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TwitterThe Truth Hurts
16 May 2011 No Comments
in Politics, Rants, Religion, Video Tags: Christians, hypocrisy, war
Hulu Plus; more of the same
29 Jun 2010 No Comments
in Rants, Technology, Video, Web Tags: business, hulu, television
Is it any wonder broadcasters are afraid of the Internet? They don’t even understand it. Exhibit most recent: Hulu Plus, a $10 per month service which allows you to watch current and back-catalogs of television shows like X-Files, Modern Family, and others. Oh, wait, a $10 per month “ad-supported” service, something Hulu considers “revolutionary” and a price-point about which they’re “thrilled”.
Which would be great if they only had to eat their own dog food. But here in the real world, with services like Netflix already providing ad-free streaming (to more devices), the value proposition for Hulu Plus seems smaller. Add to this the ability to already see the same shows available on Hulu Plus through regular Hulu (with the same ads), things are looking oddly… off.
The big sell here is that you can watch all currently available episodes of a show, not just the three or five trailing episodes many shows currently allow. But, with movie studios clinging to old markets and training consumers that they’re going to have to wait for releases, people using the convenience of the Internet to view media are more and more willing to wait.
Essentially, Hulu Plus is almost 3 years too late with this idea. The market has better offerings with more value. Unfortunately, if Hulu Plus fails, look for calls of piracy and consumer readiness as reasons. Never mind the complete lack of any value presented and the complete ignorance of what consumers actually want.
Responding to the National Organization for Marriage
09 Apr 2009 No Comments
in Politics, Rants Tags: fundies, gays, Politics, Religion, same-sex marriage
While this feels like feeding the trolls, here we go…
The National Organization for Marriage, in case you’ve been living under a rock, recently started their campaign to “defend” marriage. As with many cultural issues, this one is another case study in logical fallacies, a complete misunderstand of one’s own belief system, and reasoning so flawed it would be hilarious if they weren’t dead serious.
This video (I refuse to embed it) is making the rounds, with the kind of fearmongering usually reserved for Those People. With a host of actors, NOM insinuates all kinds of tragedy and falsehoods about what “gay marriage” would cause. My favorite is the argument that, because a same-sex couple may be married, a doctor somehow has to make some awful choice between faith and profession. Here’s a quick reference line for later, doc (who’s not actually a doctor, BTW): If you have a hard time choosing between what’s right medically or morally and what’s preached on Sunday for anyone, you may have chosen the wrong profession.
But my favorite portion on NOM is the FAQ on their site. With language like “threaten marriage” or “San Francisco-style judges” or making a clear distinction between “moms and dads” and “parents”, the page reads like the dance instruction pattern for How to Tap-dance Around My Bigotry.
I was going to do a point-by-point, but frankly I want to say a couple things and then be done.
Recent articles in the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek discussed the recent declines in religious worship and participation in the church. National Organization for Marriage, you are the poster child for why this is happening. You are the latest face of a sect in this country that has perverted faith and belief into a discriminatory political force. You are the people that have turned a large portion of an entire generation against the very ideals you claim to support because your message is filled with hate, and bile, and lies. You are the smirking face of bigotry which claims, like a child caught in a lie, that that wasn’t really what you meant.
You are, in short, doomed to irrelevance in a world that will cease to care about you or your cause. It will take a while because, like all hysterical ninnies who refuse to grow up, we–my generation–will have to force you into tolerance, much as our parents’ generation forced the bigots before you to accept civil rights.
Let me explain why you’re doomed, because I think you’re not sure. From Progressive States:
Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal has gained some well-deserved youtube stardom for his extremely thoughtful remarks on the Senate floor. Responding to a request to suspend the rules and co-sponsor a leadership bill to amend the state constitution to overturn the decision, Majority Leader Gronstal replied:
“One of my daughters was in the workplace one day, and her particular workplace at that moment in time there were a whole bunch of conservative, older men. And those guys were talking about gay marriage. They were talking about discussions going on across the country. And my daughter Kate, after listening to it for about 20 minutes, said to them: ‘You guys don’t understand. You’ve already lost. My generation doesn’t care.’ I think I learned something from my daughter that day, when she said that. [Watch the video here or by clicking on the image above.]
Support for marriage equality has been growing among the whole population, but the fact is that a clear majority of Americans age 18-34 support same-sex marriage by a margin of 51-40 according to a December 2008 Newsweek poll (reflecting many other surveys), meaning that when it comes to full equality for GLBT Americans the question is not if, but when.
Your actions cement that future every day because you turn people like me into advocates.
9/10/08
10 Sep 2008 No Comments
in Rants Tags: 9/11, patriotism
Tomorrow is 9/11, Patriot Day. No politics. No partisanship. A day of remembrance.
Today, however, being 9/10 it’s worth noting that Osama Bin Laden still walks this Earth in relative freedom. It’s worth noting that, seven years later, 9/11 has become the emotional wedge used for the repression of our freedoms in the name of “security”. It’s worth noting that 9/11 has become the iron that one side uses to brand the other as cowards or traitors.
Tomorrow, we will remember those who died in and around the towers, as they deserve. Tomorrow, we should forget our politics, like we did seven years ago. But we won’t, because we can’t. The scars of that day are still very fresh in the minds of many, but only because we never stop picking at them.
Instead, tomorrow we’ll see countless editorials about the importance of various laws, programs, and policies. Tomorrow we’ll hear that, somehow, by supporting a certain political party, we’re somehow supporting terrorism. Tomorrow we’ll see opinions that don’t just border on jingoism, but relish in it. Tomorrow, instead of honoring the dead, we’ll use them to further the power of the living.
2 years ago, Keith Olberman sat in front of the hole in the ground at Ground Zero and used that backdrop to highlight the corruption of the goodwill that followed the attacks on the World Trade Center. Today, new buildings may be rising in their place, but the rhetoric and fear-mongering continues unabated. Reading or watching that comment is as relevant today as it was then.
So, tomorrow, I will not post about the election or any of the idiotic or maddening articles I will read. I will not talk about George Bush, John McCain or Barack Obama. I also will not parade myself around in a flag to prove my patriotism or allow anyone to disparage someone who dissents.
But today, I will unequivocally say that I believe, firmly believe, that this country has lost its way in the last seven years. I will not pretend that my life is more secure than it was on September 10, 2001. I will continue to wish that every soldier were home from Iraq and that no more were being deployed there. And I will continue to be angry at the way a national tragedy has been turned into a cultish denunciation of anyone who dare offer opposing opinions on how we should run one of the most powerful countries on the planet.
We, none of us, will ever forget 9/11. Some have just forgotten what it was like before.
There's a Surprise – Granholm calls for seating Democratic delegates
05 Mar 2008 1 Comment
in Michigan, Politics, Rants Tags: democrats, drama, Michigan, Politics
The governors of Michigan and Florida are saying it’s increasingly important that delegates from the two states be seated.
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Florida Governor Charlie Crist say it’s “reprehensible” the voices of 5.2 million people who voted in the two primaries would be silenced.
They say it’s “intolerable” that the Democratic National Committee has stripped the states of their delegates for moving up their primaries in violation of DNC rules. [emph mine]
No, Governors, what’s reprehensible is both of you placing those delegates in jeopardy in the first place. Pretending the rules don’t apply to you is intolerable. It’s almost as if this was all a political gamble to pocket some delegates for your candidate.
The thing that chafes my butt about the entire drama is that this was done in flagrant violation of known rules. The DNC had told both states not to do what they went ahead and did anyway. And now, when it’s dire for Hillary Clinton, now the delegates in Michigan will go to the only candidate who, by an amazing co-incidence, was the only Democrat on the ballot.
It all stinks and none of either states’ delegates should be seated.
Governors of Michigan, Fla. call for seating Democratic delegates
Worst User Experience Ever – Vista
25 Oct 2007 No Comments
in Rants, Signs of the Horsemen, Technology
My next computer is very likely to be a Mac at this rate. For every feature of Vista that I like (native search), some idiotic thing just pisses me right off.
Tonight, it’s iTunes on Vista. Now, before you get all bent out of shape that it’s the fault of the app developer, I gotta go with this being Vista’s fault.
First, I’ve lost my iTunes library no fewer than 3 times since moving to Vista 4 months ago. It’s a pain in the ass to recovery from that because something on Vista makes iTunes take forever to write library changes (no idea what). I could easily chalk that up to an iTunes fault (and, actually lean that way), but iTunes works on my XP boxen just fine at the same version; what’s so frackin’ hard about Vista?
But tonight, tonight it’s Vista’s fault. As I continue to reload my entire library of videos into iTunes–again–I noticed that some videos I newly converted won’t play on my Vista box. They played fine on the Mac that made them, on the XP box I use at work, and on another XP box of a colleague.
After getting a Quicktime error on a file I know worked on this Vista box as recently as Monday, I hit Google. And, lo and behold, I found this:
As soon as I "Safely Removed" the USB FlashDrive, thereby turning off "ReadyBoost", al 14 files loaded properly into iTunes, and played properly in Quicktime. [source]
Wouldn’t yah know it, I had plugged in a USB drive for the ReadyBoost benefits just this week. I unload the USB drive, double-click a file that had just failed on me and BAM it works.
That is, frankly, absolutely fucking stupid. What does or could ReadyBoost have to do with playing video files on Quicktime? Anyone?
So, now ReadyBoost is worthless to me, I still have to reload my entire library in iTunes, and I’m pissed. Working the checklist of new features in Vista, they’re not really helping me out much. ReadyBoost? Unusable. UAC? Please; disabled. Sidebar? Aside from a clock and the weather, the gadgets are worthless (and development is anemic).
Congratulations Microsoft; when I have the money, you’ve likely lost another long-time customer.
What Stops You from Posting?
19 Jul 2007 No Comments
I just deleted a draft of a post because it was related to my job. Yes, this is my personnel space and yes, I should feel open to say what I want.
But I didn’t. I had a long, well-linked post about a vendor related to my current work. It’s not the vendor we work with, it’s not even a company my group officially has a relationship with. But, and here’s what stopped me, people at my institution do have relationships with the company. I may cross paths with these people. The grants world isn’t that small. You see where this could lead.
I hate that I deleted it, even though it was probably the smart thing to do. Best case, I was on record with a flamer of a post. Worst case, I’d have dealt with that post for years.
God I hate politics.
The Founding Fathers on God
24 May 2007 No Comments
A comment on another post to the effect that this country was founded on religion tweaked me a little bit. So, here’s some reading to get the perspectives of some of our founding fathers.
The Founding Fathers Speak Out on God, Religion and the First Amendment
Seperation of Church and State
Notes on the Founding Fathers and the Separation of Church and State (from a theology school)
The Founding Fathers Were Not Christians (Free Inquiry article)
This was from a very basic Google search. As religious teachers are keen to say, ignorance of your sin is not an excuse for it. Falsely claiming a common viewpoint with people of immeasurable importance without doing your research is just as damning.
The Shame of The Nation
19 Oct 2006 No Comments
Magna Carta required the king to renounce certain rights, respect certain legal procedures and accept that the will of the king could be bound by law. Link
Oh how far we have fallen. Tuesday will be remembered as one of the saddest days in the legislative life of this country. Tuesday, by law, the President (a single, elected official) has the ability to indefinitely detain, incarcerate and torture anyone. Anyone. All this frothing about how it’s only aliens is a cover to the real, central issue. Today, representatives of your rights allowed your right to be taken away. Watch Olbermann for the scenario where you’re the one who gets picked up as an “unlawful combatant”.
It is immoral, it is reprehensible, and it is a travesty to the memory of hundreds of thousands of fallen men and women who laid down their lives so this generation, the generation currently buckling to the war-mongering power grabs of a corrupt government, can claim to live in safety.
This country should be more than ashamed. This country should be more than guilt-stricken. This country should be in mourning. Mourning the passing of ideals. Mourning the passing of the American dream. Mourning the death of Freedom.
- We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.
Indeed, we have lost the ability to evaluate our own minds, or hold thoughts that go beyond our small sphere of effect. Most Americans will not feel the impact of this law, either for good or bad. But the American people have allowed a precedent to be set. We have allowed our government to strip our freedoms without so much as a march or a thought of opposition. We yawned in the face of a President granting himself almost dictatorial powers. Those who stood up for the ideals were labeled as lovers of terrorism or, worse and most ironically, traitors.
I say this with all sincerity. I would rather a dozen terrorists go free than one person be held in my name and be tortured by mistake.
We have one tool left to fight this despicable turn of events: we can still vote. Despite faulty machines, an overwhelming voice cannot be tampered with. We can’t vote out the President, but we can vote out anyone who supported him in this bid to wipe out the basic freedoms all Americans enjoyed, up until yesterday.
Michiganders, Pete Hoekstra supports this policy. Vernon Ehlers, David Camp, Fred Upton, John Schwarz, Michael Rogers, Joseph Knollenberg, Candice Miller, and Thaddeus McCotter all support this policy. Debby Stabenow, a Democrat, supports this policy. Every one of them deserves to be voted out of office.
Countrymen, find your representative on either the House or Senate voting records. If they voted Aye, vote them out. This is not how America thinks. This is not how America acts. Have we learned nothing from the past? Are we so blind that party loyalty is all we see? If you are religious, is this how your god wants you to treat your fellow man, as a punching bag? No level of safety is worth compromising our conscience. No enemy is so dangerous that we have to wound ourselves in their pursuit. If we, as a country, believe that the ends justify the means then the “war on terror” is already lost.
How would a Technical Writer phrase "Idiotic Omission"?
04 Oct 2006 No Comments
in General, Rants, Technology
In a former life, I was a technical writer. Scratch that, I was a damn good technical writer, the lack of appreciation from one Southeast Michigan-based employer not withstanding. I dreaded every minute spent writing a manual, help system, or technical spec. But I was damn good at doing it.
That said, it’s not hard to be a technical writer. It is hard to be a good technical writer, however. So, to all you struggling tech writers, take this small piece of advice from a tech writer turned pseudo-developer/business process analyst: every blurb of documentation you put out should lead to a measurable outcome. Yes, you have to do the expository “this is why we built it this way” crap, but if I can’t act on the information you put out, that information is worthless – documentative lint, if you will.
This post brought to you by two weeks of frustration caused by bad documentation. Frustration, I might add, that was cleared up by a 5 minutes phone call with a very accessible Subject Matter Expert.