Month: September 2006
K.I.S.S. Laptops
What’s the deal with new laptops being packed with as much shit as desktop computers?
How come there isn’t a line of laptops with basic stuff — maybe 1 GHz of processing power, a gigabyte of RAM (because you want applications to work quickly and a fast proccessor won’t do it alone), a small hard drive (6-20 Gigabytes), wireless access, a nice screen size, etc?
Notebook computers weren’t originally designed to have everything and anything on them but they’re becoming that way. For some of us who want mobiel processing power — they’re starting to have too much while we’re only looking for certain essentials while on the go.
And before anyone suggests that people just by used or refurbished (or off lease) — remember that in most of those cases, you can’t get a fresh battery with the device or one guaranteed to hold a charge.
“For Better or For Worse” Continued end chorus?
I talked about For Better or For Worse’s swan song last year and there seems to be more wrapping-ups going on if that’s the case:
- Grampa Jim had a stroke this week in the strips. You could see something dreadful was coming when Elly was on her way to visit him.
- Becky seems to have made a sort of peace with April, and though April still resents the snide sentiment, I still think it may lead her to soemthing with hitting it big with music. April also showed her love of animals this summer — Vet School anyone?
- Elly sold Liliputs like she was foreshadowing last year. Her and John have both made “final arrangements” over the past few months as well as looking at smaller houses
- Michael is writing a book in his “spare” time.
- …and while Elizabeth is in love with a cop from the North, it looks like she is going to end up with her High School sweetheart, Anthony, in the end
Elizabeth is really the only character that doesn’t seem to be set up for something big. Maybe nothing will come for Michael, April, Elly and John (though I am pretty sure about Grampa Jim taking a dirt nap soon) but of all the Pattersons — Elizabeth is going no where. Living at home again, love life in flux…
Man, how can I be wrapped up with a comic strip like this…?
The Good Old Days
As everyone knows, there are conservatives out there at current who are adamant Bill Clinton was soft on terrorism and has been trying to paint that picture since earlier this month through every disinformation channel available to them.
Yet, to those who actually believe Clinton was soft on terrorism or just plain didn’t do enough to fight terror — look at what Orrin Hatch, Trent Lott and others of the GOP were up to stopping President Clinton from having some of the very same issues that Congress now rubber-stamps for President Bush today. That link and the following quote from CNN in July of 1996:
“We need to keep this country together right now. We need to focus on this terrorism issue,” Clinton said during a White House news conference.
But while the president pushed for quick legislation, Republican lawmakers hardened their stance against some of the proposed anti-terrorism measures.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, doubted that the Senate would rush to action before they recess this weekend. The Senate needs to study all the options, he said, and trying to get it done in the next three days would be tough.
One key GOP senator was more critical, calling a proposed study of chemical markers in explosives “a phony issue.”
I wonder if old Orrin stood up and argued how the entire gels-and-liquids scare that has helped slow down the queue in airports for the last few weeks was phony… Or did he “wise up on the issue” where politicians who change stances today are known as flip-floppers?
But wait, it gets better.
Back in April of 1996 — the US House approved an anti-terror legislation that was severely watered down from what President Clinton had been proposing and the Senate had passed. This was near the one-year anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and several months prior to TWA Flight 800’s crash (along with the Centennial Park bombing at the Olympics in Atlanta):
Republicans were divided on whether the legislation would be effective.
“We have a measure that will give us a strong upper hand in the battle to prevent and punish domestic and international terrorism,” Senate Majority Leader and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole said Wednesday.
But Sen. Don Nickles, R-Oklahoma, while praising the bill, said the country remains “very open” to terrorism. “Will it stop any acts of terrorism, domestic and international? No,” he said, adding, “We don’t want a police state.”
Some lawmakers took a more prudent view of the bill. “The balance between public safety and order and individual rights is always a difficult dilemma in a free society,” said Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-New York.
(emphasis added by me)
Now what’s my point in this and what constructive items can we take from it?
Ten years ago, there was a sensible conservatism out there that said individuals had rights, and it’s a thin line between individual rights and safety. The Republicans once knew that and they put the country’s civil liberties before the terrorism fight.
Now? Well, you should know…
The world didn’t change on 9-11 as the neoconservatives in control of the Republican party have worked very hard to make the country believe. It was our national courage that did. If you’re giving into your fear for the sake of safety and blaming all of this on the other guy in order to feel more secure at this very moment, you’re a coward and a fool who has become blinded from right-and-wrong with thanks to your party-of-choice in power.
BREACHED!!!
For the first time in 8 years of online transactions, I’ve had a company contact me to inform me that my personal information including credit card number had been compromised.
From Cochlear Corp:
It appears that a professional “hacker†has accessed customer information within our web store at www.cochlearamericas.com, Although we do not yet have all of the facts, it appears that the following customer information has been compromised: first name, last name, credit card number, credit card expiration date, shipping or billing address, email address and phone number. We have no evidence that the “hacker†intends to use this information to commit credit card fraud, but for your safety, we must assume the worst until we learn more.
To protect yourself from the possibility of credit card fraud, we recommend that you immediately contact the company that issued the credit card you used to make purchases at our web store. Tell them that your account may have been compromised and that you wish to cancel it.
Now, you might say that it sucks to be me and overlook this… But how broad and wide this security compromise is being downplayed a bit. Cochlear manufactures the Cochlear Implant — a “bionic ear” that allows the deaf to hear. Cochlear is also the only sales company for several pieces of support hardware and accessories for COchlear Implant users as well as ABI users (which I am).
I canceled my credit card last night, and no telling how many have to do so today.
A rare event
I’ve been doing all I can to prevent people from visiting my CSS testing site… Now I need a little input on changes I plan to make to Boltsmag‘s design…
A little strange…
I laughed my ass off over this because I’m a sodding American who never saw Hugh Laurie performing comedy…