Friday, December 07, 2007

Yes - I love heavy metal!

Why do so many technologists love metal and punk? It isn't just my opinion, take a look at the items suggested when you look at buying Dilbert Books on Amazon. They also suggest the Sex Pistols' CD Never Mind the Bollocks.

I am a tech worker and a musician, but a musician first! This is a photo from Jan 2007 of me playing on stage with Stress Factor 9. The singer is none other than D.O.A. founding member and former Annihilator frontman Randy Rampage and the drummer is Annihilator's Ray Hartmann.



The one below is less blurred and shows the whole band playing the opening number at the Cobalt, Vancouver's Hardcore answer to CBGB's. The rest of the shots are online at Facebook. You can catch a free MP3 download of Stress Factor 9 from http://http//www.mix2r.com/node/338.



I play bass for 22nd Century which plays more hard rock, AC/DC, Sex Pistols style. I miss the metal but recently laid down some lead guitar on one of 22nd Century's songs that illustrates my clear metal influences. The track can be downloaded at:

http://www.mix2r.com/node/173.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

PDF passes as ISO 32000 standard!!!

It is official. As Jim King himself blogged today, Adobe has received word that the Ballot for approval of PDF 1.7 to become the ISO 32000 Standard (DIS) has passed by a vote of 13 yes votes and only 1 negative. The report breaks down as follows:

Countries voting positive with no comments: Australia, Bulgaria, China, Japan, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine. (9)
Countries voting positive with comments: UK (13), USA (125), Germany (11), Switzerland (19). (4)
Countries voting negative with comments: France (37). (1)
Countries abstaining: Italy, Russia (2)

Total votes cast 14. 2/3's majority is required to pass so it was a large margin of victory (93%). For more information on the latest developments, check on this page:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference.html