Captain Digital

Random musings on politics, society, and pop culture from the Internet's marketing curmudgeon.

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Archives for 2009

Friends, Roamings, Countrymen…lend me your ear(bud)s.

I’m still finding out cool stuff about my new iPhone. This morning, I discovered that the alarms are REALLY LOUD. I mean REALLY loud. Especially when compared with my former phone, the Wagon Queen Family Truckster (a.k.a. Windoze Mobile Sprint/HTC Mogul).

Even better, no more special adapter just to use headphones. Of course, the earbuds that come with the iPhone work…but they aren’t noise-cancelling, nor do they fit in my ears well enough to really generate the best sound, say, when I’m in a car. With the top down. And doors off. Nope. I need to score myself some noise-cancelling earbuds with built-in mic, preferably ones that block wind noise on the mic side. [Read more…] about Friends, Roamings, Countrymen…lend me your ear(bud)s.

4…3…2…1…We have (iPhone) liftoff…

Believe it or not (and I’m not sure I do, yet) I’m now the proud owner of a brand-new 32GB iPhone 3G s.

Pause with me for a nanosecond, whilst I let that sink in.

In one fell swoop, I can retire my Wagon Queen Family Truckster® (a.k.a.: “Windows Mobile/Sprint HTC Mogul”) crapalicious excuse for a cell phone. Being a card-carrying propellerhead, I’m still in the process of exploring what all my new phone can do (i.e.: jacking with all the configuration options, configuring ringtones, et cetera). It may be a couple of days before I’m ready to stop jacking with it, and allowing it to become the business tool I need. But I’ll enjoy working on it in the meantime. [Read more…] about 4…3…2…1…We have (iPhone) liftoff…

Hacked!

I hate hackers.

If I were king of the world, morons that get their jollies by stealing passwords, infecting sites with malware, defacing sites, and any other kind of mischief, would get the death penalty. No appeals. No delays. We’d string ’em up, preferably in public, with mandatory coverage by the networks. (Obviously, the networks are acquainted with mandatory programming – they cover every Obama presser, so they shouldn’t have a problem with a sensational, money-maker like a public execution.)

About a week ago, a client notified me that there was a problem with one of the sites I host for them. I assumed – at first – that the malicious JavaScript code that had been added to their index page without permission was an isolated incident.

Not so fast. [Read more…] about Hacked!

A Guide to Making Apologies.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you might have heard about the current troubles of David Letterman, and his serial apologies he’s made regarding the “joke”(s) he told regarding Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin and her daughters. Last night, Letterman made yet again another attempt at contrition. Color me “unimpressed.” You see, when you apologize, there are a couple of things you must do – and at least one that you must not do:

  1. Say “I’m sorry.”
  2. Say “I was wrong.”
  3. Say “It’s my fault…I accept responsibility for the mistake.”
  4. Say “I beg your forgiveness.”
  5. Say “I will do my best to do better, and not make the same mistake again.”
  6. Do NOT say “I’m sorry, but…” and then go on to offer any excuse.

When you offer an excuse, you’re essentially saying “what I did wasn’t that bad,” “it wasn’t really my fault,” or other weasel-words that attempt to deflect responsibility. [Read more…] about A Guide to Making Apologies.

Frame of Reference.

Something dawned on me the other day. I was talking with a friend last night and brought this up, and when I’d explained my point, he said that he’d never thought of things in that way before, and it was an idea that explained a lot. Now I’d like to share it with you.

Few people are alive today that are old enough to remember what life was like in America before Progressivism changed our country, and therefore it’s difficult to appreciate the difference in the way things were before, say 1920, and now.

Think about that for a minute. I was born in the late 50s, and grew up in the 60s and 70s. I have never known a time when Senators were appointed by State legislatures. I’ve never known a time without the IRS. As long as I’ve been politically aware, we’ve had Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, et cetera. In short, every year I’ve lived on this Earth, the United States has existed under a Federal government that is perceived as all-powerful, with the perception that the States report to/work for the Feds, and the people essentially work for the government.

Talk about bassakwards. [Read more…] about Frame of Reference.

The Origins of the Feces.

Everybody’s wired differently. Some people just want the facts. Others, like me, want to know what caused things. For me, it’s not enough to know what’s going on…I want to know how we got here.

If you’re a Glenn Beck listener (and if you’re not, you should be) he’s identified the Progressive Movement of the early 20th Century as the point at which politicians began remaking our government and diverting it away from our core Constitutional principles (essentially, the smallest government possible to do the job) to one that features Big Government, Big Taxes, and a trend towards treating the Constitution as a quaint document that really has little bearing on life today. [Read more…] about The Origins of the Feces.

Hey, Letterman…didn’t you used to be funny?

The (only) funny thing about the jokes made by David Letterman at the expense of Governor Sarah Palin is that they make laughable the claims of those on the left, that the media – both the news media and the entertainment business – is unbiased. Imagine the outcry if, say some “comedian” made some similarly tasteless remark about one of Obama’s daughters. I don’t think anybody on the right would be laughing. And I know the reaction of those on the left – outrage, anger, and a call for the guilty party to be imprisoned or shot.

That’s the way life goes in the ObamaNation. Understand, I’m NOT blaming Obama for Letterman’s behavior. (He has plenty to atone for on his own.) Sarah Palin is a public figure. While I believe the “jokes” Letterman regaled his audience with were disgusting, Gov. Palin is well able to defend herself. Her daughter, however, is NOT a public figure, nor should she be subjected to the kind of vile crap that Letterman spews. [Read more…] about Hey, Letterman…didn’t you used to be funny?

iPhone 3GS: the missing features.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of the iPhone 3GS for some time now, and I’ve been keeping up with the fanboy and rumor sites, trying to gleen any crumb of info to help make the wait bearable. After yesterday’s announcement, I’m still eagerly awaiting the ship date (and plan to buy one that day), but I can’t help but wonder what happened to some of the rumored features, specifically: [Read more…] about iPhone 3GS: the missing features.

Crass commercialism rears it’s ugly head.

Okay. If you’re a reader of this blog for any length of time, you know I’m a marketing guy. I have two (main) blogs – this one, where I wax rhapsodic on politics and pop culture, and blog.grokmedia.com, where I opine on all things marketing. For the last few months, I’ve been running a little experiment on my grok blog, with AdSense, just to see what kind of money I could pull in by running ads. The results are in…and while I’m not getting rich (I wish) on the ad revenues, it does, at least, pay my hosting fees. Coolness. So I’ve added ads here on this blog. As I have absolutely NO idea (and little control) over what ads appear on the site, there is ZERO chance that my opinions will be compromised by the ad content. (I suppose everybody has their price. Mine is a chalet in the Swiss Alps.)

So, CaptainDigital.net enters the arena of ad-supported blogging.

Enjoy.

The first thing you do, is to stop digging.

That’s the advice my father gave to me, when I first found myself in debt up to my eyeballs. I thought he simply didn’t understand. I explained, as patiently as I could, that things like cable TV and renting videos were necessities – not luxuries. I explained how I simply needed more money, and since I worked for him, it was his responsibility to pay me more so I could maintain my standard of living.

He patiently explained that “when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you do is to stop digging.” There’s no way to spend yourself out of debt. I learned the truth of that, unfortunately, the hard way. “Making do” became a part of my vocabulary, just as “discretionary income” and “charge it” became a thing of the past.

Here’s the problem…when it’s just you – or you, your wife, and your kids – it’s not that difficult to get everybody on board the “let’s watch every penny” train. When you’re a nation, not so much, if only because a lot of the people that are the beneficiaries of “tax and spend” policies vote. [Read more…] about The first thing you do, is to stop digging.