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.

Some teachers are just amazingly creative

Teaching tectonic plate activity with candy bars...

Paranoidmail

 

Why I can’t vote for the UCP led by Danielle Smith

[This is but a small sample from a real live list of hundreds of horrible decisions, bad faith politicking, power grabs and funding cuts enacted by the UCP]

Interference in AHS hiring Dr Deena Hinshaw as Public Health and Preventive Medicine Lead with the Indigenous Wellness Core.

Interfering with the CPP even after it became clear that the majority of Albertans do not want an Alberta Pension Plan.

Reinstating the fuel tax even while many people were struggling to make ends meet.

Pausing all green energy projects even while the premier admitted that the grid needs more generation capacity.

Unreasonable tuition increases and education program cuts.

Education tax credit eliminated.

Increased funding to private schools.

Cap lifted on charter school funding.

Unnecessarily spending on privatizing the lab services, jeopardizing careers and making it difficult to get an appointment only to cancel the switch.

Tried to move forward with a new school curriculum that no school board wanted.

Tried to remove breakfast grants.

Threw out a new school curriculum. Created a Conservative panel with no active Alberta teachers on it.

Cutting the daycare subsidy.

Cancellation of 450 Children’s Service grants.

Mask mandates and online school classes are banned.

Deindexing Alberta Works and AISH.

John Howard Society loses all funding. Woods Homes funding cut.

STARS air ambulance funding cut.

CERB recipients cut from all provincial supports.

Funding cuts to museums and heritage sites.

Accusing teachers of ‘indoctrinating’ children.

Energy War Room. Finally cancelled, but should never have started.

Foreign mining companies are allowed to ‘explore’ coal mining.

Oil and gas companies now have a property tax exemption.

Provincial Park fees.

Cut funding to elite wildfire firefighters.

Closed down the rappel wildfire firefighting team.

Bad faith bargaining with doctors.

Bill 10 allows laws to be passed without due process.

Constant battling with Ottawa. Blaming them for literally everything.

Cuts to legal aid. Then cancelling the contract for legal aid.

Ceased Indigenous Land Acknowledgements.

Alberta doesn't recognize National Truth and Reconciliation Day.

Alberta removed provincial indigenous tax exemption cards.

“The unvaccinated are the most discriminated group”.

Threatening to put hospitals under a Catholic healthcare provider whose listed principles include no abortion, no IVF, no contraception, pharmaceutical or otherwise, whose board is primarily made up of former UCP politicians.

Trying to block the Green Line at every turn.

Refusing to increase funding to Calgary’s Green Line.

Trying to blame the Green line cost overruns and now cancellations on Nenshi.

The irony

 

Making the bed

 

Things I learned lately 6 Sep

• Chicagoans have a strong aversion to putting ketchup on their hot dogs. This disdain for ketchup is deeply rooted in the city's food identity and the specific ingredients that characterize a Chicago-style hot dog. The Chicago-style hot dog is a culinary icon, typically consisting of an all-beef frankfurter served in a steamed poppy seed bun, topped with mustard, chopped onions, sweet pickle relish, tomato slices, sport peppers, a dill pickle spear, and celery salt. This combination of toppings reflects the city's diverse immigrant history, with each ingredient representing different cultural influences. Ketchup, with its sweet flavor profile, is seen as an unwelcome addition that disrupts the carefully balanced taste of the hot dog and its toppings. The aversion to ketchup has become a part of Chicago's identity, with even notable figures like Barack Obama commenting that ketchup should not be used on hot dogs past the age of eight. This cultural stance has been so ingrained that asking for ketchup can lead to public ridicule or even refusal of service at some hot dog stands.
• Canada is home to the world's oldest known rock, the Acasta Gneiss, which is approximately 4.01 billion years old.

Small things 30 Aug

• Imagine if more people said, “I don’t know enough about that to properly form an opinion on it.”
• A good relationship is when she is by your side during bad times, to tell you that none of this would've happened if you had just listened to her.
• If you died choking on a gummy bear, I would just tell people you were killed by a bear and leave it at that.
• John Fluevog shoes’ new slogan: “Total sh** show.”
• If you're trying to impress me with your vehicle, it had better be a food truck.
• Old enough to do whatever I want. Too tired to do it.
• Corporations making record profits: “It’s inflation…”   Consumers: “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.”
• People on benefits aren't negatively affecting your life in the slightest. If your life sucks, it’s probably because of the rich. Blaming the people on benefits suits them just fine.

Telling a story

 

Fractions

 

Letter diet

Imagine you could only choose to eat food beginning with B, C or P. Which would you pick?

No you can’t cheat by listing things like BBQ chicken, BBQ beef, BBQ pork, BBQ chips…

B foods

Beef / Broccoli / Beets / Bread / Buns / Bananas / Bacon / Beans / Butter / Bagels / Brownie / Blueberry

C foods

Chicken / Cheese / Chocolate / Cake / Cheesecake / Cookies / Corn / Cereal / Cherries

Coffee / Carrots / Chips / Cream

P foods

Pork / Potatoes / Peaches / Pancakes / Pie / Pasta / Peppers / Pizza / Peanuts / Pineapple / Pickles

Shaun the dog

 

To do list

 

Things I learned lately 30 Aug

• They changed the alphabet song so that the ‘lmnop’ part is sung less compacted than before.
• The belief that you need to drink 6-8 glasses of water daily is based on a misunderstanding of basic physiology. While water is essential for life, the body loses about 1.5-2 liters of water daily through breathing, sweating, and urination, which needs to be replenished. However, this doesn't mean you need to drink 6-8 glasses of water specifically. The 1945 recommendation for 2.5 liters of daily water intake included water from food sources, which many people overlook. Most people naturally consume enough water through their regular diet and beverages like coffee or juice. The thirst mechanism is reliable in prompting you to drink when needed, though it may fade with age. Drinking more water than necessary doesn't offer health benefits, as excess water is simply excreted. Studies have shown no benefit in drinking extra water for kidney function, debunking the myth that more water helps flush out toxins or improves kidney health. Therefore, focus on drinking when you're thirsty, and stay hydrated in hot weather, but don't stress over hitting a specific water intake target. (Condensed from an article by Christopher Labos MD MSc)
• The last Montreal Canadiens player to record 80 points in a season was Alex Kovalev in the 2007/2008 season.

Small things 23 Aug

• Should a pro-gun candidate be allowed to surround themself with bullet-proof glass while giving a speech at their rally? Asking for a friend.
• An enigma I struggle to understand is that there are major conservative policies that are generally unpopular. Better gun control is popular. The woman's right to choose is popular. LGBTQ+ rights are popular. A $20 minimum wage is popular. UBI is popular. Proportional representation is popular. These are all liberal (left) policies. Conservatives generally want the opposite of those things. Yet the conservatives are still popular.
• I think it’s time that all women should automatically get to carry their own last name when they get married. Or at least have the choice to. It is the same right men have.
• There was a time when if someone said “You can get really great sound from a 2-way speaker (tweeter and woofer only, no midrange driver), people would have labeled them heretics.
• All the bathrooms in our house are gender-neutral. I brag about that to all the conservatives I know.
• "The less talent they have, the more pride, vanity and arrogance they have. All these fools, however, find other fools who applaud them."  ~Erasmus, 1509
• The Internet generation is so selfish. It’s always meme meme meme.

All the NHL players from North America

 Showing all their birthpaces.

Best ticket ever

 

All the lyrics but alphabetized episode 3

Can you guess the song?

a air and at baking beach bikini bikinis boy’s broke bubble butter by catfish chased clam clapping comes deep dock dogfish dolphins down ear everybody everybody’s fans fell fire fish flew flexing flippers flipping for frugging fun giant girls goes grabbed had having he here his horses hose in it jam jelly let’s lifeguard lobe lobster lots manta-ray matching mermaids mermen motion muscles narwhale noseguard ocean of on out party pass piranha potatoes put reached red robin rock rocking round sailing saw sea shells snappers snapping somebody someone stingray sun surfboards tanning that the there they to towels trouble twisting under underneath wailing walked was wasn’t watch waves waving we went were whale your

A guide for new fathers

 

Rear door ashtray

 That my friends, is an example of the smoking in the car culture that prevailed in the 1970s. The rear door arm rest ashtray, lighter optional.

Things I learned lately 23 Aug

Red Velvet Cake is essentially a vanilla cake with a hint of cocoa powder, which gives it a mild chocolate flavor. The cake is known for its fine, smooth, and soft crumb. The addition of vinegar and buttermilk gives the cake a slight tanginess, which complements the sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting typically used. 

The signature red color of the cake originally came from a chemical reaction between non-Dutch processed cocoa and acidic ingredients like vinegar and buttermilk. However, modern recipes often use red food coloring to achieve the vibrant hue. Alternatives to artificial coloring include natural dyes such as beet juice or pomegranate powder, although these can alter the cake's flavor slightly. Red velvet cake has its roots in the Victorian era, where "velvet" cakes were known for their soft texture. 

The red color was not initially as pronounced as it is today. The cake gained popularity in the United States in the early 20th century, with the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City playing a significant role in its rise to fame. During World War II, when ingredients like cocoa were rationed, bakers used beet juice to maintain the cake's color and moisture. The modern version of red velvet cake, with its bright red color, became popular due to the efforts of the Adams Extract Company, which marketed a recipe using red food dye.