Normally I don't like talking politics, and I still don't like to, but I want to touch on this point.

Remember when presidential candidates, or any position really would campaign and actually say what they're going to do to help the country, city, town, etc? I can't seem to remember hearing that too much anymore. Now it seems that the popular way to campaign and try to win is to lie, cheat, and bash your opponent more than they bash you. I'm truly not a fan of that at all. I want to hear and see what they want to do for the country, not what their opponent has done wrong, or what they claim their opponent has done. It's really a shame that candidates feel they need to attack their opponent in order to win votes. I guess it has pretty much become the status quo now as the strategy to use, but I'd really like to just hear what they want to do to help me, because lets face it, everyone in politics has made their share of mistakes, no one's perfect.

So, instead of telling me what the other has done wrong, why not tell me what you want to do to help.

This is particularly aimed at the whole Clinton-Obama dispute and I'm really sick of hearing it.

/endrant

Tags: rants, politics, election2008

So my new case and power supply arrived on Friday and my server is now set back up. It should hopefully be a lot faster as it now has better hardware. I ended up upgrading the OS as well. Instead of Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake, it now runs Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon. It is a tad bit louder than my old one but runs well so who am I to really complain. Besides, new server maxes out at 7 hard drives instead of 5.

Old Specs:
Intel P4 2.0GHz
768MB DDR PC2100 RAM

New Specs:
AMD Athlon64 2.0GHz
2GB DDR PC3200 RAM

Tags: server, ubuntu, linux

This was leaked today. The first ever Star Trek XI teaser trailer.

If you can't tell that's Leonard Nimoy reciting the famous "Space, the final frontier..."

Here's the good shot of what can't really be seen clearly in the trailer (click for larger version)

UPDATE: The official teaser is shown during the previews for JJ Abrams Cloverfield

Tags: startrek, trailer, movies, teaser

So Apple's Macworld Keynote was yesterday and several new products and upgrades were announced. The big one of course is the Macbook Air, an amazingly thin laptop that looks pretty sleek. Here's my take on the Keynote and new products

iPhone 1.1.3

The latest update to the iPhone firmware.  For those with hacked iPhones, this update is not a good idea right now, but for those without, this update adds a lot to the iPhone. First it brings in sending text messages to more than one person at once. Second it gives you faux GPS...locates your position using cell tower triangulation, as well as providing hybrid view in Google Maps. One more thing it allows for is for you to save websites as shortcuts on the main menu.  It allows for a few other things as well, but I guess those are the big ones. Overall it seems to be a pretty good update, I've been fooling around with it some and the new features aren't bad, although I wouldn't rely on the triangulation as a GPS device...placed me in Philly last night while standing in my bedroom some 45 minutes away.

Time Capsule

This is seemingly a very nice product. Essentially what it is is a wireless-N router with a hard drive built into it for backup. For those who use OS X Leopard's Time Machine on a Macbook, Macbook Pro, and I guess now the Macbook Air, this is a viable solution to storage space. It comes in sizes of 500GB for $299 and 1TB for $499 which aren't horrible prices considering the storage space and speed that they're said to have, but it still may be more economical for people just to go out and buy an external hard drive. But, there are some nice things about it as well. One, it acts as a network server allowing for Windows, Mac, and Linux to connect to it, and two they can all connect simultaneously when you compare that to an external hard drive only being able to connect to one computer at a time. It seems like a nice product but I don't know if I can justify it at the moment since I have my server.

Apple TV Take Two

A new software update and price drop still is not influencing me to even consider this. In order for me to consider a product like this, it would have to include a DVR and support for Divx. Guess what, the Apple TV still doesn't. If Microsoft and Sony can get Divx on their game consoles, there should be no reason why Apple can't get it on Apple TV. Also, while it doesn't affect me so much, it'd be nice if Apple TV would support 1080p.

iTunes Movie Rentals

What seems like a good idea gone horribly wrong, although they are close. Essentially what it is is you pay $2.99 for a movie, $3.99 for a new release, and I believe $4.99 for high-def.  So where did they go wrong? Two things. One, when you rent one of the movies, you have 30 days to start watching it. BUT, once you start watching it, you only have access to the movie for 24 hours. For a tad more at Blockbuster, I can rent a movie and watch it 24/7 for 3 days to a week if I want (depending on the return date). With iTunes, just 24 hours. If I were to go to Netflix, i could pay double the iTunes price and be able to rent unlimited DVDs per month with no late fees keeping each DVD as long as I want to. It was a step in the right direction, but they still have a lot of things off in my opinion. Also having to wait 30 days after the DVD release to rent from iTunes..and STILL pay a new release price is ridiculous.

Macbook Air

Most likely the thinnest laptop around right now. It looks sleek and seems to have decent power, but I'll take my Macbook Pro thank you. With the Macbook Air, you can't access your RAM, Battery, or your hard drive. Now the hard drive is not that big of a deal because I can't access it on my Macbook pro either, but the battery and the RAM, are biggies. To have to take it in to Apple to replace the battery, or pay Apple's prices to upgrade the RAM, is the sad reality stemming from the thinness of the Air. Now granted the replacement of the battery is at cost only. You'd only have to pay for the battery which is a slightly pricey $129.99, but the installation would be free. Personally I think the price of the Macbook Air should be slightly less as it is comparable in technical specs to the Macbook. I respect that by making it thin costs a little more, but $1800 for it is a little much. In all honesty, the Macbook is just about as portable.

Tags: apple, macworld, keynote, thoughts

As some know, I was in Boy Scouts growing up, and attained the rank of Eagle Scout, one of my parents' proudest moments. During college, I was unable to stay as involved as I would have liked to be, if involved at all. Now being out of college, I find myself wanting to get back involved in the program, and my Troop. Troop 72, the troop I was involved with, gave me a lot my 7 or so years I was there for. My Scoutmaster in particular was key in me getting Eagle. He, along with my parents, pushed me, and inspired me, and did everything he could to get me into the program as well as get my butt in gear when I was slacking off and really disinterested. I thank him, my parents, and of course all the leaders who were there helping me. I guess part of me wants to pay them, and the new scouts, back for everything they did for me...hell, not part, most if not all of me wants to.

I went up to one of the bigger events, Snowbound this past weekend, which is pretty much a big scouting competition the District runs. My brother, Eric's patrol placed first, as they did last year, and as the troop tends to do to begin with. I helped out, walked around, and I want to get back to being involved. I'm still a registerred leader there so I think I'm going to actually get involved as one.

Eagle Scout is not easy to achieve and the last number I counted was that 1 out of every 100 scouts attain the rank. Several US Presidents are Eagle Scouts, and one of my personal heroes, Jim Lovell also achieved the rank. Eagle Scout can show a lot about one's character and I would suggest the program to almost anyone.

Despite some of BSA's criticisms, the Boy Scouts teach young men many important life skills and is a great program. The most important of which I believe, is leadership. Leadership is actually the primary basis of the Eagle Project that is one of the bigger requirements for Eagle Scout. A good leader is not always the easiest thing to find nowadays and the program is set to help inspire young scouts to grow and gain leadership skills.

Tags: bsa, boyscouts, thoughts