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iPhone – Ruined?

| June 30th, 2008 | Comments Off | Miscellaneous

If you believe that Rogers pricing plan for the iPhone has ruined the iPhone experience for you, and you live in Canada, please check out www.ruinediphone.com and sign the petition.

The lowest cost voice and data plan for the iPhone is $60 and it is feature poor. I’m not going to go into details right now, but I’m completely disgusted with Rogers, and after being a customer of theirs for over 7 years, I’m sorely tempted to cancel my plan. Unfortunately, I’m in a contract for another 4 months and I’m not willing to pay the cancellation fees…Otherwise I would.

Download DVD movies from Apple’s iTunes?

| May 1st, 2008 | Comments Off | Miscellaneous

Apple announced today the ability to purchase movies from iTunes in the US (I’m sure it will spread worldwide in time). Now, the news release doesn’t mention what file size the movie downloads are, but I think it’s ridiculous that anyone would consider this for standard viewing. Here’s why.
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Purolator Sucks – AGAIN!

| March 28th, 2008 | 4 Comments » | Miscellaneous

My XBox 360 died a while back – unplayable disc errors – basically the DVD drive stopped working.
The unit is still under warranty, so microsoft offered a free repair.
Microsoft sent me a box (coffin) to ship the box along with a return shipping label. The first red flag! It was from Purolator.
“Uh oh”, I thought.
Anyway, Purolator did their thing, and the XBox did get to Toronto (or wherever) and got fixed or replaced. I don’t know which yet.
Then Microsoft shipped it back to me. Purolator attempted to deliver it today around lunch time, but no one was home. That’s fine. But the stupid driver was unable to drive across Abbotsford (about a five minute drive) to drop my package off at the local depot. So now I am forced to wait until Monday afternoon to pick up my parcel because the driver was too lazy to do his/her job.

Once Again, I am asking you to not use Purolator for any reason. They are lazy and incompetent. Again.

City of Edmonton council hides behind technology

| August 21st, 2006 | Comments Off | Miscellaneous

I just tried to fill out the Message to City Council (City of Edmonton) form at
http://www.edmonton.ca/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_360_251_0_43/http%3B/CMSServer/COEWeb/mayor+and+city+council/message+to+city+council.htm
and when I finished I got an Error 404 page at
http://www.edmonton.ca/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_360_251_0_43/http%3B/CMSServer/COEWeb/mayor%2520and%2520city%2520council/InteractiveForm_ContactCouncil.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7b72509C32-CEC6-469D-A9A8-B856A6BBEC9C%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fCOEWeb%2fmayor%2520and%2520city%2520council%2fmessage%2520to%2520city%2520council%2ehtm&NRCACHEHINT=NoModifyGuest
Did my message get to City Council or is this just a layer of protection for the councillors so they are not bothered by the public?

Don’t ship parcels with Purolator

| August 11th, 2006 | 1 Comment » | Miscellaneous

I ordered a new computer from Dell back in July. It arrived on my birthday, July 26. Two days later, the hard drive failed – I can accept this – it happens, and Dell support promised me a whole new CPU as a “System Exchange” as the system was under 30 days old. Great.

So Dell ships me the new CPU on August 3 from their factory in the US. They call me and give me the tracking number the next day. “Great!” I think, “I’ll get it by the end of next week like I did the first one.” Nope. Purolator has now placed it “On vehicle for delivery” two days in a row, and both days their customer service call center staff have told me when I called to ask about it, that it was ON THE WRONG TRUCK! Once, I can understand. Twice? That’s not acceptable from any courier company. I’ll post again tomorrow if I still can’t get my CPU from Purolator.

Update: 2006-08-12 I called Purolator this morning, and the Shipment In Transit dated 2006-08-11 @ 17:10 means that the CPU package is in their sorting facility, and they will make no effort to go and find it for me, so now I have to wait until Monday to get it. Let’s hope Purolator’s stupidity factor stops going up and they are able to put it on the right truck for a change.

Update: 2006-08-14 I called again today and they didn’t even bother putting it on a truck today. What the hell kind of operation is Purolator running? I would suggest that it’s a circus and the clowns are in control…. Anyway, I demanded that my package be ready for me to pickup this evening. I’ll post later one way or the other.

Final Update: So I went to the depot to pick up my package, and they found it pretty quick. So now I’m happy. But don’t ship with Purolator!

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Taxes up 1600%? I think not.

| April 26th, 2006 | Comments Off | Miscellaneous

CTV News story.
CTV News is reporting today on a Fraser Institute Report that our taxes are up 1600% since 1961. I don’t know what hat they pulled that figure from. Let’s look at the details:

In 1961, the average income per household was $7,582 before taxes, and $5,000 after taxes, and an average family spent $2,824 on food, shelter and clothing per year.

Doing some math shows that the $2582 taken by the government for taxes in 1961 is 34.1% of the average household income. Food, shelter and clothing represents 37.2% of the average household income the same year

In 2005, the report found, the average family earns $95,531 before taxes, takes home $60,903, and spends $22,167 on food, shelter and clothing.

Again, doing the math, the $34628 taken by the govrenment in taxes in 2005 is 36.2% of the average family income. Food, shelter and clothing represents 23.2% of the average family income the same year.

I see an increase of 2.1% in taxes and a decrease of 14% on food, shelter and clothing. You cannot directly compare the dollar amounts from 1961 with the dollar amounts from 2005 unless you take into account all the changes in the economy in the intervening years. Comparing the percentages from each year gives meaningful results.
Where did that 1600% figure come from anyway?

Edmonton-Calgary High Speed Train

| March 3rd, 2006 | Comments Off | Miscellaneous

Well, the Edmonton to Calgary high speed train is back in the news lately. Here’s my thoughts on it.

• It has to be a 1-hour service. This means a train capable of around 300 km/h. Anything less, and it wouldn’t be any better than the three hour drive of today. A one-hour train ride will compete with the airlines, but would be far more comfortable than a 9 or 19 seat commuter plane, and more roomy than than a regular passenger jet.
• Passenger tickets should be priced competitively with airfare. The less expensive it is, the more people will take the train over driving. All seats should be “first class” with the latest in video and internet technologies.
• Vehicle tickets should be priced in a similar manner as the Channel Tunnel (England to France) or BC Ferries routes to and from Vancouver Island. If it’s too expensive, it won’t be used.
• Tickets should be priced in such as follows: The current trip to Calgary via Bus, or Car takes around 3 hours. The non-express bus can take 5-6 hours. Planes take about 45 minutes travel time, but pre-boarding security delays and the wait for luggage afterwards can easily push this over two hours. Airlines are not that great about running on schedule. So a one hour train ride with minimal boarding and luggage delays would save one to two hours per person. I don’t know what the current average hourly wage in Alberta is, but let’s assume a fairly low average wage of $15/hour. You’ve just saved someone two hours or $30. Now you have to cover the cost to build the service (the mortgage), the cost to run and maintain the service (the electricity and maintenance), the cost of the staff to run the service (wages) and still make a profit for the company (and its investors) running the service. Let’s assume that a $5 billion system requires 10% of the building cost to run each year, and you want to pay off the “mortgage” over 25 years (don’t forget the interest). This means that the system will cost around $1 billion per year to run. Now we have to make an assumption on passenger numbers. Let’s say 1000 people per day to start off. That works out to around $2700/ticket. Reasonable? No. 10000 people per day? $270/ticket. Heck, is this thing even reasonable? Economical?
• Moving on. Stations should be located at:
  • Old Strathcona in Edmonton with a Streetcar link to Downtown Edmonton and the LRT (Passengers only). The streetcar line already runs from Old Strathcona to Grandin LRT Station. Turn this line into a regular, all-season service.
  • Somewhere near the Edmonton International Airport with a direct link from the train station to the air terminal (Passengers and Vehicles). Initially the link from the train station to the air terminal will be provided by buses, but if demand is sufficient, an LRT or Streetcar link could be built.
  • Red Deer area (Passengers and Vehicles). Transit service in and out of Red Deer should be provided.
  • Somewhere near the Calgary International Airport with a direct link from the train station to the air terminal (Passengers and Vehicles). The direct link will initially be bus service and if demand is sufficient, an LRT or Streetcar link could be built.
  • Downtown Calgary at the old train station (Passengers only). Rail lines already run through this area.
• The route should run as close to the Queen Elizabeth II highway as possible so as to be very visible. This would also help with noise concerns as anyone living close to the highway has no expectation of quiet anymore. A high-speed train is not capable of making stops in every town along the route, nor should it. This may make smaller communities along the route upset, but high speed trains require many kilometres to stop, and with the spacing of the existing communities it wouldn’t be practical to make those stops. A slower train service along the CPR right of way could link those communities to the high-speed train stations on the outskirts of Edmonton, Calgary or Red Deer if there’s enough demand. With a one-hour travel time, daily commuting along the entire corridor becomes possible.
• Wherever possible it should run on existing rights of way. It has to be entirely grade separated and fenced. There is no safe ground crossing possible for a train travelling at 300 km/h. This also will require wildlife and farm animal crossings.
• Some method of keeping the line operating in all weather conditions (-40C to +40C, high winds, torrential thunderstorms, heavy snowfall) will be required. Stations should be large enough to accomodate an entire train’s worth of people in case of emergency closures.

That’s my thoughts so far. Personally I would like to see it built. Tickets should be around $50 to $100 for a passenger, and maybe another $100 for a vehicle with passengers (you can stay in your car during the trip or pay extra for a seat). Since you’re saving someone at least half a tank of gas, and two hours of time, and wear and tear on a vehicle, this may be very reasonable. I would likely visit Calgary more often.

Grizzly bear cubs killed

| September 8th, 2005 | Comments Off | Miscellaneous

It’s a shame Parks Canada did nothing to protect these bears. Given that their chances of survival in the wild were slim-to-none to begin with, why couldn’t they be moved to a sanctuary or zoo somewhere. I realize that they would not likely have been releasable into the wild following a stay in captivity, but at least their genetic legacy would’ve lived on. Perhaps even helped to perpetuate the species. As it stands, the number of grizzly bears in the Canadian Rockies is declining precipitiously. Something needs to be done, but I sure don’t know what.

Canada.com/Calgary Herald article: Bear cubs killed in highway collision

VoIP Service Providers Must Offer 911 Service

| April 5th, 2005 | 1 Comment » | Miscellaneous

News – VoIP Service Providers Must Offer 9-1-1, Says CRTC : Marketnews.ca

It’s about time that the CRTC came out with this decision. I’ve been considering VoIP, but will not get it until I have 911 service with it. Ninety days from now, VoIP services will have to offer the 911 Service.

3D printer to churn out copies of itself

| March 31st, 2005 | Comments Off | Miscellaneous

3D printer to churn out copies of itself

A Scientist in England is building a 3D printer and software system that is capable of “printing” parts in order to make an exact copy of itself. Assembly and batteries not included. Of course it will also be able to “print” just about any other components too. Imagine being able to print all the components to build your own iPod or PlayStation Portable (PSP).
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