Rebuttal to The Office

OK. So I'm embarrassed every time that Andy mentions Cornell on "The Office." I felt like I needed to tell the truth about the episode.

1. In the episode, Andy is pretty protective about having gone to Cornell. In actuality, that's kind of true. There are all sorts of alumni that are so proud of their degree.

2. Nathan Ford is actually Cornell's quarterback. And he's actually doing well this year. They got that right.

3. Hanging out in Comstock hall? There's no reason. I think that building houses the Biometry and Entomology. They'd actually probably be in Sage Hall.

4. Cornell guys are nice, and they will drive you home.

5. I don't think that Alumni do admissions interviews, but I hope so. That would actually be kind of fun.

6. Dale R. Corson is indeed, Cornell's eighth president. James Perkins was the seventh.

7. Dwight was correct, Dartmouth is considered better. Dartmouth was ranked 11, Cornell was 14.

So all in all, The Office was accurate 6 of 7 times. I guess I can't be too upset then, can I?

Down with Blu-ray.

Microsoft and Netflix were awesome, and here's why.

In Mid-November, for no more money than I pay now, I can watch Netflix content in HD off my XBox.

In comparison, Apple wants me to buy an Apple TV ($200), pay a dollar more for each HD movie I rent ($5/movie), and then the movie I paid for dissappears within 3 days. That sucks, I'm not doing that. (Oh yeah, Microsoft also shanked Apple by making Netflix available using Silverlight on OSX.)

Sony wants me to buy a Blu-ray player ($300), buy a $15 additional Blu-ray movie ($30), or try and rent it, which is next to impossible because the movies cost too much to make a profit. You know what, if I can get HD quality without messing with expensive equipment I will never ever buy a stupid Blu-Ray player.

In a couple beautiful chess moves Microsoft and Netflix kicked two of their enemies in the crotch. I thought Microsoft was too big and slow to do this kind of thing. Sweet.

PS: Just read that my Tivo is also going to be able to stream things from Netflix. It's like all the devices I love are getting along!

Reinventing the robotic wheel

So it looks like DARPA, the lovely armed forces research initiative, has been funding research for a "Legged Squad Support System." Basically they want a mechanical beast of burden that will carry 400 pounds of stuff and follow behind a soldier for 20 miles. This is going to require years of research and funding.

I guess I just don't really understand where the huge benefits are, with the possible exception of being able to tell an army of robot donkeys to deliver goods across the desert. Basically we're just using technology to create a far less efficient version of a donkey that runs on gas. I don't want to criticize the hand the feeds research, but I'm having trouble getting it.

Politico Gets Grounded!

I couldn't help but love reading this article from Politico about how the media bias the news. Usually it would be a real snore of a topic, but they kick it off by showing snippets of how their mothers have reprimanded them for unfavorable stories about McCain/Palin.

The whole thing sounds a little bit like they feel they have to atone for some past sins, however they manage to sound pretty sincere about why they've been reporting the way that they do. It also makes sense that Obama would be getting less negative press because he's ahead and morale is high on the good ship Hope.

Beware Ye, the Noodle Cup!

In terrifying news from Japan today, the company Nissin Foods is recalling 500,000 cups of Top Ramen noodles. Knowing that roughly half of the students in my class subsist off of these things, I was a little concerned.

What is this world coming to if you can't even trust Cup o' Noodles?

If you are a stickler for quality like me and only eat the awesome Maruchan brand, you're in the clear.

No way!

So after Sarah Palin had been slammed for having $150,000 spent on her wardrobe she countered by saying that after the campaign they'd be sold for charity. OK, that's a weak retort but I could see how a GOP fan might actually pay a healthy amount of money for Palin's gently used pantsuits.

That's not the jaw dropping part, though. Get this; the highest paid position in the McCain-Palin campaign isn't a spokesman. It also isn't a foriegn policy advisor.

The top paid person in the McCain-Palin campaign is Amy Strozzi, Palin's makeup artist. She was paid $22,800 for the first half of October. Not bad for half a month's work. Another woman, Angela Lew, was paid $10,000 for two weeks to be Palin's hairstylist.

I think the best part of all of this is that the campaign didn't actually refer to these people as being makeup artists and hairstylists, they're being billed as working in "communications consulting."

It's also amusing to read the comments on ABC's site that reported this. I've collected a couple samples below.

"The media is so biased they have destroyed our democracy."

"Zero integrity and journalistic ability, just like their Messiah has Zero experience. They're more concerned with Palin's shoes than they are with Obama's racist, terrorist and marxist friends. "

"Ah, hear that sweet sound?? That is the sound of Republicans writhing, twisting and spinning, as they continue on their death march until election day!"

"hmmm, I guess my $200 contribution to the RNC paid for lipstick on a pig."

Predictability of the news

Newsflash! The NY Times has endorsed Barack Obama. I know, it's such a controversial choice for them. Next thing we know Fox News will endorse McCain.

I think this is why most endorsements are pretty much ignored. They're usually all along predictable party lines. That's partially why I'm so surprised that the Colin Powell endorsement didn't carry as many news cycles as it did.

Personally, I think the surge in early voting is partially because we're all pretty sick and tired of this race. I'd love to stop hearing about future innovative policies from both candidates and actually have them do something.

Wake up startled...

You know you have a problem when you wake up in the middle of the night, and startled by the thought that your Matlab processes might not be running.

P.S. : They are. All is well.

Thanks, PhD Comics!

Should we spy on our citizens?

In a move destined to draw criticism, the U.S. Government is thinking about creating a new part of our bureaucracy in order to spy on domestic threats. And by domestic threats, they mean U.S. Citizens.

That's right, folks. If you see a new organization as either an analogue to Britain's MI-5 or Old-tyme Germany's Stasi, it's something to watch. I hope that the Government didn't get too used to using domestic spying from the NSA, because it's pretty much firmly unconstitutional.

Pretty much says it all.

Polling Madness!

It's hard to trust a news source when they are simultaneously writing conflicting stories. The number one and number two stories from Reuters have Obama either up 3 or up 6. I hope they didn't actually pay people to do these polls for them.

I wonder which polls the Obama and McCain campaigns are going to accept? :)

$1,600 in an economic downturn

I think it's funny. This is kind of a metaphor, having Apple to design a machine that's carved out of a brick of aluminum and forget a couple basic things. Like Copy/Paste on my iPod Touch.

Don't see it yet? Look for the letter 'B' on the keyboard. Thanks Engadget, you made my morning.

Blech...

So who paid off the officials today at Green Bay?

How many missed calls against the Colts?

How many Packer 3rd downs due to bullshit calls?

All in all, the Colts didn't really help themselves today, but what a difference a week makes.

McCain's Colin Powell Counterpunch

I think the McCain campaign, like everyone else, saw the Colin Powell hit coming. I couldn't wait to hear what the response from McCain was going to be, but it seems to be a two-pronged approach. The first is saying that Henry Kissinger and other old Republicans endorsed McCain (who really likes Kissinger?)

The second is a new allegation that the Obama campaign's choice to not take federal funding after saying he would will pretty much inevitably result in a big scandal. McCain said, "History shows us where unlimited amounts of money are in political campaigns, it leads to scandal", pretty much claiming that there is some kind of fundraising scandal in the Obama campaign.

This being the first election I've really put my heart into, I can't help but notice how bad the kitchen sink approach is. McCain keeps throwing things at Obama like 'terrorist', 'voting fraud', and now 'finance scandal' to just probe aroud the space to see if anything works. Sen. McCain, FIRE YOUR STAFF. I know changing horses in midstream is a bad idea, but if the horse is coughing up blood it may be in your best interest.

Amazon Music = Awesome

So for the first time in a long time, I actually paid for my music. When two albums I was interested in (Ingrid Michealson's 'Be OK' and Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist Soundtrack) weren't available through Ruckus, I actually decided that the $8 pricetag for each album was worth it. The music is at a great bitrate (256), mp3 format, and completly DRM FREE!

Some people might not know it yet, but if you've bought music from the iTunes music store (and many other places) and tried to move it to a different computer it has to be 'authorized' before you can play it. It's a Orwellian way to try and combat piracy that's annoying and ineffective. iTunes is trying to get away from DRM, but hasn't yet.

Thus concludes my happy reccomendation.

Colin Powell on Team Obama?

What a crazy road it's been with these VP picks. It was only two months ago that Colin Powell was being floated as a potential VP candidate.
Now a scant two months later, the rumor mill suggests that Colin Powell is ready to endorse Barack Steve Obama. He's got a big day tomorrow on Meet The Press, possibly capturing at least two or three news cycles.
I can't help but think that this is would really be a huge pull for independent voters. Personally, I think that if Colin Powell wasn't too smart to be President, he could give Obama a run for his money in a race. How would the McCain camp downplay the endorsement of a loved (centrist Republican) figure?

Is Android really a winner?

So I knew from the get-go that I was going to be one of the targeted folks for Android, which basically is a cellphone operating system backed by Google. The take-home message of what they're trying to do is mostly allowing people and companies to write and install their own applications on the phone, which is nerdy music to my ears. (Even the cute robot mascot is perfect.)
Apple's been doing similar work with their iPhone App store, but some of the restrictions have been ridiculous, especially the way that they won't let people have a turn-by-turn navigation program even though it's more than possible with the device.
I think it's this freedom that's attracting a ton of people to want to try out the phone. So far, T-Mobile has had 1.5 million preorders, and if AT&T had a similar option I'd be all over it this February.
Let's hope it actually takes off and Google builds up enough of a following so that we can get a application ready smartphone not caught in the grips of MSFT or Apple.