The weather outside is frightful.
Still, Sasha and I like to get out twice a day for a long romp.
Merry Christmas from the two of us.
Month: December 2009
Fooey to the World: Festivus Is Come
December 23rd. A Festivus MIRACLE.
Today is the day we forget about those having birthdays … instead celebrating a holiday invented by Frank Costanza on Seinfeld. An alternative because Christmas is too commercial.
a Festivus for the rest of us
Click PLAY or watch Seinfeld on YouTube.
(That’s not Jack Black, by the way. He’s an actor named Colin Malone.)
Today you should be meeting together for Festivus Dinner. Gathering for the Airing of Grievances, lashing out at others the ways they have disappointed over the past year.
Festivus is not over until the head of the household is pinned in a wrestling match.
Copenhagen carbon footprint
From Jon Bowermaster …
… 1,200 limousines, 140 private jets, 15,000 delegates, 10,000 environmental activists and lobbyists, over 100 world leaders and 5,000 journalists. According to summit organizers the 11-day conference, including the participants’ travel, created a total of 41,000 tons of “carbon dioxide equivalent,” equal to the amount produced over the same period by a U.S. city, population 225,000. …
Likely some of the decisions made will quickly offset this.
But wouldn’t if be great if they held future Summits online, allowing anyone from around the world to participate?
We could vote and comment on the speeches in real-time.
my next JOB …
The chief of Peguis First Nation in Manitoba.
… Documents provided to CBC News by the advocacy group the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show that the chief and four councillors of the Peguis First Nation were paid between $206,000 and $310,000 each last year.
The community is home to about 7,200 people and is located about 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
CBC…
Here’s the guy I’ll be replacing. (He’s caught up in some sort of scandal.)
My new house will have fast internet. The “Band” will pay for it. And by “Band”, I mean the Canadian Taxpayer.
It sucks to be a taxpayer. That’s why we don’t pay taxes on the Peguis First Nation.
What a sweet gig!
I’m so happy the white man invaded North America. Winnipeg’s mayor and Manitoba’s premier will make less than me. And they’ll pay taxes. Ha.
In fact, after he pays taxes (sucker) I’ll make more than Prime Minister Harper.
Of the 600+ recognized First Nations governments or bands in Canada, I want to be the highest paid. That’s my goal. I’ll decide my own salary once I get into power.
Please email Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian Affairs, and lobby him on my behalf.
… If anyone else figures out what’s going on in that Manitoba First Nation, I may have competition for the job.
Worst case scenario? I’m screwed if the Feds decide to reveal the pay of Band leaders online.
Merry Christmas from Peter and Joyce
Peter Long has once again posted an entertaining Year in Review Christmas Card.
Click through it you want to see what retirees in Florida get up to … Year in Review Christmas Card
tell me again how HARD your JOB is …
This guy has it easy compared with you.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Bricks are one of the biggest industries in Bangladesh. He will be paid about $1.50 for a 10hr day.
One industrialist there told me his textile plant employs 12,000 young women, 3000 young men. Females make better workers. Many have moved from their families in rural Bangladesh to relocate near the capital Dhaka.
He also told me that any man let go by his factory would end up pedalling a cycle rickshaw. $5/day earnings. Any woman would end up breaking bricks into gravel for next to nothing. Those are the lowest paying jobs in Dhaka.
When Western N.G.O.s force factories to release “child workers”, they end up on the street. Nobody returns “home” after moving to the big city.
The author of “Transforming Bangladesh into a Middle Income Economy” is optimistic about the future of his nation.
Dana Brass goes “home”
Dana (Canada) and Fred (France), and their son … Maximum, I believe he’s called … have been living in Vegas for years working in the Circus biz.
When Fred was called away for 5 months by Cirque du Soleil, Dana opted to return home to Saskatchewan.
(If you can’t spell Saskatchewean, never mind you having been there, know that it’s just about the opposite of Vegas in every way.)
Dana posted the story with photos, just in time for Christmas, on her blog:
… So, here it is.
Do you ever wish that you could go home? I mean really home? Back to what feels comfortable, to the people you love and cherish, where you feel safe and secure? Well, this past year, I had that chance and for this I will be eternally grateful to those people who made it happen.
A little background – Fred was going to do the creation of Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis, for 5 months in Montreal. Maxim and I could stay here in Vegas, without health insurance or perhaps we could go along with him. But fate intervened, and my old club, Marian, was in need of a coach for several months to replace the assistant head coach who would be going on maternity leave. The planets aligned and my world came together to make this happen. My dear friends Joan and Bill offered us a place to stay, our neighbours offered to take care of our house, my parents offered their car and to keep Oliver, and my brother came down to help me make the move. …
read the story – Dana Brass – The Gift of Home
the future of magazines
National Geographic Adventure magazine announced recently that it was ceasing regular publication.
The brand survives in two annual newsstand-only publications, in books and on the Web.
I can’t complain. I like that magazine … but never actually paid for one.
One company seriously looking to the future is Time, Inc. Here’s a possible electronic distribution of Sports Illustrated that could be on a tablet by 2010.
This collaboration between The Wonderfactory and Time, Inc. is an excellent example of how tablets will enable the creation of innovative, addictive experiences by publishers, media companies, and advertisers.
Click PLAY or watch Sports Illustrated – Tablet Demo 1.5 on YouTube.
This is exactly the kind of thing you’d find, hypothetically, on the much rumoured Apple tablet.
(That hand is freaking me out. You’d think guys that could design that cool demo could come up with a less ghoulish graphic.)
wine bottle Christmas tree
From Rocco …
It took me all weekend, but I finally got my tree up!
Julie & Julia – a review
I was certain I wouldn’t be much interested in a movie about cooking. … But I was wrong.
Loved it.
… a comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron. The film depicts events in the life of chef Julia Child in the early years in her culinary career, contrasting her life with Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child’s cookbook during a single year, a challenge she described on her popular blog that would make her a published author. …
Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.
The acting is terrific.
… Meryl Streep has been widely praised for her performance as Julia Child. Movie critic A.O. Scott of The New York Times affirmed that “By now this actress [Streep] has exhausted every superlative that exists and to suggest that she has outdone herself is only to say that she’s done it again. …
Similarly, Stephanie Zacharek of Salon magazine concluded that “Streep isn’t playing Julia Child here, but something both more elusive and more truthful — she’s playing our idea of Julia Child.” …
Stanley Tucci as Paul Child, Julia’s husband, is brilliant too.
Rick McCharles 