The myth of Apple was bad news for RIM

I noticed that FutureShop online still has lots of BlackBerry Playbooks available.  The reviews on the site are overwhelmingly positive.  Given that you can get 3 Playbooks for a single iPad, which do you think is a better value?  When the upgraded version of QNX comes out in February 2012 with Android support, the Playbook will be the cheapest, quality tablet out there.  Playbooks are built in Taiwan by Quanta and the build quality is superior to the cheap knock off Android tablets that proliferate the internet.  There was an article recently about how dominant Apple is in the tablet market and how that's not about to change unless the price point issue is addressed.  That's why Amazon Kindle is making it.  Amazon is taking a loss on the hardware so that they can make more further up the food chain with software and content (like gaming consoles).  I really hope RIM can turn it around.  Mike Lazaridis helped found the Perimeter Institute.  What did Steve Jobs ever do other than enrich himself and Apple?

Interestingly, it appears that you can change the Playbook battery yourself (unlike the Apple iPad!).  Here's a teardown guide.  I guess well-heeled Apple iPad buyers wouldn't care to worry about such details and would simply buy and iPad 3 instead (and fall for more of Apple's masterful marketing pitch to buy more expensive Apple toys).

We got an LG Shine Plus at London Drugs today.  Going with prepaid service on Telus.  I won't be using that phone though!

Banded clouds on Saturday, December 17th

2011 November 17 (Saturday)

2011 November 17 (Saturday)

As I was driving east on 105th St in Sutherland Saturday morning @ 11 AM, I noticed some striking banded clouds in the sky.  The clouds appeared again on Sunday morning.  I uploaded some photos to share for school and also the two pictured above onto the Weather Network.  Another viewer uploaded two other photos of banded clouds yesterday:

2011 November 18 (Sunday)

2011 November 18 (Sunday)

An explanation for these parallel bands of clouds is given here.

Brahms Symphonies set on DVD with Bernstein

I got this 2 DVD set in the mail from Musical Heritage Society this past Wednesday (for about $20 postage included).  I was pleasantly surprised to see that each symphony is prefaced with an introduction by Leonard Bernstein.  It is an education to hear a composer speak about another composer's work.  I viewed the 1st Symphony on Thursday and this evening I'm looking at the 4th Symphony.  The way Bernstein describes Brahms disciplined classicism and how it related to his life was interesting indeed.  He mentioned how this controlled rage (at the end of the symphony) could be interpreted in terms of his all too short relationship with Robert Schumann, his childlessness (like Beethoven) and the snubbing by his hometown, Hamburg.  He went on to describe the passacaglia section on the piano.  A great addition to my collection indeed.  I will return!

I also note who the first cello is here - Robert Scheiwein (as it was in the Pollini/Abbado recording of the 2nd Piano Concerto).  For the Zimerman/Bernstein recording of the 2nd piano concerto it was the bearded cellist who sits beside him (Wolfgang Herzer).  Scheiwein just passed away this past July. The concert master is the one who I see the most often (I think Rainer Küchl).  Sometimes, it's a another person (there are 2 other concert masters during that era).  The associate concert master is Werner Hink. The Vienna Philharmonic doesn't have a permanent conductor.  That's why in the word of von Karajan when asked what the difference is between the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, said "the Berlin Philharmonic just does what you ask, the Vienna Philharmonic asks why?".

My favorite solo piano work

There is nothing like the last bars of Schumann's Fantasy in C, Opus 17.  I discovered this 30 minute solo from Murray Perahia's CBS recording in the 1980s.  It opens with such passion and ends with a serene question.  Wow.  I really liked a CJRT conversation between Paul Robinson and Bruce Surtees about this piano work.  That was on a Sunday afternoon in Toronto during the late 1980s.   They really had some insights that I enjoyed listening to (the question Schumann poses at the very end for one).  I've just listened to Géza Anda's recording form the 1960s and the last few minutes are as beautiful as anything I will ever hear.  I've not listened to Schumann as much as I usually do the last few months.  So, I think it's about time I start listening to more Schumann piano music (like the Symphonic Etudes played by Anda which I'm currently enjoying on a lunch hour).

I left my heart in San Francisco

Point Reyes

Point Bonita

Great Beach, Point Reyes

Scanned the picture of the Marin Headlands just by the Golden Gate Bridge.  The photo was dated 1993 March 27.  That was the last time I was in San Francisco.  I was there to do some training at Stanford with IRIS to learn how to use their seismometers which would be used for the Trans-Hudson Orogen Transect of Lithoprobe.  San Francisco is the place I would choose to live if I had a choice.  They have a great orchestra too!  Added 3 more photos on December 8th, the San Francisco Symphony's 100th birthday. Will my dream come true?

Looking towards Point Bonita

Santa Arrives!

Went to Market Mall for Santa photos today.  They had a special with a Briar Bear, A Tim Horton's $2 card and a pack of gum for the first 200 kids.  We were there 40 minutes early and had to wait about an hour.  The Blackberry Playbook kept the kids busy during the wait.  They also had this curling set for kids to play.

Ivan Moravec, Brahms Piano Concerti

This set of Brahms Piano Concerti with Ivan Moravec arrived yesterday from Presto Classical (it's also available from Amazon.ca).  Unfortunately, I was charged GST and PST and a big service charge by Canada Post.  Now, many years ago, I heard Moravec play Opus 15 with the Calgary Philharmonic.  It was around 1984-1985 when I was a high school student.  In a live performance, the balance between piano and orchestra is quite unlike that in recordings.  I don't recall it as particularly powerful playing, but it was a long time ago.  Last year, the family heard Angela Cheng play this concerto with the Saskatoon Symphony.  She gave it quite a bit of weight indeed.  The performance was tarnished by some out of tune horn playing though.  This particular set from Moravec received a Penguin Guide Rosette (some reviews here).  I concur!

Blackberry Playbook

We bought a Blackberry Playbook today.  Grandpa wants to buy one for his grand kids.  We got the 32 Gig one for $333 taxes included at The Source.  Tried to get one at BestBuy yesterday, but the service was pretty crappy.  Won't go there anytime soon.  There was a glitch in the startup (couldn't type in the Blackberry ID at the startup).  So, we went to The Source at The Centre Mall to ask.  One of the guys there simply shut it down and let it reboot.  I had to sit outside there store and have the OS update itself for about an hour.  It works fine now.  I'm really happy that the Blackberry is MADE IN TAIWAN.  Unlike the iPad which is made in China by a Taiwanese company (traitors!).

Now, I'm rooting for RIM as I HATE APPLE.  They are super cocky and Apple and Steve Jobs just enrich themselves.  Mike Lazaridis helped to create the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo to enhance Canada's research profile.  I hope they can get the Android stuff to work on the Playbook, but given that Android is a favorite hacking target now, maybe it's good there's a delay. QNX is rock solid, so it would be a shame if it was tarnished by Android hack jobs.

Stephen Kovacevich Favorite Beethoven Sonatas

I had purchased this from Presto Classical a while ago.  I've not listened to the Hammerklavier sonata for a while so I finally opened this 2 CD set on Halloween.  What amazing pianism indeed.  I was thinking of buying his complete set of Beethoven piano sonatas, but it was kind of expensive.  The tempi are very brisk, but it's not rushed at all.  I've never heard the Hammerklavier played so fast (honoring Beethoven's manuscript markings).  I wish Kovacevich was better known - he's really an underrated pianist.  I have his 2nd recording of Schubert's D960 on order and his 2nd recordings of the Brahms Concerti.  I had previously written about his earlier Hyperion record of D 960.

2011 October 8

The two other Russian Mammoth Sunflower's are still growing.  I think I'll be able to get some seeds from the bigger of the two as frost is still holding off.  I'll have to cut the head off the oldest one soon and let it dry so I can harvest the seeds. It was raining all day yesterday, so the yard has been soaked.  I've been watering the sunflowers daily at least twice during Sept-Oct.  The oldest sunflower sure has grown since Victoria Day (click here for photo - the middle pot)!

Can we harvest sunflower seeds this year?

Another warmer than usual fall day, but it's not going to last.  Don't get the warm days like last week anymore.  Even at 22°C, the sun is going down and it feels rather cool.  I hope I'll be able to harvest seeds from my sunflower.  The other 2 are blooming nicely.

I think I'll be able to harvest soon.  I found several sites about harvesting the seeds.  This one looks good, as does this one.   I guess you can also dry the sunflower heads inside as this person did.

Grandich likes Taseko Mines

I've been eyeing Taseko Mines and Peter Grandich posted today that he bought a lot of shares on Friday.  What's there to like about TKO-T?

• forward PE of 5.5
• low political risk
• New Prosperity Cu-Au project in BC
• locked in $3.50/pound Cu price through 2012

I bought at $3.96 in my TFSA and it's been a dog since my purchase in early September.  I wanted to buy Pretium, but it was too high by the time I was ready to buy and I went with TKO, SGC and PPI.  All disasters.  Hopefully, TKO will get back up to $6-7 some day.

Well, TKO-T took another dive to a new 52 week low today.  SGC-X hit a new 52 week low. RG-X also nosedived along with FED-X.  The pain continues.  Only bright spot is I cashed out on GBG-T to make $84 (to switch into TKO-T).

The Omega Block is Shifting Away

The front looks like this on the evening of Sept 27:

Looks like my sunflower has to start getting to seed soon so I can harvest it!

More sunflower photos

Busy bees today

The other two sunflowers are beginning to bloom

An Omega Block is Going to Make for a Great Fall Day

The Russian mammoth sunflowers are given a chance to bloom because of Indian Summer this past week.  A classic omega block has been giving us hot, sunny weather.  Here is what the system map looks like on September 25, 2011.  Unfortunately, it's going to break up soon.

To take advantage of the great weather, I rode my bike from Aden Bowman to home with the kids (about 10 km).  That sunflower is getting huge and the 2 others are starting to bloom.

Seeds that Oxfam sent me in 2010

Update: Russian Mammoth Sunflower

It's going to get to 30°C today.  The Russian mammoth sunflower has gotten bigger and the other two are starting to open their flowers!

Russian Mammoth Sunflower

I planted one of these in a pot at the end of April (Oxfam had sent me some seeds in 2010).  It finally started to open it's flower last week. I had to cover it with a garbage bag to protect it from a -5°C freeze on September 14.  Samuel got 2 others at Lakeridge School (a gift from Agrium).  I didn't know his were Russian mammoth sunflowers until they got big.  They planted those in June, so they are more than a month behind the one I planted.  I had planted some last year, but the flowers didn't get very big because of the short Saskatoon growing season.  We are going have Indian summer the next few days, so I hope Samuel's 2 sunflowers will open up soon before the killer frost comes!  Notice how it bent over to get maximum sunlight!  A weird looking, but beautiful sunflower indeed. Tomorrow is Michael Faraday's 220th birthday (born the year Mozart died, 1791).

Ordination as a Ruling Elder within the Presbyterian Church in Canada

Yesterday, I was ordained as an elder at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Saskatoon.  It was the second time I've been an elder.  Previously, I was an elder at Parkview Presbyterian Church, but resigned after a vote in which I was the only one to vote no to almagamation of Parkview and Circle West. It is a rather daunting calling this time, I think.  I listened to a lot of Mozart piano concerti yesterday contemplating this new appointment.

First success with MySQL and PHP

I discovered this neat product called DBQuikSite a couple of days ago.  It lets you create database enabled websites without much programming.  They have bundle pricing which is quite attractive.  I got it working easily with their demo within the DBQuikSite program.  The problem came when I tried to deploy the database.

It creates a folder under  

C:\Users\Athlon2011\Documents\My QwikSites\Sites\SUTIL\Deploy\PHP (1)

(since I selected MySQL and PHP for the deploy options).  The actual DBQwikSite projects are located in

C:\Users\Athlon2011\Documents\My QwikSites\Projects.

Now, since I use XAMPP, the webpages need to be in the htdocs folder

C:\xampp\htdocs\SUTIL (2)

The project I was working on involved SUTIL.  So, I copied all the files from folder (1) to folder (2).

The next problem was to actually get the database going.  DBQwikSite creates MySQL scripts which convert the MDB file it has into a MySQL database.  I had no idea how to get those scripts to run.  After some mucking around, I found out you can create a database from within PHPMyAdmin

http://localhost/phpmyadmin/

Create a new database (I named it sutil) and table (StudentChoices) with the same specs as you did in DBQwikSite:

Doing this created a new folder in the XAMPP folder (note that the mysql databases are under the data folder!)

C:\xampp\mysql\data\sutil

After all this, I managed to get the DBQuikSite php files to work

http://localhost/SUTIL/student_choices_add.php

Now, to test it live on the web, I needed a hosting service.  This webpage has a list of free websites with PHP/MySQL and I'm trying HelioHost.

I had the customary problem with not being able to access MySQL after I added a password to user localhose/root.  I had to edit C:\xampp\phpMyAdmin\config.inc.php and modify the lines

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = '';

Useful Links
http://www.html-form-guide.com/
http://www.javascript-coder.com/

CSV Import Script

http://www.sitepoint.com/
http://phpmaster.com/

Working with MySQL databases (list of free tools)

http://sixrevisions.com/tools/applications_mysql_databases/
http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/workbench/

A bountiful harvest

The Norland apple tree is loaded with another bumper crop (like last year).  The trunk had split during a storm in August 2010, but it's healing (hopefully well).

The raspberry we got from a friend will need to grow for a few years before we can get a good harvest:

The Heyer 12 apple is still not doing well 2 years after we transplanted it.  Looks like the root system is still not recovered as there is not much foliage, but there are quite a few apples:

The red currant bush is brimming with berries even after I picked some off.  It's a real pain to harvest though!

As you can see, we were painting the fence after 7 years since it was erected.  The colour matches the stucco colour of the house (light green).  We didn't get any Saskatoon berries again because the birds got most of them already!  Have to put a net around them next year.  We bought 4 L of fresh Saskatoon berries from the Farmer's Market at Peavy Mart yesterday for $18.

Watch out for share dilution

Bought Carpathian Gold too high today.  This blog post warned about CPN and I think he has a good point.  So I looked up the shares outstanding of three stocks over the last few years

 

Looking at the last line in each of these graphics, you can see that FED has the least dilution and CPN has the most.  SGC is somewhere in between.  So, CPN is already quite a sizable market cap and that blogger's argument is pretty good.  However, I do agree with one of the commenters that CPN has a huge prospect in Romania and Barrick today invested in CPN to the tune of $20 million in a private placement.