A Rant About Application Customization

Okay, new rule! If I select the same preference customization when an application starts ten consecutive times, that application must remember and execute that customization permanently. If not, I get ten dollars from the manufacturer for every subsequent failure. It should remember it on the first try. But ten! Ten is insulting. I think this is a fair rule. You ignore my wishes ten times, you give me ten bucks. It’s more than fair, and it should be part of the ULA. I’m looking at you, Microsoft.

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NBC Pulls Out of iTunes Deal

I apparently missed this news back in December. I have been re-watching seasons 1-3 of Battlestar Galactica in anticipation of the fourth and final season. I went to iTunes to sign up for the season pass of downloads… and it’s gone. Apparently NBC wanted $4.99 per episode and Apple said no. In fact, Apple said more than no, cutting NBC off prior to the start of the Fall season rather than waiting for the contract to end in December. Charging $4.99 per episode works out to $100 per season of BSG. Who would pay that? That’s criminal! The six-disc DVD is $45 and the HD-DVD is $100. NBC thinks we will pay inflated HD prices for regular low-fi content? Seriously? Continue reading »

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Is there no plural form of ‘Maybach’?

Yesterday, while at the local California Tortilla, we spied a Maybach parked illegally in front of our local Starbucks. For those who have never heard of the Mayback, they are seriously rare and seriously expensive. It is a huge Mercedes-built luxury sedan for the uber-rich (background: the Maybach was Daimler’s response to BMW purchasing Rolls-Royce). While we ate, we watched out the window to see if the owner would appear, thinking it must be a Marriott (they’re local), a basketball player or a movie-star we would recognize. We never did figure out who owned it, but while we were watching a second Maybach drove by. Yes, there were TWO Maybachs. Unbelievable! It’s like the Queen of England and the Pope decided to meet in Potomac for a spot of tea.

What is particularly funny is that the second one, which I couldn’t get a picture of, was hideous. It was British racing green with cream side panels. And it was just awful looking. I searched Google images to try to find a picture of one with this color scheme but it was tough to find one. Apparently Maybachs are custom-built for each owner, so that color scheme was carefully selected by someone. Money does not buy taste, apparently.

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Return from Italy

We had a great trip. We are going to start up a blog with our travel log. Stay tuned to this channel for details.

For now, we have posted pictures from the first stop: Rome.

Update! We have Florence pictures up too.

I’ve also begun geocoding our pictures, so there is a Flickr map.

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Going to Italy Today

Becky and I are putting the finishing touches on our suitcases. We’re ready. It has been seven years since we took a real two-week vacation.

We are starting in Rome. We see the Vatican our first day there. Then we are spending a week in an apartment in Florence, doing day trips into the Tuscan countryside. We finish up in Venice, Vicenza and Padua.

We will post pictures when we return! See you all in October.

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