Here is one reason NOT to use Skypeout for all your calls.

Last night I called Chase to get some more information about a charge on my Southwest Visa, Something I’ve done a few times since having the card. No big deal. Then this afternoon my card was declined when purchasing lunch. Odd that that would happen, you know? So, I called to figure out what was going on.

Customer service told me they had put a hold on the account last night due to a unknown number that called in. They asked what number I called from, and I explained I thought I called from my voip (internet) phone, and it didn’t have a number. They told me the system flagged the account automatically, because it looked suspicious. Pretty smart I guess.

Well, Skypeout is free until the end of the year, but I wonder if it’s worth paying for long term. If you encounter this kind of thing when you use the service, I don’t think I’ll pay for it.

Update: Looks like some other sites have picked up this post. Feel free to digg the story.

No idea if this will work, but I’m going to give it a shot.

Most Telemarketers use what is called Predictive Dialers, which are PCs with software that dials ever number in a phone exchange until it gets lucky. Now you can use their own technology against them, and it’s legal.

Download the three tone sound files and read more about how this works.

A very strange, but yet comfortable way to keep a todo list if you’re happy working via the command line.

[Via todotxt.com]

There are approximately 17 million software applications and web sites out there built to manage your to do list. But if you’re comfortable at the command line and you don’t want to depend on someone else’s data format or someone else’s server, there’s an age-old method that’s perfect for tracking your stuff: plain text.

Quick video of how to open a bottle using another bottle as the opener

YouTube video

Most humans are born with the ability to hear frequencies from about 20 Hz (low) up to 20,000 Hz (high) but that range shrinks as we get older. I’m at 17,000Hz. What are you? Post a comment.

Sample tones

No more searching through your desk drawer for bottle openers. You will always have one when you wear your Ring Thing Portable Bottle Opener.

Yes. It is really very, very free. There is no prepayment, no minimum use, no subscription, no monthly fee, no nothing. You just download and install Skype and then you start calling land lines in the US and Canada. Both the caller and the number called must be in either the US or Canada. There are no strings attached, although they are having trouble with the volume of calls right now.

read more | digg story

I was invitied to a homebrew gathering at a local brew house this past Saturday. It was a nice gathering of about 30 homebrewers from the two brew clubs, and then a drinking club, called the Louisville Ale Club. It makes sense, I guess. Those that make it, then those that drink it. Lots of homebrew on tap to agree with anyones pallet. Here are some pictures.

So, I was in Boston last week for work, and as a last minute idea, I decided to go to a Red Sox game. I started off the evening by going to Beer Works across from Fenway. Then after a beer, I thought, it’s a long shot but let me see if I can get a ticket for the game. If you know me, I’m not a huge baseball fan, but why not, you know, I’ve never been to Fenway. Off I go to find the ticket office.

The line was short for the ticket office. Not a good sign, you know? At the window, I mentioned I’ve never been to Fenway, much less Boston. The sales agent at the gate said, how about third row directly behind home plate. Not a cheap seat. She said it’s normally reserved for family and/or friends of the visiting team. Let’s just say, it was 30 bucks more than I wanted to spend on a ticket. But what’s 30 bucks for a great seat, the first time at Fanway for pete’s sake. So, I couldn’t turn that down.

The ballpark was awesome. The food was expensive. No surprise. The fans are, well, Sox fans. Not an empty seat in the whole park. The game was entertaining. Mostly the fans entertained me, as crazy as it sounds. Remember, not much of a baseball fan. They didn’t win, but it was still fun. It was pretty neat to watch the highlights after the game at Beer Works across the street and see myself on TV. I did manage to grab a few shots of the game with my camera before I was asked to stop, so check them out in the gallery.

Also, I just wanted to thank Tim for the beer and good conversation at the game. Tim, send those pictures already.

***Not Found***I finally got the kegging equipment to put my homebrew in kegs. We brewed a IPA a couple of weeks ago, then my neighbors Greg and Mark moved it to the secondary while I was out of town. After a good week in the secondary we moved it into the keg, then attached the co2 lines to carbonate. It turned out to be one of the best, if not the best I’ve done yet. I wonder way I ever bottled so long.

No more washing 50+ bottles and messing around with priming sugars to carbonate. Now it’s just one 5-gallon keg to wash and fill, then some co2. It tastes much better now, because the sediment that collects on the bottom of the container is removed when you pull your first beer. All pulls after this point are free of sediment.

I’ve uploaded several pictures to the photo gallery as well. We hope to put a tap in the kitchen in the very near future. More pictures to come.