I just realized I have about 75 applications installed on my iPhone... and, on a good day, I use 4. Maybe. At best.

So, starting next week, I will be eliminating a few apps a week in something I call...

I'll likely eliminate applications randomly, until I get 'em down to a manageable size. I will also be only going through my free apps, which is everything but Super Monkey Ball. I will relinquish Super Monkey Ball after I am beaten to death with a wooden cooking spoon.

After the break, the iPhone App Survivor! scorecard. Follow along at home, and bask in the super-nerdism!
Read On!

According to GamePolitics.com, you've signed a bill into law that calls for a study to determine the link between violence and video games, requires video game consoles to have mandatory parental locks by 2010 and all games sold at retail to clearly display the rating that it has been granted by the ESRB.

Or, as people who can actually read call it, "crap that has already happened." I mean, I know you're blind and all, but did you really feel the need to prove it by signing something that a quick Google search could have told you was freakin' useless, anyway?

Look, I know you and your government buddies feel the need to "protect the children." It's the freakin' mantra of the country, "think of the children." You know what I say? Protect the children from parents who feel they have no responsibility to ensure their children aren't playing games where you're running over hookers you just slept with to regain health-points so you don't have to pay 'em. Where's the bill requiring that?

Let's face it, you and your political stooges are only going to go after the games that are popular to target; the Grand Theft Autos of the world, maybe a Doom here and there. And I get it, there are people who use those games as an excuse to be idiotic in real life, so of course you gotta look like you're doing something, right?

But think for a second (something I'm not sure any politician stops to do anymore): where does it stop? A plumber claiming they stepped on a turtle because Super Mario does it? People trying to throw balls at buildings, causing vandalism, all because of Brick Breaker? Michael Vick getting off on appeal because he thought dog fighting was okay since you can sick animals on each other while playing Pokemon?

Let's face it, we're building a country that continually pushes the blame for its citizen's actions on someone else, and this law is only going to help with that. And I think you're all a bunch of tools for it.

Can people stop typing in LOLCat when they are not, in fact, creating a picture for ICanHazCheezeburger?

This rule does not apply when wearing this shirt. Thank you for your consideration.

Over the weekend, The Dark Knight came out. To say it's the greatest movie ever may be an exaggeration...

...but not by much. I may or may not write a review after I see it again, but if you haven't seen it yet, for the love of all things awesome, go. Now. Seriously, call out of work and get it done.

...now that this site comes up as the #1 result if you search for 'ed thomas' on Google.

I can die slightly more content than usual.

Although I don't have a new iPhone (with the 2.0 software working on my iPhone: Original Recipe, I don't see the point), I did go stand on line for almost 8 hours with my friend Zubair to get him one. I took the time to try out a few applications I had downloaded for my iPhone the day before, one of which being Kyte Producer, which allows you to broadcast photos from your iPhone for some sort of Flash-based slideshow o' swank from their website.

Anyway, here's the whopping 4 pictures I took in my 8 hours on line. Enjoy!

...hit a few dozen hiccups on the way.

Relaunch after I work those out. Stupid universe...

One of the biggest problems that I have with the internet is that I'm afraid of leaving comments on other people's blogs when I don't know them.

Okay, maybe "afraid" isn't the right word... "Apprehensive," maybe, or "overly cautious," but not really "afraid."

My problem tends to be that the way that I write conversationally is the same way I speak; however, if you speak to me for the first time and I'm not actively thinking of the "right way" to say something, I can come off as something of a douche bag. And, if the person doesn't even have the benefit of seeing me, or hearing me, to tell that I'm not a total piece of crap, they'll just assume that I am. Hence, why I don't comment on websites.

Recently, Justine, Darling Of The Internet^™ had a post about an error message she sent to Apple about a kernel crash, referencing the John Mayer iTunes Crash Report incident. It was an amusing post, as just about everything she writes is, and I decided to check out the comments.

Mistake numero uno.

I get through the silliness (which mercifully doesn't involve any "Golly, yer so purty!" bits like this guy... Personally, I'd get kinda weird-ed out if I got a comment like that from a random stranger. Then again, I'm not the sort that would get that sort of comment, so I can't really be objective, I guess.), and we get to the last three posts, which are the following:

Victor:

A Ethical Hacking course wouldn’t kill a few people and they’re very informative.

“I love the fact that the mac os is built on a linux shell.”

Wasn’t it built on the Unix shell? I haven’t coded in Cocoa that much, or fooled with the MAC OS much lately, but I always remember the MAC OS being built on the Unix shell. There’s also something else, that should be mentioned, but it would require going in-depth on it.

People seem to think a lot, that Unix is Linux, but it actually isn’t. So if someone hacked Linux, that wouldn’t mean they could hack the MAC OS and vice versa. Apples and Oranges.

Alright, a little snippy, but nothing too bad. Then, EdgarJensen responds:

Linux and unix are same dam thing. If you know unix then you know linux. Mac is built on Solaris which is a flavor of unix. All the commands are basically the same.

Well, this is silly, in that Linux is an acronym for "Linux Is Not Unix," so, no, it's not the same "dam thing." Easy, quick, and to the point.

But, Victor decided to come back with something a little more involved, sadly:

I’m not a MAC programmer. But I knew I never heard anyone say, it’s built on Linux, like you said earlier and I’ve never seen it anywhere. I’ve never even heard of it being built on Solaris, or seen it anywhere. Maybe you’re referring to older MAC OS’s, but that wouldn’t be relevant to today’s OS, which you were referring to.

Unix is NOT Linux. Google is your friend, so please use it. Linux is “like” Unix, but if you think Linux is Unix..

Being similar to something, does not equate to being the “same “damn” thing.” Programmers don’t call something the “same thing,” because it’s “like” something else. That’s going off of your personal use and not the actual history, or facts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix-like

Programmers are often times too specific, but Unix, Unix-like, and UNIX aren’t the same.

Between some factual inaccuracies and his general mean-spirits, I was really, really thinking of commenting. However, what I was going to write was a bit snarky to put on the site of someone who is so seemingly upbeat, especially if that were my first post.

Doesn't mean I can't post it here, though, just to make me feel a bit better.

@Victor and Edgar:

Maybe you were trying to enlighten each other on the facts behind OS X and Google searching. Maybe you were trying to just show off, I dunno. But, in the spirit of "I cannot let someone go unpunished for being wrong on teh interwebz" that you and Edgar clearly live your lives by, I thought I'd quickly give some notes.

1. It's "Mac," not "MAC." MAC is either the address physically printed on a network card or a make-up store in the mall that plays lame techno music while several 12-year-old girls get makeovers.

2. OS X runs on BSD, not Solaris. Yes, Solaris mixes the code for BSD, System V and Xenix to make a Unix Smoothie, but it does not power Darwin, the open-source nougat center of OS X.

3. Google is my friend. We hang out on the weekends. Just sayin'.

4. Let's not confuse Wikipedia for "facts." There's just as much opinion on there as there is truth.

Basically, guys, you're both wrong on some points, and right on some others. Let's just hold hands, be friends, and sing folk songs while making smores or something. Life's too short for arguments this nerdy.

Your pal,
eD!

But, you know, I didn't wanna continue the argument. Not there, anyway.

...is on! Check it out at TheChallengeAwesome.com!

Over at MacRumors.com, there's a bunch of talk about The Boy Genius Report's claim that Best Buy and Radio Shack will begin to carry the 3G iPhone. Although I have no idea why Radio Shack would get involved with this (who goes there to buy anything more than a funky cable nowadays, anyway?), I can actually see The Blue Monster scoring it under everyone's nose.

According to an AP article I dug up, Best Buy's purchase of a 50% stake in Carphone Warehouse, a European cell phone distributor that Best Buy had previously teamed up with to help create Best Buy Mobile, was completed on Monday. Where this ties in, of course, is that Carphone Warehouse is an authorized iPhone distributor overseas. Add to that the love that Apple has been getting from Best Buy in the recently, and you may have an actual story here.