Baumblog EST 1968 - A blog for the Baumbachs who originated in Syracuse, NY

Google Wave: Redefined e-mail, collaborative documents, and more!
posted by Marc on May 29, 2009 @ 3:46PM

Google is releasing a new product called Wave soon and it looks to be a very interesting way to communicate on the web (Warning, this is a long video):

4 comments | Tags: internet, technology, computers

Another example of the monopoly on oil
posted by Marc on May 29, 2009 @ 10:37AM

Want to know why the price of gas is going up? The oil companies are hoarding oil because they're expecting recovery from the recession relatively soon. When a product or service is no longer being controlled by supply and demand, but at the major companies discretion; isn't that the very definition of a monopoly?

3 comments | Tags: company, politics

GJ said about 1 hour later

Did you actually read that article?

They are not hoarding, they can't sell it. The demand market for oil crashed. Cars don't consume oil (usually--for the most part, they consume gas made from refining oil). So, if you can't get good prices for your product, you sit on it. It's not like oil expires--in fact, what will eventually happen (if the economy doesn't recover soon enough) is some *very* low prices as they run out of storage for their "hoard" and have to start getting rid of it at whatever price they can get for it.

The price of gas in this country has a lot to do with our refining capability (or lack thereof). All the oil in the world is useless to our gas needs if we don't have the ability to refine it to gasoline in the first place. If the price of gas was really killing people, demand for gas would shrink. It shrunk quite a bit with the recession in the first place, which is why prices began to tumble. The demand is still pretty high for gas, though, so prices won't drop back below $2/gal anytime soon--and the prices are high because we are limited in how much gas we can refine, not how much oil we can buy.
Marc said about 5 hours later

"The price rise is a function of optimism that better things are coming in the future." Optimism usually means lower prices, no? If they were so optimistic, they would keep prices stable, continue the normal output and be rewarded from customers by keeping prices low or at least competitive. But because the whole oil industry is corrupt and the demand for the product is to the point of a necessity, they raise prices with whatever explanation they deem appropriate and continue their 200% profit per quarter.

I'm sure food sales are down too, so farmers are suffering. But instead of coming together as a collection of farmers and raising rates, they find ways to keep the rates reasonable and competitive. Sure, farmers' profits suffer, but they should be equally hit by a recession as the rest of us. Why aren't oil companies held to the same standard?

They can sell it, just not as much as they'd like to. Too bad.
GJ said about 11 hours later

Marc, try reading this to learn what helps determine the price of gas.

Oil companies didn't create the need for oil. They are simply profiting from it. What's the big deal? If you don't want to pay so much for gas, there are ways to "beat the system" but mostly it involves loss of convenience. You pay a price for that convenience.

Ghostbusters is rising from the grave!
posted by GJ on May 28, 2009 @ 12:14PM

Those of you who grew up in the 1980s know the Ghostbusters franchise well--it was pretty much everywhere in the mid-80s, and continued on into the early 1990s with the second movie and animated series. It's coming back as a top-notch video game, which should form the launchpad for a third movie, handing the torch to a new set of young Ghostbusters.

The New York Times did a good interview with Dan Akroyd which you may wish to read, if nothing else, to rekindle old memories and learn some fun facts. You might want to check it out!

6 comments | Tags: games, news, entertainment, movie

Marc said 3 minutes later

That's not all. I forget where I read it, but it was another interview with Dan Akroyd verifying that Ghostbusters 3, the movie is coming out. Supposedly is likely to start filming in the winter. The rumor has been floating around for quite some time, but this was straight from Akroyd himself and he verified all of the original Ghostbusters are back to pass the torch on to younger, and female, Ghostbusters. Likely will be terrible.

The game looks pretty cool, graphically, but based on the videos it looks like it will lose the fun factor after capturing 2 or 3 ghosts.
GJ said about 1 hour later

Actually, don't write off the game. I think it could well succeed due to the quality of the writing. It'll be more than just capturing ghosts, methinks. It's being hinted that there is enough original material in the game to equal a movie--no small feat. I'm looking forward to it.

As for the movie, it's hard to say. First order, the movie isn't a done deal--the game is supposed to "test the waters." However, writers have been commissioned, so that's a very good sign. I think filming could potentially start this year if the studio likes the script. The younger ghostbusters won't all be female, btw, but expect at least one female cadet.
Marc said about 2 hours later

I saw a video preview on Gamespot of the game and they said the script is really well written and pretty hilarious, but the gameplay does get old pretty fast. I imagine it will be successful due to the script, but likely won't hold my attention. Every game that focuses on storyline never holds me, but I'll certainly give it a shot and see how I like it.
GJ said about 3 hours later

Thanks for the linky, I'll have to check it out. Me, I like the story-based games just fine--that's partially what drew me to things like Wing Commander back in the day. So long as the game duties don't become totally mind-numbing, it should work for me.
Geoff said about 21 hours later

Looks pretty cool from the Gamespot review.
GJ said about 22 hours later

The gameplay looks interesting, but the graphics were too jumpy for my tastes. Here's to hoping that's cleaned up some by launch. Wonder how it'll look on the Wii.

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