Due to a rather nasty spam storm from those online poker dickheads, I’ve shut down comments for now. Not that I get a lot of them here, but the flood of spam has been quite annoying. I’d put a curse on the online poker dicks if I knew how.
There’s been a lot of empassioned discussion over Microsoft’s withdrawal of support for a gay rights bill in the state of Washingtion. Many speculate that pressure from a nearby evangelical church is responsible for the reversal, but I wonder what Microsoft is really afraid of.
Seriously, it is widely acknowledged that Microsoft has a monopoly on desktop operating systems. Windows is the operating system on well over 90% of all PCs and while unix clone Linux has made tremendous inroads on the desktop, Windows isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Furthermore, Microsoft Office is the defacto standard for office suites. Indeed, the fact that Office only runs under Windows is the reason that once Windows is on a PC, it tends to stay there. So why should Microsoft fear any threat of boycott? To put it bluntly, the sort of people likely to follow an anti-gay boycott of Microsoft products are not the most technically saavy people. They would have a really hard time replacing the Microsoft products that most of them probably got when they bought their PCs. Most average users just use what came with the PC, which means Microsoft products in most cases. So a boycott would probably just bring bad publicity (which MS is used too!), but little effect to the bottom line, unless MS has been lying about their earnings and things are much worse than they appear. But I think this is highly unlikely for such a high profile company.
So if fear of boycott is not the reason, then what is left? While MS said that their decision was based on a desire to address issues directly related to their core business, the NYT article implies than there may have been pressure from Christian employees at Microsoft. This makes me wonder what kind of internal strife may be occuring at MS over this and other issues where conservative religious types are at odds with those who are more liberal. If this is a big problem at Microsoft, then it can only be a portent of major changes to come at the company. While Microsoft is clearly a dominant (if not the dominant) player in the PC market today, the era of the PC may be passing as other often simpler to use devices take on more PC-like functionality, like cell phones, iPods, and video game consoles. This puts pressure on MS to not only produce better products, but to reduce costs. One common way to reduce costs is to outsource work overseas to countries where workers can be paid much less than their U.S. counterparts. Thousands of tech jobs have already been lost to India and China over the last few years and that isn’t likely to end anytime soon. While Microsoft itself has not outsourced work on a large scale, they have invested heavily in facilities in India and China. If internal strife is rising at Microsoft, then that can only be one more incentive to shift a major portion of their operations overseas.
So what is Microsoft really afraid of? Maybe they were afraid of hundreds or even thousands of their Christian employees walking out and picketing the Redmond campus. If that’s true, and that kind of threat was made, then I think those people have just shortened their tenure at Microsoft all in the name of oppressing people who have done them no harm.
My wife and I have been following the anti-Japanese protests going on in China with a great deal of interest. My wife, who is Chinese and was born in Hong Kong, certainly has very strong feelings with regard to the atrocities committed by the Japanese army during World War II and because of this, by her own admission, cannot share the enthusiasm I have for various aspects of Japanese pop culture. I can understand that. Whenever I see films about the horrors of the enslavement my ancestors suffered in the American south, I get very angry and upset. But at some point people have to decide to move on and live in the present rather than the past. This takes time, a lot of it. The Japanese war crimes are still fresh in the mind of Asia, in part because a frank and open airing of the matter has not been done. Right now, I would say that much of the burden for making a start at this is on the Japanese government and people. This will not be easy for them, as it will require a great national loss of face and many in Japan are not ready for that. Indeed, what Asian nation would willingly face such a shame? Ironically, China talks about owning up to history but conveniently forgets about the June 4, 1989 in Tiananmen Square. During anti-Japanese protests in Hong Kong recently, some protesters made mention of June 4th only to be violently shouted down and attacked by other protesters.
Everyone knows that the protests in China are not completely free but are being allowed and orchestrated by the Beijing government. I can’t help but make a comparison of this to the Star Trek episode, "The Return of the Archons". In this episode, Kirk and the crew are on a planet where the people are being controlled by a computer and forced to behave in a peaceful, tranquil, and souless manner. But every year, for one night during Festival, the computer turns off the controls and lets everyone run amuck. By the next morning, the control turns back on and everyone is peaceful again. Maybe this was done to let the people blow off all of their repressed emotional energy. Maybe this is what the Chinese government is doing right now.
Right now neither side seems interested in really dealing with the unhealed wounds from the war. Indeed, I would guess there are elements on both the Chinese and Japanese sides who are using it for political advantage.
Puffy is touring the U.S.! Yay! Puffy is only touring the west coast! Booo! So once again, it looks like we midwesterners have to bite it. Well here’s the tour schedule Tofu Records sent me and a poster.
PUFFY AMIYUMI WILL BE TOURING THE WEST COAST!!!
CHECK BELOW FOR DETAILS!!
Puffy AmiYumi
is going out on tour and will be playing the following dates!
The Never Ending (formerly known as Sneaker 2 Bombs) will be supporting
these shows.
4/22 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
(9pm)
Tickets at all Ticketmaster Outlets, charge by phone: 503-224-4400, or
ticketmaster.com
Also available at the Crystal ballroom box office: 503-225-0047
4/23 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox (8pm)
Tickets at ticketswest.com or charge by phone: 800-325-7328
Venue# 206-628-0221
4/24 - Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre (9:15pm)
Tickets at ticketmaster.ca or charge by phone (604-280-4444)
4/27 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
(8pm)
Tickets via ticketmaster.com
Venue Phone: 415-346-6000
4/29 - Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern Theatre
(9pm)
Tickets at ticketmaster.com or charge by phone: 213-388-1400
4/30 - San Diego, CA - SOMA (9pm)
Tickets available via SOMA Box Office: (No service fees)
Tues/Wed/Thurs 5:30-7:30 Show Days 4-11pm.
SOMA Box Office Info Tel: 619-226-7662
Online Ticketing: lunatiks.com or email: tickets@somasandiego.com
5/2 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre (8pm)
Tickets available via luckymanproductions.net, via box office phone: 480-829-1300
Marquee Box Office Hours: 10:30am-7pm M-F and 1pm-5pm on Saturdays.
or via Zia Records stores throughout Arizona
Check the website for details, ringtones,
wallpaper, IM icons, and much more:
www.puffyamiyumi.com
After talking about it for months, I finally launched the Wulin web site last night. This is a site whose focus is on martial arts novels, wuxia, and wulin, the life of the noble martial artist. I don’t know much about this myself, but it is one of my wife’s passions and the reason for the site. She’ll be adding more content and direction as the site grows. the tag line for the site, comes from a Chinese expression that basically says that the sword within your heart is greater than the one in your hand.
The fun for me is getting to create something new and learning more about some cool stuff. And since I picked up Jade Empire on Thursday, I’m really pumped for wuxia! I’ve been a fan of martial arts films for a number of years now, I guess drawn by the deadly ballet. But I never gave much thought to wuxia novels and really didn’t know they even existed until I met my wife who’s a big fan of them. I’m hoping that I can get her to write some stories too!
Here’s a link to the site again.
Cnet is linking to a story today reporting that South Korea is cracking down on online porn. Now I don’t usually write about porn, but I was a bit surprised that porn wasn’t banned in South Korea since it has a relatively large and conservative Christian population (about 30%). Yeah, the U.S. has a large Christian population too, but it also has unconditional freedom of speech written into its constitution which largely protects porn sites. I learned today that South Korea also has freedom of speech written into its laws, but there are so many conditions on this "freedom" that it effectively bans anything that might offend anyone. Anyway, the thing that caught my eye was the following excerpt.
Many
Korean Web sites require users to enter their national identification
card numbers to confirm their age to access adult content. But
tech-savvy children can use programs to create false numbers or simply
use their parents’ IDs instead.
I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, because it’s always like this. Kids are usually so far ahead of their parents, that technology meant to protect them usually requires a kid to install it! On the home front, I’m going to start teaching my kids to code this summer, but it’ll be a little while before they can hack better than I can…heh!
Okay, first of all it’ll be interesting to see how long it is before Sony cooks up a Playstation 3 unveiling event to beat the half hour infomericial for Xbox 2 on MTV May 12. As for the rest, I can’t say I’m really all that excited yet, for me it’s all about the games. The games are what I want to hear about. What is the Xbox 2 going to let me do that I couldn’t do before, and how much will it cost me? Oh, will I watch the MTV special? You bet! But I won’t be one of the first to buy Xbox 2 when it comes out, unless there’s something I really really want to play on it.
Okay, that said, what cool stuff would get me to jump on Xbox 2 (or whatever it is going to be called)? Well right off the bat, i would really like an easy way to hook up my iPod to the home stereo setup. If Xbox 2 can help me with that, and even allow me to synch my pod right on the Xbox itself, that’d get my attention. I’ve also heard rumors about Xbox 2 having wireless controllers standard, another thing I’d like. Finally, the new Xbox needs to be small and cute/cool looking. That way I can sneak it into the house when my wife’s not looking! 
Awww right! Break out the champagne! Cnet news reports that the University of Illinois tied for 17th place in the world finals of the Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest. The article then goes on to bemoan the fact that this is the worst showing ever for a U.S. team and that this means that the U.S. is slipping as a leader in technology, blah, blah, blah…
Well duh! Why should the best and brightest in the U.S. bother with careers in technology when those jobs are being shipped overseas in the name of cost cutting? Ironically, the article suggests that higher pay would entice more Americans to seek tech careers! Hellooooo! The jobs are going away because U.S. companies don’t want to pay higher salaries when they can throw rooms full of Indian, Russian, or Chinese programmers at the problem for a fraction of the cost. So is it any surprise that Americans are not interested?
As usual, the education system is also blamed for the slide. Yes the education system needs a serious overhaul, but that is not going to affect the interest of Americans in technology careers. Not only are the jobs going away to cheaper shores, but generally Americans revile those who are most interested in science and technology. On the one hand geeks and nerds are endlessly harassed in school, which is basically expected. And on the other hand the current social climate is more interested in divine revelation than research as the basis of government policy.
If we really want to reverse the trend we need to teach our people how to be entrepreneurs! Techies shouldn’t expect or be trained just to be cogs at HP, Microsoft, or IBM. The real action is going to happen in the startups where bright people will lay it all on the line and really push the envelope. I think the U.S. is still one of the best environments for this to happen, but we don’t really teach our people how to do this and indeed to expect to do this rather than being wage slaves for a lifetime. If we’re such a great capitalistic country, then let’s get serious and teach our people to be real capitalists!
Like a hungry man having dim sum, I eagerly await the next cart to roll by my table when I can sate my appetite once more with a taste of Jade Empire…Ugh, that’s a nasty sentence! The point is that like many I am eagerly awaiting the April 14 release of Jade Empire which has just gone gold and ready for manufacturing. But for me the dim sum image is quite appropriate, because as much as I love RPGs and BioWare’s work in particular, it takes me years to finish them! So I get a little taste of one, then before I’m finished another comes out! This isn’t all bad of course, because usually I wait until the greatest hits version comes out which is usually only $20. Oh well, I guess I’m just lucky enough to have so much going on in my real life that my virtual life has to wait. That’s a good thing right? (The correct answer is yessssss!)
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