January 2002
echos of unfortunate familiarity
Posted by on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 3 comments
While at the local grocery store this evening I was struck by a peculiar sound. It was the sound of an old fashioned mechanical cash register. However, it did not ring out with the authenticity and high fidelity that only actual reality can provide (I'm afraid you have to specify which reality …
Peter Gzowski, 1934 - 2002
Posted by on Friday, January 25, 2002
As I listened to CBC Radio on my drive in to work this morning, there was a lively and joyful discussion of the greatness and quirks of CBC veteran Peter Gzowski. • I had heard that he was seriously ill and was encouraged to hear them having such a pleasant discussion of his life and work. Then …
It's an honour just to be nominated
Posted by on Thursday, January 24, 2002 - 8 comments
Note the spelling of 'honour', after all, it is the Best Canadian Weblog category. Acts of Volition, so far humble by necessity, not by design, has been graced with a nomination for The Bloggies. • Nikolai Nolan's 2002 Weblog Awards are a great way to discover new sites. I had never seen Loobylu …
I still wish I was an engineer
Posted by on Wednesday, January 23, 2002 in - 16 comments
My first AOV post ever was concerning how I wished I was an engineer so I could take my monstrous robot onto television and beat on other robots. Nothing has changed, except for now people out there are living the dream. • There are now about three shows that deal with his, and I want to tell …
In bed with U2's Elavation tour
Posted by on Tuesday, January 22, 2002 in - 7 comments
I watched U2's Boston concert DVD last night and I was pleased. Having seen the Elevation Tour in Montreal, I was curious to see how the DVD-on-laptop-in-bed experience would compare with the 18,000-people-in-a-stadium experience. Obviously it didn't touch the real thing, but it was a nice …
You can't buy linux, but you can buy Red Hat
Posted by on Saturday, January 19, 2002 - 7 comments
AOL Time Warner is apparently in negotiations to buy Red Hat - the closest thing Linux has to a corporate identity (original source: Washington Post - see related discussions at Slashdot and MetaFilter). It would be interesting to see how AOL/TW would handle having a stake in the success of Linux …
cows strike back
Posted by on Sunday, January 13, 2002 - 5 comments
Yesterday I learned about a suspicious connection (or a dark cloud gathering overhead) between a bacterium in Pasteurized milk and Crohn's disease. • They haven't proven anything, but if it is eventually proven to be true, I think it's perfectly fair for a cow to give me a disease after I've …
moments of musical transcendence
Posted by on Friday, January 11, 2002 in - 33 comments
All this talk of great music has got me thinking (more than I should, perhaps). I love music. I can't listen to music in bed at night because instead of going to sleep, I listen intently until the entire CD is though and only then can I think of sleeping. • What I love most about music is the …
bill gates vs. steve jobs - who has the bigger toys?
Posted by on Thursday, January 10, 2002 - 3 comments
While Steve Jobs was beating the drums for his new real-life Pixar logo, Bill Gates was awkwardly stumbling through a presentation of Microsoft's new home technologies, Mira and Freestyle. Mira is a removable wireless flat screen with a touch-screen. Freestyle is TV remote interface for media …
the best 49 bands of all time - and korn
Posted by on Thursday, January 10, 2002 in - 36 comments
SPIN magazine has released their 50 best bands of all time. While this is somewhat of a foolish exercise, I thought we could have a short and fruitless debate about it. • I'm not sure what Rage Against the Machine, Outkast, and Korn are doing in there. Other than that, I think they did as good a …
Why Wacky Wheatlys Sucks: One man's subwoofer frustrations
Posted by on Wednesday, January 9, 2002 - 13 comments
After kottke linked to Cory Doctorow's hilarious PowerPoint presentation about his bad customer service experience at the DoubleTree Hotel (beautiful logo, btw) our good friend Dan J. decided to detail his unfortunate experience at a local electronics outfit. • Dan does some of his best work in …
the ben brown show
Posted by on Tuesday, January 8, 2002 - 5 comments
From the mire of unemployment comes mirth. Ben Brown, unemployed programmer extraordinaire, presents The Ben Brown Show (approx 7MB QuickTime). • Each show will only be up for a day - so check back often.
RIP Dave Thomas, you made one tasty burger
Posted by on Tuesday, January 8, 2002 - 9 comments
Dave Thomas, beloved founder and spokesperson of Wendy's passed away last night from liver cancer. • I watched a biography about him once on A&E and he lead an interesting life. My favorite part was how he decided that paying sports heros and rock stars millions of dollars to sell burgers he …
thoughts on iMac and the future of the universe
Posted by on Monday, January 7, 2002 in - 24 comments
My thoughts, since I know you are all eagerly awaiting them, on the new iMac: • Design is ok - kinda dopey looking. I'll reserve final judgment until I've seen it in person. • Concept is good - those who watched the Keynote Address in shitty QuickTime video will notice how Jobs explained why …
The Bloggies
Posted by on Friday, January 4, 2002 - 6 comments
I am a traffic junkie. I came embarassingly close to nominating our own site for a weblog award. Somebody else go do it (there's a Canadian category).
volunteer work for Apple's marketing department
Posted by on Wednesday, January 2, 2002 in - 5 comments
I know I'm playing right into the hands to Apple's marketing people, but I can't help it - I find good marketing entertaining. I've criticized Apple fans on this site before (I'm suspicious of anyone who 'loves' a computer company, but maybe that's just a defense mechanism) but I don't criticize …