Brazilian Grand Prix

In just over an hour the Brazilian GP is going to start and when the dust settles, someone will be crowned the 2006 driving champion and one team will walk away as the constructor's champion. Massa is on pole with Raikkonen second. Alonso is starting fourth and Schumacher is tenth on the grid due to trouble during qualifying. To have hope, that is both a good thing and a bad thing. I am posting before the race instead of later as I intend to sit and enjoy the race no matter what happens. 2006 has been an amazing season. As a scarlet fan I will remember this one for a long time to come.

Apple Gets Classy

"Small number of Fifth Generation iPods May Be Carrying Windows Virus". This was the headline on a support page at apple.com. If you have frequented this blog, which I highly doubt, then you know that I am a huge fan of Apple (sarcasm apparently doesn't translate well to print). So imagine my shock when apple uses the following words to apologize."As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it."
This remark is in really bad taste. I mean there could have been all sorts of answers, ranging form poor quality control, to not using updated software. But apple decided to use the opportunity to shift blame.
best of all was the line that read "This known virus affects only Windows computers, and up to date anti-virus software which is included with most Windows computers should detect and remove it". Apparently the windows that apple uses at its facilities wasn't up to the task.
My only question is that where are the cultural values and consumer commitment of a corporation when it shifts blame instead of accepting responsibility.

Digital Comic Preservation

I have been a comic book fan for a very long time. I guess I must be getting old as I can’t remember when the addiction started. It was harmless fun when I began reading about Peter Parker. But soon I found my self addicted to all things Marvel. I tried to kick the habit twice; one during the ordeal that was the clone saga, and then again during the travesty that is onslaught. But I wasn't strong enough. Soon I found myself in experimenting with varying doses supplied to me by the Distinguished Competition. I few years later I can into the world of Dark Horse and Image. It took me a while to get a hold of myself. Now I am mostly confined to Mareldom, with only occasional forays to check out Flash, Ion or the new Checkmate. Bats does a good story every now and then, and of course one has to keep tabs on the hotties, in Witchblade, Fathom, and even Tomb Raider. Star wars is fun but I buy trades there. So that’s like a once every three months deal. This brings me back to the topic. All those who keep yelling “make mine marvel” know that the 616 is embroiled in civil war. It’s really a great event. And trust me when I say great, I don't me the kind of Bantha PooDoo that was the Infinite Crisis.
So imagine what I was going through when I came back home to find that the only comic book store in the area had become an old bookstore with only one or two titles a year. Yes, the overgrown smug goodie two shoes Boy Scout, who has no idea that underwear goes inside ones pants, is all one can really find at stores. Some Batman and Spider-man make it through but no Deadpool, no Ultimates, and definitely none of the Civil War stuff. So I did what any comic book junkie would do, I turned to DCP.
The name DCP refers to a group of loosely connected comic book scanners on the web, who use BitTorrent for distro. Each of them scans several comics and contribute them to one large torrent, adding their aliases to their scans to let us know who to thank. Several torrents containing the latest comic book and graphic novel releases are offered each month and usually can be found on bit-torrent hosts as dcp-mm-dd-yy.
It’s not like this is a new discovery. I've availed DCP's offerings on several occasions in the past to get a hold of out of print series or when one just got curious or was missing a reference. Still it was a relief to know that even being in a country like Pakistan I can still keep up with my addiction thanks to the cool people that make up DCP.
Also this is in now way an endorsement to stop buying comics. I myself have sent an average of about a hundred dollars a month, every month for the last five or six years. And if comics become available readily in Pakistan, I will again. Artists and writer need to eat too. I know that sounds clichéd, but consider this, that unlike other artists, say Hollywood actors or musician and rock stars. The average person in the comic book industry is not a multimillionaire with an endorsement deal on the side. This post has gotten longer than I expected. So, I’ll leave it hear, saying thanks a lot DCP. I'll keep seeding as long as I can.