Earth Hour

Not much really needs to be said here.



Sure there is some license taken for the sake of comedy, but for the most part, he's absolutely right.

A 10% reduction in a couple dozen cities for one hour once a year isn't going to change a thing.

The Resurrection

Warm weather appears to be on its way back from the dead. The 14 day trend is still almost entirely below the historical average for this time of year, but I have to find satisfaction with above zero for now. Lowered expectations.

The baseball season officially gets under way tomorrow in Japan. My buddy Como and I have tickets for the Saturday game of the Jays opening weekend that I'm told are on the wall in left field similar to the ones I fluked into a couple years back. All this Super Premium, Premium, Value game pricing adjustment bullshit needs to go though. What started with the occasional mid to late summer series against the Red Sox or Yankees being rated a premium game with slightly higher ticket prices has morphed into an increasing number of pricing levels and games for which the pricing isn't just some 'regular' amount. Paying 39.00 for a ticket that cost me 21.00 for opening weekend just a couple years ago is handicapped. I prefer to be called retarded.

And the injuries are already starting to add up for the Jays. Combined with manager J.P. Ricciardi's asinine move to pick-up Shannon Stewart and drop spark plug gamer Reed Johnson, all the talk about the Jays resurrection from the middle of the AL East look like another fictional anecdote to get hopes up leading to the perennial 3rd spot in the East. More lowered expectations.

But the hockey pool is coming together well enough, despite all the Leaf fans who still think they have a chance to go anywhere. Make sure you pass on the word to anyone else that might be interested.

NHL Season 2

I could bitch and moan about how Hoover, its products, and warranties are garbage; but I'll just tell you not to buy one and leave it at that.

I could whine some more about how it was snowing again today, and how this shit still won't end; but I'll tell myself that this is still Canada, I have to get the hell over it.

I could tell you all about St. Patrick's day drunkenness; but there'd be gaps, and the non gaps weren't very exciting.

So instead, I'll let everyone know that I'm putting together a playoff hockey pool, and that you should get in on it.

Thou Shalt Not Medicate

The Catholic Church has just knocked another gem outta the park. It seems people weren't going to confession enough (perhaps something to do with the old fashioned, and increasingly backward approach to a rapidly evolving world?). The solution: create some new sins to keep the sheep in line.

A Vatican official has listed drugs, pollution, genetic manipulation and social and economic injustices as new areas of sinful behavior. -AP

The new mortal sins were listed by Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti at the end of a week-long training seminar in Rome for priests, aimed at encouraging a revival of the practice of confession - or the Sacrament of Penance in Church jargon.

According to a survey carried out here 10 years ago by the Catholic University, 60% of Italians have stopped going to confession altogether. The situation has certainly not improved during the past decade. -BBC

Of course, any drug or gene therapy, or even genetic manipulation of lesser organisms that lets a believer live a little longer, or a little happier will still be alright; less need for miraculous intervention that way. And hey, they're still teaching abstinence and shunning condoms to control the spread of disease, so really we won't even need those treatments much longer.

Ultimately on the drug side of things, they're mostly referring to all those arbitrarily defined 'illicit' ones. But when you are based on the arbitrary, there's no problem with this kind of logic.

And then there will be all those forced into conflict by the declaration that the rich are sinners. Those that still believe God is speaking through George W. are going to need some extra medication to cope when they realize that as one of those rich people, he's one of the biggest sinners out there. But for no other reason. As an aside, I wonder what George himself confesses to sitting there in that vestibule.

I mean clearly the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are sinners, what with all their millions of dollars donated to curing disease though alternative therapies. Double whammy on those two, definitely destined for some lower level of hell when they kick the bucket.

In the end it still comes down to people who need some defined set of rules because their own moral conscience simply doesn't exist without it. And when there are people out there who think like this,

so you think if no one believed in any religion there would be no wars or fighting? i think it would be worse. i know if i didn't fear god's judgement i would have killed many many times.

cajunXLVII - FSTDT.com

some kind of indoctrination is certainly better than the alternative. I have a feeling though that through history there have been far more that killed in the name of their god, than those that have decided not to kill in the name of their god. Clearly the nature of that argument makes it unprovable, such is the problem.

The Last Hurrah?

This needs to be the last snow storm of the winter. I don't think I can handle another without a heavy dose of summer first. Enough of the bloody noses from the dryness. Enough of the shoveling. Enough of the scraping off the van every time I want to go out. Enough of the no sandals, shorts and t-shirts.

The plan is/was to go out for dinner and drinks for Carolyn's birthday tonight, but if the snow doesn't stop dropping soon I doubt there will be much of a turnout, us being the only one's really within walking distance of Uptown. I don't mind driving around town in this weather, but then not everyone can be as cool as me driving around a soccer mom mini-van that sits out of the snow at least a little bit more.

Hopefully things shape up for St. Patty's next Saturday. The luck of the Irish has to be better than my own right?

The Duke

After going out for a public skate last night with a loop of hits from the 70's and 80's or something, and dodging little kids zig zagging all over the place, we went out to the Duke of Wellington, usually a good enough little pub, for a few drinks. By the time we were done, I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

I understand that when you have live music acts at your bar, you tend to feature them. But having them so loud that the waitress won't even go through a few beers on the beer list is ridiculous. Especially when its a cover band. If I wanted to hear Honky Tonk Women rocked out, I'd go to the next Stones farewell tour.

Now, I know they are one of the hosts of the Go Festival next week. I understand that people will be filing in simply because of the local indie original talent, that's fine, play the music loud. Hell I even hope to catch an act or two at one of the venues. But lets not have cover bands jacked up so loud that people, apparently including the waitress can't hear themselves think.

When a waitress forgets an order of fries that she even asks whether you'd like gravy or curry sauce with, and then forgets again when you openly ask her if your fries are coming, you either need new serving staff, or to turn that shit down. And how about, instead of having the waitress try to yell out to the table what items are no longer available on their menu that's changing, you take a sharpie and cross out those items for the time being.

I can tell you I won't be back to see the new menus any time soon.