Really?™

2009

2008

2007

war2d2: Okay, but the question still stands: why would...
Aug 1st
Okay, but the question still stands: why...
Aug 1st
RedState: Ken Salazar: No OCS drilling, even...
Aug 1st
GOP congressman hints at support for sending...
Aug 1st
Um. That’s 6 comments in 3 minutes of...
Aug 1st
Energy Savings, Strange Attractors, ...
Aug 1st
Michael Savage booted from Los Angeles...
Aug 1st
war2d2: Um. That’s 6 comments in 3 minutes of airtime....
Aug 1st
Daily Kos: The Great White Hope
Aug 1st
RedState: New additions to the RedState Store
Jul 31st
YouTube introduces text search for political...
Jul 31st
Call Me Fishmeal.: “The Mojave Experiment:”...
Jul 31st
MIT researchers split water to store solar...
Jul 31st
Pollster.com: 2008 National Presidential General...
Jul 31st
Small Government Republicans
Jul 31st
Obama Leading . . . Good News for McCain!
Jul 31st
Amazon.com : Entertainment : Neal Stephenson...
Jul 31st
RedState: Conservative News and Community
Jul 31st
Spying
Jul 31st
Rep. Sessions held fundraiser at Vegas strip...
Jul 31st
Can't Work
Jul 31st
The Long Tail: Who needs a CIO?
Jul 30th
Gas Tax and the New Economics of Shame
Jul 30th
Patriotic Investors
Jul 29th
Toby Keith promotes pro-lynching song and...
Jul 29th
Average environments beget average work -...
Jul 29th
Goodling Screened DOJ Career Candidates For...
Jul 29th
Average environments beget average work -...
Jul 29th
Worked on another one of my little fireside chats. The topic was courtesy of espostor. So, you...
Jul 29th

On the Return of Fafblog

Me #1: Hooray! Fafblog is back!
Me #2: Pah, you only know that because Ryan told you it was back.
Me #1: Yeah, so?
Me #2: So, yeah. You know, you weren't all up on your shit like you thought you were.
Me #1: What shit?
Me #2: Look, you aren't as cool as you think you are.
Me #1: What in the hell are you on about?
Me #2: You can just drop all the UK-isms right now. That shit don't play here in America.
Me #1: Oh, and I suppose mimicking Baltimore street slang you pick up in The Wire is better?
Me #2: For real, yo. You come at the king, you best not miss. A'ight?
Me #1: This is preposterous.
Me #2: So is copying the Fafblog conversational tone. Can't you do anything original? And no, talking like James May from Top Gear is not original, it's boring. In case you were wondering.
Me #1: For your information, this style was not originated by Fafblog and I'm not trying to talk like James May. You dolt.
Me #2: It doesn't matter where it came from, that's where you picked it up. Frigtard.
Me #1: Whatever, Fake Steve.
Me #2: Weren't you going to try and make a point about Fafblog being back?
Me #1: Oh, yeah. Right. So, it's back and better than ever!
Me #2: That's a long way to go for just that...
Me #1: Yeah, I was really hoping it would be funnier.
Me #2: Really?
Jul 29th

Blonde Ambition - 13 Ways Pat Berry is...

Now available for pre-order at all fine content outlets.
Jul 29th
Iowans Attempt To Arrest Karl Rove, Four...
Jul 28th
PR Rule #1: People who are telling the truth...
Jul 27th
Little Fluffy Clouds
Jul 27th

I'm a Genius

So I was reading the “Ask Apple about the iPhone” challenge from FSF/Defective by Design...
Jul 27th

Answers to Questions

FSF: Why do all developers have to submit their applications to Apple before they can be loaded onto an iPhone?
Genius Me: Well, I can see this is going to get pedantic really quick, so I'll just go there. Technically a developer can load their application onto their own phone without submitting the application to Apple. In addition, a developer can distribute an application to other users that have a signing certificate. That signing certificate does indeed cost money. For companies we have the ability to distribute applications without any interaction with Apple. Now, to the more general tone of the question, because we're control freaks. Next.
FSF: Oh, so that's how we're going to play it, eh?
Genius Me: You came to us...
FSF: Why does iTunes still contain so much DRM-laden music?
Genius Me: It's in our licensing agreement. You may have noticed that we don't own the copyright on the music we distribute.
FSF: Ah ha! I have a follow-up! What is Apple doing to fix this?
Genius Me: Steve Jobs asked for DRM-free music to sell.
FSF: AH HA! I have yet another follow-up! If it really is the RIAA's fault, can you tell me specifically what the RIAA said to Jobs when he asked for the ability to sell DRM-free music?
Genius Me: Well, I'm paraphrasing here, but it went something like, "Steve, we're going give all these other companies what you want to try and screw you."
FSF: AH HA! Wait...what?
Genius Me: Yeah, seems the music companies figured out they gave us the keys to the kingdom and got a little miffed about it. Something about business models and unethical operations, you might not understand it.
FSF: Oh. Well. Anyway... The iPhone 3G has GPS support. How can users be sure that the GPS cannot be used to track their position, without their permission?
Genius Me: Really?
FSF: Yeah, man! Come on, fess up! You're watching my every move, I just know it!
Genius Me: Well, you know what they say.
FSF: What?
Genius Me: Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.
FSF: I knew it...
Genius Me: I honestly don't know how to answer that one to your satisfaction.
FSF: Okay, point for me! I guess I'll skip the follow-ups on that one.
Genius Me: Appreciated.
FSF: Onward! In 'Thoughts on Music', Steve Jobs said, "it is useful to remember that all iPods play music that is free of any DRM and encoded in 'open' licensable formats such as MP3 and AAC".
Genius Me: That's not actually a question.
FSF: Oh, right. Um, a follow-up then... If Jobs really wants to see open formats, why doesn't the iPhone play Ogg Vorbis, Ogg Theora video and FLAC?
Genius Me: Apple would likely be sued for patent infringement.
FSF: Ah ha! So you aren't willing to fight for your customers.
Genius Me: Dude.
FSF: Okay, okay... Last question. Why can the iPhone 3G only be activated by Apple and AT&T?
Genius Me: Licensing.
FSF: Ah ha! Gotcha! In the United States, the Register of Copyrights has ruled that consumers have the right to unlock their phones and switch to a different carrier. How does Apple plan to remedy this discrepancy?
Genius Me: Security!
FSF: Ah! Now we see the violence inherent in the system!
Security Guard #1: Come with us sir.
FSF: Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
Genius Me: Really?
Security Guard #2: Sir, please.
FSF: Oh, what a giveaway! Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about! Did you see him repressing me? You saw him, Didn't you?
Jul 27th
Staff Blog / New upload rules
Jul 27th
NYT's roundup of home electricity...
Jul 27th
great sync machine
Jul 27th
Join us this summer for Campus Technology...
Jul 26th
Deep Thought
Jul 26th
Views of Jupiter
Jul 26th

On Twitter vs FriendFeed

Me #1: So, clearly I'm missing something...how are Twitter and FriendFeed even remotely comparable?
Me #2: Pat, sometimes you're so dumb I hate being you.
Me #1: Dude!
Me #2: The list of things that make these services similar is long and deep.
Me #1: Go on...
Me #2: Well, for starters they are both web-based.
Me #1: You're starting off pretty strong there.
Me #2: Just wait, punk. Next, they are both Web 2.0 apps.
Me #1: So Google Maps is now the same as Twitter too?
Me #2: Can I finish? Can I finish?!
Me #1: By all means...continue. I'll hold my applause until the end.
Me #2: Thanks you oafish dolt. You can use both systems to broadcast a message to people. They both have privacy models. They both foster ad-hoc communities. They both have an API. They both offer RSS feeds! I could keep going, but I see you're already starting to fall asleep.
Me #1: Oh, what? Sorry, I drifted off on you there for a second. May I present my rebuttal?
Me #2: If you must...
Me #1: FriendFeed is an aggregator of your other Web 2.0 junk and Twitter is a Web 2.0 messaging system. They are fundamentally different in that aspect. Oh, and about that XMPP and SMS support for FriendFeed...
Me #2: I'm loathe to admit this, but you make some valid points. Still, you can't deny that you can use both system to broadcast to people.
Me #1: No, I concede that both systems do that, but until FriendFeed can send messages out over other protocols besides HTTP, I stand by my pedantic hypothesis that they are different systems. One could also postulate that the relationship between FriendFeed and Twitter (and every other system they feed off of) is parasitic. It's a stretch, but an argument could be made.
Me #2: Except for the fact that FriendFeed could still drive some traffic to the Twitter web site.
Me #1: True.
Me #2: So, uh...who won?
Me #1: I did.
Me #2: Really?
Jul 26th
My Hiatus From Twitter - Why You Should Join...
Jul 26th
"Do these pressure-pants make my butt...
Jul 26th
Mike Patton | The A.V. Club
Jul 25th
Twitter
Jul 25th
Ubisoft Steals ‘No-CD Crack’ to Fix Rainbox...
Jul 25th
FUCKING NDA
Jul 25th
Oil Survey Says Arctic Has Riches -...
Jul 25th
“Maybe it didn’t have to be an actual war, though. Maybe you...”
— Fafblog Interviews: HILLARY...
Jul 24th
NDA
Jul 24th
Kagan: ‘The only way’ to ‘force’ Iran to halt...
Jul 24th
Lieberman Compares Hagee To Moses, Says...
Jul 23rd
[On Writing] "The Omnivore's Dilemma" is a...
Jul 23rd
Baby’s First Internet - The Morning News
Jul 23rd
MacJournals News : Why Q3FY08 iPhone revenues...
Jul 22nd
Anathem, by Neal Stephenson You know how it’s going to go when the review starts with...
Jul 22nd
Modern Capitalism
Jul 22nd
“I’m also staggered to think how many people are...”
— James May - Top Gear
Jul 22nd
“I met my maker, I made him cry And on my shoulder he asked...”
— Oasis | D’you Know What I...
Jul 22nd
Linux Hater's Blog: Of silos and samba
Jul 22nd
Presenting Side A
Jul 22nd
Apple Shares Fall in After Hours Trading
Jul 22nd
TechCrunchIT » Blog Archive » The...
Jul 22nd
RedHatContributions - FedoraProject
Jul 22nd
Beijing 2008 Preparations - Three Weeks to Go
Jul 21st
Pilgrim Power
Jul 19th
jwz - smoking ban: level up!
Jul 19th
Iglesias: Rove Won’t Testify ‘To Keep Himself...
Jul 19th
Jul 19th
iGoogle
Jul 19th
George W. Bush Sewage Treatment Plant...
Jul 18th
BigDog Quadruped Robot
Jul 18th
Online articles lead to rapid scientific...
Jul 18th
Sadly, No! » It Gets Worse
Jul 18th
TRENDNET | TEW-632BRP Utility
Jul 18th
This cartoon wrote a sweary word on your...
Jul 17th
Linus Torvalds: Don't glorify the...
Jul 17th
The Mac owns the US. Windows owns the world....
Jul 17th
Feith: ‘Removal of clothes is different from...
Jul 17th
[from wearehugh] inessential.com: iPhone...
Jul 17th
Warch Watch
Ze Frank!
Jul 17th
Recent Volcanic Activity
Jul 17th
Twin Towers Billboard Sponsor: ‘9/11 could...
Jul 17th
Amazon.com: Capture / Release: MP3 Downloads:...
Jul 17th
Watch out for everyone or no one
Jul 17th
Obama's War Speech
Jul 17th
Twitter
Jul 16th
Fox News host: 15 year-old detainee ‘maybe...
Jul 16th
Feith Lies To Congress: ‘I Championed A...
Jul 16th
Gmail - Inbox - pberry@gmail.com
Jul 16th
Myth Buster: TSA's Watch List is More...
Jul 15th
Billboard displaying burning twin towers...
Jul 15th
Got It Right
Jul 15th
Bolton Claims He Has ‘Always Said’ Striking...
Jul 15th
Would the cloud have saved Apple's iPhone...
Jul 15th
When bad air is worse - sacbee.com
Jul 15th
2008 Tour de France - The Big Picture - Boston.com
Jul 14th
Let Them Fail
Jul 14th
Chyrons
Jul 14th
Picture 1
Jul 14th
Apple - Trailers - College - HD
Jul 14th
Tom Shales - On HBO, The Fierce Tug of War -...
Jul 14th
DNA Lounge: DNA Sequencing
Jul 13th
NIKE+ : Runs
Jul 13th
George Will Sticks Up For Gramm: Americans...
Jul 13th
Schwarzenegger Confirms Link Between Global...
Jul 13th
Modern Capitalism
Jul 13th
[from wearehugh] iPhone launch-o-mess-o-rama...
Jul 13th
Jul 12, 2008: Chico Outlaws vs Yuma at...
Jul 13th
learnr.org dev blog - Windows iTunes
Jul 13th
More psychology
Jul 12th
Warch Watch
iPhone Customers Strike Back at KTLA Reporter Eric Spillman (via KTLA) …and that’s why...
Jul 12th
You say you have read the Bible
Jul 12th
Iran: You Suck At Photoshop (updated) - Boing Boing ...
Jul 12th
[from wearehugh] Lessig really is as big a...
Jul 12th
Where art thou MobileMe?
Jul 12th
McCain slams Obama for missing a vote he also...
Jul 11th
When you're Robert Scoble, you don't...
Jul 11th
FCC chief plans to recommend sanctions...
Jul 11th
Running with the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain -...
Jul 11th
Pharyngula: Another off-the-wall argument...
Jul 11th
Iranian Missle Photo Faked - Weblog - Mxrk
Jul 11th
Obama on Gramm's "Nation of...
Jul 11th
Photo of the day: Rove’s empty chair.
Jul 11th
Kucinich introduces article of impeachment...
Jul 11th
How To Shorten URLs With Bit.ly Using...
Jul 11th
pandagon.net
Jul 10th
George F. Will - Survival of the Sudsiest -...
Jul 10th
Talking Points Memo | Beliefs
Jul 10th
Bit.ly: Please Use This TinyURL of the Future...
Jul 10th
before on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Jul 10th
Balloon Juice
Jul 10th
What's The Joke?
Jul 9th
My own totally crazy thought
Jul 9th
Too Old For This Shit
Jul 9th
but the lease said no pets
Jul 9th
A sad message, indeed. | The Macalope: An...
Jul 9th
Beck - Odelay Amazon Metadata
Jul 9th
The Flickr Collection on Getty Images
Jul 9th
Fiorina touts insurance plans that cover...
Jul 9th
APO_responsibilities
Jul 8th
Fighting phishing with eBay and PayPal
Jul 8th
Jonah Goldberg compares Obama’s national...
Jul 8th
Loving Jesse
Jul 8th
Photo
Jul 8th
Drobo 4-Bay FireWire800 & USB2.0 Storage...
Jul 8th
Yippie Kay Yay America
Jul 8th
How You Feelin’?
Jul 8th
The tyranny of "free" - MacUser
Jul 8th
The Big Picture: The Fires
Jul 8th
Everyone's A Hitler
Jul 8th
Warch Watch
maniacalrage: Fruit Loopt That poor bastard. (There’s also an original higher quality...
Jul 7th
California's Continuing Fires - The Big...
Jul 7th
Butterflies are free, so why aren't...
Jul 7th
“So, you know, screw those who see a pessimistic or partisan...”
— Comment in crazy metafilter...
Jul 7th
Extreme Croquet
Jul 7th

on Indecision 2008

me: I'm not sure I can survive until November
Greg: quitter!
well of course not, you're a liberal
you have to surrender
it's in your nature
me: It's not that I want to quit, I just want to stop living
Greg: oh that
you just need a drink
or two
me: make it three
Jul 7th
via jwz
Jul 7th
Boo Fucking Hoo
Jul 7th
Uncapped Upload?
Jul 6th
DNA Lounge: DNA Sequencing
Jul 6th
TED | About TED | TEDTalks
Jul 6th
Disney Tells NRA to Fuck Off
Jul 5th
Condoleezza Rice: ‘I Am Proud Of The...
Jul 5th
Just how do Californians perceive their...
Jul 5th
Klaatu Barada FUCK NO.
Jul 5th
Obama to Nerds: Let Me Handle This One
Jul 5th
Just how do Californians perceive their...
Jul 4th
Judge Orders Google to Turn Over YouTube...
Jul 4th
“Security is the natural prey of scale. You can’t make...”
— Amazon: Hey Spammers, Get Off...
Jul 3rd

On the presidential campaign

Greg: I demand that Obama be appointed President by the Queen!
Oh wait, we can't do that.
"The People" have to have their say
me: what about the Lady of the Lake
she can throw a sword at him
Greg: hey yeah! can we get her?
what's she charge for that shit?
me: I think she's on vacation
Greg: Well get her agent on the phone, pronto!
Jul 3rd
Renewed artistic direction for Diablo 3...
Jul 3rd
Lars Larson Rips Wall-E As ‘Propaganda’; It...
Jul 3rd
American Spectator: Obama would lead to...
Jul 3rd
A YUI Grids-based WordPress Theme — YUI...
Jul 3rd
Fox News distorts photos of New York Times...
Jul 3rd
Even McCain can't answer the question
Jul 3rd
"So while we have spent six years...
Jul 3rd
WordPress Gears « WordPress.com
Jul 3rd
Taking On the System: Rules for Radical...
Jul 3rd

How to Choose the Correct Mask to...

Choose a mask called a “particulate respirator” that has the word “NIOSH”...
Jul 2nd
Buy n Large
Jul 2nd
The most pathetic plea for school prayer I’ve seen yet...
Jul 2nd
Zack Rusin: Git cheat sheet
Jul 2nd
Fast and the spurious? - News - Top Gear
Jul 2nd
Happy Canada Day!
Jul 2nd
U.S. leads world in substance abuse, WHO...
Jul 2nd
Snow in July? A Mixed Blessing in the...
Jul 2nd
Jamendo : Home
Jul 2nd
EchoDitto Blog | How to get Web 2.0 resourced...
Jul 2nd
Can Haz Twitter Account?
Jul 2nd
Features are a one-way street
Jul 2nd
Fox News Guest: Gitmo Is ‘Really More Like A...
Jul 1st
TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo |...
Jul 1st
Right-Wing Apoplectic Over Pixar’s WALL-E:...
Jul 1st
Java, FTW!
Jul 1st
DAS CGI-BIN?
Jul 1st