The Shining

A remix trailer of the 1980 classic.

Governor General

So we swore in our new Governor general. I guess she's "like the coolest GG ever" or something. Here's my quote on the whole thing:

The office of the Governor General is the image of government financial waste and self-satisfaction.

From Banff

I'm in a conference room and day two of Creative CANUX is about to begin. The Banff Centre is a really neat place and this is definitely my kind of conference. This morning's topic: Customer Research for Design. Thanks to various government sponsors, this 4 day conference was a great deal. 3 nights accommodation, all the meals, and 3.5 full days of conference for just $370.

New Nintendo controller

1up.com: Revolution Controller Finally Revealed.

Nintendo mentioned the button names and their exact sizes could still change slightly before production, but what you see here is close to the final design.

Katrina quotes

Political humor: Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina. Sad because it's true. Some of my favorites:

"Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX), to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston

"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA) to lobbyists

"Louisiana is a city that is largely under water." Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff

"I also want to encourage anybody who was affected by Hurricane Corina to make sure their children are in school." First Lady Laura Bush, twice referring to a "Hurricane Corina"

"I don't want to alarm everybody that, you know, New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That's just not happening." -Bill Lokey, FEMA's New Orleans coordinator, in a press briefing from Baton Rouge, Aug. 30, 2005

"This is the largest disaster in the history of the United States, over an area twice the size of Europe." Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)

Also, Late-Night Jokes About the Botched Response to Hurricane Katrina

And to Senator Stevens, Europe is a million square kilometers bigger than the US.

Family guy postpones season premier

No! Post Katrina: 'Family Guy' Bumped, 'Invasion' Stays Put

Apprentice 4 candidates

The Donald is promising we'll have better contestants this year. I hope so, last year's were all immature idiots. There wasn't a single one worth cheering for. And yes, I am aware this show is more a "game" than "reality", but I like it anyway. Besides, I may need something to watch in between Family Guy and Arrested Development episodes.

The censoring of Dilbert

Dilbert.com, Sep. 6, 2005

The Globe and Mail, Sep. 6, 2005

I read the latest Dilbert every day from the official website. I also sometimes read the Globe and Mail delivered to our office. On Monday I see the Dilbert comic I just read, but slightly different. Did the newspaper censor it because it's a newspaper? Because it's a Canadian newspaper? Who else shows this watered-down Dilbert? If this was more important and I was less lazy, I'd look into it.

I do know one thing; a dolphin fin-deep in a lawyer's tailpipe doesn't offend me, but an unfunny punch line like "Ooh, that's one ugly snout wound" sure does.

The flaw of popular security

Terrorists Don't Do Movie Plots. Bruce Schneier really hits the nail on the head with this little editorial.

And anyone in charge of security knows that he'll be judged in hindsight. If the next terrorist attack targets a chemical plant, we'll demand to know why more wasn't done to protect chemical plants. If it targets schoolchildren, we'll demand to know why that threat was ignored. We won't accept "we didn't know the target" as an answer. Defending particular targets protects reputations and careers.

A possible heir to the keyboard throne

Like many others, I swear by the Microsoft "Natural Keyboard Pro" introduced in 1999. A few years ago Microsoft stopped selling it in favor of its two replacements. The "Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite" with its viciously unholy key arrangement and the "Microsoft Natural MultiMedia Keyboard" with its mildly unholy key arrangement and PS2 only (!) are critically flawed to the point of being unusable. Well, we can probably all stop hoarding the remaining Pros (it was our company that bought the last few in Calgary, BTW): Behold, the "Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000"

It just better be built as solid as the Natural Pro.

New Orleans tragedy

This is such a horrible situation. It's so frustrating that this was predicted years ago.

They Knew What to Expect

In comments on Thursday, President Bush said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." But LSU engineer Joseph Suhayda and others have warned for years that defenses could fail. [.....] predicted that 200,000 people or more would be unwilling or unable to heed evacuation orders and thousands would die, that people would be housed in the Superdome, that aid workers would find it difficult to gain access to the city as roads became impassable, as well as many other of the consequences that actually unfolded after Katrina hit this week.

I don't know what's harder to watch, the looting (including by cops) or the politicians:

The big disconnect on New Orleans

"I've had no reports of unrest" - Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response.

New Orleans photos

Before and after Hurricane Katrina

• Satellite Imagery of New Orleans
• Hurricane Katrina Flood Graphics