James Bond Trailer HD versions of the teaser trailer for new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, have been released.

Oil Change Story You may have read this story about Wal-Mart charging a customer for an oil change, but not actually performing the work.

When I take my car to have its oil changed, here is what I do. I follow the car into the work bay. I watch as the old oil drains from the oil pan. I watch as the old filter is removed. I watch as the new filter is installed. I'm there when the new oil is put into the engine. I personally verify the reading on the dipstick. Why? Stories like the one above are far too common. Even if they do change the oil, they can skip the filter change, and you'd never know it. I've even heard stories of shops draining the oil, but not putting the new oil in. They can put too much oil into your engine, etc.

Wireless Security Jeff Atwood: "WEP = Worthless Encryption Protocol"

He continues, "WEP, the original encryption protocol for wireless networks, is so fundamentally flawed and so deeply compromised it should arguably be removed from the firmware of every wireless router in the world. It's possible to crack WEP in under a minute on any vaguely modern laptop. If you choose WEP, you have effectively chosen to run an open wireless network. There's no difference."

Remember kids, EVERY wireless network is crackable!

"War" at NBC News Jed Babbin: "Russert's death released one of the last brakes slowing NBC's descent into political activism and journalistic irrelevance. NBC was once the proud home of real journalists. People such as Chet Huntley and David Brinkley brought its standards to -- and above -- the level prevalent in most news organizations. But now, it’s an asylum for people such as Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann."

30 Must-Have Firefox Extensions 30 Must-Have Firefox Extensions

10 Reasons Vista Isn't That Bad Gizmodo: Ten Reasons Why Vista Isn't That Bad. Also named are some Vista negatives, and how to minimize their impact/fix them.

Nugent on Heller Ted Nugent: "Just as we wouldn't need confirmation that our choice of religion is indeed an individual right, or that we could possibly need a government permit to express our individual thoughts in speech, good Americans will continue to fight for the return of our sacred 2nd Amendment rights where someday soon we will not need a government issued license to keep and bear arms."

He continues, "I am responsible for my personal defense and the defense of my family. Our Founding Fathers clearly believed this as well. Evidence shows that 9-1-1 is a last-ditch call for a clean up crew to sift through the aftermath of criminal activity."

Heath Ledger A consensus is forming around Heath Ledger's performance in the new Batman movie. Many believe he is a lock for an Oscar nomation (which is very rare for a comic book movie). Further, many believe he may actually win the Oscar, posthumously.

I was very impressed with Trailer 3.

Ryan vs. Dorkman, Part II YouTube: Ryan vs. Dorkman, Part II. (PG-13) Somehow, I missed this when it was first released in March. Enjoy.

Vodkapundit on Heller Decision Stephen Green: "All I need to know about the Heller decision is that Scalia wrote the majority opinion, and Breyer wrote the dissent. Most any day of the week, that’s a big, big win."

'Dark Knight' Review Rolling Stone magazine reviews the new Batman movie.

Heller Majority Opinion Quotes SCOTUS Blog: Quotes from the Majority Opinion in the Heller Case

Scalia Quote From SCOTUS Blog, Justice Scalia writes, "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home."

This could not be any clearer. Thank you, Justice Scalia!

DC Gun Ban Case Details SCOTUS Blog: "Answering a 127-year old constitutional question, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to have a gun, at least in one’s home. The Court, splitting 5-4, struck down a District of Columbia ban on handgun possession. Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion for the majority stressed that the Court was not casting doubt on long-standing bans on gun possession by felons or the mentally retarded, or laws barring guns from schools or government buildings, or laws putting conditions on gun sales."

Acronis True Image 11 Home Acronis True Image 11 Home - If you use a PC, this is the backup software that you need. I cannot say enough good things about it. It saved my butt again this week, so I thought I'd plug it.

2nd Amendment UPDATE: Big win for gun owners! Court rules individuals have the right own guns.



Today is the day that the Supreme Court is expected to (once for all time?) hand down a decision that guarantees an INDIVIDUAL'S right to bear arms.

The 2nd Amendment does not grant that right, the 2nd Amendment prevents the government from infringing upon that right.

Movie Trailer: "Righteous Kill" Righteous Kill - Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as veteran New York City police detectives on the trail of a vigilante serial killer. Sounds like my kind of movie.

My Internet Speed For some reason, my home DSL is faster, today.

Supreme Court Mark Levin: "Let me put this bluntly -- every time the Supreme Court meets in secret conference, it sits as a constitutional convention, rewriting the Constitution at will."

8 Things You Shouldn't Say in a Job Interview Consumerist: 8 Things You Shouldn't Say in a Job Interview

Trick Yourself into Saving Money Lifehacker: Top 10 Ways to Trick Yourself into Saving Money

Cyclone Twist When my kids get a little older, I'll have to get one of these: Cyclone Twist. I'm thinking that thing would be worth every penny.

Two New Mac Viruses Two new Mac viruses have been reported. Imagine that.

8 Foodborne Illnesses Calorie Lab: The Big 8 Foodborne Illnesses and What They Do to You

Yoono Yoono - Check it out.

Barone: The Facts in Iraq Are Changing Michael Barone: "If George W. Bush was wrong about the surge from summer 2003 to January 2007, Barack Obama has been wrong about it from January 2007 to today. John McCain seems to have been right on it all along. When asked why he changed his position on an issue, John Maynard Keynes said: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" What say you, Sen. Obama?"

"Bomb Iran? What's to Stop Us?" It's looking more and more like Iran is soon going to receive a little lovin' from the United States Air Force.

From the article, "Emerging from a 90-minute White House meeting with President George W. Bush on June 4, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the two leaders were of one mind: "We reached agreement on the need to take care of the Iranian threat. I left with a lot less question marks [than] I had entered with regarding the means, the timetable restrictions, and American resoluteness to deal with the problem. George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on that matter before the end of his term in the White House.""

Unknown Tribe - Known Just as I figured, that "Unknown Tribe" from a couple of weeks ago is not so unknown. National Geographic reports: "Contrary to many news stories, the isolated group has actually been monitored from a distance for decades, past and current Brazilian government officials say."

Tarantino to Split Another One? It looks as if Tarantino is going to make another movie that has two parts. Enough already!

Eating Healthy on a Budget ABC News: "It's a huge mistake to think that good healthy food has to cost a bundle. Sure, some of it does, but junk food is even more expensive in the long run. It's not so healthy, and it's loaded with calories, fat, salt and sugar. Even if it's free, it's not a bargain."

"The Two Obamas" David Brooks: "But as recent weeks have made clear, Barack Obama is the most split-personality politician in the country today. On the one hand, there is Dr. Barack, the high-minded, Niebuhr-quoting speechifier who spent this past winter thrilling the Scarlett Johansson set and feeling the fierce urgency of now. But then on the other side, there’s Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who’d throw you under the truck for votes."

Israelis 'Rehearse Iran Attack' BBC News: "Israel has carried out an exercise that appears to have been a rehearsal for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, US officials have told the New York Times. More than 100 Israeli fighter jets took part in manoeuvres over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece in the first week of June, US officials said."

Twelve "Necessities" That Drain Your Cash 12 Things that Drain Your Cash - You can probably cut one or two of these, and save a little cash.

1 in 5 Canadians Cannot Find a Doctor CTV.ca: "Canadians continue to suffer from a doctor shortage, according to a new report that found 1 in 5 people have not been able to find a physician to treat them regularly."

Coulter on Boumediene Ann Coulter, on the Supreme Court/Gitmo decision: "This is what happens when the swing justice is the dumb justice. . . The logical result of Boumediene is for the U.S. military to exert itself a little less trying to take enemy combatants alive."

MSNBC: Religion or Mind Control? MSNBC explores the controversy surrounding the Fundamentalist Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints and the potentially dangerous lifestyle that members lead. Premieres Sunday, June 23, 2008 at 9 p.m. CDT. (Trailer, Interview with Carolyn Jessop)

UPDATE: We watched this program. Excellent. The Mormon (not FLDS) lawyer seemed to be shilling for the group, in my opinion. Even so, the average viewer should be convinced that there are some destructive aspects to this group.

DiskAid DiskAid - A freeware application that allows you to use your iPhone or iPod Touch as an external hard drive.

PC Gaming: Alive and Well Evidently, direct downloads are giving PC games a boost. This is true in my case. I use Steam, and I occasionally purchase a game they advertise for nine bucks or so.

AP Sucks The Associated Press (AP) has lost its mind. This is the year 2008 and some folks still don't understand how the Internet works.

"The pricing scale for excerpting AP content begins at $12.50 for 5-25 words and goes as high as $100 for 251 words and up. Nonprofit organizations and educational institutions enjoy a discounted rate."

Yeah, right. As a wise fellow once said: "You can charge whatever you'd like to charge. Collecting those charges is where you'll have the trouble!"

Photos of the Iowa Flood Waters Photos of the flood waters in Iowa. (via kottke)

Coffee is Good for You! Drink up, friends! Coffee is good for you.

Firefox 3 Released Mozilla has released Firefox 3. It would appear, however, that heavy traffic has put the kibosh on Mozilla's servers, at this time. You'll definitely want to download a copy of it.

A Quick Way Forward After Boumediene Andrew McCarthy: A Quick Way Forward After Boumediene - "Either Congress reasserts itself, or terror-friendly bedlam ensues."

Supreme Court Gitmo Decision Washington Post, John Yoo: "The 5-4 ruling is judicial imperialism of the highest order. Boumediene should finally put to rest the popular myth that right-wing conservatives dominate the Supreme Court. . . First out the window went precedent. . . Until Boumediene, the Supreme Court had never allowed an alien who was captured fighting against the U.S. to use our courts to challenge his detention. . . The Boumediene five also ignored the Constitution's structure, which grants all war decisions to the president and Congress. . . Incredibly, these five Justices have now defied the considered judgment of the president and Congress for a third time, all to grant captured al Qaeda terrorists the exact same rights as American citizens to a day in civilian court."

Monster Cables Aren't Worth It Read it and weep: Monster Cables vs. a Coat Hanger

NVIDIA Unveils the GeForce GTX 200 Series ZDNet: NVIDIA Unveils the GeForce GTX 200 Series. (Photo Gallery)

XP Era Ends: Will Vista Step Up? ZDNet: "The Windows XP era ends June 30 and soon hardware vendors will be shipping you all Vista all the time (in most cases). The save XP effort failed. The whining should cease. And now it’s time for Vista to sink or swim."

Vista Recovery Disc PC World: "Running on the Vista version of Windows PE, the Recovery Disc is basically a Vista installation disc minus the install files. It even has an Install now button that asks for a Product Key before failing. You're better off clicking the Repair your computer button. Among its Vista-only options are a tool for diagnosing and fixing startup problems, a version of System Restore that uses restore points on the hard drive, the restore portions of Vista's backup program, and a memory diagnostic tool." (Read More)

World Clock World Clock - Cool, with lots of data. Enjoy. (via The Corner)

Nuclear Ring Reportedly Had Advanced Weapon Design NY Times: "American and international investigators say that they have found the electronic blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon on computers that belonged to the nuclear smuggling network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist, but that they have not been able to determine whether they were sold to Iran or the smuggling ring’s other customers."

Tim Russert I will miss Tiim Russert. My heart goes out to his family and friends.

R. Kelly: Not Guilty R. Kelly was found not guilty on all counts. He certainly didn't receive a speedy trial. I had no reason to believe he would be convicted, either.

Cooking Mistakes The Dish: Top 10 Home Cooking Mistakes

"The Happening" M. Night Shyamalan's new movie, The Hapening, is getting mostly negative reviews. Rogert Ebert did like it, however.

Warning Signs of an Unsafe Group/Leader Rick Ross: Warning Signs of an Unsafe Group/Leader

Pros & Cons of LifeLock Wired.com: The Pros and Cons of LifeLock

BlogIt for iPhone The fine folks at Six Apart have released BlogIt for iPhone. TechCrunch has the details.

iPhone Videoconferencing Kit Gizmodo: Apple Introduces iPhone 3G Videoconferencing Kit (Yes, it's a joke.)

Inside a Cult Google Video: National Geographic: Inside a Cult. If you missed it when it aired on television, you can watch the entire 48-minute documentary online. It tells the story of the Michael Travesser, 'End of the World' cult. Highly recommended.

Windows SteadyState From Microsoft: "Windows SteadyState is a download for Windows XP that can help protect your family from inappropriate Web content and contact on the Web. Windows SteadyState also protects your computer settings from unwelcome changes by your children. You can download SteadyState at no charge to people using genuine Microsoft Windows XP. Windows SteadyState can return your family computer and hard disk to the condition it was before your children changed it. You just restart your computer. Windows SteadyState is for Windows XP only. Similar features, called Windows Vista Parental Controls, are built in to Windows Vista."

iPhone Price Drop is a "Lie" PCWorld: Apple iPhone Price Drop is a Lie

Is the New iPhone Really Cheaper? Ed Bott wonders, and says, "An iPhone without a data plan is worthless. In fact, you are required to purchase a data plan from AT&T with your iPhone. The iPhone data plan on our current account is $20 a month for unlimited use plus 200 text messages. But the data plan for the new phone is $30 a month (in addition to a voice package of $40 per month or more) and requires a two-year contract. So, at $10 a month, times 24 months, that’s an extra $240 you’re required to pay over the life of the contract, which wipes out the $200 savings and then some."

New iPhone Must Be Activated at Store AT&T is done 'playing nice' with iPhone customers. Gizmodo has the new pricing and activation details. (via kottke)

iPhone 2.0 The new iPhone is twice as fast (3G) and half the cost (8 GB model). I'm guessing that people won't be lining up for them, like they did with the $500 frontrunner. UPDATE: ZDNet has details of the new iPhone plans, etc. TechCrunch has details on the new iPhone apps. New iPhone gripes are here: Things That Didn't Get Upgraded.

"Sex and the City" "A city Health Department study finds that more than a fourth of adult New Yorkers are infected with the virus that causes genital herpes. The study, released Monday, says about 26 percent of New York City adults have genital herpes, compared to about 19 percent nationwide."

McCain Prediction: The chances of John McCain becoming the next President go down, each time the cost of gasoline goes up.

Clint Eastwood: Real Man Clint Eastwood to Spike Lee: "Shut your face."

Google Unveils iPhone Killer Fox News: "Google unveiled the software for its much-anticipated new phone last week, and it's loaded with fun features, including an unlocking tool that allows users to create a secret shape that must be drawn on the screen. The phone will, naturally, feature the Google Web browser, Google Mail and Google Maps. The Street View feature, similar to what you can get on your desktop with Google Maps, will turn in The same direction as the person holding the phone."

Boost Your Social Security Yes, dear friends, it is possible to tweak your Social Security benefits.

NTI Shadow 3.7 for Free! NTI Shadow 3.7. (Offer ends on June 8, 2008.)

More Info: NTI Shadow Features Overview

Fastest Hard Drive Ever Western Digital's New Velociraptor

Map Pack for Call of Duty 4 A Variety Map Pack for CoD 4 (PC version) will be released on June 5th.

Robert Bowling provides these details: "The Variety Map Pack includes four new maps for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer including Broadcast, Chinatown, Killhouse, and Creek. In addition to the map pack hitting, PC Players will be receiving the 1.6 Patch for the PC version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare that will add support for the new maps, fix a server crash exploit recently reported by the community, and a few additional features / bug fixes."

Preggars Photos of a very pregnant Jessica Alba.

Dr. Dean's Disaster Mac Johnson is not happy about the way the DNC decided to tally the primary votes in Florida and Michigan. He says, "The same party that brought us the much vaunted 'Count Every Vote Act of 2005' has now corruptly settled upon the 'Count Every Other Vote Act of 2008.' How can this be justified? Are the people of Florida and Michigan just half-human? Did they cast half-votes? Do they just have half the rights of other Americans? No. They are just victims of a half-ass system and should return the favor in November when they half-heartedly decide to stay home."

Iran's Death Wish? I cannot even make this stuff up: Ahmadinejad Says Israel Will Soon Disappear.

"Unsustainable Liberal Policies" Willisms: "...the high in-migration states tend to be "red" states with low taxes. Meanwhile, the high out-migration states are more likely to be "blue" states with higher taxes. A million here, a million there, and soon you're looking at real numbers. Okay, so states with liberal policies are losing people to states with conservative policies."

He continues, "Well, first, no civilization or culture can survive if it actively seeks to diminish its own population. Second, it's a bizarre contradiction: liberals set up these pyramid scheme entitlement programs that depend on ever-increasing numbers of people to support them, all while actively seeking to guarantee fewer people." (via BigJim)

GPS Coming to iPhone Broadcom is bringing GPS capability to the next iPhone.

Cellphone Shopping Tips 5 Things You Should Never Say When You're Cellphone Shopping.

Here's one suggestion: "You can try calling your cellphone company and asking for a "loyalty credit" before heading over to the store to begin your negotiation, but keep in mind that sales reps tend to get less commission for retaining customers than they do for getting new accounts. You're probably going to get the best deal from a company that considers you a new customer."

I've never quite understood this business philosophy, but there it is: existing customers mean less to the company than new customers. How can this be good for the company, in the long run?

31 Places to Go NY Times: The 31 Places to Go This Summer.

HRC Supporters 'Won't Roll Over' Washington Times: Clinton's Backers: We Won't Roll Over!