japadamus.com » 2009

Jul 31 2009

UH Football coach McMackin drops the f-bomb

Published by japadamus under news, Bob Loblaw

University of Hawaii football coach Greg McMackin has received national attention for dropping the f-bomb during a press conference. We’re not talking about ‘fuck’ either…he said the f-bomb that has become waaaay worse…’faggot.’

Now look, I get why these stories receive a lot of attention. Gays are tightly organized and there are many gay groups that seek out these kinds of incidents. Then the press jumps on board and you have an enormous PR nightmare.

I have to say though that I think the controversy over the use of gay slurs like fag, faggot, homo, etc., are way overblown. I mean, gays take these words to be an attack on gays, but in many cases, like this one, that’s not the case at all.

In this case the use of ‘faggot’ wasn’t directed at gays – it was used to describe supposedly straight men doing something feminine. It just so happens that a couple of words used to describe this, fag and faggot, are also used in a derogatory manner against gays.

Look, clearly calling a gay guy a ‘fag’ is wrong and insensitive. But calling a straight guy doing feminine things a ‘fag’ is really just ball busting, and I hate that gays want to take this word away from us.

Gays don’t own the word and they don’t get to define it. It’s not like the n-word - ‘fag’ has a number of possible definitions, many of which are not targeted at gays at all.

Now, you could say that people should be more open-minded and not give guys shit for doing something feminine. But that’s a different argument entirely, isn’t it? Don’t straight guys have a right to express their surprise when they see a straight guy acting feminine, just like two gays have the right to express their gayness in their own way?

Sure, it would be great if we live in a world where everyone loves each other and we just sit around in peace and quiet. But we don’t. Guys bust each other’s balls, particularly on the football field.

It’s not that hard to understand.

Now, McMackin shouldn’t be using the word ‘faggot’ in a press conference. That word is slang and it doesn’t have a place in professional environments, just like the other 7 dirty words.

But I am really appalled that gay groups are so quick to label McMackin as a bigot because he used the word. I think that is discriminatory and simple-minded.

He’s a football coach that manages men who engage in a fierce physical activity. He doesn’t have time for pleasantries, and if a guy is acting like a fag I think McMackin has the right to call it as such. If a player takes a dive on a play or is sandbagging, McMackin should be able to tell that player to stop acting like such a fucking fag – it’s simple, to the point and efficient. I don’t think any group, regardless of their plight, has the right to take that away from us.

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Jul 30 2009

Study shows organics are not healthier than non-organics

Published by japadamus under news, Bob Loblaw

A study commissioned by the British Government has debunked the supposed health benefits of organic food. You remember organic food, right? It looks exactly the same as regular food but costs twice as much?

But are organics worth it?

The study concluded that there is “no significant difference" between organics and non-organics. Although there are differences in the types of fertilizer used between organic and non-organic crops, they study finds that “these differences are unlikely to provide any health benefit to consumers.”

Most organic eaters that I know cite health benefits as a primary reason for spending the extra cash on organic food. But, according to this study at least, you’re not really getting a lot…or anything…for paying more for organics.

I’d also argue that non-organics have the added benefit of being washed in germ and insect killing chemicals. Sure, people generally think that chemicals are bad, but it’s not like lettuce is being drenched in agent orange right before it hits your plate. Chemicals are on most things we eat – usually for a good reason. In the case of produce, chemicals are used to eliminate things like e-coli – and I’d take some chemical residue over e-coli any day.

Organic eaters also cite better taste as a reason for paying extra for organic foods. Frankly, I’ve tried both and I don’t taste any difference at all. The Nibble did a taste test between organic and conventional food and organics won in only one out of 11 tests, conventional won in one out of 11, and all the others were a tie.

The conclusion? Organic food producers are masterful as sucking money out of the wallets of you fucking organic-eating suckers.

Lets face it, people like to think they’re being healthy – regardless of if this is true or not. And to be clear, organic food products can’t claim that their food is healthier – they can’t because this has not been proven. They simply say that they don’t use chemicals, and then leave it up to the public to do no research and jump to their own incorrect conclusion that organics are healthier.

They view organic producers are nice mom and pops in overalls farming with a pitchfork. The reality is organic food producers are big corporations too, they just do the minimum to get the ‘organic’ sticker on their food and bump up the price.

So people, lets wake up a bit here and stop drinking the organic, artesian whole foods kool aid.

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Jul 28 2009

Favre staying retired

Published by japadamus under Football

I haven’t really talked much about this year’s Favre saga because…well…it’s kinda boring by now. The whole offseason thing with Favre taking snaps at some Mississippi high school, then all the media speculation…that was sooo 2009.

And as it turns out, Favre isn’t even coming back this year. He apparently told the Vikings that he doesn’t feel he will be able to play, and will stay retired in 2010.

It’s hard not to fault Favre for giving us another year of offseason drama. I mean, he clearly has trouble getting out of the game and he still has a lot of skill left. However, you’d think that he would be a bit more professional and make his decisions in a manner that would give his potential employers more time to plan around him.

The Vikings are left in a pretty tough spot now with Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels – neither of which are good options. It seems to me like Favre would have been a pretty solid component of an offense that has been strong on the ground, but weak behind Jackson’s arm. But now it looks like the Vikings will need to make due with Jackson – although Rosenfels will most likely win the starting job by mid season.

The more interesting question is what would a Vikings offense look like with Adrian Peterson and Michael Vick. Seems like a good fit to me, although I doubt that Minnesota, which is only 3.5% black, will be sympathetic to Vick’s problems over the past couple of years.

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Jul 27 2009

Vick is back

Published by japadamus under Football

The NFL today conditionally reinstated Michael Vick. He won’t be able to play until at least week 5, but Vick can participate in practices and the final 2 preseason games – important for a guy who spent the last 2 years off the field.

As expected, Vick did his best ‘I’ll do better this time,’ while commish Goodell did his fatherly, ‘don’t fuck up’ shtick. The question now is who will take a chance on Vick?

Here’s my shortlist: Miami, Cincy, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Washington, Minnesota (if they don’t get Favre), Tampa Bay and St. Louis. Of those teams, only Tampa Bay has an immediate need for a starting QB. He’d be good insurance in Jackonville, Miami and Cincy, although as a backup he’d be pressed into a system that’s not designed for him.

In any case, this just made the 2010 offseason much more exciting. I’d expect Vick to land somewhere – the only question is how much he’ll get and will he be able to win a starting job. At the very least, he’ll be able to create an attendance bump for a struggling franchise, and insure greater national network time.

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Jul 27 2009

Turn-by-turn GPS for 3G S arrives

Published by japadamus under iPhone Apps

The iPhone 3G S is the first iPhone with the hardware to support turn-by-turn GPS. This means that we’re no longer forced to buy those little handheld GPS systems – all you need to do is load some software on your iPhone 3G S and you’re set.

Navigon is the first GPS company to enter the iPhone GPS market with MobileNavigator. The app costs $70 and includes 1.2 GB of maps for the entire US.

Engadget has a good review here.

Mostly it looks good. Apparently there were some speed and interface issues, but overall for $70 this is not bad at all.

More importantly though, I love the idea of GPS as an app for the iPhone. I think this will open the door to many new GPS apps, and I hope prices for this software will fall soon as well.

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Jul 23 2009

Should Vick be allowed to play

Published by japadamus under Football

After nearly 2 years in federal custody Michael Vick is a free man again. Now the big question: what’s he gonna do?

With NFL camps opening soon, you gotta wonder if the NFL will let Vick play again, either this year or in the future. Commish Goodell will make the final decision, and he’s looking for Vick to show some real remorse.

I’ve talked about this before, but I really think the whole dog fighting thing has been overblown. Sure, getting dogs to fight is a vicious crime and Vick should have been punished, like he was. But it seems hypocritical for the NFL to penalize Vick more than the coke dealers, sexual assaulters and other criminals in the league.

Let’s face it, what Vick did, he did to animals. A dog may be more cute than, say a deer or a cow, but people all over the world kill animals viciously, for fun and for food. He didn’t hurt any people, unlike someone who beats his girlfriend or a guy who deals drugs that could fall into the hands of children.

The NFL is facing pressure, of course, from a ton of animal lovers out there that want to make Vick an example. Again, I don’t think that’s fair. Vick’s life should not be turned into an agenda for PETA. He did the crime, served the time, and he should be punished similarly to the many other former and current criminals that fill NFL rosters.

Another big question is where will Vick play if he is reinstated? Any team that takes a chance on Vick will face enormous PR issues that will make it difficult for Vick to make it on a roster, let alone succeed.

I think he has a chance in certain cities like Oakland, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Tennessee…but there are not that many teams that need a QB like Vick.

We’ll find out soon, I believe. My guess is that he’s out for this year, but he’ll find a backup spot on a club in 2010.

Personally, I think any felon should not be able to get a job in the NFL…just like felons aren’t usually able to get white collar jobs. But if the NFL is gonna let the drug dealers and wife beaters play, then Vick should have another chance as well.

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Jul 22 2009

Woot! Off is on

Published by japadamus under Bob Loblaw

Yes, another Woot! Off is on. Hopefully we’ll see a BOC this time.

One note, Woot!’s server error screen really underscores why YouTube isn’t making Google any money. The video, which shows someone making a poor cat play an electric piano, has ad overlays for piano lessons.

Now really the problem here is that YouTube’s ad serving system is not able to understand the intent of the video. It sees ‘piano’ in the title and it thinks the video is targeted at people who want to learn how to play the piano.

But that’s not the case, really, the video is more in the Funny or Die or College Humor vein. And YouTube just isn’t able to understand that.

Sure, Google does a great job with serving up relevant ads for searches. But for video? That’s a huge failure for the company.

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Jul 20 2009

60% of Sirius XM subscribers listen to Stern exclusively

Published by japadamus under Sirius

On Thursday, Howard Stern mentioned in passing that 60% of Sirius XM subscribers listen to his two channels exclusively. In other words, about 12 million of Sirius’ 20 million subscribers pay $13 a month, or $156 a year just to listen to Stern.

In some ways, that underscores how successful Stern has been for Sirius. If you do the math, the 12 million exclusive Stern subscribers bring Sirius in $1.9 billion a year. That makes Stern’s 5 year contract supposedly worth $500 million seem like a steal.

Still, despite all that revenue Sirius must maintain an infrastructure of satellites. Those satellites have put the company deep in debt, nearly pushing it into bankruptcy earlier this year.

You have to wonder if there isn’t an internet-based model that can improve Sirius’ margins. With wifi and mobile phones that are able to connect to the internet, Sirius could make it’s channels available without the satellite infrastructure.

The better question, perhaps, is does Stern need Sirius in the first place? If he changed his exclusive subscribers only $1 a month, that would bring him $144 million a year in revenue. And for just a dollar a month, you’d bet that Stern’s 12 million exclusive subscribers would increase to the 20 million range.

Realistically, Stern could probably charge 5 to 10 a month and still make enormous profits. Imagine a $10 per month subscription that would give Stern over a billion a year in revenue.

Although these numbers are rosy, they also are daunting for Sirius XM investors. If 12 million subscribers pay for Sirius XM only for Stern, what happens when Stern’s contract ends in a year and a half? Unless Sirius is again willing to shell out some big time cash, they may lose Stern and possibly more than half of their subscribers…and revenue. That, most would agree, would probably be the end of Sirius.

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Jul 16 2009

@hacked

Published by japadamus under news, tech

Yesterday, over three hundred confidential documents from Twitter were released to two websites, Tech Crunch and Korben. The documents were accessed by a hacker who hacked into twitter’s online accounts in May. Twitter confirmed the breach yesterday.

This is an interesting case for so many reasons. First, website Tech Crunch, which received twitter’s docs from the hacker, has been in a battle with twitter’s lawyers to determine what they can publish. So far, it seems Tech Crunch is going ahead and publishing a few select files. They have published a pitch for a twitter reality show, and more interesting twitter financial forecasts through 2013. It look like they won’t publish everything, however. Korben has also published some docs like floor plans and designs for twitter-branded clothing.

It appears now that the hack started with a high level administrative assistant. This admin had access to confidential twitter documents through Google Docs, a web-based service, as well as email, PayPal and web hosting accounts. The hacker targeted this admin, who apparently had a simple password, and from there the hacker had access to nearly everything.

A couple of lessons here…Google Docs is great for college students, but it is not an enterprise solution. It’s not a good idea to store so many confidential documents on a site that anyone can access with a username and password. That was dumb.

Next, the weak link in the chain, i.e. the admin, should have a password that’s difficult to guess. Sure, it’s a pain, but look at the damage that occurred…particularly for a private company with hopes of going public.

As for the financials that were released? Twitter’s projections seem…well…rosy. 1 billion users by 2013? $140M in revenue next year? Not likely. According to twitter’s projections, they will only bring in $4 million and change this year. That’s not a lot of money…and with this data out I think the value of twitter decreases significantly. Sure, twitter is hot…but VCs or stockholders will have a tough time buying a 9 or 10 figure acquisition of twitter based on the numbers that were disclosed yesterday.

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Jul 13 2009

Apple to release $800 netbook?

Published by japadamus under tech

Apple’s recent product announcements have been pretty disappointing. New features and functionality here and there, but really nothing incredibly new or innovative.

But since March, rumors of a Apple Tablet PC have been swirling around. According to some Chinese suppliers, Apple has been buying up 9.7 inch touchscreens – a good size for a tablet or small netbook computer.

Today, the China Times added fuel to these rumors when then published a report that claims Apple will be in fact releasing a netbook in October for $800. Who knows how credible these rumors are, but the China Times does seem to have some inside information from Apple’s Chinese suppliers.

$800 seems like a pretty low price for Apple, which traditionally has stuck to pretty high margins. That means either cheap, low end parts, or Apple is finally willing to slash its margins.

It’s a tough market for Apple to get into. On one hand, a cheap device like this would probably sell well, but at the same time Apple needs to be sure that it doesn’t cannibalize higher margin MacBook sales.

Also, it’s uncertain how the OS X will run on cheaper hardware. Will it still be smooth? Or, like most netbooks, will it choke when it comes to CPU intensive tasks?

Still, you have to be kinda exited at these rumors. Apple has struggled to come out with new products over the last few years and this one could either buck the trend or be an enormous money pit.

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Jul 12 2009

Welcome to my Pool. Notice there are no b’s in it. Let’s keep it that way.

Published by japadamus under news

I kind of enjoy the incredibly racist stories that still pop up every so often. This week’s story is from a Pennsylvania swim club that sent home a class of mostly blacks.

Apparently, once the black kids arrived at the mostly white club, people started making comments. Eventually, the club sent them home and refunded their money.

That’s not that bad so far, but once the news cameras showed up the club president, John Duesler, said he removed the class because they
changed the ‘complexion’ and ‘atmosphere’ of the club.

Bad choice of words.

Now kids from the class are all over the news with their ‘we just wanted to swim, why can’t we swim?’ stories. One kid even claims that he heard a while woman asking why there were so many blacks at the pool.

As bad as this sounds I have to think Duesler really just happened to pick his words poorly. There is no way a real racist would, well, be so blatantly racist on TV. Racists know better nowadays. I think what Duesler mean by ‘complexion’ is that they didn’t follow club etiquette.

My guess is that the class of 60 kids came to the pool and just started making a lot of noise and causing a commotion. That’s not a racial issue, that’s a kid issue. I would guess that the people already at the pool were used to the pool’s environment and therefore used behavior that fit into the environment.

The new 60 kids, well, probably did not.

The problem is Duesler, after his ‘complexion’ comment, can’t go back and say he kicked out the kids because they were rowdy. That guy is fired, for sure.

Anyway, I just love how these things pan out. They’re usually for the most minor incidents, and the news just takes it and runs. Now there are little black kids crying on TV and protesters in front of the club.

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Jul 11 2009

Bruno

Published by japadamus under review

I’m a big fan of these Sacha Baron Cohen movies. Borat was a great, great movie, and so I lined up for the midnight release of Cohen’s latest pic Bruno.

The verdict? It’s a must see, but not necessarily in theaters.

Bruno delivers non-stop laughs…respectable, even though the film is only an hour and a half long. While some critics say Bruno was just one long gay joke, I have to say I think Cohen took the gay joke to several new levels.

I don’t want to give away much…it’s really better when you see it yourself, but in general Bruno follows a similar plot as Borat. A foreigner in the US works towards a goal while learning about the country. Oh yeah, and there’s gay sidekick stuff in the movie as well.

I have to say, watching Cohen pull of his pranks makes me think he deserves an oscar or something. I mean, the guy can really act well. He not only keeps a straight face, but pulls his victims in to the pranks as well. And unlike a fictional movie, Cohen only gets one take. I gotta give the guy props for that.

At times, the movie was so gay it made me cringe. Watching a huge cock twirling around on a 3 story screen was…well…a bit too much cock for my taste. So to speak.

But Cohen does a good job of taking the gay jokes to another level. More dirty, more vulgar, more funny.

It’s a funny film that you can enjoy, while at the same time marveling at the stupidity of Americans and Cohen’s incredible ability to maintain his character.

Again, I highly recommend Bruno, but the film doesn’t benefit much from the big screen. Perhaps save your $10 and wait until it comes out on Blu Ray…but do make sure to see it.

Archive for July, 2009