CITGO says GO, I say boycott

I was browsing the tubes when I came across this:




I wondered why in the world would a major corporation advertise about being in business in Florida, if it was pretty aparent they were there already. I mean, we see CITGO stations everywhere, why let us know who owns them in a Google add?

CITGO Boycott - http://citgoboycott.org/


So CITGO is owned by Hugo Chavez, kinda makes me wanna head to BP and support the Brits.

The Web and What's Coming Up

Just wanted you all to know that Burn Notice is coming back to showing this Winter 2009. Sorry I haven't been blogging. Sometimes when all of the sudden you think no one is listening, trying to say something isn't so interesting anymore.

I do know, however, that it let me release emotionally - which is always important. Since I can't talk too much about my job, it kinda seemed a moot point. Also nothing seemed to be going on that is that interesting to report.

Wrath has descended upon WoW and been keeping up with that. Well, at least I do pretty good DPS, you're welcome to check it out yourself. I also have been updating my comic regularly sometimes.

Oh, and I got an iPhone. And yes I have AT&T. I don't know why people complain about their service so much. Time and again when I'm next to other people with other carriers I'm the one with signal. That said, their customer service isn't to shine for.

And I'm gonna end on that. Look for more updates. Comment if you want to know anything in particular.

Tis the Season

...to want ridiculously overpriced items that you have no business owning.

Mine is a Nikon DSLR 90.

Not really sure why I do this to myself, because in all honesty I couldn't bring up a hobby of photography seriously. A.) It's really expensive. B.) I don't go to enough places to warrant anyone interested in seeing (really want that to change). and C.) The money could be better spent. D.) A lesser object would serve my purposes better. Like a subcompact, something for the web, and something with a large LCD screen.

A girl can dream, though.

Bandwagon

Everyone loves a winner.

This is, truthfully, the reason why I think the bandwagon phenomenon exists. There seems like a simple answer to how it comes about, but with the Rays winning, getting there has been complicated. For awhile now I have never been interested in baseball; at least watching it on television. But that has changed as of late and been excited in seeing the Rays go to the World Series for the first time.

My roommate is pissed at the sheer number of people writing in the Bulletin portion of Myspace talking about how excited they are about the Rays' win. And I admit, I've watched almost every game of the Red Sox series myself and right there with everyone excited to see history in the making. I saw a total of one entire Rays season game. And I think the part of her point is valid (or maybe my interpretation of it) is that the people excited now who didn't care about baseball don't understand the struggle it was for the Rays to achieve what they did, yet they go to Dick's Sporting Goods and get championship shirts and other shwag. The part that gets me though is that its very generalizing. I don't have to watch 180 games or even understand the minutiae of the sport to be proud.

The cool thing is, vindication for long sports fans of the team, like my best friend Jay, loves/loved the Rays since he was a teenager ever since they first opened the franchise and I'm kind of excited for him because he finally feels like what I've felt with the Colts ever since they were Super Bowl Champs.

When your home team wins, its a kind of pride that's always good to feel. 9 = 8

Calm Before the Storm

This is pretty much how it is before any expansion, really, because everyone is sick of running Kara and PvP is as unbalanced as Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight. The good news is that MMO Champion has all the juicy new details of the beta in case you sold your key, and even better the 3.0 is coming out in mid-October so we'll be in the fun soon enough.

I just hope that feral druids are as awesome as they were when the first expansion came out.

For Dummies

No Bad Press

I think Penny Arcade pretty much sums it up right here. The link to the picture is the news post for the comic on Penny-Arcade's website.

And if you're late to the game:



then

Humpty Dumpty

As more banks are failing, I'm becoming more and more disenchanted with the Republican stance on commercial or economic success, or better put how to go about it.

Free markets are a nice thing to have. And as general of a statement that was, it's subvertly saying 'When it works, it works wonderfully.'

Myth #1: Companies want to give you low prices because they want to obtain business.
Fact: Companies get large enough or create enough partners to become a oligopoly or cartel, they don't need to worry about your business because they'll get it one way or another.

See Wal-Mart, OPEC, Time-Warner/Comcast


Myth #2: Giving tax breaks to the wealthy helps the poor by the upper class creating more jobs for the proletariat.

Fact: People with tons of money will put it where they think they get the most reward vs. risk, whether that be business, commodity, housing, or even other financial institutions. Economic downturn is a correction on high prices of a given object, unless artificially inflated and sustained.


Myth #3: An elected President is the one who drives the economy one way or another through policy.

Fact: While having sway over the national party, the President doesn't make the financial calls, Congress does. You want more fiscally responsible government? Then worry about the chuckleheads in your local district on Capital Hill. The problem is they are too busy listening to lobbyists then to their own constiuency, but your email will get read on their Blackberry while they're waiting on their steak paid for by Pfizer, right? Wrong.


Call me a pessimist but there seems to be a lot more work to be done then just to say you're a maverick who votes with the party 90% of the time, or someone who has pretty Change! posters but not enough plan to enact on.

BTW Republicans: Not even your own pundits like Palin.

The War of Attention

Getting software to work for you, the way you want it to.

That's really the goal of anyone who uses software or computers. And to be quite honest, when it comes down to it it's a question of what works for you. I still seem to be at this crossroads with my software solutions, not because of not having enough good choices, but having far too many.

Microsoft, Apple, and now Google all have great applications that beg for your use and attention. Microsoft, bringing functionality to the table, comes feature packed and allows you to do what you will, as long as it's all Microsoft. Same for Apple but the emphasis is not only features but user experience, at the cost of flexibility. And finally Google, where it has no real presence anywhere finds presence everywhere with it's incredibly amazing Email and Calendar services along with anything on the web one would need.

Microsoft's options are the least familiar to me, only because they don't matter much anymore to me. I hated Outlook for Email and Calendar and I have no idea what web services they offer to allow over the air syncing with calendars and contacts.

Apple, having inherited a niche following with high expectations and a panache for excellence in marrying user experience to computing do almost everything you'd want it's services to do. And swear up and down everything it can't are trivialities until they incorporate it into design. For me, I want my Email, Contacts, Calendars, and Documents to sync. When I make a change to one, I want a change to all on any device, connected or not. Apple's solution is an outstanding one called MobileMe. It does the sync of the first three, leaving my documents to the iDisk function where it acts like an open FTP server. (And not to forget web galleries for pictures)

Where it comes short is where Google steps in. Nothing tops Google Docs. Sure both iWork and even Office have amazing templates to do what you need and much more beautifully, but Google Docs, being online, is backed up - to the second - every 3 seconds. And not only to your computer but on their server. Same goes for email, photos, calendar. The downside is you have to be online (with Google Gears picking up the slack in offline mode). Also Google's RSS reader runs circles around Mail.app or Safari and works anywhere I log in. I also really hate Mail applications probably. I've always used webmail, and with Gmail being the best, there isn't really a contest there.

I can't decide. I guess that's the price I pay for wanting my cake and eat it too.

Married and Gaming

(Pictured are Tiffany and Jacob Sanders)

Can't Buy Good Help These Days

Another aide spoke out of turn again today. I guess its what happens when you have a slow news day, you find anything to talk about. But it's what the aide said and the NYT reaction to it.

If you didn't follow the link the synopsis is this: "Charlie Black, a senior adviser to Senator John McCain, was quoted in a magazine interview saying that another terrorist attack in the United States would "be a big advantage" for Mr. McCain in the upcoming election".

Now, of course McCain said 'NoWai' and the Obama side said 'LOL' but what's more important here is that NYT is dead wrong. Another terrorist attack would be the *worst* thing for Republicans now because it would prove that A.) No Administration would be able to prevent everything, and only highlight Bush's failures, and B.) What more can you do as a President to fight terrorism if you already nearly run as a police state and have your own personal gulag (we haven't forgotten about you Guantanimo).

To me it'd just prove that a little 'inexperience' may be a good thing right about now.

I Fell Down This

(And hit the side on the jagged concrete.)
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Projects and Circles

My Dad rencently told me he has ADHD or some varient thereof. This
extremly personal tidbit of information can only be followed by more
personal information about myself where I disclose the fact that I too
believe I have this. I constantly stop and start projects as I'm sure
people who read (or don't read) know too well.

I figured out how to mobile blog by (phone) email. This should be
effective as normally my best ideas aren't in front of a computer, but
this also means my ideas become more disjointed.

In the spirit of more projects, I want to make a graphic narrative
using wow and comic life. More on that later.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

From the Mothership

For the first time, I watched from start to finish the WWDC '08 Keynote presentation. It feels like back to the Transformer watching days of my youth. Watching it just makes me want an iPhone. The truly sad things I don't want to afford it because there's a lot of better things to take care of first...like food and rent. I just realized that Kenyans can get the iPhone now. The gods must me crazy!? And here is the kicker, China isn't listed in the 70 countries Apple is supporting.

Anyway, the most exciting thing I found that I already own is the MobileMe. Granted, it won't work with my Blackberry but I'm excited that Apple is stepping up the bar against the free services that are a little less integrated.

Here's to the next step.

Copywrong

So, I've been perusing YouTube and came across a superfan YouTube page and they had as a featured video *was* the Kanye West/Daft Punk Stronger Grammys Performance in 08. Pretty much the video got pulled because of copyright issues but what I don't get is this. Its a live performance, the people getting paid got paid. Where is the harm? Are the grammys or the music industry in general so butthurt about piracy that they'd rather pull a video promoting the grammys and the artists in them rather then let it flourish?

The answer is yes, and this is why the RIAA (and MPAA) are obsolete.

The Goings on of Lightninghoof Today

This is basically how the day turned out. Most of everyone decided to jump on top of the new badge loot vendor on the Isle causing chaos and pandemonium. It even warrented some GM interest, though he just seemed to be running around, shown in this video I captured today:



What you don't see is near the end the brief conversation I had with the GM. Who knew GM's were people to? =P

Of course I did being a former Magic Online Adept I already know the answer, but coming from that background I'd definitely not go and try to be a WoW GM.

Teens for Obama Turning Parents

Seems that kids in my generation are not only bucking for Obama but turning their parents as well. I find it mildly interesting seeing as how I had the political talk with my own Dad and his two cents, learning that McCain was his choice.

What it came down for me was, who was the best for change. And considering the miserable failures this administration has suffered through, is experience really something we want? And of course having experience is the best thing, but there are different kinds. Not a single person who gets elected to office has experience as President (unless of course you were operating directly under the Big Cheese). Frankly I feel like being Secretary of State is the closest you're going to get to have true experience as a world leader. Does being a Senator really give you the tactical expertise needed to stem invasions or barter treaties?

In the end I feel like the best course of action is to put someone into office an accomplished renaissance person who not only is very intelligent but willing to learn.

Sound Advice

This just in. Creative shoots their own foot in the name of posterity.

The short version is that a home user took it upon himself to create Vista drivers for Creative brand soundcards. Because he used Creative driver technology (read in: used some of their code) Creative felt that because they weren't compensated for the work he borrowed in the improved drivers, that they felt the need to take down the links to his improved Vista drivers.

Dear (include company here),

If someone wants to spend their free time to make sure your product works for your customers. Don't squelch it, fire your lazy programmers and give him/her a job.

Writing to My Congressperson

Nothing makes me more apathetic about politics then trying to "write to my congressperson". And nothing says "you're insignificant" more then the Congressman response form letter. Look, if I thought by calling or writing my representative would be a louder voice then some lobbyists lavish gifts and, well lets be honest, bribes, then I'd be more pro-active in the political process. But as it stands now, the only people with voice are people with money.

Take for example the linked reference article.

In it the RIAA/MPAA mafia added legistlation binding the schools to help give them evidence for students who distribute on p2p and bit torrent networks within the University. USF is no exception as it forces you to agree to a Terms of Use Agreement saying that you have to basically not participate in that kind of activity lest they give you up to be sued for a few thousand dollars.

This is domestic terrorism. If you think that what the RIAA/MPAA are doing is legal and just by going after individual citizens, then keep on purchasing and participating. Everyone else, boycott them. Bu music online direct from the artist. Rent movies from Apple store. Do whatever you can to give them less leverage to stop the lawsuits.

Link via Ars Technica

Remind you of Anyone?

It's Felicia Day, from The Guild.



Funny, no? If you're looking for the social commentary aspect of this post, its the fact that no matter what one company does, you can't artifically create a viral market. In fact I haven't seen a good one since ilovebees.

Note: watchtheguild.com link is broken until they up thier bandwidth or something.

The Macbook Pro Coverup

Other then the di-tech, progressive, and GEICO commercials, a random commercial always caught my eye whilst I watch Nat Geo. Then, more commercials with the similar thing started to become more apparent to me. To be honest, I've always noticed this, but maybe now that I've brought it your attention you'll notice too, and that's the cover of a Macbook. They'll have a Macbook Pro displayed predominantly in the commercial or show, then cover it up with a sticker. Its almost jarring what they do, but it begs to ask if they are afraid of making it seem like an Apple commercial? And also, how many browsers are displayed now simulated on television as Safari? I can't even think of a commercial showing their product or site using IE or Firefox for that matter. Just something to chew on.

Care to blog much?

So I'm deciding to be prolific because I have decided enough is enough. There are too many places to blog, and I can't keep them up. Aside from my own personal blog at screaminginrockets.com I have myspace, facebook, and now this silly site wants some of my literary blood. Are you kidding me? Do they think that us young folks desperately need a place to voice that we've never heard of a livejournal? Its angsty teenager the holy grail of advertising?

Even someone technologically inclined as I have trouble keeping up with friends and their posts. And God forbid they are using ATOM instead of RSS because I hate to say it but not many readers know the difference. Hell, not many people know what an RSS reader is let alone how to add a feed.

So fellow demographic, when is enough enough? Whats going to be the final digital hangout for our generation? Or are people going to finally figure out how to make their own .com on the cheap?

Garfield without Garfield

http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/

"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb."

Bucket 'o Murder Weapons

Hey this is Bird Flu (and How We're Screwed)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/world/asia/01flu.html

So chickens are droppin like flies with unusual speed in Indonesia. The bad news is people are dying, that means the disease is finally mutating.

Its too bad Bird Flu is a funny name, people would fear it more if it was something like "OMGUGONNADIE Flu" or "Death".

Can't say I wasn't scared until my trip to Thailand and seeing some of the animal condiations first hand (and knowing full well they're just more cooped up here in the States).

The Internet is for Porn

Lately I've been wondering the pluses and minuses about the internets effect on us. More specifically the underage of us. I started to wonder if I had kids, what in the hell I would do to prevent them from seeing what is invariably a weird hyper-distortion of reality. In fact, you could say the Internet is like a Reality Show of us. We sign on, say or state our opinions anonymously or play internet anonymously and be who we want to be, while we're drunk. This isn't the place for kids.

So that brings us back to the original point. What to do with the kiddywinkles? To be honest, unless you create another internet, you can't do much. You have to assume that every screen name is a predator in waiting, every website something that has some of the most offensive material. The best thing I guess is to monitor, communicate, and most of all participate.

Amish Store

Justin Goff
jbgoff@gmail.com
(sent via blackberry)

Alex Albrecht Gets Ganked

Alex Albrecht of Diggnation and Totally Rad Show fame getting ganked on his warlock in Duskwood.





In case you're wondering, its Drazgoul on Executus.

Pic of the ganker in action:

Dear Apple

Fuck you. Seriously.

I want my Macbook Pro to run Leopard. I don't want to spend 70 dollars for the silly upgrade for "features" that may or may not be even worth it. I have someone in my household who owns a copy. I want to install it. It is not, in my opinion, illegal to use that persons copy to install the upgrade to mine. I understand that the license says one computer. Still.

You wanna know how Microsoft is better? You can install XP and Office on multiple (3) household computers.

Game, set, and match. I don't care if you think your operative system can turn water into wine, stop being stupid and at least let people in the same house share copies. Be happy you have enough customers to have this problem.

Without Love,
Captive Apple User

The Real News

In waiting for the Macworld 2008 keynote, I spent some time around the interwebs just seeing what was news, what wasn't and in general what was going on in the world.

While everyone was drooling over Steve Jobs' new bastard of technological bliss something interesting happened in the world.

President Bush got dissed by the Saudis.

Not only dissed, but politely laughed out of the Arabian Peninsula. Here is the reason why you should care. Paying nearly 30 dollars for my silly 10 gallon tank (i'm sure 60 dollars for some people) is serious business. And the Saudis don't care. In fact they're response to Bush's plea for increasing production was

"Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, appeared to rebuff the president’s appeal, though he did so gently. “We will raise production when the market justifies it,” he said at a press conference after Mr. Bush’s remarks."(source, NY Times)

Read in they're not raising prodction now because they are comfortable with 3 dollar a gallon gas.

From first hand knowledge I know that gas is 29 baht/litre which comes out to around $3.70 per gallon so we aren't even seeing the worst of it.

Why Facebook is Just as Bad as Myspace

So here's the problem. I'm not exactly anti-web social. In fact more often then not I'm trying to tell people why its a cool idea to get in and get involved. That's not the problem, the problem is it's too inundated with so much bullshit. From ads to notifications about things that are nonsense, these social black holes create nothing but stress and popularity contests with its users. I feel kinda blessed actually that Myspace didn't get huge until after I graduated high school. High school kids don't understand the dangers of character assassination. And with these social networks, its easier then ever.

I guess what I like Myspace/Facebook for is because people are too lazy (present company included) to create a proper cool website about me. Well, I guess its the blog but no one loves to email or give their email. People love comments though, probably for the narcissism or something but in the end, it creates too man social pockets.

Back to my main point. Myspace used to blow because of it being incredibly slow, and a ton of scammers and spammers trying to get their 5 min of your time. Also was a haven for pedophiles. My favorite living comedian Demetri Martin said it best on a "Trendspotter" segment on The Daily Show. The downside is, there are a lot of sexual predators on Myspace, but on the plus side there are a lot of sexual prey. Now with Facebook letting anyone create an account (sell outs) and starting the whole "lets create an app lawl and spam it" motion....rest is never assured for people just wanting a digital presence.

The funniest thing is how Facebook monetize peoples stupidity. For a dollar I believe you can buy a digital e-peen booster for your friends and give them to you as gifts. These digital badges of shame show how many people "care" about you to give you said gifts. When the hell will you people wake up and realize you're being sheep. /sigh

I close with the thought of how much a necessary evil social networks become. Not only will they not go away, but more and more people seem to be joining them, becoming great targets for companies to do scary espionage research on you. Just know anything you post online can and will be read by all.

EDIT: The joystick that closely resembeles a pedophiles dream.

Learning Online

I'm wondering if right now this is the best way to learn. Online learning wouldn't be so bad but there is really no telling where things are as far as whats expected and what needs to be done.

I want a list of shit I need to somewhere, including assignments and things clearly telling me what I need to participate. As it stands, I have three places where assignments can land on my head, and I don't appreciate having to babysit all of them. Plus its a programming class so it seems we would be better served if it was here. The worst of it all is that some classes aren't Mac compatible (only because the teacher wrote the stupid java) so, yeah no idea.

Heres to learning in the digital age.

EDIT: Scrap all that, I was able to listen to a lecture while taking a deuce. That is win in anyone's book.