Random Things

Noodlenotes taken throughout the week.

Random Thing #1: Despite usually being thought of as some sort of conservative, what I know about the DREAM Act leads me to support it. It's a shame that political winds, not rationality, may lead to its defeat in the Senate.

Random Thing #2: I looked up my childhood phone number except with the new area code and it points to a church.

Random Thing #2a: Area codes morph with time and demand. 415 used to cover a lot of ground but now just San Francisco. The East Bay switched to 510 after I moved out. My father's part of the East Bay moved with it, and later to 925. So his old phone number (or more properly, his mother's) had over time three different area codes.

Random Thing #2b: I live within the only area code whose area does not include any part of the area it originally had when area codes were introduced in 1947. In 1947, 916 was for the rough country at the northern end of the state. I would guess for reasons of access. That was after all where the state of Jefferson tried to get born, in protest (ironically, I have always thought) of insufficient government attention to roads etc. Anyway, 916 later then grew to cover much of Northern California. Later still it contracted around Sacramento. (Geek-friendly info here.)

Random Thing #3: One of the things I hate most about Win7 is the new Alt-Tab behavior. I rely on Alt-Tab to get around quickly between windows, of which I typically have a couple dozen open at a time. Win7 altered the behavior such that the choices are not reliably in a most-recently-used order. Worse, if you pause in your alt-tabbing to decide where to go, the whole screen blanks out except for the one window you happen to have paused over. Very annoying and counter-productive. So I am random-posting my joy at finding a workaround! A Registry edit that applies classic XP Alt-Tab behavior. Yay!

(Add new DWORD key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AltTabSettings = 1)

Random Thing #4: It's surprising how reluctant you can be to drop a box of cassette tapes off at Goodwill which you acquired in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. You hold a lot of music in your hand and remember how great it was, but it will never be heard again in that format. Possibly will never be heard again at all. I didn't have them cataloged so as to remember them, just brief and sometimes poignant memories as the Cars and Montrose and Joaquin Rodrigo and Maynard Ferguson and Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers and several dozen others went bye-bye. As for the homemade tapes, I still have two or three dozen of those and will most likely go look for a recycler.

Random Thing #5: I roll my eyes any time anyone considers Sarah Palin for President. Listen, she gets short shrift. She deserves enormous credit for her accomplishments in becoming Governor of Alaska. She's smart and hard-working and has great political instincts. But, come on. Really? She's so divisive, and since that's the main part of her act, there's no way she could change that and be effective. As an actual candidate, her best role would be as a lightning rod, saying what the serious candidates can't say, inciting passions, and then at the right time making a semi-graceful exit.

Random Thing #6: I was in the office 13 hours Thursday, and something similar each of the two days before that. This could signal a bad trend.

Random Thing #7: Horrible new trend: ATM attachments to gas pumps wanting my zip code instead of my PIN. Once, before I learned how to preempt that, I drove on fumes to three gas stations because I ... um ... didn't know my zip code WELL LOOK, it's the bank account zip code they want and my new bank account is attached to a P.O. box and I don't have the P.O. box zip code memorized cuz I never use it, arright? So. Even more disconcerting is when whatever machine accepts the card and says thanks and never asks for any PIN or zip code at all. $5 parking etc.

But that's all right. At least if it's not asking for anything we can be assured it isn't some Russian Mafiya sniffer gizmo stealing our PINs.