Greg In The Desert

PerformanceLED Lighting At Lowes

Greg Smith — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:01:40 +0000

I was surpised to see LED lighting at Lowes, a brand called PerformanceLED.

I’ve been watching LED lighting become more popular over the years but haven’t been impressed with the light output. The PAR30 PerformanceLEDs from Lowes claimed a 75 watt incandescent equivalent light at 16 watts. Since they were nearly $70 and were not dimmable, I didn’t buy any. However sitting next to them were florescent PAR30 lamps.

The florescent lights claimed 75 watt incandescent equivalent light at 18 watts for $12. Other than claimed longer life, I can’t see what the advantage of LED lights over florescent. Also, the LED lights had giant aluminum heat sinks on them. I would have expected LEDs to covert even more energy to light than florescent instead of outputting heat. Isnt’ that the reason incandescents are so inefficient?

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Mirror Polished DeLorean

Greg Smith — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:43:11 +0000

I go back and forth if I should seriously look for a DeLorean when I already have one project car sitting in the garage. When I see a nicely done polished to a mirror finished DeLorean like the one at dmctalk, I have to reconsider.

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Stealing From Deposit Boxes With Fishing Wire And Hooks

Greg Smith — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:21:55 +0000

Some probably desperate and broke robber is trying to steal money from deposit boxes (in ATM machines) using fishing wire and hooks in Rio Rancho.

Rio Rancho police spokesperson John Francis said the man took fishing wire and fishing hooks to drop down deposit boxes to try to reel in money bags. Bank employees who would empty the deposit boxes the next morning told police they’d find the hooks and wires and that’s what tipped them off to look at their surveillance video.

Cameras at the Bank of America at High Resort recorded their suspect driving up in an older, white Chevy Suburban with red stripes on the side, opening the deposit box and going fishing.

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Managing Downloaded TV Shows By Folder With Applescript

Greg Smith — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:20:04 +0000

I’m using the TV Shows Mac application to pull torrent files of TV shows and stream them to my PS3 using the PS3 Media Server application. The flow is something like this:

TV Shows looks for torrent files and places them in the Media Temp directory.
Transmission looks torrent files in the Media Temp directory, it deletes the torrent files and puts the in-process and incomplete torrent files in the Media Temp directory.
When Transmission is done downloading, it moves the file to the TV Shows directory.

What neither TV Shows or Transmission does is to organize shows into separate folders by show name. To achieve this I created a folder action Applescript that parses out the TV show name from the file name and creates a folder. The folder action will then move the file into the appropriate folder.

Here is the folder action that I attach to the TV Show folder. It runs every time a file is placed into the TV Shows folder. (note: This is used on Mac OS X 10.6)

–Organize TV shows by folder

–By Gregory J. Smith http://greginthedesert.net

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items

tell application “Finder”

try

set tvshowsfolder to this_folder

set thefilelist to these_items

repeat with i from 1 to number of items in thefilelist

set thefilename to name of (item i of thefilelist)

set OldDelims to AppleScript’s text item delimiters

set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to “.”

set Pasrsedfilename to text items of thefilename

set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to OldDelims

–Hopefullug there is never a TV show named SxxExx.

set LastPartOfShowName to (count of Pasrsedfilename) – 1

repeat with x from 2 to number of items in Pasrsedfilename

if (item 1 of (item x of Pasrsedfilename) is “S” and item 4 of (item x of Pasrsedfilename) is “E”) or (item x of Pasrsedfilename) is “REPACK” then

set LastPartOfShowName to x – 1

exit repeat

end if

end repeat

set OldDelims to AppleScript’s text item delimiters

set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to ” “

set TVShowName to (items 1 through LastPartOfShowName of Pasrsedfilename) as text

set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to OldDelims

log TVShowName

if not (exists folder TVShowName of tvshowsfolder) then

make new folder at tvshowsfolder with properties {name:TVShowName}

end if

move (item i of thefilelist) to ((tvshowsfolder & TVShowName) as string)

end repeat

on error theerror

display dialog “There was an error moving TV shows: ” & theerror

end try

end tell

end adding folder items to

The applescript seems to work pretty well when there is only one show that lands in the TV Shows directory. When I have manually added several files to the TV show directory, sometimes the folder actions just stop working or give a weird error.

My next project will be to automatically delete the TV shows based the last time they were viewed. The challenge here will be that the PS3 Media Server doesn’t do anything to mark a file as read and I don’t want to delete a file unless it has been watched.

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10 Interesting Links From March 5th

Greg Smith — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:00:47 +0000

Only in New Mexico: TV News – I got a note today from someone who said Frank Magid had died. He was a guy who single-handedly destroyed broadcast journalism with his 'happy news' format back in the early 70's
REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS — Site Selection magazine, January 2010 – he southward migration of regional headquarters operations from Northern U.S. states will continue unless government officials in the Northeast and Midwest get serious about cost containment, says a leading site selection consultant who advises companies on such moves. Boyd says that with cost containment becoming paramount, other cities are joining Atlanta on the list of favorable locations. Among them are Sioux Falls, S.D.; Glendale and Tucson, Ariz.; Rio Rancho, N.M.; Provo, Utah; Henderson, Nev.; Miramar and Davie, Fla.; Providence and West Kingston, R.I.; and Manchester, N.H.
The Payson Roundup / New Mexico — The Land of Enchantment – In my early years after graduating university, my first real job was at KOB-TV, Channel 4 in Albuquerque, N.M. I lived there for some four years, learning the television business. Having been raised in Los Angeles, anything in New Mexico seemed different and interesting. On my days off I would take to the highways and explore this enchanted part of America.
We’re Looking for the All American Handyman (or Woman!) : About Us : Home & Garden Television – HGTV is seeking charismatic, energetic, non-professional handy men and women to participate in the upcoming competition series, All American Handyman. Strong carpentry skills, experience with tools, creativity and excellent problem-solving skills are a real plus. The winner will be awarded a significant prize package.
Rescue group finds ignorant beacon owner who triggered false alarms – The Denver Post – Members of the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group used special "direction finding equipment" to locate the owner of a "personal locator beacon" (PLB) that had been inadvertently triggered nine times between Dec. 11, 2009, and Feb. 11 by a backcountry skier from Fraser who mistook the unit for an avalanche beacon. According to the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office, the owner had no idea that every time he turned on the ACR Electronics PLB-300 MicrOFix given to him as a birthday present, a distress signal was broadcast to international satellites linked to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.
5th Annual New Mexico TechEx Awards Celebrating Ideas – Innovation – Impact — ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – – On Thursday May 6, 2010 – the New Mexico Technology Council will host the 5th annual Technology Excellence Awards. This year the awards celebrate innovation in New Mexico and recognize people and organizations that have a made significant impact on the technology landscape of the State.
Mass drug overdose – none dead – health – 01 February 2010 – New Scientist – No ill effects were reported by hundreds of volunteers who took part in a mass-overdose stunt around the world to demonstrate that homeopathic remedies are nothing more than sugar pills. "There were no casualties at all, as far as I know," says Martin Robbins, spokesman for the "10:23" campaign, created to highlight the alleged ineffectiveness of homeopathic remedies.
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Dr. Jeffry Life believes he’s the picture of health
He’s that graying senior with the chiseled physique in those print ads. He shares his health regimen. – Los Angeles Times – ppearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and newspapers (including this one), the incongruous photo juxtaposes a bald, white-haired, septuagenarian head on top of a rippling, V-shaped torso worthy of an Olympic gymnast or powerlifter. Completing the effect of macho, forever-young vitality, Life's left hand casually dangles by his thumb from a jeans front pocket, in a cool cowboy swagger.

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What Google Takes Away, Google Gives Back

Greg Smith — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:08:10 +0000

At the end of last year Google did something with its page rank algorithm that caused my site to loose most traffic from Google. I thought the problem was due to excessive load times on my site. I used Pingdom to narrow the load times to a javascirpt from a Wordpress contact form plugin. The javascript took about 4 seconds to load and was loading on every page, including pages that did not have the contact form.

Once disabled the load times were down to a more reasonable level, although they have crept back up according to Google Webmaster Tools. As far as I can tell it’s images causing the load times. It was a good exercise for me to understand load times but it was a change made completely on Google’s part that caused the loss in traffic. The site not only got the traffic back but it increased a little. Also, when the traffic did come back the site had a significant increase in comment spam, so much that I had to turn off comments for certain posts.

Meanwhile, I took a much need break from the blog and completely ignored everything (except approving comments) and missed that TechCrunch linked to one of my pages. Causing a nice spike in traffic.

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Rotating Bites Of Different foods

Greg Smith — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:19:34 +0000

I spotted a Dear Abby column, in the Chicago Herald News of all places, where wives are enforcing specific rules during eating on their annoyed husbands.

Dear Abby: My wife has been criticizing my table manners ever since our wedding. When we’re having dinner, if we’re having meatloaf, broccoli and mashed potatoes, I eat all of my meatloaf and then all of my broccoli before starting on the mashed potatoes.

My wife claims it is proper etiquette to rotate one bite of each different food rather than consume all of any one of them before moving on to the next. I have never heard of this rule and neither has anyone else I have asked.

Am I violating a rule of etiquette, or is this something else my wife has “cooked up”? — Ruminating in Rio Rancho, N.M.

Dear Ruminating: I have never heard of such a rule either, nor is it mentioned in “Emily Post’s Etiquette (16th Edition).” Your wife may have cooked it up, but that doesn’t mean you have to swallow it.

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Tour Of The Intel & Micron Factory In Lehi, Utah

Greg Smith — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:41:03 +0000

PC Perspective was able to tour and take pictures of the Intel Micron Flash Technologies (IMFT) flash factory in Lehi, Utah. I found the pictures inside the factory of interest since this is exactly what the factory I work in looks like. Although no ever ever caries around raw wafers, especially completed ones.

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KOAT Is Hiring Reporters

Greg Smith — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:33:10 +0000

KOAT wants experience.

KOAT, New Mexico’s News Leader, is looking for two experienced reporters to aggressively cover breaking news.

Responsibilities:
Live reporting in field and on set required.

Requirements:
Excellent writing and communication skills required.

Experience:
Minimum 2 years experience reporting in a commercial broadcast newsroom.

To apply:
Resume, including references, writing samples & a DVD along with a cover letter stating where you found out about this job to: Sue Stephens, News Director, KOAT-TV, 3801 Carlisle Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87107

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Raffle For A House In Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Greg Smith — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:04:25 +0000

If the HGTV Dream Home Sweepstake doesn’t work out, there’s a raffle for a $190,000 house in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. I looked for it in Google Maps and found that part of the Cabezon development that the house is supposed to be in is photographed properly but not mapped properly. I had to use a few different mapping programs to find the house, which doesn’t seem to actually built yet It will probably be a fine house if you don’t mind living next to dirt lots for a while.

2483 Corvara Drive in Astante Villas Gated Community at Cabezon in Rio Rancho, NM. GRAND PRIZE: Win a beautiful brand new home valued at $189,900 or $100,000 CASH. Additional 100 CASH Prizes to be given away. Tickets are $75.00 each. Drawing will be February 27, 2010 at the home to be given away. This raffle benefits El Ranchito de los Ninos Children’s Home — a home for children who do not have a home of their own and are unable to live with their biological families.

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Greg In The Desert

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