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Recall : Tylenol, Benadryl, Sudafed, Sinutab and Rolaids

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The FDA just announced it’s time for more meds to get pulled off the shelf! Specifically, “TYLENOL® 8 Hour, TYLENOL® Arthritis Pain, and TYLENOL® upper respiratory products, and certain lots of BENADRYL®, SUDAFED PE®, and SINUTAB® products.”

The problem isn’t stinky packaging this time, but an actual problem with “equipment cleaning procedures” at the factories where they were put together. Nobody is saying what got dirty, and the FDA release says “it is very unlikely that this [cleaning procedures] impacted the quality of these products”, but you know it’s gotta be something “Call the attorneys!” nasty since everything is getting pulled.

Also some “ROLAIDS® Multi-Symptom Berry Tablets” are getting pulled because somebody forgot to type “Does not meet USP” on the labels. That’s somebody’s job right there.

Here’s the highly official FDA release on this mess.

RT Tuesdays : 01/18/11

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Every Tuesday I re-post all zee tweets that didn’t originate from this blog just to keep everything in sync.

This week on Twitter…

  • Britney’s new song sounds like a bad pickup line. Is the power ballad “Somebody better call God, cuz he’s missing an angel” next? (about 8 AM Jan 18th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • The city I live in announced they are picking up trash and recycling bins in the same truck this week! Isn’t technology… hey, waitaminute. (8:10 AM Jan 17th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • Little known Texas law: Children must have at least three birthdays at Peter Piper Pizza before they can drive. http://yfrog.com/h4aatupj (1:05 PM Jan 15th via Twitter for iPhone)
Peter Piper Birthday!

Peter Piper Birthday!

  • Diet Zen: Don’t confuse the serious with the important. (8:28 AM Jan 14th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • Drunken rambling or 80s song: “I feel so good if I just say the word/ Sussudio I just say the word/ Oh Sussudio I just say the word”: 80s! (7:27 AM Jan 13th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • When somebody tells you to take a deep breath, they’re really saying you need a hit of glucose by self-tweaking your carbon/oxygen balance. (6:11 AM Jan 12th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • When somebody says they’re related to a famous person within 30 minutes of meeting you, that’s their secret way of asking you to punch them. (10:24 PM Jan 11th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • @wilw No, I won’t unfollow @wikileaks. I won’t be intimidated by the government when I’ve done nothing wrong, and neither should you. (3:33 PM Jan 11th via web Retweeted by RoyceEddington and 100+ others)

One solution to Xerox “installer quit unexpectedly” on mac

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This was interesting. Installing a Xerox print driver on a new Mac Pro desktop with two active network connections caused a “installer quit unexpectedly” error at the very end of the install process.

The driver used was WC7755_UBPD_2.7.0_518.DMG which opened to Xerox Print Drivers 2.7.0.

The Xerox would install all the way to the “install complete” window, but as soon as the “install xerox printer” window appeared where you could select the printer on the network, the installer would shut down with a “installer quit unexpectedly” error.

The solution was to unplug one of the two network cables on the back of the mac. The installer worked perfectly when only one NIC/IP address was active.

Xerox tech support had nooooooo idea this was happening BTW.

The meaning of life by Stanley Kubrick

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Over the weekend, I re-found this great quote from an interview with Stanley Kubrick about the purpose of life. It’s something to think about while speeding through the week. (I typed it out so it’s actually copy-and-pasteable, but the original scan is below the line.)

——-

Question: “If life is so purposeless, do you feel that it’s worth living?”

Answer: “Yes, for those of us who manage somehow to cope with our mortality. The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay begins to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their joie de vivre, their idealism – and their assumption of immortality. As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But, if he’s reasonably strong – and lucky – he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s elan. Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can forge a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation. He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining. The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death – however mutable man may be able to make them – our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.”

The meaning of life according to Stanley Kubrick

News stories the mainstream media missed : 01/15/11

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Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.

* The US government is recruiting everyday regular people to find out the best ways to blow up the US. The government then takes those ideas and comes up with stuff to keep to keep it from happening. Imagine the resume after having that job? 2010-2011 : Employed at modern day culper ring. Highly experienced in discovering new and exciting ways to destroy the United States. Classified references available with appropriate clearance. [NY DAILY NEWS]

* OK, what do you think would happen if I walked into a bank and told them “I’ve been direct depositing my paycheck every month here, so I would like to collect the interest on my future checks I’ll be getting throughout 2011 right now. In advance.” How far do you think I would be thrown into the street? Well the banks themselves are doing something similar to this little trick! They’re taking interest on foreclosed homes and counting them as income even though nobody is actually paying the mortgage or the interest! It’s ghost money! When the actual foreclosure finally goes through, the banks will then take the ghost money off the books. “Many bank financial statements actually look much better than they actually are… ultimately, the banks face a potential loss of $1 trillion on nonperforming loans.” I think I finally understand how epic financial crises start. [FORBES]

* President Obama renewed the Patriot Act for another year without any kind of complaint whatsoever. Doesn’t that kinda’ go against, oh, EVERYTHING HE WAS VOTED INTO OFFICE FOR? I’ll just put this in the growing “Guantanamo” pile. [EXAMINER]

* Apparently “the amount of dust in the Earth’s atmosphere has doubled over the last century.” You watch. Somebody is going to tie this into global warming, La Nina and cow farts before the end of the year. [SCIENCE DAILY]

* The FDA has ordered Vicodin and Percocet to dial back some of the acetaminophen painkiller ingredients in their products because they have labeled it as APAP. This is good because since most people didn’t know APAP = acetaminophen, they would combine Viocdin and Percocet with Tylenol or other acetaminophen based painkillers. Too much acetaminophen will completely nuke your liver form orbit, so the FDA gets the extra point on this one. [HUFFINGTON POST]

* Apparently a veggie-rich diet will make you more beautiful. Great. Science has just given PETA more ammo for those “I’d rather be nude” ads. [TIME]

* Finally, researchers may have found a cure for Tinnitus! Yes! Set all speakers to 11! [DALLAS OBSERVER]

Recall: Toxic Waste brand Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars

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Toxic Waste brand Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars. Seriously. Somebody sat down at a desk and said “I KNOW! WE WILL CALL OUR PRODUCT TOXIC WASTE BRAND NUCLEAR SLUDGE CHEW BARS! THE KIDS WILL LOVE ‘EM!!”

Shockingly, Toxic Waste brand Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars have been recalled by the FDA today.

Even though Toxic Waste brand Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars are imported fresh from Pakistan, somehow, “the cherry flavor of the above-listed product contains elevated levels of lead (0.24 parts per million; the U.S. FDA tolerance is 0.1 ppm)”.

Lead. In a candy imported from Pakistan. Called Toxic Waste brand Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars.

When I win the lotto, I think I’m gonna’ put some crushed Ritz crackers with some lime powder in a bright-glow baggie, call it ETERNAL DRAGON SCALES FROM THE BLOOD TIGER JUNGLE and see if I can’t knock off Toxic Waste brand Nuclear Sludge Chew Bars off the shelf. Hey, no matter what I put out there, it can’t be worse than sucking on imported lead from Pakistan!

Here’s the link to the FDA recall notice.

“Plato Smash?” It must be ACTION PHILOSOPHERS!

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I’ve been meaning to plug the guys from Evil Twin Comics for awhile since their Action Philosophers series is a perfect combination of awesome and educational.

Action Philosophers is a comic book series about the life, attitudes and the major philosophical ideas of… well, the major philosophers!

Issue #1 starts off with “The Pre Socratics!”, and seriously, how can you not love an intro to philosophy like this…

Another sample of Action Philosophers awesome awesomeness


BTW, starting with the pyromaniac dude in the lower left and going clockwise, that’s Heraclitus, Anaximenes, Miletus, Anaximander, Empedocles and Parmenides.

No, seriously.

Their contributions and beliefs are presented in a very entertaining manner, and quickly advance to Descartes.

A sample of Action Philosophers awesome awesomeness


Philosophy 101? Definitely. Educational? Yes, but in a sneaky “hey I learned something I didn’t mean to” way! Entertaining? Oh hell yes.

You can read the Pre-Socratics, Rene Descartes, John Stuart Mill and Carl Jung stories online for free by clicking any of the above links, or you can get a PDF preview of all four stories here. (NOTE: PDF link) You can also get the whole compendium from amazon.com from here or the identical link on the Evil Twin Comics’ website or the smaller “volume” series by looking at the author’s page at amazon.com.

ZaggMate iPad case review

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I finally got caught up at work! I can start making “real” blog posts now!

I often buy gadgets on impulse, and one of the new toys I purchased back in December is an iPad case designed by ZAGGmate.

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Taking it out of its’ packaging was very easy, and the only other thing that came with the keyboard was a USB charger. No “million plugs of the Hydra” syndrome here. That’s a good sign already!

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Setting up the ZAGGmate with the iPad was straightforward. I flipped on the power switch and pressed the recessed bluetooth button on the ZAGGmate. Then, on the iPad, I went to SETTINGS/GENERAL/BLUETOOTH, selected the ZAGGmate keyboard it detected, and typed in the confirmation code. That was it.

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The keyboard layout and size was close enough to a “regular” full size keyboard that my fingers hardly noticed a difference.

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The specialty keys on the ZAGGmate are there, but fortunately, the designers moved them to inconspicuous places.

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What really surprised me was that the specialty keys actually were there to perform some very useful functions on the iPad! So far, so very good!

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Setting the iPad to “stand up” in the ZAGGmate is ridiculously easy. Just pull up the bracket on the back of the keyboard…

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…stand it up…

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…pull it forward, tuck it under the front posts…

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…and click it in. Done!

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When I dropped the iPad into the groove and laid it back against the bracket, it felt secure. No matter how I jostled the iPad or the ZAGGmate, and no matter how I oriented the iPad, the iPad did not fall out of the ZAGGmate.

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The best part of the ZAGGmate is when you close it down. After you take down the keyboard bracket, you can put the iPad flush into the ZAGGmate and use it as a case!

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The docking port is still available, so you can still sync and charge the iPad while it is closed. (You can also see the USB charging port for the keyboard from this angle.)

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The iPad screen doesn’t come in contact with the keyboard when it is closed, so the screen won’t get scratched. The case is a perfect machined fit, and even though the iPad doesn’t wiggle or move when it is in the case, you can separate the iPad and the ZAGGmate with a moderate pressure from your thumb. (Or you can gently pull them apart with one hand on each side of the case.)

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The ZAGGmate isn’t much thicker than Apple’s own iPad case either. Since the iPad is completely flush with the keyboard, there’s not that much additional size or weight at all. Plus it looks like it is part of the iPad. The color and “feel” of the ZAGGmate match perfectly.

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I think the ZAGGmate was brilliantly designed and engineered. My only real complaint with the ZAGGmate is that after using this keyboard for a month, I’ve noticed that even though the layout is nice and roomy…

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…the edges! The edges!!!

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The edges dig into my hands. Big time.

It’s not bad for limited use, but when I tried using the ZAGGmate to write for a few hours, I found my hands became very sore from resting on the edge of the case. Maybe if I adopted a different style of where my hands are when typing it wouldn’t be so bad, but for me, using the ZAGGmate for extended periods isn’t fun.

Second, even though the outer case is made out of “aircraft-grade aluminum”, it does get scratched.

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Those scratches came was from what I would call “regular” use, too. ZAGGmate has an optional “invisible shield” outer protective film…

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…but unfortunately I still have not been able to find any locally to see if it helps.

A related problem to the scratching is that the entire back of the iPad is exposed when in “case” mode.

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Seeing how the bottom of the ZAGGmate got scratched so badly, I am hesitant to keep the iPad in the ZAGGmate without another external case for them both.

Finally, there is no “reverse” option, for when I want to just use the iPad’s touchscreen and have it flipped completely around so the back of the iPad is against the keyboard. It won’t fit flush like the “forward” option, but I blame Apple’s curved-back design for this one.

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Overall, this is one of the most impressive keyboards I have used, and it is in my que for when I know I am going to certain corporate environments. Overall I give the ZAGGmate iPad case 4 1/4 out of 5 stars.

** EDIT 01/14/11 : changed rating from 4 to 4 1/4 stars. I originally intended to have the additional 1/4 but lost it in editing.

RT Tuesdays : 01/11/11

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Every Tuesday (slightly delayed today because a ‘effin CONCRETE CRANE took a bite out of my ROOF!) I re-post all zee tweets that didn’t originate from this blog just to keep everything in sync.

This week on Twitter…

  • Thanks @Ploom. With my roof getting busted up by a crane, this little package is exactly what I need today. http://yfrog.com/hsrphej (about 3:12 PM via Twitter for iPhone)
Ploom!

Ploom!


  • A ginormous concrete-pouring boom crane took a long bite out of my roof. Welcome to 2011. (about 9 AM via Twitter for iPhone)
  • Westboro to picket funeral of 9 y/o girl killed in AZ shooting. Town making “angel wings” to contain and surround them. http://j.mp/hFI8uG (about 8 AM via Twitter for iPhone)


  • WSJ: Chinese J-20 stealth fighter looks a lot like MiG-31 from 1982 “Firefox” movie. Print version only p.A9. http://yfrog.com/h2mo6poj (about 9 PM 01/10/10 via Twitter for iPhone)
J-20

J-20

  • As a man it is also in my DNA to safely eat anything labeled as “food” in a gas station without taking any permanent damage. (1:16 PM Jan 10th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • Wait. “Fancy bread” as in “whimsical idea origin”? Not “fancy bread” as in “olive loaf with jalapeños”? Damn. I thought I had that one. (5:21 AM Jan 10th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • Q: “Where is fancy bread, in the heart or in the head?” A: Depends. Are you wanting split-top, wheat, multigrain, stone ground or hawaiian? (5:20 AM Jan 10th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • “@wikileaks: WARNING all 637,000 @wikileaks followers are a target of US gov subpoena http://is.gd/koZIA” – so reading = criminal activity? (8:43 PM Jan 8th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • ebertchicago: Sarah Palin rummages online frantically erasing her rabble-rousing Tweets like a Stalinist trimming non-persons out of photos. (6:04 PM Jan 8th via web Retweeted by RoyceEddington and 100+ others)
  • Apparently there’s a market for an automatic egg cracker for those elusive “perfectly cracked eggs”. http://yfrog.com/gz162hj (7:02 PM Jan 8th via Twitter for iPhone)
Egg Cracker

Egg Cracker

  • Schnook: (Yiddish) a gullible simpleton more to be pitied than despised; “don’t be such a shnook”. Now a kids toy! http://yfrog.com/h7d1vvzj (5:10 PM Jan 8th via Twitter for iPhone)
Shnook or Schnook?

Shnook or Schnook?

  • nytimes: U.S. Subpoenas Twitter Accounts of WikiLeaks Figures http://nyti.ms/h5AFvI (9:11 AM Jan 8th via The New York Times Retweeted by RoyceEddington and 89 others)
  • Drunken rambling or 80s song? “We’re heading for Venus and still we stand tall / ‘Cause maybe they’ve seen us and welcome us all” A: 80s! (1:42 PM Jan 7th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • Late new years resolution: only drop and break cheap easily replaceable things. Breaking expensive impossible to replace things is so 2009. (8:10 AM Jan 7th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • WSJ: “AT&T flipped a switch and turned on 4G Wed… the switch, however, was (only) in their marketing department.” http://j.mp/dQ9rqE (7:35 PM Jan 6th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • Overheard at WalMart – old man w cane to a kid playing DS: “Quit them video games. You gonna brag about pushin buttons in the nursing home?” (11:02 AM Jan 6th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • HuffingtonPost More unexplained bird and fish deaths http://huff.to/hYpi9L (6:48 AM Jan 5th via web by HuffPostGreen Retweeted by RoyceEddington and 100+ others)
  • Motivational speaker at seminar said “think of your life as a movie!” I said “the CG budget sucks and I want to direct”. He wasn’t amused. (8:46 AM Jan 5th via Twitter for iPhone)
  • iPhone/iPad “Meteor Notes” app warning: update posted today will wipe out all data you had in older MN version. Now not even on app store. (8:16 PM Jan 4th via Twitter for iPhone)