Watch the following video and let's discuss.

Why is it that the pinnacle of any technology is always when it can be fit inside a pen? Furthermore, if mobile computing was so great then why on earth would we still be using pens in the first place? Why in pluperfect hell would you want a super advanced computer only to run Windows XP on it? Does our future really involve us continuing to use an already woefully outdated operating system that is sure to be incapable of coping with the types of awesome stuff we will be throwing at it in 2010?

I want to see the meeting where they dreamt this up. "What could we combine with the most advanced mobile computer in the world to make it super awesome?"

"I know - how about a ballpoint pen!"

It's like inventing the internal combustion engine and then trying to integrate it into a horse.

I feel like this video should be the punch-line to a bad blond joke. "What would Dell invent if it were run by blondes?" It belongs with solar powered flashlights, helicopters with ejector seats, and submarines with screen doors.

The video is so bad that I was half expecting a blue screen at the end with credit card logos inviting me to call now so that I could order my very own penputer for 3 easy payments of $29.95!

Now if only they could build watches with calculators in them, I think we'd pretty much be caught up with Star Trek.

The form of energy we use to get from A to B is not the problem. Whether it's electric, internal combustion, nuclear powered, or peddle cars, we're missing the point. Using electric cars is is like treating skin cancer with a band aid.

The real problem is how we design our cities.

Ever since auto manufacturer's decided that everyone needs to have a car, and that they need to drive those cars everywhere, cities have been designed around the concept. Literally everything is deigned with only the slightest thought of where people will walk.

Go to your local mall. Try walking from the street, through the parking lot, into the mall. There probably isn't any place designed for you to walk. You're walking where the cars go, and battling them for space as you make your journey.

We gave our entire country to the auto industry, and now we're dependent on oil, pollute in excessive amounts, and design our cities so that they only way to get around is to own a car.

It didn't used to be like this. Here's a graph showing historical per-capita vehicle ownership.

Compare that graph with this one of obesity rates from 1960 to 2000:

I'm not saying that driving cars is making us fat, but I am saying that people used to walk a lot more. It used to be okay to walk two blocks to go to the corner store, but now we don't give hoping in the car a second thought.

Think about it - which of these two places would you rather live?

One place has lasting value, one place does not.

I saw an old photograph of downtown Provo and was surprised to see trolley tracks right down Center Street. Salt Lake City used to have one of the most impressive public transit systems in the country. Then the car came and made it all unnecessary. Now we all get to stay in our own little air-conditioned bubble as we move about the city.

So the solution for our energy crisis is not to come up with new innovative ways of powering a car (although that's okay too), it's to start designing our cities like they used to be designed. Remove our dependence on cars and the energy crisis solves itself.

Think of the effect that this would have not only on energy, but on pollution, obesity, social interaction, and an overall sense of community? This is the way the world should be.

I have been busy pushing, pulling, twisting, and hacking a new version of gthing.net together. I noticed the old version had been hacked and I was linking out to all sorts of questionable websites so I figured it was time for an upgrade. New platform, new look, same great taste.

Let me know if you run into any bugs.

I added a shoutbox over on the side there

If you read gthing.net through an RSS feed, sorry about all the duplicate articles you're seeing now. Come visit the site and behold its glory!

Technorati Tags: GThing 3.0

Another day, another abuse from your friendly local cell phone company. T-Mobile is increasing their text messaging fees from 15 to 20 cents each next month. They are the last company to do so - apparently they wanted in on the action.
Can anyone say "Anti-Competitive Price Fixing?"

Of course, text messages really costs 40 cents - you're just splitting the cost with your friend who is also paying to send you the sms message.

So for 42 cents you can have someone physically hand deliver a letter anywhere in the country courtesy of the United States Postal Service, or you can lease your phone carrier's line for a fraction of a second to transfer so bits around - a cost that to them is so miniscule it is basically free.

The biggest scam of all is that you can't turn off the option to receive text messages on T-Mobile. Essentially, you could be receiving 500 spam messages a day and T-Mobile would bill you for each and every one, with no recourse and no way to solve the problem.

This is the subject of a new class action lawsuit that aims to take down T-Mobile's unfair practices. Once the lawsuit was filed, T-Mobile quickly released a new feature that allows users to turn of text messaging all together. "I'm going to take my ball home! Nyah!"

Well that's not good enough. The appropriate answer is to NOT CHARGE for incoming text messages. Shouldn't it be illegal to be charged twice (send + receive) for the same thing anyway?

Text messages should be next to free or cost you 1/10th of a minute off your monthly plan. Period
.

Given the lack of anyone competent to vote for this election season, it is with great pleasure that I officially announce my candidacy for President. I will be running as an Independent because I'm pretty sure that means it's free.

My motto is "change you can really for reals believe in, really." Never before has "some guy" been elected president. Help me make this dream a reality!

I will officially run as "Sam" because I think America and I can be on a first name basis. Also notice that my thumb is dirty in my official campaign photo. That is because I am a real life hard working American and also I just repaired the tire on my bike.

My main focus is a free market and state rights. I will let poorly managed financial institutions go out of business and I will make it so citizens don't have to pay their neighbor's mortgages. I will veto any laws regarding social issues and ask the states to make their own decisions. I will not start any more destined-to-fail government programs.

Vote for me in November and I'll totally let you stay in the Lincoln Bedroom!

P.S. I need a running mate - apply in the comments!

"Thank you for calling AT&T, your expected wait time is 32 eons."

"Thank you for calling Apple, your expected wait time is sometime after the earth spins down and is swallowed up by the sun. If you'd like to schedule a callback to your distant evolutionarily advanced superhuman future posterity, please press 1."

I went to Lake Tahoe this last weekend. I couldn't help but notice that the incredible natural beauty of the place was ruined by the droves upon droves of annoying mouth-breathing tourists - of which I was trying to act like I was not a part. I feel the same way about Apple.

Every once in a while, it's fun to make a retarded comment online, and see who responds and what they say. In nice, respectable places you don't do this - it's considered rude. In the evolutionary sludge that makes up Youtube commenters, however, it's too good to resist.

Youtube Commenters

So I watched this video by Rise Against. In it, they show clips of various animals being tortured or neglected. It's pretty much like a PETA shock film. Standard stuff.

So I left a comment on the video:

Did you see all the animals they tortured to make this video? Bands like this who kill animals for shock value make me sick.

And the flame war began.

No less than 20 people responded to tell me how stupid I am.

Really?

Here are some choice excerpts:

man your dumb.. they didint kill the animals.. they took footage from other people that filmed the animals being killed and put it in the video. dumbass

they did'nt tortured animals to make this video. They took shots of the cruelty in this world and they put it into their clip.

what the hell man their showimg what really happens in the world and they are trying to tell people to stop harming the enviornment and animals

oh shut the hell up! they didn't do it for the video it was recorded by other people 4 different purposes. all they did was put it all together to the video. how thick can u get?

omg are you stupid dude.... when they do make vids like this they use pieces from other documentaries from other companies on how they do it...how dumb can you get?

Hey not to burst your f**king bubble, but most of the videos they got from PETA, how dare you diss a band, when they are actually trying to get animal awareness out there. The dolphin footage, is from PETA, once again, find out something before you completly make an ass out of yourself by not knowing the facts

Okaaaay...so how many times does it need to be explained to this one guy/girl who made a stupid comment that the band didn't really butcher the animals? Maybe I'm just quicker than most but I got the point after the first "vegetable"arian spoke up.

Notice the lack of proper spelling and punctuation. Notice that every comment, with the exception of the last two, lacks a single capitalized letter. It's as if they same moron made all the comments. Unfortunately each comment is from a different user.

I lack faith in the future of the human race.

I left another response to all the people who commented back to me:

I read up on the video, and I heard from my friend that RA actually tortured and neglected these animals to make this video. It's about stopping animal cruelty, but they're the cruelest of all! How hypocritical can you be - seriously?!?!11?!

Expect the interwebs to explode at any minute.

Let me start of by saying McCain is an idiot. I don't like him. I don't like the things he says. I don't think he'll win the election, either.
On the other hand, I happen to like Obama. He seems like a much nicer man and is certainly a better speaker and good at rallying the people. These are important qualities of a leader. I think someone who can make people believe in America again is really, really important.

But I'm not going to vote for Obama. I'm probably going to vote for McCain. This is because I realize that no matter how much more I like Obama as a person and as a leader, his politics simply do not agree with me. For me it comes down to this:

Do I want more government?
Do I want higher taxes?
Do I think the government can spend my money better than I can?
Do I honestly feel like a move towards socialist ideals is in the best interest of America?

And most importantly, do I want a conservative or liberal judge appointed to the supreme court when that time comes?

Recently, the supreme court closely ruled that U.S. citizens do, in fact, have the right to own guns - showing that 5 out of the 9 judges are still capable of reading and basic comprehension. The second amendment apparently wasn't clear enough, but it has been saved, at least, for now. With such a close decision, it's important we retain good judges in the Supreme Court.

So no matter how much I like Obama, I'm simply not going to vote for someone who wants MORE social programs, MORE government, MORE taxes, and MORE control over my life. This isn't secret - this isn't bias, this is the difference between conservative and liberal ideologies. The difference between less government and more government.

This quote from Obama really sealed the deal for me:

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK."

I believe in being nice to our environment and all, but ultimately I don't think we should be accountable to other countries for how we live our lives here in America. We've worked hard to get where we are! What we do is not the business of any other country! It's like saying the rich kids in High School have to stop driving BMWs because it's making the poor kids feel bad. That's life!

So I'm going to vote for the moron. McCain, the last person I expected to actually get the nomination. The idiot who doesn't know how much gas costs right now and who doesn't even know how to use a computer. The idiot who will probably enact stupid laws regarding digital freedoms and other things I care about. The guy so dumb I'd almost rather have Bush for another 4 years.

Unfortunately with no good candidate, I have to vote for damage control, not for who I actually like. Who will screw up the country more? I think a liberal enviro-zeolot is far worse than a stupid conservative. At least nobody will like McCain, making it so he probably won't be able to do much. That way we can stay in a holding pattern for four years until another candidate comes along - hopefully one with some principle.

At least McCain is more likely to put a literate judge in the supreme court. At least McCain still believes in a majority of our rights. At least McCain is less likely to start up a bunch of stupid freedom-sucking, expensive, and ultimately ineffective social programs.

But alas, the elections are ineffective. McCain is so bad I almost thing the whole thing is rigged to get us all to vote for Obama. (What book was it where that happened - fahrenheit 451?). The two part system has failed us. Unfortunately I don't think we can get rid of it.

I'd like to think that voting for someone you don't like takes a certain degree of intellegence and the ability to look at the macro-realities of our country.

So with that I'll leave you with an excerpt from George Washington's farewell speech, where he basically says that a party system will destroy America.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."

And you can read the entire speech here.

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One of the most awesome things about Netflix is that you are allowed to have User Profiles. In my case, that means my room mate Dean can "give" me one of the three slots he has available for renting movies. I have my own account, ratings, profile, friends, etc.

Netflix just announced they will be removing this feature. Not only are they removing it, but they're deleting my profile too. All the ratings I have taken considerable time to make will be deleted. My queue will disappear. They actually suggested printing out my queue and re-entering all the movies into the master account. Wow, really? Netflicks couldn't even be bothered with the hours-long project of creating a migration tool.

"Please remember that suggestion emails are not sent to Netflix Customer Service"