Mike

This Week’s BS Award Goes To…

This Lifehacker Article that claims that idling your car is bad.

For those readers in chillier climates it’s a common to see people trudging out to their cars to warm them up early in the morning. It turns out all that idling isn’t just ineffective but a waste of money too.

The common belief is that you have to start a car ahead of time in cold weather or else the engine won’t be warm enough and you could damage it. It turns out that engines only require around a half minute of idle time to warm up; excessive idling decreases the life of your engine and unnecessarily kludges things up.

If you really want a good laugh at the expense of the author read the comments below the article. For example…

It’s not just your engine that needs a warm up. You want the fluids circulating freely through the automatic transmission and through the power steering system before driving off. They don’t need to be at operating temperature, but a couple of minutes to let the fluids flow and move about can save wear and tear.

The article is easily defeated by simple common sense.

Yes. The article was written with an obvious “green” bias.

Holiday Posting

I’ll probably post a bit more as we start into the holidays.

You have been warned.

I’ve got many many ideas brewing…

A Podcast for Andrew

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As many of you know, my friend and a host on my network Andrew Lawton has taken ill.

For the latest updates, go to girlontheright.com

We’re doing a Brass Balls Radio show for him on Friday at 7:00 pm EST.

So far…

Mike Williams
Wendy Sullivan
Kathy Shaidle
Kimberly Haney

have confirmed and will be attending.

We have also opened up the phone lines for anyone who may not be able to participate but would like to pass along their well wishes.

717.892.0353

Again, for further details, go to girlontheright.com and Jimmie also is mirroring the updates and providing information over at his blog.

And please, pray for Andrew!

Update (12/18/10) – We recorded the show last evening. Actual attendees were myself, Wendy Sullivan, Jimmie Bise, Joe Guzman, and Kathy Shaidle. I would like extend a hearty “thank you” to Roch Bordanave (our announcer) for recording special VO material for this show on his day off. The show is currently in post production and show be released sometime tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who helped us with our Get Well Andrew Show!

Update (12/23/10)Show link is here.

Is Condescension Ever Funny?

Check out this excerpt from Paul Carr at TechCrunch

Rule One: The next time one of you asks the rhetorical question “why is this news?” I swear to God I will come round to your basement, gather up all of your Wil Wheaton action figures and melt them down into a giant plastic phallus. If you’ve ever seen the Miriam Karlin scene in A Clockwork Orange, you know what happens next. Save us both a trip and next time you find yourself asking “why is this news?”, instead ask yourself “why do I still live with my parents?”. It’s news because people better than you said so.

Fortunately for me, I am smart enough to decide what’s news and what’s not.

Some dipshit at TechCrunch sure as hell isn’t.

A Note for a Friend

I need to write this post for myself more than for anyone else.

This has been an emotional roller coaster of a weekend for me and those of you who know me, you know that’s saying something.

A young friend of mine was hospitalized in the middle of the week. In addition to being a friend of mine he also hosts two shows on my network.

I didn’t know much more beyond the fact that he had been hospitalized. I didn’t know what was wrong with him although I am aware he has had some serious issues in the past.

I got a call yesterday from an old friend of mine who informed me that his condition was worse than I originally imagined. In fact, whether or not he would live through the day came into question.

When I hung up the phone, my heart dropped. He is too young for this to be happening to him.

My heart goes out to his family and his friends.

We’ll all be praying that he makes it out of this.

Cool. Not.

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This won’t work for the very reason that you see in the photo. Extending your arm to touch a screen has been proven not to work very well. It’s an un-natural motion that causes physical pain over time. Hell, try it for 20 minutes!

That’s why the iPad and other touch devices do so well. It’s easier to look down and touch a pad then it is to extend your arm and touch your computer monitor.

This is a horrible idea that obviously didn’t take real world application into consideration before designing.

Time Machine Rocks!

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As I was going through my recent recordings of network shows we have recorded in the last few days, the unthinkable happened; I deleted a show segment.

At first, I panicked. There was just simply no way to get this show back. Getting hosts to gather round for a podcast can be very tricky at the best of times.

Then, it hit me. I have a Time Machine backup.

I went back a few days and lo and behold was able to recover the file I had deleted.

For you Mac users who use Leopard and above there just isn’t a good excuse to not use Time Machine. Buy a drive, plug it in, and that’s all there is to it.

Time Machine for the win!

Scientists Know Everything

Ok, maybe not.

A bacterium found in the arsenic-filled waters of a Californian lake is poised to overturn scientists’ understanding of the biochemistry of living organisms. The microbe seems to be able to replace phosphorus with arsenic in some of its basic cellular processes — suggesting the possibility of a biochemistry very different from the one we know, which could be used by organisms in past or present extreme environments on Earth, or even on other planets.

The article also says, “Oddball bacterium can survive without one of biology’s essential building blocks.”

Apparently, your essential building blocks thing is flawed.

I guess they don’t know everything.

Makes you wonder about global warming as well…

…doesn’t it?

Additional Rant Added 12.04 – The moral of the story is that scientists, more than anyone else, should not be dealing in “absolutes.” Time and time again they are either proven wrong or we find that what they believed to be an “absolute” truth is nothing more than a misguided idea predicated on erroneous data which leads to false conclusions. They then present these false conclusions as fact. Too much coffee is bad for you, red meat is bad for you, and “absolutes” of this nature are often repealed after later research shows a different result. Science is always evolving and we don’t have all of the answers. I believe that anyone who leans on the “absolutes” of science will soon find themselves flat on their ass.

Reverse Aging?

This is interesting.

A technique to keep the tips of your chromosomes healthy could reverse tissue ageing. The work, which was done in mice, is yet more evidence of a causal link between chromosome length and age-related disease.

Telomeres, the caps of DNA which protect the ends of chromosomes, shorten every time cells divide. But cells stop dividing and die when telomeres drop below a certain length – a normal part of ageing. The enzyme telomerase slows this degradation by adding new DNA to the ends of telomeres.

Captain Obvious Update: Germs

I’ve been pointing this out for years. Your body needs to be exposed to bad things like germs so that it can learn how to fight them. By overusing hand santizer, antimicrobial soaps, etc. you are removing a terrific chance for your body to learn how to defend itself. Today an article in Science Daily confirms this.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 30, 2010) — Young people who are overexposed to antibacterial soaps containing triclosan may suffer more allergies, and exposure to higher levels of Bisphenol A among adults may negatively influence the immune system, a new University of Michigan School of Public Health study suggests.

It’s hard to buck good old common sense. Yes, catching germs is bad but not catching germs can be even worse.

Read the whole article. It’s good.

15 Things on Thanksgiving

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*** WARNING: I use bad words in this post. If I could have replaced them I would have. No other words fit the sentence, however I apologize for the bad words but I will not apologize for what is said because its true. ***

Happy Thanksgiving! I felt like writing about a few things this morning for a couple of reasons. I wanted to make sure I had at least 10 things that I still cared about and there are a few issues that still continue to jump up and down on my last nerve. This could also qualify as a “Slave Update.” Here is some news and some views…

Before I begin I would like to make this statement to all of my liberal friends who think America is evil in its current form and needs to be fundamentally changed. Pack your shit and fucking move to Europe you pathetic piece of monkey dong. Ok, what was I saying? Oh yeah…

1- Class warfare is soooo 1500s. The only class warfare that exists today does so in the ideas and beliefs of the weak minded. Remember, without crisis generation the democrats have no platform. It doesn’t take a genius to adopt a personal policy of “do what feels good now.” I personally believe that people vote for democrats because they are scared into it.

2- Tom DeLay is found guilty on money laundering charges. We had Tom DeLay on the Strictly Right podcast over at takethatmedia.com. Check it out.

3- Netflix raises rates on DVD accounts in an effort to push the online streaming business. Let’s face it, online streaming has much less overhead then sending DVDs back and forth through the mail.

4- Hopefully, by NOT extending unemployment claims the economy can start to rebound and recover. Yes, when you pay people to do nothing they will NEVER surprise you. They’ll continue to do nothing.

5- I’m thankful for a bunch of things this year. Most importantly, I’m thankful for my podcasting friends. I enjoy producing and will keep doing it until it isn’t fun anymore. After about 5 years, it’s still fun.

6- The biggest mindless time waster continues to be television. I am additionally thankful that I rarely ever turn on my satellite receiver. When I do, it is to watch the Science Channel. I remember that as a small boy my biggest enjoyment came from playing outside with my friends. I think that as I get older, I am moving back to that way of thinking. Oh, not in wishing to play outside with my friends as a 40+ year old but in finding my enjoyment in other activities. Television has its place. I should say Television HAD its place. As online viewing increases along with bandwidth, television will continue to die a slow and painful death but make no mistake about it; the end is coming and I won’t shed a tear.

7- I hold NO hope that the new members of congress will change anything or at least, not in the way I believe it needs to change. Getting rid of Obamacare is going to be like pulling a giant redwood tree out of the ground by its roots. The trouble with congress is that it has become too mired in rules and procedures that each previous leadership has imposed. Look at how difficult it is to have a 3rd party candidate allowed in a presidential debate. Both Republicans and Democrats have made the process so lop sided that it is nearly impossible to get a REAL debate to happen. In the same fashion, the old school continues to flourish and we continue to quietly have all of our freedoms taken from us a piece at a time. Nothing to see here my fellow slaves.

8- I am wondering how long it’s going to be until people realize that teacher’s unions are destroying our education system. I wonder how long it’s going to be until we can have school budgets that do not rival those of small countries. Remember Little House on the Prairie? The town pitched in and built a one room school house. The teacher was given a small salary and the community provided the books, quills, and parchment (yes, Harry Potter reference. I am on a roll). The difference between then and now is the ratio of taxes we pay to the money they provided for education back in the 1700s.

9- I’ve said this in a previous post, once you have paid off the home you’ve bought your tax burden should be over. In doing so, the government can NEVER take your property except as directed in the U.S. Constitution.

10- If you have NO children or NO children of school age or NO children in the public education system you should NOT be paying school taxes. Period. The idea of it is utterly ridiculous.

11- Am I the only person who looks at the constitution, and then at Washington DC, and then back to the constitution, and then back to Washington DC and wants to throw up? The two don’t look anything alike. The ideas of the founding fathers were lost on people who lost sight of why America was founded in the first place. There will always be those people out there who think they know what is best for everyone. Those are the types of people we need to keep OUT of government. To quote a friend, “You are not smart enough to tell me how to live.” Hear that Washington DC?

12- Taxing unemployment benefits makes me laugh so hard that I want to pee myself. Wait. Maybe I have a deep seated desire to pee myself? Hmmm.

13- Most people who use the term “pornography” don’t know what it means. While I may believe that pornography has its place and that place may be out of public view, simple nudity is NOT pornography. If you are offended by nudity then you have issues. The type of indoctrination that makes someone feel offended by nudity is a difficult concept for me to embrace. For example as a man, I have no problem looking at a nude woman. It doesn’t make me feel dirty or ashamed. The idea that God would create something that he thinks is beautiful and in his own image and then turn around and tell you not to look at it is preposterous at the very least. Imagine sitting in your living room after completing a toy model of something you like. You invite a friend over and tell them about what you’ve made but you don’t want them to look at it. That would just be plain weird. “But what about the garden? Adam and Eve ate the fruit and noticed they were naked and were ashamed.” You say. It is difficult to accept that once Adam and Eve ate fruit that they became “aware” of their nudity and were ashamed. This implies that all of their offspring would feel the same way. Children born into a nudism lifestyle don’t know what the shame of nudity is which clearly shows that the shame of one’s body is a LEARNED behavior. The problem with the anti nudity folks lie in their logic. If what they believe were true, we wouldn’t have naked tribesman running around in Africa now would we? I’m sure that someone will come up with a rather clever explanation based in other Biblical passages that will conveniently explain away what I’ve just said. It won’t make the argument any more logical though. Mike wins this round. Suck it.

14- Why the new “Slave Update” thing on the blog? What does it mean? Because, we are all slaves to something. We are enslaved by the government and by our own existence. I would rather worry about my own existence than have to deal with the government to be honest about it. You can also be a slave to your religion. If you ever had any question about religious stagnation, look at any devout Muslim community. Their belief system is such that they’ll never get out of the stone age. Amish beliefs are very similar. Two cultures that actually have put caps on personal growth and in so doing have condemned everyone within that society to a life without real freedom. As Americans, we are in the same situation. Do you have a Social Security number? If you truly enjoy freedom, is there any reason why you think the government should know as much about you as they do? We are enslaved. I am beginning to believe that the only people who truly enjoyed freedom were the men and women who founded this country. Bringing up the idea of a Social Security Card to the founding fathers would probably have gotten you shot or at the very least you would have been cast out.

15- Leadership. Let me tell you what leadership isn’t. Leadership is NOT telling people to do things that you are not willing to do yourself. Leadership IS teaching your subordinates to be leaders themselves and showing them how it’s done. Leadership takes place at the front of what you are doing and NOT the rear. Leadership is giving your people what they need to succeed. Your office light is the first to come on in the morning and the last to be turned off at night. A good leader knows his people. He knows where they came from and why they are here. Why do I bring this up? Because I think that if you need to have a “focus” group to find out what your people think then leadership is NOT for you. I am always easy to find. I’m at the center of the battle. I don’t need to have a focus group to figure out what my employees are thinking. That is just wrong, ignorant, and scary to think that we put people in charge of things who have no grasp of basic fundamental management principles.

16- Since she has been nominated for Vice-President I have been quietly surveying everyone I come in contact with who claims to “hate” Sarah Palin and charging them with explaining themselves and their position. To date, I have yet to find anyone who hates Sarah Palin because of any substantial issue. “I don’t like the way she dresses” is not a valid reason to hate someone. “She is a right wing nut job.” Again, not a good reason to hate someone and clearly just your opinion. I have yet to hear the real reason people claim to hate Sarah Palin. Do you know what it is? The real reason people claim to hate Sarah Palin is because other people tell them to. Co-workers, colleagues, family members, and of course the mainstream media are all responsible for “making” you hate Sarah Palin. Unfortunately for you, it makes the case that you are weak minded and cannot think for yourself. You are only capable of thinking whatever you are told to think. Think about it. You may get angry and pissed off about what I’ve said but its true and thats what hurts; isn’t it? There isn’t anything about Sarah Palin or her family to hate. They may disagree with you and that is not a valid reason to hate anyone.

And that’s it folks…16 things I felt compelled to write about on Thanksgiving.

Movie Review: Harry Potter 7


(image from gothamist.com)

Ok. I’ve read the other reviews on the internet over the weekend and most of them say this movie is great.

Huh?

One reviewer even said she read the book and still thought the movie was great.

Huh?

The movie effects were pretty good.

That is the only positive thing I can say about this movie.

I didn’t expect the first half to be as exciting as the second half promises to be but my major disappointment lies with how much the movie deviated and sometimes never resembled the book.

I have to admit that seeing Snape fly into Malfoy manor in the very beginning made the movie feel promising.

The cafe’ fight wasn’t long enough. The camera bouncing around during the forest fight scene with the snatchers gave me a headache.

For those of us who enjoyed the book, this movie was bad.

Slave Update: Real Ownership

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As I was contemplating the universe this morning fellow slaves, I began to wonder about home ownership and in particular the role of the tax payer burden on a home that is already owned.

I don’t think there should be any.

I think when you have finished paying off your home, your tax liability should go away as well. Why? Because, you already own the property.

Let’s say I go out and buy a Suzuki Quad Racer (a four wheel off road vehicle for those of you who live in Cleveland) and I pay for it in 12 payments.

The taxes and my whole liability is already calculated into my payments and when I am finished and make the last payment. The bike is mine.

If I don’t ride it on the road, I don’t need to license it so I owe the government no more money beyond the taxes I’ll pay for gas.

If I do decide to license it and ride it on the road and I decide not to pay the next license fee, no one will come to take my bike away. Why? I own it.

Along the same lines, does the government have the right to take your toaster or do you own it?

Why is home ownership so different? Why have we allowed the politicians to maneuver the tax code and laws in such a way that even if I own my home and don’t pay taxes on it, the government can still take it away from me?

The idea that buying a home doesn’t really mean buying a home should be frightening to most people.

Additionally, why should I pay school taxes for public school when I don’t have any children in the public school system? The very idea is ludicrous. Yes, ludicrous was a word before it was a rap star.

This is what happens when government gets out of control. These changes didn’t happen over night. They happened gradually and over time and in such small measure that the small proposals might have even made sense when they were first voted on. Fast forward to the present.

You don’t really own your home. If you doubt me, just stop making a few tax payments. When the sheriff comes a callin’ you’ll be saying to yourself “damn, that geek dude was right…and stuff.”

This has been an official Slave Update

Pod Squad

Are you out of space in your house or apartment and need a small office close by?

This is seriously cool. Officepod is an actual company in the UK that provides an office pod to those who need it. For a price, of course.

Check out these pictures.

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