Two weeks ago, I complained about NHL 2K8. A reader mentioned that NHL 08 is better. I've been playing this new title for a week and it's much better. But it's only been a week, so things may change. I really liked the 29 game season option. I'm 3-2 in my first 5 game on medium difficulty. Wish me luck!

http://www.rumorstore.com/shopping.aspx/B000REZ84C
http://www.rumorstore.com/shopping.aspx/B000QAVV5C

Here's some good business practices from Shell. Tell the police that your best customers are not paying for their gas, even though you did pay. Today, the police called about stealing gas from Shell. The Shell gas station that I go to about 100 times per year, reported that I didn't pay for gas on January 28th. When I told the police I gassed up the 25th, the police called back the gas station and they changed their story that I stole the gas on the 25th. Well I had a receipt saying I paid. WTF? The police told me to go to the gas station and show them the receipt. When I got the gas station, they refused to even look at the receipt and called the cops to pursuit the matter further. WTF? The police dropped the incident, since I had a receipt. I've since called Shell customer service and they still think I'm the bad guy, although they've now dropped the incident also. No apology. I'm still the bad guy even though they admit I paid for the gas. So, after years of going to Shell almost exclusively 100 times per year, I will never go again. Awesome customer service. How do these idiots stay in business?

There's been a joke going around about an Australian defining a Canadian. In the joke, it states "The root of that prosperity can be found in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which recognize the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness." Huh? That's the Declaration of Independence (U.S.A.). I wonder if this Australian has ever read the Charter?

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/

Further, the joke states there are more Muslims in Canada than Afghanistan. Canada and Afghanistan have approximately the same population and 99% of Afghanistan is Muslim. It's amazing what people will believe.

Let me re-iterate Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warning about Canada. It's not safe for Australians. The ice is very slippery. Twice this week, on my backyard icerink, I slipped and jammed by wrist. Don't take this warming lightly or risk jamming your own wrists. Credit Scott.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/297431
http://www.kbcafe.com/rvdad/?guid=20080123202934

I didn't even know there was a Batman movie coming out until the actor who played the Joke died (via Jason). It looks great!

http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/

Employees love to pass the buck. You have an urgent problem. You call Joe. He tells you to call Jane. Jane tells you to fill out this report. You have to put a stake in the ground and force employees to work these days, otherwise they'll just redirect all the work to the few employees who actually do work. A manager would be well advise to watch the flow of responsibility of problems in his organization. Where the buck stops is where the raises should begin.

Jason Schramm has created a new website with detailed and aggregated reviews of Amazon's Kindle. He has a blog on the frontpage. You can find user reviews here.

http://www.kindlereport.com/real-owner-ratings
http://www.kindlereport.com/announcements/introducing-real-owner-ratings.html

Now that we're in an election year. Actually, I'm not. I'm CDNian. In Canada, we don't schedule our voting. Well, I don't want you to vote for George, Hillary or John. I'd rather you vote for Dave. That's David Rothman. No, not for President. He's up for one of those blogging awards. It'll only take you 1 minute. Just click on the medgadget link, select Dave, submit and forget about it. ... Now! ... I mean right NOW! ... Lazy ass!

http://davidrothman.net/2008/01/09/medical-blogs-voting-and-hyperemesis/
http://www.medgadget.com/2007best_technology.html

For Xmas, we bought our kids a PS2 with NHL 2K8 for my son, High-school Musical and Disney Princess for my daughters. I was an early fan of EA Sports and played it a lot in the 90s on a Sega system. As such, I was able to quickly become good at 2K8. After only a month, I'm frustrated with the NHL 2K8 game.

1. I had to figure out many of the moves myself as the manual was incorrect. In fact, I still can't do some moves. I Googled the issues and it seems I'm not the only person struggling with this game. 
2. Today, I got fed up. I was at the 25 game mark in a 41 game season and the system now hangs when I try to play more games of that season. I can start a new season, play other formats, but I can't continue my existing season. Twenty-fives games is about 8 hours of play (down the drain).
3. Last, there is countless bugs. There's a little hole in the back of the hockey net that allows you to score from directly behind the net. You can stick handle thru the net, that is, you can move the puck from your backhand to your forhand with the puck, your stick and arms going thru the frame and netting of the goal thus bringing the puck directly behind the goalie for an easy goal. Many of the stats that are listed in the play-by-play are stupidly wrong. Some goalies have negative saves percentage (it should always be a positive float).

I'm so frustrated with all the problems, that I can't play anymore. Why start another 41 game season knowing that it might break before I can get to the playoffs? It's very frustrating when you angle the computer's skater behind the net only to have him score by slipping the puck underneath the back of the net. My son still loves it and I'll likely continue to play with him, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend this game. And if I worked at 2K sports, then I'd fire the entire QA staff that worked on that game.

Further, I don't find the PS2 much better than the Sega I bought 10 years ago. How could games not progress much since the 90s? The worse part is the CD smudge problem. My kids are constantly running into loading problems that are solved by polishing the game CD. This was never a problem with the old cartridges. In fact, I suspect that after a short while, the CDs will become unreadable and I'll be forced to buy new ones.

This just happened to me about 2 hours ago, at the bar, while talking with some guys. We were telling jokes like this. Then, one guys starts talking about which country's women have the biggest boobs. Then....

"Which country's women have the longest legs?"
"Africa?"
"No, South America."
"I was close."

I tried to pee my laughing, but I was lacking one beer. I guess South American is a country on the same planet as the country of Africa. Stay in school kids!

Cracked makes light of some highly high-criticisms of big business participation in the Nazi crap. Both funny and upsetting. So read at your own risk. Here's some great quotes.

• Give credit to Porsche for designing a car [The Beetle] so impossibly cute that we forget it was built by diseased slaves in some dark, dank factory in Stuttgart, Germany.
• We have some hard questions for Bayer. Actually, just one question, which is, "What the fuck, Bayer? Dude."
• At the height of the Nazi terror during the 1940s, it was not atypical for a slave worker to build electrical switches for Siemens in the morning and be snuffed out in a Siemens-made gas chamber in the afternoon.

Awesome video of a car wheelie.

Sent by my female cousin who killed the male who sent it to her ;-)

How many men does it take to open a beer?
None. It should be opened when she brings it.
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Why is a Laundromat a really bad place to pick up a woman?
Because a woman who can't even afford a washing machine will
probably never be able to support you.
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Why do women have smaller feet than men?
It's one of those "evolutionary things " that allows
Them to stand closer to the kitchen sink.
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How do you know when a woman is about to say something smart?
When she starts a sentence with "A man once told me..."
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How do you fix a woman's watch?
You don't There is a clock on the oven.
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If your dog is barking at the back door and your wife is yelling
at the front door, who do you let in first? The dog, of course.
He'll shut up once you let him in.
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What's worse than a Male Chauvinist Pig?
A woman who won't do what she's told
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I married a Miss Right.
I just didn't know her first name was Always.
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Scientists have discovered a food that diminishes a woman's sex
drive by 90%.
It's called a Wedding Cake
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Why do men die before their wives?
They want to.
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Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down
the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they
are sexy.
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In the beginning, God created the earth and rested.
Then God created Man and rested.
Then God created Woman.
Since then, neither God nor Man has rested.

Bruce Schneier steals the words out of my head in explaining why he (and me) doesn't have secured Wi-Fi networks in our home. They've always laughed at me for being careless. And I did sometimes consider plugging the hole, but now I feel better about my laziness.

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2008/01/securitymatters_0110

The Globe and Mail interviewed me this week for a article on the cover of today's Life section. The article is about puck bunnies, my talk-sports.net website and a new TV series starting this month by CBC.