Ah memories of useless plastic

In the 80's the G.I. Joe line of toys was 2nd to none. Hasbro did an awesome job with this series. Out of the air vehicles created for the line, the Cobra Rattler was my favorite until the Cobra Raven was brought onto the scene. Check out the commericial, you can't deny it, that thing kicked ass.

End of Another Fine Season of Television -- Thank God

As we enter the summer time, we are seeing the wind down of the television season as we're treated to intense season finale commercials, cliffhanger endings, tear jerking series ending episodes, and at reality show winners being decided..basically more of the same crap that we sit through every year.

I'm not into any primetime network show enough to care that much. The television is on while I'm doing things around the house in the evening, so I'm not out of the loop on what happened on ER last night or how they tied up the Will & Grace series. I even had the television on long enough to know the guests that ass Leno had for his line-up on the Tonight Show. I'm well over any disappointment about television offerings, I've found my entertainment deeper in the cable channels or on other media.

I do have one hope at the end of this season. One wish... That with the end of new programming, with exception of a some more reality television I'm sure. I wish, I pray, I hope that NBC stops running those damn "talk radio" commericials where a 3 or 4 jabbering morons are yukking it up about what's on NBC tonight, in a scripted "casual and witty" kind of fashion. I've hated those commericials since they started last fall and I despise them now. I don't even listen to the radio that often, but I still end up catching these radio spots when I do. Jeez the first time I heard them I wanted to tear my ears off and throw them out the window, preferably at the ad genius who came up with this concept.

Historical Sounds in MP3 Format (Excellent)

I found this via Digg. I love these kinds of sites. I'm glad someone has taken the interest to bring these digitized copies of historical figures speaking and other sounds out for us all to listen too.

Great historical speaks and sounds in MP3 Format (include Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein,Robert Frost, etc)

read more | digg story

Tech News Round-Up

New Apple MacBooks

Over the few days there've been a few new tech items that have had me excited. First on that list is easily the new Apple Macbook and the processor speed upgrades for the Apple Macbook Pros. The new Macbook sports a 13.3 inch widescreen, with configurations that all but eliminate the G4 based 12 inch Powerbook and iBooks from Apple's line up thus completing the Intel conversion of Apple's notebook offerings. The new Macbooks are immediately avialable via the Apple store with delivery times of only a few days...not to shabby for a new system offering.

I'll probably get one of these Macbooks one day. For my pro-machine I prefer spending my money on a solid tower system that I can upgrade and keep around for awhile to make the most of my investment. These Macbooks look like a good deal for a consumer level Mac and should make it affordable for me to have a portable Mac. I can't wait to see what the new Mac Pro desktop systems are going to look like. I like the improvements they've made on their systems so far with this migration to the Intel architecture. Hopefully the pro desktops won't disappoint.

Wii Takes the Show at E3

It seems unanimous after reading the wrap-ups and reports from the E3 Electronic Entertainment show, that Nintendo with it's upcoming Wii console and popular DS handheld gaming system have impressed everyone with their presentation and gaming offerings. Hell, even the VP's of Sony and Microsoft are both talking up the Wii as a 2nd system to buy along with their consoles. I've never been that much of a Nintendo fan, owning a DS for the past year and a half has definitely changed my mind on that. From what I've heard about the Wii I'm intrigued, it might be the first Nintendo console I buy.

Sony's Playstation 3 has me unimpressed for the most part. Forcing users to swallow a 500 to 600 dollar price tag, to buy a Blu-ray disc player wrapped into a game console is kind of a shakey proposition. The HD DVD wars aren't even over yet, there's no guarantee that Blu-Ray is going to be the format of choice. With Sony's past history in format wars, they aren't a horse I'm willing to bet on (anyone remember Betamax?).

Blu-ray drive aside, what is the PS3 really offering? Higher definition football, boxing and shooting games? These are the same games we've been playing for awhile now. Despite the tech advances on the guts of the box, there aren't any innovative games being touted from the Sony camp. Sure they'll have the umpteenth GTA game, but esstentially it's the same game we've played since GTA3. That's where Nintendo is grabbing people's attention both with the DS and with the Wii. They are the one company trying to grab new gamers, attempting to attract untapped markets, and trying to give us something truely new, while at the same time improving on our old favorites. Maybe Sony has something up its sleeve for their titles, whatever it is they're keeping it a secret so far.

Baby Gushing

Man alive, I can't believe the kid has been with us for over a month now. Slowly but surely he's growing, he's passed the 7lb mark and he's already grown a half an inch taller. I'm digging being a Dad and I can tell the Lady is loving being our guy's mom. He's really becoming more aware of his surroundings, which of course makes him more fun. Last weekend we had our first voluntary smile when we was hanging out on the couch between his mom and me. As we were singing to him, he looked back and forth at both us and smiled. That moment made my weekend. We were singing old Motown tunes, the Supremes I think. I know the words to those songs like the back of my hand so they are fun to sing to him.

Our dogs have been adjusting to having the little one in the house pretty well. Jasper has really been great, he watches over the kid if we leave him in his cradle or seat. Bailey doesn't mind the new addtion, but she doesn't like having to share "her" time with anyone else. I think after a month or so now she's getting into the new routine.

I wish I'd had longer than a week to spend at home. I try to get as much time with him on the weekends and when I get home from work. Holding him lets some of the stresses of work melt away, even if he's being fussy and crying, which isn't too often really.

Help Save Palladium Books!

Palladium has long been a publisher of a very rich roleplaying universe. While many gamers might have dismissed their combat system or some of their rules, no one could deny that this was a company that excelled in presenting imaginative "playgrounds" for paper and pencil role playing gamers.

For a variety of reasons Palladium is having extreme money woes, from a variety of ventures that didn't pan out and apparent legal conflicts.

If you ever played their games or enjoyed any of their products, throw a few sheckles their way...

http://forums.palladium-megaverse.com/viewtopic.php?t=57048

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY - This Saturday: May 6th, 2006

If you even have a fleeting interest in comic books, once was a reader, would like to be a regular comic reader again, or you want to introduce your kids to comics. This is the perfect weekend to do so. Comic shops and publishers across the country are participating in Free Comic Book Day this Saturday. Many shops are having other special events to correspond with the day.

Check out the link in the title to see what comics are being offered for free and to use the comic shop locator to find a participating shop near you.

For superhero action this is a great time for new readers to jump on whether you are interested in DC or Marvel comics. I'll give my review of the first issue of Marvel's Civil War limited series very soon.

Headline Scan and Uninformed Commentary

Is this Magic?
David Blaine is doing another one of his stunts or illusions or whatever in NYC. This time the guy is going to spend 7 days in an aquarium. Here is an article from the BBC. I'm tired of this dude, how many times are we going to have to hear about him spending a certain amount of time somewhere without food or water. Its the same stunt over and over again, except this time it's underwater or in ice or behind glass. Who gives. As you can tell my tone, I don't care. I just don't find this impressive... let's really see something new from this guy, instead of a rehash of the same stunt.

Still 99 Cents Baby!
Apple has secured agreements with four of the major music labels keeping the 99 cent price per song on the ol' iTunes Music store. Good news to hear. Man I was dreading the idea of the rumoured more complex pricing schemes. 99 cents I can deal with. Though honestly... it's been awhile since I've bought any new music.

Day Without Immigrants
Editorials a plenty regarding the rallies yesterday in various cities acrossed the country. The day should've been called Day Without Illegal Aliens. I just find the rallies audacious. I don't discount the contribution of immigrants to this country, anyone with half a brain realizes that's what makes this nation strong. These rallies aren't about immigrant rights, legal immigrants to this country are guaranteed the rights of any other citizen. Illegal aliens, non-residents, criminals who have gone around the law to live and work in this country aren't owed anything, and to demand extended rights and legitamcy is just ridiculous to me. Wow yeah, pretty tough calling these hard working people criminals, doesn't make it less true. That's what a person who breaks the law is, regardless of the reasoning or motivation behind breaking the law. Just because a person made it through and has successfully lived and worked here illegally for many years, they shouldn't be rewarded for dodging the law with citizenship or legal work status. I that is counter productive to securing our borders. These amnesty programs just give more motivation to cross our borders illegally. A fundamental requirement for any nation is securing of its borders. Having some control over who crosses in and out of the country. Unknown people with unknown agendas, no matter how benign they may be, crossing our borders uninhibited is just intolerable.

This isn't an issue of race as many leaders and supporters of the "immigrant" movement would have you think to distract you from the real issues at hand. If we had a influx of illegal Scandanavians coming in through via Canada and then making demands I'd have the same feelings. Anyway... too much time spent on that topic.

Its late, almost time for a late night feeding with the little one.