Only In America... Corporate "citizens"

This was written in 2010. Only in the USA would they entertain the thought that a corporation has the same rights as a person. The just announced court decisions to allow business to put any amount of money into a candidates campaign deflates everyones vote. Now a corporation can invest so much money in a candidate they can virtually guarantee their election. If there isn't a way to win ethically business can just hire someone to do the unethical part and claim no knowledge.
This is almost guaranteed to create major problems in the future. What is next... corporations will have the right to vote? I could see a business registering enough sub-businesses to guarantee the win. Let's cut to the end let them forcibly be proxy for all their workers. That way your vote will actually count for something(what the company wants).
Now you just get suckered into the best marketing campaign. I thought Obama would show the way and maybe they would ban business from providing money to government candidates. Unfortunately this is a court issue not a government one.
There is a fundamental conflict between society and business. Business prioritizes whatever is best to make money(return for investors). Society thinks of what is best for the people.
I personally think something needs to be written into the constitution that peoples benefit out ways corporate and that corporations are not allowed to sponsor any candidate/party. Now what do you think the chances of that are??? 1 google to 1???

Ain't Microsoft Dead Yet? They are missing the Kinect boat!

I used to be a huge fan of Microsoft in the late 90's(OK, I hated them the least) but since small form factor devices(mostly smart phones) have come on the scene Microsoft has fallen off a cliff. The only thing I have been hoping for is that they get off their butt and integrate the Kinect with the OS and eventually the Kinect with many other devices. At this point in time it is the only thing that looks promising to me. Microsoft keeps trying new things without focussing on what is clearly an untapped winner. They have included Kinect with the XBoxOne but haven't taken things any further.  I have seen demonstrations of early hacks of the Kinect that showed so much potential. Google is trying to incorporate all the great concepts in Kinect into their devices now.
It seems every one BUT Microsoft is starting to use the Kinect in ways beyond gaming. Microsoft needs Bill in there to ask them WTF they are doing. Start selling products that sell and worry less about last years products. Trying to recapture a market that doesn't exist any more is useless.
Time for Microsoft to realize the desktop is dead, long live the entertainment workstation... The NEW desktop... Coming soon to your house ;)

IndexDB... There is potential here.

Originally posted 2014-12-22

I have recently been looking into IndexDB which is available on most newer browsers. IndexDB is the only database that both Firefox and IE support for local/client database storage . Chrome supports both IndexDB and WebSQL. Firefox has sworn never to support WebSQL and WebSQL has been depreciated in standards groups.

At first I can tell you I thought IndexDB sucked. I am from old school and know SQL and relational databases. IndexDB doesn't have any of the relational structures that I am used too and it is missing all types of functions. Personally I thought it was a key/value/value design on steroids but not a database. I could not understand what the big deal was about and was quite upset that both IE and Firefox would choose this crap as their one and only local/client-side database.

IndexDB uses "new" terms for things(sort of)... Tables are Stores, Fields are Properties. However, Properties are Fields on steroids. This is where I saw the huge advantage. You can store arrays in a property. Even better, you can search arrays.

So what? 
Look at how current relational databases handle fields that need arrays(multiple entries)... They create "related" tables. Here is a perfect example... Contacts. Often we create separate tables to track multiple occurrences of something(like phone numbers, addresses,etc). We then need the whole relationship deal happening. Not in IndexDB... We can store the phone numbers as a multidimensional array... All in the same store!!!! Who needs relations and their complexity? The very few exceptions are outweighed by the benefits under most situations. The ability to group all the related stuff together as an "object" is huge in my opinion.

Of course you know there had to be a down side... For some reason IE does not support storing arrays at this time? Go figure. It is part of the standard so I expect IE will support it soon. The other issues... very different from SQL design/code requires learning, the lack of built in functions that come with SQL, reports-unless object centric... When IE starts to support the ability to store arrays IndexDB is a clear winner... The speed benefits others talk about could be available if we didn't have to handle relationships. Until then be patient. You can use custom libraries like Dojo to simplify the process and add functionality missing in IndexDB but I try and avoid using these libraries personally. I find I only want to use 2 functions out of the 400 they provide so they create bloatware which hurts us all.

I am sure I will find other advantages/disadvantages in the future(like security) but that is a future update ;)

At this point start getting into it but I think it has a ways to go for most mainstream applications.

2011 Avening and Glencairn Cleanups.... NOT!

I haven't been to Avening or Glencairn parks much this year and hadn't done any cleaning so I decided last week to check out he status of the 2 parks. Below is the results, what a contrast.

Avening
This park is always a dream to clean. It is maintained by the community and they have people that care. I haven't  cleaned this park since last year and was impressed with how little garbage there was. After going through the entire maintained area I only ended up with a very small amount of garbage. It was hard to even find a cigarette butt ;) This community should be proud of their park, it is very nice.

This as all the garbage I found in the entire park. Next to nothing ;)

This is Avening park. One of the cleanest parks around.

Glencairn

And now for the other side...

This park is not maintained at all or at least not regularly. Like Avening I haven't cleaned this park since last year(cleaned both parks on same day). What a mess. If you read previous years entries on this park you will remember I already removed over 10 tires from the woods and water. Guess what.... there are now 6 more tires in the water and garbage throughout the park. I was so frustrated I just took pictures and left. I spent so much time to keep that park clean and it was destroyed by only a few people. Here are some pictures of the crap that is everywhere... Keep in mind this just shows the big stuff, there are a lot of cigarette butts and beer bottle tops as well...

Might be able to excuse this junk. It was at least in the fire pit.

 Tire #1

 Tire#2

 Tire #3 & 4

 Actually quite a solid table. would be great for putting heavy plants on in a greenhouse.

 Part of a tent just thrown in the woods.

 Very large plastic tarp stuffed away.

 Somebody decided to create their own firepit.

 This is what virtually the whole property looks like now... garbage everywhere ;(

 Tire#5

 Tire#6

 Lots of hidden garbage around every corner.

 Even the small beach is a mess.

 If I had a truck I would have taken this table. Looks in great shape.

 Some kid is looking for their chair right now ;(

 Just more crap in the woods.

The biggest stock market screw over

So you thought Bernie with his $50 Billion dollar scam was taking advatange of poor investors? Have a look at just one of the things brokers can do to investors LEGALLY!

How many of you know what "shorting" is and how is it allowed? Read below and you will get upset over how this works and even madder that it is even allowed.

"Shorting" a stock is selling a stock that you don't own anticipating the stock will go down so you can buy it cheaper later... but how can you sell a stock you don't own... That is illegal isn't it???? Well technically you can't sell stocks you do not own, that is called naked short selling and that is illegal. So how do the brokers do it? THEY LOAN THE STOCK THEIR CUSTOMERS BOUGHT!!!! For a fee of course.

So here is how it works... The brokers charge you fees to buy a stock for you and they hold the actual stock certificates. The broker then "loans" those stock(for a fee of course) to someone else who wants to short the stock. The broker is making money off BOTH customers and the broker has no risk!
 
 So now you gotta ask... What the F*(&*&**^!!!!! .... Your broker is actually using the stock you bought against you. Allowing others to "borrow" your stock to short in effect drives the price of the stock DOWN! That is totally against your best interests. 

Are you a littl upset now? You should be. What can you do? If you purchase indiviual stock you can request the actual certificates which ensures the broker can't loan your shares. This unfortunately creates headaches for you to manage your stock certificates. When it comes to mutual funds you can't get the individual stock certificates so you have no control.

If this ticks you off start asking questions of your brokers. The reason I got on this rant is one of my mutal funds is applying to be able to do this for the entire fund of stocks. If you are wondering which company.... AGF is about to do it on all their funds.

Supporters of shorting will tell you it stops irrational exhuberance of stock going through the roof. However, they don't mention that shorting causes stocks to drop much faster because it is almost a self fullfilling prophecy. Shorting can easily take a company with a little difficulty and wipe it out. Look at what was going on with AIG nd CITI during the crash. There was huge volumes of shorts almost causing both these companies to collapse. 

SHORT SELLING SHOULD BE ILLEGAL FOR EVERYONE!!!!!

Kinect Games - EA Sports Active 2

Other than a heart rate monitor this game is junk as far as being Kinect enabled. You need a controller at several points which defeats the benfits of Kinect.

I did not find the program itself to have as many features as Your Shape and if possible I would have returned this game because of it's cost($100) and my disappointment in the quality.

Of the 9 games I have tried this was the one I felt I really over paid. I do not feel it has been worth the money.

However, if you need to integrate a heart rate monitor into your exercises this is still better than the WII and Move versions. The reporting on heart rates was interesting ;)

Kinect Games - Your Shape

If you don't care about the hearrt rate monitor this exercise game is much better than EA Sports Active 2 game. You can see it was built for the Kinect and really helps you perform exercises properly.

It will show you exactly which parts of your body are positioned right for an exercise(they show in green) and which are not(shown in red). From the start a controller is not needed. It also provides several exercise games, TiBo and Zen exercises. There is a lot to this exercise game.

If you want to get into shape this is a good game to get. It is much better than EA Sports game except it doesn't come with a heart rate monitor.

This was the frst game I purchased and it still is very good. Expect to sweat and feel good that you are performing exercises properly.

Kinect Games - Kinect Adventures

This game came with my Kinect controller. It is simple yet a lot of fun, especially for multiple people. None of the included games require any special skills.

When I show people the Kinect quite often I use this game first because it is easy and fun. Anyone can understand the games yet they are challenging for experienced players.

I like all the games but I prefer the white water rafting as it provides a high level of interaction. Although it can be frustrating when playing with 2 people for serious gamers(One person goes left, the other goes right ;) It is just so much fun.

However, if this game did not come with the Kinect I am not sure I would buy it. I prefer the games that specialize in one thing because they are much more detailed and the quality is usually better.

Kinect Games - Kinect Joy Ride

Of the 9 games I tried this was the simplest to play yet among the most fun. Since I like racing games anyway me liking this is no surprise.

If you are looking for an advanced racing game this is NOT it. You do not control brakes, gas or shifting. However you do get Turbo boost, and you can do tricks when in the air.

I am not sure if it is me but I notice no difference in upgraded cars in regards to performance or handling. Maybe I should read the manual(that thingy no one reads) more about cars ;)

This game is just fun. Especially with 2 or more people. You can compete against each other in certain races and need to work together in others. There are lot's of race types including tricks, run over stuff, race each other, race online, race computers and more.

Getting into tricks can really rack up the points and I found this takes up a lot more energy and makes you glad you don't have to shift, brake or accelerate.

Of all the games I have played I have spent the most time on this game. I have virtually every car now and most tracks I have gold. Sometimes I wonder why... then I play it again ;)

This game could certainly benefit from being able to control braking and acceleration but I found I got used to it. Also I found standing all the time does get tiring. I never tried sitting down while playing it might have worked.

Kinect Games - Deca Sports Freedom

Of the games I tried this was the cheapest and quirkiest of them all. Although several sports are similar to the other 2 all in one sports games there just seemed to be a lot of delays and problems in movement recognition. Further I found the quality to be lower than the other 2 all in one sports games. However it does have a lot of sports to try and probably had the best selection of interesting sports.

Overall I found the all in one sports games to be good for group playing because of their simplicity but not very good for the serious gamer. Regardless, they are all still more fun than stupid controller games.

Kinect really makes you feel you are part of the game.

Kinect Games - Fighters Uncaged

Of all the sports games this is the most realistic and challenging. There are around 70 moves you can do. They include using your legs, knees, elbows, fists, and head.

You better expect to get in shape if you want to play this game. Of all the games I have played this is the most intense and you will break out in a sweat... but it is a lot of fun.

This game really shows the Kinect off. You really get more of an idea of the games that will be coming in the future. This game will really benefit when they come out with a "force feedback" suit that will have you feeling the punches.

As it is this is by far the best sports game if you really want to get into the game. However if you don't like the fighting you won't like this game.

I can tell you I get very tired playing this game for even 15-30 minutes. It really requires a lot of energy as you get further into the game.

If you are a real gamer that likes great detail this is the game for you. Don't waste your time on the all in one games that have boxing... They just don't have the advanced details and options.

Kinect Games - Kinect Sports

This all in one sports game is the best for smaller kids but is still good for adults. Although not quite as good as MotionSports for adults this game is very similar. Whatever you do don't waste your money on more than one of these all in one sports games.

If you have 5-10 year old kids around get this game. If not get MotionSports. The 3rd all in one game is not worth the money as far as I am concerned.

This is a great game to get up and running quickly. No real time learning anything as movements are rudamentary and as long as you know the basics of the sport you will have no problems mastering the game.

Of the 3 all in one sports games this is a close second to MotionSports.

Kinect Games - Dance Central

If you are looking for a dance game this one is pretty good but if you are a good dancer this can be frustrating... Everything has to be done the way the game wants it done.When talking freestyle dancing I find this defeats the whole concept of "freestyle".

If you are a newbie or are willing to do things the way the game demands this is actually quite fun. However you can't just jump into the middle and expect to do well. You have to learn the moves that the game knows in the way the game wants them done.

If you want to learn to dance this can actually show you a lot of moves as you get further into it. Another good game for small groups of 2-4 people.

I did not review the other dance game so I have no reference if this is the best one. I have found it to be fun once I realized I had to start from the beginning... I had thought I could start in the middle with all my dancing experience... I was wrong ;)

If you like line dancing or following someone elses lead or you just wat to learn this is a great game. If you like to dance "freestyle" this will not let you... You must dance the way it says to do the move. 

Kinect Games - Motion Sports

Of the 3 sports games I reviewed this is probably the most adult version. In all these sports games I fnd they are at best limited but are very good for group play. These games are great for getting 4-8 people together and having friendly competitions.

You need a lot of room for these games because they involve a lot of movement. The first time I played this game I hit my foot on my metal framed bed when playing soccer... It recorded the video of me hopping around after kicking the bed ;) Quite humerous.

I was not impressed with any of these all in one sports games as each game is limited. If you want sports games go for ones of the specific sport you are interested in. For example Fighters Unleashed is a fighting game that has over 70 different moves and is very complex and full featured.

These all in one versions really stand out in groups. They are easy to get started and do not take a lot of training. Virtually anyone can do well right away. Games like Fighters Unleashed take some time just to learn all the moves that are available.

If you are thinking of the all in one sports games for adults this is probably the best choice. If you are looking for kids this is good but Kinect Sports is better.

Internet TV.... Not yet

I have been waiting forever for Internet TV but it still isn't quite there yet. Sure you can watch TV via the web now but the infrastructure is not there to support all of us watching web TV.

Just look at bandwidth limitations currently in place.... Even the high bandwidth providers limit bandwidth to around 60gb per month which is fine for most current users but if you are watching basic digital TV you are looking at approximately 600mb per hour of TV... Watching 2 hours per day on one TV will take up more than half your bandwidth... If you watch 4 hours you are going to be paying overage charges... If you have 2 TV's get ready to pay big time even if you watch the same shows. If you are like me and are on wireless highspeed you haven't got a hope... It costs a fortune for anything higher than 10gb per month on wireless. My house runs 3 TV's at least 4 hours per day so even with the best available options I would have to pay a lot for bandwidth. What if we talk about HD quality with 7.1 sound.... the bandwidth goes through the roof.

The infrastructure is not in place to support all of us getting on at 9pm to watch our favorite show. Just think of the bandwidth required for everyone to watch something like the Superboal in full HD? The entire system would collapse under the strain. We can't handle anything close to the required bandwidth yet but that is just a technical problem that will be resolved.
There is also the issues of content quality, availability and management. However, all the big players are setting up their own systems for content at a furious pace.

Whether we like it or not the web is merging all communication mediums. Soon we will laugh at the way people used phones and had to be home to watch a TV show. How did they do it...  ;)

Just think, YouTube users are apparently posting 31 minutes of video to the web every minute... and that is just one video content system... Many more are coming soon. Question is do we want to watch it?

XBox360 Kinetic - What the WII should have been

If you think the WII or Playstation Move were cool you really need the new XBox360 Kinetic. I just got one yesterday amd got exercise and dance games at the same time. Now this is the way gaming should be for most games... You really are in the game now.
I started with the exercise game and quickly worked up a sweat. Found it really forces you to not only keep up but also to do the exercise properly. It corrected me when I didn't squat far enough, step in beat with insstructor, or raise my arms far enough when required. That is a huge advancement from the WII and Playstations that only detect the controller movement. When I was doing exercises I did not know it would show me on screen and voice confirmation when I got it right. Talk about a game changer. This game in itself made the Kinetic controller worth it... Great exercise tool.
When I played the Dance game I was not as impressed with the game...Although I dance a lot I found they really presume you pick things up very quickly and since the system monitors your entire body you can have the entire move right except one arm and it will show you everything except the arm is correct(arm will show in red). Found this to be quite complex and if you didn't know any dance moves this could definately make you feel like you at least know how to dance ;) I will have to play this game a little more before I reject it. It might get better with a bit of practice.
The Adventure game that comes with Kinetic is not the best but it is kinda fun for kids. Again I haven't had time to try the whole game but what I have played has been fun.
Voice recognition seems to work fairly well but I did have to repeat a few things for it to work but I think that was more me getting used to the interface.
It detects different people so you don't have to change players... The system knows who is playing ;)
If you walk away from the game it pauses automatically. When you come back it automatically continues.

With all this great stuff there are some negatives...
1. You need at least 6-8 feet between you and the Kinetic and at least 6-8 feet in width to play. It will not work if you are in a small room and anything blocking the view between the controller and you will have adverse affects.
2. Requires a brightly lit area to play. Dim areas can cause the game not to recognize you or your movements. However, too much direct light can also cause problems.
3.Some games seem to have a little delay but that was a very rare occurence. Most times there were no delays.
4. Requires games that support the Kinetic. This controller will not work with games not built for it so you have to buy a bunch of new games.
5. Changes the XBox primary screens which takes a little getting used too but no big deal.
6. It is definately not for the couch potato... You really are in the game and several times I broke out in a sweat so expect a workout for most games.

All in all this is an awesome advancement in gaming and I strongly recommend getting one for your XBox360. This might even be enough to justify buyig the XBox360 if you don't have it. If you are thinkig of buying the WII or Playstation Move don't waste your money on them... This interface is so much better than either of them. Once more games get released I expect the Kinect to become part of the basic XBox360 but don't wait... Get yours now!

Cleanups Update Sept 2010

Well the summer was going along great and both Avening and Glencairn parks seemed to be very easy to maintain this year... Until mid August then the only party this year was held. They cleaned up all the beer bottles and cans(they are worth money) and at least a lot of the garbage. Unfortunately the park was at a level where there was hardly a speck of garbage. Just the bottle caps from way over 100 beer were a pain to pick up. I have really come to hate the labels on beer bottles. Why does everyone tear them off then rip them into little pieces and throw them on the ground. Then the cigarrett butts of course and a bunch of other tiny peices of garbage. Although there only ended up being 5 small bags of garbage each bag is full of hundreds of small pieces of garbage. I am happy to say that Glencairn is almost back into shape... I ran out of garbage bags so there are a few pieces left to cleanup... and of course there will always be tomorrow.

I did a little experiment of my own after the party... I did not clean the park up intentionally. Why? When I go to the park and am cleaning I run into people and many proceed to tell me how they clean the park all the time as well. So I thought I would give them the chance... Plus there is a group from the community that publishes that they maintain the park so I figured surely these people could at least pick up the bigger garbage that was left before I do the rest... Of course I was dreaming, I new that ;) .... After 3.5 weeks I couldn't stand it anymore and cleaned the park a few days ago. Not even the most obvious garbage right on the main path was picked up(pop bottle and McDonald's junk), nothing, nada. Please, when you see someone else cleaning don't tell them how you clean that unless you really do. You might run into someone like me who knows you are lying.

Of course Avening has been a dream. Sometimes I wonder why I bother since there is so little garbage. At Avening I can clearly see the community(at least a few people) realy take pride in making their park a beautiful place. I go to the remote sections if I want to cleanup anything because everything else is a already so clean. No beer bottle caps, not even cigarrette butts. It is quite amazing. Avening should get an award for the way they maintain their park.   

Electric Cars...Are we really ready?

Although I think electric cars are the future I have some major concerns.

1. What happens to dead batteries??? Right now we don't manage this well. What are we going to do with these monster car battery packs? What about the spent lithium? Is there any environmental issues?
2. How much supply of lithium is there? Can it support the current/future demand? To go all electric will require a lot of lithium.
3. We are experiencing electric brown-outs now due to high usage. What happens when we all want to charge our cars? Surely the current infrastructure can't handle the load. A more distributed design MUST be in place to support electric cars.
4. What about the fine metal dust from the generators? The friction wears the pads which creates dust that floats in the air or cakes to machinery.
5. Does the electric noise or battery discharge affect animals/humans?
6. Is there any affect having all that electricity surrounding us? 

You would think with all these concerns I would be saying slow down... but I am NOT! Athough there are issues with electric it is still far superior to the fossil fuel choices. I want to make sure we don't just switch to a different pile of crap. We need to do this for our descendants and it has to come quickly to ensure we actually have descendants.

Park cleanups 2010 update

Well I have been cleaning both Avening and Glencairn parks this year and there is quite a difference between the two. Glencairn requires much more of my time for cleaning. Each week this year the Glencairn park has built up a garbage bag full of crap plus at least one large item(like tires/metal). Avening on the other hand requires picking up 10-20 small peices of garbage each week with no large items. Although Glencairn is a busier park the problem seems to stem from only a very few people. There is at least one person that smokes at least 5-10 cigarrettes per day in the park. At least I pick up that many butts of a specific brand almost daily(plus other butts). Another lets their dogs(multiple large dogs) crap all over the park. Fortunately this year there hasn't been any major dumping going on and there has been a few people actually picking garbage up. Glencairn does not seem to be having any major parties this year(usually there are 5+ already) so the garbage has been dramatically reduced this year.
No matter how I look at it the parks are cleaner and easier to maintain this year than previous. The amount of garbage I see is noticably less than previous years. Especially butts and beer bottle caps. However since the outhouse has been removed from Glencairn some people have used the park as a bathroom and left toilet paper in several places(not nice).
Oh well, there will always be something that could be improved.  

Soccer / Football... why I don't like it

I have been watching the world cup and it reminds me why I don't watch soccer. There are 2 primary reasons...

1. Low scores. Too many games end in ties and the ball basically is bounced around center field most of the game.
2. Wining. Any sport I know if the players faked penalties that obviously they would GET the penalty. The players seem to wine and cry all game long about penalties that should have been called. Suck it up! I have seen hockey players get booed off the ice for trying to fake a penalty.

These 2 issues really make it hard for me to get interested in the sport. I do like to play the game... just don't like watching it.