So says the angel....

Welcome...

Back, or otherwise. I've got a fair few links that will be posting, but first, for those that know me... a few words about me.

Today was one of those days that you greets you warmly enough, but like a the shower in an aging buidling, the tempature fluxuates up and down. I don't know, it was one of those days that just had its ups and more than its share of downs. So, I can't say it was a good day or a bad day, but at least it was a day.

As you might be able to tell from my previous post, I've been considering my life quite a bit lately. It's frustrating to feel like I have such little control right now. One of the biggest problems, one that I didn't even touch on in the last post, is the money. I have a lot of debt that I've been trying hard to get a handle on. But, I've long been at that point where it doesn't seem that any amount of money will ever quell the demons that seem so anxious to drag me down. It isn't that I don't want to take care of it. It isn't that I'm poor at managing my money... now. And I certainly make my fair share. However, I take care of myself, my two daughters and my disabled mother. That's not productive for paying off bills, let me tell you. It's one of the few things about my life to date that I truly regret. My ex-wife and I made some very poor financial decisions... and I'm paying for them now.

In other news...

Last night I went with Melissa to see the movie Next. It was a good enough time, but the movie was pretty terrible.


Next

This is where I must finally put my foot down. It was proved with Deja Vu that they still can't make a decent time based movie, but this movie takes it to new levels of terrible.

I guess I could quantify it a bit, it was not the worst thing that I've ever seen. It was just one of those movies that really frustrates you. It wasn't just Nicolas Cage, who I've grown to truly dislike over the years. There were severely poor story components.

The concept is pretty simple, Cage is a 2 bit magician in Vegas, but he plays off the fact that he has a gift for premonition. Basically, he uses this to perform a magic act, but also to cheat the house at various casinos along the strip at low level games. He's only able to see the future for about 2 minutes, but he's able to review those 2 minutes and his options to see where he'll come out on top, and then take that path. He can only see a future that involves him in some way.

This concept is great. I applaud this writing.

Then we move on to the plot. The FBI is somehow aware of this guy, and they think they can use him to find a Nuke that's been stashed somewhere in California. He, however, doesn't seem to think this is possible. In the meantime, somehow the bad guys also seem to be aware of him, so everyone possible is after this low level, probably pretty much off the grid guy.

In the end, he's forced to give in, and suddenly, though he's never done it before, at least not with any measure of control, he's able to not only push his powers out far more than 2 minutes, he's also able to completely control this new found ability.

Then there's the twist. The one that we all saw coming from the very beginning, and you just wish they'd left it with a tragic ending.

Overall it wasn't as bad as it could have been... but I can't rate it very highly at all.


Media Converter

Media Converter. It's free. It's online. And it works... Good stuff. Try it out.


Keyboard Waffle Iron

Gizmodo, always the source of crap we don't need, has an blurb about a waffle maker, that makes waffles shaped like keyboards. It's hard for me not to accept regular waffles after seeing this. Plus, it lends itself so well to soooo many puns. Like, "A kayboard you want to get sticky.


RFID Firewall.

Wow, RFID is such a new and unexploited technology, yet there's already a new firewall system to prevent unauthorized access, or even virii? That's just amazing, especially because it's the same woman that's come up with both. I have actually been itching for a chance to talk a little about RFID, but tonight is definitely not tonight.

Microsoft Patents Sudo

Sure looks that way... for some background. If you've seen the Mac vs. PC ads with the "Cancel or Allow", that's an example of the Vista UAC (User Account Control). It requires a user to be active for the things going on with their computer, forcing them to enter a password if they are not an administrator. However, this is essentially a method that's been in place for a while, as noted here, as SUDO. EL OH EL N SHT.




Speaking of Ubuntu...

This was humorous... I wonder how many people will be looking for this new version of the famed Linux distro.


Apple Patents New iPod Interface.

and proves they don't know the alphabet.

It's an interesting set-up, but if you look at the bottom left image, you'll see they think the alphabet is A B C V E F G...

Still, I'm curious how this will work. I've heard bad things about the new flip around phones where it's the phone on one side and mp3 player on the other... I can only hope Apple can pull this off. Of course, Apple Fanboys will be jizzing over the idea no matter what they do.


Don't forget Zune...

And it appears Microsoft will be finally supporting WiFi downloads on the Zune, and that there'll be new Hardware coming out soon...


Hmm...

There's plenty more stuff to show you, but that will have to do for now... I'm tired.