New logos needed

Here's a look at some logo parodies post-financial crisis.

How much do you not want Vista?

It may not surprise people that many computer users prefer Windows XP over Windows Vista. Well, now Dell is taking advantage of that fact by charging Dell computer purchasers an extra $150 to get the older operating system installed on their new computer. That's a gradual increase from the original $20.

It would be great to get some statistics on how many Dell customers are paying the extra.

Because spare toilet paper rolls are unsightly

Here's a home decoration item I completely forgot about because I haven't seen them since I left home - toilet paper roll covers.

Here's a site specializing in them.

Linux is illegal. And it can't be free. There's no such thing.

Here's a great example of what happens when people don't know what the heck they're talking about. In this case, a teacher accuses a Linux group of facilitating 'piracy', 'spreading misconceptions' that there's such a thing as free software (in this case - Linux), and threatens to get the police involved. Some of the group's response can be found here.

[Update] The story has evolved... for the better.

Now you can rate your doctor(s)

Darlene found a site that had the two of us in stitches. RateMDs dot com lets registered users rate their doctors. Considering this is an un-moderated forum, this could be a recipe for disaster, but most of the comments were consistent - at least of the ones we read. We decided to check out all the doctors we've encountered, good and bad and it was good reading. If nothing else, it was good to see that we were not alone in how we felt about some of the doctors we've seen. It was especially nice to see how others thought our new family doctor is awesome.

I only now realized the humour in the first sentence in this post.....

A song is something that walks by itself

On the weekend, we threw a DVD in the player that had been languishing in the 'still to be watched' pile - I'm Not There. Yeah, the Bob Dylan movie starring a bunch of different actors, including Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and more.

Darlene didn't like this film. "Too artsy" was her two-word review. I understand where she's coming from. This is not an easy film to watch. Multiple actors play multiple incarnations of Bob Dylan in what may seem like multiple realities. None of the characters are actually named Bob Dylan, which can add to the confusion. But if you put aside the constant switches between characters, actors, eras and locales, and just pay attention to the character play going on - this is a very special movie. Each actor gives their own spin on the Dylan mystique and props to Cate for playing a man (and such a well known one at that) so well.

Of course Bob's music plays in the background and frames the stories perfectly.

GM admits they suck

I wouldn't have believed it unless I read it for myself. Let's go to a statement released by General Motors:

"At times we violated your trust by letting our quality fall below industry standards and our designs become lacklustre."

There's a reason why so many people buy imports. It's not because they're cheaper.

[update] If you want another good laugh, check out this fake (but appropriate) poster.

I am but the learner

Last night was a big night for me. After 12 weeks assisting my first acting teacher with the same course I took as an introduction to acting, the students performed on the their final night for their family and friends at the Engineered Air Theatre. I got to direct part of the evening, so that was pretty sweet. The students essentially conducted a 'classroom in a fishbowl' for the audience, which means the audience got to see some of what they do during class. It was pretty awesome seeing them do their stuff on a real stage.

After the performance, we went out for some refreshments at a nearby lounge and you could tell how close everyone had become. We vowed to keep in touch and some will likely go on to term two in the new year, if not trying out other performance classes.

Going into the class as an assistant to the teacher, I had no idea how valuable of a contribution I would make to the process, but my mentor kept going on about how much she appreciated my volunteering to help out and presented me with a sweet gift in front of the group. I will most definitely be returning in the new year for term two.

I'm the idea man

While eating lunch with some colleagues today, one person lamented that they had no idea what to get their sister for Christmas. Most at the table either had nothing to offer or nothing the colleague thought was of any value.

Then I asked, "Does your sister have a cell phone?" He answered that she did. "Then get her some cell phone charms." None of the guys even knew what cell phone charms were. I motioned to one of the younger women at the next table, "Do you have any cell phone charms?" She nodded. "Where do you buy them?" She indicated that they can be gotten in Chinatown. "There you go" I concluded.

The folks at the table were gobsmacked. Impressed that I knew about stuff they had never heard of (They're engineers) and that this old guy had a great gift idea.

So why should I keep all these good ideas to myself? If any of my wonderful readers need help with gift ideas, let me know in the comments.

The spirit of radio

It was time to rotate the songs in the playlist and this week, I decided to go with legends. Perhaps the best rock band ever to come out of Canada. Yeah I see your Tragically Hip and your Guess Who and I raise you one Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee.

Ladies and gentlemen....... RUSH!

In the cockpit with Virgin Atlantic

If you're into aviation, this trio of video clips is cool. A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 pre-flight briefing, the taxi, then the take-off, then the landing at San Fransisco.

There are more videos in the series if you pay attention to the available videos while watching these 4.

Are you a dangerous driver?

Find out how dangerous of a driver you are by taking this quiz.

Paper email?

Here's a geeky joke gift that defies logic - the paper email pad. You'll be laughing so hard trying to explain how to attach files, send blind carbon copies and label messages as spam.

This would be great to send to someone who never answers their electronic email.

Making the market understandable

Unless your business involves finances, the financial market is an enigma, wrapped in a riddle.

Luckily, over at Marketplace, they're putting whiteboard presentations online to explain market concepts in layman's terms. Start with the one called 'How credit cards become asset-backed bonds'.

Manhattan corners

A photographer took pictures of around 11,000 street corners in Manhattan and posted them online. From this link, the easiest thing to do is choose the 101 photo sampler.

The variety is stunning.

Knee still pissing me off

Yesterday, I experienced pain like I've never had before in my life (that I can remember). My knee got worse Friday morning and continued to get worse through the day, to the point where I made a doctor's appointment for Tuesday, but by supper time, Darlene said I'd be a fool to wait that long to see someone. So, off we go to a medi-centre after supper. I was in agony. So sitting there for two and a half hours was all I could take.

The doctor thinks I have gout. She totally dismissed the previous doctor's diagnosis (infection), as to actually scoff at it. So I was given a very strong anti-inflammatory and I'll need a blood test to see if I have the indicators of gout. I was glad to get something, because by 9pm, the pain was so bad it brought tears to my eyes. Luckily, this morning, I feel much better.

But seriously, what kind of a name is gout. Why can't it have a more impressive sounding name like Ankylosing Spondylitis?

The new Cora's is here!

2 years ago, I blogged about a new (to Calgary) breakfast and lunch place that has its beginnings in Quebec called Cora's. Getting to the one at the far south end of Calgary is always a pain, but I was hopeful that other locations would open closer to where we live.

My wish has come true. On Monday December 8th, a new Cora's opens at Northland Village, at the entrance by the Best Buy store. If you haven't been to a Cora's - try it - it's very good.

Green is good

Here's an article about the myths surrounding energy sources.

This can't be real.... is it?

Why you should check your child's homework. Mom works at Home Depot and in this picture, she's supposedly selling a shovel to waiting customers with money.

But that's not what the picture looks like...........

What a pretty picture..... nom-nom-nom

Landscapes made out of food. Like this one, made from loaves of bread, pieces of cheese, crackers and bread crumbs.

Guess album covers from a mime

If you're into music trivia, you might like this little mime game. The mime will recreate the cover of a classic album from the past few decades of pop music. You have 30 seconds to guess the title and type it into the box. I picked up on a few of them right away, but there are some tough ones.

Cat bringing you dead animals? ...... not a gift...

How to tell your cat is plotting to kill you.

Very clever.

I really love this photo I found.........

Diamonds.... the world's greatest illusion?

Here are some interesting points about diamonds.

What a racket.

Jack Black as Jesus.........

Some actors got together to make a musical about proposition 8. That's the little thing the government threw into the last US election to try to ban gay marriage. You may not agree with the point, but damn, it's funny as ........ ummm ......... hell. I mean - Jack Black as Jesus?

Canada not so apathetic anymore

There's something historic happening in Canadian politics right now and it's really stirring up a lot of discussion about democracy. For the benefit of my readers not from Canada, the brief synopsis is this - The governing Conservative party is at risk of being voted out of government due to their minority hold on the House of Commons. In other words, the government has enough seats to form the government, but as a minority, they are at risk of being out-voted on any issue the rest of the parties don't agree with - it's known as a vote of non-confidence. Two of the opposition parties have agreed to form a coalition to out-vote and then (Governor General willing) replace the Conservative government with a coalition of Liberals and NDP members of parliament. In this particular case, the coalition decided to form because they felt the current government wasn't giving the faltering economy enough attention like in other countries.

One argument I keep hearing over and over is that this coalition is undemocratic - that Canadians didn't vote for the other parties to form a government. Except that the reality is that 62% of Canadians did not vote for the governing party. Another reality is that when a minority government loses a vote of non-confidence, the Governor General does indeed have the option of offering the opposition to form a coalition with other parties to replace the government instead of having another election (7 whole weeks after the last one). One reason this has never happened before is that the opposing parties were never able to agree in a coalition so quickly before.

I will go on the record to state that even though I am a died-in-the-wool Liberal, I actually don't think the government needs to do anything drastic to 'fix' our economy. Not yet. So let it be known that I actually agree with the Conservatives on this one. But it doesn't matter what I think. The majority of the members of parliament think they could do a better job - they have lost confidence in the current government. So let them try to do a better job. Canadians will see whether they were full of it or not in time for the next election and if they screwed up, the Conservatives will get the majority government they've been dreaming of.

Another argument I hear is that it's un-Canadian to allow a party like the Bloc Quebecois, whose long-term purpose is to work toward evolving Quebec into a sovereign nation, to cooperate with this coalition. Yet the Conservatives negotiated with the Bloc in years past when preparing to defeat the then governing Liberal party led by Paul Martin. How soon they forget. Also, the Bloc aren't actually 'part of' the coalition, they get no cabinet positions at all. They simply said they would support it for 18 months, because, well - Quebec isn't too thrilled with the current government either and yet they are willing to give the Liberals and NDP parties working together - to offer an alternative for the time being. Whether other Canadians agree with that is beside the point. Quebec is still part of the country and the Bloc were elected to represent the the interests of those people. Even if you discounted the wishes of the Quebec electorate who voted for the Bloc, the Liberals and NDP and Green party still made up 51% of the popular vote.

Back to the Conservatives. Their response to the threat of a non-confidence vote is to ask the Governor General to essentially suspend the government until late January, when the Conservatives plan to offer a new budget. Of course the opposition don't feel that running away from the House is the answer in the current economic environment. Rumour has it that the Conservatives are offering back room deals to try to sway Liberals to the Conservative side of the aisle. Tonight, the Prime Minister appealed to Canadians to calm down and give them a chance to govern. Dude - you're barking up the wrong tree. It's the Members of Parliament across the floor you should be appealing to.

Exciting times ahead. No matter whose side you're on.

Oh - and as a friend of mine said during a recent political discussion - if you didn't bother to vote in this last election, your opinion isn't going to carry a lot of weight.

[Update] The Governor General gave the Conservatives what they wanted - a suspension of the government until January. So we'll have to wait until then to see what happens.

Forgiveness is all that matters

Raising kids is fun.

That's all I have to say about that.

[smile]

That post title is a special message to two very special people.

Get schooled in copyfighting

If you're Canadian and you've got 48 minutes to spare, I encourage you to watch this video that does a splendid job of explaining the current copyfight situation in Canada. It basically takes everything that has happened up until now and rolls it all into one nice little package.

Joe and Josie consumer - this topic is about you! I am so glad we have people like Michael Geist to take the time to produce informative material like this.

The source video is long and may take a while to download. There are links to other, lesser quality (meaning smaller) versions as well.

Conrad's not totally 'up' with the US justice system

When you're in prison, you get to reflect on the prison system and the justice system. Conrad Black has time to do just that, and based on this excerpt from his latest article, he's not too thrilled with it.

I just love his vocabulary. Here's a taste:

"The system is based on the plea bargain: the barefaced exchange of incriminating testimony for immunity or a reduced sentence. It is intimidation and suborned or extorted perjury, an outright rape of any plausible definition of justice."

It may be garbage to you....

We did a little house cleaning this past week. The junk we collected wasn't recyclable so a trip to the Spy Hill landfill site was in order. There was quite a lineup to get in and an even bigger one to get out. While waiting in the line to get in through the weigh scales, we watched in horror as a guy off in the distance was emptying his truck of garbage and noticed him throwing a complete bicycle into the bin.

A whole freaking bicycle! We were appalled. Haven't these folks heard of thrift stores? I bet you there are hundreds if not thousands of people in this city that would have gladly taken that bike and put it to use. We've become such a wasteful society and it pains me to see this kind of useful stuff ending up in a landfill.

Sought after plates

A guy who got Obama vanity license plates in NY can't keep them on his car - people keep trying to steal them.

I wonder if that would be the case with (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper plates in Canada?

Thanks Ernest.