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Beyond Twitter Length Reply To Joanna Brooks (@askmormongirl)

2012-01-02T09:35:00.000-08:00

So Joanna Brooks (@askmormongirl) asked the question onTwitter yesterday:

if you had to convince a 23 yearold that a religious / faith / spiritual life was worth the investment, whatwould you say?

Over the night she retweeted various answers (one of mineincluded). I think about things likethis a lot because I find human nature puzzling. Most of the answers Joanna retweeted seemedto me like the writers of the original tweets already believed in God andreligion and was merely waiting for someone to get them an address; somethinglike a radio contest where the first caller would get the prize. Others responded as if matters of faith wereas easy to convince people of as the benefits of a healthy diet.

Later in the night after I was already asleep @msdefargereplied with what I thought was the best answer to the question:

if you had to convince a 23 yearold that a religious / faith / spiritual life was worth the investment, whatwould you say?

The answer didn’t assume anything beyond the attitude of theperson answering which is all that can really be done. If matters of attitude, values and beliefcould be resolved with appeals to logic many of the world’s issues would havebeen resolved a long time ago. Religion and politics would no longer be anissue and, I suspect, we would all be wearing silver jumpsuits and travellingthe universe looking for other species that are ready for contact with aspecies not of their planet.

What I believe the fact of the matter is that the Zeitgeist,the spirit of the time, common beliefs, assumptions and values in America aredisappearing. There used to be amainstream that politicians could appeal to that allowed us to make general assumptionsabout certain things that can no longer be made. Like all things this change in the Americanculture this change is a double-edged sword.

The bottom line is that there is no one way to convincepeople of anything. Sharing of deeplyheld personal beliefs, if done sparingly and in an appropriate setting, has a uniqueeffect on other people’s attitudes but the essence of opinion is thatindividuals don’t change their mind about something until they want to and whatother people say almost always plays the smallest part in that process.

The One Percent

2010-04-08T14:36:00.001-07:00

I watched the documentary “The One Percent” today. This is a really powerful documentary about the richest 1% of society in the United States. As a documentary filmmaker Jamie Johnson has greatly improved from his first effort, the documentary “Born Rich” but it seems apparent that he still has some room for improvement. I don't mean to say that it's no good (it is good) or that Michael Moore could have done better (he couldn't, he makes propaganda films not documentaries) but that some of his interviews seemed unprepared.

Let's take, for instance, his interview of Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman was talking in sound bites and cliches and left himself open for some good questions to really get at the heart of his assertions. Rather than go that route Jamie sounds like a little kid trying to convince a parent they deserve a third helping of dessert.

There are also the scenes when Jamie interviews his father and doesn't attempt to explain to him what he wants out of the interview, or maybe he does and it isn't shown. But when his father tries to get out of the interview by saying that he doesn't have the answers and isn't a genius (or something along those lines) he lets his father off the hook and lets him get frustrated rather than attempt to explain what he is trying to get out of the interview.

I thought that the best example was the part where they interview the Johnson family economist who comes across as a frenzied sycophant but is never pinned down for specificities when he says things like “you haven't done your homework” and “you need to think about this”. Why not ask him what needs to be studied and what homework needs to be done and why?

Those quibbles aside I recommend this documentary.

The Crazy Lady Network

2010-04-08T13:51:00.001-07:00

One of the first things that I do in the morning when I get to work is look at what's on my Google Reader. One of the first things that I saw was this article about Kate Gosselin getting another show on TLC. Now her getting a new show isn't so surprising but what is was a combo of a one-two punch of info in the article itself.

“ [Kate] … has found her new calling: using her role as an 'example mom' to help and learn from others”
“ It's part of a plan to build on the channel's growth that also includes Sarah Palin's Alaska, a travelogue series about the state and its high-profile former governor”

Wait, I've seen Kate Gosselin andSarah Palin before and it is almost as if TLC has decided to rename their network something like “The Crazy Lady Network”. They could likely keep the same acronym of TLC if they made it something French like “The Lady de Crazy Network”.

Both of these ladies (and apparently I'm using the word loosely here) have a very difficult time dealing with reality. Palin like to whitewash her past and invents her own reality on-the-fly which is a lot like Gosselin does. It looks like TLC is expecting there to be a market for this but, regardless of one's politics, I couldn't imagine who would waste their time watching this.

Krauthammered

2010-04-04T12:20:00.001-07:00

I got most recent issue of Time in the mail yesterday and boy is it a doozy. In addition to the cover article about Steve Jobs and the iPad (what looks like it amounts to the PR equivalent of a hand job for the most popular kid in class) they included a quote from Charles Krauthammer on the Verbatim page for the current issue. ( The whole issue can be found many places all over the Internet.)

The excerpt is:

American liberals have long complained that ours is the only advanced industrial country without universal health care. Well, now we shall have it. And as we approach European levels of entitlements, we will need European levels of taxation.

I have a few issues with this and the first is: it's not accurate. This is a typical trick of right-wing commentators who try to indicate that universal health care comes in one flavor; the flavor provided by the likes of England and Canada. This is just not true. Go ask Germany and Japan.

Second, What is wrong with making sure that everyone has access to health care? As a nation we don't charge for basic education or public safeties like fire protection or the law enforcement. Why do we not provide for people to be healthy? What does that say about us as a nation?

Third, why do these ideas have to live in a reality distortion field where neither side will talk honestly and openly about it? I understand that this is not an issue specific to health care but I feel like this is something important for our country. When people are allowed to die and/or go broke because they can't afford to stay healthy is akin to allowing someone's house to burn down because they can't afford to pay the firefighters or allow a child to not learn to read because they can't afford to pay to go to school.

Morally it is just wrong and now that the law has passed Krautie sounds like one of my kids who didn't get their way and has decided to mouth off while he's pouting.

Potpourri

2010-04-01T14:05:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because I haven't felt too inspired to write anything so here are a few random items: things that would be classified as “Potpourri” on Jeopardy.

I finally heard back from The Consumerist “moderator” who referred to my remarks as “nasty and mocking”. I thought I was restrained with what I could have said and often do say to people in real life. This only confirms that they are as smug as they look in the “The Consumerist Team” section (except “Roz” who is the “moderator” and apparently broke the camera when they got to her (him?))
It's a slow day at work today so I'm reading my Time magazine (I don't know that there will ever be a suitable electronic replacement for reading things on paper) and came across a profile of Andrew Breitbart. I just can't imagine being this worked up all the time about anything. I pay attention and I find plenty of things I don't like but I find ti hard to be “outraged” like the bumper stickers say that I should be. Mostly I'm bewildered but more on that later. I know that cooperation doesn't sell and make you rich of famous but the polarizing of American needs to stop.
I'm really happy that the Health Care reform and accompanying “Fix-It” bill passed. I didn't think it would and while there are a lot of points in the bill that are good and some that are perplexing I think that Obama opened himself up to a lot of criticism by not framing the argument as a humanitarian need. I think framing this in terms of what we are allowing to happen to fellow citizens would have headed off “death panel” claims (or at least make them sound absurd the moment they were spoken). And while I'm on it, please just stop the “I didn't get to vote on it” complaints because that's not how our government runs. I think there are a lot of people that need to go back to High School and re-learn the government civics lessons again.

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

2010-03-20T09:16:00.001-07:00

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.

Falling In My Dreams

2010-03-19T23:29:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

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?

Wachowski Freak Out

2010-03-16T12:54:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-16T11:33:00.001-07:00

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.

Train Of Thought

2010-03-15T13:18:00.001-07:00

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.

I Picked The Wrong Day To...

2010-03-14T08:18:00.001-07:00

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...

Return Of Alan Wilder?

2010-03-12T18:40:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-03-12T07:31:00.001-08:00

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?

Linux Schminux

2010-03-06T08:05:00.001-08:00

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).

Autism In Time Magazine

2010-03-04T17:28:00.001-08:00

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:

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)
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.

Windows 7 Ultimate On A Netbook

2010-02-28T09:43:00.001-08:00

Remember months ago when Microsoft offered their Windows 7 “House Party”? Well I joined in but no one attended (don't cry, no one was psyched to attend an operating system party). So I have this copy of Windows 7 Ultimate (complete with Steve Ballmer's signature embossed on the cardboard cover) and no computer to run it on. See, I use a Mac at home and after being unimpressed with the performance of Vista as a VM or the Windows 7 beta version as a VM either. I wanted to use it at work but I work for a software company and our software isn't certified for Windows 7 yet and clients are 50/50 when they run our software on Windows 7. That leaves me with a copy of Windows 7 that isn't currently being used. Add to this the fact that I just got a netbook last week and I think you can see where this might be going.

The netbook I got was a Dell Inspiron Mini (I bought it at Best Buy and they sell it as the Inspiron Mini but I believe Dell sells it as the Mini 10 on their web site). It comes with Windows 7 Starter which is fine with me. I didn't purchase the netbook to perform high end tasks but mainly for writing and the occasional web surfing and video watching. But here's the rub: Windows 7 Starter doesn't allow the user to change the wallpaper. Are you serious? I can understand limiting or eliminations themes and colors and the like for product differentiation purposes but wallpaper? Now I've got an itch that I want to scratch but at $80 for an upgrade to Home Premium just to change wallpaper seems a little ridiculous to me.

But wait, I have a copy of Windows 7 ultimate that I am not using right now and it indicates that it “Includes Windows Anytime Upgrade”. I did this on my laptop at work: it came with Windows Vista Business and I had a code for Windows Vista Ultimate and the same kind of anytime upgrade. When I ran that it took nearly as long as installing the OS would originally take and that was on a pretty decent system, this is a netbook.

I decided to take the plunge after a little research on the Internet where the only negative comments about it came from Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols who apparently decided to install it on an abacus that could, of course (knowing Stevie), run Linux flawlessly. Then, to put this netbook through its paces he decides to do things like encode videos using Handbrake and attempt to hack into the pentagon (or so I heard) but isn't so pleased with the performance. Pretty much everyone else said there would be no issues upgrading to Windows 7 Ultimate.

I was a little nervous but I decided to go for it. I put in my Anytime Upgrade DVD and tell it to run. It finally said that if I was going to do this I needed to initiate the upgrade from the “Windows Anytime Upgrade” shortcut in the Start Menu. I ran the shortcut, it asked for my key, did something for about 5 minutes, rebooted and about 10 minutes or so later I was ready to log into Windows 7 Ultimate on my netbook.

It really was much ado about nothing since it was so fast and smooth. I'd recommend it to anyone considering doing the same thing.

I'm Back!

2010-02-27T15:08:00.001-08:00

I know that I've been really sporadic about blogging (not that many, if any, have noticed at all) but I just got a netbook mostly for writing. I want to write some essays but I also have some story ideas that I'd like to work on and all of this will likely include some blogging too. I've even thought about publishing some of my writing here on my blog or on my “Anonymous” blog I'm going to keep. (I won't divulge that location because it wouldn't really be anonymous.)

One of the main things that I'd like to start off with is my fatigue with the shenanigans in Washington (D.C. that is). I'll admit that I am an Obama supporter. I have been almost from the moment that I met him and my switch from being more conservative to more liberal started a few years ago when I read the the book “The Corporation” by Joel Bakan.

Now I don't want to get into that story here and now (the two combined because I may later and even here). The things that I am tired of is the power struggle between parties that leaves the people in the middle in a crossfire of polarizing ideas and vitriol that most people don't care about.

I've talked about this idea with a co-worker that is probably my politically mirror opposite but we've agreed that the current two party system is pretty unappealing to most people. When the Republicans and the Democrats get together and hammer out ideas and “planks” in their party platforms there is little overlap so voters are largely left to choose one side over the other. I realize that there are regional differences but I'm trying to not be overly specific in my generalizations.

What I think people need is a third party that isn't formed based on just one principle. There are parties like The Green party, The Libertarian party and so forth that appeal to a very small base of voters. What I think we need is a None Of The Above party that appeals to the middle and doesn't necessarily stand for the same things all the time. For example, the Republicans are usually in favor of more defense spending and the Democrats are usually against. In the 80s while we were fighting the Cold War and now with the War On Terror (such an unfortunately open-ended phrase) the idea of increased defense spending makes sense. In between those two periods the expenditures didn't need to be as high. A party that would accept those realities and embrace them makes sense to me.

I also know that the defense spending argument is easy to make in hindsight it should have been a little more obvious and rational to tell the defense department they were going to get a little less in the mean time. They'd still get money for R&D and to maintain what they need to maintain but any group on a budget is always going to want more money and use what they get. This isn't something that just the government does.

But the difficulty of building a party in the middle is that bold ideas that appeal to one extreme or another and those would largely be missing; the attention getting and appealing ideals present wouldn't be there. Also any intrusion on the power held by either party would be perceived as a political threat and be attacked which wouldn't be so bad as long as the purpose was served: the purpose of ending bickering for the sake of reclaiming power and returning Washington, D.C. back to a place where people compromise for the common good.

The Long Slow Demise Of A Favorite Band

2009-12-28T20:17:00.000-08:00

I listen to a lot of music. I think my love of music started when I heard Slade's "Keep Your Hands of My Power Supply". I don't know why but ever since then I've really enjoyed listening to, collecting and anything else you can do with music. There are a lot of bands I like but over the years some have held a special place in my heart: Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Depeche Mode, Stellastarr*, Echo And The Bunnymen, EMF, New Order, Leiahdorus, Anything Box, The Echoing Green and Jesus Jones to name a few.

Anything Box and Jesus Jones are two bands in particular that I have found disappointing. Anything Box started as a synthpop bad that most people would not even consider a one hit wonder but in actuality they put out several albums before proceeding in reverse order from a musical butterfly of luscious synthpop into a caterpillar of a band making horrible sounding neo-garage band dirges.

Many people get on the band's site and lament this but they come across as whiny, especially since there are, apparently, people who enjoy their current sound. I've not bothered to try and poll people who claim to like them now and see if these are new fans or ones that have been with them since their synthpop days.

Another formoer favorite band of mine, one that has apparently decided to go from "good" music to nothing that anyone would listen to is Jesus Jones. I think about them a lot because I really liked their first four albums. Well Perverse (album #3) was my least favorite of the first four but still it was better than London. They went from a top notch band that blended samples and rock with the same skill that Dryers blends peppermint and ice cream for the holidays. Then they went from a bigger label to a smaller one (in the form of a Koch affiliated label MI-5 Records) and they started to put out sub-par garage music.

I've thought this for a while but it has been on my mind a lot lately because I picked up the live recording of Jesus Jones when they were in the US back in 2005 and was let down by their "modern" renditions of their "classic" hits. Then, to top it off, the album includes a bonus interview where the band proceeds to, in essence, indicate that things would have been very different had they had the time and education to do things they way they wished they had. What I really loved was essentially a "mistake".

I suppose I should be grateful for what I got from the band but at this point but JJ and the band members have kept pretty close with their fans over time which makes it all the more painful for me.

Borders Has Apparently Given Up

2009-12-26T21:40:00.001-08:00

I'm a fan of books. I buy more than I read but I love them anyway. My favorite place to buy is Costcobecause anything on sale there is barely more than 50% of the cover price. I used to love used book stores but there aren't many in Utah (there are some in California but used book stores are apparently a dying breed) and none that are worth checking out. Amazon is nice, especially since I have a Prime account which makes 2 day shipping "free". But at times I do enjoy going into a regular brick and mortar store to browse: not what happens to be in stock at Costco and not the virtual browsing which brings me to my dilemma.

Barnes & Noble (as I like to refer to as Banes & Chernobyl on occasion) has a really awesome selection. Their stores almost always have the item I'm looking for in stock (at least somewhere nearby if not at my preferred location, if I'm not just browsing) but I remember when B&N was Bookstar (or at least they owned Bookstar). This was a bookstore in the tradition of Crown Books that offered a discount on everything in the store. Not a discount bookstore that sold books no one really wanted anyway but nice bookstore that offered 10% off on all the books everyday. They even offered an additional 5% off if you purchased a membership card for $10/year. Crown Books didn't offer a membership but they did offer a discount on all their books.

Since Bookstar and Crown Books are all but gone (and non-existent in Utah) there aren't many choices. There are some nice locally owned shops (like The King's English and Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore) but those aren't very close to where I live. This puts me in a position where I like to shop at B&N for a number of reasons: the selection, the quality of the store, etc. But the full price of the books (so different from Bookstar) and the steep price of their annual membership ($25/year for only 10% off? Gimme a break!) means that I'd like a little competition.

Here's where Borders enters the picture. When my wife and I were dating she had a Borders gift card she needed to use before it expired so I went with her to the Borders that used to be in downtown SLC. I was shocked at how much they were charging for CDs. At the time the only downloading of music available was on Napster so purchasing CDs was the only real legit way to get music and apparently Borders figured jacking up the prices was a good way to go. That turned me off to going there originally and explained (in my mind) why there were so few Borders locations compared to B&N.

A few years later I was in Park City and noticed the "cheap" bookstore was now a Borders Express. I decided to stop in and it changed the way I thought about Borders, for a while anyway. The store was a nice version of a discount bookstore with some interesting books (mostly crap though) at some very nice prices. Also, to boot, they had a reward program. I signed up, gave them my email and noticed that the marketing emails I received offered some pretty nice coupons.

As intended these promotions got me in the store because even Amazon doesn't always offer 30% off a book I want which is when I started to realize that Borders has apparently give up and wants to die an ignominious retail death. The selection at Borders doesn't hold a candle to B&N. And the coupons they send can only be applied to what they normally stock which means that even if I was willing to wait for them to order in the book I really wanted the coupon wouldn't apply anyway. On top of that the last two times I've attempted to reserve an item online for in store pickup I eventually get an email back (the first time days later and today nearly 12 hours later) telling me they couldn't find the item, even tough I had ended up in the store anyway and found more than one copy of the item I wanted.

Borders: blind employees, undesirable selection, bad prices by comparison, and on and on and on... I have read that Borders is circling the drain financially anyway but pushing coupons and other specials that get people into the store only to see they're not offering anything even equally the competition seems to me like trying to die. I used to care but I'm realizing that they, and other people, just don't seem to care.

The New Michael And Janet Question?

2009-07-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

When I saw the cover to the new Rob Thomas album I wondered if it was really Michael Cera. Are they the same person?

Depeche Mode

2009-07-09T14:55:00.001-07:00

A couple of months ago I was browsing iTunes (as I do frequently) and I came across a documentary about Depeche Mode and the making of the album “Songs Of Faith And Devotion” (SOFAD). (Technically it is titled “A Short Film (We Were Going to Live Together, Record Together and It Was Going to Be Wonderful) [1991-94]”). That really took me back, much like watching the VH1 “ Behind The Music” they did about DM. I think they showed it once and like most of those they were never shown again.

Anyway, the really took me back so I loaded my iPod up with all of the DM albums so could listen to them again (and I'm accused of never going back and listening to music a second time). I've focused mainly on SOFAD but have listened from that album on and I really feel, now that I have time and a modicum of maturity on my side, that DM is just as good after Alan Wilder left as they were while he was still with the band.

I think most people didn't really know about the “other two” in the band beyond Dave Gahan (commonly known as the dude that almost over-dosed on heroin) and Martin Gore (commonly referred to as the guy who looks gay (but isn't)). Much like U2 there are (or were in the case of DM) four members in the band and two are more widely recognized than the others. (It would help if the other two members of DM had written the main song for a summer blockbuster.)

What I'm trying to get at is that most people knew the music but not the members of DM so when word got out that Alan Wilder (one of the DM “Other Two”) had left the assumption was “Well they're going to suck now, if they don't break up.” Then, when the band does put out another album, most people turned into haters. It reminded my a lot of the the summer after break dancing peaked or the summer after the first Tim Burton Batman. People who used to be “fans” turned their nose up at them. (Most notable to me being Todd Durant who claims that fans would buy an album of DM “burping and farting”. I just think he's bitter now that his business is dying because technology has passed him by.)

Common complaints are:

Alan was the sound of DM and now they're not special: Go back and listen to Ultra (the first album without Alan). There are songs on there that sound very much like they would fit on Violator or SOFAD: “Home”, “It's No Good” and “Useless” being the ones that I'm thinking of. There's even a hidden track that pays homage to “Pimpf”, “St. Jarna” and other instrumental oddities called “Jr. Painkiller” (which I like more than those tracks, especially the remix).
They're not true synth stars now since they use guitars and drums and the like: Go back and study SOFAD closely, they branched out to using more traditional instruments while Alan was there.

I think that DM is just as good without Alan as they were with him. Why not go pester the Erasure fans because there is plenty to complain about on “ Loveboat” and “Other People's Songs” if you want to complain about a band hitting the skids. They came back and even DM can make an album that isn't so great. Just check out “Exciter” for a good example.

Utah Drivers

2009-07-08T14:10:00.001-07:00

I just read this article claiming that Utah drivers are “average” and not “bad”. What metrics do they use? I highly doubt this claim. On top of that I'm also going to go public with my current belief that I don't think that Californians are good drivers anymore. I still would like to go back to New York and see if they would still retain my current #1 ranking.

Sarah Palin IS A Quitter

2009-07-08T14:07:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin IS a quitter. I don't know what else there is to say about it. I know that there is likely more than meets the eye but right now all that has been shown is that she just doesn't want to be the governor from Alaska anymore. What other option is there? People have been (apparently) bugging to know if she is going to run for a second term. Why does anyone care this far in advance? I know that most reporters aren't that good so they run around asking mostly the same stupid questions over and over again hoping that one time someone will be caught off guard and same something newsworthy.

Anyway, Palin fesses up (quite early I would say) that she's not going to run for re-election and, while she's at it, she's going to resign. Now she is claiming that she's not quitting and all her political options are still on the table? Now, I know that politicians don't always say what they mean but I only have her word so here's the breakdown:

She's not running for re-election. I know people make up their minds about this at different times but isn't the next election for her state 2 years off?
Because she's not going to run again she's resigning because she doesn't want to be a “lame duck” governor. Isn't she the one “outing” herself and labeling herself as a “lame duck”? Someone has to be the governor and anyone in that position now is somewhat a “lame duck” anyway.
She says that “all options are on the table”. What options would these be? By all accounts of people who aren't die-hard right wingers she was just the McCain sideshow that few took seriously and that was before she quit. Now that she has how could the mainstream and “undecided” voters elect her now? Just like Mitt Romney she is considered a leading contender for the office of president only because this far out who else is really campaigning? No one. Once things heat up neither of them will be in the running.

Just call it like it is: Palin didn't want to be governor anymore and she chalks it up to what I already said and threw in the “liberal media” too, just for good measure.

They Need To Do More Damage

2009-06-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

They didn't do enough by fucking MJ and his siblings up, now they want a shot at his kids too.

Act(s) Of God

2009-06-22T14:59:00.001-07:00

This will be so cool to hear how people blame this on Palin because, after all, these things only happen (in the conservative world) when someone needs to be punished by God.

Anxiety

2009-06-17T10:56:00.001-07:00

My anxiety is riding high right now. This is common for me but this time I know why. I'm going to demonstrate our software for a client. I know what the software is and what it does but:

I don't like doing software demos any more
They have specific things they want to see and that is always difficult for me to manage smoothly since I don't like working with a script either

Sounds like I have some work to do on this but these are the details that are low priority until I need them.

Andre Dubus III

2009-06-16T21:52:00.000-07:00

We went to a reading at The King's English bookstore tonight. Well I went and Ang took the kids to the park. He's a really good guy and very encouraging of others to develop their talents and realize the creative expression in all of us.

While I was paying for the book a lady (I think she worked there) said she thought I looked a lot like John Malkovitch. I appreiated the compliment because at least it was a comparison to someone with talent. It would have been far worse if I'd been thought to look like Keven Federline or Todd Palin.

Bo-mama

2009-06-16T14:15:00.001-07:00

I like Obama, I really do. I like what he stands for and what he wants to do with our country but every once and again he goes and does something that I thought we would be done with now that Bush is out of office. First he decided to keep the warrant-less wiretapping and now he decides to keep the visitor logs private. I kind of expected this kind of ~~shit~~ stuff from Bush since every day he seemed to enjoy flipping the nation the bird but Obama promised us more transparency. Now I know he has delivered on the “more” part but I seemed to understand that the qualifier “more” meant more than what he's giving us now.

More Palin Fodder

2009-06-16T12:01:00.001-07:00

Wow, so far 4 posts today. I think I'm realizing just how easy this is to post from OpenOffice.

Anyway here is a pretty good article that shares a lot of my feelings about Sarah Palin and her hubby Todd. I'm just hoping they do more stuff about her freeloader hubby on SNL again next season.

Maybe He Invented The Tubes That The Internet Runs On

2009-06-16T11:52:00.001-07:00

Soon-To-Be Governor of Utah had some wise words he felt like he needed to share. I know now who I will not be voting for in the next Gubernatorial election in Utah.

The Shape Of Things To Come

2009-06-16T11:14:00.001-07:00

Now that I've posted again after a few, er, months I've looked at my blog and seen how out of date it is. The links on the side are out of date and I want to change the color scheme. I also want to do more posting as well so if there's anyone out there that cares things will start changing.

Politicians These Days

2009-06-16T11:11:00.001-07:00

I've never really liked Sarah Palin. To be honest I don't really like many politicians. But that's beside the point. I read an article on The Huffington Post yesterday that I absolutely loved. What really gets me (and not just about Palin but all politicians) is their belief that the public has a short memory. I find that most of them expect us to have short memories so they can say and do what is most convenient and immediately beneficial.

Browser Usage

2009-06-16T11:03:00.001-07:00

There is a really interesting blog post about browser usage here. More interesting than the fact that usage of IE is falling (not surprising) is that the use of Safari is falling as well. I think Safari has some nice eye candy but I've never been able to feel completely comfortable with anything other than Firefox. Heck, I've been using from before it was even v1 and it was just a standalone executable.

My First YouTube Video

2008-05-23T23:13:00.000-07:00

More info later but this is my first YouTube post.

Political Nepotism?

2008-04-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

Is McCain talking about nepotism when it comes to his heath care initiative or is this his feel good rhetoric that will help get him elected and keep things just the way they are?

Universal Music Group Admits To Selling Garbage Music

2008-04-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

Big companies like to tout the benefits of a capitalist society when it works in their favor. Now that the value assigned to music is lower than Paula Poundstone's interest in sex the music industry has decided to kick and scream like my kids when they don't get what they want. Now they are going after people who are selling the promo CDs they sent to them. The best part is that part of their argument claims that even throwing away a promo CD is piracy. I'll admit that much of what has been sold for nearly $20 a CD is garbage but not allowing a user to throw away a promo CD they weren't raped to acquire is a little preposterous.

Those Zany Athletes

2008-04-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

I can understand the drive to make as much money while you can, especially outside the NFL, where you don't necessarily have the best pension plan but I wonder why some athletes don't settle for a little less to play on a team where there's a higher likelihood of winning. Just ask Frank Thomas who left the team who gave him a chance to resuscitate his career and wouldn't have benched him.

What's Left?

2008-04-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

After the book about having two daddies (or was it two mommies?) and then this book what's there left to write a kids book about?

I Agree But...

2008-04-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

I agree with what these Senators are saying but don't they have more pressing matters?

This Is Defenitely A PR Stunt

2008-04-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Comcast is largely known for not caring about the people who give them money on a monthly basis but this little article just reeks of PR and no real changes.

Looks Like...

2008-04-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Oakland A's are really going to stink it up this year (as many have predicted).

Stadium Tour

2008-04-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

I've been following the Polygamous Sect story since it's hard to miss if you watch the Internet news headlines. Apparently the state of Texas is taking those poor kids on a stadium tour now. As if setting them up for an online circus wasn't enough.

While I'm At It

2008-01-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

A little while ago I wrote a post about smelling death on Fox's Terminator show. I've seen it (twice now) and death may not be immediate but I think inevitable. And by inevitable I don't mean in 7 years (or seasons). Not only does the addition of certain cast members (yeah MauriceSmith, The 4400 has been cancelled, a few seasons too late, BTW) mark almost certain death but there doesn't seem to be many places they can go. Besides, Fox has a habit of going big and canceling early. What this show has going for it is the writer's strike. Based on that I'll give it a season and a half, maybe two and a half (because I know that Fox was nice enough to give Arrested Development 3 seasons, and I'm serious about that).

Bjork Finally Listens To One Of Her Albums

2008-01-14T09:53:00.000-08:00

This was too good to pass up. The only song of Bjork's that I have ever really liked was Army Of Me. Since then I have listened to most of her albums and can't figure out who listens to and likes that "stuff". At any rate I read this article on USA Today and figure that Bjork must have finally loaded up her iPod with all of her albums and had nothing else to listen to on the airplane ride.

Mitchell Report Unused Evidence

2007-12-14T14:21:00.000-08:00

It has not been widely reported at all but one piece of evidence obtained but not quoted or used in the Mitchell report was an old MLB yearbook of José Canseco's. Here are some of the messages written in it's pages and cover:

"Stay cool and ~~don't~~ do drugs! -ARod"
"It'll be a long winter but I'll see you at Robert Downey's parties! -Lennie D"
"For me it doesn't really matter what you stick in your @$$! -Mikey P"

That's just a few and the rest are just a damning but were deemed too circumstantial. Go figure...

Whoa! Who's This?

2007-12-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

Ever since I switched from Yahoo! services to Google I've been a bit disappointed with the news headlines that I can get on my home page. One that I do appreciate however is the RSS feed from the Deseret Morning News. They're a local paper owned by the LDS church so there is a low of articles related to the church (no capitalization here).

I really liked this article here about a speech given at BYU recently by Dan Robinson. The sentiment is dead on and he's not even a Mormon. Then, as I usually do, I checked out the top stories that are always linked to on the DMN pages and found this. While I understand the general lack of knowledge about the LDS church this douche bag (a term of endearment I can assure) Lawrence O'Donnell goes off spouting enough half truths to sell me a Rainbow vacuum. I realize that controversy sells but looking like an idiot is just embarrassing.

It reminds me of another article from the DMN posted online recently where author Orson Scott Card points out how most people feel the same way Mormons believe about the nature of The Godhead and that usually you have to find a theological scholar before someone believes that The Godhead is like "an egg". (No disrespect intended but that is the term used to explain it to me; one egg but three separate parts.)

I always figured it was best to understand what someone believes before saying you know. I served an LDS missions and I had a previous edition of The Handbook Of Denominations. It is essentially an explanation of what religions believe but the source materials were gathered directly from the religious institutions themselves and then distilled into what is contained in the book. A novel idea to get information from the source but in this case it works.

Smelling Death?

2007-12-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

Sci-Fi has an article about a cast member for the forthcoming show "The Sarah Connor Chronicles". Now I realize there's an exception for what I am about to say but that may not even be a true exception. What has Garret Dillahunt been in that has succeeded on the air? It also has Summer Glau and that is the second nail in this coffin. The show may turn out to be good and popular but based on the casting alone I'm not hopeful.

Critics will say that both of these actors have been in The 4400 (and psychics will point out that I watch this show when it is on) but that show is circling the drain. Yes, the show received an Emmy nod for it's original run but if it really is that good it would have gotten at least one more since then. It's juts not that good any more.

Do They Know?

2007-12-12T10:52:00.000-08:00

I set up a Christmas mix on my iPod shuffle (the sexiest player that will sync on a Mac) and as I was listening to "Do They Know It's Christmas" song (I have the original and the New Coke versions on there as well as several covers) I got to thinking is this what everyone wants? I mean most of us just want to celebrate the holiday season and the giving that comes with the season (this is the short version of a long discussion) but why aren't more people fighting over what the people in Africa should know?

Does everyone want them to know it's Christmas or should we have more than one single. One wanting to know if the Africans know its Christmas. Another wanting to know if the Africans know its Hanukkah. And another wanting to know its Kwanzaa. Maybe even one from the Atheists wanting to know that they don't have to know its Christmas.

I'm only suggesting that we should make sure we're asking the right question or if everyone realizes that they might wish to rephrase the question they're asking. That's all.

No Win Scenario, Won

2007-12-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

I've read (listened to) all of the Harry Potter books in the last 4 months or so (not something I'd recommend). They're not bad (not that I understand all of the midnight parties and such). But having "read" the books and seen the movies I can see how Warner Brothers has won the no win scenario.

I saw the first four movies before reading the books and found them fairly un-entertaining. What I mean to say is it was like watching a movie based on a book they tried to stick too closely too, which they are. The only movie adaptation(s) I've ever seen that were faithful and enjoyable were the Lord Of The Rings films and even then the more enjoyable versions were the extended ones on DVD.

After reading the books I'm annoyed by the liberties they've taken with the stories and the rush and incomplete versions they've put on the screen. But this is where WB wins. People that haven't read the books will go see the movies to see what all the fuss is about (and since they are gradually getting better, relatively) this group might keep returning. Those who have read the books will go see them, even if they weren't all gaga about them (like me) just to see how the two compare. With this formula they've ensured box office success.

I Might Make You Be Sorry

2007-03-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

I've been paying some attention to the story about General Pace's comments. I think that it is interesting that in a time when political correctness demands acceptance of everyone's point of view that he is not allowed to express his view that he feels that other's views are immoral.

I don't know exactly how it was said or the context but this latest article I saw on USA Today seems to show that Gates might tell Pace that he better be sorry, or else.

In a circumstance like this is the person really ever sorry or just saying it? There is likely little difference between forcing Pace to apologize than there is for me to force my five-year-old to apologize for something. My five-year-old is going to learn something (although not immediately) as will Pace but neither will likely feel any different about this particular incident now or in the future.

White & Nerdy

2007-03-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

I know this is old by now but Weird Al just pointed me in the direction of this really cool clip:

If Computers And Books Were Compared

2007-02-18T17:35:00.000-08:00

Engadget posted this cool YouTube post of a funny video where a guy is confused about how to use a new book since he's so used to reading from scrolls.

Oh, Brother...

2007-02-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

If the excuse this guy is claiming is true then he should have sought help before he was fired. Besides, even a drug addict would have been fired. Why should this be any different (or the same as this guy is claiming).

Is It Any Wonder?

2007-02-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

I like Lost. I used to really like it but so far this season has been a bust. I understand that the network tried to do something new and this might have been abrupt for the writers and show runners but the experiment is failing. The first six episodes (the first "half" of the season, shown in October and November of 2006) were quite boring. They used six episodes to move one story along as far as it would have likely gotten had it been included with others, which they didn't.

So it comes a very little surprise to me to see that this last episode was the lowest rated episode of the show, so far. Not only that but I thought that whole episode was really quite boring. I really dislike the character of Charlie. Hurley was only in this episode for face time; he didn't really add anything (or do much for that matter). Then I was completely unimpressed with Desmond's story. What is that whole deja vu/visions of the future thing?

All The Good Candidates

2007-02-14T13:10:00.000-08:00

I guess there are some good things about living in certain areas. It looks to me like one of the things you can get in Minnesota (outside of California, that is) are the best candidates to vote for.

What Do They Think?

2007-02-14T11:34:00.000-08:00

The American auto industry has been lagging behind Asian importers (who even make their cars here in the US of A) since they started selling over here. They've resorted to selling their cars at rock bottom prices and now it comes as no surprise to me to see that not as many people are buying cars right now. People will always need cars but after glutting it seems that only people who really need them are buying now.

And We Should Believe You Because...?

2007-02-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

I think Bush has cried "Wolf" once too often to have retained his credibility.

Paula Abdul Is Doing Crack, Evidently

2007-02-14T11:25:00.000-08:00

This was just too good of a line to pass up commenting on. There is an article on USAToday.com where Paula Abdul is quoted as saying

I've never been drunk. I have never done recreational drugs," she says. "Just look at my 20-year career. Tell me someone who is into partying or doing drugs that could have done that."

Has she never heard of The Rolling Stones? The Beatles weren't around for 20 years but together or separately they have. What kind of a defense is that?

Heroes 360 ARG

2007-02-05T18:29:00.000-08:00

Anyone else out there trying out the Heroes 360 Alternate Reality Game (ARG)? I got a text message directing me to go log in for a third profile at the Primatech Paper site but the password I was texted didn't work. I received "TSntz14b" (without quotes) but that didn't get me into anything I hadn't already accessed. Anyone know anything else?

Scientific Considerations Regarding Santa Claus

2006-12-24T19:53:00.000-08:00

I don't know where this was originally published or where but I thought it fitting considering...

As a result of an overwhelming lack of requests, and with research help from that renowned scientific journal SPY magazine (January, 1990) --here is the annual scientific inquiry into Santa Claus.

1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.

2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to the Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.

3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 millions stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc.

This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized LEGO set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force. In conclusion - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now. Merry Christmas.

I'm With Stupid

2006-12-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

Well, that is what the PSB song is about.

I'm pretty moderate in my political views. I voted for Bush because I'm one of those people that would have put John Kerry low in the like-ability polls. What other choice did I have? At this point I'm also one of the ones that feels the wave of evidence supports impeaching Bush for lying us into Iraq. But I digress, this is just one of those pics of the Prez that reminds me of the stuff Dave Letterman does about him.

Pre-Crime Photo

2006-12-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

The current episode of Cranky Geeks featured this image when they were discussing the software program being made that will help predict someone's predisposition to commit a crime. Boy does that baby looked pissed.

Kabuki Still Popular

2006-12-06T15:42:00.000-08:00

It looks like Gina Lolloabrigida is a HUGE fan of the Japanese Kabuki theater. I know of no other reason that someone would go into public looking like this. (I snagged this picture from Yahoo! News, I believe it's an AP photo)

Pearl Harbor

2006-12-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

I just read this article at USAToday.com about the last reunion of Pearl Habor survivors. I doubt that anything I could type here would actually say much. I have the most profound respect for any WWII vet and even more so for those who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Is It True?

2006-12-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. It appears that Anderson Cooper is coming out of the closet to confirm that, yes, he is Jewish and he's wearing a yarmulke to prove it. (I found this ad image in Yahoo! Mail)

American Express Promotion Or Just Self Promotion?

2006-12-04T11:33:00.000-08:00

Many people are aware of the My Wish List Promotion that American Express has going on right now. They do this about twice a year. They offer some really cool stuff to the lucky few who can claim them. These are popular items offered at drastically reduced prices. A new twist added this time around is that some of the items can be claimed via text message from your cell phone.

Last Thursday the text message option seemed to be a good choice for me since they were offering a Microsoft Zune right at the same time that I was going to be at an appointment with the doctor. After trying to claim one of these via the web site it seemed like a good idea to try and send a few text messages in to be sure that at least one got through. At 10am (MDT) I sent about 15 or so messages. At 10:37am (according to my phone) I received a message back that I'd won one of the Zune's and that I'd be contacted within 2 hours to complete my claim. If AmEx couldn't reach me within two hours the Zune would become available to another card member for purchase.

I called a few times. First to find out what number they would call. Then to find out why they hadn't called, etc. The call center was in St. Louis which was hit with sever weather and I was told that they were behind and all after the bad weather and not to worry. This assurance was common Thursday and Friday. I gave them the weekend off since I was tired of worry about it and usually these things aren't dealt with on weekends.

I called this morning and this seemed to be the first they'd heard about this and they'd have a supervisor call me back in 24 to 48 hours. If I end up getting this I'll be happy if just a little less impressed with AmEx's ability to deal with their own promotions. If they try and let themselves off the hook for something I was promised I have a couple of ideas.

First, I know a guy who is related to a reporter on the local news. I might try to enlist his help to get me in contact with their consumer advocate reporter. He's done this for others so I'm hopeful this would help.

Second, I might consider taking it to small claims court if only for the fact that I'm sick of my concerns falling through the cracks of concern of large corporations.

Seinfeld Helps...

2006-11-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

Seinfeld helps a "brother" out. Mel could at least say he was drunk. Michael, well, what happened?

Bank Of America

2006-11-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

I saw this video on YouTube and figured it wouldn't hurt to post it here. Enjoy...

This Is Funny I

2006-11-21T11:29:00.000-08:00

I read this story on eWeek.com. Too good not to post a link to.

PS3

2006-11-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

After failing to obtain a PS3 I might as well enjoy what these guys have going on.

New Weird Al Video

2006-11-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

Weird Al has a new video; a parody of a Taylor Hicks song. Enjoy...

Do I Creep You Out | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

The Zune Cometh I

2006-11-13T21:04:00.000-08:00

Engadget has posted a detailed account of their experience of getting their Zune up and running on a Windows XP MCE PC. To be fair they did install this on something less than average. They installed again on a more typical PC without any issues (mentioned but not exactly prominently). I'm excited by this since I was excited by the interface walk through posted at Engadget. It's not an iPod killer, yet, but could definitely be the closest to giving Apple a run for it's money.

Rock Swings: The Sequel?

2006-11-13T20:53:00.000-08:00

Paul Anka released an awesome CD last year titled "Rock Swings". If you're into Paul Anka I'm sure the album was enjoyable on it's own. I picked it up because it was a hilarious album full of 80's and 90's songs covered in the Jazz/Swing/Old-School-Frank-Sinatra-Night-Club-Swank style music. Songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Eye Of The Tiger" and "Jump" are pretty funny. At any rate, Paul Young released his own version of this style, using the same title no less, but the result was much less bland. The selection of songs covered was spread out over a wider time period but the actual performance was much more bland and the songs selected were less remarkable. I'm sure there's a story here since the identical titles can't be a coincidence but I'm not too interested at this point.

PSB On The Late Late Show

2006-11-13T10:08:00.000-08:00

In what appears to be a modern day execution of the "ancient" practice of kinescoping someone has posted the video from last Friday's PSB appearance on The Late Late Show.

How Cool Is This?

2006-11-10T15:04:00.000-08:00

Being a huge fan of The Pet Shop Boys I was surprised to have missed this. Thanks to YouTube I'll get to see it again and share it with anyone who visits here.

Zune Is Coming

2006-11-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

I'm not one to hate Microsoft. I think they dominate the world computing market because they have played the game of "Corporation" better than everyone else. With that said I've seen a walk through of their new Zune player here and must say that I think this things has a chance of catching on. Besides, having used a hand held device to watch long bits of video on a plane, among other places, I think this (image above) is the coolest accessory;something that the iPod could use.

Here are more.

If It Walks Like One And Talks Like One

2006-11-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

Well...?

Faith Hill's Goof

2006-11-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

She said she was just kidding but even with that excuse she should know better! See it here.

All Good Things...

2006-11-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

Again: I grew up in the Bay Area (did I say that?). I've been to a few baseball stadiums in my time and I just don't see the complaints about the Oakland Alameda Coliseum. Yeah, it's not very nice compared to a brand new stadium, revenue has to be shared, etc. But compare it to the old Cleveland Indians Municipal stadium or Candlestick Park. The Coliseum has a lot going for it but all good things... The A's will be moving.

Loudmouth Schnook (LMS)

2006-11-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

Being from the Bay Area originally, being in high school the last time the Warriors were any good and always having an opinion on loudmouth schnooks I thought I'd post this link here. This is especially nice since the LMS is trying to rip off Nellie.

Good Perpsective

2006-11-01T22:19:00.000-08:00

I read this article by Kevin Maney in today's USA Today. It's really quite good. There is always the apparent battle between what flies and what the business world thinks will fly. Why does business keep failing?

Lala.com Singing A Sour Note

2006-10-31T13:58:00.000-08:00

I don't remember how long ago I heard about Lala.com. I know it's been less than a year but the site was really cool when I first found out about it. On the site you can list CDs you have that you would like to trade. Next you list CDs you want. After this you ship out a CD when someone requests it and then you are given a credit which enables someone to send you a CD. The CD itself costs $1 while the shipping is $0.75 (originally it was $0.50).

A "new" CD for $1.75 isn't a bad deal. Over the short while I've been a member I've seen the site add some cool new features. You can list if you want cover art shipped with the CD, if you have cover art, add you want and/or have list to you site or blog, etc. Nice little features to round things out.

The latest feature they have added to the site seems to have taken all of the cool factor out of it for me. Rather than waiting for someone to request a CD and hope the one you want is shipped next the site allows you to just purchase the CD. The problem is that most of these CDs cost significantly more than you can get them for digitally or at Amazon or Best Buy. What's wrong with this? I realize that these guys are the middle man and that adds a bit to the cost but didn't someone there try to suggest this might not fly so well?

The feature still exists on the site and has been there for a month or so now which says to me that people must be using it. Who are these people? Are they the same ones that shop for jewelry, suits or leather goods at the airport? It's a mystery and thus the site isn't near the top of my list anymore.

Still Not Getting It 22 Years Later

2006-10-31T12:35:00.000-08:00

Seen here.

Some People Will Never Understand

2006-10-31T12:24:00.000-08:00

Found here. Seen here.

Guess Who

2006-05-06T07:56:00.000-07:00

Government Logic

2006-04-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

On the USA Today site they say: “A mailed-in return costs $2.49 to process vs. 78 cents for one that's e-filed, the IRS says.” Why do they charge $15.95 for an e-file then? I can mail my return in for a lot less than that.

I e-filed this year because I finally purchased a PC based tax prep software program and they offered a mail in refund for an e-file of my federal return. At that price I thought that was worth trying it out. It was nice but I certainly won’t do that again next year without the same offer.

Impulsive...

2006-04-04T16:34:00.001-07:00

Here’s something impulsive. I just saw a picture of Tori Spelling online so I felt the need to post this: No amount of plastic surgery can make up for the face she was born with.

Mr. Hatch Goes To DFW

2006-03-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

In usual fashion I have my eyes closed for this once in a lifetime photo opportunity. The timig was great, my first upgrade to first class this year (I'm almost Silver Medallion again) and I'm sitting next to Orrin Hatch. I'm sure that after this Delt won't feel the need to upgrade me again for while figuring this was good enough to last me for a while.

-D

Top Ten Signs The Guy In The Cubicle Next To You Is Michael Jackson

2006-02-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

Top Ten Signs The Guy In The Cubicle Next To You Is Michael Jackson

10. Fax machine always clogged with subpoenas
9. There's a llama tethered to the water cooler
8. Only cubicle that has a ferris wheel
7. Carpet is covered with sequins and monkey hair
6. Asks if office has a third option besides "Men's Room" and "Ladies' Room"
5. Borrows your Wite-Out to touch up his face
4. Recycling bin is filled with surgical masks
3. They canceled "Bring Your Child to Work Day"
2. He answers his phone with a high-pitched "hee hee"
1. Everyone around the office is asking who the new white chick is

(from: http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/archive/ls_topten_archive2006/ls_topten_archive_20060118.shtml)

Howard Stern

2006-02-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

I listened to Howard Stern once, by accident, when I was on Long Island for business. This article though lifted my spirits a little today.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9181584/howards_end?rnd=1138837169298&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1212

Plastic Or Poultry?

2006-01-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

I saw this in my hotel while in Miami Beach, FL this past week. It looked too big to be a turkey (and who leaves those lying around in a hotel hallway?) but the shape and color were too similar.

SanDisk Sansa m200 Series MP3 Player Playlist Creation

2006-01-16T17:46:00.000-08:00

I tried to figure out, over the weekend, how to set up playlists on my SanDisk Sansa m250 (and I would assume that this would work on other m200 series (m240, m230, m260) players as well). I have an iPod and a Pocket PC, both of which sync playlists to the player bringing the songs and the playlists to the player. Apparently only the songs from playlists come over to the m250. I asked their tech support email about this and this was the response I received. I wanted to post this in hopes that others buying this player, searching for this answer can find it on Google or A9. (2006.01.29: I just reformatted this post so that it is easier to read.)

Please forgive the formatting if the response but this is how I received it and I don’t have the time right now to make it nicer.

Your Question/Problem:

How do I create a playlist on my Sansa m250? I read the FAQ that indicates that Windows Media Player playlists are not transferred to the device but how do I do that?

SanDisk Response: (01/16/2006 05:27)

Thank you for contacting SanDisk Technical Support.

The Sansa m200 series supports favorites and can be configured with customized playlists.

Concerning Favorites: they can be created on the mp3 player itself. Set the player in Advanced mode (menu>settings>Advanced to ON). Once a song is playing, if you press and hold the center select button, it will say, 'Add to favorites' and have a check and a X. Select the check (default) and press the center button again. To remove it from the list, press and hold again; it will ask if you want to delete; again, select the check. This will remove it from the list only; however, the file physically remains on the mp3 player. To clear the entire list, go to menu>settings>playback>clear favorites.

Note: Each time the mp3 player is attached to the computer, even if nothing is added or removed, the favorites list is erased.

Concerning Playlists:

Playlists stay on the device even if connected to a computer or if the device content is changed.

The Sansa m200 series has 2 different USB modes:

--MTP (Media Transfer Protocol), a protocol released my Microsoft to support DRM (Digital Rights Managment), used for subscription Music services.

--MSC (Mass Storage Class), when using as a regular removable drive.

To switch modes, from your player. go to Menu > settings > USB >

The two options are MSC and AUTO DETECT (MTP)

You can create playlists on your player through Rhapsody, Napster, Yahoo, MusicMatch, Jukebox and Windows Media Player 10 if you set the player to MTP mode.

If you are using Rhapsody,

--Save a playlist (under the play tab in the mixer, select save).

--Take the playlist and drag it to the sansa player in the top left hand corner on the interface where the device shows.

--Do not drag it to the transfer tab in the mixer as this will transfer the files only and not the playlist itself.

If you are using Napster,

--Create or Save a playlist (bottom right of napster interface).

--Under 'My Playlists' on the left of the Napster interface, right click the desired playlist. Select the 'transfer playlist to portable device.'

If you are using Yahoo,

--Follow the procedures in Yahoo to create a list and transfer it to device.

If you are using MusicMatch,

--Create a playlist either by dragging files to the playlist manager or by right clicking the file in your library. Select send to>portable device.

--Open the playlist manager (view>playlist manager).

--Right click the playlist and select send to >portable device.

If you are using Windows Media Player 10,

--Create a playlist by right clicking a song in the libary, add to>additional playlists>new or by saving a now playing list.

--Select the Sync tab and click 'Sync settings.'

--Place a check next to the playlists they want to transfer to device.

--The Windows Media Player should then sync those lists once you hit 'OK.'

Playlists can also be added in M3U format when the player is in MSC mode. This not officially supported. The following is a suggested workaround:

--Make sure the player is in the MSC mode

--Create/save an M3U playlist file from any application (winamp, windows media player, etc.).

--Find file through My Computer, right click the playlist and Open With >Choose Program >Notepad.

--The first line of the file should be #EXTM3U. After that, you will see 2 lines of text for each song in the playlist. Leave the first line alone for each song.

--For the second line, you need to delete everything except for the filename (which is everything before and including the last).

--Repeat that step for every song listed. After that, save the file by going to >File >Save.

--Copy-and-paste the m3u file to the Removable Disk.

--Copy all the songs to the Removable Disk by making a folder on the Removable Disk called 'Music' and copy songs into there.

Regardless of method, the playlist will now show on the mp3 player under >menu >play music >playlist.

If you wish to delete created playlists,

If the playlist was added via the M3U method, deletion can be achieved by deleting the M3U file while connected to the computer in MSC mode.

For any playlist transfer via any MTP mode, you can either delete the playlist folder under Media folder on the Sansa M series on the PC (this will delete all MTP based playlists. They are not selectable, and on the PC, the folder will show as empty even when the playlists are present.)

You can view and delete the individual playlists transferred via MTP in MusicMatch regardless of which MTP method was used to create and transfer the list. Bring up the portable device manager (>view>portable device manager), right click the playlist to delete, and select 'Remove.'

Regardless of the method used, only the playlist itself will be removed. Any music referenced will remain on the mp3 player and can be manually deleted.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to reply to this e-mail or contact our technical support department at one of the numbers below.

Have a Great Day and thank you for choosing SanDisk!

Sincerely,

Bello

Sandisk Technical support

DoomRPG Info

2006-01-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

I found this here: http://deepster.bigcitybaby.com/blog/archives/2005/10/doom_rpg_cheats.html
It is very useful and repeated here to hopefully make the information easier to find.
Doom RPG cheats
All of the following has been discovered by me, and a lot of free time:

Bonus area – after section 7 when the 2nd attack from Hell starts. Inside the room is an Apollyon, Baron and Revenant. It's stock full of ammo, bezerker orbs and soul orbs. This room also has cheaper stat upgrades than in the Junction.

The room is on the opposite end of Dr. Janson when part of the facility collapses. Instead of taking the fork of the room to the right to go to Dr.Jenson, continue on the left and head upwards to find the bonus room.

Code to the bonus area – 0,1,1,2,3,5,8
Super Secret Door – located in section 6
Code to the door – 2279
This room also has cheaper stat upgrades than in the Junction.

Win screens :
http://doomrpg.com/win/hound.html
http://doomrpg.com/win/spire.html
http://doomrpg.com/win/blues.html
http://doomrpg.com/win/sarge.html
This is the highest rating you can attain in DoomRPG. No, I didn't earn it yet but as you can see...it wasn't too hard to figure out the site's name.

Enemy weapon weaknesses :
Zombie class – axe
Hellhound class – shotgun
Commando class – chaingun/plasma gun
Imp class – shotgun/super shotgun
Lost Soul class – fire extinguisher/plasma gun
Pinky class – shotgun/super shotgun, resistant towards axe
Cacodemon class – plasma gun, malwrath weak towards axe
Pain elemental class – plasma gun
Revenant class – rockets/plasma gun, resistant to shotgun
Mancubus class – rockets
Archvile class – fire extinguisher/plasma gun
Baron class – shotgun/super shotgun/rockets
Kronos – BFG
Cyberdemon – BFG

Tips that make the game easier :
Use the appropriate weapon against an enemy
Use rockets/super shotgun with berserker mode to kill Kronos easily
Use rockets w/ beserker mode against the two power couplings in the final battle. Ignore all other enemies.
Use BFG w/ beserker mode against the Cyberdemon. 2–3 shots should kill him.

Fun in the bounce Haus

2005-12-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

The Kids...

2005-11-18T07:54:00.000-08:00

My Daughter...

2005-11-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

Finally...

2005-10-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

Now that I have an iPod I can understand the craze; but I still can’t understand the price.  Apple is a publicly traded corporation so they owe it to their shareholders to charge what the market will bear but still from my perspective the price is quite steep.  I think it would be worth the price if the battery was changeable (I understand that when you send your iPod in to Apple for replacement they just send you a refurb) or something like that to extend the life I might agree more with the price.

I’m amazed that no one else has come up with a decent user interface (I’m referring to the ease of use and to the nice clean look).

The other big stumbling block for other MP3 players is the file format.  I’ll ignore Sony here since their software is so dense and difficult to use.  I’ll also ignore Real Player since they have very few players that will play music purchased from their store.  Files in the Apple format (which is essentially the same as Real Player’s except at lower quality) will play on any authorized machine, the same file.  Microsoft’s file format is locked to a specific PC.  When you want to play your track on another PC you have to download the file all over again.  Also, if you have to reinstall Windows you have to download your tracks all over again.  I could go on here but this is very inconvenient.

Apple is a juggernaut here because while everyone else is trying to come up with a player to rival theirs they are already moving onto content to keep people buying (in addition to improving their players).  Napster and others are making a good try with their subscription models but I don’t see how renting is as compelling as owning.  Maybe this is another bit I’d understand if I tried it but I don’t see this happening anytime soon either.

Meditation Methods

2005-09-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

Meditation Methods

I’m doing a bit of study about meditation. Here’s what I have found so far.

http://1stholistic.com/Meditation/hol_meditation_taoist_meditation.htm
http://1stholistic.com/Meditation/hol_meditation_four_basic_elements.htm#posture
http://1stholistic.com/Meditation/hol_meditation_calming_sequence.htm

2005-08-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

Thinking of you...