Monday, 2nd February, 2009
Hell's Kitchen You Donkeys!
So the wait is finally over, and the new season of Hell's Kitchen is upon us. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be very many people to support after the first week. Let's see here:
There's Lacey, who is really damn annoying and will get many cheers from me when she goes. Who quits during prep? Talking about freaking lazy.
There's Colleen, who's just plain stupid. Who the heck mixes up salt and sugar?!!!
There's Coi, who seems like a big bully. Though at least she was bullying Lacey, so I have to give her points for that.
There's Giovanni, who probably shouldn't be a chef if he can't describe what polenta is.
There's Seth, who laughed at Ramsey's opinion of his signature dish (and is really an idiot all around), so he has to go.
There's Danny, who already looks like he will head-butt Ramsey all year, so he won't last long.
There's Wil, who I actually kind of liked because he took responsibility for screwing up, but is already gone so forget him.
There's Robert, who will end up seasoning all of his food with sweat. And he talked over Ramsey, so he won't last long.
And then there's a bunch of others who are thus far non-descript.
So far the only bright spot for me is Carol, who gave out free wine during the power outage (absolutely genious, get them drunk and they won't leave!). Plus, she seems genuinely humble and has already gotten compliments for her cooking skills. Paula seems pretty good as well, so if Carol ends up being a dud, maybe she can step up.
Thursday, 19th February, 2009
Apple STILL Hasn't Learned
Could jailbreaking your iPhone land you in jail?
So basically Apple is up in arms because people are jailbreaking their phones and putting software on them that is not approved by Apple. Now I haven't read the EULA or TOS for iPhones - after all, who actually reads that stuff anymore - so they may or may not have a legal ground to stand on here. But my main thought is, why do they care? So what if people modify their device? If they want to void their warranty and risk bricking the phone so they can improve the device, I say let them have at it. I mean really, what harm is there? It's not like Apple is liable for any changes people make.
The real issue here is that Apple STILL hasn't learned to separate their hardware from their software. I figured after they gave in and finally started recognizing the need to put OSX on x86 platforms, that maybe they had finally figured it out. But they continue to make the same mistakes that have plagued them since the beginning. Hey Apple, you want to know one of the biggest reasons why Microsoft is still kicking your ass? Because they learned early on that it's a bad idea to create a closed system. They've always been extremely supportive of the third-party development community, which has lead directly to the popularity of Windows. You can spout off all day long about better hardware and stupid crap like that, but the public is going to gravitate toward where the applications are. And if Apple continues to try to force their closed system on people, and not open up to the rest of the development community, they will continue to be a non-factor.
Saturday, 21st February, 2009
Spending Money to Criticize Spending Money...
Couple of quotes in particular:
“Suppose you spent one million every single day starting from the day Jesus was born and kept spending through today,” an announcer says as images of the three wise men, the Roman Coliseum, the Mona Lisa and other historic landmarks flash across the screen. A million dollars a day for more than 2,000 years. You would still have spent less money than Congress just did.”
And then later in the article:
The organization said it will spend nearly $1 million on the ad that is scheduled to run on CNN, CNN Headline News, FOX News CNBC and FOX Business Network.
So let me get this straight. It's not okay to pass an expensive stimulus, the vast majority of which will either give tax breaks to people and small businesses to help spur economic growth, or will invest in different programs to help create millions of jobs in the next few years. But it is okay to spend a million dollars for the sole purpose of deriding such a program.
Yeah, someone has their priorities mixed up.
Two things I find really interesting and ironic about this. First, why didn't they run this crap after the $700 billion bank bailout was passed? Was it simply because Bush supported it, or do they not have a problem with giving taxpayer dollars to banks whose irresponsible and greedy attitude helped to cause the economic crisis in the first place? Second, if the government had passed a $787 billion stimulus package consisting of nothing but tax cuts, I have a strong feeling that this same group wouldn't be complaining one bit. I mean after all, tax cuts != government spending, right?
Thursday, 26th February, 2009
John Boehner = Genious
No really, he is. I swear.
Obama submits budget blueprint
Two particular passages of note here:
Obama is also proposing a $634 billion health care "reserve fund" aimed at reforming the system. In order to fund it, Obama will ask wealthy Americans to accept with a tax increase and wealthy seniors to pay higher Medicare premiums.
The tax increase that he is referring to is the same tax increases he's been talking about for a year, regarding rolling back to the Bush tax cuts for those making more than $250k a year. Keep in mind that this same rule applies to small businesses as well - only those small businesses who make more than $250k a year in profit will be affected, and if I remember correctly, only like 5% of small businesses actually fall into that category.
Now for John Boehner's response:
"Everyone agrees that all Americans deserve access to affordable health care, but is increasing taxes during an economic recession, especially on small businesses, the right way to accomplish that goal?" he asked.
Okay, Obama has clearly said MANY times exactly who this tax increase is going to affect, and that the vast majority of Americans AND small businesses will not be affected. And what's more, if you make decent health care more affordable for everyone, it will bring down one of the biggest costs that small businesses currently pay, giving them more money to invest in their business. But somehow Boehner doesn't seem to get that - he sees the words "tax increase" and immediately ignores every other detail.
Yeah, glad to see we have such intelligent people representing us...