New computer for my girlfriend. Pictures and complete timeline of opening will be coming soon.
(I'm buying her everything, aren't I? First a car then a computer? I'm a nice guy!)
April 30, 2009
April 22, 2009
Pirate Bay lost....for now
NOTE: Wrote this on 4/22/09 and it didn't post for some reason, but I got it up now.
So yeah, Pirate Bay was found guilty for breaking copyright law. Sad day for me, sad day for everyone I say. Direct link here.
Why do I say its a sad day? Well for one thing, government getting into people's lives is one thing. Another issue is the fact of the whole "pirate" movement is being criminalized by a failing industry that doesn't know how to change and progress in a new age. And its funny that the article says "A court in Sweden has jailed four men behind The Pirate Bay (TPB)" but they haven't been jailed yet, haven't paid the 4.5 million in fines because there is this lovely process called the appeal courts.
I would go into a long conversation on the bad and good about file sharing, but in my mind the Pirate Bay was the equalizer of the entertainment industry. You wish to produce one good song with crap music for the rest of the CD? Well there will be people who will find a way to get that one good song. You want to grossly overcharge and screw over bands? Many will then go underground and support their own initiatives. Music Industry did one thing, Pirate Bay did a service that balanced it out.
Is it inherently wrong? Of course it is, but that doesn't mean you have to make torrents pay for it. The people wish to use the service because the other side of the isle, the music industry, has a failing business model. The Music Industry does not wish to change it, so they create organizations like the RIAA to do the dirty work.
Update: I wrote this post on Wednesday, but I got this today!
So yeah, Pirate Bay was found guilty for breaking copyright law. Sad day for me, sad day for everyone I say. Direct link here.
Why do I say its a sad day? Well for one thing, government getting into people's lives is one thing. Another issue is the fact of the whole "pirate" movement is being criminalized by a failing industry that doesn't know how to change and progress in a new age. And its funny that the article says "A court in Sweden has jailed four men behind The Pirate Bay (TPB)" but they haven't been jailed yet, haven't paid the 4.5 million in fines because there is this lovely process called the appeal courts.
I would go into a long conversation on the bad and good about file sharing, but in my mind the Pirate Bay was the equalizer of the entertainment industry. You wish to produce one good song with crap music for the rest of the CD? Well there will be people who will find a way to get that one good song. You want to grossly overcharge and screw over bands? Many will then go underground and support their own initiatives. Music Industry did one thing, Pirate Bay did a service that balanced it out.
Is it inherently wrong? Of course it is, but that doesn't mean you have to make torrents pay for it. The people wish to use the service because the other side of the isle, the music industry, has a failing business model. The Music Industry does not wish to change it, so they create organizations like the RIAA to do the dirty work.
Update: I wrote this post on Wednesday, but I got this today!
Pirate Bay lawyer calls for retrial
I love it when this happens. Actually, no I don't. This judge should never have been in charge of this trial. The judge should have excused himself from presiding over the case. Just another feather in the Pirate's hat I suppose.April 10, 2009
NOM and gay marriage
And it continues on that I have less confidence in the US of A. I know I've wanted to talk about lean and printing and such on this blog, but it seems I keep wanting to write about other stuff. A restructure of the name might have to come.
I've been following a story for the past few days that just hits my common sense alarm way too much. This new group, National Organization for Marriage, seems to love the idea that marriage is sacred and gay couples wanting to have "marriage" is impeding and a horrible thing. Just watch their first ad campaign:
commerical
Call me crazy, but have you ever seen such an openly bigoted commercial? Call me crazy again, but I love the "California doctor" and the "Massachusetts parent" placement, being as both states are one of the prime locations for the gay debate. Also the comment of "we won't have a choice" is actually hilarious. So you can't marry anymore because gays are doing it?
Few points:
1) These actors sucked
2) Hippocratic Oath much?
3) WHY STAND OUTSIDE IN A STORM, GO INSIDE YOU'LL BE SAFE!
4) Why are you afraid?
That to me is the big question. What is this group afraid of if gay people can marry? A conversation involving one of the leaders at NOM (Brian Brown) with Thom Hartmann popped up and o man, this guy is a real piece of work:
Just wow. So we gotta keep everything the same in our social lives no matter what? We have to be dictated by the religion of what is the proper way to marry? Just ridiculous.
Seriously, this isn't a religious issue, this is a liberty issue. Who a person wishes to be together with is up to them, society should have no involvement. If gays and lesbians wish to marry, why can't they? If you love someone enough and wish to make that distinction, whats the harm? Where is the fear? Why is there this fear?
Many people have been waving around that this group is "bigoted". They are worse then that. They wish to implant their fear into the general public only to further their own agenda. They can think this all they want, but to push their ideals in order to keep their "pursuit of happiness" over others is just ridiculing at best. My girlfriend and I both have the same thought, these groups are just one of the many that are pulling the United States into the ground. Why these still exist is beyond my comprehension. Hundreds of years of dissent and bigotry I guess die hard.
For awhile there was another video that was spreading over the webs that had an excerpt of auditions for the ad. They have been pulled off of Youtube and Vimeo for copyright reasons, but I'll find them and post a link to a direct download when I get the chance. They are equally infuriating but also insanely hilarious.
Oh, and the original meaning of NOM!
Edit: Rachel Maddow has some of the auditions, enjoy!
I've been following a story for the past few days that just hits my common sense alarm way too much. This new group, National Organization for Marriage, seems to love the idea that marriage is sacred and gay couples wanting to have "marriage" is impeding and a horrible thing. Just watch their first ad campaign:
commerical
Call me crazy, but have you ever seen such an openly bigoted commercial? Call me crazy again, but I love the "California doctor" and the "Massachusetts parent" placement, being as both states are one of the prime locations for the gay debate. Also the comment of "we won't have a choice" is actually hilarious. So you can't marry anymore because gays are doing it?
Few points:
1) These actors sucked
2) Hippocratic Oath much?
3) WHY STAND OUTSIDE IN A STORM, GO INSIDE YOU'LL BE SAFE!
4) Why are you afraid?
That to me is the big question. What is this group afraid of if gay people can marry? A conversation involving one of the leaders at NOM (Brian Brown) with Thom Hartmann popped up and o man, this guy is a real piece of work:
Thom Hartmann: Okay. As, uh. You know, over on your website, you have a list of frequently asked questions and answers and um... One of the questions is that -- that you put out is, uh "Are you a bigot? Why do you want to take people's rights?" And uh, y'know, your answer to that is essentially uh -- well, I'll let you give the answer.Brian Brown: Well, we hear this question time and again when people stand up and say they -- they understand that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. Well, y'know (?) immediate response from those that want to redefine marriage, "well, that's just bigoted". But, uh. Y'know. We -- We need to take this argument seriously. If... the entire history of California... and of this country's understanding of marriage is bigoted, what does that mean? Well, it means that, alright, the majority in California -- uh, if we take this too seri- seriously (cough cough), is the power of the law would be used to suppress, marginalize, and punish the majority that understands what marriage is -- so we shouldn't see- be surprised when we see the rights of those of us that believe that marriage is the union of a man and a woman attacked and underlined (?) in states that move in the direction of same-sex marriage."Full transcript is here
Just wow. So we gotta keep everything the same in our social lives no matter what? We have to be dictated by the religion of what is the proper way to marry? Just ridiculous.
Seriously, this isn't a religious issue, this is a liberty issue. Who a person wishes to be together with is up to them, society should have no involvement. If gays and lesbians wish to marry, why can't they? If you love someone enough and wish to make that distinction, whats the harm? Where is the fear? Why is there this fear?
Many people have been waving around that this group is "bigoted". They are worse then that. They wish to implant their fear into the general public only to further their own agenda. They can think this all they want, but to push their ideals in order to keep their "pursuit of happiness" over others is just ridiculing at best. My girlfriend and I both have the same thought, these groups are just one of the many that are pulling the United States into the ground. Why these still exist is beyond my comprehension. Hundreds of years of dissent and bigotry I guess die hard.
For awhile there was another video that was spreading over the webs that had an excerpt of auditions for the ad. They have been pulled off of Youtube and Vimeo for copyright reasons, but I'll find them and post a link to a direct download when I get the chance. They are equally infuriating but also insanely hilarious.
Oh, and the original meaning of NOM!
Edit: Rachel Maddow has some of the auditions, enjoy!
April 08, 2009
Long Recess....for an awesome car!
My apologize for not keeping on track with these posts, been a busy few days and weeks. First my girlfriend and I got a new vehicle, Honda Pilot, some pictures below:
Then we had a huge birthday bash for her oldest son. Paintball mania! Pictures to come...
Now we gotta sell her old truck and such. Been crazy if you can imagine.
One of the things that really hit me through this whole vehicle purchase was how I looked at vehicles the closer we got to being able to purchase. Best time to buy is now with cars since many car companies are bloated with inventories. Granted, we got the car through a private seller. I was looking for a specific car for my girlfriend. SUV or a CUV (crossover for those who don't know), just something to replace her aging '96 blazer. The first cars I looked at were of course American. I always feel its best to support the nations economy in all respects. So we had a few options, since the blazer was discontinued...
1) Chevy Trailblazer
2) Ford Explorer
3) Jeep Grand Cherokee
4) GMC Envoy
5) Dodge Durango
So you got the big 3 right there. All good cars, but not great. All the vehicles on the list have sub-par crash test ratings save for the Grand Cherokee after 2005. All are huge and don't have the best gas mileage. Granted, SUV's don't usually get good gas mileage but I would of still liked to have somewhat of a decent rating. All of them have small issues all around. Trailblazer for an example has this nasty habit of having poor interior materials. Envoy's relability has always come into question, Grand Cherokee has always had issues of relability and so on and so forth.
Not being very enthusiastic about the choices was a hint to myself that none of these, nor anything that was offered, had the kind of "wow this is an awesome car" of an appeal. No matter where I turned it seemed anything "american" was just not in the league I was looking for. This would be the first car she would be buying since 1998, so I wanted it to be the best of the best. So I made a new list, this time only looking at the safety, reliability and performance of the vehicles. A shorter list came up and none were from the big 3:
1) Toyota Highlander
2) Toyota 4Runner
3) Honda Pilot
Now came the practical side. 4Runners are usually sold new or 15 years old. Its very hard to find one that is used for 3-4 years, which was the target market we were looking in. Highlander is very high quality, probably one of the best SUV's out there. Best also means most expensive, and I couldn't find one used under 18 thousand. So Honda Pilot was the last probable choice. Thankfully, a nice gentleman needed to unload his 4 year old one with 41000 miles, so it all worked out nicely.
With a moment to reflect in that whole decision process and I gotta wonder. Am I going to replace my Buick 5-10 years down the road with an American car or with a foreign vehicle? Will I get the Ford or the Honda? The Chevy or the Toyota? I'm not really sure, but I know how much the American Automotive Industry means to this country. Not just to the general population, but all the workers who are directly or indirectly affected by this downturn. Will they gain control and create affordable and quality vehicles? Lets hope so, I know if we lost that industry it would be a huge blow to this country. Management and Unions go about who is to blame, when in the reality of it all is they should get a mirror and shout at it.
We'll see, other then that me and my girl will enjoy the new addition and push forward with new opportunities.
Then we had a huge birthday bash for her oldest son. Paintball mania! Pictures to come...
Now we gotta sell her old truck and such. Been crazy if you can imagine.
One of the things that really hit me through this whole vehicle purchase was how I looked at vehicles the closer we got to being able to purchase. Best time to buy is now with cars since many car companies are bloated with inventories. Granted, we got the car through a private seller. I was looking for a specific car for my girlfriend. SUV or a CUV (crossover for those who don't know), just something to replace her aging '96 blazer. The first cars I looked at were of course American. I always feel its best to support the nations economy in all respects. So we had a few options, since the blazer was discontinued...
1) Chevy Trailblazer
2) Ford Explorer
3) Jeep Grand Cherokee
4) GMC Envoy
5) Dodge Durango
So you got the big 3 right there. All good cars, but not great. All the vehicles on the list have sub-par crash test ratings save for the Grand Cherokee after 2005. All are huge and don't have the best gas mileage. Granted, SUV's don't usually get good gas mileage but I would of still liked to have somewhat of a decent rating. All of them have small issues all around. Trailblazer for an example has this nasty habit of having poor interior materials. Envoy's relability has always come into question, Grand Cherokee has always had issues of relability and so on and so forth.
Not being very enthusiastic about the choices was a hint to myself that none of these, nor anything that was offered, had the kind of "wow this is an awesome car" of an appeal. No matter where I turned it seemed anything "american" was just not in the league I was looking for. This would be the first car she would be buying since 1998, so I wanted it to be the best of the best. So I made a new list, this time only looking at the safety, reliability and performance of the vehicles. A shorter list came up and none were from the big 3:
1) Toyota Highlander
2) Toyota 4Runner
3) Honda Pilot
Now came the practical side. 4Runners are usually sold new or 15 years old. Its very hard to find one that is used for 3-4 years, which was the target market we were looking in. Highlander is very high quality, probably one of the best SUV's out there. Best also means most expensive, and I couldn't find one used under 18 thousand. So Honda Pilot was the last probable choice. Thankfully, a nice gentleman needed to unload his 4 year old one with 41000 miles, so it all worked out nicely.
With a moment to reflect in that whole decision process and I gotta wonder. Am I going to replace my Buick 5-10 years down the road with an American car or with a foreign vehicle? Will I get the Ford or the Honda? The Chevy or the Toyota? I'm not really sure, but I know how much the American Automotive Industry means to this country. Not just to the general population, but all the workers who are directly or indirectly affected by this downturn. Will they gain control and create affordable and quality vehicles? Lets hope so, I know if we lost that industry it would be a huge blow to this country. Management and Unions go about who is to blame, when in the reality of it all is they should get a mirror and shout at it.
We'll see, other then that me and my girl will enjoy the new addition and push forward with new opportunities.
April 01, 2009
April fools! Best of the day!
I'm going to be updating this throughout the day, but I've already seen a few that just have to get noticed.
1) KODAK eyeCamera 4.1
2) Warner Brothers acquires Pirate Bay
3) Upside Down youtube - with a movie concerning upside down pie!!!
4) Gmail Autopilot Emails
5) Auto red eye by Picasa
6) Expedia deal to MARS!!!!!
7) Random Crap from Woot!
Pretty much all the funny ones I saw today.
1) KODAK eyeCamera 4.1
2) Warner Brothers acquires Pirate Bay
3) Upside Down youtube - with a movie concerning upside down pie!!!
4) Gmail Autopilot Emails
5) Auto red eye by Picasa
6) Expedia deal to MARS!!!!!
7) Random Crap from Woot!
Pretty much all the funny ones I saw today.
March 30, 2009
Bailout times numbered? Probably not...
I love how things are coming along. First you got Gas prices going to infinity. Then, you have the financial institution crumbling to shambles not because of "actual" assets, but of "bets". Then you have the economy going to shambles because a section of our society wanted to make tons of money and had a wonderful mindset that "YEAH, we can keep the "assets" moving so we can push them off to other countries. THEN you got......
I get mad every time I try to make some sense in this whole thing, and the more you read about it you just keep going in circles. At least Dilbert makes it easy to understand:
Dilbert
Another one that is equally as funny and a bit more in depth.
Governments of course have been scrambling to get the financial situation under control, and it seems it keeps on getting worse and worse. More so with the United States it seems, but maybe I am being a bit biased since I'm in the middle of this. Even more so with a small printing company within the Boston area. Talking to many people all around the area makes it even more depressing.
Why doesn't the printing industry get a bailout? Who knows, figures as much that the American industry that needs the bailout has had decades of mismanagement. How can you fix that in a matter of months while your getting handed free money? The mismanagement stems within the top-end management side and the representatives of the workers. Such "change" created a larger debt for our future generations while not producing anything. And how is our new and awesome administration fixing this? Firing people of course!
Rick Wagoner got the boot on Sunday and it spread like wildfire. Was this the best course of action? My right side of the brain says probably, my left side says no.
Why or why not? Does it really matter? Someone had to take the fall. That's what I see in this. Whether you agree with Rick or not doesn't matter, what matters is they needed someone to take the fall to make it look like the government was "cracking down" on the evil company of GM.
What about the whole board of directors? Why not the management of the unions? Why just him? It's very clear to me that this was all driven by the want to look like something actually happened, when in reality all that happened was some ruffled feathers within the media. Nothing changed, nothing progressed forward. All that was created was a public soap opera where the kids asked for too much candy, and finally the one who didn't necessarily eat the most but looked the easiest to pick on was singled out.
Is 60 days enough time to get the company going? Probably not, but will that stop the bailouts? Again, probably not. A whole industry is on the line and the government does not know what to do. They keep trying to put a band-aid on the gash. Its not going to help. The only viable, and appropriate, solution that should have been done months ago is bankruptcy. That is what is suppose to happen, that is how capitalism works. Some businesses fail and some succeed. GM failed, and its time that a new set of people came in to make it work again.
The price of American manufacturing is almost at its knees. Seems to me a little Lean Manufacturing could go a long way for the company. But what do I know, I'm just a lowly printer.
I get mad every time I try to make some sense in this whole thing, and the more you read about it you just keep going in circles. At least Dilbert makes it easy to understand:
Dilbert
Another one that is equally as funny and a bit more in depth.
Governments of course have been scrambling to get the financial situation under control, and it seems it keeps on getting worse and worse. More so with the United States it seems, but maybe I am being a bit biased since I'm in the middle of this. Even more so with a small printing company within the Boston area. Talking to many people all around the area makes it even more depressing.
Why doesn't the printing industry get a bailout? Who knows, figures as much that the American industry that needs the bailout has had decades of mismanagement. How can you fix that in a matter of months while your getting handed free money? The mismanagement stems within the top-end management side and the representatives of the workers. Such "change" created a larger debt for our future generations while not producing anything. And how is our new and awesome administration fixing this? Firing people of course!
Rick Wagoner got the boot on Sunday and it spread like wildfire. Was this the best course of action? My right side of the brain says probably, my left side says no.
Why or why not? Does it really matter? Someone had to take the fall. That's what I see in this. Whether you agree with Rick or not doesn't matter, what matters is they needed someone to take the fall to make it look like the government was "cracking down" on the evil company of GM.
What about the whole board of directors? Why not the management of the unions? Why just him? It's very clear to me that this was all driven by the want to look like something actually happened, when in reality all that happened was some ruffled feathers within the media. Nothing changed, nothing progressed forward. All that was created was a public soap opera where the kids asked for too much candy, and finally the one who didn't necessarily eat the most but looked the easiest to pick on was singled out.
Is 60 days enough time to get the company going? Probably not, but will that stop the bailouts? Again, probably not. A whole industry is on the line and the government does not know what to do. They keep trying to put a band-aid on the gash. Its not going to help. The only viable, and appropriate, solution that should have been done months ago is bankruptcy. That is what is suppose to happen, that is how capitalism works. Some businesses fail and some succeed. GM failed, and its time that a new set of people came in to make it work again.
The price of American manufacturing is almost at its knees. Seems to me a little Lean Manufacturing could go a long way for the company. But what do I know, I'm just a lowly printer.
March 27, 2009
Tri-Certification completed, next project...
As some of you might be aware there is a beautiful thing that has happened within the printing industry. This totally awesome and beautiful creation, notice the sarcasm, is called Chain of Custody Certification. What is that you might ask? Some of you know of course that it involves the responsible management of the worlds forests. Forests are "certified" with specific certifications ensuring that the logging company is observing sustainable practices that will insure everyone throughout the "chain" that the trees are apart of a sustainable forest.
Some explanation of each certification:
FSC - Forest Stewardship Council - "An independent, non-governmental, not for profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world's forests."
SFI - Sustainable Forestry Initiative - Organization just like FSC but created by a collaboration of paper producers.
PEFC - Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification - "Promotes an internationally credible framework for forest certification schemes and initiatives in European countries."
These non-profit organizations have been around for quite some time. Most started within the 1990's but their popularity have increased with the whole shaping of the economic crisis. With printers competing heavily for a shrinking market these certifications have become a hot item. To acquire these certifications there is a very complex audit that needs to be done in order to insure all standards are met for these certifications. I lead a team at my company for the past 5 months to get this going. Believe you me, this was a chore!
My company, Smith Print Inc., successfully completed the Tri-Certified audit and will be officially certified in the next few weeks. It was a lot of work but we did it and I thank all my co-workers here at Smith Print for making this happen.
This is my first post and I wish to create more, but I thought this would be fitting for this blog to get started. Hope to get more in along the way!
P.S. - I have a website I wish to create for my own personal use and family purposes, I'll post that when it has been completed.
Some explanation of each certification:
FSC - Forest Stewardship Council - "An independent, non-governmental, not for profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world's forests."
SFI - Sustainable Forestry Initiative - Organization just like FSC but created by a collaboration of paper producers.
PEFC - Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification - "Promotes an internationally credible framework for forest certification schemes and initiatives in European countries."
These non-profit organizations have been around for quite some time. Most started within the 1990's but their popularity have increased with the whole shaping of the economic crisis. With printers competing heavily for a shrinking market these certifications have become a hot item. To acquire these certifications there is a very complex audit that needs to be done in order to insure all standards are met for these certifications. I lead a team at my company for the past 5 months to get this going. Believe you me, this was a chore!
My company, Smith Print Inc., successfully completed the Tri-Certified audit and will be officially certified in the next few weeks. It was a lot of work but we did it and I thank all my co-workers here at Smith Print for making this happen.
This is my first post and I wish to create more, but I thought this would be fitting for this blog to get started. Hope to get more in along the way!
P.S. - I have a website I wish to create for my own personal use and family purposes, I'll post that when it has been completed.
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