the devil you know

a phew fotos...

2012-01-29T00:26:00.003-05:00

Last post I mentioned that I was starting work on a Southern Ontario Railink locomotive. I have some photos to show the work that I did.

This photo shows the Front Range shell on a modified Athearn GP9 chassis. The Front Range shell would not fit on the frame properly, so this became the first frame I ever had to grind down in order for a shell to fit. And it fits nicely. In this picture, you can see the remnants of some body putty on the nose...this is from my failed attempt at building a CN GP9rm...

What is in this picture are the parts for making the new cab. I have the old Front Range cab at my right, before any modifications were done. I also have the front face of an old Athearn SD40-2 cab, which I cut apart very carefully with my razor saw. Very carefully as in not destroying the cab or cutting off any of my fingers. The red arrow in the picture is pointing at the number boards I used, which came from a Rail Power Products B23-7 kit. Yes, it is odd to use a General Electric part for a General Motors locomotive...but it works.

And here is the result. I cut the light housing from the Front Range short hood and glued it onto the number boards, and then proceeded to drill it out for lighting. It looks almost exactly like the Railink locomotive cab, so I'm happy. Above it is the nose, which I had to shim with styrene strips as I had cut it way too short years ago.

I still need to get more parts to finish the unit, but I think it's beginning to work for me.

1210 is one of my older locomotives, built before I had some of the nice tools and skills I have now. The trucks came from an Athearn SW1500 and look and work much better than the modified Juneco trucks that used to be on this unit. I will be stripping this unit, replacing the cab and handrails, and repainting it to SOR 1359, which was the last remaining SW1200 on their roster. In the foreground you can see the still in progress CN SD40-2W 5245 with the beautiful Railflyer treadplate, pilot plate, and steps. The red on the cab is body putty.

More photos and stuff as progress continues....

Switching gears...

2012-01-19T00:29:00.002-05:00

It's been a while. Christmas was good, as I ended up with a new Intermountain pressure hopper decorated for Stelco, and three Athearn 53' Canadian Tire containers. Very nice. Also got Dead Island and Halo: Anniversary Edition, which both have absolutely nothing to do with model trains, but are super cool.

The SD40-2W's are in a holding pattern, since I'm waiting on a lot of parts in order to finish them off. Some are because they haven't been made/released yet, and others are because I haven't gone to the hobby store to get parts to lengthen the frames. Once the parts are released and I have what I'll need to lengthen the frames (epoxy putty, styrene channel, brass strip), the project will continue.

So, I've started looking at other projects. The first is a complete change in direction. I had an old Front Range GP9 with a rebuilt Atlas Alco cab that was going to become a CN GP9rm...but with all the problems I was having with the build, I was about to toss the unit into the unbuilt pile. Then I saw a picture of a Southern Ontario Railink GP9r. Easy enough to change the cab out and change some of the details. Good thing I'm a packrat, as I still had the original Front Range cab. A few cuts here and there with a razor saw, and I had a perfect cab for the unit.

Then, in the same picture, I saw an old ex-CN SW1200rs. I had built one of these using the old Juneco Models retrofit kit. I think the word "retrofit" means "ruin", as I tried using two of these kits and neither of them did the job right. It was sitting in the junk pile waiting to either be sold or put into a scene as a rusting hulk. Anyway, I stole the trucks and motor from another locomotive and will be stripping my locomotive and repainting it so that it looks better. A new Cannon cab will also be used.

And then, I saw in the background...a new GP20d owned by CITX Leasing. I've got an old Bachmann Plus GP30, which has the same wheelbase. It's a good runner (which is strange, since Bachmann gets such a negative rap on the internet) and I have no use at all for a GP30.

So, in all, Southern Ontario Railink will end up with three locomotives I never intended to build because I got bored and searched for locomotive pictures around Hamilton and Brantford.

I also started work on one of the ES44DC units I'm building. No, I'm not buying one of the Intermountain ones. When I can kitbash one for a third of the cost and still have a great looking and great running locomotive, why buy one that I only have to take out of the box?

Once all of these are done, they'll be ready for painting. Which means, I'll need to get an air filter for my air compressor, the paint, the decals, and I'll have to build a spray booth. Lots of work...lots of work.

But what else is there to do in the winter? Watch the Leafs lose?!?!

I'm kidding. Go Leafs Go!

retention tanks

2011-09-05T01:57:00.005-04:00

Sometimes I just can't leave anything alone.

I had decided to stick with the Athearn SD40-2 frame as it is instead of searching out frames with the proper wheelbase just didn't seem like a fun idea. And then I had to do it.

I ordered some waste retention tanks. They're Railflyer Model Prototypes parts, and they are very nice. Here they are, in the raw...

And here's one of them, built up for the most part...

Now, CN added these to their locomotives as a way to prevent waste fuel products from leaking out onto the tracks, which would then find their way into the water supply. Good idea...unless you're me and you don't have the proper length frames. I now have parts that won't fit the current plan.

So, I'm off to find longer frames.

well worth the time and effort...

2011-04-23T13:40:00.004-04:00

I spent the March Break cutting apart my second SD40-2 and putting it back together as CN SD40-2W 5329. There are a few differences between the first model, CN 5245, and this one. 5329 does not have the snow shields behind the cab, it has a winterization hatch, and the step wells are angled instead of curved. Most of the time was spent trying not to make the same mistakes I made with 5245 so that I didn't need as much body putty. Try as I might, there were a few issues.

My Easter break so far has been spent cleaning up the workshop area due to two visitors I found the other night. Mice. Not fun. I also spent some time grinding one of the locomotive frames so that the body can fit on it. I came to the realization that I really don't care about the short wheelbase of these locomotives, so I decided to use the frames I have on hand rather than go looking for a frame that is difficult to find. After all, these aren't museum pieces...they're built to run. Now, if only I had a layout to run them on... This long process was well worth the effort, as I will now be able to fully detail the underframe using Railflyer pillow blocks, Detail Associates fuel tank fittings, and Details West air tanks and air filters.

5329 will take a little longer to complete than 5245, as I am still needing a few Railflyer parts to be created and sent to me. The winterization hatch, plows, and stanchions are still needed. I'm also in need of parts from other companies, like MU and air hoses, lift rings, paint and decals, and a DCC decoder for each unit. I'm also thinking about remotoring both units so that they'll run silent. Maybe those DCC decoders will have sound...

Photos below.

My newly ground frame with body next to an old SD50AF kitbash. Just checking heights.

My two SD40-2W units. The one with the snow shields is 5245, the other is 5329.

The beauty that are Railflyer step kits. Well worth the money.

Problem solved and some work done

2010-08-08T11:39:00.004-04:00

After a few online discussions, measurements, comparisons to photos and a little detective work, the problem with fitting the Railflyer electrical box was solved.

There's nothing wrong with the Railflyer part. It's the Athearn shell.

As previously noted, when Athearn made the SD40-2 they shortened the wheelbase so that the units could negotiate an 18" radius curve. When they shortened the wheelbase, they also did some minor shortening in the clean air room behind the cab. It's about seven inches off, and the duct is a bit wider than it is supposed to be. I could have replaced the entire section with Cannon parts, or waited until Railflyer brings out their clean air room, but I decided to work with what I have.

I used strips of 4"x4" styrene to build up the clean air room behind the original cab, until I had 8" of space in between. Then I sanded it down to make the seven inches I required. I then installed and glued the Detail Associates cab in place. The electrical box fit perfectly into the newly created space. Problem solved.

I added diamond treadplate from Railflyer to the shell. The treadplate is amazing stuff, able to cover over my many mistakes and scratches I inflicted on the poor units. Because of the dimensional errors on the Athearn units, the treadplate has a gap near the ductwork. I will use a small portion of the leftover treadplate (yes, Chris includes a lot of extra treadplate in his kits!) to fill in that small gap.

The rear door on both sides of the long hood was reduced by 1/3 of its height. I used a chisel blade in my XActo knife to scrape the door down, and then covered both areas with scale 2x2 foot pieces of .005" clear styrene. I would have used white styrene, but I had none on hand that were the appropriate thickness. Once the squares were glued in place, I positioned a Plano louver in the middle of each square. What a huge difference this one detail made! By the way, the rear door on early CN SD40-2W units has the hinges on the opposite side of what they are on my model. Am I going to change this detail? No. Way too much work to do that really won't be noticed once all the detailing, painting, and weathering are done.

I will try to get photos onto the blog at some point.

Next up...assembling the ditch lights, Sinclair antennas, windshield wipers, horn, bell...and finding the 0402 white leds (Digikey) and a new chassis for each unit.

small parts = big headache...

2010-06-06T03:48:00.002-04:00

The Railflyer Model Prototypes SD40-2W electrical cabinet was on the agenda for tonight's spot of building. I didn't finish it. I spent more time on the floor looking for tiny pieces that would suddenly jump off the workbench and disappear. Fortunately, I was able to find every piece.

As I've stated before, the Railflyer parts are amazing. The problem with them is that they are designed with such close tolerances that one bend that isn't quite 90 degrees, or one tiny piece of brass isn't quite glued right...and it's not going to go together well. Most of the cabinet has gone together well. Right now, my biggest problems are the etched step and how its going to fit into the space provided, and how I'm supposed to put this part between the cab and the blower housing. There's no room for it to fit in there, which makes me wonder if I've done something wrong or if the model doesn't have the right measurements.

Must get better lighting for the workshop. And a stool to sit on.

Things are starting to pick up...

2010-06-02T21:28:00.000-04:00

Sorry, no photos this time. Not much has been done to the units, anyway.

Parts have come in, which will allow me to finish building most of the units. What is missing are some parts which are either too expensive to get at the moment, or too difficult to find. One example would be the Rail Power Products SD45-2 underframes. I'm not paying $35 a piece for them, as they are overpriced at that amount, especially when they can occasionally be found on eBay or other internet sites for $5 a piece. I can be patient.

The reason I need these underframes is because when Athearn first introduced their groundbreaking SD40-2, the wheelbase was shortened so that the locomotive could run on 18" radius snap track. It was a compromise necessary at the time to allow people who had "toy" train track to run a decent locomotive. It's a compromise that is no longer necessary. Athearn has the technology and the parts necessary to remedy this problem...they've chosen not to. The Rail Power Products underframe will fit the Athearn shell, and will allow me to detail the underframe with all the cables and waste retention tanks...

The Railflyer parts I have received have been excellent, as have the Detail Associates and Details West parts. It has been far too long since I've done a detailing job on a locomotive, and this set of SD40-2Ws will be my most detailed set of locomotives to date.

Photos will come with more work...

A bit of progress over the holidays

2010-01-06T23:21:00.005-05:00

Sorry to have been gone for a while. I had important obligations that took my time away from the blog and my projects. Some things are more important than this blog and my trains...

Anyway...I did get some work done on my locomotives. First, I chopped the cab, cab sub base, electrical box, most of the pilot, fans, grills, and rear long hood end off of the unit. I also drilled out all of the holes for the lift rings and the curved fan grab. It is a lot of work doing all of this, especially since I've been away from this kind of work for a bit of time. But much like riding a bike, once you know how to do it...

Above is an overhead shot showing much of the work that was completed. Removing the cab has made the structure a lot weaker...something which will be able to be corrected once the new Canadian cab is added. The front pilot and steps were removed to make way for the very nice Railflyer Model Prototypes etched brass steps and pilots.

This photo shows all of the work done on the roof at the moment. I drilled and sanded the holes for the fans, and the fan support rings are a perfect fit. I test fitted the one ring in the dynamic brake hatch for this photo just to see how it worked out. I did not remove any other parts as many modellers do when they are kitbashing Athearn locomotives, as I don't think the Athearn parts are too bad.

This photo shows a test fit of the Detail Associates cab and Railflyer Model Prototypes steps and pilots. While there is a better cab kit on the market, I had the DA one in stock and can live with it. Yes, there is a major gap in front of the nose...this will be filled in with styrene and putty, and then probably covered over with treadplate. The Railflyer steps and pilots are amazing...there will need to be more parts bought in order to make these units look good.

I wish my skills at photography matched my skills at building stuff, as my pictures don't do the parts justice. However, looking at both units in the photo, one can already see how much of an improvement has been made by adding these new parts.

These last two photos show the front and back ends of the two units. The unmodified Athearn gray unit has a huge gap in both pilots...note the realistic openings on the Railflyer pilot on the modified unit. The rear photo shows the excellent Cannon and Company rear grills and rear end. If you are planning on kitbashing any Athearn blue box locomotives, I highly recommend replacing the long hood end with Cannon and Company parts...it beats trying to remove all of the cast on grab irons and having to drill all of those holes correctly.

I will return when I have done more work.

A few pictures to get started...

2009-12-19T02:01:00.003-05:00

The photo quality isn't the greatest...my apologies. I'm going to have to do something about the lighting in my workshop. It doesn't help that the light is behind me, and is one of those compact fluorescent bulbs that puts out a yellowish cast on everything. I know I can fix it in several paint programs, but I didn't do that this time.

Anyway...on to the models at hand. I found some SD40-2 units on the HOYARDSALE Yahoo group. They cost me $15, which was a pretty good deal for one powered unit and one dummy unit. It actually cost me more to have them shipped from Florida than the units cost, but I didn't mind that. My hobby shop charges more for one dummy unit than both of these units and shipping. I purchased them to finish out something that I had bought many years ago, that being a Detail Associates wide nose kit for a CN SD40-2w.

I used Vim cleaning solution and an old toothbrush to take off most of the paint. As you can see in the photos, it didn't take everything off. I'm not going to worry too much about it, as I'd rather keep scrubbing with Vim than lose any more brain cells to PineSol, Alcohol, and Brake Fluid.

This ex-L&N unit still sports the gray coat of paint and a very minute amount of the yellow lettering. I don't mind it not being a black shell, as this will allow me to see a lot of what needs to be cut apart. As it stands now, here is everything that needs to be cut off:

1. The cab and nose
2. The long hood end
3. The front and rear steps and pilots
4. The air conditioning unit behind the cab
5. The air tanks
6. The fans
7. The radiator grills
8. The nubs that hold the shell to the chassis

I also need to drill a number of holes for details, like lift rings. The steps will be replaced by the beautiful etched brass models from Railflyer Model Prototypes. I thought about using cast brass steps that have been around for years, but once I saw the RFMP steps, I ordered two sets of steps and two pilots. I am also looking at replacing the chassis on this unit with a Rail Power Products SD45-2 underframe, in order to give the unit the correct wheelbase. The Athearn chassis is fine, but the trucks are too close together so that this locomotive will negotiate an 18" radius curve.

This unit will need a bit more cleaning to get it ready for cutting and detailing. The red was horrible...it took a lot more elbow grease to remove what I was able to remove. It will also need all of the same parts cut off in order for me to make this unit into a CN model.

I have a lot of the detail parts on hand to get both of these units started. I have both of the cabs, the Cannon and Company fans, long hood ends, and grills, the Railflyer steps, pilots, and pillow blocks (they hold cables under the deck), and anticlimbers. I still need air tanks, horns, grab irons, fuel fillers, electrical boxes, snow shields, and many more parts. It may take a while to get everything together, but I'm willing to work at getting the parts.

I'll post more as it becomes available.

One problem solved...

2009-12-15T23:00:00.000-05:00

I posted the other day about having a problem stripping the paint off of some old Athearn Blue Box locomotive shells. I solved the problem today...quite by accident.

I was going to give the carb cleaner a try, until I read on a website that carb cleaner can sometimes ruin plastics. So, I gave it a shot on a cab that I wasn't going to use anyway. The cab now has fingerprints and paper towel permanently stuck to it. Good thing I didn't spray it on the shell.

So, I was thinking about getting some 99% Isopropyl Alcohol in Sudbury and dunking the shells in that...and then I tried something different.

I looked under the kitchen sink and found a bottle of Vim. Vim is a cleaning product made (at least here) by Unilever Canada. I poured a little on the side of the locomotive and started scrubbing with a toothbrush. The Family Lines/SCL paint began to fade away, with the lettering going first, then the yellow paint...the red paint was a bit more painful, and then some of the black came free. The L&N gray and yellow was a bit easier.

Now, the paint isn't completely off. There are some spots that need a bit more work. I'm going to pick up a dollar store electric toothbrush, as it will help take the paint off faster and get into the nooks and crannies a bit better than I could with a manual toothbrush.

So, there you have it. When all else fails, look under the kitchen sink.

Pictures will be coming as soon as I have access to a digital camera.

Now to begin doing the cutting work...

Start at the beginning...

2009-12-14T22:14:00.002-05:00

This blog has been many things over the years. Political commentary, movie reviews, criticism of professional wrestling or MMA fights, comedy/rants, and the occasional rantings of a mind that finds interesting things in the most mundane of subjects.

And what has this done....not bloody much.

So, I'm starting over. I've gone back to the black background, and I'm looking forward to doing something that I enjoy doing, but with a new purpose. I'm looking at using this blog to show things I'm working on, as they progress from raw materials to finished product. As I am a train nut, that means that this blog is probably going to show a lot of model trains being turned from something I bought that I couldn't use into something that I can.

Now, to start off...I have run into a problem. It's totally fixable, but it's a bit of a head-scratcher. I have some locomotive shells that need to be stripped. I could go on eBay and buy undecorated shells and have them delivered in a week from California, but I have the shells here and can do it with little to no cost involved. But here's the problem: what to strip them with...

Some sites say Isopropyl Alcohol is the trick. At 70%, all it did was clean the shell. Which is nice, but it didn't even budge the paint. Pine-Sol removed some paint from one shell, but the other two ended up with test pieces having a very sticky goo run all over the place. My next trick might be carburetor cleaner...nasty stuff. Brake fluid is one other option.

So, why not use a paint stripper from a hobby store, you ask? Well, that's partly due to the fact that my nearest hobby store isn't always carrying what I'd like to buy. If I need to pay $6.50 for one piece of flex track or $300 for a locomotive that will still need $80 worth of detail parts to make it look right, he's got it in stock. If I need a $2.00 part or some paint stripper, it's not always going to happen.

So, what to do...what to do....

As I continue this journey, you will find out.

hey

2008-02-06T13:36:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not blogging much lately. Who would think that having a job and being stuck on dial-up at home would have such an effect on this site? I am still looking for a way to make this blog into something better, and there are a few ideas I haven't yet tried out.

Will these new ideas work? I have no idea, but they're probably better than what this blog has been for a long time. For one thing, there will be a lot more content, a lot more photographs, and probably more posting.

UFC, by the way...I predicted the Mir/Lesnar fight pretty much to the time of the finish. At least UFC hasn't disappointed me.

WWe has been a disappointment for years. I'm tired of the HHH and Cena show. I'm tired of seeing a leprechaun being chased around by jobbers. It's all boring.

TNA has been a big disappointment lately. Dumb storylines, overwritten scripts, way too much comedy (Stone Cold Shark Boy, anyone?), and not enough matches in a two hour show. The only things going right in TNA land are Tomko and the Women's division.

ROH has actually outshined both of its competitors by putting on a great show time and time again. If they could get a few more guys and girls in the ring and possibly get a television deal, ROH may end up putting TNA into the #3 spot.

I'll keep working on the blog.

The movies of 2007 I did not see...but want to see

2007-12-20T10:54:00.000-05:00

2007 was a good year for movies, but there were some disappointments. While some films met or exceeded expectations (Transformers would be the one that truly exceeded them), others that should have been better fell far short of the mark (Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3).

And then there were the films, that for one reason or another, I didn't get to see. Here's my list of the films I want to see from 2007:

Eastern Promises
- this looks very cool...almost like a stylish gangster film.
Superbad
- yes, it looks stupid...and sometimes that's what I need. And it's got McLovin...what more could you want.
No Country for Old Men
- I'm no fan of the Coen brothers, but this looks like a good film.
Shoot 'Em Up
- C'mon...Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti shoot at each other.
Saw IV
- simply because I've seen the first three, and I have to see this one.
The Golden Compass
- it looks spectacular, but it's not doing the best box office.
Beowulf
- it has the same style as 300...maybe it has a decent story as well.
Pu 239: The Half Life of Timofey Berezin
- my brother recommended this one, and now I'm trying to find it. Sounds like an excellent story.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
- as a history buff, I want to see this film. I have heard that it is a great retelling of the story from the killer's point of view.
Shake Hands with the Devil
- I want to see this one because I have heard the story of Romeo Dallaire and his mission in Rwanda, and because the acting and setting are said to be incredible. It's the one film I truly wish I had seen in a theatre.

2007 was a weird year for some films. Can anyone explain to me how a rolling turd like Wild Hogs managed to make more money than Knocked Up, American Gangster, Superbad, and Live Free or Die Hard? Or how the worst movie of the year, Epic Movie, made more money than Smokin' Aces, Zodiac, Grindhouse, and Sicko? Are audiences really that stupid?

Wait. Alvin and the Chipmunks came in second last weekend.

They are.

Bound for Glory

2007-10-16T10:11:00.000-04:00

TNA put on a solid PPV over the weekend. A lot better than what their competition is putting on, although Ring of Honor is putting out a good product with poor audio and video. Once they fix those problems, RoH is going to mean we wrestling fans will have two alternatives to watching a leprechaun running around with bras and panties in his hands.

And no, I don't consider Carmen Electra's NWWL as competition. Or wrestling.

The Ultimate X match was awesome to watch. Seeing Elix Skipper and Senshi, both phenominal athletes, taking on what I consider to be the best tag team on the planet, LAX, in this kind of match was a real treat. Skipper pulled off the highlight of the night, diving from the top of the scaffold and landing a perfect cross body on Hernandez. Homicide and Hernandez remind me a lot of the old Hart Foundation, which is probably why I consider them to be the best. Hernandez grabbed the X for the win.

The Fight for the Right match was not all that great. I don't see the point of a reverse battle royale. They should have just put all the men in the ring and let them go. Eric Young continues to get a push that really isn't going anywhere with the victory. I think there were others there that deserved the win. Thankfully, they didn't give the win to Junior Fatu. Word to TNA, don't hire ex-WWE guys whose only gimmick is to sit on someone's face and jiggle. Better yet, don't hire ex-WWE guys who have NO TALENT WHATSOEVER!

VKM...I'm looking at you.

Styles and Tomko beat Team Pacman, which was a bit of a relief. Since Pacman can't touch anyone because of the No Fun League and their rules, they had to bring in Rasheed Creed, who dressed like Apollo Creed for the match. It didn't help. I went for a coffee for this match because I really wasn't interested in the whole Team Pacman thing, anyway. Killings deserves better.

Lethal and Daniels...what a show. They put on a clinic that people who run the business should have watched. There were so many moments that could have turned the match around and given the win to either man. Lethal won, which I think will help him and TNA in the long run. Daniels doesn't need a belt for the fans to respect him, and Lethal needs it to build his character. By the way, he does a decent Macho Man impression.

Steiners vs Team 3D went the way I predicted. I can't stand 3D. They were legends in ECW, but the WWE watered them down and now they're out of shape. By the way, TNA...buy tables that won't break when someone is just laying on them...especially when you're having a tables match.

The women put on a good battle royale. I'll say good and not great, since they didn't do much to introduce the competitiors or build it up. Christy Hemme got seriously hurt during the match, and the Amazing Kong looked really strong in this match. Gail Kim, who can actually wrestle if she has an opponent who also can, got the win.

Christian Cage should stick to picking on guys his own size. Samoa Joe destroyed him during their match. Matt Morgan basically did nothing, except when Styles and Tomko came out to try to help Cage.

The Monster's Ball match was fun. Raven always looks his best in hardcore matches, and he didn't disappoint. Black Reign is boring to watch, but he's got to be much better than Cody Rhodes (who, incidentally, has got to be the ugliest person in wrestling history). The thumbtacks and glass came in to play as Abyss hit the Black Hole Slam on Raven...too bad they didn't get a shot of his back.

Sting and Angle...where can I start? They put on a good match, but was it necessary for the interference? Or the baseball bat? Or the need for extra referees? No. These two should watch the Daniels/Lethal match to see how to tell a story in the ring. Neither man needed to go to these extremes to look good in the ring. Run ins killed WCW matches...don't do it here!

A good show, but it could have been better. Dump the run ins and kill the bad gimmicks. And keep VKM and Fatu out of the ring. Tell Team Pacman that their next match is against Team QBert or Team Digdug and let Ron Killings become a singles wrestler again. An ex champion deserves better.

The Iceman go-eth

2007-09-26T10:45:00.000-04:00

I got the opportunity to watch the main event from UFC 76 last night. Liddell and Jardine put on a really good show. Flurries of punches rained down from both men, but Jardine put Liddell on the ground for a few seconds in the second round.

Liddell never recovered from that. From that moment, it was really a one-sided affair. Yes, Liddell continued to punch and tried to fight his way back, but Jardine used some well-timed and well-placed leg kicks to keep Liddell's offensive to a minimum. In the end, Jardine's hand was raised.

It does seem controversial that one of the judges gave Liddell the win, especially following the controversial win by Michael Bisping. Liddell, from the way I saw the fight, did not look to be an even match with Jardine. He looked tired, and his punches lacked the power he showed in previous bouts. How, then, did he manage to get one judge to see him as a victor?

Liddell's loss to Quinton Jackson was a shock in the MMA world, and I think Liddell would be best to take a break from his rock star lifestyle and sit back. George St-Pierre came back from a devestating loss and is now in contention. It may work for Liddell as well.

And for the record, I'd rather watch the most boring MMA fight than watch a leprechaun chase a woman around a shower. And if you don't like that...

take a number, and get to the back of the line!

Something smells bad in Noelville

2007-09-20T23:29:00.000-04:00

At the present time, there is a movement going on in the small town of Noelville, about 15 kilometres from my house. This movement is to approve the creation of a "recycling" plant. The plant is to cover a 330 acre piece of property approximately 4 kilometres north of the town of Noelville, and according to the company, "about" 18 jobs will be created.

So, here is the problem with this. This is not a recycling plant; it will be a dump. And not for our garbage. It will be for garbage shipped from southern Ontario, namely, Toronto. According to the company, the waste will be treated in Newmarket, and then shipped north to Noelville to be processed. Newmarket, by the way, has a pending court case against this company for an odour problem that has plagued that community.

I have now lived in northern Ontario for 11 years, 9 of which I have spent visiting this area. In that time, the water from the French River has gone from very clean to filthy simply from waste released into Lake Nipissing from North Bay and Sturgeon Falls. This "recycling" plant is to be placed next to a tributary that connects to the French River. How can this company, which cannot control the smells coming from their Newmarket plant, guarantee that they can control the runoff from this plant.

Dumps are nasty places. There is a pipe coming from one of the dumps in North Bay that empties directly into Lake Nipissing. A man from the area once told me that if I were to take a sample of the liquid coming from that pipe, there would be no scientist who could identify the chemical soup that I sampled. Why put this kind of industry next to a river that is the lifeblood of the tourist-outfitter industry?

I'm all for creating jobs. This plant is supposedly creating "about" 18 jobs. There is a golf course in development near this location. They are planning on employing over 50 people. If this plant does create any nasty odours, this golf course will not stay in business. Add to this that if there is any toxic runoff that affects the fish in the French River...no fish mean no tourists, which means no money for all of the motels, tourist outfitters, bait shops, etc.. The stoppage of the spring bear hunt hurt many of the businesses in the north. This industry would only add to our problems.

Unfortunately, the politicians in Noelville are now refusing to answer any questions that we, the people who pay their salaries, ask of them. If there's one thing they've learned from politicians in the big city, it's when to shut up when they've been caught with their hand in the recycling bin.

Southern Ontario's garbage does not belong in Michigan. Or Kirkland Lake. Or Noelville. This is a problem that needs to be dealt with in southern Ontario, and not just sent to some small town that cannot afford to fight back against multi-million dollar company lawyers. Find a way to reduce your waste, or start thinking of how to get rid of it without causing more harm.

Join the fight against these plans for Noelville.
Call : 705-898-2294 and let them know how you feel.

busy, busy, busy

2007-09-18T11:49:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the recent lack of updates. Yes, that goes out to the two of you who actually take time to read this blog. Whatever the other 5, 999,999,997 people are looking at on the internet really must be more important. Or Britney Spears related.

I am finally teaching on a regular basis. It is a great job. Difficult at times, yes, but that comes with just about any occupation. You get your good times, and your bad times.

My good times will come when I get paid. Then I can start putting some money into things I need. While that doesn't yet include an XBox 360, it may if I keep this up.

The blog, hopefully, will be updated on a more regular basis once I'm on a high speed network. Dial up is just not helping matters, especially since where we are it runs at half the speed of city dial-up. Until then....

In mathematics, half of something is the same as 50% of something. So, why when you cut a pie or cake in half, someone always asks for the bigger half?

Wrestling with Eventuality

2007-07-11T00:14:00.000-04:00

It's fake. I know it, you know it, or at least I hope you know it.

Professional wrestling is more about performance than it is about athleticism. It's no secret, especially since Vince McMahon told the world about its scripted nature in order to avoid paying taxes in states where athletic events could be taxed.

With the events of the last two weeks, wrestling has had a spotlight cast upon it that it probably didn't want or need. The murder-suicide involving Chris Benoit has overshadowed any storyline or feud in any wrestling federation. The current investigations into steriod use (which I believe has absolutely nothing to do with the murder-suicide) has painted a large target on professional wrestling as a whole. Professional wrestling has survived its share of deaths. It has survived corporate takeovers, network changes, and previous steriod investigations.

But will it survive the current attacks on it?

Here's the problem: The WWE is stagnant right now. They are trying to run three brands when they are currently incapable of running one show properly. They have very few "major" stars, with no one on the roster even approaching the popularity of a Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock. HHH is on the shelf and couldn't (and shouldn't) be compared to those two. Bobby Lashley is boring. Umaga is boring. CM Punk, who was supposed to be a "wrestling god", looks like he's going in slow motion. Don't believe me? Watch an AJ Styles match, or a Samoa Joe match, and compare them to what CM Punk does. He's going at half speed!

And John Cena is an unbelievable champion, and not in a good way. He seems to be bullet, fire, and missile proof. And Great Khali proof. Nothing seems to be going right in WWE land.

TNA seems to be having an altogether different problem. They have a great amount of talent, but they are not making the money they need to grow and survive. TNA is capable of putting together great shows and turning people into stars. One only needs to look at the growth in popularity of Eric Young and Chris Harris in recent months. A major problem with TNA is their reliance on ex-WWE stars. I can't fault them for using and pushing Kurt Angle and Christian Cage; both men are high profile workers who can come into a ring and work with anyone and make it look good. But look at how many workers are in TNA who were released from WWE who have no reason to be in TNA: VKM, Team 3D, Christy Hemme, Gail Kim, Jackie Moore, Jackie Gayda, Basham and Damaja. Why not promote the guys who have been there longer and who have actually done good work in the ring?

ROH...with all the hype I've been hearing for five years, I expected a lot from their first PPV. I wasn't expecting Commodore 64 graphics, K-Mart lighting, and video quality that looks like it came from an old VHS camcorder. The wrestling wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good, either. Every match reminded me of a RvD match: tons of highspots, but nothing that would really make me think they're great wrestlers. It probably didn't help ROH when TNA refused to lend them talent for the show (why should they help their competition?) and the talent they did have consisted of one guy I've heard of (American Dragon Bryan Danielson) and a bunch of nobodies.

The other problem is this: MMA, more specifically, the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Ultimate fighting has become exponentially popular in the last five years and has attracted fans who became bored with boxing (where are all the boxers?) and who became tired of the soap-opera antics in wrestling. When watching a wrestling match, it is always in the back of my mind that the two guys in the ring know who is going to win and how it is going to happen. This is not the case with fighting. Anyone who watched the recent Shamrock-Baroni or Ortiz-Evans fights will know that they not only got the match they paid for, but the two guys beat the living snot out of one another with no script, no predetermined plans, and no interference from outside influences. Yes, there are boring MMA fights where the fighters look like they're auditioning for So You Think You Can Dance (albeit without the insane screaming woman) or they're crawling all over each other looking like some abstract gay porn, but those fights not the majority. MMA is here to stay, and it offers a great alternative to watching "fake" fighting.

And yes, there have been boring wrestling matches.

As for Chris Benoit, while others have been crucifying him on the internet, and that's their right, I'm not going to. I can't explain his actions, and I sure as hell won't try to defend the man. All I can say is that in all the years I watched him wrestle, I never once saw him wrestle a boring match. He was a consummate professional in the ring and could probably wrestle a bag of potatoes and make it interesting to watch. I don't know of any other wrestler, or any athlete in any sport, who could deliver night after night the kind of performance Benoit did. The actions of his last two days will likely cloud, and probably erase, all of the great things he did.

TNA Slammiversary

2007-06-19T12:03:00.000-04:00

TNA Slammiversary

It’s been five years since Total Non-stop Action debuted in Nashville, and in those five years there has been a lot of growth and loss with this company. At the beginning, TNA was viewed as a joke, partly due to the name and partly due to the ownership. Now with a television contract and monthly PPV’s, TNA is almost set to be in the black. Slammiversary is their flagship PPV, and it did not disappoint. With an assortment of great matches, Slammiversary also had one of the rare moments to bring out the true emotions of one of its stars and members of the viewing audience.

Slammiversary opened with video highlights from the first five years, with the best part being the chairshot Jeff Jarrett delivered to Hulk Hogan in Japan. Hogan never worked a minute in TNA, but that shot brought TNA some much needed publicity.

LAX vs. Rhino and Senshi with Hector Guerrero

LAX is probably the best tag team in wrestling at the moment, and that’s not counting that tag team wrestling is on a decline in both major companies. Homicide and Hernandez work well together, and they are both strong and agile in the ring. With Konnan outside the ring as the voice of LAX, they have the right look to be around for a while. Senshi replaced Chris Harris in this match, and it probably was the right decision. Senshi is once again a rising star in the company and needs to be used with more than just the X Division. With the brute force of Rhino and the lightning fast movement of Senshi, LAX had a difficult time in the ring. At one point, Hernandez showed incredible strength as he threw Senshi across the ring the long way. Ultimately, Rhino got the gore and the win.

Jay Lethal vs. Chris Sabin

Awesome match. Lethal is really coming into his own with his Black Machismo gimmick, and Sabin always delivers a great match. I’m not sure I like the new Guru persona that Sonjay Dutt has been given, but I’ll give it time. Lethal and Sabin had a high flying match with plenty of opportunities for both men to win, but Lethal hit the flying elbow and got the three.

Frank Wycheck & Jerry Lynn vs. James Storm & Ron Killings

This was not the best match, but it still was better than most of the last ECW pay per view matches. Wycheck was out of his element for most of the match, although he did deliver a decent dropkick and a few bodyslams. Killings needs to get back in the title hunt, which is not going to happen with Angle, Sting, Samoa Joe, and Christian Cage being at the top of the company. Wycheck hit a piledriver for the win.

Bob Backlund vs. Alex Shelley

For a guy who hasn’t wrestled in ten years, Backlund looked good in the ring. He was in much better shape than Ric Flair, and he wrestled a better match than Flair could. Sabin interefered in the match but wasn’t any threat. The match had a strange finish, as Backlund won and Sabin attacked him. Jerry Lynn came in to make the save only to get a boot from Kevin Nash. Jay Lethal came in to make the save and was upset about Nash taking out Lynn. Could be the start of something in X Division land…

Damaja and Basham vs. Voodoo Kin Mafia

Okay, why are the VKM getting cheered for being sexist pigs? On a more serious note, why are they being cheered when they suck? VKM got the win and chased Christy Hemme up the ramp where she was captured by Lance Hoyt, who brought her back to the ring for her punishment. Just as VKM were about to punish Hemme, Hoyt put both men down and celebrated with Basham, Damaja, and Hemme. It’s not going to be the Four Horsemen, but Hemme is beginning to put together a little stable to do her bidding.

Eric Young vs. Robert Roode

Not a great match, and considering the combatants I’m a little surprised. Roode won the match with a chairshot, only to have James Cornette restart the match due to “unfairness” (when’s the last time that happened?). Young cradled Roode for the win. The highlight of the match had to be Young pulling down the pants of Ms. Brooks at ringside…and when that’s the highlight, you know it wasn’t the best match in the world.

Team 3D vs. Rick Steiner and a mystery partner

Why is Road Warrior Animal almost always the mystery partner? Doesn’t matter, as any match with 3D is going to suck large. And this one did. Aside from the monster pop Animal got coming to the ring, there wasn’t much to the match. I'm still trying to figure out why Team 3D was cheering for Animal....odd.

Sting vs. Christopher Daniels

A good back and forth match, with the good old WCW style Sting entrance from the ceiling. Sting went for the Scorpion Deathlock early in the match only for Daniels to use his speed and agility to escape the hold. Sting finally hit the Deathdrop following Daniels’ attempt to use the Last Rites to gain the win.

Abyss vs. Tomko

No disqualification matches are either really good or really terrible. This one worked because there were two equal sized opponents fighting it out for the entire match (not like Cena vs. Khali…ugh). Thumbtacks, broken glass, and a scaffold were used during the match, which had a decent highspot with Tomko being launched from the scaffold on to a bunch of cardboard boxes. Abyss then jumped from the scaffold onto Tomko. The match returned to the ring where Abyss hit the Blackhole Slam on Tomko on a pile of broken glass for the win.

King of the Mountain match
Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christian Cage vs. AJ Styles vs. mystery opponent

This match followed an emotional interview featuring Jeff Jarrett, who recently lost his wife to breast cancer. Jarrett was chosen to be the mystery opponent, but Chris Harris was named as his replacement, and Harris started out strong, looking like he was going to win the match. There were a number of incredible moves, including AJ Styles being put through the announce table from the top of the penalty box. As Christian Cage was climbing the ladder to hang the belt and win the title, Harris leapt from the top rope and knocked him from the ladder, allowing Kurt Angle to win the TNA Heavyweight title. After the match, he slammed Samoa Joe, who had entered the ring to shake hands.

Overall, the PPV was decent. A lot of good matches to outweigh the bad ones. The audio was not the greatest, as microphones tended to die at the worst moments. The camera work was good, but they were not on the match at times when something was happening (a pin attempt during the Roode-Young fight was missed when they focused on the crowd). The announcing was great, especially when you consider I never once heard the word “puppies!” during a match. West and Tenay focused on what mattered instead of focusing on cleavage, which is a nice change from the usual antics.

Victory Road is the next PPV...

2007-06-18T12:35:00.000-04:00

my brain is running on fumes.....

2007-06-18T12:32:00.000-04:00

Out of control

2007-04-23T03:16:00.000-04:00

Last night, something stupid happened. I'll gladly accept the blame, since nobody was seriously injured or killed. But someone could have been.

We were out burning brush when the wind came from out of nowhere and picked up the fire. Water, shovels, and rakes did nothing to stop the fire. Once it got from the grass to the trees we knew we couldn't handle it. At one point, the left leg of my pants caught on fire as I fought the flames in the bushes. The Alban Fire Department showed up and finished it off, and I am writing this between shifts of watching the trees for any signs of the fire coming back.

The combination of a hot day, no moisture, and heavy overgrowth were the makings of a decent fire. The wind, which was nowhere at the start of the fire, whipped it into a spiral and never relented until it was drowned by the fire department.

I did have the permits, and we were smart enough to know when we couldn't do it ourselves.

But I'm not taking another chance like this one again. I have a great deal of respect for fire, but I'm not taking other people's lives in my hands ever again for something so stupid.

the book, dedicated to Dave and Ryan

2007-04-03T00:30:00.001-04:00

This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blogThis album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog

the book, dedicated to Dave and Ryan

2007-04-03T00:30:00.000-04:00

This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blogThis album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog

problems do have solutions, you know

2007-03-22T23:19:00.000-04:00

Sorry for not updating lately. There have been a few problems I've been trying to work out with the blog.

First is that dial up is not the best way to connect to the internet, or to send anything larger than a sentence over. So, putting pictures on the blog is very time consuming. More time consuming than it used to be, and more time consuming than I thought it'd be.

Second is that Google or Hello decided to change the way pictures could be added to the blog. I used to upload pictures through Hello into my blog and could make them as large or as small as I chose. When I logged into Hello, it told me BloggerBot was dead. Google/Blogger now has a picture icon on the toolbar for inserting pictures, but I can't edit them for size. I'm not going through the hassle of playing with the HTML coding to get a picture right.

Third is that I don't know what form this is going to take, or even if there is going to be a blog anymore. It's gotten to the point that most Blogger blogs are spam (75% if you can believe that number) and I don't know how many people are actually reading the content. Being out in the middle of nowhere means I don't always have access to what's going on in the world, and therefore can't comment on it unless I comment on it way too late.

I started this blog to get things out of my system. I don't want to be the angry blogger, or the overly happy blogger. I don't want to be the political blogger, or the tits and ass blogger (mostly because I don't want to think about what guys do when they're looking at my website...eww!).

So, there's the problem...what do I want this blog to be?

Until I figure it out, I'll be playing around with Flash and GIMP...maybe they'll be the next move.

tdyk

this little piggy

2007-03-10T15:18:00.000-05:00

click on the image to see full size

charity...

2007-03-08T12:41:00.000-05:00

if you're having trouble reading the post, click on the paper and it will show up larger and on its own

I.T. or basketball...

2007-03-05T14:20:00.000-05:00

No, the change isn't complete...yet.

When I graduated from teacher's college, I was given some advice by the head of Information Technology (my old boss)...he told me that if I was given the choice of being the guy in charge of information technology or coaching basketball to choose being the coach.

Man, I wish I had listened to him.

At my last job (I won't say who I worked for, as it wasn't essential to my career...), I was the unofficial I.T. guy. My bosses knew I was able to put together a computer network and they asked if I could. I, hoping that I could somehow get full time hours out of the deal, said I would. And I did.

Eventually...

You see, there are problems with putting together a network/computer system that most information tech guys won't tell you about. Or maybe they haven't had these problems.

For example, trying to use a $100 piece of equipment that the boss found in the $5 bin at Staples isn't usually a great idea.

Having my fellow employees constantly changing the settings of the firewall or printer didn't help at all.

Having a company that decides to buy a printer from a company that isn't Canon or HP really doesn't help when your laser printer does not have any more toner. Because without toner, a laser printer is just a large paperweight that heats up.

But I did get it working. Eventually....

And then...they took it apart and put it in one room. And it stopped working again.

So, anyone want to learn how to do a shot from the line?

167

2007-02-21T23:55:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay. It's been a while.

167...No, it's not a typo for when the Leafs last won the Stanley Cup. Or how many years from now they'll end up winning it again. Actually, that number would be higher. Much higher.

And it has nothing to do with Iraq, Afghanistan, or the Bush presidency. Honest.

It's the number of posts I have written since this site started up.

And what has it done for me?

Not much.

I have maybe ten people who would be able to say that they've read one of my posts. Ten people. I had more success typing up political gibberish and plastering on the walls at Nipissing than I've had here.

Part of the problem, I'll admit, is content. And part of it is style. Which is going to change.

What is coming is something new. Something different.

the devil's got a new design.

power

2006-12-29T23:13:00.000-05:00

first, they give you a seat in a powerful position.
then, they give you the key to the city of detroit.

and then, you cut the strings attached to you and gas some of your own citizens.

and at the time, no one cares, except the people choking to death on the gas.

but later...it comes back to haunt you.
you have sanctions placed against your country.
your country is bombed daily.
you are attacked for no other reason than you're who you happen to be.
and you get caught ducking down into a hole beneath a house.
and you end up at the end of a rope.

and a man who lied to get a country into an unjust war goes unpunished.

funny how that works, isn't it?

TNA Turning Point

2006-12-11T10:34:00.000-05:00

I wasn't able to watch the whole show, but I'll say this much...if you were disappointed by the recent ECW pay per view, this must have been great for you. And it was a good show.

The five man Paparazzi Championship Series match was a decent affair. I knew from the beginning that Senshi was going to win the match. Nobody else in there could have really done it. Jay Lethal, Austin Starr, Sonjay Dutt, and Alex Shelley all put in a lot of effort and some good high spots, but Senshi showed some real brutality in the ring. Huge 450 splashes from the top from Starr were really good.

The intergender bikini contest...well, I'll say this much. Traci Brooks has the looks, but Eric Young brought a sense of humour which has really been missing in wrestling for a while. This guy really has the crowd on his side and I hope TNA doesn't screw it up. I have a feeling that Roode, Brooks, and Young will be a repeat of the old WCW Sullivan/Benoit/Woman affair that turned into a real feud. Could be interesting to watch.

I didn't see the Sabin/Daniels match, the Styles/Rhino match, or the AMW/LAX match, but I did see Sting vs. Cage vs. Abyss. I don't like 3 way dances, so this wasn't anything special. Just enough interference by Mitchell and Tomko to keep it interesting, and TNA did the smart thing by letting Abyss keep the belt.

Angle vs. Samoa Joe. Wow. Benoit vs. Regal was probably the match of the year until last night. This was a great back and forth affair with a ton of false finishes. Amazing to see two submission wrestlers putting on a wrestling clinic. Their first match wasn't long enough, but this one went on for a half hour, more than making up for any bad feelings fans might have had from their first encounter. Near the end, I was worried Angle would win with a WWE like finish, but that was not the case. Joe locked in the rear naked choke and Angle tapped out. Great match, with fans cheering on both men and going to the "This is Awesome" chant early on.

A great event which should help TNA get some good publicity and hopefully some ratings.

december to dismembererererererer

2006-12-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

ECW is dead.

It's been dead for years now, but I thought all of you should know that it is dead.

Vince McMahon attempted to revive ECW recently, but as I learned in my CPR course, you can't revive a skeleton. But you have to give him credit...he managed to revive a mummy and a vampire.

December to Dismember was, quite possibly, the worst wrestling pay per view I've had the displeasure of watching. When the only match that came close to being good featured two tag teams that are not even part of the ECW roster, that's a bad sign. When they remove Sabu from the main event (hmmm....I remember during the Monday Night Wars that Jim Ross started a Raw saying "bait and switch, bait and switch" about WCW...) and replace him with, of all people, the untalented Hardcore Holly (good ol' Sparky Plugg), that's a sign things are not going to go well at all.

Extreme...I've seen laundry detergent that promised to be more extreme than this PPV.

Batista's black reflection, Lashley, won the title using a move stolen from Bill Goldberg...why, I'm not entirely sure. CM Punk and RVD were gone so early, and I can't understand how Test is in a main event.

Balls Mahoney vs. Matt Stryker...sounds like gay porn to me...and the match was probably about as unwatchable... The FBI vs. Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay...okay, someone in creative give these guys some new names. Burke looks like Ron "the Truth" Killings with mini-marshmallows in his hair, and Terkay...hmmm....

Looks like Mike Knox...who was in a travesty of a mix tag match. How many mix tag matches were in the original ECW? I remember Rhino putting Lori Fullerton through a table, but that's about it. Kevin Thorn looks like he could be a decent wrestler. Love the tie.

But to have Sandman show up for two minutes...two minutes...and he did barely anything. Waste of time. Give the man a match that lasts longer than his entrance.

And the main event was just stupid. They go into details on how well the Chamber is built, but a flimsy wooden table can break through welded chains...I don't see how this happens. Kind of like Hell in a Cell where there's no escape, yet every match someone gets on the roof of the cage.

Paul Heyman was sent home following this event, and the Big Show followed soon after. Looks like TNA is going to have some new people coming over.

Speaking of TNA, there were some good TNA chants going on during the show. Even RVD's wife was involved in them.

UFC...Tank Abbott's entrance lasted longer than his first match in five years. 46 seconds and he taps out to Frank Mir. I wonder if Billy Kidman would have lasted longer, Tank... :)

time

2006-12-01T08:22:00.000-05:00

If I were to find a magic lamp on a beach and I rubbed it and a genie came out and instead of the usual offer of "I grant you three wishes.", he offered me more money or more time...

I'd choose more time. Not much thought needed there.

But which would you choose.

There was an episode of The Twilight Zone where a man used his money to buy time from other people, and then used his time to get back some of the money. Great show, by the way.

I've never had much money in my life. And I seem to spend a lot of my time trying to make money. Having more time would mean more time to do the things I'd like to do. Having more money would mean being able to buy the things I want. But do those "things" really matter in the long run? Do they truly make a person as happy as the memories of an event?

Just a thought...happens a lot in a house full of drywall still to be put up. Think about it...

In memory of Dave Lisabeth, CN Rail employee and model railroader,
who lost his life on the job on November 22, 2006. I never got the
chance to meet the man in person, but he was always helpful to everyone
who asked his opinion over the years on several train forums.

drywall, drywall everywhere, and not a spot to think

2006-11-18T19:44:00.000-05:00

There are certain inevitabilities when it comes to renovating a house.

I have discovered a few...and will share them.

Tools have legs. They must, because it seems like any time a tool is put down, it runs away and will be found twenty minutes later in a location you and everyone else has not worked in yet. I haven't seen their legs (unless you count the sawhorse, but we aren't using one of those yet) and have no proof, but I'm convinced tools have legs.

Anything that is connected to anything near electrical wiring will undoubtedly have a slotted screw. Not a Phillips or Robertson...no, no, no...that would be too easy. A slotted screw will hold every wall plate, every switch, and every socket. And don't forget the connections. And of course, every slotted screw will be damaged in some way or filled with paint.

The moment you have a sheet of drywall in place, perfectly level and ready to attach, the screwdriver will either be:

unplugged
in need of a recharge
nowhere near where your hand is
ready, but without a single screw in sight
running down the hall on its little legs

Knives with a safety will never come undone when laying on a sheet of drywall, but the safety will always let go the moment the knife is in your pocket. Better to put that knife in your back pocket than your front pocket, guys.

The one perfect place in the house with 16" centres will always, always, have one beam that is warped outward. And you won't notice it until you're driving in the screws on the ends of the sheet.

The one place you need to place a 2x4 in order to provide a place to hold drywall will always be between two studs that are way too close together, making it difficult to hammer that 2x4 into place.

There will almost always be one plug or switch in a room that is upside down. And there will also be too many wires going into one box and not enough going into the others.

You can have all the technology in the world, like a studsensor and a laser line, and still miss the stud completely. You can mark the ceiling and floor with an X and place a line between them and still miss the stud completely. Next house I build, I'm using transparent drywall.

When drywalling a room, the moment you get the doors done, it is nearly impossible to move any full sheets of drywall into the room without damaging the new sheet or the work you have just done.

Just when you think you've removed all of the nails and staples from a wall and are prepared to put up a new sheet of drywall, you will spot a nail or staple that has been hiding all this time. Or maybe the nails and staples have legs and run up the walls to drive me crazy.

Floors that are warped downward on one side of a wall will slope upward on the other side of the wall. Which makes it difficult to jack up the one side and put in a post without causing the other side to become a ride at Wonderland.

In any box of drywall screws, no matter the size, there will be at least one that is bent so far out of shape you'd think it was made at a pretzel factory, or one with no slot for the screwdriver to fit in. Hopefully, the ones without a slot will run up the walls and put themselves in.

And last, but certainly not least...just when you have the toilet you want and get it home, you will discover that the tank has different mounting holes than the bowl...although this didn't happen to me, it could have. And it could happen to you...

wolves in different clothing

2006-11-09T09:16:00.000-05:00

So, the Democrats won the House and the Senate in the US the other day.

Big deal.

What a lot of people fail to realize is that this does not change anything except who is in those two places. And that's not much of a change. Democrat...Republican...it's like saying water or H20. Big money, usually in the hands of energy concerns, will continue to run things. If big money says stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US will continue to fight those battles. If big money says use oil or coal or infant bodies as their fuel source, then people will use those to run their cars and heat their buildings.

Big money will always take precedence over the little guy. It's easy to see why. Big money can get you what you want now instead of having to wait a long time to get a piece of what you want. Big money has power, so much power that a minority of people with a lot of money can make change happen even when the majority does not want it.

All men are created equal. At least that's what was said a long time ago. All money, however, is not handed out equally to all men. There will not be change in politics until special interests and corporations take their hands out of the pie. Democracies should be there to allow all people to have a say in what happens, not just those few who have a lot of money and want to make more money.

Canada has the same problem. I haven't noticed much of a change from the Liberals to the Conservatives in Ottawa, or the Conservatives to the Liberals in Ontario.

They are all wolves. They just wear different clothes.

And we, for the most part, are the willing sheep.

welcome to the yard sale of your mind

2006-10-17T10:53:00.000-04:00

Why do pawn shops always have guitars in their windows, but guitar shops never have pawns in their windows?

Why does every video on youtube.com about wrestling have really lame nu-metal music playing in the background?

Why do organizations spend money putting advertising on television telling me that someone is starving instead of buying them food?

Why do drug companies feel it's more important for me to have a full head of hair than it is to have a functioning liver or kidney?

Why is technology that's supposed to last forever replaced within five years of being introduced?

Why do people spend more on ink cartridges than they do on a printer that comes with ink cartrides? And for that matter, why do they spend more on razorblades than they do on a new razor that comes with blades?

Why do people try to explain things to musicians by quoting their own music back to them?

Why is a boring, depressing sounding song like Happy Birthday sung at birthday parties?

Why do people bother text messaging television shows with messages like "URGR8" when it costs them money?

Why do employees at a store lie to customers when those customers are only going to call the company and get what they were supposed to?

Why is it that when I need a camera, I don't have one. And when I have one, the batteries are dying or the memory card is nearly full?

Why do magazines complain about anorexia and steriods and then put skinny women or muscular men on the cover?

Why is it every time I hit the next blog button at the top of my screen, I end up on a Spanish blog? (not that it bugs me...just curious)

Why do some people need a reason to have fun?

Why do I write these lists?

killed by the six

2006-10-15T00:45:00.000-04:00

I'm normally not one to pick up a deck of cards. And I didn't do that tonight.

But I did play solitaire. An online version.

Normally, I'd play a few games and get a few points in the standings. But tonight was not my night. I didn't win a single round. And it was usually the six.

For some reason, I'd be given tons of sixes when I had fives and fours in my hands. Or I'd have sixes in my hands and be given sevens and eights. Or I'd have the right numbers and the wrong colours. Just not my night.

Boring time was had by all. Or at least me.

the grass is not green in my world

2006-10-12T15:01:00.000-04:00

No, I haven't been taking any medications. Prescription or otherwise.

I promise.

But the grass is now white.

This is the earliest in the year it has been this colour. The previous record was October 31, 1996, when it started about four in the morning. Today, it started about noon and hasn't stopped much. And it's the stuff you can pack down hard for throwing or building.

I guess I need to find my boots.

no mercy...no thanks

2006-10-12T12:44:00.000-04:00

I got a chance to watch the WWE No Mercy PPV. I haven't watched anything WWE related in over a year (partly due to not having cable and partly due to the fact that WWE is garbage wrestling), but when you get a chance to watch something for free, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what I did.

But maybe the rocket scientist could have told me not to. Or should have told me not to.

The opening bout was a typical affair between Matt Hardy and Gregory Helms. Honestly, I can't understand the fans and their love for Hardy. The guy isn't anything special, and his matches are pretty much an easy thing to figure out. Helms is someone who should be a star and has been good since he was Shane Helms in WCW (although that whole Hurricane thing really hurt his career). Good back and forth fight, but not as good as old WCW cruiserweight matches.

Rey vs. Chavo...seen it before....will probably see it again.

The tag match was a spotfest. Lots of flying, but not much actual wrestling. And it didn't get much better after that.

The "birthday celebration" with The Miz...okay, I've been away for a while...who's this jackass? And why is he so loud? And why is he on a wrestling show?

Undertaker vs. Mr. Kennedy was slow, and it should have been a clean win for Kennedy instead of a disqualification. It wouldn't have hurt Taker a bit, and Kennedy could have used a clean win to build a career upon. But, Taker being Taker, you can see why he wouldn't allow for a clean pin. That would show weakness...in a fake sport.

MVP...okay, he looks like he stole the rhinestones off of Flair's outfit and stuck them on an old Blue Blazer outfit. He was boring. He should take some time and go over to wrestlecrap.com and look up Glacier, because that's all he reminds me of.

The whole nudity bit with Regal...was it really necessary? And why did I need to see the little willy? And that guy in a dress skipping rope? Stupid. WWE.com apologized for the nudity.

Methinks they should have apologized for the whole show. Except one part.

And that would be the Regal vs. Chris Benoit match.

Regal has a habit of putting on a really good match every so often. At one point in his career, he was fired for "exposing" Bill Goldberg's weaknesses as a wrestler during his 175 win streak. Benoit is the best technical wrestler in the WWE now. The two of them put on a show of brutality and stiff shots that hasn't been seen in a while. It was almost like Regal was being punished for the earlier "show" during the pay per view. This was the only real highlight of the show.

The last match of the show was the fatal four-way between Batista, Finlay, Lashley, and Booker T. Batista is pretty much Sid Vicious brought back in a younger body. All power but not much of a wrestler. Finlay (who I guess returned to the ring now that he doesn't have any women to train) looked good for a wrestler his age. Lashley I haven't seen before, but they're trying to build him up as a hybrid Goldberg/Kurt Angle wrestler. I don't know if it's going to work. Booker T. isn't the same as he was in his WCW days. And the match...

Well, it sucked. Three way dances and fatal four ways are boring matches. You can lose the title without having to be pinned or made to submit. What is that? I mean, it's a way to get a belt off of a wrestler without them having to lose (see TNA and Samoa Joe for examples), but having this match and the title did not change hands made no sense at all. Unless they're building for Booker vs. Benoit in the future, this match didn't need to happen.

And the commentary...Michael Cole, as usual, was terrible. But he was miles ahead of JBL. JBL was as dry and boring as one could get. There was no excitement. He was on both sides of the fence during matches, and he made comments that others would get fired for. "He looks like he came from a concentration camp." was one comment he made about a skinny wrestler. Strangely, no apology from the WWE for this. And they wonder why Goldberg won't come back and work for them...

I can't wait for Bound for Glory. At least I'll see more than one good match.

fire it up

2006-10-11T10:01:00.000-04:00

Even after drowning my fire with ten minutes worth of water from the hose, it came back last night. I think the wind and the collapse of some dry timber on to the pile helped revive it. I went out last night and put about twenty minutes worth of water on and around the pile.

We'll have to see if it starts up again.

United 93 ****
I watched most of the film last night. I think it was a decent effort, and the use of handheld cameras really added to the feeling I got from the film. The ending of the film is exactly what I think films of this type should be (but I won't say anything about it and ruin it for everyone). The acting was almost like it wasn't scripted, which added to the reality of the piece. This film gives the audience an idea of what was happening on the planes and on the ground on September 11th. Some have said that it was far too soon for a movie about this topic to come out, but if you're still affected by what happened over five years ago, maybe you shouldn't be worrying about a film and go and talk to someone. A good film.

food for thought

2006-10-10T16:03:00.000-04:00

First, they found bacteria in spinach. And then there's that frog in the bag.

Then, the lettuce has E. coli bacteria as well.

Now, there's some botulism in the carrot juice.

Either some scientists at some chemical corporation are screwing around with our food, or the vegetables are tired of mad cows and bird flu getting all the headlines.

Guess I'm eating sawdust for the time being. Yeah...

why children's television is no good today

2006-10-10T13:39:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of people I know who criticize video games. They claim that video games are too violent and cause children to become lazy and obese. But I think they are a lot better off playing video games. When you see what children are watching on television, it's no wonder I let mine play video games. Has it become so difficult in the last ten years to write something for children? I've seen so many badly written ideas that I'm convinced there are no writers in Hollywood anymore. The whole "edutainment" concept forced on cartoon makers is stupid, as far as I'm concerned. I'm an educator, and I don't think cartoon television is any way to become educated. That whole "the more you know" line that they tack on the end of some lame cartoon is often worse than the lessons children learn during recess out in the schoolyard.

If you are going to put on a show to entertain and educate, this is the way to do it.

click here

If Jim Henson were still alive, he'd probably hate SpongeBob. And every other Nickelodeon program. And Barney.

if you play with fire...

2006-10-10T09:26:00.000-04:00

Over the holiday weekend, I had some work to do outside. A few months ago, we had a major storm that knocked out the hydro across the region. A lot of trees came down and made a very big mess. A mess that I had to help clean up. Since the trees were no longer on the road, we were able to wait until this weekend to deal with them.

Now, I'm not the strongest guy in the world. Barbells are easy to lift. Nice metal bar with weights on the ends. Logs are not so simple. A log can be covered in pitch, mildew, moss, mushroom, and any number of other things living or dead. The bark is not always solidly stuck to the wood and can break off at any time. The timber may be rotted or eaten away, meaning that solid log will break in two. And they are not always the right shape or size to make lifting easy.

Lifting these logs into a trailer, then going to a dumpsite, and lifting them out of the trailer did not seem to be a good idea. Or a fun idea. Cutting them up would take too much time with the chainsaw, and using a handsaw was out of the question. A five inch diameter tree takes ten minutes alone. Try that with a tree that is over twelve inches in diameter. And wet on the inside. Not fun.

So, we burned them. Over a two day period, we stacked timber and burned it until it was ash. There's not much left over after two days of burning. What is left can be put in the trailer with a shovel and hauled to the dump. It's a lot lighter and won't require more than two trips.

But, as with every other fire I've had to deal with out here, there have been some negatives to go with the positives. I popped something in my left wrist, so it's not feeling all that great right now. I smelled pretty smokey afterwards. Pitch is not fun to get on your hands, or to remove from your hands. And, for the first time on a burn, I got burned. Not much, mind you, but it's like being bitten by a really nasty bug. The burns aren't large (very much like a bug bite), but the first moment the little sparks hit your skin you know it. Fortunately, there were not too many of them that hit me.

When having a fire, it is always important to have something to extinguish the fire with. We had a hose. It did its job. It's also important to have something to start the fire with. We used the leftover oil from the deep fried turkey. It was a much better use than just taking it to the dump.

There's still more to burn, and hopefully we'll finish that up next weekend.

sin

2006-10-05T13:30:00.000-04:00

today's seven deadly sins, brought to you by google news...

Lust
http://www.washtimes.com/entertainment/20061004-09324

Gluttony
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1056329

Greed
http://www.sitnews.us/1006Viewpoints/100406_martha_leftwich.html

Sloth
http://www.rockrivertimes.com/index.pl?cmd=viewstory&cat=2&id=14418

Wrath
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003287794_froma04.html

Envy
http://www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3470376&fSectionId=354&fSetId=251

Pride
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Sports/Hockey/2006/10/05/1956282-sun.html

parental discretion is advised...

2006-10-02T12:30:00.000-04:00

I was watching Gladiator on TNT last night. Before the movie, the network warned that "This film contains scenes of violence that are not suitable for younger audiences. Viewer discretion is advised." Now, I've seen the film before, so I can understand the warning coming before a movie.

But then the censors cut every single scene of violence in the film. EVERY ONE.

If a knife or sword was thrust toward an enemy, the strike was cut out. If a person was about to die, the scene showed the weapon, a bit of movement, and the death. That's it.

So here's what I'm wondering...why even show films or give warnings before airing them if you're going to cut them down to what you want? The network stripped out the entire reason to give the warning in the first place, and they cut out pretty much the entire action from the film. It's like asking a radio station to play certain songs. All you'll hear is a lot of bleeping or dead air when the performer starts swearing. What is the point?

The nightly news is far more violent, and there's no warning before they put that on. COPS is more violent, and the warning is usually not very convincing.

It's no wonder people enjoy the internet.

p.s. Why does a 16 year old movie need to be restored and re-released, when there are older movies that don't need as much restoration that have been released? Disney, I'm looking at you... Any way to make a buck...

tie one on...or not...

2006-09-28T11:14:00.000-04:00

As a Winnipeg Jet, I didn't like him. He was the only goon in a sport that had retired a ton of goons. Unfortunately, due to an injury to Ken Baumgartner, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded competent face-off man Mike Eastwood for the man pictured above. Not their worst trade, mind you, but far from their best.

And I didn't like him much as a Toronto Maple Leaf.

In 2001, in what could be considered his best season as a Leaf (which would be considered a worst season for better players), he selfishly elbowed Scott Niedermeyer during a playoff game. There are some who will argue that Niedermeyer took a dive on the hit, and that may be so. But, in doing this one selfish act, no one will know how the Leafs would have done in the next round of the playoffs. The New Jersey Devils bounced back and took the series and the above pictured player got to go golfing again.

Last season, his coach sat him out and he went to the press to complain. Other players, who contribute far more than he has, did not complain. They sat in the press box and took it.

Now his name is being dragged through the mud. I could care less about his personal life, since everyone I know who's met him says he's a huge jerk. You can visit all the hospitals you want; it doesn't change the fact you're a jerk.

Thank whatever deity the fire hydrant is no longer with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

the tortoise and the scorpion

2006-09-28T11:01:00.000-04:00

One day, a scorpion was out looking for food. He approached a river and was upset that he could not cross. Immediately, he spied a tortoise about to enter the water. He called out, "Mr. Tortoise, could you allow me to ride across the river on your back?" The tortoise replied, "You are a scorpion, and you will try to kill me with your stinger." The scorpion then said, "But I won't sting you, because if I should then you will drown and take me with you."

The tortoise thought about it, and then said, "Alright, I can take you across the river." The scorpion climbed on his back and the two set off across the river.

About half way across the river, the tortoise looked over its shoulder and noticed the scorpion raising its stinger. The tortoise rolled over and the scorpion fell into the water. The scorpion said, "How did you know I was going to sting you?"

The tortoise replied to the drowning scorpion, "Dumbass, I heard how this story ends on CSI!"

it's true! it's damn true!

2006-09-25T10:43:00.000-04:00

They promised a big announcement at the TNA pay per view last night.

Everyone thought it would have to do with getting a better time slot. So far, they were right.

But that wasn't what everyone was expecting to be the "big" announcement.

Goldberg...possible.

Lesnar...possible.

The Rock...well, still possible but highly unlikely (even with the Spyhunter ad on the TNA website)

But when they showed Kurt Angle as being the new acquisition of TNA, that was unexpected.

And huge. Angle, the BEST wrestler in any wrestling company, is now joining the number two promotion in the United States. This will make the signings of Sting, Scott Steiner, and Christian look like nothing.

Angle does come with some baggage. He's had some personal problems as of late, leading to his dismissal from the WWE, but if anyone can beat his demons it's Angle. An unhealthy Angle is still better than 95% of the rest of the industry, and a healthy Angle (which I'd like to see) would be unstoppable. Angle will take most of the TNA roster and elevate their work in the ring. He's done it before, and he can do it again.

Vince McMahon has got to be feeling a little sick today...

the devil speaks back

2006-09-21T09:55:00.000-04:00

Hugo Chavez was at the United Nations the other day, where in his speech to the member nations, he called George W. Bush "the devil".

Well, the devil is a little unhappy about this. You see, the devil is NOT the president of the United States. The devil is really not happy being associated with that particular person.

I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for an apology.

In other news, the judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein was thrown out because he refused to call Hussein a dictator. I think he should have been allowed to call him a CIA funded puppet who cut his strings and stopped listening to his masters instead of being forced to call him a dictator.

yarrgh!

2006-09-19T09:54:00.000-04:00

It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day, so ye be ready to talk like a pirate, ya landlubbin' swashbuckler!

Or ye be walkin' the plank!

remember, remember the fifth of november...

2006-09-18T11:30:00.000-04:00

V for Vendetta *****
I will have to say that this is the best film I have seen this year. Possibly the best film I have seen in a long time. With a lot of attention placed on films like Brokeback Mountain and Crash, V for Vendetta seemed to disappear from the spotlight. And yet, it is an incredibly well shot film with great acting and a story that should be introduced to every film lover.
The hero/villian of the movie is V, a masked terrorist played by Hugo Weaving, who spouts off poetry and lines from Shakespeare at every turn. This separates V from just about every hero or villian that has been seen in recent films, who tend to either swear a lot, use a ton of catchphrases, or just sound stupid. Natalie Portman is good in her role as Evey, and John Hurt as Chancellor Sutler is great (as usual). But the star of the show has to be Roger Allam as Lewis Prothero, "the voice of London", who has an almost Rush Limbaugh/Bill O'Reilly quality about him that one wishes they could slap his face through the screen when he talks.
V for Vendetta is probably the most scathing critique of ultra-Conservative governments in recent cinema. One who stays aware of current political philosophies in the western world will be drawing many parallels between this film and real life. And one should. This is not only a film designed to entertain, it is made to make one think.
This film will not be remembered as the best or most famous film of Andy and Larry Wachowski. It doesn't need to be. But it should be remembered as their most important work, unless they provide us with something better in the future. What is important is that this film did what Fahrenheit 9/11 attempted to do without having to come right out and proclaim what it was. It gave the audience something to think about instead of telling the audience what to think. Is V a hero? Is V a villian? Is V a terrorist? That is a decision left for us to make.

Final Destination 3 **
If you've seen the first two, you pretty much know where this one is going to go. Something bad is going to happen, someone will have a premonition and save a few others from their deaths, and then Death will stalk them in the order in which they were supposed to die. It was cool the first time, a little less cool the second time (although the highway scene was very good), but this one just doesn't do it. And we've seen most of the deaths in other films.

The Pink Panther *
Do yourself a favour here. If you want the Pink Panther, rent the Peter Sellers version. If you're a fan of Steve Martin, rent The Jerk. You'll be much happier and better off. This film relies too much on tired jokes. And what are you thinking Jean Reno...you are much better than this. Go back to being the brooding terrorist character and keep away from roles like this.

2006-09-15T09:41:00.000-04:00

I tried to think of the most harmless thing
... something that could never destroy us
... something I loved from my childhood.

I don't think this was what someone down in London had in mind when they died from playing the game Chubby Bunny yesterday. Honestly, I don't quite know why people play stupid games with their lives, but I guess some feel that stuffing a bunch of marshmallows into your face is perfectly safe. Oh well, I guess one frosh week game is now cancelled forever.

Now if only they'd get rid of tug-of-war.

lost and found

2006-09-14T15:20:00.000-04:00

Went for a walk in Parry Sound yesterday. I found the street I was looking for, but did not find the location of a building I found in a job advertisement. So, I kept walking. And walking.

And then, I was lost. It doesn't take long for someone to get lost in a place they've never walked through before. But it did happen to me. But, instead of panicking or asking for help, I did what I knew was right.

I kept walking.

And eventually, I ended up back where I started. All without retracing my steps. I now know where I'm going in Parry Sound if I go down certain streets.

It's a nice little town. The people appear to be very friendly. Tons of train activity, too, which makes me happy. Except when they wake me up in the middle of my afternoon van nap. Man, that horn was loud!

I don't think I miss North Bay at all.

Okay, I miss being ten minutes from a Tim Horton's.
I miss being a bike ride from a hobby store.
I miss being able to get a Coke at a corner store.

Oh well. Have to get used to that, I guess.

Are we there yet?

2006-09-11T09:14:00.000-04:00

Five years ago, I finished a test and walked out of a training class at Teletech in North Bay. I walked across the road to the Tim Horton's and picked up a coffee and a muffin and headed back for the rest of the class. Upon my return, I noticed that one of the instructors had turned on a data projector and was showing the current news up on the screen. The headline stated that a small plane had crashed into one of the buildings at the World Trade Center.

The rest of the story is something you pretty much know.

A year of seeing the same images and hearing the same comments on television, the radio, and on the internet. Every day, watching planes slam into buildings, and watching people jump from those buildings. Every day, seeing those two buildings collapse.

And then, those images were no longer shown on television. They were deemed too disturbing.

It has been five years. We are not safer than we were before this happened. We are no closer to being safer. If anything, we are far more paranoid. We await the next "9-11" and pray that it won't happen to us.

I don't think it's going to. And not because of what governments or armies have done. My brother once said that there doesn't need to be another attack. They got their point across in one swift slap and now nations live in fear of being slapped again. Mind you, telling that to people in Madrid or London won't help much.

9-11 was a bad day. But there will be more bad days. As long as the memory of what happened five years ago continues to be used as an excuse for war and torture, we have nothing but bad days ahead.

And yes, I passed that test.

i'd buy that for a dollar

2006-08-11T21:14:00.000-04:00

Another day, another creation...this time from Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop. No Gimp this time. Much tougher than the first one, simply due to the amount of things I had to erase. Then the clone brush came out to replace what was taken. Then I used the Smudge tool in Photoshop to blend everything that was cloned. I still like the GTA:IOS one better, but this one is not too bad, if I may say so. And yes, I may say so.

"dead or alive, you're cleaning with me"

this has to be better than the hot coffee mod...

2006-08-07T15:19:00.000-04:00

I decided to have some fun with The GIMP and PaintShop Pro after seeing some of the work on worth1000.com. They had some video games you probably would never be able to buy. I figured I'd give it a shot and post one of my works on the website. I must say, Rockstar really missed the boat...err...train, with this one. This would be a perfect addition to their list of games.
And I bet the fat controller would really let Thomas know how he feels in this game...

yarrr! there be treasure here

2006-08-06T21:46:00.000-04:00

Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest

I have to say I thought this movie was really good. It didn't turn out that way in the beginning, but it did pick up from there. Great special effects, a good story, and good acting from Depp, Bloom, Knightley, and the rest of the cast. I won't be giving away any "booty", so go see it yourself.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Good film. Almost The War of the Roses meets True Lies. I really enjoyed the look on Pitt's face during one moment of the dance scene at the restaurant. You have to see it...I can't describe it. And the shirt worn by The Tank...pay attention or you'll miss it.

The North Bay Heritage Festival...what can I say? It was the same as last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. Might have been different if I had gone to see Collective Soul last night, but I didn't feel up to it after a day in the sun. It's amazing how a hot dog can be sold for $4.00 next to a vendor who's selling them for $2.00, or how a five minute ride on a ferris wheel costs $4.00, but the big slide which lasts less than 10 seconds costs $2.00. But that's the midway.

chicken little

2006-07-19T14:57:00.000-04:00

North Bay is a funny town, and I'll get to that in a bit. We had a freak storm on Monday, with heavy rainfall and winds that were clocked at 80 kph before the instruments at the airport broke. Environment Canada claimed there wasn't a tornado, but that it was a bunch of downbursts with winds about 150 kph. Tornado or not, that's a fast wind. The hydro went out on Monday night, leaving most in the city without power overnight.

Downtown North Bay had power on Tuesday morning. Everything north of Oak Street to just south of Highway 17 had electricity. The Esso and Canadian Tire gas stations on Algonquin had cars lined up around the block and then some. Esso ran out of gas around 4:30, but had the pumps filled again within the hour. The clerk at the Canadian Tire did not have a good day; people decided to take out their frustration on her. Like she's responsible for any of the problems.

Ice was impossible to find at convenience and grocery stores. I was able to find some at the Beer Store, which was a bit more expensive but well worth it. Three bags of ice kept the meat in our freezer from going bad. In all, we only lost between $20 and $50 worth of food. Not bad for 27 hours with no power.

I find the residents of North Bay really overreact to blackouts and storms. They go out in droves to get things that they really don't have to have. Why people are in such a hurry to get a generator in North Bay, when areas outside of North Bay got hit a lot harder, is beyond me. Is it really that important to get your television running again? They do the same thing on holidays. The day before and the day after a holiday, you can't go grocery shopping if you wanted to. The store is just that packed. People line up to buy a ton of stuff they really could have waited for. And why?

Because it's North Bay.

We're strange that way...

Around the mall in 80 minutes

2006-07-13T16:00:00.000-04:00

Quick news and notes for today.

It's hot. Over 32 degrees Celsius in North Bay. Nasty heat and humidity.

North Korea - Nothing to worry about for now. Once their missiles come close to Hawaii, look for the US to park a nearly decommissioned ship or sub in the waters near the island state. The missiles will land in the water, but not hit the ship. But the ship will blow up anyway. 200 sailor pictures will be on CNN and Fox and there will be public support for a war. It's happened before, and it'll happen again.

Zidane's Headbutt - nearly everyone is defending his actions. Not me. If I'm being paid what he's being paid, I'm deaf to every comment coming from the opposition. Tie Domi made the same mistake and I didn't defend him, either. At my job, if someone calls me a name, and they have, I have to basically suck it up. Out on the street, totally different matter. Zidane should have let it go until after the game, and then found the guy in the parking lot.

This month's cover of Cosmopolitan - man, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas is ugly. She looks like a man in a dress. I'd rather spend two hours drooling over the latest in woodchippers at Home Depot, because frankly, a woodchipper is a hell of a lot more attractive to me. And I really have no use for a woodchipper, either. Still looks better.

TOO MUCH POWER - Saw the Northlander at the mall. They had a 4300 horsepower SD75i at the helm. That's way too much power for a passenger train.

The Middle East - Things are getting worse as days pass. Too many problems in Iraq. Too many potential problems in Iran. Now we have Israel bombing Lebanon over the kidnapping of two soldiers. I don't see it getting better. One of two things has to happen for this whole situation to improve:

America has to get the hell out of the region. They've caused enough problems.
Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

And for the record, I'm for option 1. I'd hate to see a lot of innocent people bombed to kingdom come because they happen to be governed by idiots. Yes, we're governed by idiots, too...and I wouldn't want to be vapourized because Harper did something stupid.

Finally off the back burner

2006-07-10T22:59:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, I bought a locomotive shell on eBay. A nice Rail Power Products B23-7 shell, to be exact. After paying for a money order, US exchange, and shipping, I had a shell for less than I'd have to pay at a store here, if one could even be found in a Canadian store anymore. I figured I'd get an Athearn U-series chassis and power the shell with that.

Later, I found Bill's Hobbies here in North Bay was closing. 50% off sale, so I dropped in. No U-series chassis, but he had an undecorated Walthers GP9 for sale. At full price, I wouldn't have touched it, but at half price it left the store with me. I figured I'd paint it for RaiLink. No good. The shell was too wide and had a minor crack in it.

So, here I was with a shell with no chassis, and a chassis with no shell. I thought about using the chassis to make a Canadian National GMD1 roadswitcher. After all, the GP9 and GMD1 have similar truck centres. But, the trucks are so different that the kitbash would have been problematic.

And that's when it hit me...why not kitbash the B23-7 shell to fit the GP9 chassis?

A few searches on Google and a question to a Yahoo group told me that it would be difficult, but not impossible. So, out came the X-Acto knife and the Dremel and I was off to the races.

Or so I thought... Shortening the shell took a lot of cuts and body putty. It's not quite done, but I am going to have the rear radiator done soon. The doors are done, but the front grills will either have to be built from scratch or taken from another shell. I'm ditching the RPP cab for a nice Hi Tech Details one, and Utah Pacific stanchions should finish off most of the shell.

The chassis has been a pain. Tonight, I spent about 2 hours cutting, filing, and fitting the Walthers chassis into the shell. Finally, I got it to fit in. Now to cut the fuel tank down to size and put air tanks at both ends. I'm going to have to get a set of Athearn blomberg sideframes, because the Walthers ones look like toys. The motor is a nice piece of work, but I might replace the universals if they become a problem.

Oh, and this is the first locomotive kitbash for me in about 12 years. It's been a loooong time.

When it's done and painted, I'll post a few pictures on the site.

Nyah nyah na nyah nyah

2006-06-25T10:57:00.000-04:00

I can picture it now. Little children in border towns, standing on their side of the border, calling out to the ones on the other side:

"Our terrorists are more incompetent than yours!"

Seven men were arrested for trying to blow up the Sears Tower. Okay, we figured someone would go after the Sears Tower. But these guys aren't al-Queda operatives. Not even close.

Apparently, they don't have the skills to knock over a liquor store.

Their leader walks around in a cape with a crooked cane. I'm not kidding. Their leader sounds like Flyguy from I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. If he has fish in his shoes, I'll become an American and vote him in as President. Because, even though he's a moron for even trying this scheme, he's got to be better than Bush. And Bush just couldn't beat the shoes with fish in them.

If only Kerry had worn the shoes...

$5.00 buys a lot of fun

2006-06-11T20:56:00.000-04:00

About a week ago, I walked into the Hock and Save here in North Bay. Looking through the selection of XBox and Gamecube titles, I found two games on one disc for five dollars. Now, even though it was clearly marked "Not for Resale", I really didn't care (and I don't think the store cared, either) and picked up Sega GT 2002 / Jet Set Radio Future for the XBox.

Sega GT 2002 is an okay racing game, but I haven't really put much time into it. JSRF, on the other hand, has been the only game in the box since it came home. It's very much a Grand Theft Auto-lite in its style and subject matter. I'm finding it hard to believe that I'm having this much fun with a game that cost me $5.00 when $50.00 games have been lacking.

I'm going back. Apparently, they have Counterstrike and MechAssault for $5.00 each. Yay!

Speaking of fun, I "discovered" Gnarls Barkley's performance at the MTV movie awards. Not too bad a band (with ex-NIN drummer Chris Vrenna in the Chewbacca costume) and the song is catchy. I hadn't heard of them before this weekend (no cable and North Bay radio is crap), but it's good to hear some decent music without a ton of swearing in it. The video is also cool, looking like animated inkblots. I'm going to have to keep an eye on them.

Watched The Blues Brothers last night. Extended version with bonus footage. Not worth it for the extra scenes, except for the extension of Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher and the song by John Lee Hooker outside the Soul Food Diner. Still a great film, but the extended scenes add nothing to the film.

Enter the Dragon was also cool to watch. But it's always cool to watch.

excuse me while I adjust my tinfoil hat...

2006-06-05T23:11:00.000-04:00

Does anyone else find it a little convenient that when our government is having trouble convincing Canadians that our troops need to be in Afghanistan, when our government is having trouble convincing Canadians that we are in danger of being attacked by terrorists, and when our military officials are defending their troops role in Afghanistan, that a major arrest of seventeen men just happens?

First off, there's the high profile arrest and arraignment. Police with automatic weapons and body armor, which shouldn't be necessary once they have their suspects in custody, all lined up for the press. Several police forces, with their top officials, all lined up for the press. Seventeen men, whose activities, histories, and criminal records miraculously just happened to be available to the press, and then you have to include the fact that all of these men are of the Muslim faith... And of course, the comparison to the bombing of the Murrah building in Oklahoma City just happened to make it into the papers.

But where, oh where, is all that Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer?

The police will show the media and the public samples of the fertilizer, but where are the three tonnes of fertilizer this group supposedly purchased from the RCMP? Three tonnes is a lot of fertilizer to store somewhere. You're not just going to put this in a backyard, or in a garage, are you? Where is it? I want to see it.

The media around the world is eating it up. But I'm not hungry.

Something is rotten in the press...

I guess they always do get their man...

2006-05-27T00:02:00.000-04:00

The Toronto Star has to hire people to read the headlines they put on their website. This morning, I was shocked to find out the Conservative Party of Canada was into sadomasochistic behaviour. Yes, it's shocking! This was the headline from their site:

PMO gags MPs over gay Mounties.

I'm not sure exactly what the PMO was gagging MPs with, but it had to do with gay Mounties. And speaking of gay Mounties...I think this film will do well.

I figure, we've got Dudley Do Right, The Mountie, and Stephen Harper in the Randy Quaid role. It'll be a huge hit. Oh, and before anyone asks why I didn't use Paul Gross instead of one of these Mounties...I think I'd rather sit on a chair made of acid and covered in thumbtacks and broken glass. While I'm on fire. With an alligator chewing on my left leg. And a polar bear gnawing on my right leg.

Because that would be less painful than Mom killing me. She loves her Mountie.

(by the way, this in no way is meant to make fun of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. But, c'mon, guys dressed in red with leather on...seems a little, well, you know...)

oh, the horror, the horror...wait, WHAT horror?!?

2006-05-23T14:02:00.000-04:00

Rented three movies. One really disappointed me, and you can read below to find out why.

Nanny McPhee - **** - I rented this one for the kiddies, and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. It's a funny little film about a group of seven horrible children and the nanny who comes to change their ways. A bit like Mary Poppins, but without the singing. The trick the children play to rid themselves of nanny 17 is probably the best part of the film, and it's right at the beginning. But, the film does not go down from there.

Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis - *** - like all of the films before, it's a stupid zombie movie. And that's what is great about this series. It's dumb, but you'll be entertained. I don't know how teenagers with no training or experience can break into top secret, high security buildings with nothing more than climbing equipment, but in these films it happens all the time. The only disappointment was the big zombies introduced. They did absolutely nothing and got killed way too easily.

Hostel - 1/2 * - This film should be lucky to get a half star. It's probably not even worth that. What could have been a great film was killed by an introduction that was way, way, way too long. Basically, this was supposed to be a horror film. It wasn't. I didn't see anything that I haven't seen before, done better by worse directors. But this film (which, sadly, has Quentin Tarantino's name on it) was a poor effort. If you're looking for a film that has a ton of T and A and not much else, this is the film for you. If you're looking for something shocking or scary, there's a few episodes of The Wiggles that are scarier than this steaming load of crap. Not worth seeing even if you're stealing cable to watch it.

in defence of ain't

2006-05-17T14:52:00.000-04:00

"Ain't ain't a word. It ain't in the dictionary."

I've heard this from a number of teachers and professors over the years. And as a teacher myself, I find that students, no matter the age or educational background, continue to use ain't in English sentences.

One problem I have with the statement above is the "not in the dictionary" part. There is no governing body to outline what words are to appear in a dictionary, or what meanings should appear with the words. Just like the internet, the dictionary is largely made up of what a few people know and print on a page, with vague references to old literature. Dictionaries are not the best reference source available. And which dictionary would we use, since there are so many of them?

Ain't appears so often in spoken and written English that I think it's time to officially welcome it into proper English usage. But how should we do this? After all, what is ain't?

When we create contractions, we usually eliminate one or more letters from two words and add an apostrophe somewhere in order to make the contraction. For example: would not becomes wouldn't. Was not becomes wasn't. So what do we do to create ain't?

How about am not? Think about it this way: when using ain't, people are usually replacing am not with ain't in the sentence. I am not going to school becomes I ain't going to school. But then that problem of dropping letters and replacing them comes in.

But there's a solution. Will not becomes won't. There's no O in will. If we can do it for will not, why not do it for ain't?

It's time to make ain't a word we can use in proper English.

wii won't be getting a revolution

2006-05-09T22:32:00.000-04:00

but we will be getting a Wii.

I can't stand the name. I've tried to understand why Nintendo changed the name from Revolution to Wii. The internet was flooded with jokes about the name. It boggled my mind.

And then, it hit me.

Nintendo has said all along it's not about the graphics. It's not about the horsepower.

So, maybe, it's not about the name, either.

What matters are the games, and from what I've seen from E3, Nintendo has some good stuff coming. I don't care much for the giant head sports games they've shown, but Twilight Princess and Metroid Prime 3 look great. Same with Red Steel. That looks like a killer launch title.

I may still end up getting an XBox360. Seeing Oblivion at EBGames was a real treat a few weeks back, and it's still early in the life of the machine. Games tend to get better as the machine is out there a while.

I'm not getting a PS3. They can make all the claims and promises they want, but I'm not buying. Not at $650. Not at any price. I know too many people who have had too many problems. Disc read errors, overheating, motors burning out, collecting lots of dust...the list goes on.

The XBox and Gamecube have been good to me. Their next generation machines will hopefully be as good to me.

TNA: It's the real deal

2006-05-02T14:24:00.000-04:00

Got a chance over the weekend to watch a replay of TNA Lockdown. I haven't been able to watch any of TNA wrestling since I don't have/refuse to pay for cable, so this was going to be a first for me.

And I must say, I was very surprised.

First off, the six sided ring is a great idea. And surrounding it with a cage for every match was a great idea. At first, the ring seemed to be too small. I thought they should make it a bit bigger, but as the night went on, the size of the ring didn't matter.

Promos and interviews: unlike their competition, TNA kept their promos and interviews to a short time. The longest, which was probably 3 or 4 minutes in length, was a brilliant and sadistic promo by James Mitchell prior to the Heavyweight Title match.

The matches were really well done for the most part.

I thought the Christopher Daniels vs. A Mystery Opponent match was extremely well done, especially when his opponent was his former partner Low-Ki (now Senshi). The look on Daniels' face was priceless.

The six man X-Division match was great, even with Chase Stevens missing the Shooting Star Press from the top of the cage (and he wasn't even mad at the guys for not catching him, even though he just returned from a BROKEN NECK!).

Christian Cage has never looked better. In the WWE, he seemed to be one of those guys who had the talent (and of course, the charisma) but never got the shot he deserved. As TNA champion, he's really shown what he can do. Against Abyss in the cage I saw a man who I couldn't believe was Christian. And the frog splash from the top of the cage? Incredible! Really well done match, and the buildup to the match was perfect. When WWE does a stalking angle, it sucks (just remember DDP...). When TNA does it, they make it look good.

But the move of the night came in the other main event. The 8 man Lethal Lockdown match. Eight men in a hexagonal cage with a roof. Weapons were suspended from the roof of the cage. A.J. Styles and Chris Harris were on the roof. A table got set up on the roof. Then a ladder.

And then the unthinkable...A.J. Styles climbed the ladder, held on to a scaffold that was above the cage, and then leaped down onto Harris' body. The table, as usual, snapped into toothpicks. The crowd went nuts. I went silent. Even the six men in the cage had to pause and watch this happen. It was that amazing. No wonder they call Styles "Phenominal".

A few thoughts.

TNA gives their young guys a lot of responsibility, and it pays off with great matches.
Steiner hasn't looked that good in years.
Sting, even at 45, is better than most guys in the business.
I still can't stand Team 3D or the James Gang. They still suck, no matter where they are.
There's no need to sign Goldberg. They've got more talent than they can really use.
TNA knows how to do things. No milk spilled on motorcycles, or matches with God.

I hope TNA continues to push the young guys. A.J. Styles could be a huge deal for them down the line.

Four words I will NEVER tire of seeing...

2006-04-26T13:18:00.000-04:00

I like food. I really, really like food. Sometimes I don't have breakfast, and even skip lunch. But dinner is the one meal where I end up becoming a pig. I'll sit down and eat as much as I can at dinner to replace what I should have eaten earlier in the day. But then, there are four words, and it doesn't matter what time of day it is, my stomach becomes the guiding force in my universe and I can't say no. And those four words...

All You Can Eat.

Yes, those four, simple words. Each word on its own doesn't convey any meaning to me. But together, they work like a well-oiled machine that makes me want to feed. So, here's a short list of the best All You Can Eat restaurants I've been to.

Hook's (London, Ontario) - from the outside, it looks like someone stole a Newfoundland fish cannery and dragged it down the 401 to turn it into a restaurant. Inside, it's a great looking place. Excellent food. Lots of choice. In the mood for Chinese, they've got it. Sushi? They've got it. Roast beef or ham? They've got it. They had a good variety of food.

+ excellent food, excellent service.
- too many tables in a small space made it very crowded and difficult to move around in. Expensive!
Recommend - the salmon, the mushrooms, and the black forest cake. Yum.

Joey's Only (North Bay, Ontario) - not really an all you can eat restaurant, except on Tuesdays. They have an all you can eat fish and chips night, and the price is really good. Service is also very good, and they'll come by every few minutes to see if you want more.

+ if you like fish, you'll love this place, excellent service. Excellent price.
- only one night a week is all you can eat. Sometimes the fish tastes, well, fishy.
Recommend - lay off the fries a bit and you'll eat more fish. And try the dirt dessert.

J.J. Muggs (Toronto, Ontario) - went there for breakfast when I was younger. Set my buffet record at this restaurant (12 plates). The variety of food was incredible. They had all the usual breakfast food, but there was also a huge number of cakes and desserts there. I probably ate a pig's worth of bacon that morning.

+ huge amount of food, all of it good.
- only one location, and it's not here.
Recommend - anything at the breakfast buffet table.

King's Buffet (Barrie, North Bay, and Sudbury, Ontario) - the only multiple visit buffet restaurant on the list. King's Buffet has some decent food at a good price (especially if you go for lunch during the week) and they have friendly staff. The variety is pretty good, and depending on the time of day, you can get pancakes and french toast, or king crab to select from.

+ good prices, especially at lunch. good variety of food to choose from.
- the food isn't always great. bacon is extremely greasy at times.
Recommend - lemon chicken, sweet and sour spare ribs, and mushrooms.

Mandarin (London, Ontario) - quite possibly the best all you can eat restaurant in the history of the modern world. I wanted to ask if I could live there. Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and North American cuisine all under one roof. The food was incredible. Their sushi and mussels (which were a first time thing for me) were excellent, and their desserts were perfect. I've never had waffles that good.

+ excellent service, incredible food. More variety than I've ever seen anywhere else.
- expensive (but well worth it), crowded, was not allowed to live there.
Recommend - get to one immediately!

The Royal Feast Smorgasbord (Orlando, Florida) - one of the best places I've eaten, and it didn't look like the kind of place anyone would enjoy eating at. Great selection of food, and a do it yourself dessert bar. Unfortunately, they closed their doors less than a year after I visited, and I don't know if they ever opened up again.

+ good price, good food.
- as far as I know, gone out of business.
Recommend - someone build a time machine and we can go back to 1984

Sun Wah (Sudbury, Ontario) - a nice little restaurant with a lot of selection and good service. It was one of the first places I went to in Sudbury, and their food is always good.

+ good price, good food, good service.
- it's a little dark inside...someone turn on the lights.
Recommend - their egg rolls are worth the drive to Sudbury. And their rice pudding is good, too.

That's the list. There are a few places I've been that advertised All You Can Eat, only to have a really poor selection. I don't care if I can eat all the pancakes and bacon I want, there has to be some kind of selection (except in the case of Joey's, because they make really good fish!). Apparently, there's an all you can eat KFC down in Strathroy. I must get there!

full of broken thoughts

2006-04-12T13:19:00.000-04:00

I missed Matthew Good at The Wall last week. Wanted to go, but with money being kind of tight and all, I couldn't go. Not that it's a problem. He'll be back. Unlike a lot of Canadian musicians, Mr. Good has some staying power. But, there was one song I wanted to hear.

And that would be Hurt.

A few years back, I asked Mr. Good if he ever wanted to sing a Nine Inch Nails song. He said no.

Now he's doing it. But, this is where things get a little confusing. Before he sings it, he says he's been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash lately. So, why not sing Man in Black or Ring of Fire?

And the net is up to no good, too. People are claiming the Matthew Good version is better than both the Nine Inch Nails version and the Johnny Cash version. Or they're coming up with other top three lists.

Now, I can't really judge this one. I've heard the Good version on YouTube, and it's not all that great (mostly due to the drunken idiots screaming through the song). If he had done this in a studio without a crowd, it probably would have been excellent. I've heard the Johnny Cash version, which I think is a great version. The video is definitely better than the Nine Inch Nails version (which would have been the best if they had just used the film footage and no close-ups of the band), but without the video the song just isn't the same. I've heard (and seen video) of Trent Reznor performing the song. He is the only one who really puts the anger and pure energy into the song.

This all reminds me of what Dr. Kelly, my art professor, once taught me. You can go to any flea market and pick up the Mona Lisa or Starry Night for five dollars. You can't get the original for that. Innovation beats imitation any day of the week.

Trent Reznor wrote an excellent song. He's written several excellent songs.
Johnny Cash sang one of Trent Reznor's songs. He did an excellent job of it.
Matthew Good sang the same song. He also did an excellent job of it.

But give credit where it's due. This is a Nine Inch Nails song, not a Johnny Cash song.

Guess they'll be teaching evolution after all...

2006-04-06T14:12:00.000-04:00

Apparently, some scientists found a creature up on Ellesmere Island that looks like a fish with arms. Is this finally the proof people will need to stop with the "evolution is a theory, not a fact" garbage?

I'm guessing no.

People tend to get set in their ways. Doctors, for the longest time, believed that ulcers were caused by poor diet and stress. One doctor claimed they were caused by bacteria. The others dismissed his theories and claimed he was using poor science.

So he gave himself a dose of the bacteria. He got an ulcer. Then he destroyed it with a four pill combination of drugs. Now, his "theory" is widely accepted.

Finding the "missing link" is a great move for science, as was the discovery of areas in Indonesia that man hasn't ever touched until recently. We are starting to see new species of plants and animals, and some that we believed were extinct are still around.

But, knowing the right wing movement and the anit-evolution movement, this discovery will still not convince people that evolution occurs. They won't believe it until they can see it in front of them.

In other news, another scientist proposed wiping out five billion people with an airborne strain of the Ebola virus. His audience gave him a standing ovation.

Too bad he didn't tell them that they were going to be the first to go.

gone, but not...

2006-04-05T17:00:00.000-04:00

I've become fascinated by abandoned spaces. Buildings that were built for some purpose that are now sitting empty because they're no longer necessary are something I find very intriguing.

Especially amusement parks. I have seen pictures of Japanese and American amusement parks that are no longer in use. Seeing the trees growing up through the tracks on a roller coaster, the dilapidated buildings ready to fall over, and the rust building up and falling off of anything made of steel just makes my brain work overtime.

Makes me wonder what I'd do if I had the money to buy one of these places...

One such building, the Milton Consumers Glass plant, was recently demolished. Or, should I say, recently was supposed to be demolished. The demolition team planted the explosives, the implosion happened, and the building fell over. Well, part of the way. I guess Milton has a leaning tower in town. I've seen pictures of the inside of the plant taken by someone who wasn't supposed to be in there. Looked like an interesting place. I'm guessing he's not returning anytime soon.

I wonder what's around here that's abandoned...

yeah, and Chris Rock is going to play Martin Luther King...

2006-04-05T14:47:00.000-04:00

Someone is smoking the bad crack again.

Some film director wants Paris Hilton to play Mother Theresa.

Yeah, you read that right. Paris "internet video" Hilton to play Mother Theresa. Did he see House of Wax? I don't think she can act, based on her performance in that film. And do we need to see someone who buys $1500 purses playing a humanitarian. Actually, let's find out if Paris can spell humanitarian. If she can, I won't complain about her getting the role.

Oh well. Can't be as bad as someone letting Carrot Top play Andre the Giant.

And yes, that could happen.

sounds kinda enron to me...

2006-03-24T23:53:00.000-05:00

It has been claimed that Nintendo has sold somewhere between 13 and 25 million GameCubes.
It has been claimed that Microsoft has sold a few more.

I can't dispute either claim. Both companies appear to be telling a realistic picture of their sales.

What I have to dispute is the numbers involved when the Playstation 2 is concerned.

Depending on the quoted source, Sony has sold 55 million units. That's believable.
Or 70 million units. Incredible, but still believable.
Or 90 million units. Really good for them, but I'm starting to wonder about this.
Or 110 million units. Umm...and this happened when?

The latest numbers are totally unbelievable to me. They're claiming over 200 million units sold.

Yes, 200 million. And that number comes less than a year after the 110 million claim.

I don't believe this number.

Sony having a 50% share of the market (a figure they've even claimed), based on the numbers claimed by their competition, would have them having sold about 50 million units. At 200 million, that would mean the Gamecube and XBox would have had to sell 100 million units a piece. And neither has.

When the PS2 was announced, Sony made a lot of claims about the power of their console. Even today, not one piece of software on the PS2 has reached those claims. Now with the PS3 coming, we're being told about its awesome power and what will come with it. Cell Processor, Blu Ray drive...

Sounds like a lot of codewords telling me that we're getting more of the same.

So, who's going to let the world know exactly how many PS2's have actually been sold?

Don't hold your breath waiting for Sony to do it. We'll have Duke Nukem Forever before then.

Is this all I do now?

2006-03-09T12:16:00.000-05:00

More movies. Yee...haw.

Spriggan ****
- more Japanese anime fun. Some decent animation, but the story is where this film really shined. Whenever Anime meets Religion, one of two things happens:

It sucks. See Neon Genesis review below.
It really blows the audience away.

Spriggan went the second route, which I appreciated. From the moment the film starts off, the viewer is pulled into a well thought out story involving Noah's Ark. Cool film.

The Cat Returns *****
- another Hiyao Miyazaki classic brought to North America by Disney. The animation is very well done, the story is decent, and the voices (yes, even the Disney ones) brought the animated characters to life. Peter Boyle at Muta and Cary Elwes as the Baron are probably the best voices Disney has brought to a Miyazaki film. Boyle has a way of making any role (see Young Frankenstein, Everybody Loves Raymond) become incredibly funny and Elwes makes the Baron sound like an aristocratic feline. The bonus disc is a waste, unfortunately. All it contains is the storyboard running to the story of the film. But the bonus features on the first disc go into great detail on how this film came to be, and why it is called The Cat Returns. Great film.

Howl's Moving Castle ****
- the latest Hiyao Miyazaki film to be released. I found the story to be good, but not as good as The Cat Returns. Christian Bale as Howl and Billy Crystal as Calcifer did a good job, but again not as good as the voices in The Cat Returns. I'd still recommend this film (as I would any Miyazaki film) to anyone who watches anime. Again, Disney provided a useless bonus disc. I don't think I'd sit through the storyboard version of the film.

House of Flying Daggers *****
- I didn't like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Critics loved it, audiences loved it. I didn't. I found it too long and not interesting enough, even with Chow Yun Fat, to hold my attention. I was worried that House of Flying Daggers would do the same. I'm happy to report that this film was much better for me. The story of a blind dancer and the soldier who tries to find the hideout of the Flying Daggers is one that will get your attention. Just when the viewer thinks they know everything about this film, they will discover they know very little. This movie has so many twists and turns that one must pay close attention or they will lose their way. The movie is beautifully shot, with incredible acting and an almost perfect story. I highly recommend it.

But I don't want to pick up Shakira

2006-02-26T22:24:00.000-05:00

Yahoo Mail has been really slow since they started advertising their music service. And Shakira looks like she just pulled her head out of a feedbag full of coke. And no, not Coca Cola.

On to the reviews.

Saw 2 *****
- if you ever wonder what happens to an 80's boy band member years later, they get fat and lose some of their hair and swear in movies like this. Donnie Wahlberg plays the lead in the surprisingly decent sequel to Saw. I loved Saw and thought it was a well written, well played out film. When I heard they were doing a sequel, I was worried that they'd put out a piece of crap. But Saw 2 not only holds its own against its predecessor, it does a better job. The first film, as good as it was, had a lot of dead spots. This film removes the dead spots and keeps the action going from start to finish. The only complaint I have is that there should have been more puzzles and traps in the film. I won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but more traps would have made the film that much better. Tobin Bell makes this film. Without him, I don't think I'd be interested as much.

House of Wax ****
- I'll admit I wasn't looking forward to this one. I'm no fan of Paris Hilton, and had read some pretty bad reviews of this film. But it did surprise me as to how good it was. I'm not really a fan of remakes, but this one was better than most (ie. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho). The extras on the DVD are worth watching, especially if you're not a fan of CGI special effects.

Destroy All Humans ****
- And here I thought this game would be stupid. Well, it is. But it is so much fun that I have to recommend it. Imagine Grand Theft Auto with a spaceship. There are way too many cutscenes in the first level, but almost all of them are for training purposes. And yes, there is an anal probe. If you look hard enough, you can pick it up for a good price.

Half Life 2 *****
- there are some who will tell you that Halo is the one game everyone should buy an XBox so they can play it. Now, those who don't have an XBox have another reason to buy one. Half Life 2, the sequel to the ultracool PC game, has come to XBox and it is one of the best games I have ever had the chance to play. The graphics are beautiful (although I don't buy games based on graphics), the sound is incredible, but the real test of any game is the gameplay. And Half Life 2 is one of the best games as far as controls are concerned. No strange fly-away camera like you'll find in most FPS games. The story is superb, and the weapon choices are incredible. From the original Black Mesa crowbar to the Gravity Gun (or the Zero Point Field Cannon), you'll be hard pressed to find any weapons disappointing you. Quite possibly the best game on the XBox.

Quite possibly the best game ever made. Hopefully, there will be an expansion pack or three.

Heroes, mermaids, and angels...

2006-02-17T14:21:00.000-05:00

More movie rental madness. Oh, and that review of Second Sight. I just beat the game and I'll say this much: it's one of the best games I've ever played. Great story, and the game is good enough to be a winner on any system. And I got it for less than ten bucks.

On to the reviews.

Sky High ***
- typical Disney fare. Stupid movie, but good enough that you'll watch from beginning to end. There are quite a few holes in the storytelling, but they can easily be overlooked. Too many characters involved in the main story, most of whom aren't truly necessary, and that's a weakness that can't be fixed.

Mermaid Forest ****
- a strange Japanese anime. I think it's a television series, but I don't know enough about it to say that for sure. A great movie if you want to make a drinking game of it. Any time a character says "mermaid flesh", take a shot of Sake. You won't make it through episode 1 of 3 unless you've got quite the tolerance for Japanese rice wine. They say "mermaid flesh" that much. I recommend it to any anime fans, but be prepared for repetitive storytelling.

Neon Genesis: Evangelion *
- yes, you'll notice only one star. The equivalent of a musical supermodel, it's great to look at and sounds wonderful, but it's really, really empty. This anime was shot like a Tarantino film: out of sequence, lots of style. But it lacked in storytelling and was very difficult to comprehend. It's not a great film. Yes, the animation is incredibly well done. Yes, the classical music was a nice touch. But without a competent story, this film isn't worth the price of a rental. I don't think I'd watch it again if it were on television for free. I'm actually amazed Blockbuster had this film: the characters are supposed to be around 14 years of age. They happen to spend some time without their clothes on. I thought this was illegal.

But that's Blockbuster for ya...can't rent adult films, but you can get naked kids in anime.

Snow day today. 28 cm. last night. A new record, breaking the old one from the 1930's.

Introducing devilTOONS...and maybe saying goodbye to them at the same time...

2006-02-13T22:23:00.000-05:00

The first devilTOONS for perusal. Yes, I suck at drawing. Yes, I studied Art from kindergarten to my final year at university. Like I give...

Digg this...Engadget doesn't have a clue...

2006-02-13T20:39:00.000-05:00

I'm a model train nut. Anyone who knows me knows that. I build them. I put things together that I can't buy but have the plans for. I read just about anything that has a train in it just to stay on top of things. Others might not keep up with things. Especially Engadget and their "reporters"...

Here's what they had to say:

We haven’t looked at model train tech since we were, like, tweeners hangin’ out cool fraggin’ up the 7-11. But UK-based Hornby is about to bring the pain to apple-pie-and-freedom-fries Lionel as they take the ol’ HO and turn her out digital. The new train sets feature a Digital Command Center which will allow punters individual control of up to 255 different trains and up to 250 accessories including lights, switches, turntables and hopefully drunken boxcar ridin’ beatniks reading poetry. The control units will sell individually for about $100 with three complete train sets rolling out this Xmas ranging in price from $230 to about $400 -- giving you all yet another chance to show us your “O” face.

First off, who the hell wrote this? They obviously don't have any idea how to write using the English language, or any other proper language. If you can't write something, don't write anything, especially if it's causing me this much pain to try to translate it into something I can understand. I've translated Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare. They were easy compared to this garbled scripture.

Second, what rock was this writer hiding under? Digital trains have been around for more than a decade. I can go to my local hobby store (which doesn't have much to offer) and get a locomotive with a digital receiver inside. Already installed. No soldering required. I could probably get him to order a locomotive with the receiver and get the one with the onboard sound system. This isn't new.

Someone had a slow news day. Maybe next week they'll announce a new invention that will allow you to talk to someone after dialing seven digits and holding a handset next to your head.

Fraggin' up the 7-11? Go back to school. Engadget, gone. Digg, welcome to the sidebar.

On gun safety and cartoons...

2006-02-13T20:03:00.000-05:00

As you may or may not be aware, the Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney, was involved in a hunting accident. While hunting quail, he shot a man in the upper chest and face.

Now, I'm no fan of Dick Cheney. I don't like the man or his politics.

But what happened, as far as I have seen and heard, was an accident. An accident that could happen to anyone at any time.

Guns, whether they be handguns, rifles, shotguns, or any kind of firearm, have three things in common.

They are very powerful instruments that can kill humans as well as animals.
They don't care much about who is pulling the trigger.
They don't have a clue about what they are shooting at.

And so, an accident happened. My gun instructor, Art Desormeau, taught us that we were never to pull the trigger unless we were absolutely sure that we knew what our target was. If we even suspected that our target wasn't clear, we were to immediately put the safety back on and lower the firearm. What happened in this case is not entirely clear.

As I said, I'm no fan of Dick Cheney. But this sounds like it was an accident.

What wasn't an accident was the publication of anti-Muslim cartoons by the Western Standard. Ezra Levant decided that we here in Canada needed to see what all the fuss was about. This is irresponsible journalism at its worst and I think Levant wasn't thinking about freedom of the press, but how many more papers could he sell by publishing such cartoons. I'm taking a guess here, but I have a feeling people here are not going to be impressed by such a tactic. Levant is the type of "journalist" we're seeing more of lately: not concerned with the truth as much as the bottom line. These cartoons should have never seen the light of day in the first place.

I don't think Levant cares.

Maybe he will if there's a boycott of his paper. Or if his offices get torched.

Either way, I won't be surprised.

Fool me once...

2006-02-09T22:30:00.000-05:00

According to George Bush, Al Queda was planning an airborne attack on a highrise building in Los Angeles in 2002.

Yeah, and I was going to write a pro-Playstation 3 post the other day. Right.

If people actually believe what he's saying about this attack, then this is truly a scary thing. The sky really is falling and people are going to duck and cover for the rest of time. Personally, I think he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar one too many times and is trying to say whatever he can in order to not get in trouble.

Invading nations: it's all for the good of the nation.
Creating evidence: it's all for the good of the nation.
Torturing prisoners: it's all for the good of the nation.
Exposing secret agents: it's all for the good of the nation.
Wiretapping phones: it's all for the good of the nation.
Smearing veterans: it's all for the good of the nation.
Backdoor drafts: it's all for the good of the nation.
Lying to cover your own ass: it's all for the good of the nation. Or is it?

They can say that it's all "intelligence failures" and not lies. Maybe this is the War on Error. I can say "wardrobe malfunction" and still know someone set that up to happen that way. That was a lie. There's no intelligence failure here. This is lying, straight faced lying, and nobody with any kind of power is doing anything to stop it. The main stream media has become a joke, so much so that bloggers and a fake news show are taking the stories away from them and telling them to the world.

I do hope people will look back at this presidency and learn from the mistakes that have been made. Yes, our Canadian governments are not perfect. Yes, it cost us a lot of money. But how much freedom have we lost?

Look at the U.S. Patriot Act. Have an abortion, or a miscarriage...the government can find out. Take a photo of a highway, train station, or airport...the government will find out. Make a statement about a video game that gets misconstrued in an e-mail or a phone call, the government will know about it. Twelve heavily armed cops will be standing on your doorstep. And they'll be the nice ones you'll have to deal with.

If anyone thinks that the only ones arrested without a warrant are the ones who were in Afghanistan and Iraq, think again. There are many people across North America and Europe who happen to be in prisons, without a trial date and without charges being laid against them. It's unconstitutional, it's illegal. And it's happening.

I don't want to see another terrorist attack. But I think we've seen what we're going to see. And the effect is still with us thanks to comments about possible attacks. Everyone is afraid.

And that's exactly what the government wants.

Movies and Games

2006-02-06T23:19:00.000-05:00

No cable. No satellite dish.

No problem.

With the Christmas season and cheap prices on eBay and here in North Bay, and some rentals, movies and games were quite plentiful around here. So, here's my reviews. And as always, I'm not a real film or video game critic, so no calling me Ebert or something.

The Cave ****
- one of those films you'd normally pass by at Blockbuster when you're searching for an a-list film. Nobody really famous in it, but the cinematography (considering 90% of the film in underwater AND in a cave) is incredible and the acting is really well done. Good story for a PG13 horror film. They even went so far as to avoid the Hollywood boy-gets-girl ending and set themselves up for a sequel in the process.

Appleseed ****
- I love anime. Really love anime. So, I picked this one up at Blockbuster to check it out. Very cool animation, with a decent story and an okay soundtrack. Not quite Akira or Ghost in the Shell, but very cool. Imagine life in the future world of The Terminator, and you'll get the idea. I highly recommend that anyone watching does so with the Japanese language track turned on with English subtitles. Makes the film that much better.

Angel, Season 5 ****
- I have to admit, I never really got into this series when it was on. I did watch every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when we got them on DVD, so I gave this one a shot. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Considering the only episode I had watched previously was the final one (which, I must say, really disappointed me), the show worked for me. The puppet episode was one of the best of the group. James Marsters is probably the only reason I agreed to watch the show anyway. Damn, he's funny. Worth picking up if you're into this sort of thing.

Catnapped ***
- children's animated film. It's cute, but not exactly what I was hoping for. Still, it was good enough that I kept watching.

The Brothers Grimm ***
- yay...a film with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. Not as bad as one would think. It's your average con-artist turned ghostbuster story.

Last Exile *****
- Did I say I love anime? There is no way I can give Last Exile less than five stars, and I would give it more. It definitely rates up there with movies like Akira and Macross Plus. The story of Claus and Lavie, two Vanship pilots, and their adventures is one of the best looking combinations of hand drawn and computer animation I've ever seen. Through the twenty-six episodes, the story unfolds and pulls the viewer right into the television. This is what animation is all about. Not some garbage like we're used to getting over here, but a vibrant story being told with incredible animation. Worth every penny if you can find it.

Games

Timesplitters 2 (GameCube) ****
- a very cool game, even though it's a bit dated. The animation could have been a bit better (giant hands, anyone?), but the game holds its own. Weapons in the game are decent, ranging from basic pistols to flamethrowers and laser pistols. Hey, you can even arm yourself with a fire extinguisher. A great game if you're looking for a first person shooter with a difference. The mapmaker is an added bonus, allowing you to create a capture the bag style game.

Fire Emblem (GameCube) *****
- a nice break from the regular role playing game. In this game, you control an army who has to complete missions. One of your jobs is to guarantee that your main character, Ike, never dies. Should he die, your mission is a failure and you have to start all over again. From the same team that created the Paper Mario series of games, it's guaranteed to be a decent game.

Second Sight (XBox) ****
- from the Timesplitters team comes Second Sight, a very different first/third person shooter. In this game, you play as John Vattic, a man who wakes up strapped to a hospital bed with facial wounds and bandages covering him. Instead of simply using guns in this game, you get to use a group of psychic powers. Very cool idea. The story is decent, but the game is hindered by the horrible camera movement. It's a problem a lot of games have, and I hope companies can fix this for future releases.

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (XBox) *****
- remember the camera comment? This is a game that knows how to use the camera, and just about everything else. Our man Sam has a job to do and he's not afraid to do it. Like its predecessors, Pandora Tomorrow has an excellent storyline, great music, and some of the best looking scenery you'll see in a game. The cutscenes add to the story and the feel of the game.

There were more movies and games, but I haven't gotten into them all. More reviews later.

Sleep now.

same vote time, same vote channel

2006-01-24T22:06:00.000-05:00

na na na na na na na na na na na na na...VoteMan!

Two hundred fifty million dollars spent to elect another minority government so I can see another two hundred fifty million spent next year to elect yet another minority government. By the time we have another majority government in power in Canada, we will have spent more money than was lost in any sponsorship scandal, gun registry, HRDC boondoggle (that's officially the first time I've ever used that word in speech or in print) and any other odd government spending project.

And chances are, that government will run us a massive debt. Oh yay.

Here in North Bay, a town as conservative as you can get, they re-elected Anthony Rota of the Liberal party. Dave Fluri, the NDP candidate, was the only one who once again came to my door during the campaign. I wasn't at home this year when he came to my house, but he remembered having a conversation with me a year earlier. I think we caught him off guard because we actually knew who he was and shook his hand. It's a shame he didn't win last night, because he's a good guy who fights for the people.

I'm honestly going to give Harper a chance, but I do believe he won't keep this job for any more than a year. Any move to change the laws of this country, any move to make us become more closely aligned with the Bush agenda, the other parties are going to put him out of office.

And put me back in a voting booth once again.

Oh well. That's probably the least of my problems at the moment.

What has happened to the media?

2006-01-04T18:43:00.000-05:00

The Chicago Daily Tribune has taken a lot of flak over the years for their misreporting of election results as seen in the picture above. Decades later, this picture is still mentioned when someone in the media makes an error.

What happened recently in the news shows that the media, while in possession of incredible technology, hasn't learned a damn thing. The news that thirteen people trapped in a mine who were reported as most likely dead to have reports surface that twelve were alive was seen as a miracle. Only one man dead, which would still be tragic. But twelve people alive would be a miracle in the mining industry.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. One man was alive, twelve were dead.

Mining is a dangerous occupation. Here in Northern Ontario, we lose at least one person a year, whether it be to gas leaks, cave ins, explosions, or falls. It's not a safe business to be in. A vital one, yes, but not a safe one. People know it is a dangerous business when they sign up.

The fact that company officials let people continue celebrating after knowing that twelve men were dead makes them truly evil. Someone should have said something. It wouldn't be an easy job, but it would have been the right thing.

Since the 2000 election, the media hasn't cared to do much fact checking. Perhaps this incident will make them check their sources before putting out the news. Maybe this is why blogs are being seen as the new source of information instead of the mainstream media.

Dewey Defeats Truman. That was just an election.
This was a community experiencing a miracle only to have it taken away.

I'm against swinging...

2005-12-22T13:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that it is now legal for consenting parties to swing.

I'm not supporting this idea. I've been against swinging for a long, long time.

The whole idea of going somewhere, sitting in an uncomfortable seat, holding on to a chain or rope, and being pushed back and forth just doesn't appeal to me. I've never much cared for swinging. The whole moving back-and-forth thing makes my stomach feel really bad.

What's that?

No.

You're kidding, right?

Oh.

OH.

Sorry, wrong kind of swinging...

Somewhere, Austin Powers is smiling.

A man who dresses this badly called Canada what?!?

2005-12-21T00:17:00.000-05:00

Tucker Carlson of MSNBC, upon hearing of Prime Minister Paul Martin's complaints about the American refusal to sign the Kyoto Accord, called Canada "the retarded cousin who you see at Thanksgiving."

I think I'm more upset at the fact that Carlson used an insult to people with developmental or physical disabilities with his attack on Canada than him attacking Canada. I'm surprised that no one in the United States, especially those support groups that provide care for the developmentally and physically disabled, has demanded an apology or a firing. But in the post-911 United States, demanding a right wing television personality apologize is probably not the most popular decision one could make.

Now, I'm not at all concerned with him attacking Canada. His opinion really doesn't matter much to anyone. After all, this is a "journalist" who got his ass kicked off of CNN after losing an on-air session with a "fake" journalist, that being Jon Stewart of The Daily Show. Now, Carlson is not really a journalist. He went through private schools (Dad ran PBS, Mom is heir to Swanson's Foods) and then wasted his time in college. He has no Bachelor of Journalism degree, no degree of any kind. I'm usually not one to worry about someone's credentials, but in this case, I'm willing to point out his flaws. Why?

Because there are people who pay attention to him. And to Bob "Scumbag" Novak. And Rush Limbaugh. And Ann Coulter. And Bill O'Reilly. The way these people discuss policies and politics is scary. There are probably extremists out there who shudder when these people talk about government.

Just for the record, I'm not saying that Howard Stern, or Michael Moore, or Al Franken have better credentials. The left isn't always more educated than the right.

But this needs to be said: sometimes the loudest, most accessible voice isn't the one that needs to be heard.

By the way, if Microsoft is still involved in MSNBC, I would imagine Bill and Melinda Gates wouldn't be too happy with Carlson's "retarded cousin" comments. The Gates happen to be very supportive of charities that assist people with developmental difficulties. And if there's one person you don't want to piss off, it's the guy with the huge bag of cash who can make you homeless forever with the snap of his fingers.

more movie time

2005-12-11T22:16:00.000-05:00

Two free rentals and an almost empty mall theatre can only mean one thing:

It's movie time again!

War of the Worlds: I saw the trailer for this one a while ago, and since The Fantastic Four wasn't available, we rented this one. Not a great film, but not a bad film either. There were a few errors in the film (how's that camcorder working when every other piece of electronic equipment has died?), but nothing that would take away from the film. A few shots in the film were really spectacular (the sunlight coming through the church window was one), and the look of the film was really good. I had a laugh when the flaming Amtrak train went through. I love trains, but that was just too funny to resist. The Hollywood ending ruined it for me. I must say, though, that Tim Robbins was a hell of a lot scarier than the aliens. I won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but that was one really scary character. ***

The Fantastic Four: We finally got the movie, and it didn't disappoint. When a film based on a comic book has a real comic book feel to it, they've done the job right. Michael Chiklis should get some kind of award for his role. This movie was more about The Thing and having to deal with the loss of his human looks and how he struggled to keep his humanity. Chiklis was brilliant. The film did not disappoint. *****

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe: Following the success of other adapted children's stories translated to film, Disney brought out Narnia to theatres. And I have to say, they did a great job. I have never read the books (yeah, I know I should have...) and the movie pulled me right in. The casting of the children was really good, but the best part of the movie was the White Witch. A woman that good looking should not be allowed to be that evil. A really good film, and one that children should be taken to see.

Trailers...Curious George looks stupid. Over the Hedge still looks stupid. Pirates of the Caribbean 2 looks like a good one. Cars looks like it might be good. Eight Below is standard "everything is going well, then it doesn't, then something unexpected happens, and everyone lives and has a happy day" Disney fare. Not going to waste my money on that one.

A message to Democrats everywhere...

2005-12-07T00:19:00.000-05:00

You had better start talking before it's too late.

Can we talk?

2005-12-07T00:18:00.000-05:00

Hey O'Reilly and Limbaugh...

2005-12-07T00:16:00.000-05:00

Hell in a canister...

2005-12-07T00:12:00.000-05:00

I found some old propaganda posters on the internet. I decided to have some fun with them. Enjoy!

2005-12-05T23:28:00.000-05:00

We had a visitor on Sunday night here in North Bay. The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train came into town around 8:30. In previous years, the train has either skipped North Bay or has come in so late that nobody went to see it. This year was the first time I have had the chance to see it.

And it is a sight to see. 14 cars and a locomotive were covered with a lot of Christmas lights. The locomotive had animated lights all over the sides of the cab. It was worth sitting out in the cold waiting for the train to come in.

Canadian Pacific Railway should be commended for putting on a great show and giving all the proceeds to charity. There are a lot of food banks that will be happy to see all the food that is collected across Canada and the United States by the two holiday trains.

where's my blog?!?!

2005-12-05T20:50:00.000-05:00

Something has happened to my blog.

Maybe it's down due to technical difficulties.

I hope it comes back soon.

ADDENDUM: If you're reading this, the blog is back. Apparently, everyone who uses Blogger had technical difficulties. Oh well. Back to work.

"I'm dreaming, of a...

2005-11-30T22:07:00.000-05:00

of a...of a...

of another country to move to. Somewhere where I won't have to put up with election so soon after the last one. And more of the lies being push into our minds through radio, television, newspapers, and the internet.

We have the Conservatives calling the Liberals thieves, which is not exactly a lie, but not exactly the truth. And really, this is one of those pot-meet-kettle things. It's not like the Conservative party is full of honest men and women who haven't done anything immoral or wrong...

The Bloc is only there for one reason: to cause trouble in Canada so they can have Quebec as their own little country. Why don't we just give them a little place they can call "Quebec Free State" and be done with it. Let them have some good land, with lots of resources and industries, and let them see how they like life on their own. Maybe they'll do well, maybe they won't. But it's got to be better than what's going on now.

The NDP is the other wild card in all of this. They could hold the balance of power in Ottawa again. But they don't have a chance of being the big cheese.

Trouble is, Quebec isn't going to go Liberal, the West isn't going to go Liberal or NDP. Which means it's going to be up to Ontario. And if we get any kind of Liberal government in Ottawa, everyone will continue their hate-on of Ontario. Not that that's a big change...

I'd love to say "anyone but Harper", but I've seen what happens when people vote like that. We ended up with Mike Harris in Ontario when people voted like that.

Harper scares me. I don't trust Martin. I don't care for Duceppe. I don't think Layton will make it.

With those four as our choices, it's easy to see why I'm dreaming of another country.

Spam and the way I'm going to deal with it

2005-11-21T22:33:00.000-05:00

My inbox is flooded with spam. There's not much I can do about it. I report it to Yahoo and they say they're dealing with it, but I continue to get tons of spam. Because I don't technically own the account, there isn't much I can do. And because I don't trust using Outlook Express, I can't use a spam blocker.

But my blog is different.

I put a lot of work into what I write. Okay, not a great deal now that I'm gainfully employed, but I still put in some decent thought when I write my thoughts out.

And then, the comments end up getting spammed.

I don't need viagra, or custom ring tones, or a survey to find out which is better: the XBox 360 or PS3 (and the XBox 360 wins out, by the way, since I'll be able to actually see one tomorrow).

But some people do.

So, here's my plan. Since everybody nowadays has a lawyer (even lawyers have lawyers), I'm going to do this nice and legal. From this moment on, from the moment I push the Publish button on the screen with the arrow cursor, anyone is allowed to spam here. Yes, anyone. *

* terms and conditions of being able to advertise on http://www.thedevilyouknow.blogspot.com

No links or pictures related to the promotion, distribution, or publication of hate literature of any kind.
No links to pornographic websites of any kind.
No links to websites that incite violence of any kind, unless staged violence (ie. wrestling)
No links to illegal websites of any kind.
No links to websites that upload content (ie. spyware) to a computer without the knowledge or permission of the user of said computer.
No links to pay as you go websites (dialers).
Links will be altered or deleted by the webmaster as required. The size, colour, and placement of links will be at the webmasters discretion.
If you are not in agreement with any of the above stated terms and conditions, do not send money and do not post links. It's that simple.

But here's the deal. For every piece of advertising you publish on my blog, that being http://thedevilyouknow.blogspot.com, there will be a payment made to me, by personal cheque or money order (and possibly PayPal) for the amount of $100.00 United States currency. What that $100.00 will get you is a lifetime (or at least for the lifetime of this blog) supply of advertising space on this blog. If you were to advertise in a newspaper, whether it's NOW magazine, the North Bay Nugget, or the Washington Post, you'd have to pay for that advertisement. Same as if you advertised on television. Those advertisements aren't free.

Neither are the ones on my blog.

Now, I realize that some people spam because they have to eat. Well, I have to eat too. And if you want to spam on my page, you have to be ready to pay up. Should someone spam without paying, their advertisement will be removed from the blog. IP address blocking can be put into effect should that be necessary.

Should you be interested in contacting me about advertising on my site, you can simply leave a message in the comments with an e-mail address where I can reach you.

I know what you're thinking: Is he serious?

You damn well bet I am.

You either pay, or go away. Your choice.

movie time

2005-11-20T23:37:00.000-05:00

Rented one, saw two in theatre. Here's the reviews, starting with the rental.

Skeleton Key: Let me start out by saying this: I can't stand Kate Hudson. I really, really can't.

I didn't like her in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (a film I didn't want to see...) and simply haven't had much use for her since then. But she gives a decent performance in this film. John Hurt (who you wouldn't recognize until the credits and then that's too late) is the real star of this film. A pretty good film if you're into voodoo and black magic. And quite possibly one of the last films to be shot in New Orleans before the flooding. The best part of the film is the ending, which I won't give away. Let's just say, it's not a Hollywood ending. ****

Zathura: The film distributors are billing this one as coming from the people who brought you Jumanji. I really hate when they do that. I never saw Jumanji, was never interested in Jumanji, and probably never will be. But this film was better than I expected. Tim Robbins had possibly his easiest role ever with this film, since he's there at the beginning and the ending, but nowhere to be seen in the middle. The two boys and their sister are pretty much the stars of the film. But the real star of the film is the mechanical board game. I'm not giving anything away. Go see it. *****

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Simply put, it is the darkest of the series so far. A film that makes one choose which is more frightening: dragons and monsters, or asking a girl to a dance for the first time. Romance comes into play in this film, but it is not so overpowering as to make the story fall apart. Credit should go to the casting department for getting the guy who played Krum (damn, that guy looked like the description from the book) and to the animation department for the dragons. These dragons looked like living, breathing creatures. It's a good film, and you must see it just for Mad Eye. Trying to stay focused on a movie with that character around...it's just...maddening. *****

The advertisements and trailers were the usual. Over the Hedge looks dumb, as does Happy Feet. Monster House looks really dumb. The Lady in the Water looks like it could be interesting, and the new Superman might have some promise. They'll never really replace the Superman I grew up with. But hearing the voice of the late Marlon Brando during the trailer made my spine tingle.

No more movies. Not until next year, at least.

Does it pay to remember?

2005-11-11T14:07:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to figure out something. Maybe you can help.

During World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, Canadians were asked to serve their country in the battlefields of Europe and Asia. Thousands of Canadians were killed or wounded during their service. And for that, we remember them on November 11th.

But what bothers me is, why do bankers get Remembrance Day off? I don't remember there being a Banker's Brigade in any of my Military History lessons? No Payroll Platoon or Monetary Mercenaries either. I have yet to get any explanation as to why bankers get the day off. Do they get paid for that day, or do they sacrifice a day's pay in order to get a "holiday" that most people don't get?

I heard what could be one of the worst slogans a hospital could come up with the other night. The radio had an advertisement about colorectal cancer. Now, I'm all for getting those regular check-ups, since there are a lot of diseases and problems one could get without knowing they're getting them. But when the ad tells you, "We're behind you all the way", you know the slogan is bad. Like, where else were you going to be? I mean, would you want an auto mechanic who tries to figure out what's wrong with your engine by checking the tires?

do as I say...

2005-11-09T19:01:00.000-05:00

Going to war to stop the use of chemical weapons? Well, make sure you're not using them yourself...

From the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry:

ToxFAQs™ for White Phosphorus

HIGHLIGHTS: White phosphorus is a waxy solid which burns easily and is used in chemical manufacturing and smoke munitions. Exposure to white phosphorus may cause burns and irritation, liver, kidney, heart, lung, or bone damage, and death. White phosphorus has been found in at least 77 of the 1,416 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

What is white phosphorus?

White phosphorus is a colorless, white, or yellow waxy solid with a garlic-like odor. It does not occur naturally, but is manufactured from phosphate rocks.

White phosphorus reacts rapidly with oxygen, easily catching fire at temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above room temperature.

White phosphorus is used by the military in various types of ammunition, and to produce smoke for concealing troop movements and identifying targets.

It is also used by industry to produce phosphoric acid and other chemicals for use in fertilizers, food additives, and cleaning compounds. Small amounts of white phosphorus were used in the past in pesticides and fireworks.

What happens to white phosphorus when it enters the environment?

* White phosphorus can enter the environment when it is made, used in manufacturing or by the military, or accidentally spilled during transport and storage.
* It can be found in the water and bottom sediment of rivers and lakes near facilities that make or use it.
* In the air, white phosphorus reacts rapidly with oxygen to produce relatively harmless chemicals within minutes.
* In water, white phosphorus reacts with oxygen within hours or days.
* In water with low oxygen, white phosphorus may degrade to a highly toxic compound called phosphine, which eventually evaporates to the air and is changed to less harmful chemicals.
* White phosphorus can build up slightly in the bodies of fish that live in contaminated lakes or streams.
* In soil, white phosphorus may stick to particles and be changed within a few days to less harmful compounds.
* In deep soil or sediments with little oxygen, white phosphorus may remain unchanged for many years.

How might I be exposed to white phosphorus?

* Breathing contaminated air near a facility that is using white phosphorus.
* Eating contaminated fish or game birds from sites containing white phosphorus.
* Drinking or swimming in water that has been contaminated with white phosphorus.
* Touching soil contaminated with white phosphorus.
* If you work in industries that use or manufacture white phosphorus or munitions containing white phosphorus.

How can white phosphorus affect my health?

Little information is available about the health effects that may be caused by white phosphorus. Most of what is known about the effects of breathing white phosphorus is from studies of workers. Most of what is known about the effects of eating white phosphorus is from reports of people eating rat poison or fireworks that contained it.

Breathing white phosphorus for short periods may cause coughing and irritation of the throat and lungs. Breathing white phosphorus for long periods may cause a condition known as "phossy jaw" which involves poor wound healing of the mouth and breakdown of the jaw bone.

Eating or drinking small amounts of white phosphorus may cause liver, heart, or kidney damage, vomiting, stomach cramps, drowsiness, or death. We do not know what the effects are from eating or drinking very small amounts of white phosphorus-containing substances over long periods of time. Skin contact with burning white phosphorus may burn skin or cause liver, heart, and kidney damage.

We do not know whether or not white phosphorus can affect the ability to have children or cause birth defects in people.

How likely is white phosphorus to cause cancer?

The EPA has determined that white phosphorus is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity in humans. There are no studies available in people or animals that suggest white phosphorus causes cancer.

Is there a medical test to show whether I've been exposed to white phosphorus?

There is no medical test that shows if you have been exposed to white phosphorus. However, the above health effects may lead your doctor to suspect that you have been exposed if you have a history of exposure.

Has the federal government made recommendations to protect human health?

The EPA has listed white phosphorus as a Hazardous Air Pollutant. The EPA requires that spills or accidental releases into the environment of 1 pound or more of white phosphorus be reported to the EPA.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) have all set the inhalation exposure limit for white phosphorus in the workplace during an 8-hour workday at 0.1 milligram of white phosphorus per cubic meter of air (0.1 mg/m³).

NIOSH and OSHA probably don't care about enemy combatants, though.

It's dirty to say the enemy has weapons that they don't have. It's even dirtier to use your own to fight a battle and claim you're not doing it. The victims are there with the phosphorus burns to prove it. You can say all you want that you're using white phosphorus to light up the battle field at night, but unless the Iraqi people can fly like birds, this chemical was being fired at ground level at human beings.

One war. Many lies.

Error 691

2005-10-25T15:35:00.000-04:00

I'm beginning to wonder about computers. Designed to "make the lives of human beings easier", they seem to cause nothing but trouble. At least in my life.

As an instructor, my job is to teach people. That's not the easiest job in the world, but according to my bosses, I do it well. In addition to that job, I am also a network support technician. I make sure the computer network at work is in fine form.

We have a very simple network. DSL comes in, goes through a router and connects to every computer. There was a hub somewhere in the middle, but it died for no apparent reason. So, we've been trying to find a replacement.

I found a possible replacement, and I think I may have just found the bargain of the decade. A Hewlett Packard J2410A AdvanceStack 100VG 15 port Ethernet hub. It's a beautiful piece of hardware, worth about $3000 brand new. I got it for $10.

Yes, you read that right. Too bad it doesn't do the job I wanted it to.

You see, the AdvanceStack line requires another piece of hardware to be plugged into it in order for it to connect to a standard category 5 ethernet network. I don't have that particular piece of equipment.

So, work bought a nice little D-Link 8 port ethernet switch. It works. Too bad half the machines are now popping up with "Error 691" on the screen. That's supposed to be a dial-up error.

I don't want dial-up. I want broadband.

Something is going on in computer land. I'll figure it out eventually. Probably something to do with the passwords being all buggered up.

If this much screws up with computers, I'm happy we don't have flying cars.

Maybe I should stop thinking...

2005-10-19T23:33:00.000-04:00

Just the other day I was thinking, "Man, it would be cool if The Tea Party came back to North Bay to do a show sometime."

They won't be coming anytime soon.

Mind you, I'm not deeply saddened or overly depressed to hear that one of Canada's best bands has broken up. Things happen. Work that closely together for fifteen years and you'd start to find things that will cause you to think about leaving. And really, I've seen some decent bands break up and the music got better. Perfect example would be the Matthew Good Band. After Audio of Being (which I found to be a disappointment after the perfection that is Beautiful Midnight) came out, the band broke up. The result: Avalanche, one of the best rock compilations to every be put on a compact disc.

Sometimes it doesn't work out. I think Chris Cornell was way better with Soundgarden than he'll ever be with Audioslave. And Scott Weiland was much better with Stone Temple Pilots than he could ever be with Velvet Revolver. All he is with that band is the poster boy for drug abuse.

Jeff Martin will probably find success as a solo artist. Jeff Burrows and Stuart Chatwood will probably find success in whatever they decide to do.

But, some people really, really need to move out of their parent's basements. The online forums are loaded with whiny people blaming it all on Jeff Martin's wife. Every time one of these losers starts whining, I (and I'm not a violent person, honest!) want to smack the Star Trek uniform off of them and tell them to find themselves a boyfriend/girlfriend (and not the inflatable type) and go and have a good time in an actual dimension here on Earth.

By the way, ever notice that the really crappy bands never break up or change members?