How on earth did it take me so long to find this!!!

The Dr. B. Pietraszek Regatta

3 days in a limo - well, actually, a Chevy Suburban

Took three days off regular work this week to drive the Scottish MSP Michael Russell and his entourage around the Golden Horseshoe. Not only was the money phenomenal, but the entire party was great, and I received some thank you gifts as well! A very fun and successful few days. Thanks to all those that made this possible.

Pretty cool webcam interaction!

http://david.weebly.com/1/post/2009/03/ge-augmented-reality-ad.html

Wow, endless possibilities. Really well done and surprisingly responsive for such a new technology!

Hire a consultant??!! - 2 years work??!!

Is that a man or woman holding that cup? The nails indicate woman, but those look like man hands... anyway.. .

Councillors found the issue too hot to handle in December, when facing a proposal to ban paper cups with plastic lids and force coffee shops to give customers who bring their own mugs a 20-cent discount.

Instead, council set up a task force with city and industry representatives to find a solution by this month. Then it extended the deadline till June.

But following a closed-door meeting yesterday at city hall, some members said they doubted they would be able to cobble together a policy by then.

"There's business and economic issues that have not been studied," said Joe Hruska of the Environment and Plastics Industry Council. "They're going to need more time."

He foresees an "18-month to two-year" process to come up with a solution that embraces not only coffee cups but many other materials, and meshes with evolving provincial policies and directives.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/614809

So the smoking ban you were great with, lead by example even (well, with examples.. ), but here, for clear and present environmental issues that could easily be fixed and added to the price of a cup, you need a consultant??!! Torontonians are already charged a recycling environmental tax ("additonal charge to cover recycling") on computers, beer and wine bottles, vehicle tires, house and building construction, and garage repair work (I'm sure I'm missing a ton more.. ). What's so hard here?

____

They also disputed the 20-cent refund. Tim Hortons currently offers 10 cents for customers who bring a mug, and that's about how much that's saved by not having to supply a cup, according to the industry. Forcing shops to dole that much out would eat into profits, they said.

No shit?

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/536020

____

And on top of that, this?!:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/090311/canada/canada_newbrunswick_nb_tim_hortons_rims629

http://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/866qy/anyone_else_notice_tim_hortons_coffee_lids_being/

Tim Horton's Ban.

Prediction: Mayor Miller's Downfall

Amendment: Not large enough to be the source of the sole downfall.. film industry money, which really isn't big enough compared to the other city woes. It's like someone coming up to a "model" and telling them that if they pay upfront, they can have an "audition"; prints included.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090407.wfilm07art2250/BNStory/lifeMain/
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/04/07/9035596-sun.html

"The public purpose here is to ensure that screen-based industries thrive in Toronto," he said. "We don't, in the long run, want to run a film studio, that's not what we're good at," he added. "We view this as a transition measure, but the transition may be several years."

okayyyyy\ Cuz the city money had so much to do with having it here in the first place. And really, who cares who it's run by and where it's run? Have we not learned the lessons of marketing and distribution companies from the music industry?: People and location are nothing; money is everything.

Get your shit together. Investing $60+ million in a film company that can't even pay its rent? This is a volatile risk at a time where money would be better used elsewhere. Small budget short term location movies are not where it's at for job creation in Toronto. Non-local company buying (future speculation)? Wow. Actually, thinking about it, trying to put 2 and 2 together.. is this a stock market play? Did the councilors get bought in by stock speculation with the impeding purchase by a larger company. This has nothing really to do with Toronto; this is stock market money.

update; more here: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/04/07/city-s-love-story-with-film-industry-turns-into-horror-flick.aspx

Good quick read.

Sands got his first chance to demonstrate his convictions professionally in 1998. He was in Paris, for the unveiling of his grandfather’s gravestone, when he received a call asking him to represent Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator. He told his wife, Natalia Schiffrin, about the offer. “Philippe, if you do,” Sands recalls her saying, “I will divorce you!” (She is American, and the daughter of the book publisher André Schiffrin, a founder of Students for a Democratic Society.) Sands declined the case. Instead, he signed on to represent the other side, and helped pursue Pinochet for violations of international law. The case became a turning point in international law, establishing the principle that there is no immunity even for the highest-ranking former government officials when they are accused of torture.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2009/04/13/090413ta_talk_mayer

Is this for real?

25-Apr-09 Hanson Brothers Horseshoe $13.50

Song of the day: Placebo - 36 Degrees

Slightly cold body temperature? Angle? Cheater?

Download mp3 for quality: Http://www.protectiveheat.com/music/Placebo_36_degrees.mp3

youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0RpShS5FeQ

Slow version with slightly different lyrics:



Lyrics: http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/9114/

Song meanings (other than above post suggestions)?:
http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/p/placebo-oncemore.shtml
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=36%20degrees

Placebo done apparently; who knew?: http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/entertainment/music/placebo_final_2004review.shtml

LeBron James has no idea what hockey is.

Or, for that matter, who Alexander Ovechkin is. And he acts like a fool... umm, LeBron does. You feel like shit now you say? Is it because you're wearing sunglasses indoors while meeting someone for the first time? Or just cuz you're actually a full on dick? I suppose there is an argument to be made that you are embarrassed and want to hide behind something... oh LeBron.

http://deadspin.com/5199312/lebron-james-pretends-he-knows-who-alex-ovechkin-is

Ken Rockwell vs. Emma Goldman.

wow, was not expecting this from usually mild-mannered Ken, but seems to fit today!

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/00-new-today.htm

07 April 2009, Tuesday

Losers

Losers give up.

Losers are people who set their standards so stupidly tight that nothing is good enough for them. These are not Leica Men, who always get what they want. Losers are our friends and neighbors who set the wrong criteria for jobs, toys or lovers, and wind up with nothing instead of happiness.

I've heard too many stories of lonely girls getting way past their expiration dates because they are so picky that they want a boyfriend in only a very narrow range of age, style or income, and too many people who stay unhappily unemployed for too long because they are completely unrealistic about wanting whatever overly bloated salary they used to pull down (all while wasting their boss' time reading the internet at work), or too picky about the hours, location, type of work or whatever.

People stay unhappy when they keep thinking they're going to find perfection.

Winners get what they want. Winners set realistic expectations, and are always open to new ideas for things that don't fit in their initial expectations. Winners never give up. Winners adapt and get better. The best jobs I've ever had were those for which I initially wasn't even going to bother to interview, but decided, eh, what the heck, and checked it out!

This applies exactly the same way in photography (I knew you were wondering).

Loser photographers set out with a preconceived notion of what they want to snap. If they find it, which they probably won't, they are happy.

All too often (like every single time), what they want just doesn't happen. They shoot a crappy version of what they thought they wanted, and try to jack it up later in Photoshop.

Winners in photography keep their eyes open. Photography is all about your powers of observation, period.

All my best snaps have been completely unrelated to what I thought I was going to photograph that day. I kept my eyes open, saw something cool, and snapped it. I created the photo because I kept my eyes open to new things, never because I set out to make that photo.

When everyone else is looking for the clichée in one direction, my screwy mind is off looking in some other direction trying to sniff out cool photos.

VS.

“The idealists and visionaries, foolish enough to throw caution to the winds and express their ardor and faith in some supreme deed, have advanced mankind and have enriched the world”

Hmm.. so basically, keep trying new shit and don't let anybody stand in your way? Sounds like a plan.

New Eels song and album - great song

http://www.spinner.com/2009/03/31/eels-fresh-blood-song-premiere/

Sounds a bit like Filter... but with the Eels covering. And howling too. Howling too. And dancey?.. maybe not. Maybe my kind of dancey?.. yeah, maybe. That base.