Charging the Garmin Nüvi with USB

I have a Garmin Nüvi 660, with which I have generally been happy. One thing I noticed, however, was its stubbornness in staying in USB mode (as when connected to a computer) when I plug it into a car adapter that has an USB 5V output. (The car adapter that came with it apparently had a short problem, as it burned out a new fuse every time I plugged it in.) To keep external power on when I drive, I ended up having to use the original Garmin AC wall adapter on top of an DC/AC inverter. Ugly solution, but it sort of worked.

Anyway, after digging around on the internet, I saw that many people were annoyed by the same problem (see, e.g., this discussion). I had suspected that that original AC adapter probably played some trick on the signal pins of the USB. It turns out that it's the X pin that was connected through a 18k resistor to ground that signals the device that it's connected to a Garmin adapter and not a third-party one. Apparently other companies, such as some cell phone manufacturers, use the same trick -- by design to increase sales of accessories?

Thus it was a delight that I discovered this trick in the aforementioned discussion thread: (1) power on the Garmin and wait for it to enter USB mode; (2) disconnect the power -- a few seconds later it will reboot into regular mode -- and as soon as the USB/computer graphic disappears from the screen, reconnect the power again. This will cause the device not to enter USB mode again, and it's usable again.

Kavakos and the Berliner Philharmoniker

I just listened to the first movement of Beethoven's violin concerto on Berliner Philharmoniker's Digital Concert Hall, with Leonidas Kavakos as solo violinist. I felt his interpretation to be rather bland, with the tempo on the slow side. Though he plays effortlessly with a clean tone, his phrasing and expressions were rather underwhelming. The bowings were somewhat unusual in many passages: where most violinists would probably played with slurs, he used separate bows.

Maybe my existing familiarity with various renditions of the concerto prejudiced me somewhat, so I will try to listen to it once more and see if I missed something.

Amazing arrogance

Warning: Don't try this with the IRS:

Which leaves researchers free to withhold information selectively from critics, as when CRU director Phil Jones told Australian scientist Warwick Hughes in a 2005 email: "Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it."

(From The Tip of the Climate Iceberg, WSJ 2009/12/08)

We need to burn some fossile fuels ...

It's been very cold in the SF Bay Area. Since the AGW (anthropogenic global warming, aka Al Gore's Wealth) crowd has not been looking good lately, I suggest we pull out all stops and burn some fossil fuels, etc., so we can rescue the theory!

More passing thoughts on Climategate

Many have used the analogy of the Emperor's New Clothes -- how fitting that the circus of AGW clowns are going to congregate at Copenhagen -- to describe the anthropogenic global-warming hoax. Come to think about it, these are the same tactics that the Left uses to steal from us. Flattery -- you can see the new clothes only if you are smart -- scratches the prideful itch of the human heart, and soon the proud man and his money are parted.

And, damn those stupid, unscientific Americans, about 60% of whom are now skeptical.

Yeah, curse those stupid, unscientific Americans: more of them believe in angels than evolution, global warming, ghosts, or UFOs.

More Climategate

Dr. Tim Ball on Climategate, with pictures of scammers.