Microsoft To Finally Release a Competitor to Garage Band?

Microsoft had some big show today, where they announced new technology. No Surface Pro 5, but they have an iMac competitor (Surface Studio?) and an updated Surface Book.

One of the tech blogs I read saw a very brief shot (Microsoft didn't announce it) of a possible competitor to Apple's Garage Band.

Modern Website Templates Make Me Want To Bash My Head Against The Screen

OK, I get that outside of very niche specialized member sites, NOBODY is going to pay for access to a website. I also get that advertising and impressions and all that stuff are they only way they can stay in operation. But they're practically unusable.

I mostly get my content through RSS into Feedly, and when I do visit a site, it's usually a blog or alt-right site. But every now and again, I have a need to access a somewhat "mainstream" site. And it's usually a painful experience.

First, there are those stupid toolbars or whatever you call them. Some stay on the screen at all times, taking up screen space. Some will hide while you're scrolling down. But, have you ever scrolled and realized the last paragraph didn't register in your mind, so you have to scroll back up? Then the stupid toolbar comes back into play, blocking your view of the article. This is even worse on mobile. Breitbart not only has a top bar, but a bottom bar that pops up when you try to scroll back up a couple of lines. Then they have shit pop out of the left and right with "Here's some more shit you can read while you're here!"

Another annoyance is breaking an article up into multiple pages. You get five paragraphs per page, then you have to click a link to go to the next one. If it's even worth saving to something like Evernote, that's too much damn work. Forget it. I can scroll infinitely; why do you break a short article into 5 pages?

Now they're blocking you if you use an ad-blocker, the staple of the Internet user. Even if you disable the ad-blocker, you still can't access the site. I can't get to Forbes or Wired in Chrome, even though I shut off Ad-Block Plus for their sites. If I want to read one of their articles, I have to use another browser. I haven't reached the point where I HAVE to get to either site bad enough to troubleshoot any deeper.

Considering how prophetic South Park has been over its 19 years, I'm starting to wonder if their last season finale will come true in a few years. I'm glad I'm married. The last thing I would want to do is meet a girl, then realize I'm banging an ad.

That's why, for this blog, I've stuck to the same old template I've had since about 2007 or so. I've tried blogger's new templates, and they suck.

The Michelle Fields Hoax Failed

Mike Cernovich reported on the outcome of the Corey Lewandowski case. He takes credit for his part in it.

Mike also comes to the same conclusion I have years ago:

There is simply no other alternative than to not believe the mainstream media. Assume everything you read from an “journalist” is an outright fabrication. 

Right now, as I type this, the media is spreading another hoax

Couldn't agree more. The media lies. All the time. Sure, some small percentage of their coverage is not a deliberate lie, but I look forward to the death of the "mainstream" media and the unemployment of its corrupt "journalists".

Michelle Fields Has Accused 3 Men of Assault, All Hoaxes

According to Mike Cernovich's original reporting, Michelle Fields has accused at least 3 men of assault. All of which are hoaxes.

The most recent was Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump's campaign manager.

She also accused Mark Dice of assault, for little more than trying to ask her some questions.


According to Cernovich, she also accused Charles Johnson of hacking her computer.

Chances are, if you're important enough to have a press conference, your best bet is to block Michelle Fields from entering. The last thing you need is a false assault accusation. I shouldn't have to worry, because I get a whopping 25 views per blog post. 

Tom Woods Snaps At Krugman

In Tom Woods' daily email, he snaps at Paul Krugman:

Including kindergarten, the government has children for 13 years. And at the end of 13 years they are completely unprepared to take care of themselves and integrate themselves into the market economy. THIRTEEN YEARS!
In fact, the very idea of choosing a niche and developing a product or service that can benefit people interested in that niche isn't even raised with students. Oh, sure, they know all the officially approved opinions about every subject under the sun, but supporting themselves and contributing to society? Not a clue.
Is it any wonder that we wind up with so many clueless (by design?) young kids cheering for Handout Bernie?
Think we might have more income mobility if students were taught about the market economy and their role in it? Maybe just a teensy-weensy bit more?
If the private sector were in charge of preparing kids for life and had a track record this pathetic, we would never hear the end of it. The government's schools do it, and...silence.

Tom Woods has a weekly podcast called "Contra Krugman", in which himself and Bob Murphy critique Krugman's weekly column. You can listen to the episode here.

According to Bill O'Reilly's research, Paul Krugman is funded by George Soros, that ultra-leftist billionaire who has WAY too much influence in American politics and media. John Kasich got $200,000 from him recently.

Like Donald Trump? National Review Thinks It's Because You're Stupid

This is probably the most attention I've paid to National Review, an elitest cuckservative rag in its death throes. And all that without actually READING National Review.

According to Breitbart:

After the massive belly-flop that was the poorly thought out, very-poorly executed and way-late “Against Trump” diatribe last week, “National Review” is apparently still so bitter that on Monday morning another fatal decision was made — to attack everyday Americans as stupid homophobes.

And more of their analysis:

NRO itself has become the very caricature it paints of Trump. All the once-necessary publication has is insults as opposed to ideas — as though pomposity itself is argument enough. Don’t you understand, if the rubes could quote Thomas Aquinas like us snobs, the rubes would know what is best for them!

It amazes me how elites seem to think intelligence is measured by what you believe rather than by your ability to analyze and process information. "I don't like Trump! Therefore, I am so smart. S, m, r, t, smart!" It makes me think they're subjected to what I call "intellectual incest", where you live in such a small ecochamber your ideas become deformed in much the same way incest and inbreeding deformed the children of some of the great ruling families, like the Hapsburgs and the Romanovs.

Good job of winning friends and influencing people, NRO. I won't miss you when you collapse. I'm tired of being sold out by the cuckservative establishment. It's time for you to go. Your audience is headed for retirement homes. You can only hope their children keep renewing their subscriptions.

Can't Journalists Ask A Presidential Candidate A Real Question?

A GQ Magazine "journalist" scored an interview with Donald Trump. And he pretty much wasted the entire interview asking totally inane questions. Probably the most hard-hitting question dealt with whether or not Trump would nuke anybody else.

 The rest of it dealt with "would you still call people names if you became President" and about his trademark haircut.

Trump mentioned he'd released a lot of policy over the two weeks prior to the interview. Not a single question about it.

Why can't journalists ask actual questions about policy? I suspect it's because journalists don't know much about anything outside of the liberal/SJW Narrative.

A sample of questions I would ask Trump if I were given the chance:

Mr. Trump, I heard you comment in an interview a while back about how it cost the Defense Department over $900,000 to SHIP a part from, I think it was, Tennesse to Texas. That was just for shipping of a single item, not the part cost itself. How would you fix the Defense acquisition process so that doesn't happen ever again?

Mr. Trump, you claim you'd have a strong military. How will you go about this?

Mr. Trump, you mention all the tens of millions of people on welfare. How exactly would you go about getting the majority of them off of it? What about the people who can't or won't get off welfare?

Mr. Trump, you claim you'd bring jobs back to America. How?

Mr. Trump, you've mentioned you have a concealed carry permit. Would you do anything to bring about reciprocity, so people like Shaneen Allen are no longer arrested and imprisoned in the People's Republic of New Jersey despite having a properly issued carry permit from Pennsylvania?

Mr. Trump, you've claimed the Iran deal was a bad deal. What would you do instead?

Mr. Trump, you've said the Trans-Pacific Partnership is bad. How would you get out of it, and what would you put in place?

Mr. Trump, how would you repeal the un-Affordable Care Act (Obamessiah Care)? What would you do instead?

I've watched some interviews with Trump. A typical journalist will ask him a question, then three words into his reply, cut him off and ask another or make a comment on the subject from the Narrative. I would ask a question, then STFU while he answers unless his tries to spin, change the subject, or BS me.

Of all the Presidential candidates, Trump is probably the one who would LOVE to go into the specifics of his plans. The rest of them are empty suits who haven't accomplished anything substantial in their lives. Kind of like the journalists who interview them.

That GQ interview is about all the mainstream "journalism" I can handle for this week. I don't know how people can read this kind of stuff all day.

"Professional" Journalists Make Things Up- Less Accurate Than The Onion

An article I linked and commented on yesterday turned out to be made up.

Politico‘s Kyle Cheney admitted that he fabricated a negative story about Ben Carson. At least, according to his own standards, he admitted the grievous journalistic sin.
In a story published early on Friday, Politico’s Kyle Cheney authored a piece headlined “Ben Carson admits fabricating West Point scholarship” with a subhed “Carson’s campaign on Friday conceded that a central point in his inspirational personal story did not occur as he previously described.”
There were at least five major problems with the story:

• The headline was completely false

• The subhed was also completely false

• The opening paragraph was false false false

• The substance of the piece was missing key exonerating information

• The article demonstrated confusion about service academy admissions and benefits

But other than that, A+++ work, Kyle Cheney and Politico.

Just goes to show once again that you can't trust the media. Sooner or later, they will discover how irrelevant they are. And hopefully will go out of business.

Remember back in about 2003 or 2004 when Dan Rather completely made up a report on George W. Bush being AWOL during his National Guard duty?

I suppose like an unprogrammed digital clock flashing 12:00, the media could accidentally get something right twice a day. Just assume they have the same credibility unpaid, amateur bloggers like me have. Except I have no reason or desire to lie to you. And I have no responsibility, real or implied.

A Reason I Largely Ignore The Media

Vox Day hits it on the head:

Spacebunny and I once had dinner with a pair of legitimately famous journalists. I mean, one name you would recognize and the other is on a first-name basis with Hollywood's A-list. After dinner, she commented that she couldn't believe how shallow their knowledge was. And that's the dirty little secret of the media: they have a surface knowledge of many things and that knowledge barely scratches the surface. 

Ask them about anything, from Swaziland to the internal mechanism of the Austrian Business Cycle and they will claim to "have heard of that". In their world, this passes for fluency, if not perfect mastery. 

I'm not above reading an article once in a while, if it promises to be interesting. Often, it's not.

I was watching some Donald Trump interviews yesterday while waiting for a service call. I'm amazed at his ability to handle himself with them. They'll ask a question, let him get three words out, and start interrupting right away, never letting him finish. I can't believe how patient he is with them, never losing his cool. They keep citing projections from people who are frequently wrong, never checking the validity.

Or think about Megyn Kelley in the Republican debate. All the problems America is facing, and the best she can do is "Are you part of the war on women?" Doesn't she have any idea how many female executives Trump has employed? She's probably never looked into it. He doesn't fit her narrative, so she tries to attack him.

Hardly any of these people are worthy of attention. They have no idea how irrelevant they are.

I Was Happy To Hear The Oscars Have Declining Viewership

I never pay attention to these award shows. I can barely tell them apart. Oscars, Tonys, Academy, etc. Makes no difference to me. I'm glad the rest of America is finally catching on.

How Do You "Misremember" Not Being In A Helicopter That Got Shot At?

I pay little attention to the mainstream news, and I'm about 2 weeks behind in my independent media podcasts. But I've been hearing rumblings about Brian Williams taking himself off of NBC Nightly News over some scandal.


Vox Day has a post giving some details. He didn't source his quotes, so I'll just use the quotes in his post.

On Wednesday night, the world we live in became a confusing and unfamiliar place and most of us wandered the land not knowing what to believe when Brian Williams admitted that he was never in a chopper that was hit by RPG fire in Iraq in 2003. Brian was actually safely traveling in a different chopper....

 After getting called out on the lie he told, Brian said in Wednesday night’s broadcast of the NBC Nightly News that he “misremembered” the whole thing.

I don't get politicians and mainstream "journalists". I just assume they're all psychopaths and narcissists, but still, how do you "misremember" an incident like that? It's like a few years ago when Hillary claimed she'd been under sniper fire until people checked the facts and discovered that no, she wasn't.


It's easier to assume everything these people say is a lie, and that they can't be trusted.

Cuba

Now the news is all abuzz about Cuba. The Obamessiah is restoring relations.

My thoughts on the matter: meh. Don't really care. It will probably affect my life little or not at all.

Now mass legalization of illegal aliens, $18 trillion in government debt and growing by billions a day, and the fascist health care system will affect me. Allowing megabanks to trade in risky derivatives under FDIC insurance is going to screw us all.

But I doubt Cuba will. Maybe I'll finally get to try one of those Cuban cigars I keep hearing about. Maybe we'll get a new line of Cuban Rum at the ABC store.

I was laughing at the news today. I usually ignore the news. But in the building where I was working, Fox News was on in the break room where I microwaved my lunch. First they had the Cuban Republicrat Senator on (can't be bothered to remember or look up his name because I don't care) criticizing the President. Then they had Sen Menendez (Demoncrat- New F'in Jersey) criticizing the President.

Then they had Gene Simmons in the room with 4 female Fox hosts. Gene Simmons? Is he some kind of political expert on Cuba?

That's another big reason why I ignore the news. There is no line between "expert" and celebrity anymore. What next, George Carlin's hologram commenting on Cuba?

At least it gave me three minutes of amusement while I waited for my Pasta Roni to cook.

One Of Many Reasons I Pay No Attention To The Media

A writer at Return of Kings mentions and analyzes an issue I thought I heard something about, but never really caught my attention. Then in their distinctive way, go on to analyze why the current President is the most "pussy whipped" in history.

So the President called an attorney general attractive. So? M'kay?

But the media blows up. Both "sides" (no, there are not two sides to the media. There are multiple sides. I tend to ignore what we consider the left and right wings.)

And of course, while they're so busy blasting him for complimenting a lady (remember when that used to be a good thing? No?), they're not reporting on the out of control federal debt and spending he continued and escalated after the last guy got it started. Nope, not one word. Also, where did the antiwar Demoncrats go? Remember all those peace rallies when Bush was President? We're still in Iraq and Afghanistan  Why did the Demoncrats quit being antiwar once "their" guy was in office?

And that's why I ignore them. They don't really "report" on any issues. They just do what they have to do to keep your eyes glued to the TV, support the causes they believe in, and sell advertising. They ignore anything that doesn't meet those goals.

That's why I support independently produced media with a libertarian bent.I'm just not interested in MSNBCBSBCNNFOXCNBCWHATEVEROTHERSTHEREMAYBEICANTKEEPTRACKANYWAY.

This Is Why I Pay So Little Attention To The News

Here's an RT hitpiece on Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. I believe RT stands for "Russia Today". Apparently, RT interviewed Bill Ayers, a known former terrorist and close associate of our current President. O'Reilly attempted to "no-spin" the whole thing, which resulted in motion sickness for most of his viewers. Hannity also devoted 4 minutes of one of his programs to this "non-issue".

I pay little attention to any of the mainstream media outlets. Considering how much time they spend on what amounts to hot air, I always wonder what they're not telling us. They seem to spend more time on celebrity affairs than they do on issues like the NAFTA Superhighway.

As for Bill Ayers comments, I agreed with one thing. Get your news from places like The Daily Show and The Onion. During my teenage years, I went through a period of time when I got my news almost entirely from Mad Magazine. I was amazingly current with the issues. To this day, I still prefer to get my news from satire, which at least amuses me while I'm getting current.

Buying One Song...

Sometimes I wish I had musical talents. Or I wish I had a Mac and Garage Band. Or I wish somebody would come out with a Garage Band like product for the PC. Don't tell me Audacity. It's not the same.

I found out about this $3 of free music promotion by Amazon today. When I got home, I decided to get some songs. I had a song that I'd been wanting for a while, so I bought it. It was $1.29. Fine, it was free. Then I went looking for another song. For some reason, lately I've been wanting "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." I don't know why. My church never sings it. I'm curious if any of our song leaders have heard of it. In any case, a podcast I listen to occasionally leads in with it. I figured "how hard could it be to find a version of 'A Mighty Fortress" that I'd like?"

A lot harder than I thought. Amazon returned hundreds of songs under my search. I started sampling them. I quickly realized that I didn't want a version of the song with pipe organs or a congregation singing in a very-bad-for-sound auditorium/sanctuary/whatever they call it. I also quickly decided that I don't want an instrumental version. I just want one good singer with a good instrumental mix, that doesn't include pipe organs or a single guitar. Turns out, my want was impossible. I did find a couple of versions of the song that made me wish Trans Siberian Orchestra would tackle it.

I hate some Christian paradigms. "A Mighty Fortress" is a great song. It's a powerful anthem. Why can't anybody put together a good version of it? Just  because it's 500 years old doesn't mean it has to be sung with pipe organs and sound like a death march. I'm sure Luther never intended it that way.

T-Mobile MyTouch 3G: But What Does It DO?

Like I asked in my last post, based on the embedded commercial, what does the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G actually do? It's the first phone that becomes you, or something like that. Great. So what does it do? Does it have 3rd party apps? Can it manage multiple email accounts? Can it sync to Google Calendar (I'd hope so, since it's based on Google standards). Can I manage a task list? Can I use it for work?

Or, are the people who put that commercial together not really thinking of me as their target market? That's probably a smart choice. Woe unto the marketer who thinks I'm his or her target customer.

Albert Mohler: Seperation of Church and Sport?

Contemporary theologian and seminary president Albert Mohler is a man I enjoy reading. I follow his blog and listen to his podcast regularly. I like him because he is a thinker. Rather than regurgitate a “party line”, Dr. Mohler thinks through issues. His work has been a real benefit (blessing?) to me in my own intellectual journey.

Dr. Mohler posted an entry on his blog recently about a sports journalist’s call for “separation of church and sport”. The column deals with complaints about athletes who are Christian and the exclusivity of the Gospel.

I’m not opposed to my own version of separation of church and sports: specifically, let’s reduce the number of sports-themed sermons. Nothing makes me want to leave the church, sit in my car, and watch somebody else’s sermon on YouTube on my iPhone like a sermon that starts out with a baseball illustration.

But then again, I also realize that it’s not about me. I’m not sure what to tell the sports journalists. I sit through the sports-sermons. They may have to live with the Christian players.

Probably Bad News: What Happens When Journalists Don't Check Sources

A site I've been following lately is Probably Bad News. They had a post today about two newspapers in Bangladesh taking a story from The Onion, not realizing that The Onion is satirical.

Makes you wonder about the quality of fact checking in the news you read, doesn't it?

New Thoughts Media Community Site: Apple Thoughts

I first stumbled onto Pocket PC Thoughts 4 years ago this month. It was started by Jason Dunn 8 years ago and has become a media empire of sorts, with community sites dedicated to Smartphones, the Zune, Digital Media, and now Apple. Apple Thoughts just launched. If you happen to have a Thoughts Media account already, it is good on the new site.

Silencing the Christians Videos

I’ve ended up on all kinds of mailing lists over the years. I’ve canceled several. There are others that I find annoying but occasionally useful, such as the Libertarian Party and the American Family Association. The LP is always asking for money (but I’m sure the Republicrats and Demonicans do also but I’m not on their lists) and the AFA is always asking for money or to boycott something for some reason or other. I did participate in the Ford boycott, but to be honest that really didn’t cost me anything because I never buy new cars and I never buy Fords (OK, one exception and it will be the last. I’ve always said our 1995 Ford Windstar has run flawlessly since we spent $5500 in two visits to a Ford dealer to get Ford’s manufacturing defects worked out of it.) That’s like saying I’ll participate in a hip-hop music boycott. I never buy the stuff anyway, so why not let my otherwise inaction contribute to active support, however symbolic it may be? The AFA currently has a McDonald’s boycott going on. Guess where my lunch came from yesterday? I didn’t buy it, it was brought to me. It’s not that I don’t support the reasoning behind some of these boycotts, and the one against Ford was eventually effective, but I’m not sure this is a good long-term strategy.

In any case, several months ago the AFA was sending out emails about a series of videos about Silencing the Christians. To be honest, often when I hear of things like this, I assume it’s just the usual whining. "Whaw! the Liberal Media is ignoring Christian issues!” Right, and my three year old is lying to me that mommy said he could have ice cream and his little brother said he could have his share too. Where is the news in that statement? I’ve started to ignore the so called “conservative” news sources as much as I ignore the “liberal” or “mainstream” sources.

I’ve had a browser tab on my laptop open to the Silencing videos for several months. Maybe it’s time to watch them. If they actually contain something that I didn’t already know or write off as whining, maybe I’ll comment on it.