Sins, SciFi and Sofas

The word of the week is back, and it’s man flu – okay, two words so we’ll call it a term. Happy?

Feb 1 – Safe as Houses

Today I was fooling around with designing homes at FloorPlanner.com, which lets you create a design of your own - for free. One of the nice things about web-based applications now is that they are just as good as software you can buy in the store, and sometimes better. I know that I download 99% of the programs I use, but that number is falling with the advent of cloud computing – log onto the web and there’s everything you need, waiting. That seems to be the future of the netbook.

Work is going well; we’re gearing up for income tax season to hit its stride in a few weeks. That’s always fun, as it’s surprising how many people have no clue how taxes work. Let me spell it out for you: did you pay the government too much in taxes during the year? If so, you get a refund. If you didn’t, then you owe them some more money. In my case, the government saw fit to reassess my moving costs from when I moved to BC, so thanks to them I owe a fair chunk. Just goes to show that no matter how well you think you know your own finances, there’s always some more you can learn to save yourself cash.

One month from now is the RRSP deadline for your 2009 tax year : March 1^st. Having had an RRSP for some years now, I’ve been slowly educating myself about how to best take advantage of it for tax purposes, as well as learning other tax tips to try and maximize my savings each year. For RRSP’s, there’s no better general reading than The Seven Deadly Sins of RRSP’s, where the common mistakes people make with their RRSP’s are outlined. Read it; better to learn now than when you’re ten years closer to your planned retirement... you did start saving early, right?

Feb 2 – Winter’s Not Dead Yet

Today is Groundhog Day, when people hope that a furry rodent will predict an early end to winter. Such was not the case this year though, when Punxsutawney Phil predicted another six weeks of winter... at least, for most of North America. Here in Victoria it’s been raining a lot, with the temp climbing into the low teens when the sun is out and hovering in the high single digits when it’s not. No sign of the massive snow we had last year, nor even any ice for our troubles. Most days I walk home from work, it’s a little cold but quite pleasant with a medium jacket and some earmuffs – no boots or winter coat needed. I predict an early spring here on Vancouver Island, but I’m not a groundhog so don’t bet on it.

There has also been much written on the subject of predicting death, some of it good( The Seventh Seal )and bad( Final Destination ). Now comes news that death can be forseen by... a cat? Too bad I couldn’t predict the death of my old laptop( well, my parent’s actually )but one of these days I’ll get around to resurrecting it. Once I figure out what killed it in the first place, that is. Might have been obsolescence...

As you may have also foreseen, I watched Groundhog Day in the evening – that’s my tradition, and I like it. So do a lot of other people, as the writer of the movie mentions here.

Feb 3 – Data Comas

Here’s hope for those in comas: you may still be able to communicate. Of course that’s assuming that someone wheels you out into a multi-million-dollar CAT scanner and leaves you there every time you want to communicate with the world – but it’s a start. Being trapped inside your own body? Scary.

Ever since I saw the second Planet of the Apes movie, I wondered what sort of information had survived the centuries after the apocalypse. The more recent version of The Time Machine had a library computer that managed to stay online for thousands of years, somewhat improbably powered by fusion.  There’s a good brief on the subject here at io9.com, worth taking a look if you’ve ever wondered where your digital vacation photos will be in thirty, fifty or one hundred years.

On the same topic, an organization called The Long Now is looking at ways to preserve information over the span of millennia. They have some interesting ideas, and thankfully none of them involve harrier jets in storage... yeesh.

Feb 4 – SciFi Stinkage

I’ve been disappointed with the television  offerings for SciFi of late, as listed here courtesy of io9.com. Lost is finishing up this month, as is Heroes... and I don’t care a good golly about either of them. Two shows that started out very cool now get a cool reception from a lot of former fans, and I’m feeling the same way about V – I mean, when you know the main plot of the show is basically the same as borrowed from the original, why would you watch?

More fiction-y goodness: Some Neil Gaiman news today! He’s going to be writing an episode of the new Doctor Who – incroyable! Thanks for the link, Brian!

A while back, I mentioned YouParkLikeAnA-Hole.com, to which readers can submit their pictures of parking faux-pas ’ and so relieve some of their anger at their fellow drivers. Along similar lines I present to you: YouDriveWhat.com which has photos of the many strange vehicles people encounter along the roads they travel. My fave is the jaguar motorcycle.

Feb 5 – Take Heart

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland comes out a month from now on March 5^th, and with Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter promises to be a real visual treat. Which reminds me, I have a few movies to catch up on – I missed seeing 9 in September, as well as Avatar though I’m hoping it comes to IMAX soon in 3D; THAT would be an experience to behold!

When it comes to bar fights, the Brits have come up with a way to make them less deadly: shatter-resistant pint glasses. Similar to the shatter-proof beer bottle here in North America... that was patented in 1974. Feeling a little behind the times, Britain?

Does being mentioned twice in one blog win you a prize? Not here, but I wanted to say thanks to Brian for sending me the links to StarshipSofa.com – I’m working on a few bits o’writing for the site, as time permits. More as I get closer to finishing, naturally, once I check my work for the smell of turkey...

Feb 6 - Worldbuilding

Sometimes you need a little perspective on the world... or you could just build your own. Yes, each of the photos on the previous site is taken of a diorama built by the site’s creator, they are not actual photos of landscapes. While one or two look a little suspect, the rest are simply amazing model-building work. Kind of along the same line of work as this compositing animation which dares you to pick out the CGI from the real-life imagery... gorgeous stuff.

So far  I’ve been enjoying is Sins of a Solar Empire, which has a decent learning curve and rewarding gameplay. I also love the fact that the game is highly moddable, with a lot of good mods available including Stargate and Andromeda – very cool. Plus, it just looks gorgeous on the big screen.

I spent part of my evening gaming online with my NWN friends, some of whom are in the UK – they have odd sleep schedules, so we can actually connect if we time it right. We found a new server to game on, as an interim spot until our own project has more free time available. I was impressed with the place, and the people there were impressed with the RP skills we brought to the game – a good time was had by all and sundry! I should also mention that NWN made it onto the Top 5 Most Moddable Games Ever!

Feb 7 – Fix it, don’t break it

I love the idea of wearable computers, but as with any portable technology the Achilles heel has always been battery life. Recharging my cell phone every other day bothers me, which is why I was fascinated to hear about a material that generates energy as you move – your clothes could charge your tech!

Tech talk alert: I managed to fix two things myself today, after months of trying. First my Vonage phone, which my router had not been passing calls through to at all – just to my cell phone. I finally configured it properly, having to give my Linksys Router a static IP and forwarding some very specific ports... but I got it to work; dial tone! The second thing I fixed was more of an adjustment, again with my router: ensuring my Xbox connection speed was as fast as it could be, as it’s been said that my system tends to lag when playing MW2. Ironically, we’re not playing much of that game of late, so my fix is, er... too little too late? Bah.

Borderlands was a bit of a disappointment today, as we ran into the ‘too many levels difference’ problem with online games. This happens when people use characters that have been played for different amounts of time, resulting in a mismatch of levels. Which makes the game revert to each person playing their own characters again, while chatting as a group party. Not so much fun.

I spent most of my day off today( Mon )filling Kleenexes, as I seem to have caught something over the weekend. I was fine Sunday, but this morning my nose took off running – ick.