A Few Thoughts…

This just makes me sad…not that I could afford owning one, but I have always wanted one. I guess I’ll have to get a humvee now. Maybe I could retrofit some biodiesel engine into it. Or make a hybrid electric-hydrogen version down the road!

General Motors Corp. said Friday that the 2006 model year will be the last for the H1, which has been the foundation for the automaker’s Hummer brand. Based on the military’s Humvee, the about 12,000 put on the road since 1992 defined the Hummer name.

From http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/3860397.html

From a company email about our recent phone system upgrades – parts which contain any real information omitted.

“Also, if you are having issues with your new system please call x[9999] and a [Phone Company] technician will assist you.”

This sounds a lot like the computer message everyone laughs at: “Keyboard error, press any key to continue.” Obviously, if my keyboard was working, I wouldn’t be getting the error. Likewise, if my phone system isn’t working, how am I supposed to call for help?

September 11, 2001. For any American who was over 10 at the time, they will certainly remember the place where they stood and what went through their mind on that fateful day. United Airlines flight 93 was one of the four hijacked planes aimed at attacking our nation. Flight 93 was the only plane which did not reach its destination.

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Today’s QC is just funny – I like Martin’s idea of taking charge, I know I’ve done that before! Hooray for self-pride in getting food from the store. Our hunter/gatherer ancestors would be proud. I can imagine the world of a bachelor man in those days:

“What do I want to dine on tonight? Boar sounds good, I haven’t had boar in a while.”
[walks to dark area under tree where food is kept, sees nothing]
[Silence except for a few bugs and crickets]
“Hmm….maybe squirrel, that’s a lot less work…”

Squirrel, the earlier human equivalent of soup in a can, or microwaveable dinners….I kinda like equating them to that! Though, I think the college version of the aforementioned problem would have said “BUGS! w00t!” In which case we can probably equate bugs to Ramman noodles (never had them, this is not a commentary on the noodles themselves, though they do look somewhat grub like….).

Oh, and this t-shirt is just cool…

Well, it’s been 10 days since my last post, so I guess I should write some more. In no particular order… (more…)

HAHA, this is just too funny not to post…
Questionable Content: New comics every Monday through Friday (more…)

Got’s me another comic I may read occasionally (only updated on mondays, and they don’t seem to flow from one week to another, but great artwork). Here’s one from a while back that was just too funny to let go unposted. I should probably add a “comics” category, but I haven’t had my coffee yet this morning, so I will be lazy…
Point of Futility – Updated Mondays

Waaaay back in my Obligatory First Post I mentioned I think the term “blogosphere” is a dumb term. My loathing for the term has grown since last October. Over at QC they have a shirt for me: Bomb the Blogosphere. I realize that some might think it odd for me to write in my blog about how much I hate this term. But it’s like someone saying they don’t like being called a blonde in a certain context because of the stereotypes which have been set against them. Blogosphere sounds too trendy, too mediocratic, too much like a journalist heard they’re pre-teen daughter say it and decided it was the next big thing. I might get one of these shirts to show my disdain for the term blogosphere….shudder….

This is from my Uncle Bill – not sure where he got it – sometimes it’s better not to ask…

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The phone rang as I was sitting down to my evening meal, and as I answered it I was greeted with “Is this Karl Brummer?” Not sounding anything like my name, I asked who is calling. The telemarketer said he was with The Rubber Band Powered Freezer Company or something like that. Then I asked him if he knew Karl personally and why was he calling this number. I then said off to the side, “Get some pictures of the body at various angles and the blood smears.” I then turned back to the phone and advised the caller that he had entered a murder scene and must stay on the line because we had already traced this call and he would be receiving a summons to testify in this murder case.

I questioned the caller at great length as to his name, address, phone number at home, at work, who he worked for, how he knew the dead guy and could he prove where he had been about one hour before he made this call. The telemarketer was getting very concerned and his answers were given in a shaky voice. I then told him we had located his position and the police were entering the building to take him into custody, at that point I heard the phone fall and the scurrying of his running away.

My wife asked me as I returned to our table why I had tears streaming down my face and so help me, I couldn’t tell her for about fifteen minutes. My meal was cold, but it was the best meal in a long, long time.

A good read on Apple’s iTunes, and how the big recording companies are suffering from greed. If the labels are getting $0.70USD from every song, that leaves Apple with at most $0.19USD. Take out the cost of paying the credit card companies for the transactions (which, let’s say is 4% of the purchase price) of about $0.03USD, that leaves a whopping $0.16USD for Apple to play with. The cost of hardware for storage and the increasing bandwidth demand would still be well under that for Apple (since they make some of the storage hardware I’m sure).

The point here is, the labels want more money. They aren’t happy with 70.70% of the price – they want more. How much of this money goes to the artists? How much does it cost the labels to market their songs on iTunes? Let’s see those percentages Mr. Recording Label Guy, let’s see where the money is going! iTunes is popular because of the low price. I don’t mind paying $0.99USD for a single song, but much more than that, and I think I’ll pass. Take your eyes off of your bank statements, and look at how beneficial services like iTunes have become to you.
Technology News: Music & Film : Record Industry Pushes Apple to Raise iTunes Prices