Kris Carlson's Weblog

Oops? Where did the $9,000,000,000 go?

You don't pay your taxes and you go to jail. The government loses $9,000,000,000 and it's "oops, sorry". Where's the accountablility? "An audit by a U.S. inspector says the U.S.-led authority that governed Iraq after the 2003 invasion failed to keep track of nearly $9 billion it transferred to Iraqi ministries."

Here are some articles from todays headlines:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/30/iraq.audit/
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-01-31-voa15.cfm
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1022625,00.html
http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=7476569

Technorati Tags:
Iraq
government

Wikipedia

This is kick ass! I just found Wikipedia I've just got one thing to say: "Thank you for Blogs!"

Wikipedia
Gravity
Robert Byrd
Ted Kennedy

Whaooo!

Taking the high road

Well said J.! Check out J.'s post at Wizbang Blog about the recent confirmation hearings of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. I quote: "Not once did they mention the irony of the first black woman to be nominated to such a high office being opposed by two white men -- one a former Ku Klux Klan leader, the other a man who left a woman to drown in his car in a desperate attempt to avoid responsibility and save his political career."

lmao

Politics
Condoleezza Rice
Ted Kennedy

Solaris And x86 Drivers

Sun is going open source with their popular operating system Solaris at http://www.opensolaris.org/. I applaud them for this decision, and hope the issue of limited driver availability for Solaris on x86 platforms will be addressed with alacrity by the open source community. Yes, I have high hopes, but that's just what they are: hopes.

There are a lot of drivers that need to be written to make the Solaris OS run on many different home/x86 computers. That's a big job. I doubt the OSC will keep up for Suns benefit and, ultimately, profit. But we'll see.

About.com

Almost every time I do a search on Google I get a link that takes me to some search results at About.com. I have clicked on these links to no avail. I have yet to get a useful "hit" from a link presented to me at About.com. From their "about us" section they claim "Each month more than 20 million people visit About.com". It's probably because they have imbedded themselves in search engines like Google, and people click on the links without knowing they are being taken to useless links. I can't stand it when I get taken to about.com. Now I look at the hyperlinks to see if it's one from about.com. But every once-in-awhile I get snagged.

SmartWood Les Paul Studio

Oh, the agony.  I'm looking at this really cool looking SmartWood Les Paul Studio, and I just can't find anyone that has one I can play and check out before I buy.  It's not a high-end Les Paul or a Custom Shop axe.  It's just an inexpensive Les Paul that nobody seems to want to stock.    Same problem with the Swamp Ash Les Paul Studio.  The guy I talked to at Guitar Center said he saw one of these come into their Southfield store and it never made it to the showroom.  Some employee snagged it.  When I spoke to a salesman (and 2 and 3) at Guitar Center they told me both guitars would have to be special ordered.  And get this, each salesman has given me a different price, none of which has been as low as the online price until I mention it.  Then I get a, "yeah, I can do that".

I've been researching this one only for a week now, but I feel like I'm running out of time, if I want a new one.  Based on my research so far, these guitars I've been looking at are not going to be produced for long; and I've sort of started looking a bit late.

Also on my list of possibles is the American Deluxe 50th Anniversary Stratocaster.  Today I was told by a Guitar Center Salesman about how this one would be hard to get because Fender quit manufacturing them in November, 2004.  It is currently in stock at Musicians Friend, and I could order one right now.  I've never bought a guitar this way, and I don't feel comfortable doing so.  But it seems the only way I will be able to get one of these 3 beauties, is to order, either online or from a shop.  I can't stand Guitar Center for high-end shit.  You never know if they are really giving you a good price on the piece (unless you've researched it).  For example, I was quoted $1076 for the SmartWood today; and that was without the SmartWood case as advertised at Gibson and everywhere I looked.  When I asked about the case, he quoted me $1160 with the SmartWood case (which is specialy made for this axe).  Then I told him I'd seen it elsewhere for $1080 with the case, and I got a "yeah, I can do that".  That's just a lotta crap.  I will continue my research on these 3 lovelys until I am satisfied I have done a thorough job.  For right now I'm not happy with what I have uncovered about purchasing methods for these guitars.

By the way, I have sent some email to SameDayMusic and zZounds regarding some prices I found at shopping.com for the SmartWood.  If you click on the link to each website you are taken to a SmartWood, but with a price $250 dollars higher.  The reply I got from both companies was that the price I saw was for a "blemished" guitar.  That being the case, then why didn't the add at shopping.com mention something about the blemish?  Even if it is an old ad, if it were blemished, the ad should have mentioned something.  So basically I feel like I can't trust these 2 online retailers.  And they are the only ones I found so far that have a SmartWood (or so they say).  Plus each of these 2 have several negative reviews from people who have had bad experiences purchasing from them.  Oh, the agony.  Maybe I'll look at Amazon next.

Some Technorati Goodies

Cool!  I just learned a little about Technorati Tags.  I'm so geeked about it I just have to blog it.  Here's some of the stuff I found at Technorati.

My Tag: Kris Carlson

To contribute to this tag, just make a post to your blog about Kris Carlson and include a link to this page like so:

<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Kris+Carlson" rel="tag">Kris Carlson</a>

If your blog software is configured to automatically ping us, there's nothing more you need to do – your post should appear here automatically. If your blog software is not configured to ping us, you can ping us manually.

More Info »

There is a lot of info in the Help Section about Tags.

iPod A Fad?

"Dell Chief Executive Kevin Rollins is dismissing the iPod as a "fad" and a "one-product wonder" and claiming the new Mac Mini won't dent the PC market."

I think this guy is going to eat those words. He also said that Apple wasn't in the same league as Dell. Well, he's sure right about that. Dell is not innovator like Apple, and that is why Dell is not in the same league as Apple. The only reason Dell has so much of the PC market share is because of the unscrupulous business practices of Bill Gates. Dell is a coat-tail company. They are now taking a defensive posture to Apple because of what Apple did with the iPod and the market that surrounds it.

Enter the Mac Mini. The future cannot be predicted, but I wouldn't bet against Apple. "This might be an interesting new product, but I'm not really believing this is going to turn the industry upside down."
--Kevin Rollins,
CEO, Dell

I think you're right Kevin. Market share and public exposure is what Apple will get. And when people start to use OS X they will wonder why they didn't switch sooner. MS Windows is like a bad habit; and once people drop it they will not want to return to it.

Hail To The iPod

Hail To The iPod for bringing Apple back into the public eye. If you're going to survive in a Microsoft World you had better be damned creative. If you like Apple products then celebrate their expanding market share, don't poo poo their marketing techniques. http://ahawkins.org/2005/01/11.html#a296 and http://www.papascott.de/archives/2005/01/11/no-joy-in-macville/

Windows developer Alex Gorbatchev just bought his first Mac.

How big will the Mini be? That's the headline at C|Net News. It will be big. You can count on it. Windows users are becoming disenchanted with the operating system built by Bill Gates. All Apple had to do was build a low cost computer or port OS X to the Intel platform. The later would be a development nightmare. So the answer was easy, build an affordable computer to get Windows users to buy a Mac and try out OS X. Once they use OS X for a while they will quickly learn that it is a robust operating system with an incredible user interface. To the Windows user it will be different at first, but once they see how incredibly well thought out the UI is they will not want to return to Windows.

Currently, much software has been developed for Windows. In particular, the business world uses Windows for the desktop. Make no mistake, Windows is not powerful or robust enough for the backend of the enterprise. Mainframes and midrange Unix based computers handle that. So really Windows is just a desktop operating system that serves as a front end for most businesses; and home users. Now, enter BSD based OS X. This OS X actually has the power to run the enterprise. Read how Apple computers are being used in Scientific Research and how The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University built the 5th fastest super computer in the world with PowerMac G5's. Yes, you see where I'm going with this. The Mac is thought of as a desktop toy. Well, guess what, not anymore. And the beauty of it all is The Enterprise can use low cost Macs for the desktop while using X Serves and G5's for the backend. The power is there, but the software is not... yet.

So my call is to all CEO's, CTO's, COO's, etc., (and Windows developers) that read this to be open minded. Look into Apple computers and OS X. And most of all, develop software for business that runs native on Macs (i.e. without the use of Virtual PC).