Half sandwich place

Small things 16 Aug

• Tell any random teen that you used to get Netflix delivered by mail and see if they believe you.
• A different version of you exists in the minds of everyone who knows who you are.
• When you eat spaghetti, just gather some up on your fork and use those kitchen scissors to cut the long dangly parts off, which will fall back into the plate. Double-dare: Do this in a restaurant....
• SAT score, credit score, cholesterol level, then A1C. Your life is nothing but a series of scores.
• A banker, a worker, and an asylum seeker are sitting at a table with 20 cookies. The banker takes 19 cookies and warns the worker, "Watch out, the asylum seeker is going to take your cookie away!"
• Sun: One day, I'll destroy your whole planet.    Humankind: Not if we do it first!
• Do dumplings imply the existence of a large dumple?
• Isn't it weird that women don't name their daughters after themselves? There are no Becky Jr.s

Dumb fish!

Be good

"Whether you believe in God or not does not matter so much, whether you believe in Buddha or not does not matter so much; as a Buddhist, whether you believe in reincarnation or not does not matter so much. You must lead a good life. And a good life does not mean just good food, good clothes, good shelter. These are not sufficient. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion, without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their rights and human dignity."

~Dalai Lama

Things I learned lately 16 Aug

• Rick Wiles preaches that meatless burgers are a satanic plot to change the DNA of humans so that they can't be born again.
• Since 2007, the fleet of McDonald’s delivery trucks in the United Kingdom has run on biofuel derived from waste cooking oil generated in McDonald’s restaurants.
• The label of Heinz Ketchup specifically calls the product “Tomato Ketchup” because when the iconic brand was introduced in 1876, there were many varieties of ketchup such as mushroom, oyster, and walnut.
• The song "Drinking in LA" got little notice in the US. It charted to 35 in Canada, but broke the top 20 in Europe, the Nordic countries and the UK.
• There are people who peel the coating off chicken nuggets before eating them.

Free speech

Songs that are 50 years old this year (2019)

• The Archies - Sugar sugar
• The 5th Dimension - Aquarius / Let the sunshine in
• The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women
• Sly & the Family Stone - Everyday people
• Elvis - Suspicious minds / In the ghetto
• CCR - Proud Mary / Bad moon rising
• Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline
• The Beatles - Get back / Something
• Zager & Evans - In the year 2525
• Stevie Wonder - My cherie amour
• Oliver - Good morning starshine
• The Guess Who - These eyes
• Bob Dylan - Lay lady lay
• Ray Stevens - Guitarzan
• Harry Nilsson - Everybody's talkin'
• Marvin Gaye - I heard it through the grapevine
• BJ Thomas - Hooked on a feeling

Flying with birds

Can you imagine flying with birds in formation so close you could reach out and touch them?

It's for real!

Small things 9 Aug

• Lollipops. When you'd prefer flavoured saliva.
• Industry analysts are finally suggesting what I've been saying for years - by the time Canada builds its full fossil fuel exporting infrastructure, there may no longer be a market for it.
• Hissy fit: A cat tantrum.
• In ancient times, cats were worshipped as gods. They have not forgotten.
• A cat is always on the wrong side of a door.
• You don't really wash your hands. They wash each other and you just stand there and watch.
• Therapist: Your wife says you never buy her flowers. Is that true? Him: To be honest, I never knew she sold flowers....

Oh yeah? Watch this.........

Rediscovering Google Maps

OK, so I didn't actually rediscover Google Maps in the purest sense. I do use it whenever I'm going somewhere I've never been before, especially the maze-like neighbourhoods that we have in Calgary. One could get lost trying to find your way through Bridlewood Common to Bridlewood Way to Bridlewood Lane to Bridlewood Park, etc.

But with the road construction situation being what it is most summers in our city, even getting from a familiar part of town to another familiar part of the other side of town can be a challenge. Google Maps to the rescue.

Now that Maps considers live traffic and is even made aware of road closures in almost real time, it does the kind of navigation job that you could almost never accomplish on your own without opening Maps and checking the entire route manually. It's gotten to the point now where Darlene insists we let Google light the way any time we're headed to another side of the city.

Oh he did, did he?

Things I learned lately 9 Aug

• In the US, for the period Jan to Jun 2019, the Tesla Model 3 outsold (67,650) all other top 10 electric models combined (38,254).
• In the first half of 2019, Scotland generated enough energy from wind power to supply its homes twice over.
• If the earth were represented by a tennis ball to show size and distance scale, the moon would be the size of a Nerf ball and be 7 feet away. The sun would be 24 feet wide and be half a mile away.
• Seagulls with 5 and a half foot wingspans in the UK have been known to pick off small dogs and lambs. 
• Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States, would only allow female reporters to attend her press conferences; in doing so, she forced newspapers to hire women as reporters in an era when the vast majority of reporters were men.
• Prior to around 1800, shoes designed specifically for the left and right feet were rare; the majority of people wore “straights”, shoes that had no differentiation between the left and right sides.
• PAM cooking spray, introduced in the early 1960s, was an acronym for the inventor: Product of Arthur Meyerhoff.

Tiny waves and werewolves!

Small things 2 Aug

• If you boil a funny bone it becomes a laughing stock.
• You know you're an adult when you're excited about a crock pot.
• "If you lose one sense your other senses are enhanced. That’s why people with no sense of humour have a heightened sense of self-importance."  ~Anonymous
• Just bring your own snacks into the movie theatre and claim it's emotional support food......
• Dice. The original random number generator.
• Thermometers are speedometers for atoms.....
• Do crabs look at humans and think we walk sideways?

OCD Candy

Sometimes photoshopping is awesome

I absolutely love the great way this photographer photoshops herself into iconic celebrity photos.

Flora Borsi is based in Budapest.

Back in the day....

Things I learned lately 2 Aug

• Every 'c' in the word Pacific Ocean is pronounced differently.
• Penny farthing racing is a thing (YouTube it!)
• Oratoire St. Joseph is one of the most iconic buildings in Montreal; so much so that city law restricts any building from being constructed that exceeds the height of the Oratory. The tip of the dome is thus the highest point in Montreal. The Oratory is Canada’s largest church and boasts the third largest dome in the world.
• They used to stage train wrecks for entertainment until the 1930s.
• In the 1500s, it was noted by European visitors that indigenous people in Mexico used chocolate to treat numerous ailments ranging from dysentery and indigestion, to fatigue and dyspepsia.
• Domesticated dogs have special eyebrow muscles that wolves lack. It's what allows them to give us that puppy dog eye look when they have eye contact with humans.
• Analysts suggest we have reached 'peak car', meaning car sales will only start declining from here.
• There are people who refer to the word theory as a scientific 'guess' that is unproven. The actual definition: A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that is acquired through the scientific method and repeatedly tested and confirmed, preferably using a written, pre-defined, protocol of observations and experiments.
• The tides don't actually go in and out like how we describe it verbally. The earth rotates through the tidal bulge. So when the tide is 'coming in' at the beach, it's just the beach rotating into the tidal bulge that's always there. (Thanks NDGT)
• The moon creates the same tide no matter the phase. The reason a full moon tide is higher is because it's getting a tidal assist from the sun.

Foot petting

In New York, restaurants have publicly posted health ratings

We don’t take speeding seriously in Canada

I’m currently a member of a traffic safety committee in my neighbourhood. I joined this committee because I want to help make our streets safer. Since I joined the group, the committee has received dozens of complaints suggesting that speeding is a big problem and that the neighbourhood’s streets are not safe for our children to play in, or to cross the street. Even at lighted, controlled crosswalks, crossing is a hazardous activity.

The city of Calgary is currently debating whether to reduce the residential speed limit from 50 km/h to 30 km/h, in particular for streets that are not considered thoroughfares. As a result of these discussions however, the City’s traffic engineering staff seem to be washing their hands of any changes to address speeding concerns until after council make their decision one way or the other. The attitude isn’t that great either. The argument I’m always faced with when speaking about traffic safety to those in charge of it, is if there haven’t been any incidents, there isn’t a problem. What I don’t think they realize, is that incidents have likely been avoided up until now partly as a result of good luck, and mostly as a result of families not being comfortable using streets the way the residents would prefer to use them. In my experience, there may not have been many incidents, but there certainly have been a lot of close calls.

I don’t particularly feel we’re going to accomplish anything by reducing speed limits in our city, because if speeding is already an issue, lowering the speed limit won’t solve the problem. There is only one thing that can reduce speeding on our roads and that’s enforcement. But as we all know, with the exception of strategically placed (and quite obvious) photo radar camera vehicles and intersections, enforcement is practically non-existent.

In the UK, they generally have two types of permanent speed enforcement using cameras. One type, commonly found in towns and cities in areas where speeding is an issue or safety is a concern (such as school zones), cameras are permanently installed and are triggered any time a speeding vehicle passes by. There are always signs warning that they are approaching a speed zone camera. The other type are found on the overpasses of motorways (highways). Most motorway cameras don’t record your speed, they record when you pass the camera. Cameras further down the road also record when you pass and a computer automatically calculates your average speed between those points. If your calculated average speed is above the speed limit, you get a ticket. Motorways can also have variable speed limits, so the calculation takes the temporarily reduced speed into account as well. There are 2,838 cameras in the UK. To be honest, the backlash against them is strong.

The UK also have something called Community Speed Watch. Volunteers in their own community spend some time each week monitoring speeds and noting license plates. Those identified as speeding are sent a warning letter and the police will take further action if the same vehicle is identified as speeding 3 times. Community Speed Watch is only permitted for speed limits of 40 mph (64 km/h) or below. Junior Speed Watch works in a similar way but involves school children.

In France, there are hundreds of unmarked police cars equipped with radar that can measure and record another vehicle’s speed while they roam around the roads and streets. So you never know when or where you might get caught.

France is implementing very sophisticated speed cameras that are capable of seeing across eight lanes of traffic, and can monitor several vehicles at once. The cameras have the ability to take note of drivers or passengers who are not wearing seat belts, and detect drivers who are using their mobile phone on the road. They can also detect and record illegal passing, and dangerous driving practices such as tailgating, running a red light, and driving in a prohibited lane or area.

In Germany, they have speed cameras as well, and you do get a fine for being caught speeding. But the fine for not leaving the proper distance to the vehicle in front of you is even higher. In other words, you can get a big fine for tailgating on highways.

In Canada, I know that people in general have an attitude toward photo radar cameras that they are just a money generating device for police services. But I really do believe that speed limits in playground and school zones need to be enforced full time, and the only way I can see this being accomplished is with permanent speed cameras. I would like to see the Community Speed Watch concept tried here as well. That way, residents who perceive that speeding is a problem in their neighbourhood can monitor speed, note plate numbers and report them to police. Let the police deal with these drivers when 3 or more complaints have been registered against them.

Tech review of the human body

+Liquid cooled
+Built-in face ID
+Highly entertaining
+Self-healing skin
+Gets better the more you use it

-Long recharge times
-You must put a case on it
-Leaks a lot
-Not intuitive
-No find my human feature

Small things 11 Jul

• I'm guessing being told you kick like a girl is no longer a sexist insult........ (women's soccer)
• If social media are biased against Trump and other Conservatives, how does Trump succeed in tweeting all those hateful insults and lies? How do foreign players succeed in getting political and socio-economic propaganda sold on Facebook as advertising or fake news?
• Imagine if Spotify could only stream music from one label or music company. If you wanted music from another label, you had to buy a subscription from Tidal, or Apple, or Google Play, or Amazon. If you wanted all music, you had to subscribe to everything. Well, that's exactly where streaming TV and movies is going. It's not going to work. Dear Disney and HBO: Your stuff isn't so great that I'm going to spend another $10+ dollars per month to watch your stuff. Each. That's a cable bill. Also, kiss your Blu-Ray and movie ticket sales goodbye.
• The only reason (probably) that Americans are interested in going back to the moon is that the American flags planted there are disintegrating.
• There are really only 3 ways to fail: when you quit, don't improve, or never try.
• Compare yourself only to who you were yesterday, not to anyone else.
• We spend our lives online trying to convince another machine that we're not a machine ("I'm not a robot")(captcha).
• Some folks decry when 'elites' are elected to government, but there is no longer a common definition of what an 'elite' actually is.

Aussie deal

Canadian mobile providers say the reason our prices are so high is because of how spread out we are in Canada.

OK, so how does Australia do it?

Things I learned lately 11 Jul

• More than 3 million seniors in the US are still paying off their student loans.
• Nearly 50% of millennials who have or had student-loan debt think college wasn't worthwhile.
• Average temperatures for most of France, Germany, and northern Spain during the June 2019 heat wave were up to 18 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) above normal, hotter than any other June in recorded weather history.
• A family court judge in New Jersey showed leniency toward a teen aged male who raped a drunken female party-goer in the basement and filmed the assault. He then shared the video with friends, including a caption, "When your first time having sex was rape." The judge noted that the boy came from a good family, attended an excellent school, thrived academically, and served as an Eagle scout. He expressed concern over why the prosecutor hadn't explained to Mary, who is using a pseudonym to protect her identity, and her mother how pressing charges against the teen's attacker could ruin his life.
• A man pulled over in Las Vegas for driving in the HOV lane used the excuse, "I have a body ion the back", referring to the dead body being driven to a funeral home.
• Tesla sold 67,650 Model 3 electric cars in the US through in the first half of 2019.
• Halle Berry, while still a struggling actress, often slept in a homeless shelter.
• Bees make 'bee bread', which is an edible form of pollen made of a mixture of pollen and honey.
• An area as big as the US would need new trees planted right now to hope to offset climate change.

It looks like the ocean but it's a plastic bag

Recycling blues

I thought that recycling was going to be one more step toward the idyllic goal of sustainability. But now we seem to be faltering on that step.

As far as I know, most of the paper, cardboard and beverage containers we throw in the recycle bin every week is being used to either make new paper, cardboard and beverage containers, or something else that is useful. The last I heard, there was an issue with coloured glass, something to do with its colour making it less valuable on the recycling market, but the clear stuff was also being re-purposed.

Plastic, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be faring well in the recycling process. I had been throwing out every type of plastic that had one of those recycle triangles on it. I have gotten notices from the City that I'm throwing out some plastics that aren't allowed. So I took a look at their guide.

Any plastic with the triangle symbol 1 to 7. But then you look at the fine print - only if it's a container. Coffee cup lids? Nope. Foam takeout containers? No. Coffee pods? Not according to their list. Plastic wrappings that rip? No. The only kind of bag allowed are stretchy grocery bags, which can't be thrown loose. They have to be bundled and tied up in another bag (it's about the sorting machine). No plastic cutlery. No yogurt or toothpaste tubes.

It really is a conundrum. On the one hand we're being asked to minimize what we're sending to the landfill, but at the same time there are a lot of things that can't be recycled. I have also read that our city is having a lot of trouble finding buyers for our recyclable waste. We don't seem to have any local entrepreneurial companies able to turn our leftover plastic into other items.

So what's the solution? I for one have been hoping that governments, in light of the fact that it's getting harder to dispose of many types of plastics, especially ones that have been in contact with food, would ban oil based plastics for food containers and switch us to biodegradable and/or compostable containers. At least then they could get put in the compost bin.

Unfortunately, although some vendors have already switched to food containers that biodegrade, out composting facilities didn't think it was important to be ready for the longer degrading time these containers need. Currently, the food containers they are getting are being diverted to the landfill even though they are biodegradable.

A company in Germany, Kaffeeform, is making reusable cups partly out of coffee grounds. They're biodegradable too.

Little Einsteins Dance

This father and son dance routine is adorable.

Small things 5 Jul

• Crows have been documented holding 'funerals' for years, but researchers now suggest that they not be 'mourning', they may be examining the body and surrounding area for potential threats to the rest. So, it's more an autopsy and criminal investigation. You might even call it a 'murder' investigation......
• Q. I'm two months pregnant. When can I expect my baby to move? A. With any luck, right after they finish college.
• I'm thinking about trying out minimalism. It's the least I could do.....
• Never stick a cotton swab too far into your ear. You might reset yourself to default factory settings.
• Do a Google image search on "human face dog muzzle". I didn't even know they were a thing. Also, try and unsee those pictures afterwards................
• Irish guacamole, or as we like to call it - mashed potatoes.
• Plesz PSA: The left lane is for passing. It is not for cruising at the limit, slightly above the limit, or more than slightly above the limit. It is for passing. That is all.
• Whatever you do, don't print out a bunch of Google photos of positive pregnancy tests and tuck them under random windshield wipers in a parking lot, with notes that say "We need to talk...". That's just cruel.
• When you get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, do you try not to wake up too much so you'll fall back asleep right away?
• People who say "No tattoos thanks, my body is a temple." have obviously never been inside a temple.