Friday, March 15, 2024

OSHA boots


 

Small things 15 Mar

  • This is the point in the seasons when the cyclists are wishing the snow and ice would disappear and the skiers are wishing the snow would stay.
  • If you make a pie chart of how much of a butt is cheeks and how much is crack, make the cheeks part white and the crack part black, and then rotate the diagram to point the crack downward well, just use your damned imagination.
  • The song ‘Mambo No 5’ but instead of girls' names, it’s varieties of cheese.
  • How is it that "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean exactly the same thing?
  • There would only be one ‘take your cat to work day.’
  • "To know how good you are at something, requires exactly the same skills as it does to be good at that thing in the first place. Which means - and this is terribly funny - that if you're absolutely no good at something, at all, then you lack exactly the skills that you need to know that you're absolutely no good at it." ~John Cleese
  • Never attack the person, only their argument.
  • What do you call a woman who was cremated? Ashley.
  • Drink water in front of your plants to remind them who’s boss.
  • Next time you’re going to roast some marshmallows over a fire, just bring a rake. It has lots of tips. You’ll figure it out.
  • Errogant: adj. When you’re completely wrong, but very sure of yourself.
  • In interview: “What’s your biggest flaw?” “Oh. It’s that I’m too shy to speak about my biggest flaw.”
  • There’s a chance that on career day at school, some dad is going to come in and talk about his crypto investments.


Name all the things wrong with this album cover


 I'm sorry that I chose to make the picture so damned big, but who needs retinas anyway?

Don’t fear the nuclear


Are you one of those people who believe that nuclear power can’t solve our energy generation problem because of its danger?

Then you seriously need to watch this video. She is not a politician, or a journalist. Science.

If you want to skip the dull costs statistics portion, skip ahead from the 10:11 mark to 19:39. 



Before and after mural





 

Songs that turn 40 this year (2024)

Thompson twins - Hold me now


Prince - When Doves Cry

Van Halen - Jump

Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart

Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark

Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Steve Perry - Oh Sherrie

Corey Hart - Sunglasses at Night


Billy Idol - Eyes Without a Face

Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again

Billy Joel - Uptown Girl

ZZ Top - Legs

Madonna - Lucky Star

Wang Chung - Dance Hall Days

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Culture Club - Church of the Poison Mind


The Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger

John Cougar Mellencamp - Pink Houses

The Go-Go's - Head over Heels


Called it

 


Things I learned lately 15 Mar

  • There is a new AI player on the block that has been designed to have a more human-like conversational experience with us named Pi.ai.
  • Subway restaurants actually discontinued yellow mustard as an available condiment to put on sandwiches, apparently because not many ask for it. Green Goddess Dressing is a big mover though, huh?
  • Salt & Brick, a restaurant in downtown Calgary, has a secret speakeasy at the back called Charlie’s Watch Repair. You have to book an ‘appointment’, not a reservation, and ask for Charlie to get in. Folks say it’s a cocktail lover’s dream.
  • Lene Hau experimented with the speed of light and managed to slow light down to 61 km/h, then in another experiment, down to 0 km/h. This was done by freezing a cloud of sodium atoms to just above 0 Kelvin. The light moved again once the matter was warmed again.
  • Montreal smoked meat is made from brisket, whereas pastrami is made from navel. The former is lean, the latter is not.
  • The top 5 coffee producing countries are Brazil; Vietnam; Columbia; Indonesia; and Ethiopia.
  • In the early 1930s, white Americans toyed with Nazi-ism and the concept of a white, Christian nation. The time was rife with racism, anti-semitism, and a belief that Jews were taking over the world at the expense of non-Jewish people. There were even children’s summer camps indoctrinating white children with the virtues of Nazi beliefs. Nazi flags were flown alongside American flags at these camps and at adult gatherings of the German American Bund.
  • David H. McConnell started Avon in 1886 as a bookseller. He offered little gifts of perfume to lure in female customers. The perfume became more popular than the books he was selling, so he shifted focus and founded the California Perfume Company, which later became Avon.


Friday, March 08, 2024

Hockey explained

 


Small things 8 Mar

  • Myth: We only use 10% of our brain. William James, a psychologist in the 1800s, once metaphorically used the idea of 10% of the brain being all that was used at one time. This grew into the rumour that we only use 10% of the brain overall and most of the rest was not understood or used as far as we knew. Actually, the inactive neurons are just as important at any given moment as the ones actively firing at a point in time, and the 10% comes from varying areas at different times. We do use all of our brain.
  • Never tell the salesperson that you don’t know anything about the product you’re shopping for.
  • When you walked by a gas station as a kid, did you stomp on the hose on the ground that sounded the bell to alert the attendant?
  • Remember that song, “We’re not gonna take it”? We seem to be still taking it.
  • If every neighbourhood had a truck share program for a very reasonable price, would you trade in your truck for a smaller vehicle?
  • “Some cool, clear night, drive to a country place where city lights don’t block your view. Turn off the car lights. Get out and look up. And see our real neighbourhood.” ~C.J. Cherryh
  • Fifty percent of people who buy tickets to see The Cure actually end up watching the band Placebo, and they enjoy it just as much.
  • If you’re going to call in sick for a ‘snow day’, at least have the decency to build a snowman in your front yard.
  • Have you ever seen a peeled lemon?


Tidal drama

 


How wages are influenced by immigration

In light of the fact that immigration controls are a big part of today’s discussion again, I thought it would be good to repost this quote from a respected economist.

"Wages in rich countries are determined more by immigration control than anything else, including any minimum wage legislation. How is the immigration maximum determined? Not by the 'free' labor market, which, if left alone, will end up replacing 80 – 90 percent of native workers with cheaper, and often more productive, immigrants. Immigration is largely settled by politics. If the same market can be perceived to have varying degrees of freedom by different people, there is really no objective way to define how free that market is. In other words, the free market is an illusion. If some markets look free, it is only because we so totally accept the regulations that are propping them up that they become invisible."

~Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang


Where all of Canada's energy goes (2017 data)

 


Click to enlarge.

Never before

Things my current car has that I’ve never experienced before (2024 edition)

Apple Carplay

Heated steering wheel

Powered liftgate

All-wheel drive

Dynamic radar cruise control

Cross traffic alert


The captains of the 2 Montreal pro hockey teams trade sweaters

 


Things I learned lately 8 Mar

  • In the Google Chrome web browser, if you right click an image on a web page and press the ‘s’ key, it does a reverse Google image search on that picture using Google Lens.
  • India now has an office building complex in Surat consisting of 4,700 offices, for 67,000 workers.
  • The BBC’s annual budget is CAD$10b. The CBC’s annual budget is a mere CAD$1.2b.
  • Nabisco Oreo cookies are a copycat of the Hydrox cookie from the Sunshine Biscuits company, When they competed at a lower price, Hydrox was the clear winner. But once Nabisco relaunched the Oreo at a higher price, the public perceived it as a superior product and it sold the most compared to Hydrox.
  • Scientists have discovered that human cells have a resonant frequency, in other words they vibrate! It turns out that different cells have different frequencies. This opens the door to using sound to identify cells that are unhealthy, and possibly destroy cells that are interfering with the body's normal function. It may even be possible to use sound to trigger medication delivery to specific cells, or perhaps even activate the immune system in specific ways. Needless to say, this is a very exciting discovery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEQNj6Xiewo
  • Geddy Lee (Rush) and Rick Moranis (SCTV) went to elementary school together.
  • The New York City subway system has 472 stations.
  • The ‘74-’75 Stanley Cup finals were the first modern NHL finals not to feature an original six team. It was Philadelphia against Buffalo.


Friday, March 01, 2024

Small things 1 Mar

  • Claiming that someone else's marriage is against your religion is like being angry at someone for eating a cupcake because you're on a diet.
  • New Jersey has more than 600 diners, more than any other state.
  • Me at the grocery store picking an item behind the one in the front.
  • Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.
  • What will we call Glacier National Park after the glaciers are gone?
  • Your earlobes are lined up vertically with your nipples. You just checked, didn’t you?
  • Newfoundland was discovered 5000 years ago. Poor name choice maybe?
  • Would you let your kids eat cake for breakfast? No? Then why would you let them eat fried cake served with butter and maple syrup on top?
  • Remember when most department stores had their own restaurants?
  • I said to myself, “Self” (and I knew it was me because I recognized my voice and I was wearing my underwear) “Today is going to be a great day.” [stolen from dave skripka]
  • Technically the glass is always full. What portion of it isn’t filled with water is filled with air.
  • From now on, when I get a cold call from a service company, I’m just going to say whatever equates to “You can’t help me.” So if it’s duct cleaning, I’ll say, “I don’t have a furnace, so no ducts.” If it’s ‘Microsoft’ suggesting I have a Windows issue, I’ll say “I don’t use Windows. I use Linux.” If they claim I owe taxes, I’ll say, “Of course I owe taxes. I’ve never submitted a tax return in my life.”


He'll be Bach

 


Learn the first steps in generative AI

You’ve likely heard about ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini. 

They are the latest offerings in the world of generative AI tools. 

Some are free and some require a subscription, but they all are revolutionizing how we learn, do and create stuff. 

And now there’s a 3 hour course for that. 

It’s called an introduction to generative AI and it is offered in Calgary by Chinook Learning Services. 

You’ll never guess who is teaching this course. 

Yeah. Me.


Anyone who’s seen 2001 and has interacted with chatGPT will know

 


The seasons in Alberta

  • Winter

  • Fool's Spring
  • Second Winter
  • Spring of Deception
  • Third Winter
  • The Pollening
  • Actual Spring
  • Winter’s revenge
  • Spring’s convalescence
  • Summer
  • Hell's Front Porch
  • False Fall
  • Second Summer
  • Actual Fall
  • Mild winter
  • Return of the vortex


Rough neighbourhood


 

Things I learned lately 1 Mar

  • The Alberta government plans to charge a $200 annual tax on electric cars. Because of course they do.
  • The Alberta government, before even seeing it, says they’re opting out of the planned federal pharmacare plan. “Just give us the money” they said, “And we’ll use it to fund diabetes meds.” No mention of contraceptives also included in the fed plan.
  • Tesla has finally opened their supercharger network to Fords. I watched a Ford Lightning get a DC fast charge from a US Tesla supercharger (adapter required and provided).
  • Tesla's fleet of vehicles equipped with the Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta system has surpassed a significant milestone by autonomously driving well over 100 million miles. Tesla's FSD software is now actively driving on average 1 million miles per day.
  • Percentage of all new car sales in 2023 that were EVs in the US: 7.6%. California alone: 21%. China: 24%. Norway: 82%.
  • The man who appears on Canadian Tire money is a fictional character named Sandy McTire. He was designed to represent the hardworking everyman of the 1950s. Sandy McTire has been featured on Canadian Tire money since 1961.
  • Elaine, a character from Seinfeld, got kicked out of their apartment for (among other things) putting Canadian quarters in the washing machine.


Saturday, February 24, 2024

Small things 24 Feb

  • Every high voltage tower should have one of those vertical spinning wind turbine generators installed in them. That way, they can both support the grid and add to it at the same time.
  • In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered the future Queen Juliana and her family for the preceding three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The most noteworthy event during their time in Canada was the birth in 1943 of Princess Margriet at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. The maternity ward was temporarily declared to be extraterritorial by the Canadian government, thereby allowing Princess Margriet's citizenship to be solely influenced by her mother's Dutch citizenship. In 1946, Juliana sent another 20,500 bulbs requesting that a display be created for the hospital, and promised to send 10,000 more bulbs each year. By 1963 the festival featured more than 2 million tulips, rising to nearly 3 million by 1995. Princess Margriet of the Netherlands attending the Canadian Tulip Festival in May 2002. In the years following Queen Juliana's original donation, Ottawa became famous for its tulips and in 1953 the Ottawa Board of Trade and photographer Malak Karsh organized the first Canadian Tulip Festival. Queen Juliana returned to celebrate the festival in 1967, and Princess Margriet returned in 2002 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the festival.

  • China Girl, co-written by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, first appeared on an Iggy Pop album in 1977. It did not become popular until it was rerecorded and released by Bowie in 1983. What prompted Bowie to put the song on one of his own albums was that Iggy Pop was broke due to his struggle with drug addiction. Bowie decided to re-record and release the song on his own record so that Iggy Pop could collect half the royalties as co-writer of the track and get back on his feet.


Foot of sun


We almost got a foot of sun this morning.

I’m not coming in.

AI-generated video


If you’ve never seen AI-generated video, this Dandy Warhol music video has an example of what’s possible. 

Keep in mind though, that as imperfect as the result is, it’s stylistically amazing and wasn’t even possible a mere few months ago. 

Who knows what will be possible in a year. 5 years.


Meet my toys

 


Tone deaf?


I was quite surprised at our Premier’s announcement on 21 Feb that a priority starting now will be to focus on growing the Heritage Fund in a very big way. I have some thoughts.

Disclaimer: I am a fan of saving money for a rainy day. We practice this in our home, so I appreciate the sentiment.

I have never spoken to anyone in Alberta and heard them mention that our rainy day fund needs some serious attention. At least, not in the last few years. So I don’t understand why it has suddenly become a priority for our government. Can I use an analogy to explain my position?

Imagine the province is a family. We’re earning decent money right now, but that hasn’t always been the case, and it isn’t guaranteed going forward. The house is in serious need of some repair and some appliances need replacing. Imagine if one of us suggests that maybe we should forego the repairs and purchases and sock a bunch of money into the TFSA. Not just today. For the next 25 years. I’m pretty sure that idea would not fly.

Yet that is exactly what the government of Alberta is suggesting we need to do. All the while, people are concerned about the cost of housing, groceries, utility bills, gas prices, the lack of doctors, surgery wait lists, unsustainable growth, our inability to adequately fight forest fires, and so much more.

I’m starting to wonder if the fund talk is a precursor to justifying why they need to hijack the CPP. But for now, it is one more example of their priorities being in the wrong place, in my humble opinion.


If you’re a fan of ‘What we do in the shadows’ you get it

 


Things I learned lately 24 Feb

  • An Alabama court ruled that frozen embryos, like the kind that result from IVF treatments, are humans and can’t be destroyed.
  • Norway aims to become the first nation to end the sale of gasoline and diesel cars by 2025. They are very close to this objective.
  • Mark Hamill was in the pilot episode of the Eight is Enough television series.
  • The owner of a soap factory in Montreal refused to sell his property to make way for the Jacques Cartier bridge approach, so they had to curve the ramp around the factory. It became known as the crooked bridge.
  • The recurring “Jeux sans frontières” that is sung throughout the Peter Gabriel song Games Without Frontiers is sung by Kate Bush.
  • April Wine’s album Stand Back was the first Canadian album to sell more than 100,000 copies.
  • April Wine’s album First Glance was the first Canadian album to achieve Gold status (500,000 album sales) outside of Canada (US).
  • Have you ever wanted to browse a web site via its pictures rather than via its text? Go to Google, and choose the "Images" tab. Then type in site:sitename.com, where sitename is the name of the site you want to browse visually, such as amazon.com. Then, when you see a picture you like, just click on it and Google will take you to the page that has the picture. Of course, some sites offer better visual browsing than others.
  • The first guest host on Saturday Night Live was George Carlin, with musical guest Billy Preston.
  • Steve Martin has been a guest host on SNL 16 times.