After over a month offline, I finally got my sites moved to a new server. yay! I’m trying something new this time, so my site is now running on nginx instead of apache. I’m interested to see if I get any performance gains from nginx. 
Archives for 2010
Idiots boycotting BP
I was out driving around town today and I saw a bunch of idiots out rallying and waving signs that said “boycott BP” at an intersection that happened to have 2 BP gas stations kitty-corner from each other. So I swung into one of the gas stations and topped off my gas tank, went inside and bought a diet-coke.
While I was filling up my gas tank, there was a sign put up on the pump that said something along the lines of “BP stations are locally owned and operated, and contribute to the local communities. Thank you for your loyalty.” It really made my blood boil as I read that, and heard the picketers across the street shouting at me for supporting a locally owned and operated gas station that happens to be a BP franchisor.
I’m not sure what I’m more angry, the fact that these people are just looking for a cause to “fight” for because they’re bleeding heart liberals and want to earn their “good for society” badge? They really don’t care about the oil spill in the gulf, they really don’t care about the causes they wave flags for. They just need a scapegoat and target for their activism, and BP is their current target.
Boycotting BP, especially in Northern Minnesota, isn’t going to do anything to help the gulf. All it is doing is hurting local businesses and the local Minnesota economy. BP isn’t going anywhere, they’re still going to be in business for years to come, and they’re going to continue making gobs of money. Whether the oil spill in the gulf is their fault or not, instead of pointing fingers and playing the blame game, the bleeding heart liberals need to actually think of what is GOOD, and HELP the people in need. There are organizations that you can donate money, and other items to, to actually help clean up the oil, because the government sat around and talked about what to do, instead of doing anything, and now there is a big mess on the gulf coast.
Playin with the WordPress app for Android
I just installed the WordPress app for Android on my HTC evo. This is a test post from the app.
So far this seems like a pretty sweet app! I’m still not used to the Android/evo keyboard… I think the spacebar needs to be a bit bigger as I’m trying to type as fast as I do on my iPhone but my words blend together, so its either the auto spell correction or I’m missing the spacebar as I type.
HTC Evo & Apple iPhone
I’ve had an iPhone 3g for just over 1.5 years now, and I LOVE IT! I’ve also had the Samsung Instinct as a work phone for the past 2 years, and it’s been pretty meh. Today, our new work phones arrived, the new HTC Evo, the worlds first 4G smartphone blah blah marketingspeak.
All I can say is this thing is HUGE! And when I turned it on, it’s got a nice, crisp, hi-res display and it looks fantastic. I can’t wait to get it activated and start playing with it. I primarily use my iPhone for personal, but I use the email / web features of it for work because it was so much better than the instinct. I might actually start using my work phone for work (email/web) as well as personal.
Here is a picture of the phones side by side while I wait for the new phone to activate…
Ebook Raders – iPhone, Nook, Kindle, and now Edge
I recently grew a love for ebook readers. I use my iPhone with the Stanza app, which allows me to read ebooks, purchase and download ebooks wirelessly via my phones internet connection, and access the full project Gutenberg library (my personal favorite). I enjoy it immensely, as it lets me bring my books with me wherever I go, since I bring my iPhone with me wherever I go.
Over the holidays, I had the chance to play around and use my brother’s Kindle from Amazon, and I was impressed! I liked that the Kindle had a bigger screen, and the e-ink was very nice to read, compared to reading the backlit ebooks on my iPhone. However, I did not like the fact that the display was not touch-sensitive, and I had to use the physical buttons to turn the page. The Kindle interface wasn’t very intuitive and it took me a while to get used to it and be able to quickly navigate the menus.
Also over the holidays, I was able to check out my Uncle’s Nook from Barnes and Noble. Feature wise, the Nook and Kindle are pretty evenly matched, but due to the fact that the Nook has a 2nd screen, and has built in Wi-Fi, I would probably buy the Nook over the Kindle, if I had to get one or the other.
BUT! (there is always a but) I just read about the new enTourage eDGe which combines 2 displays, and the google android OS to make a hybrid ebook reader that functions also as a tablet pc/netbook. Now this is more along the lines of something that I would buy. I’ve been contemplating getting a netbook, and if I make the plunge into netbook ownership, I’m going to take a hard look at the eDGe. I’m not that familiar with the droid OS, and if there was a version that would let me run the Ubuntu Netbook Remix, then it would be just right.
Mini & Bite-Sized candy bars without the wrappers
Now that the holidays are over, I have a bag of mini 3 Musketeers bars on my desk to snack on while at work. It’s a typical bag, full of the little yummy bite-sized snacks, but it is an EVIL bag, for within it, each of the bite-sized snacks is individually wrapped! I wish they would sell bags of bite-sized candy bars that are not individually wrapped. Just like you can get a big bag of Peanut M&M’s and snack on them by the handful, I’d like to be able to just reach into the bag, grab 2-3 mini 3 Musketeers Bars (or Snickers, or any other mini/bite-sized candybar) to snack on, without having to spend the time unwrapping each piece.
It would make me a happy camper, and it would be better for the environment to not have all those extra wrappers filling up my waste basket.