20th
April
2008
The world shown on the “big screen” is far from real, but sometimes a movie will make you stop, think a little and then sigh in relief that we live in an easier world than many others. Tonight, we sat through The Last King Of Scotland and we came away with troubled spirits. The headlines in a local newspaper don’t provide enough content for us to realize how bad things have been in various times and places.
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posted in politics, travel |
19th
April
2008
Up here in Canada, there are a certain number of things that are inevitable; snow, mosquitoes, cascaded taxes, potholes and hockey on TV. Given the number of sports networks, the value to advertisers and the propensity of a certain subset to stare fixedly at any screen with a black dot, hockey rises to the top of the subject vat this evening. It’s not my fault.
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posted in media |
18th
April
2008
Shortly before we left on vacation last year, I decided to make an impulse purchase of a small water carrying bottle. A brand name bottle, made by a company that has provided laboratories with a whole line of flasks, jugs, etc. Experts in their field, not just a third-world knockoff firm. Safety for the discerning camper.
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posted in environment |
17th
April
2008
Apparently I’m just stupid enough to be happy. When a remark like that comes from your best friend, you have to believe. According to my friend, I should be much more stressed about the financial choices that are forced on us by time and mechanical failure, but after analysis, it’s much easier just to roll over and accept that I’m not a carrier of the “rich” gene.
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posted in technology |
16th
April
2008
Today, while reading the “local” English language newspaper (from the other city down the road), I felt a great cultural chasm open before me. With all my experience in the world, I have never seen, let alone tasted, a “matzoh ball“. The paper had three pages of coverage, not counting the front page headline; there’s a divide among the “sinkers” and “floaters”. What to do? Where to turn?
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posted in environment, health, technology |
15th
April
2008
Should one be more exasperated with the climate or the stupid behavior it engenders in people? Hard call; after receiving the largest snowfall in recorded history (for this city) people are weary. People want their green lawns and patio chairs. People will act oddly if the opportunity appears.
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posted in environment |
14th
April
2008
The east coast of Canada has been invaded by clowns. Forget the rhetoric; the whole protest against the seal hunt is one designed to receive as much press coverage as possible. I won’t bother naming those involved, because there is no need to give them any more public presence than they’ve already garnered.
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posted in politics |
13th
April
2008
There’s an idea that television can provide a window on the world. If the world means endless rounds of golf, game shows, the search to see who is smarter than a fifth grader or a chance to see what the weather might be tomorrow, then it’s probably a window on a brick wall in an alley. Once in a while, though, the curtain does show places and people that are outside of the fence. Tonight, I hit a solid string of broadcasts that made me sit and watch.
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posted in media |
12th
April
2008
I’m going to catch up with a small administrative task left over from yesterday, and then we’ll look at some ideas on how the virtual desktop can be shared among varied machines. For the past couple of years, the snowfall levels have kept me watchful – will the tendency to accumulate come to an end, so that we can return to more of a “barefoot in the park” lifestyle. To that end, I’ve been taking photos, and yesterday afternoon should have been one of those freeze-frames. Except that I was at work; my photo today is LATE, but the difference should not be measurable.
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posted in computing |
11th
April
2008
Yes, I’ve cleaned up around the place. A new coat of paint, some better curtains. Hope you don’t mind, but even complacent individuals feel the need to renew their surroundings. It didn’t cost much either; somebody left a theme out on the Internet, and the foundations were upgraded by the developers. I just spent some time in finagle mode.
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posted in computing |
