Delivery Man

I find it funny that once something goes bad enough, everyone knows about it. Case in point, my Xbox 360 died last week (thank you for your concern everyone), and I called in to 1-800-4MY-XBOX. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised in how good the customer service was. Yes, they had to have me sit in front of my 360 in order to properly test it, and yes they made me go through each individual steps designed only to test my patience, but after it was determined that I had a defective 360, they immediately took action. It was fast, easy and very efficient.

Now comes the very laughable part. They asked me if I had been shipped a “coffin (mailing box that MS sends out)” before. I responded yes, and they immediately shipped it to me. Fine. What bothers me the most about these “coffins” is that EVERYONE knows what they are for. In fact, this exchange happened to me just a few minutes ago.

The UPS man came through the door of my office to deliver the packages. He wheeled them in the systems helpdesk room, had someone sign for them and then started to hand them out. He called my name and handed the box. As soon as I had the box in my hands, the man looked at me and said, “If you didn’t play it that much, it wouldn’t blow out.” It really bothers me that the UPS man knows that the contents (or lack there of) of a package, the shape and size can tell him what the box is for. Not only is this a privacy issue, but what about security? What if my replacement box comes and it is immediately identified and stolen? Microsoft, could you please find a new box to ship things in?

Better yet, can you make a console without a HUGE hardware issue like this?

Too Tired

I’ve gotten to the point where writing a blog everyday is just getting too tiresome and it is now beginning to feel like a chore, instead of something fun and enjoyable. So, going forward, I think that I will not be publishing an article everyday, and instead just posting when I have something that I really want to talk about, which might be five days a week, or just one day a week.

I would like the comments to continue. Also, I am on Twitter and Facebook. I also have my Twitter status carry over to my Facebook status. Twitter has also allowed me to just put up random thoughts for the whole world to see instead of holding them all for one blog post. So, peace-out and keep rubbing the some dirt on it.

I don't know how often I will post, but I'm not going anywhere, just saying less.

...Will Happen Again

When I saw the ending (SPOILER ALERT) I was shocked. Not at the fact that some of them survived, but after that, during the scene’s where Head Six and Head Baltar were seen on Earth 150,000 later debating whether or not the human race (the ones that they started anew) would repeat the same mistakes. It became really eerie when they showed robots that were in development and how Human they looked and it just begs the question. Will we suffer the same fate as the twelve colonies?

Think about it. There are dozens of pop-culture movies about the destruction of humanity by the means of robots. There are reasons. Robots are a relatively new concept. We use them now, but not to the extent that they could be used. Imagine a world where “Terminator’s” do rebel. Terminators = Cylons. If that is a stretch, and you think that this is just a modern concept, then look back a few years before then.

“I, Robot” was written back in the fifties and it revolutionized the way people imagined robots. It also came up with the “Three Laws”. I would like to believe that if the three laws are followed, then we might be able to prevent anything like this. (And with all due respect to Ronald D Moore, the Excutive Producer of the re-imaged Battlestar Galacitca, I think he made a glaring lack of use of the three laws.) (Also, there is some debate as to whether the three laws would be effective in today's world, and I never really want to find out.)

What I am saying, though, is that although the ending of Battlestar Galactica implies that humanity is based off of their story, I do think that we are headed towards a day when Robots will be taking a greater responsibility in regards to what they handle on a day to day basis. In order not to end up like the John Connor and friends or Admiral Adama, or even worse to end up in a Grey Goo scenerio, we need to cover our basis and decide, "How much or what do we want computers and Robots to control?"

What Has Happened Before...

I am a HUGE fan of Battlestar Galactica and am now heartbroken since the final episode was shown on Friday. It’s hard to say goodbye to characters that you have come to grow and love for five+ years (for me and the wife it was only three+ years). Even still, the wife and I made an emotional investment in these characters, and now, they’re gone. Forever! Yes, we will see some of them in the upcoming series Caprica, but it won’t be the same. No where near the same. I guess I feel like a guy who is watching his friend leaving on a plane, hoping to see them again, but knowing that he never will. Sad, but that’s life.

Tomorrow

I am working on a post for tomorrow, because I really need to write it out very carefully. It will have to do a lot with the ending of Battlestar Galactica and the themes that surrounded it. I hope I can get to it tomorrow.

Episode 22 of Geezer Radio...

...will be posted today for everyone to listen to. Sal and Mojo, Spark and I really do love you guys so please forgive us if you aren’t happy with us. Thanks and enjoy.

Feeling Dangerous

Does anyone else out there feel like the world is becoming more and more restricted in the things we do on the internet on a daily basis?

Read this story.

Now, this is in Australia, but I think that someday this could happen in the U.S. When you shake you head and say “No, way” think about all the new laws that New Zealand (another link ). I know I am reaching in my comparisons, but look at the Comcast. Comcast has said that it will disconnect someone for a full year for using more than 250 GB in any two months of your service (or is a year or two months in a row, I’m not sure which it is). Comcast said that they were doing this for network management, but what is stopping them from saying, “Oh, look you visited the Verizon FIOS activation site we now feel like we have sufficient cause to disconnect you.” What about Xbox Live where I am now scared to have the word Married on my profile for fear of it getting me suspended/banned for inappropriate language. Or worse, the U.S. labels you as a person of interest in terrorism if you visit Al Jazeera or websites that support terrorism. You say, it can’t happen, but if you think that it can never happen, then you may have forgotten McCarthyism in the 50’s or the Japanese Interment camps of the 40’s.

These days, I am very scared to venture into new parts of the internet for fear of doing something illegal that I am unaware of. I guess that I need to delete my Wikileaks link....

A Rave

I have something to rave about. Watchmen: The Movie

I was able to get free Watchmen (the deal has since expired) movie tickets and I’m glad I did, otherwise I wouldn’t have gone to see it, and I am glad I did because I LOVED IT! I had never heard of them, nor cared until I heard about the movie. I decided to go in knowing nothing, not because I wanted to be surprised, but because I just didn’t care. Well, I’m glad I went in without knowing anything, because it was AWESOME.

Anyway, it was a GREAT movie. At times, my mouth just laid on the floor in amazement. And those three hours flew by to the point that I wanted it to last longer. The story was great, the characters were just off the chart and the ending was...WOW...I am going to have to own that movie on Bluray when it comes out.

A lot of people might not have liked it because of the moral questions it asked (like the Dark Knight) but it didn’t bother me. We don’t live in an antiseptic world where there is the cut and dry, good versus evil spectrum that we can point out. Sometimes the bad guy does wins, and making a moral choice comes down to what is logically right and not what is morally right and vice versa.

Too Much To Do

I just wanted to apologize for the lack of updating over the past week. I have been extremely busy at work and a couple days in there I haven’t had a chance to take a deep enough breath to make me feel happy...okay, that was an exaggeration. But I have been really busy. I’ll try to say more up to date these days, but with my new position at my job, things can get a little...busy. Anyway, I am fine and everything is good, just really busy these days.

Forced to be a Criminal

I am sometimes forced to be a criminal. Let me try to explain. I love TV, movies and music (as well as games, but I have never pirated a game before) and those most of the time entertain me for hours on end. But I dislike the RIAA and the MPAA for forcing me into their model of thinking. Dislike is a strong work...it’s more like I hate them.

With the invention of the MP3, I am now able to go out there and buy any song I want from any CD, as long as it’s available. When it’s not available, then normally I would be out of luck. The same goes for movies, and TV shows. I love the show IT Crowd, but all three seasons are not available in the US for purchase. So, what do I have to do? I have to pirate all the episodes off a Torrent. If it wasn’t for that, I would have to wait for the meager showings on TV (one show a week and they are shown in no particular order). They aren’t offered on Netflix and forget about it on Hulu. The only way to get them: download them from a torrent (of be like me and get a friend get it for me...Thanks to “you know who you are”).

Music was one of those big problems in the past. If I wanted a song, I would have had to download them from iTunes, and then I would get a copy that would have DRM on it and I wouldn’t be able to play it on my Zune. In that instance, I would have to find a way to strip the DRM from it, and then I would be set. Now, though, that problem has been solved with Amazon and iTunes have gone DRM free. Now, I can do everything legally when it comes to music.

Movies and TV shows, though, also follow that old model. Now DVD’s sometimes come with a digital copy, but they are HEAVILY DRM’d and can only be used on your PC, which means that you can’t take it with you on a trip, unless you take your laptop. That means NO Zune or iPod. What good is that? What legal solution do we have?

I guess what I am trying to say is that I will gladly pay good money for a movie or TV show if you give it to me in a way that I want: a portable and transferable version, no DRM, a quality version and a smallish size. So, here is a message to the MPAA and RIAA: I will buy from you if you give it to me the way I want! Is that too much to ask for?

Must Get...

SLEEP! The DST switch kept me tossing and turning all night. I so want to cover T.O. and the Bills, and Torrents, but today...I just want to sleep.

250

This is my 250th post on Blogger. I like my home, and I hope to be here for another 250 posts.

Look Up and Ahead

I can’t help but ask “why did Dallas cut T.O.?” I understand that he is a destructive presence in the locker room, but WHO on that team will now produce the same numbers as T.O.? I can’t help but think that the Dallas Cowboys will be 5-11 next year, unless they sign another WR that can stretch field. So, the reason I am looking up is because I have to look up because that’s the only place the Cowboys can go. This offseason has been horrible. And the next season isn’t looking that good right now.

I Want My ITV

Last night, the wife and I were talking about getting a Roku player for the bedroom. But ultimately, we decided that at this time it was something that we might get in the future but it sure was an attractive option last night. For those of you who don’t know what a Roku player is, it’s a set-top box that allows you to stream Netflix Instant Watch movies through a TV. Not new to me and the wife, because we have a 360 that does the same thing, but in our bedroom, all that we have is a TV with a PS3. Now, the PS3 does have a movie playing option, but for two reasons the PS3 is not an optimal choice.

Reason one is that the PS3 only allows you to purchase or rent a movie to download. As far as I am aware, there is no option to stream. The second reason is that to download something from the PSN takes FOREVER! It took me 20 minutes to download a 16MB patch for Killzone 2 on Monday. Now, imagine a 1.5 GB movie. Or how about a 1.2 GB demo of Killzone 2, which I already had to wait 2 1/2 hours to download. Completely ridiculous if you ask me. Now the demos and movies may be on different servers, but come on. I want it and I want it now!

Roku, on the other hand, can stream a movie from Netflix instantly. Click play and a minute later the movie starts. That’s instant gratification. But at the moment, I’m still hoping that Sony will put Netflix in the PS3, but I might not want to hold my breath. If Roku put Hulu.com and TV.com as an accessible option, then all of a sudden the Roku player is a must have. Let’s push it one step further. Amazon Video on Demand was just recently added to the Roku player, and that added 40,000 titles to the library that the Roku can play. When are we going to get to the point that we can get all our TV through the internet and not cable or satellite? Will we ever get to that point?

But before we get there, two things need to happen. One, we need more bandwidth without bandwidth caps. Two, prices for bandwidth need to drop and a REASONABLE pricing structure for Internet TV needs to be put into place.

Right now, though I am completely happy with my Netflix360 player and DVD/Bluray disks. But in a few years, I will want my Internet Television.

Just Say No To More BSG

Please...don't be true!!! Link

My opinion, like you asked for it, is that this is just a poor and horrible excuse to make more money off of a GREAT franchise that was brought back to life by Ronald D Moore. Gary (Larson) just give it a rest and retire. The only way I will ever see it is if they put it on Netflix.

Snow Day For Some

It's SNOWING!!!! We have 7 1/2 inches outside and it's beautiful!