Friday, July 02, 2004
Now with comments!
Happy (Belated) Canada Day everyone! Hooray for patriotism!
Canada Day in Ottawa is quite a... thing. I have heard stories, and to be sure, if you're going to celebrate the national holiday, the capital of the country is certainly the place to do it. However, I must say that the stories didn't quite live up to my expectations. Downtown did become one giant party, however for the most part the "party" largely consisted of one solid mass of people, and sometimes one part of the mass would go "WOOOOOO!!!" and get a response of "WOOOOOOO!!!" from another part. The Market area was a bit better, as there were street vendors and some performers and such. The fireworks from Parliament Hill, on the other hand, are definitely worth seeing. Coming from a city where it doesn't get dark in the summer until 11:30, having proper fireworks made my day. Usually, the city of Edmonton will wait until about 11:00ish, as that's still pretty freaking late for most people, and by that time we usually have something resembling dusk and the explosions can be seen. Here, it's right dark by 9pm, resulting in a rather insane crowd, as previously mentioned, and the bigger crowd means bigger, better fireworks. The only real downside to the day was that I had no beer, and because the liquor stores in Ontario are government run and have no need to make money, being publicly funded and all, THEY ARE CLOSED ON THE HOLIDAYS. That really pissed me off, as I had no beer and it never even occurred to me that the Beer Store would be closed on one of the top 5 biggest drinking days in Canada. Give me Alberta's privatized boozeries any day of the week.
So yes, I have relented and added comments to this here blog. I don't know why, since I still think they're silly and unnecessary, but one of the benefits to having Blogger host your site is that space isn't an issue. They're also relatively unobtrusive and truth be told, I wouldn't mind hearing what some of you have to say about me.
So the Almighty Jobs has spoken, and the future is the Search. Sounds mighty fine to me, except for one little thing. While it does not matter to the computer where the files are, it matters to me personally. Call me compulsive, but I get some satisfaction in knowing that my computer is as neat, tidy and organized as an army barracks. Plus, I like being able to open my files from applications other than a search program, and being able to find things by virtue of organization alone is nice. I might be an ass for thinking so, but Spotlight really sounds like another program catering to people who can't keep their computer in shape on their own*. That said, Tiger does sound like a cool OS, and in conjunction with the really nifty laptops Apple makes, provides a rather stout argument for switching. The rebuttal, however, comes from my wallet and is much louder and insistent.
* This is also probably an extension of my computer snobbery. Am I really alone in thinking that there should be a basic level of knowledge needed for operating a computer? We require people to have licenses to drive a car, but any idjit can go buy an iMac and go surf "teh interweb", handing out his email address to anyone who asks and then complain about the amount of spam they get, not to mention the whole virus thing. Unfortunately, part of the problem is apathy caused by ignorance - the user doesn't know, and therefore doesn't care, and because they don't care, they refuse to learn.
Fahrenheit 9/11 not being played at a theatre near you? Go read it instead. Sweet zombie Jeebus on a stick, I want to see this movie.
I haven't gone and checked out this next link, since it is probably not safe for work at all, but it's one of those links you can't not share. Patents for the adult industry. I've seen those "things that have been patented but never made" specials, and the imagination reels when I think of that applied to the same sector that brought us the Swedish-made Penis Enlarger.
Very interesting article about teens and their place in society.
I, Robot is coming to theatres, and I don't know how to feel about it anymore. At first, I figured "Bad Boys 3: Bad Robots" or something, but I read this bit over on Tagline that almost makes me reconsider. I did not know that Alex Proyas was directing it, and he just happens to be a favoured movie guy in my book. He did The Crow*, which is one of the best comic movies ever (the first one, not the crap sequels), and Dark City, which is just plain awesome (if you haven't seen it, skip the prelude narration at the beginning - it gives too much away). For that reason, he might not screw up I, Robot as much as I think. Yes, it's Fox and Will Smith, so it's going to be a lot of explosions and car chases and one liners, but I'm not entirely convinced that the essence of the novel will be entirely lost. Now I just have to go see the movie and find out.
* Having a last name like Crowe causes problems for me when I type the word crow - I am ALWAYS trying to tack the 'e' on the end. Always.
Insert freaky time-warp. I have had this entry open for most of the day now, and haven't added anything since before lunch. I am going to take this as a sign that I just don't have anything to say right now and sign out. Ciao.
¶ 12:59 p.m.
Happy (Belated) Canada Day everyone! Hooray for patriotism!
Canada Day in Ottawa is quite a... thing. I have heard stories, and to be sure, if you're going to celebrate the national holiday, the capital of the country is certainly the place to do it. However, I must say that the stories didn't quite live up to my expectations. Downtown did become one giant party, however for the most part the "party" largely consisted of one solid mass of people, and sometimes one part of the mass would go "WOOOOOO!!!" and get a response of "WOOOOOOO!!!" from another part. The Market area was a bit better, as there were street vendors and some performers and such. The fireworks from Parliament Hill, on the other hand, are definitely worth seeing. Coming from a city where it doesn't get dark in the summer until 11:30, having proper fireworks made my day. Usually, the city of Edmonton will wait until about 11:00ish, as that's still pretty freaking late for most people, and by that time we usually have something resembling dusk and the explosions can be seen. Here, it's right dark by 9pm, resulting in a rather insane crowd, as previously mentioned, and the bigger crowd means bigger, better fireworks. The only real downside to the day was that I had no beer, and because the liquor stores in Ontario are government run and have no need to make money, being publicly funded and all, THEY ARE CLOSED ON THE HOLIDAYS. That really pissed me off, as I had no beer and it never even occurred to me that the Beer Store would be closed on one of the top 5 biggest drinking days in Canada. Give me Alberta's privatized boozeries any day of the week.
"I think it would be fun to be a waiter because whenever you gave a customer his food you could poke him in the chest with your finger and shout "You got served!" That joke would never get old."
--Defective Yeti
So yes, I have relented and added comments to this here blog. I don't know why, since I still think they're silly and unnecessary, but one of the benefits to having Blogger host your site is that space isn't an issue. They're also relatively unobtrusive and truth be told, I wouldn't mind hearing what some of you have to say about me.
So the Almighty Jobs has spoken, and the future is the Search. Sounds mighty fine to me, except for one little thing. While it does not matter to the computer where the files are, it matters to me personally. Call me compulsive, but I get some satisfaction in knowing that my computer is as neat, tidy and organized as an army barracks. Plus, I like being able to open my files from applications other than a search program, and being able to find things by virtue of organization alone is nice. I might be an ass for thinking so, but Spotlight really sounds like another program catering to people who can't keep their computer in shape on their own*. That said, Tiger does sound like a cool OS, and in conjunction with the really nifty laptops Apple makes, provides a rather stout argument for switching. The rebuttal, however, comes from my wallet and is much louder and insistent.
* This is also probably an extension of my computer snobbery. Am I really alone in thinking that there should be a basic level of knowledge needed for operating a computer? We require people to have licenses to drive a car, but any idjit can go buy an iMac and go surf "teh interweb", handing out his email address to anyone who asks and then complain about the amount of spam they get, not to mention the whole virus thing. Unfortunately, part of the problem is apathy caused by ignorance - the user doesn't know, and therefore doesn't care, and because they don't care, they refuse to learn.
Fahrenheit 9/11 not being played at a theatre near you? Go read it instead. Sweet zombie Jeebus on a stick, I want to see this movie.
I haven't gone and checked out this next link, since it is probably not safe for work at all, but it's one of those links you can't not share. Patents for the adult industry. I've seen those "things that have been patented but never made" specials, and the imagination reels when I think of that applied to the same sector that brought us the Swedish-made Penis Enlarger.
Very interesting article about teens and their place in society.
I, Robot is coming to theatres, and I don't know how to feel about it anymore. At first, I figured "Bad Boys 3: Bad Robots" or something, but I read this bit over on Tagline that almost makes me reconsider. I did not know that Alex Proyas was directing it, and he just happens to be a favoured movie guy in my book. He did The Crow*, which is one of the best comic movies ever (the first one, not the crap sequels), and Dark City, which is just plain awesome (if you haven't seen it, skip the prelude narration at the beginning - it gives too much away). For that reason, he might not screw up I, Robot as much as I think. Yes, it's Fox and Will Smith, so it's going to be a lot of explosions and car chases and one liners, but I'm not entirely convinced that the essence of the novel will be entirely lost. Now I just have to go see the movie and find out.
* Having a last name like Crowe causes problems for me when I type the word crow - I am ALWAYS trying to tack the 'e' on the end. Always.
Insert freaky time-warp. I have had this entry open for most of the day now, and haven't added anything since before lunch. I am going to take this as a sign that I just don't have anything to say right now and sign out. Ciao.
¶ 12:59 p.m.
