Freedom is on the march… and it’s going to make my commute even longer.

Apparently, the new street that the VTA built to connect La Avenida St and Pear Ave is called Freedom Avenue.

So, why do I hate our Freedom?

Starting September 1st, the section of La Avenida between Freedom and Shoreline will be one way (towards Shoreline). So to get to Microsoft, you now have to go one block further on Shoreline, turn right onto Pear, then turn left onto La Avenida. Leaving Microsoft will be the same.

It’s not a big deal… but just another hassle. And more opportunities for the Mountain View police to set speedtraps. (Which they do frequently.)

Update: This one-way thing is supposedly temporary until they finish some major changes to the 101 entrance/exit ramps.

And now that I think of it, everything I see a new road in the Bay Area, I think “Wow… imagine if they had built a house there.”

One of the things that truly bugs me are endless disputes about whether or not cell phones can affect avionics… you know, airplanes.

I see these endless disputes on message forums, Microsoft mailing lists, airports, blah blah blah. Typically, they’re full of half baked theories or annecdotal evidence.

“Well, if a cell phone could crash a plane, they would ban them.” (Well, they allow cigarette lighters…)

“I left my cell phone on once, and I survived.” (Oh yeah that’s conclusive…)

“It’s because they want to use the airphones which cost $10 a minute.” (Uh, when was the last time you saw an airphone on AA or AS?)

“Nah.” (Like, yah!)

So here’s some evidence that showed up in a thread I saw one day:

The New Zealand Herald

In Britain, a pilot found that his cellphone, on standby, caused Global Positioning System interference during two critical flight phases.

The GPS gave false directions that would have put him in controlled airspace without a clearance.

In 2000, Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority became the first to examine the potential for cellphones to interfere with flight systems.

It showed the phones could affect avionics equipment. The crucial issue is whether they exceed international standards on safe levels of interference.

Apparently, the CAA (the UK’s FAA) has a whole list of incidents that involved interference. Check it out: http://search2.openobjects.com/kbroker/caa/caa/search.sim?sr=0&nh=10&cs=iso-8859-1&sc=caa&sm=0&sf=&ha=318&mt=1&qt=interference

If you had an Audiovox 5600, you wouldn’t have any doubt at all that a cell phone could cause interference with electronics!

Anyway, so keep this in mind, and turn off your phone!

Experts Warn Debt May Threaten Economy - Yahoo! News

A chorus of economists, government officials and elected leaders both conservative and liberal is warning that America’s nonstop borrowing has put the nation on the road to a major fiscal disaster ? one that could unleash plummeting home values, rocketing interest rates, lost jobs, stagnating wages and threats to government services ranging from health care to law enforcement.

David Walker, who audits the federal government’s books as the U.S. comptroller general, put it starkly in an interview with the AP:

“I believe the country faces a critical crossroad and that the decisions that are made ? or not made ? within the next 10 years or so will have a profound effect on the future of our country, our children and our grandchildren. The problem gets bigger every day, and the tidal wave gets closer every day.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan echoed those worries just last week, warning that the federal budget deficit hampered the nation’s ability to absorb possible shocks from the soaring trade deficit and the housing boom. He criticized the nation’s “hesitancy to face up to the difficult choices that will be required to resolve our looming fiscal problems.”

[snip]

Ben Bernanke, who recently left the Federal Reserve Board to serve as President Bush’s top economic adviser, has argued that the problem is not with the United States. The trouble lies overseas, where people want to save rather than spend their money. The key is to encourage other countries to spend and invest more, he says, though he also believes that the federal budget needs to be balanced.

Bold emphasis is mine.

Does that seem like a realistic solution to anyone else? To solve our problem by getting others to spend more?

Perhaps we have a jedi mind trick task force that will save us.

PCWorld.com - Deep File Divers

Our favorite is Microsoft’s MSN Search Toolbar With Windows Desktop Search

Woohoo!

Alright, I’m about to head out of the office. It’s 2:27am and I’ve got 26 messages in my inbox, all of them are read.

On some days, by the time I get in at 10am, there are 32 new email messages. Like today. Looking at the stats, I received 160 emails where my name was either in the To or CC fields - so this excludes mailing lists.

I also sent 78 e-mails all of Thursday. Since midnight though, I have already sent 27 messages!

It’s Friday… What will today be like? Time will tell!
UPDATE: 37 new messages in my inbox already…

Visit this page to download the add in that will let you use MSN Search as your search engine in FireFox!

mozdev.org - mycroft: download

Here are the plugins that match your query. Click on the plugin name to install. After installations wait 15 sec before clicking the search bar.

So in my efforts to restructure, cut costs, improve efficacy for FY06 - I’ve decided to look at my cell phone bill which averages $63 a month.

Half of that is the voice plan… $39.99. The other half is unlimited data.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how much data I’m actually using right now… so I’ll have to put that aside.

Looking around at the big 4 wireless companies, here are the starting prices for their plans:

Cingular: $39.99 for 450 anytime, 5000 n/w, unlimited m2m, 2 year contract.

Verizon: $39.99 for 450 anytime, unlimited n/w, unlimited m2m, 1 year contract, $35 activation fee.

Sprint: $35 for 300 anytime, unlimited n/w, $5 m2m, 2 year contract. (Maybe 1. Hard to tell.)

TMobile: Actually I’m not going to include TMobile because their coverage in the Bay Area from my experience really blows.

Wow, so basically you can’t get a plan for under $480 a year (plus huge tax) anymore.

To Comcast Vice President of Customer Care Mark Coffman:

My Comcast broadband connection went out at 1:20am PT, while I was in the middle of a critical conversation online. This never happened before when I was using DSL.

I called 800-945-2288 and the service rep told me that this was a scheduled outage, then he said it was an emergency outage, but then he said it was scheduled outage again. When I asked how I could learn about these scheduled outages, he said I could check the website.

I dug up my modem - fortunately I still have local phone service, and cannot find such scheduled outage information on your website.

Needless to say I am extremely dissatisfied with my transition from DSL to cable modem:

1. Outages are completely unacceptable - especially since I was in the middle of a critical business conversation. Broadband is supposed to be a utility class service - solid, stable, and reliable. Clearly this is not. Why am I using a modem at 2am in the morning? Is this acceptable? NO.

2. The service rep could not get his story straight, and flat out lied to me by telling me that this information could be obtained on the website. Is it there? NO.

I am outraged and incredibly disappointed. Mark, what can be done to make matters better?

In the 5 years I had DSL, this happened once, and bad weather was involved.

Not a good start.