Friday, August 31, 2007

We Should Try And Meet The Farmers Half-Way

Today's article warns of an impending cost-of-meat increase. This is a result of two things:
  1. More people on the Earth means more people eating meat. Demand is rising. When demand increases, so does price.

  2. Meat giving animals (such as cows and pigs) need to eat grain. The price of grain is increasing because oil prices are increasing.
The first thing I think about is cutting back on meat consumption. I'm not sure what the effects on my health would be. I'm not a dietician, nor do I play one on TV. So I don't really know what I'm talking about. But it seems to be that the people who have researched it come back saying that we should eat less meat, not more. Same thing with milk. It seems that anyone who's research of milk has gone beyond "mom/teacher/the Dairy Council told me" has switched to Soy milk.

People who continue to eat meat, despite what they're told by the educated vegetarians usually have a line of reasoning similar to:
  1. I like meat too much to try any alternatives.

So, every now and again I think about becoming a vegetarian. I've had tofu-dogs where I couldn't tell the difference. If all meat alternatives were like that I probably would switch. But then a few weeks ago the McQueens had a BBQ and they got vegeburgers. I tried one.

YUCK!

I could barely finish it. There goes my notions of vegetarianism.

Mind you, there are various kinds of vegetarians. I used to go with a friend to KFC every week for about a year. Then one time we were at a BBQ together and I noticed she wasn't eating anything. I asked why not. She told me she was a vegetarian.

So I was all like "What, there's no meat in KFC "chicken"?"

She said "It's not that. I just don't eat red meat."

If anything I could give up chicken. But I like red meat. It goes with red wine.

But giving up chicken doesn't solve today's problem. In fact it would place heavier demand on cows and pigs. A good alternative is fish.

I could not give up fish. Especially in the form of sushi. Fish has the advantage that it lives in an area that we can't really use for much else (unlike fields). And there's lots of that environment around. Most of the earth is that environment. Fish also eat stuff that we won't use for much else. So until more carbon dioxide leaves the ocean, killing ocean plant-life, starving, and thus killing, fish, it's a pretty good source of meat.

Fish is supposed to be good brain food. Maybe if I ate more fish I could make more sense out of the meat/vegetarian and milk/soy milk arguments and cut through the rhetoric and figure out the truth.

Besides, I like fish too much to try any alternatives.

Monday, August 27, 2007

My First French Post

Note:This blog post will be in all French. In the spirit of the Official Languages Act I will provide the English translation at the bottom.

Here goes nuthin'...


La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la


English Translation:
The the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

I'm An Artist Too (31)



I drew the woman because I saw the picture on a web page and I wanted to know if I could draw it.

A few weeks after that I added the stink-lines coming from her armpits.

I added the guy a few weeks later, and the text a few weeks later still.

He's saying "Ewww! Being a deodorant tester really stinks!"

Monday, August 20, 2007

The Unofficial Jay-Walking Rules

The Law has lots to say about how to behave on, and around public roads. I'm going to give the unofficial jaw-walking rules in today's post.

If you cross the roads at a cross-walk, then you must obey the law of the land. The pedestrian has the right of way except when facing a red light. There are many particulars to this law, which I'm sure many of you are aware. I won't go into them here except to say that it's motorists who are responsible for looking out for pedestrians.

When jay-walking, it's the opposite. It's the motor vehicles that have the right of way. The pedestrians have to watch out for them. Now, with jay-walking being illegal I have never done it, and I wouldn't know the thrills and chills that come with it. But I have friends who have friends...

Now, these friends of friends tell me that when they jay-walk, they look both ways, take a mental note of all cars, and their current speeds. Then they calculate how fast they need to walk, and what path to take to ensure their safety. Their path is calculated based on the current speeds of the cars under the assumption that they will continue to go that speed. Nothing is more frustrating than a "nice" car who slows down for the jay-walkers. This causes the jay-walkers to have to perform last millisecond recalculations and adjust their paths. There is always the possibility that there will be no good, safe way to cross, and by this point it may be too late to safely turn back.

Now, they know this car is just trying to be helpful, and provide an extra measure of safety, but if any car is going to be responsible for the death of the pedestrian, it's the "nice" car.

The best thing for drivers, upon spotting a jay-walker, to do is to keep going as you were before. Keep going your current speed, or accelerate at a normal rate.

The friends of my friends thank you for your consideration.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

I'm An Artist Too (30)

A picture of a concert which was inspired while I was listening to a Natalie McMaster jig on my iPod.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Gotta Learn Me Some French

I am from Nova Scotia. I am a product of the Nova Scotian educational system. Like any educational system it has it's strengths and weaknesses. One of it's strengths is, I think, math. It seems to have done a good job of teaching that.

One of it's many weaknesses is French. They are absolutely terrible at teaching French. As a result most Nova Scotians, unless they're from Acadia, don't speak French. And since no one around speaks it, that which people learnt in school quickly gets lost. Use it or lose it. Well, none of us uses it, so we all lose it.

Now I work in Quebec. I still work close to the Ontario border. I live in Ontario. I recently got a new job which put me even further into Quebec than before. That extra 15 minute bus ride shows quite a difference in the populace.

Nearly everyone in Hull speaks very good English. Especially those in customer service. But just 15 minutes away into Gatineau and that changes. Sometimes ordering food at a fast-food restaurant at the local food court is hard. The customer service agent will have a very thick accent, and you can tell they're having trouble understanding English.

I work beside a big mall now. It's not very exciting for me. It's mostly shoe stores. However, there is a cool bookstore in there. It's bigger than Coles, but smaller than Chapters. It has games in there, and a big comic book section.

One problem: 99.9% of the books in there are French. I'm the sort of person that can spend hours in a good bookstore. This bookstore is one of the few stores around here that interests me, but I don't understand anything in it! How frustrating! The store draws me to itself. But when I get there I find myself to be illiterate.

Sometimes I wonder how the French customer service agents would take to my French. Usually when I speak French, French people start speaking to me in English. I figure my accent either makes their day by giving them something to heartily laugh at, or my bad accent insults them, their language, their culture, their homeland, their parents, their ancestors, and their gods.

So, kids, stay in school. Learn French. Watch the French channel! Eat French Fries! Read a French book!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Sucks to be the German RIAA

Today we have two articles. Both deal with Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing.

A judge finally got it right. Unfortunately, the judge is in Germany. Actually, it is more than one judge. It seems a few judges in Germany consider "Offering a few copyright-protected music tracks via a P2P network client was 'a petty offense.'"

Compare that with this judges order ruling, among other things, that the "defendant was required to provide the name and address of each person who used his computer during the three years prior to commencement of the lawsuit."

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

I'm An Artist Too (29)

Poor guy is about to get it in the back of the head. Probably from playing his music too loud.

Monday, August 06, 2007

It's Finally Here

I have been waiting so long and its finally here. I have worked so hard to get this. Harder than anything else I've ever done. And, now I have it in my hands.

I am talking, of course, about my university degree. It's a Bachelor of Science with a major in Computer Science. I, indeed, did graduate Cum laude.

But wait! There's one more thing.

I also receievd a $50 cheque that came with the Award of Excellence in Computer Science (Bachelor of Science), which I also received. I believe that means I graduated at the top of my class.

And now I work for the government.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

I'm An Artist Too (28)


In case you can't read what they're saying, the parson is saying "Till death do you part?" And the bride is answering "I do!"