a hot topic of discussion lately in oklahoma city has been the direction the city should take with its mass transit initiative. earlier this week the city council argued the matter…
OKC council quarrels over mass transit budget item
by Brian Brus
The Journal Record June 17, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY – The increased frequency of bus service on two routes in the city’s public transit system proved to be a larger issue on the Oklahoma City 2009-10 budget than its price tag might suggest.
Just before approving the budget Tuesday, and after sitting through several weeks of department presentations and largely avoiding conflict in council chambers, ward representatives got stuck on a $169,000 item worth less than one-tenth of a percent of the $840 million budget.“Since I’ve been on the council six years now, there have been no changes in the basic bus system … except to either eliminate or reduce routes,” Ward 2 Councilman Sam Bowman said.
“Every person we’ve heard from in workshop or otherwise has said no matter what our ambitions are, our plans about mass transit … we have got to build on the basic system we have. And we haven’t taken heed of that,” he said. “Finally, we are beginning to take those first steps, baby steps, to build our own foundation.”
But Ward 3 Councilman Larry McAtee, one of two people who voted against the item, said he supports a comprehensive mass transit component of the upcoming MAPS3 sales tax issue and would prefer to see new routes addressed in that package of projects.
McAtee said he sympathizes with users of public transportation, “but we can’t have a bus every place, everywhere, every time to take anyone anywhere in the city. That’s just not a function of mass transit.”
thoughts on at&t’s iphone 3gs upgrade policy
06/09/2009
as i’m sure you heard that apple announced the latest iteration of the iphone yesterday, the iphone 3gs (the s apparently stands for “speed”). the phone incorporates several new features most notably the improved camera that will make my flip video obsolete…or at least i thought it would. i woke up this morning and started investigating how much it would cost me, a long time at&t customer, to upgrade to the new phone. i was shocked at the reality of the situation.
i bought the original iphone right after its initial price drop, but i’d already been an at&t customer for years. a lot of west-coasters that i’ve listened to over the years have complained about the shoddy coverage and sub-par customer service at at&t. i had not experienced this. here in the midwest/southwest at&t is king. they are, in my opinion, the best mobile carrier. i always have a signal, and my data speeds are more than adequate. i’ve never had an issue with their customer service either. any time i’ve had a problem, it has been handled in a professional and timely manner.
so back to the point. you’d think that at&t would want to retain all of it’s loyal customers by offering existing customers a fair deal in upgrading to the new iphone 3gs. i mean, they’re getting a new two year contract (which is where they make their money, not on the hardware), and they get happy customers. but no. that’s not the case. iphone 3g users that are not near the end of their contract must pay an additional $200 to upgrade. this translates to “we really want to gain market share and get as many customers under contract. as for our existing customers…we’re already making money off of them. if they want a new phone, they’ll have to pay extra.” it’s understandable that at&t would want to recoup the costs associated with the iphone subsidy, but punishing existing users is simply not the right way to do it.
this policy is absolutely infuriating. and the backlash on the internet has been immense. these are exactly the same policies that companies like dish network and directv use when customers would like to upgrade to the latest hardware. it absolutely a bad business practice. hopefully the uproar over this at&t policy will cause the company to rethink this practice. they aren’t sealing with the general public. they’re dealing with apple fanatics, which are a different breed altogether. i hope the company is listening. So car their stance has been this:
An iPhone 3G customer in most cases can early upgrade at $399 [16GB] or $499 [32GB].
oh…and i can’t wait to see how much they are going to charge me to tether my iphone to my computer so they can share the internet connection that i’m already paying for…
is this the american way?
05/28/2009
the fact that we have to even have a discussion as to whether or not waterboarding is torture makes me sad. isn’t it evident that physically making a human being fear for their life is torture? if it isn’t evident to you, then you’re either not being truthful with yourself, or you feel that we have the right to tread human beings in this way. either way you’d be wrong.
i’ve heard every excuse imaginable from the talking heads on tv, the internet, and even family. not one of them is going to sway my opinion on this matter. i’m going to stick with fox news anchor shepherd smith on this issue:
we’re the united states. we don’t torture. we should be holding the moral high ground. these people want to do us harm. they want us dead, and will stop at nothing to do so, and yet i still hold this position. they are just as human as you or me or anyone else.
the argument that the people we’re torturing aren’t covered by geneva convention guidelines is also an absolute copout. it does not matter that these prisoners are terrorists that are not part of a state army. calling them enemy combatants does not automatically take away their human rights. i don’t care how twisted or evil the prisoner is. i don’t care where they are from or what ideals they represent. we are the united states of america. the united states is the leader of the free world. we must take the high ground. we must not torture. ever. for any reason.
there’’s even the question of the usefulness of torture. does it result in actionable intel? does everyone talk eventually when put under duress? i’m no expert, i’m a human rights advocate, but the fact that this issue is as cloudy as it is says to me that it shouldn’t be done anyway.
look, i understand that these people want to kill us all. i really do. i understand that its a bit hypocritical to say i’m a human rights proponent while wearing nike shoes. the reality is this: we can’t fight all of the human rights related issues at once. but we can take the stand on issues like torture. something that simple policy changes can affect not only our pride in ourselves as americans, but our reputation in the rest of the world.
there has to be a better way to collect intelligence than treating people in this way. i’m not going to profess to know the answers to how we should go about it…i’m just an average american. a blogger, information technology professional, father, husband, brother…patriot. i was raised to expect great things from my country and the great people that make up it’s populous. no where in my portrait of americana does torture fit in. we are america. we can do better.
packing at yellowstone
05/21/2009
i’m sure that you’ve heard about the credit card reform bill that passed in the senate yesterday. there is plenty to debate on this matter. there’s lots about this bill that i like, and a little that i’m weary of to be sure. that said, there’s one single measure in this bill that gets a gargantuan “wtf?”…and it all comes courtesy of my very own senator, mr. tom coburn. senator coburn, a republican, authored an amendment to the bill that would allow concealed weapons to be carried onto national parks. really, he did.
first i’ll state the obvious: what the hell does gun legislation have to do with credit card reform? i know that its standard (bad) practice for bills to be filled with all sorts of pet projects and other amendments, but this one was written by mr. “no pork” himself. a large portion of coburn’s election campaign here in oklahoma centered around his distaste for pork barrel politics and his promise to work hard to end the tradition. i’m aware that traditionally this deals with earmarked spending, which is his major focus, but the idea applies here.
second. what exactly does anyone need a gun for while visiting a national park? what exactly does this have to do with the need for well regulated militia or the right to own a gun? given mr. coburn’s interpretation of the second amendment, guns should be lawful everywhere, in any environment. the original intent of the second amendment is always up for argument, i’m not here to say otherwise. however, some common sense is certainly needed here. there is simply no good reason to carry a loaded weapon onto a federal park. i’d rather not be worrying about staring down the barrel of a 9mm handgun while going on a nature hike with my wife and kids.
let me be clear…i have no issue with gun ownership. i don’t like guns, but i see no reason why an adult person shouldn’t have the right to keep a firearm in their house. in most cases i have no problem with people that like to hunt, or even those that shoot clay for sport. there’s no harm in any of this. common sense at work. but there’s simply no line of logic that leads me to believe that any citizen needs to be carrying when visiting yellowstone or any other national park.
i would have been opposed to this amendment regardless of where it came from, but the fact that it comes from my home state is disappointing while not surprising. oklahoma has had a string of embarassing political moments here lately. it’s no lie that when i heard about the amendment i guessed that it *must* have come from one of my senators, though i’d have guessed it would be jim inhoffe. the fact that coburn introduced it might just be a silver lining though. its possible that hypocrisy like this will result in his ouster as my senator come the next election. if you’re against pork, you shouldn’t be tacking anything onto a bill, especially when your proposed measure has nothing to do with the bill. one can only hope.
once again, it’s up to henry
05/12/2009
the oklahoma state senate has blatantly disregarded the state constitution and passed a bill to allow the ten commandments to be displayed at the state capitol (article).
oklahoma constitution – bill of rights
section ii-5: public money or property – use for sectarian purposes.
no public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.
somehow i don’t think that gov. brad henry will come to the rescue again the way he did with the whole flaming lips debacle a few weeks back. i understand the ten comandments historical connotation. i also understand that it is a religious documant that has no business on the capitol grounds. that capitol represents all oklahomans, not just christian’s that call this state home. i can only imagine the outcry we would hear over the display of a pagan symbol or (gasp!) islamic document in this manner. do the right thing mr. henry…veto the bill.
tolerance
05/07/2009
i post on quite a few message boards around the internet from time to time, and many of them have political forums. if you’ve read any of my political posts here, then you know i’m fairly opinionated on some fairly sensitive topics. i was posting in a thread dealing with the current rash of states that have legalized gay marriage the other day, and was (rightfully so) accused of asking loaded questions. i responded with the truth that yes i was asking loaded questions, because i wanted to get a confirmation of what i believe is going on with conservatives on topics like this one…
the question i asked had to do with whether any of my forum-posting brethren wanted to bet as to whether or not oklahoma would be the last state in the union to legalize gay marriage. actually, the way i put it was something to the effect of “when will oklahoma get this issue right?” right, in my mind being allowing these human beings to marry their person of choice. invariably i get answers dealing with “traditional marriage,” undermining the definition of marriage, or even answers that try and explain that it devalues a straight person’s marriage when homosexuals are allowed to marry. i get those arguments. i understand what they are talking about…but i don’t think that these folks are being truthful about where these arguments come from…at least not where i think they are coming from anyway
here’s what i think. i’m fairly certain that they have formulated these opinions based on a flawed value system that’s based on religious bias. they believe that homosexuality itself is wrong, and they see allowing same sex marriage as endorsement of sin…many of them even believe that homosexuals should be punished in some way, or at least not accepted for the way they were born. these people seem to believe that the united states in a theocracy, a christian theocracy. other than something like that, i just can’t see why anyone would give two craps if two people of the same sex want to get married.
lets all take moment and remember this:
there was a time when slavery was a common practice
there was a time when jim crow laws were accepted by the mainstream
the was a time when interracial marriage was unacceptable
there was a time when women hid in fear of their abusive husband because it wasn’t socially acceptable to get a divorce
there was a time when women were not allowed to vote
all of the above examples we common thought. beliefs held true by the majority of americans during the time of their relevance. still thomas jefferson was on to something when he penned these famous words:
“we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
notice that this passage from the united states declaration of independence does not name a specific creator. it doesn’t say that all men are given the right to pursue happiness by the christian god. you can interpret that as the christian god if you choose, but lets not force your own personal interpretation on those that might not agree. in my opinion what it isreally saying it this: we (human beings) are all born with the right to try and be happy.
all i’m advocating is tolerance.
in 1983…times they were a-changin’
04/24/2009
in 1983 a record was released that would change the music landscape forever. a quick look at the billboard hot 100 for that year and you’ll find a lot of familiar tunes:
maneater – hall & oates
hungry like the wolf – duran duran
tell her about it – billy joel
china girl – david bowie
i’m still standing – elton john
it’s a mistake – men at work
photograph – def leppard
little red corvette – prince
there are some pretty big names in there…billy joel, elton john…but from a pop music standpoint 1983 was the year of michael jackson’s thriller. the billboard hot 100 features no less than 5 singles from that album. beat it, billie jean, human nature, the girl is mine (with sir paul mccartney), and wanna be startin’ somethin’ are all in there. i’m not going to argue that this record isn’t great. it’s a classic without a doubt. even as a lover of punk / alternative / indie rock can admit that. and yes, i do own the record. what i am going to talk about is the record that rolling stone magazine picked as album of the year in 1983…
in 1983 a little band of college kids from the university of georgia named r.e.m released their debut album, murmur. listening to it today (the 25th anniversary edition is out) its hard to imagine just how different it was. until you put it in context with all of the music i talked about above, you just don’t get it’s importance. in a world of overproduced, corporate pop, this record sounded completely out of place in 1983. and yet it fits in perfectly well with any playlist of current indie rock. ahead of its time? yes…but it is also the record that started a revolution in the music industry.
its obvious that this record was going to get little play on the radio in 1983…it was just so different from the pop music at the time. jangley guitar riffs, almost indecipherable lyrics…and where were the guitar and saxophone solos so prominent in the music of the time? but college radio stations began to play it…and the band toured relentlessly…and more college radio stations played it…
many critics credit r.e.m. and their contemporaries with creating the driving force behind alternative rock radio, and i’m not going to argue otherwise. what is now a staple of major markets all over the country (and the world) started out as college radio…playing r.e.m.’s murmur for one.
the album itself is a pure indie pop masterpiece. every single song on the record is great, a rarity for any band. here we find a more subdued r.e.m. than pop music became accustomed to after the band signed with warner brothers in 1988. that r.e.m., while still good in my opinion, was a different animal than the one on this first record. i have many friends that for one reason or another don’t like r.e.m., but they’ll listen to murmur.
rolling stone were on to something in 1983. i don’t know if they had the foresight to know that the music landscape was changing (by the early 90’s everything had changed…thanks largely to r.e.m. and a little band from seattle, washington named nirvana), or if they just loved the record…but to award it album of the year over what is quite possibly the greatest pop album ever made…that’s saying something. if you don’t own it, you should.
pick up the cd here:
Murmur [Deluxe Edition]
or if you’d prefer the digital download:
Murmur – Deluxe Edition
here is r.e.m.’s first ever live tv appearance…enjoy!
conservative? really?
04/13/2009
there’s something that’s been irritating me about the republican party ever since the election. since the defeat of arizona senator john mccain last november, and the subsequent swearing in of barack obama as this nation’s 44th president. all of a sudden the republicans became something that they hadn’t been in the better part of a decade…fiscally conservative.
for the past 8 years republicans in washington have done nothing but spend, spend, spend. american taxpayers have been used like a big money tree. now a democrat is in office and the spending is irresponsible? i’ve been trying to wrap my brain around that. tarp spending, wars, spending for faith based initiatives, no child left behind…under george bush we spent more money than i can count.
the difference must come down to what the left wants to spend money on. traditionally this has been social programs and education while cutting spending for the military. its a difference of philosophy, and not one that i’m willing to debate here at this time. my point here is really that if you’re paying any attention at all to what’s been going on in dc, the republicans are coming of a giant hypocrites.
so let’s set the record straight. republicans, you, along with your democrat brethren have spent us into such a giant pile of debt that mathematics is running out of zeroes. the only difference has been where you’ve decided to spend it. there is no denying that fact. you as a party are not fiscally conservative. the fact that members of your party speaking on behalf of the whole party are saying otherwise makes your entire message a lie. people like me have paid attention. a spade is a spade, or in this case a big spender is a big spender.
maybe we should teabag all of washington dc, not just the democrats.
publicly funded senatorial “jesus things”
04/09/2009
just another reason not to vote for jim inhofe:
Jim Inhofe visiting Africa this week
BY CHRIS CASTEEL
Published: April 8, 2009
WASHINGTON — Sen. Jim Inhofe is scheduled to visit five African countries this week, including ones he’s been to numerous times in the past 10 years.
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Inhofe, R-Tulsa, was in Afghanistan earlier this week and is scheduled to go to Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Djibouti and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Inhofe has been to Africa at least 20 times in the past 10 years.
He has described his trips to Africa as “a Jesus thing,” in which he meets with African leaders in a spiritual context, although he told The Oklahoman he also pursues humanitarian and national security causes on his taxpayer-funded visits. He last went to Africa in December. That trip also included a stop in Ethiopia.
Inhofe spokesman Matt Dempsey said Inhofe “is once again focused on his work as a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.”
ahhhhhhhhhrrrrrggggggggggg! let me get this straight…my tax dollars are funding his little “jesus thing” excursions to africa. i hate this guy.
hacked psp: best portable game system ever
04/08/2009
i owned a psp once. playstation portable. the original, fat black one. it was a nice little system…beautiful screen…couple of decent games, but i hardly touched the thing, defaulting to my nintendo ds instead. finally, i put the thing up on ebay because i never used it. see, i had yet to discover the usefulness of a hacked psp. once i discovered that, i bought a new one. this time a silver “slim” psp. i promptly sought out the tools to hack the thing to install custom firmware. thankfully i was able to contact someone locally that already knew how to do it, because i didn’t have everything i needed (for those that are curious, you can find out everything you ever needed to know about hacking your psp here.) once the custom firmware was installed, i fell in love with this little sony handheld. i play a ton of video games from all over the spectrum. xbox 360 to atari 2600. a hacked psp is the best portable game system ever made. period. no contest.
a psp with custom firmware allows you to do many things, two of which i take full advantage of: playing psp games from the memory stick and playing emulators of other systems. here is a list of what i currently have installed on my primary memory stick:
I have 3 psp games: puzzle quest, lego star wars, and space invaders extreme
i also have the following emulators:
gbsp – game boy advance
nesterj – nintendo nes
pico drive – sega genesis
psp2600 – atari 2600
pspatari – atari 5200
psp7800 – atari 7800
pspcolem – colecovision
pspint – intellivision
pspdve – vectrex
mame – classic arcade games
rin – game boy color
snes9x tyl – super nintendo
each of these emulators has at least several games included. currently my on the go game is final fantasy vii advance on the gba. its a game that i never finished back in the snes days.
on my other memory stick i usually keep 4 or 5 psp, or ps1 games (you can convert ps1 games to a format playable on the psp).
a nice feature of the psp is the ability to output video to a tv that supports component video, so you can play all of the aforementioned games and emulators on a tv screen if you desire. you can also watch any movies that you have on your memory stick on a television screen in this manner (though i use my laptop or ipod for this when on the road). now maybe you see why my nintendo ds gathers a lot of dust. there is really a ton you can do with a psp…once you’ve hacked it.
