Archive for category politics
This Article Contains Faulty Reasoning
?
Recently I was reading an article about “Linux on the Desktop being a non starter.” Most of these articles revolve around the author wanting to do something and failing OR it taking way to long to do it. I can accept that. Ubuntu isn’t perfect for everything. Its really great at some things though.
However, this article is so flagrantly poor quality it makes me wonder what quality standards Computerworld has for its bloggers. Obviously few.
Lets go over some of the gems contained in this article.
It claims Linux on the desktop is “still not happening.” Beyond the fact that is is and I know lots of people using it, its also constructed of basically two silly arguments.
* “For a while last year, things were looking up for Linux. Many of the early netbook vendors were forgoing Windows licenses and instead offering consumers machines that ran some form of Linux. That didn’t last long, though. Return rates for Linux netbooks were much higher than for their Windows counterparts, and most netbooks today are sold with some version of Windows, not Linux. What this means is that, though Linux is a great value for many server applications, it’s still a non-starter on the desktop.
Huh. So netbooks have a higher return rate than Windows netbooks? OK. Fair enough. The author notes this and jumps to the conclusion that Linux is a non-starter on the desktop. This is faulty logic. There could be a sea of reasons why someone would return a Linux netbook. How bout they thought Windows was on it? You mean customer made a mistake? I think its possible people may click before they read every sentence.
Netbooks are a nascent market in computing. Its like looking at ebooks and noting that Amazon controls the desktop. The author didn’t note how many people stuck with Linux powered netbooks. If the number of people with Linux netbooks is 20% then id say Linux on a netbook is a success.
* “Richard Stallman may not be typical, but you can read all about his setup here. It’s not something that’s going to win a lot of converts among the mass market of computer users, though. As he explains it, he uses a Lemote Yeelong, a netbook with a Loongson chip and a 9-inch display. “I spend most of my time using Emacs. I run it on a text console, so that I don’t have to worry about accidentally touching the mouse-pad and moving the pointer, which would be a nuisance. I read and send mail with Emacs (mail is what I do most of the time). I switch to the X console when I need to do something graphical, such as look at an image or a PDF file. Most of the time I do not have an Internet connection. Once or twice or maybe three times a day I connect and transfer mail in and out.”
Since most of us would go back to using paper, pens, envelopes and stamps before using the open-source text editor Emacs, it still seems likely that it’s going to be a Windows and Mac OS world for the foreseeable future.”
ARE YOU SERIOUS? <sarcasm>Obviously all Linux users have is Emacs and a console. Obviously</sarcasm>. Wait, no thats absolutely ludicrous. I use Gnome. Gnome is pretty, functional and elegant.
Anyways, felt it was worth sharing. I am not a Linux crazy but this kind of poor article makes me want to throw a Firefox at someone.
The Disconnect of Digital Pricing
When I was in middle school CDs were a new thing. I remember talking in school about CDs and how they cost about a penny to press and because of this insanely low printing cost, CDs would be ultra cheap compared to tapes or records. Imagine a world where the printing cost led to ultra low prices! Imagine that world. I can, its great. It would be awesome to pop over to Best Buy and get the latest album for $1. Or $3. At that price I wouldn’t really think about it, id just buy it.
And that is the topic of this blog post. The disconnect of digital pricing.
I buy games, music and software in a box from the store. I know this makes me a dinosaur but I am actually getting a better value and in most cases its cheaper. I want to live in a world where I download everything for a lesser fee, but I don’t. The idea WAS that when we went to the point where we download all our games or software online the price dropped because the cost of producing a physical product was circumvented. Ill give an example.
Modern Warfare 2 on PC costs $51.48 on Amazon. Now, since thats a physical box and manual product the digital copy should be cheaper right? Well on Steam its $59.99. Why the hell is it more expensive to download on Steam? Why does it cost me MORE TO DOWNLOAD IT? I have no idea but the disconnect between the download/physical product is absolutely nuts.
Same with music. The Book of Eli download on Amazon/iTunes is $11.99. The physical CD costs $11.99 as well.
Simply stated, I believe digital goods should cost a significant share LESS than their physical counterparts. However it seems the physical product actually costs less. OR in the case of music, you can get a better value if you buy a album for the same price because you can rip it long after MP3 is dethroned. Adopting a pricing model like the iPhone where apps are mostly $0.99-$5 means people dont think about buying stuff. They just buy it. I am not saying AAA game titles should be $5 but how bout $25. How bout $30? $60 for a digital download? No thanks.
I always I buy the physical copy these days unless the digital price is so low it doesn’t matter. Digital pricing needs to improve or I will always buy the physical product, because most of the time its a way better deal.
The Devil Sends a Letter To Pat Robertson
“Dear Pat Robertson, I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven’t you seen “Crossroads”? Or “Damn Yankees”? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there’d be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox — that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I’m just saying: Not how I roll. You’re doing great work, Pat, and I don’t want to clip your wings — just, come on, you’re making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That’s working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.
Best, Satan “
Google Does Goodle
“Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident–albeit a significant one–was something quite different.
First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses–including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors–have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.”
This is good. This is also Google roundaboutly saying the Chinese government is behind these attacks. I hope this is one more nail in Chinas “not allowing its citizens to be free” coffin. And what I mean by that is I hope these kinds of actions lead China to adopt a much more free society.
Avatar Apologist Take 1
I saw Avatar last week. Ill do a pseudo review and then talk about a few reactions people had.
First off its a great movie. The 3D is mind blowing and even saying that doesn’t do it justice. Its a groundbreaking film in that it makes 3D something very very cool but it also breaks the CG barrier as well. For instance, the faces on the Navi look incredible. The facial detail is absolutely mind blowing.
I thought the story was a bit heavy handed at times. I thought the movie could have been more subtle in terms of its presentation of ideas. But it wasn’t and that doesn’t make it a bad movie. Its just not a very subtle one.
First source. (Warning Chrome seems to think this site hosts malware. Seriously.)
“The glee with which the American Marines participate in this massacre is appalling and does not show the true feelings and concerns of the real United States Military. James Cameron should apologize to the American Military and should make a statement that he does not truly feel this way about them. He should also apologize to the American public for painting our young men and women that defend this country as cold-blooded killers.”
Sweet lord where do I start. OK first off, the “space marines” presented are ex Marines that are now being employed by a large corporation. Second off does the United States exist in Avatar? I hadn’t heard it did in the movie. Cameron is presenting good and evil in the context of big corporate machines VS the environment or naturalism or whatever you want to call it. War and violence is part of that struggle. Are the Marines wearing United States flags? No. Are they chanting “for freedom?” No. Are the primarally white and speak with English voices? Yes.
The biggest thing I saw in the “space marines” is that they are pretty much 100% taken from Aliens, another Cameron movie. In fact the big corporate interest in Aliens and Avatar seem nearly identical. Was there a backlash from that movie? No. Then again they were hunting the bad guys, but still.
My final point on this topic is that one man in particular, the leader of the “space marines” is the only one that shows “glee with which the American Marines participate in this massacre.” Seems like during the speech he gives they are energized, but I don’t see them giddy or anything. Save the main bad guy character but he is a stereotype of a kind of ideal.
“AVATAR has an abhorrent New Age, pagan, anti-capitalist worldview that promotes goddess worship and the destruction of the human race.”
“For hundreds of years, the pagan, communist ideas expressed in this movie circulated among a threadbare group of outcasts with dirty fingernails and greasy hair, who shared their obtuse, occult ideas amongst themselves with manic, alienated glee. Now James Cameron has made these insane views the major bulwark of a very spectacular movie, but the spectacle does not make the views any more coherent, rational, or uplifting.”
I think when someone uses a word like “new age” they are pretty much admitting they don’t understand what they are talking about. Or put another way, they are a member of a very popular religion in the United States that doesn’t care to note the differences between other religions so they lump them into one bucket called “new age.” But thats just my first impression here.
I have no idea how this movie “promotes the destruction of the human race.” Its not that it doesn’t show a version of the future where the human race is suffering for its actions. But the quote said Avatar promotes it. Which is utterly absurd. Does “I am Legend”, “Zombieland,” and “Mad Max” promote the destruction of the human race? No, they simply show a future where our actions led to the human race mostly dying off. That is leaps and bounds different than promoting it. If they did they do a bad job because my first response to it isnt “Hey wow, lets keep on this path so we can all die off, how cool would that be. Wow!” Does the Bible promote the destruction of the human race because it talks about it in detail?
The second paragraph is so rife with insults and ignorance I won’t really comment on it much. Save that I am not sure the author knows what communism is. The Navi display a brand of governance similar to Native Americans and thats not communism.
In closing, the movie was good but if you want all your movies to display a certain kind of moral or religious belief that is Judao-Christian OR ProCorporateGreed then this movie won’t be for you. Because in the end this movie is about corporate greed gone horribly wrong. It is a bit heavy handed ill admit but then again so are some Sunday Sermons ive gone too.
About Those Missing Emails…
The incredible missing emails that were incredibly not missing!
“Computer technicians have found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration of President George W. Bush and the Obama administration is searching for dozens more days’ worth of potentially lost e-mail from the Bush years, according to two groups that filed suit over the failure by the Bush White House to install an electronic record keeping system.”
“The government now can find and search 22 million more e-mails than it could in late 2005 and the settlement means that the Obama administration will restore 94 calendar days of e-mail from backup tape, said Kristen Lejnieks, an attorney representing the National Security Archive.”
No comment.
Quote From Slashdot
I <3 Slashdot
Post of Slashdot today titled “The Noisy and Prolonged Death of Journalism” I am not going to talk about the topic but I want to point out a comment someone made I thought was spot on.
“I think some of the cyberpunk writers had it right. Has the “information” age made people better equipped with, well, information? Are people more knowledgeable? Or are they retreating further and further into their own private virtual reality bubbles. Are they seeing the infinite shades of gray in this world, or is it all just angels and demons, black and white and us versus them?
And none of this finger pointing at one side or the other. Just aboput everyone is guilty. The moment you start identifying with a political party or an ideological label, or thinking you’re better because of your choice of operating system or the car you drive or books you read you have become part of the problem.
All this tech has done is feed into the antiquated tribal mentality that might have served us well 20,000 years ago, but now it’s just ripping everything apart. Watch yourselves closely for the next couple of days as news stories appear. See if you catch yourself just making huge, broadly based assumptions about certain people. Question every assumption. Be skeptical about *everything* just for a while.
It’s impossible to be an independent thinker any more. If I praise Obama on one thing, I get called a socialist. If I criticize him on another thing, I’m called a right wingnut. There is no correct side here- they are all profoundly effed in the head.“
Protecting The Dissolution of Marriage
Do you believe in marriage? Really? Want to protect it? Better sign this petition then.
“Til death do us part? The vow would really hold true in California if a Sacramento Web designer gets his way.
In a movement that seems ripped from the pages of Comedy Channel writers, John Marcotte wants to put a measure on the ballot next year to ban divorce in California.
The 2010 California Marriage Protection Act is meant to be a satirical statement after California voters outlawed gay marriage in 2008, largely on the argument that a ban is needed to protect the sanctity of traditional marriage. If that’s the case, then Marcotte reasons voters should have no problem banning divorce.”
First off this is very funny. Second off I think this is asking people that want to protect marriage to step up and be consistent. If you really want to protect marriage then why not make it illegal to divorce? I think, in fact, instead of protecting marriage what it really is is the continuance of tradition. Because honestly, 50% of people in the US get the big devo so if you wanted to protect it you could do much more than keeps gays away from the alter.
I support peoples ability to get a divorce at any time they want but if I was in California id sign this. Id also vote for it too. Strange I know, but even if this passed for a week before being overturned by the courts in California(which anything like this should as well as gay marriage bans) it would be kind of funny.
And really, people take the “protection of marriage” way too seriously. Ive been married for nigh on 9 years now(10 this next year) and I can honestly say I love AND like my wife but marriage can take a walk off a cliff into jagged rocks. I don’t care about protecting ideals, institutions or feelings, id do much to protect my relationship though, which is an ENTIRELY different matter.
Coulda, Shoulda And The Love Of Finger Pointy!
Osama Bin Laden
“As President Obama vows to “finish the job” in Afghanistan by sending more troops, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has completed a detailed look back at a crucial failure early in the battle against Al Qaeda: the escape of Osama bin Laden from American forces in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora in December 2001.”
“The committee report, prepared at the request of Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the committee’s Democratic chairman, concludes unequivocally that in mid-December 2001, Mr. bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, were at the cave complex, where Mr. bin Laden had operated previously during the fight against Soviet forces.
The new report suggests that a larger troop commitment to Afghanistan might have resulted in the demise not only of Mr. bin Laden and his deputy but also of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban. Mullah Omar, who also fled to Pakistan in 2001, has overseen the resurgence of the Taliban. ”
“The Senate report was prepared by the Foreign Relations Committee’s Democratic staff, whose chief investigator, Douglas Frantz, is a former journalist who has reported extensively on the hunt for Mr. bin Laden.”
This coming up to President Obama making his strategy known in Afghanistan Tuesday. My guess is that some people will hate it because we are not exiting now. Some people will hate it because its not a 1 to 1 pairing of General McCrystal’s requests. Some people will hate it because they hate Obama. Some people will be OK with it. In the end we will still be fighting two wars.
Viva la change.
The UK Iraq Inquiry
Unsure what I think about this really. I believe in transparency and its not wrong asking questions and digging deep. Unless you are scared at what you might find. If the Iraq war was on the level these inquires should be fine, unless they are rigged one way or the other. Unsure things like this can be impartial with people being so fervent either way.