Latest Posts
AVG 9.0 Free Sucks for Gamers
I’ve been using AVG free for amost 5 years now. It really couldn’t be beat for free antivirus software and link scanner. The software is compact, takes up little footprint, and really does a fine job of protecting your PC.
If you’re a PC Gamer however, I strongly advise against the upgrade to version 9.0. In version 9.0 they’ve intentionally inserted scripts that minimize the game your in every 30 minutes and bring you back to the desktop. I say intentionally because not interrupting game play is listed as a feature in the basic price package. When I saw this I figured it affected games when it runs a scan on my PC. NOT THE CASE!
AVG 9.0 Game Mode WTF
Every 30 minutes or so, whatever game your playing, will just minimize without warning leaving you player idol which is infuriating. I understand that they’re trying to nag you into buying the basic version, but the tactic used has actually crossed the line from helpful service to virus like behaviour. I’m certainly not going to spend $34.99 for a program that behaves like a virus. I download your program to prevent annoyances like that from appearing on my PC altogether. AVG crossed over to the darkside with version 9.0 and I’ll never use it again.
I’ll be deleting your software as soon as I can find a suitable replacement. You can also bet your ass that I’ll evangelizing your services to less competent computer users who ask me to help them manage their PC’s. (Most of whom, don’t mind spending the $34.99 by the way.)
If anyone has suggestions for more customer oriented non-virus like ANTI VIRUS programs… please leave me a note in the comments.
Bye AVG, I hate you.
Sincerely,
Tarandon
Englishman Shatters Round the World Record by 4 Weeks!
James Bowthorpe is 4 days away from his final destination of of London England. He left there 170 days ago on March 29, 2009 to raise 1.8 Million GBP for Parkinson’s research by travelling the 18,000 mile route around the world on his bicycle. Since leaving London, England he’s travelled through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, The United States, Canada, Portugal and is currently in Spain on his route home.
His goal was originally to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe by bicycle by a whopping 2 weeks. The reason: hope that his frenzied pace would convey the urgency with which this money is needed. Sadly his donation page currently sits at 3% of his total fund raising goal. In an amazing attempt to further assert his urgency has has increased his daily average distance to an astonishing 150 miles per day over the past few weeks. Every day he comes a little bit closer to doubling his target margin of 2 weeks. He’s now within range of shaving a month off the world record. This young man is about to make world history and nobody seems to be aware of it.
The lack of awareness is not for his lack of trying however. To be quite frank he’s made more of an effort than a lot of efforts I’ve seen to get his message out to the world. His portfolio includes a map of his journey as assembled online by a GPS unit, a dedicated blog, a twitter acount, and a donations page hosted by JustGiving.com. With all these avenues working for him I would have thought that he’d be much closer to his goal than 3%, an so I’ll make a donation.
While it may be small compared to his goal we all know how those dollars can add up. I’m also writing this post in hopes that some of you out there might feel compelled to follow in my footsteps. Tthrow this guy 10 or 20 dollars toward his goal, after all he’s about to break the world record by almost a month and that kind of raw athleticism deserves a bit of reward if not for him, than for the millions world wide who suffer from Parkinson’s.
You can follow James’ journey online at whereintheworldisjames.com
For more information on James Bowthorpe and the motivation for his record breaking adventure, visit www.globecycle.org and while your at it, make a donation.
Cheers,
Tarandon
Twitter’s Propensity for One Liners
I’ve recently begun using twitter on a more consistent basis. I sometimes find it difficult to attract new followers that aren’t spam bots trying to sell me porn. I recently started trying to understand what I need to do to get new followers. I find that most of the people I follow own some company or service that I’m interested in. I don’t have a company or service to attract followers, so I decided evaluate how I make friends in the real world.
Usually I tend to make friends by offering comical insight or odd perspectives on topics of interest. I provide a view of a situation that might warrant some attention. Sometimes this involves rather lengthy debate, but sometimes all it takes is a series of one liners that create interesting juxtaposition. Interestingly enough Twitter caters to these one liners quite nicely. The character limit imposed by twitter prevents the lengthy debate style conversations I might prefer to have. It instead forces me to simply add my two cents worth to a conversation. But cming up with 40 or 50 one liners a day can be quite difficult.
One liners don’t enter my mind very easily. It takes some work, and sometimes some knowledge of the people your presenting them to. You need to understand your audience to pick up on things they’ll find funny or witty. The problem with twitter is that the view of any one persons life only comes via the same short snippets I’m trying to make an impact with. And because the birds I follow are usually organised around undustry not character similarity, it’s hard to find one liners that don’t alienate some while appealing to others. I’ve been taking shots in the dark on a one off basis hoping someone might find me humourous/insightful to moderate success. I’ve also been toying with a the option of just not caring how many followers I have. Resigning myself to this option (at least for now) seems a little bit like quitting. Whatevs!
Cheers,
Tarandon
Social Activity
For some reason I’ve become engaged once again in the social media tools the internet provides. This very post represents the first since early February here at Tarandon.ca.
It’s interesting to try and identify why the internet today seems more apt to meet my needs as a user than it was 5 months ago. Maybe it’s just the summer time, and the renewed energy that comes with warm weather but I think life in general just seems to be going at a better pace than it has in the past.
Whatever the reason, I plan on keeping things moving forward. Just updated the whole backend of this bitch and now I’m ready to take it all on.
Now, off to investigate cheap bicycles in Toronto.
Cheers,
Tarandon
The Capacity for Greatness
Some people have it, some people don’t. I don’t know what differentiates the two. But I do know what’s missing in my life that prevents that capacity from being realised.
I lack a basic sense of inspiration.
I get frustrated with the obstacles far to easily.
I get really frustrated with the fake it till you make it types, slowing me down because I have to explain everything to them.
I get tired at the uphill battle and the falling rocks and the stolen ideas and misplaced credit that continuously keeps me from realising the greatness I know I’m capable of.
I’m tired of the lying and the backstabbing stupidity of the corporate agenda. I’m infuriated by the incompetence of the enabled, who enable the incompetent to fail repeatedly; and they do so by using that failure to justify the need for their incompetence.
I realise that as I ramble the pronouns get muddied and my lack of an ability to communicate that which burns me so sharply makes my soul ache all the more. Inspiration cannot thrive in this environment.
The parade of the uninspired masquerading in and out the revolving door of this disfunctional business unit brings a cold and icy wind that chills my flame and saps the strength of my inner awesome.
A George divided against itself cannot stand.
When the worlds collide, change will follow.
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