Prime Cut

Digital audio is the future. I look forward to buying lots of CDs. :-)

Here is an ad from the Sears Wishbook advertising this crazy new device called a CD player.

These RedHat videos are creative, smart, and understandable to the lay people. Now if they would put such efforts into Linux, end users might be interested in giving it a look. Keep plowing ahead.

One of Bill O'Reilly's favorite disparaging words is "pinhead." He uses the word to describe someone who gives the appearance of being an expert on a subject but doesn't really know what he is talking about. Bill O'Reilly, you pinhead! Here's why.

O'Reilly interviewed an author on his TV show who wrote a book claiming the divine nature of the Jesus story was fabricated. The author is obviously trying to outdo Dan Brown. O'Reilly disagreed with the author's book and said he would not recommend anyone read it.

This led into a conversation on Dan Brown and the Da Vinci Code. A caller to his radio called him on the carpet and asked why he would have a problem with anyone reading the book he disagreed with and yet no problem with The Da Vinci Code. He had two answers.

He says the problem with the disagreeable book is that the author and book portrays the book's content as fact. Dan Brown, according to O'Reilly, never did such a thing. O'Reilly should put the crack research staff he often brags about to work.

The Discovery Channel recently broadcasted and is re-broadcasting, thanks to the Da Vinci movie, a documentary called The Real Da Vinci Code. In the documentary, the host goes from site to site investigating Dan Brown's claimed "facts".

Let start right there. Did Dan Brown ever claim his book to be fact? Yes, and on more than one occasion. The Real Da Vinci Code aired an interview with Dan Brown and British television where he claimed the people, events, sites, etc. in the book are factual. In another interview, Dan Brown says the following:

One of the many qualities that makes The Da Vinci Code unique is the factual nature of the story. All the history, artwork, ancient documents, and secret rituals in the novel are accurate…as are the hidden codes revealed in some of Da Vinci's most famous paintings.
Source

All? Really? There are secret codes in Da Vinci's paintings? Jesus and Mary Magadelen really did start a family? The Priory of Sion, a proven hoax, really did exist? Opus Dei is really a group of assassins? Wrong on all counts. This and many other works of fiction are presented as true on the "facts" page in the book.

All of these are so easily disprovable, yet, O'Reilly says Dan Brown never portrayed his work as non-fiction. O'Reilly, you pinhead.

He does have a reason for spinning The Da Vinci Code as fiction. To appear consistent in his judgment. Too bad he doesn't know the real facts.

His second argument is people will believe the disagreeable book, but only "ignorant people" will take The Da Vinci Code as fact. O'Reilly, couldn't the same argument be made about the book you disagree with? The fact is there are people who will walk away from either book believing what has been said is fact. Interviews with tourists at the Vatican by The Discovery Channel proved this to be true about The Da Vinci Code. So despite all of O'Reilly's disclaimers about supposed disclaimers of The Da Vinci Code being a work of fiction, there are people walking around taking portions as fact. O'Reilly, you pinhead.

I was reading an article on Corel re-introducing itself to the stock market, and I came across this.

Corel is in the process of buying WinZip, a popular program that was downloaded at a clip of 600,000 a week last year.

Wow. Well, the free upgrades ended with the latest release. I hope Corel doesn't ruin the app. The competition has grown in the compression tools arena with many free zip tools available.

Source: Corel plans a comeback.

Woot.com, a discount online merchant, offers Photoshop contests from time to time (weekly?) with cash prizes. The subject of their latest has provided some amusing results. The challenge: their minds and their hard drives will follow. Our challenge to you, quoted from last Friday: Modify a classic propaganda poster (or create a new one) for one side or the other in the pro- and anti-Microsoft conflict. Check out the winners.

One of the Internet's most valuable services is helping us get directions from point A to point B. Here is a quickie review of the popular mapping services, Ask Maps, Google Maps, MapQuest, Windows Live Local, and Yahoo Maps.

Yahoo Maps comes in two flavors, the standard Flash version and the new beta version of the Ajax Yahoo Maps. They give the beta high marks. I still haven't gotten used to its interface. It seems easier to plug in point A and point B and get directions with the old one. I guess I need to explore it a little more.

These mapping services should enjoy their traffic now. They will less valuable when our cell phones come with built-in GPS mapping with map data fed by our cell phone providers. Well, that's my prediction. :-)

Tarzan's chimp Cheeta celebrates 74th birthday.

Cheeta has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest chimp. Chimps rarely live past the age of 40 in the wild, but can reach 60 in captivity

Global warming has already ended! Tell Al Gore. This will just ruin the possibility of his movie "An Inconvenient Truth" from doing well in the box office. Watch the trailer here if you dare. (Free AOL sign on required.)

The disintegration of GM continues. GM has sold of its stake in Isuzu to raise some cash. Good luck GM.

The next Prius might offer 94 mpg. Interesting if true. This would certainly bring on the green heat.

Slashdot has an interesting story about the CEO of Snapper lawn equipment saying no to Wal-Mart to maintain name plate value. The author of this book also wrote the book titled "The Wal-Mart Effect".

I knew he was a little crazy, but banning your family from using iPod or Google is going off the charts.