Something better to do

News update on Larry Hoffheimer, Parkinson Research Foundation, Macular Degeneration Association

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune recently ran this article by Barbara Peters Smith about Parkinson Research Foundation (PRF), its founder Larry Hoffheimer, and another, far more reputable charity with which PRF is competing in Sarasota. The article also briefly mentioned Hoffheimer’s other “charity”, the Macular Degeneration Association (MDA). Readers of my blog know that I have written… Read More: News update on Larry Hoffheimer, Parkinson Research Foundation, Macular Degeneration… »

PayPal adding mandatory arbitration to user agreement, but you can (and should!) opt out

UPDATE: The Consumerist has posted a template you can use for your opt-out letter. Furthermore, the Consumerist article says that eBay just did the same thing as PayPal, and you need to send a letter to opt out of that one as well. There’s a link in the article to a template for the eBay… Read More: PayPal adding mandatory arbitration to user agreement, but you can… »

Pulseaudio: switch to headset automatically when it’s plugged in / docked

I recently wiped Windows 7 from my ThinkPad and replaced it with Linux (Fedora 17). One of the (few) things I missed about Windows was the fact that when I docked my laptop, it automatically switched from the laptop’s internal speakers and microphone to the USB headset plugged into my dock. Pulseaudio doesn’t seem to,… Read More: Pulseaudio: switch to headset automatically when it’s plugged in /… »

How to misread statistics, ArsTechnica edition

A recent security breach exposed the plaintext usernames and passwords of almost 100,000 members of IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The usernames and passwords were discovered by a researcher in 100GB of log files inadvertently left open to the public on an IEEE FTP server. Leaving aside for the moment how incredible… Read More: How to misread statistics, ArsTechnica edition »

How not to apologize for a service outage

I have several domains on Go Daddy, including my blog and my primary email domain. As a result, both my blog and my email were nonfunctional for much of the day on September 10, due to the Go Daddy outage you’ve probably already heard about. For the record, I first started using Go Daddy simply… Read More: How not to apologize for a service outage »

New technique from the Craigslist spammers

In June, I wrote about a technique used by spammers to harvest names and email addresses of “live” targets for their spam. In a nutshell: you post an ad to Craigslist; the spammer sends you an automated email which makes you think that maybe the sender is interested in your ad; you send a response,… Read More: New technique from the Craigslist spammers »

Please sign this petition for United Airlines to improve the safety of its unaccompanied minors program

Annie and Perry Klebahn had a horrible experience sending their unaccompanied minor daughter on United, very similar to the experience my wife and I had sending our daughter on Continental three years ago (before Continental and United merged). Just like I did, they are trying to agitate for change, to make things better in the… Read More: Please sign this petition for United Airlines to improve the… »

Continental (now United) up to its old tricks, losing children and not caring until the media gets wind of it

Bob Sutton writes about how earlier this summer, United Airlines (which is the merger of the old United and Continental) lost a 10-year-old girl. Aside from the exact details of how they lost her, the story is surprisingly similar to what happened to my daughter in 2009. It is depressing, but not surprising, to learn… Read More: Continental (now United) up to its old tricks, losing children… »