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This thread is likely to be extremely redundant in about 2 weeks, but this morning we had our first cold morning. Cold by the standards of a guy still getting over the fact that he should be basking in sunny, mid-20's temperatures at the start of Spring, not watching with morbid fascination the Weather Network showing the average expected temperature for this time of year dropping 2 degrees each day.
Anyway, back to the anology I was attempting to construct. Canada is very poor at pretending to be a place that is hot. They get past the mid 30's, sure, but they insist on adding the humidex whenever and whereever possible in order to be able to say 'It's, like, 40 degrees today, eh?'. What the temperature is and what it actually feels like are two completely different things and I appluad any effort to provide real world data BUT you can't just throw on a humidex and suddenly ignore that other piece of Tom-foolery that is used for the other 9 months of the year, namely the wind-chill factor. Last week it was a rather pleasant 27C. Perfect weather. Hazy, slightly humid, a mild breeze. To me it felt like a slightly humid 27C tempered by a refreshing breeze. To everyone else though it was clearly 35C because of the humidex. I'm sorry, if you want to use a humidex then you have to add in the windchill. Fair's fair.
But I've digressed into a rant I promised myself I wouldn't succumb. Too late. The analogy, which by now has wandered off into the distance out of boredom that I was attempting to create was that of Canada. Canada pretends to be hot but after a bit of trying and a lot of being heckled by obnoxious people like myself it can turn on you. I've been in Canada where the weather went from T-shirt weather* to ice storm in an hour. 18C drop in temperature. It was like something finally snapped and the Canadian climate hauled you out of your dreamy nonchalance and started slapping you with a wet fish. "So you don't like our weather, eh? <slap> Not hot enough eh? <slap> Then how about a bit of this then, EH? <slap, slap, whack>" Suddenly you're knee deep in ice and you can't feel your face.
So this morning I was once again reminded that while Canada can be kinda bad at Summer, it's very, very good at Winter.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
* That's Australian T-shirt weather, not Canada T-shirt weather. Canada T-shirt weather is anything above -40. They are mad.
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Well that's Toronto for ya . Us folks back west never throw on the humidex for hot weather because it actually get's hot out here without any humidity (at least in the Thompson/Okanagan part of BC which is semi-arid desert). Low-Mid 30s for a good chunk of the summer, with the occasional 40+ is pretty good for a place everyone else on the planet thinks is a perma-glacier. Oh ya - we add the windchill out here 'cause we think it makes us look tough
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I'm watching CNN pining for a newscast that wasn't solely dedicated to what the Prez had for breakfast, and one which wasn't constantly showing him leaning sideways on the podium while talking to the nation. He has the classic "someone pass that man a beer" pose. But I digress. They had a segment that finally convinced me that American culture is doomed. That mother nature will swallow the whole thing up and replace the entire country with wildebests and elephants roaming across savannah. They had a segment where political cartoons were explained. In detail. The artist who drew them would come in, show the cartoon, zoom in on the words, read out the bigger, more complicated ones, then explain exactly what the cartoon meant.
Now as an Australian it was actually very inciteful. Or would have been if my brain hadn't melted at the thought of what was happening. CNN, the network that is meant to brief a nation and make them able to stand up for themselves in the early morning arena of elevator conversation, was *explaining political cartoons*. Does anyone there think "if we need to explain the *cartoons* then why the hell are we bothering showing real live people actually talking? Do people understand what we are trying to tell them?
Maybe they should just make the whole thing into a cartoon.
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Chris Maunder wrote:
They had a segment that finally convinced me that American culture is doomed.
I think you give American media WAY too much credit. They didn't invent that segment because we need it or asked for it. They did it because they're morons. Please don't make assumptions about our culture based on CNN unless you want us to make assumptions about Australia based on "The Crocodile Hunter".
Mike Mullikin
You can't really dust for vomit. Nigel Tufnel - Spinal Tap
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Mike Mullikin wrote:
Please don't make assumptions about our culture based on CNN unless you want us to make assumptions about Australia based on "The Crocodile Hunter".
Too late! Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin have a lot to answer for.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
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One thing I don't understand is bus etiquette. I come from a small city where public transport just doesn't happen. Everyone has a car or a bike or a good friend with a car and so travelling by bus is an event to write home about.
In Toronto 1 million people a day use public transport. And they are all on my bus. What gets me is that if the bus is super-crowded and someone vacates a chair to get off at their stop, the chances are that the seat will remain vacant. Huh? There's an aisle full of cramped, sweating, standing people who bared teeth to be first on the bus in the hope of getting a seat, but when one is presented to them no one takes it. I just don't understand...
Incoming emails this morning: 5334.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
Q172653: Sometimes Barney Starts Playing Peekaboo on His Own
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Chris Maunder wrote:
Incoming emails this morning: 5334.
How the hell do you deal with that? Do you have rules set up to sort them or something? It must take you all day just to read the subject lines never mind read and action the mails.
I thought my account was excessive with about 50 a day.
Cheers
James
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Chris Maunder wrote:
Incoming emails this morning: 5334.
That´s unfair. My highest was 10 mails...90% newsletter.
I am envious somehow.
Greetings
Sunny
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I get every spam that's on the net - from Nigerian ex-presidents aids offering me 35% of 20 million (probably 10-15 a day) to offers to increase a certain body part's size (slightly less often than the $$$ offer - which says something I'm sure - I'm just not sure what). I also get a zillion bounces from the CP server (any message you post that is to a dud account I hear about), plus admin alerts, pleas to write people's homework assignments, various mailling lists, threats, praise, comments, suggestions, bizarre rants, pleas from time travellers (no, I'm not kidding) and bad, bad jokes.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
Q172653: Sometimes Barney Starts Playing Peekaboo on His Own
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Chris Maunder wrote:
bizarre rants, pleas from time travellers (no, I'm not kidding) and bad, bad jokes
Maybe you should post these in the scrapbook. Kind of a hall of shame...
Cheers
James
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Chris Maunder wrote:
What gets me is that if the bus is super-crowded and someone vacates a chair to get off at their stop, the chances are that the seat will remain vacant.
Buses (at least in Canada) have a special set of rules which are not unlike urinal rules in a men's washroom.- Don't sit next to anyone else if you can possibly avoid it. You should leave at least one empty seat between yourself and the nearest person.
- Don't look at anyone else, especially the freaky, potentially mentally insane and/or drunk people. They might think you're challenging them.
- Don't touch anyone else.
I was lucky enough to get my own special rule: when I'm late to the bus stop the bus will be early and when I'm early the bus will be late. After a while I actually brought a watch to keep track and it was uncanny how often this happened. Thank the internet that I now work at home.
I rolled my eyes so much that my vision is now 20/20 from the exercise. - John C. Dvorak
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Hi!
I have two "possible" explanations for you.
1. "IHHH! Someone sat already on this seat... It's warm now. I won't sit there..."
2.
Perhaps the people will leave at a near stop and thy don't seat, because they have the fear of "not-getting-out-anymore".
Have you already noticed, that the crowd crowds only in the space at the doors and not in the course between the seatrows?
) life is fun!
Johannes
//still a newbie
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*rolling on the floor laughing*
Sunny
---------------------------------------------
If I of my loneliest instants think - then someone always sat beside me
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Chris Maunder wrote:
How many times must Windows Update update a machine until it's 'updated'?
You think too much!!!
Regards,
Brian Dela
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you ever hear that old joke about the three strings?
---------------------------------------------
The greenest grass is NOT on the other side of the fence, its the grass you take care of. Have you watered your lawn lately?
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Chris Maunder wrote:
Windows Update
You run windows update. Brave man.
I'm always too scared to let Windows phone home, 'cause then Bill&Steve&Brian are gonna know my JPG-count.
Cheers,
Simon
"Sign up for a chance to be among the first to experience the wrath of the gods.", Microsoft's home page (24/06/2002)
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SimonS wrote:
I'm always too scared to let Windows phone home
Did you ever notice that the only thing XP didn't crash on was the product activation?
We brought out this new and very similar version of our expensive software because the old version was......old....It's a good enough excuse for Microsoft so its fine for us.
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- It's stunning. I suggest everyone in Seattle step outside (go on - it's a beautiful sunny day) and collectively gasp in awe at your skyline. Mt Rainier, Mt Baker, the Cascades...wow.
- Seattle drivers would not survive in other big cities. Seattle drivers have just surpassed Melbourne drivers as the least awake drivers on the road. I'm just glad you guys aren't that gun crazy over here. BTW - I apologise to the 4 cars I cut off, the 1 I nearly hit and the 6 cars behind me who nearly had a pile-up on the I-90 during rush hour yesterday morning. That will teach you to let an Australian who had had only 3 hrs sleep loose on your roads.
- Go to the Brown Bag in Redmond and admire their toast. Squint in a puzzled way at their Eggs Benedict and step back in fear from their hash browns, but their toast...
- 2 people does not a car pool make.
- Is it really meant to be foggy every morning when it's only 4 days past summer? Really?
- If you're ever lost in Seattle then make sure you have David Cunningham with you. Just make sure he doesn't fall asleep on you.
- Seattle's Best coffee isn't.
- How can a city that just aired the lost Nirvana song (and then have the DJ's laugh at the record companies threatened legal action) be proud to host a Vanilla Ice concert? This does not make sense.
- You guys are a lot more tense and a bit less polite than when I first started visiting a couple of years ago. Either someone has been spreading lies, damn lies about me, or the dotcom crash and sinking MS stock has cast a pall that outglooms even Seattle's natural grey blanket. It's weird.
- Seattle's taxi drivers are too much fun. Oh man
cheers,
Chris Maunder
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Chris Maunder wrote:
I suggest everyone in Seattle step outside
I suppose that's true for a lot of cities around the world.
Eventhough I live in the ass-end of Africa, I've got 4 different countries within half a day's drive.
Cool huh?
btw, can anyone else actually drive 1000km in one day, or is it just us South Africans?
Cheers,
Simon
"Sign up for a chance to be among the first to experience the wrath of the gods.", Microsoft's home page (24/06/2002)
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SimonS wrote:
btw, can anyone else actually drive 1000km in one day, or is it just us South Africans?
Nope. At least Germans can. Currently I am in San Jose, CA, and two days ago I drove to Josemite national park and backwards on one day. About 800 km (or 500 miles for all those ancient English units users)! Wasn't that much fun
Regards
Thomas
Sonork id: 100.10453 Thömmi
Disclaimer: Because of heavy processing requirements, we are currently using some of your unused brain capacity for backup processing. Please ignore any hallucinations, voices or unusual dreams you may experience. Please avoid concentration-intensive tasks until further notice. Thank you.
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Chris Maunder wrote:
Why could someone not drive 1000km in a day?
I was just having a dig.
Certainly not the most entertaining way to spend a day, particularly if you drive a 1400cc.
Cheers,
Simon
"Sign up for a chance to be among the first to experience the wrath of the gods.", Microsoft's home page (24/06/2002)
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When I first visited North America the thing that got me was the cheese. The colour, the lack of taste, the vast quantities that are used and the fact that there was no meal that wasn't considered a prime candidate for the stuff. Yuk. Parallel to my discovery of American "cheese" was my incredularity at the amount of stuff that is served deep fried. Sure - we're bandits for a good fry up ourselves, but we usually restrict ourselves to things that naturally evolved in a way that deep frying augments them and avoid frying things that are patently not meant for the vat.
In any case I was with some friends at a bar ordering appetisers and I jokingly suggested we get something with cheese and that was deep fried. "Maybe deep fried cheese" I suggested, impressed with my own wit.
"Sure" they said, and promptly ordered a couple of plates of the stuff. I learned quickly not to joke about food over here.
I've now spent 3 years visiting America and Canada and am almost numb to anything they can throw at me culinary wise.
That all changed this week in Orlando. Deep fried cheesecake.
For the love of God, where will it end?
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