Thursday, October 31, 2013

Uber

We have a problem in Calgary. It has to do with taxis. There are barely enough to service the city and what's worse, most of them are sitting idle at our airport waiting for their turn to catch a fare. It's a weird, antiquated system in this city and the drivers are at the whim of the cab companies and their dispatchers.

Which is why I really like the business model that is Uber. Uber is a venture-funded start-up company based in San Francisco, that makes a mobile app to connect passengers with drivers of luxury vehicles for hire. The company serves many cities including San Francisco Bay, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Toronto, Johannesburg, Berlin, London, Melbourne, Stockholm, Sydney, and many more.

Uber drivers have luxury cars such as Escalades, BMW 7 Series, and Mercedes-Benz S550 sedans. Cars are reserved by sending a text message or by using a mobile app. Using the app, customers can track their reserved car's location.

Uber's pricing is similar to metered taxis and all hiring and payment is handled exclusively through Uber. If the Uber car is going faster than 11 mph, the price is calculated on a distance basis, otherwise it's on a time basis. Prices are about 50% to 75% higher than prices charged by conventional cabs. At the end of a ride the complete fare is automatically billed to the customer's credit card. Uber has said that its high prices are the premium that the customers pay for a cab service that is not only reliable but also punctual and comfortable.

During holiday times, Uber increases its prices to "surge price" levels to reach an economic equilibrium by attracting more drivers. Uber has also uses surge pricing during extremely inclement weather. Customers receive notice when making a reservation that prices have increased.

The latest news is that Uber has its eyes set on Calgary. There are some municipal laws that have to be modified for them to be able to do business here though. I wish them luck. We definitely need the competition.

A Mercury year is shorter than a Mercury day

A nicely animated story about our solar system.

You might learn something.

For example, Mercury's long day leads to enormous fluctuations in temperature (437C to -173C).

Challenged


Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Ancestry of what?

Q: In this map, the colours refer to percentage of ________ in the area.

Take your guesses to the comments.

Purity through transparency

This amazing article on the history of ketchup is fascinating.

For starters, ketchup didn't always have tomato in it.

Secondly, the first tomato ketchups were deadly.

Whoa Donald! What are you guys eating there?


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Things I learned lately 27 October


  • It costs $326,260 to buy a 30 second spot on the TV show Big Bang Theory. In comparison, a 30 second spot on the CBC network during the Stanley Cup finals costs $40,000.
  • A WalMart store near Edmonton refused to print and frame a photo of a mother breast feeding her baby. The print was ordered by the husband. WalMart apologized after the husband took to Facebook to complain.
  • Rogers Communications doesn't feel it's necessary to have proof when they claim their mobile service has 'fewer dropped calls' than the newer carriers. So basically, they cite 'freedom of expression' to justify lying to customers. Sorry - I meant 'misleading customers'.
  • 'Whose line is it anyway?' is coming back on the CW network with the usual cast. Caveat: Although this is a TV show using improvisation, it is an edited show, so the naturally occurring 'not-so-great' scenes are cut out, leaving only the funniest bits, as opposed to the most natural, unscripted bits.
  • No country spent more on universal health care insurance as a share of GDP than Canada. The average wait time for a referral to a specialist was almost 18 weeks (it was 9.3 weeks in 1993). Canada ranked 15th of 24 countries in MRI machines per million people and 16th of 25 countries in CT scanners per million people.
  • 40% of YouTube traffic now comes from mobile devices. That's up from 25% in 2012 and only 6% in 2011.
  • Instagram closed a Toronto woman's account after she posted a waist-down pic of herself wearing bikini bottoms with a bit of pubic hair showing. There was nothing about the picture that contravenes their policies.
  • There's a $1,000 fine for using or selling Silly String in Hollywood on Halloween.
  • Celts believed Samhain was a time when the wall between our world and the paranormal world was porous and spirits could get through. Because of this belief, it was common for the Celts to wear costumes and masks during the festival to ward off or befuddle any evil spirits.
  • Hallowmas is a 3 day Catholic holiday where saints are honoured and people pray for the recently deceased. At the start of the 11th century, it was decreed by the Pope that it would last from Oct 31 (All Hallow's Eve) until Nov 2, most likely because that was when Samhain was celebrated and the church was trying to convert the pagans. "All Hallow's Eve" then evolved into "All Hallow's Even," and by the 18th century it was commonly referred to as "Hallowe'en."
  • Trick-or-treating was brought to America by the Irish and became popular during the early 1900s, but died out during WWII when sugar was rationed. After rationing ended in 1947, children's magazine "Jack and Jill," radio program "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," and the "Peanuts" comic strip all helped to re-popularize the tradition of dressing up in costumes and asking for candy. By 1952, trick-or-treating was hugely popular again.


Karl's Hallowe'en getup 2013

It didn't turn out too bad actually.

8 things employees want


  • Using vacation without guilt
  • Using sick time without proving you're sick
  • Being allowed to telecommute when practical
  • Professional development and training
  • Flexible schedules
  • Meaningful roles and responsibility
  • Appreciation
  • Good management

Imperial walker


Friday, October 25, 2013

So what?

Darlene was saying that as we were leaving Joey's Barlow, she saw a sign on the door that said Joey's had won 12th place in Canada's Best Workplaces for women.

I had to think about that for a while, but I still don't picture the typical woman's career aspirations being to dress in tight, revealing clothing while serving high calorie food that they wouldn't dare eat themselves.

So the award seems less impressive on further review. Unless I'm missing something.

Nostalgia sucks sometimes

From the time I was around 7 until I was about 14, I lived in a house on Rue Elizabeth in Deux Montagnes, Quebec. It was a modest house on the corner of Rue Gagnon. It was a large lot and it had an old garage that reminded me of a farm building. I'm pretty sure it had old farm gear in it too. Barely a hundred metres north of the place the road ended at a swamp in the middle of a clearing in the woods. That's all gone now.

The house was raised long after I left home and there's a new house in its place. I can honestly say I don't feel too great about that. I miss that old house. How dare they tear it down.

The pain of nostalgia.......

I will be a ninja


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

#DuffyMovieTitles


  • Dude, where's my due process?
  • Loanshank redemption
  • Duffy the PMO slayer
  • Mad Mike
  • Senatedome
  • 3 Men and a Cheque
  • Life of Duffy (featuring song 'Always look on the Wright side of Life')
  • Home A-loan
  • Never Ending (Tory) Story
  • Duffy and the Chamber of Secrets
  • Senate Trek: The Wrath of Duffy

"You're not going to hotbox my office..."

"This Hour has 22 Minutes" comedian Mark Critch was in Ottawa for the throne speech. His encounter with Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was hilarious.

Critch: "I've never really been to a throne speech before, you've been to a lot of them. Jesus Justin, it's boring stuff. The question I wanted to ask you is where around here can a fella light up?"

Critch takes out what looks like a joint.

Trudeau (laughing): "You're kidding. You didn't bring that to Parliament. You’re not going to hotbox my office." (still laughing, he takes the lighter from Critch)

Critch: "Oh, I thought you were the cool MP."

Find him, before he finds you....


Monday, October 21, 2013

All you need is 'Love'

So - 'Love' by Cirque du Soleil at The Mirage in Vegas. I'm not one for acrobatic shows. But I do like Beatles music. So when Darlene suggested we see the show (she had seen it already), I thought - why not. At least the music will be good.

If you're my age, you probably remember going to a planetarium to see a laser light show accompanying your favourite music of the day. This is way better. Without giving too much away, it's a feast for the eyes and the ears. The show is a choreographed masterpiece, taking advantage of every square foot of available space to show you stuff. Up, down and all around. There's really no bad seat in the house. In fact, I would suggest that the farther back you are, the better your view would be. The only caveat is that if you can't see long distance, you might want to sit closer, but otherwise, it's all good.

Not only is Love a visual spectacle, it's a wall of sound too. They did not skimp on the audio setup and they put speakers in the seats behind your head, so everyone gets a surround effect. They must have cleaned up the original Beatles sound too, because the quality of the audio is amazing.

You're not allowed to take pictures, but they will offer to take your picture for a fee, naturally. The show doesn't play every day, so check which days are 'silent' and plan accordingly.

CEO pay

I can hear the cries of 'SOCIALIST!' even before I make my next suggestion, but hear me out.

Rather than limit what the CEO of a company can make, there should be a rule that says whatever the CEO makes, the lowest paid worker in that company should be at least making 1/30th of that amount. That would mean if you made $1,000,000 yearly as a salary, the lowest paid worker would make $33,333 per year - minimum. I don't know about you, but that seems perfectly fair to me.

Also, a CEO should not be allowed to make more than one month's salary per year served as a severance. There are too many CEOs working for a year, then walking away, from failing enterprises no less, with $2,000,000 severance packages. That's enough to keep 60 other people working.

Rock star

By Nagano Toyokazu

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Things I learned lately 20 October


  • In iOS7, if you go Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Frequent Locations, you can see a list of all the places you've visited on a map including how many times you've gone there. Yes, you can erase this data if you want to.
  • With Alzheimer's patients, the sense of smell is affected in a very particular way: The left nostril is significantly more impaired than the right. In a test, one nostril is capped and the distance at which the patient could detect about a tablespoon of peanut butter is measured. Specifically in Alzheimer's patients, the left nostril has 10 cm less range than the right, in terms of odour detection.
  • Facebook tracks your web activity while you're logged into their service. So if you don't want FB tracking your web activity, log into FB on a tablet or phone instead. Of course, Microsoft and/or Google are tracking you anyway, so I'm not sure what difference it would make.
  • Brand new C-27J cargo aircraft bought by the US Air Force are going directly to the boneyard due to budget cuts. It's possible that other agencies might want them, but it's possible as many as 21 of these new transport planes might be retired immediately on delivery.
  • Consumer Reports reviewed the all-electric Tesla Model S and gave it a score of 99/100, the highest score given to any car. Ever.
  • At least 78,000 people have applied to go on the one-way trip to Mars, Mars One, organized by  Bas Lansdorp.
  • Many barns are painted red because red is a cheap paint colour to buy. White is cheap too, so many other barns are white.
  • You'll shed almost 9 pounds of dead skin per year.
  • You could build 66 Burj Khalifa towers with all the Lego bricks ever made (or 74 Empire State Buildings).
  • North Carolina may ban the sale of Tesla electric cars because Tesla refuses to sell their cars via dealerships, which contravenes NC's 'unfair competition' rules that are designed to protect car dealerships.
  • Advertisers will spend $10 billion on TV this year in the US in a secret process where the networks artificially skyrocket the value of time slots by forcing advertisers to buy the year's slots in one week.
  • Rich families hired disabled tour guides so they could skip the lines at Disney World. [Update: Disney isn't letting disabled people skip lines anymore because of this]

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Vegas report - October 2013

With only a few days off together along with no other commitments like looking after Olivia, Darlene and I discussed where we should go for a Wednesday to Saturday escape. I had originally suggested Vancouver, but she was concerned that the weather might be less than desirable. For this very reason, she suggested Las Vegas, which is still quite warm at this time of year. So Vegas, here we come.

We booked at The Palazzo, a luxury hotel that is part of the Venetian property. Darlene had stayed there before, but I had yet to experience it. One of the reasons she picked the hotel was that they had provided her with a foam mattress topper on the last visit, a necessity considering that she would not be able to sleep without one due to her neuropathy. She made sure to pre-arrange a topper on several occasions, and they claimed that everything would be taken care of.

Which it was not. There was no topper. None available. Which was a show stopper. She tried to get them motivated to solve the problem, but they didn't seem able or willing to get a topper as she was promised. So we had to leave. They must have thought we were kidding, as they seemed quite surprised to see us checking out a few hours after our arrival. You would think that a hotel charging $300-$700 per night for a room would have their stuff together, but you would be mistaken.

Having also stayed there before, Darlene contacted Treasure Island to see if they had toppers. They did and were holding one for her as we made our way out of our original hotel and across the street to TI. Now, TI is no Palazzo, but the rates were orders of magnitude lower. Our total bill, resort fees included was the same as the cost of one night at Palazzo, before the resort fee. Not only that, they threw in a 2-for-1 buffet coupon. The room was small, but it was functional, comfortable, clean, in good repair, and most importantly - they had a topper. For good measure, the room also had a fridge, so you could stock up on cheap drinks and food from outside the hotel. Bonus!

So enough about the room. Darlene suggested that I finally check out the Cirque du Soleil show 'Love' at The Mirage. You know - the one about The Beatles. I thought that was a great idea. I managed to get a 35% military discount by showing my retirement ID. The show was spectacular. What a feast for the eyes and ears. I really don't want to say too much about it because if you haven't seen it, I don't want to spoil it for you. You really have to see it while it's still running.

Although we chose not to stay at Palazzo, we still went to the Grand Lux Cafe for their 'express breakfast' (buffet). The Palazzo also has what I can only describe as the most modern and well-stocked Walgreen's pharmacy we've seen.

The weather was perfect. The shopping was mediocre. The food was great.

How soccer works


Monday, October 14, 2013

Fall break

The White Noise blog will be taking a break for several days while yours truly brings the queen to Vegas for some direct injections of Vitamin D (solar application). See you all next week.

Energy use in Canada

If Canadians ever wanted to see where their energy is coming from, where it goes to and how much of it is wasted, this graphic is an eye-opener.

The biggest surprise for me was the amount of wasted (rejected) energy.

Click here to see the best view of the image.

The Big Grubowski


Sunday, October 13, 2013

Things I learned lately 13 October


  • In July 2012, Cinnabon became the first US franchise to open in Libya.
  • The growth of solar energy is up 700% since 2001.
  • It's now illegal in California to post naked photos of your ex on the internet.
  • The best selling car in Norway is the Tesla Model S. Not the best selling electric car. Not the best selling car with a plug. In September 2013, the Tesla Model S was the best selling car, period. Tesla Motors sold 616 Tesla Model S cars in Norway in September 2013, giving it a 5.1% share of total sales.
  • In the 2008 Canadian federal election, 940,000 voters supporting the Green Party nationwide elected not one MP, while fewer Conservative votes in Alberta alone elected 27 MPs.
  • In the 2008 Canadian federal election, Conservatives received roughly twice the votes of the Liberals and NDP combined in the prairie provinces, but took seven times as many seats.
  • In the 2008 Canadian federal election, the NDP attracted 1.1 million more votes than the Bloc, but the voting system gave the Bloc 49 seats, the NDP 37.
  • The Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world by area, has 600+ stores, a 22-screen movie theatre, a replica of London's Regent Street and an Olympic sized ice skating rink. It is now the world's most visited shopping destination.
  • The manual transmission no longer offers better mileage than automatics. (My car has a 7 speed dual clutch automatic transmission and I can attest)
  • Dirt particles on a car actually create drag and can affect mileage by as much as 10%.
  • Using a smartphone next to a laptop, researchers at MIT and GIT developed a technique for logging keystrokes based on sound and vibration. A smartphone is capable enough to translate typing sounds into actual text by estimating where on a keyboard the stroke landed based on its volume and force. Devices are getting more and more versatile, enabling all kinds of new applications. Be mindful of your security as our technology becomes more and more developed.
  • Russian political activist and grand chess master Garry Kasparov doesn't think people offended by recently passed Russian anti-gay laws should protest by boycotting the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Rather he says, individuals and corporations should openly defy Russian President Vladimir Putin in his own country. One example: Have Coca-Cola, an Olympic sponsor, put a rainbow flag on all of its cans.
  • Airbus can manufacture 42 A320 jets per month.
  • 'Jumped the shark', an idiom meaning a TV show took an irreversible turn for the worse, is based on an episode of Happy Days from 1977, in which Fonzie goes water-skiing and actually jumps a shark.
  • The Tesla that caught fire a few weeks back? The owner is buying another Tesla. The fire episode (the result of a crash) didn't phase him one bit.


Saturday, October 12, 2013

Romeo & Juliet 2013

J: lol where ru romeo
R: wana come over?
J: cant
R: y?
J: idk parents
R: lets kill ourself
J: lol k
R: swag
J: swag

No pilot required

Kevin Spacey gives a speech in Edinburgh that everyone in the entertainment industry needs to watch. You'll like it too.

"Give the people what they want, when they want it, in the form they want it in, at a reasonable price, and they'll more than likely pay for it rather than steal it."

Big Minion Theory


Thursday, October 10, 2013

Nanocrystals

Nanotech will make it possible to produce smart windows that regulate whether light or heat get through, or both.

Coffee and milk

This time lapse video of self-taught Russian artist Lora Zombie composing a watercolour is mesmerizing.

I love the artist's hair.

Minion gothic


Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Living with someone with Fibromyalgia

As some of you know, Darlene has fibromyalgia. I can state that this is possibly one of the worst ailments to be afflicted with, mostly because people look at you and say, "You look alright." On the inside though, it's a different story.

Fibro is the type of ailment that makes your muscles feel like you do the day after a strenuous workout for the first time, with a generous helping of nerve pain for good measure. Darlene feels like this every day. On a scale of pain from 1-10, with 1 being none and 10 being "I want to die", she typically feels at a 7 or 8. On top of that, her pressure points (the parts of your body that come into contact with a solid object while sitting or lying) are extremely sensitive, making it difficult to sit on a hard chair, or a chair that digs into her thighs. She can't sleep on anything other than a good medium firmness memory foam mattress. She has a window of minimum and maximum strenuous effort she can do daily. Anything over that threshold and she suffers for the next few days. It means minimal walking, a set amount of exercise and a serious need for some good quality sleep. Speaking of sleep, Darlene is such a light sleeper, that she needs to wear earplugs and the room must be completely blacked-out or she doesn't sleep soundly.

Darlene's first challenge with fibro was the diagnosis. Years ago, fibro was not accepted by much of the medical community as a real ailment. Part of the problem is that many of the symptoms are similar to severe chronic depression. So Darlene was constantly being told by doctors that all she needed were anti-depressants and she would be fine. Not only did she already know (from trial and error) that this was incorrect, no doctors would listen to her pleas to consider that it might not be depression. Ironically, this made her severely depressed. It was a very bad time and it was all I could do to support her and give her hope that she would get some relief soon.

She finally found a specialist doctor that not only acknowledges fibro, the doctor is a sufferer herself, having began to experience the ailment while she attended medical school. Darlene's current family doctor acknowledges the ailment as well, which helps immensely. Her family doctor sent her to a pain management clinic to get various aspects of her health enhanced, because the healthier you are and the fewer other little maladies you have to deal with, the better your body is prepared to deal with the symptoms of fibro. This facility uses a multidisciplinary approach and hosts a cadre of medical professionals, including a pharmacist, physiotherapist, dietitian, kinesiologist, psychologist, orthopaedist and more. Together, these specialists helped Darlene plan a safe exercise regimen, got her proper orthotics for her footwear, got her on more effective medications and started her on a physiotherapy regimen. It is helping, taking her pain level down to 5 or 6 on good days.

A typical week goes like this: Thursday morning she usually feels good enough to go to work. Pain level at 5-6. But this assumes that she has no other health issues, like a cold or flu or anything else that could put a strain on her physiology or affect her sleep quality and quantity. That would also include stress. By the end of the first work day, all other things being perfect, she feels like a truck ran her over. Pain level 7-8. She just wants to go to bed, but she's in such pain, she can't get to sleep, sometimes until 2am. By Friday morning, She's at a 7. By Friday evening, she's at her typical worst - an 8. She's lucky to have the next 5 days to try to recover, but she looks after Olivia all day Sunday, so whatever gains she made on Saturday are mostly lost by Sunday evening. That leaves her Monday through Wednesday to recover in time to resume work on Thursday. All of this assumes no extra stress, no sickness, no injuries. Any of those amplify the pain values, especially bruises and strains.

Vacations help, as long as I don't push her too hard. Hot, humid locales help. Nobody know why. The lower altitude may play a factor as well. We're not sure. The cold in winter really exacerbates the pain.

Prescription drugs exist that can combat the pain, but they come at a price. The side effects are horrendous. Some of the drugs Darlene tried turned her into a zombie. Memory loss. Mood swings. Emotional sensitivity. Hot and cold sweats. Sleeplessness. Nausea and dizziness. What she's on now isn't too bad, but it only dulls the pain, it doesn't eliminate it.

She could have opted to go on disability like other fibro sufferers, but she would earn less money than she earns working 2 days a week. Seriously. She also would have forfeited her pension from work and have lost all of her health benefits, which come in handy to pay for the meds she depends on daily. She also would go insane. So instead of going on disability and forfeiting so much of what she has worked for over 19 years, she opted to cut her 5 day work week down to 2 days, which is the minimum she must work to still be eligible for a pension after working in her field for 32 years (and a much reduced pension at that). Lately, her trade was legislated to have to re-qualify to keep her job. Having to go back to night school and the stress surrounding study and exams over 3 years and the risk of losing her job if she fails the process has made her emotionally delicate. Yes, for those who are wondering, she sees a therapist.

Her biggest obstacles are the people around her. Because she looks fine, we all forget that she is in constant pain and has very limited physical stamina. Even I forget sometimes. On a beautiful Saturday, all I want to do is grab her by the hand and go for a walk. She often just wants to rest. Because she doesn't manifest any visible symptoms, her co-workers don't understand why she needs to do lighter work. Her daughter wants her to take a more active role in raising Olivia, but she's only got so much energy and stamina to go around and most days she feels like crap. Again, because Darlene looks fine on the outside, it's difficult for people to understand what the problem is and this is hard to deal with. When there's something to see, people tend to be more understanding. The attitude of some people is that maybe she's just not trying hard enough to find the magical cure. The fact is, many of the things purported to ease fibro are myths. The Mayo clinic in the US has acknowledged fibro now, so Darlene is hopeful that new breakthroughs and treatments might be found in the near future. At the moment, the ailment is still a bit of a medical mystery.

If we came into a giant monetary windfall, needless to say she would quit her job. We would also likely be spending significant time in a hotter locale during the winter.

I wouldn't wish fibromyalgia on my worst enemy.

Minspector Gadget


Sunday, October 06, 2013

Things I learned lately 6 October


  • Apple generated more iPhone 5S revenue in one weekend than all of Blackberry will likely sell for.
  • The US Air Force has turned retired F-16 fighter jets into operational drones.
  • The bottom of ceramic coffee mugs are great knife sharpeners.
  • A gold iPhone 5S sold on eBay after 51 bids for $10,100 (23 Sep 2013).
  • 68% of Instagram's users are women.
  • Pinterest is dominated by tablet users. 84% of US Pinterest users are women.
  • 86% of Facebook's users are outside the US.
  • Google+ is the most male-oriented of the major social networks. It's 70% male.
  • Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) is planning on opening a store in a Massachusetts mall to sell Keurig coffee-makers and K-cup refills. It will offer all of the company’s brewers, as well as refill packs that shoppers can piece together themselves with a full variety of flavours. This may be the prototype for an eventual nationwide network of stores.
  • Of the 15 communities with the highest growth in Canada, 10 of them were in Alberta.
  • 30% of passengers leave their gadgets on during take-offs and landings.
  • More than 90% of Victoria's Secret employees are women.
  • Snapchat doesn't actually delete those photos from your phone. It just makes the space available for new photos. So if the photos haven't been overwritten yet, they're still accessible with a simple hack.
  • Betty White is 91. Seriously.

My not-so-favourite things about iOS7

The reminders app now has the ability to create and manage multiple lists. So you could now have a Reminders list, a Grocery list, etc. OK fine. But when you use the app for the first time, you're now at the level (tier?) of the list titles. If you try to do the old trick, "Remind me to get milk at 4pm", all it does is create a new list called 'Remind me to get milk at 4pm'. Which is not what you want. It took me a while to figure this out, but once you get within a list itself, it is capable of dictating reminders and putting time (or place) constraints on them as before. Dumb. That means that in order to dictate a new grocery list item, I'd have to manually navigate to that list first, then dictate the new item. Extra dumb. Come on Apple, the least you could do is get Siri to ask, "Do you want this placed on the current 'Reminders' list, or another list?" If you say 'Another list', Siri should come back with the existing list names to choose from.

The calendar app no longer has a list view. I used to use the list view exclusively as I don't care where my appointments fit within the day, I want to see every appointment coming that will fit on the screen. It turns out that you still can get a list, but the only thing that brings it up is the Search. Dumb. You can't add new appointments in the search view either. You have to tap 'Done', add the new event and then tap the search icon to get back into the list view. Du-umb.

Somebody put the Capitol up for rent on craigslist

"$1000 / 8br - 775000ft² - LARGE HOUSE! LOTS OF ROOM! RECENTLY OPEN! (Capitol Hill)

So my roommates all left because of a job thing and I need to make rent. I really think this place is great and I've been living here for a while (incumbency FTW!). I don't want to leave but the utilities are a real bitch to afford on your own. Some facts about the digs:

It's about 775,000 square feet. Yeah, it's big, I know. But don't let the size alone fool you! It's cozy too--lots of individual rooms!

Location, location, location. It's close to everything you could possibly want. The Botanical Gardens (they're temporarily closed, but don't let that stop you); the metro, and plenty of bars. The bars are important, because what else are we gonna do?

It's historic too! It was built in like 1800 something. Don't ask me the specifics, there's a plaque somewhere. Let's just say it's pretty sweet. There are plenty of cool things inside, like a giant statue of King Kamehameha I. It makes for weird midnight runs to the bathroom, but whatever.

Wanna know more just ask!

About you: Must be LGBT friendly. Must not be a Republican. Don't be racist. Don't hate women. Must think poor Americans are people.

Oh, and don't be an Eagles fan, because, gross.
 cats are OK - purrr
 dogs are OK - wooof
 Location: Capitol Hill
 it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests"

Kith


Friday, October 04, 2013

Oh the things we find funny

I was watching this video while eating lunch at an outdoor patio the other day. I snort-cough-spitted my food. The people at the next table insisted I share. Who am I to argue.

So here you go. The KMart 'ship my pants' ad.

Mate Hunters

Somebody should do a parody of the House Hunters TV show, but instead of looking for a new house, the participants are looking for new mates. They would still be making the same kinds of inane comments about the candidates they meet as those people make about the homes they're being shown.

"Yeah, well, I was hoping for slightly larger breasts. I mean, I could make do with these ones, but I really was hoping for something bigger."

"Would the landlord consider doing some renovations prior to taking possession? Like maybe a face life and a little liposuction?"

"Wow, what a unique colour. It's OK, I like it, but wow."

"We need to make sure the carpet matches the drapes..."

Sentence game


Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Goodbye drive-in, hello fly-in

I want to open drive-in restaurants where your food is brought to your car by automated drone helicopters.

Quadcopters have come a long way

In a robot lab at TEDGlobal, Raffaello D'Andrea demos his flying quadcopters: robots that think like athletes, solving physical problems with algorithms that help them learn. In a series of nifty demos, D'Andrea show drones that play catch, balance and make decisions together -- and watch out for an I-want-this-now demo of Kinect-controlled quads.

Walt n Jesse