February 15, 2004
Well, if it is on sale...
Shopping day... Got Pekka Himanen's The Hacker Ethic: and the Spirit of the Information Age, and Wiser's The Twilight Years: Paris in the 1930s. And two cool sweaters. And some sundry dry goods. Somehow everything was 50-70% off. What's with all this consumerism?
Oh, the Hacker Ethic is on sale at Indigo at the Eatons Centre for $5, hardcover.
January 20, 2004
Even better news...
Just got an email from JJ who runs my favorite Bistro (Le Select) with a URL to an article in The Wine Spectator saying that Study Finds Red Wine Destroys Bacteria That Cause Lung Infections, Heart Disease.
No wonder Yuka and I never tend to get sick in the winter.
December 29, 2003
December 23, 2003
2 big surveillance issues.
NY Times has two good articles on surveillance: Lost? Hiding? Your cell phone is keeping tabs and Court Leaves the Door Open for Safety System Wiretaps, both of which speak to how your personal information tools are probably watching you as much as you're using them to watch the world. (Registration required, but you must be pretty crazy not to be registered for NYT).
December 07, 2003
Maple Collon... new therapy for what ails you?
You too can have your own Maple Collon.
Sounds like Maple Colon. Collon Cookies? But it is probably an error for "Maple Collection". We hope. We particularly thought that Alan might like this one. According to the OED, however, collon is a variant of colon.
November 08, 2003
The whole point...
Nasty little picture. See the puncture in the cable at the lower right?
All around MacGuru Alan is checking around Akihabara in Tokyo to see if he can find the part.
Will I ever learn?
October 12, 2003
Shopping.
I was out doing the proper uncle thing with a neice recently and she found these:
Just got some budget choices to make. But I'd do it.
October 10, 2003
Water or Coke
1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half the world population.)
WATER
1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half the world population.)
2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.
3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.
4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.
5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computerscreen or on a printed page.
8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of coloncancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.
Are you drinking the amount of water you should every day?
COKE
1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.
2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.
3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.
4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.
6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Apply a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.
7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for sumptuous brown gravy.
8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.
2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous Material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.
3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years!
Now the question is, would YOU prefer a glass of water or coke?9999
September 12, 2003
Selling downloaded digital music
George Hotelling tells his story about selling the downloaded digital music he purchased from the iTunes store. The funny thing is that it is legal and doable. I wonder if they'll figure out a way to stop this too... Do we do more than rent music?
September 01, 2003
August 17, 2003
Attention Queen Street Shoppers...
Julia_D came by this morning for tea, and to borrow a spare laptop. Her's had a virus, that couldn't be cleaned, so the genius crew at DELL told her to turn it off. Then it wouldn't start. So they're sending her a new harddrive. Smart? Sure. If you think it is smart, you too should buy a DELL.
Anyway, she got the puter, and Yuka and I went out with her to Babur for Indian food. And the shopping day began... we hit just about every clothing and furniture store on queen from McCaul to Claremont and back again.
I found 2 beer glasses that are suitable for Belgian beer, and some beer to go along with it. And some EmilyStrange flipflops. Yuka got a neat ring. And Julia_D morphed into CleverGirl... as you can see.
August 12, 2003
MSNBC... Gates on a white horse.
And from MSNBC, a company that has nothing whatsoever to do with the cause, creation and distribution of spam or computer virii: Who profits from spam? Surprise... Many companies with names you know are benefiting.
July 22, 2003
The angels want to wear my fluevogs.
Yuka and I went out for a jaunt today for a late lunch at LaHacienda where Amy works. On the way, we passed Fluevog's where they're having their semi-annual sale!
I got a pair of each of these shoes at 50% off.
and
Fluevogs are great. I have nine pairs so far... all of which I got on sale. And the first pair, which are about 6+ years old are still serviceable.
Big time shopping...
Did a big shop yesterday. A BIG shop. Picked up Dad's new 17" iMac. Have it locked away in my office to be set up. Also an iPod and a DV cam for sMom. Said iPod is set up swimmingly now. And a new printer for them. Just have to drive it up and set it up. And run away... before I try to keep some of it.
It will be so nice to get dad away from his Dell. I talked his company from getting rid of Macs and switching to Dell's over a decade ago. And it was the right thing to do, as they had a silly mixed Mac/PC network, and their biz was really PC focussed. That's how I got my first Mac. It was a left over after the conversion process. But he doesn't work in the office. And people at the office don't know how to or won't support it. And thought I bought it for him and set it up, I refuse to support PCs. And all he does is complain, because it is not like DOS. So, now with a shiny new 17" iMac, he still doesn't get DOS, and will probably complain, but at least I can fix it.
July 05, 2003
Rochelle and the Mac Family... and Saturday Dinner
I forgot to post this last week when
She was back yesterday for a comedy of errors, of which she was but an innocent.
Due to a communication error, I got word from Yuka, that Rochelle's old iBook was fixed, and that she could take the bus in from Guelph to pick it up. And that her iPod was ready. So she hopped on the bus. Then I found out that her iBook had NOT been fixed, and that it needed a new logic board and CD-rom. Too late to call Rochelle and warn her... the bus had left the station. [time passes] Rochelle takes the news, on her arrival, in stride, and we waltz up to get the iPod, cool thing that it is. When we get to the UofT computer store, Joe the repair d00d, tells us that he, and or his assistant, has fixed it, and it doesn't need anything. So we get to wait around for an hour while he installs a new OS and all the firmware updates... and we wend our way home.
Oh, I noticed just now that I DID upload this image, or one close. Too bad. It is worth seeing again.
June 25, 2003
Stoned for SARS
Roll in the Stones-The Globe and Mail
The Rolling Stones are coming to Toronto as part of an $11.5-million, eight-hour rock extravaganza meant to shake the city free of its SARS-tainted international image.
June 22, 2003
Drive By...
Was out in a cafe on queen street, doing some re-writing/editing. The place is a zoo (not that zoo. pictures coming of today...) because of the Much Music Video/Music Awards. A nice zoo... queen street is closed and people are milling about. Anyway, people in the cafe jumped up and ran off, so I looked outside. Avril Lavigne drove by in an electic blue 1960s stretch something. She was driving, so I guess she's old enough to now. As I walked home, Our Lady Peace were singing their hearts out for the crowd, but that's all I heard.
May 05, 2003
PizzaVille: Freedom from the ZaMan...
Anyone who's been over to my house knows that guests get two food options. Options in terms of choices I make before people get invited. Either is it BBQ weirdness, usually in the form of wild boar and assorted veggies, or it is pizza. The boar's been harder to get, and since I'm sliding a bit more vegitarian these days, it is less of a motivation, though it is probaby the bestest stuff...
Then the za. I've been making pizza for at least 5 years, maybe more. And I'm confident enough to say that I'm pretty good. At least better than any pizza available in Toronto that I know about. If you know better, I wanna go and eat it.
The big thing these days is goatcheese cheddar and eggplant, along with the usual (when available) mixed peppers, asparagus, green onions, watercress, all on a bed of pesto, olive paste, and sundried tomato paste, in varrying amounts.
Up until recently, I bought frozen organic dough from one of the two healthfood stores, one on baldwin and the other on Augusta, at $3 a unit. With the decline in my employment, I switched to the great bread store in Kensington market. And that's where the problem started. Had a couple over for dinner, and needed some dough... Three would be enough. There was only one. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Bought it. Ran to the healthfood store. Their frozen dough was 6 months past its due date. Bought two wizzened bits of yeast. Moan.
Then I got this idea. I could make dough! For a while dave used to make dough for me. He's a master cool stuff baker, and the one whose skills with the tools of the trade kept us brewing good beer. But dave moved to England. End of story.
So I went to pizza therapy and checked out their dough stuff. Checked the cupboards, and lo! Dave had left me with an unopened yeast container... when he moved a year ago. I'd never touched it. I performed all the ritual magic of making dough, running back and forth to the computer. Yes, it is on a wireless network and is portable, but I was wise enough to keep it away from the flying flower and water... it still works. And at the end of 2 hours I had two units of dough.
The frozen dough from the healthfood store had melted into a grey sludge. So I had no choice but to use my twin seething masses of fermenting monstrosity. And the rest, they say, was just making the 'za.
Nicely enough, no one could tell which of the three pizzas was using store bought dough... that one good one that I'd bought. Now I have a new calling... pizza completely from scratch.... we have the technology.
January 19, 2003
The Joy of Dross
I was about to post a comment responding to comments made by RK and Pea to my micro-rant on voice, but then I decided to make it a post.
I don't know how false. My point is that blogging is about having a voice, not about having to say something intelligent or interesting. You, RK, would know better than most of us, which famous writer wrote her/his best stuff the first time pen was put to paper? Probably 100000:1, could be more. Blogging is a tool of public voice, and it is still in its prenatal stage. And new writers have to find their footing. Of course writers who already have a skill in a nother public writing medium (academics, professional writers, journalists) can leverage their prior skills and experience, and leap over those who are new writers and new bloggers.
Yes, publishing the mundane facts of your life can be boring... unless you happen to be Catspaw who can turn the act of clipping her toenails into high drama, or Blatherings where Debbie's life is subject of her cartooning. What's different? Well, they're both out to manipulate the reader, rather then being out to share the facts of the day. They're ready to beg/borrow/steal from their own lives in order to caputer some market share of your attention, and some cycles from your cortex processor.
[Sorry, this is pre-coffee, so I may be losing the fight for clarity.] That said, we don't expect the first painting, poem, written page to be perfect. But we do have a fetish that when something is public, it should be interesting and professional, and we have a defacto write, nay a divine command, to position ourselves within a 'great chain of blogging' that puts the writer of the mundane at the bottom. Bet I can't completely escape from that either.
Personally, I am more interested in the writers of the mundane than I am about reading what goes on in The New Yorker. Always been that way for me. I figure that enough people read the big journals, journalists and rags that I'll pick up anything interesting by cultural osmosis. Same goes for blogs. Though there are some big names, at least in their own minds, on my blogroll, it is only because I've tripped over them in the same manner that I have tripped over everyone on the list. At random, as friends in other contexts, or as friends of friends.
Ok, my point is that it is a new medium, a new form of expression. We can focus our attention on those who will, reasonably enough, want to hijack for ends that jive with their previous medium, or we can focus on the people for whom this is their first location for public voice. There are more of the latter, and most will fail, but some may take up blogging in a new way, and add to our palate of forms of written expression in ways uncharted. And I'm curious as to what they'll do.
Another point is that, unlike is the case for previous forms of publishing, it doesn't take much cash. It IS an elitist western form of communication... you need a computer and access to the internet... which leaves most of the world out. That number goes up and down by a billion people depending on what the chinese government's doing. But all in all, it has given more voice to more people for less gelt, and right off the bat I started hearing, in other media, how blogs would bring down writing, pollute the rarified air of journalism with the dross of the average d00d with nothing to say. And thank god for the editors, and more for the filter of time, that separate what is worth reading from what is not. The only rationales I can imagine for this position is that people want to keep their own privledge and power, and don't want to be threatened in their position of authority, and that, as a reader, people want to know what is right and good to read without having to discern what is interesting for them to read. If it is in the 'Time Literary Suppliment' it must be good. But if it is on a blog called the "fetid gerbil" who is to tell us if it is good or not. What if we read something trashy and find that we like it. What if we really do enjoy a good wallow?
Luckily, we have http://blogdex.media.mit.edu/ which is probably the greatest tool invented for limiting the scope and diversity of blogging that I've ever seen. Or it is the greatest tool that I don't understand. It tells you what is best. It tells you who is reading whom, what topics are hot. And everything else is not. So? If you can't find out what's important to you, you can find out what is important to everyone else and read that. There are others that help you find the best of the best: blog of the day and the list who show you what is good out there. I guess I shouldn't complain. It is just the way things are.
I just want to encourage people to keep blogs. Boring blogs. Blog the minutae of your life. Do it the way you want. Don't think that it has to be interesting. And don't care if anyone reads it. Fight the temptation for audience, and embrace the temptation to find something interesting to say to and for yourself. And I think that people should consider how controlled and directed their tastes are towards what is 'best to read' and worthy of reading, without much in the way of criteria beyond the fact that they were trained from an early age to appreciate such things. And you don't challenge your training? I do think that a bit of unlearning is a good thing, when it helps you to find a home closer to your heard, and a bit farther away from the dictates of taste and style. And even if your true and eternal home is rapt and wrapped with all that it 'best in our culture' (you unpack that... my hands are sticky) at least you'll know that it is, cause you've hung with the backwoods homeys for a while.
[I reserve the right to disagree with this after coffee...]
November 21, 2002
Holidays
I set up an Amazon Wish List finally. Been resiting it for two reasons: no one buys me presents in my family who uses the internet, and no one in my family uses the internet. But it may make sMom happy, as she will have to get me something from my sisters. And it is another chance to explore extremely bad web site design... Amazon that is. Ugh.