To the United States of America, one of my ancestral homelands and my home-away-from-home:
And yes, today, November 5th, is my birthday. It’s cake and Crown Royal time!
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Fat Lady Has Sung!
November 5, 2008 – 12:18 am
All the major news outlets are calling the election and declaring Barack Obama the winner. My congratulations to Messrs. Obama and Biden and my thanks to the American people for a fine birthday present to wake up to tomorrow!
Sunset at 30,000 Feet
November 4, 2008 – 10:04 am
I took this photo last Friday on my flight home from L.A.:
The Cecil Hotel’s Management Company Responds
November 4, 2008 – 3:10 am
Yesterday afternoon, in response to my article about my experience at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, A Dump with a Future, William Lanting of the Cecil’s management company posted a comment in reply. For his forthrightness, his provision of a back story and his willingness to take my critique on the chin and in [...]
Dear American Readers: Please Get It Right This Time
November 3, 2008 – 11:59 pm
One last political post before election day, after which I’m going to refrain from such posts until after the polls have closed.
Larry Lessig: Close the Deal!
An excerpt from Larry Lessig’s latest blog post:
In 2004, I got on a plane Tuesday to fly to London. When I got on the plane, I watched every pundit, as [...]
Accordion vs. Shark
November 3, 2008 – 2:36 pm
At last week’s conference in Los Angeles, we got to take over the Universal Studios Hollywood amusement park and enjoy free rides, food and booze. Naturally, this led to all sorts of silliness:
My Interviews at PDC2008
November 3, 2008 – 1:00 pm
The most important thing I did at last week’s Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles was talk to the people there. I talked to people who use Microsoft’s developer tools and people who work at Microsoft. I even used my accordion powers to make Senior VP Bob Muglia run away at a rooftop [...]
A Dump with a Future (or: My Review of the Cecil Hotel, Los Angeles)
November 3, 2008 – 12:00 am
Note: This post’s a long one, so grab your favourite beverage before reading it!
Where Everyone Else Stayed: The Westin Bonaventure
Everyone else on the Canadian Developer and Platform Evangelism team at Microsoft had made their L.A. hotel arrangements for last week’s Professional Developer Conference well in advance. They all stayed at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, a [...]
The Economist Endorses Obama
November 2, 2008 – 1:57 pm
It’s summed up quite nicely in these two paragraphs from their editorial:
For all the shortcomings of the campaign, both John McCain and Barack Obama offer hope of national redemption. Now America has to choose between them. The Economist does not have a vote, but if it did, it would cast it for Mr Obama. We [...]
From my Misspent Youth: “Since Yesterday” by Strawberry Switchblade
October 23, 2008 – 12:52 pm
This song, which I’d forgotten about, just popped up on my speakers thanks to “random shuffle” and I thought I’d share it with you. It’s a cute little synthpop track from 1985 called Since Yesterday by Strawberry Switchblade, who had the “Gothic Lolita” look at least a full decade before the Japanese invented the subculture.
They Know Their Market
October 22, 2008 – 2:32 am
The folks at the Las Vegas tourism site Vegas.com have done their homework. They understand that a large number of people who come to visit fall into a very special demographic:
Yup, it’s real. If you go to vegas.com/douchebag, you’ll hit their page catering to the douchebag demographic — those guys who “love clubbing in Vegas, [...]
Oddball Book on Drinking Your Own Pee
October 22, 2008 – 12:53 am
Original photo taken by “counterclockwise”.Click the image to see it on its Flickr page.
“Auto-urine therapy” is just a nicer way of saying “drinking your own pee”, which some people believe has healthful effects. There are a number of famous people who tried auto-urine therapy for health reasons: Gandhi did it, as did Idi Amin, Steve [...]
Cars You Can Live In After Your House Has Been Repossessed
October 21, 2008 – 10:29 am
Since the “financiapocalypse” threatens to leave some people homeless, the car blog Jalopnik has put together a list of cars that they consider habitable should you be forced to live in them after your house is repo’d. Here’s their list:
10. Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit
9. Mazda Mazda5
8. Ford Econoline
7. Honda Element
6. Chevy Suburban
5. Volvo 740 Wagon
4. Dodge Caravan
3. [...]
