Here and Now on CBC Radio 1 is celebrating the end of Asian Heritage Month by broadcasting live from Pacific Mall May 31st from 3 to 6PM.
Monthly Archive for May, 2007
2008 Political Futures — Slate As of today, $9.90 will win you $100 if you bet on Al Gore winning the 2008 Presidential Election. By contracts, it will take a $51.10 bet on Hilary Clinton and her winning to get you $100. Crazy odds on Gore, considering he isn’t even running.
Many years ago, my very first foray into corporate life was a small stint at a start up partnership with Simo. We got into it because of the growing landscaping craze sweeping the country. Wanting to enter the market with a name you could warm up to an trust, we ultimately settled on one that gave a sense of our personal touch: Two Guys Named Ed.
It was the perfect set up. Simo was Vice President of Marketing (Ed One), and I provided manual labour (Ed Two). We made $40 that summer. And Simo made awesome posters. Our venture roadmap was strategized from the beginning - start with lawns, work up to landscaping, renovations, retrofits, and turn organization into a media empire with related shows on every station.
Now as I flip through the channel, seeing program after program of home improvement shows, I know we were on the tip of something huge. TGNE was ready to make it big! Too bad we blew all our revenue on comic books.
You’re welcome Debbie Travis!
I went out to Doors Open Toronto today. The CBC museum is so much fun! Saw Mr. Dressup’s treehouse, as well as the muppets from the Canadian version of Sesame Street!
Simon and I spent Saturday figuring out how to make beef jerky. It’s so good going down. (That’s what she said)
Wired 9/2001: The Geek Syndrome Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger’s syndrome - is surging among the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame?
So I didn’t have to scour through the City of Toronto listings for phone numbers. They already made these nifty infographics! See links for original PDFs: in the community and in the home.
CBC.CA - Seven Wonders of Canada - The Nominees I’m calling Montreal Bagels all the say! Where’s poutine on this list?
Why do people talk about protecting the environment? It’s easy these days to be labelled as ‘green’, but what are these people’s motivations? The ideology of the eco-conscious person I think falls within two central ideas and a qualifier:
* The planet provides us with finite resources
* Mankind co-exists in a delicate balance with nature and each other
* The consequences of human existence and consumption will have irreversible effects
As far as I see it, environmentalism intends to mitigate and minimize the consequences of our consumption and waste. It’s a worthy goal but a tough sell.
The problem lies with a planet that is just too darned big. We have enough smarts and resources on this planet to consume to our hearts desire in the short term. It’s too hard to determine whether we’ve hit peak oil though it certainly will not last forever. But by the time we run out arable land, trees to turn into paper, diamond rings, or the icebergs have all melted, we’ll probably all be dead.
Forecast fare enough into the future and surely we’re either a dying civilization or we’ve long since abandoned our planet for life in a nearby solar system. The limits of physics prevent us from blasting off 7 billion people to a destination thousands of years of space travel away - so I’m not holding my breath.
So what’s to do? Well, it all really depends on how far in the future you’re comfortable looking. 10 minutes? Take that SUV over to Wal-Mart and pick up that $40 microwave. 25 years? It will be worth recycling those newspapers piled up in your basement. 50 years? You might want to start using compact fluorescents so your kids can inherit a house that isn’t underwater. 200 years? 1000 years? You probably want God-like powers so that you can wipe out 90% of the population today and have the rest start over with a new blueprint of progress. Come on, you’ve played Sid Meier.
I think environmentalism means to think about our relation to the Earth 50-100 years from now. That’s only our grandkids away, and it’s pretty tough to not feel responsible for the world we’re going to leave them.
This is so big that nothing short of a complete call to action will ever save us. And since my neighbour isn’t rising up anything I do is futile. I might as well put hide my head under my pillow and wait for aliens to come and conquer Earth.
Daily Film Dose: The Long Take A YouTube collection of the best long takes in movies. These clips are so easy to love.
You never know until you find it, but I can now claim I have the greatest link on the internet.
It’s been 52 weeks since I’ve graduated from university. I think I’m due for some reflection and I probably really need to take the step back and gain some perspective of what’s changed in the last year.
1. I’m debt free!
The biggest personal change is having an income means that I am no longer a big ball of debt. Along the way I’ve paid for 40% of my car, paid off every penny of my student debt, and actually have some money in a savings account for once in my life!
It’s a great feeling to be financially liberated, and it was my first goal when I graduated. Of course, now that I have money to spend on stuff, I can definately see myself tying it all up in a mortgage or something silly like that.
2. Disconnected from popular culture
When you’re in college you have a lot of free time. Just look at the popularity of Facebook. I definately spent a lot of time experimenting with new music and movies, maybe even read about new art exhibits. It’s quite a shock, no longer being so carefree. And it means that the spending a couple hours in the DC library cruising shared music libraries just isn’t an option anymore. I’ve added about 10 new tracks to my music libary - and they’re all top 40 hits I happened to like.
When I can’t deny I love all things Justin Timberlake, I think I’ve lost any cool cred I might ever had.
3. I can buy nice stuff
Since graduation, I bought lots of stuff that was purely to indulge my self. My first two new suits. Dress shirts that fit and ties that match. My prized Nintendo Wii and a semi-decent camera. It’s also pretty gratifying that my car and all it’s related costs have come out of my own pocket.
4. Ten hours a day sitting on asphalt instead of on a patio
There’s no hesitation in this criticism of working life. Driving to work really sucks. It’s bad enough that I have to fight traffic for two hours a day, but throw in bad drivers, fun winter driving, construction, and the mental image of tonnes of that earth friendly CO2 spewed forth and it’s enough to make Chris something something.
I literally threw up my hands as I was stuck going ZERO kph on the $7 per trip 407 drive listening to CBC Radio interview Torontonians enjoying the first patio afternoon of the year. SERIOUSLY! It is so far from ideal I actually don’t have anything positive to say about it.
5. I’m thinking about retirement
Yes, I’m in my mid twenties and this year I’ve contributed more than the average Canadian to my retirement savings plan. It’s probably pretty extreme to be saving so agressively, especially when retirement is a long long aways. And when that money can be a downpayment on some real estate or something. Using my RRSP for home ownership aside, pouring money into my retirement just felt like the right thing to do.
6. More books I don’t find the time to read
In school I had a stack of books which I really wanted to read but never got around to. That hasn’t changed, and I haven’t read any of those books. But of course the stack is much taller. The big difference is I’m no longer stealing books from my family’s collection but buying my own books. Two books that I really hope I read soon: Getting Things Done and The Life and Death of Great American Cities.
7. The Itch to Learn
It’s unlikely I can stress enough that I enjoy learning new things and demand that I’m challenged personally. And I’m lucky to have that environment at work. Of course every single detail about how my company operates can only lead to so much personal gratification. I’ve already picked up some books on some businessy stuff I’d like to learn - now to find the time to go through it…
8. I can afford to be generous
Now when someone approaches me and asks if I’d like to support some campaign or initiative, I don’t have to weigh altruism against buying food. I’ve actually been able to account for in my budget donations and contributions to a number of causes. Now that the numbers have come in and I can see that I can really afford to redistribute some of my worth I plan to take a myriad of approaches to charitable giving - investing in eco-tech companies that need a helping start, buying offset credits and some direct contributions to social programs.
It’s tough to swallow that these choices have some truly awful returns on investment but I think you have to bite the bullet somewhere.
9. My blogging has taken a hit
Yes yes, we’re 135 days in 2007 and I’m at “Personal Blog Post 11″. That’s a ways away from my stated goal of 100 within the year, in fact I should have about 26 more posts that I have so far. In my last 14 months as an undergraduate student, I got through about 580 posts on slc.com and 474 posts on bennymoto.com. In contrast, in the 12 months since graduation, I’ve managed 146 posts on bennymoto.com.
It’s too bad I never really found that niche I could have run with and made blogging a profitable endeavour.
10. The food tastes so much better
I don’t think anyone who’s eaten on a student’s budget _really_ needs this one explained. But eating on a combined lazy effort, low creativity, ill-equiped kitchen and downmarket finances does not a good meal make. I may be eating out more or spending a heck of a lot to buy those fancy (read not cheddar) cheeses, but man oh man you cannot convince me it is not worth every single penny.
11. Mo money, mo problems
Biggie _was_ right. The above 10 things are all about more money, less time. When I say I miss those university days, I really miss being able to take a few days in a row, staying up until 3AM reading comic books and magazines. Those will always be the days.
I’m trying not to let the pressure get to me. I have a few vacation days coming up for me to chill out at home, catch up on some reading and shoot some hoops on the driveway. And I’ll savour every moment of it.
TheStar.com - News - Thin people may be fat inside People who remain thin through diet rather than exercise could have internal fat deposits that are just as dangerous as visible fat deposits.
A threadless t-shirt, by Graham Shephard
Statcan The Daily - Follow-up Survey of Graduates Of all graduates from a Canadian college or university in 2000, 56% had no debt from government student loan programs while 44% owed money to such programs. It is among this latter group that two out of five graduates had completely paid off their debt in 2005.
@UW | News for the University of Waterloo community Tim Alamenciak, a former editor for UW’s student newpaper, has started a blog for the UW community. Good luck Tim, you’re a brave, brave man.
It was a good weekend for comic books. Saturday was the annual Free Comic Book day, a day where comic book geeks try to share their love with those other people who don’t understand us. Friday of course was the opening of Spiderman 3, the latest chapter in the Spiderman movie epic. I may be losing my comic book cred because it’s been 3 whole days and I still haven’t seen the movie, but I’m pretty certain it’s going to blow my mind.
Yadda yadda, the movie will be a thrill ride and all that. But all the real fun happens with all the silly tie-in merchandise they’re selling. I think we peaked out with the giant Hulk fists (with Hulk Smash sound effects) from a few years ago, but Spidey steps in with some mighty fine useless consumer goods I think we can all enjoy!
First up we got the obligatory Spiderman action figures. Yeah, you could buy all the Spidey versus packs with Spiderman with some sort of web shooting or kicking action and a villian from the movies. But I think they’ve really captured a special Spiderman moment with Peter tearing off the alien symbiote suit. It’s too bad this one doesn’t come with a church bell accessory.
We need to start off the next generation with Spidey-love at a tender age. That’s why we’ve made Spiderman a cute as a button and ready to prevent crime with love, rainbows and lollipops. With kids having a role model like like him I think the world just might be a better place.
So my friends think I’m weird that i like to put on a Spiderman mask, run around and shoot silly string at walls. To them I say, “Dude! Don’t make me flip my mask inside out and be evil alien symbiote Spiderman! Just chill a’ight?”
Yes, that is Mr. Potato Head, and oh yes oh yes he’s dressed up like Spiderman. I’m not quite sure what else to add, because I’m still in awe in what I consider the apex of cross-promotional delight. This is the pefect piece to round out your desk at work people. Buy it!
Ok, so the electronic dog that plugs into your iPod and barks and shakes his head to the music _might_ sound like an idiotic idea. That is until the dog is dressed up as alien symbiote Spiderman, and you’ve seen it in action. “Look! The dog dances to the music! Holy peanuts! He lights up!” I’m telling you, prepare yourself for a life changing experience.
The best part about these products is how little many of them actually have to do with Spiderman. And yet I think I’ve been brainwashed to the point where you can slap a Spiderman mask on just about anything and I’ll want it.
And yet, there’s just something… about this product that elicits a certain sense of civic duty. I might want to buy a Spiderman mask so that I can pretend to be Spiderman. But I _must_ buy Operation: Spiderman because I need to save him! Sometimes I wish that the bad guys would just leave him alone! He’s just a kid trying to help out his fellow man!
And after I save Spidey, and he lives to fight another day, please don’t thank me. I did what I had to do. With great power comes great responsibility.
Also: Dude, what happened to your penis Spidey? Does it hurt?