5 Things on a Friday: Friday Hair Metal Returns!

Happy Friday, folks.  Let’s get to it!

I read in the Times that the kids are all really
into unicorns.  I don't really get it, but whatever...

5 Things on a Friday: In Search of Happiness

We took a couple of weeks off, but now we’re back.  I hope you missed us.

Happy Friday!

5 Things on a Friday: No More Politics

I finally realized over the weekend that if I keep doing politics every week, I’m not only going to drive away my readers, I’m actually going to drive myself crazy.  So no politics this week, and from here on out, I’m going to try to keep it to a dull roar.  Yes, that is a potentially significant challenge.  However, all that crap is not only pointless, it’s also tearing this country apart.  

I’m done with it.

5 Things on a Friday: We’re STILL Talking Star Wars

Happy New Year, folks!

If you haven't read "Blog in Review: Top 20 Posts of 2015", go do that now.

We’re still talking Star Wars here, so if you haven’t seen the movie, there are **spoilers** after the jump.  I mention this because my buddy Ray is stationed in Africa right now, and he’s as big a nerd as anyone.  However, they still weren’t showing the film at his tiny desert outpost last I heard.

5 Things on a Friday: Hoping for an Opportunity

My first draft of got a little jingoistic this week.  Perhaps that's inevitable in the wake of the Paris attacks and the other, also very considerable attacks that hit Beirut and that Russian plane in Egypt.  I find myself uncomfortable calling for a war in which I am extremely unlikely to fight--although, who knows, right?--but it feels like we may yet have an opportunity here.  This might be one of those moments in which we can achieve regional consensus and act, even if that consensus is short-lived and entirely self-serving on all sides.

Consider: Russia, Britain, and the U.S. were not all fast friends in the late 1930s and early 40s.  In fact, the allies invaded Russia in 1917 to try to oust the Communists.  The smarter half of the American public was keenly aware of the British interest in maintaining its colonial presence in North Africa and elsewhere--and distinctly un-interested in the ramifications this held for our collective strategy.  These differences were real.  It’s hard to say what would have happened had Japan not blundered its way into attacking Pearl Harbor in 1941.  However, the resulting three-way alliance fought a relatively unified and collective war that defeated its enemies and set the course for the modern world.

5 Things on a Friday: The New Dance is a Chicken Dance

If you came looking for the new Faith No More song, then I'm afraid you're bound to be disppointed.  But don't worry.  I've got something even better!

Let's do this.

***

1. Saudi Arabia Is Fighting an Oil War. But Who’s the Enemy? (Slate)

“Ahead of an OPEC meeting in Vienna next week, there are some contradictory theories about why Saudi Arabia is content to keep oil cheap for the time being. One is that the Saudis want to nip the U.S. oil boom in the bud. American shale oil is more expensive to produce and needs high prices to remain competitive. As one analyst put it when the kingdom cut prices for U.S. customers earlier this month, ‘the Saudis have basically declared war on the U.S. oil producers.’

But there’s a competing narrative, or ‘conspiracy theory’ if you prefer, that the Saudis are waging war in cooperation with the United States, against their mutual enemies Russia and Iran.

The problem with this analysis is that there’s no “or” here.  The Saudis have the largest production capacity, and they are using it to control the market.  That’s it.  Oil production is their niche in the global economy.  They are using market power to defend their position.  That is not news, nor should it come as a surprise.  Nor, for that matter, is it the first time they’ve done it.  Their actions may well be the final proof of the success of American production—the market leader has had to take steps to bring its new competitor under control—but that’s still not telling us anything we didn’t already know.

5 Things on a Friday: with the Cool Kids

It's been an interesting week in Albany, but I'm more than ready to go home.  I know some folks don't mind traveling for work, but I personally hate it.  Seriously, I don't know how some of you guys do it.

The mainstream news is mostly filled with the #EbolaApocalypse, so I'm gonna spend some time this week talking about comic book stuff.  I'm betting we'll still be alive in the next few years to see the stuff that got announced this week at the New York Comic Con.

I'm trying to be open minded, but this new iOS is driving me crazy

I get wanting to up-sell your customer-base to the newest, best-est thing, but this time I can't help but think that maybe Apple has gone too far. Certainly they've gone too far for me. 

Up until yesterday, my iPhone 4S met all of my phone/mobile data needs perfectly and made me happy as could be. It did social media, let me track my runs and bike rides, took pictures, sent texts...  And, oh by the way, you could use it to make calls. Plus, all of this came in a smoothly functioning, easy to use package.

Then iOS7 dropped, and now my phone is suddenly underpowered and over-cluttered, and while I'm sure I'll adjust, for now, it's driving me crazy. It reminds me of when Microsoft released Vista--an OS meant to run on high-powered machines with great built-in graphics cards--straight into the teeth of a market that was moving towards netbooks that were cheaper, less powerful machines than computers had traditionally been. Because, bottom line, only a tiny sliver of the market actually needs all those high-powered applications that the highest end computer can run these days, and when the current technology suits your needs, there's little incentive to upgrade. 

This, I think, is where the mobile phone space is moving. Devices like the Nexus 5 and even that Nokia phone that's mostly just a camera are starting to look like winners against super-high-powered quad-core phones that cost FAR more in order to deliver services that very few actually desire. I mean, does anyone actually need a quad-core processor in their cellphone? I certainly do not, and I'm not about to be up-sold to one just help the boys in Cupertino make their quarterly numbers next Spring.  I will, on the other hand, move down-market if the trade offs are insignificant, and the price break is large enough. That is kind of the way life works sometimes. 

Last thing I'll say about iOS7 is that for all its "new" features, it's still only playing catchup with other entrants in the market. For example, Air Drop is an add-on inspired by Samsung's Galaxy phones, Safari's redesigned look is a clear imitation of Chrome, and iTunes Radio is a just a competitor for Pandora. That's all fine, but none of it is the kind of killer app that made Apple what it is today, and none of it is worth upgrading over.  Which leaves us with Apple's rather Microsoftesque planned obsolescence program. But while that may succeed in forcing folks off of their current Apple products, it's not much of a viable strategy long-term. Moreover, it may even cost the company market-share over time. 

Thursday Headlines

Split Senate Panel Approves Giving Obama Limited Authority on Syria.
Despite this, what I read yesterday is that Sen. McCain (finally) pointed out that the President's plan, as it's currently consituted, doesn't actually accomplish very much.  He therefore threatened to pull his support, which is interesting, because if he does that, the Senate resolution will likely fail.

I myself am not much of a proponent of the proposed strike, but I can at least agree with McCain that if we do strike, we ought to strike in such a way as to accomplish something meaningful and begin planning for a transition of leadership in Syria.  But the problem there, of course, is that the rebels aren't a monolithic entity, they're a bunch of semi-aligned militias.  And if we've learned anything from Iraq and the Arab Spring, it's that these guys don't tend to play well together once they've achieved their initial goals.


In Bloomberg’s City of Bike Lanes, Data Show, Cabs Gain a Little Speed.
Cars are somehow moving faster through the streets of Manhattan with the addition of bike lanes and other shared-use facilities?  If that's true, it's only because they now have fewer ways to cut each other off and now must work together.


NFL Roud-Up: First-Round Pick to Start at Quarterback for the Bills.
The Pats are giving the Bills 11-points on Sunday.  And my boss still picked them to cover.

Also: It's Geno Smith time for the Jets.  Something tells me that's not going to end well.


AP Reviews New Smartphones: Samsung Note and More.
Samsung and a few other companies have released "smart" watches this week--essentially massive honking phone-accessories for your wrist.  It's totally unclear who's going to want one of these, but anyway, here's a round-up of news and reviews on them from the AP.


Classes and Subclasses.
"[S]ubclasses also play a key role... We're looking at subclasses shouldering almost the entire burden in D&D Next, which were previously handled by character classes.

When we introduce new types of magic into the game in the future, we won't need to add a set of new classes to the game. Instead, we can present subclasses that tap into that power source. The shadow dancer can be a rogue subclass that dabbles in shadow magic, while the hexblade does the same for the fighter class."
 -- Well, that addresses my thoughts/concerns about the Swordmages and melee-build Warlocks.

Friday Mad Science: Hydro-Fracking, Chromebooks, and Martha Stewart!

Hydro-Fracking, Chromebooks, and Martha Stewart!  

Yup.  Not a bad week of news if you ask me.

Friday Mad Science: Ham-Handed Basketball Diplomacy

I wanna be in favor of this crazy “basketball diplomacy” thing that Dennis Rodman is doing in North Korea, but try as I might, I just can’t.  

Rodman

I mean, you can see the point, right?  North Korea is such an isolated, backward country that whatever we can do to open the place up is probably a good idea.  I have this theory that the best thing America can do to put an end to all the asshole dictatorships of the world is to just send in as manyCokes and DVD box-sets of the Jersey Shore as we can get onto a container ship.  Forget embargoes.  Send in Snooki and the Situation, and when all those poor oppressed bastards realize that even dumb fuckers like those two can become instant millionaires for no reason, revolt is virtually guaranteed.

Friday Mad Science: The PRC’s Asymmetric Response

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

 --Sun Tzu, from The Art of War

I don’t usually like to quote Sun Tzu because he’s one of those authors whose work is quoted out of context a lot by folks who really don’t understand what it is that he’s trying to say.  But how to else to start this week, the week we learned in the open press that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been behind a majority of the overseas hacking that’s hit American companies and governmental agencies since 2006!

Friday Mad Science: The "What Gives?" Edition

You’ve probably seen this by now, but I gotta say that I was astonished when I read that the US economy actually contracted a little in the 4th Quarter last year, and when I read that, I felt sure that equity markets around the world were about to take a massive dump.  But then the markets surprised me by closing near even for the next few days, and was left wondering what the Hell was going on.  After all, this was supposedly the economy’s worst performance since 2009, and it came as a surprise--and the surprise was a nasty one considering that the 4th Quarter is supposed to show all the profits from the Christmas season.

So what gives?

Friday Mad Science: All Science Edition

“Another toy / to help destroy / the Elder Race of Man,

forget about your silly whim / it doesn’t fit the plan.” 

- Rush, 2112

Coming off the flu, I’ve been in a very, “go along to get along” kind of mood.  I was sick, and since then I’ve just sort of wanted to survive until I felt better.  

But then I had a “West Point” dream last night, and now, well, all bets are off.  

A “West Point” dream is a dream like the kind where you dream that you’re the only one in the office who’s naked, except it’s set back at the Academy and is about something ten times more ridiculous than mere clothes.  Anyway, the one last night was even more ridiculous than that, and now I’m ready to straight up Fight The Power.

Grrr!

***

Alright, so there was this guy named Bob, and he had a job as a computer programmer working in LA.  And what Bob did was this--he outsourced his own job.  He hired a computer programmer from China to basically do what he himself was supposed to do, allowing Bob to then spend his days onFacebook and watching cat videos of YouTube.  

Bob was, of course, considered to be the best programmer in his department.  I imagine that it wasn’t even close.

The weird thing about this, to me, is that Bob still came into the office every day.  But he did.  He came in day-in and day-out and just... wasted his time.  All day, every day.  

His sub-contractor, meanwhile, did Bob’s work remotely by logging into the company’s secure server from China, which is how they wound up catching Bob.  The company thought it was getting hacked by the Chinese government, figuring that Bob’s credentials had been compromised somehow since Bob himself was such a model worker.

Needless to say, Bob was fired recently.  No word yet on whether or not his Chinese counterpart has continued to do his job.

***

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is like a tent for space, and NASA is testing it now as a way to cheaply and easily expand theInternational Space Station (ISS).  Essentially, you can just stuff this giant sack into a tight cylinder, shoot it up there, and then blow it up, and voila!  There’s your newest room in the ISS.

Cool idea, right?  I’d love to know what the module’s skin is made out of, but it must be pretty damned thick, right?  I also wonder if you have to take plates or something like that to line the outside of this thing once it’s inflated.  You know, to protect from radiation and whatnot.  

I’m also wondering whether or not Bigelow Aerospace is at all related to the Bigelow Tea Company.  The Bigelow Tea Company is headquartered right here in Farifield, Connecticut.

Anyway, I was reading yesterday that Bigelow is hoping to use its tech to create commercially viable civilian space habitats for tourism and extra-national (i.e. non-US) space exploration, with an apparent price of something like $25 million per astronaut for a 60-day space mission.  

It’ll be really interesting to see how that all plays out.  And whether or not they eventually decide to drop a few of these things on the Moon.

***

While we’re talking about weird new tech things, Lenovo has a new Chromebook out, the Thinkpad X131e Chromebook--not to be confused with the regular Thinkpad X131e, which is a Windows machine--that the company intends as "a rugged design for the classroom environment."  Supposedly, the Chromebook design has the same general specs as the Windows design, but it runs the Chrome OS and prices out at $429.

The Lenovo X131e Chromebook

I’ll admit that I’m a little curious to know what purpose the bigger processor and hard drive have in a Chromebook, but it’s hard to see why you’d want to pay $200 more for a Chromebook than you really have to, especially for classrooms.  I mean, yeah, mine is no Toughbook, but then again, the thing weighs all of two-pounds, and I bought it first and foremost because it was light.  And yeah, I grant that you wouldn’t necessarily want that in a classroom environment, but I still can’t believe that just the extra plastic and shock absorption in this new version are worth more than, say, an extra fifty bucks.  

In any event, my Chromebook works great, but as I’ve written, it’s functionality is strictly limited, and I don’t see how you’d change that in a machine that can’t install software, regardless of what hard drive and processor come equiped on the machine.  I mean, it doesn’t take a mainframe to runGoogle Drive and surf the Internet--that was the whole point of the exercise.

***

If you’re wondering, I finally, finally started feeling like myself yesterday afternoon.  And yeah, it looks like I really did have the flu.  I mean, I didn’t get tested or anything, but it certainly seems like I had all the symptoms, and God knows that it’s going around up here right now.  Still, I probably didn’t suffer as badly as I could have because I’m in decent physical shape, and I’ve bounced back pretty quickly, so I suppose I have little to complain about.  

Still, being sick sucked a lot, and trust me, watching a Star Trek movie marathon while you’e got a fever is not recommended for your long-term mental health.  The dreams you have...  

*shudder*

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got this week.  

We’re gonna try Tri Practice again tomorrow, hopefully with 100% fewer casualties this time.  But we’ll be running, so wish me luck.

Also: I took the Ravens (+8.5) and the Falcons (+4) this weekend, both opposite of the other guys in the office, giving me a chance to catch up.  So you can wish me luck with that as well.

Have a great weekend!

Thoughts on the Google Chromebook

If you follow this blog, then you know that I’ve been pretty high on some of the recent Google computer/tablet products, especially since Google seems to have decided to compete on price rather than style and/or design, putting it into quite a different market space than either Apple or Microsoft.  Now, maybe the growth of Google’s price-based market space will eat some total share from the higher-end space sought by Apple, but at a certain level, that’s beside the point.  Based on the products on offer, Google seems to be going head-to-head most specifically against Amazon and Barnes & Noble--content providers moreso than companies that specialize in hardware.  With all of that in mind, I asked my wife for one of the super-low end Google Samsung Chromebooks for Christmas.  The model that I got was the $249 version; essentially the thing is a web-browser with a keyboard.  Lots of folks also expressed an interest in the new device after I did, so for what it’s worth, this is my review.

My Chromebook

First thing’s first: I wanted a Chromebook primarily as a commuting computer.  The Chromebook weighs 2.4 lbs.  I have an hour-long train commute in the mornings, after which I get on my bike and ride into the office.  The commute sucks, but I manage mostly because I can make good use my time, either reading or writing and then riding.  That said, since I have to carry this machine on my back, I definitely, definitely wanted a machine that was light weight.  You might think that Manhattan is flat, but trust me when I tell you that it definitely is not.  Moreover, I already had a very nice Windows 7 laptop, but it’s got a fifteen-inch screen, and it weighs seven pounds, and bottom line, it’s just not conducive to my commute.  And then, too, my wife is working some now, and my kids are old enough that it seems like they always want to be on the computer, so really, our family sort of needed a second machine.  Not necessarily the world’s greatest machine, but still.  Our family had lots of computing needs and not quite enough computers to go around.

So.  As a commuting computer, the Chromebook is a world-beater.  It really is super-light, and as long as you don’t mind working in Google Docs, it’s terrific.  It’s got a flash hard drive and very little in the way of installed programs, so it boots in seconds.  I can easily put down between four hundred and a thousand words on the way in in the mornings, and that’s just awesome.  Moreover, Docs Offline lets you work in either its word processor or its spreadsheet program, and that’s pretty much all I need to do when I’m on the train.  So that’s great.

What’s not so good about the Chromebook is the other times I use it; when I’m home, and I just want to do whatever, i.e. not work.  It’s those times that the Chromebook tends to show its limitations.  

What can’t you do on a Chromebook?  

Well, what you can’t do is pretty much anything in a format that’s not inherently web-based and Google-supported.  So, for example, when my daughters want to play on either Marvel’s Superhero Squad or Club Penguin, they can’t do that.  Superhero Squad requires you to install game files on your machine, and you can’t install files on a Chromebook, and Club Penguin requires Flash, and that’s not supported, either.  Likewise, if you try to download WMV files or something like that, you can’t play those on the Chromebook, either.  And that’s maddening because you while you can easily install apps to get around these problems on a Nexus table--I personally use MX Player to play unsupported files on my Nexus 7--the Chromebook doesn’t even allow that.  Yes, you can run Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, etc., but anything that doesn’t sort of stream live over the Internet is probably going to be problematic.  I also can’t access my company email and intranet systems from Chromebook, either, because it apparently doesn’t have sufficient security.  I think the problem is that the Chromebook doesn’t have a firewall--nor does it need a firewall, given that you can’t install anything on the machine in the first place--but it’s still a problem that makes me dependent on either my phone or my tablet to get actual work emails if all I’ve got with me is my Chromebook.  Again, this is a problem that’s easily overcome on a phone or a tablet via the use of installed apps, but since you can’t install apps on a Chromebook, there is effectively no work around here.

Bottom line, my Chromebook is a great personal computer for me.  For my personal interests in my particular circumstances.  But it would be a Hell of a lot more useful if you could install some Android apps on it as a work-around for some of the machine’s inherent design limitations.  These things aren’t necessarily deal-breakers, but you wouldn’t want to buy a Chromebook and think that it’s the only computer you’re going to need.  That’s definitely not going to be the case.  But if what you need happens to be a super-light weight typewriter/web browsers, then yeah, this machine is going to work out great.

Friday Mad Science: My Christmas Wish List

As I was going through this week's news, I realized that a lot of the articles that I found interesting this week were basically product reviews.  And that's cool.  Y'know, even I get tired of talking about the Fiscal Cliffafter a while, and besides that—and the war in Israel—there's not a lot more going on in the world. 

Sure, The Hobbit is coming out this week, and *gasp* the reviews have been mediocre, especially as it concerns the film's first hour, but I mean, really?  Have these reviewers not read the book?  Well, surprise!  The first third of the book is boring as shit, too.  If the movie spends an hour on the book's initial dinner party scene, then all I can say is that it sounds like it's an extremely faithful adaptation.  I suppose I also might add that this is why folks thought that maybe two films made more sense than three, but come on.  There's money to be made in that there third film, yo.

I love The Hobbit.  I've read it maybe a half-dozen times, and I think that, really, all things considered, it's a better piece of work than is the actual Lord of the Rings trilogy that follows it.  But I think that in part because it's shorter and more focused, and frankly, in taking it and blowing up to nine freakin' hours!  Well, that just seems like a little much, even for one of my favorite books of all time.

In any event, besides The Hobbit, the thing with Israel, and the Fiscal Cliff, there're really only two things going on in the world: one, it's almost Christmas, and two, Lindsey Lohan is destroying her life.  Oh, and theGiants are in the middle of an epic late-season collapse.    So that's three.  But I don't want to talk about the Giants, and to be honest, this thing with Lohan is old, too.  Wake me up when she starts doing porn.  So that leaves Christmas! 

Hooray!

So.  This is my Christmas list.  You'll want to make sure that you write this stuff down.  Heh. 

These things are in no particular order.

Danno's Nearly-Complete Christmas Wish List

1. An American Giant Half-Zip Sweatshirt (blue or brown, $86).  I was reading about these guys yesterday on Slate.Com.  Apparently, the company's goal is to make the very best hoodies and sweatshirts on the planet, and that in order to do that, they've brought in top-notch industrial designers from Apple, re-thought every aspect of how the hoodie is constructed, and gone with 100% heavy-grade cotton for the sweatshirt's design.  Oh, and because the stitching is so intricate, they've had to make these things in America using super-high quality labor, which is why the sweatshirts themselves are only available online. There's no room in the price-point to allow for distributors, fashion buyers, or retailers.

American Giant: an honest-to-God sweatshirt, made in the U.S.A.

Can that strategy work?  Frankly, I have no idea.  But it seems like it might if it really is true that brick-and-mortar retail is dead.  The question is—how do you get the word out?  In this case, the answer seems to be that you hire a publicist to get your clothes covered on Slate—pretty good idea, that—but how many times is that trick gonna work?  I don't know.   Still, it's worth watching.

2. A 16GB Google Nexus 7 tablet (wifi only, $199).  I've given this an inordinate amount of thought, and the truth is, I need a tablet computer like I need a second dick.  And really, I can think of some uses for a second dick that would really be interesting.  But a tablet computer?  I like Hulu and Netflix, but I'm not gonna sit there in bed and watch them on my tablet.  That's idiotic.  Moreover, I'd say that 90% of the things I do on my computer(s) involve typing on a keyboard because, y'know what?  I like writing.  And a tablet is not optimized for writing.

However.  Tablets are cool.  And I could probably make use of an e-reader—although, to be fair, getting hardcover books from the library is also an excellent solution to my need-to-read—but really, the thing that I need a tablet for is reading comics.  Comixology is an excellent service, and most publishers are on there selling their back-issue catalogue at reduced prices. 

With that in mind, what I need is a tablet that's both cheap and functional.  We can thank Google that that's available.

3. The 2.4 lb. Google (Samsung) Chromebook (wifi only, $249).  If the Nexus 7 is the computer that I want, the Chromebook is the computer that I actually need.  Why?  Three reasons:

First, at 2.4 lbs this is a computer that I can easily take on the train with me and then stick into my backpack for the ride into my office, and in doing that, I don't feel like I added an extra brick onto the already heavy load that I carry with me every day.  I mean, yeah, carrying that weight up the hills in Central Park probably is making me a better climber over time, but it still sucks, and I refuse to volunteer for more weight than is absolutely necessary.

Second, my current commuting computer is my mother's old HP Netbook, and it sucks.  I mean, it's fully functional, but the screen is tiny and the keyboard is tiny, and the battery is good for maybe ninety minutes total, even with the wifi turned off.  So... new commuting computer?  Yes, please!

Finally, we've gotten to this stage in our family life when, commonly, everyone in the house wants to use the computer at the same time.  Invariably my kids want to go on Club Penguin at the same time that my wife needs to check her email—400 messages!  Who has 400 messages on their personal email?—at the same time that I'm either trying to stream something off of Netflix or work on a piece for the blog or basically do whatever it is that I do.  And this is before we even consider school papers and that sort of thing.  So, bottom line, we could really use a second computer that's not a tiny, barely functional netbook, and I know that if it's a Chromebook, I'm the only one in the house who's gonna have the patience to learn to really use it.  Ha! 

The fact that it's cheap on top of all of that is just a bonus.

4. Avengers: Battle for Earth for the Wii U ($49.95).  Yes, we bought a Wii U.  God willing, it won't be the Edsel of the video game industry.  That said, now we need some games.  Avengers: Battle for Earth is a game that not only makes copious use of superheroes; it also, apparently, really tries to force you to use the nun chuck controllers, which is cool.  My one fear with this gaming thing is that it's gonna turn my kids into couch potatoes.  We fight that by (hopefully) getting them off their asses, even when they're playing video games.

5. A Deal on the Fiscal Cliff (Priceless).  This one's probably not coming in my stocking.

Actually, I feel pretty confident that Congress is gonna at least kick the can down the road a year at the last second, but what bugs me about this is the continued intransigence of the so-called Republican Party.  These guys lost the Presidency, they lost seats in both houses of Congress, and polls show that the public at large blames them for nearly everything.  If they keep this up, we're gonna be living in a Socialist state with only one national-level party, but they don't seem to care.  At all.

People.  You got your asses handed to you.  Now is the time to compromise, before the President shoves a really bad deal straight up your collective asses. 

Welcome to government by majority.  Now shut the fuck up and go to work.

6.  A Giant TCR Advanced 1 (MSRP $3150).  Truthfully, I'm probably only about $2500 worth of bike rider.  But the Giant TCRs are beautiful machines, and if I had my choice, this is where I'd like to spend my money.

'Tis the season... for bicycle lust.

Unfortunately, with reality being what it is, the fact is that there’s always something else on which to spend $2500.  *sigh*

7.  More time to finish a couple of writing projects.  What I’d really like to do is to finish drafting all the crap that I’m working on and/or have in my notebook and then go back through and edit and really re-write some of my existing stuff in my back-catalogue.  Long term my plan is to try to put up pieces of short fiction for the Kindle on Amazon.Com for $.99—in fact, that’s one of the purposes of this blog, to try to build readership in advance of releasing pieces of independently published short fiction—but the fact is, even with stuff that I feel is pretty close, carving out the time to take that first step has been a serious challenge.

8.  A membership at the local YMCA ($35/month or $75/month for the family).  We’re starting the Y’s Triathlon Club again in a few weeks, and bottom line, I need a place to swim.

9.  The complete rules for the new D&D ruleset, D&D Next.  Along with that, I’d like to find or build a local gaming group, complete with guys who are like-minded husbands and fathers and not scary adolescent D&D dudes.  I’d also like to put together another online campaign, which in my head is tentatively titled “Return to Luskan” and picks up about a year out from when our heroes were last seen up in the wilds of the Spine of the World in my old campaign...

10.  A new pair of running flats.  Probably a pair of New Balance 763’s or something like that (~$75).  I train mostly in the heavy 900-series trainers—because I’m fairly heavy for a 5’10” runner—but I have a pair of NB 700-series now that I use for races, and they rock out.  Unfortunately, they’re also starting to get a little long in the tooth.  So this is one of those purchases that I’m gonna have to make sooner or later. 

Unless, of course, Santa Claus brings them.

***

That’s all I’ve got for today.  Go Army, beat Navy!

Friday Mad Science: Three Looks at the Tablet Wars Edition

Good morning, and happy Friday. Let's get to it, shall we?

***

PFC Badley Manning
in happier times.

U.S. Army PFC Bradley Manning is expected to testify at his trial in the Wikileaks case soon, and apparently he's going to argue that he’s been “punished enough” given the nature of his initial confinement. According to reports, he was held in solitary confinement for eight months without clothes, blankets, or bed sheets, ostensibly because he was considered a suicide risk. However, repeated evaluations supposedly showed that after some time had passed, doctors didn't consider him at risk of hurting himself at all; it seems that he was just a very weird dude. And while I can confirm that I have no special knowledge of this case whatsoever, it's not at all hard to imagine that the military would treat this guy in whatever the worst possible circumstances were that they could justify. Given that he was apparently acting at least very strange, well... I'm gonna go ahead and doubt that Manning's lawyers can prove he got anything less than what he had coming.

With that in mind, I think it's important to remember that while Manning has been charged with some very serious crimes, he’s still lucky after a fashion. I mean, he hasn’t been charged with Treason, which is a little weird if you ask me considering that he was charged with “aiding the enemy.” Frankly, I've no idea what the difference is, save that Treason carries the Death Penalty. So, bottom line, no matter what has already happened to Manning, as his lawyer, I’d be tempted to tell the guy that he ought to shut his mouth regardless. The government could probably execute him, legally speaking, given what he’s done, and it's worth remembering that our current President has already shown a willingness to do exactly that to people who piss him off, even American citizens.

***

I don’t know if you’ve used Windows 8 yet, but I’ve tried it several times, and I hate it. So I was shocked to see that Windows 8 sales are outpacing similar sales of Windows 7 over 7's initial sales runs, which is surprising because I thought Windows 7 was an excellent product. Moreover, the new sales numbers have been driven by upgrades apparently and not by the sales of new devices.

Now, supposedly Windows 8 has been much cheaper than Windows 7 was over its initial run, and maybe that’s what’s driving the difference, but 8 is such an inferior product that frankly I don’t understand why people want it at all. Personally, if this is the way of the future for Windows, I’ll be buying a different operating system from now on, and God only knows how I'm gonna manage that next time I have to upgrade our family's primary machine.

But maybe I'm the only one? Who know?

***

You can go ahead and get used to the idea of NJ Governor Chris Christie as a successful national-level political figure. He’s about as popular right now as it is technically possible for him to be.

What’s interesting to me is how Hurricane Sandy is potentially shaping the 2016 Presidential Race. Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo are both believed to be mulling presidential runs in 2016, and if that’s the case, then Sandy is the opportunity for them to show their skills to the public at large. Christie responded to the storm with a show of bipartisanism and what I personally think was a masterful handling of the actual crisis itself. His state was hit harder than New York and seems to be recovering at least as fast. Cuomo, meanwhile, is pushing Congress for $42B in aid to New York State with which it is believed he’ll try to not only rebuild but also basically redesign the state's downstate infrastructure in order to better withstand what he’s on record as saying are ever more likely future big-time storms. I have no idea if that will work—or even if it’s possible—but I think it’s visionary thinking in any case, and I’m looking forward to seeing what, if any, specifics come out of the studies its going to spawn.

Also, while it might seem like Christie and Cuomo would be natural allies in the fight to get more and better aid from the Federal Government for the Northeast post-Sandy, the fact is that they’re not. At all. Christie is a Republican and Cuomo is a Democrat, and they’re going to be competing for the same home turf in the same national election on potentially the same issue. So I’m not saying that the Hudson River is America’s new internal DMZ, but I’m also not expecting too many kind words to cross the river, either.

At any rate, it's going to be an interesting time, let me tell you.

***

While we're on the subject of operating systems and Windows 8, it's worth noting that computer makers are still trying to figure out what to do with the tablet computer revolution. With the advent of Windows 8 and the proved popularity of the iPad, companies are scrambling to find ways to differentiate themselves from the pack—and from the market's extant successful products—with the upshot being that there’s a lot more potential processing power and basic raw ability in even an iPhone than there was in a full-sized desktop a mere ten or fifteen years ago. I mean, if you wanted to, you could easily do real work with just your cell phone! But there’s no proven way to go from tablet to computer yet, and while lots of companies are trying to make a single all-purpose world-beating device, it doesn't seem like anyone has yet figured out exactly how to do it—or even what a single all-purpose device is supposed to look like.

If you're wondering, the hyper-linked article above covers a pair of new notebook/tablet hybrids, the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 and Toshiba's Satellite U925t. It's worth noting that both machines come with full keyboards and are clearly meant for real work, and indeed, given that both provide laptop power in tablet size, both cost more like what you’d expect to pay for a full—and fully capable—laptop than they would if they were competing solely as tablets.

Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga 13

What? That's not enough on the Tablet Wars? Okay, how about the new Virtual Reality Glasses Wars?

This week Microsoft filed a patent for virtual reality glasses that are intended to augment reality by providing data and feedback on whatever it is you’re currently viewing. That's clearly meant as a counter-swipe at Google, who famously debuted a $1500 Google Glass device earlier this year with a skydiving stunt.

What I want to know is this: don't you have to have a working prototype of a thing in order to patent it? I mean, don't you have to have invented it in order to hold the rights to the invention? Because I looked at Microsoft's patent illustrations, and I have to call bullshit on what they're claiming to be able to do. Is it possible? Sure, it probably is. But do they have a working copy? Maybe they do, but they sure as Hell haven't shown it to anyone.

***

Well, besides taking a minute to crow about how much the NY Giants kicked ass last weekend, I don't have much else. I will, however, say that this has been a banner month in terms of readership, so if you're new here, let me just say thanks for stopping by.

With that said, I'd really, really like to get some more commenters. I know that folks are reading because I have stats that tell me they are, and in a lot of cases, folks that I know tell me that they like the blog. And that's awesome. It really is. But what makes a place like this addictive is conversation. Yeah, I have Alan and Tony Laplume (a fine blogger in his own right), but what I really need is more folks who have an opinion and want to express it.

Is that you? It could be.

So. Tell me what you like. Tell me what you hate. Tell me when you think I've got my head up my ass. It's cool. I may not agree, especially with the later, but the forum is here for you to speak your mind, and I'd love it if you'd avail yourselves. And yeah, I know you can't leave anonymous comments, but you can make up a funny name and post that way, and God knows that people have. It's not a problem. Enjoy! And make yourselves at home.

Friday Mad Science: The Superstorm Strikes!

If you haven’t heard, Disney bought Lucasfilm on Tuesday for about $4B.  At the same time, they announced plans for a new trilogy of Star Wars movies set to begin with Episode VII in 2015.  Nothing is really known about the new projects at this point save that they are expected to follow the original Star Wars trilogy in the tale’s current chronology but are supposed to be completely new stories.  George Lucas himself said that he’s always planned for Star Wars to live on past his personal involvement, but that he’s been looking for the right people to champion his signature creation in its next life. 

For what it’s worth, I tend to agree that Disney is probably about the best steward of the Star Wars Universe going forward, but I’ll caveat that by saying that personally, I could have easily let the movies simply end in their current form.  I mean, there’s something to be said for a good story that’s well told.  But that kind of thing implies a beginning, a middle, and--most importantly--an ending, and with as much money on the table as a new set of Star Wars movies is likely to bring, I suppose that just letting it drop wasn't realistic. 

Still and all, the original trilogy was a work of art in its original form, and nothing that’s come since has been of nearly the same caliber.  People may like the Star Wars Expanded Universe, but they do so in much the same way that they like the Forgotten Realms, and in fact, I’d argue that the fans of the Expanded Universe are probably much the same folks as fans of the Realms.  That level of fandom is enough to sell comic books, video games, and tabletop RPGs; it is not enough to justify the sale of the property for $4B.

With that in mind, Dark Horse Comics currently has the license for Star Wars comic books, which is interesting because Marvel is also now a subsidiary of Disney and would seem to be the logical home for new Star Wars comics going forward and indeed for future loss-leader explorations of the Expanded Universe as Disney looks to see what they’ll do with the next set of movies.  That, after all, has become the de facto role of comics in today’s popular culture.  That said, they certainly won’t be able to take over until Dark Horse’s current license runs out, and that probably won’t be for a few years yet. 

And then, too, there’s an argument to be made about Marvel’s core product, i.e. are they a comic book company or are they a superhero-based entertainment company with multiple media outlets, one of which is comic books?  Because if they’re the later, then I’d argue in favor of leaving the Star Wars license with Dark Horse in order to allow Marvel to focus on its core business, which in this case would have to be the production and marketing of stories about its signature style of heroes.

The last thing I’ll say on this is that while I’m a total geek, I’m personally not too big on much of the Expanded Universe.  I liked the first two of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy, but the third book ended badly, and most of the rest of the Star Wars novels aren’t even on a par with the lower rungs of the Forgotten Realms ladder.  I liked Dark Horse’s Legacy series quite a lot, but then they discontinued it just as it was really getting into its stride, and now, well, it’s not that I’m not excited that they’re making new movies, but I think the world is already littered with plenty enough of crappy Star Wars crap. 

Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zhan

Bottom line, if the new movies are good, then that’s great.  But if they suck, and this turns into nothing but a great big corporate money-job, that won’t help at all.  That’ll be 10x of what we already have.

***

Last week’s discussion of the Tablet Wars brought a surprisingly strong response, mostly via email and/or Facebook private message.  So this week, we’ll continue our look at mini-tablet market with a comparison of the iPad Mini, Nexus 7, and Kindle Fire HD.  You’ll note, however, that this article was written before Google announced its 32GB Nexus 7 and the $199 16GB Nexus 7.

Based strictly on the hardware, I think I have to give a slight edge, surprisingly, to Amazon.  That said, their device is mostly about consuming media.  If you want to do anything other than watching, reading, or playing, you’re probably shit-out-of-luck.  Also, if you’re going to make use of the Kindle Fire HD, you pretty much have to have an Amazon Prime account, and full disclosure, I have absolutely no interest in getting one of those.

Apple, I think, is basically living on brand prestige right now.  They’re not superior to the competition in any noticeable way, save that they were the first movers in the market.  But they have the highest cost.  Interesting, that, particularly if you've ever studied luxury brand marketing.  They also have the most well-established storefront/interface, and indeed, considering that I already have one of their phones and an established Apple account that I know works well, it’s almost worth paying the premium just for the ease of adapting the new hardware into my life.  I consider myself to be reasonably computer savvy, so I can well imagine that the ease-of-use argument is a crucial one for most folks.

Still and all, I myself am mostly leaning towards getting a new Google device.  First off, you can now get a 16GB Nexus 7 and a new Samsung Chromebook for the cost of either a full-sized iPad or a Microsoft Surface.  And what’s amazing about that is that the Google device actually has the best processor of the bunch!  Now,I grant you that processing power isn't the kind of killer app that it used to be since by and large everything nowadays has enough processing power to do most of what folks are doing on their mobile devices.  I mean, I’m definitely not looking to run a load-flow analysis on my tablet computer.  But still...  Maybe I’m dating myself, but it’s hard to justify buying less chip for the money.  Also: the Nexus and the Kindle are both cheaper, and cheaper is better.  At least to me.

Last note on this: I finally got a chance to play with one of the Chromebooks, and I gotta say that I liked it.  But it’s definitely a cheap computer.  I mean, at $249 it is cheap, no question, but my point here is that if you’re used to your smartphone or high-end tablet, then the screen on the Chromebook is definitely going to underwhelm.  Still, it is a phenomenally easy-to-use device, and in looking at it, I've been getting more and more into all of the different Google Chrome interfaces, and they are amazing.  Like, truly spectacular.  But little understood.  And you have to keep that in mind when you look at the Chromebook because the Chromebook is fundamentally built to interface with all that Chrome stuff.  So if you like the Chrome stuff, you’ll probably like the Chromebook.  But if what you really want is a high-end computer that runs windows or OS X or God-knows what else, then the Chromebook is probably not for you.  But the Chromebook running Chrome--and all that it entails if you take the time to set it up properly--is an amazing piece of gear.  But that’s mostly because the software is amazing, which is kind of the point when the machine itself only costs $249.

***

Yo!  I don’t know if you heard, but there was a hurricane.

I’m not gonna spend too much time on this because it’s basically been all over the national news, but bottom line, Sally and the girls and I are fine.  I’m now busy helping with storm recovery, and that’s about as much as I’m willing to say about that.

If you haven’t seen them, my favorite pictures of the event came from CBS News.  Some of those shots are unbelievable.  They’re well worth your time.

Meanwhile, if what you really want to know is how much of the City was affected by flooding, the New York Times will tell you.  The top of this article is the NYC flood zone map.  Sandy’s flooding reached all the way up to Flood Zone C and beyond, so basically, if it’s shaded in the map, it was underwater after the storm.

Unbelievable.

Finally, with the Presidential election only a week away, it’s hard to distinguish the actual storm response from the political response.  Bottom line, if you were affected by the storm, President Obama wants you to know that he’s here to help.  Governor Romney, meanwhile, is out there campaigning in an Obama-free zone, but he’s got the very real problem that a president in middle of a crisis is demonstrably a president doing his job. 

Watching all of this unfold has been pretty interesting.  That said, perhaps the biggest surprise of all has been New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) giving the President high marks for his storm response.

Then again, I think Christie knows that he’s the most likely Republican nominee in 2016 if Romney loses, so all things considered, maybe it’s not that surprising that he’s praising Obama when given the chance.

***

Finally, here’s the trailer for the new Hansel and Gretel action movie, starring Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the incredibly hot Gemma Arterton.  Frankly, I don’t know what to make of this thing, so I’ll just give you the trailer and let you make your own decisions.

And that’s all I’ve got.  Have a great weekend, and try to stay safe.