Categories
Music

"We Know You’re Innocent"

Britney Spears might say she’s not that innocent, but some fans of Michael Jackson have put together a song that PROVES he was set-up. Ok it doesn’t really prove anything but a fun game when you are listening to the song is to try and figure out whether this is parody or not.

Categories
Health

Woman’s Skin Falls Off But She Miraculously Lives

A San Diego woman loses all of her body’s skin due to a rare drug allergy and lives to tell the tale.

Categories
copyright law

Micro$oft Picks Fight with Mike Rowe

The Software giant is mad because Mike Rowe’s new website http://www.mikerowesoft.com sounds a lot like Microsoft.com. Well boo-hoo. They offered him $10 to buy the domain from him. He said he’d like $10,000 and after they realized their scare tactics weren’t working it sounds like they might actually back off, from ZDnet, “We take our trademarks seriously, but in this case maybe a little too seriously. It’s important to recognize that under the law companies are required to take this type of action to protect their trademark against widespread infringement. But that said, we appreciate that Mike Rowe is a young entrepreneur who came up with a creative domain name. We’re currently in the process of resolving this matter in a way that will be fair to him and satisfy our obligations under trademark law.”

Categories
physics

NASA Altering the true colours Mars Photos Update

It turns out NASA is not Photoshopping pictures of mars, but that, “The answer is that the color chips on the sundial have different colors in the near-infrared range of Pancam filters.”

Categories
Miscellaneous

Jeff Milner Movie Review – Big Fish

During my trip to Medicine Hat a couple weeks ago, I saw Big Fish at the Cineplex Odeon. I must admit that the hype building up to its release raised expectations and therefore, in reality, the movie didn’t live up to the great movie I anticipated. Tim Burton was heavy on style and light on character development. The main problem of the story was that the main character, the father who tells tall tales, had nothing to overcome in the movie. Instead it was his son, who by definition was the protagonist, that had the problem to overcome. The movie just didn’t have that much impact on me, because the son’s obstacle – or the antagonistic part of the movie – was just learning to understand his father. That being said, the second half of the movie (or even last quarter) did a lot in the way of redeeming the movie because finally the protagonist was featured and (spoiler alert – like you didn’t already know) the son in fact reconciles with his father and consequently comes to understand him.

Tim Burton makes lovely films – and Big Fish is no exception. Even though I saw the film and was somewhat disspointed, everytime I see the ads I can’t help but feel like I want to see it again. It’s doing well at the box office and I’m certain that Big Fish will have a tremendous cult following much like Tim Burtons other films. So if you’re tempted to go (I don’t blame you) take my advice not to sea the movie in theatres, instead get the reel deal by saving your money and catching Big Fish on DVD.

Categories
movie

CNN.com – An eccentric man addresses hard truths – Jan. 13, 2004

CNN’s report on Tim Burton and his new movie, “Big Fish“.

Categories
space

Evidence that NASA is altering the true colors of the pictures of Mars

Investigation shows (google cache) that there are several indications that the NASA is tampering with the colours of the Mars Photo’s and changing them from a mildly red but Earth-like environment into a dark red Sci-Fi looking environment.

These links are DEAD. I tried looking at archive.org for a copy but there is nothing.

Categories
Science

Nano Techonology Update

I came across a story in Wired this evening about the World’s Best Preforming Microscope. “The SuperSTEM microscope at Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, England, is so sensitive that it requires a special building capable of protecting it from the vibrations caused by raindrops. Its resolution is so sharp that researchers can count atoms on its images.”

Categories
Miscellaneous

This Will Blow Traditional Phone Companies Out of the Water

Cheapest Long Distance Service EVER, made possible by converting sound into digital data and sending the information over the internet. They’ve been talking about this forever but now it’s a reality. I’ll be cancelling my phone service with Telus very soon. You should too.

Update: Vonage Canada is coming soon — not available like I previously thought. Well, I’m ready when they are.

Categories
Miscellaneous

Bookstore Woes Again This Year

I went into the bookstore this morning to take my semi-annual gouging. While browsing the new media books to find the required purchases I noticed a book titled The Animator’s Survival Kit. I own this book. I paid $42 + tax at the local Chapters Bookstore. The bookstore was selling the same title and edition for $80 new and $60 used (of course they didn’t have any used copies). What is even more bizarre is that they had price tags on the back of them for $42. So they mark-up their books right? It’s a free market, why not? Right? Well maybe so, but they have the nerve to display a giant poster explaining why books are so expensive and where percentages of the cost go…. 75% to publishers and the rest of the 25% broken up between the University, the Student Union, the Bookstore, ect. Well even if the bookstore ordered the books through Chapters and got the same selling price as was available the general public (and it’s unlikely they would not get a discount) the most they should possibly have raised the price to would be about $56. That’s $4 less than the price they would sell a used copy for. Sick.