Protection Racket

I'm not a big fan of SAAS. It has its place, I'm sure. Enterprise solutions are, for example a good application for SAAS. It makes sense from a business standpoint to more easily budget for IT expenditures. I just want no part of it. SAAS has no place in personal virus scanners! For those unaware, SAAS stands for Software As A Service. In essence, you don't own the software, you rent it. Much like a lawn service where you pay in intervals for them to come mow and edge your lawn, SAAS allows access to software as long as you pay for it. Norton Antivirus, otherwise one of the best antiviruses out there, used to sell you the program and gave you virus updates for one year after installation. When the year was over, it stopped downloading definitions for new viruses and asked that you renew or upgrade, at your earliest convenience. Now once your year's subscription is over, it stops working! That's right folks, not only does it not download new virus definitions - it completely stops working. No virus protection, online backup, phishing blocking or nothing. I understand wanting to keep the revenue coming in, but seriously, if the customer doesn't pay you right away that's no reason to cut him off at the knees!
I may be old fashioned in my preference to 'buy' (pay for and own) my stuff. The rights afforded the customer used to be grand. Now you better watch your step and toe the line. If what you do doesn't earn the corporation money - they might sue you. Mix tapes were awesome! Buy the albums you like, then copy the songs in the order you wanted onto a new tape (like a playlist.) Now they say copying songs is illegal. What about fair use? I learned to program by changing the code in other's programs like the game Sammy Snake. That's frowned upon now too. How much longer until you can't even mod your car for fear of 'infringing' on someone's IP?
Sorry for the downer. I'll post something happier next time.

My Dioon edule is emerging!

Hooray! I am so happy! I went to work like normal today, checked the fridge (not really a fridge, it's a passthrough chamber that connects to the cleanroom) and started some paperwork. I'm the Quality Control Technician. I would love to drop the 'technician' part of my title. It means I'm just another grunt trading hours for dollars. I would love to get paid for results or for creating new devices, but that's another story. Anyway, I checked the terrarium I have in my cubicle and saw a small, barely noticable tendril peeking its hairy head up out of the soil and gently lifting a pebble out of its way in search of light. I had almost given up hope that any would sprout. I planted the darn things last year before Christmas! So the terrarium is only about as wide as my thumb and as long as my hand. I planted four very large seeds in the damp peat, covered them with the packet of sand and finished it off by placing the pebbles on the sand. The pebbles came in the box with the sand and everything. I got it from Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby was boring for me - until I discovered the trains and rockets in one of the back isles! As the trains were expensive and the rockets... I have small children, you understand. So lurking in the back isles I discovered a trove of cheap treasures. Grow your own Triops! Grow your own edible cycad! Grow your own... you get the idea.
So: Dioon Edule. It is commonly known as the chestnut palm, among other things. It grows in Mexico and is near threatened (slightly rare.) Check Wikipedia for more info. I found that although it is edible, and the seeds may be ground into flour to make tortillas, the female plants bloom every ten to fifty years! I thought I waited a long time for it to sprout, but I'll be waiting even longer for my Dioon tortillas. I'll be patient.

Saturday

So the rain has stopped. I knew it would. Rain is a guest in arizona and, like all good friends, it know that guests are like fish...
... After three days they begin to stink.

My tomatoes have sprung to life, leaping from the moist earth in slow motion. They were in their peat pots on a sprouting tray on top of the fridge (it's warmer there.) I checked the other day and none were apparent. Today they are almost two inches tall. I set them outside for some sun while I turned vermiculite and peat into the cement mix we call dirt here in the valley. My cement - I mean dirt is better than most. It has for a decade been augmented like the borg, only with sulphur, sand, and manure instead of lasers and such. Whilst unattended, the seedlings were disturbed. Sigh. I tell myself the children will learn. I'm sure they will, after they move out! Only one seedling looks like it may perish, the rest stand tall.

Slippery When Wet

Still it rains. This is good for my garden. I just planted luffa, carrots (Thumbelina carrots because I'm out of the regular kind), tomatoes and pease to add to the other pease, spinach, lettuce, beets and peppers. Funny story about the Thumbelinas: Last year, Wife was excited about the carrots looking so large and ready to pick that she made a big ceremony of the carrot pulling experience. We gathered round as she made comments like, "Oh this looks so big I may need help pulling it!" In breathless anticipation we watched as she firmly grasped the carrot top, steadied herself and - bink! The carrot, a demure sphere came from the ground as if eager to be eaten in one modest bite. Yes, Thumbelina carrots are well adapted to hard and rocky soil. Instead of penetrating into the tough ground, it sits teasingly on top of it - Looking to the whole world to be a regular spike of orange carroty goodness. This is but a facade - Like those fake bricks one may laminate their houses with. Small but tasty, we shall have them again.

The rain is, however, not so good for the Arizona drivers. Practice makes perfect, they say and the drivers here have NO practice driving in weather! I wish they would make public service announcements about this kind of thing, "Well folks, looks like rain is on the horizon. That means water will be falling from the sky and onto the roads. This makes the roads slippery, so slow down! The life you save could be your own. Oh, and for those unfamiliar with turn signals, they are used to indicate your intention to turn." Of course, the announcer would not be so snarky. Or maybe he would - what do you think?

Rain, Glorious Rain!

It rains! I am happy. This week I bought a present for my wife - a bababerry and a blackberry from the Home Depot and planted them. Now it rains, watering her present so I don't have to. This has been a difficult month, though, and an expensive one. Since we are expecting, I bought a minivan to transport our brood. It died on the way home from the dealership. I had it towed and got it fixed. Then someone turned into my lane and I hit him with the old car. Aire compressor died (bad switch) so I fixed it with a new switch from Circuit Specialists. Kitchen light died. So it is true... when it rains, it pours!

Recap - Best of 2009

The best website of 2009 has to be www.wolframalpha.com.
It is a search engine, like Google. Unlike Google, it does not search for websites, but rather for data. Type an equation, it displays the result, graph, derivative, integral, series representation and more. Enter a stock symbol and you get market cap, listing price, highs and lows, etc. I asked for the weather in Seattle when Jimmi Hendrix was born - and it delivered! (38° with 88% humidity, in case you're wondering.)
This website has one downside that I can see: It has a hard time interpreting inputs correctly at times, but this is improving.
My favorite use: math homework! I always seem to get stuck on the trig integrals. Wolfram doesn't just give the answer, it also shows the steps to get the answer!
I give it Two Thumbs Up!