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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Playing The Phils.

There have been some pretty odd ideas used for cartoons over the years.  An example would be Rambo and the Forces of Freedom, a kid's cartoon spun off Sylvester Stallone's Rambo movies.  But somehow I doubt we'll be seeing a cartoon based on poker anytime soon.  But you never know.  Watching poker this morning the thought came to mind that if somone were to do a poker cartoon based on Phil Hellmuth the obvious choice to do his voice would be veteran voice actor Billy West.  West wouldn't have much trouble doing a voice recognisable as Helmuth's.  It would be even more appropriate given that one of West's best know roles is that of Phillip J. Fry on the cartoon Futurama, and Hellmuth is a Phillip J. as well.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Put Down The Bottle.

Do you drink bottled water?  I do very rarely.  I've bought the occasional bottle for use when I'm going to spend a lot of time outside just because it's convenient to carry.  But if you do so thinking you're drinking something more healthy than tap water, think again.  A new study shows that in Canada at least numerous brands of bottled water contain noticeable levels of bacteria.  I would guess this is the same elsewhere.  It seems the industry has done a very good job of convincing us their product is healther than what comes out of the typical tap when this isn't the case, and making a very good profit doing so.  The heterotropic bacteria found apparently won't harm most healthy people, but they're a clear sign the bottlers aren't putting much effort into producing a pure product, and one can't help but wonder what else has made its way into bottled water.

Given that some bottled water brands are produced by the soft drink manufacturers perhaps it's time someone did a study on the microorganism content of those products as well.  I would imagine some of them would just love the sugar content of a Coke or Pepsi.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Narrow Perspective.

Get too interested in the world of celebrities and you might lose sight of the rest of the world.  A brief article about today's ABC Nightline interview with Jesse James caught my eye.  Kat Angus of Canwest News Service describes James' comment that he's currently the most hated man in the world as "the understatement of the century."  I wonder if Angus is serious or mocking here.  If the former that strikes me as rather dumb.  A large percentage of people on this planet have no clue who James is, let alone hate him.  Even a lot of those who do just roll their eyes at the reports on his stupidity, having better things to engage their emotions.  And taken at face value James likely isn't even the most hated man in America these days given how many people have a hate on against Barack Obama.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Gas In Saskatoon, May 21, 2010.

It's a holiday long weekend, but the price of gas actually dropped.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 101.9 cents a litre at most locations.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Remember This?



I don't know about you, but I always wondered what Parks Canada was thinking using this piece of music in their 1980s ads.  I like it(nice Minimoog lead), but it's hardly the kind of thing you'd think would attract people to parks.  It sounds more appropriate as a sci fi, spy, or mystery TV theme.  And of course I'll ask the obvious question, does anyone know what music is?

Bull Of It.

I don't drink Red Bull.  But today I came across an empty can, which I grabbed for my recycling pile.  Another ten cents is always nice.  As I walked along I read the warnings on it.  The "recommended daily dose" is one can.  You're not supposed to drink more than 500 millilitres a day of it(one can being 355 millilitres).  Children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers aren't supposed to drink it, and you're not supposed to mix it with alcohol.    I wonder how many people actually pay attention to that set of warnings.  I suspect lots don't, and probably wonder why they have problems without guessing the cause, drinking too much of that stuff.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Tea Partiers Want To Be More Like Canada?

Considering a lot of the stuff that's commonly believed by the Tea Party crowd in the States I've tended to assume that they probably don't like Canada much.  But maybe I'm wrong.  Apparently a lot of them want to repeal the 17the Amendment of the US Constitution, which allows direct election of Senators.  Instead they want appointment of Senators to be in the hands of state governments.  That would make it a lot closer to the Canadian Senate, whose members are chosen by the Prime Minster and are not voted for by individual Canadians.   This is ironic given that the most common idea for Senate reform in Canada is to make it elected, although there are also those, like the New Democratic Party, who want the Senate abolished.  Alberta has had elections to fill its Senate candidates, and the current Saskatchewan Party government in Saskatchewan wants to do the same, but the results of these elections are not binding on the Prime Minister.  So it's kind of amusing to see the Tea Partiers move in the other direction.

Free Preview.

If you want some heat, come to Saskatoon over the next couple of days.  They're predicting Summer type weater conditions over the next few days, with the high reaching 30 Centigrade (86 F.) on Tuesday.  A bit odd for the middle of May.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Axe For Idiots.

Have you seen the recent batch of ads for various Ax products?  The company is maintaining its traditional subbasement level standards of ad quality.  One of them is for a deodorant that apparently changes scents as time passes.  It includes a line about how women are easily bored, which is apparently why you should use the product.  This strikes me as just a particularly blatant example of the subtext that runs through all the Ax ads, namely that Ax customers are a bunch of sexist twits.  I wonder how many of the intended target audience get that and as a result avoid Ax products because they've been insulted.

What Was The Sitch?

While riding on the bus today I heard someone's cell phone let out a familiar sound, the "ditditdidit" sound of the Kimmunicator from Disney's Kim Possible cartoon.  A good choice for a ringtone in my opinion, since it's short and low key.  Not familiar with the sound?  You can hear it in the brief YouTube clip below.

Friday, May 07, 2010

Children's Wisdom.

Yesterday while going about my business I was walking towards a woman pushing a little kid in a stroller.  She slowed down a bit to light up a cigarette.  The little guy was looking towards me and shook his head, as if agreeing with me that she shouldn't be smoking around him.

Monday, May 03, 2010

We Approve.

vaccinate

The Saskatoon Health Region has recently started a billboard compaign promoting vaccinating children under two.  Besides the bus ad above I've also seen a billboard as well.  It does make me wonder if there's a lot of antivax nonsense floating around Saskatoon that they feel the need to counter.

Vaccinate your kids.  The antivax arguments are not only silly, they are a risk to childhood health since they lead to children not being vaccinated.