Friday, October 26, 2007

Now I'm Doubly Glad I Dumped AT&T.

While the long process of mopping up after my mother's affairs drags on, one thing I recently did was axe the AT&T service and switch to Vonage at a savings of about 70% per month. I don't know why the bill was so freaking high, but it's clear from this video, they weren't using my money to train their CSRs in basic human empathy.

See what happens when your house burns down and you've got AT&T TV service:

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Steven Colbert Loses It.

Nothing metaphorical about this item, just a four-year-old clip from the Daily Show in which the usually unflappable Colbert totally augers in after a couple of minutes.



(h/t: Gorilla Mask)

Friday, October 19, 2007

Sam Brownback Drops Out

This explains why today feels no different from any other day.

The Inconvenient Truths About Rendition (Not That The Truth Matters To Some)

The latest fantasy film about how evil America is and how noble terrorists are, Rendition, came out today and even the reliably liberal movie critics aren't rolling over and playing dead like they did for the toxic and dishonest "white people BAD!" Oscar-winner "Crash" as it only has a 43% score at Rotten Tomatoes.

How dishonest is "Rendition"? Daniel Benjamin, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and former Clinton Regime NSC staffer for five years felt the need to clear up "5 Myths About Rendition (and That New Movie)":

In fact, the term "rendition" in the counterterrorism context means nothing more than moving someone from one country to another, outside the formal process of extradition. For the CIA, rendition has become a key tool for getting terrorists from places where they're causing trouble to places where they can't. The problem is where these people are taken and what happens to them when they get there. As a former director for counterterrorism policy on the National Security Council staff, I've been involved with the issue of rendition for nearly a decade -- and some of the myths surrounding it need to be cleared up.

1. Rendition is something the Bush administration cooked up.

2. People who are "rendered" inevitably end up in a foreign slammer -- or worse.

3. Step one of a rendition involves kidnapping the suspect.

4. Rendition is just a euphemism for outsourcing torture.

5. Pretty much anyone -- including U.S. citizens and green card holders -- can be rendered these days.
How many of these myths have you swallowed thanks to the endless drumbeat of anti-Dubya rhetoric? Go read some facts. You're welcome.

Not that the unhinged Can'tMoveOn.Argh types are hearing any of it. The very first comment at the time I'm writing this is typical bile and rage that animates these moonbats:
By the way he talks, sounds like Mr. Benjamin is a great candidate for indictment as a war criminal. Perhaps we can get Blackwater a contract to shanghai ("render") Mr. Benjamin to the criminal court in The Hague and let justice be served. Wow, 10 years experience in kidnapping people off the street and sending them to be tortured in the world's nastiest dictatorships. Wow again.rage:
(I wonder if this mook is planning on voting for Hillary! to return the glorious Clinton name to the throne?)

The Washington Post is a leader of the Treason Media and published the national security-violating story that won the traitor Dana Priest a Pulitzer Prize, but to the unhinged morons that make up the Democratic Party base these days, the WaPo is just as evil as Darth Fox News. Reality is the enemy for these bozos.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Apple's Still Sour (and Their Cultists Are Still Losers!)

It's been 8 days since Apple received my defective iPod Classic and still no sign of a repaired or replacement unit coming back. The support site says that they're "Diagnosing product" which makes a lot of sense that it was MY diagnostic experiments that prompted my demand for a replacement. The battery sucks, you morons! SEND ME A WORKING UNIT!!!! Yeesh.

Keeping on the sour Apple tip, I missed this article, "The Worst Thing about Macs", by Jason Cross which lists the problems Macs have, not so much the machines, but the annoying, arrogant, asstackling (L)USERS of said machines.

3. Apple fans have an attitude where, when Apple does something bad, it's okay, or at least understandable. When other companies, especially arch-rival Microsoft, does the same exact thing, it's a travesty and obviously clear evidence of why the courts should take them down. When Microsoft bundles its own software with Windows, it's time for antitrust litigation. When Apple does the same with Mac computer or OS X, they're not shutting out competitors—they're adding value. Open source rules, and Windows is bad for being closed, except of course for how OS X is closed, because that's okay. And nobody gives credit to Microsoft for having a smartphone platform that allows for real 3rd party applications, instead celebrating the clever ways in which hackers have managed to get around Apple's "not on my phone" policy to do the same. Until they update the phone and brick it, of course. You know, AT&T refusing to provide unlock codes for iPhones is against federal regulations, right? Where's the outrage?
Did I mention that the members of the Cupertino Death Cult are also hypocrites? That, too.

Cross follows up this week with some feedback that isn't very interesting except for a link he provides at the end to a site that accurately satirizes the Apple Product Cycle. A snip:
• An obscure component manufacturer somewhere in the Pacific Rim announces a major order for some bleeding-edge piece of technology that could conceivably become part of an expensive, digital-lifestyle-enhancing nerd toy.

• Some hardware geek, the sort who actually reads press releases from obscure Pacific Rim component manufacturers, posts a link to the press release in a Mac Internet forum.

• The Mac rumor sites spring into action. Liberally quoting “reliable” sources inside Cupertino, irrelevant “experts,” and each other, they quickly transform baseless speculation into widely accepted fact.

• Apple releases the first software update for the new device through its Software Update control panel. Several hours later, it pulls the updater. A small number of people who applied the update experience crashes, data loss, headaches and ennui. The Apple support forums are filled with outraged posts. A day or so later, Apple releases a revised installer without comment, then quietly removes the angry posts from its support forums.

• Wall Street analysts appear on CNBC to explain that Apple's device will never be able to compete with the onslaught of cheaper Windows-based competitors. Apple's stock plummets. Idiot technology investors experience a brief moment of deja vu before they return to masturbating to photos of Maria Bartiromo.
Be sure to read the author's CV.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Shouldn't Talent Be A Prerequisite For A Talent Segment?

Suddenly, the end of "Little Miss Sunshine" doesn't seem so lame.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Buy Me This Shirt!!!

Every wonder if there is a wi-fi hotspot nearby? Well, if you get me this shirt...



...and are standing in front of me, you'll know for sure and how strong the signal is.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Back To The Orchard It Goes

The battery concerns I've had since the 2nd day I've had my iPod Classic have come to a head and I filed a service complaint with Apple and they're sending a box for me to ship back my obviously defective unit for replacement.

After putting up with the intermittent self-pausing and craptastic battery life for a few weeks, it really showed me how much Steve Jobs thinks of the suckers who buy his defective crap by shedding 2/3rds of its power reserves after less than 4 hours of play. FTS!

Of the three iPods I've owned - a 10GB 2G, 40GB 4G, and this 80GB Classic - I've found the failure rate of iPods to be double that of the notorious X.B.O.X.3.6.0., but will the herds of Apple cultists aver acknowledge that? Yep, thought not.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Flash Photography

This just cracked me up something crazy:



Yeah, the lighting doesn't match, but it's still a hoot.