"An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted." - Arthur Miller

Sunday, May 07, 2006

McIntrye in the Morning Apologizes

Something pretty amazing has occured in this age of follow your party no matter what act of stupidity or damage it does. A republican apolgizes. Doug McIntyre, radio host on Talk Radio 790 KABC in New York (i think) apolgizes for voting for Bush in 2000. Basically he has seen the light and in his apology lists all the damage that Bush has done. If look at the line-up on KABC, its clearly a conservative station so this is actually pretty amazing. Make no mistake though, he hold democrats to the fire for their total lack of leadership and inability to get their act together.

The essay is worth reading and highly recommend.

Some highlights:

But in the months and years since shock and awe I have been shocked repeatedly by a consistent litany of excuses, alibis, double-talk, inaccuracies, bogus predictions, and flat out lies. I have watched as the President and his administration changed the goals, redefined the reasons for going into Iraq, and fumbled the good will of the world and the focus necessary to catch the real killers of September 11th.

I have watched the President say the commanders on the ground will make the battlefield decisions, and the war won’t be run from Washington. Yet, politics has consistently determined what the troops can and can’t do on the ground and any commander who did not go along with the administration was sacked, and in some cases, maligned.

Katrina, Harriet Myers, The Dubai Port Deal, skyrocketing gas prices, shrinking wages for working people, staggering debt, astronomical foreign debt, outsourcing, open borders, contempt for the opinion of the American people, the war on science, media manipulation, faith based initives, a cavalier attitude toward fundamental freedoms-- this President has run the most arrogant and out-of-touch administration in my lifetime, perhaps, in any American’s lifetime.


Tragically, the Democrats have allowed crackpots, leftists and demagogic cowards to snipe from the sidelines while taking no responsibility for anything.

Its sad, with all the mistakes, corruption and cronyism of the Bush and Republican era, this is prime opportunity for Democrats to step up to the plate. Instead they cower in the dugout.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Porter Goss, CIA Chief Resign

After only a year and a half on the job, Porter Goss resigned, effective immediatly, as the CIA chief. Not much to say except something stinks to high hell about this. TalkingPointsMemo suggests it has something to do with "HookerGate" that is currently being investigated. Apparently Hookergate is contracters using hookers and parties over at Watergate to get defense contractors. You know basically what everyone assumes is occuring but noone talks about. Since Republicans are the only ones worth wining and dining, its can't be good for the dogpile of problems they are already dealing with. Not a dig, but you are not going to wine and dine a democrat that can barely scratch his ass without permission from a republican. This should be a story worth watching once the mainstream media gets wind, usually about 3 days behind the online media nowadays.

DS Lite Release: June 11th for $129.99

Nintendo has finally confirmed a release date for the Nintendo DS Lite in North America. It arrives in white, for existing prices of $129.99. This probably means that Nintendo will phase out the production of the older version since the prices are identical. There are other colors available in Japan, so if want some variety, history shows wait about three months.

Un-edited Star Wars Trilogy on DVD

Lucasfilms has announced that for a limited time only, they will release the unaltered, pre-1997 versions of Star Wars on DVD from September 12th to December 31st. Each movie will be a two disc set containing the orginial film and the new editions developed in the 2004.

Good news, except for the fact I have a set of the 2004 series that will quickly become redundant. Really wish the studios would get this right the first time because I am starting to stop buying DVDs on the assumption the "new and improved" version will get released at a later date. Crap like this only re-enforces the notion.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Superman Returns Trailer

Looks good. Lex may be a little over the top. Hopefully the bits don't represent the whole. Everyone looks to young considering its playing off Superman I and II mythology. Not saying 20 years older, but five years older as established by the movie plot. Instead it looks like every lost about 10 years. Oh well. Minor quibbles. Main thing is the look and the flying looking sweet.

Apple linky.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Stephen Colbert at White House Correspondents Dinner

Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" was a guest speakers at Saturday's White House Correspondents Dinner. The dinner is basically a way for the rich and powerful politicians to rub elbows with the rich and famous and the press.

The presentation is usually mostly humorous, a kind of tepid roast of the sitting President. This year Bush did a pretty funny bit using a person impersonating him as his inner thoughts. The real moment of the show was at the end though.

Stephen Colbert basically ripped the President and the press corp a new one with his jokes. The move was simply ballsy and amazing to view. I still can't believe he did that. Historically the comedian's job is to cow tow to his audience, a little gotcha humor but mostly keep it safe. Not Colbert. He was noone near safe. He held very little back.

"Listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know -- fiction." That is just one example of many scathing jokes that was met with tepid responses from the audience. No suprise, the press is notoriousily thin skinned when the spotlight of imcompetence or humor is shined on them.

An interesting aspect of this whole thing is that the press then chose to report very little about this event. From reading press reports you almost wouldn't even be aware that Colbert was the comedic guest of the event. Its like they want to pretend he didn't attend. This of course is the press doing what they do best, the omission of facts. Can't say you lied if you didn't report what occured.

The blogosphere of course can't be fooled. What they will not report, the bloggers of the will happily do for them. Below is a few links including video. Especially note how much you may laugh and how its the opposite of how the audience responded. Sadly I think Colbert will take a hit as the press's usually response to insult is to deny access, which sound vaguely familiar doesn't it?

YouTube.com videos: part 1, part 2, part 3
C-Span's entire video of event is here.
ABCNew.com video, starts with the President's bit, actually worth watching is here.
Transcript is here.

Blogs and other links about the event:
Dan Froomlin, ABCNews
Whiskey Bar
MediaBistro
Crooks and Liars
PublicEye
Editor & Publisher

www.thankyoustephencolbert.org - Pass along your thank you for his routine.

Microsoft loses $32 billion in one day

Microsoft's market value took a $32 billion nose dive Friday. You may thing yes! Did they lose money because of bad products? Bad management? Crappy sales? Profits not meet expectations? Nope, sadly none are the reasons.

According to the Seattle Times:
Microsoft's stock closed at $24.15, down $3.10 a share, or 11.4 percent, after the Redmond software company indicated plans Thursday to invest more in its businesses — including a battle for the Internet with Google and Yahoo! — at the expense of higher short-term profits.


Basically Microsoft took this hit because they decided to invest to gain profits in the long term rather then the short term. God forbid they think about the future beyond the next quarter. This is a solid example why US businesses are falling apart. Microsoft can take this hit, but what about companies that can't? This is why layoffs are always the quick temp fix. Why canceling projects, short term ideas are employed. The alternative is to risk losing more value in the market then the action is worth. Such a "risk" could then doom a company. This is the sad state of US business policies. Our national ADD and impatience for results now rather then later. This is why we are losing ground to China and India and why are days as a "superpower" are going to end. To be punished for thinking long term is hubris beyond all repair and the nation will pay for it.

Nintendo Revolution Now Named Wii


Nintendo announced today the official name of its next gen console. Its now called the Wii, pronouced like "we" or "whee". The name Revolution was also a code name for the project but most, including me, assumed that would become its final name as thats been the tendancy in the past. Plus its good name. The online sites have been having a field day with the name change announcement. Nintendo stance is the name reflects the fun and to emphasis "that the console is for everyone."

My initial reaction was the sneer. After much thought, my reaction is to ask "why?". My final reaction is to simply shake my head in confusion and be saddened by this PR blunder that Nintendo isn't even aware of yet. Can you imagine going into a store and asking "Got any Wii games in?" I just feel stupid thinking about it.

E3 starts May ninth I think. That will tell us if "Wii" will be worth buying, crappy name or not.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

United 93

As the name suggests, this movie is about a telling of events of United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania during the horrible events of September 11, 2001. The movie begins with the people boarding the flight and ends...well the only way such a story can end.

This was a hard movie to get through. Its actually painful to watch. You know what going to happen, and so you wait for each hammer to fall with increasing tension and dread. This does not mean the movie is bad. It just means the story is told that well that even though you know whats coming, you watch anyway. You watch this horror unfold almost all over again and it hurts.

The agenda of this movie can be the agenda you choose to see and insert into it. Really though. the only agenda this movie has is to tell a story of events on United 93 with the other events of 9/11 playing into it since they are directily tied together. The director and writer, Paul Greengrass weaves this story together very well with events on the ground with events in the air.

When this movie ended, literally more then half the audience was crying and the other half was on the verge. This movies hurts to watch, but it is worth seeing.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Tony Snow new White House Press Secretary

The White House announced today that Tony Snow will be the new press secretary, replacing Scott McClellan. Give him credit but Snow is sacrifing his radio talk show and his Fox News TV show to take the job. It does provide excellent training ground in doing the professional spin that the job requires. Sadly though this is just another case of Bush trading yes-men. To be fair, being WH spokesman, yes-man is job requirement.

A Little Political Humor

Just a touch of humor to bring a smile (or frown) to your face.

Air Force One Graffiti - A video of Air Force One being tagged with statement "Still Free". Article about it here.

Pizza Palace - A look at the ordering pizza in the year 2010.

Monday, April 24, 2006

McClellan retires, Bush at 33% approval

Despite a so-so successful visit from China prime minister, Bush just can't seem to catch a break. Scott McClellan, dissembler in chief, has decided to call it quits as Press Secretary. Its so bad even FoxNews.com of all places is reporting on the new low in approval rating for Bush. He now sits at 33%. Finally people are waking up to the consistent failure that is Bush. Took em long enough.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Gas $75 a barrel, $3 at the pump, but some good news

Oil hits a record high with $75 barrel for no other reason then because the oil cartels wish it so. Currently gas is $3 a gallon and will probably soon rise to about $3.20, all before the usual summer vacation markup! I am sure Bush and Cheney are quite happy right now as their stock dividends etc will be quite nice.

In the good news, if you love the iPod, like me, and use iTunes to buy music, Steve Jobs managed to hold the line and keep prices at $.99 a song. The RIAA, of course, was doing their best to raise the price to maximize profits while complaining how broke they are.

Also, JJ Abrams has apparently been tapped to direct the next Star Trek movie. Hopefully it true and not just a rumor that has spread all over the place. If don't know who he is, he is the creator of Felicity, Lost, Alias, and directed Mission Impossible III. Hopefully, this will mean the next movie will get a decent budget as probably one of the biggest obstacles has been the penny pinching. Epic space battles don't come cheap and anyone worth their salt knows that a Star Trek movie needs at least one.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Michelle Malkin crosses the line #123543

Michelle Malkin is a known media darling for the Republican party. To her, "any means necessary" is the phrase to employ when defending her Republican heroes against their critics. She worships at the alter of Bush so you can imagine her reaction to anything that is against his precious holy war in Iraq. This week in a blog posting called "SEDITIOUS SANTA CRUZ VS. AMERICA", in response to a group called Students Against War (SAW) on the Santa Cruz Campus, she decided to post the personal phone numbers of the leaders of the campus group. Of course the expected death threats followed, which is always going to occur on any decisive issue.

Even more amazing then the gall for this women to give out personal information on students is that she has the nerve to say "As for SAW, my message is this: You are responsible for your individual actions. Other individuals are responsible for theirs. Grow up and take responsibility."

This from a person that does everything to dodge responsibility for anything she has said or done, whose career is about making excuses for others not living up to their responsibilities. Even more hypocritical, you can't exactly give Michelle a call when you disagree with her statements. You think Michelle would have the balls to back up her own words with action. She takes them to task for their views and wants people to call those students, you would think she would offer up her home phone number so those of us that don't agree with her can give her our opinions.

However, we are talking about a mouthpiece of the republican parties so hypocrasy is a given.

TV network vs FCC

Finally, after be kicked around over and over and over again, the TV network have finally decided they have had enough of the high handedness of the FCC. ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and affilates have filed notices of appeal in federal courts against the various high fines the FCC has been handing down such as $3.6 million for an episode of "Without a Trace."

The networks and affiliate groups, representing more than 800 individual stations, issued a rare joint statement Friday calling the FCC ruling "unconstitutional and inconsistent with two decades of previous FCC decisions.

"In filing these court appeals we are seeking to overturn the FCC decisions that the broadcast of fleeting, isolated — and in some cases unintentional — words rendered these programs indecent."

The networks and stations said the FCC "overstepped its authority" and acted arbitrarily in not giving the networks a clear standard for what content is objectionable.

- source: news.yahoo.com

The rules have constantly been changing, or inconsistant, and basically give the FCC the ability to voilate the 1st admendment whenever they see fit. When they see fit seems to most often occur after the Family Television Council or whatever they are called, gets started on one of their campaigns. The end result is a few people get to alter the viewing habits of the majority without anyone's say or permission.

So bravo to the networks and finally growing a pair. Tell the FCC and FTC they can shove their wanton violations of the first admendment where the sun don't shine.

Friday, April 14, 2006

South Park Censored



Wednesday, South Park aired part II of its episode codemning Family Guy, censorship and the nonsense over the images of Muhammad. I know, that not PC, but then I am not Muslim. I don't expect them to follow every tenet of, say Christianity (nor would they), I don't see why we have to follow theirs.

Anycase, the powers that be at South Park decided that it was too risky to air an image of Muhammead handing a football thing to the Peter character, since it might anger some. Never mind that the image already aired a couple of years ago for the episode "Super Best Friends" and not a peep was heard. It a pretty solid example of how people can only become offended when someone tells them they should be. Otherwise most are oblivious.

Thanks to wikipedia for the pics.

Intel Mac Benchmark Smorgabord

Macologist.com did some massive benchmarking for all the intel Macs on the market. It contains more graphs and info then probably want to know. The one thing it lacks is a comprehensive versus section for comparing a Mac to its PC counterpart. Either way might be useful info for those thinking of making the jump.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

War on Easter?


Apparently there is a war going on. A war that noone knows is going on. That is hidden from view. A secret war. A war..against EASTER!?!?!?!?!?! Be afraid, be very afraid. The war could come to you!

Sounds a bit paranoid and dramatic but thank god we have Bill O'Reilly and his crazy friends to protect us. Either that or he has a new book to promote and nothing like making us problems to sell stuff. Heh the cover of his book is hilarious.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Universal Healthcare in Massachusetts

Today, Governor Mitt Romney signed into law a bill that basically provides universal healthcare to residents of Massachusetts. The theory is that it will cost about a billion a year to provide the coverage to citizens. The cost would be re-couped from the federal government and existing state spending (since have to pay for care of the poor anyway, etc.). This should be interesting to see what occurs and could prove to be the testing ground for nationwide healthcare.

However, as is often the case, I don't think many have considered unintended side effects. The first will be flight into Mass. Many people, especially the poor and the ill, will probably try to move into Mass. to get the coverage to pay for needed medicines. I am not sure what the restrictions are on residency but it will quickly become a vital piece of information to have. Another aspect is the cost. I think one billion is too low a number. Healthcare costs are growing quickly ever year and I don't think the budgets are allowing for that. Finally, the beaurcracy that will form around this will probably quickly become huge, expensive, and incredibily ineffecient, which is what happens when the powers that be put paper pushers and shreadsheet lovers in charge. When you live by numbers and die by numbers, crap is usually the result. At the end of the day, however, I hope this plan succeeds and from it comes an effective, efficient plan for nationwide coverage.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Rubber Stamp Congress video

CrooksandLiars.com has posted a hilarious video from Matt Stoller delivering a thousand plus rubber stamps to Senator Specter's office. In it he talks about what a "time-saver" it would be for the republicans to have the stamps so that Bush can protect us even more.

Video is here.

Online Free TV from ABC

ABC has announced that it is going to offer streams of its television shows including "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" the day after they broadcast for free. Interesting twist on things since ABC was one of the first to offer its shows on iTunes for $1.99 a pop.

The catch in this case is you don't own the download (even though I am sure the tech savvy can remedy that) and you are going to be forced to watch those commercials as don't have the option to skip em. Small price to pay to have TV on demand or not having to stress missing your favorite show.

As far as how wide this will spread, that to me is debateable. The idea is sound. The business model actually exists (required to watch commercials) but will it spread. I guess it all depends on cost. The file size to serve up an hour long show is not small, nor is the storage, the servers, the bandwidth, etc (as youtube.com is discovering). Its easy to say will provide it, but a different animal to actually do it consistenly and with growing volume. I think in the short term, the networks will join the bandwagon but only in small carefully controlled doses.

As an aside, maybe the networks should consider joining together to offer their goods on youtube.com. The intrastructure and method of delivery already exists, they are thirsty for a business model, and they have a HUGE built-in audience. They could not only use the site to promote the show, but use it to create home grown homages (ie promotions) for those series in contests and the like. The best part though is no re-inventing the wheel and its probably possible to buy it outright.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Immigration protests

Apparently in mulitple locations in the US, organized protests where carried out. In Lexington, Kentucky, they waved signs that read: "We were all immigrants once," and "We are not terrorists," The Associated Press reported. Many carried Mexican flags. Basically they want the chance at a better life.

Let us dissect some of these statements which truly summarize the thing. "We were all immigrants once." This is true, but most of those immigrants became citizens through legal means. They earned it. They followed the law. Are any of them terrorists? Not likely. I also find it telling many carry the Mexican flag. This seems to confuse the issue of loyalty. The claim they want to opportunites of the US but seem to also have divided loyalties. Also, they claim this issue is for all immigrants regardless of nationality, but clearly the flags prove its really only a Mexican issue. Considering that 70% of the illegals are probably from Mexico then its no surprise.

Key thing about this whole argument though...they want this chance without having to earn through legal means. They basically are arguing that since they have broken the law for so long lets just make it legal and be done with it. There are already means in place to earn citizenship, earn the right to live and work here. The key word is earn. Actually learning English being step 1 rather then living a lifetime here unable to communicate with 90% of the countries population many claim they are loyal (while waving the Mexican flag). The millions of people ignoring it shouldn't just get carte blanche because they have gotten away with it for so long.

You want the rights and freedoms that citizenship brings. Earn it. Become a citizen. End the divided loyalies.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Bush Authorized Plame leak?

In a story spreading like wildfire on the net but mostly ignored on the television, court papers have ex-chief of staff for Chenay claim that the President himself authorized the leak on Plame. The implications of such an act would normally be devestating but since the republicans have made a science of flaunting the law, I see little happening here.

The interesting aspect of the story is that the White House is neither confirming or denying the story. One thing is telling though is that Scott McClellen did feel a need to argue that Bush can de-classify information if he wants to. McClellan said, "Because of the public debate that was going on and some of the wild accusations that were flying around at the time, we felt it was very much in the public interest that what information could be declassified be declassified, and that's exactly what we did."

Of course this doesn't answer the question of why the White House wasn't up front about that in 2003. Why allow a two year plus investigation, costing who knows how much money continue if they believes the President can do what he wants? To me the whole thing stinks to high hell. If true, the story confirms my theory that the leak had to come from the top.

McKinney Apologies`

Congresswomen McKinney was finally forced to see the light and apologize for her horrible behavior in striking an officer. She even did it on the House floor. "There should not have been any physical contact in this incident," McKinney said. "I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all, and I regret its escalation and I apologize." It may be too little to late as the charges are already before a grand jury. I don't think she deserves jail time but frankly she should get the same treatment any average citizen would get for doing the same thing be it a fine or jail time. Not sure what normally happens in DC on cases such as that.

XP Gaming on a Mac works

Some people have dared to experiment and have discovered that PC games work just fine on a Intel Mac. It should but since this is all new, it never hurts to be sure. What I am interested in though is performance comparisons. Hopefully soon someone will post some benchmark tests of XP systems versus various Mac systems to see who is king.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Apple official allows boot to XP


Today Apple released a beta version of "Boot Camp" that allows Microsoft XP to be installed on Apple intel based computers. The program also comes with the needed drivers for most of Apple's hardware and monitors. About the only thing not support is the remote and iSight camera. Hopefully this will be corrected with the final version of Boot Camp is released with "Leopard", the OS X upgrade.

With this development, once OS X 10.5 comes out, there is no reason to not try out the new suite of Apple products coming in the pipeline. I plan on trying out the Mac Mini.

Download the software here.

McKinney Needs Some Jail Time


It appears that the capitol police are going ahead with assault charges against US Representative McKinney. While elsewhere she would have already been tossed in jail and released on bail by now, the "stature" of the person combined with the way Washington DC justice system functions, means this case has to go before a grand jury. This is actually a colossal waste of money for a little thing, but sadly, its become necessary due to how horribly McKinney handled this whole situation.

If she had simply made a apology/non-apology that politicians are famous for, this might have gone away. Instead she immediately went for the race card. Something she has historically done, but usually with at least a little hesitation. Even when running against a black Democrat candidate, she used race to help her get votes. Habits die hard I guess.

As a result of her own behavior, she painted the police in a corner. Do nothing, they look weak, ineffective and easily pushed over. Also, McKinney probably would have forced them to fire the officer which would have severely impacted the ability for them to do their jobs as they would always wonder if the next person they stopped could cost them their job.

Finally there is a hypocrisy of the whole thing. She is a lawmaker who has made it very clear she thinks she is above the law. A security officer stopped her because he didn't recognize her. Her response is to hit him. In what world is that an appropriate response? If it had occurred to anyone else, anywhere else, we would have called them a damn fool. In McKinney's world though its the officer's fault for not memorizing her face. Why he should have to do that is beyond me. If she behaved like the adult she claims to be, the situation would have resolved itself in minutes instead of becoming this pathetic farce.

The worst part? She pretty much guaranteed herself re-election. Sadly her constituents are not the best and the brightest. They prefer flash over substance, loud over results. I say this as a former resident and result of her district. A district whose conditions and education level is abysmal and I hear little of McKinney's part in improving things.

Katie Couric moves to CBS


Katie Couric made it official that she is moving to CBS to anchor The CBS Evening News and appear on 60 Minutes beginning in September. The vocalized reason is the opportunity, history, yada-yada. The real reason is moolah with a rumored pay day of around $50 million for 5 years. Her replacement on Today? Meredith Vieira from The View.

The real question though is why should the viewing audience care? The answer of course is we shouldn't. When was the last time Couric even showed journalistic ability? When she interviewed the celeb du jour with the usual litany of softball questions? That represents 20 years of experience? The reality is a news anchor today is much different from yesteryears. Today they are simply talking heads reading from a script providing by writers and producers. It doesn't take any special skill to read a script. And don't point at 60 minutes. Those are also canned. The producers are one that does the research, interviews the people, edits the story, everything. The only thing the on air talent does is show up to film a few scenes from a script. Again, zero display of journalism.

From a business move, this might be genius but I think CBS is in for a rude awakening. The audience at the crack of dawn is much different from an audience during a setting sun.

DeLay Quits Congress

Representative Tom DeLay has finally decided to step down from Congress and not run for re-election. His reason is that since he couldn't gaurantee a win, there was no point in running. Actually logical. I think the real reason he quit is because the Republican leadership ordered him to. DeLay was the grand poobah of the Republican congress for the last five years during these times of corruption and rubber stamping. By taking him off the table, the Democrats loose a potent weapon for Congress seats and "proves" that Republicans have cleaned up. This of course is bullshit, but perception is everything during an election year. I wonder what jackass his district will send next.

Rome, GA vs Gordon Lee case dismissed

About a year and a half and $50,000 in defense attorney fees (who knows how much it cost the state), the case against comic retailer Gordon Lee was dismissed. Apparently a fundamental fact of the case, who was given "Alternative Comics #2" was incorrect. It wasn't a nine year old, but supposedly his six year old brother that was given the comic, which Rome prosecutors deemed offensive and dangerous to minors.

Two odd things about that, one is how in the world did the DA Paul Cadle, makes such a monumental error, and 2) doesn't that make it sound a little bit worse as far as a crime is concerned? Yet for some reason, instead of filing felony charges again, the DA is going to file misdemeanor charges again but with the 6 year old as the offended minor.

If I was a Rome citizen, I would be more then a little pissed that my tax payer money was being wasted on such cases.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Bull -censored- !

The FCC has rules that using the word shit and any iteration of it is no longer allowed on the airwaves it controls without a heavy fine. Besides the fact that the FCC is not an elected lawmaking body, I am not aware of the First Admendent of the Constitution allowing such behavior. Yet here we are, just accepting it as par the course.

Here is a problem with this "law." It no longer allows for the use of the word "bullshit." This oh so powerful word that allows us to easily and quickly call people on the inaccuracies and exaggerations that come from their mouths. A word that is frequently used in conjunction with our elected leaders. Basically, by saying this word is "illegal", they are squashing our political speech. Yet we accept it.

What bugs me about this whole thing though is that the FCC claims they do it because the public demands it. They base this off of the complaints they get. Complaints that time and time again have come not from the public in general but watchdog groups like Parents Television Council.

A group with agenda, a group that by definition is against anything that doesn't present a happy, god loving (really Christian god-loving) world. All it takes is one of their ilk to submit a report and the FCC can and does make decisions that effects everyone. I don't want some unknown stranger to decide what I can and cannot watch. I can make those decisions just fine thank you very much. I am sure many would agree as this TV survey apparently shows.

Read more about it over at Buzzmachine.com where Jeff Jarvis writes about it with much more skill then I can muster with "In Defense of Bullshit". His analysis of the report is here.

Studios agree to sell movies online


Seven movies studios - Warner Bros, Universal, Sony, Paramount, Fox and MGM - basically all the ones that matter, have agreed to start distributing their movies online via MovieLink and CinemaNow. The price, $10 - $30, depending on the movie. In other words, the same price as a DVD. The question you have to ask is why?

Well, one, by bypassing the ever popular iTunes, the studios retain total control over everything, and get all the profits. If go through Apple, they get a small percentage of each sell, even if a penny, thats a penny to much for the studios.

Second, Apple would try to have some control over the content and its use. Apple currently allows the music to be "yours" to do with as you see fit, wether copy it to disc, to the iPod, whatever. The movie studios only allow the movies to be copied to DVD if its a Movielink "authorized" computer, whatever that means. More then likely there would be use restrictions out the yazoo.

This method will also help the studios in their attempts to see every tom, dick and jane on the internet. Now they can go to court and say "see! we did try to provide an online alternative". Nevermind that the price is rediculous.

If anyone you know considers getting these movies from online, slap them. Seriously. Anyone that uses these sites with prices that make no attempt to compete with DVDs needs to be smacked for stupity. If go online, you are limiting what you can do. Basically you can play it on your computer..and thats about it. Those special features? If available, probably extra. Long story short, until the MPAA is serious about competing, the consumer should show them the door. This "plan" and these prices are simply insulting.

DS Like coming May 21?

New Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo DS has been delayed a week to May 21st, according to the official website. The theory is the delay is so that Nintendo can launch the DS Lite in North America with a new Mario game.

The theory has legs. One, Nintendo likes to launch every system with Mario whenever possible. Two, they like to launch software on Wednesday and hardware on weekends. May 21st is a Sunday. Finally, after a system is released in Japan, its about three months later it shows up stateside. Japan got the DS Lite in Febuary.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Official Nintendo Specs?


IGN is reporting that is has the info on the full specs for the Nintendo Revolution coming probably September of 2006. The specs basically says its 2x as powerful as the Gamecube but only half the power of the PS3 and X-Box 360.

Some stats:
- CPU clocked at 729MHz, versus 485MHz for GameCube, 733MHz for XBox, and 3.2GHz for XBox 360. Note different architectures for each, so not 100% compariable, but it does illustrate that CPU power, ie processing power, the Revolution is pretty average.
- Graphics card speed for Revolution is 243MHz, GameCube is 162MHz, XBox is 233MHz, and no info on the XBox 360. Basically the graphics are a step up over the GameCube but probably fall way short of the abilities of the PS3 and 360.
- Memory for the Revolution is 88MBs of RAM, Gamecube is 40MBs, XBox 64MBs, and PS3 is 512MBs. Uh once again the Revolution is falling short. Less memory, means more frequent loads, means less detailed graphics, means just less in general. However, the Revolution will allow external memory to be added via ports so the numbers can be boosted. How that impacts performance? On a computer, it means good things, but a dedicated gaming device? I doubt not so much.

Clearly Nintendo has no intention to go head to head with Sony and Microsoft in hardware. This indicates that Nintendo is planning to conquer the market with price point, its unparalleled ability to make fun creative games, and its extensive access to games for the Virtual Library. Suffice it to say, Nintendo is throwing out saying its not the hardware but the software that makes the system. It worked for the DS over the PSP.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Bush's Chief of Staff resigns

Bush's chief of staff of 5 and a 1/2 years, Andrew Card resigned today. His replacement is Josh Bolten who was the Policy Directory of the Bush-Cheney transitition and director of OMB. What does this mean for the country? Not a thing, its basically tradinng one yes-man for another yes-man. For republicans, its a trading of the gatekeeper to the President. This will give them the illusion that their concerns may be heard and action taken. The reality, of course, is that nothing will change. Personally I just hope that Card is feeling a bit resentful and decides to lash out in public ways.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Nintendo Revolution or Nintendo Go?

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata gave his keynote today at the Game Developer Conference. I am sure much was discussed about this and that for the industry but the news of interest is a leak of what could be the finalized name of the console, calling it Go. Remember the name "Revolution" was just the project codename but it has never been the official name. Personally its sounds like a bunch of hogwash based on guesses.

In more concrete news, Nintendo has added Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx games to the Virtual Console in a "best of" manner. The games nor cost was announced. With this additional though that means that players can get hold of the entire 8-bit and 16-bit video game highlights. If they could toss in 80s - 90 arcade games and Atari, they could have all of pre-playstation history available on one machine.

Additionally, a new Zelda games was revealed for the DS called The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The game sounds like it will make much use of the DS touchpad and stylus and the graphics are in the flavor of the Wind Waker.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Bill O'Reilly: Special Victims Unit

The New Yorker's Nicholas Lemann did an excellent writeup of Bill O'Reilly's rise to cable power and the impact he has had. It also discusses how the show has moved away from politics and more into victim discussions, most notably what a poor victim O'Reilly is from the people that dare to bash him (nevermind they do it with those annoying things called facts and his own words). The overall point is that O'Reilly is the forefront that spearheaded cable news' move from information to sensationalism. If looking for facts, go elsewhere, if want opinions and talking points, go to cable news. Gee thanks Bill.

Final Fantasy parody video

A video worth watching for any fan of the Final Fantasy series. The creators did a good job of nailing down the fighting system with the grunts and jerks and how the characters move from environment to environment. Effective use of editing.

See it here.

60GB iPod Video "at risk"

Apple lists the black and white versions of the 60gig iPod video "at risk" for retailers this week. There are many reason for this such as low supplies, problem with manufacturing, shipping delays...or plans to release a updated version.

There have been rumors for a while of an iPod video 2.0 but would Apple really release that version not even 6 months after the current version? On one hand I hope so because the new version is theorized to be touch based with bluetooth headphones. On the other hand I already dropped $400 for the thing and don't want to feel like I am missing out on the latest and greatest again since such a leap in tech would make an upgrade worth considering (despite knowing its stupid to do it).

In either case, the word will probably come down around April 1 since for the last few years Apple has announced something around that time. Ah Apple quit teasing. It hurts us. Or at least if tease make it something truly delicious like native support for a Windows boot.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy?

According to Ain't It Cool news, apparently a script was commisioned pre-Star Trek V that would have explored the Enterprise gang's Academy years. Nothing came of it, so now its apart of the scrap heap of movie history but for those that like to know these things read about it here.

Toon News

FoxNews.com is suggesting that maybe Isaac Hayes did not quit South Park. Instead some other did it for him. Who the other is unknown but its assumed its Scientology related with the backing of Tom Cruise. The evidence for this? Apparently on 1/17/06 Hayes has a minor stroke. Minor being it didn't kill him or paralize. A stroke is a stroke that that means a lenghty recovery time. One assumes that if recovering from a stroke the last thing on your mind is what some cartoon makers are up to or did 6 months ago. Further evidence in the article is a reference to a interview by the AV Club over at theonion.com. In it they asked Hayes about the Scientolgy bashing episode of South Park that is assumed to be the catelyst for Hayes quitting.

AV Club: They did just do an episode that made fun of your religion, Scientology. Did that bother you?

Hayes: Well, I talked to Matt [Stone] and Trey [Parker] about that. They didn't let me know until it was done. I said, 'Guys, you have it all wrong. We're not like that. I know that's your thing, but get your information correct, because somebody might believe that [expletive], you know?' But I understand what they're doing. I told them to take a couple of Scientology courses and understand what we do. [Laughs.]


Hmm so he doesn't speak out when informed about the episode, doesn't speak out when it aired, doesn't speak out after it aired, says nothing while Cruise fights the airing in England, and just before the eve of the repeat, he quits? Once you toss in the stroke (if true) this whole story is starting to stink to high hell.

----------
In Fox Sunday cartoons news, King of the Hill got a new season order, necessitating the rehiring of pretty much everyone since they closed shop last year on the assumption they where canceled. While doing that, Fox execs also ordered seasons 18 and 19 of the Simpsons, so get your Homer fix through 2008 at least.

Finally Billy West of Futurama gave fans collective glee by reporting on his forums that 26 new eps of the show where ordered. For 24 hours much happiness and joy was felt. Then he dashes them "I'm sorry I gave inaccurate info on the cartoon. I was told on one end that the TV show was a go but DXC enlightened me (with a hammer) that this was not the case." DXC is David X Cohen, the grand pubah of the show. On bright side the direct to DVD movies are still a go.

Friday, March 17, 2006

PS3 to come with 60 gig harddrive

Apparently by some means, its been officially confirmed that the PS3 will come with a 60 gig harddrive. Cool but this does mean the price is more and more likely to be $500 when it does come out. Read what few details here.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

$9 Trillion Deficit approved

Today, Congress along party lines of Republicans for and Democrats against, approved a bill that will allow the deficit to be increased to $9 Trillion dollars. That is $9,000,000,000,000. Lots of zeros. It represents about $30,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States. This increase is to avoid a election damaging (and rich angering) tax increase that will allow more money for Iraq (building countries on our dime is expensive) and Medicare (cause of a fiasco of the pharmacy program).

In other news of fiscal irresponsibility or at least an odd sense of prorities, Republicans shot down a measure to increase funding to Veterans medical services by $1.5 billion. Unlike the above where its just borrowed, this would have been paid for by closing loopholes in the corporate tax law. Loopholes are defined as an ambiguity that makes it possible to evade a difficulty or obligation. Basically the law would have forced corporations to pay the taxes they owed anyway and would have used the money to help our Veterans. You know the whole "Support the Troops!" thing the republicans are always using as a defense for Iraq criticism.

Apparently we can borrow money to add $91 billion to rebuild Iraq, but Congress can't be bothered to close some tax code that would have paid for additional Veteran benefits. Am I the only one that finds that idea completely nuts?

XP on Mac offical

A contest, started by Colin Nederkoorm, offered up some money to have whoever could boot Windows XP on an Intel MAc, have windows coexist with OS X and not interfere with operation of either, and at bootup gives the user the option to choose which OS to boot. The money started at $100 but through donations ballooned up to $13000.

The contest finally has a winner. Confired by Colin, the solution is now wild on the net for whoever wants to try it. Be wary though, its a new solution, its probably hasn't been fully vetted so be sure to back up all your data just incase a hard drive/reinstall of OS X is needed.

Go here to the .zip that has the bootloader CD image and how-to info. Apparently will work on MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac mini. Sweetness.

PS3 Offcially coming November 2006

Sony has finally annoucned a date for the PS3. Its coming "early" November 2006. Ok, not a firm date but its more then gotten in the past about the release. They intend to release it worldwide so none of that Japan first for 6 months, then the US then Europe 3 months after nonsense. Of course you know what that means! Shortages!!! Ebay sellers unite! I actually predicted this release date (but got the price wrong).

Also announced is that the price is going to be $425 or up. I am guessing it will land at $499. The iPod showed that people are willing to pay more if it seems worth it. Since a shortage will happen no matter what, they can always drop the price later. No final specs have been released.

For those on the fence about a PSP, the price is dropping to $199. That is $50 off the current price. I have a PSP, the games as a whole are still designed as if for a PS2 rather then a portable system so I recommend waiting before buying. Go get a DS. The games are top notched nearly across the board. I actually predicted this price drop, just got the time wrong by three months.

Finally, Griffin the makers of mostly iPod accessories has entered the PSP accessory market. They have annouced the release of a iFM radio adapater ($50), transmitter ($50), and headphone ($50). Seems similar to the stuff for the iPod just designed to work with the PSP. Considering a rumored re-design coming of the PSP, I would wait on buying these.

World's largest video game collection?

Click here for a site that has pics of what seems to be an insane amount of video games. Its just shelves and shelves and more shelves of video games. Its a truly insane collection. Makes me wonder if the guy actually played them all and if so how many did he beat.

Boston Legal diatribe against Bush

Crooksandliars.com has a video grab from the 3/14/06 episode of Boston Legal that takes America to task for its continued dis-interest in all the things Bush has done in these last 4 years. Wehter agree with the view or not, it will get your dander up which is always good TV.

Shore: At a presidential rally, parade or appearance. If you have on a supportive t-shirt you can be there. If you're wearing or carrying something in protest, you can be removed, This in the United States of America.- This in the United States of America! Is Melissa Hughes the only one embarrassed?


Click here to get to the video.

iTunes adds

For those basketball fantics out there, Apple and CBS will start providing college games on iTunes for $1.99. Seems cheap but once take out all the commercials and other misc timeout and breaks, the games would be just the regulation hour long so makes it a good deal all around if able to stay away from spoilers. Personally this does nothing for me because not much in sports but I can see the benefits of it. Hopefully this will spread to other sports.

iTunes also seems to be lurching towards providing movie content. Assuming you can call it providing since its actually a link that then takes you some Disney controlled site that attempts to rip you off severily for a direct to video movie for $9.99 called High School Musical. If this is the proposed method and price of providing movies, hopefully this method will die a quick and vicious death.

As for the price, whatever Apple and/or Disney exec thought of that needs a solid boot in the rear. The only reason someone should even consider paying $9.99 for a so-so quality download of a movie is if its released on iTunes the same day its released in theatres. That way those that refuse to pay to see the movie at a theatre can still see it in crappy download quality on their computer that may then encourage them to buy the DVD later. Realistically though, even for that the price should be $4.99 at the most.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Little info for the South Dakota abortion debate


A little bit of information that sadly supports an interesting tidbit I find about the abortion debate is that the baby is a conservative problem while in the mom but becomes a liberal problem outside of the mom.

- 5 out of the top 10 poorest counties in America are in South Dakota
- 4 out of the top 5 poorest counties in America are in South Dakata
- 2 out of the top 10 poorest counties in America are in Texas

Monday, March 13, 2006

Playstation 3 Presentation

Released is a nearly 2 hour long video of Sony's E3 presentation of the PS3 from last year I think. Its interesting to see and shows what Sony was thinking they wanted to do. Basically take the most power home PC computer on the market today, and it might, just might be as good as a PS3. It would also cost around $3000 versus the probably $500 of the PS3. If what they say it can do versus what the final product will actually have, there really is very little reason to get a PC for gaming purposes.

Highlights:

PS3 Specs:
Core:
- PowerPC Core 3.2GHz
- 512 KB L2 cache

Graphics (7x more powerful then the PS2):
- NVidia RSX at 550MHz
- Multi-way parallel FP shader pipeline
- 60fps
- 128 bit floating point pixel precision (current consoles are 32bit)
- 2k x 1k resolution for high-def televisions
- 136 shader operations per cycle
- over 300m transisters (about 5x over current consoles)

Memory:
- 256 MB XDR RAM at 3.2GHz
- 256 MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz
- Detachable 2.5'' HDD slot (ie, a laptop hardrive that is easy to upgrade)

Input/Output:
- 6 USB 2.0 ports (4 front, 2 back)
- 1 Memory Stick, SD card slot
- 1 CompactFlash slot
- 1 AV Multi output

Communication:
- Gigabit Ethernet slots
- Built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
- Bluetooth for up to 7 controllers

Disc Media:
- Backwards compatible to PS1 and PS2
- CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, DualDisc
- DVD-video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW
- Blu-ray, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE (ie if PS3 is hot, Sony when the next gen DVD format wars by default.)

Digital Media (formats not specified but assume same as PSP):
- Plays audio
- Plays video
- shows pics

Network:
- Allows online play (that was a gimme) with some internet access (probably Sony only places).
- Allows peer 2 peer connections to transfer data (since Sony has TV, music etc properties, how they limit the exchange of data should be of interest).

Of course its too early to tell as often what the device is theorized to be able to do versus what is done with it are two different things. Also, the older the console gets, the more tricks the developers learn and the more they can get out of it. Finally keep in mind that what the say the product will have as features versus what the final product will have can be two different things. However, if they deliver what they promise, the PS3 is going to be the console to beat. Now if only Sony would learn how to make great fun software with the same skill Nintendo has.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Apple Windfall if only...

According to some new study of dubious results, if Apple or Microsoft would overcome BIOS differences and allow duel boot on a Mac, Apple could see at least a 22% growth. Personally I think you don't need studies for such a no brainer. Due to the iPod, iTunes, and just the good word of mouth that Apple has, I think alot more then 22% would switch.

Apple is making the assumptions that the curious are willing to drop at least $700 for the cheapest Apple comp, the Mac mini, just to try Apple. Well, they are wrong. Few people are will drop that kind of money for a product they know nothing about and not sure they can use or learn. However, if suddenly they can have Windows installed on it too, its not a gamble. If the like the Apple OS, cool beans the buyer and Apple wins. If they don't like the Apple OS and prefer to go back to Windows...the user wins and so does Apple as they had a convert they didn't have before. The reason is simple, that person will go "I didn't like the Apple OS but man that comp is sweet. Runs fast and looks good."

No matter what, the word of mouth would be good. Most companies would pay good money to have that kind of "problem" but Apple in their misplaced pride refuses to take advantage of what their excellent hardware design could be used to drive sales. It can only be a good thing if along the way millions more tried the Apple OS. The more that try it the more that may convert. Few people however are going to gamble hundred of dollars on a maybe which is what Apple is currently expecting and has been for years now.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Bill O'Reilly losing it

In further proof that Bill O'Reilly is slowly becoming unhinged, he apparently began sicking Fox Security on callers that said stuff he doesn't like. Considering the sheer volume of things he doesn't like and his inability to handle any criticism whatsoever, they probably had to hire a call center to "investigate" his complaints. Nevermind that he is complaining against people that called his call-in show. Click here for a video of Keith Olbermann summurizing and having fun with the latest in O'Reillyland.

AT&T ripping off soldiers

According to a blog from someone that used to be a CEO for a telecom, apparently AT&T is overcharging the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to make long distance charges to home. Apparently the cost is $.21/per minute but the real world cost at most is $.01/ per minute. Apparently AT&T can do this because they have the monopoly on phone service to the Armed Services. Not sure if true or not but is a bit of interesting info. Gives you the warm and fuzzies about the Bellsouth & AT&T merger doesn't it?

Lego Aircraft Carrier

Another sweet lego project - an aircraft carrier with planes and other need little features. The pic gallery is here.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Top 10 Strange Lego Creations



Click here to go to a sweet site that shows what it believes to be the top 10 lego creations. I just think they neat as all get out and if anyone has a site that catalogs these sweet creations be sure to link it in the comments. The AC unit above, works to amazingly enough.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Jon Stewart's Oscar Night

I watched Oscar night for one reason only - Jon Stewart. This year I could not have cared less who won what in whatever category. Not for political reasons but just because. I think as I get older, the yearly backpat by the rich for the rich gets more and more tiresome. Hollywood especially is full of itself. Oscar night seemed to highlight this as the only jokes the "stars" could laugh at where those at the expense of politicians. But make fun of the Hollywood culture and machine and it was death ray time from the audience. Can't make fun of Hollywood could have been a theme for the night. As MSNBC.com points out, the stars just don't get Jon Stewart. Of course its seems that most stars are a step above white trash, know it, and hate to be reminded of it. They instead would like to pretend they have been elevated from all the weakness of the common folk. Well, whatever, their loss.

Personally though, I find Jon Stewart hilarious. Most of his jokes where good, his pre-taped stuff excellent and really I was saddened there was not more of him. I also wish he come with all cannons firing. He held back, and the TV audience missed out on much of what makes the Daily Show great. Even holding back though, he was best thing about the night of mostly yawns and meaningless montages.

Barry Bonds, Steroid Abuser

A new book, Game of Shadows, attempts to detail Bonds' years of steroid abuse beginning in 1998, according to Sports Illustrated. Gee, I am shocked. Man grows about three sizes in muscle mass in about a year while in his late 30s, and the man still thinks the public is retarded enough to not think steroids. Because you know, that just happens all the time. Personally I think baseball (if it had a set which it doesn't) should investigate Bonds, test him after every homerun and in between for giggles, and the first time they can, pounce on him. Build a case and then Pete Rose his ass from baseball. Make him the example that follows all else. Baseball is still feeling the effects of Pete Rose and I imagine the same would occur if Bonds was similarily treated.

Monday, March 06, 2006

South Dakota Abortion Bill signed into law

Today, South Dakota governer signed into law the first bill that is a direct attempt to overturn Roe v Wade. The bill makes any abortion illegal except those that are harming the mother. Pretty much it has to be the mom or the baby. Rape, incest, etc, the baby is a keeper. I am sure pro-lifers are thinking "victory!". I think once the dust settles this will actually be a blow for their cause.

Once people realize this type of law will spread from state to state the same way the anti-gay bills have, many will give pause. Unlike like gay marriage, this type of action directly effects everyone. Its one thing to be all high and mighty when it doesn't effect you, its another when it does.

The main problem I have with the law is it still doesn't accomplish anything. I think I am like most pro-choicers in that we have the same goal - to end abortion. We just differ on the means. We also have more realistic expectations. We know abortion will never end. Things can be done to reduce the number done every year. Things can also be done so that when an abortion is done, its done safetly, in a sterile environment, by trained doctors. I think few want a return to pre-1978 conditions of back room abortions done by anyone with a knife.

We also feel that the mothers rights supercede the potential babies rights. If pro-life, that view is the opposite (with rare exceptions but only because forced to). For me it goes even further. We all know the horror stories when parents are forced to be parents. If the mom doesn't want to be a mom, glad she knows it, better then her creating the next monstor in a plethora that this society already deals with. If I thought the child services system could handle all the babies, that might make me feel better, but it can't handle the load it has now, much less the load that will be created if in the grand utopia pro-lifers envision, all conceived babies are born.

Pro-choice is considered a liberal agenda. Pro-life a conservative one. The interesting thing about this is while the "baby" is in the mother, its a conservative problem, but the moment its born, it becomes a liberal problem with concerns over its care, feeding, education and all those other issues.

I have to give South Dakota credit though. This will probably go to the Supreme Court and with the court makeup as it is now, it will probably past muster easily. Realistically speaking, Roe v Wade has always been on incredibily weak Constitutional ground and this could be the shove that breaks it apart. I don't think though this will be the boon that the religious agenda thinks it will be. I think it will backfire in a big way and all the ground they gained in taking over the government will be lost.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Nancy Grace's history a myth?

A write-up came out on the observer.com that puts forth the idea that Nancy Grace's great motivation, the death of her fiance, was in fact largely exaggerated. If ever watch this women on CNN she is a this loud, obnoxious, "I know it all" type who clearly often knows and understands little. She also like to bring up whenever she can, as often she can, how over 25 years ago she was a "victim". Actually the BF that died was the larger victim that that is neither here nor there to her.

Her story is that basically the justice system failed her, that her boyfriend's killer, a thief basically got away with murder after appealing the case. Turns out that the killer was a friend of the boyfriend, mentally retarded, never tried to appeal and is sitting in jail. When asked about this, she claims she couldn't be bothered to find out about the killer.

Does that make since to you? Here she is using this moment as a defining moment of her life that set her on the path of rightousness and she can't even be bothered to get the details right? It sounds more like she created a history with a kernal of truth and through the constant and frequent retelling of the lies, she has literally talked herself into believing the lies are the truth. When people do that, there is only one word to describe them - pathetic.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

NES Super Mario Bros racing

Go here, for a fabulous video of two people racing to beat the orginial Super Mario Bros. for the NES. Its best with sound as the audience is happily cheering them on.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Intel-based Mac mini announced

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, unveiled some new products today at a press conference. The highlight of the event is the new Mac Mini based on Intel chips. For $600 you get a 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo, 512 RAM, 60GB hard drive and DVD/CD-RW drive. For $800, your get 1.66GHZ Intel Core Duo procesor, 512 RAM, 80GB hard drive and SuperDrive dual-layer DVD burner.

If interested in trying out Apple, this is a good start. Decent price, decent performance in a nice little package that takes up almost no space. However, gaming machine this isn't. The graphics card, Intel GMA950, uses shared memory. If going to do gaming you would first need to upgrade the RAM to a gig and even that wouldn't help on games where frames per second are crucial. but then Apple isn't know for its gaming. Unless planning on playing Worlds of Warcraft on an Apple computer, its almost a non-issue. For now I am going to wait. The price point isn't sweet enough for me to sacrifice gaming.

Also announced is something called the iPod Hi-Fi Stereo. It basically looks like a black and white old style speaker with an iPod dock on top. It supports the iPod remote (that continues to work only in line of sight). It is also $350 big ones and will connect to your TV. Frankly its not worth it. If going to get a speaker at that cost you might as well go BOSE or a full surround sound system that can play iPod and do much more. Apple is on the right track with sound systems but adding what amounts to $150 extra to the cost because they added "iPod" to the title is a rough start.

Finally Apple also introduce its official leather iPod case...for $99. Yep a silly case that almost costs as much as a Nano. Also calling it a case is being generous. Its actually the same sleeve that comes with iPods only made out of leather. Once again, because it has the name "iPod" attached, Apple is charging about 3x more then its really worth. I guess this is just another example of what an iPod lover tolerates but I will spend my money elsewhere thanks so much.

If want some more info, screenshots and little hand-on information, Engadget.com has all the info.

Nintendo DS news

Gamebrink.com has some hands-on information and lots of screenshots of the new DS Lite that is being released on March 2 in Japan. Not sure what the date is for the US and to lazy to go hunt for it. Anyway for those that are interested in the upgrade, it does have some useful information such as the brighter screens, the longer stylus and the fact that the old style Gameboy Advance cartridges stick out a little. If you are hoping for larger screens, forget it, they are the same size.

Monday, February 27, 2006

"Serenity" profitable thanks to DVD sales

According to a report on Newsarama.com, the DVD sales of Serenity where 2 million plus after about 5 weeks of sales. So box office gross plus domestic DVD sales (foreign not out yet) means that the movie has made an estimated 11 million in profit. Not record shattering or anything, but it gives hope that while a Serenity sequel or reprise of the Firefly series is highly unlikely, the grand experiment of taking a failed TV show and trying to do it justice elsewhere isn't entirely without merit.

Georgia says no to FDR day

The Georgia House Special Rules Committe decided to block a bill that would make an FDR day in the state of Georgia. Why Georgia? Well that is the location of Warm Springs, the place FDR vacationed, where he went to heal, and where he died after serving this country and sheperding us through World War II. His accomplishments are unmatched in our history. By most, he is considered our greatest President. So what did he do to not deserve a special day of recognition? He cheated on his wife.

Now this isn't a good thing by any means, but apparently in the eyes of Rep. Calvin Hill, Republican for Canton, that trumps all else. Apparently cheating on your wife can eliminate all good, any accomplishments, and destroys all that goes with your history. Even worse, this decision is based on a "constituent's concern that it doesn't make a good statement." Thats right, he is choosing to block this legislation because one person told him too. Apparently when Canton wasn't paying attention, this person became the voice for all.

Some may ask, is an FDR day even needed? Probably not. But that isn't the point. This bill wasn't blocked because it was unnecessary or redundant or any other logical reason. It was blocked because one person and their idiot of a representative has decided that an act of wrong eradicates an entire history of accomplishment.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Retail Experience should be required

It should be a requirement that everyone, regardless of class, ability, postion, etc should have at least 3 to 6 months of retail, customer level experience, before they can move on to other things. Just like pretty much all jobs require at least a diploma, they should require retail experience. The reason is multi-fold. For one, it teaches compassion. It teaches what the customer level experience is like, especially when on the receiving end. Its a skill and experience that will follow at any job regardless of what it is. It teaches patience. Its teaches control. Most importantly, managers wouldn't make decisions based on book knowledge or theory but actual in the trenches, first hand experience.

What brought this up is this post here. The point of the post is basically how Best Buys mistreated him when he refused to go through the reciept check process. The way he was treated was wrong. It shouldn't have happened. Thats a no brainer. What bothers me though is his refusal and inability to see anyone's else's perspective on it. An Best Buy employee gave a step by step explanation of why the reciept policy is in place, explained how insane customers can be, explained why it ulimately helps the customer and he basically dismisses it because there was a contradiction in the letter. He also, only at the end of the letter, points out that he always dodges the receipt check. Doing that is an indication of his ego and nothing else. He is basically proving what we already knew, that he is an asshole. To be "right" was more important to him. Right about what I don't know because its simply not that important.

The person who wrote this thread, I guarantee has no retail experience. For anyone that has retail experience and face to face customer interactions will tell you, the employee is on the nose. The first rule that you learn when dealing with customer is that they infact are almost always wrong. However, say this to them at their own risk. Customer service really comes down to one skill...ego stroking. More then anything, all the customer cares about is hearing the phrase "you are right." Doesn't matter if taking about the price of lipstick or a plasma screen. Its a gigantic ego stroke where the customer doesn't usually even know what they are talking about.

My overall point is this, retail is a thankless job with poor pay, poor benefits and poor results. Try to treat those that help you with the same dignity you expect yourself to be treated.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Bush and United Arab Emirates Port Deal

As reported by CNN.com and pretty much everywhere else, President Bush supports allowing a United Arab Emirates company to take over the administration of 6 US ports. My understanding is that Coast Guard and other agencies would still handle security. I find it interesting the President "security above all else" Bush supports this.

I am suprised that Frist is even taking pause over the idea. He generally follows Bush around like a dog on most policy decisions. If Frist has doubts, an alarm should be blaring in your head. It doesn't take a genius to figure out this is a security nightmare. Call it a sterotype, but usually companies tend to hire those of their same culture and belief system. Look at any Indian, Korean, Chinese, etc owned business for that. The assumption that things will not change once a new company comes on board is naive at best.

Lawmakers who have called for the deal to be blocked need to "step up and explain why a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard," Bush said. He has a point. Its not fair and assumes to much. Well to bad. Bush doesn't seem to mind squashing civil liberities in the name of security, why does this give him pause? Why is he all politically correct when his drive on security suddenly effects his friends business interests?

Just from the Danish cartoon fiasco and uproar that is so far far far far far disapportionate to the "crime", I wouldn't allow an Arabian company to take over those ports. Its too big a gamble not only from a security standpoint but its a politically correct nightmare to enforce. If I was that company, everytime there is an accusation, investigation, etc, I would claim racism to protect myself. It would work to. In the end, considering what a fantastic gateway that ports represent to get pretty much anything into the country, the risk doesn't seem worth the rewards.

David Letterman's Cheney "commercial"

A funny little "commerical" called "A Big Bowl of Bad" aired on David Letterman last night. It shows how the whole shooting thing with Vice President Cheney isn't that big a deal.... Click here.

Monday, February 20, 2006

From Don: No greenlight...yet

Another monday, another Don Murphy message board update. Have to give him credit for that. Most, including me, can't be bothered to do that. Anyway, its more of a re-iteration of director Michael's comments, ie hear desire for orginial voices, greenlight is coming, and shooting starts towards end of May. The decision on voices being used is business needs and film goals vs nostagia and desires of the fans. At least everyone is being heard and acknowledge. They might not follow fandom's advice but at least they hear it. I still am sticking with my thinking that they will get recast. A shame really, especially Megatron and a few others, say Starscream and Soundwave, who voices where truly distinct and unique. Optimus Prime and really all of the Autobots are more interchangable.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Sony UMDs not selling

In news of the "Duh" kind, recent reports indicate that the UMD format for movies, only playable on the PSP, are not selling well. Let us count the obvious reasons why not. To begin with the average UMD is $20. The average DVD is $15-$20 depending if on sale or not. On top of that, the UMD has limited space. The result is you get just the movie. None of the extras like commentary and behind the scenes stuff. On top of that, UMDs can only be played on the tiny PSP, while DVDs can be played...well anywhere. So basically you pay more and get much much less buying a UMD. Usually that means a price difference, but in the pretend world that Sony lives in, less equals pay more. If Sony is truly serious about this format, they will compete in the one area they can, the price. The price point must be in the $5-$10 range to stand a chance. If they can't do that, they might as well give up on the format.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Sam's Story

In Superman/Batman #26 is a the plot written by Jeph Loeb's Sam who died recently at the age of 17. Its a who-whos of the comic industry and worth reading and definilty worth buying as all money is going to the Sam Loeb College Scholarship Fund. Click here for all the details about the project.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Dick Chenay Shooting Rant

This is my rant about Vice President Dick Chenay being the first VP since that nations founding to shoot a man while in office. Not so much about the shooting itself but the continued cluster-fuck in handling by the administration and others. What specially gals me is it didn't need to be handled this way. Shit happens. Especially with incompentent "hunters". It would have been a joke on the late night shows for a few days and gone away.

I have yet to hear an explanation for the 22 hour news blackout. There is simply no excuse for it. None. I don't care what was going on. If Cheney had time to go have dinner after the shooting, he had time to get his people working on getting the news out. What he was doing was hiding facts plain and simple while waiting for the guy to die or not. Can't admit that, but basically that is the only thing that explains the wait.

Finally, again no explanation for the gall of Cheney's buds blaming the victim. They repeatedly blamed everyone but the guy that pulls the trigger. Finally Cheney admits he was a fault and even then the ego-maniac felt a need to add a "but..." invalidating everything.

Long story short, this shooting summarizes everything that is wrong with the this administration. Even in cases that are clear cut "shit happens" they feel a need to hide the truth, to dissemble, to avoid responsibility and blame others for their own actions. Its pathetic. Its cowardly. Its un-presidential and stinks of bad leadership.

In addition to this, we have Fox News. They get the interview with Chenay rather then a press conference. Understood, they want a softball interview and Bret Hume is the man to go to for that. He and the job description of "journalist" don't belong together and haven't for years. What is reprehensible is are supposed to report the news and the truth and here they are caught actually hiding information. They withheld pertinient facts for an interview, not only cutting it from the broadcast but then cutting it from the website transcript of the interview. The White House transcript, that describes Chenay knocking a few back a few hours before the shooting, is more complete. Its that isn't gross negligance, I don't know is.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Nintendo DS: TV tuner and Web browser add-ons


Nintendo is planning on adding web browser and a TV tuner to the Nintendo DS sometime around Wednesday, at least in Japan. Both of these add-ons will cost in the range of $30 so unlike the PSP, its not free. It seems Nintendo either made a boo-boo by not making the DS firmware upgradable or they are business geniuses.

The browser will be based on the Opera-based which is typically used on Apple and Unix machines. As for the tuner card, well limited only to "One-Seg" broadcasts rather then analog signals. Since the One-Seg protocol is just now beginning to launch in Japan, I wouldn't hold my breath on the TV capabilities ever making it statistics.

In other news, more Tetris DS shots. This game, especially because of its online capability, will be the must have game of the year. Planned release is still in March and hopefully will stay there.

Playstation 3 September 21, '06 and harddrive-less?


Well the next gen rumors in regards to the Playstation keeps coming out. However, unlike many, this one may have legs. Apparently not only is the Playstation 3 coming out in September but it will not have a harddrive.

The scoop from Next Gen and reported on joystick.com indicates that the PS3 US launch is planned for September 21st. In addition, Sony will launch a service nearly identical to Xbox Live called the Playstation Hub. This indicates that Microsoft is a bigger threat then Sony wants to admit as you don't tend to copy the ideas that are bad. Like XBox live, the use of the service will not be free but hopefully for competitive sake it will not be all that expensive. Out of my ass guess, $15.95 per month.

As for the second rumor, well it seems more like fact as it comes directly from the specs posted on Playstation.com. As the pic above shows, no harddrive but I guess you will be able to buy one to add in the future since it accepts laptop harddrives (which while small are also more expensive then desktop counterparts).

The price point has still not been announced but now that is it without a harddrive, I am going with a $299.99 price tag.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Bush Released his $2.77B Budget

A bit late but wrote it so posting it.

Well, its out. Bush's proposed budget for the next year or so. It all a mess but it comes down to give more to military, spend more in general, cut "entitlement programs" including education and make the rich tax cuts permanent. So its par the course, spend more, take in less cause god forbid he anger the rich folks why we throw aways billions just on interest every month for his debt. Would think someone would point out could do an even bigger for the rich cut if didn't have a deficit to pay off...but then that would require real work.

Either way, the Republicans are still cowards so what you see is what we get with the usual "bridge to nowhere" type porks added on of course.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Danish Muslim Cartoons














Thanks to muslimcartoons.com and humaneventsonline.com for the pictures.






As the violence continues, Bush and Rice condemn it, one is left with the feeling of "what the fuck!?!?" As this excellent cartoon shows, Islamic leaders and citizens have better things to worry about. Instead they worry over a cartoon rendering of Muhammed by a Danish “infidel”. So here we are.

I think, more then anything over the last 50+ years, the violence over some pretty crappy cartoons shows just how different Islamic world compared to the Western world. Not even Christianity, which has shown a frequent liking of censorship, would advocate this kind of violence. Shoot not even advocate, not only would they condemn it but I don't think it would even occur to most to react in such a violent manner.

It shows that not only is the War on Terrorism futile, but that Bush's grand plan to bring democracy to that region is doomed to failure. For that to succeed, it assumes they define freedom, religious tolerance, and many of our western values the same. They simply do not. They don't want democracy, they want theocracy. They don't want freedom to choose. Nor do they want freedom of the press and ability to express one self.

For the US, until recently anyway, freedom was as defined by the Constitution. For Islam, its defined by the Quran. We get our viewpoints from our government leaders and sadly from our celebrities. They get it from their religious leaders and sadly their terrorist leaders. We define freedom as "I will defend to the death your right to say it". They define freedom as freedom to kill for saying whatever they disagree with (which can very from sect to sect). We try, and sometimes fail, to give equal rights to all. Their Quran finds that concept absurd and therefore so do they.

This incident proves in a way that is both ridiculous and tragic that the Western way is not nor will ever become the Islamic way. The ideas, beliefs, and viewpoints are completely incompatible. It not only summarizes and reinforces all the hatred and stereotypes we have for Islam but it also re-enforces our failure to try to understand them and them us. We are using Iraq as a test lab for democracy. The problem is it’s our version of democracy, not theirs. It’s our ideas, not theirs. It’s our playing field, rather then theirs. We want peace, but we want it on our terms. As a result, the grand experiment will fail. Tragically, if Islamics are willing to kill over cartoons, I hate to imagine the death toll when the Grand Western Democratic Experiment fails.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Fiscal responsibility my #@$

The republicans have started the new year right for them anyway by cutting the budget for "entitlement programs" by $39 billion. Wow, the republicans finally live up to what they used to be, they are going to try to get back to balanced budgets and all that right? Of please, of course not. Don't be naive. This is them just hating any program that doesn't help the rich. For that they have the next bill ready to go: a $60 billion dollar tax cut for the rich. All those cuts for them for the last 5 years, this bill would make em permanent. So while the US spends and spends and spends, the republicans feel steps must be taken to decrease amount of money taken in to pay for the spending. On top of that Bush is asking for additional $120 billion for his various wars.

So we have $39 billion cut over five years:
- Student loans with higher interest rates
- Medicare cuts that have higher premiums
- Medicaid cuts with reducing amount will pay for drugs, increasing premiums, and increasing co-payments
- Pension change, that is actually decent as it penalizes companies $3750 per employee fee for terminating plans, of course that is still cheaper then keeping the plan so don't expect to impact anything.
- Welfare reform that continues freeze on funding.

In return we get:
- $60 billion permanent tax cut for the rich
- $120 billion in spending for wars
- $18 billion for hurrican relief (most of which goes to Halliburton and other Bush related companies who contracted to do the work but instead get paid so much they contract out the work to another contractor who tends to get an additonal contractor who then might actually do the work...eventually)
- $2.3 billion for a mythic bird flu epidemic. Wish they put this much effort in cures such as cancer or AIDS. Drug companies will never come up with those cures, its simple not in their best interests to. More money is made by keeping people on their drugs for years then a one time fix that a cure or vaccine represents.

If followed the Republican example of monetary policy, i would quit my job and then go out and buy a new car and house.