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Always wear sunscreen

You always hear that sunbathing can be dangerous to your health, but this is pushing it.  She was just a woman catching some rays while in California for her son’s wedding, all the way from Souix City, Iowa.

OXNARD, California (AP) — Two police officers patrolling a beach in an SUV on Monday ran over and killed a sunbather, authorities said.

The officers did not immediately realize they ran over the woman and continued driving, police Cmdr. Tom Chronister said in a statement.

The officers, who were not immediately identified, had stopped on a small berm of sand to watch a swimmer who they believed to be in distress. When they saw the swimmer was fine, they drove over the berm and apparently over the woman’s head, authorities said. [cnn]

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The plan for building a southern fence

The immigration bill passed the U.S. Senate with funding approved to “strengthen” the border with Mexico, but that made me curious about the plans for this new fence. So often you hear about the massive funding approved for some government project, but the specific details are difficult to find. Interviews with politicians in Washington give some insight, but not a whole lot. Saying exactly where or what tends to affect the bidding for the contract for whatever company takes on the task, but the lowest bidder always wins.

The details I’m looking for come from the interest group pushing hard for this reform. WeNeedAFence.com offers their opinion on what the border should be, either in its entirety or along “strategic points” along the boundry to Mexico. Barbed wire, ditches, motion sensors, and double fences. It’s the dream setup for any militaristic entity wanting to promote a “you’re not wanted here” message.

The message this promotes is unhealthy. Illegal immigrants are a problem, but the problem won’t go away that easily. It’s never been proven that gaps in the southern border has directly led to terrorism, and you might recall news story prior to 9/11 when a man tried entering Washington State from Canada with bomb making materials.

The same interest group makes a comparison of the U.S. situation with terrorism to Isreal’s.

A secure, state-of-the-art border fence must be one element of any comprehensive effort to address the illegal immigration problem. Similar fences in Israel have reduced terrorist attacks by up to 95%. [weneedafence]

If that’s true, and there was, very recently, a sizable terrorist plot broken up in Ontario[news.google], located much closer to Washington D.C., shouldn’t there be as much concern for Canada? Our biggest trade partners? That might impede on both of our economies though, so that would be potentially damaging. More, visible terrorists plots to the north, but more economical effects coming for the south. The money is always the winner.

Here’s an idea. Create stiffer penalities for employing illegal immigrants and follow up on them. And by that I mean fines. Then you can take the millions that you don’t blow on building a fence combined with the cash you make on actually enforcing laws to pay off the debt for the war in Iraq. Even that idea has holes, but it makes a whole lot more sense than a big “do not enter” sign.

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Wireless is a big deal to baseball, Cubs

A major milestone for baseball, the Chicago Cubs, and folks like me that dig it.

The Chicago Cubs and Motorola, Inc. will unveil the League’s first wireless bullpen communication system on June 13, 2006 at historic Wrigley Field, Major League Baseball’s second-oldest ballpark. Motorola developed the MOTOTALK(TM) system in cooperation with the Chicago Cubs, ushering in a new era for bullpen phone communication.  [tmcnet]

I’m all for new technology doing cool things, but this is a tad nutty for a new way to talk to the bullpen, not to mention that you could almost yell down to it from the dugout if you wanted to.

Installation of the new phone system is being treated as history-in-the-making. Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame will be in attendance to witness the first wireless call to the bullpen by Cubs Manager Dusty Baker or Houston Astros’ Manager Phil Garner, according to the press release. And following the game, the Motorola i580 phone will be taken to Cooperstown, home of baseball’s Hall of Fame, and placed on display.  [cnet]

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Never knew I liked the futbol so much

I don’t like calling it soccer. I do it anyway, but there’s a big part of me that wants to call it football. When I say that, I see Nile Kinnick[wiki], black and gold, helmets, persistant pain in my hip during my sophomore year of high school, shoulder pads, getting the full-back’s knee in the head, the fifty-yard line, and a blur of other images associated with professional and college leagues of American football(Go Chiefs! and Go Hawks!). I’m not the biggest supporter of the pigskin, but the game does lure in my attention from time to time, much to Rebecca’s un-amusement.

With the World Cup in full swing, I’m digging it. So I’m trying to distinguish the two through my hispanic roots, but it’s not quite there yet. In spanish, it’s “futbol”. The football I grew up with is “futbol Americano”. I had Univision on my cable package back in Iowa, so every weekend they were showing a game with that word “futbol” plastered all over the graphics. Futbol on Univision! Play-by-play in spanish! You bet I’m up for watching, even though 90% of what is said kinda flies right by me.

I’m trying to condition myself to have that difference through simple stressing of syllables. Futbol is soccer. Football is American football. Canadian football[wiki] is a little out of the realm of my interests right now, but amusing none the less. It’s when Costa Rica scored a goal against Germany that I yelped and realized, “I’m kinda into this.”

And by the way, the U.S. is ranked #5 right now, so what happened today against the Czechs?  Maybe I have a lot to learn about this sport, but it pained me everytime we sent the ball back to the goalie, not to mention sending it back to midfield from the attacking zone, past players who were at a stand-still, watching the action around them.  Is it that they are playing their position, zone, or what?  It was like watching a hockey team pass the puck around twenty times, looking for that perfect play to open up for a goal when they should just be shooting at the goal every chance that they can.  It was not good.

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Podcasting meetup in Ontario: Podcasters Across Borders

Podcasters Across BordersI would love to be able to attend the Podcasters Across Borders conference in Ontario on June 23-24, but the price of transportation, lodging, and admission is out of bounds in terms of our budget right now. I’m late to be mentioning this, but there are a few spots left if you think you want to go. Additionally, this is open to anyone, anywhere in the world, Americans included!

If the Vancouver podcaster meet up told me anything, events like this can be a good time. You get to speak geek with other people that dig podcasting, blogging, technology, and so on. Great ways to make contacts as well, even though I have yet to meet up with a few locals after my several months of being here.

I would love to meet the likes of Scarborough Dude and Andrew from geek.farm.life, both of which will be attending. There should really be something like this on the west coast, being that we’ve got Tod Maffin here in Vancouver and all.

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Coming flat-panel technology

Over on CNet, I found an article about a new flat-panel product being developed by Toronto-based iFire.  It’s lighter, thinner, and consists of less materials than plasma.  Their displays also boasts no backlight, unlike LCD’s.  It’s the technology that’s really interesting.

Their Color by Blue display system uses energy from a blue light source (in this case, a sheet of blue phosphor), which energizes florescent pigments that emit green or red light. By combining the blue with the green and red light, the full color of an RGB (red green blue) video is displayed.

“We feel we need to make this quite compelling to compete with the LCD,” said Don Carkner, iFire vice president of product planning. He said that with modules costing less than $300 per unit, iFire has one of the most cost-effective modules on the market.  [cnet]

Seeing is believing, and the first products with this TDEL technology are to begin some time in 2007.  Give me a good picture with no screen burn-in and I’ll consider it.  We need something to decorate the walls in our apartment.

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Rescue Me fifteen minute short

My post about the season three of Rescue Me is one of my more popular posts.  Since we are two episodes in, I thought I would give a brief update, minus any storyline.  Why?  Because season three won’t premiere in Canada until August 30th, according to a comment left by a reader.  Watch for that on Showcase.

Rebecca sent me this link of a fifteen minute short that, according to what she understands, they made in between the last two seasons of lighter material.  I just finished watching it, and it is just that.  It made me laugh.

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Oh, whatchamacallit… that pod audio program thing

It’s an old, ongoing argument that I can’t ignore.

Mark Ramsey, president of hear2.0, thinks that podcasting has a bad name, and thinks we should change the name to (drum roll)……………audiomag.

“Podcast is, when you think about it, an absolutely horrible name for the technology,” writes Ramsey. “We don’t watch a TVcast, we watch a TV show. We don’t listen to a Radiocast, it’s a radio show or a radio station. And much of podcast listening isn’t even done on an mp3 player, let alone an iPod.”  [podcastingnews]

Audiomag?  I don’t think so.  If the name is going to change, then it has to be something completely new, not to mention better than a fusing of two words.  Seriously, who does stuff like that?

Google[wiki] is the example I keep coming back to.  We don’t search for anything on the internet now.  Either you “Google it” or “look it up when you get home”.  More often then none, I bet you will Google something before you say you did a search.  That’s the power of a name and a brand.

Podcasting[wiki] is an argued name, but I haven’t heard anything better.  The issue of the word “pod” being linked to the Apple product brand is understandable, but remember that “radio” used to be called “wireless” until some one else came along with something better.  Wireless means something completely different today, but what would we call that if we we still called radio by its maiden name?

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I’m thinking of a word right now, but it’s not kitty

World Cup Winners - rathergood.comI’m getting more and more excited for the World Cup[wiki]. I know next to nothing about anyone in the sport other than the fact that David Beckham[wiki] is married to Posh Spice. I also know that in America, we call it soccer, even though the sport has been around longer than American football.

This short from rathergood.com gets you even more in the mood, regardless of who you are pulling for. As to who I’m going for, I can’t really say. Like I said, I know very little. I do hear that the U.S. is an underdog favorite. There’s also that part of me that likes Mexico, and Brazil is always worth checking out.

Living in such an international city as Vancouver, it’ll be tough not paying attention to the festivities. I hear Commercial Drive is the place to be. I’ll have to check it out, maybe even bring some recording gear along with me.

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Fueling my constant concern

I’m not liking the news coming from the organizers for the 2010 Olympics.

Ice hockey will be played on the smaller North American-sized surface during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver in a bid to save money, organizers said on Wednesday.

Olympic hockey has traditionally been played on the larger ice surfaces used in European leagues, but officials said the change would save an estimated $10 million (Canadian) in construction costs and allow room for more seats. [espn]

For me, this goes further than being a hockey fan. I have this constant wonder about the planning and execution for the coming games. We are less than four years away now, and I am always looking around town for evidence that all will be in place for when the flame is lit. There is talk of not worrying about cost, then having to ask for more funding, that everything will be ready in time, and now cutting a few corners to allow for a lower cost. It makes me feel a little uneasy about it all.

Keeping the smaller rinks makes sense. It benefits Vancouver, and Canada for the matter, in the long run because there can be more done with the venues later once the games are over without having to de-renovate GM Place and so on. There’s also that slight feeling of taking the slow and steady inhale of air to hold your breath as 2010 approaches and more surprises pop up. I’m already crossing my fingers.