first it was a finger, now it's a robot.  soon their mech troops will be securing the streets.....  It must be a conspiracy like in the X-Files... *Roswell* style! This little monkey could be the f**kin' damn dirty ape responsible for the fall of the human race. In this world gone mad, we won't spank the monkey- the monkey will spank us. And after the fall of man, these monkey f**ks'll start wearing our clothes and rebuilding the world in their image. Oh and only those as super smart as me will be left alive to bitterly cry - *you maniacs*! Damn yous! Goddamn yous all to hell!

Just watched that movie again this weekend.

People who complain about AT&T's network and want to move to Verizon need to know that the reason AT&T's network is so bad is because of the iPhone.  Verizon has seen somewhat of a hit with Droid launching and I think if they took on the iPhone, their network would take a much bigger hit.  The fact of the matter is that the iPhone really changed mobile networking and AT&T just wasn't ready for it.

Everyone I know that complains about AT&T's network does so about their phone coverage, not their data coverage, and that has jackshit to do with the iPhone.  Coverage in L.A. is horribly uneven.  I know were a small market city with no football team of our own, but you'd think they might take a chance on us and throw up another tower or two.

Does Apple have some vested interest in not ever making a CDMA (Verizon-compatible) version of the iPhone? That's what I wonder.

Guess it is because of cost. Verizon and Sprint are one of the very few last remaining carriers to use CDMA in the world. Verizon is quickly heading towards LTE, which is a standard derived from GSM, and which will also eventually be used by AT&T and everyone else.

So why bother developing, and manufacturing, a separate line of iPhone only for one carrier, and only for a year or two, when Apple could manufacture one line of iPhones for the entire world?

I don't buy this line of reasoning.  Verizon has a pool of 80+ million potential customers, plus those of us that hate AT&T but want our iPhone.  Sell me a CDMA version now and I promise I'll buy an LTE version when it become relevant in two years.  Given the fact that Apple loves their incremental upgrade cycle, this is printing cash for them way beyond whatever development they'd have to do.  I'd think they'd be all over it, unless contractually bound otherwise.

Kind of confused as to all the hype on this iteration of the iPhone. There is nothing in that changes the general experience that you can't get already on a 3GS. And all the cool features for the new iPhone won't make it into the iPad until the fall. Only thing I can see is the front facing camera which, unless you are a total business person or something, would be used once a year or something.

IMHO, this is really the first major revision of the phone as I consider the previous changes merely incremental.  I currently have the 3G iPhone and I'm stoked about the specs for the new phone.  I recently had the opportunity to do side-by-side tests between my phone and a clients 3Gs and I was blown away that the processor upgrade made such a huge difference in simple things like opening apps and rendering web pages.  If they are running the same processor as the iPad then I will be very excited about upgrading.  That front facing camera means nothing to you and me, but every teen girl out there is flipping out at being able to use it.  The screen resolution doubled, and that's hot.  Like Blackjack said, developers are going to love having a better device to work with.

I may not care to use Android personally, but I dig the fact that it's widespread usage has really prompted Apple to step up to the plate this time.

That's weird, why isn't this optical illusion doing anything for me?

You can't see the sailboat?

The "terrible twos" are bad enough without the kid having nic fits as well.

now that i've used one for work over the last two months, i plan on making my next laptop a pro. 




with windows 7 bootcamped on it. 

I bought one of the new i7 15" MacBook Pros when they refreshed in April.  First thing I did was install Windows 7 on it...

...and I rarely boot to it.  OSX does a way better job of managing battery life.  I use it mainly for work related purposes and the OSX side handles that just fine.  Only when I want to play games do I head to Win7, and now with Steam on OSX we'll likely see more games released for it.  It does make an excellent Windows machine, though.

My point is, what is "true multi-tasking," and why does it matter?

True multi-tasking is that thing where your battery doesn't last you a whole day with moderate usage.

Power outages aren't really a concern as I can always charge it in my car.

Can you charge a cell phone tower via your car too?

[Spoiler]

So... on the transition from circle to triangle...

Spoiler for Hiden:

Did they ever mention a name for this "new element" he created to replace the Palladium he was using? Something catchy and original like Starkonium, perhaps?  

Spoiler for Hiden:

It's something we used to use in our DC Heroes games when we needed the rarest of rare elements: bullshitium.

The nice thing with the USB dongles is that they can be attached to USB extension cords if you aren't getting good reception where your computer sits.  It made a huge difference for one of my clients, who was getting no reception on a top end Linksys internal card, but the USB adapter + extension allowed me to move the adapter around his desk until he got great performance.  Until that point I was firmly in the "internal" camp.

I used to see some internal cards that had their antenna on extensions, but I haven't seen any in a while.

I have no clue how to tell if someone is doing karate vs. kung fu.

this

if they're dressed up as a ninja they're doing kung fu.  if they're dressed up as a samurai it's karate.

 

 

I want to play it again badly, unfortunately I was jaded by the simulation style play of the Activision titles. I still consider MW2:Mercenaries with the Titanium patch among my favorite games of all time. Played it with rudder pedals, a flight throttle and a mouse for aiming instead of stick... Still the ultimate combo for mech games.

That probably really dates me as a gamer. 

You aren't dated until you argue (like me) about how the first MechWarrior game had the best storyline of all of them and they should just remake that.

I was disappointed when the series started dumbing down the mech design lab.  As a fan of the tabletop game, making new mechs to bash your friends around with was almost as much fun as the actual bashing.

Here's another recap of it:

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/04/19/circumstances-surrounding-lost-next-gen-iphone-detailed/

Doofus who "mistakenly" left it was Gray Powell, supposedly an Apple software engineer.

Man, I used to live and work in Redwood City, I could have been the guy that found it!  So what would you do if it were you?

Immediately turn on "Airplane Mode" so the brick command from MobileMe can't come through.

I saw an early screening of the film.  I won't be able to say anything until closer to release.

Try posting while wearing a monocle, a fake handlebar mustache and speaking with a stuffy British accent.  They'll never know it was you!

so it's definite there's no 4G this year?

Depends on what you mean by "4G".  Apple may end up calling this the 4G phone (fourth generation).  If you mean using a 4G network, then no way.  AT&T can't even finish getting their 3G up in places they already claim to have.  Verizon, OTOH, has already rolled out in two cities and are expecting to be in 10-12 by the end of this year, so I'm hoping the rumors of a Verizon version of this phone coming out later this year are true.

ok, first thing I don't like: there's only 2 zoom levels.  all the way out means you cannot read any of the text.  am I missing something?

That's probably part of the reason why it renders so fast.  It's stupid fast loading websites through my wifi. 

Mother's Journal
Hunter Training Day 8
<sigh> Still at it. We've got a long road ahead of us.  Appears they got my looks and their father's brains.

With the limited size of the church, perhaps it would be better if there were no cops around that day.

4. It gets really annoying how stupid the Jedi are.  Week after week they do stupid things, are arrogant, are shortsighted, etc.  Heck you start to feel they deserve to be wiped out. 

Skipping your other points, I believe this is actually a major motif in the new trilogy. The Jedi Order has become convoluted, ritualistic, ineffective and blind. The new trilogy points these things out in some subtle and some less subtle ways, for example through the fact that they are unable to see Palpatine's plot under their very nose. They don't even allow their Jedi to love, which turns out to be a pointless and even dangerous (look at Anakin) gesture. Their prophecy says that Anakin will bring balance to the Force, but they don't realize that it will be through wiping out the Jedi Order (through Anakin) and then rebuilding it from scratch (through Luke) with new and improved ideals.

You carried the balance too far forward until it was out of balance again.  Vader/Palpatine vs. Obi-Wan/Yoda = balance.  Luke f'ed everything up again.

Still wondering how it can be called "Clash of the Titans" when it had no Titans in it, clashing or otherwise.  

?? Both the Kraken and Medusa were mentioned as Titans in the first movie. (specifically by the Witches)

You may already be a winner! /stuffed-ed

Had my first open water dive today...went to a depth of 40' for 41 minutes.

The scenery was simply phenomenal.  I was blown away by the colors, the variety of underwater plants, and the myriad of fish.  Most of them could've cared less that we were there.  I had expected all of them to give us a very wide berth.  We did have a videographer film our dive which was very cool.  The DVD will be ready on Monday.  I can't wait to see it!

Finish up the open water cert tomorrow, and then will press on to the advanced diver course in two weeks.

Thanks again for all the tips!

This is great to hear. You think you see colors now, wait till you do your first night dive - that really brings out some colors underwater.

+1.  All the critters that come out only at night are pretty damn cool.  The only annoying thing will be the continual "Jaws theme" soundtrack running continuously through your head.

My rear speakers no longer work since installing Win 7 64 bit. I've tried drivers from both Creative itself and one from somewhere listed here on the forums. Neither will let the back work. I have it set to 4.1 like I used to and the driver seems to think they are working. CMSS even lets me choose forward / back fader...but nothing comes out of the rears.

I have similar issues (Win7-64, Audigy 2zs).  From the googling I've done, Win7 apparently handles sound differently than WinXP did.  I can get all speakers working in games that support it (WoW, various FPS's) but for normal desktop sound like iTunes and Windows Media Player I can only get noise from the front speakers.  Drives me up the wall that I'm limited to two speakers when I want to crank my music.

Been PADI certified for about 10 years now (Advanced Open Water, though my buddy and I just signed up for the Rescue Diver course next month).  All my diving has been done in the cold waters off of Los Angeles, mostly the Catalina Island area.  If you get the bug for it I hope you have deep pockets; the goodies for this hobby ain't cheap.

Stay hydrated.  The compressed air you breathe has had all the moisture removed from it so you will get dry mouth/throat.
Crumsteel has it right when he said to go at your own pace and relax.  Rushing causes mistakes and you don't get to make too many of them down there without something really bad happening.
Take the time to really look around you during your first dives.  You'd be surprised on how much you miss out on because you're so focused on the sensation of diving.

regardless of how good I am at sales, I would really hate being on strictly commission.

Yea, it definitely isn't for everyone.  The upside potential is fantastic, and I have thankfully have a tendency to save a huge chunk of each paycheck and try and keep my wife reigned in so we can live below our means. 

Two Novembers ago my salary went away and sales completely dried up.  I lived off savings from November to March when I went with a new firm.  That was eye opening.  Thankfully, the new firm brought with it a new 1 year salary (which is what just went away). 

What would really suck is to be in sales and only have 1 or two sub-par things to sell.  Thankfully that isn't an issue.

Most people would be much better off if they learned to live below their means.

It's talk like this that will ruin our econo-... wait, let me re-think this.

"I tip everybody.  It's my philosophy."
"It's not tipping I believe in. It's overtipping."

- Vinny Antonelli

I thought of that line, too.  That philosophy usually pays pretty good dividends when I go out drinking.  The bartender will usually bring me a tumbler of whatever new bourbon or whiskey the distributors try to pitch to him when I sit down.

I usually tip a fiver.  The place I go does an outstanding job on the interior and to me it's worth the price of a couple beers at the bar.

anyone else skip straight to the performance data section?

 

Desperado

Beastie Boys: License to Ill

Pretty sure the little bastards are in that formation every time they fly over my freshly washed car. 

6 pack o' ho-ho's.

each.

Looks just like a Zune to me. 

That reminds me.  Note to MS - if you do not let this sync with OS X I will punch every MS employee I know in the balls.

I know many.  You have been warned.

And then punch them again for me. The Zune software not being available for OS X drives me fucking bonkers. So, so dumb.

You already drank the punch once and bought an overpriced computer.  Drink it twice and buy an overpriced mp3 player.

/iphone and ipod owner

a countdown to zero hour

Translation for the idiots among us?

I'm assuming that it's a binary representation of the countdown.

Knowing that, I still can't figure out how long until release.

Aw, that sucks.  He was always one of my favorites.  His health hasn't been doing well for a while though.  I'm pretty surprised he went back out last season.  He didn't seem like the kind of guy who could just sit back and take care of himself.  The show won't be the same without him.  I wonder which of his sons gets the boat.

I believe that Phil was a partner with someone else in owning the boat.  It will all depend on what the partnership papers dictate.

This kinda bums me out.  I really look forward to each new season and Phil's boat and crew are one of the highlights for me.  Gonna be weird watching the new season and knowing that he dies during the second half.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=rugdeveien+39+bergen&sll=59.913801,10.73882&sspn=0.000449,0.001635&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Rugdeveien+39,+5097+Bergen,+Hordaland,+Norway&ll=60.360883,5.369267&spn=0.000881,0.00327&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll

Not a picture, per se, but a series of pictures.  Head East down the street and watch what happens.

You needed to be a little more clear.  Head East down the road, but look West (out of the "back window").

Are the Google camera vans (or whatever) marked as such?  I've seen quite a few pre-organized gatherings ready for the drive by.

US - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
UK - Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) - Edison Lighthouse

A boring day in the world of music.

That site would be a lot more useful if the idiot didn't randomly re-post the same entries a hundred times.  There are some smoking women on there but I get tired of wading through the same pictures over and over trying to find a different set.

The price was a little high, but I'm still absolutely in love with my HP LP2475w...

I bought one of these myself last year.  Everything about it has been first rate.  I use it for my PC and also have my X360 hooked up to the HDMI port.