Posts filed under 'General'
ArsTechnica has an article on upgrading your AppleTV’s hard drive. While the self-upgrade steps are only linked to (Engadget has a howto), I found it funny that there’s already a 3rd party service center who’ll do the upgrade for you… and they claim that it doesn’t void the warranty from Apple, that only the replacement HD isn’t covered.
I’ve been considering getting an AppleTV, a Mac Mini, and a high-def flat panel TV. One of the AppleTV’s main uses, as far as I consider it, would be if I could rip DVDs to a hard drive, and keep my collection tucked away. That, plus playing with MacOS X, would be the reason for the Mini…
Of course, the question then becomes: augment the Mini’s storage with an external drive, augment the AppleTV with a larger HD, or both?
I’m quite looking forward to the time when I have my movie collection all ripped and on magnetic media for an on-demand experience. Maybe soon…
March 27th, 2007
I’ve read mounds about a possible Giuliani run for president, and I’m not really sure what to think of it. I’ve only come to live in New York City after he was gone, but I think the city is better for having had him. I’ve come to the conclusion that the Republican Party could really use a good, solid split. I’d like to see the Republicans move from a “big tent” inside of which the “normal people” are scurried off to behind the elephant poop area.
I’d be a fan of splitting the party in two. Reasonable people who are currently Republicans could leave the wacked-out religious folks at a retreat in the Ozarks and get to some real business.
I’m both jaded and optimistic. I believe that there are people in this country with the honest goal of making things better. I also believe that many of those people are shut out of their party’s mainstream.
Compromise isn’t weakness. It’s how progress is made. Presidential veto should be rare, and require a statement of justification. The Supreme Court writes opinions to explain their judgements. Signing statements shouldn’t be a “yeah, but”, and unnecessary when vetoing, or letting a bill lay fallow until expiration.
Then again, Congress passing a bill shouldn’t be the almighty decision maker, either. The rules made by the majority in either house can be quite petty, or downright ominous. Committee membership is laughable at times. Denying a vote can be downright dismissive. Fairness is something usually sought only by the minority, who tends to turn to oppressor upon ascention back to the throne.
So… getting back to my point. If we had a schism in the Republican Party (maybe break it on a gay rights / pro-life line), I could foresee a considerable migration from the Democrats as well. Let’s call them Demicans, this new, third party.
In ‘04, the Annenberg Public Policy Center polled and found that 31.8% of people thought of themselves as Republican, generally speaking, 34.6% Democrat, and 25.2% independent. Yeah, that’s only 91.6%. I’m not sure what happened to the other 8.4%, but I’ll forget about them for now.
I’d say that a third or so of people are Republicans who’d leave, and maybe a quarter of Democrats would join them. I’d venture that half of the independents would consider becoming a Demican. 10.6 + 8.7 + 12.6 = 31.9%
If things went that way, it would be 21.2% Republican, 25.9% Democrat, 31.9% Demican, and 12.6% Independent. I’m envisioning a Democrat/Demican coalition to govern, forcing the wackjob Republicans to turn to Jesus for salvation. Should the Democrats get too haughty, people would leave the Demicans, lowering the power base of the coalition, and allowing a re-found equilibrium far short of the extremes of either party.
I guess I’m letting this hit the press before I’m done thinking about it, but I think it better to get it out there than let it slide away when I go to sleep.
February 5th, 2007
A man in Zagreb could be headed for jail after setting a pile of underwear on fire. The UK’s Metro reports that Ivo Jerbic got pissed off that he couldn’t find clean underwear, tossed it all out into the garden and set it on fire. Unfortunately, the fire spread to his house, and burned it down. Criminal charges may be filed because his actions could have injured or killed family members.
Damn those underpants gnomes…
January 29th, 2007
I made a stop at Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday to pick up a blanket, and I was reminded yet again why my initial thoughts of it being a fun trip always end up in disappointment.
BB&B is certainly not a discount store. While they send out plenty of large-postcard coupons for 20% off a single item, most of the merchandise there is nowhere near competitive with discount retailers.
I’m fine with that. A store can be what it wants. But BB&B isn’t really what I want.
Why?
Manhattan is a crowded enough place. Bed Bath and Beyond in Chelsea is a pretty big store (two floors), but there are consistently crowding issues. The store places goods in the middle of traffic paths. I understand that they are highlighting items of interest by displaying them in high-traffic areas, but my experience yesterday involved customers having to, on the spur of the moment, come up with a traffic control plan just to get around the store. I’m actually rather impressed by the way people came together to organize a bit, but quite upset with the store for making it that way. Aisles are obviously selected to give a path for traffic flow. When they’re not sufficient, the merchant is to blame.
As well, there must have been about 200 people in the checkout area waiting to pay and leave. While Amy was a bit upset that I was pissed off at the lines, I think that it’s justifiable to expect that when you’re paying a more-than-fair price for something that you should not have to have a subpar experience while in the store.
Amy said something about it just being busy, and that it wasn’t that bad.
I still contend that on a Sunday in late January (as opposed to November or December, or even early January), the store should be able to operationally scale its checkout system such that there isn’t a sea of humanity trying to spontaneously form the proper queuing structure to get everyone through in a reasonable amount of time. Management of BB&B bears the responsibility of the portions of my visit that they control, and… well… they failed.
I’ll be trying to remind myself just how bad it sucks next time I’m tempted to go there.
Oh, and Target, when the hell are you going to open up a Manhattan store?!?!?!
January 29th, 2007
While I know that I won’t win any arguments with those steadfastly opposed to W and his administration, or those with emotional reasons for opposing the war in Iraq…
I’m definitely going to make a few statements.
1) If Saddam had allowed full, unobstructed inspection of suspected weapons sites, the UN sanctions would have been lifted, and he could be chillin’ with a harem in one of his palaces, lighting cigars with $100 bills.
2) The initial argument for action against Saddam post-9/11 was noncompliance with UN resolutions. This was a proper justification for military action. Other UN members pussied out, but that doesn’t change the legitimacy of enforcing the resolution. Bush and company should not have justified anything with the WMD claims, they lost all goodwill of other nations. But military action was justified.
3) Yes, the execution was rushed. But would keeping him alive have helped anything? Is there any reasonable belief that he would have been exonerated?
December 30th, 2006
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