netnomad’s blog & grill

For those who have seen me type who have wondered just how fast I am… I was “inspired” to take an online test when a friend of mine did.  Hate to say it Justin, but… I kicked your butt.  Actually I should take the test again, because the browser crapped out at the beginning and I probably could have hit 90 if I hadn’t lost a few seconds at the start of the test.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love some of their audio products, and I recently had one of their cameras that I can say nothing but nice things about.  But there’s something terribly wrong in the minds of their computing products division.  The root kit thing was pretty bad, and it made a lot of people I know boycott Sony altogether.  Today’s revelation makes you wonder whether they really learned their lesson from that experience.

As any Windows computer buyer will tell you, most computers (Sony included) come with a vast assortment of “trial” software or — as some people call it — bloatware.  Uninstalling it can be time-consuming, tedious, and sometimes in certain cases, almost impossible.

Sony has introduced a service called “Fresh Start” that is available on selected series of Sony laptop computers.  For FIFTY ADDITIONAL DOLLARS, they will install LESS software on your computer.

I’m gonna pause here, so you can go back and read that last paragraph again.

Sony defends this service fee, saying that there is labour involved in removing software from laptops before shipping.  It doesn’t hold water though.  Any geek worth his salt knows they will just make another disk image without the trial software.  No amount of money (or Sony propaganda)  can convince me they actually uninstall the software.  They just don’t install it in the first place.  The delivery dates for normal and Fresh Start laptops are identical.

Sony really needs to pull an IBM and sell-off that division.  They’re steadily plotting a course to being trusted even less than Microsoft.

As a musician, I’ve used (or rather, “been subjected to”) a fair amount of Peavey equipment in my life.  On one hand, the KB 100 keyboard amplifier I owned when I was a teenager was one of my favourite pieces of equipment I’ve ever owned.  On the other hand, it’s no secret that most concert riders have a line on them that says (among other things):  NO PEAVEY.  While the quality of their products is pretty good, their sound isn’t always amazingly accurate.

So those who might “look down” on Peavey might find this story a little amusing.  God knows I did.  Peavey has now unveiled a new series of controllers for the best-selling Guitar Hero video game that are built from a real guitar.  Personally I played Guitar Hero for the first time in my life a couple of weeks ago and even though it was really fun, the controller felt nothing like a real guitar.  So maybe for pro musicians/guitarists who are also Guitar Hero freaks, this might be an option.

But really… is anybody else going to spend $399 on a fake guitar?  Really?

When I was a kid, I knew a cop named Perry Dunlop. He was a friend of my father. Perry investigated and uncovered child abuse and pedophilia that led to the arrest of a lot of people who didn’t want to be arrested. A lot of them had ties to the Roman Catholic church in the Cornwall area. I have no doubt in my mind that the political influence of the Catholic church was behind the dismissal of much of Perry’s findings. But just like in Boston where then-Archbishop Bernard Law was found to have participated in many of the same activities, things were swept under the rug (and now Cardinal Law holds a position at the Vatican.)

So after being told he was wrong and that his findings were inaccurate over and over and over again, Perry refused to come and testify because he refused to be beat-up again about something that happened twenty years ago that “the powers that be” clearly had no interest in knowing the truth about. As a result, a Canada Wide Warrant was issued for the arrest of a guy whose only crime was wanting to protect children from sexual predators.

Nobody will know the truth of what happened (or may still be happening) in Cornwall until an investigative force that is immune to influence from the Catholic church is allowed to conduct an impartial investigation. Unfortunately, I don’t know if that is even possible.

This is the video of the “criminal” Perry Dunlop being loaded into an RCMP cruiser. I hope it sickens you as much as it sickens me.

One of the big news stories in Toronto this week was a six-alarm fire in the downtown core in the Queen and Portland area. Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt, but a lot of people are homeless now.  On a lesser note, that block of the city is looking none-too-pretty right now after several buildings collapsed from an enormous fire that burned for close to 24 hours before it was extinguished. Kudos to Toronto Fire for keeping it contained as well as they did and for sticking it out in some of the most bitter cold weather of the season. You guys are heroes.

If I’ve ever been in the Queen and Portland area (I probably have) I don’t remember it. A lot of those neighbourhoods look alike, especially the commercial areas. I was interested to note an entry on The Official Flickr Blog this morning about the Queen and Portland fire, with pictures from a number of streams including a photo-stitch that one fellow is working on that shows what the block looked like before that section of Chinatown was blanketed in yellow smoke.

I know I try to keep this place pretty PG-13, but a story like this — that involves the French — is just too much to resist.

A French scientist by the name of Ludwik Leibler has developed a condom that he claims “can be pressed back together” (and even reused) if it is torn, ripped, or punctured.

Apparently one of the key ingredients in the compound used to make this little gem is an ingredient in… wait for it… urine.

The substance is described as a cross between silly putty and a rubber ball.

There are so many punch lines I could choose here that I can’t pick. Leave your own in a comment.

I saw this on the news the other day (another story here) and I was dumbfounded. The articles I linked don’t do credit to the interview Lloyd Robertson did on CTV news a few nights ago.

There’s a guy from Alberta who desperately wants to compete in skiing in the 2010 Olympics. He has the skills. So what’s the problem? He’s legally blind and only has the use of his peripheral vision. His goal is to win in the Paralymics and the Olympics in the same year. In 2010, both events are taking place in Vancouver.

I really don’t know if Brian is going to make the Olympic team or not. I hope he does. Wouldn’t it be great if a Canadian skier (who is legally blind) won the GOLD medal right here at home? Can you imagine the level of excitement? I’m giddy just thinking about it.

GO BRIAN GO!

[Addendum:  I found an abandoned Facebook group about Brian and adopted it.  I’d really like to see it explode in size.]