The Glory of the iPhone

As most of you know (from my incessant bragging), I have succumbed to the devil with white earbuds: a black iPhone 3GS 16GB. It’d be fair to say that life has been better for the week that I’ve had it. Is this how it feels to be one of those stoner hippie Mac users?

It would be hard to name one (or *just* one anyways) killer feature that makes the phone such a rewarding experience. More than anything, I think it’s just the polish of the entire experience. Solid performance, unwavering reliability, intuitive yet childishly simple UI, and a never-ending stream of “oh hey, that’s clever!” moments that make you really feel that a bunch of very smart people put a lot of thought into how people would use their creation.

First, it’s a 16GB iPod. That’ll hold my entire music collection easily. And unlike most phones, a real 3.5mm jack, so no crazy adapters. Special category and sync setup for podcasts makes listening to the BBC a breeze (a serious pet peeve of mine, if you recall). Plus, a sufficiently large screen to make video watching not just possible, but practical, be it Youtube clips, or a 2hr movie to entertain on a long car ride. If you want, you don’t even have to sync with a computer: you can access iTunes directly from the device.

It’s a full featured phone. Audio quality is great, if a bit quiet. Works perfectly with a bluetooth headset. Visual voicemail – no more touchtone prompt nonsense. Reception is top notch.

It’s a PDA. Exchange email and calendar sync, with push. The interface, while lacking some of the advanced features in Pocket Outlook, is arguably far more usable, and far less annoying (in particular, less fail from the notifications over WinMo). Notepad for the grocery lists. Facebook communications with an app. You can even become a Kindle, and read Amazon’s e-book titles.

It’s a gaming platform. Touch-enabled games, from the simple joys of cat-stacking to futuristic tower defense. Specialized apps for the Zynga Facebook games that are so popular right now.

It’s a camera. Not as good as a dedicated camera, but enough for clear pictures in all but the dimmest of light. Even video! Beats any other camera-phone I’ve seen to date.

It’s a navigation device. Google Maps built in, but that’s not the only way to use location. One of the most interesting GPS uses I saw was the AAA app, which can call for a tow at your current location with literally just the push of a button.

It’s even a web browser. Having seen the utter rendering failboat that is Pocket IE (even the newest one), and the 50lb slug that is Opera Mobile, I’ve been consistently impressed both with the speed and accuracy of webpage rendering from Safari. It’s the only mobile device I’ve seen where it’s actually practical to surf the web.

Even the common iPhone criticisms seem lacking. Soft keyboards are unpopular with many, but you’d be surprised how quickly one adapts. Many criticize that you can only run one downloaded app at a time. Yet this very limitation leads to a very consistent application design, where apps have to make the conscious choice of what state should be persisted. It doesn’t hurt that this keeps performance good as well. Finally, there’s a fundamental objection to the tight leash Apple keeps over its OS and the app store. While that does irk me from a philosophical standpoint, the reality is that Apple has served as exceptional gatekeepers for quality, keeping the worst of the cruft out of the app ecosystem, and to a similar extent preventing the worst crapware that the carriers love to add to otherwise working phones.

But more than anything else, the damned thing works. This may seem wild to those who haven’t suffered buggy phones before, but the fact that I don’t even know where the reset button is says volumes about the device’s reliability. Thus far, no hangs, no crashes, not even any slowdowns. I’ve never drained the battery past half-charge (though GeoDefense certainly does try). Not a single feature that did not work exactly as expected on the first try.

So yea, iPhone = win. Go get one!

Why I scrapped my WinMo phone

The context of the discussion: Kyna got me an iPhone 3GS. While an interesting topic of itself (coming soon), here I discuss what finally pushed me away from a more Redmond-friendly device.

I’m no stranger to Windows Mobile. I started eight years ago on a third-hand Compaq iPaq I bought from Lyllea, long before WinMo was even WinMo, let alone a phone. I’ve upgraded several times since then, including HP iPaq successors, up to my most recent device, an HTC TyTN. Next on my list, a brand new WinMo 6.5 device, the HTC Tilt2. But instead, I got an iPhone.

There’s a variety of reasons I defected from the WinMo brand (most of which I can’t discuss publically, given my access to internal betas). But one very specific scenario put me over the top.

I want to listen to the BBC World News during my drive to work. I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request; the BBC offers it for free, I have a modern car stereo, hundreds of dollars of computing hardware strapped to my hip, and more internet access than your average developing nation. Why shouldn’t I be able to keep abreast of world news once a day?

First off, I subscribe to the BBC Global News podcast in Zune (which, if you remember, I consider totally awesome). Set it to download the latest episode, which true to Zune form, works flawlessly. But of course, the Zune app is too good for my clunky old TyTN… it only wants to sync with Zune devices*.

[* Some may observe that this entire scenario would work flawlessly with a Zune. Which is true; but a Zune isn’t a phone, and damned if I’m dropping hundreds of dollars EACH on a phone and a dedicated media player. Not to mention being an even bigger geek by having two devices on my belt. ]

So I fire up Windows Media Player on Windows 7. WMP can in fact sync directly to my phone’s memory card (my phone itself has a paltry 64MB RAM). But Windows Media Player won’t show me the latest version of my podcast… the library is outdated, showing me last week’s news. So I can just click refresh? No of course not, that would be too complicated. Even after waiting for the library update to complete, which takes upwards of 20 minutes thrashing on my DivX files, it’s not updating. No way to add it manually either.

Say, hypothetically, I actually get the latest file to show up in the library. I have to find the new content, and manually click on it to sync (no autosyncing a specified folder, that’d be too smart), and also manually remove the old episode I’m done with from the device. If I can’t get the file to show up, I have to use Windows explorer and copy the files manually.

Now, on to the phone. Fire up Windows Mobile. I have to manually build a new playlist. But, like its desktop companion, I have to first convince it to add my new content to “the Library”. On the plus side, unlike its desktop companion, there’s an explicit ‘update’ button. On the downside, the update is dumb and takes like 10 minutes to locate an MP3. Then locks up. You have to notice the UI freeze, and hit cancel. But the library, not being transactional, is in fact mostly built now. I then have to manually delete the old entries from the playlist, then find the new podcast episode and add it.

Now, I’m ready to drive, but of course have to restart Pocket WMP. It’s still running, but if the device is idle for more than five seconds, it flips back to the today screen. Using media controls while driving is out of the question, given the eight pen-target clicks one has to go through just to get to the pause button.

My phone, being too cool for a 3.5mm jack, needs an adaptor to plug into the car, which takes up the power socket. If you use the power splitter, you get feedback any time you rev the engine. Hope the battery is full… but it always is – I charge the phone nearly 24 hours a day, just to keep it able to receive calls anyways.

So finally, I’m ready to find out the latest from $ConflictedCountryDuJour, but ironically, in the 30 minutes I’ve spent fiddling with various bits of software, I could have just listened to the podcast at home, and let BJ Shea keep me company on the way to work.

Just to be clear, on my iPhone, my process: plug my phone into my computer, wait about 15 seconds. From my phone, press the “podcast” button, plug into my car using the convenient 3.5mm jack, and news happens!

Virgin Airlines

Hanging out in LAX, stealing Wi-Fi from the OneWorld Lounge, and downloading as much Zune Pass content that I can (which is not much at this range) while waiting for RanmaSao and company to meet up with us. LAX is a bit wierd; inside security it seems nice, but the outward-facing parts are super budget and in stark contrast to the rest of what we've seen.

Our first flight with Virgin America was great! The most noteworthy aspect I think was the people - not the batik-clad models of Singapore Airlines, nor the disgruntled old women of domestic airlines. The best way to put it is that they're normal people; friendly and helpful, but still sharp and willing to tell you to get your butt back in the seat (as one embarassed passenger discovered during taxi). Their staff matches the expectation they set in their advertising communications... go marketing department.

At least for domestic, Virgin seems to charge for *everything* in economy (as do most domestic airlines these days); $20 a checked bag, even for the first! But I was impressed with the options available on the plane, even if they cost money. On-demand movies, wi-fi internet (yes, INTERNET on the plane!), a variety of food selections. Headphones even cost money, but it's a standard 3.5mm, so you can plug in your own (presumably much better) headphones into the system.

The in-flight entertainment system is pretty advanced. Google Map tracking of your flight. On-demand movies. Satellite TV was a nice feature to get 'real' TV, but had the same downsides as said real TV - ie. there's jack all on at 7am. You can order food directly from your screen. They had some online games you could play, but nothing particularly special. Sadly, the system was a bit laggy and not super reliable, which isn't good for channel-surfing, but fine once you've chosen your entertainment.

Overall though, the flight experience was good, and that's what counts. Everything was executed with clockwork precision with no hassle. Smooth takeoff and landing. Comfortable seats for coach with lots of legroom. And no stupid employees doing stupid things to make me mad.

So, I declare Virgin America as win. That is all.

Metablogging (and Zune stuff too)

Several of my Canadian colleagues at work recently asserted that Windows Live Writer, Microsoft’s blogging application, was “very much not wrong”. So, to verify the assumption, I have installed Live Writer and am using it for this post. A pressing need? Not really – the Blogger web UI is more than adequate for my once-every-few-months ramblings. But still, the assertion was one I felt compelled to verify.

So far, seems like a basic word processor. In fact, it seems almost identical to what Blogger offers in their web UI, except as a snappy lightweight client app. It allows you to save drafts either locally or directly to the server. Preview is instantaneous.

So yes, Live Writer is in fact not wrong at all. It’s at least as good as editing on the web, and is lightning fast. The integration, even with the enemy, is impressive.

To continue the pro-Microsoft propaganda, the Zune software 4.0 update. As I mentioned earlier, the Zune client is basically Microsoft’s answer to iTunes. Latest update has a bunch of quickplay features blah blah something about being way faster in searching (it’s true!) la la app store, but the one that really changes the game is the “Smart DJ”.

That was always my biggest problem with my Zune Pass. With Pandora, I could just leave the music running for days at a time without actively having to choose something to listen to. Zune, while allowing me to download any music I want, still fundamentally required me to choose every song I wanted to hear. They had the “Just For You” picks, but the channel only updated weekly with about an hour of music – not enough to last through a commute, let alone a 40 hour workweek. The Smart DJ fixes this – any band or song, just click Smart DJ and it makes a playlist for you (around twenty songs). Click it again, and it chooses new music.

At least for the few bands I’ve seeded thus far, it seems to choose well. The variety is quite good, and it does well at determining suitable related songs to play. I’ve already discovered a couple interesting bands (eg. ‘Another Black Day’), and have yet to have to skip anything I didn’t like.

The kool-aid. It tastes so good.

Update: Windows Live Writer handled this post admirably. And this edit too!

Acer Aspire One 10.1"

Despite the recent successful ressurection of Kiasumalice (the Dell desktop replacement that served me through college), I've been craving a new laptop. Something genuinely portable. So when Woot had an refurb Acer netbook up for grabs for $250, I couldn't resist!

I'm finally in possession of Kiasubitty - a blue Acer Aspire One AOD150. Not for lack of Fedex trying, who left the laptop laying right in the middle of my driveway. Good job, guys! But nevertheless, I have it, and it works exactly as advertised.

Here's the executive summary in way of review:
Pro:

• Sexy blue steel look. None of this silly white nonsense.
• Removable 6-cell battery. Battery life is like six solid hours!
• Respectable BIOS. In-BIOS support to recover to factory from a hidden partition. Solid network boot support. Boot from USB. Boots fast too.
• Good ports: 3xUSB2, 2.0 audio out, mic in, card reader, VGA out, gigabit ethernet.
• 160GB HDD, so you have room to install more than a barebones OS.

Con:

• Trackpad isn't very good - the buttons in particular kinda suck. Though apparently old Acer netbooks were even worse.
• Not quite enough horsepower for HD video. It can (barely) handle 360p from Hulu though.
• No integrated bluetooth.
• Using an HDD not SSD.

The default install has a ton of stuff installed by Acer. Nothing you'd particularly want (McAfee trial, Works, Office trial, some Acer in-house junk), but nothing outrageous for a default install. Pretty much the only offensive apps were the full Google Desktop and Toolbar suites, and some news aggregator free trial, which were quickly uninstalled.

Of course, none of that matters, since I installed Windows 7 on it right away. Windows 7 installed flawlessly - just click "Install Windows", and wait for the magic to happen. It automatically picked up drivers for all my hardware, and it honestly seems to perform better than the base XP install (albeit that may be due to McAfee and the other software that was pre-installed).

It's a nice little netbook! I won't be raiding on it any time soon, but being able to surf the net during a long presentation has already made it worthwhile.

Zune

Zune is the rather bizarre brand name given to Microsoft's answer to Apple's iTunes/iPod/iWhateverThatCanPlayMusicThisWeek. The brand includes a variety of MP3 players, plus an online music store and PC music player similar to iTunes. The MP3 players are widely unnoteworthy - they'd be impressive five years ago, but now they're just yet another set of iPod clones. What caught my attention was the announcement of the Zune HD coming later in the year - 720p to TV, touchscreen, web browsing, wireless sync, and even an HD radio!

So I figured, now would be a good time to try the 'iTunes' end of the experience while I wait for Zune HD, and installed the Zune application on my computers at work and home.

Now Zune does things a bit differently than iTunes. Sure, you can still buy individual songs for 99 points (about $1.24 for a US user) just like iTunes. But the service is really optimized for the Zune Pass - a $14.99/month subscription which allows you to download just about any song in their collection, and keep it for as long as you're subscribed. You also get ten "free" songs a month to keep regardless of whether you keep paying or not. Thankfully, they have a two week free trial, so I gave it a try.

It was incredible! Free access to their entire catalog - and they have pretty much anything I could think of - minus the few money grubbing bands that insist that you can only buy full albums (Metallica, Seether, I'm talking to you). You can download any song to your collection, but there's really no need [when you don't have a Zune to copy them to], since on a Zune pass you can also just stream the songs directly from their servers whenever you want. Which I've been doing at work... all day... every day.

Their client app, while a bit hefty on the memory requirements (that's .NET for you), is a polished experience. Finding music is easy enough. Your standard search box. All of your Messenger contacts show up, and you can see what they've been playing and their favourites. A list of channels, which are basically updating playlists. A special channel updates weekly with 90 minutes worth of music it suggests based on your listening habits (basically, "Users who listened to this also liked..."); my first round seemed to favour the more popular end of the spectrum (eg. Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold), but still great selections for what I like.

To finish off the experience, they have podcasts, which are regularly updating audio or video content. This is great in particular for news - I've got CBC and BBC news clips already plugged in. Most podcasts are free, even without the Zune Pass, so you can enjoy them even if you don't want to shell out the moola.

Final assessment: OMG Zune Pass is incredible, I don't see why everyone doesn't have this right now! I'm not just saying that as a loyal Microsoft lackie either; my previous disdain for Zune is well-known. Even if you object to paying for music you can easily pirate... $15 a month to have no-hassle instant access to any song you want, even songs you don't know you want yet... seems like a no-brainer. They've gained a customer of me. Well played Microsoft, the first hit is free eh?

Twitter: the Conclusion

Mere days after starting out on the latest Web 2.0 phenomenon Twitter, I'm about ready to call it quits, and depreciate the Lownewulf feed.

For those who don't know, Twitter is similar to a blog, except posts are limited to 140 characters. Those who have Twitter "follow" people they're interested in, and can themselves be followed. News outlets, businesses, stars and others have all started 'tweeting' of late, allowing fans and interested parties to get up-to-the-second news about the people and events that interest them.

It's a nice idea. The simplistic interface is a reminder of the glory days of Google, where a title and a textbox is all a site needed to rule the web. The easy SMS integration encourages mobile use by a generation raised by text message. By limiting the length of messages, they encourage both brevity and frequent updates.

Unfortunately, it is also the delivery vehicle of the worst of what the blogging model had to offer. Its very design presupposes a desire to discuss the minutiae of one's life, and in turn hear the same from hundreds of others. While it's possible that wisest thinkers could say something more meaningful in 140 characters than I could present in a doctoral thesis, the more common case is John Smith telling the world that he's having meatloaf for dinner. This is exactly the anti-mission of my blog (though how well I've held to this is a debate of itself).

In the end, Facebook is a strict superset of Twitter; and some would argue with the latest update, like it or not, purposely mirroring Twitter's core concepts. The difference being with Facebook, that I can share pictures, have organized discussion threads... even post this blog post! All with a far more refined user experience than Twitter was able to deliver from their main website. Plus, I have a network of hundreds that I'm unlikely to ever match on Twitter.

So, back to Facebook, at least for now.

2007 Canadian Taxes are Done! Wait... what?

Those following the play-by-play on Facebook probably know by now that Canada has requested my 2007 taxes. Not my 2006. Not my 2008. My 2007. They sent me a very insistent letter asking me to file my 2007 taxes. Of course, they list a bunch of reasons why one might have to file a return, and one of the reasons is, literally, "We send you a request to file a return". Sounds somewhat circular - we're asking you to file a return because we've asked you to file a return.

Needless to say, I called them and told them that this was a very silly request. They suggested I send a fax with full contact information and tell them I no longer live in Canada, and that they'd drop the issue. Thinking the friendly lady is indicative of a human side of the Canada Revenue Agency, I did exactly that. Of course, that would be too easy - they simply took my letter, updated my address in their records, and sent me the same letter again. Except this time the ominous "second request" that I must respond to within thirty days.

Now this is particularly funny. They insist that I must file taxes within thirty days. But how, pray tell, will they enforce such a request? They can only fine me if I owe taxes - usually as a percentage of the balance owing. That $0.00 fine is going to be brutal, especially with the juice still flowing. On the other hand, I'm kind of a paperwork whore, and don't like to challenge authority, so I decided to bite the bullet and file anyways.

Final stats:

• 1.5 hours
• Forms: T1 General NR, Schedule 1, Schedule A, Schedule B.
• Number of $0.00's: 37.
• Most intrusive form: itemized declaration (in C$) of worldwide income.

You can guess how much I owed: $0.00.

Games to Try (or not)

Been trying a bunch of new games recently. Given that Christmas is on the way, figured I'd let people know my opinions, to help them with their shopping.

Wii Fit (Wii)

Thumbs Up!

Finally, you can find these in stores, though who knows how they'll fare during the Christmas rush. Basically, Wii Fit is a step board, capable of determining centre of balance and weight. The game itself simply unlocks a variety of activities and mini-games completed with the board and occasionally remotes, including a full assortment of yoga poses, strength training, cardio/fitness, and balance games.

The balance games are the most 'fun' - downhill skiing being my favourite so far. The fitness games are a good middle ground, with Einin being a huge fan of the hula hooping. The strength and yoga break the illusion - there's no mistake here that you're doing exercise rather than playing a game, and they don't try to hide it. I'd also say these last two are weaker in that it's far more difficult to detect correct execution of the techiques from balance alone.

However, Wii Fit is still win. The balance games are sufficiently entertaining to be party games, and the rest are nice for when you don't feel like trekking to the gym. I don't like the lack of solid multiplayer (you have to go all the way to the main menu to switch) nor the lack of pre-programmed exercise routines, but those are in no way fatal flaws.

Plus, hackers have done some sweet things with the Wii Fit board.

Final Fantasy III (DS)

Epic Fail

A port of the Japanese classic not only to English but to the DS (complete with advanced graphics). Summary: I can see now why they skipped over this one when they originally ported the series.

The game is the worst RPG I've ever played. The characters may as well be random pixel blobs - they're so undeveloped that I don't even remember their names. The story is a sequence of mini-quests, but beyond "I'm saving the world from the darkness", and there's some crystals involved, the story is nearly non-existent.

The class system is ridiculous. There's maybe 20 classes to choose from... you get a few more after each crystal. Each character may change at will. However, short of the Internet, there's no way to know what class does what, is good for what, or can use what equipment. Plus the fact that you have to level each class you try separately, so experimenting is an expensive proposition.

The final straw for me was the end tower. I fight through a bunch of very difficult areas, get to the final boss world, decide I want to save. Walking back the way I came leads me not to the exit, but to an encounter with an unkillable boss who kills me and sets me back 3 hours of play time.

I quit at that point. It's not worth another half-dozen hours of playtime to see the end. And I use 'play' time in the loosest sense.

Geometry Wars: Galaxies (DS)

Surprizing Win!

Capitalizing on the success of Geometry Wars: Evolved and Geometry Wars: Evolved 2 for Xbox Live Arcade, a clever company decided to make a DS version. To justify the value they added, they included a 'campaign' mode and an upgradable drone. Oh noes...

I thought this was going to be serious cheese, but I bought it anyways, figuring that it'd still be Geometry Wars, and thus fun enough for a short plane ride. But wow, it took me by surprize. The campaign is excellent! Yes, you just play a bunch of rounds of what is essentially the same game, but they mix it up a bunch. Levels with different shapes and borders; a level with Astroids-like dividing shapes. A level with minelayers whose mines you have to set off. Even a giant spinning gravity well.

I hope they adopt these features into Geometry Wars 3!

Wrath of the Lich King (PC)

Say goodbye to your non-WoW friends.

Everyone expected good things from the second expansion to World of Warcraft. Blizzard exceeded expectations. Their updated engine shows; the new world is all about tall peaks, snow lines, and waterfalls. There's times where we've just stopped in the middle of a battle for a town to just admire a breathtaking view! Death Knights are great fun, and make use of seamless instance transitions to script an elaborate opening scenario. Not a bug to be found, and except for a couple of queues, solid as a rock.

If you've left WoW, now is the time to come back.

Other Games I don't have yet, but want to try

Fallout 3 (PC/Xbox)

The first two were epic; you're sent on a grand quest into the post-apocalyptic wastes, and by the time you're done, your entire worldview has changed. Turn-based RPG that actually emphasises freedom of choice, and lets your character and even the world evolve based on your decisions on and off the battlefield.

While the new FPS style worries me, I've been assured that the game is still excellent.

Saints Row 2 (Xbox)

A blatant ripoff of Grand Theft Auto. But it took the announcement of this game to really appreciate some of my dissatisfaction with Grand Theft Auto 4. While I did love GTA4, it really spent too much time doing realism over the fun factor that makes GTA great. As Yahtzee points out, taking my cousin bowling got boring after the 12th time, and distracted from running over pedestrians.

Saints Row had no such qualms. Loose driving mechanics, readily available weapons, and hilariously entertaining subgames by the truckload. Saints Row 2 looks to play the "If it ain't broke" card; every description looks like it's the same as its predecessor; down to a cheezy retcon of the first's ending (even the cliche coma). I can't wait.

My Final Canadian Election Choice

So, I made my decision on Monday, and finalized the series of envelopes that will ultimately make absolutely no difference to the fate of my riding, but make me feel better for at least participating.

Oz Cole-Arnal (NDP)

I know I am going to take a fair bit of flak for voting NDP, but I think the decision was justified based on what I consider a reasonable analysis, so please read on before you flame me to my ultimate demise.

Green John Bithell didn't make the final three. While I have no particular gripe with the Green party, the continued green focus of the NDP, and 'Green Shift' of the Liberals give me two alternatives to access the key Green platform item. The rest of their platform is a grab-bag of ideas across the centre-left; clearly not a unified vision. The Greens are working hard to be taken seriously; they've had an MP, and their leader is finally in the debates. Still, I'm not ready to be a Green "early adopter" until at least one MP is elected and proves to be a force in the House of Commons. My particular candidate is a new nomination to the riding, has no serious qualifications to brag about, and has practically no personal platform information beyond his basic bio. He didn't even have a Facebook politician page. No communication - no vote.

So, down to the parties.

Conservatives are socially and fiscally the right of the spectrum - which puts them at odds with my other options (who pretty much all share the environmentalist centre-left at this point). This really leads to an "us vs. them" approach to just about everything, from their party politics to the media. Continuing the trend from 2006, the Conservatives' platform has consistently been less about their own policies as ridiculing the Liberals.

Despite an accountability platform in 2006, they're the least trustworthy of any party, for reasons I've already outlined, even in the very calling of the election! They've even earned the ire of two provincial governments though their broken promises to date. There's several deal breakers in their policies that have relied on their secrecy and disregard for accountability to proceed. The main ones - the latest IP treaties and copyright bills, directly affect my life even from the US! Plus, even where they've got positive campaign points, like anti-spam, they're areas that they've already provably failed from the past two years.

It also doesn't help that I am morally opposed to their social conservatism (right to life, anti-gay, etc) - it doesn't affect me personally at all, but I still can't support the party that actually tried (and failed, heh) to reopen the gay marriage debate.

On the plus side, their leader is tried and tested, and he's good at what he does. They're also the only party that is actually thinking about not lighting our economy on fire (though their success to date is a matter of opinion). Their social conservatism actually helps them out in getting tough on crime. They're the only party for whom the main sales point is something other than the environment. Finally, as much as I hate to bow to it, they're good because they're not the Liberals or NDP, who are next on my scorn list.

The Liberals are the 'natural' Canadian party, and what I would normally support in any sane election. However this time around, it's just bloody ridiculous! Their leader is incredibly uncharismatic. Instead of selling a reformed Liberal party willing to lead responsibly in times of economic uncertainty, they're selling a green shift (with a proposal of which many are dubious). This, combined with rampant spending I mentioned earlier. If I wanted a slew of new social programs, I'd go NDP, much like I'd go Green for a carbon tax.

It's a party that is ready neither for an election nor to lead. Given their inability to show the slightest backbone as opposition between 2006 and 2008, they don't even seem ready to be an opposition. They're the least vocal of the parties in the campaign, and haven't done anything to sell most people beyond trying to stave off the vicious Conservative offensive.

The NDP are basically socialists. Raise taxes, give them to some poor starving kid overseas. Or more likely, give it to the unionized workers who make up much of their base. Not pleasant at all if you like paying less taxes, or think that a high corporate tax rate will negatively affect your job. They've been focusing on green issues much longer than the Liberals, but with a more regulation heavy cap-and-trade approach.

Their leader: a veteran of campaigning, but not of leadership. Never a leader, nor even an official opposition. Still, Jack Layton is charismatic among his supporters, and at least has more support than Dion.

Candidates

• Stephen Woodworth (CON)
• Strong educational background (practicing lawyer).
• Liberal candidate (1988), but hasn't otherwise run recently.
• Passable communication from website with press releases, though often focused on the party level. Local commentators have observed very little communication.
• Website has very little useful 'static' information. Focused almost exclusively as being a Conservative mouthpiece.
• Involvement in right-to-life groups.
  
  
• Karen Redman (LIB)
• Weak educational background (BA, a 'writer').
• Veteran of riding for 11 years, party whip, caucus member, leader of several private member's bills, and often involved in question period.
• Lack of online communication via her website or Facebook group. I got more info on her campaign from Woodworth's website!
  
• Passable static website information talking about her varied activities while holding her seat.
• Environmental issues, womans' issues, disability issues.
• Hefty religious involvement, but does not appear to play out in her political life.
  
  
• Oscar Cole-Arnal (NDP)
• Doctorate in European History! (my previous comments mocked his Masters in the New Testament, but when you add a pair of post-grad degrees on top of that, you've got my respect).
• Newcomer, replacing a better-known NDP candidate. Only been in Canada since 1975, and a citizen since 1986.
• Top communication by far. A blog, active Facebook group. Also lots of static information - I know exactly what his personal key issues are.
• Lots of support for 'redistribution of wealth'.
• Woman's issues, social justice. Meh.
• Regulation. Yay. Proportional representation. VERY yay! More transparency in Government, but in particular not negotiating trade deals in secret - with ACTA coming, this is absolutely essential.
• Extremely high level of religious involvement. Doesn't play out negatively like in the US, but one stil has to worry.

Analysis and Conclusion

My choice is Conservative, Liberal or NDP. None of the three have the perfect platform. However, while I enjoy the fact that the Conservatives are the only party that differentiates itself from the pack and isn't trying to raze the economy to buy voters, they have deal-breaker policies (eg. copyright) and a blatant disregard for their own accountability laws that would otherwise prevent such travesties from happening. Anyways, I just don't like their US "character assault" style of campaign. While their local candidate is educated, I don't have the information nor the trust to believe he'd do the right thing either.

But I have to look at reality. The conservatives will get the plurality, no matter what I say. The choice is only really of majority or minority, and who gets how many seats of opposition. So I must choose the party who will best defend my interests against the Conservatives, which is a very different question than who I want to lead.

In the end, it has to be the NDP. The Liberals were literally useless in the last parliament, meekly surrendering to every confidence vote. During the Liberal minority before it, the NDP were a major player, and bought several concessions for the budgets they voted for. The Liberals are basically a shattered party, which is no good for an opposition that needs to keep the Conservatives from doing evil things.

While I'd normally worry about the excessive spending of the NDP or their focus on the common worker over... well... me... as an opposition they are unlikely to cause these sorts of problems. Anyways, the Liberals seem so concerned with rebuilding their voter base that the NDP seem fiscally conservative in comparison. A party more amenable to government regulation may also prove useful, given the telco stranglehold on the country. For example, I think NDP would be a better defender of net neutrality and cell carrier abuses, which the Liberals enabled, and the Conservatives ultimately failed to defend when it counted.

But I can't lie, what ultimately sold me: Oz. I respect his extensive education. I enjoyed that I could read his policies, and follow his campaign online. Even when I was ambivalent or even against his policies, at least he was upfront and honest about them. Both him and Karen from the Liberals focused exclusively on what I'd call 'meh' issues that mean nothing to me, but the fact that Oz's communication was more personal and immediate from him blog gave me confidence that when an issue I do care about comes up, he'll be a stronger advocate for it.

Guess it's all marketing in the end. As is with the microcosm that is my riding, Jack Layton's message reached me best. So they get my vote.

Voting By Mail

My vote is filled out, and ready to go in the mail. It's sad that I need to vote before the leader debates, but it has to arrive by the same election day the rest of you scrubs vote, or it's not counted.

It's actually a very reasonable process. You proactively register to vote in the riding of your last permanent address in Canada, and provide your new mailing address. They will contact you occasionally by mail to make sure your info is up to date (even with the occasional reminder email, if you're one of those 'computer' folk). You can register (or remain registered) up to five years from the date of your departure, after which you are no longer considered eligible to vote. 

When an election is called, they print up your 'special' ballot and mail it out to you, right away!

A ballot. Literally just a dotted line to write a name, so don't make a mistake! But then, no less than THREE envelopes.

• Inner envelope. Votes need to be private, after all, so they give you a small unmarked envelope that actually goes in the ballot box on election day.
• Outer envelope. Your vote needs to be private, but also unique. Name, riding, and various uniquely identifying marks clearly on the envelope, and a dotted line to sign saying that this is your one and only vote for the election. I might have spilled some Photoshop on it.
• Mailing envelope. Since your name and signature need to be private, right? Plus nice and addressed. But sorry, you have to pay your own postage.

Pretty easy! It's my last election (anywhere!) for awhile, so I'm making it count.

Who did I vote for? Well, you can probably guess, and it's something I enjoy sharing, but that can wait for the next post.

Riding Updates and More Voting Thoughts

They updated my riding again. The Communist candidate is back. Also an Independent candidate, Amanda Lamka; though a complete unknown. Found some great commentary about my riding as well.

Even better, a website and blog for the NDP candidate! While I was skeptical of Cole-Arnal before (both as a fresh face, and a perceived danger of faith-based policies), I am now far more accepting of his candidacy. The web is a powerful tool of democracy - there's no excuse anymore to not be in regular communication with your constituents. The combination of a regularly updated blog and a Facebook page garner huge amounts of my respect. Even better, I now know about his policies instead of just his qualifications.

The election continues to depress me. Given that my vote has to be mailed in soon to make it to Ottawa on time, this is a worrying development. My choices are: don't vote at all, vote for the independent candidate, for the Communist party, the Green party, the NDP, the Liberal party, or the Conservative party.

I dismiss not voting. Not voting is a bad option (unless you're uninformed) - it expresses support for all parties equally, even the ones you like less than the others. One may say that it sends a message of disdain for all of the candidates. However, in the results it is very difficult to differentiate apathetic voters from informed dissenters. Voter apathy is a key battleground for the US, but not much at all in Canada.

I dismiss the independent. Recent minorities have proven that independents can decide the fate of entire governments! I cannot in good conscience vote for someone with potentially massive power with no knowledge of their intended platform. Until she reaches out to voters over the Internet, no vote for her.

I dismiss the Communist candidate. No chance of the vote being meaningful, and I don't agree with most of the platform (eg. anti-free-trade). Nor do I suspect that a disabled truck driver is going to be the most effective advocate of my concerns.

So, Green, NDP, Liberal, or Conservative.

My thoughts, coming up...

So Much for Kitchener Centre

Well, I've received my ballot, so whenever I'm ready, I can get my vote on in Kitchener Centre.

But it's not that easy. No sooner than I declare a grudging respect for one of the candidates in Kitchener Centre, that it's announced that every party except for the Liberal incumbant Karen Redman, has been swapped out!

Lets see who we have for candidates now.

• Stephen Woodworth (CON). Laurier grad, and a lawyer. Former Liberal candidate. Admittedly, not bad, except for being heavily involved in right-to-life and Christian advocacy groups.
• Karen Redman (LIB). BA English. Involved with disability and children's issues.
• Oscar Cole-Arnal (NDP). Masters in 'New Testament' (I can't make stuff like that up!). Issues mostly centre around civil rights.
• John Bithell (GRN). Not much mentioned. 'Studied' macroeconomics.

Except for the Green Party candidate, every single candidate has heavy religious involvement to the point where I can't expect them to really be advocates for... you know... actual important issues instead of faith-based initiatives or random useless hippie propaganda. Great. Way to ramp up the suck in my riding.

I'm getting a lot of people telling me "you should vote for the party, not the candidate." While I disagree with the assertion (your MP is meant to be your representative first and foremost), I already explained that it was just a backup plan because of the equal amount of suck thrown out by all the parties.

But just to satisfy people, lets see what we can find about the parties. We already know that there's no way we could ever trust the Conservatives. Apparently it's an opinion shared even by some provinces. So, vote Liberal or NDP? Well, unfortunately, not wanting to prove Harper's claims of ridiculous spending wrong, both parties are fighting to waste as much money as possible to give free rides to old people and parents to buy votes. Of course, they're also looking to offer some money to potentially useful things like city infrastructure and schools, but still, there's only so much money to go around, and it's pretty clear that the sort of spending they want to make is going to be off the charts!

The Greens and the Bloc seem to just be staying out of the way, and allowing the mutually-assured-epic-fail between the big boys to play out to their advantage. Great.

This is ridiculous. How am I supposed to vote when I'm being given these sort of choices?