August 29 - What the hell IRENE?!

So after days of media blitzes about the incoming catastrophic storm, turned out Irene wasn't quite as vicious as we had been led to believe.  New York didn't quite float away, and the mandatory evacuations turned out to resemble offhand suggestions.

Kind of makes me wonder.  I had always considered the weather channel and weather people a special case.  They were never right, but I had never really pictured them as fear mongering.  But, just like other members of the media, it pays for them to be outrageous.  Fox News gets to complain about the socialists and gays, basically everyone else gets to complain about the uncaring, callus conservatives.  They cater to their demographic, and I don't fault them for that.

But the weather channel?  Unlike other members of the media, they don't fall upon party lines.  They are generally seen as information to all.  I know what to expect when I turn on Fox, but I tend to think the weather is neutral.

So here's the problem: the weather channel gets more viewers coming up to a disaster.  The worse they make the disaster sound, the more viewers.  So do you trust the weather channel to tell the truth?  Even when it is against their best interest to?  Is my tinfoil hat on a little too tightly?  Should I just let bygones be bygones with the weather channel and they can do what they want?

August 27 - I'm thinking ebook readers.

So I've done some cursory research about ebook readers lately, and I've come to the decision that I'd like to own one.  So basically, I thought I'd spew out my almost entirely malformed and half-assed opinions about the three on the market now that have any appeal, and then you can tell me how wrong I am.  Ready?  Go!

Kindle 3

Ahh, the Kindle.  Mainstay of the public, bringing ebook reading to the masses, so long as you buy the file from Amazon.  Closed system with a friggin keyboard.  What's that about?  Are people really writing notes in their books?  Now convenient is that with an eink screen, no touch, and a directional pad?  Seems like it takes up an awful lot of space (and makes companies like iRiver decide it's a great idea and blatantly copy with the Story).  On the upside, the Kindle is pretty cheap right now, especially if you go for the ones with ads.  A lifetime of inconvenience for merely $25!

Nook (2?  Wifi?  Rubbery?  Touch?)

The Nook.  I had high hopes for you to begin with.  Your big brother looked so sweet and worked so poorly.  I would have bought him if page turns didn't take 45 minutes.  Yes, you got better, but by then, it was already too late.  But wait, a new one was on the horizon!  A Nook with a touch screen!  Rubbery back, contoured for easy holding!  As cheap as a regular Kindle!

As a side note, I have a child.  I was reading him a Dr. Suess book and there was a creature named the Nook.  The Nook cannot read.  What the...?  Look it up.

Kobo (Touch?  Shiz?  Out of business?)

Screw you Borders.  That is all.

Well there it stands.  I think we can clearly see where I fall on this list.  Anyone have an ereader?  What kind?  Do you like it?

August 26 - The Hurricane Cometh

Hurricane Irene is it on its way to the east coast of the United States, so I wanted to take a few minutes to wish all my friends good luck through the storm.  So.  Good luck yo.

Anyway, have any of you been through any particularly interesting storms?  Years ago (and I don't feel like looking up the date) I went through a Super Typhoon.  Paka was the name, I lived on Guam at the time.  Damage didn't seem too severe at the time, but then again, I was pretty young.  I lived on the airforce base.  The housing was basically bomb shelters.  They all looked the same, concrete rectangles.  Not particularly water tight.  I spent the night helping my family mop as the wind blew water into the house.

Share some storm stories!

August 25 - Bobbing for Apple

So Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs recently resigned his post citing health problems.  I'll be the first to say that I'm no Apple fan.  My first and only piece of their equipment was an iPad I got as a present.  I skipped iPods for sansas and Zunes and never felt the need to pay extra for a similarly spec'd PC.  Be that as it may, no one can deny that Apple changed the landscape of consumer electronics, and I would have to say for the better.

Apple certainly wasn't the first to come up with a portable drive based music player, but they certainly did it with the best style and marketing.  It is easy to fault Apple with having a cult like following, but such things don't simply pop into existence.  A company doesn't magically gain a following.  Whatever Apple did, it did it well.  Products such as the iPhone and iPad continue this trend.  Slick looking electronics, in the price range of a wide variety of people.  Clearly, "It just works" appeals to people.

What do you think?  Has Apple done the world good?  What will happen now that Jobs is stepping down?

August 24

On this day in 1989, Pete Rose was banned from baseball for gambling.  This has always struck me as kind of strange.  It was my understanding that he never gambled as a player and only admitted to gambing ON his team as a manager.  I'm not entirely sure why he is therefore banned from baseball.  I suppose it is a fine line to walk between betting on and against, but that's basically what managers do every night.  What do you suppose happens if they start losing?  They are fired.  If they win?  They'll likely get a raise.  If Rose had bet against the Reds, and managed to make them lose somehow, 1) it would probably be pretty obvious, and 2) he would essentially be shooting himself in the foot unless this were a monumental bet.  In the end, he is certainly a baseball great, who may have made poor decisions.  He certainly wouldn't be the worst guy to enter the Hall of Fame.

What do you think?  Betting as a manager ok or not?

August 20

On this day in 1980, Italian Reinhold Messner completed the first solo ascent of Mt. Everest.  Without oxygen.  The highest peak on Mt. Everest is some 29,000 feet above sea level.  When you get that high up, the levels of oxygen in the air drop dramatically.  Think about having to take three breaths for every one closer to sea level.  This, while performing the most physically demanding ascent in the world.  Lower oxygen levels, beyond simply causing difficulty in physical exertion, also takes its toll on brain power.  Combine that with freezing temperatures and the need to make quick, accurate decisions, makes attempting Mt. Everest without oxygen a monumental task.

I live in a place that is about a mile above sea level.  Right around 5000 feet.  When I first moved out here from Florida, I could barely climb stairs without gasping for breath.  It would be pretty interesting to find out how Mr. Messner trained for this.  How does one prepare to not breath and climb at the same time?

Anyway, any mountain climbers out there?  Share some stories, or make some up!

August 18

Nothing serious today, lets talk about cheap eating.  How many of you are in college?  I graduated a year ago, and looking back, I ate some weird stuff.  Of course we all have the ramen.  What kind of things did you put on it?  I never used the salt packer.  A dollar bottle of alfredo sauce will last quite a while.  Minute rice with some canned chili or something.  Looks like dog food, but takes decent enough.

Ok team, what kind of cheap meals do you enjoy?  I'm talking a dollar or less here!