DavidTC's Blog

Everyone should read this.

Politics is not a football game.

I thought I’d write this because I found myself explaining, yet, again, how I set up my Nook STR to use Dropbox. So I figured I’d just put it out there. It’s very simple, but somehow not very obvious.

This is about a Nook STR. I do not know anything about any other Nook. However, any ereader will work as long as you can install some sort of real Dropbox client, and can figure out the sideload path.

Once you follow these instructions, you will never need to hook your Nook to your computer again.

Continue reading "Sideloading your rooted Nook STR over the air from Calibre" »

So I figured I’d wade into the fray and post what I think about the Mass Effect 3 ending, which I was pretty disappointed in, I have to admit.

But I wasn’t quite as disappointed as other people. Some of the stuff people are complaining about isn’t a good thing to complain about, at least not for the reasons they are.

Of course, there are spoilers to follow.

Continue reading "Mass Effect 3" »

So there was a Republican debate a while back, and the suggestion was made that perhaps people who couldn't afford health care could go to 'charity'.

This is stupid for many reasons, but I made a comment else where that addressed the most obvious problem with that, and I think it bears posting here so I can find it.

Continue reading "Charity supported health care." »

I think the one thing undergirding the decline and fall of newspapering is that, by and large, newspapers lost touch with their audience and communities long ago. -Revolution 21's Blog for the People: Extra! Extra! You won't read all about it!

Amen. Read the whole thing.

Crazy right-winger Michele Bachmann from Minnesota, in her floor speech, issued a litany of talking points against the public option, and said that the public option would be far cheaper than private insurance. -Michele Bachmann Opposes Public Option Because It’s “Cheaper”

Well, it's certainly an interesting 'problem' that the government can apparently provide health insurance for 30-40% less than the health insurance industry.

Affirmative action is needs to just go away. I respect the goal behind idea, but it just never worked correctly. Affirmative action is the sort of gibberish policy you get when you let progressives loose at liberal issues.

Continue reading "Affirmative Action" »

I suggest more poverty-base grants for the very poor B student to at least manage a community college associate degree, so they can make $20 an hour job fixing cars or wiring houses instead of $7 an hour as cashier, which is the difference between two 30-hour a week jobs where you can't pay the rent, and a 45-hour a week job where you can and even save a little.

Continue reading "Poverty and Education" »

There are always conspiracy theories. Here's what I think. Anyone who thinks that the rich and powerful secretly control large sections of the world isn't paying attention. That's sorta like claiming the chairman and board of IBM secretly control IBM. Of course rich and powerful people control the world, they just do it out in the open informally, not in secret back room meetings where they laugh maniacally.

Continue reading "Conspiracy Theories" »

I am apparently the coolest person evar. Or, at least, everyone agrees with me.

Continue reading "My adoring fans" »

Firefox, as it comes be default, has several inane UI choices, so I'm going to list some extensions here that make it a good deal saner:

Continue reading "Firefox: Trivial User Interface Extensions" »

For the first in this series, I'll talk about Keyword Search. This is actually a built-in feature of firefox, made more useful by an extension called 'Smart Search'. The feature is explained on the keyword searches. That page explains in in a rather odd way, so I will try to do it better.

Continue reading "Firefox: Keyword Search" »

Here's I'm going to tell you about all the Firefox extensions I use. I've repackaged them all and have them locally, so you can install them from here, and I've also included links to their page so you can go over there. Sometimes I'll write articles about more than one extension, and I'll additionally have all of them packaged into one file so you can download them at one time. I'll also talk about some of the overlooked and useful features built in. If anyone has suggestions as to extensions or features, feel free to add them in the comments.

As I said in my introduction, I consider myself somewhat a Progressive. There are people out there that think that's just another way to say 'Liberal', but in reality progressive political thought and liberal political thought are often at loggerheads, which I will probably write about at some point in the future. The 'New Left' is, at this point in time in this country, comprised of both traditions. I also hold a few liberal views, including some that the left doesn't!

Continue reading "About Politics" »

The Notepad that comes with Windows is a prime example of how Microsoft doesn't understand what sort of software is supposed to come with operating system. A useful text editor is right up there at the time, but Notepad is broken and defective by design in so many different ways that this would turn into a rant if I listed them all. So, instead, I shall list Notepad++. Download it, install it, use it, and stop worrying.

Continue reading "Software I Use: Notepad++" »