After finding that iTunes 7.3 pinned my processor to 99% utilization for no explicable reason, I decided to download 7.3.1. What a nightmare this once useful software has turned into. It’s bad enough that I have to endure a complete Quicktime reinstall that is slipgraded with every new version of iTunes (and having to delete the unwanted qttask.exe every fucking time), now I have to deal with iPhone bullshit as well. I don’t have an iPhone, so I don’t need any special software or services associated with it. iTunes has become bloated and irritating load of crap.
July 23, 2007
July 21, 2007
Cold Brew Iced Coffee
So, I tried the cold-brew iced coffee technique. To pull it off, I simply took a french press coffee maker, put the usual amount of coffee in, added water and allowed it to brew overnight. By morning (when I do most of my coffee consumption) the coffee was ready. A french press is particularly well-suited to this technique as it has a built in filter.
There is definitely something of a difference between the hot brewing and cold brewing processes. In particular, I did find that the acidity was much lower. This method of brewing emphasizes the sweetness and the richer chocolate flavors that many coffees exhibit under the right circumstances. So, it’s definitely worth a try.
July 20, 2007
Safest Seats
Common sense would direct you to sit in the back of the plane if you were trying to increase your chance of surviving an albeit unlikely crash. Turns out that statistical analysis indicates that this is true, that is, your likelihood of survival seems to increase if you sit further back in the cabin. Nevertheless, I’d still prefer to sit in first class most of the time.
Meth Check
ABC news has a story about another breach of privacy – police officers checking up on your decongestant purchases.
July 18, 2007
Cell Phone Tracking
Your privacy is being eroded in a number of ways. One of which is that almost everybody these days is carrying around a tracking device, that is, a cell phone. While it’s helpful tool in criminal investigations, the potential for misuse is considerable. “Bluejacking” is an example of one of the more mischievous attacks. This following is a pretty good overview of how cell phones can be used to track your location.
July 17, 2007
The “Homeland”
Something about referring to the United State of America as the “Homeland” has always sounded a little odd, perhaps even a tad fascist. I’m not alone in this apparently. Wired’s Threat Level blog has a post today, There’s No Such Thing as the Homeland that helps put a point on it:
People who write and think of their country as the Homeland with a capital H tend to think that they can redefine torture, ignore international treaties, fund disinformation efforts to keep morale high, launch wars based on hunches and emphasize the power of the executive branch because they consider themselves the good guys who are the only ones who know what’s right for the country. They only want to protect the Homeland, don’t you see? The vocabulary is symptomatic of a rigid, nationalistic world view.
But even more apt:
There is no such thing as a Homeland. The United States is not Franco’s Spain, the National Socialist Party’s Germany, or Mussolini’s Italy. We do not face imminent destruction of our country or way of life.
The final assertion, of course, is arguable from a number of points of view. In particular, it is our reaction to terrorism that threatens our way of life.
Greatest Video Game Scandals
Not terribly in depth, but here’s a list of the “Gaming’s 10 Biggest Scandals.” In other news, video games are good for you.
July 16, 2007
Why impeachment could be a non-partisan issue
Opinion polls indicate that public support for impeachment is at a high point. But whether this idea runs along partisan lines is to miss the point. Bush & Cheney are the architects of a massive increase in executive powers and they achieved it long before the latest outrages, namely Cheney’s assertion that the Office of the VP is not part of the executive branch and that executive privilege universally trumps the Congress’ power to investigate. The Constitutional check to the potential despotism of the executive branch is the rarely used power of impeachment. According to John Nichols if there was ever a time to use it, that time is now, I think this quote neatly sums up what is at stake:
“On January 20th, 2009, if George Bush and Dick Cheney are not appropriately held to account this Administration will hand off a toolbox with more powers than any President has ever had, more powers than the founders could have imagined. And that box may be handed to Hillary Clinton or it may be handed to Mitt Romney or Barack Obama or someone else. But whoever gets it, one of the things we know about power is that people don’t give away the tools.” — John Nichols
For more on this see Tough Talk on Impeachment.
I still love Beware of the Blog
WFMU revives an obscure bit of Velvet Underground lore. Lou Reed got his start writing music for a pseudo-Brill Building outfit and wrote and recorded a novelty single titled “The Ostrich.” The band recorded as “The Primitives” and also featured John Cale. It basically sounds like one of VU’s goofier singles. You can listen to it here.