self-deprivation
There's something to be said for the merits of self-deprivation. One of the most difficult acts a man can perform is to deny himself harmless pleasures solely for the sake of self-improvement. These are not undertakings of moral significance; i.e. not teetotalism, nor abstinence from sexual impurity. Rather, I am referring to less consequential, but still important, things - like spending a spring break studying instead of enjoying the numerous available distractions.
Competing against one's own desires will always be an uphill battle, but it makes a man stronger. Yes, there are innumerable other ways to grow as an individual, some of which include: traveling, composing music, pondering, playing video games. But if any of these are what someone wishes to do, he's missing out. Man long ago realized that his time was precious, and his days numbered; an enlightened individual will look evanescent Life in the face and scoff, choosing to spend his most vivacious days cloistered in an apartment, perusing the uninteresting.
Higher education is the hobgoblin of little minds.
windows phone 7 announced
If you haven't heard about Windows Phone 7 Series yet, you should check it out. It's a marked departure from previous Windows variants, which have changed very little from Palm PC to Pocket PC to Windows Mobile. It uses a brand-new interface akin to the latest Windows Media Center and Zune designs, some of which can be seen in the new dashboard of the Xbox 360. It foregos the standard desktop or application list design in favor of a series of interactive tiles which are dynamically animated as updates occur. Transitions are smooth as the user touches and slides into new panels of information.
The result of this latest incarnation is an elegant device that is targeted squarely at the average consumer. One has to wonder if this desire to make an operating system that is more accessible to the layman will alienate the base that built up around Windows Mobile - namely, business and power users looking for a mobile computer with a great deal of flexibility and connectivity options. Microsoft had said in the past that Windows Mobile 6.5 would persist after the arrival of Windows Phone 7, which seems to make some sense now. While the new Windows Phone experience looks promising, it doesn't appear to be the best option for business users, at least at first glance.
A large part of the new phone is Zune, Xbox Live, and social networking (i.e. Facebook) integration. The media player looks essentially identical to the Zune HD, and the games will allow achievement points toward an Xbox Live gamertag. But as fun as all that sounds, large questions remain. There has been very little mention of third-party program development, and no Windows Mobile applications for older versions will work with the new system. There also doesn't seem to be "multitasking" in a true sense, which could be a pretty pivotal step backward for a mobile Windows OS. And the ease of basic functions like copying and pasting is also undetermined. But there will undoubtedly be more revealed about these issues in the coming months.
One has to applaud Microsoft's complete and utter overhaul of the system; they're certainly taking some risks here, rather than just trying to do one better than the competition. But there's still a long time to go until the Holiday 2010 release of Windows Phone 7 Series, and it will be a hard fight for Microsoft to retake the ground they've lost to the iPhone OS and newcomer Android. Fortunately, it seems that Microsoft has finally done what they needed to do all along: integrate all of their core properties to make a killer device. Xbox, Zune, Bing, Office...and Internet Explorer? That's a recipe for success.
effects of a feeding frenzy
It has been suggested that eating smaller, more frequent meals is more healthy than eating fewer, more "intense" meals. One thing is for certain: it is far less upsetting to the digestive system. As an experiment, for purely scientific reasons, I had classy all-you-can-eat chicken and steak one night, followed by less-than-classy all-you-can-eat pancakes the next morning. Accompanying the first meal was the obligatory salad (with bacon), while the second also entailed eggs, sausage...and bacon. The results are as follows:
- Crippling abdominal pain
- Uncontrollable flatulence
- Disrupted bowel movements
- Loss of appetite
- General malaise
That's not to say I wouldn't do the same every weekend though. Perhaps it's a remnant of our primitive hunter/gatherer days, but there's a reassurance in knowing that what you eat will be promptly replaced until your gluttonous will is satiated. And it was ludicrously delicious.
Here's a little light reading for the scientifically-inclined.
what happened to cghm?
What's going on here? There's an extra step to get to the website?
I know. The regulars will hate it - at least initially. But the new, lovely CGHM Home Page is actually a great idea. Let's allow a friendly Q and A to tell us why.
Q: What's the point?
A: First and foremost, it's a celebration of the 10th anniversary of CGHM Networks. Yes, something needed to happen. Many things don't survive ten years, especially not in the technology realm. Founded in February 2000, CGHM actually predates Facebook (2004) and Wikipedia (2001), even if it's not quite as successful as those Internet behemoths. A nice visual home page is a great birthday present.
Q: Yeah, but what does it accomplish?
A: One could argue that information was more accessible before this change. I would argue that this actually improves access to what CGHM now has to offer. The truth is that it's been years since CGHM was all about the individual websites and not focused on CGHM itself, namely the articles. This home page will highlight the different sections of the site and give more exposure to things that would go overlooked if only the most recent article was up there.
Just type in something to search for and prepare to be wowed. Or follow one of the big links on the left. Or wait for a recent article that sounds interesting to appear at the bottom.
Q: But why is this really happening?
A: It's no conspiracy. But there's some truth to the fact that I haven't been able to keep up the pace of the articles, and probably won't be able to in the future, so this will serve as a way of directing people to what already is here, rather than having them sit and wait for what is to come.
Those answers should suffice for most people, but if you're really curious, there are more after the break.
remembering mr. bell
When Glen Bell - the founder of Taco Bell - died last week, I was pretty upset. His passing was overshadowed by the devastating tragedy that was the earthquake in Haiti, but both lamentable events deserve attention. Like some others, I was also surprised to learn that Taco Bell was actually named for a person. But it's good to know that the work of the man will persist in the colons of his patrons for years to come. And it's also good to see that the company's website is remembering their founder with good spirits in lieu of dreary somberness:
Sometimes a mourning salsa packet says it all.
that sasquatch sound
The best moments in film are those that can forever be called to mind. There may be no fathomable reason for such remembrances, and some films containing such moments are wholly unworthy of persistence in mind. Whatever the case, the 2002 film "Sasquatch" accomplished this feat at least once. Amiable outdoorsman Clayton Tyne produces an unearthly sound that, if one did not know better, could have reverberated from the vocal cords of the fabled Bigfoot himself.
Part laughter, part disgust, part hairball, and a touch of whooping cough...that's my best explanation for it. Be sure to listen to it again.
a new day for mlk
Martin Luther King, Jr. can sleep easy now, knowing his dream has come to fruition.
sorry, salvatore
The mustache misled me.
It's just another case of not being able to judge a book by its cover. I believed that his throwback '70's appearance, coupled with his overall lack of talent, made Sal Fasano a lock for the third base/catcher spot on the SleazeSox. But I didn't bother to take a look at the man behind the mustache, and that resulted in someone being unfairly labeled as a dirtbag.
The revelations came from this article by SI's Jeff Pearlman. It relates how Salvatore Frank Fasano has a child with a heart condition, and the 38 year old catcher was just trying to keep a spot on a Major League roster so that he could be entitled to their health insurance plan. Without the plan, he would be unable to afford the expensive surgeries for his son. And there is this passage about Sal's character really blew me away:
Mostly, Fasano is known throughout baseball as one of the truly good guys -- an honest, humble, friendly, blue-collar ballplayer who has never been accused of cheating and whose knowledge and decency makes him, in many minds, an obvious future manager.
As if that's not enough to keep someone from being lumped in with the likes of newly-acquired despicable sluggers Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa, I then found this article from the same author. It's all about how Sal refused to take steroids when everyone around him was doing it to get ahead. Fasano's dedication to his family and his determination to doing what is right are admirable qualities that are belied by his comical visage.
So this is my apology to Mr. Fasano, and an earnest reminder that not everything can be taken at face value. Even if he's not a perfect fit, we will be keeping Fasano on our virtual ball club as we march toward the World Series, because he deserves another victory.
the tuff boyz
Most of us, for the new year, have resolved to stop using and/or dealing crack cocaine. But for those few who steadfastly refuse to kick the habit, a new group has arisen.
Download G Love E - "Tough Boys" MP3
These are the Tough Boys, and this is their song - as made famous in the MacGyver episode of the same name. The lyrics are presented here, along with the proper English translations for those who do not speak 80's rap. Hopefully some insight can be gained as to how immensely drugs impact our communities...so much so that they would provoke the creation of songs such as these.