January 2008 – Page 2

January 18, 2008January 18, 2008

Some New Toys

It’s been awhile since my last post, but this post is going to be short and probably only a summary. I’ve recently obtained some rather new cool toys to play with.

First of all, I finally took the plunge and purchased an HDHR (HDHomeRun). For those who don’t know what this thing is, it’s a dual external QAM/ATSC tuner for your PC and is the easiest way to get QAM channels on your Media Center. I’ve had Media Center for awhile now, but I’ve really ever used it to watch videos and stuff. I finally wanted to play with the TV settings and like I said, took the plunge. I got it for a $160 shipped (deal is still available, inquire if you’re interested), only to find out a few days later a rumor of an employee discount. I’ll probably talk more about this later.

The next toy I got is my new Lenovo Thinkpad X61 Tablet. I had actually ordered this back in mid-December, but due to a UPS fiasco and them delivering my package to some other address, Lenovo to build another one and that’s why it took so long for it to arrive. Then there was the fact I was no longer in Monterey Park, and had to change the shipping which was more complicated than I originally thought. Anyway, I had been holding out for a portable laptop for some time since my IBM Thinkpad X31. I really wanted a X-series Thinkpad with a better screen. They decided to put a better screen on the Tablet, but not the regular X-series, so I finally made up my mind to get it. I was also contemplating on waiting for Apple to release the MacBook Slim (or what I had called it), but finally gave up on waiting for it. When the MacBook Air was announced a few days ago, I justified to myself that most 1st generation Apple products have a lot of problems.

Anyway, this morning I was having some sort of dream. I can’t remember what exactly the dream was but it involved a doorbell ringing. Doorbell ringing?!?! I jumped out of bed, ran to the window and saw the UPS truck. I ran down the 2 flights of stairs as a kid would do on Christmas morning to greet my UPS guy and signed for my package. I’ve played with it for awhile really nice. I’m still not that accustomed to the tablet features, but it’ll probably come bit by bit. It comes with Vista Business and definitely needs more RAM. Fortunately, a 2GB stick is on its way. I’d go into the specs later with its official post.

Yep, life is good. 🙂

January 18, 2008

2 Hilarious Videos

Got 2 videos I wanted to share with you.

Mintys Comedian Of The Month May 2007 – Jim Jeffries –

This month, we take a look at Jim Jeffries. Jim is what is commonly referred to as “filthy”, but we don’t often get to see him saying exactly what he wants on TV. However, in this set taken from the comedy show “Comedy Blue”, Jim is given free reign to say what he pleases.

Please be aware that this video contains very strong language, and themes which are suitable for neither work, the easily offended, nor children. You have been warned!

RayAlome shared this with me a couple days ago and this guy Jim Jeffries is freaking hilarious. I cracked up multiple times throughout the video. Here’s some more testimonies:

omfg krunkie, i almost died laughing at that one – Artemyst

I was on the floor for a little of that – RayAlome

Do be warn however and this is vile and filthy and probably not work safe (NSFW). If you have kids, you’ll probably want to put them to beside or send them outside before you click on that link. Given that, I don’t want to divulge anything to weaken the joke, yet it’s so hard to not be intrigued unless you know a little something. Let’s just put in this way, it involves a pair of chopsticks, an egg, and a whole lot of shit.

Next, I saw this video off Ungsunghero’s newest blog entry: American Idol: We’re Brothers Forever –

A hilarious audition on American Idol featuring Renaldo Lapuz singing the now famous song “We’re Brothers Forever” during his try out. Watch the ending also, he looks like he worships Simon!

This guy all dressed up in what looks like a pimp outfit, with the name Simon on his hat, comes and sings this hilarious song: We’re Brothers Forever. Simon is right, he predicted this would be a one-hit wonder and it sort of already has. Do be warned that this song may be stuck in your head for hours, yet you shouldn’t avoid it just because of that, because it’s just so awesome! When the gang joined him in singing and started doing interpretive dancing, it just got that much more funnier.

Will he become the next William Hung? Maybe.

January 15, 2008January 15, 2008

Does Chewing Affect Hunger?

So a few days ago I retracted my comment of how chewing delays the hunger signal, but I am not so sure anymore. While I was in the shower, the study of how smelling a banana instead of eating it was able to reduce hunger popped into my head. And if what RayAlome tells me is true, then the scent of banana should also have told the stomach to get ready to ingest some banana.

A quick search on Google with the keywords chewing and hunger returned conflicting results.

Here’s a few excerpts from articles I found from the first page of results:

The researchers, led by Marion Hetherington, D.Phil., Professor of Biopsychology at Glasgow Caledonian University in Glasgow, found that chewing gum can help reduce cravings and control appetite.

Hunger and desire to eat were significantly suppressed by chewing gum at one, two and three hour intervals after lunch.

– Thaindian News

An easy way to control those hunger pangs would be to pop a chewing gum into your mouth before an afternoon snack, say researchers.

– My-India.Net

A research study to be presented at the 2007 Annual Scientific Meeting of The Obesity Society, found that chewing gum before an afternoon snack helped reduce hunger, diminish cravings and promote fullness among individuals who limit their overall calorie intake.

– Newsmax.com

Of course all these are based off the same research and I came to the conclusion that either chewing gum helps control hunger or that India really wants to sell gum.

January 14, 2008January 14, 2008

Persepolis – Review

So I watched Persepolis (HD Trailers) this weekend and I’ve just got to say the movie was amazingly well done. Persepolis is an animated motion picture which is done mostly in black and white. There are moments in color, which represent the present. On the other hand, moments in black and white, represent the past.

Persepolis originally was a graphic novel done by Marjane Satrapi, the main character of the graphic novel and the movie. If you’re interested in the graphic novel, it’s available on Amazon.com. In a sentence, the story follows a little girl named Marjane Satrapi as she grows up experiencing both Iran’s revolution and the war with Iraq.

Continue reading the review…

January 13, 2008January 15, 2008

New Weight Loss Strategy: Sugar Free Gum

So a few days ago, I read this article on Consumerist: Don’t Chew 15 Sticks Of Sorbitol-Sweetened Gum Per Day. From the article itself (Chewing Gum Sweetener Can Cause Dangerous Weight Loss):

Many sugar-free chewing gums contain a sweetener called sorbitol. Sorbitol is a laxative which is poorly absorbed by the small intestine. An article in this week’s British Medical Journal (BMJ) warns of the dangers of excess sorbitol intake.

The warning comes after doctors came across two patients who had chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain and dangerously excessive weight loss. After lengthy investigations which could not identify why the patients were losing so much weight and had chronic diarrhea and pains, a detailed analysis of eating habits put the problem down to eating too much chewing gum with sorbitol.

One of the patients, a 21-year-old woman, had been eating the equivalent of 18-20g of sorbitol each day. The average stick of gum has about 1.25g sorbitol – so, she was chewing through 15-18 sticks of gum each day. The other patient, a 46-year-old man, was chewing about 20 sticks of sorbitol-containing gum plus approximately 200g of sweets (candy) each day – his total sorbitol daily intake was about 30g, the authors wrote.

So I was talking to Ungsunghero the other day and with all these commercials these days targeting people who want to lose weight, but don’t want to have a restricted diet or exercise, this sounds like the perfect plan. Basically, you just have to chew 10-20 pieces of sugar free gum each day and you’re almost guaranteed to have weight loss. I guess this isn’t much difference than people ingesting laxatives directly, but chewing gum provides some exercise too! Chewing 10-20 pieces a day is almost guaranteed to give you a sore jaw for the 1st few days, so you might want to start off slowly.

There’s also other benefits. ~~Since you appear to be chewing, your brain will think you’re eating, delaying the hunger signal.~~ Sugar-free gum also has 0 calories (sugar free) so you won’t be gaining anything from chewing sugar free gum, but will get the benefit of jaw exercise. Plus don’t forget the nice minty breath you’ll have (or whichever flavor you decide to choose).

Maybe Ungsunghero and I should patent this weight loss strategy. Or maybe it’s already patented…

UPDATE:

Had to make a retraction after RayAlome provided some more facts that chewing does not delay the hunger signal, but in fact induces it.

Ray AlOm3: actually this initiates the cephalic stage of digestion
Ray AlOm3: when your stomach does not receive any food it will start making all sorts of noises and signals
Ray AlOm3: the acid is pumpin, the muscles are contracting but nothing is arriving
Ray AlOm3: and remember the olestra chips
Krunk4Ever: so chewing gum makes you hungry?
Ray AlOm3: it will induce your digestive system
Ray AlOm3: so at the very least
Ray AlOm3: it will make you aware of your GI tract
Ray AlOm3: actually it will make you hungry
Ray AlOm3: because it’ll start the release of insulin from the pancreas
Ray AlOm3: but you won’t be getting any glucose
Ray AlOm3: so if you haven’t eaten in a while it could even cause minor hypoglycemia

However, this does not contradict the fact that you will be losing weight. 🙂

January 13, 2008January 13, 2008

Weekly Top Posts (1/6/2008 to 1/12/2008)

Here’s this week’s top post:

Previously…

There’s 2 new comers to the Top 10 list, first being the Windows Update Error: 80070490 that I got a week or 2 ago. Apparently my page is already ranked #4 on Google when you search for: windows update 80070490. Guess it means a lot of people are actually hitting this. Unfortunately, the logs and diagnostic info I submitted to the team investigating this bug proved to be not much help since I no longer am experiencing this problem.

The other new comer is the Butterfly = Symbol of Death? Looking into why there was suddenly a spike in this really old post, it turns out some people on a forum were talking about how butterflies represent the soul and reincarnation, and someone pointed out that it can also symbolize death and linked to that post.

January 12, 2008January 12, 2008

Relaying Salutations

A month ago when Liam came to Seattle, he told me to say hi to Cari for him when I went back to LA. I believe I actually did relay this message, but it got me thinking to how often do I actually relay salutations. I would have to say only once in a blue moon. I recall people telling me to say hi to my parents when I go back or friends telling me to tell other friends, but usually, it just never kicks in when I actually meet the person.

I’m curious how other people fare. What % of the time do you actually relay salutations, either from relatives or friends or anyone. I would say my percentage is probably less than 5%. It’s probably much lower since I can’t really recall all the times I’ve had people ask me to relay salutations.

UPDATE:

After talking to RayAlome, I think several other factors come into play. For time being, person asking me to relay will be called Origin and the person I’m suppose to relay to will be called Destination.

How far away is Origin from Destination?
How long has it been since they’ve seen each other?
How well do I know Origin?
How well do I know Destination?
How well do I think Origin knows Destination?
How many of these requests do I actually get?
How long has it been since Origin made his request and I actually meeting Destination?

January 11, 2008January 11, 2008

Switched to Progressive Auto Insurance

So as my dad and Derek always says, get quotes from at least a few auto insurance companies every time your auto insurance is up for renewal. I just got renewal package from Safeco and I’m not happy. Last time, they decided to raise my insurance by $3. I thought they were still pretty cheap, so I didn’t bother getting quotes elsewhere. However, this time they decided to raise my premium by $40 to $460 for no particular reason. I was also expecting it to drop since I’m turning 25 in a week, and you know when you turn 25, you get a decrease in your auto insurance.

Anyway, I was pissed. I decided to see what Progressive would offer me since they were my insurance company before Safeco and they had the 2nd cheapest policy the last time I checked. All the other insurance companies have always quoted me $800+ for some reason. Entering my information at Progressive which matched my current Safeco policy, I was shocked to find out that the premium was only $326… Do note these prices are semi-annual (6 months) and not annual. Of course I was super happy. I did another quote at Geico just to check to see how they fared and they quoted me a premium of $600.

I decided to give Safeco a call to see if they’d beat Progressive, but apparently they aren’t open 24/7 (at least not the policy service center). So in the end, I decided to give up on them.

I had a few questions regarding my Progressive application and guess what? They have phone and online chat customer support 24/7. I inputted my phone number and told them to call me. When I picked up, there was immediately someone else on the other end. No wait time, no automated answering machine, no elevator music, nothing! The few questions I had was in regards to the fact they only gave me about 20 characters of space for my street address. Even with my abbreviations, it didn’t have enough space for “Way”. The customer support rep gave me an abbreviation that he said would work. I then asked about the policy start date as I didn’t see where to set that. He gave me some quick and simple instructions and I guess I must’ve missed it earlier. The final question I had was in regards to the fact I’m turning 25, but wasn’t 25 yet and if I would get the discount. He says that the premium does decrease when I turn 25 and that the application process takes that into account 30 days before my birthday, so my premium should reflect that. I thanked him for his time and couldn’t be happier with his support.

There was a report a few days ago posted on Consumerist: Complaint Ratios For Top 10 Auto Insurers. I was shocked to find that Progressive was ranked #7 in lowest complaint ratios, while Safeco was ranked in the bottom 10. However do take this report with a grain of salt since it is only complaints filed in New York. What exactly is a complaint ratio? According to the report, Insurers are ranked based on a complaint ratio. This ratio is determined by the number of complaints upheld against companies as a percentage of their total private passenger auto insurance business. The complaint ratio is calculated using an average of two years’ premium data. This compensates for the fact that some complaints closed in any given year are begun in the previous year.

Also, it appears my annual mileage, gas guzzling, distance traveled analysis is due. I’m just too lazy to aggregate all the data for now. Hopefully I’ll do it soon. Here’s a preview:

Total Distance Traveled: 7268.2 mi
Total Gas Used: 253.714 gal
Total Cost of Gas: $745.40

Average Cost/Gallon: $2.94
Average Mileage: 28.6 MPG
Average Distance/Dollar: 9.8 mi
Average Cost/Day: $2.04
Average Distance/Day: 19.9 mi

January 8, 2008

Couldn’t Send/Receive Emails with Attachments Greater than ~3MB

So awhile back, I hit some weird problem with my email. I was trying to schedule weekly backups of my websites and email them to me. My HD-Trailers.net backups worked fine, but my Krunk4Ever.com backups were giving me problems. The email would come through and the size would be correct (~5MB), but the email didn’t have any attachments. I tried copying it over to another directory, and the size shrinks down to a few KB.

Thinking it might that my Krunk4Ever.com mail server has some attachment size restriction, I tried sending it to my GMail account and the same thing occurs. Do note, I have GMail mapped in Outlook 2003 as a IMAP folder. I see a 5MB email, but no attachment listed. For the time being, I concluded that someone’s restricting the attachment size and I would just go and backup manually once a week.

However, another problem occurred when I was trying to share a video with someone. It was a 3.12MB video and Outlook would just not send it. It kept on giving me the following error:

Task ‘Krunk4Ever – Sending’ reported error (0x800CCC13) : ‘Unable to connect to the network. Check your network connection or modem.’

Searching for that code resulted in some winsock error, but that didn’t get me anywhere. I decided to shoot DreamHost an email and their reply was:

Our email supports up to 40 megabytes for outgoing and incoming emails. Our webmail; however, is limited to smaller file-sizes If you need to send-receive large attachments you would need to install your own custom webmail and possibly PHP or use a full-featured email client such as outlook or thunderbird. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

It turns out not all large attachments were blocked. A few 5MB files have gotten through before, and if I just keep trying, eventually they make it through. I went to GMail (web based) and searched for previous emails where I had sent my backup databases and they were indeed okay and I could see the attachment fine. That led me to a preliminary belief that Outlook or IMAP had some sort of attachment size restriction. Testing it out in Thunderbird was something I had planned to try next, but didn’t really get around to it.

Today, I was trying to email my work email some logs that some Vista people wanted and I hit the same darn problem. I eventually uploaded it via OWA (Outlook Web Access), but then that got me angry. So I began searching around for other people who have gotten the 0x800CCC13 error, but a quick skim didn’t result in anything useful. There were a lot of mentions of firewall and antivirus, but think that my regular email came through fine, I didn’t see how a firewall or antivirus would be acting up…

Then I tried disabling my antivirus and resent the large email. Guess what, it WORKED! !@%$!$#%#!@%@%#!@% The antivirus software I use on my main box is CA (Computer Associates) eTrust, which is what we use at work. Given that Microsoft is a software company and they mandate us to use eTrust, I just assumed it was good enough. eTrust is actually rather nice. It’s small, lightweight, and pretty nice on the system resources.

So I went into eTrust to see if I could configure this weird email problem I was getting. I could not find a single email option to configure. It does mention it scans incoming and outgoing emails, but there was nothing to configure that was email based. The only possible solution I saw was to add Outlook to the exclude list which I didn’t want to do.

I eventually decided to uninstall eTrust and went with AVG which I’ve installed on most of my other machines, and my emails with large attachments appear to be working fine.

January 7, 2008January 7, 2008

Weekly Top Posts (12/30/2007 to 1/5/2008)

Here’s this week’s top post:

Previously…

I changed a bit of the format this week. I’ve added the arrows to the side bar and included last week’s status information inside the title and alt (alternative text) of the arrow image. If there’s no arrow image, it means it has the same rank as last week.