A man threw a bucket of red paint or dye into Rome’s Trevi Fountain on Friday, coloring the waters of the 18th century monument bright red in front of a crowd of astonished tourists and locals, witnesses said. The water in the fountain was turned off for a few hours until a clear flow of water could be resumed. Leaflets found nearby claim that the stunt was done to protest the expenses from the Rome Film Festival and that events red carpet ceremony. There are some pictures on the news articles webpage. It sure does look very interesting and something to behold.
I just read a Dilbert comic and it shows a great truth about working too hard on a project and completing it ahead of schedule. When you complete a project ahead of schedule all the future goals and expectations will be modified and be set as though you are working at the higher level. So sometimes you really have to look at the disadvantages of working too hard or completing things ahead of schedule. If by completing one thing quickly it will raise all the expectations of you, then you have to wonder what will be your motivation for doing it. Since working extra hard without any sort of reward can become a demotivational. One of the things about good management is that a boss will know what to expect from his workers and to know when something is done with greater than normal effort. Also, positive reinforcement of a job well done will go a long way, but only so far. There may also be a point where monetary bonus could be effective ways at increasing the effort levels further.
Today Sony slashed the price of the PS3 and announced another new model coming out November 2nd. The existing 80gb bundle with Motostorm has been dropped down to $499 Canadian well down from its previous $659. That is a savings of $160. As well, the new model coming out has a 40gb hard drive and will be without its backwards compatibility. This stripped down cheaper model will retail for $399 Canadian. I have a feeling this will help spur some sales for Sony but at what cost? I don’t know how they can dramatically reduce the price of a console supposedly costing them a lot more to produce. I wonder if its Sony’s Blu Ray division feeling the heat from the Christmas HD DVD releases that caused the price drop. It should be interesting to see how Microsoft responds to these last ditch efforts from Sony. Another Xbox 360 price drop coming soon? Maybe some bundles with more games and the HD DVD drive?
You know that video from the new iPod commercial? Well its pretty amazing. Here it is in its entirety. The link to the video is on college humor of all places. I think its a great music video and really shows off a unique and creative approach to a music video. This shows how powerful the Canadian indie music scene has become and how well received it is. Go Broken Social Scene!
Appearing on Larry King’s CNN show Thursday night, Stephen Colbert was accused by the host of using the publication of his new book as a platform to run for president. Colbert happily confirmed this, saying that he would seek the nomination from both parties. Stephen Colbert is hilarious and I know I would vote for him given the chance. Just watch his show and you’ll understand quite quickly what its all about.
During the past week Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (Nasdaq: SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR) stocks have both gained ground over recent optimism in their merger. One Citigroup analyst, Eileen Furukawa, has even stated that the merger prospects are likely to be about 69% by December 5th. Meanwhile, both stocks have been priced at much lower probabilities of the merger occuring. Some have said that the Sirius stock has a 41% chance of merger built into the price while the XM stock has a 29% chance of the merger occuring built in the price. Because of this, this analyst continues to put both companies as a “buy” and only time will tell whether they are right.
With the recent supporters of the merger from Members of Congress, consumer advocates, and Kia Motors all voicing that they are in favor of the merger I believe the FCC will do the right thing and allow the merger to take place. The reason why I really like the merger is for the possibility of getting the benefits from both services. I would really like to listen to the NHL broadcasts but that requires XM but I don’t want to leave behind all the benefits of Sirius.
At the Nintendo Fall Conference in Japan, Nintendo has announced that Mario Kart Wii will be featuring bikes as well as the usual karts. As well, they have it set to be shipped sometime in Spring 2008. This is great news for all the Mario Kart fans. The series has been through many different iterations and any sort of new element is sure to make things all that more interesting. The series has been through many different evolutions over the years and I expect this one to be the most fun yet. Now, if they would just come out with a date instead of the saying an ominous Spring 2008 I would be happier.
The graphical line separating video games and real life has been getting thinner and thinner with each passing console generation, and the Gran Turismo series always seems to be the one leading the charge. If you follow the links to engadgets site you will see the quiz.. I took it and only got 10 out of 15 pictures correct. It is amazing what they can do with pictures these days. Now that the graphics are almost life like, its also time to increase realistic car damag. This is on the list of features for GT5 and I really hope they do a good job on it. This has been one of the main things that keeps it from being truly realistic. Once they get realistic AI, realistic graphics, and realistic damage, it will be the true Driving Simulator.
Some people put up all sorts of motivational posters in their offices and all over the place. Well, this site has a top 40 of demotivational posters. I found most of them to be really funny and enjoyable. Take a look.
The Chris Harrison project has created a series of maps that show the geographical structure and distribution of the Internet. At the site you can view a global, geo-spatial map of the global internet. These maps are pretty neat as they really show places in the world without the internet. I’m actually more surprised there aren’t more connections through Canada but I guess we aren’t that heavily populated to need big pipes going across the country.
