Category: humour

Big Mac index, Tall Latte index

On By Rick McIn economics, food, humour, travel1 Comment

starbucks_latte_price.gifI don’t eat Big Macs — they have no taste — but a travellin’ man is always checking price vs purchasing power. I saw a standard muffin sold for US$3 in San Francisco, then $4.50 in a Las Vegas casino deli.

Economist magazine started the Big Mac index in 1986 and it is still referred to widely.

But Dana would be keener on the Starbucks Tall Latte index, introduced by Economist in 2004.

The graphic shows 2004 prices. You must subscribe to Economist on-line to get the up-to-date statistics. That’s to keep the poor (who might disagree with their pro-globalization, pro-Starbucks editorial policy) ignorant.

PS

I’ve often told people that Starbucks was owned indirectly by big tobacco. That’s wrong — in fact, the company is zealously non-smoking at all outlets, even in China.

jogging the Las Vegas Strip

On By Rick McIn humour, product endorsements, travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

Running The Strip each morning, I have time to ponder.

If mankind should disappear off the Earth, alien archeologists will certainly rank Las Vegas the finest ruins of them all.

You could spend a lifetime trying to visualize what was going on in these fantastical, gargantuan resorts.

Of 2,763 rooms in the Mirage Hotel, mine is one of the best. (I assume. Haven’t seen the rest.)

Of course casinos nickle and dime you to death. And not only in the slots. No free internet. Phone calls steep surcharge. Weight room an extra $20 / day.

But this is an astonishing fantasy world to visit. Like a decadent dream.

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original photo – out helicopter window – on Flickr

» next travelogue post on this trip – weather forecast in Vegas

getting your news from The Daily Show

On By Rick McIn government, humour, TVLeave a comment

New research confirms what we already knew — The Daily Show is as “substantive” a source of US political news as the real news shows.

Using the entire half-hour programs as the basis of analysis yielded the same results: there was just as much substance to The Daily Show’s coverage as there was on the network news. And The Daily Show was much funnier, with less of the hype—references to photo ops, political endorsements, and polls—that typically overshadows substantive coverage on network news, according to the study.

The Daily Show is as substantive as the “real” news

Fox News is actually funnier than The Daily Show, but Fox is trying to be serious.

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Jack Russell dog races

On By Rick McIn humour, McCharles family, traveloguesLeave a comment

We took my parent’s Jack Russell “Pete” to the dog races in Parksville, BC.

Pete.jpg

Pete could have won the “Senior / special needs” division — there were no other entries at his advanced age (11) — but Pete decided only to cheer on the younger dogs.

The competitors were alternately cute and snippy. There was a fair bit of trash talk between races.

Click PLAY or watch Jack Russells on YouTube.

» next travelogue post on this trip – boating Alberni Inlet with Dad

Is Bush telling the truth?

On By Rick McIn government, humourLeave a comment

I check internet hoaxes on a great site called Snopes.com

But Google has bigger things in mind.

Imagine being able to check instantly whether or not statements made by politicians were correct. That is the sort of service Google Inc. boss Eric Schmidt believes the Internet will offer within five years.

Dvorak Uncensored » Google head warns politicians about truth and the Internet

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flee to Coombs, BC

On By Rick McIn humour, travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

In Canada, after being caught with (self-prescribed) medicinal marijuana one-too-many-times, you must move to Coombs, British Columbia. Here hippies like you sell antiques (junk) to retirees.

Goats on the roof of the restaurant lure in the tourists. And ladies have trouble departing without buying at least one hand made collectable as a Christmas present for a distant niece.

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more photos of the Coombs market

Actually Coombs is well worth the stop. It’s a piece of west coast culture.

» next travelogue post on this trip – a day with Reg Taylor

Arthur Black – comedian

On By Rick McIn books, humour, McCharles family, travelogues, TVLeave a comment

My Mom treated me to an entertainment by Arthur Black.

He spoke just down the street at the Parksville City Hall. Black was on tour flogging his 11th book, Pitch Black.
Pitch Black

After the late, great, beloved Peter Gzowski, no other personality was more the voice of Canadian radio to me than Arthur Black. He retired to Salt Spring Island, BC 11-years-ago — but he is still in fine form, as sharp and witty as ever.

I had forgotten that Black first introduced the comedian who played Father Guido Sarducci who went on to Saturday Night Live fame. The Stephen Colbert of the 1970s, Sarducci posed as gossip columnist and rock critic for a Vatican newspaper.

» next travelogue post on this trip – flee to Coombs, BC