Trade deadline day

Today is the infamous day that everything goes down in the hockey world. I've dropped a couple pointless comments on the open thread underway at Battle of Alberta

It's also Mark Messier day, which I've already discussed.

An annual Third Edge of the Sword ritual

a) Anybody interested in joining a blogosphere baseball pool? I'll administrate it if there's the interest.

b) I have absolutely no clue who won which Oscars

Gretzky/Messier starting a grand Edmonton tradition

Today Edmonton welcomed home the second-greatest one: Mark Messier will have his number retired against Phoenix. Thanks NHL schedule, for making a NY Rangers at Edmonton Oilers a statistical unlikelihood before 2011 or so.

This morning an event was held at Churchill Square (due to be Mike Grier Square within the calendar year) to honour "The Moose". Mayor Mandel was wearing an old-school Messier jersey, and my first thought when I saw him on TV was "wow, Mark's really let himself go".

So now we have Wayne Gretzky Drive (Dr. Wayne Gretzky Dr.) and Mark Messier Trail. If the city names a road after Todd Marchant, I'm moving to Calgary.

Seriously, though, its time to look into naming other Edmonton landmarks after Oilers. I have assembled a small list:

1. Rename Gallagher Park after Mike Comrie. We'll never have to worry about watering the shrubs if we have a Mike Comrie Park.
2. The Whitemud Drive can be named after Chris Pronger, which should cut down on traffic. Hell, I'll put an extra 30 miles on my car a day to avoid taking Pronger Drive.
3. Edmonton City Hall can be renamed Mike Peca City Hall. Both Peca and City Hall cost way too much money, didn't do what they were supposed to do, and ultimately weren't needed anyways.
4. A police station should be named after Dave Semenko.
5. Likewise, a rehab centre should be named after Grant Fuhr, along the Betty Ford model.
6. Since Paul Coffey could skate rings around most players, and Anthony Henday already has a university residence named after him, the latter's name should be taken off the outer city ring road, and the former's put in its place. Alternately, Coffey could be the name given to the west half of the ring road currently under planning stages.
7. 91.7 The Bounce, in deference to the only reason anybody listened to it, should be named 91.7 The Laraque
8. The now closed Sidetrack Cafe should remain a legend, and the new home for live music should be "Club Niinimaa".
9. A kindergarten should be named after Doug Weight.
10. Maverick Brewing Company and Zender Ford should both be named after Craig MacTavish. [boo-urns! -ed]
11. Edmonton's CariWest festival should be renamed after Anson Carter.
12. Speaking of festivals, say goodbye to Klondike Days, forget about Capital Ex, why not every year party it up at SatherDays!
13. Even though he's still with the team, Little Italy should be named what we all know it as: PisaniVille
    
    
    and finally....
    
    
14. 107th Avenue, one of the city's major east-west thoroughfares, should be named after the player who has done more for the Edmonton Oilers than any other player in history: Mike Vernon

(feel free to add more suggestions in the comments)

Weird coincidence, and some 80s nostalgia

Friday at work, I was discussing David Foster with somebody: specifically his song from the St. Elmo's Fire soundtrack ("Man In Motion").

Mainly, I was bringing up what most Canadians remember the song for: it had little to do with the Brat Pack film, and a lot more to do with the guy who made us remember the courage of Terry Fox (and forget the sleaziness of Steve Fonyo): the real "Man In Motion": Rick Hansen, who rode around the globe in a wheelchair.

That was a good time to be in Alberta: Hansen went through both Edmonton and Calgary, and then the next year the Olympic flame wound its way through our fair province. One of them, I can't remember which, I attended on Mile 461. Don't ask me how I remember that.

The Calgary '88 Olympics were also the subject of a David Foster song: he wrote the theme song for the '88 Olympics, a subject I again mentioned to the girl at work during our conversation yesterday.

Saturday night, out at the bar, guess what happens? That's right, I happen to hear Can't You Feel It, the Olympic theme I had mentioned the night before. I am sure this is the first time I have heard this song in fifteen years, and it comes barely 24 hours after mentioning the song in a conversation at work (using a factoid I hadn't thought about in at least a decade as well). Creeeeepy....

(As for the movie St. Elmo's Fire, I have to admit I never saw it. It's one of the many movies I have the soundtrack to but have never seen: Cocktail being the other example that comes to mind.)

Bonus Calgary '88 Olympics bit: a video on YouTube of Can't You Feel It performed at the Calgary Olympics closing ceremonies:

David Suzuki frightens small children

Suzuki blasts Harper over global warming

Environmentalist David Suzuki savaged Prime Minister Harper over global warming in front of a gymnasium full of elementary school students and their parents on Friday.

Later, he furiously lashed out at Albertans, calling rapid development of the oilsands “insanity” and a “disaster.”

Suzuki, who was invited to speak at Altadore elementary school and accept $835 collected by the students for his foundation, asked the kids what Harper’s main priority was after being elected last year.

“The only thing he cares about is getting re-elected with a majority government,” he said, adding any of the PM’s pledges to preserve the environment are cynical ploys to that end.

“I don’t believe there is a green bone in Harper’s body — he has never, ever indicated he cares about the environment.”

He told the room some of his message was directed at the adults, because the youngsters don’t vote and Harper and other politicians don’t care about them.

“It’s up to your mom and dads to ensure your futures and livelihoods are part of the agenda,” he said to about 185 students ranging from kindergarten to Grade 6.

Following his presentation, adults and students alike gave Suzuki a warm round of applause, prompting the geneticist to note it was coming from oil-rich Albertans.

Later, with reporters, Suzuki slammed the province’s refusal to rein in the development of the oilsands, which produces massive amounts of greenhouse gas.

“Albertans have always had the highest standard of living in the country, why do you need all this out-of-control expansion of the oilsands?” said an angry Suzuki.

“It’s insanity ... it’s crazy.”

In a speech on Thursday, premier Ed Stelmach dubbed threats to the natural environment “perceived” and said green politics “are as much about emotion as they are about science.”

A clearly agitated Suzuki said his hopes of an environmental change of heart under Stelmach have been dashed.

“In Alberta, you’ve got a great deal of nay-sayers who say it’s all junk science but they don’t publish anything,” said the activist, who defended his passion on the issue.

“If you don’t get emotional about what’s happening to the earth, there’s something fundamentally wrong.”

Before the event, Altadore principal Harold Whittaker said he’d heard no concerns from parents over Suzuki’s appearance and defended it.

“We’re trying to get the kids to be global citizens about the environment,” he said.

So, remember last week when I brought up leftist proclivities in the education system? Anybody feel like trying to argue against me at this point? David Suzuki comes in front of a bunch of kids and delivers a highly charged partisan political speech with no efforts to rebutt or present opposing sides. Will Altadore school let Timothy Ball speak at their school next week to talk to children about how Suzuki is full of the hot air that the earth isn't? Somehow I doubt they would still think it important to "get the kids to be global citizens about the environment" when it didn't support their anti-Harper and anti-capitalist agenda.

Fortunately, Ed Stelmach has decided to at least pretend to be outraged about the incident: the Edmonton SUN reports today that Stelmach stated "Dr. Suzuki's comments reflect the unproductive emotional rhetoric and personal attacks that distract from efforts to find constructive solutions." A little calmer than I would have been, but that's the Stelmach way, I suppose.

At the very least, I think we should be suggesting to Principal Whittaker a few other people who should be able to speak in front of his students (and their parents):

1. Timothy F. Ball, as already mentioned, on the topic of "why global warming is a junk science and why doing something is the worst thing government can do"
2. Dave Bryan on the illegality and immorality of the Canadian Wheat Board
3. Ted Byfield on the topic of the homosexual agenda and its dangerous implications for both now and in the future
4. Cory Morgan on the topic of Alberta Separatism: the reasons for it, the lack of reasons against it, and how it is the best way for Alberta to be a world leader in the 21st century and beyond. (Note, I'm willing to go to the school and speak out on the same topic)
5. Bruce Hutton of LUFA on the subject of why government gun control is an evil assault on fundamental human rights and how it is the first step in the establishment of any police state
6. Ezra Levant talking about how George W. Bush is the best American President for Alberta since at least Ronald Reagan, and how Canadians should do their best to ensure that a Bush-style Republican wins his party's nomination and then the White House in 2008
   
   and finally:
7. Melvin H. Smith on the topic of legalized racism: why Canada shoud abolish all aboriginal programs and policies from the federal down to the municipal level, and why the best thing for aboriginals in Canada is to assimilate into the general population.

Until these men get to speak at Calgary schools and present (unchallenged, unedited, and with implied and direct support of the school administration) their position, a great injustice has been done in Calgary, and not enough people are speaking out against it.

Update, 3:24 am: I've brought this post to the attention of the Western Standard, who is already discussing David Suzuki.
(trackback URL)

Weekly ritual: Saturday morning zen moment

Nothing beats emailing privacy@barlink.ca every week to demand that they remove your name from their system.

Except maybe reporting the bars that don't let you enter unscanned every week to the Privacy Commissioner.

(Previously covered on this blog is a likely impossible but dare-to-dream thought about using technology to destroy barlink computers)

Update, 3:29pm: New content related to last night is posted to Pi Edge of the Sword

D'oh!

In my previous post about sports news, how on earth did I miss the subtitle "Ken Griffy's grotesquely swollen jaw" in the section on Ken Griffey Jr.'s wrestling injury.

Recent Sports News

I've had a few thoughts regarding recent sports news events, so I figured I'd share a few of them with you. Okay, actually, I had a few sports thoughts that I thought "I should blog about". Regardless of which story you believe, here are the tales:

• The Daytona 500
  The big story here has of course been the NASCAR cheating scandal, as five teams were detected cheating in advance of the famed Daytona 500 race. (A sixth team, by NASCAR's most famous non-dead driver, was disciplined for a failed inspection, but it was ruled an unintentional technical fault).
  
  Now I never was huge into racing: I have sucked at video game racing programs from Gran Turismo 3 all the way down to Mario Andretti's Racing Challenge. More critically, while stock car racing has a certain amount of appeal, the oval track disappointed me from a political standpoint. I just can't cheer on a bunch of guys making left turns.
  
  On this cheating angle, however, I have been wondering: what's the big deal? After all, while cheating in physical sports is a major concern, particularly with the use of steroids and such, I can't see the same worries translating well to auto racing. The use of chemical and technological methods to artifically boost the human potential clearly means a diminishment of the accomplishments of the athletes themselvs. We want to see a natural man run faster than any man has ever ran before. Watching some freak of science run faster than an ordinary guy in cross-trainers doesn't do anything for us: no acheivement of man's physicality occurs. The advancement of science can be seen in far more pertinent settings than a track and field event, and when we go to such athletic contests we want to see our own corporeal entities facing off against each other. But NASCAR is nothing like that: this is already an example of science and technology. We had to build the engines, they weren't something we were born with. An auto race should be a demonstration of technology used to build machines that can do more and more incredible things under the control of a human driver. Now if Coors Light and Dodge had David Stremme undergoing nano=augmentation to allow him better reaction times, there might be a cheating argument. But fuel additive to make the car go faster? I thought that was the point! Make the cars go faster! (Bonus line from the linked discussion on the fuel additive: "I understand that rice has been ruled out as a suspect." Rice? NASCAR is worried about rice?) F1 apparently has the same rules, and for the life of me I can't understand what the problem is. There's an additive that makes the cars go faster? Then put it in the damn cars, so they go faster. After all, we already are using this man-made "gasoline" to power the vehicles, and its not like its horse racing where the horses can be genetically tampered with. Mankind itself created these cars, so under the circumstances the rules seem more than a little bit arbitrary and foolish.
  
  
• Marc-Andre Bergeron traded to the NY Islanders
  Well, its about time. While the Oilers blogosphere has a history of complaining about MAB (and then defending him), my buddies in our hockey pool have the most cruel comments. "Martok" writes:

  [some HF boards guy] is finally stating in numbers what we all know. MAB fucking blows, they guy plays aginst the worst fucking players in the league, like fucking Pohl, yet he scores two goals a game against us. I am not blaming the whole season on him, but seriously like 50% of it. get rid of him now. He is the biggest cancer since josh Towers

  When it came to the Bergeron trade, I had my own take on it. As you may know, the Oilers did one step above the waiver wire: Begeron (and a 3rd round draft pick) to the Islanders for a bag of pucks Denis Grebeshkov (who is playing in Russia until the summer). The Oilers, walking away with their bag of pucks, were probably snickering over how they won the deal. This seemed to me like a Jack and the Beanstalk moment.

  The Oilers sold their cow (Bergeron) for three beans (Grebeshkov).
  
  Now in this case, the beans aren't particularly magical. It's not like we got Mathieu Schneider or Chara.
  
  On the other hand, what we had and traded away was Bergeron. So basically our cow had BSE anyways.

  
  
• Ken Griffey Jr.'s Mysterious Injury
  Ken Griffey Jr. has redefined "coming clean", by denouncing rumours that his fragile hand shattered as a result of steroids, and insisting that he broke his hand play wrestling with his kids. Of course, this doesn't mean his bones were like wet napkins, in the same way it meant nothing when Sammy Sosa broke his back while sneezing.
  
  
• Eskimos suck less
  The Eskimos are coming off their worst season in almost four decades and last week signed three-time CFL allstar Omarr Morgan, outbidded the Saskatchewan Roughriders, as is to be expected when dealing with "The New York Yankees of Football". They also picked up some guy named Samuels, who nobody has heard of since he's been playing in Winnipeg.
  
  
• Chick tennis players are hot
  Okay, that's hardly news, but I gotta bring in readers somehow. What is news is that Mens and Women's Tennis will have roughly equal prize pools at Wimbledon this year, for the first time ever. This is a bit of a shock, since as I've asked before, who the hell wants to watch Men's Tennis? You don't get to see hot babes if you do that! Anyways, here's a random shot I found of women tennis players.
  

The sort of thing that drives you crazy at work

I tried today to remember the Greek alphabet. It shouldn't be too awfully hard for me: mathematics and physics use Greek letters all the time. But suddenly when it came down to it today, I fell a little short. (Of course, it didn't help that I couldn't remember how many there were: 22 seemed the right number). These are the ones I could remember:

1. α Alpha
2. β Beta
3. γ Gamma
4. δ Delta
5. ε Epsilon
6. η Eta
7. θ Theta
8. κ Kappa
9. λ Lamda
10. μ Mu
11. ν Nu
12. ξ Xi
13. π Pi
14. σ Sigma
15. τ Tau
16. φ Phi
17. χ Chi
18. ψ Psi
19. ω Omega (paradoxially the last one I could recall)
    
    And then there were the 5 I couldn't remember:
20. ζ Zeta
21. ι Iota
22. ο Omicron
23. ρ Rho
24. υ Upsilon

On the bright side, the final tally (24 letters) was within 2 of my surmising (22), and within 3 (27) of the Greek guy I asked at work today, who apparently doesn't know his own language as well as I do.

Bonus Greek alphabet link: Wikipedia helpfully covers the Greek letters used in mathematics and what they mean.

A better argument against 12 year olds working in Alberta

While the Alberta Federation of Labour thinks they have the best argument against the two year old rule change that let all restaurants employ 12 year olds^†, I think I have a better one.

An exerpt of my conversation at McDonalds on Wednesday:

Feynman & Coulter's Love Child: Yeah, I'll have two Big Xtras with cheese and bacon, no tomato. Also a Crispy Chicken with extra mayo and bacon, no tomato. Um, and a large iced tea and a Big Mac meal.
Zit Infested Underage McDonalds cashier: No tomato on the Big Mac too?
Feynman & Coulter's Love Child: Uh....no.

"Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun."...yeah, you know what....?

† Actually, all this does is put all businesses on an equal footing. I know of several restaurants (Duke's Donair, for example) that already hire kids 14 and under [hell, 9 and under! -ed] to work in the restaurant...they could get away with it because they used their own children. All this law did, IMHO, was put everybody on equal footing: business owners without children could employ them now, and children whose parents didn't happen to own restaurants could get experience working in them. Not quite the disaster the NDP are claiming, is it?

1 Out of 9 Ain't Bad

Ian's Messy Desk has 9 Good Reasons people should use MyBlogLog. Of these, only #5, "Find out more about my readership with their extended contact details", appeals to me.

From the mybloglog.com website:

MyBlogLog is launching this new Communities service to empower authors and readers to operate at the same level. For the first time, everyone who reads a web site or blog can learn about and engage with one another, and in the process take the conversation to a whole new level.

Kate at SDA and Western Standard Shotgun blog might enjoy this, but the last thing I want here is the spam and bitch fests that seem to characterize "whole new levels of conversation".

Was this really necessary?

Did Vickie Lynn Hogan really need a memorial MySpace page?

Does it really need 1299 people on its friend list?

Hell no, we won't take you back! Hell no, we won't take you back!

Parkland school teachers (west of Edmonton, Stony Plain/Spruce Grove) are currently on strike, and they fear it might be a long one.

Seeing how public schools are rapidly decending into extreme liberal bias, and how public education is getting less and less competant at even teaching kids how to read (I know of one high school graduate who cannot divide 30 by 2), I figure its high time somebody went out and stated the obvious: its better for kids in public education to not go to school than to actually show up.

So kids in Parkland aren't learning about how important the role of government is, how evil white people in North America have been, how Trudeau saved a nation, how Islam is one of the worlds most peaceful religions, how global warming is the largest threat to our planet today, how to perform sodomy, and why universal healthcare makes us 10,000,000% better than the U.S.

Hallelujah

If you truely rove your rittle rones

With Edmonton's asian population growing from year to year, and an already abnormally high percentage of the province's gamblers being asian, questions concerning the danger to society are being asked as more and more people in this province develop addictions compulsions to throw away all of their money.

It's a serious problem, and I won't pretend I have all of the solutions. But just like is the case with Muslims, we come across a dirty little secret: European culture holds a distinct advantage, a cultural superiority which might explain why for 5,000 years China has constantly being poised to rule the world while Dead White European Males actually went about the business of doing so. (The Japanese may take some credit too, as they have tended to come much closer than their mainland rivals).

So presenting a reason why Spanish culture, for example, may be younger than China's but is far superior...
European children are not given money that is specifically designated for gambling...

The $20 bill doesn't look counterfeit, but the $10 is totally fake

Life Goes On, Regardless has posted what Canada's new ugly money probably should have looked like. (NSFW)

I miss Bordon on the C-note for sure, but its still a hell of a lot better than the damned chick solider!

It seems like a shame now

Saskatchewan today celebrates their first Family Day.

Well, welcome to the party, I suppose. It seems almost a shame that Saskabush has joined in on the bandwagon, not the least of which because this hilarious article from one year ago on Saskabush.com is no longer true.

I had some thoughts about Family Day, as I watched huge swarthes of people believe the best thing to do in order to celebrate with their families was to shop for consumer electronics. It almost seems a lost holiday now: back when it was Farmer's Day and only schools and some provincial employees got it off, it seemed more special. I hazard a guess that fewer people spend time with their families now than they did before. If our new "Rurally Minded Ukrainian Premier"^TM is all he's advertised, he should change it back to the old name.

Bonus Saskatchewan current events link #1: With this additional holiday, Saskatchewan is attracting the ire of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Are there any small businesses left in Saskatchewan? I assumed they all died out when Roy Romanow passed his 714th bill intended to "stop multinationals from running Saskatchewan" only to find multinationals the only businesses that could afford the red tape associated with the new laws.

Bonus Saskatchewan current events link #2: Saskatchewan is currently 5-0 and in first place at the Scott Tournament of Hearts. (I refuse to call it the faggy "Scotties Tournament of Hearts")

Day Break Episode 6 mini-review

We're back in action! Thanks to the wonders of Ares filesharing, I now have episodes 6-12 (Episodes 1-5 as well, but I had already covered those) of the now-cancelled ABC show. Episode 13 is airing for Americans on ABC this week, I should have it by next Monday.

In episode 6, everything changes as a seemingly minor decision Hopper makes has massive consequences. He finds Quarry Guy. He identifies the Jane Doe. Yet now Chad is killed at an ATM, skinheads in a van are chasing after Damien, and the fingerprint on the hourglass brings up some mysteries of its own. It's also found that Hopper's sister has some connection with the conspiracy, as she's who shoots Chad at the bank machine, and at the end of the episode we see her at the quarry as Quarry Guy is executed by his superiors.

First the answered questions:

1. Miguel Dominguez is a Latin Disciple, and an infamous one...he's like the Boogeyman for Latin Disciples, named Eceddie Eurone(sp?), the "Crying Man" (boogeyman), who can "kill you in your dreams".
2. Jane Doe is Isabella Cortez, whose mother has gone crazy after her disappearance. She worked at a high and fancy club.
3. Quarry Guy's name is "Detwiller"(sp?), who was the manager at the fancy club that Isabella worked at. Hopper knows where he lives, got details on his family, all sorts of interesting and helpful stuff.
4. Andrea still takes Eddie to rehab every day, but apparently isn't calling anymore. Hopper's change continues to work from day to day.

And only two extremely major unanswered questions:

1. What does Hopper's sister have to do with anything? How much does she know? How much of this is she in on?
2. Who's the other man in the car who gives Jennifer the speech about the difference between warnings and examples?

Apparently this was the last episode to be seen in the U.S. (Global stopped airing after episode 5), and I gotta tell you this would be a bitch of a way to end the series if it wasn't for the magic of streaming video on the internet. Thanks technology!

Update, 3:21pm: The first two minutes of Episode 7 show that the next day is going to be filled with examining the license plate of Boss Guy as well as the consequences of the "rules" of the day...Hopper's body doesn't revert back.

"Don't mince words, Bones, what do you really think?"

I have no love for the province of Ontario. I can say this straight on.

After all, it was less than three months ago that I proposed, in all earnestness, carpet combing the province with nuclear weapons. I wonder if North Korea could sell us some...

I mention this for a couple three reasons:

1. A recent post of mine mainly mad at the enviro-loving weenies has taken on a life of its own in the comments [somewhat of a rarity on this blog -ed] dedicated primarily to Ontario bashing.
2. I have long since strongly believed, and never got around to blogging about, that I have a hatred for Ontario that far surpasses anything I can stir up for a bunch of wimpy frogs. In fact, and this is the sort of thing I cannot emphasize enough:

   If I was ever shown a button which could instantly sink the entire province of Ontario into the sea and kill every man woman and child whom lived therein, I would press that button in a millisecond, and I would never look back for as long as I lived.

3. This post at Defend Canada about the sports franchise whose biggest acheivement since the Pearson government was buggering little boys, where the best response to my fabled Maple Leafs scheduling quiz was to call me "not bright".
4. Finally, this happened. (Battle of Alberta has a take on it here)

Only a little bit surprising

Long ago, when I read that a Harvard researcher found women chose their mates in a way not consistent with mammals but rather with birds, I realized it was high time we stopped treating women as part of our species but rather as some separate one, in the same way a beaver and a platypus are obviously different species.

Now on the same token, our long-standing homo sapiens always meant "the wise human". Now women can be called many things, but nobody would ever accuse them of being logical. So I was left in a bit of a pickle: I had to find some new classification for woman.

After some contemplation, I came across it: homo acerbia, using the feminine form of "acerbus" (which may not be applicable, my latin isn't particularly strong), the latin term for "bitter" or "harsh". Anyone questioning this term's validity just needs to watch a couple episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Low and behold, a search for "homo acerbus" on Google gives a substantial number of (Polish) websites using the terms "homo acerbus, homo aggressivus". These don't seem to be straight-up Latin ("aggressivus" is not linked to anything in Latin, but is used by the Eco-Philosophy Center for reasons not entirely understood. It also crops up in a scholarly paper about man's flight or fight instincts.

Regardless, its somewhat of a surprise, but this is one meme I've either stumbled across or spontaneously created.

A different perspective

The big national news right now not related to some nonexistant global heat crisis is that General Rick Hillier has been slandered as a Conservative by the Liberal Party.

I've posted about this already as a comment on Prairie Wrangler's blog, but the definitive analysis on the subject comes (no surprise, perhaps) courtesy of Steve Janke:

It turns out that Denis Coderre, who is doing the criticism, was prominently involved in a pro-Hezbollah rally in Montreal last year. That would be the same Hezbollah that the Canadian Government (under the direction of the Liberals, one may note) declared a "terrorist organization".

(I already took a similar bent earlier today, and noted that certain Liberal and NDP leaders were awfully soft on a home-grown terrorist)

Unveiling a new blog

Presenting Cartmanland The π Edge of the Sword, my new private entry blog where I can post reminders to myself and small missives in detail whenever M_____ jumps into my life like a Palestinian suicide bomber.

So its my new blog. And you can't view it! Ha ha ha!

For those too lazy to finish the game, or those who don't have the 116 hours required

Presenting all three endings to Deus Ex.



Also available:

The Deus Ex Intro:


The intro to the horribly disappointing Deus Ex Invisible War:


Some guy placing Deus Ex:


A guy who is playing Deus Ex with no kills and no items... other videos available from his publishing page here:


A Deus Ex rock video montage:

Some recent WHT posts...

I haven't linked to anything from co-linker Woman Honor Thyself lately, so I'll make up for lost time.

A great way to get speedier healthcare service in U.S. hospitals.

Delicious food that will probably kill you.

The frightening link between illegal immigrants and al Qaida.

An even more frightening link between Cambridge University and al Qaida.

You know the part about the "good beer buzz early in the morning", and that's very noble, but...

Memo to the cheezy female-led cover band I was forced to endure most of tonight: the line in Sheryl Crow's "All I Wanna Do" is

All I wanna do is have a little fun before I die,
Says the man next to me out of nowhere
Its apropos
Of nothing

It is not

All I wanna do is have a little fun before I die,
Says the man next to me out of nowhere
I propose
Nothing

You know, apropos, from the French phrase à propos (to the purpose), meaning "with reference to; speaking of".

Bonus apropos trivia: WordReference.com forums discuss how Germans use the phrase quite a bit. The Italians, not surprisingly, also use it in their native tongue: a proposito. It also has both an adjective formal connotation: "I thought his remarks about her father were hardly apropos" as well as the more common formal prepositional adverb: "I had a long letter from my sister yesterday - apropos (of) which, have you heard from yours recently?"

Damn you Google Accounts!

As a side effect of this switch to the "new" Blogger, I have to sign in every time with a Gmail account.

Problem is, I have 4 such Google accounts. The one I'm using for Blogger is not my primary Gmail account. In fact, the blogger account doesn't have any Gmail functionality. The wrinkle, of course, is that this means I can't be logged into Blogger and Gmail at the same time! Even if I transfer the account to one of my email-equipped accounts, I will continue to have this problem. Let's just say its very frustrating, and I can see myself having to delete and repost comments to mine (or another's) blog when I fail to notice I'm signed in as "myself" instead of the possibly-permanently-required pseudonym.

The dumbest 12 steps I'll never follow

The Next Agenda today is listing 12 steps to Global Climate change reform. I figure why not take these apart as a fun exercise.

1. Admit that we have a problem and that we are NOT powerless.
   I don't think there's much of a problem. The environment is not something the average person needs to worry about. Nor the politician. Nor the environmentalist. We will get the environment we need and want, and none other, and that is a good thing.
   
   
2. Come to the belief that "Higher powers" are governed by we the people, and we have to make changes now
   Tempting, but both parts of this two-part "step" (Next Agenda needs a dictionary) are completely senseless. Higher powers are by definition not governed by anybody, even if "we the people" existed as something more than a foolish construct in the minds of some hippies. ("We the people" includes both him and me, so right away you can see the problem with it). As for "we have to make changes now"...why? And what changes?
   
   
3. Make a decision to force our will on the "Higher powers" that be, to make them see the light. Even if we need to take to the streets.
   Why is it that left wing nutjobs can't go twenty seconds without promoting some sort of crazy street marching, which usually results in property damage and severe injury with no real purpose?
   
   
4. Make an inventory on each of our own personal lives, and strive to do better as an individual.
   Done: "I think the time for passivity is over. It's time to actively fight these idiots. I for one am never going to let anybody get away with claiming global warming ever again...even in idle conversation, I will immediately declare them fools"
   
   
5. Talk to one person, who must then tell another person the nature of all of our wrongs.
   So I should comment on this moron's blog?
   
   
6. Be ready to make these changes individually and humbly keep our own "corner" of this planet clean.
   My apartment is a mess. And when it gets too messy, I throw out the crap and leave it strewn across the front lawn of Kevin Taft's office.
   
   
7. Acknowledge that clean air, drinkable water and a safe place to live without war, are a RIGHT to all the current and future denizens of this planet, and not a privilege.
   2 million years of human history seem to indicate that none of the above are particularly common. And what the hell does war have to do with anything?
   
   
8. Make a list of all the species that we have harmed, and make the changes to ensure they will survive.
   Panda steaks. Elephant burgers. Hey, it worked for the buffalo!
   
   
9. Make direct amends by ensuring that old growth forests are preserved, and by not worsening the problem by logging and clearcutting.
   But old forests aren't something you can "preserve" anymore than old people are something you can "preserve". You can either accept the life cycles and enjoy their company, or you can be an idiot. I guess Next Agenda has made his choice.
   
   
10. Continue to take inventory, and never stop making changes where they may be needed.
    So environmentalism just needs a Supply Chain Manager?
    
    
11. Seek to understand that we are only a small part of this planet. All of us share the responsibility, and we are all to blame.
    I'm not to blame. You said it yourself, I'm only a small part of the planet.
    
    
12. After having accepted all of the above, carry this message to all the deniers and skeptics, and practice the above principles in all of our own affairs.
    I can't remember whom, but one of the Blogging Tories has about 12 posts up about "climate change deniers" over the past week. This must be what they had in mind!

If 2=0.002, then 0.003=3, right?

At least, that's the logic that Life Goes On, Regardless is using in response to this post on MyBlahg.

Yahoo Fantasy Sports

Yahoo is currently offline for a few hours. Our friend Kang, who checks the pool every 12 minutes, is probably committing suicide right now.

On a related note, fantasy baseball has started up. I tried to start a blogging league last year, but it failed miserably. Is there any interest in trying again? If some of my readers pass this onto their blogs, finding 8-16 bloggers shouldn't be hard. Interested parties please post to the comments...if anonymously, either check back for updates or leave an address to be contacted at.

Some more global warming stuff

ABFreedom handles 8 reasons to end the global warming scam. I someday will get around to questions asked in response to questions I asked that weren't really answered.

Bonus ABFreedom global warming post: We've heated the Earth up so much, we're now melting the ice on Mars!

Remember When...

Hey, remember when the election was won, and there was a sense of optimism amoungst conservatives in Alberta? "Western separatism, which has been growing in Alberta, will decline radically with an Albertan as Prime Minister." and all those platitudes.

Harper himself told Albertans "you wanted to be in", ignoring that we really didn't want that anymore.

And now this...

I think the time for passivity is over. It's time to actively fight these idiots. I for one am never going to let anybody get away with claiming global warming ever again...even in idle conversation, I will immediately declare them fools, listening to the junk science by biased pro-government researchers. And its high time that every person in Alberta born east of Lloydminister got themselves judged as a security risk.

The leftists and enviro-weenies fight a war every day and pretend their against it. It's time to make them eat their words. It's time to come up with a solid plan to get Alberta the fuck out of here.

There were many things I never got around to covering on this blog for the last six weeks. Day Break is one of them

Er, yeah, it got cancelled.

As Wikipedia says:

Online availability of episodes

ABC initially stated that the remaining episodes would be released on-line at ABC.com, on Thursdays at 2 a.m. PST, the day after they would have been aired on television. ABC previously said that there were problems that kept the rest of the episodes from being shown online, calling them "unforeseen music clearance issues." In addition, ABC.com removed a direct link to the Day Break section from its website. ABC.com has since reinstated the Day Break page. On January 14, 2007 the network announced that the remaining episodes would be made available "by the end of February." ABC.com posted the six episodes that aired on ABC online on January 29, 2007, along with first four unaired episodes. The fifth unaired episode was posted on February 4; the sixth will be posted on February 12, and the seventh on February 19.

Guess its time for me to hit Ares, the filesharing program from last week which I discovered can replace the now spammed-out-of-existence Limewire. As I get further episodes I hope to continue my reviews.

As for some Day Break Got Cancelled asides:

1. Remember back when I asked is Bakula the Ted McGinley of SciFi?? That was in a post about a Serenity connection on Voyager. Now, ironically, Adam Baldwin (no relation) has been in two cult followed cancelled programs: Firefly and Day Break. Perhaps Baldwin is the Ted McGinley of SciFi.
2. Lost was only on hiatus for 13 episodes. Is Day Break really such a money loser that the already-in-the-bag episodes airing would cost the network more than the lost viewers of airing The George Lopez Show and According to Jim reruns? Is this the state of American network television?
3. On a Ted McGinley note, I asked this question of a (female) coworker yesterday. Which is worse: being captured by Iraqis and having electric probes applied to your genitals...or having a husband who every night insists on watching Hope & Faith on CMT?

Widget request

Despite the annoyances of this new Blogger system (does albertanationalist@blogspot.com still work, I wonder?) the widget thing does seem to be a small silver lining. (Except for finding 82 spam comments and some guy in BC wanting to snowboard in this old post)

Now for a thought I had long long ago. Is it possible to make a widget that could let me list on the page recent comments I have made on other people's blogs? Seems to me a far more interesting thing than "who has commented on mine". This lets people like me who comment on sometimes 25 blogs in a day and then nothing for a month be able to look back at arguments they ended up in. Technoratti does something similar to this: you can see I posted on Canada's Debate a few weeks ago, but that's about it.

Some crazy Germans are also down with this idea, so hopefully it will soon come.

Third Edge of the Sword Valentine's Day coverage

1) "Kids" today are referring to the apparently over-clumsy Saint Valentine's Day as merely "VD". This made for a very odd email exchange this morning when a female friend asked me "how my VD was going".

2) How to say "I Love You" in dozens of different languages. qamuSHa', though not included on the list, is the best of them all.

What is Carlos Zambrano smoking?

Zambrano demands new deal:

MESA, Ariz. — Chicago Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano has a new message for the team: sign him to a new contract before the season starts or he'll leave and become a free agent after it's over.

"I'm ready to sign and I would do my job anyway with the Cubs this year," Zambrano said in an interview with WGN-TV that was reported Tuesday by the Chicago Tribune.

"Whatever happens, I don't want to know about a contract during the season. I want to sign with the Cubs before the season starts. If they don't sign me, sorry, but I must go. That's what Carlos Zambrano thinks."

Zambrano, 16-7 with a 3.41 ERA and 210 strikeouts last season, asked for $15.5 million in arbitration. The team offered $11.025 million. He made $6.5 million last season.

How many millions did it take before he started referring to himself in the third person (dude, you're no Manny Ramirez) and believing that if he demanded a new deal before the start of the 2007 season lest he leave at the end of the 2007 season, it would make the Cubbies more likely to want to work with him. Seriously, at this point the Cubs should refuse to give him a contract and then the day before the trading deadline send him to Kansas City in return for a bucket of hockey pucks. (As a Cubs fan, putting Angel Berroa into the bucket isn't a bad idea either). You want a new contract buddy? Enjoy playing for a last place team! Ha ha ha! [er, you know he's currently with the Cubs, right? -ed]

A terrorist threat to Alberta's petroleum industry

Alberta terror threat downplayed:

Provincial officials say they’re taking seriously an al-Qaeda threat to attack Alberta’s petroleum infrastructure but have not raised any threat level.

A spokesman for the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) said today they were alerted last week of statements on an Arabian-peninsula-based terrorist website encouraging attacks on oil installations in Canada, Mexico and Venezuela to disrupt the U.S. economy.

Premier Ed Stelmach said he learned of the e-posting on Tuesday but added security agencies already had the issue well in hand.

And he downplayed the magnitude of the threat.

Quiz! Rank the following terrorists in order based on the threat of assault on Albertan oil interests:

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. 
   
6. 
   
7. 
   

Update, 5:59pm: A commenter brings up Wiebo Ludwig (remember that guy?), as if it's some sort of argument against me to refer to another lunatic environmentalist that the left can't get enough of.

Slow agonizing labelling speed

I've put labels on a few of my old posts. Regular readers who wish to suggest posts derserving labels can post in the comments.

A question about so-called "climate change"

Last week big headlines were made as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned the U.S. Congress about global warming.

Now its time to ask the IPCC the analog of the question asked every time a scientist or activist argues against global warming:
How many of the scientists involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are on the payroll of governemnt?

After all, if being paid for by Exxon makes a scientist prone to give results that Exxon wants (no global warming, no need to regulate oil & gas industry), does it not follow that all of these scientists receiving big government grants will therefore be prone to give results that big government wants (global warming, massive tax hikes, nationalize oil & gas industry, huge money grabs for NGOs and elite consultants)?

How about we get some "global warming is really happening" from the scientists paid for by industry before we jump up and down over this nonsense.

Update, 2:54pm: I replaced all the "Enron"s in the original post with "Exxon". Silly mistake. Canconv readers will note that the original post is still quoted on the site.

Bonus fake science question: Is it true that the discovery that their claims are false cause environmentalists to push even harder for economic ruin at the hands of climate change? Yes.

Bonus link #1: Canada Free Press asks "what's with these control freaks spearheading global warming initiatives?"

Bonus link #2: Colby Cosh has resumed posting, and linked to his recent National Post article about the Stern Report's failure to properly model economics.

A great contest...but

SONiC Home Edition Happy Hour:

What is it?
It's the SONiC Home Edition Happy Hour! We wanna help you kick off your weekend the right way by throwing you a party with pizza and wings from Pizza 73

How do I enter?
It's easy - all you've gotta do is download the SONiC Home Edition Guest List get 25 signatures from your friends, neighbours - whoever you want at your party. Then drop off your guest list at the SONiC studios (5915 Gateway Blvd). You can just drop off the list or maybe you wanna get a little more creative with it...
Make sure you read thru the rules and regulations before entering.

What can I win?
If you're selected to have the Home Edition Happy Hour party at your place - you'll have the entire Garner Andrews Show at your place on a Friday afternoon between 5 and 8pm, we'll bring pizza and wings from Pizza 73 and "refreshments" for all your guests. That's not all though - when we vacate your house, you get to keep: a 27" LCD HDTV, DVD recorder and $1000 in cash. and "refreshments" for you and all your guests. We'll be going to a different house every week for 8 weeks starting on January 19th.

25 friends? Nice wish!

Dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century

Well,Third Edge of the Sword has now upgraded to "the new blogger".

I didn't want to.

I tried not to.

Don't blame me.

Barak Obama: Even easier to beat than Hilary!

Barak Obama has announced his plans to run for U.S. President in 2008.

Oh please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please win the Democratic nomination...

(Human Events scores a big win with Barak Obama: Human Rorschach Blot)

Disappointing discovery

The second verse of Spirit of the West's classic Home For a Rest? Turns out that the line just before "we lurched back and forth" isn't an F-bomb after all.

It's sad to think all those drunken university parties we were just being those morons who don't know the lyrics to songs. This is almost as embarassing as when I asked how Alabama could perform a song where they sing about being Russian.

One fat slut down; 4,374,063 to go

Anna Nicole Smith dead at 39.

I sure hope she enjoyed all that money she won from her husband.

2031 Utah announces its intention to secede from the United States

One of the great things you can see from this timeline of Deus Ex, the computer game which ties the Cincinatti Society, corporate taxes, Roswell, and Templar/Nazi gold into what remains one of the great computer games of all time.

Hot Nisku Ass

CanuckRecruiter.com has on its site photos from the Job Fair I attended last August. For such a hot economy, none of the places I submitted resumes to even got back to me, let alone got me an interview, let alone got me a job.

On the bright side, they also have photos from the event, and there's some hot chicks to be found. To save you all time, I've grabbed the appropriate ones:

Killer quote from my hockey pool

Ahh, the post-All-Star period is when trash talking is at its highest. When Chang changed the name of his team to support Calgary, Martok declared that the party we're going to at Chang's house tonight will be moved somewhere else, because he can't go to the home of someone who has cheered on the Flames. The resulting exchange was thus:

have the [party] your place...then, I dont care.. Im an Albertan and go for both teams you bums...

Saying you are a true Albertan you cheer for both teams is like saying you are a ture Bisexual, you have sex with both sexes. The gay side of course being Calgary.

Ha!

"The only mystery here is why we take our cues from a dick in a neckerchief"

And the only question that deserves an answer is what moron thought this commie fruitcake deserved his own show, and what disciplinary action has the CBC taken against her (because only a woman could be so clueless).

It's not an X-Ray, dammit!

You are undie surveillance:

A January 17 memo seen by The Sun discusses the cameras, which can see through clothes.

It says “detection of weapons and explosives will become easier” and says cameras could be deployed in street furniture.

It adds: “Some technologies used in airports have already been used as part of police operations looking for drugs and weapons in nightclubs. These and others could be developed for a much more widespread use in public spaces.

“Street furniture could routinely house detection systems that would indicate the likely presence of a gun, for example.”

Now every writeup you see about this keeps referring to these "X-Ray cameras", forgetting apparently that X-rays are a specific band of light which pass effortlessly through human flesh and the likes. These special "naked" cameras don't do that...so can we please stop calling them X-rays just because they probe below the level revealed by visible light?

Beside cameras, officials are also considering systems known as millimetre wave imaging and THz imaging and spectroscopy.

See? It's right there in the article how these cameras are being considered along with other non-X-ray technologies. Yet again passengers requiring "full X-ray inspections" are brought up as if this is already a "seeing you naked" feature. It's not: as the Mad magazine parody of Doogie Howser once said, forget seeing women with their clothes off, he got to see them with their skin off!.

I unfortunately tried to find a whole thread of angry geeks up on this at Slashdot. But they're too busy freaking out about global warming and cheap PS3s to actually fact-check mistyped media science summaries.

(h/t ABFreedom)