Terri Schiavo Dead - A Nation Shrugs

As I am sure you heard, over and over, on every news outlet in the country, that Terry Schiavo is dead. The attention she is getting is usually reserved for heads of states and people that have actually contributed something to society. She has done neither. Looking at the extension coverage you would think this women accomplished great things of at least the mother or family member of someone that accomplished greath things. Nope, she isn't.

So what is she to deserve this attention? Well she was a tool for the press, the republicans, and religious leaders. It is pretty clear that she was a means to an end. For the press, its ratings, for the republicans, its a way to show they are prolife. For religious leaders and the like, it was a means to fill the seats and the coffers. Its sad, its manipulative, and from what I hear, the parents are not short on money because of it. So really its seems, everyone is using her for some agenda.

The reality is this. She was just mrs average citizen thrust into the limelight by a bored press and desperate politicans. Her obit is really this: 41 year old Terry Schiavo passed away today after remaining in a 15 year vegatative state caused by her bulimia. She is survived by her husband and 2 parents who spent the last 8 years fighting each other on how to deal with her condition.

In the end, for all the coverage she is getting all day long, she will become just a law school case study and nothing more. To bad thanks to our president and his ilk, we may have to deal with the repercussion of them running roughshod over the seperation of church and state, seperation of powers, and state rights vs national for years to come.

PSP Review

The PSP is simply the best damn portable gaming machine on the market. Unless Nintendo steps up to the plate, this thing could be the gameboy killer. Everything about it is just so well done.

Design:
This device is very well designed. Its just gorgeous to look at. The sleek black look, the rounded shape, clear L and R buttons. The analog pad. And that large screen Just beautiful. The controls are well laid out, easy to use and hold. The analog pad will take some getting use to, I know my hand was hurting after a long playing jag as using muscles or something that normally don't use because of the different angle. I also like that the memory is based on the duo even though a normal memory stick would have been better mainly because of the price. But if you have a DS, the duo is the same size. If you plan on using the multimedia functions of the system, definitly want to upgrade the size as 32megs isn't good for much. As for the battery, its not too bad, it hold about 6 hours per charge. Additional there is a switch to cut of wireless access which is good BUT this does not stop the PSP from always hunting for a signal which is bad. It should have it its switched off, all wireless activity and attempts to find a network signal end to save on the battery. Also of note, sleeping the PSP is easy, and seems to work pretty well. Just be aware that sleep doesn't work nearly with the efficiency it does with the DS.

Menu:
The menu options are very well laid out, according to function. Its intuitive and easy to use. Didn't really need the instruction book except to look for extra goodies. By the way, the screen color is based on month of the year. So march is green, april is pink, and so on. On thing I wouldn't mind seeing is an ability to save default settings on the system or the memory stick. For instance, with music, you have to set up wether to shuffle and repeat everytime. It doesn't save that setting once and have you cut it off when the mood strikes. Or if can't do that, give option to map certain functions to buttons on the PSP so can at least do it quickly. Another change needs to be the ability to check the battery left. There is a bar in the top right which is great but as a menu option shows, there is a way to estimate the % left and time left. Being able to alter the bar between those three estimates would be fantastic. So really, what I am saying Sony is give us some custimize options.

Video/ Movies:
Gorgeous. Thats it. With that big screen, its simply gorgeous. No other word for it. Easy to use also. The main thing is have to use either the UMD or convert files to .mp4 (MPEG-4) format. Currently I am using 3GP Converter recommended by Engadget. They also have instructions on converting and moving the movies to the PSP. Another recommended program is PSP Video 9, which I haven't used yet. Any case, your only limitation to watching a movie on the PSP at this point is the memory size of your stick. Which can get expensive. Very expensive. So hope the prices begin to drop.
Oh and the including Spider-Man 2 disc. Fantastic. Great clarity, no blurring, even during the train/doc ock sequence.

Music:
The music is great through the provided headphones (with need little remote). The PSP speakers on the otherhand are just adequate. More from background noise really. So if you just have to have great sounding music, stick with an iPod or at least the headphones. As for transfering the music, its easy. Make sure the format the memory stick via the PSP menu, then just drop the .mp3 into the appropriate Music folder. Just be aware that if you drop a folder in the Music, that is called a "group" by the PSP which is almost like a playlist. Also you can't have a subfolder within that folder. So in memory stick your hiarchy at most can be \\PSP\Music\folder\ not \\PSP\Music\folder\folder\ and so forth. One plus, the PSP recognizes .m3u playlists. This format is supported by most computer mp3 players such as winamp. Just drop the file in the \\PSP\Music folder.

Games:
Again, wonder. Clear picture, fantastic graphics. The graphics are superior to the DS and very close but not quote to the PS2 range. So far, using Twisted Metal, i have only tested the Infrastructure mode, which allows online play. Its works like a charm. Able to easily connect and join a game with almost no lag. Nice thing about requiring online play is that means not dealing with dial-up players. The down side though is if you may have to alter your wireless security settings to allow a connection as it doesn't seem the PSP handles WEP encryption. It does however have a MAC address so can use that to limit access. Hopefully though, the price point of the games will take a drop in the DS range of 20-35 rather then the 40-50 it is currently at.

Pictures:
Once again, great. Thanks to the LCD screen not complaints. Keep it mind it only handles the .jpg format so may have to use mspaint or something to convert .bmp and other formats. The PSP also has slideshow, rotate, crop and few other basic pic viewing functions.

So overall, this is a must buy for any gamer and playstation fan. Now many are probably thinking "i am waiting till the price drops." Well don't hold your breath on that happening this year. I suspect this price point will hold to the end of the Christmas season for no other reason then because it can. The device is that good and will remain popular as word of mouth spreads. Oh and invest in a good case, the one that comes with is very lacking in protection qualities.

New PSP owner

About an hour ago I bought the PSP with Twisted Metal from Wal-Mart. So far, based on taking it out and fiddeling with the controls and the Spider-Man UMD, I am very pleased with this device. The picture quality alone is just gorgeous. I will right a full review later, but first impression...Gameboy killer.

Kerri's Law

15 years. Remember that number. Its important.

You have probably heard about the fight to prolong the life of Terri Schiavo always with a pic of the mom kissing the daughter as if she was still a responding human being. The war has been going on for a long time to end this woman's life. It even went up the the Supreme Court who decided to pass. Now our legislative branch has chosen to get involved with Kerri's Law.

I just find the whole thing appalling. Our system of law worked. The parents and the husband have battled it out back and forth for years. Governors and states have gotton involved. Every check and balance you can think of has been employed. A final decision was made. The right to choose to live..or not live is up to the individial, not the government. But lo! Our "moral" republicans, those who say less government is better, seems to can't help but get government involved on everything. This battle is none of their damn business. They know it but the photo opportunity apparently was just to much to pass up. So here they are once again passing laws that reduce the ability for individuals to make their own damn decisions. Ok that sub rant over.

Now back to the number 15. That is the number of years this woman has been in a vegatative state. Two important pieces of information that the press and the politicans are not always making sure to share. For those that don't know, vegatative state means she has no higher brain wave function. She only has automatic functions like breathing, heart going, digestive process, the basic stuff that occurs without thought, stuff that any lifeform can do. The higher brain functions however are what seperates us humans for everything else. This controls memory, emotion, cognative abilities, association, hell even the ability to walk upright. All things this woman no longer will ever be able to do. She has been this way for 15 years. 15.

Hell thats pretend her parents are not in lala land and this woman can respond. They then are prolonging this womans hell for she is trapped in her body with no means to communicate. For 15 years. You try staying completely still, not blinking, not moving mouth, not even breathing heavier for 15 hours. Don't tell me thats not hell.

But really this woman will not recover. She is nearly brain dead. She is not in a coma. A coma shows higher brain function. A coma means the brain is working, just not well enough. She is in the step after a coma. When the brain functions have degraded even further. Could she recover? Maybe when hell freezes over and we all win the lottery.

The end result is this, no matter how you approach this, she has zero quality of life. The act of living is simply not enough. Hell, look at our society. Its not based on living, its based on quality of life. Everything we do is about improving and expanding that quality. Our justice system is based on punishment by reducing that quality. Our measurement of pleasure, success, goals, everything, is based on quality of life. Yet suddenly we say thats not important. Only that she lives is, which is bullshit. Give the woman her piece. Its time the parents let go and move on with their lives.

Wacko Jacko Trial

Am I the only one that doesn't really give a crap about all these celebrity trials such as Wacko Jacko trial? Just because a celebrity did it, why does a crime get more attention then those committed everyday? Let's face it, pedophilia occurs daily. Shouldn't that get a full press coverage? Wouldn't that probably even help reduce occurance of the crime if the pedophile has to work about Wacko level coverage?

What about the Robert Blake trial? He may or may not have murdered a woman. That to sadly happens all the time. Again why does the press not give it the attention it deserves.

Or the king of all to much attention, the Peterson Trial. Why does the killing of a black woman get this level of attention? What about a poor woman? How about a murder that didn't occur in California? It seems almost racist that the only murder trials that get the full court press across the country involve attractive white rich woman in California. It seems if a murder occurs anywhere else, its just a page 10 item. But if its a rich white woman hold the presses!!!
Its a stupid double standard that is exasperated by the public that laps up whatever crap the press is willing to feed them.

1st Admendment doesn't extend to online content?

Well apparently if go by a judge in California who ruled that since its trade secrets it doesn't. If this had been a newspaper or news network he wouldn't have dreamed of making that kind of decision. But because its small online websites, its suddenly no big deal.

Whats even worse is how far up their heads the newspaper companies and networks are about this issue. They should be stepping up to the plate to help these websites. Not because they are mister nice guys, but because it directly effects them. Maybe not today or even next year, but a case like this sets a precendence that could be used against them in some future case. Its in their best interest to squash this ruling now rather then pay the consqeuences later. I think they are under the mistaken impression that this may help eliminate some competition for news. After all if sources can't trust online websites, the assumption is they will run back to the newspapers. Well, thats sadly shortsighted and simply not true. All that will happen is sources will be much more careful. With the internet its very easy to provide information without ever being able to track down the source location.

The end results is this, just because the source of news is exclusivily online, rather then some wierd world based office and beaurcracy etc that doesn't change the fact that its still protected by the first admendment. Its just shows the continues erosion of the bill of rights since 9/11. Instead of protecting what makes this country safe we seem to be tossing it aside for safety and corporate cronies. Its a damn shame.

Brian Nichols captured

If you haven't heard about the courthouse killings then you must live in a whole. Its been everywhere, on all the major new channels. It even pre-empted Wacko Jackso's trial. What really bothers me about the shooting is the death of the courthouse reporter Julie Ann Brandau. I guess because Judge Rowland W. Barnes and the deputy are on the front lines so to speak. While they really don't think they are in danger, its kind of assumed they are targets of sorts because of what they do. The court reporter however doesn't fall on that category. She was just doing her job and now she is dead because of the rabid animal. Its just sad.

Another disturbing thing is he guy was captured about 5 minutes from my home. It never occured to me he would make his way north much less that close to my home. I just assumed he would remain Atlanta's problem while he holed up in some idiot girlfriend's home or some other cliche of the escaping criminial. Sadly someone else died for no reason during his trek to Duluth.

What really annoys me is the press. You could almost see the glee they had over this. Like "yes! we have a real story to cover!" It was almost sickening as the various stations, knowing they where getting national coverage on a slow news day, just soaked up the spotlight as much as possible while relaying no new information thoughtout the day. Its almost like ambulance chasing. Whatever it takes for ratings I guess. Its also easier then covering other issues such as the economy, gas prices, Iraq, North Korea, and other issues that are news but reflect not so great on the Bush Admin. Cause of that, they are pretty much off limits to nothing more then quicky blurbs. Thus we are left if Wacko Jacko and similar "news".

Even worse, if not for the obsessiveness of the press, which wouldn't have occured if not a slow news day, the police might have been able to do the necessary job of putting this rabid dog to sleep forever. He doesn't need to be tried, he doesn't need to get famous, he doesn't need to be the story anymore. He simply needs to be dead, killed with no more consideration then we would give any rabid dog. Kill him and let society wash our hands of him. Instead he will be the occasional senstation, his trial getting more attention then it deserves, followed by about 10-15 years in jail before finally be put to death. In that time, he may once again try to escape and renew taking more lives. No its just better if he had died, but the inordinate media attention prevented this from occuring.

Getting visits?

No one comments. Which either means no one has anything to say or more likely I am about the only one that reads this blog. So how can I tell the hits I am getting if any? Also what do people suggest I do to improve the blog. I know its scattered, directionless, and frankly boring because my writing skills are subpar at best, but please offer suggestions. The more feedback, the more I know where can improve and attempt to make this something worth reading.