Category Archives: Rant


Rant

The Intertubes Are Officially Full

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I remember hearing about Mosaic for the first time, from Steve. My response was something akin to “Ah. Uh, what’s that for? Oh? Well I guess that’s cool. oO, check out that animated icon!” I had been on online systems throughout the 80’s and it didn’t seem like anything earth shattering. Eventually I heard Steve explain to our bosses [at the time] about how big this was going to be, and how we need to jump on it. Less than two years later, Steve realizes that something as mundane as aluminum foil had a URL for the parent company on it’s label, thus beginning what has become The Internet today with it’s shopping, ads, porn, home pages, open diaries, blogs, twitting, and the like…

Overall, I’ve been OK with it. I’ve sold software online. I’ve had a home page of sorts for ages. I’ve had a blog for many years. Even finally signed up for a twitter account that I never use – I don’t think I’m interesting enough for people to follow and following people… well, if I care, I expect it to hit the mainstream news.

Yet, today… today I’m slackjawed. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to see home movies from my parent’s wedding streaming online.

“Exceeds expectations” is something I’ve said often enough but this… this somehow tops even that.

Rant

EU: Screwing Everyone Equally, One Decision at a Time

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Ars: Windows 7 E: no upgrades for the EU […] Both Windows XP and Windows Vista come with Internet Explorer, and the upgrade editions of Windows 7 were never tested to handle the installation of Windows 7 without Internet Explorer. Mike Ybarra, general manager of product management of Windows, told Ars that Microsoft had three choices for the release of Windows 7 E: delay the whole release of Windows 7 to make sure everyone gets the release of Windows 7 at the same time and without any upgrade problems, delay the release of Windows 7 just in Europe and have this market wait till Windows 7 E passes all upgrade tests, or don’t offer upgrade versions at all.

Microsoft chose the last solution, and it’s actually a pretty good one, for both Microsoft and consumers. Windows 7 E editions will be sold only in full versions: there will be no upgrade versions available in the European Union.

Nice to know that the EU, who says they are attacking Microsoft in the interest to do what’s right for their consumers, are putting their fist to the ass of the EU citizen yet again, by forcing less functionality and increase purchase costs, compared to the rest of the world. Oh, but wait:

The good news is that the full versions will be available at the upgrade price

Microsoft seems to care more about the citizens of the EU more than the EU government does… I’m sure the EU can find a way to workaround this and screw the populous some more.

Rant

The End Of The World, Parts I and II

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King5: The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he’s bedeviled by a fly in the White House.

TGDaily: Global warming is irreversible, U.S. study concludes […] And while temperatures in the U.S. have risen in line with the rest of the world, scientists now believe that temperatures in the U.S. are “very likely” to rise much faster than the global average down the road.

I thought someone had routed my browser to The Onion when I saw both of these, but no – these are the real deal.

PETA wants people to be more humane to flies. I expect a press release from them to protect maggots next and for people to stop wiping your bottoms with toilet paper, instead asking your feces to politely peal away from your skin, because after all: there’s organic matter in shit that may need humane treatment.

On the global warming bit… I’m simply appalled. During the Industrial Revolution, America was completely reckless in producing waste and disposing of it poorly. Over the last 30 years we’ve dropped levels of pollution one hundred-fold. Yet this report thinks that even though we’ve decreased our waste that our own special space of global warming is going to rise faster than the rest of the world. Faster than China and India who are producing waste at the levels we used to in the reckless, “early” days of business. Maybe we should wipe our asses with the report instead of toilet paper after all…

Someone needs to slap both of these groups like Obama did that fly – it’s truly most humane thing we can do for both groups.

Rant

Letterman vs Palin: Who Won?

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Slate: Palin-Letterman: Who won? […] Anyone who’s been scoring Letterman v. Palin knows that it has been a ratings boon to both sides: Last week, David Letterman told a tasteless joke. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin flipped out. Letterman apologized. Palin went berserk. Letterman apologized again. Palin accepted his apology on behalf of “young women” everywhere. Letterman’s ratings skyrocketed. And Palin is back in the headlines. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

This was top news the last few days. Top news. Top. Ya know, given that the state of the economy, along side of several multi-decade companies running for Bankruptcy court, plus the growing chaos on Iran, the ongoing civil rights battle in China, the battle action still going on in Iraq, and the required surge of action in Afghanistan, not to mention the whole stand off with the recently-self-declared-nuclear-weapons-holding North Korean, I wonder how we can spend any time at all worried about the off colored humor of Letterman, the misunderstood or tasteless joke that he made concerning either of Palin’s daughters, or the fact that one of Palin’s underage [at the time] daughters did get knocked up and became a [single] teenage mother. Top news. Leading story for some channels/web sites over the last 48 hours.

While I’m not too certain who won the argument of Letterman vs Palin, there is at least one thing that I’m pretty certain of: in this case, we’ve all lost.

Media self-awareness and topic selection: FAIL

Rant

Running Forward; Looking Back

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Sort of sounds like “don’t run with scissors” doesn’t it?

A bunch of milestones game and went over the weekend, without so much as a letter typed on the blog… been in WA for five years this past Thursday. Been at Microsoft for five years, as of yesterday. That’s what the crystal picture here is – they give a blue one for employees that have been here for five years. Green for 10, red for 15, 20 gets you orange, and 25 gets you all four colors on a crystal that is bigger than your head. This one is about 7″ tall – consider that, when compared to the others – and it becomes very, very shiny to Geek eyes.

So why no nostalgia writing? I was busy over the weekend, spending time with Jolene, checking out the Woodlawn Zoo for the first time, running down south to pick up a new car on Friday, getting rid of a dead TV, tackling a Rip-n-Tear sale at REI, popping up to Lynnwood for a quick mall visit, watching a movie and a half, testing some Xbox stuff at home, battling a nasty headache from muscle tension, buying a new netbook at Costco (which may not survive the review process,) picking up some roses at QFC, attempting to find parking on Broadway to swill some coffee – twice without success! – and stopping at the Pro Club for a dip in the spa… yeah, I was busy. And it’s good.

That’s why there was no nostalgia: how can you look back when you’re living forward at full speed?

Rant

Bite It, EU

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New York Times: E.U. Criticizes Microsoft Plan to Remove Browser

Let me get this straight: you want to fine Microsoft for bundling a browser because… well, I don’t know why – you say it’s over choice of browser and that having a browser included with an OS somehow hinders making choices… and now you’re complaining because Microsoft decides to make IE an add-on? Isn’t that what you asked for?

Or better yet, why isn’t there a Safari-free, iTunes-free, and iChat-free version of OS X for the EU? I’d say it’s a pack of hypocrites over there but that would be putting it far too mildly… this feels more like mafioso work. And of course, the US government does nothing to protect it’s own companies…

Even better still: call the fines a banking fee since you are trying to use Microsoft as an ATM machine a few times a year.

Meh.

Rant

Note to Obama: Go Fix This Please

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ABC.com: Federal Officials Order Banks to Freeze Millions in Online Poker Winnings

Be it Obama – or even the other big O in the country (Oprah) – can you go fix this moronic policy? If we’re in a recession and people are actually making extra money doing something that enables it, why are we stopping it? Especially for online gambling. Considering that is only illegal if it’s done online… Can’t you simply tax the winnings and call it good?

How is it even lawful – never mind rational – that Lotto, scratch tickets, pull tabs, and full blown casinos are legal if they are brick and mortar based, but online poker playing is suddenly a illegal, actionable, sinful and a felony [in some states] to boot?

You wanted the top seat and promoted change to get there…

Change this.

Rant

List of Shame – Capitol Hill Brunch Edition

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Over the last year or so, Jolene and I have been to a number of places for breakfast on the west and east side of Lake Washington. Call it a tick from my childhood but I dig on brunch… I’ve been known to eat a burger at 8am for exactly this reason, but what’s also good is a varied amount of different foods be it a random menu or a buffet thingy.

The Eastside has a finite number of places that cater to breakfast… Brownbag, Hector’s, George’s, and Original Pancake House in Kirkland, Ruby’s and Pomegranate in Redmond, with the random Denny’s or IHOP all over the place. The Westside, as it includes the sprawling landmass of Seattle, has a much larger number of places… with that much distance to cover, we’ve been returning to an area that’s well known to one of us and sorta known to the other: Capitol Hill.

And so begins the List of Shame…
Continue reading List of Shame – Capitol Hill Brunch Edition →

Rant

ZuneHD

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Zune.net: ZuneHD

Huh. Not all that often that you can be surprised by your own company. The HD radio is interesting. So is it the big 3.3″ screen, especially for movie viewing; screen size is how the Zune 80 made it’s way into my life – for video viewing, I need the room both for the screen and storage… the iPod classic didn’t have a comparable screen and the PSP had almost nothing for video storage. I expect Zune’s to have wireless for sync’ing, but I don’t much need a web browser – even the touchscreen doesn’t matter much to me.

Given the profile, I’m almost afraid to ask what the storage is here – I’m assuming flash which would be a shame for video usages…

Wants more specs, plz!

Rant

Bad Beat FTW!

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Ahhhh! A poker post! It has been a while but this was what was likely to be a once in a lifetime this… after all, I don’t play in non-tournaments games in casinos very often and you need to play in cash games to qualify for the jackpots…

This was easily the most exciting event to happen to me in a casino (and that includes the night we had the Las Vegas police department show up at the hotel door, responding to a complaint.)
Continue reading Bad Beat FTW! →

Rant

Whoville Makes The News!

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FOX Sports: The 11-0 victory was Fico’s 43rd no-hitter, fourth consecutive perfect game, and seventh this season. She has a career ERA of .006. Fico (90-2 career) pitched another no-hitter on Thursday as Masuk won 10-0, but her streak of perfect games ended when she walked a batter. Through 11 games this year, she has given up just two hits and two walks.

Now that’s impressive.

Especially since the last time Monroe made the national news it was because they were giving out pot to customers from the McDonald’s Drive Thru window…

Rant

Swine Flu

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Sorry to do this, but I have to pull the trigger on the “I Told You This Was A Problem Waiting To Happen” gun: how wide spread would the zOMG-we-can-stop-it coming Swine Flu pandemic if we didn’t have so many freaking illegal aliens running around from the country that virus came from? Would we still have a full pandemic? Odds are, yes – Mexico is a popular travel location and a number of people from the wintery parts of North America, but would it be a full blown panic that takes up the first 15 minutes of every news broadcast if there wasn’t for the unmentioned threat that is exasperated by the millions of people now in the country that skipped the INS process and don’t have access to medical coverage?

Looks like the non-hippie government officials that were opposed to relaxing immigration or – better yet – enforce the existing law against unregulated immigration missed the target but hit the tree… not quite the problem the expected but it is a problem.

Yeah, they may have missed the target but they blew the tree clear outta the ground.

Rant

Teabagging 101

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MSNBC.com: Rachel Maddow Show

Watch it and then ask yourself: how can someone take on a name without doing one Internet search? I give props to Rachel for not breaking down (in the first six minutes). I cannot believe they got a woman named Ana Cox to speak as part of the report. The fact that she actually says – with a straight face, no less – “Who wouldn’t want to teabag John McCain?” made it feel more like something from the Onion than MSNBC. But alas: it’s a true story and I honestly think the Onion couldn’t make it funnier.

Can’t wait to see what the FCC makes of the term when they realize it’s a gaming [and slang] term for: “slapping ones testicles on another person’s face.”

Update: Even The Simpsons get it: Hulu clip