Okay, I just got back from seeing "Serenity". If you don't know, it's the movie that's based upon the short lived sci-fi series Firefly. It was an incredible movie that was both 500 years in the future and 150 years in the past. It combined both space ships and horses.

What can I say about the movie, without being a spoiler. It's this. Go see it now. That's it. Well, what are you waiting for, get going. Get your coat ( and it better be brown) and get out to the shindig.

It is amazing, intense, funny, sad, amazing and amazing. I know I said it twice, it's that good. You can go to the official movie site and read more.

Besides being an incredible movie, one that simply leaves the "big" sci-fi movies like War of the Worlds and Star Wars 3 in the dust. It also proves one other thing and that is, the Fox Television network is run by idiots.

Top 50 Science Fiction Television Shows of All Time - Boston.com

An interesting article. Good to see Dr. Who makes it into the top 10 (it's #8). Also Firefly, my new favourite sci-fi show is recognized, it's 17th.

Also a hit with me is Dark Angel, 19th, although had they not messed with it the second season it probably would have been higher. Oh yes, X-Files is number 4.

Guess what's Number 1.

Spyware Warrior: Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites

I've blogged once today, but this is an important link. I knew of a few rogue but this is an amazing list.

Australian IT - Music industry 'greedy' (Astrid Wendlandt and Jeffrey Goldfarb, SEPTEMBER 21, 2005)

Consider filing this article under your "The Music Industry Still hasn't got a clue" file. They want to mess with the price of downloadable music. Steve Jobs calls it plain greed on the part of the music industry and you have to agree with him. He also predicts:"If the price goes up, they (consumers) will go back to piracy and everybody loses". Well the loser will be Apple and the Music Industry, people willl simply go back to whatever is the son of Napster, or are we at the grandson of Napster? As long as the option is free downloads the Music industry has to realize they can't gouge the public like they did with the costs of CD's. The consumer now has options and are no longer beholden to the Industry as the only source of quality music.

I should say that the opinion of the music industry is divided and from the sound of the article, equally between the raise and the keep the price. Actually there should be a third, drop it. Consider once a file is placed on iTunes it can be downloaded again and again, there is nothing physical. One fellow said this:
On the other hand, Sony BMG CEO Andrew Lack said earlier this year that Apple is benefiting from two revenue streams, sales of both the iPod devices and song downloads, while the music industry has only one.

"I'm not making any money on this," he said. "I've got one revenue stream that a proctologist would have a hard time analysing. It's not pretty" . He has more then one, he has iTunes as one, he has retail as the second and record clubs as the third, so this Andrew Lack fellow is blowing smoke out his, well where the proctologist is interesting in examining if you know what I mean.

Just a quick note to the industry, you are a lumbering dinosaur and the tar pits are just a little to your left. Enjoy the slow death. I am so looking forward to the day the industry is bought out by Yahoo! or Google and are dragged, kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Sympatico / MSN : News : CTV.ca: "Martin says scandal has been hard on politicians "

It probably has been hard on the politicians, but consider this; it was the government that he was a part of that brought this scandel into being. If PM Martin believes that the civil service is composed of individuals of the highest calibre of integrity then he should do all in his power to ensure this never happens again. There needs to be checks and balances into the power of the PMO ( Prime Minister's Office) and the Privy Council. That would be a start. There needs to be fiscal transparency in all items of the budget so this cannot be hidden.

Found it interesting that the first fellow found guilty of defrauding the taxpayers is not going to jail. On one hand he has repaid 2/3rd of the outstanding money and it has cost him personally. However this is still fraud. I suspect his sentence is very lenient compared to what it should be. I mean he has to go to schools and talk about his experience. Not even a little bracelet? No house arrest? Just a curfew?? What about weekends, why is he allowed to stay up late on Saturday and Sunday nights?

Come on, this is ridiculous. If governments want this sort of thing to stop, then put some teeth into the law. I mean the old saying is supposed to be if you can't do the time, don't do the crime. Sadly in Canada, you can do the crime and not worry about the time, especially if you have connections and are wealthy.

With all the renewed controversy regarding former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, I'm glad to read this interesting comment by Stephen Lewis, now the UN envoy for HIV-AIDS Africa.

He is very correct in his comments regarding the stand the Prime Minister took towards South Africa and aparteid. What people forget is that his stance was in opposition to President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Mulroney wanted and agreed with sanctions and also supporting the 'front line' states.

No doubt much will be said about some of his colourful language in the new book "The Secret Mulroney Tapes" by Peter C. Newman. I don not believe this is a hatchet job by Mr. Newman, it would fit in that Mulroney would want a complete portrait of himself. He is a fascinating figure and while many may complain about Free Trade and the GST, it is those policies that brought Canada into the 21st Century.

Of course, his foreign policy may be the best kept secret. Here he demonstrated the genius of Canadian policy, the third way that was first espouced by Lester Pearson.

When Nelson Mandela addressed the House of Commons a few years ago to commend Canada for its efforts in the defeat of apartied it was PM Chretien which took the bows. However I wondered with the way Chretien liked to cozy up with dictators, (read Suharto), I wonder if he would have favoured the status quo and keeping apartied in South Africa?


Stephen Lewis praises former PM Brian Mulroney

A Bid to Repair a Presidency

Damage control is always interesting. President Bush realizes his performance during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was abysmal and was responsible for an incredible drop in popularity. He also knows the mid terms are just over a year away and pictures of the devastation will haunt Republicans, especially if New Orleans stays destroyed.

He goes before the nation and promises to rebuild the city and region. While laudable there is a few question marks, namely how do you rebuild a run a war at the same time. The war in Iraq is costing the US economy big time, and with the increase in gas prices eventually going to cause a slow down, it spells great problems ahead.

Among the danger, to stimulate the economy the government will pump in a lot of money, something in the area of 200 billion dollars which may trigger some inflation, which may make matters harder on the lower class.

Meanwhile the war will drag on, with no end in sight. For a war that was declared over, it's still costing the US economy a whole lot of money.

My hope is for a rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and more preparation for hurricanes. But what the final price tag will be and who will eventually pay for it all, remains to be seen.

UN control of internet? Try again

this is an interesting comment by the Christian Science Monitor. The UN is concerned that the Internet is too controlled by the US and isn't doing enough for the third, fourth worlds, you know the usual stuff that comes from the UN.

Now the UN wants to set up an advisory board to develop and here's the quote: "The document, produced by the UN's Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) this summer, calls for shared roles by government, commercial interests, and private citizens but doesn't spell out exactly how these roles would be played. It also calls for "effective and meaningful participation of all stakeholders, especially from developing countries" and more resources - human, financial, and technical - for poorer countries."

While laudable let's remember who is wanting this, the United Nations, a body that interested in anything but what they say they are interested in. This body is totally corrupt, the plaything of dictators and also anti-US.

The Internet works because the US government did not feel a great need to control the Internet. In fact the first group to 'own' the Internet didn't want commercial interests involved at all. The Internet is flourishing because people and businesses are able to exist with a minimum of interference.

Who will be responsible for this new Internet? Will the Chinese who are busy with another crackdown on dissidents? Or the Saudis? The list goes on. Let's remember this is the same group that chose a Libyan to head a committee on freedoms.

Simply put, the UN needs to keep its hands off the Internet. If they want to expand Internet access to the third and fourth world then make money available to develop it. Their plan of another 'body' to control it will spell disaster.

Un control Internet?

I want to send out thoughts and prayers to all those who lost a loved ones on 9-11.

I spent two weeks there helping the Salvation Army and it's an experience I'll never forget.

To the firefighters, police officers and the ems crews who were there, the reserved troops who guarded and came so often for the coffee. Bless you all.

To my friends who joined with me at the site, bless you as well.

Never forget.

Student takes on Microsoft

Talk about your classic David and Goliath story. Kent State University student takes on Micro$oft and wins. They tried to sue him for reselling software he couldn't use and they end up looking very very bad.

This is an excellent lesson for anyone getting a letter from the RIAA: stand your ground and don't give in.

Frank's podcast "Techphile" did a live stream of the show and it turned out to be very interesting. In fact it was really cool.

check outTechphile for more information and when it will be live.

Sympatico / MSN Entertainment : Music : Music News : Record industry says Canada must follow Australia on tough file-sharing law


Cranky, cranky cranky. These people are never happy are they? If they're not complaining about satellite radio, it's this. Well, news flash people in the CRIA, the
rest of the world has moved on from Kazaa. There are now all sorts of great P2P programs and most of them can't be shut down.

have fun guys.