Finally found some free internet.
Cool hostel / campground.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
It’s called The Tent.
Category: product endorsements
Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo – a review
Excellent.
I was very happy I finally got the chance to see it. The original meaning of military tattoo is a military drum performance, but nowadays it sometimes means army displays more generally.
The themes: the military, police, fire, patriotism, Scottish heritage, international cooperation, tradition. Military music: drums and pipes.
It’s so unhip. So retro. So old fashioned … I found it very charming. It’s the anti-Cirque.
Happily the old men in charge laughed off any suggestion to pander with a reference to Michael Jackson. In fact, they don’t know who he was. … But they do know Abba.
Though I was born to parents both in the military, my upbringing was just the opposite. The formative book of my teen years was anti-war: Catch-22.
The first adult movie I saw was anti-war: Kelly’s Heros.
As a young adult I told Rich that I would rather be Red than Dead. (As a gymnastics coach, I might just have been better off under the Commies than under Trudeau.)
But I’ve always respected the military. They are clear on purpose. Announced loudly and clearly during the Tattoo:
There are no good wars. And there is nothing good about war.
(Nod to Benjamin Franklin.)
A strong military is all about preventing war. And minimizing the risk of war.
Our greatest danger in 2009 is the hazard that the wrong people in Pakistan might get their hands on nuclear weapons. (Not climate change. Please.) We need a strong military to do what we can to minimize the risk of nuclear war.
At MEC I happened to see a young female soldier shopping for a personal backpack for her upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. Very young. I could only think of how much braver she was than me. I’d hate to be going over there right now.
Kudos to everyone in police, fire prevention and the military. I salute you.
official website – Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo
Here is the 2009 promo video on YouTube. (The footage is from previous years. But you’ll get the idea.)
The Tattoo is too long and slow for kids. At least 3 were asleep near where I was sitting by half way through the performance. But I recommend you attend if ever you get the chance.
Leave a comment if you’ve seen a Tattoo.
The Offspring rock Halifax
Before Green Day, there was The Offspring. Warren Long introduced me to Offspring. I’ve like them ever since.
Both those bands I would call pop punk. Popular punk.
My arrival in Halifax Saturday by coincidence coincided with a big Virgin Mobile outdoor festival. Because headliners The Tragically Hip cancelled last minute due to a family emergency of one of the band members, promoters decided to make the event free.
Every song Offspring played was great. But my favourite was The Kids Aren’t Alright. Here’s the original music video.
Wednesday night I have a ticket for the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo. I’ll be hiking Cape Chignecto Trail starting Sunday.
free business phone calls to the USA
Since I gave up my only phone number yesterday, I’m exploring online alternatives.
I tried Google’s free service called Google 411.
Here’s how it works.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
… completely free and really easy to use. Simply call 1-800-GOOG-411, say where you are and what you’re looking for. GOOG-411 will find and connect you with the business you choose for free.
http://www.google.com/goog411
So … it’s the same as using 411 in the USA, but you get no service charge on your phone bill at the end of the month. The oft hated AT&T will charge $1.99 per 411 call beginning July 1, 2009. After tax in South Florida on your AT&T phone, that information call will cost $2.40.
You’d have to be an idiot not to use Google 411 rather than pay $2.40.
Microsoft and other companies offer similar services at no cost. Or low cost.
====
Even better, I called 1-800-GOOG-411 from Canada to a business in the USA from my laptop using Skype. It worked perfectly.
That means I can call an American business phone number for free from anywhere in the world using Skype.
Sweet.
Skype is already free person to person … if they both have Skype.
But Skype is not free calling from Skype to a regular phone. For that you need to buy SkypeOut minutes. Those are only a couple of cents a minute from anywhere in the world to any phone.
Compare that with the $3.50 / minute (plus tax, plus fees) roaming charge for calling across the border from the USA to Canada when I’m in the USA.
I love Skype. I hate the phone companies.
Upcoming Tech That Will Rock Your World
Lifehacker chooses 4 amazing products that are game changers.
1) Google Wave
2) Windows 7
3) Snow Leopard
4) iPhone 3GS and the All-Out Smartphone War
I’ll be buying Snow Leopard as soon as it’s available.
But it’s Google Wave that I’m most excited about. This is the biggest step forward in email and chat so far.
For details click through to the article called Upcoming Tech That Will Rock Your World.
retail done right – The Apple Store
Here in rural Parksville, British Columbia the small, aging independent stores have the whiff of extinction.
With more and more people shopping online, what’s the future of retail?
… I’d guess stores will be more like car dealerships, where people can try before they buy.
In May of 2001, Apple opened its first retail outlet store in Tysons Corner, Va. It was immediately met by critics and the typical roster of Apple-haters with predictions of doom and massive financial losses. Eight years later, Apple has more than 255 retail stores worldwide, and are the darling of the retail computer industry. So what makes them so successful? …
to read why, click through to the Apple Blog – Apple Retail Store Success: It Ain’t Rocket Science
It is fun to visit and hang out in the larger Apple stores.
A pleasure.
Not everyone is thrilled with their famed customer service, however.
SIRIUS|XM app for the iPhone
Everyone I know who subscribes to SIRIUS|XM satelite radio in the U.S.A. loves the service.
It’s a brilliant idea.
Mostly, however, the new technology and the messy merger of the original two companies has been bungled.
SIRIUS paid over $500 million to lure shock jock Howard Stern to the new service. I don’t even like Stern. That money was wasted, in my opinion.
My guess is that some new technology will come along in the next few years and take away all their customers.
Too long delayed was an app for smart phones to deliver the service to wherever you happen to be at the time. No longer would you be tethered to your receiver. It’s finally here.
Click PLAY or watch a demo of the new app on YouTube.
This video was published by SIRIUS.
The reviews are far less enthusiastic:
Many of the reasons folks sign up for Sirius XM are missing from its iPhone and iPod touch application. For starters, Howard Stern, MLB and NFL aren’t available on the Sirius XM iPhone application.
Color me not interested. All that waiting for an iPhone, iPod Sirius XM app and you get hit with a big letdown. …
Sirius XM neuters its iPhone app: Howard Stern, MLB, NFL out
Another less than enthusiastic reviewer:
… A first run through the app reveals the ability to stream 120 channels of satellite radio over Wi-Fi, 3G or Edge. That’s where the thrill begins and ends. If you already have Premium Service access for Sirius XM, then there’s nothing to lose with this one trick pony. Other than the time you’ll squander trying to buy music from iTunes through the app one song at a time. The process is more painful than a root canal and dumber than a box of hammers.
I suggest you steer clear of paying a subscription fee to hear Sirius XM via iPhone until the company gets passionate about providing a true satellite radio juggernaut for iPhone that will put Pandora and Flycast to shame. …
I might try it, anyway.
I did enjoy my week in a rent-a-car with Sirius radio.
best toaster oven?
Proctor-Silex 31115 gets high ratings:
January 2009. Reviewers say the Proctor-Silex 31115 toaster oven provides excellent bang for the buck, with consistent performance and “surprising facility with frozen foods,” according to Real Simple editors. Other reviewers concur that the Proctor-Silex 31115 Toaster Oven excels at heating up frozen foods. Reviewers also find that this toaster oven has more features than many in its price class and compared to more expensive models like the Sanyo SK-VF7S (*est. $70). …
More details on Amazon.
Microsoft ROCKS, Andy
Happy Birthday to my Adventure Racing buddy Andy, a mucky muck with Microsoft.
As a present, I’d like to highlight all the things the Evil Empire MS has done right lately, starting with their new search engine.
I tried Bing and found it nearly as good as Google. That’s a huge improvement over the old Live Search.
Microsoft is already seeing a Bing bump in market share.
Famously incompetent in advertising, Microsoft has hit a sore spot in their recent Laptop Hunters Apple bashing TV commercials.
Gamers are abuzz talking about the recently debuted MS technology, the badly named “Natal” Motion Control for Xbox 36. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
And I’m hearing great things about the next Zune, the MS iPod competitor.
I’m not yet hearing that “Microsoft is Cool”. But Andy is Cool.
Rick McCharles 