tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-316786782012-01-26T22:28:35.234-05:00Philosophy, Science, and ReasonAaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.comBlogger4761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-72454211512531669422012-01-05T16:52:00.000-05:002012-01-05T16:52:06.632-05:00

The Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, is so far-reaching, and so wildly inappropriate, that it is actually becoming part of the conversation of people outside of copyright law circles. This is quite the achievement. I'm very much against both it and its sibling, The Protect Intellectual Property (PIPA) Act. What hit me today, though, is not that the RIAA, MPAA, and anyone else who supports this

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-73831948591086526532011-11-23T19:35:00.001-05:002011-11-23T20:51:16.088-05:00

I have oft lamented the state of medicine in the United States. I find that when it comes to moralizing, the US is #1 in the world. There is so much moral baggage wrapped up in care in this country that Hippocrates must be spinning in his grave. What do I mean by moralizing? There is a deep thread of what people "deserve" and what is "right" as opposed to what reduces suffering. For example,

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-56232063791634391882011-11-10T00:23:00.000-05:002011-11-10T00:23:45.356-05:00

I had a long argument on Facebook with a friend who is a closeted pro-life advocate. I thought enough useful stuff was said to warrant getting it onto the web. Names have been changed. Steve: I don't really know how I feel about prop 26 for Mississippi. In truth, it's the real question that has to be answered to solve the entire debate about abortion. I have three real perspectives on

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-89895550613055563192011-11-09T10:04:00.001-05:002011-11-09T10:04:13.158-05:00

I have been only somewhat following the Personhood spat going on down in ol' Mississip. In general, I don't worry much about them seeing as they are the fattest, dumbest, most religious area in the whole of the Western World, so I come very close to seeing it as worrying about what a bunch of crazy homeless people choose to do. What I have noticed online, though, is a large contingent of

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-72170298819442686172011-11-03T17:22:00.000-04:002011-11-03T17:22:29.004-04:00

I am growing increasingly disapproving of Apple. I've never liked their product model: exercising direct control over every stage of interaction; but it was just that, a personal preference. Lately, though, they have turned into the bully-like Goliath that they supposedly stood against in its early days. The number of lawsuits filed by Apple continues to skyrocket, and they are also filing

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-55891333141268577412011-10-20T23:30:00.000-04:002011-10-20T23:31:01.082-04:00

I have always semi-idolized Steve Jobs. The wild success of Apple, and some of his more trenchant statements indicated to me that he explicitly understood the principles that made Apple great. For example, he was constantly referring to products as magical and beautiful. I believed that he knew that this meant attraction and minimalism. Magical meant that the design elicited interaction. The

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-41405828054197154352011-10-11T15:44:00.000-04:002011-10-11T15:45:08.599-04:00

Many people are asking what the world will be like without Steve Jobs. Many people are saying that everything is fundamentally different. This is, of course, stupid. Obviously, it would be equally stupid to disparage Jobs. He was a consummate artist and Apple is as much a corporeal manifestation of his internal world as it is a company. But overly exalting Jobs ignores reality. No one exists in

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-49667852200987239372011-10-02T23:18:00.000-04:002011-10-02T23:18:15.091-04:00

I'm starting a new design house. I specialize in web design, brand design, and brand management. My prices are very competitive and I work incredibly quickly. If you want a solid brand, and a website that is mostly devoid of fluffy Flash and Javascript, thus concentrating on the actual, I dunno', content, hit me up. Check it out at http://kovodesign.blogspot.com.

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-41688601150200402742011-09-30T13:57:00.001-04:002011-10-13T15:52:40.177-04:00

Can it be true? Can the browser that nobody asked for actually be on its way to market dominance? I hope so, but not because I like Chrome. Indeed, I don't like Chrome. I have nothing against it, but Firefox is just so the bomb. I love Firefox. It freed me from the tyranny of mediocrity that was Internet Explorer for most of 2000's. And now that I think of it, I do have something specifically

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-5400409137211032522011-09-24T14:24:00.000-04:002011-09-24T14:25:29.075-04:00

Facebook will be launching a major redesign of their profiles in the near future. As always, users are flipping out. I think that Facebook has figured out precisely what they need to do to avoid becoming another MySpace. From the late 1990's up to the Facebook/MySpace battle, we saw the launch of dozens of social networks, most long forgotten (remember Bolt.com? Don't worry. No one does).

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-11657696950862425312011-09-22T23:59:00.002-04:002011-09-24T14:25:18.775-04:00

I've discussed this one before, but my thoughts have evolved to the point of needing a new post. What is existence? What does it mean to exist? The study of this nonsense is known as Ontology and it's officially a branch of metaphysics. It's not a question many people ask, because, why bother? I do ask the question because it bears on many other areas of inquiry, including very important areas

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-22759451768229150072011-09-22T22:45:00.003-04:002011-09-24T14:24:58.872-04:00

I want a tablet. I think that they are unbelievably cool. But, at the same time, I can't bring myself to buy a big cell phone. I already have one of those, and its screen is over 4". That IS a tablet. Cell phones are also a fantastic toy, because like a computer, it is a toy with legitimate uses beyond being simply a toy. It's very easy to rationalize the purchase of a bad-ass cell phone. It is

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-58099386630530893442011-09-18T13:31:00.000-04:002011-09-18T13:32:51.102-04:00

I just saw X-Men First Class. I liked it. It was well-directed, stylish, and some truly excellent performances. But I would never watch it again. A great review of a movie explains perfectly why the critic did or didn't like said movie. For example, Roger Ebert's review of Dark City made me go back and watch it again, and it is now one of my favorite sci-fi's. My partner, Danielle, ruined the

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-48280676765342531862011-09-16T21:10:00.000-04:002011-09-16T21:17:10.032-04:00

I find the large exodus of customers from Netflix following its price increase to be of immense interest. I've been ranting for over the past ten years that media is actually worth very little. What has been valuable has always been the medium by which the media is transmitted. Television shows weren't valuable, television itself was. In this day and age of nearly limitless claims on our

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-40230531700011856352011-09-07T12:57:00.001-04:002011-09-07T13:49:09.028-04:00

Carol Bartz has been fired from Yahoo!. I liked Bartz. I had high hopes. Understandably, then, this is a bit of a disappointment. I think that Bartz should be somewhat happy about her performance, even though she was eventually fired. She was brought on as a kick-ass manager and she did kick-ass manager things. She trimmed about a metric ton of fat from the company, jettisoning winning

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-59605146015674947712011-08-16T20:53:00.000-04:002011-08-16T20:54:21.648-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-92056349724554588012011-08-11T13:05:00.004-04:002011-08-11T13:24:08.187-04:00

If so, perhaps this will make us finally, FINALLY, FINALLY, realize that our drug laws are mind-meltingly stupid. Do you want to know who killed that tribe? We did. Because we're trying to stop something that will never be stopped, and in doing so have created a massive, multi-billion-dollar market for drugs that makes these barbarous monsters unbelievably wealthy. We make the game so profitable

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-34059751891905915532011-07-25T01:33:00.002-04:002011-08-03T22:32:41.405-04:00

The amazing atheist recently posted a video attacking the CBS show The Talk, where they laugh over a man getting his penis cut off and thrown into a garbage disposal. First off, let's address the fact that their laughing about it is rather disturbing, especially being a man who is more that slightly attached to his penis.That said, his response is wrong on one level, and at best misdirected on

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-17924189301286110202011-07-20T13:36:00.004-04:002011-07-20T13:56:09.361-04:00

Apple's profit just continues to rise, and I see it as a grand endorsement of what it means to operate a company based on a philosophy. Obviously, Apple's philosophy has mutated over the years. They started as a company that was so open, they included circuitry maps in their first computers. Today, they are a company almost defined by its famous secrecy and security measures.I don't think that

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-957654682382913392011-07-20T00:01:00.001-04:002011-07-20T00:03:22.508-04:00

Morals don't exist I hate morals. They don't exist. How do I know that they don't exist? Point to one. If you do think they exist, how do they exist? If morals are objective, such as from God, why should we listen to God? Why is what he says right? I hate morals because there are no answers to these questions. Philosophers have tried for thousands of years and have failed every

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-89378388199909577752011-07-16T01:12:00.000-04:002011-07-16T01:13:13.573-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-71029809624559987322011-07-14T23:57:00.000-04:002011-07-14T23:59:03.559-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-85653222270522654032011-07-13T12:45:00.004-04:002011-07-13T13:19:03.100-04:00

There is an article over at The New York Times discussing how RIM might find salvation in the smartphone market by cozying up with carriers. Basically, the carriers are worried about Google and Apple having so much control over the cell industry and they want a counterbalance.Unfortunately, doubling down with the carriers is the worst idea. RIM has been cozier and better served by the carriers

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-28835157013459507402011-07-02T14:07:00.004-04:002011-07-02T14:17:13.571-04:00

Levar Burton is organizing a Reading Rainbow Flashmob, in an attempt to raise awareness of our illiterate children.Maybe I shouldn't say that our children are illiterate, certainly they're not. Our kids today are smarter and more capable of multiple, complex tasks than generations previously. Combined with websites, texting, chat, and school, kids today probably read more words per day than any

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-62758426020004179382011-06-28T15:38:00.001-04:002011-06-28T15:40:13.263-04:00

The name of this blog is taken from a book by Carl Sagan. His wisdom cannot be understated.

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-68480478155991990142011-06-25T16:52:00.002-04:002011-06-25T17:34:28.814-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-24929864686978247642011-06-19T21:02:00.003-04:002011-06-19T21:24:17.452-04:00

My video and the notes I wrote out before recording it.De logica Logic has spent the greater part of its existence trying to be something that is a priori, as in knowledge derived from logic does not require sensory experience for it to work. Bertrand Russell was obsessed with logic and with equating mathematics to logic, thus giving math the status of a priori knowledge. I think

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-44502734565886730402011-06-19T16:50:00.005-04:002011-06-19T17:08:42.520-04:00

I don't understand the problems that people have with evolution and its supposed destruction of self worth. As though finding out that our distant ancestors looked like monkeys is counter to our grand sense of self.I find this absurd. It's as though I believe myself to be scum after finding out that my great-great-grandfather was a serial killer. It has NO effect on me. It does not change me. I

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-41758421503889068262011-06-18T22:49:00.005-04:002011-06-18T23:04:01.701-04:00

I hate tablets. I don't like the iPad, I don't like any of the Android examples, I don't like the Blackberry. I hate them all.I hate them because all of the tablet fanatics out there, perhaps intoxicated by Steve Jobs exaltations, believe that tablets will one day be the predominant form of computing. At least for now, this is total nonsense.Every time you talk to a developer, they talk about one

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-41111430838685454172011-05-30T15:14:00.003-04:002011-05-30T15:31:23.188-04:00

This is the kind of information that needs to be disseminated far and wide in this fucked up country.IMMIGRATION IS GOOD! If it wasn't for immigration, the United States wouldn't be the United States. We wouldn't have Chinese food, or Italian food. We wouldn't have Wall Street, or modern philosophy. There is no aspect of our life that hasn't been touched by immigrants! From our diets, houses, and

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-60201188803603921002011-05-27T12:08:00.005-04:002011-05-27T12:17:58.528-04:00

The flow of great documentaries out of the BBC is seemingly endless. I just finished watching Niall Ferguson's Civilization: Is The West History, which was problematic, and I already find this one.I like this one more, but it still falls for what I consider the fallacy of causation. I take a sort of James Burkeian perspective, which I consider the correct perspective, that there is no linear

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-18749000895897042222011-05-24T21:52:00.003-04:002011-05-24T22:25:49.583-04:00

The single biggest issue in academic philosophy is where we stop our quest for justification. While I don't think that some set of the population will ever quit, if for no other reason than to justify their paychecks from the university, it is time for us as a group to quit and move forward with some necessary assumptions.I'll call this The Philosopher's Manifesto, for lack of a better title.I

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-92052130974688565032011-05-22T14:01:00.003-04:002011-05-22T14:42:31.723-04:00

In the current philosophical debates on religion, most respected apologists realize that there is no way to justify religious belief. Instead, the focus is on trying to reduce the foundations of everyday belief.Essentially, they argue "Yes. I have no reason to believe in God. But YOU have no reason to believe the world. So our beliefs are, in fact, on equal ground."Little do the religious nuts

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-46694350682997853102011-05-15T14:42:00.008-04:002011-05-16T00:32:27.750-04:00

Niall Furgeson, who has said some really stupid stuff in the past, has produced a 6-part documentary series that I think is rather good. As far as British productions go, it's not up there with Connections or anything, but still very much worth a watch.He makes a lot of sweeping declarations in this series with which I completely disagree. I also don't like his usage of the terms "killer apps"

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-28373764653397009782011-05-14T16:19:00.000-04:002011-05-14T16:20:25.542-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-26559088775253768292011-05-13T13:07:00.003-04:002011-05-13T13:55:12.269-04:00

"The Evolution 525 uses a highly stable linear power supply rather than an inferior switching style to ensure more consistent and reliable disc drive operation. Separate power for the drive mechanism, digital circuitry, analog, and video circuitry prevents interference. A custom-wound toroidal power transformer, 10 times larger than those found in typical players, provides tremendous current

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-52162122214876880032011-05-08T21:39:00.001-04:002011-05-08T21:39:23.475-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-66024673791085810522011-05-05T11:52:00.003-04:002011-05-05T12:15:04.743-04:00

The Hooker Teacher has written an article for Salon. In it, Melissa Petro describes how she, holder of dual Masters degrees, was revealed to have a past as a stripper and prostitute. Since her past has been revealed, and after being fired, she is entirely unable to get a job.The degree of the online shaming, and even some of the comments on Salon, reveal in stark contrast what's wrong with

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-4066877587343724792011-05-03T15:16:00.000-04:002011-05-03T15:18:09.831-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-15576383792861389152011-04-29T14:26:00.004-04:002011-04-29T14:37:44.343-04:00

Ok, it's actually a list of the most hacker friendly phones. But I call them the best because we're quickly reaching the point where cell phones are like computers. They're powerful as such. Today's cell phones could easily power the top-end games from ten years ago. This means that Apple-like nonsense of preventing me from doing things won't fly. That's why I call this list the "best" Android

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-40473743526279230722011-04-29T13:54:00.003-04:002011-04-29T14:13:51.852-04:00

A study has come out indicating that we might have been right-hand dominant as long as 500,000 years ago.This is a very significant finding, if true, because it gives us a possible hint as to why we suddenly rocketed to the top of intellectual heap. I've long thought that the only explanation for our intellectual capabilities was the formation of a complex, logical language. Because there was

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-62158472502131940782011-04-27T16:56:00.011-04:002011-04-27T17:57:36.465-04:00

It's been almost a month since the NY Times paywall went live, and I think we finally can say a few substantive things about it.First, since the paywall was so "leaky," there was no distinct drop-off after its installation. Compare this to the charts for Newsday:Or this absolutely comical chart for the Times of London:The NY Times' 24 month chart isn't nearly as dramatic;but I suspect that's

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-39540651818248446802011-04-25T22:27:00.001-04:002011-04-25T22:27:42.742-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-16910353826425305172011-04-25T13:38:00.004-04:002011-04-25T15:10:37.616-04:00

After recording these things, I started thinking about our education philosophy in contrast to that of the Tiger Mother and traditional Asian education. Unlike the Asian approach where their education and society are completely compatible, kids rejection of our tacit educational philosophy and thus falling through the cracks is a direct side-effect of our individualist culture. If we encourage

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-79758002547727936342011-04-20T21:33:00.002-04:002011-04-20T23:36:46.075-04:00

Apple reported sales data today and amid the gangbusters numbers, an interesting factoid: they only sold 4.7 million iPads, when six million or more was expected.If you don't already know, the iPad has been a runaway success, selling multiple times the numbers of all its competitors combined. In fact, the iPad's sales in comparison to other tablets has made many people question whether there is

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-51858770764236266632011-04-20T13:13:00.004-04:002011-10-31T19:43:54.322-04:00

I've covered this sort of subject in my blog posts, but here I am addressing it directly. While I have many conservative ideals, I think that everyone should, I am primarily a progressive. My conservative ideals stem from a belief that any mechanism that is designed should strive for efficiency. Efficiency is defined as achieving a finely defined goal with the smallest amount of energy and

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-11077378864632747432011-04-18T21:31:00.001-04:002011-04-18T21:31:40.191-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-72098317351370773192011-04-15T13:38:00.001-04:002011-04-15T13:38:59.617-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-35468490688867646252011-04-09T12:45:00.004-04:002011-04-09T14:05:31.533-04:00

Texas is considering raising its speed limit to 85mph. There are people who are saying that this is a bad idea. That is stupid.They cite "speed-related" accidents. There is no such thing as a speed-related accident. If you are driving well and fast, you won't have an accident. Long stopping distance? That simply means the distance that can be considered tailgating becomes longer. That is why one

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-14433442079042868942011-04-06T00:52:00.002-04:002011-04-06T00:55:27.842-04:00

Where is Ai Weiwei, and why is the United States pathetically silent on his disappearance? How can armies for the past 2,000 years all have been retarded? And are video games from 15 years ago better than those today?

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-65486323961303393722011-04-03T18:15:00.000-04:002011-04-03T18:16:13.601-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-24040145156870435432011-04-03T16:47:00.001-04:002011-04-03T17:26:51.327-04:00

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-31296533014111241502011-04-03T13:26:00.004-04:002011-04-03T14:30:47.141-04:00

I recently tried to recover some deleted files. Knowing how it works, I figured that maybe there were some free options available. I came across a video on YouTube pushing easy file recovery. It was for a program called Pareto Logic and it didn't help at all.

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-21004756166807866472011-04-01T13:24:00.001-04:002011-04-01T13:45:29.826-04:00

I just received a call, 1:20pm, from the National Organization for Marriage... again. In my first post on the subject, I commented on how suspicious the wording of the question was and the timing of the call. First off, if the name wasn't a hint, the National Organization for Marriage is a right-wing, religious organization that is of course against gay marriage, because letting two gay people do

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-63376290046668437252011-03-30T00:21:00.003-04:002011-03-30T00:45:39.677-04:00

The Tea Party has rose to a somewhat frightening degree of political prominence even though its most famous representatives are, let's just say it like it is, stupid. They lack historical knowledge, economic understanding, and at times grammatical principles. They have tried to convince us that it is government profligacy that is their primary target, and yet a hatred for government spending is

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-45181868719394963412011-03-28T13:23:00.003-04:002011-03-28T13:31:09.626-04:00

In an earlier post I attacked a book that made the argument that humans developed monogamy because of weapons. I find this hypothesis to be highly inadequate. I've read it before, but I'm not sure how widespread this perspective is, that human semi-monogamy as we have it now came about because of the concept of ownership. Some argue that this happened with the development of agriculture, others

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-26920180249830127412011-03-28T12:47:00.003-04:002011-03-28T13:08:57.656-04:00

I must confess to a degree of ignorance with current events in the world of teacher evaluation. I had not idea that so-called value added bonuses had gained such traction. They make fun of the mathematical equation to figure this out, but it's not that complex. They project a student's performance based on past performance and then rate deviation from that projection.Again, I think it's good that

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-90767096878119534662011-03-27T23:14:00.003-04:002011-03-27T23:19:49.454-04:00

Florida has become the first state to sign into government a performance-based pay system for teachers. I am hesitant to endorse this. On the one hand, teacher pay needs an overhaul. Our education system is crumbling and it's only getting worse. Talented people are becoming teachers at a declining rate, and those spots are being filled by idiots.On the other hand, basing performance analysis on

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-7241402469931841272011-03-26T16:37:00.002-04:002011-03-26T19:05:38.867-04:00

A recent study indicates that there is just as much good music floating around today as there was before Napster destroyed the world.Anyone who has ever used TheSixtyOne knows that there's lots of good music being produced. So much, in fact, that it's impossible to listen to all of it. Services like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone review as many albums as they can, but even that is a tenth of the

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-11452756149205497072011-03-20T17:57:00.002-04:002011-03-28T13:22:30.501-04:00

I've been thinking a great deal about How TV Ruined Your Life and its anti-consumerist message. It rips apart many of the arguably very negative aspects of our material society and highlights grotesque examples like My Super Sweet 16.But hidden in these attacks, and truly the attacks from anyone who talks about how modern aspects of life are bad is the sociological fallacy of The Good Ol' Days.

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-48120428855011213712011-03-19T00:01:00.002-04:002011-03-19T00:03:55.278-04:00

How TV Ruined Your Life is a highly entertaining short series of shows from British writer Charlie Brooker. I don't agree with some of it, but it avoids too many strong statements in favor of a simple but rather trenchant thesis that TV represents general problems with society. He then comments on this state in an enormously funny way.

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-85261534158605090182011-03-18T21:34:00.002-04:002011-03-18T21:46:58.322-04:00

Brick-and-mortar retailers are pissing and moaning, as they have for years, that Amazon unfairly gets a free pass on taxes. Big-box retailers are now piling on in hopes of doing some serious damage to Amazon's bottom line. The Argument basically goes, if Amazon doesn't have to charge taxes, then ordinary stores could never match the price. Only, this is ridiculous. Amazon does have a tax that

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-77220809533257026002011-03-17T15:21:00.003-04:002011-03-17T20:40:18.366-04:00

The New York Times has finally released all of the details of their impending paywall. It is, somehow, both stupider and smarter than I was expecting. The details:You can access articles for free via search engines and social media links, similar to The Wall Street Journal. Google provides five free articles per day.Newspaper subscribers get access. This includes both weekdays and

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-3504296584455984002011-03-16T15:40:00.004-04:002011-03-16T16:16:21.867-04:00

There's a new book coming out that I, admittedly, have not read. So I don't know whether my criticisms of this article should be aimed at the author or at The New York Times. Regardless, someone doesn't know jack-shit about chimps.First off, the author is assuming that our behavior is similar to chimps, while that is hardly an accepted fact. Lots of researchers think that our ancient society was

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-21027080709722892432011-03-15T20:54:00.005-04:002011-03-15T22:34:46.938-04:00

As is being passed about the interwebs, for the first time, the internet has surpassed newspapers as a source of news for those surveyed. Everyone is aware, even the New York Times, that print is on the way out, at least as far as news goes. This news comes as even more significant because of recent events involving the old guard of the news world and some big bets being made in regards to the

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-10904128781388247142011-03-15T00:47:00.003-04:002011-03-15T01:04:34.228-04:00

Apple's released the new iPad2, and like so many product segments in which Apple participates, their annual release blows the competition clear out of the water. It's as though other companies honestly don't know how to make products. It pisses me off, because I refuse to buy Apple products! Everything is locked down and closed off. I hate it! Instead of something perfectly designed, I'm left

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-30561694106479185402011-03-14T23:52:00.003-04:002011-03-15T00:47:27.916-04:00

Photographer Steve Gong has managed to shoot some video of Pynongyang in North Korea. This is quite a feat since they are pretty strict about what images are allowed outside of the country. There's plenty of video of people dancing in giant groups and marching soldiers and whatnot, but not much else.What struck me most about the video was confirmation of earlier impressions that I got from other

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-19810702690303456572011-03-13T16:19:00.004-04:002011-03-13T16:57:55.495-04:00

I'm a conservative. I'm a conservative in the sense that I'm actually pro-small government. I'm not pro-small government when I like it, or when it fits ideologically with my other beliefs. Other "conservatives" like small government, unless that is applied to the military, or pro-choice, or things that economically affect their constituents.In this ideological school is Rand Paul (professional

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-5734372123894720852011-03-11T15:50:00.003-05:002011-03-11T16:15:35.175-05:00

You can find out who the Bilderberg Group is via its Wikipedia entry, suffice it to say, it's a small, secret meeting of big, important people to discuss things. Lord knows what gets talked about, probably nothing. What I find interesting about the group is how much attention it attracts, especially from the fringe groups.Back in the day, and by "the day," I mean 1996-1997, I was big into

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-36800224783255036232011-03-10T15:11:00.003-05:002011-03-10T16:37:46.569-05:00

A woman by the name of Abby Johnson is causing quite the hullabaloo by defecting from Planned Parenthood and lambasting her former employer as an "abortion machine." After reading the headline, I was a bit concerned, but have since calmed down. Both she and her book are doing nothing but preaching to the choir.If she had been a person who said "I still believe in pro-choice, but Planned

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-82043358422560990282011-03-08T21:44:00.003-05:002011-03-08T22:42:00.084-05:00

*SPOILERS*If you don't want some details about this film revealed, do not read further. First watch the film, then come back to find out why it's philosophically inane.In the original short story, which is available online in the public domain, the story is essentially simple. God is adjusting the flow of cause and effect to achieve certain ends and some poor schmo discovers this. The book all

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-20244259170828392572011-03-08T15:37:00.003-05:002011-03-08T15:44:11.685-05:00

ABC is considering a show called Good Christian Bitches. It's the standard televised potboiler involving women trying to destroy each other that's been popular for... ever. But nothing the show could ever do is as entertaining as the response that has, not surprisingly, been generated by those of faith.Christian publisher Tessie DeVore says the show could "damage perceptions [of Christians in

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-42780462626836904732011-03-04T16:44:00.006-05:002011-03-04T18:32:36.890-05:00

I generally try to avoid writing about anything overly geeky on this blog, but Sony's PSP holds a special place in my heart because it was a gizmo that almost literally overflowed with potential, most of which was wasted by terrible design.I've worked in the business and design world before, and if there's a word to describe most managers' perspective on designers it's "expendable." They usually

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-64028219210755673562011-03-02T16:10:00.004-05:002011-03-02T16:34:45.571-05:00

Wal-Mart censors CD's. Did you know that? They will not carry CD's with parental warnings on them for naughty words. To be carried by Wal-Mart a band must release a version of the CD with all of said naughty words bleeped out or changed. This wouldn't have been an issue if Wal-Mart hadn't been the largest music seller on the planet. As such, their requirements was tantamount of large-scale

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-67757725306198887652011-02-22T18:27:00.003-05:002011-02-22T18:51:54.979-05:00

San Francisco is trying to ban male circumcision. Apparently, they're following France's lead in passing laws that proscribe religious practice, i.e. Jewish circumcision. Their logic goes that removing chunks of your baby at a young age is mutilation in the same way that female circumcision is mutilation. While they're similar, male circumcision is much less destructive. With the female variant,

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-28075293321785622972011-02-17T20:46:00.003-05:002011-02-17T20:56:11.323-05:00

Not unexpectedly, Watson's dominating Jeopardy appearance is being billed as man vs. machine, but that's not at all accurate. Watson doesn't "remember" things, or think, or even really process. He knows grammatical rules, and is programmed kinda' sorta' with a custom version of Google. Imagine if someone playing Jeopardy was able to type very quickly, and when a question was asked, they could

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-71888006723390273772011-02-15T19:42:00.005-05:002011-02-16T13:15:08.182-05:00

I'm reading up on the Amanda Knox trial, because her parents have just been indicted for slander for saying that Italian authorities abused her when she was in their care. I read a comment expressing happiness that both Knox and her parents were being brought to justice. This is entirely wrong.I am perpetually amazed by the way people treat the law. They have a nasty habit of using justice and

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-92084946986446910022011-02-07T22:13:00.004-05:002011-02-07T23:20:56.781-05:00

I really have to wonder how long Magic Jack is going to be around.For those who haven't seen the omnipresent ads on TV, Magic Jack is this USB dongle that you pop into your internet-connected computer, and then plug your ordinary telephone into that dongle (dongle is a funny word). Your phone then acts as it normally would, and the whole deal costs you $40 for the dongle, then $20 per year.How

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-79181426467730019622011-02-07T13:09:00.003-05:002011-02-07T13:18:32.232-05:00

Huffington Post has a short article about a bunch of high school girls rallying against a website that apparently rates the girls of that school in rather nasty terms. Sexist words are as one would expect, but racist words also permeate the website.It got me thinking about men and our psychology. For example, I don't think that rape evolved, I suspect that it's a side-effect of males being prone

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-43978840067549562612011-02-07T13:08:00.000-05:002011-02-07T13:09:23.684-05:00

I hit 400 posts with my last post. Yay.

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-6106538332907678762011-02-07T12:53:00.004-05:002011-02-07T13:05:25.674-05:00

A new study out of Temple University has shown that teenagers don't actually need peer pressure to do dumb shit. In fact, the mere presence of peers makes teens act in ways they otherwise would not. These peers were not saying anything, doing anything, truly, the peers in the experiment were not even visible to the experimental subject.Anyone who actually remembers being a teenager will not find

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-18614274630393131172011-02-06T22:26:00.008-05:002011-03-13T13:53:14.420-04:00

Bayer has released a new birth control pill called Beyaz, which isn't notable in and of itself; it's the commercial that's amazing.This is the most frank and truthful ad I have seen in a long time, especially in the world of prescription drugs. Most of them seem to imply that the drugs allow you to do things that you were never stopped from doing anyhow. For example, ads for herpes drugs show

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-31455596136471782522011-02-06T01:17:00.002-05:002011-02-06T01:21:52.426-05:00

I just finished watching Jurassic Park, and regardless of what you may think of its direction, sound, script, or what have you, the thesis of the movie is faulty! We have multiple speeches about how we're arrogant for trying to bring something ancient back to life. We have no idea what will happen! Life will find a way!I would like to point out that none of those things happened. What did happen?

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-11376619724924899172011-02-03T23:45:00.003-05:002011-02-04T00:05:41.554-05:00

I'm watching Islam and the West on the Smithsonian Channel, and they have a number of Muslims trying to defend their faith.One scholar tries to say that we need to give Islam time. It took the west a long time to achieve its goals, and Islam needs the same courtesy. Everything about this is wrong, at least from the perspective of a believer. First, this is the word of God. By accepting that the

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-11108347898670133122011-02-03T19:07:00.004-05:002011-02-03T20:25:40.561-05:00

I've seen a few documentaries on cults, and one scene, repeated in every production, that really sticks in my mind is the parents expressing their absolute disbelief that their kids could get sucked into a cult. They talk about how their child was popular, played sports, had parties, and all of the other trappings of everyday life in America.But if statistics are correct, there is an incredibly

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-18168558997768796242011-01-31T11:09:00.005-05:002011-02-01T00:20:39.792-05:00

I watched a documentary on NatGeo called Inside a Cult. It was about some small cult led by a guy who, of course, claimed to be the Earthly embodiment of God... or something like that. All of these cults sound the same. As per cult SOP, the leader, Michael Travesser, made a prediction that the world would end in 2007, which, according to Wikipedia, it didn't.What I actually took away from the

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-47390243638186889972011-01-28T16:50:00.004-05:002011-01-28T16:55:34.414-05:00

I've said it before, but we need to legalize prostitution. Not only do we need to legalize it, we need to have a large, social push to legitimize it. To make people stop seeing it as the exclusive domain of seedy people that we shouldn't give a rat's ass about. Only then, ONLY THEN, will we have any chance to stop sex trafficking. We have to draw the world out of the shadows. If we keep

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-17576638986284785272011-01-26T20:52:00.003-05:002011-01-26T21:03:17.473-05:00

On that same episode of Nova Science Now that I mentioned in the previous post, Neil DeGrasse Tyson says that, if we ever develop an ability to live forever, our only option to deal with the population problem that would follow is interplanetary travel. I disagree. And I think it's patently obvious that that position is false.Our only option, and I want to be perfectly clear in this, our ONLY

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-85184616856659170502011-01-26T20:40:00.002-05:002011-01-26T20:48:54.213-05:00

I'm watching Nova Science Now on living forever, and there's a section on artificial intelligence. In one scene, a researcher talks about how the avatar isn't gesticulating, and they need to start thinking about making the avatar communicate with its hands.To me, this illustrates the reason why the traditional approach to artificial intelligence will never work. We cannot build an intelligence

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-3251907249183358912011-01-26T13:22:00.006-05:002011-01-26T15:22:21.226-05:00

Do you like George Wendt? Five points to Gryffindor if you know where that's from.I just received a call with an automated survey from the National Organization for Marriage. If you can't tell just by the name, this is a right-wing, Christian organization that of course believes gay marriage is evil and, somehow, a threat. I'm getting the call because Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island's governor-elect

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-78497299844326357612011-01-22T13:02:00.005-05:002011-01-22T13:27:13.529-05:00

Michio Kaku, that omnipresent, physics-spouting android of a television personality, has a show on The Science Channel called Sci-Fi Science. Each 30-minute episode discusses some sci-fi concept, like warp drives or something, and goes over the basic physics behind that concept and what we can do today.(Really? You GUESS that carbon dioxide is denser and heavier than air? You aren't sure about

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-52003545906767903812011-01-18T21:11:00.005-05:002011-01-18T21:14:24.186-05:00

It releases WORDS. Words from your WORD gland.

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-14226507954630826872011-01-17T22:06:00.003-05:002011-01-17T23:05:22.295-05:00

I'm on the hunt for blogs and websites about art and design. I stumbled across one called WeHeart out of Britain. It's well-liked and has won a few awards but it fails one of the web's most important tests: the five-second test. Namely, can a user tell what your website IS in five seconds or less. If not, you have some work to do.WeHearts website was obviously about something, but damned if I

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-58189243933845209662011-01-16T14:40:00.004-05:002011-01-29T02:01:18.971-05:00

Yes. Yes it is. While Wittgenstein never intended this to be the case, an investigation into language necessarily ends in nihilism. In fact, this direction seems so inexorable that it puzzles me why nihilism remains a dirty word.I started thinking about this in regards to morals, and how a discussion of morals inevitably fails. It faces the same problem that David Hume tried to address when

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-45874097675703383622011-01-15T17:28:00.012-05:002011-02-05T04:55:15.866-05:00

I am, right now, suffering from a cluster headache. No need to explain, you can go the Wikipedia page and read up. Needless to say, it sucks. And unlike migraines, there is no behavior that seems to bring me relief.I haven't had them in years. I got them in January/February-ish for three years in a row, then four years of nothing, and now they're back. I get them throughout the day, but they

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-77815891821201395312011-01-15T10:08:00.002-05:002011-01-15T10:47:11.675-05:00

In my previous post, I simply uploaded a discussion thread from another website in which I argued that Roger Ebert was correct in saying that a game will never be art. I have perfectly defined what I mean.A game is a rule set. That's all. It is a rule set applied to corporeal things. Checkers is a rule set applied to small plastic disks and a board. Checkers is not the disks and board themselves.

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-53602092066228250932011-01-08T21:30:00.003-05:002011-01-08T21:40:13.651-05:00

I recently participated in a comment thread on Gizmodo instigated by a post about Roger Ebert and his comments about games. Ebert said that games will never by high art, and unlike many of my internet-dwelling, tech-addled, male contemporaries, I agreed.ME: I still support Ebert. He's right. High art is an expression of the artist. The demands of a game put limits on the artists expression

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-31438772603433089382011-01-07T16:44:00.003-05:002011-01-07T17:09:36.931-05:00

Compliments of some posts on major blogs likes Gawker and BoingBoing, there's new found attention being paid to those who go "soap-free." Basically, they never use soap. In their morning shower, they scrub, rinse, and everything else, but they skip the soap. I made fun of them, but then I realized that I rarely use soap. I use a minuscule amount of shampoo, lather up the crotch and butt, and

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-86439156053976177512011-01-06T11:40:00.003-05:002011-01-06T13:00:43.808-05:00

This is the second time that I've been nailed by a "drive-by" malware attack. The first time, I knew what caused it. I went to a website that hosted an infected advertisement, and bam, I had XP Security 2010 on my computer, which was apparently a variation of Total Security 2009. At the time, it was exploiting a hole that prevented Task Manager from opening. As such, I wasn't able to see what the

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31678678.post-59173404543990903592011-01-05T21:24:00.004-05:002011-01-06T11:24:58.840-05:00

The democrats are trying to change the legislative rules associated with filibuster. Their argument is that the government is broken and drastic measures are necessary. I agree with that, but I'm unsure as to whether I want any legislative changes. Our current system is stagnant, but when our country is packed with such perfect morons as those in, say, Mississippi, I prefer having a government

Aaron Martin-Colbyhttps://profiles.google.com/100808080184734628652noreply@blogger.com2