Ice Racing in Ontario

http://www.wheels.ca/article/173236

It seem appropriate that this is my 100th post

Global Warming - Politics or Science?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/11/16/do1610.xml

A good political comentary

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/07/uselections2008.republicans2008

Russian / Georgian war

If you want to know what is actually happening in Georgia regarding the war there, you should read this article:

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/08/the-truth-about-1.php

Wheel of time movie

http://movies.ign.com/articles/898/898487p1.html

Seems like the wheel of time series is about to be turned into movies by Universal Pictures. On the one hand they'll probably butcher the story. On the other hand, Lord of the rings was done fairly well...

At least it will be interesting following the casting news as it dribbles out..

Whale Watching near Pleasant Bay Cape Bretton

IPE - Day six

Otherwise known as PEI in English, we headed off to it on Sunday, vowing to go nowhere near any Anne of Green Gables stuff.

We stopped at a couple places to view the Flink, we saw Charlottetown, then ended up at Rossignol winery for the evening.

A bit pressed for time so see pictures here.

Day five

It rained off and on Saturday, so we decided to rest and relax. Over lunch at the Cinder place I'd downloaded the Daily Show, so I watched that. We also went out to the little town of Pugwash for lunch. And I read through a chunk of The Lies of Locke Lamora (good book). Oh, and we drove into Amherst to see The Dark Knight, which I thought while good, had the wrong feel for a batman movie, and the pacing wasn't quite right.



Inside the cottage



View of the Northumberland straight from the cottage porch / dining room window

Joggins - Day four

Joggins fossil beach is a UNESCO world heritage site. Its got one of the greatest concentrations of fossils in the world. You can walk down the beach, and find them every few paces. Its also on the Bay of Fundy. The water level rises and falls 30 feet between low and high tide. We arrived as the tide was going out, and by the time we left at low tide there was far more beach visible.



Cottage on the bluffs.



Shortly after we arrived, the tide still fairly high.



You can see the different high tide marks. The loose rock just below the bluffs was the best place to look for fossil rocks.



Later in the day, the tide nearly at low, there was far more beach.



Like someone took a giant cleaver to the rock.



Can you spot the fossilized tree trunk in the rock?

Maritime Trip Day 3

No pictures from this day on my camera since I lost them to corrupted data. I walked the quarter mile of cottage property from the building down to the beach. The walk itself was miserable. The scenery was beautiful, but the mosquitos, black flies, deer flies and other flying insects that dive bombed my head were maddening. Apparently this is a really bad year here for mosquitos and other flies. Something to do with a lot of rain in June. Its not as bad once it gets hot out, and when there's a breeze. Later we went into Amherst to get those hats with mosquito netting.

Once I climbed down the short slope to the beach, I left most of the insects behind. I was there at high tide, which out here makes a _big_ difference. I'll have some high / low tide comparison pictures posted in the next few days. Later back at the cottage, we all saw a fox outside.

Anyhow, the next trip down to the beach armed with the netting and at a better hour was much nicer. The tide was low and we were able to walk out to the water past stranded jelly fish to see a bunch of small hermit crabs trying to steal food from each other in shallow water. Otherwise this was a day of rest after all the driving of the previous days. Next update may be more interesting.

In the meantime here are a few pictures of the non cookie-cutter houses in Amherst.





More photo's here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Joseph.Slonimsky/AmherstNovaScotia

Maritime Trip Day 2

Having got into Edmunston late, we started late as well, checking out of the hotel at 1pm. We asked Amy for direction to the nearest Subway sandwich place. What Amy failed to mention was that it was in a hospital near our hotel. Asking Amy for further directions to another Subway, we followed them only to run across a third Subway on our way to the second one.

Conveniently for us New Brunswick seems to have built a new 4 lane highway that sped us along towards our destination. We arrived at the cottage after dark. (follow the trip route to see where the cottage is).


View Larger Map

Maritime Trip Day 1

Started a bit late (cough David cough). I took a picture shortly after we got going.



I brought my new GPS unit with us



We stopped in Ontario for a couple rest breaks, but we didn't stop in Quebec until we reached the most northerly part of our trip at riviere-du-loup





View Larger Map
There was a cute waitress at the Boston pizza, who spoke more English than we did French. (which isn't much) Making use of all the French I know, I wanted to say 'voulez vouz parle on anglais avec mois ce souis?

After dinner, it now being midnight, we pressed on (getting lost in Riviere-du-loup) through the hills of south east Quebec until we finally had to stop just across the border in New Brunswick.



Total first day kilometers: Just over 1100.

What I think of Astrology

A link to my photo gallery, recently updated.

Worlds worst roads

Its arguably the worlds worst road. A city of over 200,000 depends on it for their only road link to the rest of civilization. And it looks like this after it rains:


Then there's the worlds most unsafe road. Not surprisingly known as the Hwy of Death. Among other things its one lane wide and has two way traffic. It looks like this:


Lastly there's the worlds worst hiking trail. It leads to this vantage point:


Unfortunately, to get up there you have to get by this:


But this isn't the worst part of the trail. There's an even scarier section by the look of it.

To see it, go to this site. http://www.ssqq.com/ARCHIVE/vinlin27.htm

Peak Oil

Peak Oil is the point where oil production reaches its maximum as mature oil fields stop producing, and fewer and fewer new ones come online.

Russia which is almost tied with Saudi Arabia as the worlds largest oil producer recently claimed they had reached peak oil output.

Coupled with the vast numbers of people in India and China who are entering the middle class, acquiring cars, and using energy, its not surprising that the price of gas is skyrocketing.

But the price of gas won't keep going up, becuase the above formula doesn't take into account producing your own oil from scratch. For example, one company is genetically designing bugs to eat waste and excrete oil. Yes, this is actually possible. read more here.

Doors Open Toronto

Pictures can be found here

Dell's warranty service

My Inspiron 6400 laptop's power supply became wonky the last few weeks, sometimes not being recognized at all by the laptop. I called Dell, and except for the frustrations of actually reaching the right call center within the Dell empire, I think I'm fairly happy with the service. The day after the call my new power supply was already at my door, with a box and prepaid shipping label to send the bad part back.

After my previous frustrations with Dell, this means I might have to consider un-boycotting them for future purchases.

Contemplating a Northern Ontario Road Trip

http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=7004
http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?p=128519
http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=7081
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Current_Swing_Bridge

Manufacturing on Demand

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-04/bz_instapreneur

If you read this article..

.. do you think freedom of speech and multiculturalism are clashing?

http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_2_cultural_jihadists.html

My website

http://www.gizmoz.ca

Amazing what one person with no particular knowledge of programming can do nowadays. Apart from being handed a template, I've done everything else myself.

Yes, I know there are several issues with the site, but its still in beta and doesn't have a crack team of programmers standing by!

Rally driving on snow through forest

Another Rally Clip from the cockpit

What happens when a telemarketer calls a prank caller..

How the Space Shuttle is Assembled

http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB11&Number=1016238&page=0&fpart=all

HRC

Canada's Human Rights Commission: Freedom of Speech not Canadian.

WTF?

This is what happens when a bureaucracy of left-leaning people is left alone, unsupervised by adults. See story here.

Worlds Oceans Cooling?

Thousands of Buoys float across the worlds oceans sampling temperature.


They are reporting a slight cooling of the worlds oceans over the last five years or so. All the climate models that global warming is based off of must have seen this coming... No? Oh, thats odd, seeing as how those models rely on ocean temperature rising for 80-90% of atmospheric global warming.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=394939

Do Not Reply

Ever gotten an email with anything@donotreply.com? well, most of us are smart enough to well... not reply. Others aren't so bright.

Where you may ask, do those emails go?

They all end up in Chet Faliszek's email Inbox.

... and then he posts some of the best online.

Traffic Jams

We've all been in highway traffic that inexplicably stops and goes. Now its been modeled in a controlled environment for the first time.

Global Cooling?

A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year's time. For all four sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.


Original Article here

Glimpse of the future

Contact lenses with a circuit and light emitting diodes allowing a super-imposed image on the world like a heads up display. See article here.

Broken Windows

I read this article in City Journal a few months ago, and I've wanted to reference it a few times since then. I'd thought of posting it to my blog then, but didn't. It's long and isn't very easy to summarize.

I first heard about the broken windows theory in a story about New York. The idea is that perception matters. Someone living in an area where there are broken windows, graffiti, etc, will be more likely to feel that they can act lawlessly than someone living in a nice orderly neighborhood.

The article I'm linking to has an overview of the worst neighborhood in Los Angeles and the societal and political forces trying to help it. The article stands out becuase of how complete a picture it paints of these forces.

Deal or No Deal

You know you've made the dictator major leagues when you can offer deals like these..

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Amid a discussion of trade in 1973, Chinese leader Mao Zedong made what U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called a novel proposition: sending tens of thousands, even 10 million, Chinese women to the United States.

Chinese leader Mao Zedong, here depicted in an Andy Warhol painting, offered women to the U.S.

"You know, China is a very poor country," Mao said, according to a document released by the State Department's historian office.

"We don't have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands."

A few minutes later, Mao circled back to the offer. "Do you want our Chinese women?" he asked. "We can give you 10 million."

After Kissinger noted Mao was "improving his offer," the chairman said, "We have too many women. ... They give birth to children and our children are too many."

"It is such a novel proposition," Kissinger replied in his discussion with Mao in Beijing. "We will have to study it."

You can find the original news report here. (CNN)

Hero or Criminal?

Here's a story of an 80 year old American answering the door at his home, only to find two robbers who attempted to beat him up. He fought back, and put one of his attackers in the hospital. He's being hailed as hero by the police and his neighbors. But the same thing happening in Great Britain would probably lead to his being charged with a crime. (can't use deadly force to protect yourself from a home invasion there). So who's right?

Volvo S60 2.5T AWD

I've had the '03 Volvo S60 2.5 turbo All Wheel Drive for three-quarters of a year now, and so far I'm very happy with it.

I think the style of the car has just the right touch of sport, class and luxury.


The shade of black with maybe a touch of blue is perfect for this car.

Handling is good. I really like the suspension setup, which thankfully sits more to the sport rather than the luxury end of the spectrum. Coupled with a rigid chassis and an anti-roll bar, there's fairly little lean-in for turns.

Throwing the car through the twisties of route 129 on the Tennessee / North Carolina border otherwise known as the tail of the dragon was amazingly fun.

(click on the map to get a full-size view)

I drove it twice in my Volvo S60. I think I did fairly well for the most part, but seeing how there's either rock, steep drop off or trees at the side of the road I really wasn't trying to push the car to 9/10th of what it can do. The one time I misjudged a turn and came in way too quickly for my comfort, I was blown away by how I was simply able to pull the steering wheel around more sharply and the car just turned with no oversteer or understeer, not even tire noise.

To see what I mean about route 129 being one of the best driving roads in North America, watch this youtube clip of someone following a Ferrari through the twisties.


Then there's the All Wheel Drive. While the All Wheel Drive system is biased towards the front wheels, up to 70% of power can be sent to the rear wheels when the front wheels slip by as little as 1/15 of a rotation. This means its really easy to have fun in this car when there's snow on the ground. Not to mention being able to get out of snow filled parking spots downtown.

Do you let tourists handle your guns?

I'll assume that most people who read my blog don't have guns or host tourists. And neither did the International Space Station until they began to let tourists paying $25 million apiece visit. Well apparently they also have at least one gun up there, which they let their tourists handle. And before you jump to the conclusion that the Americans are at fault, they're not. The Russians are the ones who brought it to the station. Apparently everyone up there knows about it, but word wasn't supposed to get out into the general population. I guess they forgot to tell the tourist, who blogged about it.

Anyway we all know how balanced and professional astronauts are..
Except for maybe the completely crazy-insane ones.
You can find the article here

A guy walks into a bar... ...'ouch'.

A Scotsman, an Englishman, and an Irishman meet in a bar while traveling.

"Y'know" said the Scotsman, "I still prefer the pubs back home. In Glasgow, there's a wonderful little bar called McTavish's. The landlord there goes out of his way for the locals, so much that when you buy 4 drinks he'll buy the 5th drink for you."

"Well," said the Englishman, "at my local, the Red Lion, the barman there will buy your 3rd drink after you buy the first 2."

"Ahhhhh, that's nothing, laddies," said the Irishman.

gihgup

read the rest! »

"Back home in me own Dublin, there's Ryan's Bar. Now, the moment you set foot in the place they'll buy you a drink, then another, all the drinks you like. Then, when, when you've had enough drinks, they'll take you upstairs and see that you get laid All on the house."

The Englishman and Scotsman immediately scorn the Irishman's claims. But he swears every word is true.

"Well," said the Englishman, "did this actually happen to you?"

"Not to me meself, personally, no," said the Irishman... "but it did happen to me sister."

Faster please..

Imad Mughniyah dead in a mysterious blast in Damascus.

Human Rights Commission Freedom of Speech Issue

The magazine Macleans was referred to a Human Rights Commission by a complainant for an article written by Mark Steyn. The human rights commissions are quasi-judicial bodies, which had been designed to adjudicate disputes in housing and the workplace where discrimination might have played a role. How did they come to judge what is permissible for a journalist to write and a magazine to publish?

Liberal member of parliament Keith Martin has introduced a private members bill to strip section 13(1) from the Human Rights commissions code under which section they are prosecuting Macleans.

To me it seems clear that freedom of speech inherently includes the right to offend others.

This point is illustrated by another guy who has been referred to a Human Rights Commission for publishing the 'Mohammed' cartoons. They were published in the Western Standard, by the publisher Ezra Levant.

you can read about his experience here

That looks like one content cat...

Photoshopping Angelina Jolie.

I admire the skill, but still find it a tad creepy.

An interesting history of the way war films have been changing.

Ahmed the Dead Terrorist

Continuation of the Presidential Candidate Series: Ron Paul

I've long thought Ron Paul was the republican crazy, just like the UFO believer Kucinich is for the Democrats.

Things like going back to the gold standard seem a bit out there, but if economic kookiness isn't enough, try racist, anti-semite, and conspiracy nut. Just imagine how well that would work. The guy that actually runs the world thinking that some 'trilateral commision' or whatever actually secretly runs the world. Yep, that has disaster written all over it.

This new republic article has all the details on his craziness.