I know I'm a day late, but I'm still in shock about what happened at the marathon yesterday. I lived in Mass. for 16 years, and went to BU. I've been to the Marathon a bunch of times and know people who run it. My heart goes out to everyone up there and I hope your friends/family are safe and sound.
I sincerely hope they catch the person(s) responsible...
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
not even close...
I really need to stop reading news on the Internet. I do.
This article showed up on my Facebook feed courtesy of a high school classmate. Really that's about all it's good for anyway, and I clicked on the link. I should have known better because this classmate, who shall remain nameless, mostly posts useless drivel and "cute" pictures of animals.
I'm not opposed to gay marriage on any grounds. I think gay people should have the right to commit to each other and share retirement, benefits etc... Just like I think straight couples should be able to share benefits if they live together. An argument that I got into with HR when I was at EDS and found out that my ex-wife (then my girlfriend) couldn't go on my benefits even though I supported her. A benefit that was provided to gay couples. They didn't like it when I suggested I was being discriminated against because I was straight.
Anyway, to be blunt I don't care about gay athletes. I'm sure there are some, and to compare being an openly gay athlete to what Jackie Robinson did is absurd and belittles what he did. It's similar in the same way an apple and a banana are both fruits., but that's it.
Not nearly as dangerous, courageous or changing sports. It's not like there's a "Homo-Leage" for gay baseball players. Or the GayBA for gay basketball players, and they are EXCLUDED from participating. A gay athlete simply keeps their sexual orientation to themselves. Which, quite honestly, is where everyone's sexual orientation belongs...
This article showed up on my Facebook feed courtesy of a high school classmate. Really that's about all it's good for anyway, and I clicked on the link. I should have known better because this classmate, who shall remain nameless, mostly posts useless drivel and "cute" pictures of animals.
I'm not opposed to gay marriage on any grounds. I think gay people should have the right to commit to each other and share retirement, benefits etc... Just like I think straight couples should be able to share benefits if they live together. An argument that I got into with HR when I was at EDS and found out that my ex-wife (then my girlfriend) couldn't go on my benefits even though I supported her. A benefit that was provided to gay couples. They didn't like it when I suggested I was being discriminated against because I was straight.
Anyway, to be blunt I don't care about gay athletes. I'm sure there are some, and to compare being an openly gay athlete to what Jackie Robinson did is absurd and belittles what he did. It's similar in the same way an apple and a banana are both fruits., but that's it.
Not nearly as dangerous, courageous or changing sports. It's not like there's a "Homo-Leage" for gay baseball players. Or the GayBA for gay basketball players, and they are EXCLUDED from participating. A gay athlete simply keeps their sexual orientation to themselves. Which, quite honestly, is where everyone's sexual orientation belongs...
Monday, April 8, 2013
RIP Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher died today, and while I won't be popular with my Irish wife, her family or friends, I am sad to see this. I came of age during the end of the cold war, when Ronald Reagan was the president, and Britain was our biggest ally. I was young, idealistic and conservative and shared my beliefs with Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. She demonstrated that a woman could be an equal to any man at a time when women were struggling with that in the US.
I remember her standing up against the Russians with the US, and the incredible fortitude I saw from her. The Iron Lady is how I will remember her, and with her passing a little bit of my childhood fades away.
I was saddened to find out she was suffering from dementia as she got older. I can accept many aspects of getting old, but the one thing that truly terrifies me is the thought of suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's. I would prefer a bullet to that. As painful as my mom suddenly dying, I was a little glad that she never had to deal with dementia.
On a final note, if you have no idea who Margaret Thatcher was, or even if you do, you should watch The Iron Lady. Glenn Close is a remarkable actress and she plays the role flawlessly...
I remember her standing up against the Russians with the US, and the incredible fortitude I saw from her. The Iron Lady is how I will remember her, and with her passing a little bit of my childhood fades away.
I was saddened to find out she was suffering from dementia as she got older. I can accept many aspects of getting old, but the one thing that truly terrifies me is the thought of suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's. I would prefer a bullet to that. As painful as my mom suddenly dying, I was a little glad that she never had to deal with dementia.
On a final note, if you have no idea who Margaret Thatcher was, or even if you do, you should watch The Iron Lady. Glenn Close is a remarkable actress and she plays the role flawlessly...
Friday, April 5, 2013
Thank you spotify
Love that you have a native Linux client. Just wish you had a little more classic rock (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd etc...) I get that most people who use Spotify won't care about it, but it's a deal breaker for me... Too bad because I really like the service otherwise.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Give me a break
So I made the mistake of reading CNN today and an article on immigration caught my eye, that and CNN's ongoing campaign against Carnival Cruise lines.. I'm more than a little interested in this, especially as my wife and stepchildren all have green cards.
What bothers me is that now it's "de-humanizing" to call someone an illegal immigrant because as this story says "When you inaccurately call me 'illegal,' you're not only dehumanizing me, you're offending them. No human being is illegal."
Are you fucking serious?
It means you are here (as in the US) illegally. Not that any specific human is illegal.
And there is a campaign to "drop the i-word"...
How about a campaign to drop using Spanish in every store, automated system and in the DMV? Oh, so sorry, we can't do that because it's "racist". I guess all those people who congregate at the 7-11 in Herndon are here LEGALLY???
Give me a fucking break.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Happy Easter
Happy Easter to anyone reading this. Lent ends today so if anyone gave something up for lent enjoy...
On a different topic, today marks 6 months since I had my last smoke. I'm glad I quit, but I do miss them from time to time.
On a related albeit different topic, I've lost 30 lbs since my high weight on January 10. I have a hard time believing I let myself gain so much weight, but it's coming off nicely. I certainly feel better and can see the difference in how my clothing fits. I'm 1/3 of the way to my goal which I should get to long before we go on vacation next year. I just wish I'd joined the lifetime challenge because I'm pretty sure I could win the whole thing.
On a different topic, today marks 6 months since I had my last smoke. I'm glad I quit, but I do miss them from time to time.
On a related albeit different topic, I've lost 30 lbs since my high weight on January 10. I have a hard time believing I let myself gain so much weight, but it's coming off nicely. I certainly feel better and can see the difference in how my clothing fits. I'm 1/3 of the way to my goal which I should get to long before we go on vacation next year. I just wish I'd joined the lifetime challenge because I'm pretty sure I could win the whole thing.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Why Amazon....
So recently I've been looking into moving my music library to cloud storage. It actually makes sense. I have far more music than I could ever listen to. I think the last time I checked I could play music for 105 days without repeating and, of course, there is some music in there I'd never listen to. I'm moving towards having all SSD's in laptops and I don't want to take up the whole thing with my music collection.
Yes, I can have it on the file server, and I do. It's on a raid array, but what an enormous pain when I need to move it, or add some new music, fix id3 tags etc...
So I started looking at the three major options.
#1 is Apple. It's the logical choice for me. I have an iPhone, and will for the foreseeable future. I think it's the best phone/pda/media player on the market. If you like your GS3, great. That's a fantastic phone too, but nothing beats apple's iTunes/App Store integration. Here's the problem. Apple limits you to 20000 songs. I have 37000 and growing. Even if I prune out the shitty songs I've picked up over the years, that's almost 1/2 my library. Not going to happen. Not to mention that Apple only supports Windows and OSX. Yes, I wish I'd bought a Mac, but I didn't. I have a really nice 17" HP laptop that's less than a year old and STILL costs less than a 2 year old refurbished Macbook Pro 17". It runs windows 7 now, but will run Linux later, so Linux support is important.
#2 is Google. First off, it's free, at least it's free now. That's a great deal. Second, it's Google. They'll throw money at it until they crush the competition (Apple). Third, they support Linux. Yes they do. Oh and their browser support is first rate. There's even an iPhone/iPad app to play the streaming music. Not to mention it's supported natively on my Galaxy Note. This would appear to be the best choice. Not so fast. Google also has a 20k song limit, and there's no guarantee it's going to stay free. I've also read it's not very smart at differentiating computers so you can duplicate the library. I've also never bought music from Google.
#3 is Amazon. This initially was my first choice. The library size they support is absurd 200000 songs. Yes, 10x more. It's cheap at $24.99/year. It's supported on the iPhone, iPad and Android, and they're the only one that lets you buy directly on the iPhone, except for Apple. The player software on the iPhone is pretty nice, lets you mix cloud and local songs, and you can download directly to the device. The only catch here is the songs are stored in the app. Pretty stupid, except I'mg guessing it's something Apple did. Sounds perfect right? It was, until I found out they don't support uploading from Linux. Why do you insist on using Adobe Air. Oh and I can't download more than 1 song at a time. That's not going to work either. It''s really a shame, because otherwise this was a perfect solution. I love the mp3 match, and the free mp3 downloads if you buy a cd. Honestly, this would have been a perfect offer.
So, none of these are perfect, but I'm going to have to go with Google. I *want* to use Amazon, but refuse to be trapped into running windows. It's going to suck that I can only upload 1/2 the collection, but shit happens. Since none are ideal, I'll take the free options.
Do you hear that Amazon. You forced a customer who would happily have paid for your service to a competitor. I get that Linux is a fraction of the desktop market, but I won't have a new laptop for 4 years, and the desktop I use runs Linux too. Maybe by the time I install Linux on this Amazon will get its act together.
Yes, I can have it on the file server, and I do. It's on a raid array, but what an enormous pain when I need to move it, or add some new music, fix id3 tags etc...
So I started looking at the three major options.
#1 is Apple. It's the logical choice for me. I have an iPhone, and will for the foreseeable future. I think it's the best phone/pda/media player on the market. If you like your GS3, great. That's a fantastic phone too, but nothing beats apple's iTunes/App Store integration. Here's the problem. Apple limits you to 20000 songs. I have 37000 and growing. Even if I prune out the shitty songs I've picked up over the years, that's almost 1/2 my library. Not going to happen. Not to mention that Apple only supports Windows and OSX. Yes, I wish I'd bought a Mac, but I didn't. I have a really nice 17" HP laptop that's less than a year old and STILL costs less than a 2 year old refurbished Macbook Pro 17". It runs windows 7 now, but will run Linux later, so Linux support is important.
#2 is Google. First off, it's free, at least it's free now. That's a great deal. Second, it's Google. They'll throw money at it until they crush the competition (Apple). Third, they support Linux. Yes they do. Oh and their browser support is first rate. There's even an iPhone/iPad app to play the streaming music. Not to mention it's supported natively on my Galaxy Note. This would appear to be the best choice. Not so fast. Google also has a 20k song limit, and there's no guarantee it's going to stay free. I've also read it's not very smart at differentiating computers so you can duplicate the library. I've also never bought music from Google.
#3 is Amazon. This initially was my first choice. The library size they support is absurd 200000 songs. Yes, 10x more. It's cheap at $24.99/year. It's supported on the iPhone, iPad and Android, and they're the only one that lets you buy directly on the iPhone, except for Apple. The player software on the iPhone is pretty nice, lets you mix cloud and local songs, and you can download directly to the device. The only catch here is the songs are stored in the app. Pretty stupid, except I'mg guessing it's something Apple did. Sounds perfect right? It was, until I found out they don't support uploading from Linux. Why do you insist on using Adobe Air. Oh and I can't download more than 1 song at a time. That's not going to work either. It''s really a shame, because otherwise this was a perfect solution. I love the mp3 match, and the free mp3 downloads if you buy a cd. Honestly, this would have been a perfect offer.
So, none of these are perfect, but I'm going to have to go with Google. I *want* to use Amazon, but refuse to be trapped into running windows. It's going to suck that I can only upload 1/2 the collection, but shit happens. Since none are ideal, I'll take the free options.
Do you hear that Amazon. You forced a customer who would happily have paid for your service to a competitor. I get that Linux is a fraction of the desktop market, but I won't have a new laptop for 4 years, and the desktop I use runs Linux too. Maybe by the time I install Linux on this Amazon will get its act together.
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