January 2005 - Posts
Given my esteemed colleagues on this site always post about technology, I figured I could throw something into the mix:
http://www.pqdvd.com/
This is a pretty good piece of software that rips a DVD image and compresses a 2-hour movie to about 200-250 Mb. I've been using it on my Dell Axim and was impressed. I used the BetaPlayer you can also download from the site. Great for sitting on the train for long periods.
Philosophical post of the week:
I've always been someone who made plans far in advance, and wanted control of every situation that involved me. I think I've hit a series of events this year that have changed that. I guess I've had a chance lately to stop and look around at my life, and realize that on a relative scale, I am out of things to complain about (well, almost out. If I wasn't working in NJ, then I'd be REALLY out of things!). And it all happened in the space of a month, faster than I could blink. It all scared the hell out of me at first, until I just stopped thinking. Then it all made sense.
Moral of the story-shut your brain off from time to time-it can screw things up sometimes more than it helps...
I tried something nice last week and send my girlfriend flowers just because (ladies-don't ever say romance is dead). I ordered them on Thursday and 1800-Flowers said they'd be there on Friday. I got a confirmation that they were delivered Friday afternoon, which was apparently a lie, as I met my girlfriend at 5pm and she had not gotten them. And this is the second time in about 2 years this has happened. She finally got them on Monday, after 1800-Flowers got an irate phone call and a nasty e-mail from me. Who am I to expect them to actually deliver flowers on time; it's not like that is their primary business. Moral of my story-if trying to send flowers to a signficant other, DO NOT user 1800-Flowers if you want them there by a certain time. Your better off picking them yourself and hand delivering them.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/20/sponge.bob.reut/index.html
I always wanted to send Barney to Baghdad to defuse IED's, and I never really liked SpongeBob, but is the Christian right so homophobic that they are going after children's characters now? If Fred Rogers was still alive, would he be considered a homosexual too for spending too much time with his hand up a puppet??? So what if gay people like SpongeBob! Last I checked that was still legal in this country (although maybe Powell will fix that before he leaves the FCC!)
This continues my pattern of focusing on things that matter. If the Christian Right in this country spent as much time fighting poverty as they did trying to force their moral code on the rest of the country/world, the standard of living in this country would get that much better.
This one is from my girlfriend: no explanation required. This is just kind of twisted if you ask me:
http://www.petoffice.co.jp/catprin/english/
That's the best news I've heard about the federal government in some time. Maybe now they can spend more time focusing on things that matter instead of instituting moral policy and choping the 1st Amendment to shreads.
I never thought in a million years I'd write something like this. I was on the 4 train this morning from Atlantic Ave., and as frequently happens, a woman began yelling and preaching. A Jewish man to my right started to yell back at her, which was actually worse then her making the enrtire car aware that Jesus loved us all. I kindly asked him to be quiet, and told him that she'd probably run out of wind by Nevins Street (it actually took her to Borough Hall, but she eventually did). After I admonished him to shut up, I found myself thinking it's actually somewhat great that someone can get on a subway and preach. If this has been some countries, she probably would have been arrested and/or shot. As annoying as they are at 7:45 in the morning (or any other time), it makes me feel somewhat good that people do have that right to say what they feel.
Someone remind me when I woke up and became a first amendment advocate???
I've been working in lower Manhattan in some capacity since 1998. Tomorrow, I move to Jersey City. Let's just say I'm less than thrilled. Despite all that's happened here in the last several years, it's still a great place to work, and I think it is the quintessential model for resiliancy. I'm going to miss a lot of things-the stores, the food options, and the people. I'm definitely coming over from NJ for lunch once a week or so. We'll see how long it takes before the extension to my commute screws things up and drives me legally insane. =)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/01/10/banned.book.ap/index.html
This is such a disgrace. I just finished reading an article about how North Korea is imposing restrictions on haircuts men should have, and then I read this, which isn't terribly far off. People spent decades fighting for the right to free expression and there are still institutions in this country who fight to limit it (like the FCC and the “Christian Right” for example). If you don't like Jon Stewart's book, don't read it. No one said you had to. Someone needs to wake up these people who forget how important our freedoms are. Maybe if we could ship some of these ultraconservative folks from the midwest and the south to Pyongyang for a nice vacation, they'd start to understand how important those rights are.
Well, the game wasn't that close, but it was still pretty entertaining to watch some of the explosive plays USC pulled off. Nice to have a clear national champion this year.
And the halftime show!! What I can I say about it that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan? It was bombed out and depleted. Ashley Simpson sounded like Yoko Ono. If I had been on the defensive squad of either team, I would have sacked the bitch. The fans were right to boo her. My first thought when she came out was “Who strang in the cat??” But I do need to give her some credit-it was so bad, there's no way she was lip synching!
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