To The Metal

Just a tip to those not in the know (like I was a mere 5 minutes ago)… I, like most people at this point have at least 1 LCD in their life that needs to be cleaned. In the past, I’ve used Windex. I’ve now found out that Ammonia (ingredient in most commercial glass cleaners) is BAD.

DO NOT USE COMMERCIAL GLASS CLEANERS!!!

Now most office supply stores, and some electronics stores will sell LCD cleaner that might cost anywhere from $10 to $20. Now if you’ve gone and bought a spiffy LCD television, YOU CANT AFFORD THAT ANYMORE. That said, grab some ordinary Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, distilled water, and a soft cloth. Now I’ve heard a few different proportions for the mixture, 50/50 to 70/30 for the mixture of alcohol to water. Since the rubbing alcohol you’d buy at the store is already diluted with water, a 70/30 might just work fine.

Do not use tap water – any minerals in the water (no filter gets out ALL minerals) will show up as white streaks on the screen.

Do not use any sort of paper towel or tissue – no matter how soft it is. You’ll scratch your screen.

Do not spray the solution directly on the screen! Spray it on the towel, and wipe the screen down with the towel. Follow up with another soft cloth to dry the screen – and you’re done. Do not wipe too hard, as it can also damage the screen.

Now I put this up mainly so I can search bag through my blog for the information, but as you fine folks may be tempted to give it a shot – do not take my word as gospel. For starters, I take no responsibility if you follow this guide to the letter and fuck up your LCD. Secondly, it isn’t hard to do a Google search and find similar information yourself. Lastly, if you don’t want to try it yourself – pick up the actual cleaning kit at your local electronics store.

Me? I’m cheap…erg…frugal. I’ll give it a shot, and proceed to kick myself in the ass if I screw something up. I long for those days where I can see just how flexible I truly am.

So the RIAA has for the past few years been destroying the lives of music fans for minor transgressions against the industry which apparently had no real effect on record sales. According to them – it is working.

It’s no suprise that another major player in the entertainment industry – YouTube – is trying the same thing. YouTube had a deadline to implement a technology which would remove, filter, or block the copywritten programs which are still very easy to find on their site. The deadline came and went, and no technology was implemented. Now they’re handing over information on users, well, one user so far, to Fox because he/she posted episodes of 24 before they were actually aired.

Now posting copywritten material to YouTube is a violation of their TOS as well as illegal, YouTube hasn’t been able to get a handle on it – although Google apparently does not have the same problem. Personally, I think the industry should sue YouTube, not for the names of users but to physically shut down YouTube until they can implement these blocks.

Sure they’re big, sure they’re owned by Google, but if the constant assault on Microsoft for various legal violations is any evidence – size does not and should not matter. Shut the site down, problem solved.

This isn’t a case of a distributed P2P network with nameless and faceless servers numbering tens of thousands across the fruited plain – this is one site, one corporate entity, which has made quite a bit of money off the backs of copyright holders without retribution. I think it’s about time they paid up.

Blatantly stolen from the Drudge Report:

HOUSE HEARING ON ‘WARMING OF THE PLANET’ CANCELED AFTER SNOW/ICE STORM
HEARING NOTICE
Tue Feb 13 2007 19:31:25 ET

The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?”

The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later.

DC WEATHER REPORT:

Wednesday: Freezing rain in the morning…then a chance of snow in the afternoon. Ice accumulation of less than one quarter of an inch. Highs in the mid 30s. Northwest winds around 20 mph. Chance of precipitation 80 percent.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 18. Northwest winds around 20 mph.

Can we please drop this global warming crap already? There are more important things out there like the Iraq War and how we can win it. Wait, all the elected politicians don’t think we can win it… they don’t have any ideas on how to win it… and the big story is Global Warming during a snow storm.

Damn, Americans are idiots.

So a week or two back I lost the Blue Tooth headset for my cellphone. Couldn’t find the thing anywhere. I pretty much chalked it up to another lost toy. Then my gf tells me she thinks she owes me a new headset. Apparently it made it through the washer and dryer in a pair of my Levi’s.

So I get it back, plug it in, charge it up, and I’ll be damned – the thing worked.

Highly recommend Jabra when it comes to Blue Tooth headsets. If they can survive a two week stay in my pants and still come out alive, they can survive anything.

With all this Global Warming chatter, we’ve got a NYS town ready to set a new record on snowfall… around 11 feet. I wouldn’t be suprsied if there was some sort of center for GW there, or a press-conference by Al Gore planned.

That said, the Weather Channel the other night was discussing the apparent winter weather headed towards the northeast this week – and the meteorologist spent a good 15 minutes talking about nothing… essentially explaining just how little they know about how the weather may turn in the coming week.

Now mind you, this is the same organization whose top meteorologist suggested revoking scientific certifications of those who disagree with the concept of man-made global warming. They can’t predict the weather 2 days from now… hello?

Now one of the points I’ve been trying to drill home is that politicians are scumbags. That said, one of their biggest talking points involves the minimum wage. The minimum wage can destroy a business, and cost hard working Americans their jobs.

Sure, for those Americans who choose a job where minimum wage is the only option, an increase sounds great. I don’t know anyone who would argue against a pay raise. Still, there’s a huge difference between a business providing a raise on its own – and being forced to pay it by the Government.

New wage boost puts squeeze on teenage workers across Arizona

Every time the minimum wage is raised, small businesses suffer and the little people lose their jobs. This is the dark side of the talking point. While those who benefit from such a raise might just vote for the dirtbag who promoted the increase, the unemployed are forced to find another job as the businesses they used to work for fight government mandated bankruptcy.

Any time a politician proposes an increase, anything they say in regard to big business, special interest, or helping the poor – is nothing more than another talking point. Any time that discussion involves illegal immigration, you can ignore that too, as I’m sure one of the key reasons that a small business will utilize illegal immigrants is due to the lack of enforcement of immigration and labor laws which would allow them to employ people for less than the minimum wage. Why hire Americans when the abundant supply of illegal immigrants can get more work done for less cash?

Personally, and this is my biased opinion – they should eliminate the minimum wage, or lower it to a point where businesses are forced by the free market to compete for workers. This would drive wages up, force businesses to reassess their operations and increase their efficiency or fail.

Sure it sounds like a great idea, increasing the minimum wage, but the reality is that nothing good ever came from the government meddling in the economy.