Connection Troubles

Having some problems connecting to the internets. It seems to working ok now, but if I disappear for a few days you'll know why. I hate technology sometimes.

I Can't Even See The Jones's Anymore

So, we all know that technology is always on the move. Ever evolving. Every time a new piece of tech comes out it's already considered old and slow within a month. Apple is the biggest culprit of this with a new iPhone or iPod every 6 months. And it's a given that technology will surpass you. One day you're "with it" and the next you're you find yourself still messing with last generation doodads. Me, I still use a VCR and have dial up. But when technology passes us by it tends to be because we get older and can't figure out how to operate it. That really hasn't happened to me yet, though I've noticed that newfangled gadgets tend to have a lot of crap on them that I don't need. No, for me, and I suspect a lot of others, it's the monetary aspect. Many people are falling behind because we can't afford to keep up. Look at cellphones. What's your monthly bill? My Nephew has an iPhone and he pays $60 a month. That's insane. But the biggest culprit is broadband. The world is moving away from dinosaur dial up and before long you're going to need high speed internet access to do anything. Look at video games. If you're a gamer you've no doubt noticed that every game is all about multiplayer. Look at televisions. You buy one now and it has apps on it that connect to the internet. How long before you will be required to have broadband access to just watch tv? Will that ever happen? I don't know, but I can't say it won't. It's conceivable that one day your house will need to have access to the internet to even work. I've seen refrigerators and hot water heaters that connect to the internet. Don't know if it was required but who knows, one day. I would love to get broadband one day, but with the prices of everything going up, resulting in higher bills, that's not going to happen any time soon. Now this isn't a whining post. A "poor me, feel bad for me" type of thing. I was just bored and this is what's been on my mind.

HTML vs XML

If you run a blog changes are you've messed with it's code.  Maybe to add a picture or move some piece of code around to change the layout.  I've been blogging since 2003 and all of that has been using HTML.  It's easy to understand and simple to figure out.  I've recently switched over to Blogger's new design which uses XML and I'm not a big fan of it.  It's much more difficult to figure out than basic HTML.  I spent almost two hours yesterday messing with it just to move a few things around.  I eventually got what I wanted, sort of.  It's not exactly what I would like but it'll do.  I don't think I'm going to be mastering it anytime soon.

Star Trek In Todays World

I wrote this post back in 2008 talking about some of the things in our lives that have been influence by Star Trek. I've been watching Enterprise the past week or so and I noticed something else we have today that seems to have been influenced by Trek. Take a look at the PADDS they use. Do they remind you of the Kindle or iPad maybe?

The New G15: You Got To Get It

Al Gore May Have Invented It, But Obama Will Control It

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

Knowledge Is Power

Before you blindly apply any and all updates Microsoft tells you to, just stop. Take some time and read Ask Woody to know what's what.

That's One Small Step For Man....

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon -- We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we're willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.

40 years ago, man accomplished one of his most amazing achievements. He launched three human beings into space, landed them on another celestial body, had them walk on it and then he brought them back to Earth. In the list of human accomplishments, the moon landing has to be in the top five. It shows just what we can do when we set our minds to it. And in the 40 years since, how far we have fallen. We went from doing things because they were hard to prove that nothing is impossible to demanding the easy way out. Demanding bailout and government takeovers. And goals? We've set them so low so as to make sure they're easy to obtain. Blood, sweat and tears? No, no, no. Grab a video camera and post some ignorant thing you did online to become an instant "celebrity". Cat playing keyboard. Fat guy lip syncing with headphones. Chocolate rain. That's the goal we set for ourselves today.

Walkman vs. MP3 Player

Just read any perhaps feel old.

Need Some Help

If you're able to convert MP3 or WMA to WAV could you let me know? I have a file that I want converted.

Txt Test

Blogger now has posting via txt.

Only it doesn't let you add a title. At least my service doesn't. Or labels. Have to edit the post to add those. Oh well. Not too much of a hassle.

Cybersecurity Act

Thoughts?

I don't know enough about these two bills, but it does seem that they give the president broad powers without really defining what those powers entail. And anytime you start getting the government involved in anything you should be wary.

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid

This will make your mind explode. Not sure if that link will work like that or not. If it doesn't, go to foxnew.com/glennbeck and look for a story called "Too Smart". We should all be scared of this.

Oh, The Irony

If no action is taken to curb global warming temperatures are likely to rise by 5.5ºC and could rise as much as 7ºC above pre-industrial levels by 2100. Early and rapid reductions in CO2 emissions are required to avoid significant impacts of climate change.

The new supercomputer, which will become operational later this year, will emit 14,400 tonnes of CO2 a year,” said Dave Britton, the Met Office’s chief press officer. This is equivalent to the CO2 emitted by 2,400 homes – generating an average of six tonnes each a year.

I love the green movement. I do. Because it's the ones who scream the loudest who usually are doing the most damage.

GREEN IS A LIE
Times Online

Wednesday Hero Blogroll & AOL Mail

For those of you on the blogroll who use AOL mail, you'll notice that you haven't been receiving the posts lately. There's some problem between Yahoo and AOL mail that's causing them to fail. If you happen to have another email address I could use write me and let me know. If not, you can go here and download the post.

Good Idea Or Bad?

Starting next year, Ford Motor will roll out a feature on many 2010 models that can limit teen drivers to 80 mph, using a computer chip in the key.

Parents also have the option of programming the teen's key to limit the audio system's volume, and to sound continuous alerts if the driver doesn't wear a seat belt.

Personally, I think this is a good idea. Some people just become morons when they get behind the wheel. Especially some kids. They get their license and they think they know everything. And I like the limit on the volume of the radio. I can't tell you how many times cars come by here with their stereos pounding. You don't need it that high in a car.

What's Really Going On With The Price Of Gas

On tonight's episode, Glenn Beck had T. Boone Pickens on. Pickens is the CEO of BP Capital. He's a Texas oilman who's turned his attention to wind power. Why is gas so high? KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Pickens can't make it any more simple. Who's to blame for it? Here's a hint. Despite what Congress wants us to think, it's not oil companies. Maybe they should talk to this guy. It's a LONG interview, but worth reading. There's no video of it up on the website at the time of this posting but you can check CNN.com/GlennBeck to see if it's up when you're reading this.

The World Is Looking More Like Star Trek Every Day

This post gets a little geeky, so bear with me. In the show Star Trek: Voyager they had what they called "Nanoprobes". And now scientists at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and MIT have come up with the "nanoworm". But this isn't the first thing in our lives that's been influenced by Star Trek. The cell phone you can't live without? Based the the communicator. Remember the ear piece that Lt. Uhura wore? Bluetooth headset. Star Trek had music stored digitally years before the advent of the MP3. When you walk into the grocery store and the door magically opens on it's own. First seen in Star Trek. And scientists today are actually working on holodeck and transporter technology.

And while on the subject of the real world meets Trek, the Trek universe had what Gene Roddenberry called "The Eugenics Wars".

The Eugenics Wars (or the Great Wars) were a series of conflicts fought on Earth in the mid-1990s. The result of a scientific attempt to improve the Human race through selective breeding and genetic engineering

Now, why bring this up? Because of stories like this. Now, obviously it's far fetched. We're decades away from being able to do what Hitler wanted to do and create the perfect human, but it is a slippery slope and if we're not careful that imaginary Eugenics War may not be just science fiction one day. Read the last sentence on the page. What happens when it becomes safe?

Superior ability creates superior ambition

Biofuels May Not Be So Clean

Gordon Brown is preparing for a battle with the European Union over biofuels after one of the government's leading scientists warned they could exacerbate climate change rather than combat it.

In an outspoken attack on a policy which comes into force next week, Professor Bob Watson, the chief scientific adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said it would be wrong to introduce compulsory quotas for the use of biofuels in petrol and diesel before their effects had been properly assessed.

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I feel I need to clear something up. Some people seem to think that because I disagree with some of the methods of The Great Green Conspiracy that I'm against going green. No. I just want a viable alternative fuel source that works and is affordable. Because from what we've seen so far, not everyone can afford to put solar panels on their homes or buy a nice, new Prius for around $20,000+.

Proof Of Global Cooling?

Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years... No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.

It seems that despite what Al Gore and his followers say, the debate isn't over.
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