An interesting video has emerged (apparently a forgotten clip from CSPAN2) that shows a subcommitee investigating possible illegal activities at Fannie Mae in 2004. It’s unbelievable but the Democrats are lambasting anyone who would call Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financial procedures into question. The Republicans were repeatedly demanding more accountability and regulation while Frank Raines (Obama’s Principle Economic Advisor) declares mortgage loans as “Riskless”.

The topper is Barney Frank; (D-Mass) the current Democrat spokeman on the $700 Million Dollar Package defending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and insisting that even discussing enhancing the regulation of these institutions was somehow a travesty of justice.

A recent study suggests that, “physical activity may reduce the risk of obesity in people with a genetic mutation that predisposes them to high body mass index.” So let me paraphrase this from my perspective as a non-medical type; ‘Exercise can help people be less obese.’ Well, who would have thought that this was possible?

So is there a gene there at all? I suspect that Obese individuals who have no interest in actually being healthy and losing the weight can blame their genetic makeup. While folks who recognize they have some responsibility and control over their weight can exercise and lose the weight. Now everyone is happy.

Physical Activity Can Reverse Effects of Obesity Gene

Now this is interesting.

Who Said It: Bush or Batman? | Indecision2008 | Comedy Central

Ever wonder what life would be like without the Internet. Ever doubted Al Gore when he told the world that he invented the Internet? If these questions plague you and you like a gripping story check out the ITSAWONDERFULINTERNET site.

ITSAWONDERFULINTERNET.COM

Apple is selling the new models of the iPhone rapidly. It has been on sale only 5 days and already the worldwide stock is limited to that remaining at less than 20% of the Apple and carrier locations.

You can be sure that the iPhone production is ramping even as we speak and the stated goal to sell 1 Million in the first week was eclipsed by the fact they sold over 1 Million the first weekend.

Apple iPhone 3G sold out (almost)

For years now the Global Warming fearmongers have been hard at work blaming a natural and cyclical phenomenon on human activity. Many (in fact most) real scientists dispute the cause and effect relationship that Al Gore and his minions would have you believe exists with respect to Global warming.

To make this misguided deception more tragic and misleading, the social and fiscal costs of their proposed “solutions” to the supposed “problem” are astronomical and are never actually discussed or considered by Global warming wags.

If you would like to get a true account of the reasons for Global warming and other environmental issues go to a site that is popular with scientists and experts in the fields of climate and the environment.

www.cfact.org

Get off the bandwagon of lies and learn the truth.

CFACT - Committee For a Constructive Tomorrow

It’s incredible that Windows Vista (more than one year after it’s release) is still so bad that users and PC makers alike are sad and frustrated that Windows XP is soon going to be unavailable. Having users yearn to be allowed to buy a 9 year old Operating System is unbelievable and could only occur in a virtual monopoly market.

XP is creaky, insecure and lame relative to Mac OS X and Linux so it’s an embarassment to Microsoft that Vista (in which they sunk billions in development cost) is so reviled.

Microsoft denies XP a last-minute reprieve

Whether you are a golfer or not the article about a man known in the 1930’s as John Montague is a fascinating read. The article appears in this months Smithsonian magazine. I had never heard of this guy and after reading the story I had to check the magazine cover to be sure it wasn’t the April 1 issue. When you read the article you will certainly agree that this guy was amazing!

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/montague-the-magnificent.html

I am a Tivo owner and frequently convert video recorded by my Tivo so I can watch it on my iPhone on travel and when I have time during the week. According to NBC and Microsoft if I buy a Zune only content purchased off the Zune Marketplace is acceptable to watch on a Zune. So if I had a Zune (a likely as a snowball in hell) the device would prohibit me from watching this legally acquired content.

Like you, I or anyone for that matter wants proven criminal Microsoft and some NBC telling us how and what to watch on devices we paid for with our money! NBC and Microsoft may think they have the right to assume we are guilty until proven innocent but I am voting with my $s and say ‘NO’ to Zune and these ill conceived plans to control me.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/microsoft-may-build-a-copyright-cop-into-every-zune/?ref=technology

If you like Star Wars and enjoy comedy then Chad Vader is the online video for you! Check out Episode I right here!

To Se the rest of the series to date visit: http://www.blamesociety.net/chadvader/

Gartner Group analysts (Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald) at a conference in Las Vegas presented a bleak picture of future for Microsoft Windows. During their presentation titled “Windows Is Collapsing: How What Comes Next Will Improve”indicated in no uncertain terms that Vista is a bloated and backward operating system and Microsoft must get in touch with market realities and ditch Vista and start anew. They may be too late they said “For Microsoft, its ecosystem and its customers, the situation is untenable.”

McDonald and Silver also stated that Microsoft Windows is a disaster for small platforms like handhelds and mobile phones, “Apple introduced its iPhone running OS X, but Microsoft requires a different product on handhelds because Windows Vista is too large, which makes application development, support and the user experience all more difficult.” They confirmed that Windows is becoming irrelevant and must start with a clean sheet of paper to stay a player when they said, “Windows as we know it must be replaced”

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9076698

Last week Steve Jobs told the world that Adobe Flash is far to resource intensive and buggy to work well on any mobile device. He indicated (quite correctly) that there is no need for Flash on the iPhone since other technologies exist to deliver better functionality and performance. So in not so many words he indicated that Apple would not be supporting Flash on mobile OS X.

Today Adobe announced they believe that they can port Adobe Flash to the iPhone with the SDK. Adobe believes that they develop support for Flash in the form that can be delivered through the iPhone/Touch Application Store. Perhaps they can but regardless there’s no compelling reason for any iPhone user to download it and plenty of reasons not to.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/03/05/stevejobspansflashontheiphone.html

According to Gartner Macintosh marketshare will double in the next couple of years. Their prediction is based on the customer satisfaction surveys that demonstrate how Apple customers are extremely satisfied with their systems.

Unbelievable amount of dissatisfaction with Windows Vista!

Gartner predicts Macintosh marketshare doubling | Computerworld Blogs

This newly introduced tablet Mac is called the ModBook. It is a MacBook modified and rehoused in a beautiful tablet form factor with a digitizing stylus. GPS and WiFi are built in with a DVD burning, SuperDrive. The tablet utilizes Apple’s InkWell technology to fully enable stylus use in all applications. The system is able to connect to normal key board and mouse via bluetooth or USB.

I want to put this on my Christmas list for next year!

Skateboarding 10 Stair Ender
Back in the days of the Supermini Computer, Neil Herron and I worked together in the 1980’s. Now Neil is a serious sales executive and his son Ryan is a teenager and avid skateboarder. Here is one of his videos. It starts out with some painful looking wipeouts and is overlaid with the song ‘Catscratch Fever” by Ted Nugent!

After detailed and painstaking analysis of Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) and Microsoft Vista, Computerworld declares Leopard the hands down winner in terms of ease of use, functionality and robustness.

Specifically Computerworld says; “There’s really no contest. Tiger (Mac OS 10.4) is a better OS than Vista, and there are no long-term downsides to Leopard (Mac OS 10.5). Vista doesn’t measure up.”

Maybe it’s time for Windows oriented businesses and users to investigate a superior alternative in OS X.

The verdict: Leopard spanks Vista, continues OS X’s reign of excellence There’s really no contest. Tiger is a better OS than Vista, and there are no long-term downsides to Leopard. Vista doesn’t measure up.

A recent article in Wired Magazine covered a ‘creative recycler’. Ann Smith (and yes there is only one) assembles movable animal sculpture from old electronics and mechanical devices. She then can using stop motion photography assemble clips of them running or moving as appropriated for the animal.

There are clips of two galloping horses and, a walking T-Rex. Take a look it’s interesting.

Tossed-Out Electronics Are Reincarnated as Stop-Mo Animal Bots

My wife and I have watched Boston Liberal (I mean Legal) since the show aired in late 2004. We always felt the show was decidedly liberal but the comedy aspects kept us reasonably interested. Last week’s episode (The Chicken and the Leg) went too far in our opinion and we have now deleted the season pass in Tivo and will watch no more. This particular episode is an example of bad judgement and taste.

Two cases in this episode drove us over the edge in terms of accepting BL as entertainment.

First there was the case in which Alan Shore sues a school on behalf of a 15 year old who contracted AIDs from unprotected sex. In the courtroom Alan attacks the school system for promoting abstinence rather than condoms while the girls parents sit quickly in the gallery. It sits as a prime example of the liberal perspective that we always must blame someone else of our actions (typical democratic crap). In this case the parents who apparently did not supervise nor educate their 15 year old child are viewed as innocent bystanders while the school system is vilified as somehow the cause of this young girls inappropriate behavior. Sex at 15? Did the kid or the parents have no communication and feel a total lack of responsibility?

The second case is incredibly even more liberal leaning. A suit is brought against a psychologist by the wife of a man who committed suicide. Apparently trying to help someone work through their personal issues related to his grief over his fathers death is grounds for malpractice. Mentally ill people need help but when they kill themselves without warning watch out for those liberal lawyers.

Boston Legal positions the responsibility solely on the Doctor this ill man sought out for counsel once a week while leaving his spouse who should have seen this coming if anyone could have blameless.

I bid a not so fond farewell to Boston Legal as I will not be seeing it again. I can say one thing for sure is aside from the liberal crap which I detest; I will not miss Denny Crane and Alan Shore’s bizarre man love scenes on the balcony either. These went well beyond sensitive and straight to weird.

Boston Legal: The Chicken and the Leg - TV.com

Among it’s many other problems, the X-Box is a fire hazard. An Illinois family whose house burned down killing their infant son is now suing Microsoft. Instead of sorrow for building a flawed and dangerous product Microsoft claims the family was at fault for not unplugging the device when they were not using it.

Microsoft shows disregard and malice toward this family even after proof that the fire was due one of the millions of proven faulty X-Box units killed their son. Microsoft is seeking the legal cases’ dismissal and that their legal fees be paid for by the family. This is a company that should be punished for it’s blatant disregard for it’s customers and human life.

How does Balmer even sleep at night? He makes me sick, trying to paint Apple as customer unfriendly for lowering the price of the iPhone while he freely spends for countless legal services to beat down a family that one of his products indisputably killed their infant boy.

Microsoft Says Xbox ‘Abuse’ Led To Fire That Killed Baby — Xbox Lawsuit — InformationWeek

Microsoft has done it again. The recent release of the updated yet still lame Zune music players demonstrates that Microsoft is totally unable to innovate. These warmed over devices are rough attempts to clone yesterdays iPod.

What the Redmond company forgets that in this market the competitors are not somehow beholden to the Windows monopoly and that they are moving targets delivering products that move forward in function and capability. As noted by CNET after the release of the newest Zunes: “Microsoft unveiled version 2.0 of its Zune family, and this time, it’s got a credible music player—for 2006. Unfortunately for Microsoft, it’s 2007.”

I gather that despite his grin at the product launch event even Bill Gates recognizes that the latest round of Zunes is a loser. Although the new Zunes were unveiled with typical bravado by Gates on Tuesday (Oct 2nd) as of today (Oct 5) Microsoft announced that the new leader of the Zune business would be Rick Thompson another Redmond drone.

Microsoft has shipped 1.2M units of Zunes since it’s launch with most of these still gathering dust as unsold inventory in stores across the world. During the same period Apple has sold well in excess of 50M units. Rick Thompson has his work cut out for him and admittedly may not be up to the task. As he put it during the reorg announcement: “No one would ever confuse me with being cool.” Well that’s okay Rick because no one would ever confuse a Zune with being cool either. (well except perhaps the Zune tatoo guy)

Too little, too late for Zune in ‘07 | Digital Noise: Music & Tech - CNET Blogs

A “Z-Loser” of course! Give that man a Zune Dock!

What kind of man gets three Zune tattoos? - Engadget

In early August, Catherine Delgado a Greenbelt native was caught in Annapolis drunk with pockets filled with fudge. Catherine was in an Annapolis Hotel lobby complaining of a sexual assault when officers on the scene noticed she had pounds of fudge (rocky road flavor) bulging out of her pockets.

The police officers were unable to find any support for her claim of assault and determined that her claim was unfounded. Upon investigation they found a nearby fudge shop had been broken into and a large quantity of display fudge was missing. Later viewing of the surveillance video at the shop showed the inebriated woman stuffing her pockets and face with fudge.

When she realized that the police were checking to see where she might have come across the ‘pocket fudge’ she ran off to the bathroom in the hotel lobby and clogged the toilet trying to rid herself of the evidence.

Justice triumphed with Catherine’s arrest and she was held on charges of burglary with a $100,000 bond.

Late Visit to Fudge Shop Has Bitter Ending for Suspect

Forbes Magazine was once perceived as a reputable and trusted publication. Their position as a source of the truth was lost.

In the latest issue of Forbes they provide a soapbox for Alan McGlade, the CEO of MediaNet Digital. His company is a large supplier to the Zune Marketplace and other Microsoft media stores. Without disclosing this clearly biased perspective Fortune gave McGlade pages on which to spew unfounded and incorrect conclusions and bile.

Daniel Eran Dilger is the writer at one of my favorite tech sites “Roughly Drafted”. He has written a great piece pointing out the actual facts and analyzing and unwinding the article authored by McGlade in Forbes.

If you a reader of Roughly Drafted this a piece you can’t miss. If you are not yet a follower of Daniel’s work and have technical curiosity and want the unvarnished truth let this be your first encounter at Roughly Drafted.

Daniel’s articles are factual and interesting with a good balance of humor and depth. For example, Lately I have been seeing some trolls on Blogs and discussions where Apple is described as the new Microsoft. Alan McGlade uses his free ride from Forbes to spout this crap. As Daniel points out in his article:

“McGlade then describes Apple as the Orwellian “Big Brother of the digital music scene.” In case you didnt get the memo thats being passed around by every flack in the business of shilling, Apple is the New Microsoft, and so consumers should revile the company and flee to the safe harbor of Microsoft, which is now, logically, less of a Microsoft than Apple.”

Now that’s funny!

Well in summary enjoy the article at Roughly Drafted and don’t waste good money on Forbes.

Roughly Drafted Article

In 74 days Apple has sold 1 Million iPhones. With the recent price reduction they ought to be a part of everyones wish list.

Pam and I each have one and they are awesome in capabilities and ease of use. We would recommend it to anyone we know.

Apple Sells One Millionth iPhone

So I find it fascinating that the media has a choice story full of criminal behavoir, large sums of cash and current political leaders and keeps it all below the fold. Norm Hsu a leading Democratic Insider and Donor is captured and arrested in CO and there is virtually not a ripple in the media. There is one story at the SF Chronical that discusses Hsu’s capture and at the bitter end of the article finally surfaces the facts:

“The size and scope of Hsu’s contributions made him one of the party’s largest individual contributors. While he gave $23,000 to Clinton and $7,000 to Obama, he also gave $62,000 to New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, $50,000 to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and $50,000 to the New York State Democratic Party.

His contributions also included $38,000 to the Tennessee Democratic Party, $750 to Newsom, $1,250 to San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, and $3,500 to the 25th Ward Democratic Organization in Chicago.

and that he was a longtime criminal;

“In the 1991-92 grand theft case, Hsu was charged with bilking about 20 investors, including his ex-girlfriend, out of about $1 million in connection with a business that was supposed to provide latex gloves to another firm - only no gloves were ever bought or sold, prosecutors said.”

Fugitive fundraiser Hsu captured in Colorado