Picking Your Exploration Date

Picking your nose can be one of the most serene and peaceful things you can doing during the day. You can go deep and explore the inner crevices of your nostrils or you can slightly brush over it with your thumb in order to remove what little debris you feel. I know this is an odd choice of post but I have been slowly realizing how integral this action is to getting through the day.


Everyone has their little nuances even before they stick their fingers in their nose. They might look around to see if anyone is watching, throw up a flare to distract the people who are, or even simply make sure there are spectators for the upcoming event. Sometimes one is rewarded with a nice juicy item that can be rolled in your fingers (disgusting but very common) or perhaps flicked like a penny from your hands. Just make sure all; if you are going to pick freely and frequently, make sure you do so with the washing of your hands. You do not want to be introduced to the head of the firm with some residue hanging off your fingers, your palm, or anywhere else they can show up if you end up using the flick method. Be careful, be a professional, and pick at will, peace.

An Onslaught

Well all, today needs to be blogged and...and well frankly there is not much there. So in the spirit of things I would like to share some insight on the onslaught of...well idiocy that one might run into in a day. Mind you this post is not to produce negativity but when there is a road block in your life in the shape of a human being and you can not get around them, AND they are prohibiting your effectiveness at work then they need to be removed...pronto. On a much less negative note these did not all incur over the course of one day. Yep, I have been saving these up for you, the reader and boy, maybe you are in for a treat.

Scene: On a street corner
Action: Longboarding
Random guy one: "Nice board man but how can you support fiberglass like that? It kills the earth and is not renewable, man, it is just as bad as driving your car."
Me: I look down at my board, up at the man, down at my board, back to my hand, back to the man, back to the car coming our way.

Scene: The office
Random Co-worker: Now we have all had these people and they are the ones where you give them an answer and then they just sit there, waiting, and staring right back at you. Maybe we should all carry a bag of cookies for people like this

Scene: The Road
Cop: "Sir, do you know why I pulled you over?"
Me: I look down at my bike, back to the cop, then back to a car doing 10 over. "No Officer I don't"

Scene: The Bedroom
People across the wall: LOTS OF SEX SOUNDS (real loud)
The person beside me: Wide awake

Scene: Soccer
Mom: "Eh I said that my little girl needs to be moved to the other team because her and -insert name- do not like each other."
Coach: Blank stair

Sorry they are not all that great, but I am up, wanted to write, and da blog was a beckoning. I will leave you now with a truly great idea.

Something bad Has Happened

Finding yourself on the Republican side of the world these days is very much like finding yourself on the wrong side of an elephant with a large amount of laxatives. Well maybe not quite that deep but close enough. Repubs are heading towards the democratic hippie sides of things due to the idiocy raised far above the heads of republications. However, on this day, republicans or especially liberal republicans rejoice because you can now see, albeit somewhat small a hole in the mound like heap of shit. The Bush administration has finally dug their heads out of their lower intestines and said NO to the RIAA and potentially YES to peer to peer clients or "pirates." It basically stops federal prosecuters from applying civil lawsuits to peer to peer clients. The article can be found here and might I say Huzzah...HUZZAH!

What You Have Been Waiting For

Crazy days are here and gone and now, now you all can be graced with the wonder that includes the a whole lot of stupidity. If people do not know, I am very avid biker and often times take a moment and actually ride one to work in the morning. This leads to a great regiment of good health but often time allows you to open your mind and watch for cars and other objects that could possible careen into you. Maybe it is my 14 or so concussions over the years or perhaps my sense of duty towards my own body, but keeping an open mind while biking can be extraneous but very needed. However, now we have yet another problem on our hands.

I decided, due to the high amount of stalkers that I have acquired through this blog to blot out the location on the police vehicle. At first we were in wonder what was going on when a police officer (k9 Unit, thumbs up buddy) rushes to pull over someone on a bike. Apparently this lost individual which is obviously riding some kind of hippie built townie had no idea that the kop was after them since this is within 172.6 yards away from the actual stop sign. If she is as lost as we think she has no idea that she is going to be slapped with a 125 dollar fine and some points on her license.

I myself have been pulled over by these folks and have no idea why there is a problem with all of this. Major cities like Chicago, NyC, San Fran, and Boston don't really take the time to actually go after bikers who do not come to a complete stop at a sign or light. You hear of some instances here and there but they are always fue and far between. Here though, I have witnessed the popo actually sitting just up from biker frequented stop signs who are out to yank everyone who does not come to a complete stop. And who should?

If you are dumb enough to pull out into cars then we have a serious problem...real serious actually. But if you are looking for some kind of death wish then by all means, go ahead and step out into it, let it be our choice. We chose to get on the bike that morning and we do not need cops who are bored taking it upon themselves to give us a form of fines. We all know that the economic times are tuff but lets actually try and do your job. How hard is it for a biker riding a townie to outrun a car? How hard is it for someone driving a stolen car to outrun a ridiculously large SUV? What am I saying? Life is better on a bike and people should use restraint when in ridiculous situations with iPhones.

Drofo

Being a network engineer or maybe wanting to be one is sometimes difficult. Having run the notorious and very old yet very stable Novell for several years, the inception of something that can break every weekend is somewhat odd to me. Leopard Server seems to be the beast that I simply can't seem to tame in this world of corupt hard drives and moronic server setups. Maybe it is just me but I can't seem to wrap my head around why an Apple server can not find the library folder unless it is written down ten times, burned 9, sketched in dog shit, sketched back onto paper and then finally stapled to an apple atopt someone's head.

If you can't tell I am frustrated, not at pple, but how an unfortunate turn of events can make my hair just a wee bit grayer. Baa, work on a Saturday? Easily remedied with some simple booze.

Toot Away

We have no idea...or at least I do not specifically know how many people actually visit this blog on a per weekly basis (per daily is just ridiculous). But I believe today will be the first time I toot an upcoming post.

Now for all that keep up with this, I love to ride fixed gear bikes. But it seems, expecially where I currently reside the cops are super happy about pulling over the carbon neutral bicyclist and creating dangerous problems for motorists instead of actually probably doing their real job. This post is to come...don't hate, some of us work. Anyway, I would also like to congratulate myself with a HAPPY 100 posts (pic above says it all)...2 posts late. Never really knowing where this blog was going has made it a very trying task but it looks like we are on target for the 20 posts this month and by the end of this next 5 month period we should hit 200! Sweet bitches, peace.

Reacurring

Life...well it is not always perfect and the life portrayed in Jerry Seinfeld's and Larry David's is definitely not perfect. Hence why it appears that Jerry and Bill have been kicked out of Microsoft's new, non nonsensical add campaign. Who is in, might you pine for? Well it appears to be someone who looks vaguely familiar...actually much like comedian Hodgeman who plays the "I am a PC" in the apple adds. It seems like Microsoft tried their humor and it just is not working. Now their plan seems to be a full frontal attack on what actually, has not made the Apple commercials all that special or memorable. Buck up Microsoft, you have plenty of the market share; bring back the idiocy and bring it back with some flare. Ny Times article here.

Sippin on Jin and Juice

Is not what the folks at Microsoft are doing. A few posts ago I spent some serious time reviewing all of the ridiculous that did not ensue in the Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft adds. The boys at WTF are at it again and have since released another add that no one can seem to figure out. Penny Arcade took a jab at the whole escapade with their comic from today which can be found here. Microsoft might have some grand scheme of marketing but it sure seems like they are falling fairly flat with what they are trying right now. Movie after the jump.

'Murican Sensativity

No post before has needed some type of disclaimer more then this one. If you take a second to search the blog for the word "turducken" and take a second to think about the word that is numero-uno in the title you will have a good clue on what is about to unfold. If this is a sensitive subject for you, well cowboy up or go cry into your crotch..whichever you feel the need.

American football is a rather large part of our autumn Mondays and now....and I doubt God would bid it, Sundays. But if we were to really take a second and look back into football's past we can see its origins stemming from european football (soccer for the yokels) and rugby. Rugby first came about around 1823 at the Boy's Rugby Club in England and soccer probably showed up a little earlier in the 1820's. It transfered to the US through the Harvard and Yale ivy's where they used to play football (the stuff we know it now) every Mondays, in which they called "Bloody Mondays." Boy-huh? Things have sure changed since then.

What seems to have happened during the migration of rugby to the states the Ivy leaguers thought things were to0 difficult and bloddy. This is indicative of the American decree that if something is hard, make them easier instead of fighting through it and being stronger at the end. Instead of keeping true to the "hardcoreness" and finess of soccer and rugby, we decided to be babies and stay to the easy, cushioned, and untechnical high ground.

Acrtually all of this makes perfects sense since most people who actually watch football want to sit on their rear ends, sipping beer on Monday nights and not really have to think; simply get up really quickly and shout some incoherent remark when something good, or bad happens. This is assisted by horrible anouncers who have so many numbers on each player they probably could tell you what kind of food the players ate for dinner. In addition the screen is bombarded with little arrows and numbers since we as the watcher can not read the white numbers painted onto the field or remember how many downs are left. Nope, no brain needed.

I say bring back Bloody Mondays and get rid of the sluring maniac that is John Madden. Take away all the nanny pads along with the helmet and let them basically play rugby in which you can throw forward. This would make the game a lot more fun, hardcore and maybe fans would actually need to pay attention to know what is going on. In addition, I am almost positive this would lower heart attachs, strokes, spousal abuse and raise short term memory retention. We all love when NASCAR cars crash (why else would you watch it) so why do we love when a bunch of people protected by pads crash into other people. One good tackle and someone doesn't get up? Makes you think a little more then this current "sport" does.

Palinic

Being a political science major, one aquires a certain distaste for most systems of government.  Not because they do not work (most do) but rather simply the people that we deem fit to represent those systems.  The one character we all need to be referring to is our charter Polar Bear Club member Sarah, spelled with a z Palin.  If you find yourself in a group of people and one happens to slip and mention the fact that they believe Sarah to be the next Vp you calmly get up and and you slap them as hard as you possibly can right in the ear.

What should make people unhappy is the fact remains that there are quite a few educated folks out there that find themselves leveling with republican doctrine.  However, the folks that actually call themselves republican are so far gone that there really is no verbage to describe their actions.  They simply place the "repub" name on themselves and call it a day as they proclaim the possible force needed to cull Russia.  One word comes to mind Sarah and that word is simple, simply no.  Now this is NOT a vote Obama ad(the man is not a patriot...not even close).  However, we need someone to take a close look at healthcare, education, jobs, quality of life, and perhaps put on the backburner the bid for superiority that we crave.  Whoever this is, probably will not get voted into office but if we all simply take some shit from Douglas Adam's stick: "don't panic."  Positivity will get us through and not much else, certainly not people obsessed with abortions.

A New Breed?

As none of us know because you should be working hard enough to not have time to surf the web during the work week. Or for the folks who actually get paid to do this, take it from me; it is not as glorious as it sounds....well actually it is. Wait, where was I going with this?? Oh yeah! Itunes 8 was released today along with a slew of new ipod nanos and a slick new ipod touch.

Starting with Itunes 8, the big thing is Genius, which compares your music and attempts to make intelligent guesses on other groups you might like. This is basically the same service that Pandora and Last.fm use. In addition, they have introduced grid view which media player 11 had way back in 2005. Beyond all of this, I think Itunes is much faster, it syncs with my Iphone much quicker and easier and seems hands down a much more native app on the Macbook Pro.

Because I own an Iphone I could care less about the Ipod touch but the new 16gig colorful nanos do look very cool. They have a very curvy design and a Zune like accelerometer that allows you to control certain parts of it via shaking the nano or putting it sideways into landscape view (Zune only does landscape). They look very cool and the Nanos seem to be they direction Stevie is going these days. Unfortunatly, I still would rather have the big Classic, but with almost no update to the current Classic today, it looks like this could be the last iteration of the big ipod. Sniff...16gigs is 50 bones cheaper and very small....more then 16gigs needed with genius and smart playlists? What do you all think?

Props

Being in the business of...well business you find yourself in quite a few sticky situations. When it comes to web business we need as much help as possible. So to simplify things, and I did not really like it to tell you the truth, I have reverted the blog design back to something more "open" and recommend everyone to visit boagworld for an amazing podcast. They may be from the UK and but they know what they are talking about when it comes to the coding for the world wide web. And for my second recommendation: Smashing Magazine, another great publication for help on for all those late night coders. Peace.

Windohs!

Now, as most people do not know, the whole point of being anonymous is to never be found.  This is often a practice rarely employed on the world wide web and is a must at TKubed.  However, this post is going to key some people into the fact that: no I am not a marketer. 

For all the digg watchers out there, you probably witnessed that the new rubbish that is the windows commercials (Jerry Seinfield included) graced national television on the night of the 4th of the 8th.  It being a windows comercial, included a dinosaur heapen (steaming) amount of nonesense.  A quick synopsis of the entirety of the video includes Jerry trying to sell Bill on some shoes and how he should wear them in the shower.  To appeal to some minorities (none of which would be watching Sex in the City on TBS) they included a sentence in spanish and finished with a small green screen and the vista logo...no words included.  Oh and...by the way, eating technology, not a good thing Bill, I watched a dog once release a half eaten remote and I swore it looked like red tiberium (diagram for ungamer folk to the right) from the Command and Conquer games.  The video can be seen here but to save 1 minute 24 seconds check out the fine senator in perhaps the best sound clip for random insertion into one's life.

Are We Males a Little Tepid?

Being one myself I must admit that us 20 something males have a thing or two to learn about being proactive in our community and lives.  This might be so true that it has grabbed the attention of attention seeking whore newsweek.com (article).  The article itself is actually a long read which is uncharacteristic for this topic...aka it was written by a women.  Tony is a hard name to decipher but through some clever googling I think it actually is a male...which is a good thing.

Taking a few looks through the article we see some very key elements of why this article has reached the top of digg today.  

"In almost 400 interviews with mainly white, college-educated twentysomethings, he found that the lockstep march to manhood is often interrupted by a debauched and decadelong odyssey, in which youths buddy together in search of new ways to feel like men. Actually, it's more like all the old ways—drinking, smoking, kidding, carousing—turned up a notch in a world where adolescent demonstrations of manhood have replaced the real thing: responsibility. "

-BINGO.  These two sentences pretty much sum up a good amount of men who find this type of life a nessesity.  We all think that being more drunk then the next person or bragging about who they did last night is more manly than simply taking on the responsibilites of life.  This is of course not 100 percent of the 20 something population but it is growing daily.

"Meanwhile, saddled with an average of $20,000 in student debt and reared with a sense of entitlement that stops them from taking any old job, the percentage of 26-year-olds living with their parents has nearly doubled since 1970"

-Aw yes, living with your parents because you are too proud to take a job that will pay the bills.  Sure, this survey is pointing at american youth which means that most of us are scared to do manual labor or simply get a little dirty but why should you be picky when you are 24...money is money and any skill learned at any job is valueable for the rest of your life, not to mention the stuff you learn from your co-workers.  I know I sometimes feel this, but I love to get dirty, let me pull wires through a crawl space, work for a landscaper on the weekends, be a valet when the job is available.  Our problem is that we hate to serve other people...it makes us feel all..human which is clearly wrong...right.

"If the domestic man does appear, the study finds, the guy who pants in Lamaze class rather than a stranger's bedroom is portrayed as freakish, fuddy-duddy and frequently religious: an uptight Boy Scout in a Peter Pan culture"

-Oh to true...and very well put.

"almost 20 percent of college guys said they would commit rape if they knew they wouldn't be caught"

-WTF Mates.  Although 20 percent is not tremendously high but anything over 0 percent in this catagory is simply wrong.

-Everyone should read the complete article.  It is not powerful enough to make someone change their mind about their attitudes but maybe just maybe, it will make you think...just a little.  Baby steps for the adolescent.

Blingtastic Experiences

Ok. so I might have missed a day but I made up for it with the double post two days ago so I am still on track for the 20 posts this month.  Anyway....CHROME!

Playing with the beta of Google's new browser has been, an absolute charm.  Running it under Vista Home Premium on my Macbook Pro was as easy as downloading and installing.  No fuss, no real google adware, and nothing really to get in the way of someone simply clicking yes through all the prompts.  So a big thumbs up for an easy beta install.

From there the experience only got better.  The layout of Chrome is astonishing with no extra information or bars to clog up the bottom, the left or the right side of the browser.  This lends itself to be safari - esk where they want you to have a complete and unhindered browsing experience.  If you look simply upward you are welcomed with a simple and elegant single bar that will process a .com address or search a word in google.  This process has been tried before with Firefox and Opera however, it was often times hard to discern if the browser was going to search or attempt to complete the url.  Chrome battles these issues with a simple "search google" preface before the word you typed.  This makes life both easy and quick when it comes to finding what you need.

When it comes to browsers the entire world is concerned with the amount of memory that one takes up.  Firefox used to be a huge memory sucker, IE...don't even get me started (Beta 8 I sorta like), Opera...no, and Safari...boring.  Chrome for the moment processes each seperate tab as another spot in memory which seems to speed up browsing and make the browser fairly stable for its beta itteration.  However, it does seem to take up more memory then trusty firefox but...for now atleast, it is a beta and should be a memory hog.  

This is a fairly simple run through of the browser but it must be said that the browser is itself, very simple.  However, this does not detract from a wonderful, clean and well thought out browser by the folks at Google.  With so many browsers populating the world most of the normal folks stick with trusty old IE but if Google can get its Chrome name out there then I think they have a good a chance of taking a large portion of the market.  Moreover, this will probably be the same browser we see on the Android setup later this year which will make the experience competetive for all us iphone safari users.  I say bring it, and bring it hard Google.  Complete that OS we all know you have in the works and grab that market share.  Shuttle PC, Google OS, Chrome, Lightened Simplicity.....utterly amazing.  

One last thing though....get this on the Mac port asap and I will browse with it every day.

Double Dipping

To the left of this post there used to be a picture of some rather inept folk, who probably went to college, attempting to write the word "school." Well this was old and is now changing to something that I think is awesome. These pictures will be just little snippets of what I think is worth actually spending my money on. Most often there will be a post to accompany but perhaps not. For example, that bike; I want it. If you are reading this and you would like to donate it please feel free to comment. Check it out at surlyville.com under the heading bikes - steamroller.

A Candide List

As anyone knows who might have at one time frequented this blog, I am not one to be consistent when it comes to blogging. In now way over the past two years since I have had this thing been fallen into more then single digits when it comes to numbers per month. Moreover, there have been numerous posts addressing this issue and ideas and explanations on how I am going to promptly fix it.

It is several months before new years but I am going to go forth and make a Labor Day (that is right it is capitalized due to the lack of imbibing that is characteristic with the day) resolution to have more then 20 blog posts, per month for the next 4 months. Lets see if I can do it folks, lets get throw the world of technology a bone and see if it is possible. If you want to submit anything feel free to via comments on the last post and I will address it immediately. Here is to the future all!