It's not every day that the world takes an hour off to chill out. Every March, people from around the globe take a moment, (granted that means 31 different "times" because of time-zones). Among other ways to celebrate, like stories and boardgames, many of us resorted to the company of good friends and cold beer.

I honestly believe that this should be a monthly affair and we should have mandatory kick-back times. In lieu of that, here's how we did on the yearly event:

-134 Countries took part in this year's event
-422 Canadian Cities too part
-CN Tower, Parliament Buildings, Niagara Falls and the Lions Gate Bridge, took part
-In St.Catharines alone, a 5.5Megawatt decrease was seen. (That's 4.4%) , enough to power 241 houses for 24 hours in Niagara.

I hope you enjoyed your EarthHour and I hope you've given more thought as to the kinds of entertainment you can conjure up without relying on electricity. Conservation is all about moderation. We can all do our part to use a little less.

-D-

I'm not too big on warning labels in the first place; most of them make me laugh. There is a whole word on unbelievable warnings that worry me out there. From Tupperware that warns against putting babies in it, to labels on soap that suggest you "use as regular soap"... There is a slew of unimaginably specific and oddly suggestive cautionary tales in our society, but those are usually the result of legal matters. You now at some point someone lost a child to a horrible Rubermaid accident and suddenly every plastic box needed a "Do not store your children in here" label. You know that lawsuits and litigious junkies drive these labels and probably get odd on their esoteric suggestions. This is all good and innocent, but let me tell you whey these images bug me...
My school has recently posted on our fireplaces "Caution Hot Surface". Now the rest of the sign is acceptable. It goes on to tell you not to fiddle with the knobs and such, which is probably good advice, but "hot" ? It's a fireplace! Frankly I'd be a little disappointed to touch this and it not be hot!

So this is a school to further people's education. To train the future workforce and to drive innovation and design. Everything from engineering to medical aids wander these halls and still, for some reason, we seem to need an indicator to remind us. So here's my public-service-announcement of the day: "Warning! Caution! Beware! Citizens of the world, 'Fire Hot'!"

-D- 

I don't mean to bad-mouth the LCBO, per se. I mean, they are only a legally instated monopoly that denies the average Canadian access to affordable alcohol even when it's wine that grows in our own backyards. They are a bureaucracy of overpaid executives that limit the flow of booze to a nation renown for its consumption.
All of that aside, I just want to remind the LCBO customers who read this blog (not that I'm saying a lot of you enjoy the drink, but...) the LCBO is ours. So never be afraid to hold them to the standards you expect of them. Our tax money keeps this business from having competitions and from having to answer to the market. When you see things like this image above, don't be afraid to talk to the manager.
It's illegal in Ontario to sell a bottle of "Ice Wine 08", or any other wine, with a masking tape label. This is rude and insulting to the standards customers of the LCBO should have set for our government mandated option. 

There is no excuse for companies without competition to have low standards. We as customers can't let the market decide; there is no capitalism involved. So remember that in most cases, when dealing with the government, bitch! and ye shall receive.

-D-

Tonight's adventure took a friend's basement where we chose a "board game" to play. I say board game like that because this one was sort of a dungeons and dragons style of "board". (The type of things you build as you play.) So the game brought up a principal I've long thought about on game nights; the idea that friendship and the need to kill seem to have a direct causal link.
It would see that from Monopoly to UNO there is a connection between how much you like a person and how much you want to see them fail miserably at their act. Of course this doesn't work in teams...but in a mono-a-mono battle the effect is present. If someone is a real close friend, the second the game starts, the gloves are off and it's straight for the arteries with the attacks.

I just thought I'd share this bit of trivia with you so you might casually observe the effect on your next friendly game-night.
It's difficult to contest as I've never had an enemy-based game night, nor am I planning to any time soon. I'm not sure what I'll call the effect yet, but I'm to suggestions.

-D-

A friend called me up today, setting up a new computer. She was having some problems with plugging in her peripherals to the tower.

"So it's the one that looks like a duck?"

"You mean the USB port?"

"The flat one... it looks like a rectangle duck..."

Now I knew what she meant (having done tech-support over the phone for Apple and for an American phone line, I've heard them say it all). She just needed to plug in the USB mouse and keyboard. So close to a working computer and yet linguistically...so far!

So I thought I'd post this chart. It's not the newest chart online, but it does cover the most common of all ports you'll ever run in to. Click on the chart for a larger view and remember, a little effort will keep you from being mocked before all the geeks when you hang up that phone :)

Cheers to the divide between geeks and the rest. It's about time that computer lingo becomes common knowledge, I think.
-D-

So I was walking through the park the other week and I found something peculiar... there is an astonishingly large number of trees in this park that have wires. Thinking nothing of it I noticed the wires led to lights which, for the most part made sense. For a romantic whimsical look the park's commission set lights to shine onto the trees and illuminate the foliage in the spring and summer. This is a great idea, I thought, until I came across this...
They have lit the light that lights the trees? Really? Am I seeing this right. Certainly one of those lights must be broken or inactive. Maybe it's just too high to remove so they left it up there... I returned a few hours later to investigate:

Both the lights worked. They both lit the tree and seemed to light themselves lighting the tree... Now I know that this is the site not far from where Nicholas Tesla and Thomas Edison battled it out. They fought between AC and DC powers and practically invented modern electricity but aren't we taking this a little far? Isn't lighting our redundant lights a little bit much? 
Maybe I'm just nuts, but if someone would like to explain this to me... that'd be great.

-D-

There are a lot of people in this world who always seem to be on a mission. You've undoubtedly seen these folks hustling through their daily tasks. They make lists; they check lists off. They set goals; they accomplish those goals...

They aren't necessarily bad people and the world is grateful that they exist. It would seem though that not enough people stop to look around anymore. It almost seems as if people have lost their ability to stop, even just for a second, to check out the wonders of the world around them. 

Even on vacation people seem to either chose to run off to some secluded place and to drink and sleep and rest and nap. They take in nothing and just chill. Other's go on panic-driven adventures where, even on vacation, they follow itineraries and set schedules and freak out.

Today I got took a friend on a trip. We had no idea where we were going, nor did we really care where we ended up. We took a strange little tour of Thorold and St.Catharines and I showed her some of the hidden gems around town.

The next album is a collection of photos taken inside the old Merritt barn on Beaverdam Rd. (I don't condone breaking and entering and you should ask permission before entering private properties and buildings...)

Just remember that the world is absolutely full of wonders. All it takes is a little curiosity and the effort involved in taking a minute to explore. There's a whole world of possible adventures out there...go take a peak.

-D-

So I got the chance to hang out at Port Dalhousie today and took advantage of the nice evening to snap a few shots of some birds. Figured I might as well make an album of them and post is here... this is that:

Hope you like birds...
-D-

Sometimes it feels like you just don't fit in...but somehow you know that there's a place for you somewhere. You've just got to find where it is that they've been missing you all along and don't even know it yet. Let's just hope that this isn't a "sign" of things to come. There's just no place for -D- in a mediocre job ;)
No offence to the many McMorons out there...we love you still. I just hope to never join your ranks.

-D-

So I made a great cocktail on St.Patty's day this year. I figured I would share some of the green with everyone, despite this being way to late to indulge in the emerald-inebriation! St.Patty's is for green beer anyways, so save this drink for summer:

We haven't named this drink yet, but it's delicious and worth sharing.
Cheers,
-D-