Tag Archives: evening reading

I can, sort of, understand why someone might voluntarily choose an Android phone over an iPhone.  I have a harder time understanding why someone would voluntarily chose a Windows Phone, but I can get there.  But I cannot in my wildest dreams understand why someone would voluntarily choose a Blackberry. Here’s a good review of the new (years too late) handset.

I gave up my virtualization software when I finally admitted that my Windows Live Writer days were behind me.  But if I hadn’t, I would read every word of this.  If you have a Mac and want to run Windows programs, start there.

I guess there’s some part of me that is a little old lady in disguise, because I have to tell you that I would never, ever buy something off of Craigslist.  Sorry, but the whole place seems like a scam for all.

So Iran sent a monkey to space.  Space monkey, space monkey, whatcha doin’ up there….

My buddy Will wants to go hunting, but he doesn’t like guns.  So he wants to use a slingshot.  OK.  We can do that.  Here’s one.

Here’s some dude named Abe’s list of 50 essential science fiction books.  I can’t list 50, but the Hyperion Cantos, the Pelbar Cycle and Star Man’s Son would be at the top.

I don’t always want to be a cat, but when I do, I want to be a Canada Lynx.

Speaking of cats, my cat  wouldn’t cross the street to come back to us (literally, I’m not kidding), but this cat travels 200 miles?

It’s been a long time since I played computer games, but I can tell you that I’m intrigued by the forthcoming SimCity reboot.  SimCity was one of the first computer games that really got me hooked.  Actually it was the mostly forgotten SimFarm first, and then SimCity.  The fact that the new version will be released on Mac doesn’t bode well for my free time.

I was a boss SimFarmer back in the day

RIP Leroy Bonner.  When my kids want to talk to me about the non-music they listen to and how lame daddy’s music is, I make them watch this.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, on the radio today rocks like that.

Speaking of old things.  I am bewildered by the gems that Raiders of the Lost Walmart uncover.  My first digital camera was a Sony Mavica.  You can have your own, for a mere $269.  You’ll also need an ancient computer with a floppy drive.

If there is one thing that should never be consumed, it’s non-diet soda.  I go postal on the rare occasions when my kids ask me if they can have one.

I’m sure internet dating is a little scary.  Getting stabbed 10 times while on an internet date is probably really scary.

Delaney saw some deer tracks, and decided she needed to carve a spear.  Maybe persistence hunting will be her next sport.

I think Y2K was the last time I was as militantly uninterested in something as I am in 3D printing.  In fact, reading things like this convinces me that someone has too much time on his hands.  Call me when you can print backwards or forwards in time.

I used to love to eat at Roy Rogers in college.  Tab, not so much.

So we have known for a while that the Surface RT sucks.  I still think the Surface Pro will be a nice device.  Would anyone with two brain cells to rub together prefer it to a MacBook Air?  Nope.  These things are going to be way too expensive.  TechCrunch is wrong about them being priced right, but right about the prior release of the Surface RT being wrong.

Google Apps are getting closer and closer to becoming a viable Microsoft Office alternative.  Here’s the thing, though.  No one needs an office suite at home any more.  Everything is done via email, Evernote and social networks.  And few big companies are going to abandon Office any time soon.  So it doesn’t really matter.  Office suites are the fax machines of this decade.

WikiCancel looks like a promising compilation of how to cancel accounts.

Here’s a cool slide show of Apple’s home page through the years.

Charlie Brown is doing his part to highlight the growing problem with rock violence in America.  We need rock control and we need it now.

The last meal of Lennox, the Boxer.

Oops.

Well, at least I didn’t buy more Apple this week.  I thought long and hard about it.

Meanwhile, on the internet, it’s all about the headline…

Reuters:

Cult of Mac:

If you’re like my wife, all technology dies at your fingertips.  If you’re like my wife, before your iOS technology dies, you load it to death with all kinds of random photographs and whatnot.  Here’s how to tell when you’ve done that.

The only thing Samsung is going to take on with a new Galaxy tablet is water.  Once more, with feeling:  I will not buy another Android anything unless and until Google addresses the fractured nature of the various versions and the complete uncertainty of the upgrade process.  Actually, I won’t buy one then either, but I wouldn’t be philosophically precluded.

I can’t believe Rhapsody is still around.  Here’s why I would not use their service again.  On the other hand, I am about the dump Sirius XM in favor of all-Spotify all the time.

Two of the best things ever are John Carpenter’s The Thing (one of my top-10 movies, all time) and Battlestar Galactica.  Anything with DNA from both of those would have to be great.

Awesome toys. I still have some.

I still have some Super Balls.

Not a great day, for Catholics or Notre Dame fans.

Or Lance Armstrong.  Live updates here.

But let’s not forget this.  In the words of a great American, “Why do you lie!”

When I read stuff like this, it makes me even more concerned about eating at restaurants.  It also explains why we are an overweight nation.  Here’s a better plan.

Just as soon as some idiot on the left thinks we can solve the world’s problems by magically making all the guns disappear, some idiot on the right says we can solve all the world’s problems by praying.  It’s not that simple, dudes.

The Onion nailed what I want from the internet.  ”I don’t want to take a moment to provide my feedback, open a free account, become part of a growing online community, or see what related links are available at various content partners.”

On a related note, I really don’t want Facebook to be my telephone.  I just want to see funny cat pictures and whatnot.

This young man is giving some idiots hell.  Anyone who wants to teach creationism or deny climate change in a classroom should be tossed in Guantanamo Bay, water-boarded for a few months and then tried for crimes against children.  Once again, so-called religious leaders: if you want your congregation to stay above zero, stop trying to tell people things that are clearly untrue.  God and science are not mutually exclusive.

This almost makes me care about the NFL again.

Poster 2.0 seems to be a promising mobile blogging app.  I use the WordPress app, which gets better and better.  But let’s be honest- blogging on  a mobile device is about as much fun as bailing hay.

I am Geritol man.  I was never all that into Black Sabbath, though I do consider Paranoid to be a great record.

Great article on Southern Discomfort.  It’s amazing to me how closely I identify with the south on so many things and how little I do on others.  Here’s my take on the items mentioned in the article.

Country music: yes, as to real country music.
Lynyrd Skynyrd: yes, for sure; but I also like Neil.
BBQ: yes, though probably half my meals are meat-free.
NASCAR: nope, boring, sorry.
Political conservatism: not the way most Republicans describe it; southern Republicans have murdered rational conservatism.
God: yes, but not the one most conservative right-wingers talk about; those cats use religion to launder hate and self-interest.
Guns: yep, but I think the NRA is a colony of dunces.
Code of masculinity: I’d like to say no, but there’s some residual traces in my DNA; my head and my heart probably aren’t together on this one.
Militarization: I’m not sure, but I think people and countries should negotiate from a position of strength; on the other hand, I detest bullies of all kinds.
Hostility to Unions: sort of, but my position has softened a little over the years.
Suspicion of Government:  not suspicion really, just a desire to protect the environment, seek social justice, not let rich guys plunder wildly, take care of those who genuinely need it, and otherwise be left alone (how’s that for all over the board?); the desire to be generally left alone is a second cousin to suspicion.

Speaking of politics, Arnold Schwarzenegger did an IAMA at Reddit today.  Someone asked him about the Republican Party:

The most important thing is that we need to be a party that is inclusive and tolerant. We can be those things and be the party we always have been. We need to think about the environment – Teddy Roosevelt was a great environmentalist and people forget Reagan was the one who dealt with the ozone layer with the Montreal protocol. We also need to talk about healthcare honestly – Nixon almost passed universal healthcare. We need to have a talk about immigration and realize you can’t just deport people. We need a comprehensive answer. We also need to stay out of people’s bedrooms. The party that is for small government shouldn’t be over-reaching into people’s private lives.

Mainly, we need to be a party where people know what we are for, not just what we are against.

Amen, Guv.  On a related, note, it was one of the best IAMAs I’ve ever read, even if on the short side.  I dig the personal notes to people.

Amazon just did something awesome.  It would have been cool if this had happened before I spent large chunks of my life ripping all of my CDs twice (once at a too low bitrate when hard drives cost money).  But it is still way cool.  Here’s the first part of the email from Amazon announcing AutoRip.

Did I really buy an ABBA record?

I’m guessing this isn’t going to happen.  If it does, they should all immediately watch Team America: World Police.

Here’s the background on ACME Corporation.  And here’s a catalog of products.

“The answer to this systemic problem is not more gorillas,” Simmons continued, her eyes welling with tears. “The answer is fewer gorillas.”

I tend to agree with this.  I offered to trade my Surface RT to Paul for just about anything.  Then I took it to my office and offered to sell or trade it to anyone for just about anything.  No takers.  Even the one hardcore Windows lover said he was waiting for the Surface Pro.  I don’t think it’s going to work out for Windows 8, thanks largely to hardware maker disinterest.  My guess is that Windows 9 will be pushed out the door sooner, rather than later.

If I took the Barnabas Collins route back to the mid-60s, one of the first things I’d do is go hear (and see) The Pretty Kittens.

Here’s their story.

Here’s a little music to brighten your day.  NRPS from 12/31/71.

This article pretty much sums up my Facebook news feed.  I’ve addressed confirmation bias before in the context of global warming.

Speaking of global warming, at this point, denial of climate change is on the same level of absurdity as those kids who said we really weren’t on the moon back in 3rd grade.  Is an extra buck or two in some billionaire’s pocket really worth jacking our planet up at our kids’ expense?  It’s not like kids aren’t screwed enough already.

This guy is right, but for the wrong reason.  Yes, it would matter greatly if Microsoft Office came to iOS.  Because the entire corporate world uses Word and Excel, and nothing else.  But much of that same corporate world fears- and often blocks- the cloud.  So if Microsoft is using Office on iOS as a way to get folks to sign up for its Office on the web service, it will not work.  So if the only meaningful way we will get Office on our iPads is to subscribe to some web service, then Office on the iOS won’t matter.  The question is who does this hurt more- Apple or Microsoft.

Superpod awesomeness (via io9).

Mo Dern Ruins:  inside a Chernobyl hospital.  Some great shots.

Will Truman on guns, death and permanence.  Recall that he wrote the best blog post ever.  I want an update on the middle sister.  My take on guns is here.

This is funny.

Awesome show makes an awesome LP cover

If you enjoy television, you surely enjoy Homeland.  If you enjoy Homeland, you’ll dig these jazz record covers.  Really cool art.  This one is my favorite.

I’m completely serious when I tell you that the first season of The Joe Schmo Show was some of the most entertaining TV ever.  They’re launching a new season tonight.  Definitely worth a look.

I’ve asked myself this question many times.  What surprises me even more is that MTV is still alive.

Windows history makes an awesome 3 minute video.  This one is almost 8 minutes.  Still worth a watch.

AllThingsD has a primer on photo sharing, including with those who aren’t on your preferred network.  I will never, ever use Facebook as my photo repository.  Never. Ever.  Google+ is a ghost town if you’re middle-aged and not techno-centrally located, but the platform is pretty robust.  It might make a good photo sharing place.  If you’re a ghost.  I use Flickr and the very elegant WordPress gallery function.  I think I’d like Photo Stream better if I even half way understood it.  Apple needs to have whoever makes those iMovie and iPhoto video tutorials to do a series on Photo Stream.

People boggle my mind sometimes.  So there’s this cat, named Pasta Batman.  Someone bails on Pasta Batman, and some nitwit decides to change his name to Whisper.  Whisper, really?  Some relative of some friends of mine did something almost as lame.  They had a cat named after one of the greatest space travelers of all time, and changed it.  I didn’t even ask to what.  I just decided to change our friends’ daughter’s name to Rygel.  I’ve called her that for years.  She answers to it, unlike the renamed cat.

Fitbit is coming out with a flexible wristband.  I’m not sure if I’ll trade in my beloved Fitbit One, but I’m going to watch closely.  I am curious how the armband works, given that Fitbit One instructions say not to wear it on your arm when awake.  What if I am in a heated conversation about which of my two favorite shows (Walking Dead and Downton Abbey) are more reflective of my true nature and start waving my arms around like an aristocratic zombie?  I’m also interested in what “water-resistant” means in this context.

I’m not the only Downton Abbey fan.

I do love me some Reddit.  As such, this looks promising.  Why do I love Reddit?  Well, here’s one reason.

Nothing approaches horse masks in terms of raw hillarity

Kodak is the new Westinghouse.

When bad PR goes bad.  I am amazed at what gets approved as acceptable PR these days.

Consumer Reports is back on the hate side of its relationship with the iPhone.  Burglars, on the other hand, still prefer Apple.

This is what the app looks like if I’m not at home

Belkin added a light switch to its WeMo line.  What they need to add more is working remote access if you have a roaming wireless network.  We have three Extremes creating a single wireless network and remote access does not work.  This is a known issue, at least to those with the problem.  Otherwise (and this is a big otherwise), WeMo is pretty cool.

TUAW has the best Mac apps for 2012.  I’m flabbergasted (flabbergasted I tell you) that they picked iTunes as the best of anything.  If you want “moar apps!” Addictive Tips has the 100 best Mac apps of 2012.

Here’s an update on my 2013 initiative to spend less money on things I don’t really need, that might save you some money too.  I called DirecTV and said I wanted to downgrade my deluxe package to the lowest one.  I got $40 a month off my monthly cost, plus some HD channels for free.  The discount lasts 6 months, but they said I could probably call back then and get another discount.  Then I called Sirius XM and tried to cancel the subscription in my truck (in favor of Spotify and an old iPod I confiscated from Delaney).  They gave me half off for a 1-year subscription, for that one and the one my kids use by the pool.

Paul Thurrott is a smart guy, who I enjoy reading.  But he needs to step away from the crack pipe if he thinks there is anything about the Surface RT that is even close to as usable and enjoyable as an iPad.  Now, the Surface Pro may be another matter.  Paul, what will you trade me for a lightly used Surface RT?  Almost anything of roughly equal value will do.