2010-03-20

@Consumerist #Consumerist Can't Stand The Heat, Pulls Me Into The Fire

I've been a fan of The Consumerist for a while now. It's tough to tell how long because when I find a site I like it either gets added to my Google Reader feed or it gets bookmarked and forgotten.

At any rate, a while ago I signed up for an account and proceeded to “audition” for the privilege to comment on their web site. Apparently I was approved and I've been commenting for some time now. Well, I was until about two weeks ago.

About two weeks ago I was evidently banned, as I discovered when I tried to add a comment to a story about a tax withholding calculator provided by Kiplinger rather than the official one provided by the IRS. I really think it makes much more sense to direct people to the official tax withholding calculator rather than directing people to a third party when money and potentially jail time is on the line. But this is beside the point.

Just before the discovery of my banishment from commenting on Consumerist I, along with others, had made some comments on an article of theirs that wasn't “Consumerist” related but more of something you'd find on a consumer electronics related site like Engadget.com. (I don't remember which story it was but it was either this story or one like it posted around the same time.) My comment, as I mentioned, was similar to others like it already posted. In fact, if you go to the story about the PSP phone many of the other comments musing about why Consumerist was posting a story of that nature are still there.

What I find ironic is that a snarky web site that is based on criticizing companies for poor customer service bans me for criticizing them for, as I and others perceived, going off-topic. Ironic right? To get all uppity because someone has the temerity to do to them once what they do to others many times a day.

As a disclaimer, so I'm not accused of being ignorant or completely honest I do know there is a page on their site with posting“code”. Also, while I don't remember what I said exactly I do remember the gist of the message and I also remember exactly what I said in part. I said something like this was the kind of news I expected on Engadget (another snarky site I patronize which apparently doesn't mind a taste of its own medicine from time to time) and that “my how the mighty have fallen”.

Really? You can't take that with all that you dish out you get your fans, the ones who care enough to comment and point out how they think you've strayed from the path a bit and this is the thanks we (I'm assuming they booted others as well) get for caring?

I'm not going for self-pity here. While I am not going to follow their RSS feed anymore unless they reinstate my commenting abilities (and even then I'm going to think about it for a while) I do want to point out the hypocrisy of their actions.

2010-03-19

Falling In My Dreams

I'm a pretty sound sleeper, just ask my wife. Last night though I woke up at about 5 am. I've started keeping a record of my dreams because I find them fascinating (not that anyone else really would).

One thing that I have found though is that in my dreams I don't run or jump particularly well. So when I was running in my dream last night and attempted to jump a gap on a walkway I fell. It was if I knew I was asleep and knew that rather than hitting the ground I could wake up and save myself. Here's to hoping it doesn't happen again tonight; it's the weekend.

The New Michael And Janet Question? II

Stick with me on this one.  After I posted about Larry Wachowski I couldn't get the image(s) out of my head. It is true that Larry is more attractive as "Lana" than he is as Larry (although neither is all that attractive) but then it donned on me that there are two other people that look similar and have never been seen together:
Larry (left) as Larry


Larry as "Lana"
"Lana" as Kate Gosselin?

2010-03-16

Wachowski Freak Out

The Wachowski “Brothers” are freaking me out. Well, not both of them but Larry is. I used to subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine back when they originally published an article about his penchant for cross-dressing and how his then-soon-to-be-ex-wife was calling him crazy-as-bat-shit.

Now I admit that I really loved the original Matrix movie and the duo-sequel they made was alright (better if you didn't expect the same quality of movie) so I went to IMDB today and looked up some info about the newly-released-on-DVD movie “Ninja Assassin” that I know they were somehow involved in. Well, I then see the credit for Lana Wachowski rather than Larry Wachowski. What gives?

So then comes the research. First I did a Google News search that only tells me that Lana is involved in some kind of unscripted war movie poacking such A list celebrities as Jesse Ventura and Arianna Huffington. Next I head over to Wikipedia where I figure I can get a documented and unbiased story and find out that there is apparently a debate as to whether or not he's had a sex change.

I can understand that Joel Silver wants to protect one of his meal tickets and that speculation runs rampant when there is no official source for a story, but really. After reading the story about the writing of the original Matrix screen play in Creative Screenwriting (Vol. 10 No. 3) I was convinced that they've mostly been lucky.


Victor Champ's New Nickname

Don't call me George W. Bush or anything but I've decided to bestow a nickname on Victor Champ. I've decided that, after reading what he has posted so far on his relatively new blog he deserves the nickname of “The Hammer” for hitting the nail on the head in every blog post so far.

Take his latest post about the quasi-rush to support the iPad. I agree that the iPad is a device in search of customers. Maybe we should get Leonard Nimoy on that. I really loved the link to the news story comparing consumer interest before and after the official announcement of the iPad. I felt that same way as most of those responders felt. I was very interested in the iPad before the announcement but was nervious about price, etc. Then the announcement came and its what? A bigger iPod Touch? An ultimate web experience without Flash? (I know it doesn't support Java either but I believe I could survive without that.)

The most awesome setup for Victor's latest article was his (is Victor a him or an it? You look at his photo and decide) blog post about HTML5. I knew a little about HTML5 before this article but this is really telling about how far ahead of the implied (by Stevie J) curve they are. Who wants to wait for however long to get their Farmville fix on a $500 device? I wouldn't. The only thing the iPad convinced me to buy was a Netbook. I love it and, just guess, it does Java and Flash.


2010-03-15

Train Of Thought

I was watching the new episode of “The Pacific” and I remembered the part in “Band Of Brothers” where the one guy was trying to get a German gun as a souvenir. I used to be a souvenir guy but my wife cured me of that. I used to want to get something everywhere I went. I'm not talking about finding something but buying the over-priced ones for sale at the gift shops. Aside from the waste of money it was also a clutter of stuff building up that was rarely ever looked at. Not the least of ll things this is one I'm thankful to my wife for.


2010-03-14

I Picked The Wrong Day To...

I picked the wrong day night to not be able to fall asleep. I usually have this problem when I've taken a nap during th day but last night I just couldn't sleep. I listened to the new episode of “This American Life” and then started in on the movie 2012 before finally falling asleep. Because I hadn't changed the bed side clock I didn't even realize I was an hour behind until now. Ugh...


2010-03-12

Return Of Alan Wilder?

Is Alan Wilder returning to Depeche Mode? I wouldn't be surprised. Back on February 17, 2010 he shows up at the end of a benefit concert DM participated in. Then today I read on the DM site that Alan will be releasing a “new” Recoil album of old but “remastered” material. Alan's departure from DM was acrimonious but it was also in 1995. I really don't think he'd fully rejoin the band, even for just one album but I wouldn't be all that surprised if he came back and worked on a song or two that were included in the next album.

Lawsuits!

My politics may lean to the left but I have a hard time understanding so many of the lawsuits that make it to the news. Today there is a proposed settlement for “Ground Zero” rescue workers who have reported illnesses. Now I know that some of these workers were public service employees who were assigned to work there (like firefighters) but what about those who volunteered? It seems to me that even with a modern day building that there would still be something unhealthy floating in the air after it was demolished by an airplane. What else could have been expected?

Now I don't have enough time to really get into this right now but would a lawsuit be completely necessary if there was national healthcare?


2010-03-06

Linux Schminux

Engadget has posted it's latest “Entelligence” column this week about fragmentation of the Android platform. It might happen but it might not; who cares? Desktop Linux appears to be gelling around Ubuntu as a “ standard” (which I find confusing since I've tried to use it on numerous occasions and I find I prefer Windows 3.11 to Ubuntu) so why wouldn't this happen eventually to Android? If Google were smart they'd require some baseline compatibility for apps and then it wouldn't really matter. What do I really care? I'm trapped on a contract with a BlackBerry where I'm at the whim of RIM's servers if they decide to crash monthly or not (really they do).


2010-03-04

Autism In Time Magazine

I finished reading this week's time magazine. It's this cycle where Time usually comes in the mail on Saturday (sometimes Monday) and then I read it almost as fast as I can for two reasons:


  1. Another one comes in a week (and if I fall behind things might end up like my subscription to National Geographic where I fell so far behind that I finally gave up)

  2. I have other things I want to read in addition to Time magazine


So today I was able to burn through the latest issue and it had a couple of unique articles. First was the article about a German family that was granted political asylum in the US because Germany won't allow them to home school their kids. Wait, what? Asylum so you can home school your kids? That's crazy. 'Nuff said.


The other was the story about how Jenny McCarthy is the most feared mom in America because the MMR vaccine is the only thing in the US causing autism but there are many, many roads to “recovery” (results may vary). I find it hard to believe that there can be one main cure but several “recovery” options. Now it may be possible that it is related but the logic of her arguments doesn't make sense because it uses arguments akin to religious miracles rather than science.