matt.wronka.org

Dear Alpine Skiers and Snowboarders,

This is particularly aimed at snowboarders. When you get off of the lift, move the hell out of the way. If you're the first ones off, move a good distance away so that the next group right behind you can also move out of the mouth of the lift. You don't need your foot in your binding to glide at least 8 meters away. Skiers, you have no excuses--you're just inconsiderate if you don't get the hell out of the way.

Part the second: See that sudden dip? Yeah, don't stand just beyond it--definitely don't sit or lay down just below it. What are you, a moron?

Finally, if you need to take a break, move to the side of the trail. Don't form a line across the entire breadth of the slope preventing a back-up of people who really don't want to be forced to stop on a flat trail. Corollary: Never try skiing < http://wawa.wachusett.com/ > during the daytime, especially a weekend.

I recognize you need to fix your bindings, put your gloves on, or take a break in the middle of a run--but I don't really enjoy being forced to run over inconsiderate ASSes.

Thanks.

Mobile telecom carriers run networks that allow phones (and other devices) to connect to them. When mobile (cellular) phones first starated becoming massively popular, each handset had to be keyed with specific values before it worked with a carrier, and therefore it made sense for these carriers to also sell the handsets for use with their network. At some point in the 1990s, the network/subscriber-specific values were moved to a removable chip which could be moved between compatible phones. This meant that telecoms only needed to sell these chips, and subscribers could get their phones from any source.

Let me summarize what is conservatively calculated as a metric fuckton of articles in the past week: Verizon is saying that it is doing what the rest of the world has been doing since the 90s--at best, the specifics aren't out, and knowing Verizon they probably won't go the tried and true route in favour of some BREW-like abomination. The only other new piece of news is that Verizon will let people write programs for their phones, presumably without the massive licensing costs associated with BREW--like people already can for almost every other phone on the market since they have a standard J2ME interpreter, or native APIs like Symbian devices.

So there's nothing earth shattering, nothing "progressive", and no "industry revolution" beginning--it started over fifteen years ago!

Now what finally got my dander-up was one particularly uninformed article. This article is talking about two distinctly different topics. In one case, how Verizon has announced that it will let its subscribers use non-Verizon-purchased phones on their network--similar to how the rest of the world functions since the introduction of SIM cards. It then goes towards the argument of the Jesus Phone upon shifting ground, positing that AT&T will follow in Verizon's footsteps by unlocking Jobs' toy to be used outside of its network.

Let me now recap this article. Verizon says it'll do what AT&T already does. Will AT&T follow Verizon's move by doing something unrelated? Maybe AT&T will start handing-out tickets to the circus with a three-year contract (instead of making you call their customer service number for the show).

How consumer desire to use the Apple toy on other providers could lead AT&T into an openness move is lost on me, and the author of the article didn't even try rationalizing this statement..

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I absolutely can't stand local news programs. I'd rather be subjected to the hell that is listening to Apple users talk about anything.

There's a general rule that is as old as video games, that those based upon movies suck. The games rely on the popularity of the movie, and not the game itself, to sell copies. Moreover, because timing is crucial, they're often rushed through development on an abbreviated schedule. One need look no further than E.T..

Movies based on video games are a newer phenomenon, but one that seems to produce similar results. Video games traditionally don't contain highly developed story lines, often little more than a paragraph or two of backstory, and just enough plot elements in the game to indicate an objective. The mid-1990s had a series of horrible adaptations including those of Street Fighter and Super Mario Brothers.

A movie, based on a video game, inspired by a genre generally weak on plot then sounds like a questionable proposition. Hitman provided no surprised with its straightforward plot and simple dialogue. Still, the action scenes are entertaining and reminiscent of the types of movies that inspired the video game, and after spending forty minutes ripping apart your dash to remove a CD you just bought from F.Y.E. that was defective is just the type of simple plot and action that can keep you entertained. It's not unlike The Matrix, without the shoehorned Christian/Cartesian subplot.

It was fun to watch, not something worth seeing multiple times, and definitely better on the large screen. The Russians behind us also seemed to thoroughly enjoy (mocking) the appearance of the language in the film.

Driving along the Charles just before sunset in the Autumn (about 16:00 these days), although chilly, is crazily beautiful.

< http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2007/11/12/etrades-bankruptcy-risk-a-self-fulfilling-prophecy/ >

I still have a pair of ETrade boxers somewhere.

I'm finally giving-up on Citizens which has what has become a completely unacceptable online banking experience.

The article is best exemplified by the classic exchange between Cosmo and Bishop:

Posit: People think a bank might be financially shaky.
Consequence: People start to withdraw their money.
Result: Pretty soon it is financially shaky.