So, Greg Karber made a trip to Goodwill and bought all the A&F stuff and gave it away.  

I see "the other side" of the story, where Karber is using the homeless to represent the not-so-cool kids that "Old Biff Look-Alike" CEO Mike Jeffries doesn't see as fitting his brand.  I totally get that.

But I also like sticking it to the man.  #FitchTheHomeless

In 2001, researcher Frédéric Brochet invited 54 wine experts to give their opinions on what were ostensibly two glasses of different wine: one red, and one white. In actuality, the two wines were identical, with one exception: the "red" wine had been dyed with food coloring...

Not one of the 54 experts surveyed noticed that it was, in fact a white wine.

I am so justified in my Bota Box wine addiction now.  Read the fun here.

I’ve often described Windows 8 as Windows 7++, because — and contrary to a peculiarly widespread belief — it’s really just a combination of everything that’s great about Windows 7 plus a ton of new desktop improvements, all tied to a new mobile OS I still call Metro. On that note, Blue is Windows 8++: It’s Windows 8 plus a ton of improvements

So, if we're doing the math correctly, Windows Blue is just Windows 7++++.

via tillwe on Flickr

HR 933 [PDF link], the 2013 spending bill, was signed into law by President Obama.  In addition to setting the budget for 2013 to keep certain government offices open and running, there was a little amendment in there called Section 735.  Go ahead.  Click on the link, scroll down to Section 735, and see if you can make out what it means.  

I'll wait.

Welcome back.  Did you figure it out?  It means that even if the FDA or any other government agency discovers in the future that genetically modified crops are dangerous, the government can do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to stop the sale or require the labeling of genetically modified foods.

Despite a petition with over 200,000 signatures; despite the fact that Monsanto and companies like them have utterly destroyed the farming industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process; despite the fact that there is no evidence that genetically modified foods can be considered safe;  despite the fact that even Hungary was smart enough to kick out Monsanto; and despite the fact that genetically modified seeds have been illegally approved; it has been put into law that we can now no longer remove these questionable foods from our supply, or even have them labeled as modified.

I am absolutely for same-sex marriage and equality for all, but I wonder how many people changed their Twitter profile picture to fake corn...

We're pleased to see no innovation in the design itself

This would explain why HTC has been losing money and market share hand over fist the last few years.  Innovation is not changing the way a device looks.  It's changing the way people use it.  

iPhones have looked basically the same since 2007, but every year Apple changes the way people can use them.  Samsung is doing the same with the Galaxy line, and I think it's a good move.

For those non-nerds out there, Google Reader is a cool little web app that takes all your RSS feeds and lets you read them.

Wait, you don't know about RSS feeds?  Ugh.  You should read this.  But come back when you're done.

At first glance, someone who loves Google Reader like me is now clamoring for a new way to collect the articles from all the Web sites I enjoy into one place.  It's HORRIBLE!!

But then I think about it.  It's NOT horrible at all!  First, I don't like Google all that much.  I don't use gMail for anything other than when I need to sign up for something I know is going to spam the shit out of me.  I try to use Apple's less-than-stellar Maps app so I don't have to run all my location searches through El Goog, who I know logs all of them in a secret file to give the government after I win the lottery and disappear.  Google Docs is a joke, and Google+ gets spammier by the minute.

Long story short, I'm trying to get away from Google, but Reader was locking me in. It syncs to all my RSS readers, like Byline on my iPad and iPhone.  On any device or any web browser, I can pick up where I left off, because Google Reader syncs everything.  I will miss that.

But, now I can leave the Google Machine.  I will convert my RSS list into an OPML thingy and import it into Byline.  Other people will have to find their own solution.

This is a fantastic boon for app developers on all platforms.  Now they will build new and better apps to replace Reader, just as Reader displaced the likes of NetNewsWire and Gator on the desktop years ago.

For a little backstory, I come from the south. I don’t capitalize “The South” like some do, because I believe it is a geographic direction, not a place. My family still lives in Northern Virginia, and my dad is a gun owner and avid bow, gun, and muzzle-loader hunter. He is also a champion tournament archer and president of his Archery Club. I shot archery when I was young, and dad tried to get me into hunting, but I never had the patience. I took gun safety courses and shot at targets for years. I may even still own a gun or two back in my dad’s gun safe in Virginia. I haven’t touched them in years.

There are 27 amendments to the US Constitution. I just re-read all of them.

The First is the whole freedom of speech and religion and assembly and what-not. It is pretty easy to read:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

But it is not absolute. There are generally accepted freedoms, but hate speech is not allowed. Also not allowed are religious services that require underage or multiple marriages, human sacrifice, or other illegal activities. So you can limit the First Amendment, but not the Second?

The Third Amendment protects us from being forced to house a soldier during a war. The need for this Amendment is obviated by our thousands of military bases and a defense budget nearing a trillion dollars. It is mostly irrelevant now.

The Fourth Amandment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

has been completely limited by the over-reaching Patriot Act which allows for warrantless wire taps and searches. Let’s also not forget the TSA, which does thousands of warrantless searches every day as we board airplanes after they seize our water bottles and snow globes. So, no searches and seizures or privacy violations, unless the probable cause is “being in an airport”. The Fourth is out the window to "keep us safe", but not the Second.

If you’re keeping score, that’s three of four Amendments and ALL of them are limited or obviated in some way, but not the Second.

The Fifth is the Self-Incrimination law which is still pretty well upheld. As is the Sixth and Seventh which promise a speedy and fair trial by a jury of your peers. Unless, of course, the government says you’re an enemy combatant, whatever that is. Then, you lose that right and get shipped off to Cuba, where your Eighth Amendment rights of freedom from cruel and unusal punishment are violated. So you can limit Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendment rights based on the individual, but not the Second.

And The Ninth:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Easy enough. The Constitutional Rights of some shouldn’t interfere with the freedoms of others. I would argue that there are 20 sets of parents in Connecticut right now who feel that the whole “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” thing has been pretty well trampled by the right to bear arms.  The Ninth is limited, but not the Second.

The Tenth allows for states rights.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

So, basically, if there’s not a federal law for or against it, then there can be a state law. This is how states have the right to create their own driving laws, marriage laws, and thousands of other laws. Unless a state wants to limit guns or make licensing harder. Then the Tenth is apparently violating the Second, which is not OK.

We’ve changed historical laws through Amandments before. The Thirteenth ended slavery, The Fifteenth allowed the vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (i.e., former slaves can vote), Sixteen allows our government to tax us (despite all the crazies who say taxes are voluntary because they're not in the Constitution), and Seventeen made sure we vote for Senators by popular vote, not an electoral college.

Hell, the Eighteenth Amendment prohibiting alcohol was taken back just a few years later by the Twenty-First. I guess you CAN change things, but not the Second.

In the middle there, America sobered up and decided that women were just as smart as former slaves and men and gave them the vote by the Nineteenth.

Twenty-Two put a presidential two-term limit in place, despite the fact that no one had ever won (or came close to winning) three consecutive presidential terms. What about a president’s god-given right to three terms?  It was put in place to limit the possibility of a dictatorship, but what if Americans want another prosporous period under a popular president?  Nope.  Can't do that.

Twenty-Three gave Washington DC the right to vote, but only because of the whole taxation-without-representation thing. If they didn’t give them Representatives, the US would have to stop taxing them. As a side note, when DC tried to limit guns, they had no state’s rights, because they are not a state. Twenty-Four made poll taxes illegal, even though some are still trying to make it tough for the poor or uneducated to vote.

Twenty-Five puts presidential succession in writing. This allowed for things like Acting President Dick Cheney in 2002 and 2007 while George W. Bush was “incompacitated” due to a colonoscopy. I do find it odd that the Amendment passed in 1967, but the Secretary of Homeland Security is 17th in line, even though that office didn’t exist until decades after the Amendment was passed. Apparently, Amendments CAN be altered to fit current-day conditions, but not the Second. Twenty-Six seems to directly contradict the Tenth by taking away the state’s rights to set their own voting age by codifying the voting age to 18.  

Twenty-Seven prohibits congress from giving themselves a raise until the new term begins. Unsurprisingly, it took over 200 years for this one to get through. Apparently, people like giving themselves more money.  

That’s all of the Bill of Rights and the Amendments, except for one. It’s the one that confuses everyone.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

There is a lot of discussion of the wording of the Second. Some (including me) read it that a well regulated militia is necessary, and they should have arms. We have a well-regulated militia. They’re called the Armed Forces. That guy in Montana with a Doomsday bunker, a hundred guns and an anti-government bent is NOT a well-regulated militia. He’s a guy with a shit-ton of guns. And anyone who believes that having a shit-ton of guns will allow them to protect themselves if our government goes all crazy hasn’t seen a drone strike or our military budget. Our military is 10 times the size of China’s. A few assault rifles won’t do squat for you.

I’m all about rights. It just seems odd to me that this one “right” is so fervently defended. Maybe the Second Amendment needs a little tweaking. I’m not saying to repeal it and round up all the guns. That is not what most are advocating. But we are not a nation divided like the Antebellum years or the Old West. We are not a nation of unrest with a corrupt government and a military that attacks us. We have a three tiered system that prevents that. Part of being a democracy is accepting what the other half has to say. And sometimes, the other half is right.  

Maybe Thomas Jefferson was right (as he usually was) when he said:

But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors,"

Maybe it’s time to put on our big boy coats and realize that sometimes change is good.  Some things are so timeless they should never change.

But not the Second.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Hostess’ CEO, Gregory Rayburn, essentially admitted that his company stole employee pension money and put it toward CEO and senior executive pay

I've never been a big fan of Hostess.  I don't eat much bread at all anymore (trying my damndest to be gluten-free), but when I did, it was never plain white Wonder bread.  And the fact that the Twinkies "cream filling" contains no actual dairy of any kind sort of freaks me out.  

It's very probable that someone will buy the Hostess name and brands and keep pumping out nutritionally questionable, long-shelf life baked goods, but I won't miss it if they don't.  I will be sad to lose 18,000 good-paying Union jobs with insurance and benefits, but it's doubtful anyone who buys them would offer such a deal in this day and age anyway.  

Read the original article on AlterNet

Do you believe I actually used Google Buzz?  Remember that?  Also in the dustbin are 12mail, which posted 12 second videos to Twitter; and Gowalla, a social network that went nowhere.  iOS's Push Notification system has replaced Boxcar entirely, and I never really used Bump or IM+.  Instagram, Facebook, and Foursquare are still there for me, but Tweetbot has totally replaced Twitter's crappy app.  

For reference, here is my current social folder:

I absolutely LOVE Tweetbot and Netbot.  Facebook is there because I am forced to use it.  I still don't like Facebook all that much, but it seems a necessary evil.  I just logged into Instagram again after months of inactivity.  You'll notice the shitty Instagram filter on the first screenshot.  I try not to do that anymore.  I feel like people are going to be really mad in a few years when all of their pictures look like they were taken on a toy camera.

Google+ is there for some reason, and What's App and Google Voice only get used for very specific purposes.  I am all over Foursquare lately, and Glympse is incredible for letting people know when you're arriving. 

So there it is.  Because you didn't ask.

TUAW's headline:

Microsoft's going to make it pricier to bring your iOS device to work

but, later in the article:

It should be noted that the higher price also pertains to Windows phones and laptops and Surface tablets.

I'm not going to link to the story, because I don't link to baited headlines.  

The fact is, Microsoft is hurting in the enterprise because of the tremendous number of iPhones, Android phones, and iPads being used in BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) business environments, so they have to raise the licensing fees for Microsoft Sharepoint and Exchange servers on every device to compensate.  To imply they're raising prices on iOS in your headline and write they're raising prices on everything in the fourth paragraph is just praying for clicks.

Assholes.