Today's Cross-Channel Vraxxism

Cloud: i dun like the stiff ones..

Sometimes, things just make you go hm....
Cloud is actually a nice guy, leave it to Vraxxisms Live to make him seem.. um... strange.

Serious Moment: Racing at the right time and place

Honolulu Advertiser Article

Rarely ever do I try to post something serious but in this case I feel compelled to voice my opinion. I understand the thrill of putting your foot to the floor and having your car surge forward. Pushing things, be they mechanical or psychological, to their limit is the very heart of racing. However like all things there needs to be temperance. Street racing's allure is often glamorous be it in anime or movies. Between Initial D and Fast and the Furious there's no want for thrilling footage of cars burning rubber and taking turns at high speed. Don't forget however, that's the movies.

In real life there are consequences. You don't get to yell cut when your car drifts outside of the usable line and you go smashing into a guard rail. There's no medical team waiting on the shoulder for a street racer to plow into a divider. It isn't as if there aren't track facilities out there in Hawaii, we just seem to be short on them. Hawaii Raceway Park has been around for decades and unfortunately this latest incident is exactly what park owner Mike Oakland alluded to in this post. Should HRP indeed close I'm sure other drivers will agree, this sort of thing is going to become more common.

The freeways are not race tracks. There's only so much you can push on a public road. With the chances high that road conditions are poor and innocent bystanders could be hurt, I stress to everyone. If you're a racing enthusiast, a ricer, or anything in between, please know when to throw down. Support the efforts to build a new track facility and be safe.

Lone hibicus (I think) 

One of the Arboretum's caretakers happened to have a rather playful dog (woof) 

Dunno why i just thought this flower looked tired. Much like myself on this hike (whew) 

A peaceful looking flower cluster at the Lyon Arboretum near Tantalus (Honolulu, HI) 

From the Glaringly Obvious Dept: Adobe beats targets for Q4 The Register

Thought I'd chime in here as someone who has had to pay full sticker for Adobe products.
This shouldn't come as a surprise, having acquired most of their library long ago and now adding Macromedia's assets Adobe is certainly one of the powerhouse players in the software industry. Yet I can't help but laugh at the fact that while they were ahead of the game this quarter they are expecting difficulties in the future. My stance, how about lowering the pricing model a little?

Let's face facts, if the price of Adobe's software keeps going up at this rate they'll have priced themselves out of existence. Don't misunderstand I believe Adobe has some great applications (PhotoShop, Illustrator and technically now Dreamweaver) but considering the dev-life cycle I can see how the up and coming photographer or graphic artist is going to have sticker shock every time they need to upgrade.

If I had my way I'd look to Adobe to create a middle tier pricing schema. But hey since when has the industry ever done anything according to my ideology.

Some Things Are Just Better Analog

Audiophiles will no doubt agree with the title of this article but that isn't the thrust of this blog-post. I recently purchased a few hardcover books and in speaking with the sales clerk realized just how few hardcovers are sold these days. While I may work in a digital world I feel there are certain instances where a solid, well bound book still dominates.

Though I am a strong supporter of general docs being presented in digital formats such as PDF, certain types of text just don't work for me unless I'm reading it on a printed page. Technical training manuals (like any programming text from O'Reilly), good quality science fiction or fantasy and journals simply need the human touch. Owing perhaps to the fact that I doubt anyone likes reading the same content for a prolonged period of time on a web page can be tiring. People simply lose focus. For technical resources the option of highlights and comments in the margins is something that no matter how advance the tool, PDF docs just don't capture very well.

So please, if you support books and feel of hardcover stories, go out there and buy stuff. Happy Holidays.

X-Mas Cheer (With a twist)

Let it never be said that I don't have any Christmas Spirit

Lyrics:
CT's roasting on an open fire
Deagles nipping at your nose
Although it's been said, many times many ways... WTF man!
Flash bang

Happy Holidays Everyone

Fate pwnage!

I admit, I am a workaholic. But sometimes even I can't tempt the hand of fate.

<Vraxx|Work> fine if someone beats my dice roll I will take a half day
<Vraxx|Work> !d 20
<ChanServ> Vraxx|Work: A 1 shows on the 20-sided die.
<Vraxx|Work> well fuck...
<Squibby> !d 20
<ChanServ> Squibby: A 18 shows on the 20-sided die.
<Miyazawa> !d 20
<ChanServ> Miyazawa: A 20 shows on the 20-sided die.
<Squibby> ...
<Vraxx|Work> ok yes, i get it :P