Take Two of These and Call Me In The Morning - By The Way, Here's A Whole Pile of Work That Must Get Done!

I am still feeling miserable. I managed to stay home from work yesterday, but that doesn't mean that the work didn't show up at my front door. After laying down for a few hours, my boss shows up at my door with some "urgent" work. So this was an opportunity to put my new office suite OpenOffice, to the test.

My initial experience with OpenOffice was that the interface closely resembled Micro$oft Office. What I was really interested in, was how compatible the two were.

I imported a Word file, and an Excel file. The Excel file converted to OpenOffice seamlessly. There were only minor issues with some fonts, but the file appeared normal once ported back to a PC version of M$ Office. The Word file converted less accurately, namely with respect to the drawing tools. Arrowheads were improperly sized, and the graphics were generally harder to manipulate in OpenOffice. This could be potentially fixed in an upcoming release of OOo.

One other problem I had centered around the highlighted text feature. I normally use this to highlight words and phrases that will require editing. I highlighted some text in OpenOffice, but once opened on M$ Office, the highlighted text would not "un-highlight". This was solved the old-fashioned way, by deleting the highlighted text, and manually re-typing it.

Overall, OpenOffice has passed the first test. I have yet to see how it will work with inserted images such as photos.

I managed to put in a half-day at work today, but I left for the afternoon as I am in desperate need of some rest. I have a late night due to Grease rehearsal, and I can't miss tonight as I missed Sunday's practice. If I don't get enough rest, I'm going to end up being completely useless tomorrow -- and there are late nights ahead for me the rest of the week.

On another note, I have been watching my traffic on this site. October has broken all the records for site visits on this site. Traffic is continuing to climb; perhaps November will be even more successful!

Lazy Sunday

Amidst my illness the past few days, I have been busy learning the ins and outs of this technology called CSS. I managed to learn a little about how this coding scheme works with respect to text and images. This morning I fixed a glitch with the comments being left-justified, and the rest of the blog being fully justified.

Additionally, you by now must have seen the background image. Yes, that's me. Once again, I had to learn some CSS coding to properly place the image in the center of the screen, and have the text scroll independent of the background image. I also used the Gimp to darken the image and compress it to an acceptable web size. Let me know if you feel the image is too bright, or if it makes the text ugly to read. It looks acceptable on my screen. I will have to check on a few other monitors to make a better judgement.

I have called in sick for my Grease rehearsal today. I really don't want to miss it; I just don't want to get the cast sick so close to showtime. By the way, this is a friendly reminder that tickets go on sale to the public tomorrow, October 25, 2004. See this entry for more details.

* Ah-Choo! *

Thanks to overexerting myself and getting very little sleep the last number of weeks, I have managed to catch myself a cold. This is the first time I have been sick in over two years (I'm not counting acts of self-indulgence). I took the afternoon off work, and I should be getting some rest instead of playing on my computer.

Not only is this a sick day, but I am considering this day off work a mental health day. I feel like I have been going slowly insane for a number of weeks now. I am in a desperate need of a break, and a full nights' sleep.

I think it would be an adventure to spend a little time in a mental institution. I would consider it a demented party game, when the men in white show up at my door, strap me in a strait jacket and haul me into the back of an ambulance. I'd have a heyday bouncing off the padded walls, muttering some post-apocalyptic gibberish to the observers whom hide behind two-way mirrors, while they all write "clearly insane" in their notebooks. I'm sure they'd give me injections of some unknown substance; "vitamins" they would call them, that would instead sedate me or make me impotent. They would take away my whiskey and cigarettes, and I would probably raise hell with the nursing staff, begging for a fix. I would go even more crazy, not having access to a computer, likely trying to make an email client out of a calculator and coconuts. And those therapy sessions, every one I'd feel like I'd be giving the sermon on the mount, telling everyone else that it is in fact, they who are truly insane, and I'm here to cure them -- only to be thrown into isolation without dinner or cigarettes. I'm sure after a while both the nursing staff and I would grow tired of my little game, but at least I would have a carefree holiday for a couple months.

I am sure this would be a fun game in this day and age, but I would not have wanted to be committed to an insane asylum in the 1950's. The treatment of mental patients for much of history was an exercise in human cruelty. These nightmarish practices still haunt people today, to the point where many people will deny the fact they have a mental problem for fear of what treatment they would receive at such an institution. Electro-shock therapy, and lobotomies were common practices not so long ago, practices considered more like butchery than therapy. By today's standards, these therapies resemble the torture practices of the Spanish Inquisition.

I'd better lay down before I start writing about some other depressing topic. While I recover from this nasty cold, you may all send cards, flowers or money.

Bring Out The Gimp

Have you ever wanted to have the power to use Adobe Photoshop software, but could not afford it, or felt guilty using pirated software? Then check the Gimp out. The Gimp is an open-source, freely distributed photo editing suite designed for all major computer platforms. It should do everything that Photoshop does.

I installed the Gimp on my iMac, and with a little tweaking, I had it up and running in a few minutes. The software is still under development, so they have not yet coded an aqua interface for the OSX version of the program -- it is running under X11, an X Windows application.

Why would I need such a program? Well, I'm designing some new images to be placed on this site, and I wanted a powerful image manipulation program. I hope in a few weeks I will be able to upload the new images and you can see my amateur artistic skills.

Once I has the Gimp successfully running, I installed OpenOffice for my spreadsheet and word-processing needs. It so closely resembles Micro$oft Office that the resemblance is uncanny. Goodbye M$ Office; goodbye Appleworks.

Public Service Announcement: Support open-source software and save yourself a few bucks.

The Greatest Canadian

A new television series has been launched on CBC television this fall. Entitled "The Greatest Canadian", the show is a series of biographies on some of the most prominent and influential heroes of Canada's history.

Over the course of this past summer, viewers and listeners of CBC were asked to submit their nominations for the title of the Greatest Canadian. Last night's episode listed the top 50 candidates, which were reduced to ten finalists for the title. They are (in alphabetical order):

1. Frederick Banting - Scientist whom discovered insulin
   
2. Alexander Graham Bell - Inventor of the telephone
   
3. Don Cherry - Hockey coach and television personality
   
4. Tommy Douglas - Politician and "Father" of Medicare
   
5. Terry Fox - Athlete and activist for cancer research
   
6. Wayne Gretzky - Hockey legend
   
7. Sir John A. MacDonald - Canada's founding father and driving force behind a railway that stretched from coast to coast
   
8. Lester B. Pearson - Prime Minister and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
   
9. David Suzuki - Geneticist and television personality
   
10. Pierre Elliott Trudeau - Prime Minister and force behind Canada's new Constitution
    

While viewing last night's broadcast, I was generally pleased with the selection of the fifty honorable mentions. That being said, I also felt that there were many names mentioned that likely did not deserve to be on the list. Many on the list were celebrities or athletes, and although I cannot argue the fact that they are all "great" in their professions, I somehow cannot conclude that they be considered "Great Canadians".

Yes, they are all great at what they do, and they are Canadian citizens (in some cases were), but I think something has been overlooked in what CBC was trying to allude to in their definition of a "great Canadian".

The successful candidate should have done something noble and selfless, something of such magnitude that the effects are still felt today. This person, and his achievements, should give us a sense of pride; a sense of what it is to be Canadian. This person's crowning achievements should strike us with feelings of patriotism; to make us proud to have him as an icon and as an ambassador to Canada. Yes, they should have changed the world, but more importantly, they should have changed Canada, and be more than just a successful athlete, actor, comedian or musician.

By my criteria, this should knock the athletes off the list. This is in no means a way of being disrespectful to Misters Cherry and Gretzky (or any of the other athletes on the top 100), I have a lot of respect for them; I just don't think they are worthy of the title. Furthermore, I do understand that Hockey is about as Canadian as sports go; but there is more to Canadian pride than hockey. Terry Fox, on the other hand, did something selfless with his life that I would consider himself worthy of the title. His perseverance and determination in the face of cancer should evoke admiration and sympathy in all of us. If I were a young athlete whom lost a leg to cancer, I imagine that I would just give up on my dreams and wait to die. Terry fought to raise awareness for cancer and did so by running a marathon across the country. That is, he ran until he could no longer run, when cancer was discovered in his lungs. He died never completing his marathon, but his legacy lives on with the annual Terry Fox Run, which takes place in countries around the world. I would consider Terry a candidate for sainthood, and we could all learn a lesson from him. Whether or not he will win the title of the "Greatest Canadian" is yet to be seen.

Now for the scientists. Being one myself, I hold a certain kinship with them. I cannot deny the societal implications of such discoveries as genetic research, the discovery of insulin or the invention of the telephone -- these achievements have changed the world. These researchers have given us, and generations to come, a better, safer world to live in. I cannot deny their greatness; but they do not fit the criteria of what I define as a "Great Canadian". They are in a league all their own. They all deserve Nobel Prizes, if they do not have one already -- but I can't see myself giving them a title of "Greatest Canadian".

That unfortunately leaves the politicians left in my truncated list. Love them or hate them, the remaining candidates have done much for our great nation. Their achievements are as diverse as the times they held office. Choosing a winner out of the remaining four candidates will not be an easy task. To simplify things, I have been considering their crowning achievements if they took place today. What I mean by this (especially with respect to Sir John A. MacDonald), is consider the magnitude of their greatest achievements if they were Prime Minister today. First of all, to create a country in the first place is an accomplishment beyond my imagination. It must have been a huge fiscal undertaking in the very least, not even considering the uniting two cultures that have been at war for centuries. Second, consider the costs associated with creating a railway that stretches over 4000 kilometers across this country (east coast - west coast). If a railway of that magnitude was constructed today, the costs would be in the trillions of dollars, a cost that would be both incomprehensible and prohibitive.

The benefits of the Canadian Pacific Railway is beyond the initial liabilities. It helped unite a huge land mass, both physically and culturally. Even though other Prime Ministers have accomplished some commendable feats for the greater good of Canada, I don't think any of them have accomplished anything as massive as a cross-country railway.

I am not going to put any money on who I think will be crowned the "Greatest Canadian". But I would consider the following to be the two finalists: Sir John A. MacDonald and Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Both were considered great leaders of our country, and both were immensely charismatic, liked by both the English and French citizens of our country.

If you would like to provide input into who you feel is worthy of the title of the Greatest Canadian, you may cast your vote over the course of the next six weeks. Episodes documenting the life, times and achievements of the ten finalists are being aired on CBC every Monday and Wednesday evening. I would suggest checking your local television listings for showtimes.

There can be only one Greatest Canadian Idol; let's all cast our votes intelligently.

He's All Growed Up!

"Hi! I'm Wil Wheaton. You might remember me from such television series as Star Trek: The Next Generation and the motion picture Stand By Me. I'm here to tell you I'm not a washed-up child actor."

I will be terribly honest, although I sporadically watched Star Trek: TNG as a teenager, I might say that I found the character of Wesley Crusher quite annoying. I am sure you have to blame this on the writers' behalf than on Wil Wheatons', but as far as I was concerned, Crusher's primary role in the series was to be the child prodigy who always manages to get the rest of the crew out of a seemingly hopeless situation.

While surfing the web, I recently stumbled onto Wil's Website. I was at first a little apprehensive, as celebrity blogs are usually disappointing. Many of them are rarely updated, and are usually the product of shameless self-promotion. Not Wil's. His approach to his weblog is to establish a personable, approachable side to a profession which is often shroud in solitude. Wil doesn't promote himself much; he writes about issues that interest and affect us all. His approach to writing establishes a connection between him and the reader that demonstrates that celebrities are human, just as you and I.

Give Wil Wheaton a try. You might see a new side to him that was never present on the small or big screen.

No Time For Work; More Music!

My Thanksgiving weekend has been an absolute blur. Friday night was spent in a number of different pubs around town, gigging with a few friends and singing Karaoke. This week's karaoke experience was similar to the previous weeks'; I got a lot of compliments and admiration from the drunks. I went a little out of my element for song selection, as I do not like singing the same songs week after week, so I tried three numbers that I have never done before. I warmed up with CCR's Proud Mary, which I totally nailed. For some reason I thought the vocals were much higher (in pitch) than what it was.

For my second song, I decided I would try one of my favorites: April Wine's Tonite is a Wonderful Time -- which I did very well, except for the last verse. There is a nasty key change, and the vocals go way up there. Sure, it's easy for a female to sing, but a male has got to squeeze those cajones really tight to hit those notes. I managed the best I could, but my voice broke a few times. The karaoke DJ said that she'd drop the song down a key the next time I sing the song. That should help considerably.

I decided to be daring for that last song, and I decided to not give a damn about what anybody else thought of me, so I got up and sang the Eagles' I Can't Tell You Why. This is a particularity challenging song, as the vocals are so high, and much of the song is sung in falsetto. There were a few bad notes, but for the most part I was happy with my performance.

When I had finished the song, the whole bar fell asleep. I guess they wanted to hear something upbeat. I know that some of the songs I have chosen got good responses regardless of how well I sung them. Trooper's Raise A Little Hell comes to mind. I sung the bridge of that song horribly, but the patrons could have cared a less. The entire bar were banging their heads, fists clenched in the air (think Beavis and Butthead), singing along.

We did not stay for me to sing any more numbers, I was expected to make an appearance at another pub that evening. But I may have to return to that karaoke bar in the near future; it appears that I am developing a bit of a fan base there. Too bad I am too old for Canadian Idol. Not like I would ever audition for that show anyway. I will have to provide my reasons in some other post. But if you would like some insight as to why, please view my previous post here.

I managed to stuff myself full of turkey with the family on Sunday, and spent much of the evening trying to install important software on my brand new iMac. There is still a lot of software that I will need to transfer, but since my laptop is completely non-functional, I will have to solicit a computer technician to rip my laptop apart and retrieve the information stored on the hard drive. Sadly, the laptop did not have a CD burner, so there was no way I could back up some 30 gigabytes of data.

My Monday wasn't so much of a holiday, as I spent much of the day in the recording studio. A musical acquaintance of mine is writing an album for submission to the big five record labels: BMG, Sony, Universal, EMI and Warner. This happens to be the bass player I helped play a gig with the past weekend. He sent me some demos of the songs on email, and I was pleasantly surprised at the songwriting. The general sound is reminiscent of Default or Nickelback, but there are differences. I felt the songs were quite marketable, so I told him that I'd help him out and cut the drum tracks for him. Monday afternoon I managed to cut three drum tracks. There are apparently many more to do. At the least, I could get performance credit on a CD that might make it in the hands of some very important people.

Last night I was at Grease rehearsal when the unexpected happened. I have now been cast in the play as Johnny Casino. Now I have lines to learn in addition to my hefty musical responsibilities. Looks like I will have to shave my beard off and cut my hair for the part. Important information regardning Grease tickets have been posted below.

Oh, by the way, I have already been asked to play drums for the next musical theatre production: Anne of Green Gables. I have given them a preliminary "yes".

Important Grease Information

Taken from the Medicine Hat News, October 9, 2004:

Medicine Hat Musical Theatre Presents: Grease
By Permission of Samuel French (Canada) Ltd. And Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. Los Angeles, California

November 12-20, 2004
Medicine Hat College Theatre
8:00pm - Nightly Performances
2:00pm - Sunday Matinee
(No Show Monday, November 15, 2004)

Box Office Opens October 25, 2004
9:00am - 5:00pm
Saturdays 10:00am to 4:00pm
329 North Railway Street SE
To order tickets by phone call (403) 504-6361

Nightly Performances - $20.00
Opening Night Dinner & Show - $50.00

Much Poorer Now

It has taken me nearly six months, but I have finally replaced my computer. Yesterday, I dropped a hefty sum of money on a brand-new iMac G5. The image you see on the left is identical to my model. Sleek, sexy, and powerful, I have high hopes that this machine will last me the next five years.

Yes, I am absolutely bragging. I hope those who know me well will come over and have a look at this piece of modern art. But please, do not drool on the keyboard.

I imagine by now you have noticed some revisions to the template. I borrowed some code and added a list of recently read books. By recently, I mean in the last four years. I have been getting after myself to read more books and spend less time in front of the computer and/or television. You also know that I am rather opinionated, and putting this list of recommended books is all a ploy to influence all you readers.

The first thing I did once I got my computer home was install Dungeon Siege. What a great role-playing game. The screenshots speak for themselves. The sequel appears even more impressive. When I first installed the game, I wasted three months of my spare time trying to beat the game. At least I got my money's worth.

A new computer also means more frequent blog entries. That is, if time permits. I don't expect that I will get to spend much time on here until I am finished with Grease.

Speaking of Grease, I have been given ticket prices. $20 in advance. I still do not know the location of ticket vendors yet. That information shall arrive within a few weeks.

Time for shut-eye. Happy Turkey Day everyone.

Keep It Simple, Stupid!

By now you have probably noticed the new title of this blog. In a previous post entitled "The Name Game", I solicited my readers to submit ideas for a new title of this blog. After a record number of submissions, and after reviewing the best entries (0 entries were submitted), I have decided on mcfro.blogspot.com. My reasons were simple: It would likely be easier to remember the web address. Just simple marketing, nothing more.

X-Prize Won

A few days ago, the Ansari X-Prize was awarded to SpaceShipOne. This was more or less expected, though it is unfortunate that the DaVinci Project came so close, but had unforeseen delays. DaVinci Project may not have won the prize, but I suspect that they will continue to develop their technology, and become the first Canadian endeavor to have launch capability. Heck, even the Canadian Armed Forces don't have the capability to launch a rocket!

Music, Music, Music

I have spent an incredibly large amount of my spare time dedicated to music this week. Late Thursday night, I received a phone call from a gentleman who was in desperate need of a drummer. He had a gig to play the next night, and (to say the very least), he was in a bit of a pickle. I offered to help him out and play the gig with him. It was then expressed to me that there would be no time for rehearsals, and that most of the cover songs would be changed to a point just beyond recognition. I thought it might be interesting, could very well be disastrous, but I would end up earning a few bucks.

It was one of the strangest gigs I have every played. We played music from the 1960's up until today. We took rock songs and turned them country, we took country songs and turned them punk. We took every song and turned them rock, ska, funk, blues, disco, or reggae. I certainly had to be on my toes to play any style the bandleader commanded. Due to the lack of rehearsal time, we sounded a little rough around the edges, but there were no major train wrecks. It was fun nonetheless.

So how did it go? Well, we're playing again on Friday. Same bar. I'm looking forward to playing gigs again.

Grease rehearsals are taking up the rest of my spare time. Things are coming together, albeit slowly. There is still al large amount of work to be done for this production. But it's going to rock!

NEWS FLASH! Presale of Grease tickets commence on October 24th. Ticket prices and vendors will be posted on this website when I have the details.

I'll Take Potpourri For $100, Alex

Tuesdays Are Murder

I often wonder if I take on too much. Below is a synopsis of what Tuesday looked like for me.

• 0620 hrs: Alarm goes off. I get up, feeling the circles under my eyes burn.
• 0630 hrs: Hit the shower in a futile attempt to wake myself.
  
• 0700 hrs: Lay down for thirty minutes in an attempt to get a little more rest
• 0730 hrs: Cursing at MY96's idea of quality programming. "Very Exciting and Worth Listening to" is the least accurate description of Chris Savages' DJ abilities.
  
• 0735 hrs: Getting dressed, packing a snack, and reading the headlines of the news.
• 0745 hrs: Mad dash to work in traffic. Cursing at idiot drivers.
  
• 0800 hrs: At work.
  
• 1200 hrs: Driving home for a lunch break
• 1230 hrs: Watching 20 minutes of "Win Ben Stien's Money" in an attempt to make me smile for the first time that day.
  
• 1245 hrs: Cursing at construction zones and backed-up traffic in an attempt to make it back to work on-time.
  
• 1300 hrs: Back at work.
  
• 1700 hrs: Mad dash home for dinner.
  
• 1800 hrs: Loading equipment for Grease rehearsal.
  
• 1815 hrs: Putting fuel in my car so I don't run out of gas on the way to practice.
  
• 1830 hrs: Loading and setting up equipment for Grease rehearsal at the rehearsal studio.
  
• 1900 hrs: Grease rehearsal
• 2130 hrs: Rehearsal finished. Breaking down equipment and loading it into my car. Also being coerced into going to the pub for a beverage with the rest of the cast and crew.
  
• 2200 hrs: At the pub, partying like you never have partied before -- for 20 minutes.
  
• 2220 hrs: Leave the pub and drive across town, find a Kwik-E-Mart to pick up a few groceries, and go home to unload equipment.
  
• 2240 hrs: Home at last, and unwinding with a few beverages before going to sleep.
  
• 0000 hrs: Finally made it to bed. In about six hours I am going to have to go through this again.

It appears that I am a victim of my own demise. I seem to recall something in one of my previous posts about not going into detail about what I did that day. I apologize to those who were bored or offended, but it's my blog; I can write what I like. I just wanted to demonstrate that my days and nights are full. You can probably understand that when I have a night off, all I want to do is as little as possible.

There are a great many things I wanted to discuss in this entry, but I am afraid I am going to have to discuss them in utter brevity. Details will have to wait for other postings.

Beam Me Up, Scottie
The Space Race is underway. Yesterday, the first commercially-funded spacecraft had its first successful flight to the edge of the atmosphere. Scaled Composites' craft, SpaceShip One, traveled to a height of 100 kilometers above the Mojave desert. They have to successfully duplicate the flight within two weeks to clinch the X-Prize. In related news, the DaVinci Project's maiden voyage has been postponed until further notice. The X-Prize may be awarded to Scaled Composites, after all. It has been brought to my attention that in order to develop SpaceShip One, Scaled Composites has had to spend over $20 million dollars for a prize that is only $10 million. Kind of defeats the purpose, no?

Another Canadian Sports Team Goes Yankee

The Montreal Expos are migrating south to Washington DC. Although I am not a fan of baseball, it is saddening to see another major league sports team migrate south of the border. What I found most disheartening about the sale of the team is that last year's attendance record averaged 8000 spectators per game. Only 5000 spectators attended the Expos' final game on Tuesday. I found this unbelievable given 1) a city the size of Montreal, and 2) the capacity of the Olympic Oval. The place must have looked deserted. It was also stated on the Radio that the poor attendance and performance of the team was due to ownership issues. Don't quote me, that's just what I heard on CBC Radio.

Gimme Some of That Black Gold

Imperial Oil is migrating their head office to Calgary. All this likely means is another office tower downtown, more traffic, more smog, and a stronger Alberta economy. That is, until all the oil and gas wells go dry, which will likely happen within 50 years (read about life after the oil crash for doomsday predictions). Then we will be up the creek. In related news, the price of oil hit $50 per barrel, and I expect it is going to stay there for some time.

Buh-Weet Sez: "Wookin' Pu Nub In All Da Wong Pwaces"

The Dating Game is a blog written by EmGee, a thirty-something New Yorker looking for love in a city where there are 4-million Mr. Wrongs. I stumbled on her little blog while surfing the web, and found her writing to be quite entertaining. If you would like an humorous read about dating in the Big Apple, I suggest giving her blog a try.

My eMail Account Does Work!

Surprise, Surprise! I have been contacted by an old friend who stumbled onto my little corner of cyberspace. Getting a message like this made my week. One of the purposes of this blog is to find out who really is out there, interested in my humble life -- and those who manage to identify me. Congratulations! Your $32,000 check is in the mail. It is also post-dated January 1, 2063.

Krappyoke

I had the oddest experience on Saturday night. We went to a quiet neighborhood pub in hopes of having a late dinner, and walked in the door to find a Karaoke DJ setting up the stage for the remainder of the evening's festivities. So much for a quiet evening. After dinner we decided to stick around to see if the bar was going to get packed with amateur singers, or if the atmosphere was going to remain relatively peaceful.

Now for those who know me, you will know I usually avoid Karaoke bars like the plague. If your Karaoke experiences are anything like mine, you will understand: Packed, smoky bars, overpriced drinks, with an overly loud Karaoke system, waiting 2 hours to sing one song while being tortured by horrific off-key renditions of songs you never wanted to hear in the first place, and when you finally get your turn to sing "American Pie", you find that every person in the bar is now your best friend and are crammed on the stage helping you sing the song. This is not my idea of a good time.

This particular pub that I was at on Saturday night was quite small, and not terribly busy. I guess that there were only about 25 patrons in the pub. It seemed that I might be able to squeeze in a couple quick numbers with the Karaoke machine before the bar gets packed with countless wannabe Canadian Idols. I was not prepared for what was in store for me this night.

I was the first to volunteer, and I warmed up with Cherry Poppin' Daddies' Zoot Suit Riot, which isn't a particularity hard song to do, but it has some scatting, something karaoke regulars often have trouble with. Not only that, but you don't often find Karaoke regulars singing swing. I got a particularity modest response, as I expected few patrons would be listening, or even care for that matter.

It soon became obvious that not many people were going to be there, as some tables quickly left, and were replaced only by a few tables of the Baby Boomer Generation. There was only about four or five people that were interested in singing, and I was getting badgered to get up there again and sing another song.

So I hastily found the Eagles' Take It Easy, a very easy tune, and submitted the request to the DJ. I figured with the age group present at the pub that singing some late sixties and early seventies songs might be the ticket for getting some appreciation on the stage. Within three minutes I was up there singing the song, and my idea seemed to be working. This old fellow sitting next to me said I did a great job and asked if I knew any other Eagles songs. I shrugged and told him that I probably knew a few more, but you got to be careful with Don Henley's voice, as he can hit some pretty high notes. I had a feeling that he wanted to hear more Eagles, and I was also getting the feeling that I was the only Rocker in the crowd, and everybody else wanted to hear Country. For all those who know me, also know that Country and I get along about as good as oil and water do.

Well the next thing I knew, I was getting called up to the stage to sing songs I had not submitted. It is a little flattering, but mostly annoying, since you are often coerced into singing songs you do not know in the least. It is a situation I don't care about, as I do not like being stuck up there with material I don't know.

I did get a few compliments about my Karaoke abilities, but I didn't say much more in response than a simple "thank you". This younger couple returned to the pub after leaving for an hour or two just to hear me sing some more -- or so they had told me. Another younger fellow wanted to pay for my bar tab. I began to feel like I was a star in that little pub, and I began to feel that pressures that comes with such privileges. People were trying to tell me that I could sing better than Kalan, others were trying to encourage me to write music. All I heard out of that gibberish was the beer and whiskey talking. I got out of there after seven songs, the last three being material I was not comfortable with, and were out of my vocal range. If I didn't get out of there, I would be singing until three in the morning, and not by my choice either.

I have had some good experiences with Karaoke, but generally, my dislike for Karaoke runs a lot deeper than I had previously mentioned. For me being a professional musician, I have to thank Club DJ's and Karaoke machines for replacing me. There is hardly any place left for live music, and if there is, there is no money in it. Twenty-five years ago, you could be a professional musician and never have to leave the city. You would work six nights a week, make good money, and play a circuit of the same six or eight bars in the city. Clubs with Disc Jockeys were the exception rather than the norm, and Karaoke was well over a decade away. People went to clubs to dance and watch a live band.

Today, you can find Karaoke being offered in at least half a dozen bars and clubs on any given weekend in my little city. Every bar has some form of canned music, either a Disc Jockey or Jukebox. The live music scene has all but dried up. And not just here, it's the same story all over North America -- probably Europe too.

Whatever happened to all the live music joints? I think their entertainment budgets have been getting smaller, their operating expenses have risen, and greed has taken over. It costs far less to hire a DC, pay for a Jukebox, or hire a Karaoke business than it costs to hire a band. A band still has a lot more entertainment value than any of the other options, in my opinion. It's quite boring to watch a jukebox. Disc Jockeys aren't that much more exciting either.

I know if the live music scene here were like anything it was a quarter century ago, I would me making music locally full-time, and I would be quite happy. I would probably be making more money than I am now, and having a much better time while I was at it too.

Up To Speed

For all of you who are wondering what's happening in my life, I should bring you up to speed a little bit. I have returned to teaching drums to my pupils for another year. It appears that my students are motivated and excited about their music this fall, which should be conducive to some very enjoyable lessons. I am looking forward to seeing what they will accomplish this year.

In addition to my full-time job, and my part-time teaching, I have been involved in the local production of Grease. It has been a number of months since I have discussed the subject, but for the most part, not a lot had been going on at the time. I had received the music score for Grease at the beginning of summer, and spent my weekends learning the tracks. I put all the songs on my iPod, and bashed away at the songs. With 45 minutes of skip-protection, the iPod is the ultimate practice companion. I never have any shortage of songs to jam to on that little gadget.

Nearing the end of August, a party was thrown by the theater production company, where I had the opportunity to meet the cast and crew for Grease. It was rather casual, but entertaining to meet all these fledging actors and singers. I also managed to see a few people I hadn't since my last play I'm Getting My Act Together And Taking It On The Road. It was a great reunion and a good way to start the long drawn-out process of putting a play together.

Music rehearsals for Grease began shortly after Labour Day. So far, we are only having rehearsals once a week, but that is about to change. From now on until the end of October, I will be having rehearsals three days a week. So far the practices have been going smoothly, and it seems that everybody has been doing their homework. The musicians are all kind, and are excellent players. This band is going to smoke. I can't wait to hear the cast sing to our bands' music.

Sorry people, I don't have much information about tickets. There has been a lot of buzz generated already, and there is two months to go until debut. This play is going to sell-out. I wish we had a bigger venue -- like the Esplanade, which won't be completed until 2005.

On a completely unrelated tangent. I have been thinking about my old Tour Journals from 1999. I sure wish I knew about blogging back then. It would have made my efforts of sending mass emails and setting up webpages so much easier. I have decided I am going to revive the ZanZee Summer Tour 1999 Journals using the Blogger format. I might have to wait until Grease is finished before I can begin, but I suspect if I can recover my old webpage -- it is saved on my derelict laptop, that it won't take much effort to post all that information again.

I think I said I was going edit and censor some aspects of the original Tour Journal. I imagine it will mostly be for brevity reasons -- and to protect the identity of a few people. Dave, Arleen and I will still have the same identities, of course. I will place a hotlink to the Tour Journal from this page, as well as my homepage, in which there is very little there anyway.

I have been watching my traffic lately; it seems that it is increasing. I have been monitoring the site statistics and it appears that I am getting some strays pass on through. Drop me a line; I don't bite -- hard.

Shameless Political Plug

This is not exactly what I wanted to discuss today, but I stumbled upon this site, and I felt like it was worth mentioning. The United States War Machine has contributed to more wars and political instability than I could possibly count. If the US is not fighting a war, they are often contributing weapons and supplies to countries that are.

I don't like to discuss political views on this blog, as everybody takes sides, and animosity quickly develops. As far as wars go, it doesn't matter what side you are on; there is no such thing as a definitive 'good' or 'evil' side. It's all propaganda. The world isn't black and white.

I don't want to go much further than the facts. The Israeli occupation of the Palestine territories is illegal due to UN Resolution 242 and the 4th Geneva Convention. The United States have been supplying weapons and supplies to an illegal occupation for over forty years. This contributes in increased resentment and hatred for the United States by Middle Eastern Nations.

It seems to me that in recent years, the way the United States has dealt with this hatred directed towards them is to stomp it out with their war machine (Iraq and Afghanistan). Turning crop fields into craters is no way to win over the hearts of the civilians you wish to govern. The question few people are asking is why did the United States invade Iraq and Afghanistan when those countries had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001? Over two-thirds of the hijackers were Saudi Arabians. Why did not the United States just turn the Saudi Arabia into a nuclear wasteland? The answers are rather geo-political, and oil has almost everything to do with it. Instead of going after the vigilant country, the US would rather bully a few neighborhood runts as a warning to "not piss us off". I still fail to see the logic in declaring war on undeveloped nations. Afghanistan and Iraq were nothing more than scapegoats to appease the angry and perplexed civilians of the world's richest nation.

If the United States ever wishes to end terrorism, they must stop it at the source. They will have to pull their forces out of Iraq, and Afghanistan (to name just two), and stop the funding of Israeli forces. Once this happens, I might be able to sleep better at night.

Haven't had time to compose a lengthy post, however I thought I'd add a few websites that I frequent.

I like to keep up-to-date with the developments at Apple. Apple, however are quite secretive about their technological developments, and they do not have frequent press releases. For current Apple news, I frequent MacMinute.com, a page that is updated several times a day on the latest Mac news, software releases, and other relevant information. MacMinute usually sticks to the facts, and normally do not speculate on upcoming software or hardware developments.

MacRumors.com is a lovely site that has current Mac news, as well as rumors surrounding new hardware and software releases. It is not updated as often as MacMinute, however, MacRumors is known to get reliable information or specifications on new Apple computers or applications. MacRumors also features a buyer's guide, that describes in detail the age of the current computer models offered, and speculation on when you might see the release of a newer model. This is a must for any serious Apple Computer shopper.

Canadian Idol

I must sadly admit that I have been watching Canadian Idol, despite my hatred for "reality-based" television. I even expected that I would not write about such things on this blog, but recently, there have been a few issues that have been bothering me, and I must get them off my chest.

I have been only watching the Canadian Idol episodes for approximately the last month, so I have missed quite a bit. Fortunately, with Reality TV, it doesn't matter when you tune in, as you really don't need no know what happened the previous episode to fully enjoy the current broadcast (not unlike Soap Operas, I should add). I am happy to say, I missed all the poor performers, as off-key singers really irk me. I must admit that it annoys me that these awful no-talents managed to make it on national television, when I can sing much better than they. But those early episodes are gone now, and replaced by a media circus that is changing the lives of the remaining few.

In last night's episode, we said goodbye to British Columbia's powder keg, Jacob Hoggard, leaving Alberta's Kalan Porter and Saskatchewan's Theresa Sokyrka the last two contenders for the Canadian Idol crown. Less than seven days remain until Canada finds out who is the next Canadian Idol. I must admit there are a few things about this competition (and similar to all reality-based TV shows) that are beginning to bother me.

First of all, the publicity that these youths must endure is staggering. They are put on this pedestal and shown off to the country every week. They are commended on their talents and their looks. Their egos inflate with each applaud, every scream, every photograph, and every fan site. Then each week, the least popular is publicly humiliated on national television, and irreparably broken, sending their career down the tube. Their name and face is quickly forgotten as the media more heavily promote the "survivors" of this cruel game.

Question: Would you subject yourself to a situation where at any time you could be told: "You were good, but you suck now. Goodbye". You might argue otherwise, as show business has always been a matter of being at the right place at the right time. It is very rare that any person can stay at the top for very long. Example: Whatever happened to the Spice Girls? Weren't they the biggest thing next to sliced bread? Sure, they sold millions of records, and they probably made a lot of money, but I don't hear anything about them anymore. Not like I really care about them anyway.

In addition to my first point, I must argue the detrimental effects that this media circus must have on these young performers. Watching the three finalists go to their hometowns for rallies and performances was shocking. Limousines, police escorts, near-riots, and thousands of screaming fans were all waiting for these new stars. It's hard to imagine what these developments have on the psyche of a person. Teenaged girls crying their eyes our in the front rows of these concerts -- and I can hardly call them concerts; where's the band? Its just Karaoke with the stars singing the same songs they did on television.

The emotional struggles these young stars have do deal with are incredible. The effects of these pressures weren't all that obvious on the male competitors, but it was apparent with Theresa Sokyrka. CTV showed footage of her "homecoming", where she visited her elementary school, and the Mayor of Saskatoon named a month after her, and Theresa was overwhelmed with emotion. The television footage exposed her soft underbelly and showed the country how vulnerable a person she was. Yes, she's human like everybody else. I could not tell if her tears were ones of joy, happiness, fear, or stress, but I felt sorry for her.

As for all of them, they are all nervous wrecks when they are on the chopping block -- you can see it. I imagine that they are all physically ill the moments before the delivery of the bad news. All these talented people on these shows have spent weeks working together, day and night, preparing for the week's performances. They become a family, and it is obvious that even though they are competing against one another, they are also very close. To have a member of that family plucked from the rest every week is even difficult for the survivors. They are all emotional wrecks saying goodbye to their close friends as the credits roll. To physically create these bonds, and to have them taken away; to put them through all the apprehension and stress when they don't know if their number is up, is nothing short of abuse.

And millions of people watch these shows every week to see who gets thrown to the lions. Come to think of it, Reality TV is not all that different from the Gladiator games of ancient Rome. Countless people watching the weakest player meet a gory and cruel death. The blood and dismemberment is only replaced by public humiliation, anguish, ego-rupture, and failure. The losers might even wish they were dead, instead of having to endure all the pointing, the sneers and snickers of the public.

Even the winner has to eventually deal with failure. Nobody stays at the top for long. The winner might have his or her scores of fans for a while, but those fans will eventually find a new flavor of the month. There is only a matter of time until the next season of Canadian Idol, and then his or her tenure will expire. Gone, will be the limousines, the police escorts, the long grueling tours, the interviews, and the screaming fans. What will they have to show for it but a few memories and some paraphernalia that nobody wants anymore? Will they enjoy their life once it returns to normal? Will it ever return to normal? Will they be able to handle the depression when stardom dwindles to the flicker of a candle?

Stars will likely tell you the hardest thing to deal with is accepting the fact that your career is over. Often stars end up with very little after the days of partying, fancy homes and expensive cars are over. Some (not all) end up spending what they have left on drugs.

Everybody suffers from periods of depression in his or her lives. Artists, musicians and actors seem to have it more difficult. Some artists are emotionally unstable, and thus use their moodiness to inspire them to write, compose, or act. Being creative and inspired is euphoric to artists -- it is the best form of emotional therapy. When their days of popularity are over, the pain is often unbearable. What do these artists do when nobody enjoys their art, and there is no income? How do they stay inspired? How do they heal themselves when there is no outlet? Drugs.

So to Theresa, Kalan and the rest of the idols, I have grown attached to you all the last number of weeks. It pains me every time I see one of you go. It hurts me even more so, because I was once where you are, a professional musician, touring the countryside, being adored everywhere I went. And I know what it's like to go down.

To Kalan Porter and Theresa Sokyrka, I know that only one of you can be crowned Idol. But I want to let you know that if I kept score, you would both be winners. Your talents are diverse and impeccable. Godspeed to both of you... And if either of you ever need a solid drummer *wink*, give me a call. I'm closer than you think.

Fu@# Thank You, Patriot Act

A few evenings ago, I watched one of my favorite movies, Pump Up The Volume for what seemed to be the hundredth time. Although this movie is nearly fifteen years old, it is still relevant to the teenaged generation. The implications of this movie are diverse, and overall, the movie carries a positive message.

While in University years ago, a roommate and I watched this movie on a lazy weekend. We found it poetic, riveting and inspirational. We became intoxicated with the idea that we could sit in a control booth, speak into a microphone, and instigate revolution. We wanted to be admired and adored, yet at the same time, stay anonymous. We admired Christian Slater's character Happy Harry Hard-On, and we wanted to be as popular as he. So we became Radio Disc Jockeys at the campus radio station, then named CKUL (it is now called CKXU). We chose pseudonyms MC Fro and the Snowman to hide our true identities from our legions of fans (and our adversaries), and we intended to be as crude and offensive as Hard Harry was.

Unfortunately, the problems with working at any radio station, including commercial radio as well as campus radio, is that there are rules and regulations governing all aspects of your broadcast. You break the rules, and the CRTC revokes your broadcasting license, and you are through. Naturally, we did not like this situation at first.

What do you mean I can't say (insert arbitrary offensive statement here:) on the radio? What about freedom of speech? What about the rebellion against the system? This is bullsh*t! dog poo!

Once you have sat in that booth for a few sessions, you quickly learn what you can get away with on the air, and what you can't. The problem doesn't reside in what you say, but often how it is said that makes a subject offensive. We were also at liberty to play a disclaimer during our show, to warn viewers that the material may be deemed offensive to some viewers. In this sense, the Snowman and myself managed to get away with quite a bit. And we did manage to establish a small cult following, which was good enough for us. At the end of the year, we created a cassette tape (yes, cassette) and distributed copies to our closest friends. Those tapes still haunt me.

The next year, the Snowman did not return to University, and his spot as my radio co-host was replaced with the Midnyte Mystress. The radio trend continued with loud music and spoken word material that was ethically questionable at times. When the Mydnyte Mystress graduated, I continued to volunteer my services at the radio station for the remainder of my university career. The shows progressively became tamer, and the quality of program increased as well. By the time I ran my last semester on the radio, I wasn't much of a maverick, and rarely got into the trouble I once frequented. I am proud to have had that opportunity to donate my spare time to that establishment, even if I did not instigate revolution.

So what does this have to do with the movie?

There are many issues that are explored in Pump Up The Volume, that are relevant to young persons. The blatantly obvious is the idea that teenagers are always being controlled by some authorative figure. Teenagers are constantly being told what to do (and what not to do) by their parents, teachers, clergy, and even the law. All these commands are a major source of frustration amongst teenagers, and often the only way to deal with such an oppressive force is to lash out and rebel. If you have ever felt like you were being controlled or manipulated, you will agree that it is not such a pleasant experience. In Pump Up The Volume, it is not just Christian Slater's character that feels he is being controlled. For the most part his only adversaries are his parents, whom he does not understand their archaic yuppie ways. The rest of the student body of his high school are essentially bullied by the faculty, often reprimanded or expelled for frivolous reasons.

The movie takes this idea of authorative power to an extreme. I will certainly tell you that as a high school student, I felt that the faculty was unfairly controlling of the student body. The teachers were also prejudiced, as those students with long hair, those who wore army boots, and those who wore leather jackets and torn jeans were singled out and reprimanded for little reason, while the "clean-cut" athletes got away with murder. But my experience was not to the extreme as documented in Pump Up The Volume.

In fact, Hard Harry's nightly broadcasts went without any sign of trouble for what could be weeks or months. He plays music that would otherwise not be broadcast on radio, and talks about his personal problems on the air to anybody who would care to listen. Because of this, something magical happens.

What turns into a couple people stumbling onto his pirate radio station by chance becomes an instant cult following. The students of the school begin to realize that they are not as alone as they feel. The students begin to write Harry, and what develops is a sort of anonymous peer support group, where everyone has a chance to vent and seek personal guidance from Harry. If a phone number was enclosed Harry would often call the troubled teen and do his best to console him or her. For all intents and purposes, it appears that aside from some music with explicit lyrics, Harry wasn't being a bad influence.

Harry unexpectedly discovers corruption in the ranks of his teachers. He stumbles upon a memo addressed to the principal written by a guidance counselor. The counselor is discussing one of the school students, and recommends the student be expelled on the sole premise that she is pregnant. To be expelled for such a thing is ridiculous, and Harry takes matters into his own hands, and exposes the corrupt faculty live on the air. Unfortunately, there is little the school can do, as Harry is operating on complete anonyminity at this point in the movie.

Harry makes one other critical error, as one of his listeners writes him a letter telling him he has suicidal tendencies. Instead of Harry trying to talk him out of it, he is rather cocky about the situation, and instead asks him to make sure he writes a note before pulling the trigger. The student commits suicide that night, much to Harry's chagrin.

By this time, the students of the school are upset and angry with the corrupt faculty, and are rebelling. Harry wants to give up the radio hobby before he causes any more harm to the community, but he is compelled to try to make right what went wrong in the first place. Instead, he just adds fuel to the fire. Students are demanding that there is fairness and equity to their school lives, and they demand an end to corruption at the school. The parents and faculty only see that the teenagers are out of control and the only way to quell this little rebellion is by taking this anonymous Pirate DJ off the air.

The FCC is then brought in to put an end to Harry's illustrious career. Serendipity strikes when the valiant efforts of a sympathetic teacher provides proof of the corrupt faculty to the proper authorities and justice is brought to the school and the students.

I have discussed censorship in a post months back, but I may have failed to address the dangers of censorship. Censorship is a form of tyranny. It is the adversary of Freedom of Speech. If you cannot freely express yourself, how can the truth be known? This is especially dangerous, as the Patriot Act has the power to censor and remove people's freedom of expression. Take the time to read it; you might be surprised to find out that your country isn't as free as you might have thought. The Patriot Act is not just about bringing justice to terrorists; it is also about propaganda and control. [ed. note: Discussions about the Patriot Act will have to wait for another posting.]

At the end of Pump Up The Volume, Harry urges all the students to start their own pirate radio stations. "Steal the air; they can't take it from you," he cries (I am likely paraphrasing here). This inspires many teenagers to follow in Harry's footsteps and set up their own radio stations.

Even today, broadcast equipment is prohibitively expensive and difficult to obtain. Federal regulatory agencies often keep tabs on who wants to purchase essential equipment, and usually only authorize the purchase of transmitters when it is deemed that the purchasing party has not only done their homework, but also paid their dues.

Strange how much things change in fifteen years. If you want to broadcast a radio show, you can do so with available software. Your show may not be transmitted over radio waves, but it can be streamed to any computer who has an internet connection. You can have a radio show that anyone can listen to, and it will cost you next to nothing. Much of that internet streaming software is free. The problem arises that with so many internet radio stations, who will be willing to listen?

It seems that the trendy way to communicate with others on the web is with blogs. Blogs also have a similar problem to internet radio: there are so many of them that yours may go unnoticed. However, the internet has many advantages over broadcast radio. For example, it is unregulated. No federal body or international coalition has the power to regulate the material on the web. It is the ultimate in freedom of speech and expression. I don't even think the Patriot Act can touch it.

The internet is convenient. You don't have to tune in at 2200 hrs to catch your favorite DJ. Anybody can read your postings, provided the archive is not deleted. You can put audio, text, and video on your webpage. You can arrange files for download, as well as links to other relevant information. But I'm just citing the obvious. The internet is one of the most effective tools ever devised to disseminate information.

But then, how exciting would Pump Up The Volume be if it were written for today's generation? Would anyone care if the protagonist had a blog instead of a radio station? Very boring, indeed. At least in this generation, nearly everyone with a computer has the power to publish their thoughts and views, without a regulatory agency interfering. Free speech is returning to the masses. Unfortunately it only seems to exist on the web. Thank you, Patriot Act. Go to He&# Disneyland.

The Next Generation

Time constraints have prevented me from publishing this post in the last number of days. On August 30, Apple released their next-generation iMac, sporting a speedy G5 processor and other refinements. The entire machine is built into the display, and is under 2 inches thick. As you can see in the image, the new iMac is quite a different sight from the rainbow-colored translucent machines of a few years ago. The price point is still quite high ($1749CDN for the base model), but like I said in an earlier post, the "I want it" factor is incredibly high. It doesn't help that my laptop is in a state of disrepair, and it was estimated that it would cost $1000CDN to repair it. I paid less than that for the machine in the first place.

I have been driving myself crazy with the decision whether or not to pre-order one of these machines, as I have been rather frivolous with my spending this summer. You all know how cheap I am.

Science Fiction, or Fact?

I have been on a reading spree in the last few weeks. Many of you might attest it to the fact that I am without a computer, and for the most part, that is a correct assumption. I have recently finished reading Carl Sagan's Contact, the book that was transformed to the 1997 summer blockbuster movie. Since I saw the movie a number of years ago, I had longed to read the book, on the general premise that books are often more elaborate and detailed than movies are. I was hoping that the book would provide me with better insight to the physics behind the movie. I was particularly interested in how humans could receive a message from space, discover audio and video characteristics to the message, then interpolate digital data from interlaced frames from within the message, and then find a decryption primer that was hidden in a deeper layer of data. It seems that how Sagan describes the process in his book is quite a bit different from the methods described in the movie.

I shouldn't have to mention that the book is considerably different from the movie. The plots are quite different, even though the main themes remain the same. There are additional characters in the book that do not exist in the movie. Conversely, there had been legitimate scientific discoveries and current events that were interlaced with the movie to make it a little more authentic. Sagan of course, could have had no idea of the historical events of the late 1990's that seemingly complimented the events in his book that was first published in 1985.

The producer of the motion picture had done well in trying to combine current events and recent scientific discoveries to provide an authentic nature to the film. If you read Sagan's book, it would come across a little more like science fiction, reliant at times on technology that has not been invented yet, and on other times, on technology that has been invented, but has become obsolete or passé. Unfortunately, this is the common and disappointing nature of science fiction; is that technological advancement can sometimes surpass the ideas of the writer, and the integrity of the story can weaken. It often lessens the shelf life of such a book.

For example, in the book Contact, the staff of the SETI project Argus used a CRAY mainframe supercomputer to decrypt the message from space. When the book was written in 1985, a CRAY mainframe was one of the most advanced computers in the world. By today's standards, a CRAY isn't a terribly powerful computer, as UC Berkley is using millions of household computers to analyze space signals for the existence of intelligent life. The computing power of the SETI@home project is likely on the factor of millions of times more powerful than the CRAY computer depicted in Sagan's novel. I am not criticizing Carl Sagan; he was one of the most brilliant scientific minds of the Twentieth Century. How could he possibly know that there would become a thing as powerful as the internet, which single-handedly revolutionized the way we communicate and share information?

Speaking of the internet, and technologies of telecommunication, it seems that telephone companies are in fear of going bankrupt because programmers have found ways to use high-bandwidth modems to place long-distance phone calls for free. Long-distance phone calls used to be the bread and butter for telecommunications companies, but that no longer is the case. The telecommunications companies have had to migrate to cellular phone technology to provide them with the profits they once enjoyed. I am afraid, with the rapid development and implementation of Wi-Fi (wireless networking) that those days may be numbered as well. I suspect that within a generation, the word "long-distance" will no longer apply. Phone calls will be as cheap to make as it is to send an e-mail, and it would not matter if you send your phone call next door, or to Beijing.

It is the Darwinism of business and technology. Over the course of history, there are countless professions that have been made obsolete due to the advancement of technology. Even a century ago, there were "icemen" who delivered blocks of ice to the neighborhood for household cold storage. These people went out of business by the time the refrigerator hit the mass market. This might be the first time in history, that an industry so large and powerful, has the potential of crumbling under its' own weight.

The world is getting smaller day by day. It just seems that the telephone companies will have to change their marketing strategies if they expect to survive the next twenty years. I expect there will be a great deal of bankruptcies and corporate mergers in the decades to come as these telecommunications giants attempt to keep their books in the black amidst a technology that advances so quickly, it becomes obsolete within a year.

I unfortunately, have a difficult time swallowing the cellular phone pill. I just can't fathom that paying by the minute for your airtime on the phone is in any way economical. It's cheaper to place a phone call at a pay phone. When I had a cellular phone, I received phone bills that surpassed my monthly income. I would hope that sometime soon, that the digital revolution would make cellular technology not just affordable to everyone, but as economical as people's internet connection.

Convergence is inevitable.

Browser Wars: Episode III - Revenge of Mozilla

There are countless people who feel that a holy war is being fought right here, on the internet. Their opinions are as varied as they are subjective, and are usually based upon a bias toward a brand. Others feel that they should have a choice as to what software they should be allowed to run on their computer; they feel that their right to choose has been stolen from them. Even others feel that information is something that should belong to everyone, and it should not carry a price. Of these people, their opinions of their adversaries are so fierce and jaded, that they actually consider the competitor (and those who use the offending software) agents of evil. Individuals and marketing schemes continually attempt to convert users of one platform to another, which can only be compared to missionaries infiltrating a primitive culture with the sole intent of converting "ruthless savages into believers of Christ". One leader of a company is perceived Godlike, the other is considered the Devil. But nobody really knows which side is the right one, because in fact, no right side exists. It is a war that has no real purpose, and there is no end in sight.

This is a battle that has been raging since the introduction of the personal computer, or at least, since the internet had been used for recreational purposes. In actuality, software piracy has been a problem since the mass production of computers and software, which arguably began sometime in the late 1970's. Back then, software piracy, the protection of electronic intellectual property (ie. music), and related lawsuits weren't headlining news -- as it is today. Why now, rather than then? My guess is that the computer industry wasn't as profitable as it is today, as well as our reliance on digital technology has increased. Twenty years ago, nobody even considered putting commercial audio or a motion picture on the computer; that's what VCR's and stereo systems were for. A person already had specialized items for these media. It didn't matter anyway as the computers of the past were too archaic, slow, and didn't have the capacity to store large media.

It only took about ten years before computer entertainment and mass media began to converge. Computers were slowly becoming the digital entertainment center of a household. The progress was in fact so slow it was hardly noticed. Computers were being shipped with CD-ROM drives and multimedia speakers years before anyone had any real use for them. It wasn't until the rising popularity of the internet that brought the computer on par with satellite television, digital music and digital video as kingpins of the entertainment industry.

Whose idea was it to bring mass media to the computer? It was likely software companies and computer manufacturers. It was likely a marketing scheme in an effort to sell more computers and increase profits. We, as consumers really have no need for blazing fast computers with broadband connections, complete with hundreds of gigabytes of storage to hold all our digital movies and music. It's a false need. Even computers that are ten years old have the capability of connecting to the internet to share electronic mail or surf the world-wide web. We just want bigger and faster computers because we are spoiled consumers and we must have everything now. We are too impatient to wait 15 minutes for a digital file to download from a dial-up modem. The general populace would rather download a movie or audio from a peer to peer client rather than pay for it. It's not the fact that it's free, nor is it the fact that it is stealing; we can afford to pay for these items. It is just that we, as a population, are greedy and impatient. Why should anyone pay for something if it is readily available for free?

The entertainment industry is of course, enraged. They are claiming that they are losing billions of dollars per year due to internet file-sharing. These accusations are not much more than that -- it is difficult to prove that they are losing profits. Let me explain:

The numbers the entertainment industry have been using to argue that they have been losing profits is the year they made the absolute most: 1999. This, uncoincidentally is the same year the NASDAQ broke 10,000 -- it's highest value ever. The economy was better than it ever had been before. Computers were flying off the shelves and every first-world citizen (who could afford it) jumped on the internet bandwagon. So what happened in 2000? It's called the "tech bubble burst". Recession. Investors lost trillions when their dot-com stocks withered to nothing overnight. Now it seems that the entertainment industry is blaming the file-sharing phenomenon for their lost profits, instead of putting the blame squarely on the poor state of the economy. The arguments are both subjective, and would be difficult to prove the case that it is in fact the poor economy that can be attributed to poor sales in record shops. But just watch: once the economy recovers, music sales will be up again. It would nonetheless help if the recording industry would support acts that are talented and have the ability to write good songs for a change.

I actually did not want to discuss the "David versus Goliath" scenario of the recording industry suing the general public, as it has been discussed to death on every imaginable internet site for the last four years. This will be another jihad of the internet, and will continue for years to come.

File sharing on the internet is a bit like Pandora's Box; once it has opened, you will unable to close it again. Computer programmers are an intelligent and resourceful bunch, and they will always be trying to outsmart, outwit, outfox, and out-hack the competition. The recording industry will try to devise more complicated mousetraps in order to copy-protect their songs (and/or video), and programmers will always find a way to get around the obstacles in their way. The war could go on for years, but I would put my money on the hackers as the ones that will eventually wind up victorious. Hackers have noses like bloodhounds when it comes to obtaining encrypted, confidential, or copyrighted information. They are the ones who believe that information should be free and shared with everyone.

Zeropaid.com is a website dedicated to file sharing on the internet. They feature resources on multitudes of peer-to-peer software for any major computer platform. What intrigues me most about this site is not the software itself, but all the news coverage they feature on the legal battles between the entertainment industry and software development corporations, or teenaged kids who can't afford a lawyer. The spin Zeropaid puts on their news makes if feel like there is a crusade to defeat the Evil Galactic Empire and restore freedom to the galaxy. I find it rather amusing.

There are of course, other things you can do as a computer consumer if you believe that there is some sort of electronic "holy-war" taking place over cable modems across the world. If you wish to participate in the battle against "Big Brother" (whomever he may be), then learn to program. I would suggest learning to program in as many languages as you can, and try your hand at becoming a software developer. Learn what "open-source" means, and use such software whenever possible.

For nearly every major (branded) computer application that you deem invaluable on your computer, there is likely a free, open-source, program the does virtually the same thing, and is being developed by scores of programmers worldwide.

The most indispensable computer program that everybody needs is an operating system. Even that version of Windows that came stock with your PC came with a price. Microsoft and Apple love to make their consumers buy new, upgraded versions of their operating system every few years. The new OS usually has a few new features, but it is rarely worth the price you pay. Unfortunately, the new programs and the new games normally only operate on the most recent versions of the operating system for which it was devised, so often it seems like there is little choice but to keep your operating system current. In actuality, with all the security risks, spyware, and viruses that are spread throughout the internet, it is in a computer operator's best interest to keep all their software current.

If you are tired of security holes in your operating system, and sickened by viruses and worms, if your computer has had it's modem hijacked, then you must understand how frustrating it an be to be a computer user. There are alternatives.

Linux was originally developed by Linus Torvalds as an open-source clone of the UNIX operating system. You must imagine that writing an operating system is not an easy task, thus he had difficulty solving some programming problems. So Torvalds placed what he had managed to program on the internet in an effort to see if others could help him finish writing the operating system. The response was immense. Linux soon became a fully-functioning, stable, freely distributed operating system based on the UNIX kernel.

Red Hat Linux is a popular commercial version of the Linux operating system. There are even versions of Linux that operate on old hardware, breathing new life into seemingly obsolete machines. It may be an alternative choice for those who cannot yet afford a new computer.

Mozilla is an open-source web browser that is every bit as powerful as Microsoft IE. It is absolutely free, and is highly customizable. For instance, you can install skins to alter the appearance of your browser. If you are looking for a highly capable email client, Mozilla has those too. In addition, Mozilla runs on every major computer platform (Windows, Mac and Unix). I found this image on the web, and fell in love with it. I just had to show you.

"That's all fine and dandy, but Microsoft Office is the industry standard for word processing and spreadsheet applications, and I need those for my career," you say. Ask anybody and they will tell you Microsoft Office is an incredibly expensive program, and business owners usually fork out a healthy sum every couple of years in order to keep their programs up to date. Enter OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice is a fully functional office suite that does about everything that Microsoft Office does -- absolutely free. And it is being developed for every major computer platform. It is also my understanding that OpenOffice has the ability to read and write Microsoft Office files. What isn't there to love about this program?

Long live open-source software. As long as computing power is in the hands of the programmer and not the corporations, we will always have alternatives than to give our money to Corporate Big Brother.

As I close this lengthy post, I thought I might tell you a little about The Stone SouperComputer. A number of years ago, a friend of mine told me about this article in Scientific American about a couple of professors who needed a supercomputer to do some physical modeling for their research, but it was not in the budget to purchase brand new machines. So these professors built a Beowulf supercomputer using obsolete PC's. It cost them next to nothing to build, as hundreds of old desktop computers were donated to them. I hadn't visited the Soupercomputer homepage in quite some time, upon my last visit it had been brought to my attention that the Soupercomputer went offline just over one year ago. I find these gentleman an inspiration when creative thinking allows a problem to be solved efficiently and at minimal cost. What a great idea for a bunch of silicon that was destined for the landfill.