Rogers Television Sucks

I woke up early this morning to watch the live broadcast of the Landsdowne Park South Side stands demolition. It was supposed to be broadcast from the City of Ottawa web site starting at 7:50am, with the actual implosion at 8:00am.

I was sure there'd be plenty of replay broadcasts available later in the day, but it's not the same as actually seeing something like this LIVE.

I got up at 7:30am and loaded up the web site at 7:45. The Rogers Television logo stared back at me from the web page. That should have been my first indication that this was going to go very well.

On cue, the live broadcast began at 7:50am. As 8:00am approached, the streaming broadcast began to stutter.

"Great. Rogers can't handle the demand", I said to myself.

A few minutes after 8:00am, according to my PC time, the warning horn sounded.

More streaming stutter.

My wife and I joked that we're going to miss the implosion. We'll see one frame of the stands still intact, and on the next it'll be gone.

That's pretty much what we saw.

The broadcast stream continued to get worse. Pausing for 10-15 seconds at a time.

Seconds before you could hear the countdown, the tiny screen went all blue. WTF?

You could still hear the occasional bit of audio.

Then the countdown started. Or parts of it. Followed by broken sounds of the explosive charges going off.

Then a picture. A paused picture of the left side of the stands beginning to fall.

Then applause as the demolition crew cheered.

I sat staring at the one image.

All week, the newspapers were warning of road closures and advising people to watch the broadcast stream. That there was no way they could get anywhere near the site to see it live, and then Rogers totally screws up the broadcast stream.

I'm sure it was all due to their inability to handle the demand, but what the hell did they expect?

Way to go Rogers. Fuckin' morons.

If you're interested in seeing what most of Ottawa probably missed, they're replaying the event here: Implosion of the lower south-side stands at Lansdowne Park

Am I the only one who thought the entire stands was going to be demolished? It's still kinda cool to see.



This is a spectators video of the implosion. I guess you could get somewhat near enough to see it in person. Judging from a few comments you can hear on the video, I wasn't the only one who thought the entire thing was coming down.

Hockey Scores?

With 1200 entries received for CBC's "Hockey Night In Canada Theme" contest, this entry -- "Hockey Scores!" -- is the most viewed and most voted entry:



Clearly, HNIC fans are still upset about CBC dropping the ball on the old theme, losing it to TSN.

According to this article, having the most votes does not guarantee a win for the entry.

The "ratings," "recommendations" and "most viewed" portions of the contest website are just some of the factors judges will consider when selecting the contest semi-finalists, who will be presented to the country and judged by a celebrity panel on a CBC network television special on Oct. 4.

It sure would have been funny though. :)

Maybe I need more than new glasses?

Like perhaps a kick in the ass?

I went to the optometrist on Saturday for an eye examination. My former reading glasses weren't doing their job. I can read fine if the text is about 2ft away, but for anything closer I have to strain.

I tend to wear my old reading glasses all the time -- even when driving. They're comfortable and I can see well doing pretty much anything, except when it comes to reading a book, magazine, or newspaper.

As it turned out, my former "distance/driving" glasses are now too strong and my former reading glasses have become general purpose glasses. So, realistically I need new driving glasses and new reading glasses. He said at the very least, get new reading glasses as I can get away with using my now-general-purpose glasses for everything else.

So, that's what I did.

As usual, I went to LensCrafters since they're located right next door to the optometrist's office.

I'm using the frames from my old driving glasses, so all I need is new lenses.

Can you believe that the machine they use to make the lenses was broken down, AGAIN? They were waiting on a part that was supposed to arrive this past Monday. That's what happened the last time and I waited over a week. Here's my last experience there. She told me that they would be ready "some time next week", meaning THIS week. I asked her if that's what she meant, and she said it was.

To be fair, she did tell me that I could go to one of the other locations if I needed them sooner. However, since I'm not in as much of a rush (or inconvenience) as the last time, I told her that was fine.

5 days and counting. I'm giving them until Saturday before I call. When Sunday rolls around, it's no longer "next week".

Coloured bubbles

My wife had a doctor appointment yesterday. While we sat in the waiting room, we flipped through some of the old Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines that they had in the waiting room. We had a good laugh at some of the "new" products of 1995 and how they've changed in the last 13 years.

After a long wait, my wife's name was called, leaving me alone to continue reading these wonder magazines. :) I found a more recent Popular Science magazine from 1995 and started flipping through it. It wasn't long before something caught my eye.

Coloured bubbles.

I've never seen a coloured bubble before. But how is this worthy of Popular Science? Surely it can't be that difficult to create? Apparently, it is.

I started reading the article. It took Tim Kehoe 11 years to perfect, and that was before this article was written in 2005. The article went on to say that in the toy industry, where the average shelf life of a toy is 18 months, bubbles are "the juggernaut". In 1995, 200 million bottles of bubbles were being sold every year. With a coloured bubbles, they could enter entirely new markets.

So, it would appear that coloured bubbles could be HUGE.

"Picture bubbles in NFL team colors, or bubbles that match charity ribbons. The potential market would grow to include every man, woman and child."

Unfortunately my wife was ready to leave before I was able to finish reading the article. :(

I did a quick search this afternoon and found the web site for the company and the product. The product is called Zubbles. I was rather shocked to see that they're still not available for sale. 13 years ago they were perfected and yet you still can't buy them? I guess that's why I've never seen them.

I also found the article online: The 11-Year Quest to Create Disappearing Colored Bubbles

It's worth reading. I'm sure you non-chemistry types are also curious about why colouring a bubble isn't as easy as it sounds. :)

Man sues Tennessee church for $2.5 million over spiritual fall

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A man in Knoxville, Tenn., says he was so consumed by the spirit of God that he fell and hit his head while worshipping.

Man sues Tennessee church for $2.5 million over spiritual fall

For the sake of the human race, I hope at least one (or both!) of the following happens:

• The judge laughs this man's ass out of court.
• The man get a bigger dose of "the spirit of God" so that he doesn't get back up the next time he falls.

Quebec set to allow yellow margarine

Must be a slow news day: Quebec set to allow yellow margarine

HDR Photography

Image via WikipediaI've discovered HDR photography.

What started as a simple browsing of some awesome photos taken by Chris Paltzat, turned into browsing various photo groups on Flickr that pertain to my Canon S3 IS, which in turn brought me to an HDR photograph Flickr group.

A quick Google search revealed to me exactly what the "Autoexposure Bracket" feature on my camera is used for. My interest peaked, and another Google search told me that I have software that can do the processing, and have had it all along: Corel's Paintshop Pro X2.

Now I'm anxious to get started and find some nice scenery to shoot.

Back to Chris Paltzat's blog. I had a brief email exchange with him after I sent him a message about his photos. He's a self-taught "amateur" photographer. I hesitate to say he's an amateur, because his photos are quite impressive. But, that's what he claims to be. I asked him for tips and his advice was to read as much as I can, and he kindly referred me to a few books with two of them being highly recommended. I plan to pick both of them up as soon as I can. (Thanks again, Chris!)

If you get a chance, drop by Chris's blog -- three six six -- and have a look around. He's posting a new photo every day of the year.