Happy Halloween

So, we're into the homestretch for the month of October, with November simply a hair's width away.

It's Halloween, so Happy Halloween. We have a cubicle decorating contest here at Synnex and several cubes have participated so it's kinda cool to see that kind of stuff up. I always got a kick outta people who participated in dorm decorating contests in college. (I think some people just used Halloween as an excuse to dress casual. However, it's not as many people as I expected.)

Anyway, Bush has nominated Judge Samuel Alito to become the next Supreme Court Justice. I say bah! Not surprisingly, Bush seems to be trying to take revenge on the American public for not allowing Miers by nominating Conservative favorite Alito instead of a moderate. Unlike Roberts and Miers, Alito has had a track record of being against abortion, even as a minority dissenting voice. Instead of avoiding the "third rail of politics" as he did with Roberts and Miers, Bush seems to be grabbing onto it whole-heartedly, even if he's going to electrocute the remaining braincells he has. (And that's it for that metaphor.) I hope the Senate fails to confirm him because Alito's presence on the Court could mean that Roe v. Wade gets overturned and we could be thrown 30 years into the past. BTW, this was EXACTELY what I was afraid of in the 2004 election. For all you people who said "Bush should be re-elected so he can clean up his own mess" I say LOOK WHAT YOU DID!

Is Mel Gibson starting to remind anybody else of Howard Hughes? Just a thought.
(Check out the picture at this article to see what brought up this thought.)

So, I know I'm behind on this but give me a break. I just installed Konfabulator on my work computer and I've been playing with the widgets. These are fabulous. Already, life is easier.

That's it for now. Hope everybody has a safe night... MUAHAHAHAHAHA

Superman II

http://supermanhomepage.com/images/news-images/dreamwatch-S2dvd.jpg
Fabulous!
Superman II is being planned to be restored with Richard Donner's original footage. I think it's going to be really good but, beyond that, I think it'll be interesting to see what Richard Donner originally shot. The footage that he made was re-shot by Richard Lester after being unceremoniously fired by the Salkinds. Good good good.

I'm also watching the WPT Women's Night III right now. Jennifer Tilly really does have a really good poker face. She's freakin' intimidating. Just noticing.

Awesome machine

http://uberreview.com/2005/10/biggames-home-video-arcade-machine.htm
Now THAT'S a Christmas present. If anybody has an extra 500 bucks that they'd like to use for a b-day present for me... =P

Seriously though, I'd totally consider buying it. I'm sure it wouldn't be terribly difficult to hack it and put other (RE: my favorite) old arcade games in there. I mean, who wouldn't wanna play Street Fighter 2 in their own living room. AWESOME. Kudos to Target for selling such a totally excellent product! =P

Philanthropy and loneliness

I wonder: does the sense of philanthropy have a direct correlation with the feeling of loneliness? I mean, the core of a relationship is the concept that a relationship is built upon a sense of need/wish fulfillment. I want, I need, therefore you give and vice versa. (BTW, if your relationship is not built upon a sense of generosity, you need to seriously reevaluate.) Do we have an inherent need to provide for other people's needs? I imagine we do. No matter how deep or how shallow, I think there's an inherent sense of providing that we all experience. Further, I think the feeling of belonging is an element of this. We feel we belong to a place when we feel that we're needed in the place. So, if you don't have such a place, what happens to you? Do you seek acceptance through other avenues? If there's nobody there to validate your existence, do you seek to fill such a void by giving more and more of yourself? Perhaps the most helpful individuals are simply lonely individuals looking for a place where they belong. It also begs to wonder, what happens when you do fill that need? If you've devoted your life/time/emotion/energy/everything to another, what is there left to give to your country/state/work/school/etc.?

Just a thought.

I'm sick...

Sorry if I got anybody sick. Turns out I'm kinda sick. I should be alright in a day but my nose is running, my throat hurts, and my bones kinda ache (that happens everytime I get a cold. Does that happen to you?)

Anyway, I hate to celebrate in other people's misery but I'm really glad that Miers has withdrawn from being nominated as the next Supreme Court Justice. She's not a very good candidate, as I've "vocalized" on this blog before. So, Bush just needs to find a better candidate. One with experience and one with conviction, I hope. Or he could just leave the seat vacant and screw over the courts too. He's good at screwing things over.

The rest of the Tuesday morning roundup

CNN's death toll count for US soldiers in Iraq's hit 2000. That's only US soldiers. It's estimated that there's been over 20,000 Iraqi deaths (that's a conservative estimate) sincee 2003. Perhaps invading Iraq for no good reason was a bad idea?

Florida's been hit bad by Wilma. That makes WAY too many hurricane/tropical storm victims in the past 2 months. I honestly don't even know what to say about it any more. I haven't posted too much lately because that's been the news. Rita, Katrina, Wilma. Rosa Parks died and she didn't get cover story on CNN.com. Unbelievable.

Speaking of CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/25/elmo.arrest.ap/index.html
To which I say "uh....ookay..."

Time to CHANGE TOPICS, FAST:

http://www.menswearhouse.com/home_page/guys_guide/gg331_howto.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474395317457&bmUID=1130258420427
The Men's Warehouse (I'm convinced it's one of the best places to buy a suit) has a (slightly suprisingly) very very good list of gift giving tips. Holiday season's approaching so perhaps you should read it. Then, go out and buy me a present! =D =D =D

Uhm... don't hate me but I'm really starting to get into Gilmore Girls. Once you get over how woodern some of the dialogue sounds coming out of their mouths (good dialogue, good actresses, how come it doesn't always work?) it's actually a very witty show. So, to those of you who I made fun of for watching Gilmore Girls, I apologize.

Ok, that's it for now.

Rosa Parks

Tuesday morning, Oct. 25. Rosa Parks, civil rights legend and icon, passed away last night. She was an inspiration for an entire nation for something as simple as not moving to the back of the bus. I have the greatest respect for Rosa Parks because she showed that it's not the size of the action but the amount of conviction that makes a difference in the world.

Moving Day

What's spectacular about this Saturday?

Well, me and my family finally moved major stuff to our new house. Fridge, TVs, computers, etc. Not to mention a whole lotta boxes. A WHOLE LOTTA boxes.

We don't get cable again until Monday, phone until Tuesday, and Internet until Thursday. You may be wondering how I'm making this post. Good question. I'm actually pigging backing on somebody's unsecured network. Let that be a lesson to you kids. Always secure your networks. =P

I feel bad so I'm not going to do anything stupid, like trying to hack something. I'll just post and try to keep my usage to a bare minimum.

As a counter to that, there's a new Narnia trailer up.
http://movies.aol.com/movie_exclusive_the_chronicles_of_narnia
Awesome!! =D

SPOILER WARNING! (maybe? Who knows. Better safe than sorry though.)
It contains some beautiful moments. The trailer shows so much more this time around and it looks absolutely gorgeous. For one, Aslan looks awesome. He looks like a real lion and Liam Neeson's voice (yes, hear Aslan speak!) is very commanding, very befitting of the Aslan of C.S. Lewis's wonderful creation. Tilda Swinton as the White Witch is gorgeous too. She's a wonderful actress and absolutely great at playing ethereal (re: Constantine). There even a quick split-second where you see her seducing Edmund. She wraps her cloak around him and her eyes are just so deliciously evil. You also hear the voices of the Beavers and their telling of the prophecy (this happens during a voiceover in the beginning of the trailer). They look fabulous also but my earliest memories of the characters came from the BBC production where everybody just wore Halloween costumes. Mr. Tumnus appears for a fleeting split-second. He's wearing his scarf and carrying a parasol, very dandy-like. The Centaur looks gorgeous, giving much hope for a beautiful centaur in Harry Potter. Firenze, specifically. Edmund's conspicuosly absent both in the beaver hut and when the others are receiving their gifts from Aslan, making me extremely happy that they haven't forsaken the storyline. Short scenes of Aslan walking up to the stone table and the White Witch bringing down the knife, both gorgeous. I love the lighting in that scene. Each one of the animals in Aslan's army just looks gorgeous. Awesome awesome. Beautiful graphics and the war scenes are WAY more emphasized this time around, considering how much better the graphics are compared to the BBC production. The armies lining up and simply stunning and makes me think that WETA's going to put out a movie even better looking than LotR (maybe not but it's still going to be beautiful).

ANYWAY, that's it for now. Back to unpacking. (Man, moving is exhausting.)

Hi again.

Oops. Didn't post yesterday. Sorry. This stupid job. It's busy but not productive. It's like trying to push a mountain. It takes all your effort and afterward, you still haven't moved the damn thing.

Samsung Cell
You have to admit, this cell phone at least looks good. I'm very impressed with a not stupid 2 hinged cell phone. (Sorry about the link. Just put your zip code in and it'll come up.)

http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/german-encyclopedia-kicks-ass-is-small-132147.php
Awesome. It's good to see that in this day-and-age of iPod video and nano that books haven't been left outta the information age pursuits of smaller and faster.

Hm.. speaking which, I'm planning on ordering an iPod tomorrow (after I get my paycheck). I think I'm extremely enamoured by the possibilities that Apple brings with their 5th gen iPod. I was listening to the technophile podcast (w00t! podcasting!) and they had Alex Lindsey on who is an all-around everywhere consultant on all things graphics (and started Pixel Corps). Anyway, he worked on Star Wars Episode I and he was mentioning his own feelings about the new iPod which I echo whole heartedly. He mentioned that computer graphics, once a big and mysterious field of wonder and misunderstood awe, is becoming more and more accessible. As an example, he said that when he was working on Star Wars, the Macs that they were using to create the graphics were actually only half as powerful as the Mac Mini. That being said, it's becoming more and more viable for independant projects to come to fruition, whether it be a tv show you shoot in your backyard or an animated movie you make on the weekends. And, with the success of podcasting, imagine how many people could put their pet projects online and readily available. It's this that I'm really looking forward to and it's for this that I'm getting a new iPod for (and because they're just really cool).

Ok, first post up for today, I'll try and post more later, maybe after I read real news... =P

Hi all! Tuesday!!

Quite happy. Why? I took a day off of work today to pack (we're moving Saturday). I have to say, not working is so much better than actually working. hehe.

Anyway, I probably won't post as much today because... well, frankly I actually do have to pack. However, I did find this link.
http://www.slappa.com/site/nba/html/cat_slip.html
Awesome! Basketball one of the only professional sports that I feel passionately about (Go LAKERS! W00T!!) Anyway, now you can get an iPod cover that matches your favorite NBA team (ok, currently they only have iPod mini and iPod shuffle covers and only 13 teams for the mini but you know).

Anyway, hope everybody's having a good Tuesday.

Monday Blatherings

So, it's Monday. I've been relatively busy today so the posts have been scarce. I apologize. I'll try to make a worthwhile update right now.

So, Bush is continuing on his campaign to get Miers into the Supreme Court. What's the new tactic? He's gotten 6 current and former Texas Supreme Court Justices to support her. Uh... ok. Still doesn't change the fact that she's a HORRIBLE CANDIDATE. I'm also completely un-surprised by the fact that he's urged the Texas Supreme Court to back him. He was governor of Texas! Want to impress me? Get the New York Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court to back her. Then we'll talk.

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=9942501&src=rss/technologyNews
Reuters is reporting that apparently Hollywood-ers (RE: Desperate Housewives stars) are pissed because they weren't in on Steve Jobs' backdoor deal with Disney to get rights to download episodes on iTunes. Hm... I'm tempted to say "Screw you, let us download" but it's still not really right. I think the actors have a right to the a portion of the profit so some sort of deal should be worked out. I really could care less if its the DVD formula or not. I think they should get some of the profit but not a significant amount or anything. Ultimately, iTunes is providing this service to try and give TV shows and movies the same accessibility that music enjoys on iTunes. I'm all for the accessibility. Hell, I hope that they get even more deals so I don't have to fight my parents for the use of the VCR. I can just download shows I've missed. (Or shows I've heard a lot about but haven't seen yet.) Also, today I found something kinda cool that makes me want to buy an iPod even more. I was going through Podcasts and there are some Podcasts with... video! Wow, I didn't even think of that! Podcasts = Cable Access TV? Awesome...

http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/docucolor/
Xerox = Big Brother? Wow. Who would've thunk it? Ok, Big Brother's kinda harsh but putting a "fingerprint" system in their printers? Without telling people? Sketchy, to say the least.

http://articles.health.msn.com/id/100110773
I always thought that ADD/ADHD were slightly overblown disorders. I think there are cases where people have severe ADD/ADHD and seriously cannot concentrate. However, to categorize hyperactivity as ADD/ADHD is harmful. Kids are hyperactive. If their energy is misconstrued as ADD or ADHD, then they get put on the road to over-medication. To have stuff like Ritalin so easily available and to have school nurses (!!) be able to give it out to students it just ridiculous. Here's an article, however, which counter the thinking that ADD/ADHD is automatically bad. It's an interesting way to think of ADD/ADHD. (BTW: I keep typing ADD/ADHD because I don't know which is the proper way to say it anymore. Is ADD something seperate? Anyway, they both lead to overmedication, IMHO.)

http://www.tradetricks.org/archives/001461.html
Brilliant! As a Lit major, I can't believe I NEVER thought of this! wow.... the things we miss.

http://www.macworld.com/2005/10/features/powerfirefox/index.php?lsrc=mwtoprss
People reading this blog (i.e. my friends) probably are all proficient Firefox users already. However, if you're not, here's a good way to catch up. Read and learn. Internet Explorer harms. Firefox saves lives. Which one will you use?

Ok, that's it for now. I really have to get back to work. Hope everybody out there's having a better Monday than I am.

Superman follow-up

Ben Fleigel (my college roommate) gave a really good summary of what would likely happen concerning attempted murder charges to someone firing a gun at Superman. (And, just so you know, he's currently in law school. So it's not just some schmuck with access to Wikipedia giving this opinion.)

I was just going paraphrase it but I think it'll just quote it. It's easier on the brain (for me) and Ben does a good job of summing up the point.

"If you fired a gun at Clark Kent, unaware of the attendant circumstances that he was Superman, you could be convicted for attempted murder, even though you could never have killed him.

If on the otherhand you shot a weapon at superman, in full regalia, with full knowledge that you couldn't kill him, you probably would not be charged with attempted murder. You would lack the culpability that the law is trying to punish. If there is little liklihood of harm, of actual murder, than you couldn't very well say that you tried to kill him, because you believed that it wouldn't work.

How it would work in reality however, lets say you shot at superman, thinking that it wouldnt kill him, but he happened to be holding kryptonite and it hurt him, you could be charged with attempted murder. The jury then would have to decide whether or not you believed that there would be no harm in your firing a gun at superman.

Few jurors would buy the argument that you fired a gun believing that it wouldn't harm him. Esepecially because the prosecution will ask why you were even firing the gun, and will posit that even though you thought it wouldn't work, you fired the gun believing that this one time, it might work. If the jury believed that, you'ld be in the slammer."

He makes a good point at the end. If you didn't think you could harm him, why'd you fire the gun in the first place? It's a fairly decent point in any attempted murder case, Superman or otherwise. So, thanks for the explaination, Ben.

Another Sunday

Thanks to Fry's and their DVD sale, I bought Lois and Clark season 1. This show's a lot better than I remember. I remember when the show first came on. I just remember the special effects. After watching it again, the dialogue's really good. I completely forgot about the "Moonlighting"-esque relationship that Lois and Clark had. Also, the portrayal of Lex Luthor always bothered me when I was a kid. I was used to the John Byrne era Lex where he was a big businessman who was evil for evil's sake. The John Shea Lex in Lois and Clark was too.... debonair, too suave. However, after reading more modern interpretations of Superman where the confidence of Lex was transcribed into a certain charm, and especially after Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum's Lex, the John Shea Lex is a really good interpretation. (Gah! Watching it now and they've made their first major boo-boo in continuity. Sam Lane, Lois's father, was a general, not an athletic surgeon. Other than that, the continuity in the show's been dead on.)

I had a passing thought though. If you're stopped by Superman and you fire your gun at him, can that be construed as attempted murder? I mean, if you fired your gun at anybody else, it's attempted murder. However, if you fire your gun at Superman, he's not going to die from it. It's like if you threw a marshmellow at someone, it's possible that they may die from it but it's highly unlikely and chances are you couldn't possibly be charged with attempted murder. So, is firing a loaded weapon at Superman attempted murder?

NY Times has an article about Life Hackers. The link needs a free subscription to be read. Life hacking's starting to come into its own. Awesome. Life hacking's offered some interesting alternatives to the rustle hustle life of stupid office life, clicking away in a cubicle. Slacker Manager's got an awesome list of links that sites that each offer really good life hacking possible solutions.

http://engadget.com/entry/1234000413063512/
New DS for Mario Kart. It looks cool but I'm really looking forward to Mario Kart DS.

After lunch blues

Those of you who go out to lunch and then come back to an office environment know that the feeling of food coma-itis. It's the same as a food coma but intensified because the environment's boring. It sucks and now I'm tired. But I press on because it's the home stretch and life's bound to get better in 4 hours.

Anyway, surfing around, here some interesting things to note.

http://www.benheck.com/Games/Nintendo_projects/NES_Micro/NES_Micro1.htm
This dude ported an NES console. Awesome. MAD MAD MAD props. If he sold one, I'd definitely buy one.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000027063418/
For those of you interested in the new iPod (fifth gen, baby! w00t!), Engadget's posted a brief tutorial of how you can rip your dvds and put them into your iPod. I'm sure there are better ways to do it but it's a start. awesome... *drool*

Cell phone security's a serious issue, it seems, and people everywhere are trying to find ways to make your cell secure. The 2 new ways that're popping up as prototypes in Asia are the gait detector and the fingerprint scanner.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/13102005/80/new-gadget-theft-mobile-phones-harder.html
The gait detector's an interesting idea. I think it could work but it's not necessarily foolproof.
http://www.phoneyworld.com/newspage.aspx?n=1444
The fingerprint scanner, however, is much more secure. I think this is an awesome idea. Although I'm not sure i'd wanna swipe my finger everytime i wanted to make a call. Seem kinda... burdensome. Who knows, though?

Ok, that's it for now. To quote the great Edward R Murrow, "Good night, and good luck."

Random thought

This is just a really quick random thought. I always see away messages that say "out, call cell." I wanna see one that says "out, don't call cell." or "out, call home."

Ok, random thought.

Brains!!! Yum.... =)

Ok, another hour shot. Anyway, CNN.com's touting the headline of rising consumer prices after a recorded jump of 1.2 percent, the highest in 25 years. Crazy. I agree with the Labor Department. This is 90% the fault of rising gas prices. Every store, no matter what they sell or what they produce, has had to raise prices to compensate for the rising freight charges of carting material around the country. This goes for food, consumer goods, even services. If gas prices really take a staggering hit (RE: $4 / gallon) then we're screwed. There's no two ways about it. Maybe we could use some federal relief (AHEM... Bush.... AHEM). Or maybe we can just sit and spin.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/Careers/10/14/brain.power/index.html
Hey, this is a good article. Some tips on how not to let work kill you. That's what I need. *scanning list* Wow.
"Sometimes those mistakes are tragic. Government investigations of human error in the space shuttle Challenger explosion and Exxon Valdez oil spill cited sleep deprivation as a "direct cause" of those accidents."
I didn't know that. I think Challenger was the result of the o-rings failing but I have no idea about the Exxon Valdez. Crazy. I guess I need to get some more sleep. Thank God people don't die if I screw up at work. (At least I'm pretty sure they don't.)

Ok, that's it for now. Eyes to the stars, people, eyes to the stars.

Good Morning, Friday

"Good morning, America, how are ya? / Don'tcha know me? I'm your native son."
-City of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie (good song. Go download it. And by "download it," I of course mean go purchase it legally from iTunes.)

Anyway, it's Friday. I've only been at work an hour and already I'm kinda bored. I hope the day picks up a little bit (but not much. Otherwise, I could be busy). I haven't spent too much time surfing yet (at work for 1 hour!! How much time could I have possibly spent surfing??) but I did see an article at IGN.com worth mentioning.

http://gear.ign.com/articles/658/658373p1.html
It's a review of the MobiBlu DAH-1500i. It's a Walmart exclusive media player. I'm not really a fan of Walmart (Go Target! W00t!) but this little thing looks impressive. I can't get over the size of it. There are pictures in the article. It's about twice the size of a dice. A single (d6, for nerd-y ppl) dice. It's small as... well, let's not go there but it's small. In fact, if I had one, I'd probably lose it. Just 'cuz that's the kind of guy I am. (And because I lost my iPod mini for 2 weeks once. It was under a box.)
(AND, in case anybody was wondering, I'm NOT getting one. Cheap it may be but I'd rather save my money in anticipation of buying a 5th gen iPod. Woo-hoo! iPod!)

Ok, that's it for now. Enjoy Friday, friends, because.... ah, Hell. I'm still at work. Forget that. Just try and survive.

Quick Thursday Hits

I'm in the middle of smothering office work for the next hour or so but am, thankfully, on my lunch break right now. I thought I'd use this opportunity to surf the web because I probably wouldn't be able to later.

Art on Microchip? Awesome. Companies discouraging it? Not awesome. I've never even heard about this form of cyber art before. It's very innovative. I hope it survives. Thank God I'm not tempted enough to tear apart my computers to try and find "lost art."

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000090063174/
Um... speechless? Actually, this is an interesting idea. I think it could be useful somewhere down the line but I'm afraid that it's still kinda weird either way.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/10/13/britain.mi6/index.html
MI6 currently looking for real life James Bonds. Sign up if you want to be transplanted to Britain and work for Her Majesty's Secret Service. (I will not be surprised if a CIA job offering pops up on CraigsList.)

Ok, back to work. Sigh.

Faults and Foibles.

This is a list that I started 2 or 3 years ago. I thought it might be time again to revisit it and maybe add to it or (hopefully) subtract those that no longer apply.

Basically, this list was an attempt at inner-reflection. It's a list of stuff that I consider wrong with me. Here's the introduction from it originally.
"Here's a list of stuff that people will have to deal with when dealing with me. If you're not currently my friend, please don't let this list discourage you from becoming my friend. The fact that I acknowledge these faults is a step in the right direction... right?? (FYI, some of these are actually kind of amusing. I didn't intend for that when I first started but some of them aren't bad so much as "quirky")"

And here's the actual list so far.

-I snore. Loudly. and I thrash.
-I'm annoyed by bad grammar/spelling, especially online, but excuse those mistakes when I make them myself.
-I have the world's worst sense of direction.
-I have an uncontrollable urge to be right. I am often proven wrong.
-I sleep. A lot.
-I'm easily frightened by strangely non-frightening things. Like calling friends who I know are expecting calls from me.
-In fact, I have a minor phobia about calling people in general.
-I lie. Sometimes unknowingly.
-I'm gullible in that I believe people I'm amused by and I don't believe people that annoy me, even though it turns out that people I'm amused by are more often wrong and people that annoy me are more often right.
-I change my opinion often. But only about inconsequential things.
-Whenever I'm "making up my mind", 90% of the time, I've already made up my mind and am stalling for time.
-I think too quickly and hardly ever double-check.
-I'm very indecisive but a third of the time that I respond with "I Don't Know...", I'm lying. I do know. I just don't think you'd agree with what I know.
-My memory's shit. But only with things that are important.
-I'm show-off-y but I realize that most of the time, there's no reason to show-off.
-I'm a theatre-snob. I like to arrive at movies on time, I get annoyed by people who so much as sneeze, and I have an uncontrollable urge to kill people who block my view.
-I'm a conformist. That's probably why I like pop music but don't like admitting that I like pop music.
-I want to know more but I don't want to exert the effort to research.
-I'm lazy to a fault. I will start papers hours before they're due, I will shop for gifts the day of a holiday/birthday, I will drive a block to get to my destination instead of walking, I will spend more time and effort searching for the remote than actually walking to the TV with the knowledge that if I find the remote, I will save more energy in the long run when I have to change the channel again. And I WILL have to change the channel again.
-I have no common sense when it comes to money except that I know when I have none and I know the best ways to acquire it again. (EDIT: I'm actually getting more monetary common sense. Thank God.)
-I don't like stealing ideas and quotes but am funniest when I do.
-I'm actually not all that funny. Just persistent.
-I'm more optimistic than I like to let on.
-I actually hate very few things. I mostly hate moments.
-My moral compass is extremely flexible.
-I'm messy but I always think "That's easy to clean up."
-Whenever I drive through tunnels, I always hold my breath but I never have a wish. Whenever I do have a wish, I always dismiss it with "That's unreasonable." That's why I usually finish lamely with "I just hope I don't crash."
-The same goes for birthday candles.
-I like groups but dislike crowds.
-I rarely plan ahead except when it results in material gain, such as spending the last of my money on the sixth on the month on a DVD because I know a paycheck is coming on the eighth.
-I have, and will again, watched a movie and then watched the exact same movie again with director's commentary.
-I still maintain that it's not a waste of two hours to do so.
-I would've continued on discs with multiple commentaries but I was too tired.
-I know what's cool. I just choose to ignore it.
-I'm hypochondriatic about the possibility of having a learning disability.
-I still hold out for the hope that I can go back and re-live parts of my life.
-I dabble. However, I pretend that I don't dabble but rather that I know.
-I'm ultra-competitive in games I think I should win and ultra-conservative in games I don't think I can win in.
-I'm still un-sure as to whether or not there's actually a Santa, mostly because of prime-time television.
-I'm always looking for a way to cheat but I never actually do. I'm not sure if it's morality or fear of getting caught.
-This list is longer than it should be.
-I'm self-deprecating. Plus, I'm only faintly aware of what "self-deprecating" means.
-I have no singing ability whatsoever. I still sing out loud in front of people.
-I'm a good listener but mostly because I can't carry a conversation.
-I'm one of those people who checks away messages on AIM, even if I haven't seen or heard from that person in years.
-I'm gluttonous. In many aspects of life, not just eating.
-I philosophize without knowing all the details.
-I will consider worst-case scenarios. Such as "What if the driver of the car I'm in right now hits and kills a pedestrian? Will I help bury the body and hide the evidence?"
-That is morbid. I'm aware of that.
-I know enough about computers to know that I don't know enough about computers. I pretend otherwise sometimes.
-I have an unnatural amount of nosebleeds in my lifetime. I also get annoyed to an unusual degree with people who feel the need to inform me when their last nosebleed was. "Nosebleed? I haven't had a nosebleed since the sixth grade..." Thanks. that helps. a lot.
-I'm done typing this and I haven't even scratched the surface.

Will work on this list tomorrow during work. Just wanted to get it up tonight.

Ok, back to real news for a little bit

CNN.com's headline at this particular moment in time:
Bush demands Syria be 'good neighbor'
What? Bush demands Syria be a good neighbor? Is this like when Bush told citizens to "drive less"? (Link leads you to an earlier Blog entry.) Does he think this is honestly going to work? I'm honest-to-God shocked that there hasn't been a headline like "Bush chastises hurricanes for damage" or "Bush tells terrorists to 'stop killing'". Freakin' A. DO SOMETHING, BUSH! I shudder to think that Bush's daily to-do lists probably are not much more extensive than mine.
TO DO:
1.) Tell people to be nice to each other.
2.) Figure out why ice cream tastes so darn good.
3.) Naptime.
SERIOUS.

In other Bush news: I officially oppose Miers for the Supreme Court spot. Bush has told reporters that Miers' religious beliefs were a factor for his choice to nominate her.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/12/miers.ap/index.html
To be fair, what he actually said was that Miers' entire life must be examined and that a part of her life was her religion. However, religion SHOULDN'T even be a factor. I don't know if Bush forgot but the Supreme Court is a branch of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Her religion shouldn't matter one way or another because STATE AND RELIGION SHOULDN'T BE RELATED. Yet, Bush has openly said that religion a part of Miers' life. It can be assumed that she'll use religion as some sort of a moral basis because, once again, Bush told us to that she'll be using religion. And what does Miers' religion say? "Dobson said Rove told him 'she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life.'" And there goes Roe v Wade. (Not to infer anything but there's a good chance that gay marriage will be affected laterally by her position in the Court as well.) Hope you're happy Bush. You're going to set this country back 20 years. It's probably going to take another 40 years just to reach where we are today. AND THAT'S NOT VERY FREAKING FAR.

"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asserted that Miers would bring 'a unique brand of experience' to the high court." Yeah, that unique experience is called NO EXPERIENCE by us who are "not in the business."

Apple Once Again

Ok, I'm sure other things happened in the world today that's not Apple related. I'm just not terribly interested in them right now.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/harrypotter/
Apple proves its dominance of the audio market yet again by getting exclusive rights to the six (will be seven in a few years, hopefully sooner rather than later) Harry Potter audiobooks. To commemorate, Apple has a "Harry Potter" iPod. Is it weird that I want one? Truthfully, probably not. Awesome.

iPod again.

Don't believe in iPod's dominance of the portable audio/video market?
http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipodyourcar/
Let's see PSP do THAT shit.

iPod

Apple-y Goodness
New iPod was released today.
Who wants to get me an early Christmas present?? =D

ADDENDUM: Holy cow!
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/one-more-thing-live-and-uncensored-130543.php
Scroll down to find this:
"Final announcement You can buy TV shows through the iTunes store. Desperate housewives and Lost from ABC—which is owned by Disney. “I know those guys,” says Jobs. Going to offer 5 shows on itunes—Lost, Desperate Housewives, Night Stalker and two Disney Channel shows. You can buy current episodes the day after they are broadcast on the air. Shows are downloaded commercial free, no ads! About a 10-to 20-minute download for one episode. $1.99 per episode of for current and previous season tv shows. Watch them on your computer or iPod."
Viable portable television? Take that, tv-cell-phone-whatevers! If this takes off, this may actually be a feasible way to archive television without buying DVDs or using VHS. Just download and save.

shouldn't...spend money...on stupid shit...

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=282&products_id=7137
No real post yet. Just have to say: I want one.

Day's ending quickly. But still not quick enough.

Unleashed released on DVD.
What can I say about Unleashed? I first heard of this film when it was being pushed as Danny The Dog in France, and making a huge splash hitting the international scene. Luc Besson and Jet Li? Unstoppable. Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman? Tour de Force. All 4 of them together? Well, it was an odd mix, to be sure. Two of the best character actors ever with two of the best action icons ever (ok, a lot of people are going to disagree with me on that. Rest assured, I disagree with myself. Anthony Hopkins blows Bob Hoskins outta the water and Jackie Chan gives Jet Li a serious run for his money. Still, it's not too shabby) is bound to be questionable on paper. However, I was extremely anxious to finally see this movie. The plot intrigued me and the actors made me happy. I was not disappointed. I'm really looking forward to buying this DVD today. Hands down, this is the best Jet Li movie that he's made outside of China. (Speaking of which, watch Hero if you haven't already. Great movie.)

In other news:
http://www.cspinet.org/nah/10foods_bad.html
Interesting. I never thought that Quaker 100% Natural Oats and Honey Granola would be number 1 on the list of foods you shouldn't eat. I also never thought that Burger King fries were the worst. Interesting read.

Not much else so far.

Not much else is going on. I've been kept mildly busy. No real chance to read up on news but I did find an interesting article about the history and applicability of Superman.
http://www.monitorduty.com/mdarchives/2005/09/kistlers_profil.shtml
BTW Brad, it's Lara. I thought it might've been but I dismissed it because I thought I was just confusing it was Lana. Turns out Superman's universe is just inhabited by a surprising amount of people with "L" names.

So, any chance I've gotten in the past couple of hours I've spent reading a couple of paragraphs in this article. Very interesting and very worthwhile, especially for anybody who ever wanted to know how Superman went from a failed newspaper comic about a guy who could run 30 mph, jump 1/8 of a mile, and had tough skin that could be broken by artillary shells into the most revered modern myth of our contemporary time.

First post of Tuesday

LG has revealed it's new "Time Machine" phone that features a TiVO like function
http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/1934
I don't know about the TiVO part but I hafta say, this is one of the best looking TV phone designs I've seen yet. I'm looking forward to when this technology actually becomes viable and we can get good-looking TV feeds into a cell phone. That'll be something.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/11/miers.ap/index.html
This is the person who Bush nominated to be the next Supereme Court Justice. She wrote Bush a birthday card calling him the "best governor ever." I think her judgment capabilities should be thoroughly examined before allowing her to assume the spot of a Supreme Court Justice. Bush is trying to give his friends the high ranking jobs just like FEMA. This is going to be really bad. HE NEEDS TO STOP DOING STUPID SHIT LIKE THIS.


On the upside, Package Tracking says that my Complete Calvin and Hobbes Collection order from Amazon.com is going to arrive today. Woo-hoo!

To my jobless Friends

Craig's List is a great place to find random jobs that you may enjoy more than... say... retail jobs. This is a great post that tells the jobless the best way to apply for a job on Craig's List.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/101949754.html

Ravi's Blog

http://ruhvee.blogspot.com/
Read Ravi's Blog. That is all.

Monday monday monday.

Wow. That earthquake in Pakistan's racked up a 30,000+ death toll. This series of natural disasters to hit the Earth is unbelievable. It's like pandemonium. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc. etc. etc. This has to be Apocalyptical. I mean, c'mon. This is ridiculous. Next thing you know, it's going to hail fire and frogs will be falling from the sky.

Onto other things... today I've been listening to a lot of Foo Fighters. I don't know what that's about. I like them though. DOA's a good song. Listen to it. Heck, get it off iTunes.

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/oneplay-wonder-130046.php
WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? F'ing Microsoft. This-- this-- this just sucks. Not even worth talking about. Microsoft can go cram it out their Window. Bastards...

Quote of the Day

Harper: I'm a Mormon.
Prior: I'm a homosexual.
Harper: Oh. In my church we don't believe in homosexuals.
Prior: In my church we don't believe in Mormons.

From Angels in America

Television Good. MTV Bad.

While ambivalent about television, Ed Murrow still considered the medium extremely powerful.
He said, "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire, but it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box."

I believe in quality television. I believe in good television. I believe that MTV is crap. Watch television. Don't watch crap. (Ok, I admittedly like Pimp My Ride. I dunno why. I think just cuz it's ridiculous what they do to cars.)

Almost quitting time.

That movie about Edward Murrow looks like it's going to be good. I wanna see it. "Good Night and Good Luck" directed by George Clooney.

You know the phrase "In like Flynn?" (Errol Flynn, in case you're wondering.) What's the opposite? "Out like..." Shout? Bout? Pout? Ziggurat (ok, this doesn't REALLY rhyme but I always wanted to put "Ziggurat" into a post)? For some reason, this thought permeated my brain a little while ago.

What?

Real-life utterances heard over a cubicle wall:
"Thank goodness, I can only take so much more of hearing David Hasselhoff."

Dolphins Rock

http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1473208.htm
Marine Biology proved to be a useful field of study!

(Just kidding, marine bio friends! I love you all.)
Hehe. I want a dolphin like that. I don't know where I'd put him though. I don't have a pool so I think the bathtub's the next best place. But, the bathtub's rather small so I think I'd have to get a kiddy pool from Toy's R Us. I wonder if there's a design that the dolphin would prefer. A
Batman kiddy pool maybe? Who knows? Dolphins can be so finicky. One minute it's Ninja Turtles, the next it's Superman, the next it's Barbie. Just make up your looks-like-a-fish-but-is-actually-a-mammal minds!!

I was reading my own website out of vanity when...

Ok, so my boredom caused me to check my own posts to see how the website looks when I noticed that somebody commented. This is, in of itself, quite rare but when I looked at the comment, it was made by someone who I didn't know, a once in a blue moon event. I followed the link and found myself at the blog of someone who seemed interesting, attractive, and witty. Insanely jealous of her obvious superiority (Anonymous Midwest Girl, I'm talking to you), I sought out the secret of her superior-ness. I found the Flying Noodle Monster.
http://www.venganza.org/index.htm
Hehe. The Noodly One.

I think the world would be better if there were pirates too. Actually, I think the world would be better if I was a pirate. I'm not very violent or physical so I wouldn't be a terrorizing pirate. I'd just be able to live on a boat. All I need is a scurvy vaccine and we're all good.

ADDENDUM: For those of you interested in who this person is, http://www.anonymousmidwestgirl.com/

Too much Yellow 5?

I think I've single-handedly exhausted our company's supply of Mountain Dew. At least the 20 oz. bottles. I don't think anybody else drinks it so I don't think it'll be replaced with. Sadness.

Wuv. Twue Wuv.

I was thinking, last night/this morning, that our society's kinda depressing. There's that inherent hope that there is true love (ok, this idea was actually born out of watch Princess Bride again. That's a good movie). We have movies/music/books/Santa Claus/everything tell us that we can find true love. It's out there. It's somewhere. It's destiny. It's fate. Yet, our society is not actually open to true love. We have age restrictions (a 30 year old dating a 20 year old? Bad), we have class restrictions (are you and your companion in the same tax bracket?), we have race restricitions (y'all know this one), we have gender restrictions (go gay marriage! one day, it'll happen), etc. We do whatever can, as a society, to limit searches for your potential life compaion and true love candidate down to a small select group of people. Once you've eliminated the geographical impossiblities of finding that ONE, we're down to like 10 people that could be true love. What's up with that? It's kind of depressing.

On a completely unrelated point, Nokia's really starting to push the boundaries of the conventional idea of a phone. Case in point, the Acibo:
Nokia Acibo
This little crazy ball has a projection keyboard and is recharged by bouncing it. Looking further in the phone mag website, there's the Nokia Wristband:
Nokia Wristband
This little crazy wristband can have preprogrammed movements associated with SMS messages so that you don't have to type messages, you can just gesture.
This may just seem gimicky but a gold star to Nokia for innovation. I hope more people seek to "break the Matrix" with other products.

For now, that's it. For later, I hope more. Speak like Yoda, I do, yes...

Denim Day(s?)

It's Lee National Denim Day tomorrow. (I thought it was today because our company's celebrating today for some weird reason.)
http://www.denimday.com/about.asp
It's a day that's built around the concept of raising money for breast cancer research.
I'm very much in support for breast cancer research. My aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer a year and a half ago. The stats for deaths from breast cancer are astonding. I encourage everybody to donate time/money to the cause (which is to say that it's not a more worthy cause than AIDS research or Parkinson's Disease or Stem Cell Research. It's just one of many many worthy causes).

HOWEVER (you knew it was coming, don't deny it), despite this being the 10th annual Lee National Denim Day, I wasn't aware of this Denim Day. I was aware of another Denim Day.
http://www.denimdayinla.org/history.html
This Denim Day is a day that's built around rape awareness and victim support. It's the Denim Day that we celebrated 2 years ago in UCSC. (I made the bulletin board for it in my building last year. It was one of very very few passive programs that I did. Julia was better at that.) Nothing against Lee's Denim Day but I think this Denim Day's more important, if for no other reason than because there are many worthy breast cancer research foundations already in existence and because there is more awareness/support for the cause than there is for rape awareness.

HOWEVER (number 2), I'm a big believer in supporting what you believe in. Therefore, pick one or two Denim Days and celebrate them both! (And, if you're of the limited pants crowd, make everyday Denim Day and just wear jeans 24/7.)

Here's to Denim Days and bringing awareness to the world.

VGCats

http://www.vgcats.com/
I've never even heard of this strip before. Judy introduced me today.
http://vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=163
BWAHAHAHA!!! (ok, kinda tasteless but funny.)

Thursday Thoughts

Wow, it's Thursday afternoon already. Who would've thunk it? Anyway, it's still kind of early in the afternoon so there's still a torturous half-day to go before I can get off work and stop... well, typing these stew-pid IT reports. (In case anybody's curious, what I've been working on primarily the past week is putting together step-by-step manuals about how to work new functions in our system as well as putting together step-by-step instructions for IT about what new new fuctions to add to our system. Sux0rz.)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/06/slow_rokr_sales/
Anyway, market analyst Michael Walkley has reported on why the Motorola ROKR phone hasn't been selling as well as predicted. Along with high price and low memory, Walkley blames the "appearance" of the phone. I gotta admit, it's pretty fugly. (Ok, it's not as bad looking as 90% of the Nextel phones but at least those phones are extremely usable and not being sold as being stylish.) It just goes to show that aesthetic value's quite important in gadgets and gizmos.

Compare the ROKR (pronounced Rocker. Get it?) iTunes phone with this MP3 player:
http://www.douglasjx.com/main.php?goto=hardware_pres
Diamond encrusted, the Douglas J costs 44,000 dollars and plays music, movies, and pics. Crazy crazy.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/10/06/potter.gay.reut/index.html
Hehe. Reverand Graham Taylor, author of novel Shadowmancer, was giving a talk to a school and told the kids there that Harry Potter was gay and the villains in Harry Potter were wimps. He was asked to leave abruptly. Hehe. Say what you will, sure, but insult Harry Potter at your own peril. =)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/06/spying.allegations/index.html
Allegations of espionage in the government. One of those accused are the highest ranking officials to be accused of foreign espionage, Leandro Aragoncillo, who worked in the Vice President's office in 1999 to 2001, working for both Gore and Chaney. Crazy. I wonder what's so important about the Filipino files that the FBI have that's worth risking life and death for. Makes ya wonder what's going on half a world away from Iraq.

That's it for now. I'll be back later with more, I hope.

(Oh, and City of Villains will not cost City of Heroes another subscription fee to play. So be good and bad. =P )

OH SNAP!

Link

Many thanks to Ravi for the heads-up.

What was the #2 book sold yesterday on Amazon.com? THE COMPLETE CALVIN AND HOBBES COLLECTION! Oh Snap!!! I'm definitely going to have to get that. Although, I'll probably wait until Friday (paycheck day) before I do. (Click Link for Amazon.com site of the book)

Etymological aside

BTW - My memory was right. Wednesday's spelling comes from Anglo-Saxon god Woden (corresponds to German god Wotan and Scandinavian god Odin). The day's name comes from the term "Woden's Day."

If you want to read about it:
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20010518

News today

CNN.com's headlines seem more like a report of the apocalypse rather than the report for a Wednesday (although I may be mistaken. The Apocalypse may just fall on a Wednesday. I wouldn't be surprised). Take a gander. Right now, here are the headlines on the news site:
"Storms turn everyday items to toxic trash" (Danger is now everywhere. Fear. Fear. Fear.)
"Mosque blast kills 25" (Not even "God's home" is safe anymore.)
"Stan claims 99 lives" (Natural disasters or "Acts of God" devestate.)
"Researchers reconstruct killer 1918 virus" (As we repeat mistakes of our past,)
"Mystery illness claims 16 lives at nursing home" (And watch helplessly as people die.)
"Baby on the way for Cruise and Holmes" (And the Anti-Christ is born.)
It's like Revelations all of a sudden. *shudders* And we're caught up in the middle of all the mess. I hope tomorrow's better than today.

BTW - I don't know about all of you but I'm kinda opposed to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes reproducing. Sure, the kids will look good but they'll probably be just a tad messed up in the head. (And be puppets to Scientology.)

http://www.wordspy.com

This may just be a Literature major tingle but I enjoy seeing the lexicon-ic growths in the English language. Wordspy.com is a website that defines some commonly used "buzzword" modern-era euphamisms/phrases/axioms. It's quite interesting. One of the words on it was "joy-to-stuff ratio"
http://www.wordspy.com/words/joy-to-stuffratio.asp
I think I may currently have a diminished joy-to-stuff ratio. It's not too bad though. Despite my time spent accumulating stuff, I still have plenty of time to enjoy my stuff and et al. So, I don't think I'm completely out of whack yet.

Gar. I have more work to do.

What day of the week is it? Friday yet? No? Drat.

It's Wednesday. I think. *checks system tray* Yep. Wednesday. (Why's there that "d" in Wednesday? I think I remember it being from like Nordic descent or something. I'll try to look for it later if I'm bored.)

I had a thought at the end of the day yesterday that I never followed through into a post. It was mostly about the Chinese language/culture. I was in a meeting with my boss and boss's boss and the China team boss (I was just there to take meeting minutes). Anyway, someone used the phrase (and I'm dramatically paraphrasing here because I have a combination of bad memory and lack of paying attention working together at the moment). It was something to the effect of don't use a machete to kill a fly. Americans have a similar idiom also about killing a fly with an extraordinarily elaborate method. (I think it's with a gun in the American idiom.) Anyway, I noticed that the idiom was just thrown out there in the middle of the conversation and it was simply accepted. That got me thinking about the Chinese language. It's highly idiomatically heavy. There are tons of phrases that are used in a ton of different ways all the time. It's much more so that any Western language that I've heard. I think we take for granted the inherent art of the Asian culture. The language itself is only an indication of how highly regarded the art is. However, there's a strong emphasis on the field of science in the culture. Chinese people attempt to excel in math and science and tend to succeed. The Chinese were a major innovator in the "Old World" timeline of when innovation just getting its first kick in the pants. Armed with a naval fleet that rivaled Britain's, China was one of the first countries to venture into sea exploration back in the 1300's-1400's. Had the emperor not suddenly recalled and destroyed the sea exploration missions, China would've undoubtedly beaten Europe to America. (They actually went West from China, meaning them were headed toward Africa through the Indies.) I think the unique quality of Chinese/Japanese art comes from their desire to satiate both the math/science side as well as the art/innovation side. This mixing results in a very unique style of artistic expression. The minimalism of brush painting and zen koans or the precise nature of Haiku seems to reflect this conjoining of concepts. Anyway, it's a rich culture. That's all.

Oh, I thought of an idea for Corporate Bob, a guy I drew just randomly one day. It could be good fodder for a comic. We'll see where this goes.

That's it for now. I'll post more later.

Chic

So it's been 2 years since I first understood the deep rooted impact of Louis Vitton purses. I saw them before that but it was 2 years ago when I first truly started noticing how rampant they were. As fads go, I figured that the Louis Vitton purses would either become mainstream to a crippling degree or be replaced with another haute couture accessory item.

2 years later and Louis Vitton purses are still treading desperately between the snobby-like sense of proprietary and the mass availability standard that Gucci-ish brands have descended to. How does Louis Vitton continue to straddle this fence? Even now, it seems that everybody has at least 2 LV purses or bags, despite each one costing 700 or more dollars, and yet their still desired, rare, and unique in a collective fashion sense. LV still enjoys the reputation of being a bag of high society but they also enjoy being able to sell their bags to just about anybody because just about everybody's gotten one. So where does this market dominance come from? Is it because Louis Vitton makes the best purse in the industry? Is it because a LV purse has a very distinctive style? (I don't know about quality because I've never used a purse or a bag but the style is quite distinct. Not enough to warrent market dominance though.) I have no earthly idea except that this is the same market dominance that Google enjoys. It seems that Google and Louis Vitton are the peak of capitalistic creativity.


ADDENDUM: Good news and bad news. Good news is someone actually reads my blog! Bad news is that Vitton is actually spelled Vuitton in real life. My bad. Thanks Judy for catching this! =)

Another day, another dollar

So it's Tuesday. What more do you need to know about today? Tuesday's are kinda cruel. They're still bitter reminders that the weekend is so immensely far away. Anyway, SlackerManager had a good article about a clever way of taking some personal time for yourself while having a job.

http://www.slackermanager.com/slacker_manager/2005/10/the_four_hour_r.html

It is quite clever and if I wasn't in a temp job, I'd definitely try it out.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Bush's nominee for the remaining opening in the Supreme Court. I'm leaning toward being opposed to her. She's had no experience as a judge before which is kind of bad. As much as I am in favor of people trying out new things and on-the-job experience, this is the Supreme Court of the United States. Choices made here could have reprecussions for the next 20 years. Plus, she's from Bush's inner circle. I'm afraid of people who nominate their friends for powerful positions. It feels as if Bush was forced to choose a woman and decided to just pick the one that was closest to him instead of a good candidate. The lack of any information on her is also disconcerting, as it was with Justice John Roberts. The only thing that people could actually find was that she gave 150 dollars to an anti-abortion group. That's not a good start but it's certainly not enough with which to be conclusive. So I'm leaning toward bad choice candidate right now. Still, it's kinda funny that conservatives are opposed to her. It's as if the new political tactic du jour is to just confuse the heck outta everybody else.

So there's a new attempt at copy protection from the makers of our music CDs.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/10/04/music.copy.reut/index.html
I have to say, I'm very disconcerted about this move. I enjoy buying real CDs because of I like supporting artists that I enjoy. I also like having liner notes (is that weird? I enjoy liner notes. Deal). Anyway, having a legit copy of the CD, I think I should be able to put the tracks onto my iPod because, let's face it, I destroy my CDs. I never use the CD case and I have no secure way of keeping CDs in my car so they always end up scratched beyond belief. It's gotten to the point where I burn copies of my CDs so that when they get trashed, I still have a back-up. Putting them in iTunes means I can enjoy them even after I trash the disk. Now, I can't even do that any more. Kudos to the artists who've taken steps to dissuade EMI and BMG from doing this without telling the consumer. I think I'm just going to start buying albums on iTunes and download music. I can live without liner notes. (BTW, Sony, telling consumers to complain to Apple is the stew-pidest piece of advice I've heard since Bush was telling people to drive less when dealing with gas prices. It is not Apple's fault. It reminds me of all those times in movies where the villian kills innocent people and then tell the hero "it's you're fault that they're dead. if only you had cooperated, they'd still be alive." no, it's YOUR fault they're dead. YOU KILLED THEM.) "'The bad thing is that you are almost promoting what you are trying to protect against,' Brown says. 'You are upsetting the fan that went out and purchased the record.'" Stew-pid music industry.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/10/04/dictionary.new.words.ap/index.html
And the English language continues to grow. Now, you can officially go watch a "chick flick."

woo-hoo!

Network works!!! Many thanks to Ravi who's currently playing NBA Live and.... losing. badly. hehehe. sux0rz!

ok, not really. Ravi rox0rz!

Monday Morning Missive

It's Monday morning (at least it was when I started writing this. I abandoned it halfway to go to lunch with a bunch of people). Sigh. I wish I was home.

So, I visited Alex yesterday. That was fun. And, he got me hooked on City of Heroes. So, now I'm playing. And it's really fun. I very much enjoy City of Heroes. It's the first mmorpg I've really played (ok, first that I've paid to play. Ok, first that I will eventually pay to play [First month free trial]). So I guess I can be found in Paragon City now.

I'm probably not going to be able to post too much right now. We have a new hire and I have quite a bit of training I'm scheduled to do for her this afternoon. Still, I'll see what I can do.

Gas prices went up during the weekend. 11 cents! What?? Ridiculous! I think the Federal Government needs to really step in and try and get these prices under control. If only we had several billions of dollars that we could use for relief.... oh yeah, Bush wanted to go fight in Iraq so he used these billions to go and kill people. Clever man.

Oh, I got Uncovered this weekend too. It's a documentary about how America was lied to about going to war in Iraq. Good movie. It's done by the same guys who did Outfoxed (another good documentary about Fox News -- I have this one too. Highly recommended). It's a good movie but really frustrating to watch because we can't do anything about it now. (website: http://www.disinfo.com)

Ok, I think that's it for now. Hope everybody is having a better Monday than me. =)