40 posts tagged “rant”

I have been a bit disappointed with how male grooming care is almost frowned upon in America, unlike say the United Kingdom or Japan where proper care is seen as a sign of being a gentleman. The concept of shaving in the states for home use is either cartridge blades or electric razors. Barber shops rarely do the "classic cutthroat shave" as the concern for hygiene and shady establishment became an issue... Sure men have shops like the barber spas from The Art of Shaving, but other than that, men are a tad out of luck unless there is a barber shop or spa that specializes in that vector of care. For the do-it-yourselfer, there is the option to buy into the shaving gear and embrace the roots of gentleman's care. It's pricey, but it is not without benefits. The skin is not so roughed up, as with proper technique, the user is not shredding as much skin as let's say... a Gillette Fusion with 5 blades. There is less chance to have in-grown hairs, clogged pores, and eliminates razor burn. Sensitive skin folks will find that their skin panics less with straight razor shaving, as I found out. It was nice not to have puffy, itchy irritated skin unlike the results after a cartridge razor shave. But enough on the shaving tangent...

Clothes, I find the same issue... I mean, nothing wrong with folks who like the rugged look. I just can't find the justification of why folks from that camp give flack to those who like to dress well or take care of their selves better. Is it wrong for a man to want to be polished up from a shave and shower smelling like invigorating eucalyptus and spearmint from using better than normal bath soaps, shampoos, and moisturizers? Why is it frowned on to desire nice clothes tailored from designers out in New York or Italy? It makes little sense to say that dress style can be an indicator of one's sexual preferences. That was one debate that I have commonly heard by passerbys skipping past shops saying "Who buys into that whole "looking good" crap?!" I don't frown on those who like to buy on a budget, because that's one way to skirt off the high prices of the designer boutiques.

I am not trying to slam anyone from any camp, but I would like to state that it shouldn't be shunned. Some of the major cities all over America are quickly becoming metropolitan fashion capitals. My city of Dallas is quickly becoming one and I know New York City is being one that known around the world. Electronics are getting a sense of "fashion" and plenty of people carry these devices, but we're supposedly ashamed of men dressing and caring for themselves well? That could be due to the homophobia stigma that America carries which may still take time to shake still. If guys out in Japan and the UK dressing well are gay... then you may as well throw in the rest of Europe and Asia to that mix to that very poorly conceived stereotype.

I will begin by saying I'm not one of your hardened shoppers who stalks and waits for the deals and such... I just went mainly as I wanted to gift Sol and Aurelia their presents early for Christmas. The line was terribly long... We all waited in line by the loading docks at about 4:45am in the chill cold. Personally, I regretted not wearing my wool coat out as I froze pretty quickly. We all were talking about some of the old times in our lives and trying to laugh to forget the bitter cold. Once 5:00am hit, the store opened the flood gates... What I witnessed was pure animal-like shopping chaos. People shuffling, mass hoarding items, waiting like cattle to get claim checks for high demand items... It was something that would get companies like OSHA concerned.

The art of Black Friday shopping has seriously evolved since the advent of new consumer technologies. I saw many people with mobile phones trying to have other family members triangulate items together to rendezvous at a central point to ensure they would get the best sale items. Some power shoppers had their Bluetooth headsets on so both hands could focus on grabbing items... Of course with human nature, you had people yielding to their territorial instincts of hoarding items and fighting with others over a single material item because it was the last one on sale. The local police were on hand to handle things like major riots, which I didn't see any of those luckily.

My main purpose was to try picking up a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo ($29.99) for my PSP for movie purposes but well, that was a failure as they changed the deal to a 2GB model for $17.99. Though my main purpose was to to get Bluetooth headsets for cheap to give to Aurelia and Sol for an early Christmas. They are two people who are on the phone quite a bit with their friends and complaining about how their hand or neck hurts from all the talking they do. Sol ended up getting the exact same model Bluetooth headset as me for his phone. He was a bit limited in his choices due to his phone being an older model Sony Ericsson P910i, so I got him the HBH-V705 which is a nice, sleek model with a very professional polish to its look. I managed to snag that for 50% off which was an awesome kill! Aurelia was hoping for the slick Jabra headset she had her heart on, but well she found a Plantronic MiX tower that had more female oriented headsets there. She would get the MiX 330 which is a remix of the original Plantronics Explorer 330 with a white and silver body color and adorned with Swarovski crystals. The MiX 330 ended up being $20 off so it was not too bad. They both were stoked for me to front for their gifts, which ultimately made me happy.

I was not about to leave empty handed, I wanted to see if I could pick up a PSP title for cheap. I found the last copy of Guilty Gear Judgment (with the bonus Guilty Gear XX #reload) and a screen protector for normal price, but it should be plenty fun for when I need my "fighter" or "beat-em-up" fix. While the game was not popular, it beats the imported edition from Japan where Judgment and Guilty Gear XX #reload were both separate game UMD's at $30 - $40 a disc.

Everyone walked out happy, which I was thankful for. Sure, we waited in bitter cold for about close to an hour to get in the shop, but the "spoils of war" were grand. The expensive part of my gifting is done, but the last will come in 2 weeks when I go shopping at Strapya World for everyone else. I just want to put some good karma in the pool for all of those who've supported me when I was down. Not all things can be had at Black Friday, however...

This year, I have noticed that the deals were mediocre rather than spectacular in the paper/in-store ads. The online shops are finally getting better with their "ads" or Thanksgiving sales. Apple did their sale online with slashing prices about $300 here and their on their machines. Newegg has continued on with their tradition as usual. Some shops like Best Buy and Target has some "ONLINE ONLY" specials that you simply couldn't rush to the store for. I feel the next step forward will only be a fusion of both sorts of sales for places that have a physical store front... But at the same rate, they need to make sure the servers can handle the loads of shoppers pounding the servers. I was unable to get in on a deal at Frys.com for the 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo as the server kept timing out, but on finally being able to... the server had a MySQL error preventing the transaction from going on any further. Oh well, there's always next time.

I can still recant the day that I sold my original first generation PSP... It was a hard day as I had grown to like some of the system's nuances, but at the same time Sony had hit the brick wall with lack of good games. When Sony was just selective on approving titles to come out to the American market, that was when I simply had enough. The DS was enjoying a lot of niche Japanese games and Nintendo of America was eager to approve almost anything to market. So from that, the DS flourished with fans of all ages buying the system. The PSP in America? While Sony of America was barely approving games, they were in bed with Hollywood to try to save the dying UMD Video format from becoming quickly obsolete from one matter of fact: American users found that ripping from a DVD, then transcoding the video to MP4 format to load on a Memory Stick Pro Duo lead to a far more better quality with regard to sound and picture quality. The best part was battery life was even longer as the system was not spinning the disc drive to read the disc, as you could watch almost four 2-hour movies rather than one 3-hour UMD movie.

The irony in selling my PSP was about a month later, Sony finally "pulled their head out of their ass" and finally opened their doors to approve a wider library of games. One of those games happened to be quite possibly the two best games of the Castlevania franchise ever. Konami named it "Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles" with the primary aim of the game to be a more updated 2 1/2 D remake of the PC Engine game Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (or Turbo Graphix 16 with a CD drive, for you American folks). The kicker was that in the main game, you could unlock the ORIGINAL versions of Rondo of Blood AND Symphony of The Night. The news of a Symphony of the Night remake really hurt me, because I had my "Greatest Hits!" version (with the cheeky green packaging) stolen from me and the culprit was never found. After my hopes for a Gran Turismo Mobile were broken by yet another delay, this news of a Castlevania remake and bundle made me bitterly hate that I sold my PSP to the auction block. I vowed one day to get a PSP again so I could regain what I had sorely lost...

Over last week, I managed to get a bit of a surplus of cash due to pulling max-out shifts for my weeks and hitting near overtime so I scored a PSP Slim core package (system, charger, battery, manuals) and Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles for myself. For once, I am seriously impressed with what Konami has produced. Before I go on to that... I would like to link to pspZine's blog archive for those who are unaware of the PSP Slim's differences: pspZine - PSP versus the PSP Slim. Over all, I like the the reduced weight and the slightly improved ergonomics of the device. Though Sony of America has me waiting in desire as the "Photos" portion of the Cross Media Bar (to be abbreviated to XMB) has a "camera" icon. This icon looks like the Japanese "Chotto Camera" or European "Go!Camera" but Sony of America has not announced when they will release this peripheral. Almost counter productive of the new 3.72 firmware release to have this feature but lack the peripheral itself. The XMB interface is finally customizable, which I remember that being a big complaint that the PSP community harped on the most. It's not a big deal, but for some... it was a part of the software that they wanted to customize to their liking. Though going slim has its disadvantages... The battery life is significantly shorter, as the PSP Slim's battery is a 3.8v 1200 mAh batter compared to the original's 3.8v 1800mAh battery. The accessories are still sparse for it, with the "best" one being the component display cables which allow the game play to be displayed on an HD TV. For those who are not HD TV owners, the composite cables (aka RCA cables) cannot partake in the same joy of playing games on the standard definition TV's, although they are still able to enjoy movies and images on their TV. Accessories are still not here for the PSP Slim, even though the system has been out for close to 2 months. One would have expected Sony to make some, but apparently they haven't yet. Enough on the geeky and mundane verbal hardware pornography...

(Zero's Note: For those wondering why I didn't opt for the Vader White value pack or the Daxter Silver value pack, it's because I didn't like the bundled games nor did I like the Vader graphic on the white PSP. I have plenty of Memory Stick Pro Duo's because my phone uses them as well.)

Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles has a very unique intro movie... The narration sounds like it is in German, if I am wrong, feel free to correct me. The movie shows a very unholy ritual that reawakens Lord Dracula from his slumber with by anointing him with fresh blood. Even though this game follows the more old fashioned Belmont whip carrying lineage adventures, it refreshes things by using new skool technology with the ability to save automatically at end of levels, give the user the ability to level select, and the ability to do a "quick save" in the middle of a level. That is a good thing with consideration that no one likes passwords and that whole mess anyways that was remembered from the earlier Castlevania games from the early 1990's. For things that have "changed", there's quite a bit. The movie scenes are now changed from anime cut scenes to 3D computer generated ones with really crisp detail. The art goes more in favor of the "antiquated" drawing/painting style with more respect to the same sort of thing that emblazoned Symphony of The Night's art. If you are a fan of the Castlevania art movement that was more biased towards the anime look, you may be disappointed with the art for this game. The levels "pop" a bit at you, not like in Symphony of The Night or the two DS titles where only the graphical effects from combat or magic stood out. Some of the things within the levels were changed however to incorporate the "secrets" within the new Dracula X Chronicles packaging. We'll discuss this later on the review.

The games controls feel a tad stiff like a traditional whip user Castlevania game, so the movements are not quite fluid as say a more modern title like the DS title Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. For the nay sayers who may say "The controls plain suck!", they are just failing to realize the demographic of this game. Play Castlevania III on the NES, Super Castlevania IV for SNES,if you want more support on the "stiff controls"... Compared to those two, the game is a little more fluid. The game is a "one difficulty fits all" sort of game... So if you are not down with a challenge, this game may enrage or even frustrate you to insanity.

I will issue the disclaimer for those not used to older, traditional titles with short tempers to either wear your PSP wrist strap or avoid this game.

While the game is not sadistically hard like say the "Ghouls and Ghosts" franchise of Capcom, the levels seem to be challenging and one needs to have good timing at times (like with stages chock full of pitfalls and Medusa Heads flying around). Compared to the original Rondo of Blood which was unlocked, this new "remix" is actually pretty damn close to the original save for the graphics, sound effects & music, and minor level changes to incorporate the use of game unlockables. Dracula X Chronicles would be what I would deem a VERY faithful remake with respect to the original. This is something that would surely make any purist, true, die hard fan of the older Castlevania sing with joy, especially because it was better than the Super Nintendo rehash released in America as "Castlevania: Dracula X" with a lot of things were sacrificed or changed due to the limited abilities of the Super Nintendo.

The unlockables is where things get fun. In the main game, you can find the ORIGINAL versions of Rondo of Blood, Symphony of The Night, and "Peke" (A system card error mini game with regard to Rondo of Blood). There are particular criteria to get these games and when the condition has been fulfilled, the game is unlocked and may be played in the "Original Game" option on the title screen of Dracula X Chronicles. From Rondo of Blood (PC Engine), I would imagine it keeps true to the original Japanese title with respect to what I have played or read on reviews from sites like GameSpot or users on GameFAQs. Symphony of The Night was a real big treat to me, as it combined some interesting aspects from the Japanese Sega Saturn version with parts from the original Playstation release. The big treat I enjoyed was if you had the language set to "Japanese" for the audio dialogue in Dracula X Chronicles, that is also applied to Symphony of The Night. The dialogue is much more refined in this rendition, especially when you consider that the American release had terrible voice actors and a poorly translated to boot. If you remember the prelude level "Castlevania: Bloodlines" with the dialogue of Richter and Dracula on the American release... this line probably made you laugh:

Die monster!!! You don't belong here! - Richter Belmont.

The American voice actors are actually pretty good and I give them credit for being so much better. There are a few changes on some sound effects, but no changes in game play. The "changes" with respect to the Japanese Sega Saturn and Playstation version include the incorporation of 2 more familiars (the sprite and nose devil) and the ability to play Maria being the most notable ones. Truly a treat for those who cannot quite afford to purchase the original American release of Symphony of The Night but already own a PSP. As far as the "Peke" mini game, I have not unlocked that yet.

(Zero's Note: Yes, I am well aware that the XBOX 360 folks have the ability to purchase Symphony of The Night from XBOX Live. I encourage any person who owns an XBOX 360 with no interest to purchase a PSP to buy it.)

I can say that Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles is a good buy IF you are into traditional game franchises. If you're open to buying this remade classic gem, I advise that a good temper is required as well as wearing the PSP strap to avoid game induced rage. If you love Castlevania, this is one game you will not regret buying.

Jalopnik broke their transcription of Dodge's release of the 2008 Viper SRT-10 ACR version yesterday. This made me curious... I felt that the previous generation Viper was one of the more hardcore GT cars. Minimal insulation, a spartan design, just pure hardcore American heritage and power that has long left the stage when the current generation is arrived. I loved the Dodge Viper GTS of circa 2002 spawned as a machine that finally matured very well, like a fine vintage liquor in an oaken cask. The earlier iterations had one issue or another that either was from faulty design or from national organizations making a spectacle of the lack of some safety features. Sure, the new design had the "lake pipe" exhaust design, the body was more modernized for the new age, and safety improved... but the car just lacked soul that it used to have. True, the engine roared just as bad as the older model... but to me, lack of a GTS version made my heart sink.

When I read the press release from Dodge to be published by automotive journals, my heart felt sweet vindication. A "balls-to-the-wall", doped up, hardcore version of the Viper that returns to the roots of feats of American muscle car history was exactly what the doctor ordered. Let's check out the specs from the press release from Jalopnik:

Even More Viper Venom! Dodge introduces street-legal 2008 Viper SRT10® ACR

• Dodge delivers ultimate purpose-built, street-legal track car
• 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10® ACR offers reduced weight, race-ready hardware and competition tuning for optimal on-track performance
• Aerodynamic improvements, racing suspension and weight savings equal unmatched performance for under $100,000

Auburn Hills, Mich. - Dodge announced today that the all-new 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10® ACR - short for American Club Racer - will make its public debut at next week's Los Angeles Auto Show.

The latest addition to Chrysler LLC's Street and Racing Technology (SRT) family of performance vehicles, the all-new, 600-horsepower 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR is a street-legal Viper engineered to dominate on the race track. Because it is street legal, diehard Viper and track enthusiasts can drive their car to the race track, run it at speed on the track, and then drive it home.

"With the all-new 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR, SRT has taken the ultimate American sports car and injected it with an extra dose of racing DNA," said Mike Accavitti, Director - Dodge Brand and SRT Marketing and Communications, Chrysler LLC. "With the Viper SRT10 as the starting point, SRT engineered a combination of reduced weight, race-tuned suspension and aerodynamic improvements to create the ultimate Viper for the street and track."

Derived from the all-new 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10, the heart and soul of the all-new 2008 Viper SRT10 ACR is SRT's new 8.4-liter aluminum V-10 engine that produces 600 horsepower and 560 lb.-ft. of torque.

The 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR stays true to the five key aspects of SRT: standout powertrain, bold exterior styling, race-inspired interior, benchmark braking, and world-class ride and handling characteristics across a dynamic range.

Bold Exterior Styling
The 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR exterior styling cues offer not only bold aesthetics but functional benefits on the track. These include a variable geometry "fanged" front splitter, an adjustable rear wing sculpted by CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), and optimized front dive planes. These new aerodynamic devices are formed in high-performance autoclaved carbonfiber. By using both unidirectional and woven laminates, the aero equipment is optimized for the minimum possible weight.

The splitter and dive planes feature a clear coated carbonfiber weave on all Viper SRT10 ACR models.

The front splitter includes three removable rub strips that provide protection and wear resistance. Supported by stainless steel tension cables, the splitter is designed to absorb the energy from minor upward deflections.

The Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR aerodynamics are tuned and balanced to maximize downforce and provide increased levels of lateral grip. Each Viper SRT10 ACR also includes a track extension that replaces the center splitter rub strip and fills out the fanged splitter scallop for closed-circuit events. The aerodynamic effect of the track extension is a reduction in overall drag and an increase in front downforce of nearly one third.

The front fog lamps have been deleted and replaced with lightweight filler panels.

The 2008 Viper SRT10 ACR features a signature two-tone paint scheme with a black center section. An optional driver's stripe is available on a two-tone Viper Red or a Viper Black ACR. The driver's stripe also features a sewn leather accent on the steering wheel. A clearcoated exposed weave is featured on the rear carbonfiber wing of all two-tone and driver's stripe Viper SRT10 ACR models.

A standard Viper SRT10 monotone paint scheme is also available featuring a body color rear wing and dual painted Viper stripes.

The 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR is available in five colors: Viper Red, Viper Black, Viper Violet, Viper Bright Blue Metallic, and Viper Very Orange.

Lightweight forged aluminum Sidewinder wheels are painted gloss black to complete the one-of-a-kind exterior styling.

Race-inspired Interior
Based on the 2008 Viper SRT10 interior, the Viper SRT10 ACR goes a step further to satisfy what racers want: the least weight possible. An optional "Hard Core" package offers maximum weight savings by deleting the audio system, underhood silencer pad, trunk carpet and tire inflator. The radio is replaced by a lightweight cover that can be configured to mount the included lap timer. The door speakers are replaced by lightweight carbonfiber panels. The Hard Core package offers a 40 lb. weight savings and provides ultimate street legal race-ready performance.

World-class Ride and Handling
The all-new 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR is specifically modified and tuned for track performance. The ACR suspension includes coil-over racing dampers from KW Suspensions that are adjustable for damping and ride height. The shocks are two-way adjustable without removing the wheels - a timesaver on the track - and they include a large range for compression and rebound. The KW dampers and forks are machined from solid aluminum billet, feature spherical bearing mounts, and are optimized to minimize weight and maximize performance.

The 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR features a new front stabilizer bar for increased roll-stiffness.

Lightweight forged aluminum Sidewinder wheels are optimized by using Finite Element Analysis to achieve a lower rotating unsprung mass. Finished in gloss black paint, they wear Michelin Pilot Sport Cup DOT-approved (street legal) race tires, providing enhanced grip on the track.

Track performance is maximized in the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR via several weight-savings initiatives. The savings were achieved with the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Tires, Sidewinder lightweight wheels, and StopTech brake rotors. With the aerodynamic and suspension elements, the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR is 40 pounds lighter than the Viper SRT10 coupe. The optional Hard Core package further reduces the weight by another 40 pounds, for a total weight savings of 80 pounds.

Benchmark Braking
The Viper SRT10 benchmark brakes are taken to the next level in the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR. StopTech two-piece, slotted, lightweight rotors combine with the Viper SRT10's Brembo calipers to reduce rotating inertia and unsprung mass, improve brake cooling, and significantly reduce fade even under extreme conditions. The StopTech rotors feature a patented curved-fin design, a key element in improving brake cooling. The StopTech brake rotors combined with the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Tires and Sidewinder lightweight wheels combine to reduce 60 pounds of unsprung, rotating mass. The 2008 Dodge SRT10 Viper ACR stops from 60 mph in less than 100 feet.

Standout Powertrain
The 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR utilizes the Viper SRT10's new 8.4-liter aluminum V-10 engine that produces a ground-shaking 600 horsepower and tire-smoking 560 lb.-ft. of torque. It features a deep-skirted V10 aluminum engine block, cylinder heads equipped with Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC)-shaped combustion chambers, large valves and Variable Valve Timing (VVT). VVT Electronically adjusts when the exhaust valves are open and closed according to engine speed and load, allowing the engine to "breathe" cleaner and more efficiently.

The two-piece intake manifold combines cast aluminum lower with smooth runners for better air flow, bolted to a die-cast aluminum upper plenum. A revised air-cleaner box with a low-restriction filter sends air through a dual electronic throttle control into the intake module.

The air-fuel mixture in the cylinders is ignited by platinum-tip spark plugs fired by individual plug coils mounted on the cylinder-head covers.

Within the cylinders, pistons are equipped with large-diameter floating pins with bronze bushings for high-load capability. Forged powder-metal connecting rods are secured with aircraft-quality fasteners for increased fatigue strength.

Engine lubrication is managed by the large oil pump and a swinging oil pickup adapted from Viper competition engines, to ensure proper oil pressure in high-rpm and hard cornering conditions.

The 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR sports the latest evolution of the Tremec T56 six-speed manual transmission known as the TR6060. Power is transmitted to the rear wheels via a GKN ViscoLok speed-sensing limited-slip differential.

Manufacturing
The 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR will be hand built at the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit.

The 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR will arrive in showrooms in the second quarter of 2008 at a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of less than $100,000. Complete pricing information will be released at a later date.

Street and Racing Technology
SRT creates some of Chrysler LLC's boldest, most distinctive products by single-mindedly following its core vision: Deliver benchmark performance at the lowest price, and deliver it with absolute integrity and credibility.

Every SRT vehicle showcases five key aspects: Exterior styling that resonates with the brand image; race-inspired interiors; world-class ride and handling characteristics across a dynamic range; benchmark braking and standout powertrain.

" According to Chrysler, the ACR generates 1,000 pounds of downforce at 150 mph and can generate 1.5g while cornering."

Insane power at a price that is competitive to the GT car market gives the option of choice, indeed! Especially at a price under $100,000 to boot! Choice is a good thing, because it breeds another thing: competition. With that said, I look forward to the next few years... Especially with regard to Honda's GT offering in the form of the HSC.

From the last 3 years, there's been a progressive explosion of social networking sites popping over the place. From those years, you have had minor players fall while the "giants" just kept growing. The big giants are now MySpace and Facebook... but the original purposes of each were totally different from my observations.

MySpace started off like a place to network with friends and maybe join groups to promote musicians that used it as a place to spread word about their music. It grew with a very rapid pace mainly due to how customizable the personal web pages could be fixed up. But with lack of "control", you'd have some devious people who'd find exploits to do things like read passwords to even cause domino effect cases where one compromised user would essentially spread their embedded virus to any visitors to their MySpace to another. This was before Tom sold the site to News Corp (aka Fox) and the management finally tightened things up. Sure, you still have occasional compromises from some customization site eventually showing their intentions of stealing passwords or doing something malicious... but the current MySpace administration does a pretty good job squashing those before they get widespread.

Facebook conversely started off more like an academic social network/online yearbook. So it was very locked tight. You couldn't join unless you had a college e-mail address and verified your account creation from that e-mail address. After that, the network was pretty dull or docile... You weren't able to peep into profiles, because you had to be in Facebook in order to do that. There was less customization, but the networking was real tight... You couldn't randomly browse through profiles unless the person consented to being your "friend". Eventually, they would open enrollment to about anyone who had an e-mail address. At this point, search engines were pulling snippets of profile information here and there. Facebook would finally open up their API to users to develop applications, that's when profiles would get colorful with customizations. Microsoft finally got interest and even decided to buy into Facebook's stock from how the social network has exploded from growth with users. For the most part, Facebook has had the least problem with compromises due to how tight they have controlled the network.

With social networks, they have allowed people to find long-lost friends and find out connections to who all they know. Of course, this causes the phenomenon that some have informally termed  as being a "frend whore". The informal definition of a "friend whore" is a person who randomly adds people in social networks all on meaningless significance. Examples would be things like meeting a person once or just because they may have dated and broke up with someone in a span of 24 hours. Social networks are not without their dark side... They can serve to be a double edged sword. Employers have found out how powerful Google is and have taken full advantage of it. Google is pretty aggressive and can pick up on MySpace profiles and even some snippets of Facebook profiles. Potentially applying for a job that advocates a drug free environment and you're under the legal age to be drinking while smoking some quality hash from a water bong and have pictures of doing those things at a party? Don't be surprised if your future employer decides to decline hiring you. I actually got to see this happen with the Human Resources division when they were shooting a candidate's name into Google and... lo and behold... they found him bonging a beer at a party and he was not of legal drinking age.

Privacy now becomes an issue. How much should the world know about us? When people hit the age of 18, the number of organizations who keep tabs on people is astounding. You have corporations who represent the major credit tracking companies monitoring your credit, then you have ones monitoring your record with writing checks, ones who observe your ability to pay rent or mortgages on time. At the same right, some of these very corporations have not had the best luck with securing their data dossiers on people or they have even been leaked from crackers and cyber criminals breaking in to steal confidential information to those who could use a new "identity". So compromises are one thing that is somewhat an uncontrollable factor... but what about personal privacy? Most people are unaware of how much information they publish about themselves online. Surprisingly, a Google search can find quite the list of information on people. Things like full, legal names, exact birth dates, home addresses, place of employment, and on very rare occasions (due to poor securing of data) social security numbers can be found by simple Google searches. You have interesting little start-up companies popping up all over the place harvesting cached web pages and ripping information from them into a compact page with just about everything they can dig up on you. Check out sites like Spock, where they aggregate as much information about you and stick it all into one concrete page.

Luckily, the two giants of social networking have given users the power to control who gets to see their information and who does not. MySpace has an option to make the user's profile private and then even make it harder for people to find you by adding criteria before they have the permission to add you. Criteria can be things like knowing your exact contact e-mail address or even your real name. MySpace has also been cooperating with state and federal laws with regards to making under-aged users profiles to be locked to private by default to protect children from pedophiles and sexual predators. Facebook has given the users control of whether they want their profiles made public or private since they had opened up enrollment to everyone. But the future of everyone's privacy is still at stake...

I am not trying to create an image from an Orwellian novel like 1984 with the threat of "Big Brother is Watching You", but rather that the newer generation of online users should have a right to know where their information is going to. If users feel that a company turning a profit on how much information they can dig up on them is in ethical, they should speak now and get the government involved rather than let the country fail on protecting the liberty of privacy. These companies that passively watch... they don't even have to tell people that they are observing them or creating a "file" of what all they monitor.

A few folks have brought up that Google's lack of privacy leaves them liable to be the biggest perpetrator of invasion of privacy. This has been brought up in courts around Europe to the point that Google has had to make a defined limit of how long they are allowed to hold on to your information. Take into mind that Google just started their Open Social platform with sites like Friendster, MySpace, PayPal all joining in the mix to try to bully Facebook. At the same time with the Open Social network, it acts as a "consent" contract allowing any one within the Open Social platform to collect as much information on you as they desire with out necessarily telling you what the purpose of their existence is.

If you don't want the world knowing everything about you but you want to keep a life online to keep in touch with friends... Lock up your profiles and even make aliases to scramble the trail. If you're truly afraid to the point of paranoia, there is the option of being a Luddite and not allowing "The Machine" to collect a byte of information on you. I don't mind sharing information that I consent to, but data mining must stop somewhere.

Let's face it... the time period from circa 2000 to mid 2007 has not been great for performance cars. Many of the great cars went off of the stage and faded from the limelight. Cars had to be more energy and emissions efficient. Crash regulations in Europe changed due to pedestrian safety. I hate to say it, but cars got bland and dull... Here's my list of picks of what I felt were the "iconic" cars (all around the world) from the "Golden Era" of 1990 - 1999:

Honda/Acura Integra (all versions)
Honda Prelude
Honda Civic Si/Type-R
Mazda RX-7
Nissan Fairlady Z/300ZX (Z32 style)
Nissan Silvia/240SX
Toyota MR2/MR-S(pyder)
Toyota Celica
Toyota Supra
Audi RS6
BMW //M3
BMW //M5
Volkswagen Rabbit
Volkswagen Sirocco
GM F-Body Cars (Trans-Am/Camaro/Firebird)

Most of these cars were either dropped completely off of the product line or just plain crippled in other nations that just quickly killed their popularity... At the same right, there were some cars that continued to be "hardcore" to the bone since their inception within the 90's. A great example being the Mazda MX-5/Miata/Roadster, which got even more hardcore with the later years with a turbo charged one for the world and even a special coupe version for Australia and Asia.

With the recent months, the gears finally began to churn. Manufacturers are finally able to extract power from newer engine technologies while still meeting or even exceeding emission requirements of global organizations. Designs are coming out with more classical shapes and designs. Some manufacturers are even going with a more retro approach and trying to revive the classic legends of the 50's and 60's. Some manufacturers are simply retiring models that simply cannot compete in a market that it inadvertently walked into. Some manufacturers are even making models to throw down and fight some of the biggest names in history. Some models have "ascended" to the status of another model. Here's my list of the "soldiers of the revolution" as well as the memorial of the fallen:

Acura TSX/Honda Accord Euro-R - Seen now as the successor of the Integra model line, not a "doped Accord"
Acura RSX/Honda Integra - Died as of 2005, but a speculated Acura TSX coupe with all-wheel drive and turbo is in the works.
Honda/Acura NSX - Died as of 2006, HSC (High Speed Concept) to replace it in 2009 from various sources
Honda S2000 - Dies this year (2007), XGA to be successor with a focus on low power to come out in 2009 to fight the MX-5 (per Jalopnik)
Mazda RX-8 - Based on the chassis of the Miata, but still nimble in body while containing the heart of a new Renesis motor, 20th anniversary edition due out soon.
MazdaSpeed 3 and 6 - The MS3 continues on, but the MS6 dies this year unfortunately.
Mazda MX-5/Roadster - Rumors of a supercharged version (think MazdaSpeed) are in the works from various forums
Nissan Fairlady Z/350Z - Rebirth of the Z with a non-turbo V6 and a sharp 6-speed, a Nismo serial numbered edition will be shipping soon.
Nissan Skyline/Infiniti G35 - Personally, I feel it is becoming the modern day Silvia... unless Nissan decides to make a more compact coupe with a great motor.
Nissan GT-R - The official rebirth of the late R34 Skyline GT-R to do battle with the new //M3, Corvette Z06, et al
Scion tC - Think about what "tC" could mean... My thoughts are on "Toyota Celica"
Lexus LF-A concept - Think a luxury reborn Supra to set its crosshairs on cars like the new //M3, Corvette Z06, and the others. It needs to loose the ugly before the release to seriously sell to the masses, in my opinion.
Audi RS6 - It has returned with a very beefy V10 that came straight off of Lamborghini and a sleek new body.
BMW //M3 - Finally powered by a V8 rather than an inline 6 cylinder for the first time with an aggressive set-up.
BMW Z4 //M Roadster and //M Coupe - Ante up for pure driving with a 6-speed and no SMG options bolted to the venerable //M3's previous inline 6 cylinder to really feel a hardcore experience.
Dodge Challenger - A modern day revival of the Dodge Charger coupe from the 60's (think Dukes of Hazard)
Chevy Camaro - Invoking the body lines of the classic Camaro of the 60's with the new technologies of today
GM Kappa Platform - Saturn/Vauxhall Sky and Pontiac Solstice finally enter the arena as challengers to the MX-5's throne of "Best Selling Sports Car in the World"

This makes for quite the interesting next few years... Manufacturers finally recognize that enthusiast owners love to push their cars to the edge. Also, people are into customizing how their car looks to stand out from the crowds and manufacturers are finally launching their "performance" divisions around the globe to feed the desires of end users. Feeding the end users gives way to more expensive items that the manufacturers can make a killer profit. If anything, they should have jumped on board with the idea sooner. The desire to have a "textbook sports car" with rear wheel drive is becoming more and more present with some of the new "rebirths" and challengers having that as a criteria.
Sports cars are finally getting fun and not only that... their entry price is much cheaper. That's definitely something to get excited about. 

Well, today I had to check up on the status of number migration and finally got the message that things have finally been migrated over. There was only one thing that remained... Severing the other line that was now unused. I would have to seek AT&T's power to do that and that was what I had to do...

So I would call them up and basically navigate through their TERRIBLE IVR system to finally find the option of "Closing a Line". But in classic fashion, I had to hold for 10 minutes just to get a representative. The T-Mobile call I had before to double check the status of my number translation was short and sweet with only waiting 3 minutes flat for a representative to connect me. For customer service urgency, AT&T never had the same amount of speed in the 2 years I had been with them. This phone call was an interesting one though... Let's dive into the details.

The rep was a upbeat sales person basically asking why I was not continuing with AT&T because I had selected the "Close a Line" service. I basically told him my grievances:

• Wait times for Customer Service take about 10 - 30 minutes on non-peak times
  
• Customer Service reps on technical or billing issues are far from helpful
• I have been told that I don't "deserve" an upgrade even though I have had a loyal 3 year history with AT&T (after understanding that I was marked as an LTV1 customer from a question on upgrades)
  
• Of all the times I was sent "incentive" offers to get "better phones", the deals were the exact same as a new customer signing with AT&T (as noted in one of my earlier posts in August)
• The plan pricing is a plain criminal rip-off compared to the competition

The rep would just try to apologize on behalf of the bad experiences I have had with the company. He then decided to go into more detail on my dissatisfaction on the upgrade incentive I was offered. I told him that I wandered into a few shops and basically my "incentive" was for a selection of free music phones which any other customer could get... But also the matter that I was using a Palm Treo 680 at the time and the incentives on smartphones and PDA phones were a far cry from a good deal and downgrading to a free music phone "upgrade" wasn't my intentions... He then asked about what I got from my T-Mobile dealer. I just told him "I was given a T-Mobile Wing at no cost out of pocket for me". The AT&T rep was taken aback... but he decided to pull out all the stops to try to keep my business. "Zero, I am willing to give you a FREE AT&T Tilt Pocket PC phone (a $500 value) and one month of Pocket PC internet on our blazing fast 3G network just to try to keep your business!" I just flat out told him no, because as tempting as that deal is... I have no doubt that I'd have to sign up for a ridiculously expensive plan to get that sort of a hook-up.

Had they offered me something like that back when I was teetering either way on AT&T and on that Treo 680... I would have been convinced. Sony Ericsson's devices have worked marvelously for me and the tri-band nature of them running 900/1800/1900 make for the perfect harmony on T-Mobile or any other networks should I choose to be the "world traveler" on vacation. My phone does what it does well and I don't think I'll be upgrading at any time soon... Plus the fact that I have a spare phone for times when I'd rather not take my smartphone with me to the gym is nice.

AT&T, I hardly knew ye... Learn to save a sale early before it's too late.

Over a million iPhones have been sold.  Have you: bought one, considered it, or decided it's not for you?

Wow... I am shocked that Vox even posed this as a "Question of the Day"! I'll go over the 90 day "evaluation" of the state of iPhone related affairs as well as answer the "Question of the Day".

With the 90 day time frame basically upon us, there has been lots of hot-button issues with regard to the iPhone. Things like hackers unlocking the iPhone for free, lawsuits over a "defective battery design" or "diminished resale value of the 4GB model being discontinued", to even the latest one on bans of cash sales of the iPhone... The device has stirred up the market and, dare I say, in an impactful way. You have makers who've basically taken apart their ideas of what a user interface should be and then revamped it to much more promising things. Notable manufacturer on this forefront being HTC with their new TouchFLO interface for the Windows Mobile 6 operating system. But at the same right, there are also manufacturers competing on a beautifully crafted shell. Noteworthy names being LG's Prada phone or Motorola's complete revamp of a mainstream sensation, the RAZR2. There were naysayers saying "No one will ever buy up into the gimmicky touch only bit!" But when you have to note that millions of the iPhone have been purchased, the numbers don't lie... If Apple makes it, people will come.

On the technological side of issues... AT&T has their panties in a wad all from the whole unlocking of the iPhone away from their network due to the minuscule profit margin they earn, unlike the one Apple gains from the sale of the device. AT&T pays Apple $18 per iPhone on their network, so to "recoup" their losses. They profit money from the sign-up of contracts and subscribers locked into their plans. But they do have a right to get their selves in a "tizzy" over it, because they can't subsidize the cost of the iPhone unlike like say... a RAZR V3. Here's an example of subsidizing phones:

Phone: Motorola RAZR V3
AT&T Store's List Price: $250
2 Year Contract Price: $100
After Diccounts and Rebates: FREE!
(AT&T's possible invoice price on the phone $5 - $20)
Zero's Note - I don't know the exact number, my figure of AT&T's invoice is an estimate. Take my number with a grain of salt.
Prices from the AT&T Wireless site

The iPhone, because it is made by Apple does not give AT&T this luxury to slash the price of the device as they please because Apple makes the device at a much higher cost than ordinary cell phones or smart phones. I would estimate that the iPhone's "cost" is about $150 - $180, invoice probably at $250 (AT&T's "buy-in price") while retailing at $400. Talk about getting the short end of the stick for AT&T. It's rather a steep deal and I can see why AT&T is mad as hell. The same right though, people saw it coming... Because Apple fans will stop at damn near nothing to get their hot hands on one of their new devices. The fact of the matter that the iPhone had few exclusive technologies specifically to AT&T had almost made it a target of hackers, unlocking chop-shops, and various retailers... If there were tons of things that required AT&T, I could see it being a better cash cow. But with the news that Orange France will be releasing an unlocked model for the European market... It may just serve to enrage AT&T even further when you have unlocked phone shops importing these unlocked models to the American market place.

As far as the iPhone, It's not for me because I need a robust and powerful device. With the iPhone for my friends, my opinion is more in favor of telling ones who have not jumped on board with it... I would recommend that they wait before buying in. Apple submitted their patents for an iPhone "Nano"  to the US Patent Office and some analysts say that it could be about November for a second generation iPhone. Europe's Vodafone has advocated that the iPhone must have 3G or it is useless for their advanced network. So much new possible innovations for the iPhone as a platform, but just time is the factor of all things.

A while ago, I journeyed out to The State Fair of Texas for a juvenile return to my childish youth. I had last gone to the fair back in 2004 and I was wondering if anything changed. I remembered back in 2005, there was the wild rage over "Fried Coke" and supposedly this year... there was more creative fried entries, such as the notable "Fried Latte".

I went with a modest 20 tickets at $10. The only con to the fair is that the currency is tickets. Games, food, attractions all cost tickets. It is a pain but it must tolerated to get into the spirit the event. I had an chili tamale to start my journey... It was rather tasty with savory ground beef and lightly spicy chili. Most of the "amusements" are more in the town carnival respect, something that's more of a "tourist trap" if anything. I would try one of the "famous" Fletcher's corn dogs which is still great even 2 years later.

I'd wander around the automotive show rooms, which still remain "segregated" as always. One for domestic American cars and another for import Japanese cars and some branches of domestic cars. No European cars, oddly. After wandering and gawking at cars... It'd be time for a snack again. The Fried Latte would be the next item to try. That was interesting... a cold ice cream like mixture of ground coffee beans topped on a bed of crispy strips of some sort, then covered in a whipped cream and topped with some more coffee grounds. A tasty treat, but a bit messy though... I would probably advise anyone trying it to have some sort of drink to wash the sugar down.

After some more walking around the fair grounds to explore everything... the next hint of sweet hit. Closest thing in proximity to taste: Fried Cheesecake. A simple treat, just cheesecake filling wrapped around and then deep fried. I opted out of the decadent strawberry topping with just a hit of powered sugar. That was a truly savory treat... It was not over the top like the fried latte and I was very much glad about that. As always, make sure to have a drink... it will help wash down the grease and sugar.

Much of the other "food attractions" were just stuff from some of the restaurants in town just trying to promote business. A lot of things seemed lack luster to be hawking their stuff at the fair... like southern fried chicken, burgers, or even pizza. I would try to wander some more until I could find something really out of the norm to try... My last thing on the journey was the fried cookie dough. The 2006 winner of the most creative fried treat. It's just a simple treat as well... The tasty part of it is just the crackle of the shell for the warm and gooey interior of cookie dough and chocolate chips. This is one item I will say that you NEED water or the sugar content will figuratively choke you with how rich it is.

The fair successfully displays itself as a festival of fried deliciousness, but have a nice expense dedicated to it if you want to be selfishly decadent in the rapture of taste. I went with a dear friend and sharing the expense was much less painful between the both of us. If you can go with a group of close friends, I would highly endorse that option.

What's your cure for the common cold?

Curing the common cold... This takes me back to when I lived the apartment life alone with no health insurance. I opted out of health insurance mainly because I just couldn't afford it. I remember catching the worst cold one year and had to literally fend for myself to get better. I remembered some of the old remedies to attempt to heal up, because it would quickly become a "now or never" issue. My sinus drainage was terrible to the point that basically I got a sore throat from the mucus basically drying out my throat. I had to devise a plan to attack to fight off my viral assailant and slay it quickly! Here was my battle plan:

• Chicken soup or chicken porridge ("Chicken soup cures all!" being the old saying)
  
• Orange juice or a 1,000 mg dose of Vitamin C (Immunity booster)
  
• Supplement a diet of clean grains and carbs to support the "energy drain" from fighting illness
• Removing sugar from my diet (Soda, candy, junk food)
  
• Hot lemon tea with a shot of honey to act as a sore throat and to aid in expectorating the mucus
• LOTS of BED REST (a huge key to victory)

This battle plan would be grueling as depending on how much sleep you get... you can recover in either 2-3 days or as long as a week. It is grueling because if you're suffering from the mucus drainage... you quickly loose the ability to taste anything. So chicken soup, orange juice, or even the lemon tea soon "taste the same". Lay off on the late night TV, movies, porn, internet and even video games and watch your recovery quickly speed up.