Here's a fast way to donate to the disaster relief fund being coordinated by the Red Cross. It's via Amazon and if you refresh your page you will see how fast the contributions are adding up. Cash is the most effective way of helping out so let's move a bunch in the direction of the Indian Ocean! Our Asian brothers and sisters desperately need our assistance.

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I have found this 'blog' on the web that is attempting to coordinate assistance for the tsunami victims with those best able to provide that assistance. I would urge everyone to monitor this site as there may be something you, or someone you know can do to make a positive contribution to the massive relief effort now underway.

Point your browser [HERE] to view the 'Help Needed' blog I refer to.

As other ways of assisting become available I will post them here. You may want to check out this CNN site that is attempting to coordinate appeals for information concerning friends and loved ones in the affected area. Keep checking back as I am reasonably good at digging obscure information from the far corners of 'the net'.

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On Sunday, December 26th a colossal 9.0 tsunamigenic earthquake precipitated a disaster of epic proportions. Tens of thousands have perished and survivors could use your assistance. I know that many think this is the time to empty the attic and "send it over". Well I'm going to tell you that unless you have portable generators, desalination plants, or refrigerated containers in your attic then what you need to do immediately is send CASH. To assist you in contributing to the disaster relief efforts I have provided some information below that will direct you to sites that have been set up to accept your donations. Trust me, "This is not a scam!"

Hasta Luego

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This just in from the BBC:

Thousands of people have been killed across southern Asia in massive sea surges triggered by the strongest quake in the world for 40 years.

The 8.9 magnitude quake struck... [read more here]

Anyhow..., stay tuned as news reports are still coming in?

Hasta Luego y Feliz Navidad

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On the previous post I posted a picture of a 'Christmas Tree'. While I was looking for a Christmas Tree image I ran across one of a palm tree decorated as a Christmas Tree. It got me wondering about the tropics once again and for some reason I decided to do a quick search for any news from Spiral Island. It turns out Richie Sowa is doing just fine.

Note the Christmas Tree and Christmas decorations in the picture? That's Richie and his Canadian friend Randy and it looks as if Randy has just set up a new 'blog' dedicated to Spiral Island.

That's what Christmas is all about in the Tropics! It's pretty much the same as here except that you can dress a little lighter and you don't have to worry too much about hypothermia setting in should you happen to fall off your homemade floating island

Would that be Richie cooking his turkey with the Tropical Sun? That's a damn fine looking cooker Richie has there. I really like the 'Spiral Mosaic' done with with the broken mirrors. That cooker looks suspiciously like a satellite dish wouldn't you say? Those old satellite dishes make an excellent roof for the chicken coop as well. If you were using that cooker up here in Canada at this time of year you would have to have it just about up on it's side.

Anyhow..., looks like Richie has been busy.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can guarantee it won't be a 'green iguana nugget'.

Hasta Luego y Feliz Navidad

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Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad and a belated Festivus!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'frozen reindeer nugget'.

Hasta Luego y Feliz Navidad

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This just in from the Australian:

THE world's biggest earthquake in almost four years has struck 800km off the coast of Tasmania, Australian seismological officials... [read more here]

Anyhow..., wonder what Taz has to say about that?

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will say today it's likely a 'Tazmanian Devil nugget'.

Hasta Luego y Feliz Navidad

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Yikes!!!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I can't guarantee it won't be a 'frozen reindeer nugget'.

Hasta Luego y Feliz Navidad

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I've been building things lately and it really annoys me every time I have to use the tape measure to measure something. Because..., you see..., it would appear that some 'lefty' special interest group has successfully lobbied the tape measure manufacturers to produce nothing but left handed tape measures.

Let me, for a moment, explain the inherent 'flaw' with tape measures. If you're building something and you need to measure and mark that something you will be holding the tape measure in your left hand and your carpenter's pencil in your right hand - providing, of course, that you're right handed. It's just a whole bunch easier and more accurate to run the pencil in the hand that has the finest motor control don't you think? Well why is it then that all us right handed people have to read the numbers on the tape measure upside down and backasswards? Was Stanley or Lufkin a lefty or did a lefty catch them doing something they shouldn't have been doing? There has to be some kind of an explanation. How hard would it be to make an ambidextrous tape measure? Not too bloody difficult if you ask me. Why hasn't it been done long before now? Damn good question!

We have come a long way in the last hundred years or so. Technology has provided us with many things to make life easier or just more entertaining. Modern medicine has increased our life expectancy and we see many solutions to age old problems on the horizon or just in front of us but we still don't have a right handed tape measure that's readily available in any hardware store. They're available but they sure aren't easy to find.

Anyhow..., write some letters, join a protest rally or do what ever it takes to get a right handed tape measure in the hands of those that need it most - right handed 'do it yourselfers'!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'DIY Nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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OK..., so I figured it was about time to make a couple of minor changes so that this page renders a tad nicer in 'Internet Exploder'. The fonts should now render correctly after working around the broken way 'Internet Exploder' interprets CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). For those not convinced of the superiority of the Firefox web browser you should now benefit from a 'nicer' browsing experience. If you are still using 'Internet Exploder' I would highly suggest Firefox.

If you look straight up you will notice a link to the Mount Saint Helen's VolcanoCam. Who knows, you may be the lucky one to catch Mount Saint Helen's blowing it's top once again. Wouldn't that be interesting! It just might do it's thing at any moment.

I've also decided I need to try and generate a little income out of this site to cover ongoing expenses so I've provided a link to the left where you click to purchase award-winning graphics applications from the fine folks at Xara. These folks know how to 'code' graphics applications and it's evident by their 'lean' 'high performance' products.

Anyhow..., just thought I would bring these subtle changes to your attention in the event you may have missed them. The changes will be most noticeable to those who insist on using the inferior, bloated, insecure 'Internet Exploder'.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'browser nugget' spewed skyward by an active volcano.

Hasta Luego Y Feliz Navidad

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You know - I always thought Xmas was an American bastardization of Christmas but it appears I was mistaken. This is just one take on the name and I haven't researched it any further but it certainly sounds plausible.

Anyhow..., just thought I'ld run that past you all. Eh!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'reindeer nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Ok..., so we hear a lot about the way that government wastes money and I can't help but thinking that if they would just cut everybody a cheque - for the Yankees that would be 'check' and for newer Yankees 'chek' or 'chk' - it just may be the more prudent choice. Look at it this way, out of thirty million citizens a good chunk of those with good ideas but a lack of resources might just take the cheque and put it to good use like starting a business and hiring people and - Heaven forbid - paying taxes. Of course the ones that own shipping companies and such would likely just take the cheque and buy an expensive bottle of Scotch or something equally extravagant. Myself..., I would likely buy a six-pack of cheap beer - $4.99 - cheaper than bottled water for Heavens sake - and throw the rest at the credit card companies.

Now here's some 'real simple math' for you. Let's take the widely tossed around figure of one billion dollars for the 'gun registry'. Depending on where you're at that 'one billion' could mean 'a thousand million' or 'a million million' but I'm going to go with the 'thousand million' figure. Now lets say that the government in their infinite wisdom decides to hire ten thousand extra law enforcement officials for a year. That would give these newly employed law enforcement officers a fairly decent wage of a hundred thousand dollars a year. Of course that billion dollars would only last a year for that price and it would have to exclude all the incidentals such as 'training' and 'benefits' and such. None the less, that should put a severe dent in the criminal use of firearms don't you think?

Anyhow..., that's something to ponder the next time you open your daily newspaper or log into Bourqe to check - and that's not cheque this time - the latest headlines. Just take the billion dollars from the gun registry or the hundred and fifty from the 'Millenium Fund' or the millions spent on the lost cause of 'bilingualism' and the further billions in blatant waste and spread it around to the needy instead of the cronies. That would be the thing to do in the "Spirit of the Season' don't you think?

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'politically squandered nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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This will likely void your thousand year warranty. In honour of the Lawnchair Man this guy is offering Cluster Balloon Flights. What could possibly go wrong.

Anyhow..., just thought you may be interested to see what people with too much time on their hands do in their spare time.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it will likely leave a few 'fright nuggets' in your shorts.

Hasta Luego

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So..., have you ever given any thought on what you might be doing to keep yourself occupied in those 'twilight years' when you're eight or nine hundred years old? You might want to give it some thought after a quick read here.

Anyhow..., I've always been a fan of the, 'eat less - live longer' school of life extension. Back about a decade and a half ago I ran across this book and after flipping through it in the bookstore I just couldn't help myself and ended up making a spontaneous book purchase. It's a very interesting read.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be an 'octo-centarian nugget' or for that matter a 'kilo-centarian nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Now this is a pretty interesting chart comparing the price per gallon of various liquids. Just be thankful your car doesn't require scorpion venom!

Check it out for yourself here.

Anyhow..., that's something to think about next time you squirt a little 'go juice' in the vehicle.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'scorpion nugget'. Just out of curiosity..., I wonder how much a scorpion nugget is worth anyhow?

Hasta Luego

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Not only do we have some talented animators in Alberta it appears we have some talented elephants as well. Check out this story in the Edmonton Sun and if you figure you just have to have the latest and greatest elephant painting there's phone number at the bottom of the article. The area code is 780 for all you elephant art collectors out there.

Anyhow..., thought that was a bit unusual and worthy of a post.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be an 'elephant nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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My wife and kids enjoy the 'boob tube'. I suppose it does offer some entertainment even if it lacks the interactive factor. One thing they all enjoy is the latest animated films. I kind of find them a bit of a waste of time but that's just me. What does interest me is how they're made. Nowadays it's pretty much exclusively composed in front of the monitor instead of the drafting table. Applications like Maya, and Blender have replaced the pencil these last few years.

I suppose that's why the appropriately named Lost Pencil website caught my eye. This guy is most certainly a professional animator and his site shows it. Not to mention he's a fellow Albertan who lives just up the road in Airdrie.

Anyhow..., check out his site and if you're really intrigued you may just have to pony up a buck or two and order one of his highly acclaimed training DVD's.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'rendered rasterized nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Ok..., so I'm doing a little research today looking for a picture of a local attraction, a 'glacial erratic', the 'Big Rock'. That's when I stumbled across this very interesting site. Somebody has put some decent effort into this. I'm a bit puzzled as to why I hadn't run across it before considering one of my interests is archaeology as it pertains to North, Mezo and South America. As near as I can tell it's part of Canada's Digital Collections which I haven't had the chance to explore yet. I'll get around to it though.

Anyhow..., check out the ancient history of Alberta. It sure beats getting zoned in front of the 'boob tube'. You know, I always thought 'boob tube' was such a fitting name for the television.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'mastodon nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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This seems to be a 'hot topic' these days, and likely for good reason. As with all 'hot topics' they tend to bring the 'experts' and 'opinionated' out of the woodwork. I suppose that's why it's always refreshing when someone comes right out of left field with a different take on the subject. I really enjoyed this article by Jeremy Clarkson. I have no idea who he is but I found his 'bullying story' genuinely funny.

Anyhow..., just thought you may be interested in that. Nothing like a good chuckle to set your day straight.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'dog egg nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Well..., my friends have tossed in the towel and are preparing to leave for El Salvador. It's sad really as they have not been a burden to the system and have, in fact been a net contributor. I suppose what makes it so frustrating is that the Martin Liberals are embroiled in an Immigration controversy involving exotic dancers. What's equally disturbing about all this is that exotic dancers have been on the 'desirable skills' list for several years. When I was fighting with Immigration Canada to bring my family here I recall seeing exotic dancers on the list. Quite frankly, from my experience with Immigration Canada I wasn't the least bit surprised.

Anyhow..., I wish my Salvadoran friends well and hope that someday we can barbecue some triple "A" Alberta beef together on the Canadian side of the border.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'Triple "A" Alberta steer nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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I am attempting to assist friends who applied for refugee status approximately three years ago. From what I can sort out their claim has been very poorly handled by Immigration Canada.

At one time I used to hear these stories and think to myself, "That just can't possibly be true. This is Canada, you just can't do that sort of thing." After fighting with Immigration Canada for the better part of four years I feel I can now speak with some authority. Oh..., and just to set the record straight, "Those stories have a real good chance of being true and yes, these things do happen in Canada and you're probably right, it probably is illegal!"

In just a few days my Salvadoran wife and four kids will have been in Canada for five years. To say that getting them here was difficult would be an understatement. It was nothing short of a nightmare that left me broke and frustrated even though I was ultimately successful. If it weren't for my tenacity we would have given up early in the process. It was very hard for me to try and explain to my wife that the actions and manners, or lack thereof, of the Canadian Immigration representatives were not indicative of Canadians in general. On several occasions my wife was reduced to tears by rude and obnoxious Canadian Immigration representatives. In my view the tactics used by the Immigration Officers were cruel and abusive and bordered on illegality. To be truthful, I was embarrassed to be a Canadian. When I tell my story to fellow Canadians the responses range from, "They can't do that!" to "You should write a book!" to "That just can't be true!". Believe me, it is true! Our Immigration Ministry is a mess and the whole system of 'immigration officer performance monitoring' predetermines an unjust process for applicants even before they have a chance to apply. A certain percentage of applicants must be rejected or the Immigration Officer gets branded as 'soft' by his/her superiors and eventually joins the ranks of the unemployed.

This was explained to me by an Immigration Officer in El Salvador. When I asked her if she had ever been to Canada her response was, "No, and I don't think I will ever get to go." Curiously enough she was the one approving and denying visa applications. She confided in me that she resented those with the means to travel freely and that if she found even the most minor of reasons to reject a visa she would do so as approving too many visas would reflect negatively to her superiors when a performance review came up. I can be harsh at times but I wouldn't last a day in that position even if it did mean my job.

On another occasion I was attempting to procure visitor's visa for my wife. I had just wanted to ask the women, a Canadian Immigration officer, why a previous visa application had been rejected with nothing more than a bad photo-copy of a poorly worded letter with "You have failed to demonstrate that you would be a bona-fide visitor to Canada" checked off as the reason for refusal. I still have this letter that came out of the Canadian High Commission in Kingston, Jamaica. There was no way I could make an appointment to see this lady - and I use the term loosely - without paying a US$60 dollar application fee. Imagine for a moment being called into an office by a women in her thirties wearing a wrinkled green t-shirt, wrinkled green shorts, plastic sandals and sporting hair that hadn't been washed in at least a week. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. She told me I was lucky the Canadian High Commission had even given me a reason because they didn't have to if they didn't want to. She then went on to try and put me down by saying, "You traipse around Central America with no visible means of support and expect to come waltzing in here and get a visitor's visa for your Salvadoran girlfriend. I'm afraid I'm going to have to stamp another refusal in her passport." We were not given a chance to offer further supporting documentation and in fact this Immigration Officer stood up, opened the door and asked us to leave. As we left I told her, "You are a disgrace and an embarrassment to the Citizens of Canada simply by the way you dress!" She worked out of the Canadian Embassy in Guatemala City. I felt that I had been openly robbed of US$60. Some day I will write that book but even to this day I get extremely upset even thinking about what I had to put up with in order to get my family to Canada.

Back to the plight of my friends. My friends are from El Salvador and entered Canada legally from the United States on a Greyhound bus. They were in possession of a valid US visitors visa and they asked the Canadian Immigration officer in Vancouver for 'refugee status'. The immigration officer gave them a thirty day visitors visa and told them they would need to apply for refugee status at an immigration office. They did this and from the start they feel that they have been treated no better than common criminals and forced to try and justify their claim for refugee status with very little compassion or assistance from Immigration Canada.

Immigration Canada claims their 'process' is fair and equitable but my friends experience has been the complete opposite. Instead of being given the opportunity to explain themselves they have been 'grilled' by Canadian Immigration representatives who have attempted to 'twist' their words and 'trick' them into saying things. Whenever they were given a chance to say anything they were told that they were only allowed to answer 'yes or no'. The Immigration and Refugee Board website paints a completely different picture of the process.

To further compound the problem the translator that was assigned to assist them was completely lacking in translation skills and relied on a Spanish/English dictionary for the translation. Since that initial experience they have been assigned a case officer that has taken a personal dislike to them and has made their stay in Canada a living hell. For instance, even though the case officer is a fellow Latin American - from Chile - he refuses to speak with my friends in their native language and insists they communicate in English which my friends struggle with especially when it concerns conversation of a technical nature. This Immigration Officer out of the Calgary office has even decided that it would be prudent to call a couple of times during the day to make sure my friends aren't working illegally after having their work permits and Social Insurance cards physically grabbed from them. If that doesn't border on harassment I don't know what does.

They are deathly afraid of returning to El Salvador as they feel their lives will most certainly be in danger. How it started was my friends wife intervened when the PNC (Policia National Civil - The National Civil Police) were beating a female union organizer at a large hospital in San Salvador. It was when they were in hospital after being involved in a vehicle accident after a desperate attempt to flee the police that their children arranged their departure from El Salvador as they feared for their parents lives. They came to Canada as my friend had a brother living in Calgary.

Where it stands now is they have been ordered to leave the country and Canadian Immigration is sending them out from Calgary to Vancouver to Mexico City to San Salvador even though they originally entered through the US. From what I know of the way that Immigration Canada operates this seems unusual. What I have observed is that they usually remove the person out of the country the same way they entered. For some reason Immigration Canada has decided my friends need to avoid the United States entirely. They were told that Immigration Canada didn't believe their story and furthermore, El Salvador was now a peaceful country. My friends are very nervous about returning to El Salvador and I would have to say rightfully so.

I would just like to add that I lived in El Salvador for a few years and although the people can be kind and friendly if you get on the wrong side of the wrong people you're doomed. That is a fact! Just because a 'Peace Agreement' was signed ending a brutal civil war doesn't mean the 'bad guys' were automagically turned into 'good guys' or met their ultimate doom at the hand of that which triumphs over all evil. No siree..., they're still there and they still operate with impunity. To make matters worse they have been joined by waves of street gangsters that have been 'relocated' by American Citizen and Immigration Services. The crazy part of all this is that now gangs like the "Mara Salvatrucha" and the "Mara Dieciocho" terrorize much of El Salvador not to mention Los Angeles, Houston, Washington, most of Central America and parts of Mexico. These guys are the baddest of the bad! Do you think they would never come to Canada? You would be dead wrong, they have been seen in Vancouver. For a bit of insight into what criminal deportees have been up to I would recommend reading this article that appeared in the Seattle Times approximately a year ago. When I lived in El Salvador some of these criminal deportees would here me speaking English and strike up a conversation - many don't speak a Spanish the local population understand. What I found curious is that when they would find out I was from Canada they would tell me that is where they thought of running to in an effort to escape gang life. Weird. It was like they figured they could just live in a log cabin in the woods and everything would be better. Americans of all economic divisions seem to think the same way in this respect for some peculiar reason.

The only thing the Mara Salvatrucha or the Mara Dieciocho fear is being deported to El Salvador and hunted by the Sombra Negra (Black Shadow), who's existence has been denied by officials on all sides of the border. Likely because of the unsubstantiated ties to US clandestine operations in Central America and El Salvador in particular. The Sombra Negra is your archetypical 'death squad'. I have personally seen the results of their actions in the form of tattooed bodies laid out on the side of the road with their arms crossed over their chests. It was bizarre to see them lying there only a few feet from where the bus would stop to load passengers. I have heard they also like to behead their victims although I have never seen a headless corpse and have never been able to verify this. Curiously the once feared Sombra Negra are now cheered on by the local citizens for ridding the streets of gangsters. In all fairness though, even remorseless gangsters deserve a trial of some sort and not just summary execution.

My friends were professionals in El Salvador and were relatively well off. Here in Canada they cleaned houses and mopped school hallways yet they tell me that is preferable to deportation. In fact they tell me that a another Canadian winter is preferable to deportation yet our dysfunctional Immigration Ministry in it's infinite wisdom has chosen to deport them to the peace and tranquility of El Salvador.

Remembrance Day is still fresh in my mind and I know that my late father who fought in the Second World War would be troubled by the way my friends refugee case has been handled and the way they have been treated by Canadian Immigration Officers. That's not what he fought for!

Hasta Luego

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Here it is..., everything you always wanted to know about 'blue cheese'. "Blue and blue-green cheeses can be made from most cheese bases, whether the milk is from a cow, sheep, or goat. The main thing that makes a blue cheese blue is mold."

Read all about it here.

Note:(This guy's server is two days ahead of mine. It must be a 'souped up' model!)

Hasta Luego

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"...a crater on Mars has been named after the town by the International Astrological Union."

Read more here!

Hasta Luego

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Yes folks..., this is huge news for racing fans in Western Canada.

"Edmonton will host its first Champ Car race in July but the future of the Vancouver event remains in doubt after the open-wheeled racing circuit released its 2005 schedule yesterday."

Read all about here.

Hasta Luego

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Did some running around today and I'm not real sure if I even accomplished anything. Oh sure, I managed to get from point A to point B but as far as production goes I would have to say I ran a deficit today.

For probably forty-five minutes to an hour I went through rusty old coffee cans full of unsorted rusty screws and nails in the hopes if finding ten heavy duty wood screws, three inches long and fifteen wood screws, one and a half inches long. Now I'm not horribly fussy or anything but I like to have them 'matched' so when all I could find was eight matching wood screws three inches long and thirteen matching wood screws one and a half inches long it meant that a trip to Canadian Tire was required.

Now you would think that a large national chain store like Canadian Tire would have a decent selection of wood screws, and they do, but the labels on the bins were absolutely meaningless. To say they were sorted would be an absolute lie. No, it was as if someone had taken the coffee cans from my shop, cleaned up the wood screws and then dumped a few in every bin. There were lag bolts mixed with wood screws and the Philips were mixed with the Robertson. I suppose if they paid their staff a decent wage they may get the screw bins sorted correctly but then I'm sure the price of the screws would go up accordingly. No matter how you look at it you're screwed.

Anyhow..., that's pretty much how my day went.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'screw worm nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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"The Israeli ornithologist Yossi Leshem is no ordinary twitcher. An expert in bird migration patterns across the Middle East, he has turned his passion into a small industry responsible for saving the Israeli air force more than half a billion dollars in hardware - and, no doubt, the lives of several pilots. Fred Pearce hears how he has even turned migrating birds into unlikely emissaries for peace..."

This is an interesting story. Read the whole thing at New Scientist.

Anyhow..., just read it!

Hasta Luego

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OK..., so I wake up this morning and this is part of what I have to look forward to today. This actually only shows about ten percent of the books that I've been dealing with the last couple of days.

What you can't see here is the stacks of books on the other side of the table and the twenty or so boxes of 'properly packaged and labeled' boxes piled against the wall. You would have to stand right in the middle of this mess to fully appreciate what I'm up against. I'm almost beginning to think that the ultimate goal should be to open a used book store and catalog everything with Abebooks. At full retail I'm guessing that I have in excess of $10,000 worth of books and I've probably unwittingly been a party to the destruction of a complete forest just to satisfy my book habit.

So far I've found that the greatest impediment to completing this task is the urge to flip through the books while I'm sorting. That can really slow production to a crawl requiring late nights just to catch up. Sorting books requires an incredible amount of self discipline on my part and so far I'm pretty much on track. Speaking of 'tracks'..., a funny thing happened last night when the hourly train went rumbling by. One of the piles of books fell over and scared the crap outta me. Fortunately enough it didn't do the 'domino' thing and leave me with an even larger mess to deal with.

The interesting part of all this is the memories all these books bring back. One thing I've always done is write my name, and the town I happen to be living in at the time, inside the front cover whenever I acquire a book. I realize that I've done a lot of moving and packed around a lot of books. The titles also reflect the varied interests I've had over the years - calligraphy, falconry, gold smithing, pyrotechnics, espionage, archaeology, history, bonsai, firearms, travel, writing, music, knife making, fishing, Harleys, bushcraft, whisky making, trapping, gunsmithing, science, technology, computers, networking, Unix, web authoring, hacking, art, graphics, carving, sculpture, blacksmithing, lathes and metal machining, chickens, cosmology, pit bulls, ethnobotany, entomology, birds, gardening, guitars, humour (Canadian - because it's the best), cartooning, lapidary, advertising, marketing, gold mining, gilding, business, pirates, Latin America, ancient cultures, flying, design, boating, photography, signmaking, alternate energy, alternate anything, and just about everything else from the exotic to the sublime that an inquiring mind could possibly conjure. Yup..., I certainly have a lot of books!

Anyhow..., posting this is not changing the picture so I'm going to cut this off about now and put my nose back to the grindstone. If I don't get started shortly it's going to be another late night and my wife is really beginning to get annoyed with the whole scenario.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'bookworm nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

For the last couple of days I've been sorting books and anybody that knows me knows that I have more than a few books. What I'm trying to accomplish is to get all of my art/design/lettering books plus the business/marketing books on the bookshelf and sort all the rest of the books into properly packed and labeled boxes. Sounds simple doesn't it? Well it's not, it's a brain busting, back breaking job that requires a lot of maneuvering room that I don't have right at the moment. If I had the room I would likely just load the books on the shelves and call it a day. That's what I've always done.

I'm still looking at a good day's work before I'm done but I keep telling myself that if I stick with it I will save countless hours in the future when I need to hunt down a book. I can't imagine how many hours I've wasted in the past when I've set out to track down a book I'm looking for and been forced to give up because the sun is rising to a new day. Putting a few hours of diligence into my library project now will allow me to enjoy my books instead of having to mount an expedition every time I'm looking for a particular volume.

Even though it's a chore it has been interesting. For instance, I had no idea I had so many books relating to jewellery, gems and precious metals. Or this..., I flew falcons and hawks for a total of two years yet have enough books on the subject that it would take about three years to read them all. Then there's the pyrotechnic books and a nearly complete collection of books pertaining to the counter-culture of the sixties and early seventies. And what about the Canadiana and history and pit bull books and Harley manuals. I have the complete basement crammed with books piled everywhere. One thing I've noticed is that I have a good eye for visualizing what size of a box I need for the various stacks of sorted books. Lucky for that or otherwise it would likely add another twenty hours to the task.

Anyhow..., that's what I've been up to for the last couple of days and I can't wait till the chore is complete. I know my family will thank me when it's all over even though I'm Mr. Grumpass at the moment.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'bookworm nugget'.

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

"SASKATOON - Scientists in Saskatoon are set to unveil a synchrotron on Friday, a state-of-the-art research facility and Canada's largest science project in 30 years.

The $174-million synchrotron, the Canadian Light Source, is able to generate light millions of times brighter than the sun..."

[Read All About It Here!]

Anyhow..., I just thought that was rather exciting news.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

"Newswise - Warm workers work better, an ergonomics study at Cornell University finds.

Chilly workers not only make more errors but cooler temperatures could increase a worker's hourly labor cost by 10 percent, estimates Alan Hedge, professor..."

[Read All About It Here!]

Anyhow..., I thought that was rather timely!

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I must have really ticked off the Snow Gods because when I woke up this morning the snow was coming down thick. So far it's about an inch an hour or 2.54 centimeters for the metric minded. Now that may not sound like much but if it keeps up all day then that could easily translate into a foot or approximately one third of a meter by night fall. That makes things look kind of romantic in the postcards but ugly if you have to deal with it.

When I lived on the Left Coast we used to have a saying for those that would make snide remarks about the rain, "Well at least you don't have to shovel it!". I really don't mind snow that much if it stays up on the mountain tops where it belongs. Otherwise I hate shovelling it or driving in it or wading through it or waiting for it to melt. Remember the cartoon "Chilly Willy"? Willy was born just three short months before me and up until the time he retired in 1972 he never ever got used to the idea of snow and winter. Chilly Willy, I know where you're coming from.

Anyhow..., the snow seems to have tapered off for the time being but I would be willing to bet that it's just a temporary thing. Out here in the Rocky Mountain foothills it's not inconceivable to get a dump of snow at ANY time of the year. My brother Bob lives just forty-five minutes west of here and in the last ten years they have had the Snow Gods dump on them at least once for every month of the year - not every year of course. That'll get you thinking tropical!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'penguin nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

It looks like winter is officially here. It snowed last Sunday and the snow is still on the ground. It has neither blown away nor melted and as usual it has arrived before I was ready for it. I don't know if I've ever been prepared for winter and I'm certain it was winter that drove me to the tropics years ago. I sometimes wonder why I ever returned to the prospect of winter. With the first snowfall of the year I think about it a lot.

I'll never forget one year down in Belize the temperature plunged to about 50 degrees and I couldn't believe how many winter coats and Toronto Maple Leaf toques the locals managed to scare up. They must have had these things stashed away for years just waiting for just such a climatic anomaly. Fortunately for me I had a pair of 'Stanfields' long johns tucked away but the tropical air had completely deteriorated the elastic waistband so I had my mother-in-law replace the stretchy stuff. I still have those long johns and I'm guessing they should last at least another five winters.

Anyhow..., seeing as I wasn't prepared for winter I have a lot of things that require my attention and blogging isn't one of them. It is my intention though to be a little more diligent with the postings but I believe I've said that before.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'snow bunny nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Ok..., I have what I like to call my 'computer lab' but what the wife refers to as all that junk in the basement. Most of it is two or three years old but I have some dual processor machines with SCSI drives and a gig of RAM. Great for experimenting with as far as I can see. I've got one running the bleeding edge version of FreeBSD and another running Xandros. Of course the FreeBSD machine is the webserver and file server while the box running Xandros is a little evaluation to see if it might be a suitable desktop replacement for the kids machines. So far I'm reasonably impressed and may even cough up enough loot to move beyond the 'open circulation' version as there are some real software bargains by doing so.

As soon as I organize the space a little more effectively I'm going to set up the two Sun Ultra 5's. I'll likely try and get OpenBSD going on one and maybe FreeBSD on the other. Just need to find some room on the rack and we're good to go. Amongst all that I'm trying to get a signshop set up. Believe it or not it all kind of ties in with each other. Trouble is the 'computer lab' is about a kilometer from the signshop so if I want to get fancy I may have to look at something like Desktop Sharing otherwise I'll just stick with OpenSSH for transfering files or maybe OpenSSL. If you're not doing this every day then you tend to get a bit rusty so that's a good reason right there to have a computer lab. What's real handy when you're testing is a couple of good KVM switches so that you can run at least a couple of computers off the same keyboard, video and mouse. I have one but it locks up the mouse switching back and forth but if you just keep switching back and forth it eventually comes un-stuck. That's the trouble with that Radio Shack© stuff.

Anyhow..., just thought I would run that one though the mill in case someone was interested. I know many people could care less but it keeps me occupied. What's that saying? "Idle minds spawn...??? uhh..., forget it..., I'm going to bed."

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'dust bunny nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Here in Canada Thanksgiving is in no way as big a deal as it is to our neighbours to the south. In the United States you have to book a plane ticket well in advance or you just aren't going to taste the turkey. We celebrate Thanksgiving earlier than they do in the States as well. Here it's just another long weekend for the most part. It's Thanksgiving weekend here now and I'm commuting back and forth to Banff taking a course in custom handcarved signmaking.

I really pondered that decision and didn't really confirm until the eleventh hour. I suppose in some respects I'm a bit of a tightwad. Hell..., most everything I know I've taught myself and learnt from books. Much to my surprise I'm really enjoying this 'seminar' and already feel I've got my money's worth - and there's still eight or more hours to go. There's six of us in the class and Larry, from Banff Sign Company presents the information in a dynamic fashion. The information is carefully considered and well presented. Having the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop just makes it that much more pleasurable.

Anyhow..., that's a bit of a hint as to what I've been up to and what I'm about to get into. I've had so many different careers that I'm seriously considering making changing careers my full time career.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'Banff National Park Elk nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Well..., it's a start. Rendering on the computer is just way too slow though but scanning in the image is just a bit too rough. This one was actually a combination of both. First off I drew the image then scanned it then 'auto-traced' it - scrapped that - then traced it by hand. After all that I ended up with a vector graphic but seeing as most people don't use an SVG capable browser I ended up having to convert it to a GIF for your viewing pleasure.

I can see that this cartooning thing isn't going to be as easy as I had imagined. I can certainly see that I'm going to have to get a bit speedier otherwise I'm never going to get anything posted. It's going to take some practice so you're just going to have to bear with me. I'll try and make it as painless as possible because you aren't going to get the nitrous oxide treatment. No siree..., it's coming at you unadulterated. Sure hope it isn't too harsh.

Anyhow..., in the coming days and weeks I hope this guy will end up with a body of sorts and ultimately be capable of doing something! I thought of starting from the ground up and making the boots first - sort of like growing a plant - but decided the head was maybe a better choice. Sure hope I don't get any complaints from the head about the body I have in mind for this guy. I'll give the guy a name after he gets a body. His attitude is certainly going to have a bearing on how he's named.

Before too long I hope this guy will have some friends and maybe even an enemy or two. I'm relatively certain he's not going to have any pets because he's just NOT going to 'stoop for poop'. If you know of any 'poopless' pets don't hesitate to drop me a line and I'll see about working it in. Not only is it going to have to be 'poopless' it's going to have to be 'maintenance free' as well. Just keep that in mind.

Anyhow..., I've taken way too long on this post already and I have some 'pooping' 'high maintenance' pets that require my attention so I guess I'm going to have to cut outta here.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'Cartoon Chicken McNugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Well..., I'm seriously considering taking this blog in a new direction. I have given some thought to doing a cartoon thing but I'm still working out the details on that. For instance, do I render it with pen and ink and then scan it in or do I just render it as vector image right in the computer? I think it's got some real potential though.

Anyhow..., check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'Cartoon Cow Nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

OK..., I think I have a decent look to my posts now. I like the indent for the paragraphs and I finally have the line spacing figured out at about 1.25 em. I still have a lot to learn with CSS but it intriques me from the point of view that you can make wholesale changes to the look and feel of a website by simply editing a single file. Just think of the possibilities.

If I get the time I would really like to learn how to use a database backend and deliver dynamic content depending on the time of day or the particular browser a viewer uses. It would be fun.

Anyhow..., I have to go look at a chicken koop so I better run.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'Chicken McNugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Well..., I'm finally back on tap with a cable modem from Shaw. I'm slowly weaning myself off Telus and can't wait for a VoIP offering through the cable company. A curious thing about hooking back up with Shaw is that I asked for my old 'username' and when I checked my e-mail there were a few mail I wasn't able to retrieve from the first week of August a year ago. That was kind of weird.

It's real nice to be back on a decent connection but it's going to be a day or two before I get a chance to enjoy it. One way or another I have to build a secure chicken enclosure tomorrow or we're going to be losing poultry. Also have one hell of a sorting job to complete as well. That I'm not looking forward to.

Anyhow..., guess that's it for now. I'm going to have to stick with this at least to the point that I'm not tripping over everything.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be an 'over priced dial-up nugget' ever again.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I'm going to get a broadband Internet connection within the next couple of weeks and I can hardly wait. One of the first things I'll do is upgrade Firefox but I don't think I'm going to be able to get hooked up soon enough to contribute to the goal of a million downloads in ten days. It's just too much of a chore on dial-up. I'm really hoping I can kiss Telus goodbye forever but I'm not too sure if I can do the VoIP thing. I'll research that in depth when I get the broadband connection. By the time I get hooked up it will have been fourteen months since I've been on a peasant connection. What really aggravates me about Telus is they had the gall to send out an e-mail the other day saying that their dial-up rates are going up two dollars a month. I'm already being gouged for substandard service.

Another nice thing will be being able to freshen up the FreeBSD and OpenBSD boxes. I've got a couple of dual processor machines so one of them will for sure be a test bed for SMP on OpenBSD. The next release - coming real soon - will be the first release with SMP functionality. I'm hoping I have enough parts and pieces to put together my 'data centre' without having to throw coins at it.

Anyhow..., I'm sure you're wondering why this would be so exciting. Take my word for it, "It will be exciting!"

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be an 'over priced dial-up nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Now here's an interesting story. Apparently CBS's '60 Minutes' did a story on George Double Ewe and backed it up with some documents of 'dubious' lineage. I'll let you read the story but I'm thinking it looks as if the 'little guy' finally has his own printing press. Not only that but you don't even have to hire a kid to run up and down the street hollering out a headline.

Of course not everybody is going to take the time to navigate to your 'blog' and if you expect them to make a return trip then of course it's going to have to be well written and well researched. Once you get over that hurdle you can start soliciting for advertising dollars and then it's no longer a hobby but a real job. Next thing you know you have a full blown e-commerce site and you're selling ball caps and t-shirts with your blog logo on them. Before too long you're thinking of relocating to 'Hurricane Alley'.

Anyhow..., just thought I'ld run that past you to see what kind of a response it gets.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'ewe nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

About a half hour after I posted the last entry the sky cleared off, the sun came out and the temperature managed to make it up to about eighteen degrees. Before I did the last post I looked up the five day forecast for the area and it looked pretty grim - overcast and showers with daily highs in the five degree range and no breaks in sight - go figure!

Anyhow..., that's pretty much how the weather works here in Canada.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'northbound duck nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Now there's a favourite topic of Canadian conversation. When I lived in Belize my American friends always used to say, "You Canadians sure know a lot about the weather!". For the last year we've been living in the equivalent of a meadow in the forest and the curious thing about that is the storms tend to sneak up on you. We still haven't been touched with 'frost' but it managed to get frighteningly close the other night. As for precipitation, I think it would be fairly safe to say that the 'drought' is officially over although when we were digging potatoes we ran into dry ground just inches below the surface.

The underbrush, which was negligible last year, is so high that you can't see over it when you walk around the acreage and the ground is 'squishy' underfoot. The only redeeming feature of the property is the soil is quite sandy so the mud just crumbles away when it finally has the opportunity to dry out. It sure sticks to the truck though! Where I grew up, about four or five hours north of here, the soil had a fairly high clay content with an extreme adhesion coefficient. I can recall walking across the yard and having the boots sucked off my feet just from the weight of accumulated mud. I remember getting a VW 'Bug' hopelessly stuck in the mud of Northern Alberta. I ended up having to leave it until things dried up a bit and when I was able to get back to it the sun had 'cemented' it into the landscape. It just about required jack-hammers and dynamite to get it out.

Anyhow..., at this time of the year it's almost taboo to complain about the weather as winter is just around the corner. As a matter of fact Northern Alberta has already had a dump of snow that closed the highways. It's at times like this that I really wonder why I ever left the 'tropics'.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'mud nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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A little more than a week ago I managed to put a one inch gash in my fingering finger of the right hand. Doing up the paperwork in the rest room with the left hand took a bit of getting used to as did brushing my teeth. The other day I was brushing away and was quite pleased with the up and down action but the act of thinking about it distracted me enough that my hand went out of control and I ended up leaving a streak of foaming toothpaste dripping from my ear. Today has been the first day I've been able to do anything on the computer.

I suppose you're waiting for an explanation as to how I ended up with the gash in the first place. It started innocently enough with me putting up my garage sale signs. About a mile down the road the barbed wire fence comes to a corner and someone had nailed a two-by-four to the corner post. I needed a spot for the signs that could be seen from both directions and the top of the two-by-four looked like the perfect spot. So..., without hesitation I climbed the corner post carefully trying to avoid the traps inherent in barbed wire fences. Now if you can visualize this, I was standing on a horizontal four-by-four spanning the top of the corner post and the post adjacent to it and all the while balancing myself with my right hand on the two-by-four nailed to the corner post. This was working out just fine until the four-by-four decided to leave it's position as a support mechanism.

In no more than a nano-second I found myself straddling the barbed wire fence with both feet about a half a foot off the ground. My pain sensors were feeding a steady stream of data that I was desperately trying to analyse. First thing I did was take a quick glance up and down the road to make sure there wasn't any amateur film makers recording the somewhat embarrassing situation I found myself in. The road was clear in both directions so I proceeded to do a systematic check for blood leaks. A quick glance at my fingering finger told me I needed to unhook from the fence and take remedial action at once. Easier said than done when your feet aren't touching the ground and your effectively short one hand. There was a huge potential for further damage if this wasn't done carefully and I was hoping to avoid that at any cost. By this time my synapse infrastructure was firing on every node and I was rapidly reaching my pain threshold.

Fortunately my wife was along to drive me home although I had to talk her out of taking me to the hospital. There was no way I wanted to bleed to death or die of old age sitting in some emergency ward waiting room. No siree..., we headed home and I proceeded to clean and dress the wound myself. I just about passed out from that little exercise but there was no way that anyone was going to poke around with my wound. I'm not too sure where the first aid kit I used originated from but the only antiseptic in it was some kind of bright orange stuff in a little brown bottle with writing so small it would require the use of a scanning electron microscope. It had to be at least thirty or forty years old and matched the yellowed gauze perfectly. After a quick fifteen minute nap to regain my senses we headed back off to put up the garage sale signs. By the time we got back home we were barely able to find a parking spot. That made my throbbing finger feel ever so slightly better.

Anyhow..., it's a week later and my finger is coming along just fine although I'm going to have a wicked scar. I'm finally able to peck out a few things on the keyboard and the garage sale has been a huge success even though the weather hasn't been a cooperative participant.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'family nugget' hanging from a barbed wire fence.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Now this was just to coincidental to pass up. I'm checking my e-mail this morning and do a quick scan of the headings at Bourque and what do I find but a link to the RCMP website where they're asking for public assistance in locating a whack of Moosehead beer in the rare English/Spanish cans.

Now you're probably wondering what all this has to do with bears other than that's what we sometimes call our Mounties. I suppose the confusion comes from the fact that Smokey Bear wears a Mountie's hat. By the way - Smokey Bear Celebrates his 60th Birthday this year but to get back on track it could be a bear that is responsibe for the beer heist. Later today I found this story about a beer binging bear. This could have been a Canadian bear considering his proximity to the border and the fact that it took him three dozen beer before he had to pause for a nap. After all it was American beer and we all know that it takes a hell of a lot more of that variety before it puts you under the picnic table. He would have died of alcohol poisoning had he bit into three dozen Moosehead. They didn't mention where he was relocated to after his capture and brief trial but if he likes Rainier beer (that's not Reindeer) then he would do back flips for a Moosehead.

Anyhow..., that'll be a couple of cerveza for me and my amigo don Smoke 'em por favor.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'bear nugget' with traces of aluminum Moosehead in it.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Where the hell did this word come from? Of course it's a contraction of the words 'can' and 'not'. The kids like using it a lot and it drives me nuts. I think the word should be struck from the English language. Hell, it should be struck from every language and maybe even banned from use anywhere in the universe. Using the stupid word immediately puts a limit on what you 'can' do. When I hear the kids use the word my response is, "Have you tried? Until you've tried you shouldn't be uttering the word 'can't'." Personally, I don't think anyone should utter the word ever.

Just where would the human race be if some of the great thinkers used the word 'can't'? I would even go so far as to suggest that it was the skeptics use of the word 'can't' that prompted the great thinkers to say, "Excuse me but I think it can." From here on in I'm going to suggest that we 'can' the word 'can't'. If you say, "Can't!" I'll say, "Can it!"

Which reminds me, we need to start thinking about doing a bit of harvesting in the garden. We 'can't' just let everything revert back to earth. No siree, we're going to have to take that harvest and 'can it'.

Anyhow..., I need to get a few things done before my 'road trip'' south so I'm going to cut this a bit short. All I ask is that your help me in eradicating the word 'can't' from the universe. In fact you can help me spread the word by making a small contribution that I will use to keep this site up and running and evangelizing that anything is possible if you don't limit yourself by the use of the word 'can't'.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be 'canned bovine nuggets'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I've been doing a lot of letter writing lately and you'ld think I would be getting quicker at it by now. Fact of the matter is I still struggle through them and I'm somehow never really satisfied with the results. I suppose it's just me being overly critical of myself as most of my correspondence seems to garner a response of some sort which I suppose is the whole purpose to begin with.

Right now I'm working on a letter that's been two days in the making so far. I have at least another day of editing and then I will need to have at parsed for any legal shortcomings. By the time I'm done the letter it will represent countless hours of effort and anguish. If I were somehow to be compensated for this effort the letter could be literally worth thousands. Alas, at this time my efforts go uncompensated, unless of course you wish to contribute in some small way. Should you chose to do so I would take the liberty of explaining exactly what it is I'm up to. Even a small contribution of few dollars will result in the satisfaction of your curiosity. I promise!

In any case..., I should get back to the letter writing. It's likely going to be several hours before I'm done and then there's a bunch of research that needs to be accomplished before I can finally get it posted. I urge you to stay tuned though as the story has just begun!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'bull splat nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Now here's a unique look at software development and how it's presently engineered with a look at how it should be engineered. What makes this essay important is that the author, Dan Bricklin, is the co-author of VisiCalc, the 'original killer application'. The first spreadsheet as we know them today. His partner was none other than Bob Frankston, another pioneer in the "e-ing" (everything?) of nearly all we do today.

It had never occured to me that software might actually need to 'last'. What a unique approach. It was twenty five years ago that VisiCalc was written and now, one of it's co-authors, suggests we may need to rethink the whole concept. What Mr. Bricklin says really seemed to ring my bell. In any case of you're the least bit interested in the way we use, or for that matter, 'abuse', technology then you really need to read this article.

Anyhow..., just thought this was really interesting so felt compelled to link to it.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'fool's gold nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I have an eighteen year old that requires my taxi driving skills to get back and forth from work. It takes about five minutes to go either way so the conversations are usually about five minutes long unless one or the other of us are in 'silent mode'. Generally the conversations go something like this:

She starts off, "Uh you know what?"

To which I reply, "Uh, I don't think so???"

Whereupon she will fire back, "Like..., you know..., what's it called?

For which I really have no choice but to reply, "I wish I did."

By now she's beginning to get visibly annoyed with me and blurts out, "Why are you so difficult?"

Myself, I'm entirely confused about the topic of the conversation right from the start so I get the ball going in the other direction by answering, "Whatever!"

For which the standard response goes something like this, "Uh yeh, like..., whatever!

At this point there's usually a bit of silence and then she'll pipe up, "You know what I was thinking?"

Now I'm going to tell you straight out the thought of possessing this kind of knowledge quite frankly scares me so I shoot back with, "Nope..., and I'm kind of glad I don't!"

So now it's my turn to deflect the, "Whatever!" as it's now heading in my direction.

Of course there's the easy return of, "Whatever!"

This can get lobbed back and forth a few times before one or the other will end the volley with, "Like..., get real!"

I kind of like the, "Maybe on your planet!"

Which usually gets the, "Like..., get real!" response. Either one of us can set up the next pause in this fashion whereupon there will be the requiste moment of silence before it starts all over again.

This will go on till we either get to work or get home. If it's at the work end I will usually wrap up the conversation with, "So..., what time are you working till?"

To which I will, without fail get as a response, "I'm working till closing tonight."

And I always reply, without fail, "Does 'Closing Time' have some kind of a numeral based hour associated with it?"

And again, without fail, I will get back, "Rrrrrr..., how am I supposed to know!?!?!

Just as the door clicks shut I will get mostly out, "See ya at quitting time."

I'm never really sure what it is we've discussed in those five minutes but it always seems as if it's some kind of sparring match or something. If it is then I'm equally puzzled as to if I've ever won one of these matches. I should video tape a match one of these times as they can sometimes get quite animated and I may be able to get something out of the replay that I seem to miss in the heat of the action.

Anyhow..., like whatever..., Teenage English isn't that difficult to catch on to if you remember just a handful of key words.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'like, you know, whatever type thingy nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Believe it or not Microsoft's own "Slate" is recommending a switch to Firefox. It's actually a pretty decent article and even goes into a few things about installing Firefox and a good paragraph on why 'Tabbed Browsing' is such a great idea.

Anyhow..., it's nice to see that others besides myself have seen the light.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'fox nugget'.

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

A buddy of mine was down for a few days and we got talking about fast things. Turns out he had run across an article somewhere that told about a company in Fort Saint John that was supplying jet engines for a "World Land Speed Record Challenger". Turns out it's an old childhood friend, Al Von Hollen, the big guy with no hair about in the middle of the group of pictures. Al's got a turbine powered ski boat so I'm not surprised he would be into something like this. I don't have any pictures of the ski boat but I'm going to see if Al can provide me with some.

Anyhow..., I'ld sure like to be there when they take a crack at the record so if you're feeling generous go ahead and make a donation so I can be there wherever it is. Even if you're not feeling generous it would do you good to make a donation no matter what the reason.

By the way..., world land speed records are not for chickens.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'chicken nugget'.

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

In my last post I talked about keystroke loggers and how they weren't that common. Now today I run across this story and a report from the "Internet Storm Center" of the SANS Institute. I suppose the bottom line is that if you use Microsoft Internet Explorer or Outlook then you need to seriously evaluate other alternatives. My favourite Internet Explorer and Outlook replacements are Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird respectively. Even US-CERT, the Computer Emergency Readiness Team recommends using a web browser other than Internet Explorer and you should!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, "If you use Internet Explorer and or Outlook then you're on your own. I do not support either of these applications." Don't get me wrong, you can use whatever you want but you should be aware of the risks and prepared for the worst. Not only that but the alternatives to Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook are so much nicer to use. IE and Outlook are dinosaurs.

Anyhow..., you've been warned!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'fool's gold nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Not many folks have ever had an experience with one of these. By that I mean have you ever discovered one on your computer? Not likely! A virus? More than likely! The reason I don't think they're more common is that in the hacker world, and even the cracker world they're considered morally and ethically questionable. I suppose if you want to involve yourself in someone's life to that degree it more than likely means you don't have a life of your own. These things log every keystroke you make. Imagine you want to vent a little frustration..., you open up your favourite text editor and you type,"The boss sure has his head up his ass today!" Already you feel a whole lot better so you close out of your text editor and hit [Cancel] when your text editor asks if you want to save it. A keystroke logger would have recorded everything. Would you be comfortable working for an employer that deployed surveillance this invasive? What would you think about an employer that deployed surveillance technology like this without your knowledge or consent?

A keylogger is a vile piece of software that is right down there with a 'potty cam' or a 'shoe cam'. (Yes folks..., there are still folks like this even though most have been incarcerated for their social deviance.) Except for some very specialized criminal investigations the reasons for using 'tools' (?) like these would be dubious at best and present a huge potential for abuse if not carefully controlled and regulated. Michael Geist presented an excellent report to the highly regarded Canadian Bar Review on this very subject less than a year ago. I would urge you to read it if you are the least bit concerned about personal privacy or the reasonable expectation of same.

Anyhow..., if you know of any excessive workplace surveillance incidents I would like to hear from you. I can put you in touch with the people that can do something about it!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'donkey nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

There is a funny thing about summer especially for a Canadian. For months we put up with freezing cold, poor road conditions, and short daylight hours. I think the amount of daylight hours is central to my observation. What's so funny is that we complain about the winter all winter but when the days get longer and green things start happening we completely forget how much we hate winter. Now I spent a number of years in Belize and El Salvador and there is very little change in the amount of daylight hours throughout the change of seasons. You get your daily dose of sunshine and it's pretty much consistent year round. In Canada we overdose on the daylight hours and it somehow clouds our recollection of winter.

During the summer most Canadians really have to think hard about how much they hate winter. For instance, yesterday I was using an outdoor power outlet and I realized the lower socket wasn't working. It was then that I recalled it was a cold miserable day in December when I had to fix that power outlet as it had frazzled itself and the poultry flock were in danger of turning into chicken popsicles. It took me more than an hour and I had to come inside and warm up on several occasions. By the time I was done my fingers were stinging to the point it was affecting my vision. The reason the lower socket wasn't working was because I had been to damn cold to complete the task last December. Most Canadians forget how much they hate winter when the day's are long and the birds are chirping. Not me, I hate winter year round.

So who am I going to vote for on the 28th? I'm going to vote for the party that is going to do the least about trying to stop 'Global Warming'. Why on earth would anyone not want a little more warmth in these Northern latitudes. Long before man showed up on the scene fossil evidence indicates it was a hell of a lot warmer around here than it is right now. I think 'Global Warming' is nothing more than a natural part of the cycles our planet goes through. It would be pretty hard to convince me otherwise.

Anyhow..., you don't have to agree with any of this and quite frankly I don't care if you do or don't. I require no lectures on this as I know that year round temperatures above the freezing mark are preferable to the bitter cold of a typical Canadian winter. Airplanes were invented to transport freezing Canadians to warmer climates and that is still one of their major uses to this day.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'frozen horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Is this how 'avian flu' gets passed from fowl to human? Does this chick know who her mother is? Does this chick (my wife) know that this chick (baby chicken) is trying to get inside her mouth? To be honest with you I kind of like chickens myself. They can be reasonably entertaining by which I mean they have a social order, pecking order if you will.

It's funny when the little ones don't hesitate to tie into the big ones. Sometimes the big ones stand up to it and other times they back right down. In the chick world size doesn't seem t matter too much. In the chicken world maybe it means a whole lot more. I don't know, I haven't been able to observe the chicken world that much.

You know what? That's what i like about living in the country. You have the time to observe these sorts of things. The ability to 'observe' is something that most 'urban' folks don't have and I attribute it to informatin overload in the urban setting. Us rural folks have more of an opportunity to sit and observe.

Anyhow..., just thought you may be interested on what I think of chicks.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee you it won't be a 'chick nugget'.

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

We have been tackling the quack grass with machetes but it was beginning to be a bit of a chore so we decided we would try and find a decently priced, gas powered, Weed Whacker. The justification for the purchase was that it would be a 'Father's Day Gift'. Used ones aren't that easy to find and new ones aren't that decently priced. With the rain we've been having lately it was getting obvious the weeds sure weren't waiting around for us to make a decision.

I finally took the executive stance, drove into Red Deer, and went hunting for the elusive 'Decently Priced Weed Whacker'. After much shopping, while the weeds kept growing, I finally found what I was looking for at Liquidation World. They had a stack of them for $89.00. Factory reconditioned with a 90 day warranty. Sounded pretty good to me as the only thing that was even remotely comparable was a Homelite for $169.00 and after that a Weed Eater for $259.00.

It was pouring rain as we drove home but was only sprinkling lightly when we arrived. By the time I found an empty gas can, deciphered the oil to gas mix ratio and making all the necessary adjustments for US gallons, Imperial gallons and litres the rain had quit and some serious Weed Whacking was in order. Several dozen cranks later the little 32cc two stroke sputtered to life and the weeds shook in their roots. Me, being the intended recipient of this 'Father's Day Gift', took the first shift and handily brought down a small patch of quack grass with minimal effort. Marilin decided she would like to take a crack at the Weed Whacker next so I gathered her and Carlos together for some quick Weed Whacking lessons.

We covered things like wearing eye protection and not 'buzzing' critters with the business end of the Weed Whacker. My 'Starting the Weed Whacker' lesson didn't go quite as planned and I was beginning to wonder if the reason Liquidation World had so many of these was that they were a 'hard starting' model. It finally came to life so Marilin took out a patch of weeds and I could tell she was really enjoying the destructive nature of the Weed Whacker. Carlos asked if he could have a crack at the Weed Whacker so he managed to level about a hundred square feet before his mother decided he wasn't doing it exactly right.

Marilin got back on the 'Father's Day Gift' and before you know it we are doing the refuelling with 'pit stop precision' and clearing the weed patch of anything that may cause harm to the Weed Whacker like wire and baling twine. Neither Carlos or I managed to get another shift in on the Weed Whacker so I'm assuming Marilin likes her new 'Father's Day Gift'.

Anyhow..., just thought you may be interested to know how we're attacking the weed situation.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'weed whacker nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

The flock of chicks is finally out of the kitchen and in the garden shed. They were getting a bit too noisy, too big, and too stinky. The garden shed is proving to be just what the chicken doctor ordered. They have more room and they can beak off to their hearts content.

There is somewhere around fifty of the little critters in the garden shed but they're pretty hard to count as they scoot around on their bed of hay. Some of them are actually pretty good fliers for only being a couple of weeks old. It's also pretty amazing how fast they grow and how much they eat. I sure can't wait to get them outside where they can put a dent in the entomological specimen collection. I've seen the little silkies already grab the odd insect foolish enough to wander their direction.

The interesting thing about this group of chicks is that, for the most part, they're unsexed so there's going to be a few roosters in the bunch. That's going to mean we'll have to thin out the flock a bit. I don't think we really want winter in excess of fifty chickens.

Anyhow..., just thought I'ld bring you up to date on the chicken rearing front.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'chicken nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

We've been getting some rain the last few days so things are starting to pop out of the garden. Most noticeably the weeds. Fortunately we did a pretty decent job of tilling the earth so the weeds aren't quite as bad as I thought they would be. There are still a lot of them though.

A couple of nights ago I planted a few more stepping stones. Pretty gruelling work that stone planting. With the extended stone pathway and various vegetables popping up it's beginning to look like a real garden. I still need to put in a couple more benches so that I have someplace to sit and watch things grow.

So far we haven't had much of a battle with the entomological specimens or at least with none on the surface. As for what's going on below ground I'm not real sure. I'm not even real sure how you go about checking that out. It's certainly something I'm going to need to stay on top of though.

Anyhow..., just thought you may be interested in a gardening update. Even if you aren't that's the post for today.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be an 'earthworm nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Now this one is kind of unique. Paul Martin has decided that he is going to promise a few 'wind turbines' in return for a few votes. I believe they have a hidden agenda here. I think what they're really up to is hooking these things up backwards and blowing all the hot air out of Ottawa. Just when we get used to that they'll throw them into reverse and suck all the money out of our pockets.

You just can't trust a politician to say what they're really up to. And you know what? It doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.

Anyhow..., I just thought you may be interested what I thought about this.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'hollow politicians nugget'.

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I've been involved with computers for about the last fifteen years and haven't hesitated to jump right in and figure out how they work. For that reason I've kind of been the one that friends, family and acquaintances turn to when their computer kabooms on them. When I first started doing tech-support it was a 'learn on the fly' type of mechanism and to a certain extent it will always be somewhat of a 'learn on the fly' mechanism that somehow manages to solve the problem. I suppose that's why Mike, one of my first mentors from Cottage Computers, used to refer to the difficult troubleshooting jobs as "a chicken swinging operation" and the really difficult troubleshooting jobs as "a dual chicken swinging operation.

Things aren't getting any easier in the 'chicken swinging' profession either. The more you learn the more there is to learn and the more complicated it gets the more you have to learn. It's sort of like an M. C. Escher staircase that never gets to the top and not at all like 'action reaction machines' that made Rube Goldberg famous and that so many management types use for inspiration when they 'doodle' out their 'flowcharts'. I've only ever seen one 'flowchart' that ever made any sense but literally hundreds that left me more confused than when I started. Computers and computer systems are hugely complex and to think that troubleshooting them with the aid of a 'flowchart' is nothing short of simplistic. When you're dealing with quirky Windows machines then for sure it's simplistic.

Sure..., there's a kind of basic way to go about it and some are better at it than others. What inevitably happens is that those that are good at it get promoted to the point where they supervise those that aren't so good at it. This, folks, is the Peter Principle in action. Just think about that the next time you have to call Telus because you can't 'connect'.

Anyhow..., I like to think that I'm a pretty decent troubleshooter. I know very few troubleshooters that consistently score in the high nineties and even fewer of those possess any type of social skills. Those few truly gifted troubleshooters choose their own pay scale. You get what you get but you hope for the best. As for Voodoo, I'm no expert but the gifted ethnobotanist Wade Davis is.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'chicken nugget'.

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

One thing I should add about gardening and that is that it's back breaking work. What you see in the picture below only represents about an eighth of the work we've accomplished over the last couple of weeks. This is a hand built garden using no power tools at all. The earth was turned with a shovel, broken apart with hoe and hand, forked then raked. I think I've got a pretty good grip on what the ancient empire builders were up against. Doing everything by hand, without power equipment, is a pretty formidable undertaking.

When I stand back and look at the fifty or sixty feet of stone path we've put in I can just imagine what it took to build the Inca highway system. I'll tell you something even more remarkable about that highway system, it was done at an altitude where us prairie boys are gasping for air carrying nothing more than a backpack. I know because I've walked some of this incredible highway system. At Machu Picchu the Inca terraced the cliffs to grow potatoes and whatnot. I thought about our South American cousins when I was planting our potatoes. Even their irrigation system was built out of rock.

Anyhow..., think about that next time you think you're busting your butt out in your little back yard veggie patch.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'llama nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Well..., the weather was somewhat cooperative this weekend so I didn't do much with converting my website/blog/whatever over to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) but instead whipped together what I call the "Red Green House". There's only a small amount of the prerequisite 'duct tape', a foot at most, but enough to be able to officially call it the "Red Green House". The 'duct tape' is on there for good reason and not just for 'qualification' purposes. We had to patch a gash created when a 1" X 4" was was swung around perforating it's delicate skin. Just in case you're wondering why I named it the "Red Green House" you'll need to navigate to the Official Red Green Web Site where a quick look around will provide all the explanation neccessary.

The "Red Green House" started off as an "A Frame" cover for a small raised bed flower plot. That sort of worked but it didn't take too long to realize that some walls under that "A Frame" would turn it into a full fledged greenhouse. It kind of has a 'holy' look to it don't you think? Only thing missing is a cross up top. Now that the home for the small fortune in bedding plants that prioritized the whole project is more or less complete it looks like I'll be able to get back into the garden plot and start doing some planting.

From my brief experience with gardening it's clear to me that we're going to be doing a "battle royale" with two worthy adversaries - weeds and critters. So far our flock of chickens have scratched up all the flower beds and the wild chickens have joined the mayhem by plucking the blossoms off the apple trees. I'm sure the deer and their friends are just waiting in the wings for their turn and the entomological specimens will most certainly show up without invitation. I'm hoping "Mr. Beaver" doesn't show up seeking revenge and reduce the "Red Green House" to a pile of sawdust and plastic pieces. That would annoy me a tad but I wouldn't let it discourage me.

Anyhow..., with the short growing season we have here in the Canadian Hinterland I suppose I better get off my rear-end, arm myself with hoe and spade, and create one of the best looking gardens this side of the Tropic of Cancer. Pictures and commentary to follow.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'deer nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I've been a little lax in my postings lately but the reason is I'm trying to get a garden put in. It's going to be a fairly big garden and I'm proud to say we didn't use anything but hand tools to get it from quack grass to production ready. I'll have more on the garden, including pictures, a bit later. More than likely sometime this weekend as it's supposed to rain, or horror of horrors, snow, making gardening somewhat less than enjoyable.

What I have been doing is working on getting my website CSS ready. If you click on any of the links above you will see the results of the small bit I've done lately. It may not look like much right now but all I have to do is make a single change to my 'stylesheet' and the change is made site wide - almost. I still haven't managed to figure out how to apply an external stylesheet to my main page without breaking what I already have. With a bit more studying I should have that figured out before too long though. When it's all done I will be able to synchronize my site with the seasonal changes most Canadians are all too familiar with.

Just to give you an idea of what can be accomplished with CSS take a look at the CSS Zen Garden. Seeing as I started off this post with a bit on gardening I thought it only appropriate to provide the CSS Zen Garden link.

Anyhow..., if the weather doesn't get too ugly I just may get some gardening done and if does get ugly then I guess I'll just have to work on beautifying my site with CSS.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be an 'earthworm nugget.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

OK..., so here's a picture of our national critter that I took without high priced equipment or a tripod. Mr. Beaver was just taking a little stroll south of Rimbey so I stopped the truck, walked up to him and snapped this picture. He's kind of friendly looking, isn't he? And after all he is 'Our National Critter' so he should be kind of like your average Canadian Citizen, friendly, maybe even to the point of being somewhat 'laid back'.

No siree folks. This was definitely a 'wild animal'. I snapped this picture just moments before Mr. Beaver decided to turn carnivorous, hammer his tail on the ground, lunge, hiss - rather loudly - and give me a damn good close up of his razor sharp wood chisels. I immediately got to thinking that these guys must have pretty good jaws. After all they've been known to chew down the odd tree. I'll bet there isn't a wolf alive that could chew down a tree. I was watching this through the viewfinder of my camera. By the time I removed the camera from my eye I realized that Mr. Beaver had covered a surprising amount of ground for such a 'slow' looking creature and was in fact going for my leg or throat or something. Needless to say, I didn't get a very good picture of his alter ego as I was in flight.

Anyhow..., I thought you may be interested in my 'Beaver Shot'.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'beaver nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I suppose this is a blog of sorts and I suppose that makes me a blogger. I try and keep my blog on the lighter side but others I follow get downright nasty. One that I really like and one that is constantly updated is Tim Bray's Ongoing. He recently took a post with Sun Microsystems and as far as I'm concerned they were lucky to get him. Tim is a heavyweight in bleeding edge technology and one of the architects of XML. He's a tad outspoken but I suppose with his reputation he can get away with it.

This blog is just a little something to keep me out of trouble and to let others know what I might be up to. From time to time I post a picture but being on a maximum 28.8 dial-up connnection keeps me sensitive to the gratuitous use of images. I've been all over Central Alberta working for Parkland Regional Library and I pack the digital camera every where I go. I have some pictures that I will be posting soon but I need to make a couple of more blog entries in order to push the moose picture down and out of the way first. I see a lot of wildlife in my travels but you need professional equipment and tripods and such to get decent pictures. I tend to take a lot of pictures of abandoned and run down farm buildings and interesting yards in the rural communities I visit. I should be getting some colourful shots as soon as the gardeners start playing in the dirt.

Anyhow..., that's blogging and this is a blog.

Check back regularly. No telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Well I had a few pieces and parts lying around so I decided I should put something together for a 'development' and 'testing' machine. Of course 'The Thing' will be running FreeBSD and will need a few things your common PC won't have. In order to test out the SMP capabilities of FreeBSD I decided to go with a dual processor setup. After rooting around in the garage for an evening or two I came up with a dual processor motherboard and a couple of PIII 600's. The motherboard had onboard SCSI so I popped in a couple of 9Gig Seagates and an 18Gig Fujitsu then filled the RAM slots with four 256MB ECC sticks of RAM. 'The Thing' fired right up but it didn't take too long to realize that I needed to put a little attention to the cooling.

I popped open the cover and realized the placement of the CPU slots was too close for the height of the cooling fins on the processors. No problem there, I'll just mount the fans up on the end of the processors with a couple of 'zip ties'. Yup..., that should do it - pop the cover back on and let 'The Thing' run for a bit and see how hot it gets. Ten minutes later and the cover is off 'The Thing' and out in the garage getting a strategically placed hole punched into the side. Another ten minutes later and there's a 90mm fan mounted in the new hole and blowing cool, outside air onto the processors. Now that the cooling is under control I'll have to start working on making it sound like a glider instead of a supercharged, turbine powered air racer. A little bit of cheese cloth and bug screen over the strategically placed hole didn't do anything except add a warbling whistle to the high pitched whine.

FreeBSD 5.2 loaded without a problem. The only time I've ever had a problem with FreeBSD was on a machine with an early AMD 400mhz processor and the hardware clock just ran wild. It was at least a couple of days before I got that one tamed down with the necessary kernel tweak. 'This Thing' was up and running in no time and the only kernel tweaking necessary was the SMP stuff for the dual processors and getting rid of everything else that simply wasn't required. 'The Thing' will eventually be the test-bed for building web-apps using Apache, MySQL, and PHP so of course all that and more is loaded on. For coding I'm trying out Screem which I prefer over Bluefish but time will tell if I stick with it or go back to Bluefish.

Anyhow..., that's what I'm running right now. Of course it's sitting behind an OpenBSD firewall running PF keeping the bad guys at bay.

Check back regularly. No telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

That's right, I'm looking for goose feathers. Not just any goose feathers but the primary wing feathers. They're the strongest and that's what I need. Over the weekend I made three 'quill pens', two from turkey feathers and one from a crow. They actually turned out quite well and they write very nice. I wouldn't mind having a couple of primaries from a raven as they have a nice iridescence to them and should be strong too.

You see..., I like doing calligraphy. I have a bunch of pens, steel brushes, along with a good selection of felt pens and now some quills. I also have a small light box but I'm going to make a bigger one soon. The other day I was in the hardware store and I noticed a white translucent panel for overhead flourescent lights. It's two feet by four feet and looks like it would make an excellent light box. If you do any kind of graphic arts then a light box is certainly something worth having.

The one thing I really miss is bamboo. There is all sorts of things you can use bamboo for with pens and brushes being just a couple of it's multitude of uses. The only bamboo that I have from my eight years in the tropics is a nice piece I use as a pen holder. I really wish I would have brought more. Actually, I would just like to grow some bamboo.

Anyhow..., with a light snow falling and me talking about bamboo it's starting to make my feet itchy so I guess I better sign off before I start poking around on Expedia. I wonder what kind of a quill a Macaw primary would make? It would certainly be colourful!

Check back regularly. No telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

There's something I really find disturbing about paying taxes and listening to the daily news, which these days seems dominated by stories of government waste. Actually I think I'm the one who is wasting the money. I have never bought into the baloney about it being 'my duty' or that it's 'the patriotic thing to do' or what ever other drivel they toss our way to work on our guilt.

And what the hell does it cost to administer such a monstrosity of a complicated process anyhow? Couldn't it be vastly simplified by some sort of 'Flat Tax' alternative? Of course it could but a bunch of overpaid bureaucrats are going to have to seek alternative employment. I have no problem with that. They're wasting our tax contributions anyhow. And it isn't going to get any better folks. These 'Crack Heads' are addicted to tax revenue and they are going to have to come up with something to replace the Gouge and Screw Tax (GST) when they offer that beast up as a sacrificial offering to the voting masses.

Why not the "Anarchy or Nothing" approach? We could try that out for a spell and see what happens. I'm pretty sure it would shake a little common sense out of the woodwork if nothing else!

Anyhow..., paying taxes bites and if you think otherwise then you have a screw loose!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'Fool's Gold Nugget' tossed out by some thieving, electioneering politician.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

The last couple of days have been most interesting. Monday morning I had the pleasure of watching a young bull moose chew away on a patch of roadside willows. He didn't seem the least bit interested in me and I was able to snap off a couple of pictures.

Yesterday I saw a couple of moose that didn't fare so well. Just west of the ATCO Generating Station south of Forestburg lay a moose on one side of the road and another on the other side of the road. It appears someone took the perverse pleasure of blasting them out of existence. What a sick thing to do.

With that being said it is completely ironic that I would meet up with the renowned painter and naturalist, Norman Johnston later in the day. Frankly, I'm surprised there isn't more information available on this truly remarkable gentleman. He hails from Edmonton originally but moved to the small town of Alliance fourteen years ago becasue he, "Got tired of the city". I was doing some work at the Public Library in Alliance and Norman was looking after the place as the librarian was away for the day. We started off talking about fountain pens as Norman offered me his very nice writing Waterman to jot down a note. Before too long we got talking about all sorts of things and the next thing you know he invites me over to his house to have a look at some of his paintings. We didn't stay nearly as long as I would have liked but we needed to get back to the library as Norman had left the place open with a sign on the door that read "Be Back in 10 Minutes". Only in rural Western Canada could you get away with that.

Norman's Gallery Home is a truly interesting place and a place that I could just hang out at forever. It would have been so easy to just visit for a few days and talk about birds, paintings, classical music and all things worth talking about. The most surreal part of it all was that Norman was most interested in hearing more of my travels and interests. Imagine that? I'll be going back to visit Norman that's for sure. I need to teach him how to use the computer at the library.

Anyhow..., after seeing those two dead moose I was just about ready to give up on humanity but, through the quirks of synchronicity, my chance meeting with Norman Johnston restored my faith in humanity. Thanks Norman!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'buffalo nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

When elephants fight, the ants suffer. An old African proverb.

I kind of like that as it sort of sums up what I was thinking about earlier in the day. I was wondering who the guy was that convinced the population to take a piece of paper in belief the thing had some kind of a value above and beyond the value of the paper itself. The guy had to have been some kind of a genius or salesman or something. I suppose it's somewhat of a dubious distinction being the one that engineered 'paper money' so that's likely why we're not really sure who it was.

And what a scam it's been ever since. Throw some 'currency manipulators' into the mix and the ants are going to suffer. Of course the 'bankers' are in bed with the 'currency manipulators' so they pretty much take the profit out of handling money. You can hurry up and spend it before the 'currency manipulators' devalue it but you certainly don't want to leave it in the bank and have the 'bankers' pilfer it under the guise of 'service charges'.

If you really want to make it interesting then all you have to do is throw a little 'crude oil' in the mix. You now have 'lubricated' currency that will keep any 'war machine' you can think of chugging merrily along. Just make sure the 'average Joe' only gets enough of it to keep him from squeaking but not enough that he gets drunk on his own power and you pretty much rule the world - for now - until some guy in his basement lab creates cheap renewable energy say by tapping into the 'spin' of the universe then it all comes unglued and the poor eat the rich.

Anyhow..., it's not likely going to happen anytime soon so it gives a guy a chance to work out a strategy.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Well..., I just turned 50 today. No big deal really as I've kind of been prepared for the last couple of years. I can't say as that I was really looking forward to it but, on the other hand, I can't really say as that I was dreading it either. Overall I would have to say that when I look around at those I went to high school with I am a lot less 'grizzled' looking than the majority of them. I've only just started to get a few grey hairs and it's only been a couple of years since my chest slid down a foot or so. I have to wear 'progressives' now, which I don't like, and I suppose that's what I notice the most about aging is that I can't see close up stuff as well as I used to.

I guess from here on in it's pretty much an event if you make it another year. I do have a bit of 'longevity' in the family with Gram well in to her 90's and getting close to the 'Century' mark. When you're that close it's a milestone worth shoot'n for. On the other hand, Dad only made it into his 69th year. For me I suppose that means it's pretty much a coin toss. Guess I better start thinking of leaving some kind of a legacy.

When it get's right down to it I really should write a book. Hell..., I 've met a few characters in my time and from time to time the odd famous person. Back when I used to be a Harley jockey I saw a bunch of perfectly matched 'Deckers' at a service station in Fox Creek so I wheeled my '81 FLHS in for some gas and struck up a conversation with none other than Malcom Forbes. He and his entourage where headed up to Alaska to do a little hot air ballooning. We shot the shit for about 5 or 10 minutes, Harley talk mostly, and it wasn't until I got into Edmonton and was watching the news with Dad that I realized the guy I'ld been talking to was Mr. Forbes. I saw the Queen in Belize and the Pope in El Salvador. Stepped on Robert Batemans foot in a bookstore in Nanaimo and had a beer with Pierre Burton in his 'caboose'. Then there's "Smoke", he's not world famous but everywhere he's been he's famous. You could write about "Smoke" and stick to the facts and for sure those that didn't know him would be positive you were making the whole thing up.

When I think about it I certainly am not lacking in 'life's experiences' to draw from. Living in Central America for 8 years could easily justify a chapter or two. Hunting with falcons is something I've done and I've always been interested in calligraphy. I was a goldsmith for about ten years and I've built computers that have been used to crunch some serious and significant numbers. Not everybody can say they've set off dynamite or taken a flight in a helicopter with the doors off or taken a ride in Pitts 2B stunt plane. (That made me even more interested in a 'fighter plane' ride should the opportunity present itself some day.)

In any event I should get started on that book.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

So what does this mean for the everyday type citizen? Nothing really! Could you care less that a few million dollars that were dished out for such and such a year ago are this year being reappropriated to the latest and greatest pet project of the government? Not likely. And I'll tell you why.

It isn't going to make a damn bit of difference to your bottom line. Do you really think you're going to see any of the 'billions' that are being tossed around? If you do you better hope they've tossed a few towards 'mental health'. The fact that spending has been 'cut back' this time around shouldn't be suprising. In light of the weeks of 'Ad Scams' we've been broadsided with it only makes sense that for electioneering purposes it would be pertinent to show a little fiscal restraint. Hence, a budget in the true meaning of the word.

Anyhow..., you don't have to agree with anything here. In fact you don't even have to read it if you don't want to. Unlike the feds we're not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do. One thing I ask though is that if you are lucky enough to get your hands on any of the federal funds flying around drop me a line and let me know how you did it so that I can share it with the other two that visit this site from time to time.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget' passed off as a 'gold nugget' in the fashion of political spin.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Well.., it's been a few days since I posted and some of you may be wondering what I've been up to. I've been learning CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and applying it to my list of links. Go ahead and click on any of the categorized links above to see the results. My ultimate goal is to do a 'style sheet' that will control the look and feel of the whole site and keep a cohesive unity to the whole thing. When I get that working you will see the results the moment you log on to Terremoto.

I've also been quite busy at work as we've been short staffed for a couple of weeks. Nothing ugly has happened but time management is always challenging when you're short staffed. On top of that I ended up having to buy a new vehicle as the ones we had were dying rather quickly. I ended up buying an F-150 Ford Crew Cab 4X4 that I'm very happy with. As far as four wheeled vehicles go it's the first new one I've ever owned. The first new vehicle of any kind that I ever owned was an '81 Harley FLS. Some day I would like to own another new Harley but they're just as expensive as the new truck I just bought. I suppose I should buy the odd lottery ticket and see what happens.

Anyhow..., as soon as I get a 'real good' grip on CSS I'm going to try adding a MySQL database backend to the site and have it populated by an RSS (RDF Site Summary) syndicated news feed. I suppose you're wondering what RDF is now. Well it's the acronym for "Resource Description Framework", a metadata standard.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Spring is always nice to look forward to but it can have it's 'spells'. Last night was interesting - howling wind and rain/snow mix! Lovely! Just having to put up with it when you're trying to gear up for the mowing season is hard enough but should you have to drive under those conditions then the 'real' spring can't come soon enough.

Now today it's warmed right up, the wind died down and it's bright and sunny - looks like we're back on track but who's to know for sure. We could have the same tomorrow what we had last night or it could just stay nice and before you know it we'll be in the garden yanking weeds and growing things. The 'early' spring I can do without, it's the time when the leaves start popping out and the robins start building nests that I like. One thing I really don't like is a week or two delay in getting to that special time of the year.

It's all relative though. Out on the "Left Coast' they're likely gardening in earnest right this moment. And in the tropics, well, it really doesn't matter what time of the year it is because there's one thing for sure - a prairie winter is just too bizarre to even comprehend. What we do here is pretend we like the change in seasons. Sure, I like the change of seasons as well but I could sure do without the drastic change from fall to winter.

Anyhow..., I just thought I'ld run that past you but I have to run now.

So..., check back regularly. No telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I'm in the process of updating my KDE to version 3.2 and that takes a bit of time as I'm on dial-up if you recall. Out here in Western Canada our local telco pays little attention to the rural folks so the best we get is a 28.8 kbs connection every once in a while - usually it's 26.4 kbs. In any case I decided to create this post from the command line.

There are some pretty decent text based editors with the two best known being 'emacs' or 'vi'. If I have to I'll use 'vi' (pronounced "vee-eye") but I like 'ee' - easy editor - well, because it's easier and just plain more intuitive. A lot more than I can say for 'emacs' or 'vi'. That's the nice thing about 'Open Source Software', at least I have a choice! My 'Operating System' of choice lately is FreeBSD that I like to administer with Webmin. Once you've administered FreeBSD with Webmin you'll sure shake your head when have to administer a Windows server with mmc - Microsoft management console. That's just torture, plain and simple. Why they never created a browser based administration interface something like Webmin is totally beyond me. I suppose if you were forced to use something like 'Internet Explorer' then you would more than likely want to avoid the subject of browser based administration entirely.

If I was swimming in cash I would likely buy myself a nice Opteron and load Linux or BSD on it. Why not check out the wonders of 64 bit processors? I have a Sun Sparc Ultra 5 with a 275 mhz 64 bit Sparc processor but it just isn't an Opteron or a G5.

Anyhow..., just thought somebody may be interested and I was just sitting around waiting for KDE3.2 to compile so I posted it.

Check back regularly. No telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I was driving home this evening when this thought crossed my mind. When time is divided up it gets divided up into sixties, twenty-fours, sevens, twelves, and three hundred and sixty fives until you get to decades then it turns 'metric'. All of a sudden you have decades, centuries, and milleniums. It also switches to 'metric' when you head in the other direction and get to a second or less. Here we have tenths of a second hundredths of a second, thousandths of a second right on out there to nanoseconds.

Now you would have thought that someone before now would have come up with the concept of 'metric' time where a 'minute' would be one hundredth of an hour and an hour would be one tenth of a day and so on. I suppose where it all falls apart is when you try and synchronize it with our earth's annual loop of the sun. Surely though someone would have come up with a work-a-round for that by now though - maybe not - maybe that's why we have the 'half metric / half dog year' system we use now.

Anyhow..., now you can puzzle over this too.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'dog nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

This is just another post just because I need to do an update here. I'm trying desperately to get everything moved over to a FreeBSD system with dual processors and SCSI hard drives. It's an older machine with dual PIII 600's and a gig of ECC RAM but for all intents and purposes it 'Kicks Butt'. The real bottleneck is the dial-up connection which I hope to upgrade to something faster before too long. If you live in rural Western Canada you don't even get a 56K connection - 28.8K is the maximum offered by Telus. Telus and I don't see eye to eye and I will dump them as soon as an alternative makes itself available.

Now that I'm in the mood I may as well blast the Bank of Montreal for their bizarre customer relations logic. It's equal, if not transcending, the bizarre customer relations offered by our 'friends' at Telus. The other day I needed to make an online payment but my work schedule didn't allow me to make face to face contact with a teller. Thinking nothing of it I just deposited $500 *CASH* in my account through an ATM right in a Branch of the Bank of Montreal. Surely to goodness a real human would empty the machine in the morning and make the required adjustments to my account balance. Well folks, as far as the Bank of Montreal is concerned you deposited 'Toilet Paper' and they're not going to get around to making the required adjustments to your account balance for a minimum of 'Five Working Days'! Not only that but it would appear that they put a 'clamp' on your account to 'cover' the 'questionable' cash deposit. This will give them sufficient time to give the currency in question a thorough forensic analysis I suppose although I'm very suspicious that they likely 'play' with your money for a full 'Seven Days' on the 'International Money Markets' and if they don't then they're even stupider than I could have ever deduced from their asinine replies to my e-mail complaints.

Their explanation was just plain unacceptable and was a complete insult to the intelligence of the population in general. Their explanation made me mad. Not only would they not budge on their asinine policy - they escalated the complaint to a Bank of Montreal district supervisor of some sort - answered my verbose complaints with equally verbose (but far more hollow) replies - including a long distance call to my place of employment trying to convince me that I should reconsider closing my account and moving it to the Community Savings Credit Union. What planet are these folks from? Pluto? Maybe even one of those 'newly discovered' planets even further out there. All they accomplished by their performance was alienating a customer and one that will make sure none of his friends or relatives will ever do business with them now or in the future. If you are currently a Bank of Montreal customer then you owe it to yourself to contact me so that I can forward a copy of their e-mail for your perusal. They have clouded your thoughts and you need to have your eyes opened! Not only will they hijack your account for a minimum of 'Five Working Days' they will confiscate any 'crumbs' left over with their outrageous service charges. Boy, now there's a misnomer if ever I've seen one - it would be more fitting to refer to the charges as 'disservice charges'.

Anyhow..., I just thought it was my duty to let you know that the 'wolves' out there wear 'pin-striped suits'.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'gold nugget' and if it is, the Bank of Montreal will be that last financial institution on this planet, or any other in our solar system to see it.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Last week I did a three day, two night, road trip through rural Alberta. The choices for sleeps and eats were pretty slim and it pretty much boiled down to 'You take what you get'.

Some of the eating establishments were classier than others but this one kind of intrigued me as the parking lot was full. It just had to be the most popular restaurant for miles around. Sure enough the place was packed inside and you could tell the floor was straining a bit because every time the waitress went by it would sag and I would have to grab for my coffee cup as it started to skid off the table. It was kind of like eating on a ship except that it would only list when the waitress went by.

As you can imagine I wasn't surprised by the interior decor. There were a few faded posters that had been glued to the wall and at some point it looks like they got around to 'framing' them 'in situ'. I'm guessing they had some leftover door trim so they just used that.

Anyhow..., when I stopped to feed myself I thought I better snap this picture for forensic reasons!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Made a trip out to Castor today. A nice little town in the middle of nowhere. The highways have been horrible for the last two weeks but they were very much improved today as the temperature is finally rising a bit and the sun is hanging a little higher in the sky.

There isn't much to stop the blowing snow out on the prairies and the patterns created by the drifting snow kept me visually stimulated while the radio, tuned to CKUA filled the car with the sounds of Africa, the Caribbean, and destinations tropical. I guess it was kind of a 'ying yang' thing.

Anyhow..., when I stopped to water my horse I snapped this picture of a lonely, weathered fence post and the drift that resulted from it's position in the universe. That post, in harmony with the wind shaped that drift!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

This one's absolutely free. Not very long ago I received a 'trade publication' in the mail called "Canada Connects" with the tagline, "Canada's National Smart Community Magazine". If you want to check the associated website click Canada Connects. Basically it's about getting broadband internet access out to the hinterlands be that by satellite, wireless, or whatever. Now a lot of you may not be aware of how a trade publication works. In a nutshell, the larger the circulation the more advertising revenue you generate because you've basically got more qualified readers who are paying attention to the advertisements that generate that increased revenue. It's a juggling act at best because those advertisers have to believe that your publication is what's generating interest in their company.

About the same time I received my first copy of "Canada Connects" I received an e-mail from Phil Carr the editor. I answered back and told him I thought he had a pretty decent publication whereupon he replied and asked if I knew of anybody else that may be interested in receiving a free subscription. After all the larger the circulation the more advertising revenue that gets generated. So here's the deal - fire off an e-mail to Phil Carr and tell him that Dan Armeneau of Terremoto fame said that you could get yourself a free subscription to the fine publication, "Canada Connects". That's all there is to it - fire off an e-mail and sit back and wait for Canada Post to get their act together.

Anyhow..., there isn't very many things you get for 'free' these days so I just thought some of you may be interested in this 'freebie'.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

OK..., here's the deal. This site runs off of some server in some 'Data Centre' somewhere out 'East'. It's a professional package and the service is superb. They have more than a few million customers so they must be doing something right. A recent addition to their service is an 'Affiliate' program whereby you click on this link to register a domain name and set up a web hosting package and they send me money. Pretty sweet deal, no? Of course I'll be putting a little gif and a link off to the side but this is what you get for right now.

Go ahead and set yourself up a website. It's really quite simple and with the packages offered by 1&1 Internet Inc. you get about US$500 worth of professional web authoring software. That's a pretty sweet deal for you, no? Having your own website is good for you. It will keep you occupied in a wholesome sort of way and it will give you that feeling of accomplishment you get when you have something out there for the whole world to see.

Anyhow..., if you want to give yourself a 'Web Presence' then go with the 'Professionals' at 1&1 Internet Inc..

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be an 'MP's nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

In case you haven't noticed I've changed a couple of the links you see above in 'Quick Links to Interesting People, Places, Items, and Ideas'. I discovered Mil Millingtonand his now famous Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About web site a couple of years ago and made it a point to subscribe to his mailing list. He doesn't e-mail real often but when he does it's always a very funny read. Mil is what I would call a 'Humourist' in the true sense of the word. Not only that but his humour is acceptable for family consumption and wouldn't offend any but the most orthodox of prudes. That's why I've added a couple of links to Mil's ramblings under the 'Quick Links to Interesting People, Places, Items, and Ideas' heading above.

I've also taken a bit of time to update the pages on my site to weed out broken links and add a little commentary to what would otherwise be a bland regurgitation of links. To that end I've made a few minor changes to the Quick Picks page. I plan on doing the same to the rest of the pages over the course of a week or so.

Anyhow..., just thought you may find the guy interesting. I can like the style of Mil's writing.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

I ran across this the other day and I'm not too sure who the hell the guy that wrote it is. In any case I kind of liked what he wrote so I decided to link it here, and here as well, just in case you missed it the first two times. There's a link to the author's website at the bottom of the article and I kind of think this guy has a pretty good idea of what's going on. I'll be linking him to my front page soon.

On a quick glance of Stephen Gray's website it looks like this guy lives on the Left Coast, is anti-union, and a self-titled poet. Anybody with those credentials can't be all that bad. You can't be too careful though as there are a disproportionate amount of wing nuts that blossom on the Left Coast making it difficult to pick the voice from the chatter.

Anyhow..., you don't have to agree with Stephen Gray or his right wing views but you have to give the guy credit for doing what he does, where he does. I guess it would be somewhat analogous to the Volvo driving, save the planet vegetarian living in rural Alberta. He really needs to liven up his website a tad if he hopes to be taken seriously though.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be an 'MP's nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Never mind 'Mad Cows' or 'T'd Off Moose' at least we don't have to put up with 'Drunk Elephants'. I've seen the odd drunk bird here in Alberta but they're relatively harmless. I remember years ago an early frost followed by a warm 'Indian Summer' had the berries fermenting on the bush and the birds staggering around on the ground unable to take to the air. As I recall it was quite humorous.

I know that wild animals are a problem in our National Mountain Parks but I haven't heard of them raiding 'camp coolers' or such in the search for a 'cool one'. The racoons in particular will haul off with anything that isn't locked down and there are certain kleptomaniac members of the avian world that seem to enjoy thievery for the sheer thrill of it all. The most skilled of all 'Feathered Filchers' that I know of was a Yellow-Lored Parrot - Amazona Xantholora - that lived with us in Belize. He could not resist anything with a gold shine to it and was particularly fond of gold earings and gold chains. It would take him no time at all to run a gold chain through his beak until he located the catch and in a matter of seconds have the clasp opened and him heading for the nearest lofty perch with his new found treasure. Earrings weren't much of a challenge for him either and he could undo the catch and remove it from an ear without having to resort to a 'grab and run' modus operandi.

Anyhow..., I thought you may be interested in 'rogue critter' stories so that's what you get for today. If you want something different then drop me an e-mail and let me know what it is you would like to see.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'elephant nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Yes folks..., this could only happen in Alberta. According to this story it sounds like some kids were chucking snowballs at a moose which 'T'd' off the moose to the point that it came back the next day and kicked the crap out of some poor unsuspecting kid who was totally innocent. For this little outrage the moose managed to get her, and the youngster accompanying her, shot! Yup..., and apparently they're going to hand out the meat to needy folks who don't throw snowballs at moose.

Anyhow..., I figured I would post that just in case anyone was interested.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'moose nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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I sit in front of computers all day!

Yup..., that's what I do.

Anyhow..., I figured I would post that just in case anyone was interested.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Just had this forwarded to me this morning. What makes it interesting is that it is my Gram's nephew. Gram is interesting in her own right but more on that later. I have never met Bob but I have seen a bunch of the gold in question. My Mom's Cousin Ruthie used to have a coffee table with a glass top and under that glass top was a LOT of gold ore samples. Now I know a bit about gold - I've done some prospecting myself and was a goldsmith for a number of years - and I can tell you that those ore samples were 'High Grade'.

I have always been interested in 'rocks' and can still spot an agate or a fossil at a pretty fair distance. I've never checked back into the family tree far enough to discover if 'rocks' are there anywhere 'up the line' but I have a niece who is nearing a 'Doctorate in Rocks' so there's 'rocks' in the blood somewhere.

Anyhow..., I figured I would post that just in case anyone was interested.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

After reading this article I couldn't help but wonder why it is that every wing of the government that has something to do with custody of fur, feather, fauna or the free expression of choice seems to get so righteous about their 'job'. Is narrow mindedness a genetic defect that manifests itself in politicians or is it purely coincidental?

Anne Murray is a big girl but I wouldn't necessarily call her a moose but poker playing, cowboy monkeys..., that I can get a grip on. I'll bet that multi-talented primate would make one hell of a bull-fighter and bull-rider!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings

Yes..., I really like the new job. The hours are great, the people are great, the remuneration is great and I just plain like it. I've spent the last few days setting up Request Tracker on a FreeBSD box. Just have to tidy up a few details, add the FAQ manager and we'll have an enterprise class e-mail support system with integrated FAQ. I'm honoured to be able to make such contributions so early in my library career.

Lacombe looks like a real interesting place. Lot's of old buildings and houses and a lot of old churches. The drive there and back from Rimbey everyday is interesting as it's a leisurely forty minute drive through the rolling hills of Central Alberta. The sunrise in the morning and the sunset in the afternoon make the trip an extra added pleasure. I know I know, where are the pictures? Well I'm going to head off to work a few minutes early and I'm going to drag the digital camera along just in case something interesting comes up.

Now that I'm finally in a nice groove I hope to make the entries to my Blog a tad more frequent.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but I will guarantee it won't be a 'horse nugget'.

Hasta Luego y Un Prospero Año Nuevo

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Terremoto - Earthshaking News, Views, Spews and Idle Musings