Ok, I think it's Official

This iteration of the Nullset is officially dormant - please come see me at amyslaadventure.blogspot.com/

Why is Oliver Sacks EVERYWHERE?

You know that phenomenon where you re-hear some old song you love and then it's everywhere - in the elevator, on some TV show, in the CD player of your friend's car? Yeah, right now, my song is Oliver Sacks.

He'd always existed in that vague soup of famous scientists, authors and artists that are well-known in general, but not well known to me. Now that I've become more familiar with him and his works, I realize it's probably in a large part due to the movie Awakenings. In my new mania for neuroscience, his work has been referenced here and there and Amazon.com certainly seems to think I should be reading his books. So, I've been reading through my Christmas gift The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat and now he's everywhere! He was referenced by Daniel Tammet on a recent On Point episode and he popped up in the opening act of this week's Radio Lab. WHo knows where he'll show up next.. though hopefully my TiVo won't get any ideas and record Awakenings. blech.

My TiVo Nightmare Continues

Ah, TiVo, you have brought my so much happiness for years and so much pain in the past month. After my ridiculous saga of not properly installed CableCARDs, I've been successfully watching and recording HD TV for a couple of weeks now and taking advantage of Netflix Watch Instantly (the main reason I purchased this new TiVo in the first place). Unfortunately, that all came to a screeching halt today when my brand new TiVo's hard drive apparently failed.

So, now, I can't even watch live TV because I have no cable box thanks to the fact that I had to make the switch to a stupid CableCARD and, best of all, I get to go through the whole CableCARD pairing process with Comcast again once my replacement box arrives. Brilliant.

My Tivo HD/Comcast Saga comes to a Triumphant End!

About a week ago, I was in a pit of despair about the fact that I'd had 2 visits from Comcast installers and still my new TiVo HD was not hooked in to my cable. Comcast Customer Support kindly took notice of my blog rant and offered assistance. I was hoping that the "third time's a charm" and I wouldn't need it, but unfortunately that visit didn't go so well either. So, after a call to Comcast Support line, emails and calls with the Support reps who reached out to me via my blog, and a tag team effort by three technicians, everything is right with the world. My TiVo HD is now functioning as more than just a fancy Netflix Streaming receiver.

To be honest, I was hesitant about taking advantage of the Customer Service, especially when they said they would put a note on my upcoming Troubleshooting work order. I've seen that backfire with other companies who essentially mark you as a technological hypochondriac and give you worse service. But, fortunately, that wasn't the case here. Although one tech started to mention another call in which it was actually a faulty TiVo unit and not a problem with Comcast, they were true to their word and stayed for almost 60 minutes to ferret out the mistake made during my last installation attempt and make sure I was receiving all the channels in my package.

Storm Response Forgets Pedestrians

Yesterday, WBZ posted an article and a poll asking whether there should be a law to require vans and SUVs to clear snow from their roofs before driving. This is a fantastic idea and 78% of respondents agree with me. It's not just rude, it's dangerous.

But as I walked to the T in Jamaica Plain the past few mornings, I started wondering if such a law would actually help. After all, there's already a law requiring home- and business-owners to properly shovel their sidewalks, yet every winter major neighborhood streets like Centre (north of the South/Center businesses), Boylston, Paul Gore and Green remain un-shoveled, becoming treacherous moonscapes and forcing pedestrians to walk in the street.

But it isn't just lazy folks (or those in a battle of wills with their landlords) that cause problems. Plows pile giant mounds of snow up onto curbs, blocking the normal flow. In years past, I've just considered this my grumbly fate in winter, but this year it strikes me as particularly backwards. After all, a record number fo commuters switched to using the MBTA this year and most of us require some amount of walking to get to the bus or T stop. It just seems completely outdated that snow removal is still so ver car-focused.

Snowstorm 2.0

What's better than a giant snowstorm where either you got to leave work early or you'll spend 5 hours crawling home along the Pike? Knowing every bit of data about that snowstorm thanks to Web 2.0 tools.



http://www.utterli.com/snow1219
http://www.cafepress.com/snowmageddon
http://www.hashtags.org/tag/snow1219
http://www.flickr.com/groups/937409@N24/pool/

Awesome Women: Molly Wood

I love Molly Wood. As an Executive Editor with CNet, I've been watching/listening to her on Buzz out Loud and my CNet TiVoCast for years. And she just rocks. Not only is she a woman who knows and loves all kinds of tech and gadgetry, but she's a woman who is very pretty but a) on TV (well, okay, the internets, but still) because of her brains, not her looks and b) not insanely TV perfect airbrushed like some tech shows and podcasts use to lure in the guy nerds. Also, she seems to strike a good mom-work balance. She tweets about her kid a lot, but not too much and not horrible tone-deaf parent stuff and she very publicly went through pregnancy, maternity leave and return to work. So, yay Molly Wood.

Zappos is my new favorite

So, after my little rant about poor service, here's a GREAT service story. I ordered a pair of sneakers from Zappos lat night at about 6:00 pm EST and they are on the UPS truck headed to my house as I type! I even got this expedited shipping for free - it's either part of their holiday free shipping promotion and/or because I payed by PayPal. Awesome.

My TiVo HD/Comcast Saga Rant

I love TiVo. I love them irrationally in a way that a smart person like myself really shouldn't love a consumer brand. But, seriously, TiVo is awesome. Not only does it serve a technical function that makes me happy (time shift my television watching, allow me to skip commercials, help Suggest new shows I might like and connect me to content through Amazon), but it does it in a friendly, usable way. Even the remote control was thoroughly thought out.

I've had a TiVo Series 2 since about 2004 and have very little complaints. They even replaced the hardware when it started malfunctioning - twice! This last box had lasted through 3+ years and 3 different apartments and is still going strong. So, even though the USB 1.0 is a bit slow for downloading my shows or transferring to my PC and even though it can't handle HD, so my cable/TV/TiVo setup is needlessly complicated, I really wasn't tempted to upgrade to TiVo HD. That is, until they announced Netflix streaming would not be supported on the Series 2. I've been pretty satisfied with Amazon Video On Demand (formerly Unbox) and I may downgrade my cable package and get my TV shows there next year, but I've been frustrated with the lack of new releases to rent (many are available only for purchase for the first few weeks) and I missed the breadth of Netflix's selection.

So, my shiny new TiVo HD arrived a week ago. I tore open the box, thinking I was less than 30 minutes away from my new media heaven only to find the very first paper on top informed me that TiVo HD does not work with my cable box. Rather, I needed to call my cable provider to come install a CableCARD directly into the TiVo. This was unpleasant news. I have had only disappointing interactions with Comcast and I wanted to set up my TiVo NOW. This was also unexpected news. There was no part in the order process that mentioned the CableCARD requirement. (In TiVo's defense, there was a teeny little link to an Installation video in my Welcome email, but a) I've installed 2 other SD TiVos and b) why would I watch the video before the TiVo arrived anyway?)

So, I called up Comcast and said "I just purchased a TiVo HD and the instructions say I need to get a CableCARD installed, can I make an appointment?" The operator put me on hold for a second and returned and gave me an appointment window on Friday. I worked from home and waited and waited. The installer knocked on my door about 10 minutes before the appointment window ended to tell me he was working in an apartment upstairs and would be down right after. I waited and waited for about 40 more minutes - what the heck were they installing up there?

Finally, Comcast guy returns and he has a giant box in his hand and says "So, we're going to remove your CableCARD and install a DVR?" and I stared at him and said, "No, exactly the opposite. I have a new TiVo DVR, I do not have any CableCARDS and I need one." He looks over the work order, which also lists all my current equipment and, sure enough, "See, there it says 'Remove CableCARD,' but here I can see you don't have any on the account." The tech was very nice and apologetic (even though it wasn't his fault), told me he had no CableCARDS with him, mumbled that they'd done the same thing to him at the last call, and called Comcast to schedule a new appointment for me on Monday.

Now it's Monday and a different technician shows up, with CableCARDS but, perplexingly, also with an Comcast DVR box. Anyhow, he starts the installation process and then gets to an error message. He calls in to wherever to report the error and I can hear pretty much all of both sides and it turns out my tech did a few things in the wrong order. There's lots of back and forth and a TiVo reboot and some other activities, but, essentially, the technician screwed up and has now been at my place for almost an hour so he tells me I'll need to reschedule because he can't manage to install 2 single stream cards so someone will need to come back on a day when a single multi-stream card is available (TiVo says either setup should work fine).

Most of this is really Comcast's fault, but I also found the Installation Guide poster provided by TiVo to be fairly confusing. Two points in particular:

• Step 1 says "Install CableCARD" but then the smaller print says to complete rest of the installation steps 48 hours before the cable guys arrives. So, shouldn't "Install CableCARD" be the last step?
• TiVo provides YPbpr cables, but also supports HDMI, you just have to buy it yourself. The installation instructions only reference the YPbpr cables through the first 8 steps. I actually began to wonder if TiVo needed to go through setup and either download and update or have me manually change a setting before I could use my HDMI cable. But then way down at step 8 or 9, the small print says "Oh yeah, by the way, you could have substituted an HDMI cable way back at Step 4"
  

So, now, I guess because Comcast disabled my box before the failed CARD installation, I have a Comcast HD DVR feeding into my still-working SD TiVO and a nearly useless HD TiVo just hanging out.

On the bright side, I got Netflix streaming hooked up and it's FANTASTIC.

Cool Neuroscience Fact of the Day

Ever since I read Proust Was a Neuroscientist, I've found and been recommended a number of strangely related books on topics ranging from aphasia to Pragmatism to anxiety disorders. All really interesting and all of which make me wish I had any sort of grasp of biology so I could learn about this beyond the pop/mainstream books. Oh well.

Anyway, I am currently reading The Mind and The Brain, a book about emerging discoveries in neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to change itself structurally) and, specifically, how adults can use attention to purposefully rewire their brains. The book covers everything from OCD to Buddhism to quantum physics in explaining why that old adage that you can never learn anything new after the age of 12 is completely false. Many of the experiments used to show this plasticity involve the somatosensory cortex. The somatosensory cortex registers sensations around your body and is typically mapped out so that nearby body parts map to nearby spots on the brain. For example, the area that registers touch of the index finger is usually next to that of the middle finger. Depending on use and experience, more used neighbors can steal neurons and synapses from less used. So the boundaries between regions can be kind of grey.

All right, that's a lot of lead up to the cool fact. In the somatosensory cortex, the area that maps to the genitals is actually located right next to that of the feet, and some scientists posit this may explain why so many people find feet erotic - because rubbing someone's toes is just a few milimeters away (in the brain) from rubbing something a bit more exciting! Crazy.

Are You Kidding Me?

So, now, I would like to applaud the press for finally waking up and/or growing a pair and doing things like research, asking questions, comparing previous statements to current claims... but you all are about 7 years too late.

The scrutiny over the Clinton selection is killing me. I swear, this is the first time this decade that anyone besides Jon Stewart realized you could go back and pull up old footage of politicians contradicting themselves. You know what, it's irrelevant in this case. I think we're all adult enough to understand there are certain requirements in a campaign and that attacking your opponent is one of them. This pose of bewilderment that Obama would turn around and pick competant, experienced team members who ran against him is just ridiculous.

Where was this magic recording and playback technology when the Bush administration was saying they didn't say there was a link between al Quaeda and Iraq before the war? I could list any number of other examples, but I think we all have our own favorites.

So, why are they doing this? Is it practice because they can't remember how to be journalists so they are starting with something stupid and meaningless? Is it just the continuation of the virulent anti-Hilary sentiment? Or are there not enough kidnapped white girls to fill the 24 hour cycle?

Ads I Watch on TiVo

I've been hoping that a theme would kind of organically evolve for this blog, but, as with everything, I'm too much of a generalist and can't seem to focus. So, I've decided for now to keep this still my random, general blog and start another on one of the few subjects I *do* spend a lot of thought on - TV. To that end, I have started Ads I Watch on TiVo and I'll keep a feed of those posts on the left.

Send a (hundred) Message(s) to Obama

Maybe I am having selective memory, but I can not remember a point in my lifetime when so many organizations were mobilizing their members to sign a positive petition and send a supportive message to the President. I keep being amazed about the pent up desire to make a difference that has been let loose in the past few days.

So far, I've been solicited by:
MoveOn.org
the WE Campaign
Avaaz

I think I'm going to start feeling silly about it soon, but for now it's still pretty awesome.

Yes We Can, Now We Must

I've heard a lot of people worried that Obama can only fail to live up to the lofty expectations we've set for him. His reference that we can't solve our many current crises in a year or even a term touched on that as well. But as I think about it and talk to everyone I know who is so happy and full of hope, I realize that these are expectations we've also set for ourselves. As much as we want from Obama, he's already given us the most important thing we need - Hope. I know so many people laugh at this campaign theme as naive and insubstantial, but it's what we really need now.

We've been through nearly a decade of evidence that our best efforts and intentions get us nowhere. For those who opposed Bush, we saw our voting franchise ignored twice and an administration that lied and trashed all the institutions of our democracy while we, the people and our (should be) surrogates in the media raged impotently. In the face of a great tragedy, our Commander-in-Chief asked us not to sacrifice and pitch in, but to shop. He later hid the very real sacrifices made daily by our soldiers from the public eye and consciousness. In the wake of a Katrina, the government abandoned an entire city and, again, made no call for the country to band together and help our fellow Americans. In the face of a mounting oil crisis, there was no call to abandon our gas guzzlers, no pumping of tax dollars into public transportation infrastructure to help make that possible.

Now we have a leader who will lead us, as us to sacrifice, challenge us to innovate, and create the kind of public discourse that allows us to show the best we all have to offer.

McCain on SNL v2

You know, John McCain's appearance on Saturday Night Live this week was so much better than the last time, it made me wish he'd hurry up and lose and go back to being the John McCain we all used to like.

Campbell Brown Rules

I don't pay much attention to the relatively interchangeable pretty people who read the "news" on the 24 hour channels, but lately Campbell Brown has been rocking my world. First, she called out the real Palin-related sexism (that she was being shielded like a fragile flower from the big, mean media) amid all the wolf-crying from the right. Now she proves she's objectively calling it like she sees it by putting her foot down about the ridiculous storm that has sprung up around Palin's very expensive wardrobe. Both Feministing and Broadsheet has some interesting dissection of the wardrobe and Brown's point.

As usual, I tend to agree with Rebecca Traister of Broadsheet

I didn't think it was sexist when it broke as a mini-story (see also: Edwards' haircut, Kerry's botox, McCain's 15 houses) but the four-day fetishization is pushing me to: Move along, folks, the lady bought too many expensive clothes. Nothing to see here. And can't help but feel that the gawking would be less intense and prolonged if it were about a man's wardrobe.

I was really surprised (and annoyed/bored) at the fact that this was a big story for days. I mean, seriously? I understand it's highly symbolic of the gross hypocrisy of Republican pandering to "Joe Six Pack" while all the while supporting legislation that hurts the average American on taxes, public services and health care. But, seriously, that's what they are literally doing - so we don't need to harp on the symbol. How about actually harping on the facts? How about the fact that misogynistic rage dripped out of McCain's mouth as he snarls "health of the woman" in the last debate? How about the fact that McCain dismisses a tax package that benefits the vast majority of working Americans as "socialism"?

Then again, the so-called comedy stylings of the candidates got at least as much press, so I guess you can't expect much when you have to fill 24 hours a day.

Local Drivers

I spent the past week in Tampa, FL and noticed two big differences between driving around Boston and driving here. First, the vehicles are MUCH bigger. I saw more Hummers on Monday alone that I see around Boston (excluding the limos) in a month. I rented a compact, so it surprised me to find a Jeep Compass waiting for me. I guess compact is a relative term.

The other big difference is that everyone was just so polite. People respected appropriate following distances and let you change lanes or make your turn without all the hurry, hurry rage we have up North. It was particularly interesting, since I had just been discussing local driving habits with a couple of New England transplants to California. In particular, left hand turns. Around New England, most people expect the first guy in line to gun it to make a left hand turn ahead of oncoming traffic, while in Los Angeles, everyone waits patiently, but then up to 5 cars will take the left on red while all the other lanes sit by, knowing this is the deal.

While each of these examples is technically going against the rules of the road, they work because everyone follows them. This is why I contend that Rhode Islanders are much worse drivers than we Massholes. MA drivers may be jerks, but we are consistent jerks. Around Providence, the only time I ever see a turn signal is in the middle of a dangerous and illegal manouever (such as taking a left hand turn from the far right of 3 lanes with plenty pf traffic in the other two) and it's always a gamble as to whether the car in front of you will go through the green light or stop and wait to go after it turns red.

Women Matter: Getting Regular Women Engaged in Politics

Last week, I lamented that Palin Fever seemed to have exposed a real disconnect between feminism (or more generally, all people working on behalf of women in politics) and the "woman on the Street." The fact that hordes of women were flocking to throw their support and adulation behind a woman who has no track record of actually helping their situation in meaningful ways first horrified me, then made me sad that somehow our message had gotten lost to these women, even alienated them.

But hooray for Smith College! The current issue of the Alumnae Quarterly is focused on politics and the campaign and featured Women Matter, a site founded by Smith alum Nancy W. Bauer specifically to engage women in the political process by discussing the links and impact of policy on what they call Life Issues. It's a non-partisan site that seeks to clearly lay out the issues and explain the various possible remedies. Each Life Issues section also ends with concrete action a woman can take - from the simple act of registering to vote, to how you can get informed of your local and national representatives' positions, to contacting those representatives to tell them where you stand.

I think this is just fabulous. After all, I can understand how someone not brought up or educated in an environment of political participation or activism would fall prey to the cynical view that your votes doesn't even matter or that the only ways to engage are through specific interest groups. With these simple, personal, concrete steps, I think any woman can get involved and start to build confidence in their voice and that it carries weight in the process.

Unfortunately, I really hadn't heard of them before this. I'm hoping this is my own ignorance, since I really think this is an organization that ought to be a reference for everyone from the TV Talking Heads to high school Civics teachers and, of course, individual women.

Google actually IS changing the way I think

Periodically, there are arguments about how Google is making us all stupid by "thinking" for us - much the same way that no one knows how to spell anymore thanks to Microsoft Word and the advent of cellphones means no one actually remembers anyone's phone number. It's debatable as to whether this is actually dumbing us down. I suspect it's more like allowing students to use calculators so they can spend more time actually learning algebra and calculus and less time doing tedious multiplications and divisions.

But that's not what I want to talk about. I recently noticed a very fundamental way that Google changed my thinking. When I first downloaded Google Desktop Search some time back, there was some little happy markety type phrase about "Search, don't sort" and referring to some utopian future where I would never have to create a folder hierarchy on my computer again. I'd just dump it all in one place and use tagging and searching to immediately access what I was looking for. I laughed. I had a great system already, and I just kept on extending it, using GDS as more of a dynamic shortcut than a real search tool.

Then I got a new job and a brand new, absolutely blank computer. In the interim, I had also taken to Google Reader and Google Docs, both of which reinforced aspects of that non-hierarchical vision. It's been months and I still have less than a dozen folders (outside the default Pictures, Music, My Scans) and typically do use search as the primary method of finding and accessing documents. So, thanks Google!

Rachel Maddow: Keeping me Sane since 2008

So, I have had a kind of crush on Rachel Maddow since Feministing clued me in early last month. But nothing could prepare me for the overwhelming rush of love and happiness she brought on, when I sat down with my TiVo last night, after my day of great Palin-induced feminist/existential angst. Just being able to turn on the TV and see an example of a smart, funny woman in this prime time boys club chair restored my faith in the progress women have made... as well as the progress men have made in adapting and honestly embracing a new reality instead of fighting it or pandering to it. And, let's face it, Rachel Maddow is more than TV-level attractive, she's just plain hot, and she would probably have to stick to radio if that weren't the case, but no one is judging her competence based on her "sexy librarian" look or telling her she has to "put on a skirt" to be successful.

So, please, read Rebecca Trainster's profile, then Watch The Rachel Maddow Show and rejoice.