Dream big

If I won a significant lottery sum (several million significant), I think I know what I'd like to do.

Buy (or build) a large modern home on the ocean (must have a beach) in northern Oregon and turn it into a B&B or small boutique hotel. Darlene and I would live there and run it. We would invite our friends and family to work there, making their own contribution to the running of the place. I would cook part of breakfast every morning. My speciality is Pan fried potatoes with onion and bacon. People would wake up to the smell of them cooking and race for the kitchen. Some folks would stay at our place just to get at those potatoes.

It's my dream..... let me enjoy it.

Funniest thing read on the interwebs this week

"I can tell just by the saxophone on the Cinemax movie in the next room that I am missing some SERIOUS nudity."

It's only logical...

Printers are practically free because printer companies make all their money from consumables (ink).

Hopefully, this means that if gas prices get high enough, they'll be giving cars away.

Nothing says GEEK! like jewelry from computer parts

Ladies and gentlemen..... if you wear earrings and really want your geek cred to skyrocket..... just make these nerd-a-licious earrings out of floppy disk spindles.

They're geektastic!

Will the cost of gas finally spur a green renaissance?

Who says green cars have to be boring..... or slow?

Rinspeed eXasis (click on 'concept cars'). Very light for maximum efficiency. But still powered by fuel.

Fisker Karma. Plug-in hybrid that can go 80km before the gas generator kicks in. Optional solar panel roof for assisted recharging.

Venturi Eclectic. It's not fast (or pretty), but by using every form of energy generating technology known (wind / solar / plug-in), it is one of the most self-sufficient cars.

Other green lightning can be seen here at Wired's '10 Fastest Green Cars on the Planet' article.

It's vici vici!

What a great idea. Roman numeral candles for your birthday cake. Roman numerals are hard enough to decipher as it is - plus - the older you get, the harder it is to decipher........... unless you reach 100. At that point, who cares if everyone knows your age?

Where is it edition 46 - OK how 'bout this one?

I toiled long and hard to find the next challenge for 'Where Is It'.

OK, I didn't really - I just caught mention of this quirky city on a show I watched.

Click the picture for a bigger view and good luck naming this city.

Is this iconic piece of Canadian culture done?

The license for the theme music for the cult-like Canadian TV broadcast known as CBC network's Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC), which airs every Saturday night during the NHL hockey season and about every other night during the playoffs, was not successfully renewed. Reasons for the deal falling through are sketchy, but an imminent fee increase and an unresolved 4 year old lawsuit by the song composer may be contributors. CBC wanted the lawsuit dropped and the fee left at the same level (supposedly the highest fee per song use in the country - $500). They even offered to buy the song outright for a large sum.

Many seem to think that the CBC has lost their minds not to do everything in their power to settle this, but there is always 2 sides to the story and we have yet to hear why the composer's side hasn't settled for what the CBC asked for.

The theme song is a part of Canadian culture and has been heard blasting out of TV sets since 1968. But as a result of the impasse, CBC will launch a national contest to find a new theme for HNIC. The story goes that the winner will receive $100,000 and proceeds from any royalties will go to minor hockey in Canada.

[update] Apparently, CTV (one of CBC's main competitor networks) just rescued the theme for use on their own hockey broadcasts (CTV owns the sports network TSN). FAIL!

Not exactly an indication of tolerance

Stacey Fearnall, a waitress from Owen Sound, Ontario, got laid off by her boss for shaving her head and raising money for cancer. The boss said his restaurant has standards prohibiting men from wearing earrings and requiring employees to keep their hair a certain way. He said Stacey can have her job back once the hair grows back. Apparently some customers agree with the decision.

No discussion yet if bald cancer patients are allowed in the restaurant.

Go figure....

You know all those folks in the US getting sued or receiving DMCA take-down notices courtesy of the entertainment industry? Well, researchers have just proved that the methods they employ to decide who gets notified / sued are quite flawed.

In plain English - the entertainment industry is lying about who they accuse of illegally sharing files - which by the way is illegal in and of itself. Why does the entertainment industry get away with it? Because the entertainment industry has money. They also have friends in government. Whose campaign contributors include.........
(come on.... you can guess)

When do we get to put these m()+|#* f%@&rs down?

"Do you want to be my friend?"

Facebook in real life.

Brilliant.

RPM 19

Who were the first North American rock band to grace the cover of Time Magazine?

Only on the internets.....

The internet has made it possible to do so many things that were not possible just a couple of decades ago. Fortunately, one of them is calling people out who do bad things to other people. A friend told me about 3 different stories, which you can read about on your own if you have the time. But I'll summarize them for brevity in case you don't.

a) Rare imported Japanese car is taken on a 'permanent' test drive. Owner posts details on forum. Forum members sight, then find car. Owner gets car back, along with thief's belongings. Thief's belongings get auctioned on eBay for posterity.

b) Young kid does a hit and run. Photographer catches event on camera. Pictures show driver's face, damage done and license plate number. Posted on forum. Kid caught.

c) Guy tries to sell Mercedes rims to 2 people on the same forum then doesn't ship the items. Claims shipping company lost the rims but refuses to refund even though he supposedly took out insurance. Complete with fake phone numbers, tracking data, proof of other scammings, an explanation of how the scam works........ the web of lies spins out of control. But the forum members uncover tremendous amounts of information on the scammer. Poor sucker!

Canada is made of cheese

Behold the cheese map of Canada.

(not exactly to scale)

View other strange maps here.

Hillary: Give Up!!!

I got sucked into a discussion about the Democratic Primary race in the US today. I was saying that I refuse to pay attention to the weather forecast in Calgary (which is predicting rain for the weekend) until it improves. I was accused of behaving like Hillary Clinton. I laughed.

So as of last night, it seems that Barack Obama has essentially secured the Democratic Party nomination. But did Hillary concede last night? Nope. She chose to drag this thing out (late breaking news - until Saturday apparently). There are folks who claim that the only way Obama can beat McCain is to get Hillary on the ticket as VP. But I see her looking desperate and whiny. I honestly believe she might drag the party down if she gets on the ticket. Don't get me wrong - from a 'change' standpoint, nothing looks better than a black man and a woman on the same ticket representing a party. But she blew it in my mind. The best thing Obama could do right now is get Edwards on the ticket (even though I've heard he doesn't want it) and promise Hillary to get her health reform plan on the official Democratic platform.

Isn't it odd that we Canadians even care thing one about your next President?

Just what is the sub-prime crisis?

I never really understood the whole sub-prime mortgage crisis business. I decided to find a decent explanation of the situation, but found holes that didn't quite tell the whole story.

So I took the best 2 stories and linked to them here and here.

Shocking story - government office editing history their way

Not only does Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice not want to talk to those interested in consulting with him regarding the impending Canadian flavoured DMCA copyright legislation, his ministry is busy editing any material from Wikipedia that is critical of the Minister's method of developing the bill. The Industry Canada wonks also make sure to add tasty little bites like "no such draft legislation exists and ... Minister Prentice has yet to publicly release any documents on the copyright issue". So what's our problem Mister Minister? Well, we don't trust you. Your office claims to be working on a bill that will address the concerns of those it will affect most, yet you don't seem willing to talk to them, even when they show up at your constituency office. The opposition parties in Parliament criticize your reasons for even contemplating a new bill, but you continue to wag the "how can you criticize what you don't yet see?" response. The fact that this bill is being developed in complete secrecy is a sign that it isn't good news for those most affected. If that wasn't true, you'd gladly consult with concerned parties as part of the process.

This development is entirely expected. But we are watching closely, in case you thought we weren't. While I commend the Conservative government for some of their work to date, I am laughing at the party that ran on the platform of guaranteed transparency in government playing the same old games as others past.

As of this writing, mention of the Wikipedia editing story is now on record in the entry.....

I've had fun with this one

Try this at the next party you go to where most people don't know you well:

Tell those around you that you will list 5 occupations you've done in your life, but one of them is not true.

The object of the game is folks have to guess which one you've never done. Then let other people offer 5 of their own occupations (one of which is not true).

P.S. I'd offer mine up but I'm sure I've alluded to past occupations on this blog.

Mind tricks

You've heard of deja vu..... but have you heard of deja vecu?

This and 8 other mental phenomenon here.

Ask Calvin's Dad

A collection of Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes) asking his dad questions and the ridiculous answers he gets in response. Culled from various collections of Calvin & Hobbes cartoons.

Sample:

Calvin: Why does ice float?
Dad: Because it's cold. Ice wants to get warm, so it goes to the top of liquids to be nearer to the sun.
Calvin: Is that true?
Dad: Look it up and find out.
Calvin: I should just look up stuff in the first place.

There's actually much more if you just do a Google image search on 'calvin' and 'dad'. But don't have any beverage around because you'll be wearing most of it.

The end of the world as we know it?

On the weekend, I watched a pair of shock-docs - documentaries written to wake you out of your mega-consuming, capitalist slumber and make you think about the big picture with regards to our current idyllic lifestyle and the one thing it hinges on - cheap, plentiful oil.

The 2 documentaries, "Crude Awakening" and "The End of Suburbia" tell the story of how bad the world is destined to get now that we've passed the point of 'global peak oil'. There's a brief on Crude Awakening here. It's not a happy story. If things go according to the documentaries' predictions, things are going to suck, especially for cultures / regions that cannot transform their global dependencies into local ones. In other words - you better find a way to get your energy, food, work, clothing, etc. as close to home as possible. This is because as oil becomes rarer, the things we take for granted, starting with global goods production and delivery will be all but a memory except for the rich, then eventually for everyone.

I did find the topics offered in the documentaries to be perfect for discussion and reflection, but even if what they predict is true in every respect, I doubt the powers that be have the willpower to do anything about it. Also, I found some of the predictions to be based on our ability to do certain things with only our current level of technology, with no regard to what we could achieve if we put our minds to it. But I did appreciate that they put the hydrogen economy solution to rest with honest explanations of why it can't work based on today's infrastructure.

Because I said so?

What could be better than this:

While an Amtrak spokesperson is giving an on-camera interview to Fox TV at Washington DC's Union Station to insist that recreational photography at the landmark is allowed (contrary to what security guards are saying), a security guard comes by to ask them to shut the cameras off, claiming that there is a policy, but he couldn't say what it was.

Priceless.

Useless trivia... again

Horatio Magellan.

Those are the first names of a famous Captain.

Captain who?

You will find the answer in the comments.

I just had to steal umm... post this

The difference between television and high definition television.

New hope for amputees

Here is a neat video about the latest thing the guy who invented the Segway has been working on. It's a prosthetic arm that works by the wearer thinking of moving the arm.

Kudos to Ernest for the find.

I liked number 7 and 3......

If you're a regular at Starbucks, you might enjoy this article about the 8 types of annoying people you'll find inside Starbucks.

Which has more?

Here's a great quiz that asks, 'which has more calories?'

Useless trivia

In 2000 there were protests in Italy against the use the death penalty in countries all over the world (in Italy it was abolished in 1948). Several demonstrations took place in front of the Colosseum.

Since that time, as a gesture against capital punishment, the local authorities of Rome change the colour of the Colosseum's night time illumination from white to gold whenever a person condemned to the death penalty anywhere in the world gets their sentence commuted or is released.

Can't touch this..... [hammer time]

Apparently, Microsoft plans to revolutionize the next generation of computers by making the next version of Windows able to use touch screens in a profound new way. Now Microsoft has to hope the monitor manufacturing industry is going to take a chance and actually produce touch screen monitors in anticipation of a world of Windows 7 touch screen users.

Which begs the question..... do we really want fingerprints all over our monitor screens?

Here's a funny critique of the plan.

P.S.: Do you still have the MC Hammer song in your head?

Jihad to do it, didn't you?

Dunkin Donuts has pulled an ad from TV where TV star Rachael Ray is wearing an offending scarf that is supposedly easily confused with a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men. Supposedly, even the folks at Fox TV were mouthing off about it, calling for a boycott of the donut seller. This because the keffiyeh 'has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad'.

Looks like a fashionable plain old black and white silk scarf with a paisley design to me. I don't think you'll find many paisleys on a keffiyeh. Can anyone say exaggeration? You couldn't make up good comedy like this if you tried.

No mention of donuts coming to symbolize obesity in our culture.