Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

Remember the Sony Rootkit scandal where they broke peoples’ computers in an effort to enforce their copyrighted discs? Well, Judge not, lest Yous be Judged, Sony BMG.

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Hat tip to Flaming the Bear

Walking home from work, I heard a soup vendor playing Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”. It took me back to when I was a kid listening to the song on either cassette or vinyl record. It’s just impossible not to feel perked up listening to that song.

And so I went to YouTube and found some of it. And I went to Wikipedia to learn about how he died. I learned from my mother when I was little that Jim was no longer alive, and had died suddenly. It was a plane crash that did it, one day before his 3rd (and very successful album) was released. On it were these songs:

“I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song”

- The No. 1 single, “Time In a Bottle”

It makes me wonder what could have been written if only he’d had more than 30 years on earth.

His son is a musician.

I now have a partial bike, after some jerk took my front wheel some time in the last few days. The other two thirds of my bike (my quick-release seat I’d taken indoors thankfully) were U-locked to a bike stand, and remain (last time I checked). So now after riding just twice this year, I shall ride no more (until I buy a replacement wheel).

If I find this partial-bike thief, I’d like to make him a partial bike-thief. This whole incident reminds me of this, because of Derek’s story, and also I see it’s when I first bought this bike, just over 2 years ago.

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On Friday I went to “Vantage Point” [8/10] with a couple friends, and then we went to see Linger at the UofR Multipurpose room. I got an invite from Jeremy who’s in the band. We also took in the two acts prior to Linger taking the stage. The one with “death” as the lead singer was very good; I liked the guitar playing especially. Jeremy had the crowd going while playing bass guitar from laying on his back during one song. It looked like over 50 people turned out for the CD launch party. I didn’t win the door prize.

…You know it’s going to happen sooner or later in your life, but would just really like to avoid it.

Microsoft DRM customers, you’re about to get even more screwed. If you haven’t yet, join the fight against Digital Restrictions Management. While people will be enjoying their MP3s for decades to come, MSN music buyers of “legal” music, are going to have to sue if they want to play their bought music on computers of the future. If you started out on XP, and get a Vista machine or a Mac, your music will be GONE.

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Ubuntu 8.04 comes out sometime tomorrow according to the countdown they are providing. Ubuntu Linux is free from DRM, and strives to always remain ‘free’ in every sense of the word.

I’ve seen a message go out on Facebook and appear from a couple of my facebook friends now, which is obviously a virus.

“You guys gotta to check this out, this nifty little website tells you exactly your secret crush: http://who-is-your-match-SPAM.info”

Even if it’s not a virus, if a message like that goes out to your friends with or without you knowing, there’s something wrong with it. There are few exceptions, but when I see .info, I think “virus”. Sorry Stageleft :-D

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I watched “Scream 2″ [5/10] on Monday night. It felt pretty much like a rerun of the first. I also borrowed some CDs from the RPL, after I discovered where they were, on the 2nd floor. I hadn’t been up there before.

I had another close call with a four legged Bambi today. After noticing a loner antelope on the way into Saskatoon the other day, it made no attempt to cross the highway in front of my car; it was never a danger. But coming home in the dark tonight from Saskatoon, I had a close encounter, of the four legged kind. I saw a flash of fast moving fur hurtling into the ditch from a field, on a collision course with my car, and another car was quickly coming up behind me to pass. Fortunately it was a divided highway, and the car behind me didn’t smack into me from behind when I braked sharply, as I laid on the horn. The deer threw on its brakes too, it’s legs looking almost parallel to the ground at the mid-point of the ditch, and it avoided the looming fight with my fender as it took off in the opposite direction.

It can be very important to avoid collisions with animals.

That was the end of my excitement (and hopefully the deer’s too) for the ride home. I had a new Bon Jovi CD to listen to, and got part way through, because the new Saskatoon radio stations were interesting to listen to. Rawlco has a new one called Wired (I think) and Hot 93 is now The Bull 92.9. Rock 102 was surprisingly good while I was there as well, and there was an oldies station, and 95.1 too. I never even bothered with the AM stations.

I finished watching “Splash” [5/10] the other night, and wasn’t too impressed. It had a very weak ending. And a weak middle.

-Chamberlain’s church for sale

Sort Of Dunno Nothin’ - Peter Denahy

I lost track of where I first saw this song about Australian teenagers. It certainly applies in North America as well. It reminds me of talking with some of my cousins. His MySpace site with more music.

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Hat tip to possibly Dr. Dawg.

My blog is acting like it’s sick. Sometimes my comment pages load, and sometimes they don’t. I apologize if you’ve tried recently to leave a comment saying how stupid I am, and my software wouldn’t let you vent properly. Likewise if it was a compliment.

I also sent a 4GB “jumbo drive” back with my Dad for warranty replacement. It was a Christmas gift that never quite worked, I think the microdrive inside it was crashed. And I patiently await the arrival of an XO laptop. Hopefully the kid in Afghanistan (Haiti, or wherever the other one went), has it and is enjoying it by now.

Looking for something to do in Regina for an hour or two? Try talking with some bloggers, face to face.

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What makes a good political blog? Comments are closed there, but it’s a cool read.

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International Women’s Day wasn’t a raging success in Alberta last year, or so I wrote then. I hope things are better under Steady Eddie.

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- Liberal attack ad by blogger. Vote for an empty seat?

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I can’t help but wonder why it is that an entire music industry is completely ignored in most provinces, yet many Canadians could pick out the state that Collective Soul is from. Are Canadians (or maybe people) such musical and language bigots that we can’t enjoy songs in other languages?

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I watched “Die Hard With a Vengeance” [6/10], then “Live Free or Die Hard” [8/10] and was thoroughly entertained by the second of those. After a short break watching The Simpsons where the town caters to homosexual marriages, I saw “American Gangster” [6/10] which was about an hour too long, yet still interesting. There was some theme with the war going on in the background, but I didn’t pick up the meaning.

I read a few weeks ago that an anti-smoking group gave Die Hard IV a high rating for not having smoking in it, and The Simpson’s Movie a poor grade for glorifying smoking. Bruce Willis apparently doesn’t care for cigarettes much, any more.

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The Saskatchewan Liberals have a new leader, Frank Proto.

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Looking to examine the culture of “white people” in a not so sensitive, and slightly humourous way? Stuff White People Like, is that attempt.

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And flipping over to another racial topic is the always mind boggling genocide of Rwanda, and the hero who the world ignored: