So I’ve covered Why iPods Suck, now what about the Zune (in my 4 days experience with 1 2)?

1. Microsoft Zune software – while it closes and stays closed, its still the main/only way to transfer stuff to the Zune. It’s not as bad as iTunes.
2. No Marketplace in Canada – I had to change my computer to say that I live in the USA to get access to the free podcasts from the Zune Marketplace, but without a US credit card I won’t be buying any DRM-free music from there (Apple’s music store wasn’t available in Canada right away either, this is more of a time issue).
3. Still a proprietary USB/docking connection – this is even better because there’s very few accessories for the Zune yet.
4. Useless Wifi – I guess it’s good at draining your battery life, but does anyone actually use it to share music between Zunes or to Sync (when the cable is faster)
5. Apple Fanboys/girls (more so the Anti-Micro$ofters) – this time they simply dismiss the product because it’s made by Microsoft. Great scepticism children.

Apparently talking smack about the iPod on a science/politics/atheism blog will get me more traffic/comments than my average post, here’s a list of why the iPod sucks (and to be fair I will follow with a list of things that suck about the Zune as well):

1. iTunes – Why should I have to download firmware cracks to use a device to its full potential? Perhaps I don’t want to give Steve Jobs any more money than I already did for the iPod. Finally, why can’t iTunes at least just turn off and not want to sit in my tray hogging resources that don’t belong to it?
2. Overpriced – Still $50 more than Zunes on average, and roughly double what any other competitor charges.
3. The fanboys/girls – Seriously, it’s just a freaking piece of plastic and electronics. Let’s not all be tools to a “hip” marketing campaign. Apple didn’t invent the mp3 player anymore than Microsoft invented the GUI operating system.
4. AAC – Maybe, just maybe, I want a useful format that the rest of the world uses to listen to music with.
5. Standards? – Why screw the entire MP3 accessory market the same way that cell phone accessories are screwed by making your plug proprietary? I shouldn’t expect more from the company that likes to control every aspect of its computer line, but still, imagine if one stereo dock ran Zunes, iPods and other less common brands, and all with one plug. This is your fault Apple, being the company that launched the MP3 player to primetime

DRM almost made the list, and is an honourable mention since it took until March of this year for Apple to cut it out of iTunes. Another honourable mention is the lack of card expandability, some flash mp3 players offer SD card expansion, it’s rare though, so I won’t hold it against Apple.

And to be fair, some of these points are shared with other mp3 players, but Apple receives far more credit and good press than it likely deserves.

Just remember: What’s popular is not always what’s best or what’s right – look at Islam/Christianity (or all religions), or the numbers that vote Conservative (or don’t vote at all).

(Don’t worry, a return to regularly-scheduled blogging topics is coming).

On Sunday I bought the 8GB Black Microsoft Zune MP3 player. Today, I returned that one that died and got another one (which had slightly different packaging and is thus far holding up).

The player requires the Zune software to transfer music (although when you close the software it actually goes away, unlike someone else’s software). And unfortunately, the Marketplace (MS’s answer to the iTunes store) is unavailable outside the US for now. However, by setting your computer’s region to US, you can at least access the Marketplace and download the free podcasts that are available (you can’t buy points without a US credit card though, unless you eBay them).

So far the player is worth it’s $100 price tag, besides the first DOA one that crapped out. It should keep me entertained for at least a little while longer (and especially on long Vancouver commutes that I expect in the fall).

A majority of Canadians oppose the public funding of private religious schools of any kind, even though it occurs in most provinces. Fifty-one per cent oppose tax dollars going to Catholic, evangelical or other Christian schools.

The antagonism against religious schools soars higher when minority faiths are brought into the question. Roughly seven out of 10 Canadians oppose public dollars going to Jewish, Buddhist, Sikh or Muslim independent schools. Resistance to such funding is even stronger in B.C. [Source]

Alberta currently funds Catholic schools on par with public schools (i.e. 100%), as well as “charter” religious schools of other denominations and funds private religious schools to the tune of 70% of what the public schools receive (on top of uncapped tuition).

Why fund multiple competing school boards?

Why can’t we strengthen one school board that doesn’t push any particular worldview?

The author of the above linked article seems to think providing further indoctrination via religious schools to our children will promote tolerance and diversity, failing to grasp the concept that these schools may in fact be antithetical to those concepts. Just ask how diverse an Evangelical or Muslim-only school truly is.

At least some provinces have moved toward a single secular board (leaving religious education to the parents and churches).

* Alberta: fully funds faith-based and charter public schools, partial funding for private schools meeting provincial standards.

* B.C.: partially funds religious schools meeting provincial standards.

* Manitoba: partially funds religious schools meeting provincial standards.

* New Brunswick: no religious school funding.

* Newfoundland and Labrador: no religious school funding.

* Nova Scotia: no religious school funding.

* P.E.I.: no religious school funding.

* Quebec: partial funding for private religious schools meeting provincial standards.

(h/t: ReligiousRightAlert.ca)

If for some reason you’re bored today between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm MDT, you can watch me and a ton of engineers cross the Jubilee Auditorium stage as we graduate from our undergraduate degrees from the University of Alberta.

This marks the first year that the UofA is making God a little more “optional” in the ceremony, with the admission charge being changed from asking us to use our degrees

…for the glory of God and honour of your country.

to:

…for the uplifting of the whole people; to inspire the human spirit; for all who believe, to serve your God; and to pursue more steadfastly whatsoever things are true.

In response to the ridiculous editorial (thanks TPB!) a few days ago, I typed a letter into the Edmonton Journal, and they printed it today (9 June 2009), merely improving the grammar in a few points, and of course, changing “tar sands growth” to “oilsands development” (the T word isn’t allowed in the Journal).

I also have to ask, what’s up with the main title they gave me?

Anyways, here’s the letter:

Premier’s advisers should focus on issues, not bash the media

Don’t single out Mason

Re: “Stalin charges out of bounds,” Editorial, June 7.

It’s noble of The Journal to stand up for Premier Ed Stelmach against the mere words being thrown at him by Brian Mason.

Unfortunately, the editorial writer’s blinders erased the history of comparisons that have been tossed about the legislature recently.

On May 25, 2009, Liberal MLA Kevin Taft compared a different government bill to “the old Soviet system.”And on Oct. 22, 2008, Stelmach, clearly having no personal quarrels about Soviet references, said that Liberal calls to control oilsands development “sounds more like what they were doing in the former Soviet Russia.”

So before you call one honourable member out of line for his comments, please run a Hansard search and see that all parties perform as”unacceptably” as you consider the NDP to.

Ian Bushfield, Edmonton

Old Bob and Doug MacKenzie is gold Canadiana:

New Bob & Doug is awful:

One Twitterer described it as:

I am really disappointed in this animated Bob and Doug MacKenzie… What a weird and boring right wing load of garbage…

Now, I haven’t sat through enough to determine it’s political slant, but it’s overall shittiness may have to do with the fact Global outsourced it to a California-based studio known as Animax Entertainment.

In the future Global, let’s keep the making fun of ourselves, to ourselves.

(And yes, I realize Dave Thomas, from the SCTV Original is working on this new one, but he clearly lacks the rest of the SCTV might).

The Edmonton Journal has a pretty selective memory today by calling Brian Mason’s recent comments comparing one of the Tories recent land-use bills Stalinistic “out of bounds.”

For the record, NDP Leader Mason stated:

Mr. Mason: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. This government is proposing a bill that gives them unprecedented power to control all activities on any land in the province it designates, and it would lock them in jail if they protest. Joseph Stalin would be proud. To the Minister of Infrastructure: why is your government implementing a policy that tramples the rights of rural property owners? [Emphasis added]

And in a letter from the NDP’s caucus Chief of Staff to the Journal and a Point of Order in the Assembly, they further clarified:

Point of Order
Factual Accuracy
Mr. Mason: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. I rise under Standing Order 23(h), when a member “makes allegations against another Member,” and 23(i), “imputes false or unavowed motives to another Member.” The Premier used words to the effect that I had called him a Stalinist. This came out of the question that we just dealt with
from Calgary-McCall. It was a bit of a diversion; the Premier wanted to stand up and talk about something that happened quite some time ago. The Premier was quite wrong in suggesting that I had called him a Stalinist. I’ve got the Hansard here of March 9. I said, “Rural Albertans are furious that a rural Premier and his cabinet would propose such a Stalinist law. To the Premier: why won’t you admit that this policy tramples the land rights of rural Albertans?”
I did not call the Premier a Stalinist, but I called the bill such. This was actually subject to a public clarification in the form of a letter to the editor in the Edmonton Journal on March 27 written by the chief of staff for the NDP opposition caucus. It states there:

Mason absolutely did not accuse Premier Ed Stelmach of being a Stalinist. Mason characterized Bill 19 as such, for its authoritarian provisions allowing government to trample the land rights of rural Albertans without compensation or defined right of appeal.

Mr. Speaker, I will always stand up when someone puts words in my mouth and says that I said something that I did not actually say. Now, having said that, the Premier has also stated that those comments caused him personal hurt. You know, this might be a bit of an unusual situation, where I’m standing up making a point of order to insist on my right to be quoted accurately and correctly and, at the same time, to make an apology to the person whom I’m raising the point of order against. It was not my intention to cause the Premier or any other member or any other person personal pain or hurt as a result of that statement, and I want to apologize to the Premier for doing so.
You know, when I feel an apology is required as a result of my behaviour or what I say, I don’t need to be compelled to do it, but I do ask, Mr. Speaker, that you recognize, in fact, that I’ve been again misquoted by the Premier and had words ascribed to me that I have not uttered. You know, I want to reiterate that I find that unacceptable.
I believe that it’s contrary to the rules of this Assembly, and I think that the Premier needs to deal with that appropriately.
Thank you.

The Speaker failed to grant Mason’s request for a misquotation.

But let’s dig back a bit, and see who else has been called a Stalinist or Soviet in this Legislature.

From Dr. Kevin Taft (Liberal) in reference to Bill 27, the Research and Innovation Act:

There’s also, of course, the whole idea – and I think it’s kind of ironic that this comes from a government that seems so consistently committed to the marketplace because the marketplace is all about decentralized decisions. You know, there’s a sort of famous case study on how it is that people in Edmonton, for example, can go to any number of grocery stores in the middle of January and get fresh tomatoes. How does that happen? Well, when you look at that, it doesn’t happen because there’s a minister responsible for fresh tomatoes. It doesn’t happen because there’s some centralized structure. It happens because there’s this tremendously decentralized structure, and a whole series of marketplace decisions that seem to occur on their own lead to us having fresh tomatoes in Edmonton.
You know, the comparison was the old Soviet system, where there was central planning. I don’t know how fresh the tomatoes were in Moscow in January, but I don’t suppose they were that great. [Emphasis added]

Or what about from Mr. Stelmach himself, seeing as he is the Ukrainian immigrant whose family suffered at the hands of Stalin and the Communist regimes (which he makes a point to bring up at every possibility in the Legislature – he even brought forth Bill 27 in late 2008 to recognize Ukrainian Genocide and Famine Memorial Day), he has clearly personally suffered trauma at the hands of Stalin’s Communists, and would be above making ad hominem attacks like the other parties, right?

(In reference to calls for managed growth in the oil sands):

Mr. Stelmach: Obviously, now we see the true colour of the Leader of the Opposition. He sure as heck isn’t a capitalist, talking about managing growth through the government. Sounds more like what they were doing in the former Soviet Russia. [Emphasis added]

And if we go back even further, we can find tons of back and forth comparing both the government and both opposition parties to Soviet/Stalin/Russian Communists.

So you know what Edmonton Journal? Do your homework and don’t accuse just one party that you may have it in for of playing unfairly. They’re all dirty in this province.

I just got home yesterday after a week in Fort McMurray, Alberta’s largest unincorporated town. I was there giving science workshops as part of my summer job.

The students were awesome, and the town is surprisingly beautiful (it is in the middle of the Boreal Forest).

Then we made our trip to the Oil Sands on Wednesday evening. And for this, I think pictures will speak louder than words (and remember, this is only what you can see from the highway, it’s not even the bad stuff that lurks beyond the hills).

First the Google Map of our road trip:

View Ft. McMurray in a larger map

(Click any image to enlarge)

Here we can see the change from natural forest on the right to strip mining on the left:

Now, to understand the scale of the Oil Sands, you have to remember that the machines are big (zoom in on the map above to the marker where you can see the following from space):

And now the tailings ponds and vast stretches of strip mining that you can see from the highway:

To Hugh MacDonald, Bridget Pastoor, Darshan Kang and Kevin Taft: Where were you all on the night of Monday, June 1, 2009?

It must have been somewhere mighty important for you all to miss the third and final vote on Bill 44 in the legislature.

I mean, I can understand all the Conservative MLAs who missed (including Education Minister Dave Hancock), who may fear that there really is no such thing as a “free vote.”

But you Liberals made a lot of hoopla, and then almost half of your caucus fails to show up to oppose it. At least the New Democrats did their job (see page 8 for votes).

Bill 44 received Royal Assent on June 4th.