Some folks didn’t even bother to read the rules before putting their Wealth through iPhones on eBay plan into action:

Alright, so, a little update. I went to the Apple Store here in Green Hills with my roommate Chris and a buddy, Josh. I was just gonna get a power adapter for my Macbook Pro (Turns out that even though I’d already cleared it with AppleCare online, they’d still like to look at it in-store to make sure of the problem. Take a look at it now, you ask? Sorry, the Genius Bar is closed. You can buy an adapter and return it later… Great.)

It also turns out that Josh didn’t just want to look at an iPhone, he wanted to buy one. And instead of coming with us to dinner, he was gonna wait in line for it. It looked like there were about 200-300 people in front of him. “Alright, we’re gonna go eat at Carrabba’s, and we’ll meet you at the tree.” (The tree was 10 feet ahead. It was hilarious at the time, I promise.)

Gotta give it to the folks at the Apple Store, they really know how to work a line through the store quickly. We got back an hour later and Josh was sitting with his sleek, shiny new 8G iPhone beaming with joy and activating it on iTunes. It had only taken him about 45 minutes to get through and get his iPhone. Impressive. And iPhone is especially impressive. Seriously, it is a super cool gadgetron (I figure it’s more than just a mere gadget). Everything is great about it except for the network it’s on. AT&T? Really?

We all went to a local restaurant to chill later on tonight, and on one side of the normal 4-top table the phone had full bars. On the other side, zilch. Good thing the restaurant had Wi-Fi or we wouldn’t have been able to watch YouTube videos. (Which, for the time being, aren’t very plentiful… the search function doesn’t turn up much. My guess is that iPhone is only showing videos encoded with the H.264 codec, and YouTube isn’t very far along in the process of re-encoding all the videos.)

Like I said, maybe I’d get one if it were with Verizon (even though they’re notorious for crippling all the cool features of their phones). I like everything about AT&T’s service except the network. Rollover minutes are cool. Not locking my phone down is cool. The network blows. Verizon’s network with AT&T’s everything else… that would be a great plan. I mean, or AT&T could quit having a terrible network. Then I’ll get an iPhone.

Today is probably the worst day that the power supply for my Macbook Pro could fail. The cost of replacing it isn’t a problem, it’s covered by the AppleCare warranty. But once I explained the problem to the tech support rep, he asked if I’d like to have a replacement shipped to me or did I just want to pick one up from a local Apple Store. “I’ll just pick one up, I really can’t have any downtime with the computer.”

“Sure, not a problem,” he tells me. “Keep in mind, sir, that today is the launch of the iPhone, so there may be a line at the Apple Store.”

Oh cwap. I completely forgot. In fact, the Nashville store is even closed right now to prep for the launch. It opens again at 6 p.m., and I’m sure it’s gonna be crazy. I guess I’ll be there, but not for an iPhone (maaaaaybe I’d get one if it were on Verizon, but still… you can’t wait a week or two to just walk in to the store and get one? Who are these people who have this kind of expendable income, yet can leave their jobs to wait in line for 5 days?). I just need to get a daggum power supply.

Anyway, online today I came across this: some loon waiting in line for an iPhone attacked a Fox News reporter as she was interviewing Newsweek tech columnist Steven Levy, one of the few folks to receive an iPhone in advance. Levy is holding one the iPhones, which are going for an insane price of up to $1200 on eBay, and the guy grabs the reporter’s mic instead of the iPhone. “Gimme the f*in’ mic, don’t f*in’ mess with me,” he says as he bounds away.

He didn’t go far though. You can imagine the amount of security surrounding an event like this. Here’s more (including a video).

This is for you, Viking.

I find it hard to explain to people what the Net Neutrality debate is actually about. The Daily Show makes it funny and understandable:

Frankly, I have too much faith in the political system in America to think that any one person could have a disastrous effect on it. People love George Bush. People hate him. But he’s just a face, honestly. For some reason, we’ve got this image of a company president presiding over his small staff of 20-30 people. Why do I think we’ve got this image? Because we get furious and blame the President any time something goes awry. We think, “We’ll surely George knew about Abu Ghraib. How could he let that happen!?”

Whatever. I’m getting pretty tired of hearing the same old comments: “If Al Gore had been elected…” followed by either a picturesque scene of clean air with the globe at just the right temperature or a dismal portrayal of terrorist attacks every other day.

But this does look interesting, and as such… I’m interested. Unity08 is a new effort aimed at producing a viable unity ticket–where the candidate and his running mate are from different parties–in the ‘08 Presidential election. The news reports seem to have gotten the intent wrong; they are not out to create a third party, they’re just attempting to give a shock to the two already in place. We’ll see what happens.

It’s certainly not a design to which anyone with an unmitigated hate for the other party could attach themselves, but it seems that’s what this effort is trying to avoid anyway: the extremists and special interests.

Of course this presents a problem. Everyone can agree special interests aren’t a positive, and yet when it comes down to it, we can’t seem to eliminate their hold over the political landscape because no one wants to believe that their interest is a special interest. It’s just like with Pork spending on appropriations bills. At the beginning, it was agreed: “Pork is baaaad!” No one thought their earmarks were the pork being discussed. Now they’ve found out who’s who and aren’t happy.

Wow.

Hugh Hewitt has a post that might, in 700 words or less, efficiently summarize the Belmont/Hobbs debacle.

In response to Hewitt’s proposal to Belmont alumni, one such alum has appropriated a bit of webspace for the purpose of keeping our fine University respectable. (Note: The blog, titled Belmont Progress, is currently under development. Keep checking back for updates.)

I want to point out that the purpose of the blog, as it has been discussed with and explained to me, is not to slander Belmont in any way. Rather, it is to hold to a higher accountability the University we are proud to claim as our own. And since we’d like to remain proud to have attended such a fine institution, we take ownership in its current and future endeavors.

This really isn’t for any specific time period, but my fellow audiophiles may appreciate reading into how I spend my time daydreaming.

Here’s a free download of one of Chris Rice’s latest, “When Did You Fall?”

1) Click here.

2) Enter coupon code: INO2005FREE6

3) Download the goods.