Archive for May, 2007
Department of Redundancy Department
May 23rd, 2007
This beauty comes courtesy of AOL Television. For months now, I’ve been searching for the ultimate TV listings and have looked at Yahoo TV, TV Guide, MeeVee, TV.com, ZAP2IT, AOL Television, and countless others. So far, I haven’t found one that I absolutely love so the search continues. While conducting my search, I took a look at AOL Television’s guide. In their guide listings, when I enter my ZIP code, I’m offered the following choices:
- Time Warner Cable - Standard, Los Angeles, CA
- Time Warner Cable - Digital Non-Reb, Los Angeles, CA
- Time Warner Cable - Standard, Los Angeles, CA
- Time Warner Cable - Digital Non-Reb, Los Angeles, CA
First of all, as a consumer, how am I supposed to know what “Digital Non-Reb” means? Even if for some reason, I knew, why is each option listed twice? Of course, this ultimately ends up being Time Warner Cable’s fault since they’re the one providing the names. This only goes to show that the merger of AOL and Time Warner is really paying off. Only together can they create such a crappy user experience.
Sphere: Related ContentDefining Irony
May 21st, 2007
Sure, you could look up the definition of irony but I find learning by example much better. For example, take two stories from the LA Times. The first is about California State Senator Carole Migden who was involved in a car accident over the weekend when she reached down to get her cell phone. The ironic part? She voted for a bill this year that would fine people for talking on their cell phone while driving their car. Example number two comes from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who rode a city bus last week to a meeting about reducing fossil fuel usage. After the meeting, he climbed into a GMC Yukon SUV (a car that gets horrible gas millage and burns a lot of fossil fuels) and drove off. I guess he’s taking a page out of the book of Arnold.
Sphere: Related ContentIf I Had to Turn to the Dark Side, I’d Vote for Ron Paul
May 17th, 2007
Rudy Giuliani is an idiot. Such an idiot that he just might get elected president (here’s hoping he won’t). Anyway, I didn’t watch the second Republican debate on May 15th, but I caught some excepts from it, most of which made my blood boil. However, none of the highlights were as shocking as Rudy Giuliani’s position on why the United States was attacked on 9-11. Ron Paul, the only Republican who seems to actually have any sort of a grasp on why Islamic fundamentalist organizations like Al Qaeda hate the United States made a remark where he actually tried to provide a rational explanation. Of course, Giuliani who walks around acting like he’s the world’s expert on terrorism because he happened to be mayor of New York City during the largest terrorist attack on American soil in history, attacked him. Here’s the exchange from the New York Times transcript:
REP. PAUL: No. Non-intervention was a major contributing factor. Have you ever read the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we’ve been over there; we’ve been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We’ve been in the Middle East — I think Reagan was right.
We don’t understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. So right now we’re building an embassy in Iraq that’s bigger than the Vatican. We’re building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting. We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us. (Applause.)
MR. GOLER: Are you suggesting we invited the 9/11 attack, sir?
REP. PAUL: I’m suggesting that we listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it, and they are delighted that we’re over there because Osama bin Laden has said, “I am glad you’re over on our sand because we can target you so much easier.” They have already now since that time — (bell rings) — have killed 3,400 of our men, and I don’t think it was necessary.
MR. GIULIANI: Wendell, may I comment on that? That’s really an extraordinary statement. That’s an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don’t think I’ve heard that before, and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th. (Applause, cheers.)
And I would ask the congressman to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn’t really mean that. (Applause.)
Giuliani’s response is the typical Republican reaction to Islamic terrorists: “They hate us because they hate freedom.” Indirectly, that’s true. They believe that democracies allow individuals to behave how the individual wants which is often in a manner that contradicts strict interpretations of the Qur’an. To Islamic fundamentalists, the rule of law must be based on the Qu’ran and no other form of government. That said, Osama bin Laden didn’t target the United States just because we’re a democracy. As the 9-11 Commission Executive Summary states:
Bin Ladin also stresses grievances against the United States widely shared in the Muslim world. He inveighed against the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, which is the home of Islam’s holiest sites, and against other U.S. policies in the Middle East.
Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden therefore did attack the United States, at least in part, because of our foreign policies (including military presence in the Middle East and diplomatic policies with countries in the Middle East). Rudy Giuliani, a self proclaimed expert on terrorism and 9-11 because he “lived through the attack of September 11,” doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. To just run around claiming there’s zero reason for the attack is ignorance. You may not agree that our policies justify such a horrific attack on innocents (I certainly believe that’s the case) but to attack someone for stating what real experts, including the 9-11 Commission, believes is plain stupid.
Sphere: Related ContentWould You Like Pot with That?
May 16th, 2007
According to WMAQ in Chicago, a McDonalds employee accidentally gave a child a Happy Meal with pot and a lighter in it. I can’t think of a stupider place to hide your pot than a Happy Meal but if you can, feel free to let me know.
In other news, if you’re thinking about peeing on your old Playstation 2, you should unplug it before you do so or you’ll end up like this guy.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Best of the Worst
May 16th, 2007
The Today Show and Zagat (apparently pronounced “Zuh-GAT” although the battle rages on) have come out with the Zagat/Today Show Fast-Food Survey which chronicles the best of the worst fast food and chain restaurants out there. In the category of Top Food, Wendy’s gets the prize trailed by Subway. In fact, Wendy’s has top honors in three out of the four categories. Now, if only they could stop calling things “biggie” I might be more inclined to go there (not really) but to me “biggie” is the equivalent of “Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity” in the breakfast world. In other words, I’m not saying it so I’m not ordering it.
Sphere: Related ContentMy 15 Seconds of Internet Fame
May 15th, 2007
Last week I went to the NCTA convention in Las Vegas for work. The show got off to a violent start with the a bomb exploding in the Luxor parking lot and the head of HBO’s arrest for hitting his girlfriend (a very stupid thing to do the eve of a cable show let alone at all). Anyway, I stayed at Mandalay Bay (where the convention was held) which is a great hotel. They have a swimming pool that creates its own waves and their own sandy beach. While I was there, I also had my shot of 15 seconds of Internet fame when I met the guy from Justin.tv, a site that broadcasts this guy’s life live 24/7. So, of course I was on the site for the 5 or so minutes he talked with us. I don’t want to post a link to the video here but for those who know me personally, email me and I’ll send you the archive information to look it up.
This week it’s back to work in LA.
Sphere: Related ContentUnited States is Next to Last When it Comes to Believing Evolution
May 4th, 2007
According to National Geographic, the United States ranks next to last (second only to Turkey) in believing “human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals.” Even more scary is the finding that over the past 20 years, the population of the United States has grown more uncertain about evolution’s validity.
Poor Darwin :(.
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