iToph.com

I tested my Comcast cable modem speed via Speakeasy tonight. Via the Chicago server I got much faster speeds then I was expecting: 17,612 kbps down and 1,557 kbps up. I tested again with Seattle and got 12,768 kbps down and 2,162 kbps up.

Nice.

Update: I tested with my Verizon Broadband (Rev A) card (which they claim is like home broadband, and I got 797 kbps up and 250 kbps down.

Amy and I were wondering how the average temperature differed between Fairport (where I grew up) and Downers Grove (where we live now). I found graphs showing this on weather.com, Fairport & Downers Grove.

Then I became curious if I could make an animated gif to alternate the two images. I found GIFfun from Stone Design to do that.

On the graph below red is the record high, orange the average high, light blue the average low, and deep blue the record low. Downers Grove is the one with warmer summers, including a July record high of 105 - click on the image to see the bigger version.

Here is the same comparison for Peoria and Benton, KY - Benton is warmer.

I just found this typing game, TypeRacer. It is oddly addicting. I am typing about 70 wpm. How fast do you type?

Closing Bracket says "ive been enjoying yor blog", when pressed for more details he clarifies, "mostly that it is there". No wonder over 2 people have subscribed to this blog.

When I close the lid on my MacBookPro the white light stays on for 20-30 seconds... and then starts pulsing. It is taking this time to write the RAM contents to the HD in case the battery runs down or is removed this allows the computer to wake up and resume where I left off. There are a couple of command line options that one can enter to turn this on and off. Per this hint you can also save a shell script to make this process easier. I've included the script text here:

#!/bin/sh

SETTING=$1

if [ "$SETTING" == "off" ]; then
echo "Turning off safe sleep"
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
sudo nvram "use-nvramrc?"=false
echo "Don't forget to reboot!"
echo You are now free to remove your sleepimage file at /private/var/vm/sleepimage
elif [ "$SETTING" == "on" ]; then
echo "Turning on safe sleep"
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 3
sudo nvram "use-nvramrc?"=true
echo "Don't forget to reboot!"
else
echo "Usage: safesleep on | off"
fi

I put this in a file named safesleep in this directory: ~/Scripts/shell/. ~ is a shortcut for the current user's home directory. Then I made the file executable by running chmod on it:

sudo chmod ug+x ~/Scripts/shell/safesleep

I also had to add the ~/Scripts/shell directory to my path, so I created a new file at ~/.profile, into which I put:

export PATH="/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:~/Scripts/shell"

Restart the shell (quit Terminal) and the script is ready to rock. Syntax is either "safesleep on" or "safesleep off". The script will remind you to reboot the computer for it to take effect.

I also installed the Dashboard widget Deep Sleep. This fellow causes the laptop to directly enter deep sleep. Deep sleep is a state that uses no power, the white light does not pulse, it is completely off. You do have to wait the 20-30 seconds for the ram to be written to the hard drive.

The combination of a safesleep off for fast normal sleeping, and Deep Sleep for no battery long term sleeping works well for me.

This is a interesting New York Times article about the "New World Order" - titled Waving Goodbye to Hegemony. My brother Josh sent this to me.

iToph.com e-mail is hosted at Google Apps. When that was upgraded to the new GMail codebase (version 2) my GMail This and Compose bookmarklets stopped working. The solution, add ui=1 to the parameters list. Here is my complete GMail This bookmarklet. And here is my Compose bookmarklet. I have made both windows a bit larger than other bookmarklets. Also, you'll need to change the domain after /a/ to your Google Apps domain. Don't know what I'm talking about? Start here.