Jan. 22, 2006 Sunday

    If you caught any of CTV's Degrassi this past season, you'd have seen an attractive girl encouraging a rough boy to attend Christian prayer gatherings.  You have to wonder if she'd seen this website concerning "Dating to Save".
==

    I drove back from Regina this evening in perfect weather.  It seems a trip to Regina and back to Melville costs a bit over $34 in fuel, and would be $44 on the bus.  After I factor in parking worries, registration, oil changes, minor repairs, and window scraping, the bus comes out tied or ahead.
==

    What does it say about me when my creation is featured on TotallyStupid.com?  It says that I'm Totally Awesome! :-)
==

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Jan. 21, 2006 Saturday

    CBC reports that Peter MacKay made a sexist/ageist, or knittingist crack at former NDP leader Alexa's expense, on the radio.  I'm not one to groan at bad puns, but a writer slipped a bad one into the report: "It's not the first time the two have needled each other during an election campaign."  Groan!  Maybe I'll respect is as a pun in the morning.
==

    A large, but mostly funny Shockwave Flash animation featuring characters from the UofR Computer Science Student Society [2.6MB].  Plenty of inside jokes, but I think it's funny even if you don't know the people.
==

    Canada Post censored the The Sex Party.  This new B.C. party hasn't registered nationally yet, but say they plan to candidates in the next federal election, and hope to introduce more sexual education into schools, and remove restrictive laws regarding harmless nudity.
==

    I had gone to Regina to see Underworld II but the theatre was sold out.  Before my friends and I drove over to Galaxy to drive around for 5 minutes looking for parking, we watched "Underworld" [5/10] on DVD, and were largely unimpressed with this vampires and werewolves movie.

Jan. 20, 2006 Friday

    I voted last Monday, this election is over for me.  Well, it's over until the nightmare starts this coming Tuesday when we all wake up from the campaign hangover and think, "What the heck was that??  Oh Gosh!  WE DID NOT JUST ELECT STEPHEN HARPER, DID WE?? ICK!"  If things turn into a Conservative majority, and at this point it appears anything could happen, then Canadians might just be kicking themselves in five years, or even less time.  What's that?  You say Harper will set elections every four years?  I'll believe it when I see it happen.
- Link to The Star from Leet Hacker

    I went canvassing for the Green Party today.  I picked up some brochures yesterday after the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce all-candidates forum, and dropped off 50 to 100 of them in people's mailboxes.  I talked with a few people, one who wasn't interested in the brochure at first, but when I went to the next duplex, he changed his mind and said he'd like one so he could discuss it over coffee with other people.  Toward the end of my hour+ long walk in the neighbourhood, I met a former social studies teacher who greeted me more enthusasticly than any other adults I met outside, and we talked for 10 minutes.  He recommended several books on Canada's economy and integration with the USA, by Mel Hurtig.  He also mentioned that Garry B. the Conservative candidate would hold an annual agriculture conference, but this year three days before it was to be held in January, an announcement on the radio said it had been cancelled due to the election!  Oh my, you wouldn't want farmers to have a public voice during an election campaign, now would you?  Especially if you're Garry B., and have done nothing for farmers while in office, you wouldn't want that getting out in the open.  But he has enough backup material like slagging gay rights, and gun control, to keep the farm vote in line.  I can't blame him for being against gun control, nearly everyone in Saskatchewan who hasn't ever been shot, is against it.  But to turn gay rights into the number one issue for Yorkton-Melville is beyond stupid, and passes into the realm of vote grabbing irresponsibility.
==

    Last night I played Sopwith 3, a game written back in 1984, and I played the updated version over the Internet with a friend in Regina.  We were dogfighting on the net with a 22 year old game.
==

    I'm going to revise my Canadian election prediction I made back in November:
Saskboy's 2006 Weekend before the vote, election predictions:

Conservatives 121
Liberals 112
Bloc 66
NDP 8
Independent 1
Green 0 [with a popular vote of 5%]
CPC 0
MLP 0
CHP 0
CAP 0

Voter turnout:
62% of elligible voters will cast a ballot.

Analysis:
    The corruption riddled Liberals were no match for the corruption seeking Conservatives.  The Bloc dominated in Quebec, while the NDP put on a strong show, but came up short for the players required for the MP softball league.  Because Canadians figured that they either had to stop the Liberals, or stop the Conservatives from coming to power by voting Conservative and Liberal [oh there's some "strategic and logical" voting for you], the NDP and Greens suffered by maintaining their popular vote, yet losing seats overall.
==

    S. Bulte sided with CRIA back in 2004.  What do you think she's going to to Canada's Copyright Act if she gets into power?  Apparently she's not too happy about professor Geist pointing out her funding ties to the CIRA and other savage copyright dependent organizations.

Permalink

Jan. 19, 2006 Thursday

    Ah, it's the weekend!  What's that you say, it's not?  Oh, I have Friday off because I work extra hours through the rest of the month.
 
   Tonight I'm going to the all-candidates forum here in Yorkton, and will be mighty impressed with my Green candidate, or so I've heard.

    Well I'm back from the forum, and Keith Neu the Green Party candidate was the most impressive, even looking past my bias.  [I bet that delay between me saying I was going, and being back seemed fast, but that's the Internet for you.]  I introduced myself to Keith, who's a 47 year old organic farmer near Hudson's Bay, SK, and we mingled with some of the people who came up to congratulate Keith, and also a few of the Liberal supporters.  I said hello to my NDP chums who I met at Garry B.'s pool night, but Jason Dennison and his people were intently talking after the forum, possibly in damage control mode.  I got to talk a little with some of the NDP supporters before the event though, while I watched CTV and Access Cable set up their TV cameras and sound equipment.  The forum interviews are supposed to be on the evening news here on CTV in Yorkton at 6pm Friday.  I want to see it, but I'll have to VCR it.  I caught some coverage on CTV at noon, but only the interviews with Jason and Garry, sniping over the NDP's attack brochure which highlighted Garry's use of his MP budget for an election time "MP" mail out, and other expenses that seem high for someone who's supposedly in favour of government accountability.

    Jason Dennison of the NDP didn't put on an impressive performance, at times repeating himself nervously in different wording, and saying the same thing twice repeating himself in a non-confident fashion, until he'd said the same thing three times repetitively yet using different words sometimes. He also used a lot of awkward body motions to indicate he was talking about Garry, who was sitting directly beside him, and was speaking in one line broken paragraphs that weren't fleshed out with verbs.  By comparison, Keith was to the point in his statements, and comfortable in what was only his second public forum in his new political life.  He was the only candidate without a tie, which was a bold move for a Chamber of Commerce event, but was a dress code near and dear to my heart.  Carl the Independent Western Separatist was interesting, but clearly homophobic like Garry, because at one point tried he tried to appeal to that kind of voter.  He certainly would pick up more votes if more people had attended.  As it was, there were probably 50 people in the crowd.  Merv Cushman the Liberal, is obviously a capable businessman, with interesting views on criminal punishment.  He said, "There's nothing wrong with oatmeal.  And we have vitamin supplements too," in reference to his preferred diet for convicted criminals.  He also thinks that the Youth Criminal Justice Act is flawed, and convicts of all sorts should have their picture published in public areas where they broke the law that sent them to jail.  Then they'd serve as a warning to others, that criminals are out of sight, but they are still alive and not enjoying their hard time.
 
     The issue of smoking was posed as a question from the audience, and it provoked a result that was remarkable.  They were asking if the federal government would level the playing field when it comes to First Nation casinos [like the Painted Hand Casino in Yorkton] which can somehow permit smoking because they claim to be under federal and not provincial health jurisdiction.  Candidate after candidate spoke out against smoking, and said it was time for the government to stop smoking in all public places since smoking areas are a joke and don't work.  Keith had the most entertaining and provocative answer saying first that smoking should be banned, with a phase out period of several years where the government would assist addicts with quitting it.  Some of his friends "can't quit" because they don't have the help they need to do it.  "You should have to go to a hospital to get your fix," and for our kids sake we need to block easy access to smoking which is as bad as heroin.  That was the gist of his remarks, and he also mentioned he was a former smoker.

    In the crowd milling around the cookies and tea after the closing speeches, an older man in a beret came up to Keith and I, and showed Keith his question which he said the Chamber wouldn't put to the panel of candidates.  I caught that it had something to do with Quebec equity, so I offered to put it on my weblog, before reading the question.  Had I read his question and heard him discuss why he asked it first, I'd probably not have offered, but here it is, as a promise is a promise, and I can address his question how I think it should be.

"To all candidates,
    It appears there are 3 power groups in Canada - The French in Quebec. The First Nations throughout Canada and of course the rest of the populous - What do you see as the future of this struggle and is there an equity in the struggle? In particular financial equity." The question's writer wished to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons after I talked to him for a minute.  He's of the opinion that Tony Merchant in Regina, the lawyer who's got "over $40 Million" for the First Nations people abused in Residential Schools, "doesn't know anything" about what went on in the schools.  "Everyone knew who was abusing who," according to the older anonymous man.  He'd worked in the system in some capacity, and I'd have to say that if he knew what was going on, then he missed his chance to speak out about it many decades ago, while the abuse was happening.  His view of things though is that the settlements being handed out today, come with no input from the people who worked in the school system, even though he's offered to tell his side of the story.  No one wants to hear from him, he says.

    The one thing I will agree with him on, is that the people who did the actual abusing hold the most blame, and should be paying reparations, but where our views differ greatly is that the system is to blame as well.  If "everyone knew" about the abuse, then the system is guilty of letting it happen when it had the power to put an end to the degrading and sexual abuse experienced by First Nations children who were stripped from their families and put into schools in an attempt to "integrate" them into Canadian society.  I think Canadians should remember the residential schools as a lesson of what can go wrong when we place a higher importance on "integrating" children than keeping children in a loving home with their family and community around them.

    My question went unasked in the forum too, although I handed it in later than some people, and even though it was an economic question it's not really on the radar of the oldest [by population] riding in the country. "In regard to the Heritage Canada proposed amendment to the Copyright Act, what would your party do to stand up to Movie and Music lobby groups?"

    I couldn't help but laugh when Jason of the NDP started talking about how the Conservatives would sell the rail lines to the USA.  I didn't laugh as loud as the Conservative hecklers in the crowd did when another time Jason said something about Garry that no one else seemed to find funny, but about 15 people did.  You see, the SK NDP stood idle while CPR plundered the rail line through my home town several years ago, to sell Canada's most environmentally friendly transportation infrastructure to the USA in order for them to make millions off of our tax dollar investments that had at one time improved access to rural Canada.  Now that the rail line is gone, Wood Mountain is having a harder time bringing a large, interested mining company to the area which would boost employment opportunities and provide a way for many people of my generation to find employment near their families if they so choose.  The NDP are no friend of business in rural Saskatchewan.  As an organic farmer, Keith Neu knows this.  As a self described small business person, Jason who was complaining about government loans, should know this about his party too.
==

    My last 100 website readers were using the following web browsers:

38% Firefox of various versions
7% Safari Mac
7% Netscape Mozilla
4% Mozilla Suite
1% Opera
___
57% Alternative [Secure browsers]

vs.

43% IE Microsoft

Percent	Browser Name	Version
42.00%	MSIE	6.0
22.00%	Firefox	1.5
8.00%	Firefox	1.0.7
7.00%	Safari	1.2
7.00%	Netscape	7.1
4.00%	Firefox	1.0.6
4.00%	Mozilla	5.0
2.00%	Firefox	1.0
2.00%	Firefox	1.0.4
1.00%	Opera	9.0
1.00%	MSIE	5.23

    I wish my visitors were an accurate sample of the web, but the official Firefox standings are closer to 11% of web surfers.  My site stats are biased because I have a lot of Slashdot.org readers, and in the past day a lot of people from Livejournal who apparently use mostly Firefox.  If you're not using Firefox as your primary web browser, please get started today.  It works perfectly with over 99% of the websites out there, and the ones that it doesn't work correctly with, you can still use Microsoft's Internet Exploder which comes pre-installed on your Windows computer conveniently waiting for you to visit an attacker's website so they can take control of your computer.

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Jan. 18, 2006 Wednesday

    Ah laundry, nature's most hated chore.  I finally figured out what makes my jacket cuffs so dirty after a winter.  It's not that I drag them on the floor, but boxes and computer stuff that I carry around seems to have a lot of dark dust on it that gets on my cuffs and sleeves.  I'm not a slob, I just look that way sometimes.
==

    "A Knock On The Door" the fifth estate had a frightening account of a botched Toronto Police investigation, where an otherwise normally healthy person was declared to have killed himself under suspicious circumstances.
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Jan. 17, 2006 Tuesday

    Canada's Greatest Mascot is without a doubt Gainer the Gopher, of the Saskatchewan Roughrider CFL team.  He's so popular, that the Riders invited Gainer's cousin, Leonard, to the football games so fans on each side of the football stadium would have their own gopher to amuse them.
    Whether he's biking around the field, urging the crowd to cheer louder, or playing dead, he's the hip hop happening rodent with an attitude.

    Email Rick Mercer with your vote for Gainer as Canada's Greatest Mascot.
==

    I drove around the city this evening after an incredibly busy day at work.  I ended up staying an hour later just to get everything I thought needed to be done today, put into a state where I could pick it up tomorrow.  I stopped by the Co-op to fill out a cardlock application, where I declined to write down my SIN number so they could presumably do a credit check.  They were ok with me not including it when I asked and said only the government could ask for it, which might not be accurate anymore but got the point across anyway.  Then I went over to Canadian Tire to pick up a light bulb, and after there, over to Super Store where I filled up a Green Bin to the brim and beyond, and with an increasing ache in my back carried it the most comfortable way by the plastic handles instead of the straps.  I didn't get any stares, but I wasn't watching for them too closely.  I probably would have used a cart if I knew how much I'd be buying, but once you're in the store it's a lot of hassle to go outside and unlock one with a loonie if they still require that.
==

    Want to try skiing on the moon? The Apollo astronaut Jack Schmitt invented his own version of cross country skiing that's totally lunar dude!  You push off with your toes, and glide above the fine abrasive moon sand.  On Earth "Ordinary skis sprayed with silicon lubricant or WD-40 shoot down [sand] dunes as if they were groomed snow trails."  That same idea might not work on the moon, where the dust would scour away known lubricants or Teflon ski coatings.  Will space tourism eventually include ski trips to the moon when we invent skis that can stand up to the coarse sand there?
==

If You Can't Mark an X...

    It seems Sudbury is the Florida of the Great White North, eh?
"I was surprised to see the first party listed as the "Marijuana Party" and then further down the ballot more surprised and a little confused when I saw "PC" followed by "Conservative". I know my candidates by name and made my selection, however for those that may not, it seems to me that this ballot is designed in a very confusing manner.

I suspect that a good majority of the populace will not know whether to select PC or Conservative if they are casting a vote for Harper. A formal complaint should be filed with election Canada.

    It's a bleeding X or a smiley face!  If you can't mark an X, you're not my kind of people!  Brought to you by the Community Regatta Against Politics, and the Committee To Elect Jerry Doyle.

    If someone's in such a rush that they mess up voting because they think PC means Conservative, and they aren't educated enough to know their candidate's name or MODERN party abbreviation, then I can't feel too sorry for them, only the poor hoser who lost one vote.  If you miss mark your ballot, you can ask for one replacement.  Do we really want someone who isn't "with it" enough to know how to vote for Harper, getting it right though?  What does Doug's impression of the "majority" of Harper voters, say about Canadians?  Is Doug right?

    Doug does have a good point though that there should be no ambiguity between parties listed on the ballot.  There should be space to include Conservative Party of Canada, and if there isn't use a smaller font.  If someone's hard of seeing, and can't read small print there are provisions and equipment on site to help them select the correct circle next to their candidate in private.

I became aware of this ballot "controversy" by reading the SDA blog.
==

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Jan. 16, 2006 Monday

    There were only awards on TV tonight. Some pretty women won. Stupid awards pre-empting Medium.  I watched taped Daily Shows instead.

    I voted.  Guess who?  Anyway, three of the poll staff at the advance polling stations had or currently work at the library.  And there was an Independent candidate on the ballot that I'd never heard anything about before seeing his name there.  I wonder how many dozen votes he'll get; I'm going to guess 79.

    You can't help but wonder if Vancouver-Whistler is looking at making 2010 "Canada's Games" in the hopes that the rest of us will help them pay for most of it.  Olympics always cost a lot of money, and while it's usually money well spent in my opinion, I realize there are many millions who might rather not spend the millions of dollars.  Saddledome = Nice.  Big O = Oh oh!  We're about due for a flop of a stadium, what do you think?

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Jan. 15, 2006 Sunday

    Well, that Winter storm the forecast promised hit this morning.  My car was covered in a layer of ice yet again this Winter season, and has probably been coated again by now, as well as burried under a foot of snow.
==

    I took another step toward moving to Linux today, and installed Thunderbird 1.5 which is an email program by Mozilla that is free and works in both Windows and Linux.  I've moved my mail and addressbook, after making a backup of my Outlook Express email boxes of course, and will be using both side by side until I've found the best way to check my Hotmail email from within Thunderbird.
==

    There's a list of the Most Embarrasing Canadians here.  I can't say I agree with many of their choices, but it's a long list that will take you down memory lane in any case.

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Jan. 14, 2006 Saturday

I'm Baaaack!

    In a dazzling performance of slowness, Sasktel has just fixed my webspace and either failed to email me the good news, or I happened to check moments after it was repaired. I guess even Sasktel geeks have to do their work at midnight, just like real programmers do.
    The good news is that when you see my site now, you're reading this, instead of seeing a blank page, or later my Adjokes page which I was able to rename and have displayed in favour of nothingness.  So if you thought I disapeared, too bad, you're not that lucky.  I'm baaaack.  Just picture me with an axe, peering through a fresh door hole.

    Read back a few days to catch up, I've added lots, an also posted it to my Blogspot page which I reworked a bit to one day potentially take over as the site "Abandonedstuff.com" points people to.
==

    Ask the XXXperts: The HBO version of CTV's Ask the Experts.
==

Stephen Harper has a wife...

Do you know who else has a wife?

George Bush, that's who!

This innane political ad brought to you by the Liberal backroom bumblers.

And here's a plug for a party that shouldn't have any image problems.
==

    It's going to be storming out soon according to the weather report.  For now it's just cloudy and not very cold.  It's not been cold for the past few weeks with it never reaching -20 even.

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Jan. 13, 2006 Friday

    This is audio clip is pretty darn funny, even if you don't want the Conservatives to win.  It seems the Liberal campaign managers must want the Cons. to win, because a blind, racist monkey with a pencil could organize a better campaign.  Beer and popcorn anyone?

    Paul Martin. With no Guns. In Canada.
    Even Mansbridge of The National on CBC ripped into Martin over his latest ad gaffe. Coupled with his hand gun ban, and removal of the Notwithstanding clause to protect us from a Supreme Court running wild, the military scare tactics by Martin looks down right tyrannical.  I'm surprised he hasn't got along more famously with George W. Bush.  Maybe he should talk to North Koreans looking to manage his next campaign?

Jan. 12, 2006 Thursday

    I went to Garry B.'s pool hall night, and played pool with Julian and Al of the NDP, and bumped into Eric of Staples who I've bought computer stuff from before.  It was a good time.  I got to interject after Garry claimed that "marriage has been like we're used to for thousands of years," and I pointed out it was "one thousand actually," before elaborating that the Catholic Church claimed marriage was a religious sacrament in the Middle Ages, and before then marriage was a civil union and not a religious ceremony.

    Toward the end of the evening, my new NDP chums and I went over to thank Garry for the free pool games, and bend his ear a little more.  Al brought up justice which he thought was a topic the Conservatives and NDP could work together on, and I'd agree because I think Layton is fed up with crime in Toronto, and is willing to look at ways of reducing it the Liberals haven't tried yet.  I told Garry I couldn't support the Conservatives for their position on gay marriage alone, and he asked me what the position of the Green Party [Link courtesy Brandon of thefordfocuswagon.com] was on it.  I couldn't answer, but I'd highly suspect that they'd either not have a stated position on it since the matter is settled equitably right now, or they'd support legalizing religious unions between homosexuals, if the religion is fine with it.  After all consider this: The United Church of Canada has been marrying homosexuals, so if the government deems that to be illegal, then United worshipers are having their rights infringed upon.  But the other way, where churches are permitted to marry homosexuals or not, churches are not forced to perform marriages they don't recognize, but the government won't turn around and invalidate the religious ceremony of the established religion.

    Still on the topic of marriage, there's been a study done in Canada that seems to suggest that polygamists, people with more than one spouse, should be permitted under law to live here.  I can't say I'm totally in favour of this, as contradictory as that may sound, mostly because of three things.  One isn't a legitimate block, and that's my own preference to keeping Canada as a "couples" society.  Second is that I think it seems likely that a higher rate of spousal abuse or neglect would arise from a poly-marriage.  And third I think that poly-marriages result in more children, and especially more children with less bio-diversity which is something that Canada doesn't need.

    Unite The Right comedy page is worth having a look at.  It points out the various ways the Liberals and the Conservatives are the same party.  I don't think that problem is quite as advanced as it is in the USA with the Democrats and Republican parties being indistinguishable to casual observers, but it's something to keep an eye on anyway.
==

Jan. 11, 2006, Wednesday

    Freezing rain was on the plate today.  I spent time fixing things in Bredenbury, then in the evening I had noodles, buffalo burger, and tomato mushroom sauce for supper.  Rounding off the meal were some carrots and cheddar cheese melted on the main course.  Now I think some fruit cake is in order.

    I was going to grab some fruit cake right after I posted this comment, but Sasktel's webspace which I use to host my website, stopped accepting files.  If you looked at this page tonight, or Jan. 12th odds are you saw a blank screen.  Thank you Sasktel, it's only the third time this has happened, after you claimed it was fixed twice before.  Thus is the nature of computers perhaps, but Sasktel is going to lose a user soon I think.

==

    The only thing on the news today was discussion of the "pulled", "never aired" Liberal attack ad that hinted at military "occupation" of Canadian cities if Harper wins.  Paul Martin must be off his rocker now; oh how the mighty have fallen.  First he threatens the Constitution in the second english debate, and then he threatens Canadians with a bogus attack on Harper.  Tomorrow, he'll probably reverse his position he shouted at the start of the campaign, "I LOVE CANADA!" and the meltdown will be complete.  Beer and popcorn anyone?
==

    Sarmite Bulte let one slip, when she defended the fund raiser being hosted by the CRIA and movie cartels, which will support her re-election effort in the Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park, saying, "People raise money all the time. I'm being absolutely transparent."  That's right, Canadians can see right through her plan to take legal campaign money from copyright dependent cartels right before toughening the Copyright Act in those cartels' favour.  She's a likely Heritage Minister, responsible for pushing through the next Bill C-60 the Copyright Act amendment proposed by the power hungry CRIA.  But don't worry, if the Conservatives win, the CRIA made sure to [bribe, wait that's not the word...] fund the potential Heritage Minister for Harper's Tories too.

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Jan. 10, 2006, Tuesday

    I think the Green Party has a valid complaint with the CRTC concerning their exclusion from the national televised debate.  Almost 5% of voting Canadians supported the Green party last election, and only 2% of the vote is required for the government to recognize a party needs to be funded by Elections Canada for their effort in the election.  Some people throw up bogus arguments like the Greens should win a seat before they get into the debate.  Well, should Chuck Cadman had he lived, been allowed to debate since he won as an Independent previously?  The Reform party only had Deb Grey in the House through a by-election when they were allowed in the 1993 debate, and the Bloc had a member through a "Belinda-ism" floor crossing I've read.  To withhold the Greens from the national televised fracas, is a breach of journalistic ethics in my opinion
==

    China Lilly Soya Sauce is often searched for because it was scarce, and today I saw many bottles of it in the Yorkton Co-op.  So if someone can't get ahold of it, give me an email and I can mail some out to you.  If you love this sauce that much, you need to eat less rice.
==

    I'm listening to Gormley at Night, the replay of John Gormley Live from CKOM radio, and people are hammering PM Martin on his crazy idea about removing the notwithstanding clause from the Canadian constitution.  He actually said that the Supreme Court of Canada should be setting all law in this country, and when they make a choice that Canadians disagree with they have no recourse through their politicians to correct a wrong decision.  Isn't it funny that the Prime Minister who appoints those judges would want any parliamentary recourse against the judges' decisions removed from the Constitution?  And I thought Stephen Harper was scary.

    "A Harper victory would put a smile on George W. Bush's face," is a ridiculous quote on the front page of liberal.ca . The conservative.ca website is down when I tried to load it to view similar insanity, just now.
==

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Jan. 9, 2006, Monday

    Saskatoon has bad drivers it seems.  Sticking with the theme of driving, I got a call from SGI today.  Fortunately I got two calls, because the first one was frickin' stupid, and the second set things right again.  The first call told me that I was being found 50% at fault because I hadn't walked my bike through the intersection.

    Here's what happened: In October I got hit by a van turning left while I was biking through a green light in a driving lane like a vehicle which a bike is when in operation.  The driver of the van was given a ticket, and didn't dispute it, thus he was convicted of a traffic act violation in the accident.  I was carted away in an ambulance, relatively undamaged and got no fine or admonishment from the RCMP who investigated the crash.  Today at 4PM, SGI called me to inform me that they'd only pay for half of the replacement cost for my lost property because they ruled that I was half at fault for not walking my bike through the intersection.  They were confused obviously I said, because I was in a driving lane and not a cross walk, and the other driver had got a ticket for the crash when I got none.

    I hung up with only a promise from SGI that they'd mail me the section of the Act that I violated, which I knew would probably put me in the clear since their claim that I was biking through a cross walk wouldn't jive with the police report [which the Mountie had me write up for him by the way].  I was fuming mad.  I was shaking a bit from the surge of anger, and before I'd cooled off completely I got another phone call.  It was the same SGI agent, who said that she'd reviewed the file and saw this time that the driver who hit me had been convicted of a traffic violation [in the incident with me], and so she was going to find him 100% at fault for the crash.  The driver has 14 days from Tuesday to dispute the change of SGI's mind, and then I will have my bike, lock, and helmet which were all broken, replaced by SGI.  I thanked her for her work and hung up.

Here's my lame poem about the incident, because when you don't have anything more to say, a poem is like saying nothing at all:

I got a call from SGI today
They took my dignation away
Indignantly I said,
Anger surging in my head,
"Why find me to be 50% to blame?"
My life you see isn't a game.
They looked into the papers
And corrected their mistake.
It turns out I'm 100% innocent.
When they first ruled, they weren't awake.
==

    Are your eyes suffering from computer use?  If you are using the computer more than an hour a day, and who reading this doesn't sometimes, then you need to take an eye break every 15 minutes or so by focusing on something further away than your monitor.
==

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January 8, 2006 Sunday

    The day was snowy, then sunny, and now cloudy in the west.  I just checked the window, and I think I missed an impressive sunset.
==

    Can your phone records be purchased for $110US?  Perhaps only Americans are affected, but the "best" implications of this huge hole in privacy are listed on that link.  I hope a whole lot of Senators and Presidential phone records are bought by investigators, which should prove a whole lot of wrongdoing in Washington and elsewhere.  The downside is of course that many people who don't need to be, will be hurt by these purchases.

==

    To follow up my November 26, 2005 post about Bare Naked Ladies' latest album on a USB memory stick, I've seen that Steven Page of the band had replied, and confirmed that there's no Digital Restrictions Management on the memory stick.  Steven opposes WIPO style copyright legislation, which has served the USA and other WIPO countries so poorly the past few years.

==

    Grammar Rules [as taken from the Interweb]:
1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.

2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.

4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.)

6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.

7. Be more or less specific.

8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.

9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.

10. No sentence fragments.

11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.

12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.

13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.

14. One should NEVER generalize.

15. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.

16. Don't use no double negatives.

17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.

18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.

19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.

20. The passive voice is to be ignored.

21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.

22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.

23. Kill all exclamation points!!!

24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.

25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth-shaking ideas.

26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.

27. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."

28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.

29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.

30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.

31. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.

32. Who needs rhetorical questions?

33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

34. Ewe can knot bee two careful wren using homonyms.

35. Edit for mispellings.
==

Qu'Appelle Valley driving north of Indian Head, in 360 degrees.
Weyburn from south of the city in only 180 degrees.

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