My Christmas Tree, Part 2

My Christmas Tree, Part 2
Originally uploaded by m_andrew.

Here's a pic of my newly arranged Christmas tree. Maybe not the best picture in the set, but I have many more to choose from. Please note that "Married With Children" was playing in the background at the time.

My Christmas Tree, Part 1

My Christmas Tree, Part 1
Originally uploaded by m_andrew.

I think "My Christmas Tree, Part 2" is a better picture, sans Peggy Bundy.

Criminal Connection

We try and keep the criminals out, I swear!

From Castanet.net:

ATM Suspects Cuffed

by Kelly Hayes - Story: 23974
Nov. 14, 2006 / 11:30 am

It looks like Kelowna RCMP may have cracked an ATM theft spree.

Last week, half-a-dozen ATM's in Kelowna were broken into outside local restaurants or pubs.

Police managed to track down two suspects at the Dilworth Motor Lodge in Kelowna.

Both are from the Lower Mainland and police suspect they may be responsible for similar thefts in Kamloops and Vancouver areas.

Both suspects are 29. Their names have not been released.

They could have at least gotten the name of the property correct. It hasn't been the Dilworth Motor Lodge for two years.

China desalinating sea water to fight drought

The Chinese government is turning to desalinated sea water to ease its widespread drought.

From Reuters:

Apart from widespread drought, factories have ignored pollution hazards and dumped toxic industrial waste into rivers and lakes in China, home to one-fifth of the world's population but only 7 percent of its water resources.

"China is expected to desalinate 800,000 to 1 million
cubic meters of sea water per day and use 55 billion cubic meters annually by 2010," the State Development and Reform Commission said, detailing China's ninth five-year plan.

Water Resources Minister Wang Shucheng has stated that more than 600 medium to large sized cities in China are suffering from a "serious water shortage".

China is also "investing billions in a project to transfer water from its lush south to the arid north". A project which the Water Resources Minister believes is "unnecessary, unscientific and not feasible".

Canuck bloggers, eh!

Study: Blog community strong in Canada
By CNEWS - TECHNEWS

Reading blogs may be taking Canada by storm but not many people are writing them.

According to the Environics Research Group, only seven per cent of all the people surveyed have written their own blogs while nine per cent claim they have posted a response to one in the timeframe studied.

In contrast, one third (or 32 per cent) of online Canadians have read a blog in the last three months. B.C. is the most active blog market with 42 per cent stating they check out blogs while Quebec remains at the back of the pack at 28 per cent.

Canadian youth appear to be spurring the blogging trend with 51 per cent stating they read blogs on a regular basis. That is more than twice the national average. Nearly one quarter (22 per cent) say they also write their own blogs.

Boomers make up a large portion of the blogging community as well with 24 per cent of the respondents saying they read them on a regular basis.

The results of the blog survey came from two studies. One was an online survey conducted in early October of this year, with 1,391 participants. That study is said to be accurate within 2.6 percentage points. Additional insights are based on an in-home survey of 2,800 people conducted in July. That study is said to be accurate within 1.9 percentage points.

iPod turns five

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Apple's popular iPod player marked its fifth anniversary as a cultural phenomenon that helped bring music into the digital age and reap billions of dollars in sales for the US company.

The California-based company launched its mini music player on October 23, 2001 and has never looked back as sales of the trendy gadget have continued to skyrocket.

Coupled with its online iTunes music, video and movie store the iPod has grown into a thriving "ecosystem" of hip hardware, easy-to-use software and trendy media content, said analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies.

The sleek little music player has already become the "first cultural icon of the 21st century," according to Michael Bull, a media lecturer at Britain's University of Sussex, who is researching the social influence of the iPod.

by Peter Wutherich on Monday, October 23rd @ 7:55 pm ET

October 17th workout

Dumbbell Curl - 48 x 3 each arm, 48 x 4 each arm, 48 x 5 each arm
One-Arm Dumbbell Press - 48 x 20 each arm

September 18th workout

Full Squat - 325 x 3, 347 x 1

100% Non-Smoking

As some of my readers know from my profile, I am a Guest Services Agent at the Dilworth Inn Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.

The Dilworth Inn is one of the first 100% non-smoking hotels in Kelowna. We ask guests, and their visitors, to refrain from smoking in all indoor areas of the hotel, which includes room balconies.

We charge any guest an additional fee of $100.00 if they smoke in their rooms, on their balconies, or in any public area.

Having said this, why do people assume that they can book a room, and then smoke on the balcony? I have had people walk in to the lobby, read the enormous sign that sits on the front desk that states they cannot smoke on the balcony, and then after reading it, ask me if it's okay to smoke on the balcony.

In these instances, I somehow restrain myself from smacking them in the head as hard as I can, but it isn't easy.

The Four-in-Hand How To

• Begin with the wide end on your right and extending about a foot below the narrow end of your tie.
• Bring the wide end of the tie over the narrow (right side to left side).
• Bring the wide end underneath the narrow end (left side to right side).
• Bring the wide end of the tie over the narrow again (right side to left side).
• Bring the wide end of the tie through the back of the loop (left side to center).
• Hold the front of the knot loose with your index finger; pass the wide end down through the loop in front.
• Remove your finger and tighten the knot.
• Hold the narrow end of the tie and slide the knot up to the collar.

From tieguide.com

Nash claims second straight MVP award

PHOENIX (CP) - Victoria's Steve Nash was already considered one of the best players in the NBA.

Sunday, he solidified his place among the league's all-time greats.

The Phoenix Suns superstar was named NBA most valuable player for the second year in a row, becoming just the ninth player in league history to do so. The six-foot-three guard joins elite company that includes Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.

The 32-year-old confessed he has a hard time comprehending his newfound place in basketball history.

''I have to admit, it's a little bit uncomfortable to be singled out amongst all these great players two years in a row,'' Nash said at a Sunday news conference. ''I have to pinch myself. I couldn't believe it last year, and to do it again is even more difficult to understand.''

Canadian Press
5/7/2006 5:43:16 PM

May 7th workout

Good Mornings - 31 x 12, 31 x 15
Dumbbell Press - 78 x 6 each arm

[To the tune of James Blunt, "Wisemen", from the album "Back to Bedlam".]

New Tool

Here's an excerpt from Darryl Sterdan's Winnipeg Sun review of 10,000 Days:

Those hoping for the naked aggression and power of the band's earlier days may find 10,000 Days a long, slow slog. But those willing to be drawn into the depths of Tool's dark artistry will find more than enough happening beneath the surface of these songs to keep them occupied for the several hundred days until the next visitation.

[To the tune of Tool, "Wings for Marie / 10,000 Days", from the album "10,000 Days".]

April 29th workout

Good Mornings - 20 x 10
Bent Over Barbell Curl - 85 x 5
Dumbbell Press - 73 x 5 each arm
Full Squat (with a belt only) - 350 x 4

Coffee drinkers rejoice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Go ahead and have that second cup of coffee -- or third, or fourth. A study published on Monday shows heavy, long-term coffee drinking does not raise the risk of heart disease for most people.

The study, which followed 128,000 men and women for as long as 20 years, showed that drinking filtered coffee -- not espresso or French-style brews -- did not raise the risk of heart disease.

Heavy coffee drinkers did tend to smoke and drink alcohol more often and those two factors clearly do raise heart risk, the researchers report in the journal Circulation.

The researchers found more than half the women and 30 percent of men who drank six or more cups of coffee a day were also more likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol and use aspirin, and were less likely to drink tea, exercise or take vitamin supplements.

Here's the full article.

Man Using Paper Clip to Barter for House

Kyle MacDonald had a red paper clip and a dream: Could he use the community power of the Internet to barter that paper clip for something better, and trade that thing for something else — and so on and so on until he had a house?

After a cross-continental trading trek involving a fish-shaped pen, a town named Yahk and the Web's astonishing ability to bestow celebrity, MacDonald is getting close. He's up to one year's free rent on a house in Phoenix.

Not a bad return on an investment of one red paper clip. Yet MacDonald, 26, vows to keep going until he crosses the threshold of his very own home, wherever that might be.

"If you say you're going to do something and you start to do it, and people enjoy it or respect it or are entertained by it, people will step up and help you."

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer

Another Lanier essay

ONE HALF OF A MANIFESTO by Jaron Lanier

For the last twenty years, I have found myself on the inside of a revolution, but on the outside of its resplendent dogma. Now that the revolution has not only hit the mainstream, but bludgeoned it into submission by taking over the economy, it's probably time for me to cry out my dissent more loudly than I have before.

Sumo profile

Here is a profile of yokozuna Asashoryu Akinori, born as Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Jaron Lanier essay

Check out this essay about internet liberation by Jaron Lanier requested by the Cato Institute:

The Gory Antigora: Illusions of Capitalism and Computers

[To the tune of Jaron Lanier and Mark Deutsch, "Pastorale: Duet for Clarinet and Bazantar in Just Intonation", from the album in progress "Proof of Consciousness".]

We are what we eat...wait, we eat what we see

The "temptation factor" should be a little easier to control after reading this post:

Via Futurepundit:

Food In Eyesight Increases Consumption.

Opaque rather than clear containers make a big difference in the amount of candy consumed from nearby containers.

[To the tune of The Tragically Hip, "Wheat Kings", from the album "Yer Favourites, Disc One".]

The first gold medal for Canada

We are one step closer to the expected 20+ medals Canadian athletes are hoping to win at these Olympics.

Alberta's Jennifer Heil won gold in the women's moguls early Saturday morning.

Here's what she had to say:

"When first place flashed on the scoreboard, the first thing I thought of was my whole life and so many people being behind me", Heil told the SUNMedia's Terry Jones. "Now I can go share this gold medal with all of them".

Let's hope there is more where that came from.

New mindstorms

There is a fascinating new article on Wired.com regarding open sourcing the research and development of an upgraded version of Mindstorms, Lego's programmable robotics kit.

Lego built a global empire out of little plastic blocks, then conquered the wired world with a robot kit called Mindstorms. So when the time came for an upgrade, they turned to their obsessed fans -- and rewrote the rules of the innovation game.

Click here for the full article.

[To the tune of City and Colour, "Save Your Scissors", from the album "Sometimes".]

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.