November 2007 Archives
It was an adventure, getting to work on Friday. When I arrived at the subway, it seemed unsually busy with people six-deep on the platform, for its entire length. After waiting 15 minutes just to board a train and then another 25 minutes of difficult breathing, because the car was truly packed well past capacity and my forehead was against someone's back, I finally got to work.
It turns out that some random person decided to have a morning stroll, down the middle of the tracks. According to the article, trains were delyed 15 minutes, but that cascaded down the line, so that my normally 10 minute subway trip, took 40 minutes.
Here's hoping that this mornings' trip is a slightly smoother affair.
One link for you, this morning. It's disturbing if you're American, but really, it screws Canada and everyone else, too:
U.S. government tricks hide trillions in debt - MSN Finance
I decided to reactivate my Facebook account and give it another go. It's been about 9 months or so and I'm not really going to use it, but at least it's active again and pretty minimal. When I deactivated my account, I ended up deleting just about everything -including my profile, photo albums and the majority of my 'friends'- but I don't really need any of that, this time around. Being able to see others' photo albums, was the main motivation.
In other randomness, this, is an actual commercial.
A few weeks ago, I read something that gave stopped me in my tracks. There was an article about the deputy mayor of New Delhi, being attacked and killed by a bunch of monkeys. You can find the link here and I encourage you to read it, before you go on... I'll wait.
So anyway, when I first read this article, I was done. Game over. I basically soiled myself laughing for 8 hours straight and I don't just mean a mild har har or guffaw. It was the full-on gasping for air, kind of laughing that lowers productivity to zero. Believe me when I say that I felt awful, as a human being died, but the circumstances under which he met his demise... I couldn't help myself. The man was attacked by a cabal of evil monkeys. Think about that for a sec. I mean really. It seems that even death with dignity is too much to ask for.
Anyway, thanks for reading the latest chapter in the series 'I Would Burn In Hell, If I Believed in it's Existence' ™. That said, my punishment for such crassness, was to have my bike stolen that same day. Seeing as I had spent an entire day laughing about someones death, I didn't even bat an eye or break stride, when I saw that it was gone.
On to some links and they're both quite good. The first one is about the exciting developments surrounding hydrogen-producing microbes. Throw a bunch of cellulose-based material (leaves, grass, corn husks) in your pot, some miracle microbes and a small jolt of electricity and you're left with sweet sweet hydrogen. This will essentially make the ethanol industry redundant, as hydrogen burning vehicles produce only water vapour as a bi-product. The best part is that you get way more out, than you put in, which is the main knock against electrolysis and other methods. Additionally, ethanol production has artificially raised prices for corn and corn-based products, since many farmers are no longer producing the crop for human consumption.
The second link is about the Flying Spaghetti Monster and His Noodly Appendage and it's actually a serious story. I'll leave it at that.
As the title says, not much to see here, but if you're bored, I've typed a few words.
I'm heartened, for the first time in a little while. By no means will I be writing a memoir indicating how I got my groove back, but at the very least, I can say that it isn't so bad to be me, today.
I started running again last week. After the move, I just shut down all systems that deal with movement, but my body has let me know that it's 'go time'. I'm back to running at least twice a week, with high hopes of my body no longer looking like a 1999 Ken Hitchcock, which if you don't realize, is code for really really disgusting.
Perhaps it's not that bad, but aren't we always hardest on ourselves?
Here's something I haven't done in awhile... links.
- Justice Restarts Domestic Surveillance Inquiry - MSNBC
- Danes Re-elect Center-right Coalition to 3rd Term - MSNBC
- FBI finds Blackwater Iraq shootings unjustified: report - Reuters
- Andres Oppenheimer on Chavez distractions from pressing issues - Reuters
Oh and just in case you needed to be killed with cuteness:
That's all.
I got the opportunity to see the Coen Brothers' latest movie, 'No Country for Old Men' and I loved it. It was... stunning? I hate to use that word, because it's so dramatic, but it really was something. Maybe we'll just go with quite satisfying, for the sake of appearances.
Either way, the movie delivered on many levels, starting with an out-of-nowhere performance from Josh Brolin. Here's a guy that, like his father, had been getting by on being 'ruggedly handsome guy' and not doing anything anyone could recall, until 2007 when all of a sudden he's in 'Grindhouse' (Planet Terror), American Gangster -as the highly memorable Detective Trupo- and now this. His performance was really a delight to watch and after this year, I hope he's just getting started with the quality roles.
I was equally surprised with Tommy Lee Jones, since I can't recall a movie he's been in, where I thought he actually did something special. The performance he gave and the way he played his character, really meant a lot to the film and he provided some lovely moments for the audience.
Then there's Javier Bardem, of 'The Sea Inside' fame. Here's someone who is very good at what he does and doesn't disappoint for this film. He gave his character a disturbing intensity which stayed with me, even after the film was finished.
Anyway, after all that ^, if you're still with me, you can check out the extended entry, to see a couple more shots of the movie. The photo above will also open in a larger window, if you want to see one of the many expansive areas, that the Coen brothers used.
I had a nice weekend, hanging out with friends and going to see 'American Gangster'. At 2hr35min., it's not what I would call a fast-paced film, but it didn't seem overly long. What was slightly unusual though, were the people sitting behind our group. A grandmother, mother and daughter were right behind us, at the 10:15 show of an R-rated movie. The daughter was only 5 or 6 and was quite unhappy about the arrangement. She was crying and complaining that she wanted to go home and that she didn't like this 'show', but the mother (and I use that term loosely) told her to be quiet, close her eyes and go to sleep. The mother and grandmother then proceeded to talk quite audibly through the first two-thirds of the movie, before I'd had enough and got up and crouched at the seats behind us (they were sitting on the aisle), to ask them to kindly keep it down. "Loud??? We're not being loud!", she replied... loudly. Then in an odd bit of theatre, we had a five second stare-off, where I gave her my best stone face and didn't back down from my request. She turned away irritated and relayed my request to the grandmother, who being the classy lady that she is, started to curse, at which point I went back to my seat. You would think after all that, the talking might continue, but they quieted down after the grandmother had exhausted her rather extensive supply of curse words.
It's been a hectic week and I haven't had time to post anything, but hectic doesn't mean exciting, so count your blessings.
If you hadn't heard, George Bush's approval rating is down to 24%, which is a new record low and that was two weeks ago. Who knows how low it is now... Check out Reuters for the full story.
Also on Reuters, in more recent political news, Stephen Colbert was denied the opportunity to join in the race for president, on the democratic side. A comment under the story actually raised some valid points, so be sure to have a read.
Yesterday evening I took some photographs of my last home improvement project; the fabric wall. As some of you know, I've been talking about it for a while now and have actually I've been working on it, since I lived in Hamilton. I didn't let a move to Toronto stop it from happening and it's just about complete enough for me to have taken a few pictures, which you can find here.
