I don’t have a lot of music in iTunes, but a lot of the music I have is not the easiest to automate lyrics downloads. There are a number of one-step automated solutions, but unless your collection is limited to Justin Timberlake, The Beatles, and Madonna, you may have trouble getting lyrics for all your songs. Even this method is imperfect, but it finds the most of anything I have tried.

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I purchased a Mini Inspiron from a seller on eBay. It had never been opened. He called them to transfer the warranty to me and was told it would take 10-15 business days. Naturally, the notebook turned out to be defective from the box. It does not charge when connected to a power outlet. The charge cable has some play left and right when it is connected so I suspect the receptacle is not properly attached to the motherboard. I called Dell for support. They first suggested that there may be a BIOS update that will fix the problem. However, they could not even give me the link to download the update because the warranty had not yet been transferred to my name. I called back to check the status of the transfer but they cannot do this. I have heard from two different reps that I can “one-ly” (I assume they mean “only”) transfer the warranty online. Last night I heard from a different rep that they can transfer the warranty immediately if they have the first and last name to which the computer is currently registered. I must call them up to provide this in spite of the fact that the original owner has already initiated a transfer of ownership and, in doing so, given them his name, my name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and whether or not I’m circumcised. It seems obvious to me that these are merely arbitrary barriers so that Dell will have a convenient way to evade having to make good on their warranty. The lessons learned:

1. Do not buy from Dell. Their products are tested so poorly they may come to you bad right out of the box.
2. Buy a Mac. Their support staff speaks English as their first language. I have no problem with anyone no matter where they are from, but taking people and teaching them enough English to troubleshoot is an unnecessary barrier between the customer and a solution. Troubleshooting is a process that is difficult enough already. I also have problems with companies that run a business in the United States to get our money while shipping as much work as possible overseas to save on labor costs. It exploits Americans and those people who are left doing the jobs for practically nothing.
3. Having a store nearby (as Apple does) is a fantastic tool in getting issue resolution. It’s easy for a Dell rep halfway across the globe to hang up on me because I don’t have the first name of the person who originally purchased the PC from them. It’s not so easy for my physical presence in a retail outlet to be ignored.
4. You get what you pay for.

Happy computer shopping!

Here’s a novel message: Don’t vote! The consensus around election time always seems to be that everyone should vote no matter what. It’s your right as a citizen! It’s what keeps the wheels of democracy turning! Everyone should have a say. I’m here to say that’s all bullshit.

If you know who you want to vote for and why, then you should certainly vote. However, this leaves out a huge percentage of the people who will be voting this time around and choosing people based on party affiliation, skin color, or how they look in a bikini. If you are one of these people, the country would hope that you would stay home! Democracy is government by the people, but there is no value in this principal if the people are uninformed about the issues. If people are not educated to understand the implications of casting their votes for one or another candidate, everything good about the system is undermined. There is no value in a popularity contest to decide the presidency, no value in voting your pocketbook, no value in voting your skin color or the name you like or who is a better speaker or any of that. None of those things will determine where we will be in four or eight years.

So, I speak to those of you who don’t know what the fuck is going on right now. If you plan to vote for who your parents are voting for (for only that reason), if you plan to vote straight down the line for the party you prefer (without justification), or if you plan to vote based on the names of the candidates, do the world a favor: stay home and watch soap operas!

Unfortunately, the burden shouldn’t fall entirely on the voter. People must continue to live their lives in spite of the coming elections. The information we need to inform ourselves about the issues should be readily available. The presidential candidates are doing a much better job than they ever have (thanks in large part to the Internet) of getting out the information about their stances on the issues. There are also lots of lies coming from all sides of the debate. We are fortunate to have access to resources like factcheck.org to help sort those out. However, it seems that local politics (at least in my part of the country) thrive on as little information as possible getting out. It is very difficult to find pertinent information on local politicians. Local governments should take responsibility for making this type of information more easily accessible.

To get you started on the right foot, I would like to let everyone know that John McCain drowns puppies for fun on the weekends. He also enjoys burning down orphanages. Those are, of course, only the worst things about McCain. For the most part, he likes to just relax and “hang out with friends” on the grounds of his home, Castle Greyskull Snake Mountain.