September 2006 Archives

My uncle Tom, my dad's fraternal twin, was diagnosed with cancer about six years ago. It hit him pretty hard but he always fought it tooth and nail. The strains became too much over time, though, and yesterday he passed away.

I don't know exactly what to say because I don't think that I could possibly do justice to him in giving a description of who is was as a person - but he really was a great man and he made people happy (regardless of how pissed off my dad got at him whenever they argued politics). He leaves a void and he'll forever be missed.

I don't have too many pictures of him on hand, but here's a nice one of him and my aunt Marge with me at my graduation from U of I. It would have been nice if I had a better camera at the time and it wasn't taken at night, but it's better than nothing :)

Clinton has recently been interviewed for Fox News, and it looks like it will be broadcast this weekend, although I'm not sure if it will be in its entirety. (My moderately liberal and slightly cynical leanings say "ehhh, probably not." I.e., the temptation to spin might be a little to hard to resist.)

As an advance, there is a web site that has published the transcript in its entirety. Highlights are here, with a link to the full interview here.

Clinton is very candid in this interview - and apparently very defensive about a couple issues. From what I can tell, maybe a little too defensive. While I think that he has every right to be, I also think that the lack of relative restraint might hurt him, especially once out-of-context snippets start making their rounds.

Actually, here's a prime example, as illustrated by a Fox News promo. What are the last words from Clinton's mouth before they cut it? "I failed."

I have a new policy: every time that I hear the song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley on the radio, I am changing the station. It was a novel song at first, but now it sounds like a hundred screeching cats running their claws down chalk boards.

But I guess that's the case for most successful pop songs.

Anyway, please, programming directors - make it stop.

The new iPod nanos were released the other day, and it turns out that they're more or less hybrids of the old nano and the iPod mini, which was discontinued not too long ago. We get the best of both worlds: the nano's small form factor and solid state memory (i.e., no hard drive and it can take a lot of abuse) and the mini's sturdy metal coating (i.e., no scratches like those that plagued the first generation of nanos). They come in five colors: silver, green, blue, pink, and black.

And thus is the reason for this entry. Here's a quick couple words of advice: If you're concerned about the security of your new investment, I'd recommend that you stay away from the shiny colors if at all possible. Why is that? They do attract attention, but more importantly they're also identifiers for how expensive your music player is. Green, blue, or pink? You've got a 4GB. Black? You splurged on an 8GB. The eyes of the potential thief grow large...

But if you have a silver nano, it could be either a 2GB or a 4GB. It's the only cross-category color! And in my eyes, this makes it the safest to own. Not that having a measly $149 piece of electronics will detract from theft, but I'll bet that some will overlook the bottom of the line when they're searching for the higher-up stuff. No doubt the 4GB versions will be the most popular, but despite the prettiness of the blues, greens, and pinks, do yourself a favor and go with the duller but potentially more secure silver one, eh? You'll thank me for it.