Telling it like it is

I got a new credit card in the mail today - unexpectedly. It was to replace a still-active card I have. Citi had registered my card being used (by me) at a store, hotel or restaurant (not sure which) which is known to have had their customer merchant database stolen. So Citi closed my old card and account to prevent potential fraud, and opened a new one with a new number automatically. Nice one.

I guess McCain showed his true colours today as a protester at the RNC was forcefully removed. That pesky 'freedom of speech' thing again. You can tell it really pisses off the Republicans.

A couple of pics from my trip to the NASA facility in California. The first is Hangar One - one of the three original airship hangars at Moffett field. It's piggin' huge. This was a sign in the hotel where I stayed, which I just thought was funny because it was so verbose.

Track and artist(e) please :-) ♫ I miss the way You stop my tears.. The way You used to hold me... Baby Baby please.. Give me one more chance.. Shine Your light on me... I'm the only one who really loved You.. Put Your faith in me.. I can give You anything You need.. ♫

I've downloaded a copy of Google Chrome to see how it fares. It's nice - streamlined - has some nice features. But there's a problem. There's no way to block ads in it. That means no Adblock, or any other plugins. Given that Google is an advertising-driven company, I reckon that means those features will never happen. Which is a shame, because Chrome is actually quite nice to use. But until they give me the ability to block ads, I'm sticking with Firefox. Google Chrome Beta

Ok so in between the chips, the apple pie, the coffee and the hash, it's hard to imagine a Dutch spy service. Having lived there I find it even more amusing, but even so... America about to bomb Iran? I blogged about this before, and I think that it's still likely that America will coerce Israel into attacking Iran on their behalf. Isreal attacks Iran on the US's behalf.

Until today, United Airlines was about to press ahead with their latest plan to turn their aircraft into flying concentration camps. They were going to stop serving hot meals on transatlantic flights. Apparently they received a lot of "feedback" and decided not to go ahead with it. I wonder what that means? Clearly they're still going to find someway of making the already miserable flying experience just that little bit worse. More seats? Less legroom? Charging for space in the overhead bins. Hey - now there's an idea - if your carry-on won't fit under the seat in front, you can purchase space in the overhead bins. Better still - charge for seats! Wicked. Make the front of the plane like a Bangladesh bus where you have to stand nose-to-armpit with some 500 kilo Texan woman wearing spandex and stuffing hamburgers into her face whilst the grease runs down her chubby arms, and then charge extra if you want to sit down. United to keep serving hot food

WTF? I just upgraded iTunes and it's installed something alongside called MobileMe. I didn't ask for that. It's a bitch to uninstall too - it doesn't show up in add/remove programs. You've got to go to Apple Mobile Device Support and delete it there instead. 43.8Mb too. That would explain why the iTunes update was over 70Mb. Most of it was this thing. It's obviously not critical because it uninstalled without needing a reboot - almost unheard of in Winblows. I don't have an iPhone. I don't want an iPhone. And I certainly don't want Mobile Me (whatever it is). That makes Apple as bad as Microsoft as far as I'm concerned. Installing sneakware without bothering to tell me. I believe there's a word for that : Trojan.

We should watch monday and tuesday very carefully - we could witness a pivotal moment in history. There is a possibility that Gustav is going to wipe New Orleans from the face of the planet in terms of being a habitable city. The storm surge prediction is 15ft, and NOAA think it's going to be a cat 4 and possibly a cat 5 by the time it makes landfall. The current best guess has it running just south of New Orleans. Now given that they've not repaired many (any?) of the levies, not put in proper flood protection, not built houses on stilts or done any of the number of other things that should have happened in the last three years since Katrina, my guess is nature is going to reclaim that place. Storm surge prediction :