Alien Abductions

Right.

US head teacher shot in Wisconsin

Student Shelly Rupp, 16, said she heard five shots and ran out of the school, but turned around and saw Mr Klang as he was shot.

“He was laying on the ground in the hallway. He had just a pile of blood by his leg,” she told the Associated Press news agency.

BBC NEWS | Americas | US head teacher shot in Wisconsin.

16 years old? In high school? Pile of blood?

Who’s Using the Speakers!

I am in the market for a new laptop and currently in the ‘research’ phase; but knowing me, I’ll spin my wheels forever until one day, I’ll make an impulse buy and then worry about I am going to pay it off… but that is a story for another time.

Looking at all the laptops out there, I wonder about a few things; the speakers for instance. Who the hell is using these? I think laptop manufacturers should offer machines without speakers, just a single low-fi speaker like the ones in cell phones. No one can be serious about playing music on a laptop! At least in the work \ office segment. And put a damn volume \ on-off wheel on there for heaven’s sake!

Batteries and wall-warts! Integrate! Integrate! Integrate! I’ld rather have the battery and the transformer in one package, even if that means that the battery will only pump juice for about say 30 minutes. Think about it; these days one isn’t too far from a power outlet; airports, restaurants, etc. For instance, my laptop primarily runs off the mains. At most I might run it off the battery for maybe 10–15 minutes while I check email or something during a lay-over. Battery+transformer would be perfect! Hell, throw in a retractable cord too!

As an option, offer a “snap-on” battery pack, like those ugly things for iPods! So if you need the juice, there you go. If not snap-on, just a plug-in thingy; lets call it “strap-on” hee-hee.

And stop making those damn “notebook mice”. WTF! Just because you are using a notebook, does you hand get smaller? And is it really that much of a difference between the smaller notebook mouse and the regular ones? Instead, a notebook mouse should be a wired mouse (no batteries, no hassles, get it!) with a retractable cord or a short cord just about a foot and a half or so.

And now that you have a regular sized mouse, build a little storage compartment in there for the ear buds. Or not; who wants to have to stuff a pair in there, I’ld just throw them into the bag and be done with it. You use those for music and stuff while you are working, connected to an outlet – note, not while on the go – that is what mp3 players are for!

So without the big battery how do you enjoy movies on the flight while seated in coach? You don’t! Whoever “enjoyed” watching a movie on a laptop? Fuck it, read a book or catch a nap instead. Do yourself and your neighbour a favour! But if you still need to watch a movie, get yourself an iPod or a PSP or something. Don’t be bothering everyone with your laptop; because then you will hog the arm-rests as well as figet all over the place getting you shit unpacked and packed again!

One last thing, manufacturers, please switch to those way-cool slot drive for discs – I hate that tray !

Wasn’t Peter Jackson a fat guy?

Organ sales ‘thriving’ in China

The sale of organs taken from executed prisoners appears to be thriving in China, an undercover investigation by the BBC has found.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Organ sales ‘thriving’ in China.

Quite frankly, how does it matter to the prisoner being executed how his body is once he’s executed. In fact, I would say that no part should be wasted; after the execution and the organ harvest, the rest of the body should go to medical schools for disection class. Its the least the prisoner can do to repay the state for all the trouble and expense he has caused .

Moreover, in fact they should start to optimize the death row list based on the organ requirement list. No point in wasting a perfectly good part when someone is waiting for it. I can see it now, DROMS – Death Row Organ Matching System.

 

5G iPod Search feature

There you have it folks, right from the horse’s mouth, a very big “fuck you very much” from Apple to all the dolts who bought the early 5Gs. The search is only available on the late 5Gs. Its just software damn-it! If you can retrofit the screen contrast ( why’ld you take it out in the first place!) why can’t you put the search in. Its like, everytime a new iPod comes out, the old owners are given the shaft. Enough already, get with some standards and just leave it be! What’s new about the new 5G anyway? What’s new about the new 5G anyway, you know the increased battery life is only because of the ability to dim the display, other than that, its all just software! Fuck you and the iPod you rode in on Stevie!

iPod: How to use the search feature

iPod nano (Second Generation) and Fifth Generation iPod (Late 2006), both announced 2006-09-12, allow you to search iPod for songs, album titles, artist names, podcasts, and audio books. The search feature does not search videos, notes, calendars, contacts, or lyrics.

 

Disclaimer: I have gifted 1 iPod and own another 2, a 4G and an (early) 5G.

RSS gone wild!

Here is an excellent post on CleverClogs on cutting the RSS beast down to size! Some of these I already use, some are new and worth trying out.

But the one I like the BEST is #8. Shut that reader down once in a while! Sometimes, you get so involved with subscribing and reading, that you forget what its all for. The road to a destination becomes the destination. Rather than understanding what is going on in the world around me, I become like a gerbil in a running wheel! Besides, not all LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING is contained in newsfeeds, no matter how many you subscribe to.

By the way, I try to keep my list down to 20-25 at most. That’s it! I believe its something like E-Loan; blogger have to compete for my attention, and I will only grant it to about 25ish of them. I have a folder called Probation (similar in function to Evaluate in the post on CleverClogs) as well as one called On-Notice. And feeds get shuttled around between Probation, On-Notice and my regular reading folders about once every month or so. Which means that if a feed does make it to my regular reading list, it better keep being interesting or else, next month it will find itself in the On-Notice bin, and the month after that, pufth!

What does my monitor display…

… when I am not looking at it? You would think the answer would be the same as “If a tree fell in the forest and there was no one around, does it make a sound?”.

Anyway, yesterday, I think I caught it goofing off while I wasn’t watching – I caught something in the corner of my eye but when I turned to look full-on, it quickly changed back to my Visual Studio screen that I was just working on. This happened twice. I could have sworn that it was displaying, like, balls bouncing around. Hm.

As for the tree in the forest, I don’t think we have to worry about that one. Mankind has solved that riddle, or rather, found a cure for it. One word people, deforestation! Find out more at your nearest Big Business or wherever nature is not respected and profits are everything!

(gulp) Credit reporting agencies run amok!

“The credit reporting agencies are now scanning this list (U.S. Treasury Watchlist) and putting watchlist information on the reports even if it’s a partial match,” said Sinnar.

Arcata Eye :: the mildly objectionable weekly newspaper for Arcata, California.

Tip: How to stop compulsive online spending

I use a particular credit card that gives me a virtual number to use online; its a great service. You can assign a limit to the charge amount and everything!

Anyway, here is a tip on how to stop compuslive online spending; max out your credit card. Then, when you try to buy stuff online (or in a store), your card will be declined! Great, eh.