PostBadge tag to show // FeedBurner FeedFlare. // ------------------------- // FeedBurner account and feed required. // Sign up at http://feedburner.com //================================================ class module_feedflare { function init(){ global $gregarious; $gregarious->add_settings ( array ( 'feedburner_url' => '' ) ); $gregarious->add_page ( 'FeedFlare', 'modules/feed-flare/icn_Flare.png', 'page_feedflare();', 'feedFlare' ); } function postbadge_tags(){ return array ( array ( 'tag' => '%FLARE%', 'replacewith' => 'feed_flare("",false)' ), ); } function update_info(){ return 100; } } //------------------------------------------ // TEMPlATE TAGS //------------------------------------------ function feed_flare($settings = '', $echo = true){ global $wp_query; $post = $wp_query->post; $sets = array('postID' => $post->ID, 'before' => '', 'after' => 'Gregarious FeedFlare', 'force' => 0 ); grab_sets($settings, $sets); if ( !$sets['force'] && hideOnID($sets['postID']) ){ return ''; } if( !$path = _get_feedburner_url() ) return ''; if( substr( $path, -1 ) == '/' ){ $path = substr( $path, 0, strlen( $path ) -1 ); } $path = str_replace ( 'feedburner.com/', 'feedburner.com/~s/', $path ); $path .= '?i='.get_permalink($sets['postID']); $result = $sets['before'] . "" . $sets['after']; if($echo) echo $result; else return $result; } function _get_feedburner_url(){ $feedurl = greg_get_option( 'feedburner_url' ); if ( $feedurl ){ return attribute_escape($feedurl); } else { $feedburner_settings = get_option('feedburner_settings'); if( is_array($feedburner_settings) && ($feedurl = $feedburner_settings['feedburner_url']) ) { return attribute_escape($feedurl); } else { return false; } } } //------------------------------------------ // OPTIONS PAGE //------------------------------------------ function page_feedflare(){ $feedurl = _get_feedburner_url(); ?> 2008 December Archive at spencerb.net

Archive for December, 2008

Movie Review: Iron Man

Published on December 6, 2008 in Movies. 0 Comments

I watched Iron Man this morning and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. The DVD has been sitting on my desk for a while unwatched. I’m not sure why I it has sat ignored so long because I’ve heard good things about it. Part of the problem is that there have been so many superhero movies as of late it is hard to discern which ones are worth watching.

Robert Downey Jr. does a great job playing Mr. Starks. The character is believable and makes a great plot. I like the distribution of action in the movie. It was balanced and well-thought out. Superhero movies tend to put all of the action sequences at the end. The beginning is spent developing the character. Iron Man spreads it over the movie pretty well.

One gripe I have with the movie is that I didn’t hate the villain enough. I like it when superhero movies have strong identifiable villains. The villain is a good adversary for Iron Man to fight, but its unclear he is extreme enough to be a great nemesis.

200 Posts: A Confusing Odyssey

Published on December 6, 2008 in Movies. 2 Comments

This is a lackluster post, but I just watched 2001: A Space Odyssey and I don’t get it. Damn…this movie is long and disconnected. Furthermore, it uses silence and music to the extreme.

This is the first time I’ve watched it in its entirety and the first time I’ve watched it in a long time. For some reason it was better in my memory. Anyway, if you get it…Please…Please…Please, tell me!!!

Space for the Win

Published on December 5, 2008 in Music. 0 Comments

Will Obama’s Administration Deliver on its Promise of Change?

Published on December 5, 2008 in Politics. 0 Comments

This is a tough question that a lot of people are asking themselves in light of the recent Obama appointments. How can a leader who campaigned on a message of change deliver his promises if he is appointing Washington ‘insiders’ from the Clinton era and his primary opponents? A lot of people would say he can’t. To take one extreme example, Defense Secretary Gates will stay on to administer the war in Iraq. In my opinion, this is a good decision, but it does not bring to mind images of the immediate withdrawal from Iraq that Obama campaigned on. Furthermore, the Clintons will be back in the White House (as Cabinet officials and spouse) and so will some of former-President Bill Clinton’s administration. Again, this does not sound like a radical departure from the past.

Frankly, to me this was all fine and dandy. It is good to see that the President-elect is not being extreme in his choices, especially in foreign policy.

The Financial Times (FT) had a very interesting editorial today that argued against concerns about Obama’s team. I find this article to be both convincing and likely. The article puts the concerns this way:

Familiar faces, Washington observers yawn, promise familiar policies.

These concerns aren’t just coming from the right-wing trying to nay-say Obama, but from his supporters as well. The articles response:

Seen in this light, Mr Obama’s choice of foreign policy heavyweights is significant for its ambition rather than its caution. If he really does want to recast America’s relationship with the world, surrounding himself with seasoned players will make the task easier rather than harder. Why would a president who wanted to change things put the task in the hands of inexperienced acolytes?

This makes perfect sense, if you want to institute change, you do not do it by appoint political lightweights. You need people who can throw their weight around and know the system.

In one final point, the FT piece says this:

In Truman’s adage, the buck stops with the president.

I found this even more interesting, relative to a post I wrote a while back about taking responsibility. I think Bush has done a decent job of doing that, unlike any of the presidential candidates during the campaign. I hope things change once Obama takes office.

Obsessive Compulsive Web Researching

Published on December 4, 2008 in Auto, Blog, Life, Minneapolis and Technology. 4 Comments

OCWR…This is not a new problem for me and I don’t know how to get away from it. It seems to infiltrate my life constantly. I blame having Legos as a kid.

Let me give you an example of this problem. Computers. When it comes to building computers or buying computer parts, it requires a lot of time and money. It forces you to read review after review for numerous parts. There are some people that will just go to Best Buy and buy a computer. I can’t do that. For one thing, it is a major purchase for me to invest in. Second, I like to spend my money efficiently – get the most bang for my buck. Since computer technology changes so frequently, the value of the knowledge has a relatively short life. This requires the same research to be done almost entirely over again when the purchase comes back.

Example 2: osx86. I’m not sure about the legality of installing Mac on a PC, so I’ll refrain from going into too much detail. But I find this incredibly fascinating. Especially the prospect of installing the OS on a $300 netbook. I think it is amazing the amount of time people put into getting all of the drivers to work and streamlining the install. I have spent countless hours on this that should have been spent studying for finals.

Example 3: This blog. I hosted a server myself for a while. Tried nucleus and Joomla, then spent hours configuring Wordpress. Almost 200 posts later, this point doesn’t need much explaining.

The next example is a recent thing. I’m not sure where it came from. I’ve never known much about cars. For his birthday, my brother got a sub installed in his car. I always wanted a system (even bought a few speakers), but never had the know how to make it happen. For a while I had a new head-unit sitting around. This summer, I found a great deal (AR for slickdealers) and went for it. I installed it myself and felt great. This fall I installed headlights, a really easy job, but something I’ve never done before.

After my brother’s escapades, which I haven’t experienced yet, since I’m in chitown, I’ve been researching car audio. Now, I’m confident that I could install a sub, amp, and speakers myself. It feels great to have that knowledge and the power to act on it. Except for one thing – it has been taking up a lot of time as its grabbed hold of my interest.

Next summer (in Minneapolis), I’m going to save up and make the upgrade! Any help would be great (I’m looking at you Dan). It shouldn’t be too hard, but it will be exciting to accomplish it.

Obama Removing Elected Officials From Posts

Published on December 3, 2008 in News, Politics and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

I was unsure how to phrase the title of this post, but it is interesting the number of prominent elected officials that have received appointments to the Obama administration. Taking another look at the title, it is way more negative than I intended to be. It sounds like Obama is going to issue executive orders this January to remove people from office. Clearly, that is not the case.

I’m not sure that I am politically astute enough to understand the motivation behind this yet. Maybe it is just a coincidence. Certainly, one can tell from this list that Obama is drawing from his contenders from the Democratic primary. If they had a shot at president, I suppose they might make a decent Secretary of State. On the other hand, there are plenty of qualified individuals to fill roles like that, potential great Secretaries of State don’t run around running for president usually.

What does everyone else think?

A quick look at some elected official entering the Obama administration:

Former-Senator Obama, himself
Senator Biden
Senator Clinton
Representative Emanuel
Governor Napolitano
Governor Richardson

If I’m missing anyone, let me know. Of course there are other appointments, I think this is all of the elected officials who will become Obama cabinet members. Should be an interesting 4 years.

Big Day for Markets

Published on December 1, 2008 in Business and Economics. 0 Comments

The first week of the past several months has set the tone for changes in the major indexes. Look at Google Finance and look at November and October, big drops at the start of the month. If the rebound of the past few days is a real recovery, we should expect a gain this week. Especially on news of strong holiday sales so far.

So far, the Dow is done 400 points, things aren’t looking great.

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