21 Feb 11 Wisconsin senators living “abroad”
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Democratic senators from Wisconsin are hanging out in Chicago to avoid creating a quorum in the state senate and forcing a vote on the budget that they say “tramples on the rights of public workers”.
I don’t live in Wisconsin and can’t speak to the specific details of said budget, although in general I think all governments are too large and need deep financial cuts that will of course upset public workers. But this predisposition to think that the democratic arguments about the budget are wrong creates an interesting dynamic for me: I applaud the Republican senators and governor for paring back the size and entitlement dispositions of government, while I simultaneously applaud the Democratic senators for standing for what they believe in by depriving the senate of a quorum of senators.
It is situations like these that make me proud to be an American and a small part of this great (and sometimes insanely bizarre) system. Kudo’s to both parties in Wisconsin! May Freedom (and Liberty) Ring!
-The Broken Blogger
20 Feb 11 Linking Facebook and my Blog
I just added two new pluggins that integrate my blog with Facebook. The first one updates my Facebook profile every time I make a blog post (and this post is the test to see if it works). The second pluggin allows people who are currently logged into Facebook to use their Facebook IDs to post comments (single-sign-on at its best).
So, this was just meant to be a quick test. Did you all see the linked FB post? Can you comment using your FB credentials?
-BB
20 Feb 11 Bored and unemployed
I have been unemployed for a few weeks (maybe 4 now, its hard to remember when one day blurs into the next) now. So with time on my hands I decided to clean up this blog and remove any reference to my real name (we have been over this, I know you can find out who I am if you really wanted, I just don’t want this blog showing up when you google my name, get it?). I was surprised how much identifying information I had imported from my old blogger web site; but no more.
Have a job for me? I work in the Data Network field (if it has a Cisco logo on it, I probably do something with it).
I will have to find something more interesting to blog about (being at home all day will kill interesting things to communicate about).
-BB
03 Oct 08 All the Reasons why (new) Metallica Sucks
I bought a car recently. I traded in my ’05 Kia Sorrento with $550 monthly payments and 17MPG for a much cheaper ’08 Hyundai Accent with $400 monthly payments (after financing what was left in payments on my Kia) and 34ishMPG to save money. Yes, the average American’s financial belts are tightening… but that is a different post.
My car came with three months free XM Satellite Radio service. I have never used their service so I spent the first few days of car ownership messing around with the XM-Radio more than the car itself. I came across a channel dedicated to Metallica and it plays nothing but their music. At first I was giddy, but then I realized that a station that plays nothing but Metallica music is going to play a *wide variety* of their songs, and I hate anything new they have done. Let me explain…
I was 14 years old in 1988 when Metallica released “…And Justice for All”. Before that time I still had not “decided” the kind of music I really liked. But after listening to this band called Metallica, and hearing what they could do with some distortion and excellent drumming, I found my genre. So, being the metal-head I was I had to get everything Metallica: Kill ‘em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, Garage Days. That mixed with my learning the guitar and discovering other legendary bands like Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, and some marginally decent bands like Megadeth, AC/DC, etc. really made me appreciate the skill that those 4 members of Metallica really had.
Then came the beggining of the end … 1991′s release of “The Black Album”. Up until that time there was really only 1 Metallica song I didn’t really like: “The Thing That Should Not Be” (mostly because it was entirely too repetitive). But with the release of “The Black Album” I had several songs to choose from. I really tried hard to like them all, but I just found some of them hokey or just stupid lyrically if not musically. There was still plenty to like, but it was about 50/50 with this new album. That is about my normal “likeability rating” for other albums, not Metallica. What were these guys thinking? And then I started hearing every preppy in high school and the neighboring college blaring the latetest Metallica songs out of their BMWs and it hit me: My band had sold out. This wasn’t a mistake by them, this was a shift to get them mainstream.
As heartbroken as I was, I was still willing to give them another chance. And did they know ever how to disappoint. Load came out in ’96 and I have to say it was aptly named: it was a load, a load of $%&^!. Metallica reached new lows even in the cover art:
The cover of Load was created by Andres Serrano, and was called Blood and Semen III. Serrano pressed a mixture of his own semen and bovine blood between sheets of plexiglass. [source]
Metallica's "Load" Album
In aquiring XM-Satelite Radio service I decided to give Metallica another shot. Perhaps I had been too judgmental, perhaps I just didn’t get where the band was going at the time, perhaps I had needed 10 years to clear my head and give them another shot. Perhaps I was right the first time…
Metallica has decided to replicate all the things that were detrimental in the Black Album. There it seems that James Hetfield thought he was an honest to goodness singer instead of a heavy metal “singer”. His constant attempts to carry a melody are precisely why his vocals don’t work anymore. His bizarre lyrics haven’t improved since his “Of Wolf And Man” days where yelling “Shape Shift” as a chorus was apparently acceptable. Kirk Hammet still hides behind the Wah Pedal he found during the Black Album and he hasn’t let go of that security blanket. I can hear the bassist now, which is good, but despite Cliff Burton’s writing strengths Metallica never really had strong bass riffs in their music. Lars’ drumming might be the only thing left that is worth anything, but really, who wants to listen to a drummer when you have to put up with all of the other crap Metallica does in their songs?
XM, you can blame Metallica for not being able to snag just one more member. I just might have been willing to shell out the monthly cash if Metallica were still a real heavy metal band. As it is, I guess its back to the iPod for me after my trial subscription runs out.
01 Oct 08 Google’s Chrome – Why do you care?
Jason Spence has written some disparaging remarks about Google’s new browser named “Chrome” recently. Now I am not a “Google fanatic” (despite the theme of my blog) or web browser expert, but I would like to counter Jason’s article because I think he missed what Google was after. Jason seems to feel that Google created their browser to compete with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and as such picked a name for their browser that was less than marketable.
But in order to understand what Google is after, you have to read what they say about their own browser.
We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends — all using a browser.
On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web.
Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today’s complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated “sandbox”, we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren’t even possible in today’s browsers.
Now Jason was right about one thing: Google is trying to compete with Microsoft. But he missed the application they are looking to compete against. Google isn’t out to compete with Microsoft’s IE, Google is going to compte with Microsoft’s Office, Microsoft’s Instant Messaging, and Microsoft’s product line in general. Google is looking to build the browser that is capable if utilizing a web site that publish all of those product lines from the Internet instead of the desktop.
Its a briliant move *if* they can quickly follow that up with that “killer app” online. Google already has Wrightly, but they need to have more of an online presence with a more robust interface if they expect to compete in the application wars, and that is precisely why they build Chrome, to give them that edge.
So Jason, I agree that their name could have used more time in a conference room at Google headquarters before being chosen, and I agree that Google is trying to “stick it” to Microsoft, but I think its about the online application market, not the Internet browser wars.
01 Jan 07 Happy New Year
Happy New Year everyone!
I just had to tell you I am glad that the world is still around. ;-)
25 Dec 06 Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to you!
Merry Christmas to you!
you look like a monkey…
hmmm… probably not the best song to sing you for Christmas?
Oh well…
And you smell like one too!
Merry Christmas everyone.
23 Nov 06 40 Reasons For Gun Control
I got this in an email the other day and just had to share it!
Significant portions of this article are excerpted from Michael Z. Williamson’s excellent and witty piece, “It’s amazing what one has to believe to believe in gun control”
- Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, & Chicago cops need guns.
- Washington DC’s low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis’ high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.
- Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are “just statistics.”
- The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.
- We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.
- The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.
- An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.
- A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.
- When confronted by violent criminals, you should “put up no defense — give them what they want, or run” (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don’t Die – People Do, 1981, p.125).
- The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns & Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.
- One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for internal medicine, a computer programmer for hard drive problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.
- The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917.
- The National Guard, federally funded, with bases on federal land, using federally-owned weapons, vehicles, buildings and uniforms, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a “state” militia.
- These phrases: “right of the people peaceably to assemble,” “right of the people to be secure in their homes,” “enumerations herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people,” and “The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people” all refer to individuals, but “the right of the people to keep and bear arm” refers to the state.
- “The Constitution is strong and will never change.” But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.
- Rifles and handguns aren’t necessary to national defense! Of course, the army has hundreds of thousands of them.
- Private citizens shouldn’t have handguns, because they aren’t “military weapons”, but private citizens shouldn’t have “assault rifles”, because they are military weapons.
- In spite of waiting periods, background checks, finger printing, government forms, etc., guns today are too readily available, which is responsible for recent school shootings. In the 1940′s, 1950′s and1960′s, anyone could buy guns at hardware stores, army surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, Sears mail order, no waiting, no background check, no fingerprints, no government forms and there were no school shootings.
- The NRA’s attempt to run a “don’t touch” campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, but the anti-gun lobby’s attempt to run a “don’t touch” campaign is responsible social activity.
- Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.
- A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.
- Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is “an accident waiting to happen” and gun makers’ advertisements aimed at women are “preying on their fears.”
- Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.
- Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.
- A majority of the population supports gun control, just like a majority of the population supported owning slaves.
- Any self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a “weapon of mass destruction” or an “assault weapon.”
- Most people can’t be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.
- The right of Internet pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.
- Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self-defense only justifies bare hands.
- The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.
- Charlton Heston, a movie actor as president of the NRA is a cheap lunatic who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas, a movie actor as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.
- Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do “civilians” who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.
- We should ban “Saturday Night Specials” and other inexpensive guns because it’s not fair that poor people have access to guns too.
- Police officers have some special Jedi-like mastery over hand guns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.
- Private citizens don’t need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.
- Citizens don’t need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.
- “Assault weapons” have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people. The police need assault weapons. You do not.
- When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that’s bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that’s good.
- Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.
- Handgun Control, Inc. says they want to “keep guns out of the wrong hands.” Guess what? You have the wrong hands.
-Z
10 Nov 06 Too much Tenacious D
I have been listening to too much Tenacious D! whew….here is just a clip:
JB: BRRRRRRRRRRING….BRRRRRRRRRRRRING
KG: *Click sound* Two Kings.
JB: Hey Kage.
KG: Hey.
JB: How’s it goin?
KG: Good, good.
JB: What’re ya doin?
KG: Oh God, I was just, I w-
JB: I love you.
KG: …what’d you say?
JB: Said I love you,man. Just wanted to say it.
KG: Hey, thanks. Thank you. That’s awesome, f’n awesome…I mean, uh, that’s cool you can, you can say that.
…silence…
JB: …Don’t you have something to say?
KG: No…oh I mean, I uh, I like you.I like you too dude.
JB: Whoa, like? OH HO HO MAN! I’m glad I f’n did this test on you. The friendship test.
KG: What?
JB: No, man
KG: What are you talkin about?
JB: What happened before, when I said I loved you,that was a test. Because man I coulda made a total ass of myself if I hadn’t done this test on you. *whistle* hoo hoo!
KG: But you don’t?
JB: Boy!
KG: You don’t, really love me?
JB: Dude listen. You f’n passed the test ok? But barely. Ya know what you got?
KG: What?
JB: F plus. Click
-Z
20 Oct 06 A VBScript to determine friendship
My friends and I get together almost every Tuesday night at my house to hang out and play games. Last week we didn’t meet because my friend’s wife was sick and he had to stay home. This week he was making noises about him being sick and possibly not being able to make it. I had an Instant Message conversation with him in which he said he would tell me “soon” if he was going to make it or not. I asked him what “soon” meant and he replied with “very soon”. Feeling dejected and stuck in limbo as to his decision (yes, I’ll make it – no, I won’t) I decided to write a VBScript that would indicate if this person was still my friend since he seemed to be trying to get out of “game night”.
Here it is:
Fuction IsFriend(TimeOfAnswer, Answer) If TimeOfAnswer < 1 Hour Then If Answer = Yes Then IsFriend = True Else IsFriend = False End If Else IsFriend = False End IfEnd Function
