Sunday, September 11, 2005

BBspot - Microsoft Releases Box Set of Rarities and Oldies

BBspot - Microsoft Releases Box Set of Rarities and Oldies: "Redmond, WA - Microsoft has announced the release of a box set of their 'greatest operating systems of all time,' stuffed with their previous releases and tons of extras. The box set - entitled 'Microsoft 1975 - 2000: The Early Years' covers the company's rise from the early garage days to today.

Fans of the company should find everything they need in the box. Not only does it contain classics like DOS 3.30, Windows 3.11 and 95 OSR2.5 – it also contains rare cult material like Microsoft Bob, Windows 1.0 and ME. Die hard fans may complain about the decision to include the updated and patched versions instead of the original releases, but they are likely to have the entire collection, anyway.

"

Breakdowns Marked Path From Hurricane to Anarchy - New York Times

Breakdowns Marked Path From Hurricane to Anarchy - New York Times: "On Tuesday, a FEMA official who had just flown over the ravaged city by helicopter seemed to have trouble conveying to his bosses the degree of destruction, according to a New Orleans city councilwoman.

'He got on the phone to Washington, and I heard him say, 'You've got to understand how serious this is, and this is not what they're telling me, this is what I saw myself,' ' the councilwoman, Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, recalled.

State and federal officials had spent two years working on a disaster plan to prepare for a massive storm, but it was incomplete and had failed to deal with two issues that proved most critical: transporting evacuees and imposing law and order."

Daring Fireball: The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal User Interface Theme

Daring Fireball: The iTunes 5 Announcement From the Perspective of an Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal User Interface Theme: "Brushed Metal: Calculator? I’m out of iTunes and you tell me I’ve still got Calculator? When is the Special Event scheduled for the next version of Calculator? Oh, that’s right, there is none, because no one gives a shit about Calculator."

You ever wonder why it is...

Your friends give you shit when you aren't getting laid for not getting laid, then when you are they give you shit for getting some? Seriously, what is up with that.

"HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS"

screaming-penguin.com: "

You know, this line is haunting me. I don't know if you saw Brian Williams on The Daily Show this week, but he talked about reading this line in the National Weather Service bulletin on his blackberry on Sunday, and the press weren't even sure if it was a legitimate message because they had never seen anything like this from NOAA before. It turns out it was literally from the last guy in the office just trying to make the most loaded statement he could so people would get it. There is a story in there that somebodyh ought to tell.

Somehow it seems to me to be a story that is much to frequent anymore. Whether it is the FDA or the EPA or the ACoE or NOAA, it seems like there are constant stories these days about professional scientists and engineers and logisticians warning everyone who will listen what is coming people just don't seem to actually take them seriously. In a world where all the coverage seems like 'Someone says sky is green, scientists disagree, ' it is not hard to understand why people might just ignore shit. I mean, obviously there is no consensus that the sky isn't green!


It doesn't matter if it is the Greenhouse Effect, a Hurricane, Plan B, or that maybe the dinosaurs did actually live 65,000,000 years ago, it seems that if any fucktard wants to ignore the truth, then it is 'open for debate'.

Now we go back and look at the resume of everyone at FEMA, and unless they have 'Acting' in their title, it is obvious that they are in no way qualified for their position. Maybe I am just a 'big goverment liberal', but you know, the reason we have a beurocracy is to put beurocrats in charge. Not Nordac the IT preventor or other Dilber nightmares, but people who are professionally trained and responsible for doing their job, not for a political agenda. FEMA, the FDA, the USDA, NOAA, the EPA, DOE or NASA, and you know, even the Pentagon, I expect to be staffed with people who understand the real world dynamics of their field, not people who worked on the commitee to elect whichever jackass is in the Whitehouse (even if it is my jackass).

I can't help but think, in a democracy where we now pick our leaders on the "who would you want to have a beer with" standard, it seems that the "who you would want to have a beed with" standard applies to every role of our government, and should we be suprised?"