Cathay Pacific Flight Review

    I recently took a holiday trip to Manila on Cathay Pacific Airlines for Christmas and New Years. The flight was a 20 hour total flight, but I will cover just the 18.5 hour flight from New York City to Hong Kong in this review.

    A good place to start would be the seating, since that's where I spent the majority of my 18 hours. The first big knock against the seating is the fact that on this particular airplane, the seats don't actually recline. The bottom cushion slides forward, which gives the feel of a slouch more than anything, and the cushion felt like you were sitting on a bench after an hour. I had to put a pillow on the seat, and get up and walk the aisles every 2-3 hours just to get some feeling back in my posterior.

    The next area will be meals, because I love to eat. I thought this would be a pleasant experience, and I love Asian food. I couldn't have been more wrong. I eat a high calorie diet to offset my fast metabolism, and I knew I wouldn't get enough on an airplane, but it was just 18 hours, so I would be fine.

    Sadly, the portions of food served wouldn't have been enough for me as an eight year old, much less a grown man. The food in and of itself was very low quality, which I found strange because several other airlines managed to serve decent, albeit small portions. One of my meals was 4 small chicken cubes, and two of those cubes were almost entirely fat. Thankfully they gave me some sandwiches, which were just okay, but at least I had something extra to put in my stomach.

    The flight attendants were very good. They were friendly, helpful, and were by far the best service experience in all of my travelling. Are you taking notes, United States based airlines? The attendants were even better than Emirates, which in my opinion, says a lot.

    The plane was clean, though I noticed a faint odor of vomit that came and went, and I am assuming someone had gotten sick and it wasn't cleaned as well as it should have, or someone vomited into places that couldn't be reached. At least everything was on time, with no delays, and we arrived in Hong Kong ahead of schedule. 

    Overall, I would give Cathay Pacific a 3 star rating based on my experiences with them. The flight attendants are wonderful, all four of the flights on my vacation were on time, but the seats were the most uncomfortable I've ever sat in, and the meals left a lot to be desired. In spite of the disappointments, I would probably fly with them again in the future, and for those who don't eat like a horse, the meals would probably be fine. If you want affordable, good service to Asia, Cathay Pacific is worth taking a look at.

Headphones. Is Comfort and Performance Affordable?

    I have long struggled with finding a good pair of headphones. By good, I mean affordable, with good sound, and comfortable to wear for an extended period of time. I tend to break things, so spending 150 dollars or more on something I will more than likely break within a year seems wasteful.

    After several pairs of ear buds and headphones, I saw a recommendation for a pair of PDP Afterglow headphones. Upon seeing they came in a light up blue set, with green also being available, I decided to try them out. PDP promises durability, excellent sound, and comfort even during marathon gaming. I had to try them out.

    I had ordered a wired pair, and when they arrived, was disappointed to find a wireless set in the package. Rather than complain and wait for a replacement, I decided to go with what was in the box, as they can be used with a wire as well. The Afterglow headphones have an internal rechargeable battery, which is a plus as well.

    The headphones are quite simple to set up for wireless, and the headphones have 3 sound modes you can cycle through. Pure audio, base boost, and immersive sound modes. They also have a retractable mic, and adjustable volume controls on the headset.

    Now, on to the most important parts. The sound quality is quite good. There is no distortion or tinny sound to them. They feel solidly built and durable as advertised. I feel confident in these headphones lasting me a while, and thus the 80 dollar price tag is justified.

    The headphones are fairly comfortable, but after a couple hours of wearing them, I still just want to take them off for a while. They are more comfortable than the past sets I've owned, but I'm beginning to think I am just not cut out for wearing a pair of headphones longer than an hour or so.

    I found these headphones to look quite outlandish the way the headband is designed. It looks like some kind of wacky halo that lights up blue. My advice, don't wear these out in public, even if they can be used with a smartphone, or mp3 device. Trust me, wearing these out of the house is a don't.

    My last knock against these headphones is that if you run them wireless and the battery dies, you can't charge them while using them. If you plug them in and use them on a wire, and charge them at the same time, they have a strange static sounding noise that ruins the sound quality. Luckily, the headphones seem to last about 7-10 hours on a charge.

    I am giving these headphones a 4 out of 5 stars. They would merit a 5 star rating if the headband wasn't so silly looking, were chargeable while using, and I could wear them longer than an hour or two. If you are looking for affordable quality and don't care about how they look, give the PDP Afterglow some serious consideration.

Novice Tech Review : The ASUS G750J Gaming Laptop

    I recently purchased an ASUS G series gaming laptop after my old machine suffered an untimely burnout. After some hemming and hawing over it because of its price tag, I decided to just pull the trigger and spend a little extra for the nice set of features.

    The G750J is a big machine, weighing in at over 10 pounds, and boasting a 17.3 inch LCD screen. It comes with an 2.40 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia Geforce gtx 860m video card, 8gb of DDR3 ram, and a spacious, but disappointing 1TB HDD. 

    The G750J is quite impressive in its ability to handle games on high settings, where a lesser machine would be hard pressed to keep up. It also doesn't overheat thanks to its dual exhaust ports, and unlike many laptops, still stays cool to the touch. 

    Where I find this machine lacking is its HDD, which is a bottom of the barrel 5400 RPM drive. A computer is only as fast as its slowest component, and this is its weak link. I am guessing this is a cost saving move on the part of ASUS.

    My advice if you can afford it, is to invest a hundred dollars into an SSD drive, and put your performance intensive programs on it, to speed up the overall performance of the machine. 

    The performance on battery is average. It seems to give about 2.5 hours on a charge if you use it intensively, and my advice would be to leave it plugged in if you are going to game on it, as the graphics seem to slow a bit on battery. 

    Overall, this is a solid mid-range gaming laptop that handles most games very well. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I would give it a 5 star rating if the hard drive was a bit more up to date with the rest of the machine. If you are looking for a mid-range gaming laptop, this should be at the top of your list of machines to look into.

Net Neutrality. What's In It For the Government?

    By now, most everyone has likely heard about net neutrality, and what it is supposed to prevent. If you haven't heard by now, net neutrality is supposed to stop ISP's from blocking users from web content as they see fit.

    Net neutrality is the US Gov'ts plan to make sure that ISP's do not restrict content to its users. Sounds great, right? Maybe not. When the government promises something, it almost always comes with a price. It is almost like a deal with the devil. You get something you want, in exchange for far greater cost.

    Take 9/11 for instance. After the terrorist attacks, our government offered us more security, but for that security, we would have to give up a bunch of our freedom in exchange. The American people didn't care, they just wanted the illusion of safety and gave it all up without a fight.

    Another example would be the Affordable Care Act. Sounds great, right? Everyone can have health care now! For the poor, this is a win/win situation. For those who are well off, this has no effect, as they were covered already. But, for those who are living week to week, are above the poverty threshold, but under insured or not insured at all, the mandate hits them the hardest. 

    They cant afford the premiums and deductions, which now puts them in greater financial difficulty. Or, they are forced to opt out of the mandate and pay a tax penalty that they cant afford to pay at the end of the year. The gov't giveth, and the gov't taketh away. 

    So what will enforced net neutrality give us? Will it simply penalize ISP's for blocking traffic to sites that are unwilling to pay the ISP's ransom? Or will it be like so many other gestures of gov't benevolence, and come with the hidden price tag of more stolen freedom?

What's In a Holiday?

    A lot of (too much) emphasis is placed on consumerism for holidays. Take Valentines Day, for example. While most holidays try to lure you in with sales, Valentines Day seems to be the opposite. Chocolate prices spike, flower prices rise sometimes nearly 500 percent, and jewelers prey on dupes with catchy lines like, "show her how much you love her with a diamond from store name."

   Is all of this necessary? Have we become so materialistic in nature that love is defined by a price tag? On Valentines Day, love costs only slightly less than divorce. Why do we need an expensive day to show someone we love them?

    Love can be shown every day of the year, and costs nothing. Instead of paying grossly inflated prices for flowers that will be dead in 3 days, because face it, you're basically throwing 50 dollars in the trash, just make her feel loved every day, If she's real, she will appreciate the everyday efforts, and overlook the lack of official holiday celebration. 

    The best things in life are free, not purchased at the behest of advertisers and retailers looking to rebound from the post Christmas doldrums. 

The Organic Resurgence. Nonsensical Druidry, Or Timeless Wisdom?

    Are organic foods really healthier for you than non-organic foods? And if so, why? There has been a lot of chatter back and forth about pesticides, GMO foods, and vaccines. The skeptics are labeled as kooks, science deniers, and backwards by those who deem the gov't as their trusted authority on what is best for them.

    I recently had a debate in an online forum with a man who claimed that all GMO foods, pesticides, and vaccines are scientifically proven to be safe, and that anyone unable to accept that fact is an idiot. So, I challenged him to spray some insecticide on his salad before eating it. He declined, of course. I opined that he eats it already, so a little more shouldn't hurt, right? He stated that he washes his food before eating it. So, I told him to spray his food, then wash it. He again declined.

    When I asked him why he would not spray his salad with poison, but yet would eat that salad that someone else sprayed with poison, he stated that the pesticide application at the farms are regulated by the following of gov't standards, and are thus 'safe' for human consumption.

    If you are unsure about what to believe regarding the application of poisons to your food, I would suggest you Google pesticide warning labels. You can read them in your local supermarket too, if you wish. From the warnings on the labels, to the signs that are posted after a poison application warning people to keep themselves, and their pets away from the area because of the exposure risks, do you really want to ingest these poisons in your food?

    Who would really believe that after all the warnings, skull and crossbones, signs saying to keep your pets and yourselves away from the treated area, that the gov't insists be packaged with the poisons, that the very same gov't would insist that those poisons are safe when applied to your food? If you are one of those believers, I've got some prime oceanfront property in Arizona that I am willing to let go for a couple million dollars.

    I have found that organic food tastes better, and after a couple weeks of an organic diet, I actually feel better, too. Sadly, the price often becomes a barrier to it's consumption for the average person living paycheck to paycheck.

    Ladies and gentlemen, poison is poison. If the label says not to ingest it, and to avoid even getting it on your skin, do you really want to believe that it can be safely applied to foods? Do you really believe that traces of poison being ingested over a period of 30, 40, or 50 years isn't dangerous? It's time to wake up to the double speak out of the mouths of politicians being lobbied by the very companies who make these poisons, and demand they stop allowing us to be poisoned.

 

Is Technology Going Too Far?

    While you watch TV, your TV may soon be watching you. Samsung has recently announced that people should not discuss personal information in front of their new smart TV. Ears and eyes everywhere...

    With the FBI revealing in the past that they can access your webcam and microphone on your computer or laptop without you ever knowing, and cell phones being able to be used as listening devices, even when powered off, as well as even baby monitoring devices being hacked into, has technology reached a point where it is no longer controlled by the user? If not, how soon might our gadgets reach the point where they operate independently, and are completely out of our control? 

    Privacy was once considered inviolate without evidence of wrongdoing in America. It is now nearly non-existent. Wiped out by disingenuous legislation that would have made the former Soviet Union squeal with delightful jealousy. If only they had the technology that exists today!

    After Edward Snowden revealed the extent of America's illegal spying and treachery, companies like Apple and Google started promising more secure encryption on their devices. But is it too late? The United States Gov't can do almost anything it wishes in secret, and our amazing new technology literally lets strangers into every aspect of our daily lives. 

    We no longer read the things our downloaded apps can do, we just click accept and start sharing! Do appliances really need online access? Should we have to remember to unplug our TV before having a conversation, or sharing a private moment in our own living rooms? Is privacy a thing of the past?