitamins in a film canister and some aspirin in another.

With the rise of digital photography, including my own conversion, I'll have a lack of canisters. Obviously better for the environment, but I'll still miss them.

Just a simple Google search returns a host of sites about re-using the canisters, including several links to sites on how to build a rocket from them.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=film+canisters&btnG=Google+Search
http://www.make-stuff.com/recycling/film_cannisters.html

Thank you for mispelling

In the last two days, I misspelled two sites I visit frequently, Amtrak and Typepad (don't ask why I just don't have them bookmarked...). But no worries, because there are sites at the URLs I typed:

http://www.tyepad.com/
(notice I skipped the first "p")

http://www.amtral.com/
(I mistakenly hit the "l," right next to the desired "k" on my keyboard)

I didn't bother linking to these. Feel free to visit if you'd like. I think I saw some train related links on the Amtral site.

I didn't dig deep into these site, but I assume someone is making money off of them somewhere or else no one would do it. Although I somewhat admire the ingenuity of the plan, I just don't think I could live with myself if my living was based on the misspellings of others.

Update 2/26: This Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer had an article on the business of tasting domain names. It discusses how the 5 day grace period in domain name registration added to the ease and automation has created an industry of firms that gobble up thousands of domain name variants, create sites with search ads, test which ones work best, and dump those that don't:

During the grace period, the entrepreneur puts up a Web page featuring keyword search ads and receives a commission on each ad clicked. Services like Google Inc.'s AdSense for Domains and Yahoo Inc.'s Domain Match help large domain name owners set them up, even as the search companies officially oppose abuses in tasting.

Addresses likely to generate more than the $6 annual cost of the domain name are kept - not a high threshold given how lucrative search advertising is these days.

...

The department store chain the Neiman Marcus Group Inc. even filed a federal lawsuit last year accusing the registration company Dotster Inc. of tasting hundreds of names meant to lure Internet users who mistype Web addresses. At one point, the lawsuit said, the misspelled NeimuMarcus.com featured ads for Target Corp., Nordstrom Inc. and other rivals.

Rabbit ears and HDTV

I posted recently about my use of rabbit ears (the tv antenna), but did not mention that during my search for an antenna, I saw some models touting the ability to receive HDTV signals. These antennas were more expensive than the model I was after and I don't have an HDTV-ready television, so I passed them by and picked up the $12 model. But I made a mental note in the back of my mind about it. I smiled at the thought that I could some day have HDTV but still avoid cable.

Today I was reading Newsweek and there is an article about using HDTV antennas to pick up HDTV signals outside cable and satellite. Interestingly it seems a battle between a cable and media company has bolstered sales of the antenna:

A corporate clash in televisionland has helped give antenna sales a boost. The dispute involves cable giant Charter Communications and broadcaster Belo Corp., which owns TV stations in several cities. In January, Belo said that unless Charter agreed to pay extra for the high-def signals Belo provides, it would bar the cable operator from redistributing any HD programming that originates from its stations. In cities like St. Louis, where Belo owns the CBS affiliate, that meant viewers wouldn't get the Super Bowl in high-def—as horrifying a prospect to many Bears and Colts fans as running out of beer and chips. Enter Terrestrial Digital's Schneider, announcing an antenna giveaway in St. Louis. "The best HD for no monthly fee," Terrestrial Digital declared in local radio ads, touting a free antenna for the first 200 customers. "It was bedlam," Schneider told NEWSWEEK. "We had lines stretched around the block." The Super Bowl was—believe it—saved by rabbit ears.

Oh...and I better start planning. I didn't realize the following:

Analog TV broadcast switch-off: In December 2005, the Senate passed a budget bill that calls for over-the-air television stations to cease their analog broadcasts by February 17, 2009. After that date, TVs and other gear with old-style NTSC tuners would be unable to receive over-the-air broadcasts. Part of the government's quandary is that the switch-off would cause thousands of TVs to go dark and would deprive many lower-income viewers of their only source of television. To address this issue, lawmakers propose to subsidize converter boxes that would allow people to watch the new digital broadcasts on their old analog TVs. Further details on the transition to digital and the converter box subsidy are still being worked out, and given the slow progress over the last 9 years since the introduction of digital and HDTV, we wouldn't be surprised to hear of more changes before 2009.

More and more advertisements

I've noticed for a while now, and you probably have to, but it really hit me as I was standing in line at the Bethesda Bagel Shop and there was this new huge (maybe 36 inch) flat screen TV showing me ads for local businesses mixed in with trivia and news.

I've seen these tv-like devices in elevators, in line at the shopping market, in taxis, and other places. I guess this is a good business idea. Here is this tv screen (everyone has been trained to stare at that already) that displays trivia, weather, news headlines or some other attention grabbing piece of information and then some ads for local or national businesses. In places that never had this before.

But man, do we need more ads thrown in our faces. Some day we will have ads on the insides of our eyelids.

One last note. This is a different type of delivery, but the DC metro has ads appearing on the inside of the subway tunnel, at least on the red line. I assume it is a series of still pictures, but the speed of the train gives them motion, sort of like a cartoon flip book.

Customer service clarification, Verizon

I've been blogging about customer service issues and dissed Verizon, but I should have noted that when they (the company) sent a technician out to my house, he (the person) was excellent.

First, he told me frankly there was no way I could get the connection speeds I signed up for and suggested I downgrade my plan. I was just to far away from the local hub. Then he installed what he called a home run—a direct line from the service box on my street to my modem. He claimed by bypassing any local connections in the house, this would ensure I was getting the fastest speed possible.

This is a good illustration of something I said earlier (forgive me for quoting myself):

...good customer service is often representative of the individual and bad customer service often of lame brain company policy.

Anyway, I felt like I needed to set the record straight on that one. I am not actually sure if he was a Verizon employee or a subcontractor working for Verizon. But in any case, I felt he helped me out as best as he could.

Bad customer service: Verizon (part 2)

I've blogged a few times on customer service, both good and bad. I said I experienced both flavors with Verizon, my DSL provider. But I never followed up on that last post. Really it was not the modem at all. But that is a long story and not relevant to today's post. Except that Verizon's customer service is pretty bad.

Recently I wanted to find out if my IP address is unique to me. I tested a few times and found that is is always the same, but I really wasn't sure if the IP was specifically mine or if they filtered a number of clients through the same IP. After talking with some others who know more about this than I do, I am pretty sure my IP is unique to me. But in my process, I sent an email to Verizon technical support through their web site and asked the question.

I got the following response. Did they even read my email? I've annotated the email below just for kicks.

Dear E. Stevenson,
Yes, that's right, most people call me "E period."

Thank you for contacting the Verizon eCenter. I have received your email dated January 18, 2007 regarding information you need from Verizon Online DSL tech support.

We apologize for the trouble you are having.
Well, I am not really having any trouble, I just have a technical question and figure the technical support group would be the best people to contact.

In order to provide you with the technical assistance required to resolve your issue, please contact our Verizon Online Technical Support team directly.
Hmmm...is email not direct enough? Are the smart technical support people only available by phone? Don't they have email?

To reach Verizon Online Technical Support, please dial (800)567-6789. Verify the 10-digit telephone number on which you have or wish to have Internet service, then say the name of the department.

A Verizon Online representative will be happy to assist you.
Aren't you a Verizon Online representative? If not, who are you and why did you get my email I sent to VERIZON?

For offline self-help, DSL customers can use Verizon Online's Support Center software, which should have been loaded on your computer during installation.

You can run the Support Center software to automatically check and fix many common Internet and e-mail problems. You can also find answers to frequently asked questions. Like, why do you have email support, if you then direct people to call? That is a frequently asked question I now have. Just look for and click on the Verizon Online Support Center software "question mark" icon located on your computer desktop or you may go to the following web site to download the software at no additional charge.

http://www.verizon.net/help

The Verizon Online Technical Support team to which we have referred you will be able to assist you. If you have any additional questions, please let us know. Yes, is my IP address specific to me.... We look forward to serving you. If you had just answered my question you would have served me and wouldn't need to look forward to it at a future time.

Thank you for using Verizon. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,
Darlene
C'mon, we are pretty close. Can I call you "D period?"
Verizon eCenter

Chad Vader

I am not sure where I read about this "series' some guys created and are distributing on YouTube, but it is really funny. Well...that is if you think the premise of Darth Vader's brother (in a full Darth Vader garb) as a shift manager of a supermarket is funny. One of my favorite scenes is Chad Vader telling an angry supermarket customer that he can "feel his anger" and if that the customer "strikes him down" he will refund his money. Hilarious . Note the first episode is probably the weakest, so give it a chance.

Episode 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wGR4-SeuJ0
Episode 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPVlljVWqBg
Episode 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh8u6nTx8wY
Episode 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogIqayRDr4w
Episode 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAkOfoI3SpE

The five things you probably don't know about me post

I was tagged by Barry Gruabart at Content Matters as part of this "five things you don't know about me" blog chain letter thing. Barry tagged me at my employer's group blog, but I moved the response over here.

I don't ever pass on those chain emails that people still send me, but this blog tag thing feels a little different (you need to come here; it is not pushed to your inbox).

So, if you are interested, here are the five things you probably don't know about me:

• Like Barry, my first plane ride was in my early 20s for my first "real" job out of college. It was from Philly to Seattle. But with the same company I then went on to take several international trips and have been to 5 continents. I still need to get to South America (should be doable) and Antarctica (may be more difficult) to hit all seven.
  
  
• With that said, my personal geographic world is pretty small. I can walk to the homes of my sister, my mother-in-law, my wife's sister, my wife's brother, and a number of friends, including one I knew since before kindergarten. My parents, another sister-in-law, and many life long friends, are only a 5-10 minute drive a way.
  
  
• My mother was born in Italy. She was only 4 when she came over with her father, so she doesn't have an accent. But my grandmother is that stereotypical Italian grandmother who is most happy when you are eating large portions of food.
  
  
• In eighth grade, I was condemned to hell by Sister Helen, the principal of my Catholic grade school. All because I didn't want to be an alterboy anymore. I remember most sins were cleared up with a few Hail Marys. I didn't realize the penalty was so rough for this.
  
  
• I was once kicked out of Veteran's stadium in the 4th quarter of an Eagles game. Yes, I was in the fabled 700 level, but no, it was not my fault. Really, it wasn't.
  
  
• I can make things burst into flames just by staring intently at them. Ok, this is a lie, but just wanted to see if you were paying attention. I already did my five.

So that's that. But sorry, I am not passing this on to other bloggers. I am breaking the chain. I've already been damned to hell, so really, what worse can happen?

Rest assured, you can still buy rabbit ears

DSCN4003
Originally uploaded by estevenson.

I have assumed that most people have cable or satellite television and are not picking up their programming from the free electromagnetic television waves darting through the air. I assume this because of the reactions I get whenever I mention I don't have cable. You would think I just said I need to go turn the crank on my car.

Well anyway, we got this under-the-cabinet radio/tv device for the kitchen for Christmas. Having no cable, I need to hook it up to an antenna. I want to use the rabbit ears on the tv in the den and get a new antenna for that tv. Although it has been a few years since I bought an antenna I remember buying one at RadioShack. So I went to RadioShack and asked if they sell them. They do. And they aren't hidden in the back in dusty boxes behind the eight-tracks. They are right there on the shelf. And in fact, the model I wanted, which has a picture frame incorporated into it, was sold out...but will be sent with the new shipments on Thursday. So they actually restock these too.

So there are obviously others out there who still use tv antennas.

A colleague of mine was telling me about his home entertainment set up and I mentioned I don't have cable (gasp!) and that the tv in my living room is actually an old dial tv I bought used from some guy when I was single and living alone (but I should state we do have a more modern tv in the den that we use the most). He didn't believe me so I needed to send him a picture of it, which is the photo here.

Meet the ring tones

This post exposes the fact that I am neither hip nor am I a true gadget technophile. Although my work deals with technology, I am not the classic geek when it comes to tech gadgets. My personal life is probably more techie than the average person, but for the most part I am low-fi. I do have an iPod (nano). I do a good deal of personal work on the computer (finances, vacation planning, etc) and have a wireless network at home. But I don't have cable, a plasma tv, or a high tech stereo system. I can barely work a conference call on the office phone. I have a manual electric can opener. But enough with this long intro....

My two year Verizon cell phone planned expired, and just in time as my cell phone's LCD panel started to "bleed" and became unusable. I can't see a damn thing on the screen.

So, I got my new phone. I got an incoming call and some bizarro music started to play so I went to set my ring tone to some normal phone-sounding tone. However, I see that this new phone gives me like 10 options, half of which sound like robotic beeps and the other half calypso music.

Can't I get some basic ring? You know, that sounds like a phone?

Ok, so I've heard of ring tones and I've read about how they are all the rage. But I honestly don't know much about them or really imagined it would be worth shelling out even 2 dollars for a ring tone. But it appears to be that or "The Saints Come Marching In" for me.

So I look around some and I enter this strange world of 8 note versions of just about everything: pop songs, tv theme songs, sounds, and even the alien welcome music from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (which I would have gotten if I went through with this). But I also find there are subscription services, shady looking web sites, and are some technicalities to uncover.

So after about 10 minutes, I realize I am wasting my time. And, based on principle alone, I just can't see paying for this. So, I'll just set it to vibrate.

Finding iPods in California

About a month ago, I was in Santa Monica for some client work. I was still on East Coast time so went for an early run along the beach. There really are a lot of homeless people in Santa Monica, and apparently if you are out early, it is just you and the homeless. One man I saw, I swear had an iPod. He was obviously homeless, with all the indications of homelessness, but there hanging down from his ears dangled the white headphone cords of the iPod. I thought, "only in California would the homeless have iPods."

Water on the left, iPods on the bottom right.

Right now I am at the Sunnyvale Sheraton. I forgot my toothpaste, so went down to the lobby and I as I walked I saw a vending machine with some toiletries, as well as the normal vending machine items, like chips, snacks, and beverages. It didn't have any toothpaste, but it did have iPods. And iPod accessories. It is a vending machine with iPods. So I can buy my peanut M&Ms, a bottled water, and a iPod shuffle all in one. From the vending machine.

Only in California.

P.S. The Blogger spell check wanted to replace "iPods" with "aphids."

Or...YouSlide, Slider, pow.erpo.int

I ran across slideshare today and it made me laugh (or at least smirk).

It is a site for sharing slideshows. I like the concept. It puts slideshows in a nice little tiddy format instead of linking to a ppt file. And I guess if you are looking for some ideas, you could try to poke around. So I see some value there.

But what strikes me as funny is the language and presentation, with the Flickr, YouTube social software, web 2.0 spin.

The description says:

A neat way to share and discover slideshows.
Upload your slides! Share with a link, embed in a blog
Discover interesting slideshows.
Tag, comment, and have fun.

People, come on. They are slideshows!

I think I may start the Excel spreadsheet sharing social network site. Think of all of the fun you can have discovering Excel spreadsheets, tagging them, and all the fun people you can connect with! Coming soon to a .com near you.

Thirty-five

Today, I turn 35. I don't pay much attention to age and the only way I really remember my own age is to remember what year I was born and subtract it from the current year. So if you asked me in March, I would have said I was 35 already.

I was at a conference earlier this year and one of the speakers asked how many people in the room were over 35 and how many were under. Even though I was really 34 at the time, as I already said previously, I thought I was 35 when he asked. So I couldn't really raise my hand for either group, as I was in between.

He then made some point that those over 35 were old media people and those under were much more intuned to the digital age - the bloggers, the IMers, the people who will read their news online but not in a paper.

I don't know if his statement is true, but I certainly was "in between." I get the Sunday paper, but not a paper for every day of the week. I still print out articles and blog posts that I want to read but are longer than a page. I then collect them and read them while "offline." I use an iPod but if I like an entire album (well, that is the wrong name now isn't it!), I'd prefer to buy the CD and burn it then to purchase it all digitally (but I have purchased individual songs). So I guess in some ways I do sit "in between" the two groups the speaker talked about, using old media in some regards and new media in others. Or maybe that is just me.

And one last thing...it amazes me how time speeds up at 35. Time just goes faster. The day, the week, the month, the year...

A troubling piece of ice

It is official: Pluto is no longer a planet. I've been following this discussion to some degree over the past week. The best alternative resolution I heard was from Michael Brown, who discovered UB313 (a larger piece of ice out past Pluto), in an NPR Science Friday podcast. He interestingly compares this whole "what is a planet" debate to what we call continents. There really is no scientifically "pure" definition of a continent. Why is Europe a continent but India not? Why is Greenland not its own continent? It is somewhat arbitrary and based on culture.

But science doesn't like arbitrary things. Brown suggests we accept the cultural definition of the 9 planets and leave it at that. The term planet means "wanderer" and ancient astronomers called them that because their paths differed from the rest of the stars. Now they have to be round and have their own paths around the Earth or something like that.

I guess the decision makes sense and stops the squabbling over whether other small objects should be planets. Now everyone can now move on. Even Pluto. Just because it is not a planet, doesn't mean it no longer orbits the Sun.

The Planet Pluto, may you rest in peace (1930-2006).

10 miles of sand

I recently completed the Captain Bill Gallagher Island Run, a 10 mile run on the beach in Sea Isle City, NJ.

I am not much of a runner. I've toyed with running in the past here and there, but this was the first year I really tried to keep at it. I started in late Spring purely for exercise but when I saw this beach run coincided with my family's vacation, I figured I'd go for it.

My expectations were not high. For this run, my first official run, I had three goals:

1. Finish
2. Don't stop (keep running...)
   
3. Finish under 2 hours

I also had a "bonus" goal of running under an 11 minute mile. While running around my neighborhood I did some rough estimates with Google maps and the clock in my kitchen and figured my time was somewhere in the 10 1/2 minute range. I don't know exactly, but knowing the general range was good enough for me. In my "training" I never actually ran 10 miles, but did run 9 or so a few times and the 3 or 4 weeks heading up to the event, I generally ran between 7 and 9 miles. What is one more, right?

As I said, I never ran in an "official" race before...

When we cross the bridge into Sea Isle, I go to pick up the number. The piece of paper has my number, 538, and some info on the bottom with a perforation in between. On the bottom of the paper, it says "do not pin." Well, how am I supposed to attach this to me? My wife and I discuss it some.

Me: Hmm..that's odd. How do you think I get it to stay on me?
Wife: I don't know. Maybe you can use some string.
Me: I'm just going to pin it.
Wife: You can't do that! It says "do not pin" That's breaking the rules.

Fortunately my wife has some string (she is teaching our daughters to make those friendship bracelets) and ties the number onto my shirt somehow. Of course, as I walk up to the start of the race, everyone has it pinned to their shirts. Duh. You are not supposed to pin the perforated part - the part I later realize they tear off at the end of the race. Ok, I am an amatuer, and not too bright of one at that.

The run actually starts on Sea Isle's boardwalk, which is not very wide. So the 1200 people in the race fill up a block and a half. I go towards the end.

The race starts. Well, it starts for some. It takes a while for the mob to move forward. And then when it finally does, it moves slowly. Very slowly. Finally, probably a minute or more into it, we pick up our pace.

My wife's uncle and family cheered me on

About one mile into it I hear "Go Ed!" I think to myself, "Must be some guy named Ed near me." But then I see it is my wife's uncle and his family. I instinctly raise my hand to say hello and almost smack the person beside me.

For the first 6 miles or so, I am running about a 10 1/2 minute mile. I feel pretty good. The race starts in the middle, heads north on the the island, all the way back down to the southern end and then back to the middle. As I approach the mid way point, mile 5, I hear the winner is approaching the finish.

I still feel pretty good. Until somewhere after mile 6. Then it hits me. My legs feel like jelly and I move very slooowww the rest of the way. Running on the beach really is not that much harder than running on asphalt. But running on the beach behind 1000 other people who trample through the sand and leave it a choppy, muddy mess is hard. At least for me. At this point, many others start to pass me. It gets demoralizing. A small boy no older than 12 passes me. A group of 3 women chatting away trot by. An elderly gray-haired gentleman leaves me in his dust. At one point, I think a heavy set woman with one leg carrying a bag of cement might have passed me. I'm not sure.

My own kids, as well as a (large) number of nieces and nephews cheer me on at around 7 1/2 miles (and again a little past 7 1/2 - we are at the end of the island). Although I feel horrible, my wife later says I looked good, just slow. Very slow. But it is great to see the kids and pass out high fives as they cheer "Go Uncle Ed!"

But I finished. And I met my three goals (the bonus goal alluded me by 15 seconds/mile, but that is ok).

Here are the complete results of the race. You'll see me towards the end. I came in 1144 out of 1207 finishers and 77 out of 80 in my age group. But I ran 10 miles. In the sand.

How do I know where I am

I took the DC Metro today from Dupont Circle all the way out to Shady Grove. It is about a half hour ride and I was not fully prepared for my meeting, so I opened up the laptop to read through some documents. The train was relatively empty, so I had my back against the window and stretched out a bit.

I heard a man's voice talking further up the train. I wasn't really paying attention. He was one of those people who talks but not necessarily to anyone. You know what I mean.

But then I realized he was talking about me. He said, "Look at this guy. How does he know where he is. Why don't you look out the window. You should look out the window. How do you know where you are?" He sounded rather stressed about this situation.

But then he continued, "And look at those shoes. My God, are you serious? How do you know where you are?"

I wasn't sure why he didn't like my shoes, but I would agree with him, sometimes it is better to look out the window. Then you know where you are.

Design without intelligence

I receive National Geographic in print. I am not sure what their online policy is. I took a quick look through the web site and it looks like only small excerpts of articles are available, even for subscribers. I am not sure.

But recently, I was reading this article (the full one in print), and thought what a great argument this is against Intelligent Design. I would think if there was some intelligent force actively involved in the creation of our species, complicated process like child birth would be a bit easier, as well as simple things, like scratching one's own back.

The point is, evolution is not intelligent per se and is not meant to be. It is a trade of and balance of characteristics that make a best fit for the species. But sometimes there are negative consequences. This article discusses how man's evolution to walk upright greatly benefited humankind, although with it we get all sorts of back and foot ailments, as well as risky and difficult birth processes. It's not intelligent, but it works for us. And I would say, if it did have some direct and active intelligent control pushing it forward, we wouldn't have these downsides. (And lastly, it doesn't mean that you can't believe in God and evolution of course).

Here is an excerpt from the article (describing the author looking at a skeletal model of a child size skull passing through the birth canal) and the web link above:

Turn the little oval skull face-forward, and it drops neatly into the pelvic brim, the beginning of the birth canal. But then it jams against the protrusions of the ischial bones (those that bear the burden during a long car ride). More shoving and rotating, and it's quickly apparent that the skull must traverse a passage that seems smaller than itself, cramped not only by the ischial bones but also by the coccyx, the bottom of the tailbone, which pokes into the lower pelvic cavity. Only by maneuvering the skull to face sideways in the middle of the canal and then giving it a firm push, does it move a centimeter or two—before it gets hung up again. Twist it, jostle it: The thing won't budge. Rosenberg guides my hand to turn the skull around to face backward, and then, with a hard shove, the stubborn cranium finally exits the birth canal.

And here is a really funny parody of Intelligent Design from the Onion.

Good customer service: US Airways (at least Mike)

I've posted twice on customer service issues (here and here). Although I do encounter bad customer service like everyone else, I also, on occasion, experience some really exceptional customer service. When this happens, my wife and I both have tried to make a point to follow up to the company to point out the experience and commend the specific person involved. If you are going to take the time to point out bad customer service, we figure you better do the same for good service.

I recently did this with my bank and about a year ago did so to US Airways. I didn't want my two previous posts to be representative of my reaction to customer service. There really is sometimes good customer service out there. Unfortunately, I think good customer service is often representative of the individual and bad customer service often of lame brain company policy.

On that US Airways example, I had somehow switched my laptop with another person while going through security. Don't ask how. It is stupid, but it happened (and hey, someone else was just as dumb as I was). After the experience, I've taped my business card on the outside of my laptop (it was either that or paint it bright orange).

After I was greatly assisted by someone (Mike) in baggage claim, I sent the following letter the the Managing Director of Corporate and Consumer Affairs at US Airways. There are only two bad sides to this story. One, I never got Mike's last name (but I hoped the detail in the letter would help identify him) and two, although while filling out the feedback form on the US Airways web site, I checked an option to get confirmation the letter was received, I never did (but I should note I both mailed this letter and emailed it through the web site). [UPDATE: For some reason, I was searching for something in my gmail account and up popped the response from US Airways in the results (it is a few years old now). I don't know why I do not remember seeing this before, but Katrina Y. Brown of the Executive Staff of the US Airways Office of Consumer Affairs did confirm receipt of my letter]

Anyway, here is the letter and a story of great customer service:

Ms. Deborah Thompson
Managing Director, Corporate and Consumer Affairs
US Airways
P.O. Box 1501
Winston Salem, NC 27102-1501

Ms. Thompson:

I wanted to write to inform you of the excellent service provided by Mike in the New Orleans airport bagging handling area.

While going through security in Philadelphia, I inadvertently switched my laptop with another passenger. I did not notice this until on board the plane.

When I arrived in New Orleans, on Sunday 4/24 sometime around 9:30, I was sent to the baggage handling area for assistance. Mike in the baggage area (I did not get his last name) was very understanding of the problem. This was not my socks that were misplaced, but my laptop with all of my business and personal information. Luckily I was able to retrieve a name from the laptop and Mike was able to track him down and found he was arriving in Las Vegas. Mike then worked his way through to the arriving desk in Vegas so that the attendant there could flag down this other customer with my laptop. This was done an hour after I left the airport (Mike set a timer for himself to call when the plane arrived).

I feel Mike did an outstanding job in connecting me with the other passenger and felt he was prepared to help as much as possible to solve the problem. He probably could have gone through some standard procedure, asked me to fill out some form, and send me on my troubled way. But he went all out to make sure the problem was resolved.

In an era where very good customer service is hard to find, Mike really stands out.

The other customer and I shipped the laptops to each other and all is well.

Thanks,
Ed

So, anyway, the point is there is both good and bad customer service out there. Recognize both. And with that, hopefully those in charge of customer service operations will seek to make ever evolving improvements as well as reward those who do an exceptional job.

Bad (and good) customer service: Verizon

A day before my recent vacation, I experienced intermittent and slow connection speeds with my Verizon DSL. For the 8 months or so before that my service had been fine.

I called Verizon's DSL technical support and one question threw me for a loop: how long was my phone line from my computer to my wall jack. Well, I set up my office in my basement and ran the lines myself. There really is no wall jack (it is just running to my wireless router outside my office). I ran the line right from the main console and it is about 25 feet. So I said "25 feet." Seems Verizon says your line can't be more than 10 feet. But what is the difference if I was on, say a third floor, with a 2 foot line to my wall jack that had 30-40 feet running down to the main console? And why, all of a sudden, would my 25 foot line cause problems? The technical rep didn't want to hear anything else. She wouldn't go beyond this issue and refused to help me until I moved my set up closer to my non-existent wall jack.

I was frustrated but had a vacation in front of me. When I returned, I set up the modem right off the main console and called back. This time, the rep did not ask me this stupid question. But he did do a number of line tests, determined my modem is faulty, and said I will receive a new one in 2-3 days. Problem diagnosed in about 10 minutes and the solution on its way via mail.

Now, why couldn't the first person run the same test?