We Don’t Need No Compensation…
We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
but we wouldn’t mind seeing some royalty checks, guv’…
Archive for November, 2004
Hans Albarda: Off-grid Since 1971
CBC News Morning had a short segment on Hans Albarda of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, today. His solar-powered home isn’t connected to Nova Scotia Power at all, and he wakes up to 21 degrees Celcius on the coldest winter days. Some links:
- Existing Solar Projects in NS (link added Nov 30, 2004)
- SPOTLIGHT ON…Hans Albarda and Cathy Stanley
- A House with Elegant Simplicity
- Informed Solar (Albarda’s consulting firm), listed as supplier on solarns.ca
Links updated Nov. 30.
Globe and Mail Says iTMS to Open in November
The Globe and Mail confirms Apple will launch iTMS in Canada this month.
PureTracks.com, meanwhile, claims to offer higher-quality audio and more Canadian artists. When I use my Mac, though, they won’t let me into their site AT ALL; since they use Microsoft’s draconian Windows-only/Windows-forever DRM scheme, I’ll never know. I own a PC, too, but I choose to use my PowerBook.
Nov 30 update: I’ve discovered that PureTracks.com doesn’t let me in with FireFox 1.0 for Windows XP, either. It find it so hard to believe that a company like Microsoft could claim with a straight face that they’re fighting for consumer choice in their battle against the iPod… It’s unfortunate that PureTracks.com buys into this notion.
Whither iTunes Music Store Canada?
A few days ago it became impossible to browse the iTunes Music Store from Canada. Now, it’s never been possible for Canadians to purchase from iTMS, but we’ve always been able to browse… (Deep links still work, but you can’t get in the front door.)
Hopefully, this is just in preparation to the announced November launch of the Canadian iTunes Music Store, because there’s a new U2 album I’ve got to be buying, and I don’t want to visit a store to do it.
Nov 26 update: Macintouch posted my letter about this issue. It seems others have been seeing this too, in Canada and Australia. I should also point out that it’s still possible to browse the store by clicking a deep link from a third party site or by using the iTunes search field; they just won’t let us in the front door.
Silly Season Has Arrived
Undeniable, inevitable sign that Christmas is coming; Home Hardware has started advertising their exclusive gimmicky tools. You know the ones; wrenches that can reach around impossible corners, screwdrivers that can remove headless screws, pliers that can balance your checkbook…
Now Canadian Tire will spiral the insanity out of control until December 24th.
Nick Mason’s Inside Out
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason has written a book, Inside Out, detailing his years in the band during good times and, er, not-so-good times. According to MOJO magazine, Roger Waters says ‘it’s a good, light read, but he’s surprised there’s not more sex in it’…
Delicious Library is the Bomb!
Delicious Monster’s Delicious Library is amazing. Worth every penny. You’ll also need an iSight, a Mac and OS X. And a bunch of stuff (books, DVDs, VHS tapes, CDs, games). And high-speed access to Amazon.com won’t hurt, either.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
– John McCrae, 1915
Firefox 1.0 Officially Released
Firefox 1.0 has been released. This is among the best open-source applications; it’s being widely adopted, it’s useful (to end-users and developers), and it’s just as nice on my PowerBook as it is on my HP Pavillion.
The Incredibles Review…
For someone who loves movies, I don’t go out to see one very often. Yes, it’s gotten nearly as expensive for a couple to go out to a movie as it is to purchase the DVD (even if you’re not dragging children behind you or hiring a baby-sitter), but the real reason has more to do with how unbelievably rude audiences have become. But that’s another post…
The last film I saw in the theatre was, I think, Finding Nemo. Sunday afternoon I took in Pixar’s latest oeuvre, The Incredibles. Great show.
It goes without saying that the (evil?) geniuses at Pixar have once again raised the bar, technically, in 3D animation. The virtual sets were simply stunning, to the point where it looked like there were cartoon characters running around in the real world, albeit one designed by Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. Hats off to the designers and the lighting and shader teams.
As usual, it is the story that makes a Pixar movie stand out. Other films, such as Dreck, um, sorry — Shrek — and Antz have featured impressive technical wizardry with stories that left me somewhere between bored witless or feeling like I’m being mocked by the filmmakers. But The Incredibles is a bit of a departure for Pixar. Like their previous work, this one is aimed squarely at the adults in the audience as well as the kids, but the kids are assumed to be a bit older this time.
One of the smartest things in the film is a scene where the super-hero Mom (aren’t all moms super-heroes?) warns her children that the most important thing they posess is their identities, and that they must protect their identities at all times. A very wise lesson to be teaching children these days.
The only negative thing I can say about The Incredibles is that when Steve Jobs bought Pixar from George Lucas, he must have inherited a gene; the one that wisely casts Samuel L. Jackson in a movie, but then gives him no screen-time (see Star Wars Episodes I & II).
