Bryan's Blog

New Car - Chevy HHR!

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:24:00 +0000

Here's the new addition to our family of cars, a 2008 Chevrolet HHR, in the Imperial Blue Metallic.

Why the HHR? We were looking to increase our fuel economy, and this car is the 'biggest small car' we can find. At over 30 MPG on the highway, it fits the bill very well. Feel free to comment!

Reform Michigan Now - Ballot Proposals

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:34:00 +0000

It appears that a group is circulating petitions for a ballot proposal this fall that looks like it will shake up state government quite a bit.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_BIG_BALLOT_PROPOSAL_MIOL-?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

In the modern era we live in, there is no reason for our goverment to be as archaic as they are. It is time for Lansing to realize that they must scale back their operations, just like the Michigan economy has done in general.

I for one will be signing this proposal.

Seatbelt Enforcement in Michigan Causes Crash

noreply@blogger.com (girlietruck) — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:42:00 +0000

Here's a big pet peeve of mine: Click it or Ticket enforcement, AKA Seatbelt Enforcement.

In general, I disagree with ticketing people for not wearing seatbelts. Granted, I always wear mine & fully understand the benefits of wearing one. Also, I fully agree that the driver should be responsible to ensure all passengers under 16 wear their seatbelts, but that's my agreement ends.

Once a person is 16 and old enough to drive a car on their own, I believe it is their own right/responsibility to choose whether to buckle up. Here's the bottom line: A person who chooses NOT to buckle up is only putting themselves at risk. They are not harming other people. In the event of a car crash, them not wearing a seatbelt does not put other people at risk.

With that in mind, WHY ARE WE WASTING OUR POLICE RESOURCES TO TICKET PEOPLE NOT WEARING SEATBELTS?!?

If a person chooses to put themselves at risk, that is their own right. Just like sky-diving, downhill skiing, or riding a bicycle. In all aspects of life, there are risks . Using valuable police time to identify and ticket these people is in NO WAY protecting & serving the public. What a load of crap. It's just the easiest revenue generation that these cops can find.

The reason I chose to complain about this now is that this morning, on my way to work, I drove through a seatbelt enforcement zone. No, I didn't get ticketed. As I said, I wear a seatbelt. What caught my attention wasn't even the 6 police cruzers with people pulled over. It was the accident that this 'enforcement zone' had caused. Sure enough, a lady in a Ford Excursion rear-ended some poor sap in a Honda Civic. No doubt, she was distracted by the numerous cops pulling out in traffic to keep the public safe by removing all those dangerous unbelted drivers from the road.

This is where I draw the line: When the actions of the people we pay to 'protect' us end up causing more harm than good, it is time for reasonable citizens to say "Enough." We should not allow this to happen any more. My recommendation is to remove the ability for police to pull over cars for seatbelts as a primary infraction. End this useless seatbelt enforcement, and get the cops back to work preventing crime.

Modifications to Headlamp to accept 18650 batteries

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Sat, 24 May 2008 17:55:00 +0000

I have modified one of my headlamps to accept larger capacity batteries. The first step was to dis-assemble the entire headlamp, solder wires in the correct places, and run the wires out of the lamp. You can see the headlamp in action with a couple of 18650 lithium ion (LiIon) batteries that I had laying around. These batteries should give about 4 times the original runtime on AAA batteries.

Next step: I need to make a nice remote battery pack & quick-connect plugs for this.

Pictures of the Brooks Champion Flyer

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:37:00 +0000

Here's the first pictures of my new saddle on the bike. Enjoy!

Taking the Plunge: Brooks Leather Saddle!

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:50:00 +0000

After my first couple hundred miles of riding in 2008, I've decided to take the plunge and purchase a Brooks leather saddle. I've chosen the champion flyer, a single rail sprung saddle. My main reasoning for this is the horrible roads we have in Michigan. It's much akin to driving/riding in a 3rd world country. Cars routinely lose entire wheels in potholes, which makes the ride on a bike brutal at times. A little suspension on my commuter should be a good fit.

I chose to buy it from Wallingford Bikes, www.wallbike.com. Their 6 month return policy sealed the deal for me.

Great vocalists - Check them out

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:35:00 +0000

Boyce Avenue.... A (mostly) acoustic band I recently discovered. I highly recommend checking them out. I would love to see these guys in concert, possibly opening for Of A Revolution (O.A.R.) That could be one of the best concerts in history. Only enhanced if 311 were there as well. 311 covering O.A.R. songs, O.A.R. covering 311, & Boyce Avenue covering whoever they choose.

I would love to see this concert. Anyone else?

205 Miles per Hour in a Corvette... I work on this Car!

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:21:00 +0000

Just watch this video. It's pretty amazing, 200+ miles per hour in a Corvette. And the best part is, I work on this car! Woo Hoo!

Enjoy!

New Pending Patent!

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:27:00 +0000

Here's the link

This is exciting stuff for me. My second patent has be published by the USPTO. In theory now it's just a matter of time before one of my patents gets granted. Exciting stuff for dorks like me!

50Hz Square wave from Astable 555

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:24:00 +0000

Here's a quick look at the 50Hz sqaure wave created from a 555 timer to overcome the vehicle anti-theft system.

50Hz square wave generator for VATs/Passkey

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:21:00 +0000

My weekend project: create a circuit that would create a 50Hz square wave signal to feed into the ECM/PCM on a 1990's caprice to circumvent the vehicle anti-theft system. Solution? A couple of capacitors, resistors, and a 555 timer. Result: the car runs like a dream. More to come.

Downtown Farming Petition to fight narrow streets

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:24:00 +0000

I found this article in the free press:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080410/NEWS03/804100362/1005/NEWS03

I agree 100% with this petition. Restricting Grand River will only further reduce the number of shoppers downtown. There are many areas I already avoid because of the horrible traffic, and if this goes through I will have to put downtown Farmington on that list.

Had the DDA actually done their homework, they would have found that what is needed to make this actually work for the area is:

1. Increase Grand River to 4 lanes, possibly with bike paths, to ensure maximum traffic can reach all areas of downtown.

2. Create an 'offshoot' of Grand River that has quick & easy access to plentiful parking. This parking should be 1-3 blocks away from the desired shopping district. The amount of added parking needs to be in the 300-500 spaces, not the 10-20 spaces that are currently being offered.

4. Ensure clearly labeled pedestrian crosswalks at multuple places. on Grand River for those who want to cross.

Basically, they need to take the cue from cities that have implemented successful 'downtowns.' Take a look @ Birmingham, Royal Oak, Ferndale, & Novi. All have followed the exact same formula of unrestricted traffic along the major artery (Woodward/Novi Road) with offshoots & ample parking.

If they think for one minute that restricting traffic in the downtown area is the right thing to do for local businesses, all they have to do is look at the sales numbers from last summer. The bridge work successfully slowed down traffic downtown, and in turn nearly bankrupted local businesses.

Wireless Networking Links

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:52:00 +0000

Links for setting up a wireless network between 2 locations.

Click here to access my links/information regarding wireless networking and antennas.

DTE Nuclear Plant Fermi 2 Malfunction & Shutdown

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 05:09:00 +0000

Here's an interesting tidbit. Could this have been the 'green flash' I saw over Detroit tonight?

DTE Energy Co. has shut down its Fermi 2 nuclear power plant after two cooling water pumps stopped working.
WXYZ.com – Feb 2, 2008 4:15 PM [GMT]

Green Flash in Detroit/Farmington

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 04:35:00 +0000

Did anyone else notice a green flash of light in the sky Sunday night around 10:20 local time in Detroit or Farmington/Farmington Hills? I was headed home after the Super Bowl, driving south on Orchard Lake just south of I-696 when the entire sky lit up with an eery green light. It looked like extremely bright lightning, but was green instead of the normal whitish-blue.

Just seems kind of weird. Maybe something will come out in the next day or so...

How to unsubscribe from thumbplay.com text messages

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:45:00 +0000

Customer service and technical assistance
1-877-THUMB-99 (1-877-848-6299)
support@thumbplay.com

I have been receiving text messages from thumbplay.com, all of the unsolicited. I found this on their website and called the number. I was told that I would not receive any more texts from them. Let's see if they're true to their word.

Another cell phone text message scam link

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:35:00 +0000

http://www.jamsterscam.com/

Unsolicited text messages from thumbplay.com

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:14:00 +0000

I've recently started receiving unsolicited text messages from thumbplay.com. I'm in the process of trying to determine if there is any recourse I can take against them.

I did find this web site:
http://www.classactionconnect.com/?q=node/680

However, a section of their terms and conditions really bothers me:

KamberEdelson, LLC (“We” or “Our”) has the right, in our sole discretion, to modify, add or remove any terms or conditions of this Agreement without giving individual notice to you, by posting the changes on the Site. Your continuing use of the Site signifies your acceptances of any such changes.

I'm not sure I trust that site enough yet, so I'll keep looking for other options.

Unsolicited text messages from thumbplay.com

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:14:00 +0000

KamberEdelson, LLC (“We” or “Our”) has the right, in our sole discretion, to modify, add or remove any terms or conditions of this Agreement without giving individual notice to you, by posting the changes on the Site. Your continuing use of the Site signifies your acceptances of any such changes.

Zecco.com Continues to Impress

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:10:00 +0000

As you may well know, I have been using Zecco for a few months now as my trading platform. This Thursday gave me a good chance to put Zecco to the test in a rapidly deteriorating market. All of my trades executed immediately. I was impressed. The website never slowed down, and I was able to complete some effective tax harvesting with ETFs in just a few minutes.

Keep up the good work, Zecco!

How To Disable Tabs in Firefox 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 05:28:00 +0000

I seem to be one of the few out there that dislikes tabbed browsing in Firefox. In previous versions, I had no problems disabling this feature using the simple GUI in the Tools Menu. However, they seemed to be adamant that all users MUST use tabs in 2.0, regardless of what the checked options said.

I have finally found a fix, and it doesn't require you to install an add-in like TabKiller to disable a "feature."

Here's the details: type "about:config" in your address bar and hit Enter to see the configuration values for Firefox. Besides anything with "Tab" in the name, you are specifically looking for one value called "browser.link.open_external" This is likely set to "3," and needs to be set to either 1 or 2.

1:cur 2:win 3:tab

Also look out for browser.link.open_newwindow and make sure this isn't set to 3.

Why, might you ask, do I not like tabbed browsing? It's all a matter of screen real-estate. I already have a bar that does the exact job of Tabs. IT'S CALLED THE TASKBAR!!! That, combined with ALT+TAB is all I need to surf the web and multitask well. I don't want to give up any more screen real-estate for a redundant feature.

However, I can see a future lawsuit against Microsoft to remove the taskbar from windows because it is making it less competitive for tabbed browsing. Chances are, it will pass in the European Union, too!

I can see only a couple of uses for tabbed browsing, and most are pretty lame.

You're just following the trend because this is a new cool thing to do.
You routinely run more than 10 programs at the same time AND you have some other program that absolutely will not allow you to resize your taskbar AND you have disabled grouping of taskbar icons in Windows. (Pretty far-fetched to have all three simultaneously).
You want to be able to use ALT-TAB to quickly switch back to your real work application in case the boss comes around. If this is the case, GET TO WORK, SLACKER!!! You shouldn't be browsing ebay while @ work anyway.
Your screen is entirely too large for the limited amount of work you can do on a computer, and you feel that it is necessary to donate this extra screen space to Firefox. If this is your case, I do accept donations of LCD monitors larger than 21". Please contact me for details on where to send free computer monitors.

Toyota Tundra Camshaft Recall

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Wed, 30 May 2007 02:09:00 +0000

Oooh, here's a good one. Toyota, the car company that wants to be known for stellar quality, has already had 20 engine failures on the new Tundra due to a faulty camshaft. I think they have truly lost their quality advantage over the domestics, and it continues to show with each new release.

But get this:

In cases in which a Tundra camshaft fails, Toyota is replacing the truck engine at no charge, representatives said.

That's so magnanimous of them to honor their warranty. Gooo Toyota! Atta boy. Kudos! You're honoring your warranty.

Oh wait, there's nothing special about that. Thanks for making crappy trucks, Toyota.

zecco.com errors

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Wed, 16 May 2007 01:58:00 +0000

So, after a few weeks of trading with Zecco, I have uncovered some errors in their trading system. Here's my list so far.

1. Their system allows you to set up a margin account with less than $2000, then allows you to place short sales with less than a $2000 account balance. However, once the short sale has occured, your account is frozen, not allowing you to buy any more stock. It is possible to sell, just not purchase any additional. When the account is frozen, you have a negative buying power, but no margin calls or explanation of what is happening. It took me 3 calls and numerous emails to their customer support to figure out what the root of the problem really was.

2. Email support is averaging about 4 days for a reply right now. Phone support is slightly faster, with about a 2-day response time. It appears zecco has grown its membership rapidly without training/hiring new support staff.

3. You cannot edit a stop-limit order more than once. This would be a nice feature to allow you to keep tight stops on a stock if you feel it may crash in the near future, while locking in profits. Short-term fix: never edit an order, just cancel it and re-place a new order.

My basic recommendation to Zecco: Update your FAQ documents to include information regarding the $2000 limit for margin accounts. Also, include information on what classifies an individual as a Pattern Day Trader.

Also, faster support response would be nice.

Testing Out Google Spreadsheets

noreply@blogger.com (Bryan) — Mon, 14 May 2007 10:46:00 +0000

Here's a quick little spreadsheet tool I've put together using google spreadsheet. Let's see how this works.

Bryan's Blog

New Car - Chevy HHR!

Reform Michigan Now - Ballot Proposals

Seatbelt Enforcement in Michigan Causes Crash

Modifications to Headlamp to accept 18650 batteries

Pictures of the Brooks Champion Flyer

Taking the Plunge: Brooks Leather Saddle!

Great vocalists - Check them out

205 Miles per Hour in a Corvette... I work on this Car!

New Pending Patent!

50Hz Square wave from Astable 555

50Hz square wave generator for VATs/Passkey

More problems with Zecco

Downtown Farming Petition to fight narrow streets

Wireless Networking Links

DTE Nuclear Plant Fermi 2 Malfunction & Shutdown

Green Flash in Detroit/Farmington

How to unsubscribe from thumbplay.com text messages

Another cell phone text message scam link

Unsolicited text messages from thumbplay.com

Unsolicited text messages from thumbplay.com

Zecco.com Continues to Impress

How To Disable Tabs in Firefox 2.0

Toyota Tundra Camshaft Recall

zecco.com errors

Testing Out Google Spreadsheets