NBC national news weather reporting foolishness

Friday February 6, 2015

NBC reported on their national news broadcast tonight about the weather in California.  Fail.

Screen capture from NBC national news broadcast Friday February 6, 2015.

They got it partly right - "Heavy rain and strong winds through Monday."

But "up to 10-15" rain locally" no.

"No end in sight" no, Monday is the predicted end.

The name for this weather phenomena is "atmospheric river" or the non-technical term "pineapple express" but the term "deep tropical moisture plume" is vague.

And what is with the brown and green blobs on the weather map?

All this Al Roker/NBC weather reporting fail just as anchor Brian Williams is under scrutiny for his reporting.

I like Brian Williams as a news reader but NBC you are losing credibility for me.
 

American Idol Lennon/McCartney FAIL

I watched - or rather skipped through - the TV program American Idol episode where the contestants sang songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles.

The performances were uninspired and disconnected from the genius of the Beatles.  I can only guess that the performers are too young to know or care about songs written 50 years before their time or the show's music directors saddled the contestants with dull adaptations of the music.

There are plenty of cover versions of Lennon/McCartney songs that are inspired and fun, even albums of tributes.

None here.

In my opinion the performance of "I Will" was the best of the lot.  The performance of "In My Life" the worst.

These performances had all the creativity of a dog food commercial.

No idol here.

bike bridge to nowhere in Natomas

A new 6 million dollar bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Interstate 80 has been built in Natomas. Unfortunately the location is not optimal and it is lacking connecting bike trails

Natomas has a history of poor city planning.  Planning seems short sighted.  Planning promises have not been kept.  The master plan for North Natomas was to feature city centers and be bicycle and pedestrian friendly.  Those promises were run over by the automobile and developers.  Sorely lacking was planning for bike trails that actually connect communities and are useful for commuting.  And Light Rail mass transit seems like an afterthought.

The history.

Natomas is a neighborhood in Sacramento, California.  It is north of downtown, north of the American River.  Natomas is divided in two by Interstate 80, into South Natomas and North Natomas.

South Natomas was developed in the 1970s and 1980s and turned out to be a nice community.  Parks, a high school and a library were slow to be developed but finally appeared.  One very nice feature is the Bannon Creek Parkway which includes a bike trail running north/south through South Natomas.  It is only 1 mile long but gets a lot of use by locals walking, walking their kids to the  playgrounds and schools along the path, walking their dogs to the dog park and bicycling.

From this trail, I can bicycle all the way to downtown Sacramento (about 4 miles) on bike trails (with only a short way on a city street).  Well planned Sacramento.

The development of North Natomas was delayed for years due to flood issues and the levees needed to be improved.

A master plan for North Natomas was made - communities with town centers, emphasis on walking, biking.  Sounds great.

The first development was the shopping center at I80 and Truxel, so poorly planned that it gave Sacramento it's first 13 lane wide intersection for people trying to get into the Natomas Marketplace Shopping Center.

Planning got worse.  The second mall goes up (Target et al) with a confusing maze of  intersections next to the fat 13 lane intersection to get there and walking or biking there, well, watch out.

Homes, apartments, strip malls flourished in the heady times when the building moratorium was lifted.

What happened to the walking, biking, town center communities?  Didn't happen.  The auto won with little thought to people or bikes.

The area of I80 and Truxel is particularly dangerous for cars, bikes and people.  This is where the infamous 13 lane intersection into the Natomas Marketplace Shopping Center is.  Unfortunately this is the artery between North and South Natomas.


City planners and government really dropped the ball here.  They don't seem to be able to plan any further than the developer's demands.  What we needed was a plan for the future, 20 years or 100 years from now.  Public transit, bike trails and sidewalks.  Now when Light Rail makes it's way through Natomas, things will have to be torn down and pushed aside to accommodate it.  There is no room for bike trails.  The trails that exist are often in the wrong place or don't connect.  Malls have driveways for cars to enter but are missing sidewalks for pedestrians to enter.

Extending this Bannon Creek bike trail north to North Natomas in the master plan would have been the simple correct answer to making Natomas a biking, walking friendly neighborhood.

It did not happen.  North Natomas developed contrary to the promised master plan, no town centers, no walking, no biking.  Bike trails fail.

Then this bike bridge over I80, to connect South Natomas with North Natomas happens.

The idea of a bike bridge to connect communities is great but unfortunately was poorly executed.  Currently most people and businesses are east of I5.  The bike bridge is built west of I5.  Perhaps in the distant future more people and business will be located west of I5 but for now and the foreseeable future the bridge is in the wrong place.

The monster 13 lane intersection (Truxel and Natomas Marketplace Shopping Center) is now 12 lanes wide and a third entrance to the shopping center has been added to try to fix earlier design errors.

There are bike trails in Natomas.  Check out North Natomas Transportation Management Association website for maps.  Look at the "Spine Trail" route from North Natomas to Old Sacramento.  Laughably they don't even use the new bike bridge.  The trails have issues.  The "Spine Trail" suggests using city streets between Natomas Crossing Drive and San Juan Road but there is a passable gravel trail, unmarked, that follows the canal and  keeps you off the streets.  The "Spine Trail" suggest using Natomas Crossing Drive instead of a perfectly good bike trail that parallels that street, although the bike trail dead ends in landscape!

North Natomas Transportation Management Association published a study in 2008 noting numerous bike trail deficiencies, available here.

Final fail.  That green direction sign above the stop sign is wrong.  Gateway Oaks Drive is not to the right.   Gateway Oaks Drive is the street ahead.
 

 

Here is a youtube video of the bridge.

iPhone 3G annoyances

My iPhone 3G finished it's 2 year ATT cellular service contract and it seems like Apple would prefer I buy something new rather than support this "old" technology.

First the iOS 4 upgrade made my phone very slow.  Changing screens could take several seconds.  It made the phone frustrating to use.  Many people complained about this problem.  This upgrade seemed to affect the 3G model only.  Did Apple ever admit this problem?  Fortunately, iOS version upgrades 4.1 and 4.2 released months later improved on performance.

Now I need a new earbud/mic accessory.  Apple does not offer a replacement on their web site for the 3G model.  The earbud/mic replacement they offer is listed for models 3GS and newer.  Reading comments at the Apple support site, the earbud/mic replacement they sell will work on the 3G except the volume + and - buttons will not function.

My last complaint for the day is a glitch that caused all iPhone non-reoccurring alarms not to function on Jan 1 and 2, 2011.  I set a wake up alarm Jan 2 and it did not activate.  Fortunately I woke naturally but this could have been a problem.  Many people complained about this glitch and Apple did admit it was a problem.

So Apple does not want to support a product sold with a 2 year contract after 2 years and would rather you just buy something new?  I just may, Andriod is looking better ...

my defective GE refrigerator

I bought a new refrigerator.   It turned out to be a defective product.  I was never able to get satisfaction so I now own a defective GE refrigerator that can't keep USDA recommended safe temperatures.

The GE refrigerator model number is GTH21KBXWW.


I needed a new refrigerator and this ad looked great - competitive price, local dealer, "Energy Star," "eco source" and a name brand:  GE.

I bought this refrigerator.  Quickly I noticed it didn't keep proper temperatures in either the freezer or refrigerator compartments.  My lettuce was freezing and my ice cream was melting. I have thermometers in both compartments and observed the temperatures fluctuate up and down.

I visited usda.gov and they recommend that the refrigerator should be at 40 degrees or below and the freezer at 0 degrees or below.  My machine was not maintaining this these recommendations (I had thermometers in both compartments).   My thermometers showed wide fluctuations - in the refrigerator compartment temperatures ranged from sub freezing to over 40 degrees - in the freezer compartment temperatures ranged from -10 to not freezing.  This caused my lettuce to freeze and my ice cream to turn to soup.  Not good.

I contacted the dealer that sold me this refrigerator, Manual Joseph Appliance Center in Sacramento, California, and they said once the refrigerator was sold it was was not returnable, not their responsibility and gave me the 800 number for "GE Cares".

I called GE Cares and started a journey of 9 phone calls and 5 GE technician home visits.  The bottom line is that GE wore me down, refused to admit that this refrigerator model  has problems, did not take responsibility, and refused to fix or replace my defective refrigerator.

I call it defective because it cannot maintain USDA recommended safe temperatures.

9 conversions with 800 GE Cares.  The phone support people were sympathetic and set up home visits with technicians.  And you know how much fun it is to navigate 800 phone number prompts and hold times.

5 GE technician visits to my house to fix the wandering temperature issue.

The first home visit tech said that I had to fully load the refrigerator with food, because it was designed to work with a full refrigerator load.  I did that and it still did not maintain proper temps.

The third home visit tech took apart the back panel parts and played with the controls.

The ice maker broke after 2 months.  The fourth tech replaced the ice maker.

One tech admitted to me, off the record, that this model was not good at temperature control.

One tech put a probe into my bowl of radishes in water and reported the temperature as 41 degrees.  Another tech had a device that he could point to surfaces and read the temperature- all readings over 40 degrees.

That bowl of radishes in water would freeze.  Once a bottle of root beer in the refrigerator froze and exploded.  Glass shards all over.

My friend James listened to my weekly rants about my refrigerator temperatures and chided me for being over critical of my refrigerator.  But turns out he subscribes to Consumer Reports and asked me the model number of my errant refrigerator and this is what we saw:

Note the black dot in the Temp. performance column which means poor.

So I have an energy efficient refrigerator, that is good, but it wrecks my food and worse is a health hazard.  Imagine your lettuce frost bittten and your milk not cold.  Milk not cold does not taste as good and spoils.  

GE blew me off, never admitting it was a defective product, never offering to repair or replace it.  They stonewalled me with their 800 GE Cares phone number and service technicians.

Food not stored at proper temperatures is a health hazard.

GE built and sold me a defective refrigerator.

Comcast salesman lies to me!

A salesman lied to me.  I believed what he promised and didn't get it in writing.  I am dumb.

Comcast salesman Brock came to my house and  said he could get me 24Mbps Internet for $20/month locked in price, not expiring.  And telephone for $20/month, also locked in.

I had one concern about the telephone service.  I really wanted to keep a feature I use on Vonage, simultaneous ring of 2 phones a call comes in.  When someone called my home phone number, both my home and cell phones rang.  A cool Vonage feature.

The salesman said that could be done with Comcast digital voice so I signed the contract.

A month later I had Comcast service after they dug up and trashed my lawn to lay new cable.  The Internet speed was great, 30Mbps burst.  But Comcast digital voice cannot be configured to simultaneously ring another phone.  (It can forward calls, not the same.)  Salesman lie #1 to get the sale.

When the first bill arrived, it showed my "locked in prices" were limited time offers.  The same offers I could have received on Comcast's web page.  Salesman lie #2 to get the sale.

I left voice mails with Brock the Comcast salesman but he never called back.  He had his sale.

I called Comcast customer service and told the story but they stonewalled me.  You have a special offer.  Limited time discount prices.   But I have a contract (with the Promo Length fields blank).  Tough luck.

Lessons:  don't believe salesmen, get things in writing.

Microsoft Elevate America - glitch

Microsoft recently created a program to help Americans get jobs by upgrading their computer skills called Elevate America.

This Microsoft program gives away free vouchers for online computer training and certification. The computer skills include Microsoft products like office (Word, Excel, Outlook) and Vista. These are good marketable skills today, and they look good on your resume. Being certified in these products even better.

Thanks Microsoft :)

There are even offerings for IT professionals.

Here in Sacramento the Greater Sacramento Urban League was tasked with allocating the vouchers.

All good. What could go wrong?

For me, a lack of professionalism at the GSUL, running out of vouchers and a horrible web site experience with Microsoft.

The GSUL is a well meaning organization but I found them to be lax in professionalism. The receptionist was inattentive and the clerk unknowledgeable (he told me to return the next day to pick up my vouchers - the office wasn't open the next day so I wasted a trip). These were minor annoyances compared to their lack of respect for their client's personal information. To receive the vouchers, I had to join the GSUL (paperwork) and request Elevate America vouchers (paperwork). Paperwork - no surprise - but their lack of respect for this paperwork that contained my personal information - SSN, name, address, phone number, email address - scared me. The clerk had piles of it on his desk, in an area accessible by the public. In the age of identify theft, this is not secure and professional.

Because of a miss communication, I only received vouchers for E-Learning and no exam vouchers. Then there are no more exam vouchers available.

So it goes, on to Microsoft to get registered ...

The link to redeem the voucher was hideous long - http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/us/communityinvestment/ea_redeemvoucher.aspx and after a few screens was asked for the voucher code. Typed it in. Error. You must be logged into Microsoft Learning to register your code. Login button. Click login button.

The Microsoft Learning site presented me an ominous pop-up warning: this site's certificate is not valid! do you REALLY want to continue? Thinking this was just a slap at Firefox, my favorite more secure browser, I switched to IE. Same message. I clicked yes and continued. I need to get to this Microsoft page, and I kind of trust Microsoft ...

Now I was looking for some IT professional E-Learning so I selected IT professional but the offerings were Office and Vista. Tried the Business professional offerings and they were also Office and Vista. No IT professional courses for you. OK, I select Office courses.

As I'm restricted to Microsoft and Vista E-Learning, I want to learn Word, Excel and Outlook. I add Word 2007 and I'm in E-Learning. Retype the hideous URL, select Excel. (add the hideous URL to my favorites so I don't have to type it again), select Outlook. At my Learning page, each office component is 6 to 8 courses.

My friend Mateo also got codes but gave up trying to sign up, he couldn't figure out how to simply sign up for Word and other office products courses and exams. I helped him out. 2 of his 5 codes were "this access code has already been used." They were input as he struggled to enroll. But they weren't really used, he never connected them to courses. Not intuitive web site. We did manage to get him signed up for some office courses.

The bottom line: big thanks to Microsoft for the help, but please make it simple for us to sign up and understand.

For those who manage to navigate the process - find out about the opportunity, sign up, do the E-Learning, pass the Exam, I say congratulations and well earned. Put it on your resume.

Proof that you can deal with unprofessional organizations, buggy non-intuitive web sites as well as learn and test a skill.  You know, real life and corporate bs.