Typos

While it’s nice to keep things local, I couldn’t resist this. Thumbs Down to typos. Of course typos are typos, everyone makes them, and usually they are accidents. However, a larger newspaper like the Salt Lake Tribune, with editors and everything? Come on.  Apparently this was even on the front page of the section…

Stereotypes? Ugh.

Thumbs Down to the IR’s journalism in general, but especially this article on snow sports. (It’s too bad they didn’t put the stunning artwork online. Really, hand drawn by Peter Bovingdon and everything.) Honestly, if your story has to come with a disclaimer, that’s an automatic red flag. “I realize these characterizations may offend some people, and in one or two cases, they may not actually be true. For that I ask your indulgence.” I’m a skier turned snowboarder, switched over about 8th grade or so. And yesterday, I spent a worthwhile day of my winter break up on the slopes at Great Divide.

We’ll ignore the two sections on skiing for the moment. As for the snowboarders:

You are a Snowboarder if … You arrived at the hill: by being dropped off by your juvenile probation officer. For lunch you had: Twizzlers, Red Bull, cigarettes. Your theme song is by: My Chemical Romance. You believe: The lift line is a great place to sit down and do your bindings. After boarding, you will be: At Anchor Park. You are annoyed by: Your home arrest ankle bracelet fitting badly under your boots. When you aren’t boarding you: “pwn” everyone at Gears of War on the Xbox 360. Your Motto is: “Whoa, sorry dude!”

As a matter of fact, I went up with my dad. To be specific, I drove up and he drove down because I’m too scared to drive down the icy hill. For lunch I had a sandwich I brought from home, some famous Great Divide fries, and a Snapple. I’m sure people eat Twizzlers and Red Bull for lunch, but in the ten or twelve years I’ve been going up there, I’ve maybe seen four or five people smoking. Total. And none of them were high school delinquent snowboarders. I hate My Chemical Romance. Obviously personal preference, but I wouldn’t say that genre is music to board to. (Haven’t heard them before? Check out the free download available this week at last.fm.) But anyway, back to my rant. For those boarders (i.e. me) who haven’t quite mastered the skill of getting on and off the lift with both feet strapped on to a snowboard, yes, it takes a few seconds in the lift line to undo one foot. But it most certainly doesn’t require sitting down. Not only is the Anchor Park comment a generalization toward snowboarders, but toward Anchor Park itself. I’ve spent many a quality afternoon at Anchor Park. And just within the past few years the City of Helena presented a number of possible remedies at a city-wide meeting. I’m not even going to comment on the ankle bracelet statement. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t converse in “1337 5p34k” on a regular basis, I don’t own an Xbox, and I’ve never had to apologize to anyone while boarding.

So here’s to you Peter Bovingdon. And next time, if you have to write a story with a disclaimer, just don’t write it.

You Know You Live In America When…

I bought a laptop today.  It’s a Dell Inspiron E1405 Dual Core and I got most of what I wanted for $783.  Even got free shipping thrown in on top of it all.  Not bad if you ask me.  But the point of this post is actually aimed at American society, not at Dell.  (On a side note, thumbs up to Dell.)  However, during checkout, Dell gave me many different payment options for my new computer.  I’ve been pre-approved for a Dell Preferred Account!  Yay!  On another note…PayPal, payment over the phone, mail a check, redeem my Dell gift card, and of course, credit and debit cards.  Alright, I’m feeling a credit/debit mood today, let’s go with that.  Now I have two options: “Pay with one credit/debit card online.”  Okay…  “Pay with two credit/debit cards online.”  WTF???  Thumbs Down to you America.  Thumbs Down to the ridiculous amount of consumerism in today’s society.  Thumbs Down to the fact that the average American today has more than $8,000 in credit card debt, and Thumbs Down to even being offered the option of paying with two.  If one’s budget is so tight that one needs two credit cards to buy a sub-$1000 laptop, then one probably should not be buying said laptop.

Survey Time!

Thumbs down to it being the last Friday before school restarts.  Are you sick and tired of the short “happy secular holidays” break?  Do you want your voice to be heard?  While I actually kind of doubt anyone reads these things, here’s something you can do.  Go here, (the district’s 07-08 schedule survey), and pay close attention to #4.  GO.

IMPORTANT NEWS!

The Colbert-Decemberists shred-off is NOT at 9:30, but apparently tonight at eleven thirty. But the TV guide says otherwise, so I’m a bit confused. Either way, you can still get it off iTunes.

So THUMBS DOWN to TV show confusion, but THUMBS UP to the iTunes Music store.

Thumbs Down to the War on Christmas

Last year, some of you may remember that Wal-Mart began what can be called none other than the “War on Christmas.” All around the country, and indeed around the world, the heathen corporates of Wal-Mart banned the use of the words, “Merry Christmas,” instead forcing all employees to greet customers with “Happy Holidays.” Well, fear not, for Christmas is a holiday so wonderful and powerful that no corporate pigs, not even the people at Wally World, can defeat it. This year, Christmas makes a triumphant return to Wal-Mart! For all of you who always believed in Christmas, I thank you. May Christmas live on forever!

May Christmas forever be defended from terrorists! (aka: filthy pigs at Wal-Mart)

Bill Gates on DRM

Apparently DRM (digital rights management) is “too complex” for the average user, and does more harm than good.  Of course we all knew this, but coming from Bill Gates?  Isn’t it kind of ironic that Microsoft’s Zune (a new iPod alternative) and it’s corresponding music store are both loaded with DRM?  Yeah, I thought so.  Even Bill Gates gives DRM a big thumbs down.

Update: Apparently Microsoft has also tried to buy off the RIAA by paying Universal a portion of Zune sales, about $1 per Zune sold, to help compensate for the amount of stolen music on the devices.  <Link> (True, the article’s a little biased, but it gets the facts right.)