In preparation of watching season five of the wire

The Wire Season Five has completed and i am now in the process of downloading Season Five using bittorrent. I would have paid for it legally as i actually looked for a paid download service. Not going to wait for the DVD's as that is to long.

For me the wire is not something that you can wait every week for the next episode, you need to watch it in a few sittings like reading a book, that is why i have waited until the season 5 finished before i will watch it. I have actually stopped reading articles and podcasts concerning the wire until i have finished watching season five.

Yesterday I spent nearly four hours waiting for the download of episode one to complete as the torrents are screwing up our firewall. That is how how much value I put into the wire. As blogged before the wire is my favourite tv show of all time.

Interesting that the ratings for the show are very low and the highest rated season is with the dockworkers which had predominantly white characters. I think this show will be used as educational material when discussing parts of american society.

i have been following obama at daily kos which has been fascinating. For me its amazing that nearly all people that i ask here, are clinton supporters and I cant convince them otherwise.

If the wire is a true reflection of the ills of american society then you would think that an obama type candidate would be the best one going forward i.e practical and tries to bring all sides together.

What has happened to Daily Kos

I have been a long time reader of Daily kos and have a user id in the 30,000 range. I used to like it because of the free type of debate were ideas could be thrashed out and argued.

But lately it seems to have taken on a republican type of tone where they seem to attack the messenger instead of the message. If the message does not support the idea of getting a democrat elected then its lets try and stop the message being adopted and troll rate the user.

I think what happened before is that we could argue because we have the moral high ground but now after the performance of democrats in congress it shows that the democrats are similar to republicans and now its okay to use republican methods in suppressing debate.

I remember in the old days, kossacks would welcome the other side for debates as long as they were rational. I actually used to be proud to be a kossack but not now.

I wonder what forum there is to go now where people could debate ideas instead of promoting their own products. That is the reason I thought netroots would be a powerful medium going forward in terms of the best ideas coming through because of debate.

But if the goal is just to get a person elected not the idea, then its just back to who is the most determined and promotes the way of life of only supporting your gang

2007 ramblings

I watched the Boston/Bulls games last night which has motivated me to do my ramblings for this year. This has probably been the longest year of my life because of the challenges i have had to face.

This year is also the first I have had a major loss in terms of betting when I bet that england would get within 8 points of South Africa. Before the World Cup I actually said that South Africa was good odds to win,New Zealand would lose it and Fiji had a good chance of making the quarter finals. I didn't bet any of those thoughts though:)

My biggest misunderstanding was thinking that Joakim Noah should have been the number one draft choice. I still believe that he can be of value but after watching him at half time in the Bulls locker room, he looks like a broken man. He needs another team, the bulls look dysfunctional and its starts with skiles

I said Vince Young should not have taken the cover of Madden and it now seems to have had a bad affect on his season. Anyway heres hoping for a better performance next year.

Boston Celtics became my team by going the whole chemistry angle and trading for kevin garnett is the key. Previously I never really liked garnett and alway went for duncan in that debate. Now Garnett is my favorite player besides Noah. I am really into this years NBA season and easily watched the blowout last night.

My team also moved to the Patriots after the videogate incident, i hope they go 16-0 but don't think they will win the superbowl, something is just not right about the team that i cant explain. But my predictions this year have been totally off.

I don't follow the majority of Ron Paul's beliefs but i am a supporter. Democrats in power have really shown that they are just part of the same machinery. Actions speak louder then words. I am an obama supporter but the reality is that they are nearly all the same.

In the Israel/Palestine crisis, I think its getting better but am not sure.

I resigned from my job on an issue of principle and now working for a previous company

Kids are growing up and I now want to take them to Australia for a better education and to increase their skills and experiences

Bill Simmons still writing well and I now listen to his podcasts.

I haven't watched a Hard talk segment in more then six months and am an irregular watcher of PTI even though its still the best sport show out there

There is not enough hours in the day to do things that i want to so have hardly played video games this year but will probably buy a new computer for GTA4.

In terms of Google, I use google reader now to get majority of information on the internet and it at least saves me around one hour a day.

Google is doing pretty good and I still promote a lot of its products. But my dream of blogging from the beach was shattered when the disconnected my adsense account which was my fault anyway.

Anyway if anyone reads this post i wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Apple Where art though?

I have always been a fan of apple, as the apple 2 was the first computer I ever used and my favorite product is my video ipod.

For the last few months I have been waiting patiently for the Apple Iphone and have read alot of information concerning apple. Today i am not really that interested because of the behavior of apple in the last few weeks.

From what i have gathered it seems that apple is the increased importance of market share and potential profits then user experience. I understand that in todays world you can't afford to wait to get something 98% right, technology and moods changes to quick. So I am not sure if this is a bad direction by apple but it seems to be a change though.

On another topic of microsoft purchasing 5% of Facebook. This decision seems to me of microsoft having missed so many boats and because of teh quagmire of Vista, they want to do something. What better way then throwing money at something. Reminds me of how bad IT projects get approved because people have run out of ideas.

I use Facebook and think its a good application, its also exploding in terms of the number of users. Social Networks to me remind me of nightclubs, they are only popular as long as its the in thing and another more elaborate nightclub has not opened.


Besides this share purchase telling investors, punters that microsoft will be relevant in the internet future, I think the most important question is will microsoft get enough value from Facebook while Facebook is still relevant.

Electronic Gadgets

My father is staying with us for a few weeks and be brought a digital camera. I have never been very interested in geting a digital camera. This brought up the idea of the number of digital gadgets we have in the house compared to say 10 years ago.

Ten years ago we were living in flat with no fridge, phone, washing machine and it was around that time that i finally purchased a tv with espn. Our main electrical appliance was an iron and stereo.

I was walking around town yesterday trying to find a place to save digital images to disk when i realised how many gadgets I had on me which brought up this idea of how things have significantly changed over the last ten years for us.

Currently in the house we have nine people staying in our two bedroom flat and have
6 mobile phones
1 personal Computer
1 notebook
2 game controllers
Speakers
1 Video ipod
noise reduction headphones plus assorted ear phones
microphone
4gb usb drive
External Hardrive
Digital Camera
memory Cards
Wireless internet access
TV
DVD player
Sky Tv
Sterio
Eazytel Phone
Washing machine, Fridge and assorted kitchen electrical appliances



The most amazing change I think is in terms of communication with so many mobiles, phone, skype, emails and messaging.


It has been an interestign journey going form all the standard gadgets in Australia to only having an iron to now having so many gadgets that its hard to remember and we dont have enought time to use.

So what has changed
Access of the internet is now at home instead of at work
Watch DVD movies instead of vhs movies
Watch bittorrent tv series instead of renting oversead tv series on vhs
Personal phone calls is still the same which is hardly any


I have much less time to do things so there must be a significant change. I also feel the quality of life is much better now then before so i think its all for the good

By 2010 will Desktop Operating systems be Relevant

The article on zdnet brings up an interesting debate concerning what will people be using in 2010. I believe the majority of people will still be using their desktops to access the web but the majority of time it will be on web based applications.

It also shows me that the popularity of applications like google docs is also on the rise. The only issue I have with google docs is that the dependency of internet speed which has a real effect on its usefulness.

The iphone type devices will be the key factor in moving people away from desktops.As it matures the majority of work that needs to be actioned can be actioned within an iphone type device. Even now the new generation are saying that email is old school and people communicate through messaging.

Once bluetooth applications that link the iphone devices to keyboards and screens come into play. Then I can see a surge of desktops being replaced. The main issue is really battery life and processing speed but in the end I may not even be thinking of a device that will make it to the market in the next two years.

The company I am working for has two hundred users that are currently using desktops In the next five years I can only see only the following people needing a desktop
1. Cashiers
2. GIS Staff
3. Finance Staff
4. Counter Clerks
5. Research Staff

So I could see more then 160 staff using an iphone type device with bluetooth keyboards and screens. This is on the assumption that they access their work information using browsers on our servers. Of course this wont happen within the next three years but i can see the argument for desktops being phased out by looking at the types of devices that are being created and how they interact with the web and the potential applications that can run on those devices.

I will be recommending my company to move to google type collaboration, messaging and possibility of using 3g applications with iphone type devices once it comes into Fiji. I wonder how many other IT consultants are doing the same.

Iphone Alienware

Here I am stuck in fiji thinking how can I purchase and activate an iphone in Fiji. While I was catching the bus today I was actually thinking I would rather have an iphone then my old x-trail. So how has apple hype affected me so much.

I love science fiction and when I was a kid the thought of a small rectangular piece of glass that has all the functions and beauty of an iphone would be something akin to flying cars. Especially the touchscreen part with video that is the killer for me.

I have already blogged that for Microsoft to move forward they would need to come up with a device that is a similar concept of the iphone and its seems they have missed the boat on this.

Some other ramblings on the iphone.

The major fanboys seems to be people related to podcasts which seems logical as it can really open up their market.

Iphone missing Chat application and use their own songs ringtones is overrated and the beauty and potential killer applications from the iphone are underrated.

The value of songs in an iphone are overrated and Podcasts underated going forward

I can see the iphone being the main tool in terms of media access, communication, simple computer but not sure how it will fit into gaming.

Iphone will be the biggest factor in the decline of newspapers and magazines. The value of portable reader with eazy access to the latest information is huge.


Interesting that the apple iphone debuted the same time as an deathbead confession concerning aliens from Roswell from the army information officer. You would have to say this is the best product that has come from that ship, what i remembered reading is that their gear is in the tetrahertz range so we still have a fair way to go:)



So how do a get an iphone to work in Fiji???

2007 NBA Draft

The following are my thoughts of 2007 NBA draft

First time I watched the NBA draft in many years and it was good tv experience.

Oden doesn't look that tall for a dominating centre.

Durant won't have a better rookie year then Lebron even though Hollinger has him

rated higher.

I am still not sold on Al Horford is the third best player in this draft. Difference between conley and parker is that parker is an overseas player, playing in a good organisation with Tim Duncan. That could be a big difference when comparing conley's development.

I have a feeling that Yi is going to be traded to Golden State but only if Yi stays strong in not playing for the bucks.

First crack in Noahs armour was when Brewer was selected ahead of him.

I like the Boston trade, reward someone that wants to play for boston and try and win now. Boston has seemed be developing team for to long time. Davis makes it a good draft for Boston. Boston will only be relevant again when it gets a winning team that get veterans to play their at a minimum. They really are going to have to go the international route to succeed going forward. To many good black players don't want to play at Boston.

No bad comments against Jordan as we named my son after him.

Chicago was my favorite team an it is again with Noah playing there. Will make the team better but I got a feeling he will be used in a trade with Phoenix. Actually the last time I was into a draft this much was when the bulls drafted stacy king and bj armstrong. Seemed stern was happy to see noah as he sees he is going to be good value for the brand.


On the knick trade, I had the feeling that portland where going to get rid of Zach for nothing so at least got something. Francis is not a portland type of player so expect him to get traded for future draft picks.


Portland had the best draft and show how much Paul Allen likes being part of the game. Pritchards strength is identifying talent so excellent move in giving him more opportunities. When they drafted Green and Mcroberts I think will follow Portland as well as whatever team Noah ends up in.


Spurs drafting for continuity again. It will be interesting what international players will come in this year after finishing the poison pill contracts


No question this draft is deeper then Lebron's class but I wouldn't bet that it has the same level of superstars.


I am actually interested in watching NBA regular games again, mainly portland and chicago and thats a good thing as I will be following this group going forward.


I think drafting of the Florida and Ohio players help my argument on the strength of the Florida Gators team.

NBA Draft in defense of Joakim Noah and the Florida Gators

Florida has won the NCAA tournament as I predicted and based on all the "experts" it seems that the biggest loser from the tournament has been Joakim Noah's draft stock. I am getting the same feeling as Vince Young in Joakim Noa being disrespected

I am not sure how much of the following is the truth but is what I am speculating. I think the main reason the o'fours came back to repeat their championship was the influence of Joakim Noah. Corey Brewer had the most to lose so Noah's responsibility was to the team and to the other Florida players.

His play to me showed that he cared more for the team and his other Florida players then his own stats, so you would expect his stats to decline unless the team was losing. The elephant in the room when discussing Noah's performance is that Florida never needed Noah to score and it shows how good a team mate is by not wanting to take shots. Noah's field goal percentage went up from 55% to 64% which for me shows that a large number of his shots were from offensive rebounds. Interesting that the time when Florida was losing is when Noah was not his normal self.

The biggest knocks on Noah are his age, scoring and handling the hate against him. I can't see him being the guy in the NBA but can see him being the solution to a team to win a NBA title. One thing going for him is his hands they look like Jordan's and Birds hands.

In defense of the Florida's team in history, the arguments against Florida is the strength of the college competition is less, there are less NBA players in the team and older repeat teams would beat them.


In terms of strength of competition this draft will be one of the best ever and at least six of the top 12 players was in the Final Four, So I don't get that argument.

In terms of potential NBA players for Florida you have 3 that will go in the top ten with the potential of another five NBA players. But even if that doesn't occur a champion team beats a team of champions which is well documented and is especially relevant to basketball e.g Olympics.

The argument that teams of fourty years ago would win a game against the gators has to be the most illogical. The athletes of today are so much stronger and faster then the athletes of the past. To think in a heads up game with the older teams that they still would have the same advantage as they had against their competition is absurd. One other fact is College basketball competition is harder now is because they have more better players eg Overseas Invasion.

But in the end the best argument is that in the last two years NCAA tournament Florida Gators closest game was six points. Their is no question that Florida has dominated the NCAA Tournament like no other team in a very long time.

My take on characters in HBO The WIre

The following is my take on characters on tv show "THE WIRE" on HBO

D'Angelo Barksdale - Probably my favourite character in season one and the only flaw is it is hard to believe he was a person that killed a person in cold blood that originally go him off and got him into mcnulties radar

Russell "Stringer" Bell - Was calling for him to jump out of the window before he died. His flat is just what I would have imagined especially the samurai swords hanging behind his desk. Would have liked to see his character end up running for office and become the new Clay Davis

Avon Barksdale - In season three his character didn't match his character in season one which was more business. One of the best scenes on the show was Avon and stringer talking about old times

Omar Little - My favourite character but he gets into the most unrealistic situations of the show but he makes the show as entertainment for me. This character will do a lot for the image of the toughness of gay men. I see myself in him more then any other character in living by your own code. My favourite scenes is as a witness and staring down Brother Mouzone.

Having two of the most feared people being short matches reality for me if you look at decorated war heroes that survived


Preston "Bodie" Broadus - Not a character I liked but would say he was one of the best acted. His final scene reminded me of the ending of scarface and fitted the character and will be remembered.


Brianna Barksdale - Well acted and made it feel like a family business


Marlo Stanfield - Moved from grey characters of the Barksdale's to more of what the perceived gangsta should be like

Chris Partlow - Moving to Jamaican gangsta image

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson - Interesting character, scene where she is in the motorbike is straight out of a movie and good entertainment. The development of Chris and Snoop was good as when i first saw them I thought, who are these amateurs giving advice to marlo but in the end they are smartest killers in the show

Slim Charles - Well acted and was an interesting character until he started working for prop joe

Joe "Proposition Joe" Stewart - Started off as a cartoonish type of character but ended up being more real for me

Dennis "Cutty" Wise and Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice - Both acted well but for me didn't fit their original characters especially cutty. Both added value to the show though


Bubbles - If all these people win acadamy awards for playing people with disability's then bubbles should win something. I nearly cried when he broke up in "Final Grades". Most disturbing scene though was when he was conning the pipes with Johnny and we ended up seeing Johnnies piss bags.


James "Jimmy" McNulty - To me the most important person in the show. This show is really a white mans view of the decay of US Society and the perception that the white male is being screwed. Were mcnulty is the the main vehicle. I liked the character until he showed some major flaws in season three but that's what makes this show so good. Not many things surprise me anymore, especially tv shows so I expected him to come back as detective but it was still good.

One of my favourite characters of all time with Omar. It will be interesting to see how his character plays out in season 5. I have got a feeling his job affects his character more then the other way around.

Cedric Daniels - Has to be one of the most coolest characters out their. Happy when he became major, colonel and chance of being commissioner.

That part doesn't sound real to me, but it shows how we are all in a game and picking the right horse is sometimes the most important thing in life. It has been for me.

Daniels, Pearlman and Carcetti are moving up was good entertainment and made me more invested in the show.


Shakima "Kima" Greggs - Another really well acted character. The lesbian scene she was in was one of the strongest I have scene on tv. She seemed to have lost her edge in her character but that could be because of mcnulties influence


Detective William "Bunk" Moreland - Bunk is the man

Detective Lester Freamon - What real po-lice should be like if the world was perfect. I enjoyed his character development but its starting to get stale.

Well acted though


William A. Rawls - Well acted and has numerous good scenes.

Sergeant Ellis Carver - Character development over the four seasons has been really interesting.

Thomas "Herc" Hauk - Cartoonish character that hasn't really developed since season one


The kids - The kids have affected me the most, when I see school kids I think about these boys, my boys are 7 and 9 and I worry what is going to happen to them going forward. Best hope is to teach them good values and put them in good situations which is something these kids were not able to get. What season four shows is some of the worst situations that can happen and how the kids developed from those situations. For me all acted well.


Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski - He was never stereotypical Po-lice so I believed his character as a teacher. Why are all the main white male characters severely flawed, I am still trying to understand that.


Howard "Bunny" Colvin - how can you not like "Bunny" and his legalising drugs may have a significant impact on the perception of legalising drugs going forward. In liberal blogs this is not a taboo issue now. For me fixing the "drug war" and finding alternative energy source are the two most important things that can help the US re-prioritize it resources in helping itself.


Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti - Favourite character in season 4. I see his big picture attitude in he would better serve his community as governor then as a mayor. But then the argument could be he could better serve his community as President compared to governor. Like my experience a lot of politicians come in honest with good ideals but its only the strong ones that won't let the new environment corrupt them significantly


State Senator R. Clayton "Clay" Davis - I would be interested in how he came to Office, I know that some political families know how to play the game better then the barksdales. In the end what is the game, drugs, work politics or local politics or is it all the same game.

Is the HBO show The Wire a reflection of the decay of US Society

Over the last two months I have watched four seasons of the HBO TV series called the Wire. It chronicles life in an inner city of Baltimore USA.

The Wire now overtakes Miami Vice as the best TV series I have watched. It matches the reality of the information that I have gathered from the Internet on current problem being faced in the inner city. So for me its one of the most real shows that has been produced in showing warts of a western society. But I have never lived in an inner city like what is being depicted so I could be wrong, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Season Four while being good seemed to move to more popular T.V e.g by having White mayor win and Omar's adventures. That's all good though for me as they were both my favorite characters in Season 4 of the Wire. The strength of a TV show can be seen in how much it changes you and the Wire has changed me.

I have always been interested in the Fall of the Roman empire and for me this show will be used as media for the Fall of the US empire.





The following are the main factors that I got from "The Wire" on showing the decay of US Society

• Government controlling policy by funds it gives to City budgets. Problem is when government's main priorities goes out of whack to priorities of the society i.e Middle East.
• The "Don't Give a Fck" attitude which is getting worse and affects the public
  
• Education system is making it harder for disadvantaged kids to progress
• Racial politics at work and in elections. What happens when incompetent people are in management position reaches a tipping point.
• Movement of people out of the cities and into the suburbs i.e work being offshored
  
• Tipping point on the reduction of Morals and Values concerning common good.
  

I understand the season five will be on the affect on the media on inner city society. I understand why it should be the empathises on the last season because it has been the biggest contributor to the above factors.

The factors I have mentioned are always part of society, but I think the only difference now is that in a number of them, there is a tipping point being reached where its becoming a significant negative on society.

If what I say is currently happening then what would be the solution. For me to fix a problem the best way is to get the right people to address the problem. I don't know who the right people are but think that netroots type transparency is the best way to go forward.

People powered politicians is the main hope. As we are now in a global market, the market is not going to do what's best for the main cities i.e US.

Sports Writing for Negative Comments

Writing stupid comments to gain reactions has been going on for a long time but it seems more prevalent now and especially in sports writing. A classic example is the article in ESPN on the Curse of Darko by ESPN correspondent LZ Granderson another is Jay Marrioti

I can't believe that he is serious, first you can only brink up curses when you teams are hopeless and don't win a ring. Reality is with darko in the team they one a championship and made the finals. Their could be an argument for a curse in getting rid of him as they didnt make the finals without him.

I always talk about the main ingredient to a team is team chemistry and sometimes not changing the team is the best option as adding something with value may actually make the team worse. There are so many cases where an all-star is added to a good team and it doesn't perform as well.

There are many allstars in the NBA without a ring and I think fans would rather have teams that make the finals and actually win them then have great allstars. To argue otherwise is delusional or to garner reactions which I am sure he is trying to do. I am its not do with how Darko is a white player.

Joakim Noah should be the number one Draft Choice

I blogged about Joakim Noah last year and had him and the number one choice going into the NBA draft. Interesting majority of media commentators are now saying that there are only two choices for the Number one draft choice which is Oden and Durant.

I think people are forgetting again the way the NBA has moved forward in that the teams that succeed are the team orientated ones. The time of the prima donna's is over and can be seen by how Kobe is significantly changing his games to meet the new era.

I think their is a good argument that Oden and Durant are better basketball players then Noah but I would choose Noah because he will bring more value to a team. Noah reminds me of Tim Duncan but with more energy while Durant reminds of Garnett/T-Mac, Oden just looks like a man amongst boys which doesn't mean that advantage will translate the same in the NBA.

I hope Noah meets Durant in the NCAA and we will see how many of these commentators still feel the same way.


Update:
After watching Durant play, it looks like I have this wrong and Durant may be a once in a lifetime player, only problem that I see is his build but he is only 18 and should fill out.