Spencesite

Backtastic. :)

// January 20th, 2011 // No Comments » // Life-n-Times

It wasn’t fun…and my back is still hurting due to a surgical procedure in which a 2.5″ slice was made in my back. On top of that, the doc told me afterwards that my back was worse off than my MRI images indicated…so he had to do some extra work…in the end, though, it was worth it: the back pain from the herniated/ruptured disc is gone, the pain shooting down the legs is gone, the numbness is gone. About 1/2 of the weakness is also gone. So, was it worth it? Hells yeah, it was. lol.

The day started off badly: my ride to the hospital never showed up. And given that I only had 20 minutes to get to the hospital (and Google Maps was telling me it’d take 22 minutes with traffic), I decided on a kind of nutty thing: I drove myself to the hospital. Not an [...] Continue Reading…

Under the Knife, Part 2

// January 16th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // Life-n-Times, Opinion

Some of you may know that I’ve been having some issues with my back recently. For the past three months, I’ve had increasingly painful issues with my lower back. For three months, I sought help from a remarkable number of neurologists, neurosurgeons, physical therapists…I even had my back MRI’d no less than four times in three months. Finally, I found an orthopaedic surgeon who actually took the time out to show me what he saw, and why he was “astonished” that the neurosurgeons didn’t catch this three months ago…

On Tuesday, Jan. 18th, at High Noon, I’ll be going under the knife again for the second time in two years: this time, I’m going to have a procedure to remove a disc bulge that is, literally, pressing my spinal cord up against the back of my spine, causing me extraordinary pain, as well as weakness in the mid-section, legs, and [...] Continue Reading…

AppStore vs. Android Marketplace

// January 2nd, 2011 // No Comments » // Emerging Tech

Just the facts: Number of apps in the AppStore: over 400,000. Number of Apps in the Android Marketplace: over 230,000. Number of apps downloaded from the AppStore: est. 10B. Number of apps downloaded from the Android Marketplace: est. 3.2B. Percentage of smartphone market using iPhones: 25%. Percentage of smartphone marketplace using Android: 26%. 2011 should be an interesting year.

You know, sometimes it’s interesting to watch other companies have a throw-down. Apple and Google are currently battling in a grand battle for the smartphone marketplace…while the likes of Microsoft and Palm become collateral damage, and RIM, well, let’s just say that you know it’s bad when you’re the biggest player in the market, yet no one seems to be paying you any attention any more.

YouTube, new King of the Primetime Hill?

// May 17th, 2010 // No Comments » // Emerging Tech

If anyone needed any further proof that the interweb tubes were acting as a disruptor to the media and entertainment industry, this story from Wired has to be a wake up call.

It’s been interesting watching the trends when it comes to the effect the internet has been having on the media and entertainment industry. You’d have thought they’d have picked up on this a bit quicker…since the trends have been pretty clear for at least ten years (see below), and the trends have started in the US–home of the world’s largest entertainment industry (“Hollywood”).

It all started with music
First hint at the huge disruptive impact of the internet came waaay back in 1999 when Napster was released to the world by Shawn Fanning. Sure there were other music sharing apps out there, but Napster went viral, and soon enough dominated the field. The music industry’s reaction? At first indifference, then [...] Continue Reading…

Why the Republicans are Simply Wrong on Healthcare

// March 21st, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Philosophy & Politics

There are occasions when I hear such a ridiculous argument advanced that I feel compelled to speak up about it. Don’t get me wrong–both liberals and conservatives have their ideologues who simply push forth sophist litanies which do nothing to advance debate, but are specifically designed to obscure and misinform.

One such occasion was this evening, when Representative Paul Ryan, R-WIS, strode up to the podium on the floor the House, and proceeded to regurgitate a talking point by the Republican party and their apparatchiks in the Tea Party (note that not all of the Tea Party has been subverted by the GOP, just most of it–I am also amused by the formation of the anti-Tea Party, the Coffee Party). That point? Well, of course the watered down healthcare reform bill was evil, as it was an affront to the values of our founding fathers by virtue of it’s socialist [...] Continue Reading…