A Fitting Canada Day Sponsor
When I was considering where to host this blog, I of course considered the big guys like GoDaddy. It was the easy way out, since everyone knew about them. I was then turned on to BlueFur Hosting after recommendations from John Chow, and reading on Ed Lau’s blog about how their cheapest package held up against the full brunt of hitting the Digg front page. I decided to look into their packages and company further. This lead me to write a small article about their name change for TTZ, and then sign up for their basic hosting package.
Since then it’s been a great year or so. Though I doubt I’ll hit the Digg front page anytime soon, I still find BlueFur’s hosting to be top notch, and their support to be helpful and responsive. It’s even better that they’re a Canadian company, which makes this all the more appropriate. It is after all Canada Day, and I can hear the fireworks going off from downtown right now. So with that being said, I would like to announce that this blog is now a member of the BlueFur Hosting affiliate program.
What does that mean exactly? Well all you need to do is click on the BlueFur at the top of the sidebar. Then whenever you purchase anything from BlueFur, you simply need to enter the affiliate code Decius and you will receive 10% of any purchase. That way all 5 of you who read this blog can enjoy some additional savings on you hosting and domain purchases.
Bunch of Rowdy Drunks
Bill C-61 is Canada’s dark answer to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act used to cut a swath of destruction through fair use rights in America. It goes even further to impinge on the freedoms of Canadians then the DMCA could ever hope to pull off with the citizens of the US. The bill is self-contradictory, broad-sweeping, and really just a mess. This wonderful piece of work is the demon hell-spawn of Jim Prentice, who is currently Minister of Industry for the minority Conservative Party. But with all that being said, this post isn’t really about the horrors of Bill C-61. Every Canadian should be very afraid of this bill, and should write their MP to voice their concerns. If you need some info on why it’s a horrible piece of legislation, I suggest heading over to Michael Geist’s blog. He is essentially Canada’s closest thing to an expert on legal issues on the internet, and how they affect regular Canadians. There’s also a couple other blog posts outlining why this Bill doesn’t help Canadian artists. This whole issue is only the back drop for this post.
In this space I simply want to show my friends in America (OK I know only 5 people read this blog, but I can dream big) how lively the Canadian Parliament can be. By way of blogger Graham Williams, I have a video of NDP MP Charlie Angus essentially taking Jim Prentice to school over the issue of Bill C-61. This lively little piece of video shows the type of mud-slinging and sarcasm thrown across the floor on a regular basis. Let’s watch.
That’s way better than anything shown on CPAC in the US. That stuff could put a two year old hopped up on double-chocolate cappuccino ice cream to sleep. Man that’s why I love watching Canadian parliament. It’s like the US House of Representatives with a 2 drink minimum.
A Feather In My Cap
Some people say that it’s not considered very virtuous to brag about one’s accomplishments. Luckily I have no such reservations. So last week when Stephen Fung alerted me to something he saw at Computex 2008, I have to say I was rather proud.
As Stephen was wandering about the Computex floor, he noticed a Futurelooks.com logo on the display for one of the many products we’ve reviewed. This is always a great achievement for a site, but there’s a reason it’s also a feather in my cap.
The logo was the Editor’s Choice award rewarded to Foxconn for their 9800GTX-512N video card in the review I wrote for Futurelooks more than a month ago. The card was a solid performer, and the review was well received. Even with that in mind, it’s still nice to see the hard work put into the review recognized in such a way.
Computex is the second largest computer trade show in the world, and a great venue for our site to show it’s stuff. I have had my writing featured before, but mostly on company websites buried a few pages deep on the reviews section. Though a useful promotion tool, it usually requires that the visitor to that site be looking in that particular area. Sometimes you luck out, and those links will show up in a Google search. However branding that is front and centre on a banner for one of the largest OEM component manufacturers in the world catches a few more eyes, and is definitely a great boost for both the site and myself.
Anyhow enough of the ego boost. Thanks to Foxconn for the recognition, and thanks to Stephen for making sure this review hit the internet running. I’m quite looking forward to going to Computex in 2009, as I’d like to check out some of these companies in person. It’s also a great opportunity to essentially usurp the North American market entirely and see products before they event have a hint of hitting our shores. In addition to all that, apparently I’m being drafted to find Ed Lau some hot Asian girls.
One Big Chocolate Bar
Peer pressure brought about what is my first food post. Recently whilst walking through our local Costco, my friends and I saw this HUGE Toblerone (wiki) bar on sale. Apparently it was the post easter, post any-other-holiday-you-give-candy, we must get rid of this sale. Everyone was busy thinking what the hell you would do with such a huge candy bar. I was busy counting my cash.
Now spur of the moment purchases like these are the type of insanity we usually reserve for John Chow, especially in the purchase of extremely large stuffed polar bears. But I was under pressure to be the go to guy in this crazy endeavour. Now I’m left with the above chocolate bar sitting on my living room table. I’ve pictured it with the Guitar Hero Wii controller. You…know for size comparisons.
If your curious exactly how much chocolate such a bar is…well…here you go. That’s almost 10 lbs of chocolate, for those of you still using your archaic pounds to measure. Now I’m left asking myself what the hell I’m going to do with this mammoth slab of chocolate. I couldn’t possibly eat it; at least not in it’s pure form. Perhaps I’ll have to give it to someone I know who likes baking. They’ll make it into cookies or something.
Secrets Are Meant to be Shared
A company I currently can’t name (and can’t link to since their site isn’t ready for prime time) has asked me to take a look at a new thermal compound they are releasing. Since I’m horrible at keeping secrets, I decided I’d post about it here. Eventually a full review will be up on Futurelooks.com.
Now taking pot-shots are the throne occupied by the likes of Arctic Silver is nothing new, but I can’t help but help out the underdog. Preliminary testing looks very promising. I’m just waiting for the Arctic Silver 5 I just applied to set up, and I’ll finally have a conclusive comparison. Basically I’ll know whether this stuff is top dog, or just second best.
For updates on what myself and the rest of the Futurelooks.com crew are up to, you can subscribe to our Twitter feeds. Click here for mine, and for the site.
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