Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Kelowna, BC


Due to a quirk in my planning, I found myself in Kelowna, BC for a couple of days.  Kelowna is in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia on the shores of the Okanagan Lake.  When planning my trip, I had no idea that this is the place from where the stories of the Ogopogo lake monster originate.

A great place to watch the lake for signs of the beast is at Summerhill Pyramid Winery, dinning outside on the deck of the Sunset Organic Bistro.  I wasn't able to spot any lake monsters, but my waitress said with a sly grin that she did indeed have some recently recorded video of something in the water.

View from the deck of the restaurant

It's called the Summerhill Pyramid Winery for a reason.  The wine is made is under this pyramid.

I only discovered that wineries are thing in this region after I arrived.  Had I known ahead of time, I might have planned accordingly.  Another winery I briefly visited was Volcanic Hills Estate Winery.  For tasting, they only offered a few whites and unimpressive blended reds this early in the season.  Had I planned on coming to Volcanic Hills ahead of time for the purpose of wine tasting, I would've been disappointed.

Kelowna has a relatively active downtown area with several restaurants and bars for the diners and revelers alike.  It was here that I finally spotted the lake monster.

This guy was posing for photos all day.

 Wandering around downtown, I ran into this Futurama-esque robot looking machine, who appeared to be a silent sentry guarding a bygone time.


"Halt!  You may go here, but no farther!"

There is a rather nice resort here too.


To commemorate the trip, I got this T-shirt that is all kinds of awesome!


Here's the town and lake from the nearby Knox Mountain.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

When did the Fastlane on Highways start to be called the Passing Lane?

When did the fastlane on highways start to be called a passing lane? From what I seen, a few years ago there was was a big nationwide push to change the concept of our highways and freeways; from fastlane/slowlane to the idea of a weaving-between-lanes-to-keep-a-constant-speed. Constant weaving between lanes not only is more dangerous, it actually slows down traffic. Every time there is a lane change, there is potential to slow down traffic behind the change. Also, forcing more traffic into fewer lanes inherently increases traffic back-up and congestion. What is this passing lane concept trying to solve? It's not solving the problem of traffic congestion. It appears to be making things worse.

 The problem is that highways in US weren't designed with passing lane concept in mind. Passing lane concept makes little sense in the context of driving on a highway or freeway within most larger cities with current infrastructure. If law enforcement and lawmakers want to create new driving rules that change our driving habits this drastically, they need to fund changes to road system to support those new rules. This would in line with HOV lanes, where current lanes are not converted HOV, but rather the highway is expanded to add a new lane for HOV.

 The US actually does have some designed to be passing lanes. These are usually found when going up long or particularly steep hills. It usually involves a lane being added to the right side, rather than the left side of the road. This makes the most sense in the US. Slower traffic is supposed to move over to the right! That is how our road system was designed.

 A slower driver who refuses to move over to the right is the problem, not everyone else trying to drive safely at a constant speed! How about instead of trying to magically change US driving habits in a way that just isn't supported by our infrastructure, let's enforce the rule that slower traffic move to the right!

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Over-notification

To the driver that turns on their turn blinker 1/2mi before their turn, with multiple possible turns: way to over-notify everyone!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Sensless Sunday: Mammoth Star

  1. The last pyramids in Egypt where finished before the last of the Woolly Mammoths died out.1 2
  2. The World as we know it was designated to end by a Viking myth on 2/22/20143 and by a modern economist on 3/4/2014.4 The quote from War Games rings through my head right now about "We're still here! We're STILL HERE!".
  3. Our Solar System is traveling at an average speed of 514,000 mph relative to the Milky Way galactic center.5

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

epinions.com is soon to end as we know it

I wrote a highly critical article about epinions.com in September 2013 where I stated they have made themselves irrelevant in 2013.  epinions.com used to be a great site where anyone could go to get high quality and unbiased user reviews of just about any type of product.  It wasn't polluted with shills and ads.  

Then, it did started getting polluted with ads. Soon, it became hard to tell links to ads from genuine content.  Then, it became hard to find genuine content at all.  Ads ruled.  (Though, shills never really seemed to be able to take hold.)

Even still, I used epinions.com frequently enough until 2012.  Thru no conscious action, I just stopped using the site.  Eventually, I realized this and wrote my critical review as to why.

Well, today, epinions has announced they will be ending its community and reviews system.  This is no surprize to me.  They lost their way, and eventually people just stopped using the site.  The site fell into the trap of trying to sell ads to generate funding rather than offering a superior product that people flock to.  Their focus became monetization without understanding how to generate income from their product without losing its soul.

Their email to members stated,
After a challenging 2013, Epinions will no longer maintain community related operations of its website. We are proud that we were able to serve as a facilitator of shared experiences and thoughtful dialogue over the past 15 years. However, several obstacles, such as declining participation, have deeply affected our business and forced us to make this difficult decision. 
Yeah, 2013 is when I stopped using the site, so this makes perfect sense.  The site stopped being a repository for high quality reviews, and just became a poor quality online mall.

Community submissions ended today.  Reviews can no longer be added.  Last payments to reviewers will be issued on March 6, 2014.  Access to online accounts and message boards will end on March 25,2014.  The suddenness of this suggests a poorly planned shutdown, which means they prolly just ran out of money.

Farewell, epinions!  Whatever form you eventually take, I'm sure I will not be apart of it.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Senseless Sunday: Rubbing dreamt cources

    1. Only five words in the English language actually end with the letters "mt": dreamt, daydreamt, undreamt, redreamt, and outdreamt.
    2. The invention of matches (rubbing a chemical dipped stick to create a flame with friction) came about in 1826.  The invention of the lighter (mechanical device to produce a flame) was first developed in the 1500's.1
    3. As of 2008, the USA has more golf courses than the rest of the world combined.2

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Net Neutrality has been cancelled based on a technicality in the law!

Net Neutrality, which prevents Internet service providers from giving preferential treatment to particular websites (such as their own over a competitors) is in deep risk of being completely gone! Recent court ruling struck down Net Neutrality based on a flimsy technicality. NBC, ABC and CBS have not reported this sweeping change, apparently because they benefit, according to Forward Progress.

The removal of Net Neutrality would mean Internet providers can create artificial bottlenecks in service and charge fees to both customers and websites to avoid these bottlenecks (mind you, they are already making lots of money for service that costs very little to provide; they just want more of the pie to end up in their coffers by using the threat of degrading service). This matter is so serious that Fox News story actually sited civil rights as possibly being at risk!

Friday, January 10, 2014

Beeper Codes list (completed)

As a matter of posterity, I've compiled this list of over 460 Beeper Codes.  These are just one type of Pager Codes that I previously wrote about.  This list is different from other lists online.  There are common codes that didn't appear in other lists; and I've removed entries that are redundant to Number Look-Alikes.  Number Look-Alikes are terms spelt out in pager code, such as "43770" for "HELLO", rather than being shorthand Beeper Code.

Beeper Codes
Code Definition Reference
0*0 Roh-Roh!
0*10*0 Im tired
0*17*8*1*2 Oh you ate one too OU812
0*7*1 I need a favor
00 Airhead
000 Call whenever you can
000 Time; What time is it?
000*0000 I'm online/I will be online
0000000 Bronx cheer
0001000 I'm alone right now
001 Please
001122 I don't know
0049 Accident; Something wrong
007 I've got a secret James Bond
00-88-00 Call me later
009 Going to a movie, wanna come?
0099 Going out, wanna come?
01*01*01 Don't have a cow! Term popularized by The Simpsons
010 Plans changed; I'm tired/flaking
0101 I'm tired
011 Monday
01210 I'm confused
016 Plans changed
020 Plans changed
020202 Just thinking of you
022 Tuesday
024 Going to the beach
0242 Hey lover!
033 Wednesday
04*04*04 Happy Holidays
0404 I will always love you
044 Thursday
05*05 Margaritas
055 Friday
0563 Please don't leave me
060 You are fine
064 Don't call me
066 Saturday
06644 Don't call me
07 Just kidding
07 I salute you
074 I need a favor
0741 I need a favor
0747 I need a favor
077 Sunday
07700 Ha ha ha!
080808 Kisses and hugs X and O's
09 Why dont you get a cordless
phone like regular people?
09*09*09 Let's talk
0909 It's off, canceled
099 I've got something to tell you
0990 Too late to call
0998 I have a question
1 You're the one; You the man
1*00 Im on the phone with my
significant other
1*8 I ate
1*800 I'm free - no plans tonight
10 You're perfect
10*2 You've got 10 minutes
10*2*1 Slim chance
10*20 Where are you?
10*4 Is everything OK?
10*400 Thank you
100 Come back
100*200*
300
I can't see you anymore
10000 Lets go for a swim 10,000 Leagues
Under the Sea
10000001 Miss you
1001 Prove it
1004 From your angel
101 I've got an easy question
1023 It's over
1038 Can't stop loving you
104 Come over
1040 You owe me big-time
105 Cancel
1052 LOVE!!!
107 Come back
1078 I miss the old us
108 Come over
11 Maybe
11 You're perfect
11111111 Congratulations! Resembles a
series of
exclamation marks
112233 At the club
116 I'm in trouble
1182 Come here fast
119 I'm in trouble
12*25 Merry Christmas
120 Leave
121 I need to talk to you alone
121212 Happy Birthday!
122 I want/need you?
123 I miss you
124 I'm dreaming of you
125 I'm bored
1250 Me too
1259 Me too
13 I'm having a bad day
13*30 It's getting old
1300 Going out
133 Don't forget
135 You wish
13579 This is weird
141 I'm with you
1423 I want to die
143 I love you
1432 I love you too
1432222222 I love you so much
1437 I love you forever
1443 I don't love you
1444 I hate this life
146 Good morning
1463 I miss the old you
1492 Let's go sailing
15 Whatever
15 Hugs
15*11 OK
151-  Want to join me?
15243 Be With Me
15243 I want to be with you
153 I hate you
1543 I still love you
155 Just kidding
155 I wanna go to sleep
157 Keep in touch
16 Kisses
1692 I want to
17 No; No way
1701 Live long and prosper Spock, Star Trek
171 Mad
177117 Minutes Usually preceding
a number to
indicate how long
you will be.
1776 You're sickening
178 I'll call you back later
18 Yes
180 Yesterday
180 I love you
183 I'm busy
187 You're dead/I hate you
19 Hug
19 Yes
1925 Let's go out
193 Miss Me?
193 Do you miss me?
195 See you tonight
197 I'm pissed off
2 Me too
2*2 Let's dance
2*4*6 I'm pissed off
20 Pick me up
200 Tonight
2001 You're way out there
201 Cancel previous page
2010 Later
202 Don't meet me
20-20-20 Sorry
203 And
203 Get off the phone
204 I'm/Everything OK
205 I'm on my way home
209 On my way
21 Maybe
21 Let's have a drink
210 Got your page...I understand
213 Miss me?
214 Happy Valentine's Day
214 Received your message
215 Running late
22 Be good
220 Why haven't you called
221 Where are you?
222 Your busted!; Are you busted?
2222 I'm sleepy
224 2 good 4 you
23 Te Amo I love you in
Spanish and Portuguese
23 Whatever
230 Oh yeah!
234 Just for today
235 Problem has been handled
237 Are you alone?
24 I'm Home
24*7 24 hours, 7 days a week
240 Tomorrow
243 We love you
244 My baby
245 I'm/everything is ok
2468 Your terrific
25 Hi, my crush
25 Sorry
255 I'm at a payphone, hurry
26 Te Quiero I love you in
Spanish
260 It's late, please hurry
265 Check your e-mail
27 Need you
270 Cancel previous page
280 My Sexy Baby
280 Today
285 Stay away for awhile
288 Today
288 But
288 When will I see you again?
29 You suck
290 I'm without my pager today
3 Wussup
30 This is getting old
300 Guess who?
301 Is this a bad time to call?
3011 Be careful
303 Stop playing
304 Ho Ho Ho
305 I love you back
310 I'm thinking about you
315 But
315 I miss you
32 Eat Me
320-  Wish you were here
321 Please reply
323 Let Me Hit
324 C-U-Soon
325 Hope you're feeling better
3293 Can't wait
330 You are incredible
332211 Movies
333 Love
333 Whats up?; How are you?
335 Your crazy
340 I owe you one
341 I like you
342 See you later
343 Call back now
345 Thank you
345987 I'm horny
346 Come back please
350 Sorry about that
36 You're cool
360 I love you back
3620 Sorry I lied
365 I'm blowing you a kiss
370 Congratulations
372 What are you doing?
375 Don't ever change
380 Your last page has me smiling
3838 Hey bebe
385 Hi Cutie/Handsome
390 Best of luck to you today
395 Please be careful out there
3999 You hurt me
400 Wanna hear something stupid?
4040 I hate you
405 I've got a secret, hehe
406 Hugs and kisses
41 Call me
410 You owe me big time
411 Call for info
411 I need info/I have a question
412 Please stay with me
414141 Sorry to bother you
415 Get an attitude adjustment
41526 Let's talk
41633 Merry Xmas
419 I don't understand
42 Fuck Me
420 It's that time!
420 You're in trouble, buddy!
4200 Losing feelings for you
423 Call me now
424 Call me back
425 Call me later
426 Call me tonight
428 Call me whenever
428 Call me tomorrow
43 Fuck You
43 You freak
430 You did it....bravo
433 Call me now
434 Feel Better
434 Hope you feel better
436 Hugs and kisses
438 Going to the beach
440 Hey clown, cheer up
444 I Want Love
444 Thinking of you
445 Ditto to your last page
45 Good night
450 Who pulled you chain?
455 Don't make me come get you
46 Hug
46*73 Goodnight, sweet dreams
460 Mind your own buisness
4678 Let's stay home
47 Good morning
470 I'm with you thru thick and thin
475 Long time no harass, hehe
477 Best friends forever
478 Just you and me
480 Let me know
485 A quick howdy to you
49 Good afternoon
490 You're in loony land
495 Go for it!
5 Hi
5*0 Are you booked?
50*50 It doesn't matter to me
500 Beep me
5020 So what
505 SOS
5150 Crazy
52 Hurry
522 Think of me
525 Going to the party
5280 Be mine
53 Thank You
533 Where are you?
5391 So, we are strangers again?
54 Never mind
54321 I'm ready to explode
55 You are a sweetheart
555 I want your sex
555 Call me
5555 I miss your voice
56 Sweet dreams
58 Happy birthday
5900 I'm sick
5971 I feel better
6 Always
6*9999999-  Get in line
60*017 Go online
60*60 I'm very happy
6000*6 Good luck
601 Happy birthday/anniversary
603 Hope your feeling better
606 Bitch
607 I miss you
609 I'm mad at you
611 I'm sorry
612 Thinking about you
6167 I am going to lunch
620 I dont know
62180 I'm grounded
629 Calling from payphone
630 Calling from cellphone
6302 I'm starting to like you
637 Always and forever
66 I'm mad
66 Let's hit the road Route 66
660 You better be ready
666 Can't go out
668 Not
67 Always and Forever
6771 Good friend/friends
69 Both ways
69 Lets get together
7 Forever; You will be in my heart
forever
70 I'm sad/depressed
700*600 Happy anniversary
7007 You're a joke
707-  LOL
710 I'm out of gas
7179 Best bud/friend
722 Don't beep me
7537 I know you don't like me
747 Let's fly
7537 I know you don't like me
757 I miss my baby
77 Friends forever
7735 Sell out
7741 Call me
789 Going to the mall
7942 From your friend
7979 Cheer up
8000 Goodbye or take care
801 I'm going over
8081 I had a bad time
811 Not a emergency, but important
815 I'll be good
8198 How about dinner?
82 Freak Me
82 Hurry
823 Thinking of you
825 Anytime
8255 Get your butt over here now
8282 Hurry up
831 I love you 8 letters, 3 words,
1 meaning
838 I know it's you
8431 I can't wait to see you
844 Can you handle me
8498 Forget it
8558 Waiting for your call
86 You're finished
86*0 Are you mad?
864 I'm home
8642 I'm gonna get even with you
87 You're late; I'm late
8800 I'll call you later
881 I forgive you
883 Beep me now
890 Leave me alone
9*09 I have good news
9*2*9 Forgive me
9*4*4*4 Are you thinking of me
9*5 It's quitting time
9*52 I screwed up
9*9*9 Only us
90 You're beautiful
90*90*90 No, no, no
90*91*92 I had a great time
9000 Repeat message
90210 Watta snob
9043 Relax
906 I'm on my way
909 I am at work
9090-  Go! Go!; Get a move on!
910 Sorry I hurt you
9103 I will try
911 Emergency
911 This is big!; This is an emergency,
call me now
9143 Do you love me?
920 Cheer up
921 I do care
922 Let's try something new
9229 Big problem
93 Grow up
9339 Some other time
9341 Do you like me?
937 Never
9428 What do you want to do?
943 Where are you?
9437 Liar
9438 Where?
9444 Are you thinking of me?
9449 Please be good
949 Why?
9500 Friends
95507 Your loss
961 Let's try again
966 Bad news
968 I'm all yours
971 I had to go…
972 I'm ready
9779 Mmmmmm
98*6 Hope you're feeling better
9810 I'm bored
9876 I'm serious
9890 Forever
99 Nighty Night
99*44*100 I'm almost totally completely
bored
9908 Can't talk now
9922 You don't care
9955 Don't do it again
9993 I'm OK

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Using a thorn to write

I'm not sure why, but I have a growing fascination with the letter thorn.  Maybe it comes from the fact that we have sounds in the English language that have no letter to themselves.  This is particularly strange since we used to have letters for at least some of these sounds.  In the case of sounds for th, those letters are thorn and eth.

Capital thorn: Þ
Lowercase thorn: þ

Capital eth: Ð
Lowercase eth: ð

Thorn represents the unvoiced th sound, as in the words thin, things, wither, and eighth.  Eth represents the voiced th sound, as in the words the, that, those, feather, and clothe.  When these letters were in common use, they were often used interchangeably, regardless to which th sound was actually used.  Additionally, the letter Y was often used in place of thorn since print type fonts of Medieval times didn't have the letter thorn.  This means, "Ye Olde Shoppe" was really pronounced "The Old Shop", no different than today.  In this case, the "Y" was a replacement for the letter thorn, which represented the voiced th sound of the word "the".  (Further discussion on English sounds that are missing letters.)

So, I've decided to play around with the idea of using thorn in its rightful place within the English language.  The following is a republished old article, where the letters th (representing the voiced and unvoiced th sounds) are replaced with the letter thorn.

INFAMOUS MINIATURE GOLF STORY
Ok...here's þe infamous Miniature Golf story..
Þis one time, like two years ago, I took Miriam to play Miniature Golf at a Golfland in San Jose.  She hadn't been to a Miniature Golf place in aeons.  So, we get our clubs, balls, scorecard and pencils, þen head to þe first tee.  Being þe gentleman þat I am, I let her go first.  She bends down by sticking her ass up in þe air as usual (þis being a family type place, mind you) to put þe ball on þe black mat.  It starts rolling around a bit, but finally she makes it stay in place.  While þis was going on, I'm watching her out of þe corner of my eye, just kinda waiting for her to get her ball to stop rolling around. Getting þe ball to stay in place was, of course, a pointless exercise given what she does next.
She swings. I hear a panicked "Oh!".  She's looking back at me, embarrassed, kinda laughing, kinda whimpering.  Þen I notice þe club is no longer in her hands. I briefly look around for it, confused.  Þen I realize, she's þrown þe club up in þe air during her swing!  I ask, "Where did you þrow þe club?"  Þen I realize furþer, þe club went straight up in þe air!  Worse yet, it hasn't come down yet!  Þen, my even more profound realization is þat it has now been 5 seconds, from when I was wondering why Miriam was embarrassed to þis moment (when I realized þe club was still up in þe air), and þe club was still up in þe air!  I shout at Miriam, "Get out of þe way!", while using pure instinct as to where not be when it finally decided to come back down to Earþ.  We boþ duck and run.  I turn around, worried þat þis magic club (which has now been in þe air for over 6 seconds) might land on someone else.  To my relief, it tumbles to þe ground safely, right on þe spot þat Miriam and I had just ran away from.
We laughed it off, and were relieved no one got hurt.  But to þis day, we wonder how þe hell þis club shot straight up out of her hands into þe air far enough to land in þe same spot a whole 7 seconds later!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Old School: Pager Code


There are/were several types of pager codes in the 1990's before cellphones become common with inexpensive data/text plans.

Calculator Method
The simplest (and prolly earliest) pager code was the Calculator Method.  This method replaced letters with numbers that resemble those letters when held upside down (similar to how you'd create words using upside down numbers on a calculator).  These were typed backwards so that the effect was easy to read.  Examples:

  • HELLO would read 07734.  4 kinda looks like an H, 3 is clearly an upside down E, 7 is clearly an upside down L and 0 is O in either direction.
  • GUESS WHO would read 04177*553176.  6 kinda looks like a G, 17 looks like an upside down U, 5 looks like an S, * is a space, 177 looks like an upside down W.
Beeper Codes
Another common pager code system consisted of a string of numbers that were typically 3 letters long used to represent specific words and phrases. Though I doubt there is consensus regarding a name for the collection of these pager codes, these seem most closely associated with the term "Beeper Codes".  Beeper codes were really a collection of many individual codes that were derived from several cipher methods.  Many codes used letter count, but other methods were also employed.

  • I LOVE YOU was commonly typed as 143.  This required foreknowledge of the code, as any combination of words can share common letter counts.  143 could've easily meant I CAN'T FLY if you didn't know the established meaning. 
  • I LOVE YOU was also 831 from the phrase, "8 letters, 3 words, 1 meaning."  Again, foreknowledge is necessary to decipher the code.  
There were a lot of these individual Beeper Codes.

Number look alikes
The most versatile pager code was a slightly more formal substitution method.  Letters were represented by a look alike number or string of numbers. This is similar to the Calculator Method, but can be read rightside up and used to spell any word without a lot of forethought (or turning your phone upside). Different varieties existed, but the most common was this:


Pager Code

LetterNumber Look Alike
A8
B8
C6
D0
E3
F4
G6
H4
I1
J7
K15
L7
M177
N17
O0
P9
Q0
R12
S5
T7
U11
V11
W111
X25
Y4
Z2
Spacebar- or *


With this method, complex messages could be sent without a lot of effort. Even after texting and cellphones become more common, this was still a good system to encipher messages from casual interloping.

  • HELLO becomes 43770
  • WISH YOU WERE HERE becomes 111154 4011 1113123 43123 (a special symbol for spacebar wasn't necessary once texting was available)
  • FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO becomes 401112 560123 8170 5311317 438125 860
Pager codes were still used by some people even after texting become available because most early texting-capable cellphones didn't have an alphabet keyboard.  Typing words was still tedious using the texting system.  It was prolly around the time when type-ahead appeared that use of pager codes finally become uncommon.  Once smartphones become common, there was really no need for pager codes anymore at all, except for fun.  I still find myself using some of the old 3 digit beeper codes if I don't feel like typing out a common phrase.