Ly-er , Lier , Liar

pants on fire.... This was the chant when we were young and foolish and really lacking in vocabulary

wad happnd

Bought the Windows Home Premium package. changed my mind
E- Z P - Z 
And it is faster and all that

Figured if this e-machine goes back and forth to the 'bee and goes to FlaUSA ( old ad slogan for Tourism Florida ) , I'd better make it a good system.

So , if you are keeping track a) e-machine cost 140 dollars
                                              b) WHP 90 dollars
                                              c) AVG Protect ( Anti - V etc )  40 dollars

Do the math , the software cost as much as the hardware

weather :dreary and dreary  P.S. 2000 H still the same

World News by the numbers:

Pakistan is # 1
70           since the new PM in June
350         dead
85           countries suffering terrorists attacks in 2012
1404       terrorist attacks in Pakistan 2012
1848       deaths in Pakistan 2012

Criminy , when was the last time it was good news by the numbers ?

I'm copying from the TorStar , honest

De-bunking the Bunk

Now , I'm not saying that we report only the Truth here , but w/in bounds , we try.
I've heard of the ' lone gunman theory ' , well I know the Lone Ranger , the jury is pretty much out on tLGT.
I do not believe in the ' lone ant ' theory. If you see 1 ant there are a gazillion just waiting in the wings ( or w/ wings )  I love how they call it a ' colony ' when there are ants.
The experts are wrong. Colonies are nice places. Applied to ants , there is nothing nice about a colony. Hope , new freedom and chance to re-build , Nope , not w/ ants around.

Then there is the ' I am a Luddite ' theory. There is some evidence , for this theory.
However , did you know that I own a negative , photo and slide scanner that turns different picture formats into digital format.
As well , I own a night camera and a palm size digital camera and the newest ....  Bios photo recording sunglasses. 

The sunglasses are unwieldly but have 400 UV protection and can record photos , videos and sound. Now , the sound is poor, I sound like Orson Welles after a really bad night. but then everyone sounds like OW w/ the lousy microphone and its placement.
I recorded a session w/ Nick the bank , my banking rep at CIBC.
The sunglasses were on sale  55 % off ( natch ,or I wouldn't have bought them ). For all sports , the sunglasses means handsfree recording , say , landing a fish.
The sunglasses are plugged in via USB to a computer and after some minor fiddling , bingo bango , video.
My cheapy , travel laptop ( 10 inch ) runs Windows Starter 7 ,which is pretty much akin to having a typewriter but allows Windows Media Player to function.
I can upgrade to Windows Home Premium for $ 100. But I can buy a new tablet which comes fully loaded for $ 230. This situation represents the current consumer electronics conundrum.
The ' e-machine ' is 3 years old and cost approx $ 139 after bonus points. E - machine is 1 1/2 generations , out of date. At this point , waiting another year and buying a new tablet , makes way more sense.
Apparently , upgrading allows faster cycling time , and is much lauded by other small laptop owners. But I fear that they're interests in games and apps and social crappola , mostly drives their need for speed. ( this last sentence is almost poetic or messianic at least )
Besides , I'm cheap , we all know that.
Ah , maybe , all theories don't get de-bunked , this session

Weather , sultry and sunny. rain to come in 2 days for 2 days.

the 'bee and its news

Back from the 'bee , and life in the big smoke

Fishing was tough , its not quite like the TV shows where the guy gets 20 bass in a day. I'm averaging a couple of largemouth bass , an outing
I'm fishing a lot lighter, this means more panfish. I think that I've discovered a sunfish fishing rig. I've never caught so many and some of them big. The number of bass has stayed the same. And the lighter line and rod makes the fishing a lot more fun. Basically , I'm catching many fish.

Weather turned sultry on the 'bee , and we ran for

home , right quicko. Ah A/C , so spoilt we are !

The wall unit cum storage is done. I received compliments from M.
That is good. The array is 4 night stands w/ 1 clothe drawer and a shelf , arranged as a little pyramid , flat topped. A matching brown clothe hassock is fitted beneath the central 2 tablettes. Cost was $ 75. These are particle board structures but the advantages are lightness and re- organization at any time ( not fixed ). The two end tablettes ( baby tables ) are specifically for shams and pillows , so these items no longer lie on the floor when not on the bed. I suppose a bed box at the bed foot would have been a solution but even the Tiger doesn't sell bed boxes for $ 75.

This is moi avec poisson. Approx a 1# largemouth ( the fish not the Hat )

DIY - but Big

Do It Yourself has always been the basic mode for most householders. The big box ' hardware ' purveyors are doing well in the economic pinch that afflicts the once middle class.

This one is for the books. I'm listening last night to the BBC ' Science Hour ' or somesuch. In a valley in Cumbria , England , the people of Loon are installing their own fibre optic internet service.
They dig and bury the mains and supply cables to participating households , its all volunteer labour. BT or their cable provider wanted approx. $ 600 / foot to install FOC. The Loon-ites are doing the job for $8 /foot.
One lady interviewed while using the internet claimed the upload speed to be 600 Mbs. I know all about Mbs from my fiasco w/ hotspot. Dial-up speed was 42 Kbs prior to fibre optics.  Thats DIY

Apparently , in certain parts of Asia and Europe , arsenic leaches into the well water. In Pakistan , some quotes have 40 - 60 % of the population prone to arsenic poisoning. In China , estimates have 30 % of wells contaminated.

World by the numbers
guarding the unguardable 
10 000            U.S.  border agents in 2004
21 394             agents in 2012

370 %              increase in fencing on the border w/ Mexico
46                    billion dollars recently allocated to border security
3.5                   illegals / border officer / year

When questioned authorities could not verify numbers of people crossing into the U.S. illegally  Oops. ( Seemed to fit , here )

I'm back to playing on line craps.  In my ' Play Craps like the Pros ' DVD , the commentator has the house edge at 1.4 % , if you play his way. I think he's misplaced that decimal.  ' Experts ' ? say ,if  you can beat the computer then you can do better live. What a crock.
This craps is like gambling , real gambling. Oh well , they're compting us for our Sept fiasco in Salamanca. I know put the gas money aside , so you can drive home.

Giant Tiger and Serendipity

Here in the GWN , its hard for us to get the same deals that we see when we 're in the U.S.. We don't have Kohls and our Target has prices closer to Canadian stores than U.S. stores.

We do have Giant Tiger. Giant Tiger is cheapy.  Brand names , and crap too , but above all cut rate prices.
M calls it my store. In smaller towns throughout S. Ont , we would chance upon GT s and I would have to stop and shop. Well , they opened a branch about a mile away. I do the Giant Tiger about every 3 weeks or so.
Got out early this morning and hit the Tiger as it opened. Me and the pensioners.

The highlight so far , has been buying Birthday and Xmas presents for a friend. The friend is from my grade school days , high school and university. He is our family lawyer , to boot. We still exchange gifts .

A big sports fan and hockey researcher , this would be a no brainer in terms of gifts. NO.
I end up searching for obscure names.
GT has solved my dilemma . To -day at GT , I purchased hooded sweat tops w/ names ' Furman Univ , Louisiana Tech and Belmont Univ '. Not exactly household names. This represents his dream gifts , obscure.

So I do , obscure.

As well, I'm designing a wall unit and storage array for QMH on the ' Bee. A little bit creative and whole lot of cheap. M courageously puts up w/ my ' inspirations ' . Sometimes almost OK , other times .... well.
And GT has been providing the elements of the design. Pics to follow.

And GT contributes a movie review. ' Serendipity ' is a John Cusack movie w/ Kate Beckensaale.
KB does not wear leather or shoot anyone , and there are no vampires either. Co-star is Jeremy Piven. JP proves once more why , he may be one of the best supporting actors around.
' Serendipity ' is another vehicle for John Cusack to do his best imitation of John Cusack. I enjoy it.
Serendipity gets a 0.7 out of 1 ( Redbox rating ) , and it cost $5.

Further , I'm recommending that you go on ' YouTube ' and listen to Rene Fleming sing ' Touch the hand of Love ' w/ YoYo Ma and friends. Then , look up Mary Hopkin , the Welsh singer doing ' Jerusalem ' or ' Did those Feet in Ancient Times ' the unofficial National song of England.

And I'm listening to covers of John Denver's ' Welcome to My Morning ' , from 'Farewell Andromeda '
JD was born John Dussendorf  ,the son of an Air Force career officer. He sang w/ the Kingston Trio in his early years and then it big w/ the hippie or post hippie crowd.

Bit Disaster

Wow , the hotspot debacle continues. The billing cycle starts on the 15 th of the month. On the 'bee , I figured clear the emails and nothing else and the 100 Mb would almost make the month.

It became clear why we go over the 100 Mb limit. Its too small !
In two times using the mobile hotspot for internet , we used 43 Mb.
Most likely , a update was installed , bingo bango , 20 Mb of data.
I know , I know - they're dying in Syria and Egypt , yada , yada.
Still this is a local dilemma.

Our weather , has settled on being summer. Humidity is low and the temperatures are reasonable. Rain comes every few days. We will not complain.

Health matters. A sore knee. Nothing major , warm pack in the morning - ice pack after exercising. Comes w/ the territory , Age.
Notice , I can still do my exercise.
However , if you had told me 20 yrs ago this was going to be my exercise , I would have laughed and pooh poohed the limited cardio.
So , exercise regimen , now. 33 minutes ( average ) , on the elliptical machine.

After a two minute warm-up , slow on the machine
30 push ups
2 min ellipticing ( a new word , don't know what other verb to use )
10 # hand weights pushed overhead / chest raises w/ a 35 # barbell
2 min ellip
barbell push from chest overhead / chest raises bent at waist
2 min ellip
barbell curls and extensions overhead
2 min ellip
barbell push overhead behind the neck / wrist grips for range of motion
2 min ellip
hand weights runners arm swing 17 per side
ellip - 8 min
punches and arm range of motion (behind the back etc )
using resistance bands - rowing
resistance band - leg swings out lateral
lighter bands arm side raises
leg raises - on the floor

I use a heart rate monitor but its results are sometimes questionable.
I average 116 BPM w/ a range where the high is 150 BPM. This average includes the warm up and cool down.
This regime is done 3 times a week and if I'm feeling guilty , I elliptic on off days.
I used to do the routine above , 4 days in a row w/ one day of rest.
However, I told the physio lady for my next door neighbour what I did and she suggested every other day even if the weights weren't large. So , I backed off slightly.

However , 20  yrs ago - this is stupid , how can I compare now w/ 20 yrs ago

This is my exercise !

On tap , well , we were supposed to go to the CNE this year. For the southern readers , the Canadian National Exhibition , is your fall fair blown up beyond belief. The grounds stretch 3 miles along the lake and 3/4 of a mile from the shore.
We have never been as a married couple , 26 yrs. I keep promising to go w/ M but................. Part of this yearning , is nostalgia.
As a kid , you used to go twice. I mean Kids Day was free.
You clipped coupons and saved your money.
You came home w/ little shopping bags filled w/ candy and flotsam and jetsam.

You walked through the Food Building at least 4 times. The grounds held at least 10 buildings for Modern Living , Hydro , Livestock etc. I said blown up , didn't I.

This year was for sure. Nope , we're chickening out again , it seems
Just as well , the new food sensation kiosk  the Cronut Burger , was closed due to fear of food poisoning.
A Cronut Burger ? croissant outside and meat patty, deep fried and coated w/ sugar sprinkles and maple / peanut butter glaze. Yeah , it could make you sick.
They officials are still testing but the authorities have pretty much narrowed down the possibilities.

Fla - Weird or What

This name is a TV show title...... but its Florida , too

From the News:

Bird poop facials in NYC ( noper , didn't read the story , more fun imagining )

911 call  in London , Eng , " help I'm hand-cuffed to a bed and can't get free " 50 Shades of Grey  or ..................

The Villages , Fla.     Disneyland for trailer life
World record for beer consumption - in fact beer is piped underground to pubs from their own micro-brewery
A thriving black market for Viagara  / sex in golf carts all the time
Witness , 2 - 70 yr olds cane fighting for a woman

While we are Fla. , the topic of the Villages comes up. Friends have friends who own there. We know its a gated community and semi-exclusive , in some way.
Golf carts have their separate parking spots. The carts are modified
to resemble Mercedes or Lincolns.
However , the sidewalks roll up at ten , though.
When it started in the 70 s , the trailer park offered free golf for owners. That was then , now other interests highlight Village life.

The weather is tres fin - sunny , warm and not HH , definitely. The view from the picture window shows blossoming green and veg is growing

Satruday on the Blog

A card game happened here , last night. this group is an older crowd , or oldish. Four retirees , 2 - forty year olds , a sixty something and a fifty odd guy.  Very sedate , 8 guys drank 6 beers. Food was pizza , fruit tray and veggie platter. Got to have that roughage.

The World Weekly , by the numbers.  not bad this week

The Arctic Shipping Rush:

204      -- shipping permits for the northern Sea Route , Asia to Europe

46        - vessels in 2012 made the NSR
4          - vessels in 2011
33         - days from Kobe to Rotterdam via the Suez Canal
23        -  days same trip by NSR

Are you middle class ?  In 1991 , people said by poll , compared to 2012  

                                 
  INDICATOR                 1991                                     2012

Home Ownership          70  %                                       45 %

2 cars or more               48 %

College Education         46 %                                          37 %

Stocks , investment       41 %                                           28 %

White collar Job            33 %          

Health Insurance                                                              66 %

Secure Job                                                                       86 %

I knew we were middle class. I  still claim we are part of the 10 %
definitely not the 1 %.  There is no middle class in the sense that the middle class represent the bulk of people.

Weather is sunny and warm , mayhaps an ideal summer day.

Well , I'm cleaning up the poker room , and resuscitating 

BTW - I won , for the first time in 3 games I think

Are We Allowed to Muse

Of course.

On a TV commercial , a woman can't get to sleep ( been there , done that ) she wonders ' if its called chili , why is it hot ?..... What if the hokey pokey , really is what its all about ? '

These are scary thoughts

Mine : If a car has 4 people travelling , why is the driver the person who texts / talks

If you're paranoid , that there's something going on in the universe , you're not supposed to know about - are you crazy or right ?

Or as Snoopy would say , looking up at the night sky,  ' Sometimes I wonder what's really going on ...... then it hits me , I haven't got a clue '

Love that dog.

Our house frogs got fed yesterday , and now questions have popped
up
a) are 4 pellets enough 
b) what if 1 frog gets it all

 We are terrified , trying to answer these questions 
Answer : To-day's results .....frog # 1 got 3 and frog # 2 got 1 pellet
Tragedy in the burbs - news at 11
Is there no fairness in the world ??

Excitement never ends here

Veetaire veeya

The title is Ukranian ( or my memory of Ukrainian from H.S. days ) , meaning ' the wind is blowing '
This is the reason that I came home from the 'bee , way too windy !

And I am hosting a card game this week and thought that I'd come home and help get the house ready. I really don't do much but at least I can offer to help.

Dropped in at the Hastings marina. I kept saying that I would change out the spark plugs on the outboard. Well ,its been a year.
Now , the engine is running quietly etc and the rule is ' if it ain't broke don't touch it ' I still think , sparkplugs are pretty basic and necessary. Got a fuel filter too !.

This maintenance is suggested by the E-Tec website which is a bunch of guys who own or work on E-Tec engines. Most of their discussion goes ' whoosh ' right over my head. But I can figure out spark plug and filter.

Two years ago , at the marina , I asked about water in the fuel, a problem  that is frequently referred to on the E-Tec website.

The mechanic guy says ' where are getting all this , on some website ???? '. Well , yeah. ' Stop reading that stuff '. I thought that I was getting informed. The mechanic said ' you got other problems that are more real , forget this water stuff '.

So much for the web. The Holy Grail of ................   something.

The guys on the 'bee recommended changing the plugs vs the 3 yr maintenance check ( $ 500 , BTW ) , using the ' ain't broke , don't touch it ' rule. The fuel filter is my idea , web be damned , or me be damned - depending on your point of view

Weather : cool to very cool ( love it ) but too windy.

Our new 2 nd hand keyboard is large and comfortable w / a whole new top row of keys for : ' my documents , my pictures etc ' and I'm not touching any of those keys unless , Ant tells me what they do w/ them.

So , I'm off to clean

All the World Got trouble

I'm typing in bed at QMH. This mode is word pad. I'll transfer to blogspot. com , from home.

Why aren't you blogging direct you ask ?

Too cheap. 

My mobile  hotspot contract allows for 100 mB at base rate. I'm at 93 mB right now w/ a turn-over date of 8 / 14.

The base rate is $ 23. If you go over , you jump to 2 GB and $ 45. Eek !

I've gone over before b/c my mobile hotspot turns over at month end. I thought that I was well within the 100 mb , nope , went over.

I'll pay but if I can work around the date and save mB s , I'm going to try.

So , the hotspot re-sets at month end and the billing cycle is based on the 15 to the 14. This means that I need to note usage on the month end and add the remainder til the 14.

the bloomin' hotspot keeps track but not on the billing cycle. And you wonder why I'm a luddite ?

My new fishing system - the light rig - is doing great. The bass aren't bigger but it's way more fun w / lighter line ( rod ).

Weather is pleasant , to-day ( 8 /12 ) was partly overcast.

I went to Costco for the hotdog special , $ 26 , dog and drink. Actually , the food was $ 1.50 and the seaweed , biscotti and lemon - lime bag 24.50.

Typical Costco deal , $6 for 6lb of limes and lemons in 1 bag. There has to be 8 lemons and 12 limes. When life gives you lemons make lemonade , yepper , made lemonade.

Honey lemonade , and I'll need to make lemonade about 4 more times

Costco , our rule is get out of there under $ 200  E-Z P-Z right !!!    Wrongo. 

I told our neighbour about this , he said ' our rule is $300 ! ' Crikey and they're a couple too ! Although the daughter does come home and raid the freeezer

I imagine Costco can change their name to ' Spendmore ' based on us.

When in Doubt

Who do you call - ' Ghostbusters ' . Nope. Electronic stuff call Ant.

I e-mailed Ant about my keyboard trouble and asked if he had a spare keyboard. Yes.
So far , I've gotten his old gen 1 Apple phone and now a PC keyboard.
Its not as one sided as it seems , we're almost even. He got my reel mower ( a good one ) and my left-over snowblower.

So , we're getting used to this new wider and deeper keyboard.

This is a Saturday update - I meant to send this blog out yesterday

Any Difference

We're discussing the stone retainer that edges our driveway. Scrubbed , de-greased , primed and now covered in ' white cloud '.
We went for a compliment to the garage door. The colour is distinct from the primer but not much. After white cloud dries we will re-evaluate. I can paint over the white cloud if needs be. The ants seem to like the colour as they were swarming all over one section.

We have house guests , as our neighbours went east to holiday.
The fellows ( ? ) are frogs. Gray , teensy guys the size of the bowl part of a tablespoon . Their home is the size of a box of GrapeNuts cereal maybe 2 x the thickness but that big. Apparently , they happily ( ? )  float , rise and sink in the plastic aquarium.
When not living on our street , these amphibs sit on a desk in the school office. The kids have named them ' Flic and Ferbie ' we do say hello as we pass. In essence F and F are holidaying on our street.

We were told to give them pellets 2 x a week. these pellets appear to be 1/3 the size of peppercorns. to be fair , the pellet size needs to be appropriate to the froggies. At any rate , they look healthy if gray is healthy - and they do move around.  

Weather : same old -- same old   cool and sunny Perfectamundo

Enjoy your Sunday

The Vacuum of Space.....

bar or my sad story. The keyboard ' spacebar ' is now fixed. After thumping for 20 hrs , Ivacuumed ..... no itsstickingagain...crap!

Storycontinueslater ,

The problem continues re:spacebar. I'm backtoThur night status , where thesticking is minor. The spacebar requires a deadcentre hit i.e. not the ends. I type w/ two hands and rely on the end touch.

Anyway , I type slower and generate less errors.

Weather : another lovely day in the neighbourhood.

Got out early to paint the front retaining wall top. The stones were once painted gray but had forgotten what paint was. I prepped w/ a wire stripper wheel , degreased w/ liquid lightning ( powerful stuff that ) and primed this AM before the sun got hot.
We are leaning toward a cream finish coat , matching the garage door and trim /// or a earth tone red to compliment the interlock on the other side.

Here it comes , World News in numbers :

Nigeria :

360        -   $ million , cost of imported tomato paste ( China )
1.5         -   million tonnes of Nigerian grown tomatoes
900 000 -   tonnes that rot waiting for buyers
$700      -   per tonne for farmers if a processing plant is built
30 %      -  price reduction the Chinese have started offering

McDonalds again :

3000         - outlets worldwide
5.5            - $ billion net profit , 2012 ( $ 2.4 billion 2007 )
22 174 / 1  - ratio of Americans to U.S. branch  outlets
116            - countries w/ a MacD s next year
0                - McD s in Iceland ( 3 in 2007 )

Hey , this weren't so grim

Canadian content : House prices up 16 % Jun to Jun in the GTA
But as reported , housing permits were off 10 % Well , time to go watch paint dry

Have a good one !!

Rituals

Last night as usual , somewhere around 10 PM I stepped out the front door and peeked to see if the garage door was closed. Paranoia - you bet. If M is last in, for sure the garage is closed. Moi , well you check at 10.
In fact ,this week , the neighbour 2 doors down had 3 bicycles walk away from his garage. Thus , the 10 o'clock check. As well , I note the conditions and observe the moon , I sort of announce my presence - thats a line from the movie 'Bull Durham '.

Yesterday , returning from the 'bee ,we stopped at Amigo's Pub for mid-day or afternoon lunch. I chose the 1/2 price nachos. For calories and fat content there would appear to be better options.
Except that we've been watching re-runs of 'Diners , Drive-ins and Dives' , a go behind the counter look at restaurant life. Trust me ,when the patrons say ' like my mom used to make ' or ' best goulash           
 in Seattle ' its clear butter on the grill or thrice cooked in oil - even deep fried once.
I mean they put olive oil in the marinara sauce right before serving.

Trust me nachos is if not reasonable then on a par w/ most choices.
Now , that your convinced ,I feel much better.

Hey, to-day ,we go to Target. Why ? Dunno. M says she's going.

BTW - thespacebaronthekeyboarddoesn'tworkunlessyoureally thunk ithard.

O/night radio

OK More stuff that I might have heard listening in my sleep.

Germans prefer bottle water over tapwater ,in fact,the German preference has caused large supply problems. The water tables throughout Germany are very high. One wonders if the floods  that seem more common now in Germany , are partly caused by insufficient absorption in to the ground. Plastic recycling is enormous in the larger Germany cities.

Canadian housing permits  are down 10 % , the first quarter in many years that permits have been down.

Weather , continues mild and enjoyable.

Fishing , friends were up on Mon, a long exhausting day.Several fish , but the highlight was a walleye that hit in the first 10 minutes.
An early fish seems to be a good omen.

Tues., I  was fishing hung over , so to speak , I switched from the normal rigs that I use. I went lighter ,way lighter. A #1/0 worm hook instead of a # 4 /0 or 5/0 , 2 beads and 1 sm splitshot. Instead of a 6 in worm , I split a worm lengthwise and lengthwise again , cut the section about 2 in long and made a ' V ' tail. I was so cheap that I re-used a beat up worm from Mon.
Success , smll mouth and lrg bass jumped all over the make believe set- up. On top of that , I went with a light rod and reel w/ 6 #test line. Pure fun. Did the same thing , this AM too.

So , what is a normal rig. 7 ft synthetic rod and a 2000 series reel.
Typically , braided line  14 # test w/ 12# flourocarbon leader + a # 4/0 or 5/0  wormhook. FYI , these bass wormhooks compare in size to wine corks in length and depth.
This set-up pulls bass from under wood piles and through weeds.
The lighter set up means going to the fish if the fish runs into the weeds.

BTW. the mornings have gotten progressively warmer. Once , that sun gets up , its hot out there.

As well , I've started fishing early morning 6 or so if I can get up ( or close , give or take ). I'm trying to avoid the end of day heat and the sun that slants in to my face after 6 PM. Facing away from the sun would be an option but I fish the shallows and the sun's angle makes for long shadows at that time of day.

The Gospel According to Paul

' Is analysis really worthwhile
Is the theatre really dead ? '

Steak was a fabuloso success ,again. M did acti-fries and a cauliflower casserole avec fromage , mon frere. Ate like kings and watched Tiger par out at 68 for the day. 7 up.

The steak gets sliced at an angle like bread and everybody takes slices. One steak for two and there is always leftovers ,yum. Of course , there are rarer bits and less rare bits all the way up to done , everyone gets to choose their colour.

World News : Kowabunga , dude , this is less hopeful than last week and that was a downer.
OK.

Animal rights protestors are branding themselves in Israel.

Want tall people , the Thai gov't does. Drink more milk folks. How they doing  ?
14 L of milk per person last year, the target is 60. The int'l average is 101.
44 L of alcohol per person each year in Thailand

Success ? If Thais average 5' 7" for men ( up 2.6 in )

American teen trauma by the numbers

71 % experience physical assault
16 % carried a weapon last year
21 % with sexually transmitted disease
29% felt sad and hopeless for longer than 2 weeks
22 % living in poverty

Good news 78 % aren't living in poverty , right ?
79 % have no STD s and those aren't underwear initials.

Good News ???? To-morrow ,  A scientist will eat a beef burger for lunch in Germany. The big deal , the meat is lab grown in a petrie dish. These guys took protein strands and cultured the protein.
The cost of a Big Mac in 1955 , 30 cents , to-day $3 something.
This grow your own meat burger is 250 000 Pds Sterling
The Pepto Bismol is also lab grown.
They're hoping costs come down in the future

I guess you'd like me to knock off the world report , by now.
What a depressing cavalcade of numbers , boo.

Weather is cool for Aug here in the big smoke. Lovely, really

To-day became visit Mom in the Nursing home b/c I didn't go Fri or Sat.. The plan is go and see her when she gets to the same topic 3 times thats when I leave.

Movie Reviews ( 2 )

' Juno '  is a quirky look at a quirky personality. Great supporting actors Allison Janney , JT Rowland and more. Ellen Page stars as Juno , character and movie title. Some swearing , limited nudity are part of the overall picture. Rating on the redbox scale 0.88 / $1

Next, grim and grimmer. ' Winter's Bone ' , a story of growing up hard and fast in the mountain culture of poverty and drug making. The drug is crank and its home brew. The guys are silent , tough and dirty. The women are too. Everyone is related to someone and family names denote profession , e.g. cooker ,runner , seller - as in drugs. Jennifer Lawrence doesn't wear anything but bleuejeans and a grin. That about sums up the fun part of the story.
Rating 0.4 / $ 1. But to be fair if you can get past the grim , its probably , much better than a 0.4.

P.S. - the rating is meaningless , we bought those 2 at Target , for    $ 5 each
.
House sales ( and condos ) were up approx 16 % ,here in the big smoke.
Europe is looking like its recovering. Don't hold your breathe on that one. You got some scared people running the gov'ts of most European countries , especially ,the better off ones. And some truly dismal outlooks for 5 or 6 smaller countries.

We got told our flight to England come Dec was switched. Our return flight disappeared. The options were good and the AirTransat charter folks let us cancel. We opted for British Airways , and the dates we wanted. Thus , we go to jolly ol' Engrande in Dec.
I've seen soccer games in Dec where the sun shines and temp is 40 F. And .................. yepper , should have stayed home to freeze.
all the right reasons ,wedding and M's kin.

Tiger Woods is on a tear , at Bridgestone , again , it seems. I guess we're watching golf while eating dinner for 2 days. The only time we watch is when Tiger is playing and playing well.

The strip loin steak is marinating in soya sauce. Beer to follow. then BBQ ed. With accompanying acti-fries. We bought this T-Fal , machine that does ' oven fries ' w/ a tablespoon of oil. The fries are crisp and tasty. Down sides , the machine is bulky and costs $ 200. Is it worth it ?  Jury is out on that one.
But we get oven fries w/out heating up the kitchen and very little mess results.
I have nightmares of a kitchen counter arrayed w/ all these time saving , oil saving machines line up like soldiers waiting to be sent for duty.     Eek , eek - nightmare 101.

Here , the temp is cool , we are airing out the basement. we are running approx 3 degrees cooler than average for this season. Love it. And I know , someone else is not happy w/ the current weather.

A Morning of Kufuffle

Couldn't sleep this morning , thoughts of blackout curtains , coffee and other flotsam and jetsam , percolated through my head ( I'm sure that I broke 50 grammatical rules , in that last sentence ).
Woke up.
Oh, I was thinking that I forgot to put up the green bin.
The green bin is part of the recycle / re-use  system that our city has.
The green bin is compostable waste e.g. wet waste , thin paper etc.

The raccoons come for brekkies from the green bin overnight. Thus , the green bin goes up on the garbage bin at night and someone takes it down pre-garbage truck time. Well , I'm sure that I forgot to put up the green bin. but Lo and behold when I checked at 6:45 AM , the green bin was up. Next door , probably saw that I goofed and did me a favour ( I've done it before , sleep walked to the curb and left the green bin down  - ' Raccoon Attack at Dawn '.)
Usually the next door neighbour brings the green bins down on the way to work , say 8 AM. b/c the trucks are all mechanical lift and sometimes just dump the green bin as they lift the garbage bin.

While doing the coffee , I thought I heard the garbage truck - No , way too early !. It was the garbage truck. And he wasn't emptying garbage cans w/ green bins on top. He drove past. Our garbage was not emptied.
I ran out , transferred garbage from two houses to one garbage bin and took the combined garbage across to the other side       neighbour' s driveway. And felt proud for doing a good job. Took 2 steps up our drive and the garbage truck was back , this time on the other side. Now , you've got to know , typically , our garbage is at the curb for 7 A but somewhere around 4 P the truck comes.
Nooo , not this AM. 
Now , I'm feeling like a super hero.
Wait a tick and bring the garbage can back.  Tada. All in a day's work.
celebrated w/ a muffin and thought ' there's the day's excitement '. It is sort of dull around here.

BTW - as well , the corner guy puts a tie down on his garbage bin , anti-raccoon trick #2. Well , this garbage truck didn't mechanically lift the tied down garbage bin b/c it won't open w/ the tie down on. Ooops , someone gets to keep their garbage for 2 weeks.

Stats for you. I was looking at McDonalds restaurants as a stock purchase and found a Bloomberg video report.
1955 - Des Plains , Ill. - McDs #1 opened and had sales of $366.12 
To-day , 69 million diners a day and 25 million in the U.S. visit McDs
43 million lbs of tomatoes
102 million lbs of lettuce
231 million lbs of cheese at a cost of $ 9 billion per year for cheese
60 million lbs of apples sold per year

the Big 5 - Big Mac , QuartrPndr , French fries , Nuggets and McMuffin are 25 % of all sales. 9 million lbs of FF per day.

1 in 8 service employees in the U.S. have worked at McDs
McDs employs more people than the all the armed forces in the U.S. combined
More people visit McDs in day than any other chain incl Walmart

Avge wait time at McDs , 90 seconds
pizza is no longer served b/c the sales were so slow that McDs couldn't guarantee quality of product.

Globally , McDs offers wedding catering and vegetarian pattie burgers in India.

Now about that stock $ 99 and $ 3 dividend per year.

We'll think on it

Plain Ol' Stuff

The luddite speaks :

Our PVR ( HD recordings through the satellite selector box ) , brought us a smorgasbord of choices.
" Mystery ' had the ' Endeavour ' series , the early days of Insp Morse. Darkish but well done.
We saw ' Midsommer Murders ' w/ Tom Barnaby. And , George Gently , the series , taped.

M pays for and advocated for HD and PVR. Pure genius. Although , occasionally ' Sister Wives ' and ' Say , Yes , to the Dress ' trumps other offerings.
In my benevolence , I allowed HD and PVR into the house. Pure genius , second hand.

Sort of neat , part luddite and part techie , and  I blog.  

Weather is getting humid but temps are seasonal.
Rain arrived last night and everything is still drippy or was this AM

No umbrella launches to-day , TG.

The A/C repair guy is here , and hasn't said ' boo ' about charges.

Cross your fingers and eyes