This also reoccurs in other forms of pop media such as video games and comics. I remember reading stories about Wolverine and playing Solid Snake in Metal Gear in the 80′s. In the past couple years I’ve seen fascinating stories that revolve around their older ages. Their weathered no-nonsense countenance is reminiscent of Clint Eastwood in his more recent performances.

Here is a relevant quote that Stallone has said about action films:

“When we make action movies now, we’re considered moneymaking machines with no esoteric worth, and that’s not true at all. There’s a lot of artistry that goes into what we do. I tend to think of action movies as exuberant morality plays in which good triumphs over evil.”

To see one last hurrah with some old-time favorites is going to be the spectacle of spectacles. And anyone born in the last century should have some interest in this ambitious project. It looks like Stallone is going to make the preeminent action film with as many 80′s action stars as possible. As the 80′s have spawned so many action heroes and virtually created the genre, we’re looking at an all-star asskicker squad combining the old-school classics with the present day finest. Stallone and Schwazeneggar alongside Statham and Li is enough to blow the roof off. So blending in stars that this century’s kids grew up with is like providence.

But here is look at how much testosterone fueled power can be expected:

Source: IMDB

Jon Favreau enlisted Adi Granov, one of Marvel’s premiere illustrators to do production art and Iron Man’s costume sketches themselves. Zack Snyder brought in Dave Gibbons, artist of the Watchmen to oversee aspects of production in the film. These are the pains that should be taken to get the films visually where they need to be.

So whenever I watch X-Men and have to listen to Cyclops tell me “What would you prefer, yellow spandex?” I think, “Screw you, Scott. I know you lack imagination, but I wouldn’t use wrestling tights. I can suggest at least 5 better costume designers than yours though.” He might as well be saying, “I’m ashamed of the way we have looked in over 40 years of printed material.” Last time I checked, I don’t remember reading the comic where the X-Men all take a shopping day in the Matrix. Wolverine has a mask and I’d like to see him wear it someday. And Magneto is not built like Gandalf. Magneto is built like Daniel Craig. These things can be done by visual directors more capable than Ratner and yes even Singer. They deserve better. Catwoman is a Caucasian jewel thief and not whatever Halle Berry was. I understand if no one in Hollywood can make do for a casting choice, concessions need to be made, but to actively choose to bastardize a property in a multi-billion dollar industry just doesn’t make sense.

The Ghost Rider villain Blackheart is supposed to look like the cross between the devil, the Predator and a black panther, not the emo kid from American Beauty. Villains are half the movie and need to be on point just as much as the hero. (I have similar issues with Venom in Spider-Man 3.)

Not to take away the importance of translating the personality and essence of the character. Sometimes they get the spirit of the comic right, or sometimes just the appearance. In cases like 300, Watchmen and Iron Man they get both. In instances like Catwoman, Elektra and Schumacher Batman films, they abysmally have neither. The bottom line is that you can make them universally appealing while keeping them visually accurate to the fans that liked them in the first place. Watchmen even proved that if you stylize it enough you can make those silly Silver Age costumes work. Now I’m looking at you, X-Men. You can have the skimpy blue ninja costume, the phoenix logo, the masks, greens, blues, reds and yes Cyclops, even yellow.

See, it used to be that you requested access to a beta release, you helped play test the game, the devs took in all of the beta tester’s suggestions and bug finds and then released a better, less bugy, more complete game.

Now it seems that not only have we entered the world of the patch, where games are released sort of almost kinda done, with a few little itsy bitsy problems that will be worked out by the second or third 300MB patch.  But, you now have to pre-order a game – pay actual money – just for the privilage of being included in a beta.

What if you hit the beta program and find out the game sucks?  Or that the devs just can’t be bothered to fix the deal-breaking (for you anyway) bug?  Hey, guess what, after the hours you put in helping them test their product, which you’ve determined isn’t for you, you get to buy it anyway!

Maybe the devs and publishers could ask gamers to invest 10% of the total cost of a game at the start of the development cycle!  Then, if the game doesn’t sell well or is a complete waste of 1′s and 0′s, they can blame the investment pool of players for not raising enough money.

Maybe I’m just grouchy today, but between this and flash on Linux, I think I’m going to go home, unplug and read a book.

Technorati Tags: beta, cod, world at war, call of duty, pay to play a pre-release, horsefeathers, video games, pc, computers, technology, angry geeks

Why on Earth should my modern browsers (Firefox, Opera) still freeze up on every third embedded video I try to play?  Websites are rendered ugly as hell because Flash just doesn’t know what to do with them. You do realize that by hindering a portion of today’s web browsing consumers you’re eventually affecting your own bottom line, right?  Even a small portion who can’t do the things that web developers, web store owners and viral marketing execs expect them to do can be significant if it impacts delivery and sales.

For those who aren’t employed by Adobe.  Yeah, I think that Flash sites are not the way to go, even with Google’s revelation that Flash can now be indexed.  The truth of the matter is Flash is here and it’s probably here to stay so we need Adobe to please swallow whatever bitter pill they’re fumbling around with and just get a working version out to all of us in Linuxland so we can watch cats attack string on YouTube or whatever it is we’re wanting to do online.  Okay?  I know of lots of local, small sites like restaurants and small brick and mortar shops who have Flash front ends on their sites.  And you know what? It stinks not being able to patronize them – for them and for me.

We need a working Flash.  Let’s hope 10 does a much better job of it than 9.  Until then, I’ll be taking my own petty mental revenge by referring to this monstrosity of a rich media crap fest as ‘flunk’ using my inside voice.  No, that won’t fix anything but at least it will get that grimace on my face into a twisted smile as I kill and restart my browser yet again.

Technorati Tags: flash, linux, adobe, firefox, ubuntu, flunk

I also happen to take not one, but two trains during my daily commute, which allows for the things at the back of my brain to come forward and romp about while I’m not paying attention.

My first train is a well appointed commuter jobby where riders have the luxury of only occasionally having to sit in someone’s lap.  My second train is more of a traditional underground number which is pretty boring except for the occasional flash of a dead white, club wielding guy I see between stops occasionally.

The subway is also a bit more crowded than the commuter train, forcing us to somethings stand on each other’s shoulders.  This close proximity allows me practice my favorite past time quite easily – people watching.

Over the last few days I’ve noticed a curious phenomonon.  Perhaps it’s brand new, perhaps it’s just made it past that filter that hangs out between my eyes and my brain.  There seem to be a growing number of people who are on the old side of young, say in their mid forties, who are peering at their Blackberries from a distance of about 27 nanometers.

The guy standing on the platform next to me litterally had to keep brushing nose prints off of his screen.

He’s not the first one I’ve noticed doing this and it’s usually on the subway.  On the commuter train, most people are curled up on their seats (there’s nothing more uplifting than the site of two rival executives gently snoring as they spoon each other on a cracked plastic seat) and to tired to function.  By the time we’ve all reached the underground, Blackberries and other data phones are being flashed around like lightsabers at a Padawan slumber party.

As folks get older and refuse to accept that their eyes are hanging out back in 2003, these little devices get closer and closer to their faces.  I’d probably be no exception except I already own a pair of spectacles.

Blackberry Nose.  We’re soon going to have an entire population that will be able to pick out the smell of non-reflective transparent plastic from their crooked beaks.  Next time your out in public with a business crowd, check it out and let me know how many instances you see.

Technorati Tags: blackberry, gadgets, nose, that plastic data smell, beaks, gadgets, technology, geek

Larry was so gruntled today, he didn’t even haul off on anyone with an assault rifle.

Gruntled. The opposite of disgruntled.  Sometime back in our murky past we added the prefix ‘dis’ to the fine word gruntled and then gruntled ambled off to the word graveyard never to be seen again.

This is a word I’d like to bring back into everyday use.  Say it with me.  Gruntled.  Doesn’t that have a nice sound?  It’s got a ring to it, like discombobulated but with a refined touch.  In fact, writing this little article makes me very gruntled! Which is a good thing, because I’m on a dark train with no AC surrounded by sweaty, swearing commuters.  I should be disgruntled but contemplating the gruntling effects of composing a quick thought piece on the wrecked past of our language has made me happy to the last.

I was so curious about disgruntled that I cast about online for it’s history.  The wonderful and highly useful Online Etymology Dictionary (I was thrown for a bit searching for Entomology and coming up all bugs) tells us that disgruntle was first used in or around 1682.  It comes to us from ‘dis’ meaning ‘entirely’ and gruntle; ‘to grumble’ arriving to us from ‘grunt’.

By the by, the Online Etymology Dictionary works out in acronym form to be the OED – very similar to another in-print version of an dictionary featuring Etymology that I can’t mention for fear of being sued by lawyers with expensive suits and British accents.

So perhaps my self-created history of Gruntle is a bit off – gruntle – to grunt.  Hmm.  Can you be gruntled?  Grunty?  I prefer happy to grunty, unless of course I’m grunting happily, perhaps parked in front of a large bowl of nachos or a powerful computer.

I say move forward and to heck (euphemistic alteration of hell, first recorded 1865) with etymology!  Let’s gruntle for world peace, a favorable salary and the ability to change our language as we see fit!

Technorati Tags: etymology, gruntled, world peace, nachos, ramblings

There is always a very small chance that this will get pulled off into the right direction, some how survive the execs in the movie industry and actually come out as a live action gem worth seeing at $12 a pop in the theater.  I’m not holding my breath for this but damn, if that did happen then I’d be driving out to the west coast to kiss a few people.  Kasdan has done some neat stuff in the past (Empire Strikes Back anyone?) but faith in Hollywood I no longer have though, so I’ll continue to grumble.  Here’s the Routers article – interesting to note that they call this ‘fantasy’ and not ‘science fiction’:

Veteran screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan has been hired to write “Robotech,” Warner Bros.’ adaptation of the anime classic.

“Robotech” was a 1980s cartoon series from Harmony Gold USA and Tatsunoko Prods. It was re-edited and re-dialogued to combine three Japanese anime series to give the producers enough episodes to air as a daily syndicated series.

A sprawling sci-fi epic, “Robotech” takes place at a time when Earth has developed giant robots from the technology on an alien spacecraft that crashed on a South Pacific isle. Mankind is forced to use the technology to fend off three successive waves of alien invasions.

“Robotech” extends Kasdan’s return to the fantasy genre that began in 2007, when he was tapped to pen the “Clash of the Titans” remake for Warners and Thunder Road.

Kasdan wrote the screenplays for “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Return of the Jedi” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” before penning more intimate ensemble dramas such as “The Big Chill” and “Grand Canyon,” which he also directed.

Technorati Tags: robotech, scifi, fantasy, stupid mathew fox,   toby, films, movies, geeks, fandom, anime

I might be a naysayer, but I’m also determined to break myself from the slaying that is nay (I guess that cancels out the nayishness of it). Tonight I went to good ol’ Reuters. When all else fails to grab your attention, scour through Reuters and you’re sure to find something. Maybe.

Listed under the most popular articles (Seriously?- the following is article worthy? It’s news? They’re actually reading it because it was unknown to them previously?)
1. Heavy marijuana use shrinks brain parts: study
2. Speed up bathing and save energy

Please don’t tell me I have to elaborate on either one of those articles.

Will tomorrow’s articles shed light by telling us:
1. If you don’t use your car, you will save gas
2. Lights, natural or artificial can help you see better
3. Eating less food helps in weight reduction
4. Having sex increases your chances of conception
5. Planning on taking a coast to coast trip this summer? Flying in an airplane instead of walking *could* reduce travel time significantly
6. Extensive UCLA studies show that people prefer sugar on cereal over salt

Oh I’ve got it, perhaps I should  submit some articles to assist society by telling them that getting a job will increase their income!

Helpful hints for the summer:
1. Staying in the shade can reduce sun damage
2. An airconditioner will cool down your dwelling more than an oven will
3. Students at UCLA are trying to solve the enigma of why residents of Nome, Alaska are less likely to suffer heat stroke unlike people in Death Valley, California.

So I’ve started to work out, feeling good about myself- I’m happening. Okay then… so I’m sprawled out on my lounge chair on my porch as evening approaches. Fresh out of the shower, wearing a silk blue nighty (and boxers of course), lotion sparkling on my cleansed skin and a group of guys walk by- “HOLY CRAP!!!!” one or two of the 6 are eyeing me and I’m thinking “Oh yeah I still got it…”

“DUDE check it out… (and I’m smiling as they’re drooling) she has her laptop hooked to her television (my brand new flat panel HD LCD digital widescreen), that looks AWESOME! OMG that’s a sweet set up!” (once I figured out you can see my geekiness from the streets). I’m half naked, dripping wet, my legs stretched out… and wow.

Back to the exercise ball hopefully I can get a flat screen implanted on my chest. In all fairness I was watching an evening with Kevin Smith…

Here are a few ideas to help get you through this crisis and hopefully assist in keeping your sanity or pushing you into the mouth of insanity where nothing will bother you any more.

1. Push your car to work. Sure it might take a little longer, but you’ll have shelter should it start raining, and if you own an SUV, good- I hope you pull a giant muscle.
2. Take your family and move into your cube. Once you explain the benefits of living at work to your company and once they see your family, you’ll be telecommuting in no time (providing you still have a job)
3. In the middle of the night on a weekend, hook your car up to your neighbors. When they go to run errands, pile your family into your car and enjoy the free ride. Make sure you talk to them the day before to find out what they’re plans are so you can avoid spending the day at their Aunt Gretta’s fifth wedding in the middle of nowhere.
4. Only shop at stores on your work route. If it happens to be only a Circle K- learn how to make tootsie roll/kitkat casseroles.
5. Buy a rickshaw and convince your kids or the neighbor kids that rickshaw pulling is FUN! The shorter it takes for them to get you to work or the store, the more candy they’ll have when the day is over. Win win. If there are no kids around you, kidnap Ed Begley Jr. and force him to pull the rickshaw.
6. Sign up to an online dating service even if you’re already in a relationship. Have the person pick you up at your place or across the street for early morning “dates” that just happen to be at the building you work at. “Excuse” yourself to use the rest room and run over to them when you can in order to keep the conversation/date going. The date will be conveniently over with at the time you need to go home. If they thought it was a great date, then wonderful- you can have this reoccur four more times that week. If it doesn’t go over well, no worries, make sure you have a constant supply of “dates” to get you through until a pay day where you could afford to fill up your car again.
7. Attach shopping lists to your cats and send them to the store. Make sure you put your phone number on the list so the cashier can call you and obtain payment over the phone. Yes, it may take a few days for you to get the groceries because cats like doing things at their leisure, but hey- you just saved a trip. If you wind up with no groceries when your cat gets home, either train your cats better or find cats that can run errands for you.
8. Google Earth your area and find the route to work with the most hills and “coast” your car as often as you can.
9. Get your co-worker (who has a car and is married) incredibly drunk one night and then place them on their doorstep with wrinkled looking clothes and the stench of cologne or lipstick stains on their collar (which ever would cause marital problems). Offer them your sofa while they work on their relationship issues that seem to pop up the next day and then in return for letting them sleep on your sofa, they drive you to and from work… and the grocery store, electronics store, the movies… etc. Once the gas crisis is over or you’ve saved enough to purchase an electric car- then you can save the marriage.
10. Sell your ex’s soul on ebay for a pre-paid gas card.

The funny thing is that I found the rickshaw pic on a kids party rental site.

I know all good things come to an end, and perhaps it’s just a beginning, but in the meantime the return is sinking me.

I fell in love with NYC. Head over heels in love and it’s going to SUCK having to communicate with Ben in different time zones again! I don’t wanna!

Today wasn’t quite as exciting or eventful as the previous days. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were so unbelievable that I feel anything today could not even come close to it. I guess it *is* quite a bit for NYC to keep one upping itself. I think the city was begging for mercy, or maybe it was my aching feet.

We started off by seeing the NYC Jedi (the much cooler version of the SCA) Choreographed Jedi fighting with lightsabers (although I wanted to stand up and protest- YOU CAN’T JAB SOMEONE WITH A SABER AND YOU CAN’T CAUSE SOMEONE TO BLEED!!! IT’D CAUTERIZE!!) <- and that’s why I’m a dork. Then there was an hour of getting separated from my party by a sea of people (I should have gotten the watchie talkies).

Thankfully we found each other (with the help of security) just in time to get to the IGN theater. It was awesome seeing quite a bit of Wanted and listening to Timur Bekmambetov discuss the upcoming film and answer questions pertaining to the film (if they wore costumes then everyone would know they’re assassins- SO DON’T ASK!! Yes, that was a duh thing, but TWO people inquired!!). Seth Green and Matthew Senreich had us cracking up with a look into the Robot Chicken Star Wars (I can’t wait!) and then it was a definite treat to listen to the panel discussion of Hell Boy 2 with Guillermo Del Toro and the crew (Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss etc. Guillermo Del Toro is truly a genius and one who does enjoy straying far from his roots in Independent film. It sucks financially, but creatively it’s worth the suffering.

We truly have a summer of delights coming our way.

The disappointment came when we tried to get into Zombie Survival 101. Now I’ll never know how to survive a zombie uprising. I bet half the people who took our spots probably thought it had to do with how to survive sitting through a Rob Zombie film (creative genius- but he needs to quit trying his hand at full length films… please Rob, I’m begging you). If the long wait and bad jokes on our part was a test, then we definitely failed. We weren’t fast or aggressive enough to push and shove our way through a ton of other people who had to wait equally long… yet fortunate enough to wait closer to the door.

The saving grace was when our Media Queen (Jenn, she’s been completely awesome- and yes… SHE… media queen is not a stage drag name) managed to get Ben to meet one of his favorite authors Terry Brooks along with a book signing. This entire trip she has done an outstanding job making sure Jonathon met his mentors and ensured we didn’t get lost!

Dinner was at Pomodoro on 9th Ave. Great food and service- make sure you stop in. You can say “Arsgeek” sent you, but that really wouldn’t do anything but cause them to smile and nod at you politely.

Tonight I’m resting up for a day of saying good bye to my friends and the city by seeing as much as we can before the evening separates us and signals the time for our departures.

Ben of course will have his say on the days events (and pictures- I left my camera on by accident and drained the battery). Until then, good night everyone and a continued thank you for your support and encouragement in making this trip possible. It’s been great getting to meet and introduce Jonathon to the many people we could who have helped to make this all a reality and being able to say “Thank You”  face to face. Sadly our last few thank you’s have been drained mumbles of appreciation because our bodies just cannot keep up with all we’ve wanted to do and see.

Dawn

Technorati Tags: Wanted, Hell Boy 2, Robot Chicken Star Wars, Terry Brooks

Of course I could be wrong, but please educate me if I am. If I’m correct and if there are any comic book writers out there: “Why do you hate your mothers?”

This causes me to think further- If a superhero is raised without an a-typical family; Why to politicians and religious figures shove the need for strong family values down our throats? We should show them the ficticious examples of what the world would be like without a two parent environment: Laser beams destroying buildings in large cities, mid-air fighting and shiny costumes all for the greater good!

I’m beginning to believe that if my folks were offed when I was a wee one, then I’d be out there saving innocent people from the clutches of evil. Thanks for being alive mom and dad. you always ruin EVERYTHING!

When the Hulk movie came out I was THERE! I took the boy and while he’s smiling and doing the “YEAH!” thing- I had to creatively splice my straw from my 32 oz beverage and use it to prop my eye lids open. I found myself doing the same when I watched the trailer for the upcoming film.

I feel Incredibly Bad because Comic-Con is right around the corner, the Hulk is spot lighted, Jonathon LOVES this green angry guy and I’m worried there won’t be enough straws around to prop my eyes open (I equate Hulk with nice, warm, cozy, deep sleep).

“Oooh… I was in an accident… I can’t live a normal life… I’m so angry and when I’m angry I can destroy stuff and people… and all my girlfriends die… and that sucks…” I think they should do a Hulk musical. (imagine Hulk singing) “Me so angry… you don’t like it when I’m angr-yyyyy… all crushes get dead… and that really sucks!!” Then he can dance and destoy! Give him a little catch phrase or something and instead of green… let’s go with an amish blue. Smurf on steriods.

Hopefully the Con will turn me around and take me to the Hulk side… or I’ll just fly back with sleep drool stains on my chin and straw shards in my eye balls.
[tag]The Incredible Hulk[/tags]

This brings me to my Star Wars Trilogy (V, IV, and VI) marathon this weekend. Sunday morning I popped in The Empire Strikes Back. I woke up and nixed the coffee before viewing the Lucas treat and surprisingly I was awake enough to enjoy it. A few hours and an energic lunch later I put in Return of the Jedi. 30 minutes into the movie I was completely out in slumber land. I woke up to the fire works and little Ewok celebration and realized that this is what happened the last time I watched it. The movie knocks me out regardless of the time of day or coffee quota met.

Do I like the movie or do I hate it? I’m not sure of anything except it’s a great sleep aid.

SO, if you hear an awesome ColdPlay song on the radio that makes you relaxed, pull along the side of the road and enjoy your nap.

1. The survey only consisted of 2,248 people.
2. The people were British.
3. It was done at a hotel chain (where most people on holiday would probably crash if the re-runs of the Headbanger’s Ball was airing).
4. I really love the Star Wars Trilogy… well, I guess I really love 2 of the 3… I can’t really recall the the middle part of the third, and evey time I try, I yawn and wake up 8 hours later.

Original Article from Reuters: Survey finds rockers Coldplay help you sleep
LONDON (Reuters) – Britons like a dose of music from the rock band Coldplay to help them fall asleep, a survey from hotel chain Travelodge found on Monday.

The band, whose frontman Chris Martin says he avoids caffeine and alcohol and is known for a lifestyle that is anything but rock ‘n’ roll, topped a poll of music choices to help listeners nod off.

Other artists chosen for their slumber-inducing qualities were James Blunt, Snow Patrol, Take That and Norah Jones.

But those who prefer to be tucked in with a book at night judged celebrity autobiographies as the most effective sleep aid, with the life stories of glamour model Jordan, soccer star David Beckham and Sharon Osbourne ranking at the top.

Nothing seems to get your message across of “BACK OFF!” because bumper stickers have become the visual white noise and people tend to take glares and finger waving as invitations to act even more inconsiderate.

Well… I was thinking, “It’d be so cool if I could make a reader board for my back window to tell the drivers behind me to get off my tail, get off the freaking phone and pay attention to the road… or Hello gorgeous, heading my way?” Being as I’m not the successful inventor type (I was one step away from just sticking a lite-brite in my back window and frantically changing the message at each red light) I felt this dream was unobtainable UNTIL I happened across a site HERE that specializes in exactly what I’m looking for (costing around $45.00).

Whether or not it’s legal to display such a thing in a moving vehicle (even if you watch the language) is currently unknown by me because I was merely surfing to see if my “genius” idea had been done . IF it *is* on the wrong side of the law, I was thinking that if a cop were to pull me over for having a nifty gadget to convey my thoughts I can quickly change it to read, “I love traffic cops, and they’re awesome. Marry me.”

Even if it’s not legal to drive with the display, should you wind up stranded on the side of the road without a cell phone or passenger with hiking boots, you can display a help sign (providing your issue isn’t a dead battery?).

Here are some things I’d like to program into one:
“If you’re going to ride my butt at least buy me dinner first”
“Drive now, talk to your idiot friend later.”
“You obviously don’t pay attention to fashion, but can you PLEASE pay attention to the road?”
“By the time you finish reading this, my accomplice crawled into your back seat with an ax.”
“I’m single, but I can remedy that if you’re willing to follow me to Vegas.”

Yes, the one’s I’ve seen have been a little too small for a full sentence to scroll in enough time to be read at a red light or stop sign, but it still makes a nice day dream. (sigh)

ABC is running a story about a woman who’s lived in the same apartment for 15 years being sued by a neighboring apartment for smoking. They neighbors moved in about 5 years ago. They allege that her smoke is escaping her apartment and floating about in the building’s common areas, causing, according to the court documents:

“willfully, intentionally, recklessly and/or negligently endangering the health of plaintiffs and their 4-year-old son. … As evidenced by her refusal to address the grave danger posed to the health of a small child, despite repeated requests and warnings, defendant’s conduct is actuated by evil and/or reprehensible motives. “

Big surprise here, but the couple who are suing are . . . lawyers! Jonathon Selbin, who works for Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein and his wife are taking matters to court while stating:

“We are both lawyers, and both litigators, for whom the usual barriers to litigation are minimal.”

They allege revenge on the part of Ms. Huff via her dog:

“Such motives are also evidenced by the fact that after plaintiffs complained about the smoke, defendant encouraged her dog to urinate on plaintiffs’ property and in front of their doorway.”

I’m not a fan of smoking at all, I think it’s a vile habit and that the companies who manufacture tobacco products are essentially profiting off of addiction to a harmful substance. But that doesn’t mean people should lose their rights.

You have a right to smoke, just like I do. You may not have the right to smoke in a bar anymore, or in someone’s building, but in your own home? Even if that home is an apartment? The people bringing the suit to bear (and Ms. Huff. And her dog) live in New York City, where just looking around you’re sure to see lots of sources of pollution. Can someone be sued for idling their car below their windows for a few minutes every day if they’re dropping someone off? Would they even consider it?

I guess it’s not new that lawyers can be sharks, nor is it new that they’ll use their familiarity with the law to bully folks into a course of action that they want them to take. Ms. Huff has since acquiesced and is meeting a new list of demands in a settlement handed down to her from the lawyer plaintiffs. Is this too much?

Personally I consider it something of an abuse of the law. You move into an apartment and you should reasonably expect to be living near and literaly on top of other people. And other people sometimes do things you don’t like. It doesn’t mean you should sue them though. If you’re a big fancy lawyer, why not just buy a house in the suburbs where your life won’t be disrupted by ‘evil’ people and their dogs.

Photo courtesy of Pingnews, Flickr and CC.

Technorati Tags: law, sharks, lawyers, smoking, huff, dog, abc, give me a break

Even if your redbox was not targeted, it never hurts to pay a little extra attention and check for any unusual activities or changes at your local redbox. If you suspect your redbox has been tampered with (click this link to see pictures of skimmer devices: http://www.redbox.com/creditcardsecurity/ ) please call 866-REDBOX3, e-mail alerts@redbox.com , or notify the store/restaurant manager of your concerns immediately. Although there is no evidence currently that these skimming attempts were successful, consumer security is a top priority for redbox. Reviewing transaction records, there is a possibility that up to 150 customers may have been affected. Although only a small percentage of the millions of customers who use redbox each month, redbox has notified the major credit card companies so that they can monitor the situation. The redbox team is also working with local authorities to investigate the incidents and ensure your security.Skimming is not new (click this link for more details: http://www.uboc.com/ <http://msgs.redbox.com:81/t/89120/2086677/13/0/> ). It has been attempted numerous times on ATMs, gas station pumps, and now redbox has been targeted. Redbox has been aware of these industry threats and has spent significant time and resources to prepare for them. The 7,400 redbox locations are visited frequently by redbox associates to maintain smooth operations and an optimum customer experience. In this case, a redbox associate found evidence of skimming attempts and initiated the actions in the team’s response plan (including this e-mail message). Redbox greatly values our customer relationships. As a result, redbox is open and direct in our communications about this type of situation. The redbox team also utilizes industry-leading technology to ensure you have a safe shopping experience and aggressively combats attempts by criminals to defraud customers. Please see the questions and answers below for some additional details on skimming and how redbox ensures the safety of your account information.Sincerely,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_fraud#Skimming <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_fraud#Skimming>http://www.uboc.com/about/main/0,,2485_703976951,00.html <http://www.uboc.com/about/main/0,,2485_703976951,00.html> Q. What does redbox do to protect consumer credit card information?A. Redbox employs state-of-the-art security technology to ensure the privacy and security of our customers’ data before, during, and after their visit to our kiosks. Customer credit card information is encrypted the moment it’s swiped through our readers. Redbox uses further layers of encryption to protect all data transfers, too. Kiosks are also actively monitored and regularly inspected both on-site and remotely. Redbox never moves or stores unencrypted customer information. Credit card information can not be accessed by outsiders or even by redbox employees once the card is swiped at a kiosk.Q. Where can I get more information on credit card skimmers?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_fraud#Skimming <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_fraud#Skimming>http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/infotheft/2007-07-31-gift-cards_N.htm <http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/infotheft/2007-07-31-gift-cards_N.htm>http://www.uboc.com/about/main/0,,2485_703976951,00.html <http://www.uboc.com/about/main/0,,2485_703976951,00.html> Q. How do I know if a skimmer is on my redbox?A. Redbox credit/debit card readers are standardized for all locations. Click this link for pictures of the two approved readers and some examples of skimmer devices: http://www.redbox.com/creditcardsecurity/ <http://msgs.redbox.com:81/t/89120/2086677/12/0/> Q. Who should I call if I have questions?If you suspect your credit card information was improperly used, contact your financial institution immediately. If you have specific concerns related to this incident and redbox, please visit http://www.redbox.com/creditcardsecurity/ <http://msgs.redbox.com:81/t/89120/2086677/10/0/> or call 866-REDBOX3. Please do not reply to this email. <http://msgs.redbox.com:81/db/89120/2086677/1.gif>

I came across this photograph that proves once and for all that life from other planets does exist and they are not friendly.

A child from the Ozarks is being declared a genius because he drew a picture of the attack last summer at a day camp which has now gone from being placed on the fridge to being on display at the SETI Institute*. When asked about the picture, he said he had it from ancient memories that are now coming back to him that the orange space craft is made out of cheese (how did he know it was orange?!). The child then went into a zen like trance and asked his parents for an Xbox, which he promptly received, along with several new age book deals**.

The parents of the young boy told AG that for the past year he has shown a strong preference for Sci-Fi video games and has seen the original Star Wars Trilogy 9 times.

“We always thought there was something extraordinary about him when he began to chant ‘ET phone home’. I mean how did he know that? ET stands for Extra Terrace… or something like that and the film came out WAY before he was born. Genius. Who’da thunk??” said the mother of little Michael. She then continued to tell us, “Given enough time, he can point to Egypt on a map… and not the flat kind that goes on the wall, the globy thing with all the lines.”

Little Michael who’s 19 years old is an honor student at his elementary school in the Ozarks. Although he remains illiterate, he’s able to add and subtract, which puts him well above the mark of his classmates.

The photographer of the invasion could not be reached for an interview but did say, “It was really crazy weird! I’ve no idea how the rest of the city didn’t see it as well!”

*It has not been confirmed that it was put on display at the SETI institute
**Ben’s guess at what happened after the child was questioned about the drawing
***Actually my Monday night show was on and I didn’t feel like talking to myself.

The Birth of a Tabloid

Someone mentioned today that they read an article about the lack of original content on blog sites. Personally I know that the art of writing something interesting and thought provoking has gone down hill ever since the big internet bang (no- it’s not a porn site… or at least I’m not referencing one).

Creative energy has been sucked dry as the Idiocracy cast mates have made their way across the www where they gloss over articles that required brain power, opinion and actual time spent sharing life observations. Instead they respond and hit upon any churned out UFO video or some odd child who was on a random website claiming to have been from Mars. It baffles me. It shouldn’t, but it does.

Could it be that I’ve been a presence on the web for too long? Finding myself sitting back while watching the de-evolution of the participates on the web? Viewing such sites as MySpace pop up and intelligence drop down?

I have to admit it’s been discouraging to put internal talent to font when you feel no one really cares about quality. At times it feels they merely care about “Oh shiny pretty pictures” or “Regardless of the poster being obviously sarcastic I’m going to come across as a know it all and scoff at them because I think they’re being serious and they must be reprimanded.”

I’ve been trying to find my inspiration to keep going. It’s not that I feel I truly have something wonderful to say about random topics, rather it’s because I love to write and I enjoy having an audience of people who could possibly relate to what I’m trying to say, or perhaps add to it by sharing their own ideas.

Take this site for instance. Life has been so overwhelming and although I haven’t had anything to decent to contribute in some time- I see posts that were excerpts from other places crash the site with readers while decent original articles that come from a couple of the staff writers go unnoticed. I sit back quietly and scratch my head. At first I thought it was a dandruff problem so I went out and purchased the new Head and Shoulders line, but the scratching continued as I have observed from afar.

Perhaps creative compromise tends to happen when Reddit and Digg take over the blogosphere and chokes the creative juices out of people when the attention is focused on the tabloid pieces.

The other writers here have been pretty solid, however for myself, I felt the need to write this and voice my opinion because I’ve been watching myself shrink. Small original sites are disappearing to make way for “profiles” and “blogs”. I’ve made the compromises and transitioned. I have to admit it’s been difficult finding my footing. From writer to blogger it’s been difficult keeping up to speed with the short attention span of viewers.

It’s like the Ma and Pa shops being shoved out the way for another Costco or Walmart. How do you keep up and still give something to be proud of?

Why do I continue to write? I guess that would be asking a swimmer why they love to swim or a pianist why they love to play music. “It’s just because it’s who I am.”

Technorati Tags: aliens, attack, tabloid, outer space, geek, blog, osphere, sigh, original writing

I need that *extra* hour. And although a lot of tribes and some areas still don’t acknowledge it, I could never figure out why Alaska jumped on that band wagon. Some how it makes sense for it to get slightly dusky at one in the morning as opposed to midnight during the summer?

My lights are now on again for the hour I’m getting ready in the morning instead of turning them on an hour earlier in the evening. What exactly is it that I’m saving?

I curse you DLS. I CURSE you. Why do we think we can manipulate time? Internally my schedule doesn’t pay attention. I stay up an hour later in the winter months and fall asleep “earlier” during spring and summer. My body cannot be fooled!

Can there be an allowance for apartment dwellers to dismiss daylight saving time because there’s really no purpose to have ‘extra light’ in the evening to do things? Can we choose to have people just adapt their schedules accordingly instead of trying to play God with the clocks? Can businesses who prefer the change have summer and winter hours?

I get up early- I need that burst of added sunlight in the mornings and I like my evenings DARK. I grew up in the land of the midnight sun (one of them), I’ve had my share for a lifetime! In the past several months, last week was the very first time the sun greeted me on the way to work. It was beautiful and it set the tone for the rest of my day. An entire week of watching the sun rise, and now it’ll be dark driving once more. Sun in the morning = good. Sun when I’m trying to unwind at the end of a long day= bad.

Daylight saving… let me think about this- So you use your air conditioner longer in the summer than you would have if your day wasn’t changed. I guess light bulbs use up more energy and increase emissions more than air-conditioners?

My opinion is merely that- an opinion. I feel silly for not knowing the history of DLS after believing my mother that it came to be from the farming community long ago. Now that I actually think about it… farmers preferred to get their work done for the most part in the mornings rather than extend their work loads into the later hours. It makes more sense because the air is cooler, the sun is lower and the heat is friendlier. I was lied to!

Idea of Daylight Saving Time a brief look into the history
Read the full text here

The idea of daylight saving was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin (portrait at right) during his sojourn as an American delegate in Paris in 1784, in an essay, “An Economical Project.”

Some of Franklin’s friends, inventors of a new kind of oil lamp, were so taken by the scheme that they continued corresponding with Franklin even after he returned to America.

The idea was first advocated seriously by London builder William Willett (1857-1915) in the pamphlet, “Waste of Daylight” (1907), that proposed advancing clocks 20 minutes on each of four Sundays in April, and retarding them by the same amount on four Sundays in September. As he was taking an early morning a ride through Petts Wood, near Croydon, Willett was struck by the fact that the blinds of nearby houses were closed, even though the sun was fully risen. When questioned as to why he didn’t simply get up an hour earlier, Willett replied with typical British humor, “What?” In his pamphlet “The Waste of Daylight” he wrote:

“Everyone appreciates the long, light evenings. Everyone laments their shortage as Autumn approaches; and everyone has given utterance to regret that the clear, bright light of an early morning during Spring and Summer months is so seldom seen or used.”

Early British laws and lax observance

About one year after Willett began to advocate daylight saving (he spent a fortune lobbying), he attracted the attention of the authorities. Robert Pearce – later Sir Robert Pearce – introduced a bill in the House of Commons to make it compulsory to adjust the clocks. The bill was drafted in 1909 and introduced in Parliament several times, but it met with ridicule and opposition, especially from farming interests. Generally lampooned at the time, Willett died on March 4, 1915.

Following Germany’s lead, Britain passed an act on May 17, 1916, and Willett’s scheme of adding 80 minutes, in four separate movements was put in operation on the following Sunday, May 21, 1916. There was a storm of opposition, confusion, and prejudice. The Royal Meteorological Society insisted that Greenwich time would still be used to measure tides. The parks belonging to the Office of Works and the London County Council decided to close at dusk, which meant that they would be open an extra hour in the evening. Kew Gardens, on the other hand, ignored the daylight saving scheme and decided to close by the clock.

In Edinburgh, the confusion was even more marked, for the gun at the Castle was fired at 1:00 p.m. Summer Time, while the ball on the top of the Nelson monument on Calton Hill fell at 1:00 Greenwich Time. That arrangement was carried on for the benefit of seamen who could see it from the Firth of Forth. The time fixed for changing clocks was 2:00 a.m. on a Sunday.

There was a fair bit of opposition from the general public and from agricultural interests who wanted daylight in the morning, but Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern:
“Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins and one child was born 10 minutes before 1 o’clock. … the time of birth of the two children would be reversed. … Such an alteration might conceivably affect the property and titles in that House.”

After World War I, Parliament passed several acts relating to Summer Time. In 1925, a law was enacted that Summer Time should begin on the day following the third Saturday in April (or one week earlier if that day was Easter Day). The date for closing of Summer Time was fixed for the day after the first Saturday in October.

The energy saving benefits of Summer Time were recognized during World War II, when clocks in Britain were put two hours ahead of GMT during the summer. This became known as Double Summer Time. During the war, clocks remained one hour ahead of GMT throughout the winter.

I love to write. Truly I do. One wouldn’t guess that due to my copy/paste type articles of late and lack of reviews.

I feel stale. Truly stale. I’m not sure if it’s partially due to being over worked and very little going on in my life currently. Perhaps a part of me is stuck in that wonderful bating breath mode of an upcoming event. Comic-Con. It’s the latter without a doubt.

See, everyone has been so great and more than anything in this world I want to see the look on my sons face as we get into NYC and he sees the sky scrapers, experiences the city we’ve always longed to go to, seeing our friend Ben and his wife… and then walking into the comic wonderland. I’ve been in frozen mode. If I look forward to it too much (outloud), perhaps it won’t happen.

It’s like a wish that if you say speak it won’t come true.

So here I’ve been for the greater part of watching it become a reality with my hands at my side and sitting on wonderful thoughts and perspectives and barely uttering a word.

I’m afraid to rock the boat. I’m afraid to breathe too loudly until we step foot on East Coast soil in one month and one week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEE!

Each night Jonathon asks me about who will be there. He smiles, he laughs and you can see the excitement move from the bottom of his feet to his lips curling upwards as he yells, “YES!!!!!!!! I can’t wait!!!”

I wanted to send out an apology for my lack of writing and at least lack of interesting articles on my part (to you Ben especially)…

This is going to be a HUGE event for us and I encourage anyone who *can* make it- to do so. We are going to celebrate so large and share all of our excited energy that it will be an event to remember for years to come.

Be a part of it. Meet the creators who have kept us in our geek bubbles, experience the event through Jonathon’s eyes of seeing his hero’s and the innocence of feeling the greatness that humbles and inspires us for creativity. I can’t wait to meet and know people who have touched us in font and via the computer, it’d be nice to add a new dimension to it all.

I want to skip through the days leading up to this- but I know I’ll be sitting here in somber face. I’ll go the airport with a look of indifference, yet once the plane takes off, I know my tummy will feel start to feel the reality and I don’t know if at that moment I’ll be able to contain my excitement any more.

Again, thank you everyone and I will try to bring more of myself here in the meantime… but it’s really difficult to think of anything else at the moment!

Dawn- aka Ghic Chic

The Walker-Blocker. It could be a pair of elderly matrons, a skinny high school girl in a bulky jacket or a graduate student in a hoodie. However you are, the sidewalk you’re currently strolling down at a sedate 1.2 MPH is built to let three people pass at the same time. THREE! There’s no need for you to take up the entire sidewalk. Some of us have to catch trains so kindly shuffle to the side and do your brooding, cool stylistic walk or gabbing there, okay? Thanks.

The Flu. There’s fun sick and then there’s flu sick. Fun sick is when you take the day off from work, relax at home, catch a flick, play that new game, maybe read a book. The Flu is like your worst hangover without the experience of imbibing before hand, and it lasts for days. I hate you, flu, make no mistake. To compound this, the Universe in it’s jovial way saw fit to inflict the flu on me just months after my first flu shot in over five years. Ha ha.

The Ambiguous Semi-Aquatic Biological Relic. I don’t know what that is floating around in there, but I’m pretty sure you should have flushed it. So do us all a favor and recall what you learned way back before Kindergarten. Push that little lever and make the world a better place.

Slush Falling from the Sky. What the heck was that all about? It ain’t pretty like snow, and you can’t easily hide under your umbrella as you can with rain. It’s just sloppy, half-frozen water spattering all over the place.

Repetitive Pan Handling Sneaker Fetishists. If you’re going to make it a habit to ask me for money at the train station, at least change up your story a bit and make things interesting. Don’t tell me that you’re still saving up a buck fifty to take the train out of the city. You’ve been here three weeks and you can’t raise a lousy buck and a half? Oh, and wearing a different pair of $100+ sneakers every day is probably going to damage your credibility a bit too.

Facebook. Yeah, it still annoys me.

Over the Top Non-Conformist Conformists.  Don’t you understand that when you all dress like proto-punks and wear Sex Pistols t-shirts even though you weren’t born when Sid kicked the bucket you’re actually conforming to each other?  Does every generation have to repeat this?  If you really want to stick it to whomever you’re rallying against and be individuals, just be yourself.  You can’t all love the Sex Pistols that much.  Same thing for emo folks – your hair isn’t that important.

Geeks Who Are Always Right.  You’re not, you know.  You don’t always know best, your OS isn’t the best in the world, taking 27 hours to set up a mythTV box isn’t easier than buying a Tivo and we really don’t care about your collection of ancient mother boards.   Your thirty years old, time to start using deodorant – I don’t care if you’re making an environmental statement either.  You work in this office, you wear your deodorant!

Technorati Tags: annoyed, annoying, geek, life, the universe, and everything, facebook, flu, unicorns

I’m getting so confused by the trends that I’m a little worried I’m going to purchase a 2″ television and 50″ cell phone. That can’t happen, can it? Do we need to break out the Three Little Bears and force these makers to read it so we can get a happy medium or is now the time to invest in Lens Crafter?

In the meantime I’m going to hug my 4 year old 27″ Gotham shaped silver Magnavox that does the needful.

TOKYO (Reuters)- Pioneer Corp will stop making 42-inch plasma panels and instead buy panels in that size and smaller from Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial or Hitachi Ltd to turn around its loss-making flat TV business, the Asahi newspaper said.

Japanese consumer and auto electronics maker Pioneer will end output of such panels at a plant in Kagoshima prefecture in southern Japan as early as by March 2009, the paper said in the report on Saturday.

It will focus on making panels 50 inches or larger at other plants, the Asahi said.

It would be Pioneer’s latest step away from a vertically integrated business model, in which manufacturers conduct production of key parts as well as assembly of finished products, after its decision last year to buy liquid crystal display panels from Sharp Corp to start offering LCD TVs.

Pioneer’s plasma business has been struggling to compete with larger rivals with better production efficiency such as Matsushita and LG Electronics Inc

Pioneer has a target to sell 480,000 plasma TVs in this business year, ending on March 31, less than one-tenth of Matsushita’s sales target of 5 million units.

Pioneer bought the Kagoshima plant from NEC Corp and now wants NEC to buy it back, the Asahi said.

A Pioneer spokesman said its flat TV strategy will become available when it unveils a mid-term business plan in early March, but nothing specific has been decided.

Shares in Pioneer were up 3.8 percent by early afternoon, outperforming the Tokyo stock market’s electrical machinery index IELEC, which rose 2.2 percent.

(Reporting by Taiga Uranaka, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Michael Watson)

This year marks the first time watching the Oscars since ‘Crash’ won in 2005. I feel like a traumatized survivor who’s entering a burning building again after rafters had previously fallen and pinned me in burning debris for several hours. Thankfully though there are no nominees that will cause me to go on a long tangent and bore my friends with my rants and aggressions while I try to figure out “wtf?”

Ideas to bring at least yourself amusement:

Go to your local Target and mistake regular people for celebrities. As you’re discussing their ensemble, have them turn towards the security cameras and give the people an interview.
(picture a little old lady with shopping bags and a confused look)
You: Ms. Page… Miss Page…!!! You did a wonderful performance portraying a teenage mother to be. Did you have to do research for the role, and if so do you have any kids in an orphanage and how many?”

Rename your friends or family members after the people up for an award in a leading role and don’t tell them what you’re doing. Purchase a special gift (or a gold painted naked Ken Doll super glued to a wooden board) and whoever’s new name is declared the winner that person receives the gift, explanation optional.

Pick a movie to root for and dress/act like the main character. If it’s ‘No Country for Old Men’, spontaneously shoot whoever comes into your home with a water pistol or squirt them with a catsup bottle. I can’t guarantee you’ll have a lot of friendships after Oscar night, but at least you’ll have a lot of good memories.

If you have a circle of friends that you’re watching the event with: Place the names of the nominees on strips of paper and have people do a random drawing (actors/film/music scores, etc). All people must write an acceptance speech, and if the nominee is chosen, they must give that speech in front of camera- this should prove amusing if they truly loathe the nominee they had randomly selected. It’s even more amusing if your 6’5 300 lb line backer friend pulls “Ruby Dee” out of the hat.

SO regardless if you’re a fan of this year’s selections or not a fan of the Oscar’s period know that Crash can never win again. It has taken a couple of years for me to get over it and regain respect once more for the Academy, but I’m going to try this year so join me in the celebration!

Feel free to submit any videos taken of any of the suggestions mentioned should you chose to do any or all.

Bank error in your favor

Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:29pm EST
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York man who discovered that millions of dollars had mysteriously appeared in his bank account, and withdrew more than $2 million, has been arrested on charges of grand larceny, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Benjamin Lovell, 48, pleaded innocent on Tuesday to charges that he withdrew money from a Commerce Bank account that had been opened by someone with the same name, prosecutors said.

The account belonged to Woodlawn Trustees Inc, a Delaware property management company, and was listed under the name of its finance director, who is also named Benjamin Lovell, court papers said.

Lovell had just $800 in his own Commerce Bank account when he went to make a deposit, but a teller, mistaking the Woodlawn account for Lovell’s personal account, told him that his account contained more than $5 million, prosecutors said.
Lovell made multiple withdrawals even though he knew that the money was not his, prosecutors said. He used the money to buy jewelry for his girlfriend and to make several investments, they said.

Commerce Bank and Woodlawn Trustees did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Legal Aid attorney representing Lovell could not be reached for comment either.

Lovell is being held on $3 million bail. He faces up to 25 years behind bars if convicted, prosecutors said.

(Reporting by Edith Honan, Editing by Sandra Maler)

For the past few nights I’ve lost sleep rescuing the little finned friend from the evil clutches of Mr. Lee. I’ve moved the tank, covered the tank. I’ve splashed Stan with the fish water to show him he does not want what’s in there. I’ve squirted him, shouted “no” and removed him from the room, rewarding him with affection every time he’s not skulking around the fish- I even found myself saying that I’d remove his head from his body should he continue these attempts. <-that seemed to fuel him more because he’s just awesome and I have to respect that rebellious streak.

When I returned from work today I found the top of the tank trapping Aloon in the corner as it was dropped inside and my Buddha statue on the floor along with multiple things I had placed in hopes of protecting the fish. FINALLY I just took the tank and placed it inside the bird cage. I have a fish in a bird cage and you know what? It works. Stan Lee gave up and now he’s back to the sweet little curious fur ball that I fell in love with. Aloon is behind bars for his own protection and I’m feeling a little guilty about that- but he’s SAFE. Now I wonder where Stan is will direct his aggressions now.

Tonight has been Reality TV night. I flipped between Wife Swap (two minutes and I was finished). America’s Next Top Model- Oh come on Tyra, what are you going for??? I saw two model potentials and the rest were obviously for possible shock value. I guess I was shocked that they were abled to be captured on film. American Idol was also airing (which I’m currently watching) and I have to say that’s the show has been on for 1.5 hours and I truly can’t stand the female night because they truly lack the talent that the guys brought to the stage last night.

There were a few stand out guys who I actually felt embarrassed for because they were better than that show. Tonight I’ve seen one person who truly shows she has what it takes to make it- and OMG please leave the show on your own because you can make it with out them. Two people total actually (one guy and one girl) really can make it big without the Idol, and that show will prove to be an embarrassment on their resume later on. (think Star Search) My apologies for not knowing their names, but I look at it this way: “They don’t know my name…” Granted I’m not on television, but I have a hard enough time remembering my work badge in the morning.

I’ve never watched American Idol prior to this season so I’m unfamiliar with their dynamics, rules and how it runs- I just see the bubble gum morons it churns out and I’m disgusted with how it further poisons the industry with the lack of originality and forgettable personalities. Then again, 95% of today’s music is like that.

Oh! There was also a commercial for The Moment of Truth… “Woman tells her husband that truthfully she’d get back with her ex boyfriend if he asked.” Wow, the woman looks like she’s in her early twenties, she looks like she’s been married shorter than the time time I’ve been celibate… bleach blond twit looking thing who looked like she got married because she was bored. In today’s marriages, especially new ones, it’s difficult to come across a couple who have high morals and values- so the statement of “Watch the year’s most shocking episode”- and considering this is what… the third or fourth episode… they had one pure little beauty queen, a gambler who had no qualms stating his toxicities- and it’s only February… can we please take the two or three shows that keep this station afloat and move them to other networks while we take the rest of the people and just line them up in front of a firing squad? I’d tune in to see that.

There are 24 hours in a day, except for Monday’s. Monday’s actually have 85 hours but they have yet to invent a clock to measure this, so instead the hours slow down to accommodate for the change. This also applies on Fridays- but only during the last two hours at the office.

Makers of vending machines work within a company to see who typically brings or goes out for lunch. On the one day the insubordinate forgets to bring a lunch or they’re unable to leave the premises, the vending machines are set to malfunction.

The slow lane on an interstate is now the “Cell phone or Texting lane”. On the day you’re in the biggest rush to get to your destination, you will find yourself merged into the cell phone lane as a caravan of giant semi’s horde the center lane.

The day you FINALLY stock up on vacuum cleaner bags after purchasing sparingly for that spendy machine that only sells the item in select stores; your vacuum cleaner will break down leaving you with a year supply of bags that you will never need again.

Once you fall in love with a product they will discontinue it the next week.

The one time step outside of your dwelling fresh out of bed to get something out of your storage closet- which is located on your patio that faces a busy road- you’ll find yourself trapped out there with raccoon eyes, wild hair and your “I give up on men jama’s” just as 50 firemen decide to go on a run right past your place for the first time… ever.

You keep that “perfect” romance low key for months and the day you finally tell your family that you think you may have just found “the one”, they break up with you that night because they felt you weren’t “that into the relationship”.

The one night per year you go out to get totally smashed, your boss is there.

You’re speeding along, finally caught up with all of your projects. For some reason you felt that putting your crucial information in notepad was a good idea. As your patting yourself on the back and breathing a sigh of relief because you felt like a moron earlier in the week- the computer crashes and you realize that you never saved the file.

If you brag about it- it will break, get stolen, vandalized, leave, etc.

Never make fun of a person for stupidity less you wish for it to happen to you… like five minutes later in front of more witnesses and caught on tape.

The one person you can’t stand will more than likely be the only person who can help you.

Coffee is attracted to crisp white shirts. Even if you don’t even drink coffee, when you look in the mirror mid-way through your shift, you will see that lovely spill right on that spot that you can’t conceal with a sweater or pullover.

The more you’re looking forward to playing a video game, the more likely it is the only one that will be unreadable on your drive.

If they’re crazy, dysfunctional, bi-polar, plain old nuts- you will attract them.

The one day you’ve decided to have a melt-down after being strong post an onslaught of surreal events that spanned for over a year- a sane person approaches to ask you out… and as they back away slowly, you’re crawling on the ground trying to convince them, “But I’m not crazy!!!! WHY CAN’T YOU BELIEVE ME!??!?!” They then go back to their friends to complain that they only seem to be attracted to nuts.

…or maybe it’s just me.

To cause hard working people with their own individual struggles in life even more hassles truly isn’t impressive.

If you have the ability and know how to create chaos to faceless masses; turn that ability into something productive and helpful, perhaps more profitable.

I hope they have a way of finding these people so they go to that happy secure building where they can finally “get some” and let us browse in peace.

Google finds evil all over the Web
Google turned its Web-crawling technology loose to hunt down malware-serving pages and found 3 million, meaning about one out of every 1,000 pages is malicious

The Web is scarier than most people realize, according to research published recently by Google.

The search engine giant trained its Web crawling software on billions of Web addresses over the past year looking for malicious pages that tried to attack their visitors. They found more than 3 million of them, meaning that about one in 1,000 Web pages is malicious, according to Neils Provos, a senior staff software engineer with Google.

These Web-based attacks, called “drive-by downloads” by security experts, have become much more common in recent years as firewalls and better security practices by Microsoft have made it harder for worms and viruses to directly attack computers.

In the past year the Web sites of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth movie and the Miami Dolphins were hacked, and the MySpace profile of Alicia Keys was used to attack visitors.

Criminals are getting better at this kind of work. They have built very successful automated tools that poke and prod Web sites, looking for programming errors and then exploit these flaws to install the drive-by download software. Often this code opens an invisible iFrame page on the victim’s browser that redirects it to a malicious Web server. That server then tries to install code on the victim’s PC. “The bad guys are getting exceptionally good at automating those attacks,” said Roger Thompson, chief research officer with security vendor Grisoft.

In response, Google has stepped up its game. One of the reasons it has been scouring the Web for malicious pages is so that it can identify drive-by-download sites and warn Google searchers before they visit them. Nowadays about 1.3 percent of all Google search queries list malicious results somewhere on the first few pages.

Some of the data surprised Provos.

“When we started going into this, I had the firm intuition that if you go to the sleazier parts of the Web, you are in more danger,” he said.

It turns out the Web’s nice neighborhoods aren’t necessarily safer than its red-light districts.

“We looked into this and indeed we found that if you ended up going to adult-oriented pages, your risk of being exposed [to malicious software] was slightly higher,” he said. But “there really wasn’t a huge difference.”

“Staying away from the disreputable part of the Internet really isn’t good enough,” he noted.

Another interesting finding: China was far and away the greatest source of malicious Web sites. According to Google’s research, 67 percent of all malware distribution sites are hosted in China. The second-worst offender? The U.S., at 15 percent, followed by Russia (4 percent), Malaysia (2.2 percent), and Korea (2 percent).

It costs next to nothing to register a Web domain in China and service providers are often slow to shut down malicious pages, said Thompson. “They’re the Kleenex Web sites,” he said. Criminals “know they’re going to be shut down, and they don’t care.”

Malicious site operators in China fall into two broad categories, Thompson said: Fraudsters looking to steal your banking password, and teenagers who want to steal your World of Warcraft character.

So how to stop this growing pestilence?

Google’s Provos has this advice for Web surfers: Turn automatic updates on. “You should always run your software as updated as possible and install some kind of antivirus technology,” he said.

But he also thinks that Webmasters will have to get smarter about building secure Web sites. “I think it will take concentrated efforts on all parts,” for the problem to go away, he said.

Get this – from Seol Reuters, in Korea it is reported that they have come out with a “Love Detector” service from mobile operator KTF. It uses technology to analyze voice patters to see if a lover is speaking honestly and with affection.

First of all, one of the things that drove me nuts when I wasn’t on my dating hiatus was my ability to find the people who read every emotion, tone and facial expression and would let you know when it was “questionable.” Sometimes I’m just tired and I don’t wish to sound HAPPY or full of love and concern because I’ve had a really long day and I’d like to speak as a minimalist. Let me be monosyllabic and have it not *mean* anything!

Could you imagine if your boyfriend/girlfriend was that type of person where they actually thought that not only analyzing every thing you do or don’t do in a relationship wasn’t enough, they want to measure your voice pattern?

I can picture the scenarios now:

“Hmm- so when you were talking with me your voice read 3.2, but when so and so called it shot up to an 8. What’s up with that???”

“Are you mad at me? You’re only registering at a 4. I don’t understand why you’re so detached.”

Divorce on account of a system glitch.

“We created this service because we thought people would want to know what others were feeling about them,” said Ahn Hee-jung, a KTF official.

Users who speak by pointing their mobile phones at themselves for video conferences can see a “love meter” bar on the screen of their handset during a conversation.

They later receive an analysis of the conversation delivered through text message that breaks down the amount of affection, surprise, concentration and honesty of the other speaker.

The service costs subscribers a flat fee of 1,500 won ($1.59) a month for unlimited use or can be accessed at 300 won for each call, KTF said.

“The caller is paying the money, so the information is provided only to him or her,” said Ahn.”

Do you want to know the future? By then end of 2008, statistics will show a 300% rise in divorce in Korea. Please keep this idea overseas.

Dear Stockholders,

On February 1, 2008, Microsoft made an unsolicited proposal to acquire your company. As much has been reported in the press recently, I wanted to reach out to you personally to let you know why your Board of Directors, after a careful review by Yahoo!’s management along with our financial and legal advisors, believes that Microsoft’s proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo! and is not in the best interests of our stockholders.

Most importantly, I want you to know that your Board is continuously evaluating all of Yahoo!’s strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment, and we remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all our stockholders.

We have a unique combination of strengths

– Yahoo! is one of the most recognizable and admired brands in the world. We have over 500 million users (nearly 1 out of every 2 internet users worldwide). In the U.S., we are # 1 in many of the most used online services including personalized home pages, mail, news, music, shopping and travel. Because we have leadership positions in so many indispensable online services, users spend more time on Yahoo! sites than anywhere else online.

– Yahoo! is an attractive partner for marketers. Yahoo! is #1 in online display advertising, which represents 90% of the advertising inventory on the web, and we are also a leader in search marketing and a pioneer in the growing fields of mobile advertising and online video advertising. Through Yahoo!, advertisers can now connect with consumers on our owned sites as well as those of our growing network of partners including eBay, Comcast, AT&T, a consortium of over 600 newspapers, Forbes.com, Cars.com, WebMD and more.

– Yahoo! has the financial flexibility to execute our plans, thanks to our healthy cash balance, which exceeded $2 billion as of December 31, 2007, and our substantial operating cash flow, which we expect to grow double digits in 2009.

– Yahoo! has made important investments in our core computing infrastructure enabling us to dramatically increase the speed of our search engine updates even while handling vast and growing quantities of data.

– In addition, we have the added value of our substantial, unconsolidated investments in Japan and China. We have substantial positions in Yahoo! Japan, the leader in its market, and Alibaba, which is strongly positioned in China, a market with enormous growth potential.

These assets–our brand and its audience, our relationships with marketers, our financial strength, our technology, and our strategic investments–are the core of our value and our leadership position in the industry.

We have a huge market opportunity – and are uniquely positioned to capitalize on it

The global online advertising market is projected to grow from $45 billion in 2007 to $75 billion in 2010. And we are moving quickly to take advantage of what we see as a unique window of time in the growth – and evolution – of this market to build market share and to create value for stockholders.

We are executing our strategy – and making headway

We have taken significant but disciplined steps to refocus our business on our objectives to become the starting point for the most consumers and the must buy for the most advertisers and enhance Yahoo!’s long-term performance.

Starting Point Objective: Our goal is to grow visits to key Yahoo! starting points and properties, where users enter the Internet, by 15% per year over the next several years. We are the most visited site in the U.S., and we continue to grow – we experienced double-digit growth in U.S. users in 2007 on our Yahoo.com home page.

In addition to traditional starting points on the PC – including our home pages, mail, My Yahoo! and search, we are particularly excited about our growth prospects in mobile, the biggest emerging starting point in the world. Globally, there are twice as many users of mobile devices as users of personal computers, and mobile advertising is projected to grow substantially in the coming years. We have an important competitive edge as the number one mobile destination in the U.S., and we are building a superior mobile experience for Yahoo! users globally so we can further capitalize on this opportunity.

Must Buy Objective: We are working to make online advertising easier and more effective for marketers, opening up new ways for them to connect with consumers. We’ve successfully completed the global roll-out of our search marketing system, Panama, which improved the search experience for our users, boosted returns for our advertisers, and increased revenue for Yahoo!. Last year, we bought Right Media, an exchange that enables buyers and sellers of online advertising to come together. Another 2007 acquisition, Blue Lithium, brings us best-in-class performance marketing capabilities, complementing Yahoo!’s existing offerings for advertisers. We also integrated our search advertising and display advertising sales forces, creating a one-stop shop for all of advertisers’ online marketing needs. All of these – Panama, Right Media, Blue Lithium, and our combined sales efforts – complement and enhance Yahoo!’s existing capabilities and will make it easier for advertisers and online publishers to buy and sell advertising online.

We are also creating a unique and valuable network of premium websites to serve our advertisers. We are making it easier for our advertisers to provide interesting and relevant offers to our users by combining advertising space on Yahoo!’s owned sites with that from a growing group of premium partners including eBay, Comcast, AT&T, a consortium of over 600 newspapers and many others.

As we reach more users both on our own websites and on the sites of our premium partners, and better monetize the ad space on Yahoo!’s owned and operated sites, we are striving to increase the percentage of total online advertising demand we touch from an estimated 15% in 2007 to 20% over the next several years.

These key strategies will be enhanced by our adoption of new, more open technology platforms that will encourage the development of new applications and the involvement of third-party developers – and help enrich the user experience.

We have accomplished a great deal in a very short time – and we are focused on building this momentum

Today, Yahoo! is a faster-moving, better-organized, more nimble company than it was just a few months ago. We have redeployed our resources to drive Yahoo!’s key strategic priorities – taking important steps to streamline our organization and close down or scale back businesses that don’t support these critical growth initiatives. The fact is that we are well on our way to transforming the experiences of Yahoo!’s users, advertisers, publishers and developers – an important shift that is at the heart of our plan to create stockholder value.

I want you to know that the Yahoo! Board of Directors and management team remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all our Yahoo! stockholders. This is a great company and we are moving quickly to make it even better.

Jerry Yang

First of all I’m a little shocked that this wasn’t already in effect. I think due to the fact that I am a legal citizen of the U.S. I completely spaced the lack of information on my part required in order to obtain a license. A part of me also assumed that my Washington and Alaska ID’s and licenses perhaps offered proof. I’ve no clue. Looking back though, if I had the money- I had a license.

I don’t recall what the laws are in other states, but I’m curious as to why the regulations and requirements for obtaining a license to legally drive isn’t the same across the states.

New license laws draw praise, concern

Illegal immigration foes back changes; employers worry about losing workers

THELMA GUERRERO-HUSTON
Statesman Journal

January 28, 2008

In just more than a week, people seeking to replace or renew an Oregon driver’s license or apply for a new one will have to produce a verifiable Social Security number, in addition to showing proof of their identity and an Oregon address.

At the same time, state lawmakers will convene in Salem for an interim legislative session, where they are expected to take up a flurry of bills, including driver’s license legislation that, if approved, would require proof that a person is living here legally.

The new rules and proposed laws have generated:

Praise from illegal immigration opponents who decry any form of driving privileges for people who cannot prove they are in the country legally.

Concern from employers with large immigrant work forces, including the state’s agricultural, construction and hospitality industries.

“Each one of those industries has a large segment of its revenue generated on the shoulders of many workers who are undocumented,” said Rich Meneghello, an attorney with Fisher & Phillips, a national labor and employment law firm with an office in Portland that represents some of those industries.

Denying the undocumented driving privileges could mean the depletion of thousands of unauthorized workers from the state, which could lead to a labor crunch, especially for the agricultural industry, he said.

“It’s very difficult to find agricultural employers that are on mass transit lines,” Meneghello said.

The loss of these workers eventually could cause a ripple in the state’s economy, he said.

“That’s nonsense,” said Mike Forest, the director of the Oregon Minuteman Patriots Border Alliance in Salem.

“These people aren’t supposed to be here to begin with,” Forest said. “Anybody who comes here illegally, whether they come from Ireland or wherever, should not get a driver’s license because they’re not here legally.”

Jesus Castro, 21, an authorized farmworker from Nicaragua who lives in Salem, said he’s not going to spend too much time worrying about the driver’s license issue.

“A number of us already started making plans to carpool to our jobs,” Castro said. “I know people think we’re going to stop driving or leave the state, but I don’t believe that will happen.”

Estimates of Oregon’s unauthorized population vary.

The Mexican Consulate in Portland previously has said the figure is about 75,000.

In 2005, the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., estimated Oregon’s undocumented immigrant population at between 125,000 and 175,000. The data are based on the Center’s tabulations of the Census Bureau’s 2005 American Community Survey.

Also in 2005, the Oregon Employment Department said between 70,000 and 88,000 unauthorized immigrants were working or looking for work in the state’s labor force.

Of those, between 63,000 and 83,000 likely were employed, the OED said.

Because current state law does not require Oregon’s Driver and Motor Vehicles Services Division to ask for citizenship status, DMV officials say it is not known how many unauthorized immigrant have driver licenses.

Getting an Oregon driver’s license

The following steps outline the process for obtaining an Oregon driver’s license for people ages 16 or older or permit for those age 15. Beginning Feb. 4, the documents required to show proof of identity and date of birth will change slightly.

If you’re an Oregon resident getting a permit or first-time driver’s license:

1. Bring proof of identity and date of birth:
Before Feb. 4: Two primary documents, such as a U.S., Canadian or U.S. Territorial government-issued birth certificate and a valid U.S. passport, U.S. military documents or immigrant visa issued by the U.S. Department of State; or one primary document such as a U.S. birth certificate, and two secondary documents such as a valid U.S. or foreign passport and a U.S. Department of Homeland Security document.

After Feb. 4: A verifiable Social Security number and at least one other document such as a current driver’s license, learner’s permit, U.S. passport or birth certificate.

2. Bring proof of an Oregon address:
Acceptable documents include mortgage papers issued in recent year; utility hook-up work order; or credit card bill, which must contain actual statement, not just the envelope.

3. Pass the knowledge and vision tests:
Pay $5 fee for knowledge test for first-time driver’s license
Pass knowledge test, based on the Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services driving manual
Pass vision screening (no fee required)

4. Pass the driving test:
Must make appointment with DMV by phone.
Pay $9 fee for permit or driver’s license driving test.
Pass driving test in passenger vehicle; must have proof of insurance.

5. Pay fees:
Permit/license/renewal fees:
Pay $18 fee for first-time instruction permit application. Permit valid for two years.
Pay $54.50 fee for first-time driver’s license. License valid for eight years.
If you’re an Oregon resident renewing your oregon driver’s license:

1. Bring license and be prepared to tell them your Social Security number.

2. Pay $34.50 fee for license renewal, which is valid for eight years.
If you’re moving to oregon, with a valid out-of-state driver’s license:

1. Bring proof of identity and date of birth using valid out-of-state driver’s license.

2. Pay knowledge test fee of $5.

3. Pass the knowledge and vision tests.

4. Pay driver’s license fee of $54.50.

NOTE: No driving test needed, must surrender out-of-state driver’s license. (If you do not have a valid out-of-state driver’s license, you will need to go through the first-time driver’s license documentation process above.)