Kevin: February 2008 Archives

I ran across a very interesting article this morning at Seeking Alpha characterizing the monetary choices made by our government over the past few years. I'm not about bashing the choices that have been made but I am interested in the outcomes that are waiting in the wings.

From the article:

So you're sitting in the club with Japan in 2001 and you say, "Help me out here, I need a couple of hundred billion to get through a rough patch - I'll give you a note with interest." Japan says sure -- even though it's 5% of his total income -- because he's sure you're good for it. Then you do it again in 2002, 3 and 4 and, one day, Japan is sitting in the club with the other G8s and says "Man that US is into me for a trillion dollars and he had the nerve to ask for more." Then Germany says "Holy cow, he hit me up for half a trillion too!"

The context of that quote makes it worth reading but the gist of the article is that as a nation we are living well above our means. No surprise there; it is a national epidemic. But I wish I understood the economics of that happens when as a nation we can no longer make our interest payments to these other countries. Will they write off that much money? I doubt they can.

Although delayed, the AppleTV 2.0 update finally was released this week providing the capability to rent SD and HD movies from the couch. Last night I went ahead and tried to go through the update and found that (similar to my experience before) my AppleTV with an upgraded HD would not finish the update...

Here's the thing: I don't think I care about this right now. From the reports I've read the update makes the AppleTV more of an extension of the iTunes Music Store instead of the audio/video appliance it is right now in the 1.1 release. I read one blog post where the gentleman was concerned because the background for the new UI was made up of posters for movies available on the iTMS, not just what he had in his Library -- problem being he had no control over what was shown and some of them were very graphic. His concern (and the concern in general) is that children will likely interact with the AppleTV and there is a need to be able to control what they see.

Back in 2005 (I think) Jill and I bought our G5 iMac and received a free 4GB iPod Mini from Apple which has been good to use in addition to our 1GB Shuffle. However, over the past year the battery life on the iPod Mini had degraded to the point that the device was unusable. Tempted to get a new iPod, I started looking around to see how much a replacement battery would cost and was surprised to find that I could get the new battery with a set of tools to do the work for $9.99 plus shipping from BatteryShip.com. Beyond that, the website provided detailed instructions (with pictures!) as well.

Upon receiving the battery the process is very straightforward and easy to complete. And now the iPod is back to its old "new" capacity! I highly recommend this process in lieu of buying a new iPod.

I found a pretty funny website today -- The Bureau of Communication. You can select different types of communication and do a Mad Libs'ish fill-in-the-blanks. Here are the types they have:

• DECLARATION OF ROMANTIC INTENT -- To reveal the extent of one's attraction.
• UNSOLICITED FEEDBACK -- To express an opinion or insight.
• OBSERVANCE OF HOLIDAY -- To celebrate an annual event.
• AIRING OF GRIEVANCE -- To communicate a problem or issue.
• FORMAL APOLOGY -- To express remorse (heartfelt or forced).
• STATEMENT OF GRATITUDE -- To show appreciation or thanks.
• OFFICIAL INVITATION -- To request participation in a happening.
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF OCCASION -- To observe a birthday, bris, or victory.

The archives are pretty funny too. And of course I sent one to Jill and posted it above. Children, disregard the Copulating suggested activity check-mark.