Under a Gibbous Moon

Not sure that’s a real word. Watch and then discuss. (Warning, gets vulgar near the end)

This is what I find so interesting as technology as a fashion item. Technology is supposed to do something useful effectively but once it becomes a fashion statement, the purpose becomes divorced from reality.

My personal favorite is Apple’s iPad. Tablets have been on the market for some ten years. People owned them, people loved them but they remained a niche product. Suddenly Apple makes a tablet and everyone wants one. What I find interesting is that it is more expensive than a netbook and yet less capable in nearly all respects. It is cheaper than many of the older tablets that I have seen but, once again, is far less capable.

Apple makes good products, I don’t think that anyone is going to argue with that, but for many people, it is not whether or not the product is what they need or what is the best but merely that it is Apple.

I think that this is a dangerous attitude because it lowers the bar. People are willing to accept less and therefore the drive for better is dampened. Sure, the iPhone was a game changer when it was released but its days of technological domination are (currently) over and have been for some time.

The reason for this is simple, Steve Jobs could release shit on a shingle, call it the iPhone 5 and he would still sell millions of them. Notice one of the big selling points was its redesigned case. Yes it’s pretty it doesn’t do you a damn bit of good when the phone doesn’t get reception unless you hold it just right.

Hat Tip: Phandroid

Iain Burke is just that. It takes a certain amount of narcissism to take the time to accuse someone of “ripping off your work” when all you did is take the Sherwin Williams logo and add color in the first place. You sir, are a fucking twit. You are one of the people that is wrong with this country. If you want to claim originality of the piece, at least have the decency to re-draw a similar picture of Sherwin Williams “cover the earth” logo and call it yours. Don’t just photoshop out the name and call it yours. The BP version that is all over the net was posted for humor, not orginality. This is unlike your fraudulent attempt at “art”. Make the world a better place. You want alternative fuel sources. Kill yourself and burn the body. Even better, two birds with one stone. Just throw yourself in a fire you worthless bitch.

This weekend I competed in this years ADFPF National Championships. It was held in the university rec center in Columbia, Missouri. It was a nice facility with plenty of room for spectators. The meet was run fairly quickly and as smoothly as can be expected for a meet with about 70 lifters. Everybody put in a lot of work to pull this off and I thank them for their efforts.

The warm-up room was the rec center’s weight room, so it was very well supplied. I competed in the equipped division which is single-ply. I was in the 145 kg division and weighed in at 142 kg.

Squats

1st- 305 kg -good 673 lbs
2nd-325 kg -good 717 lbs
3rd- 340 kg -good 750 lbs

Squats went well and were pretty fast and relatively easy. For some reason, all three felt like 8 tons to unrack but once I did that it felt normal. I had more in me, but it was a 20 kg meet pr, so I can’t complain.

I want to extend a special thank-you to Tayler Epperson for his help with my squat suit.

Bench

1st- 220 kg -good 485 lbs
2nd-250 kg -bad 551 lbs
3rd- 250 kg -bad 551 lbs

I have been having a little trouble with my bench for a while and it is really been hard to pull that piece in on meet day. I lowered my anticipated opener 10 kg to secure my squat. I screwed up my technique twice for my 2nd and 3rd. First time I moved too high too fast and started to lose it towards my face. Next time I over compensated and didn’t move up at all initially and I started to lose it toward my belly but pulled it back, but by then I stalled half way up. Done this weight many times in the gym without a hitch, but that’s how things go.

I want to put out a special thank-you to Tim Piper for doing my hand-offs and helping me to switch shirts. You did a fantastic job.

Deadlift

1st- 300 kg -good 661 lbs
2nd-320 kg -good 705 lbs
3rd- 330 kg -good 727 lbs

The 3rd was a 5 kg meet pr. It went up surprisingly fast for the beating I took on squats already. I probably could have gotten 5 kg more, but a pr is a pr. Tore both hands too. I don’t deadlift in training, so it’s a little much for them.

Total 890 kg or 1,963 lbs. Also a meet pr. I was really gunning for 2,000+ lbs that day, but my bench failure cost me that. I ended up getting 1st in my weight class and was just edged out for the overall by formula. Bench cost me that too. Next time. Total is moving up, but I have not got a 500+ bench in at a meet in almost a year and a half and that really burns me.

A IBM 350 hard disk from 1956.

I can’t find a weight on it, but it looks at least as much as a fridge. The twenty-nine inch platters spun at a blistering 1,200 rpm and it held a whole 5 MB. Makes the 5.25 floppies look efficient.

Hat Tip: BoingBoing

Commenter Mike pointed me to this ad by Opencarry.org in opposition to  California Assembly Bill 1934.

If you live in California go an contact your representative and sign the petition.