Happy Birthday Ben!

Benjamin Franklin was born on Sunday, January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts, which was then a British colony. He passed away, at age 84, in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790.

"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing". (Benjamin Franklin)

From The Franklin Institute Online:

America has never forgotten Benjamin Franklin because he did both. He lived these words of wisdom by writing as much as he possibly could and by doing even more. He became famous for being a scientist, an inventor, a statesman, a printer, a philosopher, a musician, and an economist. Today, we honor Ben Franklin as one of our Founding Fathers and as one of America's greatest citizens. Although he was born in Boston, the city of Philadelphia is remembered as the home of Ben Franklin. In Philadelphia, you can find both Ben's gravesite and the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial. You'll also find The Franklin Institute Science Museum.

From his school days on, Benjamin Franklin wanted to be a sailor. His father did not want this because an older son, Josiah, had gone to sea and never returned. Reading was Ben's favorite pastime so his father made the connection to the trade of printing and sent Ben to learn in his brother's printing shop. Ben continued this learning in Philadelphia and England and eventually set up his own printing business in Philadelphia.

For further information on Benjamin Franklin, click here.

[To the tune of Derek Gieselman, "Mr. Clear", from his demo album.]

It was just a matter of time

From The Hammer:

Report: More Blogs Than Humans on Earth

In its year-end report, the International Council on Internet Punditry (ICIP) says that the number of web logs, or 'blogs' in the world has now surpassed the number of humans.

"Our most recent blog population count indicates a total of 7.5 billion blogs worldwide, which is almost a full billion more than the amount of people on the planet," said Blaine Noonan, Executive Director of the ICIP.

"In the time it took me to just say that last sentence, 130 million more blogs were created worldwide. And those are just the Anti-Bush ones."

[To the tune of Daniel Powter, "Free Loop", from his self titled album]

Fabulous workout

I just completed an ultra high intensity workout that could not have been more simple on paper. All it consisted of was four sets with increasing poundage in the full squat, done without a weightlifting belt, or any other assistance equipment.

The entire workout was:

195lbs x 3 repetitions
195lbs x 3 repetitions
260lbs x 3 repetitions
280lbs x 3 repetitions

Every repetition was performed with a pause at the bottom of the squat, which definitely multiplied the effort to complete each rep.

As the great Paul Anderson once said:

As most of you would guess, the first power movement I will discuss is the squat, or deep knee bend. Of all the power movements, this is the "Grandaddy" of them all. The squat is the greatest all over strength builder we can do. It builds the legs, back, shoulders, and if the lifter breathes properly it will also build the chest. The latter is done by taking a deep breath before going into the low position, and not exhaling until you are almost erect. In the bottom cramped position the internal organs will push upward, making the expanded lungs push the rib cage out and up.

Finally, a cellphone for the clod in us all

From Gizmodo:

Ruggedized Phone for Adventurers or Slobs

A moisture resistant cellphone! Brilliant!

[To the tune of Ben Harper & Jack Johnson, "High Tide or Low Tide", from "Last Call with Carson Daly".]

The truth will set you free

"Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor".

I see the better way and approve it, but I follow the worse way.

Quote of the day

On aides to Prime Minister Paul Martin regarding the Liberal Party trailing far behind in the recent EKOS research poll:

"Media commentary isn't our concern. Moving people to our side is. And we know exactly who we need to move and how," one top Martin aide told Reuters.

"Plus, we have Stephen Harper. He's got views and values out of step with most Canadians. So we've got time and we've got advantages. We'll make ample use of them both."

Damn Skippy, they will!

Kaizen: striving for continual improvement

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. A merry Christmas and a New Year spent with many friends and family. Everybody thinks about new beginnings this time of year, it's only natural. Many people I have spoken to have talked about making new year's resolutions, and keeping them. I think it's a great time of year for assessing one's progress and making new goals; for taking a look at your life and comtemplating what you would like to change.

I am not going to tell you what everyone else has said about resolutions. Frankly, most people's resolutions fail because they do not really understand what they want. It's easy to say you want to live a better life, treat others better, etc. But most of the time we are pretty happy with the way we are. Generally it takes something nearly catastrophic to motivate us to re-examine our lives. Why? Because many of the things we make resolutions about are simply esoteric. They don't deal with our immediate or long term survival, or the root of our happiness. To expand on this point, and to surpass it, I am going to discuss the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen.

Kaizen is a Japanese term which literally means "improvement", or "to take it apart and put it back together in a better way". What is taken apart is usually a process, system, product, or service.

Some people translate "Kai" to mean change and "zen"to mean good, or for the better.

The same Japanese words Kaizen that pronounce as "Gai San" in chinese mean:

Gai: The action to correct.

San: This word is more related to the Taoist or Buddhist philosophy, which defines it as "the action that benefits the society, but not the one particular individual". The quality of 'benefit' defined here should be sustained forever.

From Wiki:

One of the important areas of Kaizen is commonly known as "5S", for the five Japanese words that describe each concept:

Seiri: tidiness. Refers to the practice of sorting through all the tools, materials, etc., in the work area and keeping only essential items. Everything else is stored or discarded. This leads to fewer hazards and less clutter to interfere with productive work.

Seiton: orderliness. Focuses on the need for an orderly workplace. Tools, equipment, and materials must be systematically arranged for the easiest and most efficient access. There must be a place for everything, and everything must be in its place.

Seiso: cleanliness. Indicates the need to keep the workplace clean as well as neat. Cleaning in Japanese companies is a daily activity. At the end of each shift, the work area is cleaned up and everything is restored to its place.

Seiketsu: standards. Allows for control and consistency. Basic housekeeping standards apply everywhere in the facility. Everyone knows exactly what his or her responsibilities are. House keeping duties are part of regular work routines.

Shitsuke: sustaining discipline. Refers to maintaining standards and keeping the facility in safe and efficient order day after day, year after year.

The Toyota Production System is known for kaizen, where all line personnel are expected to stop their moving production line in the case of any abnormality, and suggestions for improvement are rewarded.

Kaizen is based on the concept of process-oriented thinking. If you want to improve performance in any area, you must improve the process. Day by day improvement is incremental and easily sustainable. The summation of many small improvements over time can be significant in achieving any goal.

Here is a good starting point for anyone interested in Kaizen as a life choice:

• not a single day should go by without some kind of improvement being made somewhere, no matter what area
• any activity should eventually lead to increased satisfaction / gratification (more happiness, more success)
• quality first, not quantity first (having accomplished many things is not as important as having accomplished them well)
• recognition that everyone has challenges and establishing a culture (friends, family, coworkers) where everyone can freely admit these challenges and suggest improvement
• problem solving is seen as cross-functional systemic and collaborative approach
• emphasis on process - establishing a way of thinking oriented at improving processes, and a system that supports and acknowledges people's process-oriented efforts for improvement

Setting and achieving any type of resolution, no matter how significant, should be easier in conjunction with the Kaizen philosophy.

A Quote from Elementary Particles

That same evening he came across a photo taken of him at his old primary school, in Charny, and he began to weep. Seated at his desk, the child held a school book open in his hands. He was looking straight at the camera and smiling, spirited and full of joy, and what seemed incomprehensible was that this child was him. This child did his homework, learned his lessons earnestly, confidently. He was entering the world, discovering the world, and the world did not make him afraid. He was all ready to take his place in the society of men. All that, you could see it all in the child’s eyes... Time is a banal mystery, he tried to tell himself, and it was only natural. The light in his eyes went out, the joy and the confidence faded away.
Les particules elementaires (The Elementary Particles)

I have read most of Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq (pronounced Wellbeck), and I highly recommend this book to everyone. I am such a fan of this guy, it was a happy discovery. I have read a review of one of his other novels, Platform, and thought it was extraordinary. The review was remarkable and truthful. Here’s an excerpt:

For Michel is an emblematic figure. True, he is neither what Houellebecq, in his previous novel The Elementary Particles, calls a precursor nor is he a prophet, the two more advanced (though not necessarily amicable) classes of human being, but a partial symptomatic, that is, one whose drab iconicity says less about himself than about the society which he models and evokes. I specify “partial” because Michel is neither happy-except briefly-nor determined to be a part of history, subfeatures, according to the author, of the category of the symptomatic. Thus we might define him as a catoptric, one who in his rooted habits and behaviours reflects the world of which he is a disaffected part. The differences we may detect between Michel and ourselves are only cosmetic. Michel is an accurate and unflattering mirror. Additionally, many of his observations about the social and political dynamics of our world, unpalatable as they may be to us, are absolutely spot on. (For example, his hilarious send-up of the contemporary “notion of rights” and its abuses, a question examined at length and rather more drily by Michael Ignatieff in The Rights Revolution.) And this is why Michel is someone with whom the reader must come to terms.
David Solway (Books in Canada)

Michel Houellebecq paints a picture of his world as stilted and fractious, and yet has the talent to support his attitude.

The Kids In The Hall Revisited

Dave Foley playing a mass murderer: The difficult thing about being a mass murderer isn't the murdering part. It's the mass part. It's the pace you've gotta keep up, the sheer volume of murdering. 'Cause the funny thing about killing: After the first time you've killed, the second time it's easy. The third time you start to get cocky, so you gotta be careful. You know, you gotta stay humble or you make dumb mistakes. And, oh, by around the seventh time you're likely to feel like you're in a bit of a rut. Want to get artistic with it, you know, start cutting off the middle toe of each victim so you'll be known as "The Middle Toe Murderer." By that point, I don't know, I think that's showboating. You know, you gotta ask yourself: "Who am I doing this for? Am I doing it for myself or for the press?" Around about the twentieth murder, well, you're likely to be sick of the whole thing. You know, sometimes I don't even want to look at another corpse. I feel if I even see a chainsaw, I'll scream. It's like what happened the other day: I had just finished ending a human life in a senseless act of violence when I run into this old friend of mine from high school. And he says, "Hey! Whatcha been doin'?" And I think to myself, "What HAVE I been doing? What am I doing with my life? Where's this leading? Am I gonna be doing this at fifty?" Sometimes I think I really should go back to college.

The Kids In The Hall are a sketch comedy troupe starring Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson. They formed in Toronto in 1984 when Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch - a comedy duo called "the Audience" - met Kevin McDonald and Dave Foley at a midnight comedy fest in an old movie theatre. Scott Thompson joined up with them shortly thereafter. The group quickly gained a following at Toronto's Rivoli Club. They knew they'd really made it in early 1985 when their fans turned out during a snowstorm to see them perform. They were scouted by Ivan Fecan and expatriate Canadian Lorne Michaels, who produced the pilot episode for their sketch show in 1988. A series followed--five seasons aired from 1989 to 1994, and continues on in reruns all around the world. In 1994, they ended the show and have moved onto other projects. In 2000, the "Kids" reunited for a North American tour.

The name "Kids in the Hall" is a reference to Jack Benny. Jack Benny would sometimes take jokes from young writers who stood outside the studio; when he used one of their jokes he said, "This one's from one of the kids in the hall."

I vividly remember what a huge cult following Mr. Tiscic aka Mr. Tyzik aka the Head Crusher, played by Mark McKinney, had when I was a freshman in high school in northern Ontario.

I'm crushing your head! I crush your head! Crush crush crush!

Pure genius!

Here's a little blurb to close from The Kids In The Hall - The Official Site:

What THE KIDS IN THE HALL are is unique. Their brand of humour, an unlikely mixture of Pythonesque absurdities, razor-sharp monologues, cartoon-like inanities and sketch comedy reminiscent of Gleason or Burnett, is nonetheless utterly their own. All of them social misfits in one sense or another, THE KIDS have a unique perspective on the mundane standards and values of suburbia, and a surgeon's skill at honing in on its absurdities and stretching them into the preposterous.

THE KIDS IN THE HALL are a unique comedy troupe. To a man, they cut their teeth on improvisational comedy and have learned to adapt their style to the rigors of television.

They take everything they do very seriously, especially when they cross-dress. When THE KIDS are portraying female characters, they are far from the stock drag cartoons of Python or Benny Hill. When THE KIDS IN THE HALL don eyelashes and high heels, it is to portray a specific character with as much depth and reality as they can muster. A good actor, as far as they are concerned, should be able to play any character - no matter how irrational the situation. And the situation will always become absurd, regardless of the tragic, happy or sorrowful beginning it might have. "Men and women don't really act (or react) that differently," explains Scott Thompson, the crusader of the troupe.

Portable Audio Dependency

For those of you out there in TV land dependent on portable audio & quality headphones as much as I am, take a look at these:

Sennheiser PMX 60 Stereo Neckband Headphones

According to the Sennheiser Website's General Description:

The open, dynamic PMX 60 neckband headphones are the ideal choice for all portable audio sources. Their balanced sound image easily outdoes other mini headphones.

The overall sound quality & output (good lord, I'm deaf) are outstanding, especially when doing anything physical where earbuds just will not do.

If you are interested in acquiring a pair of these babies, but require more detail, here is the technical information:

Nominal impedance - 32 Ohm;
Cable length - 1.0 m;
Ear coupling - supraaural;
Transducer principle - dynamic, open;
Jack plug - 3,5 mm stereo;
Weight w/o cable - ca. 55 g;
Frequency response (headphones) - 18.....21000 Hz;
Sound pressure level (SPL) - 122 dB (SPL); THD, total harmonic distortion - <0,5%

The Amazon reviews are quite informative (especially the person who said As sound quality goes, these things are amazing! Beautiful, strong bass and crisp highs. The volume even goes very high compared to other headphones. Well done Sennheiser!

The reason why I am returning these, is because although they are one of the best sounding headphones I have ever heard, they leak WAY too much sound. Anyone in the same room can here the music that I'm playing quite well. Every word is audible to the outside listener. For me this makes them very unattractive.

I'm sad to part with these as they sound so good, but I need something a bit quieter to the public.

I have never had any problems with sound leakage, but the volume level is shocking when they are turned up all the way.

The Year of the Dog

The Year of the Dog begins on January 29th, 2006 and ends on February 17th, 2007.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The dog (?; pinyin: gǒu) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. According to Chinese folklore, each animal is associated with certain personality traits. People born in this year are loyal, honest, and trustworthy, but can also be stubborn and selfish. Dogs get along with Horses, Rabbits, and Tigers.

Recent birth-years for the zodiacal Dog with associated five elements are (inclusively):

• February 10, 1910 to January 29, 1911: Metal
• January 28, 1922 to February 15, 1923: Water
• February 14, 1934 - February 03, 1935: Wood
• February 02, 1946 - January 21, 1947: Fire
• February 18, 1958 - February 07, 1959: Earth
• February 06, 1970 - January 26, 1971: Metal
• January 25, 1982 - February 12, 1983: Water
• February 10, 1994 - January 30, 1995: Wood
• 29 January, 2006 - 17 February, 2007: Fire
• 2018 - 2019: Earth
• 2030 - 2031: Metal

This next part is the best:

People born in dog years may encounter discrimination in China during 2006, due to the belief that they will attract bad luck during the year. They may be denied jobs, homes, and other amenities by those who fear to be caught in whatever misfortunes befall them.

What??

Read this article from Yahoo News regarding astrological discrimination. I cannot believe I just said astrological discrimination. Whatever happened to people being discriminated against for simple, dyed in the wool, "my only excuse is that I am ignorant" reasons, like their personal religious beliefs! Oh wait...

...Anyway, back to reality; according to the above reference from Wikipedia, the element associated with the zodiacal Dog in 2006 is fire:

The Fire Element, when mixed with the Dog Sign, can construct a canine with more than the right stuff. Fire Dogs are enterprising and courageous, always fighting to stay at the head of the pack. Your philosophy might be summed up as, "If I'm not the lead dog, the view will always be the same." Always on the prowl for a good time on the town, you still manage to meet all of your obligations, since you have plenty of energy to go around.

Fierce when betrayed, you have a stern sense of propriety and property both, and will wreak immediate vengeance on any who transgress against you and yours. If they ever strike you down, they'd better kill you with one blow -- otherwise you'll be back up and swinging in the blink of an eye.

The personal traits listed above seem like excellent qualifications for employment, don't you think?

Slightly Tardy, But Here Goes...

Happy New Year!

May everything you do in 2006 be done with complete and unqualified desire!