Simpwii Wiidicuwous

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

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

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

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

“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.

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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.

Module body

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.