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Appleinsider has a quick story about a bug in the new iTunes software that MIGHT be tipping us about planned movie rentals via iTunes.

Magda and I use Zip.ca and are happy customers. But if there’s one thing I’d like to eliminate its the artificial scarcity created by the movie companies and/or distributers. They are the ones who disallow rental operators from burning more copies on demand (Why don’t shareholders demand they permit this extra profit?). This means a whole lot of people are waiting to rent popular movies, for no reason.

But if iTunes offered rentals, I’d jump to it. Buying DVDs doesn’t work for us, and even ripped rentals are something I found I never watched again anyway. But hear me Apple; we pay $1.80-$2.50/DVD (as we get around 11-16 DVDs a month from Zip.ca) for our rentals NOW. Instant download and always availability is great, but I’m not paying more than $3 each. There’s a Torrent or reasons why I won’t.

720×480 (DVD resolution) is completely fine for us. Instead of spending a ton on a 1080p 37″ screen, we can get a 480p 50″ screen for much less. Our entertainment revolves around DVDs and Wii games, so 480p is all we need. I won’t spend $90/month on HD cable. We all complain about how telcoms gouge us, but we don’t cancel and refuse to pay until they lower the price.

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Wow. And I thought 13W CFL bulbs were cool. These suckers are almost 4x more efficient! The Pharox 3.4W bulb will replace your 40W incandescent bulbs, and should last at least 50,000 hours {probably 100,000 hours+ as these don’t have a phosphor}. They’ll cost 23 Euros for 4 at first, which is about $8 CDN a bulb. That’s a lot more than CFL bulbs, but these are more efficient and should put out more light for longer. Plus they’re LED! The future of lighting is now!

They outline just how much you’ll save over at raisingthehammer.org

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We have an ice rink in front of our house. It’s a nice size, and super convenient. I can put my skates on at the front door, and walk just 30 seconds to the rink.

On Sunday we had our skates sharpened, and I finally had a chance to test the out last night. I did about 85 laps of the rink over 45 minutes. I figure the rink it about 100m around {although it’s rectangular}, so I figure I did about 7.5-8KM of skating. Sounds great but according to Wikipedia, the Rideau Canal is 7.8KM long, which means I’m ready to skate the canal in only one direction.

Winterlude starts this weekend. Magda and I have decided to enjoy the winter the best we can this year. We don’t like the cold, but if you skate for 15 minutes and you’re toasty even at -23C {last nights temp}.

Magda’s first attempt on the skates {pre-sharpening} was not that great. She’s tall and thin, and out of practice, so she ended up falling pretty hard a few times. But I’ve noticed with even a little practice I’ve improved my skating significantly. I know she can do the same.

The biggest hurdle is getting her out of the warm house an onto the ice. We’re looking at a high of -8C today, -5C tomorrow, and -2C Friday. So there shouldn’t be any reason she can give me to stay inside.