Fräulein Ravenwood, let me show you what I am used to...

Are Google and Microsoft fighting over that creepy guy from Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Initial Quality Study

I previously posted a link to the 2005 JD Power Vehicle Dependency Study which looked at problems for owners of 2002 vehicles. Now here's their 2005 initial quality study which looks at newest cars: J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study One thing that's nice to see is that the industry as a whole is making great progress. It's also interesting how the differences between brands aren't that great. Some brands, like the German lux makers, did a lot better in this one than the long-term test. Others are similar like Lexus at the top, and, unfortunately, VW near the bottom.

File sharing is good for the music industry

But they're to stubborn and short-sighted to accept it. Michael Geist's latest post has some details: More Music Industry Myths Exposed

The UK study finds that music file sharers buy nearly five times more music from services such as iTunes than do non-file sharers.

Ford more reliable than VW... Audi... Volvo?

J.D. Power and Associates Vehicle Dependability Study Looks like some reputations, like domestic cars being unreliable, are unfounded. And some reputations, like Honda & Toyota being very reliable, are true. And I know someone named Power wouldn't lie to me. Kind of makes me rethink my desire for an Audi (reinforced by my recent $850 service bill on my '99 Jetta). I'm more interested now in that new Ford Fusion coming this fall. From the looks of it, it might capture more of what I like about the Jetta than the new Jetta does (and for $less)

James Doohan 1920 - 2005

The Canadian who played Scotty died today. Because of this I checked out his bio and learned he was a WWII Veteran with the Royal Canadian Artillery, was in the D-Day landing, and was shot 6 times.
Also:

He was given an honorary Degree in Engineering by the Milwaukee School of Engineering where apparently half of the students polled said they were inspired to study engineering by his role in "Star Trek" (1966)

A quite popular phrase to describe the feeling of wanting to be out of a bad situation is "Beam me up, Scotty." This phrase, by the way, was never actually said on the show.

So the US military has a pain gun?

MSNBC: Scientists worry about Pentagon'’s new ray gun

The magazine said a vehicle-mounted version of the weapon named Sheriff was scheduled for service in Iraq in 2006, and that U.S. Marines and police were both working on portable versions.

Yikes. Still, I guess even a bad sunburn is better than a mild gunshot wound...

All things considered, I guess it's not so bad

But right now we're dealing with a little (huge) canine flatulence issue. Jenka! I'm not sure what to do, we're following all the advice we can find. Her food is mostly meat protein, she gets regular exercise. I do know this, it would be a bit more tolerable if she didn't wag that bushy tail around after. It may be the worst smell I've encountered in my life.

Darren can Darren can, climb whatever a spider can

Last night at the Stronghold I tried a 5.11 (more fun definition here) so crimpy I couldn't even get past the second hold. I told my climbing mentor Darren if he could clean it (no takes, no cheats) I'd put him in my blog today. He did it so I've done it. Officially I blame my poor showing on the ankle twist I received following him down EOR.

I replaced the hard drive in my iPod Mini

All right! My iPod is back. I knew after the last big drop onto the kitchen tile that something was wrong. Shortly after it started making "bad hard drive noises" and then would only show an error. The updater said it could not be mounted. It was dead. Following this guide I took it apart and removed the hard drive. Since it's a regular compact flash microdrive I tried accessing it directly using a card reader. No luck. So I bought a replacement hard drive on eBay and just installed it tonight. :)

Open source OS/2

Wouldn't that be cool? No? Well it would at least be mildly interesting: OS2 World.Com Petition. I signed that petition just now whilst still in pain from twisting my ankle coming down East Mt. Rundle yesterday. At least it is was another amazing Family Guy last night. One of the best ever I think.

Kobe Beef

We had our staff BBQ yesterday. The steaks were Kobe beef produced under license in Alberta by Premium Cut Ranch Direct. Best steak I've ever had. Afterwards we played what might be North America's fastest growing "sport", Texas Holdem.