Chris Leiker

Needless prognotication?

2012-05-27T05:36:02Z

Philosophers are expected to argue some silly shit. I had a friend earnestly describe God as a pizza pie. Thinking outside the box about weird things is a great way to stretch those critical thinking muscles. It is more suspect when law students start crowding in our well earned turf. Adam Chodorow wanted a solid argument on how to deal with Zombies. Not in the usual fashion, rather for the purposes of taxation. That's right kids, when the zombies come Uncle Sam needs to know which arm and leg to take from them. This utterly useless academic endeavor should have most normal people wondering why law school costs so much. This paper is on par with Hermione Grangers' midterm scrolls. I recognize it as the most amusing strengthening of a lawyers critical faculties -- case law and problem solving. While I would be worried if my lawyer espoused crazy theories in actual practice but school is supposed to be about expanding your mind and trying new, difficult things. Arguing whether estate taxes apply during a zombie apocalypse is one of the cooler things you can do at University.

Death and Taxes and Zombies

(Via io9)

That time of the year again

2012-05-26T21:32:14Z

Rather depressing state of Fark lately, must be an election year. What with WorldNetDaily (refuse to link to them; i will link to the Fark thread) going off on Sherif Joe Arpaio and the Birther movement going in full effect, it's enough to drive a sane person mad! Why so many people insist the President is not an American is astounding. In 30 years I can't wait to read the psychological studies about why so many people thought this, or more importantly why so many supposedly smart people let the idiocy carry on for so long. One of the darker times, same can be said for the laws being passed banning gay marriage. Sorry for letting the libertarian flag fly.

An Alternate Smart Watch

2012-05-24T15:43:41Z

A significant number of nerds put their money where their watches are with the Pebble Smart watch, with good reason. It is useful, in a geeky way. Currently on kickstarter is an alternative that tries to find the middle ground between proper wrist watches and technolusty gear that requires constant charging. With a pile of electronics requiring nightly charging clutters my nightstand, I resent the fact I can keep my watch in a desk drawer with nary a second thought. Poor battery life hinders smart watches. People don't want to have to charge their watches weekly when a $9.99 plastic watch can last years on a single battery. The same could have been said in 2007 about cell phones. When properly ignored, a Nokia brick would last 2 weeks on a single charge. The idea of having to charge your phone nightly or during the day harkened back to the dark times of the mid 80s and the Zack Morris phone (for a show set in the 90s it sure had a lot of the 1980s in it). Apple, with the iPhone, proved the burden of daily charging disappears with the benefits of running a personal computer in your pocket. With the cookoo their answer to the battery problem is one of diminished capacity. In order to get a battery life of one year they eschew the fancy e-ink displays and share only the barest information across bluetooth. Whether this watch will be the best one is for the kickstarter community to decide. But, if the cookoo could let a person do half of what they can with the Pebble for half the price, all the while keeping the nightstand clear of yet another gadget, would you purchase one?

cookoo™ — Kickstarter

(Via Cult of Mac)

It prints money

2012-05-24T04:49:57Z

Everyone talks about how Nintendo makes money re-releasing their classic titles every time a new system comes out. This is often spoken of chidingly. However, since it gives the younger audience a chance to play these classic games, I'm willing to let it slide. Kojima does the exact same thing with their Metal Gear Solid games, and I'm positively thankful for it! They started with Metal Gear Solid by having it re-released on the Gamecube. By everyone's estimate the use of the MGS2 Sons of Liberty engine ruined the gameplay of the original. When it came time to offer up the game for portable and PS3 they returned to the original. It's telling that MGS1 did not get the HD upgrade like all the other games in the Metal Gear Solid pantheon. Despite owning the original collectors edition of MGS for the Playstation 2, I gladly purchased the new HD release, if only so I could play in its new up-rezed glory. I'm also not ashamed to say that my PS2 (fat) is a little long in the tooth -- it doesn't even play PS1 games unless it's standing on end. Persnickety doesn't begin to describe it! In 10 years when I'm using the PSn+1 they'll release a new compilation of the Metal Gear Solid games, with all sorts of nifty new things that will undoubtedly justify the price of entry. I'm not ashamed yet of Kojima doing this, though I fear the day I do.

The internet is the place to be.

2012-05-23T20:56:02Z

It really isn't much of a secret I lived in western Kansas for too many years to be considered healthy so it may come as a shock that I finally bit the bullet and moved to an actual city. The only reason I was able to do it was due to the wonders of the modern era. Telecommuting isn't just for coffee shop writers anymore. It ensures that so long as you can afford the trip, moving isn't limited to whether you can get a job at your final destination. An interesting side effect of this is, assuming you can handle the surroundings; moving to an area with inexpensive cost of living can lead to a quicker retirement. That's just an absurd aside. So long as you have a stable social base outside of work I would absolutely suggest trying out the work from home. The coffee is better, traffic will never be a concern and you never have to worry about missing a package delivery ever again.

Keyboard Preeleventiousness

2012-05-22T04:42:55Z

I decided to join the fray of nerds out there who use mechanical keyboards in leu of the contemporaries. Unfortunately my dads IBM Modem M was nowhere to be found before I left his home state, and so I decided that i should get the Das Keyboard. Instead of buying the Das Keyboard "Mac" version I bought the Ultimate and fake the function keys using one of the niftiest pieces of software written: KeyRemap4MacBook. Even non-PC keyboard users should look into their software, maybe throw them a few dollars (seriously they've only collected $457, with what little help I provided) Aside from the fact my girlfriend can hear me type from China (her words) I'm pretty pleased with it. It does make phone calls more interesting; what does the other person think i'm doing while talking to them… Hope they aren't too offended by the rattatat wordfire from it.

Maladies multiple monitors make

2012-05-02T23:34:45Z

In my years of college I used my laptop hooked up to external monitors; upgrading as money and luck allowed. Color variations aggravated even my color blind vision. Using one screen a time allowed my mind to reset my white balance, limiting frustration to a couple seconds before moving on. While until this year my MacBook Pro's screen the best one I've had, it had issues that couldn't be fixed by hand. Having maximum pixel real estate is the most productive thing to do aside from actually doing your work. Yet even though I have 2 external monitors, I can't use them regularly until I get my hands on an affordable color calibration tool. Most entry level ones are cruel, providing color accuracy for one display only. It's as if they recognized the larger market wasn't for print makers but technophilic nerds plugging up all their display ports. I'd kill for a simple device that provides consistency between all my screens.

Moving

2012-04-27T17:28:17Z

I've gotten so old I have a U-haul's worth of traveling. Thankfully it's fairly easy to box up the stuff you want while having the difficult conversation with yourself to throw away the junk you're never going to use again. Easier than scaling a skyscraper covered in car grease, maybe. It's the first time in adulthood I'm leaving my home town and go to a bone fide city. It's going to be fun and the opportunities to do more interesting things will be pleasing. Now for something silly.

The apparent failure of the GoDaddy boycott

2012-01-04T00:22:14Z

Whether or not a record number of domains left GoDaddy is a matter of contention according to the news organizations. Whether we wish to listen to the sensationalist media is never going to be discussed here. Instead there are a few reasons why the boycott was not as successful as it should have.

1: GoDaddy withdrew from SOPA.
The entire reason they pulled support was to keep people from leaving. Considering the matter resolved people feel no need to punish GoDaddy at the expense of their time and money.

2: Delays moving domains away.
There have been reports of delays getting the transfers finalized. This is not a case of nefarious plotting on their part, we can assume their business model does not involve a white cat and numeric pseudonyms. Rather if a company is not incentivized to make something efficient, they're not going to. Currently it's not a selling point for them to quickly move people away. It is a matter instead of focusing on other things, namely, up-selling.

3: Early birds and lazy delinquent Debbies.
Like mentioned previously, I already moved what few domains I had to another service almost a year ago now. I double checked to see if any had straggled behind several days before the big move-off. If I had any there I wouldn't have been over to move them over until the day after, the day I got paid. It's easy to imagine other people having a similar situation, more likely one or the other.

4: People support SOPA.
Shocking as it may sound, there are people who think SOPA is a good, if not great, idea. Setting aside inconsiderate thoughts, upon hearing the outrage the citizens of the internet they could have felt it's important to lend support. It might be funny to examine the list of incoming domains to see if there is in fact some correlation. www.sopasavedmydog.com would be a good example.

Ultimately the problem with internet created boycotts is it's so much easier to talk than to put up. Even old fashioned protests required a significant amount of commitment than any internet based attendance requires. As cool as it is changing the world, the internet is a useful tool but not sufficient to create a lasting or effective movement.

Get away from GoDaddy

2011-12-30T19:49:49Z

As the internet exploded into a frothy mess of nerd-rage against GoDaddy.com supporting SOPA, I knew they'd retract their support and most people would not move away as they threatened to. That was a poor choice, staying because they publicly changed their stance undercuts the very reason for the boycott in the first place.

By announcing support of SOPA in particular, and the concept of internet censorship in general, the internet geistzeit moved to an entirely different reason for disliking that company. The disrespect of every internet citizen. More so than their commercials demonstrate (I'll leave that to the internet to discuss), it shows they are anathema to the concepts of openness and civil parity. The boycott won't change that, they'll still use those commercials, their CEO will continue hunting endangered animals. they'll up-sell services that others do gratis, and will believe that allowing the internet to be hindered by third party interests is a good idea. The boycott will give the slightest chance to diminish the image of GoDaddy among normal people.

Additionally, all GoDaddy did was announce they were retracting their (verbal) support of SOPA, in that same press release they affirmed they believed SOPA-like policies were good for everyone as a whole. Whether they meant content distributors or consumers is a thinly veiled facetious issue.

I already moved my domains away from GoDaddy over the years, preventing older ones from being renewed by losing my debit card, so for me todays great move away is purely spiritual. Cheaper and better sites exist, keep your self respect, don't support the internet embarrassment that is GoDaddy.com. Personally I use hover.com, it was advertised on MacBreakWeekly and I haven't regretted the move.