posted by RICK : 12:48 PM
Sorry for the delay, I've been busy.
WINNERS!USC Barely Avoiding Upset. Sure, USC won that game, but you can't really say Notre Dame was the loser in this match-up. The real winner was clearly all fans of College Football.
Iraqi Constitution will likely pass. Is this a win? Not really, if you're one for equal rights, but maybe we should just smile, say its a win, and then run like hell.
And the Drunks rejoice! (right before being beaten by local law enforcement). The recent curfew established by New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has since been relaxed to 2am in the French Quarter so that the bars can stay open and the tourists can pretend like they decided to plan their trip 3 months earlier.
Michelle Wie reminds us all that we're getting old and haven't really accomplished all that much. She's 16 and shot a personal best on her 2nd pro tournament. When I was 16, my biggest accomplishment was getting a $275 speeding ticket (50 in a 20 + 2 stop signs).
I turned 25 yesterday. "Keats, big-poet Keats was DEAD by 26."
*LOSERS!Steve Jobs joins the ranks of such high profile figures as Jesus H. Christ in being guaranteed the cover of Time Magazine at least once a year. Look, I LOVE Apple products. That is a surprise to no one. This week was particularly exciting for me as I love a good product launch as much as the next guy, but I'm putting Jobs and Apple in the LOSERS category for the following reasons: 1) The video-iPod isn't revolutionary and it was sold highlighting the wrong features. What excited me more about the video-iPod launch was the sale of television episodes on the iTunes store. To me, this is uber-significant in the grand scheme of technology, as eventually we'll reach a point where MOST content is on-demand accessible, but Apple dropped the ball with their launch-- the content they provided for a cost of $1.99 is sub-par and will only look good on the new iPod (which was their plan), but it severely undermined the revolution, and also undermined another product that they had launched 10 minutes earlier: 2) The new (or revamped) iMac is the more important product. The new iMac is Apple's first step toward the increasingly important Media Center market. While few people are using portable players to watch video, MANY people are using their computers to watch content from DVDs to downloaded torrents of their favorite TV shows. Well the new iMac now has video out so you don't have to sit at your desk to watch last week's LOST, but can sit on the couch and enjoy it on your TV, as well as an integrated remote control. With this new set-up you could easily rip your entire DVD collection onto an external hard-drive, the just sit on your couch and watch whatever your heart desires without having to do anything except pressing a button with your thumb. To me, buying a television episode that plays well on an iPod is utterly undesirable when what I really want is a television episode that plays well full-screen on my computer. And those files are readily available for free online (well, the cost being little bits of your soul... but who cares). 3) The cost of the new iPods wasn't trumpeted enough. Basically, you aren't paying for anything extra-- they're just giving you the features for free. Apple doesn't lower their prices, they just add bells and whistles. Really any new product is simply a canvas for a better product in the future. The first iPod was 5gb and cost $399. That same price will buy you a top-of-the-line model today with 60gb and video playback. In short, not enough attention was drawn to the fact that this new product is actually a good deal for someone in the market for a music player. It was sold as "Upgrade your iPod" instead of "Hey, now it's time to jump onboard." This is a good product for a new user, though a kind of shitty product for someone already in the club.
Slate's Jack Shafer on the iProductThe Kids aren't alright. Rupert Murdoch is addressing concerns from corporate shareholders in NewsCorp that "the family" has too much power. Ha.
Remember last season when he was tortured by Siad?. Lost's Josh Holloway was robbed! Maybe if his character were a bit more... likeable...