Ceremonial Stew

Numbers Game

2011-10-31T12:09:00.000-04:00

This halloween marks 7 billion people on earth (and counting)

Seven Billion People

World Population Growing - but growth is slowing

I wonder what (if anything) will happen? Will it take 9 billion to swing major changes? 10? 20?

We'll see!

Poppy!

2010-11-09T10:39:00.000-05:00

How will you remember?

I will this year by taking my GPIL who is a WWII vet to breakfast with his lovely war bride wife.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

I think I can improve

2010-03-19T14:52:00.002-04:00

Sep 16, 2007 - 5km 34:41.6
Oct 14, 2007 - 5km 34:02.7

What about in 2010? I don't know if I'll try but if I do I want to be sub 30. That would mean making sure I run the whole way! Not stopping here and there for a breather. Who knows?

Forest wins Gold!

2010-03-19T14:50:00.000-04:00

And now a Gold!

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/amateur/story/2010/03/18/sp-mckeever-gold.html

Hooray!

Canada's Forest wins Paralympic bronze

2010-03-17T09:55:00.003-04:00

It is a bronze medal with a golden glow for Viviane Forest.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/amateur/story/2010/03/16/sp-paralympics-roundup.html#ixzz0iRTFiTnY

Awesome!

The name sounds awfully familiar!

Oh - and Éire go Brách!

Golden Goal

2010-03-01T11:53:00.002-05:00

14 golds!

Most gold medals for a home nation in a winter olympics.
Most gold medals for one nation in a winter olympics.

3/4 golds in m/w hockey and m/w curling

hundreds of great stories!

Sad to see the olympics go - next - paralympics!

Quatchi rules!

Shipping Container

2010-01-25T11:24:00.002-05:00

Check this out:

Canadian firm sends Haiti help in a box

I wonder how many other uses there are for shipping containers?

Incrementally Inclement!

2010-01-19T11:11:00.003-05:00

Incurable incuriosity!

The opposite of cat is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtDjM6QqULU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03kZSHR2U-A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPzNl6NKAG0

Harold is Meowy.

Where is my flying car?

2010-01-06T16:19:00.003-05:00

Well? Where is it?

Mind you, it's snowing a lot right this minute so I suspect that a flying car in low visibility would not be such a boon after all.

Snowflakes are tasty but not filling.

New Year's resolutions?

I should blog more I suppose!

Backyard Bird: Vesper Sparrow

2009-04-18T10:25:00.002-04:00

I had a vesper sparrow in my back yard this morning!

What he looked like:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesper_Sparrow

What he sounded like:
http://www.naturesongs.com/paruicte.html#vesp

Enjoy him as much as I did!

AeroGarden

2009-04-01T16:47:00.003-04:00

Should I consider getting an AeroGarden Space Saver 6?

Plants growing in an AeroGarden

Considerations:
1 - I don't have a green thumb
2 - I love fresh herbs
3 - I don't have a lot of time to garden

What do you think?

Push-ups?

2009-03-03T13:33:00.002-05:00

Phil is doing push-ups... lots of them. I'll try to see how many I can do tonight!

See what he has done recently.

I wonder how many I can do:

Here are the options:

1 - 2 push-ups
2 - 5 push-ups
3 - 10 push-ups
4 - 15 push-ups

PBJ

2009-02-25T13:13:00.001-05:00

Peanut butter and jellyfish
Won't you be my sandwich
Peanut butter and jellyfish
... don't swim away!

Throw!

2009-01-13T14:19:00.003-05:00

Say - did you ever throw out your back?

I did!

What do you do to fix it?

How rich are you?

2008-12-22T14:22:00.001-05:00

Here's a site to help you understand how wealthy you are:

http://www.globalrichlist.com/index.php

It's quite amazing to think about!

Karma

2008-12-19T10:51:00.002-05:00

Karma

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma

Through the law of karma, the effects of all deeds actively create past, present, and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings to him/her and others.

Galatians 6:7

"... A man reaps what he sows."

I've definitely done some bad things in my life - but every single day I also try to do good things. I am responsible for the way I live my life! So are you!

My spoon is too big!

2008-11-18T17:25:00.002-05:00

Is yours?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rejected

Aegolius acadius

2008-11-13T15:13:00.002-05:00

This is a Saw-whet owl:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl.html

They are:

1 - About the same general size as a VHS tape (7 ⅜" wide, 4" deep)
2 - Half the weight of a can of soda (11.5 ounces)
3 - Grouchy-looking

Now in French!

2008-11-10T13:16:00.001-05:00

First blog entry in a long time - and the interface is now in French!

That is really fun!

How many languages do you know?

Under the weather :(

2008-02-08T13:09:00.000-05:00

Sneeze!

Happy year of the rat to all the rats!

Are you a rat?

34:44 (approx)

2007-09-18T12:26:00.000-04:00

Lots of running, lots of walking, and lots of muscles I haven't used in a long long time are now quite angry with me!

I expected to run my 5km in 38:00 minutes because my training runs were usually just under 40:00 minutes and I figured I might be able to shave off a little with the adrenaline going.

I guess the 34:44 is because of the adrenaline, and the little kids on the side of the road yelling, "Vas-y, t'est capable!" and I didn't want them to think I was giving up.

I think you're supposed to stop to drink the little bit of water in the little cup that you pick up as you run by the water stations. I shunned that idea and instead grabbed my water, kept running, and promptly got water up my nose as I tried to drink it. Somewhat unpleasant, but it *did* make me run faster to get away from the likely snickering people who would have seen it happen!

All in all a difficult but fun experience. I would love to be able to run the 5km actually running the entire time. My race seemed to mostly be running fast, walking, running fast, walking, etc.
I didn't have a normal pace.

I'll learn!

5km

2007-09-13T10:02:00.000-04:00

http://www.geocities.com/enducircuit/

La Grande Vadrouille

Wish me luck!

Oscar the furry grim reaper

2007-07-26T09:32:00.000-04:00

Here's a story of a cat that seems to be able to predict when patients are about to pass away:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/ap_on_fe_st/death_cat

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/357/4/328

He's a hospice cat!

Meow!

Storytelling

2007-07-10T19:45:00.000-04:00

Great storytelling is something that I am not good at!

I often have to tell people after I've told them something that they can now "assemble their own phrase" with the words that I have used. I suppose they come out of order sometimes.

One group of people I admire for their storytelling skills is certainly Pixar.

I'm not the only one who agrees:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070710/ap_en_mo/film_pixar_old_school;_ylt=ArwiMKn_KxQJbLhu99kFVlpxFb8C

I haven't seen "Ratatouille" yet but I would like to, I'm sure it will be clever - and that's what I like the most about stories.

Pavlov's Roach?

2007-06-14T11:43:00.000-04:00

Great article about the latest study involving 'ringing a bell' and 'salivating'.

(Article is freely available on http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0000529)

Ducklings

2007-06-11T16:24:00.000-04:00

Pa. paramedics rescue ducklings that fell down a storm drain
Published: Monday, June 11, 2007 1:35 PM ET
Canadian Press

Here's a nice story to remind us that there are nice people who stop and take a moment of time to help others, including ducklings!

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070611/K061113AU.html

Sadly, this was in the oddities section of the cbc.ca news site. I guess I'd be happier if the oddity was global climate change, war, poverty, famine, violence and the regular news was weather, compassion, science, joy, and fun!

What other things would you rather see in mainstream news?

French?

2007-05-14T23:03:00.000-04:00

Do french Manitobans have an accent which is different from french people in Quebec?

If I had a billion dollars...

2007-03-23T11:05:00.000-04:00

This is a good story when you're feeling overwhelmed and unhappy with how harsh this world can be and how difficult life can be:

Japanese billionaire hands over multimillion-dollar homes to low-income families
Published: Thursday, March 22, 2007 8:57 PM ET
Canadian Press

HONOLULU (AP) - Japanese real estate mogul Genshiro Kawamoto handed over three of his many multimillion-dollar homes in Oahu's priciest neighbourhood to homeless and low-income Native Hawaiian families on Thursday.
Tears ran down Dorie-Ann Kahele's cheeks as she accepted the key to a white columned house worth nearly US$5 million. Her family will live in the mansion rent-free.
Kahele, 39, and her five daughters had been living in one small room at a homeless shelter for the past five years.
"What we need to do is appreciate," said Kahele. "As fast as we got it, it could disappear."
Kawamoto, whose eyes started welling up when Kahele cried, said he will not charge the families anything to live in the homes. They will, however, have to pay their own utility bills.
Kawamoto plans to open eight of his 22 Kahala neighbourhood homes to needy Hawaiian families. He says they will be able to stay in the homes for up to 10 years.

The billionaire is one of Japan's richest men and owns dozens of office buildings in downtown Tokyo.
Kawamoto, who lives half of the year in Tokyo and half in Hawaii, said he was embarking on the unusual venture because it made him happy.
He added it showed more dedication to helping Hawaii's homeless than just handing out cash.
Kawamoto laughed when asked if he was concerned about losing money on the effort, saying, "This is pocket money for me."
Kahele became homeless two years ago when her landlord raised her rent from US$800 to $1,200, putting the apartment beyond reach of her salary as a customer service representative.

© The Canadian Press, 2007
from http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070322/K032215AU.html

Patience

2007-03-12T12:00:00.000-04:00

How much patience do you have?

How many difficult things can you handle at once? Life often throws curve balls - and see about imagining this:

Ant infestation tests nonviolence of Buddhist monks in Malaysian temple (CP story)

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070312/K031202AU.html#skip300x250

Imagine your vow of non-violence, and then being stuck in a large infestation of poisonous ants!

Life takes patience. I sort of think that you need to be the most patient with yourself first, as well as others. Those patient with others can forget to be patient with themselves.

Are red ants patient?

Fortune Cookies

2007-01-17T17:27:00.000-05:00

I like fortune cookies!

Why don't you make your own? Here's a sampling from 'Miss Fortune's Cookies'
http://www.masquerademaskarts.com/memes/thefortunecookie.php

Never taunt a mammoth with a fruit pastille.

A man can't walk on water, but anyone can walk on custard.

Don't you just hate it when even the aubergines are plotting against you?

No wise man wears a brightly-glowing baseball cap.

Lots of fun!

New Year's Resolutions

2007-01-16T13:40:00.000-05:00

Have you made some?

Have you broken them yet?

This was one I looked up and seemed quite interesting:
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/healthyliving/reducetherisk/
It suggests 5 resolutions for the new year (and beyond):

1 - Stop Smoking
2 - Stay in shape
3 - Eat and drink healthily
4 - Be SunSmart (protect yourself in the sun and take care not to burn)
5 - Look after number one (know your body and see your doctor about anything unusual)

These relate specifically to cancer but in general they're probably good things to think about (and do!)

This year's resolution was to not eat french fries. It's going pretty well.

What's yours?

Of all of the things I don't clearly understand...

2006-12-12T11:44:00.000-05:00

Okay - so the truth is that there could be a giant library filled with all of the information I don't know about or don't understand. In fact, it could be a few planets the size of jupiter with bookshelves all over every continent filled with books of things I don't know. Maybe they're IKEA bookshelves. I'm not sure...

Please explain this to me:

Something under my front porch

2006-11-27T14:26:00.000-05:00

I think I have some critters under my front porch...

They might be skunks or raccoons. More likely skunks. I don't mind either too much - so I'm not crazy about removing them... but it might make my concrete porch crumble so I'm going to have to look at getting the animal family out and sealing it up.

But then where will they go?

Contact in a soupy way

2006-11-26T18:10:00.000-05:00

Phil Plasma's post keeping in touch:

http://ceremonialsoup.blogspot.com/index.html

Here's my list!

Current friends I have that I...

...went to elementary school with: 1
...went to high school with: 2
...went to CEGEP1 with: 0
...went to university with: 2
...met in my first 'real' job at Cimmetry: 0
...met in my second job at NSB: 5
...met from age 0-10: 1
...met from age 11-20: 4

1. CEGEP exists only in Quebec and is a phase of education that exists between high school and university.

Oh - and much more important - some more soupy soup stuff:

http://www.7secondsoflove.com/soupy_george/

I really like soup!

Tuxedo crazy!

2006-11-21T10:21:00.000-05:00

Tuxedo cats are interesting. Here's the information from the wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicolor_cat

I don't know about tuxedo rabbits - but these two are a cute pair!

XAJAX

2006-11-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

I'm learning php and starting to use xajax!

http://wiki.xajaxproject.org/Main_Page

It's fun!

What programming languages, languages, scripting languages, and other forms of communication do you know?

Please feel free to give me your best made up alterative acronym for xajax. X's aren't that common in acronyms!

One whole month later

2006-10-29T18:22:00.000-05:00

It's my birthday today!

Can you wish me a happy birthday?

I'm in the eastern standard time zone, so on this birthday as in 1992 I was lucky enough to follow the 'fall-back' and get one whole extra hour to either celebrate or sleep in!

What would you do?

Busy

2006-09-29T12:13:00.000-04:00

Crikey it's Khaki Friday

2006-09-07T12:43:00.000-04:00

Fans of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin are being urged to put on something khaki tomorrow as a tribute to the late wildlife conservationist.
A chain email circling the world has unofficially nominated tomorrow as International Khaki Day, while the Australian Radio Network (ARN) has dubbed it Crikey It's Khaki Friday.
Mr Irwin, 44, died on Monday when he was speared by a stingray barb while filming off the coast of Port Douglas, in far north Queensland.

ARN today announced it would hold Crikey It's Khaki Friday to honour Mr Irwin and to raise funds for his charity, Wildlife Warriors Worldwide.

(Article from Sydney Morning Herald - September 7, 2006 - 5:21PM)

Check out the : Mix 106.5 FM from Sydney, AUS
http://www.mix1065.com.au/

Feel free to donate to the Wildlife Warriors if you are so inclined:
http://www.wildlifewarriors.org.au/make_a_donation/

Will you wear khaki this friday?

"'s

2006-08-30T12:17:00.000-04:00

Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next.
Spend your energies on moving forward towards finding the answer.
(Dennis Waitley, American motivational writer)

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
(Charles Dickens, English novelist, 1812-1870)

The golden opportunity you are seeking is not in your environment, not in luck or chance,
not in the help of others. It is in yourself alone.
(Orison Swett Marden, American author and editor, 1850-1924)

The bamboo which bends is stronger than the oak which resists.
(Japanese proverb)

A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong,
which is but saying that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
(Alexander Pope, English poet, 1688-1744)

We all scream!

2006-08-25T10:55:00.000-04:00

Imagine any flavour of ice cream you would ever want to enjoy... and this one ice cream maker has decided to start creating ice creams that would appeal to people from all over the world... how about these flavours:

jack fruit, purple yam, guava, avocado, buco, durian, green tea, lychee, papaya and passion fruit

And in Canada at least, fewer people are consuming ice cream than ever before... so this new idea may help.

"A 2004 Statistics Canada food consumption study found that ice cream consumption had fallen to 6.2 litres per person per year, more than 25 per cent below the 1994 level. "

Now try to imagine what it would be like to consume your own personal average in one day....

6.2 litres - which is like 26 cups of ice cream. That's some bellyache!

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2006/08/24/ice-cream.html

This post brought to you by.. Milk... un verre c'est bon, mais deux c'est mieux!

What ice cream would you like to have? What ice cream do you think is missing in the world right now?

Ozone Layer

2006-08-18T12:19:00.000-04:00

There are two things I haven't heard about lately - the ozone layer and acid rain.

Does this mean they are not still problems - or are they still severe problems and other stories have bumped them from the media?

As I was thinking of this the last few days I came across this story about UNEP and the Montreal Protocal which set out to reduce harmful CFC's, HCFC's and other mean yucky substances we can spew into the atmosphere.

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=484&ArticleID=5335&l=en

So the ozone hole will still appear every season (August, peaking in September) and it will for many years to come - but there has been some minor improvement!!

So we (and governments) actually *can* do something!

Here are the projections :

"According to the “UNEP/WMO Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006”, the updated scientific understanding indicates that the ozone layer over the mid-latitudes (30° - 60° North and South) should recover by 2049, five years later than anticipated by the previous (2002) assessment.
The ozone over the Antarctic should recover by 2065, 15 years later than once expected. Because of special conditions within the Antarctic vortex (a natural cyclone of super-cold, super-fast winds), the Antarctic ozone “hole” is expected to recur regularly for another two decades. "

Are we doing enough?

Shingles

2006-08-15T16:45:00.000-04:00

This is for my mom!
I hope they go away soon!

book tag

2006-08-15T12:27:00.000-04:00

Tagged by Phil Plasma

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of it and the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag three people.

________________
Practical Unix Security by Simson Garfinkle and Gene Spafford, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
ISBN : 0-937175-72-2

Be sure to keep the master copy of the file of checksums some place safe (e.g., off-line) where it can't possibly be altered or manipulated by an intruder to mask a change. In addition, be sure to protect the checksum program against change.

There are many checksum algorithms available; Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) checksums are common. The sum command available on many different versions of UNIX also calculates a checksum that can determine differences between files.
________________

I don't know many bloggers to tag - so I'll see what I can do to find some bloggers to tag. Check back soon!

Let's do the jitterbug

2006-08-10T16:41:00.000-04:00

I don't really mean dancing - I mean bugging!

http://www.livescience.com/technology/060807_jitterbugs.html

Keystroke logging is not new - it's been around for a long time - naturally as a way to help debug applications by honest programmers. It seems as though it's the unscrupulous among us folk that take good ideas and use them to hurt other folk.

The jitterbug idea is to not have the keystroke logger installed on a computer at all. Instead it will just use the services like MSN already on a computer - and the handy jitterbugged keyboard will send off the packets of data... fun fun fun - but I wouldn't want my passwords stolen! Then I'd have to remember a whole new set of passwords! Yuk!

Manatee spotted in New York's Hudson river

2006-08-07T11:35:00.000-04:00

Isn't global warming fun?

I'm looking forward to having coconut palm trees in my yard and to watching the squirrels compete with the northward migrating lizards for food and nesting sites!

The light show on tuesday was spectacular.

What comes next?

Cat Garden Glove Thief

2006-07-24T10:46:00.000-04:00

Now *this* is a resourceful pet!

I have a red eared slider turtle and two zebra finches - they're pretty cool - but confined to their enclosures. Willy - a one year old cat - seems to bring his owner gardening gloves from the neighbor's yards! And takes two trips - to make sure that the owner gets a matching pair!

The owner is quite pleased that the cat doesn't bring dead birds home. I'm not sure I'd be happy getting dead birds dropped off at my front step - especially since I have birds! The cat's owner places the gardening gloves on a clothes line so the neighbors can stop by and pick up their pilfered gloves.

Here's Willy and his clothes line of gloves:

(From AP news story July 21st, 2006 - Photo is AP as well)

Meow?

Debt

2006-07-19T11:27:00.001-04:00

Debt

It makes you feel like the little duckling here

But often there's a someone/something who is like the duck watching over the duckling - so you can feel better. Like a parent, a friend or even a higher power!

Money is green. Like leaves on trees I guess. But debit cards and credit cards don't tend to be green. What colour is yours?

Heat wave

2006-07-14T15:25:00.000-04:00

Seems like we're having a heat wave!

All the green grass will likely go yellow. I always think of water conservation when it gets hot outside. Actually - I wonder all the time about the kinds of things that we can do to conserve water - and about how we can purify water. I think about nations that have so very little clean drinking water - and how vital water is to humanity and the economy. Wars have been commonly about land, religion, social and political differences, and even sometimes about women! It will likely one day be about water and other critical natural resources!

Here's a few water conservation tips:

-Run your washing machine and/or dishwasher only when they are full
-Keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap for cold drinks
-Get a water efficient shower head
-Grab a wrench and fix that leaky faucet
-Turn off the water while you brush your teeth
-When it's time to replace your washing machine - choose a front loading machine

The web is replete with tons of sites that have additional tips. If you can do one of these a day - then you've joined the group of people who believe that every single drop counts!

Nifty idea involving cows

2006-07-12T13:07:00.000-04:00

Vermont has cow power!

CVPS Cow Power™

So should we! Why don't we?

http://www.cvps.com/cowpower/index.shtml

"Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport is the first farm to provide energy through CVPS Cow Power™. Several other farms are expected to begin Cow Power production late this year or in early 2007. Blue Spruce has 1,500 cattle, enough to produce 1.75 million kWh a year."

I don't think it would work if you had lots of cats. Or people. But who knows! It seems like a good green idea.

Emails from beyond the solar system

2006-07-11T09:50:00.000-04:00

I received this email from someone I do not know from an address I don't recognize at all:

for every empty, I could have sent Ernest packing a long time ago.
about a creature that thinks as well as a man but not like a man." (The
it. They say even a bullet can't get through. Of course, fire and mustard
place as heaven?"

And that's it! I guess it's spam. But - it's not clear to me what is being sold or pushed - other than... perhaps Hemingway novels or mustard. I like mustard. Is it a subliminal message that will make me have mustard with my sandwich at lunch? Maybe it's a secret code for the activation of some kind of interstellar communication device to finally allow us to speak with the fuzzy little green sentient beings from the Pleiades cluster?

kitten in a frog costume

2006-07-10T10:42:00.000-04:00

Genesis

2006-07-10T10:18:00.000-04:00

So on one of my fraternal sibling's urging I have created my first post on my first blog.

Here's the burning issue of the month for me :

Why are campers (those which are towed by cars, stationwagons and trucks) not green? Are there green campers? Not so much as in color - but mostly in self sufficiency. I don't see any rain water collection and filtration, I don't see any solar panels on those slow campers I have to follow on the highway!! Why not? I'll look into it.

Is it a burning issue for you? Or just a lukewarm one?