Gorkon’s Little Place on the Web

New Apple keyboard?

Originally uploaded by milesdowsett

I like it! It’s nice and purdy as my Pal Linc would say!

Cloud Gate Sculpture

Originally uploaded by gorkon280

I took this picture when I was in Chicago a couple in June. Sorry I didn’t get it posted sooner!

I am currently using Kubuntu on my T60. Moving to it was easy since I only had to apt-get install kubuntu-desktop. All of my data remained unchanged from when I was using Ubuntu. In fact, Ubuntu is still installed and I can switch back to it when I want to.

Thus far, KDE has muched worked as well if not better the Gnome. KDE seems to be MUCH faster then Gnome at alot of things. For example, Konquerer as a file browser is MUCH faster then Nautilus. I don’t like everything in Konquerer however. As a web browser it’s ok, but I still prefer Firefox.

I will post a more in depth review of KDE 3.5.6 as I live longer with it.

Just watching the first few minutes of Eureka and low and behold Carter’s wife is being played by Olivia d’Abo.  She’s been in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the movie Conan the Destroyer, The Wonder Years, Growing Pains and more.  This is a good thing fo rthe show and for SciFi.  Yeah she might not be a A level star, but good enough for this show and a nice addition to the guest star list.

For more on Olvia, check her wikipedia entry.

Boy I need to post more….been a week!

Well….wait…don’t want to reveal anything. Another good episode of Eureka. If you have not seen the show yet, do yourself a favor and settle in for a compelling and sometimes funny ride through the town of Eureka.

Also, it seems Flash Gordon is being redone yet again and this time it looks fantastic and has the most awesome Flash Gordon theme by Queen.

My phone is due for replacement in January.  I am starting to plan/save for my upgrade.  I really want a smartphone, but the cost of the data plan is prohibiting me from going this way so I am going to be getting a regular Verizon phone.  So I start looking and looking for a Verizon phone that does not have the  VZW “RED” UI and I am unable to find much.  My wife has a Motorola phone that has this and I find it LESS intuitive then the Motorola firmware on my e815 and the firmware on almost every non VZW phone I have ever used.

Suggestions  for Verizon….Motorola, Nokia and LG all have a programming staff much larger then yours.  They have put millions of R&D into each phone they make and the menu system they have on each of these phones that are carried on other carriers like sprint is far superior to your branded interface.  All us phone users just want a SERVICE.  Stop trying to sell us wallpapers, ringtones, ringback tones, music, videos and stupid BREW apps.  JUST GIVE US GOOD SERVICE!  Wait…..you already do.  How about this….make the service cheaper especially the EVDO services?  If you do, you can literally corner the market on both phone and mobile broadband.

You already have one of the best networks there is.  Market your service and let us use other services through yours.  Stop selling us things we don’t want.  I don’t buy music on your service and never will.  Apple already does this better then you do anyway.  You can’t compete because I can only buy the music on my phone.  I probably can’t buy it on my PC and I probably can’t play it there either.

Verizon…stop being stupid and reduce the prices….revenues will come!

 For those who do not know, I watch NASCAR races every Sunday or Saturday. Last week during the Firecracker 400 (Otherwise known as the Pepsi 400….) they intro’d Wide Open Coverage. This is similar to the split screen TBS used in the past, but the ad space was a bit smaller and the race portion was bigger. It was nice. You could always watch the race action. Well, that was a one week trial. It’s ba ck to showing 5 laps of racing then missing 10 laps due to commercials. Let alone every inch of screen real estate is used to sell things like FedEx Shipping, Discover Cards, Pepsi and Gillete.

Why is this a big deal? Well, unlike slower sports like football and baseball, there’s no timeout for commercials. The action is always happening even during caution periods. You have pit stops that happen at every caution flag and there’s always something that can happen in the pits while this is happening. Oh and I left one thing out…..this is a CABLE channel showing the RACE! I PAY FOR IT!

This insistence of marketing stuff too you doesn’t end with cable sporting events. It also happens on your cellphone. Verizion has a handy, but crappy web browser on their cellphone but you are kind of stuck with what the ole VZW will let you see. There’s a interesting service that does train schedules called iMetro and even though the web page works in a regular browser, the phone’s browser will 404 it because your going through VZW’s gateway. Now this isn’t so bad because some of the VZW stuff is actually good, but then you see small tiny banner ads for other products. VZW also wants you to use the “Get it now!” service to buy things (should be called PAY ME NOW!) that should be accessible on the web.

This intrusion into our life is brought to us all for the sake of the almighty dollar. It would be different if the phones would be cheaper, but it they generally aren’t….unless you have a new every 2 option.

Marketing companies are beside themselves now. They love being able to sell any piece of screen real estate they can get and they like it even more because they can be HIGHLY targetted.

I normally don’t want more laws, but I personally think that there should be some regulations because most marketing companies seem to be bereft of ethics and common sense. This needs to end now. You pay for cable TV. Tell your favorite network companies that you appreciate the ability they have to broadcast races and sporting events but tell them what is ok and what isn’t. Tell them to stop selling things like the race position call and the first down line. If they don’t, then stop watching OR record the show on the DVR and watch it later…in a much shorter run time!

This message brought to you by NOONE!

Season 2 of Eureka is on NOW! Check out some of the best stuff they have had on SciFi. I hope that this season is going to be better then the last but then I am not too discriminating when it comes to this show. Quirky. A little bit like Northern Exposure and Twin Peaks crammed together with a bit of weird technology. Cool Stuff.

Well, yesterday was the Fourth of July and I had the day off.  It was fun and I got some things done around the house but Tuesday night I did watch Red, White and Boom on TV as well as walked down there before doing some after hours work Tuesday night.  The Grand Finale of Red, White and Boom was the Marathon Oil Grande Finale and I was like what the heck??  This is a Fourth of July celebration and I do realize that thigns have to be paid for but must every single part of a city celebration or a sports event’s TV coverage be fore sale?

In NASCAR, you have the Pepsi run down constantly scrolling where racers are in the race and a big fat Pepsi Logo to the left of it bigger then the names in the scroll.  You have the Discover Card Countdown to Green.  You have the AFLAC trivia question and you have the Pepsi 400 (it’s Firecracker 400 and it’s supposed to be on the 4th!).

Marketing is the cause of all of this.  I am taking a marketing course this quarter and I am going at it extremely tongue and cheek.  My thing is if the sponsor can’t take the back seat with a few logos here and there or maybe saying that their brand is the only thing you can buy at the Ohio State Fair (it is) then that should be enough.  More and more marketing is ruining sporting events and community events.

Sponsors….cities and communities need your money, but please reconsider crass marketing and tagging your name to every little thing around an event.  Be a part of the community by being a part.  Not a wart.

Event organizers…..have some respect and DON’T offer every part of a community celebration for sale.  Remember, a lot of people gave up their lives so you can remain free to make money hand over fist.

The fourth of July is a day we need to all set aside our petty differences and come together as a nation and realize what we indeed have….our freedom.  I want to thank every man and woman who have served this past year in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Thank you for our freedom that we so take for granted today.

If you know a man or woman who have served our great nation, please shake their hand and tell them thank you.

Happy Birthday America….My Home Sweet Home.