This made me laugh

Apparently I can make money from the blog.  Not sure how that would work since I'm the only person who's ever seen it.  Can't see that making much ad revenue.

Update:

Apparently not, I actually looked at the page view stats and there are some other people out there.  I'm shocked.

A new toy

Let me open this by saying that I am a gadget whore.  I love gadgets and absolutely can't stand when I don't have something that I want.  On top of that I am a consumer and unfortunately fall prey to needing "retail therapy"

So with that in mind I got an iPad Mini.  Yes I had an original iPad and liked it.  I was surprised that I actually liked it, because I thought it was nothing more than an oversized phone (it is), but it's a great device to browse the web, email, read or play a game.  I'm sure if you're reading this you've used one.

The problem was I saw no need to upgrade.  Yes, the nicer screen would have been a boon, but I couldn't justify spending $500 on a new one, especially since I got the original one for free.  Really, the only gripe I had was it seemed heavy if I was watching netflix or reading in bed.

So, one of the guys at work got a mini and it's exactly the device I wanted.  Sharp display and better yet, the right weight for me to use as an e-reader.  So I promptly bought one.  I wanted it for our upcoming vacation as I plan to read in the morning before Merinda gets up.

Let me say it truly is a nice piece of electronics.  Yes, it's expensive, but all Apple products are overpriced, and to be fair, $329 seems a lot more reasonable than $499 when I can have an 11" Mac Air for about $1000 and the Air is a full computer versus a toy.

My resolution....

So my resolution this new years was to be healthier.  Yes, I've already quit smoking thank you very much, but now I want to lose this extra weight I've picked up over the past few years.

Yes, I've gotten fat.  I know it.  I'm not blind you know, nor am I stupid.

So, it's back to the gym.  I'm actually looking forward to it.  I have a goal in mind, which I think is quite reasonable, and I'm going to achieve it.

So if you're inclined you can wish me well...  If you're inclined to laugh about it, feel free.  At the end of this I'll be in better shape and a better human being.

If I'm inclined I might comment on this from time to time.

Last thought for today is I'm crushed by the ND game last night.  I'll be honest and say Alabama was the last team I wanted ND to play, but I hoped it would be close, and before anyone calls me a bandwagon fan, my Grandfather went to ND, so I root for them out of respect to him.

A moment of silence please....

The Pirate Bay is apparently down.  No, I don't download movies or other crap, but I had to respect how long they stayed up for.  Not to mention it's a pretty cool logo...

Actually, with this blogspot theme...

 Is a much better choice...

On lossless formats

So I'm curious, what does it matter if I convert a file in .shn or .flac to .mp3?  I'm not redistributing the files in .mp3, but instead putting them in a format that my iPhone can play.

Here's where the question comes from.

I download Dave Matthews shows.  Yes the band allows, and actually encourages the taping of their performances.  It's a nice change for a band to allow this as it's a nice way to remember the shows you've been to, as well as to experience ones you missed.

Either way, many of the shows have dire statements saying "DO NOT ENCODE INTO LOSSY FORMATS".

Honestly, who cares.  I don't upload the mp3's.  Even if my iPhone could play flac I would encode them simply for the size.  Also, unless you are listening on a professional sound system with some crazy speakers/headphones, you're not going to hear the difference.

It's a live recording folks.  Made with microphones...  You're probably listening on your PC or in your car.  On crappy computer speakers, or cheap headphones.

Granted in today's world, where HDD's are cheap, well based on this, it's not unreasonable to store your music in lossless formats, but it's a pain in the ass to convert to put on a portable player...

the mac...

Recently I spilled coffee on my work laptop.  Yes it was a stupid careless thing to do but accidents happen.  The upshot of this was I was out of a work laptop for a little while while they determined what was wrong with it.  Fortunately for me all that got damaged was the keyboard, so the damage was minimal.

This left me with some choices as I have a few laptops at home to use.  I have a relatively new HP laptop with a big 17" screen which is very nice.   It runs windows 7, and I primarily have it for gaming and to run iTunes.  The other choice was the old mac book pro my sister gave me.

I chose the Mac.

There are a few reasons I did this.  The primary reason was portability.  The HP is big and heavy and I didn't feel like lugging it around.  Second, I do play games on it.  I have steam and other things installed on it, and didn't particularly want those connecting at work.  However another part of the decision was that I really like having a *nix workstation.  My work computer runs Gentoo Linux and the Mac runs Unix under the hood.  What I wasn't expecting was how much I liked the Mac.  So much so in fact, that I genuinely regret not asking for one when I started.

Why?

Well to be honest, they are very stylish.  Even this 4+ year old Mac Book makes the Dell's we have look like a piece of junk (which in my opinion they are).   I haven't bought/used a Dell in years and have been reminded of why.  It's not the performance or parts.  Those are more than adequate, it's the packaging.  They look and feel cheap.  Now, let me be fair, the reason I got the HP was cost.  To get a laptop with it's feature set (dual drives, 3rd generation i7, back lit kb, 17" 1080p screen and a Nvidia card) I had to go with this laptop.  The comparable Dells were significantly more expensive.  I always choose Nvidia for Linux support, and fully expect to run Linux on in at some point in the future, but I digress, back to the Mac :)

What really surprised me, and this is coming from someone whos never really used one, was how well everything works together.   Maybe I've gotten older, but the Mac is really a joy to use.  So much so that I want to get a newer one.  Yes, this one still works, but it's a core 2 duo, has 2gb ram and has a 200gb drive.   For a "Pro" computer those are some pretty basic specs for a 2008 laptop.  My previous HP blew that away and cost a lot less, but I digress again.  The things that annoy me in the Dell + Linux setup are simple things like undocking the laptop.  The Dell has a terrible screen, so I use external monitors in the docking station at work.  If I undock the laptop X will crash.  Now the Mac doesn't have a docking station, so I have to use just one external monitor, but it works.  Even Windows 7 can undock.

So here's my dilemma, do I spend well over 2k for a laptop for home, where things like undocking don't matter because I *want* a laptop?  The real issue with the new Mac's are that you have to put all the features you want in them at purchase because you can't upgrade them.  Hard drive upgrade?  Nope.  Ram upgrade?  Nope.  I'm just used to being able to upgrade those later.  In my last 2 laptop purchases I've upgraded the ram and added a SSD after I bought them, but to get a Mac with a decent HDD and ram its well over 2k.

Decisions, decisions...   Not to mention Apple is probably getting rid of the 17" MacBook...

The Taliban

So as you're probably aware the Taliban recently attacked and tried to murder a schoolgirl in Pakistan.  Why?  Because she had a blog and spoke against them.

BRAVO for her.  That must have taken an incredible amount of bravery, especially after seeing what the consequences of her actions are.

However, what I'm astounded by is this.  The Taliban taking actions like this is nothing new.  Maybe this is the beginning of the real Arab Spring.  One where Islam finally comes out of the stone ages.

We'll see...