An article in the Observer of England that was published a few years back has been stirring people up after hitting the top of Digg recently. In 2004 the Observer managed to obtain a “suppressed” Pentagon report claiming that by 2020 we will live on shrunken continents with crumbling social infrastructures. And all because we couldn’t green up in time.
The Guardian reports that the study was commissioned by Andrew Marshal, the Pentagon’s futurist-in-chief and warns that “abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies.” Read the rest »
So I switched to Vista. In fact, I’m typing on it right now.
Does that offend you? Did you just suffer, like most of my friends, from the “Ew, Vista?” reflex. It smells like acid-reflux breath in all my friends lately.
But despite its many flaws, Vista has a lot of potential. First let me talk about what pisses me off about it. It is an absolute memory hog. I was bleeding into virtual my memory (hard drive acting like RAM), when my RAM had almost a gig to play with already. Truth be told Microsoft seems to be trying to look a lot more like Mac. The main difference is, Vista doesn’t “just work.”
What I really can’t stand is the USB induced blue screens I keep getting. And this is on a new Acer Aspire, only a couple months old. Any time I plug in a new camera or thumb drive, I’ve gotta jump through hoops to make it work without crashing my system.
But these are all things that will be ironed out and I think anyone with the ability to look ahead in the software development time line will see that. Vista was designed to create a pleasurable user experience. Microsoft seems to realize that most PC users don’t get beyond Excel, Word and FireFox as far as computing goes. So why not make it a bit more enjoyable?
Windows has always been about… well “windows.” I remember being amazed at Windows 3.1 because there was a graphical alternative to DOS, and again with (my beloved) Windows 2000 when the customization and speed of their graphical layout was king.
The application windows in Vista do have a rather beautiful - if imperfect - system of organization and transition. They fade in and out, pop up as previews when you mouse over the task bar, and scroll in 3D when you press Window+Tab. I have faith that after Service Pack One (see the video) is released and they solve the USB issues, we’ll have a fun and aesthetically advanced OS in Vista.
I am not going to pretend to be a fanatic of the hit ABC show, “Lost.” The first two seasons were very entertaining and really did play out a load of those “if you were stranded on a desert island” scenarios we’ve all mused on. There was a gorgeous, dark haired girl who was not quite all she seemed. A scruffy, long-shanked vagabond started a crooked barter stand with the pillaged booty of a wrecked airplane. And, oh crap, some Rock Star had to kick his coke habit. Sure, the show’s writers would make it out to be some profound revelation. But let’s face it, he would have run out anyways. Soon the show just got too tough to follow. Read the rest »
How frustrating it is, living in a world where most of those with any semblance of computer literacy are not of a ripe enough age to bail the world of publishing out of its age gap-induced bewilderment. Publishers seem to suffer from a cyber confusion that pales in insignificance only next to the general hubris that will not let them admit they need help - help from the young’uns who grew up with this stuff.
Case in point: Time’s 50 Best Websites of 2007. Topping the list was a site I had never even heard of, mozy. It’s an online file storage service with a $5 per month subscription fee. That means that after 12 months, customers have spent roughly the cost of a decent 160GB external hard drive. That’s your number one, Time? File storage? Read the rest »
Well it looks like the hottest Christmas toys of 2007 are a lot like those of 2006. The fabled Tickle Me Elmo that was known to cause Black Friday Fistfights between eager mothers has been upgraded - or its name has. The T.M.X. Elmo, first announced last year, now can even roll on the floor and get up amidst his maniacal bouts of laughter. Elmo has been a hot seller this season, along with Fisher Prices’ Little People: Animal Sounds Farm.
But even the awe inspired by Elmo’s 10-Edition long dynasty couldn’t convince shoppers to behave this season. Seen below, a clip from a WalMart on black Friday. Apparently there was some sort of sale going on.
President George H. W. Bush last Thursday gathered an African shaman troupe in Washington to raise awareness for malaria, which runs rampant through Africa. It has been documented that thousands could be saved from the disease by obtaining a $4 mosquito net to sleep under.
Mr. Bush seemed to believe doing a little dance would raise awareness aplenty.
An article in the Observer of England that was published a few years back has been stirring people up after hitting the top of Digg recently. In 2004 the Observer managed to obtain a “suppressed” Pentagon report claiming that by 2020 we will live on shrunken continents with crumbling social infrastructures. And all because we couldn’t green up in time.
