stumble.com: January 2008 Archives

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January 31, 2008

Time to shed the bitter and jaded skin that I've adopted these last few weeks and months. Let's talk about some of the things that make me happy day-in, day-out.

What better place to start than the mechanism that I use to send these words into the cybernether direct to your optic nerves? Yes folks, I am gaga over the new Apple slab keyboard. Now maybe that's not it's formal name but really, I can't think of a better one. The device is amazingly thin. More akin to a hefty piece of cardboard than something with with moving parts. Yet the typing action feels completely natural. Plus the thinness means your wrists can rest on the desk surface for more support. None of those dorky wrist rests required. The fact that it looks damn good is just gravy. If you've already got a Cinema Display, what the hell are you waiting for?

09:34 PM | Comment (1)

January 22, 2008

Saudi Women Can Now Stay In Hotels Alone.

The USA Today headline is bad enough. In the 21st century, one of our major allies had banned half of its population from staying in a hotel room alone? Worse though is the second paragraph explaining the reform.

"… the ministry issued a circular to hotels asking them to accept lone women — as long as their information is sent to a local police station."

Sure it's okay for a woman to check-in to a hotel by herself. Just involve the cops. Great, I'm sure the burkha clad masses will be lining up at the Riyadh Holiday Inn.

I don't get it. The world ostracized the South African apartheid government for oppressing specific segments of its citizens. Why are we allowing the Saudis to get away with essentially the same behavior?

Oh yeah, oil and a bumbling chief executive whose family has been in bed with the Saudi royals for generations. Yet another reason that W should be tossed into a cell and the key thrown away.

10:06 AM | Comment (4)

January 20, 2008

HBO doesn't get it. They could be using the web to expand viewership for series and get more people to subscribe. Instead, they've created yet another walled garden that holds little appeal. Maybe I'm just bitter because HBO's proprietary app is Windows only. But if you compare their crappy plan with the way ABC has most of its primetime shows on the web and some even in HD, HBO seems a couple of generations behind. Someone at ABC was even smart enough to put up all three seasons of Lost in HD. I just might go back and start it from the beginning.

11:07 PM | Comment (2)

January 13, 2008

I don't like SMS. Having a protocol for a single type of device is dumb and inefficient. I've decided to use it only when absolutely necessary so if you send me a text, don't expect a reply.

07:28 PM | Comment (2)

January 09, 2008

I know this probably will shock some people but I have to say it. I don't much like Leopard. As in Mac OS 10.5. Kind of wish I hadn't bothered to upgrade. Compared to 10.4 Tiger, I find it slower and buggier. In particular, it doesn't seem to like it when I use the laptop as a laptop. On battery power. Going to sleep and waking up a lot. Every time I use it like that something winds up going south and I have to force a reboot. Not pretty.

Plus I get a ton of spinning beachballs. Just with simple things like Safari and Mail.

And while I'm on the subject of dissatisfaction, I'm not to thrilled with the new MacBook Pro I bought either. It just doesn't seem that much faster in every day use than the PowerBook that's been retired to the closet.

Maybe I should put the MBP up on Ebay and go back to the PowerBook running Tiger.

10:55 PM | Comment (2)

January 03, 2008

Late-night network talk shows are soap operas dressed up as entertainment; their return after two months of reruns turned out to be yet another chapter of a national psychodrama, not about the rift between writers and producers, but about the perennial Oedipal struggle for succession — “The Tonight Show” and its discontents.

--Alessandra Stanley, NY Times

Oedipal struggle? You've got to be kidding me. Ms. Stanley proves with her absurd words and overly-intellectualized commentary that she's exactly the type of writer I despise. Why does she and her ilk insist on analyzing and ascribing deep meanings? It's just a joke. Laugh a little why don't you?

Personally, I watched CBS's late night offerings but didn't bother with NBC. Probably predictably I thought Letterman displayed his comic brilliance yet again by trotting out Hal Gurney's Network Time Killers. The bit was invented during the last writer's strike in 1988 when the show was on NBC. The brilliance is that he used the same low-def graphic, complete with the NBC peacock, and dragged Gurney out of retirement to introduce the lame Sullivan-esque novelty act. Neither seemed to take it seriously.

"Nice to see you again, Hal. How long have you been back in the city?"

"About 15 minutes, Dave."

Then Gurney proceeded to badly read the intro off cue cards. He'd obviously never heard of or seen the act. High-lair-ious.