Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Gizmodo Making fun of audio books

Gizmodo ran a story about some audio books from the iTunes store not working, taking a long swipe at the users of such technology as lazy.

I for one utilize audio books, (not from iTunes) because I find myself on a computer 8-14 hours a day, so by the end of the day when I crave some intellectual stimulation my eyes aren't up to the task.

In college I knew several people that were able to complete their course work mainly with the help of audio books to help them overcome near debilitating dyslexia, and still others that suffer motion sickness and are completely unable to read in a moving vehicle.

Just because you have the time, and good physical health to read Mr. Matt Buchanan seems little reason to me to belittle others without your good fortune.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Technorati Filtering the Ticker?

Technorati relaunches yesterday then flinches as the deluge of naughtiness fills the ticker. As noted here by Binary Bonsai. I clicked and before the outage there where many a porn related topic filling the ticker, and I noted with a small amount of glee that it had to make some investor somewhere cringe.

Micheal noted on Techcrunch that there was a "Scheduled maintenance" I will note that the worst that I have seen since is Tranny.



That's my theory, anyone else got a better one?

Tags:

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Spam Myspace Profiles getting spammed

This profile on myspace wants to be my friend.


Ava



I decided to look at the profile before hitting the deny button, you never know I might know someone named Ava :).


For a sick bit of humor read the comments that she has gotten. I think that this profile started out legit, and was either hijacked or she is trying to make some of those dollars her slutty friends said could be made with myspace. If she shows up on Cam with her we will know that it was the latter.



I have noticed that one upside to Facebook is that no one that I don't know has ever contacted me. Period.

Google Reader update

Dear Google Reader Devs,

I love the work you guys have been doing lately, this reader is much better than that Bloglines reader I left behind a few months ago. That said I have a gripe. The inline email function that you added that is far superior to the old popup on has an unfortunate feature regression that needs to be addressed:


I cannot tab to the send button and hit space to send like the old email to function.


This is very unfortunate. In your free time if you could take care of that, this little love affair of ours will be right back on track.




Convictus

Tags:

Web Design is Funny

I was watching MochaCity's Rundown, and noticed that the promo pictures on the right where somewhat dismembered.




The other part is just a head.


Too funny, we tear apart photo's and stitch them back together with a table of all things.

Take a Look

A table background, a severed head, and dismembered body. Awesome, all in the name of good style. This is probably over his head(sic), but I wonder if B-ezy knows how the web dev's chopped him up?

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

A La Carte Pricing Cable

In November of 2005 the FCC submitted a report that the market would bear A La Carte Pricing, Senator McCain even indicated that this looked like a good choice for customers. What happened to this initiative? It seems to me that most of the whining about "cost to implement" could be handily taken care of by the Cable Card initiative if they would quit drag-assing on that. I get the feeling that the Cable operators are hoping if the implement Cable cards poorly enough no one will want one, and thus fulfilling their own prophecy (or personal wish).

I live in a household with 3 adults and utilize a grad total of 10 channels. 10! this puts me well below the threshold that the FCC and the Senate identified as 17-20 being the break-even. If I could pay half as much, you bet I want that.

Alternatel7y the state sponsored monopoly could admit it makes money on the "introductory rate" subscribers ($33/mo on Comcast Seattle) and just make that the base rate. I probably would be happy to stay at that rate, it doesn't offend me.

Anyone know what happened to this? I cannot find any current news on it.


links:
Cnet
Multichannel
Wired

Monday, May 21, 2007

iTunes on a stick follow up

---Updated---
9/14/07
I have succeded partially in this little adventure. Results here.

/--Update--
Based on the amount of traffic the iTunes on a Stick post gets, I am going to assume that there are few people that have an interest in this type of a product, so I decided to research a little further. Behold the EULA, and most of the way down you will find something that pretty much shots this projects main intentions down.

Except as and only to the extent expressly permitted in this License or by applicable law, you may not copy, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, modify, or create derivative works of the Apple Software or any part thereof.


I read that as don't make derivative works from our stuff. ouch! On to plan B find a very light weight Virtual machine and Standalone VM Player on one of those big ass 64gb usb drives.

Dated 01/11/07 and is from the iTunes installer for ver. 7.1.1.5

ENGLISH

APPLE INC.
SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR iTUNES

PLEASE READ THIS SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT (”LICENSE”) CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE APPLE SOFTWARE. BY USING THE APPLE SOFTWARE, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE, DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THE LICENSE, YOU MAY RETURN THE APPLE SOFTWARE TO THE PLACE WHERE YOU OBTAINED IT FOR A REFUND. IF THE APPLE SOFTWARE WAS ACCESSED ELECTRONICALLY, CLICK “DISAGREE/DECLINE”. FOR APPLE SOFTWARE INCLUDED WITH YOUR PURCHASE OF HARDWARE, YOU MUST RETURN THE ENTIRE HARDWARE/SOFTWARE PACKAGE IN ORDER TO OBTAIN A REFUND.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This software may be used to reproduce materials. It is licensed to you only for reproduction of non-copyrighted materials, materials in which you own the copyright, or materials you are authorized or legally permitted to reproduce. This software may also be used for remote access to music files for listening between computers. Remote access of copyrighted music is only provided for lawful personal use or as otherwise legally permitted. If you are uncertain about your right to copy or permit access to any material you should contact your legal advisor.

1. General. The software, documentation and any fonts accompanying this License whether on disk, in read only memory, on any other media or in any other form (collectively the “Apple Software”) are licensed, not sold, to you by Apple Inc. (”Apple”) for use only under the terms of this License, and Apple reserves all rights not expressly granted to you. The rights granted herein are limited to Apple’s and its licensors’ intellectual property rights in the Apple Software and do not include any other patents or intellectual property rights. You own the media on which the Apple Software is recorded but Apple and/or Apple’s licensor(s) retain ownership of the Apple Software itself. The terms of this License will govern any software upgrades provided by Apple that replace and/or supplement the original Apple Software product, unless such upgrade is accompanied by a separate license in which case the terms of that license will govern.

2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions. This License allows you to install and use the Apple Software. The Apple Software may be used to reproduce materials so long as such use is limited to reproduction of non-copyrighted materials, materials in which you own the copyright, or materials you are authorized or legally permitted to reproduce. You may not make the Apple Software available over a network where it could be used by multiple computers at the same time. You may make one copy of the Apple Software in machine-readable form for backup purposes only; provided that the backup copy must include all copyright or other proprietary notices contained on the original. Except as and only to the extent expressly permitted in this License or by applicable law, you may not copy, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, modify, or create derivative works of the Apple Software or any part thereof. THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.

3. Transfer. You may not rent, lease, lend or sublicense the Apple Software. You may, however, make a one-time permanent transfer of all of your license rights to the Apple Software to another party, provided that: (a) the transfer must include all of the Apple Software, including all its component parts, original media, printed materials and this License; (b) you do not retain any copies of the Apple Software, full or partial, including copies stored on a computer or other storage device; and (c) the party receiving the Apple Software reads and agrees to accept the terms and conditions of this License.

4. Consent to Use of Data. You agree that Apple and its subsidiaries may collect and use technical and related information, including but not limited to technical information about your computer, system and application software, and peripherals, that is gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, product support and other services to you (if any) related to the Apple Software and to verify compliance with the terms of this License. Apple may use this information, as long as it is in a form that does not personally identify you, to improve our products or to provide services or technologies to you.

5. iTunes Store and other Services. This software enables access to Apple’s iTunes Store which offers downloads of music for sale and other services (collectively and individually, “Services”). Use of the Services requires Internet access and use of certain Services requires you to accept additional terms of service which will be presented to you before you can use such Services.

By using this software in connection with an iTunes Store account, you agree to the latest iTunes Store Terms of Service, which you may access and review from the home page of the iTunes Store.

You understand that by using any of the Services, you may encounter content that may be deemed offensive, indecent, or objectionable, which content may or may not be identified as having explicit language. Nevertheless, you agree to use the Services at your sole risk and that Apple shall have no liability to you for content that may be found to be offensive, indecent, or objectionable. Content types (including genres, sub-genres and Podcast categories and sub-categories and the like) and descriptions are provided for convenience, and you acknowledge and agree that Apple does not guarantee their accuracy.

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You agree that the Services, including but not limited to graphics, audio clips, and editorial content, contain proprietary information and material that is owned by Apple and/or its licensors, and is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws, including but not limited to copyright, and that you will not use such proprietary information or materials in any way whatsoever except for permitted use of the Services. No portion of the Services may be reproduced in any form or by any means. You agree not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute, or create derivative works based on the Services, in any manner, and you shall not exploit the Services in any unauthorized way whatsoever, including but not limited to, by trespass or burdening network capacity.

Apple and its licensors reserve the right to change, suspend, remove, or disable access to any Services at any time without notice. In no event will Apple be liable for the removal of or disabling of access to any such Services. Apple may also impose limits on the use of or access to certain Services, in any case and without notice or liability.

6. Termination. This License is effective until terminated. Your rights under this License will terminate automatically without notice from Apple if you fail to comply with any term(s) of this License. Upon the termination of this License, you shall cease all use of the Apple Software and destroy all copies, full or partial, of the Apple Software.

7. Limited Warranty on Media. Apple warrants the media on which the Apple Software is recorded and delivered by Apple to be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of original retail purchase. Your exclusive remedy under this Section shall be, at Apple’s option, a refund of the purchase price of the product containing the Apple Software or replacement of the Apple Software which is returned to Apple or an Apple authorized representative with a copy of the receipt. THIS LIMITED WARRANTY AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES ON THE MEDIA INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, AND OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE LIMITED IN DURATION TO NINETY (90) DAYS FROM THE DATE OF ORIGINAL RETAIL PURCHASE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THE LIMITED WARRANTY SET FORTH HEREIN IS THE ONLY WARRANTY MADE TO YOU AND IS PROVIDED IN LIEU OF ANY OTHER WARRANTIES (IF ANY) CREATED BY ANY DOCUMENTATION OR PACKAGING. THIS LIMITED WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS, AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY BY JURISDICTION.

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10. Export Control. You may not use or otherwise export or reexport the Apple Software except as authorized by United States law and the laws of the jurisdiction in which the Apple Software was obtained. In particular, but without limitation, the Apple Software may not be exported or re-exported (a) into any U.S. embargoed countries or (b) to anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals or the U.S. Department of Commerce Denied Person’s List or Entity List. By using the Apple Software, you represent and warrant that you are not located in any such country or on any such list. You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of missiles, or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

11. Government End Users. The Apple Software and related documentation are “Commercial Items”, as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of “Commercial Computer Software” and “Commercial Computer Software Documentation”, as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202-1through 227.7202-4, as applicable, the Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation are being licensed to U.S. Government end users (a) only as Commercial Items and (b) with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions herein. Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States.

12. Controlling Law and Severability. This License will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, as applied to agreements entered into and to be performed entirely within California between California residents. This License shall not be governed by the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the application of which is expressly excluded. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision, or portion thereof, to be unenforceable, the remainder of this License shall continue in full force and effect.

13. Complete Agreement; Governing Language. This License constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the use of the Apple Software licensed hereunder and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous understandings regarding such subject matter, with the exception of any additional terms and conditions you are required to accept if you choose to use Apple’s online store which will govern your use of such store and any Services you purchase through that store. No amendment to or modification of this License will be binding unless in writing and signed by Apple. Any translation of this License is done for local requirements and in the event of a dispute between the English and any non-English versions, the English version of this License shall govern.

14. Third Party Software and Service Terms and Conditions.
A. Gracenote CDDB Terms of Use. This application contains software from Gracenote, Inc. of Berkeley, California (”Gracenote”). The software from Gracenote (the “Gracenote CDDB Client”) enables this application to do online disc identification and obtain music-related information, including name, artist, track, and title information (”Gracenote Data”) from online servers (”Gracenote CDDB Servers”) and to perform other functions. You may use Gracenote Data only by means of the intended End User functions of this application software.

You agree that you will use Gracenote Data, the Gracenote CDDB Client, and Gracenote CDDB Servers for your own personal non-commercial use only. You agree not to assign, copy, transfer or transmit the Gracenote CDDB Client or any Gracenote Data to any third party. YOU AGREE NOT TO USE OR EXPLOIT GRACENOTE DATA, THE GRACENOTE CDDB CLIENT, OR GRACENOTE CDDB SERVERS, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PERMITTED HEREIN.

You agree that your non-exclusive license to use the Gracenote Data, the Gracenote CDDB Client, and Gracenote CDDB Servers will terminate if you violate these restrictions. If your license terminates, you agree to cease any and all use of the Gracenote Data, the Gracenote CDDB Client, and Gracenote CDDB Servers. Gracenote reserves all rights in Gracenote Data, the Gracenote CDDB Client, and the Gracenote CDDB Servers, including all ownership rights. Under no circumstances will Gracenote become liable for any payment to you for any information that you provide. You agree that CDDB, Inc. may enforce its rights under this Agreement against you directly in its own name.

The Gracenote CDDB Service uses a unique identifier to track queries for statistical purposes. The purpose of a randomly assigned numeric identifier is to allow the Gracenote CDDB service to count queries without knowing anything about who you are. For more information, see the web page for the Gracenote Privacy Policy for the Gracenote CDDB Service.

The Gracenote CDDB Client and each item of Gracenote Data are licensed to you “AS IS”. Gracenote makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy of any Gracenote Data from in the Gracenote CDDB Servers. Gracenote reserves the right to delete data from the Gracenote CDDB Servers or to change data categories for any cause that Gracenote deems sufficient. No warranty is made that the Gracenote CDDB Client or Gracenote CDDB Servers are error-free or that functioning of Gracenote CDDB Client or Gracenote CDDB Servers will be uninterrupted. Gracenote is not obligated to provide you with any new enhanced or additional data types or categories that Gracenote may choose to provide in the future and is free to discontinue its online services at any time.

GRACENOTE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. Gracenote does not warrant the results that will be obtained by your use of the Gracenote CDDB Client or any Gracenote CDDB Server. IN NO CASE WILL GRACENOTE BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES OR FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST REVENUES.

B. Kerbango Tuning Service Terms and Conditions.
Terms of Service. By using 3Com Corporation’s (”3Com”) Kerbango tuning service, (”Kerbango Tuning Service”) you agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions (the “TOS”):

3Com Links. The sites displayed as search results or linked to by the Kerbango Tuning Service are owned and operated by individuals and/or companies over whom 3Com exercises no control. 3Com assumes no responsibility for the content of any site included in any search results or otherwise linked to by the Kerbango Tuning Service.

Personal Use Only. The Kerbango Tuning Service is made available for your personal, non-commercial use only. Use of the Kerbango Tuning Service to sell a product or service, or to increase traffic to your Web site for commercial reasons, such as advertising sales is expressly forbidden. You may not take the results from a Kerbango search and reformat and display them, or mirror the 3Com’s Kerbango home page or results pages on your Web site, or send automated queries to Kerbango’s system without express permission from 3Com.

If you wish to make commercial use of the Kerbango Tuning Service you must enter into an agreement with 3Com to do so. Please contact sales@kerbango.com for more information.

Changes In Terms and Conditions and Kerbango Tuning Service. 3Com may modify or terminate its services from time to time, for any reason, and without notice, including the right to terminate with or without notice, without liability to you, any other user or any third party. 3Com reserves the right to modify the TOS from time to time without notice.

Disclaimer of Warranties. 3Com disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, reliability, or operability or availability of information or material displayed in the Kerbango Tuning Service results. 3Com disclaims any responsibility for the deletion, failure to store, misdelivery, or untimely delivery of any information or material. 3Com disclaims any responsibility for any harm resulting from downloading or accessing any information or material on the Internet through the Kerbango Tuning Service.

THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER. 3COM EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW ALL EXPRESS, IMPLIED, AND STATUTORY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS. 3COM DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES REGARDING THE SECURITY, RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS, AND PERFORMANCE OF THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE. 3COM DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES FOR ANY INFORMATION OR ADVICE OBTAINED THROUGH THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE. 3COM DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES FOR SERVICES OR GOODS RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED ON THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE OR RECEIVED THROUGH ANY LINKS PROVIDED BY THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE, AS WELL AS FOR ANY INFORMATION OR ADVICE RECEIVED THROUGH ANY LINKS PROVIDED IN THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE.

YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOU DOWNLOAD OR OTHERWISE OBTAIN MATERIAL OR DATA THROUGH THE USE OF THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND THAT YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS IN THE DOWNLOAD OF SUCH MATERIAL OR DATA.

SOME STATES OR OTHER JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS THAT VARY FROM STATE TO STATE AND JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION.

Limitation of Liability. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL 3COM BE LIABLE TO ANY USER ON ACCOUNT OF THAT USER’S USE OR MISUSE OF OR RELIANCE ON THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE ARISING FROM ANY CLAIM RELATING TO THIS LICENSE OR THE SUBJECT MATTER HEREOF. SUCH LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY TO PREVENT RECOVERY OF DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES WHETHER SUCH CLAIM IS BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE (EVEN IF 3COM HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES). SUCH LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY WHETHER THE DAMAGES ARISE FROM USE OR MISUSE OF AND RELIANCE ON THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE, FROM INABILITY TO USE THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE, OR FROM THE INTERRUPTION, SUSPENSION, OR TERMINATION OF THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE (INCLUDING SUCH DAMAGES INCURRED BY THIRD PARTIES). THIS LIMITATION SHALL ALSO APPLY WITH RESPECT TO DAMAGES INCURRED BY REASON OF OTHER SERVICES OR GOODS RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED ON THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE OR RECEIVED THROUGH ANY LINKS PROVIDED IN THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE, AS WELL AS BY REASON OF ANY INFORMATION OR ADVICE RECEIVED THROUGH OR ADVERTISED ON THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE OR RECEIVED THROUGH ANY LINKS PROVIDED IN THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE. THIS LIMITATION SHALL ALSO APPLY, WITHOUT LIMITATION, TO THE COSTS OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, LOST PROFITS, OR LOST DATA. SUCH LIMITATION SHALL FURTHER APPLY WITH RESPECT TO THE PERFORMANCE OR NON-PERFORMANCE OF THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE OR ANY INFORMATION OR MERCHANDISE THAT APPEARS ON, OR IS LINKED OR RELATED IN ANY WAY TO, THE KERBANGO TUNING SERVICE. SUCH LIMITATION SHALL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY AND TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

SOME STATES OR OTHER JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Without limiting the foregoing, under no circumstances shall 3Com be held liable for any delay or failure in performance resulting directly or indirectly from acts of nature, forces, or causes beyond its reasonable control, including, without limitation, Internet failures, computer equipment failures, telecommunication equipment failures, other equipment failures, electrical power failures, strikes, labor disputes, riots, insurrections, civil disturbances, shortages of labor or materials, fires, floods, storms, explosions, acts of God, war, governmental actions, orders of domestic or foreign courts or tribunals, non-performance of third parties, or loss of or fluctuations in heat, light, or air conditioning.

Miscellaneous Provisions. These TOS will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to its conflict of laws provisions or your actual state or country of residence. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision or portion of the TOS to be unenforceable, the remainder of the TOS will continue in full force and effect.

These TOS constitute the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and replaces all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding such subject matter. Any waiver of any provision of the TOS will be effective only if in writing and signed by 3Com.

EA0367
Rev 01/11/07

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

De-skilled in America

Normally in the morning I don't care for listening to radio talk shows, in particular I don't care for my local station that has Syndicated Adam Carola and Danny Bonaduce. Today, for whatever reason I had my radio stuck on that 107.7 and was grabbed by the content of discussion. Adam was talking about the lack of training for the group of children that will not go to college. Speaking of the lack of automotive and shop classes in High Schools. I think that though he makes it for a different reason than I, his point is a good one. It is important to know how to do things. Sure you may pay someone else to do many of them, but knowing how to perform tasks is important.

More and more I find myself regretting the decision by my Father to not teach me his craft. My Father works in construction, and has for his whole life. He has been a manager of construction supply store and a salesman of Cabinets, but this all revolves around the construction industry. In particular he has worked in and around the construction of homes. I hardly have the skills to level a picture, and he sells, designs and installs cabinets. He can build from raw lumber things that I would spend thousands of dollars on. He chose to never share with me these skills instead I went to college.

Sure I have a career in "building and maintaining" computers and networks, but I am nearly useless with a hammer and saw. I never intend to make a living with these skills, but I do wish that I knew how to laminate a counter top, or install some trim or maybe fix a poorly hung door.

These are life skills I don't have. I also wish I had been forced to learn to sew; at least well enough to hem a pair of pants or replace a button. When these things come up I end up paying someone else to do it, or following the "Google is your friend" mantra of the hacker community, but what is missing from this equation is the mentor.

So far in this life, I have made a digital picture frame and a patio.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Scoundrel Patriots

Find it as you may, I feel that the political discourse of the US at this point is best epitomized by the following quote.

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Samuel Johnson

Monday, May 07, 2007

The Modern Day Warrior

I found this courtesy of Break.com. Having had to read so many accounts of the warriors of WWI and WWII as part of the curriculum of my High School and College I am glad to see modern warriors expressing in there own language the life that they are leading.






The War In Iraq: A Soldiers Perspective - Brought to you by Break.com Video Search

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Recyling Compactor with style: The ecopod



If you are like most people that grew up in the 90's then you probably have heard of recycling. Whats more you probably think that it is not only a noble goal, but one of the best ways that we can help save the planet. Often times the burden of recycling can be a little heavy, especially when you find yourself in small living environments.

The Ecopod recycling center, not to be confused with the Ecopod coffin, is an attractive way to help store your recycling without sacrificing on looks. The Ecopod can crush plastic and aluminum containers and keep up to fifty of them in a plastic container that slides out for easy transfer to a curbside recycling bin.

I believe that even for something designed by BMW $328 is a tad steep, but if I had the cash to blow I would totally have one or 2 of these. You can find them at Williams Sanoma or ecopod.org

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

The world isn't all sunshine and lollipops

Not to be more depressing than I normally am, but a series of events this last year have have made me really open to quotes like this one:

Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

None of the various misfortunes that led me to this post are my own, but it still is sad to see. A friend of ours was recently diagnosed with cancer at the age of 23. Another family that was friend of our family growing up has been hit with several blows lately. First their youngest son died unexpectedly of a heart condition, he hadn't yet graduated high school. More recently the Mother and Father where hit by a drunk driver on while on a motorcycle trip in Mexico; the Father was killed and the Mother may not make it. They have two surviving daughters that I swam with all through my childhood, and I cannot imagine their grief.

In our own family the girlfriend of my brother is struggling with illness, and a family that feels very cold next to our own. Finally and slightly more distantly a friend far off who left the Northwest after much struggle to make it here lost most everything in a fire that destroyed her condo.

Mind you I know that other have it worse, but it still makes my heart sad. If I'm not smiling I have looking for a reason to smile the last few months, but keep coming up short.