Most of the time

There are statistics and statistics
There is this magazine called ' Womans First ' , its in our washroom
Diets , recipes , health advice , diets , cute stories ,  diets etc
I can't imagine why you would need to pay for this mag
The mag is 65 % ads. Even the recipes , name the brand to buy e.g. McCormicks House Caesar dressing
OK . I'm reading it when I'm sitting
73 % of smartphone use is non - talking , was the stat that grabbed my attention , after the yoghurt diet

Tornado watch : No I mean ' tornado watch ' , theyre popping up all over the south to mid west.  Criminy , we saw a RV dealership , before and after , just junk left after.
On the big weather screen , you could see the massive rotation over the mid west U.S. It was like a tutorial in how to spot tornado potential
I had watched ' Twister ' the tornado chasing  ' movie w/ Helen Hunt 
( my choice for Galadriel ) and Bill Paxton. When they say , no warning , they are not kidding - Boom !   out of nowhere

Movie review : for ' KungFu Panda
This flick comes a PG warning , its animated but there is kicking and punching. Couldn't believe it , kiddies see more violence in the playground or their living room.
Rating : Redbox scale , 0.6 / 1 dollar. KFP was in the $ 5 bin at Wally Mart
I'd say , entertaining

Weather in S On : rain and a little rain and a little rain
Explanation the Low front causing havoc in the southwest U.S. is being held in place by a Hi pressure balloon , N of us. The Low front is blocked from moving , well anywhere. Thus , the Low spawns tornados out the wazoo and we get rain.

In the QMH poker league , to-morrow is the last game.
Apparently ,the tradition is ' fish ' for snacks
Last week , I got real lucky and finished pretty close to tied w/ I..n , and I blurted out ' lets chop ' , meaning split the money. I thought it was a smart move b/c each of us would be going all in and it would be crap shoot as to who wins ( notice , I'd be in another crap shoot and we know , how well , I do at those ).
they keep track of results but they wouldn't give us a win or second place b/c we chopped , oh well $ 80 beats $ 20 , oh yeah , thats second place money.

Enjoy the day

Not Even Close

In the Torstar , an article on cooking said not to fret the ingredients in the recipe. The uptake was that it was almost impossible for you at home to match the calories or fat found in restaurant food.

A survey over the past few months provided this list

An Italian place on ' Diners , Drive ins and Dives ' made spagehetti sauce from scratch. Before plating up , the chef adds 1/4 C of of olive oil. The oil makes the sauce cling to the pasta. And we know where the oil clings on us.
M always said the red sauce had less oil or fat than al fredo - not likely

A Mexican taco / burrito joint , ' lightly ' deep fries their tacos to ' soften ' them up. Yikes

A Chinese restaurant making Chicken and Veg over noodles , deep fries the chicken before mixing w/ the stir fried veg and noodles
What is this deep fry mania

Another TV program ' Eat St ' re: food trucks , showed ' the greatest hot dogs ' Yepper , deep fried wieners

The latest , 2 days ago , biscuit and biscuit gravy , had the gravy start w/ 2 C of rendered bacon fat - M comes up w/ " don't they make a big lot , so the fat is spread out ' Yeah , we know where its spread

Weather : twisters in the Midwest , sun w/ rain to come here , all week.but sun is neat Temp is 49 F in the shade

Blog # 750

Ye , of Little Faith

...... or what we believe in

By the Numbers , the Torstar

4 %                        Americans who doubt smoking causes cancer
6 %                        Who question whether mental illness is a disease

15 %                      Doubt the safety and effectiveness of vaccines
40 %                      Doubt Global Warming and life evolved through natural selection
51 %                      Question the Big Bang Theory for origins of the universe

12.7                        Fatal air accidents / billion passengers
1.9                          Ferry fatalities / billion passengers

Ferry and airplane passengers are equal in number during a year

The analysis
I enjoy science , always have
Smoking can cause cancer
Mental illness is most likely a physical condition
Get vaccinated - roll the dice , its risk and reward , I question vaccines but still get them
Global Warming - happened many times - Are humans changing the rate or effect ,probably
BBT - excellent TV show , at lest consistently hilarious

Weather : cool going to warm  rain is due  , off and on all week

Computer life
we are using a Dell laptop as our main computer , this system has worked out , esp. since Ant played w/ the thing ,and got it faster

This AM , I was sitting , getting ready to go on the internet and said
" Self , when did you last back up data etc on the laptop "
Answer : 2011 / 12 /28     Oops !
Started the process ( 1 1/4 hr ) and bingo bango , message pops up ' insufficient room for storage '

Now , the laptop called for the same device used to back up in 2011, so I did
Apparently , there is way more on the laptop ( no kidding ) since its used every day now

Finally , dumbo here , twigs to the fact the second hard drive that I purchased is perfect for this job
then , another 1 later , back up  is done
Good one , self , 2 1/2 h to back up the computer
A flaming genius at work , duh !!!

Intelligence is the myth

Maybe ,not so

Great Things

Sweet cyder is a great thing,

     A great thing to me,

Spinning down to Weymouth town

     By Ridgway thirstily,

And maid and mistress summoning

     Who tend the hostelry:

O cyder is a great thing,

     A great thing to me!

The words are Thomas Hardy ( yes , Tess of the D'urbervilles etc )

The lines came to me - and this happens often , recalling lines

Why ?

Dunno , always loved poetry

I was going to write about situations that I enjoy

and maybe , take advantage of

To wit

The article that I wrote on measles , recently , was in the TorStar , back in some section - World or Life

However , I noticed it first on a broadcast over the  ' buds ' about 3 nights before

So ,I guess that I found it rather neat , to hear the story fleshed out , not a 45 sec byte by the BBC

( usually , is them )

Hence not so ' Great ' things

I find the topics of disease and their prevalence , transmission and history , fascinating

and I also , feel , people should be more aware

The almost ' fad '  like or really misguided notion that inoculations are a matter of choice by moral imperative is disturbing. 

Not unaware of the possibility of reactions to injections , the chances pale in comparsion to the disease itself , the life long effects of measles can be devastating.

Weather : beats winter but grey and cool-ish again

Think of the Riviera or the Top of the Mark in San Francisco - romantic...........

We're contemplating Seneca Allegany for our anniversary... maybe not pathetic  but .............

The rationalization is cute.............. maybe , maybe not

Its free ! Why did you choose ' X ' b/c it was free - good one , very romantic

And there we are , running over the border again - fairly disloyal to Canada

I mean Fallsview in Canadian Niagara is offering $ 85 rooms.  The craps table starts at $5 and hits 15 by the afternoon   They don't want us bad enough

Most Since 1996

... measles. 129 cases in 13 states in the first four months. Since 2000  ,the average # of cases has risen to 155 / yr in the U.S.

In 2000 , w/ massive vaccination programs , measles was declared eradicated. however , due to travel and importation of the measles
and reluctance of parents to innoculate their children. The trend in Calif and NY is bolstered by prominent personalities , nay saying vaccinations.

Of the 129 cases of measles , 34 are results of importation or travel
E.g. in the Philippines 20 000 cases and 69 deaths were reported.
In Calif , 54 of 58 cases of measles were travel realated. 25 patients were unvaccinated and 19 for philosophical reasons.  11 had been vaccinated. 18 had no history to check

Pre - vaccination campaigns , the U.S. averaged 500 000 cases of measles a year. 2000 was the zero infection point.

My mother is now the person of longest residency on the 7 th floor at TLC.  big whoop. the ' doc ' says ' 10 comfortable years '
' doc ' and I don't have quite the same viewpoint. I think it sad

Weather : blustery and cloudy - rain threatens  Still its only jacket and scarf type days

Have a good'un

To Be Wanted

..... seems to be a common theme in life

We have 6 casinos bombarding us w/ offers of comp points and free play. The casinos are in NY ( the Seneca boys ) , Cleveland , Las Vegas and Niagara Falls
Bet you weren't thinking of that kind of wanted

The weather is up and down but sunny and hovering  at 50 F
Coolish wind though. Our lakes are still very cold

The river at QMH is high. The water supposedly peaked , yesterday

I watched islands float down the river. My biggest was 20 ft by 10 ft
and slipped right by. However , as I watched and heard it slammed into a neighbour's floating dock and pushed it onto shore. That was a slam noise that I heard
The guys claim one island was 80 ft by 60 ft.
The islands are clumps of reeds ( ??????????  ) and soil (  ???? ) bobbing down the torrent b/c it is ripping even at our level ( close to the mouth )

The water is under the boathouse door. Hopefully the boat isn't afloat in there.
On my drive up , I guesstimated that for me to be affected the water would need to up 3 1/2 ft --- I was bang on
My docks are islands themselves surrounded by water

My Heart Rate monitor for exercising went kabloo - eee. Total failure - as opposed to intermittent failure before.
M offered a new HRm as a BD present. Ordered through Amazon , the HRm arrived three days early.
Had to try it out. works great. A Polar 300 Xs
The work out included shooting against the ' rebounder ' 
The rebounder , rebounds balls. soccer , baseball and lacrosse
A net affair w/ elastic ties that supply the bounce

This rebounder was a $ 50 purchase 5 yrs ago.
The rebounder has been tweaked so that the ties don't fall off all the time and the rebounder arm doesn't fall down

The alternative is finding a school wall to shoot against Once easy now . a little more difficult.
The closest school rents out the gym for Language school ( ? down't know which , but they've asked me not to make noise at least once )

I think that I have shooter's arm from the 12 minute shooting drill

Oh , well boys will be boys
Come on , it was sunny and warm and spring was in the air - not the arm apparently.

BTW - the boys of Hop managed a 13 - 7 win vs. Villanova.
The JHU defence held the Wildcats scoreless for 22 minutes,

Go !! Hop   Go !!

Shout Outs

Oh , and what will you give me
Sing the church bells of Grimsby

Is it love that you borrow
Chime the bells of Northborough

Is it Grace that you brought on
Sigh the gold chimes of Norton

And how will you save me
Call the sirens of Whitby

Weather broke grey (  again  ?????? ) ,  we re in Spring , mode
Cool wind off the lake but basically pretty warm

Hurricane Fades

The ' Hurricane ' is Rubin Carter , boxer, prisoner and reformer
Carter finished his days here in T.O. fighting for the release of convicted persons based on mis-trial or contradictory evidence
In fact , his dying request was to work on the release of another prisoner
Carter served over 20 yrs before his conviction was over-turned

Weather : sunny , warm but a cool wind still
beutii anyway

Blazing sore throat , during the night. Sucked on a Cepacol lozenge during the later morning and went to fallback position on waking - gargling w/ salt water. The salt water is old school.....

..... but I think that I got the sore throat under control.... it only hurts a little

A little aside here : salt water is the nasal rinse and gargle mixture
for me , all purpose kill the bad guys stuff

Have a good'un

Reason Has Moons

a poem by Ralph Hodgson .................but Saturn has 63 moons w/ #63 on the brink of birthing

News By the Numbers

Safety Canada - w/ a murder rate of 1.6 / 100 000

But Singapore makes the news again , 

                        w/ a murder rate of 0.22 / 100 000

Honduras has a murder rate of        99.0 / 100 000

RU thinner ??? In a study of 16 food corporations including General Mills , Campbell Soups and Coca Cola plus 13 others.

The corporate food world cut 78 calories / day by reducing sugar and fat in their packaged foods

The corps still sell 60.4 trillion calories / year ( 2007 numbers )

Umh, safer and fatter ??  Gotta think about this one

Weather : sadly , we're getting used to warm such that cold winds
are annoying
Rain is threatening but really total amounts are supposed to be low for the next few days

Did the Easter dinner thing at the cousin's condo
8 of us and great food
The younger second cousin showed her sky-diving and bungee jumps
Nupe , no way Hose  Nupe , Nupe , Nupe

The younger second cousin was using her iphone 5S , she had more apps than  I have  pounds on me
Her phone locks by fingerprint I.D.

did I say , we were provisionally approved for Nexus
And scheduled our appointments 
Apparently , we will zip across the border

There is a Nexus only bridge at the Whirlpool ( Downtown Niagara Falls basically ) but to-day traffic cams showed very slow traffic , accessing the bridge and exiting
Experimentation is needed , I suppose
The toll portion can only be paid electronically through the Nexus card - we'll probably give this portal a try - at non rush hour times

The Easter Week end

Kick in the head. The basics.
Hiker in S America , standing beside the railroad tracks  is shooting a video for a blog.
As he stands there , a train passes and a foot kicks him in the head
The video goes viral w/ 16 million hits and the hiker is now advertising for a video company

Weather :Sunny and getting nicely warm
blue sky , wind is really down

What happens when you don't know any better

W/ the iphone , I was trying to use up my mobile hotspot data allowance as well as the home internet service

Home : we have gone over our allotted 20 GB , 2 months running
we think mostly b/c of on line casino use
The Bell Sympatico service , charge us for 2 months over run on data and then bumped us up to a 40 GB ( at no charge ??? , thats what they're saying at this time )  Good
I used the data limit on the mobile hotspot and left a safety margin

Aha , then.  I was charging the mobile hotspot for 6 hrs. The iphone was on as well. While charging the mobile hotspot turns on ( didn't know that ) and used up another 30 MB that put me over the limit.
The iphone must have been using the the internet feed for updating etc
The Bad. The next level up for the mobile hotspot plan is double the base cost. Yick.
Lesson learned ?  One hopes

In the news. House prices rose 8 % in the T.O. area , despite the cooling markets across Canada. Average home prices in T.O. are now approaching  $ 760 thousand.

BTW Four wins in a row for the Hopkins BJs. They snuck by a homecoming inspired Navy team 6 - 5
' Caw , Caw , Caw ' paraphrasing the blueJay in the window

Calgary in Shock

For the S of the GWN readers , you'll be shocked

Calgary experienced a rare event , 5 murders at one site. These deaths were stabbings and the victims friends and all 20 - somethings
For Canadians , this represents a vast departure from our view of crime , it doesn't happen here , like this.
In T.O. , last year , 38 deaths by stabbing / 3.2 million people. Calgary is probably 800,000.
The alleged assailant was a friend as well and son of a veteran police upper management

Weather : grey and warm w/ precipitation coming , dribs and drabs to a good soaking
Bad news for several places E of here , rivers are peaking w/ melt and rain

Happy Easter
Buddhists don't do Easter but we have the dinner
Sort of like Christmas , family gathering
Some people have 18 guests in
Our cousin is having 9

Canada is sending 6 jet fighter to bolster NATO forces in Europe
Recognize that the 6 planes are 1/2 of our air arm
We are serious , this time
Normally ,we would send 6 chefs and grain in a military emergency
But Ukraine does have its own grain supplies

I've got to tell you , this new Pope is changing my mind about the Roamn Catholic church. My guess is , he isn't all the popular all around the Vatican. Too moral , I think , he cares

Observations

Where do I count

Certainly , not much in dealing with a bank or the government
credit card companies

so , I suppose it all comes down to personal relationships
and do I carry over the feelings engendered by dealing w/ corporations
Dunno

On NPR , the topic was executive salaries and this has nothing to do w/ me
the panelist lady said that the rules were made simpler 15 years ago
and instead of a board of directors setting bonuses , the gov't tied the bonuses to
specific performance criteria e.g. share price or gain in capital

Well since then , salaries have soared b/c the people who govern performance criteria within the institution have become very good at making the numbers look good
where it counts
that is , in those areas that affect their salaries even at cost of other
parameters in the corporation

thus the company , performs well where it pays the executive branch
but other areas suffer

Weather : warmer for sure
wet on and off
the roller coaster of April for the GWN

Oh ,turned on the outside taps
I drain the line from inside the house
and open the valve come spring
Sprung a small leak in the feeder line inside the house
It drips from around the valve
Of course , this valve is above my head
above the ceiling
and in between ducts and other pipes including the gas line

Love to take a propane torch up there

Gonna take a long hard look at this one

I have a new phrase for Siri - craps on a cracker ( note the  ' s ' )
B/c thats how the dice shooting went down in NY

Yepper , craps on a cracker

" Bottle it ! "

Sold only from a soda fountain or travelling cart at fairs , Coca Cola had a following. How to expand the sales , Yep bottle it

In the soda wars , some 76 billion $ business , Freestyle machines will market Coca Cola company products from a vending machine
The lure for the ' millenials ' who  have disdained the soda options , give them a touch screen and a chance to customize their beverage

Coca Cola has lost market share.... thus a new style of selling
Doesn't do much for me , I will say
I can't choose anyway

I need menus that say ' burgers " comes w/ ....... and the price
Need choice :fish and chips , English style
anything more and I'll be in a tizzy for 20 minutes

Using the  ' Z "
For Scrabble buffs , you can use ' za ' for 11 pts

In the news , there are reports of 120 deaths in W Africa linked to Ebola.

Me : Siri , whats the weather

Siri : Coac is your phrase

Me : What does that mean

Siri : I will not acquiesce to the redundancy of your request

Coac  ? , sass from the computer. Where was this girl raised

OK , you S of the GWN types - filing day for IRS

In the casino the air is miasmic and cool , sounds of chirping machines fill the air
Outside , I'd quote Masefield " A grey mist on the seas face and a grey dawn breaking " 
Has he been to the Alleganys ?
Coffee was $ 3 at the snack bar , post hottub. Hot , black and big.
And not bitter at all.

Last year ,after 3 attempts at drinking the ' free ' beer , I asked the cocktail girl ' how much is a Yeungling ? ' $ 2 ( plus tip )
Crikey , mate and I was drinking that Bud / Bud lite - Eek !!!
$ 2 a bottle ( not 6 oz cup as in ' free ' ) , bargoon my friends

My choice machine at slots was ' Coyote Moon ' Yes , the coyotes actually howl when you hit a fairly big win. I doubled my money twice , 2 separate times.
So , $ 20 became 40. 20 , you say - well compared to the other ' bandits ' on the floor CM is blessing

Staying indoors it seems - What could we do ??? Oh , lets shoot craps , again
Shoot lights out and go big or go home

Well , thanx again for reading here

I Live in Despair...

... all spring , hoping against the Instrumentalities of the Night , that my Bluejays will rise up and smite the giants of Div 1.
Saturday , they did
To-day , Hop went up against 0 - 13 Mt St Marys( I was supposed to go to this one too )
Some pundits called this a ' trap ' game. Ideally set up by an impassioned win Sat. vs #4 UMd   A quick turn around of one day

Once when visiting Emmitsburg ( the Mount's hometown ) , as Hopkins took the field , I said to M " the test of this team is not can they win or score lots but how well they keep St Mary's off the score sheet
12 - 0 for JHU before the St Mary's Mounts scored a goal , to-day
MSM got 1 more
The final 17 - 2
This means that Hopkins played w/ intensity for 60 min
Maybe for the second time this year
Sat was really only 55 min b/c they had some breakdowns in the 3 rd quarter

On the Siri front
M said " Jesus ,  me " .....................please note the comma

Me : Jesus , me
Siri : I eschew the theological disquisition

Notice , Siri didn't get the comma -  or maybe she did

I shot lights out at the craps table 3 X to-day and still managed to lose money. I made ten to fifteen passes w/ the dice before ' seven and out '. I managed to win about $ 20 dollars each time that I was the shooter ( dice tosser dude )
It must be gambling , they should have warned me

By the Numbers ... 2sents style

Yesterday , the boys of JHU beat Maryland. Billed as the greatest rivalry in lacrosse ,  the teams played for the 110 th time ( beware , I could making all this up b/c I'm guessing at the numbers )
The Jays entered at#  9 or 10 and Maryland at # 3 or 4. Either way , Md was ranked above JHU by lots.
The play by play crew ( radio b/c I can't watch ESPN 3 or U   , here in Canada ) , quoted the statistic that JHU's record against Md when Md is ranked higher is 13 - 7.
JHU opened slow and Md even slower. Five goals in the first half was all Hop could produce but Md got 1.
Hopkins has the ability to shut out teams for long stretches
Md closed to within 3 after some back and forth but Hop shut the door with 3 minutes remaining
Each Hopkins win means that I squeeze the ' bluejay ' stuffed bird in our window. Yesterday , the squeal ( ?  caw ??? ) was glorious
The game was a sell-out
This week is home coming week for Hopkins alum. Timely win

Weather : neato , Dudes. But rain and cool to come
April showers and all that

We have flooding on the Moira R ( sp ?? ) near Belleville E. of T.O. . The river will crest Tuesday unless it rains ( ha ha ) and then who knows.

Have a good'un , as they say

News via the ' buds '

Hooked up to the ' buds ' , heard the following:

House sold $120 million
Former home of Andrew Carnegie niece
12 bedrms
2 islands
Carriage house
Greenwich , Ct
A bargoon for sure , 70 mill under asking

Weather : sunny and brilliant

House went crazy this AM , searching for a T3 form from a mutual fund company for distributions re : taxes
Searched low and low - Nada
Went on line Nada aussi
On a whim , Googled  ' Tax package PHN '
nothing but a reference for looking up capital gains distributions ( T3 info ) was there .....the 3 funds in question don't generate cap gains outside of the fund price
Search over Dummy !

Oh well , a whole lot of paper got organized and or thrown out
- probably both

House is back to normal.

The Hop guys play at 2
Fingers crossed and get the booze ready ( drown your sorrows or something )

Tangential to ' Siri '

Since , this blog tends to be whats on my mind at any given second or minute , to-day is no different

Using Siri , for fun , testing the technology , this is the first week of the new ' toy ' , after all

I spoke ' crosses in the ballpark ' to Siri b/c I was humming , Paul Simon's ' Obvious Child ( Why Deny ... ) '

Siri reponded w/:
The correct lyrics are ' the cross is in the ballpark '. Simon is quoted as saying that he was thinking of someone like Billy Graham doing a show in the ball field.
I remember hearing Simon talk about song writing and inspiration. He said ' one thing must be true ' then you can go from there.

The song itself is interesting. In the original video , Simon is backed by these crazy drummers ' Ola Dum '. Ola Dum is not unique. The marching / non marching drum club or group is very common in Brazil.

I find myself , quoting and pondering the lyrics.
" I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more
I don't expect to sleep through the night '

" I've been waking up at sunrise 
I watch the night receive the room of my day "

Crikey , when does this guy sleep

Is Simon talking about himself or is he representing the age he is at.
We are close in age ( Simon when he wrote the lyrics and Simon now , straddles my age ).

As well, since I mis-remembered those lyrics , in the same reference , Siri showed the most mis-quoted lyrics by Bruce Springsteen ( author )
" Dressed up like a douce 
And a runner in the night"

Bruce wrote

" Revved  up like a deuce
Another runner in the night "

Bruce , probably , meant the  car ,  " deuce coupe '
Its not entirely our fault b/c Manfred Mann sang the first lines that I quoted or close.

Siri doesn't recognize singing or doesn't recognize my singing.
Me : Time after time  - singing
Siri : Here is " Time after Time " . however ,it is not very close to you ( the store , TAT is 87 km away )

" Some people say a lie is just a lie
But I say , the cross is in the ballpark
Why deny the obvious child "

I purchased " John Carter " the DVD. The John Carter of Edgar Rice Burrough fiction is a Walt Disney , movie. I don't think it was well received but since I read the original story.... Well , I had to have the DVD
I revel  in watching JC , however , I am alone in the house on that one
I'm out $ 15 and there is a ticket waiting for me at Homewood Field and I won't be there , as # 9 JHU faces #3 Maryland , Sat.

The taxes are organized but the whole process would have been difficult , had we gone away , this week end. Despite the Revenue Canada web site closure , I would have worried the whole seven days that we were away.
Now , I can take my time and work on the data and get the forms in w/ a week to spare.

This change will mean that since 2005 , this is the first time that I haven't been at Homewood to see the BlueJays play.

Bought the iphone case , called " Otterbox commuter "
It was $40 but when we spent 75 , the coupon took $20 off.
Now , we have extra - cookies , clamato drink etc. We needed to get to $ 75
Figures.

Panic is no Picnic

Tuesday , it dawned on me , taxes due Apr 30
What needs to be done , lots
3 Accts needed Adjusted Cost Base calculations
Call the bank rep , no problem , come on in , Thurs
Thurs ????? What should I do to get ready
Shoot , I can do this
Calculated ACB for one account 
Noticed , one portfolio service sent a summary for ACB
Aha , 2 down
#3 , Oops 20 calculations and don't have the original invoices
Well ,we'll see ( said the Zen Master , not really )

Showed up this AM , bank rep is cool
This is what we talked about. I asked that you be sent a ACB summary. This will be taken care off , to-day

Dada , said and done
And Revenue Canada is not allowing on-line tax returns b/c of the ' bleedingheart ' virus. You can be late w/ no penalty
No need for panic , I would have been right on time , late , but not penalized.

Ebola. The TorStar reported the infection rate in W. Africa ( Guinea ) as 176 people but no deaths. I may have got that wrong about a 100 deaths. The only problem is that Ebola kills , w/out a doubt.
We'll keep checking.
The Star did report 300 possible contacts where Ebola could have been passed.
Sidebars , include attacks on medical staff from Medecin Sans Frontier ( Doctors W/out Borders ) by angry locals. The locals believe that the Ebola came w/ the medical team.
And infected people won't attend clinics b/c they don't want to know they're infected ( good one , that )

Weather : warm and getting warmer , bright sun and strong winds
Saw my first robin , wearing a scarf and boots

Worry - ies

Last night in bed
House - the sinkhole grows in your mind , its gigantic now in my head , probably out there too

Through the buds , Ebola death toll reaches 100 in W Africa. Ebola spreads fast and kills at a 30% rate ( depends ) And , of course , w/ air travel , Ebola can be around the world in hours
And I'm worried about bedbugs and dandruff

Siri: Having fun , how useful.. Dunno But having fun


Toronto and nr Pittsburgh , stabbing broke out. The U.S. won this one , of course
4 in T.O. and 20 nr Pittsburgh. We never stood a chance

On the tax front. I'm still floundering but help will come to-morrow
Nick the Bank will call on his resources to get capital gains reports for me

M reminds me that poor people don't have my tax problems. She is my conscience


Revenue  Canada ( our taxman ) has a ' Heartbleed ' virus that steals passwords and leaves no trace. RC shut down for to-day at least and RC may help by extending the due date , TG

Weather : beutii and way warmer to-morrow
We're celebrating ... what .. Dunno ....We're celebrating
Its a pub afternoon

Broke down and made muffins this AM

Overkill. M has said that I can have a iphone 4s phone case for a BD present
On the net , Otterbox cases are $60 on sale , on line
" only the best for my cellphone ' is the common quote on line
I'm not sure , what I'll get

Reality Sets in

On the ' Siri ' front. Could you guess , Siri is not as great as the reviews said she would be.... gigantic leap forward , etc
The reality is that it seems Siri needs to connect to the internet to work. I thought some chores could be done w/out the internet. Maybe there's a setting ......... there's always a setting .. trust me

However , Siri does look up sites on the internet if you say a topic or word
Siri sets alarms , timers and enters calendar appointments
Not bad. 
I now have i-cloud but so far - can't figure out what I should do w/ it
..except , ' locate your phone ' uses the cloud ,and thats set up

M likes her ' new ' old phone - she can turn it off / on and make calls

Weather : rain , all last night ( hence the inspection of the downspout ) Temperature is cool but wind is chilly

Oh , the downspout. The slight depression has b/come a sinkhole
The area affected now is 8 ft by 3 ft. Last night during inspection as the rain came down , I stood there and watch an interlock brick drop ten inches into the hole. CoaC as Penny would say

Adventures in ' Siri -land '

Joaquin Phoenix I'm not
This voice doesn't love me

Me: what is your name ?
Siri: Siri
Me: can I change your name ?
Siri: I am Siri and will always be Siri

That about sums up the interactions
Siri probably chews up data time like dobermans chew meat

So far , I've pressed ' reset all ' by mistake
Apparently , I did not read far enough in the ' reset home page instructions ' b/c that was I was trying to do
However , after another 10 min , re-typing the info and toggles again - I'm back to where I was , ............. which is ?
dunno

The iphone 4s is now attached to my gmail address and transfers info such as calendar entries , including one that I can't remember making 

However , I discovered on reading the 156 p manual ( skipped some parts ) that you can ' shortform ' in typing. Set up a phrase that you want to shortform while typing and the keyboard types the phrase in full
omw - types as ' on my way '

I added
coac - types as ' crap on a cracker ' - what else would I choose
lps    - types as ' lord preserve us '

Figured those last 2 would eliminate , really bad swearing , Siri is a lady after all. Siri is female and her name is derivative from German for ' beautiful lady '.
M got the iphone original. She can actually see the keyboard w/out her glasses

Man , are we hip or what

I've got ' locate my iphone ' set up - GPS , no less
Haven't figured how to lock it but you need a password to access the main screen
I mean every 3 minutes the iphone goes back to opening screen and then a number pad shows and you need to type the password
You know that I'm going to lock myself out , right !
Natch.

Dragged , kicking and screaming into techno age
for $600. See , iphone + tax is $520 and the 2 year insurance plan is $ 96.
The insurance is for drops and dunks. Well ,thats what I need
Drop or dunk and for $79 you get a new phone
Many an iphone has hit the pavement
The original iphone that I was using fell many times

Insurance , great. Here's me ,  hoping that I drop it and there's them hoping that I won't --- and I'm paying them to be optimistic

Oh , the lady at Speakout did her job - I'm using the old Speakout # and the balance carried over

Weather : mild considering what we've been through Rain on the way

" aagh ! "

The scream heard round the world

Apple store : i phone 4s bought in 5 minutes , Apple sent an e-mail receipt , in case I lost the paper one from the store. Tres efficient

Home: 1 . How to cut down an existing SIM card to make it a micro                    SIM on the internet.... NO , as a last resort only
          2. Purchased airtime from Speakout about 6 months ago ,                        a micro Sim came free. Read the destructions , first.
          3. Do everything the enclosed page says. Activate and get a                   new phone number on line. Step 7 call and ask to port (                       transfer your number from a pre-existing account ). Make                   the call. Sorry , those destructions were for totally new                       phone activation numbers. You must have a non activated                     micro SIM to port a number. You can only port a phone                       number from another carrier , not Speakout to Speakout
          4. Can I transfer the airtime balance ... NO , airtime balance                   goes w/ the phone number.
           5. Let me get this straight , I'm screwed. Yes , says the lady

Me: OK what if I have a non activated micro SIM , here. Can you help me. 
girl :Yes. You mean you have a second micro SIM , right there. 
Me: Yes.
So ,now we're cooking w/ gas Bingo Bango and Bob's your uncle
Speakout transferred my old phone number to the i phone 4s.

Girl :Turn off both your phones and check at 11 AM Monday.

Zen Master : we'll see.

Do you want a speakout phone number b/c I have  a spare.
M asked back 6 months ago , what do I do w/ the micro SIM card.
I said ' dunno ' . Now , we know

Titled " Promotions "

Well , thats the polite term. Its where I send all the advertisements that come to my second e-mail address.
Two e-mails , you bet. Friends get one address. Businesses etc get the second. TG , I thought of that.
On occasions , and this could be 3 X a week ,the second address could get 15 e-mails a day. Most of these ads go to ' Promotions ' but some ads make it to my general ' inbox '.
Here's one promo that caught my attention , from Groupon.
" Ultra-sound Cavitation Contouring "
Trust me , this is one headline where I don't think that I want to read the rest.
Sounds like the Bruce Springsteen song ' they'll be carving you up all night '

An aunt sends forwarded e-mails , mostly jokes etc. This time she sent " rice art ".
Farmers use different rice varieties and grow images in the rice. Like crop circles but this is patterned rice growing. So ,either Google - rice art or send me your e-mail and you can see the images.... some are three rice paddies long
Ok , I admit if I coulda figured out how to reproduce it here , I would have

Weather : Wad habenned ----- beutii Sun and going for 60 F at the least. Spring , sprung. Bingo , bango

On the lacrosse front. The Kings of Spring - JHU beat Albany , the Great Danes. This happened Fri night at Homewood. The Jays held a high powered offense to 1/2 their average goal production and managed to play a full game.
I was waiting for the game on Saturday and discovered that I was a day late. Notice the common theme here ' day late and dollar short ' story of my life.
Also ,under the category of mis- information ,I goofed.
If memory serves b/c I didn't go back and check ( go back and check , no way ) I quoted Dave Petriemala as saying after the loss in the  North Carolina game that practice went so well the week before. Got it wrong. He really said ' what do you expect when practice is lack lustre all week '  Mea Culpa folks !
I get to be at Homewood soon.

Globally , what

In the News:
India is voting - largest democracy goes to the polls
by line :  " Will they elect a liar or a murderer ? " Good one , eh ?

By the Numbers :
Sudan is mess - starvation , loss of dignity etc

Syrian refugees ( or displaced people ) equal the population of most U.S. cities

China is a booming film economy #2 to the U.S. and way ahead of Japan

Actually ,there was a lot more , statistics etc , words like ' billion and 42 % etc   Probably , you deserve more detail but I couldn't be bothered - blah , blah , blah - thats what I saw

Weather : cold wind , gray day - we are a tad above FP.

On the computer front. My fishing buddy ( note , not ex-student ) , took a shot at the laptop Studio 17 in ( S17in ) , that is our main machine ( MM ).
I wanted ' Skype ' to video conference w/ people , esp . places such as England. The cousins , hers not mine have been asking us to ' get w/ it ' and install Skype.
Skype is working , maybe. It worked yesterday , to-day ????
However ,FB noted a) the slow response of our MM
b) we were not downloading updates as recommended

The MM is as fast as its ever been
The download cannot be done - we are not alone
On the Windows Help forum , there were 4 or 5 ' fixes ' for the problem.
FB seemed to understand , I didn't and neither did MM
Thus , it seems in some instances , that I'm on par w/ an ' i 7 ' processor.
this could be bad , this could be good

On the cell phone front. I'm going w/ the i phone 4s.
" Siri ' phone or SP  ( are you keeping track of the acronyms ?? )

Rationale ( this is always good , how people justify , their craziness )
My first expensive phone - $ 400 ( up to now , that was $ 60 )
The technology in 4s is 3 yrs out of date or 3 cycles behind , soon to be 4 - the i phone 6 is due this fall ) That puts SP 4s right about where I always am.
The baby will not go w/out food - we don't got a baby
Some reviewers have lamented that lack of customization in an SP 4s. 
I figure my phone is personalized if I use it - however 

 some phone -es ,make their phone sing and dance and recite poetry or talk world wide to other phones and machines
You could control your home security etc

Maybe , my customization should be , checking if the garage door got left open again from inside the house or from away somewhere.

There is something romantic about popping out to check on the garage door every night. Sort of , communing w/ the night or neighbourhood. Crap , its cold out there sometimes

So ,we've gone from global politics to garage doors
this is life - private Benjamin

Adjusting to the ' new weather '

....... you're supposed to think globally and act locally , in this era of environmental responsibility.

To that end , I'm reporting the weather will get worse unless we clean the environment , less pollutants etc.

Locally , I shovelled ice and vacuumed water out of the QMH garage.

I cleaned the gutters from fall / winter detritus.

I'm recycling drywall from the neighbour and will repair the ice damage in the QMH garage

There you go , perfection in action

Weather ( locally ) - gray and threatening rain - still I walked around in vest and shirt for part of the morning

For followers , I try to re-cap and remind you of past blogs , in case , the blog gets too involved and ' bunny trailed '.

However ,feel free to ask for references etc  to items mentioned in the blog.

To that end. Canada 7 th in problem solving. This survey / test was w/ teens. Apparently ,Canadian press wanted to point out - everyone who beat us was Asian. Thus , in the Western world , Canada was     # 1. See. The abbreviated announcement via the ' buds ' at night didn't explain the story as the TorStar article did.

Movie review : the ' Avengers '. Starring everybody
rating out of $ 1 ( Redbox , except Redbox is now $ 1.50 in the States ) gets a 0 .7
We both liked it
I think they set us up for a sequel - do tell
Now , we wondering about Captain America - ' the Winter Soldier '
No , we won't go to the theatre but will see it at home
Oh , forgot , I bought the ' Avengers ' previously viewed for $ 10
Couldn't help it , something snapped

watched a BBT episode : I am Sheldon

The Ills of the World

.. very cryptic that

The diagnosis for  ' shooting pains ' in the lower back that I mentioned ( ?? ) previously.
Age brings on  ,  sacro-iliac pain.
Solution is Naproxen a fairly powerful  NSAID. A much stronger dose than out of an OTC bottle and purportedly upsetting to the stomach. At 220 mg , we had some in the medicine cupboard , I'm OK , so I'll up the dosage.
Sacro-iliac meant old age to me as in ' my aching sacro-iliac ' I often heard older people on TV complain about
Well . Guess I got there

Weather : we did reach 55 or so yesterday and this AM I saw 38 on Weatherboy. Cloudy though and WB had his brolley out.

In the news via ' the buds '.
Singapore #1
In an international test of problem solving , students from Singapore scored  566 pts 
#2 was S Korea w/ 554
#7 was Canada w/ 526
Remember we're Canadian , 7 th is really like first place for us

On the phone front
I e-mailed SpeakOut customer service to ask about the way to use a micro SIM card if you already have a SIM card w/ phone number.
there needs to be trasnfer if I use an i - phone 4s.
As well , the most important upgrade for an i- ph 4s , is ' Siri ' the voice recognition system ( reference the movie ' Her ' )
Siri is only working when ' she ' is hooked up to the internet
We don't have  a talk / data contract
So , sounds like a contract
Except that SpeakOut used to have  an option $ 10 / month Unlimited Data add- on. Not sure if SO still offers this addition.
A tin can and string is sounding awfully good at this point