jotsheet

After my little iTMS for Windows rant, my esteemed former colleague (and Mac owner) Adam Finlayson took it upon himself to issue a rebuttal. I thought about writing a full rebuttal-rebuttal, but I think I’ll let my original post stand on its own merits, save the following facts reasserted against his challenge:

• I hate marketing, but I hate Apple’s the most. (Compare the iTunes Web pitch to the WMP9 site.)
• An app need not bundle a GUI, browser, MP3 player, store, etc. These functions can be accomplished in separate programs more efficiently. Someone already did the all-in-one idea: Netscape made Communicator. Yippee.
• I’m not averse to change. I’m averse to hype. iTMS for Windows is an MP3 player, and a bloated one at that. It’s not skinnable, it has kinks to be worked out, and frankly, I think that music can be purchased from the Web just fine.

But maybe you prefer amf’s take. :) In other “news” (loosely using that word), I decided on Monday that I’m addicted to coffee. I look forward to it in the morning, but in a strange, gotta-have-it way. That must be addiction. But I’m weaning myself, and I expect to have this badboy under control soon. And I’m confident, because there are no addictive personalities in my family and we’re all basically able to quit cold turkey. But still… coffee makes me so much more… productive. Ack.

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Hello. I’m not football genius, but I have a recipe for turning around the Bears season:

1. Acquire a new quarterback.
2. Remind the offensive line to pass-block.
3. Remind the defensive line to pass-rush.
4. Remind the defensive line to stop the run.
5. Inform R.W. McQuarters to stop allowing receivers to catch passes.
6. Lock Paris Hilton in a South American prison for the remainder of the season so Brian Urlacher can concentrate on football.
7. Show John Shoop game tape of the St. Louis Rams to convince him that passes are in fact permitted to travel more than 5 yards.
8. Provide daily electroshock therapy to Dick Jauron with the goal of getting him to show an emotion.
9. Clone Paul Edinger.

Need more evidence that Donovan McNabb is overrated and that the crusade against Rush Limbaugh was a laughable witch-hunt? Check out his line from today’s game against the Giants: 9/23 for 64 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. That’s 2.78 yards/attempt, buddy. We’re talking John Shoop territory here.

Oh, and Warren Sapp is still a fat fuck. Others agree. Confidential to the Chunky-Legged One: Fewer Big Macs, fewer commercials, more tackles, more sacks. That’ll earn ya credibility.

And one more thing: someone chain Tim McCarver to a fence.

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It was a long, tiring week. I don’t know why I was so drained at the end of it, but I came home and collapsed. Slept from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Good stuff.

Let’s do this the quick ‘n dirty way. Bullets, baby:

• NPR sucks! Let ‘em sink or swim in that despicable institution they so despise: the free market, baby. Get the fuck off the subsidy, you Commies.
• The liberal bias.
• Slander is another good reason to cut their funding.
• Yankees-Marlins? Who cares?
• I love October. Best month of the year. Best time to take a stroll.
• Uh-oh! Looks like Rush was right! Through 5 weeks, Donovan McNabb is absolute tearing up the league with a QB rating of 54.2, 790 total yards, 2 TDs, and 5 interceptions. For a little comparison, the just-benched Kordell Stewart has a rating of 56.0, 745 yards, 4 TDs, and 7 interceptions. So I guess the real question is: where are all those “experts” who were balling out Rush Limbaugh for his lack of NFL expertise? They said his comments were ignorant. They said he didn’t know jack about football. Well why don’t you EXPERTS explain to me how a QB with those numbers and the reputation of McNabb isn’t overrated? I’m waiting.

Stereo-nut

The stereo is back and kickin’ ass. Had about a 13 month hiatus there, but all’s well. A while back, the power supply on my Audio Alchemy DLC preamp blew, so as a stopgap solution, Ben and I picked up a cheapo Pioneer receiver from a very strange guy in north Evanston (never did tell that story! damn!). After Benny Boy bought new speakers (nice ones—PSB Image 3LR’s), he needed the receiver back that I’d been borrowing from him since the move. So I was left without a stereo.

Enter new preamp. Harman/Kardon PT-2300, purchased used from Saturday Audio Exchange. That and some cheapo stands from Audio Consultants, and I’m in business, baby. Looks good, sounds good. I threw Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon on there and cranked “Money” like I was 15. Ahhh, to be an audiophile and too poor to afford the good stuff. Hey, it’s still a fun game. Stereo is great. The tight-ass 40 year-old white guys who run high-end—now they’re a different story. But who cares? It’s all about enjoying the sound. And I’m doing it.

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I have found a category of human beings even more useless than music critics and movie critics: “culture critics.” These people should be shot. They are wasting my oxygen. The culture critic is a uniquely annoying mix of elitism, narrowmindedness, aloofness, ignorance, sophistry, and partisanship. One example is The Baffler magazine, whose publishers were on Chicago Public Radio’s Eight Forty-Eight this morning. Hey, do me a favor: don’t click on either one of those links. They’re shit.

An interesting book caught my attention recently, and I’ve read through a good chunk of it. Steven LeBlanc’s title is rather bold: Constant Battles: The Myth of the Peaceful, Noble Savage. His thesis has two central points:

1. Mankind has always fought, even among small social groups. There was no Golden Age.
2. Mankind has never lived in harmony with his environment. Mankind does not naturally conserve.

LeBlanc is right. Yet his message has met with surprising resistance, as you can plainly see from the Amazon.com reader reviews of his book. The reason? The pacifist, leftist academic elite is blind to warfare and ecological destruction. Their political agenda has so blinded them that they are unable to rationally and objectively study the past.

If you thought politics could never creep into a discipline as esoteric as archaeology, you’re wrong. It has, does, and always will, that is until academia achieves true diversity and sheds its disgusting witch-hunt tactics. ‘Tis a dangerous thing to disagree in academia—and a curious thing, that, from a group that considers itself the standard-bearers for freedom of expression and liberalism. You can get angry about it—and I do—or you can shake your head and pity the pathetic state of higher learning in this country. I’m afraid that’s the direction I’m moving in.

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Sometimes I listen to NPR on the the train when I’m going home. It’s pretty high quality stuff. But why is it that every goddamn person on NPR sounds the same—that is, like they’re talking with a mouth full of butterscotch pudding? Jeez, spit it out, and for heaven’s sake, talk at normal speed! You’d think it was a collective Hooked on Phonics lesson.

And speaking of NPR, if you’re a fan of O’Reilly, then you’ve probably heard about his rather antagonistic interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s “Fresh Air.” To summarize, it was supposed to be an interview about Bill’s new book, but the idiot hostess devotes most of her time to everything BUT the book. She’s obviously enamoured of Al “Sufferin’ Succotash” Franken, so she repeats a lot of his already repudiated claims. O’Reilly takes exception, takes Terry to task, and takes off. The whole thing is hilarious. Bill’s not completely blameless, but hey, enough of my account: just listen to it (dead link fixed).

By the way, let me reiterate: what a great time to be a sports fan. Note to Don Zimmer: you’re 72 and fat. Consider that next time. Of course, the legions of chimps who root for the Yankees won’t see the ALCS game 3 objectively, but then again, they probably actually laugh at those Visa commercials with George Steinbrenner and Derek Jeter. Wow. Sign me up for a MasterCard.

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Looks as if all of the excitement in the world is nicely balanced by the complete tedium of my life. Yay.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the new governor of California! The Democrats performed absolutely pathetically, and in a state in which Bush was trounced in 2000 by Gore, Arnie won handily, beating out Gray (Fade to black?) Davis in head-to-head numbers. Yeah, more “yes on Arnold” votes than “no on recall.” I guess that’s what happens when the leading Democratic challenger, Cruz Bustamante, has to start his campaign commercials with the convoluted message:

After voting “no on recall,” you have the right and responsibility to vote for a candidate for governor.

Hint to Democrats: your voters are idiots. If they can’t handle punch-cards in Florida, they sure as hell won’t be able to pull off any sort of two-step process in California. Lesson learned?

In fact, the county-by-county map of the recall vote (green=yes, red=no) is quite reminiscent of the 2000 election county-by-county map (red=Bush, blue=Gore). You can see bigger versions of either map by clicking on the thumbnails above. However, I should point out that the in the case of the of the 2000 election map, the color distribution is a little misleading, given the sparse population of many of the red counties. The issue is explained further by Robert Pontzer.

In other news, it’s a great time to be a sports fan. First, there’s the NFL, which is hands-down the best professional sports league in America. In no professional sport besides football can I bear to sit down and watch a random game between two teams I don’t care about. In the NFL, I can, because the games are fun and fast, and dammit, the players try! The former characteristic separates it from the MLB, the latter from the NBA.

By the way, while we’re on the subject of the NFL, let’s talk about Warren Sapp. Warren Sapp fucking sucks. Warren Sapp is a big, fat (literally) loudmouth. Warren Sapp runs through opposing teams’ stretching lines and thinks he’s hot shit. Well, guess what? Through 4 games, Warren Sapp is absolute tearing up the NFL with a grand total of 11 tackles and 0 sacks. Oh yeah. Anchor of the Bucs defense right there. Nice job in the Colts game.

But forget the NFL! It’s all about the Cubs! Holy crap, I think they have a shot!

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I guess you could say it’s a win-win situation. The Braves and the Cubs are playing in the first round of the playoffs, and I’ll be pretty happy with either team moving on. The Braves are the team of my childhood (although I follow them much less these days), but Chicago is where I live, and let me tell you, this town is buzzing with Cubs talk! If desire is factored into the equation, then Chicago—with its fans, youthful team, and legendary World Series drought—has the definite advantage. Still, I’d love to see the Braves win the Series, and I’m rooting for them in this matchup. Despite the fact that they’ve won an unbelievable 12 consecutive divisional titles, in only one of those years did they win it all (’95, against a very good Indians team), and consequently they’ll always be remembered as the team that was great—until it came crunch time. That is, of course, if they continue to lose.

Oh, and did I mention that Andy MacPhail, the president of the Cubs, screwed me last week? Yep, MacPhail got on the Wrigley loudspeaker and said, “Hey Tom Sherman, I know it’s the first game of the last series of the year, and I know the Cubs are in a down-to-the-wire race with the Astros for the Central, but the game’s rained out. Look, I know I should’ve figured out a way to do a day-nighter tomorrow, but I was too busy getting a pedicure. But hey, since I’m such a nice guy, I’ll let you redeem your ticket for a game next year? That cool with you?”

Well, no, actually, it wasn’t cool with me.

Ahem. Moving on. I had an idea for an invention while riding the train home yesterday. What I need is a portable cell phone signal blocker. I want a little hand-held device that I can point at annoying blonde bitches with double chins, capri pants, jeans jackets, crappy shoes with 4″ block heels, and overstuffed backpacks. This device would prevent said wench from receiving calls or placing calls, including calls to her parents, friends, and grandfather (?!).

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