Backseat Disc Driving
Topic: Technology
Wanna take Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz for a drive? Realizing that dream is just an Audiovox D1020 Portable AC/DC 10" LCD TV/DVD Player and a copy of Charlie's Angels away. (Charlie's Angels II will also work, if you have no other choice.) With its 10" LCD screen in native 16:9, the D1020 player refuses to sacrifice entertainment in the name of mobility. The built-in DVD player and TV tuner provide the content, your car lighter or any AC outlet in your home provides the power through the AC/DC adapters, and you provide the eyeballs. Oh, and the earballs: it includes two detachable external speakers, two pairs of wireless headphones, and a wireless FM modulator, for your listening pleasure. While the D1020 is perfectly content entertaining you at home while sitting on the kitchen counter or on your nightstand - you should try strapping it to the back of one of your vehicle's seats with the included mounting kit. The D120's biggest influences are Henry Winkler and Marky Ramone, so of course it wears its black-leather harness with pride. You could probably strap it to your steering wheel, but you really shouldn't.

X-Trail! X-Trail! See All About It!
Topic: Technology
Sadly, many of us never get to know our neighbors. We dash from our cars to our front doors without giving a thought to those around us. But it’s amazing what you can learn about your neighbors when you just take the time to conceal yourself in some shrubbery and observe. And that goes double when you’re armed with the Barska 20?50 WA X-Trail Binoculars.

With a wide-angle field of view and 20x magnification, you’ll be able to see exactly what your neighbors are up to, particularly those who leave their drapes ajar. What’s that guy across the street snorting off of his kitchen table? Every time the meter-reader stops by Mrs. Warnock’s house, he’s there for at least two hours – what can he possibly be doing? You’ll learn the answers to these questions and more in delicious detail, through the Barska X-Trail’s multi-coated ruby lens.

From afar, your neighbors might seem like excruciatingly dull non-entities – but peer deeply into their lives and you’lll see that each one has his or her own peculiar story, his or her own unique heartbreaks and triumphs. Once you get to know your neighbors with the Barska 20?50 WA X-Trail Binoculars, you might even decide to move.

The Massacre at Tiananmen Square
Topic: Politics
June 4th, 2006 marks the 17th anniversary of the Massacre at Tiananmen Square. Students and intellectuals held demonstrations at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 4th, 1989, protesting (and rightly so) that the Communist Party of China (CPC) was too corrupt and repressive. The Chinese government reported only 23 civilians casualties, although local hospitals reported an initial casualty number of 2000. The Chinese Red Cross estimated civillian deaths at 2600. Injuries from the massacre range between 7,000 - 10,000. From Wikipedia:

Following the violence, the government conducted widespread arrests to suppress the remaining supporters of the movement, banned the foreign press and strictly controlled coverage of the events in the Chinese press. The violent suppression of the Tiananmen Square protest caused widespread international condemnation of the PRC government.

Sadly, even today the Chinese government falls just short of completely denying that this incident ever occurred. Public commemorations and observances of the incident are forbidden everywhere in China, except for in Hong Kong. Despite the rain, tens of thousands of pro-democracy supporters held a candlelight vigil covering four soccer fields. I took a screenshot of today's homepage of the People's Daily, the main government-run newspaper agency. You will notice that there is no mention of Tiananmen Square whatsoever. (To view the screenshot, please click the "Click here to post comments" link below). From Yahoo! News:

After dawn, a group of tourists tried to open a banner while posing for a photo, catching the attention of police, who quickly forced them to put the nonpolitical material away.

What will the future hold? Looking at the current track record, more of the same repressive, anti-democratic attitudes demonstrated by the CPC. Keep in mind that these were tourists in a public place, posing to take a picture while holding a nonpolitical banner. Oh the danger they pose to the stability of the CPC, which have been in power of China since 1949 - that's 57 straight years. Well I don't care much for the CPC or its stability, fiat justitia, ruat caelum.

Help Me, MXL-581, You?re My Only Hope
Topic: Technology
Help! Help! Can anyone out there hear me? Oh, God, please, please, somebody help! I’m a media file and I’m trapped inside your PC! And there are thousands more of us in here! Please, if you can hear me, please connect the PC to a ADS MXL-581 Media-Link Entertainment Receiver! Hurry! We don’t have much time! With the MXL-581 receiver, we can finally escape the suffocating confines of your hard drive. Just connect it to either your 802.11g wireless or wired Ethernet networks and to your home entertainment system. In seconds, us media files will be free at last! Video files can play in the free, open spaces of your TV. Music files can finally roar through your home stereo speakers in all our glory. Never again will you have to gather around the computer desk to look at digital photos or listen to Internet radio! It supports MPEG-1/MPEG-2/MPEG-4 video formats, MPEG Audio layer 1 & 2/MP3/WMA audio formats, and PEG/BMP/GIF/PNG graphic formats. More importantly, it supports file freedom! But please, hurry! Already, some of the weaker JPGs are starting to have trouble breathing, and the more pessimistic MPEGs are starting to write goodbye letters to their families on the outside. We desperatly need someone to come to our rescue – someone with a ADS MXL-581 Media-Link Entertainment Receiver!