3/12    I'm thinking about buying one of the new iPod Shuffles.
        Does anybody have a sense whether the headphone-iPod connection
        is designed well?  It looks potentially fragile in the
        pictures.  I've had a lot of bad experiences with Apple
        power cords which fall apart at the junction points.
        \_ It's brand fucking new.  Who knows?
           \_ I am wondering if it is a historical problem with iPods
              as the power cord problem was with laptops.
        \_ Do you like Apple earbuds? I can't stand them, so I would only
           get them if you are ok with the existing earbud designs or are
           willing to shell out for real earbuds that are compatible. It
           would have been nice to have a 0-button shuffle mode. You plug in
           earbuds, slide the shuffle/sequential switch over, and music starts
           playing.
           \_ You can use the Shuffle with ordinary earbuds. Turn it off and
              on and the thing will play. But no fast-forward, pause, or any
              other controls.
              http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/03/14/old-inline-ipodiphon.html
           \_ This is for listening to podcasts at the gym, so sound quality
              is less important than comfort and not falling off.
              \_ Ya, that's what I'm talking about. I find them to be really
                 uncomfortable. If they fit in your ears ok, then I think
                 you should be fine. Apple has a backdoor policy of offering
                 free headphone replacements even if they are out of warranty.
                 I don't know if that would apply to the fancy shuffle buds.

3/12    I spent a whole day on this to no avail.  Using the Nortel Contivity
        client, logging into work suddenly stopped working (gets stuck on
        "banner text").  Rebooted laptop, checked with the VPN administrator,
        checked with the cable company, check the belkin router -- no changes
        anywhere, just stops working.  Laptop works fine from a different
        network, and a different machine on the same network can't get in
        either, so it's the home network.  Tried rebooting router, checking
        all the settings in the router, outgoing connections (VPN uses UDP
        port 500) not blocked.  Tried putting the machine in the DMZ, didn't
        work either.  Just will not work.  Did I miss anything? -eric
        \_ What happens if you try using the cable connection directly
           (i.e., without the router)? If that works, maybe your router is
           dying.
            \_ Forgot to mention that EVERYTHING works except using the VPN.
               \_ Well clearly, something somewhere has changed. The admins
                  aren't always aware of changes either; you'd probably be
                  giving them too much credit if you assumed they were
                  authoritative. Also, Nortel VPN (among others) uses
                  non-TCP/UDP packets, so likely these are getting blocked or
                  mishandled somewhere. It would not be immediately obvious
                  since the majority of traffic is either TCP or UDP.

3/12    Apparently when the Dow goes down, it's all Obama's fault.  But when
        it goes up, it's the magic of the marketplace!
        \_ When something good happens it's a miracle thanks to God and
           prayer.  When something BAD happens God works in mysterious ways.

3/12    Anyone spend any time in Sante Fe? My fiancee is going for a weeklong
        conference and is looking for things to do while she's there.
        \_ Buy tons of turquoise and silver. See the Georgia O'Keefe museum:
           http://www.okeeffemuseum.org