japadamus.com

Archive for the 'news' Category

Feb 17 2010

Kevin Smith is a fat asshole

Published by japadamus under news, Bob Loblaw

I like the airline’s policy of making fat people buy two seats if they can’t fit into a single seat. Sure, everyone has a right to be fat, but that right ends when it starts poking into the sides of fellow, non-obese travelers. Not to mention the safety risk of having a fat guy crammed into a tiny airplane seat during an emergency.

That’s why I have zero sympathy for Kevin Smith, the writer and director of Clerks, who recently generated a ton of press for getting kicked off a Southwest flight for being too fat. Apparently, Smith had purchased two tickets, according to Southwest’s rules, but then decided to take an earlier flight where only one seat was available. Once it was discovered that Smith couldn’t fit into his seat, a fact that Smith apparently already knew since he originally purchased two seats, Smith was booted from the plane. After the incident, Smith took to Twitter, claiming that Southwest kicked him off because of his size.

I don’t get why Smith is angry here. He knew that he was too fat to fit into a single seat, that’s why he originally bought two tickets. It was also his choice to take an earlier flight where only one seat was available. Really what Smith was doing was inconveniencing another traveler because he wanted to take an early flight. That’s a dick, selfish and inconsiderate move on Smith’s part.

I mean, have you ever sat next to a fat guy, particularly on Southwest’s tiny seats? It’s an awful experience, and completely unfair for the person who paid full price for a ticket yet ends up with a fat arm in their side for several hours.

Southwest wasn’t discriminating against Smith, as he claims, because he is ‘too wide for the sky’…they’re trying to create a comfortable environment for their normal-sized passengers and making Smith pay for the real estate that he’s consuming.

Really, Smith is acting like a petulant child who got caught doing something that he already knew was wrong. Smith’s tweets are selfish and juvenile, and I hope Southwest doesn’t change their policy because of this incident. In fact, I’d prefer to fly an airline who gets rid of fatties, rather than one that coddles them.

No responses yet

Feb 11 2010

Legalized gambling coming to Hawaii?

Published by japadamus under news

Yesterday, bills that would allow a casino in Hawaii passed through the House Judiciary Committee. Sadly, I don’t really know what that means, but it appears that Hawaii is at least one step closer to getting its first casino.

According to the Advertiser, the bill gives the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to allow gaming casinos on Hawaiian Homes land parcels. Another bill that passed would create a gaming commission that would issue a five year gaming license to a single casino.

The poor economy was a key driver for these bills. The State would get 20% of proceeds from the casino, while the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands would get the other 80%.

The downside to a casino, of course, is crime. I think that’s a legitimate concern, but really, if you’re not able to control your gambling addiction you’re probably gonna get hooked on something else…I mean, have you tried crystal meth? It’s wonderful.

The Bay Area is dotted with card clubs where you can play poker, black jack, pai gow, etc., and we’re not living in fear of gambling-related crime. It seems a bit overbearing to prohibit gambling on a small scale just because there is a small portion of the population that is not able to control their behavior.

Plus, you kind of have to feel bad for the Hawaiians. I mean, they got nothing except Kam…and that’s definitely what you would call the short end of the stick. In the meantime, Indians on the mainland are raking in cash from their casinos. That doesn’t seem very fair to me.

The next step for the casino bills is the Finance Committee. Again, I don’t really know what that means, but I really do hope this bill passes. At the very least, it will save Hawaii residents an expensive plane fare to Vegas and the cost of digs at the Cal.

No responses yet

Jan 23 2010

Amazing time-lapse video shows the recovery of US Air flight 1549

Published by japadamus under news

USAir 1549, For Sale

Remember US Airways flight 1549, the flight that hit a flock of geese and crashed into the Hudson? The recovered body of the flight is now up for auction here. You don’t get the wings, engines or tail, but you do get a slightly damaged fuselage.

This amazing time lapse video of the recovery of flight 1549 also popped up on the web today. It shows the amazing effort it took to raise the plane from freezing water, while large chunks of ice floated down the Hudson. The process appears to take several days, and was successful thanks to a large barge-mounted crane and an ice-clearing tugboat.

Exclusive unseen video footage of the Miracle on the Hudson, flight 1549 New York City from David Martin on Vimeo.

No responses yet

Sep 22 2009

Behold the tallest man-made structure. Ever.

Published by japadamus under news, Bob Loblaw

The nearly-completed Burj Dubai tower is already the world’s tallest man-made structure. It will top out at 2,684 feet, that’s slightly over half a mile tall. The building will have 160 stories that are served by elevators travelling 59 feet per second.

The first picture below is of the Burj Dubai in February 2006. The following pictures, via Gizmodo, show the building today as it nears completion.

One response so far

Aug 24 2009

McDonald’s website for blacks

Published by japadamus under news, Bob Loblaw

We all know that certain businesses cater to specific races. Sure, that’s not PC, but it’s reality.

But few actually have a separate website just for a different race. And I’m not talking about adjusting the language here – I’m talking about a whole separate website.

Well, McDonalds has a website for blacks called 365Black. On it you learn that McDonalds does a lot of things for blacks, like celebrate black history every day, not just during black history month.

No responses yet

Aug 02 2009

Details on the mythical Apple tablet emerge

Published by japadamus under news, tech

Rumors of an Apple tablet have been floating around since last year when Apple filed for patents on the touchscreen interface. Now, an analyst is actually claiming that he’s handled the mythical Apple tablet, and confirms that the device is on track for a September unveiling.

The analyst, who according to Engadget is remaining anonymous, says the device will cost around $700 to $800 and will have media player and gaming features. Apparently, the device is awaiting Steve Jobs’ final approval, while other ODMs in china are pausing production to see what is actually released.

Now, who knows how legit these rumors are. I would have expected some pics to have been leaked by now (the pic on this post is faked), considering the device will supposedly be announced next month. (although, the suicide/murder of an employee who misplaced a prototype iPhone may make workers a bit leery about leaking stuff nowadays.)

In any case, I’m imagining this device to look like a big iPhone – I think that’s a pretty safe guess. In terms of OS, I doubt that the Mac OS X will run on this thing – particularly for $700. Apple wouldn’t want to cannibalize their laptop sales by making this thing a full-fledged computer, so it will probably run something like the iPhone OS X.

Sadly, I doubt the tablet will have a 3G modem, so web surfing will need to be all WiFi. It would be incredible if some sort of iPhone tethering is built in to the tablet – like maybe you just slide your iPhone into a dock on the back of the tablet – but that’s wishful thinking.

$700 is a LOT to pay for a media player though. Sure, that’s the price of an iPhone 3G S, but most of that is subsidized by carriers. You could get an Archos 7 with web surfing capabilities for $300, or an Archos 9 with a full install of Windows 7 for around $600.

At the end of the day, for $700 this thing needs to do a lot in order to be worthwhile. The reason why we don’t see that many tablet computers around today is that they’re not that valuable to people. The form factor has very specific applications, and is much less useful for everyday computing.

I’m excited to see this thing released, and hell, I’ll probably get one. But I have the feeling that an Apple tablet will not be a huge success for the company.

No responses yet

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.

No responses yet

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.

No responses yet

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.

No responses yet

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.

No responses yet

Jul 08 2009

Google to release PC Operating System

Published by japadamus under news

Google announced today that it will soon release an operating system for PCs. The OS will be based on Google’s Chrome browser, and will be initially targeted at lower end netbooks.

Obviously this move puts Google in direct competition with Microsoft. To date, Google has taken a few shots at Microsoft Office with its Google Apps web-based applications. Gmail also competes with Hotmail, and to a lesser extent Microsoft’s corporate Exchange email platform. But this is the first time Google has taken a shot at Microsoft’s core Windows business.

There is no doubt that Google has the technological chops to create a netbook OS. In fact, many netbooks are sold with versions of Linux, not Windows. Google is in a stronger position than your average Linux distro, however, because it has strong name recognition and an existing base of Gmail and Google Apps users.

But can Google compete in an offline world?

Google Chrome has some offline features, and Google released an offline version of Gmail recently. But it’s still not clear if Google will be able to play in a fully offline world that a PC requires. Sure, netbooks are designed to leverage web services, but they also require core offline features that are standard on PCs today.

Also, it will be important for Google to open up its OS to app developers. And even if Google does this it’s uncertain how many developers the platform will attract.

I think you can draw a parallel to Google’s mobile phone OS, Android, here. So far a few million Android phones have been sold, but Google has not had anywhere close to the impact in the mobile phone space that, say, Apple has had. I’d argue that Android has kind of hit a wall, actually, with only a few Android phones available and an app store that pales in comparison to Apple’s store.

I’d bet that Google will have an even tougher road in the PC OS market. Sure, Google Apps and Gmail offline are decent apps, but most PC users need more. That’s why Linux distros to date have not been successful – people are just used to Windows Apps.

It’s not really clear to me why Google is making this move. Sure, they can charge for their OS, but in the netbook market they won’t be able to charge much. Strategically, I don’t see much of an advantage for Google to own the OS either. It will cost millions to develop and update, and I don’t see how the OS will help to increase ad revenue more than apps like Gmail and Google Apps already do.

I imagine that a Google OS would provide the company with more data about users, and that could increase ad clicks slightly, but I doubt this benefit will outweigh the cost of developing the OS. And god I hope Google doesn’t display ads on the OS desktop itself – that’s a losing strategy for sure.

The OS is expected to be released in the second half of 2010…I guess we’ll know more by then.

No responses yet

Jul 08 2009

The Jacksons make Paris a star

Published by japadamus under news

The Jacksons found a great way to pay tribute to Michael today. They took his oldest daughter Paris, whose face MJ had always covered with a mask, and put her on camera in front of the world. She will be on the front page of every newspaper in the US tomorrow, just like she is on the front page of every news website right now, thereby ensuring that this poor 11 year old girl will never have a private moment in the rest of her life.

I’m sure lots of people watched Paris’ speech and got a little teary eyed. Of course, I mean, you’re watching an 11 year old speak about her father who died last week. But come on, is that really what the kid deserves?

She got in front of the mic while guys in the crowd yelled ‘I love you Paris.’ Then, as the Jacksons surrounded her and pushed her in front of the mic she muttered only a few words. The whole time she was unable to look up, and I’m sure she would have run away if the hands of the Jacksons were not all over her.

Well, I guess child abuse runs in the family.

I mean really, what place does any 11 year old have to get in front of a mic at their father’s funeral – much less a funeral that’s in front of thousands of people. Why would the Jackson’s chose to put Paris on a national stage and make her an instant celebrity, when it was clearly Michael’s desire to keep her identity concealed?

And now that everyone who has an Internet connection knows Paris’ face, you know she’ll get bombarded with ‘your father molested kids’ jabs from assholes that see her in public. Out of all MJ’s craziness and questionable child raising, the most prudent thing he did was keep these kids out of the public eye.

But the camera hungry Jacksons ruined that, and the media is running with it.

Sure, Michael Jackson was a worldwide star that was used to standing on stage in front of thousands. But that’s not a genetic trait, that’s something that MJ learned, ironically, through abuse by his own parents. I get the sinking feeling that one of MJ’s goals was to prevent the same thing from happening to his kids – and he accomplished this while he was alive.

If you haven’t seen the video, it’s below.

No responses yet

Jul 07 2009

Thousands of dollars for the MJ funeral

Published by japadamus under news

The Staples Center made an interesting move with the Michael Jackson memorial – they gave away tickets in an online auction. Only about 9 thousand tickets were available, yet 1.6 million people entered the lottery.

What does that mean? Tickets are on sale on ebay. So far there have been several winning bids exceeding a thousand dollars. One auction actually made it to $99 million, although the tickets were clearly bid up by disgruntled MJ fans (imagine the ebay fees on $99 million).

In any case, it’s odd to think that people are paying thousands of dollars to go to…well…a funeral. I mean, I’ll be glad when all this Michael Jackson stuff is done. It’s been on the news for so long, and you know this is just going to turn into a witch hunt for whoever gave MJ the final dose of meds.

And it’s crazy to think that someone accused twice of child molestation could still be so popular in the United States. Sure, he never admitted guilt and was found innocent in court, but he really did admit to some no-so-ok dealings with kids, regardless of if he was guilty of the molestation itself.

But regardless of his history, I have to admit that I can’t think of anyone that would be so popular in death. I don’t want to be one of those people that just pull the molestation card and dismiss MJ’s dead. Look, I get he did a lot of good things that many people cared about. But he died last week, are we really still going on about it?

It will be an interesting tuesday – a huge crowd is expected for the memorial and you can bet that the scene will become quite unstable.

No responses yet

May 07 2009

Twittle

Published by japadamus under news

Last month there were rumors that Google was in talks to buy micro-blogging site Twitter. Today, rumors that Apple is looking to buy Twitter emerged as well.

Now, I’m a Twitter user, and I have to say I don’t really get it. Sure, it’s fun at times to follow celebrities - I’m a member of the Stern Show Tweet. But it gets old real fast.

I guess Oprah and Ashton Kutcher are big Tweeters, and both have built a huge following. But how long will this last, either for the tweeters or tweet-readers?

I’m aware that I’ve probably become a bit out of touch with Internet trends in my old age. But I’m guessing that Twitter will just be the next Geocities or Friendster once the new, new thing rolls around.

On Twitter’s part, the company has confirmed that it’s not for sale…even amid speculation that Apple will pay $700 million. But I think Twitter should do a bit of selling out here.

First of all, Twitter doesn’t have a great business model. They do have plans to charge super users, but I don’t think they will ever get a cent from their base of teenage girls.

Second, although Twitter is able to expose trends very quickly, I don’t think this will really drive a sustainable business model. Sure, there is potential for market research and ad revenue, but doubt any of this revenue will support a $700 million purchase price.

And, as Twitter gets more popular it will become more and more difficult and expensive to keep the site online 24/7. This is going to chip away at the company’s profits, and over time I don’t think this will drive a positive cash flow.

My guess would be that in six months Twitter will be sold. The company’s investors will eventually realize that they don’t have a solid revenue stream, and they’ll be looking to cash out. The good news though is that Twitter will get much more than they’re worth. Even in a recession, there are still companies that will overpay for the flavor of the month.

No responses yet

Apr 28 2009

NY flyby scares New Yorkers

Published by japadamus under news

This was probably one of those plans that no one really thought very much about. I mean, it seems simple right? Take scenic pictures of the President’s Plane while it flies over scenic New York.

But it turns out that New Yorkers are still a bit jumpy after the…well…whole 9/11 thing. And, it didn’t help that the 747 was flying over New York while tailed by an F-16 – probably exactly what it would look like if a 747 was hijacked and flown over New York to crash into buildings.

In any case, the White House apologized for the whole situation, which resulted in a number of buildings being evacuated. Also, from the video below it looks like people were actually kind of running around on the ground in a panic.

All in all, a horrible idea. It’s actually kind of incredible that all these people were involved in the photo shoot, yet no one thought it would be a bad idea.

Still, it’s not anything that you can pin on the White House or Obama. I mean, there is no way the President personally approves every photo op – at worst he’s guilty of hiring some questionable personnel. At the end of the day, no harm no foul. It was a dumb idea, but really I think people should get over it.

Comments Off

Amazon.com Widgets

Proposed

TKFKAK will be getting married in 0 days.
Recent Comments
- Küchen und Bäder, Wellness für Zuhause , Küchenmaschinen und mit Kochrezepten on Fry your food without the fat
- Digit Magzine on Thoughts on the primary
- TheDude on Who the hell is Sonny Ganaden?
- Suahiattack on Yaki onigiri at Costco
- El Jeffe on Disposable martinis at BevMo
Flickr Photos

www.flickr.com
Hulu

March 2010

M T W T F S S

« Feb

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31
Categories
- advertising (8)
- American Idol (1)
- Anna Nicole Smith (1)
- Apple (31)
- Asian Porn (1)
- Barack Obama (11)
- basketball (11)
- best of the internet (97)
- Blogroll (1)
- blogs (14)
- Bob Loblaw (370)
- Chicago (3)
- civil rights leader’s family owned by segregationist’s (1)
- Dice-K (8)
- dining (18)
- ebay (2)
- fantasy football (29)
- food (106)
- food and dining (36)
- Football (76)
- funny (8)
- Generation Kill (1)
- google (7)
- Hawaii (17)
- health (10)
- hockey (14)
- Howard Stern (24)
- iPhone 3G (8)
- iPhone Apps (8)
- japanese food (29)
- Las Vegas (14)
- Lost (1)
- Markets (15)
- media (47)
- Midwest Lore (3)
- Missed Encounters (2)
- music (14)
- news (382)
- nightlife (3)
- Pakedamus (73)
- politics (43)
- Punahou (4)
- rant (29)
- recipe (6)
- religion (2)
- review (50)
- san francisco (6)
- science (4)
- shopping (51)
- Sirius (6)
- Sopranos (3)
- sports (43)
- Sushi (13)
- tech (99)
- The Wire (12)
- travel (23)
- tv (102)
- Tweets! (3)
- Uncategorized (56)
- vegan (2)
- vegetarian (7)

Archive for the 'news' Category

Proposed

Recent Comments

Flickr Photos

Hulu

Categories