March 2016 – eisb()

Galaxy S7 & Edge thoughts

After trying-before-I-buy with both models side by side in two different Best Buys, some thoughts:

Edge has a wider/better viewing angle — the S7 gets much darker than the Edge when the screen is not exactly straight on. Also much darker than my current iPhone 5.
At first store, the Edge gave whites a yellowed tone compared to the S7. At second store, Edge had a pinkish tone on whites compared to S7. Both had same settings, and tested on all screen profiles.
Even straight on, and with the S7 showing better whites, there was a dullness I the S7 that could be annoying over long term use.
The main value I see in the novelty of the edge menu is in taking quick actions on open articles, which will actually be immensely useful for taking notes when reading, or sharing articles. Any other use as a launcher is probably beat by the ease of keeping those apps on the home screen.

I am really interested in why I’m seeing colour differences between these two models. I’m leaning toward buying the S7, largely due to the wider viewing angle, and the slight ease of use I think the edge will give me in my phone-based activity (reading). But I’m a little uncomfortable with the colour (quality?) inconsistency I’m seeing in the Edge screens.

The closest I’ve come to finding a review that goes beyond comparing just the published specs of the screens (resolution and ppi) and actually looking at the quality of the displays is at DisplayMate, but even though they pride themselves on measuring the color accuracy of the screens, they still only measure the S7’s colors and assume the two screens will be the same. The two screens are different sizes and are made of different components, so I don’t know why nobody is looking at the non-PR-kit differences between them.

this post will be taken entirely out of context.

Something felt a little bit off in one particular line of “Critical Praise / Review” for Rob Bell (and ostensibly, his new book How to Be Here):

Bell will be joined by the likes of Brian McLaren, James Martin, Diana Butler Bass and Carol Howard Merritt.

— Christianity Today

I could see it working if Bell “joins the likes of…”, but there’s something about how it was written that sounded like a high-schooler’s essay pieced together with sentence fragments taken from all over the internet.

Not far off, that line is actually taken from a Christianity Today article about a podcast/YouTube channel that Rob Bell is involved with — where he is “joined by the likes of Brian McLaren, James Martin, Diana Butler Bass and Carol Howard Merritt.” (It’s so important the article states it twice.)

Now, I know pull-quotes are used out of context all the time, but at least they’re usually coherent. 😛

And then I then read the first pull-quote from Publisher’s Weekly….which sounded familiar because it was already used wholesale as part of the publisher’s product description.

I’m going back to my cave now — the internet is making my head hurt.

Equalization and You

Equalization is a federal program where they spend more money in regions that are economically depressed. Full stop.

This five minutes 30 seconds is the best description I’ve heard of how equalization payments work in Canada. It’s two Albertan political strategists .

The Strategists: Episode 564

I’ll start you at 31:40 into the episode. Listen at least to the 37:10 mark.

We pay the exact same taxes (federal rate) in Alberta as they pay in Quebec…there’s no “I’m paying more because I’m a rich Albertan — you’re paying more because you’re rich.

Every province does a form of equalization…every city does a form of equalization, because we don’t make the same money and the reason we do a taxation system to begin with is to redistribute funds to those who need them.

Bonus quote, from later in the episode:

Ralph Klein was the one who started to establish this idea that we’re sending a cheque somewhere down East.

Well I’ll tell you something — before the 1970’s, we needed it too.

People have to remember that in Alberta we were a have-not province. Then we got a little bit of oil an gas going our way and things started to work for us. But it didn’t really start to work for us until the late 1960’s and the 1970’s.

Link Roundup – 2016 03 02

Some things worth looking at from the past week or so:

Kids These Days

Congrats for making me hate both sides of this argument.

A millennial complained about her job; the Internet responded by complaining about millennials. This guy actually had some great things to say.

He is what’s missing from most “conversations” on the Internet.

A series of bad choices, published for all to see online, goes viral and like magic, old and young people alike start rattling off all that’s wrong about kids these days.

Listen, assholes: You made mistakes when you were young. So did I. We still make mistakes.”

“Sometimes, it’s not just the kids’ fault. We don’t have to coddle her mistakes while still admitting that it’s kind of a screwed up world out there for anyone looking to forge a living as a young adult.

.:.