Snow looks like it’ll go away soon. But it’s been a weird winter.
Blog
-
powered up
I am now one of those annoyingly smug Bullfrog Power subscribers.
-
The week of shaving carefully
So how did my first week of shaving with a plain safety razor go? Pretty well, I think.
I’ve discovered that Weleda shaving cream and after-shave balm work well for me. They have a muted, natural scent, and are very soothing.
What didn’t work for me was Lush Prince shaving cream. This heavy, waxy preparation clogs up the blade, it smells too strongly of neroli, and is a horror to rinse off. I also cut myself the only time I used it. Styptic pencil owies resulted.
Catherine has remarked on the closer shave (I suspect ‘cos I’m spending more time on it). It’s strange, but the stubble seems sharper. I wonder if multiple blades smoothed the razor-cut ends of the hairs, and thus gave an impression of a smoother, longer-lasting shave?
I like my Merkur. Using it for a year will end up cheaper than any cartridge razor, and result in far less trash.
-
Old German Guys were better than Coldplay
I guess by appropriating the main riff of Computer Love, Coldplay might’ve thought they could suck less. Nope. They’re still the Sade of the 2000s; music for chartered accountants.
-
Imagine Me & You, and a redwing
We just saw Imagine Me & You; fairly amusing, mostly harmless. But there’s a problem; in a scene (Hec & Rachel’s breakup, if you must know) a red-winged blackbird can be clearly heard. There are no redwings in England …
-
don’t mess with my childhood
Why is the Canadian release of The Magic Roundabout called Doogal? Surely everyone knows he’s Dougal (unless you know him as the francophone Pollux)? Sheesh.
It’ll suck. Since there’s no Eric Thompson, and no mention of sugar cubes for recreational purposes, it’ll be v.poor.
-
shavin’
They’ve just discontinued my razor of choice — the Wilkinson Sword/Schick Diamond — so I’ve decided to go old-school. Now that Wilkinson Sword has the four-blade Quattro, and Gillette their five-bladed monstrosity, I’ve realised that the whole multi-blade thing is a load of hooey.
Consider this: if the first blade was supposed to do most of the work, then draw the hair out a bit to be cut below the skin level, further blades would have less and less effect. It’s just as likely that the whole multi-blade cartridge thing was a scam to sell more, and non-standard, blades that could easily be made obsolescent by the time generic manufacturers caught on —Â the old Instamatic effect.
So I bought a Merkur safety razor (from Toronto Salon Supply, at Bay and Dundas), and a bunch of Merkur blades. I didn’t shave particularly close today, but it’s just as close a shave as the old twin-blader I used to use.
The plus side is that I’m throwing away no plastic with every blade, so I’m shaving the planet.
-
just yer basic yerba, mate
Scored some yerba mate for Catherine’s cousin Phil yesterday. Seems there aren’t so many South American food stores in KCMO, while there’s a strip of them on Augusta in Kensington Market.
The store at 239 Augusta had a whole yerba mate section. Since it was cheap ($2 for the half key), I got some for myself. Wonder what I’ll do with it?
-
little turbine on the desk
I’ve finally managed to snag a model wind turbine. Thanks to Jay Wilgar at AIM Powergen, I now have a GE Your Wind Turbine in a Box 1/265 scale turbine, complete with tiny plastic cow.
-
mandibled
I was bitten by a spider today, but I have yet to develop superpowers.
-
We’re the Decemberists. No *we’re* the Decemberists!
Seems that the Decemberists (current indie band, of Portland) are a bit concerned to hear about the Decemberists (indie band out of Liverpool in the 1980s, now mostly known as the Hellfire Sermons).
The strange thing is, bassist for the (original, Liverpool) Decemberists is none other than my mate Andy Ford, who co-moderates liontower with me.
-
first bad rockbox build
Today’s daily build of rockbox caused my iRiver to crash. It’s the first time it’s been anything other than perfect.
-
NerdTV
Has NerdTV gone the way of all flesh? The main page has been stuck on Doug Engelbart for more than a month.
-
no work shall be done
Oh dear, I’ve just discovered Arnold, the Amstrad CPC emulator for OS X. The CPC was my first home computer, and I have fond memories. What with that, and the ftp.nvg.ntnu.no games archive, I’ll be as happy as a pig in glabber.
-
deadly windows
Millions of birds perish every year from crashing into glass windows. And architects don’t need to do costly and time-consuming migration studies.
But us wind guys get it in the neck.
-
my letter to etymotic
To: Etymotic Research Inc. Customer Support
I recently placed an order with you for accessories for my Isolator ER-6i headphones. I was very disappointed when UPS added an additional brokerage charge of approximately US$27 (plus taxes and duties) to the order. Since the value of the the order was only $43, your courier’s brokerage charge was almost two-thirds the value of the goods ordered.
Please consider using another courier for Canadian orders. USPS/Canada Post’s brokerage charges are much smaller, of the order of $5.
I would also like to note that none of your agents in Toronto seems able to stock these spares. I visited all three of the dealers mentioned on your website:
- Long & McQuade had no stock, and didn’t seem particularly keen on ordering any for me.
- Carbon Computers, though very helpful, only had eartips for the ER-6, and didn’t know that they wouldn’t work with the ER-6i.
- CPUsed sold me an incomplete bag of ER6-14 eartips; only 6 tips for the full price of 10. When they weren’t assuring me that they’d work with the ER-6i, they were trying to sell me a set of Shure E2C headphones, which they said were better.
Up until now, I have been widely recommending your products. Until I know that you’re serious about supporting your Canadian customers, however, I cannot recommend your products to anyone in this country.
-
part of the landscape
I see that wind turbines make it on to the recent 51 cent stamp series. I guess they’re part of the landscape now.
(Would it be astonishingly churlish of me to point out that the flag is flying one way, and the turbines facing the other?) -
TTC: Platform Video Screen Survey
Take the TTC: Platform Video Screen Survey. Those video screens suck.
-
why does etymotic hate its canadian customers?
Etymotic — makers of otherwise fine headphones — must really hate its Canadian customers. Not merely do the local suppliers not stock replacement eartips, but getting them shipped from the US incurs UPS‘s unbelievable brokerage charge, which approaches the value of the parts you’re ordering.
A more coherent posting will come later when the old strongly-worded letter of complaint goes out.
