Reed Solomon is right and you are wrong!

Pokerface by Lady Gaga.

2010-01-02T04:40:00.002-06:00

One of the more popular tunes of late is the song Pokerface by Lady Gaga. I shall attempt to analyze the lyrics of her song for meaning. First however, a commentary on lyrics websites that don't let you highlight the lyrics. Fuck you. Don't waste my time, go and die.

Anyways, Lady Gaga begins her song with this refrain

Mum mum mum mah
Mum mum mum mah

She is clearly calling for her mother. Why, it is not yet determined. Let us continue.

I wanna hold em' like they do in Texas Plays
Fold em' let em' hit me raise it baby stay with me (I love it)
Lovegame and intuition play the cards with Spades to start
And after he's been hooked I'll play the one that's on his heart

Lady Gaga is playing cards. She has bet everything on this hand, which is a straight flush. Including a small baby that she loves. Her target is someone else who is trying to win with a pair of aces. Lady Gaga sees through this charade.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, ohh-oh-e-ohh-oh-oh
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, ohh-oh-e-ohh-oh-oh,
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got

Lady Gaga plans to get a hot streak, and show the opponents at the table her awesome poker skills.

Can't read my,
Can't read my
No he can't read my poker face
(she’s got to love nobody)
Can't read my
Can't read my
No he can't read my poker face
(she’s got to love nobody)

Lady Gaga is confident in her poker face. She is a mask that betrays nothing to her opponents.

P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
P-p-p poker face, p-p-p poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)

The stuttering here seems to imply that even though her poker face is supreme, underneath it all she is infinitely nervous about her cards.

I wanna roll with him a hard pair we will be
A little gambling is fun when you're with me (I love it)

she's using her breasts to hypnotize her male opponents into making beginners mistakes.

Russian Roulette is not the same without a gun
And baby when it's love if its not rough it isn't fun, fun

She plans to commit suicide if she loses all of her money by playing Russian Roulette. She believes in tough love.

I won't tell you that I love you
Kiss or hug you
Cause I'm bluffin' with my muffin

No idea.

I'm not lying I'm just stunnin' with my love-glue-gunning
Just like a chick in the casino
Take your bank before I pay you out
I promise this, promise this
Check this hand cause I'm marvelous

She has a killer hand and is telling her opponents that they should probably cash out.

All in all, one of the better songs about playing poker I've ever listened to.

Sunday and Holiday Hours in Winnipeg

2009-12-31T21:47:00.004-06:00

A lot of people are complaining about Sunday shopping hours in Winnipeg, but really, we don't have saturday shopping hours either, and most malls close at 6pm on Saturday. Tonight was new years eve and everything closed at six and nothing is open tomorrow. NOTHING! maybe shoppers drug mart, I dunno. But Wal Mart is supposedly 24 hours and its closed. Even if the law was changed for Sunday and holiday shopping, most stores would remain closed, in my opinion they're not open because people just don't seem to go shopping on weekends.

Completely confusing to me, though. I prefer to shop on weekends.

It sucks cause I really wanted to buy some food.

Random Thoughts

2009-12-12T01:37:00.001-06:00

Barometic pressure has nothing to do with Bears using the metric system.

discuss.

Random Thoughts

2009-12-11T01:16:00.002-06:00

Google should implement a goddamn profanity filter. At least for blogger. They could even make it opt-in.

Somebody get those fuckers on it.

Winnipeg Trans*it

2009-12-05T22:40:00.004-06:00

I love Winnipeg Transit. It is the best public transit service in the city of Winnipeg, and it services my needs marvelously.

I'll wait a minute for you to pick yourself up off the floor from your fit of hysterics. There, composed? Alright. Now obviously, no Winnipeger could read the above sentence with a straight face. Winnipeg Transit is a joke.

I have taken transit for 5 years now. Usually I take the 18 or 32 buses. Not once in those 5 years have I noticed an improvement in service to those routes. I have seen 3 or 4 rate hikes, maybe even 5. But no improvement in service. I suppose they must have added extra 32 buses during peak time, as you can only fit so many sardines in a can.

Unless you count diamond lanes on Main Street an improvement in service. I don't, because as a transit rider I don't see enough bus traffic past redwood avenue to justify it. They have put diamond lanes on Main Street. Supposedly to increase the flow of bus traffic. Bus traffic is already slow by the time it gets to Main street. The bus drivers already use main street as a way to catch up on their lost time. Of course, if we had a bus system that used feeder routes, this wouldn't be as big of a problem.

There are 3 bus routes on Main street. In order of frequency, you have the Jefferson, which goes to Garden City shopping Centre, You have the Riverbend, which goes to Riverbend, and the Leila, which runs once per hour until 8 pm. The Leila goes to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is open 24 hours. They have not added any Leila buses since then, even though there must logically be people who want to shop at Wal-Mart who take the bus.

Now during peak hours, if you want to get to Riverbend or Leila, but stop off at the Extra Foods or Safeway on Main Street to pick something up, you're out of luck, as you can ONLY take the 32 express buses during that time. In which case you have to take the 18, get off, take another 18, get off at Jefferson, then get the 32. I mean, would it kill them to operate some 18's that don't go down Jefferson? Even one per hour? I don't do transit planning though. I don't posess a set of darts.

Now, if you want to get to Riverbend after 7PM, and you missed your bus, which, if you're transferring from another bus, you almost CERTAINLY WILL, you will wait anywhere from half an hour to an hour for the next bus. If you do this daily 5 times a week, you will miss 2 and a half hours. This you will spend waiting for the bus, often in the bitter cold. Unless my math is wrong, and It could be, I'm not a transit planner with a degree in advanced KNOWING HOW TO SCHEDULE A BUS, if you multiply this by 52 weeks in a year, you will have spent 5 days out of 365 waiting for a bus to take you home. But thats okay, Winnipeg Transit has you covered the other 360 days of the year.

But I live with this, I live in eternal optimism that the bus routes will improve, but you know what? They aren't. They won't. They never will. Why can't they replace the Riverbend and Leila buses with a feeder bus that services that area? Starts at Jefferson and Main, goes down to Riverbend, crosses the Chief Peguis bridge to pick up anyone from that side, goes back around Riverbend, heads down Leila to Wal-Mart/Garden City/Templeton and back down Leila to Jefferson? There are two points where it intersects with the Jefferson bus in this scenario, Main and Jefferson, and Garden City Shopping Centre! It would also intersect with the 11 and other buses on Henderson. You could take an 11, stop off at the bus loop by the Chief Peguis bridge there, and get to Riverbend lickety split. You could also take an 18 Jefferson and transfer as well.

Horrible map for confusion purposes only..

Add a few more Jefferson buses, get rid of the 18 Leila and Riverbend. Maybe keep the 32 for peak times.

And I don't even work for transit. Imagine the ideas someone who does might have. Other than raising fares. And Diamond Lanes. And bus routes that never intersect without a half hour wait.

But hey, at least I have bus service, unlike some areas of the city. Maybe we'll get a shuttle bus from the airport through St James to Polo Park one day. Oh wait, that would require someone intelligent to work at Winnipeg Transit. Nevermind.

Simpwii Wiidicuwous

2009-11-30T18:25:00.008-06:00

The Nintendo Wii has been a success for Nintendo. I never doubted that, though I refused to buy it based on the name change from the code named Revolution to the made up term Wii. Also it didn't have an HDMI (or even HD capable) output. I'd be willing to forgive the name if a new version came out with HDMI, but apparently thats not going to happen.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has been quoted as saying that simply upgrading to HD is "not the way we at Nintendo do things. The way we at Nintendo do things is, you know, when we will move to a new generation, it's because there are some fundamental things the [current] console cannot do." *

Sorry, but what?

clockwise from top:
NES Versions 1 (Most popular), Famicom (Japanese version),
and Model 2 (bottom)

SNES Versions 1 and 2

The infinite gameboy, gameboy micro, gameboy pocket, gameboy advance, advance sp, ds, ds lite iterations...

Now, fine, the Nintendo Virtualboy didn't have a second version, the N64 and Gamecube both didn't have second models either.. though both did have recoloured editions to try to repackage the same product. But those machines were unmitigated failures. Whenever Nintendo has a successful product, they milk that product as much as possible, by releasing a new version right before the death of the previous version. So when the Wii is on its last legs, expect to see the Nintendo Wii HD out 6 months before Nintendo releases their next level non backwards compatible killer console.

It's how Nintendo has been shown to do business, even if their representatives claim otherwise.

Unless you want to make the claim that the Nintendo Wii is just a repackaged Gamecube with motion sensing. I can see your argument even if I disagree with it.

Lenovo FAILS at netbooks

2009-11-26T00:00:00.002-06:00

I have a thinkpad. I like my thinkpad. It's the fifth thinkpad I've owned. The first by Lenovo (the others were IBM's). It's not perfect, but its reasonably close. I recently swapped a keyboard after spilling coke on it, and swapped the hard drive for a 500 gb western digital. All without incident and minimal fuss.

I own a netbook. An HP Mini 1000. It is my second netbook. My first was an Acer Aspire One with Linux on it. They were and are useable machines. However, they both have trackpads. I hate trackpads.

All I truly want is a netbook with a trackpoint on it ..instead of a trackpad, ideally, but in addition to, if no other option.

I was super exited to hear a rumour that Lenovo was going to produce a Thinkpad netbook. I'd pay extra for something with a trackpoint on it built with thinkpad quality and style.

Sadly, Lenovo has disappointed me. They were so close, too. I wanted a 10 inch device or smaller. The whole point is that I can carry it around in a satchel or small bag. I don't want a 12 inch device. That's too big.

It comes with an AMD Neo processor. I love AMD. I like the Neo. If it was in a 10 inch device, with a trackpoint, I would be standing in line tomorrow to get one. I could care less if they called it a netbook even. But it is not going to be 10 inches.

I'd even settle for an ideapad netbook with a trackpoint. But that doesn't seem to be happening either.

I know these companies have surveys and shit. How are they not able to make a device that people will pay more for? Why are they failing to provide us with something we want?

Sigh.

Lenovo, please, give thinkpad owners what they want. a 10 inch portable thinkpad with a trackpoint.

Stephen Harper does SOMETHING right

2009-11-25T00:01:00.001-06:00

Maybe Stephen Harper is reading my blog, I don't know. Probably not, cause nobody else does. I wouldn't even care if he did. The point is he seems to be about to do something right for once.

He seems set to allow globalive to launch their new cell phone company to compete with rogers, telus,Bell, and all the other crooks out there. Good. Canadian ownership of media and such does nothing to encourage the creation of Canadian content and facilitate competition. Especially in todays modern global economy.

Lets hope this spills over into the local TV bullshittery. Let NBC, CBS, FOX, and ABC have Canadian affiliates. I want to see them expand their stupid morning show weather maps. Seriously, drives me crazy.

Useful Firefox Plugins

2009-11-24T00:54:00.003-06:00

Heres a list of 10 basic Firefox plugins I can't live without.

#1 Rotate Image. Available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7113

What I like about this is that on the rare occasion where something is printed sideways, I can still read it. If you're reading comics on the web or something.

#2 Image Zoom. Available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/139

I hate loading external programs just to zoom in on something to read it better or find out who is hiding in the grassy knoll.

#3 Xmarks. Formerly Foxmarks. Available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2410

The best way to sync bookmarks and passwords between different computers. Laptop, Desktop, Netbook.. If you're not using this, you're missing out.

#4 Abduction. Available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3408

What this does is takes screenshots of your web browser or a select area. Easier than downloading images, sometimes.

#5 Add Bookmark Here². Available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3880

Places a little "Add Bookmark Here" option in every subfolder, making the adding of bookmarks much easier than by default.

#6 Tab Mix Plus. Available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122

Increases the power and flexibility of what you can do with your tabs.

#7 Fast Youtube Downloader. Available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/15002

There are some other plugins that do the same thing, but I use this one. Not very often, but its handy sometimes.

#8 BugMeNot. Available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6349

Automatically log in to sites that you don't want to sign up and create a username for. LIKE COLLEGE HUMOR OR NEW YORK TIMES etc. And if there aren't any, you can always create a fake login name for any site at http://www.bugmenot.com/.

#9 AdBlock Plus. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

AdBlock Plus. It blocks ads. Its rather odd that Firefox seems to have difficulty finding this add on when you search for it. I suspect shenanigans, but its probably the most popular add on there is.

#10 Automatic Save Folder . Available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4781

Automatically saves file types to specific directories, so you don't have to select them every time. Eg. .Gif goes to images, .html goes to html.. .avi goes to movies.. whatever.

Also, if you're using Linux, and want to scroll with your trackpoint mouse like you can in Windows, you have to do the following:

1: type about:config to go to the configuration screen.

2: set general.autoscroll to true

3: set general.smoothscroll to true (my preference, anyways)

and I think that did it. I can't remember anymore.

I really wish there was a netbook with a trackpoint mouse. The Sony Vaio P doesn't count.

Bonus Firefox plugin: Fetch Text URL. Available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/518

Now you can simply highlight URL's published on the net by the html incompetent. In new tabs or windows even. Just right click on a highlighted URL and voila. tremendously useful.

Really though, most of these things should be default in Firefox.

All we are saying is give higher cable fees a chance

2009-11-21T10:21:00.004-06:00

“I have real trouble here understanding why we are in this mess that we are in. because both you and there and [garbled/unintelligible].. realise you need each other. some people have used the expression symbiotic relationship. Why is it so difficult for you to come together and negotiate something?"

Konrad von Finckenstein, chair of Canadas CRTC discussing his arbitration of the middle east peace process.. no wait, sorry, he was discussing American/Soviet 80's Nuclear disarmament.. no wait, sorry, he was discussing the Canadian Fee For Carriage Circus. Really.

Hey, Konrad, heres why you are in the mess that you are in. Because the CRTC is an inefective and useless governing body that does NOTHING for Canadians, does the exact OPPOSITE of what benefits the average Canadian in every sphere they influence.. be it cell phones (delaying and trying to shut down Wind mobile.. the canadian telephone companies don't need competition after all!), internet (who needs net neutrality when we have traffic shaping!), television (this fiasco, the lack of effort on behalf of our nations broadcasters to rollout ATSC) and caves to the almighty dollar and business interests like a cheap whore at every available opportunity. I can't think of one CRTC decision that has been made in my lifetime that has been sensible or logical.

The concept of Local Television in Canada is complete bullshit, we'd get more local news and Canadian content if our TV stations were made network affilliates of the American networks. But we have to have Canadian ownership rules for some reason that I cannot fathom, when our same government lambastes other governments for less stingy ownership policies.

It's time to Dissolve the CRTC. In a vat of acid surrounded by aligators if possible.

CRTC no evil hear no evil speak no evil.

2009-11-21T01:44:00.003-06:00

from hollywoodreporter.com

a pretty good suggestion. If broadcast stations want fee for carriage, they should be forced to limit their spending on foreign content. a 50/50 split seems fair to me.

Although I remain convinced that we should simply throw away all foreign ownership rules. We expect the same from other countries. We may as well simply integrate with the U.S networks. Let PBS and the big 4 in here, and bring CBC and CTV to the Americans. Everyone wins.

Over the air Broadcast TV is a useful public service. The CRTC should be ashamed for bringing things to this sorry state and sleeping with all the media whores and ignoring the public. They are the ones to blame.

And eliminate the ban on foreign ownership of cell phone companies too. Who the fuck cares who owns it.

The facts show otherwise

2009-11-19T01:07:00.000-06:00

From the Vancouver Sun http://www.vancouversun.com/business/fp/Canada+wireless+leader/2213189/story.html

Title of the story: Canada is frequently criticized for having expensive, yet poor wireless options. The facts show otherwise

I disagree. Wow. Who wrote this, anyways?

Written By: Ken Engelhart, Financial Post

Huh. Well, okay, go on. Convince me, Ken Engelhart.

About 66% of Canadians have a cell phone and we are badly behind countries like Greece where 200% of the population have a cell phone. The foolishness of this measurement should be apparent already. 200% of a population does not exist. What these figures indicate is that there are two phone subscriptions for every man, woman and baby in Greece. In Canada, and in most advanced countries, most adults and teenagers have a cell phone. In Greece however and in many European countries, many people have one cell phone and several subscriptions.

This is really his argument. That 200% of a population cannot have a cell phone. My God. 100% of people have TWO cell phones in those countries then.

Because Europe is on the GSM system, people have multiple SIM cards that they put in and out of their phones, depending on where they are and what time of day it is, to get the best price or service. These multiple SIM cards are generally a sign that there is something wrong with the cell phone market in that country. They certainly are not a good measurement of the take-up of phone service in an economy.

oh? So what is, then? Multiple SIM cards are not a sign that there is something wrong with the cell phone market. Unless you're a provider who wants neverending profits.

The best measurement is minutes of use per capita.

SAYS WHO?!?

A report by Merrill Lynch on Sept. 28 showed Canada to be the eighth best in the world using this metric. It is sometimes noted that the U.S. has a much higher level of usage than Canada and this is true. However, the point I am trying to make is that we are well ahead of Britain, France, Germany, Spain and most other countries in terms of the usage of wireless phone service.

Oh fucking really. Merrill Lynch. WHO THE FUCK IS MERRILL LYNCH. A report by Fox News showed Obama is the most racist president. HOLY FUCK is this a stupid article or what.
Do these profiteering criminals even realize how pathetic their lies are? Merrill Lynch, the same bunch of IDIOTS of SUBPRIME MORTGAGE CRISIS and MILLION DOLLAR BONUS fame.. They're a great fucking non-tainted non-biased source..Who the fuck is Ken Englehart anyways?

Ken Engelhart is Senior Vice-President, Regulatory, Rogers.

wait... what was that last thing..

Ken Engelhart is Senior Vice-President, Regulatory, Rogers.

can you speak up, I can't quite hear you...

Ken Engelhart is Senior Vice-President, Regulatory, Rogers.

Ah, I see.

To be fair, Rogers does provide a fairly good network and was intelligent enough to switch to GSM from the beginning (unlike those whores at Telus who are only now upgrading to 3G networks thanks to the olympics).. but COME ON. Nobody believes you. 500mb plans for data? GROW THE FUCK UP. Data plans should start at 5 GIGS for $20. and go $5 for every 5 GIGS. Jesus fucking christ. At least the bums on main street are upfront when they're asking for my money, not stealing it the way these worthless motherfuckers are.

For fuck sakes, we need to open up our media markets to someone other than our local inbred oligopolies.

sniff

2009-11-18T19:07:00.002-06:00

So I got a cold. Well first, I went to KFC a few weeks ago and came home and had the worst stomach flu ever recorded in history. But I made it through that and now I'm merely mildly sick with a cold.

I realized however that my snot is pretty consistent. It's a great texture and not overly runny. I haven't done a taste test as I have grown out of that period of my life as of last year, but all the same, I assume its delicious and cures cancer too. This is quality Mucous. It is the Lorenzo's Oil of nasal discharges.

I know my cold is almost gone, but it was a cold that didn't impede my life too much, so to the cold virus I am infected with because of disgusting people in this universe who don't wash their hands, and lick them and sneeze on you and don't bathe, thanks for the best snot in the universe.

FSCK'ING WITH UBUNTU LINUX

2009-11-08T00:01:00.000-06:00

An article I stumbled upon at New Zealand PC World about how Ubuntu will always chose the most annoying time to do a full filesystem check at bootup got me thinking.

It would probably be more work than its worth, but couldn't you simply have Ubuntu launch into a temporary read-only mode (sort of like it does with the live CD's) while the file system check goes on in the background, and then mount everything read-write after the check is done?

It seems like something that could be done, though it seems more effort than its worth in some ways (and a neat idea in another way)

Are there any major reasons this would not be feasible?

It would certainly be another thing that helps make Linux stand out, and keep the bootup quick. Say what you will, but people remember long filesystem checks.

Musings

2009-11-07T20:02:00.002-06:00

Why is it called the Joy Behar show if it brings no one joy?

Aside from it being her name.

Her parents should have named her Sorrow. Or Misery.

Should you really be banking with CIBC?

2009-11-05T00:32:00.000-06:00

CBC reports that CIBC is calling for the Bank of Canada to purchase American dollars to prop up the U.S currency ... From the article:

`In a report released Tuesday, Avery Shenfeld of CIBC World Markets said the central bank should intervene to keep the exchange rate stable and to protect Canadian manufacturers.

"Canada could consider what might be called a bounded float," Shenfeld said.

He recommended the central bank buy U.S. dollars during times when speculation is causing a sharp rise in the loonie's value.

"By intervening only at extremes, the central bank could help chase away speculative flows that take the currency, in its considered judgment, beyond fundamentally driven levels."
Shenfeld told the CBC's The Lang and O'Leary Exchange, that essentially, the central bank should step into the market to sell Canadian dollars in exchange for U.S. dollars to try to weaken the loonie by a few cents'

I'm sorry, is this the same CIBC out in front of the other Canadian banks, that was hit with a U.S subprime mortgage write-off of THREE BILLION DOLLARS? What the hell?

If you think theres value in the American dollar, great, but to buy the currency of another nation to devalue your own.. what the hell sort of economic premise is that?

Are we forever doomed to be America's bitch? They can continue to act in unhealthy economic ways, and since we're so tightly connected to that behemoth, whatever happens we'll be dragged down kicking and screaming with them?

The same CIBC that wanted to merge with TD in 2006, luckily the Liberals said hell no to that.

Sometimes the Canadian government should ignore these people. Especially if their track record is not so stellar.

Let our dollars value fluctuate. Honestly, intervening in foreign markets. What the hell, man.

More than 130,000 easily manipulated morons duped by the broadcasting monopoly in Canada

2009-11-04T14:09:00.003-06:00

from: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2009/04/c5671.html

- More than 130,000 comments submitted to the CRTC confirm support for

    local TV -

oh wait, is my headline wrong?

Of course people support local TV.  It'd be nice if those companies provided local TV and
supported local TV as well, instead of spending millions on simsub rights to American
productions.

Local TV to these companies only means the GTA and Vancouver.  You can tell how much they support local TV by
how quickly they've rolled out digital high def locally.

Support for Local TV?  Don't make me laugh.

Gary's doin it.

2009-11-02T00:20:00.003-06:00

So what has former Manitoba Premier Gary Doer been up to lately in his new job as Ambassador to the United States?

From The Canadian Press:

WASHINGTON - Canada has been named one of the most peaceful nations in the world for its support of UN peacekeeping missions, low levels of violent crime and political stability.

The Global Symposium of Peaceful Nations named Canada as the most peaceful country in the North and Central America and Caribbean region and put it eighth place worldwide on its global peace index.

Ambassador Gary Doer accepted the award at the symposium in Washington on Sunday.

Huh.

Has the Global Symposium of lobby groups who like to hand out pretentious awards that make for good feel-good newspaper articles awarded us anything as well?

I bet this award wasn't even based on actual data. It's just something to try to shame other countries into not being complete assholes.

If this is peace, it's overrated.

Dear Windows 7 users, from a Linux user: You're welcome.

2009-10-26T13:44:00.002-05:00

So Windows 7 was launched this week and it went surprisingly well, most people are generally quite content with the improvements to the Windows 7 experience.

Speaking as someone who has used every version of Windows since 3.1, and hated every single one (except windows 3.1, it had a certain charm to it, although 98 and 2000 were certainly serviceable) the new release looks surprisingly usable. And again, as someone who has used Linux since finding Slackware 3.0 in the back of some discount book somewhere, as someone who remembers the glory days of Gnome .98 segfaulting every which way, the days of enlightenment themes and netscape navigator, and is now using Ubuntu, well I'd just like to say you're welcome.

You see, without Linux, and sure, Mac OSX, you would not have Windows 7. Microsoft NEEDS Linux, and Mac OSX. It NEEDS someone to rip off features. Microsoft has been doing this since the days of DOS. MS DOS was the KING of DOS'es even if DR DOS was probably technically superior. But the days of DOS were numbered after DOS 5.1. Microsoft was too powerful already, and had nobody left to rip off. So they ripped off the GUI and created Windows. Okay technically they helped create OS/2 and screwed over IBM by championing Windows which IBM is bitter about to this day, but that's just history. Dos 6.0 came out and it was pretty much bullshit. Heck I think MS even added a virus scanner to DOS 6.0. Didn't they just add a virus scanner to Windows 7? Probably.

To be fair, Vista was a first attempt at giving Windows users some of the functionality Linux and Mac users take for granted. pretty desktop themes? Yeah, way ahead of you. Superior install programs? Yeah, Linux boot CD's can give you a workable desktop in less than a minute, and get you on the net while you install. Windows still doesn't seem to do that, but hey, it can finally load drivers in Windows 7 from something more than a floppy disk. Isn't that handy? Bravo, Windows 7 users. Kudos to you.

Windows 7 also offers much saner security measures, unlike Vistas horrible "you will need permission to install this shortcut to your desktop (wtf)" bullshittery. Similar to the way most Linuxes do things now.

Tabs in Microsoft Internet Explorer? You can thank Firefox for that (yeah I know that Opera came up with it first, but Microsoft could give a fuck until Firefox did it) every single browser created for linux in the last decade had a tabs feature. Again, you're welcome.

Now, you windows 7 users probably still have to reboot after installing drivers, and you know what, I agree, that sucks, cause we don't have to do the rebooting thing. But still, its probably a good idea for Windows users to reboot after driver installation anyways. It's like having a shower after crawling through the sewers, you know? Just cleanse yourself of the whole experience.

The ribbon interface is pretty kewl, the UI seems to be much improved, all in all, Windows 7 (Windows kernel rev 6.1) seems like a remarkably improved upon release candidate of Windows, much improved from the Alpha version software that Microsoft has been charging money for the last few years. So Windows users, you're welcome. And to Microsoft, thanks. Thanks for finally giving something back to Linux. (mildly) Worthy Competition other than Mac OSX. Heres to Ubuntu 9.10 coming out next week.

True Fans

2009-10-25T14:32:00.002-05:00

So the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Montreal Alouettes the other day. The crowd was just over 20,000. The Bombers have been disappointing all year, but they've been steadily improving, so why aren't people going to the games?

I know why I'm not going to the games. I don't appreciate being insulted by head coaches. I don't appreciate being taken for granted. I don't like being called a fairweather fan (even if I personally am, it's just rude and counter productive). If the Bombers lose, c'est la vie, as long as I believe they had a good team and they played the best they could. That was not what I saw the first half of the season.

Just winning in the CFL doesn't make you a good team or worthy of being supported either. Theres only 7 teams. You could have the shittiest season and still make the playoffs. Did you deserve it? Probably not.

Most Bombers fans have written off the season already. I don't blame them. If they pull of a miracle and win the grey cup, fantastic. And yes, when the playoffs begin, its a new season and anything goes, but the Bombers have done nothing this season to endear themselves to me.

True fans are staying home and making a stand with their wallets. It's the only thing that the Bombers organization understands.

2009-10-23T10:01:00.003-05:00

From Yahoo : http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091021/entertainment/tv_cbc_rebrand

So the CBC is rebranding their news channel. Apparently CBC NewsWorld does not convey that CBC NewsWorld is a news network.

So in the single most dimwitted line of thinking they could come up with, they're renaming it CBC NN. CB CNN. Canadian broadcasting corporation news network.

like BNN, the business news network, or all the other *NN's, or CTV NN, everyones a news network now.

I thought NewsWorld was a classy name. Way to fuck up yet again, CBC. I guess 20 years of branding and name recognition is not as valuable as hiring mentally retarded consultants to come up with a name change.

Because you know that's probably what they did.

Astroturfing?

2009-10-20T12:04:00.007-05:00

There is a little radio spot played locally on KICK FM -- and I think i've heard it on power 97 and CJOB at various points in time -- that seems like such an industry advertising stooge that its ridiculous. That they get CJOB and KICK FM to air this, possibly for free, is somewhat sad. How do we know its advertising?

Scott James is the name of the guy and the show is called cyberworld.ca. If he mentions Linux or Apple at all, its to deflect criticism of not doing so, and mentions the microsoft offering as a superior entity. He lately has turned to suggesting people do a "bing search" ... and that he uses his "zune" ... who the fuck uses bing or a zune? NOBODY FUCKING USES BING OR A ZUNE!!!!!! people say "do a google search" or "internet search engine" but nobody says "use a bing search" unless they're getting paid for it.

Almost all the little blurbs of information are selling something. An upgrade to the latest version of Windows, a Playstation 3, an X Box, a Zune HD.

I mean, i have no problem with the guy making money, but tell us what we're really listening to, don't try to gloss it up as a little news blurb.

Maybe he doesn't get a cut from microsoft, or sony, or whoevers new product he's shilling out lately is on todays show. I don't know. I only know that my first instinct is to suspect the show is astroturfing. The bing and zune thing doesn't help.

I like to ride my Bicycle I like to ride it through stop signs

2009-10-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

Slate has an intriguing article about Cyclists and laws in Idaho pertaining to them, which goes into the questions of bike paths and lanes vs vehicular traffic, the nature of stop signs as they relate to bikes. The benefit of a bike being that you build up momentum. if you have to come to a full stop at every stop sign, you lose one of the main benefits of said bike. The notion of bikes treating stops more as yields. Heck I think cars should be able to treat most stop signs as yields in Winnipeg anyways, they're there just as a cash cow and nothing more. We should be replacing half the stop signs in this city with yield signs. Also, Red lights at 2 in the morning should be flashing yellow or flashing red not the useless garbage we have now. Whatever happened to all the flashing lights in this city anyways? Is it just me or are there fewer now than there used to be.

Michael Dell is smarter than the average CEO

2009-10-18T15:29:00.003-05:00

I Read this quote from Michael Dell with regards to virtualization technology potentially cutting into server sales:

From http://gigaom.com/2009/10/13/michael-dell-talks-up-services-and-coming-upgrades-but-trashes-netbooks/

“The first thing you have to remember is that any time a new technology comes along that’s good for customers, you get in the way of it at your own peril,”

This sort of philosophy explains why Dell is a market leader. If you're in the horse and buggy industry and the automobile comes out, you start selling automobiles. If you're in the book transcription business and the printing press is invented, you buy a fucking printing press. If you're in the media business and the internet takes down media walls, YOU DO NOT PUT UP NEW ONES. You do not block things by region. You do not limit what your customer can get. You do not try to set back the clock and put the genie back in the bottle by buying off politicians. It won't work, it won't solve the problem, and in fact creates new problems.

So bravo, Michael Dell. Plus their new servers and laptops are actually pretty nice. Although I'd like to see more trackpoint options on their devices. C'mon dell, put out a netbook with a trackpoint and I'll buy two.

KNRR-DT

2009-10-17T00:47:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to KNRR for being the first digital over the air channel receivable in Winnipeg (granted you need at least an attic or roof antenna to pick it up with any reliability unless they boost the signal a bit down the line). Though it is digital, it is still not in HD. Will we see any KNRR sub-channels? Should be fun to find out.

Meanwhile, Canwest-Global is in bankruptcy, CTV wants to shut down their OTA everywhere except toronto and vancouver apparently, CBC has "run out of money" for the conversion, and no winnipeg channel will commit to a date as to when they will be broadcasting digital over the air if ever. Although to be fair, I've never bothered to ask CBWFT. The award for the first broadcaster to have an HD signal in Winnipeg is still up for grabs though. I'd seriously laugh if it was CBWFT. But a big fuck you to the useless garbage at the CRTC for creating this mess in the first place.