S&P is the canary not the problem

Listening to Meredith Whitney on CNBC, she's the closest commentator i've heard talking about how the S&P downgrade indicates the possible "Fall of rome" though even she kind of shrugged her way through the explanation.

Is it that hard to admit that the USA has to make major changes in order to change its course into becoming a second rate country?

 

What can be done to change the political "system" in the USA? ....And what does the republicans not losing the 6 special elections in Wisconsin mean?

 

S&P is the canary not the problem.




edit: posting this a few hours later....lol dow just crashed 4% led by bank stocks. Apparently a lot of people are unhappy with what Merideth Whitney said - http://www.cnbc.com/id/44087025 - check out the comments.

Walmart turning off their MP3 store / servers.

"We'll continue to provide support to our customers who previously purchased digital music through Walmart Music Downloads so they may continue to enjoy and manage their existing WMA files."
- http://mashable.com/2011/08/09/walmart-shut-mp3-store/


Yet again proving that people who buy MP3's with DRM are making a huge mistake.

I rip all my cd's to MP3 and upload them to my media server to be shared across any pc or mobile or home theatre device of my choosing with my rights never to be revoked.

Wait until Apple implement a DRM change to itunes and it will look like a twitter fail whale outage look like a storm in a teacup.

Who should be fired exactly?

Earlier today, a plane flew over S&P headquarters trailing a banner that read:

Thanks for the downgrade, you should all be fired.

Fortune has learned that the person who paid to fly the banner is a Midwestern broker, who woke up last night with the need to vent at those who she believes are leading the nation into an economic morass.
- http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/09/about-that-plane-over-sp/



hmmm i didnt get from the article who she thinks should be fired?? surely not the S&P employees....this is hardly their fault and as for blaming Wall Street....you cant blame a snake for being a snake or the dog for peeing on the rug BUT you didnt take him for a walk before you went to bed last night.


I bet this midwestern mother has money in a 401k and doesnt realise she is supporting those snakes by not being active and leaving it to others to make decisions for her.

Pull your money out, dont support people with bonuses you dont feel deserve it, vote wisely next time....thanks for playing (oh and supporting trickle down economics by hiring an otherwise out of work pilot today).


Cheers,
Dean

Nick Cave cover.....love the view at the end.

Performed by Neil Finn, Kev Carmody and The Australian Ballet, Sarah Blasko, John Bell, Angus and Julia Stone, Paul Kelly and Bangarra Dance Theatre, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Opera Australia, Martha Wainwright, Katie Noonan and The Sydney Symphony, The Temper Trap, Daniel Johns and the Australian Chamber Orchestra

Make sure you click bottom right resolution setting to watch the 720p version and click fullscreen

Domain seizure



I hope Spain seizes google.com and then turns around saying....it's only a domain,, not that big a deal right??

http://www.techdirt.com/blog/?company=rojadirecta

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/07/us-judge-wont-return-seized-url-to-rojadirecta-com-absolutamen/#comments

They are following the laws of the country they are living in.....just because it's different to USA laws doesn't mean the USA can seize an Internet domain.

This is the start of a very slippery slope.


Cheers.
Dean

The Fraud Police

Amanda Palmer commencement speech about the Fraud Police that i found on YouTube -
I love this woman.

elBulli closed :(

I was watching Anthony Bourdain last night and found out elBulli was closing :(

This was one of the only resturants in the world i really really really wanted to dine in and now i have missed my chance forever.

http://www.elbulli.com/catalogo/catalogo/index.php?lang=en

Median age of the USA

Interesting article the point that struck me was this
The median age in the 2010 Census reached an all-time high of 37.2 years old.

More here - http://www.tvweek.com/news/2011/08/what_madison_ave_knows_that_yo.php

Warning about Thecus N7700

Just thought i'd give you guys a heads up and a warning for anyone that purchased one of the early Thecus N7700


I was one of the first purchasers of the Thecus N7700 units in the USA. It has now been running in my home office for 27 months (almost 2.5 years).

Last week i came home and noticed it was powered off.

Unplugging the unit and plugging it back in didn't solve the problem, basically all the front LEDS would light up then turn off.

Originally i was thinking....ok power supply has blown, fair enough its been running non stop 24x7 since i first purchased it except for when i upgraded the fans and the ram (and once when we moved houses).

I ordered a new power supply ($71 including shipping from an online 3rd party vendor but a direct Enhance Flex-0130D match)....took 10 mins to install......you can imagine my disappointment when it wouldn't start up with the new power supply.

I replaced the ram, cpu, motherboard battery, everything except the motherboard/backplane....couldn't get it started.

So basically it's diagnosed as something on the motherboard........probably a cheap ass capacitor etc

Called up Thecus tech support, they are asking me to send the whole thing and they'll give me a "quote" to repair it....i insisted on getting a price for replacing the problem motherboard...from the "accounts division" as didn't want them to have my data before knowing what the cost would be.

Turns out they want $395 for the motherboard !!!!

For something that is supposed to be reliable, for something that is supposed to hold critical data, to have it fail only 2 months out of warranty and now have them ask me to pay almost 50% of the original cost just for the motherboard is outrageous.

I've recommended Thecus from day 1 because it was a step ahead of the industry 2 years ago. I've blogged about it, talked about it on the newtech-1 list, reccomended it to clients and friends, but these guys are outrageous to expect you to pay 50% of the cost for something 2 years later.

So for anyone considering purchasing a Thecus N7700......you might want to calculate the cost of the item over a shorter than expected unit life time.


Cheers,
Dean



BTW for background on my Thecus problems start

here
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/warning-about-thecus-n7700.html
then
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/arghhh-thecus-still-havent-fixed-my.html
and finally
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/finally-got-my-thecus-n7700-back-online.html

Don't let Congress order Internet companies to spy on you

Don't let Congress order Internet companies to spy on you—act now to block the data retention bill: http://t.co/ScTvTxd

CNET’s Declan McCullagh reminds us that “the mandatory logs would be accessible to police investigating any crime and perhaps attorneys litigating civil disputes in divorce, insurance fraud, and other cases as well.”
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/violetblue/how-the-new-8216protecting-children-bill-puts-you-at-risk/590


Cheers,
Dean