Vista "Innovation"

I was at the Best Buy yesterday, trying to explain to an aunt of mine the folly of buying a Windows-based PC. So, we were in the laptop aisle, and the store had a couple of Vista-ready machines on display. No prices, because Vista is not released until tomorrow. Actually, funny side note on this. If someone were to actually ring up a computer with Vista installed on it, the Best Buy registers would ring them up with a value of $10,000.00. Yeah, this would be to deter any before the launch sales of PC's with the operating system (OS) in them.

So, back to my observation of the so-called innovations that Vista is packing. Sure, you can put full motion videos of a babbling brook as your background (who cares?) and it all looks "prettier" now. Kinda pretty like a Mac . . . hmm . . . we'll get back to that in a paragraph. But it all taxes your system to the tune of 1 Gig of RAM. To handle the new OS. What are all the people that are still running 256 MB's of RAM or less that we talk to everyday. "Buy a new computer" I guess is what they'll be hearing a lot. Good for commerce. Fucked up for the consumer if you ask me.

And, here's what I'm a little worked up about today. Vista Gadgets. Take a look at these.

It's the ones on the far right of the screen shot. They sure do look helpful right. Nice to have the weather and the time (although, computers already have a clock on the bottom right-hand corner) and other things that tell you about whatever you might want to know. It's nice. It was even nicer almost two years ago when Apple's OS 10.4 came out. It had a little thing called "Widgets". Take a look.

Oh my God (OMG for the cool kids), it's like totally the same thing. Sure, Apple's is less obtrusive, since with a touch of a key on your keyboard then disappear and then come back with the same keystroke. With Vista's . . . they're there unless you turn them off . . . individually . . . what a chore. I'm sure there's a "easier" way to do this, but for the average computer user (or, as they like to call themselves - computer stupid) they're always going to have the "Gadget" just sitting there, taking up real estate on their computer monitors. So, even when Windows clearly borrows (or steals if you want my opinion) from Apple, they don't do it right.

Enjoy your new Vista-ready PC's you dumb fucktards. Remember, those innovations . . . we Apple users have already had for at least a couple of years.

Excessive Force

I don't know what the problem with Glendale is when it comes to their Police force . . . but it seems like they enjoy breaking out the big guns just for the hell of it. I live in the city adjacent to Glendale, and we barely ever see cops. Mainly because we're under LAPD jurisdiction, but that's a different story. Glendale, having its own police force, seems to be out in force all the time. And it looks like they take their jobs a little too seriously.

Case in point. A couple of weeks ago, I'm walking to my usual sandwhich shop to pick up a turkey/bacon/avocado on wheat, when I notice that across the street, there are 5 motorcycle cops, engaging in police activity. "Who were they pulling over?" you might be asking yourself. "Was it some sort of GTA-esque chase?" I really hope so. Because these 5 cops, on fully decked out police motorcycles, had just pulled over a Mexican on a bicycle. I wish I could have taken a picture, but just as I whipped out my cellphone camera, they let the Mexican go on his way. I guess he wasn't the "Coyote" they were looking for. It's hard to hide illegal immigrants in a bike-basket.

Then, today, during my walk to lunch (same lunch location), I see a couple of cop cars and an armored-looking truck. Once again, I'm wondering if they're apprehending a terrorist cell that was just busted up at the Greek restaurant they were parked outside of. Nah, nothing that noteworthy. It was just some guy, with a backpack. It would seem that, usually, it would only take a cop car unit to handle this type of "threat" . . . but not in Glendale, where the motto must be "To Protect and to Serve . . . to the Xtreme!"

And this is not solely relegated to daily copy duties on the beat. My wife and I saw a convoy of motorcycles and cop car, full lights ablaze, going down one of Glendale's main thoroughfares (Colorado Blvd). You'd think they'd be escorting a foreign dignitary or maybe a President. Nah, it was one of the fucking Rose Parade floats. And not even a particularly good looking one. I would have understood if it was one of the Star Wars ones. My wife commented that this might have freaked her out if she had been in a different state of mind at the time. I'm glad she's put that stuff behind her. But, secretly, deep inside, I was kind of freaking out myself. Not due to paranoia. But due to the sheer amount of ridiculousness that the GPD exerts on a daily basis.