November: New Best. Month. Ever.

So ... a 10-fold increase in my traffic year-over-year makes me pretty happy. Not bad for my little humble corner of the Internet. Click graphic for larger image.

Sunday afternoon humor

more animals

Return of the Invasion of Hungarian Partridges

A whole whack of Hungarian Partridges showed up in our backyard this morning.

My brother Dean on stage at the Gemini Awards

Other interesting people born Nov. 29

• 1972 - Minoru Tanaka, Japanese pro-wrestler
• 1967 - John Layfield, American professional wrestler
• 1955 - Howie Mandel, Canadian comedian
• 1949 - Jerry Lawler, American wrestler

BIGGEST RICK ROLL EVER

Awesome.

Surely a sign of the Apocalypse

The Google search string, "what's cool on the interweb" resulted in a hit on this site.

YouTube goes widescreen!

YouTube Embraces Widescreen Paves the Way for Hollywood Features - Webmonkey

As we pointed out last week, YouTube is now offering HD quality video on select movies. But one of the hallmarks of HD video is the widescreen aspect ratio (16:9 rather than 4:3) and now the YouTube site has been updated so that all video is now displayed in a new widescreen player.

As the YouTube blog notes, this means that the vast majority of videos on the site — which were uploaded as 4:3 — are now displayed with black bars on the sides (the empty space not used by 4:3 videos).

Two things:

1) Now, all I need is a free video editor that will actually let me edit the widescreen video that my digicam will let me shoot ... except I don't shoot in widescreen because I can't edit it.

2) This puts YouTube ahead of the WWE in terms of providing me with easily-accessible widescreen content. Not that I'm bitter.

... not the worst Canadian marketing slogan I've heard ...

Ad: Canadia-- Come for the Chicken, Stay for the Toilets!
Swedish tourist: We came here for the chicken, but will remember it for the toilets.

Swiss Chalet
Toronto
Canadia

Overheard by: Glad I didn't go downstairs...
via Overheard Everywhere, Nov 25, 2008

Do not call list

So ... has anyone noticed a drop in telemarketing calls since the federal do not call registry came into effect?

Me, neither.

Sunday afternoon humour

more animals

Go to church

Attending religious services ‘cuts death risk by almost 20 percent’ - Health – Lifestyle – MSN India

Attending religious services ‘cuts death risk by almost 20 percent’

Attending religious services can reduce mortality risk by approximately 20 percent, a new study from Yeshiva University has revealed.

The research team led by Eliezer Schnall, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor of psychology at Yeshiva College of Yeshiva University analysed the religious practices of 92,395 women aged 50 to79, participating in the Women Health Initiative.

After examining the prospective association of religious affiliation, religious service attendance, and strength and comfort derived from religion with subsequent cardiovascular events and overall rates of mortality, the researchers found that those attending religious services showed a 20 pct decrease in death risk.

UFC champ Anderson Silva denied entrance into Canada

UFC champ Anderson Silva denied entrance into Canada

UFC champ Anderson Silva denied entrance into Canada
Kenny Florian attends autograph session in Kamloops; Silva turned away at border
Catherine Litt, Kamloops Daily News
Published: Friday, November 21, 2008

KAMLOOPS - Last summer, it was a troupe of dancers from Papua New Guinea who were turned away by Canadian border agents.

Now it's a mixed martial arts fighter from Brazil.

A planned visit to Kamloops by UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was abruptly halted Friday when Canada Border Services denied the athlete entrance into Canada.

WWE: What is so hard about 16x9 DVDs?

I don't understand this.

The WWE has been broadcasting their events in high definition for nearly a year now. But their DVDs are still formatted in the standard 4x3 aspect ratio. I bought the No Mercy DVD this month, and was quite disappointed to learn that it was not presented in 16x9 widescreen.

And this isn't like the weird Wrestlemania DVD issue, either, with the DVD deciding (depending on your TV) whether to show the event in widescreen or not. (See this post and comments.) As far as I can determine, No Mercy has no widescreen option. It's formatted in 4x3. But it's framed in 16x9. Which makes for some very poor viewing of some of the action when both wrestlers disappear off the screen because they're in the portion of the 16x9 framing that gets chopped to make it 4x3.

This is ridiculous. Every Hollywood movie I own on DVD is in widescreen. Even UFC has put out regular DVDs formatted in widescreen.

So, WWE, what's your excuse?

EDIT 11:27 a.m.: OK, I need to clarify here after doing some experimenting. This is just like the Wrestlemania DVD. No Mercy will play in widescreen if you watch it on a widescreen monitor. I just tried it in my 17-inch widescreen laptop, and I get the little WWEHD logo and everything in perfect 16x9. Which, to me, is even more stupid. I can watch all kinds of widescreen DVD content on my 4x3 TV, but the WWE is compelling me to watch its DVDs in 4x3 on a 4x3 TV, effectively requiring me to upgrade my television to a widescreen, which I'm not going to do just to watch their DVDs. (Particularly considering that I don't have an HD converter box, and no HD capable TVs.)

So let me rephrase my question to the WWE: What's your excuse for not putting out the DVDs in native 16x9 format like every Hollywood movie release has been doing for years?

Hey, don't I have a blog?

Sorry for the dearth of posting this week. It was a very busy week at work, and I didn't have a lot of time to be trolling the Internet looking for fun things upon which to comment.

Mars Phoenix: 30 Mars Phoenix Discoveries NASA Will Never Show the World

Click the link. Funny awaits.

Using Your Lightsaber Around the Home

HowStuffWorks "Using Your Lightsaber Around the Home"

Using Your Lightsaber Around the Home

Although a lightsaber is typically used as a defensive weapon by Jedi knights, the availability of lightsabers on consumer sites such as eBay is growing. It is a sad fact of life, but if a Jedi knight falls on hard times, his lightsaber is one source of quick cash. He can always build another one.

If you are lucky enough to acquire a lightsaber, you are probably purchasing it for personal defense purposes. A lightsaber completely blows away a can of pepper spray as a deterrent in muggings or robberies. However, many new owners are pleasantly surprised by the many domestic uses of a lightsaber around the home or office. Let's examine a few of the more common applications here, and then you can use your imagination to come up with others.

Sunday afternoon humor

more animals

The era of Brock!

BROCK WINS! BROCK WINS! BROCK WINS!

Ric Flair coming to Edmonton

Apparently, Ric Flair is coming to Edmonton in February. Ticket information is here.

I have to admit, I found out about this reading the stats for my blog, which contained a number of search strings looking for info on Ric Flair coming to Edmonton.

And judging from the ticket prices, I'm not likely to be going.

Where to watch UFC 91 in Edmonton or Calgary

It's time for my regular public service announcement on where to watch UFC fights in Edmonton, Calgary or elsewhere in Alberta. All that info can be found at this link right here.

UFC 91: Couture versus Lesnar!

The big fight is this Saturday, and here's my entirely unscientific look at why (insert fighter's name here) will win.

Randy will beat Brock because:

• He's Randy Freaking Couture. He always finds a way to win.
• He's way more skilled and talented in the Octagon than Brock.
• Did I mention he's Randy Couture?

Brock will beat Randy because:

• Have you seen this man?
• No, seriously. Did you see him destroy Heath Herring?
• He's HUGE and POWERFUL and will rip Randy's arms off his body and beat him into submission WITH IS OWN ARMS.

As far as my own personal prediction, I'm sitting entirely on the fence on this one. I can see Brock bull rush Randy, clock him, take him down and pummel him. I can also see Randy keep his distance, run Brock ragged for five rounds and win a decision.

Lest we forget

Sunday afternoon humor

more animals

Playing hockey tonight - Minnesota and Vanouver

Yes, Vanouver. Site of the 2010 Winter Olympis.

Mike's Music Review: Skillet - Comatose Comes Alive

This finally arrived in my mailbox today after a too-long wait to get it over the border. Fortunately, it was absolutely worth the wait: a total of 21 tracks (including 6 downloadable) on the CD, and a live concert DVD with its own bonus features, and it cost me less than $20. (See? That's how you sell people on actually buying music: Give them lots of stuff for a decent price. On a per-song cost, this album is absolutely cheap.)

Comatose is a great rock album, and the live version is just as good. Gotta love any band that uses orchestral strings to back up crunchy alternative/arena rock. I got through most of the DVD tonight, and I'm listening to the album on my iPod as I type this, and this is going to be one of those albums that I play over and over and over again until the CD melts in my car stereo.

And right now, I'm enjoying the heck out of the multi-vocal "Yours to Hold" which features pretty much everyone in the band taking turns on the song, including the band's brand-new 18-year-old drummer, Jen Ledger.

Big thumbs up.

U.S. military can regrow human limbs, organs

Umm ... HOLY CRAP!

U.S. military can regrow human limbs, organs

U.S. military can regrow human limbs, organs
'Nanoscaffolding' has succesfully regrown fingertips and organs on test subjects
Vito Pilieci, Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, November 07, 2008

OTTAWA - American military researchers say they have unlocked the secret to regrowing limbs and recreating organs in humans who have sustained major injuries.

Using "nanoscaffolding," the researchers have regrown a man's fingertip and the internal organs of several test subjects.

If you smell ... what Barack ... is cooking!

IMG_5607.JPG
Originally uploaded by ae!

Darth Toaster

Darth Toaster: May The (Break) Fast Be With You | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

The Darth Vader Toaster is pretty bogus: any real Jedi would just slice his loaf with a Light Saber and it would fall ready-toasted, needing only a quick slathering of butter and jam (blueberry for the good guys and red, red, raspberry for those on the Dark Side).

But until the Light Saber becomes a common part of the culinary toolkit (a true multi-tasker, we might add) then we'll have to settle for this junky plastic toaster, the result of pouring black beads into the mold-maker instead of the usual white. It's exactly the same as a normal thrift-store toaster, only it has the addition of a Darth Vader shaped element which appears to char the Dark Lord's visage into your breakfast bread. And we mean char -- in the picture the center section looks almost inedible.

Why do companies do this?

I'm trying to buy a new watch. I found a really sweet titanium-carbide gold watch from A Certain Watch Company.

So I start researching the best price for it. I find it at an online store for $215. But they don't ship that brand of watch to Canada.

I call my local jewelery store. They can't get it for me because A Certain Watch Company doesn't sell that model in Canada.

I find another online store, and, yup, they won't sell it to me because A Certain Watch Company doesn't authorize American watch models to be sold outside the US.

And, of course, A Certain Watch Company's Canadian website doesn't have the particular model I want.

I could, however, get someone in the US to buy it for me and mail it to me, but I can't actually BUY it from Canada.

So ... I want to give A Certain Watch Company money and they won't let me. Dumb.

Welsh Road Sign Features Email Auto-Reply

Welsh Road Sign Features Email Auto-Reply Instead of Correct Translation | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

What happens when people place too much trust in technology? Sometimes, the result is dangerous (sheep-like belief in GPS, for example). Other times, the layers of hilarity are startling. Take this story, a tale of bureaucracy and institutionalized ignorance from Wales.

Sunday afternoon humor

more animals

October: Best. Month. Ever.

Your humble servant's blog had its best month ever in October, smashing my previous hits and page view records, on the strength of approximately 10 billion hits related to Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock. Nonetheless, I'm not complaining.

(Interesting that Site Meter credited me with 2,787 hits in October, and 4,059 page views, while SiteCounter gave me 3,167 hits in October, and 4,417 page views. No wonder I like SiteCounter better ...)

What's nice, too, is that by being on Blogger and having my pages getting properly indexed (thanks in part to Google Analytics), I'm now getting a fair number of hits based on archived content, as well as being in the top 2 or 3 search results on some fairly unique and niche search strings (like "Relient K Trading Spaces").

Starfield sweeps Covenant Awards

GOSPEL MUSIC ASSOCIATION CANADA - News

CALGARY, AB ─ It was a Starfield sweep at the 30th Annual Covenant Awards on Friday, October 24.

Duplicating what fellow British Columbian Brian Doerksen accomplished only last year, Starfield won all six categories in which the band was nominated.

Relient K - The Best Thing

Otherwise known as "That song used to advertise Trading Spaces on TLC."