khaosx.com

Specifically, my cat pisses me off.

This is comfortable cat position number 3. It’s the one where the cat stops walking and falls down into what looks like an insanely comfortable position.

Lots of people hate cats. I don’t hate them per se, I’m just really annoyed that no matter what position a cat is in, it’s the most comfortable position imaginable. Oh yeah, and the stretching thing – no human can possibly have as satisfying a stretch as a cat.

Pictured right is the screen I ran into on my system this morning after a couple of strange reboots and errors. "Odd", thought I. Since I’ve just gone through a case migration, so I ran through the usual checks – cable secured, proper port, etc.

Vista rolled through a consistency check, and "sorted" a bunch of files (which is never good), and we wound up here after the reboot. Well crap. This is just not good. What you’re seeing in that screenshot is the Intel RAID manager saying "I can’t see the volume anymore – you’re hosed."

This is a catastrophe. Well, sort-of.

I’m lucky in that I actually did a backup of my critical data prior to the case swap, and unlucky in that I now have to go through the gyrations of troubleshooting the disk problem and reinstalling the OS and Apps. I’ve been on 64bit Vista for a month or so now, and I haven’t done my usual job of creating an unattended, so if I go back to Vista, I have to do a full-on manual install.

I’m actually considering going back to XP, for a variety of reasons that I’ll get into in a later post. Suffice to say that I’m really not seeing enough of a compelling reason to stick with Vista. It’s just so…yawn.

As a side note, my first thought was "Oh my god – I’ve lost all of the 1000+ pictures I just scanned in". I then realized that I had uploaded all of them to flickr, which was a relief even after I remembered that I had a full backup of them on a local drive.

Further updates as events warrant.

Wow – this should pretty well be the nail in Twitter’s coffin. Google announces that they’ve acquired Jaiku (the web presence that I use). I’m curious to see if they have a direction, or it this is a portfolio pickup.

Google’s Blog

*Editor’s note: The reason I have never been on TWiT is because I make completely wrong statements like "this should pretty well be the nail in Twitter’s coffin".

Bill (you’ll know if you’re the Bill Stallings I’m talking to),

At the risk of sounding like a whiny little git, what did I do to you that pissed you off and caused you to break off all communications? You said "I’ll call you and let you know". That was several years ago. I’m still waiting. I’ve talked to mutual associates, I’ve left messages for your daughter…what the hell, man?

If I pissed you off, fine. So be it. I would think that you could at least call me and say "Hey…I’m not dead, you’re a schmuck and that’s that". If you got caught up in something and just never got around to calling, then fine. So be it.

I’d love to hear from you, even if it’s to tell me to piss off. Hit the contact button above and shoot me an email.

I thought this was an exceptional post regarding the reaction to James’ death, and how we as a community reacted to it. Also a nice thought about the "new media".

Some have speculated that James Kim’s tech celebrity drew disproportionate attention to his story relative to the thousands of other people who go missing each day. But I had never heard of James, watched his videos or read his articles.

This tragedy engulfed me because over the past 7 days I got to know the Kim family, not “know” as “a missing family” or “some traveling tourists,” but know. I watched James’ videos, toured Kati’s boutiques and trespassed on their lives. I read the comments of c|net colleagues. I watched the rescue efforts in real time, and my hope ebbed and flowed with the discoveries of pants and people. I bonded with the family on my own time and endured their heartbreak with thousands of others. A two-minute television flyover, sandwiched between an Iraq report and a Taco Bell recall, cannot offer that.

Those who argue that the media desensitize us underestimate the human spirit. We care as much as we ever have about our fellow people, but time- and space-constrained media do not give us people to care about. They castrate each story’s humanity to make room for more, and in the end they leave us with caricatures. If the UCLA Tasering weren’t on video, you would have read this on page 3 of your newspaper. Would it have made the same impact? Would anyone still be talking about Michael Richards if his outburst weren’t on tape?

We are no longer sheltered by constraints that squeezed human lives into printed paragraphs and television spots, and now they are unraveling mercilessly before us. The Web brings us closer to the ones we love, but it can also make us love the ones it brings us closer to.

From the comments:

That was masterfully put – castrating the humanity. I was just talking to a friend today about the story. Strip away all the technology, buzzwords, and promotion, and new media is really just us sitting around the campfire, telling stories, sharing moments, and being human beings, the way we did 10,000 years ago.

The tech community has been holding its breath for over a week now, praying for a man that most of us have never met. James Kim, his wife, and his three daughters disappeared without a trace after Thanksgiving while driving in a dangerous and remote part of Oregon. We allowed ourselves hope earlier this week when we found out that rescuers had located the car, and miraculously, the wife and children were alive and in reasonably good shape. Kati Kim kept her children alive against all hope through her bravery and ingenuity.

Today, we learned that James’ body had been found. He set out on foot on Saturday, nine days after becoming lost, to try and find help. It’s a hard blow to take, even though most of us couldn’t have picked James out of a line up. He was one of our own, and we were pulling for him.

The media (indeed, even the media in our own little world of technology) and those who think they know better will argue about the merits of going off into unknown conditions in the middle of winter in Oregon. Sure, on paper, it might look like a much better plan to hunker down and wait for the cavalry, but we’ll likely never know what drove James to leave the car and his family. After nine days, this man must have decided that the cavalry wasn’t coming, and he had to take matters into his own hands.

He must have known that it was a dicey proposition at best, and he still left the car to search for help. He staked his life against the chance of saving those he loved, and ultimately, he died while trying to save his wife and his daughters. His family meant more to him than his own safety.

James faced up to the ultimate measure of a man, and he was not found wanting. I only hope that if I am ever measured in this way, I will have the courage to say the same.

Rest in peace, James. We’re all proud of you.

*follow up thought – Someone pointed out to me today that the reason we all rallied around this story was its "closeness to home". Sure, we all hear about and sympathize with all the bad things happening in the world, but we can completely personalize the idea of making a wrong turn and getting lost.. I think that makes a lot of sense.

Ahhh, high school.

Remember the jocks? The kids that got to do and say whatever they wanted, because they were jocks?

Nothing has changed.

On April 23rd, professional football player Ricky Manning was sitting in a Denny’s with a bunch of his friends, when they noticed a guy sitting alone, eating dinner, working on a laptop. Manning and his gang proceeded to start picking on the guy, who eventually asked the management to have them removed.

So what happened next? Exactly what would have happened in high school. They beat the guy senseless, and fled the scene. He was sitting by himself, working on a laptop. They called him a nerd, and beat the crap out of him. Six thugs beat him senseless, because he was a geek.

Manning is currently charged with assault with a deadly weapon (his fists).

Odds are, He’ll get nothing more than a slap on the wrist, AGAIN. Why? Because this is America, and pro athletes are neither expected nor required to be men. We consider them role models for our children, simply because they can run faster, or throw farther. Because of a higher percentage of muscle tissue and better reflexes, we as a society allow them to be whatever kind of cowardly thugs they want to be, and then we reward them with multi-million dollar contracts. We do not hold them accountable for their actions.

Here’s the punch line:

Manning’s response after making bail, and finding out that he got signed?

"I was pretty down this morning because of the situation," Manning said."But when I found out I was a Chicago Bear, it kind of brought a little light to the day. … I can’t let something like this let me have a bad start to my football career in Chicago."

And the Chicago Bears organization?

A spokesman for the Chicago Bears says that the criminal charge will have no bearing on their $21 million, five year contract with Manning. In fact, the Bears scheduled a conference call Monday night to talk about their new player.

Update: Manning was suspended by the NFL for one game as a result of the incident, and eventually plead guilty to the charges in exchange for his second probation deal. He claimed that he “had words” with the man, but that his former teammates were the ones that committed assault. He also claims that the only reason he plead guilty was because he was “in season” and it might disrupt the team if he went to a jury trial. Disgusting.

Apparently, the MPAA has “taken into account” the exact flaw that I described in my earlier post. They specifically asked study respondents how many of the movies they pirated would have been purchased (or viewed in theaters) if they could not have pirated them.

Fear not, though…they’re still a bunch of booger-heads.

According to ArsTechnica, nobody has seen the survey. The press release was merely a collection of talking points, with none of the data revealed.

Ars brings up two good points:

1. You can’t apply the same criteria to domestic and foreign populations. Piracy is a much deeper cultural norm in some societies.
2. They regard copying for personal use, as well as decoding for use on portable video platforms, as piracy. In other words, they consider “Fair Use” to be whatever they think is fair – not what the law says is fair use.

Remember kids – if you own a video iPod or a PSP, and you want to put a DVD that you purchased on it , that’s considered copyright infringement by Big Content*.

Screw you, booger-heads. Nowhere in the law does it say that am I obligated to prop up your failing business model.

Ars Article here

*Actually, it isn’t. It is actually a violation of the DMCA, since you must circumvent the DRM to put the video in another location.

Yesterday, one of the agents of “Big Content” (the MPAA) released the news that they had lost over six billion dollars in 2005, due to piracy worldwide. Yet again, they seem to be failing to take a number of factors into consideration.

Let me say upfront that piracy is a real issue. I do not dispute that. I think Big Content is losing some real money here. But I also believe that they are overstating their case in an effort to make it easy for the politicians they’ve bought to get whatever shenanigan-laden copyright legislation they think up made into law.

I’d like to draw your attention to one paragraph in particular:

“Bootlegging,” which the study defines as buying illegally copied movies, DVDS or Video CDs, accounted for $2.4 billion. “Illegal copying,” making copies for yourself or getting them from friends, made up $1.4 billion. Finally, illegal downloads cost the studios $2.3 billion in lost revenues.

There is a fundamental problem with that line of reasoning, namely that they are assuming that every download/copy/whatever directly translates to a lost sale.

Let’s assume for the sake of argument that the Internet doesn’t exist and there is no easy mechanism for downloading or copying movies. Now, take a pool of one hundred people, chosen at random, and see how many people are going to buy “Cabin Fever” (in my opinion, the worst movie ever made) at $19.95. You might get 2-3 people willing to buy it, for a total gross of $59.85. Come back to reality now, and ask the same group of people who would be willing to make a copy of it. Even if 100% of the group is willing to make a copy of the movie, you’ve only lost $59.85. Big Content, on the other hand, would seem to have you believe that they’ve lost $1995. Big difference.

Truth number one – Just because someone pirates a movie, it does not directly correlate to a lost sale. It’s an opportunity cost, at worst.

More likely, it’s revenue you would never have seen anyway.

Original Link:

Film piracy costs Hollywood $6.1 bln: study – Yahoo! News

I woke up this morning with a splitting headache.

More specifically, I had a splitting hangover. I NEVER get drunk, because to get drunk, one would have to drink. Since I drink about one beer a month, you can see where I’d be a little confused about how I came to be in this agony.

I went to a New Year’s Eve party at one of my Dad’s friend’s house out in lovely Conyers, Ga. My host is notorious for his parties, and I snagged an invite this year. It was really a stunning affair, and I’m damn happy to have gone.

Just so you can get a taste of the atmo at the party…

The buffet:

1. BBQ pork and brunswick stew – some of the best I’ve ever had, and I’ve eaten my share over the years.
2. Pastrami, corned beef, and roast beef – ordered from a deli in NY.
3. Escargot
4. About 20 lbs of lobster tails, swimming in garlic and butter.
5. Shrimp, with some of my Dad’s infamous cocktail sauce

The food was definatly first rate, but the alcohol was the real story. I was slamming back big glasses of $60 a bottle cabernet, apparently with no concern about the amount I was knocking back.

Around 11:30, my new buddy Ed reccomended to the host that the fellas should be drinking the good cognac. I’m not a huge brandy drinker, but I figured what the hell, we’ve been drinking $60 wine, smoking $20 stogies, and scarfing lobster by the pound – why not go all the way?

Next thing I know, I’m pouring from a THREE HUNDRED DOLLAR BOTTLE of 1970 Armanac. Holy crap, batman…that’s some high living. At one point, I think I double-fisted some champagne with the brandy. I can’t be certain.

I know that I was D-r-u-n-k, faithful readers. Drunk off my ass and desperatly trying to not make an ass of myself. Of course, 30 minutes later, I’m part of a crowd of people singing that David Allen Coe song (you know…the “I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison” song) at the top of my lungs.

I guess if 10 people do it, you can’t call jack-assery on them.

No resolutions – I’d just break them anyway.

I’m going to bed.