The new cinematic reality - DRM?

Here is a compelling article about how cinemas that have gone 'digital', and there are a lot of them, risk leaving customers wanting when things don't go perfectly smooth. What's to blame? Another case of DRM.

Here's a taste:

"Unlike 35mm film prints that are tangible, come on spools, and run through a mechanical projector, DCPs are files that are ingested into the digital projector which is in many ways simply a very high-tech computer system. Because the physical file is ingested into a projector it can – if the cinema has enough space on its server – be kept there indefinitely and so, having created this situation themselves, the studios and distributors lock the files so that they can only be screened at the times scheduled, booked and paid for by the cinema. This means each DCP comes with what is called a KDM (Key Delivery Message). The KDM unlocks the content of the file and allows the cinema to play the film. It is time sensitive and often is only valid from around 10 minutes prior to the screening time and expiring as close to 5 minutes after the scheduled time. Aside from the obvious fact that this means screenings really do need to run according to scheduled time, it is also means the projectionist can’t test to see if the KDM works or that the quality of the film is right before show time. This isn’t always a problem. But when it is…"

Tongue tied

Finally, we have a new Simon's Cat video.

Simon meets a frog.

Are you ready for a rant?

We have a problem in Canada. I suppose it has always existed in Canadian politics, but I'm guessing that a highly polarized electorate is exacerbating the issue.  What am I talking about?  The recent slate of bills this government has put on the table has brought something to light.

The way our current government works is based on the assumption that if you support a party, you support everything that party stands for.  In reality, that's just not true.  One can be a conservative, but still care about the environment.  One can be a socialist, but not necessarily support unions.  One can be a liberal, but take a firm stance against massive waste in social programs.  The Canadian budget bill (C-38) that was just steamrolled through parliament is a good example.  It has come to light that there are many conservative members of parliament who do not support the environmental aspects of the budget bill.  So even from a purely party line standpoint there is no perfect unity on this topic.  But then one has to consider the electorate has a whole, across the country.  If roughly 40% of the people who voted are conservative supporters, what percentage of those supporters are in agreement with what the current government is doing to environmental law?  Let's pretend that 25% of those people do not agree with the current direction.  I think it's safe to say that there are more conservative supporters against the new environmental stance than there are liberal or socialist supporters that are for the new environmental stance.  If you accept that assumption, then there are definitely a lot more people against this new direction than are for it.

I think this is basically what's wrong with the way our government works.  As soon as you elect a party into power, especially if you give them a majority, you're stuck with whatever political direction they want to take the country.  Whether you support the government, or not.  If my memory serves correctly, at least in past governments that served decades ago, the ruling party was usually willing to listen to the opposition, who in many cases represented more people nation-wide than the ruling party.  They embraced a concept known as compromise.  That concept doesn't seem to exist anymore.  What's even more unfortunate, is that there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it.  At least not until the next election.  The amendments that were offered by the other parties to try and make the budget bill better were all voted against by the ruling party.  The only thing the ruling party could say was that the other parties were grandstanding.  Even while real Canadians were commenting on blogs and news web sites that they had a real problem with many of the things contained in this budget bill, the ruling party chose to ignore those concerns.  So even though the offering of amendments was a futile gesture, it was in effect a protest against the government that wants to finish its mandate with its fingers stuck in its ears.

This is one of the reasons why I've always been a fan of minority government's situations.  At least in a minority government, the ruling party is held to account for everything it tries to do.  They are forced to acknowledge the opposition's concerns and arrive at compromises that everyone can agree on.  I believe that this is a much better way to run a government.  And it has a lot in common with more representative government systems.  The major flaw in a minority government is its instability.  If the ruling party doesn't come to an agreement with the opposition, they can lose a non-confidence vote, which results in another election.  There is no other option.  If this flaw could be fixed, minority government's could become the best governments.

There has to be something better than what we have now.  Because what we have now is a majority government that only seems happy to quash dissent or any type of criticism.  A majority government that has its mind set on a very specific direction with no real interest in discussing anything or agreeing to any kind of compromise.  Now, as soon as I say this, conservative supporters will always say things like "yeah but what about the Liberals".  My response is always the same.  Never mind what past governments have done and stop using them as an excuse for you to continue that pattern.  This government promised to be different.  They promised to be transparent, accountable and honest.  Maybe I have blinders on, but I'm not seeing any evidence to support the idea that this government is any different than what has come before.  In fact, it seems that they are worse.

The final "Search Engine" with Jesse Brown

The last podcast for the Jesse Brown hosted show "Search Engine" is a great one, as it interviews Cory Doctorow and talks about some of the most important issues facing technology and the internet today and in the near future.

Not enough hours in a day

So the amount of blogging that will be going on over the next few weeks will lessen. For one thing, it's summer godammit! For another, a really awesome sci-fi book just came out and it's motivated me to get it on my iPad Kindle app so I could read it.

What book? Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312. I'm a huge fan of his after reading the Mars trilogy books so I'm rather excited to get back to my reading ways.

So between that and all the other things I have planned over the next couple of months, I'm running out of minutes to devote to the blog. Posts won't stop, but they will trail off a tad.

Just so you know.

Describing something normal so that it sounds weird - take two

I have a collection of things one uses to stop your possessions from getting wet. Sometimes they're made of rock or metal or ceramic or some kind of wood product. They can be square or round. They're most often decorative and stylish and it's really annoying when visitors to your house choose not to use them. My grand-daughter uses ours as building blocks.

I'm speaking of course about coasters.

The bullshit tour

Man, I love Ze Frank. After watching this episode of A Show with Ze Frank (Chase that Happy), I'm looking forward to playing the bullshit tour. As Ze describes it, "You take someone on a tour of wherever you are and you have to start every line with the word interestingly."

"Interestingly, this flower can only be pollinated by the human finger..."

"Interestingly, Moses had a twin brother named Boses, and when he was put into the river, he was put in one of these... and it didn't turn out so well."

Used bandaids

It seems gross, but I bet kids would love 'em.

Cinnamon graham crackers with some frosting for the pads and a little red jelly or jam in the midle for the blood.

First aid never tasted so good!

A little blow

Penn is really miffed about marijuana laws, especially since he points out that had Obama been busted for his casual marijuana use, he would have done hard time and never gotten to go to that fancy school, or become President.

Coming to iOS 6 later this year

• A 'do not disturb' feature that will temporarily stop notifications from lighting the screen or buzzing while you sleep. I could have used this feature while I was in San Diego.
• Facetime over 3G.
• When you get an incoming call, you have the option to set a reminder to call that person back if you're busy. You can also send him or her a pre-written text.
• Built-in Facebook integration. Although, you may not like just how much the Facebook integration will do: Sync your FB friends with Contacts; Sync your FB events with Calendar. Not too keen on that.
• Improvements to Siri. Hopefully that also means it will work better in Canada. My sources say it will - time will tell. Certain car companies will be making Siri (on your phone) available via a button on the steering wheel.
• New maps app. Apple is ditching its partnership with Google Maps. All I can say is that Canada maps better be good or there will be some serious letter writing to Apple. I've already heard that there will be no transit directions built-in. That makes it less usable than Google Maps already.
• Passbook will be a one-stop app that stores your gift cards, airplane passes, and even concert or sporting event tickets. Ditto with the Canadian support.

Borg ski mask

How awesome is that?

w.a.n.t.

A stranger just threw their dog poop in your back alley garbage can.

S'OK?

While our neighbour was operating a garage sale with us on Saturday, a woman from the neighbourhood walked past us with her dog. She walked right up to our neighbour's garbage can in their rear driveway (off the alleyway) and disposed of a bag of fresh dog poo into their can. Right in front of us.

Our neighbour said, "Excuse me, do you mind not throwing your dog poop in our garbage?" The woman got defensive immediately and said "We just can't do anything right!" Our neighbour stood her ground and insisted that she was sick and tired of people throwing their dog poop in their garbage and that it stinks very badly. "Why should I have to smell your dog's poop?" The other woman did not understand her position at all and started yelling "Take a pill lady!" She did retrieve her bag of poo and just went down the alley in the opposite direction and threw the bag into another home's garbage can, making a big deal about it along the way, like she was showing us who is boss. She then walked back and down the street whining and complaining about being called out for her deed.

Discuss.......

Oxide

How Apple uses controlled corrosion to build tough Macbooks, iPads and iPods.

Isn't science fun?

Things I learned this week 23 Jun

• 72 hours' worth of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute.
• Cigarettes are the most shoplifted item in America according to the NRF.
• Mobil Oil alone makes $4.5 million per hour in profit. 
• Iceland considered most peaceful country in the world. Canada came 4th.
• 1 in 224 every homes in Atlanta Georgia received a foreclosure filing just in May 2012. There are 9677 properties with foreclosure filings.
• Once homeless people who are doing OK now: Halle Berry; Jim Carrey; Jewel.
• According to a study by UBC in Vancouver, how cool you are (in Canada) is dependant on socially desirable attributes such as charisma, kindness and concern for others.
• M&M stands for Mars and Murrie.
• Cell phone data traffic (globally) only made up 1% of total internet data in 2009. Now it makes up 10%. In India, it's at 50%.
• Bread bag tags make great cord labels.
• After the first 2 years of sales, while the iPhone sold around 20,000,000 phones, the iPad is already at almost 70,000,000 tablets in its first 2 years of sales.
• More US teens smoke weed than smoke cigarettes now. Mostly because cigarette smoking has decreased.

Norway changes prisoners instead of punishing them

I was reading an article about the Bastoy Island prison in Norway and it goes against everything we do in North American society to deal with prisoners. It's like a resort in a way, not like a prison at all. Norway is famous for its liberal prison system and Bastoy Island is unlike any prison you've seen.

It's about an hour away from Oslo on a scenic island accessible by ferry, which is manned by inmates as well as civilians. The island has beaches where inmates sunbathe during the summer, fishing spots, tennis courts and a nice sauna. The approximately 115 prisoners live in nice wooden cottages and they can come and go as they please. They get up, make their own breakfast and then go off to work, mostly in agricultural-type jobs or tending horses. They check in with the guards several times a day to make sure they're safe. They are fed supper by prison staff. The guards are unarmed and interact with the prisoners like peers. The men here have been convicted of serious crimes, ranging from drug trafficking to rape and murder.

The idea of Bastoy Prison is to change the prisoners, not punish them. According to statistics, only 16% of criminals from Bastoy re-offend within two years of being released. In comparison, the three-year re-offense rate for US prisons has been 43%, according to a 2011 study, with older ones indicating over 50%.

There are no walls or fences preventing the inmates from leaving and the mainland is not far. All the inmates agree it would be extremely easy to get away, but most stay because if they escape and get caught, they are transferred to a maximum security prison with extended sentences. The prison warden even tells new inmates to find a phone on the mainland and call, should they escape, “so we don’t have to send the coast guard looking for you.”

The philosophy is not to punish criminals, but to make them want to become better people and truly re-integrate them back into society. Norway also has one of the lowest incarceration rates in Europe and the lowest murder rate in the world.

Where is it? Episode 71

Hey bloggites! Remember this little game? It's back. For now.

For those of you joining us lately, all you have to do is tell me (in the comments) where this is. Easy peasy!

10 word movie review - The Extraordinary adventure of Adele Blanc-Sec

Pterodactyls and living mummies in 1912 Paris France.

Situation normal.

He's such a poser.....

Darlene and I seem to have inadvertently created a new game at our house. We take turns posing our little Grover that we bought for Olivia in various poses and in various places.

The idea is to make the other person laugh when they see it. It's fun.

Describing something normal so that it sounds weird - take one

There's a part of my body that I cut off almost every week when it gets too long. If I don't cut it off, I find it easy to injure myself and it interferes with my manual dexterity. If this part grows back wrong, it can be hard to walk. There are some people who let this part grow long and they'll even paint it different colours, sometimes adorn it with art. My wife cuts this part off regularly, but she habitually leaves pieces of it on the floor where I inadvertently step on it. I'm talking of course about finger and toe nails.

It's only $5 too....

People are always looking for great places to hide keys to their house just-in-case.

So I think this little number is pretty cool.

It's a fake sprinkler head that you just step into the ground.

How to open a beer.... with anything

Very funny video clip.

Jagermeister logo deconstructed

Are you sure?

Best real estate sign ever.

This was from a house in New Brunswick, Canada.

At Transformation

I was recently informed that I had to watch this new Tragically Hip video because there are a few seconds of old-timey video from Darlene's family. Specifically, the guy at the end of the video with the girl and on the couch is my brother-in-law John. And the baby in front of the TV is my other brother-in-law's son Christian.

Cool huh? John is friends with the video director, that's how that came together.

Another talking point debunked

Climate change deniers will spout off arguments like, "volcanoes produce more CO2 than humans do".

Nice sound clip, but it's just not true. According to the US Geological Survey, globally, volcanoes on land and under the sea release a total of about 200 million tonnes of CO2 annually. This seems like a huge amount of CO2, but the global fossil fuel CO2 emissions for 2003 tipped the scales at 26.8 billion tonnes. So not only does volcanic CO2 not dwarf that of human activity, it actually comprises less than 1% of that value.

Impromptu in-flight entertainment

What do you get when Toronto's only Balkan-Klezmer-Gypsy-Party-Punk-Super-Band gets stuck on a delayed Air Canada flight? You get an impromptu performance, that's what. Behold, Canada's own Lemon Bucket Orkestra.

It's all about monospaced type

Nothing gets a couple of geeks worked up more than a discussion about stuff like how many spaces there should be after every sentence. There's a group of fanatics who insist it should be two spaces and there's the reasonable camp, of which I am a member, who agree that one space is enough. The following article explains why the two space rule came to be and also why it is incorrect to continue using that rule.

Tuition submission

Pub dog

A cute video short about a dog in a pub.

We be friends!