Galactica Season 2.0

Having just completed watching Season 1.0 of the new Battlestar Galactica the Space Network has just wrapped airing Season 2.0.

The writing on this show is razor sharp, although it lacks the comic relief provided by Alan Tudyk in Serenity and can seem a bit over gloomy at times.

In any case, I greet the ending of Season 2.0 (and my current TV watching season) with these words:

I, for one, welcome our new Cylon overlords.

Best Game Review Ever

Far be it from me to suggest that the fact that the Da Vinci Code has sold over 40 million copies indicates a severe problem with the status of literacy, but how it achieved this while also being the most universally derided work of fiction I’ve ever heard of is simply amazing.

There’s a video game adapatation of the movie out, and Wired has published a great review

You’ll find the puzzles in The Da Vinci Code game to be intricate and challenging. If you have recently sustained a major head injury.

In fairness, the emphasis is mine.

R.I.P. Powerbook

Apple has introduced the new MacBook Pro to replace current iBooks.

Most interesting on the front of the Apple Store is the disappearance of the PowerBook name.

May she rest in peace and perhaps, with the next revision, return. PowerBook was one of the most venerable names in the technology business with extremely high brand recognition. It will be back, I’m sure.

The Problem with Cars

From an online blog I stumbled on a while ago, a great illustration of why Hybrids are not the solution to the world’s problems.

Shockingly - not the Prius! My commute in my Jetta is 4 miles roundtrip.

I wish I could be shocked that anybody would drive (even a hybrid) for a four mile commute (especially in California) but alas, I am not.

The world would be a much better place if people walked (or cycled) four miles.

The Da Vinci Code Redux

The Da Vinci Code film comes out today — definitely not going to see this thing, but I am enjoying the reviews.

In particular, I liked this sentence from the New York Times”:http://www.nyt.com/ review of the film. The emphasis has been added by me.

“The Da Vinci Code,” Ron Howard’s adaptation of Dan Brown’s best-selling primer on how not to write an English sentence, arrives trailing more than its share of theological and historical disputation.

Income Linked Student Loans

The C.D. Howe Institute has come out with an entirely reasonable and perfectly logical suggestion for Canada’s student loan programs:

Introducing income-contingent student loans, whereby loan repayments depend on income or earnings after graduation from university or college, would allow students to reduce the risks associated with investing in higher education and increase access for students from low-income backgrounds, says a new C.D. Howe Institute Commentary.

The match is pretty simple really. Economies that invest in education for their citizens outperform those that don’t. This is particularly true of those that have accesible post-secondary education.

It makes sense, therefore, to extend access to post-secondary education to as many as possible. Since advanced education costs money, there is an inherent built in advantage for those from middle to upper income families.

Extending the reach of student loan programs is an important goal, but not if the funds are never recovered.

Tie repayment to income, make payments manageable and the benefits are multiplied significantly: not only are loans repaid with interest, the income is taxed.

Such a plan will, of course, never be introduced. Students don’t vote and all that matters is votes.

Tragic isn’t it.

Magazines Online

Silly readers, tricks are for kids.

I’m receiving Information Week through their complimentary professional subscription but online only. This means I get an email ever week, and I click a link to view the magazine.

I was getting a Mac publication as well for a while, with the distinction that it downloaded to my PowerBook and I had to use the Zinio Reader software to view it.

Great. More software to install.

The real question is — and I hope I’m not the first person to ask it — why are these paper publishers trying so hard to emulate their paper publication online?

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Woo Hoo - Outside gets RSS

The wonderful Outside Magazine has finally gotten RSS feeds

Tonight I’m going to party like it’s 1999!

The best part is, of course, they don’t work with Safari’s integrated RSS support, thanks to a server side error.

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