NYT Fashion & Style: Never heard of steampunk?   ¶ 11/11/2009 11:19:00 PM 0 comments

  MoDo on RoLo Maureen Dowd critiques the recent Fox interview with Rush Limbaugh (love fest that it was). We have a limited appetite for Dowd but found this very much on target.  ¶ 11/11/2009 07:55:00 PM 0 comments

  The Fourth Kind of Palin We'd trust Politico to give Palin more than a fair shake, so it's tough to say this was a hit job.  ¶ 11/09/2009 07:34:00 PM 0 comments

  RAM prices up This is just one example of a trend we've been seeing. Chip manufacturers had ramped up production for Vista only to have it fizzle. Windows 7 has the same high memory requirements as Vista and all indications are that it will not be a repeat of the Vista debacle.

DDR2 memory prices are averaging about 50% higher than a year ago.  ¶ 11/09/2009 11:05:00 AM 0 comments

  OpenOfficeMouse Slightly cheaper than the MSFT Office Student software.  ¶ 11/07/2009 04:57:00 PM 0 comments

  Bogus Twitter arrest after G20 protest   ¶ 10/20/2009 07:58:00 AM 0 comments

  Memo to Media Matters: Fox News neither red nor blue, it's yellow We have been changing our view of Fox News. While acknowledging some obvious coincidence of interests, Fox News strategy is plainly driven to increase viewers rather than towards any long term interests of the Republican party.

This type of yellow, mercantile journalism is ultimately good for neither the country nor journalism.  ¶ 10/13/2009 01:32:00 PM 0 comments

  Ooh, ooh: Turnip tool   ¶ 10/12/2009 05:05:00 PM 0 comments

  BSOD with Microsoft Security Essentials We had previously installed the new security suite on WinXP machines and this was an attempt to use it on our Vista powered primary machine. Upon installation the computer installed updates for Silverlight and MSFT Visual C++ with the BSOD result on restart. It took several restarts before the computer was able to check for a solution online. At this time it appears the problem has cleared itself.

We found the events but no usable information in the system logs.

Update: Maybe not over yet. Vista indicated there was a problem with Flash Player (probably not a coincidence this came with the Silverlight update) which we attempted to solve by uninstalling the player and reinstalling it. Then there was a problem caused by sticking the Readyboost flash drive back in the computer. It has been in the computer for some time with no problems. However, there were files on the disk that made it bootable so we removed them. We are still wading through this.

One day later: It appears this problem has been cleared.  ¶ 10/10/2009 08:51:00 AM 0 comments

  Google and Microsoft move on real-time search of Twitter Extremely important move to maintain relevancy of search functions. We are sure Facebook is watching this closely with an eye towards monetizing any relationship or function.

The social networking platforms seem prone to high noise factors and a large degree of fickleness. The search providers should be prepared to deal with these issues.  ¶ 10/09/2009 08:17:00 AM 0 comments

  Fall guy appointed at NY Times We found nothing wrong with the Times's judgment in not jumping on this bandwagon to a beat set by a right wing chorus. They carried an AP story that covered the essential news points of the day.

The paper's judgment can be faulted for not providing the analysis that can set apart a newspaper's style of journalism from all the other supposed alternatives: The ACORN sting story needed perspective. Reflexively responding to the right's calls of bias does nothing to maintain the intellectual integrity and veracity of the paper. The charges of bias are just as politically motivated as were the videographers.

ACORN now has a chance to remake itself and develop a deeper community base (they'll pay a penalty for stupidity and lose federal dollars). But some other unintended good may come of this, also.

The legislation that will deny federal contracts to ACORN could just as easily deny contracts to Blackwater/Xe, KBR and Halliburton for their misdeeds.  ¶ 9/28/2009 12:56:00 PM 0 comments

  Telco immunity back in the game? This is a few days old but good news all the same.  ¶ 9/28/2009 09:23:00 AM 0 comments

  Ahmadinejad as myth-buster The fact remains that a world without him and Michael Ledeen would be a better place.  ¶ 9/28/2009 01:51:00 AM 0 comments

  Apple demonstrates "Freedom of the press belongs to the owner of the press" Apple has created a closed system and people are buying into the "nanny" system by the millions.  ¶ 9/28/2009 01:22:00 AM 0 comments

  Spy case bears watching The analyst had a high security clearance but there was something about the program involving the 902nd Military Intelligence Battalion that kept him returning, after an accidental discovery, to the material that he did not have authorization to view.

The 902nd has previously been involved in domestic surveillance of anti-war protesters.  ¶ 9/18/2009 04:25:00 AM 0 comments

  How many high-fives does the Van Jones score warrant? He called Republicans "assholes": Repug use of words like Hitler and Nazi is so much more genteel. Shucks, why not pack a gun to up the warm, pink and fuzzy factor?

He signed a goofy petition; Shrub's machinations around 9-11 were so bizarrely stupid as to invite contemplation of the absurd.

Obama cut loose a low-level functionary in a patronage job rather then let the matter become a distraction. There was no missed scoop. All the President had to do was dig in his heels to make this story just one more bit of spittle off the foaming mouths of the shout-machine.  ¶ 9/15/2009 03:54:00 AM 0 comments

  "Norma Rae" inspiration dies Brain cancer took Crystal Lee Sutton. She lived modestly despite what others thought the movie would have brought her.  ¶ 9/14/2009 04:35:00 PM 0 comments

  The Bush Legacy Couldn't run the wars he started (Iraq and Afghanistan- the other isn't a war) and screwed-over most of the people he governed.

Obama has been a disappointment but he'll have to solidly peg the "Fail" meter to outdo his predecessor.  ¶ 9/14/2009 02:23:00 AM 0 comments

  Whitfield Diffie on wiretapping Diffie has probably forgotten more about information technology than most of us will ever know about the subject.  ¶ 9/12/2009 04:11:00 PM 0 comments

  Loudmouth Wilson learns what Limbaugh and Hannity already knew It's good for the money.

It seems he could use it.  ¶ 9/11/2009 11:08:00 PM 0 comments

  Corn and Pinkerton on Bloggingheads.tv More contentious than usual as they cover health care reform and Obama's address to a joint session of Congress.

Pinkerton's argument that "death panels" exist because doctors will be paid gives one of those opportunities to ask for that person's medical coverage: The kind of coverage wherein doctors work for free.

The pairing remains one of the best on Bloggingheads.  ¶ 9/10/2009 11:55:00 PM 0 comments