This made me want to cry

By kate on September 13th, 2007

“According to a new survey… fully a quarter of Americans believe the First Amendment�’goes too far’� in its provision of rights and freedoms. It gets worse from there…”

Go read the linked blog post, then come back. I’ll wait.

These survey results depressed me so much that I followed the link to the survey and scrutinized the methodology, hoping to find some way to make the results seem less true. Here is the relevant bit: “The 2007 national survey of 1,003 respondents was conducted by telephone between Aug. 16 and Aug. 26.” Follow along as I grasp at straws and try to convince myself that our country isn’t doomed to idiocy.

Telephone surveys. Who do you think responds to those these days? Well, first you have to have a telephone. More and more young people are ditching the landline and going cell-only, or maybe VoIP. So that demographic is not included. Second, you need to be home to answer the phone. That makes it much less likely that the survey respondents were busy people, or even employed. Finally, even if they are home, many people will not take the time for a survey, especially one of this length. This rules out busy people (again), most parents, and anyone who is generally suspicious of unsolicited phone calls (in other words, people who think critically).

To continue my broad generalization, that leaves retirees, unemployed bums, the mentally defective, and cranks. It’s no surprise they come across as closed-minded.

Filed under: current events, justice | 1 Comment »

AirSet – my new PIM

By kate on September 10th, 2007

I’ve been using Trumba for an online calendar since they were in closed beta. I became a paying user because I liked it so much. Now, however, they’ve given the finger to their individual users, jacked their prices sky-high, and aimed for the enterprise market. Fine, screw you too, Trumba.

I spent a long time looking around online for a solution that would be an online calendar and sync automatically with Outlook (not because I’m a giant Outlook fan, although it’s fine, but so that my calendar could then sync to my Blackberry). Most of the sync solutions out there are made to synchronize Outlook and Google Calendar, so I gave Google Calendar a whirl. Unfortunately, I found the interface kind of clunky. I was also not interested in sifting through the pile of third-party Google-Outlook sync apps to weigh value for money.

Luckily, I finally stumbled across AirSet. After finding it, I read that both Joel on Software and Walt Mossberg liked AirSet, so I registered and gave it a try.

AirSet is not only an online calendar, but also includes RSVP management, contacts, lists, group management, photos, files, links, and even music playlists. All for free! It’s a group website in the vein of Yahoo! Groups (but more sophisticated). Right now, the only thing you pay for is to access AirSet on your mobile phone (they don’t support Blackberries yet, but I can still sync mine free using RIM’s desktop app). If you install the free AirSet desktop app, it can sync AirSet with Outlook, Outlook Express, and/or a Palm device.

In one long day, I was able to move all my calendars from Trumba to AirSet and get them synchronized. My contacts are also being synchronized from Outlook, which is a great addition because now Steve can access them online if he needs to. I don’t think we’re going to use the more frivolous features like music playlists or photo albums (we keep those elsewhere), but maybe one day we’ll use the files feature to store important family info or use AirSet to share important URLs.

To put the icing on the cake, their customer support is very responsive. I had a bunch of feedback and suggestions after setting myself up, so I submitted them yesterday afternoon. Within four and a half hours, I had a personal and detailed reply from someone at AirSet (on a Sunday evening!).

I’ve only been using AirSet for a couple of days, but so far it seems like it’s a winner.

Filed under: Links, technology | 1 Comment »

Where to find me online

By kate on September 7th, 2007

If you’re reading this blog, I can assume you have at least some level of interest in what I have to say. In fact, you may be interested to hear more from me than you get from this blog.

HOW TO GET IT ALL: Read my tumblelog. This is a micro-blog that aggregates everything I put online. It includes this blog, Ruby’s blog, photos (from Flickr), videos (from Vimeo), quick status updates (from Facebook/Twitter), shared links (from Facebook), and other miscellaneous things I toss in there*. You can get the tumblelog in these ways:

Bookmark the tumblelog page in your browser.
If you have a Tumblr account, you can friend me from that page and my items will appear on your dashboard.
Add the tumblelog’s RSS feed to your regular RSS reader.
Use Feedwhip to email you when it is updated (generally several times a day, although you can tell Feedwhip how often you want an email).

If you’d rather pick and choose, you can do things like follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook. There’s a complete list of places to find me in the sidebar on the right. Of course, you can continue to read just this blog, where I will put my longer, more thought-out entries.

*I’m planning to follow up with an entry on just how I got all these sites to play together. It makes for a pretty complicated web, but it works.

Filed under: meta, technology | 1 Comment »

Mexico trip recap

By kate on September 2nd, 2007

Steve, Ruby, and I went to Mexico in mid-August. I’d been getting the travel itch pretty bad, and thought that a trip within the U.S. would not be enough. We have a good family friend in Mexico – a former Catholic priest who has known Steve’s family for years. My last trip to Mexico had been with Steve’s family to see his ordination in 1999 (he has since left the priesthood, married, and had a baby).

Our friend, Rafa (short for Rafael), lives in Guadalajara, an inland city west of Mexico City. It was a perfect starting point, since my ideal Mexican vacation is more of the exploring-cities-and-towns type, rather than the sit-on-the-beach type.

Read the rest of this entry »

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For Science!

By kate on August 23rd, 2007

Yesterday, Ruby did her part to contribute to science: we were invited to come to I-LABS to participate in a study. I’m a big fan of I-LABS, a UW lab that studies cognitive development, and have had the opportunity to tour the labs and hear about their research. It was I-LABS who recently pissed off Disney by saying (backed by their studies) that videos like Baby Einstein actually hinder language development. When Disney challenged them and asked for a retraction, they said no.

So, I was more than happy to give some of our time to participate in one of their studies. After some initial paperwork, here’s what happened…

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Filed under: learning, life, parenting | Comment now »

I made Ruby a toy

By kate on July 25th, 2007

Lately, Ruby has been fascinated by plastic buckles, the kind you’d find on a backpack. She has spent a solid half hour intently futzing with the buckles on her booster seat. The problem is that she can eventually clip them, but can’t open them again, so she comes to me for help. After several repetitions of this, I began to design a solution: a toy with LOTS of buckles.

I started at the most excellent Seattle Fabrics, which is a great source for outdoor fabrics, including webbing and all kinds of fasteners. As I browsed, a plan took shape. I selected some buckles, webbing, and zippers. A helpful guy at Ace Hardware gave me a few suggestions, and I bought a couple of other supplies there. Then, I spent two naptimes constructing the project (I have yet to think of a good name for it).

The toy was designed to be flat, light, and therefore easily portable. It features five buckles, which can be buckled in any combination. There are also five zippers, because Ruby likes zippers too. (It is built on a thin piece of wood, so it’s firm enough to easily zip.) Inside each zipper is a hidden pattern or texture for her to discover.

front	back
buckled neatly	buckled randomly
	Click to see inside each zipper… RED YELLOW GREEN BLUE PURPLE

Ruby will try it for the first time tomorrow!

UPDATE (Aug 2008): �Since I posted this entry, some small family-owned companies have begun manufacturing buckle toys. Check out http://www.buckletoy.com, http://www.bucklepuzzle.com, and http://www.buckleyboo.com to see and buy their products.