COX

I have a love-hate relationship with COX Communications.

For the past two days connectivity has been intermittent. Sometimes you can get to your favorite site, other times you cannot. I called COX and they had one of those prerecorded messages stating that they know the region is having these connection issues and they are trying to figure out what is causing it.

Of course I NEED the connectivity NOW. These sorts of things only happen when I actually need to get something done. This is the reason I shifted from COX to QWEST two years ago. But eventually I drift back to COX.

The thing about COX is that they have THE fastest upload/download speeds bar none. When it is working I can get downloads up to, hold your breath here, over 2 MB/s! That's right. Last speed test I saw 24018 kb/s download and 1089 kb/s upload. That's pretty quick.

So, there it is. When it works, it is great, when it breaks, it is broken for days at a time.

Firefox 3.0

I have had trouble lately becoming attached to any one browser. I think Firefox 3.0 might be the cure.

My usual browser, one I bought and have used for 5 years now, is OmniWeb. Great browser, great functionality but lately there have been all sorts of minor issues that seem to plague the software.

Camino is another good browser, very simple, clean and the trunk builds use the latest mozilla rendering engine. There is also Safari. Safari is nice, it too is simple and it still has a few quirks that you need to get used to (for example, the latest Yahoo mail works with it, but sometimes complains about it, also deviantArt works best with a mozilla product).

Another browser I like a great deal is Flock. Flock is basically Firefox with predetermined add-ons. It is a "social browsing" focused application. It is very useful. But... the current version is still based on Firefox 2.0 with all the lovely memory leaks associated with it, and odd font rendering issues. There ARE trunk builds based on Firefox 3.0 but they are still a bit buggy. While I was browsing around with the alpha version of Flock the other day I thought, "HUH! Why not Firefox 3.0?" So, I downloaded Firefox 3.0 (Beta now) and began the process of customization.

Firefox 3.0 by itself is a good browser. The latest version of the ghecko rendering engine is fantastic. It is faster than ever, and very easy on memory. It also fixes all the weird font rendering issues suffered by the previous version.

I wanted something that would have SOME of the cool functionality of Flock as well as some other cool gadgets (I mean extensions) that I have found quite useful. These are the extensions that I use:

CustomizeGoogle
ScribeFire
DownloadHelper
Hyperwords
Interclue
ScrapBook
Shareaholic
Web Developer

These are GREAT plugins. They are fairly streamlined, quick and so very very useful. With these plugins I often can do all sorts of research and other "work" just in Firefox alone, without hopping about from application to application or having to have 8 tabs open in the browser. Good stuff.

If you are looking for a browser, I think you might want to download the latest Beta version of Firefox 3.0. I think Firefox has once again stepped up to the plate and is ready do battle with any other browser available.

A mouse, a port and underpants...

Sheepishly I admit that I was imbibing whilst working on my computer. The inevitable happened, I spilt my beverage all over the desktop. The keyboard was spared but the flow drenched my mouse in a sugary, tasteful carbonated beverage. At first all seemed alright. I shook the mouse out, it worked fine. The next day the wheel stopped clicking; it turned smoothly but as if it was immersed in tar. Thus began the end of my faithful and most cherished Si670m.

I was saddened of course, because this is, was, the best mouse I had ever used. I reverted back to the mighty mouse I had bought with my mini, but it just wasn't the same. After a day or two of soul searching, I pulled the trigger, browsed to Amazon.com and purchased another Kensington Bluetooth Wireless mouse: the Si670m. I am now happy again with my shiny new mouse by my side working as flawlessly as ever. This mouse is a great buy if you are looking for a bluetooth mouse that isn't the size of a walnut like some of the "portable" mice out there. This one is hand-sized and made of very nice materials. The optical port has excellent tracking and movement is quick and precise. The wheel is also left/right clickable to scroll horizontally. The wheel spin clicks lightly, almost luxuriously. It's just a great mouse.

While I was at it, I picked up a 7 port USB hub. Now I have several free USB ports for plugging in cameras and other temporary peripherals as needed. The USB hub is a "Cables To Go" brand, powered USB 2.0 unit. So far it works well and its bright blue light matches the lights on my USB MyBooks (tho the Firewire MyBook has a white light). So far it is performing well and the ports themselves are snug, which I like.

You are wondering about the underpants? First, have you ever worn bamboo clothing? It sounds awful, I know, but bamboo fiber is the silkiest, softest material you can wear. The only bad part about it is that it is somewhat expensive because most of it is imported and the demand has not yet gone crazy enough to generate large quantities of items to be shipped to the states. Anyway, Google "ShirtsOfBamboo" and check out some of their clothing, pick yourself up a shirt or something. You won't regret it, I am serious. It is wonderful material and feels very nice to wear, it also wicks AND has natural anti-bacterial properties so you won't stink as much on a hot day. :) That's all for now. Bye!

Obama vs. Hillary

It is beginning to look like the mainstream Democrats are leaning toward Obama and their support for Hillary is declining. At least that is the impression I am getting from the "press."

People seem concerned that Hillary is fracturing the party because this is dragging on so long. Hardly. It isn't even the summer yet, and how much stumping do they expect Obama will need to run against McCain? I guess a lot of the concern arises from the fact that McCain can go about at will hobnobbing and such, garnering the trust and support for the presidential elections while Obama is hogtied in his battle with Clinton. Again, all this does is provide more time for the real McCain to be revealed, his mistakes, his bad associations, his limitations.

People need to chill out a little. Let the process go as is. There is plenty of time, the shorter the campaign I think the better. It will let Obama address the issues with renewed vigor, and allow him to break away from some of the debates he has had to face with Hillary, and outshine McCain in many regards.

Does anyone remember SweetMail?

GyazMail is my primary email application on OS X.  But from time to time I find myself mysteriously drawn back to an old email application:  SweetMail.

SweetMail was a very good email application from the OS 8 and 9 days.  When Apple went to OS X, the developer of SweetMail did his best to provide us a Carbon/Mach-O version before he dropped off the face of the Earth.  This was several years ago.  Guess what?  SweetMail STILL WORKS.  I am running it right now on Leopard.  It has not been updated in years, lacks features that it sorely needs (IMAP for one) and of course uses the old Carbonized widgets.  But it still sends/receives email and does a good job in organizing your messages for you.

The thing I liked most about it, and what I miss in email applications today, is that the interface is broken into objects.  Each mailbox is its own window, each message its own, etc.  Many people would complain that it causes clutter, but I enjoy it and I work in that manner anyway, always having many many applications and windows open at the same time.

SweetMail is quick.  It's connections and processing of messages are no-nonsense, fast.  It does not really do HTML mail (it recognizes HTML, but makes you open it in another application), but I like that too, I prefer to send and receive email in plain text format.  It also recognizes links and other bits of information in mail messages and highlights or acts upon them according to their meaning.  For example, URLs are clickable.

I am running version 2.2r6, if you can find it anywhere, it is worth downloading and taking for a spin.  To minimize the font shock on your eyes, I recommend installing Silk, a haxie from Unsanity.  That's all for now!  Have a wonderful evening!

Why?

Today our neighbor was visiting and she happened to look on the counter where she was sitting and noticed Zippy Bling Bling (my Avic. versicolor).

Her first question was "What [pause] is THAT?" After we told her the next question was "WHY?!"

That is a good question. Why? Why do I keep nearly a dozen Tarantulas in my house? It has been said on the Tarantula forums I frequent that keeping Tarantulas is an addiction. It's like collecting stamps, but these stamps are alive and you can hold them, feed them and they do interesting things. They are certainly not snuggly, nor are they affectionate. But they represent something wild and potentially dangerous. Something that sits in the back of our minds (I think everybody, even hobbyists, have that instinct or have been taught to be wary of spiders, snakes and other potentially harmful animals) makes it "exciting" to care for and handle these giants of the arachnid family.

Beyond that I cannot explain. Here are the things I like about them:

• They are fascinating to watch.
  
• Their anatomy is alien and interesting.
  
• They produce silk with ease, just part of their daily life.
  
• They are fierce predators.
  
• They can walk on walls and ceilings.
  
• They are very colorful.
  
• They are fuzzy.
  
• They do odd things in captivity (trying to figure out the why's is fun).
  
• They are still not very well understood.
  
• You CAN handle them and it feels cool.

I guess that is about it. They also DO have personalities. They have generic, species personalities (at least a consensus among hobbyists of how certain spiders behave) and they have individual personalities that sometimes go against the grain for their species. There are even funny acronyms and nicknames for different Tarantulas that have become infamous, such as the OBT (Orange Bitey Thing). This refers to a Tarantula from Africa.

In fact, let me steal this list of Tarantula Slang words from the tarantulas.us forums:

T = Tarantula

AGE, SIZE
L'eggs = "Eggs with legs", the 2nd molt after the egg stage for a pre-sling
S'ling = Spiderling
Juv = Juvenile, between sling and adult
Instar = The number of the molt the T is on, after hatching into a sling. 1st instar, 2nd instar, etc.
Post-ultimate = When a male T has molted for the last time before his death
LS = Legspan

SPECIES
NW = New World Species - Urticating hairs!
OW = Old World Species
GBB = Greenbottle Blue (Chromatopelma cyanopubescens)
Blondi = Goliath Birdeater (Theraphosa blondi)
Genic = Brazilian Whitebanded (Acanthoscurria geniculata)
OBTs/Orange Bitey Things/PTerrors = Pterinochilus murinus RCF. Known for their BAD attitude!
RCF = Red Color Phase
PZB = Pink Zebra Beauty (Eupalaestrus campestratus)
Pokie/Poke/Poec = Poecilotheria species
Rosie = Chilean Rosehair (Grammostola rosea)
Versi = Antilles Pinktoe (Avicularia versicolor)
Curly = Curlyhair (Brachypelma albopilosum)

PARTS
Palps = Pedipalps
Boxing gloves = Enlarged, bulbous pedipalps of a mature male
Exuvia = The skin that's left after the T molts
Opisthoma = abdomen

CONDITIONS, BEHAVIOR
UADS = Up And Die Syndrome or death of unknown cause
Dessicated = Dried up, dehydrated
Gravid = Pregnant
Death curl = Pose a T assumes when it's dying, upright with legs curled underneath
On it's back = Molting
Pre-molt = The period before molting when the signs are readily apparent, i.e. going off food, darkened abdomen, sluggish behavior, etc.
Post-molt = The period just after molting while the exoskeleton and fangs are hardening up.
Flick = The act of using the rear legs to spread the itchy (urticating) hairs towards a threat
Threat = When your T stands up on hind legs, with front leg spread wide and straight up in the air, often with fangs bared.

HOUSING, FOOD
Substrate = What is on the bottom of the habitat, i.e. potting soil, peat moss, vermiculite
Verm = Vermiculite
Hidey hole = Burrow
Pinkie = Newborn mouse
Crix = Crickets

OTHER STUFF
Hammock method = A method of "cradling" an eggsack after it's removed from it's mother
Sperm web = A tent shaped web the male uses to deposit his sperm and collect it in the bulbs on his palps

Personality Plus

As with all animals, Tarantulas have "personalities" that differ from species to species and often from individual to individual.

In my collection of Tarantulas I have 3 classes:  Sweet, questionable and mean.  The sweet Tarantulas, as one might expect, are docile and can be handled without fear (although I must caution anyone reading this that ANY wild animal should be treated as such, with caution).  I have several "sweet" Tarantulas that I don't fear handling, although I admit they do make my heart race a bit whenever I take them out.

The "questionable" Tarantulas are those that are not mean spirited, or super defensive, but that are naturally a bit quick to bite first and ask questions later.  Not in a defensive manner, but in a more "hungry" manner, if you catch my drift.  These are spiders that you worry that they might mistake you for fodder, not for a foe.  I have a couple of these and I am sorely tempted to handle them but I have not yet done so.

Finally there are the "mean" Tarantulas.  These are Tarantulas that always seem to be on the defensive or, in the case of at least one of my two most aggressive Tarantulas, on the "offensive."  These are spiders that when you intrude on their space, turn right at you and lunge.  They might give you a warning, but one is all you get.  My Sun Tiger is pretty defensive.  She will lay back, stick her forearms waayyyyy up and act like she will eat you alive... but that is usually the extent of it.  My Grand Canyon Black on the other hand has no stops.  Just today as I was mucking in her cage she came OVER to the tool I was using, raised her forearms, her abdomen, then without much more warning than that struck it, fangs out.  Made a nice clacking sound on the wood.  I had to remove the tool because she was going to attack again and I really did not want to stress her out or even cause her injury (a broken fang is a serious wound).  This is a spider that I would never even consider handling.

People might wonder "why?"  "Why spiders, and why BIG HAIRY spiders that can and will bite you?"  Honestly, most Tarantulas are sweet as pie.  These are arch predators on THEIR level (not in the food chain of course, but in their category, they are the big guns).  They have LONG life spans.  Even the males can live 10 years.  Females are known to live up to 30 years, possibly longer.  That's old.  My poor faithful dogs cannot expect to live that long.  These are venerable creatures.  Predators.  Yet they can be handled, allowed to walk about on you, as long as you treat them with respect.  They are alien as well, they are nothing like us.  The way they move, the way they process food and waste, the way they breath, etc.  And, believe it or not, they come in some pretty incredible color variations.  I have not yet seen a Tarantula that could be called "ugly."  They are each a little work of art in patterns and coloration.

I would like to see more people warm up to keeping these giant spiders.

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