Tag: postaday2011

A Little Smile In My Day

On By WinstonIn Humor, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I love National Geographic. They cover a huge range of topics and now and then, they just make me smile.

Today was a good example of that. I recently liked Nat Geo on Facebook, and now get status updates from them. So far, so cool. An update from Tuesday ran as follows:

“Hailing from China’s ‘heyday of chariot warfare’, five well-preserved chariots with accompanying horses, emerged from an urban tomb.”

Apparently their “heyday of chariot warfare” was pretty recent. Chariots might last for a while, but horses, not so much. At least not in any shape to emerge from a tomb.

Personally, when I read this I had a visual of “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”. That’s probably just me though.

One way or the other, it made me smile. Thank you National Geographic!

Cheers, Winston

One More Blockbuster Moment…Very Few Left

On By WinstonIn PersonalLeave a comment

Anyone who reads my blog, or Canadian business news, or shops there already knows that Blockbuster Canada is closing.  I’ve done a couple of posts already about losing my job, and the misrepresentation in the press etc.  This isn’t going to be one of those posts.  This one is going to be a bit more personal.

First off, I found out tonight that instead of closing Friday, our location is slated to close Wednesday night.  It burns me for my last couple of shifts, but really, there wasn’t enough business tonight to pay my wages, never mind rent, hydro et al.  So that’s okay.  That’s not what I’m writing about either.

Nope, it’s more personal than that.  What you may wonder could be more personal at work than losing your last two days wages?  I’ll gladly pretend you asked.  The truth is, it’s only indirectly personal for me.  It’s more personal for one of my customers.

This guy has been a lifelong customer.  He’s been renting movies at Blockbuster for as long as he can remember.  He hadn’t heard we are going out of businss..  Tonight, he came in to rent one of his favorite movies that he has seen a dozen times.  He looked at the bare shelves where it used to be, and started to cry.

This guy is five years old.  Walking over with his parents to get movies has been a big part of his life.  He doesn’t really understand the idea of rentals, so his parents always told him someone else had “borrowed” it if one was out.  To him, these were his movies.  Suddenly, his movies are all gone.  No wonder he was crying.

Blockbuster closing is going to put a big hole in his life.  Just like the one it will leave in so many peoples lives.  Like the one it will leave in my life.  But I’m not going to start to cry about it.  At least not until I finish this post.

Cheers, Winston

Hoping For Horwath & The Provincial NDP

On By WinstonIn Personal Responsibility, Politics, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

For those who don’t know, don’t care, or aren’t from around here, we’re heading into a Provincial election here in Ontario.  For those in the US, that’s the State level.  For the rest of the world, it’s important to us, but likely most of the world won’t be greatly impacted by it.  Locally though, it’s a big deal.

If you’re new to this blog, I’ll get you up to speed quick.  I’m a big fan of social justice.  i think corporations have an obligation too be good citizens too.  I support social programming.and helping those who need it.  All of which is to say, I don’t generally vote for the Conservatives.  I used to vote Liberal because I didn’t want the PCs to get in.  That thinking changed with the changes Jack Layton brought to the federal NDP in the last election.

This time, I’m going to vote my values.  So far, that looks like voting for Andrea Horwath’s NDP.  If nothing else, her refusal to play gutter politics is very refreshing.  I also like the NDP plan to offer tax breaks to companies who hire and train new employees.  That’s an idea that directly rewards them for being “good corporate citizens”.  Sounds good to me.

Up until now, I’ve been voting Phil McNeely, My local Liberal MPP.  He’s done some good things for my local community, so it’s going to be hard for me to change.  On the other hand, the party as a whole leaves something to be desired.  The decision I have to make before election day is simple.  Do I vote for Phil because he’s good for me locally, or do I look at the bigger picture and hope Mx. Horwath lives up to her potential.

Decisions, decisions……  I’m just happy that I’m fortunate enough to live somewhere that I get to make them.  I can go to the polls without anyone threatening me or trying to kill me.  Once I cast my ballot, I am reasonably confident of a accurate count and legitimate winner.  If more people realized how rare and precious those things are in the world, maybe we’d see a better voter turn-out.

Instead, the pathetically apathetic non-voters will sit on their brains and waste one of the greatest privileges in our society.  You don’t have to vote in Canada.  Your also don’t have to eat, breath or not step in front of a bus.  None of those are any stupider than not voting.

I’ll close for now because I’ve got to go and do some pre-election homework.  See my fellow Ontarians at the polls.

Cheers, Winston

Feel Safer Now?

On By WinstonIn Discrimation, Politics, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

Here’s how the scenario unfolds.  The police follow a suspect in an active investigation.  They observe him go into the woods.  Fifty minutes later, he emerges, and drives away.  The officers enter the woods and observe an area where the pine needles and soil appear disturbed.  The following day, a forensic team returns and unearths four wooden crates containing fourteen hundred rounds of ammunition and a garbage bag containing fourteen tins of black powder.

Tony Spears, writing in the Ottawa Sun goes on to say that Claude Haridge has been charged with careless storage of ammunition and breach of undertaking.  That’s where I get confused.  A guy buries over a thousand rounds of ammunition and a pile of black powder in the woods and that’s the best they can come up with?  Either he’s a total nut job, or he’s up to no good.

Meanwhile, his defense lawyer is arguing there shouldn’t be any charges at all.  Seriously?  We’re just supposed to look the other way?  I’m not sure where Mr. Brown got his law degree, but that school should probably start offering a course in common sense.  I expect you’d have a hard time finding a fifth grader who wouldn’t see a problem with someone hiding bullets and powder in the bush.

Oh yeah, one more detail.  That open investigation that had them watching him in the first place?  It involved the firebombing of a bank in the city.  Now you maybe start to see my problem with this.  The police have apparently not charged Mr. Haridge in connection to the bank bombing.  On the other hand, they had some reason for following him as part of their investigation.

So here we have a suspect in an urban bombing who admits to burying large quantities of ammunition and black powder in the bush.  He’s facing a mickey-mouse careless storage charge.  If Mr Haridge were of “non-caucasian” ethnicity, or a practicing Muslim, I bet the charge sheet would have looked a bit different. It probably would have included words like, “terrorism”, “terrorist”, and of course “Al Qaeda in Ottawa”.

The good news…. Apparently local law enforcement has concluded that people with names like “Haridge” aren”t likely to be terrorists.  Really, he probably had some perfectly valid reason for stashing ammo and powder like that.  Probably just a fun geo-caching game with his buddies from “Definitely Not Al Qaeda In Ottawa”.  What else could it possibly be?  After all, he doesn’t look like an “islamicist”.  They’re the ones Prime Minsiter Harper said are the big threat.

Feel safer now?

Cheers, Winston

Guild Wars 2 Is Coming!

On By WinstonIn Personal, Pop Culture, Video GamesLeave a comment

I don’t play a lot of online games.  It’s a combination of not being competitive enough and not being willing to make the commitment to my fellow gamers.  GuildWars  was the exception to that.   There were a couple of things I liked right from the get-go.

There are no monthly subscription fees.  You buy the game, you play the game as much as you want for as long as you want.  What a concept!

It is one of the most visually stunning games in any genre in my opinion.   Many thanks to Daniel Dociu for that.  The man is a creative genius in terms of concept art design and art direction.   Google him if you doubt me.

The other perk for me personally is the ability to solo through most of the game with only AIs for company.  I know, the idea is Massively Multiplayer.  Not so much for me.  I thought it was a beautiful game.  I love the way it’s put together.  The story was well constructed and the worlds immense.  Why should I have to mess that up by hanging around with other people?  The nice people at ArenaNet seem to understand.  There are a few places where you have to partner up with real people, but for the most part, I can solo.  Their Design Manifesto on the ArenaNet blog http://www.arena.net/blog/guild-wars-2-design-manifesto promises to continue this in GuildWars 2.

Unlike the previous stand-alone expansions Factions and Nightfall, or the Eye of the North add on for the original GuildWars, GuildWars 2 is set to be a totally new adventure.  It takes place 200+ years after the first series and will feature new settings, new creatures, new threats, a more organic story system and five, count them FIVE playable races!

There are very few games that I am willing to say I can’t wait for.  This is the only one for me right now.  I’m not expecting it until late 2012, or maybe 2013.  That’s okay.  Whenever it gets here, it’s going to be most welcome.  Like an old friend too long absent.

I’ll post more as it gets closer.

Cheers, Winston

Guild Wars Copyright and Trademark Information

© 2011 ArenaNet, Inc. All rights reserved. NCsoft, the interlocking NC logo, ArenaNet, Arena.net, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, Nightfall, Guild Wars: Eye of the North, Eye of the North, Guild Wars 2, and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

If “Not In My Backyard”, Then Whose?

On By WinstonIn Environment, Green Energy, Media, Politics, Society, TechnologyLeave a comment

Christina Blizzard, writing in the Ottawa Sun is slamming David Suzuki and Dalton McGuinty. One for being a “pompous ass”, and the other being praised by a pompous ass for wanting to build wind turbines where the wind blows.

Before I go any farther, I want to make it clear that this is not to bash Mx. Blizzard.  I subscribed to the Sun for many years.  I’ve always enjoyed Christina\s articles, and this is not an attack on her personally.  Only on the views expressed in the article in question.

Apparently, Dr. Suzuki endorsed McGuinty’s green energy initiatives and  stated bluntly that it would be “absolute insanity” for Provincial Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak to scrap them if voted in during our pending election.  She raises the point because of it’s status as a registered charity, The David Suzuki Foundation is not allowed to participate in partisan politics.  Fair enough.  On the other hand, Dr. Suzuki had apparently stepped down from the board, so is no longer bound by those rules.

Part of her ire stems from a plan put forward by Premier McGuinty’s Liberal party to place 260 massive wind turbines near the town of Zurich on Lake Huron.  According to Mx. Blizzard,  “Each turbine consumes 1.6 hectares of prime farmland – that’s some 405 hectares of farmland that could be use to grow crops.”  She then adds, “How green is that Dr. S?”

Just a couple of quick points.  If she’s so keen to preserve farmland, where has she been while the farms around Orleans have been sub-divided into the history books?  Oh and by the way:  Nice use of the diminutive “Dr. S” to undermine his standing with the readers.  She is an op-ed for a second string tabloid.  He is an internationally recognized leader on environmental issues who hosted a long running science program on national TV.  This probably has a lot to do with her later characterizing him as a “pompous ass” for telling homeowners to use energy efficient light-bulbs and caulk draft-causing leaks in a couple of “creepy” ads in partnership with the provincial government.  I suspect that when you can’t compare credentials, trash-talk is really all you’ve got left.

All of which serves as background for the point I want to make here.  In her unending quest for truth and objectivity, Christina Blizzard talked to the rural residents around Zurich, Ontario and discovered something remarkable.  They are “outraged” by the “monstrosities” springing up and feel they are a “blight on the landscape.”  I’m shocked, aren’t you?

Okay, maybe I’m being a little bit sarcastic there.  Realistically, I would have been more genuinely shocked if they had been happy about it and declared the turbines “paragons of aesthetics in harmony with their natural setting.”  That would have been news worthy.  The fact is, it’s another in a long line of “not in my back yard” issues.

Years ago, when I lived in  a different city, there was talk of building a Young Offenders Facility there.  Much of debate didn’t focus on the jobs such a facility would bring to a “one industry town” where the “one industry” had been declining for years.  Nope.  Most of what made the news were residents worrying what such a facility would do to property values and city councilors pandering to them.   Everyone agreed it was good, just not where they happened to live.

I don’t think you’ll find too many people who will argue in favor of coal burning generating plants over wind turbines in terms of sustainability.  Not unless they work for the coal industry, or they just want to be difficult.  As for the rural residents around Zurich, sorry, you just happen to live where the wind blows.  I’ve spent some time in the area myself, and I know how steady the winds are on the east shore of Lake Huron.  Nothing against the people there, but no matter where they wanted to put them, someone would complain.  It would be someone’s back yard.  This time, it’s in yours.

Sadly, coal, oil and other fossil fuels aren’t going to last much longer.  There are only so many waterways suited to hydro plants, and if the tragedy in Japan is any indicator, nuclear may not be the greatest either.  Barring any major breakthroughs, it seems probable that if you live in a naturally windy place, you could end up with a turbine or two… hundred.  By the same logic, if you live somewhere with a lot of sun, I see a high probability of solar panels in your future.

We need to develop these more sustainable energy technologies now, not when the last puff of smoke from coal drifts away on the wind off Lake Huron.  They have to go somewhere.

If “Not In My Backyard!”, then where?

Cheers, Winston

Gaming, Movies, And My Reality

On By WinstonIn Movies, Pop Culture, Self Awareness, Technology, Video GamesLeave a comment

As I mentioned yesterday, I really like Portal 2. I enjoy gaming, watching movies and reading. The commonality? They all take me out of reality for a while.  Not that my reality is even sightly terrible.  In fact, it’s pretty darned awesome.  I’ve got a wonderful wife, a great daughter, and the world’s best dog.  So why would I want out of it for a while?

Even billionaire playboys go on vacation.  It’s not about wanting to escape reality, it’s about keeping it fresh.  Truth be told, most of the time, my wife is sitting on the couch beside me using her laptop to play on Facebook. So even when I’m gaming or watching a movie, ore reading, I’m usually with my wife who will be gaming, watching TV, or reading or whatever.  Neither of us is the type to complain if the other interrupts what we’re doing.  Likewise my daughter and I watch movies or play games together.

We are a connected family.  That’s part of the reality that I love.  Really, when I’m avoiding reality, I’m still in the middle of it.  Sure, sometimes i game when they’re out, or after they’re in bed, but it’s not like I have to wait ’til I’m alone.  It just works out that way.

I love movies.  I LOVE my family.  I love games.  I LOVE my family more.  Likewise reading, listening to music, hanging out with friends etc.  These are all things that most people think of as taking people out of their relationships.  I’ve said it before in other posts, and I’ll no doubt say it again in others:  I’ve got an awesome wife, and I’m incredibly lucky to be part of her world.

I don’t game to avoid reality.  Games, movies, books etc.  are all part of that reality.  Why would I want to avoid that?

Cheers, Winston

Finally Playing Portal 2

On By WinstonIn Humor, Pop Culture, Video GamesLeave a comment

After months of having everyone tell me how incredible Portal 2 is, I’ve finally started playing it.   So far, I’ve got to say, it looks like they’re right.  More to the point, it sounds like they’re right.

The game play is exactly what I expected.  The controls are smooth, precise and easy.  The puzzles are clever, challenging and profanity inducing.  The visuals are excellent as is the physics implementation.  All of that is what it’s supposed to be.

The story and the humor are the payoffs for me.  The puzzles are clever, but the A.I. is more clever.  The person who created that character and wrote it’s dialog should win an award or two.  I can’t remember the last time I laughed that much during a game.  This thing is wildly funny.

If you enjoy puzzles, well constructed storyline and some twisted humor, this is a must play.

Cheers, Winston

Bringing Back The Positive.

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Personal, Self Awareness, ValuesLeave a comment
Neil Pasricha
Neil Pasricha creator of the blog "1000 Awesome Things", author of "The Book of Awesome" and "The Book of Even More Awesome".

I watched a TED.com talk by Neil Pasricha last night and it started me thinking.  He talked about going through a very dark time in his life.  His marriage ended and a close friend took his own life after a long struggle with mental illness.  As part of the process of moving himself out of that dark place, he started a blog.  He called it 1000 Awesome Things.  It took off so well, that he was offered a book deal and he wrote the Book Of Awesome.  The initial message to this is pretty clear.  If we change our focus, we change our lives.  It’s not that we can prevent bad things from happening.  It is simply about remaining aware that other things, better things are happening.  Often at the very same time.

He also talks about the  “3 As of Awesome”.  They are Attitude, Awareness and Authenticity.  I’m just going to touch on them really briefly, then I’ll get to my point.  I promise.  Unless I get distracted.

First up, we have Attitude.  No, not the Attitude you break out because NO ONE can find their gas pedal if they’re in front of you, but can’t find anything else but the horn when they’re behind you.  This Attitude is more about how you chose to look at the world.  You can choose how you view the world.  You can focus on the negative and dark and miserable, or we can practice seeing the good along with the bad.

Awareness is the second “A”.  If Attitude is choosing how to live, Awareness is about implementing that choice.  It’s developing the habit of noticing the quality of the light before a storm instead of focusing on how far you still have to walk to avoid it.  Seeing the person who gave you a break and let you merge not just the ten who didn’t.  It’s about seeing the everyday “Awesome” in everything.  Even when you think you can’t.  Especially when you think you can’t.

Which brings us to Authenticity.  This is about not being afraid to be who you are.  It’s about celebrating the things that you find awesome without worrying about what others might think.  I love big summer blockbuster movies.  I think Michael Bay is a very talented director.  When I went to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon, it was awesome!  I take a lot of flak for it, but that’s what authenticity is.  Being true to yourself regardless.  Neil has a much better example in his talk which I strongly encourage you to watch here:   http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_pasricha_the_3_a_s_of_awesome.html

Now for the point I promised earlier.  See, I hardly got distracted at all.  After I had watched him and started thinking about how this applied to me, I started thinking about my own blog.  No, not in terms of a book deal, but what my choice of posts says about where i put my focus.  I realized I spend a lot of time on politics, and social ills, and losing my job, and idiots with stupid things written on their cars.  I write a lot of negative stuff, and I don’t have to.  Sure it sucks that I’m losing my job.  On the other hand, it’s Awesome that some of these people that I have been talking to every week for five years tear up when they say goodbye.  It’s awesome to have an eleven year old child shake my hand and thank me for being the only person in any store to treat her like a person.

i only saw the idiot with the stupid saying on his car because my Awesome wife drove over to pick me up from work.  My brother was rushed to hospital with a crack in his aorta.  this is something with a 10% survival rate.  I was terrified he was going to die.  How Awesome is it that on his last visit, his specialist told him he has NEVER seen anyone heal so fast or so well!?  My life is full of these things.  So Awesome, and yet so ordinary I don’t always notice them.  I think it’s time I paid more attention.  It’s time to change my Attitude a little, develop a little more Awareness, but I’m still going to write the other stuff too.  It would lack Authenticity if I didn’t.

Thank you Neil.  You’ve given me the gift of Awesome.

Cheers, Winston

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The Internet Isn’t The Last Haven Of Democracy.

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Media, Pop Culture, Society, TechnologyLeave a comment

Courtesy of a raging bout of insomnia, I was browsing some back stories on Maclean’s.  That’s when this gem caught my eye.  On Aug 12th, Peter Nowak posted this article: “Governments Must Adapt To Internet, Not Other Way Around”.  According to Mr. Nowak, democracy “is the de facto model that almost every online operation works on”.

“The popular and good rise to the top… the bad and unpopular is ignored or voted down.” It seems he is equating popular with good.  Hardly a supportable position given the current popularity of reality tv and Jackass movies.  Rising to the top isn’t necessarily a sign of quality, only of popularity and people’s urge to part of the “In Crowd”.  The fact that something gets 80,000,000 hits doesn’t mean that it’s good, only that nobody wants to be the one that doesn’t know what everyone else is talking about.  Popular doesn’t equate to good, more often, only to easy.  Lolcats get more hits than ethical debates.  Contestants on reality shows garner more votes than elected officials.  Yeah, popular is a sure sign of quality.

His next little piece of genius involves praising the hacker collective known as Anonymous.  These self appointed judges/juries/executioners are defenders of openness and democracy according to this guy.  He indirectly praises them for their attack on Sony in retaliation for their lawsuit against the person who posted an illegal hack for the PS3.  Peter seems to believe that it was wrong of Sony to take legal steps to protect their intellectual property.  On the other hand, he is perfectly okay with Anonymous using illegal steps to punish them.  There are a couple of details he leaves out in his paean to digital frontier justice.  The takedown of Sony didn’t just affect “Sony”, it affected the employees, the gamers, the people whose jobs rely on those services being up and running.  It’s like Robin Hood burning peasant huts so they can’t afford to pay taxes to the sheriff.  It sounds good in theory, but the sheriff is still going to want his taxes.

Anonymous is also the group who took it upon themselves to post the home addresses of members of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit police force.  This was in retaliation for BART shutting down cell towers to prevent protesters using them to organize.  Let’s deliberately endanger the live of the officers, their spouses and their children.  Way to pick your heroes Peter. If the persons responsible for that particular act are caught and convicted, they should be tossed into the deepest, darkest hole available and left there.  Pending further notice.

“The fundamental principles of the internet, therefore, are then same as democracy – each user is entitled to freedom and openness, so long as they don’t harm anyone else.”  Where he comes by these “fundamental principle” is never actually explained.  >he also doesn’t explain why Anonymous gets an exemption to the “don’t harm anyone else” part.  The fact is, the internet was created to share information.  Pure and simple.  Other people may have chosen to use it for their own purposes, but that doesn’t make it anything more or less than what it was designed to be.  Just because of bunch of spoiled children have decided that it’s easier to play “activist”as a way to act out when they don’t get their own way, doesn’t make them right.  When an allegedly serious journalist like Mr .Nowak buys into their fantasy, it just feeds into their bloated ego driven God complex.

His closing statement is the best illustration of his clearly delusional disconnect from the real world.  “Governments will inevitably have no choice but to acquiesce and adapt to what are ultimately basic human desires: to be open and free.  Otherwise, as advanced technologies make living in a virtual online world more realistic and palatable, people will inevitably abandon the real world and move into the ether permanently, leaving governments with no one to govern.”

If luck is with us, maybe Peter will be an early adopter of permanent virtualization.  Then any decent spam filter will keep his views in the junk folder where they belong.

Cheers, Winston