Mister D Says...

Weird Windows error message

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:24:09 -0400

Weird Windows error message

Daily screed on why the Left makes no sense

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:37:15 -0400

Yesterday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon vetoed a bill that would have exempted motorcycle riders oder than 21 from the requirement to wear helmets on Missouri’s non-interstate roads. He said that “the cost of repealing… would have been too high.” Let’s be clear: there is no financial cost here; he’s talking about the “cost” in terms of injuries and deaths to motorcycle riders. So, in the mind of Gov. Nixon, people can’t be trusted to decide to wear a helmet so we need a law to protect them from themselves.

Now, I don’t think that riding a motorcycle without a helmet is smart. I think that cycle-riding in general is less safe than an automobile and, given the additional risk, if I rode a motorcycle, I would wear a helmet. However, I also think that:

I’m old enough to take care of myself
Police officers who are busy writing tickets for helmet-less riders are, by definition, NOT catching bad guys
A law that requires me to do something only to protect myself is an unnecessary limitation on personal liberty

Here’s the part that I don’t understand: folks on the Left generally approve of a law like this (or one requiring seat-belts, or car seats for children) because, as I understand it, they figure that the required behavior makes everyone safer and, since some part of the population is too irresponsible to decide for themselves, we should frighten them into line with the threat of punishment.

But, these same folks on the Left often accused President Bush and his administration’s Patriot Act for unnecessarily impinging on our liberty and privacy. The oft-quoted line from Benjamin Franklin is, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety” (by the way, it’s not clear whether or not he wrote that, but that’s another story). The Left uses Franklin’s thought to argue that an intrusion into civil liberties for the sake of national security is not correct.

So, let me see if I understand: it is not OK to limit liberty for national security, but it is OK to do so to protect a small number of stupid motorcycle riders from hurting themselves?

See? Doesn’t make sense, does it?

Let me try this again

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:33:04 -0400

Back here, I linked to this article about two loonies in Sweden who have decided not to let anyone know whether their child is a boy or a girl. I asked, “Is this really what the LGBT movement is fighting for?”

A lot of friends of mine didn’t get what I was trying to say (which is my fault), so I’m taking a second shot. My reaction is based on the fact that those folks in Sweden are merely acting on the logical conclusion of the argument that there are no important differences between men and women.

Many unfortunately misguided people believe the wrong-headed idea that the only difference between men and women is plumbing. We have language, law and social mores being re-written every day because of this misconception.

The LGBT movement, who are fighting tooth and nail to redefine marriage to include homosexual unions, is acting upon this belief. So, I ask them, take a look at the logical extension of the cause… is that really what you’re fighting for? A world in which people don’t reveal their gender?

The actions of this Swedish couple is so contradictory to common sense that, if it weren’t so sad, it would be funny.

Does that make my position clearer?

"Liberalism has lowered expectations of behavior for everyone in America except white Christian..."

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:17:12 -0400

“Liberalism has lowered expectations of behavior for everyone in America except white Christian heterosexual males. They are the only Americans from whom dignified and mature conduct is always expected. Liberals treat women, blacks, Hispanics, gays, and many non-Christians, with what is known as the soft bigotry of low expectations. Many liberal women, blacks, Hispanics, and gays know that and use it to get away with conduct and speech that no WASP heterosexual male could. People rise or descend to the level of behavior expected of them.”

- Dennis Prager

Is this really what the LGBT movement is fighting for?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:00:59 -0400

Is this really what the LGBT movement is fighting for?:

This may be the understatement of the year: “… not everyone agrees that their chosen course of action will have a positive outcome.”

Has the whole world gone bat-shit crazy?

Here’s the whole crazy story.

My story about why #ebay sucks

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:56:27 -0400

I have a first-generation that I want to sell so that I can buy a new iPhone 3GS. I have seen lots of evidence that people are willing to pay upwards of $300 for the model phone I have, so I figure that it can’t be too tough to get me some of that.

First, an aside: why would anyone pay that much for a first-gen phone when they can get a brand new iPhone 3G for only $99? For two reasons:

It seems that, although the 3G is unlockable and jailbreakable, neither process is as simply as it is on a first-gen phone.
It seems that T-Mobile (and maybe other carriers, too) don’t have a 3G network so ulocking an iPhone 3G to use with those carriers is hard/doesn’t work.

Whatever. Either way, my iPhone is worth some coin. Enough, it seems to let me upgrade to a 3GS. Back to the story…

It seems that my options are:

Sell it on eBay.
Sell it on Craigslist
Sell it via a service like Nextworth.

I tried Craigslist first, since I’ve never sold anything successfully on eBay, but there were no bites. I figured that I might have been asking too high a price so I decided to go to eBay to see what the market would bear. My buddy recently sold her phone there successfully so, I figured, how hard could it be?

Now, I’m not an idiot (reportedly). I have read stories of scams on eBay but those stories all seem to deal with items far more expensive than my phone. So, I decided to list.

It was exciting! The phone sat for a week with no activity then, in the final hour of the auction, stuff happened. In all, seven bidders placed 17 bids on the phone in that hour, with the price rising 25% in the final 45 seconds! When the dust settled, I sent an invoice to the winner and cleared a spot off on my desk to hold all of my loot.

Then the crap started. There was no response from the seller. Then I got the following message:

Hello seller, i won your item on ebay i want you to send your paypal email address so as to make a payment online

Mind you, this was after I sent an invoice. When I went onto eBay to use their tool to send him another message, I saw that he was “no longer registered.” Uh oh.

I sent three more messages over the next three hours, to no avail. My final message said, “I haven’t heard from you since the auction ended and I would like to nail things down today. If I don’t hear from you soon, I will have to offer the iPhone to the next-highest bidder. PLEASE RESPOND!!”

I heard nothing. So, late that night, I offered a second-chance offer to the next-highest bidder.

The next morning, I saw a message from both buyers waiting for me. The auction winner, whom I will refer to as “LyingTool” wrote me the following:

Just to let you know that payment has been made via PayPal online i added $100 for shipping and handling via first class shipping USPS(EMS) make sure you mail out the item today this is the shipping address bellow:-

Name:Hamsa Abdulfatai Adisa
Adrees:12 Isafinrin Layout, New Town Road
City:Akure
State:Ondo
Zipcode:234034
Country:Nigeria

Holy crap. Really? Does anyone fall for this anymore?
To make matters worse, the second-place bidder’s message said that she had already won another auction so she didn’t want my iPhone anymore. The third-place bidder’s bid was over $60 less than the top two.
So, let’s recap. LyingTool cost me a bunch of money and my auction and there’s nothing I can do about it. To their credit, eBay refunded me my Final Value Fees immediately upon my complaint. But, I still have to pay for the listing, which I never should have made in the first place.
So, this morning, I re-listed on Craigslist for less money. LESS THAN TEN MINUTES LATER, I got an offer from a real, live, English-speaking person. I sent a PayPal request and - fingers crossed! - he should pay me later today.
That is, I swear, my last eBay auction.

"You’re Google, caring is for other companies."

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:41:00 -0400

“You’re Google, caring is for other companies.”

- Man, I love John Welch (via Bynkii).

Kirk and Spock and... ?

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:42:41 -0400

I’ve read two pieces today which both made reference to the relationship between Kirk and Spock as an example of a perfect symbiotic relationship. Both, in different contexts and for different purposes made the point that Kirk and Spock’s friendship formed the core of what makes Star Trek great.

What about the good Doctor McCoy?

In my opinion, the three-way relationship this trio formed was a perfect story-telling device: Kirk, the hero, wrestles with difficult decisions each week. His two halves, the logical, personified by Spock and the passionate, personified by Bones, argued each issue out until Kirk decided what to do.

I think this critical piece - the role of McCoy - was missing from the new movie. At least, I missed it. Did you?

"Sequels are for villains; origin stories are for heroes."

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:37:58 -0400

“Sequels are for villains; origin stories are for heroes.”

- John August, paraphrasing Kurtzman and Orci

Bull's eye analysis re: the Pre

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:12:01 -0400

Steven Frank gets it totally right:

It is absolutely mind-blowing that Palm pulled this off as well as they did. This is like the Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X transition for Palm — a massive rethink of the entire platform that must succeed for the company to survive.

"In difficult and challenging times, the good, professional people find ways to distinguish..."

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:23:28 -0400

“In difficult and challenging times, the good, professional people find ways to distinguish themselves from the average.”

- My boss, in his end-of-year speech to faculty

"…as of last week, Apple estimates that there about the same number of iPhone OS users as Mac..."

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:00:59 -0400

“

…as of last week, Apple estimates that there about the same number of iPhone OS users as Mac OS X users.

Now consider what those numbers will look like a year from now, 12 months after the iPhone’s entry price dropped to $99.

”

- The takeaway from Gruber’s WWDC Wrapup

Cool streetsign in Houston

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:34:07 -0400

Cool streetsign in Houston

"I quickly mastered the fishing skill, and it then became a very profitable hobby. Much more..."

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:01:26 -0400

“I quickly mastered the fishing skill, and it then became a very profitable hobby. Much more profitable than my day job as Vice President, in fact. Fishing bought me an upgraded house, a big-screen TV and a fancy new bed, all in one day.”

- This made me laugh: Sims 3 for iPhone

"The Kindle isn’t currently the (mythical?) indie goldmine the iTunes App Store has become. Despite..."

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:06:04 -0400

“The Kindle isn’t currently the (mythical?) indie goldmine the iTunes App Store has become. Despite Amazon’s first-mover advantage, there is clearly opportunity for competitors, like Google, Apple or Sony.”

- (Interesting inside-analysis from John August.)

"It is notable that after two entire years on the open market, iPhone continues to be, by far, most..."

Sat, 30 May 2009 21:30:30 -0400

“It is notable that after two entire years on the open market, iPhone continues to be, by far, most advanced, responsive and beautiful mobile touch-screen device and software available. It is one thing for iPhone and iPhone OS to have been as ground-breaking and incredible as they were in 2007 when they debuted. But to still have that edge two years later? That’s amazing.”

- Shawn Blanc

Amazing Playoff Moments: Larry Bird Steals the Ball (via...

Wed, 27 May 2009 12:09:15 -0400

Amazing Playoff Moments: Larry Bird Steals the Ball (via NBA).

I love these commercials and am happy they used this play which, if I recall correctly, made me lose my voice in middle school. :)

Seth Godin on #poker ... sort of

Tue, 12 May 2009 10:55:51 -0400

Today, NetNewsWire presented me with this gem from Seth Godin:

The most important decision-making rule you learn in business school is still largely misunderstood.

When making a choice between two options, only consider what’s going to happen in the future, not which investments you’ve made in the past. The past investments are over, lost, gone forever. They are irrelevant to the future.

I don’t know if Godin is a poker player or not, but his advice here is one of the fundamental rules of calculating pot odds. For example, a quick search of the internet yielded this:

Keep in mind, when calculating your current pot odds you do not count money you have put in the pot on previous rounds of betting or blinds. Once the money is in the pot it is no longer yours. You only figure in the amount it will cost you to call the current bet.

I don’t have much to add here in the way of substance… I just thought it was cool that his point is so easily applicable to poker.

Thoughts on "Star Trek" with spoilers (#star_trek)

Sun, 10 May 2009 15:54:18 -0400

Warning: spoilers ahead.

Let me say first, at the outset, that I loved this movie. I found it exciting, thought-provoking and satisfying. The characters were believiable and innovative, despite being grounded in the original performances, and the action, technology and story were all true to my recollection of the Star Trek universe.

My first Trek love is the Original Series, but I liked this movie and its feel far more than Voyager, Deep Space 9 and the later seasons of The Next Generation. The film has received lots of well-deserved praise so I don’t need to continue in that vein. But I do have an issue.

(Last warning: Spoilers ahead!)

I just don’t understand why Abrams and his creative team felt the need to reinvent the history of the Enterprise A rather than just retell it. For example:

Why the need to destroy Vulcan?
Why make Spock responsible for the annihilation of either of the two planets?
Why eliminate Jim Kirk’s relationship with his father?
Why create a romantic relationship between bridge crew members that never existed before?
I know this is a niggling detail, but why does young Scotty need to know about technological breakthroughs he won’t make until later in his life?

I guess what I am asking is this: new and existing fans are both responding well to the movie - we all would have loved to see a straight origins story. Why did the film need the time-travel maguffin to initiate action?

Movie franchises that approach the length of #Star_Trek

Fri, 08 May 2009 09:20:34 -0400

I saw Star Trek last night and it got me thinking: the Trek franchise now includes 11 feature films. What other movie franchises approach that many episodes?

So, let’s make a list!

Rules: There has to be something linking all of the films together. It could be a director, a cast or something like that. Simple re-imaginings that ignore previous material don’t count (sorry, Hulk).

I know there are a lot of good ones I haven’t thought of, but I don’t want to do research… I want us to try to think of them on our own. Use the comments to fill in what I’ve forgotten.

The list

James Bond (22)
Star Trek (11)
Harry Potter (6 but there will probably be 7)
Rocky (6)
Star Wars (6)
Saw (5)
Rambo (4)
X-Men (4)