Applied Indifference

And don’t you question it, either, or he’ll yell about you. Kind of like this:

“I’m tired of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and a bunch of people who went out of their way to avoid their chance to serve when they had the chance,” the Massachusetts senator said. “I’m not going to listen to them talk to me about patriotism.”

(credit: Reuters)

First - who in the Republican party has questioned his patriotism, or equated his voting record with patriotism? Nobody, that’s who.

Second - Why does he carry on about Rove, Cheney, and Bush not going to Viet Nam, when the previous occupant of the White House, who just happens to be of the same political party as him actively dodged the draft by leaving the country, and participating in anti-war protests while overseas?

Keep talking, Senator Kerry. You’re talking yourself right out of a job.

Tags: Politics by Brian Corbino
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You knew this was going to happen sooner or later.

Here’s what I don’t get - A few of the labels are actually lowering the price of first-run CDs, Sony is releasing more and more stuff on hybrid SACD (which kicks total ass, by the way) at the old CD prices, and the online places are selling the same album, without a CD, without liner notes, without any extras, at lower audio quality, and with restrictions on what you can do with the music besides.

They’ve had a measure of success between the jack-booted thug stylings of the RIAA lawsuits, some educational measures, and decent on-line services at killing off the file-sharing networks of pirated music. And now, after they got on the digital distribution bandwagon 5 years after it left, they want to kill the goose after it’s laid a brass egg?

I’ll never understand some industries.

Tags: Technology by Brian Corbino
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Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox (Thanks: Slashdot) talks about a study done to determine why Mobile Phones are annoying. Of course, since they are studying something subjective, no hard answers are available, but a few things seem to get ruled out. I would suggest an additional control for further study - add a pay telephone (not in an enclosed booth) to the test subjects, and see where that rates.

I don’t know if it is Jakob’s conclusion, or the study authors’ conclusion, but they seem to feel that the one-sided conversation might be the annoyance factor. Controlling for pay-phone versus mobile would sort that out.

My personal conjecture (for what it’s worth) is this: It is not the one-sided conversation, the ring tone or the volume. It is a lower-level emotional response. I think it is either jealousy (he’s got something I don’t) or a reaction to percieved arrogance (he’s so important that his conversation couldn’t wait).

Anyhow, interesting stuff. And an interesting study methodology. If the subjects of the study actually knew they were being asked about the impact of a conversation on them, they are going to focus like a lens on that conversation, and notice nothing else around them.

Tags: Technology by Brian Corbino
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And John Kerry eats another shoe store. John Kerry today announced his new “Misery Index”™. You remember this, right?

Inflation + Unemployment = Misery

Simple enough to understand, right? Carter used it against Ford, and then it backfired, and things got MORE miserable during Carter’s tenure.

So, Mr. Kerry has come up with a new way to make people feel miserable. Here’s what he puts in it:
[Read more →]

Tags: Politics by Brian Corbino
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Richard Ben-Veniste must think we (the public) are a bunch of chumps. On Fox News Sunday in his interview with Chris Wallace he states that “…the FBI and CIA did not talk to each other, everyone knew that…” and “…the question was whether you could make them [talk to each other], and the only way to make them do that was through leadership at the top…”.

Those of us, however, that remember history know that it is, in fact, the Congress that made certain that this very communication could not happen. After Viet Nam, the CIA and FBI found themselves subject to greater congressional scrutiny, and also subject to inter-agency rivalries and “turf wars”. The idea, of course, being that the CIA was not to spy inside the US borders, and the FBI was not to deal with things outside same. Of course, when the two collided, the two agencies were restricted in what they could share with each other, lest some imaginary border be crossed.

This is why the PATRIOT act (I despise reverse acronyms, by the way) had explicit language allowing the FBI and CIA to share information when it regards international terrorists in the U.S.

So, Mr. Ben-Veniste, who’s fault is it really that the FBI and CIA couldn’t, as you say, connect the dots? I say to you that it is the Congress, and specifically the post-Viet Nam Democrats and their irrational fear of “The Man” that led directly to a crippled intelligence service.

Tags: Politics by Brian Corbino
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More springness. It was a beautiful day here in Connecticut. The flowers in mom’s garden are making their appearances. Note - the full size images are huge.

Photos taken with Canon PowerShot G3 - full automatic mode, JPG

Tags: Randomness by Brian Corbino
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Springtime in New England:

Photo taken with Canon PowerShot G3 in RAW mode

Tags: Randomness by Brian Corbino
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John Ashcroft has decided that the most pressing threat in America is…

Tits. That’s right, tits. And everything that goes along with them. This is the man who spent OUR money to cover up a statue because it had an exposed breast. He is now turning the massive budget and power of the Justice Department on pornography. Not just child-porn, or rape films, or snuff films either. He’s coming for your Playboys, too. Oh, and Maxim. How much you wanna bet he doesn’t do anything about all those damn dick-pill ads that pollute my TiVo on Sunday afternoons.

I don’t know what George was thinking when he picked this guy, but Ashcroft’s gotta go. Problem is, anybody other than Bush is likely to get this country decimated by terrorists. Attorney General needs to be an elected position.

Volokh says everything I think about this, and far better than I ever could.

Tags: Politics by Brian Corbino
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Bought some DVD-ROM drives from New Egg. Normally, these guys are top-notch. Hard-drives are packed sub-optimally, but they are in bubble wrap and peanuts, and in an anti-static bag. This

is ridiculous. No bags, nothing between the top of the box and the drives. Just the OEM foam tray on one side, and peanuts. At least they could have put the foam tray on top as well, ya think?

I’m sending a comment to New Egg about it. We’ll see what happens.

Tags: Computers by Brian Corbino
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This article if true, indicates further that the islamofacists and mullocrats really don’t understand the American psyche. This passage is particularly illuminating:

The memo, obtained by the Arizona Republic newspaper, said the unidentified detainee revealed he hoped to create several large, catastrophic wildfires at once.

“The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies,” the memo said.

Right. And the change that we would demand would be the carpet-nuking of the entire islamic world. Hardly what the Al Qaeda types would find helpful to their cause. That we have a few very vocal pacifists in this nation does not indicate that this nation will roll over and play dead if we get attacked again. I truly believe that another terrorist attack on U.S. soil will result in an outcry reminiscent of Delenn from Babylon 5: “Animals! Brutal. They deserve no mercy. Strike them down. Follow them to their bases… and kill them, all of them. No mercy! NO MERCY!”.

Somehow, I don’t think that would be very beneficial for anyone involved. But then again, Americans have a penchant for overkill. Remember Dresden? Remember Hiroshima?

Tags: Politics by Brian Corbino
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