MarcFriedenberg.com » Rant http://www.marcfriedenberg.com Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:56:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 en hourly 1 To Make a Long Story Short http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/12/01/to-make-a-long-story-short/ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/12/01/to-make-a-long-story-short/#comments Fri, 01 Dec 2006 17:09:32 +0000 mfriedenberg http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/12/01/to-make-a-long-story-short/ I must have an uncommonly-short ring finger on my right hand. Anyway, my life would be much better if ESPN would buy eson.com and point it to espn.com.

]]> http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/12/01/to-make-a-long-story-short/feed/ Amazin’ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/05/18/amazin/ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/05/18/amazin/#comments Thu, 18 May 2006 17:50:08 +0000 mfriedenberg http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/05/18/amazin/ I normally love Amazon, not only for their price but for their excellent customer service and their innovations in areas such as searching inside books and recommendation engines. It really bothers me though when I’m looking at a product page for, say, a computer, and instead of showing me a price, they tell me “To see our low price, add this item to your cart.” Their explanatory page for this behavior says:

The “click for price” message indicates an additional discount is in effect, and this discount is calculated in the Shopping Cart. You can see this price by clicking the product name and then selecting the Add to Cart button on the product information page. Please be assured that simply adding an item to your cart does not obligate you to buy it–you can always delete the item from your cart if you decide not to purchase it.

That’s crazy. It completely breaks the Web model of transparency, and adds extra steps to my browsing process (add the item to the cart, read the price, remove the item from the cart). Tssk.

]]> http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/05/18/amazin/feed/ TV Mad Libs http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/23/tv-mad-libs/ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/23/tv-mad-libs/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2006 19:51:03 +0000 mfriedenberg http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/23/tv-mad-libs/ Grammatically speaking, the most infuriating show title on television is CNN’s “Live From.”

]]> http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/23/tv-mad-libs/feed/ Thoughts http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/13/thoughts/ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/13/thoughts/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:43:40 +0000 mfriedenberg http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/13/thoughts/
  • I have EZPass now. One day this loss of liberty will haunt me.
  • I need to update the 404 for my pages.
  • Getting only a few hours of sleep last night was a great way to knock me on my ass. I slept way too much last week.
  • I love Penn State. Being at another school is going to be very, very weird.
  • I can’t believe I don’t have a copy of FibroXact, the program I wrote in summer 2003. Since the article came out, a few doctors around the world have asked for it, and I can’t give it to them.
  • Thesis: so far, so good.
  • I really like GMail’s new integrated chat feature. I’ve never seen anything like the “pop out/pop in” interface they have on a Web page, and searching email and chat together makes perfect sense. And it’s faster than Spotlight.
  • I’ve read a number of good books lately, Dave Barry’s Money Secrets and The Search (John Battelle) chief among them.
  • I harbor an intense dislike for both Motorola and Verizon Wireless. UPDATE: After reading the former’s response to my customer feedback, I dislike them even more.
  • I wanted to eat the wafer, but they wouldn’t let me.
    • ]]>     http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/13/thoughts/feed/     Bush Budget to Cut Deeper Into Education http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/06/bush-budget-to-cut-deeper-into-education/ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/06/bush-budget-to-cut-deeper-into-education/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2006 02:49:38 +0000 mfriedenberg http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/06/bush-budget-to-cut-deeper-into-education/ From the AP:

    President Bush’s budget would cut money for education, the second straight time has he has sought less school spending after a first term of steady increases.

    The Education Department would get $54.4 billion for discretionary spending in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. That would amount to a cut of $3.7 billion, or 6.4 percent, from this year.

    When I first read this, I immediately thought of the hypocrisy of announcing major new education initiatives during the State of the Union and cutting education funding six days later. Then I realized that money probably isn’t the answer. I have neither the time nor the expertise in the art and science of education to really back this up in any empirical way, but it seems to me that schools with all the greatest technology and facilities aren’t necessarily any better than those without them. Certainly some minimal budgetary foundation is needed so that qualified teachers are attracted to historically sub-par schools. Before I start to sound like a Communist, I’ll sign off by saying that money isn’t the answer. Or drugs, for that matter. Don’t do drugs.

    ]]>     http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2006/02/06/bush-budget-to-cut-deeper-into-education/feed/     Couldn’t I do better? http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/12/07/couldnt-i-do-better/ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/12/07/couldnt-i-do-better/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2005 17:24:12 +0000 mfriedenberg http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/?p=176 Shouldn’t there be term limits for Congresspersons? I’m not convinced that many of them actually care about America.

    ]]>     http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/12/07/couldnt-i-do-better/feed/     Sew buttons http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/09/22/sew-buttons/ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/09/22/sew-buttons/#comments Thu, 22 Sep 2005 15:56:47 +0000 mfriedenberg http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/09/22/sew-buttons/ What’s the point of the button mid-way up the forearm on many dress shirts? Is it designed to be opened so that you can dramatically reveal a snake stored up your sleeve?

    ]]>     http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/09/22/sew-buttons/feed/     The Western White House http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/08/04/the-western-white-house/ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/08/04/the-western-white-house/#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2005 13:12:10 +0000 mfriedenberg http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/08/04/the-western-white-house/ The President will be spending the rest of August in Crawford, Texas. I wholeheartedly disagree with this MO. Presidents go in White Houses. White Houses go in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. is where national policy is debated and made. Do your job.

    ]]>     http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/08/04/the-western-white-house/feed/     Debian http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/07/28/debian/ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/07/28/debian/#comments Thu, 28 Jul 2005 15:44:51 +0000 mfriedenberg http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/07/28/debian/ I’m learning some Debian at work for our gForge installation. Maybe every Linux user knew this already, but I was amused to see that Debian release names are based on ToyStory characters. Starting from 1.1, we have buzz, rex, bo, hamm, slink, potato, woody, sarge, and the upcoming etch.

    I want to get a job where I have to come up with a series of codenames for things. The big cat theme that Apple is going with (Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard) is cool but uninspired. Without putting too much thought into it, I have decided that I will give all my childen codenames. The theme will be subway system names: T, MTA, Metro, SEPTA, and BART. My childen will be fast, comfortable, and filled with panhandlers.

    ]]>     http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/07/28/debian/feed/     Gah http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/07/26/gah/ http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/07/26/gah/#comments Tue, 26 Jul 2005 23:54:52 +0000 mfriedenberg http://www.marcfriedenberg.com/2005/07/26/gah/ I get frustrated easily, but I’ve never been more frustrated than when I’m trying to drive around Boston. It sucks.

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