Maybe the Nigerians know something…
Bill Gates has been traveling a bit recently, and was apparently doing a bit of touring in Africa. Unfortunately, his request for a Nigerian Visa was initially met with a somewhat rude refusal.
Canadians becoming less tolerant?
I heard several news reports regarding some study performed recently on Canadian attitudes towards immigrants. The conclusion was that Canadians are less tolerant than we used to be, and several of the news reports said we are “more racist”. They then cited such things as requiring Moslem women to reveal their faces for ID purposes when voting, and referenced our vaunted “cultural mosaic” political mantra.
The Internet is a weird place…
I run several websites off of my one Linux server sitting here in my house. I try to keep it reasonably secure: it’s behind a firewall with a limited number of open ports, I try to keep my software somewhat up to date, and I install code to intercept blatant attempts to spam or attack my site.
I went to a hockey game…
Once in a very long while I’ll do something that isn’t really “me”. Today, I went to an NHL pre-season hockey game at GM Place.
It is worth while to note that I am not a sports person. There isn’t a single sport that I watch: not football, not baseball, not hockey, not basketball…none of them interest me. I don’t play them either. Basically, I never really figured out the appeal. The only sports that I ever got involved in even to a minor extent were things like track and field: sports without teams. I think a significant part of it was that I hated being yelled at or teased as a kid, and team sports is all about being yelled at and teased. When I ran the 100 yard dash and came in 13th out of 19 competitors, no one yelled at me. I just had myself to blame, and that was okay.
Electric cars…
I want a fully electric car. One that can go 200 km at highway speeds on an over-night charge. I might accept a chargeable hybrid: one that has sufficient battery capacity to go 100 km or so on a full charge before the gas engine kicks in.
Old school gamers
I went to meet my Mom and sister Judy at the casino today. This is a pretty common thing: every couple of weeks they come to the Langley Cascades Casino where Irene and I join them for brunch. But this day was to be a day for resolving a mystery. For a week or so, Judy had been telling me that I had to come this Sunday since she had something for me from Shane.
Chemistry is fun
I have a stainless steel coffee mug that Irene bought me a while back that I really like. I use it several times a day. It is an extremely well made Oxo mug, highly polished inside, so it took a long time to build up a stain. But eventually, even a really good coffee mug needs more than just plain soap and water to make it sparkle.
Journey down the Root Canal
My visit to the endodontist yesterday (Tuesday) could be described as a success. He confirmed based on my description of the pain and a neat diagnostic trick involving a piece of ice that a root canal was in order. And the endodontist was able to immediately proceed…so long as I paid the deposit and signed my life away.
May cause mood swings…
I went back to my dentist today for a follow up regarding the pain I’m experiencing with the tooth that was prepped for a crown. I’ve now been booked in to see a specialist on Tuesday: an endodontist. I find it curious that an endodontist is a specialist (according to the Wikipedia link) in the “inside [of] the tooth”. So, all that drilling, grinding and scraping a normal dentist does, that’s on the outside? News to me: seems odd that it hurts like it does. Apparently, endodontists are the guys who do root canals- I was really sort of hoping to avoid that, but the pain trumps my desire to minimize time in the dentists chair, I guess.