Yellow sticky notes

An animation by a young Canadian animator.

Thank you to Alice for the tip (on Facebook).

They'll tout the Bill as consumer-friendly...... but there's a big catch

Although it is premature to speculate on what Canada's next copyright bill will actually look like until the government introduces it in Parliament, word on the street is that all of the good things in support of the consumer that are part of it are completely and utterly trumped any time digital locks are concerned. In other words, you can copy your CDs, DVDs, perform time and format shifting, as long as digital locks are not present in the media. Digital locks render the whole deal moot, since it will still be illegal to break a digital lock. That means jailbreaking an iPhone or unlocking a phone to use on another carrier will become criminal acts.

You read that right.

Michael Geist has some serious questions for the parliamentarians who drafted this imminent bill.

Be careful what you wish for... or don't... or do... not

I personally believe that the worst thing you can do in your life is to waffle. The universe (substitute your omnipotent supreme being of choice) listens to your ramblings, both verbal and non, and bends reality to grant you the fruits of your musings. For this reason alone, it is wise to pick an outcome and stick with it through to its conclusion.

Too often have I witnessed people flip-flopping over an idea or a decision. Example: "I must have him." "He's an ass, I don't want him." "I can't live without him." "I hope I never see him again." "He's the light of my life." This kind of polarity reversal is the cruelest trick you can play on the universe (and consequently - yourself) and can only result in its eventual agreement with you. That is to say, it will flop-flop along with each of your ruminations, enough to drive you mad.

This applies to everything in life. Your career will go nowhere if you keep putting out conflicting points of view on it. But once you focus on your chosen path, the universe has a clever way of aligning the doors, gates and paths to help you attain that reality. If you find yourself waffling..... stop. Convincing yourself of the worst is even better than waffling, because at least you can plan for the worst, once you've convinced yourself and the powers that be that it must happen.

"Any bill that puts restrictions on breaking digital locks makes other changes worthless"

The real story is not just the article itself, but the comments from ordinary Canadians below it. Sort the comments at the end of the article by 'agreed' to get a true sense of why those of us 'in the know' don't want what is predicted in this forthcoming Bill.

Perspective.... forced

I love these forced perspective photos.

Maybe you should too...... [see what I just did there?]

I wanted a 6 million dollar man lunchbox

This collection of lunch box pictures took me back.

When I saw the Space 1999 ones, I lost it.

Alberta..... we be green too

While Alberta may be known for producing dirty ol' oil, we should be proud of the green efforts we're making. Like the Drake Landing Solar Community (DLSC) in Okotoks for example.

This is a master planned neighbourhood of 52 homes that has integrated Canadian energy efficient technologies with solar energy. The DLSC is heated by a district system designed to store abundant solar energy underground during the summer months and distribute the energy to each home for space heating needs during winter months. The system is unprecedented in the World, fulfilling 90% of each home’s space heating requirements from solar energy and resulting in less dependency on limited fossil fuels. DLSC Highlights:

• The largest subdivision of R-2000 single family homes in Canada, each 30% more efficient than conventionally built homes.
• A first in the world, 90% of residential space heating needs will be met by solar thermal energy.
• A reduction of approximately 5 tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per home per year.

Starring - nature!

How to forecast weather without gadgets.

Pontiac Aztek..... [check]

Time has put together its list of the 50 worst inventions. Number one starts with the Segway. Poor Segway.... I had such hopes for you. Too bad you turn all who ride you into instant nerds.

Demand fair copyright

My sources tell me that a new Canadian copyright bill akin to the American-styled DMCA [shudder] is imminent. Canadians everywhere who are in the know want to tell those of you in the dark what this could mean if we don't speak up.

The battle is about to begin.

The ultimate proof of man's influence on films?

I found this fascinating: The Bechdel test. It tests movie content and has three simple rules. Can a movie pass by answering 'yes' to all of these three questions:

1) Does it have two or more women in it (who have names) ?
2) Do they talk to one another?
3) Do they talk to one another about something other than a man?

It is said that most movies don’t pass this test, which indicates that movies can't tell a woman's story without there being a man involved. That's really sad, don't you think?

Special thanks to Alice Nelson for bringing this to my attention.

Desk cat

...... needs pens. Om nom nom...

It's goalie cat!

I love the little back paw action goalie cat does on the stuffed toy.

Techno dog...

... is feelin' the beat YO!

My grand-daughter will never know a world without:

• Touch screens
• Cigarette smoke-free classrooms
• Seat belts
• eBay
• Electric cars
• Smart phones
• Rovers on other planets
• Mandatory sunscreen
• High definition video
• Spoken turn by turn directions
• Anti-bacterial everything
• Recycling
• Any fruit or vegetable – any season
• Low energy light bulbs

'A' is for 'away team' - the geek alphabet

This is awesome.

"How can broke economies lend money to other broke economies..?"

I love this 'lending merry go round' video clip where Australian comedians Clarke & Dawe highlight the ridiculousness of the European economic situation. The whole Greece thing is just the tip of the iceberg.

Proof there are crazy people: Someone had to make this chart

This flowchart is for all those people who are still going on about their delusion that Barack Obama isn't an American citizen and therefore should not be President of the United States.

Ruined by spawn

This blog, 'shit my kids ruined' accepts photos from parents showing the carnage wrought from their spawn.

I love it. NSFW.

Non-cents (see what I just did there?)

Way back in 2009, I mentioned (probably for the umpteenth time) that I'd like the penny abolished.

Now it seems the Canadian Senate is taking a serious look at the idea.

On a related note, I rediscovered today why I like self-serve grocery store checkout terminals. They take pennies. And I use the opportunity to ditch as many of them as I can.........

The girl's got soul

As much as I realize that American Idol is musical pablum for the masses, I've had my eyes set on Crystal Bowersox, or Mama Sox as
she's known by her adoring fans.

Although not in the same league as other divas with bona-fide pipes, Mama Sox has that certain something that exudes emotion and she has a presence I've not seen since Janis Joplin was alive.

Speaking of Joplin, Hollywood has been searching for the appropriate artist to play the long departed Janis in a movie about her life and I think the logical star of that movie is now quite obvious. With a little vocal and acting coaching, I think Crystal could do for the Janis Joplin story what Jennifer Hudson did for the musical Dreamgirls.

(I wrote the above part before the finale announcing the winner)

She didn't win. I thought she should have won.

Beat boxing dog

The post title really says it all.

Shat my dad says

You've probably heard the internet sensation that is (was?) 'Shit my dad says'. Well, in a sign that some TV executives may be turning to internet phenomenon for new program ideas, the popular Twitter feed is being made into a TV show starring William Shatner as the dad who says shit.

It will be interesting to see how they screw this one up. They've already screwed up getting the word out as most sites hosting the preview video have blocked the content from being seen outside of the US.

A stereotype gone too far?

I've never been a big fan of playing the NIMBY card and this latest news story is just another example of bias gone awry.

At issue is the relocation of a halfway house in Calgary from a residential area in Victoria Park to an industrial lot in the Manchester Industrial Park. Already, residents who live more than 3 blocks away (and that sounds closer than it actually is) are complaining and will try to block the relocation.

Frankly, I'm tired of this. While I readily admit that I would be concerned if a halfway house were going to move into my neighbourhood, I think we have to start to ask ourselves if this bias against rehabilitated criminals has gone too far? After all, if an industrial area isn't a suitable location for such a resource, what is? How far away does such a facility need to be from parks and homes before everyone is happy? These folks are in fact trying to re-integrate back into society after serving most of their term and proving that they are deserving of serving the rest of their sentence in a halfway house, or Community Based Residential Facility as they're known by the John Howard Society (JHS). Are they going to be able to integrate if their residence is far away from civilization and transit?

I believe a better attitude is to work with the JHS to make sure that residents' concerns are being met and perhaps the JHS could educate folks as to why their residence is such a necessary stepping stone for reformed convicts. But to suggest that being within blocks of homes and a park is a 'temptation' is painting the residents with a very wide and unsightly brush. Let's face it, if reformed criminals weren't allowed to live among us, they would have little chance of success in becoming productive members of society again.

Merci mes Habitants

The hockey season for the Montreal Canadiens is over. The Philadephia Flyers put an end to their Cinderella post season run at 19 games.

I, for one, am a proud fan of the team as they were predicted by many not to make it past 4 games with the Washington Capitals. They beat the Capitals, then beat the defending champion Penguins too. If they take nothing from this season, it's that they can win and beat some of the best teams in the league. I think that in the end, they were out-underdogged by another underdog.

But they still did magnificently. Nobody can argue that. Well done Habs. See you next year.

Less salt = ucky

While in the grocery store, I was offered a sample of V8 juice. Offered both regular and low sodium, I chose the low sodium, having never tasted it before.

It was awful. And by awful, I mean that I could actually taste the vegetables. I guess the extra 345mg of salt (480mg versus 135mg) in the regular V8 makes a huge difference in the taste. It goes to show you how addicted we've become to the taste of salt.

Life is a mirror

...and will reflect back to the thinker what he (or she) thinks into it.

Blog page designers unite..... please!

For the love of all things good and logical, we need blog site designers to pick a forward / back protocol and stick to it. It is extremely annoying when you visit a blog and when you reach the bottom of the page, you have a choice of 'previous' or 'next'. If only they meant the same thing at every site. But they don't. On one blog, previous means going back in time, on another, it means going forward in time.

I don't know about you, but in my mind, 'next' means going forward in time - 'what happens next?'. Previous means what happened before. But not what happened in your browser before, rather what posts were written before. Doesn't that sound logical and reasonable to you?

Blog designers, get a clue.

Open mic nights at coffee shops at risk

It's not just the record labels that try to punish the innocent in an effort to make more money. The collection societies do it too.

What chicken little really said

Misheard story lines.