...more recent posts
This morning I ran out to the store to buy a centronix to DB-25 SCSI cable so that I could hook an external zip drive to H.'s machine to replace a defective internal drive. In my rush (lots of last minute errands before the trip) I bought the wrong cable. $30 - d'oh! Later, I returned, figuring I would just buy the right cable and put the wrong one in my growing inventory of "extra parts that might be useful someday." The owner of the store, who I had spoken with a few times, listened to my story, and then he said "Why didn't you bring the other cable back?" I explained that I had already opened the box, and there was no way to do that without tearing it, so I thought I couldn't return it. It was my fault, I had figured. "Oh no" he protested, "we're not that kind of store. You bring that one back, and we'll switch it." I was rather taken aback by his goodwill. "The box is damaged" I made clear. "That's O.K." he assured me, and then picking up the right cable he handed it to me "Here, take this home, make sure its right, and then bring me back the other one." And sure enough, I walked out of the store with the new cable on just my word that I would bring the other one back. I had to double check out in the street that I was indeed still in New York City. A few hours later I returned with the old cable. I showed him where the box was torn. He didn't care. He honestly seemed happy. He actually said "Well, the important thing is that you got it working." I'm serious, he said that! And then, to top it off, he noticed that the one I had bought was 29.95, but the correct one was only 17.95. "Here, let me get you the difference" he said, walking toward the cash register. Now this was really too much. "Look, let's just call it even" I offered, hopefully, "it really was my fault for buying the wrong one." "No, no" he protested, "fair is fair." "But I'm just charging it to someone else" I countered (don't tell H.,) "and I really appreciate you letting me exchange it. Let's call it even." "O.K." he said, in true statesmanlike fashion, and then thinking for another minute he said "how about a zip disk?" "Done" I said, and I walked out 100 megabytes richer. He might have lost on that deal, but he's got my business. If your needs run to the Mac side of things make sure you check out Digital Society on 10th street just west of Broadway, NYC.
Does one vote really matter? Dave Winer and rc3 have posted similar views on the issue. Unlike the major media that seems to be going with the "shame on you for ever thinking your vote doesn't matter - this election proves that it does" line, they take a more logical approach. If the election is not close then your one vote doesn't matter. If the election is close then it will be fought out in the courts and decided by a judge. Either way, your one vote doesn't matter.
It's mid month, so that means it's crypto-gram time. This month author Bruce Schneier explains the problems with digital signatures, and takes a quick look at both the SDMI hacking challenge, and the Microsoft hack. Schneier is the man when it comes to codes. Always interesting. The misunderstanding around digital signatures is going to be a real legal problem.
Today's picture (archived here) is of the geothermal bath outside of Reykjavik, Iceland. I'll be there late next week after a few days in Amsterdam.
I had never seen this one before. It's called the slashdot Cheesy Portal. It doesn't look good, but it does have all the latest breaking geek news on one page. I think this one is going to replace 10.am for me.
Netscape 6 has been released. Do not bother to download this beast. Probably you should be using Internet Explorer (although it pains me slightly to say that. Yes I'm silly that way.) If you insist on using Navigator, stick with 4.75. I'm saddened by this whole episode, but since I wasn't able to do anything directly to help, I guess I can't really complain too much. Maybe there is still some hope for Mozilla, but it seems pretty clear at this point that Netscape is never going to release a good browser. I wonder if icab has those javascript problems worked out?