insignificant thoughts » Silly

Times To Charge; Web Freetards Quivering Over Having Their Prime Directive Fail

Vinny — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:41:43 +0000

I don’t get something.

The NY Times is about to charge its online readers for its articles.

Free web people (read: freetards) are losing their minds and pointing out how this represents an outdated business model and is doomed to failure. This can’t succeed.

Doesn’t the NY Times know anything about the link economy? Don’t they understand how easy it is to monetize content through ads and inbound links? Surely this will be the end of the NY Times!

Let’s assume the freetards are true. My question is: if that’s the case, who gives a damn? Let them fail! If it’s as predetermined as you all say it is, it should be a foregone conclusion that this escapade into pay-to-read journalism will fail spectacularly, and if that’s the case, what the hell do you care? It’ll only strengthen your argument!

Unless…

It won’t hurt the NY Times, and because of the quality of the content provided, people will pay. If they don’t the Times will still survive, but the only thing that will change for the short term is the availability of content you don’t have to pay for and that you’re not buying their paper to read.

In other words, it would completely invalidate their argument.

That, my friends, is the problem. When the Times doesn’t go belly up over making their web content pay only, it will enforce the idea that people in actual businesses that make actual money already understand: you don’t make money on things you give away for free and you don’t surprise if you give away what people will pay for.

I know that’s blasphemy in the Web 2.0 world, but such is life.

Obama’s Winning Means Someone Else Lost. Who? How About Her.

Vinny — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:33:49 +0000

Just one of the many people Obama beat out in winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Sima Samar, women’s rights activist in Afghanistan: “With dogged persistence and at great personal risk, she kept her schools and clinics open in Afghanistan even during the most repressive days of the Taliban regime, whose laws prohibited the education of girls past the age of eight. When the Taliban fell, Samar returned to Kabul and accepted the post of Minister for Women’s Affairs.”

Read the rest of the “losers” at the source. Quite eye-opening.

Source

White House Hands Out White Coats to Forgetful Docs

Vinny — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:52:50 +0000

President Obama yesterday rolled out the red carpet — and handed out doctors’ white coats as well, just so nobody missed his hard-sell health-care message.

In a heavy-handed attempt at reviving support for health-care reform, the White House orchestrated a massive photo op to buttress its claim that front-line physicians support Obama.

A sea of 150 white-coated doctors, all enthusiastically supportive of the president and representing all 50 states, looked as if they were at a costume party as they posed in the Rose Garden before hearing Obama’s pitch for the Democratic overhaul bills moving through Congress.

The physicians, all invited guests, were told to bring their white lab coats to make sure that TV cameras captured the image.

But some docs apparently forgot, failing to meet the White House dress code by showing up in business suits or dresses.

So the White House rustled up white coats for them and handed them to the suited physicians who had taken seats in the sun-splashed lawn area.

All this to provide a visual counter to complaints from other doctors that pending legislation is bad news for the medical profession.

“Nobody has more credibility with the American people on this issue than you do,” Obama told his guests.

“See what we have to do here is manufacture opinions, and the best way to do that is for all of you to look like doctors… So go ahead and put on your provided coats and come take a picture with me,” Obama said. “And, no this isn’t astroturfing in anyway. This is a true grassroots movement. With wardrobe.”

Source

Political Analysts Obviously Know No Conservatives

Vinny — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:57:33 +0000

It’s obvious, when analysts talk about something, who their “crowd” is because sometimes they miss things that are so obvious it’s actually offensive to those of us that employ the age old “common sense” technique to understanding things. While common sense doesn’t always mean “correct,” it does often get you started in a direction that can produce enlightenment.

Take this idiocy highlighted in USA Today by Autoblog:

USA Today reports that the 28 states that voted for Barack Obama have requested nearly $2.13 billion in rebates. On the other hand, states that voted for John McCain (a.k.a. “Red States”), have only requested $757 million.

Political analysts are puzzled, as there is no clear-cut indicator to explain the findings.

Oh really? They’re puzzled?

Obviously they’re too busy hanging out with left wing Ozombies.

I don’t know a single solitary conservative who thinks C4C was a good idea. Most people, myself included, saw it as a stupid entitlement that took able and functioning vehicles off the road, took their used parts off the market, and created mountains of new debt for people who had paid off vehicles to begin with.

Knowing that, it’s not that hard to figure out why the blue states bought into this program hook line and sinker. It was portrayed as helping the American auto worker (ie: the UAW) and the environment, two causes I reckon most mid-westerners don’t give a damn about, and if they do, not to the degree their hybrid driving urban hipster cousins do.

It’s easy to chalk this up to some strange unexplainable phenomenon, but when it comes down to it, the answer is much simpler. Red staters didn’t buy into it, and blue staters were told by The Great One^tm that they should.

And they did.

And it shows.

Next question?

IT.tv Episode 50: HP Does Not Stand for “Helping the Planet”

Vinny — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:50:28 +0000

Old Silver Tongue Puts His Foot In His Mouth

Vinny — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:30:34 +0000

So after weeks and weeks of convincing us that the government can in fact do health care effectively and efficiently, what analogy does the President draw when talking?

Not that Bush was a stirring speech giver, but Barack Obama, many times since he’s been our President, has just put his foot deeply into his gaping maw after basically being called the greatest orator ever to hold the Oval Office.

I’m sorry, but if this is what his devotees call a great orator, I’d have to wonder if they’re even literate.

Someone Should Clue-in Forbes

Vinny — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:53:49 +0000

Forbes is out with their list of the most overpriced cars in America. Of course, they’re all American cars (God forbid you do some research and throw a foreign car in or two). One of them really caught my eye, though.

What’s so special about the Trailblazer?

Well nothing, unless you consider the fact that they stopped making it a year ago! And not for nothing, but this paragraph particularly made me barf.

Those three models, in particular, tell the story of the most overpriced autos currently on the market: Our entire list is comprised of vehicles manufactured by Detroit’s Big Three. No foreign brands make the list, as those automakers’ cars tend to be priced fairly when considering supply and demand as well as their high rankings on consumer-satisfaction surveys.

Really? Has anyone read Consumer Reports’ opinion of the much-touted Honda Insight?

Consumer Reports really dislikes the 2010 hybrid Honda Insight. It blasted the vehicle for its “ride quality, handling, interior noise, acceleration, rear-seat, access, and visibility,” and ranked it 21 out of 22 among tested small hatchbacks and wagons. Only the Dodge Caliber got worse marks. The Insight was the only vehicle not “Recommended” in the Consumer Reports study. Consumer Reports said it is “the most disappointing Honda Consumer Reports has tested in a long time.”

Or maybe you would rather read the best review of a car ever written…

So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place.

So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more.

The biggest problem, and it’s taken me a while to work this out, because all the other problems are so vast and so cancerous, is the gearbox. For reasons known only to itself, Honda has fitted the Insight with something called constantly variable transmission (CVT).

It doesn’t work. Put your foot down in a normal car and the revs climb in tandem with the speed. In a CVT car, the revs spool up quickly and then the speed rises to match them. It feels like the clutch is slipping. It feels horrid.

And the sound is worse. The Honda’s petrol engine is a much-shaved, built-for-economy, low-friction 1.3 that, at full chat, makes a noise worse than someone else’s crying baby on an airliner. It’s worse than the sound of your parachute failing to open. Really, to get an idea of how awful it is, you’d have to sit a dog on a ham slicer.

So you’re sitting there with the engine screaming its head off, and your ears bleeding, and you’re doing only 23mph because that’s about the top speed, and you’re thinking things can’t get any worse, and then they do because you run over a small piece of grit.

The Insight also gets dinged in numerous reviews for its “cheap” build quality, plasticky feel, and overall ickiness of the interior. That’s not surprising because despite Honda’s stellar reputation and untouchable status as the kings of automobiles, no one ever mentions their horrible interiors. The Accord’s interior is one of the worst I’ve ever seen with a driver’s seat so close to the pedals that my 6′1″ legs can’t press the pedal without being bent as if I’m riding a bicycle.

Considering the overall crap that is the Insight, it’s hard for me to believe that all import cars were taken into consideration when this crap list was made and yet none of them were so bad as to make the list. I just don’t buy it. There’s plenty of import crap out there, but its become fashionable over the past few years to just continuously (and often unfairly) rip into American vehicles for things that haven’t been true in about 5 years.

Proof That We’re Doomed…

Vinny — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:00:04 +0000

If you need proof that we’re doomed as a society, I offer up this one for your perusal. Never in the history of mankind has our upcoming demise as a species been so obvious.

A woman sued General Mills because “The plaintiff, Janine Sugawara, alleged that she had only recently learned to her dismay that said ‘berries’ were in fact simply brightly-colored cereal balls.”

Recently?

To her dismay?

Has she ever seen a damn crunchberry in the produce section?

Luckily, a judge (who by rights shouldn’t have even given this case a hearing) laid the required smackdown upon this dope.

This Court is not aware of, nor has Plaintiff alleged the existence of, any actual fruit referred to as a “crunchberry.” Furthermore, the “Crunchberries” depicted on the [box] are round, crunchy, brightly-colored cereal balls, and the [box] clearly states both that the Product contains “sweetened corn & oat cereal” and that the cereal is “enlarged to show texture.” Thus, a reasonable consumer would not be deceived into believing that the Product in the instant case contained a fruit that does not exist. . . . So far as this Court has been made aware, there is no such fruit growing in the wild or occurring naturally in any part of the world.

Judge England also noted another federal court had “previously rejected substantially similar claims directed against the packaging of Fruit Loops [sic] cereal, and brought by these same Plaintiff attorneys.” He found that their attack on “Crunchberries” should fare no better than their prior claims that “Froot Loops” did not contain real froot.

This really is worse than the dopes that keep spilling coffee in their crotch and suing the coffee companies because their hot coffee is hot.

China Resorts to Umbrellas

Vinny — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:13:59 +0000

via Gizmodo

David Axelrod Continues Politics of Change and Hope

Vinny — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:18:31 +0000

Finally, there was the conversation weaving between, of all things, Miss California U.S.A. Carrie Prejean, the same-sex marriage opponent who the panel had already mocked at length, and Bo, the Obama family’s Portuguese water dog.

When Mr. Axelrod was asked how involved he was in the selection of Bo, he jokingly answered that he “only got called in for the final three.”

But as Mr. Axelrod was trying to set the record straight – he actually was not consulted – Mr. Sagal asked about the two runner-ups.

“One was Miss California,” Mr. Axelrod cracked to the audience’s laughter.

So it’s okay for him to call Miss California a bitch? Wow… I have to say that this administration certainly has brought change to Washington. What makes her a bitch? Oh right… Her agreement with our illustrious saint, leader, and God-given gift, Barack Obama that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Way to change the tone, Mr. Axelrod.

Food-Based Hair Products

Vinny — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:48:34 +0000

Let’s Cool It On The Photoshop, Kelly

Vinny — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:45:00 +0000

Look… I’m not saying Kelly Clarkson is a disaster. I’m not even saying she’s not attractive. Her weight isn’t an issue for me. Not in the slightest. In fact, I think she looks good with a little more curve to her. What annoys me is the absolutely ridiculous amount of photoshopping done on her new album cover. Look at those two pictures side by side. Can you honestly say they didn’t slim her down, photoshop the hell out of it, and then put it on the cover?

I get the whole “we have to project an image” but Jesus Christ, can the album cover at least remotely look like the person whose voice is recorded on the album?

Community or Communalism?

Vinny — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:09:54 +0000

I think, if anything, the BS term of the year would have to be “community.” In the era of social networking and social media, everything is all about community. We have to have twittering plants, twittering babies, and even blogs for our kids who aren’t even old enough to speak, let alone write. But does any of this promote an actual “community?” Well, that really depends on how you define community.

For example, head into the Twit forums and criticize Leo Laporte. Surely you know Leo Laporte. He’s the tech guy who used to be at the top of the tech podcasting heap on iTunes who’s now relegated to lists that include “Classic” podcasts. Whereas he used to put time and effort into his podcasts, he can’t be bothered now because he has an office in Petaluma where he streams video of him shooting the shit with his “friends” on Stickcam. Yep, Leo’s a real trooper, so go ahead and tell him his shows are losing what made them great a few years ago (namely, the attention he used to put into them). Or, if you really want to be bold, suggest how he could do better.

You will undoubtedly and immediately be pounced upon as if you were promoting Hitler in a Jewish forum. You see, your criticism is not welcome in that forum. Laporte himself has said he’s tired of the criticism, and insists that despite the donations and sponsors, he’s doing Twit for free (an obvious and blatant lie) and his “community members” jump right in to back him up, never questioning the stupidity of the claims. Your criticism ruins the “community,” because in the web 2.0 world, a community is no place for disagreement or criticism of any kind.

Then of course there are morons like Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. Go ahead and follow them on Twitter. You’ll really enjoy it if you like milquetoast non-interesting blather from two dopes whose biggest claim to fame is that they showed up to their co-written book’s launch naked. No, I won’t share that picture; no one should have to look at that. Their book, Naked Conversations, was designed to get businesses to open up and be more transparent. You were told to accept criticism from your customers and learn from it. So what do they do if they see a tweet or post they don’t like? Why, they block you, of course because your negativity is hurting their community and upsetting the folks who do what you’re supposed to do in the web 2.0 world: kiss arse.

Let’s face one fact about this whole Web 2.0 thing. It isn’t about community, it’s about communalism. It’s the idea that I can build an army of like-minded people who don’t dare think for themselves. It’s a power-hungry group of kids who were never popular in school trying to make up for it by showing you how powerful they are now. Folks like Leo Laporte and Robert Scoble have rings that must be kissed, lest you not be allowed into their club. There is no community of equals, only a community of like-minded automatons that are there to validate everything you do and say and promote your words to the unwashed masses.

That’s what Web 2.0 is as of 2008, and what it’s likely to be in 2009. The so-called “thought leaders” who don’t allow actual thought unless it’s in lockstep with theirs, and the mindless drones who follow them in the hopes that riding those coattails long enough will get them the fame they so desire. Maybe, with some luck, that shell will be cracked and original thinkers will emerge from this cesspool of unoriginal milquetoast garbage, but I think true thinkers are just going to avoid the space entirely so as not to have to be stifled by the Laportes and Scobles of the world.

Don’t people just fuck anymore?

Vinny — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:52:25 +0000

A Maury County woman has been charged with reckless homicide for what her attorney says was the accidental asphyxiation of her husband after he consented to be bound and gagged.

“The whole family is upset with what occurred,” Samuel Patterson, an attorney representing 25-year-old Rebecca Bargy, told Columbia newspaper The Daily Herald. “We stand by the fact that this was an accident.”

According to the arrest warrant, Rebecca Bargy placed duct tape over James Bargy’s mouth and eyes, put a ball gag in his mouth and then tied a bandage around his head, leaving only his nostrils showing.

She also tied his hands and legs behind his back. She then left him for 20 hours.

“Apparently, this was not the first time it had happened,” Maury County Sheriff’s Detective Anthony Bailey said of the bondage.

Oopsies.

Giuliani’s Plan To Focus on Florida Looking Quite Stupid

Vinny — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:05:51 +0000

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds Mitt Romney with a slight lead in Florida’s Republican Presidential Primary. John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are close behind in what may develop into a three-man race. It’s Romney at 25%, McCain at 20%, and Giuliani at 19%. Romney has picked up seven points over the past week while McCain and Giuliani each inched up a point.

Source

Pandora: Videoblogger

Vinny — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 03:47:04 +0000

Technorati Tags: pandora, cat, kitten, cute

T-Mobile to iPhone Owner: “The lines are long and stores are out of them.”

Vinny — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:25:28 +0000

This is what happens when your retention schmucks don’t listen to the person who calls.

Matt Haughey:

Today I called to cancel and I knew it might be painful so I decided to record it. The total call was 12 minutes long, about half of that spent with a retention specialist. The best part of the call was both the first support rep and the retention guy saying “you got an iPhone! how is it?” and sounding genuinely interested.

Of course they’re genuinely interested, and the fact that they’ve offered a T-Mobile wing as something comparable (a phone I reviewed for PocketPC Thoughts) is laughable. The fact that a carrier can offer the Wing with a straight face (as something more compatable; whatever that means) to a customer looking for an iPhone means that carriers really just don’t “get” the iPhone in the first place.

I’ve seen internal documents from various carriers. Carriers love pimping the fact that “our phones are music players too!” and “You can download music directly from our phone!” and “we have e-mail too!”

Folks… It’s not about having the feature. It’s about doing it right. It’s not about being able to download music from your service while I’m on the go. It’s about being able to download music without it costing me $2.00 or $3.00 per song and $15-$20 a month for the privilege of doing so.

It’s not about being able to browse the mobile web on Pocket IE or a BlackBerry. It’s about viewing actual web pages on a device that’s the same size.

Until carriers get their heads out of their ass and realize that it isn’t just about the feature, but doing them right and not gouging on them (Verizon, for example, just launched an e-mail app. It’s available on 2 phones, and costs $5 per month to use your already-paid-for data plan to get your e-mail. To whom does this sound like a good idea?).

There’s a reason the iPhone sold anywhere from 300,000 to 750,000 units this weekend (depending on which analyst you believe) and it isn’t just because it’s Apple or just because it’s pretty.

Technorati Tags: iphone, verizon, carrier, t-mobile, handset, mobile, cellular

EU Scrutinizes Apple. Again. Ignores BlackBerry.

Vinny — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:20:48 +0000

Why do Europeans have such a hard-on for Apple? First the whole DRM thing in whatever country it was in (Norway or something?). Now this drivel:

an interesting suggestion from the CEO of Carphone Warehouse has got Europeans looking a bit more closely at how things will eventually be ran in their neck of the woods. It was stated that “in order for the iPhone to function correctly, there is a requirement for Apple servers to be placed deep in the operator’s network,” which has led some to believe that Apple could have a “a non-GSM, non-standard way of authenticating its phone.”

You mean like RIM does with the BlackBerry?

Seriously. If you don’t believe me, give it a go some time. Take a GSM BlackBerry out of the box, throw your SIM in it, and try to do anything with it other than make a call. You can’t. And the reason you can’t is that unless you have the BlackBerry “service” on your phone, you can’t do anything with the handheld. That’s not exactly wide open, and yet you never hear anyone complain about it.

Of course that would be like comparing blackberries to apples.

Technorati Tags: apple, iphone

Carol Burnett Loses Bullshit Case

Vinny — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 19:54:43 +0000

The folks behind Family Guy are getting the last laugh in a legal tussle with Carol Burnett after a federal judge tossed a lawsuit by the famous funnylady over an episode that parodied her.

As Stewie Griffin might proclaim, “Victory is mine!”

In her suit, filed in March in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Burnett claimed that after she refused to grant Fox and Family Guy mastermind Seth McFarlane consent to use the theme music from The Carol Burnett Show, they “knowingly and deliberately” rewrote the episode to disparage Burnett’s famous cleaning-lady character.

The 74-year-old comedian says the Apr. 23, 2006 episode, titled “Peterotica,” wound up including the music for a segment. The bit also featured a ‘toon character giving the signature ear tug of Burnett’s “Charwoman,” popularized during skits on her hit variety show, which ran for 11 seasons on CBS from 1967 to 1978.

In his ruling signed Friday and made public Monday, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson saw little if any harm done to Burnett. While he “fully appreciates how distasteful and offensive the segment is to Ms. Burnett,” Pregerson noted that parody is protected by the freedom of speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment.

Good. A judge uses common sense, and now parody is protected. Carol Burnett should be sued by the federal government for wasting our courts’ time with this thing that’s been fought by others numerous times already.

Enough is enough.

Technorati Tags: carol burnett, family guy, lawsuit, parody, intellectual property

Are we that desperate for a pat on the back?

Vinny — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 19:47:10 +0000

I don’t get it. I’m a very simple guy, but I really don’t get it. RWW posts about the Webbys like they matter:

This week the winners of the 11th annual Webby Awards, billed nowadays as the “Oscars of the Internet”, were announced at a ceremony in New York. Much of the publicity was over the fact that David Bowie was there (Prince attended last year). But other than that, what were the highlights of the Webbys? In this post we’ll review the winners list, and in particular the web 2.0 sites.

All up, there were nearly 70 categories. In the categories focused on web technology and social media, the clear winners were Flickr, LinkedIn and last.fm. Flickr picked up 3 awards (5 including two Peoples Choice ones), for Best Practices, Best Visual Design – Function, and Community. LinkedIn grabbed 2 awards, for Services and Social Networking. And last.fm won the Music category, plus was voted Peoples Choice for Best Practices.

Nowhere in the RWW article does it even mention that in order to be “considered” for a Webby you have to submit a $245 “application fee.” In other words, you pay; you play. My good friend Thomas Hawk has an opinion on this:

One thing though that I really don’t like about the Webby’s is that they basically are a racket intended to extract fees and money out of websites for their own profit. Don’t get me wrong. I kind of like the idea of a democratic process that helps refine the best internet sites out there.

And I think that sites like digg and delicious and reddit and a number of other sites help you find compelling new content. But you know what? digg and delicious and reddit don’t charge you a $245 to list your site on their service.

$245 is just unbelievable. Certainly I can understand entry fees for contests, but $245? What a crock.

From SFist: “We checked in with a friend of ours whose company won a Webby last year, and he confirmed our darkest fears. “They do this for an salary, not to celebrate the internet. They charge us the “processing fee” and also charged an entrance ticket fee (I think it was $250) to the awards ceremony.”

Another prominent blogger told us that “Apparently this year, they’ve extended the ‘nomination’ period at least once, maybe more, because I guess they haven’t made enough money. It’s most definitely a ‘who’s who’ type scam.” In the words of one of our esteemed colleagues, “That’s some racket the Webbys have going!”"

Indeed, it is some racket, and the worst part is that sites like RWW and many others keep granting them legitimacy, and they don’t mention the fact that it’s pay to play. Any company patting themselves on the back for winning one should really be embarassed. This isn’t democratic in any way. It’s a revenue generator for the people running the show and a shallow meaningless honor for those who win it.

Pardon me for not being impressed.

Technorati Tags: webbys