The Evil Eyebrow

Month: December 2007

  • Synchronization

    Today I hearken for the heady days of no electronics. Why? Because it’s really damn difficult to keep all of my gadgets and computers and infonodes synched up to current information. At the moment, I’ve given up a bit. My 5 year old PDA has kicked (sort of), and it’s a pain to try and synch my home computer calendar/contacts (Outlook) to my work computer calendar/contacts (Outlook). Jenn and I have just started using Google Calendar for most of our scheduling, plus there’s this wireless talkie device I have in my pocket. Like I said, At the Moment, none of these things talk to each other. Additionally, Jenn and I will more than likely be purchasing snazzy mo-bile dee vices come this spring when our two year committment to T-Mobile is up. Thusly another set of doo-dads to keep in contact. It’s a pain, and I’ve got to figure out where the main repositories need to be. They’re not going to be all in one spot, for example my work contacts generally happen at work so I can’t give up keeping info on my work computer, but then there’s no need for all of my personal contacts to be kept there (and backed up by the company, which bugs me a bit). My calendar has already made the jump to hyperspace by transferring to Google, but google calendar is still a bit flaky so I feel I need an offline (or at least off-web) version to view when necessary. This would optimally be both of my Outlooks, if I could get them to synch up with Google. It would be GREAT if I could get my phone to talk to everybody, but the phone I have now is memory-anemic and not up to the task, even if I had the cords and software to do it.

    I’m exploring a utility called ScheduleWorld that might allow me to do all of the above. I’ll let you know how it goes.

  • Wool-less Sheep

    According to a story I read this morning, the cost of shearing sheep is going up while the price of wool is going down. Therefore, more and more sheep farmers are going to woolless sheep in order to avoid the expensive shear every year.

    I hazard three conclusions from this article:

    • Sheep are being grown more for meat than for wool, nowadays?
    • Shearing is a requirement every year for wooly sheep?
    • There’s a breed of sheep without wool? Weird.

    If #2 is true, how did sheep ever survive in the wild? Why can’t the farmers just not shear their sheep every year? This begs for further investigation.

    As a last note, I don’t believe that I would have picked the word “woolless” if given the option. It’s a mouthful. I would have gone with “woolfree” because, though it might sound funny, it’s catchy.

  • "I Am Legend"

    We saw “I Am Legend” last night. Of all the movies to see on Christmas Day, this wasn’t a good one to pick. Not because it wasn’t an excellent movie; Will Smith did a fabulous job of portraying a man alone in a city full of monsters that want to eat him. No, it was because of the intensity. This movie drilled deep enough into my psyche that I (we!) had to go home and watch “The Parent Trap” while drinking rum-spiked hot chocolate in order to decompress.

    Spoilers ahoy! (more…)

  • "The Breakup" a.k.a. "Crap"

    Given our recent experience with movies (see “Shooter” a.k.a. “Crap”) it looks like I should start a new category for sucky movies called A.K.A. Crap.

    We watched The Breakup last night. The only redeeming quality was that we received it through NetFlix and we didn’t pay for the NetFlix subscription.

    One of these days, Vince Vaughn is going to play a character that doesn’t talk all of the time. And he’s going to play a character that isn’t precisely alike to all other movies he’s in. The dude is a one trick pony.

    As for the movie: it was so filled with stereotypes and relationship conceits that I felt like I was in High School. The only part that I felt they did well were the fights between Brooke (Jennifer Anniston) and Gary (Vince Vaughn) while their relationship was imploding. They were a perfect example of things going a bit too far, over and over, until there’s a huge pileup.

    Overall: Suckage. Don’t see it. It’s not a comedy even though that’s how they advertised it.

  • Presidential Politics

    At some point in the next several months, I’m going to have to decide who to vote for in the 2008 US Presidential Elections. I am a citizen, and it is my right and duty to vote.

    Usually, I’ll weight the issues and the stances the various candidates have taken on them. Plus I’ll allow for basic quirkiness and head-up-assitude.

    Unfortunately, some issues outweigh others. I must now declare that Mitt Romney will not receive a vote from me if he is selected to be the Republican party candidate. Why? From the NY Times:

    …and when Mitt Romney revealed in an interview that L. Ron Hubbard’s “Battlefield Earth” was one of his favorite novels.

    It is an unforgivable sin to call that piece of rotting crap a “favorite novel”. Although it gives me great warmth to think that L.R.Hubbard is spinning in his grave to have a Mormon [gasp] liking his stuff.

  • Upgrade to Windows XP!

    If you upgrade to windows XP, it will be worth your time.

    PS. The comments are also entertaining. Mostly they are pingbacks, but down near the bottom (at the moment) on Sunday, December 16, 2007 2:25 AM by Daniel P, there is this:

    I find this really irritating. I don’t like to resort to petty names and dememeaning insults, but, you bunch of caterwauling babies; deal with it. Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for XP. It’s not a question of if, it’s only a matter of when. Microsoft may have granted XP a stay of execution and even agreed to allow OEM licensure to continue, but XP’s days are numbered.

    At the end Daniel P summarizes his entire comment with “…get a grip.” I agree, Daniel. Do that.

    There there is this, by Scoobie “Doobie” Doobwah:

    Also, Microsoft is the name of the *company* you are referring to, not the companies, and so you should say Microsoft is not Microsoft are. Again, Word should probably underline that in green for you this time, which signifies your lack of basic grammar to compliment you fantastic vernacular. I’m using the word fantastic to mean “make believe” not “good” in this case.

    I didn’t realize that people still flamed others on blog postings over inconsequential grammar mistakes. I guess I was wrong.

    I need to surf more Microsoft vs. Apple boards because I’m obviously out of touch with the war.

  • Bush Hates Reality

    I’m ever so shocked to see this report by Henry Waxman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In brief:

    the Bush Administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of global warming

    Yeah. No big surprise. Now if only somebody in the Congress would do something instead of hanging around like a bunch of neutered puppies. America goes through all the effort and trouble to give the Democrats the Congress and then they sit around with their thumbs up their butts.

  • Lottery = Tax?

    A friend of mine jokes that state and multi-state lotteries are taxes on people who are bad at math. Given the odds of winning, he’s right, if you plan to use the lottery as a retirement vehicle. However, I will occasionally buy a quick-pick lottery ticket, when the prize gets up there in zeroes, because “Hey, You never know.” It’s fun to have the ticket in your wallet and think about what you might do with the winnings.

    Then there are people who spend untold amounts on lottery scratch off’s, yet occasionally hit it big. Like Phillip Young, who recently won $1,000,000 on a scratch off ticket. I’m very happy for him, but what appalled me about the story was what the store clerk had to say.

    Steve Rahman, manager of the Citgo, said Young stops by the convenience store several times a week and buys $30 to $40 in lottery tickets during each visit.

    Even if we assume that the manager exaggerated Mr. Young purchases by double, that’s still $50 a week minimum in scratch offs. If you invested that at a conservative 7%, you’d have your million dollars in about 45 years! That kind of spending on lotteries is what gives them a bad name amongst the regressive tax people. Given my assumptions, plus 10 years of spending on scratchoffs, Mr. Young has lost $38,500.

    So, good for Mr. Young, but I hope he develops some better spending habits.

  • "Shooter" a.k.a. "Crap"

    Jenn and I watched the Mark Wahlberg movie Shooter last night. Overall rating: Suckage.

    We are glad that we didn’t pay full theater price to see this one. It was chock full of holes in the plot and the acting. The only good thing that can be said about the movie are the settings and the cinematography. The director did an excellent job shifting settings from (apparently) Eritrea to the Rockies to Philadelphia to Kentucky to Virginia and back to the Rockies. But don’t see the movie for that reason. You’ll regret it.

    One other thing that the movie makers spent a lot of time on was realistic (I assume) blood and brain spatters after being head-shot by a rifle. The movie, after all, is about a marine sniper who is good at shooting people from a long way away. (spoilers ahoy, if you care) (more…)

  • Scalzi vs. Ipod

    Johns Scalzi sums up my opinions of the technologically closed system that is the Ipod.

    …no matter how cool and stylish every Apple product is, I sort of resent that they all drive you to suckle exclusively at Steve Job’s hairy manteat.

    Don’t get me wrong, I like my Ipod Nano, but I hate my slavery to Itunes, which totally sucks.