Consequences

To Companies like Sony that think they can do whatever they feel like to whoever they want

I don't think it is a good idea to make people who are good with computers mad at you. Especially when you are in a business that uses computers, and especially when you are apparently grossly unqualified to use a computer, nevermind trust with the personal credit card information of thousands? millions of paying users.

So someone finds a master key that allows them to use Linux (or whatever) on a device they purchased from you, and you use a stupid law to shut them down, have the cyber police raid their house and sue them. You think you are entirely justified in your actions because you are insane. But you, sir, are not a Honey Badger. You cannot take hundreds of Bee Stings and a cobra bite and just shrug it off. You are a company that lives and dies by being able to continue to sell something. Trust is important, and your stupidity has endangered that trust.

I am not good with computers. Sure I can compile a linux kernel or write a shell script, and I probably know more than you, sony lawyers and executives. However I am not stupid enough to stir up a hornets nest.

Was it the group calling themselves anonymous who hacked your shit? They did say they were going to get you. I am continuously surprised and amused by their creativity. I wouldn't doubt it if it were them. But you did this to yourselves. You acted like spoiled selfish bullies, and you finally got punched back and now you're bleeding all over the playground cement. I have no sympathy.

I am lucky in that I have never used your playstation service. Others are not. You waited a week to reveal this information. Why? People are suing you, and justifiably so. Well done, geniuses. Well done.

The world will never improve if the only people running the governments of the western world are CEO's and lawyers. Idiots.

Air heads

Dear gas stations. (Petro Canada, Canadian Tire, and various others)

It's nice of you to have air pumps. You don't really have to. However, if you are going to charge $1 for them, you may as well be charging $100 because I'm going elsewhere. $.25 cents, fine. But $1 for air? FOR AIR? Guess what, you lost yourself my sale of snacks and gas fill up because I went elsewhere.

Get your heads examined.

Wal-Mart chemical spill

I was down by unicity and there was tape up saying "Chemical spill" or something around the entrance to the wal-mart and the fire department was there. I didn't stick around to look. I wonder what it was. I suck at reporting news.

92 CITI FM

Shadoe Davis on 92 CITI FM just admitted to being a Green Lantern fan.  I have a newfound respect for him.  How much respect is dependant on which Green Lantern he thinks is best (correct answer is Guy Gardner of course).. But still, kudos to him for having good taste in superhero comics.  Now I have to wonder which radio station will be promoting GL here in Winnipeg.

CBC's cross country checkup

Should be renamed Sockpuppet pit stop.

Have you listened to the cupcake meeting audio?

I swear, the situation in Phoenix is beyond ridiculous. They actually considered/are considering creating an urban reservation in Glendale in order to try to sidestep Arizona law to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Jobing.com arena.

Hell, here in Winnipeg, even we never went that far! Wow.

I don't trust Bettman and the league to do the right thing and bring the Jets home, however even if they don't come back I don't see a long term home for the Phoenix Coyotes in Arizona.

Election thoughts so far

Jack Layton is looking pretty Prime Ministerial right now.  Yes there's almost no chance short of a Liberal/NDP coalition, but he's coming across as very seasoned and personable and most importantly, he's getting Quebec on side. 

Stephen Harper is following his boring ass gameplan and it is sadly working on the easily led populace of Canada.  I don't particularly care if he wins or not, but I just dislike his campaign and it saddens me that such tactics work.  Its less a mark against him than on Canadians in general.

Michael Ignatieff ... is looking like John Kerry.  He's trying, but he's clearly out of his comfort zone.  Frankly I think he's a nice enough fellow, but he has no chance of being PM.  Unless you live in a riding with a strong Liberal candidate, I'd vote NDP.

Still lots of time to go though.  I hope to go through local campaign literature soon.  That's always a source of amusement. 

The googles, they do something!

I typed "htrrn lsnyrtn" into google.  Google surprised me by returning a suggestion that was exactly what I wanted.  It's amazing how google continues to impress.  Bravo.

Moosed it by that much

Read a headline on Canoe (can't believe someone made money selling that "web portal" to canwest global) that went "NHL Drama won't affect Moose" and I thought to myself "Yeah, either way they'll probably lose anyways".

Go Moose!

Sleep Country Canada

What I hate the most about Sleep Country Canada is their slogan "Why buy a mattress anywhere else!"

I DUNNO, MAYBE BECAUSE IT'S SIGNIFICANTLY CHEAPER? PERHAPS?

drives me crazy.

New tropical house at the zoo opens today

I hope it still retains that "new tropical house smell" by the time I visit it.

Oldest person alive

It seems to me every other time I turn on the radio I'm hearing about the oldest person alive celebrating their birthday! Do they really have that many birthdays or are they just dying off so frequently that every other day is the birthday of the current oldest person alive?

moose owner

I have no idea if this is a joke or if its serious, but whoever created it seems to be willing to pay for ad space on google for it. Unless they had a coupon or something for free adwords.

Some Moose fan has created a website called mooseowner.com seemingly to lambaste the idea of the NHL coming to Winnipeg. He wants affordable minor league hockey, not expensive NHL hockey. It is clearly a play on the name of the long running Winnipeg Jets championing website jetsowner.com.

They took the time to protect their real name or contact info from the ICANN whois database using a service called whoisguard. Although the option seems reasonably cheap so they might have just done it to avoid spam.

Although if the Coyotes rename themselves as the Manitoba Moose if they move here, what's the owner of mooseowner gonna do next?

Please local media

Stop calling that youtube kid "Baby Gaga".

That is all.

Why did the beaver cross the road?

A Beaver ended up wandering down Main Street in Winnipeg the other day before eventually finding its way back to the river thanks to people who helped guide it across the street. Presumably the flood waters and ice brought it here. Little guy must have had a heck of a trip. Heres some Youtube footage:

Twinkies and Hostess Fruit Pies

Twinkies! Whatever happened to them in Winnipeg? I don't like the fake no-name ones. It seems like all of a sudden a few months ago they no longer exist.

I got to fondly remembering lemon hostess fruit pies. those were good. They stopped making good junk food in the 90's. It's a crime.

Hey Jack Layton, Thanks for this ad. Lets go for a burger. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

In between the carefully and overly choreographed family photo session slash wedding reception that is the Conservative campaign and the completely miss the point of everything lets drudge up Jean Chretiens old strategies Liberal campaign, it's nice to see the NDP actually try something new.

Yeah I think I'm going to vote NDP this time around. I really can't think of a single thing Joy Smith has done of interest ever. I remember she cried when gay marriage was passed. That was amusing.I think Jack Layton has won my vote. That's me on the left. I hope the road to the election booth isn't overly fraught with ninjas like the last election.

Seriously, I can't stand the conservative campaign. Do people buy that? I'm sorry but my mother was the type of person who overly choreographed everything possible and I see it here too. I don't get a sense of whats real. It's like Stephen Harper is a robotic puppet with a hand up his ass mumbling nonsense in a scientifically conducted method that lulls people into a suggestive hypnotic state. I don't like the idea that that works on people more than him winning. I'd like to vote for the idea of the conservatives, but I know the reality of the conservatives is their record. Do you think Marijuana should be illegal? Vote conservative. Do you think criminals should pay for their crimes? Well, the conservatives are less about punishing people for actual crimes, and more for pushing for stupid crimes like the digital copyright bill or their ridiculous marijuana stance.

And the Liberals.. what the hell. Michael Ignatieff seems like an intelligent smart guy, but his ads have no bite. No teeth.

Maybe I'll look at the campaign brochures of people running in Kildonan-St Paul in a later post. That's always fun.

Incomplete DVD Season sets and synchronized swatches

One of the things that drives me crazy is when rights holders of certain entertainment properties release DVD's in season sets, and then stop after the second season because of lower than expected sales. First of all, I don't like buying season sets unless I'm assured I can get the whole series (or as much of it as was produced that was good). Second of all, stopping half way or 75% of the way through convinces those of us who do buy the first and second season DVD set never to do so in the future.

I recently found Parker Lewis Can't Lose seasons 1 and 2 in the $9.99 bin at the bargain shop of all places and snapped them up. I found out that there is no 3rd season set planned. Heck, I didn't even realize they were released on DVD until I saw them there. I probably would have paid full price, but they never reached me as a former fan. Doesn't help that the show does not seem to air anywhere on even retro TV channels. I guess if we had something like Hulu in Canada and it was available there, and ads appeared there telling me that it was on DVD, I'd probably have got the message and purchased it. That's one of the biggest failures of advertising nowadays. It's hard to sell something that's been locked away for 20 years if its not fresh in peoples minds. It's a nostalgia thing and unless you're the webmaster of Parker Lewis can't lose website or a follower of that forum, you're not going to get the message. Unless you get some random brain spasm that makes you remember "Hey, remember that show that was on in the 90's on FOX that was a better Ferris Beuller than the Ferris Beuller TV series they aired on NBC at the same time in the same year? Oh yeah! Parker Lewis Can't lose! with Corin Nemec or something! Wonder if that's on TV!". But how likely is that?

Disney is bad for it too with it's cartoon series. I doubt they have all of Gargoyles on DVD. Ducktales too.. Maybe they do now, but for some reason I doubt it. Yep, just checked. Nope.

It's sad. Such a back catalogue of awesome entertainment and the gatekeepers don't really care. They want to keep it just like a dragon hoards its gold in its cave. What is the purpose of long copyright terms if they don't keep production? I mean, supposedly Alan Moore gets ownership of Watchmen if it ever goes out of print. It likely wont, but all the same, in my opinion copyrights should be a use it or lose it proposition. If you're going to sit on it, send it back to the wellspring of entertainment and knowledge and human creativity.