guapacha.com

Random thoughts of a Brit living in the Imperial Valley of California

Archive for March, 2006

Video iPod Tomorrow?

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Its been rumoured for a long time that Apple is going to celebrate its 30th anniversary on April 1st by announcing some cool new products. Maybe it will be the new Intel iBook or, as most people are salivating for, the true video iPod. Guess we will have to wait and see but I hope I have enough pennies in my pocket to buy one or, if not, maybe the current iPod will get a price reduction and I can replace the one that was stolen.

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March 31st, 2006 at 9:22 am

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I Miss My TiVo

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We don’t record many programs on our TiVo but I hadn’t realised just how much I’ve come to take for granted the ability to pause or rewind live TV. I’m staying in the San Diego apartment and I keep going to pause the TV to get a drink or use the toilet only to find that I can’t.

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March 29th, 2006 at 9:05 pm

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Immigration Revisited

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So today we have snot-nose students protesting the latest plans for immigration reform. Now, students will protest anything of course – I remember being part of a sit-in at UEA when some ‘facist’ speaker came to visit – but I become increasingly fed up with the “illegals are not criminals” mantra.

Of course the very term illegal immigrant is now supposedly racist but, by definition, if you do something illegal then you are a criminal. If I burgle your house I am not an undocumented visitor, even if I am desperate and only trying to better myself and my family.

At work today one of my new colleagues has been waiting 3 years to make progress on his Green Card application; $000s have been spent on his behalf to prove his value to the country. Why then should someone who has no interest in paying taxes or contributing to our society get a free pass? Make the process easier for all (note I said all, not just Mexicans) so that those who genuinely wish to belong can come; punish those who wish not to go through the process to the maximum.

Something that always amuses me – we all know that when people talk about illegal imigrants they really only mean Mexicans (and maybe Europeans). If the government was to propose real reform, say invite 75,000 Iranians and Syrians (I bet many of them are as desperate to live here as the Mexicans) I bet today’s protestors would be out again saying how the country is letting too many people in. Finally, let all the illegals who want to stay, stay, but they have to live in the same neighbourhoods as the protestors, paying no taxes but using all social services, refusing to speak English in schools…. Whats that I hear? Oh yeah, silence.

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March 27th, 2006 at 8:55 pm

Posted in America,Rants

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The PlayStation Network Platform

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The Game Developer Conference in San Jose this week saw an important keynote speech from Sony Coumpter Entertainment President Phil Harrison unveiling more of the forthcoming PlayStation 3. You can read a good summary of it at Gamespot.

The real big news was the announcement of the PlayStation Network Platform A rival to XBox Live, this service will allow users to download games, content, extras directly to their harddrive. It will also allow VoIP for free as well as, of course, multi-player online gaming.

You might be asking why I care. Well, it seems to me that this must be the project that I am going to work on at Sony, that no one was allowed to tell me about until it was announced. Sounds very cool to me.

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March 25th, 2006 at 9:32 am

Posted in Gaming

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Last Day of Freedom

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Everything is set for me to start at Sony on Monday so today is my last (week)day of freedom, no more getting up at 9.30 and waching Judge Joe Brown over lunch. But I’m also glad that it means no more sending out resumes every morning and waiting for the phone to ring.

I’d like to say I’m spending my last day in style but this morning I have some PC setup to do and this afternoon I need to complete my Lord of The Rings marathon, and at 12 hrs for the whole lot, marathon is the word.

And, finally, I want to thank the good state of California for keeping me somewhat financially afloat these past few weeks.

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March 24th, 2006 at 9:17 am

Posted in General

New Themes

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Too much time on my hands before I start the new job so I’ve revamped all three blog sites with new themes. Can’t say for sure how long any of them will last but for now go check out the theme-y goodness at my mini blog and flying diary sister sites.

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March 20th, 2006 at 1:41 pm

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Single of the Week

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Last week we had a Cha Cha and a Samba. In keeping with the ballroom theme, this week’s tune is a Rumba from 2001. When you think Rumba you don’t generally think of bands like the Clash, but here is Joe Strummer, and the Mescaleros, with Mondo Bongo, this week’s top tune at guapacha.com.

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March 19th, 2006 at 11:45 am

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Roe vs Wade for Men

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So I was watching CNN this morning and saw this article about giving men parental choice, like women ‘currently do’. In essence these guys want the right to say “you have the choice to have or not to have the baby, and I have the right to say that if you have it I will not be responsible”. The guy bringing the lawsuit said he told the girl he didn’t want to be a father but they got pregnant anyway – why should he have to pay anything towards it, she knew his wishes. What an idiot. We don’t need a law to ‘protect’ men from being fathers, we have things called condoms, maybe next time this guy should try one. Read more about these halfwits at the National Center For Men.
Is it me or are we becoming a nation of people who won’t take responsibiity for anything. I got you pregnant – not my deal! I spilled hot coffee on my lap whilst driving – not my fault! Come on people, be adults, not children.

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March 15th, 2006 at 10:00 am

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New Job Confirmed

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It took longer than I expected but I am finally about to start a new job since being laid off in January. As previously hinted, I will be joining Sony Computer Entertainment America at the end of the month. I can’t say what I’ll be working on as I don’t know. Apparantly the project is so secret I couldn’t be told, even after I signed the NDA. Its due to go live soon and then we’ll all know but all I can say its something to do with writing java web applications for the Playstation range. I’m looking forward to it, should be real interesting.

There is a major press conference from Sony tomorrow (probably today when reading this) which some say will be the announcement of the PlayStation3 features, dates etc. Others say they are going to announce delays and problems. Hopefully it will be the former but, reading the blogs etc, there sure is a lot of hate out there for Sony.

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March 14th, 2006 at 5:03 pm

Posted in General

Single of the Week

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Two singles this week and they’re both pretty mainstream. But I’ve picked them both for the same reason – they’ve taken a classic latin track and given it an up to date sound. Better still, each tune has retained the dance rhythm that made them classic in the first place, the samba and the cha cha respectively. I think if I was doing shows right now I’d choose them both to be in my display. To iTunes we go….

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March 10th, 2006 at 11:24 am

Posted in Music

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