Princess Diary

back in the comments under the touch-sight camera post, Nikki said she liked our blog and wondered if she could have a plug. Why sure! Anybody who likes us deserves mention, hahaha!

For those who enjoy it when Trixie pops upt to speak, you'll love her blog. It's a whole blog from the perspective of her guide dog, Coral. Nikki, you're better than I. I couldn't come up with a whole blog full of Trixie's thoughts.

So go check it out. I'm sure Nikki, er, Coral, would be happy to see you.

Yea WebVisum

Heeheehee! I think people can hear me giggle for miles! Heeheeheehee! Why? Because, hahahahaheeheeheehohohohoho, I have finally put those damned fucking blasted son of a bitch goddamn piece of shit graphical word verification thingies in their place. I'll never say I've put them in their place forever, because they'll always find another way to crop up and cause more misery. But for the first time, I have seen something that I can successfully use to decode them that isn't a set of functioning human eyeballs.

What is it? It's called WebVisum! It's an add-on for Firefox. I have never had a desire to use Firefox, but I'll use it in this case, because it's cool. I've already been able to comment on a blog that I've never been able to comment on before, so that's way sweet. All you do is press control alt 6, and it sends the captcha to servers at WebVisum, and within a few seconds, the result is in your clipboard, ready to paste in! How super awesome cool is that?

I still have a ton to learn, so can't give a detailed description of WebVisum or Firefox, but just with a few keys explained in help, I've already been able to use it for the purpose I downloaded it. Both Firefox and WebVisum are easy as pie to install, at least they were for me, and you can even import your favourites from IE into Firefox. For WebVisum to work, you have to create an account, but that's all well-explained and pretty basic.

Here are a couple extra links that might be useful. WebVisum How To and Firefox with screen-readers FAQ. Have fun.

So wooo! Security graphics don't keep this blink away...until they become too hard for WebVisum to decode.

Say Swiss Cheese!

I don't want to completely slag Chueh Lee. I really think he has the best of intentions. I guess I just want to ask the question. Would you, as a blind person, want a touch-sight camera? You're supposed to aim the camera by...placing it against your forehead? Then when you snap a picture, it will show you a braille-like image that you can feel on something similar to a braille display.

Perhaps I am alone here, but I never found that tactile things could be translated directly from images people saw. I found that the more detail someone placed in a tactile map to make it image-like, the less I understood. Tactile maps are great if they're simple. They can convey messages better than explaining something until the cows come home. But once you put too much detail in it, for me, it becomes blurry and unintelligible. And that, I'm afraid, is what this camera's images would be for its user.

Plus, the joy of pictures is the ability to share them with others. Yes, you can share these with other touch-sight camera users, but noone else. You can't show the picture to your mom and say, "Look at my dog chewing on her bone! Isn't she cute?"

But, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe some blinks would actually find having tactile pictures to be rewarding. Maybe I'm all wet. Maybe something useful will come out of this invention. I hope so, since this camera will likely cost an arm and a leg. It has a braille display in it, and as soon as you put a braille display in something, you can jump the price up a few grand. Yes, a few grand.

So, am I crazy? Would you want one of these?

Today's Handy Criminal Tip

If you plan to tell the cops that you are not who they think you are, it's best to first make sure thatyou do not have your last name tattooed on the side of your head.Do I make myself clear, Sterling F. Wolfname?

Doctor Penfield, I Smell Burnt Toast! And Computer Parts! And Curtains! And...

We've written about a lot of ridiculous gadgets here over the years, but I'm not sure if I've seen anything with quite as much disaster causing potential as this5.25 Inch Bay Toaster.I think thecented oil burnermight come close, but there seems to be more room for property loss here.

Dog Pile

As promised, here comes the dog stuff.

Man, I've had a lot of funny little kid stories to do with Trixie. There's this baby that barks at us as we approach. At first I thought it was a real dog, but then I realized it was a kid in a stroller! Man, I had a good giggle.

Another kid consistently calls her "work doggy". As we pass, I always here, "Hello, work doggy."

I think that's the same kid who surprised me with a strange question one day. As Trixie and I were walking down the driveway, The kid spoke up and said, "Excuse me. Is your dog still a little wacky?" I had to think for a second, and managed to remember one day when Trixie may have tried to sniff her in a doorway and I might have said, "Sorry about that, Trixie's being a little wacky." That kid is always taking notes on everything around her. I wonder if she'll end up being a reporter or something.

Some kids are trained better than the parents. I keep forgetting to write this down, but I was in the mall a few months ago, and as I walked past a family, a kid who sounded like he was barely old enough to talk yelled, "working doggy! don't touch!" I turned around and said that was one smart kid. The other day, another one actually walked up to me, and politely asked, "Can I please pet your dog?" When he put it that way, I couldn't say no. I took off the harness and let kid and dog have a meet and greet. I thanked him for being so nice about it.

Now, I just have to get those darling little kids to train some rude assholes that pass for grown-ups. there was one sharing the elevator with me, and he bitterly said, "So we can't touch her, eh?" I said I only let people pet her when she's out of harness. I was about to say that I could walk outside and take the harness off and let him pet her if he wanted, but he changed my mind by barking back, "so...we can pet her only while she's taking a dump?" With an attitude like that, Mister, you won't even get to pet her then.

I noticed the other day that she's figured out that the word "doggy!" might have to do with her. As we were walking, some kids yelled, "Doggy!" Zoom! The head looked over in their direction. I told her to never mind and she was fine, but I'm sure she's learned that doggy means her.

She also responds to something else weird, she knows what Johnny Slow Lane means. Long story. The other day, Trixie tried to take a long and involved sniff of the kitchen floor. She tried to make like she was just passin' through the kitchen towards the balcony or some other good place to hang out, but I said if she was just passing through, she was in the slow lane. Then for some reason, the next time she did it, Steve said "Hey Johnny Slow Lane!" Zoom! She came out of the kitchen in a hurry. God damn, this dog is smart.

I think Trixie should have been a male because she doesn't like to shop. Every time we go in a big store, she always wants to find the exit as fast as possible. Once, after I found what I wanted and had to go pay for it, she tried to make for the exit! Are you trying to turn me into a shoplifter and make yourself into my getaway vehicle?

Some people try to praise my dog for me. It's hilarious. Once, we were walking and Trixie stopped at a driveway because someone was coming out of it. As the car drove by, through the open window, I swear I heard a man say, "Good boy!" That cracked me up.

A while ago, in another post, I mentioned the trouble I had with family members and the dog. I forgot one thing. When I had just brought Trixie home, my dad hadn't quite got the idea that you don't ask permission to bring the dog into public places. You just don't. We drove up to a fancy restaurant, and dad went in first to see if we had to wait or something, and then I heard that he asked if the dog could come in. I had to explain to him that they don't have the right to deny the dog access, and asking permission gives them the false impression that they can say no. He did learn pretty fast, I have to give him credit.

I mentioned my most successful Trixie-bathing experience in a comment thread the other day, but it was so awesome that I thought it deserved a spot in a post. Believe it or not, I've only had to bathe Trix three times since I got her. I guess because her hair is so short, she doesn't get smelly real quick, and after the switch away from Eukanuba, I feel I can go even longer. Anyway, I was pretty prowd of her first bath, but had my confidence shaken by the second bath. First of all, I had to fight tooth and nail to get her in the tub. Second, she kept jumping out. There was water every frickin where! Oh I was so frustrated and tired by the end, and Steve was laughing and saying that was more his image of what bathing a dog was like. I was defeated.

This time, I got prepared. I got a little suction cup thingamabob with a string thing on it that I could attach her collar to, so in theory, it would keep her from jumping out. The suction cup didn't work really well,but it gave me something else to grab other than a slippery dog. But I think the most important thing I did was listen to that little dog voice. It said, "You've been going too fast! You scare me! Slow down!" So I did. I took my sweet time. I just had her sit for a while in the tub and I talked to her and stuff. I went really slowly, and she hardly riggled at all. She tolerated everything with so little fighting that there was hardly any water anywhere. Now, was that really so hard? Why couldn't I get the signals before? Why did I have to move so fast? I guess I heard she liked showers, so I didn't think I had to go slow . But maybe my tub is different than the shower she was used to.

It's official, I have a cool dog. But I knew this before. I dropped a quarter a few days ago. I looked and looked and looked, but I couldn't find it! I knew it was near my bed or Trixie's bed. I was starting to worry that Trixie had chewed on it or something stupid. Nope. When I finally found it, it lay untouched right next to her bed. How awesome is that?

Trixie does something really weird. If one of us is sicker than usual and needs to lie down for a while, she keeps coming over to the sick one and licking them. It's not just a passing slurp. It's big licks! She has to be told to stop! She bugged the hell out of Steve the other day when he had a migraine! What is she trying to do, heal him with her tongue?

And that's about it. I hope this stuff isn't too boring.

It's Not Quite The Same

So Track & Field has finally gotten started in Beijing and I can't help but notice a rather obvious absence from Team Canada... and it's not someone you might think.

This is the first time in my lifetime that I have sat down to watch an Olympic Games, or really any major Canadian sporting event, and not heard the voice of Don Wittman.

One of my most vivid memories of sports came in 1996 during the Atlanta Olympics. I was 13 years old and I was at Wayne Gretzky's Restaurant in Toronto with my Aunt and Uncle after spending a day there with them doing a bunch of different things. We had sat down for dinner there but it was a Saturday night and the place also can serve as a sports bar so it was pretty crowded and rowdy given the fact that it was the Olympics.

I remember our food had just arrived and I hadn't really been paying much attention to the TV screens that were everywhere - but the crowd got kind of quiet for a moment and I could hear Don Wittman running down the list of men who were about to run the 100 metre final so I looked up knowing it would be a 10 second race and my dinner would likely be able to wait. (a discipline we all know Steve would never have been able to take part in)

We all know the rest. (or you should!) Donovan Bailey won the Olympic Gold medal in the 100 metre dash and set a World Record at the same time and Don's call of the race is still crystal clear in my head.

Ever since then whether it be Olympic Games or Grey Cup's or whatever else, important in Canada, that was going on in sports - he was there.

He of course passed away not too long ago so this is the first major event where it is painfully obvious that "Wow - normally this would be Don's voice".

This year it will be Mark Lee doing the honours and he seems to be doing a fine job.... but it's just not the same.

Random post time

There are two random posts coming: one non-dog, and one dog. Isn't that scary? I have enough drivel to categorize it. Hmmm. Maybe it's not as random as I thought. Let's start with the non-dog stuff.

For some unknown reason, I was thinking about that Raffi song "Oats and beans and Barley" (sorry, the song isn't complete) and noticed something. He's trying to tell kids how stuff grows. He mentions planting seeds, and then he mentions the sun, but he never mentions the rain. Last time I checked, oats and beans and barley would kinda shrivel up and die if they didn't get any rain. Oh here I go again, ripping apart Kids' songs.

I should have put this one in my Raffi post, but somehow it got forgotten. I remember when I was a kid and listened to "Walk, Walk, Walk" and thinking, "why does Raffi go to school?" I was so confused. "Does he teach there? Does he walk his kids? I'd never seen a big man at school unless he was teaching or cleaning or something." God I was a weird kid. But I did notice that Raffi liked orange juice. The things you remember.

While I'm still gabbling about being a kid, I have to ask this question. Have hot-air balloons gotten better? If not, how the hell can that be called romantic? When I was about 4, I heard about the joy of floating in a hot-air balloon. It was such a fun ride, and you floated along. That's what I heard. So, being a little kid, I wanted to do that. As luck would have it, we won a hot-air balloon ride. I was so excited the day we were going to go flying in a big balloon. The first day we tried, the wind was too strong. So, we came back another day. I was excited all over again. Finally, after all the waiting, we were in the basket. AS we went up, there was this horrible roaring over my head! I couldn't hear anything but that roaring. Every time someone tried to speak, it would go off again. I thought maybe this would happen until we were up, and then it would stop, but it never did. I hardly felt any movement. Mosquitos made meals of my legs as this hot thing roared right above my head. Eventually I got kind of scared and our ride was brought to an early end, but what a disappointment! There was no floating, there was no piece, just this hot thing roaring over my head. Nobody could talk. How can that be enjoyable by any stretch of the imagination?

Here's the dumbest invention ever. Why are there bags without handles? I mean, I understand garbage bags not having handles, but why are there such things in a store? Why would such a thing have a reason to exist? I always thought when I put something in a bag at a store, it's because I didn't want to hold it in my hands. If I don't want to hold it in my hands, I would want to put it on my arm or something? So, why would I choose a bag with no handles? AT that point, I might as well hold the items in my hands.

I had this brought to my attention when I went to buy more vacuum bags. I bought a couple of packages of them, and the dude just sort of handed them to me. I really didn't feel like holding them in my only free hand, so I asked for a bag. I even said why I wanted a bag. What did he do? He went to get me one, and came back and gave me one without handles! So now, instead of holding 2 things, I'm holding 1, but it's still occupying my free hand. I eventually shoved the bag in my pocket, but it really made me wonder why such bags are even made.

What is with news reporters pronouncing Beijing funny these days? Before the olympics, they would just say Beijing. Now, they say it like Bay Jing. It's like they say the j like you do when you say "juice". What's up with that? Is that the new pronunciation? At first, I laughed it off as one idiot reporter who might also tell us to check the addict for ass-pest-tose, but it was showing up everywhere. Is there a reason? If it's the new pronunciation, personally I think it sounds ugly.

The last thing that's been floating around my head is a frustration with companies who buy up a whole bunch of phone numbers that they think will be cute and easy to remember. Rogers and AOL spring to mind. Goddamn it, all the numbers just go back to the main number, so why not stick to one number that I can remember instead of confusing the hell out of me?

And that's about it for the non-dog stuff. You just wait until I break out the doggy things. Now that, that's a thought pile.

Too Much Weirdness!

I'm really freaked out with the number of random weird violent things that have been going on lately. The psychology part of me says that my mind is just playing tricks on me, and I'm only noticing them because of the whole Greyhound bus tragedy, and how grusome it was. But it still freaks me out. We have him, then this guy in Greece, who doesn't seem to have a violent past. Next we have the stabbing of Todd and Barbara Bachman in Beijing just out of the blue, after which the attacker leaped to his death, so we'll never know why he did what he did. Not enough? How about the Vancouver hammer attacks? And I still have more! I just saw it this morning. Denis Roland Bousquet, who was a regular customer at a dive shop, randomly went nuts and started threatening strangers with a spear gun.

The psychology part of me can say all it wants that I'm falling victim to the availability heuristic, but it has a losing battle. The rest of me wonders what the fuck is going on in this world. It wonders if I'm going to walk down the street and someone's going to turn lunatic on me and that'll be the end of me. Here comes the hand of psychology. "Stop being such a fool!" How that sentence isn't effective, even though it should be. It just isn't.

I'm not saying I'm going to hide away so the boogieman can't get me, but I just can't shake the thought that something weird is going on. It's completely illogical, but it makes me think of a book I read last October. It was a lame Stephen King book called "The Cell", and it was all about how cell towers were taken over by some terrorists and everyone who used their cellphone went nuts. I know the incidents aren't that widespread, but it's still a creepy thought.

Ok I'm going to shut up and stop sounding like the stupid girl out of a cheesy horror movie now. You can all feel free to laugh at me.

Castro Music

If you've ever thought to yourself self, I wish I could get my hands on some country songs, 1960's style pop ditties and polkas about Fidel Castro, well,today is your lucky day.

I especially recommend Charlie Stewart & the Gem Tones' Hey! Castro and Jay Chevalier & the Moon Men's Castro rock.

If instrumentals are more your thing, then you can't go wrong with Fidel, a pretty cool jazz number by Jackie McLean and of course Conjunto Bernal's Fidel Castro Polka.

There's some other interesting stuff in there, but to me, these are top of the heap.

Ok, on with the comments about how I'm way too easily amused and how gay these songs are.

Good Songs Of Years Gone By

Here's somewhere you can go if you're feeling nostalgic.

Do you wonder what song was no. 1 on a certan day, the day you were born, perhaps? Well, this site can answer your question. The only sucky thing is the clips of the songs only play in ITunes. Yuck to that! It's kind of sad watching music get better and better as you go back in time. Enjoy.

Dead Puppies Aren't Much Fun

When I first saw a reference to this story, I freaked out. The reference was worded like this: "Cops: Puppy was dissected for high school biology assignment". Then there were mentions of Animal Control. So, I thought some kids went and somehow obtained a live puppy from Animal Control, killed it, and cut it open. But that isn't the story, not at all, and I'm left shaking my head.

The teacher wanted them to dissect an animal. It's not clear where they were supposed to find the dead animal, but they were supposed to find and dissect it at home. It said at one point that they were to find a dead wild animal, but that was in the statement that said if they couldn't find a dead wild animal, they could go get one from Animal Control, and the whole Animal Control part is being denied. Now people are freaking out because they dissected a dead puppy.

So...let me get this straight. Everybody would have been fine if they brought home some dead raccoon and sliced him open on the kitchen table? I don't have a problem with the type of animal. I have a problem with the biology teacher telling kids to home-dissect animals. I see so many flaws. First, even if mom and pop sign a permission slip, they may not supervise as much as they should. Even if they do, they may not know how to make sure their kid doesn't contaminate themselves in some way. Plus, I know the kid took pictures, but how is there any opportunity to explain things if they're at home and the people around don't know much about animal anatomy either? How is this educational?

Then there's the matter of how the animal died. If it died and the type of death left it kind of, well, odd, then kids are learning on a flawed model of anatomy. Again, how is this educational? It's kind of like teaching kids spelling and grammar based on recent issues of the Guelph Mercury.

Seriously. Is the school so broke that it can't obtain proper specimens? This is a bad sign.

Hold The Land Phone!

This is funny, but I can't say I completely agree with him about everything. Sure, a ton of people are switching to VOIP and cellular phones and abandoning the landline, but I don't think it's just the new wave and we should make a toast to the land phone and call it an antique and give up on it. I think the people switching to wireless and VOIP are foolish.

He mentions the blackout of 2003. That's exactly why I think they're fools. Why make one more important thing rely on electricity? Back then, the phone still worked. I know it relies on wee bits of electricity, but the point is it was independent of the main hydro. The hydro was out, but we could still check on family members and make sure they were ok, and people could still call 911 if they needed help. Speaking of 911, 911+VOIP=disastrous, 911+landline=the only way. I know things can improve in that regard, but that's way too much of a risk for me to take, personally.

And I can't figure out what's even remotely affordable about having the cell as your primary phone. I just don't get it. I haven't found a plan that comes close to the land phones' plans. Have I not looked hard enough? The way I see it, by switching back to the cell, you're going back to the days when you really had to budget your time on the phone and only call people if absolutely necessary. Why choose that over the landlines where you can have so much more freedom?

And ug, don't even get me started on the quality of VOIP calls. I've had some really good calls on them, but I've had some really shitty calls too. I can't say I've had a single shitty call on a land phone where pieces of the caller's words were digested by some kind of internet void or there were delays. It just doesn't happen.

When the day comes when I'm forced to go VOIP, I'll kick, scream and cry. Why get rid of a technology that's been rock-solid and reliable for decades?

Rogerbils

I always knew the folks who worked the phones at Rogers were a bunch of zombies, but this pissed me off more than anything else.

The other day, I got a call from a 1-800 number. I knew it was a telemarketer, but when a new number comes through, I like to pick it up once to see if it's a business I do deal with, or whether it's garbage so next time it calls, I know what to do. I picked up the phone, and a voice said "This is Tom from Rogers. You are a valued customer and we want to offer you a $5 discount on your bill. Press 1 to speak to a Rogers advisor." I pressed 1, and a computerized voice said "Transferring your call." That gave me a creepy feeling, since there is such a thing as vishing, or phishing over the phone, and some of them use electronic voices to automate the process. I got my defenses up, deciding if they asked me for any personal information, I would just hang up. But a voice then said they were experiencing technical difficulties, and hung up on me.

For a minute, I was relieved, but then I wondered if I had been the victim of some other scam that I didn't know about. So, I thought the best thing would be to call Rogers and ask them, right? Why not ask the business if such a promotional program was being carried out? Then I would know that in fact I was contacted by Rogers, they are just being sucky as usual and can't get their phone system to work. It wouldn't surprise me. Part of me said this was futile, because most Rogers phone drones are lucky if they can carry out basic requests. I didn't think they could handle something unusual. But what else could I do?

So, I phoned up Rogers and asked for Billing. I didn't know what else to do. I got a guy who rattled off the usual Rogers greeting, and I asked him my question. I even read him the number off the caller ID and wondered if he could look up that number and see if it was associated with Rogers. He wouldn't even try! He said I shouldn't worry about it, but he didn't know of such a program and didn't recognize the number. Then, shouldn't I worry? I asked him to check with someone, and he wouldn't!

Then, to top it off, he tried to sell me shit. he told me he could give me more than a $5 discount on my bill. He could save me $15. I asked him how, and he told me about this package of TV channels I could get. It was $41, but for the first three months, it would be free for me. I asked him what would happen after that. He said it would go up to its usual price and I could decide whether or not to keep it.

Then I got mad. Not only did he refuse to make sure I hadn't been scammed, he tried to scam me too! If I wasn't paying attention, I would have been in for a real surprise four months down the road when my bill spiked and I didn't know why.

Damn you, Rogers, why do you and Bell have to be so comparable in service options and shitty agents that it's not worth switching? That kind of shit makes me want to take all my business elsewhere. Why do you bother to ask that stupid question, "Have I resolved the reason for your call today?" I did notice that this dickweed didn't ask that question at the end. I think he knew the answer was a resounding no.

Something Tells Me This Book Won't Be Available In The Ludington Library

I don't know how to feel about this story. A librarian in the small town of Ludington wrote an unflattering book about her experience in the library. She did use a pen name, but she used a picture of her town's library on the cover. Soon enough, because people could figure out who she was talking about in her book, she was suspended, then fired.

Ok, on the one hand, it was based out of a fictional town in a fictitious library, so nobody got named, so noone was being slandered. But on the other, is it really a good idea to badmouth people with highly-recognizable characteristics in a small town, and then slap a picture of that small town's library on the cover? She said she used the picture because it looked like your stereotypical library. Couldn't she pick another one that wasn't located where she was from? I think it's ironic that she got fired for writing a book when she works at a library, a place that's supposed to encourage free speech. It's just such an odd story.

Toronto Gets Buffalo'd

So this week the Buffalo Bills play their first of 8 games over the next few years at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. There will be a regular season game each year for the next 5 year and a pre-season game every other year for a total of 8 games over 5 years.

Now I will say that I am a bigger fan of the CFL than the NFL and am an Argonauts fan far before am I am a Buffalo Bills fan.

That said, I do think that the Bills coming up here is a good thing. They're clearly testing out the market to see if the city can bare an NFL franchise.

Here's the kicker. The average ticket price for the pre-season game this week i Toronto is $400. That's right! FOUR HUNDRED! That's not even the best seat in the house. That is the average price. Sure there are some cheaper - but there some more expensive.

Now, there are articles in Buffalo newspapers and people talking on American radio saying that Toronto is not in to the NFl because this thing is not sold out. We must not be good football fans or we would jump at anything with the NFL logo on it. Are you kidding? Let's look at this a little more objectively instead of through homer glasses.

As I said, I am not a huge NFL fan - but I certainly considered going to check out a game just for the spectacle. But at these prices? We're not stupid up here. The problem with this pre-season game not selling out is not that we're not football fans who don't get the game - it's that we ARE football fans who DO understand EXACTLY what this is.

This is a PRE-SEASON game! It means nothing in the standings, half the actual starters won't even play and the ones who do will likely see a quarter at the most. And I'm going to shell out $400 for one seat? $800 if I'd like to take a date or my kid or something with me? Piss off!

This was a money grab from day one. Some corperations have bought in and some people with too much money on their hands - but the average football fan is not stupid.

I was talking to my buddy about this who goes to Buffalo every year to watch a Bills game. Let me tell you his story.

He lives in Oakville. About 20 minutes west of Toronto and about a 90 minute drive from Buffalo. His options for this season are simple. Buy a $400 ticket to see the Bills at Rogers Centre in Toronto and still have to worry about buying beers, gas, parking and whatever else he might run in to - or he can do what he did last year. Let me tell you what that is.

Ever year he pays $150 to go see a Bills game in Buffalo. For that he gets, his ticket to the game, a ticket on to a Greyhound bus full of guys leaving from Toronto who also all want to go, a bunch of beers, food at a talegate party and the luxary to not have to worry about driving there or back if he chooses to partake in the more rowdy side of tailgating. All for $250 cheapr than just the ticket in Toronto to see the same team.

Ya... that's a real headscrather. What to do, what to do!

Look, the NFL will work in Toronto if they decide to move a team up here. Southern Ontario has something like 9 million people living in it. It would work. But don't fuck people. Charge out the ass for your first few rows of people in suits like you do at everything else in the city and then let the real fans in to enjoy it. As it stands now, it looks pretty good on the organizers that their attempt at a money grab has not sold out the building and they are now reduced to the embarassment of giving away tickets just so the building looks full.

For the record. the top seats at Leaf games or only $250 a shot... and there isn't one person in Ontario that would tell you a pre-season Buffalo Bills game should be able to charge more than the Leafs - even if you hate them. Supply and demmand. There appears to be demmand for the Leafs.... apparently not the same demmand for the Bills at that price.

$800 for a night out. I can get Argo SEASON TICKETS for that! Piss off.

Dear Future Generations Of Swedes:

You have my deepest sympathies. And remember, when the day comes that you've had enough and finally snap, it wasn't me who decided that your idiot parents should be allowed to name you something stupid like Budweiser. The guy you want to lay the beating on is Lars Tegenfeldt, and you might want to consider going after the people he works for down at the Tax authority. Just listen to what he said before you were born.

"There is nothing negative about a name like Coca-Cola or McDonald's."

Easy for him to say. Nobody teases guys named Lars Tegenfeldt just because they're named Lars Tegenfeldt. They have to be geeks or wet their pants or make bad decisions about what people can call you first.

The Fake News Alerts Get Scarier

The other day, I talked about fake emails from CNN and Microsoft that were actually viruses. Well, they've gotten even creepier. Now, they say they're coming from MSNBC, and they make it look like the link is a raw link that goes where it should, but it isn't. So, if you get news alerts, and suddenly, raw links are showing up in your emails, don't believe they go where they say they do. Check to make sure they actually do by right clicking on the link, copying the shortcut and looking at it somewhere else. Of course, if you don't receive news alerts, just delete the email. I know, duh, but I have to say it.

Let me show you what I mean by the link looks like a raw link but doesn't go where it should. Suppose I said go to http://www.google.ca . Where would you assume that went. Google, right? Does it?

Now, if you right clicked that link and chose copy shortcut and then pasted what you got somewhere like notepad or an email, you would find out where it really goes. The shortcut can't lie. I don't know if when you right click the link, its real location shows up on the screen, but that's the only way I know to get at it.

So, watch out. Those nasty virus-creating pricks are getting even sneakier.

A Moooovie

does this kid sound even remotely like a cow to you? He sounds like a cow who's been shrunk and stuck in a can.
And his parents seem, hmmm, a little slow, as does he. Keep in mind, he's 8.

Matt's Song of the Week

I've had this song stuck in my head all week. It's called Give Me A Reason (remix) by the Brandon Paris Band.

Normally I'm not in to this bland kinda stuff but it's catchy. i don't know if there was another version released first but this has a Reggae type of remix to it which I'm kinda digging too. Just a fun little summer tune. I know what you're thinking whenyou hear (remix) but trust me... it's not that kinda tune.

Check it out.