Fred Posner dot com » Miscellaneous

Google Search Scares Me

Fred Posner — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:06:25 +0000

I’m sure you’ve googled. Who hasn’t. Well, based of course on the popularity of what others across our great world are searching, Google often “suggests” what you might want to search for; based on what you’ve typed in that google search box. Well… what others are searching for doesn’t just scare me, it scares the bejesus out of me. But now I understand exactly where we may be heading.

Today I made the mistake of typing why does in the google search… and well, I was presented with:

Click for Full Size

Don’t get me wrong. I love poop questions as much as the next guy… but really? So then I started to see what others were looking for and well, here’s a few examples:

Click for Full Size

Also check out: http://mashable.com/2009/08/11/funniest-google-suggest-results/

Copyright © 2000 - 2009
This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:
42431505745fff89e91904c46f1f0909)

Ok… starting to freak out a little…

Fred Posner — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:10:48 +0000

The movers were supposed to call and let us know what time they’d be here… hasn’t happened. We called the moving company yesterday and they were certain we’d get the call last night. Never happened. So far, no truck.

Not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling here…

Too late…

Fred Posner — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:24:10 +0000

I thought this was a very neat idea and well done.

Quick Update

Fred Posner — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:06:34 +0000

Cleaned up the styles a little bit… check out:

Yes, they’re very similar (other than YeniFred). But I’m in a “clean” mode right now.

Charity

Fred Posner — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:18:42 +0000

Mint.com’s blog had a pretty interesting graphic posted on Charitable givings…

My FTC Disclosure

Fred Posner — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:45:52 +0000

Did you know that the FTC believes they should police bloggers?

It’s true… and well, long story short… here’s my FTC disclosure.

Astricon, here I come!

Fred Posner — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:42:19 +0000

Fred Posner @ Astricon 2009

It’s October and that means I’m going to Phoenix!

Astricon, the meet-up of Asterisk users / developers / fans / etc, starts October 13th, and this year I received the honor of presenting. My talk, Asterisk Applications: Unexpected Hurdles, showcases the Ann Arbor Parking “Smackdown” earlier this year.

As an added benefit… my Wife will be joining me

Battle of Cartoon Freds

Fred Posner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:45:49 +0000

So, a new year, a new cartoon Fred… which one do you like better?

2008 Fred

2009 Fred

Headed to SoCal

Fred Posner — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:06:43 +0000

On my way to Orange County, California (via Phoenix). It’s been a while since I had to fly and I am really hopeful my airport experience will be more positive than usual.

Yeni and I have had this one Bob Marley song stuck in our heads recently, so I leave you with:

Don’t worry about a thing,
’cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Don’t worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right!

Rise up this morning,
Smiled with the rising sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singing sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Saying this is my message to you.

Singing: don’t worry bout a thing,
’cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singing: don’t worry about a thing,
’cause every little thing gonna be all right!

Don’t worry… =)

A2 Cloud Camp

Fred Posner — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:27:36 +0000

I attended Ann Arbor’s Cloud Camp yesterday at Google (in… Ann Arbor). Was a great “un-conference” about cloud computing and such. Took a few pictures and enjoyed the afternoon.

Ann Arbor Blocks My Parking App

Fred Posner — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:09:15 +0000

Ann Arbor DDA, you massively fail. If you were a ship, you’d be the titanic…

Can you believe in today’s world that a government agency would conspire and discuss the control of public information? What if that information was a top secret as… parking space availability?

I’ve posted an article on VoIP Tech Chat detailing the Ann Arbor DDA doing just that. My response to them is at the end… Please enjoy.

Read the article on VoIP Tech Chat

More press :)

Fred Posner — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:31:22 +0000

Newest article (related to parking) is from The Michigan Daily.

Also, on Saturday, Ed and I will be guests on a local radio program.

Fred Posner in the News

Fred Posner — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:02:13 +0000

Some of the local papers / sites picked up the Parking Space story… check it out:

And we’re back…

Fred Posner — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:03:27 +0000

GoDaddy had some sort of “issue” that had this site down most of the day… Can you believe it? The nerve of them to mess with fredposner.com. Geesh.

Anyway, we’re back online and I’d love to share a new geeky blog post I wrote: Diff’rent VoIP for Diff’rent Folks. Oh, and I was interviewed by the Ann Arbor Chronicle about the parking lot application. The preliminary video is on YouTube… But I also have a version below

Update — apparently the site was down due to a denial of service attack.

(You should also take a look at Homeless Dave’s site for more interviews)

The week that was 1/9/2009

Fred Posner — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:40:06 +0000

Yeni and Fred in Dundee

Welcome to Fred’s weekly review for the first “real” week of 2009. What did Fred do this week? Will Fred stop talking in third person? This and many more questions await you in this fantastic update.

Ok — so for the purposes of “whatever” I’m starting a week I guess on Saturday – Friday (if you’re keeping track, the answer to the 3rd person question is ‘Yes’). This week, I:

Visited Cabellas in Dundee, Michigan
Made a Lasagna (it was gooood)
Wrote some code for a Parking Lot Space Available project
Smiled when Team Forrest got mentioned on TMCnet’s Blog
Drove in the Snow
Caught up with some old friends
Tried to make new ones

And that’s pretty much the week that was.

Back at the House

Fred Posner — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:54:06 +0000

Yesterday was a “travel day,” with all the reminders of why I do not like to fly. But, thanks to modern travel, I made it home safe and sound. The temperature last night? 1° F. Ouch.

Snow in the neighborhood is piled higher than the mailboxes.

Wednesday Schmendsday

Fred Posner — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:56:48 +0000

No much to report on a very busy mid-week. We received a big snowfall last night, which found myself prepping Yeni’s car for work this morning. Can’t say I’m enjoying the though of repeating that action for the next several months. It was c-o-l-d, cold. Oh, and snowy. Last time I was near that much snow, Mom made me a cup of cocoa with little marshmallows — of course they were real marshmallows added to the cup… not the pre-mixed yucky ones.

Things of interest today:

This mom from Gainesville has to get some sort of Mother of the Year award.
Blogged to VoIP Tech Chat (was short and sweet)
Helped move my cousin’s site to a new host
Looking at switching to Verizon very, very soon.

And that’s the news that’s fit to print. Oh, I also changed the design of this site around a little.

No Bag of Crap for Me

Fred Posner — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:03:48 +0000

Ah, woot you are a tease

Ah… woot, your bag of crap eludes me yet again.

Woot.com is an online store and community that focuses on selling cool stuff cheap. They sell one item per day until it is sold out or until 11:59pm central time when it is replaced. The site will occasionally deviate from the one-product-per-day model for a “Woot-Off”, where a succession of products are available for a period of unannounced length, usually 24–72 hours. This mode is indicated by rotating lights and a bar displaying the percentage of product’s stock remaining. During April Fool’s Day 2008, Woot staged a Woot-Off offering the same product repeatedly, except for a few brief periods when Woot sold Random Crap instead.

In lieu of typical product sales, Woot occasionally offers a $1.00 (+$5.00 shipping) fukubukuro-like blind grab bag officially called “Random Crap”. Its accompanying picture has lent it the name “Bag of Crap” (Bag of Crap). The Bag of Crap includes dollar store items and may also include significantly more expensive items such as large flat-screen televisions.[6] The Bag of Crap typically triggers the flooding and subsequent overload of Woot’s servers with thousands and thousands of order requests. The available Bag of Craps typically sell out within seconds. Processing a customer’s order for a Bag of Crap, assuming he or she is first lucky enough to get one before everyone else, may sometimes take over an hour.

I was not lucky. I did not get the Bag of Crap.

One day… it will be mine.

New Carbon Monoxide Detector

Fred Posner — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:14:56 +0000

No Carbon Monoxide!

Yeni and I just came back from Lowe’s… where we not only purchased a new Carbon Monoxide detector — we purchased a new Carbon Monoxide detector on sale. That’s right, our local Lowe’s price beat Amazon dot com. Go gators.

The new detector is fancy schmancy. It not only had ac power with battery backup, it also displays the carbon monoxide levels within the area monitored. This means that we can monitor even low level exposure. The built in AC adapter even expands so you can place the unit on a desk, on the wall, or like we have… directly within the outlet.

Two detectors are better than 1 and we feel really comfortable with this added safety tool. Current level? 0. Nice…

Thou Shalt Get a Carbon Monoxide Alarm

Fred Posner — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:44:39 +0000

Recently, Yeni and I completed an amazing 3200 mile round-trip “Expedition” from Ann Arbor to Fort Lauderdale. We drove through such landmarks as the Florida Everglades, the Appalachian Mountains, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, and more. We experienced a range of weather and traffic — exactly what you would expect when traveling around Thanksgiving — but the scariest part, was waking up to the carbon monoxide alarm after returning home.

Like most “budget conscious” couples, Yeni and I try to save money when possible. When leaving for our extended trip, we lowered the thermostat to a brisk 65 degrees. After a very snow filled journey home, we raised the temperature up to 74, relaxed for an hour or so, and went to bed early.

Around 4am or so, I heard what I thought was the fire alarm; and not used to using natural gas in the home, I quickly got out of bed to investigate. You see, I like to avoid gas fueled explosions when possible, and assumed that the alarm would be followed by some sort of Bruce Willis / Jerry Bruckheimer fireball explosion. Well, no fire, but this alarm was so, so very loud.

When my eyes gained focus, I looked up high and noticed this wasn’t the smoke detector, but rather the Carbon Monoxide alarm. Well, we shut off the heater, got some warm clothes, tried to call 911 from the VoIP phone (and then had to use the mobile), and got out of the house. The fire department showed up and Yeni and I enjoyed the reflections of the emergency lights on the snow (I told Yeni they were her Christmas lights). We stood outside and let the fresh air remove our nausea and headaches. After 45 minutes (or so) of talking with the Fire Department, the levels had lowered enough for us to return inside.

In the morning, a furnace repairman could not find any levels of carbon monoxide. Our neighbor told us he had recently closed a vent when spraying for wasps and thinks that this action may have been the cause. Although we would have liked to have found a definite source of the carbon monoxide, it’s good to know that the alarm is loud enough to wake me from a deep sleep.