Ron and Kate were in town for the weekend. Jude invited us out to visit her in Bragg Creek. And play on Two Pine.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Month: April 2011
Words are worse than Sticks and Stones
A 13-year old Connecticut girl is bringing the serious issue of bullying to the forefront once again through a stark video she put on the Internet two weeks ago that’s quickly gaining attention.
Her name is Alye Pollack. …
… Without ever speaking, Alye describes her pain and the insults she says she endures every day.
CBS News Correspondent Elaine Quijano reported the video has struck a chord. It has thousands of hits, and an outpouring of sympathetic comments. “Be strong, Alye,” reads one message, and, “Always know how special you are.” …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Thanks Brian.
funny Borders Books sign
… We’ve gotta hand it to the employee at a doomed Borders store who still has a sense of humor about the company they work for going down the drain.
Consumerist reader Sam says he snapped this sign at a store which will be closing in Chicago, telling customers where they can now go to find a bathroom.
Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in mid-February, after struggling for years to compete against Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, which have cornered the digital and physical book store markets, respectively. As a result, they have been in the process of closing 30% of their stores. …
Consumerist – Closing Borders Store Tells Customers Where To Find A Restroom
Mezza Mediterranean Grill, Calgary
For years I’ve been raving about the best donairs in Calgary. A hole in the wall near the downtown library.
The name has changed over the years, but not the food. And they’ve recently started opening Saturdays 10am – 2pm.
Urban Spoon – Mezza Mediterranean Grill
worst judge in America – Amanda F. Williams
If you ever have to go to court, don’t go to court in Georgia.
If you ever have to go to court in Georgia, here’s the worst case scenario:
This woman is symbolic for everything that is wrong with the American ‘tough on crime‘ trend.
I heard the awful story on This American Life – VERY TOUGH LOVE
This listener was moved:
…I am asking you to listen to the story. It takes a while, but listen to it. And then I am asking you to do something about it. I am asking you to please send an email to the Office of National Drug Policy asking them to please investigate this judge who is unfit to be on any bench.
Also, please send a letter or fax to the GA Judicial Qualifications Commission (they don’t accept email, apparently). Here is the contact information and a sample mock up.
Judicial Qualifications Commission
P.O. Box 191
Madison, GA 30650
Phone: (706) 343-5891
Fax: (706) 342-4593To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to bring up a concern that I was recently made aware of by Ira Glass from This American Life. He gave an in-depth account with strong reporting about a particular Drug Court in Glynn and Camden Counties of Georgia. I am very concerned about the job that the Judge Amanda Williams is doing. The information presented in the news story about the manner in which Judge Amanda Williams is conducting herself is frightening. I live in metro Atlanta so I am not one of her constituents but I feel strongly that something should be done.
Travesty of Justice: Judge Amanda Williams, Glynn County, GA
Or email this judge directly – amandaw@glynncounty-ga.gov
Or send a message via her website. (Update. Her sites have been taken down.)
Or post this to Facebook. And Twitter.
Amanda F. Williams must be removed from the bench. She’s worse than Judge Judy, … and that’s saying something.
are YOU distracted by devices?
Clifford Nass is a professor of communications at Stanford University and a renowned authority on Human Computer Interaction.
I was quite alarmed by a radio interview with him on CBC Spark.
Are you wondering why you can‘t seem to get the important things in your life done?
… “Chronic multitaskers are suckers for irrelevancy. Everything distracts them. They can’t ignore things, can’t remember as well, and have weaker self-control,” writes Stanford University communications professor Clifford Nass in a report that’s not well received in nearby Silicon Valley where buildings are full of computer experts who get lost in cyberspace. …
Technology pushing new multitasking apps, while experts say it’s too much
I consider myself a fair average multi-tasker. One of the few people who doesn’t seem to have some sort of ADD.
… But social networking has gone too far for me.
How are kids handling the new reality?
Young people, readers of Discovery Girls Magazine, are online 6.9hrs / day.
Yet they report feeling ‘better’ when face-to-face with friends, rather than on Facebook or texting them.
Here’s a good article on the topic – Multitasking and the Brain: The War on Productivity
THAT”S IT. As Oprah commands … No mobile phone for me.
I don’t trust myself to manage that distraction.
If you MUST have a mobile phone, schedule OFF time.
more on Global Warming
Though personally I prefer MY VERSION of Brian Mason, global warming skeptic … he keeps clarifying his views.
Brian:
… here an example of some good science that shows a completely different view than the alarmist one. To me, this video does NOT do a great job of explaining WHY we are seeing warming but it isn’t trying to do so. Instead, it does a very good job of explaining that there is much we don’t know, much that hasn’t even been considered, and that the stated certainty that we are doomed is ludicrous.
Click PLAY or watch Dr. Vincent Courtillot on YouTube.
… YEESH. 1930 was the hottest year in the USA. The last 12 years are flat or decreasing in temperature. Temperature variations have more to do with solar activity than my jet contrails. …
Don’t give us more uncertainties, Brian. Get definitive. What DATE will the world not burn up due to Global Warming. 🙂
______
original post March 22, 2011:
Brian Mason closely follows the science of the “global warming” debate.
He tells me there’s no real evidence that global warming is happening, nor that man is causing it.
He tells me that graphs like this are fear mongering.
…
There are lies, damn lies … and statistics.
I believe Brian. But most of my other friends (and Economist magazine) feel that there is enough evidence. That our planet is warming. That we should rally to FIGHT and reverse that temperature increase.
Here’s an interesting argument independent of whether or not Global Warming is actually happening.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Let’s say you agree with this argument. … Unfortunately for YOU, I fear there’s not the money nor political will to make any serious effort to fight Global Warming. We’d better hope it doesn’t exist.
Dave Sykes points out that this is a variation of Pascal’s Wager.
____ UPDATE from Brian:
Just wanted to correct your misinterpretation of my beliefs on this.
I suspect global temperatures are likely increasing (though data quality issues probably give a significant upward bias to the trend).
I suspect also that CO2 emissions have some effect (but realize that radiative effects such as these are not the whole story). If there were no (positive) feedbacks, we would have close enough to zero problems and I have little faith in the large and positive feedbacks posited by “the climate models”.
Why? Climate is messy and the climate models haven’t been able to deal correctly with clouds (see Roy Spencer for more here) and water vapour. I don’t think there is a conspiracy but I do think the big boys leading the scientific charge for alarmism are WAY out of line (see Muller’s recent video .)
Net net: I’m not concerned about global warming, but I am concerned that our concern with CO2 is going to push us into increased nuclear and into uneconomic (read subsidized) green energy such as windmills.
author Robert Sawyer in Saskatoon
Warren stopped by at Robert’s reading at McNally Robinson Booksellers, a preview of the April 5th launch of his latest Sci-fi novel, Wonder.
This is exactly the thing bookstores need to do more of if they are going to survive competing against online book sellers.
The LIVE draw gets people into the store, buying high mark-up coffee and (hopefully) a high mark-up copy of an autographed Robert Sawyer book.
I was born like this …
… I had no choice
A California cousin is doing a family history. Here’s a baby photo that came to light.
I had hoped to transform from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan. That hasn’t happened yet.
too lazy to ski … try ‘skouching’
Add 1 couch or recliner, 1 pair of skis and a host of willing (if absent-minded) participants and you’ve got a recipe for “skouching” … and plenty of B-roll footage for the next Jackass movie.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 