The most boring knee injury story in the world

A short story:

Sunday morning, all is fine. Before lunchtime, my knee is bugging me. By bedtime, it's swollen, hot and I feel like crap. Knee hurts so much, I can barely sleep. Like a fool, I go to work Monday morning. By the end of the day, I'm sore, feverish and not getting any sleep. Tylenol #3 to the rescue. I get some sleep - finally. This morning, I'm feeling a bit better, but the knee is still swollen. I go to doctor's. I sense concern. It's infected. I get the rest of the week off. Knee is X-Rayed. I need a follow-up appointment Friday. Epsom salt wraps. Crappy TV....... I have no idea what happened.

In case you're wondering why it seems like I'm taking it easy. It's because I am.....

Taste some of your own medicine

The RIAA have been rattling the legal cages of thousands of people not given proper due process for years. Now a Harvard Law School professor has launched an assault against a federal copyright law at the heart of the RIAA's strategy. By taking on the case of a Boston University graduate student, the professor will argue that certain laws effectively let the RIAA carry out civil enforcement of a criminal law. He also says the industry abused the legal process by using the prospects of lengthy and costly lawsuits to intimidate people into settling cases out of court. The goal of this legal challenge is to "turn the courts away from allowing themselves to be used like a low-grade collection agency."

Not all tweaks created equal

One of my specialties that I love doing for my clients is tuning up Windows. So it was with great joy that I found this sensible article on Debunking Common Windows Performance Tweaking Myths. Believe it or not, many tools, procedures and tips are not only bogus, they could affect your computer in a bad way.

Geek is spelled t-r-e-k

Nothing says geek like adding Star Trek to your decor. For the Trekkie who has everything, they might not yet have these stylish [snort] switchplates adorned with Next Generation graphics.

"Cahgehblahhocoffeh"

Great Samsung commercial with Ozzy.

Dude... duder... dudeist...

If you're a big fan of the movie The Big Lebowski, you'll love this - a web site called The Dudespaper. Yeah. It's where you will find out all about Dudeism, the Church of the Latter Day Dude, the Tao of the Dude.......

Look how far we've come

Here's a thought - everything you see on the web was created in the last approximately 6500 days.

Isn't that amazing? Imagine what it will look like in another 6500 days.....

Kevin Kelly has.

The bailout.... explained

At the Huffington Post, writer Rick Horowitz tells us what the big $700B financial bailout in the US is like. Excerpt:

"This is what (the bailout) feels like:
You're walking down the street, minding your own business, when the guy in the scruffy clothes approaches you with his tale of woe. He used to be a productive member of society, he tells you, but then things took a turn, and lately he's been down on his luck and struggling to keep body and soul together. What he could really use, he tells you, is a dollar so he can get something to eat. He hasn't had a meal all day, and he's just a dollar short of a sandwich.

So you reach into your pocket and press a crumpled bill into his outstretched palm. He thanks you, and wishes you a wonderful day, and as you continue down the street, you cast one last glance over your shoulder and see the guy walk into a liquor store.

That's what it feels like. Only multiplied by 700 billion."

I can't believe we're falling for this crap

I have to get something off of my chest. Imagine if I had been at Disneyland and made a movie clip with my cell phone or my digital camera of one of their rides - which I subsequently post online to highlight my visit to the park. Now imagine that Disney found out and sued me for violating their copyright in some way. Or imagine that I am driving along and the car next to mine is blaring some Bob Marley and I get a clip of that - which I post online to highlight my enjoyable ride home from work. Now imagine that the record company who represents Bob Marley send YouTube a take-down notice to remove the video clip because it violates copyright.

Sounds a bit ridiculous, doesn't it? But in a similar vein, the MPAA are moving heaven and earth to try and stop kids from videotaping while they sit in a crowded theatre and watch a movie.

OK, before we all get on our high horse here and feign shock and horror - I have a few questions. Who is watching these amateur-hour movies of movies - and why? Are we supposed to seriously believe that a shaky, blurred videocam recording of Quantum of Solace complete with cell phones buzzing, audience coughing, laughing and shadows of folks moving to and from their seats is a satisfactory substitute for the real thing, whether live in the theatre or on DVD (once it's released)? Of course it isn't. It's a cheap facsimile, a poser of a copy of laughable standards. The only reason people are interested in seeing the recording at all is because they're so excited about getting a glimpse of the movie, they can't wait to sit in the theatre seat - they want a fast look at the material on their computer. It's the equivalent of a VIP sneak peek but without the quality. These same people are going to watch the movie in the theatre at least once and then they're likely going to buy the DVD on its release. I'm pretty sure these home-made films are not being copied to DVD and added to peoples' collections - based on my purely personal investigation.

But this is yet more evidence of how disconnected the entertainment industry is from their own customers and how naive our governments are to their cries of sabotage. A kid in Calgary was arrested almost a year ago for recording Sweeney Todd in a movie theatre. He was fined $1495 this past week and banned from going to movie cinemas for a year. The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association wanted to see a jail sentence handed out! A representative of Paramount Pictures flew in to read a victim impact statement at the sentencing!

WHAT!!??!! You've got to be kidding me. This guy didn't kill someone. He didn't even steal anything tangible. He made a crappy recording of a movie to show his friends or whomever else would watch. Friends who will probably go see the movie once they see how great it is. Shit, the industry should have PAID HIM $1495! I'm ashamed we're all stupid enough to fall for this propaganda. I'm really pissed off. I need to go cool off now......

You're home and awake... what's your setting?

Get your own Poll!

Those eyes....

Our grand-daughter Olivia is visiting with her mom for a week. 3 women representing 3 generations of Mulikow / Taylor estrogen packed into one house for a week (with a 4th coming to visit tomorrow).

Isn't she the cutest? A couple more pics on Facebook.

"I'll play just what I feel"

In case you're new to this blog, I have embedded a mini jukebox - which I refer to as the 'playlist', over on the right side of the page. I try to rotate the music on that playlist roughly once a week. As long as where you're accessing the internet doesn't block streaming multimedia, you'll be able to listen to my offerings.

This time around I have filled the jukebox with probably my 2nd favourite artist of all time - Steely Dan. These boys produce a kind of jazz / rock / pop fusion that really appeals to the part of my brain that enjoys a melody with strange chords arranged in a way that seems all over the place - but it's not. Plus, Donald Fagen - for me - is the epitome of cool. All the classics are there. If you've never heard of Steely Dan before, do me a favour and give them a listen. Don't judge them by one song either. Their style is so varied that you might find a gem in there somewhere.

That post title is a lyric from Deacon Blues......

Blog mistakes

A blogging article lists: 10 Mistakes That Could Be Killing Your Blog. They are:

1. Less than useful posts
2. Infrequent posting
3. Writing about infrequent posting
4. Not displaying your best posts
5. Flashy or annoying ads
6. Trying to push products too often
7. Long posts that are hard to scan
8. Pop-up subscription boxes
9. Way too much clutter on your site
10. Boring or uninformative headlines

This blog might be guilty of #10. I think I'm doing OK on the other 9.....

From the mouths of......... umm........ dudes

Some colleagues and I were just talking about silly stuff at work when someone uttered the phrase 'Velcro Soul'. I immediately said "Wow. That would make a great name for a band."

Bands still looking for a name - feel free to use that one.

Democracy does not equal theocracy

In yet another example of not knowing how to keep church and state separate, America's Catholic bishops declared that if the Democratic-controlled Congress and the incoming Obama administration enact proposed legislation (which would remove most state and federal restrictions on abortion), they would see it as an attack on the church. President-elect Obama had pledged he would sign the legislation if elected.

Message to Bishops: Just because you don't believe abortion is proper doesn't give you the right to decide if it's proper for everyone. Advise your flock that abortion is bad, but leave the rest of us out of it please. It's called freedom of religion and freedom of choice.

It's a good thing the Jehovah's Witnesses aren't more influential in politics, or y'all wouldn't be allowed to drink; engage in premarital sex; smoke; gamble; celebrate Christmas; recite the pledge of allegiance; join the military; or run for political office ........

The new POTUS digs Macs!

The President Elect is a Mac-head!

Awesome. He seems to have a geeky sense of humour too, with the Pac-Man-eating-the-Apple-logo thing going on. Very Nice.

Apparently, the VPrez is also a Mac user, as is Al Gore.

Hope we didn't buy the extended warranty

Remember Spirit? The Martian rover that was meant to last 3 months when it landed on the planet January 2004? Still ticking. Designed for 90 sols, made it through 1725 sols so far. That's 19 times longer than it was designed for.

Although now it encounters conditions that may put it to sleep..... for good.

New Trek

The solution to the last post's trivia question has been solved already.

They are indeed the new Spock, Chekov, Uhuru, Kirk, Scotty, Sulu and Bones in the coming Star Trek movie, due out May 2009.

Trivia in a picture

OK, try this one. What is the significance of these people? Yes, you may recognize a few of them. The guy on the far left played the villain Sylar on TV's Heroes. You may also recognize the 5th guy from the left as the creator / star of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead.

But what do they represent as a group?

Answer in a few days.........

I can haz bailout?

American Express has become a bank - just in time to request a $3.5 billion slice of the taxpayer-funded bailout pie.

The best part of this whole bailout scheme is that Joe Consumer will see dollar nothing. And there likely won't be any sympathy from financial companies getting around the penalties and so forth when loans and mortgages default either.

Yeah....... this bailout was such a great idea, eh? Can you say 'trough'?

I'll take one....

Someone has finally made a flying car. It's not sophisticated, but it works. A cross between a dune buggy and a para glider, the Parajet Sky Car is basically a modified off-road racing buggy with a big fan attached to the back and a ram air wing on top. It will lift off the ground at 60km/h and cruise at 110km/h at 2-3000 feet for 300km.

The makers are going to trial it on a trip from London to Timbuktu.

No pilot's license required!

If there's a warrant out for your arrest in Phoenix... beware

Reality TV is getting cruel. Not one to rest on the premise of finding crooks who've jumped bail (Dog the Bounty Hunter), Fox will be introducing a mid-season pilot where crooks are treated to a made-up great situation before arresting them.

The show, "Smile, You're Arrested" Phoenix law enforcement in Phoenix set up grandiose sting operations to lure criminals with outstanding warrants into their waiting hands. On film.

Some of the set-ups include a criminal being lured to a movie set to be a paid extra, where the director fires the lead actor, replacing him with the criminal. Or a fake fashion shoot where the criminal becomes a supermodel or becomes a car racer.

Yep, our culture is all about making people squirm and catching it on film. I guess we're supposed to feel less guilty about the indulgence since the targets are crooks.........

If you're about to send out an email whose subject starts with FW:

A plea to the world about BCC.

It's a good one.

One ringy dingy....

One more fun graph.

A topic near and dear to me - ringing phones.

Wireless choices not clear

I've blogged about a new way of connecting to the internet that doesn't involve wires (to your home), called WiMax.

Recently, I've been seeing TV commercials (from Rogers) offering a new mobile service to connect to the internet with your mobile computer using a device that plugs into a USB port called the Rocket Stick. So now I'm wondering what that is exactly - is it a small, USB connected version of WiMax? I set to find out.

Turns out - no - it is not WiMax. It's EV-DO. In case you've never heard of that, it's the technical name for the 3G high speed service that smart phones use to connect to the internet. Now they make a device that makes it possible to connect to that service from a computer - typically a laptop. In practise, users are likely to see 400 to 700 Kbps download speeds.

A few months ago, I was browsing the Sony store and they're bragging that their newest laptops have built-in mobile internet. I asked the salesperson if that was WiMax and he didn't know. A little solo investigative work revealed that - no - it's not WiMax either. It's an EDGE modem (basically slow internet via the cell phone network). Typically EDGE provides data rates between 75 and 135 kbps and peak rates of 170 kbps, which is slow compared to wireless LAN
speeds.

With all these competing wireless offerings for mobile computing, consumers are going to get pretty confused.

Facebook groups

Here's another fun graph for you.

This time it's about Facebook groups.

Stolen from Graph Jam.

Gas price in free fall

There was a time when I heard people say "Gas prices will never dip below a dollar per litre again". I believed them too. Prices started out the year just below a dollar per litre and went up from there, hitting the $1.40/litre mark at one point (for regular!).

But since the middle of September, gasoline prices have been in free fall here, dipping to $0.86/litre in recent days (or $2.67/gallon in US terms). Maybe I'm wrong, but this means that for the first time in a very long time, Canadian gas is cheaper than in the US.

It's nice......

I just ruined it, didn't I? The gas companies are going to come to their senses and screw it up for all of us.....

Get your Betty ready

November is one of the months when TV stations ramp up the special reports and features hoping you’ll tune in so they’ll get better ratings to lure more and better advertisers. KTLA, the station in Los Angeles with a once top-rated newscast is not going to show you an anchor woman’s colon or a reporter getting tasered. Nope, KTLA is bringing you news you can use.

Ladies - if you missed KTLA Prime News on Friday, then you missed How to get your Betty ready in Beverly Hills. We are, as they say, not making this up, let’s go to the YouTube video.

I'm guessing the Betty in the network TV show Ugly Betty isn't the same thing..........

Thanks to Ernest for the post.

Flash of pain

Every time I agree to a Macromedia Flash player upgrade on my Windows box, YouTube stops working. The symptoms are always the same - the video loads but stops playing two seconds into the video. There is only one fix I have found that works. I have to run a little utility that quickly uninstalls the current version of Flash and all of its crumbs, then I install an older version of Flash and presto fixo - YouTube works again. The only problem with this fix is that as soon as I encounter a site that refuses to play its Flash content unless I upgrade to the latest version of the Flash player, I'm stuck upgrading. Which causes YouTube to stop working. And so the cycle repeats.

Now, some would suggest that my problem is related to the fact that I use an alternate Browser - Firefox. Nice try dweebo, because I have absolutely no issues with Flash in Firefox on my Macbook.

HA! Didn't see that retort coming, did ya?

"the natural inclination of anyone who is struck by a piece of creative work is to share it"

Awesome article by Cory Doctorow 'Why I Copyfight', where he succinctly describes how copyright became such a huge issue in our lives out of nowhere and why the issue is so important for everyone to understand. Excerpt:

"Copyright law valorizes copying as a rare and noteworthy event. On the Internet, copying is automatic, massive, instantaneous, free, and constant. Clip a Dilbert cartoon and stick it on your office door and you're not violating copyright. Take a picture of your office door and put it on your homepage so that the same co-workers can see it, and you've violated copyright law, and since copyright law treats copying as such a rarefied activity, it assesses penalties that run to the hundreds of thousands of dollars for each act of infringement. "