The Un-Internet

It isn’t a reflection on the moral quality of the leaders of the companies, to want to control their users. But it’s a short-term proposition at best. Either the companies learn how to take the lead from their users, or they will be sidelined. […]

The Internet always finds away around your best intentions.

#internets

Love the music!

#videos #starwars

Note to Self: Don’t Stick Hand in Toaster Oven Any More

#photos #medical

Adorable Letters To The Hayden Planetarium, Circa The 1950s

“I would like a reservation on the trip to the moon that is supposed to leave in 1975. I am in the 6th grade… by the time the space ship is ready to leave I will be about 36 years old.”

Sounds like he has plenty of time to pack.

#cosmos

Below is a list of movies I’ve seen this month of December 2011, (some for the first time, others not). I link them to Wikipedia because IMDb is riddled with repetative ads.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Classic western with Clint Eastwood. Not his best but worth watching once.

Alien (1979)
First saw this in the early 80s and was wow’ed by a kicking-ass leading lady.

Elizabeth (1998)
Quite good if you’re into this era, loved Geoffrey Rush’s character.

Imagine Me & You (2005)
Incredibly sad (with a happy ending) movie with former Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles star Lena Headey.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Best of the series and probably saved Harrison Ford from going the way of Hamill.

St. Elmos Fire (1985)
Love is an illusion created by lawyer types like yourself to perpetuate another illusion called marriage to create the reality of divorce and then the illusionary need for divorce lawyers.

Straw Dogs (2011)
Not for the faint of heart but I love how James Marsden’s character sings along to tunes. He’s such a happy-go-lucky guy.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
I love me some Ents.

The Secret of NIMH (1982)
My first experience with lab rats when I was 10.

Transformers 3 - Dark of the Moon (2011)
I fell asleep. Seriously.

Walk All Over Me (2007)
I also fell asleep but only because I was sick. Need to re-run it.

White Irish Drinkers (2010)
Life for two Brooklyn brothers circa 1975.

There were a few other films this month but these you should watch or not.

#movies

EA, BioWare and LucasArts Usher in a Force in Online Games as Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Goes Live Today

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—A stunning Star Wars universe. Thousands of hours of gameplay. Gripping stories. Engrossing dialogue performed by hundreds of talented voice actors. BioWare, a label of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA), today is proud to turn on the servers for one of the most anticipated games of all time, Star Wars: The Old Republic, winner of over 100 awards from critics around the world.

One might think with a $135 million dollar budget, there would’ve been enough money to port it to something more than Windows.

#gaming #starwars

The condescending UI

I have a kneejerk reaction to most modern computer user interfaces (also, all microwave user interfaces). I’ve used plenty of excuses over the years: my “eye for design,” my love of minimalism, a sense of utility. Today, I finally put my finger on it, and it’s not just a desire for the-computer-as-pure-machine, or a spartan aesthetic. It’s quite simple, really: I don’t like the condescending tone.

I shudder when thinking about upgrading to Lion and the leathered iCal look. And the Classic Theme is where I immediately head with my WinXP VM installs.

#software

Some Unpopular Ideas About Drunk Driving

In most US law, intent is the key. For example, if you’re driving safely and accidentally crash into a school bus and kill all occupants you haven’t done anything wrong because your intentions were not malicious— it was an accident. Taken a step further, how is drunk driving any different? Driving at 2am is known to be somewhat dangerous (however probably far less dangerous than driving during rush hour), and I don’t think drunk drivers intend to do anything wrong any more than people who buy knives intend to stab people. So why the stigma?

There’s some valid points there. Read from top to bottom before passing judgement. ;-)

#justice

Caught a nasty bit of something starting the 4th and lasting heavily through the 9th. After missing nearly a full week of work, I needed to spend the bulk of this week playing catch-up and so accounts for the mid-December hibernation for tcrbang.com.

Now then, I feel like everything is back on track¹ and feel comfortable lolly gagging around the Internet.

I’ve a few Reader Submission that need posting and also a few thoughts on web developments² elsewhere. Luckily I manage my email quite well so that’s never an issue. ;-)

¹ Also am caught up with the TV shows

² Including the mess HP has made with webOS

#tcr

Anonymous writes:

I’ve always said that it bugs me that people talk about football like it’s important.

The tone of voice, the language, the emotion, the sheer amount of time they devote to it, is unsettling to me. I sense a subtle but not non-existent message that if I don’t share their opinion about it, that there is something wrong with me. Especially from men. I can’t count how many times conversations have been ended when I say bluntly that I don’t follow football and I don’t care.

It’s completely unavoidable to not say that there is a clear message of homophobia coming from many of them. Since I’m trying to be serious, I won’t say most, but I stand by many.

In my opinion, it’s not much of a leap to say that men that have this kind of attitude are making a LOUD statement about their own sexual problems. They admire, let’s face it, at least subtly worship men who want to wrassle and tackle and point butts at each other. These are all activities that are tops on my list of things I don’t want to do with other men.

As usual, I go overboard trying to make a point. I’ve suggested, and am not prepared to say in this piece how much I was joking or how serious I am, that football is a pantheon to homosexuality. Nothing more than a thinly disguised attempt to organize homosexuality.

I guess I want to go on record as saying that I stand by my exaggerations.

And this reverence for football (reverence was a careful word choice, and I can’t agree with it more) is to blame for the Sandusky-Penn State scandal. Hyphenating the names of Sandusky and Penn are intentional as hell. The aforementioned reverence makes the two inseparable.

The people who I’ve indicted in my opening paragraphs are to blame for this tragedy. Because they hold football, and therefore Sandusky, in reverence, they made it an offense, tantamount to heresy, to report a FOOTBALL HERO.

They helped rape children.

Think I’m wrong?

Why do you suppose presidents of universities, and other high ranking university officials have been fired? Held accountable.

Thinking people, people of conscience, know. There is something dreadfully wrong here. These are the kinds of days that change things. Religions are changed when someone says the emperor has no clothes. And in fact the reason he’s naked is to rape a boy.

#football