Best bumper sticker seen lately

"My other vehicle is unmanned"

Soul Patrol!!

Go Taylor go!

Bring on the blasphemy!

So I guess Christian leaders are all over The Davinci Code movie, saying it's blasphemous, demeans their religion, yadda yadda.......

Yeah, that'll make people not go see the movie.............. [rubbing hands together]..... I can't wait to see it!

Posterus newus

Touched by fate....part 7

People that have made an impact on my life (in no particular order - read the disclaimer here):

Carolyn G - my first date (that I can recall). We played hookie from Mountainview Elementary School together one day and inadvertently set fire to the grass field across from the school. Talk about drawing attention to yourself. My enjoyment of fire continues to this day - although I make sure they're all under much more controllable circumstances.

Good advice all around

Forbes lists 15 things that could help you live longer.

Health related:
Get a VAP test; stop smoking; eat your antioxidants; lose weight; exercise

Lifestyle related:
Don't oversleep; be optimistic; have more sex; get a pet; be rich; chill out; marry well; laugh a little; manage stress; meditate

Dark Side raises the bar........

Pink Floyd's landmark Dark Side Of The Moon album scored another major record in America last week (ends05MAY06) by becoming the first recording to spend 1,500 weeks on the Billboard charts. The 1973 album was the highest debut on the Top 200 when it entered the chart at number 98. The album stayed on the chart for 736 successive weeks before it fell out of the Top 200 in 1988. Dark Side of The Moon has since notched up a further 759 non-consecutive weeks on the chart.

Car..... errrr...... van!

This is a neat paint job of a Mazda RX-8 on the side of (I'm guessing) a Mazda van. More neat vehicles here.

Urban legends

Do you think you can spot the fake images from the real ones? Give this test a try. For example, is this picture of a tourist standing on the observation deck of the World Trade Center on September 11th real? Come on - this ones easy. I got 41/45 correct.

From the 'you can find anything on the net' dept.....

Pictures of animals driving.

Is it ice cream or a candy bar

I was strolling down the frozen foods section of my grocer's the other day and remarked on how many flavours of ice cream exist that are mixed with chocolate bars. Skor; Oh Henry; Crispy Crunch; Mr. Big; Smarties; Reese's Peanut Butter Cups; Snicker's; Twix; M&M's; Coffee Crisp; Rolo; KitKat; Turtles............

I wish they made the kind of ice cream I used to get on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights NJ when I was a kid. It was a vanilla with a thick ribbon of peanut butter - but the peanut butter was very creamy and soft even though it was in ice cream. That was the yummiest ice cream I've ever had.

And they did spew forth from the mouth.......

I don't have anything at all against fundamentalists - but they sure have some opinions, don't they? If you want some examples that make for good reading, visit Fundies say the darndest things!

I have some stupid left over if you want any......

I have proof that even seasoned IT people make the occasional bone-headed mistake. I was helping a client enable security on their wireless network. We were engaged in one of those remote assistance sessions and I had just enabled WEP security on the wireless router. And then...... "hello? hello?........"

Yeah. Since the security had been enabled on the router, but not yet on the computer, the connection was lost. It was like offering to help someone fix their phone while talking on the phone - "OK, so disconnect the phone wires and....... hello? hello?" Needless to say, I had to go to the client's home to complete the operation.

Lesson learned: Don't try to fix someone's network over their network..........

Weird Science

If you have any interest in weird science, this video should intrigue you.

Science humour

If you're not part of the solution - you're part of the precipitate...

I only look big..............

I've decided to adopt a phrase commonly found on most cereal boxes. It occurs to me that the phrase is a good descriptor of me. Enlarged to show texture.

We've been stereotyped

There's a bizarre yet funny short story by Terry Bisson about alien civilization passing us over because we're just 'meat'. Now the story has been adapted to a short film, a-la Blue Velvet. Nutty. I like it.

New math

The first time I heard new math was on an episode of Seinfeld. Some woman comes up to Jerry and feels his shirt. When she asks what it's made of, he responds, "half silk, half cotton, half linen..." No wonder the shirt was so 'puffy'........ haha whoops, I couldn't help myself. Sorry Jerry - no three halves in a whole. Another example of new math is when people ask for a couple of something, then get upset because you only gave them two. Errr - a couple means two. Politicians are good at new math - the Tories are promising a bunch of $500 credits for various things. The credit sounds good until you rephrase it into reality. A $500 credit translates to about $80 off your income tax bill.

Time to batten the Hatch?

Canadian voters succeeded in ousting the Liberal member from Toronto who many considered to have had her pockets lined with entertainment industry money. Now Americans are trying to oust Orin Hatch for similar reasons. This could prove interesting.

Mmmmmm........... pi

"cookie should be 'fraid of people...."

You know the movie V for Vendetta? Someone made a spoof - C is for Cookie, starring........ you guessed it - Cookie Monster. Not the best movie trailer spoof I've seen, but able to elicit a few chuckles nonetheless.

You are your own liquor control board

The Supreme Court of Canada recently ruled that the hosts of a party are not legally responsible for someone who leaves the party then drives under the influence. What baffles me is the large number of people who believe that was the wrong decision.

There is no way that hosts could possibly stay on top of how drunk their guests are. Having hosted many parties, I had enough trouble just making sure there were enough hash brownies to go around. All kidding aside, it's time that people took responsibility for their own actions. A host can go a long way toward reminding their guests that they shouldn't drive home - but it's the guest who did the drinking. If you drink and drive, your host won't be paying the ticket or losing demerit points. If you kill someone because you drove drunk - you should pay. Perhaps with a lot of jail time, because it seems that taking away someone's license doesn't really solve anything - they just drive without a license.

I love technology.....

Technology is amazing. I've been playing with my Canon digital camera and decided to give a panorama shot of downtown Calgary a try. The included software allowed me to stitch the photos together with very little distortion. I didn't have to do anything - the software figured it all out. Can anyone remember how difficult this would have been just 5 years ago?

Full picture here.

Another fine dining establishment

Darlene and I used to have a favourite restaurant and much to our enjoyment - it was even close by. It's not a favourite anymore. They have made unfortunate changes to the menu, the quality has waned - it's just not what it used to be and our standards are high. I won't sully their name by telling you who it is, but they're near Foothills hospital, almost next door to a Wendy's.

Anyway, I guess some of the people who used to work there up and left for a new place in Royal Oak called BellaCucina. We only noticed the place a few weeks ago, as it's a little ways from where we live. But I made it my mission to give the place a try, especially after seeing a nice stuffed chicken entree on the menu hanging on the window.

Yesterday we finally went. I was not disappointed. The stuffed chicken was fabulous and the sourdough bread was hot and yummy. They have this sampler dessert platter that looks evil. Darlene is begging me to go back real soon. She'll get no argument from me....... it's worth the drive.

Merle's Deli hurting for business?

Last December, I posted about a new deli that had opened in Calgary, Merle's. It seems Merle's may not be doing so well - perhaps from lack of customers. If you're in the area, give them a try.

Thanks to Jesse for the news.
More on the story here.

MPAA + RIAA = Whiny tantrum-y kids

This is a real newsclip:

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) sent letters to 40 US university presidents informing them of pirated content on their schools' networks, asking they take action to halt the violations. The RIAA and the MPAA say students are trading files across school LANs rather than sending them over the Internet.

Next - the RIAA and MPAA send letters to every parent asking they stop their kids from letting their friends come over to listen to music or watch movies........

Theatre chain owners not getting it

I guess movie theatre chains are complaining that customer visits are down. No kidding? Down you say......

I wonder if it has anything to do with the never-ending ads; the expensive ticket prices; the incorrectly-aimed anti-copy lectures; the incredible food costs; the relatively lame crop of movies lately...............

The revolution begins....

I was wondering how long it would take for this to happen. Some prominent Canadian music artists have formed a group, the Canadian Music Creators Coalition. Steven Page from the Barenaked Ladies had a piece in the National Post to describe what this is all about.....

- First, we believe that suing our fans is destructive and hypocritical. We do not want to sue music fans, and we do not want to distort the law to coerce fans into conforming to a rigid digital market artificially constructed by the major labels.........

Trick referendum

I'm in a restaurant in East-end Montreal lately and my group are finished eating. The server comes, takes our empty plates and asks, "Your bills............ together? Or separate?" Now, keep in mind, this server has a heavy Quebecois accent, so the word comes out pronounced as if you were asking about separating something. So - separaet, not separat.

Then it dawns on me and I shout, "No! Not separate! I vote NO!! I was tricked!"

[Get it? I don't want Quebec to separate.........]

Overheard in grocery store

Guy 1: Uh, we need relish too.
Guy 2: No! No relish dude.
Guys 1, 3, 4: [silence]
Guy 2: They take all the bad stuff from pickles....... and put it in a sauce.
Guys 1, 3, 4: [more silence]
Guy 2: That's relish..........