Light & Dark

Digital IQ revisited.

As I suspected, the results people posted from the digital IQ quiz were indeed interesting, but not for the reason I expected. I had pretty much assumed everyone would be at the upper end of the scale, but there was actually a considerable range.

When I really thought about it, it made sense. The way I see it, there are those who's technical proclivities brought them in contact with blogs, & they took it up from there, and others who are predominantly interested in the writing process, and latched onto blogs for that reason. And some, like me, are a mix of those 2 approaches. So my initial assumption was shortsighted.

Thankfully, there are lots of different kids of people blogging, and almost as many reasons for doing it. For me, that's a big part of what keeps it interesting.

Thanks everybody for taking the quiz & letting me know your results.

Snacking.

Sardines...ya either love 'em, or they make ya wanna hurl.

I happen to be of the 'love 'em' persuasion, and try to keep a couple cans around the Growlery at all times. I load up when they're on sale, and particularly like Brunswick... favourites are the ones in lemon juice, and the ones in mustard sauce. Strangely, I've never had a sardine sandwich, though have heard others swear a sardine 'n onion sandwich is a glory to the tastebuds. Usually just eat 'em right out of the can with a bagel or some stoned wheat thins. (Yes, that's really what the stupid crackers are called)

I got back from a couple of glorious early season hours on the cross country ski trails this afternoon and was starved. Knowing it'd be a couple of hours till the crock pot of chili's ready, I grabbed a can of 'dines, a couple bagels, and a handful of carrots to tide me over.

As I was sitting here munching, it really dawned on me what an inveterate snacker I am. And by that I don't mean chips & cookies, though I have my weak moments there. No, given a preference, I tend to eat handfuls of food fequently throughout the day, rather than cooking & sitting down to a big meal.

Probably a lot of that comes from my lifestyle, but it's the way I've always preferred to eat. Every once in a while I'll get a hankerin' for a full-on sit down meal, but even my grocery shopping habits have changed to accomodate my snacking approach. My ex used to refer to it as "eating out of the fridge" and reserved it for those times when there was no 'real' food available, but for me, I'd estimate it's probably 2/3 of my diet. And since I often have to carry my meals with me, it works out pretty well.

Pardon me... I think I'll go have a banana.

Your Digital IQ

I strongly suspect most bloggers are considerably more involved with technology that the average person. (See how neatly I implied we're above average?)

Here's a quick digital IQ quiz to test the theory. I'd be interested to know results from readers here. Please, post your results? Either in comments here, or on your own blog.

I scored 146.

Scary.

Tee Vee, or lack thereof.

I have to go over to a friend's tonight to walk her dog while she's on a 12 hour shift, and to hook up her high speed internet access. While I'm there, I might have to give in to my curiosity, and actually watch a little TV.

While I try not to be as obnoxious about it as this guy, I have not really watched TV in about 7 years. Sure, occasionally at a friend's place or while killing time in a hotel room, but not at home. Initially, it was a budget-inspired choice, but an easy one to make because I found I was watching waaayy to much TV and was unhappy about it. Since my lackadaisical attempts to cut back had been unsuccessful, I just decided to go cold turkey.

Seven years later, I can't really see myself ever going back, because I really don't miss it. While there are certainly some things I'd enjoy watching, (all the JFK assassination history this past week, for example) for the most part what I see is insipid, insulting, and generally boring. I was never a big fan of televised sports, and now I’d much rather watch a local junior game at the rink that one of those NHL snoozefests. And don't even get me started on commercials and so-called reality shows.

Unhappy anniversary

Forty years of mourning

Forty years of questions.

Forty years of anger.

Forty years of doubt.

Though not yet 2 when it happened, I have long been morbidly fascinated with Kennedy’s assassination. Not just with the events of that fateful day, but with the effect it has had over the decades.

For me, the event marks a watershed in the public’s attitude to the politicians who govern our lives. Up until then, the majority of citizens seemed to trust their politicians. Even if they disagreed with them, by and large they trusted them. Probably a by-product of being led during wartime.

But as events unfolded, it became clear to even the most ardent believers that all was not right in Camelot. I don’t pretend to know which theory is correct as to why he was assassinated, but there is no doubt in my mind those around him used official powers to distort and cover up what really happened. Experienced ER physicians suddenly forgetting to keep critical physical evidence from the body. Pathologists inexplicably neglecting to retain their notes from the autopsy done on the murdered President of the United States. Witnesses gagged. Extensive machinations to attempt to prove questionable physical evidence can be made to support weak theories. (The ‘pristine’ bullet found on ‘somebody’s’ stretcher at the hospital, and later ascribed astonishing mid-flight changes of direction and ability to withstand deformation while travelling through 2 bodies and striking at least 2 bones.)

Hard on the heels of the Kennedy deceptions propagated at the highest levels of government, came the Vietnam debacle and then Watergate, to fully seal the pact of mistrust. Politics hasn’t been the same since.

I am perfectly comfortable being branded a member of the tinfoil hat brigade, as it has often been that so-called group which has performed the only truly in-depth, scientific analysis of the events of that day, and usually at their own expense. Dr. Josiah Thompson is a perfect example.

I won’t even bother to get into the different theories. I fully believe we will never know what really happened unless a senior person intimately involved and with unassailable credentials, comes forward. And even then, his or her evidence may not be sufficient. Given the fact the principals involved are well into old age or are already dead, I suspect the truth will likely never be known.

As a photographer, another aspect of the Kennedy affair that has long fascinated me is the involvement of Abraham Zapruder. Talk about being engulfed by history.

Considering he initially left his camera at home that fateful morning (and only went home & got it at the urging of some of his employees) the following years consumed by his accidental fame must have been extraordinarily difficult for him. I can’t help but be struck by his principled handling of the rights to the film following the assassination that day. He went to great lengths to insure it was not sensationalised, and that it’s use would remain respectful to the slain President. It was thanks entirely to his restraint that it didn’t appear in lurid detail on every newscast in the country that night. He even donated the first $25,000 of the $150,000 fee paid by LIFE Magazine to the family of the policeman slain apprehending Lee Harvey Oswald. Sharp contrast to the way such a situation would be handled today.

I can’t finish this without mentioning one final fascination: that of the correlations between JFK and Lincoln. Sure, some of them are reaching, but some are truly extraordinary.

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Lincoln's personal secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's personal secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners.
Both successors were named Johnson.

Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.
Booth and Oswald were both assassinated before their trials.

I truly regret we’ll never know the truth. Or what our world would have been like had he not been taken.

Rest in peace JFK.

Snow day!

We got snow! 18 inches of it!

I've been saying for years, especially when I lived in Southern Ontario, that my ideal weather this time of year would be to have nice fall conditions until the end of October, and then a huge dump of snow at Hallowe'en that stayed with us right to mid April. I've always disliked November, when it was too cold, wet and muddy to do any hiking or riding, but not enough snow to do any real winter sports.

Well at the end of last month, the Tuesday before Hallowe'en, I helped a friend finish moving, and then rode my bike home in the rain. Overnight, the rain turned to snow, and I woke to find my world covered in about 10 inches of gorgeous fluffy powder. As beautiful as it was, I was sure it was just a tease, and it would all melt and turn into a mushy mess within a few days. Instead, it has stayed cold enough to maintain the snow, and we've had several more 5 to 10 cm squalls as well. Then as I was walking home late on Wednesday night, the flurries started again, and by the time I woke up next morning, we were up to our knees in it.

Snow Day! With no school buses running, there were kids whooping and sliding on every angled surface to be found. The whole neighbourhood was shovelling out, leaving 4 1/2 foot snowbanks at each driveway. I was kicking through knee deep powder on the walking paths all the way to work. Glorious!

It's has stayed cold, and we'll drop into the deep freeze tonight going down to -20C. We're supposed to continue getting flurries for the next several days, staying cold enough to make it really seem like winter.

The ski areas are in full operation with the best early start seen in the Valley in at least 10 years. Sunshine Village already has a 1 metre base! And Lake Louise has something like 70 runs open already. What interests me even more though is that all the snow is making for an earlier start to the cross country ski season then I've ever experienced. To be on natural snow with most of the trails open by the 3rd week of November is extraordinary.

Unfortunately, the avalanche danger is considerable, so backcountry skiing needs to be limited to the safest terrain, but the danger will drop as the snow settles and bonds with the lower layers. Hopefully we're past getting any early season rain as we have the last several years. An icy crust layer close to the ground leads to a miserable avalanche season all year long - like last year's utterly disastrous year.

Given the way the tourism industry here has been hammered this last year, from avalanche danger to SARS, Mad Cow, and the summer's forest fires. this early start to skiing has been a real blessing. It will literally save a number of businesses from bankruptcy. They've just been holding on by the skin of their teeth, hoping for a decent winter season to rescue them. Unfortunately, several were unable to hold out and went under during the fall.

Hopefully a strong season will improve job prospects here too. Too many of my freelance clients completely pulled back and refused to spend on anything but the absolute essentials. Time to loosen the purse strings, I hope.

Oh, man...full on winter and it's only the 3rd week of November. This is why I moved to the mountains!

Got ram?

I came across a post at sushiesque about a tour of a bookbinding factory that is producing the the world's biggest book.

Now the details of the project are impressive (the book's spine is over 5 feet tall) but here's the part that really caught my eye:

Every two facing pages form an 80-inch spread with two gigs' worth (each image!) of really saturated color photographs of Bhutan.

Holy crap! Each photo is 2 gigabytes of file size! Now given that PhotoShop works best with ram about 3 to 5 times the size of the image file, those puppies would have needed a computer with over 6 gigs of ram! I'm willing to bet most of the editing was done on smaller proxies, then reapplied to the full-sized images, but still...I'll bet that a staggering amount of ram and processing power were required.

(Note: a couple of posts seem have gotten time stamped out of order. Sorry if things seem to be wandering around a little.)

Speaking of quizzes...

This is the part where people go "huh?" because this blog displays by most recent most post first, so I'm referring to something you haven't even seen yet. Trust me, there's a post after this one that mentions quizzes. Ok, can I finish now? What was I saying?

Oh, right, quizzes.

I saw the one for "which MASH character are you" over at CaughtintheXFire, among other places. Cute idea, fit the meme.

Then wandering around the quiz creator's blog, I came across Photoshopping - The 4007th Project which is basically MASH meets James Bond. 4007th. Get it? Great for MASH and 007 fans.

This guy's seriously demented, and has some wicked PhotoShop skills. In particular, check out Father Mulcahey. I'd love to post the pic, but don't want him to think it's been snitched. It's worth a vist...check 'em out.

Oh yeah, and in the quiz? I come out as Radar O'Rielly. That's how I already know you're gonna click the link.

Yup, This pretty much fits.

I don't bother posting the results of most of these polls, but since this one is pretty much on, I figured, what the hey.



cuddle and a kiss on the forehead - you like to be
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Blog family.

Family has been on my mind for most of the day today. The main reason is that today is my Mom’s 70th birthday, so I’ve been thinking about her, and also about all the things that go into being a family.

Because everyone is so far away, communication has to be by electronic means. Unfortunately none of my sisters or my parents are frequent users of email, so the telephone is the only choice left. My sisters in particular, however, all seem to have a real dislike of the ‘phone. Understandable, given that they have busy households, and a phone call requires immediate attention whether it’s a convenient time or not. So all 3 just don’t answering their phones, and allow an answering machine to record instead. The down side is, they hardly ever make time to call me back, so often I go weeks of leaving them messages before I ever get to have a visit.

I find this really frustrating, especially after my visit home, during which everyone made it clear they really missed having me around. I have to chalk it up to the fact that their lives are just too busy, even though they might wish to keep up. Fortunately, my nieces & nephews are all into IM with their friends, so I’ve started using that as a way to keep in touch with them, however briefly. And of course, the inevitable happens; chatting with my niece, who is relaying questions from her Mom over her shoulder to me while we chat.

Ruminating about family also brought to mind one of my favourite quotations by Richard Bach (of Jonathan Livingston Seagull fame) from his book Illusions:

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.

Given that frame of reference, it occurred to me that I have my own little family right here. If I could create my own family tree, here’s how I think it'd look. (disclaimer: ages are irrelevant)