Sonic Infusion

Matrix Mistakes

2009-09-30T20:12:00.003-03:00

If you can't bear the thought of admitting there are mistakes in this excellent EXCELLENT film, please don't watch this. This dude did a great job combing through this movie, though he seems like the type who has every screen detail committed to memory at this point.

Personally I love this kind of stuff.

Richard Dawkins on The Current

2009-09-29T14:44:00.002-03:00

Richard Dawkins was on the current this morning.

Have a listen:

itunescontrol

2009-09-18T08:59:00.003-03:00

I've always wanted a system-wide hotkey system for iTunes, so I could be working in an application (let's say, a web browser) and change the song, pull up the current song info, change the rating, etc.

iTunesControl is exactly what I wanted. The default colours are a little sketchy and I had to go and configure it to use a proper font, but it seems to be really fitting the bill.

play/pause: win+p

next track: win+right arrow

prev track: win+left arrow

vol up: win+up arrow

vol down: win+down arrow

show current track info: win+c

show current track rating: win+shift+6

change current track rating: win+shift+[0-4] (the number corresponds to the rating you want to give, so win+shift+3 mean you rate this track at 3 stars, etc)

it's really a great little app, and it's free!

I Always Wondered How They Built Those Big Cranes

2009-09-15T10:23:00.000-03:00

Music Videos

2009-09-14T13:21:00.004-03:00

So I know I'm totally out of touch with 'it' in pop culture these days (man it slips away fast once you're out of university eh?) but holy cow what the hell is happening with music videos these days?

I just found out about Kanye's outburst during Taylor Swift's Female Video Of The Year acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV VMAs. Wow.

Here's the evidence:

Here's Beyonce apologizing later on in the night. I have to say 'good on her' - she's even classier than I thought.

Meanwhile, here is the Taylor Swift video in question:

Here is the Beyonce vide in question:

I have to say I like them both, but jeez are these really the best videos of the year. I think the Beyonce 'continuous shot' thing is pretty awesome, and the dancing is pretty insance, but Taylor's video is just as good in its own wholesome way. They're very different, but I don't think Taylor deserved to have her award questioned really.

Also though, I'd like to point out that even with my very limited knowledge of music videos I know of a video that came out this year that I much better than either of those (and Beyonce's video won "Video Of The Year"!?). But it's not from one of those big bankable artists, so I guess we don't get to talk about it at the VMAs.

I love in this video how they filmed it with a 'slowed down' version of the song and then sped the video up to 'real' speed. The effect is great.

**** UPDATE ****

As it turns out this mutemath video came out in Nov 2008 so maybe it didn't qualify for this year's VMAs. Still a great video.

interesting article about gas MTBE ethanol and water

2009-09-10T16:23:00.002-03:00

Check out this very interesting article.

http://www.epa.gov/OMS/regs/fuels/rfg/waterphs.pdf

That's Super-Mr.-Goodwrench

2009-04-03T14:29:00.002-03:00

Michael Moore's latest blog post is not to be missed.

The biggest thing about this recent brouhaha in Detroit is that Obama, as arrogant and pompous as he is, has just done the most brash and outlandish thing possible - he's stood up against the corporate america (if only the failing part).

I think Michael Moore is right, and it wouldn't surprise me if the Donald Trumps of America are at this moment planning his assasination.

But it will take this kind of gumption to deal with the current circumstances. He's got a long road ahead, but I think by taking a stand against corporate America in this bold and unprecedented way, I think he's on the right path.

Less Than 25% in US, 4% in World

2009-03-25T14:09:00.003-03:00

I can't tell you how many times I've been in a conversation with someone about greenhouse gases or climate change or pollution or alternative energy (etc) over the past 12 months or so.

Often I hear people start yammering on about how we need to fix cars in order to get a handle on greenhouse gases. And I always postulate that the effects of cars is probably a lot less than they think. Nonetheless, I have never had a number to use to back myself up.

According this article, cars, trucks, and big rigs (ie: everything that drives on the road) only account for ~24% of our greenhouse gas pollution in the USA, and only ~4% of the world's greenhouse gas pollution. These are 2006 numbers.

Clearly there are many other categories (industrial production, heating/cooling, etc) where we are polluting much more than we are with cars. Reducing our pollution from transportation is going to help, but I think there are bigger gains to be had elsewhere first. Just my opinion.

Obama Is NOT A Socialist!

2009-03-16T14:28:00.002-03:00

Thanks to Billy Wharton for finally saying what I hoped someone with credentials (ie: other than me) would say for a long time now.

The definitive line:

...[Obama] is not a socialist except, perhaps, in the imaginations of an odd assortment of conservatives.

Knots - the tie down

2009-03-16T10:01:00.002-03:00

I was shown this knot when I was a kid in Scouts and have been using it ever since for just about every possible tie down scenario possible. It works with small ropes and large, heavy loads and light - it's awesome. The only limiting factor seems to be the strength of the materials - the rope, the anchor points, the object you're tying down - as you can use the mechanical advantage in this knot to apply great pressure and sometimes end up breaking things.

Top Tax Bracket

2009-03-11T10:42:00.003-03:00

I've been advocating for something like this in Canada for years now. I think it's stupid that our top tax bracket starts at ~120k and goes up to infinity (check out this table of federal tax rates in Canada) (And here are the USA federal tax rates, for comparison). And the rate on that bracket is not all that high, at 29%. We should add another bracket at like 500k at say 32%, and another at 1 million at say 35%.

Actually, they sort of do this already in the US. You can see by looking at the tables I provided in the links that the US feds tax at 28% between 79k and 165k, which is likely roughly equivalent to our 120k+ bracket at 29%. Then they also add another bracket at 33% between 165k and 357k, and yet another at 35% above 357k. I like my numbers above better, but I think they're essentially going after the same idea (I came up with my numbers before looking up the US tax rates).

Does anyone else find it strange that (excluding state/county/provincial/municipal rates) federal taxes in the US are actually higher than they are in Canada, and that they define more tax brackets? Isn't the US supposed to be the land of the economic conservative?

Actually I've also been thinking lately of something more along the lines of a tax 'curve' than using specific brackets, but there's a host of problems with that. If it's linear (a straight line), you still end up with people who could outstrip the curve at some point, whereas if it's not linear, you end up taxing the highest earners so heavily they get nothing. A linear curve seems better to me, but I haven't convinced myself that a 'curve' system would be better than brackets, though I'm still convinced brackets are not serving us well at the momement.

FFVII - the best?

2009-03-09T14:33:00.002-03:00

Probably not, on many counts, seen from the perspective of many of the gaming afficionados out there.

Nontheless, it was the first RPG I ever really played (to completion, for instance) and it was certainly the most emotionally moving video game I've ever enjoyed.

Also, limit breaks are wicked cool, materia was a kickass system for magic and weapons augmentation (though I will admit, I can't actually say whether it was better than espers or not), and Sephiroth is probably the scariest badguy I can think of off the top of my head.

Bleeding The Rich? Give me a break....

2009-03-09T14:30:00.003-03:00

A great article revealing the stupidity in the hyperbole shooting from the minds of conservatives in America right now. We hear this type of stuff in Canada a lot too. Congrats to the author for doing a bit of simple math to expose the truth of the matter.

UPDATE:

Here's more evidence of the absurdity of the conservative claims of 'soaking the rich':

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_03/017201.php

The Credit Crisis Explained

2009-02-26T09:31:00.002-04:00

Check out this great video that I think does a great job explaining the basics of what's gone wrong with the financial system in the US. Thanks GetRichSlowly.com!

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Fair Trade vs Free Trade (They're NOT The Same Thing)

2009-02-20T11:17:00.004-04:00

Good old Fox News with their cute little conservative bias... (not that a non-conservative bias is any better - it's the consistent bias that is the problem I think...)

Listen to a MI Mayor lay down the Fair Trade vs Free Trade spiel here. Admittedly he's a little worked up, but I think I would be too if my entire State was being slowly picked and torn apart like MI is right now. Despite being a little too forceful, I think he's hitting the nail on the head.

Also I'd like to set something straight that I think many people providing commentary on the issues of the auto industry are getting wrong. People who want to see the Detroit makers pay for all their 'bad decisions' (and they did make some, though I'm not convinced their decision making can be blamed for all their current problems) always seem to head right for the issue of pay disparity.

They claim US workers in US plants working for foreign makers receive a lower average pay than workers employed by the Detroit makers. Usually they cite figures of about $30/hour for workers at foreign makers' plants and about $70/hour for workers at Detroit makers' plants.

I will track down an article to back this up, but to my knowledge, although the Detroit makers claim it /costs/ approx $70/hour in total compensation per worker to run their business, this includes pension payments, the health care plan, the job bank system, injury compensation, and all benefits related to retirees (and BTW, they are taking care of a century's worth of retirees and their spouse's pensions and health care!! These costs are often referred to as 'legacy costs'). All these things were conceded willingly and in good faith by the Detroit makers through contract negotiations. AND, I might add, all of which are on the chopping block as possible concessions that the UAW may be willing to make in return for job and wage guarantees.

The pay workers who are employed in the plants and working day-to-day actually receive in both 'domestic' and 'foreign' plants is actually about the same, though. I think it is slightly higher at the UAW shops, but it's not a lot. This is why this mayor guy gets so fired up when the interviewer starts asking about pay cuts for UAW workers.

OTA TV

2009-02-18T19:11:00.002-04:00

Check out this super awesome page that will let you search for over the air television broadcasts. It has a 'search by distance' function that lets you search based on distance from a specified long/lat, which is REALLY cool.

ZIP Codes Actually Make Sense?

2009-01-22T11:05:00.003-04:00

Almost literally unbelievably, the US postal ZIP code system does actually make some sense. This is a very cool little web 2.0 app - though pretty much useless beyond the illustrative purpose of showing how the ZIP system works.

Hans and the Mutant Brown Muppet

2009-01-22T09:17:00.002-04:00

This is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time and I can't stop watching it. I've been playing it for myself 3 or 4 times a day all week.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Coldness In NB

2009-01-14T09:54:00.003-04:00

Many of you will remember with fond memories the coldness and windiness that IS Sackville NB in January and February.

We in Moncton are in for a bout of that legendary frigidity in the next few days. I'll be expecting your sympathy.

Cars! Basic Maintenance - Timing Belt

2009-01-12T13:14:00.010-04:00

As I mentioned in my last Cars! piece, there are some maintenance items that can easily spell disaster, and there is usually a pre-determined service interval for each.

Here I'll discuss a few of the common service items and some typical service intervals. Many people ignore almost all of these and seem to get along fine, though I have absolutely no idea how that is.

Some people like to brag about how little money they've spent on their car since they acquired it. Most of these people are in for a big shock when stuff does start to break.

Some people feel like they shouldn't have to spend money on their cars, because every time some little thing comes up they want to sell it and get something better/newer/german/american/bluer/faster/smaller/whatever. Mind you, little things often cost multiple hundreds of dollars to deal with, so this response is understandable to a degree.

Anyway, I want to go over some of the common things I try to deal with on my car. Most of these things are easily handled by the average backyard wrench-turner if he/she has a little time.

Another important thing to recognize while we're going through these is that often there is a separate and shorter service interval prescribed if the components in question are subjected to what the manufacturer defines as "severe" or "extreme" service. Although the manufacturer's are well within their rights to define "severe" service for their own models, I think you'll see that for most people the "severe" service describes a large part of their typical use.

Also, some of the stuff I will suggest will be what I would probably call 'preventative maintenance', but it's money/time well spent. The next time you're trying to decide whether you really /need/ to replace that part now while you have everything apart or if you can wait until next year, try to picture yourself stranded on the side of a highway in a snow storm in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere - if you're honest with yourself, this new perspective should do a lot of persuading.

Let's start with....

Timing Belt - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timing_belt

It's just a reinforced rubber belt with (usually) square-ish notches on one side. The timing belt drives the cams that actuate the intake and exhaust valves. The belt is driven by the crank and normally tensioned using an automatic tensioning device, either hydraulic or spring motivated.

Service intervals on timing belts are varied drastically from one manufacturer to another, from one engine to another, even from one application (same engine, different car) to another. You'll have to look up the service interval for your particular car. This should be in the user's manual.

The service interval for my 1998 V70 with B5254T engine is (depending on where you look) 70-80,000 miles which I guess is about 120000 kms.

For the "severe" service interval it is recommended that the service interval be HALVED in situations where most of the driving is short-trip driving where the engine is being started and stopped often over the life of the belt (ie: most people). Halving is pretty conservative, but I would definitely not feel like I was doing it too often to take 20% off the regular interval. Oil, heat, water, coolant, etc, all shorten the life quickly. It's best to err on the side of caution.

This is typically a pretty expensive job to do as far as basic maintenance goes, as the access to the timing belt in today's transversely mounted FWD cars is very space constrained and there is very little room to manoeuvre. Also, in order to access the timing belt, anything in front of it will need to be removed as well, including the serpentine drive belt and often the crank pulley. If your car still has a mechanically driven cooling fan that will all need to be removed as well.

It's much easier for the professionals to do this because they have large hoists and can safely get under the car and perform the procedures the way they were intended to be done. This is still a very do-able shadetree job though.

When you have the timing belt off already, it's a great time to check/replace the water pump, whose service normally requires removing the belt anyway (if your water pump is old, it might be worth it put that $80 pump in now for essentially nothing extra in labour, as opposed to doing the timing belt now and then doing the water pump next year, essentially paying for the labour twice). I don't know of any manufacturer's that list expected service life for water pumps. This will definitely not need to be done at every timing belt change though.

Also, there are a number of components I call the 'rolling gear' which will be different for each engine and consists of automatic tensioners and guide pulleys (pulleys which spin with the belt but don't drive anything). It's also a good time to get this stuff swapped out. I've heard bad things about using aftermarket (not OEM, not from the vehicle manufacturer) stuff here. Again, I don't know any manufacturer's that list expected service life for these components, but this stuff will definitely not need to be done at every timing belt change.

In addition to all that, this is a great time to think about replacing seals. The timing belt runs on pulles which are attached to the rotating stuff inside the engine (cams and cranks) and where those rotating pieces protrude through the side of the engine, a seal is used to keep the oil and grease inside the engine, and water and dirt and other contamination on the outside. Seals also have a finite lifespan, and just like the water pump and rolling gear, everything 'in front' of them including the timing belt must be removed to get at them. Seals are the kind of thing that are normally put off until there is a problem, and as such, they are a great candidate for a cheap way to ensure that you'll get many more trouble-free miles out of your engine.

As I mentioned earlier, you have to take the serpentine belt off to get to the timing belt anyway. It's a good time to replace that belt (it should be a fairly cheap part - esp in relation to the cost of the labour to get all this stuff off and back on again!) and also to check out the automatic tensioner for that belt as well. You might as well replace anything that needs it/might need it soon, though these parts (serpentine belt, serpentine tensioner) are much easier to get to than the timing belt and anything behind it.

Non-interference engines are those with valves that don't cross paths with the pistons. Interference engines are those with valves and pistons whose path may cross (mechanically, as in collision) and cause a lot of damage in the process. I think almost all diesel engines and most modern gasoline engines are of the interference variety.

A broken timing belt WILL cause the pistons to contact the valves, and the engine WILL be ruined. It will cost thousands of dollars to fix it. I don't know how else to tell you how important it is to know when the timing belt was last done and when you need to do it again.

You should have the full story on the timing belt before you purchase a car. If the seller can't offer any proof that the timing belt was changed and when the service was performed, get a quote to have the service done and subtract that from the asking price for the car and GO GET IT DONE as soon as you take possession.

Cars! Service Records

2009-01-08T18:43:00.006-04:00

Hello again, and welcome back!

I took a serious hiatus after the wedding, mainly because I wanted to come back with pics and news of the wedding and honeymoon, and then never got any pics posted anywhere so I never did a post about it and on and on until now when I feel like enough time has passed that I can forget about the wedding and move on with a new post.

And my new post is about - cars!

Not the cartoon kind, the kind you spend your hard earned payolas on, and that break down and suck more payolas, and that get smashed up and suck more, and suck more and suck more and more and more...

Anyway, a good buddy of mine has been going through the process of selecting a new car recently, and it's made me think of all the things that I go over when I check out a car for myself to buy, and when I maintain the cars I do buy. I'm certainly not an expert at buying cars or anything - actually I'm pretty inexperienced at that. What I do have experience with is nursing along old cars, and so I have some advice about the types of things you might look for when purchasing a car that is less than new (and I do recommend that you buy a car that is less than new in almost every situation - many other people have covered that on the web so go look for their advice on that one) and when caring for a car that is a few years older than the typical leased vehicle.

So first off, let's talk about service records. When you're buying a used car, service records are like money in the bank. And actually, the lack of service records are money in the bank too.

The existence of service records means that work has been done and you can see exactly when it was done (date and mileage) and by whom and how much it cost. If a particular piece of maintenance can not be proved to have been done by service records, than it may never have been done as far as you, the purchaser, are concerned. As such, you should ask for a discount on the asking price given that you will have to perform that service yourself, and also to compensate you for any damage that may have been done during the time the car has gone without that service.

The user manual is a wealth of information about a vehicle, and although I have recently discovered that most people don't do the very simple and important task of reading their user manual (that little book that sits in the funny wallet thing inside the dash), it fully describes all service intervals for the car. The term service intervals refers to the specified time or mileage that can pass before a particular service item needs to be performed.

For instance, on my 1998 Volvo V70 the service interval on the timing belt is the shorter of 70,000 miles or 5 years. The timing belt for this car cannot reliably be trusted beyond that and must be changed. The service interval on changing the brake fluid is 2 years. The service interval on changing the coolant is 3 years. In the case of a timing belt, ignoring the service interval could mean a ruined engine (noticeable!) while ignoring the brake fluid service interval (which most people do) probably just means additional corrosion in the braking system (likely not immediately noticeable).

The lesson here is that sometimes ignoring service intervals will bite you in the ass. Big time. Other times it will bite you in the ass sometime far off in the future in some vague and unspecified way. The point is, it WILL bite you in the ass.

More to come...

Worst News Ever : Bordens Will Close

2007-08-23T16:26:00.000-03:00

Gang, I have some very bad news to relay, via the new MTA Alumni Weblog, which I just discovered today.

That bastion of Sackville-ness, that most grand of all rural symbols, that most excellent of family dining, the restaurant Bordens, will be closing its doors forever this September. This is surely a sad day in the history of the Maritimes.

What other restaurant is on the other side of town? Where will people go to "get away"? Patterson's? I think not!

What other restaurant has "Piece of cheese" as a line item on the menu? Joey's? No way!

What other restaurant still uses those old cloth-roll-thingies in the washrooms? Alas, not even George's has remained this true to its roots.

I will call and get the details, and post an update here.

Bordens was my favourite place to eat in Sackville. It was the first place I went with my family when they dropped me off for school that first September, and it was a place Morgan and I would go regularly just to go for a walk and get away from the bustle of life in the school and in the town.

I don't think I ever ordered "Piece of cheese" though.

All things must pass, as they say. They've had a good run there, obviously, and I hope it was the right decision for those involved. But I will truly truly miss this place, and I hope I get a chance to head down there for a meal one last time before the doors are sealed up for good.

On a lighter note, MTA just joined iTunesU! Good check out some sweet free learnin's, to the world, direct from Sackville.

Perhaps I'll be able to make it to the Sackville Fall Fair this year too!

Focus ST

2007-07-20T13:25:00.001-03:00

Why, oh WHY, can't we just have this car here in NA? I don't understand what Ford is DOING with the focus in NA right now. ESP when they're making such killer stuff for the European market.... Jeez, at least sell the thing in Canada!

YouTube Encoding

2007-07-18T09:17:00.000-03:00

I just found a great article on how to get your videos to look good AND encode faster (on the YouTube upload end) and thought my YouTube-ing public would appreciate a look.

Office Stuff

2007-07-11T10:41:00.000-03:00

I need some fidgeting stuff for work. These would be awesome!

Uber Orbs

Friends Don't Let Friends Watch CNN (or F.U.W.B.)

2007-07-10T09:44:00.001-03:00

On July 9th CNN aired a (live) interview with Michael Moore about his new movie, "Sicko", which I would love to see. I think this is a great topic, and it's something that the US should be completely ashamed of, and I hope that exposing the atrocities of their 'system' will help steer this country away from that style of health care delivery.

BUT, the real issue on display here is what a TERRIBLE job CNN does of actually reporting the truth.

They ran this stupid trash piece before the interview with Moore, saying he 'fudged facts' and basically accused Moore of misleading people. Of course Moore immediately points out how CNN has a number of programs funded by pharmaceutical companies and for-profit health care providers, and CNN is protecting its advertisers by trying to wash the movie with the "liar liar" brush.

So Moore basically forces Blitzer to say that if there was anything wrong with their little trash piece, they'd fix it on the air. And so Moore posts a piece on his website clearly explaining the numerous ways that CNN's "protect the sugar daddies" piece by Gupta was completely wrong, and possibly libelous.

Anyway, the point of reporting is not to just say whatever the hell you want and then fix it later if somebody does the research /for/ /you/ and calls bullshit and makes a fool of you in public. That's just completely terrible, and I would hope that if this were the CBC those guys would get fired for pulling shit like this. But you see, on CNN it's expected, and they do it ALL THE TIME! ON PURPOSE! WTF?!

And don't even get me started on that arsehole Lou Dobbs's comment about how 'left-wing' Moore is at the end. (For the record, his wikipedia page says he once worked on anti-poverty programs in Boston, which sounds a little 'left-wing' to me.) Seriously, who really gives a shit which political 'wing' this is on!!!

Newsflash for the news anchor:

PEOPLE ARE DYING EVERYDAY!!! THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT HERE YOU PRISSY RICH JERK-OFF!!! THEY AREN'T DYING BECAUSE THEY'RE 'LEFT WING' !!

Perhaps only a rich economist could be this cold....

Anyway, here's your links:
Moore's Interview
Moore's Rebuttal

PS - the interview is awesome! (So try to watch the whole thing)

Click Capacitance

2007-06-29T13:32:00.000-03:00

I just thought some folks out there might have run into the same "click-wheel doesn't work" problem with their iPod. Holy geez am I glad it's such a simple fix! My iPod's been acting pretty flaky for the past few months and I was sure it was ready to die.

Collateralized Debt Obligations?

2007-06-28T09:24:00.000-03:00

I predicted this a few months ago.

The BIS (Bank for International Settlements, the world's most prestigious financial body) is suggesting that there are some serious problems with the economies of the various developed and developing countries in the world, where debt (both consumer and governmental) reigns supreme at the expense of any financial securities - much like just before the Depression in the '30s in North America, and much like the giant cluster-f@#k that the '90s turned out to be in Asia.

Everything about the world right now depends on low borrowing rates - i.e. cheap funding - and that isn't going to last forever. As for what to do about it - I personally have no idea. I'm much more interested in politics and economics than I am in financial issues such as personal management and [stock]market trends.

Just don't say I didn't warn you.

JOiNT

2007-06-28T09:03:00.003-03:00

I seem to be thinking a lot about money lately (buying a house, paying for wedding, car repairs, insurance, raises, plus the everyday stuff...) and I've been following some finance related blogs.

GetRichSlowly (great site, btw) had a good piece the other day about joint finances (how-to, how-not-to, why, why not, etc) and I just thought I'd link to it here. It's definitely good reading for those of us interested in couple-ly financial integration (am I the only one?)

Original article on GetRichSlowly

Links (from the original article):

And for good measure:

How To Orgainze Your Finances In 4 Easy Steps

Square Foot Gardening

2007-06-28T09:03:00.001-03:00

Although perhaps not strictly 'wedding' related, I thought I'd post this here as it pertains to the life Morgan and I will lead together as a result of the marriage.

I just found this great blog post introducing "Square-Foot Gardening" and absolutely love the idea. Expect to hear of adventures building boxes and perhaps even mini-harvesting in a few years!

Out And About (Oat na Boat)

2007-06-13T16:50:00.000-03:00

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

Canadian

People from outside North America probably think you're from the States, but over here we wouldn't make such a mistake.

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Iggy Pop On The CBC

2007-06-13T09:49:00.000-03:00

Oh what a crazy world it is...

I was listening to a tune by Mogwai this morning called Punk Rock, in which a man's voice can be heard speaking in the background about punk rock. I did some digging, and it turns out the voice (and the words he's speaking) belongs to a man named Iggy Pop. And he spoke these words on the CBC in 1977 in an interview with the one and only Peter Gzowski.
Here's the video clip. Inspiring.

Fuzz Off ClearType

2007-06-12T16:32:00.000-03:00

In case anyone was thinking of scoffing at my Apple-fanboyism (fanboyism is a word, isn't it?) when they fired up the new Safari 3 Beta for Windows and saw the strange font-smoothing going on, here's a great piece by the one-and-only Joel Spolsky, explaining what's really going on.

For what it's worth, many XP users might be pleasantly surprised by Safari's strange font-smoothing, as it seems that font-smoothing is set to 'Standard' by default (which is pure shit) and so they're not used to any decent anti-aliasing at all, let alone the truly beautiful (on a computer screen) ClearType font smoothing Windows provides.

I hate seeing a modern computer with anti-aliasing turned off and I incessantly go around enabling ClearType on every Windows computer I get my hands on.

Advice From The Internet : Hiring (Presentations - Follow-up)

2007-06-11T10:53:00.000-03:00

Here's a great article about the arduous task of 'hiring'. One aspect seemed particularly relevant to this blog, as I posted about it here on another Advice From The Internet column on presentations. This is a great explanation of why you shouldn't bullshit through a question you truly do not know the answer to :

"One way to test for an aspect of ethics -- honesty -- is to test for how someone reacts when they don't know something.

Pick a topic you know intimately and ask the candidate increasingly esoteric questions until they don't know the answer.

They'll either say they don't know, or they'll try to bullshit you.

Guess what. If they bullshit you during the hiring process, they'll bullshit you once they're onboard.

A candidate who is confident in his own capabilities and ethical -- the kind you want -- will say "I don't know" because they know that the rest of the interview will demonstrate their knowledge, and they know that you won't react well to being bullshitted -- because they wouldn't react well either."

Lowest Quintile

2007-06-11T09:46:00.000-03:00

Here's a (surprisingly, for the NYT) good piece about class wage inequality in America. (For the record, I think the same thing is happening in Canada, though the article specifically points out that it's not as big a problem in the UK or Scandanavia).

Choice quote:

"Americans care about “fairness” more than about “equalness.” We boo athletes suspected of taking steroids, but we admire billionaires."

This is going to become a huge issue if we (North Americans) continue to do nothing about it.

And that's exactly what we're doing BTW. Check out your tax return form for a good example:

2006	$0 - $8,839	$8,839 - $36,378	$36,378 - $72,756	$72,756 - $118,285	over $118,285
2006	0%	15.25%	22%	26%	29%

[ table c/o wikipedia ]

Notice how our tax brackets stop mysteriously at 118k? Admittedly, 29% is a pretty hefty tax rate, but there are a LOT of people in Canada making annual incomes in excess of 118k! [I can't find any stats one way or another in a quick search. Maybe some of you readers will know where I could find a stat about how many Canadians make more than 118k/year and what the distribution is after that as well - like how many people make in excess of 150k, and 200k and 300k, etc ]

It seems to me on first glance that we could easily shave a few percentage points off the two lowest-but-not-zero brackets and create a new bracket for those who make 200k+.

Also you'll notice the difference from the first bracket to the second is quite large at 15.25%, and then grows at an increasingly slower rate after that. This leaves effectively means that if you're in bracket 2 at 15.25% and you find a way to somehow make enough money to fit into the next tax bracket your 'penalty' is greater than if you make the same move from the 4th to the 5th bracket. Does this seem backwards to anyone else? Shouldn't the brackets be at least an even distance apart? It's like there's an incentive for staying in a lower bracket!

I know I'm not an economist and there's probably really good reasons for setting things up this way but it seems completely counterintuitive to me. Another choice quote to put this into perspective a bit:

"Kevin Hassett, of the American Enterprise Institute, estimates that a family of four earning $50,000 pays exactly the same share of its income (30 percent) on taxes as one earning $150,000."

But, as the article points out, although tax policy is important, the issue shouldn't be about punishing the rich (which is one way this could be seen) but more about "raising" the folks who are at the bottom. And it just hasn't been happening the way everyone predicted in the '80s when Regan cut taxes and Mulrooney signed NAFTA (which TOTALLY F-ed the lower class), both being good little conservatives and predicting confidently that all the wealth they were creating 'at the top' would mean good things for poor folks too. Someday. It didn't happen.

And now we really need to do something about it. As the article says:

"Hamburger flippers simply don’t command a high wage. We can pass laws to change that — a minimum price for cheeseburgers, maybe — or we can, finally, invest in teaching the flippers to do something else."

Anyways, read the article, it's great.

Shikwati Economy

2007-06-07T11:50:00.000-03:00

Please PLEASE read this interview with African (Kenyan) economist James Shikwati on the issue of aid from developed countries being sent to poor countries (everywhere, but in Africa and Kenya specifically).

A lot of the stuff in this article is stuff I've been suspicious of for a long time but never had the data to support it. Granted he doesn't supply any 'data' in this interview either, other than making a ton of sense.

It's quite possible I've selected information due to some confirmation or disconfirmation bias, but I'm willing to live with that in hopes that you'll read this an consider the opinion. I have a ton to say about this but I don't have time right now. Hopefully this will generate some food for thought for you. It certainly did for me.

My favourite quotes:

"A portion of the corn often goes directly into the hands of unscrupulous politicians who then pass it on to their own tribe to boost their next election campaign. Another portion of the shipment ends up on the black market where the corn is dumped at extremely low prices. Local farmers may as well put down their hoes right away; no one can compete with the UN's World Food Program. And because the farmers go under in the face of this pressure, Kenya would have no reserves to draw on if there actually were a famine next year. It's a simple but fatal cycle."

"Why do we get these mountains of clothes? No one is freezing here. Instead, our tailors lose their livlihoods. They're in the same position as our farmers. No one in the low-wage world of Africa can be cost-efficient enough to keep pace with donated products. In 1997, 137,000 workers were employed in Nigeria's textile industry. By 2003, the figure had dropped to 57,000. The results are the same in all other areas where overwhelming helpfulness and fragile African markets collide."

"When an aid organization needs a driver, dozens apply for the job. And because it's unacceptable that the aid worker's chauffeur only speaks his own tribal language, an applicant is needed who also speaks English fluently -- and, ideally, one who is also well mannered. So you end up with some African biochemist driving an aid worker around, distributing European food, and forcing local farmers out of their jobs. That's just crazy!"

Surfin' Safari (slowly)

2007-06-05T13:54:00.000-03:00

A number of folks around me have been complaining about Safari lately. There are a number of things wrong with Safari, and I think even Apple would happily admit them.

They have a new version coming out with Leopard in the fall and I imagine they're quite happy to make you wait until then to get any relief. They just don't decouple Safari from the OS it ships with. (As in, you probably won't be able to use the new version of Safari with Tiger, just as you can't use Tiger's version with Panther)

There are a pile of things you can do to help Safari run a little faster, and I'll try to detail a few of them below in the hopes that you'll get some mileage from them and be happier using your computer. Also, there are some really great alternatives to using Safari (which may or may not have your favourite Safari features) which I'll try to detail as well. Finding a browser that really and truly suits your personal needs is hard and painful and I want it to be as easy as it can be.

First of all, there are some easy things you can and should try:

Restart Safari
Many people, especially laptop users (me too), leave Safari running for days or weeks on end. Because Mac OS X is so robust and can stay up for weeks or months without restarting, and because we sleep our computers so much (closing the lid) I think Safari often runs long enough to start having problems keeping everything straight.
Typical use case:
- open computer
- do something with Safari
- close computer
- repeat a zillion times a day for six weeks
- notice Safari is slow
Restarting the application will help mitigate this.
Run Maintenance And Restart Your Machine
Get a maintenance program like Cocktail and run the maintenance scripts (which don't get run because your machine is never on when they try to run), clean out your font and internet caches, and restart the machine. There's a lot of housekeeping that Mac OS X knows how to do for itself, and a good chunk of it is 'internet' related.
Use Safari's Maintenance Tasks
Safari knows how to do some stuff to keep it running quickly as well.
- In the History menu, you can select "Clear History" - dragging around months of browsing history can be slightly taxing.
- In the Preferences window you can clear the Autofill history using the button on the Autofill tab. Again, dragging around months of form data can really slow things down. (FWIW I have my autofill turned right off, though you can do some finer tuning if that's what you're into as well. For me having it turned off completely means I don't have to go in and clean it out or maintain which things I want on 'the list', etc)
  
  OR
- In the File menu select "Reset Safari" - this will do some basic cleanup in Safari. It will also kill your browsing history and clear any sessions and cookies, and flush out your forms Autofill, so be prepared for that. It's just a quick shortcut for doing all the things mentioned above in one step.
Get Your Hands Dirty
If you're still seeing the spinning-beachball-of-death or just unhappy with Safari's speed, there are still some things you can do. (though some of them might not be much help)
- Delete your icon cache: (~/Library/Safari/Icons)
  Safari remembers sites' favicons for the bookmarks list, and it can really chew up a pile of time sorting through them. Delete the cache to see an increase in speed, but lose your favicons. This is something that will need to be done periodically.
- Disable localization:
  If you're only using Safari in one language you might get some small increase in performance by turning off the localization features in Safari. In the Finder, find the Safari app in the Applications folder, and do a Get Info on it. Select the Languages pane and deselect all languages you don't plan on using. (I'm skeptical that this will really do much for you)
- Make room on your drive:
  Make sure you have at least 20% of your hard drive free, so your computer has lots of room to put temporary, swap, and cache files out to disk whenever it needs to.
- Extreme measures:
  - If you're really into getting super performance out of your browser you can set up a RAM disk and put the computer's swap files on it. It's a bit risky and it's not for me to explain here. You can do your own research if you think you're into this approach. There's pros and cons.
  - You could try turning off your widgets - they suck up a lot more resources than most people realize, though then you'd have to go without the widgets. It's a trade off.
  - If you're on a laptop and you find Safari is slower when you're running on the battery, go to your energy settings System Preferences panel and turn off the processor cycling option, which will run your computer's processor a little slower when you're on the battery to conserve power. Of course, you battery won't last as long... again, it's a trade off.
More Hardware
The only thing left is to buy more RAM, a bigger hard drive or a better machine. Those shiny new LED/SantaRosa MBPros look pretty sweet!
Other Options
Wait! There is one thing left to try: other browsers! Maybe I'll put this into a separate post....

More Cookin' - This Time With The Youg'uns

2007-05-31T16:33:00.000-03:00

I thought this would be a good follow-up to the last post on Cookin' Grannies.

I'm all about cooking for yourself, and doing it as frugally as possible.

Cookin' Granny

2007-05-28T10:12:00.000-03:00

Here's a great site I found via digg today that aims to connect cookin' grannies from all over the world to share their granny recipes and spread their granny love across the globe. Just don't let it pinch your cheek.

The Monkeysphere

2007-05-23T13:42:00.000-03:00

Folks, I'd like to present to you, a fantastic article on the subject of why human society works the way it does, and why overall it's pretty crappy.

The first page is interesting (and funny) but mostly it's a setup for the second page which is totally rad (and hilarious).

My favourite part:

" Then, some time in the Third Century, French philosopher Pierre "Frenchy" LaFrench invented racism. This was a way of simplifying the too-complex-for-monkeys world by imagining all people of a certain race as being the same person, thinking they all have the same attitudes and mannerisms and tastes in food and clothes and music. It sort of works, as long as we think of that person as being a good person (those Asians are so hard-working and precise and well-mannered!) but when we start seeing them as being one, giant, gaping asshole (the French, ironically) our monkey happiness again breaks down."

Best Commercial Ever

2007-05-10T17:27:00.000-03:00

I Wished For These...

2007-05-09T11:32:00.000-03:00

TVs! As much as everyone loves their flat screen sets, they've always bugged me a bit. They're crazy expensive, their 'refresh' or 'response' rate is generally abysmal (certainly that's the case on anything affordable) and their colour-depth and contrast ratios aren't even really close to what's capable using old-skool tubes.

Until now.

This summer Pioneer will be releasing new [Plasma based?] designs which have 20000:1 contrast ratios, 80% deeper black levels, and some other electronic wizardry to make things even better. THIS is a television folks.

WTF? New Records From DEAD Guy? (and other stuff)

2007-05-08T10:18:00.000-03:00

How in the hells is Elliot Smith releasing new records [amazon]? I'm pretty sure he committed a very violent suicide quite some time ago... Oh well... I'll probably try to track it down.

Also of note this week:

Jimmy Rankin - Edge Of Day [amazon]
Arcade Fire single
Groove Armada - Soundboy Rock [amazon]
Queens Of The Stone Age single
The Sea And Cake - Everybody [amazon]
Warren Zevon - Preludes [amazon]
Carole King - Love Makes The World [amazon] (Mother's Day, anyone?)
Air single
new Rush (can you believe it?) [amazon]

Also don't forget to check out (Morgan turned me on to these) :

new Feist! [amazon]
new(ish) Sara Harmer [amazon]

And something else I found whoring around on iTunes:

a tribute to John Allen Cameron!!

Advice From The Internet : Presentations

2007-05-04T09:58:00.000-03:00

Here's a great little write-up about putting on great presentations. Worth a read for everyone, because everyone needs to do this kind of thing sometimes.

I personally never really have much of a problem actually doing presentations. These tips will certainly make my next presentation better.

I would include in this list, however, something about questions. The questions people ask after presentations are usually no good.

Either :

they're asking something vaguely peripheral that they already know the answer to, in order to try to show you up
or they ask about something you explicitly addressed in the presentation and you know for a fact that they were pulling lint out of their belly-button while you talked about it
or they ask about something completely unrelated that doesn't have any business being discussed in the context of your talk
the list goes on and on

As presenters we have a tendancy to say something like "Well, my research wasn't really about that issue, but I'd be happy to look it up and get back to you...." but I don't like this.

I think it's sheepish and it makes it seem like you've been defeated. You KNOW you're never really going to "get back" to them. It's especially bad because what you really wanted to say was something like "THAT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT YOU F-ING MORON!!" while you strangle him/her to death in front of everyone.

I think it's much more classy to say something along the lines of "I didn't look into that at all." possibly adding an uncaring/shrugging "Sorry".

If it's not too off topic, and you don't think the questioner is just a jack-ass trying to throw you off (ie: their question is genuine) (or if they /are/ a jack-ass but you're happy with your connection to the audience and you think you can embarrass him with your wit) then you might add a little "If I had to guess..." action, but make sure everyone knows you're talking out of your ass and try to make a joke about that.

It can help, at this point, to add something like "... but that doesn't really have anything to do with my talk.".

Most importantly, if someone asks you a question that you really and truly should know the answer to, but DON'T for whatever reason, don't try to make it up or bluff your way through it or resort to the aforementioned "I'll get back to you" tactic. Fess up to not knowing. As bad as it looks that you don't know something that you should, I think it looks worse if you try to hide it. It will really save your ass if you know of a publication that discusses the issue at hand that you can recommend. It's okay to admit what a good question it is, just try not to seem sneaky about not knowing the answer. Good jokes/wit will save your ass here too, but it's pretty tough for most people to rely on their wit, so stick with honesty.

Just my two cents!

More Advice From The Internet : Candid Photography

2007-05-04T08:51:00.000-03:00

Ahh, DigitialPhotographySchool, your advice is concise and clear and open-ended as always. Good job!

Taking candid photos is a great skill. I for one (many people feel this way, I think) have a really hard time making a smile look natural at all if I'm not actually laughing/smiling already, and I look stupid in most pictures. I ALWAYS look better in more candid shots when there's no one standing there saying "Smile!". But it's hard to take shots like that sometimes.

I like the advice in this article. A few I thought were esp effective:

Telephoto : a good long range lens will get you out of someone's face and into the background, shielding you from the posing effect I mentioned above. I'm not a photographer, but I would think that this type of lens would be a necessary piece of equipment for any wedding/event photographer.
Shooting people together : putting two people who are engaged in some activity/conversation or another into the same frame really does make them seem more real, and the picture more candid. Esp when you're shooting kids.
Hi-jack the posing : taking pictures of people while someone else is trying to line up a posed shot! What a great idea! The subjects are all together, making it easy to get them all 1into the frame at once, but they're not looking at you at all and instead are focused on the other photographer. Sweet!

Just some things to think about for all you amateur photographers out there.

OMG DMG

2007-05-03T09:28:00.000-03:00

Disk Images are a concept a lot of people seem to have a hard time wrapping their head around at first.

I like to think of them as virtual CDs, because it helps me remember that they need to be inserted/mounted when you want to use them and ejected/unmounted when you're done. And if you want to keep something that's on them, you need to copy the item off the disk onto your hard drive.

Anyways, here's a good little tutorial on disk images courtesy of TheUnofficialAppleWeblog.com to help you all out.

Advice From The Internet : A Collection of Financial Literacy Resources

2007-05-01T10:48:00.000-03:00

GetRichSlowly has really been my buddy lately. Continuing on my theme of providing resources from teh interweb that I find to be 'good advice', here's a video series on financial literacy.

There's a few people in my life who have at one time or another have noted to me in their own way that they feel 'dumb' financially - they don't understand the stock market or savings or credit scores or whatever. This video series seems to be a great place to start (I learned a lot anyway - I've seen almost all of them).

For what it's worth, I've been following a few blogs that focus on issues of financial literacy lately that would be of interest to anyone interested in this topic:

GetRichSlowly
MoneyForTheRestOfUs (they have a great series of articles on travelling cheaply)
WiseBread (I actually have found I don't like their articles/world view here much but it is on topic)
BrazenCareerist (slightly less on topic, but still very interesting and related)

Red Hot!

2007-04-20T09:49:00.000-03:00

Take what is already a pretty sweet car (GT Mustang Coupe), give it a 500 HP engine and some wicked styling c/o The One And Only Carrol Shelby, call it a Cobra and add badging to that effect, and you'll have a pretty freaking sweet ride.

Add RED STRIPES to that... holy momma, you're looking at one smoking set of wheels. If only I had 60 grand to blow on a musclecar.....

More Advice From The Internet

2007-04-19T09:51:00.000-03:00

Car buying tips from the land of negotiationtraining.com. Enjoy!
(I might start a sidebar for this stuff...)

Hannimobile

2007-04-17T13:59:00.000-03:00

I've been trying to convince the folks around me for years that Hanni needs to get an early 80s 'vette. It's hard to explain what it is about these cars that's so interesting and classic despite being somewhat 'sleazy'.

Today the Jalopnik Fantasy Garage segment tackled this very problem and won.
In case anyone needs to be further convincing than simple hearing it from me that these are great cars, take a read through the article and try to picture the Han-man in one of these beauties all done up in gloss black. Maybe with a T-top!!!

Getting Advice From The Internet

2007-04-11T16:31:00.000-03:00

I'm a news whore. I know it. I revel in it.

As a consequence, I get a lot of advice from a lot of different sources on a lot of different things. Casually listening to conversations at Morgan's parents place and at work and even the grocery store, I have often heard people talking about some topic on which I've obtained some advice via the internet, and would like to offer.

Mostly I don't though. Mostly because I can never remember WHERE I got this information in the first place. Browser history is there but who wants to search through all that crap? (I wonder if Spotlight and/or Google Desktop search through browser history? Unless the browser put every history item in its own file I don't think Spotlight could do that... I digress)

So here's some things I found, and then re-found for this article. I hope they provide some insight. Please 'put them on the shelf' - they're from the internet and NOT the last word on their respective subjects.

Confessions Of A Former Car Rental Agent
Confessions Of A Former Burglar
Signing The Back Of Credit Cards (I LOVE this one but it turns out I had it wrong at first)

Chicks Dig Carreras

2007-03-22T16:42:00.000-03:00

Great Satire

2007-03-21T09:46:00.000-03:00

It seems great satire is alive and well at the The New Yorker. Click the link to read some very humorous depictions of how kids/teens/us imagine things to be in the 'grown up' world around us. Hilarious.

Phuket Chronic

2007-03-19T13:40:00.000-03:00

Our boy the C.H.R.O.N.I.C. just got back from a (likely) well deserved vacation in the land of [pad]Thai. Check out the story and some sweet pics of his kick-ass sun burn on his new blog over at bradstronach.com.

Two Things...

2007-03-15T09:43:00.000-03:00

Great social commentary care of MAD TV (with some Apple humour in there for good measure)
A GMail menu item for Mac OS X

WFS

2007-03-15T09:27:00.000-03:00

Wil Wheaton (whom many of you - well, Hanni at least - will more readily recognize as Wesley Crusher, Ensign, Enterprise-D) has recently done a two part article about meeting William Shatner. (part I, part II).

Both of these articles are fantastic reading for anyone who even passively watched ST:TNG, and would be interesting reading for anyone who knows of William Shatner (and really, who doesn't).

SNiPs Strike again

2007-03-14T13:26:00.000-03:00

As previously covered in The Han-Man's great piece about single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs are single nucleotide variations that often define the observable genetic differences between individuals (ie: like hair colour, and eye colour).

Although the basic understanding of genetics and heredity is probably safe, there is some new information regarding eye colour SNPs that may cause a few folks with genetics training to take a closer look. Then again, this 'new info' isn't really all that strange either.

Basically it's all about a spectrum of variability for eye colour, which I think is really only a specialization of the age-old "blue->recessive/brown->dominant" adage.

Keyboard Modifiers In iTunes!!!

2007-02-09T11:48:00.000-04:00

I just did a post on my 'developer oriented' blog about this feature I just discovered in iTunes that is going to save me a ton of time and hassle:

Holding the CTRL key while clicking on the icon/link/arrow-in-a-circle things in iTunes will link you back into your own music library

Wicked eh! Way to go iTunes!

I can't wait to go around clicking everything with the CTRL key down now to figure out what other hidden gems there are!

Jagwire

2007-01-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

What do you do with a problem like Maria - I mean, Jaguar...

There's a great thread running at Jalopnik discussing what Ford should do with Jaguar as part of "The Way Forward".

Here's a great comment, which almost exactly echoes my thoughts on the subject:

B Borrman says:

Keep it or sell it. All that matters is that the owners are willing to correct the nASSer mistakes. Jag shouldn't ever have been vying for BMW-like volume. Turn it into what it once was, a British Maserati. I'm guessing Ford won't want to play the small volume game though.

Kill the X-Type, build the XF without compromising it to appeal to every 5-Series shopper. Turn the XJ into the Quattroporte competitor it wants to be.

Remember way back when the XJ Series III V12 was the fastest sedan in the world? Yeah, that's what you should be doing again. Remember when you built iconic designs that everyone lusted after? Do it today! Someone needs to build beautiful cars again -- Jag, it's your chance!

Jaguar has been and always should be a niche manufacturer.

They need to forget about VOLUME sales, and make it appeal to a smaller market. Make it a high margin, high quality, high performance, luxury niche brand that basically competes directly with Maserati and Aston Martin and maybe some Porsche models. Forget about the BMW/Lexus/Lincoln/Cadillac/Audi/Volvo(they're another Ford subsidiary!) competition and their respective markets, and make Jag cars for the Jag market. (which will need to be recreated since it's been torn apart for the last 15 years and no longer exists)

Dreaming Of Smashing Pumpkins

2007-01-24T10:54:00.000-04:00

I am doubtless that I don't need to introduce the Smashing Pumpkins to my readership, but I've been rediscovering their seminal Siamese Dream(this is a great article) record this morning.

This album just blows me away.

What would my early teen years have been without Geek USA and Soma?

And songs like Today and Disarm and Rocket literally defined the mid-90s post-'primitive-punk' spacey alterna-rock (Rolling-Stone used to love to say that) scene, mixing the elements of those earlier punk and metal groups, (without dragging all the boring/disgusting glam/hype from the 80s along with it), with the rawness of the contemporary punk and emerging/crashing grunge scene, with the songwriting and composition of the more mellow 80s mavericks (Morrisey, anyone?), with advanced production techniques and quality some groups still struggle to achieve/copy (Thank heaven for you, Butch Vig).

The lyrical and musical themes are whimsical and heart-wrenching, sweeping from aggressive to easy, spacey to intense, operatic and orchestral to ultra-personal. And COHERENT - JESUS can nobody put a record together anymore?!

For any of you out there who've forgotten about this album, or lost it and haven't heard it in some time, I'm encouraging you to dig it out again, or buy a new copy. This is one of those records I'm sure my kids will be sick to death of when they're 14, and playing for their kids when they're 30.

Intelligence Trailer

2007-01-23T09:26:00.000-04:00

This is my submission for the Intelligence Mashup Promo

Intelligent Falling!

2007-01-19T09:58:00.000-04:00

Before I get to my deconstruction of Woz's musical tastes, I've found something in the "less-pirates-equals-global-warming" vien.

A brilliant article, reposted on RichardDawkins.net from theonion.com had me ROFL this morning.

Here's a great excerpt, but I encourage you to check out the rest of the article to get the whole point :

"Let's take a look at the evidence," said ECFR senior fellow Gregory Lunsden."In Matthew 15:14, Jesus says, 'And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.' He says nothing about some gravity making them fall—just that they will fall. Then, in Job 5:7, we read, 'But mankind is born to trouble, as surely as sparks fly upwards.' If gravity is pulling everything down, why do the sparks fly upwards with great surety? This clearly indicates that a conscious intelligence governs all falling."

And Then There Was Woz (The Times Are A Changin')

2007-01-17T13:47:00.000-04:00

Last night Morgan and Lindsay and I took a trip into Sackville to see Steve Wozniak give a presentation - to hear him tell stories, really.

Woz is truly an amazing guy. I think he's also a great storyteller. I'm excited to get to his new book (which I bought last night) after I make my way through all of the other reading I've committed myself to.

His presentation was great. He was so funny and it was easy to see he liked to boast about his best pranks and gadgets.

I got to ask him a question too! I asked about what music he listens to. He pretty much said he now listens to the music he listened to when he was a kid (~20), which was Dylan and The Beatles specifically. He also noted that he 'switched' to country around the time Apple got started - because there was more meaning to the lyrics.

More generally, he said that when they were kids, Steve Jobs and him used to talk about music a lot. He said that he always felt that music is best when it has something important to say. Hence the Dylan. And the country music. I'll try to extrapolate a little here, with a little rundown of what that might all entail, in a separate article.

One more for the road...

2007-01-09T11:21:00.000-04:00

Just a little something else to keep your head from exploding with anticipation during the lead up to the keynote at (1:00PM AST). I don't know what this radio show is but it sounds like complete trash - and hilarious!

The girl's silence is absolutely amazingly funny. Way to go! The clip is ~7 minutes long, but stick with it until the end - it's totally worth it.

MWSF SJK 07

2007-01-09T10:29:00.000-04:00

Daring Fireball's predictions for today's keynote. His are the same as what I'd already come up with, so I'll just let his very professional-type article speak for me. I'll do a quick update after the keynote to fill you all in.

Rock 'n Awe

2006-12-22T13:56:00.000-04:00

It's a long story but check out the videos. Thanks for the tip Matt.

Best In Estonia?

2006-12-19T15:44:00.000-04:00

Check it out everybody - best in the world is more like it:
Yolq4 Da Best In Estonia - video powered by Metacafe

A Twisted Christmas

2006-12-06T11:17:00.000-04:00

Christmas Album Of The Year, right here.

A Snowball Headed For Hell...

2006-12-05T11:10:00.000-04:00

So, winter has arrived in NB.

Here's a sweet winter treat for any of you homebrew candy makers out there.

Also, I wanted to weigh in on the recent movement in Canadian politics.

So, the Liberal party held their big leadership convention last weekend, which I actually followed pretty closely. I felt/feel like the outcome of that leadership convention could have profound effects on the political picture in this country, as whoever came out on top would likely become the prime minister within the year - people are pissed about a lot of stuff that's going on with the Conservative government right now, and the liberal party is seen as the only other viable choice (why people have such hangups about 'socialism' and 'organized labour' and 'regulation' I'll never know).

Anyways, first off JC's speech was classic. Arrogant and bitter, but funny and endearing. And MAN do liberals love this guy! Check this out:

"I was in China and I think Harper is even less popular there than he is here in Canada.... I met with the President 18 times - I discussed human rights every time."

Now, about the results.
Seriously, I still think Kenny D was the man to take back the country and head us down the 'right' road - his sense justice and fairness are second to none, and HE is the guy I want running my country.
I knew Ken couldn't win though, as he didn't have the delegate support he needed (he ended up doing better than I originally expected).
So, second choice was Bob Rae, a former NDP premiere. I think the NDP thing weighed him down, in the end. (See my earlier comments regarding key words that 'true liberals' wouldn't be caught dead officially supporting).
So when push came to shove I was glad to see Dion win. (ie: and not Ignatieff)
And now I'm really pretty happy about it.

At least Dion is a thinker - an intellectual (To compare, Harper is an economist, Martin is a business mogul, and Chretien is a career politician). He taught political science here in Moncton, actually, at UdeM. (YES!) I don't want to get into the whole debate about whether political science academics make good politicians or not, but he's certainly like-able. Staunch and a bit pig headed about his issues, but like-able. (Morg and I thought his mannerisms reminded us of Malcolm a bit - what do you think? I can't find a good video for this...)

Rick Mercer has some great commentary on his blog, so check that out please.

I predict, loosely, that Harper will try to force an election as early as possible so that the Liberal Party won't have time to prepare, and try to catch them off gaurd. JC pulled this same trick to try to quell the Alliance popularity in the '90s.

I predict, loosely, that Dion will win a minority share of parliment in the next parliment and will strike an official deal with the NDP to form an alliance (small 'a') government.

Dion has somehow managed to come out of the Chretien years and the Martin years, unmarked by the various 'scandals' that were attributed to the party and not associated with either camp. People worried about his english but I think he sounds great - he's a technically better orator than JC was, I think most would agree (though he'll never have the pazzaz). I think his only blemish is that he's the father of the 'clarity act' which might make him a little less than loved in Quebec, but I don't think anyone really cares as much as the press is saying they do. I think Quebecors will line up behind his environmental policy and his French heritage, and they will love his 'F-the-US' attitude and his commitment to international programs like 'true' peacekeeping and the Kyoto Accord.

Time will tell I guess....

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2006-11-28T09:05:00.000-04:00

A few things to keep you uplifted folks:

new 'Get A Mac' ads - 'Gift Exchange' is killer
The Wii is now officially everywhere
Super Princess Peach has it's own WEBSITE - how cool is that?!
For all you Firefox (and variant) users out there, you NEED to check out this Javascript whitelist security addon called NoScript that Matt G hooked me up with - it's the shizzat. (whitelisting is so awesome!)
GODDAMN I wish I had a 500 hp LS1 in MY Volvo!
The new Bond film is awesome. I'm going to LOVE this new set of films with D Craig.

That should be enough for now. Posting will be even LESS likely in the coming 2 weeks or so, as Morg and I will be busy with visiting family, a friend's wedding, a business trip, plus all the regular 'life' stuff... stay cool till next time.

Fit For The Sarlacc Pit

2006-11-16T09:46:00.000-04:00

Wil Wheaton does a bang up job reminding us what's really going on when we get so worked up about the Star Wars movies. Wesley Crusher couldn't have said it better himself.

The JD Way

2006-11-03T09:13:00.000-04:00

People ask me fairly often about how I set up my Mac OS X computers and why I do it that way. This happened again last night, so I thought I'd put something up here I can refer to when this question comes up. Maybe you can use it when directing your friends about how to be safe and have fun with their Mac OS X computer.

I recently wrote an e-mail to a friend on this very topic, so I'll paste in most of that letter below:

Okay, here's the skinny on setting it up the JD way.

First of all, the account you created when you went through the little setup wizard thing (when you first turned the machine on with the funky tunes playing in the background) is an 'Administrator' account. With that account you can install anything anywhere, and change settings and pretty much do anything you want to. That sounds great to you, but it would sound great to a hacker or a piece of malware as well, so do yourself a favour and don't use an admin account.

Create another account and don't give it admin privileges, and use that as your day to day use account. You can set it up to auto-login to this new account if you want (most people seem to like this). One thing to keep in mind is that Mac OS X's user permissions are based on UNIX permissions, and are different than the chintzy Windows style user permissions. On your Windows machines you're probably used to just always using an 'Administrator' account, but that was a bad idea too. The reason most people do that is because you can't do ANYTHING on a Windows machine unless you're an admin user. On Mac OS X, you can pretty much do anything you need to from a 'user' account, and you'll never notice, except it will be much more secure - people won't be able to screw with you, even if they have physical access to the machine.

Another couple of notes on user accounts. In UNIX there are sort of three levels of accounts: user (the lowest and safest), administrator/superuser (can do almost anything depending on how the system is set up), and root which is a special account that can do absolutely anything. In Mac OS X this root account is disabled by default, and although you can find instructions on how to enable it and use it on-line, DON'T DO IT. THIS IS THE SINGLE BEST WAY TO OPEN YOUR MACHINE UP TO ATTACKS.

Also, it's good to set up a 'Guest' account, so that if you want to let someone else use your machine (like your mom or your dad) when you're not around, you don't have to worry about them messing anything up. Just create the new guest user, don't give it a password (this will let people log in and do stuff without needing to know a password - Mac OS X is perfectly fine with this, though it will warn you about it when you create the account), and you can even set up further restrictions if you want to make sure people don't use certain apps or preferences panes or whatever.

So, now that you're not using an admin account anymore, you won't be able to save/modify files anywhere except in your 'home' directory. ("/Users//") This may seem restrictive but it's actually very good. It'll take some getting used to for someone who's used to storing everything in new folders (like "C:\stuff", "C:\junk", etc) but it's very handy. For one thing it keeps you organized, for another it's safe, as you won't be able to change 'system' files and screw the machine up (without your admin account password that is). The best reason though, is for recoverability - if the machine dies (for whatever reason: you drop it in the lake or off the roof, or you spill coffee into it, or it just dies (it happens)) - it will be much easier to recover your stuff if it's a) in one place and b) in your 'home' directory. When you run the Mac OS X installer it gives you the option of 'archiving old home directories' which means you can reinstall the whole OS and hang on to your user folder and all your docs/music/whatever. Very cool and very handy in case something goes wrong.

Log in as the admin user about once a month and run software update, and then forget about that account again until you go back to do it next month.

For file sharing, you should find a good bit-torrent client pretty easily (like Transmission), and Aquisition is a great P2P app.
http://transmission.m0k.org/
http://www.acquisitionp2p.com/

By the way, I find it handy to store all the apps that I download and install myself in a special 'Applications' folder in my home directory ("/Users/joel/Applications") and I just put a button for it in the sidebar of my finder windows so it's easy to get to. This way, I don't have to switch to the admin account to install software in a logical place (because you won't be able to write to the system's apps folder ("/Applications") with your regular 'user' account ) and also you won't have to reinstall them in case of a crash - they will get archived along with everything else in your home folder. One nice thing to do is to set this /Users//Applications folder's permissions up so that other user accounts can 'read' from that folder so that other users can go in there and use those apps too. (like if you're in your Admin account and need an app you downloaded while using your regular account, or you want to let your Guest account use those apps) - But I know for instance that Morgan doesn't do this and she gets along fine, so it's up to you. There's definitely a good argument to be made for keeping everything in one place.

On the topic of applications, there's not really any 'installing' and 'uninstalling'. Most apps you download will come in a disk image, which will get mounted to the desktop, and you drag the files somewhere on your harddisk, and eject the (no longer needed) disk image, to install. To uninstall, just drag those same files to the trash. Easy peasy. No goddamned registry to mess around with.(!!)

I really like the iLife apps, and they're super easy to use, so take advantage of them. They're usually considered to be 'best-in-class', AND they were free when you buy a machine.

For a word processor, don't screw around with MS-Office - I hate it. (Mac AND PC) Go get OpenOffice or the Mac OS X-ified version NeoOffice.
http://www.openoffice.org/
http://www.neooffice.org/

For all the nifty tips and tricks, plus a GREAT user forum, go to macosxhints.com.
Some of the tricks up here are dangerous so be careful.

Turn the bluetooth adapter off if/when you're not using it. Same for airport. They suck batteries like mad.

Read the literature on how to take care of your battery. It seems like a pain in the ass, but it really can make your batter last longer (as in, more charges)
Here's some stuff to get you started (There's lots more out there on this topic - read as much as you can stand):
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50666
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=18241

If you're switching between Mac OS X and Windows a lot you might find it easier to use the same browser. I LOVE Safari, esp it's bookmarking, but it can be a pain to be switching all the time. The OS X version of Firefox is great, and that way you can still use all your extensions (I'm a bit of a Firefox extension junky) - and there are optimized builds esp for the OS X/processor matchup you have that are supposed to be lightning fast:
http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2006/10/26/firefox-20

To maintain your machine, every week or so follow these simple instructions for running the maintenance scripts (people with laptops usually don't have these things run for them because the machine is off or asleep when they are scheduled - this will force them). It will take a while so be patient:
1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities).
2. Type: sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
3. Press Return.
4. Enter your Admin password when prompted, then press Return.
5. Quit Terminal when the task is complete.

And as always, be careful about what you download and run and click on and look at - the internet is a dangerous place for a computer. Just because there aren't currently any viruses for Mac OS X that doesn't mean they can't exist ever. You can use the built in firewall if you like (Mac OS X has probably the nicest implementation of a firewall around because it doesn't piss you off with annoying pop-ups every time you try to do anything) but it is likely not necessary.

Happy computing!

Coming Up Joel

2006-10-19T09:23:00.000-03:00

Everything seems to be coming up 'Joel' today and so I thought I'd share a few things with you.

If you use a Windows OS and you don't have anti-virus/anti-spyware you're a fool. However you're an even bigger fool if you pay for it because there are great AV/AS tools out there (hell, almost anything is better than that Symantec junk - what the hell happened to those guys?). Here's a great example : AVG just released an updated version of their software.
Intel is set to make NAND Flash technology part of the Centrino mobile platform. I've been predicting this for years, and though I don't think they're going far enough, I think this is a great step for consumer computing.
This dude in Bangladesh is doing some great work, going against the current 'right-leaning' economic trend in the world, and is lending money to poor people who can't qualify for traditional credit. Duh!
You gotta love Richard Dawkins (as sensationalist as he is made out to be - he's an arrogant brit I'll give you that), especially when he's on the Colbert Report. Two best quotes: "You can't disprove the Flying Spaghetti Monster" And "God doesn't like black holes"
Last but not least - a father son duo that will just break your heart. I'll embed the video:

South Park Homeys

2006-10-18T11:31:00.000-03:00

I was combing through my file system here at work and found these South Park styled characters I created a while ago for a couple of buddies. I don't know if I ever showed them to the persons in question, so I thought it would be good to post them up here and get the word out. So here they are:

Hanni:

Josh G:

Big Rob Doyle:

I love these things - I think they're so funny.

An Aethist's Nightmare!

2006-10-17T15:11:00.000-03:00

Too funny. I suppose I'm at a very very slight advantage because I took a philosophy class where we discussed strange arguments like this. Nonetheless I don't give this moron a pass - he's GOT to know he doesn't make any sense.

If the Flying Spaghetti Monster has taught me anything, it's that corelation does not equate to causality. (Or, that pirates are the cause of global warming - one or the other)

Anyways...
Enjoy!

400 Grand And Still Strong

2006-10-17T09:26:00.000-03:00

This weekend my Volvo celebrated a rather signifigant milestone.

As I was leaving Morgan's house on Sunday night after supper I noticed that I only had a few kilometers to go.... so I headed back to Morg's place, going around the block an extra time and stopped to get her and her camera.

Everyone please join me in congratulating my car for 400,000 great kilometers, and here's to many more.

Jolly Smart Alecs

2006-10-13T16:12:00.000-03:00

I'm reading the BEST article on Wikipedia right now - enlighten yourself on this Friday afternoon with a little break learning about those wonderful candies we know as "Smarties"

Here's a few points I found especially interesting:

They were originally called "Chocolate Niblet Beans"
In the US they're sold under the name "Jolly Smart Alecs"
In the UK, the orange ones have orange flavoured chocolate inside
They can't be considered kosher or vegetarian, but I'll le

Second Cutest...

2006-10-10T13:43:00.000-03:00

This is a video from the 'Fan Film Festival' in Stratford, ON. (recently?)
I've always said that I think Sloan is one of the best bands live - here's a side of sugar to go with that:

Hell Freezes Over!

2006-10-03T15:07:00.000-03:00

The thermal properties of hell were recently explained by a chemistry student as part of their exam (bonus question!). This guy's revelations were profound to say the least. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Everybody Loves Audrey

2006-09-27T13:58:00.000-03:00

Audrey Hepburn, The Gap, AC/DC - This is... weird. But very cool. Apparently skinny pants are 'in'?

**UPDATE**
The old video was taken down I guess, which sucks because it was the full 60 sec version... oh well, here's the half-as-long version:

"I Call Bull-s@#t!" - Clinton Interviewed on Fox News Sunday

2006-09-25T10:43:00.000-03:00

Way to go Billy - no one else seems to want to make those mofos at Fox News admit their indiscretions. Maybe when you're an 'ex' president you don't need to worry about the 'fallout' quite as much eh? What a great interview!

This is the first 20 minutes of Bill Clinton’s interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. In this clip, Wallace asks Clinton why he didn’t do more to capture or kill Osama bin Laden while he was in office. Clinton clearly feels like he has been set up and doesn’t hold back in telling Wallace just how he feels.

full transcript here:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/24/fox-clinton-interview-part-1-osama-bin-laden/

Cool Stuff For Cool Moms

2006-09-20T13:51:00.001-03:00

Recent events have inevitably lead my daydreams to have a decidedly 'daddy' bent to them lately (though the days of actually being a real daddy are off in the distant distant future) and I've been noticing how much cool stuff there is out there for parents to have/use in caring for their new offspring.

Here's a few of my favourites I've noticed over the past few days:

Custom Maternity Tees from LAB 40 (I esp dig the "Not A Virgin" design)
Creature Co-op Monster Toques (check out that crazy yeti!)
The Body Ninja Bag for Dads
Berry Stripey Boots from Pluey (these are for the kids but there are some wicked "puddle stompers" for mom in there too!)
The Whiz Kid (what a GREAT idea!!)
3G Buggy Board
WubbaNub Pacifiers (how cute is that DUCK?!)
Blankees from The Blankee Company (buttery soft chamois suede? oh yeah...)
The Sweetness Pouch (I love this idea) (I pretty much love all slings in general though)
Cool Stuff From PhilAndTeds.com (nice website too)

That's all for now... just thought I'd let you all know what I'm looking at, and also keep some bookmarks for myself.

As Thin As A Photograph

2006-09-19T16:00:00.000-03:00

Strange things abrew in the world today... a liberal government in Lord country, a military coup in Thailand, and now this - digital subject 'slimming' in HP cameras?!

Here's a couple of links to help illustrate what I'm talking about.

I know this is going to strike a nerve in some of you out there (Morgan! Dan! Get ready to light up that comment board), but in the interest of getting my opinion out ahead of the herd, I'd just like to say I think this is totally sick. I mean, sure it isn't anything you can't do with a decent pixel editor and some know-how, but to make it AUTOMATIC and to put it into consumer cameras? Totally icky indeed.

With the seeming revival of the 'consumerist' culture (which I most closely associate with the '80s), as evidenced by the mere existence of some types of art/artists/douche-bags, perhaps this is an inevitable occurance - that we will come to define our sense of self worth solely from out appearance, and thus, our percieved appearance becomes more important than the actual physical reality of our appearance?

Again - this seems rather strange to me. Please weigh in.

.... That guy'll f*** anything...

2006-09-15T15:35:00.000-03:00

Check it out boys and girls - a little Norm MacDonald action c/o The Daily Show. Be sure to watch through to the end, because the bit about Peter McKay is priceless:

I was 'this close'!

2006-09-13T08:58:00.000-03:00

In case you've ever thought you could come up with a better ending for Star Wars IV, (who hasn't?) here's a little youtube action to fill that fantasy. Just remember: It's ALL Leia's fault.

Schooner Points

2006-09-13T08:55:00.000-03:00

This past weekend Morgan and I went on a romantic weekend away (to the Miramichi) and got ENGAGED! Pretty awesome, eh?

Well-wishes are welcomed.

Boat Ride

2006-08-31T10:59:00.000-03:00

I just read a wonderful little piece by one of the best writers out there in the blogosphere, THE Daring Fireball, John Gruber. The story is a quick tale about an evening of his recent vacation with his family, and it's one of those heart warming stories that just puts me right off my rails - I'll be affected by this all day now, which is great. Everyone loves a good story about a family working through the things families need to work through, protecting each other and being patient with each other but at the same time infuriated by the strange (usually irrational) things that make us each so unique.

So way to go Mr. Gruber on being Dad Of The Summer (an award I just made up and am happy to award) and also 'way to go' to anyone else out there dealing with the pressures of close-quarters, family vacationing this summer.

Matt Mays Show In Kingston

2006-08-24T09:48:00.000-03:00

To all my people in the K-town of the ON, there's show you need to see:

Matt Mays & El Torpedo, Thurs. September 14

Joy Supper Club

Kingston, ON

gDisk

2006-08-24T09:24:00.000-03:00

There was some talk amongst our little gang of bloggers about backing stuff up - specifically how important it is, in the event you machine fails or is, say, stolen.

Here's a great little piece of software that fulfills a dire need. gDisk lets you use the space you have left on your gmail account as general disk storage accessible via webDAV. Cool stuff!

Also, Craig mentioned he uses a service called StreamLoad(They're busy doing an update right now but I'm sure they'll be back up later), which I think is pretty cool but doesn't work as well as I want it too. If I could have a DAV client for my StreamLoad storage I would just about be in heaven!

Tunes

2006-08-15T15:13:00.000-03:00

I've been thinking about my music collection a lot recently, thanks to the recently completed task of filling Hanni's new computer with music.

Here's a few things I thought I'd bring up:

EXOTICA:
Exotica rocks! It's sort of American-interpretation of tropical/jungle/Hawiian music. I have always been interested in it, but just recently discovered what it's proper name was, and the names of some of the purveyors of the genre, which has allowed me to explore it a little more. I find myself particularly drawn to Martin Denny, but also love Les Baxter and Art Lyman. For some free stuff, check out Vegas Vic's Podcast!

All The Roadrunning:
I've been totally blown away by this new record from the amazing Emmy Lou Harris and the unbelievably talented Mark Knopfler. Great song writing, exceptional vocal talent, technical skill of a level you'll rarely hear equalled, and to top it all off, there's a genuine sweetness that emanates from these two artists... I don't know if they're actually involved with each other but they certainly sold me.

10,000 Days:
This new record from Tool should not be underestimated. I've been through it enough times now to realise the depth of the genius of this record. It takes time to really buy in, but it's worth it.

ThreeThings

2006-08-15T09:28:00.000-03:00

First, I HATE the insurance industry.

Second, I'm glad 'they' are finally calling bullshit on string theory.

Thrid, God Bless The Bloggers. For coverage on the Sackville Fire 2006, look no further than the weblog of the the editor of the Argosy (Argosy website link). Not only is this the best coverage of the events of the fire, (including photos that span the whole night - this guy must have been up forever) but it's the ONLY online coverage of this event. Here's the post that's actually about the fire - pretty much everything since this post is related as well though.

**UPDATE: Here's a picture of the rubble the day after

Woman With A Message

2006-08-01T13:15:00.000-03:00

This woman has a message and she's not afraid to share it.

This is pretty intense - consider yourself forewarned.

Sonic Banner!

2006-07-31T15:25:00.000-03:00

I just want to take a minute, now that it's up, to bring everyone's attention to the amazing new banner graphic I put up a while ago. As I mentioned before, it came as a present from the most lovely lady of them all, and now rests atop the Sonic Infusion site, firmly implanted into it's html.

I couldn't have produced a decent banner graphic if there were 100 new iMacs in it for me. But beyond that, I think we (me, society in general, probably you) take design for granted far too often and then, when acknowledging it's importance, cheapen it with 'competitions' (etc) and expect this work to be done for free.

Though I didn't pay for the graphic above, I hope I can repay my lady fair in little ways on an ongoing basis for both the support she gives me and the graphics work she manages to squeeze in for me as well (I'm building her a backup server!?).

Perhaps semi-publicly thanking her can be one of those ways.

Thanks baby!

Lucky Louie Tells It Like It Is

2006-07-31T09:23:00.000-03:00

I've got to see some of this Lucky Louie show. For now though, I'll settle with this clip showing what to do (or not do?) when your kids get the "prepetual-whys":

Rob Glaser, Literally

2006-07-28T13:43:00.000-03:00

I just read the best quote EVER.

Some of you may remember Rob Glaser from the old days when his company Real Networks reverse engineered the FairPlay DRM used to protect songs purchased on the iTMS, in order to allow those songs to be played using RealPlayer (and, potentially, their portable media player hardware - which I'm not sure even ever existed).

Every once in a while he pops his head out of wherever it is that he keeps it (I was looking for some witty noun or other to point out how ridiculous this guy's press statements usually are, but there aren't any existing words to handle the situation - I'll just move on) to make some stupid comment or awful analysis of the tech industry and totally humiliates himself. All the better for us I guess.

In this article on C|net Mr. Glaser makes one of my favourite grammar mistakes, providing me with at least a weekend worth of laughs. (The best part is that he was actually quoted as saying this. Do you suppose the reporter that submitted this article was quoting tongue-in-cheek style or did they not notice the glaring mistake either? We'll never know.)

Here's the telltale quotation that proves that Rob Glaser maybe doesn't have all his meubles : (emphasis added)

Glaser said, "We think this a case where our technology competitors, in this case specifically Microsoft, have literally thrown the baby out with the bath water."

All I've got to say is if MSFT is soaking babies in dirty bathwater and then hucking them out into the street, as this quote implies, they've got bigger worries than anti-trust...

I wonder if that would qualify as libel?

Cheer Up!

2006-07-26T13:44:00.000-03:00

People of zee world - RELAX!

Everyone seems to have a lot going on lately. Cheer up wtih this video of a spooked-out owl:

... with a few performance upgrades...

2006-07-26T09:07:00.000-03:00

Here's a neat video spoofing the new Mac vs PC ads.

And here's a funny picture:

Cancer Society Donations

2006-07-25T13:07:00.000-03:00

One nice thing about having long(ish) hair is that when I decide to get it cut there are charities waiting to take it. I knew about the Cancer Society's hair donation program but didn't know how to access it - so I sent an email to the Cancer Society Of NB, and got this response:

Hi Joel,
Thank you for the e-mail. We do not actually make the wigs here but you can drop your hair off at any Canadian Cancer Society branch and we can forward the hair to a place that makes the wigs. Here is the requirements and everything for the hair and all the places in Canada that we send hair to:
http://www.cancer.ca/ccs/internet/standard/0,3182,3384_14519_84874484_langId-en,00.html
If that link does not work for any reason, just go to www.cancer.ca and you should be able to find information about hair donations there or you can call me at 634-6272
Thank you,
Shawna Doiron

Just thought I'd make the info available.

Neat Idea!

2006-07-20T09:25:00.000-03:00

Yahoo! Music announced that they'll be selling personalized versions of a Jessica Simpson song called "A Public Affair". You go to the site, and if your name is on the list, you can buy a version of the song using your name in the chorus. Cool idea, I think.

I think it kind of shows how little creativity the 'artist' must have used to create the song - or at least how little control they have over their own music after they've created it and put it into the hands of the record company. Could you imagine David Crosby or Paul Simon or one of those old dudes selling their materpiece away with altered words? Not likely.

Still it's a good gimmick. One more example of how the internet and digital media are really reshaping how we access the market, and in this case how the market accesses us.

And for ONCE they're doing this in an accessible way! The download is an MP3! Unrestricted! No DRM! Good on you, Yahoo!! If only they would make their site work on something other than IE!!!