Thumbs down on Eudora 8.0.0b3

You know what the new Eudora is?

Thunderbird in a Eudora skin.

I went back to the old Eudora 7.1.0.9 and am much happier.

It (the older Eudora) can still be downloaded from www.eudora.com.

I'd avoid the Eudora 8.xs until they give us a REAL new Eudora. Especially you Mac users out there.

Eudora 8.0.0b3 Released

For those of you who hate Outlook and like user-friendly email programs, Eudora has always been a great choice. Unfortunately, a little while ago they shut down the commercial version of Eudora to begin a Mozilla-based open source version of Eudora.

I'm pleased to say that the beta of the new Eudora has been released -- Eudora 8.0.0b3 -- and appears to be relatively stable (although I have only been using it for a short time).

Anyway, if you are interested, it is available for download here.

Remember, it's only a beta, and while I haven't encountered any bugs yet, I'm sure they're there. But it's good to see a Eudora 8.0 come out, beta or not.

A good piece by Jeff Jacoby on Michelle Obama

I quite like this. :-)

THE OTHER OBAMA IS FAIR GAME, TOO
By Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe

Sunday, May 25, 2008

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/05/25/michelle_obama_is_fair_game/?page=full

On the website of the Tennessee Republican Party is a short video in which residents of Nashville talk about the pride they feel for their country. One man, for example, mentions his esteem for the First and Second Amendments. A Vanderbilt graduate student says he was proud when Ronald Reagan told Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall -- "and I was prouder when it came down." A young professional woman extols the "academic and job opportunities that women have in this country." A police officer named Juan says he is proud of having immigrated to the United States, learned English, and become a citizen of this "land of opportunity and the best country in the world."

The video has a point to make, and it does so by alternating these upbeat comments with clips of Michelle Obama telling two different audiences in February: "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country." In an understated press release announcing the video, the state GOP welcomed Mrs. Obama to Nashville and remarked: "The Tennessee Republican Party has always been proud of America."

One would have to have skin of microscopic thinness to take offense at so gentle and indirect a critique. No surprise, then, that Barack Obama took offense, reacting as if his bride had been slimed by slurs akin to those that enraged Andrew Jackson when *he* ran for president. (During the campaign of 1828, supporters of John Quincy Adams maligned Jackson's mother as a "common prostitute" and mocked his adored wife, Rachel, as a "convicted adulteress" and a "strumpet.") In an interview on ABC, Obama growled that Republicans "should lay off my wife," and described the inoffensive Tennessee video as "detestable," "low class," and reflecting "a lack of decency."

If Republicans "think that they're going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign," he added ominously, "they should be careful."

Ooh, very fierce. But unless Obama is prepared to emulate Jackson -- Old Hickory defended his wife's honor by fighting duels, in one of which he killed a man -- he stands no chance of putting his wife's remarks off-limits to criticism. As long as he keeps sending her around the country to campaign on his behalf, everything she says is -- and should be -- fair game.

And unfortunately for Obama and his allegedly sunny politics of hope, what Mrs. Obama seems to say with grim regularity is that America is a scary, bleak, and hopeless place.

Here she is, for instance, in Wisconsin:

"Life for regular folks has gotten worse over the course of my lifetime, through Republican and Democratic administrations. It hasn't gotten much better."

And in South Carolina:

America is "just downright mean" and "guided by fear . . . We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day."

And in North Carolina:

"Folks are struggling like never before . . . When you're that busy struggling all the time, which most people that you know and I know are, you don't have time to get to know your neighbor . . . In fact, you feel very alone in your struggle, because you feel that somehow it must be your fault that you're struggling so hard . . . People are afraid, because when your world's not right, no matter how hard you work, then you become afraid of everyone and everything, because you don't know whose fault it is, why you can't get a handle on life, why you can't secure a better future for your kids . . . Fear is the worst enemy. It . . . creates this veil of impossibility, and it is hanging over all of our heads."

There is also her creepily authoritarian vision of life under an Obama administration. From a speech in California:

"Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zone . . . Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual -- uninvolved, uninformed."

Michelle Obama is undeniably smart, driven, outspoken, and charismatic. She is also relentlessly negative about life in these United States. True, she is not the one running for president. But she is Barack Obama's closest confidante and adviser; if he is elected, her influence will be considerable. That is why her words matter. And why, whether her husband likes it or not, Michelle Obama is a legitimate issue in this campaign.

(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for the Boston Globe.)

A little tip for picking up the best cars and bikes in GTA IV

Okay, this isn't really a spoiler, but I felt like giving some GTA IV advice.

Ever notice you hardly ever see any great cars or bikes driving around when you need one? Well...it's sort of a Catch-22. To get really good cars to pop up, you need to be driving an expensive/nice car. Same with bikes. If you want to rip off a bike, it's easiest to find one...when you're riding a bike.

So my advice to you -- and what I do -- is when you get your hands on a really nice car, park that sucker in reserved parking at one of your safehouses. Same with a bike. If you want to go out hunting for a nice car, hop in your nice car and look...right near your safehouse. If you're lucky, you'll be able to make it back with both cars (provided you have parking space available for them).

Same with a bike. You want to rip off another bike, keep one stashed somewhere. Get on it, and I guarantee you, you'll start seeing more bikes than usual.

Hope this helps a little. ;-)

A prayer for Ted Kennedy...you heard me.

As most of you probably know, Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

Now, I violently disagree with Senator Kennedy on practically...everything...and in many ways I think he has done some extremely rephrensible things (Chappaquidick?).

But I wouldn't wish this sort of luck on my worst enemy, and as Donne said, ask not for whom the bell tolls -- it tolls for thee. Any man's death diminishes me. The point is, it's not fair nor is it cool to be happy that the Senator is sick.

So I'll say a little pray for Teddy, and his family, even though I doubt it will help, and I will wish him my best, and hope that he continues to live life to its fullest up until his very last day. I also hope and pray he doesn't suffer a great deal of pain.

Good luck, Teddy, good luck.

Hotmail blocking Comcast emails

Ayuh. If you're a Comcast customer, and you've been trying to email Hotmail and getting your messages bounced backed to you telling you that your IP has been reported as being abused, you're not alone, and no, you don't have any weird spyware (that I know of).

I contacted Comcast this morning and they are aware of the problem although they have no ETA on solving the issue; they claim (and I believe them) that Hotmail/MSN has to resolve it on their end.

Anyway, as of this weekend, sending mail to Hotmail/MSN addresses was working; as of this morning, it was not.

That's all I can tell you. Hang in there. If you need to get a message to a Hotmail user, trying using a Hotmail or Live account of your own. That will go through -- I've tested it.

Good luck...guess we just have to wait.

PS3 Firmware 2.35 released

Yeah... nothing major here, no XMB changes or patches for GTA
IV...just supposedly improved stability...

Political ranting on a videogame post...

If anyone's interested, we're sparring over McCain again...on a video game post, for some reason, namely, the post on Madden running at 60 FPS on the PS3.

McCain violently opposes 30 FPS. For the record.

Madden '09 for Playstation 3 to run at 60 frames per second

Yeah. Um, title says it all. Madden '09 for the PS3 will finally be at 60 fps and not 30 fps as Madden '08 is.

Finally, EA is giving PS owners a damn break...

Anyway, the story I read at N4G goes on to say the 360 and PS3 versions will truly be "equal" this year and of course that the game has been "redone" (yeah it's "redone" every year). We'll see on all of it...

GTA IV freezing on you today? Disable your wireless connection...

This just in...

Apparently for some reason GTA IV is freezing on the PS3 and the 360 for a lot of people with wireless connections.

So just disable the wireless connection and you should be okay. I have a wired connection and no problems so far. *knocks on wood*

Good luck.

I like the iPhone/iPod backup battery...

Remember my post about ordering a backup battery for the iPhone (works with all iPods, though)?

I like it. Works so far. Lithium-ion rechargeable, very small, and is supposed to last for 300 cycles. If you're not an idiot and use this only for long trips...well, that should last you at least three years, which is worth the $50.

See the original post for the link, but it's still at http://www.richardsolo.com, I believe.

How to save YouTube videos to your PC

Stumbled across a great website:

http://www.keepvid.com

This site will let you save videos from all the major video sites...from YouTube you can save in Flash format or higher-quality .mp4 format (some of the videos, if saved in .mp4 format, will appear better than they do when watched via Flash on YouTube).

Happy hunting...

Grand Theft Auto IV Help

Okay...I'm not using any walkthroughs here, but if you guys need walkthroughs, hints, tips, or whatever, with what is, hands-down, the best goddamn game I have played in my life, go here:

http://www.mahalo.com/Grand_Theft_Auto_4_Walkthrough

They have live streams and a constantly updating walkthrough.

Happying carjacking!