I’m going to update the blog in a few minutes. if the website looks funny for awhile, it should be back to normal in a few minutes.
Recall : Harry London Chocolate Pecan Caramel Stars
Some Harry London Chocolate Pecan Caramel Stars are getting pulled today because “they have not been labeled to include Wheat, FD&C colors Yellow #5, Red # 40 and Blue #1 as an ingredient(s).”
The specific item getting pulled is the Harry London Chocolate Pecan Caramel Stars with a lot code of 9238-1.
Even though the package had a statement that “product was manufactured on equipment shared with peanuts, tree nuts, soybeans, milk, eggs, and wheat, Harry London is undertaking this voluntary recall out of an abundance of caution.”
Sounds like Harry London’s legal department paid the quality control guys a little visit.
No other Harry London products are affected by this recall.
Recall : Spot-2 Satellite GPS Messengers (and a review of Spot Series One Satellite Personal Tracker)
I’m a big fan of SPOT Personal Trackers. I have a series one unit (like the image on the left), and it’s been one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. It’s saved my butt a few times already and also gave me a very solid peace of mind when I’ve loaned it to family members on their trips as well.
You can map in realtime whoever is holding the unit, send measured “pings” from the device to pre-selected people to let them know you’re OK (and to leave a trail of breadcrumbs as to where you’ve been off exploring), directly notify your own private pre-selected list of people that you need help or even summon professional emergency rescue services from the unit in case you’re seriously FUBAR.
Its tough, too. It works just fine in temperatures ranging from -45C to 85C (-40F to 185F), and altitudes of -91m to +6,492m (-300ft to +21,300ft). It works perfeectly in other countries (which I can confirm!), and it gets signal just about everywhere in the world because it’s satellite based.
Check out the coverage map…
Spot Personal Tracker Coverage
Aside from the very northern tip of Russia, some of lower Africa and most of Antarctica, you’re covered!
But recently, SPOT announced a recall on their 2nd series Satellite GPS Messenger devices. The new ones are smaller, have better button placement, and are aesthetically prettier, but they haven’t been out and “field tested” like the first generation devices have.
From the recall website, it says “Spot LLC is dedicated to providing the highest quality and best performance products to our customers, therefore, Spot LLC will be conducting a voluntary return on any new model SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger™ (SPOT 2) purchased since October 1, 2009. During recent testing, we discovered that some of the new SPOT 2 devices might not meet battery and messaging operating specifications.”
Considering what this gadget is designed for, I think any failure, no matter how small or trivial, is a critical failure. They’re doing the right thing by pulling them back for replacement.
The recall is in full effect now. To find out if your Spot-2 unit is one of the recalled units, login to your account at https://login.findmespot.com and click on the My GPS Locations tab. A message will display indicating if you have an affected SPOT-2 unit.
Replacement units should be available “early 2010”, plus you’ll get 1 extra month of your current SPOT service plan and associated services as part of the recall.
Stephen King’s new novel “Under the Dome” looks familiar
Did you ever have something nagging you in the back of your mind? Something that says you’re just on the tip of catching something, but you can’t quite put your finger on it?
I was on my weekly Barnes and Noble indulgence about a month ago and noticed Stephen King had a new book out called “Under the Dome.”
Stephen King's Under The Dome book
According to a review on Amazon.com, it’s about “a small New England town… suddenly, inexplicably cut off from the rest of the world, trapping a large cast of characters inside (or outside) a huge, clear dome. As the emergency escalates, various heroes (and villains) emerge to play a part in the drama. What is the dome? Why is it there? Will the town survive?”
For some reason, that bugged me. But I couldn’t place why.
Flash forward to last night. Apparently the brain cell responsible for pulling data from the archives finally got around to finding the right files.
To me, Stephen King’s “Under the Dome” looks a lot like the “Girls” comic book series by Jonathan and Joshua Luna, published way back in 2005.
Check out these three pages from Girls issue #6 leading up to something that looks a bit like Stephen King’s book cover…
Girls issue #6 part 1
Girls Issue #6 part 2
Girls Issue #6 Part 3
Plus, on the Girls comic book wikipedia page, the plot of the comic Girls is described as “…the story of the people of Pennystown, a community of 63 who are cut off from the rest of the world… The situation is complicated by… the discovery of an enormous reflective dome separating Pennystown from outside aid.”
I remember reading that comic series now! A small town named Pennystown suddenly and inexplicably was cut off from the rest of the world, trapping a large cast of characters inside a huge, opaque dome. As the emergency escalates (and monsters start appearing), various heroes, rednecks, innocents, and villains emerge in the drama. The story revolved on why the dome appeared, who brought it there, and who in the town would survive the attacks from the monsters.
Plus, at the introductory pages of the Girls comic book, there’s a map of the town of who lives where.
Girls comic map
And Stephen King’s book?
Stephen King's Under The Dome Map
Hmmmm.
If I turned in something like this in college, I think I would have been called in to the dean and asked to explain some things.
Just sayin’.
The infamous iPhone WiFi freezer trick – yes, it works
Sometimes my iPhone will refuse to “see” any WiFi connections. I’ll go to SETTINGS and choose WiFI, but no wireless networks will ever appear. I know the WiFi is good in the area because my laptop sees and connects to them, but for some reason, the iPhone doesn’t want to be nice and go out to play.
There are some times on the iPhone when I can go to GENERAL, then SETTINGS, then RESET and then choose RESET NETWORK SETTINGS. After the iPhone reboots, sometimes the WiFi comes back. Sometimes.
But when that doesn’t work, there’s one trick that always does.
I power off my iPhone. Put it in a Ziploc bag. And put the bag on the top shelf in the freezer.
About an hour or two later, I take it out and let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes. Then power it on.
Every single time, the WiFi works afterwards. Not kidding!
I think it has something to do with the heat the iPhone generates. I have a 1st generation iPhone, and when I play games on it or do anything fairly CPU intensive, I notice it gets pretty warm. Usually, that’s right before the WiFi goes out. I have no idea how to fix this myself, but the freezer trick works great for now!
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers : mini book review
The Power of Myth
10 words or less: Inspiring examination of the permeation of mythology in everyday life.
Long version: I loved this book. Really loved it. So much so, that as soon as I completed it, I flipped back to the first page and re-read it again. I’ve never done that with any book before. It was overall a great read, and gave me numerous pre-existing foundations to ponder and even more questions to actively pursue the answer(s) to.
The discussion between Campbell and Moyers is fluid and deep. The topic is constrained to the myriad effects of mythology in culture and on the self, but the enormous field leaves a fantastically wide amount of space to cover. Topics such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Roman Catholicism, Philosophers, Physics and even Star Wars are touched on. Reading this book, you can not only see the consistency of plot devices throughout movies and books, but a striking parallel with daily “live” events as well.
As an example, the following discussion covers the effects of mythology on the the apparently simple act of eating, and how the stories and beliefs of eating and hunting manifest in our conscious life.
“Campbell : There’s a wonderful saying in one of the Upanishads: ‘Oh wonderful, oh wonderful, oh wonderful, I am food, I am food, I am food! I am an eater of food, I am an eater of food, I am an eater of food.’ We don’t think that way today about ourselves, but holding on to yourself and not letting yourself become food is the primary life-denying negative act. You’re stopping the flow! And yielding to the flow is the great mystery experience that goes with thanking an animal that is about to be eaten for having given of itself. You, too, will be given in time.”
That’s an interesting story, but in all the animals I have hunted, none have voluntarily given themselves to being food. They have all run, all tried to hide, and tried everything in their ability for me not to kill them. They had no interest whatsoever in becoming my food, and so, by their own instinctual actions, they were actively “stopping the flow”. So by default, isn’t the process of willfully denying the flow (of becoming food) a critical part of being alive? And in the future, when it is possible to consume synthetic meat and food that has never been “alive” in any sense of the word, are we becoming part of a new life-flow, are we attempting to realize ourselves in our own self-made mythology, or is this just another byzantine denial of the perceived inevitability of death?
See? Stuff like that is why I shouldn’t read books like this!
The book is full of quotable material, but taking it out of context risks mitigating the effectiveness of the surrounding conversation and the philosophical path it took to get there. Trust me, though, it’s all good.
My only issue with this book is the complete dependence on God and/or a “higher purpose” to base their structure on. There really isn’t a deep examination of the possibility of a God not existing – on whether the experience of humanity without a God or a living deity is possible and what that would entail. There are moments where this is almost brought out, such as…
“Moyers : And your life comes from where?
Campbell: From the ultimate energy that is the life of the universe. And then do you say ‘Well there must be somebody generating that energy?’ Why do you have to say that? Why can’t the ultimate mystery be impersonal?”
…but that lack of an overt discussion isn’t any reason to skip this book at all.
I really enjoyed this book and think it should be mandatory reading. I rank it as material from a Philosophy 201 class… far more material to digest than a simple 101 class, but not as deep as a 301 or higher class. It’s a big read at 665 pages on my Sony PRS-505, but it’s worth it.
Highly, highly recommended. Five stars.
Monday Morning Music : 01/04/10
Every Monday I’m going to start posting some music to start the week off on the right foot.
The first post of 2010? The inaugural jam of the new decade? Something retro. With class.
The Incredible Bongo Band : “Apache”
See you all in 2010!
I’m taking another mini-vacation to enjoy my wife, unpack some of the neverending pile of boxes in our new home, and generally kick back and relax a little!
I’ll be back Monday the 4th of 2010!
My sincere wishes that everyone has a fun and memorable new years’ eve celebration!
JibJab’s 2009 year end summary
…and no end of year sendoff would be complete without JibJab’s summary movie!
Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!
2009 end of year music mashup from DJ Earworm
It’s the final hours of 2009! And to send it off, here’s a great mashup of the 2009 hits from DJ Earworm… “United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop) – Mashup of Top 25 Billboard Hits”
This goes to show you how prevalent that autotune voice correction junk is nowadays. But it’s nothing new. Since I was younger, only a handful of musicians could actually sing. The rest relied on gimmicks or stage theatrics. The autotune is just the lazy performer’s stage makeup.