Friday, January 30, 2009

Wow, that's cool.

Check out these fantastic images. Basically this artist as superimposed pictures of war-torn Stalingrad from the 40's onto pictures of modern day Leningrad. They are kind of creepy.

Same town in case you didn't know that.

How adventurous.

This pisses me off.

What if we'd never wondered out of the cave? What if we had never struck out across impossibly huge oceans? It's human fucking nature....idiots.

You cannot even estimate the scientific, technical and medical advances that the billions spent on the Apollo Program brought to this country. We are still riding the financial coat tails of the advances in high technology fields such as aerospace from that era. The real crime is that the Government and NASA did not continue to push the envelope and drive our species further out into our solar system. We should have had a permanent presence on the Moon two decades ago.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Locals

Here's an interesting story about a game that has bee created to show the difficulties in designing a multipurpose super computer. The game was created by Purdue University CS students as a result of competing in a Supercomputer construction contest.

It's pretty cool.

Music time

Been listening to more music lately, lots of Indie and UK stuff. Here's a play list to check out.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Nancy boys

Don't bring mace to a gunfight...

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Remember.....



Never underestimate the power of the Dark Side.

Best wishes

You have to admire the RIAA for sticking to their policy for the last few years of suing the shit out of everyone. That gained them huge amounts of public adoration....not. The RIAA has finally decided that their slash and burn policy needs to be abandoned and they are finally getting smart.

They are now courting the largest ISPs in the country and trying to convince them to "police" their own customers. This is a brilliant move by the RIAA, they can get someone to do the work for them AND absorb all the bad press involved with restricting access to pirated material. Funny thing is that this will end up making the problems worse for both the RIAA and every ISP out there.

Once there are no "safe harbor" ISP left for pirates to use then they will be left with only one option, encrypt all the traffic. Once the traffic is encrypted then it will be immune to most methods of detection for content and that will make pirated material nearly impossible to track by either the RIAA or the ISP. What will the ISPs do then, throttle all encrypted traffic back to eliminate piracy? That won't go over well with business users that rely on encrypted VPN connections to work remotely. Then there are the inherent national security issues of hundreds of terabytes of encrypted data flooding the internet that could easily obscure traffic of geniune concern.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Genius

The story of the bible told with Lego. This is awesome.



Did you look? Ha Ha! You're going to hell!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Death knell.

Anyone considering a career in print journalism should just go ahead and file for unemployment now. Newspapers and magazines around the world are slowly dying, look at the sad state of this month's Wired magazine.

Dickholes

Man do I hate that Sham-Wow guy....but he's got an amazing back story.

Hey goat.

WTF...fainting goats? No shit.

Friday, January 23, 2009

The Douchebag Chronicles

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"

-Charles Caleb Colton


There are some that create a legacy and are happy to let it grow and flourish, even it it grows beyond the bounds of their expectation. There are others that think their name alone is worth its weight in gold and try to wring out every last dollar that they can. Carroll Shelby is the latter sort of douchebag.

The man should be praised as an American Automotive Icon for his racing exploits and contributions to automotive design. Instead he's increasingly known has a mean old man with an army of lawyers at his disposal. Now I'm not saying he doesn't have the right to defend the use of his name nor do I think he should be denied compensation for use of his name. But this business of trying to sue Factory Five Racing over an issue that was already settled in court eight years ago is total bullshit. Just because FFR built a better car with a body design that he considers to be "his". Hey Carroll, Peter Brock designed the body of the Daytona Coupe anyway...you just slapped your damn name on it. Brock better watch out because Shelby will probably try to sue him next for trying to sell "replicas" of the car he designed.

It must be sad for Carroll Shelby to look at a field of replica Cobras that exist because so many people have a passion for the car he helped create. Sad because he looks at all those Cobras and just feels cheated out of the money when he should be flattered....so much for humility.

WTF Mexican WWF edition.

Power Rangers are real!!!!


That is just stupid

The idea that everyone should have broadband internet access in their home is ridiculous. Some people should not be allowed within five feet of a computer let alone be given access to the digital minefield that is the internet. Given the fact that you are reading this it is obvious that my entire life revolves around the internet but it is a dangerous place for the gullible masses.

If the government is really going to digitally revolutionize itself then yes, the public does need access. But I think the public would be far better served by some kind of internet cafe or kiosk system where people can not only get access to the internet but have access to computers in a safe and well supported environment.

Currently, the unwashed masses spend their time in public libraries using their computers to access the internet. There are a couple of problems with this:
  • Most librarians will tell you how tired they are of asking people not to browse for porn and masterbate in the public library, seriously.
  • Libraries do not have the funding for equipment, space and qualified staff to deal with supporting or policing computer usage.
  • Libraries may have made sense when the internet was merely a research tool but it has moved far beyond that now.
So bring on the government funded public computing centers.

I need a backiotomy

Now that President "Science is Bad" has left the building we can finally get back to making some fucking progress in this country. First up, stem cell research is back on track and may actually give some paraplegics back the use of their limbs.

Of course this is disaster for those of you that think stem cells are bad...you'll probably change your mind if you end up in a wheel chair.

The Stone Age

The Washington Post has an interesting article, although a bit thin on the specifics, about the state of technology at The White House. I never would have guessed that the Bush Administration wasn't tech savvy...they seemed like such an enlightened bunch.

First, a bitch. "Six year old Microsoft Software" probably refers to the use of Windows XP/Office 2003. I guess the author of this sees that "2003" moniker and instantly (in his tiny MacBook brain) thinks that it is too old to be useful. Honestly the combination of Windows XP/Office 2003 is very reliable and extremely secure.

Now, how to fix that mess.

  • Forget about your Mac. I'm not saying that it wouldn't work but you can't have this tiny minority within the Government using Macs when EVERYONE else is using PCs. Mac users already have this elitist attitude, don't lend credibility to it. Not to mention that Apple products cost at least twice as much as Windows based systems. If anything you should lead by example and develop a highly secure, government specific distribution of Linux that will be platform agnostic.
  • Create an agency or task someone high-ranking with revamping the ENTIRE government's tech infrastructure. It will be painful, expensive and time consuming but if it isn't done soon then you will just fall further behind. Some agencies are way ahead of the curve but it sounds like the Executive Branch is far behind.
  • Ignore any company that comes calling to pitch their "one size fits all" solution *cough Microsoft *cough. You need to pay smart, qualified people with no vested interest in platforms or technology to DESIGN something specific to the VERY unique situation that is The White House.
Barrack Obama should have no problem finding people willing to do help fix this problem.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Look, a dinosaur!

How many nails are in Rush Limbaugh's coffin? Who the hell agrees with his insane ramblings anymore? Only those diehard ultra neo-cons that have ruined the Republican party care about his rambling insanities. Here's is latest gem.



I think it's time for a cage match between Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly...the winner gets a slightly less painful death.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

False advertising

I think there's a car for sell or something on eBay.

Tastes like chicken

Here kitty kitty.


Chicken Versus Tigers Surprise - Watch more Animal Videos

Another lawyer cockfight

Apparently Carrol Shelby's lawyers just noticed that Factory Five Racing exists, despite the fact that they have been selling Cobra "replicas" for 13 years now. I love this statement:

“a design to conceal their use…a knowing disregard for the Plaintiff’s rights, and also demonstrates…malice, willfulness, and fraud.”

Even if you have half a fucking brain cell it would take you about five minutes to realize that these cars aren't "real" Cobras and Daytona Coupes. The most iconic thing about the Cobra is the body shape/shell which wasn't designed by Shelby anyway....Carrol, don't you have enough damn money from slapping your name on Mustangs?

The boomin' system

This cat loves his boomin' subwoofer ride.

The new king

Toyota has officially become the world's largest automaker, finally knocking GM from the top. General Motors had been the largest automaker for 77 years....truly the end of an era.

The other GM news this morning is that the bailout money that GM received has done little to help their financial situation.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Times are a changing

Years and years ago, Chrysler was a company on the rise. Lee Iacocca had pulled the company from the flames with a combination of affordable small cars and the Minivan revolution. As a result of that late 80's high note, Chrysler was seeking all sorts of international partnerships with numerous companies. At one point there were strong rumors that Chrysler was considering the purchase of Fiat or Maserati but instead purchased Lamborghini. That was short lived and fairly unproductive for both companies.

Fast forward to today, Chrysler is a company on the edge of collapse. Today the reverse has come true and Fiat is buying a 35% stake in Chrysler. This is huge news because Fiat has made HUGE progress in the European market in the last few years and buying Chrysler gives them access to a huge dealer network. A dealer network that is starving for better products than PT Cruisers and Sebrings.

Perhaps soon you'll be able to walk into a Chrysler dealership and buy a Fiat 500 or Panda, a Maserati Quattroporte or an Alfa Romeo.....that would be sweet.

Windbag

Watching the Inauguration....Rick Warren is a huge gas bag. I wish I knew someone that was deeply religious so that I could ask them what was in anyway inspiring about what he said. To me it was a rambling mess of babble.

Surprise bitches!

Everyone wants to talk about how badass Obama's new limo is going to be. Yawn, it's essentially a hermetically sealed tank wrapped in Cadillac sheet metal....how boring.

What you really need to pay attention to is the fleet of SUVs that accompany that limo. If you watch close enough you'll see one with impossibly blacked out windows that no one ever seems to get in or out of....why is that? Here's why...it's got a bit of a surprise hiding inside.

Supposedly these are only used when the President travels to "hot" areas.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Uh-oh

There's no doubt that the military is looking for new ways to accomplish its mission (that's military speak for blowing shit up and killing people) without risking soldiers lives. Now we've got robots on the battlefield, super armored vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles that are capable of shooting missiles at targets. All of that stuff still requires some kind of HUMAN involvement...or does it?

I call bullshit

I'm still spitting mad about ABC canceling Pushing Daisies. As if killing the show off wasn't bad enough they have also announced that the final few (five I think) episodes will not be televised. In other words you're either going to have to pay to download them or buy the DVD/Blu-Ray when it hits shelves.

Also, one of the ABC trained monkeys has said that the reason the show was canceled was because it was popular with "non-traditional" viewers. What that means is that people that watch TV shows via their computer or on their iPod don't count the same because the industry still relies on the laughable Nielsen ratings system to gauge a show's popularity. Considering how much easier, not to mention cheaper, it is to track the number of times a show is downloaded I find this excuse to be laughable at best.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Nerds are fun

Remember yesterday's story about that stupid, cheap girl that had her life ruined by Ubuntu? It looks like the Linux community, which is kind of like a pack of starving pit bulls at times, really took the TV station and the woman involved for a wild ride. I love how her Ubuntu laptop was useless and she couldn't get on the Internet but somehow she was able to get harassed on Facebook. That's crack journalism for you.

Etu Sony?

How does Sony expect to defeat Microsoft and Nintendo in the gaming console world if they can't even get their own shit together?

Sony cock blocks itself?

Farewell

It looks like bankruptcy reorganization can't save Circuit City and the company is to be completely liquidated. Karma has finally struck for their blatant attempt to rape consumers via their failed Divx video distribution system.

For those that don't remember. Divx was a pay per view version of DVD that Circuit City created and threatened to derail the adoption of DVD back in the mid 90's.

Those of you that live near a CC that escaped the first round of closure should keep your eyes peeled for liquidation deals.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Oh, Kevin.

Ashton Kutcher, really? You just lost some of your uber-geek credibility.

Douchebag

Great story about some asshat executive that lost nearly $120,000,000 gambling in Las Vegas over a two year period. His list of demands of casino staff is hilarious.

Crazy video

This video has to be watched to be believed. First of all, NSFW.

The gist of this video is that some Israeli soldiers are engaging two Hamas terrorists. One of these Israelis has apparently been watching too many Chuck Norris movies....this is seriously crazy.

Who?

Who the hell is Sarah Palin?




Blamey Whinehouse....that's priceless.

I'm with stupid

I pity this idiot reporter, the moron woman involved and the gang of half wits that run this network affiliate. They have officially pissed all over the most vehement group of fanboys that exist.....linux freaks. This story makes it sound like using Ubuntu is going to result in the complete collapse of space and time. Watch the video...it's pathetic.


First of all, this stupid bitch obviously can't read. The reason she ended up with Ubuntu on her laptop is because she fucking cheap and "saved" herself $100 by choosing to NOT have Windows installed. She should have just bought a $600 HP from Walmart.....

What the shit?

Now this is a great news story.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Lost in translation

Tag, you're gay.

Sad day

Pioneer has officially ended production of Laser Disc players...about 16 years after any body gave a shit.

Quite a mix

Barack Obama has officially named the next Administrator of NASA, a retired Air Force Major General named Scott Gration. This guy's background is about as diverse as it gets.

On the surface I would think that putting a former Air Force officer in charge of NASA lends some credence to the rumor that Obama is going to merge the military rocket program with that of NASA. Obama has said that he wants to shake things upat NASA and get them back into the forefront of space exploration. We invested TRILLIONS of dollars in our military rocket program so why not use some of that technology for manned missions?


Desperate times

How bad is Chrysler's current financial situation? Bad enough that they are reportedly trying to sell off Jeep to Nissan. Considering the platform sharing that occurs between Jeep at Dodge....I just don't see how they can "divorce" Jeep from the whole. My guess is that Jeep's brand name is more valuable than the Chrysler/Dodge brand. So Chrysler sells Jeep to Nissan/Magna and then gets paid, in the short term, to manufacture Jeep vehicles.

Even though I think that Nissan could probably build a better Jeep, I just don't see your average Jeep customer being real happy about buying a Wrangler with a Renault engine in it....

Oh BTW...Magna Steyr is probably the biggest car manufacturer that no one knows about. They currently build cars for Jeep, BMW, Mercedes and in the near future Porsche.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

I hate being right

The most recent episode of 60 Minutes had a great piece about the causes of the now collapsed oil bubble. Seems like massive speculation is becoming the accepted cause of the $150/barrel prices we saw last year...sounds familiar.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Awesome-O

Here's a great list of Cartman's top 24 moments from South Park....may be NSFW.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Thin is in

Check this out. Basically Asus has stuffed an ENTIRE computer into the base of a keyboard....it's amazing.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Monopoly Money

How did a "boutique" car company like Porsche come to own Volkswagen? Porsche sells less than 40,000 cars a year and Volkswagen is now the third largest auto manufacturer behind GM and Toyota selling nearly a quarter of a million cars per year around the world.

Here's part of the story of how Porsche achieved this takeover....it's a good one if you like stock/finance stuff.

Sticking it to the man

If the name aXXo means nothing to you then this article will help open your eyes to the world of Internet piracy. The mysterious aXXo has gone beyond man or group and has become more of a movement, a figure both worshiped and hated within the movie piracy community.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Impressed

General Motors has been making over Cadillac and Buick for years. While the CTS is the only real success story for Cadillac thus far, Buick is getting ready to drop its second big thing.

First there was the Enclave which most people casually ignore as just another Buick. Well guess what, it may well be the nicest full size SUV out there if luxury is your primary concern. The interior is especially nice.

The second act in this Buick revival is the 2010 LaCrosse. Man I hope they can finally shake of that Buick badge stigma because this is one nice looking car.

The Secret

Here's a hilarious faux (at least I hope) review of the publishing phenomenon...The Secret.

Priceless

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Oh yeah.

It's time for CES again....hooray, I almost forgot. The Internet has nearly killed the traditional "trade show" for numerous industries and it really surprises me that CES soldiers on somehow.

Anyway here's the first cool thing I've seen from the CES coverage. If thing supports Divx playback and costs less than $250 then it will rule!


UPDATE:

Here's something even cooler! Check out this awesome Wireless audio distribution system from Linksys...looks fucking awesome!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Goodbye keyboard

MacWorld starts today so the tech news will be dominated by all things Apple, even though it appears they aren't really announcing any thing significant. Of course the only news that matters is The Onion News Network.


Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Monday, January 5, 2009

LOL!

Awesome Invention

Check out this awesome low-tech solution to custom eyeglasses. Sucks to be you if you're an optometrist.

Scared yet?

According to numbers released today Chrysler has a 115 day inventory. That means that it will be almost 90 days before they need to produce ANY new cars because they have such a glut of vehicles already on hand. This is probably the worst possible news for any Chrysler employee, the ones that still have jobs, because the 30 day "shutdown" they are currently enduring could be extended quite a bit more.

Also, keep in mind that tax season is approaching and you have to ask yourself can the dealers sitting on these piles of cars afford to pay the taxes on them? This is going to get really ugly.

No angels

So the Israelis are on another tour of Gaza, and causing much publicized and regrettable casualties to the civilian population. Of course this is what the civilian population of Gaza is being fed via Hamas' own television network....




Wow, religion and nationalism all rolled into one happy package.

They also like to show those scenes of Palestinians shoving injured people into cars to take them to the hospital. What, they don't have ambulances for that over there? They do have ambulances...but it appears that Hamas likes to use them as troop transports. Next, cue scene of burnt out ambulance....look the Israelis are blowing up ambulances!!! Those animals!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Today's poetry

Oscar time

What's my favorite part about December and January? Two words, DVD Screeners. This time of the year all of the movie studios are pushing out DVD Screeners to every one with an Oscar Ballot. This means that nearly every new release movie is "available" if you know where to look.

If you haven't seen The Wrestler or Slumdog Millionaire then you don't know what you're missing. Mickey Rourke deserves nothing less than an Oscar for his performance in The Wrestler and whoever wrote Slumdog Millionaire was a fucking genius.

ANYONE that tries to tell you that Valkyrie is a good movie should be hit in the head with a shovel and buried in the woods. They are a pod person sent here by Zenu to enslave our entire planet.

Classy

Anyone else watch CNN's New Years Eve show? I did, just because I wanted to see what the match up of Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin would look like...man was it weird. It was like watching Frost-Nixon, Anderson Cooper looked like a man living in complete fear. Every time CNN cut to one of the live music performances they had to either bleep every expletive (there were several) or completely kill the video ('Lil Waynes stage show relies heavily on stripper poles). Then Kathy Griffin let this little gem slip....

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