David Marcucci's Doorstep

This is the First Thing I’ve Seen to Make Me Think the Zombie Apocalypse May Happen

David Marcucci — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:15:58 +0000

Okay, so I know about zombies. Not the undead that you see in movies but the Haitian Vodou process outlined in the book The Serpent and the Rainbow. Up until now I haven’t really been concerned about widespread zombie attacks because, well I don’t live in Haiti and it’s not like a pharmacologically induced zombie could bite you and turn you into a zombie. Now however it appears there is a parasite that essentially turns wasps into zombies and I can totally see that happening to humans as well (scientifically). I guess there are two things that will keep me sleeping at night. One, the article points out that this complex interaction between the wasps and the parasites took years and generations to develop, and two, unless the parasites can hit us all at the same time I’m pretty sure we could find a way to extract them and prevent infestations, I hope anyway.

Parasite Turns Wasps Into Outsider Zombie Queens | Wired Science | Wired.com.

How to Sound Like You Know What You’re Talking About (Even When You Don’t)

David Marcucci — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:00:31 +0000

My wife accuses me of using some of these tricks, but they really work. Specifically the one that says, “If you act like you know what you’re talking about, it’s a lot more likely you’ll be perceived as knowing what you’re talking about.” Now that the cat is out of the bag she sometimes pauses after one of my statements and turns it right around on me, saying, “What? Why am I listening to you? You don’t know any more about this than I do!” Oh well, she can already tell when I’m lying so why shouldn’t she be able to tell when I’m bluffing?

How to Sound Like You Know What You’re Talking About (Even When You Don’t). via LifeHacker

BzzCampign for Sodastream, I Want In!

David Marcucci — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:57:21 +0000

This post is just for BzzAgent Jono!

Many people know that I am a BzzAgent. A person who participates in word of mouth social marketing campaigns for products and services which I typically receive free samples or trials of. You can find out more yourself at http://BzzAgent.com.

One of the newest campaigns is for Sodastream, a machine which makes soda in your kitchen using water, CO2, and flavor syrup, all in a reusable container. I’ve been looking at this machine for a year now, asking myself the typical questions, does it work, is it worth it, will it taste good? So far I haven’t answered the question because I haven’t purchased a machine but the fact that I am still considering it and still looking at this one product certainly says something.

First it tells me, after being around for more than a year I haven’t found anything negative or heard any rumors that have turned me off from the product or caused me to stop considering it. Let me tell you, this doesn’t happen often. Typically I can uncover negative reviews or watch a product slip away because it doesn’t really work and I stop looking at it. Secondly, the fact that it’s still the only homemade soda machine I’m looking at shows that I believe it’s the best product that makes soda at home. I haven’t found a replacement machine to start looking at and I don’t really even see any contenders.

So, why this post? Well, I have an opportunity to get in on this BzzCampaign. I’ve been excited about it all week and have been waiting to post this to show BzzAgent Jono how badly I want in. If I don’t get in, well I likely still keep looking, but if I do get in, OH BOY!! I’ll be a be able to answer all my questions about this product and I’ll be able to share my findings with all of you! If you’ve seen my previous Bzz posts or I’ve talked with you personally you know I’m honest about my opinions and you can trust this won’t change for Sodastream! Please Jono, invite me to this campaign so I can share my thoughts about this product and hopefully turn others onto a great product that will save them money on soda and save them from having to recycle all those pastic bottles. (I’m an optimist about this product and I really hope it lives up to my expectations!)

My Favorite #AttackWatch Tweets from Today

David Marcucci — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 02:40:26 +0000

So if you don’t know yet Obama started a website to “track and respond to attacks”…sounds very Hitler-esh to me but it appears to have backfired. After suggesting that people use twitter and the hashtag #AttackWatch to report attacks it appears people have hijacked his tag (I guess they didn’t really understand how Twitter worked) and now #AttackWatch is the laughing stock of the internet. Below are some of my favorite tweets so far:

The official kickoff from the AttackWatch twitter account:

See a new attack on the President or his record? Use #attackwatchto report it and discuss attacks as they happen.

and then the people take over:

Hey #attackwatch, I saw 6 ATM’s in an alley, killing a Job. It looked like a hate crime!
Hey #attackwatch I just looked at a map of the U.S. Someone has stolen 7 of the 57 States!
Dear #attackwatch my neighbor won’t give me all her money even though she makes more than me. Look into this please.
#attackwatch Obamas ego is blocking my view of the sky.
#AttackWatch #truestory A small business owner told me he tried to hire 7 people & they all turned him down b/c they were on Unemployment.
#attackwatch I want to report someone at home on the range who said a discouraging word.
No hashtag is safe from the hordes of people who actually pay their own bills.#attackwatch
#AttackWatch - Reporting WA Longshoremens Union. They attacked and vandalized without Obama campaign materials! INVESTIGATE!
#attackwatch I got the White House Honey Ale that Obama created. It promised not to go above 8% alcohol but turned out to be closer to 10%
Hey, #attackwatch , there wasn’t any sauce for my McNuggets. Do we contact you or 911?
I found a website with lies about .@BarackObama It’s WhiteHouse.gov #attackwatch
#attackwatch My dog just created a shovel ready job for someone. It’s piled up in my front yard.
Watch out, monthly jobless report. @AttackWatch is onto you. #attackwatch
#attackwatch I want to report my co-worker, who doubts your divinity because you need a teleprompter to speak coherently.
A stopped #attackwatch is right twice a day.
See a new attack on the President or his record? Use #gestapo to report it and discuss attacks as they happen. #attackwatch
#AttackWatch There is a Communist in the oval office.
#AttackWatch There’s a new Twitter account making President Obama look like a creepy, authoritarian nutjob: @AttackWatch
New Timex #attackwatch…takes a lickin but keeps on snitchin!!!
Dear #attackwatch how many people do I need to turn in to get the #attackwatch hoodie? What I really want is the Obama bobblehead!
Dear #AttackWatch - I’m eating a high carb, high sodium meal right now.

Should five per cent appear too small, be thankful I don’t take it all

David Marcucci — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:00:53 +0000

Here is a little gem from the Massachusetts tax code…

Yesterday I had to buy a new battery for my motorcycle. It’s been a while since I’ve had to buy an automotive battery in Massachusetts. Last time I bought a battery was in New Hampshire for my boat which is legally registered in that state. (I want to disclose this before the Massachusetts Department of Revenue sees this post and comes looking for more money.) Before that was likely when I was in my teens and bought one with a friend or for my old Z28.

I remember paying a “fee” even back then when I didn’t bring in the old battery. I always just assumed this was something the store did and never looked into this “fee” in my youth. Now, older and more crotchety about the state taking my money, I looked up the “details” around this “fee”. The summary is below but if you’re looking for the best part scroll down to the bottom.

Summary: The core fee is a sum of money charged on parts that have a “core” that could be reused. It is charged to the manufacturer who passes it along to the distributor who then charges the consumer. If the consumer provides a “core” to return, in theory to the distributor who passes it back to the manufacturer, then the fee is returned. The fee was put in place to encourage reuse of parts rather then disposal, like a deposit.

Here is the tax code gem. The “core” that you purchase in the part you are buying, in my case a battery core, is taxable so you are charged tax on the battery and tax on the core at our newish 6.25% tax rate. Some places charge $25.00 for the core fee so that would be just over a $1.50, mine wasn’t that much. Now when you return the old “core” you can get your core fee back but guess what you don’t get back, the tax. It appears the purchase of the core is a taxable transaction but the return of the core is not a “return”, where you would get the tax back, but a “trade”. So imagine how many of these transactions happen per day in Massachusetts, and it’s not just batteries. Anything with a reusable part will have a core fee (and it appears some that don’t if you search the web). That 6.25% really adds up.

I’m going to see if I can “return” my purchase for a full refund then re-purchase with the core return on the same transaction so I bypass the core fee altogether. I guess I should be happy they don’t tax my core fee when I purchase and return the old core¹. After all they taxed that money twice already, if you add when I earned it, so is taxing it 3 times really that unbelievable?

¹ This was a sarcastic statement, sometimes it hard to express emotion in text. If you agree with it you may not want to keep reading my stuff. Beacon Hill is a bloated bunch of crooks who steal our money via taxes then give it away to people who keep them in power. There are a few good ones down there but on the whole we could easily do without them.

A Stroll Through My Internet History on Usenet

David Marcucci — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:58:49 +0000

I was reading an article and someone mentioned “stalking themselves on the usenet archives” via Google Groups. I thought, this sounded interesting. While I can’t actually remember posting anything to usenet groups back in the day, doing a quick search reminded me of my very early projects where I work and how far I have come (along with the technology). It’s hard to imagine I once struggled trying to set up a simple web server. If you ever used usenet, you should search for yourself, it was fun. Here are some of the posts (along with dates) that I chuckled at. (Sorry, non-geeks may not get it.)

Posted October 3, 1997 in microsoft.public.frontpage.client:

I had FP 97 installed with the web server (1.1 I think, not MS personal)
on my Win NT 4.0 workstation and I upgraded to FP 98(beta). After I
finshed installing FP 98 the explorer and editor would load and work
fine but whenever I run the server EXE files I get “{location of EXE} is
not a valid Windows NT application.” Does anyone know what is going on?

Stats:

Win NT 4.0 Workstation on a PII 200
Upgraded from FP 97 -> FP 98 Beta
Web server will not run?

Ideas:

I used this same copy of FP 98 on two win95 machines and it runs fine.
Is there a Win NT version? (I didn’t think so) Maybe I have the Windows
95 version?

Thanks for you help.

Posted December 5, 1997 in microsoft.public.frontpage.client:

I’m using Frontpage 98 BETA and the Personal Web server that comes with
it to design a site on a WIN NT 4.0 machine. I want to use a perl
program I wrote and I have placed it in the cgi-bin directory but every
time I try to run it I get a 500 Error in the client and a line in the
log that says:

[Fri Dec 05 14:04:48 1997] httpd: could not create new process: 193

The program runs fine from the command prompt and I have a test script
in the cgi-bin dir that runs okay (it just prints a line to the client).

What am I doing wrong? Why won’t it work? Please help me.
I appreciate all suggestions and help.

Posted December 22, 1997 in microsoft.public.inetserver.iis.activeserverpages:

I am trying to get Perlscript to run on my machine within ASP docs but I
am having trouble. I am testing my setup with a Perlscript/ASP example
(from a CD) that just prints basic stuff like Browser type, version, IP
and so on.

Problem: I keep getting a 500 error when I try to run the ASP

I am running: Windows NT 4.0
Frontpage 98
Microsoft Frontpage Personal Web Server 32/3.0
I have Perl32 installed and FP is set to allow scripts

access log says: “GET /cgi-bin/browser.asp HTTP/1.0″ 500 0
error log says: httpd: could not create new process: 193

Any Ideas???

Negotiate Better, Get More

David Marcucci — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:18:57 +0000

I was forwarded this article from my father and I thought it was pretty good. People who know me say I’m a good negotiator. I don’t always agree since I don’t get everything I want, however, this article does point out a lot of the tips I try to use when trying to get something from others.

“Use the other person’s name” is likely the one I always do. It’s hard for someone to say “no” to you when you are using their name and they feel they are talking to another “person” rather than a “customer”. This is especially useful on the phone. I’ve often detected a drastic change in tone on the other end as soon as I say the other person’s name. It’s as if they were talking to a customer then realized they’re talking to a friend. Don’t expect that every time, but you’ll get it once in a while.

There are a few others that I didn’t use in the past, but will now. Also, it was a great reminder about techniques I have used but sometimes forget. Hopefully you will find it helpful as well.

http://passivepanda.com/become-better-negotiator

Sure it’s a pain to shovel…

David Marcucci — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:15:05 +0000

But when you can look at this picturesque view out your window while drinking your morning coffee…it’s worth living in New England.

Product Review: Universal Gaming Storage Double Ottoman

David Marcucci — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:00:12 +0000

For Christmas we bought my brothers this gaming storage ottoman, seeing as they are the biggest gamers we know, but as a surprise my wife also bought one for us. Overall I like it. It has places for all of our gaming gear which was previously taking over our not limited in space entertainment unit. I have only one gripe.

The package clearly show the drum kit for Rock Band inside the ottoman, but it doesn’t fit. Alas, after reading online the kit will fit if you completely disassemble the base. So I tried to fit everything else except the base. Guess what, I can’t. I can’t even figure out how the drums fit in with the shelf still in place. Do I need to remove the shelf? That seems like a waste since it fits my games nicely. I’ll update with some pics soon, but if you have the answers please let me know!

Product Link: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Universal-Gaming-Storage-Double-Ottoman-Faux-Leather/12016200

Why I can’t upgrade to iOS 4

David Marcucci — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:00:49 +0000

Well, it’s been a couple of days now and the app updates have been coming out fast and furious. You must know, I have almost a full 11 pages of apps on my iPhone. In fact I have to routinely “clean up” my installed apps to make room for new ones I want to try. My iTunes shows 290 apps on my PC. So while I am used to choosing between app A and app B, I know I can always change my mind since they’re all sitting on my PC waiting to be reinstalled. What I didn’t think I would have to choose between is OS upgrade or an app, but that is what is happening.

You see, I downloaded a 2.2GB GPS app, NDrive USA (ndriveweb.com), and while this app is horrific at memory management it’s a good little GPS program that gets the job done at a cost of only $2.99. So what’s the big deal? Well, I downloaded it from my iPhone (I do all my app management on my phone) and iTunes just refuses to accept it. I’ve “Transfer Purchases” 4 times and while each time it puts the app in the “Mobile Applications” folder, iTunes still refuses to load it, saying it’s “not a valid application”. This means if I sync my phone iTunes will rip that app off of it like a day old band-aid on a hairy leg.

Typically this would not be that bad (the app thing not the band-aid thing, that would suck) since iTunes let you re-download purchased apps for free, unlike purchased music. So I’d just download it again and off I would go. Well, here’s the twist. That app has been pulled from the store so I can’t download it again. This means if I lose it from my phone for some reason it’s gone. NDrive says they don’t know why the app was pulled and their working with Apple to get it back on the store. Good luck with that.

So let’s recap:

I bought a huge (2.2GB) GPS app that has super crappy memory management but does what $50 GPS apps do for $2.99
I purchased it from my phone and downloaded it via wifi so it only exists on my phone
“Transfer Purchases” moves over the app file, but iTunes refuses to load it as an “app”
The app is no longer on the app store so I can’t re-download it meaning if I lose it from my phone it’s gone forever
A sync would erase it (as it’s not in iTunes) and a sync is required to upgrade to iOS4

Oh yeah, that last one…there’s the rub. If I want to upgrade to iOS and get all the awesome features that should have been on the iPhone months ago I’ll lose my app. So, what do I do? I haven’t talked to Apple yet but I plan to. I doubt they will even care about my problems, I mean, they’re not Google. So I’ll keep plugging away trying to find a solution myself. If you have any bright ideas please leave me a comment. If I figure this out I’ll update the post.