Wednesday, September 30, 2009

De-Orbit

Looks like the Saturn car brand will not survive after all. Apparently Penske backed out of the deal and GM let the axe fall. Roger Smith's sad small car experiment has finally come to an end.

Saturn still has one of the most "modern" dealer networks out there and it would be a shame to see them all shuttered out right but unless one of the nascent Chinese brands can come up with some cash that's likely going to happen.

They've got my support

This is a cause I can really get behind.....hilarious.



mmmmmmm......Emily Deschanel.........mmmmmmmmmm.

Dichotomy

Is YouTube the greatest thing to ever hit the Internet or is it the harbinger for the downfall of our society? Here's a nice compilation video of the 100 most watched videos on YouTube.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Clocked!

Check out this link. People getting punched in the face while being filmed with high speed cameras....

Made a monkey out of me

Found this interesting YouTube video about how genetic markers and the Human Genome Project are helping to prove Darwin's Theory of Evolution.



It's a shame that this can't really PROVE the common descent theory but without viable DNA samples from the fossil record it's just not possible. Yet.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Don't you dare screw this up.

I've bought tens of thousands of dollars worth of computer and electronic equipment over the last few years. I would say that 90% of the computer related hardware that I have purchased as come from one company, Newegg. You can always tell a non-geek because when you mention the word Newegg they always look at you funny. They don't advertise in "mainstream" media and they don't get talked about on the news. What they do is sell computer hardware and lots of it.

Newegg announced today they are going to go public via an IPO. I swear to dog if this screws up my favorite place to buy PC parts I will go postal.

Right and wrong.

Here's another fantastic TED Talk by a social psychologist named Jonathan Haidt. He talks about the moral differences between people that identify themselves as liberals or conservatives. I found it to be fascinating and well worth the 18 minutes.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Mind....blown.

The Hubble Space Telescope has expanded the field of astronomy by enormous leaps over the last two decades. Most people don't really appreciate just what Hubble as done for helping us to understand the Universe. This video is awesome and if it doesn't amaze you then you are dead inside.

Rambler

If you missed the highlights of Crazy Khadafy's speech to the UN last week then you are missing out. He was only supposed to talk for 15 minutes but ended up waxing crazy for over 90 minutes. Apparently even his own personal translator couldn't take the nonsense he was throwing around.

Now that is deep.

Absolutely fantastic interview with Rachel Maddow and Frank Schaeffer. Schaeffer wrote a great book about being raised as an evangelical christian and man does he have something to say about it.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Weasel

Answer the fucking question!



He has no answers...none. Anyone that turns to Glenn Beck for advice should be lobotomized.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Dead Hand

This is a fascinating article in Wired about the Russian Doomsday Device that was lampooned in the Stanley Kubrick classic, Dr. Strangelove. The movie mocked the idea of the Cold War and escalating nuclear tensions between the US and the USSR. In the movie the Russians had built a "Doomsday" device that would automatically retaliate should the US ever attack Russia with nuclear weapons.

Well this is no joke....such a system actually exists and may still be online to this day.


Sleep tight!

Just make it already!

I posted a few weeks back about the ongoing saga of a movie based on the Halo video game series. This week saw the release of yet another Halo game called Halo 3:ODST which is apparently selling like hotcakes, so where is the damn movie? The Halo universe is obviously compelling and more than capable of bringing in the cash.

Peter Jackson and the Neill Blomkamp were working on the original concept for the Halo movie until the studio bean counters got concerned that the budget was out of control for the project. I'm sure those same studio execs are crying themselves to sleep after seeing how successful (and fucking awesome) the Jackson/Blomkamp production of District 9 has done in the theaters. Blomkamp has gone on to say that he now has no interest in going back to the Halo franchise...with the success of District 9 this guy can call his own shots now.

So is the Halo movie franchise cursed or dead? Sure Steven Spielberg is attached to this project now but is he going to direct it or just produce it? I just don't see him bringing the kind of "edge" to this project that it needs. Watching District 9 I can't help think that Blomkamp's Halo would have been amazing.

I made the bold claim that the Halo Believe ad that ran for the Halo 3 game was the best commercial that I had ever seen. The Director and team of people that were responsible for that advertisement created a new, and completely different, kind of ad for the new Halo 3:ODST game. This may even be better than the Believe ad...this team of people deserve a shot at making a Halo movie. This ad is more like a trailer for a movie than a trailer for a video game...

Bling life

Take a look at this post with pictures of confiscated weapons and property from Mexican drug lords. These guys know how to live.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Bust that myth

Mythbusters has to be one of my favorite TV shows, it just feeds my inner geek. Adam Savage tends to lead a more public existence and I've linked to a couple of his lecture videos in the past. His partner Jamie Hynemann is a bit more shy and retiring but he has led a pretty interesting life. He also grew up in my home state and got a degree from Indiana University....I never knew that.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Fear the Pr0n

Sigh.....the religious right is always good for a laugh. Read this.

All those years looking at Playboy magazine I thought what I really liked was hot, bouncy boobies. I feel so misled.


LOL

Monday, September 21, 2009

Tons O' Fun

Great story about how the US recovered TONS of highly enriched nuclear material from Kazakhstan before it could fall into the wrong hands. Hell, Kazakhstan is practically in Al Qaeda's back yard!

The Power Vacuum

At some point in the very near future President Obama is going to have to make a choice about what is going to define his Presidency. If he can pull off Universal Health Care then he may be known as the great "Domestic" policy President bringing about the greatest change in this country's domestic policy since the Civil Rights movement. That alone could be his greatest legacy, but what about foreign policy?

The argument for continuing the war in Afghanistan has always been that we have to build up the Afghan Government so that they can defend their own nation from the Taliban threat. Of course that Government has to be established along the lines that the US Government regards as acceptable, I.E. a freely elected Democratic (mostly) system. There is startling evidence that the recent election was so corrupt that it should be in no way considered "freely elected".

So what are Americans and ISAF soldiers fighting for now? Is the Obama Administration ready to walk away from Afghanistan and declare it a lost cause? There seems to be resistance to committing additional troops to try and improve the situation facing the military commanders in charge.

Let's face it Iraq was Bush's folly, or Cheney's more likely, and should never have happened but there were clear reasons for going into Afghanistan. The whole point was to defeat the Taliban and eradicate their influence on the region. The Taliban has not been defeated and if we pull out now you can be sure that Afghanistan will go right back to being a haven for international terrorist organizations.

Mr. Obama, you are painted in a corner. Sorry about that.

Old School

One of my favorite podcasts out there is TWiT (This Week in Tech) featuring the always great host, Leo Laporte. Leo has been a tech guru for a long time and SOME of you may remember him from a fantastic show that was on the ZDNet/TechTV channel called The Screen Savers. Here is a classic clip from that show featuring The Ultimate Gaming Machine circa 1998...for some of you out there this will bring back some great memories.



I had a WaveBlaster add-on card that I spent some ridiculous amount of money on but man did it make Doom sound freaking badass.

Friday, September 18, 2009

I'm frightened and confused.

This story scares me. Bill O'Reilly has said on his own show that he now supports the "public option" of Universal Health Care.

Up is down, black is white, dogs and cats living together.....

He must have shorted some HMO stocks or something, he has to have SOME angle on this.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Falsetto

If you can only visit one site today....then this is it.

I recommend you watch the video titled Little Wings....such haunting melodies.

Limbaugh the visionary

Here's a great story about how Rush Limbaugh thinks that we should have segregated buses for whites and blacks.

I just don't have the strength to comment on this today, it's too depressing. All I will say is that old, fat, white xenophobes like Limbaugh should be afraid of what the future holds because there will be no future for them.

WTF did you say?

I love the look on the female anchor's face but to the guy's credit....he was smooth about it.

Fear Mongering Insanity

I'm sorry but Michelle Bachmann has come to symbolize for me everything that is wrong with the Republican Party. She uses hyperbolic statements to drive fear into the hearts and minds of the uninformed masses. She draws conclusions that are not only wrong but just plain fucking crazy. Watch this shit.



Here we go...
  1. SUVs are getting smaller because most people don't need a 20 foot long truck to go to work in. Also, most people can't afford to fill up the gas tank in that monster truck because of the financial disaster brought about by the previous administration's "head in the sand" economic policy.
  2. Of course Government Regulated energy would be more expensive...right? I mean look at what unregulated free market capitalism did to the energy market in California. Everyone looks back and agrees that Enron had it right!!
  3. I can only assume that her crazy food rant is in reference to the new Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 which was written to strengthen the FDA's ability to investigate cases of tainted food. Apparently she has no issue with you eating salmonella tainted peanut butter as long as you can eat as much as you want!!
Maybe if she spent less time grandstanding on television and on the House floor she'd have some time to actually do her job and READ THE FUCKING LEGISLATION THAT SHE IS TALKING ABOUT.



Every time I hear the word "freedom" cross her lips I think of this scene from Braveheart. Not that I want to see her drawn and quartered of course.

It's ALIVE!!

Toyota has decided to breath some life into the snoozefest that is the Lexus product line. Check out the new LF-A supercar, it looks interesting but I'm not sure if I like it or not. It's certainly not beautiful but most Japanese supercars are more to the nerdy/technical side. Compared to the forthcoming Ferrari 458 it's just plain fugly.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

ROJO!!!!!!!

This is hilarious.


The Inside Man

There is a new book coming out by one of former President Bush's speechwriters, the first of many I would assume. Some excerpts from the book have been posted on GQ...they are interesting to say the least.

I'd like to think that the private image of Bush is better than his public portrayal. This article almost makes me feel sad for him.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Crapware

Mint has been one of my favorite things for the last couple of years and I used it regularly. Unfortunately, they are being acquired by Intuit...crapware maker.

I've had so many horrible experiences with Intuit products that I have absolutely no faith that they wont totally screw up Mint.

That just sucks.

Monday, September 14, 2009

The reason.

Being a nerd is considered chic these days but that wasn't always true. It's shit like this that gave geeks a bad name back in the day.

Fishsticks

Kanye West......the biggest douche in the world.

Yes....he makes some decent music but man is this guy an asshole.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Now you know

I didn't even realize that Dubai was working on a metro-rail/subway system but apparently they are and the first sections of the system opened this week. This really surprised me given the fact that most of the people living in this region have a serious love affair with the car. It's a really impressive system and here is a video running at a high speed to show the entire journey. FYI: at around 45 seconds in you can see the Burj Dubai dwarfing the buildings around it.


Almost perfect.

Since the new version of iTunes came out on Wednesday I've spent several hours playing with my iPhone and I have come to two conclusions.

First, I love my iPhone and I could not possibly comprehend life without it at this point. Second, I hate this fucking iPhone and I'm going to smash it will a shovel. That may seem somewhat schizophrenic to some of you but those of you that have and iPhone will probably agree. Here is my analysis of my iPhone.


Loves
  • The overall look an feel is fantastic. The build quality makes most other phones seem like cheap toys....I'm looking at you Nokia.
  • The interface (post software version 3.0) is a beautiful thing.
  • Apps, Apps, APPS! There are so many good apps out there it is overwhelming.
  • Great internet browser, only really limited by the screen size but it still works great.
  • The screen is fantastic for photos and video.
HATES!
  • Battery life....what a fucking joke. You build a great device that I WANT TO USE and then cripple it with awful battery life. I've had my 3G for a year now and my battery won't make it a full day anymore with moderate use. I'll take a thicker, heavier device if it had 25%-50% better battery life or a swappable battery (what a novel concept).
  • Call quality sucks. That may be more AT&Ts problem than Apple but sometimes I sound like a U-Boat Commander on the bottom of the Atlantic.
  • No background apps. Come on Apple, if Palm can figure it out then you can. Of course I shudder to think what that would do to my craptastic battery life at this point but I want my damn IM client running in the background! Why should I keep shoveling money into AT&Ts pockets for text messages?
  • GIVE ME GOD DAMN FLASH SUPPORT IN MOBILE SAFARI BEFORE I HUNT YOU DOWN!
Other shit
  • Yes, I love the interface but I don't want to have to go three menus deep to turn on/off bluetooth or wifi. I can't run either one full time because of the previsouly mentioned shit battery life. How about adding a user selectable "switch" identical to the silent switch but on the opposite side? I would want to choose what function it performs but it could toggle wifi, bluetooth, or airplane mode. That would be so sweet.
  • And one more button that could serve has a general launcher. It could be a play/pause button or it could start the camera app or act has the "shutter" button for the camera. I know that Apple is fastidious about their design aesthetic but this could really improve usability.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

A Time and Place for Everything

Over the last few weeks the GOP and their cohorts have a done a great job of sowing the seeds of discontent for Health Care Reform. The atmosphere at some of the town hall meetings has been toxic and unproductive to say the least. In some respects these scenes are expected when dealing with the misinformed and scared general public. However, Joe Wilson the Republican Representative from South Carolina took his discord to a nearly unheard of level last night. He decided that shouting his dissent at The President during a special session of Congress was the best way to voice his displeasure.

Talk about a bad idea....if you haven't seen the video it is worth it for the crowd reaction alone. Fast forward to 2:00 minutes for the event.



I think someone just got taken off of the Obama christmas card list.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Fix something else

Walmart wants to crush it's competition and over the last 10-15 years it's done a pretty good job. Now Walmart wants to re-invent their stores to make them feel more upscale but still offer the same low prices.

My two biggest problems with Walmart are 1.) their employees and 2.) the people that shop there. Walmart can't fix the first one since they are unwilling (or financially adverse to) paying a decent wage to attract people that give a shit. They can't fix the second one because of the very nature of their lowest price business model naturally attracts the downtrodden.

It may be the elitist, Republican(reformed) Douchebag in me saying this but going to Walmart is fucking scary. My local stores are generally filled with child beaters, mouth breathers and incredibly fat people. Sprinkle some unhelpful meth-addicted "associates" on top and you have got a sociological experiment gone awry.

I'll spend a little extra to shop a Target...and keep my soul intact.

Failure to launch

I've blogged in the past about the huge problems NASA is having with the Ares program. It looks like an independent panel to the President has also drawn some fairly bleak conclusions about NASA's replacement for the Space Shuttle and the possibility of making back to the moon in the near future.

I can't believe that part of the Shuttle phase out/go back to the Moon proposal that Bush floated was to decommission the ISS by 2015...that's insane. The Russians kept Mir up there 15 years using duct tape and 30 year old "Progress" supply ships for fuck's sake.

The quagmire that is the Ares program makes NASA look like a joke. How could they have gone so far in the day's of the Apollo program and now come up so short? Is NASA too safety minded now to engineer a vehicle system with enough compromises to actually work? Is their "acceptable risk" level to high to allow us to continue going into space? I doubt that ANY previous vehicle (Mercury/Apollo/Space Shuttle) would get built today because it would have not met the insane requirements that NASA is trying to meet.

Be still my beating heart

Mercedes is bringing back the classic Sl known has the "Gullwing". Man is it pretty....I'm sure it will be pretty expensive.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Senator Junkie Einstein

Autotune the news does it again. This is hilarious.


Vietnam v2.0

Why is there no large scale public opposition to the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq? Some think it has to do with the US Military's handling of the media. When the Iraq war started people thought that "embedded" reporters were a great leap forward for war correspondence and we were going to get the deep insight to the way our military fights wars. The truth is that the military did this as a way to more tightly control what was being reported. So much so that when a picture of a mortally wounded US Serviceman appears it causes a furor among military and political circles.

This got me thinking. I've seen hundreds of gun camera videos and pictures of insurgents being wiped out but I've seen a handful of pictures of wounded or dead Americans. The only video of wounded US soldiers that comes to mind was one that I saw from a foreign media outlet. I'm not saying that I WANT to see that or that it is fit for public consumption but it was those kind of images that caused massive public outcries against the Vietnam War. Of course it's debatable how much effect public opinion had on ending the Vietnam war compared to the reality of the situation tactically. But that situation could just as easily end up happening in Afghanistan....the Russians were there for ten years and made little progress.

In May of 2010 the current war in Afghanistan (2001-Present) will officially pass up Vietnam (1964-1973) as this country's longest war.

Sour Grapes

Man, the right wing blowhards are on a serious hair trigger these days. They turn ANYTHING, no matter how innocent, that President Obama wants to do into the most evil thing imaginable. The latest is the massive over reaction to Obama's forthcoming speech to school children across the country. It's a back to school speech intended to try and convey to kids just how important an education is in the modern world. Something that a lot of parents out there just are not reinforcing enough.

Everything has to be partisan these days. Anything that the President says is a prelude to Socialism....how sad.

The Dangers of the Status Quo

Are you afraid of Government run health care and the vaunted Death Panel? Well guess what, you are already being judged by your insurers own version. The only differences are that one doesn't exist and the other determines if your life is worth saving based on their profit margin.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Get your shit.

The Call of Duty series has become the first person shooter to beat on nearly every gaming platform. Check out this video of the soon to be released Modern Warfare 2...it's fantastic.



I really don't need to shower, or go outside, or have a girlfriend....or a job.

Mad Dash

Check out this video of some guys totally owning an Apple Store. These guys got away with thousands of dollars worth of Apple merchandise in just 31 seconds.


Check out the video.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

100% Crazy

Michele Bachmann should be under around the clock physciatric care. I guess the House of Representatives is close enough to a mental ward.

She's really out there with all of this fire and brimstone stuff. She barely won her election last year after she went all goofy on MSNBC so unless Obama's administration really screws up between now and then she will probably face even tougher opposition.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

More Religious Idiocy

This week as already been rife with idiotic religious fodder for me. Take this story about outraged (i.e. moronic) Missouri parents demanding their local high school "repossess" band T-Shirts depicting the famous image of primates evolving into humans.

Silly band director, your next shirt should have Jesus playing the tuba or something more appropriate for learning.
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