John Turner

Recently, Microsoft has signed agreements with Xandros, Novell, and Linspire aimed at protecting users of those Linux distributions from damages related to unspecified patents. Microsoft claims that Linux infringes on 235 of their patents but RedHat and Canonical (the commercial backer of Ubuntu) are not buying it.

RedHat stated that their position remains unchanged, according to ZDNet Australia. Mark Shuttleworth, the man behind Canonical, posted a comprehensive explanation of his position and opinion of these agreements. In short, Shuttleworth believes that Microsoft is no friend to Linux or free software and takes the time to explain why. He sums up the recent agreements with Microsoft as “trinkets in exchange for air kisses”. Ouch!!

HBO’s Entourage has totally jumped the shark, and it seems I’m not the only one with that opinion. For me, the fourth-season opener was basically unwatchable…I was cringing and gritting my teeth through all 28 minutes or whatever it was. The show used to be outrageously funny with ferociously biting satire but now its like a really, really bad teen “coming of age” movie. The Vince character in this latest episode looked like a doofus trying to portray Pablo Escobar, and while I can’t stand the Billy Walsh character, I shouted in agreement when he dissed Drama during the table read. If I hear another bad pick up line out of Johnny Drama, I’ll scream and it won’t be pretty. Trust me. Oh, and if I ever see Kevin Connolly’s smirk in real life, I’ll rip it off his face.

Luckily for HBO, though, they have “Big Love” and now “The Flight of the Conchords”. “Conchords” has to be the funniest show I’ve seen in a long, long time. Funnier than “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” even. All due respect to Tenacious D, but JB and KG can only WISH their show was as funny as “Conchords”. Watching the premiere, I was on the fence until I heard the first song, “Part-Time Model”. The lyrics killed, there’s just no other way to put it:

You’re so beautiful
You could be a waitress
You’re so beautiful
You could be an air hostess in the ‘60’s
You’re so beautiful
You could be a part-time model

Funny and wickedly clever on so many levels…don’t miss the rest. This is a show I will not miss every week. Thank you, HBO!!

Just experimenting. Technorati Profile

I haven’t listened to the radio in over 4 years. Any type of radio…FM, AM, satellite, whatever, I haven’t listened to it. The state of Detroit radio is the worst…there isn’t a single station I can listen to for any length of time, and I’m not one of those people that spends 3 hours a day in their car, so satellite radio has no attraction, either. But, I love music, so for the last few years I’ve been relying on movie soundtracks, TV commercials and shows (like Entourage and Weeds), and the referral engines at Pandora and iTunes for my music fixes.

You’d be surprised how much cool music can be found on TV commercials these days…they kind of sneak it in. I think the first time I realized this, it was a couple of years ago and I was wondering what song was playing during a Diet Coke commercial. It took me a couple of days to figure out, but I finally did (it was “Callin’ Out” by Lyrics Born).

Another site I’ve found really helpful is Soundtrack Info. Got a question about something you heard in a movie? Ask it there, and there’s a good chance it will get answered. Pretty cool!!

Every morning at work lately, when I crank up my iPod nano, the first song I must listen to is “Dance This Mess Around” by the B-52’s. I’m not sure what that means, exactly. The song is what, 30 years old? I think it was released in ‘79. Oh well, I can only hope whatever it is that’s got me hooked on this song is good, because I don’t think my janky HMO will cover it if it isn’t. If I felt like splurging on a purchase, I’d buy one of those iPod-capable clock radios and set it as my wake-up alarm.

I’ve been crazy busy at work. This is good, I’d rather be busy than bored, but it has kept me from thinking about posting. A few things I’ve been working on: trying to figure out which would be better for some sites I’m building, Cake (PHP framework) or Django (python framework). I have security and (potential) scaling issues with PHP, but I have administration and learning curve issues with Django, so I’m not sure what to do. Another major problem for me is the apparent dearth of Django-friendly webhosts. At least with PHP, you can pretty much use it anywhere.

I checked out Ron Paul’s website the other day. Very, very interesting. I loved his track record, especially the part about never having voted to raise taxes, never voted for an unbalanced budget, and having voted against the Patriot Act. All big pluses in my book! Maybe I’ll vote for him…I’m definitely not voting Democrat or Republican no matter who gets nominated.