David Gessel

Rental Ford Escape

Wednesday, February 4, 2009 

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Narrator: In fact, George, Sr. had snuck out of the attic and gone to a local Ford dealership.

Car Salesman: The Bronco’s been discontinued. We’re trying to shed that whole fugitive on the run thing. This is the Escape.

George: What a fun name. May I test drive?

Posted at 05:00:13 GMT-0700

Category: Rental carsTravel

Sync Outlook and Google

Sunday, February 1, 2009 

UPDATE: GOOGLE SYNC IS FAIL!

Google sync just stopped working.  I tried all the suggestions including multiple removal and reinstall and even installing the Gears Calendar (why not) to no avail.  Then I tried Mobile Sync and I am happy again.

Google Calendar Sync.

I’ve used Funambol’s outlook client to sync Outlook on one computer with Mulberry’s Calendar on another as part of a complex web of synchronization involving GCal, ScheduleWorld, Funambol, and GCalDaemon, which pretty much worked.

But I just discovered Google Calendar Sync and just in time as Funambol 7.0.7 did not seem to work with outlook 2007 reliably (probably wacky corporate calendar entries, but whatever).  So I switched to Google Calendar Sync. It obviates ScheduleWorld and intermediates directly between Outlook and GCal.  On the minus side, it only syncs to your primary calendar and my old system would sync to my calendar of choice thanks to ScheduleWorld’s cleverness.  But it does work and it is very fast. It is odd that it doesn’t support multiple calendars though, everything else does.

Posted at 03:36:50 GMT-0700

Category: NegativeReviewsTechnology

DTV transition crash

Sunday, February 1, 2009 

DTV crashes and burns

This is too funny. The FCC sponsored a NASCAR driver to get the message out about the DTV transition on Feb 17 when millions of American’s will suddenly find their TV’s don’t work and all hell will break loose likely causing the collapse of society as we know it. Of course the car crashed in the first race. And the second.

Posted at 02:23:20 GMT-0700

Category: FunnyPolitics

Oh yeah, fitting right in

Thursday, January 29, 2009 

Flocking behavior in cars. Perhaps responsible for elevated smug levels.

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Posted at 16:00:24 GMT-0700

Category: photoRental carsTravel

Rental prius

Thursday, January 29, 2009 

It is so LA! Now how to put it in plug-in mode so I don’t have to refill. Battery is dead, but tank is full…

Engine start on this one causes more of a judder that I remember in the zip car ones, and only 10k miles.

79 and sunny. AC in January, good thing this little car is emitting less CO₂…

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Posted at 16:00:16 GMT-0700

Category: PlacesRental cars

Gosh, why did my UPS fail?

Thursday, January 29, 2009 

Gee, those batteries got hot enough to melt the covers and pop the cases, I wonder if that could have been it? Thanks Mark, for the new factory surplus ups.

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Posted at 01:00:14 GMT-0700

Category: photoTechnology

As Bender Says: “We’re Boned.”

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 

There is a great article in this week’s New Scientist by James Lovelock about the state of Global Warming and “green” mitigation strategies. His view is not comforting, nor does he mince words. It is a great read and I highly recommend it.

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I’ve had ongoing discussions with friends about how much of a scam carbon trading is and about what technologies have any viability from a system level analysis. James addressed many of my favorite subjects and he’s obviously very bright because I tend to agree with him (though the biochar sequestration idea is not viable on the wee amount of biomass created through global agriculture compared to the global system as a whole, alas).

The best part of the whole interview is James’ matter of fact assessment of a likely genetic bottleneck in the next century. He seems optimistic for the outcome as an evolutionary driver, which is a pleasantly cheerful way to look at near extinction of the human race, a substantial “cull,” as he puts it.

Posted at 00:34:10 GMT-0700

Category: Weather

We’re Boned.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 

Toasty!

James Lovelock is interviewed in this week’s New Scientist.

Posted at 18:16:54 GMT-0700

Category: Uncategorized

Good Hair, Great Documentary

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 

Good Hair (2009)

Chris Rock’s excellent documentary about black hair

Chris Rock explores the astonishing market for hair products in the black community. His interview with Maya Angelou stands out as excellent and charming. Chris traces the market from the hair salons of Harlem and Hollywood to the tonsure ceremonies of India. Along the way we meet the contestants in the annual Hair Battle at the Bronner Brothers’ annual convention.

Rating : 4.5 stars

Posted at 12:20:10 GMT-0700

Category: FilmsPositiveReviews

On The Media

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 

One of my favorite radio shows is On The Media; one of the best shows on the radio. As good as it is every week, the first segment of the January 16th show stands out as amazing. It is a wonderful summary of some of the almost previous administration’s absolutely abhorrent behavior and abject lying. If you’ve forgotten the history of what pathetic scum they were, the first few minutes of the show will remind you of the highlights from Cheney’s disastrous energy commission to the fable of Jessica Lynch and all the rest of the lies and fabrications and constitutional subversions they subjected us to.

Cheney may have used “fuck” in his dismissal of Patrick Lehey, but the weight of that flippant obscenity pales compared to the very deliberate use of “thank.”

Thank you, George Bush. Thank you, everyone who voted for him.

Posted at 01:00:08 GMT-0700

Category: PoliticsPositiveReviews