Let me see your IQ please...

OK I know this isn't fair, but it is funny:

In addition to other demographic data listed with the government, your IQ should be listed on your driver's license or ID. This way people can be carded for specific events, not based on age, but based upon their IQ. For example, if you are talking to an apparent idiot, you can ask for ID and know for certain. It also might be a way to filter certain people away from potentially dangerous activities, such as drinking a McDonald's coffee, operating a copy machine, sending email, or running for a political office. Heck, the lowering of insurance rates for those in the higher IQ brackets might pay for the neccessary testing and software changes to enact the change.

Courtesy halfbakery.com

Got hockey?

I decided to treat myself and bought a nice 20" LCD monitor. Well, today I gave NHL2002 a try on the new beastie for the first time. All I can say is - let the NHL stay locked out. I gots ma hockey! And the best part? In my universe, Les Canadiens never lose...

Web portal extraordinaire

Wanna give a new web site a try as your home page? If you're an information junkie, www.refdesk.com may be just the ticket. This site is chock full of links that you often wish were easy to access - everything from news, dictionaries, to the time of day and postal code lookup. There just may be too much on this site...

Do not read on full stomach

Mmmmmmmmmm............fish balls.

Wanna see more tasty treats? Check out kookychow.com

Queen of sky grounded

This flight attendant from the US just got canned for posting pictures of herself in uniform on her blog.

10 things Chinese do better than us

This list contains a few things we could learn from.

Biodegradable water bottle

Made from a plastic derived from corn, this bottle will decompose in 80 days under the right conditions.

Get 'em before they sell out

Attention all Americans who are pissed at the election results. This book could come in handy...

Imagine if the Beatles were geeks...

Yesterday,
All those backups seemed a waste of pay.
Now my database has gone away.
Oh I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly,
There's not half the files there used to be,
And there's a deadline hanging over me
The system crashed so suddenly.

I pushed something wrong
What it was I could not say.

Now all my data's gone
and I long for yesterday-ay-ay-ay.

Yesterday,
The need for back-ups seemed so far away.
I thought my data was here to stay,
Now I believe in yesterday.

Bring it on!

OK people - Halloween is over. Pack away those costumes. Time to bust out the almost 2 month long psyched up hype machine leading up to Christmas. Ahhhhh Christmas. I can almost feel the shopping mall parking lot road rage just thinking about it.......

All Shat, all the time

Is it me, or is William Shatner in everything now? I mean, he's got a new album out called "Has Been". It's actually got some things going for it, you should hear his cover of "Common People", with the chorus sung by Joe Jackson. So anyway, he's been the spokesperson for Priceline.com since 1998. Plus he's in that new All Bran challenge commercial. Oh, and he plays Denny Crane on the show Boston Legal.

For someone whose career is supposed to be over....

Best bumper sticker evar!

I know the Oprah show where she gave away those cars is old news, but this was too funny to pass up.

Now you've done it.....

So he huffed and he puffed...

If you live in Canada, you are familiar with the furniture store "The Brick". Their slogan is "Nobody beats the Brick". Now we all know this refers to their prices, but one has to wonder - could this also be an unintentional reference to the story of the 3 little pigs?

Discuss....

And who will say it in episode 3?

Let's see how observant you are....

Q. In every Star Wars movie so far, a common prophetic phrase is spoken. Practically every major friendly character (including Luke, Han, C3PO, Obi Wan, Leia, Lando and Anakin) has uttered it. What is it (and it's not "use the force" or "may the force be with you")?

It's a raspberry!

If you find farts funny - you have to try the farting dot.

Movies that tanked

Howard the Duck (1986) - budget: $37 million - earnings (US): $16 million
Hudson Hawk (1991) - budget: $60+ million - earnings (US): $17.2 million
Ishtar (1987) - budget: $55 million - earnings (US): $12.7 million
Inchon (1981) - budget: $50 million - earnings (US): $1.9 million
Battlefield Earth (2000) - budget: $73 million - earnings (US): $21.5 million
Heaven's Gate (1980) - budget: $44 million - earnings (US): $3 million
The Postman (1997) - budget: $100 million - earnings (US): $17.6 million
Town & Country (2001) - budget: $90 million - earnings (US): $6.7 million
Cutthroat Island (1995) - budget: $100+ million - earnings (US): $9.9 million
The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) - budget: $100 million - earnings (US): $4.4 million

Bernard Pivot Questionnaire

These 10 questions came from a French series, "Bouillon de Culture" hosted by Bernard Pivot. It is probably more familiar to many as the questions James Lipton asks his guests at the end of "Inside the Actor's Studio" on Bravo.

It's amazing what the answers to these questions reveal about a person. Here are mine:

What is your favourite word? absolutely
What is your least favourite word? impossible
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? people who bare their soul
What turns you off? closed-mindedness
What is your favourite curse word? holy fuck!
What sound or noise do you love? a woman singing
What sound or noise do you hate? a child crying
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? actor
What profession would you not like to do? doctor
If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? how long will you be staying this time?

Mona mia!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Enough already...

They are just about ready to wrap up renovations at our local Safeway. As part of the facelift, they've installed a mini Starbucks coffee shop at the front of the store. Great idea. I mean coffee shops are in such short supply as it is......

Blimey!

I realize the posts have been few and far in between the past couple of days. Just not seeing much interesting to report I guess.

Oh! I know - have any of you seen that ultra cool British sitcom "The Office"? They made 2 seasons of it then quit. The Brits know comedy and this is no exception. It's about the manager of a paper merchant in Slough, just outside of London. He is a character beyond description. Anyway, I bought both seasons and am craving more. Well, news has it the Christmas special they made of the show is due out next month - I'm looking forward to that I tell you. If you've never seen the show, I urge you to rent it from your fave video store, starting with season one of course.

America, land of the free

Free to do what exactly - we're not sure. This article on Homeland Security agents bothering a toy store owner in Oregon is just the beginning, I fear.

Music to go

For people who don't yet own a hard drive based mp3 player - this post is for you. A while back I decided to buy one of these babies. I decided against the iPod and went for the Creative Labs Zen. It was cheaper than the iPod and has exquisite sound. With 20GB of storage space, you can fit a lot of songs on it (4000+). I just put the thing on random play and if a song comes on that I'm not in the mood for, I just skip to the next song. I love listening to it at work, but it's in the car that the Zen has revolutionized my music enjoyment. Whenever Darlene and I would go on long car trips, we'd rarely come to an agreement on what CDs to bring for tunes. Now with the Zen, we bring everything! To interface the Zen with the car stereo, I bought an iRock FM transmitter. This just plugs into the headphone jack of the Zen and broadcasts the music on one of 4 selectable FM frequencies. The Zen's battery lasts about 8-10 hours, so it's good for a whole day of driving. The iRock runs on 2 replaceable AAAs which are good for about 2 days' worth of driving.
Update: I bought a newer Zen in January 2005. $170 cheaper than the original, 24 hour battery capacity and smaller, more iPod-looking case. The software is better too.

So if you're into music as much as I am but hate having to choose what tunes to bring on trips, or to work - consider the Zen as an option.

Another tribute to our vets

In a world first, Canada unveils a coloured coin - the new quarter. The colour will wear off eventually, but the poppy will remain.

Speak!

I may just be paranoid, but there's a chance my friend Squid whom I visited while I was in Kingston may have good reason to be upset with me. He has 2 lovely dogs - a Jack Russell Terrier and a German Pinscher. I decided in my infinite wisdom to try to teach the Pinscher (his name is Naximus von den Haflingeren) to speak. It only took about 5 minutes.

I am so bad.

To boldly go where he only pretended to go before

William Shatner's accepted an offer from Richard Branson to go up in space on Branson's latest venture, Virgin Galactic. Shatner is excited about the prospect, and when asked whether the US$210,000 price tag would be make this a non-starter, Shatner replied that he could probably get 60% off the trip by booking through priceline.com.

(contribution by Ernest Pedersen)

Did I save your life today?

If I ever get a video camera (believe it or not, we do not have one), one of the first things I'm gonna do with it is bring it for a ride in my car. Why? So I can document once and for all a phenomenon that happens to me on a regular basis.

I'm talking about people putting on their seatbelts. When I first noticed it, I thought it was just a coincidence. When I told Darlene about it, she thought I was crazy. But I swear to you, as I drive around town, I observe people looking at me in my car - then scrambling to put on their seatbelts. Maybe I look like a cop to them - I don't know. Whatever it is, I see this activity several times a day. No, they're not putting them on because they've just gotten into their cars - I'm talking about people who've been driving around, glance at me, then suddenly scramble to put their belt on. Now Darlene actually notices it too and will ask me, "did you see that one?"

So here's the deal. I seem to be having more of an effect than any public service campaign. I'm probably saving lives too. So I will graciously accept any law enforcement organization's offer to drive around all day scaring people into putting their belts on - for a nominal fee. Operators are standing by.....

Do you hear that?

In the days before radar, Britain used concrete ears to focus the sound and listen for approaching enemy aircraft. This is shot is taken in Dungeness.

New not always better

You know how some new versions of software really end up crappier than the versions that came before it? It's enough to make you want to go back in time and use an older version. Of course the companies that make software don't want you using their older stuff, so you're stuck - until now. Check out oldversion.com

The Mars pic NASA doesn't want you to see

He is there! Just like I knew he would be!