Well, that was fun while it lasted

It saddens me to report that the blog is now fully retired.

White Noise had a good, long run, since July 2004. Twenty years. 12,749 posts. 1,176,038 page views.

This is the last post.

On the bright side, my writing continues. It's just on a newer, more flexible platform - substack.

Here is the link to my substack. It is better because it accept writing, audio and video posts directly, which opens up a whole new set of possibilities.

Please visit my substack and comment when something connects with you.

And try to create. Anything. The world needs our creations.

The drugs wore off

 

Any key

 

Small things 27 Sep (the last one)

• Quick question. Did they revive the gong show or something in the US? It is a literal gong show down there right now.
• When one door closes and another door opens, you may be in a prison.
• To some folks, "drink responsibly" means “don't spill it while driving”.
• When I say, "The other day," I could be referring to any time between yesterday and 15 years ago.
• I run like the winded.
• I don't mean to interrupt people. I just randomly remember things and get really excited.
• Don't bother walking a mile in my shoes - that would be boring. Spend 30 seconds in my head. That'll freak you right out.
• Here’s a radical idea: Make gun insurance mandatory for gun owners. Something bad happens with your gun? Insurance deals with it. That’ll transform some gun policy real fast. Caught going around with your gun without proof of insurance? Bye bye gun.
• Running is alright I guess, until you compare it to not running.
• A fear of over-engineered building sites: A complex complex complex.
• Ever notice that drug commercials on TV can’t tell you what the drug is actually for? They just say “Ask your doctor…”
• The loudest word ever shouted is probably ‘quiet’.
• No! No! The ‘Life is short, lick the bowl’ sign belongs in the kitchen, not the bathroom.
• You seem a little out of whack. Would you like me to order you some whack?
• We were drinking coffee at a restaurant that is known to have strong coffee. My wife said, “It’s bitter.” and I was like, “No, I think it’s not bitter, it’s just strong.” She asked what the difference was and I said, realizing that I didn’t have the words, “Bitter is bitter.” and after a very dramatic delay, “Strong is strong.”
• A "curated playlist" is just a random AI shuffle, but a mixtape is a labour of love.
• I will respect those who insist on everyone carrying a fetus through to birth when they continue to care about the child’s needs AFTER they are born.
• It’s estimated that Drake’s Passage (around the tip of South America) is home to over 800 shipwrecks and claimed the lives of around 20,000 sailors.

There once was a man

from Cork, who got limericks

and haiku confused

Rebel

 

Ledge

 

Call of the void

The psychological phenomenon known as "the call of the void" (or "l'appel du vide" in French) is a thing. It refers to a sudden, inexplicable urge to engage in dangerous behaviors, such as the impulse to jump from a high place (like a cliff or a building), even though there is no actual desire to die. It's a fleeting thought, not linked to any suicidal intent or mental illness.

Psychologists suggest that this phenomenon may be related to how our brain processes risk. It could be the brain's way of reaffirming the desire to live, triggering the thought and then quickly recognizing it as irrational, reinforcing the will to survive. Most people dismiss these thoughts immediately, and they do not act on them.

Despite the unsettling nature of the "call of the void," it is considered a fairly common human experience and doesn't indicate underlying mental health issues for most people.

Mummy dog

Darlene told me her latest costume shipment came with a free dog mummy costume.

She had me for a second.

This is how we knew

 

Before technology, this is how we knew where everyone was.....

Montreal pool room

 

I'm the coolest

 

Small things 20 Sep

• Am I the only one who finds it ironic that the AB government is always telling the feds to stay out of their affairs, but then interferes in the Green Line project in Calgary, essentially sabotaging it in slow motion?
• That news story about the Canadian Army’s new sleeping bags being unsuitable for winter? Yeah, that kind of procurement fiasco has never happened before… Ask anyone who was in the CAF in the 1970s and 1980s about our wonderful rain gear.
• A package of bacon isn’t resealable. That makes it one serving, yes?
• New ‘no-homework’ excuse: My dog ate my homework. Then an immigrant ate my dog.
• You are not ‘stuck in traffic’. You ARE traffic.
• Most of the people who are afraid of what we’ll do with nuclear waste in the future have no idea what we do with it now.
• I can tell how judgmental people are just by looking at them.
• Remember the VCR? Or as toddlers used to call it, “That place where I hid my sandwich.”
• Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it. ~Unknown
• Let’s bring back pantsless Thursday. What do you mean there was never a pantsless Thursday?
• Even New France had a high speed train from Quebec to Toronto. Ok, it wasn’t a train, it was a ship. Ok, it wasn’t high speed either, but at least they had something.
• I vote we stop letting immigrants into the country when all the descendants of immigrants go back where they came from.

Nickleless cage?

 

Smack hack

 

Down with tags

I think it’s time to get rid of something. You know those thin plastic tags that are used to attach clothing labels to clothes. The ones you have to cut off. These things need to go. One end almost invariably gets caught in the fabric of the clothing. The separate cut pieces invariably end up getting lost and I always manage to find them on the floor under my bare feet, or in the sheets.

They’re cruel, and it’s time for them to end. Just use string through a button hole or zipper dammit.

Concepts of a plan (the band)

 

Lays miserables

 

Things I learned lately 20 Sep (the last one)

• ChatGPT has been seen in the wild initiating conversations with people to follow up on previous conversations.
• Gander, Newfoundland had the busiest airport in the world in the 1950s. This is because planes didn't have as much range as they do now. To be able to reach Europe, they'd need to depart from the most Eastern point in the country (or make a stop there to refuel).
• Canadian courtrooms do not use gavels.
• Hyundai sell a k-car sized Casper (Korea) / Inster (EU soon) EV that sells for the equivalent of CAD$30,000.
• In a list of employees' least favorite workplace buzzwords, topping the survey were phrases such as, ‘lean in’, ‘circle back’, ‘holistic approach’, and ‘value proposition’. 
• Phytoplankton generates between 50% to 85% of the Earth's oxygen.

Why though?

 

Kids after they try pizza for the first time

 

Small things 13 Sep

• Make pets safe again.
• What kind of wine pairs with cat? Asking for a friend. Too soon?
• I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that nobody will ever beat Trump for the number of memes that have been and will have been created thanks to his words and actions.
• The name The Tragically Hip has a whole new meaning now and it makes me cry.
• "I don't procrastinate. I intentionally wait until the last minute because then I will be older, and therefore wiser." ~Ron Swanson, Parks and Recreation
• A rare worn down pencil belonging to William Shakespeare has been unearthed. Experts are not sure if the pencil is 2B or not 2B.
• I'm at the age where if you text me at 10:17 PM, I'm texting you back at 6:12 AM.
• A lot of folks are concerned about solar panels installed in fields. No problem. Instead let’s install them over parking lots and on mall rooftops.
• The ‘why won’t this damned utensil drawer open?’ starter pack. Includes rolling pin, potato masher, giant ladle and cheese grater.
• Remember sidewalk sales?
• Every national anthem is technically a country song.

Maybe give the girl a try

 

Bigger boondoggles!

 

He invented the force

Roman Kroitor, a Canadian, was a filmmaker, a co-founder of IMAX and was a National Film Board director. 

George Lucas first heard about the idea of The Force watching Kroitor talk to Warren McCulloch in the abstract @thenfb abstract film 21-87. In that film, Kroitor said:

"Many people feel that in the contemplation of nature and in communication with other living things, they become aware of some kind of force, or something, behind this apparent mask which we see in front of us, and they call it God."

George Lucas has credited Kroitor as the inspiration behind The Force in Star Wars.

Wieners circle

 

Flash photo bomb

 

Things I learned lately 13 Sep

• There Are 36 Countries Within 1,000km From Just Outside Prague.
• The Icelandic government has agreed to buy out residential properties in Grindavík due to the town becoming uninhabitable after recent volcanic eruptions. The government has proposed to pay 95% of the insurance value of all residential housing in the town, at a cost of around USD$440 million. The buyout is necessary because Grindavík has been subject to repeated seismic activity since late 2023. About 3,700 inhabitants have been evacuated due to the risk of further eruptions.
• Several universities are now offering dedicated programs and certificates specifically focused on AI in art and design.
• Quotation marks originally looked like upside down commas because that’s what they were. In the 16th century, a form of punctuation that resembled commas was used in the margins of texts to indicate quoted material. These were known as "inverted commas" because they were essentially commas that had been rotated or inverted. This practice was first noted in the work of Henry Denham, who used outward-facing commas in the margins to indicate quotations.
• Before 1992, we didn’t know how to make mass produced, efficient blue-coloured LEDs, only red and green.

An artist I love from the Heavy Metal magazine days - Moebius

 

Teacher has a job?

 

Small things 6 Sep

• I’m not saying I’m desperate for hockey, but I went to the zoo just to boo the ‘penguins’. I won’t even mention what I’m doing to the ‘leafs’ this weekend.
• Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. ~Groucho Marx
• If we remove all the margarine on earth, the world would be a butter place.
• Most bald men still own a comb. They just can’t part with it.
• I wonder if people who live in Inglewood instead of saying I’m in the ‘hood or come to the ‘hood say I’m in the ‘wood or come to the ‘wood?
• Potatoes make french fries, chips, and vodka. It's like the other vegetables aren't even trying.
• In the Joy subdivision, you can live in the Love Will Terrace Apartments.
• Canadians flirting: “I have heated seats and winter tires…”
• The whole world could be on fire and the climate change deniers would still be denying.
• I want to go grocery shopping like it’s 1999.