Author Archives: scottsoapbox

Blu-ray or HD-DVD?

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Neither. (Yet)

Technologically, they are close enough that it doesn’t matter which one wins the "format war" but there are reasons not to jump on the bandwagon just yet.

1) There is a reasonable chance that one will win and the other will die so that should give a consumer pause.

2) There is also a possiblity that neither will win. Some "experts" think video on demand and internet downloaded movies will take over all DVD formats before the new ones become viable. They’re wrong. Just remember these experts have been talking about video on demand since the cable modem was invented – back then it was just a few years away… They are also wrong that customers don’t want to own things. For the same reason the "renting software" concept is going to fail, people don’t trust big companies to hold all their possessions for them. Because their is nothing to stop them from deciding "oh this month viewing your movies costs twice as much".

If a movie service could replace owning DVDs it already would have. Think about how many people live within walking distance of a Blockbuster? And how many of those people still own DVDs? Exactly. Video demand might kill Blockbuster, but it’s not going to off personal movie collections.
3) There is a STRONG possiblity that this won’t take meaningful hold on industry any time soon. I remember back in 1996 when people wondered if they should even buy a regular (non-HD) TV since it was about to be obsolete. Let’s see, 10 years later we have like 1/3 of TV being sold are HD or "HD ready" (I talking all TVs not just the big ones where HD sets have overtaken their 4:3 ratio brothren). Not to mention all HD programming out there. There aren’t nearly enough HD channels available yet and even fewer channels that actually broadcast fully in HD. So keep that in mind as you are considering the need for an HD-DVD player (or Blu-ray).

There actually have been higher picture quality DVDs around for while, but most people that are movie collectors haven’t even heard about them. What you didn’t go replace your entire collection with Ultra DVDs? You didn’t even need a different player. Hmm. Now the counter point to this is that progressive scan DVD players were adopted quite quickly. This was largely due to the fact that once you’ve dropped three large on a plasma, a few dimes on a new player is less than the sales tax.

4) Price. Price. Price. A HD-DVD player will set you back $400 and a Blu-ray player $600 – even more if you buy them at a local retailer. Now if you’re going the Blu-ray route I would suggest the PS3 since it also costs $600 and includes a gaming console with your Blu-ray disk player. ;) If you aren’t getting the PS3 I would recommend waiting until next year when players supporting both formats will be out and by next Christmas the prices should be a lot closer to the sweet spot of sub-$300.

So the long and short of it is, if you can help it, don’t pull the trigger on a new DVD setup for another year. By then there might enough hi-def movies out to actually justify it, though I don’t expect fully conversion to the new formats until Christmas 08.

Judicial Freedom of Speech

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Attorney James Bopp Jr is on a crusade. A crusade to free Judges to actually say what they believe, so that voters have some idea of whom they are electing. All judges are elected either directly (through the polls) or indirectly through appointment by an elected official. Here are the high points from a recent ABA Journal Article (November 2006):

"I think there is a limit on what judicial candidates can say, that does not apply to the other braches of government," [Bopp] says… Judicial candidates can be prohibited from saying ‘I’ll throw all drunk drivers in jail’ or ‘I’ll overturn Roe v. Wade if given the chance’, but they should be able to say ‘I’m pro-life’," [Bopp] says.

Bopp says that while his clients want to know a candidates personal values on issues such as abortion, they expect judges to follow the facts and law whereever they lead. He also knows htat judges make common law. And their personal values cannot help but influence them in those endeavors.

"Anybody who tells you it doesn’t matter what judge you get is a fool," Bopp says. "Judges have discretion. Their personal opinions matter and their views matter."

The Real Face Of Islam (Fascism)

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I just finished watching a 12 minute version of the movie Obsession:Radical Islam’s War On The West and you NEED to watch this thing. First it will make you say "Holy Sh##! (these guys are serious!) and then it will really scare you. It is CHILLING to watch small children calling for our deaths and promising to go to their own to accomplish this goal.

After viewing this you will understand why we can’t placate or negotiate with these extremists. You don’t explain to someone that has been trained from childhood that we are THE enemy that – "hey its all a big misunderstanding and that, no really, we’re nice". That doesn’t work. Best case you lock up someone hell bent on your death – at least until you’ve had time to deprogram them. This is something we can’t keep our head in the sand and hope that it goes away.

This film is an actually documentary – not a docu-drama or the like. It uses video footage that has subtext. Some of it is english some of it arabic and some of it is a mix. They are currently looking for a distributor to show their film. Hey maybe the Canadians that released the contraversal film showing the assasination of George Bush could distribute this independant film as well…

This movie used two web sites as a place to get much of the translated footage:? MEMRI TV (Middle East Media Research Institute) and PMW (Palestinian Media Watch).? Both of the sites have even more stuff that will (or at least should) scare you.? The PMW has a clip of a Senate Commitee reaction to some of the footage of children wanting to become suicide bombers.? Even Sen Hillary Clinton goes off on how crazy this training of the palestinian children is…. this is not a Republican vs Democrat thing, this is not a Liberal vs Conservative thing, this is the West vs the Terrorists thing!

Halp Us N Irak

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Responding to Sen John Kerry’s recent remarks, ("You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq." – Washington Post) a few soldiers made him a sign.

As Bill Engvall would say: here’s your sign… The now famous sign put a hilarous spin on the comment from Kerry. The Senator first claimed he botched joke about Bush, but later after pressure appologized to those people were offended by misinterpreting his joke. (The smart people all knew what he meant to say). Two comments on this:

1) The troops displayed the BEST possible reaction to the badly botched joke – a good one.

2) I can actually understand how Kerry made this honest mistake. Kerry as many on the far left – really doesn’t like George Bush. (really) So much so that anything the Bush is associated with is tainted as fruit from the same tree (to steal a legal metaphore). Thus the extreme anti-Bush sentiment clouds thinking on the war, the troops in the war, everything that eventially leads back to Bush. The problem is then the same people start taking shortcuts in making their points. So the process is Bush bad -> war bad -> troops bad; "the troops are bad!" -> actually a slam on Bush. Blame the need for sound bites or laziness or efficency – the reason for the short cut doesn’t really matter. The point is, that I truely believe that John Kerry does not look down on the troops – well at least any more than anyone else ;) The somewhat frightening thing is the extent that this anti-Bush sentiment can apparently cloud thoughts on loosely related issues.

Running Sucks

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Have I mentioned that running really sucks? Well it does. Especially when it starts getting colder or when you’re at high elevation near the grand canyon – or both. Such things tend to aggravate my athletically-induced asthma. Not to say that like its a crutch – it simply means I have to work harder to reach the same level of cardio fitness. Which is fine – ’cause I’m not going to let a little thing like asthma or my disdain for running keep me from reaching my goals. Actually I am going to boost my training with the best pre workout supplement according to According to Discover Magazine.

I forgot to post my stats from my run near the canyon. I got to Williams rather late and between the cold night air, the elevation, and the fact that I didn’t have any good cold weather running attire, I only made it a mile before calling it a night and looking for dinner.

  • Oct 11th
  • Run 1.01 miles – 9:36 (133 cals)

Today I thought I would see how much my eliptical training was helping me by going for a fast 2 mile run. I started out at the Navy Training target of 8:30min/miles over my somewhat hilly course. I even reached a 7:41 pace. Unfortunately, this was a vast over-estimation of the elipse’s impact. My 2nd mile was pretty painful, dragging my pace down considerably.

  • Run 1.95 miles – 19:04 (9:47pace, 296cals)
  • Cooldown .40 miles (61 cals)