I went out last night to a roof top patio BBQ, courtesy of Invoke Media. I went along with Arieanna, Raul and Ianiv, and eventually we met up with Jenn for some good conversation. Invoke has a pretty cool office, complete with a nice view of the North Shore mountains.

Afterwards, we all headed over to Tanya’s new condo for some rock band. I arrived just in time to see Raul bust a beer bottle all over the floor, which happens to the best of us from time to time. I rocked the singing part of rock band by singing in the ever popular key of Duane-minor all night. Good times.

I actually was pretty beat last night, so I ended up bailing early and coming home. I don’t really have any plans for today, except for the ever-lingering desire to hit up a theatre and watch the Dark Knight. Arieanna and Ianiv and I might hit it later tonight. I also might try and hit the Apple store to drop my laptop off, although given that I might be heading to Serbia for a month, I’m not sure I can handle them taking my laptop off my hands right now.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. [JFK]

Today, nearly fifty years later, former vice president Al Gore took to the stage and asked Americans to join together with a new pledge, a ambitious goal that will ultimately better humanity. He has asked everyone to pledge to move to a 100% renewable energy system in the United States within ten years.

I’m proposing today a strategic initiative designed to free us from the crises that are holding us down and to regain control of our own destiny. It’s not the only thing we need to do. But this strategic challenge is the lynchpin of a bold new strategy needed to re-power America.

Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.

There are those who will undoubtedly think that such a goal is unattainable, or that the economic burden of such a feat will simply be too large. And yet history has shown us that when people band together with a collective goal, nearly any feat is possible.

While Kennedy didn’t live to see it, the United States made it to the moon, only eight years after his initial pledge. There were those who thought it wasn’t possible, or that the moon was a place we should not go. And yet everyone from that generation can tell you exactly where they were when Neil Armstrong touched down on the surface of the moon for the first time, and what it felt like to be an American that night.

Most people would be surprised to learn that alternative energy sources are already available, and within economic reach of most individuals. Ireland just launched a tidal generator that can power over 1000 homes using the power of the tides. Wind power already exists in many parts of the United States, especially along the windy corridor in the midwest. Solar power, which today costs around $5/watt, is expected to reach the coveted $1/watt range sometime in the next 18-24 months, making it as cost effective as fossil fuels, and obviously much cleaner.

To convert an average home to use solar energy would be around $20,000 today. In a few more years, that number will come down drastically, most likely being obtainable for around $5,000 or so. Considering most provinces and states already have government grants available for clean energy initiatives, the economic disadvantages of going green are disappearing rather quickly.

Gore’s right, the time to act is now. In less than ten years, the United States took the space program from virtually non-existent to an historic mission that put a few men on the moon. Given the advances in alternative energy that have occurred, and will occur in the next few years, I think what Al Gore is proposing is certainly obtainable, and like the moon mission, for the betterment of all humankind.

Anyways, here is a trailer for season 3 or Heroes. I hope Peter keeps his shirt on for more of it.

If I remember correctly, Feist snagged five awards at the Junos, which is as close to a landslide as you can really have at an event like that. I unfortunately didn’t get to meet her (she was rather popular that night), but I did get to hang out a few feet away from her and snap a few photos.

I was doing some reading in my RSS reader this morning and came across this cute video of Feist that was recently on Sesame Street over on my friend Kasia’s blog. I used to watch that show a lot as a kid (I’m sure most of us did), and I found myself smiling and counting with the video. So, considering this big kid likes it, I think lots of little ones will as well.

Not only is it a pretty catchy tune, but the video is actually pretty awesome from a technical perspective. You’ll notice that the entire two and a half minutes is essentially one video take. That’s tricky by anyone’s standards, more so given that she’s interacting with puppets throughout the entire piece.

Also, compare the Sesame street video with the video for 1234.

There are some obvious stylistic similarities between the two, which is actually kind of cool that they integrated a few concepts into the Sesame Street piece.

Now I have that song stuck in my head. Hopefully you will too!

To be honest, I wasn’t even really sure it was the power supply, but it seemed like a pretty reasonable guess. The good news is I replaced it in about 15 minutes, and as you can see, we’re up and running again.

Sorry for the little blip in the service there. If you haven’t filled out the survey in my previous post, make sure you head on over and make yourself eligible for a free Nintendo Wii. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night, so yours truly is going to curl up on the couch and have a nap.

So, if you’d like to potentially win a Nintendo Wii, I’d ask if you guys could please fill out a five minute survey.

If you’re just a regular person (i.e. not a business owner), please fill out this version.

If you’re a small to medium sized business owner, please fill out this one.

Also, please drop a quick comment if you filled it out. I’ll keep everyone up to date with the winner of the Wii(s) when it’s all over.

I originally went over with the intent to buy one case. However, it appears that one case wasn’t enough to qualify me for free shipping. Since I like free stuff, I decided to buy a few more things. Since I wasn’t sure if I’d like the first case, I bought a second one with a different style. Worst case, I’m sure somebody will probably take it off my hands in the near future. In addition, I tacked on a new iPhone 3G dock for my stereo so I can listen to music.

The case I plan to use is called the iPhone 3G Agent 18 EcoShield.

Here’s the blurb about it from the website:

EcoShield is made of a hard-plastic derived from recycled plastic bottles, even the package is made of recycled paper and easily recyclable plastic. And though the EcoShield is one of the thinnest cases around, it offers protection second to none. With interior pads to protect the iPhone 3G, this case is the perfect choice for life on the go. It also includes an Agent 18 dock adapter, so you can dock your iPhone in any Universal Docking device without taking it out of the case.

While the case looks cool, I was more impressed with the environmental considerations of the product.

The second is the Griffin Wave Case for the iPhone 3G. For this one, I picked white since I thought it would be a cool contrast against the black:

They probably won’t arrive for a few weeks, but I’m fairly certain I can hold out until then. Raul talked a bit more about the EcoShield in his latest post, so go check it out.

If you picked up an iPhone 3G and either have a case, or plan to get one, drop a comment here and let everyone know what you’re looking at.

Rogers received an incredible amount of negative publicity regarding their price plans, and was covered by most of the major news outlets (only those, of course, that weren’t owned by Rogers Communications). An online petition quickly formed that received over 50,000 signatures, all protesting the price gouging by Rogers. And thankfully, at nearly the 11th hour, Rogers caved in to pressure and decided to offer a 6GB/month data plan for $30/mo, which for all intents and purposes, is unlimited.

Understand that the iPhone is not a typical cell phone. If anything, it is a powerful internet device that just happens to have a phone on it. That is why having a reasonable data plan with the phone was absolutely necessary.

Shortly after Roger’s change of heart, I found myself in a line in front of the Rogers store on Davie street last Friday. Truthfully, I actually only swung by so I could grab a few photos of all the crazies standing in line for my Flickr account. But once I realized they actually had enough units for everyone in the line, I decided to join the party.

The iPhone launch that day was a worldwide debacle. Not only did Apple’s activation servers go offline for the better part of the day, but Roger’s entire computer backbone also fell down dead due to the sheer volume of people trying to activate their new iPhones. In addition, the free breakfast that Rogers promised everyone at their Broadway store in Vancouver turned out to be Presidents Choice drink boxes along with a bin of granola bars. Way to go all out for the launch, Rogers.

It only took me 45 minutes or so to get from the back of the line and into the store, but I spent another four and a half hours on a chair waiting for the computers to come back online long enough to activate my phone.

For those of you wondering about the specifics of the iPhone 3G, here they are. Rogers originally offered a few plans that started at $60/mo. These plans had very few airtime minutes for phone calls, and offered only a measly 400MB of data transfer a month. After their change of heart the other day, they decided that you could pick and choose any plan from their current repertoire (most of which are reasonable), and simply couple it with the $30/mo 6GB/mo data plan, which is basically what every single person in the line-up ended up doing.

The 6GB/mo data plan is only available up until August 31st, after which (presumably) it will disappear, leaving only the original (insufficient) data plans that Rogers originally offered. For those of you on existing Rogers plans, you should be able to simply add the $30/mo plan to your phone and keep your current telephone rates and packages. For new users, you can walk into a store and choose which plan and extras (voice mail, caller ID, etc). you want, and then add the data package to it. One thing I’d recommend is splurging the extra $4/month and getting the visual voice mail. Most voice mail systems work by having you call in to receive a message. The visual voice mail system on the iPhone actually just has an icon on the phone that shows when you have a voice mail. If you click it, you can see a full listing of every voice mail you have right on your iPhone, and simply click the desired entry to listen to a MP3 of the call. No more calling in to retrieve a message.

I’ve been using my iPhone 3G since Friday, and it’s truly an amazing device. It’s a strange thing to be able to access the internet from basically anywhere. I was at the beach the other day wondering if the tide was coming in or out. Instead of wondering, I simply fired up the iPhone and a did a quick Google search in Safari for the appropriate tide chart. Thirty seconds later I knew exactly when high and low tide would occur.

Also released at the same time is Apple’s new Mobile Me service. It effectively replaces the old .Mac service, and adds a host of features (Email, Calendar, Contacts, etc) similar to Google’s Gmail and Calendar offerings. The coolest part about it in my opinion is that it supports PUSH email. Most email systems (IMAP, POP, etc) all use polling to figure out when a new message arrives. For example, I have my iPhone configured to access my Gmail account. To determine whether or not I have a new message, my iPhone will access Gmail every 15 minutes and check. With Mobile Me, the service actually contacts your phone the moment a new message comes in. So you basically get new mail the very instant it’s sent to you. I tested this a few times, and it takes about three seconds from the time I click send in gmail until the time my iPhone chirps letting me know there’s a new Mobile Me message on it. In addition, Mobile Me will also synchronize your contacts and data between all your Apple computers and devices, using PUSH when it can.

There’s also built in GPS on the unit, so you can simply press a button to see exactly where you are using Google maps. It sure makes navigating a breeze. Once a few more applications are released, I wouldn’t be surprised if you can simply SMS your GPS coordinates to a friend, and have them magically show up for a beer at the bar you are at. No more having to explain to someone how to find you.

So, while it’s not the cheapest toy in the world, it really is a revolutionary device. I’ve only just scratched the surface with what it can do, but I think it’s a fairly good primer for those of you looking to get one. I picked one up on Friday, and Dale got his today. Hopefully Matt’s not far behind.

While on my road trip a few weeks ago, a few things suddenly stopped working, including the door lock switch on the driver’s side door, the CD player (it currently does a better job grinding CDs then it does playing them), and a small problem with my gear shifter. In addition, my car is about one year past the date I should have had a one year tune-up.

In terms of the last item, it’s a weird situation with my car. I have an extended warranty, which basically has provisions that I have to take care of my care if they are going to honor the warranty. The problem is that I rarely drive it, and so it seemed sort of silly to have a full one-year tune-up when there was only 6,000 kms on it. I have been fairly religious with changing the oil and doing tire rotations, but this will be the first major tune-up my car has received. It’s not cheap - $240, but since it’s done at Mazda it will all be in the computer should I ever need to make a claim for the extended part. In terms of the other smaller items, I was told they should all be under warranty, so that’s good.

On the way to the Mazda dealership, I actually briefly passed my friend Matt who was walking his dogs and showing off his new hat. Since the CD player was dead in my car, I was forced to listen to the radio, which has, since the last time I listened to it, seriously gone down-hill. First, there are hardly any real stations left in Vancouver it would appear. And second, most of them are completely flooded with advertising. I briefly did a stint with a satellite radio last year, and actually really liked it, but couldn’t justify to the money given that I rarely drive.

But seriously, I don’t know how people can handle normal radio anymore. I suspect mainstream radio is on it’s way out, probably to be replaced by another flux of smaller stations that actually, you know, spin records again.

One song that actually did play was “If I Had A Million Dollars”, by the Barenaked Ladies. The funny thing is that while listening to the song I actually sort of thought that a million dollars wasn’t really enough these days. Condos in this city are pushing the $500,000 price, and once your million dollars has been taxed, you’ll barely have enough to buy a condo. After that, you’ll still be working the rest of your life. No, I think that song needs a refresh, something on the order of “If I Had A Million iPhones”, or “If I Had A Couple Tanks Of Gas”.

Anyways, that’s it for my Monday update. Time to get to work.

My niece and nephew love coming over because there are always coins lying around my apartment, and it’s a fun game to find them. Despite my best efforts, I usually end up with change on counters and less frequently in my bed. One time I was taking a shower in the morning and heard a few “clangs”, only to look down and see a few pennies fall off my body — apparently I had slept with them and they got stuck to my body during the night. I rule.

Since I was running out of room to store my change, I decided I would simply cash them in. Only problem is the coin sorter I used to use at Safeway is no longer there. I did a quick Google and realized the only one left in the city (that I could find) was at the Burrard IGA downtown. Unfortunately, according to some forum posts, it recently went the way of the dodo as well.

Not knowing what else to do, I went down to Staples and spent $30 on a change sorter. I spent about 90 minutes the other night going through two piggy banks, and ended up with close to $300 in rolled coins. The things is, I really don’t know what to do with the rolls now.

In the old days you’d take them to a bank and they’d give you cash in return. Usually they want your account number so that if you’re short in any rolls they’ll simply take the difference out of your account. Unfortunately, I do all my banking online nowadays with PC Financial, and I don’t have access to any physical tellers.

So I’m pretty much stumped right now. I’ve been told sometimes you can take them to casinos and pretend like you won them on slots, but I’m not sure which casinos in the area still use coins. Anyone have any great ideas for what I should do?

First, being able to check your email or surf the web from any location is a pretty awesome feature. For example, today I was at the beach with some friends and we noticed that the tide was slowly creeping up the shore. I quickly fired up Safari, did a Google search for “Vancouver Tide Table”, and determined that high tide was in about two hours.

As most people know, the iPhone 2.0 firmware brings with it the iPhone application store. I’ve already purchased two applications, the premium Twitterific app and the Flickr app. The Twitterific app is a bit more polished, but the Flickr app is fully functional and will probably make life with Flickr that much easier.

One application that is notably missing is something to share your current location with your friends. The AGPS system in the iPhone works surprisingly well with the Google maps application, but I have yet to have it work well with anything else. I updated my location in Twitter today using the Twitterific application, only to realize that it was about 2 or 3 miles off when someone viewed the location from my Twitter profile. Ideally, I want a way to send my GPS coordinates to someone so they can find me. I was trying to tell John Biehler how to get to the beach we were at today, when I really should have been able to fire him off a URL of where I was and have him walk right up to me. Perhaps that functionality is buried in the iPhone somewhere, but I haven’t found it yet.

I was pretty worried with the battery life yesterday after I picked it up. It was 50% full when I purchased it, and I nearly ran it down to 0 by the time I got home. I gave it a full charge overnight, and was relieved when I got home tonight and it was still nearly full. So battery life seems to at least be good enough to do a full day or random calling and surfing.

One disappointing aspect is that the iPhone 3G doesn’t appear to work with my iPod dock. The current dock I have has worked for three generations of iPods (the original, the nano and the touch), so I was disappointed when I plugged it into my stereo dock as night only to be told by the iPhone that it wasn’t compatible. I can’t really imagine a scenario where Apple couldn’t make it work with the old dock if they wanted to (the pin configurations are the same), so I can only conclude that the purposefully broke it so people would be forced to buy new docks for the iPhone 3G.

I also signed up for a trial Mobile Me account tonight. Mobile Me is Apple’s new web-based service that can synchronize content between Mac devices in real-time. One nice thing about the Mobile Me service is that it operates off a PUSH delivery system, which means that it automatically sends data to all devices immediately after the data is changed. The opposite of that is a PULL system (often called polling or fetching), where each device periodically checks for updates, even if none exist. The PUSH system is obviously far more efficient, and ultimately uses less battery life (since no data is transferred when no updates are available). I have to say, it’s pretty cool seeing your iPhone chirp about 3 seconds after you send an email to your Mobile Me address. I also updated a pile of contacts on my Laptop to see what would happen on my iPhone. Without any intervention, the contacts on my iPhone automatically changed as well within about 15 seconds of finishing synchronizing them on my laptop. Pretty cool.

Unfortunately, the Mobile Me website seems borked right now, and it won’t let me log in using my credentials. Until then, I won’t be able to see how it compares against Google’s suite of products.

In terms of data usage, it would seem I haven’t used all that much. In the 36 hours or so that I’ve had the device, I’ve only used 40MB worth of data. I would consider myself in the “power user” category, and I’m actually a bit surprised that it’s so low. I imagine once I start uploading photos routinely it will climb, but at my current rate I’ll barely hit 1GB worth of data this month.

One thing I have noticed however is that the user interface seems a bit sluggist on the iPhone 3G compared to my iPod touch. I played around with John Biehler’s device today, and although it seemed slightly snappier, you can see a slight delay when bouncing between contacts or adding new ones. I’ve been told that the original iPhone firmwares also had speed issues, and slowly improved with each iteration. So hopefully the next version of the 3G firmware will make the UI a bit peppier.

All in all, I’m extremely happy with my purchase, and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a mobile computing device. Surprisingly, I haven’t really made that many calls with it since I’ve gotten it. In fact, I consider the ability to surf and interact wirelessly over 3G the device’s main selling point.

** Update - Also, the iPhone 3G doesn’t appear to support the 802.11n. That’s pretty disappointing considering every Mac product in my house is using it, including my new Airport base station. The only way I can make my iPod touch work with it is to reconfigure my router to do a+b as well as n, but that means I can’t use the 802.11n in wide mode. Maybe I’ll bridge my router at home with another 802.11b router I have, but that’s a huge pain in the ass. I’m really surprised 802.11n isn’t supported on the iPhone 3G.

I actually ended up at a hold-in-the-wall Rogers store, which was great because there wasn’t a huge line-up. Ironically, I ended up right behind my plastic surgeon in line, which was actually pretty cool because I got to spend 90 minutes just chatting with him and getting to know him.

They had 14 units at the store I went to, and only 4 at the Yaletown Rogers store. I heard that the fools at the Broadway store waited in a line 100 deep for hours on end and most of them didn’t even get iPhones. After spending most of the day there, I managed to walk out around 2pm with a brand new 3G iPhone in my hand.

Having a full data plan makes all the difference. I’ve had an iPod Touch for six months now, and I’m fairly used to how to use the device. But when you couple the technology with a full data plan, it’s an entirely different experience. In fact, I’m fairly certain I’m going to die by being hit by a bus or by being run over by a backhoe, since I spent all day walking down the road without watching where I was going.

It’s pretty cool, and I’m totally having a lot of fun playing with it.

As most of you know, I’ve been pretty harsh (justifiable so) against their iPhone rate plans. The last entry I posted basically said that if Rogers didn’t cave before Friday, they were going to seriously hurt their credibility, not just amongst their wireless users, but also for the hoards of people that were exposed to the negative press.

The good news is that Rogers finally caved and offered a decent data plan for $30/mo. When coupled with a normal Roger’s voice plan, that’ll bring the monthly cost of a new iPhone down from around $100 to more like $60, which is in line with what my old cell phone used to cost me.

So, while my intention is to hold off a few weeks before making a decision, I think I may meander past the Roger’s store that’s just a few blocks away and see what the action is like this morning. I imagine there will be lines and a lack of stock, so I don’t think I’m in any danger of getting a phone today.

But if you managed to get yourself one, drop me a line.

The one thing I really wanted to accomplish with this theme is to have a central spot that details everything about me. Most of that information was available in my last theme, but it was buried deep and hard to get to. Now, I have a special home page available at duanestorey.com which has my contact information, Flickr photos, press quotations, blog links, and a listing of the events I’ve recently covered. I actually am really happy with the end result. In addition, we made sure that the theme properly validated against W3C standards during the process.

A few pages are still a bit bare, and I’ll fill them in slowly over the weekend. But the theme is basically done. So enjoy, and let me know what you think!

I called the secretary to confirm my appointment today, and to make sure she requested all my CT scans and MRI data before hand so I don’t waste a trip for nothing. So sometime in late September I’ll finally get a second opinion about my injury and potentially have another round of surgery.

Good. Fucking. Times.

You know, I have about $7000 worth of camera equipment. That represents a large portion of my disposable income and is something I buy because I enjoy photography. I put most of my images on Flickr so that others can use them in blog entries or whatever. The only constraint I have is that I ask that people respect the Creative Commons license on the photos and not use them for commercial purposes.

I probably send one or two emails a month to websites that are in clear violation of the CC license for my photos. I received a Flickr email from Jay over at JayBanks.ca a while ago saying that he used some of my Flickr photos in his gallery and asked me to take a look. Given that his website is obviously targeted towards selling real-estate, I politely asked him to take them down. He then argued that that particular portion of his website wasn’t commercial, even though the rest of the website was. I obviously disagreed.

The last email I got from Jay a few weeks ago said the following:

Hi Duane,

Thanks for writing. We are very careful to only use Creative Commons photos.

We are not actually using your photo commercially, as the photo section on JayBanks.ca is not commercial. We do not buy or sell photos in any way for profit. We are only using the photo on its own in the photo section and not as an illustration for any article. And in line with your wishes and with your license, we will keep it that way.

We are thinking about doing a book of Vancouver photos - also non-commercial but with copies going to contributors - but before proceeding with that project, we will asking for permission as well as print quality files.

We are about to improve our attribution with links (we have to upgrade the CMS to do so), so there will be a link back to your flickr account for people who want to see more of your photography.

If you have any suggestions on how to improve our photo section for other flickr CC sharers please let us know. We are working actively to make things better.

It was fairly clear I did not want my image used on his site, and that I believed it violated the CC license.

I received another email from Jay yesterday that said the following:

In the meantime, I have added a direct link back to your Flickr photostream from the image. I will be honest with you: I wouldn’t want to remove this great shot from this strictly non-commercial part of my website. It’s just too beautiful to get rid of.
But of course I don’t want to upset you, so if you insist I remove it, I’ll do so.
But please check it out once again with the CC link and let me know.

I made it pretty clear I wanted it taken down a few weeks ago. I headed over to Jay’s website this morning to take another look, and low and behold, what do I find on the front page?

You know, it sure looks a hell of a lot like one that I took last year:

It’s one thing to argue that a portion of your website is non-commercial while the main site is commercial, but advertising a photo contest on the main page of a commercial website is obviously intended to generate traffic for the commercial portion.

I tried to resolve this in back channels, even though I feel I shouldn’t have to waste my time on it. But to be honest, I’m tired of people thinking they can just lift whatever image they want. In terms of the one on the front page, there’s no attribution, it’s on a commercial site, and I believe I don’t allow derivative works. Plus, there are various “Images Copyright By Jay” text blurbs on the main page where it’s hard to tell which images they appear to apply to. Clearly I still hold the copyright to my own images. And in fact, if you use a CC licensed photo and do a derivative work, you have to keep the same CC license as the original.

Why is it that people feel that can just disregard the license on photos whenever they see fit? What makes it worse is I’ve already asked that they be taken down. I’m seriously considering switching all my photos to “All Rights Reserved” at this point. I’m tired of dealing with stuff like this.

As you can tell, today is my brother-in-law, Andie’s, birthday. Andie started dating my sister when I was 14 or 15, and he’s been an integral part of the family ever since. I’m proud to call him my brother-in-law.

Happy Birthday Bud.

That photo is one of my favourites of my niece. It was probably taken when she was only 5 years old or so, but it was one of the first times I got to spend alone with her (I had been living out in Ottawa for a few years prior to that). I had told my sister that I was going to go to Burger King and get myself something to eat. Jessica came up to me, grabbed my hand, and asked me if she could come along. What uncle could refuse?

I caught her outside not long after, a jar full of bees in one hand, a flower in the other, and managed to snap this photo of her. It is a shot that always makes me smile, and somehow reminds me of the type of person she is.

I recently spent a few days hanging out with her down at Disneyland, and it was great to finally have some more time with her. Every time I see her she is that much bigger, and that much more of a little lady. So on this, your tenth birthday, I wish you an amazing day. And know that your uncle loves you very much!

Happy birthday kiddo.

Man, I can’t believe they are seriously pushing that. Yes, overweight kids probably have high cholesterol, but let’s focus on a solution, not a patch. Most people would probably be surprised to know that the whole science of cholesterol is pretty weak. Lots of people live their whole lives with high cholesterol and never experience any problems, and some people with low cholesterol can be in danger for a heart attack. In fact, the whole science of cholesterol (LDL, HDL, triglycerides, etc.) is so over-simplified that it’s basically useless as a mainstream medical concept.

For example, some forms of LDL (the BAD cholesterol), aren’t that bad for you, and only a very specific kind, known as VLDL (very low density lipoprotein), actually contributes to heart disease. This form typically only manifests itself on diets high in sugar, which usually coincides with high triglycerides (which when used in conjunction with a low HDL reading can be used as a warning sign for insulin resistance, also known as metabolic syndrome, syndrome-X or hyperinsulinemia).

Most people are surprised to learn that 2/3 of the fat in a typical steak will actually improve your cholesterol profile, while only 1/3 will make it worse. Yet dated nutrionalists still insist that the only way to lower cholesterol is basically to remove fat from the diet and eat lots of vegetables. And while the latter is obviously ok, fat is needed in a healthy diet, and many european diets are heavy (by western standards) with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, both of which typically lead to improved health.

Truthfully, most people overmedicate themselves. This is probably due to pressure from drug companies trying to make a profit, or maybe the erosion of will in doctors who, despite giving good advice for most of their careers, have been disheartened by the lack of improvements in the general population. In this case, I think giving cholesterol fighting drugs to kids is an amazingly bad idea since it doesn’t address the problem, but instead attempts to apply a dirty band-aid to it. In addition. cholesterol fighting drugs are relatively new, and I don’t think the safety profile is well-established enough to recommend giving it to anyone who isn’t in imminent danger of having a heart attack.

The thing is, it really doesn’t matter if the rumour is true (and in my mind, I doubt it is — it’s more likely in my mind that they have general manufacturing problems and can’t meet the demand) - either way, it’s a huge PR nightmare for Rogers. There was one site earlier that posted the rumor, and already I’ve found four or five that are regurgitating it, and adding their own spin on it. By tomorrow, that rumour will basically be fact, and will have propagated to Digg and all the other big tech sites.

As it stands, that petition at ruinediphone.com is well on it’s way to hitting 50,000 signatures by tomorrow. Based on the rate it was going at last week, that represents and increase in consumer momentum, not a decrease.

The question is, are all these people who are complaining still going to go out and buy an iPhone anyways on Friday? My gut tells me no. I think people are genuinely pissed off, and I think they are going to stick it to Rogers on Friday when the iPhone hits the shelves.

There’s really only one way to play this in my mind — Roger’s needs to cave before Friday. The negative press is just going to get worse before then, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this current rumour starts a whole new media storm against Rogers.

The first and obvious option for Rogers would be to quickly add an unlimited data plan to the mix. That would make most of the complainers (myself included) happy. And while the voice plans would still suck compared to the AT&T ones, I think most people would grudgingly go along with them.

The other option would be to reduce the contract length to two years instead of three. This actually might be the safer play for Rogers, since it wouldn’t require them backing down from their archaic data-plan rhetoric about how people don’t actually need unlimited. I think it would be enough to push some of the complainers back into the purchasing line.

If Rogers doesn’t cave, and the sales end up being dismal, I think it will be a huge blow against Rogers management and the public perception of the company. Before this, Rogers wasn’t very well liked in the wireless space. Now they aren’t very well-liked at all, both here and in the United States, thanks primarily to the extensive coverage this incident has gotten. That’s why I think it’s important that Rogers admit defeat, apologize for the misstep they took, and offer a better plan before Friday. If they do that, it’s basically a win-win. Sure, they’ll look a bit stupid, but far better than to continue down the path they are on and force a lose-lose.

• Apple Reducing iPhone 3G Shipments to Canada Due to Bad Rogers Plans
• Apple allegedly sanctioning Rogers for iPhone rates
• Apple
  sanctioning Rogers, diverting iPhones away?
• Rumor: Rogers Gets Pounded By Apple With Fewer iPhone 3G Shipments

Golden Gate Bridge, taken during my trip

It was great getting to hang out with my sister, brother-in-law, and their two kids down in Disneyland. Despite only being an hour and a bit away, I don’t get a chance to head home that often. Plus, I haven’t really spent much time with my niece and nephew (although I was there in Chilliwack Hospital when my niece popped out), so it was a good bonding experience with both of them.

I gave up caffeine again a few days ago, and already I feel a ton better. To be quite honest, most of the time I find that I lack the motivation to really get out and do anything. Most of the reason is that I rarely get a good night’s sleep, and typically feel perpetually tired I’m not sure if it’s because I just took two weeks off, or if it’s because my body is now caffeine free, but I feel amazingly better and more upbeat. In fact, the last two days I’ve actually gotten up naturally at 8:30am or so, and spent the day bouncing around, even doing a pile of chores I’ve been meaning to do for, oh let’s see, the last year or so.

Camping Near Seattle

Yesterday I spent two hours and completely overhauled my car. It basically looks as good as new now (ignoring, of course, the huge dent in my back door that still needs to be fixed). The inside still smells a bit like camping, but once I vacuum the carpets I’m fairly certain it will be as good as new inside as well. I also picked up some tupperware for the trunk so that I can store all my camping stuff in it and easily pull it out when it’s not in use.

Matt @ The Orpheum

This morning I got a call from Jeff, and he asked if I wanted to head down with him and his daughter to Macdonald Beach Park for a few hours. It was directly beside the airport, and was a really nice spot to chill out and let his dog run up and down the beach.

Afterwards, I swung by the new Home Depot on Cambie and picked up a wall shelving-unit for my room so that I’ll finally have somewhere to pile all my clothes. I have, embarrassingly enough, been without a dresser ever since I moved into this place, and subsequently have been forced to pile some of my clothes on my bedroom floor. While this is only marginally better, it’ll be nice to have everything organized again, and will make it unlikely that bacon can successfully hide in my room in the future.

Tomorrow I head back into work. I’m just finishing up a pile of laundry and then I’m going to hit the hay. I’m going to try and get myself back on a morning schedule, since I’d like to be home in time to cook myself dinner for the next little while. Also, there’s a chance that I’ll be heading to Serbia in the next week or two to help with a project out there. If I go, I’ll be gone for four weeks or so. It’s nowhere near for sure yet, but if it does happen, I think it’ll be a really great experience, and I’ll get to see some of Europe I’ve never seen before.

Anyways, thus ends my vacation. The next one will probably be in the fall or early winter.

Given that it’s supposed to be a nice, sunny day on Thursday, it makes sense that we should probably shoot for a patio. To that end, there’s a little pub with a fun, rooftop patio about a block away from the venue called the Kingston Taphouse And Grill. So, unless there are any objections, I’m going to propose people meet there around 6:00pm for a social beverage or two and some appetizers before the show starts. Doors open at 7:30pm according to Ticketmaster, so that gives everyone a little over an hour or so to mingle and get to know each other.

The address of the Kingston is 755 Richards Street, and a map to it can be found here (it also shows the Orpheum). If you plan on swinging by, please drop a comment so I can get a rough idea of who is going to show up. I’m not sure if they take reservations, but I’ll see if I can sweet talk my way into getting a few tables on the patio.

I’m sort of well known amongst my friends for my nacho making/eating ability, and out of all the places I’ve been on my lifelong nacho quest, the Kingston scores near the top. So if you’re going, I highly recommend sampling some of them.

Also, if you see Dan Lilly and his wife out at the meet-up, make sure you congratulate them on their anniversary, which I believe they are celebrating that night.

**Update - Just to be clear, this is just a gathering of friends, fans, and members from the website — Matt will not be showing up at the Kingston, as he will undoubtedly have his hands full down at the Orpheum preparing for the show.

Since it is a such a nice day, I thought I’d contribute a relatively meaningless post this morning. Given that many of the authors on this site (ok, just Dale and Matt - although rumour has it Roy has a Mac in his closet somewhere) are huge Mac enthusiasts, I thought the topic of this post might as well be Apple. As most of you in Vancouver now know, Apple unveiled their new store in Pacific Center mall downtown last week.

I’m not one for long line ups in my old age (in fact, the last real line-up I probably waited in was to get into Return Of The King at a midnight premiere when it came out), so I purposefully skipped out on the opening festivities.

I stopped by yesterday quickly at lunch hour to see what all the fuss was about. Having been to the Apple store in New York City, San Francisco and Toronto, I can say that the Vancouver one is fairly plain and typical. That being said, there’s a definite electricity in the air when you walk towards the entrance, upstairs near the new H & M that just opened as well.

The best part about the store is that every employee I talked to was absolutely thrilled that they were working there. And not just that — they were all extremely knowledgeable people. I had random chats about Photoshop, Garageband, the Apple Air, and everything else I could think of, and the responses I got from the employees showed that they were all serious Mac power users.

In other Apple news, the 3G iPhone is rumoured to be released sometime on or about June 9th, the day when Steve Jobs gives his big speech down in California. I’ve already started weening myself off of Bell Mobility’s system, and am hoping to snag one of the new phones when they are released. The real question though on many minds up here is just how good (or bad) the new Rogers data rates are going to be. The iPhone is essentially just an iPod touch without the use of a good data plan, so it’s really up to Rogers (here in BC) to step up and hit one towards the fences. Given that the CRTC opened up some more of the wireless spectrum last week for competitors, I’m hoping Rogers does the right thing and gives a plan that’s competitive to AT&T in the United States.

Also, given how much fun everyone seemed to have in Toronto, I can absolutely say I’m looking forward to when the tour bus rolls up to the Orpheum in Vancouver here in just a few weeks. I haven’t seen Matt play with a band since probably around 2001, so it’s going to be alot of fun. Maybe when it gets closer to the event we can do a quick Vancouver meet and greet somewhere near the venue.

** Photos by KatKam WebCam and John Biehler

That changed a few years ago when the border agents were given the ability to search your laptop for child pornography. And while I think the end goal (cracking down on pedophiles) is a good one, I have to say that I’m against the current method of blindly searching through digital content.

Luckily I’ve never been searched at the border, which is rather strange given that I actually do a fair bit of traveling with my current job. My friend Jason however got searched in the Ottawa airport last time he landed there, and was forced to sit in a chair and watch as a security person went through every file on his computer. He was even forced to give up his personal passwords for any content that was protected.

In the last few days some documents have leaked out here in Canada about some secret (and extremely alarming) negotiations going on in the area of copyright:

The federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws which could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers or other personal electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the difficulty of travelling with such devices.

The deal could also impose strict regulations on Internet service providers, forcing those companies to hand over customer information without a court order.

Called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the new plan would see Canada join other countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.

The agreement is being structured much like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) except it will create rules and regulations regarding private copying and copyright laws.

Federal trade agreements do not require parliamentary approval.

The deal would create a international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police. The security officials would be charged with checking laptops, iPods and even cellular phones for content that “infringes” on copyright laws, such as ripped CDs and movies.

The guards would also be responsible for determining what is infringing content and what is not.

The agreement proposes any content that may have been copied from a DVD or digital video recorder would be open for scrutiny by officials - even if the content was copied legally.

“If Hollywood could order intellectual property laws for Christmas what would they look like? This is pretty close,” said David Fewer, staff counsel at the University of Ottawa’s Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. “The process on ACTA so far has been cloak and dagger. This certainly raises concerns.”

The leaked ACTA document states officials should be given the “authority to take action against infringers (i.e., authority to act without complaint by rights holders).”

Anyone found with infringing content in their possession would be open to a fine.

They may also have their device confiscated or destroyed, according to the four-page document.

The trade agreement includes “civil enforcement” measures which give security personnel the “authority to order ex parte searches” (without a lawyer present) “and other preliminary measures”.

In Canada, border guards already perform random searches of laptops at airports to check for child pornography. ACTA would expand the role of those guards.

On top of these enforcement efforts, ACTA also proposes imposing new sanctions on Internet service providers. It would force them to hand over personal information pertaining to “claimed infringement” or “alleged infringers” - users who may be transmitting or sharing copyrighted content over the Internet.

Currently, rights holders must collect evidence to prove someone is sharing copyrighted material over the Internet. That evidence is then presented to a judge who issues a court order telling the Internet service provider to identify the customer.

….

Fewer expressed concerns about the part of the proposal that calls for ACTA to operate outside of accepted international forums such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the United Nations.

In the discussion paper, it is proposed ACTA create its own governing body and be overseen by a committee made up of representatives from member nations.

“This initiative is unprecedented,” he said.

There are so many alarming things there, I’m not even sure what to focus on. Even the courts these days have a hard time determining what constitutes copyright infringement with regards to digital content, and yet the government now wants to give border agents the ability to make that determination on their own? Forcing ISPs to pass over personal information just on suspicion of copyright infringement? So much for privacy and due process I guess.

Let’s hope this measure doesn’t get passed. If it does, it would be a monumental step backwards for Canadians, and bring us that much closer to a police state.

Today Facebook announced that they will be implementing over 40 safeguards to help protect its users from sexual predators and online cyberbullying:

Facebook, the world’s second-largest social networking Web site, will add more than 40 safeguards to protect young users from sexual predators and cyberbullies, attorneys general from several states said Thursday.

Facebook and officials in 49 states and the District of Columbia agree to safeguards to protect young users.

The changes include banning convicted sex offenders from the site, limiting older users’ ability to search online for subscribers under 18 and building a task force seeking ways to better verify users’ ages and identities.

“The agreement marks another watershed step toward social networking safety, protecting kids from online predators and inappropriate content,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who announced the agreement Thursday with his counterparts in several other states.

Obviously I think that’s a huge step forward for the internet, especially since both Facebook and MySpace have agreed to adopt the guidelines set out in the agreement. And while it’s impossible to protect everyone from harm on these networks, I definitely think it’s a move in the right direction.

An American tourist was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.

Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The tourist complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “Only a little while.”

The tourist then asked, “Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”

The Mexican said, “With this I have more than enough to support my family’s needs.”

The tourist then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”

The tourist scoffed, ” I can help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You could leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you could run your ever-expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

The tourist replied, “15 to 20 years.”

“But what then?” asked the Mexican.

The tourist laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions?…Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”