Something About Data Recovery

As previously posted, my digital camera's memory card crashed on me. In Singapore and Tokyo everything was fine, but as soon as I got home I could not read anything on the card. When the card was in my camera I couldn't even turn it on. When I started the camera and then put the card in it would freeze up. Last weekend I found something on the internet called "Badcopy" This program specializes in finding lost data on a memory card. I did a scan of my camera (with the memory card in it) but it would only scan the internal memory on my camera. It actually found the very first pictures I ever took with my camera. My problem was finding a direct connection to my memory card. Hooking my camera up to my computer gave me a direct connection to my camera, but not my memory card. I was in Seoul on Saturday and bought a generic memory card reader. It was about $20. It reads 16 different types and sizes of memory cards (the official SanDisk reader only reads one type of card and is about $30). When I put the card in the reader it said I needed to format the card. I had always been told that formatting a card would permanently erase all data. I ran the scan without formatting and found nothing. I was out of options so I decided to take a chance on the formatting. I formatted the card and then ran the scan. 2 hours later I recovered every single picture I took in Singapore. I had originally thought that everyone of them was viewable but it turned out that 15 of them were damaged. Who cares? I had originally thought that I had lost all 200 of them. Most of the ones I wanted were okay. I tend to take too many pictures so the fact a few were lost is not a big deal. What I don't understand is why everyone cautions about formatting your memory card. I'm a walking testimony that, if you have the right recovery software, it is okay and it can actually help in saving your pictures. Now my memory card is fine. Yeee haaa! I'll try to have my pictures from Singapore up this week.

Something About February 25

February 25 is significant for a few reasons in my world. The day marks Venus's three month birthday. She is doing very well but I have a hard time getting her to eat dry food. She is very picky. It also marks 2 years to the day that I first arrived in Korea. The sucky think about getting older is that time goes by soooo fast. If you're a Korean the day is somewhat important as it marks the 2 year anniversary of the current presidents inauguration. Finally, the best thing about today: it's Friday! Have a good weekend!

Something About The Liberals

UPDATE:

The Winnipeg Sun is claiming that Paul Martin will say "no" to missile defense. This is a flip flop from yesterday when Frank McKenna claimed Canada was already on board with it. One major condemnation Martin had for Harper during last years election was that the Conservatives "flip flop" too much. Maybe so, but now the Liberals can show us some good flip floppin' action.

Origianl Post:

Every morning I read Google News . It is a comprehensive news page that brings together articles from over 4,500 news sources. This morning I read an article by The National Post saying that Frank McKenna (new Canadian ambassador to The USA) has made it public that Canada has committed to the Missile Defense Program being developed by the Americans. Personally I think the idea is crazy. The Americans still think that a "rogue" country is going to send a missile into their country. 9/11 showed us that there are cheaper and more effective ways to attack a country. The Missile Defense program would detect incoming missiles and blow them up with their own missiles. The U.S. has had numerous trial runs but to date it has proven unsuccessful.
During Canadian elections the Liberals have a habit of bashing the Conservatives on certain issues only to agree with those issues when they are elected. This previous election Stephen Harper said he thought that MD was a good idea and that Canada should go along with it. Martin jumped up and down Harper saying that it is a waste of money and that Canada should not be involved. During the debates Martin kept criticizing Harper over the idea of MD. Now, as usual, the Liberals have embraced a Conservative idea. This happened with Chretiens last election as well. Stockwell Day was promoting tax cuts and Chretien said such ideas were ridiculous. When Chretien was elected he too promoted and exercised tax cuts.
Personally I think MD is a dumb idea that is reminiscent of The Cold War. Terrorists adapt to different circumstances- even if MD does work they will just find another way to attack. What I don't understand is how Canadians don't see this Liberal pattern of criticizing then embracing Conservative ideas.

Something About The Leafs

Today I was a tad bored while waiting to go into work so I decided to flip through my "bookmarks" to see if I could find something to keep me entertained. I came across "The Game Never Ends." This is my bookmark to the official Toronto Maple Leafs website. I had bookmarked it last season and when I did "The Game Never Ends" was the title of the website. I thought this was very ironic. When I clicked on the link the new title of the Leafs page says "The Official Site of Leafs Nation." I guess the game does end, at least for now.

Something About Gmail

My new email address is with Gmail. I chose this web-based email address because it truly out ranks all others. First, it offers 1 Gigabyte of storage. You could literally store a life times worth of emails with it. It also offers an amazing search option. Type in any word and search every piece of email you have. It has a great "spam" detector. I get absolutely no spam in my inbox. It is a Beta based email. This means that you view a "live" mailbox. With Hotmail you have to reload your page to see new emails. With gmail the page constantly reloads itself. You can actually see an email appear in your mailbox. You can download "Gmail Notifier." This is a program that tells you there is new email, even when you are not viewing your mailbox. A small picture of a white envelope appears in the bottom right hand corner of your toolbar when there is no new mail. When new mail does come the envelope turns blue. It also briefly tells you who sent the email and the subject associated with it. There are many other options with Gmail...Too many to list. One of the best things about Gmail is that it is new. You have a really good chance of getting an address that YOU want. For example, my address is mpeacock@gmail.com . If this were a hotmail account it would have to be mpeacock333444@hotmail.com . You are not guaranteed the email address you want but the chances are pretty high. To have a Gmail account you need to be sent an invitation to join. You can't simply go to a website and sign up. Here's where the purpose of this post comes in. I checked my email today and it says I have 50 invitations to give out. So here's my question: Who wants a Gmail account? Send my an email and I'll send you an invitation.

Something About Bit Torrent

In my previous post I noted that I download television shows off of the internet. I personally find nothing wrong with doing this- people have been taping shows with VCR's for decades now. Before Christmas the main site to find downloads was "Supernova." This site has since been shut down. In fact, every time I find a reliable site for downloading it seems to shut down within a few weeks. I feel guilty finding an active site and not telling everyone about. I've listed below active Bit Torrent sites that I know of. If you know of any others please tell me. Thanks.

Download Bit Torrent: http://ei.kefro.st/projects/btclient/

TV Torrents @EFNet: http://www.tvtorrents.tv/

My Bit Torrent: http://www.mybittorrent.com/

TV Torrents: http://www.tvtorrents.com/

Torrents UK: http://www.torrents.co.uk/

Something About Being Committed

As some of you (most of you) know I like to watch television. I have my favorite shows but I don't try to ram my affection down people's throat. Simply put, everyone has their own taste. The days leading up to my trip to Singapore were a tad boring. I wanted to save my energy so I pretty much just stayed around my apartment. I've mentioned to most of you that I download current North American television shows on the internet. I can usually view any shows episode within 24 hours of it airing. Most of the time it's within an hour of the shows airing. I was really pressed for something to watch; it seemed there were a lot of re-runs that week. I came across a show I had never heard of before called "Committed." I downloaded an episode (107) and absolutely loved it. When I got back from Singapore I downloaded the first 8 episodes. I must say this is the funniest show on television right now. This is it's first season and has only been airing since January of this year. It airs Tuesday nights on NBC. You really don't want to miss this show. Some of you "over 40's" people might think the cast is too young for you. Don't worry- Tom Postman (Newhart) plays a minor role in the show as a retired clown that lives in a closet as he waits to die. In terms of the other characters the show also stars Darius McCrary ("Eddie" from "Family Matters") and Jennifer Finnigan, a blonde from Montreal. You may also know that my all time favourite comedy is "Seinfeld." Jason Alexander has a new show this season called "Listen Up." I enjoyed the first few episodes because I really do like Jason as an actor. The problem with the show is that there is a serious lack of talent. Jason Alexander does not do good by himself- he needs good supporting actors. The wife and son on the show are very weak. Not only that but "Theo" (Malcom-Jamal Warner) is terrible in his role as a retired football player. If "Listen Up" is going to make it to two seasons it is going to have to restructure it's cast. My worry is that "Committed" arrived too late in the season for people to even realize it even exists. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Something About Singapore

Well I'm back from my trip now. Actually I arrived in Korea Thursday afternoon. This is really the first chance I've had to sit down and relax. I had a great time. On our plane we had personal video displays that allowed us to watch movies, follow the plane on a map or play computer games. I chose to watch "Sideways" and "Undertow." Sideways was okay, but not the great movie like everyone says it is. At the end I thought it dragged on too much. Undertow was a movie I had never heard of but turned out to be one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. When I got to the airport I needed to catch a cab into the city. As soon as I stepped out of the security area some guy starts saying "sir, need a cab? Right this way, sir!" I was physically exhausted and just wanted to go to my hotel so I followed him. Turns out he doesn't have a cab but his friend, who owns a bus, would arrive in 20 minutes. Something was up. I asked him how much the trip would be to my hotel and he told me 100 SIN, or about 70 dollars US. I knew from Lonely Planet that a cab should cost at the most 35 US after midnight. I eventually made my way over to the regular cabbies. This guy would not leave me alone, and was very angry that I wanted to go with someone else. The other cabs at the airport were charging 35 US to get to any hotel in Singapore. I told the first guy to forget it, which prompted him to curse me up and down. So, my first 10 minutes in Singapore weren't the best. Driving into the city I felt like I was in an episode of "Miami Vice." Everything was clean, there were palm trees everywhere; it was just a really nice drive.

On Tuesday I went on a dragon boat cruise around Singapore Harbor and then to an island just of the coast. On the boat were people from many different countries. I ended up talking to a guy named Ralph from California. We ended up eating lunch together at a Chinese restaurant. In the afternoon I went to Chinatown. I really wish I was Chinese. Really. It is such an amazing culture. The first little shop I went into had souvenirs that were "3 for 10." Not as cheap as China but pretty close to it. I'll show you what I bought when I get home. Tuesday night I met up with Ralph again in Chinatown. It was the eve of the Chinese New Year and there was going to be a big party. While we were hanging out we met two Americans that had recently moved to Singapore to work. They were pretty cool. The party had dragon dancing and fireworks. We were there from 7:00 - 1:30. I have never seen so many people in my life. There was a point where I thought I wouldn't be able to move until the whole thing was over.

Wednesday morning I took a boat ride down the Singapore River. My hotel was at the top of the river. It was pretty cool. In the afternoon I walked around "The Raffles Area" of Singapore. A guy named Raffles founded Singapore. I think he was European. Anyways, all the buildings in this area were usually white and were very European in design. After this I went to Little India. I thought it was boring. At night I went on a Night Safari. I was supposed to meet up with Ralph but somehow missed him. The Night Safari had lions, tigers, cheetahs, elephants...you name it. There are no cages. It kind of reminded me of "African Lion Safari" but here you could walk around. Pretty cool.

Thursday was my trip home. My students thought I was in Canada...how do I explain a sun burn on my forehead? On the way home I watched perhaps the stupidest movie I have seen to date. "Catwoman" is so dumb. I stopped watching it about halfway through. I had an excellent trip. In a way I wish I could have spent maybe two more days there. I do have a problem, though. I took over 200 pictures with my digital camera. The last time I looked at them was at the airport in Tokyo. When I went to upload them onto my computer my camera says that the memory card cannot be read. Yikes. I think I know a way to get around it but it means you'll have to wait for pictures. So sorry. Anyways, I'll post more about the trip at a later time.

Something About The SkyDome

I just read that the new owners of the SkyDome, Rogers Communications, will rename it "The Rogers Centre." Sounds kind of dumb to me. What happens if they want to sell it in a few years? The poor place will go through an identity crisis. When I googled "SkyDome" the results said SkyDome but that name has been removed from the official site. I guess I can't complain too much, what with The CN Tower and Air Canada Centre near by.

Something About Going Home To Canada

The Chinese New Year falls on February 8th,9th and 10th. That leaves Monday February 7th as a non-holiday. To simply cancel classes without a good reason is unheard of in Korea. Even when kids are sick (or recently released from the hospital) they still come to class. To get the day off my director told all the students that I am going to Canada for a seminar. Therefore there cannot be any classes on Monday. Hmmm... Canada in February or Singapore in February: Where would you rather be?

Something About Being A Softy

I had to take Venus to the vet today for her second of three inoculations. The doctor gave me this package of pet treats. It's a good thing it said "soft" twice! If it said "Healthy Soft Mix (Hard Type)" I wouldn't know what to think. I've been trying to cut Venus's nails for the past few weeks but have been unable to. She always bites me when I try. The vet looked at her and clipped them without any resistance. Amazing! Venus is so afraid of him I think she withdrawals whenever I take her. She was in her special place (making a mess of my apartment).