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Quotey Journalism.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
It seems like journalism is dying in this day and age. Technology is allowing everyone to publish something online: you and me, online news feeds, and even that kid down the street who can kick my ass in Call of Duty or any FPS game on the market nowadays. The ability to publish to the web is really easy all you need is an account with Twitter, Facebook, or a blogger and voila: you're an online author where the Internet is your audience.

I hate to say it, but I don't like it. Not the part where anyone can say anything. Not because I'm tired of seeing a never ending feed of pictures with cats with something whitty in that same font everywhere. Not even the people who feel like they have to Tweet every second of their life...seriously. Everyone should have the option to publish absolutely anything online and it is my responsibility to control what gets fed into my brain.

The part I really hate is that journalism today is that it's a little quotey. They'll quote anyone, seriously...anyone. I mean c'mon, where's the responsible journalism? I don't care what luvangel1987 (I made it up, hehe) has to say about what's going on in the Middle East. I want to know what's going on in the Middle East, so tell report on that, not the opinions and knee-jerk blurbs from random people around the Internet, especially that kid down the street.

I'm not going to cite a billion examples, I'm sure you can find them on the many 24-hour news channels and the quick click-to-publish news websites. I'm just really tired of it. I don't care if you published it before everyone else on the Internet, that's not what I enjoy reading. I don't want my local news, CNN, or (dare I say it) Fox news to tell me who they follow or read and find interesting enough to quote about a story they're covering. I want expect the professional publishers, through any medium, to do it professionally. It's not a first-in-wins mentality, it's quality that will keep me coming back. Yeah, it might have bias, but what isn't? At least you're not reporting your bias on someone else's bias.

I can't say it more clearly, but seriously, just give me the news and stop reporting your favorite items from your "Following" list or your blogroll. Oh yeah, and just because you can use the latest multi-touch screen application during your newscast does not make you cooler, more informative, or make me more interested. That could be an entirely seperate post I won't write about.

What made me tick and barf out this post? On Cy-Fair Homestead Exemptions

Ericka Mellon, you made a really dry article sandwich. The outside bread was pretty good, the kind with sesame seed buns and toasted a little with butter, but you just used five pounds of bad meat cooked too dry with no ketchup or mayonnaise. No vegetables, nothing! Blech!

Aw man, now I made myself hungry, GAH!

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Once I Was Blind, Now I See!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Friday of last week I went into a Lasik Plus in the River Oaks area to get my eyes fixed. Nothing's broken with them, I'm just really tired of putting my contacts every morning and especially going back every year to get my vision checked and return later again to pay for a handful of boxes.

Everyone has asked about how it went and it's really not bad at all, minus the first day. After the really quick procedure and the numbing medicine wore off, it's all pain for about 4-5 hours. The ride home sucked even though I was just a passenger. Two Advils and a long sleep until the next morning fixed everything.

Eye Candy!For seven days, four times a day, I put two types of drops: Vigamox (left) and Omnipred (center). I hate the Omnipred. It leaves a really nasty flavor in my mouth. For a month I have to put in the Systane (right)) drops to keep my eyes lubricated and to help the healing process. No nasty flavor, whew!

Today, is the first day I've gone without having to use the Vigamox and Omnipred. That means no more waking up at 6:00 AM (I scheduled to use the drops every noon, midnight, 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM).

It's awesome seeing everything in the morning. I still go to bed thinking I have my contacts in my eyes, it's crazy. So there are a few downsides for Lasik some are known upfront and others are just things that just suck.

  • No eye rubbing: that's obvious, but this means while showering, drying up after showring, washing your face, everything is a huge pain in the ass.
  • Feels like an eyelash in my eye: remember, no rubbing!
  • Halo effect: occurs only at night, but it's supposed to lessen as it heals.

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My Kindle 2 Experience.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
"Why do I even need to get an ebook reader? I already have a laptop I carry around with me everywhere I go..."

That was me up until about a month ago. I finally decided to get a Kindle 2 over a Sony ebook reader and I'm not even sure if there's anything else out there on the market. It was a shot in the dark and I'm actually really happy about the decision.

Here are a few highlights and demerits from my experience thus far. If it gets boring or you're just completely uninterested about my review, check out this really awesome picture from WWF (no, NOT the World Wrestling Federation).

Highlights
  • Fits inside my cow book where I take notes or just draw things to keep me from falling asleep
  • Very easy on the eyes unlike a laptop's screen
  • Just enough text on screen to read and not lose focus since I have a hard time focusing when reading
  • No distracting applications like DOSBox+XenonII and Visual Studio
  • Reading it on a plane - less worry about battery life and the person in front of you leaning back in their seat than a laptop
Demerits
  • No SD card support
  • No native PDF support - has to be emailed to a service, downloaded, and then moved to the Kindle 2
  • It's white. White tends to get dirty quickly and easily. I need a skin or something...
Neutral
  • No backlighting - Reading in the dark is just pointless for me. I'll pass out after a five or ten minutes.
  • Text to Speech - I got the thing to read, not read to me. Plus the voice is really monotone and I'd probably zone out.
  • Web browsing capability - I'm reading, not browsing websites, plus the speed is too painful to deal with.
  • WiFi magazines, newspapers, book - awesome, but I haven't yet utilized this. I'm still catching up with all the ebooks I already have.

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Recent Posts
Quotey Journalism.
Once I Was Blind, Now I See!
My Kindle 2 Experience.
Door to Door Sales.
MMS 2009: Round Two.
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Ruby Update Part 1.
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What If Your Computer Died Right Now?
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