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What would you do if you could see two minutes into your future?

If you're Chris Johnson, aka Frank Cadillac (Nicholas Cage), you help the FBI fight terrorists and hopefully you get the girl in the end.

With the ability to see the near future, he dodges bullets while trying to stop terrorists from detonating a nuclear bomb in California.

As the reviews say, there's a surprise ending. I won't spoil anything, but expect the unexpected.

It is a good action-packed movie though and Cage even has a love interest with Jessica Biel.

Kryptonite found in Serbia

A new mineral has been discovered in Serbia.

It's composition is sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide, the same scientific name written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther in Superman Returns.

The new mineral will be called Jadarite. It can't be called kryptonite because it does not contain krypton, an inert gas already found in the periodic table of elements.

Serbia, eh... it's cold and barren up there ... the Fortress of Solitude is in a cold and barren location...

The Prestige

"Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called "The Pledge"; The magician shows you something ordinary, but of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn"; The magician makes his ordinary some thing do something extraordinary. Now if you're looking for the secret... you won't find it, that's why there's a third act called, "The Prestige"; this is the part with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you've never seen before."This is a really good movie. It makes good use of flashbacks and jumping around in the timeline to tell the story.

However, it's a bit tragic and disturbing in the lengths that each man goes to in their battle of one-up-man-ship and their obsession to perform the ultimate trick.

Cogito ergo sum

Initially, Greek's had no concept of mind. A Homeric warrior had emotions, plans, and preferences, but Homer did not unify these into one common thing.

Descartes philosophical logic was that: thought exists. Thought cannot be separated from me, therefore, I exist (Discourse on Method).

Most famously, this is known as "I think, therefore I am" ("cogito ergo sum" or "Je pense, donc je suis").

I was out of town last week, and have been neglecting this blog. Plus I've been busy with life and work. (I have an exam tonight and this is a distraction from last minute cramming.)

Anyway, I returned to the office this morning and learned of a tragic event this past weekend. A co-worker passed away tragically after a hot-air balloon accident down in California. I didn't work closely with her, but she was a really nice person, full of life and always seemed to be joking around and enjoying herself. And affecting others around her in a positive way.

Then this afternoon I learn of the most recent school shooting, the worst to date with 31 people killed.

It's been a very reflective day so far. Such tragic accidents can happen through the fault of no one, and then tragic events can occur that are not accidents, but results of human intervention in dark and evil ways.

Lots to think about.

Magic Toothpicks

Not sure if this is for real, but it looks kind of freaky. I'd like to try it and see if it works.



I can kind of understand them coming together as the water drop would run down between them and kind of draw them together with the water tension, but I don't see how it would then separate again.

1.25 Red Bulls in one Foosh

FOOSH™ Energy Mints contain the equivalent amount of caffeine as 1.25 Red Bulls! All in one little 22 1.8 gram mint.



Try one of these next time you need to be ALERT for a late night/early morning, whatever floats your boat. :)

More Web regulation Doesn't Make Any Sense

Some groups want the CRTC to regulate the Internet and even make YouTube subject to Canadian content requirement.

I think the key point of this Toronto Star article is this:

"If Canadian broadcasters are unable to rely on cheap U.S. programming, they will be forced to compete by investing in their own original content. This will dramatically alter Canadian content production from one mandated by government regulation to one mandated by market survival.

It is increasingly clear that the blossoming of new media is a threat to old business models, not to Canadian content."

I've talked about this before when it comes to government interference in development. Everyone would be a lot better if government and organizations took a more hands-off approach.

We live in a free society driven by the laws of supply and demand. If the old model isn't working, the government shouldn't throw money at it. Companies should either adapt or move on.

Hopefully lots of people will link to the TorStar article and get across that those who want to regulate the Internet aren't logical and their arguments don't make economic sense.

The Collective Mind

Gerry McGovern makes an interesting case in his post, Web facilitates wisdom of crowds.

He argues that the collective intelligence is perhaps more reliable than that of an expert.

An expert's advice could be skewed to the expert's own views and experiences, and therefore could be biased. Also, statistical research is only the analysis of the limited population surveyed. There is always a degree of error.

Mass collaboration, by definition will be free of any one person's particular biases. And all the skepticism of Wikipedia could be unwarranted. Most people want to take credit for putting in accurate information and not be blacklisted for putting up bad data.

And that's why The Borg was such a formidable enemy. :)

Island Celebrates 40th Anniversary

This is the 40th anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semicolon-shaped islands.

British newspaper, The Guardian, published a seven-page supplement describing the geography and culture of the two main islands, named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse.

Check out the article for more info.

Lost and then buried alive!

Last night's episode of Lost had one good point - it introduced a mystery and the solved it by the end of the episode?

THIS IS A SPOILER WARNING. I'm about to reveal the ending.

The episode was the whole back story of two Losties, but they were minor characters who weren't even introduced until this season. I'd like to watch the first episode again and see if Nikki was really there running around the crash site or if they refilmed those scenes. She was probably just an extra who was written in this season.

The only tie-in to the rest of the story was showing why Paulo used the bathroom at the Perl station, which I don't really care about. It did show Ben and Juliet in the Perl station hatching their plan to kidnap Jack, Kate and Sawyer. But we already knew all that.

The episode reveals that Nikki and Paulo discovered a few of the islands secrets before the rest, but they never shared the info, so what's the point?

This episode gives the back story for a couple unknowns and how they stole some diamonds, but by the end of the episode they're buried alive! With the diamonds!

The episode starts off with them dead (paralyzed). Why get us involved with these characters and then kill them off?!? Is there hope that they will dig their way out before suffocating?

Tune in to next week's episode for the exciting conclusion. Or not.

Ban on plastic grocery bags

Many foreign cities and nations have already implemented legislation to ban one-time, non-recyclable plastic bags, and now SF is the first U.S. city to enact the legislation.

San Francisco stats:

• 200 million - number of plastic bags used each year
  
• 740,000 - population
  
• 1000 - estimated time it takes a traditional plastic bag to dissolve
• 413 million - number of gallons of oil saved by eliminating use of 100 million bags
• 9.2 million - number of pounds of carbon dioxide not produced

Leaf Rapids in northwestern Manitoba is the first Canadian community to ban plastic bags.

And the B.C. mountain town of Rossland is considering a voluntary ban on single-use plastic bags.

816 million gallons of oil saved each year in SF! That's huge.

One barrel of crude oil, when refined, produces about 20 gallons of finished motor gasoline. On average, a car will consume 750 gallons of gas per year.

So, the elimination of bags in SF is the equivalent of 1,088,000 million cars off the road for a year!

The Cybertron knights

The Transformers movie opens July 4, the date reserved for the summer blockbusters. I know I am anxiously awaiting it.

The writers of the screenplay liken the transformers to shape-shifting mechanical knights and modeled Optimus Prime after King Arthur. Cool.

Can't wait. And they're keeping quiet on what Megatron will shape-shift into.

POTC: Can you wait until May 25?

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End opens May 25.

Check out the trailer in this blog entry on film.com

Plasma Pong

This is classic pong on steroids... that is, hyped-up, new-tech, acid trip, steroids. Totally cool.

R2-D2's new carrier as a postal worker

On March 28, two powerful forces will unite... no not the dark side and the light side.

The Star Wars universe and ... the U.S. Postal Service?

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, a new commemorative stamp will be announced March 28.

And to lead up to the announcement 400 mailboxes in 200 U.S. cities will be converted to look like R2-D2. How cool is that?

Second-world country

I wrote a post awhile ago about government interference with tariffs and red tape hindering growth.

Here's some more interesting facts that make you wonder what these people are thinking:

• In Lima, Peru, to legally establish a one-person garment workshop takes 289 days of bureaucratic toil, costing $1,231, 31 times the monthly minimum wage.
  
• In the Philippines, purchasing land can involve up to 168 steps, interacting with 53 public and private agencies, and take from 13 to 25 years.
  
• In Egypt, buying land can involve more than 77 procedures at 31 public and private agencies, and can take from 5 to 14 years.
  
• In Haiti, to buy land you need to jump over 111 bureaucratic hurdles, and
  wait for at least 12 years.
  

These governments are hindering growth and I'm sure their people and economy would be a lot better if some all of the red tape were cut.

"The more sophisticated a society and its economy becomes, the easier it is for its citizens to do what they need to do." - Gerry McGovern

(The above are just a few examples from Hernando De Soto's groundbreaking book,
The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else.)

300: The movie

Great action movie! And great fight scenes - almost like a dance the way the Spartan soldiers spun around hacking the Persians. (He says with an evil glint in his eyes.)

You can see Frank Miller's influences with the rich colours and almost comic look to the scenes, as he did for Sin City.

Though I'm sure there was a lot of creative license taken from the original story, there is some historic truth to the story. And King Leonidas's defeat spurred the rest of Greece to battle the Persians and eventually defeat Xerxes and his army.

A classic rallying tale of losing the battle, yet winning the war. There are faint resemblances to Lord of the Rings, even with a bit of the fanatical, although more of a historical fiction.

And if you were in doubt, this is definitely a guy movie and not for the faint of heart.

Today's the day

I mentioned in an earlier post about number portability for phones.

Well today is the day. You can keep your current cell or land line phone number when you switch to a different carrier - cell to cell, cell to land line, land line to cell, etc.

So, if you're not happy with your current service provider, you can just say sianara. However, if you're on a contract you're still on the hook until that's up.

And you need to sign up with the new company first before canceling your old service. So, it won't be easy, but it can be done.

How long will the war last?

British Prime Minister Tony Blair plans to spend up to 20 billion pounds (US$38.60 billion) on three or four nuclear-armed submarines to replace the aging Trident system.

His rational:

• Britain must retain nuclear weapons because new threats from Iran, North Korea or nuclear terrorists make it dangerous to abandon them.
• Design and construction of new submarines will take so long that it must act quickly to have a replacement ready when the existing nuclear submarines go out of service in about 2024.

2024! That's over 15 years from now! How long will tensions in the Middle East last? And does the military really use submarines anymore let alone 15 years from now?

Tony Blair is due to step down in a few months and critics are saying that he's trying to rush the decision through to leave a legacy. He's been in power for 10 years, I think he needs to seriously consider this.

I wouldn't want my final act in power to be spending $38 billion dollars on nuclear weapons.

I'm sure there are lots of better uses for $38 billion dollars. Perhaps using it to help people in the Middle East rebuild and set up a government that will end the conflicts (hopefully a lot sooner than 2024).

Stikfas

These are kind of neat action figure that are fully articulated and featureless. Without being associated with the latest fad, or movie they are a good concept. And would make a neat toy to add to my desk.

Specifically the Omega male armoured knight.


There was a fencer created in 2004 for Fencing Singapore, but only 1000 were created and only available in Singapore. So, even though it would be way cool to find one of those, I think the chances are pretty slim. And even if I did I imagine whoever's selling it would be asking a fortune for it. It even came with all three weapons: sabre, foil and epee.