Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Surfing the Internet at 30,000 ft

So I am currently on a cross continent flight and using in-flight wifi to post this blog.  This is the first time I have used in-flight wifi so I thought I'd post some thoughts about this new service.  I am currently crammed into boxcar class so I blame any typos on my current cattle like status.

  Just as a reference, I am on a US Airways Airbus 321 using GoGo as a provider.

  • The cost is $12.95, which gives access for the entire flight, but only the one flight.  The cost is steep and doesn't seem worth it, except to test it.  Prices for mobile devices are $7.95 for this flight.  Once assumes that the cost varies on the length of the flight.  
  • You can use multiple laptops on the same flight for the same GoGo account, but only one at a time.  You can also use multiple mobile devices on the same flight, but again only one at a time.  The mobile and laptop plans are separate so you cannot use the laptop account on a mobile device. 
  • I seem to have full web access, and can SSH into machines on the Internet.  Gmail chat  via the web interface doesn't work, but it is not clear if that is blocked by the network or a technical glitch.  
  • Bandwidth tests show the connections is 500 to 600 Kbps down, and 130Kbps up.  Not bad considering I am 30,000ft in the air and moving at 600MPH.
  • Ping tests show that network latency varies from 400ms to 800ms.  For the non-geeks reading this that means it can take almost a second to send a request from my computer to other machines on the internet (in this case google.com), and get a response.  As a comparison my home network latency to google.com is 60ms on average, so latency is about 10x slower in-flight.   
  • Youtube works, but videos tend to lag (not a surprise given the network situation described above).
Thats it for now.  I'll update this blog should I have any more thoughts to pass along about in-flight wifi.

Cheers!

Give Like Santa, Save Like Scrooge

There are 25 shopping days until Christmas.  Any Canadian out there will tell you that one of the things that marks the coming Christmas season are the Santa and Scrooge Canadian Tire commericals.   Since I can't get those commericals in the US, here is an old commercial from 1984 to get any Canadian expats in the Christmas spirit:


Note:  For the non Canadians in my reading audience, Canadian Tire is an automotive/hardware store.  Its the first place many Canadians go to get automotive parts and service, tools & other hardware bits, gardening supplies, sports equipment, and other related items.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Batman Quilt

My wife started quilting last year and so far has made quite the collection of quilts for people.  When she asked me what I wanted in a quilt there was only one answer:  Batman!  So she got some Batman fabric and quilted me up a very nice quilt that is currently hanging in my cube at work, and like the real Batman, provides a vital and important service to the citizens of Gotham my work space.

You see, my cube backs onto the games area in our office space (every office has a games area, right?) and between the games area and my desk is a glass wall.

The glass wall has, from time to time, protected me from flying ping pong balls, but it does nothing in the way of providing privacy.  As it turns out, and completely unplanned, the Batman quilt fits the glass wall perfectly, and now I have Batman protecting me from the evils of flying plastic balls and providing a comforting sense of privacy.  Once again, Batman saves the day!

The quilt is awesome :)  It has gotten several gushing compliments from my co-workers, and I proudly attribute the work to my crafty wife. Thanks honey!

For more information on the making of the quilt, see my wifes entry in her blog here.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Football Fake Out

I am not a football fan by any stretch of the imagination, but this move from Driscoll Middle School football team is begging for some mad props.  Awesome fake out boys!


Saturday, November 27, 2010

Christmas Lights and Date Night

Today I started putting up some Christmas decorations.  For those who are interested in such things and cannot be around to see them, I am posting a few pics so you can see the start of the Christmasification of the house:

Debbie put some window stickers in the carport door.
Today I noticed the awesome projections onto the wall as the sun shone through the window.


I installed some Christmas lights on the front of the house.

Our house in the dark - all shiny and festive, just the way debbie likes it.
 This evening after Zeke went to bed we had a date night.  We ordered in some chinese food and played the Wii for a few hours.  This picture sums up the evening:

Dave wins because he gets to spend time with Debbie, whereas Debbie is
stuck with Dave.  Also Dave rocks at Wii Play.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving

It is Thanksgiving in America today.  Proving once again that Canada is ahead of the US (we celebrated ours last month, y'all).  In the spirit of the holiday these are some of the things I am thankful for, in no particular order:

  • Zeke... my cute little offspring.  He's awesome, especially for being a micro me.
  • My wife Debbie - she is the best thing that happened to me - I include in that list my hackintosh, and cake.
  • Cake!  Even though its a lie, it is a delicious lie.
  • That my wife and I was able to attend the Great Big Sea concert in Charlotte NC this year- getting to see Canadian music up close and personal again was a real treat for this expat.
  • Seeing Petra live - a childhood dream come true.
  • Cows, and the ability to cook them.
  • Being able to live near the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Life is  always better when you are near mountains.
  • Working for Google.  An amazing company that may actually care about the people that use its services more than it does about making money.  Plus we have a car that drives itself, and you don't, so neener neener.
  • Tilley hats
  • Leathermans
  • Bailey the wonder puppy
  • Battery powered sawz-alls
  • Billion dollar military satellites and the ability to use them to find tupperware in the woods.
  • The opportunity to have travelled to 13 countries so far, many of them with my wonderful wife.
  • That my wife has found new friends, and new hobbies, in our new home, and isn't hating me for dragging her to another country and away from her family.
  • Yo-yos.  They are still fun.
  • Eggnog... cause eggnog is awesome.
  • Turkey in bacon form.
  • Turkey not in bacon form.
  • bacon

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

One Day Till Turkey Day

It is just one day away from Thanksgiving: American Edition, or as I like to call it: "Yanksgiving".  In anticipation of the festive day of turkey consumption, here are a couple scenes from The West Wing to delight and amuse you:

First, President Bartlett pardons a turkey:


... And a (badly edited but still amusing) scene in which President Bartlett calls the Butterball hotline.



Happy Thanksgiving, and please enjoy turkey responsibly.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Two Days In Nashville

This weekend we packed up the car and spent two whirlwind days in Nashville Tennessee.  I went to attend a Petra reunion concert, my wife went for the adventure.  Zeke went because he had no choice.  The dogs stayed home. The details of the concert are covered elsewhere.  This post is about the adventure.

Is this a Parthenon I see before me?
We wanted to maximize our free time in Nashville so we woke up at 5am on Saturday morning, and was on the road 20 minutes later.  It is a 6 hour drive from my house to Nashville, so with a long breakfast stop to give Zeke time to stretch his little legs, we arrived at noon... er... 11?  It turns out Nashville is in the Central time zone, so when we arrived we discovered we had an extra hour to explore the city... which was awesome.

We started our Nashville experience by checking out Centennial Park.  The park contains the only full size replica of the greek Parthenon.  We spent a couple hours  exploring the rather huge structure, and the surrounding park.  Zeke loved playing in the leaves, and found the fountain to be a rather interesting spectacle.


After the park we headed downtown to check out the Country Music Hall Of Fame. When we arrived I pulled out my GPS to mark my parking spot and it was then that I realized that I was practically standing on a geocache, so we took a few moments to grab it.

After that we took a stroll down Broadway St. to find another cache at a Baptist church.  Zeke came in handy here as I used him as a distraction to grab the cache without being seen.  Zeke has a million house hold uses. I highly recommend picking one up for yourself.

Broadway St. had a lot of bars and music themed stores, and is exactly what I expected to see when I think of Nashville and its rich musical heritage.  We walked around the area for a couple more hours until it was time to head 20 miles east of town to Hendersonville to check into our hotel.  It was there that I left my wife and kid in the hotel room to catch the concert (note: a good time to mention that my wife is completely and totally awesome for letting me go to the concert by myself)

The next morning we headed out to do some more caching (I found 7 caches in total this trip), and we eventually made our way over to the Grand Ole Opry House.

We then stopped at a park to let Zeke get some more play time, and then we got in the car and headed back across the North Carolina line and arrived home just before 7pm on Sunday night.

Nashville is an interesting city.  I wish I could have spent some more time there and absorb some of the rich musical history and culture that the city seems to ooze from its core.   It is definitely a city I would be willing to visit again.

Before I finish this post and let you take a look at the rest of my Nashville photos, let me say that Zeke, being all of 13 months old, traveled amazingly well.  He spent most of the car ride sleeping or playing with his toys, and when we were walking around the city we barely heard from him.  He was an awesome travel companion.  Love that little guy I do.

OK enough gushing over the offspring.  As promised, the rest of the photos:




For another perspective on our trip (and much better photos) check out my wifes blog entry.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Petra - The Rock Cries Out

On Saturday I experienced one of my childhood dreams:  seeing Petra live.  It did not disappoint.

For anyone in my blog audience that is my age and grew up in a Christian home Petra needs no introduction.  For those of you who haven't, let me provide some background.

Petra is a Christian rock band that started in 1972, and played together for 33 years.  They were a ground breaking band, being one of the first true Christian rock bands. The have released 20 albums, won 7 Grammys and are the first Christian band to be inducted into the Hard Rock Cafe Hall Of Fame.  They have toured the globe, sold out arenas, and caused many a parent and pastor in the 70s and 80s grey hair as they tried to figure out if this rock music stuff had anything to do with Christianity (it does, thank you very much).

Petra was my favourite band while I was growing up, and I still listen to them frequently to this day.  I have dreamed of seeing them in concert ever since I knew rock concerts existed. The problem is that they retired before I got a chance to see them live, and I had come to terms that my collection of their songs (now on MP3) would be all I would get to experience of the band.  That all changed on Monday night when my wife informed me that Petra has regrouped, and is putting on a concert in Nashville on Saturday.  To put icing on the cake, the concert was free.  Despite being a 6 hour drive, and only 5 days away, I decided then and there that I was going to attend the concert. I couldn't let an opportunity like this pass me by.  It is too important.

You see, as a quasi "Preachers Kid", I was not allowed to listen to a lot of secular music when I was a kid.  Most of my parents music, and for that matter our church's worship style, bored me to tears (still does).   Don't get me wrong: my parents have a strong faith and they live it out daily, and I have nothing but respect for them - it is just that their preferred method of worship falls on the mind numbingly boring side of the scale.   When I was in grade 5 my parents started managing a Christian kids camp.  One of the counsellors left a Petra tape lying around the camp kitchen.  I popped it into my stereo and out came this awesome 80's style rock music.  Since it was Christian I was allowed to keep listening to it, and to my parents credit they bought me many Petra albums (as well as other Christian artists) as I grew up.

As I grew up and matured, and started to grow in my own faith, listening to Petra helped me realize that I could approach Christianity in my own way, and I didn't have to force myself into the boring mold that my parents modelled for me (again, nothing wrong with that mold, just didn't fit me that well).  I give Petra, in a large degree, credit for the strong faith I have now that fits me like a glove, doesn't compromise the Christian truth, and serves as a strong guidepost for my life.  So you can see how it would be important for me to go see these guys in person.

Really the only question was if my wife was going with me or not.  We didn't have a babysitter so she wasn't going to be able to see the concert, and she had a busy schedule on Saturday.  Luckily she was able to re-arrange her schedule so she was able to come with me, so at 5am on Saturday we loaded up the Zekester into the car and drove the 6 hours to Nashville Tennessee.  I'll blog about Nashville in a bit, and needless to say my wife is awesome for being willing to be left in a hotel near Nashville alone with a kid while I attended a rock concert (She's awesome!), but lets concentrate on the concert for now.

The concert was a taping of a live performance of their latest album.  The concert will be broadcast on TBN in 23 countries on New Years Day.  I had never been to a video recording session before, but it was pretty much as I expected.  Lots of cameras and cameramen,  some shuffling around of the crowd to ensure no empty seats in camera range, and then the band performed and everything was recorded.  There were some technical difficulties so they played the last 3 songs over again to ensure everything came off looking and sounding good.  From the perspective of a recording session it was an interesting experience.

The concert itself was fantastic.  The stage decorations was the exact same setup they used for their 1985 world tour.  The band sounded phenomenal - almost like the studio produced album does.  They definitely mugged for the camera at times, which is to be expected.  You could definitely tell that these guys knew what they were doing, believed in their ministry, and loved what they do.   It was an awesome performance, and everything I expected and dreamed of as a kid growing up.

 After the concert the members of Petra had an autograph session. I was able to shake the hands of every member of the band and thank them personally for their influence in my life.

 During this session they showed some of the footage they just filmed, and I am definitely in some of the crowd shots. Just as the cheering after the final song started to die down, I looked over to find one of the crowd cameras pointing point blank at my face - it was on a boom, and no more than 12 inches from me, so maybe I'll be world famous soon :)

I also got them to dedicate a copy of their latest album to Zeke.  I will give it to him when he is older in hopes that it will show him that he can approach his faith in his own way, just like Petra helped show me, and secretly, that he will become a rocker like his dad.


Friday, November 19, 2010

Downtown Christmas Tree Lights

"What is up with this chubby clown? 
He is WAY to jolly for my tastes.
Seriously, is this guy for real?"
"I'm getting coal!?!"
  This afternoon the kids in the area got together to decorate Christmas trees in downtown Lenoir.   Each group of kids had one tree to dress up, and they used themes from their various clubs and organizations.  For example, one theme was renewable energy, another was kids dreams, and one was technology.

The trees were, for the most part, fairly creative and interesting.  The town also booked Santa Claus to take pictures with the kids, and they provided free hot chocolate.

We took Zeke on a field trip to check out the scene, and to get a surprise visit with Santa.  This is the first time Zeke has had a chance to meet the jolly fat man from the far north, and I don't think he made a friend.  Maybe he will change his mind when he sees what is under the tree on the 25th.  It is never to early to buy a kids love.


Thursday, November 18, 2010

An Awesome Book

I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I just ordered my 1 year old son, Zeke, "An Awesome Book" for Christmas.  The message inside was just to important to pass up.  As long as you promise not to tell Zeke,  you can read the book for yourself:

 http://veryawesomeworld.com/awesomebook/inside.html

Never stop dreaming.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

'Tis The Season For Nog

I saw the most beautiful thing today.  It was my wife... standing next to a case of eggnog in the grocery store.  A sure sign that the holiday season is rapidly descending upon us, kinda like that feeling you get when you know that you are about to get a bad head cold and the inevitable sniffles and body aches are just around the corner.

One of the few bright spots of the pending holidays is the sweet elixir known as eggnog (another being short bread cookies)

So what is 'nog' anyway?  There are a couple theories on that.  Some believe that eggnog came over from Europe to America, but when it did they started using rum instead of wine.  As a result the name was egg'n'grog, which got shortened over the years to eggnog.   Another theory is that the nog is short form for noggin, which is a drink cup made from wood used in the old days to serve beverages during a meal.

Another interesting bit of trivia is that the french for eggnog is 'lait de poule', which directly translates into english as 'milk of the hen', or chicken milk.

Whatever the derivation, all I can be sure of is that I am looking forward to a couple months of enjoying the  sweet noggy elixir... with rum.  And that is a Good Thing(tm).

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Hiking the Boone Fork Trail

Back in July I was at a Sunday School picnic at Julian Price Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains when a friend told me about this awesome loop trail that started at the park.  Feeling adventurous, we went off to hike a small portion of this trail.  We didn't have time to do the whole thing, but the experienced served as a catalyst that sparked my interest in hiking.  I promised myself I would be back to hike the entire length of this trail.

Since this trail is fairly rugged and I had not hiked anything before, I decided to tackle some smaller trails in the area first, starting with the Price Lake Trail, and then the Green Knob Loop.  These trails proved to be good training for today's adventure.

Since winter is soon going to hit the mountains which would make hiking much more difficult, and I had an extra vacation day saved up, I decided it was about time I tackled this trail.  So I took the day off work, headed up into the mountains, and conquered the Boone Fork Trail.


View Boone Fork Trail in a larger map

Boone Fork Trail is by far the longest trail I've hiked, and the most rugged.  At 4.9 miles, it is 2x longer than the longest hike I have attempted so far.  This trail is also the most interesting trail I have been on, and seems to have a bit of everything that one expects from being in the Blue Ridge Mountains: close rhododendron forests, wide mountain meadows, creeks with waterfalls, rocky formations, and rugged, wild deciduous forests.

Starting at Julian Price Park, the first part of the trail is a dried up lake bed, which quickly leads to Boone Fork Creek. For the next mile or so it follows the creek, leading through rhododendron forests and arriving at an amazing ravine with small waterfalls.  This is where I ate lunch.  

The trail then heads up the ravine wall and starts to crisscross over Bee Tree Creek at least a dozen times.  Eventually this gives way to a beautiful high mountain meadow with a nice view of the back side of Grandfather Mountain.  After this it heads down hill into a camp ground area, and finally arrives back at Julian Price Park to complete the loop.  

I would highly recommend this trail to anyone who is looking to experience the Blue Ridge Mountains, but be warned it is not for the light hearted.  According to my GPS I spent 3:03 hours hiking the trail, including stops for pictures and lunch.  My moving time was 2:02, which means it takes about 2 hours to finish the trail without any stops.  I would highly recommend taking your time to enjoy the views - they are worth it.  

Lest We Forget

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.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
      While serving with the Canadian Armed Forces during WWI

Today Americans observe Veterans Day, a day to remember those that served and sacrificed in the U.S Armed Forces in defence of this great nation.

Today Canadians observe Remembrance Day to honour those that have served and died in the Canadian Armed Forces.  We do so by wearing poppies, and at 11AM observing a moment of silence for all who have sacrificed to keep our country the great and free nation that it is.

For all who have served in defence of both nations armed forces:  Thank you.  We shall never forget.



Wednesday, November 10, 2010

A Thinner Nerd

Three or so years ago I bought a t-shirt with a panel from the web comic XKCD. I ordered their largest size, a 3XL, but when I got it home, it was too small.  So for the last three years it has been lying in wait in my closet.  Today I was rummaging around and this t-shirt fell out onto the floor.  I decided to try it on, and low and behold, it fit!  Just some nice confirmation that all the walking, biking, and geocaching I have been doing are having a positive effect.

In case you are wondering, the t-shirt in question has this semi-obscure Unix joke on it...


... if you are a Unix geek you should get this right away (and have probably seen it many times before).

If you are not a Unix geek you are most likely thinking "I don't get it".  In that case it would be helpful to know that the command sudo is used to give a normal user elevated privileges.  It basically says "I may not look like it, but I really do have the rights to do this, so do it already!".  In all likelihood at this point your thoughts have now changed from "I don't get it" to "what a nerd!".

True! but a thinner nerd.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

The Rules Of The Road: A Plea for Sanity on North Carolina Roadways

Greetings fair North Carolinians.

  I have had the pleasure of living in western North Carolina for the past 25 months, and for the most part I have had a great time.  The landscape is beautiful, the culture has a lot of character, and the people are fantastically nice.  You are also, however, some of the worst drivers I have ever shared a road with.  Seriously, no joke, y'all are horrible behind the wheel.  This is coming from someone who has driven in Taiwan and Honduras.  You are not as crazy as Chinese and Honduran drivers, but you are more dangerous.  The difference?  In Taiwan you expect chaos and sudden changes from fellow drivers sharing the roads, and you learn to adapt.  In North America you expect order, that rules will be followed, and one should not expect chaos at every turn.  In North Carolina you get the worst of both these worlds.

  Don't fret, my North Carolinian friends! This post is a small refresher course that will help you remember some of the contents of the North Carolina New Drivers Handbook, and some friendly advice that will help correct some of the major (understatement) mistakes I've seen (frequently) while driving on your very fine roads.  Worry not! Sane driving can be a label used to describe you once again!

So, lets begin:

  • Signalling.  You may not be aware of this, but in your car there are little blinking lights at the front and back on both sides of the vehicle.  These are usually controlled by a little stick protruding from the left side of the steering column.  Go ahead, try it.  Move it up and down. Get used to the blinking sound.  Thrill at the shiny lights coming from the corners of your car.

    You will notice that if you move the stick up, the lights on the right side of the car will start to blink.  If you move it down, the left side will blink.  Those blinking lights are called turn signals. It is OK to use these signals.  Using them does not hurt them.  It does not cost extra money to use them.  They are not there for decoration. They are useful. Using them is good.  Good is, well, good.  Be good, for goodness sake.

    According to your state drivers license handbook you are required to use your turn signals every time you switch lanes.  Yep thats right! Every. Single. Time.  Turning left at the intersection?  Put on your left turn signal.  Turning right into Bojangles?  Use the right turn signal.  Merging into another lane? Signal! Heading onto an off-ramp? Signal!  Turning into a driveway? Signal.

    I think you get the point, but just to underline the general concept here, let me be clear:  Signalling IS A GOOD THING.  Do it!.
  • Speaking of merging into lanes, it is a grand idea to check your blind spots, as well as signalling, BEFORE you start the merge, and if there is a car already in the lane, STAY IN YOUR LANE!  I cannot stress this enough.  Physics states that two solid bodies cannot share the same physical space without a lot of crunching and screaming going on.  To be clear, crunching and screaming is bad.  Don't be bad.

    To underline the problem here, I have been driving for a while now, and on some of the busiest highways in the world.  The only time someone has tried to merge into my car was once outside Cincinnati Ohio, and 3 times on 321 going from Lenoir to Hickory.  This is not a good ratio for y'all.
  • When you are turning you should always turn into the closest lane and then move over to other lanes as required (see the next point).  Yep, one should not switch lanes in the middle of the intersection.  That often leads to the violations of physical space mentioned above, and that violation is still bad.
  • Lastly, and this is indeed a plea for sanity, when you are driving down multi lane highways you may see signs that say "Slow traffic keep right".  What this should indicate to you is that slow traffic should keep right.  I know its a stretch, but if you read it a few times you can get the general gist of the signs message.  This means that if you are not actually passing another car, you should be in the right lane.  If you are in the left lane and someone comes up behind you, flashing his lights, and swearing loudly at you, you are in the wrong lane.  This is your queue to signal and merge into the next closest lane to the right (and repeat if there are three or more lanes).  To be clear, it is NOT ok to go 10 mph below the speed limit and camp out in the left lane.  No one likes a slow camper. 
Please remember that I love you, North Carolina.  You are some of the most fantastic people I have ever met.  You just have some issues when it comes to operating motor vehicles in a sane manner, bless your hearts.  Hopefully you will read this post and see it as a gently reminder to obey those rules of the road and become a safer driver.  Also hopefully you are not driving when you read this :)

Just to show there are no hard feelings, here is a funny picture of a cat for your amusement:


Be safe out there!

Derek Edwards

Canadian comedians are some of the best comics in the world.  Every year Montreal Quebec hosts the Just For Laughs festival -a show case of the worlds best comedians.  One of the funniest people I've seen from Just For Laughs is a comedian from Timmins Ontario, by the name of Derek Edwards.  So without further ado, I give you his comedic stylings, straight from Montreal Quebec:


Monday, November 08, 2010

The Problem Of Why

Note: Shamelessly stole this video from a  co-worker and reposting?  Why you ask?  Interesting question...

This video is the famous scientist Richard Feynman explaining the difficulty of answering why questions to people who don't share your own frame of reference (and as it happens, what the force of magnetism is).  If you ever have to face the "why" flood from a two year old, this may help bring some perspective.

Friday, November 05, 2010

A Tale Of Archaeology

After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year, New York
archeologists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and
came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone
network more than 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followed, a
California archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet, and shortly
after, a story in the LA Times read: "California archaeologists,
finding traces of 200 year old copper wire, have concluded that
their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications
network a hundred years earlier than the New Yorkers."

One week later, The Jersey Journal, a local newspaper in Jersey
City , New Jersey , reported the following:

"After digging as deep as 30 feet in his back yard, Vinny 'The
Salami' Manziano, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he
found absolutely nothing. Vinny has therefore concluded that 300
years ago, New Jersey had already gone wireless."

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Mr. Sulu Talks Some Smack

George Takei, AKA Mr. Sulu from the original Star Trek, takes issue with hate mongers.  Regardless of your views on gay issues, you have to admit that this is a pretty good way to respond to incredibly inappropriate comments made to kids by adults.

You go George.  Good for you.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Rick Mercer's "Talking To Americans"

Rick Mercer is a Canadian comedy newscaster, in a similar manner as Jon Stewart in the US.  In the year 2000 he put out this special that plays off the (mostly true) premise that Americans know very little about Canada.

The video quality is sub par, but the audio is good.  So for all you Canadians out there... I give you Rick Mercer: