Altavistagoogle

Somewhere Between is a Great Doc

2013-04-21T23:13:00.001-03:00

Netflix just earned my monthly 8 bucks again. Somewhere Between is perhaps a bit of a chick-doc, but there are enough geopolitical economic undertones to keep the coldest intellectual male interested. The human side of The Economist, if you will.

I highly recommend it. So did Roger Ebert.

Somewhere Between is a documentary about Chinese adoption, currently streaming on Netflix Canada and USA.

"God is a Psychopath" (North Korea and Propaganda)

2013-03-17T20:17:00.000-03:00

This is one of the best propaganda films I've seen in a long time. I found it fascinating.

After viewing it, I recommend reading this.

Movies Complimentary to Argo

2013-02-24T17:32:00.000-04:00

I really enjoyed Argo (probably going to win the Best Picture later tonight; rentable in iTunes and the PS3 video store). It's not too often that you get such a tense geopolitical thriller. The story is more or less accurate and, obviously (hopefully), the Iranians featured in the film are not reflective of the entire population.

To get a more balanced impression of Iran, I highly recommend the following films. Unlike Argo, most are quite slow.

-Crimson Gold (about a pizza delivery man).
-Persepolis (a historical cartoon)
-Offside (a girl trying to get into a soccer stadium).
-The Queen and I (about the wife of the Sha, living in France)

Offside

Crimson Gold

Persepolis

The Queen and I

In Canada, The Queen and I is curently available in Netflix.

Other movies set in Iran

Health Care and Education Over the CBC, Via and Useless Weapons

2013-02-23T18:34:00.001-04:00

The CBC and Via Rail are not huge budget items, but I submit in 2013 they should not be budget priorities. Worse, they are being used to inspire bundling. A billion for the CBC as long as we spend 40 billion on national defence.

CBC

In the age of advertising supported television, the CBC was the alternative. But now the alternative is pay TV and the Internet. Is there an audience that isn't served? I enjoy programming on the CBC, PBS and the BBC that arguably wouldn't exist without subsidy. But the opportunity cost is high. I submit we should lower taxes to allow poor people to purchase the shows they want to see or spend the tax dollars on more valuable services like education and heath care.

Via Rail

It's the fourth way. Almost all Via Rail destinations are reachable by car, bus and plane. In many places, Via actually competes for rail space with suburban rail. Most Via Rail trains compete for space with freight trains. Heavy trucks damage roads and cause deadly accidents. The more freight transported by rail, the better. The bus is cheaper, driving more convenient and flying usually faster. Intercity rail is such a niche service that it really doesn't deserve to be subsidized.

National Defence

Canada is a big country. But what country would invade Canada? Imagine the logistics involved in taking over Wood Buffalo and exploiting the tar sands. We could outsource the defence of Canada and save a fortune. At the very least we should downsize the military until we get a credible enemy. We need a few ships to protect our fishery and ports. But tanks?

Queen of Versailles is a Must See Doc

2013-02-19T12:56:00.001-04:00

If you live in the UK, I highly recommend you load up your BBC iPlayer and watch Queen of Versailles (Canadians can rent it for $5 via iTunes). It is an incredible story about about a time share magnet making money, and then not making as much, as the world recession roles through.

Everybody involved is nouveau-riche. You don't want the nouveau riche as your neighboors, but they are fun to watch on TV. Queen of Versailles is no exception.

Meteorite Landings Are Not Random

2013-02-15T19:20:00.001-04:00

Here is my hypothesis: The location of meteorites crashes are not random. They are not spread out equally around the world. What do I base this on? The map.

Look at it!

View Larger Map

The Chelyabinsk region is like the surface of the moon! Perhaps there is a logical explanation: lazy map makers, beavers, Soviet engineering... But man, does it ever look like a bunch of meteorites crashed in to the region.

-What Do We Know about the Russian Meteor?
-Meteorite Hits Russia, Causing Panic (in case of WSJ paywall, Google the title)
-Videos of Russian Meteorite Captured by Bystanders

Alberta and Florida Driver's Licences Are Illegal

2013-02-15T17:43:00.001-04:00

This is the Alberta driver's licence. Do you see "Permis de conduire"?

Model Driver's Licence according to the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic:

ANNEX 9. MODEL DRIVING PERMIT
Dimensions: 74 x 105 mm. Colour: Pink
1. The permit will be drawn up in the language(s) prescribed by the legislation of the State.

2. The title of the document "Driving Permit" will be written in the language(s) prescribed in 1 above and will be followed by the translation in French "Permis de conduire".

3. The inscriptions should be written (or at least repeated) in Latin characters or in so-called English script.

4. The additional remarks, if any, by the competent authorities of the issuing country will not apply to international traffic.

5. The distinguishing sign as defined in Annex 4 shall be inscribed in the oval.

Outside pages

Reserved for endorsements by the competent authorities of the issuing country and including periodic renewal.

[Name of country]

[Seal or stamp of authority]

At least Florida got the colour right.

Grand Canyon Trails Now in Google Street View!

2013-02-13T06:37:00.000-04:00

If your iMac is getting dusty, or worse, wasted on tax software, now you have a great excuse to use it: the Grand Canyon in now is Google Street View!

Granted, if you read the Google Maps blog, you already knew that. But for everybody else, this is exciting news. Enjoy!

View Larger Map

Monorail, Monorail, Monorail !

2013-02-12T09:52:00.000-04:00

My little sister just returned from Orlando and advised me she didn't get me the Disney Monorail toy. So this blog post is my consolation gift to myself.

So far, I've ridden the monorail at Disney World, the one in Seattle, the one at Newark Airport, the one at Montreal's La Ronde and the one at the Granby zoo. Please do not confuse a monorail with an elevated train (like the ones in Scarborough and Vancouver). You could also argue that the train at Toronto's Pearson airport is a monorail (that I have ridden), however, for aesthetic reasons, I don't consider it a monorail.

The Simpsons Monorail Song from Marge Vs. the Monorail.

Disney Monorail Toy

Lego Monorail

Lego Monorail II

Seattle Monorail

Sydney Monorail

Mumbai Monorail

Newark Airport Monorail

The Shainghai Maglev Monorail

A Maximum of 20 million People Have Viewed House of Cards

2013-02-06T10:50:00.001-04:00

I previously called House of Cards a hit, but that was based on comments on Twitter. I've introduced some fuzzy logic. Psy's Gangnam style has been viewed 1.2 billion times, yet has only received 7 million ratings, or 0.59%. For each rating, the video has been viewed 168 times. Part of the explanation for that is many people will have watched the 4 minute video over and over, yet only rated it once. As well, I'm pretty sure you have to be logged into Youtube to rate a video. With Netflix, few if any people will have viewed House of Cards 20 times and only rated it once. Also, you have to be logged into Netflix to view a video, so there is one less step to rating.

The Netflix experience is probably different than Youtube. I suspect the average viewer per Netflix account is significantly higher than one. An account is, after all, $8 a month. You can only rate once per Netflix account. An other defence of House of Cards is that many people will wait until they have finished the 13 episode season before rating the show. Only the insane have already viewed the 11 hours of House of Cards made available by Netflix 5 days ago. Still, you can rate the series, or even an episode, without having viewed the entire series. I suspect it is more than 0.6% that have done so.

So with that disclaimer out of the way, here is my conclusion: Best case scenario, 20 million people have viewed 1 or more episodes of the 2013 US version of House of Cards.

Math: 120,000 X 168 = 20,160,000 people. Since the average rating for House of Cards is 4.6 stars out 5, we can assume most of those viewers will eventually view each of the 13 episode.

These days, you usually need a karaoke machine to reach 20 million people an episode.