Apple Commercials Are Obnoxious

So Apple has basically been running the same kind of anti-PC commercials for years now, from when OSX was slightly better than Windows through when they started to suck a ton of ass. Now they just really focus on their overpriced phone, complete with monthly financial molesting from AT&T, and their overpriced MP3 player because the public just simply isn't aware that there are cheaper, better alternatives for both. I didn't feel I needed to comment on this until I watched Apple's most recent commercials. Yes Windows 7 is out, yes it's the best Windows ever. Yes it's overpriced, but all Snow Leopard is is basically what Leopard should have been in the first place. Apple claims that they have the highest customer satisfaction, but keep in mind that even when they were going out of business they still had about 3% of the market which was made up of people that were forced into using their products for creative software that only ran on Crapple, and of course die hard Apple fans. So let's say they have 7% now, which is probably pushing it. If even only half of those computers work that gives them a solid 3.5% so between die hard fans, who would purchase an Apple even if it was made out of feces and actually called the iTurd, and customers who simply won't have a problem their rating will be unnaturally high because of the low percentages. The point is that these commercials almost feel so old and lame that it's like Apple is more so feeling the end of their product line, than actually making legitimate arguments against Windows 7. It feels like a last ditch effort to save their overpriced computer line which is not just under attack from Windows 7, but also under attack from great distros of GNU/Linux. Overall it's just annoying since most users don't even need to pay for an OS, or even software at this point, and can just use Ubuntu. Still I hate it when companies lie, insinuate lies, tell half truths, or simply fudge statistics like Apple does in these commercials. M$ is at least showing us what people are doing with Windows 7 (aka taking the high road) in their commercials. Apple is just giving us the same old anti-windows crap. You know what, that would be ok if they didn't have stupid policies, and a now bad version of UNIX that they were using as the thin ice platform that they are attacking Windows from. Please Apple please, just stop. You need to make good products that are backed up by decent policies first before you attack better products. I mean my God, I don't even like M$, and it's hard to admit, but they are actually acting way more mature than Apple.....

Ninja Assassin

So I just wanted to say that the trailers for this look very cool and I am definately going to see it. There is one small point that is already bothering me though; ninjas are assassins. This title is annoyingly redundant. I hope the film does not follow suit.

Pictures Display in Firefox but not IE 6, 7, or 8

So I had some trouble with some web development lately. I designed a webpage using Bluefish Editor on GNU/Linux using some code that a friend provided and modifying it. and checked my pages with Firefox and Ganelon. So far no problems. Then I tried multiple versions of IE. My page would display but not the images, except for on 1 page, and only in IE. My doctype was good
meaning


-- There are many reasons why IE does not display things properly, and my solution may not work for you, but in the end it was simply that IE sucks filthy balls, and I figured out exactly why in my case after reading through a ton of other documentation and comparing my code. You see the other browsers read my code and ignored white space issues, IE did not. In this bit of CSS where I defined #top I accidentally left no white space between my image name and no-repeat. Once I put the space back in all versions of IE worked correctly. Again, this may not solve your issue, but if you've done code verification, read all of the other forums, and still are having trouble give your code another closer look. Especially if you don't see a red x image place holder like I did not.


#top {
background: #8B956D url(HMS_small_CSS.jpg)no-repeat top center;
padding-top: 375px;
}

#top {
background: #8B956D url(HMS_small_CSS.jpg) no-repeat top center;
padding-top: 375px;
}

I hope this helps someone out. At any rate I don't want to condone initially sloppy coding, but really the largest software company in the world can't create a browser that deals with this?! At any rate some day we'll all use GNU/Linux or similar operating systems and, well I'm about to rant.

Netflix Streaming (Watch Instantly) On Ubuntu 9.04 ALMOST

I have been working on the Netflix/Ubuntu 9.04 problem for quite some time.
I offer the following obervations with no implied warranty.
I started with looking at the directions here
http://fatbuttlarry.blogspot.com/2009/02/netflix-ubuntu.html
but since this user had the most success with 8.04 I had to keep looking. Which lead me to this forum amongst many other places.
At any rate here's what I did after trying the moonlight 1.99.5, Coral IETab, and User Agent Switcher combinations and only getting as far as the Active X is not enabled screen. I tried ies4linux as well.

-- At this point I can get a instant movie to load to the point that I get the black backdrop with the swirling blue loading icon on Netflix in Firefox 3.5 run using Wine 1.1.3 with Silverlight 3 and some Windows Fonts installed as explained below.

-- I added http://wine.buggetdedicated.com/apt edgy
to the Third-Party Software tab under System -- Administration -- Software Sources and added an authentication certificate for winehq.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=338400
this explains getting the winehq gpg key. If you don't have it you should just get a warning when installing. Adding it should make the warning go away forever. This allows you to install the most recent versions of Wine which may not be the stable releases.

-- I then went to System -- Administration -- Synaptic -- and installed Wine 1.1.3, wine-dev 1.1.3, and wine-gecko 1.0.0. Note: In theory after you add the source and refresh the package list, when prompted, the Update Manager should tell you that there is an update for Wine, or if you use Add/Remove to add Wine and then use the Update Manager (System -- Administration -- Update Manager) it should tell you. Anyway, I just used Synaptic so whatever floats your boat.

-- I downloaded the Windows version of Firefox 3.5 from www.Mozilla.com/Firefox3.5, went to Application -- Wine -- Browse C: drive and dropped the *.exe in there. I then double clicked on it and installed it.

-- Launch Firefox 3.5 using Wine, go to Netflix and log in, then choose something to watch instantly. You will then be told to download Silverlight 3. Save the *.exe file for it and move it into your Wine C: drive as explained in the last step.

-- Close Firefox and install Silverlight. If you go to Netflix again at this point you will get a font error stating that you must be a Crapple user if you're getting a font error. Of course you're not, but Netflix believes that people only use Windoze and OSXcrament so that's what you get. If they didn't believe this they would have just used something that already works on everyone's systems instead of painting themselves into a corner with Silverlight... I still like Netflix, but the whole Silverlight thing gets on my nerves...

-- Anyway, to solve this font problem you need to move some Windows fonts into your Wine virtual C: drive\windows\fonts folder. I copied them from my legal copy of Windows in it's C:\Windows\Fonts folder. I have a dual boot setup so this was easy. I'm sure some linux font guru probably has a welcome substitution to this step that doesn't involve having to use Crapple or Microshaft fonts but that's what I did.

-- Once you do this, at least for me, when I go to Netflix using Firefox 3.5 and Silverlight 3 run through Wine I get the movie to start to load, then my browser freezes and goes grey. Anyway, it's at least promising.

-- I should mention that I'm using a Toshiba laptop that is using the generic Ubuntu video driver. I was never able to get fglrx to work totally so I went back to the generic. I sometimes get white lines on the right hand side of the screen when I scroll and 2ndary monitor support is not existent so perhaps I have larger problems and someone else, with a Dell for example, may have more luck with my steps. Perhaps the video driver has nothing to do with it at all. Anyway, I hope this helps someone out.

Don't Complain About Smokers Or Smoke If You Drive A Car

Ok, so I never actually tell anyone what they can and can't complain about. It's a mostly free country after all, and the mutilated first amendment certinally still covers the rights of people that complain about smoking and smokers. Every once in a while I have this conversation with someone who will often say "I guess" in response to my facts as if they aren't facts, or "I'll complain about whatever I want to", or "cigarettes are disgusting." Let me set the record stragiht. I think cigarettes are disgusting and that people should not smoke. I have never made an argument for cigarettes. I have simply made the argument that if you drive a car, which is way more polluting than smoking cigarettes, you can't complain about cigarettes effecting air quality.
http://www.forces.org/evidence/files/aircare.htm
The above report highlights how little effect cigarette smoke has on the environment in comparison with cars in general. Sure the numbers might be off here and there depending on what kind of car you drive, but in general if you even cut these numbers in half your car is still way more polluting than cigarettes. Here are a few of the equivalent numbers to vehicle emissions from the article however I urge you to read the whole article to put everything into its proper context. I should note that these are the more conservative estimates from the article. We can assume that the problems is much worse, but I don't like to assume.
* 5.78571428515 [to the 15th power] (57,500 billions) cigarettes each year
* 7,358,400 cigarettes each U.S. square mile every year (including Alaska & Hawaii)
* 22 millions cigarettes per person each year
* 20,160 cigarettes each U.S. square mile every day (including Alaska & Hawaii)
* 157.5 billions cigarettes each day
* 60,875 cigarettes per person each day
* 2,540 cigarettes per person each hour
* 42.5 cigarettes per person each minute
The point is that cigarette smokers have been banned in most states from smoking almost anywhere. It's even worse now then when Dennis Leary did his famous "where can smokers smoke now" bit. Sure we could have required more efficient vent fans in restaurant smoking sections, or allowed restaurant owners to decide if they wanted their own establishments to be smoking establishments, but instead the government went nuclear crapping on the rights of restaurant owners, for example, along with bar owners and many others. It's funny but I thought if I owned a place I could choose whether people can smoke in it or not, oh well not when big brother decides that sitting 26 tables away from me in a non-smoking section, behind a glass partition separated by vent fans to pull the smoke away still may effect their eating experience. The solution was simple. Non-smoking places could have advertised that they were such and smoking establishments could have done the same. If you don't like smoking don't go to a place that allows it. It's called personal responsibility. The government didn't need to get involved. What's really funny is that now, in most states, you can't even smoke at the bar. The bar for Pete's sake. A place where people go to abuse substances! Still in the end all of you hypocritical non-smokers can drive your gas guzzling tanks to the now non-smoking diner and do way more damage to the air quality than the smokers that used to use the smoking section there ever did.
So good job, and please don't argue with me on the point that cars are a necessity. Most of our people still live in and around cities and can walk, ride a bike, take mass transit, car pool, or many other things to reduce their car emissions or eliminate the need for a car at all. Cars are almost always a convenience, not a necessity, and even with that said most people own cars that are way more powerful than they need to go about their daily routines. So even if they are a necessity, like you live in the middle of the Great Plains or something, for you you can't argue the 100+ extra horse power you got in your car that you didn't need.
Anyway, if you own a car, drive one, etcetera then fuck off about getting down on smokers. Until you choose the primary mode of transit that I have, walking and biking for the most part, you have no right. Also, even though I have the right it would still be hypocritical of me to do so since I own a car that I used every once in a while. Oh yeah and how about all of you idiots that open burn and don't smoke, or use gas powered lawn equipment and don't smoke but get down on smokers anyway? Sigh... anyway I can keep going on but the moral here is that most Americans have no right to bitch about smokers polluting the air, making is smell weird, etcetera. In general people that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Damned EML .eml attachments and a solution

So I remember having to figure this out some time ago, and then forgetting about it since I don't use Microshaft for the most part, but anyway I had to decode an .eml on my GNU/Linux machine today for the first time in a long time and was fortunate enough to find a solution here. Anyway, this solution worked for me.

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-45838.html

Although this is an Ubuntu forum this should work with evolution and a simple text editor in general. When I say that I mean these directions:
A big thank you to user 8rdx --

I just ran into this problem w/yahoo and it took me a while to figure it out...

1) Open the attachment in gedit.
2) Scroll down to the "From:" line and copy it.
3) Paste the "From:" line at the very top.
4) Remove the ":" (colon).
5) Save.
6) Drop it back into Evolution.

It SHOULD work. At least it did for me.

If HTML mail looks silly, you may need to allow images:
Edit>Preferences>Mail Preferences>HTML Mail>Load Images
"Always load images from the internet"

Hope this helps! :)

iPhone 3GS (Who Cares?!)

I won't waste a lot of time talking about the technical aspects of the iPhone. I also know that any publicity can be good publicity, but I feel that I should post about this anyway. As with many Apple products, they are pretty decent, and listed along with "in your face" advertising in many places. Still I am led to say who cares whenever Apple releases a new phone because of their philosophical problems as a company.
For example, the partnership with AT&T. Few people read their contracts closely enough to notice the fascist things that Apple did especially with the first gen. iPhones. For example, you can not get a discount on the phone at all on your monthly bill, like if you're a state employee, but you can with any other phone. Now remember that this phone launched at $600 bucks, and then they almost immediately started drastically dropping the price on the phone, basically screwing their die hard customers that bought it on opening night. Of course with every phone released after that you could, but then they also raised the monthly rate of the phone from $70 for a base plan to $80 per month, meaning that even though the phone is $200 bucks it ends up being way more expensive in the long run. Also, let's not forget the ultimate screw time table that Apple used on its customers when they released a better iPhone in less than a year that was $200 bucks. Sure technology changes quickly, but if they were able to release a much better phone so quickly, and the SIM card in the 1st gen was a 3G SIM card anyway, maybe they just should have released a $200 phone, or a 3G phone in the first place, but then they wouldn't have had the opportunity to screw their die hard customers. Yes they did release a $100 in store rebate to customers that bought original iPhone but only if they bought it at full price. Then on to the advertising. I am personally so sick of their childish Mac vs. PC advertising. Sure we should all be using GNU/Linux, but PC has come a long way when it comes to security, and people do get real work done with PCs, plus OSX has a lot of security problems and as it becomes more popular these make the news more and more. Apple's recent commercials again childishly attack the security of PCs, but if we actually had a real universal definition for viruses Apple would no longer be able to claim that their systems did not get them since they can get plenty of other nasty malware. The thing that keeps systems safe is education. Apple is simply less popular, but with a user base that mostly buys the systems because they are "easier to use" and because "they don't want to have to worry about how their computer works" these systems are ripe for attack, but since their percentage of use is still so low we all again basically get to say "who cares" when Apple releases anything. Even when they charge $130 for an OS that is basically totally open source, but that is a rant for another posting. Still the advertising for the iPhone shows a lot of Apps, but remember they are not all free apps, and even if they were the phone is very expensive to use every month, and only works with one carrier that leaves a lot to be desired itself. Plus with Apple busy trying to sue Palm for using touch gestures that humans have used since they've created written language, we are starting to see much better phones emerge anyway. So that's my 2 cents on it.... Let's stop rewarding this company that is all nice on the outside but super fascist on the inside. Apple is the corporate equivalent of cream filled chocolate that's sweet on the outside, but filled with bitter lies inside, or more literally like a Cadbury egg that someone filled with creamy bullshit.