And by TRUE, I mean FALSE

12 year update

2019-08-06T16:07:00.002-05:00

Just to catch up:

I'm still alive. My dad is not (August 10, 2009). Nor is Reg (July 15, 2007).

We moved from River Heights to Tuxedo (2010).

We sold the cottage (2011).

The kids are approximately 12 years older.

I tend to forget about this site for long periods of time. I'm surprised it's still here.

Maybe THIS time I'll keep it up.

Trips: Been on lots since 2007. Soo many trips...the Dominican, Disney (3 or 4 times?), Mexico a few times, a bunch of cruises, Vegas a few times, Minneapolis a few times, the Dells a few times, Chicago (once!), Vancouver a few times, Ottawa a few times, New York (once!), Toronto/Niagara Falls (also once), St. Louis to see the eclipse...

We just got back from the Dells (July 13-20). A pretty successful trip. We stayed at Baker's Sunset Bay Resort, which was a nice spot. The girls loved it. Matthew didn't come because he had work (at Safeway in the Deli).

I had a beard for a while. Now I don't.

I weighed 220 lbs for a while. Now I don't (176 lbs last check). Been on Keto/low carb for a year. Blood glucose numbers are quite good and stable compared to what they used to be.

All else is unchanged.

And by TRUE, I mean FALSE

2007-01-03T23:40:00.000-06:00

Here's the Simpsons clip from which this blog derives its name*

* In German

It's been a long time...

2007-01-03T22:39:00.000-06:00

Is anyone still listening? I mean, aside from the bots...

My 3.5-year-old Canon Powershot A70 has been increasingly wonky of late. Weird purple blurred images showing up - both on the LCD screen and in images taken while the LCD is showing this effect.

I spent some time looking at new digital cameras and decided if I was going to buy a new camera, it would be a Canon Powershot A630 (available for around $350 at Don's Photo). As I was pouring over the stats and reviews, I googled "canon digital error" or something like that and learned of the "E18" error that plagued a lot of the Powershot cameras of my vintage. I've never had it, but as I was stumbling from link to link I found out that there's an inherent problem with the CCD's on a huge range of digital cameras from that era (including my A70).

Bottom line: I'm eligible for a free repair. That's nice, because the camera takes decent photos and has lots of user-controllable settings to play with (sometimes I actually get it right). And who wants to spend $300+ every few years for a camera? Aren't cameras supposed to last? I still have my dad's Pentax K-1000 from the 70's. My mom used her Canon SureShot for about 15 years before I bought her a digital for her birthday. So, a free fix - here's to a couple more years before I have to drop $300!

Marburg

2005-05-04T09:22:00.000-05:00

Marburg is related to Ebola somehow. Apparently it's ravaging Angola at the moment and things aren't going very well. Bigwig at Silflay Hraka is doing a good job of staying on top of any news that trickles out of the area. He does a little editorializing to boot...

Silflay Hraka: Marburg

Victor Davis Hanson on the War on Terror National Review Online

2005-04-24T21:57:00.000-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson on the War on Terror National Review Online: "Winning the War"

The Australian Mark Steyn

2005-04-14T15:33:00.000-05:00

Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Tim doesn't have Mark's presence in print columns, nor Mark's hideously busy Web site design sense. But he is one Aussie I wouldn't mind tiliting a few mugs with. Actually I would drink beer with any Aussie...except maybe that girl I met in New Orleans who looked like Paul McCartney. It wouldn't have been so bad if my buddy hadn't pointed that awkward fact out to her. Anyway, that would be a little uncomfortable, I'd imagine. Oh, and the singer from Midnight Oil sounds like a bit of a tool as well - he'd probably drone on about the environment or some shit...not beer talk, buddy.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the Aussie Second Coming. Tim Blair on sheikhs...

The Collapse of the EU

2005-04-14T15:30:00.000-05:00

Interesting post at Ankle Biting Pundits (via Instapundit). The comments are fairly good, too. Mr. Green's been to Europe - maybe he can shed some light.

Seat Projection

2005-04-14T14:48:00.000-05:00

Here's an Excel Spreadsheet built by Don at All Things Canadian. Pop in regional poll numbers and calculate how that might translate into seats across the country.

Via bound by gravity.

Ahenakew and Nelson

2005-04-14T14:39:00.000-05:00

Our old friend Raskolnikov is back - if you've never read his stuff before, he's an aboriginal from Winnipeg who doesn't exactly toe the Louis Stevenson line. Check it out...as Glenn Reynolds might say: Ouch...

Ahenakew and Nelson:

Via The Shotgun

101-280: Everybody Knows - 4: Clip and Save!

2005-04-10T23:26:00.000-05:00

101-280: Everybody Knows - 4: Clip and Save!

Nice roundup of the front pages of various Canadian newspapers the day after Gomery lifted the ban. I quite like the Winnipeg Sun's choice...

I like Justice!

2005-04-10T22:53:00.000-05:00

I've always been in favour of justice...here's more proof:

You scored as Justice (Fairness).

Your life is guided by the concept of Fair Justice: Everyone, yourself included, should be rewarded and punished according to the help or harm they cause.

"He who does not punish evil commands it to be done."
--Leonardo da Vinci

“Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...

Justice (Fairness)

75%

Kantianism

70%

Strong Egoism

70%

Hedonism

65%

Existentialism

60%

Utilitarianism

55%

Apathy

40%

Nihilism

20%

Divine Command

20%

Take the quiz yourself at: http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=13060

The Famous "Sushi Pants" story

2005-04-08T23:09:00.000-05:00

I've only been this hammered a couple of times. It's not something you want to do a whole lot. I wish I'd had the old portable breathalyzer when I was younger. It would have made for some good stories. I did blow in the breathalyzer at The Pyramid way back when - I had about 12 beers and blew a 0.08...not too shabby. I can also assure you I didn't take a cab home that night either...

"The Famous 'Sushi Pants' story"

Publication Ban Lifted

2005-04-07T15:24:00.000-05:00

Looks like Gomery has decided to partially lift the publication ban - the only parts still covered by the ban are those directly related to Brault's upcoming criminal fraud case. But you all probably knew that anyway.

More at:

Captain's Quarters
CTV
CBC - kinda burying the lede if you just see the headline, eh? "Donations to Liberals led to sponsorship work: Brault" - ok, then...no big deal.

GMonkey

2005-04-07T15:22:00.000-05:00

Looks like the dream of a monkey army might be slipping away...

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/node/7482

On the other hand, with global warming, there should be lots of new territory opening up in previously frigid climates. Of course, with some DNA samples and gene sequencing, we should be able to recreate any species that manages to fumble its way into the dustbin of natural selection in the near future...we might also want to gengineer in some kind of gene that allows the "Horton Plains slender loris" to survive on food other than ripe guavaberries, or whatever ultra-niche food it eats.

If only capitalism and rule of law were a little more prevalent in Africa, the people wouldn't be forced to go "bushmeat hunting" so much as "Safewaymeat buying." But hey, all cultures are equal. Seacrest out!

Own Goal

2005-04-03T23:55:00.000-05:00

"OWN GOAL"

If you're not reading Tim Blair on a regular basis, well, I understand - he's all the way in Australia and - wait...this is the Internet. You should check it out. I'd suggest skipping all the stuff about Aussie politics, but a lot of it is damn funny. For example, if you do a Google search for the phrase "Baldy McRich"...

You may safely skip the posts on cricket, however.

Penny Arcade - Liar's Day

2005-04-03T00:29:00.000-06:00

Hey - these are good ideas...
Penny Arcade - Liar's Day

TheStar.com - Canada maintained ties despite torture revelation

2005-04-01T19:31:00.000-06:00

TheStar.com - Canada maintained ties despite torture revelation

More "soft power" diplomacy I guess. Hope Lloyd is enjoying this...

Blogging, etc...

2005-03-29T22:19:00.000-06:00

"Blog like never before," indeed...

Actually I have been blogging, just not here. Please visit Random Truths at Bloglines.

The Bloglines setup has worked much better for me, so that's why I'm using it, despite its shortcomings (no nice looking templates, no real customization at all, no comments, weak post-entry UI).

I've been using an RSS aggregator for some time - Sharpreader was my original choice. The problem was I read blogs from various computers spread across the planet and it was difficult to keep different copies of Sharpreader synched. I always had a somewhat different list of blogs depending on where I was sitting. Also, I'd sift through a lot of posts I'd already seen, so there was hassle involved in just finding the point where I'd left off.

Bloglines solved all that. No matter where I am, I can pick up where I left off, and if I add a blog at home, for example, it shows up at work (not that I read blogs while I'm at work, of course...this is a purely hypothetical example).

Bloglines makes it easy to blog posts you're viewing. I'm more of a 'linker' than a 'thinker' anyway, so it's a good fit.

However, now that I'm using Firefox, I can probably find some cool Blogspot plugin that will allow me to merge Bloglines ease-of-use posting with the robust feature set of Blogger. And when that happens, I will truly blog like a man on fire (which is to say, not much, due to the fire and all).

Excuses, excuses...

2005-01-21T01:35:00.000-06:00

Just to catch up on the last couple of months:

Both my children and my wife celebrated their birthdays.
If's and But's WERE candies and nuts, so we all had a Merry Christmas.
I've had at least 4 colds and was on some antibiotics for a week (at which point I experienced a full week of good health).
I quit smoking again (the September quit didn't last more than a week or so). I'm currently on day 14. It's going very well so far...
Canada won the World Juniors - I caught an exhibition game at the new MTS Centre in Winnipeg. Man, Sidney Crosby is something...
I ate nothing but the aforementioned candies and nuts between December 24 and January 4.
I discovered I've been running a bit of a deficit over the last year. By "a bit" I mean "ridiculous" - like NDP-government ridiculous.
Tsunami in Asia kills hundreds of thousands...world falls all over itself to help. UN coordinates.

"Excuses, excuses..." my junior high geography teacher used to say whenever one of his students would blame his lack of sharp pencils, hockey tournaments, illness, or grandparent's death for not being able to complete an assignment on time. Well, I have no excuses to offer for being off the blog for so long. Actually I do, but they're lame, so I won't bother. Be assured: now that I'm back, I'm going to blog like never before. I'm just making that up. Good day, sir!

Advertising McCrap

2005-01-21T01:10:00.000-06:00

Whoa...uh...Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc.

Canadiancomment has a post that sums it up about crappy advertising:

Jarrod should be in about as many commercials as Robert Blake, he has that kind of effect on people.
...
The only team of ad gurus that are worse than the Subway gang, are the morons from McCains who thought it would be a good idea to bring back the little kid who eats fries and doesn't talk.

Amen! I've long despised McCains' ads - anything they're selling, the ads are guaranteed to be godawful. And as for Jarrod, well, to say "this whole Jarrod thing has been getting old now for about two years" is a gross understatement.

Although, as you can see from this ad by Volkswagon, there is some good work being done in the field of advertising. Now that we've free associated our way from Jarrod to McCains hell to good car ads, well, I can't let things go without a link to the Dancing Citroen...why it's dancing on the roof of a parking garage in Vancouver is beyond me.

All this thanks to canadiancomment.

Quality

2004-11-25T23:51:00.000-06:00

I've been visiting canadiancomment quite a bit lately. If you haven't been there yet, check it out. Bob and Dana post pretty frequently (unlike some other blogs I can think of) and I invariably find something worth reading. It's a heady mix of interesting links and trenchant commentary - and that's about the highest praise I can give a blog.

And I couldn't mention canadiancomment without mentioning my other favorite Canadian blogs:

Snap-Crackle-Zinc

2004-11-25T23:08:00.000-06:00

I tried to post here a few days ago, but something was messed up with Blogger and it never happened. You sure didn't miss much - just a bitchfest about my health. Speaking of which...

I felt like I was coming down with a cold the other day. Lileks is continually praising the wonders of zinc on the Bleat, so I grabbed some zinc/vitamin C losanges. It seems to have done the trick. I'll keep this in mind, since I've had (as you may know) 132 colds since July of this year.

In other health news, I finally broke down and went to the chiropracter this morning after triggering another back spasm yesterday evening and having a terrible, sleepless night full of pain. I injured my back originally about a week ago and have been enduring some degree of pain ever since. Chiropractic is a weird combination of science and pseudo-science. Manipulating the spine can truly help relieve pain and correct a problem. But some of the methods chiropracters use are just bunk. All this rubbish about needing to see a chiro every month for "maintenance," for example. "Subluxations" of the spine causing virtually all health problems is another notion that reeks of junk science. Why don't we try magnets and crystals while we're at it. That being said, chiropracters know the back and spine pretty well. After a few snap-crackle-pop minutes on the table, and a couple of hours of ice, my back feels pretty good. I'm going back tomorrow for a follow-up, but I think this may have solved the problem. Or perhaps Dr. Knuckles snapped my spine on the table and I died, but I'm one of those 6th Sense ghosts who doesn't realize they're dead...hard to say.

That didn't take long!

2004-11-10T23:37:00.000-06:00

Wow...I put Arafat's picture up on the site and less than 24 hours later he's dead.

Let this be a warning to all who oppose me!

Rummy!

2004-11-09T23:42:00.000-06:00

From Monday's Press Briefing by U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld:

[...]
With that, we'll take your questions.

SEC. RUMSFELD: Charlie?

Q Mr. Secretary, you said that much still needs to be done here at the Pentagon. And as, I guess, the chief architect and champion of transformation, there has been a lot of speculation about your future here. And realizing that you serve at the pleasure of the president, sir, I wonder if you hope and plan to stay on here at the Pentagon and move transformation further down the road and see the Iraq problem through. Would you plan to stay on, sir, for at least a year, say? Or do you hope to stay on?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Charlie. (Laughter.) The president has spoken on this issue. He went to Camp David. He's thinking about his administration for the future. I've met with him two or three times on totally different subjects since the election, but that's not a subject that's come up. And needless to say, either one of us would discuss it with the other before discussing it with you. (Laughter.)

Q Well, would you -- you said --

SEC. RUMSFELD: As much respect as we have for you.
[...]

Heh...

When will it end?

2004-11-09T22:55:00.000-06:00

I wonder if something like this is taking place in France as I write this...

From the Voodoo Lounge.