Tretakoff Musings

How the heck did I not hear about this? Amazon has expanded the functionality of their wishlists to any other site online . Yep, that's right: you can now add any item, from any site, to Amazon's wishlist, with one click. I was using TheThingsIWant.com for this, but Amazon integration? Count me in, folks.

With the Olympics looming large, there's been a lot of discussion on my daily ferry commute about the rise of China in the international stage, and, of course, the debate if the USA has already gone past it's nadir as the pre-eminent international power. In other words, has the USA already begun its decline, like the great empires before it? Many factors lead to this possibility, primarily the lack of investment in a manufacturing base: when a society becomes so wealthy that they find it less expensive to send work to another country, or to employ illegal aliens, no matter how trivial or important the work, I maintain that it is officially on the decline. As part of this exercise, we look at key indicators that might represent the telltale signs of when the USA "jumped the shark." For the Roman empire, it might have been the gladiatorial games and vomitoriums; the British empire saw the East India Company become it's de facto ambassador to the world. What might th...

Been a little more quite than I anticipated. First, the holidays, mixed with an office move, then followed by a trip to Tucson to visit the family. Pix are on Flickr ; they should be Picnik 'ed mostly later today. Bonus: my mother unearthed some classic child photos of me,and I'll be posting them to Flickr, as well. Some random comments: - For those who have been following my Twitters, I'm sure you've had enough of my complaints about US Air, but for those who missed them, I advise avoiding them at all costs. Even though I had significant frequent flier miles with them, I will avoid flying them, ever again, if possible. Atrocious service,substandard aircraft, and their Phoenix hub is like a third world country. We ran a bit late, got to the counter 44 minutes before the flight, and were denied boarding becuase we had luggage to check. Result? An unplanned overnight stay inthe stunning airport La Quinta,at our cost. - Dude, I got my Dell. A sweet Inspiron desktop from th...

Yup, it is. And, although it sounds arrogant, wishlists have made life a LOT easier. Amazon is still the gold standard, but even they don't have everything. I looked for a universal wishlist that would give me the simplicity of the Amazon one, but alas, it was not to be found. Coming close is TheThingsIWant.com : it offers a universal wishlist that brings you to the etailer's page to complete the transaction, then mark the item as purchased in a companion browser window. While not automatic, it's pretty close! So, here's a list of where to find suggestions (as you don't want to be asking me): Josh's Universal Wishlist (I'm listing things not on my Amazon list here for this year; let's see if it works out, and if it does, I'll move my Amazon list there.) Amy's Universal Wishlist Josh's Amazon Wishlist Amy's Amazon Wishlist Amy's Cooking.com Wishlist (Yeah!) Our Shop.com Wishlist And Thanks.

Two notes: - I have succumbed to Twitter . I'll try it for a while, and see what it yields. My Twitter status is on the right. - I found my best Xmas gift, thanks to Cameron. Now, I really can be Robocop, thanks to the U.S. military!

A gadget lover's dream: no more cradles or wires. Just drop your phone, Palm, iPod, etc. on this special plate, and it recharges wirelessly. Finally. Y'know, my Sonicare toothbrush has had this for years: just get near the cradle, and it starts charging. I'm amazed it took so long for this to come out. However, call me convinced: another good purchase for next holiday!

Ok, I've heard it a million times: "you're so hard to buy for; what do you want for {fill in the blank}?" I tried to help; I created wishlists, hints, blog posts. Still I get the question. Clearly, it's time to harness the power of the Web to help solve this astounding problem: What I really want is a GPS unit that works with my Palm. Luckily, there are some available. However, I'm not crass enough to suggest someone should drop a couple of Benjamins on it for me. I am crass enough, however, to suggest that friends, coworkers, and anonymous contributors pool their good intentions towards that goal, and this service from ChipIn makes it possible. You contribute the funds, the progress gets updated on the blog, and when the goal is hit, voila! Disbursement, and I'm a few clicks away from that beloved gadget. Beyond just the appreciation, this service is really cool. I opted to let them collect the funds, rather than PayPal, but they support that service, as ...