consumerism
A short list of technologies you could be using right now if it weren’t for the Apple Fanboys
It is no secret that I love my Motorola Droid, and that the number of Apple Fanboys out there will rebuke anything that is better than any iProduct because it doesn’t bear the Apple logo on it.
So, while the Fanboys bask in the glow of their latest underachieving iProduct (the iPad), here are a list of things that would be really cool right now that would be sold in the American market if Steve Jobs didn’t use the What’s New section of Popular Science magazine as toilet paper.
Despite my objections to devices such as the Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook, these devices, can and will appeal to consumers more than any iProduct. The only improvement that would significantly defeat Apple from killing these devices is if some sort of Indiglo or Illuminator electroluminescent background were embedded into the background.
Other technologies such as electrowetting and rollability could be used.
Later this year, Lumus will release Lumusvision, a translucent head-mounted display (HMD) that sheds most of the stigmas that the Virtual Reality trend of the 1990s of the big, bulky, ugly, heavy, and geeky HMDs. While the HMD currently featured on the Lumus website still looks rather geeky, this can be modified, especially if a few eyeglass designers get involved.
Another thing iProduct Fanboys will not see is Flash. That $500 used to buy an iPad could have been better spent on an HP or Dell netbook or Tablet PC and still be able to watch videos on YouTube, run more than one application, and connect their USB devices to their computer.
Finally, as computing devices become smaller and more energy efficient, I strongly advocate adding some portable alternative energy system be embedded into the device to increase time between charges. Even if you don’t live in a high solar area, you can still power your device while it is hibernating during the day or running. The reason photovoltaic systems are not endorsed is because people expect a small panel to power a bunch of large industrial factories. Solar has been, and always will be, designed for the small scale unless there is a way to gather more photons but more importantly boost the current in a system.
The real problem with solar panels isn’t due to the lack of direct sunlight (which indirect light could work on some systems) or low voltage (solar panels can generate a good amount of voltage), but the low electrical current. A dilemma that I am personally trying to figure out.
As proof that solar can be a viable alternative for small scale electronics and devices such as netbooks, I’m going to attempt to try developing a system where I can reduce my energy consumption, increase my independence, and optimize performance.
Compainies firing workers to boost their corporate profits, executive bonuses
It is as if the executives in corporate America think we have “stupid” tatooed on our foreheads.
About a year ago, InBev bought Anheuser Busch to form AB InBev. InBev stated they woud save jobs, which they didn’t. InBev laid off workers while at the same time sheding Busch Theme Parks. And while beer sales are slumping and jobs are being cut, AB InBev reported they made a better profit this year.
But it is not just the world wide distributor of beer that has reported that they’ve made a better profit this year and that the guys on top get to keep their jobs and get a larger than average bonus this year while sacking workers. Citigroup, Bank of America, AIG, GM and Crystler, all reporting an increase in profit, while service, products, and employees all get cut out.
In other words, the guys on top save their own ass, and tell everyone else “your on your own”.
As unemployment spills over 10.2%, the rich get richer, the middle class is being pushed into the lower class, and the lower class have no where to go.
Chances are if you have graduated college in the past couple of years, you are unemployed or working in a low paying job. Although it may seem like the military looks like a way to make money, if you have no interest in fighting in combat or are not physically able to give the military 20 years of your time to serve your country, then DON’T! You can serve your country in other ways, but at this time thouse government agencies are not hiring anyone with a short resume.
It is quite clear that the country is run by a very small, wealthy minority. The private sector continues to show that at this current time, their only interest is to look out for themselves.
We see this when the best military in the world can’t get the manpower or functioning equipment they need to complete a war that has lasted for far too long. The president can send as may troops the generals need, but as long as the private sector sells the same weapons to our enemies as they do with our allies, the war continues at the expense of the people and the families that suffer. But it is no problem for the executives at the top that are double dealing. To them, War is money. The longer the war goes on, the more money they can take from the government.
We see this when not just manufacturing, but white collar work, is outsourced overseas. The free trade model has moved our jobs to China. America is not the only country where jobs are moving to China. Japan, Austraila, Europe, Canada, even Mexico have seen jobs move to China.
Ah, but now China wants total control over foreign patents. Foreign companies now must decide if they still want stay in China, where there is abundant cheap labor and laxed environmental regulations, or go back home an restart manufacturing here. If you are an coporate executive, you don’t care about ideas, labor issues, or the environment. Your interest is to sell whatever you can and build them as cheap as possible and still make a profit even if the product or service sucks.
The Chinese will soon be showing us the hubris of these executives.
Finally, to futher the madness of corporate America’s irrational behavior, there is the issue of healthcare. If your job can provide you with adequate private insurance, and the insurance company is not in the business of finding some way to prove that whatever is ailing you is benign, then more power to you.
However, for the rest of us, especially the unemployed, recently unempolyed, and those in poverty, we don’t have such good fortune to have a doctor on call who will actually look at what is wrong and not pretend there is nothing wrong because you have no medical coverage or the insurance company tells the doctor to ignore it.
It would be great to have a job. It would be great to have insurance. It would be great to let the capitalist system of government leave the private sector alone so that the private sector could do whatever it likes. However, we can’t. Not when people can’t tell the difference between consumerism and capitalism. Not when people can’t tell the difference between socialism and communism. Not when corporations distort the defintions of these words during a time when unemployment is high, wars seem everlasting, and a pandemic is infecting the world but the sick can’t see a doctor because they can’t afford it. And especially when corporations free themselves of being responble for any bad behavior they do.
When the capitalist system fails because it has perverted the idea that consumerism (in which people buy things) not capitalism (in which people save up for things) jumpstarts the economy, then defends this faux capitalism that only serve the people on the top by excluding everyone not just at the bottom but all people that are not at the top, then tells the people who have lost their jobs and benefits “don’t go to the big bad government” and “government run programs are bad and are socialism” (where they use socialism not as the intended word of a system serving the people, but as a synonym for communism), then continue to operate this system for a very long time, people will ultimately become stressed. They will comit crimes, unaware that it is OK to ask for assitance until it is too late. That if several people in the same predicimate can’t convince the government to help them because some corporate lobbyist made an exception to the rules or put in something to kill the bill to provide relief during a time of suffering and recession, they can do this instead of hurt other people.
The corporate system is based on greed and jealousy. Why should you suffer because you were fired so your employer could get a raise especially if you did a good job and didn’t have a poor performance record? Why should the next genereation of the workforce be paid less than there parents if they’ve recieved a better education and have worked to live a better life than their folks have?
We’ve been told that “hey, you shouldn’t pay you taxes” while at the same time accept the cost of rising fuel prices, the loss of alternatives when it comes to shopping, cheap breakable goods from big box stores, diminishing water, food, and environment quality, failing schools, high health cost, and small government, all so that small minority can preserve their way of life.
To call these feeling “raging against the machine” or to say “there is nothing you can do about it” and to actually do nothing about it endorses the continuity of the status quo, no mater who you vote for.
We have a great, intellegent leader as president right now. And everyone who has stalled or shotdown any of his plans to do something or to save jobs, lives, and property has done this because they have everything they need and people to provide it for them until suddenly they are themselves inconvienced either by their own family or someone they know needs something done. Suddenly, autism is a big deal because some senator or corporate excutive has a child with autism. Military spending becomes a big deal because someone’s best friend is joining the military. Automobile safe becomes a big issue because they were in a car accident recently. The environment becomes an issue because they suck at hunting or fishing and wonder where are all the wild critters they saw as a child.
Things shouldn’t be done because the lawmakers are affected by them. They should be done because at some point everyone is going to need something they want that the government can help them with, no strings attatched.
Yet, people feel threatened when the president gives a speech to school children. They feel threatened by his endorsement of public healthcare. They feel threatened that he might not provide more than enough or less than enough (in that they want the exact number, nothing more or less) troops to end our wars, apprehend terrorists, and secure our country. They feel threatened by fair trade, efficent cars, workers with benefits and insurance. They feel threatend because some uberliberal California law maker created a federal madate to preserve some turtles living in farmland that needs water for irrigation. (A more moderate liberal would have provided an alternative to support the farmers and the turtles…like rerouting where the water comes from.) And they feel threaten that they have to pay more on taxes which mathematics–which is NOT partisan–says they have to anyway.
And these people have hired voices to tell those without “don’t seek out, stay where you are!” And they are concerned that the country is falling apart.
If the healthcare bill fails in the Senate–or is thwarted by some partisan action to preserve the status quo–expect a new group of individuals to come out of the wood work to take down the fearmongers that preserve the stats quo. Because after a while, people will realizes that yes they have had enough and it is not the fault of the guy in the Oval Office. It is the guys in the high rise office buildings who right now are worried for their lives that some angry mob will try to harm them because they now have more than anybody else because they have take more than they deserve.
The TEA Party is misguided or they are misguiding. They are standing up for the rich minority either because they are the rich minority or they are to ignorant to realize they are supporting their oppressors. You will find that many of the TEA Party supporters still are employed, still are better off than the majority of this country that is suffering, and rarely–if in any case–part of or wish to identify themselves as part of the 10.2% that is unemployed.
You will not go to jail for not buying health insurance or using public healthcare. The country is not headed towards communism, it is headed toward oligarchy, to which to stave off the oligarchs, social programs need to be reinstated or installed.
America is hungry for the change that they asked for, and the president wants to deliver, but it is the status quo that continues to deny the things that we have worked hard for.
Finally, an article about Technology!
I haven’t been able to talk about technology in so long.
I love my computer. It’s the closes thing I have to having a car at the moment. During the latter part of 2006 and earily part of 2007, I spent a little bit of money each month collecting parts to build my own computer. Sort of like a gear head saves up money to build their own hot rod…or like that Johnny Cash song “One Piece at a Time”. Helping me out with the inital construction of this do-it-yourself project was a copy of Building a PC for Dummies.
Since 2007, I’ve been using this computer. But like any machine, parts eventually breakdown, need to be replaced, upgraded, or repaired.
So at the beginning of this year, I decided to make a Wish/Todo List of things that ought to be upgraded, fixed, or replaced, mostly in the order of the things that needed the most attention. I wasn’t looking to make a street machine out of an economy car (especially since I don’t have the budget to do that), I just had a gut feeling that in order for me to protect my investment, I should do whatever I can to make it last as long as it could. Especially since my computer is the nicest and the most important thing that I own.
The hardest part about maintaining my computer is finding a computer store. There is no CompUSA or Circuit City anymore. The lack of small computer shops also doesn’t help, especially with Big Box Stores like Best Buy dominating the market.
It also doesn’t help that Google search indicates there are about 64 nail salons within a five mile radius of the nearest intersection near my home and only about 7 places to get your computer repaired, of which only 3 have a selection of parts that you can browse around and look at. Throughout the St. Louis area, there are probably about 25 places where you can get your computer serviced, most of them Best Buys. The rest of them are for companies that maintain corporate business machines. Of course, where you can find a computer shop of any kind, more than like there are probably about 20 places to get your nails done within a quarter mile of each of those locations. So much for women with ambitions. (Fathers: Get your daughters involved with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math! The world needs more geeky women especially if you have to go across town to get your computer fixed but theirs a nail salon on every street corner.)
Anyway, the first thing I wanted to do was replace the things that were not working anymore. Since Ebay was where I picked up many of the parts, I though I would go there.
The first part to break down was the DVD-RW. Prior to its breakdown, I mainly used that to play CDs and DVDs. Originally it was an internal drive with a custom external case which was removed to be installed internally. There was no SATA port on it, it still used the bulky IDE ribbon. Of course, since I’ve been doing quite a bit of maintenance on my computer the past couple of days, I am seriously considering making a backup of the files on my harddrive which is getting full.
But something must have happened over the past couple of years. As many of my recent eBay purchases have been duds. I’d expect this kind of behavior on Craigslist. Though I picked up a replacement on eBay for my DVD-RW, accessories were not included. Of course, no one bothers to write “Fragile” on the softbag (rather than a flat-rate cardboard box) that items come in. Yeah, I know I’m not buying parts on Amazon, but seriously. Who ever keeps packaging these items has never met my family who for some reason has a tendency to toss unmarked fragile items.
Anyway, I ended out having to pay another $20 at Best Buy for an SATA ribbon so I could connect the device to the motherboard. (Yeah, $20! It’s not even made out of gold. Speaking of which, I need to find that website I heard on the radio that has HDMI cables for cheap since the ones at the shops are intentionally overpriced!)
As much as I am glad to have replaced this part, eventually, I’d like to save up for a Blu-Ray device. But Linux has yet to crack Blu-Ray completely.
Item number two on the honeydo list was a memory upgrade. About the time I had wanted to do this, Circuit City was going out of business of which the local Ciruit City had the memory that I was interested in was also closing up. So by the time I completed this task, I ended out having to buy the new memory for less on CompUSA.com. Still, having one less place to spend my Saturday afternoons completely sucks.
Third item was installed last night. I knew the day would come that the graphics card would need to be replaced. I put it off for as long as I could, especially since the past few months the bills have sucked out any opporitunity to make a computer repair possible.
If the economists are wondering why consumers aren’t at the shops buying things, they apparently haven’t been paying attention to the bill collectors like the folks at AT&T who have been sucking people dry in order to take the government stimulus money that was suppost to be used for going out and spending things. I mean, whose not going to notice a stedily increase on their phone bill by as much as 18 cents in one month on top of the overpriced service they already have? At any rate, the recession has been a major contributor to the posponing of a couple of items on my list.
But as much as I have tried to put off any repairs, eventually there comes a time when the computer itself has had enough. Thus, yesterday the GPU had konked out.
I wasn’t at all surprised. Things were starting to become terrible. Anything using Flash would lock up be it Videos on YouTube, Games on Newground, or music on Blip.fm. Even using small low-memory tasks such as the text editor would not respond to typing words on a keyboard immediate. Eventually, the computer started to restart and the screen would freeze. After about two years of using this component daily, which had a regular temperature of about 70° C (so hot, I took one of the pannels off the case just to have cool air on the outside keep the rest of the computer from being damaged) the device finally died. Ironically, the same day, on of the fans near it had also burt out. But this fan was not as important. It seemed to be better at turning the computer into a dust magnet.
I am no stranger to burnt out graphics cards. Though I’ve never play alot of high graphics games (though I wish I could), a bad graphics card on the second laptop that I owned warented its need to be sent to San Jose for repair. It was the fact that my computer got to go places and I didn’t that was part of the inspiration for me to build my own computer. It has also inspired me to question computer repair in general.
This morning for example, I have discovered that the battery on my motherboard that keep the internal clock running has died. (Damn the luck!)
Why is it that the message that indicates the battery is dead looks like this:
Warning! Now System is in Safe Mode.
Please re-setting CPU Frequency in the CMOS setup
F1 : to continue DEL : Bios Setup
I’ve visited three websites that have confirmed that this warning is a sign that the clock battery is dead, though on one of them, one guy decided to overcomplicate things and blame it on an overclocked graphics card. (Which is unlikely since I’ve only had it for about 24 hours now.)
No one seems to be able to to explain in plain English this concept of overclocking. I have no interest in overclocking. Overclocking can be expensive, dangerous, and cause damage to the rest of your computer. As much as hardcore gamers are interested in overclocking their hardware, everyone else who just want to use their computer and enjoy doing things–including gaming–is not interested in burning computer rubber.
Tim "The Toolman" Taylor: Patron saint of the overclockers. "More Power!"
Since my primary interest in a new graphics card was to get things working again, and since serendipitously I had been browsing graphics cards on eBay a few days before this incident, it was my good fortune that I was able to find an ideal graphics card on sale at Best Buy. The best part about it is that the temperature on the new graphics card has not exceeded 47° C.
Crisis averted, so far. I just need to replace the old clock battery and thing will be peachy keen.
There is so much about my computer that I don’t know that is not mentioned in that little booklet on how to hook up the motherboard. There is no troubleshooting section. There is no FAQ. The only anwsers that are available are online…of which if you don’t have a computer available how are you suppost to get those answers.
There needs to be a big book of things about your computer and the mainstread book industry, the niche book industry, and the guys who run technology websites don’t bother to metion.
Sure their are a dozen books right now that will tell you things like how to get Twitter to work on your iPhone, but for everyone else like myself who could care less and can actually know which part is breaking down and making that burning toast smell inside your computer there is no book. There are message board, but in the rare case that you have a rare problem that you know the cause is that you didn’t overclock anything and that the solution is NEVER let the guys at Geek Squad (more like Theif Squad) look at it and decide to send it to their one-size-fits-all repair center that fixes everything else but that particular problem.
There haven’t been too many books in English or in the United States that tell you these things. You read stories bout how some guy in China killed himself because he lost an Apple iPhone prototype while in Africa they are taking in the electronic waste. It’s as if our only purpose in this part of the cycle is to take consume the items made in China only to “recycle” them into the trash to Africa. Nothing to learn, nothing to save. Just consume it.
One of my intentions for this website, and the revamping of this blog, was to explain technology in plain english. Explain how things work, what those BIOS warnings were talking about without trying to blame the user for something the really never did. I mean, you are a smart person. You found this blog. So you must be doing something right. Why not tell your friends?
I just hope that by writing more about technology it will lead to bigger things, like writing books…perhaps the book about computers.
It’s so easy for people to be controlled and to stay in this bubble of not needing to know thing that they should know or knowing just a little bit not to be taken advantaged of.
There should be more books on how things actually work inside your computer. It shouldn’t have to take a college education to learn what things are and how to use them.
When things go bad, do what is right!
AT&T: When Corporate Censorship Backfires
Things seemed to be working out OK for AT&T. They had the Apple iPhone 3GS coming out. Then suddenly, when all is at its zenith, disaster strikes.
Apparently, AT&T decided now would be a good time to censor the Internet, since they did such a bang up job terminating Usenet service by creating the image that pedophiles and pornographers hang out there. Nevermind that unlike the Internet, the Usenet is composed of a fixed set of news groups, which–if done properly–Usenet providers (like AT&T) could block out and report ilicit content. GigaNews, a popular Usenet provider, made that clear last year. (It is also believed that most of the fake postings solicting such garbage throughout the Usenet is being PROPAGATED by the ISPs. Not only are we not interested in such vulgar content, but what business is that bullsh*t doing in comp.lang.tcl?)
But AT&T has some bigger plans in mind, since they can use the excuses that shut down Usenet service in the same way Senator Joseph McCarthy used Communism during the Red Scare. Mainly on content that is against AT&T.
Here, AT&T can break the rules of network neutrality by making anything they see objectionable or against AT&T into contraband.
Take ATTGreed.com, for example. This website is promoting the awareness of a contract dispute between AT&T and the Communicantions Workers of America, a telecommunications union, and the Internation Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). As far as AT&T see it, this website is objectionable.
Another opponent of AT&T has been the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Considered to be the ACLU of the Internet (only they won’t tell you to take down your Christmas lights from the town court house or don’t pray before the big football game), the EFF has been a strong supporter of network neutrality, something that AT&T believes should be reserved for those who can pay more. Since we’ve been doing quite well without AT&T meddling with Interent traffic for the last 35 years, it is only right to see things from the EFF’s Point of View. But if you see things from the EFF’s point of view, that means you side with their causes, such as free speech and fighting against warrentless wiretapping. Stuff AT&T likes the opposite.
AT&T is going to have some reallly big problems this week as they have decided to kick the beehive known throughout the internet as 4chan /b/ (NSFW). 4chan has been seen as a wrecking ball of a website, known for its various Internet pranks. Considered the home of the Internet group “Anonymous” which has caused grief against the ChuchCult of S$cientology (Co$), Anonymous has been seen as the group on the Internet nobody messes with.
But now, Anonymous finds itself in a pickle. They can’t campaign against AT&T in the same way they do with the Co$. Desipte the upper echalon of Anonymous warning their followers to stand down (NSFW), as fighting against them would justifiy AT&T’s violation of network neutrality, there will still be that one idiot who will try to be somebody…to which Anonymous will make his life a living hell for about the next six months. Anonymous is thinking about their next move.
But why stop at cutting off the uncouth nonsense of 4chan when you can block off anyone who attempts to inform the public that AT&T is censoring websites. 2600.com, home of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. Competitors like Sprint and Verzion. The Democractic Party (turns out AT&T has been bankrolling the Telecom industry’s status quo lobby which the GOP much appreciates). Given the money, and the request, you could probably put in a work order now at AT&T to block out something or to slow it down.
Unfortunately, AT&T picked on Anonymous. To which on Monday and Tuesday of this week, the hacker group has plans on causing AT&T grief but in some non conventional form. The group has already convinced AT&T users to switch to other networks. (Ironically, I had been waiting for an excuse to do it. But my reason, was Mashable heard a rumor that Android 2.0 may be coming to Sprint, which is pretty cool.)
Hopefully, Anonymous will find a way to give AT&T hell for upsetting the balance of the Interent.
Even this guy, who is a total badass, would not want to be around when Anonymous takes on AT&T!
Followup: (7/27/2009 12:00 PM CDT) Slashdot indicates that the block was pre-emptive and has ben lifted in some areas. Still a pre-emptive strike is still letting the genie out of the bottle–once it’s out, there is no way of putting it back in.
Much of the online community, and tech news sites, still see this as a brewing storm which may become “the perfect storm”. (Tech Central probably has it right: “Everybody Stand Back!”).
This could get ugly.
Followup (7/27/2009 8:00 PM CDT) shortly after that update was posted, 4chan founder Christopher “moot” Poole was able to clear the air. AT&T also posted a statement–after they saw there stock drop for most of the morning until it rebounded this afternoon. Part of it was the “vox populi”, the other part was probably the fact that Verizon’s 2Q Earning suck.
No big surprise. I recently went to a Verzion store that just moved into the neighborhood. Those guys are pushy! I just wanted to browse the phones, and they’re asking if I’ve entered my name in to a queue. What is this a restaruant or a phone store? I’m surprised this REALLY didn’t happen to me while I was there.
Anyway, back to this story.
AT&T has been know for not being surgical in their security measures. The result is the chaos that occured this weekend that in the long run will cost AT&T to see there churn rate sky rocket. (Higher the churn rate = more customers leaving. Anyone who sticks around for that will see their own rates go up so that AT&T can recoup the loss. May explain the 19 cents added to my bill since the previous month. I have got to break up with them!)
AT&T needs to be more precise with their network security. But precision cost money, like hiring American workers at their call centers cost money. (They ought to be paying people to work here. They didn’t call themselves Amercan Telephone and Telegraph just to hire people in India or the Philipines, which may explain why the CWA and IBEW aren’t happy with them.)
Outside of all that, I think that is it unless Anonymous does something.
Amazon Kindle loves to burn books. And by “burn” we mean “set them on fire”.
Congradulations on anyone who bought a $500 $299 Amazon Kindle. You now support Amazon’s efforts to preserve books in digital format virtually set them on fire.
For the second time this year, Amazon has acted aloof in their business of removing books to appease copyright owners, and people posing as copyright owners. The first time this happened, it did not involve their Kindle device. Rather all the LGBT books suddenly vanshed from Amazon.com. Last time I check, this was Amazon.com not Books-A-Million.
But this lastest incident did involve the Kindle. On July 17, 2009, George Orwell got taken to room 101 by Big Brother.
Apparently, Amazon claims that one of the copyright holders sent them a note saying that they did not authorize one of the retailers permission to sell 1984 or Animal Farm. (For some reason, All retailers are equal, except some are more equal than others.)
Reguardless of who has the rights to sell the book, anyone who bought the book in digital format and found it missing was ultimately the victim.
Amazon has said that it would reemburse readers even offer to replace the lost books with that of the book that was removed that is for sale by the publisher who submitted the claim. It’s alot loke the supermarket stealing your Pepsi because Coke filed a complaint but in an act of contrision the supermarket offers you free Coke for in exchange for the Pepsi they stoll from you.
The damage is already done. It would make much more sense for Kindle users to stop using the device, send it back for a refund and find some other place to buy books online.
The other alternative is piracy.
© Randall Munroe
But when books disappear without any reason, or for the reason that one publisher thinks it is more elite than another, the sacred trust between consumers and producers is broken. And that is when unorthodox behavior is permissable and the unethical becomes justified.
In other words, if publishers don’t want customers stealing books, publishers should not steal books from their customers. The same goes for record companies, movie studios, and software venders.
If publishers don’t want people stealing content, publishers shouldn’t steal from customers. PERIOD!
Got $25 to throw away? Go to the All Star Game Fanfest
People have been asking me “Why are you going to the All Star Game? You have no money.” True, my expenses have caugh up with me as of late. (Stupid, economy!) But when a really, really, really, really big event comes to town, don’t you just want to be part of it? To decend into the madness of the crowd and be part of something extraordinary?
The last time the All Star Game was in St. Louis was forty years ago. Perhaps the next time it will be here is forty years from now. Technically, the ASG is a once in a lifetime experience in St. Louis. Forty years from now, what would you want to say to your grandchildren. That you were atleast outside the stadium near the event, or at home?
I’ve been accused of wanting to hang out near the stadium because President Obama would be there. As much as I worked in the campaign and supported him last year, his visit is secondary compared to the ASG.
I’m not going to the ASG for the President. I’m going to it because the ASG is HERE in St. Louis.
But what I will say about the ASG Events is two things:
- I could care less about Sheryl Crow. Yes, I know. Everybody likes her. (Except Archbishop Leo Burke, but that guy is a jerk. Ask any Polish Catholic in the St. Louis Area.) But to be honest, the people at Major League Baseball, or whoever invited her, really have no taste in music out side of three artist on the radio. The other two being Dave Matthews and John Melloncamp. No Doubt would probably be included, especially if all the songs on their playlist were just Gwen Steffani during her stint as a solo artists. If you are going to listen to her, don’t listen to her bubble gum pop crap! Listen to here when she is part of No Doubt and only the Rock and Ska stuff. (Anyone who listens to Hollaback Girl needs their ass kicked!)
- Never go to the All Star Game Fanfest. EVER! Wasn’t that an unpleasant experience. It actually costed $30 to get in, but since there was a $5 discount if you used a Mastercard, I figured why the hell not. Well, now I know better.
Fanfest was awful. To be honest, I needed to take a trip to the library at 14th and Olive after going to that event so I could regain any intelegent thought after wasting $25 to see GM, XM, Sony, Reebok, Pepsi, and Taco Bell hawk their wares. (The library was awesome. Seriously. It was!)
GM had to be the worst! Let’s not show off any of our hybrid models, guys. It’s not like the President of the United States or his family will be stopping by the event to see if we’ve learned anything since the government takeover. Of which, GM has not learned anything except how to suck money out of the government like a former-Haliburton executive.
Chevrolet is suppost to be GM’s most popular brand. Just about every car there seemed to give off this Pontiac Aztek feel to it. Even the Malibu, which is suppost to be this aerodynamic machine looks like it has sharpe edges. Come on?! Did we suddenly forget how to cut steel into smooth Bézier surfaces?
Fortunately, the President won’t have to waste $25 to get into Fanfest, not because he is the President of the United States, but because the same exhibt is outside Busch Stadium at Broadway and Clark.
Hopefully, the President will see that a post-bankruptcy GM is no different than a pre-bankruptcy-GM. It really never was the unions that were hurting the government. Rather the guys in the office buildings who did nothing to change the car industry despite all the claims that they did. The only changes they made were moving the factories outside of the United States into Canada, Mexico, and China. (News flash guys: There are unions in those countries too.)
So while conservative will show up at the ASG to complain about everything from having to pay income taxes (which actually keep sales taxes down) to “Government Motor” (ignorant to the fact that GM still hasn’t learned anything about not stealing money from the government, jobs from Americans, or improving their products), everyone else will be there to enjoy baseball.
In the meantime, spend your $30 elsewhere. Like the Zoo or the Art Museum or something constructive.
In The Garden with the Blog and Twitter
One of my many interest for the past couple of years has been gardening. With the job market in a tumble (in the case of computer programming careers in the state of “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”), I’ve decided to spend more time in the backyard.
Gardening is hard work. It’s a good hobby, but it is hard work. Perhaps it is the natural instinct that runs in my blood as my grandfather used to be a farmer up until about 16 years ago and my great-grandmother gardened on a plot of land next to her house for decades up until the day she died. And my great-grandfather was a sweet potato farmer until he died. The hardest part is that his property was torn down to make way for a subdivision.
With so much urban sprawl in the area, it is important to preserve what is left of the farmland that has been in the area for centuries. And I do literally mean centuries considering the information on these maps from 1868! Most of the major roads in the area have not changed in over 200 years. So whatever established farmland that is still left in the area should be preserved.
Eventually, I’d like to own a plot of land. Until that time, I just have my backyard. And from the information I have gathered, the dirt in the backyard was well taken care of. Plowing up space in the backyard for the garden has yielded many pieces of limestone, which is used as a soil conditioner to neutralize acidic soil conditions. So I can safely assume that the plot of land that my house is on used to be farmland.
Anyway, I’ve been meaning to blog about my garden as a way to keep track of the status of things that are occuring in the garden as well as when might be a good time to plant and harvest in the future.
Thanks to Twitter, quick status reports are easy, but in general, blogging is a little bit more responsible especially if garden tweets get mixed up with all my other interest.
One option I was considering is creating a separate blog for gardening. However, with the Tags and Categories features in WordPress, I find it much easier just to use one blog. Besides, it gives me a chance to talk about other things outside of technology and computer programming.
On the other hand, the computer has become a jack-of-all-trades tool, providing weather reports, agrocultural information, and an extensive network of like minded indivuduals interested in the same thing. Something my grandparents never had, though books and elbow grease are still part of the farmer/gardener’s arsenal.
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