i remember when gmail was good

Google made themselves famous by being great at search and creating fast spartan interfaces that get the job done quickly.  How much that last statement sounds true to you probably depends on how old you are, but those are some of the reasons I've been a loyal Gmail user since way way waaaaaaay back when the service first launched.

If you can't tell from the heading, my opinion has changed.  I'm now constantly having "WTF moments."  Generally it's been the fact that Gmail is now ridiculously slow.  Back when I was accessing e-mail with a dial up 14.4kbps modem (I don't think there was Internet e-mail till then), I'd recall having to wait for e-mails to load and send, but that seems fast to Gmail today.  I often find myself counting 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... as I wait for messages to load, returning to my inbox, and sending messages.  I'm pretty sure dial up was faster.  Plus with dialup I could see progress as each 8-bit character was received and displayed on my screen.  Now I only get to see Gmail claim to send my message "in the background" as I attempt to do something else in the foreground (it never works).

Anyway...  I'm rambling.  I'm really here to walk through my most recent shitty Gmail experience.  I wanted to check when my parents are coming to visit and what times their flights were.  Here goes:

1. Search Gmail for "betsy seattle"
   Makes sense.  A full page of results, but mostly chatter about other topics.  The most recent travel itineraries are a series of trips I took to Cleveland in the summer of 2011.  FAIL.
2. Look in my "Mom" folder
   I know Gmail search sucks, so I abandon it hoping I can find it through my labels/folders.  I go look.  There is too much stuff in here for me to find. FAIL.
3. Search "seattle" in my "Mom" folder
   I see many itineraries for trips I have taken in the past to visit my parents.  I do not see the one I am looking for.
4. Search "july" in my "Mom" folder
   I get two conversations.  Neither is what I am looking for. FAIL.
5. Go to Outlook and hope that I left myself some clues in my calendar
   This should be a sign of failure since if I had this info I wouldn't be doing the search in the first place.  Somehow I see that I marked the arriving flight as flight 5451.  I didn't note down their departing flight, however, so I still needed to find the itinerary.  I didn't note the airline, which doesn't help.
6. Search "5451"
   If I search the exact flight number, I should get the itinerary, right?  WRONG.  Zero results. FAIL.
7. Search "5451" in all mail items including deleted mail
   In case I deleted it.  Nothing.  FAIL.
8. Guess they are flying United.  Search "united cleveland"
   This should got get me anything special.  However, I see a bunch of new items.  I open one and see a flight to Seattle.  I think I have a winner!  Wait...  that's one for me flying back to Seattle, not my parents.  I keep looking down the list and see an e-mail from my dad about a schedule change. I open it.  I WIN! Here's a few things the e-mail contained:
• Forwarded by my dad to my mom, Betsy, using her Gmail address.  She is in my address book under her name.
• Contains the string "Seattle/Tacoma" twice.  Basically, my first search should have worked, although you could argue that you shouldn't expect a very shitty search engine to find "Seattle" in "Seattle/Tacoma" or "betsy" in her e-mail address that contains that string.  If you think this is what to expect from Google, then you're saying that Google is a very shitty search engine.  It really makes me wonder.
• Has dates in the ddMMM YYYY format (e.g., 09JUN 1969).  I wouldn't expect a mediocre search engine to find july.  I expect a good search engine to.  I think we've already found that Gmail's search is shit.
• Contains the string "5451".  I expect even a shitty search engine to find "5451" when my query is "5451".  WTF is wrong with you, Google?  At this point you don't even make it to the "shitty search engine" standard.
• Contains "Cleveland" three times
• Contains "United" 13 times

Next time, I'll remember that if I want to find something in Gmail, instead of searching for unique terms, I should search for really common terms that I expect to find multiple times and then manually go through many many emails to find what I am looking for.

Note that all this is happening with an inbox that is 9% full with 9,797 messages.  It's not as if I'm challenging Gmail to search through an insane number of messages.

letter to the senator

Maria,

Thanks for the canned response. Let me reiterate my point. I agree that freight is important and we do need to continue to make investments necessary so we can properly maintain our deteriorating network of roads, bridges, etc. No one wants a repeat of what happened in Minnesota nor do we like interruptions like the South Park Bridge.

But, as I stated in my original correspondence, I am most concerned about the elimination/restructuring of funding for transit. By transit, I mean BUSES, SUBWAYS, etc. It seems like with the current bill we fund roads but forget about how transit makes our road investments more efficient.

Let me illustrate my point with an example that's near and dear to those who make the ~250k trips (WSDOT annual traffic report numbers via sightline.org) across Lake Washington each day. I'm sure you're familiar with the SR-520 floating bridge. It has four lanes and is an essential artery for commuters. During peak times, it serves ~7000 vehicles per hour (2010 data from WSDOT). That's essentially full capacity for the lanes in both directions with each lane carrying 1750 vehicles per hour. Of these 7000 vehicles, there are six 545 buses in each direction carrying about 80-100 people each (yes, I've been counting). That's about 1100 cars/voters off the road because of the 545. Add in the other buses (167, 242, 243, 250, 252, 255, 260, 265, 268, 271, 277, 280, 311, 424, 540, 542, 555, 556, 982, 986) and you have at least another 40 buses (assuming a needlessly conservative one bus an hour at peak) carrying another 600 riders (using another needlessly conservative 15 riders per bus).

All this leads to the conclusion that if we cut back bus funding, as proposed in the transportation bill, we'll need to build another lane of bridge in both directions. It'll likely cost a couple billion dollars (ignoring the fact that we would need the state to purchase addition ROW in uber-wealthy areas by Medina and Montlake). This isn't likely to happen. Rather, it's more likely that both SR-520 and I-90 will be backed up causing both voters and truck drivers alike to become really angry.

Alternatively, YOU, Maria Cantwell, as our elected Senator, could help make sure we continue to get our $324 million in federal transit funding.

By the way, I see you are up for re-election this November. Taking a strong stand on this would mean something to us. Last I checked, there are more regular voters in Washington than people who worked in the freight/shipping industry. I think we all want the same thing, but you could really tailor your message and your proposed solution differently. Less cars on the road mean more space for trucks. We all win.

And for reference, a image that I think makes it seem more real:

A picture says a thousand words. Some of those words might say that for each peak hour 545 taken off the road because of budget cuts, there's an additional 800' of cars parked bumper to bumper on 520 during rush hour (or since the toll started, 800' of cars parked on I-90 surrounding a trapped truck driver wondering if this backup would jeopardize his shipment, his job, and the jobs of thousands of others in the industry trying to compete with the Panama Canal).

Paul Ip

On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 11:38 AM, <Maria_Cantwell@cantwell.senate.gov> wrote:

Dear Mr. Ip, Thank you for contacting me regarding reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue. Efficient transportation systems are critically important to Washingtonians. In our state, we need to preserve and renew our existing surface transportation infrastructure, improve freight mobility, increase transit opportunities for commuters statewide, update the nation's largest commuter ferry system, replace bridges that have surpassed their usable lifespan, and make numerous upgrades to enhance safety for motorists. In addition to adding capacity to our road systems, we must enhance the transportation choices for commuters where that is feasible. We must also improve traffic systems using new technologies that help achieve greater efficiency and allow us to yield more capacity from the systems that we already have. As you may know, Congress reauthorizes federal surface transportation programs every few years. This reauthorization sets funding levels for a variety of surface transportation programs including new highway construction, infrastructure repairs, public transit projects, high-speed passenger rail programs, and many others. The most recent reauthorization, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) was passed in 2005 and expired in September of 2009. However, Congress passed a series of short-term extensions of the reauthorization, with the most recent extension lasting through March 31, 2012. Four Senate committees have been working on new legislation to reauthorize surface transportation programs. The bill is now being considered, with amendments, on the Senate floor. I am hopeful a permanent reauthorization will pass the Senate and will keep your views in mind as the Senate considers the details of the surface transportation reauthorization legislation. You may also be interested to learn I introduced the FREIGHT Act (S. 371) on February 16, 2011. If enacted, this legislation would establish the nation's first strategic plan for freight and would identify bottlenecks to reduce delays and increase reliability. More than one million jobs in our state are in freight-dependent industries. In 2010, over 533 million tons of freight moved in Washington and by 2040, that number is expected to grow by up to 86 percent. The FREIGHT Act would help Washington state grow its robust trade economy by making investments to modernize and improve the efficiency of Washington's intermodal freight network, which includes ports, freight railways, air cargo infrastructure, highways, and pipelines. It would reduce national freight transportation-related carbon dioxide levels by 40 percent by 2030 and reduce the impact of transportation-related air, water, and noise pollution on the ecosystem and local communities. In addition, the FREIGHT Act would create a new competitive grant program for freight-specific infrastructure projects, such as port infrastructure improvements, freight rail capacity expansion projects, and highway projects that improve access to freight facilities. A new Office of Freight Planning and Development would be created within the Department of Transportation that would coordinate efforts to improve the efficiency and operation of all modes of the national freight transportation system. On December 14, 2011, the Senate Commerce Committee approved, by a voice vote, an amendment I introduced to include provisions of the FREIGHT Act in surface transportation reauthorization legislation. Thank you again for contacting me to share your thoughts. You may also be interested in signing up for periodic updates for Washington State residents. If you are interested in subscribing to this update, please visit my website at http://cantwell.senate.gov. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance. Sincerely, Maria Cantwell United States Senator

bike death

Here's a list of various (often popular) bike set ups that I think would cause death. IMHO, there's quite a common tradeoff between weight/efficiency and catastrophic equipment failure that would lead to death.

Carbon fork

Fancy boy cyclist would think: It costs a lot more and saves a WHOLE POUND! Awesome!

I think: Say theoretically I hit a pothole while going down a hill (theoretically Pine St.)... does the carbon fork fail? If it does, the front of the bike crumples and I fly face first into the pavement ahead of me at full speed. If I'm (un)lucky the pointy shards of the carbon fork may impale me on the way down, either taking me out of my misery or adding to it. No thanks, but I do not need nor want your fancy carbon fork. I'll take the cheapo steel fork that would just bend if something terrible like this were to happen.


700c x 23 tyres

Fancy boy cyclist would think: Wow, these skinny tires weight 10g less and have less rolling resistance! I must have these!

I think: Failure scenario 1: 25mm tires can easily be gobbled up by the seams between concrete slabs, like those on the downhill on Pine St or along Airport Way. 700 x 25 tires are already bad enough, but 23mm is even worse. The best case scenario is what happened to my "wide" 25mm on Airport Way and it just damaged my tire. Cost: $24. The more likely scenario is that you get thrown off your bike at full speed, smash into the pavement, and then get run over by the car that was next to you. Ouch! Cost: Way more than $24.



Fixed Gear Bikes

Fancy boy cyclist would think: I am a cool hipster! Look at me and my minimal bike!

I think: You live in Seattle. There are hills. You can't go down hills because you can't pedal fast enough. You can't go up hills because you aren't strong enough. You are an idiot.


Fixed Gear Bikes with No Brakes

Fancy boy cyclist would think: I am a cool hipster! Look at me and my minimal bike!

I think: You live in Seattle. There are hills. You can't go down hills because you can't pedal fast enough. You can't go up hills because you aren't strong enough. Some of these bikes don't have brakes so the only way to stop is to slow down the pedaling and rely on the rear wheel to bring you to a stop. This is like engine braking on trucks or downshifting to slow down in your car. There are two problems here. First, I wonder how easy it is to control the amount of braking this way. Second, under the best of circumstances, braking with only the rear wheel is very ineffective. Just like a car, most of the braking power is applied to the front. The harder you brake, the less weight on the rear wheel. For a hard stop, almost all of the braking is done by the front wheel and the rear wheel may be lifted off the ground. In this setup there is no front. The best bet is to lock up the rear wheel and keep sliding for a very long time. At least you will look like a cool hipster when you are doing it.

gfail

This is a work e-mail turned blog post. Why? Because I'm irked.

--------------------------------------

I just went diving into my Gmail spam folder looking for an email I’ve been expecting. I didn’t find it, but I did find that many of the 60 messages were false positives. Honestly, I’m a little irked.

Definitely not Spam (10 of 60)

2 were from a chatty political org where I do read and respond to maybe 10% of the emails sent

3 from another chatty political org where I open and read about 80+% of the emails sent

1 from a non-profit whose e-mails I often read (they don’t send that many)

1 from a web tracking company whose e-mails I read ~20% of the time (they don’t send that many)

1 from another web tracking company whose e-mails I read ~20% of the time (they don’t send that many)

1 from an chatty org I’m a member of that I already tell Gmail to automatically archive. It’s correctly labeled, but in spam nonetheless.

1 mileage statement from an airline that I already have a filter to automatically label (but not skip my inbox)

Greymail (8 of 60)

6 were from Canon – emails that I don’t read and can’ unsubscribe to. Classic greymail.

2 from Adobe

this sandwich tastes like death

Feedback to Microsoft Dining Services:

--------------------------------------

I ordered the special ex-Yugoslavian sandwich (in café 86) figuring it would be good to try something new. I like it when there are new things at the cafeteria, but this time it was a big mistake. The sandwich is dripping in grease – both from the cheese as well as the seemingly deep fried super salty sausage. The sausage would be fine in moderation, but there is a generous portion of it. Sorry about rambling. Here’s a more orderly list of feedback.

The good:

• Variety! I like the introduction of new items
• Generous portion of meat/sausage
• Onions were nice and fresh and tasty
• It’s super filling. I walked in hungry since I skipped lunch this morning. I ate half of this sandwich and I’m full.

The bad

• Sausage was too salty and greasy… and I love salt. It’s right below the threshold of what I can tolerate. But given the generous portion of sausage, it’s too much. I decided I needed a break from the sandwich so I can process the salt and grease. I’m using that break to write this email. This email is getting long because I am still recovering and my taste buds aren’t quite ready for more.
• Overall grease level is super high – the cheese melts into more grease. See attached photos. The grease has soaked through the pita, soaked through the paper tray, and soaked through a bunch of napkins. I can feel it soaking through my fingers and back out through my pores while clogging my arteries and stopping my heart along the way. After writing this, maybe I shouldn’t finish this. I don’t want to die sitting here.
• Visual appeal – lacks color. Brown sausage, pita, and white cheese and onions isn’t very visually stimulating. Some tomatoes or greens would make it seem more appetizing, although I don’t know if that’s straying too far from the ex-Yugoslavian recipe. For better or worse, the grease makes it glisten.

customer feedback - gloves

I just shot this email off to Gordini. Too bad my dad destroyed the awesome pair I had from the 1990's.

------------------------------

I purchased a set of Gordini Gore II gloves a few years ago and I've been having a recurring problem with them. I've only used these gloves about 10-15 times. The stitching on the fingers comes apart very easily.

This first happened on the ring finger after using the gloves about 3 times. I repaired it myself and that finger has been problem free.

This happened again after a few more uses on the ring finger on the other glove. Again, I repaired it myself and it has been problem free.

Now this happened yet again on the little finger.

If I didn't have a fantastic experience with my last set of Gordini gloves (which had a similar design sans Gore-Tex and lasted well beyond fashion), I probably would have been immediately upset and returned the gloves right away. However, I had faith that the gloves weren't poorly made. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I tried returning the gloves to REI today, but apparently that wasn't where I bought them because it wasn't in their system. They suggested that I contact you directly, so here I am.

I am primarily writing to give you some late feedback about the build quality of these gloves. It's terrible. Hopefully you've fixed this. On the other hand, the gloves were very waterproof and have kept my hands warm despite the bad stitching. Keep that up! I'm not sure what I'll get for my next set of gloves. I get constant recommendations from friends.

I for years used to be the one raving about how awesome my Gordini gloves were, but sadly for the past year most of my glove interactions have been people offering to help my mend my gloves while at Mt. Baker, Whistler or some other group outing. I suppose in a way it fits my personality, but it's probably not the brand image you want to portray.

For your reference:

RN# 56385

CA# 00281

4G860

goodbye

We've had an odd relationship for a little under 5 years. Funny how never once did I think I was going to stay with you long term. I always knew that you didn't really want me. It only surprised me how long it took for you to finally push me away.

Sure, there were some nice benefits. Your Canadian connection and your good relationship with many of my friends made it easy for me to justify those five years, but that in itself isn't enough for me to be with you any longer. I knew that at some point you would either reject me or take advantage of me. I'm not surprised that you chose the latter. I always knew you were a gold-digging .

I think the letter by post that you sent me was a nice gesture. Very business-like... then again you always were. Thankfully, I was never emotionally invested in our relationship, so I was not upset when I discovered it in my mailbox after returning from a week traveling. I simply read it and decided that it was time to move on. I'm doing alright and I'm sure I wouldn't have a hard time finding someone else. Don't worry about me.

What did surprise me is how much you were asking for in your ultimatum. (Yes, it was basically an ultimatum.) You technically left the door open for things to continue, but your demands were a bit much. Some demands are within reason - especially considering your reputation - but what you were asking for was absurd.

I had a chat with my barista this morning about the whole thing. Somehow the whole thing came up because I didn't have enough cash in my wallet. Anyway... he thought me leaving you was long overdue - especially in light of some of your other antics which I wasn't even aware of. I guess you've overextended yourself or made some bad investments, because apparently you're asking everyone for money.

Sure, we've known each other for a few years, but I don't think that justifies making us all responsible for your mistakes. I'm sorry you screwed up, but please don't come out of nowhere to ask me and everyone for some absurdly high contribution to your personal bailout fund. A bailout stemming from your attempt to screw us in the first place, I might add. If things get desperate, file for bankruptcy or find some sugar daddy like Warren Buffett (which I've heard you've already done). As for us - it's over.

Bank of America, good luck, and have a nice life.

Love,

Paul

apple survey

Question: What one thing would you most like to see Apple improve upon, and why?

Answer:

iTunes. It's slow, the update process is terrible, it's huge, it erases content from my iPhones a ton, works terribly with multiple iOS devices, works terribly with multiple computers, installs crapware like Safari and Bonjour, causes problems when syncing libraries across devices. I mean, it's just an awful awful piece of shit... er.... software.

ridiculous "security"

Some of this I find personally annoying. Some of this is just plain stupid. I am speaking of the password security requirements for WSDOT's GoodToGo! electronic toll pass.

Password - 10 characters/numbers, at least one upper case character, one lower case character and one number. Password cannot contain spaces or special character.

• OK. This isn't terrible. It's just personally annoying because my passwords are generally, but not always!) 8 characters long. Enabling special characters makes the passwords stronger, but also theoretically puts a greater burden to the developer to make sure the characters aren't special in a bad way.
  

Security Questions - must not contain special characters and must be at least 6 characters long and maximum of 16 characters long.

• What is your sister's middle name (no sister)
• What is the name of your first pet? (4 characters)
• In what city were you born (7 characters... phew)
• What street did you grow up on (has a space, I hope that's OK)
• What was the make of your first car? (5 characters - about half of cars have makes less than 6 characters long)
• What was the name of your (first) elementary school? (6 characters, woo!)
• What is your brother's middle name? (has a special character)

This would be fine if they had security questions that worked well with these requirements. Unfortunately my options are limited. I get to use the city I was born in (which generally brings up confusion as to whether to include the state), the street I grew up on (where there's two options, and my the name of my first elementary school (which I barely remember). Great. Thanks, jerks.

Car makes under 6 characters (FAIL):

• Acura
• Audi
• BMW
• Buick
• Chevy
• Dodge
• Fiat
• Ford
• GMC
• Honda
• Jeep
• Kia
• Lexus
• Lotus
• Mazda
• Mini
• Saab
• Scion
• smart
• Tesla
• Volvo

Cars with makes 6 characters or longer:

• Aston Martin
• Bentley
• Bugatti
• Cadillac
• Chevrolet
• Chrysler
• Ferrari
• Hyundai
• Infinity
• Jaguar
• Lamborghini
• Land Rover
• Lincoln
• Maserati
• Mayback
• McLaren
• Mercedes
• Mercury
• Mitsubishi
• Nissan
• Porsche
• Rolls-Royce
• Spyker
• Subaru
• Toyota
• Volkswagen

vw

Greg: I don't know when you're planning on replacing this car...

Paul: When it's gone.

Glass Guy 2 (as he's working on the rear quarter glass of a red VW Beetle):
Whatever you do, don't get one of these!

Paul: I know. The glass falls down. I don't know a single VW owner who
hasn't had that problem. Good business for you, right?

Greg: Yeah. They really do a bad job with those.

what is this saying about microsoft?

browser wars update and bad reporting

A couple of months I switched from FireFox to Chrome. My initial complaints were all from getting used to a slightly different UI. Now that I've gotten over the difference in bookmark UI and the combined address bar and search bar, I have replaced the cons with the really nasty performance issues that I am now all too familiar with. I've also updated IE to reflect IE 9. Note that there are no more rankings. They all are inadequate in covering certain basics.

Firefox

Why I like it:

• Great extension support – notably AdBlock Plus and xMarks
• I like how I can dock my bookmarks. It’s a great way to make the screen narrower (in other words, more readable) while making good use of that space.
• It works.
• The URL autofill is great.
• BlackSheep extension and HTTPSeverywhere extensions make me feel safer.

Why I hate it:

• It’s slow. Ridiculously slow to open, and then if I leave it open for more than two days (on my work computers, for example, or when I put my home computer on standby), it gobbles up enormous amount of memory. I really want a better #1.

Chrome

Why I use it:

• It opens up really fast. If I just turned on my computer and I don’t need to access my bookmarks and I’m doing basic browsing, I’ll just use Chrome. This only happens on my desktop at home.
• Good extension support. It now has AdBlock and xMarks. Finally.
• Address bar search is "good enough" for finding certain bookmarks, but still not as good as Firefox.
• Google Voice integration is nice.

Why I hate it:

• Occasionally just hangs for 10 seconds and then comes back to life
• Has huge performance issues with managing tabs. Specifically, when opening multiple windows at once (like when checking NFL box scores or reading news off TechMeme in the morning) and also when closing multiple windows sequentially.
• Address bar is absolutely terrible at quickly prioritizing and displaying autocomplete candidates. Sometimes it would be faster to just type in the entire URL.
• Address bar doesn't let me delete autocomplete entries like FireFox.
• Auto-complete results take precedence over what I type. If I have "www.knowyourmeme.com" in my history and I want to go to "www.kno.com", I should be able to type in "kno" followed by Ctrl+Enter to get there. That should *not* take me to knowyourmeme. That's why I'm pressing the Control key!
• The bookmarks UI is terrible for using bookmarks.
• Fanboys who think that Chrome is fast. It just isn't.

Safari

Why I use it:

• Best browser for the iPhone.

Why I hate it:

• On the PC it’s installs itself whenever anything Apple needs to be updated. DOJ should get on it, because it’s not cool to have a new version of QuickTime, Safari, Bonjour, and whatever crap installed every time I upgrade iTunes (which is now a beast).
• Weird keyboard shortcuts. Ctrl-T, Ctrl-Tab, Ctrl-L, Ctrl-E, Ctrl-W. Thanks.

Internet Explorer 9

Why I use it:

• Work. Intranet sites.
• The only browser I have that can open multiple tabs in sequence without lagging substantially. YES! I can now open all the box scores for last weekend's NFL games without getting my browser to hang.
• It’s a good second browser if I want to be logged in using different accounts for different services (like Facebook, e-mail, etc.). Any browser can do this, but I have IE installed on all my PCs so it’s the default.
• Sometimes it's just up.

Why I hate it:

• Like Chrome, hangs on the closing of multiple tabs. Ugh.
• No extension support, therefore no AdBlock.
• Bad for going to intranet sites since it assumes that if there is no http:// prefix you want to do a search.

On to bad reporting rewards for the morning:

• Robert Scoble On Twezr. Good demo, but your questions are horrible. If I got a nickel for every time he asked about some weirdo fringe scenario that no real people care about, I'd be able to buy lunch.
• Mary Pilon of the WSJ on mobile and "spending." The headline has nothing to do with the data, and in fact the update posted at the end basically says that the headline is wrong. Fix it, dumbass, or just withdraw the entire story.

vis a vis

how to steal money using google buzz

• Step 1: Spider through some profiles and identity the ones with vanity profiles.
• Step 2: Visit the vanity profile to get the current city, hometown, where they went to school, where they worked
• Step 3: Go to the county auditor’s web site for the current city and look up the address of where the person lives, the value of the home, and when bought it.
• Step 4: Try to figure out the person’s password for their Gmail account. The address is already known, and the password is probably “12345.”
• Step 5: Use Gmail’s fantastic search feature to find any mention of “account,” “password,” or “PIN” and also see where they bank. You want to find banks for deposits (to steal) and banks for loans (to verify your fake identity)
• Step 6: Steal their money. Some banks ask for verification of things like mortgages, loans, and the like. Usually, it's asking what they got the loan for, what's the amount, what's the monthly payment, and when it was opened. Since you know where they live, how much their house is worth, when they bought it, and where and when they went to school, this shouldn’t be that hard. If it asks for past addresses, see what’s in the Amazon account page.
• Step 7: Profit

You can also do this with Facebook. Have fun! And more importantly, BE SAFE!

the economy is screwed

I thought I had written this before here, but I don't see the post anywhere...

This is why I think things are screwed... for any individual person in today's world, we expect:

$100k to go towards college
$300k to go towards buying a house
$1000k towards retirement (that would be about 50k a year for 20 years... puny)
$100k over a few cars over a lifetime

Total, that's about $1500k. Let's say that we have 50 years of making money. It's way on the high side, but even then we would need to have an extra $30k a year to cover all of this. This does not include any day to day expenses like FOOD, utilities, or having fun. At best, we're barely scraping by. At worst, we're blind to our complete insolvency.

itunes is brilliantly shitty

I made my attempt to update my iPhone's firmware to 3.0.1 today. Still in progress several hours later because iTunes is ridiculously idiotic.

Fail #0:
Apple finally patches a known security hole because the people who made them aware of it months ago are about to tell the world about the SMS exploit at a conference. This motivates me to try to update the firmware.

Fail #1:
iTunes failed to install the new firmware. Bricked several times with error #14. I've been that error before trying to install a firmware and the previous time I got around it by updating to iTunes 8.2.1.

Fail #2:
Still fails to install the new firmware. Thankfully, I have the old 3.0 firmware laying around and I'm able to restore to that. After that restore it has the firmware and functions, I try and restore my backup.

Fail #3:
The restore of the backup aborts. iTunes claims that the iPhone disconnected (of course it wasn't). At this point, none of my apps have been restored and the thing looks jacked up (the Google Talk logo is just a blank square). At least my contacts and bookmarks are all there.

Fail #4:
Upon reconnecting the iPhone, iTunes immediately backs up my iPhone, replacing the good backup with a bad backup.

Fail #5:
I sign up for a trial of mobileMe, thinking it would be a sure easy way to back up my contacts and bookmarks. It backs up my contacts. When asking it to backup my bookmarks, it tells me I can only sync bookmarks if I delete all of them. What's the point of that?

Fail #5:
iTunes refuses to recognize the iPhone at all. A reboot is required.

Fail #6:
Even after putting the phone into DFU mode (don't ask), it still won't take the new firmware. Fantastic.

Fail #7:
iTunes now refuses to install the 3.0 firmware. Seems like I'll brick my phone doing a minor update while I never bricked my phones while jailbreaking. Brilliant.

Fail #8:
After three tries (and two different new error codes), 3.0 installs. Great! Then in my endless optimism, I try to install 3.0.1 again. Fail.

to be continued...