Archive for the ‘General’ Category
res ipsa loquitur
Sunday, August 5th, 2007Human error may have led to outbreak | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
Government officials believe human error at the private pharmaceutical firm Merial Animal Health is the most likely source for the return of foot and mouth disease, it emerged last night.
the good old Sally Ann
Saturday, July 28th, 2007I scored a brand new, complete and unused Kelly Kettle for $4 from the Salvation Army today.
Kelly Kettles are a marvel of thermodynamics. Instead of lighting a fire under them, you light the fire inside the double-walled boiler. The tapered walls make the fire draw something fierce, and you get boiling water in a very few minutes. I kippered myself a bit making the morning coffee, but it was worth the effort.
a big purple frog
Thursday, June 14th, 2007eBay.ca: Garmin Geko 201 GPS plus extras
Sunday, April 22nd, 2007I’m selling my Garmin Geko 201 GPS plus extras on eBay (item 320106781450). I’ve been very happy with it, and the only reason I’m selling it is because I just upgraded to a GPSMap 60CSx. Dave has a similar unit, and I was very impressed with the way it handled routing when we drove around Vancouver.
Most of the reviews of the unit seem to be pretty on the mark: accurate location, quick acquisition, and an ability to find a signal with little or no skyview. While the 60CSx does appear to work indoors, it suffers from weird track jitter.
ebay chicken
Thursday, April 5th, 2007For the last week or so, I’ve been playing eBay Chicken. I have to say, I’m pretty good at it.
The trick is to bid as high as possible on an item that you might want, but not high enough so you might actually get it. So far, I have bid on about 7 items, and quite failed to get any of them. I’m pleased to say that on a couple of them I was the second-highest bidder.
In a small way, I’m doing my part for the world gross domestic product. And doesn’t that feel good?
Update: The above is all well and good unless you happen to be in a just woken up and befuddled state, and realise that the auction you just bid on was in GBP, not CAD, and thus you’re just about to pay twice as much for something …
tidyin’, fixin’, payin’, all the while livin’ off plastic
Sunday, March 25th, 2007- Income taxes filed. Some tidying was required in order to find all the necessary paperwork. I know it’s ages before the deadline, but Catherine needs it early for her US taxes.
- Noticed the last two water bills were double what they should have been. A $3 flapper valve for the loo should sort that. You’d never get that with a British syphon flush …
- One of the neighbours just got a Linksys wireless router (with no encryption and default passwords, no less), so I had to rename and rechannel ours. Most hassle was getting the WET54G wireless bridge to talk to the new location. It didn’t help that it had the oldest version of the firmware in the world, plus it kept trying to rejoin the neighbours’ network.
- Braved IKEA. I now have a basement server/printer rack fashioned from multiple Rast bedside tables screwed together.
- Opened up the outside tap, now that the threat of -20°C weather is gone for the year.
- Paid many, many bills, some of which were routed from their mulching sleep while I was looking for tax paperwork.
- Joined worthy societies like FOE and Greenpeace.
- Saw Sharkwater. You should, too.
- My new Interac card is less than interactive. I’m sure I managed to get it to work once, but now it’s gone dead. This means a trip to the Honkers & Shankers on Spadina, always a joy …
gtabloggers 2nite!
Thursday, February 8th, 2007The GTA Bloggers will be meeting tonight on the second floor of Paupers Pub on Bloor, just east of Bathurst at 6:30 pm. Be there, or not.
Groundhogs, it’s your day!
Friday, February 2nd, 2007For Groundhog Day, here’s my gallery of Groundhogs. It’s a shame that Gallery 2 mangled the thumbnails, oh well.
“It will feel strange …”
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007Leo Marks, on hearing of an old couple who died within days of one another, and were buried together:
It will feel strange
Not to nudge you
Or to talk to you
Or keep you warm
When you’re lying there
Only a few feet away
Or perhaps even less
But we shall get used to it in time
Of which we’ll have plentyWe always treasured silences
In which we said everything
We shall continue to treasure them
And to say everything
Throughout the longest silence of all.
— from Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker’s Story 1941-1945.
now with super cow powers
Thursday, January 25th, 2007Fink has ‘em …
home again
Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007The 4000km holiday roadtrip is over. We’re back home now. It was good to be away, but it’s also good to be back.
dig the digs, eh?
Monday, November 27th, 2006
Work has just moved to a sweet suite on the 13th floor of 200 University Avenue. I have a lake view from my office window!
computer joy
Friday, November 24th, 2006Uhoh, there’s a huge Canada Computers opening just up the road; next to this sign, in fact. I’m glad I no longer commute past it; the temptation would be too strong.
rip the carpet up off the floor
Thursday, November 23rd, 2006It’s moving day. We’re moving the office from North York to downtown. Very downtown, in fact; 200 University, almost my old Oanda stamping ground.
In celebration of leaving Vic Park & Sheppard, I guess I really must have one last burger from Johnny’s…
peace out
Saturday, October 21st, 2006This year, unlike 2004, I’ll have White Poppies for sale at Toronto Quaker Meeting.
sunflowers again
Thursday, September 28th, 2006Strange mini-sunflowers are growing up the stem of the half-dead plants.
Little Miss Sunshine
Saturday, September 9th, 2006Little Miss Sunshine is almost perfect.
okay, which wise guy …
Sunday, September 3rd, 2006… made PCIe slots able to hold but not use AGP graphics cards? In the old days, there would have been a key in the slot to make it impossible to fit an incompatible card.
nice bike
Saturday, September 2nd, 2006I found a picture of the bike I probably enyoyed most of all I’ve ever owned:
It was originally a 1996 Gary Fisher Nirvana, but by the time this picture was taken, the only original things were the frame. the stem, and the beautiful curved bars. Everything else was swapped out, mostly due to wearing it out from my daily commute.
It wasn’t that it was a very expensive bike. It was just right; a nimble climber, nippy through traffic, yet stable enough to be ridden home when tired.
I still have the saddle; it’s on my Brompton. I gave the bike to Eddie Moore before we left. I wonder if he still has it?