My girlfriend and I went to New York this weekend. I had always taken SEPTA/NJ Transit in the past, but this time took MegaBus. I was concerned about delays due to traffic that you do not have with SEPTA, but it was a couple of dollars cheaper and the website said they had free wifi, so it sounded like a better deal. The trip up there was “operated by Eastern Travel,” which means we had to board in Chinatown instead of at 30th street. The bus had no air conditioning or wifi, smelled like a public restroom and the engine sounded like a lawnmower on the verge of exploding. We were also dropped off in NYC Chinatown without any warning. That was pretty annoying, because their website showed Penn Station and the intersection of 7th Ave and 28th st as the only drop-off points in NYC. Fortunately I knew how to take the subway to our destination, but that could be a real problem for someone not familiar with the city.
On the way back, we were on a “real” megabus, and it was a totally different experience. We were picked up at Penn station by a double-decker bus with air conditioning, free wifi and an electrical outlets at every seat. It stopped at both 6th and Market and at 30th street, so it’s convenient if you live anywhere in center city or are taking a regional rail home. The only negative was that the “line” to get on the bus was chaos. When the bus arrived, people crowded around the door, but when people went to the front and asked the operator if this bus went to Philly, he would bark, “go to the back of the line!” at them.
From the online reviews, it sounds like BoltBus’s buses are pretty much the same as our return MegaBus, and you will not get a bus operated by someone else. I will try them next time.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Someone stole my credit card number. I got a call from my bank, asking if a transactions with autotrader.com and Yahoo! Wallet were valid. I have never used either of these services. The Yahoo! Wallet transaction for $1 is what flagged my account, and then there were two autotrader.com transactions for $50-something each. I did some research, and posting a “deluxe” ad costs $59, so I assume they did that a couple times. Maybe AutoTrader can help me track them down. They will take the charges off my account, but I have to call every company I have set up automatic payments with, which is pretty annoying.
Something similar has happened before. Someone took $40 out of an ATM somewhere in West Philly, on a day I didn’t even come into town. (And I don’t think I’ve ever been to that part of Philly in my whole life.) I still had my card, so it obviously wasn’t physically stolen from me. And I’ve never given anyone my pin number. I told PNC to look at the camera, since I was confident it wasn’t me. They declined, stating that it cost them $40 to retrieve an image from an ATM camera. (Awesome system design!) To their credit, they did eventually reverse the charges.
I don’t understand why someone would steal my credit card number for a little over $100 worth of benefits. I also don’t understand how they stole it. I don’t use my credit card on shady websites, and I am able to recognize phishing e-mails. I don’t understand how someone got my ATM card information. Perhaps I used an ATM enhanced with a skimmer. But why go through all that trouble just to steal $40? Perhaps to fly under the radar?
Thursday, January 22, 2009
My friend Evan and I went to Baltimore on Sunday primarily to attend Edgar Allen Poe’s (EAP) bicentennial birthday celebration and hang out in a graveyard. For some reason we were unable to convince our significant others to join us. After the celebration, which consisted of enactments of two of his works and a selected readings by John Astin, we hung out at “The Horse You Came in on,” one of the last places EAP was seen alive. At midnight, we went back to the Westminster Hall and Burying Grounds to try to catch a glimpse of the Poe Toaster. Very few people have seen him, and only one photograph is known to exist (reproduced on this page). While socializing with other Poe Toaster stalkers, I learned that some people had been coming for years, yet had never seen him.
But I saw “him!” I was waiting near the side gate of the cemetary, and decided to walk to the end of the wall to stretch my legs. I looked down the walkway between the law school and the cemetary (see the photographs Evan posted on his website) and saw the outline of two people, beyond both sets of walls, walking towards me. They must have noticed me because one of them darted to my left (towards the grave) and the other to the right behind a low brick wall. The person behind the wall peaked out a few times, and then ran across the walkway into the graveyard.
After a few minutes, we saw some flashes from the graveyard, which everyone assumed were from the Poe Toaster taking pictures. We waited around for another hour, but nothing else happened, so we drove back to Philly.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
It’s nice to see some people have the courage to challenge Google head on. Next, I’d like to see an auction site that solves all of eBay’s problems!
Oh, and they are even cooler for being involved with Dinosaur Comics.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
I have considered getting a second pair of sunglasses for bike riding. I love the brand I have now (ic! berlin), and wanted a second pair. However, this brand is very expensive, so I checked out eBay to see if I could find cheap used glasses. I only found new ones, but some were reasonably priced (1/2 the cost of a new pair at the store near me). But then I started to wonder about counterfeit glasses.
I did some Google searching, and it seems like no one talks about having bought a pair of fake ic! berlins. The fakes all seem to be glasses with much more famous names (Gucci, Armani, Diesel). Which is interesting, because I consider these glasses to be pretty low quality, given their price.
I have noticed with many other types of goods (such as clothes and fountain pens). Brands that are stylish but not particularly good quality (Gucci, Montblanc, etc) seem to be faked frequently, whereas brands that produce better quality products but do not have the name recognition (Paul Stuart, Pelikan) are rarely imitated.
This is good for someone seeking value, because they can buy high quality, used products somewhere like eBay, without worrying about it being counterfeit. Often, this will even cost less then buying a new, lower quality product.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Does anyone know how to save Google Scholar settings across sessions? Every so often I have to remind GS that I want the option of exporting to BibTeX. Why doesn’t it just save the settings along with the rest of my account information?
Just how sick is the economy? This morning, while walking home from La Colombe, I approached a crazed woman sitting on a bench. “Got fi’ dolla’s?!” she snarled at me. Back in the day, bums used to ask for a quarter.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
I don’t have cable, so I am spared most of the ridiculous politicking that occurs this time of year. Just now I was sitting here working on a paper when my cell phone rang. It was a recorded message from “the Barack Obama campaign” with a dire warning that John McCain is gearing up to start calling and mailing me to sling mud and spread vicious lies about his opponent. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
I do not understand the point of this phone call. It is not going to change any opinions. If I am an Obama supporter, I will say, “That evil John McCain! Saying bad things about Barack Obama!” and this ad will simply confirm my existing beliefs. If I am a McCain supporter I will say, “That evil Barack Obama! Saying bad things about John McCain!” and this ad will confirm my beliefs. Or if I hate both of them, and the way that politics is more like cheer leading than like rational discussion, this will merely confirm my beliefs.
To make this post informative, let me explain how to get taken off of this calling list. Just call 888-686-8191 and press “1″ when the machine picks up.
There are a lot of things that have been written, and I only have access to a small portion.
Today I was reading an academic paper, and wanted to read one of the papers it cited, published in 1996 by a well-known academic publishing house. I looked the journal up on my university library’s website, and found that it was available. When I clicked on it, however, I discovered that it was only able to access articles published after 1997. At this point I gave up, Googled the author, found his website and e-mail address, and requested a copy directly from him. If he had been hit by a bus yesterday, I would be out of luck.
I wish the open-access movement success.
