Sadly, there are still quite a few angry people over the whole CherryPal debacle, including some folks who claimed they paid for one and never received it or got a refund. We shall see if CherryPal can recover.

Update, 11:40 am PST: I have just received notification from UPS that CherryPal has sent package information to them. I have a tracking number, but the package has not yet been received by UPS so it’s not out for delivery yet. Assuming that all goes well, my scheduled delivery is Friday, December 5. Fingers crossed!

I had signed up as a CherryPal Brand Angel, as I wanted to review the computer for this blog. I was excited at the prospect of a Linux-based mini-computer for the masses. Almost six months later, I still do not have the CherryPal that was promised to me back in June. The staff appears to have disappeared. The founder, Max Seybold, has only recently started to communicate with the Brand Angels, many of whom are in active revolt. We were promised that the CherryPals would be shipped on election day (this, after many delays), only to be told recently that they’d be shipped on December 2.

Max complains that an investor pulled out at the last minute leaving him high and dry; however, given that he’s actually asked for mini-investments of only $3,000, I have to wonder if he’s really going after a big enough prize. The company is obviously underfunded. A measly few grand isn’t needed; try a few million.

I would really like CherryPal to suceed, so I am not trying to spread negative rumor just to be unproductive here. But it appears to me that the company will not get off the ground unless someone bites the bullet and gives CherryPal the infusion of cash and talent needed to get it off the ground. This means real investors who will not only put in money but also help create a company structure with good business people running the show.

If CherryPal does manage to make it, perhaps it will be because some forward-thinking company will buy out the company and its fledging product.

As for me, I am not holding my breath any longer for a CherryPal, but if one does magically arrive on my doorstep, I will be happy to give it a fair and honest review. Waiting…

I downloaded the browser and installed it (it does come in a version for Linux), but I’m not sure if I would use it that much. Some of the eco-trendy sites that come pre-loaded I don’t like particularly much. The one that wins my top “Eco-Irony Award” would be Sprig, which claims to be about the environment while pushing mindless consumerism. (No, you don’t really need to get a new pair of designer expensive “environmentally friendly” shoes when the ones you already have work just fine.) Ecorazzi, which focuses on green celebrities, seconds my list of mindless eco-trendy consumerist crap.

So while I feel that the idea behind Flock’s eco-browser is a good one, I am personally not thrilled about the trend towards corporatey, consumerist websites that play off the green trend but are in reality more of the same consumerism that got us into this environmental mess in the first place.

I’m a woman so it’s fair for me to blame women for this overpopulation problem. Far too often, we women use children as a means of making our egos feel good. Certainly, some of this is a biological urge, but it can’t be all that, since I’m a woman with regular hormones and a decent sex drive who doesn’t get all jazzed up over babies.

For some women, however, having a “baby” is the difference between happiness and despair. Enter the “reborn doll.” This is like a “real doll” for women, but instead of being an anatomically correct sex doll, the reborn doll is a lifelike baby doll. These things look so realistic that police officers have bashed in car windows to rescue the baby dolls from hot cars in the summer.

Most of these dolls are simply dolls with realistic features and mohair. But some are now getting robotic elements - a beating heart or a chest that rises and falls like the child is breathing. Soon enough, these dolls may end up going to the extreme of realism. I can’t imagine why anyone would want a barfing, pooping baby doll, but you never know. The creepiest thought is whether or not they’ll actually make these things capable of suckling on a woman’s breast. Eeuw.

So the question is, which is more damaging to the environment in the long run - real babies, or an army of robot babies, who require parts and plastic and electronic batteries and components and all that nonsense?

Hmm…

Linux Mint comes in a LiveCD that doubles as an installer. It’s a lot more user-friendly than Ubuntu’s formidable installation menu. Click on the Install icon and Mint will do most of the work for you.

My main problem installing Mint is that it hosed my Vista boot record. (I had a new computer with Vista pre-installed and wanted to set up a dual boot on the same disk). After quite a bit of wrangling and googling, I discovered that the best way to set up a dual boot in Vista is through this terrific free utility called EasyBCD by NeoSmart. (You also have to tell Mint not to install a boot record under advanced options.)

Unfortunately, you have to set up your own configuration file using EasyBCD. I found out that (at least with my computers) I had to use the UUID of the partition in order to load it, otherwise it would hang. (If this makes no sense to you, you might not want to try to dual boot Mint with Vista.)

Once I finally got Mint running, I found it had some fantastic features that Ubuntu does not have. First is the expanded menu system that resides in the lower left hand corner, Windows style. (With widescreen laptops, I hate having the top of my screen used for a navigation bar.) Mint also comes with exceptionally useful MintInstall application, which can be used to search for software in the Mint software directory or even install using APT. (This means you do not have to use a command line to install an APT package - so much easier for me.)

I do miss the simple, subject-oriented Add/Remove Programs option in Ubuntu, but I had already gotten to the point where I was using Synaptic more regularly anyway, and Synaptic is readily available in Mint’s menu as the “Package Manager.”

The standard software installed is pretty decent, and I like that a partition editor is included, but you don’t get any games with the installation. (Using MintInstall, you can type “gnome-games” into the APT box to get your standard solitaire and whatnot.)

So other than the botched dual-boot installation, I find Linux Mint to be just as good if not slightly better than Ubuntu.

The way the ads were running, it seemed like Mr. Pickens was running for office. But he’s not. Who is this guy? Well, according to Wikipedia (which, we know, isn’t always 100% accurate but it’s a good place to start), Pickens is a Republican who made his fortune with oil.

I don’t really care which party someone comes from if they are making sense. While I may not agree with everything Pickens suggests, at least the guy is putting his money where his mouth is. For far too long our leadership has done nothing on the issue of oil dependency.

Pickens wrote the following to the Wall Street Journal:

It starts with wind. A Department of Energy study says we can generate 20% of our electricity from wind. I believe that with private investment and proven technology, we can generate 20% of our electricity from wind within 10 years — which happens to be the same amount we currently generate using America’s natural gas. Moving to wind power will allow us to conserve domestic natural gas for transportation. It’s cheaper, it’s cleaner, the technology is ready now and it’s abundant — America only has 20 billion barrels of oil and we’re trying to drill for a few billion more, but we already have the natural gas equivalent of 110 billion barrels in proven reserves and 170 billion more that are being accessed through new technology.

But most importantly, natural gas buys us one thing money can’t buy — time — the time to develop the renewable fuels that will finally end foreign oil’s stranglehold on the U.S.

I can’t say I know enough about natural gas for cars as an option…I would prefer electric cars ultimately. But I am in agreement that we need to do something, now. And I think wind power definitely needs to be tapped more.

Pickens has come under fire for taking up ground water rights in Texas, though some just say he’s doing what any good businessman would. (Well, Pickens probably didn’t get all that money from being a softie, I’m sure.)

I always felt that it would actually be the oil people who would get us off of oil. Why? Because they are in business and it’s a losing proposition to be in business promoting a fuel that has exceeded its lifespan.

It will be interesting to see what Pickens accomplishes with this plan of his.

Is there a way to minimize the environmental impacts of drilling? I think environmentalists need to find a way to compromise on this issue.

One positive note: At least both parties are discussing energy independence and alternate fuels.

I will be getting my CherryPal to review soon, at which point I am going to run the computer through the motions to see how well it does. (The nice thing about being a brand angel is that they aren’t censoring honest opinion, though there is a financial incentive to write positive things, since we get a small referral bonus for the use of our promo codes. Rest assured, if I hated it, I would not promote it regardless.)

The CherryPal will be for sale on their website soon - use my promo code CPP235 to receive a discount on your purchase.