Stand up to the American Mussolini!

As someone who believes in free markets and capitalist markets, I believe in SAVING THE INTERNET! Check out http://www.savetheinternet.com for more info.

Here's a video for more information (I'm actually having trouble viewing the plugin, so it's possible that blogger doesn't allow embedded shockwave movies.):




Anyway, I got off my lazy ass and SENT A LETTER TO CONGRESS:

"There is important legislation up for vote in the Senate regarding the Principle of Free Enterprise.

Please support Senate Bill S. 2917, "Internet Freedom Preservation Act".

It's called Net Neutrality. Net Neutralitry is vital to the capitalistic expansion of the internet. The opposite, for which you are being paid by the big Telecom companies, is clear and simple corporatism.

That's Corporate Fascism, the kind practiced by Mussolini half a century ago. If you don't find your balls and stand up to ATT&T and the other top-heavy big caps, they'll effectively prohibit the rise of any new tech small-caps, and begin the consolidation that's so rampant everywhere else.

The consolidation that harkens the decline of capitalist markets. Imagine living in a country run by Left-Wing CEOs and congress, who act to prevent your conservative values from finding equal expression. Imagine that.

But what do you care about me? I'm just a legal constituent of the great state of Texas who's trying to start a small business and make a smart use of the technology available to build my enterprise. An escalalting barrier to entry doesn't hurt your pocketbook, it kills mine. It kills all entreprenuerial spirit.

Please keep market entry affordable, and SUPPORT NET NEUTRALITY. And if you aren't going to be sincere, if you're already bought and paid for, please don't kill a tree to send another stupid form letter in response. Just understand that if you vote against Net Neutrality, freedom will once again be left to the courts.

Please act immediately to save the Internet!"

Allergenic to sales Success?

Um, this isn't exactly germain to this blog (but what the hell of my last posts was?), but since I recently moved to Houston, and am blogging in some regards to Houston, this merits attention.

Bathe Less, Have Less Allergies?

One thing I keep saying to people when they ask me about how I'm doing now that I'm here in Houston (moved from Austin / San Antonio), I usually reply, "Humid! Hotter, usually, and wretched for mold and dust -- the two things I'm horribly allergic to!"

Um, so, basically, I'm caught in this hard place: keep being hyper-allergic to the ecological environment (even with Claritin), and possibly damage my career in the wine business (because I not only can't smell, but I feel drugged-up), or bathe less, have clearer nostrils and hurt my wine business and possibly scare off my fiance (because I do indeed have incredibly bad B.O. lately).

So what's a guy to do? I know that the underlying theory is the same as the study from a few years ago that concluded we ought to not use Anti-Bacterial Soap because it kills beneficial bacteria. Beneficial bacteria kill harmful bacterias ad other microbes. At the momnet, I need to worry about sterile environements, since I'll brew soon, and currently and for the near future expect to constanty be around wine.

Therefore, I'll simply assume that our fear of microbes is two fold:

1) We're so inundated in artificial realties, be they the internet, or movies or TV, that we are deathly afraid of the virtually unknown microscopic world, and thus sterilize ourselves from birth, preventing our immune systems from actually effectively working. There's a corollary in this and the fact that alligators are immune to HIV, but I'm not sure of the exact corollary. I'll need a multi-billion dollar grant to tease that one out.

2) Someone in big Pharma or Insurance or Hospitals or in general HealthCare figured out the gist of the first point long ago and also derived how to massivley drill profit from it. Probably an intern. go figure.

Now I'm back on track, aren't I? More drunk-blogging and, soon, rants about Texas electricity deregulation to come. I PROMISE!

Daddy E Rocks always keeps a promise, don't he?

HOudahSpot is tidy!

My review of HoudahSpot as seen on MacZOT.com

YO, seriously, people, if you use a MAC , you do so because you like tings elegantly deisgned and easy to use. Spotlight Ain't!

HoudahSPOT, on the other hand is mad cool. IT will find any file you want it to, based on however much information you might have about it.
Like the novel I wrote five years ago and then hid somewhere under business stuff...or the movie I started to make before the enterprise went near bankrupt. HoudahSPOT! is freakin' AWESOME!

NOTE: If you're seeing this on June 16, 2006 head over to MacZOT, you might be able to get a Free copy of HoudahSpot

Search easily in Tiger, Mac OS X, with HoudahSpot

Pzizz iPod Blog

Regarding Pzizz, I should mention there's a manual they made, and you can download it here.

I haven't read the manual, and have taken only a cursory glance at what's on the web. With the exception of the last mentioned attempt, I've been using Pzizz's sleep module with miraculous success. I haven't curbed my utterly screwed late-night owlishness completely, but I awake feeling refreshed and rested.

It's not often, before, that I've felt that. I got my paycheck the other day, and boy do I work too damn much. That's' the trouble with commission-based jobs. I like the immediate feedback, but the slow season is bankrupting. Quite literally. At least my credit card are still there. It's slow drowning, but the summer's gone in a few months, and already June is on track to produce more than April and May combined.

And it's because I'm sleeping better. Though still staying up too late (check the posting time).

Thank you, Pzizz. Without this program, my paycheck would probably necessitate health care measures. I'm sure the elctric bill will solve that problem. That's what's keep me up at night these days.

Anticipating the electric bill.

Pzizz iPod Blog

So, as you may tell from the multiple posts today, and the time since the last Pzizz, I've used Pzizz several times without then immediately blogging about it. This one, I have to tell you about. It's bizarre, and it gets to a central point of any sleep aid: have the time to sleep.

I had finished placing my orders for delivery, and was all ready to go to sleep, when, at 9:30, my boss called me.

"Hey Erich, say, listen um I don't know if we can get the truck to Houston by Friday, maybe we can come down Saturday."

"Saturday? But no one will take deliveries Saturday!"

"I know, but, uh, that's where it stands. I was going to, but my twins (newborns, cute as can be!) and my wife need me to do some things here at the house. I asked my Cousin, but he just called -- his uncle came into town, and he's got to take him out, treat him right."

"Oh."

"I'll see, though, I might be able to, or find someone. I'll call yah back."

Obviously, I was kinda distracted by the phone call, focused on it and then mad to boot. When I pulled the ear-set out of my ear and hung up the phone, I noticed that there was a lot of smoke coming from my stove. Specifically, a LOT coming from the small pan I in which I was warming soy oil and almond oil to cook my tofu. OH $#$#$#!!

I run over, turn off the stove, move the pan to a back burner, turn the exhaust to high. My place reeks, and I notice that smoky haze has begun to fill the house. I open the front door, turn a floor fan to move the air out of the house, and return to the smoking pan. It's still smoking. A LOT. Even tho I know better, I get a little bit of tap water (warm) and pour a tiny amount onto the pan, in the hopes of cooling it off.

Oil splatters everywhere! And after fizzling for few minutes, the pan stops smoking. I put it under the faucet and rinse out what's left.... oh no! It burned! My brand new fancy pans and one's burnt! eeeeek!

The phone rings again.

"Erich, yea, no go. It's got to be Saturday."

"What? What-no Saturday's no good. I'll drive up to Austin and drive the van myself."

"Oh. Are you sure? What time do you think you'll be here?"

"Let's plan on sometime before 6am."

"OK, Erich. Get some sleep."

"Ok. I'll call yah when I'm driving into town."

Now it's after 10pm. I'm hungry and extremely pissed off. I get out the bigger pan, and successfully cook my dinner. It's delicious, and so is bitterness as I relay the developments to my fiance.

"Well baby, what time is it? YOU GOT TO GET TO BED!"

"I know baby."

"Sleep! Get some sleep! Goodnight, GOODNIGHT!"

"I love you."

"I love you too. Now, go to sleep!"

It's almost midnight, but I'm just too fired up, too many thoughts running through my mind, to get to sleep. I play some flash animation games on my Mac, and flip through the daily deal sites to see what's up. After a bit, I've gotten into the zone I can get into at this time of night, where I just "compute" and "multi-task relax" until I actually look up and realize it's freaking three AM!!!!!

This time, I don't' go quite that long, since in order to be in Austin by 6am I have to leave Houston by 3am. But it's still damn late. I get ready for bed, and now my cat Julius has decided to sleep in my room, as well. He's a big ol' tabby capable of unhinging heavy heavy doors I can barely lift, so I decide it's not worth the trouble to kick him out to the hallway.

The neighbor's dogs are crazy barking at the moon. I climb into bed, anyway. Lights out, Pzizz on.

The moon. The moon is full, or nearly full, and streaming full force through the slats of my blinds and illuminating my pillow. The dogs are still howling. It's been, what dammit, 20 minutes? I've got to sleep! I've got to wake up in two hours!

The Pzizz sleep module is only 30 minutes long, and I have to say, it's as effective as it has been, in that my cycles are slowing way down, I'm groggy, I'm fading,I'm falling asleep. And then the Pzizz module faded away and ended.

Maybe it's because I was afraid I'd be still be awake when it ended, maybe it's because I was so angry about how little I was going to sleep, and was thinking maybe I should have used the Energizer module, or whatever: I noticed it's end, and woke back up, nearly completely.

I had to pee. I was wide awake, anxious, so I read something, some trade magazine or local press, tried to quiet my thoughts. Finally, got back to bed, fell sleep. For like an hour, and woke up.

Now, I should stress here that I believe the Pzizz module I had played this night was actually the second one that played my initial night, before I made playlists, and immediately followed by the raucous humor of Mr. Hicks.

So, two conclusions:

1. DO attempt to be ready for sleep when using the program. It's an aid, not a magic trick.

2. Believe them when they say that it's the randomness of the mathematical algorithm that does the trick. Repeating a session, the brain knows what to expect, and never really lets go of alertness as a side effect of paying attention.

3. Again, actually have several hours to sleep. This is probably medically necessary, anyway. Insomnia can be a killer.

Pzizz iPod blog

Let me just say that the Pzizz module works pretty darn well after being converted to MP3 and transfered to my Treo. I can fit plenty of unique Pzizz programs, and load them onto my SD Card so I don't have to worry about syncing the device, and could even use it on a trip away from the computer. YAY!

OK. I'm ready for bed. I go to my room, plug the Treo (via its adaptor) into the input on my Stereo, switch the Stereo to "line in," select the playlist with the sleep nap, push "play," turn off the lights and get in bed.

As the Pzizz module kicks in, the voice comes on, guiding me to go through my normal ritual (it's good to have one, it says), and I do.

And then it's morning and I've had the best damn sleep in a LONG TIME. Seriously. Even with the neighbors' dog barking outside my window and the creepy noises that infest this house, I conk out so quickly it's like the monster under the bed gassed me.

Definitely, if oyu have any trouble getting to sleep any time, TRY PZIZZ!!

Pzizz iPod Blog

OK. SO, now, here in a separate post, is my first real attempt to use Pzizz.

1. I don't have an iPod, so I have to take Pzizz up on its promise to "work with any MP3 player."

2. After several hours of trying to figure out which output would result in an MP3 (none do), I sumise that it would be simpler to import to iTunes and then from there change the .mov (quicktime) format to .mp3.

3. Pzizz isn't kidding when they say that every program is unique. And it takes a while to generate a unique program on my DP G4 800Mhz Mac.

4. I'm able to convert the .mov files to .mp3 files by this process:

From Pzizz, export to iTunes folder. In iTunes, make smart folder that sees 'Pzizz' files in .mp3 (Kind is MPEG Audio File).
now select the folder I put naps in to begin with (in .mov format), go to scripts and use the Quick Convert Script by Doug to change the ..mov to .mp3

5. I HotSync my Treo 650 to my computer, after dragging and dropping the .mp3 files to my "add to handheld" icon in the dock.

6. Queue up RealPlayer for Palm to ensure it sees the .mp3 files.

7. Get ready for bed, and hook up my wireless headphones transmitter to the Treo. Climb into bed, push 'play' on the Treo realplayer, and lay down.

8. Within a few minutes, and this is, I kid you not, a record for me in my new place, I'm FAST ASLEEP. DEEP SLEEP.

9. About an hour later, I awake with a start. Bill Hicks is playing on my headphones! Scared the crap out of me! I turn off my realplayer, take the headphones off, and go back to sleep after a little while.

10. TO FIX the problem described above, I'm creating a unique playlist for each nap, to avoid repeats and unintended songs.

11. I'm also plugging the Treo into a stereo so that I have no comfort issues whatsoever. I'll see how this goes...

Pzizz iPod Blog

I'm posting this from my dashboard widget within Mac OS X 10.4 (Well, no, I wrote this there but it had trouble accessing th eblog feed, and so i copied it into safari (web browser)).

Not because I'm snooty, but because I have to actually perform this task before I can believe in the program. Still no spell check, dang!

Well, after 2 AM AND I'M STILL AWAKE. I have no reason why, since I was yawning all day. There's a great program I used to have on the PC that did a grammar check on things I typed. Teachers liked me more then.

Or maybe they just like me because I was quiet and naive. Now, I'm obnoxious and desperately trying to be naive. I wasn't ever trying before, I was such a cynical bastard kid. Someone would say, "look at the rainbow, make a wish!"

I'd grin, silently, waiting for someone to break the (what I felt was awkward) silence, thinking to myself, "Stupid Leprechaun. Such a greedy goddamn bastard. Give some of that coin to the poor, OK? Let people eat something other than tooth-rot sugar charms!" I've always had bad teeth. And anxiety, come to think of it.

But for some reason, people mistook my embarrassed angry silence as being quiet and naive. Or that's what they told me anyway.

Anyhoo, I've tried Pzizz once now, completely, and a couple times incompletely, so I'm gonna write about it, and then I 'm gonna use it again. And sleep a couple hours.

Using Pzizz for the first time.
OK. So After getting this program in trial mode (in anticipation due to the CollaboZOT, MyzteryZOT, and BlogZOT), I listened to the Energizer module in my office. Sitting in my uncomfortable chair trying to relax. I didn't complete the module either time, so the end result was that I was stuck in "drugged out sleepy" mode.

The third time, my fiance tried it, at my behest, and we got a little further in the program before we were distracted and started talking about the situation. Possibly, we should have shortened the module (you CAN adjust nearly everything about the program).

So my Fiance and I were there, in my office, talking about what to do next and listening to the music, when the "cue" ending the Energizer module came on. HOLY FREEBY JEEPERS IZ BIT!

THAT SCARED THE ***** OUT OF US.

And we had energy to clean the house.

History repeating, according to some.

Um, I unearthed the Independence Day edition of the Lapdog Daily. All this news really is just press release rehash. I, apparently, am too "worky" to be a professional journalist.



(UPDATE 6/14/06: obviously, problems uploading have been fixed)The server's having problems uploading the image, so anyway, what it doesn't say in the snippet there:

Whitey is the 2% of the county's population that is below Poverty and NOT African-American or Hispanic.
"Whitey always was the town's idiot," says Sen. Oilman, "I gave him a well-paying job at the refinery, and damn if he didn't almost ruin me."