Useless trivia....

.... about letters and numbers.

• You can type the numbers One through Ninety-Nine without using the letters A, B, C, or D.
• In English, every odd number contains the letter e.

My take on corporate security

I've been having some rather animated discussions lately about how corporations' restrictive IT policies (of late) are becoming counter-productive and soon will backfire, if not be rendered obsolete by the next wave of technology (more on that later). Then I found this article about the Hyperconnected and smiled, knowing that others are starting to get it too. Some highlights:

... networked technologies creating an exploding culture of connectivity, blurring the line between the personal and business worlds... ... as cellphones, Internet and private networks continue to interconnect, corporations will be forced to rethink their IT policies or be left behind... ... any device that can be connected – will ... pose an immense challenge to many corporations that still operate on the notion that they can and should clamp down on every kind of online activity used by its employees and clients... ... Creating a distinction between those who are inside the firewall and those outside of it, is counter-productive... ... The perimeter is gone. There's no distinction any more between personal life and business life. If the millennium generation sees the distinction in the workplace, they get frustrated and leave. To those who try to ban Facebook - good luck...

Two reasons often used by corporations to explain why restrictions are needed are security and productivity. But folks have proven that while filters may prevent access to what might be considered inappropriate web content (and who gets to decide?), they often restrict users from access to relevant content that can cost businesses real dollars in missed opportunities and information. On the security front, companies spend billions of dollars and person-hours putting hardware and software measures in place, many which prove in time to be defeat-able, yet spend virtually nothing on the resource that can have the greatest impact on a company's security posture - the employee. My position has always been that employees empowered to participate in security are a company's best and most cost-effective weapon. A worker that can't use provided technology for what they need is the exact opposite of empowered - they're a liability.

One technology that has begun the slow march to trump corporate control of internet access is WiMax. When a person can connect a laptop or desktop to a WiMax modem via USB and get unrestricted access to the internet as long as you're in range of a metropolitan area cell tower, you'll start seeing fewer employees using a corporation's link to the outside world because it has become a neutered tool by comparison.

Rogue hair

The human body is wonder to behold. But sometimes the body creates stuff that just has you scratching your head. Things like 'skin tags' - you know - those growths of skin that are basically just extra skin that decides to grow 'out' instead of across. Just as bizarre are the rogue hairs. In my case grey ones. Now, while I have a lot of grey hair on my head, elsewhere, it's still its natural colour, including on my chest. So when a long grey rogue hair appears on my chest seemingly out of nowhere, it's hard not to notice. I'm talking long - several inches! Somebody please tell me - how does this stuff just appear almost overnight?

I guess I should be thankful it doesn't sprout out of other more noticeable places...........

Sorry, there is no remotely suitable picture to include with this post........

Yet more geo-trivia!

The city of Portland Oregon was named thanks to the results of a coin toss (named after Portland Maine).

What was the other name that could have been chosen?

Finally, Calgary gets something unique....

....translation - not a chain restaurant.

Today a friend who has a business in the midst of the new suburbia of Calgary told a group of us about a new pub / restaurant that opened nearby that we should try. So we piled into some cars and drove to Harvest Hills Crossing to eat lunch at The Flight Deck International Bar & Grill. I had seen this building while it was under construction and Darlene was convinced it was some kind of private airline club. Nay nay. This enormous facility is one of the nicest looking, open concept, two-floor restaurants I've seen in a long while. The ceiling is high and curved. The second floor has an opening in the centre to allow for gazers to look down upon the massive first floor area. There's a sunken floor in the middle that could easily function as a dance floor. A raised area beside has seating now, but seems perfectly suited for use as a stage in the future if they desired. (message to the owners: if you ever need a live DJ to set the mood during the late Friday or Saturday meal rush, call me) I never got to see the second level - it was closed, but believe me when I say this place is massive. There is space for outdoor patio space on both levels it seems, so this place has a lot of potential. But enough about the structure.

The food is typical pub fare with a little more depth in the menu. I had the pizza, which I chose to build-my-own and it was decent. Around me, I saw folks chowing down on 1/2 pound burgers, salmon burgers, pastas, salads, oriental noodle bowls, stuffed Yorkshire puddings and more. The guys found the burgers to be a little over-cooked (something I wouldn't mind too much) and the staff replied to the complaints with free fruit desserts for the group. We numbered 18. The place prides itself on a good variety of beers on tap and good wines too.

I saw enough good food to motivate me to go back. But I was most impressed with the sheer size of the place, the patio potential. Oh - did I mention there were 125 TV sets in the joint? Many of them the big 52" ones. Banks of them. Whoever received this restaurant's TV order must have drooled at the quantity. I am told that this place is owned by West Jet pilots.

Sorry - I've got no pictures of the place yet.

Look ma - no smell!

Can't stand all the squeaking the door hinges in your home make, but find the smell of common lubricants (like WD-40) too strong? Apply some olive oil to the hinge instead. Works like a charm.

Photo by 96dpi.

Geo-trivia!

The border between these 2 states (in the USA) is a perfect curve......

Name the 2 states and for bonus geek points, name the place the arc of the circle is centred on.

..............and GO!

No news is great news

What do you get when you mix a bunch of news broadcast footage where the news is actually over and the anchors are just waiting for the cameras to stop filming? You get 'no news'. No talking, no wars, no catastrophes, no bankruptcies, no earthquakes............ just smug, silent news folk.

[sarcasm] I could be breaking the law just posting this [sarcasm ends]

The harassment against people taking pictures continues, as described in BoingBoing posts here and here and here.

Picture by anthonygrimley.

I could do this for a living......

In our continuing saga of car test drives, we took the ever popular Toyota Prius out for a spin today. We had to suffer the salesperson sticking to us like glue but on the plus side, he gave a great tour of the car, showing off features even I didn't know it had.

I've never been enamoured with the look of the Prius, but its practicality and economy make up for it. The cargo area is huge, especially with the back seats down. I found that the design of the hatch (the severe slant) makes the rear visibility less than optimal, but the little window on the back side of the hatch does help. Unlike the Honda Fit, I didn't feel like I was reaching for the steering wheel in the Prius as much even though it doesn't telescope out. For a car worth $35,000+, the cabin's styling feels 'econo-box' and lacks options like leather or heated seats. But what it lacks in luxury style, it makes up for in gadgets. The large touch display screen controls much of the car's operations including the climate control and many of the radio adjustments but also reports a lot of hybrid / engine system information. The typical instrument cluster is gone, replaced by a small digital readout near the windshield that may take some getting used to. The car lacks a real key, using the FOB's proximity to the car to both unlock the doors and allow the car to start. OK, start is perhaps an inappropriate word, because the engine doesn't actually start when the car powers up. In fact, the engine may not come on at all if you start out slowly. As we were winding our way through the Toyota dealership lot toward the exit, the engine remained silent. That by itself is a bit creepy. The big screen allows you to see when the battery is being used or charged. Based on prior experience I had with the Honda hybrid indicators, I think I prefer the Honda way of displaying the hybrid system - it's not as 'showy', but maybe the Prius method could be too distracting. Time would tell. But the screen can also display things like current mileage and other statistics.

One thing I think the Prius got right was not putting the battery system in a place that interferes with the car's usefulness unlike most hybrids, which intrude in a big way on the trunk's space and prevent rear seat fold-down. For a car that is the second most fuel efficient hybrid on North American roads (the no longer made Honda Insight is the most efficient), the car isn't a slouch, but it's 110HP and CVT transmission will not win you any road races whatsoever. I felt like the Honda Fit has more pep, but that may be because the Prius doesn't make all of its power available right away, trying to make use of the electric system before adding the gas engine into the fray. The delay is slight, but noticeable. But let's face it - this car isn't about power - it's about efficiency and it's impressive. Now keep in mind these are 'quoted' figures, so your mileage may vary. The Prius is quoted as using 4.0litres/100km City - 4.2litres/100km Highway. Note that it's the opposite of what you'd expect. Compare that to my car's 9.6litres/100km City - 6.5litres/100km Highway. But these figures really mean nothing to most people, so let's put this into numbers that mean something. How much money's worth of gasoline at today's prices ($1.25 per litre in Calgary for regular) would it take to go 500km (310mi)? The answer for the Prius is $25 city / $26.25 Highway. My car would cost $64 City / $44 Highway. That's also taking into account that my car needs premium fuel. Can you say gas miser? If I were buying a new car today and gas savings was my top priority, the Prius would end up in my driveway. Based on what I've heard of the next model year (2009), I think I'd wait for one of those. Especially since it will supposedly look better, have more power, yet get even better mileage!

But that price............ whew!

Well, isn't that spatial?

Darlene was having some difficulty packing a box to mail out as a parcel when I showed up to help her. On successful fit of all items into the box I said, "Men are better at spatial relationships." To which she responded, "Too bad they're not better at other kinds of relationships."

I don't even know what that means............

Look what the war on drugs is doing

People often wonder why I seem to side with the cause of de-criminalizing marijuana. Some automatically assume I have a personal, selfish motive behind my position. The fact is - if marijuana were de-criminalized, my life would not change much - I cannot speak for others of course. No, I wish it because it makes sense to me. The 'war on drugs' has never born any fruit except to destroy lives - and not the lives of the so-called king pins either. They continue to reap the profits associated with a high value illegal substance. These are my thoughts on the matter.

Cory Doctorow over at BoingBoing links to an eye-opening trio of stories that help illustrate just what the 'war on drugs' is doing to people.

Pictured is Dr. Donald Tashkin, whose studies concluded that marijuana use is not linked to lung cancer (one of the 3 stories the BoingBoing post links to).

How's your Latin? (just kidding)

Try not to Google this one - just figure it out:
What are the following species designations referring to? (they're all referring to one thing)
* Famishus vulgarus
* Eatius slobbius
* Hardheadipus oedipus
* Carnivorous slobbius
* Evereadii eatibus
* Apetitius giganticus
* Hungrii flea-bagius
* Overconfidentii vulgaris
* Caninus nervous rex
* Grotesques appetitus
* Nemesis ridiculii

Geo-trivia!

Name the only state with a one-syllable name.

Try to do it from memory..... the answer is in the comments...

Question: the creamy kind or the vinegar-ry kind?

Some clothing items need to be washed in coleslaw.

Don't take my word for it..........

More 'engrish' gems here.

Just [sigh] read the sign!

Sometimes people get upset about stuff. But they try not to act upset. Yet the thing they're upset about motivates them to write notes or signs. In an effort to maintain the illusion of fairness, they still try to temper their feelings whilst still maintaining the serious topic indicated in the note or sign. Which of course results in the most amusing examples of passive aggressive literature ever.

Pictured is a little sample.

Berry good place

We've lived in Calgary for coming up on 14 years, yet we continue to find things in the area that we'd never heard about, let alone seen.

Case in point, a friend of ours suggested we should check out the Saskatoon Farm. This is a full fledged farm known for growing the berry of the same name. Aside from u-pick option, they have a garden centre with garden and yard decorations, roosters running free, dogs too, a kitschy gift shop, a huge kitchen putting out Saskatoon berry pies among other things, and a cafe. The shop and cafe hide behind what looks like a facade out of the old west.

After browsing the place, we sat down to a light meal. Darlene had a great ham and cheese sandwich and I tried the buffalo chili. We couldn't leave without sampling dessert, but we were too full, so we took the homemade apple crisp to go.

The farm is due east of Okotoks at the far east end of 338 Ave (even further east than highway 2), so if you're hankering for a taste of the country, the farm should fit the bill.

Greener building design

The Bahrain World Trade Centre now gets up to 15% of its electricity from 3 turbines mounted on bridges spanning between the two towers. Thanks to the design of the towers, the prevailing on-shore Gulf breeze is channelled into the path of the turbines, helping to create power generation efficiency. There's a video on the linked site.

Another record broken in Calgary

The largest continuous building foundation concrete pour in Canadian history (3rd largest in the world) is happening this weekend in Calgary.

It will take a minimum of 30 straight hours of continuous pumping from 1700 loads of concrete, carried by a rotating fleet of 120 trucks, totalling 14,000 cubic metres (500,000 cubic feet). This will form the foundation of the new Bow (Encana) building in downtown Calgary.

Moving on to other cars

After the debacle at the Smart dealership, we decided to try out some other cars we're considering. What are we up to? Well, our current car is almost paid off and we know gas prices are only going to get more insane, so we're looking at our options. Maybe a second car for day-to-day city driving, thereby allowing us to preserve our beloved TSX much longer than the current 120,000km-in-4-years (75,000mi-in-4-years) pace we're driving. Or perhaps bite the bullet and get rid of the TSX altogether in favour of a full-time gas miser.

So next stop was a Honda dealership, who were much more accommodating and polite about the test drive situation. We wanted to try a Civic Hybrid, but there were none on the lot. So we got into the other Honda we were considering, the Fit. I didn't have a lot of expectations for the Fit - it's your basic econo-box. I was slightly surprised by its peppiness. It's no racer to be sure, but it had some decent get-up-and-go. The Fit's real magic is in its seat configurations. Push the front seats forward and the back seats flip down in a way that allows the rear seat head rests to slide right under the front seats. This makes the back seats capable of folding flat. I mean totally flat! Flip the seats back up and the seat bottoms (the part you sit on) stick to the backs on the way up. This creates a huge storage cavity between the front seats and the back seats (see picture), while still having the usual hatch storage area behind the rear seats.

Speaking of seats, Darlene was looking to see if the front seats were comfortable. She doesn't like seats that have a raised ridge at the front, because it causes discomfort where the ridge meets the bottom of her thighs, right behind the knees. The Fit's front seats are much flatter, with no ridge. So she was totally cool with that. For my part, the only thing I could find wrong with the car is that the steering wheel doesn't adjust telescopically. So with the seat adjusted to the right position, the steering wheel is just too far away. I could probably get used to it, but I'm quite spoiled from my TSX.

After doing some serious number crunching, I came to the shocked realization that the Fit doesn't get so much better gas mileage than my TSX to justify buying one. The Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid are another story entirely. And when I get a chance to drive those puppies, I'll weigh in on them as well.

How NOT to sell a car

Darlene and I decided we wanted to take a Smart Car out for a test drive today. We've been curious as to how we would fit into such a car (as a second car for everyday running around town).

We got to a dealer that sells the Smart and had to wait patiently for a good 20 minutes just to speak to a Smart representative. When it was our turn, we asked to take one for a drive. They made it clear we could not have the vehicle to ourselves.

You really need to think about this for a moment. A 2 seater car that we both have to be comfortable in - and we can't take it out for a quick test drive together. The salesperson said it had to do with the fact that the Mercedes dealership (which sells Smart in Canada) treats the $20,000-ish car with the same degree of paranoia err respect as the $100,000+ Mercedes models. Something about insurance blah blah young kids can't be trusted blah blah (our combined ages are greater than 95). I said that I couldn't very well buy a car without knowing how we fit in it together. They wouldn't budge.

So we walked. Needless to say, the likelihood of us buying a Smart car now is less than the chances of a Liberal landslide in the next Canadian election.

Another restaurant loses out to a new favourite

Not long ago, I blogged about a newly discovered restaurant - Cravings Market Restaurant. I didn't think I'd be blogging about it again so soon, but the restaurant we had planned to eat at today (White Spot) was closed temporarily due to 'mechanical difficulties'.

So we drove back to Cravings. This time Darlene had the Steak Sandwich, which she said was good (that's a lot coming from her). I had the Bison Stew - which should more aptly be called Bison Goulash, because the base was much more reminiscent of a goulash than a stew, although it was chock full of potatoes and other vegetables. I gotta tell ya - if you're a fan of bison or have always wanted to try bison but were a little shy about it - you have to try this stew. It was awesome.

"You think you're the only superhero in the world?"

Some nice folks were kind enough to give Darlene a free movie pass for two. So we decided to go see Iron Man. I was a little worried that it might suck, after all, not every comic book hero translated to the big screen well - especially once Hollywood got their hands on it.

But I have always liked Robert Downey Jr. and I used to read the odd Iron Man comic as a kid, so I was excited. I don't know what it is, but the suit rocks, in my humble opinion. I read some people reviewing the movie and complaining about how once Tony got the suit on, it was no longer about the guy inside. But I didn't focus on that at all - I was mesmerized by that mask - that face. It's freaking Iron Man dude! Thumbs up from me. On the advice of others, I stayed past the credits for 'something special'. Come on..... you can figure out what the something special is already, can't you?

Maybe the post's title gives you a hint...?

The new propaganda

Folks were invited to photoshop old style propaganda posters with modern issues. Some of them are quite funny. I chose to post this particular one keeping with the vein of discussion my friend Bernie and I have been on regarding the Olympics.

In case the pic is hard to see the grafitti says "keep politics out of Olympics - it's about money"

You can't trust everything you see

Do you like illusions? Here's a blog with a few that I hadn't seen before. It's fairly new but promises a new illusion on a regular basis.

[shrug] RIAA still don't understand consumers

This stuff just makes me so sick and tired. Just when signs pointed to the RIAA finally getting it that DRM isn't working, nor is it desirable by the consumer, they go and reveal that they don't quite get it and plan to re-introduce DRM in a big way in the future.

Cory Doctorow from BoingBoing tells the tale best, with a link to the original story.

Only in America.....

The ABC television station in Memphis TN is giving away a free paternity test each weekday afternoon during ratings sweeps period this month.

"Watch Maury weekdays at 4pm for the 'Paternity Case Number of the Day,' which will be displayed during one of the commercial breaks. Then watch Eyewitness News Everywhere at 5pm that same day, immediately following Maury, for the cue to call. Be the designated caller with the correct 'Paternity Case Number of the Day' and win!"

You just can't make this stuff up.....
Thanks again to my friend Ernest for the tip.

Geo-trivia

Stand here in North America and the Pacific Ocean will be east of the Atlantic Ocean.

Where are you?

I've updated this post with a picture now that someone got the answer......

Real simulated sex included

The latest TV series Darlene and I decided to watch is Tell Me You Love Me. It was touted by TV critics last fall as one of the best new shows to hit the airwaves and it aired on - you guessed it - HBO. Fortunately, they wasted no time getting the show out on DVD, so I bought it in February and we just got around to watching the first season.

The show follows the relationship struggles of 3 couples of different age groups (4 if you include their therapist) and their particular issues. Like most cable network series, it is not terribly censored and lives little to the imagination. You feel like a voyeur watching this program. But if that doesn't scare you off, the acting is brilliant.

RPM 16

A member of this band said, "In our music, we make the machines sing."

Name the band.

[update] Is this too tough or are my readers getting too apathetic about this game?