Just stuff I feel like writing about
September 21, 2012 Leave a Comment
I’ve been delighted to have one of my favorite films, The Bad Seed (1956), on Blu Ray. The transfer overall is pretty good, but it does make me yearn all the more for my favorite movie of all time: On the Waterfront.
Powerful performances all around and great camera work. While it looks good on DVD, unlike The Bad Seed IMO, I can only imagine what it’ll look like in 1080p.
Here’s to hoping!
September 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
The recent news that Ron Paul will again be a guest on Jay Leno on September 4th, 2012 brought joy and a bunch of thoughts into my mind. The chief one, is that perhaps Ron Paul will be using this to announce his 3rd party candidacy, either alone, or perhaps with Gary Johnson, who is on the ballot in all 50 states. I’m writing about the later option, which I feel is brilliant.
First and foremost, this would give all disaffected and disenfranchised people of all political parties a VIABLE 3rd choice, instead of the tried and true “vote for the lesser of two evils”, which is still a vote for evil and plays into the hands of both parties. After witnessing the travesty that was the RNC, which included a fake vote to change the rules, with the results of the vote already on the teleprompter, I’ve gone from disappointed, to just plain angry. The Republican party is no longer my party, and I refuse to give up and “fall in line”. This stunt, and the general treatment of the delegates and Ron Paul in general, has cost the Republican party my vote and the vote of countless others.
Ron Paul running with Gary Johnson would give us a REAL 3rd choice and let both parties know that the old two party system is coming to an end. Even people who said they’d vote for either Obama or Romney because there was no other real choice could be convinced to change. The commercials that would come out of such an announcement would make Obama and Romney look like two sides of the same coin, which is what they are, make no mistake.
After Ron Paul’s Jay Leno visit is over, hopefully I’ll be making another post, the start of many, about the coming election and a real changing of the guard.
May 2, 2012 Leave a Comment
As Newt Gingrich officially bowed out of the presidential race, he endorsed Mitt Romney and urged the GOP to unite behind him. With approximately $4.5million in debt and Romney likely to help him in that respect, it is as much a paid endorsement as anything else. Rick Santorum, despite being out of the race nearly a month, hasn’t done the same thing, and his supporters are joining Ron Paul’s supporters in some of the states to help him fetch even more delegates – a strategy that is working, much to the main stream media’s chagrin.
With it becoming readily apparent that Ron Paul’s name will be on the ballot in Tampa and Romney’s nomination anything but certain, the media is waging a war of words against Ron Paul and his campaign. How one phrases things, headline and body, can alter the meaning completely.
Below is the headline and link to an article about the current standings of the two GOP candidates versus Obama.
The title of the article is “Romney leads Obama narrowly in Montana”
From the article: “Worse for Romney is that his soon-to-be-vanquished intraparty foe Ron Paul actually leads Obama by eight points (49-41).”
Besides the assertion that Ron Paul is going away soon, it makes light of the fact that Ron Paul has a sizable lead versus Obama in Montana.
Plenty of other articles, too numerous to name, use phrases such as “disruptive”, “rude”, “manipulating the rules”, etc, to suggest that Ron Paul’s forces are “stealing” the nomination instead of earning it. The transfer of about $100,000 from the Alaska State GOP coffers to the local Capital City Republicans in Juneau speaks volumes about the nature of Ron Paul’s opponents. The mention of this fact in passing without any scrutiny in most articles I’ve read, also shows that the media is lock step with the GOP establishment.
The media machine will stop at nothing to discredit Ron Paul’s candidacy, and it’s only going to get worse from here on out.
Make no mistake – Ron Paul is winning, and the establishment is very, very frightened at the possibility of a showdown between Obama and Paul.
April 29, 2012 Leave a Comment
As a regular visitor to Real Clear Politics, I noticed the lack of new polls about the remaining GOP candidates. The media is complying with Mitt Romney’s assertion that he has the nomination in the bag. As a result, Mitt Romney’s supporters have let Ron Paul’s determined supporters take a majority of the delegates, where it really counts. As of this writing, Paul is one state away from automatically being entered on the ballot at the GOP convention in Tampa. This strategy is paying off and chances of a Ron Paul win at the GOP convention are growing in spite of, or perhaps partially because, of the media blackout regarding anything to do with Ron Paul. With the masses looking towards the general election with the democratic Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, Paul’s supporters are in the midst of a sleeper victory as the fireworks fly in Tampa.
April 12, 2012 Leave a Comment
Well, it’s been only a few days since Rick Santorum dropped out of the GOP presidential nomination race, leaving Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich as the remaining candidates. The immediate call by the main stream media, was that “It’s now Romney vs Obama”. While the right and the left would both like to declare the GOP contest over, it is far from that.
With Santorum dropping out to care for his daughter, the main stream media, and even Newt Gingrich, essentially called the contest for Romney. They are purposely ignoring the rising numbers of Ron Paul who, despite an almost total media blackout, continues to draw record standing room only crowds to places even as liberal as UC Berkley. With votes upcoming in Texas and California, this has the potential to flip the GOP contest upside down. While Romney has money, money has only served to slow his descent as voters continue to scrutinize his record and his comments to the press. Gingrich has no campaign to speak of, and is staying in the race for his own ego, if nothing else. Ron Paul on the other hand, has a steady message, fervent supporters, and steadily increasing poll numbers. His numbers are growing at an increasing rate, as more people begin to look past the “he’s crazy”, “his policies make no sense”, etc headlines that the media attempt to paint him with. One of the most important phrases I heard mentioned, by YouTube user “TokenLibertariangirl”, as the phrase that got her started, was “Google Ron Paul”. Indeed, what the main stream media won’t do, people are doing themselves. I’m looking forward to the next few weeks with even more excitement as the power of the people overwhelms the establishment’s attempts to keep the will of the people silent.
April 5, 2012 Leave a Comment
The latest polls provided on the Real Clear Politics show Newt Gingrich’s rating falling below Ron Paul’s, who’s rating is rising at a slow, but steady pace. With his campaign broke and the insanity of sending him against Obama setting in for would be supporters, Gingrich is now being pressured to quit the race by supporters of Rick Santorum.
This bodes well for Ron Paul as well, as reducing the number of contenders to three makes it harder to ignore him, although the media has been doing their best to do so. It also helps Ron Paul due to the spotlight being focused more and more on Santorum, who seems to believe that his narrow message of “Gays, Muslims, and Pornography are destroying America” will fly with the GOP as a whole, let alone the general population that will vote in the general election. While Mitt Romney is seen as the best alternative by the “anyone but Obama” crowd, Santorum is seen as the only alternative by the “anyone but Romney” crowd. Giving Santorum an even more intense spotlight will allow him to shoot himself in the foot with the same reckless abandon as Mitt Romney seems to stick his in his mouth every time he deviates from his campaign’s script.
Romney and Santorum have a real chance to split the remaining primaries between them, resulting in a brokered convention. It is highly unlikely that Santorum will be willing to give Romney his delegates in exchange for a Vice Presidential slot or some other cherry position, resulting in true chaos. After the initial vote the delegates are no longer bound, and this is Ron Paul’s chance, with his passionate supporters, to bring true change to the GOP.
The next few weeks are going to be pivotal, and as delusional as Newt Gingrich is, financial reality will likely force him to abandon his campaign. Social media doesn’t really do much if there’s no passion behind it, and despite the best efforts of the main stream media, Newt has none. Newt has anger and belligerence, but while that might make for entertaining interviews with the blood thirsty press, it doesn’t win campaigns.
January 24, 2012 Leave a Comment
It’s Tuesday, and with the winner take all Florida primary occurring in but a few days, the rhetoric has taken on new life along with the appropriate media blitz and accompanying support costs that serves to inject some money into the local economies along the tour.
The longer the nomination race drags on, the better for all of those on the trail. What once seemed Romney’s to lose has become the Republican party’s deliberate administration of syrup of ipecac, with South Carolina serving to put the party on notice that it will not be a walk in the park. After letting the McCain-Palin disaster loose from it’s molten prison deep inside the earth’s core (That’s an Inhumanoids reference, not a bible one) in 2008, a significant majority of Republican’s know that a Romney nomination would be a tough contest at best, and this is before a running mate has even been considered.
As a result of the 2008 election, the Republican party faced new questions about it’s future, and what began as Tea Party protests that received their own brand of media derision, has manifested itself with three separate winners in the first three contests. The continuing battle has given fits to a main stream media trying to steer its outcome in light of the changing social world that was only beginning to make its presence known during the ’08 election cycle.
“If it bleeds, it leads.” is a common phrase associated with the media, but the public likes a good scrap now and again and Newt Gingrich, regardless of political reality when it comes to even being on the ballot concerning some ~500 delegates, is a fighter and is so self-righteous, that he might have been a presidential nominee, if not a possible president, if only he didn’t have his record. Personal life aside, Gingrich reminds me of Gary Hart’s ill-fated run for president, except instead of crashing and burning once, Gingrich has consistently been his own worse enemy.
What is Gingrich’s role to play? Busting up a Romney clean sweep aside, Gingrich will gladly take down Romney if it means that he might gain more pull in the Republican party.
And what of Santorum? The GOP’s frat boy armed with sweater vests and calls to war with the entire Muslim world represents the vote of religious sheep, who blindly follow what they are told, rather than use their god-given brain to figure out things on their own.
With the dropout of Perry, Paul is now in prime position, being on the ballot in all of the states, a feat only matched by Romney, of securing the republican nomination by outlasting the limited reach campaigns of Gingrich and Santorum.
Rising in the polls, Ron Paul looked destined for a good finish from the start of this campaign in stark contrast to 2008, but few saw this coming. While most of the media tries to mention Ron Paul as little as possible, there is a background noise that is steadily getting louder. Like a spontaneous chant at a concert, it’s beginning to overtake the singer on the microphone, and already has a passionate life all of its own.
Florida is interesting, but the real fight lies ahead, with Florida serving to keep us entertained and possibly cause Santorum to rethink his presidential plans.
7:49 MST
July 20, 2011 Leave a Comment
Lolita is the singer of my favorite (Tief drin in Böhmerwald) and my dad’s favorite (Seemann, Deine Heimat Ist Das Meer) German Folk songs.
July 8, 2011 Leave a Comment
ASUS Eee Transformer Review
July 8th, 2011 (Updated August 8, 2011 & Octorber 8th, 2011 – It just worked out that way)
I type up this review on my desktop computer as I listen to music via Bluetooth headphones that are paired to the Transformer. I just glanced back and checked on the status of some music that I’m copying onto the built in 16GB of memory that comes with the model I got a scant week and a half ago.
I happened upon the Transformer while doing research for a friend/client who wanted to know what I thought was the best value in Android tablets right now. After looking at the likes of the Galaxy among others, I finally ended up selecting the transformer, partially because of the lower cost, but also because of the optional dock, something I do plan on getting down the road.
Having never used any tablet before, regardless of the OS that inhabited it, I was free to look at all available. I quickly settled however, on an Anroid-based tablet because of the relative freedom the platform affords. Coming from an OSS background although I use Windows for my desktop, I found a lot of software that I use on my Desktop and various machines that ran Linux Mint available in various states on the Android market.
The biggest obstacle for using a platform for me, is being able to access my data just as if I were using my desktop computer. While it took a bit of trial and error, app experimenting and moments of enlightenment to find solutions to various obstacles, they were well worth the effort.
DELIVERY AND SETUP
I was expecting a check from my friend to pay for both the parts for his computer and whatever he felt my help was worth. I didn’t expect a bit of money AND a tablet, but I ended up picking out my own payment when the Transformer made its way to me on a warm Tuesday morning in late June.
While ASUS may not try to emulate Apple, they have got that simplicity thing down. Upon opening the box, you are presented with the Transformer, the charging dock (2 pieces – functions as USB connector for Tranformer) and assorted paperwork. It was nice not to get a bunch of paperwork trying to sell me what I just bought for once.
I turned on the Transformer and booted up. After personalizing the thing, I elected to setup a Gmail/Google account to take advantage of the various services offered through it.
While this is of course optional, I felt that this was the best way to experience the Transformer. I directed my mail accounts that I use for personal and business use to forward their messages to my new Gmail account, creating both a backup of all the accounts as well as allowing my to use the tablet to take care of email duties if my desktop is busy or unavailable for some reason.
Exploration
While I was familiar with Android from reading about it, I had yet to try it out myself. Granted there are emulators for it, but this is a case where I wanted to try out on actual hardware. I spent about an hour just exploring the interface. The controls are pretty straight forward, with little things here and there that one picks up in the course of installing and configuring the tablet.
My first desire, was accessing my Keepass database that I use on my desktop computer. I installed the Android app and encountered my first obstacle – file transfer between the tablet and networked computers. I later found out that I could attach the tablet via the USB part of the charger apparatus, but since I was charging the device up in the first place at that point, that didn’t strike me until I had problems with the charger itself, which I’ll go into later on.
I ended up managing to transfer a single file via Bluetooth, but at 18 seconds for 2.5MB, it’s an unreliable (I’ve been unable to do it a second time) method at this time. I was pointed to ES File Explorer, which I had installed and uninstalled during my first day with the machine without running it. A slip in memory that I’m wary of repeating again. Using ES File Explorer, I was able to navigate to my shared drives within a few clicks on the tablet.
File transfers were pretty quick, with the limiting factor being that my Wi-Fi network is currently limited to G connectivity until I get that new N-Router I’ve been eying. Still ~54Mbps before overhead is nice to play with and is only really limiting when file transferring. For day to day use, G connectivity is just fine.
While I was working on getting file transferring up, I installed Winamp, Skype, Teamviewer, Twitter, Google Docs, Firefox, QQPlayer, Task Panel and System Panel Lite among others. Winamp and QQPlayer have played everything I’ve thrown at them audio and video wise respectively without problems and without skipping. Teamviewer works just like its desktop peers, Skype went through an update while I was testing it out, which greatly improved the interface, though I’ve yet to get video working on it. Now that I have a quality Bluetooth headset, I’m looking at using it for Skype on all my computers.
Amazon MP3 is wonderful on Android, allowing one even more access to purchased music via cloud. Because Flash isn’t available for FireFox Android at this point, I was unable to test to see if Amazon Prime Video streaming would work, ditto with Netflix‘s Silverlight-based streaming and Hulu. I tried Opera on Hulu, but was told video was not available for my platform. This is something that will get better in the coming months.
The Youtube app works wonderfully and I was able to watch HD video without any skipping or other errors. With my horrible experience trying to get Flash working on Linux Mint x64 with some degree of stability so I wouldn’t have to kill the process every 5 minutes/5 videos still in my mind, I was admittedly a bit shocked that it worked so well.
All the apps I have tried, from Ebay to Amazon have worked without a hitch, save for a few games that crashed because of the version of Android I’m running, and the Facebook app giving me a “hand to the face” when I try to install it on Honeycomb.
Delving deeper
Being a gamer at heart, I am always looking at turning any device I own into a gaming machine, in addition to kicking butt where business is concerned. So, in addition to the standard games that one can download from the app store, I began looking for Android ports of my favorite emulators. More to the point, emulators for the systems I grew up with. While I love all game systems, the NES, SNES, and the Gameboy hold a special place in my heart because although my brother and I have owned other systems (a Dreamcast sits not 5 feet from me right now, hooked up to a 17 in. LCD via VGA adapter and a pair of Logitech 2.1 speakers), those are the ones that captivated us during our childhoods.
There is a setting that allows one to install apps outside the Android App store. After checking that, I was off to find where the emulators, which had been taken off the Android store without warning a month ago, had gone to. After locating an alternative app store, I was delighted to see that the emulators were free for a limited time. This includes Nesoid and Snesoid.
While the emulators worked on the games that I have backups of, I had no way to control them decently as the touch screen just doesn’t cut it. Without a dock, I have no access to USB ports and therefore my X-Arcade joystick or my SNES & N64 controller to USB adapters.
Fortunately, I have a WiiMotePlus and a classic controller.
While the emulator Snes9x EX lets you pair the Wiimote in its options, the other emulators don’t offer that, which presented another obstacle.
Realizing that I had installed but never tried out WiimoteControl, I started it up and paired my Wiimote within a couple of seconds, switched the Wiimote as the primary controller for the tablet and proceeded to map the buttons in Nesoid. Thirty seconds later I was jumping on Goombas in Super Mario Brothers, alas I didn’t get 5 on the clock so I didn’t get the fireworks and bonus points. Aside from that, the controller worked like a dream.
aDosbox is another app that I quickly grabbed and installed. There are a great many DOS games and this app, just like its other incarnations, will let you play them. I’ve yet to do much because without the dock, I have to rely on the onscreen keyboard, which takes up about half the screen when in use. I’ll do an update when I have a dock for this thing.
Overview and Conclusion
Tablets aren’t for everyone. While powerful and silent, they aren’t yet as portable as their smartphone siblings. That being said, I feel that they are a more reasonable bang for the buck at this point in time with dual core cpu smartphones just now being released with price points that reach into the $800 MSRP range. While a contract will lessen the financial blow for a new smartphone, most cell phone carriers require a data contract when subsidizing that new handset.
A tablet, especially a Wi-Fi only one like the Transformer I got, is an excellent compromise. While you pay full price for the tablet, you have no extra bills to look forward to for the next two years. A lower price for tablets compared to cell phones also helps the wallet as well.
For years we’ve been hearing about the coming of Linux on the desktop, with distros becoming more and more sophisticated it seemed to some that it was only a matter of time. While people like myself were running Windows for their main desktop and maintaining one or more Linux computers as guest machines, Android was evolving.
Catching people like myself off guard, Android has developed into a potent platform that is Linux on the desktop, just in a form that you can carry with you.
Future
As I get to know this tablet better and get accessories like the dock, I will update this review with my findings. I am excited beyond words to be able to use a tablet as great as the Transformer, and look forward to newer models down the road.
BBBBBBBBBBBattleToads!! - ASUS Transformer
Widgets on the leftmost screen - ASUS Transformer
Floppy, Flash and the ASUS Transformer
Wolf3D - ASUS Transformer
Noctua vs Tablet
Update (August 8th, 2011)
Regarding the charger issue: ASUS, after waiting nearly two weeks for a reply, suggested I contact their RMA department for a repair/replacement. I’ve yet to do this because I’ve been on painkillers and sleeping a lot. The charger does work mind you, it just needs a bit of wiggling (sometimes unplugging and plugging in helps).
The Dock: I acquired the dock for the Transformer a few weeks ago and have been putting it through it’s paces. Two thumb drives, one 1GB, the other 8GB, worked like a charm with either of the USB 2.0 ports the dock gives you. My X-Arcade stick doesn’t work, but my Adaptoid (N64 to USB adapter) and SNES Retrotap (4-port SNES to USB hub) both work without a hitch. I still like using the WiiMotePlus+Classic Controller the most, since there are no wires involved and the Bluetooth performance is fantastic. The keyboard makes typing quite easy and, combined with the ability to turn off the touchpad with a single button, is more comfortable for me than using my laptop. Since the USB 2.0 ports are split one to a side, I was unable to try out my external USB-powered DVD/CD burner burner, which uses two ports. I could always get a USB extension cable, but that’s down the road and optional since there are so many other ways to get data to and from the Transformer.
Videos
Metal Slug via Tiger Arcade:
Update (October 8th, 2011)
I found even more apps since my last update, not the least of which, is an Android port of MAME that runs ~2000 games. MAME4Droid was released in early September, but is already attracting a large amount of attention.
MAME4droid - ASUS Transformer
MAME4droid - Centjpede - ASUS Transformer
MAME4droid - Crime Fighters - ASUS Transformer
In addition, I’ve gotten Netflix to work, which makes the transformer a great little “non-TV TV”, especially coming from someone who abandoned TV almost a decade ago (save for going to a friend’s house to watch MMA). Below, we have the lovely Ann Francis in my favorite Twilight Zone Episode – The After Hours.
The Twilight Zone - The After Hours - Netflix - ASUS Transformer
I also grabbed a soft case that houses both the Transformer AND the dock, something I’ve yet to find elsewhere. While it won’t protect it if you drop it, it IS useful to keep it from getting dinged/scratched during transport.
Poetic(TM) 2in1 Ultra Light Leather Case for ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101
Poetic(TM) 2in1 Ultra Light Leather Case for ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101
Poetic(TM) 2in1 Ultra Light Leather Case for ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101
There have been more firmware updates, which are supposed to improve the device even further, no I’ve yet to notice anything striking, so the changes are probably rather subtle/fix less than common issues. The next big step, is when Ice Cream Sandwich comes out. Hopefully this occurs before the end of the year.
Below, a video of Crime Fighters running under MAME4Droid: