After more than 2 years of complete blogging inactivity that corresponds almost exactly (and not coincidentally) with the lifespan of my 2-year old daughter Vivienne, I’ve migrated my blog once again — this time to a WordPress site on a new hosting provider that will eventually take over from both my blog and my personal website. Hello, World! Happy Independence Day!
Blogger (now owned by Google) recently stopped supporting externally-hosted blogs published by FTP, so I have been forced to migrate my blog hosting to Blogger’s servers.
The migration doesn’t seem to have been completely smooth (specifically local image links, including the website navigation buttons, are broken), so please bear with me as I attempt to fix the glitches.
My first blog post in some time is a public recommendation that you DO NOT buy any image management software from ACDSee, such as ACDSee Photo Manager or ACDSee Pro Photo Manager.
I am taking this rather unusual step because the customer service folks at ACDSee International Systems Inc. have left this as my last resort, after leaving me high and dry with software that simply stopped working after just 5 months:
I have been a user of ACDSee Photo Manager for some years, and have invested a substantial amount of time and effort in creating a comprehensive hierarchy of categories (a.k.a. metadata) with which to catalogue my extensive library of digital images.
Last summer, I was attracted by a new feature in ACDSee Pro Photo Manager 2.5 — the ability to embed my laboriously-created metadata into my image files using Adobe’s XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) technology. This would mean that my metadata was no longer held hostage in ACDSee’s proprietary database, and would also provide a useful backup in the event that the database ever became corrupted. So, I ponied up $77 for the software, taking advantage of a special promotion for existing customers.
After installing the software, I ran the procedure to embed XMP metadata into all of my image files (the vast majority of which are JPEG files from Canon PowerShot cameras). However, after it completed, there was no evidence that any metadata had, in fact, been embedded into the image files. I even took files to work and viewed the XMP metadata through the Adobe Photoshop File Info Advanced tab, and was still unable to find any evidence that the categories had been embedded.
Although frustrated by this apparent failure, I was too busy to do anything about it.
Then, just before Christmas, as I was trying to create a holiday photo-montage to send to friends and family, ACDSee Pro 2.5 Photo Manager stopped working altogether. It simply refused to load, giving the following Windows error message:
ACDSee Pro 2.5 Photo Manager has stopped working
A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.
I reported the problem to ACDSee Systems Technical Support in January, and over the course of a month was directed through a series of troubleshooting procedures, such as:
Eventually, after running out of alternatives, the tech support suggested that I download a trial version of ACDSee Pro 3.0 Photo Manager, to see if that would resolve the problem. And it did — it loaded fine, and successfully imported my Pro 2.5 database. Unfortunately, however, it’s limited to a 30-day trial — which I am now 19 days through.
At this point, I was told that my only option was to pay another $89 to upgrade.
I argued that this was unacceptable, particularly since it was less than 6 months since I had paid $77 to upgrade before. I said that I was unwilling to pay yet more money for software that had so far proven unfit for purpose, and that the company should either:
1. Fix my ACDSee Pro 2.5 Photo Manager
2. Refund my $77, or
3. Give me a free upgrade to version 3.0
They refused on all counts — hence this blog post.
Anyone up for a class action suit?
I just saw whacky-but-allegedly-seminal author, philosopher and thinker Howard Bloom wandering around on Union Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn, while I was out for a run.
How did I know it was Howard Bloom?
Firstly, I recognized him because he gave a presentation called “Notes from the Digital Desert — Saved by Cyber-Research” at the 2002 RLG Annual Meeting while I was working at RLG, and due to a crippling case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that rendered him unable to leave his Brooklyn apartment at the time, his presentation was delivered as a video recording for which I cleaned up the audio.
But primarily I recognized him because he had “Howard Bloom” monogrammed onto his shirt, just as he does in this screen grab from his 2002 RLG video presentation!
He looked somewhat distant, and was wandering around wearing an enormous pair of headphones. Still, it’s nice to see that he’s able to leave his apartment now!
I had to repost this very funny post from The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs about the new Google operating system designed for netbooks, Chrome OS:
Although it’s tempting to forget the disastrous policies and illegal actions of the Bush administration over the previous 8 years and consign them to a dark, forgotten corner of our collective memory, it’s important to remember just how many laws were broken and lives were lost.
I was a long-time supporter of the movement to impeach George Bush when he was President, and now that he’s (thankfully!) no longer in office, I support the movement to indict him and other key members of his administration for war crimes and crimes against the Constitution of the United States:
Click the banner to find out more about the movement to indict George Bush and the other criminals in his administration.
In the United States, Black Friday falls on the last Friday of November, immediately after Thanksgiving. It is considered by many to be the “official” start of the Christmas holiday shopping season, and is typically the busiest shopping day of the year for retailers — many of whom whip up a frenzy of consumer demand by opening very early and offering deep discounts and loss leaders for just a few hours on aspirational products such as consumer electronics.
This last Friday was a very black day indeed for the family and friends of Jdimytai Damour, the 34 year old employee of a WalMart store in Valley Stream, Long Island, who was trampled to death by a crowd of approximately 2,000 frenzied bargain hunters who, after waiting in line for hours for the store’s 5am opening, broke down the doors and stampeded through a human chain of terrified staff into the store.
According to reports, hundreds of people stepped on Jdimytai Damour’s body in their rush to buy products such as heavily discounted HDTV’s and DVD’s. Even more sickening are the reports that some shoppers refused to leave when the staff attempted to clear the store, and simply continued shopping.
What makes people behave like this? Even in the midst of a recession, this insatiable hunger to hunt and “kill” bargains, to consume at all costs, is enough to turn ordinary shoppers into a frenzied mob that will willingly sacrifice a human life for a half-price flat-screen TV. Could it be a genetic hang-over from a prehistoric pack hunting mentality? Are heavily-discounted consumer electronics the woolly mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers of contemporary times?
The only possible silver lining to this whole appalling story is that it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the U.S. economy will come out of this recession sooner or later.
Here’s the BBC’s report on this sad and shocking story, which is nowhere near as graphic as many of the American news networks, but will at least continue to be accessible for the foreseeable future: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7755278.stm
Just over a week ago I took part in Bike MS NYC, a charity bike ride on behalf of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I was talked into it by my old friend Johnny Diamandis, who told me that it would be 60km. However, it turned out that he was a bit confused between kilometers and miles, and the ride ended up being 66 miles!
I didn’t do a lot of training for the ride, although I did use it as an excuse to buy a new bike (see blogs passim). However, thanks to the generosity of friends and colleagues, I was able to raise $1,210 in sponsorship.
The day of the ride started very badly — I had to get up at 5:30am while it was still cold and dark outside, and cycled through a torrential rain storm over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan to meet Johnny at Houston & Lafayette, and then Lee at something like 42nd and 2nd, before heading over to Pier 94 for the start of the ride. I also had a bit of a verbal altercation with an elderly motorist who was honking his horn at us repeatedly for several blocks.
The rain had eased off by the time we arrived and took our places in the starting chutes, but then it got heavier again just before the start at 7:30am.
We set off South down the West Side Highway, went under a tunnel and around the base of Manhattan, and then made our way up FDR Drive on the East Side. The rain was unfortunate, but thankfully the sky started to clear up a bit as we hit Harlem, and before too long we hit the first rest stop at Inwood Hill Park.
Although it had pretty much stopped raining, we were soaked through and cold, and were disappointed to discover that there were no hot drinks on offer — just water and power bars.
For the next leg us rejoined the West Side Highway again and headed South back towards Pier 94, where the ride ended for the 30 milers, but where the 66 and 100 milers were funneled off and allowed through the Lincoln Tunnel in groups. Going through the tunnel was a lot of fun!
By the time we emerged into New Jersey, the sun was trying to peek out from behind the clouds, and it wasn’t long before we reached the next rest stop at Lincoln Harbor for more energy drinks, power bars, fruit and water.
The third leg of the ride was quite tough — by this time we were riding on roads with regular vehicle traffic, and there was a steep climb up through New Jersey to the Palisades Interstate Park.
Riding in the Palisades was great once we got off the road and into the park, although there were a few more brutal hills to climb. Eventually we made it to the last rest stop for us 66 milers, Kiku Restaurant, around lunchtime.
Finally it was time for the homeward leg back down Route 9W South, over the George Washington Bridge and back down to Pier 94. I was pretty tired by this point — my knee, neck and shoulders were aching, and I didn’t have a lot of energy going up any hills.
However, I made it back to Pier 94 around 1:30pm, met up with Johnny and Lee who had got there a few minutes before me, and after getting a medal, immediately started gorging myself on hot beverages and barbecued food.
I was also entitled to go into the “MVP” area (I never did find out what that is an acronym for) because I’d raised over $1,000, and so had a couple of glasses of wine, dipped some banana pieces in the chocolate fountain, and had a much-needed 20-minute chair massage.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable event despite the inclement weather and fatigue because I had excellent company in the form of Johnny and Lee.
I bought myself a new bicycle this weekend: A 2008 model Scott SUB 20, for $650 plus tax. I shopped around for it for quite a while, which meant visiting several bike shops: You can’t really buy a bike online unless you already know exactly what you’re looking for, because even slight changes in frame geometry or componentry can completely change the feel of the bike, so you really have to ride them first.
So far, I’m very happy with my purchase; It’s pretty much exactly what I was looking for, and I covered 28 miles on it straight after picking it up from the bike shop on Sunday with no problems whatsoever.
SUB stands for “Speed Utility Bicycle,” because this is a hybrid bike — a cross between a road bike and a mountain bike — that’s designed for the urban environment. It has a lightweight aluminium frame, low-resistance 700c road bike wheels with fairly slick tyres and a just-above-entry-level 27-speed Shimano drivetrain. But it also has flat handlebars, and it doesn’t have any quick-release components (using a bike in the city, quick-release equals quick goodbye!).
It occurs to me that this is the first new bicycle I’ve ever bought, and the first new one I’ve had since I was a child (a select few people will still remember my old 5-speed Raleigh Arena, followed by the 10-speed Falcon Black Diamond). It replaces an old cruiser mountain bike that I bought used in Berkeley, CA, about 8 years ago, to take to Burning Man.
That old mountain bike was heavy and clunky and had pretty basic components, but it was the perfect city cruiser — in 8 years, all I changed were two brake blocks, and it was always exactly where I left it, no matter where it was locked up. I advertised it for $50 on Craig’s List last night, and was amazed how quickly it sold!
I’ve been meaning to get a better bike for a while now, but have had some extra motivation recently: My friend Johnny persuaded me to sign up for the Bike MS New York City ride in October, a charity 60km ride in aid of multiple sclerosis.
This means that I’m looking for sponsors! If you’d like to sponsor me for any amount, no matter how small, please go to my sponsorship homepage at:
http://msnyc.kintera.org/bikems/tonygill
I just saw a really dramatic car crash on Court Street in downtown Brooklyn, and feel compelled to write my first blog post in 3 months about it.
I was walking south on Court street between Sackett and Degraw when I first heard and then saw a black BMW 540 accelerating hard across the junction, presumably trying to beat the lights.
The car made it across the intersection, but the roads were slick from the rain that’d been falling on and off all afternoon, and the thing about Beemers is that they’re all rear-wheel drive… Pretty soon the BMW began fish-tailing wildly all over the road before spinning out of control and slamming into at least two other cars — a parked, unoccupied Mercedes C230, and a mid-sized Ford SUV (an Explorer, maybe) with a single driver aboard.
Incredibly, no-one was injured. The driver of the BMW (which had Carolina plates) got out and started walking around to survey the scene. He looked pretty calm, although was probably in mild shock. I spoke to the driver of the Ford — an elderly local guy — and gave him my details after confirming he was OK in case he needed a witness.
I was struck by how easily there could have been a cyclist or a pedestrian in the middle of this demolition derby; without the protection of a steel safety cage around them, they wouldn’t have stood a chance.