Midspot

I have avoided myspace like the plague since it went live. I saw all the poorly designed pages with music playing and blinking crap everywhere. Nothing but teenagers whining about parents and curfew…

A bloody nightmare!

So I also stayed clear of all the other knock-offs that have come out since (Friendster, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). I figured they are just another myspace with a different domain name, right?

But am I missing out? There must be a reason why everyone is on all these “social networking” sites, right? Are their lives that lonely where they all have to gather online in flocks? At sites that look as though they were designed by four year olds, none-the-less?

Today I got invited (again) to join Facebook. This one used to be just for college kids, but has since expanded to allow others in as well. I think anyway! Sometimes it is hard to keep up with all the buzz!

I hear that Facebook is a lot better looking than myspace without all the blinking ads and sound and crap.

My question is should I try it? Why can’t we all just have our own blog and read each others? Why do we need “friends” on our myspace/facebook/etc page? Is it really just another high school popularity contest?

Technorati Tags: Facebook, myspace, friendster, linkedin, social networking

Ever wonder which countries don’t use the Metric system?

There must be quite a few if the US still does, right?

Think Again

Three.

That’s it. The US and three others.

I remember when the US was considering it years ago but figured it would be too hard for the society to convert.

Maybe it would be easier now, since immigration has increased our Metric friendly visitors from the south…

Technorati Tags: Metric, system

I have a couple of accounts with Sharebuilder.com.

I think they have a good, if not great service for the money. They have extremely low trade prices through their auto-invest feature and commission fees are low also.

The thing that bugs me about them?

Their website only works in Internet Explorer. Not Firefox, not Opera, nothing. (Notice how I only linked the browser I like?!)

Being a Linux user 98% of the time this aggravates me. This, Quick Books, and Visual Studio are the only 3 reasons that I even use Windows any more. I would like to get this down to only two reasons…

Technorati Tags: Quick Books, Opera, IE, Firefox, Sharebuilder

I have been named XMod MVP!

This is quite the honor. I have been assisting with XMod and am big fan of this great DotNetNuke module pretty much since release.

The XMod users are a great community to belong to. If you are a DNN user I highly recommend this module addition to your toolbox. Go get it at Snowcovered.

Technorati Tags: XMod, MVP, dnndev

A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled that server computer’s RAM is a tangible document that can and must be turned over in a lawsuit.

Yeah, I’ll let that sink in.

Completely stupid, huh?

Yeah, I thought so too.

You mean to tell me that all the random garbage that goes through RAM (random access memory) is now physical evidence?

This is another great case of complete ignorance in the courtroom. The judge obviously has now idea how computers work or they would not have made such a stupid ruling.

This made me think of other areas of justice that may be lacking due to incompetency:

What about murder trial lawyers/judges that were once affected by a murderer? (Had someone close murdered, etc) How about a DUI prosecutor that had their child killed by a drunk driver? Victim of rape ruling on pornography charges? (I was going to say victim of child molestation ruling on pedophiles, but there is no reason that the prosecutor should go easy on those slime bags…)

You cannot tell me that circumstances like those above would not affect their decision making process.

Years ago when I was still eighteen, I was arrested for driving under the influence.

It was stupid. If I could change it I would.

It doesn’t change my perception of the law since that night though. That wrecked my life for many years. The high insurance, the losing the license for 90 days, the opportunities that I missed due to it (not legal to go to Canada, job discrimination, etc).

If I were to sit on a jury in a drunk driving case there would have to be physical damage to life or property (mostly life) or the defendant would have to have been doing something mighty stupid (excessively speeding) for me to vote to convict them.

If they were pulled over due to a taillight out and the officer suddenly found out they were drinking after pulling them over, no way. I would not wreck someones life over that.

I know I’ll probably get comments over this one, but that is the truth. And anyone that has gone through similar circumstances would do the same thing. So go ahead, comment away.

I love how people get all high and mighty over themselves, but when it comes down to it, people would react the same way if they had gone through it or it had happened to them.

Technorati Tags: court, ruling, judge, computer

Everyone complains about how expensive bottled water is and what a rip off it is.

That may be true but let’s consider the logic behind it:

• Bottled water is for the most part distributed by soda bottling companies – if bottled water was cheaper than soda it would take away from their other products and hurt profits.
• Convenience – bottled water is a lot more convenient than tap water. I can fry my own hamburger but isn’t going to the local burger joint a lot more convenient?
• Easier to travel with – it is a lot easier to take a bottle that closes watertight with you than a sports bottle with a straw that leaks if knocked over…
• They fit in cup holders – some/most sports bottles don’t
• It is a healthy alternative to soda – while traveling it is hard to refill your sports water bottle just anywhere and then you have to carry it with you once it’s empty until the next refill

I don’t know about you, but once you look at why people buy bottled water the price point at which to purchase it becomes mute…

Technorati Tags: bottled water, water, price, economy

As part of its stepped-up efforts against file-sharing on college campuses, the RIAA has begun filing lawsuits against college students who don’t take advantage of the group’s discounted settlement offer. A student at Boston University is fighting back, challenging the RIAA’s system of filing John Doe lawsuits in order to discover the names connected to IP addresses uncovered by the music industry’s investigators. more…

I really think that if the RIAA would take their head out of the sand and start running their company like other companies in corporate America where they don’t sue their customers, the whole file sharing thing would diminish.

How about charging a decent price for a song? Like 10-25 cents a track?

I tell you one thing, if music was truly affordable to the masses there would not be as much piracy…

Technorati Tags: music, RIAA, piracy

I admit it.

I have turned into a Linux zealot.

But not without good cause.

You see, there was a time when I though Windows was great, same for the Mac. I still think the Mac is a great platform but it is becoming Windows little by little.

I recently gave Vista the boot on the laptop I bought back in January.

I loaded Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) instead.

Now I finally feel productive again. Vista was cool with all the neat graphics and stuff but I really couldn’t get anything done. Virtualization required turning off all the fancy Aero glass stuff, which is the big separator between XP and Vista anyway. This Aero stuff also messed up Quickbooks and a few other programs.

What really blew me away is that the laptop came with a remote to run the media center stuff on your TV via an S cable connection.

I tried it. It didn’t work. Out of the box anyway. I couldn’t get the picture to sync up.

I hooked it up on Linux again last night. There it was clear as day. No fuss.

It’s also funny after you use Linux for awhile you become accustomed to it “just working”. If you need to do this or that on your computer, the tool is already built in or just an “apt-get” away.

On a fresh copy of Windows, the list of software I install before I can even use it is a day’s chore.

On Linux I can do 90% of my daily tasks from a live cd!

No malware, no viruses, no headache.

Why can’t Windows be this easy?

Technorati Tags: linux, ubuntu, Windows

The big Corral Campout is this weekend. Usually I’m ready to roll for this event but I’m not sure that I will make it down this year.

What it is, is a big appreciation event for all the customers of Corral RV (where I bought my camper).

Since we lost a full week siding the house I just feel like there is so many things to do that I would not enjoy myself if I left for 3-4 days…

Also the temperature is supposed to be in the 90’s, and the last time we went when it was that hot a couple years ago, it was just plain miserable…

You never know though, I might bust out there for a day or two, depending on how things go…

Technorati Tags: camping, Corral RV

I am overjoyed to say that the Motorola Q I was using it long gone.

On Saturday I stopped by Verizon and they hooked me up with a Blackberry 8830 World Edition for $100 less than I though I would pay.

I haven’t looked back since.

This thing is awesome. Video, audio, and picture support. MicroSD card slot. Very user friendly. Awesome battery life.

Finally a phone I love.

Don’t get me wrong my Blackberry 7250 was a great device but lack of video and expandable memory left me wanting…

Technorati Tags: Blackberry, 8830, phone, Verizon