February 2004 - Posts
Well the first member of my family other than me has started blogging. Check out my dad's Sports Guru blog, hosted at Blogosphere.ca! Looks pretty sweet already!
It appears my latest post on LonghornBlogs.com has been Scobleized! I expect the ranking for my LonghornBlog will increase dramatically now :)
Yes that's right, instead of working on homework, I created some new MSN Pictures! Check them out in the gallery.
For those of you keeping track, the new ones are, in no particular order: .NET Fan, Java Fan, Trading Spaces, Unhappy, Blogosphere red/white, Linux, Jaded, Sleepy, Hockey Night in Canada, and SuSE 9.
Enjoy!
It's not very often you see a game like the one played by the Oilers tonight. They beat the Coyotes 7-2 in an absolute thrashing. Phoenix looked like a junior team. Five of the Oiler's goals came in 6 shots in less than 6 minutes.
I look forward to our next game against the Coyotes on Tuesday :)
Well the Edmonton Oilers are taking on Comrie and the Phoenix Coyotes tonight, 7 PM MST on Sportsnet. If you need something to get you in the mood, check out this awesome site!
http://www.boocomrie.com/
GO OILERS GO!
Well Blogosphere.ca is off to a good start so far! We have a total of 6 blogs now, and new ones are being added all the time. If you have just gotten a blog and are a little confused, you can read Setting up your blog for some help.
Of course, if you would like a blog at blogosphere.ca, just email me!
There was a power failure in a few parts of the southside this afternoon (my area, Nisku, etc) so the servers were down for about 2 hours. Everything is back up and running now!
Funny how things work fine at minus 40, but at minus 5 and some snow, and everything shuts down! Apparently Shaw cable TV & Internet was down across the city this afternoon as well. Plus there was a water main break, numerous intersections without lights, and dozens of accidents.
Only in Canada!
Well many of you already know my views on religion, so I will jump right to what this post is about. As I normally do before going to see a movie that intrigues me, I have been reading many reviews and articles regarding Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". And let me tell you, there has been no shortage of words written about this movie and its supposed controversy.
Yes thats right, I call it a "supposed controversy". Many people are upset that the film portrays Jews as the reason for the death of Jesus. Whether you believe this is what happened or not doesn't really matter. You can believe whatever you want to with regards to his death, or murder as you might call it. What matters is that this movie just proves one of my biggest problems with religion - that people put their fanatical beliefs before reason and logic. Confused? Let me explain.
Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, KG of DreamWorks SKG, have both expressed anger at the movie and have taken the further step of proclaiming that they will never support another Mel Gibson project again, whether it be him directing, acting, etc. And let me tell you, they are not alone. You can read more about this at the New York Times.
So what do we have here? Two prominent Hollywood executives (not to mention the countless others who agree with them) are going to place their personal beliefs above that of business logic - Gibson is a very popular actor, with large box office draws, and has proven himself to be a talented director as well. This is one aspect of religious belief that I completely do not agree with. Even further, other executives have said they will avoid Gibson projects because Mel made comments to defend his father, who believes the Holocaust was "all fiction". So now its wrong for someone to defend their family? Would you defend your father? Whatever happened to free speech anyway?
So here's why this bothers me: "The Passion of the Christ" is work of art, created by Mel Gibson from start to finish, and paid for largely out of his own pocket. Don't you think its funny that so many things are protected as "works of art" and yet when it comes to religion, nothing else matters? This is a personal project for him, something he feels very passionately about - listen to any recent interview to get a feel for this.
The real controversy surrounding this movie should be whether or not Mel Gibson is persecuted for creating a work of art based on his own beliefs and feelings regarding religion, NOT about whether or not the depiction of the death of Jesus is correct, or anti-semetic, or anything else. I am not religious, and so even though I do not agree with Gibson's views, I can respect that he feels strongly enough about his beliefs that he wishes to create something which captures his emotion.
We just finished a good discussion over at Dickson's blog, but I felt compelled to write this after reading some more articles about the movie. The fact that religion is taken so seriously by some people that it interferes with the otherwise normal way of things (executives deciding to not support a Gibson project because it tanks at the box office, not because of his beliefs) just doesn't seem right to me. That people will turn a blind eye to everything else, ignoring logic and reason, is just wrong.
I am interested to see this movie, partially because of the controversy, but also because I am a Gibson fan and I plan to enjoy and support his latest project - or at the very least decide for myself if the movie was entertainment or not, regardless of the religious beliefs expressed. After all, what are movies for?
I just want to wish my sister Kimmi a very Happy 18th Birthday! Still another year before you become legal, so I will hold on to my legal-bday advice until then :)
Also Happy 25th Anniversary to my parents (yesterday)!
I am pleased to announce that Dickson and I now have Blogosphere.ca up and running! We want you to blog! If you are interested, here is how to get started.
Anyone remember the email Dickson and I sent out last week looking for names for a potential blogging site? No? Well you should read your email more frequently!
Anyways, we have decided on a name. We are going to be bringing you www.blogosphere.ca very soon! If you would like a blog at this new site, just email me or Dickson and we can hook you up. Don't be left out, join the blogosphere!
For anyone who cares...we will be using .Text as the blogging engine, so the most common blog features are supported, like RSS feeds, permalinks, comments, trackbacks, etc. Couple of examples, my blog, Dickson's blog, and .NET Wizards Blogs are all running on .Text. Blogosphere.ca will be quite similar to the .NET Wizards Blogs.
It seems that another person has come out from hiding with their blog. Check out Megan's blog at http://mig14.blogspot.com. I think its great people are blogging...but where are the feeds?! I really get annoyed with blogs that don't have RSS or Atom feeds...thats like having a book without the binding - you can read it, but its a lot more troublesome!
Have you ever wondered, "how evil is my website?" No? Well you should! Here is an interesting little tool that will tell you just how evil (or good) a particular website or piece of text is. Meet, The Gematriculator.
A couple of quick tests show that Google is 46% evil, Microsoft is 50% evil, Apple is 23% evil, Disney is 23% evil, and who would have guessed, Whitehouse.com is only 22% evil! Also interesting to note, the entry page for our government's site (http://www.canada.gc.ca) is NINETY-SEVEN PERCENT EVIL! HAHA!
Also, my blog is only slightly less evil than Dickson's at 33% compared to his 40%.
Ah its very rare that a song really gets me the first time I hear it, but the new Eminem song "Bully" is excellent! I cannot wait for the new album!
If you like robots or are even slightly interested, you have to check out these videos. Pretty impressive work! I wish I had a robot that could be programmed to do that!
http://www.asahi.com/video/031218run.wvx
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2003/1218/sony_06.wmv
Found via Bernard Wong
Many of you know about my MSN pictures already, and I have recieved a number of requests which I hope to get to soon. In the meantime, if you are looking for something a little different, check out Kevin Durdle's "Stickman" pictures. I can't imagine how much time he put into those! Very cool!
Yes it's true, sad but true. Reading week is nearing its end. I really did not accomplish as much as I wanted to, but what else is new? Good game of Axis and Allies on Friday with Inge, Nick, Joe, Mike and Megan. I was also introduced to "Striperella" - my god TV is messed up these days! Well, only about 36 hours left, what shall I do?
RUM MY FRIEND! HAHAHA!
In other news, the Edmonton Oilers better win tonight against Vancouver!
Nothing beats the feeling of getting something to work after four days of trying! Damn programming intricacies anyways! Hooray! And its only 2:30 AM! So yeah, need to know about CodeAccessSecurityAttributes? Talk to me lol!
The word of the day for Wednesday is "aura". Don't ask me why, it just is! Having said that, perhaps you should take a look in the mirror and analyze your aura!
In other news, I like Starbucks :)
Hi there!
We are writing to tell you about a project we are planning and want you to be a part of! We want to create a cool place to have a blog. Not sure what a blog is? You can take a look at ours for an example:
Dickson - http://blog.dicksonwong.com
Mack - http://blog.mastermaq.ca
You can post whatever you want! Topics of discussion, a diary, whatever you want, its up to you! Nothing is censored!
Now whats that you say? We're crazy, there is already places like blogger.com? Yes we know, but are they cool? Are they run by your friends? Can you ask blogger.com to change something if required? Nope! And thats what we want to create! A cool friendly place for you to blog.
So here's the plan:
1) We buy the domain and host the blogs
2) You give us your username and we setup your blog (takes around 10 seconds)
3) You blog at will!
All we need from you is help picking a name! Here are some ideas we have had so far:
CanadianBloggers.com/.ca
MapleLeafBloggers.com/.ca
Blogeh.com/ca
Blog-Eh.com/ca
Have a suggestion for a name? Let us know! Think we are crazy and this isn't something you would do? Let us know!
And most importantly, this site will be free for you to use!
Thanks,
Mack & Dickson
Just another reason for you non-bloggers to join the blogosphere! Join the hot religious debate taking place over at Dickson's blog.
Scoble has a really interesting post on corporate blogging. I think he makes a number of excellent points, and I hope there are some companies out there reading him. If companies blogged, they would seem less like some corporate entity, and instead more like a friendly resource.
Take for instance Creative. I have a SoundBlaster Audigy, which is a really great sound card, but also has its fair share of issues. Just run a Google search and you will find out about the "Squeal of Death". Well instead of hiding away and leaving customers out to dry for the longest time, if Creative had a blog they could have posted messages along the way. "There is a problem? Okay lets look at that." and "Yes we see this issue, more and more people are experiencing it." and most importantly "We are working hard to come up with some new drivers". That last one gets me, for the longest time there was NOTHING on their site. A blog could have at least made me feel like they were TRYING.
On of the projects I have been working on is a new website design for Paramagnus. I think I will definitely be including RSS and Atom feeds in that design. Especially as a small software company, I can see blogs as a very effective way for us to do marketing (Scoble mentions this power of weblogs too).
I went to see this movie on Friday with a bunch of people - awesome! I think it is easily one of Adam Sandler's best movies, very funny, but definitely a Valentine's movie :) And don't worry, like most Sandler movies, Rob Schneider is on board, and is very funny!
As luck would have it, I got into the movie for free (helps to know people who work at the theater!) which is really great considerng prices have gone up again!! Now its $13.95 for a ticket...insanity!
Well at long last, the inappropriately named "Reading Week" is upon us. One whole week to sleep, and put off studying for three more midterms! Enjoy it everyone :)
For those of you interested in such a topic, the CyberPsychology and Behavior site is hosting a paper that says "Cybersex is More Damaging to Relationships Than Pornography". In other news, Barbie and Ken have broken up...aww, so sad :P
Now that I have been "in the blogosphere" for a while, I have learned quite a bit about the subject. One of the most important aspects of blogs, is their unique publishing capabilities. Most blogs do this using one of two formats (or sometimes both) - RSS and Atom.
Some might say that there is a turf war going on between the two syndication formats. Yahoo has supported RSS, and Google (which owns blogger.com) is supporting Atom. I think that the topic is entirely irrelevant, for the following reasons:
- Dave Winer (creator of RSS) has said the format is frozen at 2.0
- Atom is an open specification and will continue to grow
- Lots of tools already support both formats
Personally, I like the way Atom is going. RSS is currently the most popular throughout the blogosphere, but I expect that as people start to see the improvements Atom offers (and as RSS ages), a switch is probable. One thing is clear however, at least one of these formats is going to be extremely popular if blogging continues to grow.
On that note, I really don't like that some tools (such as Xanga) do not offer any feeds, RSS or Atom! All blogs should have a subscription feature of some sort (and not the sign up to continue to read online kind). One of the great things about blogs is that you don't have to visit a website to read them!
It appears as though Andrew is blogging once again (looks like he started way back in the day!) Check out his blog here. My list of people to get blogging shrinks yet again...
Well it was time I made some changes to my site, as I have learned a lot about CSS and ASP.NET over the last few weeks. So no more inline frames for me! Also, as you may have noticed, my blog is now at a proper location, so no more weird URL's to access it :)
Well tonight's game in Edmonton against the Atlanta Thrashers was one of the most spirited games I have seen the Oilers play in a long time. They came out flying in the first period, and entering the third period had a 2-1 lead. That's where things got interesting...
Not only did they score two goals in the third to take a 4-1 lead, they participated in probably the largest runble of the season. After all was said and done, there was 184 penalty minutes as a result of the scrum. You can see the official NHL superstats for more.
Sutton is a wuss, and when he had the chance to fight Laraque passed. He then went after Brewer, so we know what Sutton is made of (not that Brewer is a small guy, just no Georges). Everyone on the ice at the time got into the action - even the goalies! A stroke of genius by Conklin to leave the net and fight Nurminen as Atlanta lost their other goalie to injury earlier in the game (meaning that with Nurminen's game misconduct, Atlanta had no goalie for the last 2 minutes).
The best part was definitiely Bishai's fight with Aubin. Bishai ended up on the Atlanta bench and landed four or five excellent punches - FROM THE BENCH! Hemsky got the empty net goal at the end, so the Oilers won with a final score of 5-1.
Now I hope the Oilers keep up the intensity and move up the standings in the last part of the season!
Well in case you hadn't heard, Pixar and Disney ended discussions to extend their current motion picture deal. This means that "The Incredibles" and "Cars" will be the last two Pixar films to be distributed by Disney (at least for now). You can read the official Pixar press release here.
So what does this mean? Well everyone I know loves the Pixar movies, every single one of them! In a way I think this is good, because Pixar is the brilliance behind Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo, etc, yet Disney seems to get a lot of the credit. Now we will see that it is ALL Pixar.
A related story out today is that Comcast has offered $66 billion to merge with Disney. Anyone else smell the end of an entertainment era?
Dickson's site is back up now - DNS hosted by yours truly :)
Anyone remember going into the washrooms in high school, and reading "for a good time, call..."? Or maybe you don't have to remember, go into any public washroom today and you are sure to find it scrawled on the wall!
Anyways...I am glad Dickson started blogging. But you have to check out his blog. It reminds me of reading that message - nice and explicit! It really is Dickson's House of Love! I cannot wait until we drag more people into the blogosphere.
The .NET Wizards site is now more or less live! We have blogs working, forums working, and more stuff will be added soon.
Hopefully the site will grow now :) We have a secret weapon up our sleeves too, so hopefully that component will go live after reading week!
I finally tried the "Insert currently playing media" plugin for w.Bloggar...seems to work pretty good!
Well finally, at long last, Dickson has created a blog! You can check it out
here. And you can also read his first post
here. Let the blogging games begin!
You know it's time to get a blog when even the UofA Library
has RSS feeds!
My good friend Andrea is now a blogger! You can check out her blog where she even mentions me! Now come on people, start blogging!
If I lived wherever Mike Rowe does, I would hunt him down and teach him a lesson! Please, this is just plain sad. Talk about milking your 15 minutes for all it's worth. After I was done teaching him a lesson, I would hunt down all FIFTY FIVE bidders (as of the time of this post) and do the same to them!
Why would you sell something like that? And even more unfathomable, why would you want to buy it? My "chance to own a piece of Internet history"? Are you insane? The whole mikerowsoft issue is a minor blip, just screaming to be forgotton.
I also think its quite funny that he has no eBay feedback rating, yet won't accept bids from anyone with a zero rating. He claims this is so he can verify intentions. Good luck! I can't wait to see what the winner does with this...
Well what can I say? This weekend was tough! I don't like losing :-P
The trip to Calgary for the CTC was fun, but it was also very tiring, and the fact that we stayed up Friday night (read: barely slept) didn't help matters. Definitely a good experience, and I learned a lot about DirectX, so not all is lost. You can read more at our Wizards Blog.
Now I look forward to Imagine Cup!