Monday, November 30, 2009

Not so smart.

I think I wrote a blog post about this a few months ago but can't seem to find it. Here's a more detailed and fascinating look at how poor risk management has trashed the endowment of Harvard University. It would almost be funny if it wasn't for the fact that the "genius" in charge of this poor decision making hadn't been given a place of prominence within the Obama Administration.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Know your enemy.

Listen to these chuckle heads trying to explain why they like Sarah Palin. I got news for you morons, she about as "real" as a unicorn.

Anon FTW!

This is hilarious....and creepy.

Meant to be mocked

This is seriously the least cool thing I have ever seen. I warn you if you have any taste what so ever then you will avoid this one all together.

Now that's dark.

Do yourself a favor and read this article BEFORE you see the author's name, I did and it kind of surprised me a bit.

While I don't disagree with the substance of the article I do disagree with the intent. The article really paints a picture of a corrupt system that is in some way centrally controlled or manipulated with an absolute goal in mined. Personally, I think it's more of an consequence of what happens when you combine power and money. You end up with a very Machiavellin system, it's just the natural order of things.


The democrats always cry about the Republicans having no desire to change when they are in power and then act genuinely shocked when the GOP refuses to bend to their will. The Republicans always cry that the Democrats are going to spend the country into oblivion when they are in power and are shocked when the Democrats don't listen.

Holy SCIFI Crap!

Anyone that has ever played a first person shooter is familiar with the concept of the HUD or Heads Up Display. A major component of games like Doom or Quake is the idea of armor which is displayed on your HUD as a way to indicate how close to death you are. That's great in the gaming world but not real practical in "real" life.....until now.


This is some seriously cool shit.

Monday, November 23, 2009

I'd drive the balls off of it!

Last week I blogged about the awesome new Buick Regal. The secret to the Regal's goodness is that GM finally figured out that selling the same cars in the US that they sell in Europe is a good idea. Well, the Opel Insignia that the Regal is based off of now has a new version coming to market in Europe. What's different? How's about 100 more horsepower and a trick Haldex AWD system? There's no reason why they shouldn't be able to bring this version over as well, it's the same basic power train that is in the new Cadillac SRX.

Can you imagine walking into a Buick dealership and seeing that thing with it's 20" wheels...

Magically Tacky

Here's a story for you. A couple of weeks ago I was driving home on a cold rainy night and I happened to spot something sitting on a used car lot. It was a nuclear orange Ford Expedition with 22" chrome wheels, but that wasn't what caught my eye. What caught my eye was the amazingly tasteful airbrushing on three sides of this piece of automotive art.







That's right. It's the Lucky Charms leprechaun juggling golden dollar signs.

WTsuperF?

Talk about too much free time.

It's WAR!

It looks like Rupert Murdoch's insane threats may have an evil genius twist to them. Murdoch has threatened to "de-list" all News Corp. content from Google because he wants to get payed more for the content. Of course the real reason is that News Corp. is either too lazy or just incapable of actually monetizing their own content for the web but that's just too embarrassing to admit.

So the mad hatter of old media is going to bring about a new media war by signing a deal for his content with Microsoft. Basically, Microsoft will fork over a pile of cash to News Corp. to have exclusive access to News Corp. content so that they can try to increase the market share of their new Bing search service. It could be a big win for Microsoft and may actually help them claw back some market share from Google.

However, the real winner is Rupert Murdoch. He gets the money for his content AND he gets to watch the two largest players in the search business go to war with each other.

Friday, November 20, 2009

I'd drive it.

Buick is on the road to recovery, GM has finally figured out that the award winning version of cars they sell in Europe are what people in THIS country want these days. The newest Buick Regal is a nearly 1:1 translation of the car GM sells in Europe as the Insignia and it looks really good. It's too bad that GM is the last one to wake up to the fact that Infiniti and Lexus have carved a serious chunk out of Buick's business over the last decade.

The Definitive Black Friday List

If you're in the market for computers or electronics then you should certainly check this out. Gizmodo has compiled a list of the best Black Friday deals.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Do you hear trumpets?

Here it is....the first sign of the apocalypse to come. It won't be a meteor, magnetic pole reversal, an ice age or even alien invasion that brings about man's downfall. No, it will be the Palin/Beck ticket.

Run for your fucking lives. I'm building a rocket and getting off this planet.

Honesty at last

The best Sarah Palin interview yet. LOL.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Oil Scam

Check this shit out. Still doubting that the global oil market isn't being manipulated?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

The past is now.

Read this story from ARS Technica about a "computer company" named Blue Hippo. I remember seeing their commercials on late night TV and thinking, how the hell does that work? Apparently their business model did not work as advertised and they were just stealing peoples money.

My first "real" job after college was working for a company that sold home business computer systems for astronomical sums of money. The company overcharged for everything, in the mid 90's they were charging people $10-$20K for hardware and software that was "guaranteed" to make them a fortune from the comfort of their own home. Officially, my job title was technical support specialist. I spent endless hours on the phone helping people try to use the bloated, poorly written software and sub standard computer hardware.

It was frustrating job and most nights (I worked the 2-10PM graveyard shift) I was more of a shoulder to cry on for these people. It was obvious that most of them had been swindled into spending their life savings on a complete scam. After about nine months I was able to find a much better job and walk away from the misery that was that den of jackals.

About a year after I left the Federal Trade Commission levied a huge fine against the business and cited them for false advertising and being douchebags in general. All in all it was a really shitty way to start out my career.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Seriously?

If Michele Bachmann is really being touted has the future of the GOP then I am completely relieved. Her constant fear mongering and delusional ramblings only appeal to the wackiest of the right. She'll do nothing to bring any moderates back to the GOP and that is a good thing for us all. IMHO, I don't think there is an Obama Presidency disaster scenario bad enough to make her a serious player beyond her current wacky fringe.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Representative

The members of Congress are supposed to be elected representatives of the people they serve. They certainly aren't financially representative.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Nice weave

If you missed Andre Agassi's interview on 60 minutes you should really check it out. It's amazing but I had forgotten how pervasive he was in my childhood. My step brother really loved him. He had posters of him on his walls and wore the clothes he sponsored. The man has lead an amazing life and I think where he is now is nothing short of wonderful.

The Looming Showdown

Rupert Murdoch, the man who loves newspapers, is tinkering with the idea of preventing Google from indexing information on the servers of his leviathan media company. Murdoch believes that he can build a "pay wall" to prevent the unwashed masses from accessing his hard bought media without first paying for it. I appreciate the position that he is in; his company generates news information at a cost and they have failed to find a viable method to monetize Internet access to that information. There is no doubt that Murdoch is an extremely successful business man the problem is that the business that he knows and loves is dying out. For better or worse charging someone for news content is just not a workable solution given all the years of having that information freely available. Television and radio started stealing mindshare from newspaper a long time ago and the Internet is just the nail in the coffin.

America Online thought that they could make the "walled garden" idea of providing content a profitable business. For a while they were very successful because they had almost no competition. Once AOL users discovered the endless amounts of freely available content and services available on the Internet beyond AOL the game was up. Does News Corp. have enough compelling content to convince people to pay for it? There's an entire generation that has grown up with "free" access to media of all types via the Internet....no one likes to pay for something they used to get for free.

Friday, November 6, 2009

That sucks

Read this story about a woman that is allergic to her husband's sperm....talk about a buzkill. The story says they went out for two years before they discovered this little fact. I'll let you ponder the implications of that statement....needless to say he must really love her.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

RIP PC Gaming

The Call of Duty series of games has been huge over the last few years selling millions of copies on virtually every platform out there. Not all of the version have been produced by the Infinity Ward but most agree the best versions of the game have been made by them.

They got their start making Call of Duty primarily for the PC because when the original game debuted that was the only good way to support online multiplayer. Then along came Xbox Live and for a while it was just kind of a joke compared to playing multiplayer games on a PC. While XBOX Live has come a long way in the last few years, especially since the XBOX360 launch, there are still HUGE problems that prevent the service from being superior to true online multiplayer.

Well Infinity Ward has officially stabbed PC Gaming in the back. The latest Call of Duty game is a console game first and a PC game just by accident. They have stripped anything of value out of the PC version of the game and basically turned it into a game not worth buying. I was really looking forward to Modern Warfare 2 but now I could care less. It shouldn't come as a surprise because console gaming is growing rapidly while PC gaming as a whole is dying.

Playing any game on XBOX Live these days in an exercise in pain. The average XBOX Live user is some 12 year old spoiled little shit with a mouth like a sailor who only cares about talking about how badass he thinks he is....until his mom makes him logoff to do his homework.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Undead Car Brand

GM may have killed off Pontiac but you can never kill Pontiac fanboys. The TransAm depot is a company that specializes in restoring classic TransAms. But what they have come up with now is nothing short of staggering.

The Phoenix T/A conversion takes the newest Camaro SS (the long standing sister car to the TransAm) and completely re-skins it to look like what a true Pontiac T/A would look like. This thing makes the Camaro look like it was beat with an ugly stick.

I know....who in their right mind is going to pay $85K for a TransAm? Burt Reynolds?

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Meet in the middle

Next time someone starts yammering about how ineffective Obama has been during the first year since he one the election you can bring up this article. Don't buy the hype....shit is changing.

Monday, November 2, 2009

ACT NOW!

Help save the Internet! Do your part to support Net Neutrality, you can contact your Congressional Representative via their website. Prevent Congress from allowing the telecommunications lobby to influence the direction of the Internet.

Subscribers wanted?

Apparently Apple is toying with offering a new service via iTunes. Basically, you would pay $30 a month for a subscription TV service fed via iTunes. So a flat rate $30 per month to download all the television shows that I normally pay 80$ to watch on cable? Hmm.....somehow I just don't think that is going to make Comcast very happy. If it's HD quality, the selection is good AND the commercials are shorter or non existent then this is could be fantastic!

This would really dovetail nicely with the rumors that Apple is re-thinking their lackluster AppleTV device. The AppleTV has pretty much failed to find a market and people were talking about Apple either revamping the existing device OR start selling LCD TVs with some kind of built-in "client" for iTunes. You can already buy a LCD TV with built in Netflix streaming so how hard would it be?

Awesome Costume

This is the best handicapped costume ever. May be NSFW.
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