Someone is Actually Reading the Things I Write...

Hello everyone. It has finally happened. I read an article, posted a response and actually got a response back from the author. This confirms that someone is actually sometimes reading the crap that I spout. Yay for me, thanks Mr.McAllister for taking me seriously enough to write back to, slow news day or do you actually do this often? All the same, here is the original article, with my and Mr. McAllisters responses posted below. What do the imaginary people I envision reading this blog post think? Has the FSF gone to far, is Mr. McAllister right in defending the corporations right to make money (simplistic version of his arguement I know) or do the RIAA and MPAA need to seriously review what they are doing and begin giving us, the end user, what we really need and want?

Emails back and Forth:

To: Neil McAllister; InfoWorld Letters

Subject: RE: Free Software Foundation: Free as in "do what I say"

Hello Mr. Mcallister,

The article you wrote in infoworld was very interesting. I agree that is it wrong to turn the FSF into some kind of radical group espousing the ideas of every person that has a bone to pick with Apple or Microsoft, using the example of DRM is not quite the place to prove your point however. Radical or not, DRM directly effects the freedom of people to use various types of software as they see fit. I agree that illegal copying and pirating are a problem for the recording and movie industries and that right now DRM is a way for them to control it, this does not make DRM inherently right though. Just because people buy something doesn't make it the only solution that can be used. The RIAA and MPAA among other companies buy into this scheme because right now they have no other clue of what to do to satisfy both customers and their shareholders/business model at the same time. So while the end user sits with a crippled song and limited options of what they can do with the property they are supposed to have some type of control over, the larger corporations are satisfied and have no incentive to really find a better solution.

This is where a group such as the FSF comes in and begins to speak for the end user that singularly has no real voice against the Goliath of major corporations. You think the success of one on-line music store and few very minor successes of digital content e-tailers is the market speaking and saying "Yes, DRM is good and we are happy with it"? That point is one sided. I'll tell your right now that people trading music and downloading illegal songs are not all eastern European hackers, they are people that just don't want to deal with the crippling nature of online music right now. And yes, sometimes the public is too stupid to know what's good for them (this includes me sometimes, I don't propose to be some type of super informed individual who always knows right from wrong). We are guided by shallow marketing campaigns and laziness, which is most of the time easier than trying to define what we want and bringing that unified front to an industry run by and for big business and excessive profit.

In your article you quote Peter Brown comparing DRM laden files with a car that couldn't steer. I wouldn't really agree with that (I wouldn't call it patently absurd either), but I would compare DRM'ed files to a car that takes only one kind of fuel grade. Not just unleaded, but one specific type of fuel grade. Imagine if there were 10-15 different fuel grades used for all cars? You think every gas station would stock every one? Right now we have 3-4 and still not all gas stations can keep up. Customers wouldn't be too happy with the situation, I guarantee it. If you bring the level down to something simpler and smaller like music files it's easier to see why people gloss over the difference but the idea is still the same, I agree that certain parts of your argument were valid. Organizations should be careful not to stray into areas that are not part of their logical work, but the FSF I believe is in bounds with their unilateral resistance to DRM. I don't know if big demonstrations where people where hazmat suits are the best idea, but at least they are trying.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Hi Adeola (do I have that name right)?

My view on the subject is this: The FSF purports to be about free software. And yet, it apparently wants to dictate to the people who create software the kind of software they're allowed to create. Does that seem consistent to you? Doesn't to me.

Make no mistake, I'm not actually for DRM for the entertainment industry. I think this is a mistaken assumption that most of those people who are inevitably going to send me hate mail are going to make. I'm no sucker. I would never pay for a DRM-encoded song, movie, what have you. But I wouldn't listen to Britney Spears either; that doesn't mean I'm in favor of preventing record companies from putting out her albums.

I believe in free speech and the free market. Mind you, I'm no libertarian. I believe there are some situations in which society needs to step in and limit, restrict or control the means and procedures of production of goods and services, for the greater good of society. What I definitely DON'T believe, however, is that society has a right to arbitrarily limit, restrict or control the WILL, RIGHT, or LIBERTY of any single organization to attempt to engage in the production of goods and services, through coercion or any other means. To my mind this is what the FSF now seeks to do with its stance on this one technology, which we know colloquially as DRM.

The larger picture here is that DRM technology is just that, technology. My argument is the "guns don't kill people" argument. I agree with Sun Microsystems, which is in the process of developing an open source DRM stack, that there are wider applications for DRM than just keeping people from copying MP3s. If we are not so shortsighted as to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater, DRM could be beneficial to all of us in a time when privacy is increasingly threatened and the need to restrict the free flow of information has never been greater.

In that light, I see the FSF's current stance as being shortsighted, parochial, paternalistic, and counterproductive.

Thanks for writing.

Best,

--

Neil McAllister, Senior Editor

InfoWorld Media Group

neil_mcallister@infoworld.com 415.978.3287

From: adeola.akinola@kodak.com [mailto:adeola.akinola@kodak.com]

Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 5:17 AM

To: Neil McAllister

Subject: RE: Free Software Foundation: Free as in "do what I say"

Thanks Mr. McAllister,

For the response, I think I understand your point a little bit better than I had previously had. Also I never intended this to be some sort of hate mail and if it sounded like that I apologize. I like open discourse, thanks for providing it.

Adeola

Adeola,

Not at all, I appreciate all my mail.

Best,

--

Neil McAllister, Senior Editor

InfoWorld Media Group

neil_mcallister@infoworld.com 415.978.3287

Pat Roberston Watch...What did He Do This Time??

This man truly sickens me. He also has a special place in my science fiction loving heart because I truly believe he is an alien living in a human husk, there is no other explanation for the things he says or does. His latest claim to fame is...wait for it...that he can leg press 2,000 lbs. This is in response to Madeleine "The Hulktress" Albright claiming she can leg press 400 lbs. Listen, I don't know what's going on here but can we leave the weightlift posturing to people who are actually weight lifting for a profession, or at least a huge part of their lives? I don't remember Ronny Coleman recently talking up his skill as a Tele-evangelical religious leader or world known political negotiator. I don't care how much Pat Robertson can leg press, I would still drop him in a fight. Yes Pat that is an open challenge.

And a quick blurb about these freshman MIT students who have totally automated their dorm room. I thought of a lot of jokes about this, but came to the conclusion that I was just hating and pissed that I did not have this when I was a freshman. Question is where did these kids get all this crap? I also want to know the percentage increase of girls they were speaking to before the modification and then after. Chances are no change (from an assumed start of maybe 5 girls total) which would suggest that their party button might be for late night LAN gaming sessions of UT and Civilization. Ahh yes, there was the joke. I feel better now.

Happy Slapping...I know, it Sounds Funny

I guess we all kind of know what the practice of happy slapping entails, maybe we have never given it a name. Or maybe what we know as happy slapping has taken to new heights with all the video recording and sending to other people. My friends and I used to have a similar practice to this called "The Clap" (no, not the venerial disease although that connection just made itself apparent in my mind). In high school we would sneak up behind each other keeping a distance of about 7 feet. Then when the time was right (which is where half of the real artistry came in) we would sprint up to the person in front of us and jump in the air, clap loudly (its like the rattle of a snake before it strikes), and come crashing down on the intended target (this part of the stunt is where the second half of the freestyle came in. Jump height and angle were totally left up to you as well as the loudness of the clap). Obviously the target would either go flying foward and fall, or go straight to the ground with us on top of them. It was truly a hysterical thing to watch and to do, terrible to be on the receiving end of one. Unlike these fools we didn't videotape it and send it to all our friends (probably cause we couldn't), we didn't laugh if someone was truly hurt, and we certainly only kept it to certain groups of our friends, not strangers. The critics in this article call this glorified bullying and I tend to agree. Instead of bitching though I might get some of my friends together and find the crew that happy slapped me and beat the everliving crap out of them. Sure, two wrongs don't make a right but it is sure to make you feel better. Retaliation is a danger with this method, but what's life without a little bit of danger. When we clapped on people (the clapper) we always feared becoming the clappee (the one who received the clap). It was a fact that if you were around you would eventually get clapped on and clap on someone else. It was mostly fun until an unfortunate day in the upper west side where an awful clap occurred. There were tears, yelling and red faced asians. I think that was the beginning of the end for the clap because we could see where this was going. Thank God we were intelligent, or we could have ended up in an article like this one.

Here's something totally off of the above topic. I am not a big conspiracy nut. I believe that there are things that authority figures do not want us to know, and that there might be some coverups sometimes. Alien abductions? Maybe but probably not. Gov't caused 9-11 and no plane crashed into the pentagon? Could be true, never really know. A conspiracy I have rarely ever given thought to however is starting to get me to believe in it, with the help of a few articles I have read recently. The first has some info on the difficulties associated with sending a return flight to the moon, for man to walk on the moon once again. The second talks of a spacecraft that crashed into a satellite it was supposed to dock with. Considering our current ineptness when it comes to space travel, how probable is it that we launched a successful journey to the moon and back in 1969, almost 40 years ago? I am not saying it's impossible, but it is highly unlikely. If you sat someone down that did not take the moon landing as fact, and was presented the information we have today about space travel and it's many difficulties then was told that we landed there in 1969, the person would call bullshit. I don't know, just food for thought I guess.

Do you think that's the moon your standing on? Do you really think that's air your breathing?

RIAA and MPAA Foolishness

These petty thieves will never stop will they? The RIAA has just opened suit against XM radio for releasing a product that time shifts what they are listening to. Can we please have some sort of federal mandate that can disband this organization as well as the MPAA? These two organizations make themselves look more frightened and confused every time I hear about another suit that they are passing. I mean they lost the fight back in the 80's against VCR's yet they are still trying. This is not even a matter of copyright infringement or stolen music. They simply want more money if any company expects to innovate on the current movie and music business models. I call shenanigans on both organizations.

Congress Tries to Enact more Stupid Restrictions

In this article is described a bill that would prohibit the viewing of social networking sites in school and public libraries and other places that children may connect with the interweb that happens to be federally funded. I am not saying that this is a totally bad idea, but I also think this is another example of people taking less and less responsibility for themselves and loved ones. People need to be more aware of what their kids are doing on the big bad nasty internet, it' as simple as that. Well maybe not, but that doesn't mean we need to invite the government to act as our keeper. You worried about your children meeting creepy and weird people on MySPace? Why don't you check out their myspace account all the time to make sure that everything on there is ok. Look at their messages, the types of pictures they put in their profile...etc. The more you know about this stuff and pay attention to your kid, the less they are likely to go meet 45 year old Steve in the park for some afternoon delight.

DVD Sniffing Dogs??

This is one of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard of. If it works, fine but that doesn't make it intelligent. The problems inherent in this system are obvious. Unless the dogs can also sniff out Copyright there are going to be a crap load of false positives, which leads to nothing more than wasted time for the dogs and the humans in charge of them. The MPAA wonders why they are not able to stop pirating, maybe it's because some of the ideas they implement involve DVD sniffing dogs, that just my $0.02 though.

Net Neutrality

Many people might not know what this is, or even why it's such a big deal. Well here is a simple unbiased explanation. Cable and telecom companies (these are the guys that provide you with a high speed connection) want to start charging companies like Google and Yahoo! for a priority spot in their sea of bandwith. They would charge these companies some unknown amount so that end users like you and me could enjoy their services in a more timely fashion then say a company who did not pay these fees and thus were not prioritized. This is the basic arguement, and though I have not put in every single detail I don't believe I have left anything out that changes it much. Many people are against this and have started a discussion on new neutrality. The reason this discussion is referred to net neutrality comes from the stance that these cable and telecom companies should be neutral in their offering of content and not make it a priority issue for services that are delivered today in a none prioritized manner. This is yet another example of an industry trying to take advantage of a situation that was not planned for in the business model AT THE EXPENSE of the end user. I have no problem with the telecoms wanting to make extra money off of some companies that use a good chunck of their bandwith. I don't think it's fair or right, but that is capitalism, if they can get the companies to pay so be it. But how is this newly added fee going to affect me and you, the end users? No one can say for sure, but I can't believe that we won't inccurr some added costs somewhere. You might be asking, "wait a minute, don't I already pay Timewarner (substitute name of your ISP here) for broadband access?" The answer is yes you do. You pay a cable or telecom company for broadband access so that you may access content, now they in turn want to charge the content providers that you are paying the ISP's to access to serve you that content at a favorable speed or transfer rate. The probelm lies in the analogy of biting the hand that feeds you. The broadband access would not support itself without the consumers to by it, and consumers wouldn't be so inclined to pay for access to this high speed web if their was no content to take advantage of a braodband connection. Yet in the wake of this partnership that has made everyone rich, cable and telecoms now call what they have been doing for these content providers "a free ride" saying that the investments they made to start and maintain these high speed connections need to be paid back somewhere and that companies who use it the most should be the one's to foot the bill. I guess I am glad that they did not push for the end users to pay for this, but appalled that they expect some type of restitution after we as end users already pay for their services. You can see why there is so much discussion, what do you think?

Interesting Article on Net Neutrality from the POV of the Cable companies.

Wii!

For those poor saps that don't know yet you better ask somebody. Nintendo's new system is the shiznite, and it's now called the "Wii" (as opposed to its pre-release name of the Revolution). Much discussion has been had over the quality of the name; is great or garbage and what it means to the system. The short story is "it doesn't matter!" (said like the Rock). Nintendo will make great games on a good cheaply priced system and people will snatch it up by the handfuls. With the next gen consoles priced between $400 and $600 dollars, a Wii priced at $250 will be what finds it's way into homes during the notoriously money tight christmas season. The fact that it plays old gamecube games is a huge factor seeing as how the gamecube still costs $100. And when you have games like Super Smash Brothers:Brawl coming out for it, there is no reason to doubt the system including the crappy name and all. Come on, Solid freakin' Snake is in it, with a Cardboard box! This is going to be hot.

Stephen Colbert on...

This is the hilarious transcript of Stephen Colbert (Formerly of the Daily Show, and now the host of the Colbert Report) speaking at the white house correspondents dinner. Man this is some funny isht. It takes some serious guts to stand up and insult the president all under the guise of being with him. He is basically backslapping the pres and Bush can't do anything back. If we find Colbert's dead body somewhere, we know why...

Hysterical

As seen on Break.com

Many Things...

I have a few stories to draw your attention to for today, but I want to lead off with one that I have a personal stake in, mostly because this guy could be me. I posted a story a little while ago about a NYC Board of Ed employee getting canned becuase he was caught playing solitaire by the esteemed Mayor of NYC. Today I like to say that madness has ended. A Judge ruled in favor of Toquir Choudri in his case of getting the boot for using the internet. Well he was not exhonorated, but he was only reprimanded instead of fired which is good. I thought I might have to cut back on my daily read of Slashdot and The Village voice for a sec but it turns out I am safe for the time being.

In a story that seems like it was written for every twenty something out there, here a nice piece of that new found art form of drunk dialing (which is now apparently moving on to drunk texting and drunk emailing). This is quite funny because a few weeks ago I got some random message from a girl on myspace who said that my profile was the first she had seen in a bit that did not want to make her vomit (she did not quite put it that way but you get the idea). SHe said in the message that she was a little tipsy or something to that effect, so that was a drunk myspacing I guess. SHe actually turned out to be pretty good looking, but as many relationships that start on myspace turn out, we don't really speak anymore.

In some tech news we have a study showing that the amount of people who actually care and keep up with the pace of technology being much higher than those that consider themselves geeks (most of the slashdot crowd). These people won't out themselves as geeks all the time but will sometimes switch conversation from politics to science or willfully jump into sciency (that's right, new word) conversations. I am an honest person, part geek, part athelete with enough knowledge to just get myself in trouble. The antithesis of this would be the Linux Snob who is now one of the latest reasons people wont jump into the linux crock pot. WHile I think this may be part of the reason there have been tech snobs since I can remember people being really into tech so there is really nothing new here.

More to post later, I just realized I actually haven't read some of the stories I wanted to talk about. Later chumps and chumpettes...

Sad Day

Today I found out that my immediate boss is resigning from the company. He was a really cool guy and it's not gonna be as fun at my job without him.

The other part of this is what it says to you in your career as one of your earliest bosses, most likely one of your first resigns from the company before you move to your next job. It's different when they just get a new position and they are no longer your direct supervisor or whatever, here they are actually leaving the company. I guess it depends on what the reasons for leaving are. I can only guess at what my boss left for, but let's assume that it was little faith in the company and not a greater family issue (which I think are the only reasons for a big career change later in your lifetime of working). It's always weird, I mean it definitely sends a message. What you do with the message I guess is what's important. I don't think I'm going anywhere, not now at least.

UnAmerican Apparel

I gotta give a shout to my boy Patt Minto for a creative and hilarious series of photos bearing the title of this post. Check them out here. If you really want one for yourself your going to have to offer up some seriously provocative shots.

If you wonder where these come from check out the actual American Apparel website.

Back from Break

After a nice easter weekend vacation to NYC I am back in the saddle. Forgive me Father for I have sinned, it has been over two weeks since my last post. But not to dissapoint I have some interesting stuff here for you to read. It's a lot to put into one post but it has been building up for quite sometime now and the amount of links should keep you busy while I think up a much more witty post to put up.

First let me give a shout out to the Rainbow Traceurs, the Parkour group I have been recently inducted into. What is Parkour you may ask? Simply put it's an elegant, efficient way to move about the worlds obstacles to your many destinations. You want to go upstairs in a park or building? Instead of taking the stairs maybe you can scale the banister and hop to a wall near by to get to the level/floor you originally intended to get to. If you go to google video and search for parkour you will see what I'm talking about. Or if you have seen that scion commecial where the guys are racing through a parking garage trying to catch their moving vehicles, that would be an example of Parkour. I actually had to do a small tryout for this group which involved me climbing out of the stairwell of a train station. Pretty simple until I got to the last bar and it had spikes on it. Suckin it up and fearing falling if I let go I made it with only a little injury to my hands that has been lessening over the last few days. All the same, if anyone is interested I would be down to start a Rochester division of the Rainbow Traceurs if I can get the license from Matt Pinto, it's founder. Anyway onto the links:

For Starters we have a self parking car, pretty novel. Personally I like the challenge of parallel parking but finding a nice spot then being able to phone your buddies to tell them you'll be right into the club while your car is parking itself is pretty much the shit.

Another one about cars, this is a nice article about how you should never blindy trust your GPS, lest you find yourself on the edge of the mountain with an all to scenic view. I once used mapquest to get to a football stadium and ended up at someone's house. No lie.

Finally, some tech from Star Trek:TNG is going to make it to us mere technologically undeveloped humanoids. A scientist is postulating the creation of synthehol and suggesting there really is no reason that it cannot be created. Can you imagine the boom in the bar and alcoholic industry if you could get wasted without a hangover? I fear what it would do to our health as the sale of street meat and hot dogs late at night would soar.

I have been reading a lot about the DMCA, DRM and patents in the last few weeks. A pretty good article here by Paul Graham asking "Are Software Patents Evil" ? You be the judge, pretty long but very good and interesting.

And for all my gamer friends out there (Lodzo, Nuggetor) here's a link to a humurous but very poignant piece about the situations found in modern games that we are all sick of. The Gamer's Manifesto is a rant on everything you have always hated about games that really did not have to be features of games, i.e. hitting an invisible ceiling while soaring through the air on any SSX game. I have read this thing twice and it really doesn't get very old. Also pretty long so block off some time for it.

More ST:TNG news here with an article about the blind regaining their sight. There are a few caviats, but overall once we get this thing looking aesthetically pleasing (read:Jordi's visor) we will truly be entering the bionic age of humans.

Lastly, an interesting concept for a cell phone that not only uses normal cell tower service but a wi-fi connection as well so that when you are at home your cell phone can act as a landline, sort of. Best thing about this, call does not drop when switching from wi-fi to normal cell network. A golden age of Tech has arrived!!

Damn Electricity Allergies

Three quick stories here. Usually when I read or decide to put something up here it because it's cool or a technoloigcal advance but these three stories just made me laugh for some reason. The first talks about the newest allergy to hit mankind, a hyper-sensitivity to electricity. While I was reading this article I thought to myself, this article could totally be in the onion. The phrasing they use to describe the problem can't come off sounding serious because the freakin problem is hyper sensitivity to electricity. I don't doubt that this is actually a problem because I recognize some of the symptoms in myself, it just sounds stupid.

The second article is really not that funny. But they do refer to Iran's weblog community as "Weblogistan". Totally worth reading the article for.

I won't even post the last article which is an interview with Steve Ballmer (The CEO of Microsoft). Only the last part is funny anyway when he said that his kids are not allowed to own iPods or use Google. Between this and this dude throwing chairs at people, I am tempted to name him Chief dictator of Microsoft...

Oh Debra!

Oh Debra, Debra! This kid is 14 years old and he got to hit that?! The fact that she is not going to jail means our justice sytem is not totally lost. I don’t know man, I know we should call it a crime but they are goiung to let her off just because that 14 year old must have received the proportional benefits to what she is losing. She’s losing her job and her ability to be around kids plus house arrest for 3 years. He gets to tell this story forever. All is well.

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200

Just heard about this game. I have downloaded the .pdf's and expect to keep all my civil liberties and not end up in GITMO, but apparently that happens to a lot of people who play. If you manage to win, please let me know that it's possible.

Real Life Game

I've seen movies and read books about real world adventure games. The running man with Arnold Swartznegger comes to mind. This however is some pretty cool isht. I can't wait till they build one in NYC, I am definitely going. Who's with me?

Wrist Tech, When Even a 3lb Laptop is too Big...

A European company know as Eurotech has introduced the WWPC (Wrist Worn PC). The device can run either linux or Windows CE. This is a pretty sleek looking device and probably the pre-cursor to a whole generartion of ultra powerful/ultra portable devices...that are actually worth using. There have been a few devices that have boasted high computing performance in your pocket. There was the OQO Pocket sized laptop that made a big splash but has not really taken off quite yet (IMO). Partially because of price I think, partially because people have not warmed up to the idea of having so much personal info and power in their pocket. People are just starting to get used to the idea of having mutltiple computers and storage devices, this all-in-one maybe was a little ahead of it's time, although it does look like the shiznite. The WWPC is a little more kitchy, for those of us that like to pretend that the future is now. Honestly, the real appeal of this thing is that it sits on your wrist like a watch (albeit a huge one) and you can just whip it out if someone asks you the time. No reaching into your pocket or your bag, its always handy and guaranteed to draw a lot of looks. Since it's still conceptual, don't plan on buying one yet. Maybe by release time they would have made it a lot smaller.

RFID, the Mark of the Beast?!?!

Here is an interesting article in Wired Magazine touting the explosion in RFID as a sign of nasty things to come. The article draws many reference to the book of revelations (which has come to be the butt of many jokes recently including the Simpson's episode about The Rapture) in which a mark of the beast (a demonic figure I can only assume) makes itself present on non-believers and basically signals the end of the world. I know you are probably thinking that this lady is totally off her rocker, but the article if taken at a more secular level does raise a few concerns about the new tracking technology. Take a look and don't be put off to much when she say's:

"If the VeriChip becomes a common payment device similar to the "contactless" payment system in the Exxon Mobil Speedpass, all who wish to buy and sell goods will be compelled "to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads,"..."

When I see someone buying gas by putting their forehead against the pump station I just might believe that the end is near, Oh Save us Jebus!

Pharmaceutical Labels Don't Lie

You would think that people when taking drugs that are actually prescribed to them would adhere to the label and follow all directions with repect to how many you should take and what you can and cannot take it with. That makes sense to most rationale people, but in yet another example of the type of adults that live in this world and especially this country we find that not to be true. In an article I saw on AOL this morning (I think it actually is from the NY Times) a new drug is being blamed for driver impairedness. It's not some illegal substance though, it's Ambien which is the most popular sleep time drug in the US (not Lunesta although I like their commercials better). Now let me explain for various reasons I have taken Ambien and it has worked like a charm. I went to sleep and woke up feeling refreshed but a little weird the next day. All the same, I did not have hallucinations or sleep walking/driving as described in this article. I also was not drunk.

If I came up to you and you were a person with a sleeping disorder (which I don't think some of these people even had, I think they just wanted to sleep a little bit better) and told you "Here, Down this bottle of wine and take these two pills of this pharmaceutical grade sleep agent" would you do it? I would not, most smart people wouldn't as that just sounds like a retarded idea. Yet the people in a lot of these cases while not downing a whole bottle of wine were having a glass of wine, or a couple of beers or whatever. Then they end up driving into polls or urinating in the middle of roads. My favorite is the story of the guy who "became like the incredible hulk" after having two single servings of wine and taking two Ambien on an airplane. How in the hell does taking a sleep aid make you freak out so much you rip off your shirt and start terrorizing an airplane, then not remember any of it? I don't believe that all these people are lying about the experinces they went through, just that they are stupid. "They really need to tell people what this stuff will do to you" remarked one user who apparently slept drove into a car then fled from that scene only to drive into a tree. I say you really need to stop not paying attention to the directions on a bottle of pills you get from your doctor. And what is the company supposed to say "The use of this product might turn you into a driving zombie and cause you to embarass and/or kill yourself and many others in your vicinity". This is not freakin resident evil people, take some responsibility for yourself.

Constant Connection is Not The Beginning of Solaria...

In one of Isaac Asimov's many novels "The Naked Sun", he describes a planet known as Solaria. This planet was settled by those that favored robotic assistance in most of lives ventures as opposed to the anti-robot movement (both schools of thought originate from earth, the original world of course). While these two groups clashed greatly when they're first created, they now slightly resembled each other with the non-robotisists using robots sparingly and the robot lovers, well, really loving to use their robots. On the planet of Solaria, robotic use as well as technology had evolved so much that people were living well past our present life expectancies and into their hundreds. This planet sounds awesome until you are told that real life human interaction was not only rare it was thought of as dirty and shameful. People would not even think of talking to each other face to face, much less going to each others compounds (which were spaced out far enough that you could roam your property for hours and not see another human being). Of course this lack of human interaction had it's obvious downsides and eventually but slowly began to crumble by the end of the story (which involved a murder of a scientist which no one could figure out because no human would ever get that close and robots were supposedly governed by three laws that kept them from committing such acts).

Solaria was an extreme case painted by the author for fictional purposes, but people have begun to see our advancements in technology (namely our high speed wireless connections and many devices that allow us to be reached and sent information everywhere) as the beginning of a lifestyle that loosely resembles Solaria. Critics foresee a time in the near future where this constant connectivity will intrude our personal lives so much that there will cease to be a personal life. Since we are always "on" we will be constantly expected to be available for anything that demands our attention. To me and for long as I can remember this has been one of the dumbest and short sighted views about technology that I have ever heard of. Finally after years and years of articles spelling the doom and gloom of a future where constant communication is a norm, here is an article that shows the other side of the constant connectivity coin, the bright future that always on really could be.

The article is fairly short so I won't quote from it, but the author brings up a good point which most people who see the future of wireless as bad rarely bring up. It's called the OFF switch or button or whatever you want it to be. People have told me the reason for not getting a cell phone is that they don't want to be able to be reached anywhere and everywhere, that they want some alone time. When I suggest in every conversation like this that I have that you don't always have to pick up the phone, or you can turn it off they seem to have been hit with some brick wall like argument that they can't possibly beat. "Why didn't they think of this themselves" I always ask myself. Sometimes they respond with "Yeah, but then I feel like I missed something" or "yeah but I feel like I have to pick it up". The key phrase here is "I feel..." Which to me seems like a personal problem. If you feel as though you have missed something when you don't answer your phone why would you just avoid a cell phone altogether which will no doubt lead to you missing countless things? And if you feel as though you need to pick it up that is a personal neurosis that needs to be handled in a private matter. Don't blame the tech for your own hang ups.

The Next and the Last...

Since it has been so long since my last post and since I really don't feel like writing anything about anything, I am going to continue my blog version of a cheesy clip show. Here is part 2 and 3 of the original "Beep Boppin' & Scattin' ". Enjoy.

Ok so some dissapointment here:
1) It turns out that I have lost an issue somewhere. So you are stuck with the lack luster and short 3rd issue.
2) It's about drug use, which I don't condone and don't take lightly. I was young, what can I say.

Beep Boppin' & Scattin'

An Essay On Life Issues

By Adeola Akinola

Well, I guess after years of not writing, it is time for another one of those essays. Much time has passed since the last issue, but many things have happened as well. We have all entered college successfully and are well on our way to being adults. Although we are quickly reaching this new stage in our life, it has occurred to me that some things never change. I see it when we meet during a vacation, and in the emails we write each other to stay in touch, the way we acted in Stuy towards each other, is still the same way we act now. It is actually something I look forward too when I come home. I figured that I might as well write a new issue to deal with some of the things we deal with in the days of our new lives. So here goes…

ADEOLA ON Drugs

Well, most who still keep in touch with me, know that this was going to be my first topic. What happened to “The Righteous Man” that you all knew of in high school? Well he is still around, for the most part. I am still the same Adeola that everyone knew. And I say this because most people look at me differently when I say some of the things I say regarding drugs. Well, let me just put it out there, I love drugs. How can you not like them? As with dribeez and fine asses (notice how I keep on going back to that), they are the things that make the world go round. Drugs can help you work through your toughest times, or they can be one of your toughest times. They can lead to hook ups, and as we all know that can be good or bad. They can bring people together, and they can divide an entire nation. Lets face it, China men fought wars over the shit, We lost Bruce Lee to it, and it has created a popular sub culture in today’s society. In general they are good for business. Lets not disregard all the interesting people you meet, while in the search for or on drugs. Of course everyone knows and loves the hippies. I mean they make cool shit, sell good drugs, and are among the most easy going people you will ever meet. In my mind they are a sought of clan, all hippies know all other hippies, and they are all in search for a world where they can do nothing but make cool looking bowls, listen to music, and do drugs. A place I would not mind living in. Then there are the dealers. “Aren’t these the same as the hippies?” NO!! The dealers are a sub culture of their own. They come in all shapes and size, with variety of personality completely irrelevant from what they are dealing. They sometimes deliver, sometimes you have to go hang out at their house, and sometimes, a meeting in a dark part of the city is needed to make the connection that is gonna make your nite worth while. Then of course, there’s your circle. Most of us have them, your friends that are directly related to you through drug use. The people will never rat you out, always give you the fat bag, and always, always share. Oddly enough

Honestly, this issue sucked. I remember writing it and thinking "Wow, this sucks". By this time I had only been on my own for a little over a year and was not really into anything that a lot of college kids were. I smoked dope and played rugby and watched anime. My old and I not being together didn't help either. Whereas in the first issue I had a wealth of common references to chosse from, here everything had to be explained and given context which is very time consuming and hard for someone who was most likely stoned at the time. Well that's it, I promise my next post will be better.

Fired for Solitaire, and Whores against GTA...

I am a normal office worker. I come in everyday sit at my cube and unless I have something really urgent to do, I go through my normal routine of breakfast and the news. During the day I take random breaks by either reading more news or going to the shitter and playing Wipeout Pure or perhaps watching some anime. I rarely if ever play video games on my office computer, mostly because they are wack. There are far better things on the internet to see and do besides playing lame ass minesweeper (which is a holdover from Windows 3.1, and probably even older than that). The point here is that we are not machines, those of us that work in the common corporate setting cannot work from the time we walk in to the time we leave at the end of the day. In fact, breaks whether they take the form of conversations with co-workers, a word jumble here and there, or a few minutes playing Solitaire are integral to getting the most out of employees in an environment that really taxes a person's mental ability. You would think that in such a bureaucracy as NYC's government that they would understand that, apparently Mayor Bloomberg did not get that memo. A man was recently fired by Mayor Bloomberg when the mayor visited an office and spotted a game of solitaire running on the employee's computer. Saying that the workplace was not a time for games but was a time for you to do what you were paid for, Bloomberg supported his no-tolerance policy. This is freakin bogus. The article mentions no prior offenses this employee had because he had none. He was paid $27,000 a year (that's NYC dollars people, not normal money) and worked in the office for 6 years. This has got to be illegal, but this guy doesn't even seem like he cares that much. As far as I know from the article, this guy did not have any other misgivings other than the fact that he liked a stupid card game and played it sometimes. I wish someone would fire me for something so trivial. Maybe at $27,000/year this guy could actually make a decent wage suing the city for everything he can. What was Bloomberg doing when he was visiting him? Was he "Hard At work" touring various offices which I am sure have no bearing on his day to day work, taking pictures with people and shaking hands which is a waste of the money NYC folks are paying him. Maybe someone should fire his ass.

In other weird news it seems that the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA is protesting the GTA games (who isn't) for depicting the beating and raping of prostitutes in a good light by awarding points to a player that commits the heinous acts. Listen everyone cause I am only gonna say this once. GTA is a VIDEO GAME. It is fictional and depicts things that would otherwise be seen as ludicrous, dangerous, and generally heinous in real society. I can beat up old ladies in that game but I don't see an old people alliance going after game. The prostitutes say that showing this violence influences minors to commit violent acts against prostitutes. You know what also does the same thing, society as we tell our tell kids and everyone else that what you do is dirty and one of the lowest possible "jobs" in society. Why don't you protest US culture? The cry against GTA has got to stop. I wish someone would just think of the children and there need for fun and healthy expression of violence against whores, pimps, rival gang leaders and pretty much anyone who gets in there way while on a mission.

Why the Muslims are mad, and why you should be too

If you haven't heard anything about the mass protests and violence spawned by the publication of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, check out this Wikipedia Entry. It explains things pretty well. I must admit, when I first heard of this controversy and had not yet seen the cartoons I assumed the masses were up in arms over nothing again, a la the Burger King Sunday cone scandal (see earlier posts for details). Then I actually took a look at the cartoons and felt a little uneasy, but still was not sure how I was taking it. Certainly this cartoons were distasteful to say the least, but while I am Muslim I am also a child of free speech and free thinking (thanks to our free thinking republic which as it turns out isn't as free thinking when you disagree with it). I figured that although the cartoons had obvious political motivations and in the end were actually pretty crappy cartoons, everyone should just settle. That is until I read this article and realized why I should be upset, and why anyone who likes t think that one day we will have a free and unified globe should be as well. I found this article in Slate magazine and realized that this woman was speaking the truth.

It's not simply that the cartoons were published. Its what was in them, they were not just Cartoons of the Prophet speaking or doing some stupid everyday task and complaining about it, the cartoons took the nastiest of stereotypes cast on Muslims and cast it on one of the religions most beloved and important figures. Who in the hell do these Danish cartoonists think they are? Freedom of speech is one thing, being responsible and knowing how to use it is a very different subject. The reason that these cartoons were published is somewhat given away in one of the cartoons and Ms. Aslan points out, but the true reason may never be known. The point is that the results of the publishing are various and mostly foul, causing a lot of death and strife throughout the world. Is this what the cartoonists wanted? If so then they should be locked up for inciting such violence and unrest. I am so glad that the west is quick to jump on countries such as Iran for being outraged and firing back, what a good way to show your interest and support of a better middle east region by not condemning these pieces of trash cartoons for what they are. Publish a cartoon in Iran or Saudi Arabia showing Jesus Christ pimping girls and let's see what the world reaction is. It's not bad enough that we as Americans have to live in a charade of a "free" country dominated by a single religion, but our policies have to reflect that as well. What a crock of shit this administration and general western politics are.

In other un-related (well maybe a little related if we are going on the topic of the crappy administration) George Deutsch, 24 year old presidential appointee to NASA has resigned (login required) because he is a dumbass ideologue that had no place there to begin with. How this guy acted as NASA's public affairs/presidential appointee for so long is one matter, how the President could give such a openly biased man such a non-partisan position is the real question. Is GW even trying to make it look like he is being fair anymore, or does he no longer give a shit what anyone thinks because he now knows he is King of America? My money is on the latter. For more info on George Deutsch great streams of thinking, check out the World O' Crap blog, its actually pretty funny.

As Promised...

Here is the original text from the first version of Beep boppin' and scattin' that I wrote in high school. I wrote this out on my computer, printed out a few copies and distributed them to a few of my close friends. It was actually quite fun until the second issue where I realized I had nothing to talk about besides chicks and tits. All the same, I still find it funny and some of it to still be true, all misspellings and grammatical errors have been left in for authenticity.

Ok I have just checked and it seems that there is a 3rd issue I forgot about. I think I might have tried to restart this in college and failed. So I think I am gonna spread this out among a few entries. En joy episode 1...


An Essay on Life's issues
Adeola Akinola
Issue 1
Over my 17 years of living, I have developed opinions on lots of topics. I have made these opinions known on many occasions, which has landed me in a considerable amount of trouble as most of you know. All the same, I have decided to make most or all of my (as many as I can remember) opinions known. So sit back and have a laugh, I hope you like it.

Adeola on Dribbeez:
Well, this is what most of my discussions are based on. As Freud is to sex, I am to Dribbeez. And hey, what's not to like? They are round, most of the time nicely shaped, objects that give many a guy pleasure. What else can we ask for? All of my years, I have had an affinity for Dribbeez. I have always liked them, and I believe I always will, I have even developed a skill to guess girls Dribbee sizes. It is not hard, but I do pride myself on it. Let's name some of the major players in my mind, and in this discussion. This is not by looks or attitude, keep in mind guys, but by the BDF or PPD (Big Dribbee Factor or Pounds Per Dribbee; two phrases I am sure you guys have forgotten.) Well let's go with first and foremost, and this is the only person ranked because I believe she is thy queen of the Dribbee. Who is it? None other then Simone Lescac (I think that's is the way you spell it).. Anyway, for those of you that don't know, she goes out with that emaciated figure of a guy, Wyatt. If you don't know who she is though, you need to find out. All I can say is "Sweet Fancy Moses". Well, since I don't want to go on of this part of the essay, I will continue, Next, and remember not in any order, is Sabrina Gleitzer. Ishts that will knock in the nose piece if she turns around to fast. Well then there's Kristin Cuccia, Burcu Colpan, Salvina (DE-Dribbee Entertainment), Sylvia Park, and others, that do not come to mind, I am not trying to mention everyone with big Dribbeez, just some that we know of, so whatever. My final thought on Dribbeez is that they are made out of Sugar, Spice, and Everything nice! We should all give respect to the almighty Dribbee.

Adeola On Fine Asses:
Well hand in hand with Dribbeez are fine asses. I write this (or this part of this essay) on the day Kev, Andres, Olesh and I decided to leave a little early, and we happened to be talking about this very subject. Here's the deal. I have never been a huge assman. Sure I look, but I never really paid attention, but I thought it was necessary for the essay, a natural progression if you will. Well as in the last topic, I will mention a couple of heroines of this ass battle. First we have the Asian wonder, the ass the defies physics, well there's two, so I will list both, Scherwing Du, and Diana Ren, both asses are good in their own right, Du's being a bit perky, and Ren's just being good stuff. Then we have Nesli, for as much of a whore as she is, her ass is butter, and speaking of butter's asses, we have the senior white girl Alex, you know the one. What can I say about asses, nothing really, I like them and so do you, 'nuff said.

Adeola on Girls:
Wow, where to start with this topic, girls I believe are not that complex, but then again I could be wrong. Well for this part of the essay it is up for grabs, feel free to write me back, and add things, or argue things if you want, this is what I get though. Girls as aforementioned are not these confusing creatures that we like to make them to be. My take on the whole thing is that guys are not that bright, but girls are not out of our understanding, but guys like to make it seem this way, to substantiate our problems when they do arise from the girl area (which often happens). Girls (or should I say most girls) are simple creatures who just demand respect. They sometimes make unreasonable demands, but the long lost art of compromise, can be used to solve these problems when they come up. And not that girls never try to make guys confused, or even succeed, but here is the great secret, pay attention. Look under the surface of some of the things that they say. I take this topic very seriously, because it is unfair that girls believe they have the higher intellect, it should not be this way, and it is not hard to change. most guys do NOT have a problem with women, but for those of you that do, there it is, use these weapons well my friends.

Adeola On Hairy Armed Mandillas:
Ok, Here's the deal, I don't exactly know what a hairy Mandilla is, but I have used it in the context that it is one hairy beast, like a big foot type of thing, so just think of it that way. Ok, so who are Hairy armed Mandilla's? In Stuy, they are some girls, whether they have big Dribbeez or not is negligible, and whether they are pretty are not is also irrelevant, but the thing is they treat their arm hair, as if it was also was irrelevant to their looks. I am an open minded guy, and I am not asking girls to do much, but what they usually do to themselves, just add something to the upkeep. They shave their underarms to keep themselves looking good, they shave their legs, to keep looking good, now what about those arm pieces!!??! I don't get it, it's not good for business, and not attractive at all, sure I can deal with it, but why should I, or anyone else have to do with it. If you are not noticing well, you should be. It is wrong. I am going to take a stand right here and right now, against Hairy armed Mandilla's and everything they stand for! I implore and encourage you brothers to do the same.

Adeola On Naps:
Ok, one weekend afternoon, you feel a bit sluggish, you have nothing to do, so you decided to take a nap. You figure "I will take an hour nap, and I will wake up fresh and feeling better". Well your happy ass is wrong. Go ahead take that nap, but when you awake, oh, when you awake, refreshed you will not be. You wake up feeling as sluggish as ever, nasty and tired. Why you ask? Well heres the deal with naps the most deceiving things known to man. You go to bed, and you have nothing to do before and after the nap, so your mind figures "Hey, why should I get up? I like being sluggish, and that's the way I’m gonna stay" Your mind knows you have nothing to do after the nap, so why should it get up, Logical is it not? So there it is, the secret of a nap, so take a stand, literally against naps!!

Adeola On Funny Phrases:
Well, as a expert on funny phrases, I have realized by infecting the vocabulary of our little group, that funny phrases are an integral part of the survival of a group of people. How you ask? Well, funny phrases, are not just funny phrases, they usually are code phrases, this is the way we are able to say things and keep people totally excluded, besides, variety is the spice of life. Without phrases like "I dont Give a rat's Culo (Aaron Scott), Sweet Fancy Moses (Adeola Akinola), and Dribbee (Robert Aboulafia), think how boring life would be. So Viva Variety.

Ok, right about here, i am running on empty, this my core essay, right me some more topics, and I will give you an authentic Adeola On: opinion of it, Maybe this can be a little like "Dear Abbey" thing, that would be fun, so here it is, if you got this, then you are cool and blessed, So much for the first issue of beep boppin and Scattin". Good nite everybody.

Pretty good huh!? No? Well f#@k you too...

New Music For That @SS!

Nothing really new to report these days, a few days ago we were all treated to the SOTU (State of the Union) by the POTUS. Apparently he had nothing really new to say aside from telling the Dems that they should go piss off and telling the country that our dependence on foreign oil should be slowed while only offering up to put back in place funding for alternative fuel that he had taken away earlier in his term. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s in the news for those that don’t watch (you really should, it sure is a lot more entertaining than Lost or even, dare I say it, Battlestar Galactica which is widely known as one of the best shows on TV right now. Mad Miners have died in VA in the past few months. I believe the number is ~16 now. Last Year (2004) only 2 miners died. Some would call this a divine act of God punishing us for something or another (Pat Robertson I’m looking at you) but I really don’t know what to make of it. Are the miners being more careless or is it just coincidence for now. Not sure but something should be done. Cindy Sheehan and Beverly Young (wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young) were both tossed from the House Gallery before the SOTU on Tuesday night. Sheehan was wearing a shirt with the US death toll on it, and Young wore a shirt with a “Support The Troops” slogan on it. Later on the captain of the police that told the two women to leave apologized to both of them for making them and us feel like we live in a police state. There are also several ongoing debates surrounding: The 10th Planet, Boys doing worse than girls academically, what if anything should be done about the newly elected Hamas Government of Palestine (go radical Muslims!) and Iran’s clear intention of building atomic missiles with their atomic enrichment program.

I have recently gotten some new music and would like to share with you some bands that might be interesting:

Artic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not:
Leave it to the British to make a much longer title than necessary. Whatever, this music is actually pretty good and in my opinion sounds like what the strokes 3rd album should have been. Check it out.

M.I.A – Arula: I actually have only heard one track on this isht so far, not bad. A little dancehall, a little electro, and some other Hot beats. Besides this is one fine looking Sri Lankan chick.

Kashmir – No Balance Palace: I actually saw a video for this poor man’s RadioHead (even that is a huge stretch) on this guys 50 greatest videos of 2005 site, turns out the rest of this album isn’t bad either.

Annie – Anniemal: Gonna have to give cred to Pinto for this one. I have liked Sophie Ellis Bextor for a long time now and The Cardigans for even longer than that. Annie seems to be able to combine both with that sweet soft Norwegian voice and nice, general and generic electronic beats.

My next post hopefully will be a “Throw Back” as they say to the original beep boppin’ and scattin’, a newsletter I had in Stuyvesant High School that lasted all of two issues because in reality I had nothing to write about. The first issue pretty much covered all the crap that my friends and I talked about on a daily basic like tits and ass (we were in high school, what can I say). The second issue you can see me stretching for stuff and that’s when I realized the dream was dead. Let me know what you think of it if you happen to come across it…

Korea's Crime Fighting Robots...

While I have always believed that our society would benefit from the help of robots to do the more menial tasks of our culture, this is still a bit scary. The Korean Center for Intelligent Robots has said that by 2010 we should see robots assist the police and military in keeping the public peace and going on dangerous recon missions. I guess we are not so far off of I,Robot after all.

While I am on the topic of security, I will mention RFID secure wallet for those concerned about the little radio transmitters scanning your wallet and alerting the government that the hard candy it contains has been in there since the early 90's (so nice now that we can use "the '90's" to signify something old). The blog entry here is actually not bad, even though I'm poking fun at it. There are RFID tags in a lot of the stuff that we use and because the tech is new and does not have an extensively secure ideology behind it yet, maybe some steps to keep your info safe are necessary. Still, a wallet surrounded in duct tape begs the user to be called "crazy" or some type of conspiracy nut. I wonder if they have ways to jack money off of E-Z Pass hardware clients yet? That would be crappy, someone jacks a huge amount off of your credit card just by sitting next to you at a red light...patent pending.

Last but not least I would like to alert everyone that I have become the incredible hulk, or just fat, not sure which one yet. Today while stretching in my office chair I clenched my fist, which flexed my forearm ( a normal move during stretching) and my sleeve right around my mid forearm tore, just like your pants would when they are tight and you bend down to grab something. This was really not cool because I like this shirt a lot, and it wasn't really that tight (its a button up shirt). It is a novelty though, and my sleeves that are rolled up to cover up the 3"-4" tear are an acceptable office fashion, could have been worse I guess. Could have ripped my pants (knock on wood).

Oh yeah

Mad funny comic, stolen from the Village Voice:

Everybodies Talkin' at Me, Can't Hear a Word Their Sayin'...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Myspace is Our Space...

Check out this article on myspace censorship. Actually I would not call it censorship so much as myspace trying to create a monopoly where there should be none. There has been a rash of website trickery going on recently, makes me wonder about how people are manipulating the "magic" of the internet. Most of these things might be able to be chalked up to pure coincidence but when is it going to stop being coincidental and start being real (thanks MTV)?

This news is pretty old but I don't think I ever posted it (thanks go out to Pinto for orginially sending me the story). I will say it here, while I don't practice as much as I should I am muslim and I find this totally absurd. There is NOTHING that anyone can say to me to tell me that this is a rationale reason for outrage among the muslim community. You must be LOOKING for something to get angry about in order to find this offensive. The thing is its not like there is a shortage for things to be mad about with regards to western culture for the muslim community. I mean the whole "towel heads" comment could fuel an angry mob for at least a year, but a graphical symbol turned 90 degrees counter clockwise is the what is getting people's goats (no pun intended, for those that don't even know why there would be a pun, look up Eid Ul- Adha). Take a look at the photo below.















I was just reading about the ten most important people in video games and I came across this picture:



I thought it was just as hot as all the stupid geeks out there so I decided to post. Ahh, yes my dream girl (not really...)

A Few Things from the CES Show

For those that don't know, the Computer Electronics Show is going on right now. It's the biggest consumer electronics show in the world AND its in Las Vegas. Here are a few pictures of things that are there, the future is now...

Greetings and Happy New Year!

The beginning of a new year is always weird. People feel the need to re-invent themselves or change habits simply because they have a whole year to do something. They also had the previous years to improve upon whatever they wanted to improve on, but that does not matter since this the new year this is the ripest time to affect change in one's life. I am doing the same thing, adjusting my habitual ways and looking to be a different Adeola than I was last year. It's not a bad thing, its just weird that we find this need magically after an arbitrary amount of time has passed. By the way I just turned 25 and it feels good. Thank you for your Birthday wishes in advance. On with the Show...

Ok just kidding. Blogger is being ridiculous and slow, so the news is going to have to wait. It's a shame too because I have some pretty sweet pix I wanted to put up, but I guess its going to have to wait.

Oh let me take this time to change my opinion about myspace.com. I will not take my foot out of mouth to say that after comparing myspace to friendster I realized I was pretty wrong about myspace. It is a little bit more match friendly, its 10x faster than friendster and the customization of pages (eventhough I have not really gotten into it) is much better as well. Sorry friendster but you lost this one.

Why MySpace?! Also Kids dumber than Chimps...

There has been a serious swelling of people involved in the social networking site myspace.com, and I am seriously perplexed as to why. I have been involved in a social networking site for about 2.5 years now (Friendster) but all of a sudden everyone and there mothers are on myspace. I've asked people "but what about Friendster, they were around for awhile before any of these other sites (myspace, facebook) were out and now they get no love". Most answer I see center around myspace more mature themed site, although I don't know how that's possible since the site and service is nothing more than the members that make it up, somehow I guess more "adults" have gotten on myspace making it the more adult networking site. Bah I say, friendster was and is still awesome. At the behest of my friends however I jumped onto myspace and created a profile and have not been back since. To create my profile I simply cut and pasted my friendster profile over to the appropriate myspace categories. I think I am just bitter because it was hard enough wasting time on Friendster but now there is another site that I should, in theory, keep up to date and checking. These sites are great things to fill some dead time at work or at home when one is bored, but my plate is full of such sites and it seems I cannot possibly keep up with all of them. I see why people who just report on goings on in the "blogosphere" even have a job.

In other news, I just finished an article about Children versus Chimps with regards to learning and imitation. RTA for more details. The short story, Kids imitate to learn while chimps look at the end goal and do what it takes to get to the solution. The article tries to explain why learning by imitation is not only better or at least not worse than the chimp method, but also what makes us uniquely human. I really don't have much background in child psych or psych in general, but at face value I can't see how this experiment demonstrated learning by imitation to be a superior method. After you read the article, leave a comment and tell me what you think. This just seems like humans are hard wired to do what they see all the time and not look at what their actions are actually achieving.

Its funny that I should read this article only a few days after I saw the movie "S1MONE" which had oodles of potential but ultimately was not that great of a movie (it might have had something to do with the contrast between the idea of a digital actor and 42" LCD screens and the computer the sim was on still having and using a 5 1/4" floppy drive). Apparently we are not so far off of a S1mone-esque reality where digital actors can actually be used. This article is total fiction but it is done well, and with the pace of technology these days, I guess this is not so far off.

Isn't It Random?!

First, check this thing out.

Yes it is for real. It's an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) reader that prints on your toilet paper. I think this is a little much. I mean I love tech, Most things that could be teched out should be, but Toilet paper. The best is apparently you can get a seat cover that can identify you by your weight and ass print and print out your feeds specifically. Out of control. Well now you can wipe your ass with the latest CNN Bush Poll Numbers, literally.

In the latest news about how the Army of Crazed Christians have been offended, they have picked their overlord GW Bush as their next target. Bush in an effort to not offend anyone has been sending out Christmas Cards that use the phrase "Happy Holidays" versus "Merry Christmas". I get what GW is trying to do, its actually pretty noble. It's difficult to keep track of everyone various religious affiliations so he sends out a message that works for all holidays. You would think that the people who are lambasting him for his caving in to liberal notions would applaud him for trying to be so understanding and tolerant of others, as is the Christian way as I understand it. Nope, they are just pissed that they and the holiday that they celebrate is not singled out as better than everyone else's. I mean its not good enough that the entire nation takes off to honor a holiday that is very non-secular and that the entire country goes into a totally different mode to celebrate it, they must have all the cards they get point to it and no other holiday that maybe happening at the same time and that other people might be celebrating. Isn't this just a bit selfish. To take a step back and look at the big picture and realize that some people might be offended by a "Merry Christmas" card is too much for them. Personally I celebrate Christmas and am not Christian and would not be offended by a Merry Christmas card, but some people would and I commend GW (take note, this is one of the few time this is going to happen) for trying to be all inclusive here.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad and all the other good stuff out there. And remember folks, Chris died for your sins... (you really have to see that Show "Weeds" to appreciate that one)

The Teenager Whistle...

Greetings from beyond everyone, it has been a few weeks since my last entry but I have returned. Blogs are really funny things, you can be all about them and write in them all the time, but skip a week and its just as easy to skip four more, I honestly don't know what it is. I also don't get paid for this or anything so the only thing compelling me to write is my willingness to have the public eye on my words, perhaps to get some feedback, mayhaps not. Anyway, on with the show...

I read something today that really shocked me, more because someone actually had the idea rather than it actually working. This article comes from CNet, but takes place in Wales where teenage loitering is SO rampant that this guy has come up with a High Frequency Teenager whistle that emits a high frequency sound people under 20 can here, but people over 30 find inaudible, supposedly. This is not an exact science here, even though its proven that you lose your ability to hear high frequency sounds as you grow older, the change is pretty slow going so its not like one day you wake up and your immune to high frequency sounds. The idea is innovative though and supposedly works. RTFA, there are some pretty choice quotes in there.

And another update in the battle that is Intelligent Design. In this story a couple is suing UC Berkeley because they believe a website that seeks to explain envolutionary theory to students favors one religion (The religion of evolution??) over others (I did not know evolution was a religion). This couples says that the web site which speaks about other religions and there ability to co-exist with the theory of evolution is improperly swaying students to accept evolution as true when it most certainly has many flaws. I love this shit, this has now gotten to a point where a couple is calling evolution itself a sort of religion and bashing it because it is promoting itself over other religions. If you read this I am sure you will be confused because the whole notion makes no sense.

I recently read an article in Harpers magazine that talks about how ID proponents are using persuasive and definitive left wing arguments to support the idea of ID. Using phrases like knowledge and understanding is never ever set or steadfast and that it must always be challenged, they say the argument for ID CANNOT be thrown out because of the necessity to have differing viewpoints in the academic circle. This is a very compelling argument, but it is really knocked on its head when the author of the article points out that when scholars and men made these statements it was implicit that the arguments brought to challenge whatever theory it was going to challenge would have validation from the peers that were in discussion of the theory in question. Basically if you want to refute a theory by putting it up against another one, the theory that you bring with you cannot be seen as ludicrous and a waste of time by the people that are involved in the debate. This would seem obvious to most rational people without an agenda.

I wrote in a post a long time ago that I also had a theory of evolution that involved us coming from a super intelligent race of sea monkeys. If I raised this as a real theory opposing evolution I would be laughed at, things might even be thrown. Before you say that my theory and ID are vastly different, take a close look at both of them. Neither have any substantial proof and are based on speculation and fantasy. I am not trying to knock any religion or its story of creation, but once you put things into the context of scientific theory you open yourself up to a whole lot of examination that many semi valid theories cannot withstand, much less the theory of ID or Seamonkeyism.