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|  Sooooo my sister and I both work as computer geeks for our alma maters. I think you know where I went to school. Cathy went to Huntingdon College in Montgomery (a private Methodist school), which is only a few blocks from our house. One of the neat things about Huntingdon is that they offer a senior trip each semester, the cost of which is included in tuition. Cathy went on hers, and since she's on staff and people like her, has been able to go on subsequent senior trips. (Not fair...) So in this manner she's been able to see Paris (more than once) and Alaska. I know she's been to the UK, but the details are fuzzy and I don't think it was Huntingdon related. The Spring 2010 trip is London, England. Aaaaand since I'm Cathy's blood relations or something, I can go if I want! And I want! We've been talking about it for a couple of weeks, but today she put down the first deposit for both of us. And I've already cleared the time off from work with my boss. So there it is. I'm going across the pond for the first time ever! So far I've been to Canada, the Bahamas, Belize, and California (three times). (I totally consider the West Coast to be a foreign land.) I was going to say I can't wait to visit the eastern hemisphere, but it looks like the UK is in both. I'll have to look up which half London is in later. And who knows where our itinerary will take us while over there. | |
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| The Haiti thing sucks, I agree. I'm glad that Americans were able to band together in a common cause of helping people. It restores a little of my faith in humanity. The same thing happened when Katrina hit the gulf coast. (New Orleans is not yet rebuilt, btw.) So what I don't understand is how the media and Hollywood types choose which disasters to make famous, and which ones to ignore. Two weeks ago, an ice storm hit the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, which is in the poorest county in the entire U.S. It has left 14,000 people without electricity and clean water. The wind chill is -45 degrees. The only way some residents can get around is by horseback. They've been completely overwhelmed, like any other sovereign nation or sovereign state or even like what's happening in Haiti right now, they've been devastated that their communication, transportation, power, water, they've all been shut down.
The needs here outstrip the resources. Without power or water, some tribal residents are boiling snow in wood stoves to get drinking water. Areas where water is restored are seeing frozen pipes and indoor flooding. I want to know why this isn't on the news every day and every night. I want to know why I can't donate $10 to help these people by sending a text message. I want to know why famous Hollywood actors aren't holding a telethon to raise money for these people. I consider myself fairly up to speed in terms of current events, but this report on NPR Friday evening was the first I'd even heard of this. Are South Dakotans less deserving of our aid than Hatians? Is this natural disaster not sexy enough for the country to give a crap about? | |
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| "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore." -- Steve Jobs, Jan. 2008 on the topic of the Amazon Kindle. Now he wants people to buy his iPad and and read books purchased from the iBook Store. My belief that the iPad is simply a larger iPod Touch (with a horrible name) notwithstanding, if Apple wants to jump into the eReader market, fine. I'm all for free market competition, yada yada. But whatever. My dislike of Apple and Steve Jobs is pretty well documented: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/157748.html (Steve lies about Apple TV and the iPhone.) http://bamatone.livejournal.com/166240.html (Apple is elitist, and products are expensive and closed.) http://log.dustinwilson.com/archives/2009/02/24/The_Great_Feature_Train_Robbery/ (Apple lies about all the wonderful new features in Safari, most of which were invented in other browsers years prior.) | |
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| Most of my (technical) friends know I use the Opera web browser. Been using it for quite some time. (Like 7 years or something.) That doesn't mean I didn't use something else first. I think I started on Netscape Navigator. (I distinctly remember installing version 3.0 Gold in Windows 3.11.) When it was on its way out, I moved to the Mozilla suite. After that, Phoenix (which became Firefox). And from there, I made the jump to Opera. I won't say I've never looked back. Opera is quirky. I know. Its strict adherence to web standards actually means some of the most popular sites (like Yahoo Mail, Facebook, Google sites, etc.) don't work correctly all of the time. But after 7 years, I'm pretty set in my browsing habits. Any time I stop to test out Firefox again, I notice two major things: - Firefox is slow (when compared to Opera). Not just loading web pages, but the program itself.
- I can't duplicate Opera's native functionality without a slew of extensions in Firefox. Some argue that's one of the best points of Firefox - the extension system. I disagree for a number of reasons. Suffice to say, once you add a dozen extensions in Firefox to do what Opera can do natively, you bloat the program and expose it to security risks. Additionally, an update to the main Firefox trunk can (and often does) break extensions.
Don't even mention Safari. It's a train wreck in Windows, and Apple's a bunch of lying thieves anyway. So with Opera I have loyally stayed. Enter: Chrome. I was pretty excited when Google first released it. But it was just an early demo, and wasn't ready for primetime. With version 4, it might now be! What's changed? Mostly a bunch of under the hood stuff I won't get into here. But one not so subtle change is the addition of extensions. I know, I know. I spent all of bullet 2 above railing against extensions. But Chrome extensions are different. Google doesn't give extensions near as much access or control over the browser as Firefox does. That helps to fix my number one complaint: extensions breaking when the browser is updated. Secondly, they don't slow down the browser as much as Firefox extensions. (I suppose they still can, though.) Same with security - still a risk, but not as big as Firefox extensions. What's this mean for me? More sites work as they are intended, and with most of the functionality I'm accustomed to from Opera. In particular: Which leads me to the remaining major drawbacks: - I need my keyboard shortcuts In particular, I need the / key to begin a text search within the current page. I need ctrl+backspace to browse up one directory in the URL. (I can use a mouse gesture for this, at least.) I would like my single key shortcuts, like z for back and x for forward. But most of all, I need my ctrl+b for URL paste and go. This is all available (and customizable) in Opera.
- I have to be able to remove underlines from links. This option is available in every other browser. I'm not sure why it isn't in Chrome, but I can only assume this feature will be added eventually. There's really no reason no to and I've seen a bunch of other people also complaining about it. (I could do it myself if Chrome allowed me to load a global custom stylesheet, but I don't think this is possible.)
- I really, really, really wish I could alter the default tab order for cycling via ctrl+tab. I know it's very intuitive for people switching from Firefox, but not at all for Opera users. I am not really holding my breath on this one, though.
Conclusion? It certainly can't take the place of Opera in terms of all of Opera's native functionality. But it could probably work for me. And I bet it will work for you. Will I switch? Who knows! I'm sure I will find some more things to nitpick about in the near future! (Edit: Spatial navigation! Mouse flips!) One thing's for sure, though. None of you should still be using Internet Explorer. | |
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| Alabama produces the most SEC players per capita of any state within the league's geographical boundaries. And that's with exiles from the state already starring at schools across the country, from Connecticut to Indiana to Butler. Doug Segrest of The Birmingham News did a little statistical digging and came up with some interesting results. | |
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| "Take it or it will call your mother" | According to The Economist, "various studies" say that 1/3 to half of all prescription drugs are not taken properly, or at all. It leads to poor health, and it costs America $100 billion (with a B) in unnecessary hospitalization alone. Enter the "smart-pill" from Proteus Biomedical. When one of Proteus's pills is taken, stomach fluids activate the edible communications device it contains, which sends wireless signals through the body to another chip worn as a skin patch or embedded just under the skin.
That, in turn, can upload data to a smart-phone or send it to a doctor via the internet. Thus it is easy to make sure a patient is taking his pills at the right time, to spot adverse reactions with other drugs and so on. Damn, technology. You scary!- Tags:news
- Current Mood:amazed
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| I've been reading my first issue of The Economist, and this line jumped out at me ( article here): "Even where all the right conditions are in place, democracy will not prevail unless its proponents show success at governing. No constitution can, in itself, guarantee good governance." It's a very good point. The U.S. Constitution is an amazing document - one of the most important in human history, and the next evolutionary step from its predecessor, the Magna Carta. But the law of the land means absolutely nothing if citizens and elected officials don't adhere to it. | |
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|  Most of my friends know I own an Android phone. (Specifically, the Motorola Cliq.) One of the apps I downloaded is called " Listen," which allows me to download and listen to various podcasts. For instance, I'm subscribed to Marketplace, Pardon the Interruption, Only a Game, and The Onion Radio News, all of which are great. I can also see what the most popular searches of the moment are, which is an interesting way of putting your hand on the pulse of America: - "golden globe"
- ethicist
- kiffin
- wait wait
- "lane kiffin"
- twit
- "pat robertson"
- pop culture
- "martin luther king"
- the real deal
- favre
- intelligence squared
- "lady gaga"
- naked scientists
- avatar
- radio pictures
- leno
- blueshift
- palin
- kexp song
Any suggestions on what other (free) podcasts I should check out besides the four listed above? | |
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| ... in terms of cancer risk. From the January edition of my UC Berkeley Wellness Letter: Tanning beds are even more dangerous than previously thought, says the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which recently reclassified indoor tanning devices as "carcinogenic to humans" - the highest cancer risk category, equal to that of cigarettes.
According to the agency's report, people who start using tanning beds or sunlamps before age 30 increase their risk of melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer, by 75%. Line sunlight, tanning devices are a source of ultraviolet radiation, a known cause of skin cancer. And they do not protect skin against damage from future sun exposure, as many people may think. Edit: This is not news, btw. | |
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| Senator Orrin Hatch today urged President Obama to invite the Boise St. football team to the White House alongside Alabama, "arguing both undefeated teams deserve the honor traditionally afforded to college football’s national champion." Senator Hatch is from Utah. Utah got the BCS shaft last season. As a result, Hatch "urged Obama to ask the Justice Department to investigate whether the BCS violated antitrust laws." Sour grapes much? There's been a huge movement recently about ditching the BCS and instituting a playoff instead. Maybe we should. After all, I'm no fan of the BCS. ( Or the NCAA, for that matter.) However, that does not mean Alabama's latest national championship is in any way "invalid." Why? Because we won 12 games, won our conference championship game against then #1 Florida, then won again at the Rose Bowl against then #2 Texas. Alabama does not apologize for winning 14 games, and Alabama does not apologize for the NCAA's system of scheduling "postseason" games. It might be news to a lot of people, but plenty of teams have gotten the shaft before when it comes to championships. I will give you one example - the 1966 Alabama Crimson Tide. Here's the short version. The Tide went 11-0 in 1966, and destroyed #6 Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl. Not only that, Alabama was the current two-time defending champion of college football. But the AP, in their infinite wisdom, decided to award their crown to Notre Dame, a team that went 9-0-1, tying #2 Michigan St. (also 9-0-1) in their last game. How does an 11-0 two-time defending national champion Alabama team finish #3 in the country behind two 9-0-1 teams? Some say it was simple Northern bias against the South. Some say it was Gov. Wallace's segregationist policies. (Alabama's football team was not integrated until years later.) There is no clear answer. Adding to the confusion, the NCAA itself lists Alabama as a 1966 national champion (though not the sole champion). Keep on digging and you will find many other examples of championship shafting, some in the distant past (1964 Arkansas), some in the not so distant past (2004 Auburn). There's also been a lot of talk about how many national championships Alabama claims (13). The AP recognizes far fewer. Of course, the AP did not exist when Alabama won their first few, so how can the AP be the sole measurement? Other organizations that did exist back then, and did award championships, do not exist now. You might expect Alabama to claim the 1966 season as one of the 13, but you'd be wrong. The point is, this unclean method of crowning the college football national champion is not new. The problem has been around since college football itself. Should Boise St. (and Utah) feel slighted? Sure. The only answer I have for them is to keep winning. Alabama didn't win its national championships by crying to the press and lobbying Congress to change the rules. Alabama just won. Continually. Consistency wins votes. Fairly or not, votes are what you need to win a championship. And votes, by the way, are all Orrin Hatch is after. | |
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| I first heard of the "Move Your Money" idea here at United Liberty, but I didn't really look into it at the time. I chuckled, though, because I had already made the decision a few months back to move all of my money from SouthTrust-Wachovia-Wells Fargo to the Alabama Credit Union. Then today Trent forwarded me the video I embeded above, which is just spot on. It's especially neat because I only just saw It's a Wonderful Life for the first time ever two nights ago (and it was great), so everything the video references is fresh on my mind. It's only four minutes long, so give the video a whirl and see if you don't agree. | |
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| Or, more specifically, La Mirada, which is in between Los Angeles and Anaheim. I never wrote up my last trip to California, mostly because I'm lazy and/or uninspired. So here I go. These are the things I remember I wanted to talk about, in no particular order. On four lane streets or wider (two each direction), the right-hand lane is especially wide. It was very confusing the first day or two I was there because I didn't know if they did it on purpose or not. Turns out they did. Instead of making official right-turn only lanes with big white arrows on the pavement, drivers are supposed to use the far right side of these oddly wide lanes as the turn lane. It was still confusing even after I figured this out and sometimes got caught too far inside when I wanted to turn right. Then I'd get cut off by people behind me making their right-hand turns. Bah. There are a lot of what I call "fast food sushi" joints in the Anaheim area. So like, I look up in Google or whatever for Japanese places. Ok, gold mine. Lots of them have "sushi" in the name. Double score. I drive over to a few of them and they look like old converted Subway restaurants. Did not inspire confidence. I did find a place, though, and even took a picture. (That's spicy scallop and crab.) Driving a Kia Rio is a lot different from driving a Dodge Durango. The brake pedal was uber sensitive, and it didn't have power windows or locks. But it did have satellite radio! Most of the time I was dialed into the Grateful Dead station. The Rio also got pretty awesome gas mileage. I flew first class for the first time ever! But only from Birmingham to Dallas. If I had that kind of money, I'd do it every. single. time. So much room! And the stewardess was like a waitress, always asking us if we needed anything.  I visited the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda! It was absolutely awesome, and I plan to dedicate an entire post to it later. I haven't yet captioned my pictures, which of course is critical. After having seen one for the first time in San Francisco, I finally ate at an In'N'Out Burger. You'll have to take my word for it, I forgot to take a picture. Verdict: It was ok. Not as good as Donny (who loved bowling) would lead us to believe. While I hung out in the hotel room, I discovered @RejectedCards on Twitter. Example: "Happy Veterans Day. By the way, did you ever track down that recruiter who bullshitted you into enlisting?" That is comedy gold right there, folks.  I went and saw an Anaheim Ducks hockey game! The proof is in the pictures. I also had an awesome seat, as the embeded picture here illustrates. I had planned to give a write up of the game itself, but I think I'll just let ESPN take care of that, eh? It was a helluva game! And finally, I missed my flight for the first time ever. That was sad. And also mostly my fault. 1) I did not account for traffic. (It wasn't real bad most of the time I was there, but this was my first time in morning commuter traffic.) 2) I was very hungover from the Ducks game the night before. I actually checked in about 20 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave, but I guess they decided that was too late. Sucks, too, because I was the only person in the security line AND the plane was still sitting at the damn gate when I walked up. But did they let me on? Hell naw. So I sat and watched my plane taxi and take off without me from a window seat in the foot court area. The whole ordeal took like 6 or 8 extra hours or something, and the flight from Dallas to B'ham was not without drama. But I got home ok, so I'm not complaining. And that's the way it was. | |
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| And when you do decide to give, check out Givv.org, which lets you support all your favorite nonprofits from a single donation.  (from mint.com, "the best free way to manage your money") | |
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| Here's the bowl schedule for this season. Rankings are of the BCS variety as of Dec. 14. We have one bowl game that is an exact rematch from last year, and a few with one of the same teams. Boring. And whatever happened to the practice of the best bowl games being later? The luster of a "January game" is lost if it's the International, Papajohns.com, Alamo, or GMAC Bowls (among others). Anyway, enjoy.
Bowl Season 2009-2010
| Date/Time (Central) |
Bowl |
Matchup |
TV Station |
| Sat, Dec. 19 | 3:30pm |
New Mexico Bowl |
Wyoming St. vs. Fresno St. |
ESPN |
| Sat, Dec. 19 | 7:00pm |
St. Petersburg Bowl |
Rutgers vs. Central Florida |
ESPN2 |
| Sun, Dec. 20 | 7:30pm |
New Orleans Bowl |
Southern Miss vs. Middle Tennessee St. |
ESPN |
| Tue, Dec. 22 | 7:00pm |
Las Vegas Bowl |
#14 BYU vs. #18 Oregon St. |
ESPN |
| Wed, Dec. 23 | 7:00pm |
Poinsettia Bowl |
#23 Utah vs. California |
ESPN |
| Thu, Dec. 24 | 7:00pm |
Hawaii Bowl |
Nevada vs. SMU |
ESPN |
| Sat, Dec. 26 | 12:00pm |
Little Caesars Bowl |
Marshall vs. Ohio |
ESPN |
| Sat, Dec. 26 | 3:30pm |
Meineke Car Care Bowl |
#17 Pittsburgh vs. North Carolina |
ESPN |
| Sat, Dec. 26 | 7:00pm |
Emerald Bowl |
#24 USC vs. Boston College |
ESPN |
| Sun, Dec. 27 | 7:30pm |
Music City Bowl |
Kentucky vs. Clemson |
ESPN |
| Mon, Dec. 28 | 4:00pm |
Independence Bowl |
Texas A&M vs. Georgia |
ESPN2 |
| Tue, Dec. 29 | 3:30pm |
EagleBank Bowl |
UCLA vs. Temple |
ESPN |
| Tue, Dec. 29 | 7:00pm |
Champs Sports Bowl |
#15 Miami (FL) vs. #25 Wisconsin |
ESPN |
| Wed, Dec. 30 | 3:30pm |
Humanitarian Bowl |
Bowling Green vs. Idaho |
ESPN |
| Wed, Dec. 30 | 7:00pm |
Holiday Bowl |
#20 Arizona vs. #22 Nebraska |
ESPN |
| Thu, Dec. 31 | 11:00am |
Armed Forces Bowl |
Houston vs. Air Force |
ESPN |
| Thu, Dec. 31 | 1:00pm |
Sun Bowl |
#21 Stanford vs. Oklahoma |
CBS |
| Thu, Dec. 31 | 2:30pm |
Texas Bowl |
Navy vs. Missouri |
ESPN |
| Thu, Dec. 31 | 5:00pm |
Insight Bowl |
Minnesota vs. Iowa St. |
NFL Network |
| Thu, Dec. 31 | 6:30pm |
Peach Bowl |
#11 Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee |
ESPN |
| Fri, Jan. 1 | 10:00am |
Outback Bowl |
Northwestern vs. Auburn |
ESPN |
| Fri, Jan. 1 | 12:00pm |
Citrus Bowl |
#12 LSU vs. #13 Penn St. |
ABC |
| Fri, Jan. 1 | 12:00pm |
Gator Bowl |
#16 West Virginia vs. Florida St. |
CBS |
| Fri, Jan. 1 | 3:30pm |
Rose Bowl |
#7 Oregon vs. #8 Ohio St. |
ABC |
| Fri, Jan. 1 | 7:30pm |
Sugar Bowl |
#3 Cincinnati vs. #5 Florida |
FOX |
| Sat, Jan. 2 | 11:00am |
International Bowl |
South Florida vs. Northern Illinois |
ESPN2 |
| Sat, Jan. 2 | 1:00pm |
Papajohns.com Bowl |
South Carolina vs. UConn |
ESPN |
| Sat, Jan. 2 | 1:00pm |
Cotton Bowl |
#19 Oklahoma St. vs. Ole Miss |
FOX |
| Sat, Jan. 2 | 4:30pm |
Liberty Bowl |
Arkansas vs. East Carolina |
ESPN |
| Sat, Jan. 2 | 8:00pm |
Alamo Bowl |
Michigan St. vs. Texas Tech |
ESPN |
| Mon, Jan. 4 | 7:00pm |
Fiesta Bowl |
#4 TCU vs. #6 Boise St. |
FOX |
| Tue, Jan. 5 | 7:00pm |
Orange Bowl |
#9 Georgia Tech vs. #10 Iowa |
FOX |
| Wed, Jan. 6 | 6:00pm |
Mobile Bowl |
Central Michigan vs. Troy (St.) |
ESPN |
| Thu, Jan. 7 | 7:00pm |
BCS National Championship |
#1 Alabama vs. #2 Texas |
ABC |
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| Dear Senator Patty Murray,
Up yours.
Very sincerely,
The people of the State of Alabama That is the letter, word for word, I submitted to Ms. Murray, Democratic senator from the state of Washington. ( Click here to submit your own.) It was in response to this quote she gave NPR's All Things Considered: "I have stood on the line in Everett, Wash., where we have thousands of workers who go to work every day to build these planes," Murray says. "I would challenge anybody to tell me that they've stood on a line in Alabama and seen anybody building anything."Governor Riley must have had the same reaction I did. His response: "Surely Senator Murray was just misquoted because it would be absolutely absurd for anyone to say something so ridiculous. Alabama is, after all, the home of automobile plants, aerospace and defense companies, the rocket that took man to the moon, and many of the same companies that Senator Murray represents."Personally, I think Gov. Riley went too easy on Ms. Murray. This is all in response to a battle between Northrop Grumman and Boeing to win a contract for building refueling tanker aircraft. If Northrop Grumman is awarded the tanker contract (again), the airplanes will be built in Mobile, Alabama. If Boeing is awarded the contract, the tankers will be built in Washington state. Here's the NPR story that led to Ms. Murray's unfortunate and inflammatory remark. It gives a little background on this contract war. Edit: Bradley Byrne, Republican candidiate for governor in 2010, invites Sen. Murray to tour Alabama's "world class manufacturing operations." | |
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|  I still need to talk about my latest trip to California AND write a review on the Cliq. I am such a lazy ass. BUT. To potentially (partially) remedy that, I joined a gym this week. I figure if stick with it at least every other day, I should sleep better and perhaps be less tired at work. Also, you know, be in better shape. Which is really the biggest point. Besides a lazy ass, I'm also getting to be a fat ass. Btw, Alabama football is pretty bad ass this year. (I guess I'm trying to use all my -ass words today.) We took Florida to the woodshed and put ourselves in perfect position to win #13. I heard a good line from a caller to Finebaum a couple nights ago (shocking, I know): "If Ol' Bear was watching that game Saturday night, and I know he was, I'm sure he tipped his hat to Nick." I totally agree. Saban coached the game of his life. Hope he can do it again on January 7. And who says Saban doesn't smile?? | |
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| First we had Lisa Simpson blowing a headless dude. Thanks, London. And now we have... Well, it's a web address. For a logo. Kind of like how all the states advertise on license plates now. And read the article - it's almost like Russia's saying, "Check it out! It coulda been a Soviet star, but it isn't! Happy now, bitch?" "Chernyshenko said the new logo would help break Western stereotypes of a Russia stuck in the past, instead promoting the country as a dynamic and modern nation capable of reaching out to new audiences in a digital age." I think maybe he's reaching just a bit. London 2010 vs. Sochi 2014. Which is worse? |  | Actually, Sochi's is pretty freakin' awesome when compared to some of the rest of these logos. Here's a compilation from 1924-2012. Taking a quick glance, the only one I like at all is Turin's from 2006. | |
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| 1. Alabama: Passion
Tuscaloosa, Birmingham — the entire state of Alabama
Alabama can pack in more fans to a spring game than all but a handful of schools can draw for a fall contest. Earlier this year, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban smugly said, "I was in Georgia this past weekend, and they advertised their spring game every other commercial on the radio, getting people to come. We don't do anything, they just come."
Perhaps the most telling measure of why Bama is No. 1, however, is TV ratings. Alabama fans don't merely watch SEC games at a rate almost 50 percent higher than any other market, they love all of college football.
When Texas played Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl last season, fans in Birmingham tuned in at a higher clip than those in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Cincinnati. From the [Austin, TX] Statesman | |
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| "LEVI JOHNSTON'S PLAYGIRL SHOOT WAS 'FANTASTIC,' INVOLVES HOCKEY STICK." -- Actual Associated Press headline last week. -- TMQ | |
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