May 2012
44 posts
Romney wants to arm Syria's opposition →
nytimes.com
Meanwhile, the usual suspects (Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Joe Lieberman) are calling for airstrikes.
Are we ever going to learn that arming one side of a revolution or civil war never works out well? Its a short term solution with long term repercussions; usually repercussions that come back and bite us in the ass in 10, 20, or 50 years.
Bombing a country to the stone age or giving the lesser of two evils guns and bombs are both retarded ideas that we have proven time and time again do nothing to solve the long term problems. If we’re going to get serious about world peace, lets get serious about world peace. Otherwise lets stop pontificating.
“There are some people who, having been born on third base, stand there believing they hit a triple. Donald Trump was born on third base and thinks he invented baseball.”
—
Alex Koppelman (via squashed)
LOL.
The Talk Show: The Next Generation
So Gruber departed 5by5 and moved to MuleRadio. I was as surprised as anybody, but I agree with the consensus that he was becoming more and more of a dick towards Dan, and I almost feel that Dan is better off.
That said, I had to shut off the Adam Lisagor episode. Gruber was more engaged than I’d heard him in ages, but Adam’s interruptions purely for the sake of being stupid got on my nerves in a bad way. He was being that guy from college; the guy who could not or would not focus when it came time to sit down, shut up, and work, so that we could get what we needed done and go back to playing Halo and drinking beer. It would have been different had it been funny, or the interruptions relevant to the conversation. But they were neither. A podcast of two Gruber-esque personalities might appeal to some, but I’m not one of them. Probably why I can’t stand You Look Nice Today or many of the other non-5by5 podcasts that exist out there.
I might give it one more go when the next episode airs, but I think the days of me paying attention to an audio version of Gruber’s commentary are over; I’ll stick with his written stuff. So yeah, I’m miffed about Gruber leaving 5by5, but its more about losing what I considered a great hour of entertainment every week than any particular facet of what might or might not have transpired between Dan and John.
Why does any of this matter or warrant commentary? It doesn’t. (Or maybe it does.)
McKay Thomas | Blog: Want To Know What's Cool? Ron Johnson Knows →
blog.mckaythomas.com
If you want to know why I’m writing about JCP it’s because one of the most brilliant retail executives in the world is it’s CEO and was the head of retail for Apple up until a year or so ago. I’ve been watching with eager eyes as they’ve began the transitioned from a bargain basement to a…
I too am anxiously watching JCP’s transformation. My wife has approved of most of the changes, too.
Squashed: Romney and Unions →
squashed.tumblr.com
The Romney campaign has released an attack ad that inadvertently extols the virtues of unions. The Republican’s claim is that unionized workers got special treatment solely because they were unionized. For those who don’t want to read the Government Accountability Office report debunking…
FCC Chairman Says It’s Okay to Be Charged for the Amount of Broadband You Use →
betabeat.com
Mr. Genachowski said tiered pricing, will “increase consumer choice and competition” and yield in “lower prices for people who consume less broadband.” Although, as Electronista notes, “he did not clarify what mechanism would drive prices down.”
Public interest groups have decried the potential impact broadband data caps will have on the market and innovation, not to mention the biases baked in the plans. Comcast, for example, counts Netflix video into its data plan, but lets its own XFinity service stream away.
…“increase consumer choice and competition”… yeah, that’s exactly what will happen. I mean, except for how that’s not what’s going to happen, at all.
The FCC becomes more and more impotent.
GitHub for Windows →
github.com
Given how little attention I pay to the Windows ecosphere any more, this was a surprise. I really dig the look and feel of Metro, despite having never used it in practice before. If more developers embrace this paradigm, Windows might actually start sucking less, at least from a visual, user experience standpoint.
Make a bootable USB Drive from an ISO (On a Mac)
Largely sourced from: this
Convert the ISO to its Imagable, non-optical-media counterpart
hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o output/path/output.img path/to/original.iso
Unmount the destination USB key
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskX # where X is the node number of the USB drive
DD the image out (the bs=1m is important!)
sudo dd if=output/path/output.img of=/dev/diskX bs=1m
Eject the USB drive before pulling it out to use it on the system you need to boot it on
diskutil eject /dev/diskX
I got tired of having to hunt this down; i use it infrequently enough that it I always forget the details, but every time I need it I end up finding it somewhere else…
Most recently I needed this trick to install the new XBMCbuntu Eden on my media center. My old release was starting to show its age a little; it was ugly, bloated, and buggy as hell. Eden is already more awesome. Read: AIRPLAY!!!!
EditFor the record, I have used unetbootin, both this time and in the past, with mixed results. Typically if i did it from a PC, it worked. The Linux and Mac versions of the app have never worked as promised for me, this time was no exception.
Thin MacBook Pros →
9to5mac.com
A couple of comments:
1) Why would Apple only change the 15”? I can see the argument for ditching the 17”, but surely they would rev the 13” to follow this new format. When was the last time Apple made a serious revision to the 15” but not the 13” and/or the 17”?
2) Thunderbolt and power on opposite sides? Really? The thunderbolt-display-friendly design would put them both on the same side…
3) Will we be able to get an SSD and a spinning disk (similar to the iMac), given all the room freed up by losing the optical drive? (without the hideous premium prices please!)
4) I have a clear use case for thunderbolt thanks to the TB display. I have no clear use case for USB 3.0. The disappearance of FW800 and Ethernet would be disappointing though, but mitigated by the presence of those on the display.
5) Given all the talk about Retina displays, talking about the 13” Pro getting a display that has parity with the 13” Air seems irrelevant. But that is an important upgrade; that the 13” Pro still has a 1280x800 display 6 years after the original 13” MacBook debuted is kind of scary.
All that said, one way or another I’ll probably end up with a 13” Air or a 13” Pro after this revision hits. Which one will depend on the points above.
“[Siri] is like a hive mind of our collective dumb.”
—
Gavino on the Rooster Teeth Podcast
They’ve talked about Siri getting dumber before. I can’t help but agree.
The [Failed] War on Drugs
I read things like this and it pisses me off. That is the kind of thing America’s “War on Drugs” brings.
We stop next to nothing in terms of use. We export Billions of dollars a year, tax free and illegally, to ruthless cartels and kingpins. They have destroyed the legitimate economies of their countries to the point where it isn’t profitable to do anything except participate in the drug trade.
Our quest for moral high ground has led to the deaths of thousands upon thousands of citizens elsewhere, not to mention the ridiculous drug wars that happen on our own soil every day.
How much longer are we going to try this ridiculous stunt?
Legalize drugs. Regulate them. Tax them. Take the power away from the kingpins. Stop exporting huge swaths of our economy. You really think that legalizing them would have a dramatic impact on our society? On our children? How blind are you to what is happening both here and around the world?
“This may sound silly, but I had to stifle tears when we wrote the last scene of tonight’s episode. The same thing happened when we rehearsed it. And then again when it was performed in front of a studio audience. And yet again when we watched the final version in an editing bay. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something primal, something deeply human being expressed when these characters unconsciously hold hands while watching their friend embark on a monumental journey. Speaking of which, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for watching The Big Bang Theory, for being part of our journey. I hope you’ve laughed a lot and stifled a little. I hope you’re holding someone’s hand. See you next year.”
—
Its sad (and a little scary) to me that they just concluded Season 5 of The Big Bang Theory. I consider it the new Friends and one of the most consistently funny shows I’ve ever seen. I’m hoping we get another five years. Its pretty awesome knowing that we have at least another two.
“I think he’s too hard on Romney. Surely Romney has matured since high school. But I haven’t. At least, not enough. The guy I was in high school wanted the guy Romney was in high school to lose. Now we get to vote against him.”
—
Squashed: Politicalprof: On Mitt Romney and High School Cruelty
Emphasis mine.
“Legalizing gay marriage does not infringe upon anyone’s rights, making it illegal does. It’s that simple.”
—
Hank’s Tumblr: Equality in America
The rest is pretty superfluous in light of that simple statement. Like with interracial couples, there will be a small group of Americans who will never think its OK. But the vast majority either never cared to begin with, or will adapt.
PopClip →
pilotmoon.com
I’ve only been using PopClip for a day but wow has it made an impression.
This is definitely one of those little touches that once you have it and use it, you wonder why Apple didn’t include it as part of their “Back to the Mac” approach to OS X Lion; and by association, you wonder if it will be included in Mountain Lion or a future release.
The essence of it is, when you select text, you get a popover giving you a few actions (cut, copy, paste, search), similar to how selecting text works on iOS. It removes the step of right-clicking to get the context menu for copy and pasting. The Search feature actually works better, especially in Safari, as it will open the search in a new tab, instead of the current tab.
At $5 it was a bit pricey for what it is, but its a timesaver, and I’m not willing to wait to see if Apple will have anything similar in 10.8 (or 10.9, or 10.x).
Avengers IMAX tonight.
Finally.
Cooper Zeon RS3-A's →
cooperzeon.com
Just put a set of these on my ‘3. They are replacing a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus’s, so they have a lot to live up to. That said, I paid over $200 / tire for those Michelins, and these Coopers I got for < $115 / tire.
Marks the 3rd set of tires in 65,000 miles, but high performance tires combined with my “spirited” driving doesn’t bode well for tread life. 23,000 out of the stock Goodyear Eagle RS-A’s (terrible tires), and now 42,000 out of the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S’s (stupendous tires, but stupendous prices). If these get me close to 100,000 I’ll call them winners.
On the drive home they felt stable and just as capable as the Michelin’s, but I’ll give them 500 miles or so to break in and give me time to find the proper tire pressure for them before I comment about them beyond that.
Romney the Bully →
squashed.tumblr.com
We shouldn’t read too deeply into a string of incidents fifty-years ago. With that out of the way, the whole article about Romney’s high school days mirrors the way I feel about Romney more generally. I knew guys like Romney. It’s not just that I don’t want them to be President. It’s that I want to see everything they stand for repudiated. I wanted McCain to lose the general election. I’d like to see Romney crushed.
Agreed. Romney’s dignity and ego, ground to a fine power and blown out to sea.
Unskippable bullshit
So to encourage people not to engage in piracy, they’re going to force everyone to watch yet another annoying, time-wasting, gratification-delaying warning screen that can only be avoided by engaging in piracy. They’re purposefully making the movie-playing experience worse for honest paying customers.
Here’s the thing the industry doesn’t seem to get about piracy: Being “free” is among the least of its advantages over the current media offerings. Not having to put up with dumbass warnings, previews, hideous menu systems, etc., are all advantages that trump even the low low price of $Free.
Anybody want to take bets on which will die first: traditional media distribution or cable tv?
Instapaper Blog: Instapaper 4.2 now available in the App Store →
blog.instapaper.com
This is a significant update with many fixes and new features, including a new iBooks-Style Pagination option:
New iBooks-Style Pagination option. The old animation is available in Fast Pagination mode.Other features:
- All-new Fast Pagination mode, a complete rewrite from the old…
Love Instapaper.
“I respect the beliefs of others, and the right of religious institutions to act in accordance with their own doctrines. But I believe that in the eyes of the law, all Americans should be treated equally. And where states enact same-sex marriage, no federal act should invalidate them.”
—Barak Obama
“I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”
—
Barack Obama (via newsweek)
Should this really surprise anyone? That said; I’m glad its on the official record now. Now if his civil rights and privacy polices would just move back into something of a liberal direction…
Squashed: On libertarians (and anarchists) →
squashed.tumblr.com
The line between “libertarian” and “anarchist” is a pretty damned fine one, depending on which libertarian you are talking about.
Our country has some problems. We’ve got the national equivalent of a leaky roof, some creaky floorboards, and probably some lead paint. My rule for home repairs is to figure out what we can live with, figure out what we need to fix, and find the easiest and least disruptive way to do the repairs.
The libertarians (an anarchists!) are more inclined to bulldoze the place and pitch a tent.
Indiana still chasing the title of "Dumbest State"
So Dick Lugar, incumbent senator from Indiana, lost the GOP support for not towing the tea party line. In his place, they supported the guy who allowed almost half a billion dollars (that we know of so far) to go unaccounted for on his watch.
Seriously? What the frak are people using as the basis for their voting any more? They demand financial responsibility and that is who they come up with as the face of it?
To be fair, the money misplacement probably isn’t directly the fault of Mourdock. But even so, he has been State Treasurer since 2007, in a state that has been kneecapping education programs, forgoing roadway maintenance, cutting budgets in every department, all in the name of trying to save money since our state economy was in such dire straits, while many departments are forced to run at huge deficits since they simply couldn’t cut their budgets and continue to do their jobs (The Marion County Sheriff’s office and the IMPD being two such examples).
I wish I could say we will see a blue challenger who will kick this guys ass, but I know that collectively, Indiana isn’t that smart; even if we came up with a brilliant democrat who could mop the floor with this guy on any number of topics, he would barely get enough votes to start a fight.
Paul Krugman: With Great Wealth Comes Great Pettiness →
krugman.blogs.nytimes.com
Financiers are an oppressed minority!
The End Of Hulu →
techcrunch.com
It was (sorta) fun while it lasted.
Actually, it wasn’t all that fun. Plus, I always felt like there was the very real possibility that in the end, stupidity would win out. As it will.
Can’t believe it lasted this long. Still in disbelief that it worked at all.
Cable companies must die. The sooner the better.
“
We’ve been hearing a lot about the war on women, which is real enough. But there’s also a war on the young, which is just as real even if it’s better disguised. And it’s doing immense harm, not just to the young, but to the nation’s future.
Let’s start with some advice Mitt Romney gave to college students during an appearance last week. After denouncing President Obama’s “divisiveness,” the candidate told his audience, “Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.”
The first thing you notice here is, of course, the Romney touch — the distinctive lack of empathy for those who weren’t born into affluent families, who can’t rely on the Bank of Mom and Dad to finance their ambitions. But the rest of the remark is just as bad in its own way.
I mean, “get the education”? And pay for it how? Tuition at public colleges and universities has soared, in part thanks to sharp reductions in state aid. Mr. Romney isn’t proposing anything that would fix that; he is, however, a strong supporter of the Ryan budget plan, which would drastically cut federal student aid, causing roughly a million students to lose their Pell grants.
So how, exactly, are young people from cash-strapped families supposed to “get the education”? Back in March Mr. Romney had the answer: Find the college “that has a little lower price where you can get a good education.” Good luck with that. But I guess it’s divisive to point out that Mr. Romney’s prescriptions are useless for Americans who weren’t born with his advantages.
… What should we do to help America’s young? Basically, the opposite of what Mr. Romney and his friends want. We should be expanding student aid, not slashing it. And we should reverse the de facto austerity policies that are holding back the U.S. economy — the unprecedented cutbacks at the state and local level, which have been hitting education especially hard.
Yes, such a policy reversal would cost money. But refusing to spend that money is foolish and shortsighted even in purely fiscal terms. Remember, the young aren’t just America’s future; they’re the future of the tax base, too.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste; wasting the minds of a whole generation is even more terrible. Let’s stop doing it.
” —Paul Krugman, The New York Times, “Wasting Our Minds.”
Go read the whole damned thing.
(via inothernews)
Romney is going to get wiped out in November. I can’t wait to watch the trainwreck the first debate will be.
