http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss en send Psionics Handbook or Wizards game questions to questions @ wizards dot com; otherwise email me at blogcomments AT brucecordell DOT com Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:26:38 -0800 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:26:48 -0800 iBlog 1.4.6 Bruce Cordell BruceCordell.Com Bruce, his views, and his works. Bruce Cordell send Psionics Handbook or Wizards game questions to questions @ wizards dot com; otherwise email me at blogcomments AT brucecordell DOT com BruceCordell.Com Technology http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1296703684/E20071122235701/index.html My web paged has moved to here! (http://www.brucecordell.com)

If you're reading this via RSS syndication, and this is the first update you've seen since I said I was moving my web page, then I lied when I said my feed you previously subscribed to would automatically update to the new site. I've made several posts at my new site, but it looks like LJ and a few other places are stuck on this old feed, and I can't figure out how to forward it, from my end, to the new feed.

Anyhow, as just noted, I was wrong when I said the old feed would still serve you. If you want to keep reading my blog at its new site via RSS (as opposed to just going there every so often to check it), you'll have to subscribe via this link:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/brucercordell ]]> Thu, 22 Nov 2007 23:57:01 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1296703684/E20071122235701/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1296703684/E20071114190749/index.html My web page has moved to here! (http://www.brucecordell.com)

Yes, it's true, I'm moving my web page and blog to a new site, one that I can more easily update, regardless of what computer I find myself sitting at. The url should look familiar . . . brucecordell.com!

If you read my blog via a feedburner subscription, don't worry, I've already redirected the feed to the new site--you need do nothing.

However, if you're reading this at all, that means you might have my old bookmark in your browser (something like homepage.mac.com/macbruceetc.), or you are subscribed to my old, non-feeburner feed.

To get to my new blog, change your bookmark to brucecordell.com or type in brucecordell.com into the navigation window, or subscribe to this feed.

See you on the other side! You'll find it looks a lot like this side... ]]> Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:07:49 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1296703684/E20071114190749/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C203226304/E20071104124717/index.html Sun, 04 Nov 2007 12:47:17 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C203226304/E20071104124717/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C341750033/E20071102125114/index.html Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:51:14 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C341750033/E20071102125114/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1296703684/E20071102122448/index.html UPDATED (see bottom of post)

I have an iPod nano, 4 gigs (Red). I got it in January of this year. About 6 months in, it stopped working. The Tukwila, Southcenter Apple Store here in Washington replaced it under warranty. Great!

Today, the replacement stopped working. The unit was still under the original iPod's year warranty. No problem I thought. But as I learned at the Apple Store today from Josh the manager, the warranty doesn't cover 'corrosion.' He pointed at the slot in the bottom of the iPod and said, "You must have got it wet--see, corrosion. We don't cover it."

Since Josh the manager was the 2nd guy up the chain I talked to at the store, I realized I was out of luck.

I've never dunked the iPod in water, nor do I use it around liquid; I carry this thing around in my jeans pants pocket day in and day out. If it's corroded, it is through normal usage. The fact that the warranty conveniently doesn't cover the issue mostly likely to be the culprit in causing this model to go on the fritz strikes me as slimy business.

Apple, you've let me down. This after I've been such a loyal customer, buying your computers, your web service, and your iPods. I had even been toying with getting an iPhone. Well, f___ that. I'll wait for the gPhone now. I'll pull my old 3rd generation hard-drive based iPod out of storage and replace it's battery.

What I won't do is buy another piece of corrosion-prone crap from you.

Oh yeah, and I'll tell everyone about my experience with your so called 'one year warranty.'

UPDATE: So, I went home, got out a can of pressurized air, and blew out the connection slot on the bottom of my iPod. All the 'corrosion' immediately dispersed; it was pocket lint! Like I said, this thing lives in my pocket. Unlike my old 3rd generation iPod, the slot is on the top, and apparently acts like a collection bowl for stray lint.

So I went back to the Tukwila Apple store, hoping there was not some sort of 'lint exclusion' in the warranty.

Jake, the original tech, and Josh the manager weren't on premises anymore. So I related my story to a new Apple employee. He was taken aback, but didn't have time to check it right then. So I made an appointment for the following morning (this morning). I showed up, and a new tech, Mark, checked out my iPod. He immediately ordered me a new one, paid for by my warranty.

So, I've learned that it wasn't the faceless Apple the corporation that did me wrong. I apologize, Apple, for being so quick to anger.

It was Jake and Josh who did me wrong.

Of course, Jake and Josh are still you're employees, so you're not completely off the hook, Apple, but I'm mollified. Thankfully I decided not to take their refusal as my final answer, and to investigate the 'corrosion' claim on my own. And, thanks to Mark for following through and honoring the warranty my $200 purchase was due. ]]> Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:24:48 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1296703684/E20071102122448/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1031375781/E20071024190849/index.html I'm about ready to blow a gasket. Apparently the White House eviscerated a climate report from the CDC to a Senate committee, cutting 10 pages of details on how climate shift will exacerbate disease.

What the hell is going on? Here we sit with southern California burning, and the White House Office of Management and Budget sees fit to chop the teeth out of this report that attempts to warn against potential biological disasters as bad or worse as drought-caused wildfires.

Talk about fiddling while Rome burns.

This, on top of all the previous climate censorship successes perpetrated by the Bush Administration, is beyond the pale. ]]> Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:08:49 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1031375781/E20071024190849/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1981816269/E20071021154615/index.html Sun, 21 Oct 2007 15:46:14 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1981816269/E20071021154615/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C608165187/E20071019204023/index.html Tomorrow I'll be attending an event in Tacoma for Teen Read Week with Stephen Radney-McFarland. We'll talk about being game designers to interested Teen Readers. (http://www.piercec ountylibrary.org/ki ds-teens/teens/teen -read-week.htm). Depending on how many people show up, we might even be able to run a few demo games--but of course, not if there are too many. We're told about 60 teens showed up last year, which sounds like too many to sit down and demo for, by a factor of 10. ]]> Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:40:23 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C608165187/E20071019204023/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C608165187/E20071017101831/index.html Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:18:31 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C608165187/E20071017101831/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C203226304/E20071014002023/index.html If you have a cat, perhaps you will find this somewhat familiar. I certainly do.

]]> Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:20:23 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C203226304/E20071014002023/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C148281422/E20071002182048/index.html As I'm sure many of you have read, brain-eating amoebas enter the body through the nose, whereupon they travel to the brain to feed. Lately, they've killed several people.

Intelligent Design likes to claim that all creatures were created by a benevolent higher entity they call the the "designer" (which is a code word for the Abrahamic God).

Then along come brain-eating amoebas. The mere fact brain-eating amoebas exist disprove the idea of an intelligent designer.

Or, more accurately, brain-eating amoebas disprove the idea of a benign intelligent designer. [cue scary music] ]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:20:48 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C148281422/E20071002182048/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1981816269/E20070925143634/index.html Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:36:34 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1981816269/E20070925143634/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C608165187/E20070925142925/index.html My latest Wizards staff blog summary: What's In That Cage, discussing a tidbit of hobgoblin lore. ]]> Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:29:25 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C608165187/E20070925142925/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1031375781/E20070922113102/index.html Sat, 22 Sep 2007 11:31:02 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C1031375781/E20070922113102/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C608165187/E20070917090047/index.html Interested in a little teaser information about D&D 4th edition Wizards? I wrote an article about them here. ]]> Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:00:47 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/macbrucecordell/B1283663648/C608165187/E20070917090047/index.html