MSFT sues Acer and Asustek for installing Linux on netbooks

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Gunning-for-Android-After-Killing-Linux-on-Netbooks-163430.shtml
I used to get upset when I saw headlines like this but not so much anymore.

Yeah, I know. All big corps are evil but Microsoft always takes top prize.

Black Keys

The Black Keys remind me of The Grifters. Oh, the dirty South. I need to deep fry some okra now.

Eff the Polices!

My landlord has a problem with the sewer pipe that runs through his back yard. It carries the water that used to flow as a stream >100 years ago but since streams are inconvenient, they channeled it into a sewer pipe.

There is a man hole in the back yard, and when there is a heavy rain the stream inside the pipe pushes up a geyser of water through the man hole cover. Here's a vid I shot of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55akxl93JxI

So after many years of my landlord talking to the town's bureaucracy, a sewer pipe inspection crew and their small, box truck showed up today to send a robotic camera into the sewer pipe. Since they usually work on the street, their cables could not reach the pipe in the backyard so I moved my car and they parked their truck in our driveway to do the work.

What does this have to do with the cops? Well, there was a cop standing at the foot of our driveway the whole time getting paid overtime to talk on his cell phone. Was he supposed to direct traffic away  the truck parked in the driveway?

My Filipina girlfriend said that in The Philippines, cops are referred to as crocodiles because they specialize in ambushing motorists and demanding money. This construction detail work is a slightly more civilized form of shakedown. The cops in MA threatened to strike when there was a law introduced to allow civilian flaggers to direct traffic at construction sites. Some cops threatened to arrest civilian flaggers in some cases.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/22/police_turn_up_heat_on_civilian_flaggers/

I guess it's still up to each town to decide whether they can afford to pay cops overtime for this kind of work. I can see how in a "bad area" you would want cops on site to make sure the construction workers aren't mugged but in a town like Lexington? nplz.

The police union is way too powerful in this state.

Why "Free Public Wifi" Is So Often Broken

or . . .

Another reason to avoid MSFT products

I noticed this story on slashdot. This story adds more fuel to the fire that would burn down Microsoft's corporate campuses worldwide.

Like my boss always says, "Microsoft solutions are really quick to get up and running."

Yeah. And they are really quick to break and really quick to get p0wned.
And they break in totally unexpected and random ways, like this. And when they don't break it's because someone is constantly nursing them OR it's because some other company (see Visio as an example) developed them and Microsoft hasn't had enough time to fuck them up yet.

Meet The Beatles

Nope, this is not an image that has been edited in Photoshop or The Gimp. The Beatles actually released an album with this image on the cover. It was yanked after a day, according to wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesterday_and_Today#The_.22Butcher_cover.22

Windows websites fail

What is it about these Windows server websites that can't manage to interact with Firefox's login credential storing feature?

Here are some examples: monster.com and savvis.net.

I heart job descriptions.

People love using biz speak for job descriptions. Any verbiage that makes the employer's "requirements" more opaque to the reader also tends to make them more amusing. Here's an example.

Coordinates with client management to formulate complex technical solutions. 

Moar complexity, please! Complexity locks customers in. If the customer can't understand your "solution," you have her over a barrel. Of course that's not what the author meant.

Little Murders

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067350/

Well worth watching. I loved the dialog of the Newquist family.