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BN.com Nook

So I have been in the market for an e-reader for a while.  I do a lot of reading and thought it would be darn handy to have a single device that could carry multiple books, and have the ability to order new books at any time, anywhere.  I like real paper books, but the ability to carry many books in one small device is appealing.  And despite what my sister in law says, I think they are generally a good idea and can only encourage reading..

Everyone I know swears by the Amazon Kindle, and while the device works just fine I just didn’t much like it.  I got my paws on a friends and it felt cheap to me, plus I really didn’t like that keyboard down there.. The Kindle DX looked really nice, but it’s big and really expensive.. I could have purchased an Apple IPad for the cost..

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Net Neutrality

Most gamers typically play games online, download expansions or other forms of DLC, watch hulu, stream music..etc.. generally speaking, use more bandwidth than your average user who just browses the occasional website or checks email.  As such, Comcast feels they can charge those users more or block / throttle  them.   This led to the whole “Net Neutrality” fight.  For those of you know up on what that means, it’s basically the fight to keep the price of bandwidth static and common for all users.

You see, back in 2007 Comcast actually did start blocking and throttling certain types of traffic, and targeting gamers because they did use more bandwidth..   Well the FCC have been fighting it, but yesterday three federal judges sided with Comcast saying that the FCC “lacks authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks”.. This means Net Neutrality is dead and really soon you can expect all broadband providers to raise their fees.

Read more about it here:  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/FCC-loses-key-ruling-on-apf-78990100.html?x=0

This sucks for everyone.. Frankly it’s a greedy ploy by all the companies involved and ultimately as with anything else, we pay the price.   If Time Warner raises their rates I will leave.  Vote with your wallet people..

Reloading Press

I really enjoy shooting..  I always have..  In the military I would go to the range every weekend and throw some rounds down range just for the pure joy of it..  And while I would sometimes shoot my pistols, I prefer rifles..  I dunno what it is, but there is something very peaceful about the focus and presence of mind you need to effectively shoot a rifle..

I liked it because when shooting, all the cares of the day seemed to kinda slip away..  You had to focus on what you’re doing and not be distracted by anything in order to hit your target, especially at range..  I have missed it..

The main reason I have missed it was due to cost, and distance..  Simply put there aren’t any ranges near where I live, and since my primary round is 7.92x57mm Mauser it can get a tad pricey..  Enter reloading..

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Star Trek Online Review

Firstly I want to say that I personally think it’s extremely hard to judge a game entirely by the first 15 levels.. Any MMO to date that one cares to name changes drastically as you play across the level range and to judge that game by the first couple levels is simply foolish. You haven’t experienced the whole of the game.. So I’m going to post my review about it, but I want you to keep in mind that there are going to be a lot of things I simply haven’t done yet..

Also, there are a lot of people on the forums bashing the game for one reason or another, some reasons are valid, some aren’t. I would argue that most of those people really haven’t truly experienced the game in its fullest, but at the same time I will concede the point that if it doesn’t appeal to them early on, it may not later either and that they should just move on without the flames.

What you’re not seeing on the forums is the influx of praise or posts by people who are largely happy, not because they don’t exist but rather because the complainers are typically a lot more vocal minority.. People that complain loudly are typically those people who think they are righteous and have entitlement issues..  They are “right and by god you’re gonna know my opinion..”

So with that — here’s my righteous opinion on the the first 15 levels of fed play and the first 12 or so of Klingon.. I only really have 2 major complaints.

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So I had stated previously that I was tired of my original iPhone and that would be getting the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 when it came out some time later this year.   That was before I heard/read about Google’s offering; the Nexus One.

I weighed all the numbers and researched all the sites and came to the conclusion that the only thing the X10 had over the Nexus One was the price tag.   From what one site was guessing the SE offering was going to be pretty pricey.  Plus, SE has done a lot to customize their interface but I think they are over doing it a tad.  It looks cool, sure but every video I watched showed the interface to be laggy and/or buggy.  And while I’m sure it was still very early in their development cycle it still put me off.

The Nexus One had all the features I wanted in a modern package, using a new modern OS with all the amenities at what I figure is a reasonable price.  Plus, it’s built by Google who employ developers and engineers who are just as geeky as I am, so I was pretty sure it would be good.  I wasn’t disappointed.

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So there are a lot of people, some famous, trying to get you to buy gold..  While I was in the car dealership the other day in the waiting area they had the TV playing and there was something like 10 different gold resellers trying to convince us that NOW is the time to buy gold .. “Cause the economy sucks”, “Gold is always valuable”, “I’m really famous do what I say.. “  etc..

As of this writing the price of gold is at $1120 an ounce which is an all time high.  That alone should be your first indication that;  Now is not the time to buy gold!

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