Deconstruction

I went to wikipedia to see what was up with today's xkcd alt-text, and it was worth it. Here is the highlight for the wikipedia article on deconstruction:

clipped from en.wikipedia.org Deconstruction is the process of reducing things to their component entities, and examining their assumptions. Here, the New Haven Coliseum sports arena is deconstructed into its component entities, which a Judeo-Christian might find to be topologically homeomorphic to ash and dust particles, illustrating the Judeo-Christian concept of ashes to ashes, dust to dust. However, a Buddhist might see the coliseum reincarnating into an ethereal cloud, and a Zen Buddhist might ask: What is the sound of one building reincarnating?. An advocate of deconstruction might argue that we privilege our chosen worldview in what we see, while a physicist might argue the objective reality to be : First there was a building. Then it blew up.

More proof that Apple computers just aren't worth it

Learn how to really use a computer and it'll save you time, pain, and money. Unless you really get into it, in case you'll spend lots of time and money in your new hobby, and probably cause yourself some pain as well...

clipped from crave.cnet.co.uk Want to upgrade the hard drive in your MacBook at the time of purchase? You'll have to turn your wallet upside down. Going from a 120GB 5,400rpm drive to a 250GB 5,400rpm drive will set you back £90.01 from the Apple configurator. Doing the same upgrade with a Dell XPS M1330 costs just £30.01 on the Dell site. Here, Apple is a whopping 200 per cent more expensive than Dell. Upgrading memory isn't cheap if you're an Apple customer. Buying a MacBook and switching from 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 to 4GB -- across two 2,048MB DIMMS -- using the Apple Web site will cost an extra £120. Doing that same swap with the Dell XPS M1330 costs just £40.01. Again, Apple is charging around 200 per cent more than Dell. Apple is generally more expensive than Dell for components that are, in most cases, identical to those used in Dell machines. So why so pricey, Apple? Less buying power? Greed? Good business sense? Whatever the reason, we think it's an interesting state of affairs. -Rory Reid

Bright and even Younger Future for the Gunners

I'm getting excited for the up coming season. The boys even surprised me last year, I honestly had my doubts at the beginning of the season that such a young squad could take the title. Obviously it didn't, but to come so close was amazing. Teaches me to not have complete faith in Wenger. GUNNERS!

clipped from soccernet.espn.go.com Nasri claims to have completed Arsenal transfer It is understood the midfielder - who can play down the centre or on the wing - is likely to have cost Arsenal around £12million, and would be their second major signing of the summer following the capture of promising Welsh teenager Aaron Ramsey from under the noses of Manchester United. Wenger had made it clear he continues to have great faith in his current young squad - which finished third after leading the Premier League for long spells last season. Belarus winger Alexander Hleb is another whose future is uncertain, while Wenger has been linked with a swoop for Russia's Euro 2008 star midfielder Andrei Arshavin. Nasri's agent Jean-Pierre Bernes later told L'Equipe: 'Nothing has been finalised. It is premature to announce this. Discussions are continuing between the two clubs and the player.'

Milan admit defeat in Ronaldinho transfer race

No more of that "Serie A is better than EPL" stuff anymore please. Ronnie going to Man City would make encounters with that team definitely more interesting, its almost a shame Sven isn't there anymore to build a team around him.

clipped from soccernet.espn.go.com AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani has admitted the club cannot compete financially with Manchester City in the race to sign Ronaldinho. Galliani said Milan and other Italian clubs are being squeezed out of several transfer moves as clubs in England, Spain and Germany have more money to spend. 'I cannot ignore that Italian football is now in fourth position in Europe behind England, Spain and Germany,' he said in Gazzetta dello Sport. 'We simply cannot compete with certain figures anymore. 'Manchester City have offered the Brazilian (Ronaldinho) 12 million euros (£9.5million) a year. We can only compete with that if they (Barcelona) give him away for free.'

Cannon Ball Run

Update Life Goal: Participate in a Cannonball Run

clipped from blog.wired.com Carbon Footprint Be Damned, the Cannonball Run Is Back "How much more do they want to strangle the human race," asks race founder Tim "Maverick" Porter. "Why can't car enthusiasts have a little fun?" The Great American Run descended from the Cannonball Run, the celebration of unfettered speed moto-journalist Brock Yates founded in 1971. The only point was crossing the country as quickly as possible. It was blatantly illegal and wildly popular -- it's spawned two movies and several imitators - until the 55 mph speed limit and a lot of heat from the cops shut it down in 1979. (By the way, the current record for crossing the country stands at 31 hours and 4 minutes, set by Alex Roy and Dave Maher during a flat-out run that Wired wrote about.) Registration is open, but you'd better have a healthy bank account -- the entry fee is $20,000. Gasoline and carbon offsets not included.

Thyspace

Briliance is never truly accepted, and so a certain newspaper article written by Jacob Lamb and yours truly was struck down by the mighty fist of C Bo. We had a good laugh about it though, so it must be spread about anyways.

MYSPACE THROUGH HISTORY

AD 11 - Jesus invents Myspace as "Thyspace" (See Mark 1:12)

620 - Mohammed starts group "Islam." Many Arabic nations join, but it splinters and is known today as "Facebook."

1096 - The First Crusade is sparked when Christian pilgrims are blocked from the Holy Land's homepage.

1344-1400 - Virus "bubonic.plague" deletes over 25 million profiles during the larges epidemic known to man.

1452 - Gutenburg's printing press drastically decreases the time limit to resed chain letters. "You have three hours to re-press this message or you will be drawn and quartered."

1517 - Martin Luther, in protesting the Catholic Church, is excommunicated for posting his "95 Blogs."

1529 - Henry VII removes himself from the Pope's blog subscription. England is subsequently excommunicated and forbidden to join any religious groups.

1732 - The Salem Withc trials use comments to condemn scores of women and men as being witches.

1859 - Darwin causes great contraversy when he proposes the evolutionary nomenclature change of "Thyspace" to "Myspace"

1776 - The American colonies revolt for a number of reasons, namely high taxation with out fair representation in Britain's Top 8, e.g. "No Taxation Without Representation."

1789 - Revolution is sparked in France in response to Marie Antoinette's bulletin entitled "LeT tHeM eAt CaKe!" It is believed that the terrible capitalization was half the motivation.

1929 - The stock market crashes after mass profile deletion by Tom. Depression follows.

1941 - The United States joins the group "Allied Forces."

1962 - The Cold War hightens when the US ignores the USSR's request to be added to its Friends List.

Jan 3, 2007

Old cabinets, they wanted. They were an upper middle class family, obviously well off, and they needed new cabinets for their bathroom. But not "new" cabinets. History, even if it is made up, is important, and it is odd how such a simple desire as some cabinets can illustrate our society as a whole.

We are entering a new age. No big surprise here, we delve further into the future each and every day; hop, skipping and jumping from day to day, iPod in hand and computer sitting at home waiting to broadcast that day unto the whole world. Think of how out of place, nearly unimaginable this would have been ten years ago, to have a massive music library literally in one's hand and an endlessly connected life style with technology and other people. But, we look back. It seems that somewhere within our social consciousness, we realize that as everything become easier, life becomes harder.

Social facades must now be maintained, else the status quo isn't being met. We are now much more welcome to differences as compared to the white picket fenced 50s, but with that understanding comes expectation, the expectation to be different, but only just like everyone else. As social creatures, we expect others to fit into groups. Its only natural, coming from the tribes of old, except then tribes were more than just a collection of acquaintances. Friendship, while not lost, has become diminish. The lack of traditional threats eases our willingness to fight for that which we love, be it people or merely ideals.

Today, threats to life and limb still exist, but in a completely different manner. The faceless enemy is forever watching, plotting, but we don't know who it is. Is it the foreigner, the one who supposedly hates our ideals, or is it us? Do we create our own problems, and drag others with us as we take the plunge? This blazing connection has been created between vastly different cultures, but has this connection only increased the schism? Enemies require a face, and we have revealed ours to the world.

So, what is the answer? There isn't one. New ages bring new problems, and new problems bring the desire to go back face the problems of yesteryear, the ones to which we already have the answers, or at least a vague clue to what is going on. The light of knowledge, while growing every day, saturating us in everyday life, has not removed the shadow of doubt, of the fear that something lurks just around the corner. We don't know if we can reach that corner in the first place.
So, we sink back, searching for a basis, looking for something to counter act the mixed blessing of progress, replacing its sheen with something that has been mechanically worn, if only to comfort us and convince us that we won't have to face this problem, at least not yet...