Technically, if You Quit You’re a Quitter July 18, 2009
Posted by jacobsrussell in Liberal Replete.add a comment
Obviously, this story is not hot off the presses. But there is value to hold back a bit and make your point a little more soberly. Now that the vodka is back in the fridge, I can proceed. I like that so many people have been unpacking the possibilties of this story. It takes care of a lot of work for me. Thanks, folks. For the record, my news sources of choice are: Slate.com, CNN, BBC World News, Andrew Sullivan, Fivethirtyeight.com, Yahoo, Google, and NPR (yes, I also watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report, but I hesitate to call them “news sources” despite all their Peabodys). So far the theories of what she’s up to are thus:
She’s clearing the decks for a 2012 or 2016 run for President.
Obviously possible, and the clear favorite amongst the general public, and I imagine is a nightly fantasy of DNC leadership. The narrative here is that Sarah got a taste of the big leagues and now thinks she’s got a shot at the White House now that she doesn’t have McCain weighing her down. The big criticism of this narrative is that running with less than a full term of being governor of the weirdest, and most self-run state, in the Union is not the sort of poly-cred you’d need to make a successful run. It will hurt her more than help. The counter-criticism there is “yeah, but she’s dumb enough not to know that.” While that may be true, I don’t think it’s likely that she wants to be president. Maybe she’s got lofty dreams of making her mark in history as the first female president. Maybe. Maybe she’s got sycophanitc idiot advisors telling her that they can make it happen. Almost certainly. I just don’t think that she thinks she can pull off a presidency. Politically, I think she’s much more likely to run for the Senate. She may consider the House to be beneath her now, but a term or two as senator, followed up by a cushy appointment by the next Republican president, and she’d be happy to call that a career. Fivethirtyeight.com posted an interesting articlecomparing her fundraising abilities to Obama’s, though admittedly on a smaller scale. Personally, I don’t think she’ll be able to raise the money she wants which will make the Senate vs. White House decision for her.
Pattie Maes and the Sixth Sense July 18, 2009
Posted by jacobsrussell in ID10T Error.add a comment
No, this has nothing to do with the movie. A friend of mine showed me this video from Ted.com. I was quite blown away.
If you work in the tech-support industry, like me, be warned. The user community will be asking us to support these in five years. In ten years a device like this will simply be the expected standard. In short, the device combines a hand-held computer, projector, camera, phone, and some colored tape on your hands. What it does is allow you to turn every surface, object, or person you meet into your own personalized interface. Obviously the prototype needs work, but it will revolutionize mobile information technology.
If, by the time you read this, the video has been moved, just run a search at Ted.com for “sixth sense”.
The Lego Fallacy June 15, 2009
Posted by jacobsrussell in ID10T Error.Tags: cross-platform issues, tech-support
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Lego Fallacy: the erroneous belief that any computer-related device, software, or file will integrate into any other computer system. — Me, May 27th, 2009
This is the concept/term that I posted on Twitter a few weeks ago. Once upon a time, someone who was working on a MacIntosh just assumed that they would never, ever be able to get their stuff to work on a Windows machine, and vice versa. While both Apple and Microsoft have worked fairly hard to build a bridge between their respective platforms, there’s still a long way to go. And yet for some reason, the idea that a device, software, or file might not migrate well across platforms seems to have left the public consciousness completely.
I guess the assumption is that since we seem to exchange e-mail, Word docs, and Excel Spreadsheets across platforms easily enough, that videos, jump drives, and databases should all be ready to go as well. This is not a safe assmption, folks. I can’t tell you the total man-hours and overall effort I’ve seen wasted because someone pulled together a meeting of very important people into a room with a laptop and a projector, couldn’t get it to work, and somehow the technician who they called on zero-notice couldn’t get it to work either. This is one of the most common complaints in the tech support industry that people actually expect us to solve these problems in a few minutes while everyone waits. Let me offer you this bullet-pointed advice:
- If you can get the presentation, video, or whatever on disk - do it - give your tech support person at least a few days to see if it will work.
- Make sure that your support technician can test the disk or file(s) on the actual equipment you will be using during the pesentation.
- If the webcast or presentation that you want to see/show to the group does not require input and interaction from you to work — don’t bother trying to see it/show it live. Get a disk when it’s over, have it mailed to you, and test it before calling in the group to see it.
- If you cannot be bothered to follow the above advice, don’t be surprised when it doesn’t work and give your support technician and the assembled group an apology. You owe them that much for wasting their time.
True Believer, The Completely Made-Up Memoirs of Stan Lee June 15, 2009
Posted by jacobsrussell in Chicken-Heads, Ulnar Nerve.Tags: geek culture, Humor, Jack Kirby, Marvel comics, satire, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
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(Note: this was a humorous idea I came up with one day on a lark. Just pretend that the whole thing is a narration by Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, etc. Enjoy.)
People are always asking me what it was like in the old days of Marvel working with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and the rest. In the past my responses have always been the rosy-cheeked “it was the time of my life” and “they were great” and so on. While this was basically true, there were aspects to life at Marvel working with those guys that I’ve never told the public about. Now that time has passed, and certain envelopes are now in my possession again, I feel free to divulge the full truth of Marvel in its heyday. The other side of Marvel. Dark Marvel, if you will. So read on, true believer, if you dare!
Adam and Eve as a Model for Marriage June 15, 2009
Posted by jacobsrussell in Liberal Replete.Tags: adam and steve, gay marriage equality, lgbt, Politics
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Painting from Manafi al-Hayawan (The Useful Animals), depicting Adam and Eve. From Maragh in Mongol Iran, 1294-99
“God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
This is a common slogan that actually started with the Moral Majority in the late 1970s to protest the advancements of the fledgling post-Stonewall Gay Rights Movement. Back then the objectives of the movement were to simply be able to walk down the street as openly gay and not be beaten to death or arrested, or both. These days the meme of Adam and Eve vs Adam and Steve is being recycled by those appointed by the LORD as stewards of this world, to protest Adam and Steve’s attempts to enjoy the same marriage rights as the rest of us.
The most obvious flaw in that statement is easy enough to spot. Unless you believe that homosexuals are created by Satan - and even the most fervent of fundamentalists and conservatives do not believe that - then Adam and Steve were, in fact, created by God. There is a slightly less obvious flaw to this argument, however. It’s subtle nature is owed the fact that it’s central idea is implied instead of openly expressed; the idea that we, as a society, should only approve of biblical models of marriage. “Marriage as it has been since the beginning of time” is the sister-slogan to “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve”. I think that this argument comprises the deepest heart of the opposition to the the Marriage Equality Movement, and what will eventually be its most fatal flaw. (more…)
The First Post June 12, 2009
Posted by jacobsrussell in Chop Suey.add a comment
Welcome, everyone, to my blog. While I have been blogging in the past for GeekDad.com, but I have decided to stretch out a bit and try blogging on my own. Why? GeekDad is great, and I hope to continue blogging for them in the future until my time machine is finished. At that point I will have always blogged for them, or never. It all really depends on the reviewer swag. Still, GeekDad is a blog with a very specific range of subjects and, like most blogging humans, I have a broader range of ideas to express. These ideas will be broken down into the following categories:
Liberal Replete: posts about politics. My bias is hard-left and, while I will try to be as fair and balanced as I can be, I will probably fail most of the time. You were warned.
Chicken-Heads: I am a geek, and thus things like comic books, mythology, science-fiction, and technology (pretty much in that order) are near and dear to my heart. So, I definitely have a lot to say about that, and will. Again, you were warned.
Ulnar Nerve: humor articles. Get it? The ulnar nerve is where the funny bone is. Get it? Okay, you have to have a little faith for this one.
ID10T Error: my day-job is tech support, and so I’ve got a lot of grist for that mill. Believe me, I have a lot of stuff to say about that. Names will be withheld to protect the innocent, and me. I might, at some point, deign to post something that actually illuminates critical problems within the industry which are not just about how stupid the end-users are, but I’m not making any promises. I got a lotta steam to vent, people.
Chop-Suey: like the dish, these will be a little of this and that. It’s a catch-all category. To be honest I couldn’t think of five categories, but knew I’d be writing about more than the previous four, so…
Just so everyone knows, this is not a designated family-friendly or safe-for-work blog. While most of the content will be perfectly sharable in mixed company, I am reserving the right to curse and describe situations of an adult nature whenever I like. As I said before, you were warned, but if you’re still reading I’d be really amazed. So this part is really CYA.
So that’s it! Hope you enjoy the blog, come back many times, and make me rich and famous. I said “hope” not “expecting”, so you can just keep the obvious to yourself.
