Certification-free zone

I have an opinion that doesn't win me a lot of respect among my IT friends and colleagues, but - there you have it. I'm not a big fan of certifications. Let that sink in a little.

Why do I have a problem with certifications? Because they don't mean what the industry presumes them to mean. In my opinion, all that the possession of a certificate proves is that you can retain information. Enough information to pass an exam. With all of the cram guides and books available for every IT certification exam out there, it only really takes good memory retention to pass them. That's a very strong assertion to make, yeah? I don't make it lightly. I have seen countless people get hired into IT positions who were 'certified', but could not perform the most basic of tasks or solve mediocre problems. Therein lies the problem. Getting certified is similar to other types of training in that it gives you theoretical knowledge. But getting certified is missing one vital component that is provided by regular school courses - practical knowledge. Lab time. Real world troubleshooting.

I do not possess any IT certifications. I never have and I probably never will. This does not appear to have had any effect on my ability to work in IT roles. Whenever the topic of certification comes up, my answer is the same. I don't have any, but if you would like to present me with a task or a problem, I will be glad to work it through to its resolution. Test my ability to do the work, don't ask me to show you a plaque on a wall. It means very little.

The debate

So, as you know, I am an advocate for the concept of PRT. It doesn't mean I'm against other options, but in my research, I've begun to notice that on the internet, there appear to be two distinct, vocal camps who seem to despise each other. The PRT camp versus the urban gondola camp. My attention to this debate was focused after my discussion with an urban transit planner at the City of Calgary, who seemed to be leaning toward the gondola solution and not quite interested in the PRT solution for last mile transit. After watching and in some cases, participating in the debate, I came across this very intelligent offering in my email. It's an automatic alert as the result of the comment being posted on a transit forum. But the comment doesn't appear yet, which could mean that the moderator is censoring it out - I'm not sure. So Dave, without your explicit permission, I'm posting it here for all to see. It's a great summary of the debate currently taking place between the two camps. It's long, but it's a great read. It even features some of my own observations.

Author: Dave Brough

In defense of PRT
What 'got' here is two 'lobbies' with a fail-ya to communicate: the Urban Gondola (UG) lobby, and the PRT lobby. The one-man UG 'lobby' is a self-admitted (and proud of it) 'Bigmouth from Toronto”. He is not an engineer nor, by his own admission, is he a journalist. But he is interested in CPT and is particularly vocal about applying it to urban settings.
The PRT industry is composed of highly technical people, many of them engineers. In this context, it is represented by another self-appointed big mouth from Toronto: yours truly. I'm not an engineer, but I do have 45 solid years of innovation and manufacturing experience. So let's get started.

UG lobby: “The PRT lobby claims it can move large amounts of people over huge networks with dozens of off-line stations and completely private vehicles.”
PRT lobby: True. In fact, PRT not only claims that it can move “large amounts of people over huge networks, with dozens of off-line stations, and completely private vehicles”, it has the utter audacity to claim that it can do it 'more, better, 'less” (more efficiently, better headways, less obtrusive and FAR less expensive) than any other form of transport, gondola included. Add “bigger” (pax movements) and hotter or colder (as the situation demands), remove messy overhead utility cables, add street lighting, brew your morning java and even give you a massage (remember the sauna gondola?).
UG lobby: “(Not so fast). You can't define your technology as some massive improvement over all others but never have a working demonstration”
PRT lobby: “And why not?!” We've had several working demonstrators, going back to CabinTaxi that, 'by definition' (whatever that means), even in the mid-70's demonstrated split-second switching, half-second headways, and easy escape (no helos needed). Cabin Taxi even demonstrated a unique over-under concept that doubled capacity and has had a variant (CabinLift) operating between two remote German hospital campuses for 40 years.
UG lobby: “Urban Gondolas and CPT is not defined by the size of the network, nor off-line stations, nor completely private vehicles.”
PRT lobby: OK, but let's get the rules straight. “What, exactly, IS CPT defined 'by'...?” But even at that, should transit that can easily expand its network, (easily and cheaply) incorporate off-line stations, and have private vehicles – as is the case with PRT - NOT receive some attention?
UG Lobby: “We’ve never suggested urban gondolas as a replacement for all other transit forms. We suggest it as one of many tools, a complementary system.”
PRT lobby: You're putting words in our mouths. PRT has never made the 'all things to all transit'-argument. In fact, what I've seen is that it is primarily intended for dense urban applications.
UG lobby: “You need only look to Medellin, Caracas, Algeria, Portland, Telluride and NYC to see that urban gondolas very much do exist.”
PRT lobby: WTF...? I mean what?! Okay, let's take that look. Medellin, Caracas and Algeria are 'urban' and they're 'gondola', sure, but do they meet the definition of 'urban gondola' in the sense that they compete with (or compliment, take your pick) BRT or LRT? Hardly. They are unique applications designed to circumvent geography. Moreover, they would never-never-never be considered as 'modern urban transit' because a) no air; b) no heat; c) they don't fly low; d) rescue by helo or winch-down would never fly; e) stations are horrendously large and expensive, and difficult-to-impossible to extend without throwing a lot of money at the wall.
Portland, and NYC? Sure, they're also 'urban', but again, they're being used to 'jump' geography (getting up a steep hill - Portland, and a wide river - NYC). And, according to the UG lobby, both use 'tram' technology unsuited to UG.
Telluride. TELLURIDE...?! Whaaat?? How'd that get in here. it's not even UG. It runs up a mountainside to link two very rural communities.
So what have we in UG's shining examples? Read my lips: ZERO!. The only opportunity presented that had any semblance of an urban gondola was right here where I live (place called Ogden, Utah). And boy, did the UG lobby jump all over that one.
UG Lobby: “PRT can’t have it both ways: You can’t define your technology as some massive improvement over all others but never actually have a working demonstration piece”.
PRT lobby: Is there an echo in this room? Our point, exactly. UG is NOT a massive improvement, nor does it have one SINGLE “working demonstration piece”! On the other hand, PRT IS a massive improvement that has had several working examples, and more are coming on line every day (okay, okay. Maybe not every day). But it's getting a lot of traction.
UG lobby: “We don’t claim (urban) gondolas to be a mass improvement over all other things.”
PRT lobby: Good thing, too. Until CPT shapes out and ships up, it's not a mass improvement over nuthin'.
UG lobby: “(UG) simply is what it is. And what it is, demonstrably exists. That’s the difference.”
PRT lobby: Sure fooled us. Gondola demonstrably exists - in thousands of incarnations. But UG is demonstrably conspicuous by the existence of a SINGLE working demonstration piece. On the other hand, there was Cabin Taxi (and several others) and there IS Morgantown, there is Heathrow, there IS Masdar, and soon, there will be many more.
UG lobby: “We’ve demonstrated on this site how the average speed of a gondola is comparable to existing standard modes.”
PRT lobby: Woo woo. We're impressed. Really. In fact, we think that you've demonstrated that the average speed of a gondola actually exceeds existing modes. And when there's a breakdown of existing modes, or at least PRT/streetcar, it VASTLY exceeds existing standard modes. Not only that, it is vastly safer. We give you that, too!
UG lobby: “We’ve shown that gondolas are more than capable of meeting the moderate capacity needs of bus and mid-range LRTs. We’ve shown that they do, indeed, “work.”
PRT lobby: If you're talking about moving people, sure. Ski lifts have shown that for years. And the purported urban gondolas in the third world have shown that that if you ignore flying over back yards and if it's okay to cook people, they 'work' in the same way that buses 'work'. The problem is, they don't 'work' when it comes to fulfilling what modern riders demand of modern transit. Did I mention heat? And air. And low flying, ground level stations. And half-second headways, or switching, or easy expansion, or networking, (or nitpicking).
UG lobby: “The only thing maybe we’ve never shown is that they be networked.”
PRT lobby: Did I mention heat or air or half-second headway or switching or networking or making coffee?
UG lobby. “If (we haven't shown that they can be networked on on-line switching, or off-line stations, it's) because that’s not the definition of the technology.
PRT lobby: It's not? Oh...! Then again, when it comes to urban applications, we say the “definition of the technology” is the ability to meet the needs society puts to it. And we say that in modern-day America, Canada, Europe, Asia, and yes, even Medellin, society needs the amenities that modern transit offers.
UG lobby: “...we’ve shown the technology to be fully-capable of full-integration with all other modes of public transit (subway, bus and tram/LRT).”
PRT lobby: You have...? You could 'network' the technology with the Space Shuttle if you had enough space (oh, my) and money. Speaking of money, this begets an interesting question: “Why, pray tell, has the famous SFU gondola suddenly doubled in price - to $120 million?” Answer: Because the UG station interface is horrendously large and horribly complicated, it is outrageously expensive. And if they're talking $120 'now', what's it going to really cost (shades of Portland – or any other transit project - which was sold to the public on the basis that it would cost $15 million, but ended up at $57 million – nearly 4 times). Who's for putting money on SFU, if it gets built, ending up at $200 million?
UG lobby: “You certainly don’t have to consider urban gondolas, but to deny them is like saying the sky is green.”
PRT lobby: Have it your way: the sky IS green. And it's not covered in urban gondolas either. And until UG schmartens up, never will be.

@ Karl “...the system should be able to offer multiple routes to a destination to offer shortcuts (to reduce time in transit) and to bypass problems in the system (broken down vehicles or pods or gondolas). I have yet to see a gondola system that offers this level of flexibility.

Me either, Karl. By way of example, last weekend I rode one of the few remaining CPT rides still being operated at amusement parks, this one at “Lagoon”, just north of Salt Lake City. (This in itself invites a post entitled “Why are there no new gondolas being installed in theme parks? And why have most of them been removed? I recall riding Disney's http://www.yesterland.com/skyway.html
$300 thousand (in 1956 dollars would have been $2.5 million today. But it wouldn't come close to replacing the ride) Skyride went right through Magic Mountain one year, only to find it mountained-over the next. So, why?)
Back to Lagoon, right in the middle of the ride, with maybe a 100' drop, it suddenly jerked to a stop, everything now swaying from momentum. “Oh my God! Oh my God!”, screamed a lady in the car right opposite and covering her eyes. “I knew we shouldn't have gotten on this thing!” Fortunately for her, a certain gondola affectionado assured her that the wait was just temporary, probably just because they needed to help someone getting on or off. And sure enough, maybe 30 seconds later we were off and running. Only to stop again. And again.
UG lobby: “Pot calls the kettle black". PRT has never demonstrated the flexibility to offer multiple routes to a destination or offer shortcuts and to bypass problems either.”
PRT lobby: Kettle calls the pot a crockpot. Check the CabinTaxi video and eat your heart out. There are vivid examples of switching, of half. But then again, does it need to? When Boeing or Airbus decides to invest several billion dollars in bringing a new airliner into the world, they don't need to build a demonstrator. They not only build every single part on a computer, they 'fly' it on a computer. And they're confident enough that they will take tens of millions of dollars in orders before the first one actually flies. And when it finally does fly, lo and behold, it performs exactly as expected. One of the fundamental differences between GT and PRT is the fact that GT is a like a subway system, a 'tube' where everything gets constricted down to one line. PRT, on the other hand, just like the taxicab it's intended to replace, offers the flexibility of multiple lines, this giving the system the flexibility and the choice of choosing the best route.
Example. We're in Toronto on one of its main intersections, Yonge and Eglington. We want to get to Harbourfront, a straight shot 8 miles south and on the lakefront. If we were making the trip by transit, it would be one choice: the Yonge Subway (and a short car ride). If, for whatever reason, there were a breakdown (or maybe a driver passes out and rear-ends another train), the whole line would be shut down (I know from personal experience that it can be shut down for a lot less than that: I personally once shut down the entire Bloor line for 20 minutes. Actually, they shut it down for me). But let's hail a cab. First off, the driver would have sense enough (he's a PhD, like all Toronto cabbies) not even to consider Yonge St. He would take one of the arteries (Maybe Avenue Rd. several blocks west, or Bayview, several blocks east), then pretty well due south. These days, with GPS, he would have traffic following and know precisely which route to take. But the TTC rider – like the gondola rider – has no choice. One line, one straight shot.
And here's another thing thing. If your trip is in the off-hours, your pretty well stuck. But PRT, like the cab, is time insensitive: you want it: you ride it.
UG Lobby: “To a very small extent, PRT exists at Heathrow. As for your plans at Masdar . . . Have you looked them up lately? Masdar’s basically dead in the water. It’s now a point-to-point, 2 station people mover.”
PRT lobby: I'm wondering what this lobby's comment would have been to Wilbur and Orville. “Gee, fellas, you only flew 120 feet. You're basically dead in the air. Get a life”.
UG lobby: “(London and Masdar don't) quite live up to all that PRT presupposes it to, does it?”
PRT lobby: Even the journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step. This is our first step. Then again, using Heathrow and Masdar as examples of PRT is unfortunate. And more to the point, there are those of us touting other forms of PRT, when people use London or Masdar as examples of PRT, we are, well, embarrassed. In fact, let's use the L-word: lam-barrassed. To paraphrase an earlier posting (Ogden UT urban gondola), it's unfortunate that PRT and London and Masdar are so inextricably linked, but so be it. Same with Morgantown.
Using London and Masdar as PRT poster boys is like classifying ALL CPT as 'Tram'. And I'm sure I'm not the only person looking at the glorified golf carts of Heathrow or Masdar, then shaking his head in disbelief. It's like comparing a kid's tricycle to the Concord. They'll both get you there, one is just a tad faster.
ULTra of London and 2GetThere's Masdar both follow the Morgantown (which isn't PRT at all, but MST: Mass Slow Transit) approach of tarting up golf carts to run on a dedicated roadway. Sort of a mini BRT, except no driver (but enough 'watchers' that you might as well have drivers). If you wanted to elevate it – like Morgantown – you would have to elevate the entire street, not unlike a monorail, only wider. And just as expensive.
On the other hand, 'real' PRT (at least to this lobbyist, maybe a few others) uses the 'suspended' approach. Think 'curtain track'. The curtain (the PRT car, aka 'pod') hangs from a slot in a rod that is suspended from above the window. Same deal with suspended PRT: the pod hangs from a slot in an elevated rail. The main difference between PRT and CPT is that PRT is self-propelled. That gives it advantages and disadvantages – although those of us in the PRT lobby say advantage-PRT.
Returning to the present prime examples of London and Masdar, this lobbyist claims that these are hardly Personal RAPID Transit: they're personal, all right, but moving along at a snail's pace, they are hardly Rapid. Which why I've renamed them PST - Personal Slow Transit.
There is NOT one urban CPT on the ENTIRE planet that a) has heat; b) has AC; can 'fly' just above traffic; c) can act like transit in the sense that stops are bus stops sized; d) can be placed
UG lobby: “My problem with PRT is that it over-promises and under-delivers – for the last 60 years.”
PRT lobby: My problem with UG is that its main proponent over-promises and doesn't deliver a thing. My problem with PRT is that it's never been given a chance TO deliver what it promises.
UG lobby: “When it comes to CPT, we’re not promising much more than a cost-effective system to solve last mile problems with LT1M wait times. CPT has proven itself capable of solving that problem. PRT hasn’t been able to prove it after 60 years.”
PRT lobby: Au contraire. PRT has demonstrated and proven half-second headway. That beats the pants off gondola. As for the rest, don't get me started!

How to listen as described by a deaf person

A deaf person is going to teach you more about music than you probably ever learned from all the rest of the people who talked to you about music in your life.

I think TED is one of the greatest things to happen to humankind.

Guitar virtuoso

If you want to see a girl make a guitar her bitch, then you need to watch this exquisite TED performance by Kaki King.

Great food out doesn't have to be expensive

Darlene and I love to go out to eat at a restaurant. A lot. But you already knew that. So I am more than qualified to suggest that the value for money at most restaurants has declined steadily over the past 5 years. The days of being able to eat for two under $20, even $25 or $30 (drinks not included) are long gone, but the quality of the food has declined as well. Some of our favourite dishes have either disappeared or been rendered charicatures of their former selves at some of our regular eateries.

Well, lately we made a wonderful albeit purely accidental discovery. There's still a place you can go to get great food for two for under $25 - non-alcohholic drinks INCLUDED! Most recently, Darlene had a prime rib dinner with roasted vegetables and roasted potatoes while I had a veggie stir fry with beef - big giant pieces of beef, on rice. Darlene actually said it was one of the best prime rib meals she has ever had. That's a huge compliment coming from her. They serve breakfast too.

The name of this secretive noshery? Sunterra Market. Yeah. You may know them for their elite grocery store, but they serve hot food to your table too. If you go to the new one at the Keynote, you'll be impressed. The demo kitchen, where they offer cooking classes is on the second floor. The restaurant portion is on the third floor and there's a bar and an outdoor roof-top patio seating area as well.

Dear me: A letter to my 16 year old self

Hey Karl,

This is you/me 34 years from now, writing from one probable future.

You know how you hate school right now? I know exactly why. You are bored out of your freaking mind. You know you're smart and capable. You certainly proved that to everyone in grade 5, 6 and 7. But your marks have gone down ever since. Trust me - it's because you're bored. Take a look at your Geography marks. They're high because you enjoy geography. You know that secret thrill you get from looking at and studying maps? You'll enjoy it even more when you get older. There will be maps and photos taken from space of the entire world available for you to gawk at on computers. Everyone will have these computers and they'll be connected to each other using a world-wide network. You'll be in your god-damned glory.

I may as well tell you now - you're going to be convinced to join the military by your pal Christopher within 2 years of finishing high school. He will not show up at the swearing in ceremony where you commit to a long career in the service - you'll find yourself to be completely on your own. Don't panic. Go for it anyway. The military is going to change your life. It will help to build your confidence, instill the discipline you lack and give you a very interesting career - for free. You'll discover by accident that you not only love learning when the subject is interesting, but that you can teach. Yes - you my friend. You'll become very good at explaining things to people. Complicated things. You'll intuitively know how to distill the essence of any concept into something anyone can understand. It's a powerful skill and it will open many doors for you. (It actually runs in the family as it turns out)

You know how you like helping David DJ at the community hall dances in Two Mountains? The best is yet to come. You'll become a disc jockey in your own right, on the side, as a hobby. You'll be a late musical bloomer, but not to worry - you'll make up for lost time. You'll spin tunes nobody has heard before and they'll love you for it. Music is going to become a big part of your life and you'll embrace every new technology that comes along to help you enjoy and share music. You'll even dabble with a synthesizer for a while, maybe more if you take the time to learn how to read music.

If there's one thing I must impart to you while you're still young, it's this - stop blocking opportunities that come your way. Say 'yes' more. You'll be tempted to say 'no' and take a pass on a lot of things that come your way. Please DON'T! Every thing you say 'no' to is basically slamming the door on infinite possibilities and potential relationships, personal and professional. In this reality that I am living, it took you 20 years to discover by accident that you like improvisational theatre. It took you 10 years to discover that you like city planning and transportation. But you didn't do anything about it until you were 50. You should do something sooner.

In a sentence - it's better to have tried and failed than never tried and squashed an entire probability.

Have fun,

Karl

Gummy rug

Get it?

Where did the money go?

OK so, I've only been living in Alberta since 1994. Forgive me if I don't know what's going on. But I base my next observations on what other oil and gas producing countries have done with their royalties and frankly, I'm a bit confused and underwhelmed at the same time.

Middle Eastern countries pour their oil money into building massive (and that word is perhaps an understatement) infrastructure and development projects. Have you seen Abu Dhabi and Dubai? Anyone? How about Masdar City? Look it up (Masdar City is pictured). The future is here and it's happening in the UAE.

Some countries save their royalties in rainy day accounts - like Alberta does. Here's where I get confused. Norway, which only started saving 15 years ago, has already saved $512 billion. Alberta has a paltry $15 billion to show for 35 years of savings. It only seems like a lot until you see what others have saved in comparison. By the way, that amount of money would cover 12 months of health costs for the province. That's it.

Granted, we could have used the royalty money for infrastructure and massive development instead. But there isn't anything to show. Nothing. No impressive towers; no high speed rail; a faltering health and education system; crumbling infrastructure; no province-wide water management; no flood management; a trickle of arts funding; rural Alberta is still waiting for promised high speed internet; no electrical grid development; only a few new power plants; high fuel costs; no money for tunnels under new runways; a transit system mired in 1970s technology and design; the list goes on.

Oh wait - we have part of a ring road in Calgary. We also have part of a ring road in Edmonton. Impressive.

So my question is this - where is all the money going? The kind of economic cruising Alberta is doing should be sustainable with regular taxes, but it seems that all the oil and gas money is barely keeping us afloat. How is this possible? How does the rest of the country do it without all of those royalties? Edmonton and Calgary should look like the twin cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Or at least Abu Dhabi Jr. and Dubai Jr. Instead, we look like baby Ottawa and baby Houston. Colour me unimpressed.

Coming soon to a Disney Park near you

The sets will come in pairs and will include Dr. Bunsen Honeydew as R2-D2, Fozzy Bear as Chewbacca, and Gonzo as Darth Vader complete with his chicken Camilla as a Stormtrooper. Possibly available fall 2011.

WANT!

Beeker art

The ultimate mutation

X-Men meets the muppets.

Message to Shaw / Telus / other Canadian TV providers

The reality is that brick and mortar video rental stores are going out of business. Another reality is that services such as Netflix now make up a large part of the increased traffic on the internet lines you provide to us. As a consumer, I would suggest that there is an appropriate reaction to this new reality.

Just so we're clear, lowering the monthly cap on downloads by your customers is not the reaction we were looking for. Instead, since you also own the content providers, you might consider actually lowering prices for on-demand video content AND making ALL previously run programming available on-demand. That would be an appropriate and welcome reaction.

Loonie power

What people wiped their butts with before toilet paper was invented

Corn cobs; coconuts; seashells; the smooth edges of broken pottery jugs; seaweed; animal furs; sticks; snow; moss; hay; leaves; grass; sheep's wool; wood shavings; stone; fruit skins; lace; hemp; newspapers; magazines; sponges; the Sears catalogue

In case you didn't think you were getting hosed enough by the movie theatres

If you find yourself squinting at the theatre, it could be that rather than swap out the 3D lens when showing a 2D movie, they leave it in the projector. The result can be an almost 85% darker projection. To save time (and therefore money), some projectionists aren't swapping the lenses. It requires entering extra passwords to open the projector and some theatres leave the 3D lens in place.

If the movie is really really dark, look back toward the booth. If you see two beams of light coming out, one on top of the other, that's a Sony projector with the 3D lens.

Oh come on. It's not like you pay a lot to see movies in the theatre, eh?

Genki sudo

Great choreographed dance.

Shell easyPAY FAQ

When will easyPay be discontinued? 1 June 2011.

Why is easyPAY being discontinued? Because it works. Because you like it. You thought the only way we'd push your buttons was by wildly varying the price of gas. Nope. We enjoy annoying you on multiple levels.

Will Shell be replacing easyPAY with some other contact-less pay solution? Maybe. And by maybe we mean we're still thinking about it. And by we're still thinking about it we mean probably not. We are evaluating some exciting alternate pay options such as first-born sacrifice and spousal kidnapping. In the meantime, we would like to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience, but we're laughing way too hard for it to come out sincerely.

Can I still pay at the pump? Absolutely. It's never been easier. Just fumble for your wallet or purse, then insert and quickly remove your credit card. NOTE: If your card is about to expire in less than six months, be aware that the card may not be accepted. You can then insert your Air Miles card and quickly remove it to collect your reward miles. Air Miles aren't worth as much as they used to be, so don't be surprised if you need to buy 5 years' worth of gasoline products before you can fly to the next major city away from you. By the time you've finished swiping your two magnetic strip cards, you had better have quickly answered 'yes' to the displayed question 'Would you like a fill up?', or if it times out, you'll have to begin all over again.

What do I do with my easyPAY tag after 1 June 2011? Keep it. The built-in GPS tracking device is used by government intelligence officials to track your movements to make sure you're not a terrorist. In fact, that's always been the purpose of the tag all along. Using it to buy our gasoline products was just a front. Don't you dare try to throw it out. We know where you live.

People of kijiji:

Like seriously... WTF?

I see this ad for a man's watch listed at $350: "I have a brand new men's XXXXXX watch for sale. Regular price is $450.00. I can email a picture of the watch if interested."

Oh wait! I have a far-out idea. Why don't you just place a picture of the watch IN THE AD? Because I'm not even going to bother emailing you for a picture. Am I being picky? OK, have it your way. The next time Future shop sends out a flyer, let's see how you react when they don't include any pictures and say "We can email a picture of the [insert computer / cell phone / appliance / DVD here] if interested."

I'm sorry. I'm being ridiculous. I've had an annoying day and I shouldn't take it out on you. Maybe there's a good reason for the missing picture. Maybe your camera batteries are running low and you're poor and trying to conserve battery power. Maybe you can only recharge your camera batteries with solar power and it's too cloudy. Maybe you have a phobia of cameras and need to ask your sister to come over to take pictures and you don't want to be a bother. Oh, I almost forgot. Maybe the watch is stolen and a picture might tip off the police or the real owner of the watch.

Can you at least include a model number so we can Google our own image of the damned thing? Geez.... Good luck selling your watch.......

50th birthday dinner

So a while back Darlene and I bought a new stove from Sears. That got us entered into a sweepstakes draw. After a few false starts, it was determined that we won. The prize is a dinner for 8, cooked in our home by a chef. That dinner happened last night. The toughest part was of course narrowing down our guest list to 6 people (besides ourselves). It broke my heart having to choose such a small number. I wish it could have been 28 people. Apologies for all of the secrecy, but there you go.

Chef Ashlee prepared and served with her assistant, from scratch, a 5 course meal from fresh ingredients - that's her in the background with the flowery chef hat, which she bought only because Darlene seemed disappointed when she found out Ashlee didn't have a chef's hat.

We tried

With apologies to my Christian friends, but this was way too funny to pass up.

Chicken

Best PowerPoint presentation ever.

Here's the YouTube video of the presentation being presented and here is the actual presentation.

Rover legacy

NASA's Spirit Mars rover is finally declared non-responsive after 6 years and 7.7km of exploring the Martian surface with damaged electronics and two lame wheels. Its twin, Opportunity, is still going strong, after 30km of exploration of 3 craters and on its way to a 4th crater, Endeavour.

These rovers were only supposed to last 3 months.

Feathering

It's innovation like this that might actually get us into space.

The Practical Lexicon Episode 4A - The PRT episode

Last night, Bernie and I recorded a podcast out of sequence with the planned order of podcasts we were planning to do according to our plan. The reason for the disruption is that in less than a week, I'll be meeting with staff from the Mayor's office in Calgary to state the case for PRT in this city. In particular, I'll be trying to convince the powers that be that there is an area of the city in particular, perfectly suited to the first modern PRT system in North America, as I have previously blogged about here.

I decided it was time to open up the discussion about PRT before the meeting takes place and you can listen to that discussion below in the player.

In my excitement, I had to edit out a few mistakes but noticed that one made it to publication, namely, PRT actually stands for 'personal' rapid transit.

Donut Don Deftly Disappears

Regarding the immediate exit of Tim Horton's CEO Don Schroeder:

"We have a talented, experienced and highly capable executive group, and we will continue to drive execution of our established strategic growth plans and initiatives, which are designed to capitalize on market opportunities, as the board concludes the process to appoint a new CEO"

Translation:

"Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was."

Otomata

What do you get when you add math and music? You get this amazing music generating application. It's fun to try different starting patterns to see which one gives you the nicest melody. Click a square more than once and the direction it will start off in changes (as shown by the arrow in the square).

It's addicting.

Best passive aggressive note... ever

Go here to see the full sized note.

Having fun with a moving sidewalk

There's really nothing more to say.

I'm not even going to spoil it with a picture.

Amsterdam... damn right

Amsterdam (Netherlands) is giving away a free parking spot to anyone who buys an electric car. Under a plan started in 2009, electric car owners receive a parking space near their home.

That's not all. The parking spot comes with a charging station installed by the city.

There's more. Amsterdam is also giving the electricity to the vehicle owner for free.

Not finished. To add a green touch, Amsterdam says that all the electricity for the charging posts comes from non-polluting sources such as solar, wind and waste-based biomass.

Fum & Gebra

A cat and a barn owl are playmates.

I don't know which animal has more fun in this relationship, the owl or the cat.