Tag Archives: mystery meat navigation

Sulky Girl

Distractions

Looking at my stats brought up a few hits on sulky so I wandered off into the web and followed links to the OHRA’s harness racing website that taught me a new term: The device that the jockey sits in, in a harness race is called a Sulky. Who knew?

I loved the site graphics, which reminded me of a cross of John K of Ren and Stimpy fame, and UPA, the 50s/Flintstone style. After looking around a while, I learned even more: how to bet at a track, which always confused me. When I lived in England or when I watch Coronation Street, it was a mysterious lifestyle to see the curtained-off betting shacks with motor mouthed announcements mumbling out of the doorway. Now I know what they were doing in there, which, to my surprise, wasn’t pornographic at all.

The fastest way to learn how to wager was to sign up and play a free game or two on their Flash horse race game, which I realize that it’s like getting digital crack from a virtual dealer: the first one is free, click here now! I chose to be Marco, the bald, cigar-chomping, Italian mobsteresque stereotype and started to bet my free $100 away.

Disclaimer: there’s no actual gambling on the site, it’s just a gateway drug to get you to the race tracks, conveniently listed in the “character’s favorite place” to gamble.

The process is explained step by step and I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the artist here: Sir/Madam, I love your horse design. Especially this one: Propaganda. I felt an immediate attachment and promptly bet $50 on her.

And lost it in seconds.

That’s what I get for betting on looks.

The only downside on the site I have to mention here is that the sections: History, Ask A Question, The actual Flash horse game, Locations, Jockey info and the Member’s Log in (Check out the utterly bizzare Ron and Don at home videos) are all Mystery Meat Navigation: You don’t know what you’re clicking on until you get there. I had to click on each of the “characters” to get to each section which makes for a confusing first visit. But explore. It’s worth a good few moments in your cube.

*apologies to Robert Palmer for the title swipe.

Canada Doesn’t Deserve the iPhone

iPhone, Tech

What? I hear you say.

I’m dead serious. If the two main sites that report on iPhone news, applications and gadgets are to be the harbinger of the coming of the iPhone in the Great White North, then we can expect the news to be mis-informed and at least 24 hours too late.

Lets start with iPhoneworld.ca: other than the debilitating ads that clog it’s loading, or the mystery meat navigation, it’s fairly good. But slow on the reporting. Hackint0sh, TUAW and Gizmodo trump this site by hours (in some cases days). Let’s face it, the only thing this site will be good for is when Rogers announces the arrival of the phone and then it will wonder what to talk about next. But what made me cancel my RSS feed to it was their utterly lame attempt to get Rogers and Apple to shake hands: The “Great” Canadian iPhone Petition (quotes mine).

Very noble! That will make Rogers stand up and say “Hey! There are some disgruntle customers out there! We should do something about it!” I’ll stop with the sarcasm from here on in, you get my drift. But here’s the thing that made me pass morning tea through my nose:

We, the undersigned, pledge our support to Rogers Communications Inc., that we would support the launch of the iPhone in Canada.

Whiskey? Tango? Foxtrot? They want us to support a company that is going to monopolize this product with high connection costs? Uh… for how long? Forever? I’ll be honest, when (if?) Rogers brings the iPhone to Canada I’ll buy into their plan only because it’s the only kid on the block. As soon as someone else comes along: Sayonara! Pledging support to a company blindly is a bit too creepy for me. Sign me out. Expected signatures: 100,000. Since inception (March 28th): 790. Good luck with that.

And then there’s iPhoneinCanada.ca. Arguably a better site with product/accessory reviews but with the same amount of slow loading ads. Again, nothing really new here that hasn’t been scooped from the other Apple/iPhone sites, other than cases you can’t get in Canada unless you order them online. Worrisome were the reviews and links to “All-you-can-eat” download sites that I am pretty sure are hosting unlicensed media. Regardless, I hung out on the forums for a couple weeks and was really starting to get a sense of community until one of the moderators started to wildly recommend Ziphone blindly to all who would ask what was the best way to jailbreak, unlock, activate your phone.

Obviously he wasn’t doing his homework.

I mean, sure it works. But what is it doing to your iPhone?

When I asked if he had researched what exactly Ziphone does, he accused me of being biased towards a particular software. His final word on the matter was that the forum was there to offer many different solutions to unlocking your phone and that readers would have to make their own decisions.

So I decided that I wanted to be a part of something more informed and based on solid opinion, and I deleted that RSS feed too.

So I’m hoping that any Canadian who has an iPhone or is going to purchase one, has a little more sense to blindly trust these sites. My advice: Google deeper.