03 December 2008

Wednesday, I had AT&T U-Verse IPTV and internet installed, with the goal of ditching my Dish Network/Comcast Internet combo if everything worked satisfactorily.

I'm really pleased with the U-Verse service so far, and canceled the Dish/Comcast combo over the weekend.

Here are some quick thoughts comparing U-Verse and Dish/Comcast:

Video: The quality of the Dish HD streams is a little higher than the AT&T HD streams -- but only slightly (probably not discernible to many), and neither is quite as good as OTA HD; the U-Verse SD streams seem a little better than Dish. The nearly instantaneous channel change of U-Verse beats the 2-3 second lag of Dish. I liked the Dish programming guide a little better, but that's subjective. I had comparable channel lineups with both services (although the Dish Sirius radio channels were better than whatever service U-Verse uses). I have noticed an occasional stutter with the U-Verse stream, but I also had occasional stutters with Dish (more frequent during heavy rain, which obviously won't be a problem with U-Verse), so that's a wash. I initially had some sporadic audio issues with my Toshiba HDTV hooked to U-Verse DVR via HDMI cable, but fiddling with the Toshiba settings resolved the problem.

DVR: Dish has a GREAT DVR, with really good program guide info and scheduling of recordings. U-Verse DVR is close (including a 30 second advance/7 second rewind popularized by Dish), but scheduling series recording is a bit buggy (Dish was GREAT at recording new shows only; U-Verse DVR seems to miss some new shows, so it's wise to set it to record all). The ability to schedule a recording over the web is a big plus for U-Verse, though. Both systems allow for a remote television to watch recorded DVR programs.

Streams: U-Verse allows for four video streams (2 HD) at once at this time (that's an increase over what was initially offered, and could easily increase if AT&T fattens their pipe). Dish two-room DVR allows for two streams total plus one OTA stream if you have an antenna connected. Advantage U-Verse.

Internet: I signed up for the U-Verse 6M/1M service (they now offer 10M and 18M down). The connection has been rock solid and right up to spec, with consistent speeds and consistent ping times at different times of the day. The 2Wire residential gateway provided by AT&T is highly configurable -- after suffering a few wifi disconnect/reconnects, I changed the broadcast channel and it has worked well since. The Comcast Powerboost feature was nice, but the U-Verse overall performance seems more consistent/stable. And for people who want to pay for much more speed, it's available.

Installation: My installation window was 2-4 pm. The tech called just before 3pm and said he was on his way. He arrived at 3pm, scoped out my wiring situation, and by 4:30pm, the install was complete and I had a working system. The tech tapped into my existing coax cable wiring, which is effectively being used as the IPTV network through the townhouse, so my install was pretty easy (no new wiring required). The tech was pleasant, and it was interesting chatting with him about the technology.

Price: The U-Verse package beats the Dish/Comcast combo by about $20/month, which is pretty sweet. There was also a $200 rebate promotion when I signed up.

As I said above, I'm really pleased with the switch so far (although I had no real complaints with Dish/Comcast). I'll update the post if any issues pop up along the way.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/23/08 12:25 | Tech | Technorati | Comments (2)

20 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/20/08

Detroit DIP (NRO)
Mad Max and the Meltdown (Daniel Henninger, WSJ)
Let Detroit Go Bankrupt (Mitt Romney, NY Times) Where was this Mitt Romney during the primaries?
Tarp the TARP (Larry Kudlow, TCS)
Obama Hears a Giant Sucking Sound (Holman Jenkins, WSJ)
How Obama can energise the economy (Glenn Hubbard, FT)
Paulson, Bernanke, and Congress on the Bailout: Incompetence All Around (Michael Barone, US News)
Debt Man Walking (John Judis, TNR)
Indian frigate destroys 'mothership' as raids off Somalia continue (Xan Rice, Guardian) Maybe the President-elect will get around to calling India, one day.
The loose-lipped ship (Brothers Judd)
Citysearch remakes itself into 75,000 neighborhood guides (Jefferson Graham, USA Today)
Pacman Jones isn’t worth all this fuss (Randy Galloway, FWST) No, he was not. The Cowboys are stuck with PacMan and Jerruh, and the Jones they need (Felix) is out for the season. Great.
Texas Tech’s defensive boss shortchanged by Texas Longhorns love-in (Jennifer Floyd Engel, FWST)
Exploring in Houston (Steve MacNaull, Canadian Press)
FAIL Funniest blog EVAH!
Not Enough Indians: Chief Yahoo Jerry Yang's -$20 billion legacy (Robert Cringely, PBS.org)
Blog postings holler for Smith’s removal (John McClain, Houston Chronicle) Inane columns about reader comments? Pathetic. Once again, you get better analysis of the Texans from Stephanie Stradley than any writer employed by the Chron.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/20/08 22:16 | Links | Technorati | Comments (1)

18 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/08/08

Wall Street Lays Another Egg (Niall Ferguson, Vanity Fair)
Why Detroit Needs Chapter 11 (Martin Feldstein, WaPo)
Let the Automakers Go Bankrupt (George Will, WaPo)
Deprogramming Jihadists (Katherine Zoepf, NY Times)
The Test Passes, Colleges Fail (Peter Salins, NYT)
A Critic in Full: A Conversation with Tom Wolfe (Carol Iannone, NAS)
Double standards and the Roman predicament (Brothers Judd)
Our Spendthrift States Don't Need a Bailout (Steve Malanga, WSJ)
'No Excuses' for Liberals (Bret Stephens, WSJ)
'No' to Obama's experimental government (Jonah Goldberg, LA Times)
Infrastructure Spending to Nowhere (Rich Lowry, NRO)
The iPhone Intervention (John Carnett, Popular Science) Apple just works. Unless you want to use the phone to make a call.
Will and Mack Mack Brown's new successor-designate (wth?!) has mastered the head coach's "I think I'll take a dump on the sideline" look.
‘A Matter of the People’: Careening towards chaos in Caracas (John Thomson, NRO)
Iraq 'Fails' Upward (WSJ)
Texas Sen. John Cornyn chosen to lead National Republican Senatorial Committee (Todd Gillman, DMN) He ran such an impressive campaign this time (impersonating Ansel Adams!) that the GOP is going to let him spread the magic. Genius!
Galveston's Road to Recovery (Erik Runge, WOAI)
Houston Texans defense: The NFL's worst over the last 4 years (TexansChick) Chron cheerleader Jerome Solomon said Richard Smith isn't the problem. A blogger rebuts that cheerleader silliness. Stephanie Stradley consistently provides better analysis than anyone at the Chronicle who writes about the Texans.
Post-Game Breakdown: It's Broke, So Why Aren't They Trying To Fix It? (Battle Red Blog)
VoiceofSanDiego.org is putting local politicians and businesses on the hot seat (Romenesko) Good. Here's hoping Texas Watchdog does the same thing here.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/18/08 22:27 | Links | Technorati | Comments (1)

17 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/17/08

By Meat Alone: The best Texas BBQ in the world (Calvin Trillin, New Yorker) Heh, Calvin Trillin visits Texas. I love that. Thanks to K for the link!
Depression 2009: What would it look like? (Drake Bennett, Boston Globe)
Connections could touch every somebody (John Kass, Chicago Tribune)
Murdoch to media: You dug yourself a huge hole (Charles Cooper, CNET)
Obama's Triumph, the GOP's Calamity (John Podhoretz, Commentary)
Change - How Political Eras End and Begin (Ron Suskind, NY Times)
Hispanic Panic: Back to square uno para el GOP (Duncan Currie, Weekly Standard)
Keep the war, lose the rhetoric (David Ignatius, RCP) How about keep the war, offer more intelligible rhetoric?
Journalists, Glorying in Obama's Moment (Howard Kurtz, WaPo) Oh my goodness -- will this prompt completely self-unaware frothing about Kurtz's hate and partisanship from the hating partisan nacho crowd? *laugh*
Crisis lets Dems push old agendas (Amity Shlaes, NY Post)
Freedom agenda in flames (Jackson Diehl, WaPo)
To Prevent Bubbles, Restrain the Fed (Gerald Driscoll, WSJ)
The $639 Million Loophole (WSJ)
In Peru, a Rebellion Reborn (Joshua Partlow, WaPo)
Peru Economy Grows, But Problems Abound (Joshua Partlow, WaPo)
Fighting in Congo Despite Rebel Promises to U.N. (Todd Pitman, AP)
Myanmar: Long sentences for democracy advocates (AP)
Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan Confront a Financial Disaster (Deirdre Tynan, EurasiaNet)
Georgia: Is Natural Gas the New Weapon in the Conflict Between Tbilisi and Moscow? (Nino Patsuria, EurasiaNet)
How to steal an election (Economist)
Beware of a stampede to war (Economist)
The see-no-evil foreign policy (Economist)
Among Latin leftists, Brazil's moderate Lula leads the way (Sara Miller Llana, CSM)
Brazil as a new kind of oil giant (Sara Miller LLana, CSM)
Latin jitters over Obama's free-trade policies (Sibylla Brodzinsky & Sara Miller Llana, CSM) One can understand jitters given the anti-trade party's big election victory.
Foreign troops 'drawn into Congo' (BBC News)
Saudis step into Pakistan's quagmire (Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times)
The end of an NGO era in Cambodia (Craig Guthrie, Asia Times)
Pakistan torn over its tribal areas (Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times)
Kurdistan: The other Iraq (Anna Fifield, FT) Call me weird, but I would love to visit.
How do you ask the last Kurd to die so the Unicorn Rider can fix W's 'mistake'? (Brothers Judd)
Prague - Under Wintry Skies, a City Revealed (Evan Rail, NY Times) I can't wait to visit in a few weeks.
OU football: A look at Texas Tech's ‘genius’ (Jake Trotter, Daily Oklahoman) Coach Leach is the bomb.
McNabb's reign likely is over (Ashley Fox, Philadelphia Inquirer) People have written off Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb before. But they sure don't look very good right now.
Rice outrebounded, outplayed by Portland State (Moisekapenda Bower, Houston Chronicle) Good gawd, that lede is awful. It reads like something from a nacho chomper.
Coordinator isn’t Texans’ largest issue (Jerome Solomon, Houston Chronicle) No -- bad personnel and game management decisions from the head coach are the largest issues. But the D-Coordinator comes right after that. Too bad Chron cheerleaders never want to make a source mad at them by.. say... doing their jobs instead of waving the pom poms.
Time to gear up for Chris Bell (Off the Kuff) Perennial loser Chris Bell is hard for anybody but true believers to "gear up" for.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/08 22:59 | Links | Technorati | Comments (2)

15 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/15/08

Stable Money Is the Key to Recovery (Judy Shelton, WSJ)
How Inflation Changed The World (Jonathan Rauch, National Journal)
Nancy Pelosi's Motown Juggling Act (Kimberley Strassel, WSJ) Criticizing the frequently unintelligible W is easy. Governing will be harder.
Saving car giants will cause havoc, Gordon Brown warns US (Francis Elliot, Suzy Jagger, & Gary Duncan, Times) So, will Obama, the newly crowned leader of the anti-trade party, consult with foreign leaders as he promised, or is this an instance where protectionist instincts and domestic politics will win out? And will all those steel tariff critics be as critical of a Detroit bailout?
Detroit automakers a relic of the past (Michael Barone, RCP) Yes.
Bailout to nowhere (David Brooks, NY Times)
A Lemon of a Bailout (Charles Krauthammer, WaPo)
Girl's lesson: Bias, like shirts, picked out at home (John Kass, Chicago Tribune)
UTMB will keep accreditation despite 3,800 jobs lost (Eric Berger & Jeannie Kever, Houston Chronicle)
UTMB retains academic status (AP)
UTMB employees not surprised by layoffs (Rhiannon Meyers, Galveston Daily News)
Regents say layoffs designed to save UTMB (AP) We'll see. The UT system is rich beyond belief (check out that endowment) and UTMB has long been an asset to our state. Where is the political leadership to get the thing back on its feet, and quickly?
Chairman withdraws request for AG's opinion (Janet Elliot, Houston Chronicle)
X-ray reveals cell phone in death row inmate's rectum (Peggy Fikac, Houston Chronicle) Back in the day, when one of the college crew would lose something and wonder aloud where it was, Mr. Hutchison would announced "If it were up your ass, you'd know." So at least this guy hadn't LOST his cell phone.
Personnel remains question for Texans (Richard Justice, Houston Chronicle)

Almost every evaluation of the franchise focuses on Kubiak and his coaching staff. Actually, Kubiak the personnel guru might be preventing Kubiak the coach from succeeding.

Smith has the title of general manager, but Kubiak appears to have the final say on personnel issues. Let’s not quibble about the details. There’s blame enough for everyone.

When McNair begins evaluating his operation, he might focus on why he gave so much responsibility to one man with so little experience. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.

over two years ago

My Houston Texans roadmap: What the Texans need to do short and long term (TexansChick) Meanwhile, despite lacking the access and resources of the local newspaper, Stephanie Stradley continues to write better analysis of the Texans than any Chron writer.
Struggling Texans testing McNair’s patience (Megan Manfull, Houston Chronicle) See above.
Dallas Cowboys owner says he'd welcome Adam Jones back (Todd Archer, DMN) Two Jones the Cowboys FOOTBALL operation doesn't need right now: GM Jerruh and Pacman/Adam. One Jones the Cowboys FOOTBALL operation desperately needs right now: Felix.
Second Life affair ends in divorce (CNN.com) Among the many things in life I do not understand.
There, there, Ron (Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine)
Is Jeff Jarvis gloating about the death of print? (Ron Rosenbaum, Slate)
The market and the internet don’t care if you make money (Scott Karp, Publishing 2.0)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/15/08 14:16 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)

13 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/13/08

It's Time to Rethink Our Retirement Plans (Roger Ferguson, WSJ)
Detroit tries to fool them again (John Gapper, FT)
A Fake Expert Named Martin Eisenstadt and a Phony Think Tank Fool Bloggers and the Mainstream News Media (Richard Perez-Pena, NY Times)
Kentuckian in the Breach (George Will, RCP)
Obama and Missile Defense (John Bolton, WSJ)
History Favors Republicans in 2010 (Karl Rove, WSJ)
Delta Channels Pan Am, Decides to Fly to Every Airport on Earth (The Cranky Flier) How in hell do some of these routes make any business sense?
Venezuela faces hard choices as oil price falls (Oxford Analytica)
Industry watches as Cowboys look for loan (Daniel Kaplan, Sports Business Journal) Maybe this will keep GM Jerruh busy, and football people can handle the football side? Oh wait, the Jersey Con Man took most of the football people to Miami with him. Oh well!
Tolerance fails T-shirt test (John Kass, Chicago Tribune) Wouldn't it be great if Houston were a newspaper town with metro columnists like this? Oh well.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/13/08 22:27 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)

12 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/12/08

What Would Reagan Do? (Henry Olsen, WSJ)
We, too, face the task of taking an eternal principle and making it attractive in a changed world. In doing so, we must avoid two temptations.

The first is to reject the core principle of American conservatism on the assumption that the forgotten American no longer believes in the idea that freedom and free markets improve our lives. Whether this conservatism is heroic or Hamiltonian, it posits that other principles -- family, stability, nationalism -- should take center stage if the Republican Party is to regain the allegiance of a majority.

The second temptation focuses on the many deviations from modern conservative dogma over the past decade, then argues that if only our political leaders had remained true to our platform all would have been well. But this confuses policies with principles. Our principles can flourish only if our policies resonate with average Americans who deal with concrete problems and who are resistant to radical change. One thing is certain: A conservatism that abandons freedom as its core principle is not distinctively American; and a conservatism that ignores reality will not win.
Is 2008 a realignment? (Jay Cost, RCP) No, but the term has lost its classical meaning.
This Election Has Not 'Realigned' the Country (Jennifer Marsico, WSJ) Not in the classical sense, no.
No, We Didn’t: America Hasn't Changed as Much as Tuesday’s Results Would Indicate (Bill Bishop, Slate)
L.A.'s Latinos are a sign of things to come (Tim Rutten, LA Times) If the rest of the GOP apes California and drives Hispanics completely away, we may indeed see that realignment so many people get wrong.
Critics: Texas DPS wants checkpoints to target immigrants (James Pinkerton & Susan Carroll, Houston Chronicle) Do you have your papers in order, komrade? Given Reagan's comments about this sort of thing in the Communist bloc, I think we know what Reagan would (not) do.
Here Are Your Assignments (John J. Pitney Jr., NRO)
We Blew It (PJ O'Rourke, Weekly Standard)
Take Some Political Risks (Paul Ryan, WSJ)
The GOP looking glass (Jonah Goldberg, NRO)
The Final Repudiation (George Will, Newsweek)
The internet brings a new business model to politics and democracy (Mike McCurry & Mark McKinnon, RCP)
Progress doesn't come from Washington (John Stossel, RCP)
"Intellectuals" (Thomas Sowell, RCP)
Where Obama Can Be Bold (Michael Gerson, WaPo)
Economic Change We Need (Iain Murray, NRO)
Obama's Car Puzzle (Holman Jenkins, WSJ)
Obama's Lame Duck Opportunity (WSJ)
Barack Obama's Entrepreneurial Campaign Contradicts His Bureaucratic Policies (Michael Barone, US News)
Most affluent voters key to Obama sweep (Mark J. Penn, Politico.com) And yet the Republicans are thought of as the party of the rich.
Kurdistan Is a Model for Iraq (Masoud Barzani, WSJ)
What lower oil prices mean for the world (Daniel Yergin, FT)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/12/08 23:12 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)

11 November 2008

Ah, WM

There's a Windows Mobile email patch out.

From Microsoft, of course.

I navigate to the CAB file with my smartphone, and start the download/install.

I get the familiar warning that basically says the program is from an untrusted publisher, do I want to proceed.

The patch is FROM MICROSOFT. For its mail program. In its mobile operating system.

You gotta love that.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/11/08 09:11 | Tech | Technorati | Comments (1)

10 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/10/08

Bernanke's unenviable legacy (Hossein Askari & Noureddine Krichene, Asia Times)
Detroit Auto Makers Need More Than a Bailout (Paul Ingrassia, WSJ)
Hugo Chávez Spreads the Loot (Mary Anastasia O'Grady, WSJ)
Obama: radical moderate (Christopher Caldwell, FT)
Triumph of Temperament, Not Policy (Michael Barone, NRO)
The Death of the American Idea (Mark Steyn, NRO)
Where Tuesday’s Tide Was All Republican (James McKinley, NY Times)
That huge voter turnout? Didn't happen (David Paul Kuhn, Politico)
Will Obama’s Congress Be Too Friendly? (Alan Ehrenhalt, NY Times)
A conservative hope for Obama (Robert Robb, RCP)
It's such a bad idea, he had to put it first and say it twice (The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid)
Interview with Rahm Emanuel (Jason Riley, WSJ)
Why Obama Should Copy Bush (Jonathan Cohn, TNR)
Consider what Bush has accomplished. He has overhauled the tax code, tilting it towards the wealthy and significantly reducing federal revenues. He signed a landmark education reform that changed the curriculum in virtually ever public school. He gutted the regulatory state and hollowed out the bureaucracy. He added a drug benefit to Medicare, thereby enacting the largest single entitlement expansion since the 1960s. He tipped the Supreme Court’s ideological balance with two strongly conservative appointees. And that’s just what he did on domestic policy. Bush also sponsored a massive program to help treat AIDS in under-developed countries. He rewrote long-standing doctrine on foreign policy and human rights. And, oh yeah, he engineered--and then prosecuted--a war that overthrew a dictator, destabilized a region, and committed the U.S. to an occupation whose end is still unknown. That’s quite a tally--arguably, one that no president since Lyndon Johnson can match. (Before that, you'd have to go back to FDR.) And with the exception of the Medicare drug program, every single one of those accomplishments represent a realization of goals that he, his fellow travelers in the conservative movement, or both had sought for years or even decades.
The Medicare reform delivered HSAs/high-deductible insurance accounts, so chalk that one up as a conservative win as well (unfortunately, perhaps a temporary one).
Most Americans Endorse Path to Citizenship (Angus Reid Global Monitor) Don't tell Pat Gray and Edd Hendee.
Antisocial Conservatives (W. James Antle III, TAS)
Kmiec's abortion folly (Ross Douthat, Slate)
Bring back the Fairness Doctrine (Brothers Judd)
An Obama Tilt in Campaign Coverage (Deborah Howell, WaPo)
Wash Post concedes bias for Obama (Jennifer Harper, Wash Times)
As Ukraine staggers, its leaders quarrel (Sabrina Tavernise, IHT)
Strategic Case for US-Iran Rapprochement (Mark Katz, EurasiaNet)
Azerbaijan: Moscow Brings Pressure to Bear on Baku (Stephen Blank, EurasiaNet)
Georgia: Tbilisi Contemplates How the Obama Administration Will Approach Caspian Basin (Giorgi Lomsadze, EurasieNet) Why will they have to worry about the Caspian Basin? The world will be remade by Dem subsidies for Big Wind!
Obama's Looming Energy Disaster (William Tucker, TAS)
Blogging grows up (Economist) If only some bloggers would.
Are you ready to lose Valverde, Tejada or Wigginton? (Chron Baseball) The Astros need MORE players not a selloff. And yet Drayton's PR man at the Chron is preparing fans for the latter. Such compelling sports journalism from the local rag!
Reloaded Cougars ready for basketball season (Michael Murphy, Houston Chronicle) Or not. It kind of started with a thud today.
Texans look pathetic in loss to Ravens (Chron NFL) Bipolar Chron Cheerleader Disorder on display as the reality of what the Texans are starts to set in.
Diagnosis - Brain Drain (Lisa Sanders, NY Times) That should be turned into a House episode!
iTunes Folder Watch Finally! But why couldn't Apple just build this feature in? I mean, since Apple stuff "just works" and all.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/10/08 22:26 | Links | Technorati | Comments (3)

07 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/07/08

The Father of Portfolio Theory on the Crisis (L. Gordon Crovitz, WSJ)
Yes, Detroit can be fixed (Holman Jenkins, WSJ) Good luck with that!
Emanuel pick shows change is state of mind (John Kass, Chicago Tribune)
Obama's Global Challenge: A Crash Course for the New President (Claus Christian Malzahn, Spiegel)
From 9/11 to 11/4 (Bret Stephens, WSJ)
Obama's dour vision (Daniel Henninger, WSJ)
How the President-Elect Did It (Karl Rove, WSJ)
Miraculous March To The White House (Steve Forbes, Forbes.com)
Hail to the chief (Michael Gerson, RCP)
Campaign Gives Some Clues to How Obama Will Govern (Dan Balz, WaPo)
President-elect Barack Obama proved one of the most formidable political candidates of the modern era, but his résumé is one of the shortest of any recent incoming president, and so knowing for sure the kind of chief executive he will make is something that will have to wait until he takes office in January.
That's a hilarious lede coming from an elite political journalist, considering: 1) This was not something that was admitted during the campaign, and 2) The media failed to pin down the candidate on his actual policy agenda, and therefore failed the citizenry.
The Decency of George W. Bush (Michael Gerson, WaPo) He was a decent man who practiced divisive, hardball politics. Many of his political opponents -- indeed, many nasty people in general -- are apparently incapable of making a distinction between politics/partisanship and the personal, which is unfortunate.
How To Run A White House (Katie Paul, Newsweek)
Do Republicans have a 'Yes, we can'? (CSM)
Unhappy the Zeus-worshippers (Brothers Judd)
Loyal to the End: Evangelicals Stay the Course (Naomi Schaefer Riley, WSJ)
How the GOP Got Here:An NRO Symposium (NRO)
GOP Viewpoint: We Got The Thumping We Deserve (Rod Dreher, NPR) Not unlike Kevin Phillips (or even John McCain to an extent), Dreher has made quite a nice career for himself with this contrarian conservative shtick. At some point, though, if he is such a compelling conservative, one would think he'd have more to offer.
"Do Libertarians Fit in a Liberal World?" (Todd Seavey, Reason)
Progressivism's Achilles heel (Jonah Goldberg, RCP)
Obama and the dawn of the Fourth Republic (Michael Lind, Salon) It's an interesting hypothesis, albeit a bit early. It's also weakened by the fact that the author seems so emotionally invested in its being/coming true.
Windows Mobile 6.5 confirmed (Neowin.net) I hope it's easy to upgrade older devices.
Microsoft aims Windows 7 for 2009 holiday season (Ina Fried, CNET) Hmm, this may make the XP/Vista debate wrt my next ThnkPad moot.
Use gas prices to become your own hedge fund (I Will Teach You To Be Rich)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/07/08 13:15 | Links | Technorati | Comments (1)

06 November 2008

Linkpost: 11/06/08

Hope (Tom Rants)
The campaign is over and while there will be much to debate and disagree with in terms of policy, in January the new President should have our support. Rather than hissing and booing like ill-mannered reprobates at the mention of the name of the next leader of the free world, we should join Senator McCain in «offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.
From King to Obama, by way of Chicago (John Kass, Chicago Tribune)
Despite all the rage, do not be a sore loser (John Kass, Chicago Tribune) Or a sore winner. Perhaps well-adjusted grownups (update: which obviously excludes some!), winners and losers, could put away their petty, stored-up resentments and take a look forward after an historic election? I think both Ronald Reagan and Joel O$teen would approve. Getting older can sometimes mean getting wiser and acting with more grace. Sometimes.
Obama's post-racial promise (Shelby Steele, LA Times)
The peculiar genius of his campaign (Brothers Judd)
New general, same way (Brothers Judd)
The Big 3 GOP (Lone Star Times)
The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace (Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, WSJ) To some extent, yes. But a President who governs as a divider and is inarticulate ("I am the decider," "... this sucker could go down") should not expect Americans always to rally round him, no matter what (and I say this as someone who supported/supports many of W's policies). That sort of style DEMANDS articulate advocacy at the least, and you could never accuse the Bush Administration of that.
Windows Mobile Doesn't Fear iPhone, Android (David Needle, InternetNews.com, via Alex) My WinMo Treo800w is much more stable than my Palm Centro was, and I like it much more, although WinMo's interface is annoyingly clunky at times.
Continental to Have 80 TV Channels, Program Guide Onboard (The Cranky Flier) This should be a pretty sweet system, although by the time it's rolled out in a signficant number of planes, it probably won't quite be state of the art any more.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/06/08 08:05 | Links | Technorati | Comments (0)

04 November 2008

Election Day '08!

Here's a little snippet from my friend Orrin Judd, on a day that is not likely to make many conservatives happy:

If it is natural for those who don't genuinely believe in American ideals to be easily alienated, it is thoroughly unnatural for we who believe devoutly to succumb to similar despair. What, after all, is an unwelcome election result or an inept politician or even an unfortunate law or two in comparison to your family, your friends, your neighbors, your community, your relationship with God?

I had two people tell me remarkably similar stories this weekend about being at social events and having people launch into tirades about religion or conservatives or both. One had a friend say: "I'm sure I'm offending you, but...." To which they responded, bewildered: "What? But you don't care?" We can pity the folk who behave (misbehave) in this manner, but we must not react by aping them. The impulse to vent must be subordinated to the values of friendship, citizenship, comity, and, yes, love. Where it is inexplicable to the Bright that anyone could differ with them, it is doctrine to us that people will disagree, even on the most fundamental issues. Where it is unimaginable to them that Reason could have yielded up an erroneous answer, it is obvious to us that Fallen Man is prone to mistake, oneself no less than another. Where they seem to think that spilling enough bile will act as a solvent to disagreements, we know such divisions to be part of the human predicament and the proper response to be an attempt at understanding, not an intellectual bludgeoning.

I've been absurdly fortunate in life and not at all unfortunate in politics. My first vote was cast for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and since then my preference has prevailed more often than not. But in 1992 we were living in Chicago and I walked out of the polling place facing the seemingly dire prospect that, despite my vote, Bill Clinton, Carol Mosely-Braun, and Dan Rostenkowski would be announced as winners later that night. Woe the Republic, eh? Well, last night our eldest asked what the best decade of the 20th Century was. And there's really only one honest response to that question: the 1990s.

A good many of us may feel a tad homeless as we walk out of the polling place on Tuesday, but we'll emerge into the sunlight (or snow here) very much at home. And there's every possibility that we'll be more at home in the months and years to come than those who vote differently. America is rather more resilient than we're prone to imagine in our darkest moments and politics means rather less than we're wont to recognize in the midst of a campaign. Think about what truly matters and be happy. Life is awfully good.

1992 seems so far away. Our election watch party was a small, somber affair in Springfield, MO that involved much booze. The only real solace in that election was that conservative Mel Hancock defeated Patrick Deaton (whom I once supported, in the silliness of youth just two years before). Oh, and the 90s turned out okay (even if we're still partial to the 80s). The regime has a way of enduring that way.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/04/08 00:01 | Other | Technorati | Comments (2)