Nov 04 2009

Lost: Where did the 23rd District Go?

Category: politicsDan @ 5:34 pm

It is so strange that after all the build-up by the mainstream media of what an important race the 23rd district of New York would be as a barometer of the country’s mood, that there was almost no mention today of the fact that a democrat won. Not even a blurb in the New York Times, hardly a link on any front page of a news site. I had to go to the Albany Times Union, to find it buried as a link on the politics page. And the link was pretty far down on the list too.

It shows to me how the media, and I think this is a function of human nature, not a conspiracy by right -wing oligarchy-controlled media complex (but some times I confess I think that too). It is human nature to construct stories that focus on one thing or group of related things and ignores others.

The dominant story, as I see it developing in the news today is that the elections of 2009 were a repudiation of the policies of Barak Obama. But the election in the heavily Republican, and staunchly conservative 23rd district of New York does not fit well into that story.

I know lots of people from that district, and they are almost all to a person, almost by nature it seems, staunchly conservative. The one exception is the dual-citizen Canadian-American I know, who absolutely loves Canadian Health-care and Hockey. So I think it is a real big deal that a democrat- any democrat at any time could win this district. But from the media not a peep about this amazing story.

So now, very awkwardly, the media is ignoring this bit of news, even after they hyped it so much in the days before the election.

Now in some ways, I do agree that the elections are a measure of the loss of momentum that Barak Obama had going for him last November. I think, his urge for bipartisanship has kind of taken the wind out of a lot of people’s spirits who were hoping for quick, dramatic change. I don’t think it is a shift away from his policies, but rather an impatience with the lack of sweeping policy changes that we all hoped for.

I think the lesson from this election is that we want change and we want it now, and we don’t care how many Republicans vote for it.

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Oct 26 2009

Be Careful Pissed-Off Streetfighting Man

Category: Dan @ 9:30 pm

This is a great post and this quote by Kurt Vonnegut is intimately related to my life right now:

    

“We must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
              

This is from Mother Night. I don’t’ think I actually ever read this one but damn it is good.

I had a dream that Kurt Vonnegut came to my house once. he was in a brown corduroy sport jacket. He smoked a few cigarettes with me and gave me advice on writing. One of those mid-afternoon naps after staying up most of the night for a 3rd shift.

One of my top 10 dreams of all time.

More on these intimate relationships as the train of time barrels on though the dark.


Oct 26 2009

Streetfighting Man

Category: Rage, audio, musicDan @ 9:21 pm

One of the best albums of all time that I have been addicted to lately is Renegades by Rage Against the Machine- the greatest band of all time.
I knew it was a different kind of Rage album the first time I listened to it, and having pretty much over-listened to all their other albums I was quite happy with the change. I knew that Rage covered “How I can Just Kill a Man,” by Cyprus Hill, but as I dug deeper into the album I realized ALL the tunes were covers, which explained why the album was so different from previous albums. Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Eric B and Rakim, to name a few.
They are all great tunes in their own way, going from straight-edge punk to gangsta rap- to, well, Dylan. Man that is a musical range I have never seen in a single album – which sounded so damn good, I just can’t stop myself from listening- over and over again.
Lately it has been me myself and my rage. And I like it.
The particular tunes that stick out to me are Pistol Grip Pump by Volume 10

and Maggie’s Farm by Dylan.

These two songs manage to achieve an overpowering bass line (via Tim Commerford) like no other tune I have heard. Combined with the unique and mind-blowing guitar by Tom Morello, who I am guessing along with Zach choose these tunes for their political impact, they are simply perfect. Street Fighting man by the Stones are right there with them and equally perfect.
I gotta say I love every tune on this album, but those are my top 3. “The Ghost of Tom Joad” by Sprinsteen, and “Renegades of Funk” by Afrika Bambaataa are up there too. “Renegades of Funk” is great for its vast temporal vistas that range to from the stone ages, to Ancient Greece, Tom Paine, Martin Luther King, Malcom X and distant galaxies all in one rocking funky, philosophic, and rageful tune.

This was Rage’s last studio album and it shows them at their most unique, daring and creative moments, in spite of, or maybe because of being cover album. For most bands a cover album signals a decline in creativity and a loss of original ideas. But the opposite is true of Rage.
I pray to the gods of righteous fury and justice that they get back in the studio to get a new album out. One of the strengths of Rage is that even though Renegades came out in 1999, and their other masterpieces came out in the 6 years before this, their music has never sunk to a stale and dated fate. It is just as awe-inspiring and fresh now as it was in the last millennium. As recently as 2007 though they have returned to the stage together; this bodes well for the future, and hopefully we can all enjoy a new Rage album to keep us going for the next 2 decades.

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Jun 18 2009

Kutiman’s Thru-You Mp3’s

Category: Fun, Web Culture, audio, music, opensourceDan @ 11:49 am

I just found that you can download Kutiman’s great album, Thru-You as mp3’s here from Kutiman himself. His site offers the mp3’s individually or you can download the whole album.
This site also has the mp3’s, but only individual files.

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Jun 17 2009

Unhappy Palm Pre Owners: Palm Pre’s Screen is Cracking

Category: Palm Pre, gadgets, sprint sucksDan @ 4:31 pm

cracked3Another reason to think twice before buying a Palm Pre is that the thing’s screen is apparently spontaneously cracking! Thanks to Shaylee for reporting this. Here are the Palm Pre Forum Posts and PalmCentral Posts on the issue. There are a lot of unhappy Pre owners. Looks like Palm and Sprint have a big problem on their hands, and their typical response is to stonewall, blame customers and charge them $100 to replace the broken phones. The people reporting this claim that they did no more than normal usage, no dropped phone or abuse of phone, just normal use and the cracks start showing up at the button and radiates out from there, and sometimes on the corners.

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Jun 13 2009

Turning off Compiz with a Single Button in Ubuntu

Category: HowTo, Linux, Tips, opensource, softwareDan @ 10:30 am

(Linux Only) Compiz Switch is a great way to turn off or on  Compiz. I use it often when I play games and compiz sometimes interferes with the gameplay. One game I really like is Warzone 2100 ( a great opensource rts game), and the only way I could get it to work was by truning off comiz.
I also found that when I play World of Warcraft, the only way I can change desktops is to turn Compiz off, otherwise WOW will freeze.
Other times I will turn it off just because, kind of a preventattive measure. But it is nice to have just one button on my panel to do this with. Thanks to Forlong for a great little utility.

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Jun 12 2009

Remove the Recycle Bin From Windows Desktops

Category: , Fun, HowTo, Tips, WindowsDan @ 2:14 pm

I really do hate Windows, but in some situations, like at work,  I am forced to use it. So one of the things I  do to make myself feel a little better  is make my windows desktop so customized that a normal windows user would not recognize it. I found a few tools like Enigma for Rainmeter from the amazing Kaerlri and Object Dock that let me do this. The last piece of the puzzle though was the damn recycle bin. There is no apparent way to remove. A quick trip to google led me to Annoyances.org where there are two methods available to reomve the recycle bin. First there is a Registry key you can download and just double clickl on to remove the bin. I Used this before and it worked fine.
But this last time I had to customize another desktop and the registry key didn’t work, so I tried the second method of downloading and installing tweakui. This worked like a charm.
Thanks Annoyances.org.

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Jun 08 2009

DVD Jon Hacks Apple’s SF Storefront!

Category: FunDan @ 11:51 pm

DVD Jon, the guy who cracked DVD encryption, and got away with it, just pulled of a marketing coup by getting advertising space for his company doubleTwist, which offers a software application that makes it easy to manage media files across many devices, and not just Apple’s devices. Apple is obviously not amused.
This guy just keeps knocking down barriers, and he is a self-taught software engineer to boot. I hope he keeps getting away with this too.

Story from TechCrunch.

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Jun 08 2009

New iPhone to Be $99.00

Category: gadgetsDan @ 10:57 pm

Though I am not a fan of Apple- their iPhone is sweet, and looking sweeter at $99.00.

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Jun 08 2009

The Palm Pre & How Sprint Treats Long-Term Customers

Category: Palm PreDan @ 3:46 pm

I have been a sprint customer for 6 years now. In that time I have had two Treo’s and have been relatively happy with the phone and Sprint. About a year ago my wife wanted a new phone and we went looking. I really liked the iPhone, but didn’t like AT&T or the idea of paying so much a moth for the data plan.
We looked around and my wife decided she liked one of Sprint’s phones; She found out we both get Upgrade Rebates for staying with Sprint- significant rebates- $150 each- so we go with Sprint for two more years. This rebate is to “reward us for being loyal Sprint customers.” I was quite happy with my Treo and didn’t even get a new phone. The sales man at Sprint assured us I could use my upgrade rebate any time in the next two years to buy a new phone when I wanted to.
So time passes, then all the buzz about the Palm Pre bubbles to the surface. My Treo is still working fine, but I gotta admit I was intrigued by the Pre. I read a few blogs, and reviews and saw a few videos. I was on the fence. I have a friend with the newer iPhone, and really do like it. Maybe I will just keep my Treo for another year and then go to the iPhone. Plus the new family plan I will have to get will be at least $50 more a month. That’s a lot.
Then Saturday June 6th comes around, I’m checkin the news sites and run across a few stories about the Pre. I really would like a new phone, it seems really snazzy- almost as good in terms of aesthetics as the iPhone. Palm’s new WebOs is built on Linux too, so that pretty much seals the deal. I never have like Apple’s super-proprietary ethos, even though I love their phone and the innovation they brought to smartphones. And I still don’t like At&T.
So we go to get the Pre Saturday afternoon.
Before I go I get on Sprint’s site to check to make sure I get my Upgrade rebate as well as the normal $100 rebate everyone gets.
I do! I am psyched…

Sprint's Reward to Loyal Customers!

Sprint


I go to my local Sprint store, and they have plenty of Pre’s, phew. Thank God!
The salesman is finishing up with a customer who is also getting a Pre, he seems very happy, my level of anticipation is even higher now.
Come on, this is taking too long! I think as the salesman syncs up the guys old address book with the Pre’s. Well That’s cool I think what a nice service. I’m gonna do that too.
So after an eternity the salesman finishes up and sends the guy on his way, no w I can actually hold the Pre.
And… I am actually underwhelmed. After holding an iPhone- and tinkering with a few blackberries, this is a little bit of a let down. It is so little and kinda shaped weird- but the salesman shows me all the cool things it does- still not like the iPhone, but still very cool, I tell myself- this is gonna be great.
Ok, I tell the guy about my upgrade rebate, and he says yep you get that, awesome.
So he gives me my price and it is $200!
I say, wait what about my upgrade rebate- “Oh its in there,” he assures me.
“But then Why am I paying what anyone walking off the street would pay?”
“Well because the actual retail price of the phone is $500, so your upgrade rebate gets taken off that.”
“But that’s not what the told me, I saw the press release from Sprint- the phone is $300″
“Here I will put it on paper for you,” he says clearly incredulous that I would even argue with him.
So he scribbles down some numbers to show me the error in my thinking.
So I say, “I don’t understand. How much would a person just walking off the street pay?”
“Well $300 with a $100 rebate.”
“Then how does that make sense? I am a 6 year Sprint customer, who was promised a upgrade rebate for signing another 2 year contract, whay don’t I get my upgrade rebate too?”
“Cuz then you would only be paying $50 for the phone,” he says with a smile.
I calmly take my Treo and leave.
I call Sprint’s customer service, this has got to be a mistake I think, it’s gotta be a bad apple telling me this I think- some greedy salesman who wants a bigger commission.
Nope.
I talk to a customer rep then a manager who both tell me I am getting my Upgrade rebate, it’s just for some mysterious reason that they can’t explain, the price for me is $150 higher than it is for everybody else.
Then, after I explain myself again-and finish by saying, “how is that rewarding me for staying with Sprint?”
“Well we do waive the activation fee and the deposit, as a way of rewarding our upgrading customers,” she says.
But what about my $150 upgrade rebate?
“Well, you are getting that sir”
This is going nowhere. I hang up.
So to recap,
Price of the Palm Pre: $300.
Price of the Palm Pre for loyal customers: $450, or $500, or whatever the hell Sprint says it is I guess, (otherwise known as the Jack-Ass Surcharge).

I honestly don’t get the logic. Not only are they losing a loyal customer but also the extra $50+ a month I would be paying for my new plan.
But now I am reading about problems with the Pre too, so maybe there is a reason for everything—or maybe Sprint is just a greedy, short-sited, dishonest corporation.

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