Posts

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Reading Up On Chernobyl

Every so often, I go through the mess of bookmarks that I have stored up in my browser and bring back some links that I stopped checking a while back.  GlobalSecurity.org is one of those sites that isn’t all that exciting, but is worth a good read to get the gritty details about some of the things going on around the world.

This year is the 20 year anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster[wiki].  Not the greatest thing to observe, but it’s a landmark none the less.  Their information on Chernobyl is a pretty interesting read.  It gives you a better understanding about the whole operation at the plant rather than just the incident itself.  The pictures are very striking as well.

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Mean, Freakin’ Geese

Canada Goose in Stanley ParkIt doesn’t matter if you are in Iowa or B.C. All Canada Geese are mean. This one didn’t mind me getting too close to snap its mug, but a few more seconds, I probably would have been warned.

Yes, it’s Canada Goose[wiki]. After a little reading around various websites, such as here and here, I understand now that “Canadian Goose” is the improper name for them. So from now on, I will call all the mean ones the incorrect name. The ones that don’t flap and hiss at me while running by them will get the correct one.

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Am I On Your Refrigerator?

Ever go running along the Seawall in Stanley Park? There’s the area where all the tour buses seem to stop by the totem poles. It’s a nice, touristy spot to take some pictures. In fact, I recently discovered that those totem poles have a slightly strange history. Actually, follow that link and you’ll find a lot of interesting, if not dark, history about Stanley Park.

In the opposite direction of the totems, you can go to the Seawall and take some really great pictures of downtown Vancouver. I would say that 90% of the time, there is at least one person taking pictures there. Other days, there can be a huge group of bodies crowding the pathway. The other day a I ran through a mob of young Asian students posing and snapping away, forcing me off the path in order to get around them.

It makes me wonder how many pictures I get into. How much have I been disseminated around the world? What photo album am I tucked into and on what continent? Whose digital photo library am I in while I am mid-stride? How many times has someone said, “this would have been a great picture if it weren’t for that guy running into the shot.”

Sweet. I’m a “that guy”.

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Viruses Still Work On the Ill-fated

For the longest time, there hasn’t been much to worry about in the world of viruses when it comes to being a user of Apple computers. In my memory, there has been a few times that things have freaked out in the MacOS world, but that is nothing compared to the two plus years of tech support I did in the Windows world.

It’s only been a matter of time that Apple users would be targeted, but the media is flipping out because there are already attacks out there that can get to the new Intel Macs. However, most of these issues are being over hyped because it takes the user execute them onto their own machine. Continue reading “Viruses Still Work On the Ill-fated”

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First Farmer Tan of the Year

Walking over the Granville Street Bridge in the hot, hot sun.I had to run an errand over in Kits last week, so Rebecca gave me a scenic route to take to get there. I’m always up for a good walk, so the trek seemed like a good time to me. I ventured over the Granville Street Bridge[wiki] and went all around to the Cambie Street Bridge[wiki] in time to meet Rebecca after work.

It was quite the hike. I cannot forget to mention that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and temps broke 65F in the downtown area. Combine all of that with my mexican blood and you get a nice farmer tan starting to show on the upper areas above my biceps.

I snapped some pics along the way that you can check out on my flickr. It was a gorgeous day in the city.

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RadioZoom Episode #89

Get it while it’s hot! Episode #89 is up and ready for you to listen to.

I often carry around recording gear, so this is my first attempt at including smaller recordings that I make into the podcast. I tell you a little about the Eagle Cam and finish out the episode with the two soundseeing pieces. Williams Park in Langley, B.C. is a protect spawning ground for salmon and trout. You’ll also get to hang out with me and Rebecca at the 9 O’clock Gun in Stanley Park.

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Hornby Island Eagle Cam

Eagle Cam I actually watched the Eagle Cam for a while today, and the bird just sat there looking left to right.  That’s it.  And I was totally sucked into it.

Streaming, live video with sound.  The eggs should be hatching soon.  It’s kinda neat.  Check it out.

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XM Reporting Wider Loss in 1Q

XM Satellite Radio sunk a little further down the ladder today with their reported losses this quarter.  $151.4 million is a hefty chunk of change, and this is higher than a year ago when they reported a loss of $122.1 million.

XM and its smaller rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. are spending heavily to sign up subscribers and programming talent to their businesses, which offer dozens of channels of talk, news and music for fees of about $13 a month.

I’m not sure that this means XM is losing ground to Sirius.  Startups usually go through these growing pains, but numbers like these will convince would be subscribers to go towards Sirius for their programming.  Naturally, this makes me wonder where podcasting fits into these failing numbers.

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Koivu’s Left Eye

Koivu getting help on the benchDid you see the game the other night between Montreal and Carolina? Habs’ captain Saku Koivu[espn card] got a horrible injury to his left eye from Carolina’s Justin Williams in a blatent, but said to be accidental, high stick. Yet, there was no call on the play.

Koivu collapsed to the ice with blood streaming down his face. He skated off the best that he could, but his vision was obviously hampered. He held his arms out as he went towards the bench, looking for help from anyone nearby to give him a hand.

Several Montreal players after the game couldn’t understand why referee Dennis La Rue missed the obvious penalty on Williams, particularly after Canadiens defenceman Mike Komisarek was assessed a four-minute high-sticking call for an infraction on Hurricanes forward Cory Stillman with 4:34 remaining in regulation time. [full story…]

There has been a series of strange happenings with calls being made. This one takes more controversy simply because this injury won’t take just a few stitches to heal. I’m wondering if he’ll have full vision in his left eye again.

There should have been a call. The fact that there wasn’t has people wondering about the referee system in general. The incident took place not far from the puck, so the attention wouldn’t have been that far away from the official. And yes, it makes me sad to see Koivu out. I want the Hurricanes out. Go Habs Go!

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Tracking the Price At the Pump

I found this interesting website from CNet News that tracks the price of gas across the U.S. and Canada. GasBuddy.com has a tracker that is color coded by county for the states, but I can’t find anything similar for Canada. At the same time, I’m not too sure of how often this is updated, but it seems to have valid information.

As of right now, California and New York seem to be getting slammed the most with prices going around $3.30+ per gallon, the rest of the U.S. not fairing too much less. And the U.S. congress wants to give everyone in the nation a $100 rebate for gas? At this rate, $1000 would be a better amount for everyone. I say save the money and put it into energy alternatives.

Hey, the oil companies seem to be loving this.