Shouting Grounds

Link via CNN. This has been a rough week.

Hayes’ other acting roles included “Tough Guys,” “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka” and “Hustle & Flow.” He played himself in the forthcoming “Soul Men,” with Samuel L. Jackson. “Soul Men” also stars Bernie Mac, who died Saturday.

Samuel L. better watch out for the reaper for christ’s sake. That “Soul Men” project is like the first exorcist.

This sucks dick. Big time.

The Space X III launch vehicle was lost during launch, and so was the final remains of Scotty

Space X hasn’t just lost a rocket, though. The flight was carrying a trio of small satellites belonging to NASA and the DoD. Perhaps less seriously, but probably more newsworthy, the ashes of over 200 people were also on board, including a pair of rather well known astronauts, one actual, one fictional. They were Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury 7, and “Scotty” himself, James Doohan.

What the fuck good is the Oversight Committee if they can’t fight this bullshit?  I can’t be any more frustrated at this process and it’s truly amazing that these fucktards can get away with doing exactly what Scooter Libbey was convicted of doing, namely obstruction of justice. 

They can just make up some horseshitting excuse why they cannot provide key evidence to an ongoing congressional investigation and NOTHING HAPPENS. 

The decision by the White House to refuse to honor the subpoena from Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for Cheney’s interview was hardly unexpected, given the administration’s history of fiercely protecting presidential prerogatives. What was surprising to some legal scholars was the basis for shielding the FBI interview report. It was covered, Mukasey said, by what he called “the law-enforcement component of executive privilege.”

“As far as I know, this is an utterly unprecedented executive-privilege claim,” said Peter Shane, an Ohio State University law professor who is an expert on executive privilege and separation-of-powers issues. “I’ve never heard this claim before.”

Tags: politics, Dick Cheney, CIA Leak Investigation, Rule of Law

This is fucked…

Tags: news, beheadding, bowling, sports

Well…Friday I waited in line for over 2 hours to finally give ‘ol Steve some of my hard-earned dosh. I’ve bought Apple products before, but unless I’ve given them as gifts, never kept the fucking thing. This is the first Apple product that I bought for MJS exclusively… I’ll recount the experience before I weigh in on my first 72 hours with the product.

The cats in Cupertino decreed that the new 3G iPhone could only be bought in Apple and AT&T stores starting at 8a on Friday. Guaranteed lines of zealots at the Apple stores…prompting me to think that I’d be safe arriving an hour early to an AT&T store mere miles from an Apple store. Not so much. At 7a there were 35 people in front of me…and every single fuck around me had an EDGE iPhone. I’m not exaggerating. Every goddamn person had a 1-year old, perfect-working-condition iPhone.

Now…I’m moving up from a Samsung a900 on Sprint, so the iPhone is whole milk to me. But I’ve spent some time with the EDGE iPhone and don’t find it to be incredibly handicapped compared to the 3G. The web access is faster, but all iPhones will get the 2.0 software…so we’ll be on a nearly-level playing field from what I can see. The most obvious advantage being that my phone was “only” $199, whereas the earliest adopters got horn-fucked last year.

Back to the lines. AT&T had deployed some Zealot Wranglers to keep the natives in czech, trained in the fine art of counter-intel. The agent for our portion of line was particularly vicious…claiming illogically that she was incapable of counting how many iPhones were available for purchase and beckoning everyone to eschew their jobs and stay in line no matter what happened. Luckily I was able to forward the trouble phone to my cell and remain away from the office until I had blown my wad…others were not so lucky. Two seething and sweaty IT pro’s in line behind me couldn’t handle the pressure and rolled out of the firing line mere minutes before I secured my prize.

With regards to the process, Apple screwed the pooch in my opinion. Last year some anti-zealots hacked their phones and whatever…so this year’s plan was to activate at the store on purchase. That plan will probably be fine after a few weeks…no so much on Friday. The entire central time zone was struggling to activate through iTunes starting at 8a. Case in point, it took the first guy in line over 30 minutes to reemerge with his activated phone. Luckily for us, the AT&T order-takers quickly decided to dump the activate procedure and I got my phone activation-free. And thus the activation process took about 3 minutes later on in the day.

So…you’re saying “MJS, how’s the fuckin phone?”

Pretty goddamn swell. I tried to give it a well rounded rinse over the weekend: making some long-distance calls, listening to a podcast (thousand cuts, y’all), watching a trailer, downloading some free apps from the new apps store, using google maps to find a Panera Bread, etc. Good shit. About half of my interweb browsing was done via my home wifi, but I was most impressed by how quickly the phone hopped from wifi to 3G to Edge when the signal strength demanded it. Definitely some quality there.

I’m impressed so far, and I’m certainly finding every reason to use the thing. However, I vow not to become the asshat zealot that will whip out the phone to counter a pilot when he claims our plane is delayed due to weather. Fuck him.

Video tutorial: unlock iphone

By running Apple Software Update you should see iTunes version 7.7 now available for download.  Even though the App Store doesn’t seem to have a direct link on the iTunes storefront.  A simple search for Super Monkey Ball will let you get to the App Store tab. 

With this single move you can download and purchase a shit tonne of goddamn applications.  Free apps include (finally) AIM, Facebook App, MySpace Mobile App, eBay App, IGN Game reviews, NetNewsWire, Evernote, and all sorts of little games and productivity applications. 

Pay software includes, Bejeweled, Super Monkey Ball, OmniFocus, Band, and christ there’s too much to name.  Seriously, tomorrow is going to kick all forms of ass when the 2.0 software is avaiable.

Or you could just download the 2.0 iPhone update yourself, right now.

Of couse, I can’t guarantee that that update will work properly, and it is known that updating your iPhone or iPod touch with 2.0 software will wipe the phone and attempt to restore from a backup created just before the wipe.  The backup checks what is available and authorized in your iTunes library for the restore so make sure (if you do this) to update using your main iTunes library.

This program is an example of why the App store and iPhone combo is going to be awesome.

Tags: iPhone, iPod, iPod touch, iTunes, Apple, App Store, iPhone 2.0

Engadget reports:

So yeah, apparently that whole attempt to “streamline operations” back in April didn’t go over so well, as Syntax-Brillian — you know, that firm neck deep in panel partnerships and responsible for Olevia HDTVs — has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

And so another bargin-bin HDTV manufacturer bites the dust.  Hopefully that company that’s assuming their debt continues the brand, but I doubt it. 

Tags: Syntax-Brillian, Olevia, HDTV, Bankruptcy

The update includes the much sought-after in-game XMB (so you can play custom music from your library and interact with the XMB without quiting your game) and trophy support.  Of course these features have been available on the xbox360 since launch, but it’s nice to have these options on the PS3, knowing how it adds to the palyability and entertainment of the console. 

Tags: ps3, firmware 2.40, XMB

I just saw this on CNN. We’ve lost a true visionary. Though the man, the material has died, the ideas and humor live on.

Amen, brother

Hrmm… surprised by this one. I thought for sure he was a child molestor.

And while we’re at it, Magic will like this and this.
and all will love this.

Have a blessed day.

Who the fuck is bumping our “fisting” search status? These stats are for the month of June. Summer’s in the air.

UPDATE

Another stat listing…also discouraging

You may not be able to tell from the extremely brief story at CNN and other sites, but here’s the report from the office of the Investigator General of NASA regarding the coercive impact of “Political Appointees” on the direction and desemination of Global Climate Change (See Global Warming) research.

This details just a portion of the damage that a bunch of political hacks with no more specialized job experience than a trainee at Wendy’s can do to the country if things don’t change. The response to Katrina was a direct result of a poorly selected appointee who had just left a highly relevant position at the International Arabian Horse Association prior to being in charge of NATIONAL DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY DEPARTMENT. Can’t you see the tie-in there? Michael Brown was forced to resign from baiting horse humpers, so he would of course be perfect to look after our safety after an act of God.

That aside, what possible benefit would there be to prevent a study on global climate change for fuck’s sake? Not to diminish the subject matter, but what negative consequence to the Bush administration, or more specifically to these appointees would there be if an accurate and honest study was conducted? I can think of only two affects. One, if it was shown that the majority of this global shift in climate was man-made, this would probably lead to tougher environmental restrictions on big industry. All the republican hard-liners who deny that there is a link between our carbon emissions and the global climate, purely because it hurts their bottom line, and the bottom line of their financial backers would want to deep 6 any breath of this reality. Two, loyalists of the Bush administration policies which are obviously the product of point One, would prevent this information from coming solely because it refutes the words of their great leader. Since most of the jackassed appointees wouldn’t be able to support themselves without the helping hand of the powers that be, their very careers depend on lock-step allegiance to the cause.

Point two is the most troubling because it means a majority of the most powerful seats in our bureaucracy are filled by desperate yes-men without scruples or regard for anyone else, at least, anyone but those in the party. The party and their networking has got them a sweet deal. They get a good paycheck and a great resume after their time is up, and like the clock-watching employee who was brought into the company with the help of powerful friends, he/she’s hoping that the phone doesn’t ring. The moment it does you’ll probably have another Katrina, or maybe a war with Iran.

Editor’s Note:

Just so you know, the CNN article looked like this yesterday, when I started this post.

yay! It’s been a long time since I posted, so I figured this would be a good post to get back on the wagon with.

It was pretty badass to run through the Soldier Field concourse and through the actual gate that the Bears use on gameday, onto the grass and out to the 50.The adrenaline rush was unparalleled.

And with that, I’m buttoning up my distance running for the summer. I still plan to run for fitness and such, but no more training for long distance this year. Gonna focus on other things.

again…yay!