http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/002-0593763-7135257?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Politically+INcorrect+Guide+to

There's some interesting books coming out of this series in which the authors defend some of the minority views on different issues.

The problem I'm having with the series is that even on issues I agree with, some of their arguments are really weak or (in my opinion) deceptive. Thus, I lose faith in the parts that I'm not as familiar with.

For instance, The Politically Incorrect Guide to global warming is interesting and as a skeptic of human produced CO2 caused global warming I'm sympathetic to the author's arguments. But I know that many of the arguments in the book are pretty iffy.

It gets much worse in another book in the series regarding Intelligent Design.  Look, Intelligent Design is not a theory. It's a hypothesis that simply says "This is all too complicated to have happened on its own therefore a magical super being must have done it." It's nonsense and most of the arguments it makes simply factually incorrect.

It's because of that that I am not likely to purchase the other books in the series, especially one issues that I agree with the premises of the book. I don't want to find myself regurgitating poorly researched data to other people.

I like to think that my opinions on issues are based on a rational exploration of the issue by learning as much on it as I can and then forming said opinion.  But if I can't trust the source on details I'm already knowledgeable on, I don't want to trust to the source on data I'm not familiar on.

If I could imagine the perfect on-line retailer it would have to be Amazon.com.  The only thing they're missing is some sort of iTunes-like manager for going through the store more quickly and making purchasing and getting to information better.

I find that even if I don't buy anything, the site is still incredibly interesting purely as a community.

I don't know about you but when I read car reviews in most car magazines I have to resist the urge to tear my eyes out. The reviews are so filled with a combination of over the top drooling or over the top petty contempt. 

I remember reading a review of the 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo in which the reviewer said the car didn't have enough animal passion.  What the hell does that mean?

So this year, I bought a Porsche 911 Turbo.  I've always wanted one but never thought I'd be able to get one, especially a new one.  15 years ago I was driving a 1984 Chevette.  Needless to say, I have a real appreciation for the quality differences in cars at different price levels.

I'm going to break this down into 4 categories:

1. Exterior
2. Performance and Handling
3. Interior
4. Overall

Exterior

Porsche 911s have a distinct look. It's one of the reasons why people get them. They just look awesome.  I had the opportunity to try out an Audi R8 and it's a great car but when you see it in person, the exterior just looks a bit odd.  The 911 Turbo just says class.

Performance and Handling

This is why you get a Porsche 911 Turbo right?  The performance is, of course, insane. The rated 0 to 60 is around 3.7 seconds. Good drivers can get it to 3.5 and some magazines have done it in 3.4.  I doubt I can do it in less than 4 seconds personally.  I'm just not good enough on a stick.  The Tiptronic (automatic) is supposedly slightly faster but on a sports car, I just prefer a stick.

It's not just how fast it goes, it's the handling. I've never driven a car that comes close to the kind of handling this car has.  It's just unbelievable how this car maneuvers.

That said, I find myself driving it slower than my "day car" the Jaguar S-type R. That's because the Jag is so sound proofed that you can be going very fast without feeling it.  In the Porsche, you know you're going fast. That awareness makes me drive it a bit slower.

Interior

The interior is where the Porsche does not shine. Technologically, the Porsche 911 Turbo for 2008 is primitive.  I can deal with not having an iPod interface but it doesn't even including an Aux input. There's no included Blue Tooth connection for cell phones. The GPS unit is crummy. The key has a tendency to unlock the door if it's in your pocket (the unlock/lock button is a freaking toggle button!). There's no options for remote start or anything resembling that.

It does, however, have a back seat that people can sit in for short amounts of time. This is actually a bit of a big deal in a pinch as well as for taking stuff with you.

The front trunk is kind of cool but relatively small.

But overall, I'd say the 911 Turbo's interior is unacceptably poor for a car of this price range. In addition, Porsche fanatics tend to scream that it's a sports car and shouldn't have those amenities. Please. The purists can get a GT2 or GT3 or whatever. The Turbo is supposed to be their super car that has a bit of everything.

Overall

Overall it's an awesome car. I might gripe about the interior but you don't buy a Porsche 911 Turbo so that you can have a nice touch screen GPS and there are plenty of after market solutions to deal with that. 

I love the 911 Turbo because it is a super car that still is somewhat practical. With its all-wheel drive and smart design, you can use this car as (gasp) a car. It's not just an expensive "look at me" toy like a Lamborghini or to a lesser extent a Ferrari.

Here are some pictures of it before the weather got nasty:

Dilbert author, Scott Adams, recently announced he would be blogging less and would no longer post about controversial topics. 

His rationale was that blogging produced little in tangible income but negative reaction to his controversial blogs had the potential to tangibly decrease his income from lost readership.

I can relate to that. I often will get an email from someone saying they'll never buy a product I'm associated with because I've offended them with one of my blogs.

But at the same time, I support people's right to talk with their dollars. If someone chooses not to read Dilbert anymore or buy something I make because we offended that person, that's their right.

To be clear: I think it's their right. I also think that the threshold for this sort of thing falls into the realm of idiocy pretty quickly.

There is a big difference, for instance, between a Hollywood celebrity making clueless remarks on politics that gets covered in the general media and someone posting on their own site. 

On the one hand, we create the celebrities in the first place and when they abuse their celebrity by making political statements designed to get media coverage then there's an inherent desire for people to reduce that person's celebrity.

By contrast, when I write about how I want to eat baby seals, I am writing it on my own blog that people voluntarily come and visit. Someone's voluntary purchase of some product I was involved in did not get redirected into having my views forced upon the world. 

Similarly, Scott Adams isn't using his fame to espouse particular points of view. He is writing it on his Typepad.com blog that people choose to visit.

That's why I don't have a problem with Rosie O'Donald posting on her blog site but had a big problem with her espousing her political opinions on The View.

If I started putting my controversial opinions into my products, then that would be pretty obnoxious.  But I don't do that.  I don't think Scott Adams does that either.

In short, I support someone's right to boycott a product because of the views of the creator but there's also a pretty good chance that the boycotter is an idiot who no one would want as a customer anyway.

If I had more free time (and I hope to acquire this free time in the future as my schedule lightens up in early 2010) I would like to make something that does this:

A device that you would connect to your main power box in your house and then sends a wireless signal to your PC telling you how much power your home is using in real-time.

This data could then be shared, in real-time with on the net to a friendly website that would display with graphs your monthly power usage and compare it to other people with similarly sized homes.

The closest thing I've found so far is this.  The price is about right but it doesn't quite do the things I'd like to do with it.

But I think there's be a market for a $99 product that lets people monitor their home power consumption and see how they can reduce it.

The problem with our governmental tax system in the United States is that it has slowly been morphed into a coercive charity organization.

Below is a chart of the 2007 federal budget courtesy of the CBO:

If you look closely, "health" and "income security" (not to be confused with social security) now make up 25% of our budget and grow year after year.

Those programs are essentially government charity programs in which we take from one person to give to another.

Here's where the problem comes in: We have a progressive tax system.  In a society where 10% pay most of the taxes, it creates an incentive for politicians to pander to the remaining 90% for more free goodies.

If you are robbing Peter to pay Paul you can always count on the support of Paul.

What I would propose would be a system in which we maintain the progressive tax structure for governmental services (defense, education, roads, EPA, courts, federal police, etc.) but have a per taxpayer tax to cover the rest.

That is, if people really support having the government provide health care insurance for other people's children, then they shouldn't mind paying correspondingly more in taxes to pay for it.

In our present system, people can show their "compassion" for supporting programs like universal health care because, deep down, they know that only 10% (i.e. not them) will be paying for nearly all the bill.

In this system, people would finally start to see some consequences for the programs they support so earnestly.

A look back

Exactly one year ago, I wrote an article about how Stardock failed the skinning community.  It outlined 4 key issues that needed to be addressed this year.  So how did we do?

Challenge #1: Make it easier to create "stuff" for our software

This past year we saw the development of SkinStudio 6. A complete rewrite of SkinStudio from scratch.  It's still not quite done but it's in usable form and skinners seem to really like the direction it's going. 

In addition, the WinCustomize Wiki (wiki.wincustomize.com) project was begun this year to make it easier for skinners to learn about this stuff.  It's still in its infancy but it's a step in the right direction.

But overall, documentation has not substantially improved.  Stardock has brought on a dedicated technical writer to begin addressing this issue more thoroughly.

In summary, a lot of progress has been made but there is a lot more that still needs to be done.

Challenge #2: Organize support for Skinners

I don't think any real progress was made here.  DesktopX 3.5 is still in beta due to problems with Windows Vista SP1 compatibility.  Microsoft has taken a beating this past year with Windows Vista and a lot of it is pretty deserved.  They crippled a lot of software with their "security" initiatives.  As a result, a lot of things got delayed far longer than we expected.  Windows Vista has not been kind to the shell communities.

The challenge of having dedicated people working with the skinning community is a simple lack of funding.  The kind of support we envision for skinners is expensive.

Challenge #3: Get more involved in the community

Zubaz, a leader in the community, has helped out quite a bit. Island Dog has been making lots of good articles. And Stardock support is more present on the forums.  I have increased my presence too this year and have been pretty brutal at times in coming in and squashing exclusionary cliques. So I would imagine some people may wish I wasn't as involved as I was.  I plan to increase my presence further this next year as my other projects clear up some.

I am not sure if enough has been done though in this area. What are your thoughts?

Challenge #4: Lead by example

This is one area I think we have been pretty successful with.  Stardock Design has come out with a lot of stuff this past year. Nearly 40 skins of various categories were released this past year.  From DeskScapes animated wallpapers (Dreams), WindowBlinds skins, Sound Packages, gadgets, and so on.

In 2008, this will get a lot better as things really only started getting going in the latter half of the year. The big issue that needed (and still needs) to be resolved is showing off what can be done to serve as an example to others.  I think this has been pretty successful.  Even if you don't use SoundPackager (you should at least try it out) the fact that it was released with several sound packages provided by Stardock Design is a major break with the past where Stardock would simply throw a new piece of tech out there and hope people made stuff for it.

Similarly, WindowBlinds 6 shipped with several brand new skins. This was a marked contrast with the past where Stardock simply bundled popular skins from the community.

For Next Year...

So what does Stardock need to do next year for skinning?  Here's my list:

Resolution #1: More freely available skins from Stardock Design.  We have Aero Executive, Aero Graphite, and Elegance nearly ready to go. We had intended to release Elegance before the break but there are a couple of little buglets that need to be fixed first.  But overall, there needs to be more examples of how to do X from Stardock Design.  I think Stardock Design did well with the Dreams (animated wallpapers). This pattern needs to be followed into other areas.

Resolution #2: A new GUI Championships. We need to have another multi-site contest. Windows Vista will be mature and so will the software.  The contest needs to have more promotion than last time and have more forewarning.

Resolution #3: More documentation. We're trying in this area but it's difficult to do good documentation. Especially at the price points a lot of this software is.  The tough reality is that if we want to provide more services to customers, the price of the software is going to have to go up to cover it. I.e. If we bring in a full time technical writer dedicated to writing tutorials, manuals, documentations, user guides, etc. then that salary has to be paid for somehow.

Resolution #4: More polish on tools. You've hopefully seen that the over polish quality of Stardock's software has significantly improved this year.  Whether it be WindowBlinds 6, TweakVista, SoundPackager or CursorFX, there's been a significant level of polished brought here.  Similarly, SkinStudio 6 is quite polished and we'll be attempting to do the same with DesktopX going forward too.  The idea is to try to broaden the appeal of these things.

But if there are things you'd like to see us concentrate instead, comment below and let us know.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Before we headed out for Christmas break, we wanted to get a new Dark Avatar update out there since there were a couple of bugs introduced in the last update that were annoying us all. 1.8G fixes a Metaverse submission bug, a pathfinding bug, a typo, and a possible memory leak.

We also updated the beta of Twilight of the Arnor this week. We didn't add the Thalan or the Altarians as they are simply much more ambitious in some respects than what we've done so far. Over the holidays the AI and balancing we start being implemented to a much higher degree along with more fleshing out of all the civilizations.

Also, we've got some good news.  GameSpy rated Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar as the 6th best game released last year (all platforms).  It was also a finalist for strategy game of the year from G4's XPlay TV show and is a finalist for user choice "strategy game of the year" over at Gamespot (though user vote things tend to reflect sales and turn based 4X strategy games don't tend to have the user base as RPGs and such).

We hope you all have a great Christmas and happy New Year.  I'll be around if anyone has any questions and will be writing journal entries as I work on the AI.

Cheers

-Brad Wardell (aka Frogboy & Draginol)

As the end of the year approaches, I decided to take a look at my schedule for the past year.  For the past 51 weeks, I've averaged working 56 hours per week. If it weren't for my summer vacation, it would have been a higher average.  Assuming that average will hold for the last week (and it will despite it being the holidays) I worked 2912 hours last year give or take an hour or two. 

If you divide that by 8, which is the number of hours a normal American works and I worked 364 work days (or in other words, I worked the equivalent of every day but Christmas).

Virtually all my income is taxed at 35% federal. My state taxes are about 4%. And everything I buy is taxed with a 6% sales tax.  I also have property taxes, gas taxes, and taxes I am largely unaware of.

All told, about 47% of what I make ends up being taken by the government in some form.

Put another way, I worked for the government 171 normal work days.  Or, until the end of August I was a slave to the government.

And yet, there are some people that argue that I should work even more for the government. That I'm not doing my "fair share".  That because I work hard and work long hours, I can thus afford to work more of those hours so that other people's family, rather than my own family, can benefit from my labor.

Nobody forces me to work. This is the retort of the left. And they're right. Nobody does force me to work. That's something they should remember. They should also consider the consequences if people like me don't work when they start demanding that I pull their weight even further.  Some of them might say that if I quit, someone else would step into my place. History has demonstrated that to not be the case.

When people demand that "the government" provide services, ask yourself this: Would you, personally, be willing to work more hours for the government for that service?  Would you be willing to work from January to September for the government to support those services?  Because when the "government" gives out goodies to individuals, they do so by confiscating the fruits of another person's labor.

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar is up for Best expansion pack of the year at Gamespot.

Users are allowed to chime in with their 2 cents on the matter. See the link below to check it out!