Category Archives: Uncategorized

Fun Stuff and Oddities – January 10, 2008

Posted on by

Well, we here in Ottawa have all survived another week of work, no buses and winter’s wrath. I think you deserve some light reading. I give you this week’s FS&O.

Lake Superior State University 2009 List of Banished Words
These are the words that are overused in the English language. Stop using them now.

The new £4.7m school that won’t call itself a ‘school’… because it has ‘negative connotations’
Don’t get me started.

World Juniors – Big Flag
It’s really too bad this is so short cause it was a cool phenomenon that happened at the World Juniors.

What Cats Do While You Sleep
A revealing video.

American Freedom
Ironic.

When Traffic Signs Tell a Story
Funny.

A New Cigarette Hazard: ‘Third-Hand Smoke’
Interesting reading.

Organisation is the secret to a long life
No one point fingers at me.

Dark Sky Over Death Valley
Beautiful!

Cool Cloud Pictures
More beautiful.

Bad Gods
Lore Sjöberg is a very funny man. These are a mix of animations and cartoons on a fantasy/sci-fi theme. Some are NSFW.

10 Lies Told By Graduate Students
Funny cause I was a graduate student.

Fast Food – A Quick Review

Posted on by

Gordon Ramsay would not want me to call him a celebrety chef. Yet that is what he is, a chef who is a celebrety. He has three tv shows in production, Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen and The F Word. He has restaurants all over the world. He has cookware.

Fast Food is part of his campaign to get more women to go back to the kitchen. His company did a survey and found out that the majority of British women don’t cook. He wants to make cooking easy and fun.

Unfortunately, while there are some lovely recipes in this cookbook, I found that Ramsey has left some crucial details out. For example, he will tell you to heat some oil on the stove, but not at what temperature to do so. He also assumes that the home chef has better knife skills than they do. Both of these leadi to some burnt food. For someone who purports to be trying to "get women back in the kitchen" these vague directions could lead to a non-cook getting discouraged and giving up.

So if you do use this book, be sure to chop things up first and keep things at a lower temperature

Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog – AQR

Posted on by

[ Amused Mood: Amused ]
[ Listening to CBC Radio Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]

Turbo Man is an action figure, who with his faithful sidekick, Scrubbing Brush, have many adventures while playing with the boy. That is, until the day Scrubbing Brush gets too dirty and is thrown away by the boy’s father.

Turbo Dog, who bears more than a passing resemblance to K-9 of Doctor Who fame, is introduced to replace Scrubbing Brush. This new, electronic dog proves to not be up to Turbo Man’s adventures, and the action figure tries to figure out a way to rescue his friend.

This is picture book is not an easy, stand alone read. The text is fairly complexly organized, not always following a linear plan. The drawings are whimsical and reminiscent of 1960s picture books and comics. This is a wonderful story that subtly rails against commercialism while extolling the value of imaginative play. Author Mini Grey has created a wonderful book for all ages.

Fun Stuff and Oddities – January 4, 2008

Posted on by

[ Amused Mood: Amused ]
[ Watching My son go after anything out of his reach Currently: Watching My son go after anything out of his reach ]
Happy New Year!!!

Well since the last installment of wacky links, my Geeklet has had his first tooth errupt. It is
still a little tiny bud on the gums, but trust me and my nipples, it is there. To celebrate let`s look at the listé

Obama Nativity
If only I made this up.

Far Side Reenactments
Got some spare time? How about recreating them. live action style?

Magic Hockey Helment
In case you haven’t seen this. This was originally a speech the boy made at school, which his parents taped to send to relatives. The kid manages to hit the nail on the head when it comes to bad hockey parents.

Chilling game of hide and seek with a hungry polar bear
Oh my goodness.

Be a Bond Baddie
This is cool. Have fun!

Jewelry for Geeks
I admit, I might wear the <head></head> earrings.

The Geekiest Toilet Ever : Souped Up John
Add a fridge and I would never leave the bathroom.

Idea: A building shaped like Godzilla
Imagine how cool this woould be. And then you could have the Mothra Outlet Mall. Oh goody!

Geek Desks
Pretend you are in Star Trek!

Drunken Trooper Pulling People Over in the Drivethrough
I do not make these up people.

Hello 911? I’m driving drunk’
Guilty conscience got the better of her.

A Lion Among Men – A Quick Review

Posted on by

[ Happy Mood: Happy ]
[ Watching From the Ground Up Currently: Watching From the Ground Up ]
Gregory Maguire is a current literary celebrity, with one of his novels being turned into a hit Broadway musical. An expert in children’s literature, Maguire takes classic children’s tales and fables and reqorks them.

A Lion Among Men is the third volume of Maguire’s reimaining of the Wizard of Oz. This installment focuses on the Cowardly Lion, Brr who has been sent by the authorities to interview Yackle. Those in power want to find out what has happened to the Wicked Witch Elphaba’s book of spells, the Grimoire.

In order to get the information he requires, Brr is forced to barter stories from his past. Through this we find out how a lion can become a coward. We also find out more about second characters from Elphaba’s story. We also see how intertwined Brr is with Elphaba’s story.

As with all of Maguire’s writing, it is a wonderful. immersive read. He has also left the way open for another installment.

Fun Stuff and Oddities – December 30, 2008

Posted on by

I was actually going to post this Friday, but a computer crash took these away. I have rebuilt as much as possible.

X-Factor
X-Rays of bizarre things inserted into the human body, mostly the head,
where the patient survived. Not for the squeemish.

Fish Cheese
It’s cheese! And it’s fish!!!!

Sales of champagne decline along with the economy
So now is the time to buy champagne.

Name a new species of bat after whatever you want
A very neat fundraising idea.

World History Maps
A one man amature project to capture in map form various historical
periods. The Roman ones are particularly good.

Australian fencing instructor teaches priests to foil old age
Old people, with walkers are taught how to fence. Think about the
implications.

Mobile Stripper Pole
Because I have often thought what the world needs is undulating women on
mobile platforms in the bar areas of major cities.

Finally

Fallen Canadian Soldiers Honoured in Calendar
This calendar honours Canadian soldiers who have been killed in Afghanistan. It has been completely bankrolled by an uncle of a fallen soldier, who, once he pays off the expences, will use the proceeds to pay for services for military families. I am planning on ordering one, and would encourage all of you to do the same.

Physic – A Quick Review

Posted on by

[ Amused Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Listening to Canada Eh! ]
The third installment of author Angie Sage’s Septimus Heap saga finds Septimus finds himself thrust back in time and apprenticed to an Alchemist. Meanwhile, the ghost of Jenna’s great (several times over) grandmother is trying to kill her and resume the throne. The same fate of the late queen’s own daughters.

Definately not as good as the first two, as it lacks Some of the freshness and wonder. Still, it has the same tone and Sage keeps the the plot moving, so it is not dull. The ending sets the reader up for the no doubt forthcoming forth installment.

Muscial Tours of the Outhouses of Eastern Ontario

Posted on by

[ Silly Mood: Silly ]
[ Listening to CBC Radio Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
At this time of year CBC Radio starts playing a lot of repeats and "special programming". The special programming is produced by the junior producers who are really auditioning for bigger and better things. They have to pitch these ideas to CBC management (or have them pitched to them by CBC management).

Unfortunately, these shows tend to be inane. I call them the "Musical Tours of the Outhouses of Eastern Ontario" and I do my best to avoid them. Part of these efforts includes borrowing books-on-cd to listen to instead of the radio.

To that end, I just finished Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not. This is the brilliant, sarcastic and very funny story of Wigfield, a town that is threatened by destruction when the governement destroys the local dam. Read by the authors Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert, this book on CD is laugh a minute funny. Worth getting on CD just to hear the delivery.

And I have hours more of other books to listen to.

Taffy Lane – disappointing this year.

Posted on by

[ Confused Mood: Confused ]
So Husband Unit and I took Geeklet to Taffy Lane tonight. Taffy Lane is small street in Ottawa that seems to get into the Christmas spirit in a big way. Every year they have a huge display where every house on the street is lit up with Christmas lights. It looks like something out of a movie.

Not this year. We went around 5:30/6:00 pm a Sunday night. One third of the houses were not lit up. What gives, Grinches? I know the economy is on the way down, but it can’t be that bad.

Hopefully next year is better.

Who Throws a Shoe?

Posted on by

[ Amused Mood: Amused ]
So I have one question about the Iraqi reporter who threw a shoe at Bush.

How did he get the second shoe thrown?

Isn’t that why the Americans pay the Secret Service? To ensure that the second shoe, bullet, spear or other projectile is not lobbed at the President?

I mean, I can see how the first one went flying through the air, because, really, who throws a shoe? Outside of an Austin Powers’ movie. That can slip by anyone. But after the first piece of footware was pitched, the men who talk into their wrists should have been taking the wing-tip-tosser down. Or at least moving to do so.

As you can clearly see in the video, it is not until after the second shoe is discharged that the Secret Service starts moving. It is, in fact, some of the other Iraqi reporters who try after the first shoe to stop the guy.

The US is lucky this guy was only flinging footwear. Cause if he had been packing heat, it would have been much worse.

I suspect this will now be part of Secret Service training.