It’s important to note that just buying a Blu-Ray player doesn’t give you the high-quality picture and sound, you need a TV that supports it, and audio equipment if you want the best sound.

“You need a TV with 1080p. [If you don’t have one], you won’t notice the difference. If you’re a stickler for sound, you can buy the speakers,” says Rob Horlacher, a supervisor at the southside Blockbuster video store in Lethbridge.

Those who want the full experience can talk to an expert at Future Shop or other electronics store to ensure they purchase the proper speaker setup.

Many argue that DVDs work just fine, and have a hard time justifying the purchase of a Blu-Ray player or the discs.

“I just get the regular DVDs, [they] work just fine, [and] I don’t have the player,” said Charlotte Etches, a student at Lethbridge College.

Blu-Ray players are not cheap, as those who choose to pay for them can look to hand over $200 or more. The good news is they do play regular DVDs as well. The bad news is consumers can’t enjoy the full experience without having a decent home theatre setup to enjoy the advanced technology.

It seems age might have something to do with whether people choose to invest in Blu-Ray movies or not.

“It depends on the age bracket. [Those between] 30 and 50 are more inclined to rent Blu-Ray movies. After 50, people don’t really care,” says Rob Horlacher, a supervisor at the southside Blockbuster video store in Lethbridge.

Horlacher also points out the obvious in saying poor college students aren’t likely to spend the money on Blu-Ray, and will likely stick with DVDs, since it’s ‘good enough’, which we confirmed after asking a few students on the Lethbridge College campus.

“I walk right by the Blu-Ray [discs] to the DVDs, because I don’t have the desire, nor the money,” said Chris Smith, a student at the college.

One argument that can be made is that just because the industry is moving forward with new formats and technology, that doesn’t mean all consumers are ready, or willing, to abandon what they have for the latest and greatest thing.

“I’m used to DVDs. I’m not really into the new technology. [I have] no desire to get [a Blu-Ray player],” says Hanna Graves, a college student in the Child and Youth Care program.

Another valid point is that consumers are often weary of how long a new technology will be around, since things in the industry move so quickly.

“[Some people] wait until [new technology] is around for a while; make sure it’s not just some trend,” says Stephanie Rush, a nursing student at the college. “If I had the money, I still don’t care about [high definition]. Eventually, everyone will have [it]; it’s not a necessity, you get it because everyone has it.”

Originally posted 2009-01-26 18:11:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Most will agree that predicting the weather involves looking back and finding patterns through the years, depending on various environmental conditions, including rainfall, temperatures, and other factors.

According to its website, the Farmers Almanac claims to use a centuries-old top secret formula based on a “top-secret mathematical and astronomical formula, taking sunspot activity, tidal action, the position of the planet, and many other factors into consideration.”

“It appears that we are going to see a fair amount of spring precipitation. Summer looks drier. So, I think the crops will be OK – but some will depend on just how dry,” says Peter Geiger, editor of the Farmers’ Almanac in an e-mail.
Many southern Albertans wonder if we’ll have more bitterly cold weather. While Geiger won’t confirm we’ll have another deep freeze, he does say more cold is on the way.
“Your average last frost in Alberta varies depending upon the city. For Edmonton, it is May 7th and for Red Deer, it is May 25th. So, I expect that there will be more cold before summer,” says Geiger.
Less farmers seem to be relying on the Farmer’s Almanac, or even technologically advanced prediction methods used by meteorologists, Farmers are leaving as little to chance as possible when it comes to growing their crops, using modern technology to grow and harvest many times more land then previous generations.
“I think that anyone who is a farmer in southern Alberta, where the weather changes so rapidly and dramatically, probably fully realizes that predicting the weather beyond about this afternoon is pretty silly,” says Vince Ellert, an agriculture instructor at Lethbridge College.

2009 doesn’t look good, as the farming industry is certainly not immune to the affects of the recession.

“2008 was a very good year. It was a year that we really needed. The outlook for 2009 is it isn’t going to be as good, because of the world financial crisis, a lot of people are simply not going to be in the market,” says Ellert.

Ellert makes it very clear that the marketplace has become a big concern for farmers. Like everyone else, they need to make money to continue operating.

“Yields are one thing. The biggest thing is market price. If you could predict what the price of wheat’s going to be in September, you’d be very wealthy. We don’t know. The outlook isn’t very good because a lot of people don’t have the money,” says Ellert.

Ellert says there are less farmers harvest more land with the aid of technology, as a great deal of farmers, as many as two thirds, have given up due to economic conditions.

“Farmers have a great diversity of skills. A farmer is on his farm, not making a great living, he says ‘gosh, I can go to McMurray, use my welding skills, and make $35 bucks an hour’, it’s not a hard decision,” says Ellert.

In regards to the snow fall amounts we’ve had this past winter, Ellert says it didn’t do the farmers much good, aside from those that have livestock, as it gives the cattle plenty to drink.

“We want snow cover in the winter, to protect certain perennial crops from being frozen, and insulation value. Having your water sources for  livestock full of water from spring runoff is extremely valuable. You can’t put cattle out in dry land range if there’s no water,” says Ellert.

Since modern farmers are managing much more last then older generations did, they have more land to farm on, and therefore yields they can make a profit on.

“Our living standards went up on the farm.  There’s less dollars of profit per acre. The cost of vehicles, fertilizer, and everything. There’s no family that can survive on 1,600 acres of dry land anymore. Dry land farms are now 4-6,000 acres, because the dollar per acre is so much lower,” says Ellert.

Originally posted 2009-03-29 19:15:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

No one should rely on any one storage device for their data. Always keep your files in multiple locations, including usb thumbdrives, CD or DVD, external hard drives, and other mediums.

Lethbridge College students have access to their internal college “Z” drives, which offer 750MB of space, but students should save their data on portable drives as well, to minimize the risk of data loss, says Dean Johnson, manager of network services at Lethbridge College.

“Don’t rely on any one thing,” says Johnson. “Use online storage services such as Google or Windows Skydrive.”

Online storage services, including Box.net, allow students to access their files from anywhere with an internet connection. The storage services double as a back-up location for those irreplaceable files.

There are online services dedicated to automatically backing up your files via a small program you install on your computer. Two examples are Carbonite.com, $40 per year, and Mozy.com, $4.95 per month. Either provides incredible peace of mind, and are automatic, so you don’t have to think about it.

With Carbonite and Mozy, they backup all the files you have selected the first time, which takes a while, but only backup the files that have been changed or updated after that.

Another benefit of storing your data online is you can access it from anywhere, as opposed to “Z” drives, which are only accessible on college campus.

Keep data in multiple places in case something happens to one of the sources, so in the case of a hard drive failure, loss of a usb thumbdrive, or a fire, you’re not at a loss, or forced to recreate a report or essay you spent hours or days on.

The college does not keep back-ups of the student “Z” drive, so it’s important not to rely on it as the only storage source, Johnson says.

Information Technology Services doesn’t monitor the data either, though it does monitor quotas automatically.

Student receive an automated email if they go over the allotted 750MB to alert them they need to reduce the number of files they have stored.

However, for Communication Arts and Multimedia in particular, that space fills up very fast, which is why students are encouraged to use external hard drives for their recorded video and graphics work.

“Keep your data on your person,” says Johnson, referring to portable storage.

To read all of my stories and columns, visit the Endeavour website or www.thedigitaldistraction.com.

Originally posted 2008-10-09 17:22:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

from left to right: Allan Wilson, teacher and writer; Bridget Pastoor, MLA Lethbridge East; and Dr. David Swann, Leader of the Alberta Libera Party.

Dr. David Swann, who has led the Alberta Liberal Party since December of 2008, after Kevin Taft resigned, wants to make it perfectly clear that his party’s mission is to renew itself by reaching out to young people, end voter apathy, make the environment a much larger focus, and renew Canada’s democracy.

Swann has spent over three decades in the field of medicine, and admits jumping from medicine to politics has been ‘really interesting’. Swann says both medicine and politics are essentially about the same thing, creating healthy communities. He says it’s been a ‘fun transition’.

He wants to increase the involvement in Canadian politics, starting with getting people back to the polls at election time.

“It’s a challenging time for the party. You know, we only had a 40 per cent turnout in the polls last year. Our vote dropped, and our membership has dropped to 6,000, our peak membership was in the ‘90s when we had 100,000. A tremendous amount of work needs to be done, I’ve called for a renewal process within the party,” says Swann.

Dr. Swann is scared that we’re losing democracy in our province, and is determined to do something about it by creating ways for people to have a say on issues that concern them.

“That’s why I’m in politics, I’m afraid we’re losing our democracy in this province.  This is 37 years of increasing entitlement, power broking, and self-serving that seems to be a tighter and tighter connection with the corporate community and making decisions in short-term interests of private enterprise, not public interest, for the long term, which is what I’m about,” explains Dr. Swann.

One of the key ways Dr. Swann and his Liberal Party are using to connect with young people is by using the web services they use, such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, keeping a blog, and producing a podcast on Swann’s website, which is http://www.davidswann.ca/.

“[We’re] using web based interaction to hear from people about what they think about the Liberal party,” says Dr. Swann.

For the first time in Alberta history, the Conservative government will be running under a deficit of more then $1 billion. Swann says this is because of a lack of responsible spending, and that the provincial government wasn’t saving during the past decade, when it had oil and gas surpluses of nearly $10 billion per year.

“We’ve spent [all of the] oil wealth coming out of the ground in the last 15 years. The Heritage Fund is worth less then it was when Peter Lougheed left office.”

“We should have been saving during that boom time, because by spending, we caused such an inflation. Housing, costs went sky high, we had everyone wanting to come here because the economy was doing so well, that’s when we should have been saving,” explains Swann.

Dr. Swann says the best way to stimulate the economy is to move away from non renewable resources.

“We need to move away from this fixation on fossil fuels. It’s not only unsustainable, because of the non-renewable resources, it’s unsustainable because we’re killing our climate.  We can tax carbon and give tax incentives for retrofitting your home, for using a high-energy furnace, [and] for using public transit.”

“It’s a lack of imagination, lack of commitment. The [Conservative government is] so tied in tight with the oil industry that they can’t back out,” says Swann.

A lack of affordable housing is a huge issue. Dr. Swann says that the way to solve the housing crisis is to slow down the population growth that has been encouraged in recent years.

“Slowing down the growth would be one thing. That would make less inflation, more affordable housing. We have to, federal, provincial, municipal, develop a longer term plan. We have the largest homeless population in the country in Calgary,” says Dr. Swann.

Dr. Swann blames the growth of the oil sands in respect to our current environmental and economic threats. He says that because of the inflation, the oil sands themselves are in trouble.

“We’ve allowed the oil sands to grow as fast as they’ve wanted to grow without respect to environmental, social, or even the economic threat that we’ve created. Because we’ve increased the level of inflation, we’ve now threatened the oil industry itself,” says Dr. Swann.

Dr. Swann also explains that the government needs to invest more in green technology, and give more incentives.

“If you’re going to invest in a real legacy for future generations, if you’re going to give more incentives for green technology, like solar and wind, geothermal, giving money to create energy efficient buildings. That’s a good investment. We know [the cost of] fossil fuels are going to go higher and higher,” emphasizes Swann.

Swann says the current provincial government isn’t doing enough to monitor or enforce environmental protection.

“They denied climate change up until three years ago. It’s not a priority for this government, to educate people on the greening of their lifestyle, or how to reduce their carbon footprint. That’s where the environment department needs more resources.”

A common complaint among young people and many Canadians is that the level of rhetoric in the legislature needs to be toned down, since seeing our leaders screaming and yelling at each other is hardly inspiring, nor conducive to meaningful conversations.

“My goal is very simple, I want to attract people to politics. I don’t want to repulse them. I think what you called apathy is really repulsion. They don’t like who we are, they don’t like what we do. I want to attract people to politics. If we’re going to attract, we have to act in a responsible, mature, respectful way,” says Dr. Swann.

Last semester, students were quoted saying they would really appreciate it if politicians would come to their workplaces, and our schools, to speak directly to people, many saying it might change their vote if that happened.

“Definitely. I would love to see that. I want more younger people involved. This is your future we’re playing with,” says Dr. Swann.

Originally posted 2009-03-17 01:34:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Trust your gut. If you get an email attachment or receive a file on your computer, or through email that looks suspicious or that you’re not expecting, don’t open it, no matter how tempting.

Keep Windows up-to-date. Every second Tuesday of the month, Microsoft releases patches and updates for Windows. You need to run Windows Update and install them as soon as possible to protect against internet threats.

Don’t visit websites that aren’t well-known or trusted. There are millions of websites that look perfectly legitimate, but contain code that takes advantage of exploits in Windows that may or may not be patched.

There are a lot of products that claim to protect your computer from the threats of the internet. The trouble is, there are a lot of options, and some products work much better then others.

Norton and McAfee are the most well known. The most notorious problem with both products is as much as they protect, they slow the system down, and impact performance.

Products like Norton SystemWorks try to be an all-in-one solution. The trouble is, since it’s trying to do too many things at once, it doesn’t do any one of them very well.

There are free choices that are very effective. Tens of millions use them because they cost nothing. Once people use a product, they’re more likely to pay for the paid versions down the road if they like it. AVG and BitDefender are some free choices that also have paid versions available.

The best security software on the market today is NOD32. It was designed to be highly effective while having a limited impact on system performance. and it’s easy to use. NOD32 isn’t free, $30 for the antivirus, and $60 for the Smart Security suite.

The other highly effective choice is Kaspersky. They also have a security suite that is highly regarded. While it does have a slightly larger system footprint in terms of performance then NOD32, it’s equally as effective. Kaspersky starts at $60.

Never run more then one anti-virus or firewall program on your computer. They don’t get along, and can sometimes detect each other as threats, and crash your computer.

You may have heard of “spyware”. As you surf the net, files are downloaded to your computer that monitor your computing habits and report them to a third party.

These days you don’t really need more then one anti-spyware program, in fact the one that comes with your security software is usually good enough.

Some spyware are almost as bad as a virus. They’re constantly communicating with the internet, and some contain scripts that change system settings. Ad-Aware was one of the first products to detect and eliminate such threats.

Modern anti-virus solutions now monitor and eliminate spyware and viruses, replacing the need for a separate solution. The most effective standalone product is Spyware Terminator, which is free.

Pay attention when the computer prompts you to accept or deny a program from doing something. If your security software isn’t sure, it will ask you, and if you ok something you shouldn’t, you might as well not be secured at all.

Originally posted 2008-10-31 04:16:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The same technology has been in use in Europe, specifically France, for nearly two decades, further encouraging Canada to follow suit.

For the last several years, credit cards have only required you to swipe, show identification, and sign in order to purchase something, and most places don’t even check for ID.

“I work in retail, and when I ask to see ID with the card, [people] thank me,” said Jenna Turner, a nursing student at Lethbridge College.

The new cards eliminate the need to swipe, and for a signature, replacing it with a computer chip that communicates securely with credit card company servers. The process verifies the card belongs to you, all you have to do is enter a PIN.

“You swipe it first, then you place the card in the [slot] under the keypad, it reads the [computer] chip at that point,” said Tyson Wiebe, a general studies student who has noticed people using them for the past six months or so.

The cards are not in wide circulation yet, as none of the 20 or so random students asked had one, but nearly everyone has heard of them, and are happy about the improved security.

“It’s a little harder to find out someone’s PIN then to sign [for them],” said Katelyn Perry, a General Studies student at the college.

Some of the newer cards still have the magnetic strip, though they will be phased out. According to an article on the on the website for the Vancouver Times-Colonist, the new cards act in much the same way debit cards do, at least for the PIN.

Not everyone sees the benefit, and some are quite happy with the way things work right now.

“Anyone can see that PIN. I’d prefer to keep the signature,” said Catherine Dessert, a student at Lethbridge College.

The entire reason for the change in how the cards work is to help reduce the $300 million incurred annually in fraud across Canada.

All merchant terminals must be upgraded by 2015, making it a multi-year rollout, which should give customers ample time to get the new cards.

Originally posted 2008-11-07 01:16:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The internet has grown in use, and so have the tricks hackers and malicious websites use to steal personal information and put viruses and spyware computers. They might try and get you to download a file in order to see special content, or put hidden code in a website that can put itself on to the computer and use it for malicious purposes.

The latest example has been an issue on the website called “Twitter”, where users connect and exchange short messages with useful information and handy links with friends worldwide. Users receive a message from a friend, not knowing their friend’s account has been compromised, they click a link that brings them to a hacker’s website, which steals their twitter login and password, hoping they use the same combination on important websites, like banks.

It’s best to have a different login and password for each website you register for, but if that’s not realistic, have a different set for types of websites, one for banks, one for social networks, one for email, etc.

You’re a smart person, and in no way would I imply otherwise, but hackers and spammers out to make a buck off of your information, and can be very enticing and tricky in getting you to click that link or download that seemingly innocent browser plug-in, so be aware of what you’re doing online.

You may argue that you are running security or antivirus software and that you’re protected. True, but nothing is guaranteed. If you click “yes” or “ok” on something unwittingly, hopefully your software catches it if it’s bad, but it might not. User behaviour is the best defence, so please, pay attention.

A few extra seconds of paying attention to exactly what you are downloading and the websites you are visiting can mean the difference between a healthy computer and having to reinstall Windows and potentially lose your data.

Originally posted 2009-01-17 20:40:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The outbreak of listeria has been confirmed as the culprit of 17 deaths. According to CTV.ca, 43 Listeria case have been linked to the outbreak, the cause of which is recalled meat from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto.

More then 200 products have been added to the recalled list of foods, including some types of cheese feared to contain the bacteria. A full list can be found at http://tinyurl.com/494qcq.

The Endeavour sat down with one of the Chefs at Lethbridge College, Charles Parker, to talk about the steps that are taken to ensure food at the college continues to be safe.

“None of the [affected] product came to our premises”, said Parker, “most concerns are in the retail and restaurant sectors, and involve sliced and cut meat.”

Parker noted several precautions and daily procedures are in place to ensure that food is handled properly and is safe for everyone on campus to consume.

“Students wear gloves, and we have soap and anti-bacterial gel at hand-washing stations to ensure proper sanitation control,” Chef Parker assured us, “[and] washing and cutting equipment is sanitized daily.”

All staff and students in the program have been trained in a food safety and sanitation course, and are certified, as “we are ever vigilant to ensure methods and procedures are followed accurately,” explained Parker.

The program has a 3-pronged approach. First, all staff and students are certified in food safety and sanitation. Second, local health officials randomly do spot checks to ensure standards are me; and nurses at the college are trained to deal with food poisoning.

Originally posted 2008-09-26 21:59:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The simple answers for upgrading seem to be competition and the college’s contract with Adobe. When prospective students are considering whether to apply for a course, seeing that the college offers the most up-to-date software may be enticing enough for them to apply at Lethbridge College instead of somewhere else.

“You have the latest and the greatest industry standard software–which looks good from a college marketing perspective (for students and employers). It could be seen as a reason for the student to choose our program–don’t ever doubt that we are in a competition for student dollars in the education world,” said Gavin Brinsmead, who manages the computers for the third floor in the TE Wing.

Since the college buys their computer and software in bulk, they get a big discount. Within their contract with Adobe, if a new version of software is released, the college can upgrade almost immediately at small cost.

“We have a maintenance contract with Adobe–that is, once a product is purchased, we pay a sum of money to keep it current for the duration of the contract and renew whenever it expires. This way, when a new version comes out we don’t have to purchase a “new” license each time,” said Brinsmead.

This begs the question, what’s the real difference between Adobe Creative Suite 3 and Creative Suite 4? They both have the same programs (Photoshop, InDesign, etc), but CS4 builds on the features from feedback received from CS3.

According to CNET.com, “Adobe aimed to improve the options for making round trips among the applications without rebuilding content, [and] there’s greater integration from one application to the next, with support for the latest formats for web sites and mobile phones.”

CNET also mentions that Adobe has streamlined the interfaces (the way they look) across all the CS4 programs.

In regards to the individual programs. Online reviews say some programs are worth the upgrade while others are not. CNET says there isn’t enough compelling about Photoshop to warrant an upgrade, aside from its ability to now work with 3D content. However, Illustrator finally manages multipage documents, and so does InDesign by using tabs (much like a web browser).

According to Photoshopcafe.com’s review, “InDesign CS4 offers a few cool features for those of us who place a lot of images. First, the Links panel has been given a ground-up redesign, and it’s just so much better, [with its] arrangeable columns like a spreadsheet or database.”

Another awesome feature of InDesign CS4 is it now has Smart Guides that show up whenever you drag or resize an item. As Photoshopcafe.com explains, “you can drag one frame below another and quickly align it to the left, center, or right side of the frame above it based on the smart guides that appear. Or, you can drag one frame between two others until the smart distribution guides indicate that there is equal space among all three objects. Very smooth, very powerful.”

CS4 is for the serious professional, and requires some hefty hardware to run, including at least 2GB of RAM, a processor of at least 2Ghz, and if you’re running the Master Collection, at least 26GB of free space. Yes, you read that right. As for software, Mac OS X 10.4.11 or Windows XP SP2 or Vista is needed.

Originally posted 2009-01-17 20:46:52. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Hypothermia is when the body’s core temperature goes below 35 degrees Celsius (apprx. 95 fahrenheit). The body’s normal body temperature is 37°C (apprx 98°F). In the extreme cold, frostbite can also happen when a part of the body freezes.

As noted by Canada.com, severe frostbite does cause long-lasting bodily damage. Smokers and people with diabetes, or other circulatory problems have a higher risk of getting frostbite.

The best way to avoid being harmed by the cold is to know ahead of time what you’re dealing with.

“[Know] the elements,” says Ward Edley, who works with the city of Lethbridge’s fire department. “The wind chill plays a huge factor, [especially] with exposed skin.”

Residents of Lethbridge know all too well what strong winds feel like, as we live with them on a regular basis. As Edley points out, though, we must continue to take them seriously, as they can make temperatures of -18 feel more like -30 or lower.

If you are out in the elements for an extended period of time, and you stop shivering, or you start losing dexterity, or start feeling sleepy, you’re experiencing the start of Hypothermia, which can be fatal.

“Early signs and symptoms [include] slower responsive rates, or you start rubbing your feet, arms, or hands,” says Edley. “Keep your head warm, [your feet], your armpits, chest, [and even] your groin. These are places heat escapes from your body quickly.”

If you or someone you know is suffering from Hypothermia, Edley tells people to not drink hot liquids, as the person needs to gradually warm themselves. He also says that drinking alcohol and then venturing out into the cold is not a good idea, as causes the body’s core temperature to lower faster.

As for winter driving, Edley has a few tips on that as well.

“The AMA recommends having a basic first aid kit and thermal blankets,” says Edley. “Get winter tires, as they grip the road better, and know the ice, find out if [road conditions] are safe. The resource are there [to find out].”

So, to anyone who thinks they’ll be fine, or that they’ll only be out in the cold for a few minutes, take a moment to really think before you head out, as taking the extra few seconds to bundle up properly may very well save your life.

Originally posted 2009-02-06 17:49:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter