I have set my RSS feed program to http://BoingBoing.com and ripped the knob off. One of the main reasons for that is the "big brained", assertive writing of Cory Doctorow.

Cory ...I assume familiarity because I agree with so many of his opinions... Cory, writes regular articles dealing with the assault on the freedom of information planned by the archaic pre-20th century publishing industry. He looks at the tactics and responses of these companies from an intelligent and pragmatic stance.

Treating the concept realistically; the main stream publishing industry is as out dated as the auto industry. They're both based on 17th century business models, Printing and Horsetrading, and are both fighting for their very lives to conserve their income model.

But here's the rub. When technology allows every Jo, Don, and Bob with a digital camera to hammer out a million frames of static images. Or anyone with a laptop computer or cellphone to publish original opinion directly to the web. Or any Musician with a home publishing company to end run all the middle men who have set themselves up as arbiters of what is good music. What is the point of a massive publishing industry?

eh?

So read Cory and listen to him.

When I was very young I remember being the object of ridicule in school. All kids can be cruel for no reason but if you show any reaction to the abuse you open yourself to a feeding frenzy of attacks. I would blush. That was it. It was unconscious and completely involuntary, but it would invite further problems.

"Look he's turning red"! Someone would yell and that was all it took.

I had the normal skin problems associated with puberty. Pimples and awkwardness, a combination that my mother called a 'bull in a china shop'. As I matured through my twenties and thirties my skin was mostly clear save an occasional pimple but the blush response was still there in full force.

I took up the game of golf in my late twenties. Long days in the hot Florida sun with little or no skin protection and multiple sunburns. Little changed until my forties.

I started to get small pimples on and around my nose. I tried many different products to control them. Regular soap would aggravate the problem. Shaving soap would cause ingrown hairs to infect and turn into deep pimples, I took to shaving rarely and with no soap. Gratefully new razor technology allowed that with little problem.  Acne gels, spot treatments, creams and soaps were of no help and in some cases intensified the symptoms. My nose started to take on characteristics of a prickly pear. Comments about my complexion and comparisons to 'WC Fields' became more frequent, and I would blush.

I had heard the word rosacea before but I didn't have a practical understanding of the disease. Until my Dermatologist took one look at me and pronounced it clearly and distinctly.

'Rosacea'

Okay. There. It had a name.

"Now what, Doc"?

He handed me a prescription for Metrogel and Doxycycline and said come back in a month. The word empowered me in the way we all understand, it gave me a means to Google search the topic. Rosacea.

I learned that it is an disease that effects all races and cultures but is chronic in people of Celtic heritage. It's called "the Curse of the Celts".I am half Irish. "Check"  Rosacea is incureable, a nuisance, but generally manageable.

It can be associated with a pronounced  "Blush Response". Purportedly when you blush the capillaries close to the skin over-fill with blood causing a reddening of the flesh. Over time weakening and breaking under the surface.  Blusher....."Check"

Some say that drinking, smoking and spicy food can have an effect on the severity and timing of an outbreak... Check check check!! Although I did quit smoking over 10 years ago I haven't given up Jalapenos and Absolute. But still... CHECK!

And "Sun Damage"... BIG check mark there! Ongoing heavy sun exposure had left my face and arms with the texture of a baseball glove.

I had been under the impression that Rosacea was just a pink face. That's what they show on the 'Oracea' commercial. People with rosy red cheeks, looking all sheepish and embarrassed, why would you need a drug for red cheeks?  It never showed the painful pimples that I was suffering.

So I dutifully filled the prescriptions and began my course of antibiotics then I prepared myself for a bland sunless existence. That lasted all of 5 minutes. The bland thing, that is...

The Doxy did very well, reducing the lesions and outbreaks to a manageable level. But as soon as I stopped the course, the pimples would come back with vengeance. The Metrogel turned out to be next to useless and seemed to actually intensify the problems, just like all of the other ointments I had used. When I returned to my doctor he marveled that my skin looked so much better and pronounced me cured...err well I guess controlled would be a better choice of words. I told him that I was still having problems washing my face with soap to which he said "Well, just don't wash your face. You don't need to wash your face". I am a big guy, living in a tropical climate. I need to wash my face. So this ended my relationship with Dr V.

I am a problem solver by nature and this led me to an experimentation phase. I would stumble on something that helped or hurt and would build a trial regime, most of these were dead ends.

Things that I have found that work.

1) Doxycycline: Whenever the outbreaks become unbearable or if one of my experiments goes awry this is my primary fall back. Oracea is the prescription version of Doxy intended specifically for Rosacea treatment but for me the generic works just fine and is much cheaper. I intend to speak to my doctor about a permanent prescription.

2)I avoid all soaps and shampoos that contain Sodium Lauryl and Sodium Laureth Sulphate or Cetyl and Wood alcohols. They are what is called a surfacant, which translates to a chemical used to strip oil from your skin. This supposedly gives the sense of cleanness. It is very difficult to find soap without these ingredients but I react much less dramatically to  l'Occitane Shea Butter Ultra Rich Shampoo .It does contain something called Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate which the people in the know seem to think is much gentler than the other chemicals. It is a little costly at $19 a bottle but a bottle lasts me a couple months and I use it for both hair and face. Considering the alternative I am willing to pay the price. I'll let you know when it stops working.

3)I use a good 30spf Sunscreen! No I haven't become a vampire! I still play golf and ride motorcycles.  I have found the spray on type performs much better than gel or cream for all of the above reasons.

I have resisted making new videos because, until very recently, my complexion has been passable a best and mortifying at worst. But I hope with consistent use of Doxycycline I will be able to get back to performing my monkey act on YouTube soon.

**Blush**

It's here! The latest Webcams episode written by my good friend and YouTube denizen Jordan Krumbine. Jordan has surrounded himself with a core group of very creative and talented people who are only too happy to volunteer time to a weekly video series called Webcams.

I first met Jordan online almost 2 years ago, Since then I've had the privileged to be included in several collab efforts including 'Webcams' and 'Talking Heads'. The 'Talking Heads' series is the baseline for Jordan's image of a webseries. The videos, usually with re-occurring characters, explore the personnel interactions of a group of people who communicate in an online video chat. They explore wide ranging sometimes offensive topics usually with a humorous punchline.

The Talking Heads concept has re-surfaced in several incarnations. 'Webcams' amongst them, with the exception that the script is written for a generic talent pool. If you think you can supply a good read or song or even a script then the floor is wide open for you give it a try.  I gotta tell you if you intend to read for a Webcams episode you had better read the script in it's entirety and be secure in your own skin before signing on. You are not restricted to your own online persona either! Do it up! Create a character and have fun. That's what it's all about.

Jordan created a Ning network dedicated to his eventual takeover of all internet media. http://krumbination.ning.com allowed Krumbi-maniacs a place to interact and conspire on all things creative. But since Ning has decided to charge for the service that avenue has been moved to his regular website http://horbawrong.com.

Check it out and also check out these other representatives of the Krumbination!

Chris LeBrane
http://youtube.com/clebrane

Benzone50
http://youtube.com/benzone50

Jordan Krumbine
http://youtube.com/krumbine

Well, here we are a full 60 days into the "Mess in the Gulf". I just made up that catch phrase, on the fly...like it? I did that the same way that BP is directing the recovery effort. On the fly. Seat of their pants.

It is impossible for me to believe that the United States government is allowing BP to continue to oversee the mess that BP itself created. The fox in charge of the hen house. All of the information I have access to seems to indicate that BP is criminally liable for the disaster and subsequent damage. They should be placed into receivership forthwith and the handling of the recovery effort should be placed in more capable hands. Namely Exxon/Mobil, Sunoco, Shell or any of a number of other oil and gas exploration companies. These companies have no vested interest in the matter and won't be engaged in a constant process of ass covering with every single decision that they make.

Tony Hayward is a joke. He is a mealy mouthed fool who never should be allowed to run a gas station no less a major oil and gas company. His performance yesterday in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee helped to destroy any remaining credibility. To deny knowledge of operations and decision making process's surrounding the largest and most technologically challenging well ever drilled is unbelievable. I suspect that a case can be made for a charge of lying to Congress.

I don't expect for a CEO to have hands on control of low level day to day functions but I do expect him  to appoint qualified people to oversee the process. People with the ability to tell right from wrong. People who can step back and see the big picture. It is obvious that Mr. Hayward has seen fit to leave the same corner cutting cretins in place and has done nothing to excise the culture of corruption in that rotten organization.

Todays special numbers are 60, 1,000,000 and 760. 60 for the number of days that this gusher has spewed its poison and death into the gulf. 1 million for the the maximum number of gallons of oil RECOVERED per day thus far by BP. The rest is on the shores, in the waters and on in the decaying bodies of all of the dead sea life in the Gulf of Mexico. And 760 for the number of flagrant violations for which BP has been fined for in the past 3 years of service. All while it's piers have been charged with less than 30....collectively.

Definition of the word Flagrant

• S: (adj) crying, egregious, flagrant, glaring, gross, rank (conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible) "a crying shame"; "an egregious lie"; "flagrant violation of human rights"; "a glaring error"; "gross ineptitude"; "gross injustice"; "rank treachery" http://wordnet.princeton.edu/

I like "rank treachery".

It seems to fit.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/06/bp-violations-and-spills/

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2010/06/17/HP/R/34337/BP+CEO+Spill+in+the+Gulf+of+Mexico+never+should+have+happened+and+I+am+deeply+sorry.aspx

Kenwood USA Corporation
PO Box 22745
Long Beach, CA 90801-5745
Attention: Customer Relations

To whom it may concern

I recently purchased and installed a DDX616 on the recommendations of several sales people and also based on reviews found online. I have since had the opportunity to call your customer service line 3 different times for 3 different reasons.

Initially, I noticed what I thought was a radio sensitivity problem. The FM radio wouldn't tune to all available stations. When I called your support line to discuss this I was told that I needed to replace my antenna with an amplified version. The support "technician" left me feeling that there were no other possibilities and that was that. I later discovered this radio has a function called TI, “Traffic Information”. When this function is on, the radio skips a lot of active radio stations. I guess it focuses on the Traffic Information broadcasts. I don't know if this is normal, but if it is the fact that your tier 1 support tech missed it as a possible solution doesn't make your support line look very educated or supportive. I gotta tell you it left me wondering.

The second time I called was to query about Bluetooth functions. The receiver seems to intermittently drop my cell phone connection although it does detect and pair with the phone. I have a T-Mobile G1 which is the same phone as the HTC Dream and is quite a common cell phone. The receiver consistently drops the Bluetooth connection from the phone when I complete a call then subsequently reconnects after a short period of time. I have also noticed that the display only shows the device name for about 3 seconds when I open the phone screen, although the last issue isn't much of a problem.

I called your Tier 1 support line to described my concerns. The support tech put me on hold to look up some data on DDX616 monitor. When he returned he told me that my phone wasn't on the supported product list for that receiver and that I probably should buy another phone. You've got to be kidding me. BUY another phone is a valid solution for my issue? When I said "So you're telling me I'm screwed here" his response was "Well you didn't hear it from me but... yeah".

Nice...no...really nice.

At this point I asked to talk with someone else. He seemed grateful for the relief.  The next person I spoke with did seem to be a little more knowledgeable and was able to give me some troubleshooting recommendations. He at least made an attempt. But he pleaded that there was no consistency in Bluetooth protocols and that cell-phone manufactures won't 'get on board' to standardize the system. I still do have the same problems but the handsfree is mostly functional.....mostly.  I wondered openly if the IPhone had the same problems?

Today I called your service number for the third and likely...hopefully the last time. My question was regarding the fact that NAV icon is always on, on the top menu, and is always an option on the source display, even though I do not have a Navigation unit connected to the monitor. I wanted to find out if there was a way to disable this to only show ACTIVE devices. Devices that are actually connected to the system.

Your tier 1 support was 3 for 3 on this. Unable to help and unrepentant for the lack of functionality. When I recommended that these issues should be addressed in your next firmware update his response was "Yeah you should go on the web site and say that.." (I got a better idea. How about I make a YouTube video about it? Eh?)

I have several criticisms of your product and your product support but I will focus on the product. A product that lists for $799.00 should at least be reasonably functional don't you think?

1: Expand the owner manual to describe that the TI function reduces radio station reception. If that is indeed the way it is supposed to work. If it is not then I want a unit that works correctly. If the TI function is only supposed to be active with NAV then why is it on at all?

2: Plaster all over the box and sales literature and advertising that this unit has limited bluetooth functionality and that only a couple cell phones work completely so be cautious because the connection might not work at all. If you intend to purchase the product choose accordingly. Or at the very least release a firmware upgrade that adds more phones to the support list.

3: Supply a way to disable non-functioning icons. It's really silly to have a switch on the device that activates nothing. I suspect that it was left there as a reminder that I can someday spring for that additional $700 bucks to upgrade to a fully functional multimedia receiver with NAV. (This is unlikely since I have an acute sense of direction and rarely get lost).  This applies to the XM and Sirus icons too.

4: I have since purchased the HD Radio adapter with IPOD Tagging module (Ipod taging?? I don't know why. Seemed cool at the time) and I have noticed that the genre search function is not available with this device connected. Although it is for the standard analog FM receiver. It doesn't make much sense to me to have it available on base Analog FM but not on the upgraded HD receiver. I would like to have that back.

I have a generally favorable view of the unit and it does seem to operate well regardless of these issues. The Voice Dial works seems to work well and I am happy with the HD Radio reception, IPOD interface and video quality for the back up camera. I understand that there is a learning curve to all new devices and the best answer is to read the owner’s manual. But that should apply to your tier 1 support people too. Don't you think?

Since this device does support firmware upgrades I believe that most of these issues can be resolve with programming.

Thanks

JimmerSD

Now...today, we are late into day 31  since the Deep Horizon oil platform crashed and burned. May 25th 2010. The rig exploded purportedly because of a methane gas buildup and subsequent ignition. All of this caused by man made weaknesses in the system. Greed, foul play and stupidity that inspired protections after 1969 Santa Barbara accident have allowed a re-occurrence of that horror...only much, much worse.

The clock started ticking at 9:45 CST April 20 2010. Since then the estimates range from around, to more than 1 million barrels of light sweet crude oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. A gieser of oil coating and covering fair and fowl. Damaging everything it touches and creating problems for future generations.

I suspect that the motivations channeling the ongoing leak are the same as those that caused it in the first place. Money. I listened to the testimony of a electronic technician who had lived and worked on the rig and who had barely survived the accident. He is believable and precise in his recounting events leading up to the accident. 60 minutes allowed him to explain the situation freely. Outrageous! Unforgivable.  British Petroleum has spent 31 days and countless acres of ocean bottom and shore line in an attempt to save their precious well.

Save it rather than plug it.

It was a successful moonshot for them, less than 3 months ago and now the same moon was crashing into the Gulf of Mexico. What will it take to make these people clean up their mess? Why does the Obama administration drag their feet?

Does BP have a cadre of accountants doing cost benefit analysis to estimate when enough is enough? When will the losses of the catastrophe outweigh the profits of a successful well? Do they take into consideration when the American public will be completely fed up with the whole mess? Is there a mathematical variable that they may apply to this? How about C = Crap Quotient..no C is the speed of light. That can't be it. How about I = Illusion Factor. Nope. I is inductance. Wait wait! I know! IC! IC = Idiots acceptance of Crap factor! That's it! That's the ticket

When will they fix it? Yes. When.

I'm sure that there are a number of engineers who are willing to help.

Fix it or get the hell out of the way

I first saw a reference to this in the crawl under Dylan Ratigan's MSNBC show. "Guam to Capsize". Eh?  Every time it became the next topic , it would disappear. So I assumed it was an MSNBC version of April Fools.

Not so! Watch this video and understand that the person speaking is an elected representitive of the 5th District from Georgia. Hank Johnson has released a statement that attempts to show that he isn't a complete idiot. That he was trying to draw a methaphorical image of an island so packed with people that it 'could' capsize.

Yeah... I didn't see a wink.

Yea Hank! At least someone on your staff is on the ball.

;o)