MSFT Vista, the new OS from Microsoft, will not play online games, imagine that!

<blockquote>According to Goldman, WildTangent, which is the largest publisher of online downloadable games from the Internet, just concluded a year-long study statying that virtually no web-based game is compatible with Vista. That could prevent 70 million gamers from playing more than 500 of the Internet’s most popular games – and could affect companies like (owner of RealArcade), (AOL Games) and (Yahoo! Games). The study found that even Microsoft’s own Zone.com was incompatible with Vista.</blockquote> <h2>Edit:</h2> Note the recent failure of Adobe and Microsoft coming to a resolution regarding <b>PDF</b> files. Then note that Adobe bought out Macromedia, the owners of Flash technology, upon which many if not most of the web games, like <i>Adventure Quest</i> and <i>Dragon Fable</i>, are based. The other major platform is <i>Shockwave</i>. Huge odds are in favor that, within the next 12 months, MSFT comes up with their own similar platform. One that will run on Vista. I smell a Microshafting in the works.

ADP Jobs: 152,000 for Jan07

815417267f76f6f460a4a61f9db75fdb%3Ca%20href%3D%20%22http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fs%2Fnm%2F20070131%2Fbs_nm%2Fusa_economy_gdp_dc_2%22%3EUS%20GDP%3A%203.5%%0A%3C%2Fa%3EHousing%20starts%3A%20336d5ebc5436534e61d16e63ddfca327100bcef9c45bd8a48eda1b26eb0c61c869%0A%0AWhat%27s%20wrong%20with%20those%20numbers%3F%0A%0AWell%2C%20to%20start%20with%2C%20they%20again%20fail%20to%20mention%20that%20those%20are%20absolute%20numbers%20and%20do%20NOT%20include%20monthly%20job%20losses%2C%20which%20are%20around%20336d5ebc5436534e61d16e63ddfca327120%2C000%20to%20336d5ebc5436534e61d16e63ddfca327130%2C000.%20So%20the%20real%20net%20job%20gains%20are%2022%2C000336d5ebc5436534e61d16e63ddfca32732%2C000%20new%20jobs.%20This%20is%20nation336d5ebc5436534e61d16e63ddfca327wide%2C%20for%20one%20month.%20This%20is%20in%20contrast%20to%20the%20%7E12%2C000%2C000%20jobs%20lost%20since%202001.%20at%2020336d5ebc5436534e61d16e63ddfca32730%20thousand%20jobs%20per%20month%2C%20it%27s%20gonna%20take%20a%20hellish%20long%20time%20to%20put%20those%2012M%20people%20back%20to%20work.%2012%20years%2C%20in%20fact%20and%20the%20US%20jobs%20market%20was%20barely%20digging%20out%20of%20negative%20territory%20only%20slightly%20over%20a%20year%20ago.%0A%0AWhile%20this%20is%20happening%2C%20we%20are%20seeing%20a%20good%20growth%20picture.%20In%20fact%2C%20it%27s%20so%20good%20that%20the%20job%20numbers%20reflect%20the%20fact%20that%20they%20HAD%20to%20create%20those%20new%20jobs.%20The%20bad%20part%20is%20that%20those%20%3Ca%20href%3D%20%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2Fid%2F16900922%22%3EGDP%20numbers%3C%2Fa%3E%20are%20unsustainable%2C%20%3Cb%3EIMHO%3C%2Fb%3E.%20Over%20half%20of%20the%20GDP%20comes%20from%20increased%20US%20%20Consumer%20and%20US%20Federal%20spending.%20Corporate%20and%20Investor%20growth%20are%20actually%20negative.%20Yes%2C%20Consumers%20have%20to%20keep%20spending%2C%20just%20like%20breathing%2C%20and%20the%20Feds%20still%20have%20a%20war%20to%20supply%20equipment%20%20to%20but%20neither%20indicate%20true%20sustained%20economic%20growth.%0A%0AThe%20result%20is%20that%20Corporations%20are%20sitting%20on%20the%20largest%20cash%20piles%20that%20they%27ve%20ever%20had.%20Some%20are%20even%20buying%20back%20all%20of%20their%20public%20stock%20and%20going%20private.%20%3Ci%3E%3Cu%3EThey%20are%20not%20creating%20new%20jobs%21%0A%0A%3C%2Fpre%3E0fbd1776e1ad22c59a7080d35c7fd4db

 The current US government, both Demorats and Repugnicans, are missing the point. Yes, it is about the Economy but, more specifically, it is about JOBS (and I'm not talking about Apple's CEO)! An economy that doesn't produce enough jobs for the people living within it is not sustainable because Consumers spend only if they have the money and for that, they need jobs! This is only superficially better than the Jobless Recovery of 2005 and that leads to a "Rich get richer whilst the poor get poorer" scenario.

Governor Schwarzenegger, tries to get Health coverage for Californians and the GOP Feds shoot it down. The Governor’s health plan proposal actually only costs slightly more than what California is spending now. Central to the issue is allowing Insurance carriers to charge what the hell they want and to deny coverage to whomever they want, resulting in Insurance Carrier ‘cherry picking’ of the customer base. Most Republican law makers, and many Democrats as well, are firmly in the pockets of the Insurance Carriers, who have had the run of this roost for an excessively long time. The net result is that there are now many of us who cannot get coverage at any price and there are a great deal more that have to pay an excessive price for basic coverage, with the really cheap rates going to the healthy young.

Now, I am a Republican and am all for free markets. But the Insurance business is a networked oligarchy, period. It has been that way for over 40 years and it will never be a free market as long as Insurance is both tied to employment and employers remain self-insured, with the Insurance carriers administering the Insurance trusts. What's wrong with the current mess is that the tax breaks are towards the self-insured employer and they refuse to give those same breaks towards individuals. Until the 70's, employees couldn't even select their insurance administrator.

What most folks don't know is that you can't even get decent group coverage, if you have less than 25 employees, and a 50+ year old, type 2 diabetic, self-employed male, who smokes, is not insurable (why I can no longer find work in the US, it makes me un-employable too, they expect me to keel over at any minute).

What's working here in Europe is that each country is requiring mandatory individual health insurance. They then turn around and regulate the insurance prices and forbid any carrier from denying anyone coverage. The carriers are allowed up to a decent 10-15% corporate net profit, no more (that's already a lot!). There are some government subsidies, in the form of tax breaks, by not much and the health care here is excellent and covers much more than 60% of the population.

This is ridiculous! I’m getting shed loads of spam through the Slamlander at LJ account (this one). Since most spammers drop an email when they get too many bounces, I’m going to try taking the mail-forward down for a week. The problem is that I get a lot of legitimate mailer-list messages there too. Livejournal.com is too well known an attack vector, I guess. In any case, the folks that matter know alternate addresses for me anyway and at the end of the week it’ll be working again. As for my mailer-list stuff, it’s not too many that I can’t re-forge the links manually later.

I wonder how long this guy will be in jail for?

815417267f76f6f460a4a61f9db75fdb%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbc.co.uk%2F2%2Fhi%2Ftechnology%2F6301301.stm%22%3EThis%20guy%3C%2Fa%3E%2C%20having%20already%20bought%20the%20DVD%20and%20not%20being%20able%20to%20get%20a%20refund%2C%20simply%20wanted%20to%20watch%20it.%20He%20therefore%20cracked%20the%20codes.%20Tis%20is%20well%20within%20fair336d5ebc5436534e61d16e63ddfca327use.%20It%27s%20certainly%20not%20like%20he%20didn%27t%20pay%20for%20it.%0A%0AOkay%2C%20if%20I%20buy%20a%20DVD%20and%20don%27t%20even%20have%20a%20DVD%20player%2C%20I%20should%20be%20expected%20to%20buy%20one.%20However%2C%20having%20done%20that%2C%20the%20DVD%20should%20play%20on%20a%20regular%20monitor%20without%20requiring%20further%20investment%2C%20especially%20if%20the%20DVD%20doesn%27t%20tell%20you%20otherwise.%0A%0AWe%20recently%20got%20Firefly%20and%20Farscape%3APeacekeeper%20wars.%20We%20got%20them%20from%20Amazon%20and%20they%20were%20%3Ci%3ERegion%20One%3C%2Fi%3E%20versions.%20Our%20DVD%20player%20is%20rather%20old%20and%20doesn%27t%20understand%20these%20%3Ci%3Eregion%3C%2Fi%3E%20issues%20at%20all.%20It%20simply%20plays%20the%20DVD.%20On%20my%20computer%2C%20I%20use%20PowerDVD%2C%20which%20can%20play%20multiple%20Regions.%20There%20is%20also%20a%20huge%20price%20difference%20between%20%3Ci%3ERegion%20One%3C%2Fi%3E%20and%20%3Ci%3ERegion%20Two%3C%2Fi%3E%2C%20why%20is%20that%3F%0A%0AIf%20I%20buy%20a%20book%2C%20once%20I%20buy%20it%2C%20the%20book%20is%20my%20property%20and%20I%20can%20read%20it%2C%20regardless%20of%20where%20I%20am.%20The%20same%20for%20a%20DVD.%20My%20investment%20shouldn%27t%20be%20nullified%20simply%20because%20I%20go%20somewhere%20else.%20After%20all%20I%20%3Ci%3Ehave%3C%2Fi%3E%20paid%20full%20price%20for%20it.%20As%20far%20as%20I%27m%20concerned%2C%20anything%20less%20is%20fraud.%0A%3C%2Fpre%3E0fbd1776e1ad22c59a7080d35c7fd4db

Burning their own, as well they should! The blatantly biased and skewed view of the Sterns Report is unscientific and highlights, for the rest of us, the hoax portion of what’s been perpetrated by the Kyoto convention and the Brits. The detractors are correct in that this makes ALL of the scientific community lose credibility.

In the worst ever El Nino year ever, I am the last one that’s going to say that “there is definitely no global warming“. However, my position has always been one of “we cant effect it, either way“.

The 5% damage to global GDP figure will not happen for well over one hundred years, according to Stern’s predictions. And the review certainly does not forecast disastrous consequences in our lifetimes.

Well, that’s certainly more in line with what I have been saying but since the entire Stern Report is flawed, I can’t use it.

Professor Mike Hulme, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, believes that when the IPCC report comes out next week, there will be a big difference between the science it contains and the climate debate in the UK.

“The IPCC is not going to talk about tipping points; it’s not going to talk about 5m rises in sea level; it’s not going to talk about the next ice age because the Gulf Stream collapses; and it’s going to have none of the economics of the Stern Review,” he said.

“It’s almost as if a credibility gap has emerged between what the British public thinks and what the international science community think.”

What really needs to happen is to get the Brits out of hoax mode.

What’s starting to really scare me is not that we ignore Global Warming, although, for now, that might be just exactly what we should do, but that we bankrupt ourselves by doing wrong and ineffective things!

Wasn’t it the Brits that had a huge hand in calling the original Kyoto conference?

and I have been spending the past few days watching FireFly. I never knew the difficulties that Europeans have with the Western dialect of American English. Its almost as bad as my problem with Cockney, Cambridge, or Oxford Brits-English. Western is what they use on the set of Firefly and it is substantially removed from Southern.

My problem is that Firefly is getting me back to speaking Western. On the other hand, said that it’s good to train her ear for it. Note that all of the actors in Firefly are native-speaking Californians.

Many companies that have made themselves dependent on [the equipment of a
certain major manufacturer] (and in doing so have sold their soul to the
devil) will collapse under the sheer weight of the unmastered complexity of
their data processing systems.

               -- Edsger W. Dijkstra, SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 17, Number 5

Believe it or not, he wasn’t speaking about Microsoft. He was refering to the old evil empire, IBM. It applies equally well to MSFT, though 30 years later.

SPUD ROGERS OF THE 25TH CENTURY: Story of an Air Force potato that’s
left in a rarely used chow hall for over two centuries and wakes up in a world
populated by soybean created imitations under the evil Dick Tater. Thanks to
him, the soy-potatoes learn that being a ‘tater is where it’s at. Memorable
line, “‘Cause I’m just a stud spud!”

FRIDAY THE 13TH DINER SERIES: Crazed potato who was left in a
fryer too long and was charbroiled carelessly returns to wreak havoc on
unsuspecting, would-be teen camp cooks. Scenes include a girl being stuffed
with chives and Fleischman’s Margarine and a boy served up on a side dish
with beets and dressing. Definitely not for the squeamish, or those on
diets that are driving them crazy.

FRIDAY THE 13TH DINER II,III,IV,V,VI: Much, much more of the same.
Except with sour cream.

Regarding this post;
However, over the recommendations of Series first or Movie first. Both are correct.

There is Serenity: the series pilot and then there is Serenity:The full featured movie. The Pilot comes with the complete series and does explain a lot of background and introduces characters. Then you watch the rest of the series. When you’ve done that, then you watch the movie, and it’s a separate package. Just buying the one will not get you the whole thing. The movie takes off where the series quit and completes the story, sort of. Anyway, it’s closure.

However, there are scads of directions Josh could go, after the movie.

Eval:

The concept of Cowboys in Space is already over-done and it really grated on my nerves when they started talking Western, which slipped in there occasionally. It definitely detracted from the feel. Horses chasing and catching hover-cars is also a bit over the top (and why the hell does it have to follow the road?). Josh might be able to tell a good story but he sux at SciFi. Lucus and Roddenbarry are much better. But as a story, it’s great and the character inter-relationships are awesome! It is also well filmed, which does not hurt.

So much for the objective review. In comparison with whatever else is out there today, it’s killer. But it’s a good thing that there isn’t a Babylon 5 or Star Trek derivative up against it. It will then lose. Just the same, I wouldn’t mind another 5 seasons of it, continuing from where the movie leaves off.