God

The only way in my mind to understand the concept of a monotheistic God is to view it through the lens of computer technology. Specifically video games. So I’m going to try this and if you find any holes, please reply.

For starters lets define the concepts of omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent and put them in the context of this argument.

Omnipotent = All powerful – Having control over everything in this universe
Omniscient = All knowing – Knowing everything in this universe
Omnipresent = Everywhere – In this universe

“In this universe” is the key phrase here. When any one of us play a simulation video game we too are all those things. Even more so if we are the creator of that game that can tweak it as we play it out.

Now imagine a God who is playing a simulation game. Something akin to The Sims for instance, but way more detailed.
The ability to play the game having already programmed its basic laws and tweaking it as they go. Adding expansion packs, levels and so on.

Would it be so difficult for this God to be everywhere? The ability to fly over everything and hone in on different things at different times. The ability to reverse or pause time to go back and see things that might have been missed without affecting the course of play.

Would it be so difficult for this God to know everything that is happening in the simulation? The ability to have key events pop up as alerts. The ability to know where characters are going or what they will aspire to do. The ability to let them make choices given a set of predefined options. The ability to know what choices those characters will make based on a variety of predisposed criteria/programming.

Would it be so difficult for this God to be all powerful in the simulation? The one who created the simulation, created all the options, created all the boundaries, created all the laws and created all the outcomes. The ability to reprogram and tweak the simulation at will.

Would it be so difficult for this God to play as a character (or many characters) in this simulaton themselves?

What about morality? If this God created the morality of this simulation and then did something against that morality, does it make the morality invalid or the God immoral? Is a programmer wrong if they change the code or hack something to work a certain way at a certain place even when it doesn’t jive with the rest of the code base they’ve already created? Is it wrong for this God to create the base morality and then play against it from time to time? From our perspective down here the answer is yes, from outside the simulation its probably not any more offensive then any one of us sending a lemming to their death. We don’t have to follow the morality we defined for the characters of the simulation. It’s not our morality, it’s theirs. Yet we assume that our morality is the only morality and that it must apply the same to the creator as it does to the created.

Admittedly, sometimes the universe seems to me like those out of bounds areas in video games. The ones that you will either never get to because nothing is programmed beyond them or you need to level up to access.

When God is often talked about it is said that we cannot know God or see God completely. Is this not like a character in a simulation being fully unable to see the programmer/player?

Of course like a simulation we play, how much does this God really care about each of the characters? Surely we would have no problem spiting the characters that backtalked to us or rewearding the ones that did as we bid. Likewise we could reward the bad characters or spite the good ones, just for fun.

What evidence does a character in a simulation have for the existence of a programmer/player from their perspective? None. Yet the programmer/player does exist.

What motivation does a programmer/player have to prove their existence to the characters in the simulation? Any one of use could tell our simulation characters that we exist outside of time and space and created everything. But why would we care to do that? What does it benefit our own ego to do that? When we want accepance we go to our peers or authority figures to gain it. We do not ask for acceptance from our creations. At best we USE our creations to gain acceptance from peers or authority figures.

The biggest question is, where did such a God come from? Since I’ve been playing guessing games throughout this whole post, I make no apologies about doing it here as well. Perhaps it doesn’t know. Remember that I already defined its omniscience to “this universe.” Perhaps trying to understand anything about its state of being is as difficult for us to understand as it would be for one of our own simulation characters to understand our state of being. It’s just beyond the ability of our imagination.

Like I said, to me, this is the only framing of this argument for a monotheistic God that works for my mind.

While this is just a thought, it begs the question, is it reality? Does it matter if it is or isn’t reality? Would we ever even know? Some could believe it if they want to believe it. But it seems to me that people only believe concepts like this when it benefits/rewards/scares them toward some motivation. The problem with this concept is that its such a perfect framing for a monotheistic God that it shows an unpredictable side to such a God that gains an individual human nothing of benefit, reward or fear to motivate such a belief. It’s an idea of how a monotheistic God might actually be, not how a monotheistic God might be of benefit/reward/fear to humans.

SOPA / PIPA In A Nutshell

Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act are two bills that are designed to restructure the internet in favor of large media companies who don’t want to change their ways of doing business in the modern internet age.

That’s what all of this really comes down to. I think most of us would agree that content creators should be paid for their work. That’s not even a debate.

What this is really about is the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) wanting to stop people from pirating their movies. Their solution is not to find a better way to sell their movies, hell no! Instead they want the government to pass bills that will allow them to shut down any website without trial for even mentioning where someone could find these illegal downloads. This is a big deal because it means any website with a comment section or blogging system or social network capability would have to monitor everything being said by everyone around the clock for fear of one rogue comment that might get them shut down.

What the motion picture industry needs to do instead is get creative and offer people new ways to easily purchase their content at decent prices and greater portability. But these guys are greedy. They’d do anything they can to keep the old system in place. They want you paying $10+ for a theater ticket and then another $15-30 for disk purchase later on.

Warner Brothers recently increased its delay on new video release for Redbox, Blockbuster and Netflix from 30 days to 56 days. Why? Because they want people to buy their DVD’s and Blu-ray disks. Hey that’s their right, but it only hurts them. More and more people are discovering that they don’t want to spend $15-25 on a disk they’re probably only going to watch once or twice.

If these companies got with the program they would release immediately on the internet at $1-4 for an HD movie rental depending on how new it was. They would allow multiple services to offer these rentals in multiple platforms (TV, desktop, phone) to maximize portability. They would allow multiple ways to pay for it. There would be no delay between disk and download.

The result? Piracy would go down dramatically.

But instead they want to burdon our legal system by giving the government draconian laws to shut down websites on a whim just because someone mentioned something illegal in common speak.

It’s the wrong way to do it. Then of course you have to ask yourself, if you give the government the right to do this, how will they learn to abuse that in the future. What new and creative ways can they find to limit our freedoms based on this law?

Jeans & Shit

Spoof Fashion Ad

I’ll be honest. The fashion world confuses me. Every time I see clips of runway models doing their walk, the first thing that comes to my mind is “what the fuck!” I’ve seen better fashion from drag queens on Jerry Springer. Thank god this plastic wrap shit doesn’t end up in stores where we commoners spend our money.

Now I know this is the new world and this blog is supposed to be all open minded and pushing the boundaries of how to approach things. So let me take this negative stance toward the fashion industry and put a positive spin on it. The one thing I do like about the fashion industry, there are no patents. That’s a beautiful thing. It means that anyone can take someones design and rework or improve upon it. This scares some. But in reality it hasn’t hurt the fashion industry. Fashion is everywhere, including those knock off designer handbags you can find from street vendors. But it doesn’t stop people from throwing down big money for the real thing, if even just for gloating.

If only we could carry this over into other industries, we might just live in a better world where innovation moves even faster that it does today. Even if some of that innovation shows itself in the form of a model in plastic wrap looking like a space villain from a low budget sci-fi flick.

What is Spirituality?

I was listening to an atheist podcast a few weeks ago where one of the hosts said something along the lines of spirituality being a BS word that doesn’t really mean anything. Personally I don’t believe that. But I know where he was going with it.

I’ve heard people throw around the word spiritual as a sort of generic non-religious term. Something used to describe a belief without a set of rules. I’ve also heard people use the term in relation to religion.

But what is spirituality exactly and is it important?

Well without going to a dictionary, I’ll give you my interpretation.

I think spirituality is an emotional high that consists of the human condition longing for great order, peace and inspiration from the unknown. Like an orgasm of the imagination.

It’s very real by that definition. I’m not sure anyone would want to sensibly debate such a definition. The debate comes in as to whether or not there is a connection to a higher power that takes place with such a feeling. I’m not here to debate that. I’ll leave that up to you.

The question now turns to whether or not spirituality is important. Obviously it is. Spirituality has existed throughout most if not all of human existence. Sometimes it has been just personal beliefs and sometimes it has come wrapped up in a container of religion. It has taken many shapes and forms but it hasn’t ever gone away. As such it must play an important role in the development of humanity. I’m not sure how. I mean off the top of my head I can say that it’s been used as motivation, inspiration and a means of gaining a sense of inner peace. But what more, I cannot say.

Blu-ray – the history and the future of home video

The first Blu-ray movies were released on June 20th, 2006. That was three and a half years ago. Amazing how time flies. Feels like I was just reading about it.

As a gadget geek and an indie filmmaker you’d think I’d be all over blu-ray. When DVD first came out in 1997 it was only a year later before I owned my first player and soon after my second player. I was all up DVD’s ass from the beginning, as soon as I could afford it. But the differences between DVD and VHS at the time were huge. My family had owned a VHS player since the early to mid-80′s so I grew up from age 7 or 8 with the ability to pop in a tape and watch movies. My dad was all about VHS. He loved buying used movies from the local video store. As a result my parents created quite a collection of movies. In fact looking back I never anytime even considered my dad being a gadget geek in a slightest. But as I’m writing this it’s dawning on me that in fact if he had a shred of gadget geekery in him, it was for buying movies on VHS.

I up grew watching movies on VHS. If I had any complaints about it there were few. Those included having to rewind the tape (Be Kind Rewind) and the tracking issues with older tapes. Also the rare chance a tape might snap and break. But actually VHS overall wasn’t bad. Since day one we could record TV shows and movies to tape. When you think about it, this is a feature that the vast majority of DVD players still lack today. Which doesn’t seem nearly as odd as it should. I mean yeah set-top DVD recorders do exist and are out there. But even as of this writing a brand new set-top DVD recorder will still run you over a $100 at a store. Contrast that with $30 or $40 DVD players which are all too common these days. The format has been out for 13 years. 13 years! You’d think by now that every DVD player would also be a DVD recorder. But apparently that was never very important to people. Hence the reason it probably isn’t as common.

To be fair though, other recording technologies did grow up around DVD. Digital Video Recorders (DVR’s) like Tivo for instance. A feature that most digital cable boxes come with these days. Plus not to mention the biggest of them all, computers. The ability for people to download TV shows and even watch them online directly.
Plus lets not forget that with DVD came the release of entire seasons of TV shows in DVD box sets. Something you rarely if ever saw on VHS. Speaking of that, lets talk about some of the things that made DVD so great compared to VHS before we move on to blu-ray.

When I bought my first DVD player it was like day and night in comparison to VHS. Not only was it four times the picture resolution of VHS, but it was also better then CD quality audio. By the time DVD was released we had all been used to CD’s and buying our music that way. CD’s had really taken off in the mainstream by the early 1990′s, so we were all used to the size and type of disc. We were also used to the superior audio quality and the ability to skip tracks and not have to rewind tapes. Something I’m sure vinyl enthusiasts were excited to see again.
So it was only a matter of time before we were all expecting to be able to purchase movies on a disc format with similar features and the same size.

With the release of DVD came those features and more. Not only could we skip chapters and avoid rewinding, but we were also treated to menus, special features, subtitles that could be turned on and off, as well as multiple languages and a couple other features that never really took off (bookmarking and multiple angles). Plus the superior video and audio quality I previously mentioned. But best of all DVD (digital versatile disc) was indeed versatile. It could be played in a computer, on a set-top box or in a portable DVD player. Even in a DVD player for your car. DVD’s were also used for software outside of video playback and eventually as a popular data disc format for burning files too. It was also cheap and easy. I remember years ago being in the grocery store and buying a box of cereal that had a Muppets movie DVD inside. Actually strapped to the front of the cereal box. How cool is that! You would have never seen that with VHS. But probably what made DVD really great over VHS from a movies collectors point of view was the fact that it was digital. So there wasn’t any worry about wearing out the movie with more playbacks like there had been with VHS.

Looking at all of that you can see just how revolutionary DVD was over VHS.

However like I mentioned earlier, during the lifetime of DVD other technologies had emerged along side of it. The ability to download movies off the internet and even the ability to steam TV shows and movies off of websites came about. Even the emergence of HD video content being streamed or downloaded online.

The biggest difference with online content versus DVD is that you don’t often get any of the bonus features you get on DVD. You also don’t get the ability to physically own the movie with the box and all the artwork which can be stored on a shelf. So it doesn’t have nearly the fit and finish a DVD would have. Not to mention the fact the files could be accidentally deleted or become corrupted with data or drive errors.
However the benefit is that you can quickly and easy find what you’re looking for if it’s available. So if you get the urge to see a certain movie or TV show in the middle of the night, you can download it in your pajamas without having to find a 24 hour Walmart and hope that they have it on DVD.

There is a also a certain bit of ease of use that comes with having all your movies and video on your computer. In fact it may sound incredibly lazy, but I’ve found myself just bored and randomly opening movies on my computer and watching them starting at my favorite scenes. If I would have had to go to my shelf and pull the DVD out and put the disc in and wait for it to load up and get to the menu and then skip chapters to that scene, I would have never done it. I just wouldn’t have gone through the effort.

With more movies being increasingly available to purchase online, even in high definition, one wonders what role blu-ray plays in this new world. Afterall blu-ray is modeled after the old world. The idea of physically going to a store and buying a movie on a physical disc. Then having to store all those movies on a shelf which just takes up increasingly precious shelf real-estate in our increasingly material world. With the whole green (environmental) movement in full swing, one wonders whether the idea of buying digital content on a physical medium is nothing but an exercise in waste. I mean afterall why continue to release digital entertainment on physical discs when the internet is clearly the environment in which digital entertainment should be passed to and from.

What we seem to lack is one standard clear cut digital format for this type of thing. Sure we have a multitude of digital video and audio formats out there. But we don’t have one high quality digital file format that can be easily played on a variety of hardware and passed through the internet. This is where cloud computing is essentially going. The idea of keeping all your media on the internet and then being able to access that from anywhere.

Imagine a car stereo that wirelessly connects to the internet and your own personal music collection. You can easily get to every song or every video you own from your dashboard mounted radio. Then you walk in your house and turn on your TV and get to all your movies and home videos there. You go out for a run and take your cell phone with you and from it you can get to all your music. All of it. Not just what you decided to bring with you. Then you get home again and sit down at your computer and it’s all right there. The portability of digital is really where it’s future lies. Portable beyond a disc you carry with you. But the idea that you can get to your media using all manner of devices where ever you are, even if you forgot to bring your own portable device with you.

There are a lot of people that know this future is coming. It may only be a couple of years away. We’re already seeing it right now, it just hasn’t been made as easy to use. All the ducks aren’t completely lined up yet.
But because of this there are people who are skeptical of jumping onto the blu-ray bandwagon. I would be one of those people.

To be honest, I think blu-ray is really cool. The gadget geek and filmmaker inside me does in fact love it. But up until recently I wasn’t sure the format was ever going to really take off. I was sure it was going to end up being nothing more then laserdisc was in the age of VHS. An uppity expensive format for videophiles who wanted the best of the best and were willing to pay a premium for it.
So you can bet I have been pretty surprised to see just how much blu-ray is actually taking off. Walking though an average retail store like a Target or Walmart these days has been an interesting experience. It seems like in the past 3-6 months blu-ray has just exploded all over the place. These stores now have at least one whole aisle dedicated to blu-ray movies. Then there are all the set-top players and end-caps with players and LCD tv’s showing off blu-ray movies. Even the movies themselves have dropped to reasonable prices. I noticed that one of my favorite movies “Stargate” can now be had on blu-ray for $10. That’s what I paid for the special edition version on DVD the second time I bought it.

The prices will definitely drive more people to buy into blu-ray. But as for myself I’m still holding back. Blu-ray doesn’t really offer a whole lot over DVD. It’s not the dramatic difference DVD was to VHS. Blu-ray is high definition, which is it’s biggest selling point. It also has better audio. But honestly you really can’t get much better than DVD audio. DVD audio as it is, is beyond human hearing. The only other features blu-ray offers are better menus and special features you can pop up while watching the movie. Some movies and most players these days even feature the ability to connect to the internet for extra material. Honestly though, I can’t see that actually taking off. The discs themselves already hold so much there really isn’t much of a need for them to connect to the internet to get more stuff. Plus I question how long content producers will continue to develop new free content for blu-ray movies that are 5+ years old. If anything this will eventually get used for advertising.

But beyond that stuff blu-ray doesn’t really offer anything all that compelling. To even fully take advantage of it you need a high definition TV. Granted most TV’s sold these days are HD LCD TV’s. But for people like myself who don’t own one, there is no reason to run out and buy a player for a TV I don’t own. DVD gave us the ability to take full advantage of the TV’s we already owned. Blu-ray requires us to go out and buy new TV’s to take full advantage of the blu-ray disc. Big difference in cost there.

Now it may sound odd to you being that I am a video professional and I shoot and edit HD video all day long, but I really don’t see a huge difference between SD (standard definition) and HD. Even a quality, well shot DVD (like any Hollywood movie) can look great on a big screen LCD TV at the proper viewing distance. With cheap up-scaling DVD players in abundance, blu-ray is even less tempting. The added resolution and the cooler menus just aren’t enough to push me over the edge yet. Plus I really don’t buy movies very often anymore. I pretty much stopped buying movies on DVD a couple of years ago. I’d rather rent or download. Call me cheap, but the idea of spending $15-20 on a movie I’ll probably watch once or twice in 5-10 years is overkill. It’s too much. Especially when I can rent it for a $1 or possibly catch it online for free when I do feel like watching it. Plus the idea of rebuying all my 200+ DVD’s on blu-ray just doesn’t make me all giddy inside.

So if HD isn’t enough, is there anything that might eventually get me to jump on the blu-ray bandwagon? Yes actually there is. We call it 3D. If there is one feature that blu-ray is going to have that will truly set it apart, it’s going to be Blu-ray 3D.

For decades and decades 3D has been considered a gimmick. Even today many people consider it a cheap gimmick used by movie studios as a way to get peoples butts back into theaters. Beyond that many people are not satisfied with having to wear 3D glasses and the slightly jarring experience that it offers. But after seeing Avatar in the theater you can consider me a 3D enthusiast. Upon seeing that movie in 3D I realized that 3D really is the future of movies. For the first time in decades 3D might actually stick around permanently rather then just being a passing fad that comes and goes once a decade. Even with the bellyaching that some people have with it, no one can debate that it’s getting better and better. Gone are the red and blue glasses and the expensive hard to shoot 3D celluloid film cameras. Now it’s all digital 3D with advancing 3D digital camera technology and 3D digital projectors. This year we will begin to see 3D capable LCD TV’s and the blu-ray association has finalized the blu-ray 3D specification. That means that this year we will begin seeing blu-ray movies released in Blu-ray 3d format. A format that is compatible with these new 3D LCD TV’s.

Sure it means you’ll need to buy a new big screen 3D LCD TV. Which has got to suck for those of you who already own a big screen LCD TV. But for myself it just means the first LCD TV I buy will be 3D enabled.

This, along with lowering blu-ray prices may very well be enough to get me on the blu-ray bandwagon. That is until movies start being offered online in 3D. But I think that unlike 2D, 3D is something that really needs to be experienced in front of a big screen. Whether that be a movie theater or a big screen home theater. So until I can easily get 3D movies online that I can quickly and easily watch on a big screen home theater setup, blu-ray just might have a chance of sticking around longer then I initially expected.

What I “really” want for Christmas

When I was a kid I was pretty lucky. I got a lot of the presents I asked for. Not all of them, but enough. Being the last of four kids by an 11 year age difference made me the baby that everyone spoiled in one way or the other.

For the first couple years into my twenties my folks would still get me one or two big gifts. For instance one year I got a nice pair of computer speakers. Another year I got the Adobe Photoshop (upgrade) box. But all of that ended a good seven or eight years ago. Things are different now and have been for many years. Now I have my own son who is five years old who I in turn try to get some nice things for. It’s all about passing it down the line.

Today if I want something nice for myself, I have to get it for myself. Christmas with my family is all about what you can find on the cheap. Since we’re buying for so many. We’re talking ten to fifteen dollar gifts. Not too bad. But it’s been pretty difficult trying to figure out what ask for and what to get other people in that price range. Honestly there aren’t a ton of things I’d really like for around that amount of coin. So my list was pretty short.

Just for shits and giggles I decided I would write up a Christmas list for myself. Things I’d love to see under the tree with my name on it if my family and I were well-to-do. This is more for my own record then anything. Something I can look back on years from now and see what it was I wanted.

• HTC Hero for Sprint ($100 on two year contract – $70 unlimited data, txt & internet and unlimited mobile to mobile calling each month)
• Canon 7D – DSLR that can do HD 1080p video at 24fps ($1700 for the camera body only)
• Nice component-style Turntable – like a Technics or similar for use with a stereo receiver and loud speakers.
• A nice pair of loudspeakers – floor standing – Polk Audio or Klipsch
• A house – just a nice 1200-1400sq ft 3-bedroom ranch with a finished basement, a fenced in yard and a fireplace in a decent neighborhood.
• A newer car – something within the last five years that works well and gets good gas mileage – Toyota Corolla, Subaru, Honda Accord, Saab
• A Macbook Pro – 15″ unibody with Nvidia 9400M+9600M graphics in it.
• 42″ 1080P HD LCD TV – whatever, I’m not that picky
• Xbox 360 with a 120GB hard drive and Fable II – More for my son and girlfriend then myself, but I’d still play Fable II here and there
• Any and all debts paid off
• My own successful small business that I enjoy working at
• Peace, love and harmony among myself and those I know and love

Yeah I know some of those don’t fit under the tree. That’s probably also not a complete list, but it’s what was on my mind.

Michigan Bans Public Smoking

So yesterday the state of Michigan (my home state) passed a law to ban smoking in public bars and restaurants. As a former smoker and current vaper I have mixed feelings on this. Should the government be allowed to tell business owners that they can’t allow smoking in their business? I want to say no, but unfortunately the government already tells these business owner what they can and can’t do in many other ways.

That’s the problem with government isn’t it? It’s capable of both helping and hurting and something the opinion on which is which, can vary.

As far as smoking is concerned, I can understand the position of many nonsmokers. Especially when it comes to restaurants. Why should the nonsmoker be subjected to smoke of other patrons while trying to enjoy their meal? It’s not cheap to eat out and that could certainly ruin your experience. Even when I was a smoker I could clearly see that the nonsmoking and smoking section of most restaurants were often not very segregated. Often times separated only by a few feet without any solid barrier between the two. So to assume that drifting smoke isn’t going to find it’s way into the nonsmoking section is just silly.

But perhaps there was another way about it. Restaurants already have certain health standards they have to abide by. Laws could have been put into place regulating “smoking rooms” in the back of restaurants that are blocked by solid walls, double doors and the addition of smoke eater machines inside those rooms. Regulation is at least the better alternative to an all out ban. It would have represented balance and choice.

Another alternative could have been a regulation that stated your business either had to be an all smoking establishment or an all nonsmoking establishment. Thereby giving the business owner the choice and letting the free market determine which businesses succeed. Something tells me there is room for both.

But it’s not really about tolerance is it? The truth is some nonsmokers just hate smoking and would probably love to see it outlawed. They see it as a ridiculous act which only harms people. Beyond that they make bold statements like “why should I have to inadvertently pay your health bills through my higher insurance fees and taxes?” Smokers meanwhile retort by saying things such as “We live in a free country, we should be allowed to do what we want with our own bodies and if I enjoy smoking then I shouldn’t be told I can’t.”

It is a hard call. None of us are here forever. Our goal is not to arrive unbeaten and unbruised into the grave. I’ve heard many a smoker make comments like “it may cut ten years off the end of my life, but those are the worst ten years anyway.” There is some logic in that. It’s not like we go on living forever if we just eat healthy, work out and don’t smoke. We’re all going to grow old and die one way or the other. Whether it’s breaking a hip and slowly losing your health or slowly dying of lung cancer or having a heart attack and going quickly. So until science can find a way to extend our lives to the point where we can live healthy and happy in a 24 year olds body for hundreds of years, we’re going to hit that point where death is upon us. But even then I could smoke for 20 years and get hit by a car. Wouldn’t have really mattered how long I smoked then, would it? To a smoker their quality of life is enjoying it. Being free to do as they wish. Exploiting the various sins of man to their satisfaction.

On the other hand nonsmokers take the approach that they want to feel better, breath better and not stink of smoke. That’s how they want to live their lives.

The question is, should one side really dictate how the other should live?

Personally I like to take a middle ground approach. While I believe that smokers should be free to smoke I think they need to take more responsibility with it. They should have the decency and concern not to smoke around kids and other nonsmokers. Or at the very least ask the nonsmokers if they mind and not take offense if they say they do. Smokers should also stick to areas that are smoke friendly, including bars which are all smoking.

On the flip side, nonsmokers shouldn’t put themselves in situations where they have cause to complain.

But then so much of this isn’t really a choice anymore is it? Because the government here in Michigan has just banned the practice in most public places. So I guess this is a victory for some and a show of intolerance for others.

Of course there is a third option. E-cigarettes. These are a better solution for everyone. So long as smokers can handle the slight change of texture and nonsmokers can get over their hatred of anything that remotely resembles a cigarette.

I hate my mac I love my mac

I was going to reply to a person who left a comment on my last entry entitled Cult of Mac, but then I realized I had more to say so I decided to just write a new entry altogether. The comment left by the poster named “Nick” was as follows:

Read the rest of this entry »

Word to the Press – NIN Ghosts

Function13 has just updated about the New Nine Inch Nails album (Ghosts). This fellow is one of the twenty-five hundred who will help buy Trent a new house this year. If you do the math $300 x 2500 = $750,000. Not a bad haul for a limited edition. Of course what the real profit is… that’s another story. Least it’s going to a great band.

I myself went for the $10 2xCD special.

iPhone screen problem

So it appears my 4gig iPhone I purchased for $299 after the price drop is one of many that have bad LCD screens. Great.

I’m going to take it to the Apple store and see what they can do for me.