Hamburger

Anyone got a pool going on how many homeless people will “disappear” during the Olympics and will never return (because VANOC turned them into hamburgers)?

VW Golf Wagen v. VW Tiguan

So VW has gotten into the compact crossover business with the Tiguan, the market where Honda CR-Vs, Toyota RAV-4s and Subaru Foresters sell like hotcakes. All well and good except the Tiguan shares showroom space with the VW Golf Sport Wagen which is better in every way (I love wagons). Let’s do a comparison:

Bigger trunk? Golf.
Bigger rear seat? Tiguan. (by .02 cubic metres)
Bigger front seat? Golf.
Better fuel economy? Golf.
Lower price? Golf (by $5000!).
Better handling? Golf.

Umm….why would I get the Tiguan? I’ll my Golf Sport Wagen in Red.

iPad, iJump!

In case it’s been unclear in my twitter messages I am a big, big fan of Apple’s new iPad and not so much what it means for me (it’s a bit imperfect for though still way awesome) but what it means for regular folks.

Finally we have a computer that normal folks who don’t want to know about how to use computers can use. The iPad is almost simple enough that my parents can use most of its functionality. Unlike their desktop Windows PC (or even the Mac that they don’t have), the iPad simplifies and abstracts away the things that no normal minded user needs to know about.

In 2-3 years the iPad’s successor will rule the world while Microsoft weeps.

P.S. I’m also hoping this will finally spell the end of terrible, shit laden Flash websites.

Declaration

I am lactose intolerant as of now. Well, at least a few weeks ago.

Lately I’ve been experiencing a great deal of gas and stomach upset and I took a guess that it might be lactose related and switched out milk for soy and ever since I’ve been much better. A glass of chocolate milk one night as a check confirmed the findings – lactose helps me to break wind regularly and makes my stomach grumble frequently.

After 34 years, my body has decided not to take it any longer. More signs that I’m getting old.

Will Apple Seek Acquisitions like Posterous or Picnik? – TIME

Will Apple Seek Acquisitions like Posterous or Picnik? – TIME.

Peter Misek, technology analyst for Canaccord Adams, a financial-consulting firm, says Apple may have its hand forced by impatient investors who don’t want to see their money lying around unused. “If the cash pile continues to grow,” says Misek, “there will be investors who ask, What are you doing with our cash?

Peter Misek is obviously new to Apple because he’d otherwise realize that Apple (e.g. Steve Jobs) doesn’t care what shareholders think. Apple does what Apple wants and the shareholders should be happy to count the money (of which there have been tonnes of).

Sorry Peter but you’re an idiot for better or worse.

Victoria

Having had a few months in Victoria now I’ve picked up a reasonable feel for the city – it’s small enough that you can do that relatively quickly. A few observations:

• Growing up in Vancouver it’s easy to make assumptions about the multi-culturalism of other places. I sort of assumed that Victoria would be pretty multi-cultural as well since it was so close to Vancouver. I assumed wrong. Victoria is pretty damn white. Black people? Nope. Indians? Nope. South Asians? Nope. Chinese? A few.
• The Greater Victoria area is actually broken into many, many little cities which is bizarre as the boundaries between each are unclear and unnecessary. Most of the various municipalities could easily be amalgamated into 2 cities – there’s lot wasted money in local government.
• With the lower traffic densities, the cities don’t spend as much money on road safety and, as such, the roads are a lot more fun to drive on. Lots of curves, elevation and blind corners. This partly accounts for the slower speeds people drive here.
• It appears that very little urban planning was done in the last 20 years leading to Victoria’s housing “crisis” – there’s very, very little new housing stock in the Victoria area and, as a result, much of it is overpriced, some of it approaches near-Downtown Vancouver prices and the city is suffering for it. There’s a DIRE need for some medium density, middle class housing near the downtown core and the neighbouring areas but it appears the citizens and its government are being very NIMBY right now. BAD IDEA. Victoria will die a slow death if they don’t start building more townhouses.
• The high housing prices have pushed people out to the “Western Communities”, a 25 min drive. The western communities (Langford) are a disgrace of urban planning – big box stores, no housing near the shopping and low population densities. It’s the Surrey of Victoria.
• It’s extremely easy to get around. You can get to anywhere in Victoria in 20 minutes. It’s awesome.

All in all, it’s a nice place.

Big city, small condos: Micro-lofts to come to Vancouver

Big city, small condos: Micro-lofts to come to Vancouver.

I’m impressed but not surprised. Places this small work in Asia and even Europe so there’s no reason why they shouldn’t work here, I just never expected that Vancouver would actually do it.

I think this is a great idea but they should mix these rooms with larger suites as well to integrate them into the community properly – you do not want these places turning into middle class slums, they should be places that mix into the community well.

I wonder how much these might sell for.

Update: That they are locating it in a bad part of town is sorta silly, I hope they are hoping that the neighbourhood is going to improve due to the presence the Woodward’s building otherwise this is just gonna be a slum for people one level above welfare/minimum wage (at some point the social activists in Vancouver will need to admit that keeping low income people minutes away from some of the wealthiest parts of Vancouver is a ridiculous idea).

Bumps ahead as Vimeo, YouTube respond to HTML5 video demand

Bumps ahead as Vimeo, YouTube respond to HTML5 video demand.

The sooner we get this done, the better. I can’t wait for Flash to disappear from the Internet.

Clean up

Cleaned out my WordPress install and put in a fresh one. WordPress has so many security holes that if you even fall behind in updating by a few days your site gets bogged down in spam.

Grilled Marinated Flank Steak

Grilled Marinated Flank Steak Recipe

I love grilled flank steak and this is a nice simple recipe for when it’s grilling season.