The Observer on carbon rationing action groups, or CRAGs: Want to cut your carbon? Join our club. There’s one in Vancouver.
Author: scruss
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an engineer is me (almost)
I passed the PPE. Now all I need to do is prove that I have engineering experience, and I’ll be able to have a licence to practice engineering. The Engineering Council thought I had enough experience to be a CEng back in 2001, but engineering fundamentals are so different here in Ontario.
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as welcome as a … in a …
The last couple of times we’ve been to the supermarket, we’ve noticed someone has thrown a pack of pork products into the halal section chiller. C’mon people; that kind of behaviour comes free with stupid. Just ‘cos you’ve got bacon breath doesn’t mean you have to force it on everyone else.
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this town ain’t big enough for the half of us
My rather weak attempt to show that if something doubles in size, it uses the sum of all its previous endeavour to do so. Source: halves.eps.
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dinner
I made stovies; turkey ones. They were good.
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once mighty edifices crumble and fall
Friends: After discussion with the other list managers, we've decided to end our policy of asking that list members not "top post" their replies. That's the default behavior of most email clients, and just reminding people of our recommendation to "bottom post" or interleave your replies has become more trouble than its worth. From this point forward, top posting is no longer an issue. Dan Knight, list owner publisher, LowEndMac.com
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better than python
It’s taken a while, but my favourite TV program ever is coming out on DVD: Absolutely. No, not AbFab; just Absolutely. All four of the show’s seasons are coming out on DVD on April 21st. -
to GO Transit
(who managed to make my train 11 minutes late, then had it overrun the platform:)
1.) Rent a brewery.
2.) Tell people.I’m sure, though, that you couldn’t even follow these simple instructions for arranging a piss-up in a brewery.
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Holy Modal Rounders – Live 1965
Someone helpfully posted Holy Modal Rounders – Live 1965 as MP3s. Both Pete and Steve are clearly out of their heads when they played, but it’s a diamond in the rough of the freak folk scene.
The recording has a chequered history. Recorded on June 5th 1965 (no-one knows or remembers where) by WDTM Detroit, the tape belonged to Peter Stampfel’s mother. It was found after she passed away, and mastered to CD for release in 2002. According to Peter, Steve borrowed a CD-R copy, and released it through an acquaintance. Much to Steve’s dismay, the acquaintance claimed that all the money from the release disappeared as expenses. It is now out of print, and seemingly any release could trigger legal action from either party.
Whatever the history, it’s a great record of the time.
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snarky, but right
A nice piece of informed snark from Joseph Romm: “How do we really know humans are causing global warming?“.
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it was special
The 9th annual Banjo special was its excellent self last night. Messrs Taheny (x2), Quinn, Coole and Naiman – aided by a cast quite literally numbering more than three – were on fine form.
Got to meet a few BanjoHangout folks too – including Hugh (the maker of my banjo) and Loren, for whom Hugh had made “The Banjo of Death“. Loren’s got this thing about skulls, and this banjo has them aplenty.
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Rise Up Singing! in freedb
It took me a while, but I finally put all the track information for Sing Out!‘s Rise Up Singing teaching CDs (also on the artists’ website) on freedb. I was given the data just over a year ago by Mark D. Moss, the editor of Sing Out! magazine.
The discs are:- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc A
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc B
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc C
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc D
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc E
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc F
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc G
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc H
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc J
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc K
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc L
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc M
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc O
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc P
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc R
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc S
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc T
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc U
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc W
- Rise Up Singing: The Teaching Disc Y
Perhaps what took longest was working out a UTF-8 safe processing workflow, from converting the original Excel table to e-mailing the entries to the freedb server. Let’s just say that OpenOffice, sqlite, and Perl were very helpful here.
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seq for OS X
It has always irked me that OS X doesn’t have the seq command (I am easily irked). Brian Peterson’s old e-mail Re: seq from core utils has it, but the link to sh-utils doesn’t work any more, since the project has been archived. Here’s the new link: http://ftp.gnu.org/old-gnu/sh-utils/. Compile it as Brian suggested, and all will be well.
$ seq 1 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Joy!
(at least 99% of you will be mystified why anyone would want this.) -
definitely the best (perhaps the only) ASCII art Great Horned Owl
(aptly, it was sent from someone in Environment Canada’s Environmental Assessment in Ontario Region division)
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decade
Was it really ten years ago that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (aka my favourite album ever) came out? Optical Atlas thinks so.
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the customer is always
Can I just say that the audio department of Long & McQuade at Ossington & Bloor is easily the worst sales experience possible? Not merely did the assistant (in the loosest possible sense) doubt the availability of an item that I’d previously confirmed with the distributor as being sold by L&M, but when I queried the go-away-and-leave-me-alone price he quoted, he aggressively queried where I’d seen a better price.
Sorry, but you’ve lost a sale. You may have lost me as a customer.
Update:Â I just got a Canadian price from RVA which is at least $20 less than the US web price that the loser in L&M said wasn’t possible. A-ha ha, you suck, Long & McQuade!
