Bits 'N Pieces

Thursday, January 6, 2011

1. I'm thrilled that NetFlix has started to improve their offerings on Instant View. This is especially evident in their television section, and I'm now hooked on Dexter.

2. Downloaded two albums from Amazon over the holidays. They were doing a $5 special for the Best Music of 2010 (still seems to be going on at the moment). I bought Cee Lo Green's The Lady Killer and Kings of Leon Come Around Sundown. So far I'm liking the KoL album more.

3. To the idiots of the world that own SUV's ... when you pull up alongside someone who was in front of you and is looking to make a turn, you do realize that you've now effectively and entirely blocked their view of incoming cars from that direction? Which means they now have to sit and wait for you to make your turn, or otherwise face the risk of getting into an accident by pulling into traffic blindly. Wait your turn!

4. Does something happen to people when they buy SUVs, or did they come with that sense of entitlement prior to the purchase of said monstrosity?

5. Nothing is worse than writers block to start out the year. It probably doesn't help that I'm not really looking forward to writing this particular paper. The concept is extremely cool. The problem is, it's still mostly a concept. We have some correlations, but this whole field is a bit of an enigma. We wanted to get this idea out into the general populace so it's going to be more like a "review" paper with some data thrown in ... which makes this thing difficult to write (at least for me). We shopped it to a journal, which thought it sounded exciting ... but that doesn't make it any easier to write. I'll be glad when I'm done writing it.

6. Is it too much to want to win the Lottery just once?

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Genomic Repairman

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Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 9:10 am CST

Dude you have to start streaming the 1st two seasons of The Tudors on Netflix, it was awesome. And you must watch It Might Get Loud, best music documentary I have ever seen.

Brian Krueger, PhD
Duke University

Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 9:15 am CST

@netflix, their catalog does seem to be getting much bigger. Although I hear they ahve to re-negotiate their instant video contract with Starz and many people believe that they essential stole the rights to the content when they bought it for $20million last time. I predict an increase in Netflix fees shortly :P

@amazon, I need to check that out. I've been really impressed with their MP3's and the fact that there is NO DRM associated with them is amazing. I feel sorry for all of those suckers who bought iTunes and can only transfer the files to 3 different devices...

@SUVDrivers, That seems to happen more often than ever now! Soccer mom's in minivans are also guilty of this practice. Usually I can just edge my nose out a bit more to get a good view, or look through their window if they're not chunky monkeys. But yeah, this drives me nuts.

Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 9:20 am CST

Brian a lot of the iTunes stuff is DRM free now and I have my stuff spread across more than 5 machines and DRM has yet to be an issue.

Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 9:32 am CST

@GR, that must be a new addition. We tried to transfer songs from Whitney's 4y/o iPod to her new one and it said something like transfer limit exceeded. Maybe she had a bunch of their old files?

Thomas Joseph

Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 9:37 am CST

GR, I'll check out the Tudors. I'm also trying to catch up on Spartacus.

Brian, where I live window tinting is also a big deal, so I can't even do the "look through their window" trick. This happens every day I drive home from work ... I'm really thinking of doing my best to clog the lane so people literally have to drive off-road to pull alongside of me. Seems a bit jerkish, but I'm beyond annoyed at this now.

iTunes does have DRM-free music now, but it costs $1.29 as opposed to their $0.99 DRM-laden tunes. I hate the fact I needed to download a program to download Amazon albums, but meh ... will be worth it in the long run.

becca

Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 2:32 pm CST

why would you buy an SUV without a surpassing sense of entitlement?

Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 2:40 pm CST

@becca, boat towing?

Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 2:41 pm CST

Like Jon Stewart says in the video I put up yesterday: This would so tow the boat I don't have, up the mountain I don't live on.

Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 9:38 pm CST

As someone with a profound and abiding love for someone who owns not one but two pick-ups to tow the boat he does have up the mountain he does live on, I've gotta say... a boat is a hole in the water that you pour money into. It reflects a much more profound sense of entitlement than a mere SUV. Mind, I can think of no more GLORIOUS waste of fossil fuels than to be zooming around the back of a motor boat, but that may be only because I've not (yet) been skydiving. Still, glorious or not, insane entitlement.

NB: large animal veterinarians who work in regions that require actual offroading are exempt from arrogance clauses re: 4 wheel drive vehcles. As are people who literally only drive them in awful snow, to help tow out unfortunate souls with puny cars like myself.

JaySeeDub
Dub C Med School

Thu, Jan 06, 2011, 11:01 pm CST

SUV discussions always remind me of whatever jerk parked a black Escalade in two compact spots in the hospital parking lot. He also had a "No War For Oil" sticker on the back. I wanted to key "Driven by moron" onto the hood so badly. Instead I sent parking enforcement after it.

Tideliar

Guest Comment

Fri, Jan 07, 2011, 12:10 pm CST

#3 This. Kill them all. Kill them with Fire.

Fri, Jan 07, 2011, 2:26 pm CST

Tideliar said:

Sometimes I wish I had a beater (for some reason I imagine a 1970 Chevy Nova in this role) fitted with a cow catcher. Then when someone irritates me to no end on the road, I can simply ram them with impunity. I suppose this is what they refer to as "road rage".

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