Uh, what? There's no porn surcharge... and what would constitute violent media? Shooter video game? The national news? Has anyone noticed that media sites are promoting what used to be local news lately, just because there's a gun involved? Those disc packages that are impossible to open from a plastic shell without scissors... those are really violent media. What about Food Fight? That's a grey area, right because you're fighting violently but with food, so it's fun. In Defender, you shot aliens that because they were trying to steal people from the ground and it was on you to save them... that's a moral quandry. Or Berserk? That was self defense and Otto couldn't even be shot. Pac-man because he terrorizes ghosts when powered up? Obviously violent. Look at how their expression goes all tense and they run away from him. Violent.

I don't know what to make of the news when we shot Bin Laden... where in the hell does that come into play? Do I owe a family that lost a love one due to gun violence a quarter because I clicked on a news link?!

Some how I think that if Franklin Graham asked Biden to support a bill that taxes "wrong" religions and give the money to the "right" religion - because obviously Franklin's is the only right one - it would be less subjective... wait until Clark realizes that most of the existing scientific studies show that violent media doesn't cause violent behavior and he has to go fund one specifically to back the out come he wants...

That Biden sorta says "OK" blows my entire frontal lobe.

#jackass

I thought Monroe, CT had the lock on stupidity against fast food places... back in the day, Burger King wanted to open up shop. They were met with a lawsuit that called out that "the smells from the restaurant would distract kids in the nearby schools". No joke. It really happened. On the other side of town the CT-homegrown Duchess was required to pay cash to two of the other quasi-fast food places in the form of a payoff, just to open their doors because "Duchess will have so many customers that other business will suffer." Also not a joke; it really happened. Mind you that when they did allow a real fast food place, not only did they put it across the street from the original BK site but it was McDonald's; it would seem their smells didn't cross the street to bother children at school. Or as I like to think of it, it's not how much you pay out, it's who you pay off. ...and this is the same McDonald's that made national news in the mid-90's for selling pot out the drive thru window. Certainly not a joke; it made the AP wire after it circulated the local news.

After all of that in one town, why would I pick on this small Australian town?

"The presence of a 24-hour restaurant will mean (an) increase of littering, vandalism and worse and the leaving of items such as used condoms or broken bottles, meaning children are more likely to be injured or harmed in some way," she said.

Sadly, it's not a joke - that's a direct quote. Because I for one know that people only litter after midnight. And I would never vandalize a place unless it was open for business throughout the night. Further, I always get my sodas from McDonald's in glass bottles and certainly I would never loiter in a parking look unless it was to use a condom. Logically, I will only use a condom for vandalizing broken glass bottles that were littered in a fast food parking lot to directly injure and harm all of the children that would only be there from midnight to dawn.

What the hell did I just read?

Nice quote, you jack ass. You completely miss the fact that Google Reader was more than a reader: it was the RSS backbone for a number of products and projects... maybe if you co-built RSS a little better - and remember, you didn't do it alone so you can shove that "creator" title out the window - then we wouldn't need a sync engine and clients could inherently know how many things are unread. Unlike you and your "endless river of news" some of us work for a living and don't have the time to twittle OPML files or jump between rivers.

As to "please pay a fair price" how exactly should we do that for Google Reader when Google didn't offer a paid for option? I paid for FeedDemon years ago and now - with Google Reader closing - I will lose some of the key functionality that made the app great. I paid for the app because of the feature and now you're going to tell me that I should pay for services? Or are you still saying that we should have paid you for defining an XML schema?

You, sir, continue to be a waste of bandwidth and close to a waste of oxygen.

Um... Didn't North Korea declare that they were going to preemptively attack our nation with nuclear weapons this morning?

I can't tell if this is an attempt to show how much the US doesn't care (meaning we have balls so we don't sweat the little things), shows how little faith we have in the North Korean technology (even though South Korean has technical chops to turn a PopTart into a smartphone), or of it's a bit of a "look at me, I'm so cute in the snow" attempt to distract the nation that HI, AK, or any of our major cities on the west coast are now in an active danger of attack...

Either way, this picture really irks the fucking hell out of me.

Yes, because obviously, playing video games where you hone your "computer shooting skills" is so much more effective than going to a fucking gun range with real weapons where you are getting Mommy's approval. Does this mean that if I play Forza for countless hours in a private gaming room with blacked out windows that I will drive a stock car at Daytona better than the people that practice with real cars?

And if I've said it before, I'll say it again: the media needs to take some responsibility in this because they give stardom to criminals by never letting a topic die which feeds attention seeking psychos a road map to immortality.

Funny how CBS write the article that a) points out that the Newtown fuck up was trying to out kill an internationally renowned murderer that b) the press still talks about and puts in the limelight yet c) doesn't take any responsibility for helping to give either whack job attention or d) is encouraging copy cat criminals to follow the same path and e) shirks any blame on itself by blaming gaming again.

Pulitzer material, to be sure - at least it sells well.

Open a command prompt.

If you've installed the theme already, you need to get rid of the feed: delete the .feed-ms file that has your theme name in it at C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Feeds

Find the .theme file you want and double click it, which causes a dialog to pop up. Don't press anything.

Now run: attrib -s -h "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files"

Now select "Download Attachments" from the Apply Theme popup.

Enjoy the RSS-based goodness.

Call me cold hearted but I'm not overflowing with outrage that a young man has hung himself, while awaiting a trail for federal charges.

Strong words, I know, but when you give up, when you take your own life, when you stop exploring options, you are taking the easy way out.

The question most people are struggling with - as often happens after a suicide - is why did he do it. So far, the running theory is that he was facing legal issues for allegedly stealing intellectual property... I don't know if that's the reality of it or if this young man was dealing with the depression that he's publicly acknowledged over the years.

Either way, this is a man that, for all his brilliance, performed what he knew was an illegal act. He got caught. He got persecuted. He may have had to spend years in prison. That's some scary shit.

But consider that: he knew that what he did was illegal. He was willful. He was methodical. He is every bit like the people that get persecuted for hosting pirated music or taking a camcorder to a movie theater. He didn't accidentally download tons of documents. I don't know if he actively planned to distribute them, but there were evidence enough that he did. Did he think that if he acted like a robber-baron that he'd get away with it? Because of who he was, he could side step the persecution? I don't know what was in his mind. Further, if the case went to trial, who knows? Is the public outcry because he was doing what the people wanted or is it because he's dead?

The sad truth is that by committing suicide, he's either admitted his guilt or told the world that his medication was off. If it was the medication, then this whole affair is truly a sad story with no one to blame. If he was guilty of his crimes, then he's taken the cowards path. He's not a martyr. He's not unjustly persecuted. Think the punishment didn't fit the crime? Then fight the law. Do not minimize the crime or coddle and reward the criminal, even if it is post humorous. "Can't do the time don't do the crime" doesn't apply anymore? "He didn't mean it" is a valid argument? "He's dead now so he didn't do anything wrong"? Bullshit.

Making a stretch of a correlation, but consider the Mafia. For decades mob members performed crimes that went without persecution, some of them with the support of their neighborhoods. In the old school Italian neighborhoods citizens used the Mafia to take care of personal matters, for cash. Some legal, some illegal, but nominally with the support of the community. What you see in the movies is the sensational stuff... similar to watching a poker tournament on TV: you jump from exciting hand to exciting hand and they leave 95% of the hands on the cutting room floor because it's boring. Part of the process but not fun to watch. Similarly, most of the world thinks every American has a cowboy hat and a gun under their belt... we know that's not the case.

There were many a Mafia soldier that never fired a gun. Some members simply loan sharked or made book, which arguably hurts far less people than stealing intellectual property and dumping it for free.

What if said mob guy killed himself because he got arrested for loan sharking? Is there going to be a public outcry of support because he died to avoid prosecution? (There won't be.) Now you're looking at this analogy and thinking "This is nuts! How dare you compare a young creative mind against a Mafia thug and think they're the same?!" I'm not making that comparison. I'm comparing one alleged criminal against another and pointing out the slippery slope hypocrites often stand one when you take the law and bend it for people you like or don't like. If you want to prosecute the loan shark you have to prosecute the robber-baron: that's how the law [is supposed to] work.

We lost a brilliant and young technologist this weekend and that makes me sad. ...but not sad enough to absolve his actions because he took his own life.

I'll celebrate his achievements but I will not support society's attempt to make him an innocent martyr.

Right. Because after spending $10 to get into a theater to watch a movie, I want to be distracted by someone else's cell phone.

Thanks guys.

That's when I realized that when I was in the Bellevue store that there was not one Christmas decoration to be seen, even as recently as Nov-14.

Holy. Shit.

Way to stay classy Nordstrom.

While we were watching the story unfold, I was half tempted to check my Facebook feed and see how this played out amongst Red and Blue friends, but then I got to musing about how some of the news channels would spin this...

NBCNews: 90% of the segment would be spent on why this is all Bush's fault and 8% on why these Reservists should be allowed to not be deployed because it's their right to refuse. 2% on the fact that there is a war in Afghanistan and Obama would have ended it, if it wasn't for Congress.

Today: All information on how the deployment will impact the children and grandchildren. Maybe a mention of recipes that family with members deployed can whip up quickly.

WSJ: Focus on the monetary benefits that joining the Reserves can get you and a mention of how much money has been spent on Afghanistan.

Fox News: Simultaneous praise for the family's patriotism and dedication to country and condemnation for a President who won the office on campaign promises of reducing the number of troops deployed. Followed by the innuendo that if we don't send more soldiers to Afghanistan, that we'll lose said war, and have to start a draft.

What saddens me is that if you're wholly Red or Blue, you'll believe only one of these stories wholesale and spend the rest of the day telling everyone else they're wrong.

It's not that there's so many points of views that we can't agree that makes me sad... it's the fact that people can no longer entertain other opinions: they are convinced that their opinion is the right and only opinion. They then feel that they have to correct everyone else that got it wrong. And before you say "not me, because I'm conservative or liberal" yes, it's you too! It's the just norm now, be it Red or Blue... 95% of the nation has been polarized into one of two colors and are happy to be so. What's even worse than the drunken and passion pride of belonging to a side is the fact that most people can't even articulated the position of their color and explain why it's so "right".

The only thing that makes me smile in this is that the Blue side has become as intolerant to alternative ideas and points of view as the [Red] Catholic church has been for thousands of years... makes me perversely chuckle that the same stones are crashing through the same windows of both houses.

Either way, I'm happy to paint myself purple and hide until election day.

One thing I've noticed that I like about Windows 8 is the new Start Menu Screen: it makes sense. Sure it's different, but to me, it works. Another thing that I've only recently realized is that when they hit the Start button in Windows 7 (or Vista or XP) and the Start Menu opens, no matter how small or large the menu is, all of my focus is on that menu and the rest of the screen is wasted. Additionally, it's a pretty solid customizable tool bar in it's own right... think of this top level part of the Start Menu as the "most used" applications page... the bottom line is that I like it.

Onto the other tips...

Update: Serena has a similar list and calls out Start8 (which I also use but I have it launch the full Start menu) because it's useful for remote sessions.

Win+D takes you to the Desktop wicked quick. And if you are using older applications from Windows 7, you may not ever leave the Desktop anyway.

Win+X is you new best friend, while you're in the Dashboard. One keystroke away from a ton of things on a nice popup menu.

Win+C slides out the menu that's on the right side of your screen; this will bring you to a Start button as well as settings.

Win+I slides out the settings pane which makes it wicked quick to do PC-level settings.

I'm sure there's other things that I'll add to this list, but this is a quick list so I remember what I was thinking at the start of my time with Windows 8.

It's been pretty fun so far.

You have a table of data and there's a column you want to toggle the highlight off to. That column is B and the value is ERROR versus something that's not-ERROR.

Select the whole sheet.

Go to Conditional Formatting, select Manage Rules, and add a new Rule in the dialog box that shows up.

Select "Use a formula to determine which cells to format"

Enter the following to highlight rows, starting with 1 and where the current Row's column B is equal to ERROR:

=$B1="ERROR"

Close the dialog boxes until you're back in the sheet.

FWIW, if you want it based off a numeric value, you can do =$B1>20. If you want start with a lower Row, change the 1 to a higher value.

For more information on the conference go to the Agile Alliance's Agile2012 website: http://agile2012.agilealliance.org/

For a synopsis on the talk, keep reading...

Many software teams today practice "rapid development" techniques, and while it is true that some practices and methods produce results more quickly than others, slowing down and (potentially) building less, leads to higher quality and efficiency gains in the long run.

At Microsoft, "Slow down to go fast" was the mantra of the Xbox voice search team, taking on the persona of the "tortoise" to successfully deliver on our objectives with high quality. By adhering to the principles of Agile while being agile in our methodologies and practices, the team found a flexible but structured framework to work within. Paramount to this collaboration was the close partnership between developers and testers. Out of this collaboration grew a set of philosophies and best practices that lead to a successful product launch. Come hear a development lead and senior tester talk about went well and what they learned, with a focus on slowing down to go fast to early cycle - and ultimately shipping - quality.

In this session, participants will learn the what and why of our best practices, including: - The "Buddy System" employed by development and test - Code reviews, buddy building and buddy testing - Interactive design and documentation using OneNote - Driving crisp and test-driven "done" definitions - The right level of unit testing and test automation with feedback from code coverage Target Audience - Software engineers, particularly developers and testers, with a basic knowledge of agile development principles - Agile development teams that tend to ship with lower quality and large volumes of technical debt (e.g. bugs and refactoring work that never gets done) - Agile development teams that have to work with several dependencies to ship one product.

They were right there, saying the same bearish things that don't sell well in the news, if everyone is preaching the virtues and successes of a company.

You heard them; you just didn't listen.

Vent the stone.

The Prius C and the MINI Cooper.

The Prius C is a newcomer that just hit the market this year... it's a little longer than the MINI but smaller than the regular Prius by about a foot. It's a Hybrid and it's well appointed. The top of the line Prius C Four has HD/SAT radio, touch screen GPS, all sorts of Hybrid computer screens, integration with the iPhone - even leather seats. It is very well appointed.

The MINI has all of those options as well - and more - and is way more fun to drive. Hell, it's more fun to drive than most other cars on the road... something about that Go-Kart feeling that is just... fun. But the challenge with the MINI is that if you trick it out to match the Prius C, it's more expensive. By like several thousands more expensive. To combat the price difference, you take out the MINI Connected [iPhone integration] system, the GPS, the backup-camera thing, and the leather seats.

Classic example: amenities/normal/cheaper versus fun/neat/pricier.

As of this writing, I'm planning to lease a new MINI.

Why?

Not taking anything away from MINI - who for some reason tried to charge me over retail at first ask (even though I'm a 3rd time MINI lease) and has kept me waiting for over 48 hours for a final lease quote - but Toyota has completely pissed me off.

After seeing the Prius C, I decided that I wanted to take a test drive. I reached out to the local dealer through the Internet Sales department: do you have a Prius C Four to test drive? It took four emails to find out that they did not but I could test drive a Two. Why four emails? Because there was constant pressure to schedule an appointment.

OK, here's the deal: you guys are a dealership. I don't schedule when I'm coming down for a test drive. You work around my schedule and if I opt to be flexible... then you deal with it. I don't care that you aren't there. You are a salesperson and you are a dime a dozen. If your commission process works that you only get credit for all the work, don't push that on me. I'm the damned customer.

On a whim, Jolene and I pop down to the dealership a couple of days later. We're greeted by one of the three salespeople standing by the front door. All happy and smiling and friendly. Until I say 'Oh, we requested a test drive with the Internet sales department.' Smiles disappear and we get a grunt in response. "That salesperson isn't here today." 'That's OK - we just want a test drive.' "Oh... well, that salesperson isn't here today." [insert the sound of my patience expiring] 'Yes, I understand. Do I get to drive the car anyway?'

After waiting for a bit, we get the Prius C Two and salesperson in tow, we go for a drive. Nice car but basic inside. Had a key - the MINI has a FOB - and the traditionally untraditional dash of a Prius. No more annoying jerking at a stop sign. OK power up hills. Wouldn't have even known it was a Hybrid, to be honest. Very nice. When we get back to the dealership, there's a full court press. "What color are you looking for? How long is in your lease? How about we get you out of that early?" After explaining that I have 10 weeks on the lease left and still have 15K miles to go before I'm over, the salesperson wanders off. The sales manager returns with the salesperson with the classic "How can we get you to buy the car today" look. He says "What do you think?" I reply with, 'It's nice... really nice. But I'm not buying a car today - I still have too much time and miles left on my lease to get out of it early, thanks.' Jolene and I leave shortly after that.

After coming home and doing some research, I learned that the Four does have a FOB, the touch screen and all that gunk. Even a feature where if you have the FOB on you, you just touch the door handle to lock/unlock the door.

Since the first local Toyota dealership didn't have a Four, I called another one. This guy tells me that they are selling out of them faster than any car they've had before. That always cracks me up. Reminds me of when I worked on stock trading software... no glitch in the software ever caused a $5 mistake - it was always a $5 billion mistake. OK, fine, so it's a hot car, but the really funny part is when he tells me: "Ya know... if you really want to see one, you really should put a deposit down on one." I have no words to this. "Because a lot of people are buying them sight unseen." 'Ah... well, that's not going to happen.' "Oh. What else are you looking at?" 'I'm really considering a MINI Cooper.' "Oh, well can the MINI get you fifty four miles per-" 'I don't care about the hybrid.' "Oh." 'The only reason why you're in the running is because you're a small car.' "Oh." 'I just wanted see it before I bought it.' "Oh... uh... well."

Leave a deposit for a purchase to test drive the fuckin' car? Ha!

Anyway, since I was still torn on the choice, I waited a week or two and then I emailed the first Toyota dealership again. And again. And again. Finally I picked up the phone. "I replied to your emails!" was the response I got. Um, OK, that's odd that their first emails got through but other ones didn't. Right? I mean a spam filter could just suddenly change it's mind... no, no, don't call bullshit yet.

Turns out they had a Three on the lot. Back down to the dealership. This time I told them when I was coming and my internet salesperson was there. OK, fine. Out for another test drive. The upgraded amenities were nice. Really nice. OK, this has potential. We end the short test drive and go back to the dealership. "What color are you looking for? How long is in your lease? How about we get you out of that early?" After explaining that I have 10 weeks on the lease left and still have 15K miles to go before I'm over, this salesperson takes another approach: "How much equity do you have left in the car, because we can get you out early." Now I know MINI has one of the highest residual values in the industry. I don't know why. No one knows why. I just know that by the time I buy the car, trade the car in, and pay the sales tax on said transaction that I'll be screwed 8 ways from Sunday. I say 'It's OK, I'm not interested.' "Well how much equity do you have left in the car?"

Doesn't a salesperson know that they are supposed to adjust their approach to fit the mark? Listen to the responses and respond? That's what I would do... no one likes a quitter I guess because the equity pitch continues.

Ultimately, Jolene and I leave again with some more thoughts about the car. So I decide to get some specific lease numbers, while MINI continues to compete for the business by offering competitive quotes. I email the salesperson for more information... wait a couple of days - nothing. I try from another email address. Nothing. Finally I call and leave a voice mail... 'I want a quote for a Prius C Four.' The next day I get a returned call and more lamenting about emails not getting through.

Um, as an Internet sales department wouldn't you want to make sure you can send and receive emails? You can call bullshit now.

OK, so now I got my quote. I then realize I forgot to ask about the options: the sunroof and 16" tires. I then realize that the quote I was given doesn't match what I see on the web site with the lease calculator. So I call back 5 minutes after the first call and leave another voice mail. Two days later I get an email: "the quote was for a Prius C Four." Um, OK, that doesn't answer my question. I reply 'Yes, the Prius C Four but with the sunroof and the 16" tires?' I get back, "Yes."

Those quotes above are all that are in the mail. No numbers. No new quotes. Just a handshake that the number that I got verbally and doesn't match the web site is what I'm paying. What if I heard her wrong? What if I can't remember the quote? Do I have to email again asking for another quote which might get lost again?

Why do I feel like I'm doing them a favor by leasing a car from them? Why don't I feel like they're earning my business? Why does it feel like I'm driving this deal instead of them doing the work for me?

Oh, right: because I am.

Well, lets just be a sadiest, I emailed them again: 'Prius C Four + the sunroof and 16” wheels, $4K to the cap cost, 36 mo, 12K miles a year, and the payment was $220/mo including tax?' It would seem their emailed worked because I got back:

"Randy,
I did not say $220.
I SAID $320 AND THAT IS INCLUDED THE TAX."

ARE YOU FUCKIN' KIDDING ME? YOU HAVE PUT NOTHING IN WRITING. YOU HAVEN'T BEEN RESPONSIVE IN EMAIL OR VIA PHONE. YOUR NUMBER DOESN'T MATCH THE WEB SITE. YOU ARE SHOUTING AT ME - and in imperfect English - ABOUT A MISUNDERSTANDING OVER PRICING WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO NOT FUCK UP AND YOU DON'T GIVE ME THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT OF A TYPO?

This just went from a blog post to a complaint to Dealership Management and Yelp.

And this is why I'm getting a MINI Cooper... not that I have any regrets with that. Sure I'm giving up some features but I know the car, I like the car, and the car remains fun to drive. I'm even going with the same color. Adding in things like SAT/HD radio and a reworked dash. I was tempted to try something new this go around... never had a Toyota or a Hybrid and this is the third MINI in a row...

Maybe I should thank the local Toyota dealerships for making the decision for me though: if they don't feel like they need my business, I don't feel like I'm going to give it to them.