http://alt-j.com Tech notes: stuff for geeks and non-geeks - (but mostly geeks.) Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:34:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en There are many reasons I love American Express. Here's one more. I was greeted with this email yesterday: "At American Express, the security of your account is of the utmost importance. In an effort to protect and serve our Cardmembers, we consistently monitor accounts for possible fraudulent activity. ... http://alt-j.com/200808/one-more-reason-i-love-american-express/ Late last night, I was asked to go pick up a gallon of milk at grocery store on my way home. I was on my very old (20+ year) mountain bike and didn't have a lock with me. Since the store was mostly empty, I decided to just ... http://alt-j.com/200808/hey-do-you-wanna-sell-your-bike/ A while back, we purchased an all-in-one remote to simplify the use of our TV/VCR/DVD/PVR/Sound system. I thought it was great. Yesterday, I was greeted by this paper on our stove with instructions for our babysitter. So it turns out instead of reducing the complexity of our system, I ... http://alt-j.com/200808/failure-to-simplify/ I was just going through all of my items in google reader (which includes linuxsecurity.com) and it looks like someone has managed to hack some spam into their newsfeed. I find it mildly entertaining that a site so focused on security is being used by spammers. Let me ... http://alt-j.com/200808/linuxinsecuritycom/ Last week, I was at the Facebook developers conference. It was a pretty good conference and I learned a lot. Here are a few things I learned: Some companies still operate with their blinders on: One of the sessions I was most excited about was "Made for Mobile." ... http://alt-j.com/200807/red-bull-gives-you-wingsor-a-big-headache/ In hearing peoples' responses to the post about my new motorcycle, I feel the need to make a clarifying post to show that this new machine is so much more than a little toy. Here's a picture of my 227 pound self sitting atop the 788 pound monster. Yes, it's ... http://alt-j.com/200807/yes-yes-size-does-matter/ FYI - I just realized that the aLinks plugin (version 1.0rc1) is broken after upgrading to Wordpress 2.6. The public side of the blog works fine, but all of the admin/posting pages are dog slow. Disabling the plugin lets everything work fine. I can't even get to the plugin ... http://alt-j.com/200807/alinks-broken-wwordpress-26/ I just stumbled across this. It's a search box inside one of the search results. I'm not sure who's privileged enough to get these, but it's an interesting usability idea. http://alt-j.com/200807/search-box-inside-serp/ For years, I've been telling my wife, "I should get a motorcycle." Every time, her response has been, "I think you should." But I never could quite justify it. Current gas prices have changed my mind, I was able to finally convince myself it was worthwhile. In May, ... http://alt-j.com/200807/my-wife-spoils-me/ We just got back from a 5 day trip to Oregon. We went over to Depoe Bay, up to Portland, down to Salem for a BYU soccer game, back to Portland and then back home. The girls did a great job dealing with all the time in the ... http://alt-j.com/200806/trip-stats/