I had a game night tonight. 'Twas fun. Got beat at Risk. I was the first of six out. One person had South America the first round, but he was the 2nd out. The guy who got Australia lasted to the end, but she who struggled four or five turns to take Africa won, they decided to call it a draw when we all realised that though he had a set that turn, he could not take everything that turn, she had a set waiting, and most likely would get another set the following turn. Not a good chance for him.
Okay, I got my webserver running again. Rorimac has his own name again. I'm actually not sure there was ever anything wrong with Saradoc, I think I misunderstood what I was seeing back whenever I shut down my webserver. 'Course, now I have all my desktop settings on Saradoc, not on Rorimac. Argh. I'll have to poke around to get things just the way I've gotten used to them again.
The Toronto Star is reporting that it is impossible to rule out the possibility that BSE was imported from the US five years ago! Five years, and this one cow found earlier this year was the only case? Something seems kinda fishy to me.
For some non-news: it's hot. The humidex has been pushing the hight 30s Celsius. Another few degrees and it'll start feeling like Texas around here. Actually no, Texas was so dry that you could sweat and it would evaporate and you'd feel cool. Here, sweat just gets your clothes wet.
I also may have found the perfect job. It's here in town and everything. Problem is convincing the employer that I'm the perfect employee for that position.
The temperature has slid a bit. But it's still too hot around here if you have no air conditioning. The humidity is still making the air very uncomfortable.
Yesterday, a friend lent me the original radio broadcast of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's on a set of six CD's with two fits per CD. It's rather funny to listen to. :)
Two weeks ago, I ordered a couple of books from amazon.ca. It was rather annoying that it took over to weeks for them to be delivered. Yesterday, my copy of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia showed up. It's difficult reading, but I hope I'll be able to understand it. Today, a pocket NASB came today. It's got very, very tiny print. It's smaller than I was actually expecting. I'm not sure I want to keep it. I'll try it out for a little while.
So, I've listened to all the BBC broadcasts of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The first part has various events happening in different order than in the books. And even why they go to some places is completely different. The second half just seems to contain events that just plain didn't happen in the books. Of course, I read the books 8 years ago and don't remember everything exactly, but I'm pretty sure the 15 mile tall statue did not happen in the books. My memory could be playing tricks on me.
Today the Globe and Mail is reporting that the Japan seems to be the only thing still blocking Canadian beef from being imported into the US. Even the US cattlemen are calling for the border to be reopened to beef. And Japan is being slow, because they messed things up two years ago when they had a BSE scare/outbreak. And Paul Martin seems from the text of the article to already be the next Prime Minister, since he's on the scene and gets a quote in while Manley and Chretien don't even get mentioned. I'll have to go looking to see if there are other stories told like that...
The other day I decided I had to start excersizing. So I did twenty pushups, 15 situps/curlups and ran on the spot for a while. When I was done, I was so sore that it hurt to move. Well, I've been repeating that each day since. I'm still sore everywhere up to a couple of hours later, and my stomach is still sore several hours later. I think I've forgotten to excersize something, but I think I'll stay on this until it doesn't hurt so much.
"lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others" is the definition in a draft law that the TO Star is reporting on today. What's with that? Does that mean I can go ahead an marry a corporation since they are persons before the law? And why have they kept the exclusion clause? The swinger clubs would likely prefer they drop it. And what's with the restriction of "two"? There are many religions that allow for polygyny(Islam (max 4) and Mormonism come to mind) and polyandry(Tibetan Buddhism if memory serves); why restrict ourselves so? So we can cut it down to "lawful union of two or more persons". That should please everybody. Really, why even have that? It seems a little silly. Why not let each married group define marriage for themselves? You would probably have to register to get any of the benefits such as not testifying against a spouse, death benefits, paying more tax, etc.
Note: I'm not really proposing that that be done. I think the law of a few weeks ago worked fine for the vast majority of Canadians. Any law defining marriage, though, puts the government in the bedrooms of the nations and a former Prime Minister thought that a rather evil concept.
I just got an email that was pretending to be a bounce message. It claimed it was, but some minor things were marked incorrectly. Alternately, it may have been bounced by a badly written mail server. Anywho, it claimed to be unable to deliver a message from me(!?!) to a yahoo account I've never heard of. The content of the "bounced" message was mime encoded. File type marked as "midi" and filename as a ".bat" (well actually the mysteriously configured mail server had replaced the dot with an underscore (calling it anti-virus protection which I suppose it would be if I were running windows or dos). I didn't try unpacking it, but it seems rather strange. Does this mean I can expect to see more such "bounced" messages?
...ith great for programming lithtth. I've finally gotten around to reading my (digital) copy of onLisp by Paul Graham. It's actually quite clear and I can't think why I've been putting it off so long. Another few days and I'll be ready to write something useful in it, while taking advantage of some of its interesting features.
In the news last night, the CBC noted that Canada has been treating other nations with single cases of BSE similarily to how Japan is treating Canada. Interesting, can it be Canada has a double standard on beef? Or our the gov't claims of better protection actually true?
Last week, I went looking for my sewing kit. The button on my shorts had come off again, and I really don't want to lay down the cash for a new pair. And it being summer, shorts are a necessity. I looked on and off for four days. Finally, on Friday, after doing my laundry, I decided to look again in the very first place I looked. Where I knew it should be but where I did not find it when I looked. And Voila! There it was. I wonder if the sewing gnomes had borrowed it or something.
Thursday, I went out for coffee with a friend, (Okay, I had an iced earl grey. See previous rant about it not being on the menu at Starbuck's). Anyway, he gave me a suggestion on where to look for work, so today I've been drafting a cover letter to send them with my resume. Right now, I read it as being rather demanding, but I figure my first draft should say exactly what I want. Subsequent drafts will contain more pleasing wording. The final draft will be the pinnacle of tact and still state what I want. :-)
The National Post has a columnist pointing out that to remain consistent if we allow same-sex marriages (homogamy, my neologism) we should also allow polygamy. He starts by talking about some shmoe who is planning to protest the allowance of homogamy. The protestor points out that this could be the start of a slippery slope to polygamy, incest and bestiality. I can't really decide for myself whether or not to agree with him that it could go there, but the columnist finds the latter two ridiculous. In the meantime though, he considers the arguments about homogamy and polygamy to be the same and points out that in most cases polygamy offers better answers to critics than does homogamy.
Now, I would expect that for a polygamy to really work, it would be necessary that if you're planning to pull another person into the marriage, everyone already married to you would have to agree and be "married" to that person in the end. Such a system would, hopefully, keep a man from marrying two women who hate each other.
Game night
by alan on Tue 1st Jul 2003 5:39AM
I had a game night tonight. 'Twas fun. Got beat at Risk. I was the first of six out. One person had South America the first round, but he was the 2nd out. The guy who got Australia lasted to the end, but she who struggled four or five turns to take Africa won, they decided to call it a draw when we all realised that though he had a set that turn, he could not take everything that turn, she had a set waiting, and most likely would get another set the following turn. Not a good chance for him.
Saradoc is back!
by alan on Tue 1st Jul 2003 5:03PM
Okay, I got my webserver running again. Rorimac has his own name again. I'm actually not sure there was ever anything wrong with Saradoc, I think I misunderstood what I was seeing back whenever I shut down my webserver. 'Course, now I have all my desktop settings on Saradoc, not on Rorimac. Argh. I'll have to poke around to get things just the way I've gotten used to them again.
More Mad Cow
by alan on Sat 5th Jul 2003 1:06AM
The Toronto Star is reporting that it is impossible to rule out the possibility that BSE was imported from the US five years ago! Five years, and this one cow found earlier this year was the only case? Something seems kinda fishy to me.
For some non-news: it's hot. The humidex has been pushing the hight 30s Celsius. Another few degrees and it'll start feeling like Texas around here. Actually no, Texas was so dry that you could sweat and it would evaporate and you'd feel cool. Here, sweat just gets your clothes wet.
I also may have found the perfect job. It's here in town and everything. Problem is convincing the employer that I'm the perfect employee for that position.
Warming down
by alan on Mon 7th Jul 2003 9:35PM
The temperature has slid a bit. But it's still too hot around here if you have no air conditioning. The humidity is still making the air very uncomfortable.
Yesterday, a friend lent me the original radio broadcast of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's on a set of six CD's with two fits per CD. It's rather funny to listen to. :)
New books
by alan on Wed 9th Jul 2003 9:01PM
Two weeks ago, I ordered a couple of books from amazon.ca. It was rather annoying that it took over to weeks for them to be delivered. Yesterday, my copy of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia showed up. It's difficult reading, but I hope I'll be able to understand it. Today, a pocket NASB came today. It's got very, very tiny print. It's smaller than I was actually expecting. I'm not sure I want to keep it. I'll try it out for a little while.
Clear the ether
by alan on Fri 11th Jul 2003 9:39PM
So, I've listened to all the BBC broadcasts of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The first part has various events happening in different order than in the books. And even why they go to some places is completely different. The second half just seems to contain events that just plain didn't happen in the books. Of course, I read the books 8 years ago and don't remember everything exactly, but I'm pretty sure the 15 mile tall statue did not happen in the books. My memory could be playing tricks on me.
Mooo, HAHAHAHA
by alan on Mon 14th Jul 2003 7:20PM
Today the Globe and Mail is reporting that the Japan seems to be the only thing still blocking Canadian beef from being imported into the US. Even the US cattlemen are calling for the border to be reopened to beef. And Japan is being slow, because they messed things up two years ago when they had a BSE scare/outbreak. And Paul Martin seems from the text of the article to already be the next Prime Minister, since he's on the scene and gets a quote in while Manley and Chretien don't even get mentioned. I'll have to go looking to see if there are other stories told like that...
Oww!
by alan on Thu 17th Jul 2003 4:13PM
The other day I decided I had to start excersizing. So I did twenty pushups, 15 situps/curlups and ran on the spot for a while. When I was done, I was so sore that it hurt to move. Well, I've been repeating that each day since. I'm still sore everywhere up to a couple of hours later, and my stomach is still sore several hours later. I think I've forgotten to excersize something, but I think I'll stay on this until it doesn't hurt so much.
Marriage?
by alan on Thu 17th Jul 2003 5:59PM
"lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others" is the definition in a draft law that the TO Star is reporting on today. What's with that? Does that mean I can go ahead an marry a corporation since they are persons before the law? And why have they kept the exclusion clause? The swinger clubs would likely prefer they drop it. And what's with the restriction of "two"? There are many religions that allow for polygyny(Islam (max 4) and Mormonism come to mind) and polyandry(Tibetan Buddhism if memory serves); why restrict ourselves so? So we can cut it down to "lawful union of two or more persons". That should please everybody. Really, why even have that? It seems a little silly. Why not let each married group define marriage for themselves? You would probably have to register to get any of the benefits such as not testifying against a spouse, death benefits, paying more tax, etc.
Note: I'm not really proposing that that be done. I think the law of a few weeks ago worked fine for the vast majority of Canadians. Any law defining marriage, though, puts the government in the bedrooms of the nations and a former Prime Minister thought that a rather evil concept.
No news
by alan on Tue 22nd Jul 2003 5:23PM
So, it appears to be nearly official. Paul Martin will be the next leader of the Federal Liberals, at least so says John Manley
In other non news, Micheal Jackson has declared that putting his fans in jail is a bad idea. I mean, really!
New type of spam/virus?
by alan on Wed 23rd Jul 2003 10:33PM
I just got an email that was pretending to be a bounce message. It claimed it was, but some minor things were marked incorrectly. Alternately, it may have been bounced by a badly written mail server. Anywho, it claimed to be unable to deliver a message from me(!?!) to a yahoo account I've never heard of. The content of the "bounced" message was mime encoded. File type marked as "midi" and filename as a ".bat" (well actually the mysteriously configured mail server had replaced the dot with an underscore (calling it anti-virus protection which I suppose it would be if I were running windows or dos). I didn't try unpacking it, but it seems rather strange. Does this mean I can expect to see more such "bounced" messages?
Lithp...
by alan on Thu 24th Jul 2003 9:07PM
...ith great for programming lithtth. I've finally gotten around to reading my (digital) copy of onLisp by Paul Graham. It's actually quite clear and I can't think why I've been putting it off so long. Another few days and I'll be ready to write something useful in it, while taking advantage of some of its interesting features.
In the news last night, the CBC noted that Canada has been treating other nations with single cases of BSE similarily to how Japan is treating Canada. Interesting, can it be Canada has a double standard on beef? Or our the gov't claims of better protection actually true?
Looking in all the right places.
by alan on Mon 28th Jul 2003 9:37PM
Last week, I went looking for my sewing kit. The button on my shorts had come off again, and I really don't want to lay down the cash for a new pair. And it being summer, shorts are a necessity. I looked on and off for four days. Finally, on Friday, after doing my laundry, I decided to look again in the very first place I looked. Where I knew it should be but where I did not find it when I looked. And Voila! There it was. I wonder if the sewing gnomes had borrowed it or something.
Thursday, I went out for coffee with a friend, (Okay, I had an iced earl grey. See previous rant about it not being on the menu at Starbuck's). Anyway, he gave me a suggestion on where to look for work, so today I've been drafting a cover letter to send them with my resume. Right now, I read it as being rather demanding, but I figure my first draft should say exactly what I want. Subsequent drafts will contain more pleasing wording. The final draft will be the pinnacle of tact and still state what I want. :-)
More on homogamy/polygamy
by alan on Thu 31st Jul 2003 5:42PM
The National Post has a columnist pointing out that to remain consistent if we allow same-sex marriages (homogamy, my neologism) we should also allow polygamy. He starts by talking about some shmoe who is planning to protest the allowance of homogamy. The protestor points out that this could be the start of a slippery slope to polygamy, incest and bestiality. I can't really decide for myself whether or not to agree with him that it could go there, but the columnist finds the latter two ridiculous. In the meantime though, he considers the arguments about homogamy and polygamy to be the same and points out that in most cases polygamy offers better answers to critics than does homogamy.
Now, I would expect that for a polygamy to really work, it would be necessary that if you're planning to pull another person into the marriage, everyone already married to you would have to agree and be "married" to that person in the end. Such a system would, hopefully, keep a man from marrying two women who hate each other.