Color Me Satisfied

The ad I hate the most made Slate's list of the worst commercials of 2006. You know the one: it tries to sell Intel Core 2 Duo processors with bizarre white people dances and awful music and a totally unattractive woman who makes me mildly uncomfortable. And unless you're into some weird stuff, you hate it, too.

Watch it if you dare:



Others on the list include one for restless leg syndrome drugs. I think any drug commercials on TV ought to make a separate list to bad and inappropriate advertising. What morans among us use TV ads to determine what drugs to take? Isn't that the job of your doctor, anyway?

And what doctor's going to admit to prescribing drugs on the basis of TV advertising? I mean, we all know that they prescribe drugs sold by the hottest pharma reps or with the best junkets.

The Christmas Spirit

I visited my in-laws for Christmas this year. It was my first time not being with my parents on Christmas since I knew what Christmas was. I mean, when I lived in India, I spent my first two Christmases without my parents, who had moved to the US and left me in the care of my grandparents. But at that time, Christmas wasn't nearly as important as Diwali, Uttarayan, or Holi.

Anyway, this year it was at my in-laws, without my parents. And boy, did we ever get into the Christmas spirit. We had three separate parties. We had gifts. We sang carols. We had a visit from Santa Claus. And we ate, drank and were generally merry.

What may surprise the reader, though, is that there were only two Christians in the bunch. Everybody else was a Hindu or Muslim. And I guess that's why I entitled this post 'The Christmas Spirit.' What other season would bring all of us together in the spirit of family and love? It was a beautiful homage to the love of God and the blessings bestowed upon us. And it didn't matter one bit what book you think God wrote. All that mattered was the message of peace and harmony in those books.

One thing that fascinates me is this

whole business of the giant squid...

Well, as it turns out, Japanese researchers have filmed a live giant squid possibly for the first time ever. The thing I find fascinating is that nobody's ever filmed a live one before.

Giant squid, formally called Architeuthis, are the world's largest invertebrates. Because they live in the depths of the ocean, they have long been wrapped in mystery and embellished in the folklore of sea monsters, appearing in ancient Greek myths or attacking the submarine in Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

The one in the picture was caught, but died on the boat, I guess. Given that we've known about them for ages, I think it's amazing that we've put a man on the moon but hadn't filmed one of these buggers until now.

Wasn't He Worried About Being Overqualified?

The communications director for Montana's lone congressman solicited the services of two men he falsely believed to be criminally minded hackers-for-hire -- with the expressed goal of jacking up his college GPA -- during an exchange that spanned 22 e-mails over two weeks this past summer.

The doofus in question is named Todd Shriber, a 28-year old graduate (maybe?) of Texas Christian University. Apparently, he went on the intrawebs with hopes of hiring a guy to do a job. Unfortunately for him, he contacted a website that likes to make fun of the technically illiterate. He's been fired, according to the linked story.

Harry Potter Defeats Mrs. Voldermort in Gwinnett

The Georgia Board of Education rejected an appeal from a crazy woman in Gwinnett County seeking to banish the young wizard from classrooms.

"I really feel like they haven't addressed all the issues that I've raised," said Mallory, who still could appeal the decision to Gwinnett Superior Court.

"But ... if just one family was helped — one parent, one child looked into the book a little more closely and how it is mainstreaming witchcraft — then I think it's worth the battle."

No really, woman. You're fucking crazy.

I had my accent probed and prodded....

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Boston
The West
North Central
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

From the Republican Moral Fiber Department

As seen on Talking Points Memo:

Although some glitz has come off Mr Rove, Republicans have been more eager to blame botched campaigns and individual ethics scandals. “Bob Sherwood’s seat [in Pennsylvania] would have been overwhelmingly ours, if his mistress hadn’t whined about being throttled,” said Mr Norquist. Any lessons from the campaign? “Yes. The lesson should be, don’t throttle mistresses.”

State of Denial....

Fox just can't bring itself to say which party....

Nobody Here But Us Chickens

I'm on the board of Out of Hand Theater, a young, inspired Atlanta company with a penchant for physical theater. Currently, the theater is mounting Peter Barnes' 1989 piece, Nobody Here But Us Chickens, which pokes fun at some interesting people, who just happen to be disabled. The charm of the three short plays that comprise Chickens is that the disability is both at the fore and in the background, as you learn about the characters themselves, rather than their disabilities.

Creative Loafing compares the work to Monty Python and Will Farrell, calling it "Hilarious." The AJC raves "Performed in the youthful company’s raucously physical signature style, the three short plays throb with intelligence and surprise, deliberate provocation and political incorrectness —- and a kind of ambivalent, off-kilter, bittersweet grace."

You should go check it out.

This Costume Beats My Free Mamograms

idea hands down...


(click on the big white square to see the video)

Jack Bauer Gets Wussified

A couple of years ago, 24 was sponsored by the brawny, manly, all-new Ford F-150. Ford's big pickup is a man's machine. Broad-shouldered. Gas-guzzling. It can pull a huge load and and
compensate for your small penis at the same time.



This year, 24, whose trailer was just released, is sponsored by the Toyota RAV4. The third generation cute-ute that is less Jack Bauer and more Jack McFarland. I mean, let's face facts, the RAV4 appeals to recently graduated women and gay men.


We need the answer from FOX. What the fuck is going on with our Jack Bauer? When faced with three or four swarthy, accent-toting terrorists in the upcoming season, is he going to want to just talk about their grievances? Hug it out? Maybe discuss B&Bs on the Cape?

On What Happened in 2003

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is.

-- Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Kevin Tillman

Convicted Felon and Republican Congressman

Bob Ney (R-$$) has decided not to give up his house seat, reports the New York Times. "In his guilty plea last week, Mr. Ney admitted to taking many gifts from Mr. Abramoff, including a 2002 golfing trip to Scotland by private jet, and then lying about them in his financial disclosure forms.

To the dismay of House colleagues eager to remove him as a symbol of the corruption scandals that are tarring several Republican candidates in next month’s Congressional elections, Mr. Ney, defying House leaders, has refused to step down for now, insisting that he owes his staff and his constituents a few more weeks of his time."

This is Really Cool

Foreign Languages are Funny

Newlyweds

Newlyweds
Originally uploaded by chintanamin.

Family weddings are so fun. This weekend, we had a great time at my cousin Shan's wedding in New Jersey. Here's a picture of the four of us, all newlyweds!

Louvre Revelations at the High Museum

The High Museum is exhibiting a bevy of works from its sister museum, the world-famous Louvre. And the show is apparently bringing new insight to works by some of the masters:

When workers at the High Museum of Art uncrated a famous painting by Rembrandt for the upcoming Louvre Atlanta exhibit, curator David Brenneman was astonished at what he saw. The High's new light-filled galleries illuminated something in "Saint Matthew and the Angel" he'd never noticed before, even when he'd carefully viewed the 1661 painting at its home in Paris' Louvre museum: The angel has a wing. It was a detail unseen even when the piece traveled to the National Gallery of Art in Washington last year, where the museum's online catalog read: "Rembrandt humanized the spiritual inspiration that guided Matthew by painting the angel as a young boy, without wings."

WaPo on Transnational Desis

The Post covers the phenomenon of (legal) border-hoppiing Indian immmigrants in today's edition. My parents may someday add themselves to this phenomenon, as they keep threatening to move to India for part of the year. I can understand why - living there is much cheaper than living here, and they already own a flat outright. On the other hand, when I have a couple of kids, their song may change.

The Post article describes the phenomenon, and speculates as to its causes and ramifications:

In an era of webcams and discount airfares that help expatriates keep close ties to their homelands, researchers say Indians retain some of the closest, thanks in part to Indian media, which are particularly pervasive around the globe.

But few other immigrants live such "transnational" lives -- yet, said Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute at the New York University School of Law.

"Living in two places is going to be more of a phenomenon than we've seen in the past," Chishti said. "It raises, obviously, the very difficult question, a social and psychological question: What becomes home?"

They Love Boys...

Who knew that the GOP had an active NAMBLA wing? To start, Dennis Hastert and John A. Boehner did.

Trader Joe's Midtown Atlanta

has finally made TJ's coming soon list. In fact, the facade is almost done at the Midtown Promanade shopping center, former home of the sketchtastic Save-Rite store. I'm as excited as a little girl. Really.

Colbert on Macaca

My Own iTV Experiment...

Yesterday, I hooked up our new MacBook to the second HDMI input on the plasma (I knew I needed a second digital input!) for the first time.

I just watched the Illinois-Louisville Final Four game, which I had downloaded from IlliniTorrent and transcoded to H.264 MPEG-4. The video was streamed from my G5 PowerMac to my MacBook in 480p over my Airport network. It was just a test, to see how well this all works.

Bottom Line: If the iTV is even close to my little experiment in quality and experience as the experiment, it's going to be a success.

There was more than enough bandwidth to FF/REW without buffer lag and I was able to watch the whole thing without any sort of clunkiness. This is over a 801.11g network. Imagine if Apple installs 801.11n hardware into the thing (which is probably why Apple is delaying the thing anyway). You're looking at 720p (or better) movies that you own, streamed over a home network to a STB attached to your projector or TV.

:drool

In Trial Prep Mode

so updates will be few and far between for the next ten days. But check this out.

Awwww....Snap!

PC Magazine's laptop and desktop reliability studies are in....

Desktop:

Look no further than Apple, the leader of the pack, whose overall score holds steady at 9.1. Last year, Apple's score on units needing repair was an impressive 11 percent—well below that of any other company in the survey. But according to readers, the company has managed to cut repair rates even further over the past 12 months. This year, Apple's score on units needing repair drops to 8 percent. Among first-year systems, it's only 5 percent. That's nothing less than astonishing.

As we've said in the past, Mac owners are unusually passionate about their machines, and this may have had an effect on the company's unusually high Service and Reliability scores. But the score for percentage needing repair is less subjective than others. Either Apple is doing something right when it comes to quality control, or its restrictive warranty makes people less likely to have their systems repaired.

Just how satisfied are Mac owners? That 9.1 overall score is significantly better than the average for Windows PCs. And the same can be said of the company's scores for reliability and the likelihood of recommending. It should be noted, however, that Apple's score on technical support is down this year (from 8.4 to 8.1).

Laptop:

Why do we separate notebooks from desktops? Well, in terms of service and reliability, the best desktop companies don't always manufacture the best notebook computers, and vice versa. Yes, Apple gets it right on both counts. This year, yet again, the Mac is a Readers' Choice for notebooks as well as desktops. But the other Readers' Choice for notebooks, Lenovo/IBM, receives some of the lowest desktop scores. And Sony, so ­impressive on the desktop side, is merely aver­age when it comes to notebooks.

...

Once again, Apple is at the top. Its overall score, 9.1, is significantly better than the average for Windows notebooks—and a full seven-tenths of a point better than Lenovo's overall score, 8.4. Its scores for reliability (9.2), tech support (8.5), and likelihood of recommending (9.4) are also significantly better than average. Yes, its score on percentage needing repair is merely average, but at 16 percent, it's the lowest of the survey (alongside Sony's 16 percent).

Is this a function of that unique passion Apple users have for the company's products? Perhaps. But, again, it's hard to question the number of units needing repair. Among first-year systems, only 7 percent needed repair—2 points better than Sony.

Offered Without Comment

Pour a 40 Out on the Curb

for my 4G iPod. I think it's dead after two years. That's really too bad, it was a trooper and went through a lot.

Osama and Whitney Sitting in a Tree....

Osama apparently "had a crush on singer-cum-actress Whitney Houston and wanted to make her his wife after killing her husband Bobby Brown." I knew it, the world would be a better place if Osama's power were harnessed for good things (like offing Bobby Brown).

Condi: UN's Job Not to Disarm Hezbollah

"I don't think there is an expectation that this (U.N.) force is going to physically disarm Hezbollah," Rice said. "I think it's a little bit of a misreading about how you disarm a militia. You have to have a plan, first of all, for the disarmament of the militia, and then the hope is that some people lay down their arms voluntarily."

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. was heard saying "This is exactly the type of can-do, get-tough, my-way-or-the-highway attitude I was talking about." Also, the obligatory John "I am the walrus" Bolton picture:



Complimentary obligatory Dieter Zetsche picture:

Political Hackery and Douchebaggery from

the Indian-American Republican Council. Here's a statement from the IARC about George Allen's "macaca" remark directed to an American of Indian descent:

IARC Statement on Senator George Allen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mr. Radha Krishnan - (202) 347-1223 IARC Executive Director info@iarcnational.org

August 15, 2006

IARC Statement on Senator George Allen

Washington, D.C. - Today, the Indian American Republican Council issued the following statement from its Chairman Dr. R. Vijay:

"We don't believe Senator George Allen was making a reference to the ethnicity of Jim Webb's campaign volunteer. He has apologized for any misunderstanding this statement has caused. We do know that Senator Allen has worked closely with Indian Americans when he was Governor and as U.S. Senator, and he has always garnered strong support from the community. He has visited India and showed strong leadership in supporting the U.S.-India civilian nuclear agreement.

"It's disappointing to see Jim Webb using an Indian American volunteer in a demeaning fashion in order to garner attention to his campaign. We believe there are pressing issues facing Virginia and our nation, from the war on terrorism to the challenges in the Middle East. Jim Webb needs to engage in these issues instead of attempting to smear the reputation of a respected leader."

A Couple of Things

about these assholes they caught in England wanting to blow up planes. First, I'm glad that they're publicizing this, for the sake of the vast majority of US and British muslims who are not jihadists:

A British intelligence official has told CNN that the original information about a plot to down commercial jetliners in mid-Atlantic with explosives came from a tip from the Muslim community in Britain.The official said the tip resulted from a person who had been concerned about the activities of an acquaintance after the July 7 terror attacks in London.

Second, I hear that they found some "martyrdom tapes" in the homes of some of these pieces of shit. I think that somebody ought to buy the rights to them and turn them into MST3K comedy bits. It would probably be quite funny. And you could show them on a continuous loop to the guys as they rot in jail.

One Shining Moment

Tears in my eyes...

She gone!

Apple Billing Leopard as Vista 2.0

Introducing Vista 2.0,
originally uploaded by Gernot Poetsch.

Check out the top of this photo from the Moscone Center in San Francisco, site of the WWDC. Thanks to Gernot Poetsch for the picture, by the way.

Dot, Not Feather

Fall Practices Have Begun!

And Ron Zook is Geeked!

Remember those ultra-modern passports

that the US started requiring and caused such a flap around the rest of the world because of their cost? They had RFID chips and various other security-minded features. Well, apparently they're easily hackable and as easily copied as the old passports. Suhhweeet!

In a demonstration for Wired News, Grunwald placed his passport on top of an official passport-inspection RFID reader used for border control. He obtained the reader by ordering it from the maker -- Walluf, Germany-based ACG Identification Technologies -- but says someone could easily make their own for about $200 just by adding an antenna to a standard RFID reader. He then launched a program that border patrol stations use to read the passports -- called Golden Reader Tool and made by secunet Security Networks -- and within four seconds, the data from the passport chip appeared on screen in the Golden Reader template.

Grunwald then prepared a sample blank passport page embedded with an RFID tag by placing it on the reader -- which can also act as a writer -- and burning in the ICAO layout, so that the basic structure of the chip matched that of an official passport. As the final step, he used a program that he and a partner designed two years ago, called RFDump, to program the new chip with the copied information. The result was a blank document that looks, to electronic passport readers, like the original passport.

I'm just going to get under my desk and roll up into a little ball.

What the Fuck?

At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

David Bernstein over at Volokh.com

always seems to protest too much. Especially as it relates to Juan Cole. He once claimed that Cole said that "Israel is the most dangerous regime to American interests in the Middle East." Not surprisingly, Prof. Bernstein had materially misquoted Prof. Cole. By contrast, Cole's quote, which was admittedly provacative, was that "Ariel Sharon's government was the regime that did the most damage to US interests." In the comments to his post, I argued that Bernstein's omission of the word regime altered the entire meaning of the quote.

Similarly, this Bernstein post over at the Volokh Conspiracy strains credibilty. First, he quotes Cole:

As for the Iraq War, puh-lease. Opinion polling shows that in spring of 2003, some 75 percent of Americans wanted to go to war against Saddam's regime. At the same time, only a little over 50 percent of American Jews supported the war. "Jews" did not cause the Iraq War. George W. Bush caused the Iraq War. He had Gentile advisers who wanted him to go for it. He had a handful of Jewish advisers who wanted him to go for it. But he is the president. It was his decision. And the American Jewish community was distinctly lukewarm about the whole idea, and very divided.

He then tries to contrast this statement with several Cole quotes assigning some blame for US mid-east policy to Likud, Ariel Sharon and their US allies (namely the neo-cons). Those quotes, Bernstein says, conflict with the passage above. Hmmm... indeed.

Would Bernstein really have us believe that Likud is the same as the international Jewish population? Hell, even Ariel Sharon moved out of Likud in the years after we invaded Iraq. I know a lot of jews (I also have black friends) and most of them were and are agaisn the Iraq war. But we're to believe that they're Likud party members or Ariel Sharon supporters?

I hate to go all ad hominem at this point, but I'm pretty happy I didn't have Prof. Bernstein for a law school teacher.

Desi Moms Everywhere Rejoice!

Apparently, a new, potent sunscreen has been approved. My wife actually wanted to buy some in Europe because we couldn't get it here. Now we don't have to travel abroad.

These Rankings are FIFAesque

Who knew that Institutional Investor ranked analysts? Well, their third-ranked computer analyst reported this just before Apple reported earnings:

Apple Computer Inc, maker of the Macintosh personal computer, may report its slowest profit growth in more than two years as demand wanes for its iPod music players.

Net income in the third quarter ended July 1 probably rose 17% to $375 million, or 42 cents a share, from $320 million, or 37 cents, a year earlier, said UBS AG analyst Benjamin Reitzes, Institutional Investor’s third-ranked computer analyst. His estimate is 2 cents lower than the average of 21 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

About half an hour or so later, Apple "said third- quarter profit rose 48 percent on demand for Macintosh computers," according to Bloomberg.

I Need Something to Catch the Drool

Dear Stepmill 7000pt,

You are a cruel, cruel machine. Like a battering spouse, you lure me in with the "I love you's" and "I want you's." Within thirty minutes, though, there I am, aching, soggy and out of breath, my ass thoroughly kicked. Yet I come back for more.

Why? Could it be the "I am only doing what's best for you's" or the "you need me's?" Could it be my own insecurities about my physical appearance? I don't know what binds me to you.

But sometime, when I think about you, I feel twin rushes of desire and revulsion. I know you will shape me into something prettier than I am now. But I know your chiselling will cause me great pain.

Why do I come back?

Allow Me to Pimp....

TripAdvisor.com, for its usefulness in planning a vacation. I used it to plan our honeymoon and it couldn't have been more spot on in terms of hotel reviews and area summaries. In fact, both hotels that I booked using TripAdvisor were amazing experiences. La Villa Marbella was a wonderful little B&B, located in the old town but within a ten-minute walk of the beach. The service there, along with the rooms, was first-class. Casa Camper was a revelation, located in the heart of Barcelona's artsy Raval district. Truly my kind of hotel.

The third hotel, which I got a good deal on, but is part of a 5-star chain, was just OK.

India!

I bought tickets for myself and my wife to go to India this January. I can't wait. I have not seen my grandfather in three or four years. I think the wife will love the clothes shopping in my birth city of Ahmedabad. And I will be going to Dehli for a week or so, to see my wife's family. I have never been to India's capital, so it will be a treat for me.

I wonder if I can work in a side trip somewhere, too. Hmm.... The beaches of Goa? The French colonial splendor of Pondicherry? Maybe the traditional desert elegance of Udaipur?

Lost in All this Plame Business

She was probably quite a looker back in the day.

AJC Endorses Reddy

In what must be great news for my friend and colleague, Shyam Reddy, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced today that he is the best Sec'y of State candidate on the Democratic side of the ballot. I hope those of you reading this blog in Georgia will go out and vote on Tuesday for Shyam.

According to the paper, "The six Democrat candidates offer a range of experience and ideas about how to protect investors, the elderly and the integrity of the elections system. But the standout is Shyam Reddy, an attorney making his first run at elected office."

Congratulations, Shyam!

Apologies to TINA

We've all had our heads knocked against somebody else's head at some point, be in it in sports, bowling accidents or dirty dirty old people sex.

The Big Unanswered Zidane Headbutt

question is simply this: Why not punch the guy? Or kick him (I mean, if you've seen these guys try to catch water bottles thrown at them, you realize their hands have atrophied)? Or maybe the classic spit? Perhaps the Mike Tyson ear snack?



Instead, Zidane chose the headbutt. Why? Is there some sort of Franco-Tunisian proclivity to the head butt? Does Zidane have a weapon hidden in that skull of his -- Materazzi went down kinda hard. Why headbutt? That's what I want to know.

I love Dieter!

I Think Jackie's Rong

Simplified Spelling would get rid of a lot of inefficiency in our language. On the other hand, I'm for the metric system, too.

This is Not Surprising

Fat people not more jolly, says study. "The study of more than 9,000 adults found that mood and anxiety disorders including depression were about 25 per cent more common in the obese people studied than in the non-obese. Substance abuse was an exception obese people were about 25 per cent less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol than slimmer participants. The results appear in the July issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, being released on Monday. The lead author was Dr Gregory Simon, a researcher with Group Health Co-operative, large non-profit health plan in Seattle."

Monkey!

DSC00130.JPG,
originally uploaded by chintanamin.

Actually, it's an ape, not a monkey. This is one of the Barbary Apes, which live atop the rock of Gibraltar. They are the only wild apes in Europe. If you look closely, you can see the adult cradling an extremely young baby.

His name is Kaká

Like the sound they made on Arrested Development when they called Michael a chicken.

Damnit!

Metroblog: Atlanta reports that Steven Seagal's band, Thunderbox, has cancelled its Atlanta date. I would insert some wisecrack using some of his movie titles, but I am tired and am going home.

Admission

I'm a fan of ABC's How to Get the Guy reality show. It basically follows four attractive-but-not-stunning San Fransisco women through the trials and tribulations of dating. The women are supplied with coaches and opportunities to meet men. In return, their dates and attempts to "train" to pick up are filmed by ABC's cameras. The women are interesting enough, but the guys they meet during their speed dating trials are freakin' awesome.

I can't imagine a worse place than SF to be a single woman. A relative dearth of straight single men, I'd gather. Maybe they ought to go to Silicon Valley to find a nice FOBbish Indian guy or something.

Caption Fun...

Hi, I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC.....

I'm Going to Have to Start Reading

The National Journal. (Thanks to Eugene Volokh)

Too Small for Me

to be comfortable, but the new Audi TT is receiving positive reviews on introduction. British car rag AutoCar seems to really like it, calling it a credible challenger to Porsche's Boxster-based Cayman.

I admit it

I have teh fever.

Brasil!

Comcast to Carry ESPN2 HD in Atlanta

After a year or so of wrangling over rights to the ESPN family of networs (the Deuce, the U, ESPN Rodeo, etc.) Comcast and ESPN have apparently agreed to settle their differences in time for the World Cup. ESPN2 HD has shown up on my receivers on Channel 847, just above ESPN HD at 846.

This is great, because the first US match, against the Czech Republic on June 12, is broadcast on ESPN2. Oh how I would suffer if I could not watch it in beautiful 720p. If you're in Atlanta -- I live on the Virginia-Highlands/Druid Hills border, or have Comcast somewhere else, you should to see whether you've gotten the channel on your set-top box.

...

Does Kevin Drum

post on teh Deuce? With a post titled Teh Gay, you'd think he at least lurks.

Nike+iPod Images

Cool Hunting has some nice pictures of the Nike+iPod product. As you can see, it has set workouts and customizable distances, as well. BusinessWeek had a good article on how the companies dreamed up this idea. Apparently, the idea was Nike's and they turned to Apple for the technology partnership. "It turns out the answer is a smart running shoe, equipped with a small sensor that can track motion and distance and other metrics that runners find important, but the information would only be available after their run is complete, not while running. 'We quickly realized that making a smart shoe wasn't smart enough.' So [Nike CEO Mark] Parker called a friend: Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The result was the kit, which both called simply a 'great start.' The two companies will develop more products as part of an ongoing partnership."

Unfortunately (for me) it's running only for now. I tried to start running but could only get to two miles or so before suffering from terrible shin splints. I've gone back to stairclimbing and lifting and introduced myself to the elliptical machine, too. I'd love to have records of my workouts -- I have a Nike Triax C6 watch and heart rate monitor. It would be awesome to be able to track my heart rate with the HRM, have it connect to my iPod for workout management and log it on my computer. I've seen great results from simply monitoring my heart rate while in the gym. Now, I'd like to be able to track progress, etc.

So this is just a "great start?" Let's hope so. C'mon Apple and Nike, get to work.

Lou Dobbs is ANGRY

To a certain extent, I guess I agree with Lou. But the guy's pissed off. The silver lining of is rage is that he apparently understands the real "bad guys"(if there are bad guys) here are the people hiring illegals, not necessarily the illegals themselves.

I Promise -- I Am NOT

one of these people. The second guy is a freakin' cartoon character.

Gotham Grand Opening

IMG_3058.JPG,
originally uploaded by neps.

The Apple Store on (or under) 5th Avenue opens today. The only above-ground evidence of the store is a giant glass cube. The rest is beneath the General Motors building. Flickr user neps has posted a set of photos of the new store.

New MacBook Announced

13.3" Display, Intel CoreDuo processor, FireWire, USB 2.0, built-in iSight, Apple Remote Control, FrontRow, etc. $1099.

One of the Best Parts about Lawyering

is that I just signed a letter to opposing counsel telling him to fuck off:

With warmest personal regards,

I remain, very truly yours,

Chintan Amin

Some People Hate Apple

And this article from Consumer Reports will likely make their heads asplode!!!!!!!

Oh Snap!!!!!!!!

To supply siders, that is. Kevin Drum has a link to an Atlantic Monthly piece about a Cato Institute study up on his blog. The upshot? Something I've been saying for years -- reducing taxes inevitably causes an increase in government spending. Why? Simple, really: When you can get something for free (or more cheaply), you'll demand more of it. On the other hand, when you're forced to pay the (higher) actual cost of something, you'll demand less of it.

William A. Niskanen, the chairman of the libertarian Cato Institute, "recently analyzed data from 1981 to 2005 and found his hunch strongly confirmed. When he performed a statistical regression that controlled for unemployment (which independently influences spending and taxes), he found, he says, “no sign that deficits have ever acted as a constraint on spending.” To the contrary: judging by the last twenty-five years (plenty of time for a fair test), a tax cut of 1 percent of the GDP increases the rate of spending growth by about 0.15 percent of the GDP a year. A comparable tax hike reduces spending growth by the same amount.

The article's author offers three conclusions (emphases mine):

First, the root-canal economics of pre-Reagan conservatism was right all along: the way to limit the growth of government is to force politicians, and therefore voters, to pay for all the government they use—not to give them a discount.

Second, conservatives who are serious about halting or reversing the dizzying Bush-era expansion of government—if there are any such conservatives, something of an open question these days—should stop defending Bush’s tax cuts. Instead, they should be talking about raising taxes to at least 19 percent of the GDP. Voters will not shrink Big Government until they feel the pinch of its true cost.

Third, the most effective constraint of all is to raise taxes and cut spending: exactly the sort of anti-deficit package that anti-tax conservatives pummeled the first President Bush and President Clinton for approving, and exactly the sort of package that the current President Bush and his anti-tax allies are sworn to block.

I Wonder What the Introductory Speech

is going to sound like. "Tony Snow has served the White House well for the past several years in a position at our public relations branch. He has been faithful and loyal. I know he will continue to serve us well in his new position."

Chinatown Main

That would be the default MS Office spell check of my name. It has shown up in at least one email that I've received.

Your Government at Work

My friend's mortgage loan almost didn't close today because her name showed up on a terror watch list. Uhmmm.....she's a freaking hindu people!

Reordering of Automotive Royalty

Anybody who knows Atlanta knows that the valet parkers at Lenox Square estimate a car's cachet rather well. Plebian carriages are relegated to the lot, while they reserve these premium covered, angled spots up near the pick-up/drop-off driveway for the cream of the crop. My pedestrian (bad word choice?) Audi A4 has no business in one of those spots. Porsches, Rolls Royces, and M5s and S-Class Mercedes get those spots.

So imagine my shock yesterday when I saw a lowly Ford Fusion in one of those prized berths. And next to it...a freaking Buick? Yep. Apocalypse Now.

Free Boar Fodder

Email from a Chicago friend...

So I checked out a new gym a few blocks from my house on Saturday morning.

While I was getting a tour I noticed that Dee Brown was chillin’ on a couch in the lounge.

That’s all, just thought you’d be interested.

Succinct Summary of Republicanism

At least how I see it, from The Washington Monthly.

...but what's more striking about the GOP over the past 100 years or so is its continuity. The party's main, almost sole, purpose has been to ensure that as much money as possible goes to those who need it least and that as little as possible goes to those who need it most. In a party of moneybags, Theodore Roosevelt was the exception, not the rule.

I don't know if the author knew it, but he is paraphrasing Bill Maher, who said that Republican economic policy is underpinned by the belief that the Rich aren' t rich enough because the Poor are hoarding all the money.

The Complicated Tax Code

One election year promise of George W. Bush that I hoped would come to pass was simplification of the nation's byzantine tax code. Unfortunately, reports the Economist, W has made it even worse.

During the past five years America's tax code has become far more complex, somewhat less progressive, and has done less to improve incentives to work and save than first appearances suggest. [...] Tax rules were horribly complicated, of course, long before the Bush presidency, but during the past five years things have got much worse. The number of pages of federal tax regulations has risen by over 40%, from 46,900 in 2000 to 66,498 this year, according to Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute. The number of different tax forms issued by the Internal Revenue Service has soared from 475 in 2000 to 582.

On the other hand, I guess it was unrealistic of me for W to have success in even this simple goal. Why should this be any different than any other area of governance?

OK, I Have to Brag....

Wife and Sister-In-Law,
originally uploaded by chintanamin.

....on my wife.

16.1 Gallon Fill-up Today

cost me $50. Un-freaking-believable. Granted, this was at the Standard Oil station at the corner of Virginia and North Highland, probably the most expensive gas in town, but stil...

Wedding Photos...