Network Got You Down?

I stumbled upon this while cruising the Mac App Store the other day.  Man do I love it!

The most useful and pretty network sniffer I've ever seen.

Nothing Says 'I Love You' Like a Sawed-off!

Christmas gift from my daughter and new son-in-law. Mossberg 500 Cruiser 18.5" 12 Ga.

Merry Christmas, Y'all

May you have a blessed and happy holiday!

My "Girlfriend"

October 14^th, 2011. Mark that date. I believe history will treat it as the day we began using speech to interact with our computers. It is the day Apple released the iPhone 4S with Siri, the automated assistant built exclusively into the 4S. Before I elaborate, a brief disclaimer. I am an unapologetic geek and a huge Apple fan. Having said that, I honestly believe I'm being objective when I predict Siri will be viewed as a transformative technological innovation.

Apple describes Siri as an "intelligent assistant". After using it for just three weeks, I believe their description is accurate. We've been able to speak commands in varying degrees to our computers, cars and smartphones for some time now. So, what's new and/or different about Siri? A lot. First, Siri doesn't restrict what you ask or tell it. For example, my car is a 2006 model and uses voice input to dial phone numbers, set the A/C temperature or change the radio station...

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So, you believe you Think Different?

I'm a Texan first, American second and Apple enthusiast third (by order of importance). As a Texan and Mac enthusiast, I believe I sport the necessary credentials to say I truly "Think Different". Explaining what this web site is about must include those facts. The vast majority of tech journalists hail from either the east or west coast and try as they might to be objective and neutral, their personal beliefs always creep into their product. This is especially true if you follow these people's Twitter feed. As much as I hate to generalize, my opinion of most of them...they're HuffPost reading, tree-hugging, liberal Obamabots. If their political views are sprinkled into their journalistic quips, then why shouldn't mine be? One difference. I will make no effort to be covert or coy. Real Texans don't do that.

One of the loudest tech voices in the industry, Leo Laporte said something to the effect that the 2008 election was the most important in American history. I love Leo's product and he is usually very apolitical publicly (at least he tries to be), yet he all but called Cali Lewis an idiot for voting for McCain. Don't get me wrong, I liked McCain only slightly better than I did Obama (whom I vehemently oppose), but I don't believe the 46% of voters who chose him are idiots. In fact, I think most McCain voters were choosing the candidate who they thought sucked the least! The point is, if you want to keep up with tech news you almost have to put up with the left. Frequent guests on Leo's shows, Andy Ihnatko, John Gruber, Ryan Block, etc. are all (by their own Twitter admissions) flaming leftists. For all those folks, I have one question.

How can you pretend to "Think Different" when you view every ideology other than your own as stupid? What ever happened to all the liberal buzzwords you profess to embrace like "tolerance", "open mindedness" and "inclusion"? It sounds to me like you're the ones who have been programmed. In that famous 1984 Apple commercial, you weren't the woman throwing the hammer. You were the drones sitting transfixed by the screen. The good news is, you're not alone. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and almost everyone at Fox News are equally programmed, just with a different ideology. Think about it. Democrats or Republicans have controlled our government for almost 100 years and things aren't getting better. Quite the contrary. Even when candidates run and win on a "change" platform, their promises are seldom kept. Our civil rights continue to be trampled on, the national debt continues its astronomical trajectory and our dollar is turning into a peso.

It is time to embrace your "Think Different" mantra and actually do it for a change! Try something different if for no other reason than what we've been doing isn't working. After spending untold trillions on poverty, our poverty level is the same as it was in the 60's. After fighting four or five undeclared wars since World War II all we have to show for it is debt and dead soldiers. Foreigners attack us and our civil liberties erode. It is time to stop this craziness and change course significantly. To my knowledge there is only one candidate who lives and votes a truly different ideology with real solutions to our nation's problems. He isn't pretty and far from the most eloquent speaker I've ever heard, but he tells the truth and ALWAYS does what he promises. Read all about him here.