I am going to delete my Facebook account, and this is why:

http://bit.ly/b0pE1R

I figure that by Monday, everyone would have read the same link on FB and know why I am not there anymore.

Edit: As of 12 noon, May 3, 2010, I have cancelled my Facebook account. Fuck you, Mark Zuckerberg!

Does HP even want to sell these?

HP iPAQ 111 Classic Handheld
FA979AA#ABA

http://bit.ly/ao1GQe

At $300, why would anyone want to buy this thing. It is a PDA. You can get a smartphone for less that does everything and allows you to make phone calls. You could get a netbook for about the same price and have more processing power, RAM, storage capacity, and applications.

So what's the deal HP? Why are you selling a product that is past its prime at a premium? It's not like PDA's set the world on fire before smartphones and netbooks. What does this device offer, to justify the expense?

Rest In Peace Peter Steele

The world has lost a musical genius. I have fond memories of meeting Peter Steele. I have fond memories of being in several social situations with him, including asking him if it was okay to introduce to him a girl who was infatuated with him.

Tall and intimidating was his stage persona. I barely knew him, but I knew him as just one of the big family of musicians and friends from Brooklyn (which included Biohazard, Injustice, and Life of Agony). The guys in all of those bands were not rock stars, to us; they were our friends.

Peter, thank you for the memories, and thank you for the music.

How much money are 29 lives worth?

After watching with bated breath, we all found out that the status of those four miners changed from missing to confirmed dead. So, now it is time for the owners of that mine to answer many questions. The most important one that I would like to see asked is, "When they decided that it was more profitable for them to keep paying fines for violations, instead of remedying those violations, was the amount of money that they made enough to justify the 29 lives that were lost in the name of profit?"

In my America, the CEO, COO, Board of Directors, and any upper managers involved in the maintenance of that mine would be charged with 29 counts of 2nd degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and maybe enough a RICO charge, for operating an ongoing criminal enterprise. Upon conviction, all assets of the corporation would be seized and the corporation dissolved, without compensation to any shareholders, and here is what I would do with the money. First, the maximum fine would be imposed for every existing violation and paid; second, any and all wrongful death lawsuits would be paid out, and finally, whatever is left would go to fund the inspection of all operating mine (of any kind) in the United States.

That wouldn't bring back to life any or all of those 29 people who were offered up in sacrifice to the all mighty dollar, but it will certainly punish those that sacrificed them.

What doesn't Facebook get about privacy?

I have explicitly set my privacy settings to the most restrictive possible. Why am I getting friend requests from people who do not fit within the constraints that I set?

If Facebook makes one more "change" to their privacy policies that makes my profile visible to the entire Internet, I am canceling my account!

Why San Francisco Rocks and New York City Sucks!

If you read my last post, you know that I am now riding a bicycle, in NYC.

So why am I so pissed off? Good question. I'll tell you why. Buses! Buses? Yes, Buses. I have no idea what the personality or demeanor is of a San Francisco bus is, but I know two things. First, the personality and demeanor of NYC bus drivers suck harder than a pornstar, and the buses in San Francisco have bicycle racks.

I'll deal with the first one first. I have met and interacted with an MTA bus driver, outside of his professional capacity, but he is not a driver of a local route; he drives (or drove - I think he has since retired) an express route, from Staten Island to Manhattan. A few weeks before I met him, I noticed a sign on a train stating that assaulting an MTA work was punishable by a seven year prison sentence. When I did meet him, I asked two questions. First, why; and second (partially in response to his answer, but primarily as a function of a taxpaying customer of the MTA), without that law, would MTA employees actually be nice, customer-friendly, or (at the very least) willing to do the job they are being paid to do (by tax-payers). I will not go into how I have to spend the little bit of money that New York City is willing to piss upon me, as an employee (conservatives call it Reaganomics), so that I can then funnel it back into the cesspool known as the MTA (the Wal-mart strategy of paying your employees enough to shop at your store, but nowhere else).

His response was that MTA workers were being assaulted. I understand and agree that noone should be assault in the performance of their job. I'll deal with the police in a second. Times up. Look to that post I made about being pulled over. That cop (and all like him) deserves to be assaulted and anally raped by an elephant with syphilis. If you are doing your job, then you should be protected, but if you are the douchebag making the unintelligible announcements at the Flatbush Avenue stop of the 2/5 trains, you better pull your prison culture inspired pants about your ass, because you are who (in my world) the elephant is looking for. It is a microphone, not a megaphone. But back to the point, SF v. NYC.

I live in Brooklyn (Go Brooklyn!!), and my mother lives in Staten Island. Grammatically, she lives on Staten Island, but being a Staten Island resident imparts bigger problems than grammar (lord knows, grammar (along with common sense, logic, and human decency) is something that has never found its way onto that god-forsaken sandbar). Why is it that I have to go into Manhattan, with my bicycle, to get to Staten Island, from Brooklyn? There is a bridge. The people in San Francisco know which one it is. It is the one that held the record for being the longest suspension bridge (one inch longer than the Golden Gate Bridge). It is called the Veranzzano Narroaws Bridge.

Why can't I ride my bicycle to Bay Ridge (god help me), and get on a bus to cross the bridge and continue my trip? San Francisco buses have bicycle racks. Okay, San Francisco has earthquakes too, but San Francisco never had a mayor whose police commissioner was the most corrupt person in the city (that's right Guiliani, I'm talking about your buddy Bernard Keryk).

How do you get around NYC?

I hate driving in New York City. The drivers are morons, and the pedestrians are imbeciles! I can't stand taking the bus, because everyone wants to be Rosa Parks and not move to the back. What's worse is that they stand in the way of me trying to get to the back. The subways aren't too bad, thanks to 20+ years of smoking killing my sense of smell, but I have mixed feelings about those cameras (you know, the ones that DON"T WORK?!?!).

So, with the coming mild weather, I figured I'd try cycling around this city whenever possible. Do you know what I have found, from behind the handlebars? Drivers are morons, and pedestrians are imbeciles!