Monday, April 30, 2007

One Year of Slashboing

This marks the one year anniversary of Slashboing. Pie and pop was served in the Slashboing office break-room from 12:15 to 12:45.

Back to work!

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo

What are you doing reading Slashboing, when you could be at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo? It is a fantastic show if you like comic books, art, anime, Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, improv comedy, and all other forms of awesome.

Last year was fantastic, and this year is shaping up to be even better.

Go now. The interwebs will still be here when you get back.

Related Posts
Firefly actresses to attend Expo
Battle of Yavin Medal for Chewbacca

Friday, April 27, 2007

Doctor Who versus the French

I usually try not to make two posts in a row with embedded youtube clips, but this one makes me laugh enough to warrant a breach of protocol.

Without further commentary, here is "Doctor Who versus the French".

Monday, April 23, 2007

Hail Atlanta!

I'm getting very excited for DragonCon 2007.

The convention is fan-tastic, and Atlanta is a wonderful city, though I have this scene from the Futurama episode "The Deep South" playing in my head the entire time I'm walking around the town.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Catch this, Emu


Hand Dryer
Originally uploaded by spin spin.

The Sunday Flickr Favourites team took some time off, but they are hard at work again, finding interesting pictures from Flickr.

Here is the logo captured from an Australian hand dryer. It looks like the Kangaroo is tossing a cinder block at an emu. That amuses me, though I do not condone cinder block tossing, emu abuse or Australia.
Related Posts
Open Letter to Hand Dryer Manufacturers

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Top 10 most useful websites

The world wide web is great. No really. There are plenty of fun and interesting sites to entertain an inform, but beyond the dancing hamsters and Youtube videos there are some really useful tools to be found.

I have compiled my list of sits I have been using for several years and visit several
times a week. In the bookmark toolbox, Wikipedia is the talking laser level that gets all the attention, but this list make up the hammer, flat head screwdriver, and crescent wrench that are always needed.

These are not obscure sites, and you are probably already using them, but if not, you should be.

The List
pollstar.com
I did this one the other day, giving me the idea for this post. Concerts are good to go to, and a shame to miss.

XE.com
This is a straight forward currency converter. Any online business I do and travel plans I make involves this site at some point. How many Rubeles to the Kroner? XE is your friend.

mapquest.ca
My number one "how the heck to I get there from here" site. Maps are cool.

timeanddate.com
Mapquest tells you where you are, this site gives you the when. Which time zones are the exceptions to daylight savings time? What day of the week will it be in 6 months and 9 days. This is where you go to find out.

dictionary.com
A dictionary is one of the first books I ever owned, and got a new one for Christmas when I outgrew the old one. Prooper speeling is vrey imprtant.

tribute.ca
Want to see a movie in Canada? Don't feel like calling each theatre to find out shows and times? This is the way to go.

411.ca
Phone books are for short people to stand on. With a reverse lookup, this is the clear choice for phone numbers.

imdb.com
Hardly an unknown site, but it really is the best way to settle those "who was that guy in that show" discussions. Wikipedia doesn't yet match this resource. When the message board system for imdb first started it was populated by literate and thoughtful film fans, now it is a flame fest, but the database remains sound.

yousendit.com
Trying to get a huge file past a firewall or small inbox? Use this free FTP server. Your file is kept for a few days and the URL is static so you can forward that instead of the huge attachment.

pdfonline.com
Turning a word doc or image into a portable PDF file, use this straight forward service that is superior to most printer based installs I've tried. PDFs are cool.

Honourable Mentions
:
calgarytransit.com was a long time necessity for me, before I got a car. I still use it it now and again but it has fallen off my must-use list. I don't know how many pleas I've read online begging "how do I get there by bus?" Look it up brother.

tripadvisor.com is a new addition to my toolbox, so it doesn't make the big list. It still is the first place to look to see if a particular hotel is worth the stay or not, or where to find the best fajitas in San Jose.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Pollstar concert listings

From the "websites you should already be using" category, comes Pollstar, a database of worldwide music concerts. Starting 25 years ago, as a professional music industry print guide, it has grown into the world's largest database of international concert tour information.

This is probably one of the best and under-rated Web 1.0 sites still around. Besides the obvious artist and city concert search, you can also search by venue, which is a nice touch. The tour information is usually up before it appears on Ticketmaster or the individual artist's web page. Email alerts to tour changes are a convenient and only semi-stalkery way of following your favourite band.

Over the years they have added more "premium" and ad-driven content, but the database is still free, and the site is still in my top 10 list of "most useful web-resources." What are the other 9? You will have to wait and see.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Doctor Who Season 3 mini-review


Time and Reflection, Drenched in Shadows
Originally uploaded by Brainless Angel.

The following is a short personal review of Season 3 of the revived Doctor Who Series. It will be free of any major spoilers for the new season, but assumes the reader has viewed up to the end of Season 2 with "Doomsday." If you haven't seen it yet, go do so now. I'll wait.

CBC loving Canadians have yet to see season 3 of Doctor Who. Even though development funds for the revived series of Doctor Who came from the CBC, for reasons beyond me, the air-dates in Canada are months past the original run on the BBC. This leads to the situation of being able to buy the series on DVD before the first run in Canada has finished. This also leads to being forced to download "pirate" copies for home viewing. Does that sound right to you?

After downloading (and watching) the two newest Doctor Who episodes, "Smith and Jones" and "The Shakespeare Code," and I am thoroughly impressed with the new companion. Martha Jones is smart, funny, and asks all the right questions. The fantastic writing of Russell T. Davies an Doctor Who novelist Gareth Roberts make these episodes fun and a real treat. The story arc codeword "Saxon" is this year's "Bad Wolf," so keep an eye out for it.

When Rose left The Doctor at the end of season two, I wasn't sure I would enjoy a change of companions. In the history of the show, companions change more frequently then Doctors, but the companion is the character through whom we experience the wonders of intergalactic time travel. Rose Tyler had both wide-eyed nativity and the stunning good looks, which are fine qualities to have in such a situation. But I guess as the character gains confidence and wisdom, our ability to project ourselves into their place diminishes. We have significantly less in common with the Dalek destroying Bad Wolf/Time Goddess then we have with a teenage shop girl.

Now that I have an "in" to get current episodes, an I'm confident in Martha Jones, I can't wait for next Saturday's episode, when "The Face of Boe" shows up in "Gridlock."

Thursday, April 12, 2007

K. Vonnegut (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007)

Kurt Vonnegut, science fiction author and satirist passed away yesterday. So it goes.

Here is my short and unoriginal tribute to a man who wrote many of my favourite novels.

God made mud.
God got lonesome.
So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up!"
"See all I've made," said God, "the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars."
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.
Lucky me, lucky mud.
I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
Nice going, God.
-
Bokononist Last rites, from "Cat's Cradle"

Kurt once said that if, God forbid, he should die, he would be very pleased if someone would remark that "Kurt is up in Heaven now," which, as a Humanist, was his favourite joke.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Hamster power

I wish I thought of this shredder, where your pet hamster is both the motor, and the end user of the recycled paper. It was designed by talented artist Tom Ballhatchet.

I get the feeling that if I had presented it as and idea to my peers and betters I would be laughed at. Again. Behind my back.

[link] (from boingboing.net)

Marxist critique of the un-dead

In a recent Diesel Sweeties cartoon (DS#1723) R. Stevens questions the recent popularity of zombies. He makes the case that any other pseudo-ironic pop-subculture, such as "pirate" or "monkey," is a far more compelling, suitable, and noble model for hipster aspirations.

A fan (tristanheydt) writes to Mr. Stevens, and using a fine bit of Marxist class conscious critique, gives suitable cause for the growing interest in, and identification with, the ever growing Zombie Hoard.
...I think the popularity of zombies lies in the growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots in western society, and in America in particular. Vampires are the monsters of the upper classes: aristocratic, powerful, and refined. Ghosts are the monsters of the middle class: stationary, repetetive (sic) , and jealous of privilege and their peers. Zombies are the teeming, hungry hordes of the poor and working class, locked in a cycle they cannot escape.
(Source: R.Stevens April 10th Livejournal)
This seems to be a very reasonable assessment of the un-dead.

Thoughts?

Monday, April 02, 2007

Whose Humps?

From elmofromok I find Alanis Morissette singing her version of Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps." I think Beer@heart would appreciate it.

"Check it out."

Paternity


Reference
Originally uploaded by Stox - Ideas playground.

Graffiti seen in Melbourne.