Random Fun

In my on going commentary, Ctrl-Alt-Delete does the worst continuity, and some of the funniest one offs. Case in point:

Natasha Alexandra opening for David Usher

So as many know, went to see David Usher at the Mod Club, and it was a great show! I'm featured in some video's floating around YouTube taken by some of the more zealous fans who charged the state (so to speak.) David did a great show, and the venue is fantastic. More over the opening act, NLX (Natasha Alexandra) did a great set. She plays the synthasizer/keyboard and is backed up by a drummer. She has a unique voice which gives her music a character that stands her out from the crowd of female vocalists. Jenn and I picked up her two albums (and I owe Jenn some money there :) and I'm rocking out to them.

So here is my e-pimping of her music, and hopefully the linkage gets picked up by google spider and helps boost her site.

Anyways great show, check it out, and if you know me and wish to listen to her tunes I can probably lend you the disc.

Free Demo Released of 'Star Wars: Empire at War' for Mac

Mmmmmm free demo of a new release game for mac :)



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Note this is more for my info so I can remember to DL it later, but all you other Mac users cruising through might be interested.

Sorry no pictures

I didn't get out on Friday to get those building pictures, and the ones I took are through a screen so they suck. I will take some Monday.

Uh Huh, Yup, Yup, and Check Mark

So Erin was showing me images of Pixybob's last night, which is a weird breed of cat, and then we got to looking at the CFA and specifically the breed profile and standard for our Siberian's.

Judging from the standards it looks like Linda, our cat's breeder, has done a good job, not that we didn't know that already.

Then we read the profile and that is where the title for this post comes from. The cats, and especially Loki fit the profile quite well. Possibly the most accurate statement is this:

The Siberian tends to be both a great problem solver and also, rather like dogs, are loyal to their adopted families which is why they are so well suited to the households in which one spouse, usually a husband or significant other, professes to be a "dog person" not a "cat person." Often it is that same "dog person" who is greeted at the door by their Siberian and after being dutifully followed around the house by their Siberian, then decides that one Siberian is simply not enough!

Oh the truth, it burns :)

Now the other thing of note, it is mentioned that the maturation period for these cats is 5 years. I realize its not going to be exponential, or even linear growth, but if Loki keeps growing he is going to be--and you would be kind to excuse the grammar here--huger!

Now if we could only teach them to open there own canned food first thing in the morning we would be set :)

Fast and Furious

Well here I am back on the wagon, of sorts, and I got so highlights.

First off work, been working my butt of this week, I'm behind I think, but less behind then anyone else. We got a lot to do, and our time has been picked at from the edges, but we are buckling down and getting to it.

I've been reading a lot of Niel Gaiman, between two short story anthologies, Absolute Sandman Vol 1, his RSS Feed and now Marvel 1602, which is just amazing, except I don't get why Charles Xavier (aka Carlos Javier) has a pet dinosaur, everything else makes sense...

43 Hanna (my office) has been a freaking nightmare this week, we have had 2" steel conduit being installed over our heads (complete with dropping tools.) The banging actually wasn't the worst of it, it was the sound of the cable snake threading the tubes, that was grating. On top of that they were welding on the 3rd floor, and the vapours coming up between the board were enough to knock you on your ass. People don't get it when I say "this place is a construction site" so I'm going to get some pictures at lunch to show you all!

Facebook is the new crack, but not for me, I'm interested, and I'm a member, but I'm not hooked. I've elected to passively respond to all who come at me, but otherwise not actively forge links across the intraweb, its not that I don't want to talk to people, is just I can' only tend so many social networks, so twitter and this blog will have to do.

Fun with letters, Penny Arcade, is at it again with a silly little comic today. I'm waiting for the news post that threads it all together, but who else can connect Jack Thompson, racketeering, rocketeering and raconteur all in one seamless 3 panel strip, replete with helmet. Even I had to look up raconteur, but I think it may be a good word to describe me.

As for part two of my last post, it is coming, but I figure I can keep you in suspense for a wee little while longer. I may even one day follow with Skepticism and Atheism, but I think I need to know more before I can talk about them. They seem so simple concepts, and yet they are not. Much like Transformers, more then meets the eyes.

On that nostalgic note, Erin, Trevor, Ellie, and I are going to TMNT tonight. For those who are perplexed, I will repeat verbatim the email I sent my beguiling wife.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
TEENAGE Mutant Ninja Turtles,
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES,
Heroes on the half shell,
TURTLE POWER!

Clearly a movie of great import to geneticist...
http://tmnt.warnerbros.com/

Following on tonights adventures will be David Usher tomorrow night at the Mod Club. There will be no pictures of that from me, I can tell you now my camera doesn't work in the dark. I really want to drop it by accident so that I can buy the Canon Digital Elph 700IS (or something like that,) but I just can continence the malicious waste of a good camera, so I wait for its natural death.

One of these days I should re do my list of pod casts, because they have changed dramatically, especially due to some podfading, Tiki Bar I'm looking at you!

Any ways thats the news.

Nope wait I forgot my point, back about David Usher, Strange Birds is pretty good, the one thing that both Erin and I caught was Ugly is Beautiful sounds a hellofalot like a Moist song, now it actually doesn't on listening to the song, but damn skippy there is something in the way he says beautiful that makes by my recall something else.

Now were done

and cut!

Atheism, Skepticism, Environment, Decisions Decisions Decisions...

Ooooh, a lot of material there, so much more then can be tackled between Exhibition and Oakville, so I'm going to have to go with... The Environment.

So the theme here is tough topics, topics that are personally revealing, and possibly the ones I'm the most indecisive on which side of them I come down, but have been chewing on for a while.

So we can't help but hear in the news about the impending end of the world, visa vie global warming. Global Warming is actually a two part issue; the first in light of evidence indicating a temperature raise over the short and medium term of human--history,1400 AC until present, and 1950 until present-we must consider if this trend will continue, and what impact that will have on civilization from aspects political, and geographical, and what impact this will have the little e environment, like wildlife populations, species diversity, biodiversity, and a slew of other such factors.

The short and medium term time frames of reference are kind of loosely defined as they apply more to human life spans and memory, than in geographical terms. The evidence in these frames of reference is fairly consistent, there is in fact a short and medium term pattern, now between those two there was a time when there was a short term down trend, and this led people to fear a global cooling off, but with that grain of salt, we can safely assume that the evidence for the short and medium term warming is consistent. We can mathematically model this progression, and do studies, and make assumptions and probably reasonably predict how these temperatures will affect things. While imprecise, we can probably at least formulate a 'best guess' and in fact science has made that guess, and it's pretty grim. Now I believe that the little e environment will be better off the human civilization, but that is because nature is brutal and cruel, and flexible. Man--and that's the none gender specific who made great leaps, and the not singular who took small steps-will not be so lucky, are boundaries are political, and are cities are great obelisks that rise from salted fields that are not capable of swift egress from flood nor rampaging villagers in famine.

Now science has painted the worst case scenario for two reasons, the first is that they are realistic predications, and the second is that without a sensational worst case scenario, people might not take them serious, and they are serious.

Now I actually don't take umbrage with this issue, and if reality trends with these models, well one I'm glad I have a sump pump, and two Jenn has reserved a spot for me on her farming commune. Now there is an aspect of the second issue I haven't addressed, but lets posit temporarily that this scenario is inescapable, that seas will rise, storms will ravage coasts and the landscape will change. This is not insurmountable, but it requires serious consideration of how in this post-apocalyptic future, not with standing any complications that may arise from new social orders, how will we regain power, and technology, how will we rise from the ashes. Well the ashes will be made of squandered fuels, and wasted resources, so we must even now begin to develop alternative fuel sources, renewable power, and innovative materials from renewable sources so that we can rebuild. It wouldn't hurt if we also learned to get along, but I won't push it.

There are also other steps we can take to ensure that in the short term, and medium term (going forward) that we don't preemptively poison ourselves. That includes finding better ways to make electronics, not pumping toxic soup out of factories in effluent, and green gas stacks. Accepting imperfect materials, instead of those chemically processed beyond recognition. Recharging instead of replacing, reusing, and reducing, before your recycle. The list is endless, and not all things are equal, but if it's burning less fuel, or making your own power with solar, there are innumerable ways we can make a measurable difference on our surroundings, even if it is just make sure that each breath we take is a fresh breath.

All of these thing impact not just our own health but the health of the little e environment. That environment is at times fragile to our poisoning, and it is not apart of a natural cycle. With time many things will learn to survive what we do to them, but they will be terrible things, with evil intent, whose eyes glow, and many fanged maws will consume our children and rent our world asunder (I've seen too many scifi movies.)

It looks like my time has run short, and I will have to conclude in a second, and possibly tertiary post. I will end today cleanly having covered my thoughts on global warming as an effect, but (and here is a hint of what is to come) not as a cause. I hope you understand that I love nature, and that doesn't mean in a bell jar controlled and unchanging, but in its natural, visceral, carnal, evolving way. I believe we should protect nature from undo encroachment, perversion and waste. That's not to say we should try and prevent it from doing its own thing. Furthermore, I believe we should stop killing ourselves (literally with war) and no less tangibly with toxic poisons. We as individuals must take ownership of our consumerism, and our personal responsibility. I'm not a hypocrite here; I'm just growing into it. I honestly and freely admit that devices I own are not free of impact, but as a consumer I am attempting to make decisions which I perceive to be friendly are. I challenge each and everyone who reads this to pay more for an environmentally friendly product, tell companies you care the only way they understand, with money!

It comes down to this, we only have one world, and we can have a world of beauty, or one of death. I choose the former, and if turns out the world isn't warming, but we've made it a cleaner place, that is ok.

((More exciting material to come Soon(tm)))

Busy/Slow weekend

Can't decided, so I guess it was slow, punctuated with activity. Friday night was a crash night, as it often is. The house and its occupants just need to unwind. Frequently the cats are all "meow meow meow" so we didn't do much of anything.

Saturday was a very different story, we were up early, (but not early enough for breakfast) and out the door to help my friend Chris move into his new apartment. As moves go it was pretty damn easy, we had a ton of people, so we had one crew load the elevator and the other crew unload it at the top. Once we got going we worked pretty constantly, and it was done in not time. What followed was some Wii'ing, some Green Beer, and eventually lunch.

After lunch we ventured to Square One for some much needed Spring clothes shopping for Erin. She got some pretty cute stuff, and I got a healthy workout walking the length of the mall. I poked my nose in a few stores, and just shambled about aimlessly. After this pleasant afternoon of shopping I was arm twisted into more shopping. I was forced to shop for HDTV's (oh woe is me, my wife, she is sooooo cruel :)

Okay, I have over used that joke alllllll weekend, I was hardly forced, but it was her idea :) In her defense I have been talking at her about HDTVs for a while, but she hasn't been all the interested, and it just sounded like a big money hole. Now that she is ready to think about it, she wanted to be informed, so we spent some time with a sales rep just going over the models and styles of HDTV. To his credit, we said straight away that we were not going to buy, and just wanted information, and he didn't suddenly vanish.

So once educated we visited the counter to see the Harmony Remotes by Logitech. I've been wanting one of these for a while. In fact I have been wanting one of these for other people as well. For me I wanted the pure laziness of a the setup and control of all the systems I own, and Logitech has that. As for others, how many times have you heard yourself curse the way things are wired, or how to use that damn TV. Well the remote simplifies it all with macro buttons to "Watch TV," "Watch DVD," "Play XBox," etc. Anyways, for me, the time had come, and the stars aligned to have them on sale. So with Erin's blessing we picked up the Harmony 880 they also had the more reasonably priced 659, but we decided to go with the one with the rechargeable battery out of our evolving environmental philosophy.

Erin also picked up her reward to herself for completing her article for Genome BC which will be published in there educational site. So we had a busy busy afternoon, followed by a complete floomp at home, and it was a good floomp.

Sunday was pretty floompy too, followed by a nice dinner at my parents. So slow punctuated by a busy middle, but all and all good times. I'm sure more will come in the coming weeks with regard to a new HDTV, but probably not for a few weeks-months.

Cheers
Geoff

Beware the Ides of March

Well the Ides have come, but they have not passed, and to salute their sinister past, I will have a free coffee at Starbucks (between 10-12.)

Soul 0 : Sellout ads 1

"Just like you thieves, always taking things that don't belong to you. " -Damodar

Well that stirring quotation from the Dungeon and Dragons movie has always been one of its more endearing lines, and for some perverse reason help keep this barely-B movie in the ranks of Erin and my own nostalgia collection. In a round about way I have come to this point, and it really not what's on my mind. So I will continue backwards through this trip.

A more fitting, witty, and less obvious thing Damodar could have said, was better said by G. K. Chesterton:

Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.

G. K. Chesterton, also said (and we are getting close to the beginning now):

Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.

That is a lesson, or thought I find truly endearing, and I think extends to more then just Fairy Tales, but much of fantasy literature. Or perhaps better said, fantasy stories are just another for of the fairy tale.

I came across this quotation in the introduction to Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors, an anthology of short stories, or perhaps modern fairy tales that I'm reading right now. (Or more accurately stated, started reading this morning.) Comically, when I went in search of the link to this book, I discovered that the book I thought I purchased, was not the one I intended to purchase. The result was similar, I wanted short stories by Niel Gaiman, and I got them, and now that I'm enjoying them, I will buy the other book as well. I imagine the same process would have occurred if I had purchased them in the other order, but at least this now explains the 1997 date at the end of the introduction, that had me rather baffled.

Anyways that was more or less all I had to say, its a great little anthology so far, and the variety of stories alluded to in the intro has me intrigued. While long ago Gaiman conquered the google search for Neil's, check it out: http://www.google.ca/search?q=neil.

Of the top 10 hits, #1 and #2 are his home page's, followed by another Neil, Neil Young at #3. #4 and #5 are the Wiki's for Neil Armstrong, and again Neil Young. I think even Gaiman would willingly relinquish #1 to Armstrong, oh the injustice. :)

Gaiman has quickly entered into my library in many a media form, I like his movies, I like his books, and I even bought his comics. I've steered clear of his children's books because I imagine them traumatizing future children, but I may recant and pick them up if I run out of fresh Neil to read.

I've come as far as I can this morning, and my train is arriving shortly, so I shall end this with something else pithy that Mr Chesterton has said, or wrote:

Wit is a sword; it is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it.

(Wow, I decided to put something there without knowing what, and I don't think I could have found something better and more conclusive if I had plucked mana from heaven, to bad I've fouled it all up with this post script.)

Wil vs Will

Well it's not quite the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it's an enjoyable read for all you StarTrek folk out there who don't realize that Wil Weaton is no the secret king of the internet, or at least a well spoken individual with a certain style for composition. So here is a piece in two parts recounting Wil, and Willing F Shatner.

Part the First
Part the Second

Ben Stein Digests Our Terrifically Broken Economy

I'm just going to chuck out the text from the digg submitter scoreboard27, because it was a cobbled together bite of the story, and more sensationalizing, then meaningful. Ben Stein of "Win Ben Stein's Money" and "Ferris Bueller" fame, and notable for as well for his monthly column, and generally regarded as an intelligent fellow often wields a sword of dry humour. So dry in fact that while forging his sword he sought to quench it a bath of water, the water literally dehydrated itself to avoid contact with his blade.

This article is a jab at rich America, and while he does criticize them soundly, I think he better raises the point that the poor are getting profoundly poorer. America the prosperous seems almost cruel brand, to the many who make prosperous the few. What I find most intriguing is how bizarre some of the economic behaviour is, where vast sums of money change hand, and yet very little value is created. I actually consider myself in favour of capitalism, although not completely free market capitalism, and I find this manner of profiteering very short sighted. It seems in the short term individuals prosper, but the country as whole slides further and further from its economic superiority. Canada is inexorably tied to America, so much so that we can not help but suffer when she does.

I have no solution forthcoming, just concern.



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Something interesting

In an effort to be more blogbos, and get back to the fundamentals of blogging, I've decided to share a story from The Star. While I don't think I have anything that I need to be particularly penitent about of late, except perhaps blogging, I found the spirit of the article quite positive, and I think a lesson for us all. Do not seek to justify or excuse your actions, own your mistakes, and move on. In that spirit, I haven't been blogging, and I'm sorry.

Anyways enjoy the story.

In response to my alleged blog death

Yes, maybe, sort of, no, not sure...
I have stopped, or virtually stopped blogging, but I haven't given up on blogging. How perfectly contradictory. I have been formulating in my head a whole lot of things, and either self censoring if I felt they were thing I would prefer not to share, or aborting mid thought as I realize that I've talked myself into rant.

I try, I really try, to not just go off half cocked on something, but instead get some information, and maybe some links, or at the very least reason it out. Ranting without a conclusion is unsatisfying, and it's not constructive. I've decided to be constructive, so while I my resort to rhetoric or oratory, I will not do so without a clear conclusion that is supported by my reasoning.

As such, my blogging has gone right to pot, because what's opinionated blogging without a half formed opinion, and I really can only post so many pictures of my cat before people get disinterested, even if I think Loki is great :)

SO there you go a post that is virtually hypocritical, but I will try and do better. What can I say, old job filled me with more angst :P

Phew

I just managed a post before going a whole month without posting... That post just happens to be lame, as this one is.

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